It’s important for moms to recognize that all the small successes in our days can add up to one big triumph. So on Thursday of each week, we do exactly that.

1) Everything for the Easter Baskets is either here or enroute, except the candy and the chocolate peanut butter eggs I’ll be making next week.  Those are just an oval shaped version of the buckeyes I make at Christmastide, and which have spoiled me to the extent that mere Reeses cups just don’t suffice.

2) I finally fixed Dinosaur’s “Little John Deere” shirt.  He had outgrown last year’s undershirts but refused to part with the ones I had appliqued tractors onto, thus happily hopping around in something too small and ragamuffiny for Mommy’s liking.  So, I hid the shirt from the to-be-folded pile and cut out the applique, then resewed it on to this year’s undershirt.  He is quite happy with his “new Little John Deere” shirt.  Now I need to tackle the other appliqued undershirt. 😉

3) We took care of so much paperwork this week.  Things like tax returns and third quarter grade forms and registration forms for the new parish we’ve been attending lately, which is a little closer to our home here than the one we’d been attending at the Old Haus.  That last one feels like the end of a chapter, but we have really come to like the new parish.  It is a smaller Catholic Church on the top of a hill out in the country, with mountain views out the windows.  Talk about a peaceful setting!  There are a lot of young families there as well, which is consoling when your child is fussy and happens to not be the only one. 😉

It’s important for moms to recognize that all the small successes in our days can add up to one big triumph. So on Thursday of each week, we do exactly that.

1) The last order of seeds I made over Etsy arrived last Saturday, so on Monday, the Feast of St. Isidore patron of farmers, we planted the rest of the seeds that would require starting indoors.   I like ordering seeds over Etsy; two sellers added “bonus” seeds as a thank you for the order.  I now have three types of lettuce instead of one, and pie pumpkins and wax beans to boot!   I can hear my dad, veteran of many a year of my mom’s joy in canning green beans, exclaiming in horror that I should perpetuate that tradition, but hey, I’m not about to waste a bag of free seeds. 😉   Anyway, we’ll see which seeds make it.  So far we’ve had a good showing, although I’m about to go kamikaze on the squirrels out front, who think it’s fun to eat their acorns on or around my precious pots of vegetables, as if they do not have an entire front yard at their furry disposal.  This reminds me: sprinkle cayenne pepper on pots today.  I’ve heard it keeps the squirrels away.

2) After our big news on Tuesday, I decided it was time to tackle the seven bins of boy clothes in the garage.  I was surprisingly unsentimental about most of it, unlike previous attempts to tackle this project.  I came to the conclusion that having to move those bins out of an attic and into a storage unit helped me in my determination.  Also, in this house the roof clearance is so low we have to store things in the garage rather than the “attic,” so what was hidden is now seen.  It’s hard to ignore the towers of tupperware storage containers when they meet your eye as soon as you enter.  😉  At any rate, I now have four bins of clothes to consign or give away, and have kept one largish bin of clothes for a future son or nephew.  There is a bin of winter clothes for Rascal and Dinosaur and a bin of clothes for Trooper to wear this winter or grow into in a year or so.  Ah.  That part of the garage looks less cluttered already.  And yes, while I was at it I did happen to take the time to hang up all those frilly 0-3 month girl dresses into the girls’ closet. Why do you ask? 😉

3) After my success last week in removing strawberry juice from the whitish carpet, I had the opportunity to try the boiling water trick on a stain left from a bowl of spaghetti that had been launched on to the oriental rug by our dear Sunshine.  It worked again!  I am contemplating making a commercial about the stain-out qualities of boiling water.

4) I mended the strap of a pair of shoes, thus making them wearable again.  If my stitching holds, that is… 😉  Still, it is easier than finding another pair of good shoes right now!

It’s important for moms to recognize that all the small successes in our days can add up to one big triumph. So on Thursday of each week, we do exactly that.

1. I managed to get strawberry juice out of the whitish carpet in the dining room!

2. I made it to the dentist for my biannual teeth cleaning. It went well, but I still wonder if I’ll ever get over my childhood aversion to dentists.

3. Haus Meister and I both had a chance to work on suspended hobbies this week. How nice, especially for him, not to have to work on something related to the move.

Bonus Success: Trooper made his bed yesterday without my assistance. He had such a proud smile on his face.

It’s important for moms to recognize that all the small successes in our days can add up to one big triumph. So on Thursday of each week, we do exactly that.

Goodness–is it already Thursday?  So many evenings this week I wanted to sit down and write a post about the amazing events going on in our household–from Sunshine deciding to walk a little more each day to the unfolding (and soon to be concluded) Laundry Drama involving our washing machine and briefly, our dryer.  But somehow, every evening, I feel tired. 😉  Last night I fell asleep getting Sunshine back to bed, only to wake at 2am to finish the dishes and start the bread machine for the morning’s loaf.  I hope you, dear reader, will forgive me for not blogging at that point.

So, recapping a bit of the week.

1) Most of our seeds have arrived in the mail and yesterday the kids and I began to plant them, starting them in pots in the garage.  I am going to do 90% container gardening this year, as the one good garden bed will be reserved for pumpkins/melons (if/when they come up), and the side bed will remain open for the digging and excavating purposes of our eager children.  They are drawn to that spot over any other, toy tractors in tow, and I’m not going to risk them digging up an important veggie bed by taking over the spot they claimed. 😉

2) I did manage to serve dinner before 7pm a few times this week.  Does anyone else feel like they haven’t caught up with Daylight Savings Time yet?  I know it has been over ten days, but honestly, I still miss that hour we lost.

3) More unpacking and settling in have been accomplished, as well as some stuff done at the Old Haus.  The Old Haus will go on the market tomorrow, the feast of the Annunciation.  May Our Lady and St. Joseph intercede that the Old Haus sells to good people soon! 🙂

It’s important for moms to recognize that all the small successes in our days can add up to one big triumph. So on Thursday of each week, we do exactly that.

1) Thanks to my wonderful husband, who installed the new composting bin in the backyard, our composting has begun anew (because, you know, I wasn’t about to ask our friends to haul away the old compost).  If this is a gross success, bear with, for it ties in to….

2) I ordered our garden seeds!  Again, I think I ordered a lot more than we need, but at least I will be prepared against the inevitable loss of plants due to eager diggers.  Roma and Cherokee Purple tomatoes, Bull Nose bell peppers, Amish snap peas, Genovese Basil, Garlic Chives, Carrots, Onion, Sugar Baby Watermelon, Connecticut Field Pumpkin, Cimmaron Red Romaine Lettuce, Radishes, Mervilles des Quatres Saisons lettuce, Marigolds, Nasturtiums, and Birdhouse Gourds for kicks.  All heirloom seeds found on Etsy and Lehmans.com!  What won’t fit into the pre-existing raised beds in the yard will be our experiment in container gardening.  My garlic is doing famously in a decorative pot in the front yard, for instance, and you’d never know it wasn’t an ornamental plant. 🙂  Unless, of course, you knew it was garlic….

3) St. Patrick’s Day breakfast was a hit!  I made the Sweet Shamrock Pretzels from Catholic Cuisine.  Nota bene: next year I’ll need to buy two cans of the dough.  The children received them with joy, and Dinosaur bestowed upon them the high accolade of being “John Deere Green Patrick Cookies!”

Beannachtai na Feile Padraig!

It’s important for moms to recognize that all the small successes in our days can add up to one big triumph. So on Thursday of each week, we do exactly that.

1) I had our children’s Lenten activities ready by the end of the day on Ash Wednesday.  This is an improvement over previous years, wherein I’d usually still be putting things together on the First Sunday  of  Lent.

Now for the triumphing over wimpiness successes:

2) I pulled a tooth.  More specifically, I pulled Trooper’s third loose tooth.  There is a triumph here for him as well, because he came to me for help and with his sensory issues he has extreme oral defensiveness and has to gear himself up to let someone touch near his mouth for any reason.  Toothbrushing he is used to, more or less, but this was far different and much more uncomfortable.  I am incredibly squeamish about loose teeth–the type of Mom who screams when the kid comes over to show the wiggling thing–and I admit to hoping that tooth would stay put in time for Haus Meister to help, he who so casually and unsqueamishly gently pulled the first tooth (the second fell out who knows where).  But that was a day Haus Meister had to work late, so when my poor boy came to me, what else could I do?  After extracting the tooth, I gleefully showed it to Trooper, squealing, “Look, we did it! It’s out!”  He took one look at it, flicked it across the room, and ran off grinning (toothlessly–he has no top front teeth now) and giggling from sheer relief.  While I’m frantically trying to find the tooth again, Dinosaur came into the kitchen and raided the produce drawer.  “The baby Dinosaur wants some stwaberries.”

3) I caught and released a frog.  Yesterday when I let Hobbit Dog out for his morning constitutional, I found a tiny frog inside our screen porch.  When Rascal was up and dressed we had an impromptu Nature Study, examining the frog at a distance and looking it up in our North American Wildlife Book. It was a Spring Peeper frog, and Rascal drew a picture of it with the distinctive “X” marking on its back.  We excitedly told Haus Meister about it when we met him for noon Mass on Ash Wednesday.  He said he’d release it for us after work if we hadn’t done so by then.  Now, I am more squeamish about touching wild critters than I am about loose teeth.  If this frog had been any larger than 2″, I would have screamed.  I am a wimp that way, which I freely admit.  The thought of catching the little guy with my bare hands and having him jump around inside my cupped palms was not on my high level of things to do yesterday.  Then I realized that I didn’t have to touch it with my bare hands.  I caught him in a jam jar.  We released it into one of our flower beds so Hobbit Dog couldn’t see it and Rascal, Dinosaur, and Princess eagerly said “good-bye” and “come see us again soon!”  It was good to have released the froggy when I did–Rascal wanted to keep it as a pet and the sheer volume of excited shrieks from Dino and Princess whenever the thing jumped was enough to probably give it a froggy heart attack if it stayed on our porch any longer. 😉

It’s important for moms to recognize that all the small successes in our days can add up to one big triumph. So on Thursday of each week, we do exactly that.

1) I gave the Trooper a haircut, unassisted.  Kudos to the Trooper for cooperating!

2) We have cleared out 85% of the stuff in the attic.  I have wanted to clear that space for years.  Pity we’re only doing it now because we’re moving. 😉

3) I called and arranged for our new trash pickup service and notified our recycling service of the address change.  Given that I positively dislike to make phone calls that aren’t to family and friends, this is a success for me. 😉

I know it doesn’t look like much, but that’s because I’ve mainly been boxing up books, as I said.

It’s important for moms to recognize that all the small successes in our days can add up to one big triumph. So on Thursday of each week, we do exactly that.

1) We have officially emerged from beneath the mountain of laundry resulting from our week with the flu.  One fortunate thing to come from it is that I was able to get my spring cleaning in early and washed almost every pillow and every comforter, down or otherwise.

2) I remembered to call the City Department and arranged to be on the list for the extra trash pickup to get rid of falling-apart Wal-Mart furniture that would never survive the move.

3) I finally found the frosting recipe that ended my run of failed-homemade-frostings.  🙂

And on an unrelated note:  HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my MOM! 🙂

My cookies don't look this good. But they taste great!

It’s important for moms to recognize that all the small successes in our days can add up to one big triumph. So on Thursday of each week, we do exactly that.

I can hardly believe it is Thursday again already.

1) The kids and I have managed to make four batches of cookies and I made my cranberry-orange loaves on Monday.  Whew!  I am desperately trying to save said cookies from my irrepressible cookie-snatchers as well, some of whom grow more clever by the year!

2) Haus Meister repainted the kitchen in that ill-named color from Benjamin Moore.  It looks like an entirely new room, but one that is warm and cozy, which is precisely what I wanted. 🙂

3)  Christmas cards and Christmas shopping are done.  Ahhh… but now for the rest of the Christmas baking and package mailing. 🙂