More Odds and Ends

1.) Peg dolls!!

Are they still a thing? I remember they seemed to be all the rage a few years ago. Lots and lots of them on Pinterest. 

Now I can't find any of a decent size at Hobby Lobby and all the pictures I can find for inspiration seem to be the same ones I looked at three or four years ago. 

Well, I still like them. And I see ads for them from Catholic mommy crafters on occasion, so I guess I'm not the only one. I think part of the appeal of them for the religious crowd is that you can make statues of saints that will more or less survive the rampages of toddler life. That's no small thing. 

I just made a set to go with that paper mache tomb I made for Little Girl's class last week. 

Got them dropped off after mass on Sunday. Hopefully they see some use-- the St. Anthony icon I created awhile back is still languishing on the table in the back of the Church. 

2.) Mulch, mulch, baby...

Remember that hay I bought awhile back? 

We finally got a chance to spread about half of that out in the garden. 

We also stuffed the back of our minivan full of black garbage bags of leaves we spotted during a trip into the city. Large item/brush pickup by the sanitation department is this week, so lots of interesting stuff laying by the side of the road in neighborhoods right now. The leaves will act as more mulch (for free!) once the wind goes down enough for us to put them out there without having all of them immediately disappear. 

The garden is mostly planted now. I still need to put in the okra, but we have cucumbers, melons, greens, zucchini, and a few tomato plants out there. The forecast is calling for rain soon; I'm hoping that helps everything else come up. 

3.) The Return of Border Patrol 

Have you ever seen something that made you feel both more and less safe at the same time? 

I know I've talked about the amount of people coming into the country illegally on the freight trains that pass by our house, and the Border Patrol agents that we've seen parked nearby, watching. 

The past couple months, we haven't seen either the patrols or anyone who appeared to be traveling illegally. I'm guessing because of the cool, wet winter weather. I've enjoyed the break. 

In the past week or so though, we've been seeing patrol vehicles again. Sometimes several of them at once. 

On one hand, I'm glad they're out here in case something happens. On the other hand, if they're out here, that almost certainly means that traffic on the rail lines is picking up. 

I've talked about this before, but in case I have new readers; I'm fully aware most of the people I've seen walking through the field by our house or being lined up and detained on the side of the road as I drive my kids to the library are simply here looking for work, and that they've been through dangerous, inhumane, awful things to get as far as they have. 

We've also heard stories from others in our community (including from a first generation daughter of Latino immigrants whose own family went through serious dangers to get here) of robberies, break-ins, and rapes committed by these people. We've also suffered a break-in ourselves, in broad daylight, into a room where my children were playing at the time. It only takes a few bad actors to make things miserable, and to make me nervous and suspicious, unfair as that is. 

It's a dangerous, horrible situation for everyone. Don't let the decrease in media coverage convince you the problem has gone away. 

And please pray that it doesn't reach the fever pitch it did this past fall, and pray for everyone involved out here-- the people passing through, the Border Patrol, and the people who live in this area. 

4.) Prayer Request

If y'all could please pray for a sticky situation that our family has suddenly found itself in, I'd be very grateful. 

It's not something I can write about here yet (though I've got a blog post explaining it ready to publish if the situation resolves like we're hoping it does), but I can say that if it resolves how we want it to it could change a lot about our lifestyle, and if it doesn't resolve how we're hoping it might make for a very difficult few months.  

No one is sick or injured, though there is some grief, loss, and a huge amount of stress involved for one member of the family in particular. Hopefully I'll be able to be more specific soon. 

5.) Church Ladies 

I've skipped ahead about 25 years and joined my parish's church lady organization, the Catholic Daughters. We had a meeting the other night. 

It's...been interesting. One thing I'm grateful for is that this particular group of ladies, whether through an unusually strong gift of the Holy Spirit or a past exorcism, seems to entirely lack the usually prevalent culture of judgey cattiness Dana Carvy launched a career parodying. They aren't judgemental, condescending, or grasping -- they seem to genuinely want to be there for fellowship and to serve the parish. 

Anyway, the group brings food to funerals, runs coat drives for the local homeless shelter, and otherwise tries to do things to support the community and parish. I haven't been able to do anything other than show up to meetings so far but it's so nice to be part of something that someone else is leading. After working in youth ministry for a few years, then trying to start a marriage ministry, then spending a couple years in a parish that was slowly but surely circling the drain, it's just nice to not be the only one, or one of only two or three, in the room with a metaphorical pulse. 

6.) Cleaning

I mentioned awhile back that I've been trying Fly Lady to get things tidy around here. 

It's worked, but not as strict Fly Lady. I have a functional daily routine and weekly routine for keeping things tidy, and they feel a lot more under control. 

Now I'm just trying to figure out a routine for Little Girl. Still working on that, but I feel like I'm making progress: the TV is on a lot less often, and she's doing more with me. I've still got a long way to go on that though; hopefully it gets easier as Bitty Baby gets older and nurses less often.