The Trouble with Summer

I should be getting ready to go to the swim team banquet in 2 hours. I have to cook a huge amount of food because I have so many swimmers---I have to take a main dish, a side dish, a salad, and a dessert. For pete's sake, that's more than I feed my own family! But, as usually happens, my children are scattered to the 4 winds and I'm at loose ends, wasting my time, errr, blogging.

I HATE not having a schedule! Granted, I hate having too much to do, but summer is such a pain. I feel bad for saying that since some of my friends have harder summers than I do and she would probably love a little of mine! My kids swim all morning during swim team, and just generally hang out at the pool to watch the other practices. Then they eat lunch, if I'm lucky, and run off to play with friends, rarely coming home unless I force them. I actually like having my kids around and I look forward to spending time with them that doesn't involve forced labor or schoolwork. Shocker. As it is, I spend a lot of time planning for the next school year, putting off planning, cleaning up the messes the little darlings leave behind when they run out the door, doing laundry, cooking and shopping for food. Hmmm, sounds like a lot of the same stuff I do year round only with no kids underfoot. You'd think I'd be grateful. What I really want is to spend fun time with my kids and have a break from the usual tedium.

Well, swim team will be completely over for another year after tonight's party. Maybe I can drag the younger 3 out to the pool in the mornings before it gets too hot. Force them to have a little fun---like they're not already having it with their friends! We'll hit some of the free movies at the neighborhood theater. Maybe we'll even get to read some books---they had been looking forward to the idea of stories and a fun snack in the afternoons (Not too fun. Don't be impressed). We had planned to read all the books on the shelves that get overlooked.

Will we have a chance to do what we planned? Or will it all get frittered away doing goodness-knows-what at the neighbors' houses and procrastinating on the real work that needs to be done? Okay, I know Rachel is totally laughing at me now because we're complete opposites!

A Year for St. Paul and My Husband

Today is the beginning of the Year of St. Paul. It's also the name day of my dear husband, the Master of the World. (That's his nickname because it's the meaning of his first name and we've always gotten a big kick out of it!) We like to celebrate name days with the dinner and dessert of choice. He also got to use the "happy day" plate that I made at one of those paint-your-own-china places a few years ago. Everyone loves to use it on their special days---birthdays and name days.

I hope this is the beginning of a grace-filled year as we go through this Pauline year with St. Paul. It think we'll have to find a special way to remember him each day during our family prayers.

Almighty and everlasting God, Who, of Thy Divine mercy, didst instruct Thy blessed Apostle Paul what he should do that he might be filled with the Holy Ghost; by his admonitions directing us and his merits interceding for us, grant that we may serve Thee in fear and trembling and so be filled with the comfort of Thy heavenly gifts. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Ode to the Green Thing and My Mom

Assuming I figured out how to do this correctly, this is a picture of the Green Thing, newly repainted. I'm sure you're asking, "What the heck is a Green Thing?!" As far back as I can remember it was a fixture in my home. It's a piece made from an old-fashioned cabinet for a radio. I think the front was more ornate and that was removed to make a frame for a mirror to hang above it, and doors were added to the front. I inherited the Green Thing shortly before my sweet mother died of ALS. I was visiting her at my sister's house, where she had gone to live, when she asked, "Who wants the Green Thing?" with a glint in her eye. "Not I!" said my sister, Big Red. Being the more sentimental sister, and knowing Big Brother was not at all sentimental, I said I'd love to have it.

I happily put the ugly antiqued green Green Thing in my foyer. It was kind of beat up after 10 years in storage and many years of use before that. While I hemmed and hawed about refinishing it, the decision was made for me when someone, who shall remain nameless, put something on it that took off the top layer of green and left an unsightly blue smudge on it! So, I resolved to put a new finish on it. However, I couldn't strip it down to the bare wood and continue to call it The Green Thing. Or paint it any other color and call it The Green Thing. And it was most unthinkable to name it anything else. So, as you can see, The Green Thing it remains. Albeit a much nicer color, with repainted silver knobs instead of bronze, and a bright spa blue interior. Yes, the interior was blue. I had the hardest time repainting that because, after all, no one sees it and it bore the remnants of my mother's life as an artist. When she lived in Virginia 10 years ago, before she put her things in storage and went to take care of Grandmother for her remaining years (which have yet to come to a close!), Mom used it in her studio to hold her paints and paintbrushes and left traces of turpentine on it. Sadly, I did choose to paint over those marks, but I have many other more beautiful reminders of her life as an artist. Like this one....

So my blog won't be lonely...

I guess it's time to stop in and say "Hi!" I've started a blog (obviously!) and played around a little with the design. Still not sure what I'm blogging about, but I don't have time to give it much thought right now. It's time to take a shower and get started on my running around for the day---taking Katie to the Marta station and the big boys to football practice, and leaving the little'uns here to fend for themselves and walk to the LAST Friday Funday for swim team. They finished the season 5-0! Now for the County meet tomorrow and Sunday and then the banquet on Monday, and we're done!