Teenage Silly Meets Middle Age Dementia

The following E-mail forward is going the rounds of the teeny-bopper set.  It's called The Stupid Test, but if you're my age it's more like a time machine. As I scrolled down through the list I rolled back in time-- and by the time I hit #100, I was a fourteen-year-old again.  A bit of a dopey one. But, how much fun to remember what it was like! I think I laughed and giggled more from the ages of thirteen and eighteen than I have in all the time since.  Life was so...  awkward.  And I was such a dork.  But everything was funny!

But sometimes stupid is a good thing.

The question for us 35+ folks might not be so much have you ever done the following, but, how many of them have you done in the last five years?

[Note: some of us may find that these are typical old-folks space-outs, too...]

1. [ ]Forgot to put the lid on the blender, turned it on, and had everything fly out



2. [ ] Gotten your head stuck between the stair rails

3. [ ] fell out of a chair by leaning back in it

4. [ ] Had gum fall out of your mouth while you were talking

5. [ ] Choked on your own spit while you were talking now that one's embarrasing

6. [ ] Had people tell you that you are blonde

7. [ ] Been caught staring at your crush by your crush him/herself actually, more like I was lookin' just for a moment and at the same moment they looked too

8. [ ] Have looked for something for at least 10 min then realized it was in your hand - even did it with my glasses when I was wearing them

9. [ ] Tried to push open a door that said pull as well as waited outside of a building because the "automatic door" wasn't working, until someone walked up and pushed it open


10. [ ] Tried to pull open a door that said push


11. [ ]Have actually believed someone when they said that they knew how to make a love potion.


12. [ ] Have hit yourself in the process of trying to hit something else

13. [ ] Have tripped and fallen UP the stairs

14. [ ] Have actually exploded marshmallows in the microwave


15. [ ] Have gotten gum stuck in your hair -
16. [ ] Had gum fall out of your mouth while trying to blow a bubble -more like fly


17. [ ] Have had the juice from a mini tomato squirt out and hit somebody else when you bit into it
18. [ ] Have had your drink come out your nose because you were laughing so hard

19. [ ] Have called one of your good friends by the wrong name


20. [ ] Skinned your toe because you were playing soccer or kickball with flip flops on or you were barefoot

21. [ ] Put a sticker on your forehead, forgot it was there, and went out in public with it on

22. [ ] Fell or jumped out of a moving vehicle


23. [ ] Ran into a closed door

24. [ ] Almost shot someone with a real gun while trying to shoot something else


25. [ ] Searched for your cell phone while you were talking on it.


26. [ ] Took you longer than 5 min to get a joke


27. [ ] Have gotten your hair stuck in a blow dryer


28. [ ] Have gotten your hair stuck in a fan
29. [ ] Tripped on a crack in the sidewalk


30.. [ ] Said o'clock after saying the minutes after the hour, example: 5:30 o'clock, or 6:15 o'clock
31. [ ] After someone told you that there was gum on the ground, you stepped in it-
32. [ ] Put on a white shirt even though you already knew it was raining outside


33. [ ] Walked up to a stranger because you thought they were someone else

34. [ ] Were kicked out of a grocery store/off a property, in general

35.[ ] Touched the stove, the curling iron, a hot pan, etc even though you knew it was hot


36. [ ] Picked out your change of clothes, took off the ones you had on and then accidentally put the old clothes back on


37. [ ] Wondered why something wasn't working then realized it wasn't turned on or plugged in


38. [ ] Put the cereal in the fridge, or put the milk in the cupboard


39. [ ] Walked into a pole


40 [ ] Wore two different earrings or shoes at the same time on accident


41. [ ] Put your shirt on backwards/inside-out without realizing it then left your house
42 [ ] Tried to take a picture of your/someone's eye with the flash on


43. [ ] Gotten a ring stuck on your finger because you put it on even though you knew it was too small

44. [ ] Walked out of the bathroom with toilet paper stuck to your shoe without realizing it

45. [ ] Went to go do something/go get something, then when you got there forgot what is was that you were going to do
46. [ ] Picked up someone else's drink and drank out of it on accident when your drink was right next to it


47. [ ] Fallen out of your chair while trying to pick something up
48. [ ] Poked yourself in the eye


49. [ ]  Got in the shower with your socks still on..


50. [ ] Melted your hairbrush/comb while blow drying your hair


51. [ ] Have done enough stupid things to make a test


52. [ ] Accidentally stabbed yourself with a pencil

53. [ ] Sang the wrong verse to a song without realizing it


54. [ ] Gave an odd answer to a question because you didn't hear the question in the first place and didn't feel like asking what it was
55. [ ] Told someone you were the wrong age because you seriously forgot how old you were


56. [ ] Looked into an overhead purposefully while it was on


57.[ ] Got up early and got ready for school/work, then realized that you didn't have school/work that day


58. [ ] Tripped on a cord


60. [ ] Laughed at a joke that no one else thought was funny


61 [ ] Done the Macarena to the electric slide or vice versa


62. [ ] Said "funner" then had someone make fun of you for it


63. [ ] Repeated yourself at least twice in the same sentence


64. [ ] Brought up an inside joke with the wrong person


65. [ ] Didn't do the backside of an assignment because you thought that there wasn't one because you had already looked and forgot that there was another side

66. [ ] Did more work than you had to on an assignment because you didn't read the directions -or because you just weren't listening.

67. [ ] Corrected someone's grammar/pronunciation then figured out that you were the one that was wrong
68. [ ] Put something in a special place so that you would remember where it was, then forgot where you put it -


69. [ ] Put ice in your drink after the glass was full of liquid and had it splash out


70. [ ] Told a lie then forgot what it was that you had said and got caught


71. [ ] When wearing goggles, you pulled them away from your face and let go so that they would come back and snap you in the face


72.. [ ] Forgot to make sure that the lamp was off before you replaced the light bulb


73. [ ]  Sat on a bench with wet paint on it.


74. [ ] Told someone that you hardly ever do stupid things, then immediately did/said something stupid


75. [ ] Told someone to watch out for something, then you were the one that ran into it

76. [ ] Purposely licked playground sand


77. [ ] Purposely flicked yourself with a rubber band


78.. [ ] Gotten so hyper that someone actually thought you were high when you weren't


79. [ ] Have been so hyper you actually scared people


80. [ ] Put duct tape on your body then pulled it off to see if it would pull your hairs out


81.[  ] Put duct tape on your hair/someone else's hair then pulled it off


82. [ ] Put a clothes pin/(hair clip) on your lip just to see if it hurts -- or to just look silly


83. [ ] Sat and wondered why men dress shirts have a loop on the back

84. [ ] Made up a code name for someone so that you could talk about them to someone else and no one else would know who you were talking about


85. [ ] Have gotten a hairbrush stuck in your hair


86. [ ] Used the straw to blow the straw wrapper at someone.


87. [ ] Shaved your tongue because you thought your taste buds looked weird
88. [ ] When at a restaurant/cafeteria, you used your spoon to fling stuff at people


89. [ ] Have flung forks at people in a restaurant/cafeteria


90. [ ] Sucked on a cup and got a hick-up from it


91. [ ] As you were writing, you moved your head back and forth with your pen/pencil


92. [ ] Have drawn finger puppets on your fingers then named them

93. [ ] Have wrapped someone in a roll of toilet paper


94. [ ] Have used somebody else's toothbrush without even realizing it wasn't yours
95. [ ] Started telling a story and forgot what you were talking about or what happened in the story
96. [ ] Saw a "beware of dog" sign, and then told someone to beware of the dogs not realizing they owned the dogs


97. [ ] You have spelled your own name wrong


98. [ ] When lying in bed you look for pictures in the texture of the ceiling
99. [ ] Used your calculator as a form of communication in class


100.[ ] Popped a balloon in your mouth
 
 
Wasn't that fun?
 
The question I am left with, though, is:  Why do men's shirts have a loop on the back of them?

Scrabble Wisdom

It's all about board games and Scrabble is an all-time favorite.  We've used it to good effect for teaching spelling and vocabulary over the years -- and the kids don't even know it's a learning tool.  (Sh! Don't tell them!)

And even though Anna (7) wasn't invited to play with the big kids this round, she used her time well, playing with the spare Scrabble game nearby. I don't know if everyone's as bad as we are about keeping all the pieces to games, but, we've found it necessary to stock up on extra sets of our favorite games in order to piece together enough for one whole set. Is that pitiful or what?  But there are just too many people playing too much to keep it all straight.  Guess there could be worse problems. :o)

But, Anna had plenty of letters to work with; only a couple were missing from the dark brown set. See her Scrabble board below? Can you decipher it? 

She is a nut!

(and it would appear a somewhat dyslexic one...)

Thankful Thursday

 Please celebrate with us!

We are thrice blessed:

As of Holy Saturday...

Our daughter-in-law, Nicole, is now our God-daughter, too!

Paul and Nicole's marriage is blessed again.

                And little Maddie is blessed, too!





More Blessings at the home of Thankful Thursday!

TV or Not TV; That is the Question

So, we finally had enough of it.  Again.  We get fed up periodically and cancel our service, but this time it may be for keeps.
   
Television.  We have a love/hate relationship with it.

We'd already given up tv for Lent, but the week before Easter, we decided to make it permanent and canceled our television feed entirely.  We didn't miss it that much, it costs way too much money (esp in our financially weakened condition right now...) and, really, we  couldn't think of a legitimately good reason to bear with it any longer.  Even though with our satellite it was possible to block objectionable stations and prerecord appropriate viewing with  the dvr for the family to choose from, we still felt bombarded with vile content, impurity, and stupidity.  In the commercials.  Dan and I weren't always around to fast-forward through them and the children weren't reliable about skipping them.  Even though we did enjoy certain television programs -- mainly documentaries (we're doc-addicts), old movies, and Jimmy Neutron -- we felt we just couldn't justify the ads.  They are appalling.  And we were paying big bucks to be offended.  What's the sense in that?

So, we dumped the whole thing. Satellite, box, remote control, good shows, bad shows, and all. 

And that could have been a very sad thing.  Like Lent forever.

Because, you see, we do like our tv...  We're not televisionaholics, mind you, but we have been known to indulge in the occasional tv-vege-orama  -- and we would be very sad to have nothing to look at while finishing off a bowl of popcorn. We love us some electronic media...

  But, all is not lost. 

We found a great alternative: Netflix.  It's a deal, let me tell you.  You choose on the website from among thousands of dvds; some you can watch online immediately, others you order and they arrive amazingly quickly in the mail; you watch your movies and return them in the envelope provided.  As soon as they receive your returned movies, the Netflix elves send you the next dvds on your online queue.  I'm sure you've heard of it.   It's cool.  Way cool.  We've had our service since Holy Saturday, started watching dvds Easter Sunday afternoon, and we are in love.  We can order documentaries to our hearts' content (=sigh=). We can access an almost inexhaustible online list of old movies (be still my heart!).  And they even have Jimmy Neutron -- and old Bugs Bunny cartoons!

But, the main reason I'm telling you all this is that I'm working up to sharing a silly (yet strangely profound) little find.  One of the movies we ordered first was an oldie but goodie called The Ghost Breakers, starring Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard ~  a good view from beginning to end, one that we remembered watching when the big boys were little boys.  But, we forgot about the one Bob Hope zinger you can see below, and it's a honey.  Check it out:

You've heard it said: The more things change, the more things stay the same?

Two-fer Tuesday

Two by Two

The animals went in two by two.

A couple of hippos, a pair of gnu,

Two spectacled bears from Lima, Peru

And even, it's said, a push-me-pull-you.

But, right at the back of the very long queue

Stood a herd of wild young caribou.

The bouncers looked angry: 'Hey you, Yes You'

'No parties allowed! Off with you! SHOO!'

Theresa and William

Sis, Donna, and beau, Tim

(visiting us on Easter)

My Mommy and Daddy,

(Easter afternoon)

 Paul and Nicole

 (and puppy, Maddie, makes 3!)

Anna and the Easter Bunny (Nina)

Jon and Gabe

                                                Cathy and Theresa

Michelle and Dominic

                                              William and Anna

Jon and William

Everyone's so tickled to be together!

Easter Dress Hunting

Makes my Monday...

These are pics from last week, when I got to spend a fun afternoon shopping with our oldest daughter, Michelle.   We had a great day and were successful in crossing every single pre-Easter essential off our list, but the most fun  of course  was the dress shopping!  I already had an Easter outfit, and all the little girls were set, so the annual hunt was on for Michelle.  But, St. Anthony was with us and it didn't take long before she found a dress style she really liked (at Ross, as it turned out) -- but it came in several different patterns and colors and she had a time choosing from amongst them!  We had my trusty camera along, though, so I took pictures as she tried each one on.  Seeing them through the "objective" eye of the lens helped a lot! 

Which dress do you like best?  Which one do you think she picked?

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

See the combox to find out what she wore to Easter Mass!
And run over to Cheryl's for a choice of Easter Makes-My-Mondays to peruse!

"God is like a mother who carries her child in her arms by the edge of a precipice.  While she is seeking all the time to keep him from danger; he is doing his best to get into it."

~ St. John Vianney

Happy Easter!

                     And a multitude of blessings for the Easter season
                                                         from our family to yours!

Lenten Stational Church in Rome

Holy Saturday

Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterno

(St. John Lateran)

"The Cathedral of Rome and of the World"

Dedicated to both St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist, the Basilica of St. John Lateran is the first among the four major basilicas of Rome, but receives its august title because it is also the cathedral of the bishop of Rome, the Pope.

Built by Constantine the Great in the 4th century, San Giovanni in Laterano was the first Christian church built in Rome. It was embellished with beautiful decorations given by Constantine, including seven silver altars with seven gilded candlesticks inlaid with images of prophets; 111 chandeliers; and gold voil for the apse vault.


There were seven oratories surrounding the basilica dating back to the fifth century that were eventually incorporated into the church. The devotion of visiting the oratories of this basilica, led to the devotion of the seven altars, still common in many churches of Rome and elsewhere.

For more history and tons of pictures go here.  For the very complete history, go to the Catholic Encyclopedia, here.
For a little more information, you can go back a couple days to the post from Holy Thursday, which was also stationed at St. John Lateran.

The Fourteenth Station

Holy Saturday:

Jesus' Body is Placed in the Tomb

THE men placed the sacred body on a species of leathern hand-barrow, which they covered with a brown-coloured cloth, and to which they fastened two long stakes. This forcibly reminded me of the Ark of the Covenant. Nicodemus and Joseph bore on their shoulders the front shafts, while Abenadar and John supported those behind. After them came the Blessed Virgin, Mary of Heli, her eldest sister, Magdalen and Mary of Cleophas, and then the group of women who had been sitting at some distance —Veronica, Johanna Chusa, Mary the mother of Mark, Salome the wife of Zebedee, Mary Salome, Salome of Jerusalem, Susanna, and Anne the niece of St. Joseph. Cassius and the soldiers closed the procession. The other women, such as Marone of Naïm, Dina the Samaritaness, and Mara the Suphanitess, were at Bethania, with Martha and Lazarus. Two soldiers, bearing torches in their hands, walked on first, that there might be some light in the grotto of the sepulchre; and the procession continued to advance in this order for about seven minutes, the holy men and women singing psalms in sweet but melancholy tones. I saw James the Greater, the brother of John, standing upon a hill the other side of the valley, to look at them as they passed, and he returned immediately afterwards, to tell the other disciples what he had seen.

The procession stopped at the entrance of Joseph’s garden, which was opened by the removal of some stakes, afterwards used as levers to roll the stone to the door of the sepulchre. When opposite the rock, they placed the Sacred Body on a long board covered with a sheet. The grotto, which had been newly excavated, had been lately cleaned by the servants of Nicodemus, so that the interior was neat and pleasing to the eye. The holy women sat down in front of the grotto, while the four men carried in the body of our Lord, partially tilled the hollow couch destined for its reception with aromatic spices, and spread over them a cloth, upon which they reverently deposited the sacred body. After having once more given expression to their love by tears and fond embraces, they left the grotto. Then the Blessed Virgin entered, seated herself close to the head of her dear Son, and bent over his body with many tears. When she left the grotto, Magdalen hastily and eagerly came forward, and flung on the body some flowers and branches which she had gathered in the garden. Then she clasped her hands together, and with sobs kissed the feet of Jesus; but the men having informed her that they must close the sepulchre, she returned to the other women. They covered the sacred body with the extremities of the sheet on which it was lying, placed on the top of all the brown coverlet, and closed the folding-doors, which were made of a bronze-coloured metal, and had on their front two sticks, one straight down and the other across, so as to form a perfect cross.

The large stone with which they intended to close the sepulchre, and which was still lying in front of the grotto, was in shape very like a chest* or tomb; its length was such that a man might have laid himself down upon it, and it was so heavy that it was only by means of levers that the men could roll it before the door of the sepulchre. The entrance of the grotto was closed by a gate made of branches twined together. Everything that was done within the grotto had to be accomplished by torchlight, for daylight never penetrated there.

*Apparently Sister Emmerich here spoke of the ancient cases in which her poor countrymen keep their clothes. The lower part of these cases is smaller than the upper, and this gives them some likeness to a tomb. She had one of these cases, which she called her chest. She often described the stone by this comparison, but her descriptions have not, nevertheless, given us a very clear idea of its shape.

From The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ
by Anne Catherine Emmerich

The Fourteenth Station (St. Francis de Liguori)
Jesus Is Placed in the Sepulcher


V: We adore You, O Christ, and we praise You. (Genuflect)
R: Because, by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world. (Rise)

V: Consider how the disciples carried the body of Jesus to its burial, while His holy Mother went with them and arranged it in the sepulcher with her own hands. They then closed the tomb and all departed. (Kneel)

R: Oh, my buried Jesus, / I kiss the stone that closes You in. / But You gloriously did rise again on the third day. / I beg You by Your resurrection that I may be raised gloriously on the last day, / to be united with You in heaven, to praise You and love You forever. / I love You, Jesus, and I repent of ever having offended You. / Grant that I may love You always; and then do with me as You will.

(Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be.)

Virgin of all virgins blest!
Listen to my fond request:
Let me share your grief divine

 
 
Fourteenth Station (St. Francis of Asissi)
Jesus' Body is Laid in the Tomb

V. We adore Thee, O Christ, and we praise Thee.
R. Because by Thy holy Cross, Thou hast redeemed the world.

The body of Jesus is laid in a stranger’s tomb. He Who in this world had not whereon to rest His head, would have no grave of His own after death. You whose heart is still attached to this world, despise it that you may not perish with it.

O Jesus, * Thou hast singled me out from the world, * what then shall I seek in it? * Thou hast created me for Heaven, * what then shall I desire upon earth? * Depart from me, deceitful world, with thy vanities! Henceforth I will walk the way of the Cross * traced out for me by my Redeemer, * and journey onward to my heavenly home, * where my rest and my joy shall be forever.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be.

Lenten Stational Church in Rome

Good Friday

S. Croce in Gerusalemme

(Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem)

One of the seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome, the Basilica of the Holy Cross was built in the fourth century specifically to house the relics of the Passion discovered by St. Helen in the holy land.  When it was first constructed, the floor of the church was literally covered with soil from Jerusalem -- thus the title which refers to the fact that the church of the Holy Cross was "in" Jerusalem.

Enshrined for devotion within the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem are: a part of the panel which was hung on Christ's Cross; two thorns of the crown; an incomplete nail and three small wooden pieces of the True Cross itself; a large fragment of the Good Thief's cross; the bone of an index finger, said to be the finger that St. Thomas placed in thewounds of the Risen Christ; a single reliquary containing small pieces of: the Scourging Pillar (the larger part which is in the Church of St. Praxedes), the Holy Sepulchre (Christ's tomb), and the crib of Jesus, as well as some fragments of the grotto of Bethlehem.

Lenten Stational Church in Rome

Thursday of Holy Week

The Basilica of St. John Lateran

The oldest and the first of the great Patriarchal Churches of Rome, the Basilica of St. John Lateran, rests on the site of the home of one of the first Christian families, the Lateranis.  In the days of the earliest Christians, the church, dedicated to Our Saviour, was known as"Basilica Salvatoris"  and was only later dedicated to St. John.  Being adjoined to the earliest and the most splendid of the early basilicas, the magnificent Palace of the Lateran, the home of the second wife of Constantine and donated by by that royal couple in the fourth century, was the residence of the popes for a thousand years of the history of the Church.  Unfortunately, due to the destruction done by a series of fires and the the confusion of the abandonment of Rome during the Babylonian Captivity, the popes moved away from St. John Lateran, changing their residence first to Santa Maria in Trastevere, then to Santa Maria Maggiore, and then, finally and permanently to  current home at the Vatican.

Of the many masterpieces and relics of note within the basilica, the most awe inspiring has to be the Scala Sancta (Holy Stairs), the marble staircase leading to the praetorium of Pilate in Jerusalem.  Moved from Jerusalem to Rome by St. Helen, these steps were sanctified by the footsteps of Jesus during His Passion. The marble stairs are accessed through openings in the wooden risers which are built around it to protect the precious relic from the thousands of pilgrims who come annually.  

For the complete history of the basilica, you can go here.  And, following is a short video documentary of St. John Lateran: