A peek in our window...

...on the Eve of All Saints...

We've learned to love the idea of the "fast before the feast." The Church is so wise in its traditions, isn't it? Christmas is always more fun when the preparations of Advent have filled our hearts with anticipation. Easter is never so joyful as when we've had a really good, hard Lent. It's the same with all the great Holy Days of the Church. Good preparation makes for good celebration, spiritually and materially.

The Eve of All Hallows is a workday for us, set aside for finishing up the last touches on our All Saints' Day celebration tomorrow. First of all, since tomorrow is a holy day and is treated like a Sunday, and we won't be able to clean house for two days, we're giving everything a good cleaning. Everyone will get a bath late this afternoon, and everyone's church clothes will be laid out, ready for 9 am Mass tomorrow. We finished up a short day of school this morning and read the Lives of the Saints. Then, we had to do a bit more work on our saint costumes and speeches for our presentations at the All Saint's Day party tomorrow morning after Mass. We pulled the old Saints' Wheel of Fortune out of the barn and fixed it up a bit for the party, too.

Since the kids at home right now aren't of age yet, only my husband and I will observe the traditional rules of fasting today, in addition to the usual Friday abstinance, but we'll all stay away from nibbling on candy, to make the treat more special tomorrow at the All Saint's Day party. Tonight, though, for a bit of a dinner time treat, we're having fish sticks and french fries. I know that doesn't sound like much, does it? But, we never buy prepared foods like that, and the kids think they're getting away with something. &:o) Then, we'll have a bit of ice cream for dessert.

But most of the anticipation is for tomorrow's fun, to be celebrated together with all the Saints in Heaven on their special heavenly party day!

I know our Halloween customs are unconventional by most standards, and hope they're not off-putting, but it's what makes us happy. Do our kids feel left out of the fun this 31st of October? I think they're too busy to notice what everyone else is doing.

( Who do you suppose made this halo for Bo

and snuck my camera out to take a picture of it?)

Wishing everyone

a safe, happy All Hallow's Eve

and, most especially,

a happy, holy all Saints' Day tomorrow!

* What about trick-or-treaters, you ask? They're too scared to come way up here on our spooky old hill, so they don't get in our way at all...

Where were you at 8 p.m. ET, Wednesday, October 29th?

We were watching Hoodwinked.

Bella and Bo

By moving her "nursery" into our fenced-in yard, our mama barncat, Georgia, managed to save ~ from what we believe was a marauding fox ~ just one kitten out of a litter of four. Usually this mama cat keeps her kittens meticulously hidden from us in the eves of the barn, safe from predators, which is a good thing. But, we're always a little sorry that we never get to see the kitties until they're practically teenage cats, poisoned against us. They never do get tame. But, since this one lone kitty has been so wonderfully accessible to the children from very early on, she's come to be a cherished pet. The children are thrilled!

Since she was born on the feast of St. Rose of Viterbo, the girls named her "Bo," their own version of a saintly diminutive. She's such a fuzzy, sweet little kitty, everyone loves her, but Anna has adopted her. She is Anna's child.

The funny thing about Bo, though, is her relationship with our dog, Bella. Bella knows exactly what cats are for. They are for chasing. It's a game, you know. Sneak around until you find a cat, bark, and race after it until it climbs a tree, then sit at the bottom of the tree barking until it jumps down and you can chase it some more. There's no harm meant, no harm done; it's all just happy exercise. Bella understands her part of the game and the cats know just what to do, too.

Except for Bo. And she mystifies Bella. Bo does not startle. Bo does not run. She's not even a little afraid of this big old dog. When she sees Bella, she stares him down. When Bella pokes her nose at Bo to try to encourage her to play the game, Bo takes a swipe at Bella's nose with her razor sharp little claws. Ow! Man! That's not how you play!

Poor puppy! She doesn't know what to do about this kitten. So, she follows her around. Bella has become Bo's big white shadow. It's hilarious to watch. Here they are this morning on the kitchen window sill:

And here's Bella, getting ready to be really annoyed when Bo shakes her by going under the garden gate...I expect these two will turn out to be a most unlikely pair of best friends as time goes on. But right now, Bella is having a hard time trying to figure out her place in the universe when this little ball of fluff and claws is around. Check out Bella's predicamint this afternoon:

What's a dog to do?

In honor of the World Series

Even though the Rockies didn't make it this year... We love baseball.
And we love Abbot and Costello!

Simple Woman's Monday, October 27th

Outside My Window ... a narrow band of peach and pink light traces the eastern horizon, fading into dove grey, then soft, deep grey-blue as it rises up . The black silhouette of the little elm behind the playhouse looks so pretty in relief against the colors.

I am hearing... William coughing, Gabriel complaining of a stuffy nose. Our first cold of the season.


I am wearing... shell pink sweatpants and matching tee


I am thankful for... My husband's dearness and patience, my sibling's closeness, my parent's neverending love and concern, my children's beautiful smiles, Our Lord's kind Providence in our lives.


I am reading... Ahghghgh! I'm actually not reading anything and there's a reason for that... Look out ~ Tale of Woe here! (You're not going to believe this! 'Scuse the digression, but it's pertinent, really!)


Here's the story: I was just getting into my Maisie Dobbs mystery and intent upon finally finishing it when I drove the boys back to Omaha last weekend. It was midnight when we got to the school, we were all tired, and I needed to turn right around and head back to Colorado after I dropped them off, but, good boys that they are, even in their sleepy state, they made sure to be thorough about unloading the car. Thorough, very thorough. Indeed, they quickly and efficiently cleaned out every scrap of their belongings...... plus my overnight bag, with my pjs and change of clothes, all my vitamins, and ~ you guessed it! My BOOK! I didn't realize what had happened until I stopped at the hotel in Kearney, Nebraska. Aghghgh!


They promise to send it all back to me with the next traveling priest... We'll see what happens.

Towards a daily rhythm ... We have finally gotten back into our night-time reading ritual again. We just started The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, after having read through the first three before we moved last year, and it's good to be back in Narnia! Having read through the Chronicles several times myself over the years ( & to our eldest five a few years ago), I enjoy the familiar landscape but am totally RELISHING the younger children's hearing it for the first time. It's all so new and exciting for them!


I am hoping... For a little more good weather so I can get a bin full of bulbs planted before the ground freezes.


From the kitchen ... I've been thinking about beef stew. Rich and beefy, with carrots and potatoes. Yum! Definitely gotta be on the menu this week! But, I've recently found out that I have a sensitivity to wheat so have to figure out a way to survive soup and stew season without bread or crackers. Any suggestions?

I am creating... I'll be oiling up the old sewing machine this week. We have a little work to do on All Saint's Day costumes, some homemade Christmas projects to start, and insulated curtains to make for a big, leaky window in the girls' room.

Around the house... it's feeling like autumn. All our traditional decorations are in place, but we've had to hang our wreaths on the inside of the doors because Bella, our big goofy puppy, thinks they make great frisbees to throw around the yard.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week... We're spending the week learning about the election process in our country. Gonna carve some pumpkins. And we'll be finishing up the gown and stolla of a certain 4th century saint and making crowns for two other noble patricians that will appear Saturday morning at our parish All Saint's Day party.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing:

The pumpkin Anna picked!

(Here are the rest of the gang's pumpkins)

* For a peek in the windows of some lovely kindred spirits, stroll over to Peggy's at the Simple Woman!

Punkin Patch Afternoon

We've been making the trip to this punkin patch north of Boulder, Colorado since our big boys were quite little boys. That's around fifteen years! Sheesh. That makes me feel very old. But, I'm glad to see this family farm is still thriving after all these years!

So, anyway, here we are on a beautiful, cool Sunday afternoon.

Gotta get a little mugging in first. How about a quick shot of William making a Jack-o-lantern smile for the camera...

And then we're off on the hunt! Everyone go pick your own pumpkin!

What have you got there, Cathy?

Ah, yes. That one's big enough. That one ought to be loaded with pumpkin seeds for ya.

Just your size, Yuyum! That one has a nice round shape, Theresa.And that one looks good, too, Anna. But, do you spot a better one over yonder? Or ~ whatcha lookin' at? What is that?! He's got a what?!

YIKES, Gabe! Pumpkins! Pumpkins! You're s'posed to be hunting pumpkins!

(It was a deceased garter snake. See how unconcerned Gabey looks? A real he-man in the making here...)

Gone but Not Forgotten

Ha! Nabbed him. See my hubby hiding his Circus Animal cookies from the children? We almost never stock boughten cookies here, but these Mother's Cookies were this Daddy's favorite from his childhood. We always bought him a bag for his birthday, Christmas and Father's Day. It's so sad to see this company going the way of all things. I mean, it's not the end of the world, but it's sad.

It's also a pity to see Linens n Things going belly up. We don't actually shop there in the normal course of events, but had a great experience with them, returning our malfunctioning Cuisinart coffeepot. It was two or three years old, we didn't have the box or the receipt, but they exchanged it for a new one, no questions asked. Service with a smile. We were flabbergasted. Sorry to see them filing bankruptcy.

We're also sorry Mervyns appears to be going out of business. We only shopped their sales, but their sales were good ones!

And we can't believe Circuit City is closing its doors. We always liked them better than their competitors. Maybe these folks can pull their derriere out of the fire, but it's not looking good.

And Bennigan's doors shutting has us shedding a tear of reminiscence. We frequented the Bennigans near our college when my husband and I were dating. We would share their potato skins appetizer and endless glasses of Dr. Pepper. At the beginning of the month, I would treat; at the end of the month, when my money was all gone, I would be treated. Those were the days.

Just happy memories now.

My husband says that, regardless of the times, people go out of business. Remember Woolworth's, Montgomery Wards, Cub Foods? All gone some time back.

But we went on living without them. What doesn't kill us makes us stronger, right?

As America finds the need to tighten its collective belt, I'm betting it'll come to some stunning realizations. In a nutshell, that: Americans will survive just fine without Bennigans and Circuit City, and even Mother's brand cookies. We may even do just fine without a $4 Starbucks cup of coffee, the newest expensive technogadgets, and an expensive family vacation. It's even possible that we'll figure out that homemade really is way better than fast food and that playing pinochle or Candyland around the kitchen table is more fun than spending $12 a ticket to go to a movie and $5 a bucket to eat popcorn.

We're already finding out that cutting back on our gas consumption has resulted in the happy result of cheaper gas. I hope we're primed and ready to learn all the good lessons of prudent habits. Let's face it, we really have been fat and happy and lazy and irresponsible as a nation.

It's appropriate that we've had our cookies taken away. Now if we can only learn from the punishment.

Feast of St. Raphael

To read about St. Raphael, go to the book of Tobias in the Bible
You can find a great coloring page of St. Raphael over at Waltzing Matilda's!

St. Raphael's patronage:

against bodly ills
against eye diseases and problems
against mental illness
against nightmares
against sickness
apothecaries
blind people
Catholic singles
doctors
druggists
Dubuque, Iowa,
guardian angels
happy meetings
love
lovers
mentally ill
nurses
pharmacists
physicians
Seattle, Washington
shepherdesses
shepherds
travellers
young people

Litany of St. Raphael the Archangel

Lord, have mercy on us.

Christ, have mercy on us.

Lord, have mercy on us.

Christ, hear us.

Christ, graciously hear us.

God the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.

God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.

God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.

Holy Trinity, One God, have mercy on us.

Response: pray for us.

Holy Mary, Queen of Angels,

Saint Raphael,

St. Raphael, filled with the mercy of God,

St. Raphael, perfect adorer of the Divine Word,

St. Raphael, terror of demons,

St. Raphael, exterminator of vices,

St. Raphael, health of the sick,

St. Raphael, our refuge in all our trials,

St. Raphael, guide of travellers,

St. Raphael, consoler of prisoners,

St. Raphael, joy of the sorrowful,

St. Raphael, filled with zeal for the salvation of souls,

St. Raphael, whose name means "Medicine of God",

St. Raphael, lover of chastity,

St. Raphael, scourge of demons,

St. Raphael, in pest, famine and war,

St. Raphael, angel of peace and prosperity,

St. Raphael, endowed with the grace of healing,

St. Raphael, sure guide in the paths of virtue and sanctification,

St. Raphael, help of all those who implore thy assistance,

St. Raphael, who was the guide and consolation of Tobias on his journey,

St. Raphael, whom the Scriptures praise: "Raphael, the holy angel of the Lord, was sent to cure," St. Raphael, our advocate,

Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Spare us, O Lord.

Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Graciously hear us, O Lord.

Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Have mercy on us.

Christ, hear us.

Christ, graciously hear us.

V. Pray for us, St. Raphael, to the Lord our God,

R.That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let Us Pray

Lord Jesus Christ, by the prayer of the Archangel Raphael, grant us the grace to avoid all sin and to persevere in every good work until we reach our heavenly country, Thou Who livest and reignest world without end. R. Amen.

To read about St. Raphael, go to the book of Tobias in the Bible

You can find a great coloring page of St. Raphael over at Waltzing Matilda's!

Know any Catholics

planning to vote

for Obama?

Have them

read this!

If I only had about $70 just lying around...

Aren't these adorable?
I can think of a million ways to use thse cute little acorns!

* $36 from Williams Sonoma







And wouldn't it be fun to decorate a loaf of pumpkin bread made in this pan?

* $29.99 and also from, who else? Williams Sonoma



=sigh= I don't know if I have $70 worth of creativity to make up for the lack of these pans ...

But, then. Gosh. Pans vs. Food to Go in the Pans. I guess we'll just have to eat plain, square bread and round muffins.

Oh, bother.

Important!

Election Novena

I have no idea who started this around the internet, but I am reprinting it here verbatum, because I think it is heavenly inspired. It is no accident that the first day of this novena is the Feast of Christ the King and the last day is the day before the election.

Please join us in these prayers and pass the word about it!

~ Lisa

Here is the Plea:

<
I beg you to get this out to as many people as possible. We will pray a Novena, beginning October 26th, this Sunday, the Feast of Christ the King, in the traditional calendar. It ends November 3rd, the day before the election. The Novena is simple. We will pray the Rosary each of those days, as it is the prayer recommended by Our Lady, and as it is the means through which the Muslim forces, which greatly outnumbered the Christians, were defeated at Lepanto.

In addition to this, we will add a short, indulgenced prayer to Our Lady to send Angelic Assistance. That prayer is attached here. We will say the short prayer at the end of each decade, as we do the “O My Jesus.” Lastly, we will accompany this Novena with a fast, to be determined by each participant. It could be no meat for nine days, or the traditional fast of the church, two collations without meat, and one full meal per day, or something more suitable to an individual’s needs, as long as something comforting and refreshing is taken from the diet.

I hope everyone I wrote to here participates, and that you will forward this around. I don’t really know that many people! Put it on Catholic forums! We need numbers. We need faith in Mary Most Holy. We must go to Mary.

Prayer to the Queen of Heaven

August Queen of heaven, Sovereign Mistress of the Angels, who didst receive from the beginning the mission and the power to crush the serpent’s head, we beseech Thee to send thy holy Angels, that under Thy command and by Thy power they may pursue the evil spirits, encounter them on every side, resist their bold attacks, and drive them hence into the abyss of woe. Most holy Mother, send Thy Angels to defend us and to drive the cruel enemy from us. All ye holy Angels and Archangels, help and defend us. Amen. O good and tender Mother! Thou shalt ever be our Love and our Hope. Holy Angels and Archangels, keep and defend us. Amen.>>

Winter Wheat

Out here on the high prairies, we get a tiny peek at spring toward the end of autumn. When all other green is fading to brown and the leaves are falling off the trees, the winter wheat, sewn in early autumn, sprouts up and greens the farmer's fields around us. Then, when the cold comes, it goes dormant and the vast green fields disappear, hiding under the winter snow, and spring back to life when the weather warms up. Just about the time we don't think we can stand another day of winter and the brown, brown, brown is getting us down, the winter wheat, which was there all the time, sprouts again.

I got to spend a good many hours with three of my teenage sons driving back to Omaha the other day. We talked of many things, movies and books and friends and girls and ceiling wax and other fancy stuff... And, in the course of our conversations, I got a glimpse of winter wheat resprouting.

We talked about how they grew up. Getting up at 6 am every day to milk the goats and feed the pigs and chickens... They consider themselves better men for the responsibility learned and the muscles developed. Learning to serve at the altar at the same time they learned to read... They appreciate that honor and its graces' eternal benefits. Those books we read after the rosary every night, The Narnia Chronicles, Robinson Crusoe, All Creatures Great and Small... They remember with special fondness. The documentaries we watched instead of meaningless television, National Geographic, Tales of the West, The Civil War by Ken Burns.... They're glad for the knowlege painlessly imparted. Growing up with Laurel and Hardy and John Wayne instead of Beavis and Butthead... They're eternally grateful.

"You know, Mom," one of them told me, "I'm so glad you raised us to be cultured."

"Um, thanks, son" (snicker)

I don't know if "cultured" is the exact word for it, but I'm glad you're glad you've got it.

Winter wheat and spring is dawning.

Opinions Needed

There comes a time in every mom's life when she just has to surrender to the fact that her sons will strike out on their own.

=sigh=

It's inevitable.

And so it has happened with all four of my eldest children. My sweet little guys in their velcro sneakers and batman pajamas are growing up and looking for their own "styles." Which is not a bad thing, so long as they seek their independence in facial hair and not in tattooing their whole bodies, or piercing their tongues, or becoming Marxist.

In point of fact, you can see from the first picture below that our son, Kevin (19), has somewhat mastered the technique of growing facial hair. See that fluff? But he's not sure he's satisfied with just a puff of fluff and gave me permission to ask for opinions on a few other looks he's considering. Works for me! Maybe we can effect a positive change here!

What do you think? Which lip-and-chin-do is best?



As he is:

Option #1
Option #2
Option #3
Option #4
Option #5

*Photoshopping courtesy of son, Dominic (15), who says it was totally his pleasure.

Now make sure and run over to Shannon's for lots of fun tips, ideas, and inspirations.

Some lovely free coloring pages

... to color for the upcoming Feast of All Saints maybe? Any of these would make for good costume ideas, or to be saved for the feast days later on, too. These are offered by one of our favorite resources, Catholic Heritage Curriculum. We're especially excited about the little storybook about St. Germaine (Our Anna Germaine is for sure!), but they also have: Church Triumphant, St. Francis, St. Francis 2, St. Joan, St. Joan 2, St. Cecilia, St. Rose, St. Martin, St. George, St. Patrick, and St. Angela.

Things to do while hiking:

Have a very serious discussion with your big brother about dirt and rocks.
Mug a little...

Juggle some rocks.




Mug a little...

Blow a bubble.

Mug a little...

Hug your sister.Mug a little...

Play some frisbee.Mug a little more...

The Hike in a Nutshell:
A short interview with a toddler on the trail:


(Is it just me or do you hear a little shade of Eyore there?)

Making Faces

Breakfast food faces: apple slice mouth, carrot nose, raisin eyes, apple slice hair, harvest muffin ears.

Harvest Muffins
These are easy to make and freeze to pull out at a moment's notice. And Yummy! Here's our recipe for 3 dozen:


4 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
4 cups white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
6 eggs
1 (29 ounce) can pumpkin
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1 1/2 cup raisins (optional)


DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 C).
Grease three 12 cup muffin pans, or line with paper muffin liners. Soak raisins in hot water for ten minutes to plump, then drain.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, and ground cloves.

In a separate bowl, mix the eggs, pumpkin, and applesauce, until smooth. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and stir thoroughly to make a smooth batter. Stir the raisins and walnuts into the batter. Spoon batter into the prepared muffin cups.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Wink @ Anne ~ Here's one breakfast thing we do... &:o)

Notes from the backseat...

I just got back from returning three of our oldest boys back to school in Omaha, and I miss them already. We had a great week, though. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed being together, through all the work-while-playing and play while-working. Somehow, in spite of many odd corners of goofy weirdness, we managed to get an amazing amount done this past week.

We had a lengthy prepping-for-winter work list

we were able to check off, thanks to the boys' strong backs and willing attitudes.

The Guys:

*Fixed the garage door so Bella (such a sneaky doggy!) can't go in and steal all our tools and hide them all over the property.
*Mended some gates and repaired the close-in fences

*Detached our washing machine from the ineffective "french drain" (that used to freeze every winter) and dug down to the septic to properly attach the washer drain to the septic system. (Oh, happy day!)

* Dug up the back-twenty water hydrant that someone-who-shall-remain-nameless hit with the truck some time back, repaired the underground piping,and replaced the hydrant.

*Rebuilt the mudroom-turned-Mom's-study doorjamb, painted and installed a new, door. (Wahoo!)
* Finished roofing the new boiler room roof.

And we got some general health and well-being housekeeping done for the big boys while they were home:

* Chiropractor appointments on four different days (With all that digging, it was a very good thing, too!)

* Dentist appointments

* Shoe-shopping (I declare, I buy these guys shoes every time I see them! I think they have teeth in their toes!)

This past Saturday, to get a rest (HA!) from all the hard work, we went on a mountain hike, complete with picnic. (Curried chicken salad in wraps, potato salad, chips and dip, applesauce bread, choco-mint brownies and applie cider, in case you wondered...)

But, best of all, we got to celebrate two very important events this week:

*Paul's 21st birthday ~ with two different family-sponsored birthday parties marking that momentous event! (Cajun Gumbo, salad, french bread and boughten cake for the family-specific party, hamburgers, potato salad, chips, and chocolate Southern Trifle for the world-at-large party, in case you wondered...)

*Catherine's First Holy Communion ~

with the all-important cake and celebration after Mass yesterday!

We're all so proud of Cathy! She worked so hard to be ready, we know she had prepared a beautiful garden in her heart for Jesus to visit. I'm so glad all her brothers were here to celebrate this important occasion with her!

It really was all so wonderful ~ the laughing and joking and tickling and singing and piano playing and unidentifiable noises and giggling to all hours of the night and wall-to-wall people, and sheets and blankets everywhere and shoes in the middle of the floor and dirty socks in between the couch cushions and sixteen dozen pairs of jeans to wash and cooking and cleaning and cooking... and, um, did I already say cooking?

Let me tell ya ~ I'm exhausted.

Not that I mind. Did I sound just now like I minded? Nah, I didn't mind a bit of it. (Really!)And I don't mind being exhausted in the wake of it all. But, I think I may just. sit. down. for a week or so...

(Maybe even here at the computer a bit. I have some more pictures and a couple of thoughts I want to share...)