{PHFR}

{Pretty}

Bringing Fall into the house, finally! I usually do that when Fall begins, but I've been pretty preoccupied this year!

{happy}

Sleeping in this adirondack, completely open to spiders and fresh air, was surprisingly pleasant. I'm happy that we stayed dry in the downpours and that we did NOT have a wet tent to take down on Sunday morning!

{funny}

$1 nerd glasses (or hipster) that she had to have. They look awesome on her and she wore them to school today.

{real}

Stupid caterpillar. I stooped down to take a picture (because I'd heard about these poisonous dudes proliferating this year and I wanted to find out if this was the one) and the stupid dog tangled his head in my earphone cord and yanked my phone out if my had. I wish I could take a photo of my broken screen.:'-) I had every intention of buying a new phone case on my way to get the kids from school (because I had dropped it the day before!), but alas, the dog beat me to it! My poor, pretty phone! I hate that! Now it's encased in a nice, protective, pink OtterBox with the cracked screen and I hardly recognize it as mine. 

Dontcha hate broken phones?

Oh, the silly caterpillar is going to become an American Dagger Moth.

~~~~~

I'm linking up with the lovely mother and daughters at Like Mother, Like Daughter. Visit the linkup to see what others are posting!

Etsy Update

I found a little time this morning to update my social media icons over there -----> (top of the right sidebar), and I added my Etsy shop.

Be sure to stop by, if you haven't. Christmas is coming! There are only 10 9 shopping weekends until Christmas! Have you started shopping? Now is a good time.

xo

Cardinal Dolan on Countercultural Bishops

Cardinal Dolan on the African bishops is a perfect antidote to a case of the Monday's.

"Weekly" Rambles

::Weekly Rambles::

What’s really on my mind and heart?

I'm trying to figure out how I can do all the things I want to do (or at least some of them) in addition to the things I need to do.

What am I thankful for?

I'm thankful for a quick visit from the Athens kids, yesterday. I'm thankful for a little camping trip with AHG which included Tom, Pip, and my dear husband. We had a good time; it was relaxing and pleasant in spite of unwelcome thunderstorms, stitches (for another child), and sewage backups in the bathrooms.

What’s going on in school?

Today being Columbus Day, we have the day off for "enrichment." I think some reading aloud of fairy tales is in order.

What’s cooking?

Why do you always ask that? lol. I should just delete it. Well, I'll tell you what---it will be something healthy since we ate way too many pop-tarts and toaster pastries while camping. I know how to cook healthy meals while camping, instead of just using boxed foods, and I did do some of that, but I also provided lots of the aforementioned unhealthy options which I enjoyed.  Too much.

What’s on the needles?

This shawl. It's going to be heavy and warm, unlike my usual light and lacy things, and I'm learning some new skills on what looks like a pretty simple design.

What’s special about this week?

It is "Spirit Week" at school, so there will be several fun outfits for Pip to wear instead of the usual uniform. PSAT this week, also. And more of the usual: Eucharistic adoration, AHG, and LOTS of fun on Saturday with kids activities!

What am I reading?

I finished The Twelve, Book 2 of The Passage trilogy. Good, but I didn't like it as much as the first. The story went a bit off the rails in terms of believability---if you can even make such a comment about an apocalyptic vampire virus that destroys the world. If you're contemplating reading these, be warned that there is plenty of graphic language in both, and then the second got a bit sexually graphic. These are definitely not the same YA fiction as Divergent and Hunger Games.

What am I praying about?

Healing for lots of people, especially my uncle who is recovering from surgery to remove a cancerous tumor in his colon, and my sister-in-law who has a lot of struggles and cannot put weight on her ankle for a couple of months.

What’s on my ipod?/

I discovered another podcast (as if I have time to listen to them all! I think I need to walk more. A LOT more.) called Katy Says with Katy Bowman. Katy is all about "restorative exercise" and body alignment, and I love it because of my bad back and neck that give me problems, and those problems reach down and affect the knees and feet. You know, the head bone's connected to the leg bone! 

What projects are happening at home?

First up, is cleaning up and repacking all the camping gear. After that, I think I need to give the poor, neglected basement some TLC since no one goes down there and DH found a dead lizard in the bathroom. I don't know why that would be surprising, though, because we always found live lizards when we were down there schooling every day!

Oooh, and I scored a couple of free pallets that were left up at our tennis courts by guys resurfacing the courts. Now I need to peruse this Pinterest page to find something to do with them!

~~~

It's nice to be back---home-wise and blog-wise. Tell me what you're up to! Are you reading anything good? I need a new book! Got any pallet ideas? (Easy ones, cuz I'm lazy like that.)

True Confessions

I made it to Confession last night for the first time in 3 months. So many things just kept cropping up on confession nights that I couldn't make it. Saturdays are always busy with places to drive the kids. However, when you get right down to it, there's really no excuse for not making the time----the rest of the family did. My husband, God bless him, made sure he and the kids got there every few weeks!

I've noticed recently that I had lost all my peace and calm within. Frustrations were mounting in all the different areas of my life, and I know that some of that has to do with not going to confession. Maybe they're just "ordinary" venial sins that everyone has, but it feels so much better to confess and get them off my mind and heart on a regular basis. Aside from a hot mess of swirling emotions inside, it's hard to make decisions in your life when you're not fully right with God.

So, to get to confession last night, I had to miss choir rehearsal (which had been moved up half and hour, making both confession and choir impossible on the same night). It was worth it, and it helped cement the idea that it's time for me to retire from the choir. (Sorry, I'm not a poet; that wasn't meant to rhyme! ;-) ) It's time for me to sit in the pew with my family---my husband and my 2 remaining children at home---on Sundays.

I hope I never go so long again without confession. Having my inner peace return is a wonderful thing, and I hope (and pray) that it spreads to those other areas of my life where tensions are building.

Yarn Along

OMG. It has been a month since I did any blogging! I had no idea; I thought it was only a couple of weeks. I seem to have a lot of other things occupying brain space these days.

Naturally, working with yarn is one of the things taking up space---brain-wise and household-wise. I just participated in the annual Shop Hop around area yarn stores and bought enough yarn to keep me busy for the next year!

One project I spent a lot of time on is my Cat in the Hat baby blanket. It's done with Tunisian crochet instead of knitting. I think it is the Cutest Thing Ever! It's also my first Tunsian project. I remember my mom+ making an afghan with a long crochet hook and lots of stitches on the needle, but I never knew what it was. She's not around to ask anymore, but I finally found the answer, and it is so much fun!

I spent a good 36 hours listening to, while I crocheted that blanket, The Passage by Justin Cronin. It's about the government engineering a virus that creates vampires in order to build a more powerful army. I'm sure you can imagine how well that goes for them....and the rest of the country. Not well at all.  Despite the fact that it's about vampires, lol, it's very compelling and hard to put down. I just started reading the second part of the trilogy (is everything a trilogy these days?)---The Twelve. Just as gripping thus far!

Leave a comment so I'm motivated to blog more! ;-) I'm glad you dropped by!

---Linking up with Ginny. Drop in to see everyone else's yarns.