Happy Birthday, Mimi!

Happy 11th Birthday, Meem!

Birthday Girl

Photo credit:  Mimi

                          Happy 10th Birthday Liza!!!

Blessed John Paul the Great

Saturday Vigil in our home

Today we rejoiced and thanked God for the gift He gave to us, the faithful, in the person of Karol Wojtyła.

Viva Papa

Did you know that Pope John Paul II's official title was Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of Saint Peter, Head of the College of Bishops, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Patriarch of the West, Primate of Italy, Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman Province, Sovereign of the State of the Vatican City, Servus Servorum Dei, Pope John Paul II?

The tribute in our living room

So we rejoiced and celebrated and remained in a joy-filled atmosphere today.  And we thanked God again for His gift of this man, and continue to ask his intercession daily.

Blessed John Paul the Great, Pray for us!

Homemade Perpetual Calendar

I totally stole this idea from Paula.  Well, I guess I didn't steal it, because I told her I was probably going to adopt it, and she didn't say, "NO!  That's my idea and you can't use it."  Whew!   

So anyway, here is my adaptation of Paula's fabulous idea:

 I had this nice file box sitting around that our oldest daughter bought for rsvp cards for her wedding, and have found no use for it since.  Then I saw on Paula's post, "Today's item is something I made with finds from around the house,"  and the wheels started turning!  Hmmmmm.  Would it be possible?  But the handy-dandy index cards Paula used would not work with the configuration of this box, so....

See Paula's post I printed out for reference?

I just printed out on card stock each day's date, and placed lines.  I had to play with the margins a bit to enable me to just cut down and across in the middles.  All in all, I used 101 pieces of card stock and an entire black ink cartridge, but I really like how this turned out!  I got 4 days to a page... counted 366 days for a year (including leap-day), plus I made one day that says the name of the month with no date on it, so that I can record each and every special occasion on it: birthdays, anniversary dates, baptism dates, feast days, deaths, etc.  Then, while I am planning the upcoming month's holidays, celebrations, special meals, et all - I just grab the first card of the month and I'm all set to plan! 

Each evening I move each day's card to the back, so then come morning, I am all set for the day.  Each day's card has more specific information on it than that monthly summary, to remind us of exactly how long it's been since that beautiful wedding, or since Great Grammy died, when to begin that novena, etc.

Then on the monthly divider card, I printed an image I'd chosen off of Google image search that pertains to that month's devotion.  Here we have April's card, and we know that April is dedicated to the Holy Eucharist... 

 Now we have February and March's cards being sized for the file box.

February is dedicated to the Passion of the Lord, and March is to St. Joseph

 So with everything all settled into the file box, it looks like this:

So far, I am actually using my new perpetual calendar!   I do not make time to journal, nor do I remember every last detail as well as I used to.  So this is my adaptation of Paula's perpetual liturgical calendar.  Thanks Paula.  I'm glad you generously shared your great idea.

Fresh Jam in February

I made jam one afternoon last week.  It smelled SO delicious in this house - like a bit of summer right here.  In the middle of February. 

Triple Berry Jam boiling on the stovetop

I prepared a few batches of jam in July, then made the appropriate preparations so that I could make more in the middle of winter.  This is the first year that I actually did this.  It worked out so well, I will definitely do it again.

Strawberry Jam

I just measured out my crushed fruit, and instead of placing it into my saucepan, I placed it into a freezer zip-type bag, labeled it and popped it into the freezer.  There it sat, patiently waiting for me for the past 7 months.

The masses were complaining rather loudly that we had no jam left in the pantry The mood struck the other day, so I just placed a few bags of frozen fruit into a large plastic container and set it all into the refrigerator to thaw. 

From that point on, I just followed the regular instructions on the box of Sure-Jell, as I do in the summer while making fresh jam.

It makes perfect sense to do this in the winter, you know.  The summer here tends to be rather warm and humid in July, the central air is humming, and here I'd stand, making more heat and steam while cranking out a few cases of jam before the berries rot over-ripen.   

It was a nice, cool winter day, and I was at my stove top creating some steamy, deliciously summery-smelling aromas to waft throughout the house.  It was fabulous.

 

Didn't even feel like a chore, as it sometimes does in the summer.

I made a total of 18 jars of Triple Berry Jam (that's a combination of fresh strawberries, raspberries and blackberries) and 17 jars of Strawberry Jam.

I have a few more bags of freshly frozen berries out in the freezer - waiting to be turned into summer in-a-jar jam.

I do enjoy giving away a jar or two of jam.  All I ask is that you return the empty jar after you lick every last speck out of it thoroughly wash the sticky jar.  

Kids

What did I find on my camera the other day?

Crash must have had a few unsupervised minutes with my camera.  That's my guess anyway.

What Did You Have This Morning?

"So, what 'dge you have this morning?"  is the customary greeting on cold days, like today.

I am talking COLD.   Frigidly cold.  We read minus 38 degrees just after 7 am today on our thermometer.

Duluth, MN's official reading was -24 degrees, while International Falls, MN (and Babbitt, MN , where our Grandmas and Grandpa live) dipped as low as -46.   Brrr.  Now that's cold!

Dear hubby left for work as usual this morning at about 5:20am.  No problems, thankfully.  He started his car and let it run for several minutes before leaving today.  That's to warm the engine up to help prevent any problems, you know.

Anyway, we carried on, 'business as usual' around here.  Mimi went outside at -30 to feed the barn cat, dogs and the chickens.  She bundled up, of course, and made her way through the routine.  I believe her step was a bit quicker than normal today.  

The local public schools went on a '2-hour delay' this morning.  Smart.  It'd be rough to be out there at the coldest part of the day.  It had 'warmed' to -25 at 10:00 am, so it was still pretty darn cold, but I'm sure those kids were happy to get the morning off.

Our two dogs were brought inside overnight last night.  They were happy to stay in the entryway.  But not terribly eager to venture outside this morning!  The kids asked me if the dogs could stay in all day, but my reply was, "When it reaches 10 below, out they go."  Well, it is -7 now and they are both napping contentedly in the entryway...   so sometimes I am a pushover.

A light cloud cover made it's way over us within the past hour or so, which is supposed to bring a few snow flurries our way.  Sure makes me long for the sun now.  We've had gorgeous, blinding sunshine the last three days.  It's been lovely!  Heavenly, almost.  It is so delicious and incredibly bright in here when the sun shines, that we pulled the blinds, in winter.  In fact, it is so amazing, its my favorite place to be.  All warm and cozy, cheery and bright,  no matter how cold it gets outside!

I'm Ba--ack....

Did you miss me, by any chance?

I abandoned this little speck of the blogosphere before Christmas....  So many preparations during Advent, readying our home and ourselves for Christ's birth, I just couldn't find make time to blog.

 

 Our little Noelle left the hospital late in November, and is doing very well.  Big brother Harvey is totally fine with having her around.  They're planning to spend the upcoming weekend with us, along with their mommy and daddy.  Noelle was baptized on  Gaudete Sunday.  How appropriate.

Parents and Godparents promising this child to God!

We had a lovely Christmas Season, with a house full of family, and it was a very joyous holiday.   This little house was nearly bursting at the seams on Christmas Day, and everyone here said that they had a wonderful day.  That is all that truly matters to me, that everyone here enjoys being here.  We celebrated our Lord Jesus' birthday with love and joy. 

Extended families...  his,

and mine.

I wonder though, how is it that every time I get a really great set of plans/schedule worked out near any big holiday, they usually manage to get derailed one way or another?  I did get pretty much everything done that I really needed to get done,  so it all worked out in the end, but it wasn't without some tense moments and a bit of stress that Christmas arrived. 

Gah!  Here is a picture of my kitchen island at one point near Christmas.  Do you notice the diaper in the bowl that is normally full of apples?  Who put that there!?

Crash's addition to my decorated front porch

Our middle boy and his fiancee spent ten days from Christmas Eve through New Year's with us, and they brought their snowmobiles with them.  So much fun! The week went so quickly...

Upon settling back into the regular schedule, we celebrated the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6th.  We tried to go with what we had on hand, and the girls had great fun finding suitable foods to symbolize the Twelve Days of Christmas on the dinner table.  We decided on sliced pears, Dove chocolates, French fries, onion rings, hard boiled eggs, milk shakes (which we actually forgot to make!) chicken drumsticks, and a wonderful cake that all us gals worked on for dessert.  We had scattered star-shaped cut-out cookies and Brach's chocolate stars on the table, too, symbolizing the Christmas Star that led the Wisemen to Bethlehem.

All the Christmas decorations have been carefully put away, and we are back on track with our school work.  As much as I love the Christmas Season, I really have come to adore the return to 'normal' when we reach the weekend following the Epiphany.  Crash was pretty upset when we took the tree out.  He wanted it to stay inside for a while longer.

Now we're ready for the cold snap that is forecasted for the upcoming weekend.  I've got my menu planned, the shopping was already done last week, and the regular foods will be prepared as we enjoy the winter from the comfort of our home.  Stay warm, and may God bless us all this New Year.

A New Beginning

My first post on my first blog.   Who would've thought?!  Why am I even creating this blog?  Really, I think I am intending it to be a record of sorts for the kids.  And for me.  A record of our schooling adventures, of our every-day-life activities, of my thoughts, plans and hopes for the kids and for our family.   

I have high hopes for school.  I am really looking forward to this school year.  It is full of promise.  And the kids are full of excitement.  They are on a count-down.  After dinner this evening Mimi asked me, "How many more days til we start school, Mom?!"   She asks me daily.  Six.  Only six.  Boy, I've got to get in gear!    There are plans to complete, and still art supplies to purchase!  But I've got tubs of books sorted and organized and just waiting for that first day of school.  And waiting for some new bookcases to be purchased so that they can find a home on the new shelves.  

I'll have to get in the habit of taking more pictures of the everyday stuff, so I can show the before and after photos.  Especially in our school room/dining room.  I am hoping to create a major change.  Everything now feels so cluttered and strewn!   My hope is to organize and create an eye-pleasing setting.  At least in this one area.  (I'll attempt to link the blog where my idea was born-but I am so new at this!) 

We are still in the midst of the on-going remodel of the house.  Hence the cluttered and strewn feel in most of the house.  Oftentimes it seems we'll never get it complete.  And I hope that some day we will.  But with all the activities and traveling we did this summer, there's little doubt as to why nothing was accomplished.  Oh well, now that summer is over (in my book) -- it is my hope that we'll get motivated to begin again on the house - one little step at a time.