the weekly seven IV

Spring is officially here, we made it to OCNJ, and we got a first class feast thrown in the middle of the week. Things are looking up!

enjoying

Byron came home for the weekend, and with warm sunny weather forecasted, we went to Ocean City. The boardwalk had quite a few people about (for March), and many shops were open. We bought candy for Sunday, hit up the arcade and enjoyed some locally roasted coffee. On the way home we stopped for dinner to celebrate Mothering Sunday (Laetare Sunday) and St. Joseph Day (our Father’s Day).

celebrating

I made corned beef on St. Patrick’s Day, then immediately turned them into Rueben sandwiches, which everyone enjoys…except Teddy, which he reminded me of at dinner. For the record, I make a variation of the Reuben; white bread instead of rye and coleslaw instead of sauerkraut. It’s pretty close to a Rachel sandwich. I’m embarrassed to admit I forgot to do much else- I even forgot to play our Dubliners’ records!!

On St. Joseph’s Day we went to Mass at our local parish and went across the street to the convent afterwards to enjoy the St. Joseph Table. (There was an entrance with a ramp behind a fence I didn’t know about!) I was so grateful for the opportunity to have some wine and sweets. We didn’t actually finish up our novena until the next day though, which isn’t terrible given our track record with novenas!

fixing

The day before, I was all set to take Fulton to an appointment at CHOP. I drove over to the train station and while unloading, our wheelchair lift stopped working. Then, while trying to fix things, two other guys at the station told me the train to Philly had been cancelled, and they had no idea when the shuttle bus would arrive. I took it as a sign and rescheduled the appointment. We made it home and I was able to unload Fulton using the manual mode, but the problem was not something Tony and I could fix. We’re still waiting to get it seen at the local repair shop.

This was on top of the fact that our second vehicle was also in the shop for the second time in a few weeks. Thankfully, the mechanic did the second repair quickly and for no cost. But the whole situation reminded me again why I’m so thankful we live in a town where we can walk to so much of what we need. (We can actually walk to the train station, but when it’s cold we tend to drive over since we have so much walking to do outside once we arrive in Philly.)

reserving

One of the wedding tasks Addie asked me to take on was reserving a block of rooms for out of town friends and family attending her wedding in July. Initial searches didn’t turn up a hotel with an accessible room that worked for us near the reception venue (most of the rooms with roll-in showers only had one bed). But then I thought to call and check on adjoining rooms and, I don’t know if I had incorrect dates entered or what, but suddenly, an accessible room with enough beds and a roll-in shower was available. I immediately booked it and called the hotel to reserve a block of rooms. I’m so excited that we’ll be able to stay close to the reception and with all our family. There is a wonderful hotel in Cleveland we usually stay at, but it would’ve put us 35 minutes from the reception. The closer location will also make it easier for us to go back and worth quickly between the hotel and reception on the day if we need to.

I’ve been working with the mother of the groom on planning the shower as well and I’m looking forward to that celebration falling on the same weekend as Addie’s graduation with her Masters degree in social work. So lots of things coming together! Next up- suits and my dress!

listening

Since the war with Iran begin, Fulton has been more interested in following international news. I found the BBC News World Service, Global News Podcast to provide good overall news coverage without lots of celebrity news thrown in. I’d recommend it if you’re looking to add current events to your homeschool day, or more interesting “conversation topics” (i.e. things to argue about) to your dinner table. Not that this podcast covers anything controversial; some of my family just like to argue. Teach your teens logic if you want dinner time to be really fun!!!!

watching

I had grand plans to watch several religious movies as a family this Lent (inspired by the Fisher family). However, the first night I tried it, we couldn’t watch my first choice so I settled on a movie Amazon recommended: ‘The Shoes of the Fisherman’- an almost three hour epic about a fictional pope elected during the Cold War. None of us really liked it. Then we selected The Ten Commandments…another extremely long epic. We still have to finish it. Maybe it’s our modern attention spans…Going forward, Fulton and Teddy will no longer let me choose Lent viewing, unless I can somehow find redeeming spiritual qualities in an action movie. Tony and I did watch ‘Wake Up Dead Man’ and I would’ve recommended that (highly!), but Fulton is very anti-murder mystery movie right now so, maybe another time.

educating

This week we missed co-op due to the wheelchair lift not working, and last week I wanted to mix things up for history class. Fulton and Teddy were tired of my “cringy” lectures, and I honestly wanted something different. So I spent some time on Teachers Pay Teachers finding some fun history activities. Last week the kids did an Assyrian Empire escape room and this week I had my substitute teacher assign a ‘Create Your Own Greek City State’ for the class to work on together. Fulton and Teddy each created their own at home. I was feeling pretty pleased with myself, and thankfully Tony reassured me that the activities I chose were “fun” and “cool” and the students were all lucky to have me. But honestly I think Fulton and Teddy won’t be as upset by next week’s cringy lecture.

We’re more than midway through Lent; you can do it! And thankfully, we have another first class feast coming up. Hopefully the weather is looking up where you are too. Have a great week!