A mish-mosh of stuff

Organizing my pantry yet again and realized that I have an abundance of bundt/specialty pans. I know I must have a small fortune and thought if y'all needed to borrow one, let me know! So I have a heart pan, a Christmas wreath, a beached octopus (seriously), little car loaf pans, a cornucopia loaf pan, a festive bundt pan, a rose pan, flower cupcake, sailboat(I used it last year for Dominic's "Where the Wild Things Are" party as Max's boat), 2 madeleine pans, corn stick (cast iron for corn bread...too cute),and last but not least, a pull-apart Penguin cupcake mold.

Back to the routine...well sort of.

Well, I'm here 2 weeks post-op, trying to catch up on everything. (Good Luck) There is the school carnival this Friday, Track meet in Camarillo on Saturday, 80's Party on Saturday night, Church on Sunday morning (oh that's right, need to work on the lesson plan)and finally my Goddaughter's dance recital, Sunday evening. PHEWWW!

Then of course their is Earth Day next week, which I am in charge of (what was I thinking). No one is interested. Yet it must be done,(so hurry up and come up with something for an assembly next week). Somehow when I decided to become a "stay at home" mom", I thought I would actually be home. I thought I would be baking my own bread, sewing the latest fashions and have an immaculate home. Not to mention, bathed(I'm lucky to get an uninterrupted shower) and made-up(does blistex count as makeup?) awaiting the man of the house to arrive from work. OK!!! WAKE UP!!! I guess I'm not in my fantasy world where one can do it all.

So I resign myself to slow down and unload the dishes. Have a cup of tea and read the mail. Do a load of laundry and watch a movie. Life is all about balance and the world (or at least my little bit of it) will continue to turn even if I don't bake those 5 dozen cookies.

Jesus did not die for chocolate eggs

So as I sit here listening to the chirping birds interrupted by the light saber swishing sound on my son's Didg, I wonder...How can I get everything done before Easter? My mom always made Easter so much fun. Growing up I remember the elaborate baskets that she would put together for my brother and me. We would head off to the Glendale Galleria to Orbachs and go shopping to buy that perfect dress and white patent leather shoes. She would buy herself a pretty dress and a new shirt,tie and slacks for my brother. Everything was perfect...at least in my eyes. So now I find myself laying on the couch recovering from surgery, feeling that Catholic guilt. I didn't go to mass yesterday. I probably won't go today (1-3pm, very powerful but very long) and is the house decorated? Of course not! The bin of Easter decorations sits in the cabinet in the garage. Not a single egg is dyed. The baskets are not ready.
So it's now late Friday afternoon and all the supplies for the baskets are sitting in Target bags ready to be distributed. I ask Bryan for help and we arrange the baskets for our Goddaughter and "nephew". OK, now I can rest easy knowing that is done. I'll boil the eggs tomorrow.
Saturday morning arrives...I've taken my shower but I'm still not awake. I am boiling the eggs. Eggs are cooked and cooled and Ethan decides to pick one up. "Ouch..Hot" CRASH...there goes the not so cooked egg. Ok...let's boil them a bit longer. We dye them and they come out nice but the "rub-ons" won't rub on. Oh well...I tell the boys, let's go! We're off to Michele and George's for our annual basket exchange.
We had a great time the boys played and we had lunch and spent some wonderful time with the dearest of friends.
Sunday arrives! HE IS RISEN!!! We go to 7:30 mass with my mom. The boys are overjoyed that she is there with us. We head home, get on our comfies and relax watching "Alice in Wonderland". Had a simple ham dinner with potato casserole and rolls. When the boys, prompted by Alexander ask "Are we going on an Easter Egg Hunt?". I said, "Well, what is Easter about?" Alexander says "Jesus died for us" with Dominic quickly adding "he rose on Easter Sunday". I finished by saying..."Jesus did not die for chocolate eggs". And they left it at that.

Sunday Transformation

I awoke this morning to the realization that it is up to me alone to be the spiritual cheerleader and help my boys get ready for church. I had planned ahead, and last night I laid out the boys' clothes and reminded them of Sunday School. So this morning,Dominic and Ethan woke up, came to my room and cuddled for a bit before they ran off to get dressed. "Easy, Peezy" I thought..."Thank you God!" I exclaimed. Then, off I pranced triumphantly to Alexander's room to wake him up. Rise and Shine! There was the grumpiest 9 year old, EVER! Everything was an argument. He didn't like the clothes I picked, he was cold, it's too early, he said. "Let's not forget", I said, "It's God's day". "I don't like God's day. I'm not going...I don't want to go to church!"

So we're at church(we made it). Dominic and Ethan are in their assigned classrooms and Alexander is with me. So it's my turn to do the child's liturgy. We begin our prayers and I read from Luke 9:28-36, The transfiguration or transformation of Jesus atop the mountain. Well, I ask my questions and they are answered by the children, those who listened,and then there is my son, attentively listening and eagerly raising his hand to answer the questions. He knew all the answers, referenced last weeks reading and even gave his own commentary on how the reading relates to our own lives. PHEWWW! What a morning...and what a transformation!

What's New?

Well, I just started this today and we'll see how it goes. Getting a bit tired of facebook and thought this would be the best way to communicate with family and friends. I'll post pictures soon! Blessings!