Some weeks are just like this...

Have you ever had a week wherein you felt like you couldn't catch your breath, there was just so much going on? That's this week for me, and as I type this, it's only Tuesday! 😂

Let's take a look at yesterday, shall we?

🚗

I teach 3 classes in a row, starting at 9 am, on Monday mornings. I got the kids' lunches all set, readied myself, and rushed into work. "Rushing" is always the theme of our day on Mondays, to be sure. Little Honda Fit and I pulled into the parking lot at 8:30. I took out my phone, and found a text from my boss (also my co-teacher for that 9 am slot) that she's at the classroom troubleshooting some issues with the online quiz we were set to administer that day. I let her know that I'll be there as soon as I can, and headed into the library with my gigantic Mary Poppins bag of crap.



via GIPHY

I stashed my stuff, quickly ran through my email, and headed out to the classroom. Upon my arrival, I started the frantic task of readying the classroom while she finished with the quiz. We finished in the nick of time, whew!

The 3 classes go fine, but this was the first time we've taught this particular lesson in this particular fashion, and there were some kinks to work out. I have really good groups of students on Monday, but by the end of the whole ordeal, I was downright grumpy. I grumpily groused back to my office, and entered my attendance. I went through new emails, and by this time I was hangry in a major way. I finally heated up my lunch, and tuned into the replay of the latest Facebook live sale with my local Lularoe consultant, Mindy. I'm sure most of you have heard of Lularoe, but it's clothing in limited edition prints. It can be hard to find a specific style/print in your size, because they only make so many of them. I had had Mindy keep an eye out for a specific top in my mom's size that I knew she had been hunting for, as I was looking for something special as a birthday gift to her. Mindy fortuitously received one in a shipment from the warehouse, and all was well.

So I'm watching the replay of the live sale, and I see that my mom had joined in on the video. I am hit with Sense of Foreboding Feeling #1 on the day. Although I knew she couldn't snag the exact top I had purchased for her, I knew that Mindy had also received similar tops in a few other sizes. I didn't want my mom to grab one of those, thus dampening the exciting nature of my birthday top coup.

Well, you guessed it. A top comes up in a size above hers that is VERY SIMILAR to the one I got for her, and boom. She claims it. I may have flared my nostrils. I may have gripped my sandwich in consternation. My mom is so hard to buy for!

I messaged Mindy, and we commiserate. We brainstormed, and I decided to try and pick something else out for my mom. This made me feel better, but it did add "stop at Mindy's" to my already packed to-do list on the week.

I spent the rest of the afternoon doing some grading and other workly maintenance. I left promptly so that I will have time to make dinner before my marathon of an evening. By which I mean a 3-tiered, 3 hour, stretch in which I had to attend the parent orientation for Anne's classroom, have a dance rehearsal for an upcoming performance, AND go to my regular Monday night Hipfit class.

😬

So the first thing I did was go home and make an egg souffle. 😂 The doesn't really seem like the first thing most people would do in a frenzied state, but I am not most people, I suppose. I am much, much more scattered and ridiculous than most people, ha! I quickly made the souffle (while having a cocktail, I'm not going to lie) and it actually turns out OK and does not fall! Hey, I was as surprised as the rest of the family. I changed into my workout clothes, and realized that I would have to wear those to the parent orientation night.

😱

I popped a skirt on over my leggings as subterfuge. As I pulled away from the house, I realized that I forgot to ask Anne what her classroom number was. That really just fits with the day, does it not?

I arrived, parked Fit, headed in, and wandered around. Someone took pity on me and asked what room I was looking for, and they directed me to the 2nd grade area. Gratefully, I found familiar faces, and then honed in on the sign-up sheet for parent/teacher conferences. I wanted a prime 6 pm slot. I saw it available, snagged it,  and made a spectacle of myself taking a photo of the sign-up sheet with my phone to text to Mike so that he can mark it on our family calendar. This made me feel organized.

Feeling a bit more in control, I headed into the classroom. Here is where I'm faced with Sense of Foreboding Feeling #2 on the day. This happens to me a LOT if you couldn't tell already. I recognized the other parents. But this was not Anne's classroom. This was the *other* 2nd grade classroom.

😳

I slunk out of the room, frantically erased my name on the sign-up sheet to the amusement of parents texting others out in the hallway, and kept walking. I finally encountered Anne's 2nd grade classroom, signed up for a conference, and miserably sat down on her tiny little chair in the stifling hot classroom. I will say, they kept things moving efficiently, but this had been a LONG day (for everyone!) already. The instant we were done, I had to jet to the dance studio for the drum solo rehearsal (I was late, and joined in mid-dramatic walk on stage) followed by our regular Hipfit class. By the time I got home, you could have scraped me up off of the floor. I was all done in.

Today, I had 2 classes, more grading and attendance work (I have 250 students, ugh), I'm stopping at Mindy's, making broccoli cheese soup, and then rehearing for our OTHER dance performance, which is this weekend in Toronto. It's broiling hot outside, and we're having a dress rehearsal tonight in our non-breathable, long sleeved, Saidi gowns.

😭

It's mid-September, people! It's not supposed to still be humid and in the high 80's, at least not in my part of the world. At any rate, the rest of the week is exactly like this (I teach until 6 pm Wednesday, have Girl Scouts with Anne Thursday evening, and need to prepare for my trip to Toronto on Friday). I definitely feel flustered and overwhelmed. But life is good. It is! I just feel a weensy bit overwhelmed right now. ;-)

So we're performing this weekend plus taking 8 hours of dance workshops. Yikes! I just did the math on that one. 😂 Am I too old for this?! Happily not, but I tell you, sometimes I wonder! I also have crafting stuff going on, and lots of family activities. Life is full, to be sure! Next week we can talk dance and crafts. And books. I have tons of ideas! I just need time to implement them. ;-) Have a great end of week, everybody! What's up with you this fall day?

*heart*

Back-to-school briskness and busyness, and school-related novenas...

St. Kateri is our back-to-school patron this year!

Anecdote of the day: Anne greets me first thing this morning outside our bedroom door, wearing her nightgown, tossled hair, and a frown:

"Mom. You have to come quick."

Uh oh.

She hustles me down to her little bedroom, where she has clearly *just* stepped out of bed, and points an accusing finger at a shelf:

"How did Peppers get up there?!"

Peppers is her new stuffed animal friend, a parrot. I actually have no idea how Peppers got up onto a shelf, as I tucked them into bed together last night, and that does seem a little scary, doesn't it? Did he fly up there?!

😂

"Daddy probably put Peppers up there when he checked on you last night, Honey. Maybe he had fallen out of the bed."

"But why would he put Peppers up there and not back into bed with me?!"

Well, I don't know. But Anne was clearly outraged. :0 Poor Peppers.

In other news, we're in full on back-to-school prep over here. Although we're still getting flare ups of humidity around these parts, September is in the air. We're getting occasional cool nights, and the campus where I work is beginning to look different. Students are arriving for orientation, and there is a bustling sensation in the air. Classes start for them on Monday. I don't start teaching until week 3 due to the way our library lab is structured, so I still have some time to breathe, thankfully. My kids don't start school until the Wednesday following Labor Day.

It's kind of a big year for my Henry, because he's going into 8th grade. That's the highest level in his and Anne's Catholic school, and the whole thing is a bit emotional for me.

😭

I'm struggling with/panicking about this quite a bit. Next year, he will start high school, and it does NOT seem like this is possible. I know, I know, I've whined about this before. :0 But I can't help it. This is big. I never pictured myself as old enough to have a child in high school, and here we are on the very precipice of that. I'll make it, but it isn't easy. At least I have Mike to share the journey with me. *heart*

As we move into the fall, Henry is facing the Catholic High School Entrance Exam. We don't know for certain that he will attend Catholic high school (i.e. whether we can afford it), but his top choice is the Catholic boys high school that is minutes away from our house. Assuming that the financial aid package is manageable, we'd love to send him there. But it's a big "if," to be sure.

Accordingly, given that the entrance exam is in early November, and sometime thereafter we would find out the financial information, Henry and I are going to pray a novena starting Sunday (August 26th) using this novena to St. Kateri.

Would anybody like to join us? This would mean that the last day of the novena would be Labor Day here in the U.S., and since my kids start school right after that, the timing seems apt. :) I asked Henry which saint he would like to ask to intercede for him, and he chose St. Kateri, isn't he precious? If you'll be joining us, let me know!

All right, I have a bunch of beginning-of-semester emails to send out, so I'd better get on that.

*groans*

How is your back-to-school season going? I'd love to hear from you in the comments!

Little girls who cough in the night...

Sunday night/early Monday morning, in the home of the Catholic Librarian:

*Tiffany and Mike blissfully sleeping*

Suddenly...

*cough. cough. coughcoughcough. COUGHCOUGHCOUGH*

Anne has seasonal allergies, and spring is her roughest season. Obviously, I'm sympathetic. It just takes me longer to be enthusiastic about aforementioned sympathies at 2 am. Just like when I had newborns, I wait it out for several minutes, hoping that a miracle will come down from the sky and the child will fall back to sleep on their own. And how many times has THAT ever worked?

*COUGHCOUGHCOUGH*

*long suffering sigh*

I drag myself out of bed and down the stairs. I sleepily fetch Anne's allergy medication, and carefully measure it out. I then drag self back up stairs and into her room. I give her the medicine, some water, an extra pillow to prop her head up more, and tuck her back in.

*jump back into bed*

*sigh of contentment*

*cough. cough. coughcoughcough. COUGHCOUGHCOUGH*

This goes on for what feels like hours while I wait for the medicine to kick in, but in actuality is only 10 minutes. I finally give up on sleep and head back to Anne's room.

"Anne honey, do you want to try and sleep on Mommy's chest so that you'll be propped up?"

Why yes, yes she would.

I lean up against the wall while Anne gets comfortable in my lap. Despite the fact that only 5 seconds have elapsed, my neck is already developing a crink.

"Anne. Are you settled yet?"

"Almost."

*jabs knees into my kidney*

"That's better."

Oh good. At least she's comfortable.

😱

She's not coughing anymore, but she's also not staying STILL.

"Anne."

*removes elbow from ribs*

"Aren't you comfortable yet?"

"Well." *pounds head into sternum* "I'm rather hot, actually."

Oh are you really, actually?

"How about Mommy sleeps on your floor instead? You can stay up here in the bed."

Oh, she likes that idea.

Even though she isn't propped up, this seems to soothe her. I don't want to go back into our bedroom and risk waking Mike, so I adopt Oreo the penguin as my "pillow" and Anne's comforter as my blanket. The crink in my neck has now moved all the way down my back.

*cough. cough. coughcoughcough. COUGHCOUGHCOUGH*

Within about 15 minutes, Anne falls asleep. Guess who is still awake? But come 6:30 am...

"MOMMY!" *head peeks down!* " IT'S MORNIN' TIME!"

She's all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and ready to start her day. I guess that's the 35 year age difference at play. 

😴

And another thing that happens as you get older: I won't fully recover from this bad night for about another, oh, week and half. :0 How was YOUR weekend, dear reader?

The dichotomy between having a baby and having a "big kid"...

When I was a young adult, I pined to have a baby. I had a few friends who married much younger than I did and had babies in their 20's. Meanwhile, I was that wallflower teenager that never had a high school boyfriend, and didn't really get all that much more social in college. Thus I had nobody who wanted to marry me in my 20's. :0 It was a long stretch of vocational discernment during grad school and immediately thereafter before I finally met and married Mike at 30, and we had Henry just under a year later.

And I found that the reality of actually having your own baby is much, much different from coveting babies on TV, and holding the adorable babies of your friends. I loved my babies, don't get me wrong, but I found, much to my surprise, that I enjoyed them MUCH more when they were older - when they weren't waking me every 2 hours during the night to nurse, and they didn't require me to watch them every single second lest they throw themselves down a set of stairs or shove their finger into a forgotten electrical outlet. For me, it was such a relief when they reached 4-5 years of age, and everybody was sleeping better and playing a bit more independently.

But there are downsides to this idyllic Sleep Wonderland in which I'm merely interrupted every minute and a half rather than sleep deprived and frantic. Exhibit A: when I have an infant, I have to be honest and admit that sometimes, just SOMETIMES...I don't feel like holding the baby. I love holding babies, and right at this moment I LONG for someone to come and deposit a newborn with me for the next 2 hours wherein I would sniff their head and squeeze them til they couldn't stand it a moment longer. But when you have your own baby, occasionally you ache to use the restroom or stick something in the microwave cook dinner without having a baby clinging to your chest.

Then they get older and you can breathe again. A bit. But then...

"Anne! Can I hold you, honey?"

"NO."

*never breaks stride traversing the living room*

😭

I miss that extra snuggliness. Granted, she *does* consent to cuddling still, it's just on her terms and timeline. I miss the cuddly baby stuff. But then I got up to bed knowing I can sleep til the morning without dealing with midnight sobbing attacks and explosive poo diapers, and realize that maybe my current lot in life isn't so bad. ;-) For everything, there is a season.

How is YOUR Tuesday going, dear reader? Nostalgic like mine?

Adventures in orthodontics...

Orthodontics. The very word strikes anxiety in my heart and brings back childhood memories I'd rather repress. :0 That being said it, although I loathe any and all dental work (but suck it up for the greater good), I currently and previously have had excellent, kind dental providers. So, I wasn't *traumatized* by having braces, and am extremely grateful to have straight teeth today, but all things being equal, I really wish God would change our DNA such that no dental work beyond regular cleanings was ever necessary. I really don't think this is that much to ask. 😇

Our Henry has been in for orthodontic consults annually for several years now, so we knew that this day was coming. He's 11, has all of his adult teeth, and he needs braces. For his sake, I wish that he didn't, but this is a fact of life for many children. No big deal, I figured. He won't stick out or anything, over half the school has braces from grades 6-8. At the forefront of my mind was how we would budget for it, and that was pretty much it.

Well. Then I accompanied Mike and Henry to the orthodontist yesterday wherein Henry had x-rays, and we sat down to seriously look at what needs to be done for him and discuss a timeline. And I just...

You know how sometimes, with your kids, something  just strikes you in a soft spot and you can hardly control the urge to just burst into tears right then and there? I had that moment yesterday. At the orthodontist. Looking at ceramic teeth.

I am so averse to all dental work. Like I said, I do it because it's the right thing to do, but I HATE it. I swear, I'd rather go through labor and delivery. :0 There's something about it that makes me so fearful. But with my kids, it hasn't been a big deal because all they've had so far is just cleanings. And our dentist is sweet and wonderful.

But this braces thing? Henry needs his jaw moved forward. Which means he doesn't just need braces to straighten the teeth. He also needs something to move his jaw forward to correct his overbite. And that's a little bit more involved. There are 2 possible ways of doing it, and I'm not wild about either one. The first one is a retainer, which sounds easy, but it's a 24/7 retainer and will impact speech. My Henry already struggles a bit with speech issues, and the thought of burdening him with all of this extra plastic in his mouth made me want to weep anew. The other option is a device that attaches at the sides of the mouth to the braces. On the upside, you can't see it, and it won't impact his speech, but on the negative end of things it doesn't look terribly comfortable, and it will impact your ability to open your mouth very wide. Cue the sobbing.

I don't want him to have to go through this. Maybe he can just have crooked teeth? I'll be honest, that seems like a very rational possibility to me right now.

*Insert about a thousand weeping emojis here*

I feel all vulnerable and on the verge of clutching Henry to my chest and not letting him leave the house. And he's 11, he would hate that. :0

Are any of you scarred by the threat of orthodontics or is it just me? ;-)

Tomorrow is book club day for Chapter 5 of Live Today Well. And Tea Time this week will be an amusing dance troupe edition!

A Monday in the life...

"Hon, have you seen Anne's library book?

One would think that as the offspring of a librarian and a college professor, our children would have it made with regard to their library books. They would be catalogued and organized at home, read lovingly to them every single night, and then popped into their backpacks on the morning of library session so that they could procure a new book to begin the adventure again. One would think.

"I read it to her the other night." *gold star!* "I can't remember which night, though." *so typical* "I do think I brought it to her bedroom when we were done. Isn't it there?"

*why would he be asking if it was there?!* 😂

 "No. I looked in all the usual places."

Naturally, this is all transpiring as:

(a) I'm readying for work,
(b) the kids are readying for school,
(c) Mike is readying for work,
(d) Anne is obsessing about not being able to pick out a new library book, and
(e) we're all about to be late.

"Let me look. I think I put it in her bedside table drawer."

Once again thinking that somehow, someway, a different result would happen despite repeating the exact same motions, I ignore this little factoid as I plow forward and open the drawer. A gigantic messy pile of books awaited me. She really *is* the child of a librarian.

"Hum. It's not in here." Somehow, I am still surprised. "Did you look under the bed?"

"Yep. And under the crap on her dresser." Ugh. Our child is a pack rat.

"MOM! I won't be able to check out another book if I can't find The Little Penguin!" *sobbing*

*long suffering sigh*

We scour more hidey-holes, but no book. Anne is sent dejectedly in without it, as I scramble to finish getting ready. This is NOT the first time this has happened. In fact, it's not even the FIFTH time this has happened. We are failures as library parents.

So then I rush in to work. And rush in to my office. I rushedly check and answer email. I rushedly glance over the lesson plan for the week again. On Mondays, I have 3 classes in a row, and they begin at 9 am, which I think we can all agree *bites*. I rushedly pack my stuff up, since I have to walk over to our classrooms in another building, and right from there I go to the Barre class, so I need my workout clothes. Just as I'm stuffing my water bottle into my bag, my colleague comes to my door so that we can walk over together. We rushedly walk over. And we've barely dumped our ridiculous amount of stuff on the floor up by the teaching podium before students begin entering the room.

*another sigh*

Class #1 we have to really work it to get them to talk. Class #2 wouldn't stop talking. And by Class #3 I can barely keep my eyes open. Not exactly the disposition you're going for to initiate an effective teaching and learning experience for all.

I made it though. And then rushed over to the Barre class, which I was late for despite my best efforts to walk fast. *glares* By the end of the work day, you could stick a fork in me; I was done.

It wasn't a bad day by any stretch. It was just a Monday. :0 Oh, but I *did* get an email in the afternoon from Mike, letting me know that he found Anne's library book. In her clothes hamper.

😒

How was your Monday, dear reader? Book club tomorrow for Chapter 4 of Live Today Well! We'll be talking about setting yourself up each morning to be holy. Yes, I do see the irony of that given what I've just described to you above. :0

A day in the life, 2017 edition...

We have the first installment in our Live Today Well book club tomorrow, so I'm taking a break from intelligent and spiritual discourse to wax on about the Exercise In Patience that was my day yesterday. Because, let's face it, we all need to have this catharsis every once in awhile :0

6:30-8:00 am - Drag self out of bed. Make effort to look alive. Get kids off to school, both fully clothed, and remember to pack lunches and snacks. Victory is mine.

8-8:30 am - Drive in to work while both listening to a podcast AND praying a rosary. Pats self on back for ability to multi-task.

8:30-9:30 am - Frantically try to tick things off my to-do list before the dreaded first meeting of the day.

9:30-11:45 (!!!) am - Aforementioned meeting. So many souls released from purgatory. So many souls.

11:45-11:55 am - Frantically change for lunchtime Zumba class.

11:45 am -12 pm - Walk briskly to aforementioned Zumba class, stomach rumbling for lunch, but no time to eat for the weary.

12-1 pm - Zumba. Managed to stay upright for the entire class.

1-1:30 pm - Get back from Zumba and scarf down food at desk while working.

1:30 - 2 pm - Attend virtual meeting. Because there just aren't enough meetings in my life. 😱

2 - 4 pm - Frantically tick additional items off to-do list before leaving for home. Semester starts in 6 days. 😟

4:30 pm - Arrive home and re-acclimatize. Attire self in soft leggings and loud tunic top because I deserve it.

5 pm - Mike and I pull the leftover options out of the refrigerator for dinner, because God knows nobody feels like cooking.

5:01 pm - Children come into the kitchen, discover the leftovers, and begin to complain.

5:05 - 5:30 pm - Dinner, with 2 long suffering faces for the duration.

5:30-5:45 pm - Kitchen cleanup.

5:45 - 6 pm - Cuddle with Anne while she watches the same episode of Shimmer and Shine that we've all seen what feels like 40 dozen times.

"Two genies in a bottle...up in the starry skkkkkkyyyy!"

6:05 pm - Call Henry down to finish homework, since he proclaimed needing much assistance with Spanish and Religion. I am the official homework helper for both of those subjects, as well as ELA, while Mike tackles Math, Science and Social Studies.

6:06 pm - Henry unhappily appears, and things transpire as follows:

"Here's my Spanish worksheet. I don't understand this verb conjugation stuff."

"Oh I love verb conjugating! Gosh, I miss it... (and indeed anything mentally stimulating of late, but that's a topic for another day :0). Anyway, I'm rusty since I haven't done this since college. Let me see."

*examines sheet*

"All right, these are the basic forms you need to learn. You did some examples in class?"

"Yeah." *unhappy face* "But I can never remember them."

"Well, you'll get them. For all of them, you take off the -ar ending, and then apply the ending for that form. So with yo, you add an -o..."

*long verb explanation follows*

I want to check my memory for some of the forms to assure that I was guiding him correctly, since it's been approximately 20 years since I last conjugated a verb. Thus, I look one of them up while Henry works diligently away. I am distracted, because Henry is asking me questions while I do this, and so when Google asks me a bunch of (what I see as) inane questions, I punch answers in without really examining them. When I turn back to my phone screen, I see that Google Translate has been an eager beaver and translated my Spanish verb page into English. So.Not.Helpful.

While I fight with my phone, which is suddenly moving at the pace of glacial melt, Henry informs me that he also needs to define the verbs.

"Where's your Spanish dictionary?"

"My what?"

"Your dictionary. The Spanish one. So you can look up what these verbs mean."

*long pause*

"oooohhhhhhhhhhh! *That's* what that is for!"

The Tiffany inside of my head heaves a very long suffering sigh.

"Yes. That's why we got you one of those. Where is it?"

"At school."

😣

"Henry. When you have a Spanish assignment, *always* bring the dictionary home, OK?"

"OK."

"For now, you'll have to find an online Spanish dictionary, but I'm far too tired to turn on the computer. You'll have to use my phone."

I remembered what most of them meant, but I was trying to be all parental and make him look them up himself. Several minutes elapse.

"Why is your phone so slow?"

"I don't know, I think it has something to do with Google Translate." *nostrils flare*

15 excruciating minutes later, the Spanish worksheet is complete. Grand.

"Now I have to answer my religion questions. Do you have the story about Joseph in the Old Testament memorized, because that's what I have to write about and I don't remember all of what we read in school."

The Tiffany inside my head is getting exhausted from all of these deep heaving breaths.

"Go get your Bible, Henry. That's what it is for."

7 pm - Get a cranky Anne up to bed and read 3 books to her because I'm too tired to try and talk her out of at least one of them.

7:30 pm - Come downstairs and pour BIG glass of white wine. For rest of evening do nothing but knit, drink and chat with Mike and Henry. Head to bed by 9:30, depleted by the thought of starting all over again in the morning.

3 am - *small hacking sound emanates from Anne's room.*

😷

Sometimes, I tell you, nothing seems to go right. But I'm here, alive, and as of this moment, not sick yet. *cries!*

Have you had similar stretches, dear reader? All commiseration desperately welcomed. *heart*

What goes on in my house at midnight?

You're hoping this is going to be a post bearing some level of interesting material, right? ;-) Party time?! After all, it *was* a play performance weekend for my adorable Mike.

*fans self*

:0

Be that as it may, unless we have a newborn in the bassinet next to our bed, at midnight we are sleeping 1,000% of the time. Because we are old.

Except this week.

*long suffering sigh*

We are still old, ;-) but our 5 year old has suddenly been having the overnight demands of a new baby. Anne has been very sick with an upper respiratory infection, and while I'm certainly sympathetic, the loss of sleep has definitely been taking a toll on all of us. Mid-week last week, the wakings were because she was feverish and had a terrible sore throat. That lasted into the weekend, and now we've transitioned into the frenetic coughing segment of our current nightmare. Again, I'm very sympathetic, but I do think she has developed a bit of waking habit over the course of the past week, and now just wants company when she is up. Exhibit A:

"MOMMY!"

I stumble in blearily, given that it's 2 am, and the third time I've been up with her that night. The other two consisted of the need for water and more Vicks VapoRub.

"What do you need, Honey?"

"I really like the cupcake leggings you're wearing right now, Mommy. If you find them in my size, would you buy them for me?"

Really? This is the conversation we need to be having right now?

"I guess, yes, Honey. Please go back to sleep, OK?"

"OK Mommy."

*5 minutes elapse*

*door loudly clicks open* *tip toe sounds out in the hallway*

"Anne?! What's wrong?"

"I have to go to the bathroom. So does Oreo."

"Your stuffed penguin?! All right."

*glares!*

Last night we had one legitimate wake up, and then another around 3:30 which Mike tried to field:

"NO DADDY. I WANT MOMMY!"

Flattering? I think she just knows I'm the softer touch.

"Mommy, you just said something to me in my dream. What did you say?!"

Because mind reading is something I excel at in the middle of the night too, apparently.

At any rate, we're all very tired, but we're making it. I have a week off from teaching (which is VERY badly needed), Anne is improving, and I'm looking forward to an INSPIRE post tomorrow! How are YOU doing this late October week, dear reader?

Cafeteria ladies & tears...

This morning, when Mike came back from dropping the kids off at school, he walked in with Anne's water bottle for snack time, as it had unknowingly fallen out of her backpack during the drive. Want to know what I did?

I started to cry. Because it's just that kind of day.

I feel overwhelmed at work. I don't like the lesson I'm teaching (it's standardized), I don't feel confident with it because I barely had time to look it over in the midst of last week's teaching fray, and some of the students are being super lazy and teeing me off. As in: if you're going to come into the room, immediately put your head down on the desk, and then sleep for all of class, DON'T BOTHER COMING!!

*glares*

All this, on top of my baby bean not having her Frozen water bottle for snack time? Too much. Over the edge, here I come!

And it's only Monday. *weak nostril flare*

Then I thought back to the weekend. Mike and I were talking while we were making dinner, and we segued into something having to do with the kids. I happened to mention to Mike that I've been noticing more and more how much our kids look alike. They really do. Their little faces hold such a family resemblance. And from behind me, bursts out:

"THAT'S what the cafeteria lady said!! She said I look JUST LIKE HENRY, and Mom, I don't think that's true! Henry's a BOY! And I have long hair!" *flips aforementioned hair saucily over shoulder*

Yep. That's my daughter, for you. It made me smile to think back on it. And on a day like today, I really needed that.

I'm also freshly back from my second class of the day, and nobody fell asleep. I was planning to physically jar them awake if they did, SO DISAPPOINTING. Ah well. I'm calling this a win and heading home for wine. Who's coming with me?!

A lot of mixed parenting emotions this weekend...

Hi all! I'm going into the most intense teaching block of the semester, but I'm happy to report that I'm doing a lot better today with stress management. And you all play a big part in that. ;-)

It was a sublime weekend, filled with apple picking, football watching, Mass attending, beer drinking, and general fall frivolity. And guess what else? For the first time, one of my children attended a...

SCHOOL DANCE.

*wide eyed look of terror*

Henry is in 6th grade this year, and as part of the middle school wing of his Catholic school, his class is eligible to start attending the monthly dances. Henry is an introvert like me, and I honestly didn't think he'd want to go. But apparently his friends were going and talking about it, and as we all know, that is a major impetus for school aged children. The dances are held in the school gym, extremely well-chaperoned and supervised, and are fundraisers for the middle school field trips at the end of the year, so it's not like we had a good reason to keep him home if he wanted to go. So we let him go.

Watching him jog off down the street to catch a ride with his friend whose mom was chaperoning, I teared up a bit. Henry hasn't been a "little kid" in my mind in quite some time. He's almost as tall as I am, and has needed to wear deodorant for a few years now. :0 But still. In that moment, heading towards what I knew would be a new (and potentially super awkward) social situation for him, made him seem so much smaller to me all of a sudden. I wished I could protect him from all that.

I am firm believer, though, in fostering independence in my children. It's good for him to experience and navigate certain social situations without me there, especially given his more reserved nature. It's a healthy and good thing.

I know they need parent chaperones, and I'm so grateful for the parents who do chaperone. I want to help out so that the kids can have this fun experience in such a safe environment, but...I don't want to chaperone. :0 Because I want Henry to have that independent time without me right there. I was a shy, introverted kid too. I know that it's good for him to experience some things without me, it's good for his confidence. It's different for all children depending on their personality, but given his, I think this is the way to go for him.

I mentioned this all to him on our way to Mass yesterday, that I wanted to help out, but I understood that he may not want me right there for an event like that. And do you want to know what he said?

"It's OK, Mom. You wouldn't like it anyway. It's SO LOUD there with the way the DJ plays the music. SO LOUD. You definitely wouldn't like all that noise." *small shudder*

This kid? Looks nothing like me. He's BLOND and BLUE EYED. :0 But there is no doubt about the fact that THIS IS MY CHILD! :0 Of my two children, Henry and I are definitely closer to being kindred spirits. Made me smile. :-)

How was your weekend, dear reader?

In times of ailment, it's the simple things that come through...

Hi all! I come to you weakly today, as I've not been feeling well for the past few days. I'm not entirely certain what is ailing me, likely a seasonal bug of some sort. Of course, it doesn't help that there is SNOW AND ICE currently on the ground here in WNY. I know that we live in a colder climate, to be certain, but given that it is April 6th this is a bit over the top, to my mind. *glares* We're hanging in there.

At any rate, I left work early yesterday, as I was feeling far less than 100%. As I walk in the door, I'm greeted by both children, who each try to push the other out of the way to vie for my attention.

"Mommy, I have a surprise for you, since you are sick! Stop it, HENRY!"

"Mom, I got my report card, and I got an 89 in Math. Does that mean I can pick out a cookie cake? Anne, stop stepping on my feet!"

"Mommy, look at the surprise! TA DA!!" *slew of itty bitty cupcake photos shower over my head* It was like a belly dance tip/money shower situation for a group of excited toddlers.

"Oh Honey, how lovely, thank you!"

"Mom, I had my guitar lesson today, and..."

"Mommy, I HAVE SOMETHING ELSE TO SHOW YOU!" She is nothing if not demanding, that Anne.

"Anne, oh my goodness, STOP INTERRUPTING ME!"

Can I just pause here and share a moment of snorting laughter with you parents out there? One thing that I did not know about having children is that when you are in their presence, you will not have a single uninterrupted thought EVER.AGAIN. Thoughts running through my own head, oh how I long for your face!!!! Interruptions. CONSTANT. And so to have Henry, now age 10, react with frustrated horror to the phenomenon of child interrupting just really gave me a giggle. Henry, former Interrupter Champion of the UNIVERSE.

Truly, they both really lifted my spirits yesterday. Mike had to teach, and so I took the the kids to Panera for dinner, and we had a lovely time. Simple Thing That Made Me Happy Yesterday #1.

#2 is the solace I'm finding in my current devotional routine. I'm well into the 54 day rosary novena, and my daily rosary has been balm to my soul. I'm currently praying with a spring-hued Divine Mercy rosary, and it is positively sublime. I also started a prayer journal to keep track of all of my intentions, as well as those of my friends, and the novenas that we're in the process of praying or are in the queue. Yes, we are Catholic Nerds and proud of it. I think our next novena will be for St. Gianna Beretta Molla. If you'd like to join in, we start April 19th!

Simply organizing all of my prayer ideas into one spot, and including those of my friends, has given me such a warm feeling. If you'd ever like to have me include your intentions in my prayers, just write in and let me know! You can leave a comment, or write to me in the email address that is included in the "About Me" tab. :)

That's what is on my heart this morning, and I'm just grateful to be feeling a bit better this morning and like I'm on the upswing. I've also been making SUPER fun summer plans for this blog. Stay tuned!

As well, If you haven't written in about the book club yet, I would still love to hear from you! Just give my latest Tea Time a listen, and let me know your thoughts. A few of you have already, and I'm collecting the ideas and will report in about this tomorrow. ;-)

How are you doing, dear reader? How is the Easter season treating you? Any new novenas you'd like to pray, or intentions you'd like for me to include? Do leave a comment and let me know!

Lent, and the spring semester, reaching the halfway point...

...and how is YOUR Lent going, dear reader? :-) Mine is going just fine. Accountability: I have not been good with my morning devotional reading. Waking up and getting out of bed has gotten to be a struggle again, for whatever reason. But since last week I HAVE been reading along with 33 Days to Merciful Love, and I am IN LOVE with this book. I love it, just love it. Additionally, the St. Joseph novena starts Thursday, and I'm planning on praying that. Join in! As well, I've kept up with the Lenten Mercy Challenge on Fridays. So, all in all, I'd say my Lent is going pretty well. I'm going to a Worship Committee meeting at my parish tonight to discuss Holy Week, and the preparatory reading for that has gotten me into a Lenten mood as well. My goal for the week is to start another spiritual reading book as well. We're getting there! How have your resolutions been going?

Relatedly, my daughter can *always* be counted on to offer opportunities for Lenten-inspired sacrificial offering up. :0

Monday morning, 2:50 am:

"MOM?!" *hysterical sobs*

I rush into her bedroom. "What's wrong, sweetie?"

"I...I...I MISS MY FRIENDS!!" *big tears!*

"Oh. Well, you're going to be going to school in a few hours, sweetie. You'll see your friends then."

"I will?" *sniffle*

"Yes, Honey."

This is just the conversation I want to be having at 3 am. :0

"Mommy, would you lay with me for awhile?"

"Sure Honey."

*I settle in*

"Mommy, can I sleep in your bed?"

"No, darling. But I'll stay here with you for a spell." There is only so much penance a mother can offer. #wildsleeper

"Mommy, Aria...MOVED AWAY, and I thought she was coming back, BUT SHE DIDN'T!" *fresh tears!*

Ah. The crux of the issue.

"Aw, I'm sorry sweetie. You probably miss Aria and are sad."

"Yes." *pathetic sniffle*

It took a bit of soothing to get her settled down and back to sleep. Hence, I was absolutely exhausted all day Monday. I offered it up for your intentions. ;-)

Meanwhile though, this weekend was absolutely stunning, and a clear harkening of spring being on the way. And a busy spring it will be! I had a bridal shower to attend on Saturday, and indeed we have two weddings coming up in April! I also have a bunch of dance events and trips coming up this spring and summer, and details about all of that fun stuff will be forthcoming. I can't wait!

And speaking of dance, look what I scored during a family trip to the public library on Sunday:

Glorious!

I've had this on my Amazon wish list for the past year, and was thrilled to see it on the new non-fiction rack. I'm currently immersed hip-deep in a discussion of the different styles of Middle Eastern dance and couldn't be more content. I'm thinking about solo options for the upcoming summer performance season, so it's perfect timing. :-)

After our trip to the library, we stopped off at our local outdoor ice rink for a later winter walk around:

The kids posing with Shark Girl. It looks like Henry at least *thought* about smiling :0

It was one of those glorious winter days with cold temperatures, but a glowing sun in the sky the entire time. It seemed fitting, given that it was Laetare Sunday with the rose vestments reminding us that Lent is half over and Easter is soon to come. This has been an absolutely inspiring winter for me this year, and I am very much looking forward to what is to come as the seasons change.

How was your 4th Sunday of Lent, dear reader? How is your Lent going? Do write in and tell me all about it. :-)

Of well-behaved swords and lack of sleep...

Well hello there, dear reader! I'm not wild about this new schedule yet, as it feels like a long time between Thursday and Tuesday, but it can't be helped. Mondays...

*shudder*

I do have Zumba on Mondays, which is going *splendidly* and delights my whole afternoon. This week, I didn't bump into anybody nor did I get hideously tangled in my own feet by losing track of the combination. I call that a Zumba Win!

But the rest of Mondays? Yeah, no time to blog. So for now, Tuesday through Thursday it is. 

In other news, today is the first day of the Our Lady of Lourdes novena! Head to the link to pray along and get the prayers emailed to you daily. I love it when we pray together!

So, let's see, the weekend. On Friday afternoon I received a call from my ophthalmologist's office that my new reading glasses were in, so I stopped to pick them up. Ta DA!

I like them. And they're not *ah hem* bifocals. I don't like those. And my distance vision isn't poor enough yet for them to make a big difference for me. So, reading glasses it was, and the frames are purple. A match made in heaven.

Friday evening found me back at dance troupe rehearsal, and I felt a lot less rusty this week. We continued our sword choreography, and that too went better this week. Can I even tell you how excited Sword is to be tucked into my trunk each week to accompany me to dance class? He is just pleased as punch. And then he gets a starring role in our choreography, doing lots of dramatic swooping and scooping. Pretty soon we'll get to the balancing part and then he'll *really* get into it. ;-) Right now, we're still working out the logistics of doing a group number with eight women all wielding swords:

"All right, now we all bend inward, swords towards the center...Oh. Brandy's sword is right above my right eyeball, we need to change this part."

:0

Hopefully, by festival season we'll be good to go. No lost limbs or eyeballs.

So then, I get home from dance. I'm all energized and flitting around the house in a good mood. I drink a glass of wine with Mike. Then I hear:

"Mom?" *crying!*

That's not good. I hurry upstairs.The needy party is this one:

Showing off her new Valentine leggings in happier times

Who, when I enter her room, continues to cry, but refuses to tell me what is wrong. Mike and I both work to soothe her for some time. She's had a cold, so I figured it was some discomfort related to that, but it's hard to find a remedy without really knowing what you're dealing with.

Lots of sobbing. So much sobbing. Eventually, we ascertain that her head hurts, and so we administer some ibuprofen. We give her water. Some Vicks on her chest for her cough. Fresh blankets and snuggles. Then we tiptoe back to our room. Ten minutes later:

"Mom?!" *crying!*

*long suffering sigh*

I go back in. More head shaking and crying, zero information parsed out. She simply would not calm down, and so I ended up sleeping in her room. Which means me sleeping on *the floor*, which means every muscle in my body aching the next morning. When you're twenty, you can sleep on floors pretty easily. When you're *delicately clears throat* older than twenty, you cannot.

As if to add insult to injury, in the morning, as I kept my eyes shut and willed sleep that came so rarely over that night, I hear soft whispering start up in the bed above me. An invasion of The Others? Nope, just Anne starting her day. NOW, she wants to talk. I pretend to sleep. Then I feel a not-so-gentle tapping on my shoulder.

"Mom?!"

"How are you feeling, dear?" *bleary*

"I feel great! I slept good! My head doesn't hurt anymore, Mommy!"

Joy. All joy.

She did sleep without interruption the next night, but last night I woke to coughing at around 4:30 am. More water, more Vicks. Ugghhhhh... This winter season of illnesses seems like it will NEVER end. Someone has been coughing in my house for the past six months it seems. Perhaps pestilence is about to sweep through out land next.

All right, how was your weekend? Did you remember your novena prayers today? :-) Tomorrow, I will talk about...hum, I'm not sure. But I'll think of something! And Tea Time on Thursday, I got better at the audio last week, right?! What do you want me to talk about this week? Write in!

A weekend that made me reflect on weekends, & a brief note about the blogging schedule...

St. Kateri brightens every day, yes?

Hi all! Before I get started, a quick note of housekeeping. The spring semester has officially started for me at work.

*insert groan here*

Yes, that's right, not only can I no longer swing my knitting bag without hitting a half dozen students walking aimlessly through the halls while checking their phones, but I arrived at the parking lot at 8:27 am and got THE LAST SPOT. That $#@! is messed up. :0 It'll die down, but in the meantime, I'm feeling mighty sorry for myself over here. I so enjoyed the holiday and winter break, and going back into the fray of the semester is not appealing to me right now. At all. Plus I have to start teaching again. I do like teaching, don't get me wrong, but once I get out of the routine, I get all rusty and anxious about it. :) So here I sit, rusty and anxious, and I have to teach in an hour.

*sigh*

Oh! But I got off track, didn't I? The whole reason I mentioned any of this is that my blogging schedule will shift just the itsiest of bits, and I wanted to let you know. Still plan on 3 posts per week, one of which will be Tea Time with Tiffany. But I usually post on Mondays, and this semester I'm just not going to be able to do that. Mondays are...*shudder* We'll just say that there is no blogging time and leave it at that. :) So I'll definitely post on Tuesday and Thursday, and then also on either Wednesday or Friday, depending on which of those works out better in a given week.

I just like to keep you posted on such things. :) And I have fun stuff to talk about this week (we need a bright spot this week, for sure). Downton Abbey mystery crafting-along! Adventures with new fitness classes! Plans for Lent! It's all coming up.

As for today, I'm just thinking about my weekend. And it was *glorious*. That's part of why I'm so sad to be back to the grind at work. *sniffle*

We didn't do anything out of the ordinary. Let's see...I had dance class and rehearsal on Friday. And can I say HOW MUCH I MISSED IT?! *4 weeks had gone by since I last attended class, just given the way the holidays fell and then the funeral and our anniversary trip. AND we're learning a new group sword choreography, so many good blog-worthy stories to come, just you wait dear reader!! You should have SEEN how pleased Sword was when I pulled him out and took him to class with me. He was just about bursting with pride to accompany me while Veil stayed home stuffed into a bag with my performance shoes. :0 And Sword certainly gave my arms a good workout, I'll tell you that, ouch! But I digress, as I am wont to do. Saturday we took the kids out for breakfast and later I made a slammin' new dinner recipe of quinoa and sausage stuffed peppers. Sunday we went to Mass, ran a few errands and had friends over to watch the NFL conference championship games. All fun stuff, to be sure.

So this morning I was feeling extra melancholy. Not only am I going back to battling it out for parking spaces and ability to breathe in the hallways, but I was sad to leave Mike and the kids and part from our lovely time together.

This is all contemplation fodder for me because I remember a much different time back when Henry was 2 years old. To set the scene, we did not yet have Anne in our lives, and Mike and I had only been married for 3 years and were still fairly new to the whole parenting thing. Henry was going through the Terrible Two's, and Mike had a demanding job that he really wasn't loving (and I couldn't blame him AT ALL), and can I be honest about something? I always aim to keep it real here on Life of a Catholic Librarian. ;-) During that dark stretch of time, I would *dread* the weekends. Henry would throw epic temper tantrums that left me exhausted, we had to do ALL of the housework on the weekends because neither of us had time during the week due to work, the piles of laundry overwhelmed me just to LOOK at them, and I just felt like crying all weekend long. It was like that for quite a while. I had experienced some postpartum depression after I had Henry and I swear I didn't really go back to normal for years afterward. It was not an easy time.

Now, our kids are older and we don't have the temper tantrum issue anymore. Much. ;-) (Anne still has her moments sometimes...) I enjoy the company of my children now. I don't have that black shroud of depression hanging over my head anymore. Mike's job situation has improved immensely, and not only does he love what he does now (he's an adjunct professor of philosophy), but the flexibility of being an adjunct means that he's home during the day a lot to take care of housework, do the grocery shopping and pick up the kids, etc. Our daily "grind" isn't much of a grind anymore. And our weekends are a pleasure.

I really appreciate that now all the more given our past experience. I really, really do. It's not to say that challenges don't still come up, because of course they do, that's just part of life. But I treasure the good things that I have more now.

How about you, dear reader? Have any of you ever struggled with depression or getting through a particularly difficult time in your life? I'd love to hear about how your experience.

Tomorrow we'll be talking crafts, so if you're doing the Downton Abbey MKAL or MCAL, be ready with an update! :-)

A funeral, a weekend of travels with the kids, & a return to Ordinary Time

All! I really miss you when we don't chat for a few days, you know? And I have lots of plans brewing in this little head of mine. More on that coming later in the week. But for now, let's debrief our weekends, yes? Got your coffee?

It's Monday morning, and I'm starting it off with a headache.

#glorious!

I know, I know. It was a bit of a long weekend, and now I'm going into Monday morning being besieged by law students who are stumped by the sources they need to find for the law review. Law students are no slouches when it comes to research, so if they're telling me that "this is the worst list of sources to find that I've ever had!" well...I'm thinking it's going to be a somewhat challenging morning. And they're law students. So they're all intense and such. ;-)

All right, that's my current situation, which isn't altogether pleasant, but it could always be worse, right? So, the weekend. We had a funeral to travel to for a very lovely lady, Mike's grandmother, Eleanor. I just love her name, don't you? Mike and I had talked about that being our girl name when we had Anne. At any rate, Mike's grandmother was 95, she had led a long, full life, but when someone passes away, there's always that sense of loss. Sad.

So, on Friday, we packed up for a 3 hour jaunt to the funeral. The kids were *bouncing off the walls* excited about staying in a hotel. Mike and I, unsurprisingly, did not share that sentiment. ;-)

Only a three hour car ride, WITH entertainment provided, and yet:

"Are we there yet?!"

Some things, my friends, are so incredibly predictable.

We arrive, and the kids exhaust themselves exploring the room and the rest of the hotel. We had a family dinner to attend, and then there was the first of two wake sessions at the funeral home. For Friday night, we decided to have Mike attend and leave me and the kids behind at the hotel, since it would go past Anne's bedtime, plus both kids would attend the second wake and funeral in the morning. Mike brings us back to the hotel and then departs. I was exhausted and hoping for a quiet evening of Downton Abbey mystery crochet-along crocheting, as I had brought Clue 1 along with me.

"Who wants to watch a movie?!"

My friends, when that suggestions gets met by a resounding declination, you know that you are in for a long, long evening.

That about sums it up, right there. Our room was small, and yet they wanted to do nothing but run around and "find new things!" I know that this type of stuff is good for kids, but solidarity over the parental exhaustion quota, yes?

And that overnight? I'm steeling myself now, even just to recount it. :0 Mike and I are in one bed, and he is still coughing, dear, sweet, adorable soul that he is. Henry and Anne are in the other. Anne collapsed from sheer exhaustion around 9:30 pm. At around 10, the rest of us attempt to sleep. Henry climbs into bed with a pout face:

"She's taking up so much room!"

"Yes, I know Henry, I have slept with Anne before, so I'm aware of the problem. Just gently move her over, and it'll be fine."

I could have gone on and on about how I had Anne *in my body* for 9 months and thus are keenly aware of how uncomfortable she can make things, but I resisted.

*halo*

I attempt to drift off. I can hear Mike trying to suppress his cough, poor darling. And then..

*rustle...rustle. Rustle. Rustlerustlerustlerustlerustlerustlerustle!!!!*

"HENRY. What are you doing?"

"I can't get comfortable! Anne keeps moving her legs!"

"Well, don't move around so much Honey, you're keeping us all up. Move her over! She won't wake up."

She sleeps like a rock, that Anne. I drift off...

*rustle...rustle. Rustle. Rustlerustlerustlerustlerustlerustlerustle!!!!*

"Henry. Why don't you try the sleeping bag on the floor?"

We had packed it just in case this very thing happened.

*lots more noise as Henry bumps around the room in the dark, fetching and rolling out the sleeping bag*

"Good. Now go to sleep."

I drift off...

*rustle...rustle. Rustle. Rustlerustlerustlerustlerustlerustlerustle!!!!*

This went on for some time, Henry eventually transitioning back into the bed with Anne, lots of nostril flaring coming from myself. More coughing from precious Mike. MORE RUSTLING.

Eventually, I had drifted off and then been woken so many times I was convinced it must be close to morning and maybe I'd just get up and go down to the lobby for a cup of coffee and some crocheting. The time?

I look at the clock, hope alive in my heart. 10:55. PM.

I think at least a dozen souls were released from purgatory right at that moment, kind and gentle readers.

It was a L.O.N.G night. And no rest for the weary, since we had the wake and funeral ahead of us in the morning. Along with that, tons of visiting with family that we don't get to see often, which while wonderful, is incredibly draining for introverted types like Mike and I.

The time at the funeral home was simple and very beautiful. There were lovely photographs set up of Mike's grandma throughout her life, and we spent a lot of time looking at each of them, Mike filling me in on what was going on in many of the photos.

After the funeral service, we attended a luncheon in her honor, with more family visiting. It was fantastic to catch up with everyone, but needless to say that by the end of the say, we were pretty tired again. I was bracing myself for the overnight, but things actually ended up working out much better. My in-laws were staying in the room next to us, and they let Henry sleep in the second bed in their room so that each kid had a bed to themselves.

Can I get an Amen?

Yesterday was consumed with lots of laundry and getting settled and ready for the Monday routine. Also, look at that, we're back to Ordinary Time on the liturgical calendar! Not for long though, as Lent begins February 10th this year.

But speaking of this very topic, today is my day over at Catholic Mom, and this month my piece discusses the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, and the end of the Christmas season. I would for you to check it out and leave me a comment over there!

All right, my friends, back to work for me. But good stuff to come this week, including a crafty post on the Downton Abbey mystery knit- and crochet-alongs! I know a few of you were going to be participating, so I'm counting on you to let me know how it's going for you! I'll have photos too of my progress, and would love to see yours!

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. :)

Of sour faces & not much sleep on Halloween night...

Annual jack o' lantern. Isn't he scary?! ;-)

Hello all, and happy commemoration of All Souls! I hope that you had a great Halloween and feast of All Saints. Mine was *pretty* good :0 but had it's ups and downs. I definitely want to know how YOURS was, so chime in down in the comments! But what amusement awaited me this particular Halloween? Read on, dear reader.

All right, so Halloween is traditionally a bad weather day around here in WNY. It's rained the past two years, and this year was shaping up to be no exception, with gray skies and wind abounding. Meanwhile, inside our house, a storm cloud was perched firmly over my daughter's head. She was not feeling 100%, with new cold-like symptoms developing, and expressed dissatisfaction with some of her costume details. Every Halloween, right around 6 pm, somebody in our house is crying. Every.single.year. :0

Here's the Catholic Librarian crew, just prior to the festivities beginning:

Anne initially refused to pose for the picture and only Daddy's coaxing made this happen...

We worked our way through Anne's temper, and thankfully the sprinkles had dissipated by time trick-or-treating was upon us. As is our norm, I took the kids out to gather candy while Mike stayed behind to hand out treats. Anne had perked up, and delightedly moved from house to house. Henry, nearly 10 now, has moved on to the "morose" stage of his life. ;-) He was feeling rather mortified, I think, to be trick-or-treating with Anne and I, but it's not like we forced him, he just hadn't booked any other plans. :-) We covered good ground, running into two little girls dressed as Elsa from Frozen, companions to Anne's own Anna costume. One of the moms was just delighted:

"Look. IT'S ANNA!! You two found each other!!"

Very cute.

At any rate, we made our way through our regular route, and then Mommy was very happy to head home with 2 tired, but sugared up, kids in tow, and an empty "water bottle." By the time we got the kids settled and in bed, it was much later than usual. And we were hoping for some relaxing time. ;-) We head upstairs.

Approximately 25 seconds later...

"What's that?! I think it's Anne."

"No it isn't!!"

Denial is always the first reaction I have when children wake up anytime within the 9 pm to 7 am span.

"It is. Let me see if I can soothe her real fast."

*5 very long minutes elapse*

"I don't know what's wrong. She's crying. And she won't talk."

Great.

But I figure, Mommy's Powers sometimes dwarf Daddy's Powers when it comes to night soothings. I head in, feeling confident:

"Anne, what's wrong, Honey?"

*violent shaking of head*

I have another moment of unease when I see that sunny little Anne looks like something straight out of The Exorcist, hair sticking up, eyes wild, thrashing limbs. All offers of water, back rubs, application of Vick's VapoRub, extra pillows and snuggles are resoundly rejected. She won't say what's wrong, nor will she stop wailing. Relaxation time is officially over.

She refuses to stop crying unless I sleep in her room, and let me tell you: Bodies over 25 years of age are NOT meant to sleep on the floor anymore. Every muscle in my body ached the next day. But there I stayed until about 3:30 am. In between being woken to be asked:

"Is it morning time yet?"

"NO dear, let's go back to sleep, OK Muffin?!"

At 3:30 am, Anne started coughing. And coughing and coughing. I knew she wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep with it that bad. So she and I headed downstairs for cough drops, fresh water, and to prop up on the couch for some Golden Girls viewing while we waited for the coughing attack to pass. She very happily set up shop at one end of the couch, while I curled up on the other. I own the full Golden Girls collection on DVD, so I popped in a disk and hit "PLAY ALL." Glorious, so glorious, I tell you. Three hours of soothing Golden Girls hilarity followed in the background.

After assuring that Anne had finished her cough drop, she and I propped up on pillows to try and fall asleep. Anne has gotten quite long legged of late, and soon she was stretched out and taking up 95% of the sofa, snoring loudly without a care in the world. I was curled into the fetal position on the other end, dreaming of being able to move my legs. I woke up at 6:30 when Mike came downstairs, my poor legs having moved onto *the coffee table* in an effort to not be twisted like a pretzel any longer.

Anne was still asleep and he took the reigns from there, allowing me to go upstairs to try and sleep for an hour or so. The time change couldn't have come on a better night.

I was undecided as to whether to go to Mass or not given how little sleep I had gotten, but ultimately I ended up going, and I am SO GLAD that I did. As ever, it cheered me right up. After Mass, I spent the afternoon following football and making my mother's patented recipe for chicken soup with meatballs, which proved incredibly soothing. And then I was exhausted and ready for bed well before 9 pm. :)

Hence, there were some fun moments, but my Halloween was a bit tiring this year. How was yours? Do detail in the comments. :)

"Mommy, Henry LOOKED AT ME FUNNY!!" Good times on sick days. Oh, and a new novena is brewing. :)

Happy Wednesday everyone! :) I'm back at work following a day at home nurturing my offspring. Henry has been coughing, and given that we have a trip coming up this weekend, I didn't want him to be miserable and sick for it. Plus, I knew that Henry and I would be sharing a room, and I really didn't want his cough keeping ME awake. :0

So, this entailed a decision Tuesday morning to keep him home from school to rest, and then me ferrying Anne to and from Pre-K so that Mike could get some grading and lesson planning done. Henry laid around a bit, but quickly perked up and I could tell that his cough was now productive and breaking up. This meant that he was on the mend *just* in time to start fighting with Anne when she got home from Pre-K. My afternoon was filled with:

"MOOOOOOOMMM! Anne just (fill in the blank with various and sundry nefarious and dramatic deeds)!"

"Mommy! Henry just (fill in the blank with any number of annoying behaviors that he knows Anne hates)!"

SO much whining and bickering. No fun for anybody. And then Anne pitched a fit about something that I cannot recall and stomped upstairs. Next thing I knew, it was quiet, which is a bad sign 99.9% of the time. I went upstairs to check on her, and found her face down on the hallway floor, sound asleep. Well. See, that's the .1% of the time when the quiet is GOOD. ;-) She slept for over an hour, and then was considerably less saucy when she woke up, thank the good Lord.

This morning, both were back to normal and at school, thankfully. Mommy needed a break from that "respite" at home. ;-)

In other news, I'm plotting a new novena. Details are now up on the official St. John Paul II novena tab! The novena starts next Tuesday, October 13th, and goes through October 21st. I have links to a few different versions of the prayers, and I created an audio file of the novena prayer that I chose plus his chaplet prayers. The chaplet (pictured above) is super short, only about three and a half minutes, so download and pray along in your car if you like! I have a short video explaining the chaplet a bit more and the prayer configuration down at the bottom of the Chaplets page. The link to the audio is there as well. I hope that you'll join in!

All right, I'd better go. *feels beleaguered* I have a lot going on at work lately, October is always a busy month here. I have a video for you tomorrow discussing my trip and my anxiety about traveling by air generally, so if that resonates with you, come on back in the morning! In the mean time, are you going to pray the St. John Paul II novena? Write in and let me know. :)

Trips to the movies and preparation for another kind of trip, a busy autumn weekend...

Hi all! Here with you on a dreary Monday afternoon, amidst a valiant attempt to keep my spirits high. That's no easy feat on Mondays this semester, but we're persevering and doing just fine.

#offeringitup

*halo* ;-)

And so today, I have my usual menagerie of teaching, reference shifts, dueling swim lessons for the kids, and finagling a dinner for them after we get home. Actually, that doesn't look that bad, what am I complaining about? It's not that bad, it's just a little tiring. And Monday is Mike's long teaching day too, so it's a family-wide tiring day. :)

But the weekend? The weekend was lovely. Gorgeous fall weather here. Getting cooler, leaves starting to change. The warm September that we had seems to be impacting the foliage in a negative manner, which is unfortunate, but I still have hope for a glorious second half of October. Saturday morning, Mike and Henry took on grocery store duty, and Anne and I headed to Carter's to get her some warm winter pj's since she had outgrown all of hers. Can I say that I just adore warm winter pajama shopping for young children? ADORABLE.

Those footed sleepers? *swoons* Gingerbread men and women abounded, along with cupcakes, princesses, foxes and owls. I got her a slew of jammies, along with some long sleeved tops, and because Mommy is a soft touch and Anne knows this, she also managed to procure a new stuffed animal. Here she is modeling one of the new sleepers, and showing off her new friend:

What do you think he is? An owl, right? A snowy owl? But with a pink beak and feet? That's what I think he is. Anne insists that he is "a chickie!" But I'm not convinced. ;-)

At any rate, after our little clothing adventure, I took both kids to the movie theater, my mom in tow, to see Hotel Transylvania 2. I have to say, I love this series. VERY cute and funny, for both kids and adults. I loved the first movie, and so was excited to take the kids to see the sequel. And the verdict is... I would recommend, once again. Just as cute and funny as the first one. All four of us had a great time.

My mom wanted to take the kids to see the 3D version as a treat, and although I usually don't see movies in 3D (it's a waste of money for me, since I have a vision impairment that impacts my ability to see 3D images on a screen. I know, lame, right?!) I agreed that it would be fun for the kids, so why not?

Well, Henry enjoyed the 3D. He popped his glasses on, and sat back happily munching popcorn for the entirety of the movie. My mom enjoyed the 3D. As for me, 3D means that the screen looks fuzzy, I pop the glasses on, and then it looks super clear, but nothing else. A little anti-climactic, to be sure. ;-) Anne?

"Mommy, I do not like these MOVIE THEATER SUNGLASSES!"

Of course, it makes the experience less than enjoyable when you muck around with the glasses while you're eating your buttery popcorn, and quickly, your glasses become coated with layers of gunk. Multiple times. And then Mommy has to put down her beloved popcorn and Diet Coke to *clean plastic glasses 3 times*. But overall, Anne did not want to be bothered with the perching of glasses on her tiny nose in order to watch the movie, so I don't think she'd vote for 3D a second time.

On Sunday, we went to our favorite 10 am Mass *blissful sigh* followed by the monthly parish coffee/donuts social. We kibitzed. Then we went home and drank beer and watched football. Or, at least that's what Mike and I did. ;-)

In other exciting news, in preparation for a trip I'm taking this weekend (more details about that below) I upgraded my e-reader to a Kindle Paperwhite, da da DA!

An autumn scene, because I would have it be autumn year round ;-)

Isn't he handsome with all of his customized collections?

I had a Kindle Basic (that I coined "Patrick") which I loved, but which I was starting to have a difficult time seeing the screen in certain light conditions. I gave Patrick to Henry (who happily received him) and ordered this new Kindle Paperwhite, whose name, if you were wondering, is Francis. :0 And oh my goodness - SO MUCH BETTER! It's not just in dimly lit situations that I can see the screen more clearly now. I love it.

The reason this was on my mind is because I'm traveling on Friday, and when I travel, I read a lot on my Kindle. Traveling? Doesn't Tiffany not like hurtling through the sky on an airplane? Yes, yes, you would be correct, my friend. :) I don't really like doing that. BUT there are people that I love who do not live near me, and so I sometimes suck it up and force myself onto one of those tubes so that I can visit them. This time, I'm going to Maine (with Henry in tow) to visit my younger sister, brother-in-law, and twin nephews. I'm very excited, but you know, FLYING. And I'm going to miss Mike and Anne, who will be home enjoying a Daddy/Daughter weekend. *sad* But four airline tickets just wasn't in our budget right now.

I'll talk more about my trip likely in my video post for this week. In the meantime, how was your weekend? Did you go to a movie? Do tell. Have a Kindle Paperwhite? How do you like? :) Write all about it in the comments!