It's a Par-Tay!

Here's a great way to check out new blogs and have new people visit yours!  Welcome to the party!

I'm a mom to 3 boys  young men between the ages of 16 & 22, and a wife to my husband, CH (Chubby Hubby...his term).  We moved back to my hometown after living in 2 other southern states for 20 years.  Did I mention I also work full-time for a local school system?  I've been a speech pathologist for 26 years, and have no intentions of slowing down...at least for a few more years!

Life in a small town at the foothills of the Smoky Mountains gets crazy sometimes, but it's slowing down now that I only have 1 son still at home.  I write about trying to find where I fit into this small town, my boys' shenanigans, as well as my Catholic Faith. 

Get comfortable, and look around.  Questions?  Just ask.  Comments?  Leave them below!

The Party's Over & Then Sings My Soul

The Ultimate Blog Party 2010 has ended.  I visited a lot of interesting blogs and have had a lot of visitors to mine.  Here are just a few of the favorites that I visited for the first time and are now following:
Julie the Army Wife
Girls to Grow
Blue Jeans & Cotton Tees (which led me to The Chocolate Lady)
The Green Greek
The Groschen Goblins
Messy Mommy
School Teacher by Day Superhero by Night
Home is Where My Story Begins
Mommy has to Work 

Last night my biggest brother's band played at a local grill.  They were outside, the weather was nice, and they sounded awesome.   His wife and youngest son and his wife were there, as were my other big brother and his wife.  I went with my football friend (FF); we had a good time.  Here's a picture of the band:  Faded Blues (excuse the quality...I have a really cheap camera that doesn't take the best pictures under light):

My brother is the one in the white t-shirt...pretty sexy legs, huh?  (LOL!)  He's a great guy, a terrific big brother, and has a great sense of humor.  My sister-in-law is quite the saint for putting up with him!  Before I took this picture, this is the picture that was taken:

FF & I just laughed about that!  I was taking a picture of the band with the "Night Scene" option.  The camera flashed, so I put it down, and then it flashed again!




It's time for another Then Sings My Soul Saturday hosted by Signs, Miracles, and Wonders.  I absolutely love this song by Stephen Curtis Chapman; I love the orchestra playing.  It's one of those songs that gets stuck in your head and puts a skip in your step. Hope you enjoy it!

Rare Weekend

If you're Party Hopping, WELCOME!  Stay a while and see what's going on!  My UBP Post is here.

This past weekend was just what I needed...nice and quiet!  However, it started out with MS' high school soccer game on Friday night.  It was a district game, and they won 7-0.  Our boys sent 2 of the opposing team's goalies to the hospital:  the first one slid face first into one of our boys' cleats and had to get stitches in his chin.  The second one broke his leg:  he came out of the box and collided with MS.  Usually when MS gets hurt, he bounces right back, but he stayed down a little bit.  (He told me after it was a bit of acting; he was trying to get the other guy to get a yellow card...which looked more green on Friday night!)  He was walking pretty gingerly on his ankle until Saturday evening.  Neither of the collisions resulted in a penalty.  I still don't understand those penalties; I think the refs interpret the rules the way they want to!   I told the moms that at OS' first wrestling match he dislocated his opponent's shoulder, and they commented that my boys were like brick walls!  They are all pretty solid, for sure!  Our entertainment at the game was one of MS' teammates:  he had torn his posterior cruciate ligament and had surgery that morning.  He was taking hydrocodone and was talking up a storm!  I heard him say more that night than I've ever heard him say.  He was sitting near us with his leg propped up  with all of the mamas looking after him.

Saturday my husband took a motorcycle ride to see one of his buddies, so he was gone from Sat. morning until Sun. late afternoon.  MS had his lifeguard recertification on Sat. afternoon, so it was just YS & me.  We made Pan Burritos together (didn't even think to take a picture, but it is like a Mexican Lasagna...very good!)...okay, well, he did most of the work!  Sunday YS went on a band trip to a nearby indoor waterpark that is also a resort; today they are going to a nearby amusement park then to a dinner show establishment tonight.  We're hoping to send the band to NYC next year.

Saturday since everybody was out of the house or playing games in the man room, I made cookies!  I made a batch of these:

 Then I made some of my husband's favorite cookies:  Cake Cookies.  They are so easy and sooo yummy!  This is all you need for the main ingredients:

You can use any yellow cake mix, or you can use chocolate.  Then, you pick what you want to add.  M&M's are a favorite, but this was my choice:

.The recipe also says you can add raisins if you want a healthier cookie...Yeah, right.

So, here's all you do:  Melt the butter, add the main ingredients (Using 2/3 oatmeal), mix them up.  Then, put in your choice of add-ins and mix that up.  Put on a cookie sheet (I bake my cookies on a Pampered Chef stone)  and bake at 375 for 12 minutes. (No, I didn't clean the stone after making the chocolate chip cookies...you can't get a warm stone wet.  Besides, I was still making cookies!)  The great thing about the stone is that if you leave the cookies in too long, they don't burn.  They'll be really crunchy, but they don't burn! 


Here's what the finished product looks like:

"How did I get the cookies perfectly round?" you ask?  It was my Pampered Chef Cookie Scoop!  

And yes, it is the large scoop!  And no, I am not a consultant!

The Gospel during Mass yesterday was one of my favorites:  John 20:19-31.  This is the "Doubting Thomas" story.  It's been a week since the Resurrection, and the disciples are holed up in a room, in hiding, fearing for their lives.  During the Homily, the priest brought up some points that I had never thought about:  Why was Thomas the one who wasn't there?  Was it because he had doubts so the other disciples told him to leave and come back when he was sure?  Or, was he the least recognizable so he was the one they sent out getting bread and water and other supplies?  Hmmm...good points.  The priest said that when he was in the seminary, one of his instructors told them to read this gospel, and be prepared to discuss the 3 most important words of this passage.  He said that at first he thought it was "Peace be with you"  (until someone pointed out to him that that was 4 words!), then he thought maybe "I send you".  Good thoughts, but not it.  He said when he walked into the classroom, the words "a week later" were on the board.  My initial thought when I heard him say that:  That really relates to how I feel a week after Easter.  It was so hard to go to Mass this morning; I had to make myself go.  The devil wasn't going to win today!  How many of us went to church or Mass eagerly on Easter Sunday, just to have trouble getting motivated to go the next week?  As it turned out, the priest didn't have that in mind when he talked about "a week later", but that was what I got out of it! 
I'm not sure how it is in other religions, but to a Catholic, Easter isn't just one day...it's a whole season!  It begins on Easter Sunday and lasts until Pentecost Sunday, which is a period of 50 days.   Catholic Online indicates that Thomas died a martyr:  "He became a messenger of Mercy to India, a missionary who shed his own blood for the Master whom he encountered on that day."  The 2nd Sunday of Easter is also called "Divine Mercy Sunday".  Catholic Culture explains it this way:
  "Between 1930 and 1938 Christ appeared to Sister Faustina, a Sister of Mercy in Poland who initiated the Divine Mercy devotion. She was canonized on April 30, 2000, the Sunday after Easter, the Feast of Divine Mercy. On Good Friday, 1937, Jesus requested that Blessed Faustina make a special novena before the Feast of Mercy, from Good Friday through the following Saturday. Jesus also asked that a picture be painted according to the vision of Himself as the fountain of mercy. He gave her a chaplet to be recited and said that it was appropriate to pray the chaplet at three o'clock each afternoon (the Hour of Great Mercy)."  A chaplet is similar to a rosary, or the rosary itself may be used to kind of  "keep track" of what prayers have been said.  A novena is a prayer, or a set of prayers that are said for 9 successive days.  It is amazing that after praying the novena, you know that it's heard if not answered.

Here is a picture of a dogwood in the yard (yes, they're finally blooming!):

Hope everyone has a Happy Monday!

It's the Ultimate Party

I love a good party!  I've seen this banner/button on a few blogs, and SusanD.at This Day! is partying over on her blog.  So, I decided to check it out.  So, get your beverage of choice, finger foods, music, and let's get this party started!

Click on the button either at the top of this post or on my sidebar to find out all about it.  Since I'm new to blogging, this will introduce me to new blogger friends.  There's even a chance to win some free stuff!  To me, the only thing better than going to a party and meeting new people is coming away with some free stuff!

First and foremost, I'm a mom of 3 boys, 1 of whom (OS) has flown the nest and is in college.  Middle son (MS) will be flying in August, but he's staying close to home.  Youngest Son (YS) is still in high school.  We live in the SE U.S.A., in a small town in Tn.  after living in Ga. & SC.  We are living in the same small town (in fact, the same neighborhood) where I grew up, although I have never lived her as an adult until 6 years ago.  I come from a  large family (there are 10 of us), and most of my brothers  & sisters have moved back home.  I felt left out and thought it was time to come back home.  The town we live in is a wonderful place to raise children;  I'm extremely glad my husband was supportive of me to move home.  I guess it made it easier that he is a military brat who was used to moving around anyway, as oppose to me whose parents live in the same house that they've been in for 47 years.

I'm a full-time working mom; I love my job!  Working in a school system has its advantages (breaks & snow days!), and the kids keep me laughing.  That's what life should be all about:  laughing and being happy.  I used to play tennis in the summer with an "old ladies' group", but I'm going to take this summer off.  I love to read (I have so many books on my list but not enough time...especially since I've discovered blogging!), cook (the clean up:  not so much!), watch movies, go to hockey games (semi-pro), watch college football, college women's basketball (but only if a certain team is playing!), take my 2 little girls for walks in the park (as long as there aren't any other dogs in the park), and take rides in the mountains. 

As you may have guessed by the 9 siblings, I am a Catholic.  I am rediscovering my faith and struggling to be a faithful follower.  I'm very friendly, honest, and loyal.  I love learning about different cultures!  So, if you visit my blog, you may read about my boys, my dogs, my husband, high school sports, college sports, being an almost empty-nester, living in a small town, being Catholic in a small southern town, books, etc.  In other words, just a whole hodge-podge of things!

But, enough about me!  Hop on over to see what the noise is about at 5 Minutes for Mom:  The Ultimate Party Blog and meet some new friends!  Who knows, you may be one of the lucky ones who leaves with a prize!

As far as the prizes:
Of course my first choice is to win the Grand Prize:  a Toshiba laptop  from 5 Minutes for Mom  (Might as well dream big, right?).
My realistic top choices are:  Be My Guest Certificate (2 night stay) from Hilton Garden Inn, Soy Collection Moisturizing Candles Gift Set from Soy Delicious Moisture Candles, or a $100 Gift Certificate to Restaurant.com from Thrifty.Jinxy.
If I should happen to not win any of the above, here are my other choices in no particular order (from the US Continental Only Prize List):
28, 32, 36, 37, 49, 57, 70, 73, 74, 75, 82, 87, 88

Y'all have a good time and come back soon!