Our Sunday Best, Life Updates

Greta asked me to take a picture of her for my blog today.  She wants you all to know what she wore Sunday.

Very fashionable!

And since I decided to post about Greta, I figured I'd take pictures of all other willing participants, so you can all see our Sunday best.

Here is Elsa posing for the back to school catalogue.  

Annika is 7 weeks old now and went for the baby giraffe look!  Okay...so she didn't really give verbal consent.

So, I'll take her big smiles as consent instead.

Here is what I wore...7 weeks postpartum.   How long can I use that postpartum label to excuse my squishy belly?  A year from now, I'll be all "here I am, 13 months postpartum" 

Ignore baby spit-up stain on my shirt.  

That's all the willing participants this week. 

In other news, Heidi started high school at a local, public, magnet high school after being homeschooled for 8 years. 

So far, she's doing well.  All A's and overall she likes it!

However, the most exciting news of all, is that three years after graduating from law school, 2 years of underemployment/working on his own at his own business (getting a few clients during that time, but not enough),  my husband FINALLY got a job with a law firm!  Starts on Tuesday. Yay! We're super excited about it. 

That's all for now.  You can look forward to my next blog post in a few days weeks. 

.Happy 10th Birthday Greta

The 5th highest currently active USCF rated female chess player in the entire state of Indiana turned 10 years old today!!

She wanted a pink chess set with pink and purple pieces for her birthday!

And, a pink cake. The pink frosting is dyed pink with organic, locally-grown red beets.I just so happen to be VERY well acquainted with the growers of said red beets.  I know it looks white in the picture, but it really was actually very pink. 

And those are the all-natural "hard shell chocolate candy things." No artificial colors in this house.   

Happy Birthday Greta...I can't believe you are already double digits! 

Greta is a super hard-working, creative, responsible, imaginative and fun person to be around. 

She loves to play chess and make videos of herself doing puppet shows and stories on the computer.  When it comes to reading, she prefers stories about either UFO's or Princesses (or both) and enjoys making up her own songs and singing as she works.

Happy Birthday Greta!  We love you!

Ho Hum...7 Quick Takes

1.  Oddly enough, I am not scared of Ebola virus.  Even though lots of other people are...including my husband who once passed out while watching a movie on Ebola.  You know what medical things I am scared of? Cancer and Lyme Disease. Clearly I'd rather bleed out my eyeballs than have a long-suffering illness. 

2.  Elsa has her 2-year check-up yesterday. She is healthy...and about 50% percentile for height and 25% for weight. I would have thought she was fatter than that...but apparently not. When we did the language/development screening thing, she passed everything, so seems to be doing okay.

3.  Speaking of pediatricians, does anyone else find it EXTREMELY AWKWARD when the doctor has you hold your toddler on your lap facing out and then the doctor scoots their chair up really close with their legs spread and your legs are kinda in between their legs. 

Like this.  I recreated the scene with Dr. Greta.  Yes, Dr. Greta is eating a muffin while conducting an exam.  Medical professionalism at its best.

AWKWARD, AWKWARD, AWKWARD. I've had 2 different doctors do this and the whole time I'm just worried I'm going to accidentally knee them in the groin.  Yikes!!

4. Is it all right to talk about something that REALLY annoys me. I hate it when friends of my friends, friend me on Facebook, I accept and then later find out that they use Facebook to CONSTANTLY promote their business/MLM thing.  I don't mind when actual friends promote their business/MLM, on Facebook but I DO mind when people I don't really know try to friend me so that just have one more person to hawk their thing too.  

5. The worst part about job searching is the CONSTANT highs and lots...and moving up and down between hope and despair.  That's not an exaggeration.  It feels like a constant roller coaster with numerous difficult decisions to be made. I hate it!

6. Speaking of job searching, maybe I'll write a whole post on this soon, but when my kids are ready for college, I'm going to REALLY push them to find something with good career options with flexibility for working part-time in different areas. Ben and I both feel that our colleges failed us MISERABLY at career counseling. No one really explained how certain major/career choices increases your job opportunities and others limited them.   If I had it to go back and do it over again, I would have majored in some sorta of health field (like Nursing) and continued working even after having kids on a very-part time basis (like once a week).  I realize I could still do that now, but going back to school is infinitely more complicated at this point.   And, Ben wishes that someone had mentioned law school to him 10 years ago, so he could have considered the possibility back when we were young and the economy was a lot better.

7. We finally gout our gas turned on this Wed.  I had been delaying doing it because the only thing we need gas for is heat and we just moved here end of June, so the world outside provided all the heat we needed.  But, my mother was after and after me to get our heat turned on.  So, I finally  did it and sure enough, last night it got down to like 40 degrees and they are only calling for a high of 46 today.  Even with our heat set at 62 degrees, it still turned on.  Moral of the story...always listen to your mother.

No, I'm off to take a walk on a chilly morning.  Linking up with Jen for Quick Takes on a Saturday.

7 Quick Takes-- Deja Vu and Prayers

1.

Looky, looky....it's the last weekend before the bar exam and here I am begging for prayers...again.  I seem to remember doing this before.   If you aren't familiar with our sordid back story....back in 2010 my husband left a lucrative good teaching job to go to Ave Maria School of Law in Fl. He graduated in 2013.  For some unknown reason we decided to have him take the bar in Virginia, because we wanted to live in Virgina.  Why Virginia? Not really sure other than we didn't want to stay in FL and we didn't want to go back to Rhode Island (where I am from). So he did take the bar in Virginia...and he passed.  But, he never got a lawyer job and spent the year teaching. 

Meanwhile, in a sudden and shocking move, my parents left Rhode Island and moved out to Indiana where they proceeded to use every imaginable lure to get us to move out here too.  And it worked, because we did.  Which is why Ben is taking the bar exam...again...this time in Indiana.   

It's next Tuesday and Wednesday, so please, please, please pray he passes.  AND, that he finds a job, because this girl is SO TIRED of moving and uncertainty and not being settled down.

SO TIRED of it!

2.

I have to say...that I do really like Indiana so far. Especially the weather.  I'm sure I'll be eating my words come winter....but we don't have air conditioning.....so the fact that it hasn't been that hot and I don't even miss it has been a HUGE blessing.  HUGE.  Not sure if it's unusual to only have highs in mid-upper 70's in July, but I will take it! It even seems cooler here than it was in Rhode Island.  That could just be because our house in Rhode Island was like a greenhouse and our house here is surrounded by trees and stays a lot cooler.

Watch...it will be 90 degrees all August.

And, talking about the weather is probably an all-time low on a blog.  

3. 

Another nice thing about Indiana is that we are in a wonderful Catholic Diocese.   Together as a diocese they are running a program using this book.

A mom I met through a local homeschooling coop invited me to a small woman's group at a nearby church, so I've been reading this book in preparation for consecration.

One thing I read has been very profound for me. 

The author talks about how after one consecrates themselves to Mary....Mary will "sweeten their cross."  Make their trials a bit easier..the cross is still there, but she makes it a bit sweeter and helps them carry it. 

Well...I NEED that.  I'm more afraid of suffering than I am of the suffering itself.  My greatest cross is a tendency towards excessive anxiety and worry. I'm more scared of being scared than I am of the scary thing. 

Makes sense?  Probably not, but I've been praying just a short simple prayer a lot lately

Mary, sweeten this cross.

And, I HAVE felt more peace about everything. 

4.

Another prayer I really like is the Our Lady of Good Remedy Prayer 

We've been doing a lot of praying of various novena prayers lately...for the whole bar/job search things.

5.

Speaking of crosses....here is my cutest one right now,

Thanks to her....I've reached a new parenting low. She is "potty-training" which frequently involves cleaning unmentionable things out of unmentionable places.  Let's just say I've now bleached out a refrigerator because a certain someone decided to put a certain disgusting thing in there. 

Toddlerhood is NOT my favorite stage. Good thing they are cute...and they outgrow it.

6. 

So, we're a little behind on homeschooling this year.   Normally, we school-year round and go July-June.  We finish up our last year in June and start the next year in July.  Not this year....we're scrambling to finish by August.  I think we'll be done with everything (except math) by then.   Of course, two long-distance moves in the same school  year (August and June) didn't help much. 

The last few days, I've been ordering all our books/curriculum for next year.  That's fun.  NOT!  I hate doing it.  I think I'm pretty frugal but it's always way more money than I want to shell out at one time.  I just keep reminding myself that it's (WAY) cheaper than Catholic school as I hyperventilate through doing it.   I know there are ways to school completely free online but we've tried those and they just don't work for me/us at all.  

It's always a balance between finding curriculum that works, and that which is affordable.  I've been schooling long enough to know that it's better to err on the side of it works and just do our best with the finances. 

7.

And, I'll leave you with the enlightening thought from Greta

Greta: Mom, I don't want to grow up because I don't want to have money responsibilities.  But, grown-ups do get to do whatever they want, so maybe I do want to grow up.  But, I don't want money responsibilities so I think I'd like to stay a kid. 

Me: Yeah, me too. 

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(Since our normal host of 7 Quick Takes is at some fancy-schmancy gathering that us poor folk can't attend, the link-up is being hosted by http://www.svellerella.com/, a great new blog you should check out.)

Ants that (try to) Perform Corporal Works of Mercy and Other Favorite things.

(Linking up with Heather for Five Favorites)

1.

Greta: Mom, I just saw an ant carrying a dead ant in the living room.  He carried him all around and then he dropped him. 

Me: Did the one ant bury the other ant?

Greta: No, he just dropped him.  But, I think he would have buried him if he could.

Is it still a corporal work of mercy if the intent is there, but due to one's own limitations (ahem..like being an ant) the action is impossible?

2.

FitnessBlender.com

I recently discovered this website and absolutely love it.  It is run by a husband/wife team and they have a HUGE selection of workouts to chose from...all FREE.  And, these aren't wimpy workouts either...they are pretty intense..combining high intensity interval training, strength training, core exercises etc.  All workouts are of varying lengths, and levels of difficulties.  

The only thing I find odd is that they have workouts to 'build a booty."  Um...I don't want to build my booty...I want to shrink it..it's quite large enough as it is, thank you very much. 

3. 

Sorry...not to get all political...but I found this pretty funny.

4.

I won!  I won!! 

Sorta.

Actually, probably more like, I compromised, I compromised! 

On the whole health care topic....if you remember my pro-choice when it come to health care post. 

Well, I was able to talk to the dentist's office again, and as it turns out I don't have to pay for "oral hygiene instruction."   I did compromise and pay for the "routine preventative treatment", but at least I didn't have to pay for the dentist to tell me to brush and floss three times a day...which would be totally ridiculous. 

5.

So, my Facebook Page is only 1 like away from reaching 100!!

Who wants to be my 100th like?!?!?!

Maybe there will be a prize involved? What type of prize...I don't know? I'll think of something. I'll send the 100th liker a (very) small surprise prize.  Everyone loves surprise, prizes right??  

Go Midwest Young Woman

Well...I like to think I'm still young at age 36. 

So, this East Coast gal has moved Midwest...again.   I like the Midwest.  It's hard to get used to being so far west that it's still bright, sunshiny daylight at 9:00 PM.  

The move went about as smooth as could be expected.

Except for the one last minute doctor's visit for Elsa who woke up last Wednesday with her eyelid almost completely swollen shut.  Dr. Google said it was periorbital cellulitis (a very serious disease) but thankfully her real doctor said it was just a stye.  It's all back to normal now, even without ever giving her the anti-histamine medication the doctor prescribed (because that's the sorta mother I am). 

Our drive up was smooth and uneventful and we even survived driving through the longest, hilliest, most carsick inducing roads ever in West Virginia.  Ben was a rock star for driving the Penske truck up and down these steep mountain roads.

Thanks to a TON of help from my family we got everything packed and cleaned up back in VA (and we even get our security deposit back....a minor miracle for us) and unloaded and unpacked here in our TINY house in IN.  We are 4 kids, 2 adults, 1 cat and 1 guinea pig in a 2 bedroom home...with no dishwasher, no central air conditioning and smelly, sulphur-containing well water.  The lack of air conditioning is about the only thing that bothers me (and it's not even that hot yet).   Supposedly the sulphur containing water is GOOD for you. and the price is right, so here we are for the time being at least.  

We're all really hoping this is our last long-distance move for...well....forever.  We are so ready to settle down.  I know we'll be moving locally again...but really hoping for no more long distance treks.  Three long distance moves in the span of 13 months is just TOO MUCH.  I am DONE. 

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Greta just walked into the living room carrying a bunch of boxes and informed me that she was packing to move to Kansas.

Well..it was nice knowing you kid.

Apparently,  Kansas is in the backyard and there is a beach (sandbox) there.

Who taught that kid her geography anyway?  Someone is slacking here. 

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For the first time in about 9 years we have a landline phone with long distance (because we bundled it with Internet and it saves us installation fees...blah, blah, blah). .  I tried to call someone today and actually FORGOT that you have to dial 1 before dialing long distance.   The little operator lady who lives in the phone had to remind me.  Who forgets that you have to dial '1" first?

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So...here we are. 

Living near family is nice...it's nice to be able to visit and then go back home again.  It's so much nicer than living super far away. 

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Still asking/begging for lots of prayers...for Ben as he takes the Indiana bar exam and for his job search as he really needs to find a good lawyer job.  Please, please, please.  Thank you. 

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And, since this is an update post of sorts...I'm linking up with Jenna for tl;dr.  I'm not really sure what that means, but I think it stands for something like too long, didn't read and is a way for bloggers to update about their lives, so all their slacking readers can catch up with what's going on.  Not that any of my small handful of readers are slackers or anything. 

7 Quick Takes Friday....I'm trying to be more Catholic-y

1.

Greta's to-do list.

Cause ya know, she wouldn't want to forget to play dollhouse...or chess.  

2. 

Just thought I would share some of my recent pictures from our first beach trip of the summer.  

P.S If you are wondering where Heidi is in this pictures...she wasn't there. I took the younger kids to the beach while she was at her Edge group. 

3. 

Since we're moving to IN, this summer, I was lamenting on Facebook that this might be my last year living near the ocean.  I've spent 27 of my 36 years living within 25 minutes of the ocean.  Everyone was quick to jump in assure me that IN borders Lake Michigan and that Lake Michigan is juuuuust like the ocean...you have even get jellyfish.  We shall see.  Nonetheless, we aren't planning to move to the Lake Michigan side, but the other side..about 100 miles away from that Great Lake.  So, probably no more 20 minute car rides to the ocean.  Oh well.  I think we'll enjoy the lower cost of living more than we'll miss proximity to the ocean. 

4. 

But, Ben still needs a job.  Praying..praying..praying (and searching-him) and (panicking-me). 

5. 

Okay...I"m sure everyone else already knows about about this..but I just discovered it, so humor me.  Sometimes when I am praying I like to pull up this Perpetual Adoration Webcam from St. Martin de Tours Church in Louisville, KY.  Other churches have them as well, but I like that one, because Heidi was baptized at that church.  Anyway, I think it's pretty cool to be able to "go to Adoration online"  Granted, it's not as good at the real deal, but going to real Adoration is not very possible for me, so I figure this is better than nothing and it helps me focus my prayer just a bit more. 

6.

This is my favorite song to listen to during those times.

7.

I also really like this song.

Is it dating myself too much to admit that I really liked Rich Mullins?  (Obviously not, because I told you how old I am in a previous take). 

Since this blog is called One Catholic Mama  I've been trying to put more "Catholic-y" things on it.

Did you know that according to Wikipedia, Rich Mullins was heavily influenced by St. Francis of Assisi.  and that he frequently attended daily Mass, although he never converted to Catholicism.   Perhaps he would have if his life wasn't cut tragically short in a fiery car crash.

 And, if Wikipedia says it, it must be true. 
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And..thanks to Catherine, who is letting me borrow, Something Other Than God on Kindle, I get to read Jen's (the host of our 7 Quick Takes) new famous book!  Yay!  #SOTG

Well someone's gotta clean up the dirt around here.

In searching for photos for Theme Thursday, I found these on my camera....taken by some unknown (coughGretacough) child. 

Notice how it's mostly hay.  Hay.  Hay is the bane of guinea pig owner's existence.  We used to have rabbits. I swore I would never get another rabbit because the hay is so messy.  So, what do I do, but let my daughter get a guinea pig.  Good one, Amelia. 

Whatever your homeschool organization looks like, it has to look better than mine.   And, only 17 months and she's already got the mis-matched flower pattern style thing going on...I foresee a closet full of shoes and clothes in this one's future. 

Linking up with Cari for Theme Thursday, Dirt, of which we have aplenty. 

Tales from the Convalescent Home

1.

It all started innocently enough...as these things are apt to do.  On Monday night at dinner, Greta mentioned that she "had a headache" and "my back hurts" and she didn't eat much.   Granted, I was having another go at a gluten-free pizza crust (that no one liked but me) so the not eating much wasn't that unusual. 

2. 

She woke up Tuesday morning feeling hot and sick...headache, wobbly legs. I took her temperature. 102.8...UNDER THE ARM.  Everyone knows that really means her temperature is more like 103. 8.

3.

Naturally I freak out and run to my trusty laptop and consult Dr. Google.   Over the course of he morning I managed to diagnosis her with meningitis, scarlet fever, fifth's disease, yellow fever, brucellosis and dengue fever.  Okay...even I'm sane enough to know that yellow fever and dengue fever were highly unlikely seeing as how you only get those in like Africa or something. 

4.

By the afternoon her fever was up to 104.  ONE HUNDRED AND FOUR, UNDER THE ARM.   That's really like 105.

5. 

Cue frantic call to pediatrician, who is great and reassured me that it was probably just the flu and not meningitis or yellow fever.  She gave me a lecture on making sure she gets plenty of fluids and not to give any medicine unless absolutely necessary...better to just let the fever run its course. I love our pediatrician...she totally jives with my medicine-hating ways. Okay...I don't hate all medicine, but I do try to avoid it if possible.

Cue frantic run to store to buy "fluids" that will be acceptable to sick children. Namely....soda and Popsicle...two things I NEVER buy unless sick.  But for some reasons, sickness and soda go together in my mind.  And, I did get the healthier, all-fruit Popsicles...if that makes you feel better. 

6. 

Meanwhile, Heidi started to feel sick....headache, fever (much lower) and even some vomiting.   Cue day spent on couch doing school via Netflix (she loved watching Drive Thru History)

7. 

On Wednesday, John fell...hard.... fever, lots of lying around and throwing up.  Thursday was pretty much spent with him lying on the couch and occasionally throwing up.

Wrong seasons, right visual. 

  However, by Thursday, Heidi and Greta were doing much better and much to their delight, got to do school again.  John is a slightly better today, but still not quite in the land of the healthy.

By some miracle, Elsa has escaped this illness so far. Yes, I consider that to be a bona fide miracle, because heaven knows, she has been EXPOSED.   Mommy and daddy have also escaped and they have been tripled exposed.  Thank goodness for Vitamins D and C.

Bonus Take:  Because I know you are all wondering.  No, we did not get the flu vaccine this year.  None of us.  We never get it. No, I do not regret not getting it. No, I'm not planning on getting it next year. Fortunately, (so far, knock on wood) we are generally fairly healthy and usually weather basic illness like the flu just fine.  The worst part is just staying home for a week, which isn't really all that bad after all.   After all, it gave me the opportunity to unpack my dishes.

Now, go see Jen for healthier takes. 

Dishes

So, when you've been quarantined in the house for 4 days straight due to the flu and you can't even do school because your school-age children are lying around on the couch, you tend to do crazy things.  Like unpack boxes you've neglected to unpack for the last 6 months.  It's crazy because we'll probably be moving in another six months, but what the heck. 

So, I came upon this box of my old 4-H Favorite food show dishes. 

So, naturally, I had to set up a place setting, just to see what dishes were actually in the box. 

First I had to look up the directions from the 4-H manual. Don't you just love that old-fashioned typing.

Then, I had to explain to inquisitive children how there is a different between our normal setting of the table (haphazardly throwing dishes on it) actually setting the table.   It was quite a difficult concept for them to grasp...this idea of there being a proper way to set a set a table.  Honestly, I don't quite get it myself...but whatever. 

This is not the proper way, as we are missing a drinking glass and the forks don't match and the place mat is wrinkled. 

Clearly, my teaching is sorely lacking in this regard and my children are doomed to lives of unsocialized homeschoolers who don't know how to set a table. 

Of course, this may be the reason why we don't have a properly set table.  Hard to eat when you have to keep your table setting at least 12 inches from the edge of the table.

Oh well.  Visit Cari for more titillating dish posts.