Pass the Kleenex

I'm sitting here with my baby girl at 5 AM, mindlessly clicking and marveling at all the creativity out there in blogland. Sigh. All those great ideas, none of which I'll get to...Karoline is sick, not just a sniffly sick, but an I'm-so-sick-I-can't-stand-or-eat sick (but she can nurse--incessantly). She will not let me put her down-- not to brush my teeth, not to go to the bathroom, not to get dressed. I'm typing one-handed. She's given new meaning to "long weekend." I'm overtired. My throat hurts.So, I was primed to shed big tears when I stumbled upon this--Beth Moore's letter to her daughter just before the wedding.
Hold on to  me all day, Baby-mine. Hold on real tight.

New Column

It’s refrigerator cleaning day today. Every Wednesday, I go through this ritual of cleaning it out, reorganizing, wiping it down. And every Wednesday I find a “surprise,” some food worth saving whenwe first put it in here, but now well past its usefulness and/or its appeal. And I pitch it. And then, I feel guilty. Read the rest at Catholicherald.com

L is for...

It's "L" week at Serendipity. Isn't that lovely? Today, "L" is for love.
The love of my life isn't in town, so it's not quite the day I'd like. But...
We'll have dinner with friends whom I love dearly.

There are cookies and a good book to read before getting the children to bed.

Then, "L" is for lavender ironing spray (the height of romance, huh?). Bear with me here.

I'll light a lavender candle and tackle this particular load of laundry while I listen to this CD and pray for my Valentine. It's not roses and bon-bons, but "L" is for Lent, too, and honestly, this is not a bad way to suffer at all.

A Valentine for Sweet Karoline

It's oh-so-much fun when the mailman brings you your very first ever Valentine!

You read it very carefully.

And you are oh-so-excited!

Now, isn't that sweet?

You eat chocolate with one hand and sign, "Thank you, Danny!" with the other. He's a keeper;-)

Duh.

What type of Mother Hen Are You?
by Montessorimom.com: Educational Resource

I am also a basketball mom hen. I know this because my seven-year-old is never, ever without a basketball in his hands. And he's shooting free throws in the basement pretty much every waking hour. And I keep getting nasty-grams from the Homeowner's Association because Mike moves the hoop out of the driveway to the very private street  so the boys can play and then leaves town before he moves it back. Hello? It's heavy. I know it doesn't belong there but can you cut me some slack? And besides, did you notice the throng of kids around it all the time? I'm entertaining the neighborhood. Would you rather they hang around street corners?  Oh, let them play in the backyard, you say? Well they do. When there isn't ice all over the backyard. And then they tear up the grass playing soccer and football. And then I get nasty-grams about the grass being bare.I'm a soccer mom and if I were to leave this neighborhood, it would spare the Mean Homeowner's Association Militant Mom with the Clipboard a whole lot of paper. And it would leave some kids impoverished.