What's Up Wednesday

First of all... I have always kind of thought Dancing With the Stars was rigged, but now I am certain. Those judges were MEAN to Taylor. And overly nice to people who danced way, way, way worse. 

Carrie Ann especially never said one kind thing about him in 3 weeks. But gushed over the oaf that is Tyler Cameron, who last week lifted his partner and took his shirt off, and that was apparently considered dancing. 

All I am saying is you can critique and be kind at the same time. 

I don't believe for one single moment that his votes didn't come in higher than other people's. The fact that there is no transparency at all... rigged. "A combination of the judges' scores and the votes." For sure, it just equals "we are going to do what we want anyway." 

Guess I got my Tuesday nights back. 

Our school/parish has kicked off a capital campaign to add a "wing," if by wing they mean like 5 rooms. And air conditioning. 

To be clear, I am not opposed to such an addition. I just don't think it's as fancy as a "wing." 

All the kids got a little construction helmet. If you look really closely and you're amazingly talented, you can see Me, C, and M in this picture. 

Don't let the absolutely gorgeous blue sky fool you. That was an outlier in the world of dreary and rainy. Honestly, it's getting old. We've been in flood watches and warnings for weeks. Supposed to get 3 more inches of rain today. 

At least it's not $n@w. Because moving to Florida is looking even more interesting if that were the case. 

We are still taking things one day at a time. We still appreciate the prayers as we navigate all the things. 

Blesseds, Baked Goods, and Life

Well, hello from a world where Blessed Fulton Sheen is officially recognized as Blessed. 

A reminder that even in uncertain and hard times, God is good. I mean, how long have we been waiting for this? A really long time. 

So we can keep waiting as a family. It has been one month since Husband was let go from his job. It sucks really. One day I will probably write all about it. Today is not that day. 

And it's been really hard to just trust that God's plan is so much bigger than we realize. But He IS! And even with no good update to share, it's going to be alright. I know it. I feel it. I trust it. 

It's like hour to hour with the ups and downs. Moments of hope and disappointment. 

But since he hasn't gone to work... he has been baking. 

This week he made Chocolate Babka. 

And then he made Hamantaschen with peach filling. He made the filling himself too. 

Have you ever had Hamantaschen? SO freaking delicious. And yes, a few years ago I got him a Jewish Baker Cookbook that he had never opened. He clearly has done so now. 

On Wednesday night, my friends took me out to celebrate my birthday. Again. 

That giant cake came home with me too by the way so if you're looking for baked goods... we're the house. 

Yesterday, Husband made milk pull-apart bread. 

And then he made some Cane's sauce, hand-breaded chicken tenders, air-fried up some crinkles, and we had Raising Cane's at home. 

As it happens, today was ALSO the 6th grade bake sale, and M's class was in charge of bringing 2 dozen treats in, so we ALSO made s'mores bars. 

We are ready for the weekend! Praying next week brings positive news. Blessed Fulton Sheen, pray for us! 

Back to Friday

Well. Here we are on Friday. 

This week was busy. 

There was high school Adoration Night, which was just exactly what I needed. 

A busy and full week with fun à la Dancing with the Stars and work, with the big kickoff of our Family Formation program. 

A little more return to normalcy, in that C started voice lessons back up yesterday. He jumped right in and is working on "I'm Not That Smart" from the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. 

This morning, as I was packing my water and granola bar for lunch, I noted that M has plans for Family Movie Night tonight. 

She didn't just put a Fanta in the fridge. She also added a sign. And put it on a dino cellphone holder. Because why not?

We are still in a rough patch in our house. 

The kids are just really sad. 

The adults are trying to make sense of it all and figure out the next steps. We don't know where the Lord is bringing us. We are open to whatever that plan is. 

There have been glimmers of hope and then more "nos." 

We cling to the idea that "You can be disappointed without becoming discouraged."

So we wait. We pray. We move forward, asking God to "Give us our daily bread." And today, we have enough. 

This weekend's Gospel is about the landowner who pays his laborer the regular daily wage whether they came to work at dawn or 5:00 pm. It's so easy to look at it with our very human and mortal lives and see all the injustice there. 

And I think that's really the point of that parable. Life isn't fair. Turns out entrance into Heaven probably isn't either. But it won't really matter at that point because we will be in Heaven. 

So it's not fair at all. But we keep moving forward and trust that He has something great in store. And we ask for your prayers, please. We need them. 

Dancing Hanson

Last night was the premiere of Dancing with the Stars. I have never fully gotten into the show because they stretch something that could be short into a long long experience. And so many commercials! 

But Taylor Hanson is on DWTS this season, so I am obviously watching (and voting) like the fan that I am. 

It's possible you've seen videos. For the record, I am a bit of a Hanson snob; however, welcome back to all the returning members of the Fansons. Please don't make the cost of tickets go up. Haven't listened to them in a while? (Maybe 1998 when the "MMMBop" craze died down?) Check out these 5 songs to take you further on your Hanson journey. 

1. "Crazy Beautiful" Underneath
2. "Joyful Noise" String Theory
3. "I Was Born"  Middle of Everywhere
4. "Against the World" Against the World
5. "Georgia" The Walk

And here's the thing... he was actually really good. Because the man can count music. And he KNOWS music. And even without a dance background, that goes a long way. 

And come on. The man can jump up and down while playing a harmonica. There is no way he doesn't have the energy for DWTS. Plus he's always been a bit of a perfectionist IMO so... he's hard on himself and was going to bring it all. 

I was not about to let him go home on the first night. Did I make my brother, parents, and friends vote as well? I did. By my estimate, I had 12 people who voted for him last night. I am not sure if you yourself watch Dancing with the Stars, but about 20 minutes in, the website crashed. 

I 100% believe it was the Fansons coming out to support. 

And then they announced later that they had double the votes they had from last year's premiere, with only half of the contestants even dancing last night. 

I am not surprised in the slightest. I bet you a lot of money that the women dance tonight and don't get as many votes. 

I also have to tell you how happy I am that Conner Leavitt went home. He really wasn't good and I find his family so annoying. I mean, I love a supportive spouse, but Whitney and her "Chips and Conner's salsa shirt" were ridiculous. Plus, she was just on last season. A little gap year would have been okay. 

Musings on a Heavenly Birthday

Today would have been my Mother-In-Law Sandy's birthday. She would be 67. 

As it happens, she died in January 2010, 8 months before Husband and I were married. 

As such, I have never had a real Mother-In-Law relationship. Good, bad, or otherwise. 

And on one hand, while those with a poor relationship with their in-laws might say I am lucky; I mourn the fact that there's that piece of Husband's history that is lost. His dad doesn't remember the tiny details of his growing-up story the way his mother would.

I don't have the ability to call to ask her advice, or back in the day to watch the kids or come down for a visit. Would we always have gotten along? Doubtful. Two first-born daughters likely weren't always going to agree. But there would have been mutual respect for sure. 

I will really never know if she approves of the way I do "xyz" or if she thinks I am not strict enough with the kids. Though we shared similar opinions on screen time and bedtime, so I know that would have been met with approval. 

It makes me so sad sometimes that I will never even know if she would like my kids. (I am sure that, as a grandmother, she would appreciate them, but love and like are different, and you know it.) 

I do know she would be thrilled that C was left-handed. She was also left-handed, and she appreciated that I was as well. 

There really aren't too many pictures of us at all. But here is a picture of a picture. At Husband's cousin's wedding in 2007. Babies. All of us. That actual baby is a college sophomore. 

Happy birthday, Sandy. You are missed. 

Thank you for raising your son with the ability to cook and do the dishes. (I hate doing dishes.) He is so self-sufficient, and I am grateful. 

Scenes from the Week

Hello all. 

Here is a very normal, non-vacation update for you. 

Unfortunately, our lives are in a bit of an upheaval. I am not really ready to write about the whole thing just yet, but please pray for us! 

We went old school and hooked up our Super Nintendo. It has been fun. 

We have also started a few nightly rounds of Bananagrams. It's been really nice and cozy. We listen to music and chat and complain when we get too many "f" tiles or a "j" or the dreaded "x". 

In big, big news, this girl tested at a 6th-grade level for math to kick off the year! 

I know that doesn't sound like a lot. But she has always struggled in math. Not enough to actually get academic support, but enough to have to work really hard. 

I don't think she has ever started the year off at grade level before. So this is really exciting and big news. 

It has been so hot here that the kids haven't been in real uniform for over a week. It's been gym uniforms, and last week even some early outs. (No air conditioning in the school.) 

Yesterday they had a true day out of uniform they earned, and the kids finally wore their new Disney shirts I brought them. 

And today is another out of uniform for the Iowa/Iowa State game. Which I have zero interest in. M has outgrown her Caitlin Clark shirt so we had to figure something out. 

We made another neutral shirt. It's a little cheeky. 

And they were excited to go today. But we will not be watching the game tomorrow anyway! 

C recorded his OPUS music this week, and M will do hers this afternoon. Here is hoping their efforts pay off and they will get that opportunity to sing with the statewide honor choir. It would be great for them! 

This is 40!

I turned 40 last week. 

And I celebrated in a big fun way! (I mean even after that Alaskan Cruise with my family!) 

Husband sent me on a whirlwind trip to WDW to see Hanson at EPCOT on my actual birthday! 

It's well documented I love Hanson. 

My friend J and I left for Chicago after Mass on Saturday night. 

Got to the hotel and took a short little nap/sleep because we were up at 2:15 to get to the airport. 

Took the first flight out and landed in Orlando at 8:30ish. 

We spent the day resort hopping. Then we had dinner at Ohana. My favorite dinner of all time. 

And we went to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party! I loved the parade so much we saw it twice!

We got back to our room really late. (It was, in fact, already my birthday.) And again took a little nap/sleep so we could get to EPCOT about 8:30 for park opening. 

EPCOT is my favorite park. I love it so much! 

We started at Spaceship Earth to Thank the Phoenicians, as is right and just. I love that ride so much. So, so much. (Truly, I think I could do multiple days at EPCOT and never tire of it. Maybe you don't remember but last summer I rode it 3 times in a row!) 

And followed it up with Soarin' and Living with the Land. I tell you, those pan flutes heal something in me. 

After that, we were going to Figment. But it was down. I walked up to the two cast members telling people it was closed and said: "I know you don't really know, and I know you can't tell me, but do you expect it to open sometime soon?" And they said, "That is the hope." So I stopped to put on sunscreen on the bench that is directly next to the entrance, and by the time I was done... it opened. We were the actual first guests to ride it on my birthday! Did I manifest this? I did. 

And there you go. Figment. 

Then we went to see Canada Far and Wide. (I LOVE that show and singing along! Yes, there is a theme of things I love at EPCOT. It's my favorite. I will not be taking questions on this because it's obviously truth.) Then off to Mexico for Gran Fiesta Tour. Stopping to meet Donald afterward. Then we went to Germany to make some fused glass. 

Then to America for a meal at Regal Eagle, which came with a reserved seat for Hanson's second set. 

We boogied off to ride Guardians of the Galaxy where we got "One Way or Another" and then we got in line for Hanson. We saw set 1 and then got in line for our reserved seating. We saw set 2 and then got back in line for the 3rd set. 

It was everything. My favorite band. At my favorite place. On my actual birthday? What a gift! 

After the last set, we went to ride Frozen (shockingly, I love that too.) and then back to the hotel for a sleep. 

The next morning we dropped our luggage at Bell Services before heading to MK for a while. We accomplished so much! 

Carousel, Ariel, Dumbo, its a small world, Mickey's Philharmagic, Aladdin, Pirates, Tiki Room, Haunted Mansion, People Mover, Space Mountain, People Mover TWICE in a row! And then Laugh Floor. 

My joke made it onto Laugh Floor!! AND I made it on the screen! Crazy! As we got out of Laugh Floor it was pouring, and we hustled to the bus to get back, change, and get to the airport. 

Then a drive back from Chicago, and I rolled into my driveway about 12:35 on what was now Wednesday morning. 

A birthday full of Disney Magic. 

I have to say, if I could do it all over again, I would have gotten to the resort and taken a nap for about 3 hours before going resort hopping, dinner, and the Halloween party. I forgot that I was about to be 40. Disney adrenaline is real, friends. But I was certainly feeling it. 

So this is 40.