8 Stammers equals No postings and a Bad blog.

I keep trying to write funny pieces, or thoughtful ones, and get 1/3 of the way through, before realizing, this is stale or this is not quite what I was trying to say.  Ergo there are lots of drafts in my blog roster with incomplete stats.   So I told myself, if you're going to stay a writer, you can't do that anymore. You have to write each day, even if it's a poem.  Even if it's a writing prompt.  I got a book of writing prompts so I will be able to stay on this track.

Every writer hits walls, when they don't want to bleed more, or they think, they've found everything they might imagine.  There are tricks to the trade, reading, writing prompts, setting a timer, jumping genres, doing a list, doing a rant, and they all work, but what works most efficiently, is sitting in the chair and writing.  

Like I am now.

Work and Mothering and having some life outside of the computer has cut back on the musing/writing time I had up until work showed up, and the adjustments to time and schedules have come slowly if at all.  However I woke up agitated, knowing I haven't given writing any time, and as such, my brain feels as if it is going to explode with words, and at the same time, has no focus whatsoever over them.  

I wanted to do a post for Saint Valentine's day on how to show love to your teens.  I didn't get to it, and I didn't get to sending them flowers either.  Goes off to take care of that little detail...

I wanted to do a post on teaching about showing love to younger children...I didn't get to that either.
Goes off to welcome kids with snack, greet the bus...

I wanted to, I wanted to, I wanted to.... The road to blog hell is full of unpublished drafts, lacking focus, courage, wit and finishing.  

I'm finishing this damn post before I discover fifteen more I wanted to ideas I didn't excute.  
Happy February 13th.  Show your family you love them by loving them.   I'm getting ready to help with a science project and make cookies.  

• See you tomorow when I hope to have some insights on procrastination.   

7 Quick Takes Friday

1. End of Summer

Bet he was thinking, Book Reports!

2.  So Naturally, I start a New Project...

Normally, I'm more of a Hammond fan, but James May is on to something...

We began the great house purge of 2013.  Children will remember it as the day Mom went utterly mad.  She took all toys downstairs. She started sorting. Three days later, you can walk from one room to another, but some children may still be trapped in the undertow of legos and the bed is sagging from the sheer volume of stuffed animals.  I'm stating for the record, Christmas, birthdays, random generosity presents...think gift cards to food and or movies and or i-tunes/book stores.  I am fairly certain if I really worked at it, I could replicate our house out of random assorted blocks in the event things ever got dire.  

3.  Epiphany!

Found this lovely image when I googled Epiphany and it fits the moment I took all the laundry to the laundry mat!  What would have taken at my conservative estimation 4 days minus the folding, was done in two hours.  I have something of my life back.  I may never use the damn machine in our house again. My mother and one of my best friends have been telling me to do this, I know why I haven't...I'm stupid.  I'm one of the shepherds out there, not one of the wise men.  So I had to be told...get over there and finally, once I got there I thought...I am the weirdest person in the world.  Why?  Because other women go to the spa.  But me, I was beyond joyful because the machines were washing my stuff.  I came home. I still have to fold. (talk about a bummer), but I still considered driving back again to finish off any and all spare clothing that needed to be washed.  I may yet.   Because I need more projects.  

4. I'm Not Nuts...I'm Just Busy

Yesterday was so full, I still can't wrap around all that transpired.  We got up at 6 so I could take the oldest daughter to high school to start her senior year. Then I came home, fixed breakfast, cajoled four children to consider their math books, went down to work on the basement, scheduled a visit with the 4 year old's teacher, forgot about open house, bathed two children who needed it, shopped for uniforms for the three that needed it, fostered world peace amongst the warring nations in the house, made an emergency trip to Best Buy for the oldest, got the refrigerator fixed and realized at 9 o'clock, I'd still not purchased school supplies or shoes for the elementary set.  For the record, I decided to blog instead of flogging myself to the store last night.  Today, I will be going.  But not yet.   

5.  Today my husband comes home!!!! He's awesome because he gets our family to do together, what alone I cannot.  Back on July 5th, I told all of you about the Vine! Here is the video proof that what we worked on to pull out, was actually a monster sized weed.  

I don't have anything to add to this other than YAY! 

6.  I still hate Flat Stanley.

This time, it's because we went to Disneyland. We had premo would have been the coolest ever Flat Stanley opportunities and we were...Flat Stanley-less.  

We go to Disneyland, all 12 of us...maybe I could help her make a project of "Where's Flat Stanley?" and show everywhere we went without him.  

7.   Because this 7 quick takes has been largely a picture portrait of the week, I thought I'd try out a new Catholic meme.  I made one, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to get it from there to here, so here's the link.  Maybe one day...sigh.  I remain technology challenged. 

OCTOBER CATHOLIC SPEAKER

Yes, I know it is December 13th and I am behind by a month and a half.   In October, I signed on to the Adopt a Catholic Speaker Month, a program run by Brandon Vogt over at his blog.

I picked Tony Melendez.

Then life happened and while I fired off an email, the project sat untouched.  Brandon was gentle about it and sent me an email and quite honestly before the week was over, it left my brain again.  

So I am here attempting to apologize. 

I saw Tony perform back in 2000 at our parish as part of the week of the March for Life.  What struck me was not simply his talent, his illustration of the infinite value of all of us, but the relationship he held with his brother. 

His brother introduced him.  There was a humorous tale about their youth.  But the affection was not a show.  The genuine filial love they held for each other, was part of the manifestation of grace that is Tony's message, that all of us, are necessary, that all of us help each of us, to love more as God loves.  This is a story of family as much as it is an illustration of brokenness being made whole via grace, via beauty, via love.

Tony's talent of playing the guitar with his feet is illustrative of dedication, determination, imagination, fierce will and proof that the limitations of our bodies are no where near as great as the limitations we have in our minds.   He is a great witness to the world to not dismiss the differently abled or visibly handicapped, and to all of us to not listen to the "Can'ts" of the world that have to do with who we are and what we dream.  

I didn't get to interview Tony for this write up, but the message he sang for Pope John Paul by his performance and the message he still teaches today each time he picks up the guitar is the same.  With God, all things are possible.  We are all infinitely loved, and we are all called to infinitely love.   Most of our limitations to develop skills, create beauty or grow friendships are our own.   His performance will inspire all of us to consider how stunted we are, how much we limit our own capacity to reach others, to grow our talents, and to persevere when the world tells us to quit.  

What we forget, we who have all our limbs and thus do not see our brokeness easily, is courage is always needed to perservere, we just often forget to ask for it because we think (foolishly), it somehow should be possible to do all God asks, without asking God. 

If you would like to book Tony for a speaking engagement for your parish, here is his website: http://www.tonymelendez.com.  

If you need me, I'll be over here planning Thanksgiving dinner.  

How to Pack 12 for a Wedding

Two weeks out:

Think about thinking about it. Promptly get headache.  Eat chocolate. Drink diet coke. Start to make a list. Lapse into sugar coma only to wake up and need to fix snack for kids who have congregated around your seemingly comatose body to watch a DVD on the tv in your room.

Ten days out:

Have car designated for trip break down.  Take to shop.  Get new battery, tires, brakes and oil change, the works.  Feel oddly smug about getting the car in shape without having intended to do any of it prior to the emergency.  Celebrate by ordering pizza.

One week out:  Panic.  Washing machine has died. Collect all laundry to take to the Washateria, order new machine, swear you will use time without ability to wash to make a list of what you will pack.

Three days out: Still panicking.  Google trip.  Begin thinking about seating arrangements.  Make emergency run for earbuds and batteries to keep teenagers sedated the entire time.  To avoid hyperventilating, seriously begin considering just packing the wedding clothes and pajamas and tooth brushes and shopping at Walmart as we go. 

Two days out: Get car washed so it will be clean when it gets trashed en route.   Have one child have a sleepover that evolves into a swimming party and doesn't end until 2 in the afternoon. Have another daughter decide today she will take her learning permit test.  Have the DMV declare they close at 4 when the website and phone tree say 5.  Cope with disappointment and the loss of an hour and a half.  Have paperwork take up three hours such that actual packing gets pushed off until the next day.  To avoid actually packing, blog about it and eat some of your emergency chocolate.

One day left: Irony alert as I get an email from Flylady.com about how today is No More Procrastination day.  (Darn Tootin! But that's because there is no more choice involved).
Take out Dry Erase  Board and put: YOU WILL NEED:  5 Underwear.  5 Pair of Socks.  5 pair of shorts/pants  5 shirts  2 pj's and your wedding clothes.  Then have each child stack their things.  Discover two don't have necessary wedding shoes despite having been taken out twice to get things for said event.  Decide to get en route at Walmart if necessary.  Eat the rest of your emergency chocolate.

Get list from husband of additional things we will need...cooler....from teens....chargers for phones...ipad, computer...and have to issue ruling on number of stuffed animals, books and toys one may bring along. Resolve to limit to one. Cope with puppy dog eyes begging from moppet 5 year old and cohort six year old who then get around the restriction of one per by declaring that this one is their younger sister's,(She's 16 months), the other one's Paul's (3), and the last two are mine and their dad's.

At 11 in the evening, when 12 laundry baskets are assembled and you are packing by day into backpacks, have a freak land hurricane hit such that you are plunged into darkness. Wonder why there is no back up emergency chocolate for an actual emergency.

4:00 AM day to launch:  Get up, pack by holding flashlight in between teeth and hope when all is said and done, everyone at least has enough underwear to make it to the next washing machine.

Danny and Anna's Wedding.  12 days, 2,897 miles, 12 people, 1 van, and no Emergency chocolate.