This N That

80's Dance--The 80's Dance went great!! We didn't have a huge crowd (about 50), partially due to family illnesses, but we sure had a great time! I have to say that being on the PTO has brought me experiences I never would have had otherwise. It's been worth my two year commitment. I don't regret any of it! Hopefully, they'll do it again next year (notice I said they?)



Cooking Slump--Remember all those lovely pictures of French Onion Soup and homemade bread? It's a distant memory. I got side-tracked with other things and never did a good December meal plan and everything slid downhill after that. I never got back on the horse. I keep popping frozen stuff into the oven and canned stuff on the stove and calling it dinner. Not that there's anything wrong with that...:-) The spirit just isn't movin' me. I'm hoping some creative juices start flowing soon. I'm just getting sick of all the family friendly food and I want to cook like I want to eat. Spaghetti, tacos, and pizzas get old after a while. And making two meals to please everyone is no fun.



Vegetable Pureeing--I have many unused, pureed vegetables in my freezer. Again, unmotivated. It all went down hill when Ted put the pureed cauliflower in the macaroni and cheese (probably too much) and the kids wouldn't eat it. My women's group friend went home and cried after me and another member shared our excitement over hiding pureed vegetables in our kids' food. She felt like a looser mom because she didn't. Well...I can tell her I am not all as I appear. I just don't think this is for me. I just started wondering if it was worth the effort and how much were they really getting when it was split up over a whole dish. And THEN I had to deal with the kids that didn't like the food I was hiding it in to begin with. The taco meat and hamburgers were great...but my boys don't like either of those two foods! Nothing can help them!



Latest Thoughts--Me, my mom and sisters need to get together more often. I was having a rough day when I asked Ted if I could get out of the house. I called my mom and we saw "P.S. I Love You" and I thoroughly enjoyed it!! It was great spending time with my mom and we had a nice chat in the car about this time in her life with dad and how much my dad put up with when my mom was ill. She just told me how much she loved him and how happy they are. My parents are my reminder of my future with Ted and what we can look forward to. I want to do this more often. I want to schedule it once a month on the calendar...and invite my sisters, too. That is my challenge...to follow up on this thought.

Mary is Dry at Night!!!--For a week now, Mary has been dry the majority of the nights. In fact, last night she woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom! What a victory! We'll see if this continues. Then we'll have to deal with the whole poop issue. Again. *Sigh*.

Lent is Coming Soon!--Lent is quickly approaching. My CRHP group (and the Catechism) has helped me to change my attitude about Lent. I thought it was kinda of negative to give up something. I thought it would be better to DO something...like improve your prayer life, or help others, whatever...something other than the (what I thought was) unproductive idea of giving something up. But my CRHP sisters shed some light on this for me. Giving up things is a practice in self control! We often do whatever we feel like....which leads toward a us-willed life instead of a God-willed life. But practicing this small virtue of temperance can protect us from giving in to temptation of gluttony. This is the same way that diligence (or budgeting our time and putting first things first like prayer, house work, etc) can protect us from "sloth" or laziness. Wow! OK! New info for me. I know this is really old information for some...but it's put in a new light for me and now I "get it". Basically, the practice of the Seven Virtues, can protect us from the Seven Deadly Sins. I'm hoping this will improve my Lent. I'm asking God to show me my weakness and what He wants me to work on during Lent...what needs to be balanced out, or put into order. I'll let you know if He speaks.

I'll post some 80's pictures from the dance in my next blog. I'm upstairs sitting outside the kids' bedrooms and nowhere near my camera for downloading. Two down, two to go.