I'm working on Joseph's model airplane. The nose needed to be rebuilt. We're going to repaint it and hang it from the garage ceiling in our "Art gallery".   He's pretty excited about it, unlike his summer homework.

My son....."Mom your viewmaster projector is smoking and it smells like fire."
Me..........." It's just the lightbulb burning off the dust inside of the projector. That's the smell of fun!"...... Whiff, whiff!

Joseph,............ Mom, what does the word amnesia mean?

Me,..................I'm sorry honey, I forgot.

All my best jokes are wasted on a seven year old.

From the apple trees to the plate.

My activity director wanted an apple pie and I also made him some lasagna - light on the tomato sauce.
*I saved some for you Ana, and I put it in the freezer. Are you hungry or cold ? - xoxo Mom

My children were in a parade yesterday and so was I - by default.

 I walked behind the crowds and hid for the most part.

 

I'm on the left. The man on the right is not my blog administrator, thank you very much.

This baby was thrilled to pet and drool upon the dog. The dog  however wasn't thrilled with her.

There were hundreds of these "Life church" people and they passed out hot dogs and water to the crowds for free! Our little Catholic float couldn't compete with that feel good kinda stuff. (hahaha) They even had a rockin' band with cool outfits. Where's the suffering in that?!

- Besides my hot dog was cold.

 Here's my son wishin' he was with the Life Church crowd.

(Not really, even he knows how I feel about traitor Catholics.)

This flag was my favorite part about the parade- excluding that baby. 

My administrator said that flying the flag suspended between two ladder trucks was his idea. 

Cool idea- way to go Paul!

The view directly under the flag.

The very last band :(

For your consideration.

Perhaps a number of you (All 3 of my readers who check out my blog -like about 8 times a day ;) could  stop over at Vincenzo's place and tell him what an AWESOME job he had done with my new blog header.  I think it's perfect and maybe you might want to  consider sending some contract computer work over his way so that he can continue to afford the up keep of his squabbling pet gerbils -Tina, and Ike in the standard of comfort they're grown accustomed to.  Responsible pet ownership is something that Vince takes seriously.

 I found  Leon Theremin playing this instrument over on YouTube and I thought it was some kind of a quirky joke but with further reading I not only discovered that it's a real instrument (they sell 'em over on EBay) but that they've  been used in songs we've all heard before. It's been suggested that you forgo trying  to make your own theremin from scratch because they carry an extremely  high voltage and you could very likely kill yourself.

Leon Theremin

 Theremin invented a device called the thing and it was used by the Soviet Union to spy on the United States. The device was embedded in a carved wooden plaque of the Great Seal of the United States and on August 4, 1945, a delegation from the Young Pioneer organization of the Soviet Union presented the bugged carving to U.S. Ambassador Averell Harriman, as a "gesture of friendship" to the USSR's World War II ally.

It hung in the ambassador’s Moscow residential study until it was exposed in 1952 during the tenure of Ambassador George F. Kennan. The existence of the bug was accidentally discovered by a British radio operator who overheard American conversations on an open radio channel as the Russians were beaming radio waves at the ambassador's office. The Department of State found the device in the Great Seal carving after an exhaustive search of the American Embassy, and Peter Wright, a British scientist and former MI5 counterintelligence officer, eventually discovered how it worked. Assuming that the device had never been discovered, it could easily have worked for 50 years or more.

*Source

Some of Theremin's inventions

Theremin – the classic Theremin (1920)
Burglar alarm, or "Signalling Apparatus" which used the Theremin effect (1920s)
Electromechanical television – Nipkow disk with mirrors instead of slots (ca. 1925)
Terpsitone – platform that converts dance movements into tones (1932)
Theremin cello – an electronic cello with no strings and no bow, using a plastic fingerboard, a handle for volume and two knobs for sound shaping (ca. 1930)[31][32][33][34]
Theremin keyboard – a piano-like device (ca. 1930)
Rhythmicon – world's first drum machine (1931)
The Buran eavesdropping device (1947 or earlier)
The Great Seal bug, also known as "The Thing" – one of the first passive covert listening devices; first used by the USSR for spying (1945 or earlier)
His invention of "The Thing", an espionage tool, is considered a predecessor of RFID technology.

My five favorite devotions Meme:  A little game of spiritual tag with Mr.Terry -over at the Abbey.  

My spiritual resume doesn't look very snazzy on paper but I've never claimed to be anything other than a struggling mom/housekeeper anyway so here goes.

I have two seasons of spiritual life.. One is for when the kids are in school and the other for when they're at home . I don't know if the relationship I have with God is normal or not. I tend to think it probably isn't. I think of myself as a pin ball and I bounce around from this to that believing that I land where God wills and that's where my work lies. I don't pray on a schedule- I pray where I land.

My summer schedule when our children are home goes like this.
1 ) I go to Mass usually around twice a week but more if I can swing it. I prefer to go when the least amount of people will be there for reasons of social anxiety and because there are less distractions. I try to go to confession before mass and that's usually at least twice a month unless I've lost my temper for some reason, then I'll go more. I'm terrified by the thought of dying with unconfused/unrepentant sins and I pray that I die before I'm old and feeble or rendered unfit to drive myself to confession or mass.

2) If I run into you in my daily life (in any way) I consider it a sign that God wants me to pray for you. I don't believe in coincidences (but I don't go overboard with this line of thought either) so then my grocery store trip turns into a prayer and devotion to God as I worship God by the way I treat the people I encounter.... Which means sometimes I treat him badly - then it's back to Devotion #1

3) I think of myself as pulling up the rear in Catholicism and I worship God by taking care of other people and there are a million little things you can do- all day long, day after day to accomplish this task

4) I imagine spiritual communion and adoration often when I can't actually do those things.

5) I say "Jesus help me to do the things  I've been called to do" hundreds of times a day. (It helps with anxiety) and I also ask  the Holy Spirit to help me to not be deceived. At the end of the day I review my sins/ failures/ disappointments and I offer up all of my work that I had done for the day as a gift (- although crappy as it might have been) to Christ. Then I pray for souls as I sleep. Whether pretend or not -someones getting prayed for and when I wake up it's my favorite time of the day - conversing with God then my day's downhill from there.

Winter - in addition to most of the summer activities.
1) I say the rosary when I'm in the car, and I will often say divine mercy- and like I mean it.
2) I work out at the gym figuring it's good penance and I can offer it up for souls meanwhile praying for people while I'm there.
3) I _____ the ____ at least once a week and I ________ at _____  ______ to work off my purgatory time but every time I try to do something nice for God and his people he blesses me so I cant seem to make any headway on my accumulated purgatory time.
4) I do some sort of penances during the winter but only when the stress level from my children goes waaaay down. I ____ .
5) I participate in all Catholic seasonal activities, Lent, Easter, St Pats day- hahaha, seriously anything and everything Catholic- I'm there, just don't make me chit-chat.

Our daughter Ana's boyfriend is driving from Michigan to spend the weekend with us. (He's Italian) Joseph is beside himself with excitement because Nate has promised to take the boy fishing and cook an Italian dinner for us. (If Nate ever breaks up with Ana, he's going to have to break up with the entire family and send Joseph a "Dear John" letter.) Ana is a little excited too but then again so am I because I love Italian food - and babysitters for Joseph. hahahaha

Ewww.

Some people are an insult to circus freaks and they make "Deliverance" seem like a fun wilderness adventure.

Sarah said the float trip at "Shady beach Missouri" lived up to it's name as everything about it was shady. She said,"Last weekend has thus far been  the worst weekend of my life."

The first problem she encountered was a loathsome man  about thirty something  who wouldn't stop hitting on her. She said he had four children by four different women (Stupid women) and he had tattoos all around his man nipples. (Naturally enhancing his manliness;) He stood about 5'-3"and weighed in at around 250 lbs (This may be necessary information if a police report should be required) and he insisted  that Sarah loosen up - throw back a few. (beers) This same man had assumed the good fortune fairy had smiled upon him as he had heard that a lone single woman (Sarah) would be in his camping party and she would be bringing her own tent so he didn't  feel it necessary to bring a tent  for himself -Sarah doesn't know where he slept and apparently Sarah wasn't the only person who returned home disappointed.

Sarah described  another  strange scene where grown grandchildren had encouraged  their dear ol' Granny to take off her top and the timid old woman willingly complied.
 (gag reflex)
 Apparently she got a real nice set of shiny plastic beads in exchange for her dignity and self worth!

Needless to say the beads were - a- flying!

I'm told that  coincidentally two of our towns high school teachers were there - still living out their own high school glory days and that there were so many drunk half naked people floating down the river that it was like a log jam at a saw mill. Sarah said one man was bitten by a water moccasin  but he was too intoxicated to seek medical attention.

(But then again if I were bit by a snake I would rather be intoxicated too. Rip roaring drunk in fact.)

One of the revelers asked Sarah what she did for a living and she said, " I work in drug extraction" to which Mr.Charming replied, "Well did you bring any with ya?" - Sometimes you laugh alone.

And lastly there were a couple of proud  pregnant teenagers who looked barely twelve so basically Sarah's weekend was spent with a crowd of Jerry Springer show rejects and Sarah lamented,"Why does this always happen to me?"

*Sarah's got a bad sunburn on her back.

That's what happens when you refuse to ask for a hand - a roving hand.

   The thing about Sodom that amazes me is that often times people don't recognize when they're actually "in" Sodom  and to the consternation of  people like Sarah  they don't like anyone who doesn't "Play along." I remind myself often that these are the very same people who Christ died for and who meant more to him than his life did - people like me.

For you child's viewing pleasure....Charlie Brown - The cold blooded killer- 1972

A seller over on EBay wants $4.99 plus shipping  for this worthless reel.

The seller, like so many people on this planet,

seems to be in denial about his things and probably about himself - just guessing though.

*****

Here are the problems with this particular reel.

Discoloration/faded cells

Wear ring from viewfinder advancement lever.

Faded and yellowed paper

Flaking paper

There's an additional freaky wear ring  around the inside of the reel that I don't understand and dings around the circumference of the reel.When buying reels check for bubbling , blistering , mold , blue emulsion spots, loose or missing cells  and scratches- which only can be seen through a viewfinder.

There- your all professional buyers now.

Remember to keep your reels in a cool dry place and away from children.Yeah, I know.... how ironic.

When our daughter Grace had finished speaking with our priest he said to her, "Go and get your brother. I wanna to talk to him" So she took the boy to Father and Father said , "Joseph, I want you to start serving at Mass, will you do it?" But Joseph said no so  Father asked again , "Well I want you to do it so will you?" ( Father has plans for the boy and thinks Joseph will become a priest but he's wrong, the boy told me he wants to be a train driver.)  Joseph reluctantly said yes but when we got into the car he began to cry and say, "I don't know how to serve, I can't do it!" What if I fall or make a fire in the church? ( The boy has anxiety issues too.) I told him I would help so when we got back home I put a lit candle on a cardboard pole and he practiced walking back and forth in our hall while entrance songs played on YouTube and yeah, there was candle wax everywhere.  Joseph did end up serving and after Mass when he got into the car he said, "I loved it, when can I do it again!?" (Naturally he loved it, everyone wants a piece of  the alter space for themselves.) I told the boy  he would be serving a lot during the summer because I 'm  going to daily mass and he will be joining me. ( I also have plans for the boy.) Rose asked her dad when would she be able to serve but he basically told her it isn't going to happen however I've got some service plans for her as well  but sadly they're not as fun but they're super important.

Pictured above; My blog administrator is on the right and our son is on the left- what you can see of him.

I'm sorry that I haven't been posting much lately. I've been trying to set a better example for my children and I've been more engaged in their lives. The following post took me a week to write as I would only blog a little at a time. I've missed blogging and I'm hopeful that when school begins that my blogger buddies will still visit with me. I'm hanging on to my last 3 blogger buds by a thread ;)

A model home ,but a not so perfect life.

I was able to convince my activity director into driving me to a home that had been turned into a museum although it never takes much convincing on my part because my activity director loves to go places - just like Buster (our dog) and even if the roads are terrible.

The home that I'm about to show you was the first all electric home built in the Kansas City area in 1954. Naturally the house was built by the electric company and originally the operating expenses were so great that they were included into their house payments, but because the home has low voltage wiring it can't handle computers and our more heavy duty appliances that we operate today so the home owners who bought this house in the 90's decided to remove the home from the lot because they only found the "lot" desirable and the house was transported to the back of an existing museum site.

The roads were terrible , but my chauffeur loves me. I should be honest here, it was either this or spend the day with eight kids who had cabin fever and were slapping each other around like the three stooges.

Thar' she is.
(spell check thinks "thar" is a real word)

Here's the main bathroom, there are two ,but only one has been restored to it's original glory and the other half bath is tiled in pink. I forgot to take a picture of the entry hall, it has burlap fabric on the walls for wallpaper (think potato sacks) and when you walk into the hall it has a sensor that automatically turns on the lights, just like the outdoor lights that we have today that go on and off when people or deer trigger them. The hall ceiling is recessed with lighting in such a way that they tried to simulate natural sunlight- think ugly.

This tri-colored ceiling fixture was supposed to light the room, kill bacteria, and heat the room. Here's where I began to zone out because it reminded me of when I was seven and had to have my tonsils removed.
As I began to recall unpleasant memories I started to become twitchy. Who wouldn't?

I liked the green fixtures and so did my handyman.

Here is the first of two bedrooms . All of the lighting was recessed into cornice mouldings. Amazingly the people who restored this house acquired the exact lamp , couches and even curtains in the restoration process and that was before EBay!
When you opened the walk in closet door the closet light would automatically come on just like your refrigerator does!


Pictured above is the master bedroom which shows us that married couples didn't have sex back in the fifties, but they did enjoy coffee. The switch above the bed controls the coffee pot outlet in the kitchen - an electrical wiring nightmare if you ask me, which in fact it was when the house was being restored.


The vanity in the background was very nice. It has storage behind those heavy glass paneled doors and a dual light switch that simulates daylight and evening light so you can apply your makeup just right.

As a child this was similar to the Christmas tree that we had and the gifts again triggered memories that made me twitchy.

The fireplace was electric and pretty lame. No worries about the lack of romance projected from the warmth of that faux fire because it wasn't an issue.

This television set was the largest screen that could be purchased in 1954 and when you flipped on a switch an electric painting would disapear into the wall so that you could watch TV.
The only problem was that the television could only receive one television station- WDAF

After this house had been restored it was used on occasion for cocktail parties and people would dress up in fifties clothing and eat and drink foods that were popular in the fifties. Maybe even pickle and olive kabobs. ( Let me know if you want that recipe)

This is the dining area . It's to the back of the living room and again the lighting is hid inside of a cornice moulding.

I noticed that there weren't any view master toys.

I will "will " them mine, but I'm still 110 reels short of my goal.

I am serious because my kids don't appreciate them.

I liked how the designers hid the card table and chairs into a wall beside the fire place. As you can see all of the bookshelves beside and above the fireplace mantel were electrified.

The curtains can open with the flip of a switch.

Here's the kitchen, it's very pink. The builders kept records of every color and item installed with the original house plans so the re-constructors were able to consult charts with the original manufacturers to find authentic replacement colors and items. I forgot the "pink" name of this counter top , but the company is still producing it.

Double Thermador ovens and a refrigerator that opens with a lever on the floor that you step on and not by the door handle.

I liked the appliances.

The cook top had a griddle in the center under the stainless steel top.

Ooooh, how cool is this refrigerator and it has lazy susan shelves. I could just imagine "Mr. What a pain"(my son) putting a cat in there and spinning it round and round.

Dishwasher included.. naturally.

This is the laundry room and it's sandwiched between the kitchen and the garage. One unit had washed and dried clothing. I didn't get a photo of an automatic ironing press located to the right of this machine. It was used especially for ironing sheets.
Here is where I would like to insert a prayer of thanks that I don't have to iron sheets.

The deep freeze.

My activities director commented about how thick the freezer walls were. I'm thinking that perhaps it's nuke proof.

There is paneling along the sides of the garage and a heavy new fangled contraption above the garage door. It's a garage door opener. The remote control would open the door with a high pitched sound signal which also happened to be the same signal that the trash truck made so once a week you could expect for your garage door to pop open.

Easy , breezy control panel. You got it straight yet?
(It looks like a high cootie toll anyway.)

That was fun.
******

My activity director decided to take the long way home.

So he drove us past my child hood grade school and it was there where I again began to remember some unpleasant memories coupled with a few memories from the electric house , but I didn't say anything because when I do my husband gets mad and holds a grudge against any and all perpetrators and the less he knows the better for the sake of his soul. Heck he was taken aback and perturbed last week when he remembered that my parents never baptised me as a child. He said , "do you know what could have happened?!" I said yes, but we can't control our childhood circumstances nor our parents. It doesn't matter now though , God took care of me.

He decided to continue driving by the homes that I had lived in as a child, and then the next one as a teen. He thought that I enjoyed driving down memory lane as much as he did and he asked me several questions. As I withdrew into my memories I felt like crying and I realized that even though I felt that I held no grudges against anyone, there are times when not unlike arthritis pain, it sometimes flairs up outta no where. It's perfectly natural , but I don't pick at emotional scabs . Old wounds never heal when you pick at them. You can't live for Christ today and simultaneously live in the past and hold on to your pain. We have to lay these things down at the foot of the cross and understand that the people who hurt us were people just like us -sinners. They were sinners who put themselves first and didn't notice the pain that it caused the people around them and even though you forgive them, you will sometimes have to deal with the pain and hurt.
We forgive. We give it to Christ and we move on.

It's the very least a grateful, repentant sinner like me can do.