7QT In Which I Fret About Catholic Karaoke and Never-Ending Rain

Posted on June 20, 2014 by Amy

The Edel Gathering is coming up soon! I am so excited. It’s fun to see some of the ladies who will be there starting to post a bit about their plans for the weekend. Dwija is giving us a sneak peek of her shoes for Friday night’s Cocktails and Crazy Shoes party, and Kathryn is taking requests for an upcoming post of must-dos while in Austin.

Here’s my question though: Is anyone else obsessing a little bit about what to sing for karaoke night? I have lots of songs I like to sing on the rare occasion that I do karaoke, but I’m not quite sure if any of them is fully appropriate for a gathering of Catholic moms.

I mean, is “Satisfaction” by the Rolling Stones too suggestive? How about “Blister in the Sun?”

I could do “The Joker,” but is it okay to sing about being a “toker” and a “lover” and a “sinner?” I just don’t know.

“Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy?” No??

I really enjoyed doing “Poker Face” last year at the Labor Day Party my in-laws host every year, but I don’t know if I can get up in front of a room full of Catholic mamas and sing, “And baby, when it’s love, if it’s not rough it isn’t fun. . .”

Maybe Jennifer Fulwiler can open the karaoke by rapping something by Tupac. Then I wouldn’t be so nervous.

My girls had summer camp at the YMCA this week. This was Lass’s first time being dropped off for a preschool-like situation. She’s kind of a mama’s girl, so I wasn’t sure how she’d like it. But she was with her sister, so she did just fine.

I did not dress them alike ^^ They each picked that shirt independent of the other.

It’s been so strange having two of my three children gone all morning. I’ve been reminded of how, in many ways, having one child is harder than several. Without her sisters around, Sis is so much more demanding!

Check out this wonderful patch of weeds and dirt:

This is the site where we will be building our dream home. We’ve been waiting for many years to do it, and we’re finally just about ready to break ground. We have a builder, and a house plan, and an address, and our permits, and we are almost ready to go. We just need it to stop raining. As I type this I’m looking out the window at another day of steady rain.

On the way to camp this morning Lass started singing,”Rain, rain, go away. Come again another day.”

After a moment Miss said, “I didn’t work. Maybe it will work if you say ‘please’.”

So Lass revised, “Rain, rain, go away. Please-come-again another day.”

Silence for a minute, then Miss, “Nope.”

We’ve had our first harvest of our garden this year!

Lots of radishes and greens and herbs so far. Tomatoes and peppers and green onions and beans will be coming soon I hope.

A few more photos from our week at the Farm:

I went to our local outlet mall this morning to get some outfits for the girls’ pictures we’re having done on Monday. I couldn’t help but think about this one from a couple of years ago:

I still can’t believe I was able to get that photo. My Grandma made all of those dresses^^ for me when I was little. One is sized about 2-3T (on Lass), one is 4-5T (on Miss) and the other one (on Sis) is the doll dress from the Raggedy Ann my Grandma also made for me. I barely squeezed Sis into that dress, and I couldn’t get it buttoned, but I was determined to get that photo. It’s one of my very favorites.

I was thinking about the photo because it’s time to have Sis’s two-year photos in the dress with the doll. I had the same pics done for Miss and Lass:

I insist on pulling out these sweet old dresses for photos because, well how precious are they?? But also because I have a photo of myself in the same dress with the same doll at around two-ish too.

If I could find more of that vintage fabric I would absolutely hit up my Grandma to make (or help me make) more of these dresses in ever-increasing sizes and just keep getting Raggedy Ann/matching-sisters photos for.ev.er.

Would that be wrong?

Seven Quick Takes is hosted at Team Whitaker this week. Check it out HERE.

7 Quick Takes – Can I make it to seven with child labor, an embarrassing story, and who knows what else?

Posted on June 6, 2014 by Amy

As I’m beginning to type this, I only have three takes in my head, ready to be poured out onto the screen. Will I manage to get to seven? Well, let’s find out.

Child labor. It’s so nice. I love that my kids are getting old enough that sometimes when they offer to help me with a chore, they are actually helpful. Sometimes.

Like when pulling weeds. I pull weeds every time I go outside with them. So pretty much every day. And I cannot keep up with them (the weeds). So I am so happy that my girls seem to enjoy pulling the “big ones.” They have to work together to get some of the monster weeds we’ve got going on over here.

But usually they do a great job of getting them out, root and all.

Look what came in the mail the other day!

I am so excited. This book was written just for me! Just look at the subtitle.

You all know I’ve had issues feeling like I don’t know how to pray right. I’ve come a long way since writing this post about it. But this book! Perfect for me. I’m only a few pages into the intro, and I am enjoying it so much. Get it here.

I don’t run for exercise anymore. My last marathon in January 2008 ruined it for me. The most I ever run for exercise now is on my treadmill for the length of time it takes me to listen to the Scriptural Rosary podcast I use from my Laudate app. So I run 1.7 miles on a fairly regular basis. Occasionally less. Never more.

However, I recently started reading the blog This Ain’t the Lyceum, written by Kelly Mantoan. She has two little boys with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), Fulton and Teddy. She is trying to raise awareness of SMA by running 35K for SMA (seven 5K runs), and I’ve decided to run 5K (3.1 miles) sometime during the week of June 16th to participate virtually in run #6. If anyone wants to join me, you can read more about it here (go to Quick take #3) or about the whole 35K for SMA here (and with the last link you can donate to help families with children who have SMA pay for things like medical equipment and bills).

This next one is actually a bit of an old story, but I’m grasping for material today and I never mind making fun of myself a little bit, and I mentioned Kelly’s blog. . . So I’ll share a little embarrassing moment with you.

Several weeks ago, round about the end of April, I somehow found Kelly’s blog and started reading through a couple of posts. I came across one titled, “New Web Design Services!” I had been toying with the idea of doing some updating to my blog’s design, so this really caught my eye. I love to give support to other mom bloggers in their business endeavors, books, fundraisers, etc., so I thought it would be great to contact Kelly and maybe have her do a bit of redesign for me.

I read quickly through the post, then shot off a quick email to her telling her that I’d love to hire her.

I failed to notice the date of the post. April 1. You can see where this is going.

I got a nice reply to my email in which Kelly informed me that the post was an April Fool’s prank. She kindly suggested that I look a bit more closely at her “redesigns” to see that she had made them quite hideous in fun. And she did give me some suggestions for people who actually do web design work.

I was mortified! In my defense, it was my first visit to her site and I hadn’t quite realized at that point that funny is her thing. I am such a dork.

A few days ago my two big girls got up much earlier than their little sister and came downstairs for snuggles. I started looking through old pictures with them on my computer, and of course they were fascinated. They especially liked the photos of Miss “reading” to Lass when they were much younger (before Sis was even born). She used to recite that Snow White book from memory several times a day.

They liked the pics so much, they decided to recreate the moment, with the same book even:

They are the best of friends. I love it.

Sis has taken to calling my husband by his first name. All the time. “Ben!” she yells. Or she asks, “Where Ben?” or “What Ben Doing?” It’s a little jarring every time she does it. When I try to correct her, “You mean, where’s Daddy?” she says, “No. Where Ben?” She’s so sassy these days.

I made it to seven!! We’re going to the Farm today. After my husband gets home from work. Which should be very soon so I need to finish packing.

Have a great weekend! See more Quick Takes at Conversion Diary.

7 Quick Takes About Miraculous Twins, Being a Crazy Stalker, and Other Stuff

Posted on May 23, 2014May 24, 2014 by Amy

Linking up with Conversion Diary, and actually making it on Friday this week.

1. Last weekend was Miss’s first piano recital. Doesn’t she look so tiny?? Her song was about ten seconds long, and I was nearly in tears when she was done, it was so cute. She went up in front of the audience like she owned the place. She was thrilled to play in front of a crowd. I had no idea she could be so cool under pressure.

2. Last weekend we also potty trained Sis. I like to use this 3-Day Potty Training method, which is horrid for three days and then awesome forever (except for a few days after I did the program with Miss, which were far, far from awesome).

It’s very strange to no longer be changing diapers! 3. Lass had her first haircut on Wednesday. Just as it was with Miss, her first cut came at 3.5 years old. She was so excited. And I am so mad at myself because I forgot to save a snip of it. All that beautiful hair, and I didn’t save any of it. I just want to cry every time I think about it. But she loves her haircut and has no idea that I messed up. Hopefully she won’t hate me when she’s 15 and realizes I saved hair from her sisters’ first haircuts but forgot hers. Or rather, hopefully she won’t hate me for that.

4. When we first got to the salon and the girls were climbing in the chairs to get started (Miss got her second haircut at the same time, so you can see they’ll be going for haircuts about as often as I do), I had an interesting exchange with the woman cutting Lass’s hair:

Her – “How old are they?”

Me – pointing at Lass, “She’s three,” and pointing at Miss, “and she’s five.”

Her – eyes bugging out, “Are they twins?”

Me – blinking. . . “Uh. Nooo?”

Her – “Woooowwww.”

I get asked all the time if they’re twins. But never quite like that.

An “After” photo of my not-twins: 5. It’s not uncommon for me to run into Super Friend when I’m out and about on any given day. We live in a not-huge town and we go to all the same places. The grocery store. The Catholic store. Target. We always laugh when we see each other as if it’s soooo craaaaazy that we’re running into each other again.

It was much the same thing on Tuesday when I pulled into the Target parking lot and saw her car there. I texted her real quick “Are you at Target???” She replied something like, “Yes! At Starbucks” (I’d like to take a moment to interject how amazing it is that there is a Starbucks in our Target store. Marketing genius, is what that is).

So I hopped out of my car and chuckled to myself all the way into the store, where I walked in to see her standing right near the entrance (since that’s where the Starbucks is). I laughed and said, “I swear, I’m not following you!” in cheesy reference to the fact that I had just seen her at the grocery store the day before.

Unfortunately I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings when I said this and was oblivious to the fact that my crazy-stalker-lady comment scared the crap out of the woman walking right in front of me. She jumped and looked quickly over her shoulder with an expression of terror, made worse by the fact that Super Friend and I were cracking up laughing at my stupidity. So then I said, “Oh, I’m not following you either!” as the woman rushed into the store to get far, far away from me. I hope she got a laugh out of it once the initial horror was gone. Maybe?

6. I recently bought the book “Feast! Real Food, Reflections, and Simple Living for the Christian Year” by Haley and Daniel Stewart to help me in my attempts at teaching my girls about the liturgical year and celebrating it as a family. It’s a wonderful book, and is full of delicious-looking (haven’t had a chance to make any of them yet) recipes for Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter seasons, as well as for many saints’ feast days.

So with the book you can read about a saint and make a meal that somehow represents that saint’s story (mostly by being a dish from the place where the saint lived, I think, though I haven’t looked through the whole book yet) on the saint’s feast day. History, religion, geography, and dinner, all in one! The book has lots of saints in it that I have never heard of, and recipes for foods I’ve never tried, so I can’t wait to make some of the dishes.

7. “Feast!” does not have a recipe for commemorating St. Rita’s feast day, which was yesterday. You may remember that St. Rita is the patroness of impossible cases, and I chose hers as my confirmation name.

So I took inspiration from the book and found my own recipe to celebrate her day. St. Rita is from Cascia, Italy, and I found a recipe for “Lentils with Sausages in the Style of Cascia” in this cookbook.

I cooked lentils once, a looong time ago, and they were awful. I didn’t get the texture right, and they had no flavor. At that time I told my husband that I would never, ever cook lentils again, but I couldn’t find any other traditional Cascian dishes, so I went for it anyway. Never say never, right? He actually remembered me saying that, and mentioned it to me yesterday.

Thankfully, this time the lentils were much better. These actually had very good flavor, and I think the texture was how lentils are supposed to be. I realized that I just don’t much like lentils, because their texture isn’t appealing to me. But this dish was pretty good. As my husband said, “Edible lentils! That’s an improvement.”

Also to celebrate St. Rita’s day the girls watched this video, we colored a picture of her, we looked up Italy on our world map, and we made a bee craft, since my girls were especially interested in the part of St. Rita’s story involving the bees. It was a great way to celebrate a special feast day, though maybe next year I’ll search harder for different recipe from Cascia, sans lentils.

Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend, and for more quick takes, check out Conversion Diary.

7 Quick Takes in Which I Completely Over-Analyze Kiddie Aliases

Posted on May 10, 2014May 24, 2014 by Amy

As usual on ~~Friday~~ Saturday?, linking up with Conversion Diary.

A few weeks ago, I wrote a quick take about how I have been feeling annoyed with the nicknames I chose to use for my kids when I first started blogging and have been thinking about changing them (see #7 here). I don’t enjoy writing with the nicknames. It feels awkward, and sometimes silly. Plus, sometimes people tell me they have a hard time keeping my girls straight when reading about them with the nicknames. Even those who know them in real life are sometimes like, “Wait, which one is Lass again?”

So, for several weeks now I’ve been trying to decide what to do about it, or whether to do anything at all. I finally came to a decision, and here’s the thought process by which I came to it, in Quick Takes form, of course:

When I first started this blog in 2009, I automatically gave Miss her nickname out of paranoia from my prison/forensic psychologist days.

I’m not so much worried that someone might find us and try to come and get us (though I am a little bit). Mostly, I don’t want inmates/former inmates to be able to read about my family.

But this concern is more related to my choice to not use my last name here, and I the fact that I don’t give information about specifically where we live, rather than whether I choose to use my kids’ real names.

So as I began thinking about the nicknames, I asked myself the question, “What do I really think would happen if I used their real names?” At first, I couldn’t really come up with anything, honestly. So I considered just switching to using their real names. But then I talked to my husband about it, and we discussed the possibility of someone, many years from now, Googling one of our girls (or whatever the equivalent from of searching for information is in 20 years), and it just didn’t seem worth it. Her future employer doesn’t need to read my thoughts on my daughter’s first temper tantrum, for example.

I make a point to try not to write things about my kids that I think they might be upset with me for sharing when they get a little older. One of the reasons I write this blog is that I want them to have a record of their lives from the perspective of their Mom that they might cherish someday and share with their own families. But I want them to have the option to not share it with those they would prefer not to see it.

When I was discussing the possibility of using the girls’ real names with my husband he asked me, “Well, what is the benefit of using them?” Other than it being easier to write and easier for people to read, I didn’t really know the answer to that one either.

But then yesterday I was reading Kendra’s blog, and coincidentally she wrote a Quick Take about her thoughts on how it might seem kind of off-putting to a reader that a blogger doesn’t trust him or her enough to share her kids’ real names (see take #6 here).

I had never thought about it that way. That perhaps it would make my blog more relatable to readers if I used my kids’ real names, or even make it seem as though I don’t want to connect with others if I don’t. Or that it might seem as though I don’t wish to be part of the blogging community by withholding that piece of information from those who read here. I would never want it to seem offensive or rude that I don’t use my kids’ names. But I just don’t feel comfortable with it.

So, going back to my original issue, which is that it’s annoying to write with the nicknames, and I don’t like the way the blog reads with them, and some people can’t keep my kids straight. . . I came up with a solution, with the help of my husband.

I let my girls choose their own aliases, using names that start with the same letter as their real names, so those who know them in real life will be able to easily keep them straight. My plan was to use these new, self-chosen aliases instead of those I chose, sort of at random, in the beginning and as I’ve added more children.

I wrote this whole post, planning to “introduce” my kids with their new nicknames.

But then I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I don’t know if I’m resistant to change, or if I just can’t picture referring to my kids in my writing as anything other than Miss, Lass, and Sis. But my hesitation to pull the trigger on this is the reason this Friday post is being published on Saturday.

So. Instead of introducing them with their new nicknames, I’l refresh your memory on which is which with their old nicknames. And just for fun, I’ll tell you the nicknames they chose for themselves.

This is my oldest. I call her Miss:

Her name starts with F. She chose the name Felicity.

This is my middle child, known here as Lass:

She chose the name Perpetua.

And finally, my youngest, Sis:

She didn’t choose a name, but the older girls picked one for her. She would have been Natalia.

Interestingly (to me at least), I gave the older girls each several names to choose from. Some were saints’ names, some weren’t. I did not steer them one way or another. They each immediately chose the names they wanted.

Incidentally, I knew that Saint Perpetua is a saint when Lass chose it. I did not know that Saint Felicity is also. The day after I let them pick their names, I happened upon a page about Saints Perpetua and Felicity in one of our saint books and learned that they are often mentioned together because they were martyred together. Weird.

Anyway. Wasn’t that a fun exercise in totally over-analyzing an issue and ending up right back where I started with it?

The last point I would like to make is that my above reasoning and choices are in no way intended to imply that I think the way anyone else does it is wrong. I don’t feel comfortable using my girls’ real names on my blog. But that doesn’t mean that I think someone else is wrong if they do.

Go here for more quick takes.

7QT “Welcome Home” Edition – Catholic Folks Know How to Extend a Warm Welcome

Posted on May 2, 2014May 3, 2014 by Amy

This set of 7 Quick Takes needs a preface:

I once had an experience with a Christian lady, that has stayed with me for a long time. This was before I was Catholic (sooo, you know, more than two weeks ago). Before I had even fully crossed over into the realm of atheism, long ago. I had become somewhat disenchanted with Christianity. I was observing lots of things that I thought were very hateful, happening in the name of Christianity. Then I moved to North Carolina with my husband. Except we weren’t married then. We moved in to our new house across the street from the neighborhood gossip, and next door to the neighborhood Christian lady (according to the gossip).

Our next door neighbor seemed like a nice woman. She was married and had a cute little daughter. She was blond and perky and her name was something like Bunny. One day when I was outside pulling weeds in our front yard, she drove her small SUV into my driveway, with her sweet little girl in the back seat. She rolled down her window and smiled a big Southern-charm-filled smile at me and said, “Hi! (sounds like ‘hah’ in the South) I just wanted to stop by and invite you and your husband over to dinner!” I smiled my big old Yankee smile right back and said, “Oh hi! He’s not my husband. But sure, we’d love to come over for dinner some time.”

The Southern-charm smile disappeared from her face lightning-fast and was replaced with a pursed-lip grimace, which could have easily led one to assume she had just accidentally consumed sour milk. She immediately threw her little SUV in reverse, said something like “Okay, well, I’ll be in touch” and sprayed gravel when she speed-backed out of my driveway as if she though our sinfulness was contagious. She never spoke to me again. We lived next door to her and her husband for about four years, and she never once spoke to me after that day.

Now. That incident obviously wasn’t what caused me to become an atheist, but I was already leaning away from religion, and her behavior simply added fuel to my “Christian people are not nice, they are judgmental and hateful” ideas that I had at that time (admittedly, I was immature and obstinately ignoring all the quietly kind and lovely Christian people I’m sure were all around me, but that’s not my point here. . .). Not long after this happened I began reading atheist books and listening to atheist recordings. And we all know how that turned out.

Fast forward about 11 years and here I am, marveling almost daily at how amazingly kind and generous and loving people have been to me as I have gone through my conversion. I once believed that Catholics were some of the worst of the bunch when it came to Christian hate-mongering. But, oh my goodness, the Catholic love that has poured forth toward me in the past year, especially in the past few weeks, is incredible. Here are some examples I just had to share:

Did I ever tell you about how Super Friend told me that she used to pray the rosary for my conversion?

We were dear friends before I found religion, when I was still very firmly atheist. I knew, in a vague sort of way, that she was Catholic. But I didn’t think much about it. We never talked about religion.

She is one of my favorite people in the world for many reasons, not the least of which is that she loved me and was an awesome, supportive friend to me even knowing that I was an atheist. She never, not once, for one second, made me feel judged, in spite of the fact that she is a devout Catholic (or maybe because of it?). But she did pray the rosary for me. She prayed the rosary for me! That is so amazing to me on so many levels.

Come to think of it, probably a lot of people prayed for me. But none of them were judgmental of or rude to me. Not once.

The Godmother (I love that I have a Godmother!!!)

Yeah, I know. She was called my “sponsor” for all the months of RCIA, but whatever. I’m calling her my Godmother. From now on and forever more, that’s what I’m saying.

She gave up her nightly glass of wine during Lent for me and my husband. Because of something she knew we were going through. She never even told me. She just did it. Something I said to her during our retreat on Holy Saturday prompted her to tell me that she had done this. But for 40 days, she just quietly gave that up. She didn’t expect any praise or thanks from me. She just did it. I’m still left speechless when I even think about it.

There is a Catholic store here in town that I just love. The store carries great books and toys for my kids (and for me), and gifts, and everything fabulous. And also the women who work there are just delightful. Yesterday I went in the store and the owner happened to be there. She has been so supportive of me through this whole conversion process, but yesterday was the first time I’ve seen her since the Easter Vigil. She nearly screamed when she saw me and gave me a bone-crushing hug. The excitement she displayed over my conversion was so amazing to me.

After I made my purchases, she hustled me into the book area of the store and went directly to a copy of Something Other Than God. She knew that was the perfect book for me, and she wanted to give it to me as a gift.

I didn’t realize at first that she was trying to give it to me. I thought she just wanted to show it to me, so I told her I already have a copy (and have read it twice and reviewed it in my last post. . .). When I realized she wanted to give me a gift, I immediately demurred, but she was not to be dissuaded. She was determined to give me a gift to express her happiness for me. And she did. “Welcome home,” she said.

And since I mentioned her book, I’ll add that Jennifer Fulwiler, probably one of the busiest ladies evah (she has six kids, home schools them, writes a blog, just released her book, ahem:

Get it, and travels all over speaking and other stuff), left a comment here on Holy Saturday, a few hours before the Vigil, to tell me she was praying for me and excited for me. The kindness of all of these people just blows my mind.

And then so many messages poured in after the Vigil. “Welcome home!” “Congratulations!” “Please let me know if you need any help on your journey,” and on and on, the wonderful comments and messages kept coming. Strangers and friends alike, these people are so kind and thoughtful and funny.

And speaking of funny, when I showed Heather the picture that was inspired by her (infinitely better) drawing talent:

She sent yet another wonderfully kind “Welcome home!” email and also was sweet enough to mention how great it was that I was receiving the Eucharist from Richard Simmons. Who knew Catholics are funny!?

I’ve received Facebook messages, emails, blog comments, text messages, and gifts in the mail, both from people I love and from complete strangers.

Because I was interviewed by our priest at the end of the Vigil and the recording of the video was shown during the Masses on Easter, many people have come up to me and shown support, both at our parish and when I have run into parish members out and about. Total strangers have hugged me and shaken my hand. Again, “Welcome home” has been the predominant message. I am humbled and in awe of the enthusiasm people have for a new member of their faith.

Though much of the what I mentioned above focused on kindnesses from fellow Catholics, I would never want to neglect the wonderful support from many, many non-Catholic friends, family members, and readers. We all love the same God, and you all are daily reminders to me of how wrong I was so many years ago in making sweeping generalizations about all Christian/religious people based on one experience and a lot of negative press.

Catholic or Protestant or Mormon, I have felt the love from near and far. Loved ones and friends from Michigan, Florida, Ohio, Iowa, Kentucky, Tennesee, Colorado, Arizona, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Missouri, Oklahoma. . . Strangers from many more places. I hold you all in my heart and am grateful for you.

I try to remember often that neighbor in North Carolina. I try to remember her so I won’t forget to always treat others with kindness and compassion, even when they don’t believe or behave the same way I do. I hope I will be able to take all the kindness and excitement of the past few weeks and months and pay it forward to others someday.

For more Quick Takes, check out the link up HERE.

7 Quick Takes About Hunts, Medals, and Kiddy Aliases

Posted on April 25, 2014 by Amy

1. I love taking photos. I think it’s delightful how some photos just really speak to you. What do you think this photo is saying?

I’ll tell you. It says, “The husband gave up buying anything for himself for Lent. Lent is over and it’s almost time to start fishing!”

At least two of those boxes have fishing rods in them, one for my husband and some for the girls. I don’t know what’s in the rest yet, but I do know that my kids are begging to go fishing.

2. This morning Sis wanted me to read her a book. I needed to get going on breakfast before the early-morning-hunger meltdown started. I had a momentary dilemma, because I never like to refuse reading a book if I can help it. Then I remembered. I now have an oldest child who can read!

This opens up a whole new world of possibilities!

3. Easter morning.

Even though I was super tired after the big events of Saturday and the late-ending Easter Vigil Mass, I still had to stuff and hide Easter eggs and baskets when I got home. I enlisted the help of my husband and in-laws for filling and hiding the eggs, and I strung yarn around the house and tied it to the doorknobs to lead the girls to their baskets. I always put their baskets in different rooms and have them search separately to make it fair for Sis (I “hide” her eggs mostly in plain sight). Once they get older I’ll just hide them all together and let them duke it out, but for now they really like the strings leading them to different rooms.

^^ She was saying, “I can’t find anymore!”

My kids love hunting for stuff. We did three hunts just last week, with the search for 30 pieces of “silver” on Wednesday, the resurrection egg hunt on Thursday, and Easter eggs on Sunday. They were all over it. Maybe I’ll do lots of scavenger hunts this summer.

4. Last night there was nearly a mommy melt-down to rival Hurricane Charley. Sis was playing with my jewelry on my side table after baths while I was putting her laundry away. She pulled apart the chain of the necklace Super Friend gave me for my baptism/first communion/confirmation gift (I was able to fix it). I could not find the wonderful Saint Rita medal from the necklace anywhere. I was so upset. As in almost-in-tears-and-on-the-verge-of-raging upset. After we searched and searched, and I asked Sis myriad times, “Where is Mommy’s necklace?” to which she either replied with “I nunno!” or by running to my side table and picking up the chain, sans Saint Rita medal, I decided I just needed to put her to bed. My husband suggested that I check in her clothes first. She sometimes likes to put things in her onesie. I checked, and whadaya know? The medal was in the crotch of her onesie, just where my husband suggested it would be.

We have a running joke/competition in our house because my husband likes to pretend that he is good at finding things. As every woman reading this will understand, I laugh hysterically whenever he makes this claim. Once in a while he does find something, and he likes to say, “What’s my name?” To which he desires the response, “The Finder” (get your mind out of the gutter!) Of course, I have never called him by that ridiculous name, though he claims the title for himself frequently.

Just yesterday, after a few instances of needing my help to find very obvious items (not that this was unusual), he said, “Wow, I must be losing my touch!” (snicker, snicker, “mm-hmm”). THEN, The Saint Rita Episode. Know what I called him after he found that medal? Yup. “Okay, okay. You’re The Finder.” Painful. But worth it.

5. After finding the medal, my husband suggested that I buy a jewelry box so my stuff isn’t just all lying on my bedside table. I figured this was a good idea, but instead of buying one I went to my closet and got down the one that my Mom gave me that had belonged to my Grandma.

I opened it up and started cleaning it out. I love looking through my Grandma’s jewelry. I used to play with a lot of it as a little girl, and there were plenty of pieces in the box I remembered seeing her wear. Even though I’ve been through this box many times since my Mom gave it to me, there was one piece in it that I’d never noticed before. My Grandma was not Catholic. So imagine my surprise and delight when I discovered a Miraculous Medal among her jewelry.

It needs to be cleaned up a bit, and I’ll have to get a chain to put it on, but I will absolutely be wearing this some day soon!

6.Tonight before bed Lass said to me, “Mom, even though the color of your hair is ugly, I still like it.” It’s great being a Mom. They love you even when you’re ugly.

(My girls, especially Lass, are really into “group hugs” right now)

7. I am considering doing something different with the way I refer to the girls on the blog. I started using “Miss” for my oldest when I started this blog without putting much thought into it. The other two nicknames just followed from that.

I use the nicknames because I used to work in a prison, several prisons actually and some jails, with some scary folks who are out walking around the world now. I don’t really know what I think would happen if people knew my kids’ real names, but. . . I tend to be a little over the top about things like this.

I’ve never really loved using the nicknames. They don’t flow well in writing, or in reading for that matter. I’ve had a few people express to me that they sometimes have a hard time keeping the girls straight with their “aliases.” Even people who know them in person!

The thing is I don’t know how I would change it. Unless I started using their real names, which I don’t think I want to do, switching their online names to something else would likely just be more confusing. Perhaps I’m stuck with forever referring to them as Miss, Lass, and Sis. Maybe I could switch to #1, #2, #3? No. Poor Lass would not be happy with that someday. I’ll keep thinking on it.

Find more Quick Takes HERE.

P.S. You didn’t imagine it. I did post on Wednesday, and that post has disappeared for a few days. I mistakenly put up the book review of Something Other Than God too soon. Sorry about that. It’s be back up next week when the book releases on Tuesday.

Have a happy weekend!

7 Quick Takes, Damma and Tuppa Version

Posted on April 11, 2014April 11, 2014 by Amy

We are visiting my parents this week. Otherwise known as “Damma and Tuppa” by Sis.

^^Every day, “Where my Tuppa?,” she says.

Here’s what we’re up to:

1. My Mom recently hosted a big Lego event at her library. As a result, she has a gazillion Legos these days. I have a love-hate relationship with Legos. I love them because I think they must be a great toy for imagination and stuff. I hate them because, well, they’re Legos.

My girls have had a blast with my Mom’s Legos. Which is great, because I won’t need to get any since they can play with them here. Or maybe it’s not great, because now they know they like them, and they’ll ask for them at all the birthdays.

2. My Mom is teaching Miss to sew. This brings back many memories:

Makes me think of my Grandma teaching me stuff. And when my Mom taught me to sew. Oh the nostalgia.

3. Happiness is playing outside without heavy coats. Or snow pants. Or mittens (otherwise known as my nemesis).

Put on jacket. Slip on shoes. Go outside. Freeeeedom!!!

And my kids like it too.

4. Sis is obsessed with flying things. Birds, planes, “coppers” (helicopters).

Which is quite fun, since my parents live near an Army base where they have lots of “coppers.” “Where copper gooo?” and “Copper slow dooown!” were her favorite phrases yesterday.

5. My girls went to story time at my Mom’s library where she gave them these ~~obnoxiously loud~~ lovely flute things.

These will be a great toy to keep at Grandma and Grandpa’s. Forever.

6. About once a year, when we come to visit my parents, my husband and I leave the girls with my Mom and Dad,

and go to Nashville for an overnight date.

I really enjoy going out to dinner at a nice restaurant, but we have date nights at home fairly frequently, so that’s not the best part.

^^ Miss asked me for a picture of me and her Daddy on date night for a frame she is painting. Soooo, camera timer ^^

The best part of the overnight date?

Date breakfast.

And date morning lounging:

I slept in until 7:15 this morning and still got to linger over my coffee and reading. Pure luxury.

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7 Quick Takes About Being a Nerd and “Burning Love”

Posted on March 21, 2014 by Amy

1. I am a nerd. I love things like online vocabulary and grammar tests. I took a vocab quiz on the Miriam Webster site the other day. 10 words. Timed responses. Score 3500. It was so fun! I know. Nerd. Give it a try here if you’re a nerd too.

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2. Yesterday we had our preschool co-op at our house. Each week the kids stick around to play with the girls for a bit afterwards. One little boy was having a hard time leaving one of our stuffed snakes behind when it was time to go home. Miss asked me if she could let him borrow hers so he wouldn’t feel so upset. I was just about bursting with pride when she said that.

Then she said this, “He can have that snake because I don’t really care about it. I don’t have a burning love for it. I just have a smoking heart for it. The only thing I have a burning love for is my new blankie.”

Whaaa?

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3. The new blankie she has a “burning love” for is this:

My husband’s Aunt C makes these amazing blankets for everyone in his family. My girls’ small “blankies” that they sleep with as babies (and preschoolers) are smaller versions of this (you can see one a little in the lower right hand corner of the photo^^). Aunt C took pity on us after seeing all the posts this winter of my children lying around sick on my blankets that she made for me (like this one and this one and this one). I have two of her blankets because we thought the movers lost one several years ago, but then found it after she kindly made me another. Love her.

^^ Big girls with my two blankets and Sis with her little Aunt C blankie.

Anyway, on Wednesday we got a huge box addressed to the girls and opened it to find a new blanket for each of them! They were so excited (as you can tell by the “burning love” comment). Lass immediately asked me to take her quilt off and put hers on her bed.

The girls and I had a conversation about how they can now use their own blankets instead of mine. I relayed this to Aunt C via text message, and she replied, “Not sure they want yours after this winter!” True.

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4. Kindergarten Round Up!

I mentioned in this post that Miss will be attending our local Catholic school next fall for about 1.5 days per week for religion and extracurricular classes. She is so excited to go to kindergarten and she had so much fun at the Round Up.

I, on the other hand, found the experience to be a bit jarring. I had thought we would be checking out kindergarten together. “We” as in she and I. I knew that there would be other people there, I just didn’t realize that I was not part of the equation for her afternoon.

Instead, after all the kids were there, the kindergarten teacher began leading them up the stairs to the classroom. I started to lean forward to follow but then realized that none of the other parents were going. Miss was at the end of the line of kids. She turned around and gave me a cute, shy little smile, waved, and hustled up the stairs after the other kids. I’m so not ready for this, and I was not prepared!

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5. I just finished reading the book The “R” Father: 14 Ways to Respond to the Lord’s Prayer, by Mark Hart. One of the things he encourages readers to do is to make a list of all the daily/frequent tasks that you have to do but that you absolutely can’t stand doing. Then he says to do these things. Just do them. And offer them up to God while doing them.

Now, I have heard the phrase “Offer it up to God” many times in the past year, and I must admit I’m still not entirely sure what it means, but what I got out of Hart’s comments on this topic was the idea to just do the things that need to be done, cheerfully, as a sort of spiritual practice. So now I make my bed every day. I complete the laundry right away on my laundry day (including folding all of it and putting it away!) instead of letting the task drag out for almost the whole week. I sweep under the table more often (these three things are the biggies that I loathe). I try to keep a cheerful attitude while doing all the repetitive, mundane things that I do multiple times per day. Sometimes I pray while I’m doing them. I’m finding this to be quite an invigorating practice. Highly recommend it. And the book.

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6. My older girls have been really into playing with letters recently. They get letters and make families with them and enact all sorts of dramatic play. “A” is usually the mom letter, I think. It’s quite complicated. We have many, many sets of letters that they can use while playing these games. These are their favorites:

Guess which letters are Miss’s favorites? She carries them around. She asks for them by name.

Every time, she asks for the same ones.

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7. My husband is gone this weekend. That means I might put on a movie or two. I never watch TV or movies when he’s home, unless we see an action movie together. I always wait until he’s gone to watch movies I don’t think he’d be interested in. Any recommendations?

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7 Quick Takes in Which I Reverse Myself, Laugh at Myself, and Meet the Bishop

Posted on March 14, 2014December 31, 2014 by Amy

Linking with Jen!

1. When I was growing up, my Mom had a term she used to refer to a certain style of house cleaning: The “Blitz.” Roughly translated that means “Clean all the things. Do it quickly. Do it now. Go!” We used this technique whenever she learned that unexpected company was coming over, or whenever she felt like it I suppose.

Yesterday I felt the need to Blitz my house. Just because. As I was cleaning, I was reminded of something I read recently about how, in this day and age, the “art” of homemaking has been lost. I couldn’t help but laugh to (at?) myself a little bit. Because:

^^ That’s all clean, for the record. Guess how many days it took me to get it folded and put away?

There is nothing artful about my homemaking. Maybe sometimes I whip out a little bit of flair in my cooking. But art? I laugh. Though maybe I should cry. Because, well:

2. I have to reverse myself, sort of, on something I wrote in my last 7 Quick Takes post. I said I had found a new awesome thing.

The Knot Genie was supposed to be my savior from the soul-crushing experience that is brushing my three-year-old’s hair. It works okay for Miss. But it cannot handle this:

I have really thick hair myself, so when Lass was still screaming and cringing with the use of this thing, I tried it on myself. It worked okay, but the bristles on it are so pokey, I didn’t like it. And it wasn’t any better than using a regular brush. Waste of money.

The best solution I’ve found to the hair-brushing dilemma is this:

Don’t judge. That comb is over 20 years old. I realize that it is missing far more teeth than it retains, but it still works. Perhaps I should have used the money I spent on that gimmicky brush and bought a new comb? Anyway. Knot Genie is not so awesome. Wide-tooth comb is the best solution I have found. I am resigned to dealing with screaming every time I brush her hair until she is old enough to do it herself.

3. I think the extreme cold of this winter has left people a little crazy around here. Last weekend we had a wonderful warm spell (over 50 degrees one day!). On Tuesday it got cold again. Wednesday it was about 20 degrees. Not too bad, but not balmy by any stretch. I took the girls to gymnastics and saw a dad walking in without a coat on, and his little girl also did not have on a coat. She was shivering and huddled over and jumping around and looked like she was freezing. Because it was 20 degrees.

Then I overheard a mom after her child’s class was over say, “I don’t think you’ll need this coat. It’s really nice out.” 20 degrees!! Everyone must have been experiencing some sort of shared delusional state brought on by too many sub-zero days. They seemed incapable of comprehending that it had, in fact, gotten frigid again and that wearing a coat was probably a good idea.

4. Oddly, I actually don’t really want the snow to melt quite yet. It’s over 40 degrees again today, and it rained a bit, so the snow is melting rapidly. But we have one more thing on our Winter Fun List to finish before the snow is gone!

After tonight (we are going to Super Friend’s for a PJ/movie/pizza night) we will have everything completed except “Build a Snow Fort.” I totally forgot about the snow fort when we were outside doing our snowman last week. I think we’ll have enough snow to get it done this weekend. If not I’ll scoop some up and let them make a small one for their dolls or something.

5. Our first observance of Lent is going well. The girls actually enjoy pulling out a card from our basket with a Fasting or Prayer or Alms Giving activity each day. Tuesday I think was their favorite. They pulled out a card that said “Alms-Giving: Do a chore without being asked.” Both of them immediately began begging to wash the floor.

Works for me!

6. This weekend marks the one-year anniversary of my first venture into church. It’s kind of incredible to think of where I started and then look at where I am now. A year ago, I sat in church and tried to get something out of it, though I didn’t really put forth much effort. I did listen as well as I could with three small children to corral, but that’s about it. I didn’t kneel when everyone else did. I stood up when called for, but I didn’t say any of the things everyone else said (mostly because I didn’t want to, but also because I couldn’t understand them). When we stood to recite the Creed, I said only the first line and nothing else, because I didn’t believe in the rest of it.

Now? Now I participate as fully as I’m able and I truly enjoy going to church. I know (mostly) what to say and when to say it during the mass. I can’t wait for the Easter Vigil.

7. Yes, I’d say now things are a little different.

In case you’re wondering, that’s me^^^ with the Bishop! Last Sunday I participated in the Rite of Election, on the same day that everyone else in the world who is converting to Catholicism went through the same rite. How cool is that?

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7 Quick Takes, Stupid Tired Edition

Posted on February 28, 2014February 28, 2014 by Amy

Linking up with Conversion Diary

1. Okay, I swore (to myself) that I wasn’t going to post any more about how much winter is crushing my soul and how crummy our never-ending sicknesses have been. But I just can’t help but say one thing. This week beginning on Monday: Puking. Ear infection. Fever. More puking. I think that sums it up. My poor children.

^^ Okay, in that picture they weren’t actually sick, just pretending to be Aristocats taking naps.

2. I hardly ever put on TV for my kids. We watch DVDs a fair amount, but I almost never turn on the TV and let them just watch shows. But we have had so many sick “movie days” that they are tired of their movies and other DVDs. Today we had the TV on all morning.

Survival mode.

3. I have a problem with my camera. Somehow, when adjusting the ISO (I think that’s what I was doing) I ended up with this as the view on the screen every time a take a photo:

I cannot figure out how to get this to go away. I have tried everything I can think of. Except looking in the owner’s manual. I have a thing about owner’s manuals. Mainly that I can’t stand them. Anyone know how to make this go away on a Nikon?

4. I have found a new awesome thing. My children, especially Lass have crazy amounts of hair. Her hair is looong and thick. And she hates to have it brushed.

Seriously. Hates to have it brushed. To the point that she lets out blood-curdling screams that seem more indicative of having her eyeballs poked with needles than having her hair brushed.

The other day I happened to see a post on a friend’s FB page. It was a message from someone else thanking her for the recommendation of the Knot Genie. I was intrigued, looked this magical-sounding item up on Amazon, and saw this as the product description:

“The Knot Genie Brush was created for every mom that has endured the screaming matches that come with brushing their child’s hair.Try the Knot Genie on your kid’s hair you’ll be amazed by the ease of brushing, as well as how it virtually stops breakage and split ends.”

That thing was in my shopping cart and on its way to my door via Amazon Prime and our UPS man quicker than you can run a brush through my three year old’s hair. Which is not that quick. So it was way quicker. So far I’m liking it. I haven’t used it a ton on the screamer, because she’s been sick since I got it.

But it worked like a charm on Miss’s hair after swimming lessons yesterday. I’m hopeful.

5. Speaking of hair, this is what my oldest child would look like if she had gotten the red-hair gene from my husband’s side of the family:

Or if she put on an Ariel wig she got for her birthday. Sorry, the title of this post says it all about what I’ve got going on here this afternoon.

6. I am debating whether to go upstairs and try to take a nap as I type this. I really need sleep, because poor Lass was up sick all night. But I’m so bad at napping, I’m afraid I’ll go up to my bed and not be able to sleep, and then I’ll be in worse shape than I am now.

7. I have nothing else. I think I am going to attempt a nap.

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Motherhood and Miscellany

7 Quick Takes Friday