Tales From The Bonny Blue House

Prayers for the the fallen

I feel so badly for the people at Fort Hood. Please lets pray for the families of the heroes that died and those that are injured.

It's a crazy world.

After searching for three days, Mary and Joseph find the twelve-year-old Jesus sitting in the Temple discussing the law with the learned doctors. (Luke 2:42-52)

I have some experience now with the kind of fear that dwelled within the hearts of Mary and Joseph. It is actually more of a pit-of-the-stomach type of feeling. My own son went missing and the story did not end as happily. My oldest son Ryan passed away recently. He died alone and after a heart wrenching twelve hour search he was found. It was the longest night of our life, David and I

read the rest of my column Grief and Joy here...

43 Things

I'm a little jazzed up today. Lots of coffee to combat the fatigue involved in staying up late to WATCH THE YANKEES WIN THE SERIES!!!!

I'm sorry, was I shouting?

It was an exciting game, a great culmination to an exciting series. However, I'm tired.

Today's post will be a little different. In honor of a day that may or may not be a little bit special I thought I would reveal 43 things about me you may not be aware of. The number 43 may or may not be significant. (Hint: it has nothing to do with the Yankees).

1.       I was born in Brooklyn.

2.       I was raised in Nassau County.

3.       I attended a public school through 8^th grade.

4.       I attended an all girls Catholic private school for high school.

5.       I learned all my best swear words in that high school.

6.       I attended St. John’s University.

7.       I was a business major until I discovered that I would have to take four calculus classes.

8.       That day I changed to an English Lit major.

9.       My father thought I was nuts.

10.   I have a double minor in Economics and Finance, mostly to appease my father.

11.   I never took any of those calculus classes.

12.   I worked for a dentist for a year after graduating because the stock market had crashed and I couldn’t get a job.

13.   I took a job as a secretary in a big name investment bank rather than an associate position in a small one to get a foot in the door.

14.   It was a good choice.

15.   I earned more money as a secretary than all of my friends in other “better” jobs.

16.   I couldn’t type to save my life.

17.   I was promoted pretty quickly which was gratifying.

18.   I traveled a lot which was fun.

19.   I had a secretary, she could type.

20.   My firm was paying for graduate school.

21.   I hated graduate school.

22.   I started to hate traveling when I met my husband.

23.   When again, faced with calculus,I quit school.

24.   I took a knitting class at the New School.

25.   My father is still annoyed about it.

26.   I can still knit and I  have still not taken calculus.

27.   Lack of calculus has not affected my success in life at all.

28.   Don’t tell my kids.

29.   I have always written stories.

30.   That I am a non-fiction writer surprises me.

31.   I married the love of my life at age 26.

32.   It was the best decision I ever made.

33.   When we were first married we lived in a great apartment on the beach.

34.   I wanted to live in NYC but he loves the beach so I conceded.

35.   I want to retire to Manhattan.

36.   I love Maine.

37.   My house is decorated in reds, browns, taupe and black.

38.   My house is also decorated in toys and dirty socks.

39.   I have a cleaning lady come once a week and I feel very guilty about it.

40.   I love to cook.

41.   I love to clean, hence the guilt in number 39.

42.   I want to own a mini-cooper someday.

43.   I think being a wife and mom rocks.

CatholicVote.org

I have a post over there today. It's about the effect of the elections today on the Obama Administration. I think they should be running scared but the whole lot of them strike me as way too impressed with themselves to think that any success by the Conservative arm of the GOP is going to have an affect on them.

Prepare for some whining and finger pointing tomorrow.

All Souls Day

While driving to the cemetery this morning to visit Ryan's grave and pray, the car radio suddenly began to play one of his favorite songs, Soul Man (Sam & Dave, Atlantic Records 1967).

"Hey!" said Katie, "he's our very own soul man now!"

Yes, he is.

Please join us in a Novena for the Holy Souls in Purgatory.

Have a blessed day.

Solemnity of All Saints

Collect: God our Father, source of all holiness, the work of your hands is manifest in your saints, the beauty of your truth is reflected in their faith. May we who aspire to have part in their joy be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that having shared their faith on earth we may also know their peace in your kingdom. Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Halloween was happy

but I am sure glad it's over.

From Halloween 2009

From Halloween 2009

From Halloween 2009

From Halloween 2009

From Halloween 2009

From Halloween 2009

I hope you had more treats than tricks!

Don't ask me...

I'm not cutting it.

From Fall 2009

In progress...

Some Globe Theatre dioramas

And some happy religion coloring.

Morning Basket Questions

Lots of people have emailed me, and a few commented, on my Morning Basket post last week. Thanks for all of the kindness and warmth!   Especially since I was basically copying a lovely idea orginated by uber-homeschool mom Jen. As an aside I strongly recommend waiting until the kids are in bed pouring a nice cup of tea or a glass of wine and spending an hour or so going through Jen's blog. It's full of lovely ideas.

If you are an Angels, Mets or Red Sox fan, you'll have some time tonight. (hee hee hee)

Sorry. Had to do it.

Anyway. The questions. Lots of people wanted to know how long all of this takes. It really depends but generally it takes between a half hour and forty-five minutes. Which isn't very long. I try to begin at 8:30 but since Brendan is not a sleeper we sometimes start at 9:00. No big deal.

How did I decide what to include in the morning basket?  Well, much of it was inspired by Jen but I also thought that for the basket idea to work for me it would have to include those things that I wanted to get to in my school plans but never seemed to have time for. The workbox system has helped tremendously with that but I always have some little enrichment type things I like to include.  I took the nature suggestions of Jen's by subscribing to Nature Friend Magazine which turned out to be every bit as valuable as she said. The kids love the articles and the photography has inspired some nice drawing.

Katie's rendering of a bird.

I rounded out everyone's religion studies with the catechism (always a good beginning to the day) and the Acts of the Apostles and then I just picked things that are seasonal or tangenital to what we are doing. Does that make sense?

Do you do it every morning?

Ah, no. As a matter of fact I haven't done it at all this week since I have a horrible cold and I actually lost my voice over the weekend and I am still raspy and hard to understand. My voice is grating on my nerves so it must be driving the kids crazy. On the upside they had a quiet weekend :).

Another thing worth mentioning is that the basket pretty much lives on my long dining room table so morning basket can be a lunch or dinner basket if that works better on some days. It's important not to get caught up so much in what I do or in what Jen or anyone else does but make things work for your family and do the things they enjoy. My basket might bore your children to tears so explore your children's interest. Or bookmark this post and categorize it "next year" and don't put pressure on yourself.

Have a blessed evening.