The Wonders of a Box

I would bet that my husband and I spend several hundred dollars a year on toys for our five children. Most of the time, we don't buy things for no reason, but with all the birthdays and holidays it can really add up. So why is it that what they really seem to like is just an old empty box?

My husband got a new recliner this week as a gift from his parents. They are justifiably proud of him, and so when his old chair died last month, they bought him a new one. (Thanks Mom and Dad!)

The best part of the chair, as far as the children are concerned is that it came in a giant cardboard box. This box has become the central item in their play ever since. It has been a clubhouse, a home, a pirate ship sailing the high seas on the lookout for treasure, and a great place to sing at the top of their lungs.

When the rest of the world seems to want to dictate what it is that children play, and how they play, and what they should pretend, and even the toys talk so the children don't have to even use their imaginations to figure out what the toys have to say, it is wonderfully refreshing to watch our little brood spend so much energy and brain power on the potential of a humble cardboard box.

Thanks for spending my money

In case any of us were in doubt about the fact that the government has no idea how to prudently handle our money, NASA is sending a light saber into space with the next space mission. Not only did they acquire the original light saber used by Mark Hamill in the first Star Wars movie, they are flying it to Houston on Southwest Airlines. (Wait a minute, doesn't the government own their own planes? I think we might have paid for one or two....)I'm sure we will also be paying for an additional ticket(s) for the person(s) responsible for accompanying this movie prop all the way from California. (We couldn't just stick the thing in a box and mail it through the United States Postal Service for $7.95. I'd be okay with that.)

And we couldn't send anything off into space without giving it a proper sendoff. That's right, we're throwing it a party.

Chewbacca, the towering Wookiee best known from the film as Han Solo's co-pilot on the Millennium Falcon, will officially hand the lightsaber over to officials from Space Center Houston during a ceremony at the airport. Joining "Chewie" will be other characters from the six-part sci-fi classic, including Boba and Jango Fett and together they help push back the airplane on the tarmac.

Once on the ground in Houston, the flight will be greeted by a troop of Stormtroopers and other Star Wars notables including the droid R2-D2, who will deliver the lightsaber to a waiting line of Hummers outside the baggage claim of the William P. Hobby Airport. Accompanied by a police escort, the soon-to-be real space artifact will be driven to Space Center Houston to be exhibited inside a vault that currently displays moon rocks.

Wookies, bounty hunters, stormtroopers, and droids....how much do you reckon this is costing us? I can think of better things to do with that money. NASA could actually use the money to figure how to build better spacecraft, perhaps the kind that doesn't get damaged on lift-off. Better yet, if they have too much money, they could give it back to the taxpayers. This isn't what I envisage my money being used for when I pay taxes. A new bridge, a repaved highway, even some social services...okay. But wookies and stormtroopers? I don't think so...

Proper Cup of Coffee

Trout Fishing in America...fun for the whole family

...a new car!

Under the label "Happy Ending", we bought a new car yesterday to replace the van which was broken into on Saturday. The van was going to be too expensive to fix. Now it's someone else's problem.

We now have a GMC Yukon. It seats 9. The first comment from the little people was "Now we can have two more!" The car salesman's jaw dropped. Yes, I went car shopping with all 5 children. I had to make sure that all the car seats fit and that the little people could get in and out easily, and that I could fold the seats down while holding a baby in one arm. I also brought the police report to get some sympathy. It worked, the dealership owner took off an additional $1500 from their "lowest price". God bless the salesman who treated us well and was kind and understanding to me in my mentally frazzled state.

Honk and wave next time you see me on the road, I'll be the one with the great stereo blasting Trout Fishing in America as I sing along at the top of my lungs.

Rats!....Foiled again!

A good friend of ours shared his brilliant plan for getting easier penances when going to confession with us a few weeks ago, so I just had to try it out. He said that whenever he is going to confess losing his temper with the kids (he has 5 also), he sends them in first. He reasons, "If Father can see what I'm up against, he may go easy on me." Made sense to me, so I sent them in.

#1 went in and came out with her head bowed and I thought, "So far, so good." So I sent in child #2. I knew that I was in trouble when I began to hear peals of laughter from the priest. I have no idea what the child said, but it was obviously not the obnoxiousness I had been dealing with all week. He came skipping out and reported that "I didn't even get in trouble!" (C'mon Father...would a little scowling be out of the question here? I mean...laughter.....honestly?")

So, with a shake of my head and a big sigh I went in to face the priest. He was smiling and mopping his eyes and said, "I just love your kids." Well, crud, that wasn't the plan at all! Why is it that no one read the script but me?

The long and the short of it is that I got THE ENTIRE ROSARY. I'm usually a pretty decent person and have never gotten the entire thing before. ...sigh.... SO, the moral of the story is, your children will never be obnoxious when you want them to, if your priest is one of 7 children himself then he will find your children amusing, and lastly, don't try and play God...He'll get you for it in the end.

Theft

Today while we were at the gym, our car was broken into and my dear husband's wallet was stolen. Please pray for our family especially my husband, as this is a great nuisance and the damage to the car will be very expensive to fix. We also ask for your prayers for the thieves. They must have been truly desperate to break into our beat up van that 5 children had just exited. They watched us as we left the van and broke into it less than a minute after we went inside. So please pray for them and for us.

It's not too much to ask to win the lottery after this....is it?

+JMJ+

Baby love

Is there anything in the world better than slobbering baby kisses? #5 has only recently discovered his ability to kiss us. He crows with delight and then lunges for the nearest face and doesn't stop until the object of his affection is roaring with laughter and has slobber dripping from his/her chin. Baby love is sweet but also slightly disgusting.

We live in a society which has become anti-family. There is a weird schizophrenia to American attitudes about children. While everything seems to be trending towards child-centric entertainment, and parents wrap their lives around the activities and measure their own worth by their little darling's accomplishments, the societal assumption is that the preferred family has only one or two "perfect" children.

When a family dares to buck the trends and have a third or even(horrors!) a fourth child, the general public becomes considerably less friendly towards them. The parents who were warmly greeted at restaurants and seated with the "regular people" are now seated in a quiet corner so that their progeny will not offend anyone with their noise. The door greeter at Wal-Mart who used to give a smile and a sticker now slightly frowns and then says, "Wow, you've got your hands full." (To be honest, I'm not really sure what that means...is that good or bad?)

But, you say, there seem to be so many pro-family activities out there. You're right of course, there seem to be. When it costs $45 for us to take our children to the city pool for one afternoon, or $70 to take them to the children's science museum....these things may be built for children but they are not exactly welcoming to families. The people who decide what to charge use a family of 4 as the pricing standard. We don't have a family of 4 and we like to eat, so we find other things to do.

When we were announcing our pregnancy with #5 (the one with the lovely kisses) we actually had people respond "Why?" Why were we having another baby......I guess the simplest explanation is that we love each other. The deeper one is that our children are the only thing we can have in this life and still enjoy in the next. Expensive cars and houses, flashy jewelry and club memberships can be fun and delight the ego, but when you die these things stay here. If my husband and I do our jobs and raise our little ones right, then our treasures will be with us in heaven. SO, given the choice between a sexy car, hot body, and fat bank account and my large family.....I'll take the slobbery kisses. Can someone hand me a tissue?


+JMJ+

St. Bartholomew

Today is the Feast of St Bartholomew. He was one of the Original Twelve and a favorite of my high school catechism teacher, Sr. Philomena. My boys like him because his was a particularly gruesome death. Boys are like that. We also like him because of all the Apostles, he's the sarcastic one. He's the one who asked, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"

According to tradition, his original name was Jesus so he changed it to Batholomew. That was pretty convenient for us. Just imagine how confusing Bible study would be if there were more than one guy with the name Jesus running around.

St Bartholomew is credited with bringing the Gospel to Armenia and founding the Church there. Not everyone was thrilled about that fact because he was dragged to Baku in Azerbaijan where he was skinned before being crucified upside down. The Catholic Church, with its typical sense of humor, made him the patron saint of tanners. According to Sr Philomena, all he had to do was renounce Christ and he would have been mercifully beheaded. He wouldn't, so they didn't. I don't know how long it took for him to die, but I'm willing to wager that skinned is not a quick way to go.

I remember the good sister challenging one of my Evangelical Protestant classmates with the question, "So you say you are a Christian and that you love God...are you willing to be skinned alive for Him? Because Christianity is more than hand-clapping, pretty songs and shouting 'Amen!' and going to a weekly Bible class. It's saying 'I would rather be skinned alive than renounce my God.'" Amen, sister...I think I'm there, but I pray no one ever puts it to that kind of test.

Adopted parents

Seven years or so ago, my father decided to abdicate the position of dad/grandpa deciding that there were other things more important in his life than the happenings of our little (at that time) family. We wish him well in his life and pray that he has found the happiness he was seeking.

Then 6 years ago this week, when little kid #3 was only 2 weeks old, we met some of the most important people in our lives, our sweet Oma and Opa. Thank goodness that we sat behind them in Mass with our 3 little ones and that they laughed when #3 slurped when he ate. I am thankful that they loved our children from the get-go. They were ready-made for our family. They were grandparents whose grandchildren were too far away to be seen and we had children whose grandparents were too far away or absent by choice.

They stayed with the Big 3 while we were at the hospital when #4 was born. They showed the kids the lightning that danced across the sky that night and told them it was "God's fireworks" because of His joy in their new little sister. They were the first people other than my husband and myself to hold #4 and the first to notice that after 4 attempts I finally had one who looked like me.

They, along with my Mom, are my parents and I thank God daily for the gift of them.

No Regrets

37 years after he was kicked off his college football team in his senior year, Mike Flynt decided to go back and play. At 59 years old, he decided to live his life with no regrets and not playing his senior year had always been one of his biggest.

So hats off to you, Mike Flynt, for deciding that age is just a number and that dreaming doesn't end when you hit 30. Hooray for you, Sul Ross State of Alpine, Texas, for giving him a shot at playing. He made the team, and will be suited up for the first game Sept. 1st.

Kinda makes me wish I could go to Alpine and watch him take the field. As one of his friends told him, "You might as well give it a shot. The worst thing that can happen is you get your head knocked off and come home."

I love Texas.


Link

Alright...I admit it..it's me

Do you ever wander through the grocery store and look at the boxes of Hamburger Helper and wonder "What kind of tasteless person buys this stuff and do they actually like it?" Well, folks, the answers are me, and yes.

I wish that I could be a food snob and have an educated palate, but the truth of it is that I am just a good ol' girl raised in the South (thank goodness for that) who would rather eat cheeseburger macaroni than escargot any day, thank you very much. I love to watch cooking shows and see all the fancy stuff they use to create a meal. I'm not sure that it's really food, but is sure looks pretty on the plate. I would eat it, because my mama raised me to try whatever is put before me, and I would probably like it, then I would go home and rip open a box of easy comfort food and curl up with a steaming bowl-full.....YUM! The cheesy hashbrown variety is the best, but as far as white-trash cookin' goes they're all pretty good.

My taste for the tacky goes way beyond haute cuisine. I'm also the girl who buys the plastic pink bunnies with the crazy eyes that they sell at Easter and loves the pink flamingos withe the whirly wings which no self-respecting home owners association would allow me to put in the front yard. That's why we don't live in a neighborhood with a homeowner's association. I'm not paying for a home where the crazy-eyed bunnies aren't welcome.

If it's sparkly, tacky, funky or just plain weird then chances are that I will like it. I'm sorry Nanna. I think you wasted your efforts in making me a lady. The table manners stuck, but I'm using them to eat pork rinds in cheese dip, Chef Boyardee, red hots on vanilla ice cream, or egg in a basket. It's not fancy, but it's real and boy is it good.


+JMJ+

Hi there

After months of reading and enjoy the works of many talented bloggers out there, I decided to take a big breath and jump into the blogosphere myself.

I am a Catholic mom of 7, two in God's hands and five in mine. I am also the besotted wife of my dear husband. He still makes my heart race and my stomach do flip-flops. I hope that you all are as lucky in your lives as I am in mine.

So, here goes, y'all!

Good luck and God bless.

+JMJ+