Fake Life...

...where the calories don't count and someone else makes your bed.



Every once in a while, my Dear One and I need to get out of Dodge.

Sometimes it's as close as the Hampton Inn a mile from the house.  Other times we venture a bit further.

This past weekend we took our Fake Life, as we like to call our time away, in Grand Rapids.

A cousin was turning 50 so we went to join her celebration.

We asked if we could bring some party crashers and Jen agreed, so we picked up our son Michael and his best friend Zahraa and we all got to eat wings, pizza and dessert and enjoy the music of "Ryanhood".   They are a two man acoustic band.  I had never heard of them, but they were pretty good!


We left the party early to take a short road trip.

As my regular readers know, we vacation in Grand Haven every year.  Well, Grand Rapids is so close to Grand Haven that we couldn't not visit.  So we drove to the beach!  Just driving into the town makes my blood pressure drop.

It is so beautiful and peaceful.

We got there a little before 9 p.m. which happened to be enough time to park and walk to the beach to see the sunset.

I got a couple of terrible photos (faceless bodies and electrical wires and a pole) but it's enough to remind me that we were there.

The kids can take better ones when we return together. 

I'm not a corn dog fan, but the place the kids frequent, Pronto Pups, was doing booming business. I've never seen the line as long as it was Saturday evening.  My cousin (a different cousin than the birthday cousin) reported that her hubby stood in line for 1.5 hours waiting for corn dogs for the family.  According to those who would know, it's totally worth it. 

After the beach we hit IHOP.  It's a late night tradition Wayne and I have when we are doing Fake Life.  

We stayed at a nice hotel where the sheets and towels had been washed by someone else.  We slept in and ate a nice breakfast that we did not have to prepare and then went to Mass at the lovely Cathedral of  St. Andrew.

Internet Photo

We drove home enjoying quiet conversation, lunch prepared by someone else and I got a short nap in the vehicle. 

Fake Life ended rather abruptly. We walked in to a trashed kitchen and laundry that needed to be done. We forgot the all-important "heads up, we're on our way" phone call, but that's ok.   It was enough of a breather that I didn't even mind doing some dishes and letting Wayne cook me some supper. 

Next Fake Life coming up soon.  

Paint Job

This week I was blessed to have a professional painter paint the master bedroom in our home.

We have 12 rooms with painted walls in this house.

All but two of them have several coats (many, lots, inches) of paint on them. You get the picture.

When you have nine children and they swap rooms at least yearly (Mom gets bored!  Plus you really have to vacuum under the beds and dressers once in a while) you tend to do a lot of painting.

I have painted, my hubby has painted, each of the children has had a turn or two wielding a roller.

Some of the colors have been beautiful. Some challenging to live with.  For example our U of M room with maize and blue walls.  Or our room with the purple ceiling.  We even had a pink closet for a time when our tenacious one wanted her own room and that was the only space left to put her.

This week, all that 'self' painting took a back seat.

We hired a professional.

"Wow, isn't that expensive?"  I can hear you asking.  Remember I said only two rooms don't have several coats of paint on them? Those two rooms would be the master bedroom and bathroom which we added on to this house when we moved in 21 years ago.  The paint that was applied then is what was just covered. The bathroom has not been done yet.

So, if you figure we've only painted twice in 21 years, I would say it was very affordable...and I did not have to do it!!

I have to explain that our bedroom has a pitched ceiling and a beam running down the middle of it.  That requires a lot of trips up and down a ladder and a very steady hand so you don't wreck the stain on the beam.

The gentleman we hired came highly recommended by the project manager of the company who is currently putting a new bathroom and laundry space in my mom and dad's house.

Here is his card:

I am terrible with "before" photos but great with after!  Here's what it now looks like.  I got a close up of the ceiling/wall seam so you can see that straight line!!  

Not only did he paint, he repaired a crack in the drywall, filled all the holes from our wall art and put a bead of caulk around the base boards, and all of the door and window trim so that no paint touched any wood. 

I am in awe of how beautiful it looks.  

Thank you, Thoma!! 

Sibling Retreat

My three sisters, my brother John and his wife and I had quite a weekend.

While cleaning a few months ago, I came across a fifty-year-old photo of some of my siblings and me on the back of a stone turtle. The photo was taken in Grand Haven on a family vacation when I was 6.

That's me in the back. 

Since it's been 50 years, we decided it was time to take another photo.  

I contacted the family from whom we rent our summer vacation spot and they were able to tell us where to find the turtle.  They were also kind enough to let us rent the house for our weekend getaway. 

So we set a date and last weekend it was finally time to go do a reshoot. 

We had a blast taking the new photo.  Please note the white socks on John and Margaret. 😂

I'm not quite as limber as I used to be and so I'm just faking actually sitting on the turtle.  My big sister was able to get up there though.  Way to go, Terry.

Unfortunately, getting down posed a small problem. Laughing didn't help matters. 

No one was hurt in the process! 

We let Connie and Michele have a photo with Mr. Turtle, too. 

After the turtle photos were done, we headed back to the cottage were we had to have a stair photo. It's tradition. 

We walked on the beach, ate, baked cookies, ate, talked and laughed. 

We got to FaceTime with our brother Dave who lives in California and could not be with us. 

It was very relaxing and so much fun that we decided we need to do it again next year, this time with David along for the fun. 

A reporter name Becky from the Grand Haven Tribune has taken our information and plans to run an article in their paper-the same paper we were in the first time.  Our 15 minutes of fame, 50 years apart. 

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Gumption

Our tenacious one is at it again.  She keeps me young!

Big sister Erin, got our 7th grader geeked on running.  Last year they ran the Martian Marathon "together".  Erin ran the 1/2 marathon and C. ran 1.2 miles.

The 1.2 miles was the culmination of running, up to 2 miles at a time for weeks before hand,  to get to the 24 miles needed to round out the 26.2 miles for the marathon.

Last year was a struggle.  She was in pretty good shape but there were unexpected hills and she was pretty pooped when she was done.

Nonetheless, she decided to run again this year.  She took it up a notch and decided to run the 5K all on race day.

Thankfully she had gym last semester in school and was in much better shape for this race.

The weather (cold and snow)  and a 10 day upper respiratory infection that started two weeks before race day kept her from practicing as much as she would have liked.

The weather forecast was daunting:  a cold 36 degrees and 100% chance of rain.

I woke up at 4 a.m. to the sound of a steady downpour.  I also woke up hoping she would decide not to run.

No such luck.  She was pumped!  She wanted her t-shirt and her medal!

She had her running clothes on including  a raincoat, winter hat and gloves and she was ready.

Erin helped me get her to the starting line as there were road blocks and little parking (runners are diehards who don't let a little rain stop them).


She did it!

She got her t-shirt and her medal and a great run time: 43 minutes and some odd seconds.  She was drenched, tired and happy.  

Keep it up no-so-little one. Your tenacity will take you places. 

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Rhonda's (Open) House

My friend Rhonda is creative, talented and devoted to helping missionaries spread the Gospel throughout the world.

A couple of the several ways she helps are:

    1) To have an annual Christmas Open House.  Rhonda spends months preparing and her husband Russell,  sister Ginny and her daughter-in-law Sherry are her right, left and extra arm in helping make things happen.    

Rhonda and Russell live in a fabulous home.  The ceilings are very high and thus conducive to large trees and lots of decorations.

The staircase to the second floor has 21 steps and the banister can hold a LOT of stockings.  I will let the photos do some of the talking:

(Disclaimer: I'm a terrible photographer and the photos that look like they are videos are indeed videos--with lots of talking--so I just left them as photos.)

I neglected to take photos of the trees in the kitchen, the master bath and one important one in the master bedroom.  

However the next photo will give you an idea of what was on the second master bedroom tree and is a nice lead in to my second account of her fund raising activities. The tree was covered in creations like this. 

A gift from Rhonda: my Irish Cottage 

Rhonda makes putz houses and Christmas decorations (see photo #3) and sells them at her Etsy shop: 

ChristmasNotebook.etsy.com

As if creating putz houses and shadow boxes to sell at the open house, putting up at least one tree in each room on the first floor, and decorating every inch of available space to make her home beautiful, isn't enough, Rhonda also spends weeks baking up a storm.  The following photos show a fraction of the goodies she created to share with guests. I should have taken  pictures of the kitchen tables, counter tops and inside the oven where she stored the extras to be set out as needed.

 (See disclaimer 😋 )

Rhonda is the hostess with the mostest and it was so nice, after hearing about the open houses for 21 years, to finally be able to attend and see for myself how much she loves Christmas and the missionaries. 

Please check out her Etsy Shop, pick something special for those special someones on your list and help spread the message of the Gospel throughout the world.  

The Day I Became THAT Person

I consider myself a seasoned traveller.

I have been on numerous plane trips, often with a baby, toddler or youngish child along.

I've been to Metro, LAX, Logan International, SFO, Orlando and Will Rogers Airports.  I've ridden the tram to get to my gate, and taken the shuttle to get to the car rental location.

I know to take my luggage to the gate because I will likely be invited to leave my bag at the boarding door and pick it up there when I deplane, thus avoiding the baggage pickup line.

I always get there EARLY so I have time to find the restroom meaning I will not have to get up when the plane is in the air, or find a quick snack so I don't die of starvation on my 1.5 hour flight.

Last weekend I was blessed to be able to attend a friend's annual Christmas Open House. The only catch was she lives in Sparta, IL.  Having been to her house once before (21 years ago for an online-moms'-group-finally-meet-each-other party), I knew that the best way to go was to fly to St. Louis, MO and drive to her house.

I planned my whole get-away weekend: flight, rental car, hotel, me-time book and journal, and directions to Rhonda's house.

And, I got to the airport (nicely decked out for Christmas)  EARLY.

So early in fact when I got to my gate there was another plane, going somewhere else, boarding before my flight.  No big deal.  I sat down and waited for the airport employee to change to the sign to my flight number after everyone else boarded and the plane took off.

While I waited, I watched all the passengers jump up to get in line when their zone was announced.

Once everyone who had been waiting was on the plane and a few minutes had passed, someone came strolling up to the gate, showed their boarding pass and walked on with no wait and no crowd.

Wow! I thought. They are brave!!  How can you just show up right before the plane takes off and board with no fuss and looking as calm as can be?  No running, no apology for showing up at the last second.  Just calm and composed and barely on time.

Then two more people showed up right before the door closed and they got on, again with no wait and no line.  Whew.  Never. I'm not that brave.

The plane took off and the sign changed to announce the next flight.  It departed at NOON and was not going to St. Louis.  Hmmmm.

I must have remembered the gate number incorrectly.  It was not on my boarding pass and I had had to find it on the monitor when I got to the airport.

I quickly checked on my phone (thanking God for technology) and realized that my actual gate was A-59 not A-56.

I knew I still had a few minutes so I strolled over to gate A-59 and lo and behold everyone else was already on the plane and the door was going to shut in 5 minutes.

Up I walked (no running, no panic).  There was no line so I flashed my boarding pass and walked up the ramp to the plane all by myself.  I thought to myself, after I found my seat and realized they had shut the door behind me, that I had just become THAT person.

Though it worked out just fine and I didn't miss my flight, I don't plan on going that route again!  I will still get to the airport early and still sit around for 45 minutes waiting for the boarding doors to open and I will again stand in line and check my bag at the door.  Once on the quick and easy was enough for me.

Bath Bombs

Well, school is in full swing and with it comes the necessary homework.

Each student in the 7th and 8th grade has to do two science projects per year.  They have to write a lab report and present to the class.

Our tenacious one, hearing for years on end to volunteer to go first with projects at school, did just that.

The first day of projects is Friday, September 8th.

At first she was going to take alkaline metals and drop them in water to show the kids how cool the reaction is. (I believe she had help from an older sibling for this particular idea.)

When we discovered that the metals were expensive and took two weeks to deliver, we talked her into something a little more on her level.

So she decided to make bath bombs with two different sets of ingredients and see which recipe works best (meaning-gives the most fizz in the tub.)

She looked up recipes online and found a youtube video of two very cute little girls whose mom lets them experiment and put their finding online for others to try.

Wayne took her shopping for the ingredients, most of which are normal household items with the exception of citric acid (unless you can your own food), and molds.

I wish I had a video of the first bomb she tested.  I was watching the proceedings and saw that the tall container they were going to put the bomb in was full almost to the top with water. I kept my mouth shut because this was not my gig.

It was epic!  And they both figured out that they need a whole lot less water in that container next time around!

Round two with a different recipe happened today.  It was a success.

Now that she is close to being ready to present we found out that her science teacher quit.  He is moving to the public school system.

So all this fun may be for naught, but she and Wayne want her to be ready just in the case the substitute teacher (or new hire) isn't quite ready with lesson plans and (s)he needs this plan to fall back on.

Whether she gets to present or not, she is excited and that is what counts.  I think I see bath bombs in our future as possible Christmas gifts.


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New Normal

I am now, officially, a former home school mom.  Our tenacious one joined her sister at school this year.  They ride the bus so my mornings and afternoons have gained at least 40 minutes each of not sitting in the truck fighting traffic. This afternoon the consensus was that the bus driver is awesome.

One hurdle cleared. 

Now our middle-schooler needs to make a forever friend.  I have it on good authority that seventh grade is the year to do this.  

The college boys are still home but they sleep in, so my mornings are amazingly quiet.  No more audiobooks running almost nonstop throughout the day (unless it's one I've chosen). 

Two or three afternoons a week I get to watch this cutie.  This is GigiMim, grand baby #2.  She is 3 months old and has been known to take three-hour long afternoon naps.  Lucky grandma.  During one of those naps I may or may not have slept the entire time she did.  (It was amazing.)  

Our oldest grandchild (I call him Bubby) became a big brother this summer.  Here he watches over his baby brother while also watching either Wild Kratts or Daniel Tiger.  I told their mom before she knows it they'll be sharing a show and a bowl of popcorn! 

In October, I will have all three kiddos.  Everyone tends to freak out a little when I say that.  Not only have I done this before (I'm a pro) but it will only be for two hours, 1 or 2 days a week depending on Caitlyn's work schedule.  My Bubby is a great helper so I'm sure we will be fine. 

I have also embarked on a new adventure.  You'll have to come back for more blog updates since I'm not quite ready to go public with it yet.  

Please send up a prayer for our tenacious one.  It's going to be quite a transition for her, but she is up for the challenge. 

www.centeredinchrist1.blogspot.com

Holy Quiet, Batman!!

For the first time, in I cannot even tell you how long,  the house is silent.

It is empty except for me and two rodents (hamsters) who live upstairs in Hannah's room.

Our tenacious one is shadowing at the local Catholic middle school. She is registered there for next year for 7th grade and wanted to see how it would feel to actually be there.

She is shadowing with a 7th grader whose family I've known for years, though she has never met this particular member of the family.  She did exclaim upon first seeing her, however,  "You were Mary Poppins!!"  I think they will get along famously.

I have many things to do today:

• iron
• do homework for Bible school
• pick up Wayne's pants from the cleaners
• shop for a requested item for one of the kids
• fill out paperwork 
• make a mammogram appointment (ugh)
• think of something to make for supper and make it

The only thing I really want to do is take an uninterrupted nap.  

This is my procrastination from that, while I have a cup of coffee and enjoy the peace. 

Around 3 o'clock all will return to normal when I go get Hannah from school, drop her off to watch Max while I get our shadower from choir practice, and eventually actually watch Max for two hours.  Thankfully, there will be no homework to conquer. 

This could be the new normal come August though.  Unless God throws me a curve ball and offers something amazing to keep me busy while all the kids are in school once again. 

www.centeredinchrist1.blogspot.com

Baby Boom

We're having a baby boom in our family and neighborhood.

Twenty-six years ago, on one block of our street, there were seven babies born within six months of each other. I was one of the moms who gave birth that year. We got a write-up in the local paper with a photo of the moms and babies.  It was pretty fun.

Well, there seems to be another baby boom happening, only this time  it a grandma boom.

Our grandson Max is a big brother,

and will find out in July if he has a sister or a brother.

He now has a girl cousin as well who is due in May,

and is a 2nd cousin to another girl cousin due in April.

My sister will be a grandma for the first time and my parents will be great-grandparents four times over.

Several friends from church and from my Lay Dominican group are expecting either a first or subsequent grandchild.

Life is never boring and we look forward to greeting these little ones who will keep us young.


centeredinchrist1.blogspot.com

Wedding Bells #3 (or #5 if you count nephews)

We had quite the October.  Three awesome things happened in quick succession.

On the 14th, Josh received his plane assignment (KC-10).  He is now in California learning how to fly it!  Wayne and I got to go to Oklahoma for "drop night" which is what they call it when the pilots find out to which plane they have been assigned.

The plan all year was to go back to Oklahoma for graduation on the 28th.  Turns out we had another equally important event, closer to home, that required our attention; the wedding of our third oldest daughter, Erin.

Erin told her long-time boyfriend, Rob, that she did not want an engagement ring; she wanted an engagement house.  In February, he found and purchased a house.

It is a cute, little, perfect-for-two ranch close to both of their jobs. (More on that in a minute). 

I knew something more was up when Erin came in to the kitchen one evening when I was cooking supper, and draped her arm over the back of the stove so I had a nice view of a new Claddagh ring adorning her finger.  I casually said, "Oh, pretty. Where did you get that?" And she casually answered, "Rob got it for me, to replace the one I lost at the gym."  Okay...

She asked a couple of times during the spring what Josh's graduation date was.  I had no idea at the time, so I couldn't give her an answer.  Unbeknownst to us, she needed to pick a wedding date to give to the church.  Turns out, they picked Josh's graduation day. 

More events should have (and did) clue me in.  She started deep cleaning her room and throwing/giving away a lot of her belongings.  She went to the attic and took items from her college apartment over to Rob's house.

Still no announcement.  I figured they would give us at least 6 months notice since that is what the church needed. 

Then one day in mid-September they told us they were, indeed, engaged.  And, the wedding was in October!!! on the 28th.   No wonder Caitlyn and Amanda were trying really hard to get plane tickets to Oklahoma for Josh's graduation. 

Thankfully, we were prepared with their engagement gift: 

Green robes for Erin's Irish side. 

Because of a house purchase, and Erin finishing school with an internship she had to pay to do, instead of getting paid to do, the wedding was small.  Very small.

This was all of us (plus the priest, Fr. Ken, and niece Paige who took photos for us).

They are planning a renewal of their vows and a reception for next year near their anniversary when, hopefully, Josh and Amanda will be able to attend. 

The ring, it turns out, was the wedding ring. Rob has a Claddagh ring as well. 

Now, about their jobs.  Rob's move already put him close to his job.  When Erin graduated, her new job turned out to be 8 minutes from the new house.  She only had to commute for one month after graduation before the wedding, but she was already used to it, because the hospital where she did her internship hired her (she is a Registered Dietitian).  Connecting the God-dots is always fun.  

The last fun thing that happened in October?  Our first married, second-oldest daughter, Caitlyn and her hubby, Jimmy surprised us with this little onesie. 

Life is good! 

www.centeredinchrist1.blogspot.com

Carrying Your Secret

Can I keep a secret?  You bet I can.

The thing is, I don't just keep a secret, I carry it.

I carry it in my heart, so that I can pray about it.

I carry it on my shoulders; sometimes causing them to ache.

I carry it in my face, and I find that sometimes it takes a lot of effort to smile around it.

I carry it in my words.  Or lack there of; because I don't want to blow it and give away your secret.

I carry in my head where it takes up brain space and thought processes.

I carry it always, just waiting for the moment when it is no longer a secret.

Waiting for the moment I can rejoice in sharing your joy, or finally being able to tell someone what I've been praying about and how the prayers were answered.

Some secrets are fun to keep and carry: surprise parties, baby-on-the-way.

Some secrets are more difficult: family issues, illness, relationship crises.

So, if  I sometimes appear down,  or lost in thought, or short with my words or temper, be patient with me.  I may have something I'm carrying that I cannot share at the moment.

Can I tell you a secret?  I don't like secrets! 

Progress or About That Kitchen

For those of you who have been following our kitchen re-do, I have progress to report.


Remember our "before" hole-in-the-wall-that-used-to-be-a-closet?

After many hours of "measure twice, cut once" dry wall installation, mudding, priming, painting, adding an electrical outlet  and much more time measuring and hammering and drilling,  I am pleased to report:  

we have a space for our fridge and a new cabinet!!!  

There is a tiny bit of new floor that has to be stained,  an even tinier spot on the wall that needs a dab of paint, the outlet needs to be hooked up to the main electrical box and then we can put the fridge back in the kitchen. 

I'm looking forward to that since it's been in the family room for about 2 years! 

Stay tuned.  

www.centeredinchrist1.blogspot.com

Bragging Rights!

Thirty-three years ago we said "I do" and, wow, did God have plans for us. All the glory goes to Him, though I do claim some bragging rights as mom.  We have been blessed with 11 children, (9 on earth and 2 we're waiting to meet in Heaven) and, so far, 1 grandson.  

Before I start my bragging about their accomplishments, I have to start with the type of people they are: funny, smart (brilliant?), helpful, loving, and kind are words that comes to mind.  They truly care about and love to spend time with each other. That caring spills out into the world as they take on the vocations God has assigned them.  

Our eldest daughter, Liz, is a psychologist who specializes in Selective Mutism. She and her hubby, Jim made us grandparents.  

This is Max who shall remain anonymous. Trust me, he's a cutie! He is now mobile and quite a capable walker.

Caitlyn is a nurse whose specializations are in-patient comfort care/hospice and in-patient chemotherapy.  This is one nurse whose 'eves' are never boring!
She brought Jimmy into the family for us.

Erin and Amanda are only next to each other in this photo, not in the actual line-up.  Erin is so close to being a Registered Dietitian she can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  In four weeks, school will be done and she can get to work doing what she loves; helping people get healthy.

Amanda is still at the beginning of her studies for her Physical Therapy degree.  Two and a half years, though, and we'll have a doctor in the house!

 

Josh is in the Air Force.  Besides being a mechanical engineer, he is about to graduation from flight school. We are hoping when he is assigned his plane and base that he will be much closer to home.   (His spot in the lineup is actually between Erin and Amanda)

Michael is our artist. He works for Wayne (doing accounting) while taking classes toward his degree in graphic design. 

Joe is our most recent high school graduate.  He is off to college in the fall, in the honors program, working toward his anthropology degree with a focus in ancient cultures and archeology.

This is such a typical photo of our two youngest, Hannah and our tenacious one.  They are "besties".   Hannah is a sophomore and "Boliv" is going into 6th grade. (She's too young for the internet so shall remain unnamed.) 






Life is good and just keeps getting better. Can't wait to see what the future holds.  :-)




#amillionformegan

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