12): Random Correspondences Edition

By bobbi
March 2, 2012
3 Comments

– 1 –

Dear Blog Reader,
I have been absent for the majority of this week. I have numerous posts in my head but just could not get myself to sit down and type them out. I feel like I should be sharing spiritual insights and Lenten suggestions that will bring you closer to Christ, but frankly, my mind is blank. Instead, you will get the usual slightly humorous banter of a woman who is ignoring piles of dirty laundry and a sink full of dirty dishes. I’m sorry.
Apologetically,
Me

– 2 –

My Dear Sweet Hubby,
What kind of morning were you having? I woke up to find your phone, your scapular and your uneaten peanut butter and jelly sandwich that I am assuming was your breakfast? Were you called into work early at the last minute? Were you actually raptured while I was left here on earth? (I really do need to up my prayer life.) No, I guess you were just running out the door too fast. No worries, my love. I will drive over and bring you your things. It is the least I can do when you do so much for me.
Blessed to be,
Your Wife

– 3 –

Dear Driver from Texas,
Please excuse me for smiling at you on the road yesterday. I was not flirting with you. I was smiling at the fact that your Texas longhorn logo on the back of your truck always makes me think of a priest’s clerical collar.

I know it is weird and most likely I need glasses but I can’t help it.
Call me,
Catholic

– 4 –

Dear Tourist of the Mission,

Welcome to my parish. I am so pleased to have you join us at Mass. I do not mind you sitting behind me. I will be patient with you and your children because I know how difficult it can be to keep them quiet. I am also sympathetic that sometimes little ones need bribes of cheerios and fishy crackers to sit still. However, once your kids are over toddlerhood (and in grammar school) it is best to not let them eat in Church. And it is particularly discouraged to have them eating Jack-in-the-box tacos and fries in the pew, minutes before Mass is going to start. The least you could have done is brought extra tacos for those of us sitting around you. That taco smell is very seductive, making one crave the greasy goodness of tortillas fried around mystery meat.

Ashamedly,
The Parishioner with the Growling Stomach

– 5 –

Dear American Idol,

After three or four years of watching your show, I have finally decided to give you up. You take up too much of my time and I rarely listen to the winners you’ve produced. However, I caught a few minutes of your show last night and already found myself rooting for some girl I heard singing. Blast you. Now I may have to watch next week just to see what the top 13 contestants sound like, even though I am now dating The Voice. This is what happens when you take away my Downton Abbey. I get so depressed I listen to Steven Tyler’s cryptic nonsense. (And why didn’t Ryan Seacrest shave? He’s too baby faced to look good scruffy.)

Reluctantly,
A Former AI Voter

– 6 –

Dear Daylight Savings Time,

I have heard many people marveling at your wonder. They rejoice in their extra sunlight. I hate to disappoint them by admitting that I loathe you. I live in California. I do not need extra sunlight. I have four children. I need sleep. They need sleep. Thanks to you, next week we will be tired, cranky and hunting for hidden chocolate. I’m too mad to even continue speaking to you right now.

Undoubtedly,
No Fan

– 7 –

My Dear 2 Year Old,

I love you very much but this continuous taking my iphone has got to stop. No matter where I put it, you seem to find it. I don’t mind you watching Blue’s Clues or playing your Thomas the Train puzzles but it can only be when I allow you to do so. Not to mention that when you are done playing, you hide my phone. I know you are going through your hiding stage now – shoes in the toy box, car keys in the laundry basket, candy in your underwear drawer but you have got to Stop. Hiding. My. Phone. I don’t ever want to call my cell number and have to listen for the ring only to find that my phone was buried in your sand box. You are incredibly lucky that it is still working. From now on I am keeping my phone here in my pocket where you can’t get it without me knowing…wait, where did my phone go? Egads. I better check the toilets.

Wondering Why,
I Haven’t Had a Heart Attack Yet

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Have a wonderful weekend and may your phone always be in your pocket.

TV Talk Mondays: A Date with Dickens

By bobbi
February 27, 2012
2 Comments

(Sorry, this was supposed to be up in the morn but with all the flood fiasco I didn’t get to post it until late Monday.)
It was a little sad this morning not being able to share any Downton comments with you. Dawn over at By Sun and Candlelight was also feeling the void so she started Masterpiece Monday to discuss Sunday night’s Masterpiece show. I love the idea and I was eager to join in but last night they all watched Charles Dickens’ The Old Curiosity Shop but our local station was playing Upstairs, Downstairs. I guess it really didn’t matter since I tried to watch The Old Curiosity Shop when it first aired but I just couldn’t get into it. I thought it was a little boring. Maybe I just wasn’t in the right mood.
The next show they are watching is South Riding. I saw it last year and it was decent but I’d have to rewatch it to remember it well enough to discuss. The only problem is that my local PBS station is fundraising for the next couple of weeks so I’ll have to watch it online if I want to participate. Frankly, if I am going to watch Anna Maxwell Martin star in a show, I’d much rather watch her in Bleak House, which I looove. And now that I think about it…watching Gillian Anderson in Bleak House will get me prepped for watching Great Expectations on April 1, which also stars Gillian.
Yes, I think that’s what I’ll do. I looked at the calendar and I’ll divide the episodes into two hour blocks
Sunday, March 4: Parts 1-2
Sunday, March 11: Parts 3-4
Sunday, March 18: Parts 5-6
Sunday, March 25: Parts 7-8
The following Mondays I’ll post my thoughts and comments. If you’d like to join along and don’t already have the DVD, you can watch it streaming on Netflix or Amazon Prime.
Here is a trailer for Bleak House, although it mostly focuses on Lady Deadlock and not any of my other favorite characters.

I think this will be a great preparation for the next Dicken’s story from Masterpiece Theater, Great Expectations on April 1 & 8. Yay!

Watch Great Expectations Preview on PBS. See more from Masterpiece.

Then…. when we are done with that we have the premiere of Julian Fellowes’ mini-series Titanic starting on Saturday, April 14 .

This blog’s TV Talk Mondays will be jumping this spring! I can’t wait!

7 Quick Takes (2/24/12): Floods, Lent & Thomas Parties

By bobbi
February 24, 2012
6 Comments

Hosted by Jen at Conversion Diary.(Welcome back, Jen!)

– 1 –

When It Rains It Pours – Yesterday was a crazy day with everything happening at once! First, as you may have seen in this week’s {pretty, happy, funny, real}, we had a problem with the drainage of our washing machine. The water flooded the laundry room and poured out onto the carpet. On a “normal” day I would be in the kitchen and could see/hear if something was amiss in the laundry room but Matthew just happened to have (excuse the TMI) an explosive diaper and it was so bad he had to be put in the bath tub immediately. So while I was busy in the back of the house taking care of that, the flooding happened. Luckily Brian came home soon after and between the two of us we were able to fix the drained clog and clean up all the water but the carpets were still sloshy.

– 2 –

Plug Your Nose – Yesterday I woke up and as I walked down the hallway I was met with a horrendous stench – it was the smell of “wet rags” but multiplied since that whole section of carpet that was waterlogged. We called the guys who have worked on our carpets before and they just happened to be in our area and came over within an hour. They pulled up the carpet and inspected the damage. We have to replace the carpet padding but thankfully the floorboards weren’t damaged and the carpet doesn’t need to be replaced. We have to keep the blowers running over the weekend, which will be interesting with little kids in the house. On Monday they’ll be back to clean the carpets and get the smell out. I hope it works because right now it stinks to high heaven in here. Ew.

– 3 –

My sweet JP.

What? – Yesterday, I also had to take John-Paul to get his hearing tested, a normal procedure when you start speech therapy. It turns out that he is having trouble hearing from his right ear. There is fluid in his ear and they are not sure if it is because he’s been nursing a cold for a couple weeks or if it has been there for awhile. I have to go back in a month for him to take another test. If the fluid has drained then it was most likely from his cold. If the fluid is still there then they’ll have to insert tiny tubes to help it drain out. It could also be part of the reason he is not speaking well. He may be having trouble hearing correctly. Either way, we just have to wait and see what happens at the next test.

– 4 –

Patience, Please – There were a number of other mishaps to happen yesterday but it would take too much time to explain now. Suffice to say that I am glad it is Lent because every time I was about to ~~lose it and go postal~~ get slightly perturbed I turned my mind to Christ and begged for his grace. It was a good lesson for me to have a better attitude while carrying these little crosses.

– 5 –

More Lent Ideas – Speaking of Lent, my sister EL had some fabulous Lenten projects and ideas. I especially love the Lent wreath she made. If you need a little inspiration, go over there and check it out Lent Crafts for 2012 and Portable Outdoor Stations of the Cross.

– 6 –

Bella at her 4th Birthday Thomas the Train party.

The Martha Stewart of Party Planning– And speaking of my sister EL and great ideas, she also posted about my nephew’s Thomas the Train birthday party. I did a Thomas party once for Bella when she going through her Thomas phase but it was not nearly as cute as this one. So if you are thinking of a Thomas party, then visit Thomas the Train Party for some great ideas.

– 7 –

I Heart Magazines – Lastly, I was so bummed when Faith and Family stopped publishing their magazine and I was unconvinced that Catholic Digest would be just as good. This week I received the new Catholic Digest and I’m happy to say that I looove it! I haven’t finished reading it yet but what I have seen so far is great! There are articles from some of my favorite Catholic women – Hallie Lord, Danielle Bean, Simcha Fisher, Rachel Balducci, Lisa Hendey, Kate Wicker, Daria Sockey and many more. Brian was a little bummed because he said it was a women’s magazine, even though I told him there were some articles for men. I don’t think he was convinced but in the meantime I’ll be enjoying it. If you haven’t subscribed yet, you can do so here. (By the way, Mom, if you aren’t already subscribed I’m sending you and the fam a gift sub. 🙂

That’s it for today. Have a wonderful weekend!!

{pretty, happy, funny, real} – vol 23: Haircuts, Hand-Me-Down PJ’s & Water Damage

By bobbi
February 24, 2012
No Comments

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~

I am a day late posting this but it was an insane day yesterday and I never had time to post this. Better late than never. 🙂

{pretty}

Bella got a haircut the other day and we took off about 3 inches. She looks so much older to me! How did my baby girl get so grown up?? I swear she look just like my little sister JC! (And JC is still my little sister even though she is in her 20’s now. 😉

{happy}

Matthew is most happy when he gets to explore something new. I was cleaning out the fridge and when he saw the door open he ran over. You can’t see it from this angle but he has a huge smile on his face.

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“Uh, oh. Did someone catch me in the act?”

********************

“But, mom, I was just looking for a snack!”

{funny}

I think it is funny that these pair of pajamas have lasted long enough to survive all three boys and their mischief.

Here Andrew is wearing them while he crushed up animal crackers to make a rocky terrain for Wall-E.

********************

Here John-Paul is wearing them while “helping” me with the dishes.

{real}

This is what happens when your washing machine overflows and it floods the laundry room and the carpet outside the door. Water damage. Ugh!

I hope you enjoyed my week in photos.

A Blessed Lent 2012

By bobbi
February 22, 2012
2 Comments

Happy Ash Wednesday! Or as it is more commonly known out in public – Happy “hey, you’ve got some dirt on your forehead” day. 😉 Hopefully most of you decided long ago what you are going to give up or what you are going to do. If you are a procrastinator like myself, then you are still debating what you should do this lent.

If you need some inspiration, Danielle Bean has always had great ideas about what to do for Lent! Two years ago I did the 40 Bags in 40 Days as she suggested. This year she posted 40 Ways for 40 Days. The ideas are excellent covering the areas of prayer, fasting and alms giving. You could surely find something perfect for you. You could even print off her list and cut out each suggestion. Place in a jar and pick one out to work on that day or that week. It could make it a little fun, especially if the kids are involved in picking!

For our kids we are doing the Holy Heroes Lenten Adventure. We purchased the Lenten Adventure Activity Book Set for the kids.

For the younger boys who can’t do the older puzzle pages, we purchased the Life of Christ Complete Coloring Pack to help them learn the all the mysteries of the rosary.

You can also sign up for the free Lenten Adventure emails that sends you activities to do with your kids during Lent.
For me personally, during this Lent I want to work on my time management – lessen my time spend on frivolity (hello, Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Downton Abbey websites…) and spend more time praying, reading Scripture/spiritual books and teaching my kids about the faith.

I don’t want to cut these “frivolous” things out completely because frankly, it’s a part of my life and I might as well learn how to moderate it. It reminds me of being on a diet. You can starve yourself and lost 10 pounds but eventually you are going to have to learn how to eat moderately and in a healthy manner. So that is my goal. Learn how to spend my time in a spiritually healthy manner. This can still seem a bit vague so each day during my morning prayer I make one or two mini-goals – a concrete act I can do to get me closer to the big picture.

How about you? What are you doing this Lent? Feel free to share and have a blessed Ash Wednesday!

Revolution of Love

Do small things with great love.

Blog Archives

7 Quick Takes (3/2/12): Random Correspondences Edition

TV Talk Mondays: A Date with Dickens

7 Quick Takes (2/24/12): Floods, Lent & Thomas Parties

{pretty, happy, funny, real} – vol 23: Haircuts, Hand-Me-Down PJ’s & Water Damage

A Blessed Lent 2012