Really?

I was accused today of being "totally void of a personality." Really? This was by someone who has actually met me in person. Funny, I always thought I had a little too much personality for a lot of people. Go figure.

Thanks to Real for keeping up the blog while I had a significant case of the SO - Substantially Overwhelmedness.

New Meals

New recipe this week: Turkey Tenderloin (I am not sure how that is possible other than it LOOKED like a tenderloin). I bought a plain one and an apple cider one. (Did I mention I was out running errands and was getting home close to dinner with nothing planned, last stop being Target Superstore?) We ate it, we'll eat the leftovers, but I don't intend to buy either one again. We'll stick to Pork Tenderloin as a special treat. That was yummy but pricey. And...my grocery money saving sister will be proud of this one. The Pork Tenderloin was 1/2 price when I bought it :)

Small Successes

I think these may be my only successes this week - but that's ok. I originally thought I wouldn't have anything to say...but after thinking about it for awhile I started to feel better a wee bit better about the week. That's why we list our small successes. To remember that we did have some.

1. Our family went to visit my 85 yr old grandma on Saturday. She's in a nursing home about 1 hour away from here. It has been way too long since we visited her last. We will go back again very soon.

2. Took the younger 5 kids on walk on Sunday (older two were snowmobiling with dad and grandpa). It was supposed to be about 30 minutes. We were gone 1.5 hours. The kids were dawdling behind as I was pulling a partly sleeping Logan home in the sled. They insisted they saw something in a tree that just couldn't possibly be there. They were so excited. I relented and walked back. So, that's my success. Not so much the walk. The going back to see what made my kids really wanted to show me even though I just wanted to get Logan home before he started crying to be carried again (do you know how hard it is to carry a 25 lb. child when you are both puffy and weighed down with winter gear?!) And, if you want to see what they found....scroll down ....there's a picture just past the snow fort and snowmobiles.

3. Decluttered the basement toy area and school room. The garbage man is not going to be very happy tomorrow. But the charity truck coming to pick up the donations will be :)

8 year old Henry had a big success this week.......he had First Reconciliation and is/was very excited!

Time for Mom

Crunchy Momma and I recently had a conversation about the need for alone time. We both need it. I, for one, have been enjoying my daily walks alone. I find them refreshing, mind clearing, and physically invigorating. I am very fortunate. Anna is 15, Nathan is 12. I can leave the house knowing that they can watch everyone else for a short time. Crunchy Momma, unfortunately cannot until her Prince Charming comes home. But, she will get there too.

Funny thing is, we had this same conversation years ago. Neither of us understood someone needing some time alone. Prayer time was alone, what more could someone need? We would both get really annoyed when people would proclaim that we "need to get a sitter" after they found out neither of us had much alone time. We just didn't need it. I also remember being a bit judgemental of those who did.


And, looking back, we still don't think we needed it then. It's not like our eyes were opened to something we were missing. We just changed, both of us. It doesn't matter how many kids you have, whether you home school or not, or how many things you have juggling on your plate.
People are different, circumstances are different, etc.

Needing time alone is not a weakness, not needing it is not a strength. What's important is that we realize and accept what we need, without worrying about what other people think.

Awhile back, Crunchy Momma wrote an excellent post on mom's night out (sure, she thinks of those things AFTER moving 1000+ miles away from me!)

Some of the reasons why we love the winter...

... and wonder how Crunchy Momma and her family could have left all this.

Dead Puffer Fish in the Upper Midwest

I took the kids for a walk today and this is what they found in a tree. Puffer fish just aren't native where we live. As we were taking this picture I couldn't help but wonder if someone was watching us from their house on the trail - laughing after having planted this there.

And...my neighbor (who used to live out east) told me people buy them like this out east. Kinda strange to see one here in the snow!

Small Successes

Sometimes it's even more important to recognize our small successes, especially during a particulary challenging week. The small successes are still there. We need to look for them. For more small succcesses and inspiration click on the link above.

1. Finally made an appt. with the surgeon to see about getting my gall bladder removed. Long story, I won't bore you with the details. But I'm hoping he will take my OB's and GP's advise and NOT make me undergo the tests the last surgeon I saw 18 months ago was going to require.

2. Went on a nice brisk walk every day for the last week (except 1), fullfilling my need for fresh air, exercise, and alone/break time. This will (MUST) continue.

3. Did not lose my cool after 5 or so mishaps this week (like Logan dumping a large cup of fish food in the aquarium requiring Nathan to start his schoolwork an hour late because the tank HAD to be taken care of then.) (or like getting everyone excited to go out to visit an Angel statue a few blocks away, get all the snow gear on the litte ones, only to HAVE to cancel due to an injury, needing ice and love, caused by someone doing something they shouldn't do - he's fine now.) This is NOT to say I only had 5 mishaps. Only that I took the high road in only 5 mishaps. I'm still a work in progress. I have a long way to go.

Act of Contrition

Have you ever noticed that if you say your Act of Contrition too quickly it comes out like...Oh my God, I am HARDLY sorry for all my sins? Well, when you have young children who don't even know heartily is a word that is certainly what it sounds like. I'm thankful this particular child was paying enough attention to question why I was HARDLY sorry. And now this child learned that heartily is a word!

Foot in mouth

After typing in the following post I realized we almost became rabbit people. You see, about a year ago, we formally met the couple that lives behind us. We have 7 children. They were very kind and said they didn't have any children, but they were cat people. I just stared at them. No words came out. No words even floated in my head. Finally I smiled and someone walked over and broke up that awkward LONG moment. I still wave to them over the fence but I have to wonder...do they think that I think they are weird for being "cat people" rather than "child people"? Because I totally do NOT! But, and I am so sorry to all the cat people out there but I am not too fond of cats. I would never hurt one. My friends have them, my sister's family has one, we've taken care of people's (at their house) when they were out of town, we even fed one salmon at our doorstep (yeah yeah, it's all I had and she looked so pathetic like an indoor cat that accidentally got out).

But, I am allergic to cats (only if I touch them) and they seem to gravitate to ME! My sister's cat tends to stay out of sight when people are over. But in the past, if we laid our coats on a bed at her house...it would always curl up on mine, no matter which coat I wore. It's like it just knew. So, basically I guess I find cats a little too "smart/knowing" for my taste in pets, and if you really look them in the eyes it's like they know what you are thinking, I find it a little creepy. But, I would never tell this to the cat people behind us. I can't fit 2 feet in my mouth.

Fibonacci series and rabbits

Did you know....
1. If you start with 1 male and 1 female rabbit.
2. They mature and reproduce at 2 months.
3. Just say that they only have 2 rabbits per litter (1 female and 1 male) (we know this is VERY conservative).
4. They can have a litter each month.
5. Just say no deaths occur.

Did you know that the number of rabbits you will have each month is the Fibonacci series? 1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55,89,144,...

After 12 months you would have 144 rabbits?! And that's if they only have litters with 2! How often does that actually happen?

Does anyone else find this interesting? My husband thought I was a little quirky but hey, he bought me the book! (Asimov on Numbers).

Maybe I find this kinda funny because 10 years ago we bought 2 immature rabbits - thought to be 2 female rabbits. "Thankfully" one got sick and they had to be separated until it was well again. In the meantime we discovered the healthy one was a male. Good thing we kept them separate!

Small Successes

1. Sewed on a Little Flowers badge (moving the TV which is temporarily on the sewing cabinet - I don't sew much...)

2. Made pancakes and eggs this morning for breakfast using the giant griddle my dh bought for me.

3. Managed to slip out for a 2 hour snowmobile ride alone with my dh.

4. BONUS: Made the decision to start school NEXT WEEK - giving us 3 weeks off. We have a lot to do this week to be prepared.

Kids and food

We have poptarts at our house reserved for Sunday breakfasts (we go to 7:30 Mass - poptarts just work for the younger kids). This morning...
Wyatt: Mom, can I have a poptart?
Mom: No, it's basically a cookie.
Nathan: Yeah, ice cream is probably healthier, at least it has a lot of milk.
Wyatt, thinking he's on to something here: Can I have ice cream then?
Mom: No.