Family Moment Monday

Family Moment Monday-- Motherhood for Dummies has hosted a "Family Moment Monday."

I borrowed this idea from my friend Ann K.

Whenever she has a party celebrating a family event, or even if she's not celebrating anything, she has taped to her kitchen cabinets recent photos of family members, family happenings, adult children living elsewhere, etc.

The photos don't stay there all the time. They change, depending on the family happenings.

My cabinets pictured above have photos of my daughter's Confirmation which we celebrated yesterday. The photos will stay up for at least a couple weeks. They are just printed from our camera on regular copy paper so no need to worry about water stains or anything. At the party it was fun for people to see photos from the event, especially for the people who are in those photos.

For my daughter and my other children the presence of these photos underlines the importance of the event. It says this is who we are honoring and this is what we are celebrating. This is a family happening. We are all here. It brings smiles to the faces of each person as they look up. My daughter is reminded by the photo of the brother who drove for 6 hours round trip to be with her on her special day. She (and all of us) are reminded that we are a unit. We are a family. We are together.

It's a little thing. But while it delights guests and provides entertainment, for our family it is a record of what we are about. And all those reminders help cement the family bonds that I am convinced provide the foundation for a child's sense of well-being.

Confirmation Party.....

I am sooo tired. We had a brunch today to celebrate my daughter's Confirmation. A lot of friends came by. The wonderful part of having people over (besides just the fun of being with them) is that I actually get my house looking pretty good. I even planted most of my flower beds and pulled out most of the weeds. The bathroom is clean. The house is dusted. I guess I'm willing to put forth this kind of effort for other people, but for us? Well, not so much and not so often. Maybe there's something wrong with that. Anyway, we get to enjoy it now!

How many parties must there be?

Warning:   Bad attitude on this post.....

This is the season when every class, nearly every event, every club, and every group of individuals together for any reason seem to need a year end party.   And who is asked (told) to bring the refreshments?  Why mom of course.  Child makes the commitment and Mom fulfills it, right? 

My daughter came home to tell me she "had to bring cupcakes and rice krispy treats" to the year end band party.  I said NO.  We are NOT bringing BOTH cupcakes AND rice krispy treats!  Why did you sign up for two things?  Because no one else was signing up.  Oh well.  ONLY ONE!!!  Cross your name off the other one.  I drew the line. 

Shortly after, her older brother who should know better came into the kitchen.  Mind you, my husband was working late.  We needed to leave for the school Spring concert in about an hour.  And he says, "Mom, I need two pounds of taco meat for my Spanish class."  I looked at him, fearing the worst and said softly, ".....when?"  He looked at me sheepishly, mouth turned downward and jaw tense, anticipating my response.  "Tomorrow?"

I said, "YOU SHOULD BE ON YOUR KNEES BEGGING FOR MERCY!!"  In my defense, I did smile, mainly because the request was so ridiculous.  His sister of the rice krispy treats/cupcakes commitment leaned over and quietly advised...."You better get on your knees."

Fortunately for what would otherwise have been a taco-less Spanish class party, another son offered to drive his brother to the store to buy ground beef.  He then came home and made HIS OWN two pounds of taco meat AND cleaned the pan afterward.  That was the only way it was going to happen.  Only so many hours in the day.  I was glad it worked out for him because there was no way I could have made tacos on that particular night.

Oh the joy of year-end celebrations!  Give me summer vacation!!!!  I'm ready!

Confirmation Pix

With sponsor, Pat!!!  Ready to go!

With the proud Mom and Dad.
"Scholastica" with her godparents and Pat M. her sponsor, who sometimes comments on this blog.

Thank you for your prayers!!

The Alphabet Meme

Jean from Catholic Fire tagged me for this meme. And e-friend Deb from Ukok's Place has also done it with some fun answers.

The theme for this meme is that using the 26 letters of the alphabet you will express who you are, what you do, your interests, what matters to you etc….and you have to write it within 26 minutes…

A-- athlete-- I am NOT one. I don't even like exercising unless it's gardening. I do exercise, but it's a chore...

B- - Bailhe-- is my maiden last name

C-- Catholic and conservative

D--Definitely likes to blog

E-- eggs-- I like them

F-- funny- I can be at times

G-- generous, I hope

H-- Holy Spirit, come!!

I-- intense, yeah, sometimes I am

J-- Jesus is my Lord, my reason for living

K-- kids, I love them

L-- listener, I'm becoming a better one oh, and linguistics (my college major

M-- mother, yup, I'm the mom.

N-- never want to go skydiving. I don't like heights.

O-- opinionated, definitely

P-- patient, oh, I wish. working on it

Q-- guirky, yeah, I can be

R-- Rosemary, my real name

S-- Stay-at-home-mom and lovin' it

T-- testy

U-- uninterested in most of what's on TV

V-- very pro-life!!!!

W-- wanting to do the mom-thing right!

X-- Xtra grateful for the many blessings the Lord has given

Y-- you, the readers of my blog make me smile

Z-- zoo-- happy family memories

Thanks for the tag, Jean.

I tag:

Journey of Truth at A book A Day

Mimi at Bigger than a Breadbox

Barb at SFO Mom

Mary Poppins Not at Crazy Acres

Kate at Heart Speaks to Heart


Have fun!!!!

Confirmation Prayers!!

Please pray for my daughter who will receive the sacrament of Confirmation tonight!!!! She will take the name Scholastica!!!

My mother the actress

My mother was a great actress.

On one occasion my brother had a gag item that looked like a small pool of vomit. It was just the right size to have been left by our miniature dachshund. We were about nine and ten years old, I think. My brother put it in the middle of the living room and called,

"MOM, GRETA THREW UP!!!"

My mom, who NEVER swore said, "That d___d dog!!!

(My brother and I are already stifling laughter)

She came out with a paper towel, cupped it over the item and scooped it up. Then without the slightest twinkle in her eye she said with all seriousness,

"Wow. That came up really easily." She then took it over to the garbage can, dropped it in, and walked away, without a word.

My brother and I almost died silently laughing. It was silent because we wanted to keep up the pretense that we had actually fooled her. That's what made it so funny.

We knew we hadn't fooled her. And she knew that we knew that we hadn't fooled her.

But she wouldn't let on because We were having so much fun!!

She was a great actress and a great mom. We really miss you a lot, Mom.

Mommy blogging!!

Kellan from "On The Upside" was interviewed by a local television station about "mommy blogging!" If this link works it will take you to a clip of the great interview. (Just endure the short commercial first.) Kellan does a great job explaining what blogging is about and why we love it. Check it out!

Oh, and check out Kellan's blog too. It is very entertaining. I laugh every time I read it.