I'm sorry I was AWOL last week and late this week. We've been busy (in a good way) and our normal routine is pretty much completely out the window...again.
Yay Spring Break! It's kind of surreal in a way. This was the week last year when Covid really became a serious thing and everything started shutting down, including the churches. Yesterday, Chris got his second vaccine and tonight we're going to pick up food from a parish fish fry. There's a lot that isn't the same, but I'm thankful for how much we've gotten back.
Anyway. On to the takes!!
1.) I got published (twice)!!
This piece is one I wrote about healing from spiritual trauma through living out your vocation.
And this one is about how we go about nurturing our "domestic Church" at home (spoiler: it's ok to change stuff to fit your family's capabilities or patience level).
1Peter5 isn't a site I'd ever necessarily thought I'd be published on, but I'm happy that they did. Particularly the first piece- spiritual trauma and the struggle to overcome it is something I don't usually see discussed on more conservative outlets.
2.) A Concrete Home Improvement
For the past year or so, we've been without a gate operator.
What this means is that every time we come to the gate, or company comes over, someone has to get out, manually open the gate, drive through, and then get out again to close it. It's not the end of the world, but it is a bit of a hassle, especially when it's really cold or rainy out.
Chris was given a gate operator that we've had for awhile but haven't been able to install because it's so large that it will require a concrete pad to support it.
Since he was home, he decided to install the pad this week. He'd already dug the hole awhile back, but he went to the store and got some rebar and concrete and actually formed the darn thing. Little Boy went out to help him.
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| The hole. I don't know why there's a sour cream container in it. |
One step closer. We have to let the concrete cure for a couple weeks or so before we can do anything with it, but hopefully we'll be able to operate the gate without having to get in and out of the car soon.
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| And yes...he built the thing barefoot, 'cause that's how we roll. |
3.) You Cannot have-a the Mango. (Or Can You?)
There's a family owned produce shop that occasionally gets huge influxes of a certain type of produce and offers ridiculous deals on it.
So that's how I ended up with three boxes of mangoes for $5. It was a LOT of mango.
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| Three times this amount, in fact. |
It took all afternoon, but the results taste pretty good. I'm hopeful that they'll avoid the fate that's awaited past gluts of mango-- obscurity and eventual consumption by the chickens after sitting around for months (or a year) in the freezer.
4.) I Found Out Why Fat Billionaires Don't Exist
The family trip mentioned above was a surprise party for my SIL thrown by her husband. He invited several relatives and her best friends to spend a few days in the Texas Hill Country.
It. Was. INSANE.
There were 37 people there all told, including at least a dozen children, all staying in a mansion that looked like a movie set from Clue or Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
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| (Most of) the house from the pool in the back. The front had a waterfall and a tasteful Greek looking naked lady statue. |
The house had to have been at least a quarter mile long, and had what seemed like dozens of bedrooms, bathrooms, a TV room, two kitchens, a helipad, a grand dining room and central hall with a crystal chandelier, a bar, and a wine cellar hidden behind a door made to look like a bookshelf.
It also had an indoor water fixture that we constantly had to pull toddlers away from.
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| Seriously, this place was not meant for small children. Why would you put a pond in your living room? |
The house was so big that I got sore calves and shin splints just from walking back and forth from our room to the kitchen. I think that's perhaps part of the reason that you never see fat rich people-- their houses are so big they stay in shape just walking around them.
5.) Stink
One of the casualties from the freeze a couple weeks ago was our aloe vera plant on the back porch.
A few days ago, we started noticing this smell by the back porch. We figured the dog had decided to do her business underneath the porch or that there was a toddler mess we were somehow unaware of.
Then I noticed the aloe plant had gas blisters. We popped a couple, and then immediately tried not to throw up.
It was probably one of the grosser things I've ever smelled or witnessed. I've smelled dead animals, I know that they stink, but this was the first time I'd ever come across a dead plant that could do this. We threw it away, and then tried to forget what we just saw.
6.) Cleaning out the Pantry
I've been sort-of-but-not-really spring cleaning for Lent this year.
One of the areas that got kind of gross this past winter was the pantry area where we keep all our store-bought canned food. We had a slight mouse problem (so much for having cats to prevent it...though we didn't have any mouse caused water leaks this year) and for some reason they evidently decided to make the canned goods their toilet. Mouse droppings all over the tops of the cans, and on the cardboard they were sitting on.
I got tired of having to clean the top of the can with soap and water every time I wanted to make something involving canned beans or tomatoes, so I took all of them down,
dried them off, vacuumed up the remaining yuck and put them all back on the shelf.
That area looks nicer, and I don't have to be grossed out every time I take something out of there now.
7.) Signs of Life
Our fig tree is sprouting!!
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| Ignore my fuzzy thumb in the foreground. |
I was really concerned that it wouldn't come back, so I'm very happy and excited to see all the pretty green leaves.
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