Happy Anniversary to my beloved!!!

It started like this....

...15 years of bliss...
and I love you more than ever!

[pics removed at family's request - sorry!]

What would you do?

One day to go...

Can you imagine what must have gone through the minds of the women ....

.... when they came upon this?

If you've ever lost a loved one or endured a profound, life altering tragedy, don't you dream (by day or night) of the "what if's" and imagine what it would be like if you could bring the person back, what life would be like if the tragedy had never occurred?

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Imagine the practical side of you confronted with the inexplicable miracle that you dreamed of, but did not dare let yourself believe. What those holy women must have thought, and how they must have felt!

The open tomb is the open door to eternity. It's the miracle of Easter, and the promise of our lives to come.

Hope you all have a wonderful, blessed Easter - I'll be away until next Thursday and will undoubtedly regale you with more earthly tales and far shallower thoughts then!

Spell-o-rama

The Princess just got back from the Diocesan spelling bee...finished in the top 5 (which is almost as stunning as the fact that she made it out of the school level, as she is slightly challenged in matters of orthography). Congrats to her and thanks to the beloved for driving nearly 4 hours r/t in sleet to get her there on a weeknight. What are they thinking?

(Oh yeah. Duh. It's the Diocese of Rochester.)

Palm Sunday

Just a quick note - Mother of This Lot has a great post on this subject. I watched the Solemn Mass from Rome on EWTN while prepping for the beloved's birthday feast. The Gospel was chanted by three young deacons. Beautiful!

AND the winner is.....

.....Sanibel Island, FL.

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The vacation poll is closed!

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Yes, I shall welcome (?) my 40th by attending Easter morning Mass with the family, then hop on a plane and end it on a lovely, white-sandy beach, hopefully with some sort of umbrella-bearing cold adult beverage in hand.

For those who've never heard of it, Sanibel is a resort island in SW Florida, connected by a long bridge (causeway) to Ft. Myers, which is just over an hour south of Tampa.

I've been there twice, with friends whose parents owned a timeshare back in the mid-80's, and it was lovely. (And far less expensive!)

Sanibel is renowned for shelling...I still have a few good ones, and a lovely bit of fire coral, all these years later

I am taking the oldest child along....she's had a rough few months at school, having "outed" some of her peers for bullying. So now she's on the receiving end, feeling that she did the right thing, but being friendless at 14 is not easy. So a mini-break from the wretched she-dogs of the quasi-Catholic Jr. High will be good for her. She, being a major whitey, will be under the cabana, while I, with some strange ability to tan that comes every other generation in my Irish-German-Alsatian genetic stew, will be brown as a coconut within 48 hours. (Yes, I know we are not supposed to do that to our skin anymore, but given the long, dark, cold, snowy upstate winter, 1) don't really give a damn, and 2) let's just say I consider it therapy for my S.A.D. issues. Hmmmm.....I wonder if it's a tax writeoff....?)

So, I shall watch the sun set on my 30's and enjoy the halftime show for a few days, then back to reality.

(Nothing says "buzzkill" like 5 workers' compensation hearings in 2 days when I step off the plane!)

This was a painstaking process. I wanted to do something new and unusual. I very nearly chose 4 days in Iceland - yes, Iceland - because it was a strange and unique, once in a lifetime kind of trip, friends have raved about it, and hey, you only turn 40 once. But I had qualms about leaving the family so far behind.

Then I got some great info, and a killer potential deal on a Dublin package for St. Patrick's Day, staying at the Clarence with a potential "surprise" U2 appearance...but I could not stand the look of pain in the beloved's eyes at the thought of me doing that without him. He could not take time away that week. He was the baby seal, I was the club. Not right at all.

Last week was looking a lot like London - crazy cheap fares and a desire to take tea at Harrods, and then pop over to Harvey Nic's and look for Patsy & Edina. But then, I've done that (didn't find Patsy & Edina then, either...).

So, I ended up staying in the States, spending far less, feeling very little guilt, and will be going to a place I have fond memories of at the same age as the oldest is now. We shall have bonding moments, a convertible rental car, and be back in the wee hours on Thursday. (For those who are wondering, the 10 year old and I explored Charleston together last summer, so she is not being overlooked, but she's sure miffed at the moment. Sometimes a little one-on-one time with Mom - and Mom with girl - is a very good thing!)

I will take lots of picture and give you all a review when I return!

Happy Birthday!

To my beloved...44 today!

How the mighty have fallen

UPDATE # 2:

Went out to dinner with our dear friends the County Election Commissioner (godmother to the boy) and her beloved husband/our local State Assemblyman (R). Opening statements/chat over cocktails:

Me: [almost innocently] So, T--, how's your week been?

T--: [smirking] Oh, y'know, busy....and I'm pretty tired. From smiling so much.

All: [LOL!!!!!!!! Bartender , patrons, and restaurant owner included]

(Good stuff!)

Dinner and after-dinner were GREAT fun!

UPDATE:

Credit due -- he did the right thing and resigned this afternoon - 3-12-08 - and even said what I do below:

"To whom much is given, much is expected..."

Eliot Spitzer (a.k.a., The Luv Guv)

While the Demo-crites in this state and elsewhere can beseech the public to forgive him all they want ("after all, his wife is standing by him...[blah blah blah]") the bottom line is this: Eliot Spitzer is not just some hubris-stricken politician caught with his pants down (in a bathroom stall or elsewhere, in the Oval Office in a consensual encounter, whatever). He must be held to a higher standard. He is a licensed attorney, former District Attorney and NY State Attorney General who built his reputation on going after, among other things, organized prostitution, with special attention to thowing the book at the women involved and seeking harsh sentences to prove how tough on crime he is. Not only did he engage in the crime of solicitation, he was arrogant enough to do it across state lines, thereby committing both State and Federal offenses. This is not a stupid man. Just one who, born to privilege and driven to power, fully believed himself to be above the very law he is sworn to uphold.

Link to the 55 page indictment...see "Client 9" references: http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nys/pressreleases/March08/emperorsclubcomplaintredacted.pdf


No quarter.

He needs to resign. Yesterday. My friend/local State Assemblyman and his fellow Republican Assemblymen have kindly allowed him 48 hours before the impeachment process begins. Generous.


Interesting how he and his party exposed, excoriated, and otherwise attacked the ethics of Jeannine Pirro, a former opponent of his, for soliciting the services of a private investigator to follow and record her cheating husband in the act. Hmmmm....didst he protest too much?

Sometimes ya gotta spell it out

The "new" deadly sins...

ROME — Drug pushers, the obscenely rich, environmental polluters and “manipulative” genetic scientists beware — you may be in danger of losing your mortal soul unless you repent.
After 1,500 years the Vatican has brought the seven deadly sins up to date by adding seven new ones for the age of globalization. The list, published yesterday in L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, came as the Pope deplored the “decreasing sense of sin” in today’s “secularized world” and the falling numbers of Roman Catholics going to confession.
The Catholic Church divides sins into venial, or less serious, sins and mortal sins, which threaten the soul with eternal damnation unless absolved before death through confession and penitence.
It holds mortal sins to be “grave violations of the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes,” including murder, contraception, abortion, perjury, adultery and lust.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that “immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into Hell.”
Although there is no definitive list of mortal sins, many believers accept the broad seven deadly sins or capital vices laid down in the 6th century by Pope Gregory the Great and popularized in the Middle Ages by Dante in "The Inferno": lust, gluttony, avarice, sloth, anger, envy and pride.
/**/

Christians are exhorted instead to adhere to the seven holy virtues: chastity, abstinence, temperance, diligence, patience, kindness and humility.
Bishop Gianfranco Girotti, head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, the Vatican body which oversees confessions and plenary indulgences, said after a week-long Lenten seminar for priests that surveys showed 60 percent of Catholics in Italy no longer went to confession.
He said that priests must take account of “new sins which have appeared on the horizon of humanity as a corollary of the unstoppable process of globalization.” Whereas sin in the past was thought of as being an individual matter, it now has “social resonance.”
“You offend God not only by stealing, blaspheming or coveting your neighbor’s wife, but also by ruining the environment, carrying out morally debatable scientific experiments, or allowing genetic manipulations which alter DNA or compromise embryos,” he said.
Bishop Girotti said that mortal sins also included taking or dealing in drugs, and social injustice which caused poverty or “the excessive accumulation of wealth by a few.”
He said that two mortal sins which continued to preoccupy the Vatican were abortion, which offended “the dignity and rights of women,” and pedophilia, which had even infected the clergy itself and so had exposed the “human and institutional fragility of the Church.”
The mass media had “blown up” the issue “to discredit the Church,” but the Church itself was taking steps to deal with it, according to Girotti.
Addressing the Apostolic Penitentiary seminar, the Pope said there was “a certain disaffection” with confession among the faithful. Priests had to show “divine tenderness for penitent sinners” and admit their own failings.
“Those who trust in themselves and in their own merits are, as it were, blinded by their own ‘I’, and their hearts harden in sin. Those who recognize themselves as weak and sinful entrust themselves to God, and from Him obtain grace and forgiveness.”
The Pope also complained that an increasing number of people in the secularized West were “making do without God.”
He said that hedonism and consumerism had even invaded “the bosom of the Church itself, deeply undermining the Christian faith from within, and undermining the lifestyle and daily behavior of believers.”
Eastern Catholics do not recognize the same distinction between mortal and venial sins as the Western or Latin Church does, nor do they believe that those people who die in a state of sin are condemned to automatic damnation.

"He's in the Jailhouse now..."

We are not real pleased with our new sleeping arrangements

[pic removed at request of family - sorry!]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2dqgUkJOvs

I am alive...

All's been quiet on the Western NY front this past week...on the blog, anyway. Work has been hectic. I accepted a case from a retired attorney...only to discover at a hearing that the retired attorney made a grave procedural error 5 years ago that precludes the client's claim. The judge had the client leave the hearing room and gave me his condolences...and adjourned the hearing so I could talk to the client. Not a fun couple of conversations. The attorney is/was an excellent lawyer and a good, honorable person, and it's more than likely a clerical/paralegal mistake that the attorney is now going to take the fall for. The client is catastrophically injured physically and now financially...at least for the time being. Yikes. It can happen to anyone - which is a scary reality. Much to ponder this weekend.

Uh oh.

Here it comes.

I fell asleep with the baby and missed evening Mass, woke up not knowing where I was, or what time of day...legs and back achy, eyes burning, throat and ears unhappy...and I have a big nasty hearing in the morning.

Yuck.

Fatima Reveille (LOL!!!)

Gotta love the classics.

Bl. Lucia, Francisco, Jacinta

Oh, that nutty 10 year old...we were chatting about baby and childhood memories last weekend and the subject of her "apparition" phase came up. (For about a 3-4 month stretch on the 13th during 1st grade, and then again on October 13th, she "appeared" in doorways, with a solemn face and blue veil) This morning, we had an encore. She sidled in, with the original blue veil, and was giggling and snorting. "I know it's not the 13th (snicker) but PRAY THE ROSARY! See ya!" and off she went.

Miracle of the Sun

Seems she spent quite some time looking for her blue veil, and found it late last night.

March is here!

....and it is 5* outside. Yay. We did see our first robin on 2/17, so I know there is hope....

Mom moment

(Rambly - beware!)

Sometimes I have days like today where I sat here with a nice little baby in my lap but could not tell you what cute things he did, because I could not stop thinking about my middle one.

This past weekend, the 14 year old invited three friends over for a non-birthday sleepover. She is currently on the "outs" with her usual clique (which, frankly, is fine....snots, all of them...) so invited only nice, parent-approved kids over. If it was a real birthday party, she'd have felt obligated to invite all of them. Her idea, and I love it!

Sadly, because of the bad weather, only one girl came, and gave her a little gift bag for the "non-birthday" filled with all manner of girly things AND a movie . "The Craft." A movie about a group of Catholic HS girls who are witches/wiccans/into the occult. I did not want to cause any more trauma than the low attendance already had, but suggested they watch something else - "Amazing Grace" - they did, they liked it, and they were both out cold by midnight.

The next day, after the lone other girl went home, I started the quiet discussion about why I did not think this was such a great movie for them to watch. However, because I am determined to NOT do the "NO because I say so"/raise my VonTrapps in a bubble thing (which, IMO, drives the kids right at wrong choices at this age), AND because my kid has a fairly mature and reasonable head on her shoulders, we agreed to watch it together, with the condition that I would shut it off if it got too out of hand. I gave running commentary throughout on why I did not like the subject matter, howit might appeal to more lost and malleable types than she and send them down perilous paths. She agreed(!), and we laughed at some of the more "emo" aspects. This was actually a positive experience, she was able to look critically at the issues and decided she disapproved....and just then, the beloved came in toward the end of the movie, lip curled, snorts of derision blazing....which started some dad-daughter sniping, which sniping I then tried to quell.

The 10 year old shut us all up. She'd listened to some of the pre-movie debate and elected to go play in her room, but came down when she heard the ruckus. She looked at her sister and said "Sissy, you should listen to Mom and Dad. Movies like that are bad for your soul, and they offend the Lord." Back up to her room without another word.

Whoa! Stopped us all in our tracks.

This is our Little Professor (academically brilliant, but has mild Asperger's Syndrome and struggles with peer interactions), whom we also call our "Little Therese" (from her favorite churchy movie). We did have a 3-4 month run of Fatima apparitions from her when she was in 1st grade...on the 16th, she would stand in the doorway in a blue veil and say "Pray the Rosary. See you in a month." and take off. (Hee!) She is beautiful inside and out, but also very breakable. She can tell you anything you want to know about anything from Catechism to cicadas, adults adore her, but she has few friends - always far away and/or above her age group in many ways. I worry about her ability to cope with the world, especially the junior high world, which she enters next year. Girls are so brutal - and given what I've seen with my 8th grader at the quasi-Catholic jr. high, I am torn up wondering what to do. Send her there? Keep her in public school for a broader base of potential friends? Take a full-time professor gig and homeschool her to keep her away from it all until she's of an age where kids are more tolerant (college, maybe?!)? This is my dilemma. I want this pure, innocent, kind little soul to stay that way. (She occasionally talks more than in passing about becoming a nun when she's older...I invariably say "That would be lovely!" and inwardly hope and pray that she finds that she does have a true vocation) I love the law, but I love this kid exponentially more and would put practice on hold for as long as she needs me.

The older one is going to do well in life. Well-adjusted, turns her back on trouble, tells me EVERYTHING, adores her sister and brother, and would rather go to the mall with me than her gang of annoying 14 year old friends (not a stupid kid, knows where the shopping money is...). She has expressed some concern to me about how her sister will fare, based on what she's seen and experienced with girls and cliques at this school. What for her (and most of us) is a rite of passage could seriously wound the younger one.

Much to ponder and pray about.

More Madness?

Okay. One of our priests (one of the two decent homilists we have in a 50 mile radius) is nearing retirement, and has had health issues. On Christmas Eve 2006, he had a cardiac event while saying Mass. Since then, he has explained to us that he must sit as much as possible throughout Mass, and has received the appropriate permissions to do so. I have NO problem with this. However, he has now stopped distributing communion, leaving it to all 8 of the the EM's (I call them "Excessive Ministers" around here, given the fact that there rarely over 200 people at Mass...do the division). I truly don't know what the deal is on this. It just seems like the celebrant ( who stands in persona Christi, after all) should not be abdicating this particular responsibility to the lay ministers.

Reason # [Gazillion] the Marines rock...

...you know how I love those Marines!

http://gretawire.foxnews.com/2008/02/20/an-email-from-jennifer-griffin-in-iraq/

An inspirational story about one HARD CHARGER! Send him an email and let him know you appreciate his service. I wonder how many he will get?

Pray for the salvation of Cuba!

Fidel has resigned, his brother is not much younger...there is hope!

I also pray that St. Michael will defend Cuba against the influence of Chavez and others of that ilk...

1900 Voices Crying In The Wilderness

Bishop Clark strikes again...

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080213/NEWS01/802130348

Now do you see why I want to get the hell outta here?!? Five years until mandatory retirement is too long for so many souls here to bear.

Thanks to Rich at Ten Reasons for keeping the dialog on this one up to date.

(Side note: Karen, I am a hopeless linker!)

Madness

And though I've been on a musical bent of late, I don't mean the group... ("ONE....STEP....BEYOND!!!!)...at the moment.

I will be brief. Due to the beloved's Sunday work schedule, we often go to the late 5 pm "regional" Mass (or, more properly, "cinders" Mass) so we can go as a family. The kids call it "Cheater's Mass" for all the people who slept late. The priests rotate weekly, so I do my best to avoid going when I know that one of the less inspiring and/or alarmingly liberal (I barely stop short of "heretical" here) of the local clergy will be saying Mass. Here's why:

"He took the cup, gave it to His sisters and brothers, and said...."

Is it just me? WT....? Maybe he believes the DaVinci Code and thinks St. John is really Mary Magdalene in the painting? This is a new one in the "all inclusive" Hall of Shame.

I wanna move away from here before I give in and only watch Mass on EWTN instead of subjecting myself and my family to this nonsense each week.

Happy Birthday!

Little Miss 13-Going-On-35 is 14 today!

[pic removed at family's request - sorry!]

Happy Birthday, Princess!

(Here in her uniform with The Boy on his first day with us back in April...she hopped off the bus, ditched school and walked two blocks over to the hospital instead....that's my girl!)