Month: May 2014

Lawn Chair Catechism 2.0

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Summer vacation hasn’t started here yet, but at CatholicMom.com it’s already time for Lawn Chair Catechism!

well built faith lawn chair catechism

We’re reading Joe Paprocki’s A Well-Built Faith. My copy is expected to arrive sometime today, but between substitute-teaching for the first grade and attending Middle Sister’s Baccalaureate Mass at the high school this evening, I won’t get to start reading this book for the first discussions.

If you don’t have the book yet, you can still participate by downloading the free Leaders’ Guide and then heading over to CatholicMom.com!

I Am Mommy. Hear Me Roar.

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On Tuesday, Little Brother is going on a field trip. That’s the kind of thing that happens in May. Since we live very near Philadelphia, his school often schedules field trips that take advantage of the many historical and educational resources of that city. This year they’re visiting a seaport museum and wrapping up the day at City Tavern, where they will be served a Colonial-style meal. city tavernThe students will dine on Tavern Country Salad with raspberry shrub dressing, lightly-breaded chicken breast, mashed potato, vegetables, Thomas Jefferson biscuits, Sally Lunn bread, and fruit cobbler.

That’s a far cry from the brown-bagged PBJ, juice box and granola bar he usually gets on a field trip.

I got in touch with City Tavern to ask for nutrition information about their food. After playing phone tag with their events coordinator for several days, she finally called me back this morning and very sweetly assured me that she’d speak to the chef and find out what I needed to know.

Two hours later she called me back and informed me that I was out of luck. While she could list all the foods they’d be eating, she couldn’t get me any nutrition information. Since they’re not a chain, they don’t have to provide that, and clearly they aren’t interested in doing so.

It’s really not fun to play Guess the Carbs in a restaurant, and I was hoping that since we’d inquired ahead of time (and I made the first call more than a week in advance of the trip) that the restaurant could help us figure things out.

denied

The restaurant’s website urges visitors: “In order to help us maintain a historic atmosphere, please refrain from the use of cell phones.” Well, that’s NOT going to happen, since Hubs will need to consult the Calorie King website to try to figure out what the restaurant refuses to tell him, despite the other thing they mention on their site:  “Should you have any culinary requests, please do not hesitate to ask any member of our staff.”

I guess nutrition information isn’t considered a “culinary request.”

We can guess on things like mashed potatoes and vegetables and even the chicken. But Little Brother has eaten there before on a field trip (before diabetes) and he was all about the bread. I did a simple google search on “Thomas Jefferson biscuits” and the third result is that restaurant’s own recipe.

nutrition city tavern philly Jefferson sweet potato pecan biscuitsIt took me less than three minutes to plug that recipe into the analysis tool at Calorie Count and generate a nutrition label. I’ll be printing it out, along with the recipe, and packing it with Little Brother’s diabetes supplies that Hubs will be carrying on the trip.

I hope Hubs hands them that piece of paper on his way out.

If he doesn’t, I’m mailing it in.

All I requested was information. Not trade secrets. Not recipes. Just nutrition information because my child has a medical need that requires me to know what’s in the food he eats. And as I just proved, this information is not difficult to acquire.

You’re next, Sally Lunn.

Small Success Thursday: Unexpected Free Time

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Small-Success-Thursday-400pxIt’s Thursday, so it’s time for Small Success over at CatholicMom.com!

Field Day at school was rained out. That meant I had four bonus hours that I wasn’t going to be spending at school hovering over Little Brother hanging around in case Little Brother’s glucose monitor went ballistic at his increased physical activity. So I came home and:nutrition label chicken tomato fennel CM

  • started 3 loads of laundry
  • did the grocery shopping
  • finished next week’s Tech Talk for CatholicMom.com (hint:  it’s on one of my favorite subjects–FOOD!)

And now I’m off to pick up a boutonniere for Middle Sister’s prom date. Please pray that the theme song for tonight’s event won’t be “It’s Raining on Prom Night.”

Make CatholicMom.com your next stop! Cheer everyone’s successes and crow about your own. Don’t have a blog? Leave yours in the combox.

Things You Don’t See Every Day

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This is just screaming for a good caption. Anyone?

out of service

R.I.P. Maytag

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For the fourth time in less than ten years, our dishwasher has broken.

Every time, it’s the same. The panel on the front where you select the cycle and turn it on breaks. First the latch that helps you open the dishwasher door starts to disintegrate. You can still use the dishwasher, but it’s a little more challenging. After a while, I guess the pieces of that latch start falling down on the inside, and none of the buttons on the front work anymore.

lonely maytag repairmanSo much for that “lonely Maytag repairman” myth.

Is there a Lemon Law regarding dishwashers?

Middle Sister observed this morning, “You don’t need a dishwasher. You have 3 kids.”

Me: (figuring that none of the kids would be on board for that kind of KP)  “Really?”

Middle Sister:  “Oh…yeah. You need a dishwasher.”

Mr. Appliance says that the average life expectancy of a dishwasher is 12 years. This one isn’t going to make it.

The new KP schedule will be posted on the refrigerator. Have fun, kids.

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Oh Happy Day!

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Happy weekend, really.

This weekend Big Brother graduated from LaSalle University.

Stephen graduation 1Magna cum laude and all.

He’s the one in the multicolored stole, which signifies the Justice Through Service Award. As a Service Scholar at LaSalle, he served in soup kitchens, tutored neighborhood children, participated in AIDS outreach, joined a group of 100 college students from around the country in a huge Habitat for Humanity effort, and more–10 hours per week for his whole four years.

DSC_0034In addition, he played bass, guitar, and mandolin in the Campus Ministry band every weekend for Mass.

He completed a double major in IT and Computer Science in 4 years and never once called home to tell us he needed money.

baccalaureate Mass

Congratulations, Big Brother! Words cannot express how proud I am of all your accomplishments.

Tiber River Review: Something Other Than God

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As a cradle Catholic, I’ve grown up accepting many things about the Faith without doing a lot of questioning. While my faith has deepened through the years, it never occurred to me to think about proving or exploring the truths behind what we believe.

something-other-than-god-95799lgJennifer Fulwiler, by contrast, came to the Church after growing up atheist. Her memoir Something Other Than God chronicles her intense journey of faith. She used resources that are readily available to us in this technological age, printing out pages of blogs and other religious websites, purchasing a vast library of Catholic books, and participating in online discussions. Fulwiler’s memoir shows–sometimes in very humorous ways–the great lengths she went to in order to satisfy her own intellectual and spiritual curiosity.

Fulwiler does not divorce her quest for faith from the rest of her life. This quest affected, and was affected by, her professional pursuits, her marriage, and even where she and her family chose to live. So many of the experiences she describes are easy for the reader to relate to, and her use of humor in the book does not serve to cut down the Church or the Faith in any way, but instead draws the reader in. The reader does not have to grow up atheist to “get” what Fulwiler is feeling, and her depiction of her health crises and others’ responses to those crises spark a geniune concern for the author. Fulwiler’s tone is that of a friend talking to a friend. It is not meant to convince the reader of the truth that Fulwiler has accepted. Instead, this book challenges the reader, whether a cradle Catholic, a new convert, or someone thinking about the Faith, to go deeper in their exploration–both on an intellectual and spiritual level.

Highly recommended.

The fine print:  I wrote this review of Something Other Than God for the Tiber River Book Review program, created by Aquinas & More Catholic Goods. I receive free product samples but no other compensation for my honest review. All opinions expressed here are mine alone.

On Mother’s Day

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We live 125 miles away from my parents, and I miss being able to visit them any time I want.

luke with nannie
My mom, hanging with Little Brother.

On Mother’s Day, especially, it hits hard.

Many of my friends on Facebook are missing their moms today. For some, it is the first Mother’s Day without their moms. Others’ moms passed away years ago. Still others suffer through conflicted relationships that make this day difficult.

TheDad and Middle Sister just left to visit his mom. She lives in assisted living now, and has dementia, and I don’t begrudge his trip to see her on Mother’s Day, because there’s going to be a Mother’s Day very soon when she doesn’t recognize her own son.

I thought maybe we’d get to drive up yesterday to see my parents, but that didn’t work out. I am grateful for one thing, though:  we were home to do a small kindness for a 13-year-old neighbor who spent yesterday at her grandparents’ home while her family kept vigil with her dying grandmother. She called our house asking if we’d pick up some flowers so she’d have a Mother’s Day gift for her mom this morning. Later, when she came home and got the flowers from our porch, we listened to this eighth-grader as she recounted the events of a very difficult day. There’s not much we can do to help, but we can do these little things, and I know that my mom would be glad that we were able to do that.

While distance keeps us apart more often than I’d like, I am very blessed. My mom is in good health. We have a great relationship. I can call her on the phone (or send an email) and talk about Middle Sister’s latest track meet, the dinner Big Brother cooked last night, and everything Little Brother has been up to lately.

This morning Little Brother gave me this rather crumpled but extremely sweet acrostic poem he wrote at school. I could say all the same things about my mom.

Mothers Day Poem

I won’t get to see her today, but we’ll talk on the phone. I can get in touch with her at any time for a recipe, encouragement, or just to chat. She’ll tell me to “get on my computer” and request a book from the library, because she just read it and knows I’d like it.

I know it bothers her tremendously that we cannot see her often, but she is very gracious about it.

On Mother’s Day, I am grateful for my mom, and for the fact that it is only the distance of 125 miles that separates us. In the scheme of things, I am so very blessed.

I love you, Mom!

Small Success Thursday: Rough Start Edition

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Small-Success-Thursday-400pxIt’s Thursday? Already?

Well, that’s good, because that means it’s time for Small Success Thursday over at CatholicMom.com. Join us as we celebrate the little things, because little things can make or break your day.

This day has not gotten off to a good start. I woke up to a sink full of dirty dishes, because the child who had promised to “do them later”…didn’t. (Consequences will result. This goes without saying.) And I have no car–again. Hubs had his car back less than 24 hours when he had to call a tow truck because of a different issue that made the car undriveable. Since I hadn’t driven enough yesterday (there’s something most moms never say) I didn’t get to see the van hit that 100,000-mile mark. That should be happening this morning, somewhere on I-295. That minor disappointment pales in comparison to the repair bill we just paid Tuesday afternoon and the one we anticipate whenever the mechanic finishes with the car.

I could use some Small Success right about now. Bring it! I’ll be stopping by CatholicMom.com throughout the day because I know that reading about other moms’ successes will make me smile.

Here’s mine:

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Dining roomI cleaned out two big sections of my dining-room hutch. That piece of furniture is basically a junk drawer on steroids in my house. You’ll find a knife set, paper plates, sugar substitute, the big can of hot cocoa mix that doesn’t fit in a kitchen cabinet, some pretty teacups, my mother-in-law’s crystal (which never gets used but somehow manages to get broken in there), some glass serving trays and plastic forks and spoons in the two sections with doors. And those are the things I KEPT.

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There are fresh sheets on my bed for tonight, and that always lifts my spirits.

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I had a good day in Substitute-Teacher Land yesterday. A last-minute substitute switcheroo meant that I had a third-grade class instead of the middle-schoolers. The change was fine with me. I came home covered in chalk dust (fortunately, I hadn’t worn my black pants) and my feet hurt but it was an easy day–I even survived the part where I had to teach geometry!

And in honor of the fact that my attitude could still stand just a little improvement, I’m bringing some butter and eggs to room temperature in the kitchen right now so I can make some chocolate cookies. With nuts. For medicinal purposes, of course.

Or lunch.

Whichever comes first.

 

Balancing It Out

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I woke up today in one of those moods. You know the ones:  they come on for no good reason and they poison your whole day.

I have been trying very hard not to let that mood poison my day. I’m not succeeding. So I thought I’d try writing a bit and see if I can derail these negative emotions.

Bad:  I found a bunch of dishes I still had to dry this morning, because Middle Sister doesn’t turn things upside-down when she puts them on the drying rack.
Good:  Middle Sister did the dishes last night.

Bad:  I had to take out a bag of stinky kitchen trash because Little Brother put me off with “I’ll do it later” when he was told to take it out. Later never came around.
Good:  I’ve got nothing.

Bad:  Hubs’ car is still in the shop (it’s been 2 weeks now. How long does it take to rebuild a transmission?) so he has my car.
Good:  I’m a whole lot more productive at home when I don’t have a car to distract me with the possibility of errands.

Bad:  My car is about to turn 100,000 miles and I was afraid I wouldn’t get to see it happen. (OK, so I’m a geek. What of it?)
Good:  Hubs texted me this morning to let me know he thinks it won’t turn over until after he gets home tonight so I may still get to see this happen.

Bad:  The curtain rod I installed yesterday was 2 feet too short, and I extended it with a dowel, but there weren’t enough rod brackets and the weight of the window treatments made the rod sag. I walked to Target this morning to look for extra brackets but they don’t sell that type of hardware.
wpid-0506140920.jpgGood:  I remembered that I have a small box of curtain hardware in the garage, and I found the exact 2 brackets I needed, plus screws that fit. In ten minutes I’d finished the installation of the window treatments.

Also good:  While I was in Target, I remembered to look for Hubs’ favorite coffee, because he ran out of it the other day. AND it was on sale:  buy 3, get 1 free.

Even more good:  After Target, I walked to Dunkin’ Donuts and got a completely FREE latte with my Dunkin’ Rewards coupon.

And more good on top of that:  The school called to ask me to substitute tomorrow and 3 days next week.

Best of all:  I think this helped!