Priestblock 25487

I read this book today - at work. It was a very slow day and I had gotten done everything I had to do and there were no customers, so I read. It is a quick read and I had it done in just over an hour. Priestblock 25487: a Memoir of Dachau is by Jean Bernard. He was a priest in Luxenborg who had spoken out against the Nazis in WW II. He was arrested and was eventually sent to Dachau to be imprisoned. The beatings and the starvation and the cruelty he and the other prisoners endured was incredible. I was amazed yet again that such a thing could take place in our modern time. Man's inhumanity to man never ceases to amaze and sicken me. I just don't understand the kind of hatred that is necessary to do such horrible things to other human beings. And please God, I never want to understand that. There is a movie out based on this book. It is called The Ninth Day

It was a good book and I think it is important to read books like this. It helps us to remember things that we should never forget. And thanks to short memories and some revisionist history, we already have forgotten some things. I really didn't know that Catholics were persecuted in such numbers by the Nazi's and that Pope Pius fought against the Third Reich in his own way. Did you know that after the war was over, the new state of Israel thanked the pope and the entire Catholic Church for all of the help that was given the Jews? I didn't. I knew that the whole "Hitler's Pope" thing was overblown, I knew about Maximillian Kolbe and I had seen The Scarlet and The Black, but I didn't know the extent of the involvement of the Church or of it's persecution. Let's never forget the great cost that was paid by our priests and the cost that continues to be extracted by priests who are persecuted to this day in countries like China. To paraphrase, those who forget their history are destined to relive it.

Cranberry Bliss Bars

Here is a link to the recipe for Cranberry Bliss Bars. They were every bit as good as the name implies.

Visions of Christmas Just Past

Here is proof that Santa came to our house. He ate some cookies and drank his milk. This is Emily on Christmas morning at our house opening a much wanted gift!



Here is Charles and Kim, who only have eyes for each other. This is at my parent's house on the 26th. Oh and that's Becky in the foreground.




Here are Kathy and Jonathan, the old married couple.




Me and my new crock pot!





Jim, opening his gift from Kim.


My Dad, opening his gift from Becky - a mini trophy inscribed to the World's Best Grandpa!


Christmas can poop you out, as Becky and Melissa can attest. Two sisters snuggled up on Grandma's love seat.


Talk about tired! Jon is living proof that old people aren't the only ones who catch a nap on Christmas day.

Our Christmas Baking

I took a quick picture of the Christmas baking before I cut them up and put them on our platter. From the top : Cranberry Bliss Bars (a copy-cat recipe from Starbucks), fudge, Caramel Heavenlies, Santa sugar cookies and Christmas tree sugar cookies. I made the Caramel Heavenlies and Melissa did the rest. I can't wait to try the Cranberry Bliss Bars. They look so good! Merry Christmas everyone.

Counting Down . . . .

Only a few more days until Christmas! I've got the turkey thawing in the fridge and the bread cubes are drying for stuffing. I made an ice cream cake today to give to my boss and his family for Christmas. I also had an appointment with my pain doctor. He put me on Ultram 50 mg for pain in hopes that I can go longer between cortisone shots. That would be my hope too since I will not be seeing a doctor in 2008 unless absolutely necessary. You see, even with good insurance we simply can't afford the deductible and out of pocket expenses for more than one of us. It's Jim's turn to go the doctor this coming year. I will wait until January of 2009 unless I happen to get a different job that pays more and then we might be able to afford both of us going. In the meantime, Jim really needs to go and see his neurologist for his Myasthenia Gravis. He had a rough fall and even though he is now feeling better, he needs to have it checked out.


I made Baked Potato Soup for dinner tonight. It turned out great and we ate the entire pot. Charles came for dinner too, so there were 6 of us. The recipe was on a can of evaporated milk. You can add crumbled bacon, onions and shredded cheddar cheese to the top of each bowl. It was so good. I'm sure I will be making it again. Yesterday I made Italian Chicken Breasts. It is a recipe I made up and everyone loves it. I think I am making Old Fashioned Swiss Steak for tomorrow. I'm not sure what I'll make for Sunday. On Monday, Christmas Eve, we will have our "traditional" Chinese take-out meal. We started that three years ago now and Emily has asked about it several times since she has been home. I'm not sure what the rationale was for the first year, but now it's tradition and we HAVE to do it. Luckily I should get paid tomorrow so I can treat everyone. Yummy Orange Chicken!

It has been foggy here all day long. Tomorrow we are supposed to get rain early and then it will change to snow. We should get some snow accumulation. That will be nice because all of the snow we got last weekend has melted. Kathy and Jonathan are coming tomorrow and I really hope that they don't have to drive in bad weather. It's not too much fun. If you read this, Kathy, be forewarned! It will be so nice once they are all here together.

I hope I'll be able to write something before Christmas Day, but if I don't, Merry Christmas to all. May God bless you with all that you need in the coming year.

Good Day So Far

I have finished up all of my wrapping! I am so glad. It is such a huge job and I'm glad it's done.

Melissa is out in the kitchen again baking cookies. The first batch was so good that they are gone. She offered to make some more and I wasn't about to tell her no. Melissa called me at work today to let me know that she finally was notified about the job she had interviewed for while she was still at school. She got it!!!! She will be working in the office of the dean of the College of Business, doing filing etc. They want her to start before school starts again in January, so we will have to figure out how to do that - the dorms may not be open for her to stay there. I am so thrilled for her though. As a business major, this could be very helpful for her, not to mention that getting paid is always a nice thing.

It was fairly busy at work today. I wish it had been busier, but the next few days should be good. Say a prayer for the store if you think of it. There are times I get worried about my job security. If sales are low, there would be no reason to have me work. I am the only employee (except for the owner's daughters and sometimes mine on occasion), and I like what I do. I just wish I got paid more and worked more hours. Wouldn't you think that our towns, with a combined population of roughly 150,00 and 5 Catholic parishes plus one large Newman Center would be able to support one small Catholic book store? May the Holy Spirit inspire the Catholics of central Illinois to buy Catholic books and rosaries and pictures and crucifixes and statues! And then may He inspire them to come to our store rather than travel 40 miles to another one. Amen. (They make great gifts)

Dinner's in the crock pot (calico beans) and I'm hungry.
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I had to come back and write some more on this entry because my day just got better. Melissa's cell phone was acting up, so we took it over to AT&T to have them check it out. They are sending her a new phone because it is still under warranty. While we were there, the guy was checking out our account and found that we can get a 15% discount on our cell phone bill because Jim works at the high school. Also he found that we can get unlimited texting for all four lines for about the same price we have paid for the girls to get 400 texts a month each. Yay!

Emily got her semester grades today and she made the Dean's List! WOOHOOO! And that was with dealing with her break-up at the same time! Awesome!

I like days like this. They can happen more often and I won't complain.

The Other Boleyn Girl

It's been a long time since I've been able to sit down and read a book. Life has gotten busy. After Emily came home last week, I noticed that she had a bag of books. A friend had lent her several to read over break. One caught my eye and I borrowed it from her to read. The Other Boleyn Girl is the story (much fictionalized) of Mary Boleyn, sister of Anne Boleyn and one of King Henry VIII's mistresses. It was an interesting book, although perhaps not historically accurate. It made me wonder about ambition and prestige. In the book, Mary's family promotes her, and later Anne, as mistresses to the king in order to climb the ladder and gain titles and land. The girls were a commodity to be bartered in the process to gain prestige in the court of Henry VIII. While Mary was seen as being rather innocent, (at least at first), not too bright and very willing to please, Anne is painted as being brilliant, conniving, scheming and ruthlessly ambitious. She is portrayed in the book as a murderer, an adulterer and as having had an incestuous affair with her brother in order to forward her goal of giving birth to a son. Henry VIII is written as a totally egotistical character who believed that he knew the mind of God (which of course coincided perfectly with Henry's own will). It didn't seem as if Henry did too much work at King of England, but rather lived to eat, drink and party. Elaborate masques were arranged for his benefit, everyone danced attendance on his whims and moods. Now I know that Henry VIII was an intelligent man who wrote books against the Reformation until the Pope disagreed with Henry's wish to have his first marriage annulled. I'm sure he must have done more than play, but the book sure doesn't tell you much about what he did.

It is an interesting book and it makes me wonder if there are families now that push their young innocent daughters forward to members of the royal family in hopes of gaining in prominence today. (or at least if this happened in the fairly recent past)

What a difference a day makes!

Today is a much, much better day than yesterday, I am happy to report. Right now I've got one daughter working away in the kitchen making Christmas cut-out cookies. She already made fudge for us. All of this was her idea, not mine, so that makes it that much sweeter. The other daughter and I had a good talk about Henry VIII and his wives, etc.( I am reading a book about them right now and she is wanting to read it after me) All is forgiven and my girls are rising to the occasion. I knew I could count on them. Sometimes they just need a little nudging, which unfortunately in this case meant me yelling. Oh and last week, I came home from work one day to find that they had cleaned the house. They really are good kids. I've been blessed and need to remember that sometimes.

Mom's Meltdown

Subtitled : A lesson in humility . . . .

I have been doing a low simmer all this past week about my two college age daughters. They both came home last Monday and I was thrilled that they were home and were safe. However . . . they both brought me their dirty clothes to do. My mistake was just doing the laundry and not insisting that they do it. On Tuesday I did six loads of their clothes. I washed, dried and folded them. The piles of clean clothes have sat on our folding table in the laundry area ever since then. If they need something, they go down to the basement, rifle through their pile and get what they want, often leaving clothes falling on the floor. All week, I would go down there and pick up stuff off of the floor and put it back in their "piles", which by then were piles in name only. The girls have been sleeping LATE every day and are up most of the night. Yesterday I left them notes to put their stuff away while I was at work. One daughter did take her stuff to her room - in my laundry basket, which she didn't unpack. The other one left her stuff in the basement. Added to this, every morning I get up to find stacks of dirty dishes waiting for me to clean up. Mind you, my daughters are 18 and 20, certainly capable of doing their own dishes. But they are on "vacation". @@ Today was the straw that broke this camel's back. One daughter has a reputation for "borrowing" things from everyone. This morning, I woke up with a very dry mouth and went looking for my Bert's Bees lip balm. It was gone and I had actually hidden it so that my borrower wouldn't find it. It wasn't where I had hidden it and I saw red! I hollered at both girls to get out of bed RIGHT NOW. Both denied taking it, but I lambasted them for their slovenly ways. I demanded my laundry basket back and insisted that the other girl get her clothes upstairs NOW. I insisted that they do their dishes and clean up after themselves. They are not guests here, they LIVE here and have to help out. And I demanded my Bert's Bees back. I told them that I am not their supply sargeant and I deserve to have some stuff of my own, you know. It was an uncomfortable morning. I am usually pretty laid back, but when I do lose my temper, it is spectacular. Today was pretty spectacular. Well, guess what? This afternoon, I was cold so I put on my fleece jacket. After a while, I reached into the pocket to get a tissue and Voila! There was my lip balm.

Oops.

I have to admit that I debated what to do. I could pretend I hadn't found it or say I got a new one or I could apologize to the girls for accusing them of stealing my Bert's Bees. I apologized. They grumbled at me a bit, but one daughter shoveled the driveway for us and the other did the dinner dishes tonight. So maybe Mount Vesuvius did some good after all. But I am hoping that it will be a really looooong time until the next eruption.

Wahooo!

Yippee! I am done with Christmas shopping! The package to my Grandmother has been mailed and my Christmas cards are done. I have not even started baking, but now I have my little homemaker at home, so Melissa can do the baking. She volunteered! {She made pumpkin tarts for dessert last night. Gee, it's good to have her home. ; ) } I am starting to feel on top of things. I still have to wrap everything, but I brought all of my wrapping supplies up from the basement, so I can get started soon. I even remembered that Altar and Rosary needs to get gifts for our priests and took care of that this morning. Since they give away the gift cards we usually give them, we decided to give them something to remind them of our parish - some small bronze plaques of the Epiphany. I hope they don't give those away! I even thought of something to give the boss and his family. It is such a good feeling to be done! Although, I'm sure Jim will look at everything and think that the kids don't have enough and he will want to go out shopping the week before Christmas to get something else for them. It happens every year without fail.

I am working all day tomorrow, and then again Friday and Saturday. It is so much fun to work when it is busy. I love running back and forth helping customers and answering phones and ringing up the register. It sure beats the pacing I generally do at work.

I dropped some Depends and gloves off at the nursing home for my mother-in-law. I wanted to take her picture, but she was sound asleep in her wheelchair in front of the tv. I couldn't wake her, so I will have to wait for a picture until next time.

I decided to make a chicken taco salad (I know it's not authentic Mexican food, but we like it.) tonight to celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. I am fascinated by the story of Juan Diego and his tilma. I bought a poster of OLOG that I need to get framed to put in our library. I did dig out my OLOG candle to put on the table tonight.

Tonight Jim and I have a meeting in the rectory. We are starting our capital campaign for our church remodeling and we are on the committee. We need to raise $10 million dollars. Yikes! I hope that people are generous. The plans are lovely - complete with an exact replica of the St. Francis's Portziuncola with stones from the same quarry in Assisi that the original stones were from. That will be our perpetual Adoration chapel. Since our church now looks like Mike Brady from the Brady Bunch was the architect (same era, same ugly design), this will be a MAJOR remodeling project. The priest's offices will be moved from the rectory to the vestibule of the church, and there will be meeting rooms so that old broken down ladies like me do not have to drag tables out into the multipurpose room to set up for meetings. I can't wait.

Home again

We totally dodged a bullet! Yesterday morning, my mom and I left Bloomington/Normal for Atchison, Kansas. We both packed for a several day stay because the last day of finals was supposed to be today and a major ice storm was forecast. Just about the time we reached Hannibal, Mo, Emily called us to tell us that finals were cancelled as of that point because of the approaching storm. It only took us a matter of minutes to decide to pick up Emily and Maggie and then turn around and drive back in one day. All of the way to Kansas, the sky was leaden and I really thought we wouldn't make it with out running into the ice. However, by the time we pulled into the parking lot of Em's dorm, the sun was actually shining! We got there about 3:00, loaded the girls up and left by 3:30. Most of the way home, we were driving in the dark and couldn't see what the sky looked like. By the time we reached east-central Missouri, we ran into fog. At first it wasn't too bad, but it became thicker and thicker. There is a stretch of highway 36 between Macon Mo and Hannibal that is only 2 lanes. It runs for about 60 miles. The fog was awful there. There was no traffic heading east with us at all and with no street lights, it was a surreal experience. I felt like we were the only 4 people left. There we were hurtling down a road I couldn't see very well in total darkness. The fog obscured the sides of the road and my biggest worry was that deer would cross our path and I wouldn't see it until it was too late. I prayed and prayed and prayed. Once the road widened to four lanes and there were the occasional street light, I felt much better. We ran into heavy fog again between the Mississippi and the Illinois rivers and then it got better until we were nearly home. About 10 miles south of B/N, the heavy fog came up again and stayed with us all the way home. I dropped my mom off and then took Maggie home and we got home about 10:30. Charles had gone to Edwardsville to get Melissa and they had gotten home about 9:00, so we were all safe and sound. I checked the radar when I got home to find that the system was right behind us. We never ran into any rain/ice/snow the entire distance. I owe St Benedict and St Christopher my gratitude. I was in constant communication with them the whole way. Atchison is currently in the middle of an ice storm with an inch of accumulation forecast. It is pouring rain here, but our temps have warmed up, so we aren't getting any ice right now. I am so grateful that Benedictine decided to cancel finals and that we didn't have to stay in Atchison for several days. I am really, really tired right now, but I think I will head to the store to get some more Christmas shopping done (I was not done by the 10th as planned. Maybe by the 12th??)

Here We Go Again

No, this picture wasn't taken today. It was actually taken DURING our blizzard last February. We do have some snow today, but not nearly this much. It makes our house look Christmassy though!

It's been a busy week in Lake Woebegone. (That always seems to get Garrison Keilor applause and maybe a laugh) I've worked 4 days this week, which really isn't too much, but for lately, it's great. I am happy to work that much since I am still buying Christmas presents and need the money! Last Sunday, we went to Becky's basketball awards lunch. The girls played a game against some of the dads and several brothers - ranging in age from 4 to high school. It was a fun game and the guys let the girls win. Everyone brought some food to share and then we all headed home. I had LightWeigh Sunday night. I am doing terribly. My own fault and I know it. I just need to get with the program. Monday I worked, Tuesday I was at home catching up on laundry and stuff - nothing exciting. Wednesday I worked again and we went to the Chicago concert. (Have I mentioned how well I liked it? Yeah, I know I did. I want to see them again.) Thursday I did some Christmas shopping. I really am about 90% done, I just have this tendency to run out of money before I run out of shopping. Friday I worked and Jim and I went to the Holy Day Mass. Becky stayed home with a temp of 100.8 . I worked again today. Becky is still sick, but seems to be feeling a little better. Her temp is down a little tonight. Jim spent the day with her and did some grading. Tomorrow after Mass, is our annual Altar and Rosary Christmas bash. I hope. We have been getting some icy rain tonight and I guess tomorrow is supposed to be worse, so we may not be partying after all. After the party is our LightWeigh meeting! LOL We have already decided not to stick to the mugfull of food that we are supposed to eat. It's a celebration after all! Everyone is supposed to bring something to share. I am bringing meatballs. (left-over from the anniversary party. Waste not, want not!) On Monday, I am supposed to go to Atchison to pick up Emily and Maggie. They generally get a ride from David, but he has a small car and five people to give rides to and the girls were worried that they couldn't get all of their stuff into his car. They are probably right, so I am going to get them and then Bob (my boss and Maggie's dad) will take them back in January. I am dreading this trip because of the weather. We are forecast to get an icy mix every day until Wednesday. Charles offered to head south to pick up Melissa on Monday night. I am worried about him too. Rotten weather! I am praying for a break in the mess so that we can travel safely. When I get back, I will be working some more. Christmas is fairly busy for us. First Communions are our really busy time. Interesting story: About a year or so ago, an older man came into the store and saw a statue of the Kitchen Madonna. (It is a statue of Mary, sweeping the floor). He took offense at it and told me that it was "obscene!" I remember posting about it on the message board that I read and no one thought that the statue was offensive at all. I didn't. I liked it. Well, he is a regular customer. He is in just about every Saturday. If I am working, he always asks me if we still have the statue of "Mary and the broom." I'd say yes and he'd just shake his head. One day he asked me about it. "Why in the world, would they make a statue of Mary sweeping the floor?" he asked. I told him that my take on it is that is shows that there is holiness in everyday actions. Even cleaning the house can be holy if we pray while doing it and make our actions a prayer. It was as if the light bulb went on for him. He still asks me about her. Today he told me that he is "oddly attracted" to that statue and that his son always gives him money for Christmas and he thinks that he'll come by and buy it after Christmas!!! I nearly hugged him. I love our customers. They are so sweet.

Chicago Concert

Last night was the Chicago concert at the Coliseum. It was an amazing show. They played for over two hours and were able to play just about every hit song they ever had. There was some problem with a mic early on, but once they got that fixed, they put on a whale of a show. I love the horns especially. James Pankow, the trombonist was actually wearing this same outfit last night. It must be his concert get-up. He has to show off those buff arms! He must lift a whole lot more than trombones! We had pretty good seats and could see very well. Jim had a blast. I would go see them again anytime. The show was worth every penny we paid for tickets (I am still glad that I won the money to buy them!) I fell asleep last night with their songs in my head and woke up this morning the same way. One note - there sure were a lot of "old" people in the crowd! LOL. I guess we baby boomers are getting older all the time. Lots of bald heads and gray hair. It was funny to hear people talking about their grandkids before the show. Anyway, great show. I want to go again.

Glad to be back

In the past several years, I've been pretty good about getting to daily Mass. I needed the boost that Mass gave to my day. I got interested in reading the Bible because something in the daily readings would pique my curiosity and I'd have to find out what happened next. I didn't do too well over the summer because I didn't need to get up early to take kids to school and I was just so tired all the time, so it went by the wayside. Then school started up again and I really had planned on going everyday again, but . . . . in the past several years, the Friday morning Mass would start 15 minutes later than the others and it would be a whole school Mass. It would last longer too because of all of the school kids there. If I had to work that morning, I generally didn't go to Friday Mass. It made it too hard to get home, eat something and get to work on time. So this year, Monsignor decided to break things up to give more attention to the school kids. This year, the kindergartners and first graders go to Mass on Monday, the second and third graders go on Tues, the fourth and fifth graders on on Wednesday, Thursday is a regular Mass day and the day that I am signed up for Adoration at Mass time. Friday is the junior high kids Mass. As a result, all of the Masses now start at 8:15 instead of 8:00 and they all last longer. It really put a pinch in my morning if I had to work. I'd run home at 9:00 or so, grab breakfast, clean up and run to work. It wasn't very convenient for me, so I started skipping Mass again. I had time to get things done in the morning, but something was missing. I finally decided last week that what was missing was Mass. I started going again. Yes, it is rather frantic to get ready for work after Mass, but I've noticed a difference in my peace of mind already. Becky and I walk over to school at 7:45. She goes to the school, I go to the church and spend nearly half an hour in prayer. Then Mass starts. It is over by 9:00 or so. I feel so GOOD at the end of Mass that I am kicking myself for those months I missed. I think I learned my lesson.