For Today…March 29, 2010

Outside my window…it’s dark. Today was a perfect day. The sun was out all day long, but it wasn’t hot. I could get used to this weather. We spent most of the day outside enjoying the sun. I plan to do the same all week long.

I am wearing…my pj’s.

I am listening to…nothing. All the boys are in bed. I just finished a great conversation with Jessica. It was nice to actually visit without one of the boys distracting us.

I am praying for…a friend who is having surgery tomorrow, another friend for peace, and my family, most especially me. Does that make me selfish? I think I need it the most right now.

I am thankful for…my best friend and our outings. I love getting together with Marivi. And I love that our kids have so much fun together. Goose is missing his time with the twins this year.

From the kitchen…this is two weeks in a row that I have no menu planned. I need to get moving on that. Plus, I need to plan our meals for the Triduum. I know that I want to make homemade pretzels with the boys on Friday, but that’s about it.

On keeping home…I read somewhere that during Holy Week, women cleaned the house from top to bottom Monday through Wednesday so they could focus on the liturgy the rest of the week. This sounds like a great plan, except I already missed today. So…it looks like I will be a cleaning machine for the next two days.

To live the liturgy…Is there a better week than this in the Church? I don’t think so. We started yesterday celebrating Palm Sunday. We made hand print palms and hung them up. Today in Super Saints we made a Stations of the Cross box. Inside the box we have a symbol for each station. We also prayed the stations together. We’ll focus on the beauty of the Triduum and then celebrate on Easter Sunday. I look forward to Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Vigil Mass with the family. Although, I’m not sure who will be coming with me to Mass on Saturday!

Around the house…Lance and I still haven’t tackled the desk. He said he had the whole thing planned out. Not sure what that means, but I am hoping to put this whole desk cleaning thing behind me. I am also going to start looking for those shelves I want soon.

Kobra this week…is a little bully when it comes to food. No surprise considering who his parents are. This kid will scream if you don’t feed him fast enough. It’s quite obnoxious.

To be fit and happy…I’ve been feeling really down because my body doesn’t look how I want. It’s a totally annoying girl thing, and I know it. But that doesn’t stop me from wanting the perfectly flat tummy and toned arms. I had this amazing workout this morning, then went and had a burger, then tonight sweet Jessica brought me some candy and a DP. How could I refuse? I’m done with my king size Twix bar and coconut M&M’s. Tomorrow, I won’t have any sweets, I promise.

One of my favorite things…organizing. I’m so OCD at times, it is annoying. Lance tried to remind me tonight that I’m more than a taskmaster, and he wasn’t trying to be nice about it.

I am hoping…that I have a good end of Lent. Just a few more days.

A few plans for the rest of the week…

• Super Saints, check
• zoo with twins, check
• park
• confession for me again
• swim lessons
• buy boys pants for Easter Sunday…how did I miss this?
• buy Squirt shirt for Easter Sunday…again, how did I miss this?
• CLEAN
• read books to boys, rotate Lent books out and have Easter books ready for Sunday
• color eggs on Saturday
• decorate house for Easter on Saturday, this seems late, but there are 50 days of Easter starting this Sunday
• get baskets ready, which means buy candy
• bake some sweets for Squirt who gave up sweets for Lent
• Long Masses Thursday, Friday and Saturday
• relax…please!

A picture thought I am sharing…

I should say perfect weekend because we really had the best time. Friday, I had dinner with my brother and his family and then my mom watched the kids while I went out with my best friend. Lance was at Reliant watching the tournament in the best seats! I have to say I was slightly jealous, especially after today’s game at Reliant. Saturday, we enjoyed lunch at one of my favorite hamburger joints after the boys had their games and music. I really wish the weather would stay like this forever.

Today, we went to the Bayou City Art Festival. I love art festivals. My parents used to take me to these all the time when I was a kid. I loved the Westheimer Art Festival. (Today’s festival is an off-shoot of that festival.) It was the best time. It was in Montrose and there was art, food and drink and loads of fun. Then something happened and they split up the festival. The art moved downtown and the party stayed in Montrose. To say I loved the street festival is an understatement. It was the best party in town. Oh, the memories! And blackmail pictures!

We went to the festival this morning so that we had time to enjoy ourselves before Lance had to go back to Reliant. It’s pretty cool watching the kids at a place like this. Everyone has their own taste in art, and they are no different.

After lunch, I took the kids to see How to Train Your Dragon while Lance went back to Reliant. They were so cute, and the baby behaved like an angel! BUT, can I complain about paying 32 bucks for a freaking 3-D movie? For one adult and two kids! WTH? And quite frankly, I didn’t think it was that good. I guess I couldn’t get past the price of the movie.

We finished the night by making hand palms to celebrate Palm Sunday. Overall, a perfect weekend. I hate Mondays!

The boys are having a blast with March Madness. For whatever reason, the boys picked Butler as their team, (after Texas lost.) Since Butler was playing against Murray State last week, they have been trash talking. They are really excited about the Final Four next weekend. It has been such fun to listen to them learn about basketball and bond together over their new favorite team. I think their understanding of basketball is better than mine. And no, they didn’t root for any of the Big 12 teams to win. In fact, both kids got in trouble today for saying that K-State sucks. (I was proud, Lance, not so much.) My guess is that they will root for Baylor tomorrow, but only because Lance will be rooting for Baylor. If I told Baby Hulk that they beat Texas, he would hate Baylor, no exceptions. He’s smart like that.

One of the things on my list this week was to receive the sacrament of Confession. I hate to say it like this, but I guess I can check that one off. Last night, Lance and I went to Confession together. There were twelve different priests to choose from, both face to face or behind the screen. We got there super late, which actually worked in our favor because I only had a few people in front of me. Lance and I don’t go to the same priest because I normally go face to face and he goes behind the screen. He always wonders what the heck I say during confession because I seem to take a long time. Last night was no exception.

Here is what I got from the priest last night. And yes, I know that by talking about it or rather him, I already need to get my butt back to confession again, but then, I am always in need of confession. So…I confessed my sins, one of my larger ones being my anger towards God right now. I know it’s not right, but it doesn’t change my feelings. I am HUMAN, and I feel the need to relish in my failings right now despite knowing I shouldn’t think this way. After I was done, the priest began to give counsel, something I was very happy about because often you can leave confession wanting something more from the priest. He told me “things could be much worse, I should hear what he hears in his office.” And my favorite, say “good-bye to the pity party.” Honestly, I could have gotten that advice from my brother. In fact, now that he knows a priest has told me that he probably feels he has free reign to do so anytime I complain.

I understand to some degree what the priest was saying, but I am not a huge fan of the “things could be worse” line from anyone. I know that, but the fact that something could be worse has never once made me feel better. Not when I was kid hearing about starving children in Africa or now as an adult when people say things like “at least you weren’t further along”. I get it, life can suck sometimes.

So where am I? Back to Confession again before next week. I was telling a friend that I am sticking with the same priest from now on during Confession, and she agreed that was probably the best thing to do.

I did get something good from last night though. (Actually, my full unloading was very good for me!) I was confessing my not too pretty tongue with regard to my language and gossip. He told me what a shame it would be if that kept me from entering the Kingdom of Heaven one day. I think I did a better job today than yesterday. Now that is something to be happy about!

For Today…March 23, 2010

Outside my window…it’s beautiful outside. The sun is shining and it will be in the 70’s soon. I love this weather and plan to take full advantage with the boys.

I am wearing…black workout shorts and a red t-shirt. Getting ready to go to the gym soon.

I am listening to…BH and Kobra scream at each other. It goes like this…Kobra screams and it upsets BH so much that he starts shaking and screaming. It’s kind of funny because Kobra has a smile on his face the entire time.

I am praying for…my friend’s son who was bit by a dog. All those in RCIA. AND me.

I am thankful for…last week and the fact that despite my own personal misery, I was able to really enjoy the boys.

From the kitchen…Lance and I were planning the menu and it went nowhere. He’s on a diet and nothing sounded good to me. Last night we had chili dogs and tonight I have dinner plans so the kids get something super easy again. I will try and make up for it the rest of the week.

I am creating…plans for next week. Holy Week starts this Sunday and I want it to be special for the kids.

Towards Rhythm and Beauty…I’m having a bad year. It started in August and keeps getting worse. There are pockets of good, but not many. The fact of life is that there are ups and downs, moments to earn Grace. The problem is I don’t want the Grace right now. Here’s hoping I can open up to start living again.

Around the house…I finally did a good clean and have started on the Lenten cleaning. Lance cleaned out his side of the closet and the blinds are looking really good. I think we’re avoiding the desk and baseboards.

One of my favorite things…Scones and Pistachio muffins. I love cranberry orange scones. I need to learn how to bake these because I am going to go broke buying them from Starbucks. I have been eyeing these Pistachio muffins for the past two weeks at the store. I finally broke down and bought a few for yesterday’s Super Saints meeting. I thought the green would go with Saint Patrick as a snack for the adults. I ate one before anyone even showed up. The problem is they are the size of a softball. Afterwards, I ate another one.

A few plans for the rest of the week…

• dinner for Carter and Cindy
• confession
• swim lessons
• doctor appointments for the boys
• art festival
• movies for Goose
• play outside

A picture thought I am sharing…

I had one more post for today, as if I needed to write anymore. It was going to be about how Squirt and I went to see Diary of a Wimpy Kid and loved it. What’s even better, he chose me to go to the movie with over Lance. Ha! Then, I walked into his room to find a toy and it was a mess. As I checked out the mess, I saw his glasses. THEY. ARE. BROKEN. AGAIN. And he doesn’t even wear his glasses anymore unless his contacts are bothering him, which is never. HOW, I asked, did this happen? Why weren’t they put away? How is it that he can break his glasses more than twice a year, every year since he was six? I finally see the good part of the most recent miscarriage : I can have a XANAX. God knows I need one because I am livid. I think he’s happy he’s at CCE at this point.

My bet, this will be Squirt’s FB profile picture soon.

We didn’t go out of town this week, but instead relaxed and took it easy. I even took a couple of days off from the gym so we wouldn’t be rushed in the morning. We had park time, play dates, the middle boys went to the Rodeo carnival, Squirt got to see a friend who lives on the other side of town and we went to the Arboretum. Just the right amount of fun for the boys. The big boys are still playing, enjoying these last few hours of freedom. They have been outside all afternoon and haven’t fussed once. They have really enjoyed their time together this week. I am so sad for them to go back to school. Sigh. Here are a few (okay, a lot!) of pictures from our week. Enjoy, mom and dad.

Enjoying time with mom