Sorry I'm a day late.
I don't really have a good excuse for it either...unless binge watching The Office counts as a good excuse.
1.) It rained. A LOT.
This picture isn't of a river-- it's of water rushing through a culvert that's normally dry and empty.
We had a huge thunderstorm last night, and the fields (and our yard) are absolutely full of water. We don't usually get a lot of rain here, our fields are plowed in such a way that they retain water instead of draining it (plowed to drain is how most fields are set up) but once every couple years or so we get a lot of rain in the span of a few days, or we get a huge thunderstorm.
It's actually pretty crazy when we get a thunderstorm because we get a whole lot of wildlife we don't normally see. Driving around this morning (driving around country roads to look at all the flooding is a proud tradition-- we turn around if the road is flooded, don't worry) we saw lots of ducks flying around, and at one point we heard an absolute cacophony of frogs singing their hearts out.
We had a huge thunderstorm last night, and the fields (and our yard) are absolutely full of water. We don't usually get a lot of rain here, our fields are plowed in such a way that they retain water instead of draining it (plowed to drain is how most fields are set up) but once every couple years or so we get a lot of rain in the span of a few days, or we get a huge thunderstorm.
It's actually pretty crazy when we get a thunderstorm because we get a whole lot of wildlife we don't normally see. Driving around this morning (driving around country roads to look at all the flooding is a proud tradition-- we turn around if the road is flooded, don't worry) we saw lots of ducks flying around, and at one point we heard an absolute cacophony of frogs singing their hearts out.
Of course, the mosquitoes are going to be HORRIBLE for the next month or so and we have islands of fire ants that float around the puddles whenever a rain like this happens, so the bug life suddenly gets...interesting.
Everything is a trade off.
2.) I went to mass for the first time in two months last Sunday.
We decided that one of us should go alone before we tried to take the whole family to see if it was feasible to do so yet, or if we needed to wait awhile. Since it was Mother's day, I got to go.
The parish was about as full as it normally is, which is about a quarter capacity. Very few people were wearing masks, but they were strict about where people sat and there was a huge bottle of hand sanitizer in the back.
The parish was about as full as it normally is, which is about a quarter capacity. Very few people were wearing masks, but they were strict about where people sat and there was a huge bottle of hand sanitizer in the back.
It was good to be there. There were a lot of people I hadn't seen in awhile and missed, and it was really good to receive the Eucharist again.
I'm hoping we decide to bring everyone tomorrow morning. The other night we were praying our decade of the Rosary, like we do every night, and we were trying to explain the mystery we were praying, "The proclamation of the Kingdom", to Little Boy.
"He was forming the Church, buddy. Like when we go to church and see Jesus?"
"But Mom," he said,
"We don't go to church anymore."
Dagger through my heart over here. We've been doing a little liturgy of the word at home, but it just isn't the same.
"He was forming the Church, buddy. Like when we go to church and see Jesus?"
"But Mom," he said,
"We don't go to church anymore."
Dagger through my heart over here. We've been doing a little liturgy of the word at home, but it just isn't the same.
3.) I got through the first part of the 1959 Ben Hur Movie
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| Image Credit: Creative Commons |
Oh gosh, they just don't make movies like that any more.
Thank God for Sisters-in-law. One of them had a couple dresses from being a bridesmaid that happened to be blue and fit me, and one of those met approval from my brother's bride-to-be, so I'm all set!
(For backstory on the story of how I came to be a battlefield promoted bridesmaid, check out last week's quick takes).
No, really... they don't. Judah Ben Hur is basically a near perfect god in human form (one character even mistakes him for the messiah for a second), everyone ACTS (!!!) the entire movie, the colors on screen are really rich and vibrant, and there's lots of shirtless men with muscular legs in loincloths running around.
I'm enjoying it thoroughly. It's basically the first half of The Ten Commandments before Moses sees God in the burning bush and suddenly loses the ability to see anything closer than the middle distance and speak with something resembling human emotion. Lots of hammy acting and rich pageantry from the time when films were still heavily influenced by theater, and it's just plain fun to watch.
I also like how Jesus has a cameo at one point, and you can't see his face, but you can tell it's him because his hair is long (he's literally the only male character with long hair), glossy, and perfectly combed, and everyone who sees him suddenly looks either star struck or extremely uncomfortable.
I'm enjoying it thoroughly. It's basically the first half of The Ten Commandments before Moses sees God in the burning bush and suddenly loses the ability to see anything closer than the middle distance and speak with something resembling human emotion. Lots of hammy acting and rich pageantry from the time when films were still heavily influenced by theater, and it's just plain fun to watch.
I also like how Jesus has a cameo at one point, and you can't see his face, but you can tell it's him because his hair is long (he's literally the only male character with long hair), glossy, and perfectly combed, and everyone who sees him suddenly looks either star struck or extremely uncomfortable.
And the first time you see Romans on screen, they do the Hitler salute.
Parts of it haven't aged well-- the art of editing shots within scenes has come a LONG way since the 50s, and there's a brief scene involving some exotic African dancers that's...how do I put this...very dated, but it's still a highly entertaining watch.
Parts of it haven't aged well-- the art of editing shots within scenes has come a LONG way since the 50s, and there's a brief scene involving some exotic African dancers that's...how do I put this...very dated, but it's still a highly entertaining watch.
Hopefully I'll get through the second part tonight and see that chariot race scene everyone talks about.
4.) We celebrated Our Lady of Fatima and did a (sort of) May crowning
The kids made very messy colorful dancing suns out of cardboard and paint, and I made a little crown out of some construction paper and string. We ate ice cream after dinner, and then I helped the kids crown a statue of Mary right before we did our nightly decade of the Rosary.
It was pretty simple, but it was a good excuse for the kids to entertain themselves with painting and making a creative mess for a half hour or so (I am very thankful God allowed man to invent newspaper and washable paint) and a good excuse to celebrate a little.
It was pretty simple, but it was a good excuse for the kids to entertain themselves with painting and making a creative mess for a half hour or so (I am very thankful God allowed man to invent newspaper and washable paint) and a good excuse to celebrate a little.
Since we're going to put Little Boy in public school next year (assuming schools are open by that point), I'm really trying to do my best to start leaning into celebrating the liturgical year and living our faith at home as tangibly as we can --without letting it turn into a penance rather than a consolation.
I have some very uncomfortable childhood memories involving overly saccharine middle aged ladies trying to shoehorn 'fun' into praying the Rosary with anxiety inducing melodramatic coloring pages involving perfect children and a severe, disappointed looking Madonna talking about penances and how easy it is to go to hell, especially if you don't pray the rosary every day.
Florescent lighting was also involved somehow.
I'm sure that school is where he's supposed to be next year, lots of prayer and conversations between my husband and me have gone into that decision, but I'm still a bit nervous about making sure he's well formed in his faith too.
I'm sure that school is where he's supposed to be next year, lots of prayer and conversations between my husband and me have gone into that decision, but I'm still a bit nervous about making sure he's well formed in his faith too.
5.) We painted a propane tank!
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| Before |
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| After Both images courtesy of Chris Hess |
Exciting, right?
We've been needing one for awhile (we've been running our stove off of the ones you buy at grocery stores for propane grills- if you do this, have the tanks OUTSIDE for safety), and our neighbor had an old rusted one he wasn't using that he let us have.
For some reason, he won't let us pay him for it until we actually get the thing filled (and even that took some coaxing..he's only going to let us pay him $100 for it), so our investment thus far has been paint and time scraping all the rust off. Luckily none of the rust or pitting was so deep that it compromised the integrity of the tank and it's actually still holding pressure despite not being used in years.
So after all's said and done, we'll get a 250 gallon tank for about $150 that would usually cost $500. Not too shabby.
So after all's said and done, we'll get a 250 gallon tank for about $150 that would usually cost $500. Not too shabby.
6.) I found a dress.
Thank God for Sisters-in-law. One of them had a couple dresses from being a bridesmaid that happened to be blue and fit me, and one of those met approval from my brother's bride-to-be, so I'm all set!
It's not really navy blue, but if the bride to be is ok with that at this point, than so am I.
(For backstory on the story of how I came to be a battlefield promoted bridesmaid, check out last week's quick takes).
7.) I braved a thrift store trip with the kids and we all survived
I made them stay in the basket and wear masks for the whole time, there were a couple meltdowns involving a ride-on Thomas the Tank Engine toy and a plastic fire station thing, and we had to deal with shoes repeatedly coming off in the basket, so it wasn't perfect.
BUT... I scored two pairs of shoes (one for Little Boy, one for Little Girl), two pairs of pants, two button up dress shirts (kids are now set for that upcoming wedding!), a couple books, and a reusable paint-with-water activity book thing all for about $11.
I don't know that I'll do it again, at least not while everything's still so steeped in crazy, but I'm glad I went.
BUT... I scored two pairs of shoes (one for Little Boy, one for Little Girl), two pairs of pants, two button up dress shirts (kids are now set for that upcoming wedding!), a couple books, and a reusable paint-with-water activity book thing all for about $11.
I don't know that I'll do it again, at least not while everything's still so steeped in crazy, but I'm glad I went.
And that's all for this week! For the rest of this week's quick takes, click here.
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