On my daughter's Confirmation night my youngest son was supposed to be at the Catholic League championships for track.  Ordinarily I would not allow any sports event to be given a higher priority than an important family event like a Confirmation.  Even an individual event at a championship I would require a child to skip to be at his sister's Confirmation.

Here is how my front walkway looked a few short months ago.....

This time of year, there is just no place like the Dairy Queen to put a smile on kids' faces.
Even a little wait it too long.......

And then..... they are completely engrossed in the cold, sweet, taste sensation.  You gotta love it.

Yesterday was a very nice day! I was able to spend nearly four hours IN MY HOUSE. I like to be in my house because that's when I get things done. I did a lot of laundry, some blogging, listened to some talk radio and had some quiet time too.

These apple blossoms bloomed in my backyard several weeks ago, but I have to tell the story of when my oldest was just learning about apple blossoms.  He was about three.  (Now he's twenty-three, almost twenty-four.)

I am sooo tired. We had a brunch today to celebrate my daughter's Confirmation. A lot of friends came by. The wonderful part of having people over (besides just the fun of being with them) is that I actually get my house looking pretty good. I even planted most of my flower beds and pulled out most of the weeds. The bathroom is clean. The house is dusted. I guess I'm willing to put forth this kind of effort for other people, but for us? Well, not so much and not so often. Maybe there's something wrong with that. Anyway, we get to enjoy it now!

Warning:   Bad attitude on this post.....

With sponsor, Pat!!!  Ready to go!

With the proud Mom and Dad.
"Scholastica" with her godparents and Pat M. her sponsor, who sometimes comments on this blog.

Jean from Catholic Fire tagged me for this meme. And e-friend Deb from Ukok's Place has also done it with some fun answers.

The theme for this meme is that using the 26 letters of the alphabet you will express who you are, what you do, your interests, what matters to you etc….and you have to write it within 26 minutes…

A-- athlete-- I am NOT one. I don't even like exercising unless it's gardening. I do exercise, but it's a chore...

B- - Bailhe-- is my maiden last name

C-- Catholic and conservative

D--Definitely likes to blog

E-- eggs-- I like them

F-- funny- I can be at times

G-- generous, I hope

H-- Holy Spirit, come!!

I-- intense, yeah, sometimes I am

J-- Jesus is my Lord, my reason for living

K-- kids, I love them

L-- listener, I'm becoming a better one oh, and linguistics (my college major

M-- mother, yup, I'm the mom.

N-- never want to go skydiving. I don't like heights.

O-- opinionated, definitely

P-- patient, oh, I wish. working on it

Q-- guirky, yeah, I can be

R-- Rosemary, my real name

S-- Stay-at-home-mom and lovin' it

T-- testy

U-- uninterested in most of what's on TV

V-- very pro-life!!!!

W-- wanting to do the mom-thing right!

X-- Xtra grateful for the many blessings the Lord has given

Y-- you, the readers of my blog make me smile

Z-- zoo-- happy family memories

Thanks for the tag, Jean.

I tag:

Journey of Truth at A book A Day

Mimi at Bigger than a Breadbox

Barb at SFO Mom

Mary Poppins Not at Crazy Acres

Kate at Heart Speaks to Heart


Have fun!!!!

Please pray for my daughter who will receive the sacrament of Confirmation tonight!!!! She will take the name Scholastica!!!

My mother was a great actress.

Kellan from "On The Upside" was interviewed by a local television station about "mommy blogging!" If this link works it will take you to a clip of the great interview. (Just endure the short commercial first.) Kellan does a great job explaining what blogging is about and why we love it. Check it out!

Oh, and check out Kellan's blog too. It is very entertaining. I laugh every time I read it.

OK. I know I'm obsessing a little on this Joshua Bell article. (see yesterday's post). And my apologies to those of you who already talked this out when it was blogged about some time ago. (This is not a blog that stays current.)

I don't know if I would have stopped to listen to Joshua Bell. For me, that probably would have depended, like everybody else, on the urgency with which I needed to make that train.

But I was struck by this point in the article:

"But the behavior of one demographic remained absolutely consistent. Every single time a child walked past, he or she tried to stop and watch. And every single time, a parent scooted the kid away."

What do you make of that? Is it because children are so pure that they immediately recognize and are drawn to beauty? Is is because they have so little concept of time that listening to beautiful music would naturally seem more important to them than getting anywhere on time?

I'll tell you one thing. A home-schooling, stay-at-home mom with children would have stopped. That is the beauty of being at home with one's children. You can stop to look at and talk about the flowers, that interesting bird, or that lovely music. The freedom to nurture one's children while not being tied to a schedule is wonderful--- especially with preschoolers. Of course, this freedom can be sacrificed by keeping a family schedule that's too full.....but that is the subject of another post.

My oldest son forwarded to me a fascinating article from the Washington Post about renowned violinist Joshua Bell agreeing to play the violin in a subway, posing as a street person begging.  I didn't get anything written on my blog yesterday because I was so drawn in to this article.  It's long but well worth the read.  In my mind all kinds of questions were raised about the nature of people, the quality and pace of our lives, the definition of beauty and goodness... Oh, and if the link works there are two clips of his actual performance in the subway.  He's playing on a violin worth over three million dollars!!!!  Would love to hear your reactions....

The other night I was trying to load some pictures onto my laptop.  I couldn't figure out how to do it.  I was in iphoto.  Everything looked good.  I just couldn't figure out what I was forgetting to click.  I even started to get annoyed with my computer like I used to.  The Apple is supposed to be so intuitive.  Why wasn't my intuition working???  I even walked away from it thinking I'll have to ask my Apple tutor next time I go.

My daughter came home from school on Monday with a headache and stomach ache.  It usually takes her a long time to recover from such ailments.  I think she has a sensitive system.  All day Monday and most of Tuesday she only drank small amounts and didn't want to eat anything.

Here he was on prom night!  And wearing his grandfather's cuff links.  How cool is that.

Here she is!!  Off to heal the world!! (In those great shoes.  Did you notice they match the lining of the sash?  She IS my mother's granddaughter.  No doubt about it.)

If a teenager is told that a pile of books may not be kept on a chair in the living room, is it reasonable for that teenager to then conclude that the floor next to the chair is an acceptable place to leave the books?  And would an intelligent teenager be so sure of this conclusion that he might just take the books from the chair and put them on the floor?  Yup.  And when the inappropriateness of this second location for the books was pointed out to this teenager, should I be surprised to not see even a hint of sheepishness in his response?  Just a calm reaction to what to him was just another new piece of information about where to keep books ?  I guess not.  Teenagers are really just not all there yet.  Lot of information in those heads but a whole lot still missing too.  Guess that's why we shouldn't be too hard on them.