Have a Blessed Triduum and a Joyous Easter.

Any mother who ever has that question cross her mind should really think twice before proceeding with something.

I was helping Billy help Jenny who wanted a microwaved pancake. Billy doesn’t get much opportunity to use the microwave, so I was giving him instructions from 2 rooms away while doing Katie’s hair. I knew this wasn’t a good idea, but I asked myself: what’s the worst that could happen?

Two minutes later…

“Mom, there’s smoke!”

I hope the Lily of the Valley scented candle will improve the odor of my home.

Update: For a while my house smelled of burning Lily of the Valley. But it seems ok now.

I’ve been reading this book, Come to the Table: A Catholic Passover Seder for Holy Week by Meredith Gould.

It’s pretty neat, and I think I’ll incorporate some of the readings into our dinner tonight. The kids know that it’s matzohs and grape juice for dinner. They love being able to drink from my real wine glasses (I live life on the edge).

We’ve spent every Holy Thursday recalling the Israelites Exodus from Egypt and talking about the meaning for us Christians, but I’ve never used a formal guide.

I am just very sad that Bill will likely not be home in time to eat with us, and probably won’t even be able to go to Mass tonight. Since we’ve had kids, one or the other of us goes to Mass and then the other goes to Eucharistic Adoration after Mass is over. But Bill hasn’t been home from work before 7 pm all week, and tonight will probably be the same. But we’ll ask ourselves, anyway:

Why is tonight different than all other nights?

Tonight’s challenge: make tonight different than all other nights. You don’t need to eat lamb and matzohs. Read the story of Exodus. Think about the passing through the Red Sea as a foreshadowing of baptism. And keep watch in the garden, unlike Simon Peter who could not keep watch for one hour (Mark 14:37).

The kitchen is half done.

And I’ve noted a few collections:

16 cookbooks, not including the two I put in the giveaway pile or several (well, 3 or 4 or 5) small paperback ones. But this total does include 2 copies of Joy of Cooking. My old copy is falling apart, but the new revision did some totally different stuff and I don’t know if I want to get rid of some of what is found in the old version. I think 16 cookbooks (give or take a few) is reasonable for someone who likes to cook and bake. I do find lots of recipes on-line. I guess my count is 17 if you include my binder with loose recipes.

16 different bottles of booze. I keep saying that I’m going to make myself a nice drink, like a gin and tonic, but it never happens. They just sit there, taunting me. Recently, Bill has been indulging in Manhattens (yuck). I think 3 bottles are for that drink alone.

6 different types of mustard. We like mustard, although we’ve been consuming one type most often: Schaller & Weber’s Bavarian-Style Sweet & Spicy Mustard. yum yum.

4 different types of vinegar. If you’ve never tried champagne vinegar with tarragon, I highly recommend it for use in salad dressings. Delectable, but expensive.

20 different glasses for wine or cordials or shots…but mostly for beer. Heaven forbid you drink a Guiness out of a Duvel glass or a Chimay out of a pilsner glass.

Fritz: Mom, do you know what a wet willy is?

Me: Yes.

Fritz: What?

His tone was a challenge. I think he thought I didn’t know. I think he thought I might ask him what it was.

My response was to lick my finger and reach for his ear. He ran, calling out: How did you know?

I am old and wise.

On tap for today is cleaning the kitchen. I don’t think I’m going to get the work done as well as usual. We’re moving in a few weeks, and the houses are being demolished, so leaving the cabinets spotless isn’t necessary. It seems a bit pointless to spend several hours scrubbing and cleaning if I only get to enjoy it for a short time. I’m going to try to get the fridge and stove done, though. But most important is the sorting and organizing that has been put off. Ugh.

I didn’t get much work done yesterday. I was babysitting a neighbor’s daughter. Her son was having surgery and she and her husband were at the hospital all day.

I’m falling way behind in a book that Bill and I are reading for Lent: The Power of the Cross by Michael Dubruiel. The only chance we have to do it is at night, but we’ve both been so exhausted that even if we manage to stay awake for the 10 – 15 minutes it takes to do a day’s reading, our comprehension levels are at a pretty low level. In other words, it’s doing nothing for us.

But a few days ago, there was the following quote:

But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:22-23

And the discussion question that followed was: What does it mean to be a slave to God?

Slaves don’t have a choice in their work. They do as they are told. Their time is not their own, their labor is all at the bidding of the master. Their “free” time is not a right, but a privilege.

Being a slave to God means doing the work that needs doing whether we like it or not. So, Bill is happy that these neighbors will likely move at the end of the summer, because he thinks it means that it is one less person who will say “Help!” and turn to me, his wife, for that help. I think he thinks I do too much. And I do have trouble saying no, even if it means I won’t get my spring cleaning done or I’ll have to forego attending a monthly meeting that I want to attend.

But I told him that there will always be people who need help, so having these needy neighbors move away won’t change much. He could move me to rural Wyoming and as long as I have an internet connection and access to a post office, I’ll fill my days with some activity or another (care packages for the troops or something). Because I’m a slave to God. And there are times that it isn’t much fun.

Work will make you free. Thank God.

“A world at prayer is a world at peace.”
– Father Patrick Peyton

An explanation of a special request for prayers at Catholic Exchange.

And the website with more details.

Pray for the families of deployed soldiers too. Their crosses are very heavy.

Although the entire house is asleep, I find myself fighting a million domestic distractions while praying the rosary.

How will I survive the day’s agenda?
How much laundry is piling up?
What am I making for dinner?
Do I have any errands that need to be run?
Will Pete sleep late enough for me to do X and Y AND Z, too?

And as I’m supposed to be mediatating on the last decade – Jesus dies on the cross – I find myself with only 3 more Hail Marys and I don’t think I’ve done an ounce of meditating. I look at the crucifix, and I have this thought:

The women were standing vigil at the cross. It was afternoon and the Sabbath was coming soon. They needed to be home with all their work DONE by sundown. They wouldn’t be able to do it the next day, the day of rest. And I really can’t imagine that for a minute they thought about the undone laundry or the dough left to rise but never baked or the water that needed fetching. The most important thing for them was to be there at the foot of the cross, praying, weeping, supporting each other.

And why, oh WHY, can I not give 15 minutes of my day to this meditation?

Not a bad morning. All kids’ bedrooms done. Bathrooms done. All errands attempted (one failure).

Need to finish my room and tax stuff.

Must get baby to sleep.

dinner……..

Since Amy asked…about my move and my “pre-move prep ticker”:

I live in military housing that is slated to be demolished and replaced with newer housing. I could do a lot of complaining about this here, but maybe I’ll save that for another post. It’s not my house, so there’s not much I can do about it.

Half of my neighborhood has already been relocated to another neighborhood of new housing that is about 3 miles away. Both neighborhoods are on post, but it takes about 10 minutes to get from one area to the other because the speed limits are generally 30 mph or less and there are stop signs and traffic lights along the way.

There are about 25 families still here waiting to be moved. We have been told that today, April 10th, the keys will be available and we can begin to move our things in. Private movers have been hired, and they are responsible for moving all of our stuff, including packing it. Anything we decide to move will be for our own convenience. I plan to move everything in my kitchen, because it will be much easier than sorting and unpacking all those boxes. I also plan to move the drawers and their contents to all the dressers the day before our move so that our clothes won’t get packed away.

My move date has been set for April 27th – April 29th. I was at the house yesterday and it looks done (doors were locked, I peeked through the blinds), except for the house number. Other houses on that block are NOT done yet, though, so I don’t think I’ll be able to get the keys until they’re complete (maybe another week). All of my other neighbors live in 2 other blocks, and those look totally done.

The big problem is that we were told the movers can move 4 families per week. We are being told that all families must be out by the end of April. Perhaps as many as 5 families will have Army movers come and take their stuff, because they are moving away this summer. But there are probably 20 families who are supposed to move in 20 days. So, I’m a bit skeptical that I will actually move by the end of April. I’m going to push for it though, because Fritz’s First Holy Communion is May 14th and I will not move any later than May 8th (or they’ll wait until May 18th).

Since I have movers coming, all I need to do is organize and get rid of things. I have listed every room and broken the room down into “tasks”. In my bedroom, I have 2 closets, 1 dresser, 2 end tables with drawers, one small storage table and a cedar chest. That’s 7 seven tasks. Completing a task means that I have gone through that closet or dresser and pulled out everything that doesn’t belong there and organized what remains. In the kitchen, I’ve listed each pair of cabinets as a task. Some tasks are 5 minute jobs, and some – like the fridge – will take an hour or more to do (I’ll scour the fridge as part of my spring cleaning).

Yesterday I dropped 2 bags of clothes off at the thrift store. I have some toys and books to donate to the babysitting at church today. And I really need to get my tax info to my dad today. Talk about unloading excess baggage!