Church...Holy Days of Obligation

Today was the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a Holy Day of Obligation for all of us Catholics and one of the most important ones in the church year and....WE MISSED IT!  Not for a lack of effort or thoughtfulness, but pure error on my part.  So it goes something like this.  I new that it was coming up and that it would be here before I knew it and that it always sneaks up on me this time of year.  So as I was talking to mom this morning about this that and the other thing she mentioned that Katie had gone to Church this morning because she was working until ten tonight and wouldn't be able to go tonight. The light bulb flickered and popped on....CHURCH TONIGHT! Immaculate conception! I quickly googled Our Lady of Lourdes church in Little Falls to get the mass times for the Tri Parish Faith Community...I read it, got in my head that there was mass at OLOL at 5:30 - a little tight on time with both of us rolling in from work a little after five and 6:30 at St. Mary's....sounds good!  So we got home, dillydallied around, ate some supper and out the door we went ot St. Mary's on the east side of town for 6:30 mass.  When rounding the corner by OLOL I was surprised that all of the cars were gone from 5:30 mass and in my head I thought two things, first I bet that Father Mark was doing both masses and had to hurry through 5:30 mass to get to St. Mary's by 6:30 and secondly and embarrassing to admit I thought...sweet mass is going to be short and we'll be home and toasty warm in less than an hour.  So we turn down 4th street and there are NO cars parked in front of the church there either!!! WTH  (What the Heck - when talking about church) I was so disgusted/frustrated I could have cried.  I processed it all out loud as Justin was saying...there is nothing we can do about it now, at least we made an effort.  He is always so positive!  We made a pit stop for milk and city trash bags on the way home and I rushed in the house to see how I possibly could have messed this one up...So here I sit after perusing the Tri Parish website again and it ends up that there WAS mass at St. Mary's at 6:30 LAST NIGHT! ARGHHH!!! and there WAS mass at OLOL at 5:30 TONIGHT!  How could could I possibly made such a stupid memory error (are the residents wearing off on me)?  Good thing I am not a transcriptionist.  So I'm still struggling with it and trying to figure out how I'm going to make this all ok mentally. Should I say the rosary? Maybe a few extra prayers when I go to bed tonight? OR Should I chalk it up as...we made an effort, missed church and there isn't a darn thing we can do about it?  WOW!! Does anyone else struggle with stuff like this or am I just crazy?  WOW! I feel better just typing it all out...Happy Holy Day of Obligation to all and to all a good night!

ps. I have a hot date with my husband tomorrow night :) and a busy weekend planned, so look forward to more stories and I'll try to keep my babbling to a minimum.

Maybe Silent Night would be more fitting?

This video was captured at St. Nick night at my Aunt and Uncle's this past weekend.  St. Nick had gathered all the kids around to sing Jingle Bells for their parents and Jack would hear nothing of it!  I only caught the last part of the song because I was laughing too hard to realize I should be recording this priceless occurrence! If you watch really close in the beginning you can see Jack growl at the kids too...

Welcome Back!

I'm BACK in the game!  A New Years resolution beginning today...Facebook out! Blogging in!  My goal is to head to blogland instead of Facebook, as I truly feel like it has consumed too much of my time and the only one that has control over that is yours truly...ME!  I'm not sure where to really start this game of catchyouup, but as I think of things I will post, so for a while there will be a mishmash of postings, with no real rhyme or reason.  I will try to post the timeframe just so you are able to follow.  Above is our Christmas picture for 2011.  This is our second Christmas season as husband and wife and it has been great!  Last Christmas Justin was in the heart of working full time and working to get his law enforcement certificate, he was BUSY!  I had put the lights on the house, put up the Christmas tree and decorated the house as though it was just something we did that time of year...this year has been so much different and so much fun!  WE put the lights on the house already in early November on a rather warm evening and pulled out all of our Christmas decorations the Friday after Turkey day.  WE put up the tree and decorated it TOGETHER and even got some pretty priceless home video of decorating the house for the holidays.  We have been able to just sit and enjoy one another's company in the glow of all the Christmas lights and we are already planning nights out under the stars, skating and skiing by the light of the moon.  We are reflecting on true meaning of CHRISTmas and counting all of our blessings.  I will fill you in on all of the other happenings as time permits because as I come off my facebook "high" I have a feeling I will be spending A LOT of time blogging!  TaTa For Now! Good Night and Sweet Dreams!

Being a wife...

Being a wife is...GREAT!  I love it!  Nothing is greater than being married!

• A new bathroom rug...$10
• A new battery for my car...$60
• To know that no matter what, through thick and thin, I will always have my best friend by my side...priceless!

We are sneaking up on being married for THREE WEEKS!  I can't believe it!

First Comes Love...Then comes Marriage...Then comes...

CANNING!  HA HA HA HA Gotchya!  I've just been a regular old housewife this week...I froze some corn, canned some salsa...what more could a husband ask for?  I got married just in time to get in on some fun homemaker duties, but missed the beans and pickles season by a frogs hair! Dang it anyhow, what was I thinking getting married during canning season?  Amazing what love on the brain can do to a woman!  If you follow my blog at all you might be wondering where I got the tomatoes from as my garden is no longer in existence...my wonderful mother and friend Amanda's mother were gracious enough to donate some tomatoes to our help feed the newlyweds fund!  A million thanks go out to both of them...now we will have homemade salsa (a staple in our house) for the winter.  The corn was also graciously donated by Amanda's aunt and uncle...a whole gunny sack!  Stay tuned for more news...I'll keep you posted!

What does your neighbor boy do when he gets mad?

This is what ours does...

Destroys my garden!

(On a positive note...I don't have to worry about working too hard to clean it out...)

What's a woman to do on her 26th Birthday...?

Well...first she rises with the sun!  Why? I have no idea!  Then she cleans the house?  On her birthday?  Yes, on her birthday!  Then she plays some sand volleyball...huh?  ALL DAY! (luckily she's only a sub! She's getting old you know!) The Tina P's got 2nd place out of 10 teams...We Rock!

Then her husband takes her out for a tasty birthday dinner at Little Fiesta!! Wait a minute...She gets a free dessert?  What's the catch?  AH ha!  Three lovely mexicans sing what she believes was the spanish version of Happy Birthday! She just smiled and nodded...it was great!

Then they go to a wedding...interesting...very interesting! Angie and Amanda wore their little black dresses ;)...

The night ended at the Tschida/Schirmers Cabin on Bull Dog Lake...the next day was time for church, brunch, fishing, napping, riding/falling off the tractor and home again, home again, jiggity jig!