Enjoying a parish mission

The past several day has seen our parish hosting a parish mission. Now I wasn't sure how receptive our parishioners would be to the idea of hosting a mission - I have been a member there for almost 17 years and I don't remember anything like this being held here before. Plus, it was being held beginning on a holiday weekend in a town that is only about an hour from the NJ shore, so I wasn't sure what attendance would be like, but I have been pleasantly surprised by both the response of the parish community and the speaker.

Our mission has been presented by a Redemptorist priest Fr. Daniel and he is a wonderful speaker. His talks have been uplifting and have forced me to take a good look inside my self and at my life as a Catholic.

Tomorrow will be the last day of the mission and I will only be able to attend the morning session as in the evening, I will be attending the Baccalaureate at my son's high school. I can't believe that he will be graduating from high school on Friday night.

Coming into the home stretch

After almost four weeks of having the first floor in a chaotic state, the laundry room project is winding down. I think the only things left to do are putting the doors on the cabinets, second coat of paint on the trim, and adding knobs to the doors/drawers.

The new kitchen floor has been installed. Of course, this gave way to another project - putting wainscoting on the sides of the island. This is something we wanted to do, but were going to do later. But when the floor installer took up the base trim around the island, a piece of the side chipped off. So we will move up adding wainscoting to the present time and that will be one more job completed.

The floor installer could not put the toilet and sink back in the powder room since the new floor is laminate and is higher than the old one. So we will have a plumber re-install them. The electrician is going to run cable and speaker wires under the carpet in the family room so we can move the TV and sound system to the other side of the room. For now, the carpet is up along that edge and the threshold between the new floor and the carpet is missing and will be installed after the wires are moved.

So, like so many projects that we think will be simple when started, this has snowballed into several other projects. But the end result will be that our first floor will be much nicer.

de pain, de pain continues

Boy, do I hate to have dental work done. Apparently I have extra nerves in my jaw so I require three, four and sometimes five times the amount of anesthesia to get me numb. Of course that means that afterward, I have one sore jaw from all the needle sticks. And even though I have a pretty high threshold of pain, I think mouth pain is different and hurts more than any other pain because it is, for me at least, a throbbing pain that just seems to hang on.

Any way, the gum is healing, the stitches have fallen out and that is good. Now if the throbbing jaw would go away.....

de-pain, de-pain

I spent yesterday morning at the dentist having some dental work done that involved removing a piece of filling from a rood canal taken out of the gum. It has been a pretty painful past several hours. I am able to manage the pain with some prescription pain medication, but it makes me so tired that I can't do to much of any thing. Compounding this is the installation of the new floor in the kitchen and laundry areas of the house. So I am banished to my bedroom to sit, watch some television and nap.

Hopefully tomorrow I will feel better and can put away the pain medication so I can function.

A clean bill of health

Thursday was Maxie's annual check up at the veterinarian. She is our 13 year old bichon/poodle/shi tzu mix. She is a sweet dog who has had more than her share of health problems. Yesterday, I received a call from the vet that all her blood work came back normal and her physical exam was good and except for some age related hearing loss and a cataract in one eye, she is in good health!

Maxie is plagued by seasonal allergies. About nine years ago, she was suffering so badly from allergies that I took her to University of Pennsylvania Veterinary Hospital for allergy testing. The result was that she is extremely allergic to ragweed. As the vet said, "on a scale of 0 to 4, she scored a 10." So for the past nine years, she has had to have allergy shots weekly from July to the first frost and every three weeks for the rest of the year.

Five years ago, in an effort to fully sympathize with me after my first knee surgery, she tore the ligament in her hind leg that required surgical repair. Then last year, after my second knee surgery, she again felt sympathy toward me and tore the ligament in her other hind leg, and this too required surgery to repair it.

Add to these, her occasional bouts with non-specific colitis that require her to stay at the vet's for dehydration and medication to settle her stomach, Maxie has had her share of medical problems. But I wouldn't trade her for the world. She is my best little buddy at home and gives me unconditional love.

Prom Night

Last night, my son went to the senior prom. He escorted a lovely young woman, a classmate, who wanted to go with my son because he likes to have fun.

They made a handsome couple, she in a lovely dark peach gown and he in a black tux. They were part of a group of about 35, some of whom were dating couples and some who were just friends. They all looked great, the young men in tuxes of various styles and a variety of colors and styles of ties and vest to coordinate with their dates dresses and the young women where beautiful with no two wearing the same color or style.

They rented a party bus to take them to the prom and then drive them to the shore afterward. The inside of the bus was a teenagers delight with a black interior, glowing neon lights, a smoke machine and enough speakers to shake the bus. The bus included a host to oversee the group and let the driver do his thing. As a mom, I was relieved that no one had to drive to the shore at such a late hour.

Of course the evening was not with out adventure for mom and dad. Because of the fires in the pinelands on Wednesday, our son could not drop his car off at the shore house to have it there to come home. So being a kind mom and dad, while our off spring was dancing the night away, we drove formed our own "wagon train" and my husband drove his car to the shore house and I followed to bring him home. It was a four hour trip, but well worth it so that our son would not have to drive there so late at night. I estimate that the happy prom goers did not arrive at the shore until about three a.m.

So today I am tired and will spend the day at home. The dustiest and dirtiest part of the laundry room make over is done and now I can begin the task of ridding the first floor of the spackling and saw dust and other assorted forms of grime. Of course Monday it starts again as a new floor will be installed in the kitchen and laundry room.


Inside of the party bus!!!

Tagged again

Fr. Daren at Servant and Steward tagged me for this meme of things about me:

1. Male or Female: Female

2. Married or Single (or religious): Married to a wonderful man

3. Dream vacation: Bicycle pub tour of Ireland

4. Birthplace: Phoenixville, PA

5. Area I live in currently: Burlington, NJ

6. Someone you wish you could meet: Barbara Bush

7. Biggest "pet-peeve": Soccer moms in BIG SUV's on their cellphone

8. Favorite Religious devotion: The Rosary

9. Favorite Saint (besides the Blessed Mother): St. John Neumann

10. Favorite sport that you play: Tennis

11. Favorite food: Chocolate

12. Tridentine or Novus Ordo: Novus Ordo

13. Would you (or are you) home school or public school: Catholic grade school, public high school, and State college

14. How many kids do you have: One red headed son - enough said

15. Ever been in an auto accident: Yes, a few

16. Ever seen a pope in person: No

17. Languages that you know fluently: English

18. Last movie you saw in theatres: Wild Hogs

19. Favorite Blog: Servant and Steward and SFO Mom

20. Your thoughts on Barney, the Easter bunny, and Santa Claus: Barney should be shot, the Easter Bunny is okay and Santa rules.

Lucky Fr. Daren is in Hawaii and is taking time to keep in touch with his readers.

I tag Barb at SFO Mom.

Sad News

Several posts ago I asked for prayers for a friend who was in the terminal stages of cancer. Thank you for your prayers - Mike passed away peacefull yesterday morning with his wife and two sons by his side. While his passing is sad, it is comforting to know that he is in a better place and is no longer in pain.

Eternal rest grant unto him Lord, and let the perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen.

Godspeed Mike, may the angels watch over you and your family.

What a wonderful way to spend a Friday morning

This morning I had the pleasure of meeting SFO Mom in person. Accompanying her was her son Little Brother. We had a wonderful visit and spent almost two hours chatting over coffee and breakfast. She is a lovely woman and I hope that we will get together again.

Is it Friday yet?

I am looking forward to Friday, but not for the obvious reasons. I don't work outside the home, so I it's not the end of the work week for me and I'm not going shopping, so it isn't the thrill of spending. This Friday I am going to meet a fellow blogger who lives near me. SFO Mom and her son, Little Brother, and I are going to meet for coffee/breakfast. We have exchanged e-mails and comments on blogs for the last several months and finally we will be able to put faces with names. Our sons both attend the same high school, although her son is just finishing his first year and mine is graduating and I am acquainted with a Bernadine sister who used to be living at her parish. It will be interesting to meet and talk face to face and to meet her son, whose antics reported in her blog, make me laugh.

Laundry room update

The laundry room remodel is progressing nicely. To date, the old closet was removed, the back door removed and closed in, the soffits have been made and the wall and hardware for the pocket door are in. It looks really good. Of course, I feel like I am covered in dust, but it is a small price to pay for having a laundry room that really works for me.

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood

It was a beautiful day in New Jersey today and I was lucky to enjoy a long bike ride along the Delaware River and enjoy it. It was warm, but not hot and very sunny and a nice breeze kept my friend and I from getting too hot - which is important for women in my age group (late forties) if you know what I mean. Suffice it to say, the cool breeze is appreciated all the time!

We rode from Titusville, NJ to Lambertville and then crossed the river into New Hope, PA. New Hope is a very interesting town that is filled with the many interesting shops - from witch craft to Medieval items to a shop for gay people. You can get tattoos, piercings, food at an number of restaurants with many different cuisines, see a play at a playhouse on the river and get ice cream on just about every block.

But it was a great day to be outside, enjoying God's universe and getting some much needed exercise!

Progress on the laundry room

Our laundry room renovation is under way and lots has happened.

The old closet has been removed - well most of it. While taking it apart, a pipe was found in one of the walls of the closet - apparently a radon vent pipe. So a slight change in plans and a wall will be re-built around the pipe rather than re-routing it. The door to the outside is history and a wall has replaced it. It has been interesting watching the progress and learning a little about construction.

Prayers please

I received sad news yesterday that a friend who introduce my husband and I some twenty-two years ago has reached the final stage of terminal cancer and has been placed in hospice care. Please pray for him for a quick and peaceful passing. He has suffered so much in the past year. He has a wife and two young adult sons. Thank you for your prayers.