06.30.09
Posted in Musings at 6:36 am by ginny
What is the housekeeping chore you hate the most?
For me, it’s a toss-up. If you’ve been following this blog lately, you’d probably guess vacuuming. That is admittedly one of my least favorite chores. I hate dragging the darn thing around, barking my shins, banging the furniture, and always having to stop to switch attachments. Perhaps, for Christmas, my husband can buy me one of those space-age Oreck vacuums that are supposed to make the chore an absolute pleasure. Or perhaps I should just delegate Hoover duty to him. That seems far more economical, and frankly, it’s usually what happens anyhow.
But even more than vacuuming, I hate picking up kids’ toys. It’s unfortunate that I feel this way, because we do have kids, and those kids have — well, not a TON of toys, but a modest number of toys that have a ton of pieces each. I’m talking about Legos, and blocks, and train sets with little crossing guard signs, and these wonderful alphabet and number puzzles. When my son wants to play with these puzzles, the teacher in me thinks, What a great way for him to learn his letters! The housekeeper in me thinks, We’ll be finding vowels under the sofa for weeks.
So what’s your least favorite chore? And how do you make yourself do it? (or do you?)
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06.28.09
Posted in Adventures in Parenting, Musings at 4:05 pm by ginny
Just back from a weekend of camping. It was Lukey’s first trip, Matthew’s second, and in spite of my concerns about camping with two children under three, it went extremely well. It was unbelievably hot, but when you are with a bunch of old friends – and you have plenty of marshmallows and good wine and filet mignon fajitas (we sure believe in roughing it, don’t we?) — even the heat can’t ruin it.
I do, however, have a few lessons learned/observations to share:
1) You can never have too many Wet Wipes.
2) One change of clothes per child per day: NOT ENOUGH. (What was I thinking?)
3) Tired and hot toddler + audacious gnat buzzing in his ear = lengthy hysterics
4) We ate well. The mosquitos ate better.
Woodpecker courtesy of karenswhimsy.com
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06.26.09
Posted in My [kinda] green thumb at 7:52 am by ginny
I am grieved to report that the slugs did not go for the Budweiser. It made our yard smell like a bar, and the flowers remain in peril.
Maybe I should have offered them a nice microbrew instead.
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06.25.09
Posted in Images of Mary at 7:45 am by ginny
When I was young, I — like every other girl in a five-mile radius from my house — was a Girl Scout. This led to some pretty fierce competition when cookie sales began.
Unfortunately, my parents would never do the take-the-order-form-to-the-office thing. They believed that my sister and I should earn the cookie patch on our own merits. Actually, I kind of admire them for this. I suspect that hounding their coworkers to buy Thin Mints would have been much easier than pounding the pavement with two tired girls in beanies.
If only we’d thought to ask for Mary’s intercession:
Isn’t this card fabulous? It’s from Holy Cards for Your Inspiration, a terrific site that does, in fact, give me a LOT of inspiration. There’s a Boy Scout card, too … check it out.
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06.24.09
Posted in Images of Mary, Really random at 7:48 am by ginny
I usually do intensive house-cleaning only when visitors are coming. And since these visitors don’t venture into the master bedroom, guess which room almost NEVER gets cleaned?
But yesterday, spurred on by some random burst of domestic energy, I hauled out the vacuum cleaner and went to work. I found herds of dust buffaloes in the closet and along the moldings. I found socks I thought had gone forever. I even found my son’s purple kazoo (some things are better left hidden).
There’s still some dusting to do, but the lovely Mary on my dresser now has a much cleaner room to live in.
And that makes me happy.
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06.23.09
Posted in Really random at 2:50 pm by ginny
I vacuumed.
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Posted in Adventures in Parenting at 7:49 am by ginny
So last weekend, when we were at the ER dealing with Matthew’s encounter with a very hard bench, the nurse was quite smitten with nine-month-old Luke. She kept smiling at him, and asked permission to rifle his gravity-defying hair. She also called him a “corker.”
I smiled at that. Hey, I haven’t heard that word in a long time! I love it! I must start using it more often!
And then I realized that I’m not entirely sure what, exactly, a corker is. And – as one of my favorite high school English teachers used to say – if you can’t define the word, you don’t really know it.
So I looked it up. Guess what? It means “someone or something that is astonishing or excellent.”
I know I’m Lukey’s mom, and therefore somewhat biased, but you know what?
That nurse was absolutely right.
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06.21.09
Posted in Images of Mary, Quotes and prayers at 9:40 pm by ginny
Over the years, I’ve come across several great quotations about Mary. I have to say, this is one of the best. If you have the time, read it slowly, and try meditating on each phrase. I’ve thrown in a few pictures, too, just for all of us visual learners (I may be on summer vacation, but I’m still a teacher).
Enjoy!
[Mary] shows forth the victory of hope over anguish,
Of fellowship over solitude,
of peace over anxiety,
of joy and beauty over boredom and disgust,
of eternal visions over earthly ones,
of life over death.
Credit Where It’s Due:
Quotation by Pope Paul VI from Marialis Cultus (1974)
Images, in order:
1) Holy card, from my own personal collection (I love you, eBay!)
2) The Visitation, Carl Bloch
3) Madonna in Prayer, Sassoferrato
4) Madonna and Child with St. Catherine and a Rabbit, Titian
5) Madonna and Child with St. Martina and St. Agnes, El Greco
6) Madonna and Child, Giulio Romano
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06.20.09
Posted in Feast Days and other fun times at 10:54 pm by ginny
I’d like to give a shout out to all the fathers, grandfathers, stepfathers, foster fathers, expectant fathers, aspiring fathers, and every other man who plays a father’s role:
You are the best.
Happy Father’s Day.
Image courtesy of Holy Cards for Your Inspiration.
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06.19.09
Posted in Books about Mary, Quotes and prayers at 10:16 pm by ginny
So if you are a hopeless Mary nerd, like I am, I recommend the Encyclopedia of Mary, by Monica and Bill Dodds (you can see an image of it in the On My Shelf widget down at your right). Leafing through it yesterday, I found some fascinating information about the rosary.
I’ve known for a while now that the rose is a traditional symbol for the rosary. What I didn’t know until yesterday is that each part of the rose represents a part of the rosary. According to tradition, the leaves represent the joyful mysteries, the thorns represent the sorrowful ones, and the blossoms represent the glorious ones.
Beautiful, isn’t it?
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