Thursday, February 5, 2015

Of really bad evenings and needed Lenten plans, come cheer me up!

I'm going to be honest - I woke up in kind of a surly mood. :0 I have St. Agatha right here with us because it's her feast day and I need a pick-me-up. Hi St. Agatha, pray for us please!

Ok, so my porky mood. Que pasa? I didn't have the best of evenings yesterday. It was just one of those times when nothing seemed to go right (aside from my potato soup in the crock pot, that stuff is *fantastic*) and the kids were bent on irritating each other, and Mike had play practice, so I was refereeing the two ruffians by myself. And then Anne didn't want to go to bed. AGAIN. And then once I got her in bed and started working on my Downton Abbey shawl I did something wrong and suddenly my 321 stitch shawl was 322 stitches. Lesson to all of us: when you are tired and cranky and your small child is howling upstairs because she doesn't want to sleep, that is the WRONG time to try and tackle a lace chart. You're welcome. ;-)

AND THEN my son comes to me and admits that, for no discernible reason, when taking his before-bedtime asthma medication, he took three times the recommended dose rather than the single chewable he has taken every night for years and years. Well, this may have been right around the time of the lace chart mishap, for understandable reasons, now that I think about it. But at any rate,  I feel myself pale and fire off a litany of questions to him, which makes him get this confused look on his face, like "what's the big deal?"

OH.SIGH.

Mike got home right around the time Henry was in tears as I made the necessary phone calls. He's fine, we just had to keep an eye on him, and needless to say we had a stern talk with him about prescription medication. Not a good evening.

So I woke up with all of that still weighing on me, you know? Henry was still fine this morning, all is OK there. But I just felt... blah. And my throat has been feeling "off" since yesterday afternoon, I'm worried that some nefarious illness is lurking there waiting to strike. Plus, it's February 5th, which this year means that Lent begins in...

13 days.

!

I have barely thought about Lent. I have no plan formulated or goals set or anything like that. I've been enjoying my Ordinary Time, it is true, but I do have to begin thinking of ideas since Ash Wednesday will be here before we know it. What are you all doing for Lent this year? If you have ideas, please do let me know. I love getting comments, it always makes my day, and I could use some cheer right now, yes? :)

I'm off to order some yarn to make myself feel better...

8 comments:

  1. Potato soup in a crock pot? Recipe, please please please please? :) I mean, it's probably Lenten, right? (Ie, no meat.) And if not, I bet the meat could be omitted!

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  2. Let's see: I've called Poison Control Ontario three times. The first time my youngest child stuck a wild mushroom in his mouth and then popped it back out. Fortunately he didn't chew or eat it, but it scared the heck out of me. They make you use charcoal if a child consumes any type since it's difficult to tell the good from the bad.

    Then there was my oldest getting ahold of some tums tablets. They don't have child proof lids and they are colorful (colourful). He thought they were candy. Turns out as long as you don't down a whole thing of tums you are okay. It's mostly calcium.

    And then my oldest thought de-icer on the road was ice. He's on this whole eating snow/ice kick. Drives me nuts so I'm wondering if he's doing that to irritate me. Anyways...de-icer is relatively harmless (which makes sense since animals can eat it).

    So I feel for you...even older children forget to use their brains.

    If it helps I have a dousy of a story involving my neighbors (neighbours) threatening to call the cops because my children are loud (and protest much) in the morning getting ready for school. We're trying to get them to be quieter, but I still expect the cops to show up one day. Ah, well. What can you do?

    As for Lent, my husband suggested that I cut my internet time down to an hour a day. I think that's a good one. It's so easy to get sucked in. And I should probably work some morning prayers into our routine. I also want to go through the massive quantity of toys my children have accumulated and get rid of some of them. Perhaps I can also substitute some religious reading like the Bible instead of internet (although truthfully I read a lot of religious stuff on the internet).

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  3. I should maybe do a recipe post for the potato soup during Lent (thanks for the idea!) but for now, this recipe is very similar: http://www.food.com/recipe/crock-pot-style-loaded-baked-potato-soup-301754

    *except* instead of "mashing the potatoes at the end" when you add the cream, I use an immersion blender right after adding the cream.

    :)

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  4. A bit of humor to help (from memory, not having the book nearby)

    St. Teresa was visited by St. John of the Cross. Earlier that day, someone had donated a lovely quantity of very nice juicy grapes to her convent. Of course she offered some to her guest.

    John saw them and with a gravely Lenten look on his face said, "When we think of the justice of God, and His sufferings, we ought to refrain from eating those grapes."

    But she replied, "And when we think of His mercy and His glorious resurrection, we ought to enjoy them!" And she grapped a bunch and began to do so.

    Recall also the advice of St. Thomas Aquinas, in his Summa II-II, Q168 A4, "whether lack of mirth is sinful": he says "Mirth is useful for the sake of the rest and pleasures it affords."

    Happy St. Agatha day! (Remember, her name means "Good" in Greek; another one of those lovely virtue-names like Irene = Peace and Sophia=Wisdom.)

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  5. Picking up extra stiches when knitting is horrible. I have a sweater that I have put away for awhile because I have picked up a stich and messed up the ribbing twice.

    As for Lenten plans, I'm thinking about making a weekly adoration hour.

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  6. Oh my goodness, from the prescription to the knitting that does sound like a tough evening (I have poison control entered into my phone because we've had to call them a number of times...).

    I hope you found a pretty yarn!

    And while I've done a lot of thinking about thinking about Lent (if that makes sense)I don't think I've made any progress actually getting ready for it!

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  7. Yep, Cammie, in the exact same spot. Will be watching your blog for ideas in your posts next week. ;-)

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  8. I'm knitting the DA mystery shawl too! I also don't have lent plans yet!

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