Sunday- is this your end of the week or your start??

Today's question? Is Sunday the end of the week for you or the beginning of the week?  For me it is the end of the week.  I like to reflect in church on the past week, and see where I need to adjust my course. I like to close things out and think and plan for Monday as my blast-off for another fantastic week(a girl can dream can't she?!)  Jer and I got up early and tiptoed out to 8'oclock mass, just the two of us.  Several people asked us where the kids were(like we might have them tied up somewhere) but it was very nice to be alone.  Father Karl said mass and he talked about perseverance as a christian. About not giving up or saying I do things pretty good most of the time, so that's good enough, but about striving to be the best,fullest follower of JESUS we can be each day.  We had been talking about Danny and his problem with being mad if he isn't great at something instantly, and wanting to give up. This is a trait that served his brother very poorly, and we are trying to head it off in Danny. Anyway this gave us alot to think about re:D, but also re:ourselves..and my moving forward this week is focusing on optimism,joy and perseverance.  Still thinking about the tattoo!
Went to Kohls to do some Christmas shopping with Karen's 30% (thanks girlfriend!) and then to Sandy's wake. Not much to say about that, just sadness.
Served an awesome Turkey Soup, it's a Thanksgiving recipe which involves a turkey carcass, can of cranberry sauce, gravy, veggies,etc.  Threw in homestyle egg noodles, and served sweet potato bread. Yum!
Jerry,Molly Danny and I played the dice game Greed..have you tried it? If not it's a great stocking stuffer, I'm happy because I won!
The girls went to their youth groups, Charlotte-Catholic, Molly-Methodist! and Danny and I sat by the fire and read(and blogged) I have started a kids book called My one hundred adventures  by Polly Horvath, one of my favourite authors. She wrote Everything on a Waffle and I highly recommend them both.
Happy end of the week(or beginning!)

Thought I'd get more done....Saturday 11/13

The story of Saturdays sometimes, see if you agree...you're so happy to see that you have no plans for Saturday. You say to yourself, "wow, I'm gonna get a ton accomplished!"  Then you do the dishes, throw in a load of laundry and its noon..how can this be? you wonder. Head off to Wal-mart for shopping and
hi-jinks with Danny and that's great and I buy a ton, but then its 3pm when you get home! Gotta eat and have some coffee, and put away all the stuff we bought....then its time to go get the girls. Danny stays home with Jack(he's legal!) and I drive to Fowlerville to Saint Agnes where the girls have done a Holy Spirit retreat and its 4:15.  Mol informs me she is going to church at 5, so drive back into Brighton and over to church and drop off the girls(Charlotte decides to go to,to pray for the buckeyes who are down at the half to
Penn state!) then back home...it's 5:10.  Throw together the dinner, get Jack and Danny, drive back into town, drop off Jack and pick up the girls at church and drive back home..it's 6:30.  Hustle through dinner and head downstairs for our planned movie night. Charlotte and I are excited to show Danny and Molly the first Harry Potter movie..Danny finished the book on Thursday.  Try to stay awake through most of it, and I love watching Danny watch it, he is really enjoying the series...he is on page 76 of book three already!
Jer arrives safely back from Ohio, gone 12 hours, 6 of which were spent driving! what a guy, he wants to be home to go to church on Sunday.
So to sum up, hardly got anything on my list done, but had alot of fun anyway! you know what I mean?!
ps. Buckeyes come back in the second half and beat Penn State-oh the power of prayer!

Friday 11/12 Mother Goose is loose!

Mother Goose is on the loose again, kickin it with 75 Brighton Mom's and kiddies...we read Where's Spot?
and Hide and Seek Pets story, and one called "who will play with me?" . Favourite dance tune is the Greg and Steve compilation of the Chicken Dane, Itsy-Bitsy Spider, and Head-Shoulders-Knees and Toes.  "Shake it likes it's Friday" I shout!  We had a family donate a huge jug of animal crackers so the snacks go on, in spite of our budget crisis.  Big Fun!
Tough being there and thinking about Sandy, last week we were missing her, but still prayerfully optimistic for her recovery.  Now its the grieving and moving on part.  Roseanne made a beautiful collage of photos of Sandy in action at the library and hung it up in the department. She also hung the apron Sandy wore for storytime in the activity room, which looks just right. Thanks Roseanne! The smiles help the grief.
Jerry took all the kiddies to BBall and Leo's while Shawne and I spent a couple of blissful hours at our favourite boutique(you know what I'm talking about!).  Sweaters were 50% off and blue tags 8 for $5!  Superb! Hope I continue to be a good example to the kids about the value of the dollar, the fun of  treasure hunting, and how its good for the earth to buy used!

The cost of home ownership! Thursday 11/11

Yikes!  That piece of siding that blew off the house is sure gonna cost us!  Spent a good portion of the day with siding and window folks, getting estimates on the repair and on the replacement cost for the front windows in the house.  Like most home maintenance, you keep thinking...for that kinda money I could put granite counter tops in the bathroom or go on  a trip..Susan you know what I'm talking about, with your "gorgeous" new roof!  It just isn't a fun way to spend many thousands of dollars!  The siding is a must though, and I'll pick in the next few days.  Also got some mundane cleaning out of the way, sheets changed,bathrooms cleaned,etc. whhoooohoo!
I got some sad news today at noon, my friend and co-worker Sandy had died.  She was in the hospital after an acute sudden attack of pancreatitis, and after 10 days, she spiked a fever and they needed to do exploratory surgery to find out why and found that her gut was basically dead.
I worked with her 2 Fridays ago, she was 57.  She was also Charlotte's favourite of my work friends, and she was devastated when I told her the news.  We had been praying for her together.  Sandy was a devout christian and I know that Jesus and his angels carried her up to heaven. 
Just makes you want to not put off anything that you are thinking about,
from saying "I Love You" to going on an African safari.

The Joy of Ashley Court Wednesday 11/10

Today the pleasure of service moved my heart forward.  Ashley Court, where I am on a team of people who do a communion service each week, is an Alzheimer's facility here in Brighton.  Each Wednesday a gal from our parish does two services, one for buildings 1 and 2 and another for buildings 3 and 4.  The buildings house residents with the progressive disease, moving from 1-4.  Many of the folks have been there for the whole 4 years I've been going there, but many have died, or are new residents coming in.  The folks who are aware are so happy and grateful to see me whenever I come.  They have no expectations or demands, just pure joy at seeing me!  Wow! It is overwhelming that so little from me can mean so much to them.  It puts lots of other things in life in perspective.  The neatest thing is watching the non-verbal residents sing along with a familiar hymn, like Amazing Grace, or mouth the words to the Our Father.  The words they have known for so long rise up from the depths of their memories, even when they can't remember their names.  I just see GOD in this, as he comforts them with his words and his peace. 

Blogging about Tuesday on Tuesday!

Blogging about Tuesday on Tuesday, life is back to normal! I'm not sure how working in the cafeteria at St. Pats is a forward movement, that's how I spent Tuesday! Charlotte does a fantastic job washing trays and other cleaning jobs every Tuesday. She always has a smile, even in the faces of taco meat and gooey cheese!  I also had a chance to do a little Christmas shopping, I'm hoping to lessen the big bills in December.  The weather was the other big story today, 62 degrees, and basketball all afternoon! We are supposed to have this nice mild weather all week.
My book club met tonight, we discussed The Beach Trip which we all enjoyed.  Rhonda is choosing the next book, and we're going to reconvene in January after the bustle of Christmas is over.
Watched my 2 TV shows, NCIS Los Angeles and The Good Wife, both were great, and I'm off to bed to read now, What are you reading? Let me know! Kerry

namaste- starting this week of peacefully

7:45 am Vinyasa Yoga class with Leeann- only 5 people in the class, so lots of room for the yoga dropout to ease back in.  Leeann makes me feel so welcome, and she really helps everyone to relax and work to their ability.  I feel great, GO ME!  Got home to find the family ready to go for a run..allrighty! Off to the metro park for a 5K run and agility training.  We all want to get in shape for the Festival 5K in a couple of weeks.  It is sunny and 60 today, crazy great weather for Nov. in Michigan.  Jer took the day off to spend with the kids, who have off for....?? and we had cronhole and ladder ball on the lawn, garage cleaning, and the annual post-Halloween pumpkin bowling down the side yard.  Whooooahhhhh!  Working to maintain the harmony in the house, trying not to fall into the "yell at me" traps Charlotte sets, or get stressed about anything.  so far so good!  Went to my knitting group,took Molly to work on her beads, we had a nice time.  Danny started BBall practice tonight with his new St. Pat's 4th grade team.  He was so tired, felt kinda bad, because we didn't know he had practice til 5pm, and we sure had alot of physical training.  But wasn't doesn't kill you...etc.