In the Bleak Midwinter

Hello friends,

Long time, no post.  Life has been a little teensy bit hectic and to be totally honest, I have had zero motivation to write anything.  I can't believe it's been almost two months.

Christmas and New Year's found us traveling out east to visit with family.  Peep did very well in car.  The longest leg of our journey was 10 hours straight.  He was trooper.  We did do a fair bit of night driving so he was asleep.  The worst moment came within an hour of our destination (~1:30am) when he woke up and starting crying inconsolably. After every attempt to figure out what was wrong, he finally just burst out "My tired of driving! Why's Uncle []'s house so far away??"  We feel ya kiddo.

Once there, Peep loved every bit of visiting.

After hearing of the impending Polar Vortex, we decided to come home earlier than planned.  It was a very good thing we did.  It was also a very good thing that we picked up a gallon of milk as we arrived back.  In hindsight we should have picked up more than one, but at least we had one!

The Polar Vortex was epic.  Honestly, I kind of enjoyed it.  After all our hurrying and scurrying about the previous two weeks it was rather delightful to snuggle up and relax knowing that the entire world around us was stopped in its tracks.

- 2 Weeks ago  -

For those of you who don't know, that fire hydrant is extra tall.  There is at least 1 foot of pipe above ground before the hydrant itself.

The Polar Vortex definitely got me thinking about how much our American culture needs to simply chill out sometimes.  (Ok, bad pun...but seriously...) We are constantly on the go.  Even if an individual decides to take a vacation, everything else is still moving at breakneck pace.  We take a day off of work and come back with a stack of projects on the desk, a million emails to be read, phone calls that need to be returned - often we end up doing twice as much work to catch up on that one day that was missed.  On the other hand, it is so easy to spend a day off doing chores and errands.  The day is spent running around from place to place, making phone calls, trying to get the house clean (and it is never clean enough).

Maybe it's just me.  Maybe this is part of the problem of being a working mom (albeit part time). But I'm pretty sure that most of the good ol' US of A is in the same boat.

Other countries have real holidays and have them more often.  You know, days when everything closes down and you spend the time with family and friends, not with your unfinished business. A healthy society needs leisure. Leisure is the basis of culture (thank you, Joseph Pieper.)

A very blue picture of a (still now larger) snowman Peep and his "Datty" built.

But now we'll fast forward to this past week.  A week ago today we attempted to go for a nice Sunday drive to celebrate a baptism.  The route selected for the day trip is one that's very nice in the summer, but not so nice when the fierce wind is blowing snow across the highway to the point of reducing visibility.

We are blessed to be alive.  The car slipped, J lost control.  We nearly hit several other vehicles before spinning off the road and landing in the median ditch.  After sometime, two police cars came, a tow truck was called, and we were pulled out. 

The car needs some repairs (and by some, I mean expensive).   If only money grew on trees...

In the meantime the car is drivable, but we have been told not for highway driving.

And so we have been on pins and needles driving the compromised car on the icy, snowy streets. 

To make matters worse, snow keeps falling.

Yesterday the car got stuck as J was coming home.  Two hours later we got the car out.  I missed my evening activity because of it.

This morning, trying to go to Mass, the car got stuck again.  Four hours later, two neighbors helped J free it, only for it to get stuck again 20 feet later (the neighbors helped again).  It almost got stuck a third time before J got it to its parking space.

I enjoyed the snow at first, but this car business is getting old.  I just want to go to Mass!

- Today -

I have to say though, that I am so thankful that for all the snow the great Permacloud has not been as permanent of a fixture as usual.  There's been much more sun and blue sky this winter.  While that means lower temps, that is fine by me.  I'd rather have 0 degree weather than 23 degree weather (it's really not all that different in my book) if it means I can see the sun and blue sky.

5 Updates because it's not Friday and I never reach 7 anyway.

-1-

I stink at blogging. You all knew that already.

-2-

Little Peep has come down with a terrible cold.  He's pretty miserable.  We'd thought about taking him to hear the Messiah last night, but did not buy tickets.  I'm glad we didn't because there's no way we could have lasted through it with him feeling so bad.

-3- 

As needy as he's been, last night during dinner Peep said without any prompting "Thanks for making this, Mama!"  He then asked, "what are we eating?"  He very clearly was enjoying his mysterious dinner. 

Quesadillas - in case you were wondering.

-4- 

St Nicholas came by the house the other night.  He brought Mr. Peep some random things Mama had lying around the house, but also a nice yellow train engine for Peep's beloved train set.
Peep was very excited to learn about setting out his shoes (which we did last year, but of course who remembers last year?) He was even more excited to leave an apple in his shoe as a gift for St. Nicholas and his horse.  Peep has been obsessed with Madeline in London recently.  In the story, Madeline and the girls give Pepito a horse for his birthday.  The horse ends up eating all the apples in Pepito's garden.  Peep loved the connection.

-5-

Cute but blurry.  In case you were wondering, yes I've got quite a bump now.  Peep is very excited for Baby.

The End.

7 (Kind of) Quick Takes

-1-

So it's Friday night, my husband's at a great conference I wish I could be at, but I was too tired after a day of work and little Peep (I have decided I will call him Peep on the blog for now because he loves this character).

I can't believe I haven't blogged in over a month.  I've barely even read other people's blogs. (Sorry.)

I wrote some of these things a week and a half ago but never published them.  Fail.  Now they all need updating.  But here you go:

-2-

I'm just about 20 weeks along now.  I'm starting to show and enjoying feeling the Little One moving around. Thankfully my nausea has just about all subsided...just about.  Now I'm hungry.  Yum.  EAT ALL THE THINGS!

Bad news: heartburn.  Ugh.  This child is giving me so many more problems than Peep.

-3- 

Work is driving me nuts.  I hate to say that here, but it's true.  We recently had a large staff turnover, and all the newbies are trying to figure out what's going on.  We're trying to figure them out too. (In a good way...really!) There's a million projects buzzing around and too many cooks in the kitchen.  Oh, and none of the cooks are communicating very well.  Too much salty, too much sweet, and no balance anywhere.  Say a prayer we get ourselves and our offices straight soon!  There are too many good things coming down the pike for the Center for us to get bogged down in the piddly things that won't matter in the end.
 

-4- 

Here's picture from several weekends ago.  Thanks to our friends for so graciously sharing the bounty of their land with us!

The apples were so delicious too!  They have slowly been made into applesauce and apple butter.  I finally finished processing them all the other night.

-5-

In case you haven't seen it, I'd like to show off a picture of my masterpiece:

Little Peep is currently somewhat obsessed with the Notre Dame Marching Band.  He was a little embarrassed to put the uniform on at first.  He hasn't quite fully grasped the idea of pretend/dress up.  He kept insisting that he was going to be in the marching band "soon soon" but "not yet."  It took a little convincing to get him to understand that I was not going to stick an instrument in his hands and send him marching off to the stadium.  Now he's starting to comprehend that he can pretend he's in the band and he can look like he's in the band without actually being in the band.

Child psychologists: go crazy analyzing that whole scenario. I've probably just destroyed his grasp on reality and turned him into a pathological liar and/or schizophrenic - right?

-6-

One last thought, a little belated:  Halloween?  To celebrate or not celebrate?  I had a very interesting conversation about this at work with good co-worker friend and mama of two (very soon to be three!).  She and her husband don't even talk about Halloween with their little ones.  It really got me thinking, but for all my thoughts, I haven't reached any conclusions.

Halloween can be a lot of fun - who doesn't love candy and dressing up in costumes?  At the same time, how good are either of these things for very young children (see #5)?  Peep himself was rather frightened by all the costumes - even cute princesses, fairies and superheros. He was terrified of our next-door neighbors' cemetery decorations.

There is a lot of darkness with Halloween.  Witches, goblins, zombies, vampires, demons, etc.  None of which are things we should be celebrating. 

It is good to be mindful that there are evil forces in the world.  It is good to remember our own mortality.  But unfortunately modern culture puts way too much emphasis on glorifying the darkness. - and sexualizing it.  Sexy witch costume for a 6 year old?  Yep, there's one in every store. 

Not good. 

The best thing I can say is dressing up as a saint, Bible figure or even some other good moral role model must surely be the way to go.  Talking with your kids about Halloween is obviously important.  If they can dress up as a great figure of heroic virtue, be able to understand and tell you about the person they are emulating, go out and push back on the darkness of the vampires and sexy witches, how awesome of a witness is that?  That sounds pretty good to me.  

What do you think?  (And now I'm even less sure about how wise or worthwhile it was to make that band uniform.)

-7-

 I put a poll on the sidebar about Halloween. What do you do? I'd also be interested in any comments people have on the matter. 

 Happy Friday!

Linking up with Jen. 

7 Quick Takes - Featuring an Announcement

-1-

Dear World:
I have an announcement!

Due April 1, 2014 - and that's no joke!
J and I are very happy to be expecting again.  I'm glad to share the news with all of you! 

-2-

I know, I know, you're all dying to know how I'm doing.  (Right? Of course you are.) Nauseous and tired.  Terribly nauseous.  As I'm going into the 2nd trimester things only seem to be getting worse.  That's not good!  The nausea is supposed to be going away!  P gave me some trouble, but never this much.  I'm pretty convinced that based on this the baby must be a girl.    

-3- 

Sometimes the best way to handle feeling tired and icky is simply to stare at Facebook and Pintrest for awhile.  I have found some lovely gems in the process.   Like this: 10th Circle Added to Rapidly Growing Hell. 

Thank you, Onion.

-4- 

Last weekend I had some delightful company in town - far better than just staring at the computer.  KK, my dear friend from back home, came out for a visit!  I was thrilled to finally take her around campus and show her all the things that have been so important to me over the last several years. Seeing her is always so much fun and I was sad she had to leave so soon.  Thanks for visiting, KK!  I hope to see you soon!

-5-

Speaking of the weekend,  I feel the need to share my Notre Dame football predictions for the next couple weeks.

This weekend we are going to lose and lose badly to Oklahoma.
Next weekend we are going to win against Arizona State, but I don't think it's going to be a great victory.

I have a theory.  I want to test it and see how accurate it is.

-6-

This child loves chicken.  LOVES chicken.  Chicken and eggs. Those two things are the only things that consistently sound good to me.  The funny thing is, when not in a pregnant state I don't particularly like either. In honor of Baby and for the amusement of my sister I've decide that all 7 Quick Take Posts will have hidden chickens.  Those chickens next door had better watch out.

-7- 

Last but not least, this weekend one of my favorite ND Student organizations, Children of Mary, will have a concession stand by the bookstore at the south corner of the Eck Center.   If you're on campus this weekend, stop by and support them!  They won't have chicken, but I fully intend on patronizing them.

Linking up with Jen

Seven on the Thirteenth

-1-

Today is Friday the 13th.  Good thing superstitions are silly because I don't need a bad day.  It always amuses me when it is Friday the 13th though.  It's also a great excuse to cover for mistakes of the day. ;-)

-2-
 This past Sunday was the Feast of the Nativity of Mary. It was superseded by Sunday of course, but that did not stop in some intrepid Children of Mary officers from bringing a lovely cookie cake to brunch in South Dining Hall.  The fearless president lead the table in singing "Happy Birthday" to Our Lady.  

That's the Litany of Loretto on the cake

The Folk Choir (eating their breakfast the next row over) assumed we must have been singing to one of the girls standing by the cake.  Thus in a great display of amicability they burst out in their birthday song to their tune of Siyahamba (We Are Marching in the Light of God):

(You have to listen to link)

"Happy birthday! Happy birthday, oh! Happy birthday, happy birthday, you're so old! Happy birthday, happy birthday, oh! Happy birthday, happy birthday, Mary!!"

We all lost it. We were roaring with laughter.  Eventually one of the young men at our table went over and explained to some of his Folk Choir friends who's birthday we were celebrating.  They had no idea. 

-3- 

Yesterday we went to the zoo! We met up with my coworker, her little ones and one of her friend's and her friend's son.  It was a great day for the zoo.  I was also glad that she is much more of morning person than I and so motivated me to get out and enjoy the day. The best part was seeing one of the elusive red pandas (above).  Those creatures is never out. Ironically all the animals that are normal guaranteed to be out were sleeping. 

-4- 

After all of our company coming and going somebody declared that he'd had enough of dishes.  Enough he said!  He was determined to get a dishwasher into our small, poorly updated 1930's kitchen.  We eventually settled on the only truely viable option: a portable dishwasher.

We have to pull it out to use it and push it back into its corner when we're done.  It's a little awkward, but then honestly, the whole kitchen is awkward.

Right now it's in operation for the first time!  I hope it works!

The first dishwasher I've had since I moved out of my parents!

-5-

I have nothing more to say, except that my dishwasher seems to swish in time to Siyahamba.   That is mildly disturbing. So is Steve clapping/dancing at the end of that video.  I am sorry if that darn song is stuck in your head for the next 8 years.

-6-

Hmmm I just noticed there's a link to the picture of my neighbors' chickens under this #6 heading. Given that I usually just copy and past the numbers, that means there are probably links to secret chickens hidden in most of my other 7 Quick Takes posts.  I deleted this one.  Good luck finding my other secret chickens if they're there.  I'll have to look myself.

-7-
 

Here's a random picture of someone covering his legs with last year's chart stickers salvaged from the trash can at work.  Using about 50 stickers he covered both legs.  Getting them off was great.

Happy Friday!

Of Visiting and Visitors: 7 Things

Hello, World.  I've been gone for over a month! I can't believe it's been a month. Well, actually yes I can. Here let me catch you up on my adventures:

-1-

Much like the previous month, August was largely dominated by the theme of visits.  Before we embarked on our great journey of the month, we were blessed by a visit from some good old college friends and their son. Their visit was brief, but it was lovely catching up with them!

Our boys

-2-

The arrival of the above mentioned friends gave rise to a join birthday party - which was a tremendous amount of fun. Martha reported - you can see what she had to say.

-3- 

The day after the day after party, we took a week and drove out to visit my in-laws.  From there we went back to work on my grandmother's house and also to celebrate some family birthdays.  Seeing the in-laws was fun. The celebrating part was fun.  The house part not so much.  Spending so many hours in the car: also not fun. 

Practicing his ABCs with his aunt.

-4- 

Following the great journey of the month my brother and sister came to stay for awhile.  Their nephew was extremely spoiled by their presence - particularly his uncle's.  It is amazing he has survived their departure.

-5-

For Labor Day Weekend/the FIRST NOTRE DAME HOME GAME!!!!  a dear seminarian friend of ours was able to come visit.  We always love his visits, and this was no exception.  The weekend itself was very good.  Being on campus with all the celebration of the new football season was super exciting.  

-6-

Then September came and all our guests left.  That Sunday my brother, sister, and our friend all took their leave.  Our house felt very empty.  We sat up that night feeling like someone was supposed to be coming home any minute. I almost went to call to see when someone was coming home.  After 20 days of always having guests or being guests, something just seemed wrong.

-7-

Now, as of yesterday, my little sister is in Rome for a year!  I'm still processing this - I'm sure she is too, but hopefully she's doing it over a beautiful cappuccino or delicious gelato.  I'm not jealous. Really.

I am hoping she keeps us up-to-date with her studies and travels here.

A parting note - likely to not be erased until her return. 

P.S. Speaking of visitors: you can all start visiting my blog again.  I promise I'm going to try to post more! And, here's a link to Jen since I actually managed 7 things to say.

5 Quick Takes (or something like it)

-1-

Soooo I fail at blogging.  Sorry.  I've been busy and unmotivated.  Who wants to sit in front of a computer when there is so much else to do?  I think I'm giving up on Jen's 7 Quick Takes and seriously just doing 5.  I just might move the day from Friday to Saturday.  Any encouragement you can give me to blog would be appreciated...unless you think I should just give up! That's okay too.

-2-

The last time posted anything I'd mentioned I'd been away.  This summer's project has been clearing out my grandmother's house.  It has been an incredibly painful process in many ways.   The emotions that come from a situation like that are bad enough.  My dear grandmother passed away last June - the last of my grandparents.  We were blessed to have her live to the good old age of 93.

The last several years of her life she lived hundreds of miles away from her home with my parents.  She was a very sentimental person and extremely stubborn. Even in her frailty she insisted that she wanted to return to her beloved home.  She insisted that she would be the one to sort through her well-loved possessions.  Naturally, none of that ever happened.

Now a year after her passing we are left sorting through her life's worth of things - jammed packed in to every nook and cranny of her house.

It is pretty unbearable. It is tiring work.  None of us live around there anymore, which means we have to travel and infringe on the hospitality of my father's side of the family.  We are all fairly sentimental people as well.  Oh yes, and since the house has been sitting for over 5 years it has sustained a lot of damage from lack of repair, the constant rattling from major train tracks just over the fence, and the mice who decided to take over once my grandmother and her beloved cats left.

It's ugly.  I'm so exhausted from this project.   We all are. It's not over either. We're looking at another trip up there very soon.  Any prayers and encouragement you can send my way (or my mom's) would be appreciated.

-3- 

Rudy: The sweetest golden-doodle puppy in the world~

One highlight of having to travel to clean my grandmother's house is visiting my father's family.  While were were staying with my uncle and aunt the other week, my son fell in love with their two cats and dog.  One of the cats is named "Peanut Butter." My little guy loved this cat so much and she graciously tolerated him.  He ran all over the house calling her "Pea-jelly." He usually calls the sandwich the same.  So silly.  We also were able to spend a day out at the Ancestral Cottage. 

-4- 

He finally went on his first couple boat rides (the first was on a sailboat!) and spent many hours in a little float hanging out in the water.  He LOVED it all!

He found it all very relaxing:

Tired Sailor.

-5-

Since we've been back we've been keeping very busy.  We've gone peach picking, zucchini picking, and blueberry picking.  My refrigerator is exploding with deliciousness.  I've slowly been working on canning and freezing.  I really need to hurry up though! The stuff won't last forever.

Trying to see if there's even one zucchini in that field (we ended up with a lot)