7 Quick Takes Friday

1-
It's payday!!! YEAH!!! We actually didn't quite make it to payday this time, since the girls got sick. I took some funds out of our medical sinking fund for a prescription, pedialyte, Popsicles, a few groceries (including really expensive frozen squash that the girls wouldn't eat...the doc recommended it for helping Charlotte's poo hold together...but they DID eat it in muffin form, and didn't know any better!) and BLEACH. I have bleached Charlotte's sheets about 4 times this week.

2-
A quote from last night's dinner. "Other than the throwing up, Dinner was REALLY good!" hubby spoke those words...Charlotte did the throwing up.

3-
I am really blessed to have my MIL (even if she is a little bit nuts...) She had an Altar and Rosary meeting a few towns over from ours, and afterwards she was going to come see the girls. Well, shortly before her visit, Eva took a horrible turn for the worse, and was whiny, her ears hurt, she was crying and flopping around. I don't know how much of it was genuine, but I have a feeling a big portion of the dramatics was due to not getting as much attention as her sister...so I called MIL to see where she was. She asked if she should stop and get me a mocha on the way here, and I told her that it would be very appreciated...particularly if she picked up something for Eva. So, she brought us all drinks from the coffee shop AND she had apparently stopped at the grocery store on the way here to get a few things for her house, and she got a bunch of stuff for our house, too!

4-
Among the Twinkies and jello and chicken soup MIL brought ingredients for a salad she had in San Diego the night before they went on their cruise. It was SOOO good that I'll put a sort-of kind-of recipe here:
1/2 head of leaf lettuce (I'm not sure what the original salad had...we only have two varieties available out here)
1/2 bag of baby spinach
1/2 small package of blueberries
1/2 small package of blackberries
1/2 container of blue cheese crumbles
1/2 c. or so of sugared walnuts (I toasted some in a skillet with butter and brown sugar...it worked for me!)
She told me that it didn't have a dressing at all, that the fruit just kinda made a dressing...well, maybe they had juicier fruit out in California...but I added a little bit of balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil to the top...

5-
I just checked our bank account (to make sure that hubby's paycheck really did make it in there, etc...) and found out that OUR TAX REFUND FINALLY MADE IT!!! WOO HOO!!! (Okay, I have been obsessively checking for it since last Friday when it was supposed to arrive...) That means that we have 1/2 of our fully funded emergency fund in there! YEAH!!! And some money to work on some home improvement stuff. The bad news is that I think I broke our digital camera today (I was trying to upload a picture of my week, but it's not working for me...) so I may have to start looking for a new one...

6-
I am in the middle of planning a bridal shower for my BIL's fiancee. Her maid of honor is giving her one up where they currently live, but I think she needs a small town family shower. My family shower when coming into this family was a spice shower...really, that's only a good idea in a group of people who cook with more spices than chili powder, garlic powder and garlic salt...I got about three each of those. So, I've proposed an "around-the-clock" shower where each guest is assigned an hour to pick a themed gift for...and maybe a brunch to go with it. We'll see what the bride-to-be (they always call them "bride-elect" in the church bulletin...I'd never heard that term before we moved out to the boonies...) thinks about all of that. I've been having fun working on a photo card invitation at snapfish. Anyone have some good tips for bridal showers? Better theme idea? Fun (not dorky) games? Healthy food options for a shower?

7-
Last, but certainly not least, hubby's cousin Brittney is having surgery today. So, please say a few prayers that all goes well for her. Thank you!

As always, more quick takes are up at Jen's blog!

Meatless Meals

I can't believe how soon Ash Wednesday is...once I'm done with making weird meals out of what's left in the fridge and pantry preceding payday (3 cooked meals to go before I can go grocery shopping! YEAH!!!) I'm going to have to start worrying about fasting and abstinence from meat.

So, since Faith and Family LIVE is having a meatless meals collection, I thought I'd add my two cents.

Lentil Rice Casserole (I may have posted this before, but I didn't want to check through 3 years of posts...I know it sounds lame, but my girls eat this better than almost anything! The original recipe came from the tightwad gazette)

Combine in crock pot
6 cups water or broth or stock
1 1/2 c. lentils
1 c. brown rice
1 T. or more of whatever spice you feel like (I usually use spice combinations like Italian Seasoning, Southwest Seasoning, Asian Seasoning, Moroccan Seasoning)
Add chopped onion or garlic if you like it and have it on hand
Cook on low for 6-8 hours, a few minutes before serving, sprinkle about a cup of cheese over the top (maybe mozzarella if you do Italian, cheddar if you do southwest, feta if you do Moroccan, etc.) Serve, watch kids devour.

Fried fish (I think I originally got this off of AllRecipes.com...it was during one of those times when I was trying to cook solely from my stockpile without going to the store)

Take white fish (whatever type you like or can find...we don't have a lot of fish options out here in cow country...) dry off any surface moisture. Let soak in a pan of Sprite (7up, etc) for a couple of minutes, turn and soak other side. Dredge in pancake batter and pan fry in a little bit of oil until crispy and cooked through.


Pizza (Cheese pizza is the end all be all of meals around here...okay, they like pepperoni pizza, too...but for Lent, we are all about the cheese...) I've used this recipe for years, so I don't now where I originally found it.

Pizza Dough (makes 2 crusts)
2 1/4 t. yeast (one packet if you do it that way)
1 T. sugar
2 1/2 c. warm water
2 T. olive oil
1 T. salt
2 T. wheat gluten (nice to have, but I ran out a while back, and haven't replaced it yet...still works okay if you don't have the gluten)
1/2 c. whole wheat flour
5 1/2 c. white flour

Dissolve yeast and sugar in water; let stand for 10 minutes. Stir oil, wheat flour, gluten, salt and 4 cups of white flour into yeast mixture. Mix in remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time. when dough has pulled together, turn onto lightly-floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl; place dough into bowl and turn to coat with oil. cover with a damp cloth and put into a warm place to rise (approximately 1 hour). Deflate dough and turn onto lightly-floured surface. Divide into third and form rounds. (If freezing extra dough for later, at this point, seal inside a gallon zip top bag and put in freezer.) Cover round(s) with cloth for 10 minutes. Roll out or toss dough; place on pan or baking stone sprinkled with cornmeal and top with spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce or garlic oil, then cover with cheese. Bake pizzas for 20 minutes at 425.

Store leftover dough in freezer, keep frozen shredded cheese in freezer (about 1 1/2 to 2 cups per pizza) and freeze leftover spaghetti or pizza sauce in ice cube trays. I use three cubes full of sauce for 1 pizza...if you like saucy pizza you might do 4 or 5 cubes.

So, there are some of my favorite meatless meals! Check out more over at Faith and Family LIVE.

Alone in a crowd

Today at Mass, the readings began with a description of Old Testament requirements for isolating people with leprosy and ended with Jesus healing a leper. Father mostly focused on the metaphorical sense in which these readings could be taken, with physical illness being symbolic of spiritual illness, i.e. sin.

One aspect of Father's homily that I really connected with was an anecdote about how, when he was a seminarian and helping teach a parish's first communion class, he had exlained Hell to the seven-year-olds. When asked about it, he told them that it was a state of being seperated from the presence of God forever. The kids really didn't understand this, despite several tries of wording it differently, so Father used the analogy of, "Imagine you are in a huge, crowded mall with your mommy, and you're holding your mommy's hand. Then imagine that, somehow, you lose your grip on her hand and suddenly, you are completely surrounded by people you don't know and can't find your mommy, no matter how hard you try. That's what Hell is like."

This idea, Father said, is basically his response when people-mostly men, he says-blithely laugh off the idea of Hell by saying something like, "Well, at least I'll have plenty of company there." Even if that were true, he said, each of those people would be isolated from God and, therefore, somehow isolated from one another (even if not actually physically). They would each be in their own personal Hell, even if it "looked" to an outsider like a huge crowd.

One of my favorite songs in high school, recorded by Dave Matthews Band, included the lyrics, "People in every direction; no words exchanged, no time to exchange them." I think I really struggled with this feeling back then, and still do to some degree (although this has been hugely reduced by being married and having children). Maybe you know the feeling: like you're alone, even in the company of many others. Maybe you've noticed, when you meet someone on the sidewalk, the tendency many of us have of averting our eyes-avoiding even the momentary connection you might make with someone else.

God, please help me to remember that you made us to love one another and to share our lives with one another. If artificially seperating ourselves from one another is what it's like to be seperated from you, help us to find healing and come together in our families, our communities, and our world. Amen

PS: As you might suspect, Father did admit that the whole class of seven-year-olds wound up in tears. Oops! :-)

Kinda depressing...but...fitting...

Well, one of my favorite overly opinionated bloggers stole this from someone else, so I'm stealing it from her...(and if you spend any time there, make sure to read the category "Stupid Fascist Bastards"...just sayin'...)

7 Quick Takes Friday

1-
I think that my MIL and my girls are probably all going through withdrawal...They haven't seen each other in 13 days...I'm actually pretty sure that this is the longest period of time since Eva's birth that they have been apart...MIL and FIL got home from their cruise, and FIL got sick...so on Tuesday when I hosted bible study at our house, hubby had to take the girls over one town to DQ and a basketball game instead of up to visit grandma. THEN, MIL was going to come down and help me out/hang out with the girls yesterday (hubby was out of town for most of the day), but SHE ended up getting sick, so she couldn't make it down...now Eva and I are getting sick...so the 13 days may drag on even longer!

2-
Continuing with my ambition in the kitchen, for bible study I made homemade fajitas and homemade tortillas...then I fell off the made from scratch wagon. I ended up using a Wanchai Ferry Chinese food from a box (cashew chicken, yum!) thing, which was really really good, and made me want to learn how to make Chinese food. I bought Edamame last time we were at WalMart (not something sold locally) because I thought it would be fun to try. Hubby wasn't so sure that it would be fun...it turns out that the girls LOVE edamame, and so I am thinking I may have to grow some this summer.

3-
Hubby is working in another town today...so, it (naturally) snowed last night (and of course, I didn't make the girls pick up all the outside toys yesterday because they of course had to come in the house and start whining at me while I was actually trying to accomplish something) and I woke up in the middle of the night to take some medicine, then Eva woke up about an hour later and we gave her some medicine...then hubby reset his alarm because he thought that the snow was going to keep him from traveling to the other town to work. So, he woke up at 5:30...called the boss at the out of town office, found out that he still needed to go, and jumped in the shower. I made him coffee, breakfast (toaster strudel still counts as making breakfast, right?) and gave him some cash for lunch. Then, I was about to head back to bed, and right when I was about to turn off the kitchen light, the phone rang (at 5:50 AM) so, I gave the guy hubby's cell phone number...there's really nothing like the phone ringing before 6 in the morning...

4-
Hopefully the roads will be okay this evening. One of the churches in the next town over is showing the movie "Fireproof" and offering free childcare...I'm very excited about the free childcare thing...and I've wanted to see Fireproof for quite some time now.

5-
Update on the library book on tape that Charlotte destroyed last Friday...hubby went into the library for me to see what we needed to do...they told him to bring back the special book on tape bag, but that our girls could just keep the book. They said we didn't need to replace it, because they were planning on buying a hardcover version of the book in honor of one of the women in town.

6-
I am anxiously awaiting our tax refund...according to TurboTax's first estimate, we should get our refund today...of course, it is not there yet. Then the IRS estimated it would be here by the 17th when I checked last week. When I checked this week, it said by the 24th...I'm really hoping for the 17th. Once it is in our savings, we will have 50% of our emergency fund funded...and we'll also have a little money for home improvement projects (hubby is sooo excited...not...)

7-
I recently subscribed to Cookie Magazine...I'm really not sure what my thinking was when I did so...I like getting magazines because sometimes that's about all I can handle. My favorite, of course, is Faith and Family. I used to get Good Housekeeping, but it grated on me after a while because of its idea of "budget" items, etc. So, after that ended, I subscribed to WonderTime (still have that subscription, too) which has some pretty good stuff, but is a little bit yuppy. I'm thinking that I thought Cookie might be a more family friendly good housekeepingish magazine that dealt with moms of younger kids...but I just read my first issue yesterday (I got two, so we'll see if I like the second one any better) and half the magazine was about s-e-x...and not in a good Catholic way, either...there's even a line drawing of a woman in a thong and garter on one page...so I don't even feel like I can keep the magazine at kid level and not get questions...

More quick takes, as always, over at Jen's blog!

Now, I know I'm insane...

...but this made me laugh until I cried...

7 Quick Takes Friday - In Case You Were Wondering??

1-
First of all, I went on retreat last weekend. The retreat billed itself as a "healing retreat", and I dragged my SIL along with me. I was the first person there in the morning (SIL missed the turn for the Knights of Columbus hall), and so I sat down at one of the tables, opened my folder, saw this, and contemplated running away...

In the end, I did stay, and I am much more comfortable with the concept and the practice of the "woo woo gifts" (as my table leader liked to call them...) Hubby, on the other hand is still VERY suspicious...particularly of speaking in tongues and being slain in the spirit...so I'm thinking that when our church has a charismatic retreat this summer that I might make him go!

2-
I changed our theme on gmail yesterday (to ninjas...just for hubby who thinks he ought to have been a ninja or a pirate...one of his coworkers told him that he snorts too much to be a ninja...and that's definitely true..) and it asked me to put in our city...so I did...and Gmail told me that I did not input a valid city name. In the end, this time I put in Denver (I don't know why Gmail needs to know where I am located for a ninja themed e-mail browser...) The last time this happened, I was entering a sweepstakes (a very dorky hobby of mine...wait...I don't have any non-dorky hobbies!) I think maybe it was for an RV...when I put in our city name, it told me that it did not have enough letters (as though I have control over how many letters are in our town's name...) that time, I got creative and used the name of another town that shares our zip code (and has about 100 people in it...)

3-
Last week for story time at the library, they met at the local museum and talked about buffalo bones and the Indians that used to live around here. So, Eva has been telling us all about the museum ever since. Hubby had Wednesday off, and really wanted to take the girls on a field trip (he wanted to do the Denver Zoo or Museum of Nature and Science...but as it was BEFORE PAYDAY, we ended up doing the closer and way more affordable local museum...) It's a good thing we didn't go much farther, because I don't think we even spent 45 minutes there...Naturally Charlotte pooped her diaper on the walk up and smelled terrible the whole time (that child WILL be potty training soon...) and we took the tour at Eva speed. It is a pretty neat museum...much better organized than the one in hubby's hometown.

4-
Continuing with my goal to make more things from scratch (such as the hot dog buns and tortillas I posted about already), and continuing with my new tradition of cooking steaks the dinner before payday (we're working our way through half a quarter beef...) we had a really tasty dinner last night of rib eye steaks, Au gratin potatoes and glazed carrots (The only veggies currently in the house are some carrot and celery sticks, a bag of frozen soup veggies, and the last bag of corn we put up this summer...) I really need more practice on timing from scratch items. Hubby grilled out the steaks, and also grilled a bunch of chicken legs while he was at it, so I have a meal for today half done already!

5-
You don't want to know how many times a day the girls want to watch the "Pug Summer" video that hubby posted here last week...not to mention the "Bad Pugs" video that if you want to see, you'll have to go over to YouTube (think really bad singing with words changed to relate to a pug using the theme song from COPS)

6-
Today is FILs 50th birthday. Most likely he is being harassed at meals on their cruise. I am wondering how the whole cruise boat thing is going. MIL called me right before they left (they were on the lido deck, with frosty beverages in hand) because they told her that cell phones wouldn't work once they set sail (MIL without her phone for a week is an entertaining thought! She's worse about her cell phone than hubby is about his...and he updates facebook mobily quite a bit now...) The cruise ends tomorrow, then they fly home on Sunday.

7-
I hope that they are having a good time, but I am REALLY looking forward to them getting back...you see, we get their dog when they go on vacation (I guess it's only fair, since they get our dog every time we go out of town...) She's a pug (Bubba's older sister) and her face is even more squished that Bubba's face. Well, she is used to being fed wet dog food that makes her smell (she's getting mostly dry here), sleeping in bed with MIL and FIL (she gets a pillow on the floor here) and getting lots of table scraps (it's a dog eat dog world around here...plus the kids don't drop too much, so she's really screwed...) She is a very sweet dog...but THE SNORING!!! I don't know if I can take it much longer...I'm already suffering from sleep deprivation, and I still have two nights to go!

Of course, there are plenty more quick takes over at Jen's blog!

BONUS EDIT...

So, I just finished up school with Eva, and part way through I noticed that Charlotte was playing with the library books...in particular a book on tape. I told her no, and to put the book back...she left it alone for a while. I looked up later, and noticed she had the book out of the bag, and told her to put it back...she couldn't so she brought it to me, and it was then that I discovered to my horror that she had pulled all of the tape out of the cassette...and actually severed it...so now hubby is going to stop by the library on the way home to find out how we can deal with this (if I can just order a new one for the library, it will be about $8...I remember library replacement fees for books to be $25 when I was a kid...I shudder to think what the standard replacement fee might be now...) Not a particularly good start to the day...

If hubby can do this...surely I can figure it out...

So, here goes!

Not to pat myself on the back or anything...

...but I just have to say that I rock!

Okay, so I'm a dork, but anyone who bothers to read this blog knows this already...

Our fridge is getting to be VERY pathetic looking, as payday is not until Friday. So, I've been getting a little ambitious with meal prep (other than the totinos pizza rolls for lunch yesterday since hubby had a last minute schedule change...)

On Monday, after my weekend retreat (more about that on Friday...I need to scan in a picture...) I made homemade sloppy joes, served with apples and homemade pickles. I got dinner in the crock pot early, and made Moroccan chicken casserole...then we decided to go up to my MILs house so that I could clean her kitchen while she is away on her cruise (and hubby had a meeting to go to up there) and I brought the crock pot along.

Yesterday night, I made homemade mac and cheese and dessert (a special request by Eva). We had a little leftover, and had that with brats on my homemade hot dog buns and homemade pickles for lunch today.

And tonight, I had 4 chicken thighs left over (uncooked) from when I made the chicken casserole, so I needed to get them used today. I didn't quite know what to do, so we decided on tacos. We roasted the chicken meat, defrosted a bag of my homemade refried beans (made last week in the crock pot), pulled out a little cheese, a jar of homemade salsa, and I made tortillas from this recipe. Served with corn that we put up this summer, I am feeling very pleased with myself.

And now a word from Eva, who was informing me that I could change the color of my text...

"Dear grandpa and grandma. I want to see you here but you are on vacation and I want to see you again and go on vacation with you."

...and now Charlotte

I sit. Mommy and daddy talk.

There you go...and I am going to go play sequence for kids now!

Beautiful pro-life music video

You might want to watch this without kids in the room, just because it's a love song to a child who was never allowed to be born...and your kids might not be old enough to have that conversation yet. Plus, if you react like I did, they will probably wonder why you're crying. (just a little, though!)

h/t to American Papist

25 things about me

So, I'm going on a little bit of a Facebook binge while MM is out of town on retreat. But this is really trying to be economical with my online time: I developed this list for Facebook and am now using it here because I thought someone out there might be a little bit interested. To be honest, I really got the idea from MM, who did exactly the reverse: after losing her first version of "25 things," she copied and pasted parts of her January quick takes from here to create a new list for Facebook. Anyway, here's this:

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

1. [MM] and I are both apparently techno-dolts, as we both managed to lose our 25 things lists ([MM]'s after she thought she had published it, which may have ended her relationship with the notes application.)

2. This should not really be surprising, as we are both (a postal worker and a stay at home mom) walking, talking anachronisms.

3. Two books having to do with the "philosophical underpinnings" of a postal system, both of which I really enjoyed, are David Brin's "The Postman" (although I've never seen the Costner movie) and Terry Pratchett's "Going Postal."

4. No, I'm not going postal. And it's not really that funny, the 800th time it's been asked.

5. Although I can kinda see how it happens: bureaucracy's "irrationality of rationality" and all, a la Max Weber.

6. See? I (sort of) use my Sociology degree in my daily life!

7. I think, if I had it to do over, I might've majored in History. I tend toward that in much of my independent learning and reading now.

8. Not that I didn't enjoy a Soc major and minors in Philosophy and Peace and Justice Studies...but "enjoyed" don't pay the bills. Heh

9. I do think all the critical thinking exercise I received during this course of study helped me kick some serious butt on the LSAT. Too bad I really, really didn't want to be a lawyer, when all was said and done.

10. I'm pretty content now just providing for my family doing whatever will pay the bills in a morally acceptable way.

11. I don't know how it's going to look, but I really like the idea behind what [our alma mater] (I've read) is doing outside the Science Building w/r/t the interconnectedness of "faith" and "reason."

12. During my lifetime, I think I've gone from one extreme to other, thinking they were either/or. Now I think it's a largely false dichotomy, but there still is some creative tension between the two.

13. Maybe that's why I like "Lost" so much. I think it's BOTH sci-fi AND fantasy. Jack and Locke are both right.

14. W/r/t "Lost," though, I do lean more toward "goober" than "scooby." See http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,1550612_20245769_20253740,00.html if you care to figure out what that means.

15. While at ew.com, I noticed a story called "29 films you saw too young." It's funny, because I was just thinking about how I had a hard time reading "Lord of the Rings" again when I was really old enough to get more out of it because I had probably read it too early, and how Eva's gotten some really cool toys that were just too old for her but then were trashed by the time she could really get something out of them. I think this is analogous to a lot of experiences (and lifestyle choices). But that's just me, and I probably never would've thought that when I was younger.

16. Going back to the faith and reason thing, we just saw Ben Stein's "Expelled" film. Whatever your feelings on intelligent design, evolution, etc. I can't recommend this documentary highly enough. It's so much better than I expected it to be.

17. I'd better stop rambling and hurry this up before I have to leave for work.

18. I'm paranoid about losing all this again and have been periodically copying the whole thing just in case.

19. I'm glad to have moved back out to the boondocks, although there are times I miss being able to go to lectures on a whim, etc. I think I actually miss the city more than [MM] does, though it's still not that much.

20. I'd like where we live a little more if I didn't have to drive by the Butte Motel every day. One side of the sign lost the last "e," so it now says Butt Motel. I don't know why that bothers me so much, but it really does.

21. We have a pug named Bubba.

22. We are beginning to suspect that our two-year-old, Charlotte, may be allergic to Bubba. This may become a problem.

23. I love my kids very much. It helps that they're already little dorks like their parents.

24. I'm proud of how [MM] and Eva are doing with the homeschooling so far. I am excited to see the fruits of this develop.

25. My life is totally not what I thought it was going to be ten years ago. Thank God!

And now for something completely different...

Yes, this is stupid. It also has me about to fall out of my chair laughing. You be the judge of whether that's a compliment to the song or an indictment of me!

Quick Takes Friday

1-
We ordered another Spanish program yesterday...Eva will be done with the first Kindergarten Spanish program in two weeks...I'm still looking for the perfect one, so if anyone has any suggestions, I would appreciate it! So far we have (almost) finished Teach Them Spanish, and have ordered Flip Flop Spanish.

2-
I finally made decent looking hot dog buns (they were a little crumbly, but I think this recipe has definite potential!) from these instructions.

3-
MIL, SIL, the girls and I went to see Matthew Kelly speak this week. He was really good...I just wish I hadn't missed the first part of his talk because of a VERY poopy diaper...(Speaking of poopy diapers...I don't remember for the life of me how we potty trained Eva...any pointers and tips? We are hoping to transition before too long!) Back to Matthew Kelly...we got a bunch of his books (surprise, surprise!) including his DVD set and workbook. MIL and I are hoping that we will be able to get our Women of Grace group back together to work through his study. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that maybe we'll get it together for Lent.

4-
Since giving up diet soda and transitioning to coffee, I have discovered that it is necessary to buy those ginormous coffee containers...and for some reason, I find it a little disturbing to go through as much coffee and we are going through!

5-
A week or two ago, we got our annual form letter from the church detailing our giving for the year for tax purposes. This week, we got a form letter from Father saying that a form letter was not enough to express his gratitude for our support of the church...so, he apologized for the impersonality of a form letter with...another form letter!

6-
The girls get to go stay with Grandma tonight and tomorrow, as I am heading up to a women's retreat with my SIL. Then hubby will pick them up tomorrow evening, and on Sunday, I'll be coming home from the retreat, and MIL and FIL will be leaving for their cruise to Mexico.

7-
Okay, I'll fess up one of the items I was asking for prayers about now...This week I had my first appointment with a bariatric surgeon, and all is looking like it should work out. They see me as an excellent candidate for Adjustable Gastric Band surgery, and I fit our insurance company's specifications for qualifying. So, at this point, I am working on losing 20 lbs and trying to get my exercise up to 5-7 days per week. I'll have an appointment with the dietitian next month, and my psychological evaluation in March. I'm also waiting for the all clear on the insurance front, and have been told to be "very careful" in terms of not getting pregnant, because they (obviously!) will not do the surgery if I'm pregnant. The doc told me one story of a woman who was there on her surgery day, and had a pregnancy test come back positive...obviously, she wasn't able to have her surgery...so really strict NFP rules, here we come!

More quick takes at Jen's!

I may pay for this later

Since I have apparently figured out how to embed YouTube videos on here, I'll go ahead and post one that MM was on the fence about whether to post or not. Don't get me wrong: it's completely wholesome, but it references a part of pop culture that not everybody appreciates, to say the least.

But MM ain't here today! ;-) And, anyway, it really IS wholesome (and FUNNY!).

"And if you're Catholic, there's even mooore." ROTFL

Matt Maher

Back in September, MM and I saw Matt Maher on EWTN's "Life on the Rock," and he made such an impression on me that I immediately asked for the new album he was promoting for the birthday I had coming up in October. I've really enjoyed it since then, and am a little amazed at the niche he-a very devout Catholic-has carved out in the overwhelmingly Protestant Christian music industry.

Anyway, now that we can actually watch streaming videos on our computer, I thought I'd post an overview of Maher's most recent album from the record label. *crossing my fingers this works!*

Would it be insensitive to say...

that I, on the other hand, am having a pretty good day? At the very least, it kind of reminds me of the old statistic about how getting married massively extends the lifespan of the average man, but somewhat shortens the lifespan of the average woman. At least, I think that's what the old statistic says... I'm a little bit fuzzy on it, now.

To be fair, I just talked to MM on the phone, and she seems to be having a better day. She made my mom listen to Dave Ramsey with her, which I find fairly funny. Still pretty hectic, but better. Hopefully the girls (and my sister and mother) will behave relatively well at the lecture they are attending tonight. Otherwise, the final good/bad tally for the day may be in some question.

I have to say I am enjoying the first uninterrupted and unscheduled time I've had to marvel at our new 256K internet connection. I'm affraid I've misplaced a lot of blame for computer headaches the last couple of years with our PC itself, when it mostly had to do with us just being too cheap to upgrade (admittedly, MM's dad's gift to us of more RAM not too long ago helped a lot, too).

Sadly, though, I can only torment my friends on Facebook so much without getting pretty bored. Same thing goes with watching the tube. So, I have to say that I'm missing MM and the girls pretty badly. A little peace and quiet is nice once in a while, but the chaos is what gives my life purpose, I guess.

Correction: I have since been informed that we actually now have 512K, not 256. As you can see, I was thoroughly involved in the research and planning of this switch. ;-)

Not having a good day...

I couldn't get dressed this morning because I needed to wash and dry a load of laundry (I needed underwear...)

While trying to put some podcasts on our IPod for our last minute whirlwind trip to see Matthew Kelly speak (plus go to a bunch of doctors appointments on Tuesday) it turns out our IPod is corrupted.

Hubby and I thought he was supposed to go back to work at 12:30, but found out that he is actually supposed to be back at noon (we found this out at 11:25 when I was defrosting hamburger for today's lunch...)

AND, I caught one of my oven mitts on fire while cooking...

Hopefully the rest of the day goes better!

Quick Takes Friday- High Speed Edition

1-

I have doubled my productivity since getting our DSL equipment installed yesterday...okay, maybe not PRODUCTIVITY...but at least all of my time wasting on the Internet takes less time now!

2-

I'm much more excited about podcasts now that I was before. We used to download a podcast called "Pray as you go" by the Jesuits, but each week we'd have to leave our dial up connected all night long to get five podcasts for the week, and I doubt that any of them are longer than 10 minutes. I downloaded next week's podcasts yesterday, and it took me a whopping 10-15 minutes to download them all...Even the slowest DSL is amazingly fast for me!

3-

Charlotte is sick again...I'm supposed to take her back into the doc next week to check on her ears...at the last appointment he said that she either was just getting over an ear infection, or just getting one. We didn't do antibiotics since there was a good chance she was getting over one, but now her fever and cough are back (after almost 2 weeks of very few problems). Poor kid!

4-

Yesterday we got done with school before 10:30 am, which is a record as of late...basically, I've been doing well if we start school before nap time. Hopefully today I will follow the same plan and get school done before lunch...then, of course, I have another week of school to plan out.

5-

Besides the faster Internet connection getting me going faster in the morning (I'm sure I'm not the only one that says "just ONE more blog, THEN I'll get ready..." more than once a morning!) I took Danielle Bean's advice about night showering...I never thought it would work for me, with my horrible curly hair, but I've done it twice now (which is more than I usually do in a year...I only have showered at night before if I had to spend the evening around smokers...) and have found that if I braid my hair after my shower and sleep on the braid, my hair actually looks pretty good (for my hair anyway!)

6-

Eva has recently started to get things off the top of the TV cabinet (I can only assume that she stands on a basket and stretches to reach things) and out of child proofed cabinets (to get things for her sister, of course). Not that I am surprised that she CAN do these things, it just is a little strange that this is the first she HAS done these things...I've had to remind her that when I put toys in a child proofed cabinet, that means that I want to control access to it...the dumb "Froggy book" (LeapPad) that she got out is now confiscated and in my room because the girls were driving me nuts with fighting over it.

7-

Speaking of the LeapPad book...don't you HATE it when well meaning people get your kids toys that are way too old for them? The LeapPad would have been an awesome gift for Eva this year, but she actually got it from my parents when she was 2...not a good age for that sort of thing. Of course, this is not limited to my side of the family...one time the girls went shopping with hubby's parents, and somehow my FIL ended up taking them to pick out toys (because, to grandparents, every time you go shopping is a time for a new toy!) and Charlotte got a Dora doll that said ages 3+ (which was fine, because I do supervise my kids with toys...she might have still been under a year, but at least was significantly under 2), and Eva got a kids ATM that said ages 7+...eventually, we had to smash the dumb thing to get her money out because the stupid thing was too complicated for us once the instruction booklet got lost (sorry MIL, it had to be done!) A few times Eva has asked about it, and we had to give her some story about giving it away (well, the trash guys COULD have taken it out of the trash, how would I know?)

More quick takes over at Jen's, as usual!

Budgeting, email and taxes...oh my!

I am so completely tired of sitting in front of the computer getting these three things done (so naturally, I am sitting in front of the computer blogging about how tired of these I am!)

Hubby's hours have been cut back little by little over the last several months, and we keep thinking that they'll start going back up soon...so we've just been trying to go with the flow. Well, we got his pay stub for this Friday, and were a little sad to see the number. But, it covers all our bills (although we did have to put off contributing to Charlotte's college fund for a month), so we're not complaining. Hubby did, however, apply for a part time second job (evenings and weekends) so we would appreciate any prayers about that situation.

We also have been planning on getting high speed Internet for my 30th birthday in August...so I was researching prices (after being told by the church organist that she had tried to call me for several days because she needed a cantor for a funeral, and that she finally gave up and got her daughter's doctor to allow her off bed rest for preeclampsia for the funeral...) and found out that all of the places that provide high speed Internet out here require a one year contract. Since we are REALLY not sure if we will be here much longer than a year (particularly if hubby's hours keep getting cut) we decided to go ahead and get high speed now...so starting Friday, I'll be able to do all sorts of things on the computer I never have before (I can watch my first YouTube video!) So, I don't know if that was a good or bad decision, but I guess I'm locked into paying for a year...

Of course, with changing ISPs, we also have to change our e-mail address...I didn't actually realize how many places I would need to change our e-mail until I started going through our inbox and trash can in Outlook...I mean, just little things like Seton Home, Blogger, CCL, ITunes, banks, mortgage, investment accounts...and on and on and on...

I also started working on taxes, and decided to try the Turbo Tax free edition (as suggested by Christine R...thanks!) and it is working out great so far (I still need the appropriate documentation from our banks, but other than that I'm all set!) and it is looking like we will be getting back a good chunk of change, and are going to owe the state under $200 (MUCH better than the almost $500 we owed last year!)

Well, I should probably stop procrastinating and get back to everything I am working on! Hopefully I'll get a chunk of it all done before nap time is over!

My girls are goofy...

So, a while back, we were watching something recorded on our DVR because two things were recording. When it finished, the TV went back to the PBS station, where one of the shows recording had just finished...there was some sort of cooking show on, and Eva begged to watch it. I figured that cooking shows are generally pretty safe, so I agreed to let her watch it.

Well, the show (which I really don't have any objections to, other than I find the woman a little overly cheerful) was Katie Brown Workshop...and Eva LOVED it...so, I ended up finding it on the TV and recording the episodes. Now the girls are constantly asking to watch Katie Brown (even Charlotte can say "Kay-ee Bwown!"

Also, on Friday afternoon, I had to take the girls up to the church to meet with the organist because I was a cantor for Mass this weekend. So, when we are leaving I pulled out my new cell phone to check the time. Eva said "Mommy, you have a new phone!" and I of course responded that yes, I do have a new phone. Then she said, "and we have a new car!" (of course, it is a 1995 Olds, but yes, it is new to us) and I said that yes we do have a new car. So, she said "We have A LOT of new things!", and I decided to tease her a little bit. I said "yes, we do have a lot of new things...should we get a new Eva?" and she said "No! Cause I am the Eva that was in your tummy!", so I said "should we get a new Charlotte?" and Eva again shouted "No! Cause Charlotte is the Charlotte that was in your tummy!" (Charlotte is also shouting no at me at this point). So, I said, "Oh, okay...should we get a new daddy?" and Eva responded "Yes!" (Charlotte still voted no)...

We've decided to keep the current daddy after all...

Quick Takes Friday

1-
We finished up the transitions teacher training classes for CCL, so we are now certified to teach the premenopause and postpartum classes...with the number of women in my mom's group at church, you'd think that we would have people waiting on the postpartum class (and maybe a few will want to take it when we do offer it!) but strangely, we've had one woman really needing the premenopause class, so it looks like that may be our first supplemental class. We did have a small problem with the test for the premenopause class...the required score to pass was 100%...and when we got done it told us that we got one question wrong (thankfully, it does tell us what question...) so we took the test no less than 10 times trying to get the right answer (it was a select all that apply question), and finally on time 10, I insisted that we had put in the right answer the first time through, and told hubby that I was putting in that answer again, and if it didn't work, I was going to call someone and give them a piece of my mind. It worked! We had answered the question right the first time, but the computer system screwed something up...actually, this happened on another test with a required 100% score where we had answered correctly and were told we answered incorrectly...of course, that answer only had 4 possible choices, so by time 5 of testing, we managed to pass...but if it is a choose all that apply and there are 5 options....well, that's a lot of different tries!

2-
We both have new cell phones. My MIL offered to put me on their family plan (which hubby has been on forever...he's the oldest, and all of his siblings have moved on and gotten their own cell phone plans...not us though!) the carrier gets way better service in our area than Verizon (No, I can't hear you now on my Verizon phone unless I stand next to the back door and don't move, sit out on the porch, or park in front of the grocery store to make a call...) which is what my parents have (I am still on their family plan, too, for a little bit longer). Hubby talked his mom into unlimited web access, and has been wasting even more time with his phone (he is a cell phone addict) than usual. I haven't done any web yet, but I am pretty enamoured with the voice activated calling on mine....

3-
Of course, we got the new phones up in MILs town, which we went up to on Wednesday. Eva and my MIL and I stayed until the end with the signing of the contract at the cell phone place, but hubby took Charlotte out to MILs house. So, after the contract was signed, we went to the grocery store. At the store up there they have little kids grocery carts. Grandma, of course, let Eva drive the cart. Unfortunately at one point Eva was running with the cart (after I told her not to about a dozen times) and grandma walked in front of her accidentally. Well, the cart rammed into my MIL and cut her heel, but also flew back and gave Eva a bloody fat lip. After a lot of drama, one of the ladies from the deli brought her a bag of ice, and we made it through the store.

4-
Other interesting things that happened on Wednesday...my MIL booked a 5 day cruise for FILs 50th birthday...she's not telling him about it (of course, she told the cell phone store lady, FILs brother, her dad, all her kids, and who knows who else!) and her original plan to get him to the airport was to tell him that hubby's little sister and her husband had a huge fight and that she was on a plane home...hubby's other sister and I both think that was a bad idea. I've suggested buying him a new swimsuit, printing out a cruise itinerary, wrapping it up, and giving it to him as an early birthday present at breakfast the morning they are supposed to leave. It should be interesting, as he doesn't like to be away from home for more than 48 hours...

5-
This just fits my normal luck...it took me forever to figure out a Christmas present for my parents. My mom is in full de-junking mode, and most of the ideas that hubby and I could come up with would probably be thrown out. Finally, we decided on a magazine subscription, but my mom isn't much of a magazine person...however, she has been driving me nuts for the past year or so telling me how very "green" she is...so, I ordered her National Geographic's Green Guide for Christmas...well, it never debited from my account, so I went to find the customer service info, which took me forever to find...it turns out that they stopped publishing the magazine...so, I gave my mom a copy and told her she was getting a year's worth for Christmas, and they stopped publishing the magazine...it just figures!

6-
Have I mentioned how annoyed I am with our e-mail spam filter?!?!? For some reason, about a month ago all of my yahoo groups things started to be put in the spam folder. We have tried about 101 different ways of getting it to go into the INBOX, but have had NO LUCK!!! So, when my Catholic Moms group gets all chatty, I end up having to go into the spam folder in web mail three times a day to keep up, which is quite inconvenient with dial-up Internet.

7-
Yesterday I got to help out with Eva's story time at the library. They were shorthanded (there was a small plane that went down two days ago, and killed several people, and one of the ladies was with her friend who lost her husband) and the kids were supposed to paint hand prints on the wall in the story time room. So, I got to paint the kids hands and tried to help get some of them cleaned up, too...it really was more of a 4 person job, but we got by with 3 adults. The experience reminded me why I don't do more painting crafts around here!

Thanks to Jen for hosting quick takes!

$52.40

Well, we are back from our short vacation/K of C meeting, we picked up our kiddos, and we are back into the swing of normal life (although I am still working on laundry from the weekend!)

Yesterday we took the day off school (I normally plan on Saturday or Sunday for the upcoming week) and one of the urgent matters that needed to be attended to was grocery shopping. We left the fridge in a very sad state (a couple of grapefruits, some margarine, a bunch of condiments, and a tiny little bit of milk that we didn't finish before we left). Our pantry was also looking a little empty as well...so I had $42 in my wallet, and intended to shop with that...well, I wasn't having a very good day yesterday, and by the time I got the items we needed (milk, eggs, bananas, etc) and a few of the specials (79 cent chicken, yogurt, cereal), I had pretty much lost track of my adding. When it was all totaled up, it came to over $57, and I just about cried as I handed over my coupons...I had even passed up a fairly decent deal for toilet paper (which I didn't remember to buy while we were away, but we still have a couple of rolls) because it was $6 or $7...the total came down to $52.40...I admitted defeat and handed over my debit card (silently cursing because we haven't even received our gas bill and I have to pay it out of this paycheck...)

I came home depressed...hubby's reaction was SO not helpful (something along the lines of "it's not that big of a deal!"), and a while later I added the transaction to Quicken. When I typed in our local grocery store's name into the "Payee" space, it popped up the last transaction amount to them, which it always does...but the amount was $52.40...I had to go over to the other account and make sure that I hadn't put the transaction in already in the wrong checking account, but sure enough, the last time I used a debit card at that store, my total was EXACTLY the same as it was yesterday...that was back in mid-December...I find it a little creepy...and I'm starting to wonder if I should just start budgeting $52.40 per week...

7 Quick Takes Friday

1-
I always love every other Friday, because it is PAYDAY!!! Sometimes I really wish that hubby got a few more hours at work, but with all of the holidays (unpaid) recently I am not going to complain about it. The good news is that we have enough money to pay our bills that are due, and even put a little into our emergency fund. We now have 11% of month 2 funded, and we are aiming for 5 months.

2-
We had dentist appointments this week. Eva LOVES going to the dentist (it's really funny how excited she gets about it). I think this is mostly due to the fact that she seems to have inherited my good teeth, rather than hubby's lousy teeth. Just as an example, I think I've had two fillings in my life (not as good as my mom, who got her first filling after 40) and hubby had two fillings on Tuesday...

3-
Hubby is currently teaching Eva a science lesson...and I'm trying not to listen...I just heard him say "it's like when you fart..." which Eva really thought was funny. Today has something to do with baking soda...

4-
We get a romantic weekend away to Colorado Springs...okay, maybe not really romantic, since it is for a K of C meeting...but it is a getaway, and the kids are going to stay with grandma. So, after we finish class and pack this morning, we are taking them up to grandma's town, taking grandma out to lunch (as a pre-babysitting thank you) and then transferring the dog to her car, driving home, changing cars, then driving down to the Springs. I'm looking forward to a little shopping.

5-
Speaking of shopping, I am a little bummed that the major grocery stores aren't having good sales this week...(well, one of them is, but they don't have any stores in the Springs...just in Denver...) but I am excited about Walgreens. I figured out four transactions for today (or Saturday, but I think we'll be pretty busy then) and two transactions for Sunday. The first day at the end I will have spent $36.11 OOP, and will get $27.48 back in rebates (with another $3 manufacturer's rebate). The second day, I will spend pretty close to $10 even. That includes getting medicine, cereal, dish washing detergent (I have 1 electrasol tab left in the house), soap, generic pull-ups, all the FAR items, oatmeal, valentines (for Eva's story time group), vitamins and soda. Hopefully all goes as planned, but I'm sure I'll have to be flexible.

6-
My MIL has offered to try to potty train Charlotte this weekend...I told her I'd send up panties if she's feeling ambitious, but I'm just not that hopeful...after all this is the kid who when we call her a big girl yells at us saying "NO!!! Baby!!!"

7-
Am I a dork that I can't wait to do our taxes??? I've been contemplating when to buy Turbo Tax, and thought about doing it this pay period, but if I do, I can't put money into savings. Besides, we don't have any of our tax documents (I know, I need therapy!) but I am excited to get it done, because I am estimating that we'll be getting about $900 refund (we paid less than $1 in federal tax this year, but our two little tax credits should get us something back.) Although I have to admit that I am not excited about filing state taxes, because last year we owed over $450 to the state, after years and years of getting a refund (partially due to tax changes in the state, and partially due to the fact that we paid more federal taxes before kids, and therefore paid more into the state tax system.

As usual, there are more quick takes over at Jen's blog!

Just checking in...

Hi to anyone who may be reading this. Thought I'd check in, as it's been approximately three millennia since the last time I wrote anything here. I still don't have anything particularly interesting to say, but I am finally feeling a little perkier. I've had the coughing crud trend that's been sweeping the country and, although I'm still snotty enough to be annoying my co-workers with my snorting and snuffling, at least I don't want to curl up in a ball and cry anymore. At least not about feeling sick, anyway.

Speaking of being annoying, does anyone else besides me have such a serious kid that you sometimes feel the need to purposefully annoy them with silliness? Eva seems to have taken after me in the taking yourself too seriously department, and she hasn't been around long enough for the world to deflate her head as thoroughly as it has mine... so I've been trying to get her to lighten up a little. Yesterday I was dancing and skipping around the house a little bit just to get on her nerves, and I was successful! She glared at me and shouted, "Dad! I said no dancing around in the house for big guys like you!" Remember, this is a four-year-old. This led MM to give Eva a warning about shouting at her dad, and a warning to me about intentionally being irritating.

Actually, the said four-year-old is sitting on my lap as I type (along with her two-year-old sister). This is not especially helpful to my already so-so typing skills, but it is making me more thankful for blogger's spell checker.

I asked Eva what she wanted to say on Mommy's blog and (although I'm not sure she understands the possibilities) here it is, in her chosen color:
"I love you Mommy! Can we play with Play-Dough? And after we clean it up, can we please color with crayons? That's all."

Charlotte, for her part, says:
"Geen. My dink. Sooch E-a."

FYI, Eva interprets this last part as saying, "Dear Mommy, I want to write a letter to Eva's teacher."

Huh.

7 Quick Takes Friday - Happy New Year edition

1-
We had a crazy new year's eve party that included someone throwing up into her hair...

2-
Okay, we had our in laws down, rang in the East Coast new year (10 pm here) and Charlotte is the one who threw up in her hair (we've all been sick with a coughing kind of crud).

3-
I'm trying to remember and keep in mind that we are still in the Christmas season...I'm having a hard time though, and just feeling burnt out from all our Christmas travels.

4-
My first ever e-bay sale has 36 minutes left, 6 watchers, and three bids. I am WAY too excited about the whole thing and feeling like a complete dork (it's not like I am selling anything vastly valuable, anyway!)

5-
I think this is going to be my shortest quick takes ever...very to the point so far!

6-
We are working towards making some pretty major decisions this year, and we would appreciate any prayers you can offer for us and our family.

7-
That's it...I'm out of inspiration...and a few days ago I was thinking that I'd have too much stuff to write today! I hope that everyone is having a wonderful new year so far!

More quick takes are up at Jen's blog.

Merry Christmas!

Well, we are home from our whirlwind trip to Denver for Christmas! (Now we just have Christmas gift exchange with hubby's parents and siblings followed by another Christmas gift exchange with my parents and sibling to go...) But I thought I'd write up a few highlights:

1-
Hubby's sister managed to get a plane into the Denver airport after all...apparently when she asked if there was any chance, they told her that if she got to a gate right now, she could get on a plane leaving in 20 minutes...of course, then she got picked for the super terrorist screening which involved some machine that puffed air on her, and all her bags being dumped out and inspected.

2-
We managed to close down several stores. First dumb move, hubby and I decided to stop at Wal Mart on the way up (I had some gift cards, was out of several baking staples, and thought that we might want to bring breakfast for the morning to the hotel)...we didn't close Wal Mart down, but apparently my MIL and SILs did (a different Wal Mart) getting last minute stocking stuffers. We closed down Barnes and Noble (getting a copy of National Geographic's Green Guide to wrap up for my parents, since I got them a subscription to it, and hubby thought they needed something to open) and later hubby and his sister closed down Walgreens getting diapers so that we could go to midnight Mass...

3-
Everything that hubby's family does takes longer than hubby thinks. We got to the hotel first, but hubby figured that they would be there pretty soon...when they did finally get there, they got stuck in this one elevator that was possessed the whole time we were there...then we had to try to figure out where to go to eat on Christmas Eve...we were meeting Brittney's parents and sister, plus the nine of us staying at the hotel...so we had a party of twelve. Hubby was calling around, while MIL and SIL and SILs husband went down to the front desk, because MIL had paid for two rooms on Expedia, but they only found one reservation when they got there, so she paid for another room...eventually they figured out that the second room was under SILs (married) name...eventually we found a restaurant that was open until 10, and could handle a group of 12...

4-
While eating, we decided (all still in our traveling clothes) that instead of getting up early to go to Mass before heading over to the hospital, we might as well go to midnight Mass at the church on the way back to the hotel. That was fine, except Charlotte was in her spare diaper that we brought for dinner and pooped, so that demanded a last minute Walgreens run for more diapers.
Midnight Mass was listed as starting at 10:30...well, we got there at 10 ish, got a pew that would hold the nine of us (Britt's family had already gone to Mass at the church near the hospital), the choir started singing at 10:30 (Charlotte started singing then, too) and Mass started at 11 (Eva was asleep on her aunt at that point...Charlotte didn't fall asleep until about communion). It was a beautiful Mass at a beautiful church.

5-
MIL has a tradition of getting everyone Christmas jammies (which, at this point she is buying 9 pairs per year), so after Mass and back at the hotel, everyone came to our room to get their pajamas...of course hubby and his sister already had the girls in pajamas...they were very happy to change into their new "Hannah Montana" (Eva) and "Disney Princess" (Charlotte) jammies. Then hubby's sister ended up staying in our room (she was originally going to sleep on the sofa bed in her parents room, but Eva wanted her to stay and sleep with her in the sofa bed instead). Charlotte was between us, and fell asleep tugging on my hair...it was past 1 am...so I wasn't going to complain!

6-
The girls woke up at about 7:40...so we took them swimming in the hotel pool from 8 to 9, then from 9 to 10, they watched some horrible version of Heidi made with dressed up dogs on PBS (I am NEVER going to support public television...the dog thing has turned me off for life...) while we all got showered and dressed. Then we exchanged our Christmas presents, then at about 10:30 we did stockings in grandma's room. (I got the dryer balls I have had on my Christmas list for a couple of years now, and Charlotte got the Tinkerbell movie, which the girls are currently watching). Finally, we checked out of the hotel at about 11:30 and headed over to the hospital for a very lovely family dinner with Brittney and her family.

7-
We left Denver at about 3:30, and were able to get home with plenty of time for me to cook a nice dinner...while I was finishing up cooking, hubby called his mom...it turns out they were still an hour away from home and cruising one of the bigger cities to see if anything was open so they could get dinner. Hubby told them to enjoy their 7-11 cheeseburger dogs while we were eating a nice home cooked meal...I told him that it reminded me of "A Christmas Story" where the neighbors dogs eat the turkey, and they end up at a Chinese food restaurant with the proprietors singing "Ringle Rells, Ringle Rells..."

Overall, we had a really good trip! It was great fun to be together as a family.

Deck the Halls...

Well, we are getting close to our Christmas travels...we just took our dog up to my MILs house for the rest of the week (her dad will be taking care of all the dogs over Christmas) and we are doing our stockings tonight. I've also been a crafty supermom for the last couple of days (not a role I take on very often) and Eva, Charlotte and I have made Christmas ornaments and cards for their Aunts and Uncles. Once the girls get up from their late nap (Charlotte hasn't actually been napping...mostly crying and yelling) we're going to make cards for their grandparents.

A week ago or so, hubby won two gift certificates in our local chamber of commerce's Christmas drawing...$25 to a restaurant, and $25 to the John Deere dealership...well, yesterday I got a call from the grocery store in my MILs town, and found out that I won a gift certificate there...Charlotte really wanted to talk on the phone, so I only could hear about every other word the guy from the store said...so much so that I couldn't figure out what store he was talking about (the grocery store up there doesn't have a traditional grocery store name)...so when we took the dog up today, we decided to pick up (and spend) my gift certificate. I had it in my head that it was probably a $25 certificate (I don't know why I decided that...) but it turned out to be for $50! That was awesome, shopping for staples with $50 certificate! Also, several of the items that we have been flat out of that I have been refusing to buy until they go on sale were on sale there!

I was thrilled that it was $50, as today we got hubby's pay stub for Friday's direct deposit, and I was a little bit bummed by the total (not that it was bad, it just doesn't leave us much wiggle room in the budget...and we'll have to see if we can squeeze a little bit out for our savings.

The kids are going to go nuts for the next couple of days. Here are their gift receiving moments:
Tonight - stockings from us
Tomorrow night - PJs from Grandma
Thursday - stockings from Grandma, gifts from us
Friday - presents from Grandma (yes, all the same grandma up to this point) and probably gifts from aunts and uncles (if they don't get those on Thursday)
Saturday - gifts from other grandparents (mine) and my brother
Sunday - hopefully we will be done with presents by then...but I'm not holding my breath!

Thank goodness we mucked out their toys already...I don't know if we'd be able to get into the house if we hadn't!

Not the day I was expecting...

...that doesn't imply that the day was bad...just different than I had planned (I don't know why I even TRY to plan, being married into the family that I am!)

The plan was for my MIL and I to go pick up hubby's little sister at DIA today, but with the whole plane crash incident and the nasty weather up in the pacific northwest, her flight was cancelled. Of course, we found this out when we were almost to hubby's hometown, where the girls and I were going to meet MIL and head off for last minute Christmas shopping (for MIL, I'm done) and a trip to the airport, while hubby headed out to the farm to keep an eye on his dad and the dog.

So, we spent the day all together instead. It was actually a lot of fun! I wrapped a million Christmas gifts (when my girls started finding their Christmas presents in one of the spare rooms and dragging them out to play with...) and the girls got to do a bunch of Christmas crafts (they made a bunch of gift tags with stickers, glitter and glue.)

The SIL who was supposed to come in today couldn't get another flight until Christmas Eve, which is the day that her hubby is also flying in. Of course, SIL could only get a flight into the Colorado Springs airport, while her husband is still flying into Denver...so, I guess we get to take a slightly longer route to the hotel where we are all staying Christmas Eve to get her at the airport.

Family gatherings can be quite complicated!

Quick Takes Friday - yes, this is all I do anymore!

1. My Knight in wrinkled armor

I've been meaning to post a picture of hubby in his regalia since he participated in his first color guard a couple of months ago...but I forgot our digital camera, then we bought a disposable one, then it took a while to finish it off (because I never remember to take pictures) then it took a while to develop it...of course, then the picture had to be scanned into the computer, but here he is (finally!)

2. Today we will be finishing up our first quarter of Kindergarten! YEAH!!! (Of course, we could be finishing up right now, but I don't know that I have enough caffeine in my system at the moment) After we finish (testing the final two prayers: meal blessings and act of contrition, and the final two pages of math) I get to figure out how to scan everything in to the computer to send electronically (hubby's preference) or bundle it all up in an envelope and mail it in (my preference)! Also, I really should get a few last items into her notebook to show her progression since we started before I do my happy dance and hide the school stuff until the new year.

3. Speaking of the act of contrition...we have our penance service tonight. Father moved the usual 8am mass to 5:30, and the penance service is at 7...so I am debating whether or not to have hubby come home, leave for Mass, come home, eat dinner, bundle everyone back up to head to the penance service, get back home (most likely) late for the girls bedtime, and then collapse...or do some, but not all of it. On a side note, I have had a mental block on the act of contrition my entire adult life (when you are baptised at 18, they don't particularly teach you about confession in RCIA...I didn't even know that it was a normal thing to know a formal act of contrition until I had a priest yell at me for not knowing it at my 2nd or 3rd confession...the first 1 or 2 were with Jesuits, who didn't seem to have a problem with it...) but, after having to help Eva to memorize it, I now know it! I also know a morning offering and the guardian angel prayer from teaching them to Eva.

4. I don't think hubby has gotten to work at his normal time all week...the trucks have been severely delayed (two hours late today) every day except Wednesday, which happened to be his day off. It's getting a little irritating having him get up at his normal time, get ready to go, and then get a call from his boss saying not to come in until he gets another call...I'm sure it has been irritating him...but that means I have to put up with him first thing in the morning (I much prefer he tortures his co-workers with his obnoxious morning person ways!)

5. On Wednesday, we took a trip up to the front range, because my FIL had surgery on Monday but had some complications because of his asthma, and was kept in ICU for several days to monitor his lungs. He doesn't like doctors, or hospitals or anything like that...and he really doesn't like to not be at home or at work. Unfortunately for him, he's not allowed to do much of anything for 6-8 weeks (he won't even be able to eat solid foods at Christmas...he and Charlotte will have to fight over the mashed potatoes)...unfortunately for my MIL, he will be home all the time and cranky about it...He got out of the hospital yesterday and is at home now. Hubby sat with his dad for most of the day, while the girls and I finished my Christmas shopping, and helped my MIL get closer to finishing hers. Then, hubby's little brother and fiancee came down to visit as well, so we all got to have dinner together (minus FIL, who was enjoying jello and chicken broth at the hospital.)

6. I am DONE with all gifts for Christmas. Eva's bean bags (well, they are actually full of corn) are done and wrapped, all the stocking stuffers are bought and wrapped. I even have the candy bought...though I still need to get a few nuts, and our box of fruit we ordered from FFA hasn't come in yet. Each girl is getting one store bought present, one homemade present and some stocking stuffers. I always forget how little their stockings are, so I have WAY more stuff than will fit in them...but in my family, it is a tradition to have an overflowing stocking. But, note to self, next year BUY FEWER STOCKING STUFFERS!

7. I was pretty excited about singing in the choir for midnight Mass, but I have come to my senses. So, instead of being at home on Christmas Eve, attending Mass and getting home at midnight (or later) just to get up at 5 am and drive to Denver for the family Christmas at the hospital, have Christmas and drive back home so that hubby can be at work at 7 am on the 26th...we will be driving up to Denver after hubby gets off work on the 24th (hopefully around 1 or 2pm) staying the night in a hotel with a bunch of the family, and then having Christmas the next day, followed by driving home. In booking the hotel room, there were two varieties of rooms with the same rate. One style was 1 King bed with a sofa bed, the other style was 2 Queen beds. When I put into the dumb website that we had two adults and two kids, it wouldn't allow us to book a King bed room (Charlotte still falls out of bed without a railing, so it makes more sense to have her in bed with the two of us as bed rails) because we exceeded the room capacity. Then I tried with 1 kid, which still apparently exceeds the room capacity. Finally, I told the computer that we just had two adults (which may be true, because it wouldn't surprise me to have the girls ditch us to stay in their grandma or their aunt's rooms) so that we could get a King size bed. I am wondering if lying to a computer constitutes a sin that I should confess tonight.

Of course, there are more quick takes over at Jen's blog!

7 Quick Takes Friday

1-
PAYDAY!!! YEAH!!!

2-
I am tired (today) because we spent too much time awake last night trying to google a painting. Hubby noticed the address label on some one's Christmas card was a Renaissance painting of two naked women, with one pinching the other one's nipple. You don't even want to contemplate the wordings we attempted to find it...in the end we found a couple of very funny posts regarding that painting. One told us that it was at the Louvre, which gave us the ability to find the second (that actually had an image of it!) I kid you not, the explanation in a children's art book was "I am pinching my sisters nipple to show that she and the king are having a baby prince." Hubby giggled more about the painting after finding out more about it...

3-
Eva did the first half of her phonics review for our first quarter of Kindergarten. She did really well, until we got to the part she had to write. She got all the sounds right and said them correctly, but she confused b and d in the first word, and kept looking back at it for every other word. So, by the end every b and d on the page were backwards. I'm trying to keep telling myself that that is perfectly normal for any little kid, and particularly since she is 4, she will learn eventually. Unfortunately, my perfectionism seems to be rubbing off on Eva...must work on that!

4-
Today we have 1/5 of our full funded emergency fund done! I'm pretty excited about that, as it means we are finally getting serious again about our money situation.

5-
I really need to get serious about finishing up Eva's Christmas present. I'm planning on making bean bags for her, but I haven't gotten them sewn (I haven't put away the sewing machine either, though), and I keep forgetting to grab the dry corn or beans from my MILs house to stuff them with. Goal for today's nap time GO SEW!!!

6-
It looks like we will be going up to the Denver area on Christmas day to celebrate with Brittney's family. She is doing pretty well, though I think she is still technically in a coma. They do know that she will be going home in February...of course, we don't know what condition she will be in then, so please say some extra prayers for her and her family. (For anyone just visiting, Brittney is hubby's 20 year old cousin, who was in a very bad car accident a little more than 10 weeks ago who received severe brain injuries, and is now in her third hospital, which is the best brain rehab center in the area.)

7-
Today is my brother's birthday...let me do the math really quickly...he's 33 today. Hubby was lecturing me yesterday about how I NEED to call my brother today to wish him a happy birthday...never mind that we are going to see him and my parents (they are all coming to visit us) on the 27th. Of course, my argument is that the best birthday present he could receive from me is me not forcing him to have an awkward conversation with me. I love my brother...but other than our completely crazy mother and our slightly less crazy father and other various crazy relatives, we have close to NOTHING in common. As a compromise with hubby, I am AT LEAST supposed to have the girls draw him a birthday card and mail it today...

Of course, as usual there are lots more Quick Takes over at Jen's blog!

The President-Elect's "Buddy?"

Is it just me (and MM), or does Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich look like this artifact from the 1980s?

Just wondering... ;-)

"...and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it."

MM and I have a little bit of a guilty pleasure of watching "The O'Reilly Factor" after the girls have gone to bed most nights, and last night was no exception. One of the top stories last night was Rev. Jeremiah Wright's return to the pulpit at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. I'm pretty burned out on the whole Jeremiah Wright thing--as I'm sure a lot of people are--but the clip O'Reilly played from his sermon last night got me thinking a little bit.

According to The Chicago Tribune, Wright was discussing media speculation that his career (and the future of Trinity) had been badly damaged because of the many soundbites from his sermons that had been used against Barack Obama in various stages of the presidential campaign. The Tribune says Wright quoted Matthew 16:18 (sort of), saying:

"Jesus said upon this rock I will build—listen to the promise—my
church," he said. "And the gates of hell—listen to the promise—the gates of
hell—neither ABC nor CNN—the gates of hell—neither Hannity nor O'Reilly—the
gates of hell—neither Time, Time magazine, Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago
Tribune . . . the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Nothing will
be impossible with God."

So... he kinda loses me on this one on several levels. At first, I thought he was implicitly making himself out to be the Pope, since this passage is so important to Catholics and our theology surrounding papal authority (and I wish that O'Reilly, as a Catholic, had at least brought that up). I suppose the more fair use of context here, though, is that he is trying to say Jesus's church--as described to and "built upon" Peter--has been attacked by those media outlets. While that may very well be true, I find it pretty dubious that Trinity is really what Peter and the early Christians had in mind when Jesus used the term "church," especially if you look at the practices described by the "Early Church Fathers." Nor do I think Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly are exactly what Jesus had in mind when referring to "the gates of Hell."

Anyway, the papist in me got kind of agitated by Wright quoting "our" passage to legitimate himself or his church or whatever he was talking about. And his general level of asinine anti-Americanism (which he revealed again by referring to December 7th as the day the US government killed 84,000 civilians in Hiroshima--yes, I know...), together with the news today of more corruption in Chicago-area politics, has me thinking we Americans had a big blind spot during this last election.

*sigh*

7 Quick Takes Friday

1- Sticker
Yesterday morning in my pre 10:00 am stupor (it used to be much later...parenthood has helped me function before noon!) Eva came up to me to show me a sticker...I looked over and it was just covered in snot. I figured that she had been wiping her nose with her hand and told her to throw out the sticker and go blow her nose and wash her hands. Fast forward to after nap time...I'm changing Charlotte's poopy diaper, and Eva got my full attention by saying "'Member a long time ago when I put that sticker up my nose? I'm glad that it came out today!" To which I responded with a "what do you mean?" kind of response. Then it all came together and made sense to me...Eva waking up complaining about her nose hurting, the sticker she had to show me, why it was completely covered in snot...so I asked her when she had put it up her nose and she said "A long time ago, I think it was like 5 years" (insert little 4 year old hip wiggle at the "like 5 years" comment), I pointed out that that was impossible...I never did get a straight answer out of her when it occurred...


2-MyTMMO
This week I won a years subscription to Dave Ramsey's My Total Money Makeover from a giveaway over at One House Schoolroom. So, I have been wasting A LOT of time on the forums there, and being very obsessive about money. Pretty much our phone has been constantly busy most of the week because I've been playing on the computer or downloading commercial free pod casts of the Dave Ramsey show. The thing that made me sad after I first started was that I went back into Quicken to figure out when we had become debt free but the house (baby step #2) and that was way back in February of 2007. We have 1 month emergency fund saved up (I'm aiming for 5 months), but we really could have been done WAY before now had we been even slightly serious, and just saved up money for an emergency fund rather than putting money in college savings since that time. Then, we'd be starting college savings NOW and Charlotte wouldn't have a over $400 loss in her (index) fund. Eva's (actively managed fund) is doing a little bit better.

3-Restaurant Christmas Card
In the "not doing a very good job of changing our financial habits" department...yesterday we got a Christmas card from one of the restaurants in town...Hubby was kept late at work, it was snowing, story time was moved from the library to another venue (because of an ongoing dispute between the library and the bookmobile, strangely enough!), and all of us were at wits end (okay, mostly me and hubby, the girls were fine) so we ended up deciding to go to said restaurant for lunch...not entirely because we felt guilty getting a Christmas card when we haven't been in the place for a couple of months...

4-Mortgage
On the "much better financial habits" front, Hubby had been thinking for a while about increasing the amount we pay on our mortgage every month (the fact that HE was thinking about this is almost miraculous!), which is something that I have been contemplating as well. At first we thought we'd up the amount by $50 (we already round up to the nearest hundred, which pays an extra $50.81 per month), but then I did a mortgage calculator with the current amount we owe (under $69,000 now, woo hoo!!!) and found out that to pay it off in 15 years, we would have to pay $100 more than we do now...so we made the commitment, changed our automatic payment to be $100 more, and we will make this work! So, if we simply stick to paying the new amount for the duration of our loan, we will pay it off before I turn 45!

5-Advent Wreath
We have been doing our advent wreath at dinner (either the evening one or the mid-day one depending on nighttime meetings.) Our Advent wreath has the following on each candle holder -3 wise men, nativity, shepherd, angels. Last year we serendipitously picked up an Advent booklet from church that has each week themed (prophecy candle, Bethlehem candle, Shepherds' candle, Angels' candle) of course, it is WAY over the heads of the girls, but I'm sure it is good for them nonetheless. They get to take turns snuffing the candle which they really enjoy...but their favorite part of all is sniffing the candle snuffer at the end...and Eva' pretty much always declaring "it smells like FIRE!" (I worry about her sometimes!)

6-10th Anniversary
Hubby came up with the idea recently that he should offer to take me on a trip for our 10th anniversary this summer...which is a fine idea...he just keeps threatening me with vacation destinations such as Iowa (in July???), etc. I keep teasing him that he should take me on a cruise (I don't really mean it, but it's fun to harass him) and each time, it turns into another discussion about pirates...

7-High Speed Internet
So, we have dial-up...so anytime I am on the computer, no one can call. In fact, if I could work it out, I'd probably stay connected 24/7 (I don't like the phone...I don't like calling people, and I don't like talking to people...particularly if I am supposed to make small talk...) but the past several people to call have commented on how our phone is always busy (and I figure it would be rude to say "yep, I don't really like getting phone calls anyway, so it wasn't bothering me") and hubby has started to give out his cell phone number to everyone he needs to get in contact with because he knows that our phone is almost always busy...Of course, when I asked if I could start giving out his cell phone number, too, so that he could be my personal secretary, he said no. So, I am thinking once again that maybe I'll get high(er) speed Internet for my 30th birthday this summer. Hubby got dish network for his 30th, so maybe I should follow in that theme and upgrade from cheap dial up to the least expensive high speed we can find...like our upgrade from 5 fuzzy channels that went out when the train went by (about 20 times a day) to the cheapest dish package with DVR...Plus, then we'd be able to watch cool YouTube videos like the one of a shrimp walking on a treadmill that we saw on the O'Reilly Factor last night!

Bonus-I'll throw this one in for free!
My mother...is...so...weird...
First of all, she is always telling me that I would be so proud of her for such and such decision because it is eco friendly ("I'm so GREEN!") I'm not so sure I understand why...she seems to think that I have a deep love of environmentalism...but in reality, I'm mostly just cheap. So, she buys into the whole Al Gore global warming thing (and makes her students watch his dumb movie every year now) and carbon credits, etc. (She doesn't buy any carbon credits, even though they own two houses and travel back and forth between them EVERY WEEKEND!) So, she called me up the other day because she had seen on the news that there was going to be a workshop for farmers on how to sell carbon credits for things that they already do. She wanted me to call my in-laws and let them know since they might be able to make money selling carbon credits (I doubt it...I'm thinking the whole FEEDLOT thing would turn off most people willing to buy carbon credits!) So, let me get this straight...we should all buy carbon offset credits every time we sneeze (okay, maybe more like any time we drive, fly, or have anything shipped anywhere), but those carbon credits we are buying are from people who would be doing said task anyway??? I mean, really...can you get any dumber than that???

Of course, more quick takes over at Jen's blog.