Sunday, August 22, 2010

Remember me?

Long time no blog! For the dozen or so of you who read this regularly, mea culpa...but most of you know what I've been up to courtesy of Facebook.

Beloved: still in the Middle East

Princess: 16, sweet, still dating the nice drummer boy, who is headed to college for pre-med studies. A few months ago, she decided she'd had enough of the Peyton Place of a CINO high school she goes to, fought a tough battle to graduate a year early...we compromised with her obtaining permission to study away at a Catholic University in NYC for her senior year, gain a year of college credit, and still obtain her diploma from the school she's cheered at but otherwised not enjoyed much these past few years. Soooo proud of her. :)

Therese: 8th grade! Smart as a whip, taking honors/9th grade classes...went on a grand adventure ouut West with the grandparents, and is gowing up into a mature and serene young lady. However, she refuses to return to Catholic school and declares that her former intention to become a nun has been eradicated by watching how the habitless nuns at her older sister's CINO school act, and how the kids at the school are allowed to behave. Thank you, DOR. Thank you, non-committal order.... But truly, she's doing well at a personal level, and will be great at whatever she chooses as her path in life.

The Boy: charming, darling, 3, and still a mystery. It's not a question of if, but rather where, he is on the ASD spectrum. It has been a year of tears but also one of triumphs as we are slowly breaking into his inner life and seeing how incredibly brilliant he is, and how rapidly his little mind processes things. Now we just have to get him to tell us more about it all. He's darling, he's amazing, and he's perfect just the way God made him. All the rest of us have to do is catch up. <3

Helo-Mom: content! She has had a blessedly quiet time of it. Great, honorable, high moral standard havin' boyfriend for our Princess. The college commute (for now) is a mere 90 minutes. Next year will be the true test.

Well, that's about all from nowhere....back when kids are in school. Really. I'm committed. ;)

Saturday, February 13, 2010

I'm alive!!!

Hello friends -

I have not forsaken you! I have been busy (as you facebook people can attest) and have had so little time to get through a day, let alone blog about anything that you all haven't all said better than I could. :) Having the Blackberry has made facebook - which I swore I would not use - the easiest way to communicate the daily triumphs and tragedies of life in my corner of the north-central middle of nowhere. But I am regrouping and reclaiming some personal time as the Boy gets ready for a few hours of nursery school time, and the Princess - Lord help us - is going to start DRIVING in a few days!!! (GAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!)

So, I'll be back. Sooner than you might think this time. Really!

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Happy Feast of the Immaculate Conception!

Checking in from my mostly computerless existence...hope you are all doing well and are virus-free. All is going along nicely in our little corner of nowhere, HM is pleased with the current Princess situation, so there hasn't been much to post about.

I was rather stunned to find this nice little article about today's Feast Day on the mainstream AOL feed. How in the world did that make it past the editors?!? ;)

I am very likely NOT going to make it to Mass today, as I am drowning in snot and Dayquil here with the equally slimy Little Boy, so please pray for me - I'll be watching Mass on EWTN, as is my usual fall-back position. Frankly, I've been doing that a lot in recent weeks. Otherwise, I am eagerly awaiting the big snowstorm we're supposed to get...aside from the daily kid taxi service, I've got nowhere to go, and nothing else going on, and plenty of groceries and firewood. So bring it on!!!

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Happy Birthday to the USMC

Busy day here...masons, car work, speech therapist, dance, and chaperoning for the teenagers...so here's a retro Happy 234th Birthday shout out to the USMC from when I had time to assemble long posts last year, and a big THANK YOU to all our Veterans....please please please take a moment to pray for those who have fallen while serving our country, all those who have served honorably in our past, those serving presently, and for the brave souls who will be our Marines, soldiers, seamen, and airmen of the future.

Thank you all for your service!!!

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Devil Dogs...

...have their tender spots, especially for our four legged friends! I love this story!!!

Ooh Rah!!!

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

HMD #39 - Dusting off the Rotors

Yes! HeloMom lives...


Well, even as the continuing scarcity of time to post persists, the amount of activity here at the hangar has picked up again.


Updates:


  1. Athlete continues to carry a torch from afar, but has bungled matters beyond repair. More on that in a minute.

  2. Westley, the Beautiful Stranger, has made his long-term intentions known. He leaves December 1st for boot camp. He acknowledges that he is 18, and the Princess is not yet 16, which makes matters difficult. She is otherwise engaged at the moment (I toldja, more on that in a minute!) But he vows that he will foray into his new career, excel, and return for her when she's ready. (Talk about Semper Fi!) She is "beautiful, smart, driven, and will make some very lucky man a fine wife." Hopefully his, apparently. This may sound far out there, but there's a look in the boy's eye....a stoic, solid and determined one....he's a neighbor of the Royal Grandparents....so there's no doubt that he's coming back. He's a lifer.

  3. The Beautiful Bad Boy is, indeed, bad. He took a lot of heat from the "cool" kids for having a crush on the Princess, who is too much of a good girl for his taste. He still stares at her all the time, but won't speak to her lest his friends tease him, and so as stupid teenage boys do to throw others off the scent, he has behaved boorishly to her at a few school dances (she does not do the sex-with-clothes-on "grinding" that is prevalent nowadays) by sandwiching her with his football friends and "grinding" her between their respective pelvises. (In the real world, it would be a misdemeanor form of sexual battery, quite frankly, and the school has heard my thoughts on this specific incident as well as the general permissiveness regarding this form of "dance" that is unattractive anywhere...but unpardonable in a quasi-Catholic high school setting...) She is disgusted and says no matter how gorgeous, smart, athletic, and popular he is..."he's a pig, and I don't want him to ever [expletive] touch me again." The expletive part is pretty serious business coming from her.

And now.....

Enter The Beautiful Music[ian].

As some of you may have seen on my accursed Facebook page, there's a new boy in town. A boy whose family transfered to Boston last year, so he and the Princess did not meet until he persuaded his parents to allow him to come back here to the middle of nowhere so he might finish off high school with the friends he's known since preschool. His very nice mom agreed to leave the family manse in Boston, rented a small place here, and they commute back to see dad (an ER doc, so he doesn't get to travel here as much) at least once a month.

From about mid-September on, I kept hearing about this cute and nice boy who came back for his senior year. He was touted as smart, cute (again with the cute...), Catholic (whew! finally...), quite popular among his fellow seniors, and very musically talented - in addition to performing in various state competitions, he composed several percussion ensembles and won awards and one earned a professional performance in NYC when he was in 10th grade here, and another was performed in Boston last year. She mentioned her admiration to a mutual friend (under pain of death, not-to-be-repeated...) so of course by the next day (a Friday), he contacted her out of the blue and asked her if she was going to the big soccer game that evening.

"Of course!"

The kid has never been to a high school soccer game in her life.

Especially when said soccer game was on a Friday/away-football-game night.

But she managed to wheedle her way (via me and my trusty Volvo wagon) into going to the soccer game, where she sat with him for exactly 38 minutes before we had to speed off to a miserable rainy football game over an hour away. (We made it in 50 minutes. Just sayin'). He left for Boston the next day, so a marathon textathon ensued for the entire Columbus Day weekend.

By Tuesday morning, he was (figuratively) on bended knee, asking her to be his main squeeze AND to go with him to the winter formal...which isn't until sometime after Christmas. He's asked us all to come to Boston and stay in the family compound at some point during Christmas vacation. Youthful exuberance and pupy love? Not this kid. He's smart, grounded, and very serious...but with just the right amount of humility to be endearing. Seems he spotted our Princess within the first week of school and was weak-kneed, but never thought she'd be interested in the drummer kid who just showed back up from Boston. He confided about his enchantment immediately after first seeing her to exactly one person - the mutual friend - also under threat of bodily harm. When the friend blabbed to him that she was equally intrigued, he was thunderstruck. Then they talked for hours and hours, and he now says he was tempted to hop on a bus if he had to in order to get back here to see her in person and ask her out lest someone else suddenly swoop in and steal her (now he knows better - she's selective and not easily swayed).

They've been virtually inseperable ever since. He comes over and helps her with her trig homework. They take the baby for long walks along the river. When faced with a choice of a kegger-bonfire with his pals or trick-or-treating with his girlfriend's younger siblings, he came here - and stayed to watch the World Series. He turned off his cell phone when all the "where are you - why aren't you here - we're all gettin' wasted" texts got to be too annoying. He likes to bring mom (a real estate broker turned stay-at-home commuter mom) when he comes over, so the work-widow moms can have tea and grown up chat while the kids do homework together at the dining room table. What more could a HeloMom want in a new boyfriend for her Princess?

How about less than a two-year gap.

Now for the painful part....he's just submitted all of his paperwork for an early decision at NYU's music school, and his prospects are excellent. So whatever may develop over the next several months, there is a finite aspect to this story - he will leave after graduation, and he will very likely not return. HeloMom has discussed this with the Princess. She does not like to think about it. Not now.

HeloMom hopes that these two nice kids have a wonderful time together for as long as may be. They've got a lot in common, they're very sweet together, there's no drama...just lots of mutual respect and admiration, and plenty of romance brewing. HeloMom just wondering how everyone will deal with the inevitable end of their story.

Until next time...

HM out.

Lest we forget

They still hate us.

Just sayin'.

Hard to "dialogue" when someone's been charged with reaping your infidel's head, or a least knifing you or beating you until you're bedridden and (better yet) "lose one of your senses."

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Another Note to the Little Boy

Dear Little Boy,

I know that you are very excited about the new, huge 2-year molars that you have coming in at the moment. They open up entirley new vistas and avenues of culinary possibilities.

But could you please stop reaching back to feel them as they poke through? Because in all honesty, I'm kinda tired of cleaning up vomit.

Thanks for your consideration.

I love you,

Mamma

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Happy Birthday!!!

Our little Therese is 12 today. She spent her birthday weekend babysitting so I could watch the Princess cheer at her last football home game, going to vounteer at a food pantry, attending another friend's party, (insisting that she did not want to have a party of her own, and would rather have dinner out at her favorite diner and be with "just the family" with a simple home-made cake) and is spending this birthday night attending her first training session for Youth Court.

She is a blessing each and every day.

Friday, October 9, 2009

THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE???

ARE YOU [EXPLETIVE] KIDDING ME?!?

Between this and Al Gore, my theory that a peace prize given in the name of the inventor of dynamite is no longer ironic...it's friggin' ridiculous.

Bono deserved it more than either of these two clowns.

Trying to "open up dialogue with the Muslim world?" Has that been helpful? That's up there with the dress Michelle Obama wore to the CMOH ceremony for Sgt. Jared Monti a few weeks back in the ridiculous, inappropriate, and farce categories.

Wow. Just.....wow.

One to tug at the heartstrings...

The photo is both priceless and heartbreaking....

Little Girl Can't Let go as Sergeant Daddy Leaves For Iraq - ParentDish

Thursday, October 8, 2009

SANCTE PATER: THE Z-TEAM!

LOLOLOL!!!!! One of Vincenzo's finest!!!!!

SANCTE PATER: THE Z-TEAM!

Fall-ing...

I don't know about you, but around here in the middle of nowhere, NY we had a cool, rainy, cruddy summer and the fall isn't much better. Yesterday we had a wind advisory, and just as we were about to hit our leaf peak....lost a lot of leaves. And a few branches, one of which (from a massive 100-foot pine or spruce in our yard) narrowly missed a neighbor's car. Whew!

Inside the domestic church, aside from learning that I need a $2000 masonry repair in order to renew and increase my homeowners' insurance coverage, I have just discovered a leak inside a wall that has destroyed a number of boxes of holiday and other miscellaneous decorations by heading into the dreaded "room under the stairs" in our basement. GGGAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!! Years of craft fair prowling, kid-made treasures, and a few bags of clothes I never managed to drop off at the Salvation Army...mold spore city. That should be a fun weekend cleaning project, as should tearing into the wall somewhere between our recently redecorated and wallpapered powder room, freshly painted kitchen, and (newly dank and moldy) unfinished basement ceiling, pipes, and stone walls to see where the leak is. First, though, I have to get through tomorrow night's football game an hour and a half away in what's projected to be yet another loss in a cold, windy, downpour.

So yeah - it's been busy around here as usual. Just not our usual fun-busy.

I think it's time to start baking to warm things up, cover up the encroaching basement moldy smell, and start working on my winter layer of personal fat insulation! ;)

Monday, October 5, 2009

Feast of St. Francis

Well, it's a bit late in the evening, but I was reflecting with the girlies earlier about how it's been five years since we were climbing the hills and trudging the beautiful cobbled streets of Assissi, watching all the processions and even sneaking into the Basilica at the tail-end of Mass...getting lost but then gloriously found when we finally reached St. Clare's abbey...what an experience! Sadly, all of my pictures are still locked up in the scrambled brain of my dead laptop, waiting to be extracted, or I'd share a few.

Fast forward to 2009. I watched Mass and Benediction today on EWTN, and was glad to see that Mother Angelica and Deacon Bill Steltenmeier (sp?) received "Pro Ecclesia" medals from the Pope for their advancement of the Faith through the network. Say what you will about the individual personalities involved, the Fr. Francis debacle from a few years back...but I am a fan and a supporter. Not only have I learned a lot over the years, but I find a lot of comfort in knowing that I can watch Mass, have the Rosary on in the background as my "white noise" when I'm doing housework, and heck yeah - I'll take a "Mother Angelica Live" morning rerun over "The View" any day. So thanks to Mother Angelica and her Poor Clares, the good Franciscan priests and laypeople who serve there, and to Sts. Francis and Clare for their inspiration.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Well now, this is an interesting question...

Should Ted Kennedy have been denied funerial rites?

Hmmm....I see it from both sides, inasmuch as Mr. Kennedy took a very prominent, anti-Catholic position on pivotal issues such as abortion, sterilization based population control and healthcare, and same-sex "marriage." However, because we who are reading (and writing) about this simply cannot know the extent or nature of his private reflections (sorrow? repentance? or just doin' a little cya letter writing campaign to Rome?) as he journeyed toward his death, at the time he received the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, and/or at the hour of is death, it's hard for me to accept absolutely that he shouldn't have been afforded a Catholic funeral, because all we have is public information. I guess we should hope and pray that he truly repented and had a conversion of heart, mind, and soul as his days drew to a close. Hate the sin(s), love the sinner, right?

Bottom line: I hope Ted Kennedy found his way Home. And I love that we have someone like Archbishop Burke willing to go on the record and say aloud what his former USCCB cohorts are either too cowardly to say...or just flat-out don't believe.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

HMD #38 - I'm ba-a-a-a-ack.....

Remember me? Yes, the HeloMom is still without her laptop (a hard business for a late-night, before-bed authoress..my library downstairs is a fishbowl and so darn cold at night!) but a new school year is upon us and there is much to discuss. So I'm sitting downstairs at the desktop because I love...and because I decided to go to cheater Mass at 5 and have some free time on my hands. :)

Anyhoo.....

You'll recall, dear friends, the Beautiful Liar-Beautiful Stranger dilemma. I'll get to that. But first....

Enter the Beautiful Bad Boy.

Our favorite Athlete has gone off to college, a mere 45 minutes away. He still pines. He still loves. When he can think of a good reason, he texts and/or calls. And there are some great reasons - he's made the school's Ultimate Frisbee club (very competitive, apparently), as well as auditioning for slots as the student radio station's sports announcer - got it - and television sports anchor - got the secondary spot. Not bad for a freshman in his first month of school. We are very proud of him, and the Princess is genuinely thrilled at all of these accomplishments. Her tall friend is hitting his stride, has girls throwing themselves at his feet....but his heart is still back here in the middle of nowhere, NY.

Westley is still quietly pitching woo - but the Princess is not catching on. When the Beloved came for a back-to-school visit, he asked for - and received - permission to court the Princess. The catch: the Princess has to say yes. She has skirted the issue, and with good reason. Westley also discussed his plans to enlist in the USMC with the Beloved (who, as some of you may recall, is retired USMC and spent three dreadful years as a recruiter). This has caused the Princess to be quite reluctant to pursue any sort of relationship with Westley, beyond very basic friendship. He is 18, he's darling, he's a good boy from a very conservative Christian family....but.....it's just not clicking. Nevertheless, Westley has stated that he is content to wait and see if she changes her mind. He appeared unexpectedly with flowers and a card because she had a bad back-to-school cold last week after cheering at a chilly football game during a nasty, steady downpour. He came to Friday's home game to sit with me and some other family members, and escorted her safely back to the car. The young man is smitten, and he seems very patient and determined. The Princess' exact words: "he'd be a lot cuter if he wasn't leaving town..."

And now, there's the third player in the saga...the Bad Boy. He is actually not a truly "bad" kid, just very snarky and cocky...and a seriously talented standout football player in his junior year. Another tall, lanky kid who does double duty as a running back and a linebacker. Honor student, has a fraternal twin (who's definitely the "good" twin"), is very popular...but his sarcastic, cutting sense of humor is a bit much for even some of his best friends to handle. Princess has known him since junior high, they were on the same Youth Court team until this year...he was quite put out when she was reassigned and promoted to a judge position last month (ha! hooray!) while he remains a prosecutor, despite having an extra year of experience on the team. He's never given her much thought or a second look. Until now. He looks at her all the time, but (for once) says nothing.

And she's been looking back. Her fellow cheerleaders have noticed - most recently, when she was practicing her new "flying" job this past week and nearly fell/was dropped when the football coach screamed at the Bad Boy by name to get his @$$ back over to the team and away from the girls. She was startled, he was mortified. The next day, the boys finished practice early, but the girls were still at it. She and her base group stayed late to ensure she had the dismounts under control. She was struggling, but then the other girls saw Bad Boy and his cronies watching from the parking lot, told her he was there, turned and faced her towards the parking lot....and suddenly she was making superstar leaps, twists, and graceful landings. Her coach gave her a raised-eyebrow smirk and said she was possibly the biggest cheeseball she'd ever seen. All were laughing.

So what's the hold-up with this kid?!?

As with your typical cocky ultra-popular high school kid who has a crush on a younger, less-popular, but cute-as-heck girl....he's not sure what to do. She's smart. She's pretty. She's a cheerleader. She's a judge as a 10th - not 12th - grader. She sits on all sorts of school and county-wide youth committees where selection is based on merit, not popularity. BUT..... He's friends with a few older brothers of the Princess' tormentors, and has heard all sorts of strange rumors (fabricated and generated by the nasty girls). However, he has also spent enough time in her general vicinity outside of school to question what's been said about her. Yet at the same time...is it worth risking your reputation to give this girl a chance? It's a very "Pretty in Pink" - like scenario. (Except for the blue collar vs. upper-middle class theme... they're on fairly equal footing there.)

After this past weekend's first victory (in which Bad Boy played a major role), the varsity football players and cheerleaders had a bonfire party (dry, for once...). Princess sat on a rock near the fire talking with a few of her teammates. Bad Boy stood directly across the fire pit from her, staring intently...but looked away quickly every time she caught his eye. And then he left without saying a word.

The Princess is petulant, and intends to get to the bottom of this strange behavior. As she put it, "Who the heck does he think he is? Mr. Darcy?"

One can only hope...

HeloMom is not yet equipped to deal equably with a Wickham.

Will report in with any new developments.

HM out.