Friday, April 22, 2005

Funky Dinners

It's kinda fun when my husband is away... The kids and I eat whatever we want for dinner. Like, tonight Marisa (the youngest of the triplets) wanted to have waffles for dinner. She would not stop asking me until I told her I was going to cook her some waffles for her and the other two triplets. (She absolutely loves them!) Then I cooked tortilla soup for myself and the big girls.

Tortilla soup and waffles for dinner. Yum!

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

New Pope


New Pope
Originally uploaded by aloha_chris.
Pope Benedict XVI on 4/19/2005.

The New Pope

So this morning it was announced that a new Pope has been chosen... I, for one, am so thankful for this. The idea of the world (the Catholic world, I suppose) without a Pope has worried me a bit lately. Okay, more than a bit. I have been praying for a speedy process in this whole thing, and thank goodness... it has happened that way.

When Pope John Paul II died earlier this month, it really shook me. Much more than I could have guess it would, acutally. I kept praying that he wouldn't die when the TV stations were simulcasting from the Vatican as he lay sick; I was afraid of what would happen if the world lost him. But alas, God has a plan and things go the way He sees fit.

So, a new Pope was announced and he has taken the name of Benedict XVI. My hunch is that John Paul II had his eye on this former cardinal so I have faith that he is the best man for the job. But I'm watching the television broadcasts that aired this evening and I'm troubled... They say he is a conservative hard-liner. Ok, so what's new? So was our last Pope and he was loved dearly by millions. But this time, people are saying we needed a younger, more liberal Pope in the position. Are you kidding me? Since when is the Catholic faith about being liberal or lax with the teachings we have followed for so long? You know, this really bothers me. For one, don't people know that each Pope is APPOINTED BY GOD? Yes, there is a conclave, a vote, etc... But it is my belief that God guides these cardinals to make the choice that's appropriate to do His work. How dare we question the choice of a new Pope? How can we think it's ok to do that?

Forgive me for stepping up on my soapbox tonight... It's just something that's on my mind and I feel like I want to vent about this. Of course, I'm no holy person... I'm a sinner just like the rest of the world and I've had my share of big mistakes in my life. But still... I truly believe that we can't stray too far away from the old teachings of the Catholic church (if you are Catholic) and design a new church that will allow us to do some things that we shouldn't be doing, and to do it "without sin" because the church will condone it! RRRRR! How can we just change the doctrine? I truly believe that once we start doing that... We'll be getting ourselves into trouble like we've never imagined.

That's all I have to say about that. Thanks for your tolerance, I usually don't get so serious on my blog.

Sunday, April 17, 2005

Shhh... They're sleeping!

Four out of my five offspring are sleeping peacefully downstairs on this lazy Sunday afternoon. So, I've decided to sneak up here to the loft to type up a short entry for my blog. Dang... it's been a month?


Taxes

Finally, they're done. Actually, I filed our federal returns online over a month ago because we were expecting a pretty good sized refund. Our state return, however, was postponed until April 14. Major procrastination. Hey, we owed a couple hundred dollars to The Man... Who the heck wants to hurry up and pay that?

So we got our federal refund back and we were so excited to see the check for a few thousand dollars! Yay! What should we do with it? Improvements in the house? Landscape the backyard (which, by the way, has been a dirt backyard since we moved in here almost a year ago...)? Buy some new furniture? New tires for the SUV? Maybe something a little fun for me and the husband, like exercise equipment or something? Yeah, right. That stinkin' refund came and went before we knew it.

Of course, our first priority was the bills. But with our luck, they all came in at the same time. Homeowners' Insurance Bill, Property Tax Bill, Supplemental Property Tax Bill, Auto Insurance Bill, etc... POOF! The money's all gone! Drat! I hate bills.


Sick, Sick, Sick

Said four children sleeping downstairs have all been sick at one time or another in the last two weeks. Let's see... It started with Kaia, then Malia, the Marisa, then Kim. All of them had some type of stomach virus and it's been no fun at our house. So there they sleep, making themselves better and giving Mom a temporary rest from laundry and cleaning up their messes (you know what I mean).


He's gone

Yep, you guessed it... The sailor is gone again. Ugh. This time he'll be gone for just a couple of weeks, but still. I hate it. I've been married to him for so long now, but it seems like it's harder to deal with him being away now than it ever was in the past. In some ways, I can't wait for his career with the U.S. Navy to be over. I mean, 20 years will definitely be enough.



Gotta go make use of this valuable "Me Time" that I have right now. Who knows how long it will last! Blog ya later!

::wink-wink::