Tales From The Bonny Blue House

Friday Funny

Haven't done one of these in a while....

Erin, my flutist.

This is Erin playing Tambourin by Gossec. This was her NYSSMA piece, at which she achieved a perfect score. She was not delighted with her performance at this recital though. I thought it was great.
Erin playing Tambourin, 6/13/09.

Homeschooled

definitely....

And the winner is....

Julianne!

Congratulations Julianne. Please contact me with your email address and I will make sure your faith folder is on it's way to you.

Thanks so much to everyone for participating. I am sorry for not posting the winner yesterday but Typepad was not letting me post. It caused a rift between us and I walked away frustrated.

Things are better between Typepad and I today.

Happy Birthday America!

God bless America!

And God bless all you, my dear friends. I hope your 4th is filled with fun.

Year of the Priest Faith Folder Give-Away!

Beginning on June 19th our beloved Pope Benedict declared this the Year of the Priest. The year will conclude on June 19th 2010 with an international gathering of priests in Rome.

This is a wonderful opportunity for parents to educate their children about the various duties of our holy priests as well as encouraging vocations among our sons.

Toward that end one of my favorite Liturgical Year resources Lapbooks for Catholics has put together a Faith Folder for The Year of the Priest. Lindy Meyer is the incredibly talented and creative mother of six children and creates these folders so that we can have a fun hands-on activity to increase our children's knowledge and love of their faith.

Lindy is also generous.  She is going to let me give away on of her lovely Year of the Priest Faith Folders to one of my readers.  So leave me a comment in this post and I'll pick a lucky winner on Sunday. Spread the word by posting the contest on your blog and linking back here and I'll enter your name twice. I'm that nice.

In the meantime go cruise around Lindy's site and see all of the lovely products she's created. Since many of us are planning next year's school work now is a good time to see what fun resources are available to help make the school year memorable for the children. The prices are reasonable and the products are lovely.

Comments will be closed by noon on Sunday.

Have a blessed day.

The kindness of strangers

So as I proceed throughout this summer, going to barbecues, camping in Maine and swimming in the pool, I will remember that not everyone is enjoying themselves, and even when I’m not enjoying myself, I’m way better off than a lot of people. Our occasional car trips — I can’t really call them vacations since I come back exhausted — make for wonderful family memories. This one is more poignant, a reminder that God calls us to minister to those in need even if we ourselves are suffering.

Read the entire column at The Long Island Catholic

Home again, Home again

It's nice to be home.  We returned last night to a clean, calm home and I was able to just warm up a meal I had in the freezer, put the clean clothes away and start a load of wash and then I was done.

This almost never happens. Often when we return home I walk into a house that reflects the chaos that happens when we leave. I hate that and it makes homecoming as stressful as leaving. I had a secret weapon this time though, two words...

Cleaning lady.

She came after we left, straightened up and cleaned the house. Heaven, I tell you. Absolute heaven.

There now you know my dirty secret. I can't keep my house clean without help.  I can't tell you how much this pains me. It really does. I feel that I should be able to do this and not pay good money for clean toilets but try as I might I can't make it happen.  So I make sacrifices in other areas and I pay. It's money well spent since I don't function well in disorder and I am much happier when the house is neat and tidy.

Ok, justification over.

I have another travel tip for everyone. Check with the Department of Transportation website for the states you will be traveling through. They give really important information regarding construction and road closures. This made the trip home much more enjoyable since we were able to pinpoint where all the traffic would be and plan alternate routes ahead of time. Having the GPS helped with that as well.

I never would have thought to do that but my husband is a genius and actually thought to check while I was driving down after hearing how much trouble I was having on the trip down. North and South Carolina have sensors on the actual interstate that can give real time updates about slow downs and accidents. Pretty cool huh?  He was able to tell me over the phone exactly at what mile marker the traffic slowed and where it sped up. These little things can make or break your trip if you have little ones in the car.

Now I need to get going on clearing out the learning room and planning next year.    I think it would be much easier if I just went over to Jennifer's house and left the children there. Honestly, have you seen that learning environment? It's just absolutely beautiful, a real inspiration.

Jennifer? Honey, could you come here and do that for me? Plllleeeeeaaaasee!  

Mr. Spivey, a nice man

I've been gone a while haven't I?  If anyone is still left who has any interest in what I have to say, well then, thanks for hanging in there.

I will get into why I've been gone in another post. It's not a particularly interesting story. It begins with I have eight kids and ends with the end of soccer, dance, and Shakespeare play season. You can probably fill in the blanks.

So in the meantime I have a nice story for you.  I am writing from Savannah, my parents home to be specific.  My older boys, Ryan and Kevin, came down for a visit about ten days ago. So the three big girls, the twins, Brendan and I hopped into the car Monday and drove down here. David is flying down tomorrow to join us (hey, he's no dummy).

Sounds simple right? You gullible reader. It was a flippin' nightmare. I hit traffic in every single state we drove through. Erin was horrendously car sick, Brendan decided his love affair with the car was over and I was a might frazzled. The worst was North Carolina.  Do you live in North Carolina? What is going on in that state? they have about 50 miles of I95 down to one lane. It opens to two lanes for a mile or two and then back to one lane. It took me three hours to go half a mile at one point.

After that I decided to stop for dinner. We were still a good three hours from our hotel and the kids were fried. So I find their favorite roadside stop, Cracker Barrel, and we stop for dinner. The people at CB were courteous as always and sat us at the big round table in the very front of the restaurant. I always request this table because there is a lot of room and a good avenue for escape should the natives get restless.  So we are sitting there waiting for our food, grateful to be out of the stinky van and a jolly elderly man walks past the table and compliments the children for their good behavior. They really were being very good. I thanked him (calling him "sir") and he left. A few minutes later the waitress came over to tell me that Mr. Spivey had paid my bill.

Wha huh?

He was so impressed with my children and their behavior he wanted to do something nice for us. She went on to tell me that he has lung cancer and the chemo was not helping. The children and I immediately said a Hail Mary for dear Mr. Spivey. Yes, we are the kind of people that pray out loud in restaurants.

What a kind man. I have to tell you I was running on empty at that point. Dreading the car ride and checking six cranky (and gross smelling) kids into a hotel late at night. Mr. Spivey's act of kindness bolstered my strength and called my mind to the suffering of others.  What I was going through was absolutely nothing compared to the suffering of many. Here in the midst of an awful illness this wonderful man saw something in us and wanted to be kind. I wept a little for him and for those that love him. If he does not recover their loss will be great.

May I ask you all to say an Ave for Mr. Spivey. Perhaps Our Lady can ask for a miraculous cure for him.

As for the rest of our trip, it was fairly uneventful. We arrived at the hotel at 10:00p.m. Five hours later than usual. But there was 24 hour room service so Erin, Katie and I put the littles to bed and ordered fudge brownie sundaes. There was a DIY car wash in front of the hotel so I was able to de-stinkify the van and in general make everyone more comfortable. There was no more construction and South Carolina flew by. So quickly that toward the end of the trip I made the aquaintance of a certain member of  South Carolina law enforcement. I am now poorer $81 and two points on my license. 

Next time I'm flying.

Catholic New Media Awards

I'm really thrilled to have been nominated for a Catholic New Media Award in, get this, Funniest Blog category!  I love it. I'd rather be funny than anything else so I was just delighted, thank you to whomever nominated me.

Another thrill is that O Night Divine is again nominated in the best group blog category. This is a thrill for me since the Advent blog is a true labor of love and I am blessed by some of the most talented writers in the blogosphere as contributors.

There are many categories and many nominees in each, here are some that I love.

People's Choice
Catholic Mom

Best Blog by a Religious
Fr. Z's blog What Does Prayer Really Say

 Best Written Blog
Sierra Highlands
Shower of Roses
In the Heart of My Home
Via Media - Amy Welborn
(This category is going to give me some trouble, I love these four blogs)

Most Spiritual Blog
In the Heart of My Home
Danielle Bean
Shower of Roses
(Eeek, how to choose?)

Best New Blog
Building Cathedrals

Best Blog by a Woman
House Art Journal ( I get giddy excited when Regina Doman posts to her lovely home blog)

Best Group Blog
Catholic Cuisine
(This blog really deserves the recognition since it does such a beautiful job of leading us all to a more Liturgical lifestyle.)
O Night Divine

There are many more excellent blogs and many more categories but computer time is limited these busy days.  Please go over the site and check them all out