7QT: Such a long to-do list, I think I'll blog.

We are leaving for Michigan in the am.  The laundry isn't done.  There are still groceries to buy (Hello Aldi cheap beach snacks!).  The house is a mess.  But I think I'll cough up seven quick takes and tell the big kids to make brownies, because these things are important.

1.

Those people down there are my people.

Michigan.  It's just like this.  On a lake with a beer and a baby.

2.

We have a new Christian in the house!

Many, many thanks to Fr. Steve Grunow of Word on Fire for coming down to our neck of the woods to baptize Polly and to the many family members who journeyed far and cut vacations short to be with us on this great occasion!

3.  Here are some examples of how Old Scratch tried to spoil the day interspersed with photos that are not related to the text.

My dishwasher broke the night before.  Patrick duct taped it so the tape was barely noticeable and the dishwasher still functioned.

The morning of, in a group effort to get beverages in the coolers, Lucy picked up a 12 pack of beer on the back porch and the box broke!  Broken glass and beer everywhere!

Then after cleaning up that mess, Susan was stirring a glass pitcher of OJ RIGHT BEFORE WE WERE TO WALK OUT THE DOOR, AND THE PITCHER BROKE!  Glass and OJ all over my clean kitchen.

At this point, Patrick, Polly, Jill, and I took off for the church, leaving the oldest four to clean and make their own way.

Polly was a perfect baby for the entire ceremony except for some serious fussiness and squirming during the prayer of exorcism.  But then Fr. Steve called the Holy Spirit down on her, and she settled right down.

4.  The rest of the day was just lovely.  There was no Bacon Cake left.  No ham.  None of the four egg casseroles.  No Prosecco.  It was a great feast!

Then we napped.

My hair looked pretty good too.  Washed it the day before.  Curly friends, you got to get educated in Ouidad.  I read about this nursing friendly dress on this blog.  Thanks, Tess.  Sorry not sorry I got the same print as she did.  It's the prettiest one.

5.  Some of the male party guests were complaining about our gorgeous vegetable garden. I think they were afraid their wives would get ideas.

I'm linking up with Cari's Garden Post. Our harvest has been small so far.  Some lettuce, Swiss Chard, basil, and a total of 2 cucumbers and 9 green beans.  This is our first attempt at vegetable gardening.

Each of those cucumbers cost us about $175.

There are zillions of green tomatoes too.  I'm certain everything will ripen while we are away.  If you live locally, swing by my back yard and help yourselves.  I have a good gazpacho recipe here.

The pepper plants look good, but no peppers.  The watermelon was about the size of a golf ball, but squirrels got it somehow.  It looks like we will do well with pumpkins.  That will save me about $8 this fall.

Next year, I'm growing zucchini and arugula.

Mixing the compost.

BTW, the vegetable garden is all the work of Patrick, Edmund, and Peter.  Any and all flowers are my domain, and they are all dead or mostly dead, which is why they are not pictured.

6.

On Monday, we took our Houston family members to the zoo.  They left from the zoo for the airport, but we stayed and went to the Butterfly House.

Patrick is SKEERED of butterflies, so we have never been there before.

It was gorgeous and magical and I want to live there.  Or at least spend a couple of hours in there with a large iced tea.

7.

Jill is talking about this moment when she says she touched a pig at the zoo.

I suppose that's enough procrastinating.

I will try to keep up with the WWRW posts, but there is a serious lack of internet and even cell coverage where we're going.  Don't you ever think that I'd skip a What We're Reading Wednesday post because I haven't read any books.  Jill would never let that happen.

Linking up with Jennifer @ Conversion Diary and Cari @ Clan Donaldson.

7QT: TT, a poem, a joke, and other nonsense

1.  Presenting my photo submission for Theme Thursday:  Bare.

2.  A Poem by Jill

Violets are blue.
Sausage is brown.
Brownies are brown.
And so are you.

3.  Laughter at my 17 yo's Expense.

Susan's date for the Christmas Dance was a young man who has expressed a desire to join the preisthood.  One of Peter's friend's asked a girl who has already decided that being a single lay person in Opus Dei is the thing for her.  (She declined.)

We were discussing this at the dinner table one night when Peter declared, "All of these celibate people should go to the dance with each other."

pause

"I would hope that you and all of the people going to the Christmas Dance from your schools are celibate people." was Patrick's response.

Gales of parental laughter ensued.

4.  A Good Stylist is a Girl's Best Friend

I have been going to the same hairdresser for 15 years.  I have known Allison through eight pregnancies (three of those are hers), two marriages, her mom's short successful bout with cancer, and three salon moves.  Allison now cuts my hair at her mom's house on Thursday evenings.

When I had Jill, she gave me her old exersaucer.  When her son was learning to ice skate, I gave her an old pair of Edmund's skates.  We cried when she told me about her divorce.  We cried when my sister Mary passed away.  I have met everyone in her family.  She has met and cuts the hair of several of my friends and family.  We are Facebook friends.

Allison just had a baby and took some time off, and that worked out for me because I had this salon gift certificate from an auction to use.

5.  Good news and bad news.

The good news is the salon haircut I won was a Ouidad (pronounce wee-dodd) specialty cut for curly hair valued at $150.

This is in the car immediately after leaving the salon.  I hate taking selfies. 

More good news is I love it!

Ouidad is a curly haired person from Lebanon who developed new cutting and styling techniques and products just for curly hair.  The local salon I went to has two NYC Ouidad Salon-trained stylists.

Here is a tutorial in the Rake and Shake styling method from my very own stylist, Jennifer.



With my new Ouidad cut and the $50 worth of free products I also won, this curly style lasts for up to FOUR days between washing!    And the cut lasts for up to SIXTEEN weeks!

This is day 2 of my new Ouidad haircut.  No make-up, no contacts, 16.5 week baby bump.

The bad news is Allison is not a certified Ouidad stylist and I don't want to break up with her after all these years.

Day 3.  Edmund took this picture, which is why I am squatting weirdly.

What to do, what to do.  I suppose I can keep taking my three daughters to Allison....and pray that she thinks about taking a trip to NYC to learn how to cut curly hair the Ouidad way.

6.

Madame de Florian left this fully furnished Parisian apartment in 1942.   She continued to pay the rent until 2010.  Now, you can see pictures of this untouched piece of history.

7.  And if you're neurotic like me, you can imagine what historians and the Internet would say if you locked the door and walked away from your home for 70 years.

I have to admit, Madame de Florian and I share a penchant for piles as a form of organization.  It turns out we're in good company.

Here's a glimpse of Einstein's office at Princeton:

Joining the other geniuses at Jen's and Cari's.