Birthdays and book club schedules: Lent 2021 Week 1...

Happy (? 😁) first week of Lent, everyone! I do so enjoy Lent every year with it's focus on spiritual planning and goals. 

*squeals*

This year, Ash Wednesday marked the first time I've ever had "ash sprinkling" as the mechanism for receiving ashes, but there's a first time for everything, I suppose. I'm just grateful that we'll be able to attend Mass during Lent and Holy Week this year. No scripture service this year, just ash distribution, so we were in and out of the church in under a minute. Alas. But we do have other Lenten things to look forward to this year!

My just-past-midway February birthday often falls during Lent, and indeed, it sometimes falls on Ash Wednesday. I have to admit, my preference is for it *not* to fall on Ash Wednesday, even a Lenten Friday is OK with me! This year was bonus in that it fell on a Thursday, a party day right between two days of fasting, BOOM. 

😎

And it was a lovely day. I was working from home with the kids here, but I took part of the day off and played in the snow with Anne and picked us up some Starbucks. Free birthday latte for me! 

*virtual high five*

I also made up an online ballet class via recording and practiced my finger cymbals. Mike and the kids had me pick out our dinner takeout (white pizza and antipasto salad) and got me a huge cookie cake with lots of frosting (my favorite!). It was genuinely a beautiful day.

Now we're at the first Friday of Lent, and I'm feeling jazzed for all of the spiritual nourishment that is to come! I have our Catholic Book Club selection for Lent 2021 all downloaded to my Kindle, and ready to go. In determining a schedule, I have tentatively come up with the following:

• February 26th - Part 1
• March 5th - Part 2
• March 12th - Part 3
• March 19th - Part 4
• March 26th - Part 5

So we begin next Friday! And will wrap up just before Holy Week. The division into 5 parts makes this intuitive, but each of these parts is between 70 and 80 pages long (with the exception of Part 5, which is a little shorter). That's a bit longer than I'd like (I'm not the fastest reader anymore) so we'll see how it goes. If I need to adjust the schedule midway through to give us a bit more time and even extend into Easter, we can absolutely do that. Let's see how Part 1 for next Friday goes and we'll take it from there! I'm very excited to get started on this journey with St. Catherine of Siena!

How was your Ash Wednesday and general start to Lent? I would love to hear from you in the comments!

Tea Time with Tiffany #84 - Birthdays & Lenten planning!

It's a birthday edition of:

Today I talk about, yes , my birthday ;-), my plans for Lent, feeling re-energized for spring cleaning and scents, and a morning yoga update!





**To subscribe to the audio version of Tea Time with Tiffany, just search for it in iTunes or use this link to subscribe via Feedburner in your podcatcher of choice. Intro music is "Tea Ceremony" from PlayonLoop.com

Items mentioned in this episode:

• My Facebook group for Scentsy
• Last week's Tea Time about morning yoga and positivity
• Live Today Well book club
• February Catholic Mom piece about birthdays
• St. Joseph Guide for The Liturgy of the Hours. (The link I just provided is for the 4 volume set. This is the Guide for the 1 volume Christian Prayer).

How are your Lenten plans shaping up? Would you be up for another book club this summer with the format we're doing now, one chapter per week? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Time certainly flies...

Hi all! I hope that you had a smashing and relaxing weekend, as I did. My work day on Friday, while not terrible, took on a more stressful quality than I would have liked, owing to planning for the spring teaching load. Therefore, I was in need of going home and indulging in LOTS of distractions to forget about all of that. Happily, I had dance, and we're in major hafla planning mode, I'll talk about that on Tea Time this week. That helped. I'm choreographing a solo this time, and so that creative process has been dominating my thoughts in a positive way.

On Saturday, I took Henry to altar server training *beams* and Anne to the public library. I also took both kids to the grocery store to pick up a customized birthday cake for Henry. An excellent time was had by all. I also did my nails:

The height of frivolity, yes, but when one is feeling stressed, there is an important element to self- indulgence and self-care, I think we can all agree. I got that dark red sparkly gel in the mail on Saturday morning, and I figured, hey! Why not. :) It cheers me up to look down at them throughout the day.

Sunday was Henry's 11th birthday. I have no idea how on earth this has happened, but there you have it.

An early shot of a happy Henry

I mean...

Both of us looking younger :0 And me with much shorter hair!

And now for the present day shot:

It's difficult to believe that that much time has passed from the early morning trek into the hospital at 39 weeks into my pregnancy, but there it is. Somehow 11 years has gone by. I remember grown ups talking about how quickly time passes when I was a kid, and always used to think to myself:

"Old people. They are so weird. What are they even talking about?"

Because a school year was an ETERNITY back then. Now, I sneeze, and 3 years goes by. I think back on fun events that seem like they took place within the past year. Nope, that was 5 years ago. Things that seems like MAYBE they happened a few years ago? 10 years ago. That's right. A freaking decade. :0

What can we do, right? Nothing but enjoy the present moment. More on that during this week's INSPIRE post, but in the meantime, what did you do this weekend, dear reader?

Anne's birthday month continues, & summer performance season gets ready to kick off...

Hello ALL! My good mood remains. I saw my honey perform again over the weekend, which always enhances my spirits.

*fans self* ;-)

I was going to the cast party with him after the final Sunday matinee, so I just went to the show beforehand as well. I am just so, so proud of him. I know that it was somewhat bittersweet for him, since he loved the play and his part so much, but the schedule is out for the upcoming season, and there are a few plays that he has his eye on, including one in the fall. The directors are clamoring for him to audition, so he's going to do just fine.

The rest of our weekend was consumed by our increasingly mature looking (*sob!*) birthday girl:

She can't get enough of that crown.

We had family over for a big birthday bash, and so Mommy got to enjoy this:

...while Anne very much enjoyed this:

She's getting to be such a big girl! *sniffle* She received some new summer clothes, an Easy Bake oven, a Melissa and Doug magnetic calendar, and little sewing machine of her very own. A good birthday was had by all.

For my part, troupe rehearsal is hitting high gear. Our first performance of the season is quickly upcoming in early June, and so on Friday we finished our last in-progress choreography (SO FUN. The music is "El Toba" by Wael El-Nagar). We still have lots of fine tuning to do, but we're now in good shape!

In terms of my solo, I still have a lot of work to do. I've picked music (Mario Kirlis's "Awal Suhur" which is absolutely gorgeous. I just love that Mario Kirlis) and I have my private lesson set up with Claire for Thursday late afternoon, which I know will provide good fodder. Right now I feel like I'm just inadvertently flinging a veil in my face for 4 minutes and I'm pretty sure I need more structure than that. ;-)

In other news, don't forget that tomorrow is book club day! I'm very excited to talk to you all about the first five chapters of Church of Spies. Even if you haven't read the book, do join us! Maybe you'll decide to join in or read it later this summer. :)

Tea Time with Tiffany #49 - Fruits of the spirit, & good God do I LOVE my husband...

Morning all! I am in a VERY chirpy mood this morning, for this late May edition of:

Today I talk about novena fruits, upcoming June novena plans, more book talk! And...I'll just say it. My husband is HOT. :0 He is! And I love him more after 13 years than ever before. What inspired this outpouring of wifely devotion? View on, dear viewer!




**To subscribe to the audio version of Tea Time with Tiffany, just search for it in iTunes or use this link to subscribe via Feedburner in your podcatcher of choice. Intro music is "Tea Ceremony" from PlayonLoop.com

Items mentioned in this episode:

• Sacred Heart novena. You can sign up to receive the prayers via email each day!
• The Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, by Fr. John Croiset
• Upcoming Catholic Book Club discussion about chapters 1-5 of Church of Spies
• My recent post about upcoming summer reads!
• Anne's birthday post.
• Amish fiction book that I'm currently reading: Hannah's Courtship, by Emma Miller.

So, what do you think? Sacred Heart novena and book? Let me know if you're in! How are you coming on Church of Spies? Summer reading plans? Do write in!

Get your tissues ready...

Today...my baby turns 5.

*SOB!*

This seems like the biggest milestone birthday we've had with her since she turned 1. I'm not entirely certain why, but it does feel more significant in some way.

It's a Wednesday, just like May 18th was back in 2011. Do you know who else has a birthday on May 18th? St. John Paul II, baby!!!! I was pleased with my body for giving me that small victory.

At any rate, this was the scene, 5 years ago...

(go grab your tea ;-))

Tuesday, May 17th, 2011, I was at work. I always worked right up until I went into labor because I am incredibly anal really needed the distraction. :0 My due date wasn't until May 23rd, so I figured I may work the entire week. My colleagues all knew that my date was really close, though of course no one obsesses over that date as much as the pregnant woman herself. Hence, that Tuesday morning I waddled into the reference office, and am greeted by the following:

"Oh. You're STILL HERE?"

All you women out there who have been, or are, pregnant, let us rally together, yes? Saying the above to a pregnant woman is akin to an obscene gesture. Do you think she WANTS to be there? I assure you, SHE DOES NOT. By the ninth month of pregnancy, everything hurts, your belly feels like it is the size of Madagascar, you haven't slept well in nearly a year, and you would sacrifice an appendage just to have the baby OUT NOW.

"You mean you haven't had the baby yet?!"

It took every ounce of willpower not to reply: "Does it LOOK LIKE I've had the baby?!"

*glares*

All of this is to say that I was just a HAIR cranky on the evening of Tuesday, May 17th. I was uncomfortable, I was irritable, and I really wanted a drink. Mike gently suggested that maybe I should call in sick to work the next morning, and I porkily contemplated that possibility as I tossed and turned for the entire night, unable to sleep well. At one point, I went downstairs to read for a bit and try to doze off, but that went over about as well as you would expect.

*glares again*

About 5 am I went back up to bed with Mike, to at least be more comfortable even if I wasn't able to sleep. If you can believe it (snort, I'm certain that you can, given what you know about me) I had decided to go into work, given that I was scheduled for the 9 am reference shift, when suddenly at 6:15...

My water broke. Much rejoicing was heard across the land.

Mike made arrangements for Henry while I paced around the house like a caged animal. I called the doctor, who told me to go to the hospital right away given that my water had broken. I made general noises, concluded the call, and stayed home for another two hours. :0 I wasn't in active labor yet, and the last place I wanted to be was the hospital. I had done this before, and thus I knew that some of the things they do in the hospital have the effect of actually slowing your labor DOWN, and that's the last thing I wanted.

Mike took Henry to his grandparents, and then we ate breakfast. Mike showered while I paced up and down the stairs. I waited until I had regular, uncomfortable contractions before we finally headed to the hospital around 10 am.

Once there, they did the hospital thing, which I hate, but I was prepared for this time. I was much more proactive in my labor with Anne than I was with Henry, standing and moving around as much as possible to keep the contractions going. I kept visualizing the contractions bringing the baby into my arms, and using my belly dancing breathing, and it worked like a charm.

By shortly after 1 pm, I was in transitional labor, and I knew I was close. I delivered her about 1:45.

I remember the moment she was born very clearly. I thought to myself:

"Thank God I'm not pregnant anymore!"

That's really what I thought. :0

In contrast to Henry, who was silent at birth, and had to be coaxed to cry, Anne was *screaming* before she was even fully out of the womb. Harbinger of things to be come, to be certain. She was also extremely goopy with vernix when she was born, and the doctor hadn't announced her sex right away. We didn't find out at our ultrasound, just to wait for this moment. Mike made a query to the doctor, who responded:

"Oh. I'm not sure yet."

That's really what she said. :0

Anne was squalling so much, and being hosed down to get the goop off, that it was hard to see anything. Then the doctor flopped her over, and announced that she was a girl.

Here she was, May 18th, 2011:

And this morning:

The birthday girl. *eyes well up*

Last night, Anne came up and hugged me. I told her that I loved her, and that when she came into our family, she really brightened our lives. And I mean it. She really, truly did. And she replied:

"I love you, Mom. And Frankie."

So, me, and a random neighborhood cat. I guess I'll take it. ;-)

I'm feeling a little emotional today, but in an incredibly good way. Life is good, it is really, really good, and I can never thank God enough for it.

Birthday MONTH continues, because why not?

Right? Who's with me?!

#BirthdayExtensionPartyPlanningCommittee

Given that birthdays lose a bit of their luster after one turns 21, I think that we should refuse to be constrained to a single day. At the very least, birthdays should be celebrated for an entire weekend, but I'm proposing a full month. I plan to keep dredging all of this up until March, so brace yourselves now. ;-)

And indeed, my weekend was filled with lovely birthday festivities. Thursday evening after our Tea Time together, Mike and I went out for dinner. I put on a new dress, and off we headed to the martini bar, where martinis and Italian food were enjoyed by everybody. I opened some more presents when we got back home, and I felt very spoiled and grateful.

Friday featured a few amusing dance anecdotes that perhaps I'll talk about in this week's Tea Time. One involves a professional gig request that is the epitome of what NOT to do, ugh. Yes, that is better conveyed over a soothing cup of tea, I'm thinking. In other dance news, Sword is super thrilled to be taken to class with me each week for our new troupe choreography, and it looks like he and I will be doing a short balanced floorwork segment at the end that he is VERY excited about. He'd better behave himself, that's all I've got to say. He did well in class on Friday, probably because he knew it was my birthday weekend. ;-)

And birthday weekend indeed, as Anne was invited to her very first classmate birthday party on Saturday, which took place at our local science museum. Birthdays for everybody! She was SO cute, running around with the other kids as they made bubbles and ice cream. Oh, the sugar highs that were managed that late afternoon and evening. Anne was absolutely in her element and thrilled to be a part of my things. My dumpling! She's getting so big. *sniffle*

Speaking of Anne's increased maturity, she has decided of late that she would like to get up out of bed and get dressed in the mornings ALL BY THE SELF. This in fact saves me quite a bit of time, I will grant, but the problem has become the following: at 6:30 am this past Saturday, we hear Anne's little sing song voice as she talked to herself while getting dressed, and then the dreaded: CLICK! of her door opening, with that sinking sensation that there is now a LOOSE CHILD IN THE HOUSE.

Can I tell you how many years it has been since I truly got to sleep in, my friends? Many, many years.

So we came up with the ingenious solution of getting Anne a digital clock for her room, and instructing her on not getting out of bed unless the first number was at least a 7:

"There's a 7, Mommy! See it?"

"No, no, darling, that's 6:27, the 7 is at the end. Remember, it has to be the *first* number? The number closest to your little doll of Our Lady."

Saint dolls doing double duty, right there.


"Oh."

"It would be *even better* if that first number was an 8."

Glory be. If only I had thought to do a little creative "daylight savings time" on her clock for the weekends. Clearly, I have lost too many brain cells in this decade-long lack of sleep program.

Naturally, the first time she has stayed in her room past 7 am on the nose was Monday morning when it was time to go back to school. Naturally.

But no need to dwell on the sleepy. Sunday featured the second weekend of Lent, and lots of announcements in our parish bulletin about upcoming instances of Stations of the Cross, Evening Prayer, and a St. Joseph's Table. Catholic Nerd heaven, right there. And later on Sunday, we journeyed north to my absolute favorite family restaurant, Swiss Chalet. You all know how I feel about Swiss Chalet.

*swoons*

We met my parents there and enjoyed our usual fare of rotisserie chicken and homemade french fries. I usually avoid french fries in restaurants, but at Swiss Chalet I indulge, because, you know, THE CHALET SAUCE. You can dip the french fries in there, and that my friends, is a slice of the afterlife. Mike, trying to make us all look bad, ordered the vegetables instead. ;-) But he doesn't like cauliflower, so he offered those to me. I speared one, and paused.

"You're not going to dip that in the chalet sauce, are you?"

He knows me so well. :0

For the record, I didn't. But I thought about it, I won't lie. ;-)

How was your late February weekend, dear reader? Are you thinking spring yet? I'm not *quite* yet, but I can feel the transition approaching in the air. I have a book review coming tomorrow (check the sidebar for deets!) and then I'm going to start the new Marcus Grodi book, Life From Our Land, which discusses spirituality and simple living. Want to join in?

Tea Time with Tiffany #36 - Guess what day is today?

A Lenten weekday. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. ;-) But want the skinny? Do tune in for today's episode of:

Today I talk about Lent, adventures in painful Pilates/yoga classes, and why today is special. Well, more to the point, why birthdays don't have to suck just because you keep getting older. ;-)





 **To subscribe to the audio version of Tea Time with Tiffany, just search for it in iTunes or use this link to subscribe via Feedburner in your podcatcher of choice.

Items mentioned in this episode:

• Lenten Mercy Challenge
• PiYo class, yikes! 
• My cake, aw...

• Bullseye! *squeals*

So dear listener, how is your Lent going?! ;-) Have any thoughts on birthdays? I'd love to hear from you. :-)

A weekend of puppy love, Christmas video shenanigans & birthday plans...

Hello all! It's Christmas week, isn't it exciting?! The kids and I enjoyed a lovely (if a bit cramped) 11 am Mass yesterday for the Fourth Sunday of Advent. Our parish combined the 10 am and noon Mass, and so the new 11 o'clock Mass has more people squeezed in. It's totally understandable, but with a 4 year old in tow, when people sit on either side of us in a pew, there are inevitably multiple times during which one set of them has to move for Anne to break through to and from Children's Liturgy of the Word. And a loudly demanded bathroom break.

*long suffering sigh*

At any rate, I had a perfectly fabulous weekend. And I want to hear about yours! Let's settle in with our tea and coffee.

I took the day off on Friday to attend the annual Christmas party of my crafting group. I look forward to this every year, and it always a joyous day. I absolutely LOVE the women in my crafting group. We all work in the same place, and get together on many of our lunch hours to knit and crochet. And solicit advice or comfort, or whatever the case may be. Think of us as a knitting support group. :)

And each year we do a Secret Santa gift exchange. It's always exciting for the big reveal of who had who to craft for, and what they made! This year, my recipient was my dear friend Bridget, who is an avid cook and baker. Thus, I crocheted her this adorable apron:

Don't you just love the cherry pocket?

It turned out so cute I wanted to keep it for myself. ;-) In turn, my Secret Santa, Alix, knitted me these lace socks:

I put them on my feet the instant they came out of the package...

I have never had a pair of socks knitted by anyone other than myself. These are a TREAT for my feet! I adore them! They look red in the photo, but the color is actually a burnished orange. I mean... :0 I love them!

While we were there exchanging our gifts and having an absolutely fantastic lunch, I fell in love with a dog. ;-) We were are Bridget's, and she has two adorable dogs, both of whom I enjoyed petting and playing with throughout the afternoon. But the one little guy, Logan, just absolutely stole my heart. I texted Mike this picture with the message "Look at my adorable Secret Santa gift, Sweetie! Can I bring him home?!"

:0

I mean, did you ever?! I LOVE HIM. I may dognap him in the night. I WANT HIM.

Mike handled my Logan love well this weekend. ;-) He reminded me that Henry is allergic to dogs, so it's really not a good idea for us to get one right now. But Henry is 10, I responded, in eight years he'll be a legal adult, so I'm just thinking ahead to our future. Which so obviously includes a dog.

*sniffs innocently*

After the party, I had some family time before heading to my troupe rehearsal wherein we filmed this now infamous Christmas video. It went pretty much like this:

(1) We warmed up.
(2) We practiced in our regular clothes since none of us could remember the ever evolving and loosey goosey choreography.
(3) We got it to where we were all mostly doing the same thing, stuck a free style segment at the end, and called it done.
(4) We threw on red and green costumes.
(5) One of our troupe members' boyfriend filmed us dancing this thing no less than a half dozen times, including multiple angles of our ridiculously silly choo choo train while tray balancing segment, and a circle tray spinning segment.
(6) We all got very tired.
(7) We changed and went home. :0

It was fun, and the word on the street is that the video turned out very well. I'm very curious to see it when it debuts on our website!

Saturday began our two day Mike birthday extravaganza. He had a milestone birthday this year, and so I wanted to make it really special for him. We had dinner plans Saturday night just the two of us, then a whole Mike day planned for Sunday. Prior to our dinner, the kids were getting restless, so Mike and Henry had a father/son movie watching afternoon, and I took Anne out for a girls afternoon to a Lularoe open house nearby. Here is Anne in the new leggings she procured at the event:

Isn't she adorable? She also has very loud taste :0

We had SUCH a fun time. I got her another pair of polka dot leggings she was eyeing up for her Christmas stocking, and we generally browsed the skirts and dresses with abandon. The boys would have considered it torture to have endured such a thing, so we reveled in our leisurely girl time.

In the evening, Mike and I had our dinner, and then Sunday the kids and I woke up early to make him chocolate chip pancakes. Well, the chocolate chips were mostly for us, I think Mike would have been fine with just plain pancakes. ;-) But we had a delicious breakfast, gave him his gifts, and later we had his parents over to watch football and order pizza (his requested birthday take out). It was a really, really nice day.

And so now here I am back at work. I am so long suffering. But it's only a three day work week, so I can't exactly complain. How was your weekend and Fourth Sunday of Advent, dear reader? Do tell me all about it in the comments!

Brownies that could cut glass & a zombie apocalypse: An eclectic milestone birthday weekend...

You wouldn't think those things in the title would all be related, would you? But I like to keep things interesting around here, so read on, dear blog reading aficionado! And I have yet another topic to toss into the mix before we get started, because it's Catholic Mom day for me, and this month my piece is on Confirmation patrons:

My Confirmation patron is none other than St. Cecilia, and I would love for you to click on over to read my piece and leave a comment with your very own Confirmation patron. How about your favorite saint with a feast day in November? You can write in with that information too! Let's have a fun comment party over at Catholic Mom.

But in other news, this past weekend was my Henry's birthday. OK. The child is now 10. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?! I remember the day he was born like it was a few months ago.

*sniffle*

I hate how fast time seems to pass when you're an adult. I suppose part of it is the fact that one has so many more responsibilities as you get older. Alas. I guess the moral of this pointless tale of woe is that adulting is hard. Let's move on, shall we?

At any rate, it was a milestone birthday for Henry, and so we wanted to make it nice for him. His actual birthday is the 6th, which was Friday.  And every year we face the age old question of what birthday treat to send in with him to school for their celebration. See, for most normal people this is not at all an issue. Because they are good bakers and/or simply send in a store-bought treats without needlessly fretting about how they're a failure as a mother because they cannot bake. But if you're me? You're both a terrible baker AND you fret over how this makes you a negligent mother. I feel like if I send in something store-bought then everyone will KNOW that I'm a terrible baker. Plus, I see that as symbolic of the fact that I have officially given up: there is no hope for me, I cannot bake. Ever. I am disgrace to my Italian heritage. If I told my mother that I use Pillsbury pie crusts, it'll be like when I once admitted to her that I'd used pasta sauce out of a jar:

"I didn't *raise you like that*!"

That's really what she said. :0 I *can* at least make tomato sauce, sometimes I'm just too lazy to. ;-) I can also make a pretty decent Italian wedding soup. But see, that isn't *baking*. Baking is kryptonite for me.

And so I fretted over cupcakes here, or cookies there, until Mike suggested that we make brownies:

"I am terrible at making brownies."

"Are you sure? We'll just use a boxed mix."

"Yes, even the boxed mixes. I'm awful at making brownies from them. The edges are always overdone and the middle undercooked."

*Mike looks dubious*

"I've made them and they turn out fine."

"Are you volunteering?"

*Tiffany turns on the charming, winning smile*

This works, only because he is my husband.

"Sure. If you can pick up the mix on your way home from work tomorrow, I'll make them Thursday night before play rehearsal."

"Deal."

Isn't he wonderful? And indeed, on Thursday I came home and walked into a kitchen that smelled like chocolate.

"HONEY! You made the brownies!!"

"Of course, I said I would."

Mike is looking super pleased with himself, hoping for Husbandly Extra Credit Points for taking care of something that was causing me so much stress. His effort was indeed noted and rewarded. :-)

"How many brownies did the 2 boxes of mix yield?"

This is another problem that I have with brownies. So many of them turn out like ca-ca that I end up with far too few that are actually edible. And when I try to cut them into neat little squares?

*shudder*

"I'm not sure. I had to put some of them into a round pan. But there are 2 pans worth. I think they turned out well."

"Well, they certainly smell good. Thank you darling!"

It was a real love fest. Between Mike and I (this love affair persists, despite the part of the story I'm about to get to ;-)) and between Mike, I and the brownies. We had dinner, and while we were undergoing the kitchen cleanup, I grabbed a knife and spatula and tried to remove the brownies from the pans. Notice use of the words "tried to" in that sentence, dear reader?

I didn't want to say anything, because Mike was so heroic in his efforts to spare me from further baking humiliation, but I was having the same problem with these brownies that I always do with my own homemade brownies: hard on the edges + too crumbly in the middle = a big ole' mess to get out of the pan. Mike came over while I was using the spatula like the end of a hammer attempting to pry out a nail:

"Everything OK over here?"

"Well. I'm having a bit of a hard time getting the brownies out of the pan."

That was an understatement, but no need to elaborate and make him feel bad. He offered to help, and is soon jamming a knife along the sides and underneath each brownie in an effort to extract it.

"The box instructions say to use 'short, sawing motions' to get them out."

"Why do brownies have to be so bossy?!"

I was starting to loathe the brownies; not only these ones, but all their hard-edged, chewy offspring in bad brownie generations to come. I was hankering to bring Mike over to the dark side with me.

"I think they'll be fine. Oh. Oh dear."

I told you, I hate brownies. And now, Mike does too. ;-) We barely managed to salvage 15 brownies to send in for Henry's class. Poor, scarred-for-life Henry, having to bring in malformed brownies on his 10th birthday. I will say that he seemed delighted with the brownies, because, you know, they're BROWNIES. They're made of chocolate. How could there possibly be a problem with that?! Bless that child.

So, he had his school party on Friday, and we had a family party for him with pizza and wings (we're rather known for that around here. ;-) And we know where to get *the best* ones, because we're freakish and take chicken wings far too seriously in WNY) on Saturday, and he seemed thrilled with the company and his gifts. All went well.

It was a big weekend for Henry for another reason as well: it was his community theater debut. :0 This fall, he and Mike both auditioned for a play and were cast. Our township's community theater was putting on Night of the Living Dead, and Mike is playing the newscaster. Henry was cast as a zombie. :0 There were LOTS of kids in the play, and so despite it being more scary themed, it was a very family-friendly production. Anne and I went to see it for the Sunday matinee, and she wasn't scared at all. We had told her all about what she would be seeing, and how it was all make believe, and she didn't seem fazed in the least. There were at least a dozen other kids in the audience.

And I was *very* impressed! Henry was very in-character, his facial expressions and body movements showing that he was focused on the direction he had received during the rehearsal period. We were super proud of him! He had one of the more prominent zombie roles. *beams* And Mike was adorable as the newscaster:

"Look! It's Da Da!"

Anne was very excited to spot him. :-) My husband has a *very* nice voice, he receives compliments on it all the time. He's a natural for a newscaster role. And can I say how appealing it is to see him all in actor mode up on stage? In fact...well, I'll digress. Let's just say that his Cute Husband Points are through the roof this weekend. ;-)

So, a BIG weekend for Henry! I can't believe I have a child whose age is now in the double digits. This is how it happens, isn't it, with this nefarious aging thing? Next thing you know, Henry will be 50, I'll be 80, and it'll feel like only 15 minutes have elapsed.

*glares*

But I'll probably still be belly dancing, so long as I'm not using a walker or anything, so prepare yourself for those future posts now! :0

How was YOUR weekend, dear reader? Thanksgiving prep underway? Holiday crafting? Write in with all the details. :)

Anne's 4th birthday, & "Golden Girls" marathons, because isn't that what everybody does when they're sick?

Hi all! I'm reporting in from the sick wing today, as I'm home from work with a vicious cold. I'll come back to that, as it involves a story, naturally, but I thought I'd start with the happier news of Anne's birthday party this past Saturday. Oh gosh, in fact, it's just after 1 pm here, EDT, and exactly 4 years ago, I was about to deliver precious Anne.

#aw!

Or: #gross! #TooMuchInformationTiffany! depending upon how you look at it, I suppose. But at any rate, we celebrated her miracle of life on Saturday with a family birthday party, complete with Frozen everything. Here we have the birthday girl:

Trying to pretend that she's shy...

...and posing with her birthday balloons:

Looking decidedly *less* shy...

Her ultimate Frozen cake:

Notice the Elsa and Anna plates and napkins in the foreground? My mother would be responsible for those. :0

And the requisite shot of her blowing out the candles:

A lovely time was had by all. Unfortunately, Anne started a light cough on Saturday.

*ominous music cues up*

Overnight on Saturday we had some more coughing to contend with, and I administered a midnight soothe involving application of Vicks Vaporub, fetching of water cup, and reading of "Little House" story. Yesterday, she was definitely not 100%, and we had to contend with quite a few overtired and sickly temper tantrums. I also started to cough, and heading into the overnight Sunday, I was feeling decidedly nervous that we would not get a good night of sleep.

*Tiffany turns her bedside light off and begins to drift to sleep...*

2 minutes elapse...

*Tiffany's throat is seized by horrible, hacking cough*

Needless to say, I was not happy. I tossed and turned a bit, hoping that my throat would soothe. Mike was also being super soothing, trying to help me get comfortable, when IT happened.

*horrible hacking cough emanates from Anne's room*

Between her and me, there was NO WAY I was going to sleep. Mike promised to check on Anne, and I headed downstairs to the guest room, since I knew I would keep him up if I stayed in our room. I hacked down there with my Kindle for a time, and even from all the way downstairs, I could still hear Anne coughing sporadically. Eventually, I gave up. I figured I'd just bring her downstairs with me, and we could watch The Golden Girls while propped up on the couch. I trudged up to her room and opened her door. Hark. What is that smell?

This is that point that all parents ultimately come to, wherein we go into vast detail about some sort of vile body fluid oozing out of our children. Right. In this instance, it would be vomit. I hurried over and quickly discerned that from the chest up, Anne was covered with real mucousy vomit, which must have made it's appearance sometime after Mike had checked on her. I quickly got her up and out of bed, and mopped down. Mike blessedly manifested to strip the bed and begin the fumigation process. I got her all changed while Mike got her room back in order. But I knew she wouldn't be able to sleep right away. That's what The Golden Girls are for.

I adore The Golden Girls. It's my favorite late night TV guilty pleasure from my young adulthood when I could actually stay up past 11 pm,  and whenever I'm up in the middle of the night, I check the Hallmark Channel and it's usually on. Sure enough, Hallmark Channel to the rescue. A Golden Girls marathon, on until well past 1 am, after which time Frazier picks up the slack. Hot damn.

I got her propped up with me and watched no fewer than 4 episodes, all while Anne elbowed me in the ribs and stuck her feet into my vital organs into an attempt to get comfortable. Ah right, *that's* what it feels like to be pregnant again, check. We watched the episode wherein the girls hire a housekeeper named Marguerite, whom they fear has put a curse on them. The one where they are robbed, Rose gets all upset and paranoid, and Blanche says a police officer called her an "oldster." (that one is a personal favorite). Oh, oh, the one where Blanche meets this young stud named Dirk at a Jazzercise class, and then tries to transform herself into looking 30 again when he asks her out?

#bliss

And BY THE WAY. Let me check the calendar...right, it's mid-May. I'll just have you know that The Hallmark Channel is advertising a week long marathon of Christmas movies, to premiere on July 3rd. We've moved Christmas anticipation back to May now? Good gracious.

Eventually, I coaxed Anne back to bed, since the two of us sleeping on the couch thing just wasn't going to end comfortably for either of us. Neither of us was coughing anymore, and I was confident we could get through the night at that point. I re-tucked her in and she went right to sleep. As did I, after a few more tosses and turns for good measure.

The only negative marring this touching scene is that she woke up this morning in a vicious mood and threw a 30 minute screaming tantrum about having to have a bath to wash the vomit out of her hair. Good times, right there. We watched more Golden Girls while I sipped at a full bottle of water to soothe my re-tickly throat (I own the entire series on DVD, so no worries on ever running out of episodes :0) and Mike showed the true nature of unconditional love and sacramental marriage by fixing lunch and sitting down with us to watch the episode wherein the girls are accidentally arrested for prostitution.

"I lost Butter Queen, haven't I suffered enough?!"

He even laughed at appropriate times, ensuring the accumulation of lots of Husbandly Bonus Points.

So, that's my day. :0 As I curled up into the fetal position, attempting to doze off earlier in the morning, I felt Mike approach:

"Oh. You're getting that fever rash on your neck again."

I already had to dance in public with that rash on my neck, haven't I suffered enough?!

So, YEAH, I'm looking a little rough today. Very feverish eyed and rashy, with curly, out-of-control hair. Hence, no video posts until this remedies itself. :0

I'm hoping I'll be well enough to go to work tomorrow, but who knows. How are you faring this Monday, dear reader?

Ash Wednesday - why is it so beloved, and what happens if your birthday falls on it?!

Ash Wednesday is interesting, is it not? It's certainly an important day in the tradition of our faith. It marks the beginning of Lent, our major penitential season leading up to the holiest day of the year. It offers a physical sacramental to remind us of what we are doing and why during Lent.  The Church asks us to fast from food between (smaller) meals, and to abstain from meat, denoting the serious nature of the day. So there is all of this, but technically Ash Wednesday is not a Holy Day of Obligation. Catholics are not bound to attend Mass on that day, and indeed many parishes hold scripture services with ash distribution instead. My parish does. Although there is still an 8 am and a noon Mass, and my forehead as well as my children's will be in attendance at one of them. :0

Yet, Ash Wednesday is one of the highest attended services of the year (along with Christmas), even more so than Easter. Our diocesan newspaper mentioned this in an article recently. It doesn't really make any sense, but there you have it. There is obviously something about the ritual of ashes that resonates with people who otherwise attend Mass infrequently. Thoughts on this?

At any rate, let's talk about Lenten birthdays (great post on this topic at Catholic All Year, by the way). When one's birthday falls on a Church mandated day of fast and abstinence, what does one do? Celebrate before, or after? Or, if you're me, BOTH!

:0

Indeed, my always dreary February birthday falls on Ash Wednesday this year. So, hey! Why restrict one's birthday to a single day? I'm calling this a birthday WEEK (sans Wednesday) and just enjoying the ride. :)

I met Mike and the kids at a local Irish restaurant after work yesterday for a family birthday dinner. Shepherd's Pie and Harp, I mean...life is good, yes? We had a very nice time. When we got home, this was waiting for me:

awwwww....

All I asked for this year was a cookie cake, and to go to the Catholic New Media Conference. I'm getting both. :) I feel loved. *beams* So we enjoyed some of the cake last night, and Mike and I watched Downton Abbey after the kids went to bed. It was a *wonderful* evening. Tonight, we're going to enjoy more cake. Because tomorrow is, you know, Ash Wednesday. :)

So, I've decided that tomorrow, although technically my actual birthday, is just going to be Ash Wednesday for me. I'm taking the day off from work, going to Mass, and just going to focus on the Lenten side of things. And I'm looking forward to it, I love Lent. But no cookie cake. :) We will fast tomorrow. Thursday, I'm having dinner with some friends from college, and Saturday night Mike and I are going out to dinner by ourselves. That's a lot of birthday, yes? Plus, I have the CNMC to look forward to in June. I'd say this is a pretty great year.

What are your plans for Ash Wednesday 2015, dear reader? Do tell me all about it. :)

My baby's 3rd birthday...

My precious little gal turned 3 years old yesterday:

She's kind of tall, isn't she? Mike and I seem to produce these gigantic children. :0 She has on her birthday necklace in this photo, which is an 'A' charm, her birthstone (emerald), and a St. Therese medal (her middle name!).

Anne was SO excited for her party, and awoke from her nap to greet all of her guests at the door. She ran around happily with birthday balloons, and we were able to Skype with my twin nephews, which she LOVED. Then we ate, and busted out the cake:

Anne loved her cake, and is rather a fan of all cake, just like her mother:

She was thrilled to tear into her gifts, which included lots of Dora gear:

This is a Dora guitar. If you guessed that such a noisy gift *wasn't* from her parents, you would be correct :0

...some new jammies, a sit 'n spin, and some Melissa & Doug wooden "paper" dolls:

Soon, the birthday girl was winding down:

But hard to believe, that exactly 3 years prior, our precious little one looked like this:

And now we have this:

I handled it pretty well, I didn't cry once, which I think is pretty darn impressive. Over the weekend, we enjoyed the kids a lot and took them miniature golfing. And that is a nice thing about Anne being a bit older, she can participate more in activities like that. See? I'm trying to focus on the positive.

#hormonal

Happy birthday Anne!!!!!!

Checking in from the trenches, birthday edition. :) And some book club news...

Afternoon all! I am always SO out of sorts when I'm out of routine, which I know is not a big surprise to you. *gentle snort* I took a few days off from work, and  you would think I lost the ability to conceive of the calendar, my days of the week are so turned around. This is especially bad when I skip a usual day of blogging.

But here I am, and another year older, to boot. I have come to terms with these "less than thrilling number" birthdays, because really, what choice do we have? There's no going back, that's for sure. And if you don't enjoy and cherish your life to the fullest in the present moment, you're really missing out. So, that's my current birthday philosophy. We'll talk again next year when I reach a particularly unpleasant milestone AND my birthday falls on Ash Wednesday. I'll obviously be doing penance for all of humanity with that one. You're welcome.

;)

At any rate, I *have* been having a very nice birthday. Last night, Mike took me to our favorite restaurant for dinner.  We lingered over half price martinis at the bar, talking about our kids and the Olympics, while next to us lounged a crew of young adults who couldn't possibly be too far over the legal drinking age. They were rather loudly talking about their dating lives while Mike and I brainstormed ideas for future writing projects.

#oldfogeys

Alas, rather than causing me to long for my "lost youth," it made me all the more grateful that I'm happily past an age where insecurity reigned (at least for me).

#scoreonefortheoldpeople

Since this is a martini bar, the selection was pretty impressive. I was agonizing over a vodka martini versus a specialty one, when I decided to go for broke. It's my birthday. I'm going for the dessert martini, baby!!

Oatmeal cookie martini for everybody!!!

We're talking Bailey's Irish Cream. We're talking butterscotch schnapps. We're talking (unfathomably) Jagermeister and Goldschlager. We're talking chocolately goodness, BUT WITH ALCOHOL.

It just doesn't get any better than that, folks.

After our time at the bar, we headed to a table for dinner over candlelight. Sublime.

I've also gotten some very nice gifts. Handmade bath products in my favorite fragrances. A bag of flavored decaf coffee. Cute new bookends. A promise of a lunch this coming weekend with my parents. All very lovely. I've been doing tons of knitting, reading and watching of the Olympics. It's been a *very* nice long weekend.

So! Speaking of reading, I have some Catholic Book Club news. I'm not really sure that anyone is reading the books along with me :0 so I don't think this will be a disruption to anybody. What I really like about the Catholic Book Club is that it keeps me accountable with spiritual reading. Every month, I will read at least one non-fiction book geared toward strengthening my faith. And people do read the reviews and perhaps it gives them some ideas for their own spiritual reading list. All good.

But sometimes I bite off more than I can chew, and this month is one of those times. I was supposed to be reading The Hidden Face of St. Therese by Ida Gorres. Well. :)

I spent some time this month reading The Mass by Cardinal Wuerl, to review for Image Books. I finished it, and I will write my review here tomorrow, so look for that. But I then was behind schedule on reading The Hidden Face. Undeterred, I quickly downloaded it and started reading. My first inkling that there would be a problem was when I read and read and read and read, and looked down at the little status bar on my Kindle and it indicated that I was at 1% of completion. Oh my.

This is a LONG book, and there is no way I'm going to finish it for next Wednesday, as originally planned. I'm just not up to the task of taking on such a large endeavor this month. So, what I decided to do is review The Mass tomorrow, and switch things up a bit for the coming months. I started reading Dedicated to God: An Oral History of Cloistered Nuns via a library copy last month. It's been languishing on my shelf, and I'd really like to pick it back up, so I'm going to have that be the official March Catholic Book Club selection. I bumped the other two books I have had on the list, More Catholic Than the Pope, and The Cloistered Heart, to April and May. I still plan to read those two books, and in fact, already own print copies, so I'm all set. The list on the right sidebar is now all up to date as well.

So there! I have shared my Type A, extreme book reading list organization mentality with all of you. :0 I know it's part of the reason you love me so much.

Ok! Back to my children. I'll be checking in with all of you again tomorrow! Lots of exciting stuff to come, including some Lenten plans, and a 7 day blogging challenge. :) Stay tuned!

Happy 2nd Birthday Anne!

It's hard to believe, but my baby is two.

*sniffle*

She had a great day. She had balloons, pizza, cake, and babies to play with. She was very nurturing with her twin cousins. She kept giving them toys to play with. :)

She received some new clothes, some books, a Dora doll and toy Backpack (which is her favorite, I think, she loves that Backpack; although inexplicably she crumpled up Map, who she is normally so loving toward), some more princesses for her Disney Princess Castle, and her own shopping cart. She had a great day.

Anne loves to be around big groups of people, so large family gatherings are a lot of fun for her. We had about 20 people stuffed into our house, but it all went great. A box of wine in the refrigerator always helps with that. :) Nobody died from fatal red velvet cupcake consumption and it was nice to be able to see everyone and talk.

And those twins. For the love of all that is holy, THEY ARE CUTE. They're over 7 months old now, and are sitting up, playing with toys, drooling, and generally trying to get into trouble as they work to get mobile. Andrew in particular (my Godson, *beams*) has eyes the size of DINNER PLATES, I've never seen a baby with bigger eyes. SO CUTE.

I'm going to be off for Memorial Day weekend, including tomorrow, so I won't blog until next Tuesday. But we'll be busy, rest assured. We're going to be taking Henry on a little day trip, visiting with some friends, picnicking with family, all that good holiday weekend stuff. I have dance tomorrow and we're going to talk about what we want to do for a new choreography, OH BOY. This could get interesting. With more space we can try out some equally large new props. Wings of Isis were dropped into the conversation, hopefully nobody will get smothered to death. Have I mentioned how much I love belly dance? It's never boring with belly dance in my life, I can tell you that.

A day of love and appreciation

Well, despite my prevailing Negative Birthday Energy, I had a very nice birthday. It was a Monday, I was not off for President's Day, and my work day was quite 'blah' with an English Composition class to teach and other lesson plans to prepare. That notwithstanding, the day really exceeded my expectations.

I got lots of nice birthday wishes on Facebook, and my knitting group brought me heart cookies, homemade chocolate, and a crocheted bracelet with purple beads to match my amethyst birthstone. When I arrived home, laden with goodies, Mike and the kids had a bottle of Frangelico waiting (I just love the rope tied around the bottle's waist, and who doesn't love spiked coffee?) and some specialty tea. My parents came over later and brought me some lotion and body wash from The Body Shop. Later, Mike and I watched Poltergeist on TCM (I will grant, not exactly a traditional birthday choice, but it worked) and I worked on my Lady Edith shawl. It was lovely.

My long week of teaching continues, but I'm persevering. I wish I could think of something funny to say, but the creek runs dry. That's what happens when your daughter decides to STOP SLEEPING AGAIN. Any remaining brain cells are immediately pressed into service for basic survival skills. Humor is tossed to the wayside.

Here's hoping for a good Wednesday.

What is today?

A Lenten weekday. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Sigh. Yes, it's my birthday. I hate to be a bad sport, but I have come to dread my birthdays a bit ever since I turned 35. I'm just honestly not looking forward to the next 5 year milestone, which will be in 2 years for me now. That year, my birthday falls on Ash Wednesday. Seems appropriate, no? :)

Oh well, with time comes acceptance. It just freaks me out when I realize that I can *remember* my own parents being the age that I am now, and my grandparents being the age that my parents are now. I guess we all just wish that some things could always stay the same, and that those we loved wouldn't age and ultimately leave us. Man, what a Birthday Downer I am.

In good news, we had a very nice weekend, and Anne has been sleeping better. I hope that she now does not start waking up every 20 minutes just because I mentioned something. I went to a craft show on Saturday with my mother-in-law and the kids and had a great time. I found a wonderful new local handmade soap supplier. I also bought a sewn table runner for our dining room buffet in spring colors, plus some baked goods for the kids. Yesterday, we went to the zoo and both kids loved it. Anne was...I just don't think I've ever seen her so happy. She kissed the mice through the glass partition and offered them a drink from her sippy cup. She was squealing and ebullient the whole time. Aside from the unfortunate incident involving a stinky diaper in the zoo eatery all went perfectly.

Oh! And I received a new rosary bracelet for my birthday:

I love it. :) I'm wearing it today. I also got a copy of The Bishop's Wife and some cute new clothes. Mike and I are going to dinner this weekend. I still haven't chosen a restaurant. You'd think I was plotting world peace with the concentration I'm taking to pick a birthday restaurant.

So, things are good. I have a bit of a long week at work, but I'll persevere.

Henry's 7th birthday

Henry's birthday is tomorrow (election day!) but somehow he's wound up with a week-long birthday celebration this year. Saturday, we invited all the boys from his class to our local bowling alley for a little shindig.

*hair turns gray*

I mean, they were very good. :) But being responsible for 9 rambunctious boys running around was no walk in the park. I think some people are naturally more gifted at dealing with loud herds of children. I love children, I really do, but I am not one of aforementioned gifted people. :) At any rate we survived. And stopped off at the liquor store on the way home. And the boys had a great time.

Sunday we had family over for a small pizza and cake party. More Legos were celebrated by Henry. Fun was had by all, especially Anne, who positively basks in extra attention. And so we finally unveiled Henry's big birthday gift for the year - A Fontanini nativity set, complete with the Holy Family, some sheep, an angel, the 3 kings, and a 3 kings tent.

It's *lovely*. When we plugged it in and turned on the lighted stable, Henry gasped. :) I promised him that this set was *his* and he could keep it in his room and we would add to it every year. Last year, he about keeled over from the stress of Anne messing with the Christmas decorations, including his old Fisher Price nativity set. Btw, they have a really nice combo pack now for the Fisher Price set that comes with the original nativity, the 3 kings set, and a possy of shepherds. I see a tent for the wise men in there now, along with an extra angel and a cute camel. Anyway, I digress.

Henry's new Fontanini set is beautiful. He set up the tent with the wise men lounging inside separate from the stable and the Holy Family. The next time I went into his room, the 3 kings had migrated over to the stable and were adoring the Child. :) The angel had joined them in what appeared to be a party-like atmosphere.

Precious.

Anne's first birthday bash

Someone was obviously a hair sleepy upon party commencement. But she cheered considerably after seeing all of the people and wrapped gifts awaiting her. Although, admittedly she didn't realize that anything was actually *in* the gift bags and assorted wrappings. She was just excited about the wrappings themselves; very selfless of her, don't you think?

She absolutely loved her party, and loved being the center of attention. Although I did my usual tornadoing (mentally at least; my house standards are considerably lower than they used to be with 2 children in the house now. Exhibit A: "What did I just step on? More crumbs. Crap. There's no way I'm going to be able to sweep the kitchen floor until next Saturday. *shrug*") I did enjoy having family over. My mom's sister was in town from out of state, so we had my grandmother and all 4 of her children together, which is rare given the distance. We kept it simple: we ordered pizza and wings and I made cupcakes. I think for Henry's first birthday I had coordinating Elmo plates, cups, napkins and decor. This time I slapped the pizza on the dining room table and called it a party. So much easier.

Anne received yet more beautiful clothes for her collection. Hank lived in sleepers and rompers for the first 2 years of his life. Anne has dresses, skirts, coordinating sweaters and cardigans, leggings, blouses, trousers and specialty tights.

She also got 2 new baby dolls and a buggy to push them in, which was so cute it brought the house down. She knew just what to do with it, too, as if bred in by evolution. The instant we put it in front of her, she was off!

The baby dolls (one of whom I've named Molly, which Mike finds incredibly amusing) are taking a lot of abuse from her sucking on their faces and dragging them around behind her by their arms.

My mom got her a dolly swing which she doesn't quite know how to use yet. She picks it up by its handle and drags it behind her, the poor baby doll frantically clinging to the swing bar. Oh well. The baby currently in the swing is also the one that cries when you put her bottle to her mouth. Just what  I need; another noisy kid in my house. :)

So that's Anne's big first birthday. It was a good day and a good weekend. I cherish my memories from last year, but we had some good ones to add on this year too. Life goes on, and it's all good.

*sniffles*

Exactly one year ago today, the day started off quite interesting. And there followed one of the most special days of my life. I've been having a hard time with this day approaching because my memories of last year are so meaningful that I couldn't bear the thought of new memories competing with those. Plus, it also means I'm another year older, but that's a separate story. :)

Anyway, I know that I'm very blessed, and that this is a wonderful season in our lives. I should just enjoy every moment.

We're having a family party for Anne tomorrow, and I'll be certain and post what I know will be pictures so adorable it will hurt just to look at them. I know that she's getting some new baby dolls, plus a baby doll stroller and lots of new clothes. She's going to love being the center of attention. She's so, so precious.