7 Quick Takes, or 7 Things To Do Instead of Blogging

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Enjoy The End of the School Year.

Field trips, field days, class parties, picnics; try and squeeze in a couple of extra days substituting too. Say goodbye and wish everyone a fun-filled summer.

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Lose Yourself in a Book.

Have you ever been so in love with a book that every cheesy 70's song you heard on the XM Mellow Rock station reminds you of the story and its characters? Last weekend I finished reading The Time Traveller's Wife, and it hooked me from the first page. It's been a while since I've read a really good love story. (My sister-in-law says that she doesn't ever want to watch the movie, because the book was so fantastic she's afraid of being disappointed. Me? I just want to look at Eric Bana.)

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Now, I'm reading Pillars of the Earth. Almost every summer, I choose one meaty, 800+ page book to tackle, and usually, I finish. It all began in 2004, when I decided to join Oprah in reading Anna Karenina; now it's one of my all-time favorite books. A few years ago, I read The Count of Monte Cristo, and could barely put it down. The last two summers I haven't been as successful; while reading Don Quixote and George Weigel's Witness to Hope: The Biography of John Paul II, I made the mistake of deciding to put the books aside temporarily for something lighter. I never finished either one of them.

I'm pretty sure I'll finish this one. It's another hard-to-put-down read.

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Honor Your Father. And Your Mother.

And your husband, your children, your brother, and sister-in-law. And all the brave men and women who have fought and died for freedom.

The Saturday before Father's Day, we spent the morning relaxing at my parents' house. Moe looked for frogs,

and I watched the birds playing in the little spring.

That afternoon we met my brother and sister-in-law at the National D-Day Memorial. If you ever have a chance to visit this site, it's a very moving experience. It was a sweltering day, in the upper 90s; the breeze definitely helped.

Okay. Stalin?? WHY??

But we like Ike.


After dinner, just before a thunderstorm rolled in, the boys played with the flashing light-up Frisbees that my parents bought for them in May while on vacation in Branson, Missouri.

It was the first time my parents, my brother, and I had all been together since the wedding in March. Growing up, there were four of us. Now, we are nine. We are truly blessed.

Please keep my father in your prayers this summer as he undergoes treatment for prostate cancer.

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Play on Twitter.

But not too much. It could become an obsession. You may need a therapist.

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Stay Cool.

When it's in the 90s and above day after day, where else would you want to be except the pool?(I can't quite tell if this is Larry or Moe.)

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Go to the Movies.

Larry has already seen Toy Story 3. Tomorrow the whole family is going to see it together. We've warned Larry under pain of torture NOT to reveal ANYTHING.

We don't watch movies in the theater very often, but we ALWAYS go see the Pixar movies. (Likewise the Harry Potter films.) We just can't wait for those to come out on DVD. I'm sure I'll have lots to say about this one here.

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Give Something Away

Today I realized that this will be my 99th blog post. Lately I've been thinking that it's high time for a Musings of a Catholic Mom giveaway, and in honor of my 100th post, I decided that now would be the time! I already know what the prize will be, and I've been planning it for a while; I've just been waiting for the right moment.

In my next post, number ONE HUNDRED, I'll reveal the details. Stay tuned to see what you could win!

Get Thee To the Woods, Vol. 4: Birds, Bugs, and Sassafras (and Mary, too!)

Our baby geese don't look like babies anymore! See that white goose? He or she (we're not sure which) has decided it wants to be their mother. A few times we've seen her (or him?) trying to chase the real parents away.

What's Moe looking at today?

Our friend the Great Blue Heron,


and these little buggers.



The crepe myrtle trees that grace our parish lawn are in bloom! It seems like the white ones usually bloom first; later we'll start to see pinkish-purplish ones around our little town.

In the middle of the night a number of years ago, someone thought it would be funny to push our church's Mary statue off of her pedestal. As a result, her head was broken clean off of her body. You can still see the scars.

While I was visiting Mary, this little birdie wanted to say hello.

We have quite a few of these sassafras plants growing in our backyard.

On Sunday, Curly and Moe pulled a couple of them out of the ground and chopped up the roots.

Then they boiled the pieces in water for several minutes,

and Voila', Sassafras Tea!

I prefer mine over ice.

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