Working Wednesday

This is the little boys' "office."

I know it is, because they told me so.  I had an inkling that's what was going on, though, when I looked over the kitchen counter at lunchtime yesterday and saw the dictionary and the pencil sharpener monster and the little paint can "chairs." But what really tipped me off was the pencils behind the ears.

What do they do in their office, you ask?  I wondered, too.

Gabe: We do letters and buy things.

William:  And we eat.

What things do they buy?

William:  Food and cookies.

Gabe: No, we buy stores and houses and offices.  They cost about eight hundred and forty-eight dollars.  And sometimes more.  Like eight thousand dollars.

That's a lot of money!

Gabe: Yes, it is.  And sometimes we don't have enough, so we have to make some money.

Well, then, how do you make money for this business?

Gabe: With this pencil.

A lot like they do it in Washington, I'm thinking...  Five-year-old economics.

Taking Time...

Makes My Monday

(Thank-you, Dan and God, for pretty daughters and pretty flowers!)

Go see Cheryle for more.

Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas

Words of the Dumb Ox

+ All the efforts of the human mind cannot exhaust the essence of a single fly.

+ Better to illuminate than merely to shine, to deliver to others contemplated truths than merely to contemplate.

+ Faith has to do with things that are not seen and hope with things that are not at hand.

+ Friendship is the source of the greatest pleasures, and without friends even the most agreeable pursuits become tedious.

+ Hold firmly that our faith is identical with that of the ancients. Deny this, and you dissolve the unity of the Church
 
+ How can we live in harmony? First we need to know we are all madly in love with the same God.


+ It is clear that he does not pray, who, far from uplifting himself to God, requires that God shall lower Himself to him, and who resorts to prayer not to stir the man in us to will what God wills, but only to persuade God to will what the man in us wills.


+ It is requisite for the relaxation of the mind that we make use, from time to time, of playful deeds and jokes.
 

+ Man should not consider his material possession his own, but as common to all, so as to share them without hesitation when others are in need.

+ Not everything that is more difficult is more meritorious.

 

+ Sorrow can be alleviated by good sleep, a bath and a glass of wine.

+ The principal act of courage is to endure and withstand dangers doggedly rather than to attack them.


+ The things that we love tell us what we are.
 

+ To bear with patience wrongs done to oneself is a mark of perfection, but to bear with patience wrongs done to someone else is a mark of imperfection and even of actual sin.

+ There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship.

+ Three things are necessary for the salvation of man: to know what he ought to believe; to know what he ought to desire; and to know what he ought to do.

+ To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.

We can't have full knowledge all at once. We must start by believing; then afterwards we may be led on to master the evidence for ourselves.

Happy Name Day, William Thomas and all other Thomases out there!

Got your cuppa coffee or tea in hand?

This is a long read for a weekend morning  -- but it's full of important things to ponder in our times.  I'm especially thinking about the last word of advice...  Read on to see what I mean. 
(This is from an e-mail forward --H/T Dave and Caroline)

Advice from an Israeli Agent

Juval Aviv was the Israeli Agent upon whom the movie ' Munich ' was based. He was Golda Meir's bodyguard, and she appointed him to track down and bring to justice the Palestinian terrorists who took the Israeli athletes hostage and killed them during the Munich Olympic Games.

In a lecture in New York City he shared information that EVERY American needs to know -- but that our government has not yet shared with us.

He predicted the London subway bombing on the Bill O'Reilly show on Fox News stating publicly that it would happen within a week. At the time, O'Reilly laughed, and mocked him saying that in a week he wanted him back on the show. Unfortunately, within a week the terrorist attack had occurred.

Juval Aviv gave intelligence (via what he had gathered in Israel and the Middle East ) to the Bush Administration about 9/11, a month before it occurred His report specifically said they would use planes as bombs and target high profile buildings and monuments. Congress has since hired him as a security consultant.

Now for his future predictions. He predicts the next terrorist attack on the U.S. will occur within the next few months.

Forget hijacking airplanes, because he says terrorists will NEVER try and hijack a plane again as they know the people onboard will never go down quietly again. Aviv believes our airport security is a joke -- that we have been reactionary, rather than proactive in developing strategies that are truly effective.

For example:

1) Our airport technology is outdated. We look for metal, and the new explosives are made of plastic.

2) He talked about how some idiot tried to light his shoe on fire. Because of that, now everyone has to take off their shoes. A group of idiots tried to bring aboard liquid explosives. Now we can't bring liquids on board. He says he's waiting for some suicidal maniac to pour liquid explosive on his underwear; at which point, security will have us all traveling naked!

Every strategy we have is reactionary.

3) We only focus on security when people are heading to the gates.

Aviv says that if a terrorist attack targets airports in the future, they will target busy times on the front end of the airport when/where people are checking in. It would be easy for someone to take two suitcases of explosives, walk up to a busy check-in line, ask a person next to them to watch their bags for a minute while they run to the restroom or get a drink, and then detonate the bags BEFORE security even gets involved. In Israel , security checks bags BEFORE people can even ENTER the airport.

Aviv says the next terrorist attack here in America is imminent and will involve suicide bombers and non-suicide bombers in places where large groups of people congregate. (i.e., Disneyland, Las Vegas casinos, big cities (New York, San Francisco, Chicago, etc.) and that it will also include shopping malls, subways in rush hour, train stations, etc., as well as, rural America this time. The interlands ( Wyoming , Montana , etc.)

The attack will be characterized by simultaneous detonations around the country (terrorists like big impact), involving at least 5-8 cities, including rural areas.

Aviv says terrorists won't need to use suicide bombers in many of the larger cities, because at places like the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, they can simply valet park a car loaded with explosives and walk away.

Aviv says all of the above is well known in intelligence circles, but that our U.S. Government does not want to 'alarm American citizens' with the facts. The world is quickly going to become 'a different place', and issues like 'global warming' and political correctness will become totally irrelevant.

On an encouraging note, he says that Americans don't have to be concerned about being nuked. Aviv says the terrorists who want to destroy America will not use sophisticated weapons. They like to use suicide as a front-line approach. It's cheap, it's easy, it's effective; and they have an infinite abundance of young militants more than willing to 'meet their destiny'.

He also says the next level of terrorists, over which America should be most concerned, will not be coming from abroad. But will be, instead, 'homegrown', having attended and been educated in our own schools and universities right here in the U.S.

He says to look for 'students' who frequently travel back and forth to the Middle East . These young terrorists will be most dangerous because they will know our language and will fully understand the habits of Americans; but that we Americans won't know/understand a thing about them.

Aviv says that, as a people, Americans are unaware and uneducated about the terrorist threats we will inevitably face. America still has only a handful of Arabic and Farsi speaking people in our intelligence network, and Aviv says it is critical that we change that fact SOON.

So, what can America do to protect itself? >From an intelligence perspective, Aviv says the U.S. needs to stop relying on satellites and technology for intelligence. We need to, instead, follow Israel 's, Ireland 's and England 's hands-on examples of human intelligence, both from an infiltration perspective as well as to pay attention to, and trust 'aware' citizens to help. We need to engage and educate ourselves as citizens; however, our U. S. government continues to treat us, its citizens,'like babies'. Our government thinks we 'can't handle the truth' and are concerned that we'll panic if we understand the realities of terrorism. Aviv says this is a deadly mistake.

Aviv recently created/executed a security test for our Congress, by placing an empty briefcase in five well-traveled spots in five major cities. The results? Not one person called 911 or sought a policeman to check it out. In fact, in Chicago , someone tried to steal the briefcase!

In comparison, Aviv says that citizens of Israel are so well 'trained' that an unattended bag or package would be reported in seconds by citizen(s) who know to publicly shout, 'Unattended Bag!' The area would be quickly & calmly cleared by the citizens themselves.

Unfortunately, America hasn't been yet 'hurt enough' by terrorism for their government to fully understand the need to educate its citizens or for the government to understand that it's their citizens who are, inevitably, the best first-line of defense against terrorism.

Aviv also was concerned about the high number of children here in America who were in preschool and kindergarten after 9/11, who were 'lost' without parents being able to pick them up, and about our schools that had no plan in place to best care for the students until parents could get there. (In New York City , this was days, in some cases!)

He stresses the importance of having a plan, that's agreed upon within your family, of how to respond in the event of a terrorist emergency. He urges parents to contact their children's schools and demand that the schools too, develop plans of actions, just as they do in Israel .

Does your family know what to do if you can't contact one another by phone? Where would you gather in an emergency? He says we should all have a plan that is easy enough for even our youngest children to remember and follow.

Aviv says that the U. S. government has in force a plan, that in the event of another terrorist attack, EVERYONE's ability to use cell phones, blackberries, etc., will immediately be cut-off, as this is the preferred communication source used by terrorists and is often the way that their bombs are detonated.

How will you communicate with your loved ones in the event you cannot speak to each other? You need to have a plan.

I'm thinking. Most but not all of my family still has land lines, and I'm hoping those would be harder to disable in turbulent times.  But if you had neither cell phones nore land lines, what would you do?  I'm thinking of pricing out short-wave radios.  Might be time to get a couple of us licensed.  Any thoughts?

Hidden Behind This Sign...

...is a motorcycle cop with a speed gun. 

I'm not kidding.

This is along the main thoroughfare in Grand Junction, Colorado, where the cops have a great sense of humor.  Just as we passed this semi-sneaky guy, we pulled up behind another motorcycle cop at a stoplight.  He had a bumpersticker on the back of his bike that said: Smile! I could be behind you.

Sooo....

I'm back.  And it's lovely to be home. I was met at the door with seven big hugs and a clean house.  And a painted kitchen ceiling and a half finished kitchen floor and a new roof!  Check this out:

The House

The Barn

(After thirteen years of light pinkish-tan shingles, the house and the barn look to all of us like they've up and gotten toupees to cover their aging pates...)

I'll post some pics of the finished house projects soon.  But,first here are some of my trip.  It was wonderful.  The weather was perfect and the mission practical, since I went to get Nicole's old car and fetch it back for Kevin to use -- just in time, too, since his old Saab's alternator went out just last week.  But I also got to see my awesome naturopath over on the Western Slope (she says I'll probably live...) and I got to go out with the St. Joseph's Sisters, which was such a great time -- fun and edifying.  Sisters are totally the most delightful conversationalists on the planet.  And, I also had the great pleasure of visiting with Paul and Nicole in their home.  Here they are.  Such cuties!

And here are some shots of the scenery on the way over the mountains:

From the top of Grand Mesa (above and below).

At an elk ranch outside of Cedaredge, Colorado:

This old Presbyterian Church in Orchard City looks like it belongs in Britain somewhere, doesn't it?

The following shots are from along I-70 between Grand Junction and Denver:

(The Colorado River, above)

And, here is Kevvy with his "new" old car.  He's very happy to have working wheels!

And now I'd better get off this computer before Dan literally pushes me off the seat.  He says he loved having this thing all to himself while I was gone.  Sheesh! We love having Daddy home, even though he hogs the computer, though, really. 

No news as of yet, by the way, on the job front.  But I'll let you know if anything wild or wonderful happens.  Still praying for a happy resolution, regardless -- and using this at-home time to tackle house projects.  Not a bad deal.  We take advantange of Dan's being here to get up and say the family rosary together every morning, too -- and this morning was nice enough to get outside for a rosary walk!  Now, that is a good thing.  It's all actually pretty good, you know, all things considered. 

Our Family Nameday

The Feast of St. David of Wales

Here is the Catholic history and a couple other versions of the history of the saint of the day -- and a Welsh custom or two can be found here and here.

It's a custom to wear a leek in one's hat or on one's lapel on this feast, in memory of the victory obtained by Welsh soldiers who obediently placed leeks in their helmets before battle in the day of King St. David.  (I haven't got a clue why... )  But, daffodils are also an emblem of the day, and might also be worn on one's lapel in celebration.  I'm thinking I'd go for the daffodil.

Welsh recipes for te bach (tea party, coffee klatsch, social gathering...) on St. David's Day.

Lots of things to do for St. David's Day, including a Welsh dragon to color.

Click and print to color (above).

St. David's Day Parade, Cardiff, Wales.

And, in celebration of the fact that both of our family surnames are of Welsh origin, I'm taking your leave to go spend some time with my son and daughter-in-law in Western Colorado.  (Because that's as good a reason as any, but also, because I'm going to go fetch a car back for son-number-two...)  I'll be back around mid-week.  Have a blessed St. David's Day!

Friday Quick-ish Takes

The Big Picture Edition

of the Nitty Gritty

1. Painting
We're taking advantage of Dan's being home to take care of some house projects.  He's already replaced the flooring and a bit of bad wall in the bathroom.  And, now that Paul's here, we're ramping up the construction zone.  We have a doorway in the kitchen that we built over last year -- or, gee... was it the year before last that we knocked out the wall between the living room and dining room and built the arch?  Anyway, we're (I should say they're, Paul and Dan are...) finishing the drywall to cover that old door in the kitchen and utilizing the new space by adding countertop and storage. The plan is to finally get new flooring in the kitchen, too...  but, first, everything needs a new coat of paint.

And that will be my job.  Mine and the girls.  The boys do the building; we do the finish work.  Now, painting.  I have a love/hate relationship with painting.  I dread the idea of it. In fact everything about the concept of painting a room strikes terror into my heart: the removal of all movable objects -- to be put directly underfoot somewhere else; the taping around windows; the plasticking over non-movable objects; and then, the distracting of small children from the painting zone -- the most daunting prospect of all! There's nothing a five-year-old likes better than "helping" with painting.  Bless 'em.

That said, though, I don't actually mind the process once I get into it. There is something cathartic about painting -- if one is left alone to the task, I mean.   And I love the results.  A fresh coat of paint makes everything new.  Like snow. Clean and pure. 

2.  And Speaking of Snow 

We've had it off and on for the last several days, adding up to a couple inches still on the ground.  It snows a little, then the temps rise to the forties and it melts.  Then it snows a little more.  And, with that comes the mud.  I think I'd rather it just snowed a good snow and stayed frozen until about April, then melted in one big mudslide.   Mopping up after the constant mud is making me crazy.  Though I'm getting sick of the white stuff, I'll take it over the alternative right now.

St. Therese the Little Flower loved the snow so I could do worse than preferring it, I guess -- though her preference was for spiritual housekeeping symbolism rather than practical housekeeping reality.  She prayed for it to snow on the day of her profession to symbolize her purity of intent and I imagine she was thrilled, but not surprised when God granted her wish.  Here's a poem written by St. Therese with the theme of snow included:

The Flower

All the earth with snow is covered,

Everywhere the white frosts reign;

Winter and his gloomy courtiers

Hold their court on earth again.

But for you has bloomed the Flower

Of the fields, Who comes to earth

From the fatherland of heaven,

Where eternal spring has birth.

Near the Rose of Christmas, Sister!

In the lowly grasses hide,

And be like the humble flowerets, --

Of heaven’s King the lowly bride!

3. On the Subject of Simplifying

Simplifying is a good thing.  No designers here, of course, though we're creative in our own way.  And we're collectors.  Compilers.  Not hoarders, but save-just-in-casers.  You just never know when you're going to need more baby clothes (especially if you're us), or when you're going to need that little scrap of insulation, or that old kitchen sink,  or that wimmididdle or that thingamobob or those thousands of books... Because of the huge numbers of things and people around here, we are (to oldest-son, Paul's chagrin) somewhat organizationally challenged and not always paragons of tidiness. But we do try.  In order to keep complete chaos from lapping at our doors, we have loosely scheduled weekly, monthly, and quarterly cleanup projects that help keep the house and property from falling totally apart -- or being buried.

For instance: Once a week, the children's rooms all get a good cleaning. Though I "wipe down" the downstairs (most used) bathroom every day, it gets a thorough cleaning once a week. The Fridge (note this is one of the venerable appliances that gets a capital letter...) gets a good clearing out about once a month, as does the small kitchen pantry and the laundry room. The cellar gets a going-over about once a quarter, as do the garages and outbuildings during the warm months when they tend to fall apart faster. And about once a year we clean out our gigantic quanset hut, the repository of all the flostam and jetsam that makes it out of the house but not to the dumpster.  This is the project we took on last week, in between the bathroom floor and the kitchen walls.

I am proud to announce that we have donated twenty garden-sized trashbags full of clothing to the needy -- and have made a dent in the mess in our Q. Hut in the process.  Gone are: 1) All miscellaneous baby and toddler clothes up to age four, except for the special or very nice ones we'll want to pass on to our grandbabies; 2) Anything that was duplicated exponentially, like size 12 boys' jeans; 3) All dated ("unfashionable") fashions like pearl-button cowboy shirts and cropped sweaters and anything that the girls curled their lip up at as soon as I pulled it out of a bin; 4)  All the old college and twenty-something clothes that I was saving -- I don't know why... Even if they ever fit again, I wouldn't wear them.

I had to close my eyes and bite my lip when I threw them in the trashbag, but it feels good to be getting a little lighter on our feet!

(Next we go through the book bins.  That's going to be harder!)

4.  Speaking of Lighter

I'm afraid I'm not getting any.  Lighter that is.  Even though you'd think I should be -- with it being Lent and all, I think it's harder to lose weight when I'm fasting than at any other time.  It's a mental thing.  I think I make up all the calories I elimate with the two light meals and lack of snacks by pigging out at the main meal every day.  It's a survival instinct, I think.  I'm more mentally hungry by that main meal than I am physically hungry, but instead of feeding the mental deficit with firm resolve, I fill my plate with second helpings.  =sigh= Working on it, though.  I'm thinking it's not really in the Lenten spirit to be pigging out at all.  (Man, but I'm a weak instrument.)

5.  Did I mention Instruments ?

Pianos to be specific.  Theresa got ahold of the first page of the Linus and Lucy theme and has it pretty much memorized, but she's only got the one page of music.  She downloaded it a few weeks ago from an online music store that only offered it as a teaser, and it made for a very successful promotional gimmick. Seriously. We really are going to have to buy her the whole book or she's going to drive us nuts.  Peanuts.

6. These are the best thing ever invented 

William and Gabriel, both, have the most miserable head colds right now -- and we are going through scads of tissue.  Wastebaskets full.  Dumpsters full.  It's amazing that so much snot can come out of two such small bodies.  These wonderfully soft and lotion-enhanced Puffs, though, are helping with the damage control on their raw little noses.  Thank goodness.  I don't know who thought to invent these things, but I bet it was a mother. 

7.  Getting Away From It All

From Linus and Lucy, snotty noses, paint cans, storage bins, muddy boots, and all.  Dan's so sweet, he's letting me be the one who gets to drive back over the mountains with Paul this coming Sunday, in order to bring back the car that son-number-two, Kevin, is buying from son-number-one, Paul's, wife, Nicole. Nicole's getting a new car (Yay for Nicole!) and her old car is a step-up from Kev's twenty year old Saab.  Under normal circumstances, Kevvy would probably make the trip over to pick up his new car, but he can't make the trip because, praise God, he's finally landed a job!  He's working for my sister's company, managing the front desk (I mean her company -- the company she works for, not one she owns...)   Anyway, it's only part time for starters, but hopefully he'll be able to work his way up in salary and time.  Anyway, anything is better than nothing.  But, because he can't make the trip, and because I have a very nice husband willing to hold down the fort at home, I get to have a mini-vacation in my favorite place with some of my favorite people -- my son and his wife. (Gosh, still sounds a little funny, that phrase "Paul's wife!")  While I'm on the Western Slope, I'll also get a chance to catch up with my awesome Naturopath and fit in a visit with the Sisters at St. Joseph's parish. God willing the weather lets us get over there before it snows us in! 

These last two pics taken near our old home on the Western Slope of Colorado.  The first outside of Delta, the second in the San Juan mountains, south of Ouray -- in the summer, of course.  But, look below; there's a winter shot, with a nice mugshot of my honey, the man who makes it all possible.  Thanks, Dan!

 

* Go visit Jennifer at Conversion Diaries for more Quick Take Friday posts!

(If you're running into these Quick Take Fridays on Thursday night, congratulate me on getting the jump on something!  Woohoo! There's hope for the hopeless.)

Wordless Wednesday

Guess who's black and who's white...

Oh, and look who's home for a visit!

(Wonderful Paul-- our firstborn son, carpenter and problem-solver extraordinaire -- is taking some time, leaving his beautiful bride at home for a week, to help us with some house projects.  Isn't he the sweetest?)

Life is like a mop

I remember when I was a kid, and my mom made meatloaf once a week... I could. not. wait. to grow up and get to make meatloaf.  Don't ask me why.  Maybe it was something about getting my hands into the mooshy mess of raw meat; it seemed like a forbidden and grown-up thing, I guess.  Or maybe I was just attracted to the grossness of it. I was a weird child.  But the years did pass and I did  grow up. And somewhere along the line I got initiated into the world of meatloaf making.  I don't actually remember the first time I got to knead slippery raw eggs into gooey  raw meat, but I'm sure it was a thrill.  I might even have gotten a kick out of it the first few times, even.  But, um, well... While I don't especially mind getting my hands into ground beef these days, I gotta say, it doesn't do much for me anymore. 

But now it's the same for Gabe and mopping that it was for me and meatloaf when I was his age.  There's something about getting  that ole string mop dripping wet and swirling it around the floor that just gets Gabey going....  He's been bugging me to let him "help"  with the mopping for quite some time. Please, Mommy.  He just had to do it.  He had to get his hands on that mop.  So today I let him have at it. I helped him fill the bucket, dip in the mop, and wring it out in the little wringer-thingy. I warned him not to slip, and gave him a demonstration run-through on one side of the living room.  Then I handed him the mop.  And he was after it.  Slow and careful at first...

 Then, confident and free-spirited, he took off, mopping like a ballroom dancer or an Olympic figure skater with a prop.  He had the time of his life out there.  Gabe finally had his hands on a mop.

That kind of joy should be bottled.

It really should, shouldn't it?  Why is it that we lose our excitement for little things like this?  Is it something we have to lose when we grow tall and burdened?  Heaven knows, with the trials that weigh down us grown-ups, we need the joy more than than the children do.  But where does it go?  Does it dissipate with our childish innocence? Does it have to be lost forever, replaced with our maturity and knowlege?  

Don't get me wrong, I'm not depressed or feeling low or anything.  I consider myself a generally happy person, in fact. My life is perty darn good.  I have a loving husband, and more than a quiver full of happy, healthy, wonderful children.  And those are just the big things.  Life is full of little happinesses that surprise me all the time when they land on my shoulder and blow in my ear.  I love me a good sunset.  A good meal.  Baby toes and dimpled elbows...  

But it's Lent.  And I guess because it's Lent I'm rebelling against a joyless state.  We're warned to smile through our penances if we want to gain merit from them.  But, jezelouise that's hard to do!  I'd like to be better about taking the little penances and chores and humdrumness of  the daily daily and find joy in it -- like I did when I was a kid. Like Gabe did today, turning a chore into fun. I want to be happy about mopping!  I want to get a kick out of making meatloaf!   And I want to smile through Lent.

Is that asking too much? 

St. Philip Neri, the laughing saint, pray for me!

(Are you laughing at me, St. Philip?)

Icicles

From the eaves.

Add two spontaneous and curious little boys.

And a hot wood stove.

Checking.

Checking.

About three and a half hours, start to finish.

("There's not very much water for all those icicles, is there, Mommy?")

Kid-made curriculum.

Makes My Monday.

Go see Cheryle for more Monday-makers!