Quick Labor Day Almanac

I find myself:

::noticing God's glory

The maple trees on Freedom Street took a very long time to fill in last spring. Now it is summer's end and they look like they might turn straight to brown. I'd be so sad. I love that treelined street...

::listening to 

The microwave defrosting the lamb roast I forgot to defrost last night (and the night before and the night before that). I'm determined we'll have it for dinner tonight.

 

On White's Ferry on the way to Maryland. Mike and I have spent the last two days driving all over Maryland and Northern Virginia.

And questioning our sanity.

::clothing myself in 

A super-cute skirt from Open Arms. At Open Arms, refugees earn a living wage taking recycled t-shirts and turning them into seriously adorable skirts. Open Arms is not a charity, but a "social enterprise", a sustainable, for-profit company working to achieve a social purpose through the materials they use, the products they sell and the impact they have. As such, Open Arms measures its success against a triple bottom line that is economic (employ), ecologic (engage) and social (enjoy). Win. Win. Win. 

::thinking and thinking

About a comfortable suburban existence and how this ^ is keeping balls in the air in my world. Thinking a great deal about social justice and how the gospel calls us to live. Are these the stresses He intends for us? 

::pondering prayerfully

"The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.” . ~Blessed Mother Teresa

::Carefully Cultivating Rhythm

As the seasons change and I try desperately, frantically to make my calendar behave, I find myself again drawn to the rhythm of the Liturgy of the Hours. Could it be that living that rhythm gives meaning and direction to the secular rhythms in our lives in a real and tangible way?  More on that on Wednesday.

::creating by hand

I'm going to knit this week. I made the To Eyre shawl shortly before I stopped knitting last year. It was way too small. It's been re-drafted into a larger "outdoor" shawl. I think I'll give it a go.

::learning lessons in

Doing things that terrify me. Much, much more on that next week.

::encouraging learning 

Is there anything lovelier than a bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils? I think not.

::begging prayers

for all the people who have joined our weekend prayer community. I carried your requests with me to Mass and I will keep a candle lit for you throughout the week.

for a dozen personal intentions--each of them precious and urgent. 

::reading

Mindset. I just downloaded the audio version of this one, so I haven't much to report.

I'm listening to this book. It was highly recommended by a soccer mom from Nick's team. 

Someone asked how I manage my listening books. I'm super auditory, so I love to listen to books. It's what I do when I clean and when I drive and when I sew. I find them on Amazon and click through to Audible (I have a membership there). I download to my Kindle or to my iPhone. Kindle audio quality is really good--and I just have the basic Kindle. 

::keeping house

Mary Beth and I worked on daily school and extracurricular schedules; now to work on the chore chart. It's been a long time since we've had a really workable one. This is the season we nail it.

::towards being unplugged

This week, I'm going to try not to use my phone for social media at all. And I plan to be away from my laptop a lot. We'll see how that balances things. I've noticed that since getting an iPhone, I'm on Twitter more. I still don't really like Twitter, so that's probably not the best use of my time. I'm also on Pinterest a lot less (likely because Pinterest's app is not all that great). I'd like to be better at making all my online time meaningful and none of it mindless. I'd like to make my writing time a set chunk, worked into the schedule, all written down with everything else. I tend to try to wedge writing in around everything else. And that is making meeting deadlines pretty awful. If I had a set time, I could get to work, get it done, click the laptop shut and walk away. 

::crafting in the kitchen 

Mary Beth is cooking this week.  All week.

weird iPhone self-portrait

::loving the moments

Last weekend, Patrick and Hilary gave Mary Beth and me their Brad Paisley tickets. Patrick proposed the idea late Satruday afternoon. We had just spent the whole day out in the rain at soccer and being outdoors in more rain didn't appeal to me so much. But...it was Brad Paisley and a chance for a Girls' Night Out with my favorite girlfriend. So my girl and I stood huddled under a Neat Sheet (I forgot my umbrella) and took in a really good concert. And the whole time, I kept thinking that I must be the luckiest mom in the world to be standing there so close to my teenaged daughter, sharing music and deep conversation. I'm ever so grateful.

Seven--count 'em-- seven ponytails. I love this picture.

::giving thanks 

for my "village." My boys play soccer. My girls and I have a community of friends forged on the sidelines. I'm grateful for these people. The girls see soccer games as many kids do weekly play dates. And there is an abundance of soccer siblings their ages to keep them company. Heck, together, my friend Becca and I have 18 kids. And that's just two families! (Truth: no one else's family is mega like that but there are lots of soccer friends for them.)

::living the liturgy

For years, our mission church has met in the elementary school gym across the street from my house. This weekend, it moved to an auditorium at a nearby new high school. It's a good change--the acoustics are a million time better. We've traded bleachers for real seats. Much, much easier to concentrate without the posters encouraging us to work out and eat right. But we all miss being able to walk to church. I'm seriously eyeing the houses being built near the new permanent church site.

::planning for the week ahead

I'm going to spend the entire day today making lists and checking things off.

More almanacs at Suscipio.

Catholic Girl's Almanac

Mary Beth asked if she could blog in this space today. Why, of course! That's a lovely idea.

I find myself:

::noticing God's glory

I'm not sure it fits into this category but I think it's amazing when a 3-year-old really believes she can be one of the Olympians when she grows up. 

::listening to 

Stephen telling Sarah again that the back of the couch is NOT a balance beam.

::clothing myself in 

Denim shorts and a navy blue lace top.

::reading

Joy in the Ordinary. I'll admit that my mom wanted me to read this one and I wasn't enthused. I was in a weird niche of not wanting to read. But, I loved this book! Review to come, I promise.

::thinking and thinking

about a post I want to write for this blog. Someone wrote mom and asked if I could write a post about something that is close to my heart. I want to make sure it won't offend anyone or hurt feelings.  I want it to be real and helpful.

::giving thanks for

a weekend where nothing seemed rushed and I could have a night with a friend for frozen yogurt and a night to eat out with grandparents. Both things I needed.

::pondering prayerfully

For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.

~Audrey Hepburn

::carefully cultivating rhythm

This week will launch me into dance from 9am-1pm; and then again from 6pm-9pm.  I'm completely and totally ready for it. I've missed having a lot of dance. 

::creating by hand

I'm not too into sewing but I do love sharpie-ing (that's definitely not a word). So, since we have a white iPhone case, I think I'll try this.

::learning lessons in

Friendships. When you have to learn to let them go and when you have to learn to hold onto them. Also, how to pick the right ones.

::begging prayers

for all the people who have joined our weekend prayer community. 

for all the kids trying to figure out what their faith means to them.

for the kids contemplating college choices.

for Patrick, who was the first to arrive at a very bad car accident last week. He stopped to help and he has been haunted ever since.

::crafting in the kitchen 

Mom is trying to encourage me to give up wheat. I know she's right, but that's not an easy task.

::loving the moments

At dance. Sure, there's drama, but there's drama anywhere you go with teenaged girls. And I love these girls. They're always as happy to be there as I am and I'm happy to see them.

::planning for the week ahead

Michael is still in London; he's doing cool things. I hope you're checking up on him.

Christian and Patrick will be working and driving to dance I'm certain.

I'll spend most of my time at dance this week and when I'm not at dance I'll be sleeping, I hope.

You'll find Stephen and Nick watching some sport or another on NBC for the Olympics. Nick will mention every five minutes that ESPN would have done a far better job. And if you don't find them there, they'll be playing their own sport.

Katie is loving that dance has returned and she is taking every opportunity she finds to be in the studio working hard on pirouettes.

Karoline and Sarah will either be playing Gabby Douglas on the balance beam that Hilary gave them a while ago or playing Missy Franklin in the pool. 

::life through my lens

All pictures from my Instagram. 

Linking with the other ladies at Catholic Woman's Almanac.

Monday Morning Almanac

I find myself:

::noticing God's glory

The garden is absurdly overgrown. I need to commit to geting up pin the morning and heading out to weed first thing for the next few days. It gets so hot, so quickly that the only way to stay ahead of the weeds is to dig around in the dawn.

::listening to 

absolutely nothing

::clothing myself in 

A crisp white shirt and butter yellow shorts (just as soon as I do that weeding and take a shower). I need some new shoes that are sutable for walking, maybe light hiking and that will carry me into the fall. Suggestions? Good support is an absolute must.

::talking with my children about these books

G is for Gold Medal: An Olympic Alphabet. I'm a big fan of the Sleeping Bear Press Alphabet books. Michael is off to spend nearly a month in London covering the Summer Olympics for USAToday. We're going to thoroughly explore this book and we're going to revive the highly successful World Cup Geography, Olympics version. (ESPN has no Map Madness for the Olympics. Bummer)

::thinking and thinking

about being 20-something. And how much conversation those musings provoked. More tomorrow.

::pondering prayerfully

Those who seem to be spiritually dead are not always those least accessible to the divine Word; when wood is dead, it needs only a spark to set it afire. ~ Elisabeth Leseur

::carefully cultivating rhythm

The last few weeks, I've made some pretty drastic changes to the ways I'm managing my time. I'm still working on whittling my Google Reader (#13 on the list). The whittling is proving to be time consuming in and of itself. I've always been a "continuous reader." I was the kid who read every last word of the Charleston News and Courier as a twelve-year-old in Charleston, South Carolina. My favorite columnist was "Ashley Cooper," who turned out to be Frank Gilbreth of Cheaper by the Dozen.  I read every Young Adult book in the Charleston Air Force base library. Every one. We only lived there two years! That's a bit of a digression. My point is that I used to read incessantly. I was the kid whose mother was always imploring her to get her nose out of a book. If I'd eaten cereal, I'm sure I would have read cereal boxes. I'm still always reading. The problem is that often what I'm reading is caught inside a smartphone or a laptop. And there is a qualitative difference between web reading and book reading. I think being the girl with her nose in a book is healthier. Much healthier. And I am certain that it's a better model for my children. So, I'm working on it. A lot.

::creating by hand

It's truly time to get serious about quilts (#10 on the list). And, I've dusted off my knitting needles. We'll see where that goes.

{A little wine and chocolate. Hangtime Pinot Noir. Mike says it's a little preview of September plans.}

::learning lessons in

social media addiction. I think we need to be very mindful of the dangers, to ourselves and our children. This generation of children knows nothing else than the instant gratification and constant feedback of peer interaction. It's changing to way we relate to one another, for better or worse. We have to make it for better.

::encouraging learning 

We've got to buckle down. The summer is slipping away and we haven't come close to achieving our academic goals.

::begging prayers

for all the people who have joined our weekend prayer community. I carried your requests with me to Mass and I will keep a candle lit for you throughout the week.

Please pray for Colleen Mitchell and her family. There have been torrential rains and flooding in Costa Rica in the past week. We haven't heard fom Colleen since Saturday. 

:keeping house

Big things happening in August. New paint, new furniture, and all the deep down cleaning that will come with it.

 

::crafting in the kitchen 

Nearly finished fine-tuning a solid three week paleo meal plan. I'm really, really happy about this. I see its benefits and I'm committed to making it a habit for the long haul. My kids seem fairly happy with it, too. I think some nearly-paleo chocolate chip cookies helped. Recipes forthcoming soon. I've been Instagramming pictures faithfully. Follow me there, if you like. I'm heartofmyhome. You can also click on the little button at the top of the righthand column with the camera. This works even if you don't have an Instagram account.

 I'm registered to begin the Whole30 on August 1. From the beginning of Lent until mid-June, I was following this diet for hypothyroidism, more or less. Then Kristen Kill mentioned to me she was doing Whole 30. They sounded essentially the same and I found a lot of support for the hypothryoid diet on the Whole30 pages. I made it to Day 26 in July and then caved for a grain-free, dairy-free and utterly fabulous cookie. I plan to go the Whole30 this time. 

{Dinner at the Inner Harbor. Mostly paleo. I suspect a trace of butter and probably seed oil. Best scallops ever.}

::loving the moments

alone with Mike. He was working in Baltimore last weekend. We took a chance to get away together. After a Thursday night budget meeting that stretched well into Friday morning, he came home to sleep for four hours before leaving for Baltimore. I waited up for him that night and then got up to get the girls off to dance camp for the day.  Then, Mike and I hit the road.Together, we visited Mel Kiper's home to do something with his studio lights. (Mel's wife is amazing--talk about a family business!) After that drive through beautiful countryside, we checked into the hotel. He tucked me in for a nap, pulled all the shades closed, shuttered the door, and slipped out to go work the set day at the stadium. I napped. He didn't.  But he rallied to have a date night before leaving for work in the dark Saturday morning. I amused myself by shopping, lunching, and working on bloggy things. I considered the weekend an amazing chance to get away, catch my breath, and capture his attention without having to compete with Sarah Annie. What's lovely is that he considered this a very good weekend, too. He worked super hard. But I was along on this road trip and that just made him happy. (#25)

::giving thanks 

We left Christian, Patrick, and Mary Beth to hold the fort while we were in Baltimore. They did a great job keeping the little ones safe and happy. I suggested a movie Saturday night and Patrick wan't comfortable with a movie theater, so they decided to rent from Netflix instead. Patrick suggested the playground at Chick-Fil-A to get dinner and work out some wiggles before the movie. I'm grateful that this message from Mary Beth:

was followed quickly by this one:

::living the liturgy

July 31st is the feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola. He's the spiritual genius behind the spiritual exercises. I did the Consoling the Heart of Jesus version of the spiritual exercises last April. I will celebrate St. ignatius at Adoration on Tuesday with the "little version" of the CHJ book. (#21 on the list)

::planning for the week ahead

Christian is working at a pool that is mostly empty most of the time. We'll go visit a few times this week. Karoline refuses to jump in. Sarah is nearly ready to swim. I'm happy to keep working on (#31 on the list). There's a new playground near the pool (#18). My big kids took really good care of my little ones last weekend. The house? Not so much. It's going to take me a loooong time to restore order.

{Mike was in Baltimore for the Liverpool-Tottenham match. Stephen and Nicky joined us for the match. After, they just so happened to bump into their heroes Steven Gerrard and Gareth Bale. Nicky was thrilled to snag a signature. We had dinner on Inner Harbor and had a grand time at National Aquarium the next day. }

{photo credit: Stephen Foss}

More almanacs here.

Gathering my Thoughts After a Weekend Away

I find myself:

::noticing God's glory

I'm in Charlottesville for a few days and it's always so easy to be swept up in the beauty of creation here. We picked peaches in an orchard on a mountain yesterday. It was 95 degrees and the peaches were fuzzy, but oh! the views. Worth every bead of sweat. 

{The view from Carter Mountain Orchard}

I head home this morning. It's hot there, too, so maybe I won't miss here;-)

::listening to 

The whirring of the ceiling fan.

::clothing myself in 

Yellow polo shirt and white capris. I am desperately in need of clothing.

::talking with my children about these books

G is for Gold Medal: An Olympic Alphabet. I'm a big fan of the Sleeping Bear Press Alphabet books. Michael will soon be off to spend nearly a month in London covering the Summer Olympics for USAToday. This is our week to get in the spirit.

I did a terrible job packing: no bathing suits for little girls, no special pillow for Karoline, no toothbrush, no nebulizer... the list goes on. I don't know where my brain was. And I left a stack of books at home, waiting to become my summer reading in the sunroom in Charlottesville. Where I am. And they are not. These books:

Beauty in the World: Rethinking the Foundations of Education  (This one is really good and I'm really sorry it's sitting there by the front steps at home.)

7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess

Talking Back to Facebook

 

::thinking and thinking

about being 20-something. While I was sick last week, I stumbled onto a long list of 20-something blogs. And I read through them all (or so it seemed). I'm so glad there was no internet when I was a 20-something mom. I'm so glad I wasn't tempted to preserve in words my every whine. It's a good thing I couldn't record every time my husband worked long hours, every poop, vomit, or runny nose, every last little moment of discouragement or loneliness that comes with being home alone with little ones. I'm glad that wasn't the brand I put on how I lived my vocation. I'm glad my husband wasn't forced to see grumbling in print every time he logged on hoping to see sweet pictures of his kids and the wife for whom he was working so hard. I'm so glad my complaining doesn't still stand as a testimony for my children to read. And I'm glad because, in the moment, I was forced to talk to a friend instead of sending missives into cyberspace. I could pick up the phone at naptime and spend no more than a few minutes relating a hard day. She'd be empathetic and share her trials, too. (Bonus: I wasn't reading everyone else's whining and propogating an entire network of discontent.) And then we'd move on, usually outside. I didn't have a car of my own. I was limited to my own small neighborhood. I wasn't looking in anyone's windows, especially carefully edited windows in far off places. I spent a lot of time walking to the park with my kids. I spent a lot of time talking to other women while we pushed swings and with our kids slid down the slides. You can do that when you don't have a smart phone in your hand.

We didn't wallow.

But maybe that's because by the time I was a 20-something with two children, my friends and I had had occasion to think a little differently about what a hard day is. When I was 24, God hit the "pause" button. After reading those blogs, I think that cancer might have been a bigger blessing than previously considered. God said, "Those ordinary days filled with diapers and diaper pails and blueberries all over the floor and a really heavy toddler who wants to be held--do you want to keep living them? That man who leaves here every morning and often works late into the night, the one who travels several times a month and leaves you to fend for yourself with these small people, do you want to keep building this life with him? The ability to conceive babies, are you going to continue to take that for granted? Do you want to think big thoughts, to look beyond today to a future that stretches full of hope? Do you want to believe in something worth fighting for, worth suffering for? Or do you just want hang out and keep whining about dirty carpet and tiny paychecks and babies who won't sleep through the night? Do you want to keep clicking aimlessly and tweeting discontent?"

He didn't actually say it. But He meant it. And after reading what might have been if there had been the Internet and if there hadn't been cancer, I'm glad it was the way it was. I'm glad my friends lived around the corner and came over to wrap arms around my shoulders while my hair fell out, to gather up my little boy and take him to her house while I was in the hospital. I was a better mother before the Internet. And after cancer. (But I don't want to learn lessons that way again, and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. Just being clear, there.) In the midst of my 20-something whiny blog reading binge, I heard from a mom diagnosed with cancer 10 days after learning she is pregnant. She's 20 weeks along. Please pray for her. Pray hard. Those are some challenging days.

 I'm told it's a generation gap. That I don't understand how that generation thinks and how they communicate. Maybe. But I find myself wanting to beg the woman in the screen: Before you log on to record forever how grumpy you feel in this moment, cup the face of your child in your hands. Think to yourself: I don't have to worry that her runny nose is a virus that could kill me because I have no white blood cells. I don't have to run and grab a bandana to cover my bald head when the UPS man comes to the door. I can take this sweet face and kiss that forehead and dance around my living room. I can throw up the window and seize the day and head outside for a long stroller walk. I can snuggle with them at naptime and then slip away while they sleep to get online scrub the kitchen floor and get a head start on a yummy meal. I can gather myself as evening comes to whine on Facebook pray Vespers with the universal church and count my blessings aloud to God. I can take a few minutes before the love of my life gets home to tell Twitter how I'm a single parent brush my hair and pull on a clean shirt and smile when I greet the man who sacrifices for me and parents with me. I can live every single moment like the gift it is because I have traded a valuable day of my life for it and I don't know how many of those I have to live. 

End of rant. Next time I'm sick with a cold, I promise to read light fiction instead of marathon surfing (Grace Livingston Hill anyone?), but really, I'm sort of glad for the reminder myself.

::giving thanks for

a couple days in a home away from home, with people I love, and mountains that never fail to restore my spirit.

{Queen Anne's Lace. Rotting Peaches. You can overlook the smelly bad and delight in the beautiful, no?}

::pondering prayerfully

Whenever anything disagreeable or displeasing happens to you, remember Christ crucified and be silent. ~St. John of the Cross

Also really praying about the content in the sidebar links week.

::carefully cultivating rhythm

I don't know why I thought we'd have all kinds of free time and boundless energy this summer. That has not been the case at all. This week has promise for lots of quiet and some sleep, though. Ever hopeful, right?

::creating by hand

Sundresses to finish and some quilts to sew.

 

::learning lessons in

making jam. We picked 24 pounds of peaches. I'm planning to experiment with a couple types of jam. Suggestions gratefully welcomed:-)

::encouraging learning 

I'm going to clean out school baskets this week and polish up the plans a bit. Most of my students are off on adventures.

::begging prayers

for all the people who have joined our weekend prayer community. I carried your requests with me to Mass and I will keep a candle lit for you throughout the week.

for Jessica.

 
{tea in the sunroom}

:keeping house

I have some decisions to make ASAP about paint colors in, oh, pretty much the whole house.

::crafting in the kitchen 

Still fine-tuning a solid three week paleo meal plan. So far, sweet potato and sausage hash and bacon-wrapped asparagus have been big hits. There will be far fewer people around the table this week. Not as many palates to please:  Good time to experiment!

::loving the moments

Nicholas played nine holes of golf at my father's club yesterday. My dad can't golf any more. But he passed along his love for the game to Nicholas a few years ago. Then, he invested in it last year. (Click; it's cool.) Nick has been faithfully practicing at the course near our house. So, my dad took him out in the sweltering heat yesterday and he watched while Nicky shone. They both came home beaming. I'm just so happy they got to share it.

::living the liturgy

Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Children with me at home this afternoon will probably be able to persuade me to make something with caramel, even though we all know that caramel has absolutely nothing to do with Our Lady of Mt. Carmel.

::planning for the week ahead

Patrick and Mary Beth are in Ocean City at a dance competition. (Mary Beth is dancing. Paddy is just along for the ride. I'm certain he'd want me to clarify that.)

Katie and Nicky are staying in Charlottesville for the week. Katie will go to pony camp and Nicky will go to golf camp. And they'll get plenty spoiled by grandparents along the way.

Mike is back in Coral Gables. 

Michael is leaving for London.

At the end of the week, when Mike returns, we're going to go visit him in his DC office and play tourist at the Smithsonian. Ride the Metro. Cool stuff that is easier with only 4 kids.

It's going to be quieter at our house with only 4 kids at home. Ought to impact the grocery bill significantly, too. I will miss the other five. I won't miss the laundry. 

Oh, and we're going to fingerpaint with our feet outside. 

Thoughts on Tuesday

I find myself:

::noticing God's glory

The wave petunias are taking off--hooray! And we have tomatoes and zucchini in the garden and an abundance of basil. Nicky has been a huge help to keep the garden healthy through the intense heat.

The weeds are super healthy, too, Maybe tomorrow I'll tackle them again.

::listening to 

Katie, Karoline, and Sarah playing together. They are so blessed to have one another. I have to smile at God's plan for these three little girls in a row at the end. Great idea, that one.

::clothing myself in 

a white blouse and denim clam diggers.

::talking with my children about these books

The little girls and I are reading The Twelve Dancing Princesses over and over again. I don't know why--they're just obsessed with it.

::thinking and thinking

about weddings, particularly about small weddings. Did you have a very small wedding? Have you been a guest at one? Tell me about it, please. We've got a wedding to plan.

::giving thanks for

electric power, internet, cell phones and landlines, running water, open gas stations, ATM --all things we unexpectedly learned we can't depend upon a couple weekends ago.

Oh, and what a nice break in the temperatures today, too. It's not even going to hit 90.

 

::pondering prayerfully

"Intimacy with The Lord is achieved by cheerful readiness to do the will of God."

~ St.Basil the Great

::carefully cultivating rhythm

 my plan this week is to write absolutely everything in my planner. I've gotten out of that habit and I think I create stress for myself by not committing it all to writing.

::creating by hand

These sundresses are taking a ridiculously long time to finish. I was hit by a whopper cold on Friday and have barely moved ever since. But I am determined to have them done by needle & thREAD on Thursday.

::learning lessons in

Paleo diets. I've been surfing lots of paleo sites while I wait for this cold to leave the premises. I've managed to sketch out some detailed menus plans and to dispatch a teenager to the grocery store. We'll see if I can muster the energy to actually cook today.

::encouraging learning 

I always think we're going to get so much accomplished during the summer. And then we don't. But it's still early in July. Perhaps we will?

::begging prayers

for all the people who have joined our weekend prayer community. I carried your requests with me to Mass and I will keep a candle lit for you throughout the week.

:keeping house

I keep reminding people to do laundry as I hang out horizontally all day. The best I can hope is that the laundry is indeed happening. As the laundry goes, so goes the rest of the household.

 

::crafting in the kitchen 

I have been following these dietary guidelines for treating hypothyroidism. It's pretty much a Paleo diet. Now that I've spent so much time clicking around the web, I feel more hopeful that one can eat like this and still be a foodie. I have yet to actually try to bring it to life in my kitchen, though. And I'm still unconvinced that I really need to give up tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and mushrooms, too. Time will tell.

::loving the moments

when my little girls are so excited about going to Grandpa's that they beg to pack a week in advance. Well, I don't exactly love the begging, but I do love that they're excited to go to Grandpa's.

::living the liturgy

Look for a "prep post" for the feast of St. Anne real soon. Friday, I think.

::planning for the week ahead

I don't know. I just want to feel functional. Mike comes home tonight from an extended trip to Chicago and then Dallas. I would dearly love to be chipper and cheerful by then.