Cardboard devotion, Oppressive Seasonal Weather, and a Separate Post

Not a take, but we did dentist appointments this week too. We need to brush better, but I think we avoided any fillings. 

1.) Corpus Christi 

So the feast of Corpus Christi was this past week. 

Well, it was in certain areas. Our diocese observed it both on the Thursday it's traditionally supposed to be with a mass and procession at the Cathedral, but also kept the observance in the parishes on Sunday and encouraged parishes to celebrate it on their own as well. 

The diocesan procession was the same day as a family birthday, so we sat it out (I figured family days trump religious observance days when they're not holy days of obligation). I still wanted to do SOMETHING to commemorate it though, so on Sunday I decided to haul out my stash of scrap paper, some acrilic paint, and some mod podge and make a collage with the kids. 

 As one does. 

I had a big cardboard circle that I think was once part of a learning aid for memorizing states and capitals. 

Little Girl and I (Little Boy was playing a video game with his dad and Bitty Baby was asleep) painted, glued, and glittered until we had something vaugely resembling a monstrance. 

Actually doesn't look half bad. 

I tried to make a hanger for it out of a twist tie and duct tape, but it didn't work out. I'm going to try and try something else to get it hung soon. It sparked some good conversation with the kids and filled an afternoon pleasantly enough, so it's already fulfilled it's function. I'd still like to hang on to it. 

2.) Heat 

It has officially reached the point of ridiculously, oppressively hot outside. There are several hours of the day that it's pretty much impossible to go and do anything outdoors. 

It's not too bad in the mornings though, and there's a nice breeze in the evenings. We usually end up kicking the kids outside for awhile before breakfast, and have them play in the pool for awhile before they go to bed. 

There's a long, LONG stretch of hours in between there though, in which everyone is cooped up in a small air conditioned house getting on each other's nerves. 

We've coped by having a pretty strict routine where the kids have chores, schoolwork (two or three subjects a day, using books I've found at a thrift store, been gifted, or bought from a homeschool catalogue), limited TV time, and a snack every day, and by making it a priority to go to the library every week. I've found if I don't have at least a loose idea of what to do when, things get very loud and stressful very fast. It's not perfect (it usually unravels a bit in the late afternoon), but it's a lot better at fighting cabin fever than nothing. 

3.) The Pool 

We purchased an $80, twenty foot wide, two foot deep pool at Sam's Club at the beginning of the summer, and we have already absolutely gotten our money's worth out of it. 

It's shallow enough that the kids can play in it with minimal supervision but deep and wide enough that they actually want to do so. We had a gaggle of my childrens' cousins over and the vast majority of them played happily together for the better part of two or three hours in it. 

Chris and I have snuck out there in the evenings after the older two kids are in bed and just sat quietly in it and let the baby splash and play for awhile too. It's a nice way to wind down. 

It doesn't look as classy as a big pool, but it was absolutely worth the investment for us. 

4.) Zucchini of a certain age 

I don't think my garden appreciates the heat. 

Pretty much all the greenery is starting to shrivel up, and I'm pretty certain the only thing still actively producing fruit is the okra. 

I let two of the zucchini to just sit and grow, and one of them has gotten huge and orange. I'm going to see if I can harvest seeds from them from next year, but I'm not sure the flesh is going to be at all edible. 

I mean, I guess I could eat it, but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be very tasty. 

5.) I did it again

I wrote a very long take here I realized needs to be its own post. 

You can read that here. 

6.) Needlework by an amateur 

I've been working on embroidering a plain denim shirt. Not very well, but I've been having fun with it. 

I don't know if the finished product will be something I can wear with a straight face, but I'm gaining practice at a new skill and the shirt was only $1, so I think it's worth it.