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I’m thinking I could really use a beer “Friday”. This is something JR enjoys as one of the perks of working in a Fortune 100 Best Company to Work For (and they’ve made the list for the last ten years, no less). Yes, every Friday around 4:30pm JR decides whether or not to attend “beer Friday” where he & a bunch of his coworkers sit in one of their common spaces and share a beer before heading home for the weekend. I’m glad he has the opportunity to unwind with his buddies after a long week’s work. I think I’d enjoy something similar, although my “coworkers” don’t seem like the type to handle that sort of thing responsibly.
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I love dictionary.com. I like to think I have a fairly good vocabulary and I enjoy using precise & descriptive words. However, I sometimes think I have an understanding of a word only to learn that I am actually a bit off – usually because JR is laughing out loud or looking at me completely puzzled. So I love looking up what I think a word means (especially when blogging) to make sure I am saying the right thing. It has saved me more than once from an embarrassing misuse. And I swear that my word confusion (and for some reason, especially phrase confusion) is even worse after studying abroad for a year. Completely changing my language for a significant amount of time (10 months) seemed to rattle things pretty good and still 10 years later (yes this year it is 10 years since I was in Uruguay – wow!) it is not all resettled!
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I know I said that I love Carters brand children’s clothing, but I have discovered that I do not love this year’s line of polyester pajamas! They are so soft & smooth in the store, but get them home and wash them a few times and they are not soft at all and sorta slimey, too. Yuck.
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I am very grateful for my Catholic education (K-12) in a small country Catholic school. However, not everything was perfect and some things were downright odd. For example, I studied the same social studies textbook for two years in a row (covering South America – imagine that!). Our classes were small enough that there were two classes in the same room. So in 5th grade, I had a first-time teacher who decided she would teach all of us from the 6th grade Social Studies textbook (South America). When I was in 6th grade, my super cool young teacher had moved on and we had an old, crabby teacher who had always taught the 6th grade textbook and was not going to teach the 5th grade textbook (United States). So we did the 6th grade book again. Looking back, I can’t believe that was acceptable to anyone, but that’s the way it went and I never learned the US states & capitols, but did end up studying for a year in college in South America. Weird, huh?
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Does it seem like this is a quicker read than the last 3 takes? I’m working on it, but I am such a natural rambler (just ask my parents or my husband), that it does take work to make QUICK takes!
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So Lent is just around the corner and I’m trying to get my plan in place for prayer, fasting & almsgiving. I am trying to turn a new leaf and have my ducks in a row BEFORE Ash Wednesday this year. I think I’ve got a pretty good plan and wanted to share the almsgiving portion with you. I got the idea from my friend Sharon. She has been making goody bags for the homeless for quite some time. She keeps them in her car and when she sees a panhandler (which we have a lot of in Austin), she passes out a goody bag. Her daughter, Therese, is especially devoted to this good work. They inspired me to give a little extra during Lent (and hopefully, we’ll keep it up all year round, just like they do).
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Tonight I had one of those humbling moments where you realize how foolish you were to pity yourself. JR & I took the girls on our Friday night date – pizza & shopping at Costco! While shopping, we came across a woman who had three little boys just like my girls. We got to talking and sure enough, her boys were each within a couple months of our girls. I suggested we exchange emails and meet at the park sometime. Well, turns out they live in Killeen . . . near Fort Hood . . . because her husband is on a 15-month tour in Iraq. Wow. My sorta rough week seemed pretty pathetic all of a sudden. As we continued our shopping, I couldn’t stop thinking about Sandy and her boys. By that point, JR had gotten a second cart for the groceries (the first was full of girls) and I was calling off items from the list so that he could collect them. I knew Sandy was shopping on her own with the boys and when she got home, she would bathe them and put them to bed on her own and when she got up, she would feed them breakfast and start her Saturday on her own. God bless her! And God bless all the military wives (and husbands) who give so much. And, of course, God bless her dear husband & bring him home safely to Sandy & those boys.
I want to add that I read a very inspiring post about not comparing our crosses this week and while I think there is a ton of wisdom there, I also think that from time to time we need a little sobering up to realize that while we may be struggling with something, we are so richly blessed in so many ways. I expect I’ll be thinking of Sandy and her boys often in the coming months, and I’m glad for that because it will remind me to pray for them and thank my husband for all he does for us.
Hope you enjoyed my 7 Quick Takes – be sure to visit Jennifer at Conversion Diary for links to more 7 Quick Takes Friday!
Have a wonderful weekend!!
I’ll come for “beer Friday” if we can have girlie beers!!
Cheers!
Let us know if you ever make it this far south!
I thought about Beer Friday but I’m not so sure how Monsignor would feel about us sitting outside of the church/school after we pick our kids up and having a beer with my “co-workers.” (I know you were referring to your kids but I’m going to refer to my girlfriends who also do the SAHM thing.) It is a neat thing, though, that JR’s company does. My aunt worked for Microsoft and said that all of their drinks–water, soft drinks, coffee, milk–were free all of the time on campus.
I love the goodie bags for the homeless idea. We don’t see them often here, but once a week or so we drive by a person who is panhandling. I’m glad that you pointed this out!
You know, whenever I think I have it rough or when Jeremy was gone on business for several weeks, I offered it up for single moms or for military moms. You’re right (and Kate W was right) all of our crosses are different but somehow looking at someone who has a heavier cross makes our seem so much lighter.
Nice Quick Takes!
Yeah, high-tech is a strange world – but the last two recessions (after Sept. 11th & the current one) have tamed things down quite a bit. Thankfully, NI has been able to trim the fat and still avoid layoffs or benefit cuts or other things that other companies have had to do. Another cross I’m thankful we’re not carrying!
Jenny and All,
In reguards to section 6 on lent and giving to the homeless….
As you already know, I’m not the most religious person on the planet, so all that you do is good and better than my efforts.
However, I want to caution all of you to not be naive and put yourselves or your children in harms way. Remind them that we are cautious about talking to strangers, and that there are dangerous people out there.
Just about the last advice I gave to J.R. when he left home was..
“It is one thing to be in a bad spot, It is another thing to be in a bad spot and not know it!!”
So, I’m not asking you all to give up on what you are doing, but make sure you are doing it safely. Don’t forget to support your local organized social services, and food kitchens etc. where rules, and services are more structured and aid is more dependable over time.
As always
Grandpa Andrews
Thanks for your thoughts, Grandpa, we are working on a full post to respond to your comment – stay tuned!