Everyday Ordinary

Two Sundays ago, the homily at mass was about Everyday Ordinary. At least, that is what I heard. Father Mike was talking about the lack of commentary in the Gospels about Jesus from the time he was found in the temple until he began public ministry and was baptised by John. His point was that those years were not insignificant, they were just ordinary. Everyday Ordinary is a blessing. And we need to remember that it is still meaningful to do the everyday things every day, day in, day out, over and over again. Raising and nurturing, cleaning and cooking, working and sleeping. It is meaningful and important to honor the work, the mundane work, the ordinary work, of life.
It is the whole, you don't enjoy the sunshine with out a little rain. But it is more.
I have been thinking about it for nearly two weeks and still cannot articulate it.

Do I have a point? Sure. Our Mayhem is quite ordinary. Painfully ordinary. Don't-want-to-dull-you-with-the-details ordinary. But, somehow, I feel better about it. Not that our lives may become anything else, but maybe that the work I do now will allow my children to relish the excitement of becoming adults and finding their way to settle into the ordinary of their lives, too. Not at all flashy and reality tv worthy. Just our reality.

Doesn't make for a very exciting blog. Sorry.

In other News:

I watch a lot of PBS. There is a lot of good stuff on WQED if you ignore the Doo-Wop and Celtic Women.
Last night was a fine example in Nova. It is about Making Stuff Smaller. Seriously, click on the guy with the magnifying glass and watch. It will blow your mind. And Mr. Mayhem didn't know that that is how a quartz watch works, either.
I also love Masterpiece on PBS. Mystery mostly, Sherlock last season was awesome. You cannot see the episodes online anymore, but you can see the trailer. A terrible tease. I also like Wallander, ahhh Kenneth Branagh. *sigh*
Anyway, Downton Abbey on Classic, right now, is fabulous! And I don't usually care for that time period type things. You can stream the episodes at the moment. I recommend that you do.

I will be back soon with more of the mundane Mayhem...

It's Not All About Baby

See, here are the Mayhem fellas... making nice for a picture with Grandma when we celebrated her birthday. Ignore the cake, I have not refined my baking skills, yet.But... there is a little sister.
Cuter than Cute.
And I finished Tea Leaves and Tiny Tea Leaves.

Matchy-Match strikes again!!

If you know of any other big girl/little girl patterns, let me know! She is going to outgrow this sweater, too.

In other news...

Winter has us in its grips. Shocking, I know, being January and all.

Lil'OnE LOVES to be out side in the snow. Crazy loves to be in the snow. She grabs a "kid size" plastic shovel that is twice as tall as she is and puts nearly as much snow on to the drive way as the boys remove.

Sledding still happens out by the front steps. They have been stockpiling snow next to the retaining wall so that they can slide over the edge without hurting themselves (they want steeper slope, I want them to not bust their heads open. Mean mom.) I am hoping that the snow hangs around until this weekend. They have a 4 day weekend and I would love to send them outside for a good bit of it!

I was on Retreat at St Paul of the Cross Monastary last weekend. *sigh* It was so wonderful in many ways. I need a week. But, I will settle for a weekend next January!

First FO of 2011

Say Hello to the Car Socks of the last 2 months or so.

They are nearly identical and mismatched.

How, You say? How can such lovely socks be mismatched?
Check out the toes.
Hmm. They both have toes.
Yes. One is a wedge the other is a star.
Oops.I had been petering along so long with these that I forgot that I decided to get fancy (aka do the not all the time the same toe.) And I never bothered to look at the first one when it came time to finish the second! That and it was dark in "The King's Speech."
Which, by the way, is a really good movie. Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush are fantastic actors.

three hundred degrees

Ah-Ha! Thanks, knitsburgh!
I succeeded in making my hard candy just like Grandma used to make. My recipe came to me from my Aunt Carrie, out of some community cookbook from who-knows-when and called to cook it to hard-ball stage which is about 260 degrees. But it works way better when cooked to hard-crack, 300 degrees! go figure.

I have made (thus far) orange, lemon, butter rum and cherry. I have some lime oil and I bought a candy flavor sampler at Michaels so that I could try more for less... love a coupon. But, the candy flavors are formulated for chocolate, some have added vegetable oil. I made the cherry and it wept. Not a lot, I wiped most of it off with a napkin, but not desireable and I will remember that for the future. But the good stuff, if you are also so inclined to make hard candy, is at the Uncommon Market . Prepare to be totally overwhelmed by your choices of flavor. Then buy the butter rum flavor. Werther's Originals. oh yeah. But the boys are pretty partial to the orange and lemon- which tastes like lemonheads.

Otherwise,
-We seemed to have survived the holidays.
-Kids don't go back to school until Tuesday.
-I am still working on my Tea Leaves, am down to the button bands, just waiting for a chance to work on it when I am quite awake. I really want this sweater to be done! I want to wear it and I am tired of knitting on it. But, it is gorgeous yarn (MadToshDK) and a beautiful pattern (even with the slim fitting sleeves.)
-No particular resolutions. It is always the same, anyway. Yes, that includes updating the blog more often :)

Happy 2011 to you! I wish you the best year yet!