All the bags are packed. Early tomorrow morning I will toss them all in the van (that still smells like “camp”) and we are off. Back in a week!
Month: July 2009
Confessions of a Weather Geek
TheDad’s a meteorologist, and I guess I’ve adopted some of his interest in the weather. For the past few days, I’ve been stalking the weather websites, checking out the long-range forecast for our upcoming vacation.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, I grabbed an index card and made a little database. In pencil. So I can erase and update until Monday morning, when I will turn off this laptop and leave it home! I’ll be internet-free for 6 days. I guess if I want to find out the weather at that point, I’ll just have to go outside like everyone else.
Faint on Friday
We had a few errands to run this morning: stop at SAM’S to return a pack of socks that Big Brother said were “the wrong kind,” stop at the library to return books, stop at Chick-Fil-A for a promised lunch out, stop at Target for dramamine and a backpack for Middle Sister. Of course, none of these are too far away from each other, so there was a lot of “in and out of the hot car and into the cool store” with each of these stops.
We were just about done in Target (Middle Sister was looking for just the right ponytail holders) when Little Brother said he had a bellyache. Usually that’s Little-Brotherish for “I need to use the bathroom” so I told Middle Sister to wait for us in the ponytail aisle; we’d be right back. I took Little Brother by the hand and all of a sudden he was hanging off my arm–he had passed out right there in the aisle. (Good thing I was holding his hand, or he’d have hit the floor hard!)
I called to Middle Sister, while getting down on the floor and getting Little Brother into my arms. It took him a few seconds to wake up–not many, but it felt like forever, and he felt very hot.
There we were, in the main aisle of the store, drawing all kinds of attention from very helpful shoppers and store personnel. I handed Middle Sister my purse and told her to go buy Little Brother a bottle of water, so she took off to do that. Little Brother was completely confused about what had happened, but after he had some cold water, he felt cooler. We sat there together for a few more minutes, until I thought he was OK. Fortunately he’s a little guy, so I was able to carry him to the front of the store. If there had been a line I’d have abandoned the cart, but we didn’t have to wait, so Middle Sister loaded our purchases, I swiped my card and signed, and we were out of there, and around the corner to home.
I have never seen so many people in red shirts and tan pants all in one place. I think every single Target employee asked us if they could help in any way. I really appreciated everyone’s concern and offers of assistance–from the store associates as well as other shoppers. (As a side note, the shoppers who stopped were ALL moms with their children. Way to go, moms!)
Little Brother felt pretty punky for a while, but after about an hour he had perked up, and soon after that he was climbing all over Middle Sister and asking her to play dodge ball, tossing a ball around the living room and risking the Wrath of Mom. So my guess is, he’s fine–just overheated. I’ve been pushing rest and fluids this afternoon.
Middle Sister never got those ponytail holders. I’ll let her walk over there tomorrow and get them.
A Budding Journalist
I gave Middle Sister and Little Brother each a notebook to take on our upcoming vacation, to write or draw “whatever” while on the trip. She’s been writing in it ever since. At this rate, I’ll need to give her a new one before we leave!
He’s Being Green!
So there we were, enjoying our lunch in Chick-Fil-A, when I noticed that Little Brother’s face and shirt were liberally adorned with barbecue sauce. “Little Brother,” I scolded, “stop wiping your hands on your shirt! Use a napkin!”
Middle Sister chided me, “But the shirt is reusable!”
If you want to know…
what the Catholic Bishops have listed as their priorities in health-care reform, look no further: Denise Hunnell has spelled it all out for you in her column at the Catholic Examiner.
Particularly of interest was the mention of Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal’s proposed strategy for health-care reform, ideas that
“would not bankrupt our nation or increase taxes in the midst of a recession. They are achievable reforms with bipartisan consensus and public support.”
Check Denise’s blog for more on the subject.
Tiber River Review: Sacred Hymns Collection by L’Angelus
Recorded by a group of young-adult siblings, the Sacred Hymns Collection by L’Angelus contains twelve beautiful and reverent treatments of familiar Catholic hymns. The instruments used are unique: piano, guitar, strings, mandolin, steel guitar and even accordion are featured on this CD; organ is only used in three of the tracks. The artists are clearly very gifted, and they perform the hymns flawlessly, with excellent harmony and beautiful accompaniment. The music is extremely peaceful and uplifting.
Song selection includes: Ave Maria; This Day God Gives Me; J’irai la Voir un Joir; Sing of Mary; Tantum Ergo; The Kind of Love My Shepherd Is; Salve Regina; Panis Angelicus; Muerto Para el Mundo; Jesus My Lord, My God, My All; Holy God We Praise Thy Name; Be Thou My Vision.
After previewing this CD at home, I brought it with me to a meeting of my Secular Franciscan fraternity, to be played during our social time. Many among the group commented on the beautiful music and were heard singing along. I found these arrangements very “welcoming” in that regard, because the hymns are not performed in a range that only trained singers can attain. The music is traditional, but the arrangements are fresh and unique rather than stuffy, and that makes these familiar hymns accessible to listeners who might normally shy away from the choir-and-organ arrangements generally associated with most of these titles. The artists have done church music a great service in this regard, opening the door to new listeners who are tired of the vapid contemporary church music to which they are normally exposed.
The Sacred Hymns Collection by L’Angelus is appropriate and highly recommended for listeners of any age.
I wrote this review of Sacred Hymns for the Tiber River Blogger Review program, created by Aquinas and More Catholic Goods. For more information and to purchase, please visit Aquinas and More Catholic Goods.
Tiber River is the first Catholic book review site, started in 2000 to help you make informed decisions about Catholic book purchases.
This is a non-compensated review. A review copy of the CD was provided to me.
Too Little, Too Late?
These days, it seems to be all about ID, all the time.
This week I had to go get my driver’s license renewed. Even though I proved four years ago that my marriage is valid in the State of New Jersey, the first time I had to get that special “fake-proof” driver’s license, I had to dig out that marriage certificate again. Not the one from the church, people. The one from the State is the only one they will accept. We won’t discuss the time and gas I wasted on this one, for the second time.
Then I got a letter from the kids’ school. It seems that if I want to continue as a school volunteer, I not only have to go through the VIRTUS training program (done, 3 years ago), but I now have to be fingerprinted and issued a Diocesan ID.
I am going to be treated like a criminal (and required to present, AGAIN, the very same IDs that I had to present this week to the DMV or whatever they’re calling it these days) so that I can stamp library books in my children’s parochial school.
Yes, the parish will pick up the tab (and believe me, I’ll be turning in that receipt!) but the cost is not the point. And believe me, I’m all for Protecting God’s Children. Again, that’s not the point.
Most of the people who are involved in school volunteering, Scouting, coaching and Religious Education are parents. That’s not to say that parents are blameless and that they would never endanger their own children or their children’s friends or classmates. But the vast majority of people who have put the children in the kind of danger that has caused us to need VIRTUS are not parents. Yet we parents must pay. I’ve already paid for my fingerprinting tab through my tuition and my weekly contributions to the parish–so when they reimburse me, it’s just my own money coming back once when I’ve paid twice. Not to mention the time and gas that I’m going to just consider wasted. And apparently, if I forget to bring and wear that Diocesan ID, the school can tell me that I can’t help in the library today.
I wonder how many volunteers the Church and schools will lose because of this policy? I’m not going anywhere, but I’m quite sure that this will chase people off.
Product Review: Urban Tie-Dye Sheet Set
When Big Brother returns from Boy Scout Camp on Saturday, he will be very happy to sleep in his own bed again after spending a week on one of those camp-issue cots.
He’ll be even happier to discover that he has a new sheet set from BeddingSets.com! Why settle for plain sheets when you can have olive-green tie-dye?
These sheets are really soft and nicely finished on the edge of the pillowcase and top edge of the flat sheet with matching, solid-color piping. I was disappointed, though, that the pillowcase was not finished all the way around, but only on the one side.
This product retails for $62.50 at BeddingSets.com, who graciously provided the sample sheet set described here.
Looking forward to…
a good read!
I was in the bookstore today, to buy some gifts. Usually I’m better-disciplined about buying myself a gift while I’m shopping, but I couldn’t help but pick up Julie and Julia by Julie Powell. What can I say–they had a mass-market edition that was half the price of the trade paperback! How could I resist?
Now all I need to do is polish off the book I’m reading now (The Soloist by Steve Lopez, which is in the house because it’s Big Brother’s summer-reading assignment, though he hasn’t read it yet.)