Quick Takes Friday

1. Today's numbers........58-60. Degrees, that is. Detroit Zoological Park here we come!



2. We got a late start on our walk yesterday. So late, in fact, the moon was out by the time we were heading home from the park. :) The little boys were engrossed with it.
"Mom, the moon is walking!"
"Mom, the moon is running!" :)
We stopped at a stop sign and Manny said, as we started walking again, "Come on, moon, let's go!"

4 year olds and 6 year olds. What cuteness.
Although I said to Noah today, "Maybe 16 is about the time you might want to think about not being cute anymore."
Tongue. In. Cheek. ;)

3. I put a pair of pants on Manny today that I could have swore he wore last week with no problems. Today they looked about 2 inches too short. He's really not that far behind Jed size wise. I guess he'll be another Vrazo giant. ;)

4. I can't even bear to write what our heating bill was last month. I am thankful Tim takes care of the finances and shields me from the harsh realities most of the time. I guess he felt compelled to mention it this time as an incentive for the family to keep those doors closed. Tightly.
Where the heck does the gas company get off charging these ridiculous rates? ;)
Suffice to say, it's no wonder they are finding people frozen in their homes this winter.

5. Our parish is having a MOM 2 MOM sale. I got the bright idea to sign up for it. Naomi wants to raise some $$ to play on her soccer team and I thought if I could get her to do the bulk of the work, she could have to proceeds.
Yesterday we got started. 8 bins of little boy clothes brought down from the attic. And that is only up to size 3T!
I often look about in dismay at the large amount of *stuff* we have. It is even too much for a family of 12.
And who do I have to blame but myself? I am the main perpetrator if not the only perpetrator ;).
I guess this is a step in the right direction, but it is far more emotionally challenging than I thought.
Finding little playsuits Al wore! How could he have ever been THAT small? I think he could use them for socks on those size 15 feet. ;)
The infamous Zak sailor suit. The little green rain coat Dyl wore in Sweden. Jed's bear hat. I haven't even gotten to the little girl clothes yet. ( Don't worry, I AM NOT selling any of those items! :) :)
Deep breath.

6. On that note I am pleased to say I did, in the end, resist temptation yesterday. I was at Big Lots picking up a few things and since I was alone, and a thrift store is right next door, I couldn't resist the temptation to stop in. :) I also didn't resist the temptation to put about 5 items in my cart. But I did stop and think about each thing. And I decided we didn't need any of them. And I walked out empty handed. Thanks God, I needed that.

7.Thought to ponder.

"He is not fooled by our pretensions of adequacy. He knows full well that in the human condition, weakness is universal. It is normal. It is par for the course.



Gracia Burnham "To Fly Again"

Full of gems

The End of Solitude

http://chronicle.com/free/v55/i21/21b00601.htm

Solitude isn't easy, and isn't for everyone. It has undoubtedly never been the province of more than a few. "I believe," Thoreau said, "that men are generally still a little afraid of the dark." Teresa and Tiresias will always be the exceptions, or to speak in more relevant terms, the young people — and they still exist — who prefer to loaf and invite their soul, who step to the beat of a different drummer. But if solitude disappears as a social value and social idea, will even the exceptions remain possible? Still, one is powerless to reverse the drift of the culture. One can only save oneself — and whatever else happens, one can still always do that. But it takes a willingness to be unpopular.

The last thing to say about solitude is that it isn't very polite. Thoreau knew that the "doubleness" that solitude cultivates, the ability to stand back and observe life dispassionately, is apt to make us a little unpleasant to our fellows, to say nothing of the offense implicit in avoiding their company. But then, he didn't worry overmuch about being genial. He didn't even like having to talk to people three times a day, at meals; one can only imagine what he would have made of text-messaging. We, however, have made of geniality — the weak smile, the polite interest, the fake invitation — a cardinal virtue. Friendship may be slipping from our grasp, but our friendliness is universal. Not for nothing does "gregarious" mean "part of the herd." But Thoreau understood that securing one's self-possession was worth a few wounded feelings. He may have put his neighbors off, but at least he was sure of himself. Those who would find solitude must not be afraid to stand alone.

I grew up in the 60s and 70s, the age of television. I was trained to be bored; boredom was cultivated within me like a precious crop. (It has been said that consumer society wants to condition us to feel bored, since boredom creates a market for stimulation.) It took me years to discover — and my nervous system will never fully adjust to this idea; I still have to fight against boredom, am permanently damaged in this respect — that having nothing to do doesn't have to be a bad thing. The alternative to boredom is what Whitman called idleness: a passive receptivity to the world.

But the great age of boredom, I believe, came in with television, precisely because television was designed to palliate that feeling. Boredom is not a necessary consequence of having nothing to do, it is only the negative experience of that state. Television, by obviating the need to learn how to make use of one's lack of occupation, precludes one from ever discovering how to enjoy it. In fact, it renders that condition fearsome, its prospect intolerable. You are terrified of being bored — so you turn on the television.

What does the contemporary self want? The camera has created a culture of celebrity; the computer is creating a culture of connectivity. As the two technologies converge — broadband tipping the Web from text to image, social-networking sites spreading the mesh of interconnection ever wider — the two cultures betray a common impulse. Celebrity and connectivity are both ways of becoming known. This is what the contemporary self wants. It wants to be recognized, wants to be connected: It wants to be visible. If not to the millions, on Survivor or Oprah, then to the hundreds, on Twitter or Facebook. This is the quality that validates us, this is how we become real to ourselves — by being seen by others. The great contemporary terror is anonymity. If Lionel Trilling was right, if the property that grounded the self, in Romanticism, was sincerity, and in modernism it was authenticity, then in postmodernism it is visibility.

Gabriella..........

Adorable
Completely enthralled with friend Katherine
Insists on getting herself dressed and picking out her own outfits.
A little grumpy at times ( aren't we all?)
Likes to have fun with brother.
Is good buddies with Noah ( they have the same color hair!)
Enjoys a good drink every now and then.
Wishes mom would just cut her bangs, doggone it!
A bit of a drama queen
Our Ella.......

I'm not entirely sure I would characterize it like that.......

Jed walked in the family room this morning and found me cuddled up on the chair. I guess it is unusual for me to be there at that time of the day ;) so he asked what was the matter.
"I don't know, my throat is kind of sore and I just don't feel great" I said.

"Well, remember when I WAS SICK?"
" I barfed all over this step!!!!"
"I really hit the jackpot!"

Two little boys................

were very excited to get a package in the mail today.



but maybe not so happy to have a photo shoot. ;)

THANK YOU PAPA AND MEEMAW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Daybook March 2, 2009

Outside my window . . Just. TOO. Cold.

I am thinking . . .I am troubled by the latest news from Washington that the current administration will rescind the protections to medical workers who won't do certain procedures because of their own moral convictions. What will become of my pro-life, Catholic OB/GYN? I shudder to imagine.

I am thankful for. . .sweet family times. We had a nice day yesterday. We ALL went to mass together. We ALL went to the cemetary to visit grandma and grandpa V. We ALL went out to lunch. Then we lost a few due to work commitments. :)

We then went to the library with the rest and onto St Cyril where the homeschool kids put on a production of "The Lion,the Witch and the Wardrobe". Very cute.

From the schoolroom. . .George and Jed are steaming along and finished several of their books already. So I placed an order this weekend for new. Lots of great finds at the library yesterday!

From the kitchen . . .we had homemade chicken noodle soup, crusty sourdough rolls and homemade whole wheat carrot cake yesterday for dinner. A comforting meal for a cold day.

I am wearing . . .navy sweats and a light blue with navy trim fleece pullover.

I am creating . . .more curtains. always curtains. :)

I am going . . Dyl's last game is tonight. Really his last game, period...as he is a senior and his Panther Basketball days are at an end :(. He and a fraction of the family will go to his tournament in Mt Pleasant this weekend.

I am reading and watching . . . I started a book on Florence Nightingale last night .

"Women Saints" by Kathleen Jones. Very thought provoking.

Didn't watch much of anything this weekend. :)

I am hoping . . .it will warm up enough this month to go to the zoo. The littles are buggin'. :)

I am praying . . got a good list going.

I am hearing . . .silence.

Around the house. . . gave the house a good clean on Saturday. I was in a *why bother* funk all week and paid for it :)

One of my favorite things. . . Jed came sauntering into the kitchen on Saturday with a lovely black cross on his forehead. I guess he wanted to keep the Ash Wednesday look going. :) It looked pretty authentic, but I have no idea where he got the ashes?

(Edited to add--he told me it was grease from Noah's bike. Is that not boyish ingenuity? LOL!

A few plans for the rest of the week. . . nothing out of the ordinary. I'm thinking of trying to sneak in a visit to Cranbrook, but maybe that ought to wait until next week.

Here’s a picture I am sharing. .More oldies. Little Noah ( with cuz Vangie--his texting BFF) and baby Manny :)

————————

As always, don’t forget to pop by Peggy’s and see the other entries for this week’s Simple Woman’s Daybook.

A visit with Grandpa

This morning I decided to make a carrot cake. I found a recipe using whole wheat flour last week and have been trying to find the time to bake it. I woke up early and had some free brain space, so I got started. But then the three littles woke up. How do they know? :)

Jed immediately asked why I was making carrot cake. I said I thought it sounded good ( I don't say I think it might be a healthy treat, because that would go nowhere).

He immediately chimed in that Grandpa likes carrot cake.

Well, there it is. The reason.

This week marks the one year anniversary of our beloved Grandpa John's passing.

It still seems surreal. I often forget that he isn't here. I still have to think about it. "Oh---yes, he is gone."

Today we made a trek over to the cemetary as a family. It was a mind numbingly cold day and very blustery, too. I kept the little ones in the van. He often said while he was in the throes of his last illness that if it would just get warm he could get better. If it would just be spring. I guess

we all feel that way sometimes.

We miss you Grandpa.