7 Quick Takes Friday

1.

I'm always a multi-tasking mama, but often there is a multi-tasking student during school time . . . here is Mary holding Thomas on her lap while she does her math.

Speaking of Mary, she came to me with the most interesting cubist artwork she created this week.

2.

My poor, deprived children who get to play almost no video games, created a "video game" about which they were delightedly shrieking. The baby pop-up toy is the keyboard, while the yellow and red bins are holding up the "computer screen" (clear bin). They banged away at the "keyboard" while narrating what their imagination saw happening on the "screen."

3.

With the latest baby soon to be crawling, sending me chasing all over the house and vacuuming more often, I found this bonus tip helpful to review: watch this 41-second video on how to save a choking baby.

4.

Two Bonus Reading items:

I'd like to share St. Catherine's Academy Children's Gazette with you. This delightful quarterly publication is put out by  homeschooling family as a way to cover the subjects of composition, typing, computer skills, and religion. I have tried to examine the content to make sure it is orthodox and faithful to the Catholic Church and I've not yet found a problem, so want to pass on this sweet, free publication.

"What I'm Never Going to Tell You about Homeschooling" by Elizabeth Foss. May women in my early, eager, and seeking stage of parenting and homeschooling take heed and not shiver in our boots too much.

5.

Joseph turns 3 on Saturday and is starting to drop his afternoon nap. Oh, the sleeping stage of the next year is a tricky one to navigate!

For example, on Tuesday Joseph stayed in Quiet Time for an hour and a half, playing in his room, without sleeping. I thought he'd go to sleep for the night a bit early, but he fell asleep on the couch at 5:00 before even eating dinner. We tried to rouse him and realized he was so deeply asleep, his body was 'down for the night,' so we transferred him to bed, where he slept till six in the morning.

6.

We thought it would be excitement enough to watch through our windows the construction crew installing a new fence at our neighbor's home, but we got more than we bargained for when we watched the giant drill buzzing into the earth only to have all our power cut off simultaneously. The flagger who had come the day before hadn't properly marked the lines, and a power line that went straight to our house got cut. Thank God, nobody was hurt or killed.

I had just finished the third rise on two loaves of bread I was planning to bake and had moments before put a $20 pork tenderloin in the slow cooker--of all the days to risk losing dinner, today was the 'fancy' night when most nights I serve food like frozen corn dogs from Costco!

Turns out that was the least of our troubles, as I cooked the food at a neighbor's home, but over the next few hours, even after the energy company restored our power, we came to discover it was compromised, so anything that required more energy than about a light bulb wasn't working. For almost 24 hours, we had no television, conventional oven, microwave oven, toaster oven, clothing washer, dish washer, hot water, or central heat. It was getting to be a hairy situation fast!

The power company was back out at our house very early in the morning and did a great job fixing the line by noon so we truly had full power restored. In the meanwhile, I was definitely appreciating the meditations on our blessed life: I felt so irritably inconvenienced by all our losses--even while we still had running water, four walls, a roof, residual heat lingering in the air, and plenty of clothing and blankets--and reflected how sorrowful it is for the homeless or down-and-out.

7.

The children and I did not end up participating in the Charlotte March for Life as planned today, as the weather was 45 degrees with steady rain. Instead, some families stayed after CCE and we all prayed the rosary for the intentions of the March, about 25 children, mostly quietly, at our feet.



For more 7 Quick Takes Friday, head over to This Ain't the Lyceum.