7 Quick Takes (Vol. 41)

-1-

Sly and I are still chugging along with Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.  I'm impressed with the way the book is set up, and the theory behind it - even if it seems a bit repetitive.  He's doing pretty well with it so far...but he's only four.  He's easily distractable.  We may still hit a point where we need to take a break. 

Some days Sly's excited for his "reading lesson," and other days, he's not in the mood.  Since we always wait until Stella goes down for her nap to start (and Linus usually goes with the flow), I've started selling him on the idea of doing his lesson by taking a page from Rosemary's book.  We have "Mommy and Sly time."  He knows that the reading lesson needs to come first.  But once that's done, he can pick anything he wants to do with me alone (so far, it's mostly been playing mind-numbingly simple boardgames like Candyland.  Ughh...).  But it's been good for us both to have that time together.

-2-

On Sunday, there was a (belated) surprise party for my birthday.  Tom and my best friend had done all the planning, and it was far enough out from the actual day that I definitely wasn't expecting anything.  A lot of our friends and people-we-want-to-be-better-friends showed up, and it was a really nice time.  It made me almost feel bad for being upset when my husband, on the night of my actual birthday, went away on an overnight camping trip bachelor party!!

 -3-

Do you ever have periods of time where there's a certain message you feel God really wants to make you aware of?  Something you keep stumbling upon references to over and over?  It happens to me often.  The latest thing I'm being reminded of is the need to offer prayers and sacrifices for the souls in Purgatory.  While hunting for some relevant quotes by Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, I stumbled upon this blog.  I can't necessarily vouch for it all, but I have to say that I've been enjoying - though that word seems inappropriate - reading all the revelations of various Saints who have glimpsed Hell.  It inspires me to be a holier person, I'll say that!

-4-

Over the weekend, Sly and I heard this piece on the radio, and really enjoyed it.  I got home and Youtubed it, and Tom and I have pretty much both fell in love with it.  It was written for harpsichord, but there are versions on piano and classical guitar that also sound great.  Check it out.


François Couperin was the court composer of Louis XIV of France, the Sun King.  There is some speculation about what "The Mysterious Barricades" refers to, but one interpretation I read claims that it was used in the court at that time to refer to a woman's eyelashes.

-5-

Many members of my extended family have been running The Great Race every year since it started.  It's a family tradition.  We come from a "running family", so even those who weren't competitive runners in high school (like myself) were expected to come out, wear the pink t-shirt of our family "racing team", and run at least that one time each year.  A number of the cousins have now left the area for college or first jobs, so the turnout isn't what it used to be.  But I've kept up the tradition myself - even when it meant running a mere month after giving birth, two times.  In fact, I proudly carried a 17-year streak of running the race.  I was tied with one of my brothers for longest-running consecutive Great Race participation years in the family...until last fall.  We had to attend a wedding on the other side of the state, and there was no way to get back in time. 

circa 1997

2002, at a different family race

I wasn't even thinking about what I would do for the race this year, when I got a message from my Dad, saying he'd already signed me up.  So I can't get out of it now.  I realize now that keeping up my streak was the major factor in my determination to keep running it these past four or five years.  And I'm pretty sure I haven't managed to get out for a run - or even a labored jog - for a full two years.  

I hear people mention something called a "Couch to 5K."  I don't know what the details are for that.  But I know that I will be attempting to pull off a couch to 10K in just a couple weeks.  Yikes!

-6-

I try to keep myself hydrated, what with breastfeeding and all.  So I have cups of water all over the house.  But the kids are constantly knocking them over, and there is nothing that sets me off more than when one of the kids spills a drink.  I'm not kidding.  I'm not sure what it is, but when I hear liquid spilling somewhere, it's like something goes off in the most primitive part of my brain, and it's really hard not to completely flip out.  So for my own sanity, and the peace of my household, I have switched to drinking entirely from these insulated straw cups.  

source

I call them "Mommy's sippy cups", which is a title Tom thinks so puerile that he pretends not to know what I'm talking about when I use that title while asking him to hand me one :-P

-7-

The other day, a friend asked me how Linus was doing.  Without thinking about it, I gushed, "he's the best baby I've ever had!"  haha 

Yes, I know he's not supposed to be in a Bumbo on the table

Not to say that I love my other kids any less.  But this kid is seriously the happiest and most easy-going little boy.  Many mothers I've talked with have said similar things about their third children.  I am convinced that it's God's special gift to help you make it through!

Quick Takes is hosted at Conversion Diary