Kids Say the Darndest Things

Join Us for Kids say the Darndest things

Since I have a good story for this one, I thought I'd join in the fun!

The other week we were all loaded van and Mr. 9 yo was stuck sitting in the front bench between Ms 6 yo and Mr 4 yo. In his best threatening voice he told them both,

"While I'm sitting between you two, you'll just have to TASTE MY WRATH!"

Well, the conversations in the car went on and about five minutes later Mr 4 yo proclaimed loudly,

"Oh yeah, well you'll just have to SMELL MY BREATH!"

It took a few seconds for all of us to figure out what he was referring to, but once we did we were all in tears!

Have a great day. Click on the button above to see more great stories.

Experiment or Not?

And so I ask you...Is this a picture of a really cool science experiment on mold, or proof that I haven't looked at the leftovers in my fridge in a long time????

I must admit that when I pulled out this container
and opened it I let out a bit of a scream because it looked as if a mouse was in there. Now, after pulling myself together, I realized how impossible it would be for a mouse to crawl into my refrigerator, open a sealed glass container, crawl in and hunker down, but if you look quickly, can't you see how I might think it was a mouse????

Upon further study, we noticed an interesting thing. These are two of the same meal except for one item: the type of noodles I used. The one up above with the mouse mold had regular wheat noodles.

This other one:
had rice noodles. Interesting, isn't it? Just what is it about the difference in noodles that caused the mold to look so different? Any speculations? I'm not much of a scientist, so I really don't know the answer. If anyone out there is a mold expert, however, I'd be interested in knowing the answer.

Just thought I'd share that fun part of our day with you!

In honor of the Feast of the Annunciation, wouldn't it have been cool if I opened it up and it looked like the Blessed Mother? Oh well, no such luck for us. Happy Feast Day!

Welcome Spring

I forgot that my blog matched the weather outside my window despite the fact that it is now officially SPRING! I found it quite interesting, in this time of intense debate about the warming of our earth, that the last day of winter was actually much nicer than the first day of spring.

Here we had 60s and sunny on the last day of winter and 40s and snowy on the first day of spring!

Anyhow, this week is looking a bit brighter so I thought it time to add some color to this old blog.

I took this picture of a lily that I bought on Friday for our St. Joseph's table. When I bought the bunch, the lady at the floral stand insisted that the lilies would bloom that day if I put them in warm water and trimmed the stems. Well, unfortunately they didn't bloom for St. Joseph, but this one burst forth on Sunday for us to enjoy. I hope you enjoy it, too.

Just Pray About It!

As I was rushing around this morning and grumbling (I suppose some might call it complaining :) about all I had to do and how it seemed as if I would never be able to do it all, Ms 11 yo stopped me in my tracks when she said, "Mom, just pray about it!"

How right she is! How often do I tell her or someone else to pray about something or to offer it up, but yet here I was not even listening to my own advice? How happy I was that she has listened to me enough to at least know what I've said to her in those situations.

I went on my way and took her advice and low-and-behold, here it is the end of the day and everything did get done; or at least I think it has. If it hasn't, I haven't remembered it yet :)

I'd like to leave you with two great quotes from St. Ignatius that I've come across in the last 24 hours. I hope they bring you consolation as they have to me!

"What would be a miracle would be for God to leave unaided those who trust in him. Let us occupy ourselves with the service of God, and leave to Him the care of providing for our needs."

"Few souls understand what God would effect in them if they should give themselves entirely into his hands and allow his grace to act."

Something to Chew On

Back from retreat! Whew. I survived my fourth Miles Christi silent retreat of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius! Kind of long for a T-shirt, isn't it? If you've never done one, what are you waiting for...It will change your life (or it least it should - that is the whole point of it!).

A pearl of wisdom from one of the priests... God has a plan set for you, and He will not change His mind. It is up to you whether or not you are going to cooperate with His plan. If you do, you can gain graces from the cross He has chosen to send you. If you don't cooperate, you lose those graces but still get the cross anyhow.

Just some food for thought as we progress through Lent.

Thanks for the prayers. Keep them coming for our "Seven Last Words of Christ" performance. The first one is Friday, March 19th and as one would expect, we are besieged with many problems, conflicts and annoyances. It's gonna be a GREAT performance :)

Lenten Update and Prayer Requests

It has been quite an interesting Lent around my sphere of the blogging world. While blogging was not on my list of things to give up this Lent, it seems as if it was on everyone else's. Most people whose blogs I read have taken Lent off. The few people who leave comments here seem to have taken Lent off. Oh well, as it turns out, I haven't had much time nor inspiration to blog anyhow.

That all being said, I thought I'd pop in here for a few moments and ask for your prayers. We are in the thick of preparing for another set of performances of "The Seven Last Words of Christ". Our first performance is on the 19th of March and, as always, there have been many challenges. It is always such a long road to these performances, but once we are there and the tears are flowing again I remember how worth it it really is.

This truly is a performance that everyone should see. I do not say that because most of my family is in it :) It really has nothing to do with that at all. I say that because God works through these performances to change hearts; and we have two years worth of experience to back that statement up. So I ask for your prayers for our performances. We will have three: the 19th, 28th and 30th. We are hoping for sell-outs at each one. With your prayer support, we can do it.

Also, this weekend, Ms 17 yo and I are going on a silent retreat with Miles Christi. I had told her I would take her this year as a graduation present. Well, it seems we can't go to the one in July so we will be making it an early graduation present. These are always such powerful retreats that I am looking forward to seeing what she thinks. Please pray for us and for all the women who will be on this retreat that we will hear all that God wants to say to us and that we will have the grace to accept it.

Thank you for your support. I hope that your Lent is fruitful and peaceful.

What is wrong with us?

Yesterday morning I was standing at the kitchen sink trying to get the breakfast dishes washed before lunch time, and I was thinking...

about Mr 9 yo who was ready to start school but waiting on his sister (so I only had to explain the math one time...)

about Ms 6 you who was somewhere in the house instead of at her seat with her handwriting

about Mr 4 yo who had asked me twice already to help him get dressed and get his teeth brushed

and I was feeling guilty and rushed and frustrated again. And then I had a thought.

Why is it such a bad thing that I can only do one thing (maybe two, sometimes) at a time? Did God really design us to be able to accomplish all of those things listed above at the exact same time, in perfect harmony?

I also thought about a conversation I had had with a friend the day before along those same lines. She is frustrated, too, because no matter how much she tries to schedule, she still can only do so much at one time, and it never seems to be enough. She said, "I wish I could sit down with a cup of tea in the afternoon and feel good about it."

And why can't she??? What is so wrong with our society that we have to feel guilty for sitting down with a cup of tea once in awhile and relaxing? Why must we feel this constant pressure to do more? Why do we feel like failures if we don't accomplish everything on our "to do" list at the end of each day, in addition to having all the kids taught and fed and happily tucked in their beds?

I had another mom today voice the same frustration. She said that no matter how hard she tries, she just can't get it all done. SO WHAT? Why is this such a big deal?

Does God really expect us to be working like fiends every day and feeling so frustrated about not being able to do four things at one time? What if we just did one or two things at a time and did them with love? with that attention to detail that we can imagine the Blessed Mother having in all of her work?

Now there's an image...Mary with her veils flapping around as she frantically tries to multi-task. Sorry, but I just can't imagine that one!

Thanks for letting me get that off my chest. I must go now and cook dinner and tend to the other things that I haven't accomplished yet today....

O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

NaNoCompMo...and Soap

Try as I might, I have no way to connect those two topics! I just wanted to take a moment to close the month on No Complaining. I should have done this two days ago, but haven't had the time. So, I hope that your month of No Complaining has proven fruitful and has brought some peace to your days. I know it was much more pleasant around here, and after not complaining for so long, hopefully we can keep it up for awhile!

Also, it is time to run another sale on the handcrafted soap that I am selling. This month, from March 1st thru the 20th (the first official day of Spring :) I will be running a 10% off sale on the following spring-like fragrances:Lavender *Lavender Mint * - a nice combination of lavender and peppermint
Lavender Rosemary * - a little medicinal, great in the morning shower
Lavanilla - a combination of lavender and vanilla

Just click on over to the Soap tab at the top of my blog and you'll get the full listing of soaps that I offer, as well as the pricing and the "how to order" information.

There's also a few new fragrances that I'd like to introduce before I go:Lime Basil * - a definite lime scent
Tea Tree * - a great facial
Bergamot * - a nice lemon - rose combination
Herb flower * - a combination of bergamot, geranium and rosemary

The * indicates that those fragrances are made with 100% natural essential oils!

So pamper yourself, think Spring and smell good!