Joys & Challenges on the Feast of the Epiphany

I have always longed for a simple and lovely name. You know. Jane. Anne. Mary. Something like that. Something Catholic. :) Instead, I was born in the 70's and my name is Tiffany. But you know, we don't get asked for our opinions in these matters, and I will say that at least my name is easy to pronounce and feminine. Plus, there were never other Tiffanys in my class, so that was always nice.

Before I got married, I invested in a Catholic name book that took every name imaginable and found a Biblical or saint derivative for it. So, even those of us with secular names could have a Catholic reference and feast day for our names. I love this. And so, Tiffany was given the designation as having been derived from 'Epiphany,' and there is a St. Epiphana as well. Details are sparse, but never mind that. :0 Via this interpretation, I have a Catholic name and my feast day is today!!!

*cue choir music*

Ever since then, the feast of the Epiphany has held special significance for me. 'Epiphany,' of course, means "manifestation of God," and at the vigil Mass Saturday night the priest talked about how God is made manifest to us in so many different ways. For Catholics, we have the sacraments, one of my very favorite things. :)

Mike went to Mass with me this weekend, and it was just the two of us since we went on our way to dinner in celebration of our wedding anniversary. It's a novelty these days to not tote a sippy cup, animal crackers, and innumerable plastic necklaces to Mass with me. :0 Anyway, during the homily, the priest talked about Pope Francis, and how he seems to have this gift for drawing people to himself and his message that normally do not subscribe to Catholic beliefs. Mike was really struck by the homily, and told me afterward how much he enjoyed it. This made your Catholic Librarian very happy. :) It was a lovely Mass and a wonderful night.

Yesterday, we were hoping to have a relaxing Epiphany Sunday at home, complete with chocolate pancakes for breakfast, but it was not to be. Our nightmare with the kitchen ceiling remains. Cue:

The insurance company is sending an adjuster to assess the damage, but he can't come until Saturday. In the mean time, we continue to get rain on and off, and melting ice. We've had some more water come in, although not a lot, thankfully. More worrisome is the following:

I come downstairs and find Mike scrubbing the kitchen floor.

"Hi Honey, what's up?"

I used to scrub the kitchen floor weekly back when I had free time. That would be before we had children. :0 Now, we sweep it whenever it needs it, which is usually daily, and the scrubbing comes only when we have time for such a thing. It's not as often as we'd like.

*pause*

This is a bad sign.

"Well. This morning I found...mouse droppings on the floor."

*cue Tiffany having a heart attack*

"WHAT?! MICE!!!!! Are you sure?!"

"Yes, unfortunately."

"But we've never seen a mouse here!" *thinks desperately* "The ceiling! They must have come from the crawl space!"

The crawl space is immediately above the hole. See, I'm a brainiac, always thinkin'. ;-)

"Could a mouse fit through one of those slats?!"

I go right over and investigate with my evil eye.

"Mice are small."

"They're not that small."

Mike is always the voice of reason in these conversations.

"All right, well, I bet they were in the crawl space at some point and this is just ancient stuff falling through the cracks. Did the droppings look old?!"

Now I want Mike to be an expert on the dating and historicity of mouse droppings.

"I guess so. I don't know for sure though. Let's just keep a close eye out. I already checked the cupboards and pantry."

*Tiffany frets*

The second part of this interaction involved Mike going outside to chip ice off of our roof, since we had more melting up there causing further water to drip into the kitchen. A joy a minute, right?  The chipping caused vibrations throughout the kitchenish area, which resulted in an assortment of CRAP *stuff* to fall down from the crawl space onto the kitchen floor. I had the kids watching Peppa Pig for about an hour so that I could deal with the cleanup on the inside as poor Mike chipped away on the outside.

The joys of homeownership, folks, Doesn't it make you ache to get right out there and invest in a 100 year old house?!

So that was our official feast of the Epiphany. We made it, we're in crisis mode, we're dealing with it as best we can. Although, the *actual* feast of the Epiphany is today, January 6th. This is sort of like a feast day weekend. It's like birthdays after you're 30! Once I turn 40 I'm having an entire birthday WEEK, I don't care. You gotta have something to look forward to when the number is no longer to your liking.

But I digress. I'm doing my best with everything, we have a lot on our plate coming up. I will be keeping you posted every step along the way. :0 In the mean time, happy feast of the Epiphany! How was your Mass experience this weekend? Leave me a comment!

Photo credit: © Norlito | Dreamstime Stock Photos & Stock Free Images

A lovely break, and a LOT of Christmas...

"Mommy has to go back to work tomorrow, Sweetie. Mommy will miss you."

"Mommy NOT go back to work."

"Daddy will be home with you tomorrow, Sweetie. And Mommy will be home by dinnertime."

"Anne will not be home with daddy. ANNE HOME WITH MOMMY."

*cry face*

Annnnndddd, that's how Christmas break 2013 came to a close. :)

It was lovely. Our kitchen is mostly back to normal, save for a gaping hole in our ceiling, but plans are in place for the fixes necessary. We visited with family. We enjoyed a lot of snowed in time at home, just being together and playing with the kids. Christmas Eve and Christmas day, however, have become quite exhausting. Oh, and December 26th too, since that's when we open gifts with Mike's family. I suppose things can be summed up in this list of Catholic Librarian Christmas Pros & Cons...

Pros:

Christmas Eve Mass as a family. We attend at a historic church that has a 4 pm vigil each year, and it's just gorgeous. It's packed to the gills, but we get there early to get a seat, and the kids behaved like champs. Anne insisted on sitting on the floor in her Christmas dress and danced to the music, but I can live with that. :0

Seeing my sisters and nephews. I don't get to see them nearly so often as I'd like, and the holidays are a great reason to get together. I have four nephews, and they're all growing so fast! The twins are now 15 months old. They toddled all around and had definite opinions on whether or not they wanted to be held. I had a dream last night that I had little Andrew with me for a day as I went about my errands. Miss them. :(

Christmas morning with Mike and the kids. Sublime. Helping the kids set up their new stuff, having coffee, and playing with them. Also sublime.

Lighting the Christ candle together on the Advent wreath. I really got into Advent this year and enjoyed the traditions more than ever.

I received some lovely gifts, including some new clothes, jewelry (including a handmade pair of earrings from Shauna'h that I adore), books, and new music. Love.

Cons:

Sheer exhaustion from the running around necessary to maintain the family traditions for visiting on Christmas Eve/day.

Grandparent Gift Overwhelment. I have just coined a new phrase. It's wonderful that our children are so loved, but the Christmas gift situation has really gotten out of hand. Both grandmothers love to spoil them, and I understand that, but the volume has gotten overwhelming, and I don't want the kids to become focused on that to the exclusion of the real message of Christmas. I don't know exactly how to fix this, but something has to happen before next Christmas.

Mike and I agree that we long for a simpler Christmas. Less gifts and more time spent enjoying the company of each other and our families. That's our goal for next year, and we're choosing to accept it. :)

___________

I love taking off the week between Christmas and New Years from work, and we enjoyed a beautiful and quiet New Years Eve at home. First we went to Mass for the feast of Mary, Mother of God, and then we went home to bake lobster tails. We watched The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey with Henry in the evening after Anne went to bed. It was wonderful.

It was very hard to get out of bed this morning, to be sure. I do have some time off to look forward to, and I'm focusing on the positives. On January 13th, I'm having surgery and I'll be off for a week. I promise, it's nothing major, but be prepared for a lot of WHINING and COMPLAINING as I navigate this, since it's somewhat unpleasant. And I'll be home alone, on the couch, with a computer, so there WILL BE BLOGGING. You'll be along with me the entire way, dear reader. Two words:

Dental. Surgery.

If you feel faint, you may not want to check this blog from January 13th through the 17th, I'll just warn you now. :0

I'm also contemplating taking some time off during the Olympics, when Henry will be on his winter break.

Cue: Knitting time!!

Lots to look forward to! I missed you all, blogging is very cathartic for me. It feels strange not to do it, this acts as a journal for me, truly. So I'm now officially back to my regular blogging schedule! 7 Quick Takes tomorrow, look for a book review of an Amish book next week, and perhaps an installment of the Catholic Nook since I'm long overdue on a post for that one. Oh, and I have an eye doctor appointment next week, sure to be loads of fun just like last year!

It's good to be back! How was your Christmas and New Years? Leave me a comment!

It's Christmas in July, knitting style

I like to be choosy and temperamental about my knitted gifts

Every year, I make a list. That sounds very orderly, doesn't it? A list. And I'm an orderly person (read: obsessive/compulsive). I make a list of the items that I want to knit and/or crochet for my those that I love at Christmas. A list will assure that I can check items off as I make them, keep track of things, and assure that nothing and nobody gets forgotten. This is all very reasonable sounding.

I usually make this list in the fall. However, I like to think that I gain wisdom with age (we'll ignore the fact that it's taken me years to figure this out; Exhibit A, Exhibit B, Exhibit C, Exhibit D don't let the title fool you, read on about the Christmas Tweed Sweater), and so this year I'm making the list in the *summer*. Smarty pants, yes I am.

But the problem is, dear reader, that I tend to, you know, OVERDO IT. I start the list and it suddenly takes on a life of it's own. I mean, how can I leave out my co-worker's new baby, and somebody asked me for mittens, and my dad needs a fishing hat, and Hank wants new socks, and wouldn't Anne look adorable in that? and the TWINS, my God, the possibilities with yarn.

So I thought I would start nice and early this year with my list of hopefuls. That way I can excise things that clearly denote that I must have been drinking when I decided to add it to my queue and have this all worked out long before the cold weather gets here and I begin to panic.

Ok, so let's see:

Mike - Mr. Rogers-style cardigan. He asked for one, and I think that's adorable. I have the yarn, and it's smashing. I'm knitting this.

Anne - Rainbow cardigan, watermelon hat, mittens, maybe a stuffed bear and/or a saint doll. All right, already I can see that I'm getting carried away. There is no way in tarnation that she will wear mittens, so scratch that. But definitely the hat. I'd love the cardigan and toys. Sigh.

Henry - Socks. He keeps claiming that he wants me to make him some crocheted food, but I'm having a difficult time picturing this actually coming to fruition. Mostly because I doubt that he will actually do anything with aforementioned crocheted food besides stick it on top of his already very crowded dresser top.

Various relatives that I see on Christmas Eve - Dishcloths using some cool patterns that I'm jonesing to try.

Twin nephews - A sweater and a hat per baby.

Mom - Socks.

Mother-in-law - new kitchen cloths and towels.

Christmas exchange gift for a knitting group member yet to be determined - cannot release secret. :)

It's also possible that I could be lured into an Advent knit-along over at the Catholic group on Ravelry, because I mean, seriously, that's like my whole reason for living.

Ok, that doesn't seem so bad. But this of course isn't taking into account the things that I'd like to make for myself this fall and winter. Should I publish that list? That could get embarrassing, because I already own the yarn for all of it, and then that would show you all how much yarn I actually own. Not a good thing.

I mean, the sheer volume of socks and sweaters in my personal queue? A belly dance coverup? Afghan kits that have been waiting patiently for my attention? Shawls? Yes, let's not go there.

Well, this has been educational. It seems doable, but then again my lists always seem doable prior to November 1st.

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