March 2017: A Summary

The onset of March always reminds me of this quote from Charles' Dickens Great Expectations:

“It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.”

March has these intermittent bursts of warm sunshine mingled with chilling rain, and a persistent cold in the breeze can still pierce you.  It is early Spring.  The best days of Spring aren't here yet, but they're close.  The anticipation makes you want to burst, much like all the hyacinth shooting up out of the dirt.

In my kids case, it makes them want to wear shorts and ditch their jackets when it's not yet "wear shorts and ditch your jacket" kind of weather.  They cross their bare arms and shiver as we walk into a store, but an hour later they're rolling windows down in the car because they are too hot.  This is March.

What I'm Doing

I'm waking up every morning, pulling open the blinds, seeing that beautiful little magnolia tree blooming in my yard, and thinking: that is gorgeous.

I'm reading a lot, and I'm driving a lot, and I'm cleaning a lot.  My parents are rolling into town tomorrow.  The arrival of both visitors and Spring at the very same time was nothing short of the perfect inspiration to deep clean.  I mean move the furniture, bust out the bleach, and hose down the window screens kind of clean.  The kind of clean that reveals missing library books, long-lost pacifiers, and concealed wads of gum.

My husband was out of work for most of the month.  He couldn't take the grueling hours at his job anymore, he often described himself as feeling like a "slave;" his mental and emotional health were suffering.  So he did the thing I least expected him to ever do and quit his job with no notice and no other job lined up.  I knew his job was extremely tiring and demanding and that he was quickly running headfirst into fatigue, but I never thought he'd quit like that.  He put out job applications very quickly, had three interviews, and was subsequently offered a job at all three places.  But all of that took about three weeks to happen.  It was a little scary living without a paycheck for three weeks, but we both knew he would find another job.  There was no doubt about that.  It was just a matter of where? and when?  He ended up taking a job as a service adviser at a car dealership.  Although this was not originally his first choice, he ended up choosing it because he thought it would best transfer out of the state.  We hope to move home to Idaho in the next few years, and this was the job he felt would be most beneficial for seeking employment in Idaho.

So that's that.

Oh, and I'm cooking a lot.

Every Friday night during Lent, our church has a soup supper after Mass and Stations.  And we always go.  The first week I brought a potato and rice soup.  I noticed that no one brought bread except one of the priests, so the second week I brought tomato soup and three loaves of homemade bread.  The third week was St. Patrick's Day and we had a dispensation in our diocese to eat meat, so I made a traditional Irish stew, and I brought two loaves of soda bread with shamrock sugar cookies.

Two days later, it was the feast of St. Joseph.  Since our church is named St. Joseph Catholic Church, and St. Joseph is obviously our special patron, the day was celebrated with a potluck after Mass.  I brought a big crock pot full of fettuccine Alfredo, garlic bread, a Caesar salad, and homemade cake.

For the next soup supper, I brought a meatless chili with a big pan of cornbread.

Yes, lots of cooking.

Anja had a small procedure on the 21st to finally have her stoma surgically closed.  Everything went very smoothly; it was a 1hr operation and all went as expected with no complications. She recovered very quickly and proceeded to enjoy an afternoon of endless snacks & movies in bed.

I remember clearly when her trach was placed. I remember the tears, the second-guessing, the apprehension, the fear of the unknown. I remember my sweet sister telling me firmly, "This is temporary." And I adopted the motto. I assured myself, and everyone else that it was temporary, even though deep down I harbored fears that it wasn't. Soon enough, the trach became "normal."  It became familiar and not scary and answering the "why does she have that thing in her neck?" question became routine.  And now, it's gone.  It really was temporary.  It felt like the worst thing ever 8 years ago.  Now it will be remembered as a little hole with a little piece of plastic in it that managed to save my daughter's life for a time; a time that has passed. It served its purpose and now its job is done.

How I'm Moving

I managed to keep up with my daily workout routine pretty well during the first half of the month, especially when my husband was off work.  However, I made a drastic diet change, and I read that I should back off of intense workouts during sugar withdrawals.  So I have.  I'll admit, I have been hoping to shed a few pounds, but after 3 months of almost-daily exercise, I have failed to even lose a single pound.  It's not very motivating to keep going.  But I will keep going, because it's good for my body and health - and I need to be healthy to keep up with these kids and with my responsibilities.  A few months ago, I would get out of breath unloading the dishwasher, and sometimes even a simple excursion put me in bed for the rest of the day.  I was in chronic pain and I was always fatigued.  Simply adding daily exercise has helped tremendously.  Can't forget that.

What I'm Reading

I finished Free-Range Kids by Lenore Skenazy (good message, good information, not the best delivery) and My Sisters the Saints by Colleen Campbell (a woman discovers and taps into the wise genius of saintly women whose insights awaken a deeper understanding of faith and give her the strength to go on as she grapples with pain & suffering.)

I'm currently reading:
The Ordinary Path to Holiness by R. Thomas Richard
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien

I am enjoying all three a lot - it is kind of hard to shift between them since I don't want to put any of them down.  The more I read of Tolkien, the more I love him.  The path to holiness book is really good, but I am taking it slow to let it digest.  All the Light We Cannot See is more of a simple pleasure/entertainment read, so it's moving faster than the other two.

What I'm Teaching

Anja is still enjoying piano lessons.  I am continually amazed at how well she does with them.  I don't know if she will actually grow up to play the organ at church like she says she wants to, but for now I am happy to see her have a hobby that she takes joy in.

Elijah is still very interested in culinary arts.  His classes right now are only once a month and will break for the summer.  I'm thinking about getting him a Raddish subscription and helping him at home.  He has, for whatever reason, taken a great liking and interest in the game of chess.  I signed him for chess lessons.  He has had one lesson so far and was pleased with how it went.  I don't know if we can afford these lessons for the long-term, but for awhile anyway.  It will strengthen his knowledge and help him advance.  He says he wants to play in a tournament.  We'll see!

Isabelle wrapped up her swimming lessons.  She enjoyed them so much, I think I will try to register her for lessons again every few months or so to keep her in the pool.  While she breaks from swimming, I opted for a trial of 3 "gymnastics" sessions.   Honestly?  So far all I've seen my daughter do is sprint around the gym, balance on beams, swing on bars - all while completely ignoring the 'teacher' and what the class is doing.  They are singing songs, bouncing balls, tossing bean bags, blowing bubbles, and Izzy wants to do some actual gymnastics.  She was dubbed 'fearless' as she jumped from the highest height she could manage to climb up to.  Balls, bean bags, bubbles, songs?  We get that for free every week at library story-time, thank you.  No need to pay for it.  Izzy is flexible, strong, and spry - but I think gym will have to wait until she's older for it to be worth the money,

Oliver hasn't really taken an interest in anything yet.  He does whatever his siblings do, but doesn't ask for lessons.  He plays chess.  He bangs on the piano.  He swims with his sister.  He says he wants to learn to read, so we're working on that.

What I'm Thinking


I take comfort in the words of Aristotle: the aim of education is to make the pupil like and dislike what he ought, to love the good and hate the bad.

And Tolkien: true education is a kind of never ending story - a matter of continual beginnings, of habitual fresh starts, of persistent newness.

And a random blog I found on the internet that said: think of it this way, you don't actually have to educate your children, you just have to read to them, discuss important subjects with them, provide them opportunities to learn, and help them be diligent with practicing.  In other words, you have to complete some actions on a consistent basis.