A Primer on Larger Families

Our oldest two boys have been in Colorado visiting the 'Grands for about two weeks now and boy what a difference it has made in our house! It is easy to think that temporarily going from five children to three might make my life easier, if only because I am cooking for and taking care of fewer people overall. However, I have to give credit and kudos to my oldest two boys. Bruiser is doing his very best to try to help hold back the "creep" on the house and the Clutter Within. But he's six. He wants to play, he wants to watch shows, he wants to do games with Mom, he wants to hear stories - and rightly so! He's six!

Giving credit to my Exact-Center son, he has moved the laundry from the washer to the dryer and even figured out where to set the timer so it would run long enough to get everything dry. Please trust me when I say that that is a big deal. I've found more laundry left slightly damp in the dryer than I care to remember! On top of that, when it became clear that he was not going to be able to help me mow the back lawn, he saw another need and took care of it - Mr. Magoo was crying in his stroller off to the side and so Bruiser took him into the house and kept him entertained for the twenty minutes it took me to mow. There are other things he's helped with as well, but these are just two big ones from today.

Burst Tomato Recipe - a 20 minute meal

It's been quite a while since I put anything food-based on here and tonight's meal is a great one to share! This meal took me 20 minutes to make, start to finish, is healthy, and delicious!

So, here is what you're looking at: to the left is couscous topped with burst tomatoes, behind that is home made pita, following around to the right is hummus, then kalamata olives and cucumbers from Spinster Beth's garden (Thanks, Beth, they were delicious!)

Scenic Sunday: Washington DC Folklife Festival

I realized after last week's post that if my pictures were going to be taken on Saturday, the actual "Scenic" posts would be Sunday! So continuing on with what I started last week, here are some photos taken yesterday while attending the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington DC with my family and friends. I am using these posts as a way to encourage me to look more closely at the beauty - and sometimes oddity - in the world around me. I am not always the most observant person in the world, largely because I am busy keeping a head count to make sure all of the children are accounted for. Enjoy the story of our day!

Each year the Smithsonian Folklife Festival focuses on three things: a country (Columbia), a type of music (Soul/Blues), and an organization (Peace Corps.)

Scenic Saturday: Leakin Park, Baltimore City, MD

Welcome to my first Scenic Saturday!

"Time together as a family" seems to be our theme lately. We've been working hard in our family to cut down on our spending, our clutter, and our screen time (the irony of being on a computer to type this notwithstanding). In the process, we've made our time together count for so much more. Saturdays on my blog are dedicated to increasing our attention to seeing and sharing new and interesting things throughout the week as a way to slow down and enjoy the ride of life! 

Saturday, we walked down to Leakin Park at the end of our street. There is a trailhead there and we wanted to take it out to the old Crimea Estate House, which is about 1.5 miles from our house, by foot. Here are the scenes of the day...

The crew at the beginning of the hike: Smeagol at right, then Bruiser, Maestro, Buttercup and Pop (Mr. Magoo was in the sling and behind the camera with me!)

Living Life Backwards - A Different Perspective

I posed this thought to my children the other day:

What If...

parents knew how old a child was going to be when that child was born 

and

as a result, we counted our years down instead of up.

Would you live your life more fully, knowing that your days were "numbered" and life had a clearly-defined ending? Would you live in fear of what was coming and try to play it safe - perhaps in the effort to "escape" the inevitable? 

40 Day Blessing - Welcome to the Church

Jesus Presented in the Temple

 ²² When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.

In commemoration of the events described in Luke 2:22, the Orthodox church has a special set of prayers and a blessing to welcome new babies into the Church and to bring Mama back into the Church. SO... for the first time in nearly two months, I went to Liturgy yesterday and for the first time ever, Little Mr. Magoo went to church as well. After being gone for so long and missing most of the Lenten services and all of the Paschal (Easter) services, being here and smelling the incense and hearing the prayers sung and chanted were truly blessings to enjoy. The incense hit me the strongest - it is such a unique smell and it really affects me strongly. 


In this post - just some pictures and brief explanations of what's going on... 

This is a shot from way in the back of Annunciation Greek Cathedral in Baltimore, MD. The icons in this church are beautiful - to the left is Christ breaking the gates of Hell. In the back center is Mary with the Christ child - it is my understanding that outside of an icon where she is pregnant, Mary is never shown without Christ. I don't know what the proportions are, but I don't think most Orthodox churches have organs. This one does and you can see it and the choir up in the top left - just to the right of the icon on the wall. 

We American Hoarders...

{Let's face reality, shall we?}

Many. Americans. are. hoarders.
{and there's a good chance you're one of them!}

There have been a few posts on my little bloggety-blog here about decluttering and getting rid of stuff. Of curing "stuffitis" - and my struggle with it. Well, this is another one, but one with a twist as opposed to more pics of my house-in-progress (as much fun as that can be!)