Wedding Planning-- Good stuff

I have been having so much fun with my daughter making wedding plans!! The other day we met at Sweetwaters Cafe to go over the plans for the flowers. We met at this comfy coffeeshop in the Kerrytown district of Ann Arbor because I wanted Anne to see a really interesting jewelry shop upstairs. We sat at the table next to the window which you can see on the far right of the right photo above. I am so blessed that my daughter is including me in her wedding plans. It's been great! And I think we have the flowers planned within budget! Good times.

Then we went upstairs to Princess Designs. I love this little jewelry shop. All the jewelry is hand made by the owner who runs the store. She has lots of unique designs made with a variety of materials and all very reasonable. I thought Anne might find something she would like for the bridesmaids. Guess what? She found the jewelry for herself for the wedding! It's gorgeous and the owner is custom making one of the pieces. We both felt really comfortable with her. She was willing to give her honest opinion, but only when asked. She was helpful in figuring out what Anne would like and offering suggestions. The pieces are gorgeous. And much less expensive than what I would expect to pay for custom hand made jewelry crafted of these materials. In order to keep the bridal outfit confidential I won't go into more detail until after the wedding. Very successful shopping trip!

Well, it was nearly lunchtime by the time we finished the fun at Princess Designs. Zingerman's Deli is just a block away so we HAD to go there. John lives just a block on the other side of Zingerman's so we called him. Anne left him a message, "Hey, John, come over to Zingerman's. Mom's buying." LOL Needless to say, he joined us. Zingerman's, while a little pricey, has the best sandwiches in the world.

As I sat on the outside patio at Zingerman's I was reminded of having been there over twenty years ago. I had two children at the time, Mike and Anne, and I believe Anne was still a toddler. It was a gorgeous day and my sister was with us. It was peaceful. The kids were running around and Anne was picking up little crumbs of bread and feeding them to the birds. She and Mike were having so much fun, laughing and running. My sister and I were so enjoying being with them. I remember saying to her, "There is not a job in the world that would give me more satisfaction than being able to sit here at Zingerman's watching Annie feed the birds." It was one of those moments where you just thank God for the privilege of being a stay-at-home mom.

And now, here I was, sitting on the same patio, helping her plan her wedding. It brought tears to my eyes.

God is so good. Always.

The New Tree

I know you're probably wondering how I can be so geeked about a little tree.

I don't know. It's about five years old. It was free, because it's between the sidewalk and the street, technically city property.

And I like it. I love the cherry blossoms in Japan and here I now have my very own Japanese cherry blossom tree.

And.....It's starting to bloom little tiny cherry blossoms!!!!

How cool is that? There are now maybe 5 or 6 little blossoms. Life continues. God is good.

Confirmation Pictures

Just after the Confirmation....Joey's mom Mary and her longtime friend, Joey's Godmother Lynn....

Here is Joey (Damien) with his sponsor, my son Mike, and the bishop.

This is one cool dude....

Good friend Mary O. with Mike. Mary had a lovely celebration at her home after the Confirmation.

Mary and Liz...

All those we could find at that moment for a group picture. Back row: My son Mike, hubby Mike, son Jim, and Joe (father of Damien) Front row: yours truly, Mary, Joey's mom, and my daughter Mary.
Good food. Good friends. These times are special.

Prayers for Joey...

We're going to Joey's Confirmation this afternoon. Joey is the son of Mary who sometimes comments on this blog. He is a fine young man from a family that our family holds in high regard. Good kind people. We love them.

Prayers for Joey, please! May Saint Damien of Molokai intercede for him all day today and all the days of his life. May the Holy Spirit pour upon Joey every grace, every gift, and every blessing he wants him to have. (And we know that's a LOT)

God bless you, Joey, today and always!!!!

Tea Party

I went to a tea party last night with my friend Molly. We're both conservative and we both enjoy following politics. Thought we'd see what they're all about.

It was on the U of M diag, of all places. For those of you familiar with Ann Arbor you know that this is the heart of Ann Arbor left wing politics. It's the site of the annual hash bash, for instance. You get the picture.

There were counter protesters-- mostly juvenile elitists trying to disrupt the speakers. Ann Arbor, always patting itself on the back for its love of diversity, is notoriously intolerant of anything conservative. It's almost comical.
So what did I think? I was a little disappointed. Maybe it was just this tea party. There were some great ideas expressed, but there were also some speakers who seemed to be stretching toward the extreme. It had a very libertarian feel. There were also several examples of very careless wording of ideas (that could be misinterpreted) and times when I thought I might not want to be too closely associated with these people.

I don't know. Maybe it's because it's a loosely gathered movement of lots of different types of people. I hope they have the effect of moving the republican party more toward the right, rather than destroying it altogether (by forming a third party.) We'll wait and see. I may attend another one to see if I get a different impression.

It's a gorgeous day here in Michigan, blue skies, sunny and warm! You gotta love it! But I am STRESSED. Taxes are not done and we're going to have to file an extension. That makes me nervous. We shouldn't owe anything, so I guess we're OK with the extension.

And we have a new tree!!! Several years ago our tree next to the street died. The city was supposed to replace it but after two years we were not optimistic. But the other day they did and here it is!

My kids are describing it as a scrawny little thing. I replied, "It's a baby tree." I think it's not bad for a newly planted tree. It's probably about eight feet tall. Not bad at all.

It's a cherry tree, a prunus sub autumnalis or autumn cherry tree. Native to Japan, it blooms in the Spring and sometimes again in the autumn! (At least that's what I'm gathering from reading about it.) I'm so excited. I lived for a school year in Japan and I fondly remember those amazing cherry blossoms. I can't wait to see it bloom!
Spring is definitely in swing here, temperatures today to reach the eighties! In typical Michigan fashion our weather now swings between quite chilly and quite warm, as though it can't decide if it should still try to be the tough winter kind or surrender to the sun :-) We know eventually it will surrender and the lovely daffodils in my yard are already counting on it.

God is good. May your day be blessed.

I woke up at 5:30 this morning with a terrible headache. (Yup. Just like this picture Mary made a while ago. )It's a rainy, chilly, overcast day. I don't know if that has anything to do with it. I'm still dragging after Advil and a little coffee.

I think I'm going to take it easy today. Too much pressure in the head to really get anything done. It's kind of a sinus headache. I also think I may need to see my chiropractor because my neck has been a little weird. I know that can give me headaches too.

Rainy day. I think I'm going to try to stay cozy. Maybe take a nap. Do some reading, maybe some writing. Yeah.

God bless your day :-)

Oh, man. Busy day. Only had four hours sleep last night so after getting the kids off to school I went back to bed for a while. I just had to.

Then walked the dog, did some dishes, worked on May Crowning plans for our parish, did some laundry, found an Adoration sub for my hour so I could go with daughter Anne to Jim's track meet. God bless Barb.

Heard all about Anne's trip to Atlanta, helped her do her taxes. Went to the track meet. It was freezing cold on those steel bleachers. Had fun seeing Jim run like the wind.

Ate dinner, walked the dog again....

Why is it that when I outline what I've done for a day it never looks like as much on paper as it actually felt. Maybe I'm leaving out little stuff. I don't know.

Hope your day went well. I'm off to prayer time and bed. (and maybe a little fox news :-)

Barbie's Next Career

So the maker of Barbie dolls, Mattel, decided to have girls who visited Barbie.com vote on what should be Barbie's next career....

The choices? architect, anchorwoman, computer engineer, environmentalist, and surgeon

I find myself wondering why these? Clearly social status was in play, as well as a nod to political correctness.

I suppose stay-at-home-mom was not even discussed. Stay-at-home-mom? What a shocking suggestion!!! Would we want our girls to imagine a life of such drudgery, such menial work, a life very near to slavery, and terminal boredom!!! For those who may be new to this blog let me say that my tongue is planted very firmly in my cheek.

For over two decades now I have, in addition to small part-time jobs here and there, primarily lived the vocation of stay-at-home-mom. I LOVE being a SAHM. It's a lot of fun, allows for such creativity, allows me to love my kids to pieces, to make my home a warm and peaceful place for my family (most of the time:-), and most importantly it allows me to be there for my kids when they really need me. I'm here. At home. When they're sick, they stay home and I care for them. I'm at the schools, at the games, at the plays, at the Masses, at the concerts. And it's fascinating. It's fascinating to see these emerging personalities, fascinating to see the gifts developing, the abilities and preferences coming to light, the adult look coming into its own. And what a privilege to be the one to teach them, to show them how to live, how to be responsible, how to love the Lord and treat everyone as their neighbor.

Everyone I know who has lived the life of a SAHM feels the same way. We love it. I can't imagine a job that could be more fun or more satisfying.

And I think Barbie would love it too. That is, if Barbie were married and had children. Wait a minute. I guess Barbie is not married. (Course they could easily marry her off. There could be a pregnant Barbie, etc.) I hadn't thought of that. Maybe they actually thought the SAHM role would be a little bit complicated. And we certainly don't want Barbie to be an unmarried mom at home. Yeah. OK. I guess there is no slight to us stay-at-home-moms. :-) (Although, to be honest, I"m not that fond of Barbie anyway.) If BArbie is unmarried I ought to get off my soapbox, huh? Being a SAHM should not be one of her options.

Just came back yesterday from a fun overnight trip to South Bend where the girls and I visited my oldest son Mike and some good friends! We met Mike and the O'Hannigans for lunch, then visited the bookstore and grotto at Notre Dame. Other than Lourdes France, I don't think there's any place like the grotto at ND.

Went to Mass at the gorgeous Basilica of the Sacred Heart!!

Then we were treated to a delicious pizza dinner with the O'Hannigans complete with delicious bread and chocolate chip cookies!! Mary, you're amazing.

After dinner Mike and his roommate taught us to play the card game "Bang." Lots of confusion, lots of laughs, and just plain fun with old family friends. Good stuff.

Kind of tired now. Trying to get moving but enjoying the reality that this can be an easy day. No school. No appointments. And I do need some rest....

He Is Risen Indeed!!!!

HappHappy Easter!!!

He Is Risen Indeed!!!!

We went to the Easter Vigil Mass at our parish Christ the King in Ann Arbor. Doors opened at 7:00 for the Mass starting at 8:30 pm. We arrived at 6:45 and there were already about 30 people in line. When they opened the doors we were able to get seats for our whole family, 9 of us, and within about 10 minutes all the seats were taken.

It was a wonderful Mass as the Easter vigil always is. We all love it. And to look down the pew to see ALL of my children, including my future s-i-l, worshipping together... well, for a mother, it just doesn't get much better than that.

This morning, because the weather was so lovely, we had our Easter egg hunt outdoors. Now I realize that all of my children except two are adults. All the adults had the choice of either hiding the eggs or hunting for them. They all chose to hunt. The "Alleluia Egg, " our large gold egg with "Alleluia" written all over it contained "$20.00, and they all knew this. (But I'm sure it had nothing to do with their motivation to participate in the hunt:-)

And so the hunting began.....
Most of the eggs contained candy.
Several had a $2.00 bill or a dollar coin.
Mike and I hid them pretty well, using camouflage, leaves, etc.
I told them every egg was at least partly visible from some angle, but it might not be the angle you're at when you're standing up...
It took them about a half hour and a number of hints to find the "alleluia egg." It was in the dryer vent, still slightly visible if you were at least six or more feet away. The vent is that white one underneath the window on the far right. Eventually Zach found it.
Deep in the daffodils was a great place to hide the yellow ones.

A comparison of the coins....
Then we had an early dinner.
There are several big fans of Strawberry Crush in our family.

And you have to have the delicious bubbly stuff in a champaign glass, don't you think? (This particular crystal one belonged to my grandmother.)
I guess only mothers really understand the deep, deep joy and satisfaction of having everyone at the table.
These are the most important people to me in all the world. From left to right: Liz (my youngest at 13), Jim (18), Anne and her fiance Zach, my oldest, Mike (25), Mike Sr. (hubby of almost 30 years), John(20) and Mary (15).
May the Lord bless and keep them all the days of their lives. I thank the Lord for the tremendous blessing they are to me!!

Happy Easter to you and yours!!!!!

Another Political Rant

I just heard Mark Levin say on his radio show something to the effect that Barak Obama is the closest president to a dictator that the United States has ever had. I have to agree.

Scarcely a day goes by that Obama does not do something I find alarming or creepy. Why is he going around the country trying to convince the people that his health care bill is a good thing. It's already passed, thanks to the democrats' willingness to bribe, twist arms, and use unethical parliamentary maneuvers to get their way, in spite of the very clearly expressed disapproval of the American people.

Now I hear that the democrats are calling in for congressional hearings the four or so major companies that have expressed how much the health care bill is going to cost them. Congress wants them to justify what they've said, to produce the data, and to make public all emails pertaining to this question. Say what??!!?? Since when does our government tell businesses how to do business? Since when does the government have the authority to tell CEOs to come justify business decisions. This is still a free country. An organization can say whatever they want!! I hope they refuse. I hope they tell Congress that freedom of speech is guaranteed by our Constitution and they don't have to justify anything to a government body.

And the way that Obama belittles those who disagree with him is getting to be extremely annoying. Disagreeing with the President does not make you an extremist!! It doesn't make you someone who is divisive!! I find his dismissing of his opponents to be very unpresidential and, frankly, rather juvenile. What is he about?? I'm starting to think it may very well be his intention to become as close as we've ever had to a dictator of the United States. Every day he seems to grab more power. Where will he stop?

Why is he campaigning?

Why on Earth is our president in Iowa reassuring people that the health care bill is a good thing?

It's passed. OK? What is with this paternalism? It gives me the creeps.

At first I thought why isn't he in the Oval Office doing his job instead of taking Air Force One across the country for more grandstanding.

Then I realized the less time he spends in the Oval Office the better off we'll all be. Let him stay away all he wants.

The narcissism is just very disturbing.

Retreat!!

My daughter and I returned Monday from our annual retreat to the Abbey of Gethsemane in Kentucky. It was, as always, wonderful. As Trappists, the monks observe silence most of the time. This is what is so wonderful about the retreats at Gethsemane. They are silent. Sweetly silent.

I had my own room, my own BATHROOM, my own time, my own silence. It was delightful.

A gorgeous sunset.....How good God is.

I think I have written before about how much I love to see the moon from my bed at home. Around once a month, if the sky is clear, the moon will shine into my bedroom window at home. I just love this. It gives me such peace.
Would you believe that the bed in my room at Gethsemane was right next to this window. I mean, immediately next to it. So I kept the blind open. I could hardly believe it when I lay down my first night there. Just above the top of this tree there was the moon, together with a sky full of stars. I thought to myself what were the chances that the moon would be positioned right there and that I would have this room. I fell asleep with my glasses on because I did not want to miss any clarity of the splendid glory of God that seemed to be enveloping me.

I felt like an indulged child. God is so good.

Warning: Political Rant

I am utterly disgusted by the debate going on in the house over health care.

Why does no one question Nancy Pelosi when she says she has the votes to pass the bill? She obviously does not have the votes or she would be bringing it to the floor. To boldly declare something that is not true is to lie. Is there any reason there would be ongoing negotiations over the key votes if she already had enough?

Why would she lie? Perhaps to discourage her opponents? If they think it's over maybe they'll stop the phone calls to their congressmen? Maybe she wants people to get used to the idea in order to diffuse the opposition?

On Fox News Sunday, Gibbs and another democrat were going on and on about insurance companies raising their rates. They can't even have an honest discussion about policy without grandstanding about what are obviously their planned talking points. It was nauseating.

I'm disgusted with the democratic Congress. They are buying votes. In their arrogance they have decided they know better than the American people. They may even try to pass this bill without VOTING by using a procedural maneuver. This is politics at its ugliest. I hope the American people can see clearly now how very much the majority of democrats hold the average American man and woman in contempt. May they all be tossed out of office in 2010. They deserve to be sent home for their failure to represent the very clearly stated will of the majority of the American people.

Been just a little too busy here...

Sorry I've been out of contact for a little while here.

Added to the activities of my usual week were the following:

A sick child-- strep throat, trip to the doctor's, pharmacy, etc.

My turn to take snacks to the Youth Symphony Orchestra here

An appointment for one of my children with one of those super-specialists at U of M

My turn to feed my dear friend with ALS

One (or was it two?) appointments to look at bridesmaid dresses

An appointment to go over an estimate for the flowers for the wedding.

Dinner auction at our grade school

Whew. When push comes to shove in my schedule often it is the blogging that gets bumped. So.. that's where I've been. Now I have to get caught up with what my blogging friends are doing....

Growing in Virtue

This morning I read the following passage from "In Conversation with God" the Lenten volume:

The virtues demand the repetition of acts in order to grow, because each act disposes the soul to perform the next one more easily. For example, if a person lives the 'heroic minute' when he wakes up, thus overcoming his laziness from the very first moment of the day, he will find it easier to be diligent in going about his other duties whether they be large or small.

Well. I do not just pop out of bed in the morning. I usually give myself 5 or 10 minutes. I do pray during that time, but I see the point of this suggestion. It could be quite a mortification. And, in some ways, such a little thing....just a little denial of self comfort.

Of course, I'm already making excuses. Some people wake up more easily than others. Some always wake up before the alarm clock. Yeah, yeah. If it's harder for me than I just have a greater opportunity for more grace.

I'm going to give this a try.

It's meeeellllllting!! Woohoo!

You all know how I have this love-hate relationship with the snow. Well, it's mostly love. But by the time March rolls around I've usually had enough. (Although snow days are always welcome :-).

It's starting to melt off the roof!! And the last few days have been well into the thirties and even entered the forties. It speaks of hope!!

On Saturday I went to the Farmers' Market in Ann Arbor and saw these lovely pansies for $5 a pot. I asked the guy, "Can these survive frosts?" They were sitting there on the concrete looking this good with the temp below freezing. He told me yes! He said they can even freeze and then they come right back. I said, "That sounds like us! Hey, anything that can bloom in this weather I have to buy."

It seemed to be happy in the sun even with the frigid temperature. Then I forgot and left them out overnight. In the morning. they looked just as good!! I love it. Here they are (above). The vendor said they are called glacial pansies (or something like that). How cool is that? I think I will bring them in at night (when I remember) until we stop dipping in to the twenties.

I love it, love it, love it. God is so good. We get a little taste of Spring to keep us patient.

By the way, I survived my falls just fine. Thank you all for your concern. I did go to my chiropractor to make sure I hadn't set myself up for future injuries. (Those of you with back or neck problems know what I'm talking about.) But I didn't mess anything up. Just shook myself up a bit. I'm watching for those slippery spots now! Stay safe!

Had a lovely walk this morning just at dawn. The birds were chirping. It was lovely.

Tonight I had another right at twilight. I love the sky just before dark. The blue is just so magnificent.

All things work together for good....

I guess there are some real advantages to not wanting to let your dog out in her own fenced backyard.

Is this a dog you could be friends with? I'd say.

Is this dog cute or what? I mean, she's adorable, she really is. She belongs to my youngest daughter. She has the sweetest disposition. But she is a little cautious and barks if she doesn't know you.

If this dog were almost NEVER outside in the fenced yard longer than 5 or 10 minutes would you call that being out "all the time?"

If this dog barked at you because you always scowled at her and wouldn't talk to her or try to make friends....and if when she barked her owner almost always brought her in immediately would you say that this dog "barked incessantly?"

I'm just asking. A little annoyed right now.