So Much Fun...So Little Time

And now, so little energy!

We packed a lot into our Independence Day celebration. Good thing we didn't have any plans to see fireworks, because we've got the kind nature provides in the form of thunder and lightning. But most of that held off until we were back home.

Our day started early this morning with Big Brother running in a local 5K race (he didn't place, but did bring in a personal record time of under 23 minutes!) After the race we watched a parade that has been a tradition for 110 years. It was more than an hour long and included 8 different bands, fire trucks from 5 towns, many antique cars, and more.

How about these costumes? My favorite part of parades around here ALWAYS has to be the Mummers.



















Following the parade we enjoyed good company and great homemade Chinese food at our friends' home. Later we picked up Big Brother's friend and headed off to see some other friends for a picnic, swim and pick-up soccer game among the kids.

We made it an early night since we had all pretty much hit "Zombie State" by the time dinner was over. I finished that diabolical jigsaw puzzle (HA! Now I can put it away!)

Tomorrow, a big day of laundry awaits as I have to get clothes ready for Boy Scout Camp (trunks are due tomorrow night! Yikes!)

Happy 4th!

It's Still A Grand Old Flag

Yesterday I looked out the front window and saw that next to each driveway in my neighborhood, a small plastic flag had been planted in the ground.

I thought that was pretty cool. Then, after I sent Big Brother out to mow the lawn, he came back in with the flag (he's a good Boy Scout, and didn't want to run it over with the mower or leave it in the driveway).

Attached to the stick holding the flag was a business card for a local company. But the kicker was the logo on the edge of the flag:

MADE IN CHINA.

I still made him put it back after he finished the lawn. Little Brother can have it to play "parade" tomorrow (I know he's going to want to!)

But today is the Fourth of July. We display a real flag on our front door, and we will spend time today with friends who are immigrants to (and now, citizens of) our country. They're happy and grateful to be here. And they remind me that what we have here in the USA is a very precious thing indeed, not without cost, and not to be taken for granted.


H/T to Dan at faithmouse for this toon that expresses just how I feel about this holiday.

The Boys are at it Again!

Little Brother just burst through the front door, followed closely by Adventure Boy.

"I'm the first one in the house!" he yelled.

"Me too!" yelled Adventure Boy.

I'm convinced that part of the reason God put little boys into our lives is to provide comic relief.

The Boys of Summer

Out in the backyard, Little Brother and Adventure Boy are standing about fifteen feet apart. Each of them wields a wiffle-ball bat, but they're holding the bats like golf clubs and hitting a large beach ball at each other.

"What are you playing?" I asked them.

"TENNIS!"

How to Make Your Friend's Mom Cry

It's 8:30 PM, and the streetlights will be turning on any minute now. That was always the signal to come home for a bath, a snack, and bedtime, when I was a child.

It's 8:30 PM, and my doorbell just rang. It was Adventure Boy, looking for Little Brother (he's running an errand with TheDad.)

After I told Adventure Boy that Little Brother isn't home now, and that it's getting late, and asked him what time he's supposed to be home, AND admired his blue light sabre for the 875th time, he asked me, "How come you watch Little Brother?"

"I'm his mom," I replied, and wondered if that might be the Wrong Answer since he lives with his grandparents.

He thought about it, and very solemnly told me, "I...I...I take care of my own me!"

A boy of 5 1/2 should not be taking care of his "own me."

His grandmother told me today that he wanted to come here at 7 AM.

Summer is when our schedules open up a little. We're not getting ready for a 7:25 AM school bus. We're not driving to the high school to get Big Brother after track practice. We do have storytime at the library, grocery shopping, and summer art class and basketball games.

We do have a little boy who wants to come here at 7 AM and would stay as long as we let him. My neighbor and I let him in when we can, when we don't have plans that involve leaving the house, and he's generally well-behaved (though he did pretend to cut off my arms and legs with his light sabre tonight!)

It's hard to know where to draw the line with a little boy who is clearly not getting the kind of attention and supervision a 5-year-old needs. But in the summer, our schedules open up a little, and our hearts need to open up a lot.

St. John Bosco, pray for all the Adventure Boys in the world.

I Exercised Today...

...so I could be as thin as I look here:



I'll never be this tall though!

Margaret tagged me for this one. I'm leaving this as an open tag! Anyone want to play?

The Right Word for the Job

Why is it that laces on men's dress shoes are so short that there's barely enough shoelace to tie a bow?

I was watching TheDad struggle to get his dress shoes tied just now, and saw how short those laces are.

"Do you need me to pick up some new laces at the store?"

"No. These are fine. They're just...DAINTY!"

Notice to My Children

If I ask you to pick something up or clean something up, and you say any of the following:
"I didn't use it/play with it/take it out/eat it/drink it/spill it/make that mess" or any variant thereof,
steam will start to come out of my ears and I will insist that you not only do the job I just asked you (nicely) to do, but that you do a second chore as well.
I clean up plenty of messes I didn't make, every day.
A word to the wise: just say, "OK, Mom" and do what I ask.

Learning from the Kids

Sometimes our kids set a better example than we do. And it's up to us to learn from that, and to appreciate the gift of their good example as much as we would appreciate the good example of some adult we know and respect.

Last weekend Middle Sister went to a birthday party for her friend. Since it was a swim party, she wore her fake "Crocs." Yes, she has fake ones. So do I and Little Brother. I'm not about to pay upwards of $35 for plastic shoes when I can get knockoffs for $15 or less.

Anyway, on the way home from the party she mentioned that one of the girls there told her, "You're not wearing real Crocs."

Middle Sister's answer was: "So what? I like these."

After she told me about it, and we had a short conversation about that kind of thing being rude, she was done with it. She let it go. She likes her shoes and she's happy with them.

I've been hanging onto this little episode for almost a week, letting the irritation fester inside me.

I think this is one of those times when I need to try to be more like my kid.

Quotable

“I shall pass through this world but once.
If, therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do, let me do it now;
Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.”

Now if only I knew who said it! Google searches turned up sources as various as Etienne Grellet, Mahatma Gandhi, and Marcus Aulerius--an almost 2000-year span.

But no matter who said it, it's a wonderful motto to live by.

Kitchen Madonna's Culinary Meme

There's an Open Tag on this one over at the Kitchen Madonna's Apron World!

1. What food does your best friend not like? My best friend is TheDad, and he doesn't like Tuna Casserole (the horror!) I think he watched too many episodes of "Welcome Back, Kotter" as a kid.

2. What is your favorite cookbook? I have over 100 cookbooks. You HAVE to be kidding. I can't pick just one! I really do like the new one our church just published, though I might be a little biased there. I helped type it and I have a bunch of recipes in there.

3. Are you more of a sushi person or a lamb person? Definitely, lamb. I'm pretty good about trying new foods but I like my fish cooked, thankyouverymuch.

4. Given a choice of something fried and salty or something baked and sweet, what would you choose? That depends on what time of the month you're asking me. My diet cravings are directly related to my estrogen level! If it's time for PMS, then I want vinegar and salt potato chips. Otherwise, bring on the cookies.

5. Do you buy whole chickens and boil them and pick the meat off or does that gross you out? Do your children know what a whole chicken looks like or do they think they are made up of four breasts? I buy whole chickens, roast them, serve part at one meal and save the rest of the deboned meat for future casseroles.

6. How do you feel about butter, sour cream, cream cheese, and half and half? You've been watching Paula Deen again, haven't you? That's fine, so have I. They're all great. I can't stand margarine (though I will use it in certain recipes) and there is NO room in my home for fake coffee creamer. It must be an Actual Dairy Product that requires refrigeration.

7. (Skip this question if you are a vegetarian) If you are a carnivore, would you be willing to hunt or butcher your meat? Or to watch someone do that for you or would you rather not think of it? Or are you greatful for the animal who gave its life to sustain your life? Being the squeamish type, who freaked out when I was with my parents in an Irish restaurant and discovered that the trout was served with the head still attached, I'm happy to eat meat as long as it's not looking back at me.

8. What is the most exotic ingredient or spice in your cupboard? The most exotic spice is saffron. The most exotic ingredients are from the local Asian grocery: Thai fish sauce, dehydrated portabella mushrooms, and caramel color--all labeled ONLY in various Asian languages, which I do not read.

A Virtue for Summer

What's the opposite of "judgmental?" I hate the word "tolerant" and all the PC-ness that it implies....

It's summer, and we've been spending some time each hot afternoon at the community pool. While the Big Kids are good swimmers and are off on their own, Little Brother still needs to be watched. He can't swim yet and won't even put his whole head underwater, so he's very happy to play in the water of the Baby Pool and then, after cooling off, put on his shirt and sandals and head to the playground at the back of the fenced-in kids' area.

So I'm watching Little Brother, but I'm also seeing plenty of other people, and there's that nonstop critic in my head that Will.Not.Shut.Up.

I'm wondering what's up with the mother of a young toddler. Mom is wearing large silver bracelets with her swimsuit, and she's talking on her cell phone while helping her little one in and out of the baby pool.

I'm trying to figure out why a little boy who appears to be about 4 years old has obvious highlights done to his hair. Not the "sun-kissed" highlights some kids (including mine) naturally get, and not that strange bleaching where the tips of the hair are bleached but the parts close to the head are the natural color, but actual highlights. Did this little boy ask for that?

I'm mentally ranting and raving about the fact that the lifeguards ignore all bad behavior from kids who are members of the swim team.

Yes, my afternoons at the pool are full of thoughts like these.

I do get some opportunity for good actions, such as handing my first-aid kit to a mom whose preschooler cut her toe, or commiserating with another mom whose nap-deprived toddler is bent on escaping from the baby-pool area and heading for the danger zone of the Big Pool. A couple of years ago, I was in her sandals.

The problem is, I think those good gestures are more than canceled out by the critical commentary going on in my head the whole afternoon.

I hate to swim, but I think I'm going to have to keep going to the pool until I can do so with more kind thoughts.

BOOK REVIEW: Queen of the Castle

This is an odd kind of book review, because I haven't even finished reading the book yet! I've been reading it for several weeks now, and have only completed about 5 of the 52 chapters. Yet I can honestly say that I wholeheartedly recommend this book:


Queen of the Castle by Lynn Bowen Walker.

Why am I recommending a book I haven't even finished reading yet? Because I'm not supposed to be done reading it yet! The author has divided the book into 52 chapters, one for each week of the year. Each chapter includes a reflection on the topic at hand (this week's topic is "Chore Time"), tips related to that topic, 2 new vocabulary words, inspirational quotes, and at the end, a Bible quote and a short prayer. I've been reading my weekly chapter each Monday and it is a nice way to set the tone for the week.

BONUS: at the end of each month, there's a "Chocolate Break" with a recipe for a yummy treat. Recipes--and chocolate! My favorite! How can I miss?

I've been enjoying the inspiration, the tips, recipes and reflections. This is a great practical book for moms.

Don't Leave Home Without It!

It was almost time for our grocery-shopping trip, and Middle Sister walked out the front door sporting Little Brother's toy handcuffs dangling from her right wrist. (They're a pretty good, metal pair, that we bought when Big Brother went out for Halloween as Martha Stewart, the Convict.)

I told her that I didn't think handcuffs were appropriate accessories for the supermarket, but then she said that she couldn't get them off.

After she found the key we kept trying, but something appeared to be jammed in there, so I took care of it with my trusty Swiss Army Knife.



It's the right tool for almost every job.

Unfortunately, mine is a little smaller than the one pictured--but it does fit well in my purse.

Little Brother no longer owns handcuffs, though.

My Agenda for the Morning

On my agenda for the morning:
Morning Prayer
Coffee (and plenty of it)
Start focaccia bread for our dinner tonight (Cheesesteak Shish Kabobs from Taste of Home Simple and Delicious)
Put away Little Brother's laundry
Set out Little Brother's church clothes while TheDad gives him a bath

NOT on my agenda for the morning, but done anyway:
Pick up some stray matchbox cars in Little Brother's room to avoid stepping on them while putting away laundry
Find a dead worm under the matchbox cars
Lay down the law to a certain 5-year-old boy--"Worms are not Inside Toys."

Semantics

Middle Sister mentioned at the dinner table that she would like to go bungee jumping.

Big Brother informed her that you probably have to be 18 to do that.

"Stop thinking negative," she told him.

He answered, "There is a difference between negative and rational."

Is Your Child's Catholic School Doing Its Job?

Here's an easy way to tell:

What does your child say when she sees a truck with this logo on it?



If she calls out, "Saint Don BOSCO" then you have a winner!

A Puzzle Puzzle

Two Christmases ago, I received this jigsaw puzzle as a gift.

I like jigsaw puzzles but this one is driving me insane. I had it on the coffee table all last summer and got all but the blue background done. All those little tiny images that made up the larger image--very frustrating!

We needed the table for a party so I slid the puzzle onto a posterboard and slipped it under the living room couch, and then forgot all about it. Last week a few pieces started to come loose and I figured it was time to deal with what was under there.

But I just don't know if I can. This puzzle is not a pleasure. It's not relaxing. It's just a frustration--so is it worth it? But there's this obsessive-compulsive part of me that can't let it go until it's finished. I'd rather let it sit there undone than really put it away.

I dragged it out last night, and this morning TheDad saw it all sitting there on the floor. He asked if I was doing the puzzle again and I said I just wasn't sure if I was going to try, or whether I'd just box it back up and work a different puzzle.

He didn't help any when he said, "It defeated you, huh?"

The Queen of Road Rage

Catholic Mom has a post about teens and driving, and some of the dangers they face on the road. (Don't miss the comments box with a great link for anyone who has a teen driver or--like me--will have one soon!)

She also mentions what driving can lead to for anyone:

I found my travels this weekend were a definite challenge to my virtue of patience and constituted a near occasion of sin! Prayer was a necessity.

I was only half-joking when I commented that I wonder if the priest would laugh when I confess to Road Rage.

I don't carry a gun in my car and chase down some other driver who cut me off. I don't change my destination so I can tailgate them for miles, and I absolutely don't roll down my window at the next traffic light so I can give them the "one-finger salute." But I do yell at other drivers from the privacy of my own driver's seat. And I do that often.

I come by this practice honestly: my dad does this too, and always has. He's quite even-tempered until you get him behind the wheel. When I was middle-school age, he had to take me into New York City, during the morning rush hour, so I could be treated for a vision problem. The drive into the city was road rage the whole way.

Do you see where I'm going with this? I grew up listening to my dad loudly unload his frustrations about other drivers. Now my kids are growing up listening to me as I do this.

It's not charitable, and it's not a good example to set for my kids. This is definitely something I need to work on a lot harder.

How to Disappoint Your Teenage Son

I was standing on a chair in the kitchen rearranging things on the top shelf of a cabinet where I mainly keep baking supplies. Most of the contents of the other shelves were spread across the kitchen counter.

Big Brother wandered into the room and figured he was in for some kind of treat.

"Mom, what are you making?"

"ROOM!"