week behind, week ahead....

anyone have one of those days?

yeah, we did yesterday. It started off great! After dropping Sugars off at preschool I had a wonderful coffee date with a group of Moms from church/preschool. Then the day slid right down a muddy hill into a pile of poop.

Oh well, today is another day, right?

I've been off work for the last 6 nights and have enjoyed doing some different things with the kids.

One of the things I did was to finally take them to the Heard Museum.

Which I am TRYING to upload pictures from. I guess that'll have to be a different post because they're not loading this morning. The kids and I had a lot of fun and it's one more thing crossed off my "places to go" list!

Sonshine can't wait to go back!

Now, as for my goals for the week




in the fitness department, I didn't make my 20 mile goal.

But I rode the bike for 11.15 miles on Friday night, then Saturday at the Heard Museum we went for a mile long hike which was big fun! So I'd say I made good progress.

My other goals were:
6) make cover for my new stethoscope. it's about 4 inches longer than my old one so the old cover ain't quite cutting the mustard. done! :-)



5) finish marking the quilt. more progress made, but not finished.

3) make meatloaf. it's been too hot to cook during the day and I haven't made meatloaf in forever. Plus it's one of my hubby's favorite meals so I thought I'd make it overnight when I'm off. done! it was soooo yummy!!!

This week I work Wed, Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon, and Tues.

my only goal for the week will be to survive working so many days in a row without losing my religion.

how about you? any goals for the week??

Autism is fun!

For reasons of a crazy work schedule I'm going to have to put Thesaurus Thursday on hiatus for a couple of weeks. I'm just not going to be at the computer reliably to put it up. I appreciate your patience, and I'll let you know when my schedule evens out...sometime after Labor Day. In the meantime it's up to YOU to keep your brain and funny bones in shape till T-T returns.

The Thesaurus Thursday answers and winners for last week are:

attelet - –noun
a small, thin, top-ornamented skewer used decoratively for serving sandwiches and hors d'oeuvres.

zein - –noun
1. Biochemistry . a soft, yellow powder of simple proteins obtained from corn, used chiefly in the manufacture of textile fibers, plastics, and paper coatings.
2. a synthetic fiber produced from this protein.

Our ONLY player was Roger last week, so Roger, you're the silliest of gooses, thank you for playing!!

His silly definitions were:
Zein - What happens while bowling(drunk of course), as in "I be zein the zone..."

Attelet - The first word in that commonly used phrase: "Attelet you know when I find out."




I've been very entertained by Sonshine this week!

One evening when talking about his day at school, Sonshine told me the following story:

"I found a finger in my first grade classroom! It was broken with the bone sticking out. There was a broken fingerbone and it had a hole in it. I stuck my finger in the hole in the broken fingerbone!"

This was soo funny I emailed his teacher to see what he was talking about! Here's her response:

"As soon as I read the third sentence of your email I knew exactly what he was talking about- I will put your mind as ease about first grade!! ;) Last year as part of our reward bucket we had little plastic fingers that fit over the finger like a thimble. They had only the finger nail part of the finger with a long painted finger nail. My girls loved them because they got to foo-foo themselves with a fake nail. I thought I had them all collected and put up but I guess not!! :)

To be perfectly honest... Sonshine's story is sooo much more interesting than what really happened!! hee hee"


Then, the other night I made some passing comment that Daddy was losing his hair....when Daddy walked in the bedroom to tuck the boys in Sonshine told him (all in one breath!)

"Daddy, you're losing your hair. Someday you're going to wake up in the morning, look in the mirror, and say "Oh NO! I don't have any hair! It's all gone! I've gone bald!' "

THEN, this morning, I was trying to get Sonshine to try a bite of the new apple banana muffins Daddy'd made for breakfast. He took A bite under duress and said he didn't like it. Then Dad came up and said,

"These are Green Eggs and Ham muffins! You do not like Green Eggs and Ham muffins? Try them! Try them and you may! Try them and you may I say!"

TWO EATEN MUFFINS LATER.....Sonshine tells me, "Excuse me, Mom! I like the Green Eggs and Ham muffins!"

To which I could only reply, "You do? You like Green Eggs and Ham muffins? You like them Sam I am!"

goals

My watch tells me it's now WEDNESDAY. Therefore you need to take a look at these words and see how silly you can be!



Time to take a look at last week's goals.....

z) get to the gym - DONE!

x) get stuff for La license - still nope.

w) mark rest of quilt - nope. but I've got less than 1/4 to go!

hmm, and for this week?

6) make cover for my new stethoscope. it's about 4 inches longer than my old one so the old cover ain't quite cutting the mustard.

5) finish marking the quilt.

3) make meatloaf. it's been too hot to cook during the day and I haven't made meatloaf in forever. Plus it's one of my hubby's favorite meals so I thought I'd make it overnight when I'm off.


I'm not putting the La license stuff on the list this week. It still needs to be done, but it's all business hours activities. And I'm not going to be seeing much of business hours for another week or two.


and how about you? what are your goals for this week?

smile

When reading a book about the life of my confirmation saint, Saint Gianna Beretta Molla I was touched by her writings and letters.

especially this, from a letter to her husband written a few days before their wedding:

"St. Gianna wrote some of her thoughts on the value of a single smile, which her husband would later call her "true hymn to joy."

Smile at God, from whom every gift comes to us;

smile at the Father with ever more perfect prayer;

smile at the Holy Spirit;

smile at Jesus who you approach at Mass, in Holy Communion, and in Eucharistic adoration;

smile at the person who represents Christ on earth: the Pope;

smile at your confessor, the one who personifies God even when he challenges you to reject sin;

smile at the Blessed Virgin, to whose example you must conform your life, so that, seeing you, people might be led to holy thoughts;

smile at your Guardian Angel, because this angel has been given to you by God to lead you into Paradise;

smile at your parents, brothers, and sisters, even when they challenge your pride;

smile always in forgiving offenses;

smile in associating with others, banishing all criticism and murmuring;

Smile at everyone the Lord sends you during the day.

The world seeks joy, but cannot find it far from God. We must understand that our joy comes from Jesus.

With Jesus in our hearts, we bear joy--he is the strength that helps us.

Happiness is having Jesus in our hearts.

But the secret of happiness is to live moment by moment, and to thank the Lord for everything he sends us out of his goodness."


So, have you smiled today?

many days in one.

You ever get that feeling like your days are all running together?

Well, here's proof!

This is a Thesaurus Thursday, and Fitness Friday, post on Saturday.

Ready?



Welcome to this week's belated edition of Thesaurus Thursday!

If you're new to Thesaurus Thursday, the T-T scoop can be found here.
Please take a second or two to get the scoop before you leave comments entries!


Last week's words:
busticate - verb (used with object), ‐cat·ed, ‐cat·ing. to break into pieces.


attar - –noun
1. Also, atar, athar, ottar, otto. a perfume or essential oil obtained from flowers or petals.
2. Also called attar of roses. rose oil.


Winners:

No Smarty Pants Winner this week.
Our Silly Goose Winners are:

Stephanie, SherryTex, Jungle Mom, Abornepoppa, and Roger! Y'all all cracked me UP with the busticate definitions!!

Don't forget to pick up your award on my sidebar before you leave.


This week's words are:
attelet

zein


Now get out there and exercise your BRAIN and your FUNNY BONE at the same time!!

Speaking of exercise!
It's Fitness Friday!



I sat in the waiting room of the dealership Friday morning and voila! I have HEADLIGHTS!! Yippee!!!

So, to test them out I went to the gym! My plan was to try and bike 7 miles. Since it'd been a MONTH from my last trip to the gym I thought I might need to take it easy and work back up to my usual 10 miles.


However, I ended up catching the last 1/2 of the Bengal vs Eagles pre-season football game! Anyone out there watch this game??
what a fun game.
interceptions....fumbles....incomplete passes....terrific tackles....penalties.
Plenty of opportunities to yell at the guys on the screen! (fortunately the gym was almost deserted...)
it was great to watch, but I'd hate to be on EITHER of these teams Monday when it's time to review the game films!
Bengals won 22 to 9.

And by the time I looked down at the bike....I'd gone 10.3 miles!!!

My goal for next week is 20 miles.


In other news I've been feeling punky a lot the last few days. Wednesday -Thursday I stayed up for 30+ hours and I really haven't slept longer than about 5 hours at a stretch since, so it might be plain old sleep deprivation. But whatever it is I'm ready for it to be gone!

I've worn the easytone shoes for a week now, and have yet to feel sore at all. I'm thinking that when you have a 9 1/2 WIDE foot, it takes more than those little ovals to put you off balance enough to change how you walk!! As my Grandpa would say, My feet are so big "all Hell couldn't trip me up"!

Had the ARD for Gator-boy. I'm very very excited about this school year! Gator will have the same teacher that Sonshine had last year! Sonshine's 1st grade teacher is also the Gifted & Talented teacher, who has a son with ADHD!! And, Sonshine will get to keep the same aid from last year!! It's going to be a GREAT year!!

I asked Miss Ladybug the kindergarten teacher WHY 6 boxes of crayons. She told me that she rotates them out at the beginning of every 6 weeks. Seems many of the kids really like the pointy crayons. She then will send the used crayons home or keep them till the end of the year. This does explain the big bag of 1/2 used crayons that I got last day of school!! It's nice to know the reason for the supply list!! :-)

Here's to a good week! And don't forget to play with those words!

ack.

I KNOW it's Thursday! Really I do. But I haven't slept well this week (hence my need to spell slept THREE times...) and I'm just not up to T-T tonight. I'll do it tomorrow night!

While I was getting ready for work tonight hubby came down the hall for a chat....as we were talking we walked to the kitchen where he could return to the untouched, open faced, sandwich he'd left on the table....mid sentence he stops.

"What the HECK??!! Our daughter has been here."





As I go laughing to the living room for my camera said daughter cheerfully tells me "I eating tomato mom!"

:-)

If you visit our house, watch out for the Thieving Hooliganette!! I swear she's worse than the cats!

helooooo out thereeeeeeee!

people!

This is Tuesday.

Have you entered your guesses for Thesaurus Thursday yet? Have ya? huh?

Now's the TIME.

It is also time for me to review the last week's goals.

sigh.

Didn't get much done that was on my goal list this week. Did get a lot done that WASN'T on my goal list.

the list was:

z) get to the gym - the headlights are STILL broken. sigh. hopefully this friday!

y) to the post office - done! Steph, Lori, Jacquie and Sherry be watching your mail. Steph, when you get yours...keep digging till you find TWO non-fabric items!

x) get stuff for La license - nope.

w) mark rest of quilt - nope.

v) make other baby blanket - ayup, and it's sooo cute! they both are really. if you haven't seen them yet check out the Thesaurus Thursday post...and leave a comment while you're there!

Next Week's goals:

hmmm,

w), x),and z) from last week!!

:-)

shopping.

I spent all day Saturday (like 6 hours worth!!!) shopping!

The good part was that I was out and about in the sunshine alone, getting things marked off a rather long awaited todo list.

The bad part is that it was 106 degrees outside according to my car thermometer.

The good part is that it WASN'T tax free weekend!!!

The bad part is everyone and their dog was out anyway, apparently, like me, avoiding tax-free weekend!!

First I filled the gas tank....which is where I saw this sign on the windshield squeegie holder:



I have no idea what it means. don't understand it in the slightest.....but it makes me laugh like crazy!!

My next stop was Michael's

The good part is that I found some of the needed stuff for this years Christmas gifts!

The bad part is here we are half-way through August already! I'm BEHIND getting started!!

But Michael's didn't have the medal I needed to fix hubby's rosary so I headed down to Hobby Lobby for that.

The bad part is Hobby Lobby had only 1 choice of rosary medals.

The good part is now all our rosaries that were in bits and pieces are back in working order yeah!!

I stopped by my favorite quilt store....

The bad part is that I spent a lot getting all the fabric for this year's Christmas ornaments...

The good part is I found a huge remnant of gorgeous white on white with MUSIC NOTES! at 15% off.

My next stop was the Outlet mall.

The bad part is that ice cream makers are seasonal and they're sold out.

The good part is that the Reebok store actually had my size in the easytone shoes.

The bad part is that the stethoscope I wanted was $230.

The good part is I was able to find scrubs that actually fit......TWO SIZES smaller than what I've been wearing for the last two years!

Then it was on to Target for some weekly shopping.

The good part is I got everything on the list.

The bad part is I forgot to put on my new shoes before beginning my solitary Target Trail of Tears.

a quick drive through Saxby's, my favorite coffee shop and I made it home in time to put the hooligans to bed.

It was a great day!

Oh, and I wanna tell you that I am THAT person! You know, the one who goes through the store singing and be-bopping to the in-house music? Yup that'd be me. Thank you.

Thesaurus Thursday 2010 #3

I just LOVE quick and easy and super cute projects! These baby blankets take about 2 hours to make each. They're soft and sweet and the perfect size and weight! Makes me feel so PRODUCTIVE!

This one's for SherryTex's January baby girl.

This one's for Jill's January baby boy.

Now, let's see, last week our words were:

chebec - A small grayish bird (Empidonax minimus) commonly inhabiting fields and groves of eastern North America. Also called least flycatcher.

cheddite –noun Chemistry .
an explosive for blasting, composed of a chlorate or perchlorate mixed with a fatty substance, as castor oil.

NO SMARTY PANTS WINNERS THIS WEEK!

Winners of the Silly Goose Awards are:

Roger with: Chebec - a liberal version of Glen Beck, he's all the rage in the jungle.

and Lori with: cheddite---a religious group similar to Hutterites and Mennonites. They worship cheddar cheese, wear cheese hats, eat cheese curds, and carry a cheese slicer at all time. They milk goats to make and sell cheese.

Congratulations Roger and Lori! Thanks to all of our players for the laughs you gave me this week! Please pick up your award from my sidebar before you leave...


This week's words are

busticate

attar

If you're new to Thesaurus Thursday, the T-T scoop can be found here.
Please take a second or two to get the scoop before you leave comments entries!

Now get out there and exercise your BRAIN and your FUNNY BONE at the same time!!

goals

HEY! time's running out to put up a guess on this week's Thesaurus Thursday!!

Time to check in on my weekly goals. Last week's goals turned out to be quite ambitious!

a) get money order and passport photo and fingerprints ready to send for La license. nope.
b) mark rest of quilt nope.
c) make baby blanket well, turns out I have TWO blankets to make! I got one of them done.
d) mail stuff to Steph ready to go out soon as the other baby blanket is done.
e) complete and post 3 favorite prayers meme that Lisa tagged me for. done.
f) complete and post 5 favorite devotions meme that Sherry tagged me for. done.
g) edit and post the Absolutely Awesome pictures my brand new camera took at the water park last week. done.
h) survive my stress echo tomorrow morning....for some reason running on a treadmill immediately after working for 12 hours is NOT appealing...but rather appalling done, all is as well as ever.
i) enroll my middle child in KINDERGARTEN!!!! done.
j) take the kids to the Dallas Aquarium!! nope. looks like we won't make it before school starts....maybe one weekend here soon. we'll see.


Here's the baby blanket I made. kinda cute huh?

Friday we are finally getting our headlights fixed! yeah!! then I'll be able to get back to the gym!

So, next week's goals are:

z) get to the gym

y) to the post office

x) get stuff for La license

w) mark rest of quilt

v) make other baby blanket

As summer draws to a close

The boys went to day camp last week. Sunshine had a great time in his music class. Every day he brought home an instrument that they made. Who knew you could make so much music with paper plates!!

Here he is at the little recital they put on the last day of camp.




Gator had a good time in his Dr. Seuss class too!!

To celebrate the end of camp we went out to lunch at our favorite local catfish restaurant.

The roses hubby bought me last week have opened up HUGE!!

School starts two weeks from today. And while I'm a bit stunned that I'll have 1 in FIRST GRADE and 1 in KINDERGARTEN. I'm really looking forward to re-establishing some routine around here! These loosey-goosey summer days are too much for me or the kids!

But let's discuss school supplies for a minute. I mean REALLY!! I have to buy TEN boxes of crayons!! TEN! That's 240 crayons for 2 kids!!! School's only in session for 180 days.....So are they going to use a different crayon EVERY DAY of the year???? amazing!

Devotions and Prayers and Memes Oh My!

So, twice in two weeks I've been tagged.

I haven't been tagged in I think a year. And these two memes are unlike any I've seen floating around the internet before.





Lisa tagged me for a 3 favorite prayers meme and then Sherry tagged me for a 5 favorite devotions meme.

Now, the difference between a prayer and a devotion is beyond my understanding.
But I thought I'd show you a couple of prayers I really like and the books that I found them in...


Enlarge all the pics so you can read the prayers!!!

First off is this little prayer book that I got at church when I was in RCIA (conversion classes)





The prayers I like most in this book are this prayer for Peace in the Family



And the Prayer of St Francis.


Next there's the first prayer book written by my Favorite Friar, Fr Philip Powell




Which he was kind enough to sign for us when he was over to dinner a couple weeks ago!

Inside is this beauty which I find very comforting.

Don't we all have the occasional "Dark Night of the Soul"?

You can get a copy of this prayer book here.
And Fr Philip's second prayer book is also available, here.


Then, there's what seems to be every Catholic's favorite standby....

Praying the Rosary.






Because I know most of my readers are Protestant I thought I'd explain a little of what's said when a person prays the Rosary.

First there are 4 basic prayers. Which are shown here from the first prayer book:



There's also another prayer not listed here that is "optional". But my church says it at our group rosaries and I happen to just love it.

"Oh my Jesus, forgive us our sins and save us from the fires of Hell. Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those most in need of Thy mercy. Amen"

kinda says it all, huh?

Each bead, along with the crucifix and medal on a rosary is a reminder of what order to pray the prayers in and where you are. To pray an entire rosary usually takes about 20 minutes....depending on how fast you speak/think/pray.

Each rosary is divided into 5 parts (known as decades). During each decade you focus on one portion of the Gospel. These portions are called "mysteries" and are divided into 4 types of Mysteries, The Joyful, the Luminous, the Sorrowful and the Glorious Mysteries.

You can see the mysteries and their accompanying scriptures here:






It is recommended that you pray a rosary each day and rotate which "type" of Mystery you're focusing on. If you actually follow this schedule, you will go through Jesus' birth, miracles, death, and resurrection every week.


Just a note. You will see in the Hail Mary that it says "pray for us, sinners...." To say a Hail Mary isn't so much a prayer TO Mary, as a way to ask Mary, the woman who bore Jesus our Savior, to pray FOR us. My husband refers to this as the Heavenly Buddy System. Just as I will ask you, my friends, to join me in lifting a prayer request to Jesus; Catholics also ask Mary (and the Saints) to join in lifting their prayer requests. And the words of the Hail Mary are scriptural, Luke 1:28,42,&45.


Then there are the prayers that I pray most often. These are a group of specific prayer requests for our family and each member's needs. And the prayer that I started putting my oldest to sleep with when he was a newborn that now each kid says every night.

"Dear God, please send Angels to watch over my (mommy's) babies and keep them safe tonight. Amen"

But what is probably my favorite devotion is simply basking in God's beautiful handwork.

"Be still, and know that I am God."
Psalm 46:10.


I'm tagging ALL of YOU!!!
If you have read this post, then YOU are tagged and I would love to read about your favorite prayers and devotions!

The Water Park.

But first, I must brag on my hubby!
Ain't these gorgeous!???

they're in my FAVORITE vase! :-)


Now on to our water park fun.


I think, in this day and age, THIS is impressive!!

First up, the boys! We got there early and had the place to ourselves for about the first hour.

This shot is 1/5 second too late! He'd just run THROUGH the biggest fountain shooting at it's highest!

thirsty??

Anticipation!!......

Not bad.......
Let me see if I can do better.....
Hooo-Ahhhh!!!

Yes, I am a BOY.

Onto Miss Priss' tale.

First she circled the perimeter, like before......making sure to NOT get wet!

Then she decided she could get closer and watch the fountains go on and off....so long as she stayed out of their range......

Eventually she tried sticking a finger or two in.....

And immediately had to let me know "I'm WET MOM!!"...

and yet, that water is sooo inticing......

She just had to try again!

"I did it! I got WET Mom! See, Mom! My hand is WET!!!"

Now, since she managed to keep from melting, she figured she'd better try dipping a toe or two in too.....

A "friend" was happy to show her how this is done.....

That's the ticket!.....

So that by the time the boys were worn out and hungry.....

Sugars had just discovered the thrill and adventure to be had.......
and so SHE didn't want to leave!!!

Next time I'll have to take her watch off and put her ear plugs in, as I do believe she'll actually get wet enough to drip a little then!

Better remember my camera!