I've been dealing with my husband working late hours and I have to say it's been difficult.  I am trying to accept God's will in all of this and I know that God is making me stronger. There is so much I have/want to do and now even less time to do it.  Last night I had a bit of a meltdown in that my sister's "significant other's" mother is dying at the age of 86 after being in a car accident.  I told my husband that we should say a Chaplet of Divine Mercy later. 

Lo and behold, later that night, after the kids were in bed and I felt that I might finally get some time on the computer reading blogs or writing on mine, he asked me if I wanted to say the Chaplet.  I had completely forgotten about it but was planning on saying it when I went to bed.  I was so upset that he asked me at that time when I was finally able to get some time for myself.  I knew it was the right thing to do and I knew that saying yes to my husband would be saying yes to God; but I didn't.  I went upstairs to our room and struggled with the situation thinking that if I had some time alone I would be able to get over myself and do the right thing. 

My husband came up and offered to bring the computer up to our room so I could work on it.  He was missing the point.  I was frustrated because I knew that the right thing to do was to pray the chaplet with him but I was so upset at that moment at myself for being torn between saying it and taking time for myself.   I told my husband that he didn't have to try to solve the problem.  He left to do other things and I was left sad and started to say the chaplet on my own but longed to have my husband by my side saying it with me.  So I said the chaplet, but not with the peace in my heart that I could have had if I had done it God's way.

I failed to trust in God enough to put him first.  I know in reality he gives me all the time I need for everything he wants me to do but I didn't believe it last night.  Lord help me to do better next time. 

Pray for Clem, a good Christian Pentecostal woman who always showed an interest in others and was a joy to be around. 

Pray that the hearts of my sister and her boyfriend may be converted as they don't believe in God.

Raising the Garden

Here's a picture of my husband and Angelboy doing some father/son bonding while building a raised garden (I hope the neighbors don't mind that I got them in the background).  Our soil has a high clay content in our back yard and we haven't had much luck growing anything for the past couple of years, so we decided to give the raised garden a try.  We are all excited about the prospect of growing things in our little patch of dirt.  We may divide it up three ways so we can grow anything we want as we all have different ideas of what we want to grow.  We better get a move on; it's only getting later and later in the growing season.

Seven Quick Takes Vol. 5

~1~

Dh has been getting into country music recently. He can't get the station he normally listens to on his radio at work any more so he is listening to the country music station along with his classic rock station. He never liked country music before and always disparaged it in his younger days. I on the other hand, while not super country music fan, have always enjoyed listening to country music every now and then, especially on my way home from symphony rehearsals. So country music has been the new thing that we have in common these days. When he gets home from work he tells me about a new song he heard and I usually know exactly which one he is talking about. I'm kind of amazed with how many country songs I know from my minimal listening. We even watched the Country Music Awards on Wednesday.

~2~

I finally took a nick out of baby's thumb when I was cutting his fingernails this week. I had done the same thing to my two older children and was trying to be really careful so the same thing wouldn't happen to baby boy. But alas... I was cutting his nails while he was nursing. He didn't cry at all but he did look up with a little bit of surprise and he did bleed quite a bit. (poor kid)Their fingers and fingernails are so little and their fingernails are so sharp when they need to be cut.

~3~

Last night I tried a new recipe. They were Jacques Pepin potatoes via Rachel Ray. Apparently they were a recipe he grew up with. They use baby Yukon Gold potatoes but any small potato will do. It turned out pretty well but I think its one of those things where you need experience to get things the right consistency. The trick is to get them soft enough to slightly "pop" them open a crack but not so soft that they completely turn into mashed potatoes. I tried cutting the larger potatoes to make the potatoes all the same size but it works better to have whole potatoes because they are less likely to fall apart. Don't get me wrong, even the potatoes that fell apart were scrumptuous but they look fancier when the potatoes stay together I think. Here is the picture from the recipe web site. I should have taken a picture of the ones I made but I didn't think of that at the time.

Anyway, it is always invigorating to try new recipes. I had the usual chicken with these but taking the time to try something a little different always makes me feel so much more creative.

~4~

We had a basement waterproofer come and look at our problem egress window yesterday. He says there are no guarantees but he was for starting with the cheapest solution first and adding more pricey things if they were needed. Dh and I were thinking more along the lines of going with what is more sure to work even though it may be more expensive. What the basement guy considered more pricey didn't sound that bad to us as we were thinking that things could get much more expensive. However, we forgot to tell him about the problem of sometimes water coming in at a particular angle so that it shoots directly into the basement window itself which is one of the worst problems because you can't do much but roll up the carpet in that area and put towels down until the heavy rain is over. A fix that included draining water out of the window well like a sump pump wouldn't work with water coming directly into the window so we may have to talk about putting in a new kind of wall for the window well that doesn't allow water to come in through the cracks like the railroad ties do. I still think it might not be as expensive as we were thinking at first but we'll see.

~5~

Last night I went to my every other week Thursday night adoration at the perpetual adoration chapel. My husband and I take turns going every other Thursday night. This has worked out well for us. We have chosen a night and we stick with it for the most part.

~6~

Yesterday I took my toddler to the library musical story time for kids under three. I left the baby napping at home with my oldest. It was nice to take this time to be alone with her. She was somewhat interested in the story time but she wanted to play with the puzzles which were right next to where the story time was happening. So she played with the puzzles while keeping an eye on what was happening at the story time and would participate when it interested her.

~7~

On Sunday we visited my husbands mom and dad. It was a nice visit. They are in their early eighties and I am so thankful for each moment we get to spend with them. I always pray that they will be around for a while longer.