Minnesota Mom

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Smells and Bells and Giorgio

by Filed Under: Felicity, Friends of the Heart, Minnesota Me, My Girls, Special Events 4 Comments

Company came for dinner last night, which means I cleaned like a madwoman all afternoon. A half an hour before our guests were due to arrive, I ran upstairs to shower and change. (We always save ourselves for last, don’t we? It’s risky, but we do.)Angela, herself quite unassuming in a sundress and wind-whipped braids, came over to me once I’d … [Read more...]

From Online to IRL: The Family Centered Learning Conference 2008

by Filed Under: Friends of the Heart, Homeschooling, Minnesota Me, Special Events 17 Comments

Blessed be the name of God! The Family-Centered Learning conference was awesome!(my horrible cold notwithstanding)Admittedly, it wasn’t very Minnesota Nice of me to bring all those homegrown germs to Pennsylvania. Man! What are the odds? I’d been healthy as a horse all summer!Perhaps it was a portent of health issues to come when I looked out the … [Read more...]

An Update

by Filed Under: Health & Wellness, Just Me, Minnesota Me, Special Events, Spiritual Growth 11 Comments

from Margaret in Pennsylvania, who has not stopped coughing since her arrival in Lancaster County.I coughed my way onto the airplane.I coughed my way across half of the continental USA.And I coughed my way through today's conference.(It was a very good conference, by the way.)Still I cough, which is why I am here...alone...in my hotel room...while … [Read more...]

Red, White and Blue Jello Jigglers

by Filed Under: Food and Drink, Minnesota Me, Special Events 7 Comments

Look like this:They tasted good and were gobbled up (once people figured out that the white ones weren’t cheese) but they did not taste as good as:Danielle’s cupcakes, which disappeared from the tray in five minutes flat. I’m serious. I didn’t even get one and that’s not fair.Photo credits go to my daughter, Cate, who asked to take pictures of both … [Read more...]

An Exchange

by Filed Under: Minnesota Me, Special Events 4 Comments

Setting: My husband and a neighbor are orchestrating their annual fireworks display. Illicit aerials from Wisconsin burst noisily overhead. Illegal rockets give off an impressive red glare.The two of them have just ignited their New Yorker Salute finale—a “500 Gram Maximum Load Repeater” or some such thing—when a squad car pulls into the … [Read more...]

A Treatise on Red, White and Blue Jello

by Filed Under: Just Me, Minnesota Me, Motherhood, Special Events 24 Comments

Subtitled: On being thankful for my independence and yet, not.I need a hug.The sun is shining. The coffee’s brewing. My arms and legs and eyes all work.So what’s the problem?I don’t know, and that’s the problem!We’re hosting a neighborhood block party tonight and perhaps it’s that I’m stressed. That would be why I’m sitting in front of the … [Read more...]

Catholic Vacation Bible School 2008

by Filed Under: Family Fun, Minnesota Me, Special Events, Spiritual Growth, The Faith 9 Comments

Born in Bethlehem which means“House of Bread,”Laid in a manger where animals are fed.You feed us now with your Body and Blood.I worship You, O God of Love!What: Catholic Vacation Bible SchoolWhen: Last weekWhere: Our church’s grade schoolWho: Me, my kids, and at least 100 othersHow: By the grace of God, my friend, by the grace of God!CVBS 2008 … [Read more...]