Miss me, too?

Like MaryAlice, I’ve been absent lately.  I have a good excuse– 4 impacted wisdom teeth.  After some general anesthesia (my throat is still sore and the procedure was 2 weeks ago!), and a 2 hour long surgery, my teeth are out, my incisions are healing, and I’m now able to chew a little bit.  My energy level is slowly improving, reminding me that the aging process isn’t kind to our bodies, but also making me grateful that I only had 4 wisdom teeth removed.  I don’t have a terminal illness, and I’m certainly going to make a full recovery, minus the 4 teeth of course!, giving me plenty of reasons to give thanks.  But as an aside can I just say that I seriously don’t understand why we have wisdom teeth!?!  I also don’t understand how anyone would want to cut wisdom teeth out of heads for a living.  Praise God for my oral surgeon and his choice of profession, but man that was brutal.

And now, here are some random thoughts that have been swirling through my head over the past two weeks.

1.  Lent is upon us!  Maybe it’s the late start, or the fact that I’m not pregnant or nursing and my baby is 17 months old, but I actually feel ready for Lent for the first time in years.  We (or rather I) spent the weekend making a Jesus Tree, and I’m hoping to make a week’s worth of ornaments tonight.  I can’t say it was a quick process, but we will have the tree for years to come, and I do think these sorts of hands-on activities are great for the little ones.  The tree was back ordered last year, so it arrived mid-way through Lent and I decided to put it aside until this year (very good decision considering how long it took to cut out the tree).  In addition to the tree, we plan to make a crown of thorns (clay or bread woven and full of toothpicks), place a candle in the middle, and do our evening prayers each night as we place the ornament on the Jesus Tree.  In addition, we plan to take the older two children to the weekly stations of the cross at our parish.

2.  Mr. Red and I held a family meeting last night where we discussed our family plans for Lent.  What sacrifices were we going to make?  What did we expect of the children and ourselves?  What was practical and realistic?  What might place too great a burden on other people in the family (for example, making a huge dietary change and altering family meal planning!)?  If you have not already done so, I highly recommend this sort of family leadership meeting in the next day or two.  In general, it’s a good idea to avoid sacrifices that cause others to do penance!  For example, it might not be a good idea to give up e-mail for Lent if you are running a large group of activities at your parish and you plan to rely on phone chains to communicate the messages (in my local area this well-intentioned sacrifice seems to happen almost every Lent!)  Or maybe you decide you will head to daily Mass each day at 6am and this requires other people in the household to get up really early, find alternate transportation, or do extra cleaning alone at night because you are tired and heading to bed at 9pm.  Don’t get me wrong, if everyone’s game for these sorts of sacrifices then go for it (well, maybe not the e-mail thing)…but just make sure everyone is game before you take the plunge.  There are plenty of ways to give something to Jesus that don’t involve penance for others.

3.  I’m watching American Idol this season and I think there is a ton of talent this year.  I have a handful of contestants that I think are fabulous, but for some reason I swoon every time this guy comes on stage.

4.  Yesterday we planted some lettuce seeds for our family garden.  I hope to plant the remainder of seeds this week, and they will grow in our sunroom/kitchen area until early May.  In the meantime, Mr. Red and I need to develop a plan of attack against the squirrels.  Last year, squirrels ate most of our garden.  Those darn vermin seems to destroy almost anything, and have previously chewed through our kitchen screens (ate some cake on the counter!), chewed through the wires underneath my father’s car causing several hundred dollars worth of damage, ate holes in our heavy plastic trashcans, and the list goes on…  This year, we must fight smart.  We plan to build a full enclosure for our garden, any suggestions on the best way to do this?  Any other thoughts?

5.  My little guy Gus started school several weeks ago.  He qualified for the pre-school special needs program in our town, and so far things are going very well.  Despite some tears the first few weeks, Gus is thriving.  And the bus he rides each day is too cute!

Ok, off to start school with my kiddos.