From the Com-Box: Faith Formation & Fragrant Gravy

My friend Diane (The Journey of a Mother’s Heart) left a comment on this post, wondering what was up with all those “God’s Library” posters on our wall.

They really brighten up the room, don’t you think? ☺

The posters are from Family Formation, which is a weekly catechetical study that my family is totally loving. We started the program in September after Deb left a comment on this post, in which I asked for help learning the books of the Bible.

Gosh, I’m thankful for that com-box!

So yes, Family Formation. I can’t say enough about this program. I love that the packets arrive in monthly installments that are then broken down into three weekly lessons. (We usually do ours on the way to Mass, with some supplementing throughout the week for coloring & crafting.) It’s a very hands-on, very fun, very well written program.

Oh, and did you know they have a blog now?

* * * * * * *

In other news and another com-box, Hélène inquired about my gravy. “How do you cook your gravy?” she wondered, “Because I have never had mine turn out that color. It looks very rich and tasty.” It is, Hélène, and for that I give credit to Kitchen Bouquet and my French-Canadian father! (I’m sure he won’t mind if I share his secret.)

A little dab is all you need for a rich & tasty gravy. How much of this gravy you serve to yourself is entirely up to you.


Happy Tuesday, everyone! And happy first week of Advent.

Monday, Monday

We are a bunch of hung-over homeschoolers today. I love holiday weekends. The Monday that follows them? Not so much.

Example #1

Homeschooling Mom tells 7-year-old daughter to write today’s date on her meeting calendar. 7-year-old daughter comes back with a number written in every square through the end of the month.

“It’s the 37th!” she announces.

“Um, no…” Homeschooling Mom takes a deep breath and counts to ten. “Remember the rhyme? ‘30 days hath September, April, June and…?’”

Homeschooling Mom taps the top of the calendar expectantly.

“Tuesday?” comes the response.


Example #2

9-year-old girl wants to know why she has to learn her math facts, since “I’m going to be a nun anyway.”

Homeschooling Mom takes a deep breath and counts to ten. “Okay, let’s say that there are 13 nuns waiting for their tapioca pudding in the dining room. You’re working in the kitchen and have sent out five bowls. How many more bowls do you need?”

9-year-old girl sighs. “Eight,” she murmurs, and bends her head back over her worksheet.

20 seconds later: “Do nuns even eat tapioca pudding?”



The good news is that feeling impatient doesn’t necessarily mean acting impatient.

The bad news is that I’ve counted to ten...many more times than ten.


AMDG,

Shopping on White Saturday

Yesterday I took the kids to a cute little shop called Peapods.

I had a gift certificate left over from my baby shower—thank you, Erin!—and I’d been wanting to go for ages.

My hens, I think, were glad we did.

I could have bought the store out, really, but I didn’t.

I can be prudent like that.

Instead, I purchased just two items—a wooden rattle and a little giraffe. The giraffe is Anthony’s Christmas present (Sh! Don’t tell him!) and apparently is all the rage among his crowd.

That’s what the saleslady said anyway. Cha-ching! She totally reeled me in.

The rattle, though, was definitely needed. Anthony is teething something fierce and stands in desperate need of something to gnaw on.

Other than me, that is.

So yes, I got him an (overpriced) rattle. Here’s his reaction when I held it out:

Cha-ching!

I think he likes it.

Home Improvement

~ Before ~

~ After ~

Need I say more? ☺

Thanksgiving 2009

Subtitled: Over the (Red) River and Through the Woods to Aunt Mary’s House We Went

You’ve seen the movie Fargo, maybe? Well, in real life, it’s much much better…

…because that’s where my family is.

Food, fun, football, family. Yesterday, we had it all.

Emphasis on food & family.

Anthony, in particular, was so happy to see his grandma and grandpa that he grinned hugely.

Okay, the kid is pretty much always grinning hugely, but this huge grin was just for them.

Here they are with their youngest chick, who remembers sitting on that very same couch with them three years ago for their 60th anniversary.

You don’t believe me? Here’s your proof.

Whoa! I completely forgot that I used to be a redhead.

Maybe that’s what I need to snazz up my marriage.

That and a willingness to sit and watch football.

I told my husband he looked too stern in this photo.

So then he tried to look more mirthful.

And then he accosted me.

That’s what I get for sitting down with him to watch the game.

You’d think my boys were ignoring their grandpa, wouldn’t you?

Nope. Just watching football.

Anthony was far less interested in the Dallas/Raiders game than he was in Daddy’s Mountain Dew.

Another grin. He must have gotten some.

It simply would not be Thanksgiving without a kid & cutlery shot.

Though, granted, it’s a better photo without the fork.

When we weren’t watching football or catching up on each other’s news or eating heaps & heaps of Giada’s mashed potatoes...

We were reading lots & lots of books.

My sister Mary teaches Art in the Fargo school system. She’s an artist and an all-around really nice auntie, which is why she had an art lesson ready-made for my children when they arrived.

She also dug out a pastel of yours truly that she did when I was my son Joe’s age.

Wow. I remember that summer.

And I remember that pink tank top.

It matched the puppy’s tummy.

Eventually Grandpa wandered in and said that he & Grandma had to go.

This was the sky as we said goodbye.

I sighed and said, “See you soon.”


With love & thanksgiving for the great gift of family,

On Gratitude and Giving Thanks

I’ve got, like, five minutes to do this blog post in between baking a cherry pie & sautéing the caramelized onions with thyme & stirring the sauce for the maple-glazed carrots with whiskey. “Why can’t you ever just make one thing?” my husband wondered.

Because it’s family.

We will be spending the day four hours north of here—in the largest city in North Dakota—at my sister Mary’s house. Four hours there, four hours back—all in one day and it’s worth it, as you know, because it’s family.

Before I go, though, I would like to thank you for your prayers. You have no idea how much we have benefited from them—and in such a short time, too—but I am not content to leave it at that. I hope to pay your kindness forward and I am starting...with my husband.

(Last night, for example, I bought him a little something…in the women’s pajama department at Kohls.☺)


Happy Thanksgiving!

Fool of a Took

Never assume that taking a blog break is going to solve your problems.

Never post something at 5:00 a.m. that you’re going to regret at sunrise.

And never—and I do mean never—write a great big bummer of a blog post on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Talk about a buzz kill.

There is a scene in The Lord of the Rings where Pippin grabs the palantír. He takes it from Gandolf (knowing full well that he shouldn’t) because he listens to his heart and not his head.

Of course, he suffers the consequences. “Fool of a Took!” Gandolf shouts at him, and once again comes to the rescue.

Well.

I am a lot like Peregrin Took. I am hasty, rash, and quick to go after what looks right to me, even if I have been consoled against it. I am, my friend, a fool of a Took.

Tell me that you love me anyway.

Tell me you’ll be my Gandolf.

Things are still uncertain on this end. My world is still upside down and the blood, still rushing to my anxious head. Still. My husband advised me—and this, three weeks ago—that a blog break wouldn’t solve our problems.

(Note that I announced one anyway.)

If you offered up a prayer for us yesterday, thank you. Keep them coming! I know what I’m going to do now regarding the sacrament of my marriage. I know what I need to do.

Meanwhile, I am going to keep loving and hoping and trusting and blogging.

I do these things...because I have to. ☺


Ever the hastiest Took of them all,