Planning seasonal novenas...

Well, my kids are both at school as I write this. And I'm feeling pretty weepy. 

😭

They're both happy and secure. It's going very well. I was afraid that the adjustment this year would be much more daunting than usual because of the way things so abruptly closed back in March. But this is the best start to the school year we have ever had. Both seem happy to be back to a routine, and like their teachers. One day at a time, but I'll take it. I'm still feeling emotional, but that's just me. :-0

Given all of this, our novena chat (that I mentioned last week) couldn't possibly be better timed. 

   

What I'm going to do this year is pray 1-2 novenas every month this fall and winter. I'm going to start listing them in a separate page on the blog again, so that anyone who would like can see which one I'm planning to pray, and can join in if they like! It will be the tab listed on the far right if you're using a larger computer or laptop, or will be the last item on the drop down menu list via mobile. For September, I am planning to pray the St. Jerome novena. This will begin on Monday September 21st, and finish up on his feast day of September 30th. St. Jerome is the patron saint of librarians, biblical scholars and students! All of the information and prayers will be up on the St. Jerome page.

After we finsh that one, I think I will pray the St. Therese novena, beginning *on* her feast day of October 1st, to break things up a bit. ;-) And I'll post a new page with her information on it as soon as we finish up St. Jerome! Sound like a plan?

Are you joining in the St. Jerome novena? Or have other novena plans this fall? I'd love to hear about them!

Adventures in new school routines and last minute restaurant dancing...

Well, it may not be pretty, but I'm makin' it. 😂 The weeks are long right now, but we're getting there. Let's settle in for a drink!

I've lived through another week, which these days, is an enormous accomplishment. I feel like this each day lately when I get up in the morning:

Life is a marathon right now, but I'm trying to sprint through each day. I'm getting there, but each evening when I am trying to keep my eyes open before collapsing into bed I am very aware that I am trying to do too much and that I cannot keep up this pace forever. But in the short term, until the competition finals are over, I'm not really sure what else to do. So I'm hanging on for dear life and doing the best I can.

Henry is loving his new high school. I'm quite shocked at how he's clearly acclimated already and thriving. We're still figuring out how we're getting him to and from school each day, since he starts and finishes at completely different times from Anne, but we'll get there. We live close enough that he always has the option to walk/bike, which is absolutely clutch. 

As for Anne, things are still a struggle. She has not acclimated to her new class, and is not thriving in any way. I'm anxious to talk to her teacher, but unfortunately, her teacher's mom passed away this week, and so there has been a substitute. Therefore (quite understandably) it's going to be awhile before I'll be able to get a sense of how she's doing when she's actually at school. I just know that at home, she's been quite unhappy and down about school. Mike and I are both, consequently, quite anxious about all of this. It's been challenging, for sure.

My car goes in to be repaired on Monday, thankfully. But my litany of other appointments remain, and I'm just balancing them all in the short term as best I can. My classes are finally all scheduled, so that's something.

In my dance world, it's been complete and total chaos. :-0 I've been preparing for the competition, and my troupe is preparing for a hafla that is coming up in just a few weeks, but everything is on hold at the studio right now because one of our instructors is getting married this weekend. And in the midst of all this, I've had several paid gigs. I hadn't had a paid gig since New Year's Eve, and now I've had 2 in the past 3 weeks. 😳 And it's great, don't get me wrong. But it's been so stressful at a time when I've had so much else going on, I can hardly think straight.

Last week, my instructor and main dancing partner in gigging situations messaged me to see if I was available to dance at the grand re-opening of a restaurant we frequently dance at on New Year's Eve. They had had a fire, and had been closed for 5 months. They wanted to hire us to dance, but the re-opening was in 3 days.

😬

Now, here's the thing: we're belly dancers. We improvise for a living. I can put together a set list and dance to it with 5 minutes of notice. But emotionally, paying gigs take a lot out of me. You're in costume and performing to the utmost of your ability for anywhere from 12-20+ minutes, and it's exhausting. Restaurant sets are usually 20 minutes for us, and we each dance 2 or 3. It takes a lot of physical stamina and emotional well being. And the emotional thing has been a bit low of late. :-0

But this is a great restaurant, a great opportunity, and great extra pay. So we agreed to do it.

That Friday found me applying stage makeup as Mike and the kids ripped up carpets in the upstairs hallway, remember that? I'm stepping over staples and disintegrated carpet pad as I frantically race around looking for my 4D mascara and extra facial glitter. Claire and I arrive at 5 pm for a 4 hour stretch of waiting amongst straw wrappers and sugar packets, interspersed with 20 minute sets of dancing. This restaurant is lovely, but their sound system is not the best, and stress abounded with getting the music to play loudly, all while people keep coming up to ask me if I can seat them at a table. :-0 It's always a little wacky at these adventures. I will also say that it adds an element of interest to improvisational dancing when you don't even remember what you put on your set list. :-0

But it went great, and I went home a limp noodle after a very long day. I don't know how much longer I can keep up this pace, but I have to until September 22nd. Then I can start worry about my crazy teaching load (5 classes that next day alone) and the hafla that I don't even know the dance for yet. 😂I don't know, I guess we'll figure it all out! But I have to admit, I don't like things to be *quite* this exciting all at the same time!

What's new with you as September reaches it's mid point?

Back-to-school prayer, and knitting as a distraction from worry...

Welcome back friends! I hope you're enjoying the fresh start to August as much as I am. I am going to freely admit that I am quite odd, and find July to be my least favorite month every single year. I like certain aspects of July, like the 4th of July holiday and swimming/picnics, festival dancing, extra socializing with friends. But the weather?

👎

It's the most humid month of the year here in WNY, and that's my least favorite weather ever. Yes, even more so than winter. So, with July done, besides panicking a bit about the approach of my dance competition finals in late September, I'm enjoying the slight turn in the weather that August brings. There are still warm and humid days ahead, don't get me wrong, but they tend not to cluster so much, and to be less oppressive than July. I'll take it.

August also heralds other changes in our lives. K-12 schools in my part of the world don't start back until after Labor Day in September, but back-to-school is IN THE AIR now, if you know what I mean. Lots of sales and pictures on Facebook of back-to-schoolers, since most other areas of the country start back before we do. This is a situation that I have tucked away firmly in my heart for daily prayer. This new school year means lots of changes for our kids: they will no longer be at the same school, Henry will start high school, and Anne is officially in Big Kid Land as she starts 3rd grade. I have this rosary on my desk at work, made by the lovely Allison, and just holding it and looking at it gives me a sense of peace:

St. Joan of Arc, pray for us!

I have a feeling that I'll be using it for more than admiration purposes as we transition into fall. I think her courage and faith are exactly what I need next month, to be sure. I'm downright weepy about all of these changes, and the worry that accompanies them. So I've been knitting for both children up a storm, because in my mind this keeps them safe.

?

I know, I know. It doesn't have to make sense, it just has to make me feel better! I started a pair of green self-striping socks for Henry (who is suddenly an ADULT LARGE in terms of shoe size), and I made a robin playset for Anne. Not exactly conventional, but that's how we roll in my avian friendly household.

This summer, we had a robin family nest in our neighbor’s yard. Anne, ever the avid birder, kept vigil with her binoculars over Memorial Day weekend, and got to see the entire process - from the parents building the nest, to mom incubating the eggs, and finally three little beaks starting to push up over the top of the nest as mom and dad arrived back with worm reinforcements. The babies fledged a few weeks later, and now we see them in juvenile form, hopping around our back yarn with their spotted breasts, learning how to look for food on their own. It was just so special! So I found a robin pattern to make my Anne her own commemorative robin:

Pattern is Spring Robin, and is available for free!

This is Mother Robin. And she's super inquisitive. ;-)

Never content to leave well enough alone, I made a nest for Mother Robin. She needs a comfy home for her family!

And of course, my little helper is so excited about her new bird friend.

Instructions for the nest are included in the pattern, and it was MUCH easier than I expected! You essentially make a yarn snarl in your lap that you baste together with a separate strand of yarn, threaded through a tapestry needle, into the shape of a nest.

And here, HERE, is the best part. Mother Robin has her triplets!

:-0

I mean, did you ever? Instructions on how to knit the nestlings (squeal!) are included right in the pattern as well. I will admit, I found it a bit more cumbersome to knit a stuffed toy, especially small ones, as opposed to crochet. But this was an enjoyable process that I learned a lot from, and I'm thrilled with the results!

Anne made some "worms" out of scrap yarn, so now we have Mother Robin and babies posing all over the house in various scenes of feeding frenzy. It's all so cute, and I'm glad that I tried out the new skills I had to learn in order to make these. The satisfaction of all of this took my mind off of how freaked out I am about several key dates in September. 😂

So that's what I've been up to. How about you? Do you have any intentions you would like the community to pray for? Just let us know!

Some weeks are just like this...

Have you ever had a week wherein you felt like you couldn't catch your breath, there was just so much going on? That's this week for me, and as I type this, it's only Tuesday! 😂

Let's take a look at yesterday, shall we?

🚗

I teach 3 classes in a row, starting at 9 am, on Monday mornings. I got the kids' lunches all set, readied myself, and rushed into work. "Rushing" is always the theme of our day on Mondays, to be sure. Little Honda Fit and I pulled into the parking lot at 8:30. I took out my phone, and found a text from my boss (also my co-teacher for that 9 am slot) that she's at the classroom troubleshooting some issues with the online quiz we were set to administer that day. I let her know that I'll be there as soon as I can, and headed into the library with my gigantic Mary Poppins bag of crap.



via GIPHY

I stashed my stuff, quickly ran through my email, and headed out to the classroom. Upon my arrival, I started the frantic task of readying the classroom while she finished with the quiz. We finished in the nick of time, whew!

The 3 classes go fine, but this was the first time we've taught this particular lesson in this particular fashion, and there were some kinks to work out. I have really good groups of students on Monday, but by the end of the whole ordeal, I was downright grumpy. I grumpily groused back to my office, and entered my attendance. I went through new emails, and by this time I was hangry in a major way. I finally heated up my lunch, and tuned into the replay of the latest Facebook live sale with my local Lularoe consultant, Mindy. I'm sure most of you have heard of Lularoe, but it's clothing in limited edition prints. It can be hard to find a specific style/print in your size, because they only make so many of them. I had had Mindy keep an eye out for a specific top in my mom's size that I knew she had been hunting for, as I was looking for something special as a birthday gift to her. Mindy fortuitously received one in a shipment from the warehouse, and all was well.

So I'm watching the replay of the live sale, and I see that my mom had joined in on the video. I am hit with Sense of Foreboding Feeling #1 on the day. Although I knew she couldn't snag the exact top I had purchased for her, I knew that Mindy had also received similar tops in a few other sizes. I didn't want my mom to grab one of those, thus dampening the exciting nature of my birthday top coup.

Well, you guessed it. A top comes up in a size above hers that is VERY SIMILAR to the one I got for her, and boom. She claims it. I may have flared my nostrils. I may have gripped my sandwich in consternation. My mom is so hard to buy for!

I messaged Mindy, and we commiserate. We brainstormed, and I decided to try and pick something else out for my mom. This made me feel better, but it did add "stop at Mindy's" to my already packed to-do list on the week.

I spent the rest of the afternoon doing some grading and other workly maintenance. I left promptly so that I will have time to make dinner before my marathon of an evening. By which I mean a 3-tiered, 3 hour, stretch in which I had to attend the parent orientation for Anne's classroom, have a dance rehearsal for an upcoming performance, AND go to my regular Monday night Hipfit class.

😬

So the first thing I did was go home and make an egg souffle. 😂 The doesn't really seem like the first thing most people would do in a frenzied state, but I am not most people, I suppose. I am much, much more scattered and ridiculous than most people, ha! I quickly made the souffle (while having a cocktail, I'm not going to lie) and it actually turns out OK and does not fall! Hey, I was as surprised as the rest of the family. I changed into my workout clothes, and realized that I would have to wear those to the parent orientation night.

😱

I popped a skirt on over my leggings as subterfuge. As I pulled away from the house, I realized that I forgot to ask Anne what her classroom number was. That really just fits with the day, does it not?

I arrived, parked Fit, headed in, and wandered around. Someone took pity on me and asked what room I was looking for, and they directed me to the 2nd grade area. Gratefully, I found familiar faces, and then honed in on the sign-up sheet for parent/teacher conferences. I wanted a prime 6 pm slot. I saw it available, snagged it,  and made a spectacle of myself taking a photo of the sign-up sheet with my phone to text to Mike so that he can mark it on our family calendar. This made me feel organized.

Feeling a bit more in control, I headed into the classroom. Here is where I'm faced with Sense of Foreboding Feeling #2 on the day. This happens to me a LOT if you couldn't tell already. I recognized the other parents. But this was not Anne's classroom. This was the *other* 2nd grade classroom.

😳

I slunk out of the room, frantically erased my name on the sign-up sheet to the amusement of parents texting others out in the hallway, and kept walking. I finally encountered Anne's 2nd grade classroom, signed up for a conference, and miserably sat down on her tiny little chair in the stifling hot classroom. I will say, they kept things moving efficiently, but this had been a LONG day (for everyone!) already. The instant we were done, I had to jet to the dance studio for the drum solo rehearsal (I was late, and joined in mid-dramatic walk on stage) followed by our regular Hipfit class. By the time I got home, you could have scraped me up off of the floor. I was all done in.

Today, I had 2 classes, more grading and attendance work (I have 250 students, ugh), I'm stopping at Mindy's, making broccoli cheese soup, and then rehearing for our OTHER dance performance, which is this weekend in Toronto. It's broiling hot outside, and we're having a dress rehearsal tonight in our non-breathable, long sleeved, Saidi gowns.

😭

It's mid-September, people! It's not supposed to still be humid and in the high 80's, at least not in my part of the world. At any rate, the rest of the week is exactly like this (I teach until 6 pm Wednesday, have Girl Scouts with Anne Thursday evening, and need to prepare for my trip to Toronto on Friday). I definitely feel flustered and overwhelmed. But life is good. It is! I just feel a weensy bit overwhelmed right now. ;-)

So we're performing this weekend plus taking 8 hours of dance workshops. Yikes! I just did the math on that one. 😂 Am I too old for this?! Happily not, but I tell you, sometimes I wonder! I also have crafting stuff going on, and lots of family activities. Life is full, to be sure! Next week we can talk dance and crafts. And books. I have tons of ideas! I just need time to implement them. ;-) Have a great end of week, everybody! What's up with you this fall day?

*heart*

"Oh. I guess I'm dancing to this song now instead!" More adventures in summer performing...

Last week took a lot out of me, my friends. 😂 I'm hanging in there, though. Just trying to keep on, keeping on, if that makes any sense. Henry and I wrapped up our St. Kateri novena for his high school intentions, which was lovely. The kids' first week back at school is newly ongoing 😬 which is a big adjustment for everybody, and I start teaching again next week. So I've been trying to focus on those things and distract myself a bit.

My babies! 😭

As well, my troupe and I performed at an outdoor artisan's market this past weekend, our last outdoor event of the year, which provided lovely distraction fodder. I love performing, I really do, but if I'm honest I have to admit that I do not love dancing outside. The surface is always unknown ahead of time, and generally questionable for the duration, it's usually sweltering hot, there is no shade, etc. Just not the funnest thing to perform with this set of circumstances.

And Saturday was no exception. :0 We arrive and it's one of the hottest days of the year, despite it being September 1st.

#longsufferingsigh

The band ahead of us finished up a tad early, and so we got right on it, anxious to perform our set and clear out before the afternoon heat got any worse. By the end of our first group piece, I was sweating, but it wasn't too epic. Next up, I danced a solo, and ordinarily, I *never* start on the stage. I let the music start, and then I dance out at some point. Usually, this fits with the music, and plus it gives me time to gather myself before I go out. Plus, I just think it looks more dramatic. ;-)

Well, on Saturday, I had chosen a baladi to dance to. A baladi is a specific type of arrangement in Middle Eastern music wherein the song begins with a very slow sequence called a taqsim. After the taqsim, the music picks up with a specific rhythm that builds in speed throughout the song up to a crescendo at the end. Given the taqsim at the beginning of a baladi, it may be a better choice to start on stage. Depending upon the specific song, it might not be too easy to travel onto the stage, the music just doesn't support that movement. So when Claire asked me which I preferred, I made the decision to begin out on our "stage" area.

I swirl out, strike a pose, and wait for my music to start. Let's just say that I had a bit of a long wait. 😂There was a glitch with the sound system, and all the while, I'm still in my dramatic pose. Then, hark! Music starts, but it is not my music. Now, I'm an improvisational dancer, I do not plan out choreographies, so I can dance to anything on a moment's notice, but this was a Saidi song, meaning a folkloric piece that my troupe costume wasn't appropriate for, nor was it the style of dancing that I was planning on. I waited for several beats, hoping that the music would stop, but it didn't. :0 Everyone is watching me expectantly. All the while, I'm thinking:

"This is why I like to start offstage!" 😂

And this is also why, although nerve wracking, my life is a heck of a lot more interesting than it was in my teens and twenties.

Life doesn't always go the way we plan, yes? Well, neither do our dance events. So, I raise my posed and lowered gaze and start to dance. Then the music dramatically cuts out. I stop dancing, strike another pose, and beam out at the audience. They beam back. Shortly thereafter, my baladi begins and I dance to that with much relief. It goes very well.

We had three more group pieces, and by the second one, my hair was indeed epic. It was glued to my back and became the consistency of the mop that you use on your kitchen floor. During one particularly memorable moment, a rivulet of sunscreen and sweat poured into my eyes, and I had to blink uncontrollably for the remainder of the song. When we got to our final drum solo, in which we have several head movements wherein we toss our hair...let's just say that my hair didn't move a muscle. :0

I had a lot of fun, but I was glad when that one was over. We have more performances coming up, but thankfully, all indoors!

How are you doing this week, dear reader?

Back-to-school briskness and busyness, and school-related novenas...

St. Kateri is our back-to-school patron this year!

Anecdote of the day: Anne greets me first thing this morning outside our bedroom door, wearing her nightgown, tossled hair, and a frown:

"Mom. You have to come quick."

Uh oh.

She hustles me down to her little bedroom, where she has clearly *just* stepped out of bed, and points an accusing finger at a shelf:

"How did Peppers get up there?!"

Peppers is her new stuffed animal friend, a parrot. I actually have no idea how Peppers got up onto a shelf, as I tucked them into bed together last night, and that does seem a little scary, doesn't it? Did he fly up there?!

😂

"Daddy probably put Peppers up there when he checked on you last night, Honey. Maybe he had fallen out of the bed."

"But why would he put Peppers up there and not back into bed with me?!"

Well, I don't know. But Anne was clearly outraged. :0 Poor Peppers.

In other news, we're in full on back-to-school prep over here. Although we're still getting flare ups of humidity around these parts, September is in the air. We're getting occasional cool nights, and the campus where I work is beginning to look different. Students are arriving for orientation, and there is a bustling sensation in the air. Classes start for them on Monday. I don't start teaching until week 3 due to the way our library lab is structured, so I still have some time to breathe, thankfully. My kids don't start school until the Wednesday following Labor Day.

It's kind of a big year for my Henry, because he's going into 8th grade. That's the highest level in his and Anne's Catholic school, and the whole thing is a bit emotional for me.

😭

I'm struggling with/panicking about this quite a bit. Next year, he will start high school, and it does NOT seem like this is possible. I know, I know, I've whined about this before. :0 But I can't help it. This is big. I never pictured myself as old enough to have a child in high school, and here we are on the very precipice of that. I'll make it, but it isn't easy. At least I have Mike to share the journey with me. *heart*

As we move into the fall, Henry is facing the Catholic High School Entrance Exam. We don't know for certain that he will attend Catholic high school (i.e. whether we can afford it), but his top choice is the Catholic boys high school that is minutes away from our house. Assuming that the financial aid package is manageable, we'd love to send him there. But it's a big "if," to be sure.

Accordingly, given that the entrance exam is in early November, and sometime thereafter we would find out the financial information, Henry and I are going to pray a novena starting Sunday (August 26th) using this novena to St. Kateri.

Would anybody like to join us? This would mean that the last day of the novena would be Labor Day here in the U.S., and since my kids start school right after that, the timing seems apt. :) I asked Henry which saint he would like to ask to intercede for him, and he chose St. Kateri, isn't he precious? If you'll be joining us, let me know!

All right, I have a bunch of beginning-of-semester emails to send out, so I'd better get on that.

*groans*

How is your back-to-school season going? I'd love to hear from you in the comments!

"Why can I still not see this stupid portfolio? Was this not tested before they rolled it out?!" - 1st week of class adventures...

*waves weakly*

Hello all, I'm coming to you from a prone position on the ground, but otherwise, I'd say I'm holding up pretty well. :0 It's been an interesting start to my spring semester, but before we go there, we have to cover blog housekeeping, and thus talk about THE LENTEN BOOK CLUB!

Ok, so the tiebreaker poll was a bit of an epic fail. :0 We're all apparently book lovers who simply CANNOT be forced to choose between books because the tiebreaker poll ended in a tie.

😎

I get it, I really do! So here's what I propose that we do: Let's read The Thief for Lent, the theme is just SO perfect, and for the Summer Book Club we will read Kevin Lowry's conversion story, How God Hauled Me Kicking and Screaming into the Catholic Church. We will not have another book poll for a while, because well, we're all polled out. ;-) But we *clearly* all want to read these two books, and so we will read both! Let's work on acquiring The Thief for Lent, and after Easter we'll look at starting a Summer Book Club focused on apologetics in June-ish. Sound like a plan?

*virtual fist bump*

All right, sooooooo, my week. I'm exhausted, so there's that. Emotionally and physically. :0 It's not that it's gone poorly, but just like in every other semester, technical debacles abound the instant the first day of class rolls in. Combine that with multiple classes (I have 8 this semester, and this is the *lowest* number I've had since this enterprise started a year and a half ago), nearly 200 students to manage, and catching some sort of nefarious winter bug, and, you know, it takes a toll. I've been dragging the past few days, although my spirits haven't been down, so that's good.

I arrived on campus Monday morning in my little Honda Fit feeling mighty trepidatious. I know how first days tend to go: I walked up to my office, and soon learned that internet connectivity was spotty across campus due to a server issue of some kind. 🠔 Yeah, pretty much like that. :-\ My office PC was unaffected, but you want to know what was affected all day long? Our classroom's teaching station. And I was up for the 10 am class slot all by my lonesome.

Yyyyyyyaaaaaayyyyyyy 🎉

One of my colleagues finagled an iPad mini with an HDMI cable that was able to connect to the WIFI. So I was ultimately still able to use the teaching station and the projector, albeit a bit more awkwardly. The larger problem wasn't fully solved until Tuesday morning, but all's well that ends well, right?

Well. 😱

Tuesday morning found a new problem.

"Tiffany, are you over there? We have a problem. A BIG PROBLEM."

That's just what you want to hear shouted from your boss's office first thing in the morning, is it not?!

In the first few weeks of our library lab, we guide the students in creating an ePortfolio for their English course; we set them up with step-by-step video instructions on how to do this. Sounds foolproof, yes? It IS, unless a previously undiscovered little glitch occurs in the new ePortfolio software, and students cannot open or edit their portfolios after they've created them. This wouldn't be quite so apocalyptic save for the sheer volume of students that we teach in our lab - and this would be a couple thousand. Whenever we need to apply a fix with so many students affected, things get messy. Some had already created these ill fated ePortfolios, and so now we need to have them create new ones, but do other things to fix the problem and try to banish the old ones. Some had not yet created an ePortfolio, and so now we need them to do yet different things to create a Portfolio. Some will have no idea what is going on (can't really blame them in this instance), some will have 2 ePortfolios and forever be confused by which is which, some will not follow the correct instructions and will produce a malfunctioning ePortfolio, and some will do nothing at all until the end of the semester, when they will inevitably come complain to me about their low grade.

*collapses*

I've decided to deal with all of this...NEXT WEEK. 😳

I'm hanging in there; I mean, what else can we do?

I've also started to get the expected student emails, confused about where to click and look for assignments. No matter how clearly we try and spell things out in the directions, this always happens. I get it, to a certain extent. There's nothing like being addressed in an email as "respected madam," to make a girl feel old, though. :0

All right, that is my week in a nutshell! Over in CatholicLibrarianChildren Land, it is Catholic Schools Week, and my two munchkins have been enjoying all of the special activities and treats. I'm busily planning for Lent, and have I mentioned that despite my 100% failure rate with journaling, I want to try a journal again for Lent? Because THAT'S guaranteed to go well, right? What could go wrong?!

*high five!*

Let's discuss next week! In the meantime, what's up with YOU?! Would you rather our Lenten Book Club be Tea Time podcast discussions or written posts? I'd love to hear from you!

Tea Time with Tiffany #111 - "what day is it?!" Beginning of semester exhaustion...

TGIF everyone, and BOY do I really mean it this week :0 for a new installment of:

Today we talk about the back to teaching grind, how the 30 day prayer challenge is going, lots of creativity flowing, and bunches more. Join me! (I even look exhausted in this screenshot, don't I? :0)





**To subscribe to the audio version of Tea Time with Tiffany, just search for it in iTunes or use this link to subscribe via Feedburner in your podcatcher of choice. Intro music is "Feelin' Good" from http://www.purple-planet.com

Items mentioned in this episode:

Weekend dance post

On My Bookshelf - Murder Wears Mittens (Seaside Knitters Society), by Sally Goldenbaum.

Prayer Corner - I've been working on praying at least 1 office of the Liturgy of the Hours each day with my Divine Office app.

Creative Commons - I'm on the 2nd sleeve of my Rhinebeck sweater! But also, a Beachcomber Shawl in a fall-inspired colorway.  This is the yarn base I'm using, though the colorways I chose are no longer available. It's *divine*, and the dyer is incredibly talented!

How is your prayer life these days? What is your back-to-school season like? I'd love to hear from you!

Tea Time with Tiffany #110 - STRESS

How's that for a relaxing title this month? ;-)

Today I talk about the semester starting, and how I'm finding it just a wee bit stressful. Prayer strategies, more dance gigs, fun books coming out this fall, and more!





**To subscribe to the audio version of Tea Time with Tiffany, just search for it in iTunes or use this link to subscribe via Feedburner in your podcatcher of choice. Intro music is "Feelin' Good" from http://www.purple-planet.com

Items mentioned in this episode:

On My Bookshelf - Same author as my Amish Quilt Shop Mysteries (just under a pseudonym), is a new series, Assaulted Caramel (An Amish Candy Shop Mystery).

Prayer Corner - I'm starting a 30 day Evening and Night Prayer challenge beginning Monday, 8/28. Would you like to join in?

Creative Commons - I started the sleeves on my Rhinebeck sweater! It's a miracle!

Are you going to pray along for the prayer challenge? Have any new book recommendations? Planning for Advent already the way that I am? ;-) Do write in!

Tea Time with Tiffany #108 - Back to School, and Scentsy talk!

Hello all! And welcome to a Back to School themed episode of:

Today I talk back-to-school, and fall Scentsy shenanigans! Plus, I finally reveal my Rhinebeck sweater, and what the heck that is. Join me!





**To subscribe to the audio version of Tea Time with Tiffany, just search for it in iTunes or use this link to subscribe via Feedburner in your podcatcher of choice. Intro music is "Feelin' Good" from http://www.purple-planet.com

Items mentioned in this episode:

My Scentsy website. Just send me an email if you'd like to join the Facebook group!

On My Bookshelf: Amish Quilt Shop series. Murder Plainly Read (Book 4), and Murder Handcrafted (Book 5).

Creative Commons: My Rhinebeck sweater, Opposite Pole, by Joji Locatelli. Yarn is Knit Picks' Wool of the Andes. My sweater specifically is in the Aurora Heather colorway. :) Link to the NY Sheep and Wool Festival!

Prayer Corner: Novena to St. Maximilian Kolbe! Watch for my piece about him on Catholic Mom, this coming Monday 8/14. 

What are you working on this weekend, dear readers? I'd love to hear from you!

Lots of sniffling going on here, it's the first day of school...

*emotional*

It's just one of those things in life that there are certain events that ALWAYS seem off in the distance. Certain milestone ages. Your parents passing away. Retirement. For me, so far in my life, today was one of those milestones: my baby is starting Kindergarten. And she and Henry are finally at the same school, which given their 5 year age gap, always seemed like it may never come. And now it is here.

*tears!*

It seems like a poignant day, to be sure. There's a larger life lesson going on in the midst of the actual First Day of School melee. And that is that time marches on, regardless of what else is going on in your life, and regardless of how it just seems like yesterday that I myself was the ages of my children.

I remember very clearly, my dad talking to me the night before I started Kindergarten. And at that time, I had not been in daycare or Pre-K prior to that, so this was my very first school experience. I was nervous about starting school, as I was a shy kid, and my dad was teasing me that he would try to "blend in" with the other kids so that he could go with me:

"But you're so much taller than all of them!"

"I'll kneel down like this, and walk around on my knees, so that they'll think I'm only this tall!"

I'm getting a little emotional typing that all out, and if you're one of my sisters, you're probably getting emotional reading it! At that moment, I would have been 5. My dad, doing a little quick public math, would have been 30. That's a decade younger than I am right now. But when you're a kid, everyone just generally seems OLDER than you. And now, everyone mostly still seems older than me, or generally the same age as me. :0 But in point of fact, of course, the percentage of people younger than you is always increasing. It's a humbling, humbling reality. My dad seems so much the same to me now as he always has. But at that time, he was YOUNG!

I've been thinking about that off and on throughout my morning today, as I was teaching. It's an emotional day, and it's setting off a time of major change. The mornings will now consist of a lot of rushy rushiness, prompting children to get dressed, to brush their teeth, and remembering to pack lunches, snacks and needed paperwork.

I'm trying to hold on, but I tell you, I'm on the brink of bursting into snotty tears right in the middle of a class coming up here. For posterity's sake, here is the picture from last year, when Henry was going into 5th grade, and Anne was starting Pre-K:

Anne didn't look too happy...

And just this morning, Henry is starting in the middle school wing, and Anne starting Kindergarten. Thankfully, they are both now enrolled in the same Catholic school:

Much happier faces this year.

Sniffling. So much sniffling over here. How is your post-Labor Day week/first day of school starting out, dear reader?

*BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!!* And so the fall semester begins...

*bleary*

Wow, so...I don't really know where to start. The beginning would be good, but I'm so tired that I can't remember what that was. Let's see...

On Saturday I had a picnic at my friend and colleague Cindy's house. While out in her back garden, I started suffering from seasonal allergies so badly my sneezes were frightening local wildlife. My eyes were watering, my nose was itchy, and my entire face felt miserable. I ended up having to leave early, with a curmudgeonly Anne, who decidedly did NOT want to leave early. I had her walking beside me sullenly out to the car after we said our goodbyes, I toss her in there, and away we went.

Between Cindy's house and mine, which is maybe a 5 minute car ride, I sneezed what felt like 100,000 times. When I got home, I immediately took a shower, and I sneezed in there too. After the shower, I drank tea and laid around taking it easy and knitting in my pajamas, and sneezed some more. I ended up going to bed at 9 pm just to stave off the misery, taking a Zyrtec on my way up.

Sunday dawned with my nose finally feeling non-itchy, but I was decidedly operating at less than 100% capacity. We made it to Mass, we made it out to get the kids school shoes and a few final supplies, and to my in-laws for dinner. After that more knitting in my pajamas ensued.

Right before we settled into bed Sunday night, I nervously showed Mike my new travel alarm clock, that I bought especially because I have two 8 am classes this semester:

"It's supposed to have a 'gentle' alarm sound. I'm nervous about it working right and going off, because I hate being jarred awake by alarm clocks. But I have to make sure that I'll be up by 6."

This one can sit right on my bedside table and lives on my side of the bed for quick turn-off when the "gentle" tone unfolds.

"Why don't you test it out now?"

*pause*

"Oh. That's a really good idea."

D'oh.

I set the alarm for a minute hence, and wait nervously. One minute later:

*gentle beeping noise*

"Oh good, that's not bad at all!"

"No, it really isn't."

I happily set it for 6 am, and read myself to sleep. I turned my bedside lamp off before Mike, closed my eyes, and attempted to fall asleep. Except I was so keyed up about classes starting, and about how nervous I am about all of the teaching I'll be doing this semester, that I couldn't settle my mind down and actually sleep. But I laid with my eyes shut and tried to settle myself.

I did what I could, and soon Mike turned his light off. The instant he did so, a searing blue light permeated my eyeballs.

*eyes fly open*

"What the!"

My new gentle alarm clock has a "soft glow" that lights up the entire face when it senses darkness. I will grant, one DOES want to see what time it is overnight, but this is decidedly Too Much Glow. However, at that moment, I didn't exactly want to turn the lights back on to figure out how to dim it.  I quietly angled the clock to minimize the blue glow on our faces. I could see Mike discreetly turned over on his side so that the light wasn't shining on him. He didn't want to squash my gentle alarm clock dreams.

That all settled, I tucked back in and prayed to fall asleep. I tossed and turned. Tossed and turned. TOSSED AND TURNED. Until I finally drifted off into a fitful slumber. And then...

*BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

*bolt upright*

Why is it that the gentlest of beeps sounds positively PIERCING in the middle of the night?! And gosh, didn't it seem like I JUST fell asleep?! Wait. I DID.

*looks at glowing clock face*

*clock reads...* Wait for it... MIDNIGHT.

*insert emoji of screaming face here*

I set the alarm for 6 am, but apparently there are multiple alarm settings (why God, why?!) and my 6 am setting got pushed to 2nd. And the first setting defaulted to midnight. Well, I figured this all out the next day, when I was calm and coherent, rather than incredulous and ragey. In the moment, I turned the alarm off, and tossed the entire thing under the bed, relying solely on the other, non-alarm clock, in our room. Thus, I had no guaranteed alarm. Thus, I woke up automatically EVERY 20 MINUTES, my mind needing reassurance that I would not oversleep.

*cries*

It was a LONG night. When 6 am rolled around, it was, needless to say, extremely difficult to get out of bed. And I was DRAGGING for the entire day. I was already downtrodden from the allergies, and the lack of sleep just made everything exponentially worse.

And the students? I had three classes yesterday, two more this morning, with one this afternoon. Very sweet, very respectful. But super quiet, and with a perpetual deer in headlights stare back at me whenever I pointed the Beatific Beam of a smile out at them:

"And if you ever need help with anything, that is what I am here for! I have tea waiting for you in my office."

*beam*

In response, I get:

*blink blink*

I did get some smiles, I will grant, as I wove my always anecdote-heavy way through the first day of material. And nobody fell asleep, even in the 8 am section.

#winning

So I'm getting there, but let me tell you, I feel overwhelmed. And tired. So, so tired. Today it was a little better because I didn't have class until 9:20, but tomorrow it's back to 8 am. Offering it up for all of you. :0

What is going on with YOU, dear reader? I would love to hear all about it. :)

Real jeans, anxiety flareups, and surprise! It's a baby jacket...

 This is very unusual, but I'm writing this blog post in the evening. Anne is upstairs asleep, after being comforted for an hour by yours truly following a sobbing spell (Anne's, not mine, though based upon how my day went, it could have easily have been me :0), Mike is at rehearsal, and Henry is at an audition for a kids part in the December play. I am drinking wine. A BIG GLASS of wine, and it's not working fast enough. This was one of the most difficult days I've ever had as a librarian, and I'm thinking that it's going to take some time for me to normalize afterward. Let's circle round, though, shall we?

Over the weekend, I experienced more This Back To School Thing Is Really Happening sentiment. I took Anne shopping for school clothes, just her and I:

"I like girl time, Mommy. I do NOT like *boy* time."

Something tells me that will change, but for the time being, there you have it. We arrive at JC Penney, and Anne makes a beeline into the girls section. She comes out carrying a jean jacket. And jeans. REAL jeans, with sparkly pockets.

"Mommy. I love these. Can I get them?"

When, oh when, did my little baby get so big?!

Now I may cry again. This was not a good idea. :0

We also procured many tops, both long-sleeved and short, some comfortable cotton pants, a back pack, lunchbox and new matching water bottle. And declared her ready for Kindergarten.

She went to Pre-K last year, so its not like this is her first time going to school. But this year she'll be going a full day. And she'll be at the same school as Henry. It just feels very official.

A new chapter of my life has begun. And now I really am crying.

It's the Anne/baby thing. But it's also work. I had an incredibly long day today, so I'm feeling a wee bit vulnerable.

Nothing truly bad happened today. It's just that I've felt all summer like I was always super distracted, much more busy than anticipated, and hanging on by a mere brain cell. As the summer progressed, it got worse. A LOT worse. 

And in the last week I have felt nearly suffocated by anxiety. With the fall semester officially beginning next Monday, the pace of our lesson planning and last-minute logistical nightmares has grown frenetic. Today was BAD. The lower half of my body actually ached from sitting so much (which I HATE) due to hours of training on new citation management and ePortfolio software, and then panicky time-sensitive things that HAD to get done before our appearance at the new instructor orientation later in the afternoon. I could barely eat, frantically shuffling food across my desk as I worked, my stomach in such turmoil over worrying about everything. By the end of the work day, I felt like a wrung out dishrag, both physically and emotionally.

The way that we're going to be teaching in the fall is totally new; new for us, new for the university, since the curriculum is dramatically changing as of this semester. So everyone is scrambling, no one knows exactly how this is all going to work, and there is a lot of anxious tension in the air. I'm going to be responsible for providing a 1 credit hour Library Lab for 15 sections of English Composition. That's a lot more teaching than I've ever done before. There may be other instruction requests that come up as the semester progresses too, and we'll have to squeeze those in where we can. I'll also be meeting with students, grading over 300 assignments, and somehow writing a book. Taking a day off until Thanksgiving week is pretty much not a possibility. Needless to say, I haven't been sleeping well. And on Monday and Wednesday mornings, my first class is at 8 am.

#purgatory

#ALLthesouls

I don't mean this as a litany of "Look how crappy my life is!!" Because it isn't. I know it isn't. I have a fantastic life. I have a beautiful, loving family, fantastic friends that I love as if they were family, and I work with people that I genuinely like and care about. I'll be busy, but my situation is a good one. But anxiety? She is there, my friends. This has always been a personal demon of mine, and I'm just trying to deal with it as best I can.

When I got home, Mike had dinner ready and on the table, and a wine glass chilling in the freezer. Is it any wonder that I married him?! Afterward, Anne burst into tears about something she saw on TV, and I spent the early part of the evening comforting her and cuddling. But truth be told, I really needed that too.

*group hug*

I'm doing what I can to try and keep my spirits up. In the meantime, I've been knitting. And JUST under the wire on Sunday afternoon, I finished my Olympic/Ravellenic Games project!

*drum roll*

I knit Elizabeth Zimmerman's famous Baby Surprise Jacket for Sam's niece. I mentioned in a recent Tea Time that you knit it flat, in a blob-like configuration, but when you are done, it miraculously seams into a perfect baby cardigan. Here is the before photo, with sweater fully knit, but still on the needles and waiting to be bound off:

It seems to be begging for help and TLC.

And here it is bound off, with 2 small seams:

This is a very happy baby sweater!

I mean, did you ever?! I love the pattern. And I finished it within the timeframe of the Olympics, and so this means that I won Ravelry's version of a gold medal:

:0

So that's a brightener, to be sure. I'm about to embark on fall socks and scarves.

#happyknittingdance

How are you doing, dear reader? Come commiserate and join the group hug. :)

Tea Time with Tiffany #62 - Out of control school supply lists, & being a scent fairy...

Hi all! I managed to catch my breath in time to record another happy edition of:

In between when I recorded this and when I am putting it out, I was assigned a 16th section of a library lab for English Composition to teach. Given that I immediately wanted to cry, I figured it was better to focus on post-production of Tea Time. ;-) Today I talk about the evolving monster that is modern school supply lists, the St. Monica novena, and my happiness at being the designated scent fairy of my library.





**To subscribe to the audio version of Tea Time with Tiffany, just search for it in iTunes or use this link to subscribe via Feedburner in your podcatcher of choice. Intro music is "Tea Ceremony" from PlayonLoop.com

Items mentioned in this episode:

• St. Monica novena
• Infamous bird feeder post. Read R-A-T.
• Original mention of Scentsy on Tea Time.
• Scentsy link and Facebook group

What's going on with YOU dear reader and listener? What back-to-school monstrosities are you dealing with? ;-) I would love to hear from you!