Creative Idea Fridays for the winter, and some cute crafting updates!

 Merry Christmas everyone, and happy New Year! I'm very glad to be back with you for another year of fun chatting about creativity, crafty hobbies, wellness, prayer and books. 

🤗

I hope that you all had lovely holidays this year. Ours were quiet, we certainly missed seeing family the way we usually do, but we still made a very nice time of it and truly enjoyed it. The kids are happy and healthy, and that's all that matters!

For my part, I did alot of knitting, and with a white Christmas and everybody home, it was the perfect cozy time for it! In big news, I finished frog and toad!

*trumpets blare*

Aren't they cute?

Let's have a closeup on the outfits, please.

Pattern available via Frog and Toad Cast. This includes instructions for both critters, plus both of their outfits!

I definitely enjoyed the challenges involved in knitting these two, especially the steeking for the eyes! I tell you, I needed a sip of wine to work up the courage to make that first snip into my knitted baby frog. 😂 But it worked out, and it's so exhilerating to try new things!

I've also been enjoying my dancing from home this winter. Looky what Santa brought me this year!

I've been taking ballet classes on Zoom, and this portable, adjustable barre is soooooo much nicer to use than the back of Mike's desk chair. 😁 The feet swivel in for against the wall storage when not in use. It's perfect for me, and I absolutely love it! 

The other new dancey project that I have taken on is something within my main dance passion of Egyptian style belly dance, but is completely new to me: finger cymbals.

😬

Finger cymbals are...scary to me. :-0 As you can imagine, it is challenging to both play a musical instrument (one that is completely new to me), plus dance at the same time. Within Egyptian style belly dance, while you certainly see dancers and musicians playing finger cymbals (called Sagat), they aren't quite as common as in Turkish style belly dance. Here in North America, you often see dancers performing a style of belly dance called American Cabaret, which is a melding of belly dance influences, including Turkish. So those dancers are usually playing the finger cymbals (referred to in this context as zills), and American viewers often become familiar with them via seeing a dancer performing in this style in a restaurant. I've never studied with a teacher who instructs in American Cabaret style (though I've taken a few workshops in Turkish dance, which I LOVED, especially the folk dances, although the finger cymbals segment was a total disaster for me 🤣), so I've never received any long term formal instruction in playing finger cymbals. As part of my goals for the year, I have resolved to learn!

It helps that my favorite online teacher started a session for them as part of her daily drills series, and this format is absolutely perfect for a budding learner of finger cymbals. Everyday at lunchtime, Monday through Thursday, for 30 minutes, I sit in front of my laptop and drill finger cymbal sounds and patterns with her. Yesterday we (gulp) stood up to also do some simple hip drops and traveling steps while playing the cymbals. It's structured as a slow building process, which is exactly what I need. Each day this week, I could feel myself being slightly less bad at it, LOL! But it's coming along. And the thrill of taking on something totally new and intimidating like this has me in a very excited place! 

So! What we'll be doing here on the blog until Lent are a creativity focus that I'm calling Creative Idea Fridays, and then sometime in February we'll turn to Lenten planning and strategies. Maybe we'll do a Lenten book club? We'll see! I'm excited to see what kind of inspiration strikes! 

Do you have any goals for the new year? I would love to hear about them in the comments!

A Cozy Indoor Packing List for the weeks ahead...

Welcome back, friends, to our final installment in Fun Friday (taking next Friday off from blogging to spend Black Friday shopping online with my family, hee hee), but I have to admit, it doesn't feel like a very fun day, does it? Things are worsening here, as they are worldwide, and I have a feeling that it's going to be a very long winter, sadly. On top of that, I barely have reason to leave the house much right now given the public health guidelines, and that's only going to worsen in the coming weeks, so I'm doing my best to emotionally manage it. And so I thought today's installment of Fun Friday could be a focus on ways to make our indoor time super cozy and delightful. I've been working on building up our supplies this week myself, and thought I would share. :)

1.) Books - Because of course, right? This *is* a librarian's blog, after all. Load up, my friends! Visit your local bookshop if you are able, or otherwise order some titles in print or digital. I think we can all agree that complete escapism is absolutely essential right now. :-0 For my part, I'm currently reading the lovely Amish Christmas at North Star:

Quick blurb:

One night four lives entered the world by the hands of an Amish midwife, just outside North Star, Pennsylvania.

Rebekah’s Babies, as they are called, are now grown adults and in four heartwarming novellas each young person experiences a journey of discovery, a possibility of love, and the wonder of Christmas...

I also have this on my bookshelf from last Christmas, and am planning to pull it out!

2.) Puzzle Books - While shopping with Anne earlier in the week at our local Dollar Tree, I happened upon a display of word finds. Hark. Word finds? I LOVE WORD FINDS! And I haven't worked on any in like, 25 years. :-0 And these were winter and Christmas themed. This isn't the one I bought, but akin to this one:

I bought both a winter themed one and a Christmas one. I love simple ways to occupy my mind like these. I also kind of like picture mazes, but I restrained myself on that one. 😁 Ultimate Dot to Dot books are another great idea!

3.) Jigsaw puzzles - Continuing the puzzle theme, a Facebook sponsored ad read my mind (creepy!) and got me thinking about jigsaw puzzles. Both of my kids loved puzzles when they were little, and although I'm not particularly good at them (500 pieces is a challenge for me, 1000 pretty much impossible!) I truly enjoy working on them. I purchased this one, and it is a DELIGHT. The entire family is enjoying working on it. And because none of us are particularly adept puzzle solvers, the joy just keeps giving, because it's still not completed yet, LOL! Each day, a few of us head over to it to slide in some pieces.

I put in an order for some Christmas puzzles too, excited for those to arrive!

4.) Hand Crafts - You all know that I love my knitting and crocheting, and indeed, I've enjoyed the big yearly yarn sale over at Knit Picks and We Crochet this year more than ever. But I also espied some new hand crafts that I thought would be fun to try, and thought maybe Anne and I could try them together. I ordered a punch needle kit, and I have to say that I am very intrigued. I am not familiar with this craft at all, and can't wait to learn about it! I purchased this one:

I see that it's now out of stock temporarily, but they have other kits as well! And they also have embroidery kits, which Anne is interested in. I have my eye on this fall leaf one:

Trying something new has me all atwitter with excitement. And it's much needed, for sure!

5.) Flavored hot cocoa - Doing our grocery shopping this week, I saw a collection of flavored hot chocolates packaged together, and quickly snapped it up for the kids. This one had peppermint, mocha, Irish Cream and Salted Caramel. When the weather gets cold, I have the urge to fire up the kettle. I like tea, and the kids love hot cocoa. Which reminds me! Celestial Seasonings has their holiday collection teas in stock, and they are THE BEST:

Nutcracker Sweet is my favorite tea of all time, I drink it year round. The kids are favoring Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride, and the pumpkin tea was delightful all October long. Oh it makes me so happy to even think about fun hot beverages!

All right, that is my list for bringing home the cozy. Have anything to add to the list? I'd love for you to leave your ideas in the comments!

An assortment of winter thoughts and prayers...

That's currently my house, pictured left. ;-) We're in for a heck of a storm here in the Northeast, and apparently a Polar Vortex is coming to suck us all into another dimension, or some such thing. :0 The kids have school cancelled both tomorrow and Thursday, and we'll all be indoors for 2 straight days with lots of family togetherness.

😳

I'm joking. It's good, it really is! But if my kids can't go outside to romp in the snow (which they won't be able to - wind chill will be well below zero, and I'm talking Fahrenheit) they get bored and miserable. We'll make do as best we can! For my part, I'm planning to knit and crochet non-stop, and perhaps I'll have enough time to make a full size afghan! 😃

I do have a blanket in progress, matter of fact:

The theme of the colorway is sweet pea flowers, and I'm so pleased with how this is coming out!

At any rate, the biggest thing on my mind right now are my kids. I mentioned Henry in my post a few weeks ago, and indeed, he was accepted into his first choice Catholic high school. The only thing is, you know...$$$$. We received financial aid, but I'm still losing sleep over how we will make this happen. I think it would be a wonderful environment for him, and I'm really praying that this works out. Your prayers, as well, are very much coveted and appreciated!

Sort of along this same line of thought, the age difference between Henry and Anne has finally, to me at least, become very obvious. My kids are 5 years apart in age, and that has never been a big deal to me. It still isn't, it's just that Henry is becoming a young man, while Anne is still very much in little kid mode. And she should be, she's 7. It's a changing time of our lives, and it's both wonderful and painful at the same time.

So I've been praying a lot. It's been hard for me to pray the rosary in my car since I got a stick shift, but now that I've become more experienced with that at this point, I've adapted to a model whereby I use a one decade rosary with big round beads in my left hand that doesn't interfere with my shifting. At the very least, I can pray a single decade, or the 3 Hail Mary's devotion. I did also sign up for a print subscription to Living Faith, like we talked about last week.

It'll be ok. But it's hard sometimes with the not knowing how things are exactly going to work out. That's where the faith thing comes in, I suppose. ;-)

Are you feeling extra contemplative this winter? What types of devotions do you add into your prayer routine when this happens? I'd love to hear from you!

Daily devotionals, analysis #547 ;-)

Indeed, this is a topic near and dear to my heart. :) I have quite a love affair with daily and seasonal devotionals. I know that I've written about it quite a few times in the history of this blog, especially during Lent and Advent! But here we are in winter Ordinary Time, all fresh into the new year, and this is also a time that I think about dedicating myself to a daily routine with my faith. Especially lately, my kids have been on my mind quite a bit. Both are growing so quickly and going through many changes. A daily prayer ritual is exactly what I need right now to best pray and discern for them, and it always helps to hash things out with friends.

*hug*

Below are two of my favorites. Are you familiar with these? Your thoughts are most welcome!

Living Faith is just the cutest little booklet ever. I first discovered it when I was in North Carolina visiting my sister, and her parish had the current issue available to try out. They are published in 3 month segments, and always have seasonal photography on the front, which I LOVE. Each day lists the daily mass readings (but does not include them in the text, you'd need to look them in your own Bible, fyi), and includes a short reflection on the theme from the readings for that day. You could read these reflections in well under a minute, if you weren't also looking up the scripture readings. I used to have a print subscription, and I have to say that I miss it. I bought the digital copy of the January/February/March issue, and it just isn't the same. Perhaps I should resubscribe? It's a great purse tucker.

Sacred Reading is a much larger book than Living Faith, but it is also available as an ebook. I do have this one in print form, but it doesn't carry around as easily as the other. You need to keep it at your desk. ;-) But I enjoy the format a lot more. It includes the text of the daily Gospel, and several other prompts to lead you in prayer and contemplation on the theme of the text. I like it a lot. It *does* require more concentration to read the entry, which is either a great thing or a difficult thing, depending on your state in life. Once I start teaching, I'm not at my desk nearly as much.

Thoughts? Sacred Reading seems idea for Lent, and indeed, they do have a separate volume just for that season. In fact, that volume is small enough to likely fit in my purse. I'm really thinking I'll use Living Faith every day if I just resubscribe in print. I really do want a daily commitment to something. What would you choose, or do you have another suggestion? 😃 I'd love to hear about it in the comments!

This Catholic parenting thing doesn't get any easier...

Happy mid-January, everybody! How is the winter treating you so far?

⛄

Things are great over here. We're still in winter term at the university for which I work, so the campus is blissfully quiet and peaceful. Classes don't begin again until January 28th, and I don't start teaching my library lab again until 2 weeks after *that*, owing to the drop/add period.

*praise hands*

This quiet winter Ordinary Time has had other benefits. January tends to be a performance lull for dancing, which is fine with me. One needs time to recharge and hone their craft, and I have a bunch of classes and workshops coming up. In faith stuff, I've been thinking a lot about the kids. For the first time, I have a teenager in my house, and I'm finding it a new challenge to think of ways to continue to share the faith with him aside from weekly Mass attendance. I touch upon sharing my faith with my maturing brood of youngsters, as well as this general post-Epiphany winter theme, in my piece over at CatholicMom.com for January:

This time of year definitely lends itself to contemplation for me. Ironically, it's *after* Advent, and yet still before Lent, but there you have it. This year, a big impetus is Henry's 8th grade retreat.

Somehow, my first baby is going to high school next year. 😭 And he'll also be leaving the school that he has attended for 8 years, and has shared with Anne for the past 3. I'm pretty emotional about the whole thing, as you can imagine. The 8th graders have a special retreat just prior to Catholic Schools week in late January, and just prior to when the Catholic high schools mail out their acceptance letters and financial aid packages. Parents were invited to write letters to their kids that they would read, privately, during the retreat. I wrote mine yesterday. Well.

😭😭😭

Let's just say that I cried. A lot. There was so much that I wanted to say, but I also didn't want to overwhelm my 13 year old with the emotional baggage of a woman in her 40's. So it wasn't easy. But I wanted him to know how proud we are of him, how much we love him. How he reminds me so much of myself, and that it's more than OK to be introverted and reserved - he will only continue to blossom into the kind, sweet and empathetic young man that God has so clearly created him to be. How the most important things in life aren't grades or what high school or college you attend, but discerning and making good choices, seeking God's will, helping others, nourishing healthy relationships, and making an impact with the causes and people that you love.

It was a heavy task, both emotionally and spiritually. But one that I am privileged to have. Henry, in particular, challenges me to be a better person because he is my first and oldest child. Inevitably, when something new comes up with regard to his life and development, I have no idea what I'm doing. 😂I feel like I'm winging it a lot. And that's one thing with dance, and quite another when it's your kid, a precious, eternal soul given into your protective care!

This whole parenting thing is a journey, an adventure, and as my mom always said (and aren't moms ALWAYS right about these sorts of things?): "babies don't come with instruction manuals." You just have to figure it out as you go along, and you're going to make mistakes along the way.

I hope that we're doing a good job for Henry. I know that we're doing a good job *with* him since he's always been such a kind and good soul. But maybe that's not really our doing anyway, but God's alone. Deep thoughts for a Thursday morning. ;-)

This year for Lent, I want to single him out for some more mature spiritual time with me. Exactly what this will entail, I do not know. I will wing it. :0 But I'll figure something out!

Any words of wisdom to share for Adventures in Catholic Parenting? I'd love to hear them!

Tea Time with Tiffany #88 - Snow days & Lenten...progress?

Happy Friday all! And welcome to another Lenten edition of:

Today I talk about our snow days this week, forging our way through Lent, and plans for the book club after Lent is over. 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 "Tea Ceremony" from PlayonLoop.com

Items mentioned in this episode:

• Last week's Tea Time
• Rosaries by Allison (she's offering free shipping right now, and 10% off with the code: LENTEN10)
• Live Today Well Chapter 8
• Catholic Mom piece about Lent 

How is your Lent going? Do you have thoughts on a summer book club? I'd love to hear them!

Snow day!

So, in an unexpected development, all 4 of us are home for a snow day today. The university that I work at was actually closed by the Governor (which *never* happens), and we're all kind of scratching our heads a bit. :0 We're Western New Yorkers. We're...hearty. 8-12 inches of snow really isn't a big deal around here. Not even really worth talking about. But we've had a very mild winter, and I think the Powers That Be panicked a bit when this snow was officially classified as a Winter Storm. Plus the K-12 schools have not yet had a snow day declared this winter, and so here we are.

I was planning a much needed vacation day from work today. Translation -> ALONE TIME. Dancing time. Hours of endless Hallmark mysteries time. Knitting time. Tea time. Now I have my precious children here with me. :0 They were super thrilled for about 20 minutes while they watched a cartoon together this morning. Then:

"Our TV time is over? Oh. We're booooorrrreeeed!"

Upon which time they were shooed outside in their snow gear to play. Which worked until they started fighting. Then they were forced against their will to play a board game together, which also worked until they started fighting. These snow days are not NEARLY as fun as I remember them from when I was a kid. :0

Let's pray everybody has school tomorrow. ;-) As for you and I, we have book club tomorrow! We're going to be discussing how to create holy leisure time.

😇

How are you spending your snow day today (if you have one)?

Happy Thanksgiving week, and Advent plans!

Hi all! I am home on vacation for the entire WEEK. The children are in school, I am in my pj's drinking coffee and crocheting non-stop, and I am downright blissful about it. I realized this weekend that this semester really started to eat away at my spirit. I lost my passion for my hobbies and the creative endeavors that I derive satisfaction in. I felt down and downtrodden a good portion of the time, and on the whole I was just beleaguered. Over the course of the semester, I held onto my love of writing via our Autumn Prayer Journal Curators/INSPIRE series, and in November, my choreography endeavors and holiday crafting revived that dormant creativity within me just begging to come alive again. It feels really, really good.

And so on this wintry late November day here in WNY:

First snow!

I am excitedly planning several things. First, this winter, I am planning lots of new dance and crafting stuff. Stay tuned for all sorts of posts on those this upcoming season!

In that vein, here is my current work-in-progress that I began this weekend:

Gryffindor scarf for Henry! The pattern is available for free here.

It's Tunisian crochet, which is a totally new craft for me. You use a crochet hook to pull up stitches in a long row, then do a backwards pass to finish them off all at the same time. This uses the Tunisian Knit Stitch, which makes the front side look just like stockinette knitting, but provides a much thicker fabric on the back. It's fascinating!

And on the dance front...my mind is completely awhirl. I'm taking a choreography workshop at my studio that starts in January, the spring hafla is in April, and I'm contemplating going to an out-of-town workshop with a well-known dancer in June. Just thinking about it all makes me feel so  happy.

The other part of my planning process involves Advent. I have started compiling a few little somethings for the kids for the feast of St. Nicholas, and those have begun to arrive, like precious little St. Teresa of Calcutta here:

Shining Light Saint Dolls

Henry is getting St. Dominic Savio this year, he is still on his way. And I'm thinking that we'll definitely do an Advent series right here on this blog. I'm calling it "Anticipating Joy," and each week we'll have a theme and write in to each other with an anecdote about our week related to that theme. I'm going to be using Advent with St. Teresa of Calcutta, but I also have a new prayer journal and an additional devotional, and my theme could be inspired from any one of these. Your anecdote can be related to something you found in a devotional, or just something from your life generally. I'll probably post them on Wednesdays, I think that mid-week slot. Sound like a plan? We'll begin next week!

Speaking of next week, that is when I will be blogging again. I will be on blogging hiatus for the remainder of this week for the holiday, including Tea Time. But it's going to be a GREAT Advent and Christmas season this year, I just feel it, and I love that we're sharing it together. *heart*

What are your plans for Thanksgiving, dear readers? Mike and I are hosting our parents and my grandmother, so we're in full-on cooking and house cleaning mode. How about you? Write in and tell me all about it! And I'll be with you again next week. Until then!

On snow days, knitting is always the best medicine...

Well, happy Wednesday to you all! I hope that you are well. For my part, I am back at work after my snow day yesterday. I am feeling decidedly sleepy and wishing that I was back at home sipping tea and watching Team Umizoomi with Anne rather than preparing for a reference shift. As well, every muscle in my body is aching for my foray into a Hipfit class on Monday night.

#ouch

It was incredibly fun though. I do need to be CAREFUL, however, because that muscle in my left leg is feeling a bit sore again. This is the one respect in which I hate not being 20. It's so much easier to injure yourself the older you get. And by "injure yourself" I mean that when you're 20, you may injure yourself playing rugby or having a trampoline jumping competition. When you're 40, you injure yourself by stepping the wrong way when you walk down the stairs. Not fun. And with all of the dancing and fitness stuff that I enjoy, when you injure yourself by walking down the stairs, you can very easily aggravate things via a spin sequence or jumping around too much. Oh the woe.

Thus, it was nice to take it easy yesterday. Although granted, I did go outside to help Mike shovel snow because I wanted "to get steps in" on my Fitbit. I am ridiculous, I tell you. But I drank lots of tea and coffee, and I did lots of knitting.

So, my Downton Abbey mystery craft-along progress is going slowly but surely. I wish I was keeping up with the speed at which the clues came out each Sunday, but I realize now that by taking on both the knit-along AND the crochet-along there was no way that was going to happen. Hindsight is indeed 20/20. And in a sense it's good, because in many of the weekly clues updates were made after they were published, and I got the benefit of not having to be confused and rip out rows due to minor errors in the original clue. So, we'll take it.

I've put the crochet version aside for now to just finish up the knit clue, and then will go back to the crochet shawl when I'm finished. I can tell that I have more momentum when I just stick with one version, and I *really* want to get these girls finished. I'm enjoying working on them, but I have other things in the queue that I'm anxious to get to.

And so here is my weekly accountability report. ;-) I finished clue 4 of the MKAL, and here she is:

More Detroit Red Wing comparisons, yes I know

That's the center back motif, plus a single side wing. I also started clue 5 yesterday, and we've picked up some reserved stitches along the other side of the motif, and have re-begun the lace pattern for the second wing. Clue 6 is the decrease section for the second wing, and then clues 7 and 8 are still a mystery to me. We're getting there! I started my second skein of yarn, so I do feel like I'm making good progress.

I'm also working on some gift knitting, a hat and a pair of socks, and I really want to get those done too. THEN I can move onto new projects, and there's a few things in there that I am over-the-top excited about. They come along with extremely exciting crafting news. Stay tuned! :0

How are your Downton Abbey shawls going? Are you working on any other winter craft projects? I'd love to hear all about them!

Tomorrow, we'll have tea time. Next week I'll indeed have a Lenten book review, which will be of Jeff Cavins' When You Suffer: Biblical Keys For Hope and Understanding. If you're reading this book too, I hope you'll join in!

Of cold snaps and Adoration seeking adventures...

Hi all! I am with you today from my snowy home in Western New York. Technically, the library I work at is open (it takes a LOT for schools and businesses around here to close due to the weather). That being said, however, we've gotten about a foot of snow, and the driving conditions at the morning commute were pretty treacherous. So I used a comp day to stay home. Ironic that I took this photo on Friday:

...and it looks pretty much the same outside right now. :0 The snow is still going strong, which is another reason I didn't want to drive in to work today. It's only going to get worse.

So that's been the story over here for the past several days. We've had an incredibly mild winter here, but February is always dicey, and true to form, we had our first cold spell beginning on Friday. Temperatures hovering around 0 degrees Fahrenheit, and some fresh accumulating snowfall. Dance was even cancelled due to the poor road conditions, which is always a bummer.

And this ties into my Saturday morning Lenten adventures with young Henry. ;-) We woke up all excited for our Mommy/son date to go to breakfast and Adoration.We bundled up and headed out onto the freshly plowed roads. It was a clear and beautifully sunny winter day.

Our first stop was the local IHOP, where Henry and I sampled ridiculously dessert-like pancakes and chose extravagant omelets. I powered up on coffee, Henry on juice, and then we trudged back out into the tundra to drive to the perpetual Adoration chapel. It was just really cold out, no other negative weather conditions.

I was excited to get Henry to this particular Adoration chapel because I tried to take him once before, last Christmas Eve. But when we arrived at the church, we found a sign tacked up saying that the Adoration chapel was closed between Christmas and New Years. Not so perpetual. ;-) But I imagine it's difficult to keep their regular schedule of adorers around the holiday travel season.

So Saturday, Henry and I pull up. We grab our rosaries and devotionals and hop out. I'm explaining to him the logistics and reasoning behind genuflecting (since he's very forgetful in this realm), when we get up to the door, and wham!

"Adoration Chapel closed due to severe cold."

*LONG SUFFERING SIGH*

I didn't see this one coming. It was indeed very cold, but I was surprised. I imagine, though, that many of their scheduled adorers are elderly, and the cold is very difficult for them to come out in.

Henry and I trudged back to the car, discussing the one other perpetual Adoration chapel in our area, but that one would be more of a drive. Henry had the excellent suggestion of stopping off at his school parish since they have a small chapel that is open during the day. It's not for Adoration specifically, but it would do! And it's quite close to our house. So off we drove.

When we arrived, we found a hearse and assorted other cars in front of the chapel.

:0

BUT, the main church was open, and we know what's in there, right? The tabernacle! So we went in there and prayed for about 15 minutes. All was well with the world. But I STILL want to get Henry to that Adoration chapel! We're going to try again in two weeks, and hope springs eternal that it's actually open.

And with that, I must sign off to attend to my chat reference shift. Yay? No, not exactly, but a librarian's work is never done! And such pleasing ambiance over here at home, with me in front of the desktop, and the kids fighting in the other room as I should "STOP IT!" every few minutes. Such joy. ;-)

I'll be back tomorrow with likely a crafty post. Snowy days cause me to knit a lot. I think I'll be able to post a Lenten book review next Wednesday, check the side bar for details!

I'm off to heat the kettle. How is your Lent going? Does anyone else have a Lenten resolution to go to Adoration? Any other Lenten details you'd like to share? I'd love to hear from you!

Spring thaw (!) and loving my parish, on the 3rd Sunday of Lent...

Morning all, and can I just say THE SUN IS OUT!! I may have Anne dress up like the sun this week to herald it's return to our lives, that's how major this is. The air is decidedly non-arctic all of a sudden, and the temperature is staying *just* above freezing. This week it will actually get up to 40 degrees Fahrenheit. This is good, because we don't want the snow and ice to melt to quickly and cause flooding. So...BOOYAH! This is exciting. Our driveway is slowly losing it's power to kill us, and the streets are widening. Life is grand.

I had a really, really nice weekend, let's see...Friday I had dance rehearsal, and we suddenly we realized that it's March. Not like this is a huge shock or anything, but we've been frozen into place at the studio for the past month, and we're finally snapping out of it since our spring hafla is less than two months away. We've begun rehearsing ALL of our choreographies again, not just the new one, which certainly keeps things interesting.

Saturday, we had a surprise party at the studio for Claire, who had a milestone birthday. *Extremely* fun! She was genuinely surprised, we fooled her well and good. :) I was doing the math on Saturday, and I've been learning Middle Eastern dance with Claire now for just over 7 years. She is so much more than just my dance instructor - she's a beloved friend, and I appreciate her more than I can express. Her classes have enriched my life so abundantly. It was splendid that we could all get together to show her how much she means to all of us. Her daughters found zebra print balloons and lanterns to decorate the studio with, which just really fit her personality :) and a great time was had by all.

Also happening this weekend were more performances of The Mousetrap for Mike. This was the second and final weekend of shows, and I attended the cast party with him yesterday. I find my husband so incredibly adorable in his actor role. :) He is SO talented, and I absolutely love seeing him find his creative niche. He is definitely well-regarded within the theater group, and is already being sought after to audition for upcoming shows in the fall and next year. I loved being his date at the party yesterday. ;-)

So, fun abounded. Of course, the kids and I also went to our very favorite 10 am Mass yesterday, made more of a challenge this weekend due to Daylight Saving Time. It certainly would have helped if I had gone to bed earlier, but I *didn't*, so it's nobody's fault but my own. Thus, I was somewhat rushed Sunday morning and blearily got the kids ready. The worst part of the morning Mass routine is actually getting them bundled and into the car:

"STOP DOING THAT! MOM! Henry threw my coat!"

"NO I didn't! I just...*put* it next to her."

"Stop it HENRY! MOM! Henry pulled my hair!"

"I didn't do anything!! I mean it, I didn't do anything!!"

Let's all heave a long suffering sigh together, shall we?

But once we got to the church, everything was fine. Anne was so preoccupied with the actual Mass that there was no bathroom request for the second time in recent history *does dance* and Henry had a halo perched upon his head the entire time. Suddenly, we're nearly halfway through Lent! I am *super* excited for Holy Week this year, I'll talk about that more as it approaches. But I finally did take a step to try and be more involved in my parish by calling to volunteer for the new Worship Committee our priest is trying to assemble. I haven't gotten a call back yet with any information, and I feel like I'm waiting for a date that I like to call to ask me to go out again:

"It's been 5 days. Is that too long? Did I misread the situation?!"

So hopefully I'll hear something soon, because I'm really excited by this prospect. :)

How was your weekend, dear reader?

Scenes from our perch in the igloo of America...

This morning, in the home of the Catholic Librarian...

"Honey, I'm so glad that you slept better last night."

You know, because he wasn't emptying bowls of water all night.

"Yeah, I did. I feel like a new person."

*beams*

"Did you come up with a plan for dinner?"

Oh. Right, I was supposed to do that.

"No, I forgot. But we have that chicken thawed in the refrigerator..."

Ugh. Please don't mention the word "thaw" to me right now, it's a sore subject. :0

"I know!" *feels proud of self*  "We can make that smothered chicken recipe, the one in the skillet with cheese and bell peppers? Do we have any bell peppers from the garden in the freezer?"

"I think so."

"Grand! We'll just need a side dish."

"Maybe I can come up with something. Do you have any ideas?"

"Something ricey."

"Ricey?"

"You know, not just *rice*, but something in the ricey family. You know, with beans, or chiles, or something funner than just rice."       

Funner. I make these things up as I go along.

"Ooooooo.K." *Mike makes amused eyebrow arch* "I'll have to see what's in the pantry, but I'll do my best. I have an exam to give today, so I'll be home early."

Which means he can start dinner. Win!

This is all assuming we can both make it up the Driveway of Death, but other than that, we're surviving quite nicely. ;-)  The ceiling has stopped leaking, that would also be a WIN. The roofing company is coming today to remove ice from that part of the house. Although that costs money, I'm still seeing it as a win. We're in for warmer temperatures this weekend and next week (and by "warmer," I mean 40 degrees Fahrenheit, heat wave baby!) so we should see significant reduction in the snow pack and I think we're all seriously ready for that. Can I hear an Amen?

All this, AND I'm thinking of upgrading my Kindle, which I am utterly excited about. Do any of you have a newer 7th generation Kindle or Kindle Paperwhite? Let's discuss. :)  I need something to brighten these winter days!        

Adventures in leaky roofs - part of my Lenten penance?!

As I was looking for labels to tag with this post, I came across "house disasters" and thought:

"PERFECT!"

We've been here before, to be sure. And look, I found that post all easy-like by using that label as a guide. ;-)

Uuuuuggggghhhh. But this problem isn't nearly so bad as others, so I can't complain. It's a stressor, to be sure, but a minor one in the grand scheme of things. Let's chronicle.

Last night Mike was at rehearsal, and I put both kids to bed. Just before 9, I was happily listening to a podcast while I crocheted. After about 10 minutes, I took my ear buds out so that I could turn on "19 Kids and Counting." I take a delightful sip of my drink.

Hark. What is that I hear? Sounds like water running. Henry and I had both taken showers, so I assumed that the shower head just wasn't completely turned off. I head to the bathroom, and it quickly becomes apparent that the water noise is not originating from the shower. A beat goes by. Oh. This is bad.

We had rain earlier in the day and the temperature finally above freezing for any stretch of time, and all of this after record ice accumulation and jamming in the region as a whole. Uh oh.

*cue the ominous music*

I follow the sound to our guest room/office. Water is not dripping. It is *pouring* from a few spots in the center of the ceiling down onto the area rug. I run for a receptacle and hustle it into place, along with a towel to mop up the water that already fell. Wait...

I hear more water. I look up.

*little creature bearing a forked tail and horns flies by*

There are no fewer than a dozen beads of water scattered in different places throughout the ceiling. It seems to me that they all glare at me, and then begin dripping simultaneously. As I dash for containers to catch the steadily increasing drips, it becomes apparent that they are breeding and multiplying at an alarming rate, and they aren't always close together. All the Tupperware in the WORLD isn't going to catch all of them. I find a big plastic sheet and some additional towels to handle spots that weren't dripping as rapidly and were the furthest away from their evil minion friends.

When I stopped to take a breath, I realized that the scattered nature of the water was a really, really bad sign. This means that water is pooled up above the ceiling and is just looking for any little crack in the plaster to work it's way through.

Around this time, Mike gets home. He takes one look at my face when I green him at the door and says: "What's wrong?"

"We have a crisis."

Now we both go into the guest room and he scares up some more containers to catch the water. He also has an idea of where the water must be coming in.

"I need to check the crawl space behind Anne's closet. We'll have to wake her."

Fabulous.

Into Anne's room we go, and Mike accesses the crawl space. Yep, rushing water, check. The space is so small he can't get a large container in there to catch everything, so he gets what he can in the area and empties it every few minutes. Meanwhile, Anne has woken up and thinks this is the funnest adventure EVER. She bounces around a lot, asking questions a mile a minute.

Ultimately, Mike gets the water collection system down to a science, which means he'll be up most of the night. :( I take Anne into our room to sleep. And predictably:

"Why did you bring my pillow and quilt in here, Mommy?"

"Because you're going to sleep in here with Mommy, won't that be fun?"

"NO."

"It'll be like a girls' slumber party!"

"NO."

It took quite a bit of convincing to get her to go to sleep, including letting her take over Mike's side of the bed.

"Are you going to turn the light off, Mommy?"

"Yes Honey, after I read for a few minutes."

*3 seconds elapse*

"Are you done yet, Mommy?"

*long suffering sigh*

Somewhere around midnight I'm awoken by Mike trying to clear ice off the roof, and tiny feet kicking, kicking, kicking!

"Mommy! What's that?!"

"My kidney."

"Oh."

*more kicking*

Oh right, this is what it's like to be pregnant. There are some things about it that I really don't miss.

When we awoke this morning, we found the guest room looking a bit more innocent:

The water had stopped leaking down, and apparently everything re-froze around 2 am and stopped coming into the house. Mike was able to sleep following that, after dealing with just one more issue involving a backed up gutter and water coming in via the front door. Oh sigh.

So, calls are in this morning to the roofing guys and the insurance company. We're not the only ones. Leaky roofs are rampant in WNY this winter. It's a bummer, but we'll get through this.

Conditions were treacherous this morning from the freezing rain, thus the driveway continued to build up evil intent against us, in a clear plan to just kill us and be done with it. Anne has been SUCH a good girl, praying for Mike when his car got stuck this morning trying to get Henry to school. So adorable. We're just taking things one step at a time and I've been pulling out my rosary quite a bit. I think springtime and Easter will be even more welcome than usual this year. :)

Getting involved in parish life & pushing cars up snowy driveways, on the 2nd Sunday of Lent

Morning all! I don't have a lot of time today, so this will be a brief check in, but I wanted to chat with you all as I do every Monday. :) We had a jam packed weekend for the second Sunday of Lent, so let's get started!

This was opening weekend for Mike's community theater group, putting on a production of Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap. Henry and I went to the Sunday matinee, and oh! It was wonderful. :) Mike plays Detective Sargeant Trotter, and he was just marvelous. I was very nervous for him, because he had a lot of lines to memorize this time, but he did great. I absolutely love seeing him up on stage. Makes me feel all proud. :)

Afterward, we went out for a bite to eat, and then got home to..a mess. It was snowing, you know, AGAIN. :0 And our driveway, already not in great shape due to the narrowness of space between our house and our neighbor, and the fact that we have had zero melting because of continual freezing temperatures, was a disaster. I did my very best to gun it up the driveway, but to no avail. My little Honda was stuck. And by stuck, I mean STUCK. It took 30 minutes plus three people, two physically pushing the car, to get it out. It struck me as we finally got the car free by rocking it back and forth a bit, that pushing a car out of thick, heavy snow is rather like giving birth. :0

*represses a few memories*

Neither very pleasant, to be sure, but a satisfying result. I'm not going to comment further on the snow situation here, because I'll just work myself up again, it's so endlessly frustrating. February was the coldest month in WNY history, EVER. I know other places get colder, but we've had so much snow and we're just stuck with it because it piles up and will not melt. It's not an easy combination, and we're all dying for a little let up. But that's that.

In happier news, Mass for smashing, as usual. I actually got a reprieve from bathroom trips this week, Anne was happily distracted by Children's Liturgy of the Word. Our new priest was there again, and announced that he wants to start a Worship Committee, and is looking for volunteers.

:0

I've been waiting for an opportunity like this for years. There are other volunteer opportunities at our parish, but they're just not a fit for me based upon scheduling or lack of talent on my part (music ministry). ;-) But committees? I'm good at those! And assumedly they meet once a month or so, and I can commit to that. So, interested people were asked to call and leave their name with the parish office, which I did this morning. I'm excited to see where this goes! Hopefully it'll be a good experience, I will keep you all informed.

How was your 2nd Sunday of Lent, dear reader? I'll talk about Lent again this week, since we're well into it now, and detail how it's going over here. Talk to you tomorrow!

So much snow and an insidious cold, but the warmth of community, on the 1st Sunday of Lent...

"You kind of set off an eternal winter, everywhere!"

Yes, that would be my family standing on the snow beside our driveway, and that thing behind their heads is our ROOF. That pretty much sums up the state of things over here in WNY right now. I usually enjoy winter, but this year has me very weary. And now I have caught Anne's cold, so you can just imagine the level of crankiness I bring with me this morning. Aren't you delighted to be here? ;-)

So I'm feeling all stuffy and weak, and I'm not happy about this at ALL. I just brewed some tea, so hopefully that will help. But anyway, you're not here to dwell in cold misery with me, let's focus on the positive, shall we?

As I mentioned on Ash Wednesday, our parish has a new pastor. There was a retirement elsewhere in the diocese, and thus some subsequent priest shuffling to accommodate for that. The kids and I really liked our first impression of the new guy, Fr. Joe, on Wednesday, so I was excited to see how he handled his first Sunday Mass with us. After all, that would be the first time many parishoners saw him.

I know that I remarked on Wednesday that he was a good homilist, and he only reinforced that yesterday. As we all sat down following the reading of the Gospel, he paused, then said:

"I've been thinking about what I'd say to you all right now...for the past two months."

Immediately, we were all rapt with attention. :) He talked about how happy he was to be with us, and how he wanted to get to know us all. He said that he loves sports and if we let him know when the kids had games, he would come watch. He wove in humorous anecdotes from his own life to let us know how he planned to structure his homilies for the foreseeable future, and how we can try and grow in holiness together throughout Lent and thereafter. He made some jokes and mentioned that his favorite drink is a Manhattan. I love this guy! He was done about 5-7 minutes later, and here's the thing - he didn't need to go on for any longer. What he said resonated with the group, and everyone was hanging on every word. It was a very effective and engaging use of time. When he stepped down from the lectern, there was the slightest pause of surprised silence before the congregation gave him a round of spontaneous and hearty applause. I'm not normally a fan of clapping in Mass, but this time it fit. He made us feel wanted and special, and we wanted him to feel appreciated and welcome. It was lovely.

During the Liturgy of the Eucharist I just felt all warm and glowy. I was worshipping with my family in faith, and I'm very excited about where we are headed together. And we have two people from our parish receiving the sacraments this Easter Vigil and coming into the Church! *tears!* We did a little send off for the Rite of Election as part of the liturgy.

I could hear people talking about Fr. Joe as we all exited the church following Mass, and everyone seemed pretty chirpy and happy about the whole thing. We paused to talk to a sweet teenage girl who has taken a shine to Anne, and to our favorite usher, and I really feel like we're becoming a part of the community. I will grant, we've been members of this parish for about 7 years, but when you're an introvert, these things take time. ;-)

I feel very blessed this Lent. How was your first Sunday of the season, dear reader?

Of winter storms and exempted Mass obligations on the 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time...

There *is* a street carved out in there...

Monday. And here I am, all freed from my house, WOOOOOOO! :0 The time with my family was good, don't get me wrong, but there is something psychologically difficult about feeling like you *can't* leave. Rabid claustrophobia, anybody? At any rate, how did this all go down, you ask?

Well, before we even get to the weather, let's talk about my poor, poor darling husband. In the 12 years that I've known him, I have never seen him as sick as he was this weekend. I had mentioned on Thursday that he had been very sick the night before with what we believe was the flu, so I stayed home to take care of him (and Anne, who he would have otherwise been handling alone). He was *very* sick on Thursday, but seemed to get a bit better as the day wore on. Friday, he was still pretty sick, but again, the worst seemed behind us. Then Friday night hit.

I was once again woken by a shivering, feverish, coughing Mike. This was a setback, and we realized that he was going to be down for the count for probably a full week when all was said and done. And Saturday morning dawned with a blizzardy looking snowfall. Mike was scheduled for play rehearsal (he has a lead role in the local community theater's upcoming production of Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap), I was scheduled on the reference desk in the afternoon, and the entire family was invited to a birthday party in the evening that we were all looking forward to. Well. :)

Play rehearsal was cancelled, the reference desk closed, and travel advisories issued by our county. The party was still on, but we let the hosts know that we couldn't make it. Not only were the conditions a bit dicey, but there was no way we could get out of our driveway. Mike was far too sick to be able to shovel the snow, and I'm going to just admit that I'm *terrible* at shoveling snow. I try, I really do, but lack the upper body strength to make any sort of difference in a timely manner. We were stuck.

As all of this was transpiring, the weather forecast was predicting record low wind chills for Sunday, between 20 and 30 degrees below zero. Soon thereafter, I saw announcements by our diocese on social media that the bishop had lifted the obligation to attend Mass this weekend due to the dangerous weather conditions.

!

I was sad, but I knew there was no way we could make it to Mass. I shouldn't take the kids out in that sort of cold, plus the driveway was an *entity* at this point. Mike does not sit still very easily, and by Sunday he was anxious to start doing things again, but I gave him my stern librarian face. He was still coughing and pretty weak. He should NOT be outside in those conditions shoveling snow.

So we stayed in. Did I mention that I was sad? Because I was. :( We put the EWTN Mass on, and I managed to get both kids to sit still for two decades of the rosary. Anne now has the Hail Mary memorized, and my Catholic sensibilities just sing when I hear her recite the prayer. #cutie! But not being able to receive the Eucharist? That's a big deal, and it made me appreciate the privilege anew.

After that, I did a LOT of crocheting of a giant wool afghan, for obvious reasons:

I love how it's turning out (autumn forest theme ;-)). But seriously, I need ALL THE WOOL. ALL THE TIME. It was so cold yesterday, that I was wearing long underwear underneath my other woolen layers IN THE HOUSE. IN.THE.HOUSE. My hands never fully warmed up such that I actually started to worry and contemplate wearing gloves. I usually don't mind winter, but this year, even I, your resident Winter Evangelist, am sick of it.

The dangerous wind chills continue today, and all week will still be well below normal for us. Sunday we're projected to go up into the 20's, Fahrenheit. We're all reacting to that as if a giant sun beam has come down from from the very beaches of heaven.

The 20's. Still 10 degrees below freezing, but hey, P.A.R.T.Y!!! It won't feel like knives when you breathe anymore! We'll take it!

In other news, I made Valentine cupcakes with the kids:

Because they're cheerful, and there was nothing else to do. :0

"Mom. I'm BOOOOOOOORED."

We persevere. I've already looked up the times on my parish's website for Mass on Ash Wednesday, because now I feel all deprived and teary about it. Let's talk more about Ash Wednesday tomorrow, shall we? But how was your last Sunday in Ordinary Time (until June), dear reader?

Spring semester teaching begins, and adventures in voluminous snowfall...

Apparently some brave soul did attempt to walk that way...

It's another wintry morning here in Western New York, and my commute in was a bit on the harrowing side. :-\ Never a people to shy away from a snowfall challenge, even hardy Western New Yorkers and our hulking snow removal equipment can't keep up with clearing our drives and roadways right now. The plowed snow piles are so large surrounding the ends of driveways that it's hard to see around them to make turns. Not pleasant. And I believe we're getting more this weekend, so...

*eyebrow scrunch*

But let's chronicle starting with yesterday, since I had my first class of the spring semester. Getting up in front of a room full of people and talking about...anything, really, just does not come naturally to me, it's definitely the most challenging part of my job as a librarian. I always aim to do a good job, but it makes me seriously anxious. So yesterday afternoon I trekked across campus (thank God for the indoor walkways here negating the need to go outside) with my jump drive in hand to teach an American Pluralism class about how to find articles and online encyclopedia entries using an exact citation. Thus, it was just a short presentation I was going to be giving at the beginning of an hour and a half lecture course. 230 students, gulp. I found the room, one I'd never been to before. The instructor wasn't there yet, so I asked a student just to make sure I was in the right spot, and made him nearly jump out of his skin. Am I that scary? ;-)

At any rate, the instructor arrived, we chatted, and I opened up the web page I needed and the help document that I had created for them. I'm a big fan of organized lists, to the surprise of absolutely NO ONE.  So I did my thing as concisely and clearly as possible *gold star!* and was done well within 15 minutes. Brevity is a virtue when it comes to college students. I finished on a high note, and nearly left the room with the wireless microphone still attached to me, nobody's perfect. :0 But I got back to my office feeling relieved that the first class of the semester is behind me, it always gets easier after that.

Shortly thereafter, I left for the day, bound for the small grocery store near our house to fetch a few supplies for dinner that we didn't already have. We were making Stromboli, and so I needed dough and pepperoni. This small grocery store has a notoriously tiny parking lot, even in the best of conditions, so I was already dreading what was to come before I even got there. In the winter, their lot gets even worse because several spaces are taken up by plowed snow. Sure enough, as I went to turn into the drive, the giant snow piles were obscuring my view of a car coming out, which made for a dicey entrance. As I was maneuvering this little transaction, I could see an empty parking spot. My heart lightened. Suddenly, another car zooms over and parks in it.

*long suffering sigh*

No worries, I told myself. I see another spot...

Oh, nope. There was a small car hiding in it. I pass slowly through the rest of the small space with hope alive, all to no avail. I glance in my rear view mirror and see that several other cars have entered the lot and are driving around with solemn expressions on their faces, so I make the decision not to re-enter (why create a near occasion of sin? ;-)) and head to the nearby side street to park.

As I turn the corner, I can see the spot that I want, right behind another car, still close to the store. Wait, what is that SUV doing?! Yep, turning around in the nearby driveway TO PARK IN MY SPOT.

By this point, I was feeling *really* put out and nostril flarey. I had to wait while the car PARKED IN MY SPOT and then because of the driveway and a fire hydrant, park even further down the street. I get out of my car and see that the sidewalk is pretty much inaccessible because the snow lining the street is VERY TALL. Fine, I walk in the street, but then have to scale a snow MOUNTAIN at the corner in order to access the walk leading to the store.

 As I summited my own personal snowdrift, I could see the inevitable: there were suddenly no less than 3 or 4 empty parking spots. That's right, I have the power to make full parking lots empty out by the sheer volume of effort I have to put into parking someplace *far* less convenient.

Ugh.

I hurry into the store, fetch my stuff, and hurry out, rescaling everything and glaring at the *still* empty parking spots, compelling me to utter something under my breath that I will not repeat here.  :0 The drive home was slippery and sloppy in the slush that the plows just aren't able to keep up with, and this morning was no exception. Mike has been executing an Herculean effort to keep the driveway as clear as possible, but there is still always snow in it. Heavy snow, which keeps grabbing our car tires and making us get stuck, which happened to me again as I tried to exit on my way to work.

Yucky.

This is February in my part of the world. :) How are you doing, dear reader?

A busy bee with seasonal crafting, as it appears that I adore themes...

As I sit at the reference desk on a cold and rainy morning here in WNY, with a cup of tepid coffee by my side, I'm thinking longingly of my knitting projects nestled in their basket next to my spot on the couch. By the way, I wanted the coffee to be hotter and flavored with peppermint, but *that* didn't happen for a myriad of reasons. #ugh

At any rate, fall and winter are my very favorite times of the year to knit. And in particular, to knit (and/or crochet) warm sweaters, blankets, shawls and winter accessories like scarves, hats and mittens. So cozy! And this year is no exception. For you knitters out there, ready for some pattern ideas? I've been working on a few things lately that I really love.

This fall I knit a shawl in a pattern called "Leftie," designed to help you use up your fingering weight yarn leftovers from socks. In my usual seasonal obsessive style, I chose to knit it in a fall colorway with brown, orange, green yellow and red. It turned out very Thanksgiving-esque and indeed I finished it right before the holiday. :)

It ended up being very cute. It's all garter stitch, so fabulous travel or tv knitting. Very warm and squishy and I love the colors.

And speaking of garter stitch, my new obsession is a shawl pattern called "Color Affection." You start with an increasing panel of garter stitch in one color, then switch to striping it with a second color. Subsequently, you work short rows to create a bit of a swirling situation and stripe colors one and two with a third color, finishing with a solid border of color three. The color combinations are endless and I am absolutely in love.

*swoons*

My chosen colorway reflects our current winter season, because the seasons seem to always provide inspiration for me. I watched "Frozen" with Anne the other day, and all of a sudden the colors from that movie are just speaking to me. I'm ordering "Frozen" books left and right and telling myself that they're for Anne, but they're kinda for me. :0 I just can't get the winter imagery of that movie out of my mind. And so I dug through my stash to find color colors to knit the Color Affection shawl:

Yes? I love them. SO MUCH. The silver and the cream are a fingering weight cashmere/merino wool blend that is absolutely to die for. The blue is a merino wool/nylon sock yarn left over from being edging on a gift shawl I knit last year for my Secret Santa recipient. It's a little darker than I want, but the lighter blue colorway of that yarn (called "Frozen" I WANT IT SO BAD) is out of stock until the end of February so I can't order it. *sob!* So, I'll either use this or another heathered light blue color that I ordered during the Knit Picks sale in a different yarn base. When it arrives I'll make the decision, but so far I haven't had to add the blue in yet, so I have time. Here is the what I have done so far:

I still have seven more cream stripes to go. I love patterns like this, that have you doing something different in each segment, changing colors as you move along. I never get bored with patterns such as these, and I can't wait to knit the next row to see how it's going to look. I have been very much enjoying working on this in the evenings.

*happy*

Never one to work on only one project at a time (I'm a knitting philanderer *scandalous!*) I swatched last night for a new sweater that I've been wanting to make for myself for quite some time, called the "Abbey Pullover." The cloister lace used in the yoke, and the obviously church-y connotations just could not be resisted. :) I really wanted to make it in a lovely purple shade close to what is pictured in the pattern sample, so I chose this shade of Berrocco Ultra Alpaca:

Very Advent-like, yes? :) And yep, that is my vodka/tonic there in the background. Anne gave us a hard time going down for bed, I really needed it, no judging. :0 I was indeed drinking and knitting, living dangerously, that I was. I'm very excited to get started on this.

I felt I deserved to cast on for two fresh new projects given that I have been slaving away at brown socks for Mike and dishcloths for Christmas gifts for the past month. The socks are finished:

...and have already adorned my cute hubby's feet over Thanksgiving weekend. (Pattern is from Anne's Budd's Getting Started Knitting Socks, one of the best knitting books I have ever purchased). And the dishcloths will be finished by tomorrow. I just realized that I will have an extra aunt attending our Christmas Eve get-together now, which theoretically means that I should crochet two more dishcloths, but... during the Fusion Beads Cyber Monday sale, I ordered supplies to make her a snowflake Christmas tree ornament instead. :0 Because if I have to crochet yet another dishcloth right now I.will.die. I now know that I'd better behave myself or else I risk an afterlife of crocheting dishcloths in plain white cotton for ALL ETERNITY.

All right everyone, I hope that you are feeling seasonally craftily inspired now, as I am. :) Is anyone else crafting something for the holidays? Do detail in the comments. :)

Snowy times here in WNY, and the comfort of Catholic rituals when someone you love has died...

Good morning everyone, and a blustery one it is here in my corner of Western New York. The developing story throughout the day yesterday was rather surreal. Where I live and work, there was literally NO SNOW. It was a sunny and beautiful day, just a dusting on the ground. But not far south of here? Holy smokes. :0 Well, I think this speaks volumes:

This the reality of lake effect storm systems, they are intense and heavily localized. Those unaffected are *really* unaffected. :) But we all had survivor's guilt yesterday, because we were seeing all of these photos in social media of our poor friends digging out from feet upon feet of snow. And we're used to snow around here, as you might imagine. But this was SNOW in volumes that even ski country rarely sees. The storm sat over the same area for something like 12 hours and just dumped snow with no stoppage in play.

We had a storm that was somewhat similar back in 2000, and although it lingered like this one did (causing the same sort of roadway and trapping of people problems), it didn't linger for nearly as long. I was at work and got stuck there, and I wasn't too happy about it. :) I remember sleeping on the floor of my office, using my suit jacket as a pillow, and thinking that maybe I should move.

I did change jobs and career fields, but I obviously didn't move, and I'm not sorry I didn't. I love WNY, despite it's weather "eccentricities." :) It keeps things interesting, that's for sure. And I do love the four seasons, it makes me appreciate everything that much more keenly.

But anyway, today the storm moved northward, and so HELLO! Picture me on my commute in to work begging for the intercession of St. Christopher to get me to my destination safely. It did look rather snowy when I set off, but I said to myself:

"I'm Western New York stock, I'm HEARTY! Onward into the snow!"

Well. :)

As soon as I pulled out onto our street I could see that visibility was poor. I pressed on and turned the first corner. Oy. I contemplated going back, but for stupid reasons, kept going. Soon, I was nearing a more populated road but could barely see a foot in front of my car. My back window, completely clear when I pulled out of the garage, was already coated with heavy, wet snow, and despite my rear defroster being on, it would not clear. I could hardly see in either direction.

By the time I was onto the main road, there was no turning back. At least there were other car lights to use as markers, but it was impossible to pull off the road if you wanted to, for fear of someone accidentally hitting you. It was a rough go.

I felt grateful to make it onto campus in one piece, but now, a mere hour later...things are totally fine. :0 Sunny, zero snow. The storm has moved further north, obviously deciding that it had had enough down time. We're only supposed to have about 5 inches total by end of the day *tomorrow*. So, we're really in very good shape up here. South of here, they're totally trapped. It's going to be a tough end of the week for them, with more snow on the way tomorrow, followed by a warmup over the weekend that is causing major flooding concerns. Joy.

Before I sign off, I wanted to mention my experience last night at the wake for Claire's mom, Betty.

What a lovely family she raised, and the photos at the funeral home were a testament to her beauty, faith, and family. Betty and family are all Catholic, and I brought a Mass card indicating that I had enrolled Betty with a local religious community who would pray for the repose of her soul throughout the year, and in the years to come. I always find such cards to be so soothing in the aftermath of a person passing away. Betty was dressed in a beautiful blue dress she had sewed herself, and was holding light blue rosary beads. Her Mass of Christian Burial is being held today, and that liturgy is SO meaningful, I remember it well from when my grandma passed away. This is a lovely explanation of the Catholic funeral liturgy, for anyone unfamiliar with it.

When I was visiting with Claire, she mentioned that her mom had declined very quickly over the weekend, but remained conscious until Saturday, and she passed away soon thereafter on Sunday. On Sunday, Claire called her mom's priest to come administer the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. An hour after the priest left, Betty passed away. Claire felt like her mom was waiting for that, which just made me tear up. So lovely!

The instant I got home, I filled Mike in on the proceedings:

"...and that's how I want things, should anything ever happen to me, ok?"

*look of intensity*

Mike doesn't like it when I raise such issues, preferring not to think about me predeceasing him (he's so sweet :)) but he could tell I meant business last night.

"Don't worry, I will call the priest."

"Yes. Last Rites. Mass of Christian Burial. I don't care what else you do or don't do, go to town. But those are a must."

"I assure you, the most Catholic things possible will happen."

:0

So that was my evening and early morning. How are you doing, dear reader? :)