Since the last episode of Quick Takes, Fulton received his First Holy Communion. After Mass, we took pictures, came home and had lunch with family, then drove to my hometown of Lancaster, PA for my 20th high school reunion.
Don’t worry, Fulton, and Addie, are getting a huge Sacrament celebration tomorrow. And by huge I mean at least 120 people in my yard, 75 percent being children. Somebody is bringing alcohol…and by that I mean the remaining 25 percent of attendees.
1. But back to last Saturday. Originally, both the Communion and Reunion were on separate weekends, but then both got moved and whammo! we had a conflict. But we made it work, and I’m glad because Tony and I both had a really great time. Before the official reunion, several of our closest high school friends met nearby to catch up. Despite the years and distance, we all try to get together at least once a year. From this private gathering, most of us moved on to the official event.
The music was a bit too loud, but I managed to catch up with all sorts of people I hadn’t seen in years. The funniest story of the evening was when I spotted one friend at the bar and walked over to say hello and give him a hard time about wearing our official, and ugly, “Class of 96” t-shirt. After we hugged he asked me if I knew where he got the shirt. I was confused, we all got the shirts the year we graduated right? And then he proceeded to tell me that once when he was over at my parent’s house visiting my sister (who he dated after our graduation) he needed a shirt and she gave him my “Class of 96” t-shirt. He kept it, and now he was wearing it to our 20th reunion. I told him to hold unto it for the next reunion too.
Tony and I stayed out way too late for a couple of 37 year olds and my mom admitted the next day she had started to worry that something had happened to us. (I still got it!) Needless to say, we still haven’t caught up on the missed sleep.
2. It hasn’t helped that, less that a week from the ‘Sacrament Celebration of the Century!’ I decided to single-handedly repaint our only full bathroom on the first floor. (Tony took on the task of single-handedly repainting our living room.) We had hoped to hire painters, but despite being prompt regarding previous work, and giving us a timely estimate on the work we needed done before the party, they never called us back to set up a time. Other painters were already booked up. It was either have ugly walls for another event or suck it up and just do it ourselves. As of this post, the bathroom is done except for a second coat on the ceiling which I’m doing tonight. (The living room is 75 percent done.)
I should clarify that when I say “I’m painting.” I’m actually spending 50 percent of my time applying paint to the walls and 50 percent of my time dripping paints everywhere, cleaning up paint, and cursing loudly. I’ve also stepped in paint drippings and tracked paint all over the floor twice. Bathrooms are exceptionally difficult because you can’t move the furniture; there’s all this danged plumbing! And since it’s our only full bath, I’ve had to halt work for showers, toilet trips for the boys and any time someone is in the upstairs half bath and someone else really needs to go right now!!!
3. But I’m passing the time by listening to my new favorite podcast from ‘The Art of Manliness’. After every episode I usually have to stop and add a book or two to my Amazon wish list. In this era of gender whatever, I feel like I need to clarify that just because I love this podcast, I in no way identify as a man… unless of course the line for the women’s room is really long.
4. Last month, I finally started reading ‘The Brothers Karamazov’ as planned, but was horrified to learn on Monday that I was reading an abridged version! I don’t know how I didn’t notice it on the cover before but after investing 300 pages of time and effort I decided to start over with the correct book (and after double checking with social media to make sure I couldn’t get away with the shorter version.) I purchased it for my Kindle, but quickly realized I’d lost my Kindle. (I blame the kids, they blame Mr. Nobody.) I love my old e-reader. I can’t stand reading on my phone. And with so many great classic literature books for free in the public domain, my Kindle saved me tons of time and money tracking down titles. And with The Brothers and War and Peace on my to read list this year, I either need to buy a new Kindle or buff up my biceps in anticipation of hauling these massive titles around. So e-reader users: can I get away with buying another regular Kindle or should I get a Paperwhite? Are there any other e-readers out there worth my time?
Not that I’ve had much time to read this week anyway….
5. Because we also started school back up after our April break. I love transitioning back into school, especially during stressful periods of home renovations.
And periods of heavy, never-ending rain which mean no one can go outside without dragging in tons of mud into my dusty, paint splattered house with helter skelter furniture placement. All our walls are patched and painted, plus there’s new trim around several doorways. Every time Fulton and Teddy make a quick turn in their chairs near a corner I just about have a heart attack. I’m walking around with a tub of drywall mud and a crazed look in my eye. And at some point I also need to scrub the floors but I can’t figure out when. Everything needs to get cleaned yesterday, but the potential for new messes is still too overwhelming. I don’t know how I’m supposed to educate my children in this environment except with lots of hands on Home Ec. classes.
6. Every time Tony and I plan a party, we think of this commercial.
If you could say a prayer it doesn’t rain tomorrow that’d be great. Or if you’re not religious, please drink a Honey Brown Lager (if they even make them anymore.)
7. This post is long enough. I can’t force a seventh take. Watch the Honey Brown commercial again if you feel ripped off.
Have you overextended yourself this week too? Great! Write it down then link it up below. Be sure to include a link back to this post so your readers can find the rest of the Quick Takes. I look forward to reading your posts!
Congrats to Fulton and Addie! Sometime though you really need to do a 7QT on how you throw a party for 120 in your yard. The specifics,like food, drinks, entertainment, and availability of a bathroom. Most importantly though, how you do it without losing your mind! I’m throwing a graduation/First Communion party next weekend with maybe 50 invited and I am stressed!!!!!
That’s really awesome that you had a good time at your reunion! I feel like class reunions often get a bad rap, so it’s neat to hear about a good experience 🙂 I will be praying that y’all have good weather! That sounds like a blast of a party 🙂 The only thing I’ve done slightly on that scale is when my family and I threw an ice cream social right before I went off to college, and somewhere around 100 people (our estimate based on ice cream bowls used) showed up at some course of the evening. It was really funny, because we had ice cream stations set out upstairs and downstairs to help even out the crowd, but nope! Everyone all stayed in the same area like a massive blob. Even when some people moved outside to cool down (it got to be warmer inside than the August evening outside), tons of people followed suit. It’s funny how groups of people can do that kind of thing, but also neat to see the sense of community, too.
I’ve had a paper white a couple years and I really like the backlighting. But I saw Amazon has their little fire tablet on sale for $40 today and if you don’t mind glare you could get that. I got one for Christmas and use it for recipes online while cooking, and watching Netflix, and I’m taking it on a plane today for my 4 year old’s enjoyment. I guess what I mean is that if you hate reading on it it would still be useful.
I got tired just reading about your overextended activities! But it all sounds like fun, and you definitely have this. Congrats to the newly sacramentalized!
I went with six takes, too. All the cool kids were doing it. I don’t have a Kindle, but I hear people who are into books love the Paperwhite. People who are into tablet or smartphone or laptop reading like the Fire.
I highly recommend the Paperwhite. I love the back lighting and love that I can turn the light down to the second lowest setting when I read in bed so that I can get sleepy after reading two pages and go to sleep. No need to roll over to turn off a lamp. And the low setting does not do whatever it is that electronic devices do to disrupt your sleep cycle.
I just finished Brothers K! I started on a Kindle but had to switch to the real thing because I just needed to go back too many times to review names (why do they each have 18 names??). I’m glad I did because my Kindle version was missing a note from the “author” that really added to the story. I read Peaver’s translation.