Thoughts for Thursday

My sister told me about this, it's from a blog that we both read called buildingcathedrals.com. Well, it's called Building Cathedrals, but that above is the address. You know what I mean. I just want to give credit where credit is due. I like the idea of 'checking in' weekly, but Lord only knows if I'll be able to do it. I'll give it a whirl:

What am I cooking?

Today I baked a cake for Mike's birthday, just from a box, because he likes a yellow cake and what is the point, I figure, of making a yellow cake from scratch when the people at Betty Crocker have already put it all together for me? I'm not fond of icing from a can, though, so I made some and WOW is it good. I made a double batch, the first batch didn't seem like enough. He likes yellow cake with chocolate icing and pecans, so as soon as everything cools, I'll ice it and put the pecans on. I'm happy with it all, looks-wise, so far, and that's half the battle, for me. We're having Cinnamon Carbonara today for dinner, Mike's mom and her husband and his sister and her girlfriend are coming over for dinner. His birthday is tomorrow, his last one in this house! I remember when he was only 36. :)

What are my weekend plans?

See? I should have done this on Thursday, but I'll backtrack. Friday night we had eggs for dinner and went to see a show called The Belle of Amherst, about Emily Dickinson. It was a one woman show and although I thought it was a SKOSHE long for a one woman show, overall I loved it. I thought the actress was wonderful, it was nice to see a play with Mike, which I haven't done for a long time, and the tickets were free! My sister babysat, which was also nice. Yesterday we went to the park, I went to Mass and then the grocery store. Today we're having birthday dinner.

What are my prayer intentions for the day?

I always pray for my children, especially Anthony, that his mind can be eased a little bit, today. I pray that he can get his sensory system in order and feel good and happy. I have a new friend on Facebook that I made, and her son just got diagnosed with autism, so I am praying for him and for her family, too. I always think of my cousin Sean around this time of year, tomorrow was his birthday. He died when he was 21 and I think he would have been 44 tomorrow.

What can my children do instead of watching T.V?

Play outside, today and tomorrow. It's going to warm up. They can also 'help' me with packing. Hopefully they can take a nice restorative nap today, as they were up early, because of the time change.

What have I done for my marriage this week?

I got up this morning with the girls! I want to be more mindful of not taking advantage of Mike and the fact that he always, always gets up with them. Now that I am sleeping more regularly, there's no reason I can't get up too.

What am I reading?

I'm finishing a novel called One Day, and I'm moving back to a memoir of sorts, it's called Half a Life.

What’s challenging me lately?

I wish I could be better on my diet. I wish I could be committed to exercising and eating better. I wish I could lighten up.

Something that made me think?

Meeting my new FB friend made me think about Anthony and when we got his diagnosis and how far we have come. I remembered trying to practice saying "Anthony has autism", like, in the car before I got places, so that I wouldn't cry when I said it. It rarely worked but I like to feel prepared. Anyways, it's better now, so I hope I can remember that no matter how bad it feels at the time, it always does get better. So far, anyway.