Confirmation Pix

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.

Thank you for your prayers!!

The Alphabet Meme

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!!!!

Confirmation Prayers!!

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

My mother the actress

My mother was a great actress.

On one occasion my brother had a gag item that looked like a small pool of vomit. It was just the right size to have been left by our miniature dachshund. We were about nine and ten years old, I think. My brother put it in the middle of the living room and called,

"MOM, GRETA THREW UP!!!"

My mom, who NEVER swore said, "That d___d dog!!!

(My brother and I are already stifling laughter)

She came out with a paper towel, cupped it over the item and scooped it up. Then without the slightest twinkle in her eye she said with all seriousness,

"Wow. That came up really easily." She then took it over to the garbage can, dropped it in, and walked away, without a word.

My brother and I almost died silently laughing. It was silent because we wanted to keep up the pretense that we had actually fooled her. That's what made it so funny.

We knew we hadn't fooled her. And she knew that we knew that we hadn't fooled her.

But she wouldn't let on because We were having so much fun!!

She was a great actress and a great mom. We really miss you a lot, Mom.

Mommy blogging!!

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.

Do the ears of children hear better?

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.

Do we stop to hear the music?

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....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html

Happy Mothers'Day

Happy Mothers' Day to all those women 

who have been blessed with

  the greatest job in the world!!!!!!!!!!!!

(and don't let the world tell you otherwise...)

Techno--Idiot

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.

It wasn't until later that I realized what the problem was.  Are you ready?

The camera was not connected to the computer!!  Yup.  I actually did that.  It was next to the computer.  But the little plug was not attached.  I was back in my days when I thought computers were so smart they should be able to read my mind.  Course, even reading my mind would not have helped put my pictures up with no connection!!!!

(Glad my kids didn't notice...)

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.

Finally on Tuesday she had some chicken noodle soup.  I thought, Yea! She's getting better.  Nope.  she threw it up.  Next day, still home, she asked for chicken noodle soup again.  I gave it to her.  What could be better than chicken soup, right?  Wrong.  She threw it up again.  Back to popsicles.  Later in the day, "Mom, can I have some chicken noodle soup?"  My response, "Are you SURE  you want it?"  "Yup."  You guessed it.  She threw it up AGAIN.

Thursday-- she was feeling a little better. I, wanting to get some food into the little thing, said, "Is there ANYTHING at all that sounds good for dinner."  She paused, looked a little sheepish and said, " KFC popcorn chicken??"  Eyebrows raised I whispered, "Kentucky Fried popcorn chicken???"   This is not going to be good. She said, "My head knows that's not good for someone who's sick but my tummy thinks it sounds good."  

I thought let's go with the tummy because conventional wisdom is definitely not working here.  Would you believe the deep-fried greasy popcorn chicken stayed down?!?!   Greasy chicken--  the new comfort food.  Who knew?????  She went back to school today.  

The glory of God is all over the Spring. 

New life, so full of hope

A kind of resurrection.

Blessed be God .

Prom night

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

Child Number Two----Launched!!

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.)

Congratulations, Anne.  We all love you a lot!!

May Crowning Tomorrow

Tomorrow is our annual parish-wide May Crowning. I have been working on it with a committee of people. Could you pray that Mary will be honored and that the Lord will be pleased with our efforts? It's all of the last minute details that I'm praying will all go well. Mary O. once again has ordered the crown from Hawaii. Fresh Hawaiian flowers!!!! Only the best for the queen. Way to go, Mary O. Above is how she looked last year, queen of the angels, queen of the May!!

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.

Madonna University Nursing Pinning Ceremony

Today Anne received her nursing pin from Madonna University.  She chose longtime family friend and R.N. Kathy M. to pin her.  It was very moving.  Kathy was thrilled to do the honors.  And the entire nursing class recited the Nurses Pledge, the same one Kathy herself recited some 30 years ago.

Nurses Pledge

I solemnly pledge myself before God and in

the presence of this assembly:

To pass my life in purity and to practice my 

profession faithfully;

I will abstain from whatever is deleterious

and mischievous and will not take or

knowingly administer any harmful drug;

I will do all in my power to maintain and

elevate the standard of my profession and

will hold in confidence all personal matters

committed to my keeping and all family 

affairs coming to my knowledge in the

 practice of my calling;

With loyalty will I endeavor to aid the 

physician in his work and devote myself to

the welfare of those committed to my care.

Pretty cool....

Grand Theft Auto IV-- Hello! Anybody home??

In regards to the release of the new violent video game "Grand Theft Auto IV," the Ann Arbor News reports that Cheryl K. Olson, co-director of the Harvard Medical School Center for Mental Health and Media said "most parents need not worry."  Well... so glad to hear that someone from Harvard thinks there's no need for parents to worry.  (Course we all know of the infallibility of Harvard scholars, right?)

Whether or not these games encourage young people to adopt the behavior modeled in the game, why on EARTH would a parent allow a minor to play a game like this?  Are we trying to raise children of character? Do we want them to become responsible citizens some day?  And most importantly, are we raising children of heroic virtue who will one day be citizens of heaven?  Or are we just trying to avoid conflict with them, allowing them to do whatever they please as long as it's not illegal (and this game should be).

Want to know what I think?  I THINK IT'S A SICK GAME THAT NO ONE SHOULD BE PLAYING!!!!  Where are the adults??  Is anyone in charge in the houses where kids are playing this sick game?

To those who say there is no harm done since it's just a video game, I say why would you want to appeal to the basest of human instincts?  Why would you want to encourage a fascination with evil?  Why would you want your child to enter an imaginary world in which he is committing violent and horrible crimes?  I don't get it.  This is SICK.  It's just plain sick and what a world we live in where people can make money selling games like this to children and the parents do nothing about it.  (And adults who are playing the game are appealing to the darkest, most psychopathic aspects of their beings....they are in danger too.)  I don't know.  Where are the people with common sense?

Catholic Mass Music

I did mention a few posts ago that I thought some of the music at the PAPAL Mass in Washington sounded like it belonged in a nightclub.  Some have commented that the music at that Mass reflected the diversity of liturgical music at American Catholic Masses.  Since I nearly always attend Mass at my own Catholic Church I thought hmmmm, maybe my knowledge of American liturgical music is limited.

Yesterday, I attended Mass in a different city.  The music was led by a clearly very talented pianist playing a Steinway grand piano.   Much of the music was good music and clearly focused toward the Lord.  But there was something troubling about it.  There was a lot of jazzed up, improv-type embellishment to the melody.  It was actually very lovely.  But it did not feel reverent.  I can appreciate a lot of different kinds of music.  It was not that this music was not my cup of tea.  It did have a sound that seemed more typical for a nightclub than a church.  Had someone jumped up and done a tap dance or a soft shoe kind of dance routine in front of the altar, it would not have seemed MUSICALLY inappropriate with this kind of music as the backdrop.  That's the problem.  

Although it was pretty music, and even though the lyrics were reverent and directed toward God, it somehow seemed to trivialize what was happening at the Mass.  The gravity, the enormous beauty, the unfathomable miracle that occurs in the Mass requires music that is similarly serious.  I think that seriousness can be expressed in different styles of music.  I am not one that thinks reverence can't be expressed with a guitar.  But if the effect of the music is more that your toes feel like tapping than that your soul is turned lovingly toward your creator, then, in my opinion, the purpose of the music in that liturgy has been lost.

Dare I think Spring is here?

My boys played their last hockey game of the season.  And it was indoors.  I really enjoyed the green/red sock combination.  It made it a lot easier to identify him from the other players.  Last hockey game until next winter??  I think that may mean that winter is over....maybe.

And who knew a month ago that these lovely daffodils would be gracing my front walk just a month later.  I think maybe it's truly here.

Can Teenagers ever eat!!!

I have three teenagers living at home now, and one pre-teen. I cannot BELIEVE how much food we are going through. There's my nineteen-year-old who burns most of his calories attacking the piano and maybe still doing some growing? There's my sixteen-year-old son who is running track (great sprinter) and doing off season weight training for football. There's my thirteen year old daughter who is still in her growth spurt and filling out season. And my 11 and a half-year-old who is starting to grow at an alarming rate. And then there's my 22 year-old who does not live at home but stops by for meals frequently.

OK. You get the picture. We are going through a gallon of milk a day. Yes, one ENTIRE gallon a day. I now buy four to five gallons at a time. (And one of these kids doesn't drink any milk.) We bought 32 bagels the other day. In three days they were all gone, every last one of them. A cereal box (especially if it's a sweet, junky one) will disappear in a day. I bought about four boxes of crackers the other day....gone in three days. I mean GONE. Not a single cracker left. A 9x13 pan of Rice Krispy Treats-- one day, max.  And they don't just eat carbs either. They also devour strawberries, grapes, apples, cheese- (That's where the crackers went) and yogurt. And let's not forget ice cream. A half gallon? I'd give it two to three days, and that long only because they are supposed to ask before they eat ice cream.

God is good. I'm grateful I can keep them full and growing in a healthy manner. It's just amazing, that's all. I guess growth and all that energy burns a LOT of calories. Wish I could burn calories like that.