S.tay A.t H.ome M.om at Work

pic credit: wired.com With Halloween coming up, I decided to lay to rest my rants about this holiday, and focus on a topic of what our modern day vampire looks like.  What?   You haven't seen or heard from them lately?  Yes. You.  Have.  I can almost guarantee it. We all have some experience with those that suck the life right out of us, like that all too thirsty vampire, lurching at your neck for one drop of your sweet, precious blood.  These creatures of the night will almost always leave you drained, exhausted, stressed out and possibly with little time left for all your other daily commitments. For some reason we are attracted to these life drainers as we truly believe we are trying to be a good friend, sister or that comfort for someone in need.  And if it was only once in a while that we were needed in this way, it wouldn't drain us as drastically. However, the vamps of our day, are relentless.  One drink of your compassion ...

1.)  Survived two days with sporadic electricity.  Strong winds and down branches.   Silence can be a gift. 2.)  Survived routine feminine physical exam after two years of non-medical appointments.  All blood work came back normal, and next week will see results of ...ugh....pap. 3.)  Survived anxiety of posting and selling a few things on ebay.....sold higher than expected.  God is good. In Progress: 4.)  Prediction:  Will survive Parent Teacher Conferences tomorrow! Have some to share? Go Here.

pic credit: pbase.com Large storms have passed our way, and as usual, with any gust of wind, we lose our electricity.  We are used to it now, and it doesn't put too much of a crimp into a day, however, today, I really noticed how quiet the house gets with no juice to keep it going, not to mention how I spend my time without power. Today, while Babe slept, I actually read.  I read.  I really read a magazine.  It was bliss.  The house was quiet, I mean silent.  Eerie silent.  I kept walking through the house wondering what those little noises I heard were, as the house continued to creek due to the wind. Finally, I gave up the search for strange noises, and went back to reading my magazine....and then to no one's surprise, I actually fell asleep on the couch, still with said magazine laying in my lap.  When I awoke, I had to chuckle at myself.  The only time to spend quiet time with a book or magazine, and my body decided for me, th...

Checkout my lastest article on CatholicMom.com.   You'll remember bits of this....but with all things, time and distance gives us all 20/20 vision.  Enjoy!

pic credit: cultureshocktv.blogspot I've been a little preoccupied as of late.  School is keeping us all very busy and my days with Babe are picking up as volunteering at the school is underway now.  Most things, thankfully I can do from home.  Shoot an email, call it in, or simply plug away at updates are mainly time consuming details, which, praise God, are only tedious, rather than actually difficult. So my blogging has suffered.  Sorry for that.  Things have been happening all around us, things to blog on, things to contemplate and I haven't posted them.  I've got this thing stuck on my mind, and I'm not sure exactly how to take it, and being a blogger myself, has me really focusing on purpose, intent and overall goal of blogging all together. I read this post on Faith and Family and it got me to thinking, when others read my posts, what are the reactions.  I do mostly post positive, uplifting, or (I hope) inspirational type of posts...

Over the weekend we had the Pilgrim Queen stay with us.  Our little Entertainer was in charge of organizing the family to pray, and gather together joining our intentions with Our Lady's. She's a very responsible little girl at only 5 years old.  She takes very seriously her responsibility and her role of caring for our Pilgrim Queen.  It was beautiful to see and witness her sincere desire to bring her family to the foot of Mary. While I showed little Entertainer which bead we were on, as we prayed, I saw her in a new light.  I saw her not only as a little party personality, or one who loves to sing and dance, I saw her as someone who loves to see others happy.  She thrives on your smile.  She sees that smile as affirmation that what she is doing is good and right....and that's her motivator.  She'll work herself to the ends of the earth, as long as she has that smile from you.  She strives to see happiness in others which I get it now....I...

Just a few pics to capture our super Fun Fall weekend.  No, we didn't go anywhere special.  No, we didn't spend a lot of money.  No, we didn't even carve pumpkins yet.  We stayed in our very own backyard, and made a weekend to remember!  Banana Oatmeal Chip Cookies    Just your average neighborhood sleeping bat.    Firepit    Roasting Marshmallows   Yum   Smores 

pic credit:  youngknighterrant.com Mr. Carefree has been studying so diligently for an altar server quiz. I am not sure if I have ever seen him take on such a challenge and tackle each complicated item one by one. It's inspiring.  It's occupied so much of his time that he even is dreaming about it. He told me of a dream he had, in which the Blessed Mother appeared to him, and my son got the chance to ask her questions.  He was so descriptive of her.   She wore a heart necklace.  She was dressed in all white. She stood where a golden sword was sticking out of ground.  I told him that morning, that perhaps she was rewarding his time and energy he had spent on his studying, or that she wanted to encourage him to keep it up, to be a Knight for Jesus. I'll never forget how his eyes lit up hearing that perhaps the Blessed Mother had given him and only him a special gift.  After talking about his dream, I told him, "It's prett...

How to Know When Your Floor Needs a Deep Clean When Mr. Carefree asks if he can sweep the floor, so his feet doesn't feel the crumbs. This morning:  Mission Accomplished.  Thorough mopping complete.

We had a little *snafu* today, which upon working to clear it up, presented itself with a little lesson on self acceptance. My Thinker made a comment during my lecture on helping her brother instead of hurting him, that it was so difficult to be the oldest of the children.  She said, "I am sure someone else would do a better job." To which, I stood there, thinking carefully, knowing that she had thought long and hard already about her feelings on the subject.  I asked her, "Do you believe that God made you?" She answered, "Yes. I do." "Okay," I said, "Do you think He made you the oldest, for some reason?" She said, "Yes, I guess He did." "Okay," I said, feeling like I was making progress.  "Now, do you think He makes mistakes?" She thought for a moment.  Then answered, slowly, "No, He doesn't." "Right.  He doesn't.  Do you think He wants someone else to be the oldest...

All summer long we heard the familiar tunes of our neighborhood Icream Man.   Each time I’d run to the front yard, money in hand, only to see his taillights zooming down our street.    Some days we actually sat in our front yard, just waiting to hear his song of ice cream goodness, only to be disappointed while returning to our normal play outside.   Today we had a little ‘Indian summer’, and low and behold, we heard the Icecream Man’s tunes coming our way.   The kids screamed, “Mom!   Mom!   We hear the Icecream Man!   Hurry!” I came running, ‘Okay, I thought, we’ll give it one last try’.   I yelled, “Someone find my purse!”   I ran outside to greet our Icecream Man, ordered our kiddos some treats, all the while the five little ones watched from our front yard with cheers and squeals of delight.   I returned with a little box of goodies, and even Babe joined in the chorus of clapping and cheering for Mom.   I walked into the h...

I wasn't going to post any successes this week, as weeks are flying by for us now, and I didn't really feel that I accomplished a whole lot.  But in that never-ending effort to keep being optimistic, I'm gonna brainstorm for a few minutes....let's see what I did.... 1.)  Went grocery shopping, replenished veggies since garden is done.  Got a few treats for HH and me as well.  Babe got tons of free stickers from checkout lady. 2.)  Went to estate sale in town, picked up some new, fun fabric.  Babe gets free chocolate candies from checkout girl. 3.)  Stopped at neighbor's garage sale, bought organizational Caboodles for Thinker and her bracelet making trinkets.  Babe gets two free balls from checkout Mom. In Progress: Prayer for Carefree's altar server quiz today.  He's nervous.  He asked, "What if I don't pass, and I can't be a Knight for Jesus?"  What a good kid. Have some to share?  Go here.

Entertainer's Kindergarten teacher exclaims:  "Oh, you are so sweet!  Do you think I could take you home with me?!" Entertainer responds:  "Hum......I have to ask my Mom first."

One of the aspects of staying at home with my children that I have come to not only enjoy but be so thankful for is time. Some working mothers run out of time as fast as sand flows out of your open hand, and then the game of catchup begins grasping at the little pebbles of sand dust that have already flown into the wind. Opportunities are lost. They are gone, and those moments can always be re-created, however, difficult to take naturally occurring situations and make them not seem contrived, manipulated or awkward. I’ve heard Time is Money. But I’ll throw a new twist on it, and in our home: Time is Virtue. It’s tough to give time. It’s tough to let go of a precious commodity as time, however, if given time, you can see opportunities. And just recently, last week, HH and I saw an opportunity with Serious. Losing teeth is a natural, normal occurrence in childhood. All children will lose those baby teeth, and grow permanent teeth. If you’re busy, and time is often lost as if standing...

A couple requests were made for lessons learned during HH and mine weight loss journey …...and like so many others who have lost weight, the lessons learned are quite alike. I’ve categorized these three avenues to help wade through these lifestyle changes to make it easier to understand. First category is FOOD. This is a no-brainer, you’ve got to look long and hard at what you are eating. Second Category is EXERCISE. Now, of course, you knew there had to be some physical activity to get results, right? Lastly, I’ve included the MENTAL GAME. New to you? Ok, let’s be real. There is a mental component to weight loss. You have to be committed, and ready to look at life, eating and your choices seriously. Let’s begin with what HH and I learned about FOOD. 1. Begin to look at food as a way to survive and be healthy, not for any other reason (like boredom activity or just wanted to taste great flavors). 2. Increase vegetables and fruit and protein. Decrease processed foods that come i...