Love Thursday - Tic Tac Toe

Happy Love Thursday.

It's also Valentine's day. Back when I was younger, I love Valentine's Day. what would the boy of the week get me, what would he think of my gift? when Eric and I were dating, engaged and newlywed, I loved Valentine's Day. What's not to love about hearts and flowers and chocolate? I am not sure what changed or when. Now, I prefer not to celebrate Valentine's Day.

Maybe it's knowing tht Valentine's day is a day about martyrdom for Christ - not jewlery in pretty velvet boxes.

Maybe it's because I have been married a while and I know love is more than just one day. Showing your love is more than a date on the calendar. Rather, in order to keep a marriage strong - you need to show your love every day. I delight in the little love text message left on my phone. Love is making home made chicken soup when he's home sick. Love is taking care of the house when you are on bed rest - because bed rest means bed rest. Love means not complaining that the house isn't clean exactly the way you want because he is trying and you are on bedrest. Love is snuggling together on the couch after the kids are in bed. Love is seeing a movie you don't want to see because the other really wants to see it. Love is sharing your favorite snack. Love is letting the other have a day to do what they want without complaint. Love is being mature enough to accept that it does not mean constant togetherness. Love is seeing him in your three children.

Love is knowing that even though you are so mad and angry - it will get better because love believes all things, hopes all things endures ALL things. Love never fails.

How can you confine that to one day and one little Hallmark card?

60 things

60 Things You Possibly Didn't Know About Me

1. What is in the back seat of your car right now?
a pair of boots for the cobbler to repair one of Joey's coats, charles' compass and that's about it

2. When was the last time you threw up
2006 - I had a stomach virus

3. What's your favorite curse word?
it depends - today it's been HELL

4. Name 3 people who made you smile today?
Joey, my husband, and Bette

5. What were you doing at 8 am this morning?
dealing with a crazy person and telling my kid to get his butt to the bus stop

6. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
Finishing the newsletter

7. What will you be doing 3 hours from now?
sleeping

8. Have you ever been to a strip club?
Nope

9. What is the last thing you said aloud?
JUST GO TO BED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

10. What is the best ice cream flavor?
I don't eat ice cream

11. What was the last thing you had to drink?
decaf grande two pump mocha

12. What are you wearing right now?
my heart jammies and a brown t-shirt that says B Prepared

13. What was the last thing you ate?
harbo gold gummiw

14. Have you bought any new clothing items this week?
nope

15. When was the last time you ran?
um yeah

16. What's the last sporting event you watched?
I don't do sports

18. Who is the last person you emailed?
my loopy friends

19. Ever go camping?
yes

20. Do you have a tan?
nope

24. Do you drink your soda from a straw?
nope

25. What did your last IM say?
cya

26. Are you someone's best friend?
I hope so

27. What are you doing tomorrow?
Finish my newsletter, start on my Circle of Love reports, all the mom stuff and - well who knows

28. Where is your mom right now?
At her house?

29. Look to your left, what do you see?
a toy chest that needs to be straightened and the wall

30. What color is your watch?
silver

31. What do you think of when you think of Australia ?
men with sexy accents

32. Would you consider plastic surgery?
Hell ya

33. What is your birthstone?
garnet

34. Do you go in at a fast food place or just hit thedrive thru?
Drive thru

35.How many kids do you want?
4

36. Do you have a dog?
yep - a slightly spoiled boxer

37. Last person you talked to on the phone?
Eric

38. Have you met anyone famous?
only in their own heads - actually I worked with Dayna devin when we were both working at a small time TV station.

39. Any plans today?
yes and they all went out the window around 8:45 AM

40. How many states have you lived in?
three

41. Ever go to college?
yep

42. Where are you right now?
here

43. Biggest annoyance in your life right now?
crazy people

44. Last song listened to?
Beautiful day

46. Are you allergic to anything?
cleaning - eggs and sulfa drugs plus various pollens

47. Favorite pair of shoes you wear all the time?
a toss up between my green sling back pumps, my black kitten healed flats and my black boots but really they are all my favorites and I love them all

48. Are you jealous of anyone?
I don't think so

50. Is anyone jealous of you?
LOL! They shouldn't be if they are!

51. What time is it?
11 something

52. Do any of your friends have children?
yep

53. Do you eat healthy?
yes. .

54. What do you usually do during the day?
seat on my butt, eatting bon bons and watching Oprah

55. Do you hate anyone right now?
nah

56. Do you use the word 'hello' daily?
No. I

58. How old will you be turning on your next birthday?
I;ll be celebrating an anniversary of my 30th birthday

59. Have you ever been to Six Flags?
yes,

60. How did you get one of your scars?
well there was this guy - oh wait no - I cut my hand on a broken vase when I was 9. I wanted to save the flower I made in Scouts

Almost a week

since we begin our TV experience and I am not missing it. Everybody else is getting busted sneaking a peak.

Imp

Imp
Originally uploaded by blondie478.

My sweet little boy

Coke is IT? No coke is HIT.....

My oldest son and husband just called. They are on their way home for a weekend of camping with scouts. The boys blasted cans of coke .

The oldest child was all full of testosteroney goodness and was proud of himself. He made Coke spew all over the place after a well aimed rifle.

This is the difference between men and women. i would have opened the soda and drank it's caramely caffeniated goodness. Men, even the young ones, see a gun and ammunition and shoot it - just because they can.

The younger brothers were just as excited to learn that the can was hit and injured in this experiment.

this is How we roll

Yesterday the boys had a day off from school (supposed "staff" development) so we headed to the mall. Charles needed new shoes because he has outgrown the ones we bought in late October. While we were there, the boys asked to ride the carousel. Normally, we're in a hurry but today we had the time and I had my new lens so I needed to try it out too.

Waiting to ride



Come ON Mom!



He was climbing the fence the other day and knocked his face - again. I think he's going to have a permanent scar there he scrapes and cuts there so often

Ready to Ride and Holding on for dear life



(I'm not happy with this - the area has tinted skylights that make a blue cast on everything - these are all done in manual though - and the horses were moving - I like the VR)

Howdy Ma'am!



A Boy and His Horse



the carousel was going really fast. I was getting nauseated watching it - looking through the view finder was worse.

Brown Wins it By a Nose



Giddy'ap



Living My Dream



Charles needed new shoes - his frigate sized feet have grown so much in the last three months. He's in men's sizes but not many stores carry sizes that small (what do you do in the meantime - he can't fit children's shoes - a man's 7 should be readily avaliable) so the salesmen, sensing my - well I'll go to another mall and use my associate discount mood went to the back and brought every shoe in Charles' size. - I made him take back the 6's - why would I buy my kid shoes that don't fit ?

anyway - this is my DREAM a stack of shoes in my size that I'd wear - almost taller than me. we'll leave the rolling around nekkid on the leather part out - i LOVE shoes.

for Charles not so much. He'd have been happy to have me bring him home shoes and he could avoid the mall all together. I promised him a trip to the bookstore if he made a quick decision.

Barren - Lenten Reflections

Today, as I was editing this photo Tommy and I were talking.

He was asking how many more days until we finished Lent and couldn't he please just watch a little TV - he DID do his chores after all. I told him no and he could go out and play - the day is beautiful and we are supposed to get rain Monday - go enjoy the day God made.

Tommy asked me what barren meant. I told him it meant empty. He thought for a moment and asked if that's what barren desert meant in the song we sang last week.

I told him that yes, that was what barren meant - devoid of anything. But a dessert is not really barren. A dessert, during monsoon is full of life. I told him this tree is not really barren. The tree is dormant. The warmth and rain (hopefully) that comes from spring will help make this tree grow leaves and be green.

We are like the tree. Now, during Lent, we are barren, in the desert of our sacrifice. On Easter, Jesus will rise and fill us with the love and hope and promise of new life with Him.

Lent is like a tree in winter. A period of dormancy where we sacrifice and regroup and await the Light of Christ.

Things we really don't need

a card that burps it's valentine greeting.

Nothing says love like a big loud BELCH.

Love Thursday - The Boss of Me

This picture was taken in November. My women's group donates 100 turkeys to a mission run by the Missionaries of Charity. The mission in South Dallas feeds almost 700 people each week. Thanksgiving is no different. For my family, this has become a tradition. We start off our holiday season visiting the shelter and mission with my group and delivering our turkeys.

I think, for me as a mother, it shows my kids that the world is not what goes on in our home, their schools and our neighborhood. Ou community is much more and we are fortunate to have what we do. Eric and I feel blessed to be able to help out and it puts the whole Thanksgiving and holiday in perspective for us. We all need to take the time to be thankful for what we have.

Sister is not shy about putting everyone to work. She even found a job for Joey (age 4) He had to help flatten boxes and then put them in piles.

Because he's his mother's son he is taking the time to make sure his brothers are doing their jobs correctly. He can be rather bossy - though *I* have no clue where he gets that trait from.

To change and to change for the better are two different things.
German proverb

A change for the better is what Lent is all about. We, as Christians strive to make ourselves more like Christ. Through our sacrifice and penance throughout Lent we make ourselves more Like Christ.

For the past few years, we've not really given up anything for Lent. The past two years, I sought to increase my prayer life. Eric has given up caffeine (yeah that was fun) and the soda in general (again more fun) They boys gave up picking on each other (that lasted two days) - and then they worked on doing good deeds. We also made an attempt to go to Stations of the Cross together. That was easier. Our parish does soup before - there's food.

This year, I felt the need to do something more. Something we would all benefit from and gain something from. So for the next 40 days we will not watch TV as a family. For the next 40 days - our TV is unplugged.

I got the idea from an article in the national newsletter for the Catholic Daughters. Each year, the national court encourages local courts to acknowledge Morality in the Media's turn of the TV Day on February 14. The idea is to turn off the TV and give your family, the best gift - quality time.

I thought this would be a great idea. Then I wondered would one day be enough? I don't just show my husband I love him on Valentine's Day - love and marriage are things that take an everyday commitment. I thought quality family time would be a great thing to give my family for Lent - Having to miss Johnny Fairplay duke it out on Survivor Fans vs All Stars - is sacrifice.

This year, we are giving up TV. Well MOST TV. Joey is four and no TV for 40 days would be hard for him to understand. So he still gets his four favorite PBS shows. Eric and I can still watch the nightly news.

For the next 40 days there will be no Ugly Betty or Survivor. There will be no Looney Tunes or This Old House (Tommy is in love with This Old House) and no History Channel (really how much does one need to know about WWII airplanes - Charles thinks there is never enough information about these things)

Instead, tonight after Ashes and dinner, we are going to sit down and come up with 40 family friendly activities to do instead of watching Tim Gunn (how I love him) saying "Designers make it work." (Please God, if it not too much to ask let Chris March and Christian make it to Fashion Week - please - and keep the writers on strike at least until early March)

and so it begins. No TV but instead an attempt to give my family quality time with each other.

(Eric has added a clause - we have to take a family walk nightly - he's willing to turn off the TV if we go out for a nightly walk - so maybe this will be 40 days with no TV and 40 pounds lighter between the two of us)

Just a question today

Who in their right mind let their child go on a campout with an imaginary giant purple dinosaur in charge?

Is it just me who'd say NO?

Just onderin'

Busy Busy

I’m busy, busy, dreadfully busy

You’ve no idea what I have to do.

Busy, busy, shockingly busy

Much, much too busy for you.


I think, at one time or another, all of us moms feel the same way. We have work deadlines. We have school functions, scouts, sports, church etc. Add in a few spousal events and the work of keeping a house and we are all much too busy.

But at what cost? What point do we draw the line? How do we determine what needs to go and what activities stay - or do we not do that and try to do all of it?

I forgot to make soup.

My women's group makes a meal quarterly and delivers it to a home that helps teens who've been removed from their homes. I signed up for soup.

Eric got sick, Joey got sick, there was work and rumors of layoffs looming and all sorts of other things and I forgot to call and say "I can't bring soup"

So no one brought soup.

I feel bad, but I am also mad.

For this group I am the president. I attend the meetings no one else attends, I make sure we all get to training. I spend three hours at least before each meeting getting things ready and printed and neat and tidy. I call the members and remind them. I coordinate room requests and fundraisers with each parish and thenn, when no one else shows up or forgets or what ever, I deal with it.

The woman in charge of the event could have called me wednesday and asked me if I still planned on meeting her. It would have jogged my memory and I wouldn't have forgotten the soup.

But this week, my family and it's strep throat germs came first.

Love Thursday is BACK

and here is my first entry -

The Kiss!

Notes from sesame street

The letter of the day is W.

So, What's your favorite W word?

without a doubt - WINE!

I've Been Thinking

Yes, I know that is a dangerous thing. But indeed there have been thoughts that have been thunk.

I was watching - well listening to - some gossip rag show that guises itself as "entertainment news"

You know the mindless dribble about what Hollywood star is sleeping with who. Who's pregnant and who might be pregnant and all that other junk that some one - somewhere thinks is news.

They were talking about Britney Spears. The slutty little white trash tramp who's life is in the crapper. We all know she is mentally ill (my guess is bipoloar with psychgosis - knowing some one like her)

The paparazi was following her like vulters circling dead meat. It was sickening. The more she begged them to leave her alone the more they clicked and circled.

If Unfitely was a regular Joe, number one she'd have lost her children long ago and number two - the people chasing her would be in jail for stalking. If we, average American citizens were photographed in our mosy intimate moments - we'd press charges.

Yet, we think it is okay for people to follow stars. Did we really need to see Heath Ledger's body being carried from his apartment? do we really need to see Unfitely at Starbucks? Do we really need to know what that wacko Tom cruise had for breakfast?

Is it a sin for Nichole Kidman to know blab that she's expecting to the world until they are sure the pregnancy would stick? Who wants to see the news of their miscarriage sent around the world?

It makes me sad and dismayed that the news of the day is more and more about Hollywood and less and less about real issues.

So and so is sleeping with so and so. Some crackhead child star is in rehab - again oh and the fed dropped interest rates.

One "news" man on one of these rag shows told us we'd be the first to know the results of Heath's autopsy and more about Unfitely's deposition in her child custody case because we had a right to know.

puh leez.

Turning it off to tune in

Lent is soon to be upon us. In one week we'll be starting Lent. In the past, we've not done anything big for Lent. Increasing prayer life, a family rosary, encouraging the kids to five up and give out.

Well, this year, after much thought. We are actually giving something up as a family. We are turning off the tube and tuning into our family. There's not a lot wrong with our family. But, I've noticed that the kids, Tommy in general, turns on the TV as soon as he gets up in the morning. He'll get up at 5:30 AM and tune into DIY. I have awakened to This Old House everyday for a week now.

The TV here is always on. It's like a thousand voices constantly in the background.

So as of February 6, our TV is going black for 40 days

40 days to turn off the TV and Tune into one another.

Puberty - a Hairy Situation

Conversation around the dinner table last night.

Charles: I have hair under my arms too

Tommy: Oh that is so gross

Me: It's a fact of life but not suitable for dinner conversation.

Said hair growing child proceeded to show us the tufts of hair growing under his noxious armpits.

Lovely.

For a few months now, we've noticed his voice had gotten a little lower. He sprouted up a few inches as well. Up two pant sizes since August.

It seems Mother Nature has collided with my son and seems hell bent on turning him into a young man.

Other things have been developing as well. I think he likes a girl. You know, like likes. There was a dance at school last week and he mentioned going. I asked him if he wanted to and he said he wasn't sure. I heard him talking to a friend. He didn't go because he wanted to ask a girl but wasn't sure how to. She had been dropping hints that she wanted to go with him.

How do you role play that?

Career choices

"Mommy, when I grow up I want to be a carrot"

"Joey, what kind of carrot?"

"A big orange crunchy carrot or maybe I want to be a doughnut"

"Yeast or cake?"

"Yeast witch chocolate and green frosting and I'll sit on a fluffy cloud."

"Will there be sprinkles"

"Rainbow colored ones all over the top"

"I love you Joey."

"I love you too Mommy."

How do you do it?

We learned Monday, one o Charles' classmates died. This wasn't a sudden unexpected death. It was an inevitable act. The boy in question was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor in 2006, with no known cure.

People rallied around the family and gave them support. He got to live his dreams - to ride a motorcycle and to ly in an Army helicopter.

The mother posted that he went to be with Jesus after a long fight. They believe he felt no pain or fear.

My question is, looking at my child, the same age and how do you tell them that the growth in their head, chest, whatever is going to kill them.

How do you let go and say goodbye to your son?

My thoughts are with the Barta family but tonight, I will hug my own teenaged boy and forget that he would forget his own head i it wasn't attached to his body. I will forget the eye rolls and deep sighs and the fact that he is a mouth attached to a deep vast hole that knows no end.

These things I will forget and thank God for.

Happy 2008

2007 is gone - ten days now gone.

2008 is among us. I am almost to the point of remembering to date things 2008 even.

2007 was a mixed bag of tricks - some really great things happened. But some really crappy ones as well. You have to take the good with the bad.

The bad makes the good much sweeter.

So 2008 here's to you :-)