Let’s be random and rambling today, shall we?
1. My drafts folder is empty. I wrote and scheduled about two months’ worth of posts before I had Mary Jane. Then, since she was born, I’ve been writing about one new post per week, to mix in here and there, and that’s gotten us here, to twelve weeks. And now . . . I’ve got four great ideas for posts and nine that would be fine and a baby who is completely unputdownable (we’re going to pretend that’s a word) so who knows if they’ll get written.
But really, it’s hard to be TOO bad at her, I mean . . . behold the chub:
So, bear with me? Many kind and generous authors and artists have shared their work with me in the hopes that I will share it with you. So, if, IF, I can get them written up, I have a pretty great backlog of giveaways that I might just try to do all next week.
2. So, if I haven’t been writing blog posts, what have I been doing?
There’s been bouncing up and down with a baby in an Ergo while doing schoolwork with the kids.
There’s been bouncing up and down with a baby in an Ergo while augering a toilet.
And there’s been quite a lot of bouncing up and down with a baby in an Ergo while watching Netflix.
I watched Gotham, which I enjoyed a lot more than I thought I would. A superhero show on Fox starring the wrong side of the tracks kid from The OC doesn’t sound super promising. But I do like superhero shows, so I figured I’d try it. And . . . the writing is really smart, the acting is really good, the subtle reveal of all the bad guys is really cool, the hero is heroic, the kid can act, basically, I liked it a lot.
And now I’m watching iZombie, which features King Arthur and Dr. Frankenstein as zombies. I’m only a few episodes in, but it’s very, very cute in a cheeky, wink-wink, aren’t we being cute kind of way. I don’t like the zombies being good guys thing. It’s really important to me that zombies be allowed to be mindless bad guys that we can all agree must be killed. They have Twilighted these zombies. Officially, I am against that. But. It’s a cute show and I’m going to keep watching it while bouncing up and down with a baby in an Ergo.
p.s. Neither show is Catholic. Gotham features cohabitation and a same sex relationship. Also lots of thieving and murdering. iZombie has some innuendo jokes. But neither has nudity, and both are much less violent and gory than Daredevil or The Walking Dead.
3. The other thing I’ve been done while bouncing up and down with a baby in an Ergo learn to cross stitch. I can kind of do it between bounces.
Betty has been learning too, and we’ve really loved it. Nancy from Do Small Things sent us a couple of her new patterns to try out. For me cross stitch is this weird combination of mystery because you can’t see what you’re doing until it’s almost done, and frustration because counting is HARD and I have done every stitch about three times, and gratification because it comes together SO quickly. And they are SO STINKIN’ CUTE!
If you’d like this entire bundle of 40 Catholic Saints in Cross Stitch for your family you can get it HERE. She is selling it for $3 through the end of the month, so get it now!
4. The house. You guys, the house.
It is not ours. Everything was finally settled last Friday, and all we had to do was sign all the paperwork. Then on Wednesday, a new crazy unexpected thing happened, crazier even than all the crazy unexpected things that have already happened. And now it’s looking a lot less likely that we’ll end up with it.
Which is fine. No one deserves to live in a hundred year old tumbledown mansion, least of all me. But it really looked like I might get to anyway. And I gotta say, I’m going to be very sad if it all falls apart like this.
5. The big boys went camping with the Boy Scouts last weekend in the sequoias, which sounds like it was pretty amazing. It’s a good group of fellas.
Gus was sad to not be old enough to go along. But glad that with his older brothers gone he got to do the good stuff like carry the crucifix in the procession and hold the giant book with his face.
6. Those of us in the family without real jobs or real school to worry about are down in San Diego for a couple of days to take advantage of the kids free in October promotion at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.
So, prepare for a photo dump . . .
7. Oh, and I opened an Etsy shop.
Check it out, or whatever, if you want, HERE.
It’s a work in progress, more will be added, but I wanted to share it with you now!
I also started an Ingagram account for the shop. I’ll be sharing printables available from the shop, plus saint of the day quotes over there. So follow along if that’s your cup of tea.
Each digital download in stock in the shop is only $5. Custom images are $10 through the end on the month. They’ll be $15 in November.
To celebrate the shop’s opening, and by popular demand in the comments of Tuesday’s post, I give you (absolutely free), this . . .
As with all my printables, you are welcome to save the images to your computer for your own personal use. You may print the images and / or upload them and have prints made for your personal use or to give as gifts. First click on the image to bring it up in a new window, then right click on the image to save it to your computer. You may use my images on your blog, just please link back to my blog. If you would like to sell my images, please contact me first.
For LOTS MORE free printable prayers, check out my Pinterest board.
And for some old favorites, and many all new prayers, quotes, scripture, and catechism, available as high quality digital downloads, check out the shop!
That was my favorite line from Tuesday's post, too. I used it immediately. 🙂
Your church is so beautiful! Altar rails! My heart is going pitter-pat. However, my 18-month-old is dismantling my wallet, so I can't say any more.
Awesome printable! Sorry about all the back and forth about the house. That can be incredibly frustrating.
SO frustrating. If we get it, I'm sure it will all be worth it. If we don't, I'm going to learn an important lesson about not getting attached to possessions. Especially other people's possessions.
I'm glad to hear your review of Gotham-I recently heard about it, so I've been curious to learn more! I've now put it on my list of "When Netflix offers me free trials, these are the shows I will binge watch." 🙂 I'm so sorry to hear that you've been going through so much crazy with the house stuff, that's really rough! Hopefully, God will bring y'all peace in whatever happens.
Your church! Your church is beautiful! Haha, that picture of Gus with the missal in his face is great! I love it when little boys serve. Once, I was at Mass, and there was this tiny boy who must have been fresh out of second grade in a tiny little cassock, and it was the cutest thing ever. When he put the missal on the altar, he had to stand on his tip-toes, and even then it was hard for him to reach! Ooh, that San Diego Safari park looks so awesome! I
That is going on my school wall, yes it is.
How do you get all this done? Do you require very little sleep?? You're so industrious. I can't even get netflix watched ha.
Are we going to get details about the crazy house stuff? I keep thinking about your house and wondering if it's going to happen.
I keep waiting on sharing all the details until it's really ours. And it keeps NOT being ours.
The look of sheer terror on Lulu's face with that bird! Or did she want to eat the bird seed herself? Too funny.
I'm so sorry about the house 🙁 I will be praying lots! There was one time we were technically illegal homeless squatters in our 'new' not-ours house because our closing date took so long….so sometimes it comes through in the end despite craziness!
I love the pics of the kids' reactions to the birds, you've got the whole range from Betty who looks thrilled to Lulu who looks utterly terrified, haha! Frankie as always looks very skeptical 🙂
I'm impressed you had time to start an etsy shop! I'm up to my eyeballs in baby care and teaching kids lately. LOVE the printable with the dunce cap, I am seriously printing that out and putting it up in our homeschool room. Hopefully my tutoring students appreciate my sense of humor too, haha!
Thanks Amanda, I appreciate it!
Hooray!! Thanks for the printable. Seriously – this quote will be used all. the. time. around my house.
And prayers for your house situation. That is very, very frustrating. You haven't been praying for the virtue of patience lately, have you? That's one of those prayers I'm often afraid to pray, because then it seems like something like this happens 🙂
I knew that about praying for humility. That's always a dangerous one. But I hadn't thought about it with patience. Whew. It's a good thing I'd like to grow in virtue, I guess. 😛
I have a picture almost just like that with my daughter and the gorilla mom and baby! Except I was wearing her on my back (like here), so it looked a little more similar.
Of course, that photo was one of the several months' worth that my computer decided to eat, so I can't show you…
Oh no! What a nightmare. 🙁
🙁 pooh about the house! Conspiracy maybe? You could try out the caravaning lifestyle or a giant yurt mansion! 😉 I mean, what a blog series that would be, "Yurts, Chickens, and the Fire Department".
What a great etsy shop! I love having so many talented Catholic families and individuals sharing their wares with the world.
I'll bet YurtMansion.com is an available url. I could really own that lifestyle.
There is an elegant yurt interior on the cover of the current issue Anthology Magazine (I saw it on instagram): https://instagram.com/p/88bSf0q0Nv/ – nancyo
I love the picture of the kid with the shark on his shirt about to eat the lorikeet!
That picture of Lulu encapsulates my feelings about the lorikeet encounter at the SD Zoo from her age to this day, at the ripe old age of 25. I LOVE the San Diego Zoo and the Wild Animal Park, but the flapping, oh the flapping…
She did NOT enjoy the Lorikeets (or the goats in the petting zoo). Maybe you guys can start a support group or something.
I can't wait to hear the full story on this house once it's said and done!
Ugh, that is very frustrating about the house! Praying!
Congratulations on opening your shop. 🙂
Oh, you're in the "time of bouncing." I know how that goes! But oh what a sweet little thing to bounce! I'm struck too by how much your Betty reminds me of my Audrey. If she's anything like my girl, she's (as we say) "in management." She always knows what all other little people (and animals) should be doing.
And Im sorry about the house drama. Been there too. We actually got all the way to the inspection before signing the final papers on a beautiful old home….and then found out part of it was about to tumble to the ground if a strong wind came along. It broke my heart…..but then we were given an opportunity and a chance at a house even better that all fell into place. hang in there. There's a plan. There's gotta be….right?
Love all the bouncing baby in the ergo, so my life with babies!
And yay for the etsy shop!