happy new year y'all

Cheers!

All the best to your family in 2009~

ps- Look closely at the bottom of the picture. That's sweet little number 5 tipping her glass and saying "Chezz".

pass the popcorn

A cult movie. This is how the movie Office Space was described to us by my Netflixed brother-in-law. We watched it. It was funny. But, only about as funny as a Saturday Night Live skit after the band plays for the first time.
However, in the days which have followed, it has gotten funnier. It's humor has "cured" if you will. The lines from the movie have made their way into our daily activities and created wonderfully fresh mirth.
This leads me to another thought. This was the first movie we've seen in forever, so I think King and I need to watch more funny movies in 2009. We need to laugh more. We get stuck in such a routine and wallow in our misery, and I think more than ever, '09 will be a year that we will need to lighten up and giggle more.

yeah...... great..... thanks for that

Electronic musical toys. Santa brought a keyboard with a microphone which magnifies the human voice. Grandma brought a musical "radio" AND a "guitar" which makes absolutely THE. MOST. ANNOYING. SOUNDS. EVER. Thanks guys.

On a separate note, come see me in my new pad.... Cell 3 of The Nuthouse. I'll be the one wearing the always fashionable all-white ensemble. We'll be ever so comfy in my room with padded walls and floor.

all good things must come to an end

Nirvana: an Oriental term for a state of perfect inner stillness and peace
Eden: any place of complete bliss and delight and peace

Christmas vacation: a time of complete stillness, peace, and delight.... until which point the children get tired of being trapped in the house due to a rainy late December. At that point, things quickly digress.

Hell: The place of eternal punishment, inflicting guilt and suffering; fiery and painful; extreme torment; a cause of difficulty and suffering

the drummer boy - cutest version

Number 4 was singing along to "The Little Drummer Boy" the other day and y'know the part where it goes, "par um pum pum pum"?

He thought it was, "rub a dub dub".

zzzzzzzzz

Recently, King, Number 1, and I went to Orlando for a regional Irish dance competition. After a long day of travel, we went to eat dinner in the hotel's restaurant. When we returned to our room, the housekeeping staff had gone in, turned down the bed, left chocolates on our pillows, and turned on the grooviest feature of the alarm clock: crickets chirping. I thought it was cool so I left it on. As it turns out, it is the most relaxing sound in the world to sleep to. I don't know if it taps into a prehistoric disposition to sleeping outdoors or just what. But, I'll tell ya, it's better than popping a Tylenol PM! (Not that I do that, mind you. Not very often anyway.)

Even better is that when we get home, I checked and King has that same exact feature on his alarm clock. We've been sleepin' like cavemen, baby!

nothing like waiting til the last possible minute

This simply is not like me. I usually take the Christmas card picture during Thanksgiving weekend and get it printed up and sent out the week after. I just took the picture Friday! Got the pictures back and spent this afternoon addressing/stamping them. King just ran them to the Post Office so that maybe they will get to where they are going by Christmas Eve... but, I am betting that most of them won't be in time. Good thing there are 12 days of Christmas, huh?

Also, this year I sent out a Christmas letter. I know, I know. There is nothing more obnoxious than reading about someone else's kids and how wonderful they are, right? Yeah, I know. Now people can take a turn and read about my wonderful children. Turnabout is fair play and all.

hey, y'all

IT'S CHRISTMAS BREAK!!!!!!!

whooooooo hoooooo

shhhhh... don't tell

Guess what my girls and I will be playing this Christmas break?

a recommendation

RUN, don't walk and get the Celtic Woman Christmas Celebration CD. It is a goosebump producer.
Also, I think that my third born will replace the girl who runs around on the stage playing her fiddle one day.

from out of the ashes

On Thanksgiving (to break up a fight actually) I had the three oldest kids sit down and write thirty things for which they are thankful.
I typed them and printed them and cut them into strips. Each child has his/her own font. Then I made them into a paper chain and put them on our tree. It only goes halfway down, but I think each year I will get them to add more to it so that eventually it will cover the whole tree.
Very cool.

confession

As Catholics, we are so blessed to have this sacrament. There is nothing like the feeling of coming out of the Church after confession. Your soul is light and it is reflected in your steps. Your heart has wings and soars upward. Better than any drug known to man.

a nearly perfect day

9 to noon - retreat at Church
12:45 - gave son a haircut (way overdue)
1:00 - all went to see son play basketball (they got clobbered, but he played well)
3:00 - cleaned a pile of clutter off dining room table
4:00 - got ready for Mass (son was altar serving for the very first time tonight)
5:00 - sat with a new friend and her three beautiful children at Mass.. her hubby just went to the Middle East until June... she's due with her fourth child in April. God bless her and give her strength.
6:30 - drop oldest at a friend's house
7:00 - have dinner with a couple (also new-ish friends) and laughed our rears off
11:00 - thanking God for such a faith-filled, fun-filled, friend-filled day before bed.

like a merry-go-round out of control

I bought the most wonderful Advent wreath. All around the pewter base, it is embossed with the Jesse Tree symbols. Now if it were as easy to purchase valuable time together as a family each night to read the scriptures that accompany each symbol.
Tonight, however, will be catch up night. There are a zillion things that could be done, but none of them have to be done, so we are going to shut off all forms of entertainment - radio, tv, computer, phone - and spend time in scripture looking at God's beautiful plan for our salvation.

dateline: from somewhere off the face of the earth

I seem to be in orbit around the Earth. Somewhere, somehow, I misstepped and have found myself here. Somebody throw me a trail of breadcrumbs, quick.
OH, and somebody please teach me how to say NO!!!

bad math

George Forman grill + marshmallows = disaster

three nights running

Today, due to the fact that I had been awake until 2 a.m. for the past 2 nights embroidering stuff for the school's Christmas bazaar, I looked in the mirror and was shocked to see that I looked like an escaped convict.


Note the time of this post. *sigh* Three nights running.

cupping my hands at the well

I have been in a spiritual slump now for a couple of years. I wouldn't say it is as dire as Mother Teresa's unquenchable thirst, but it is a noticeable low point. To see the low for what it is, I must first describe the high point.
About four years ago, we were in a parish that we loved. We had much admiration and respect for our pastor; in return he made us feel appreciated by asking us to turn up our level of stewardship by sharing our leadership talents (that we didn't even know we had!!!). We saw that we could be disciples and share the Gospel with those around us. We garnered confidence as Christians and stronger Catholics. Our spiritual well-being was healthy.
The parish is a very historic church built in the mid 1800's, is sheer heaven. There is almost no other way to describe it. You walk in and all your senses are delighted. The woodwork, the marble, the lingering smell of incense, the quiet reverence - all, plus the enveloping sense of Christ's presence in the Eucharist in the tabernacle, it's just an overwhelmingly beautiful experience. We were part of that heaven on Earth for 11 years.
We had the opportunity to visit our old parish this weekend. As I knelt to pray after communion I wondered why I still was having a hard time getting used to where we are now. "I had such a mountain-top experience, Lord, why can't I have that now?" I long for that spiritual high, near ecstasy, I had then. Then I heard what surely was the voice of God asking, "What do you know, scripturally, about mountain-top experiences?" Well, let's see. Moses had one. The Ten Commandments were given to him to share with the Israelites. The other I thought of right off the bat was Peter, James, and John's experience on the mountain during the Transfiguration of Christ.
Now I was being asked what these mountain-top experiences DID for Moses, Peter, James, and John? How did it change their course? How did it impact their lives? Did it give them a renewed zeal to bring God's message to others? Of course it did. It also gave them a well of strength to draw from when their journey became a little dry.
I was quite thankful for the visit to our old church. It was great to see our old parish family, soak in all of that goodness, to remember the mountain-top we used to be upon, to hear God's voice, and to draw water from the well of our past experience.
I hope I won't go as long as Mother Teresa, but at least for now, I see it for what it is and how God wants me to use it.