Fondue for dinner, an ice storm, and general musings (7 Quick Takes)

~1~

Sometimes when I run out of ideas for dinner, we make fondue. It requires a little prep—cutting up vegetables and meats and preparing the broth, but then John takes over the pot and handles the cooking.

It always feels fancy and special, but there are never leftovers. I wonder whether people will expect dinner again tonight.

~2~

A few weeks ago, we happened to be in the grocery store as a family, and my son spotted a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. He was so excited. He couldn’t grab it fast enough and put it into our cart. Since then, I’ve had to buy a second box.

Through nearly two years of not grocery shopping as a family, I’ve asked everyone multiple times what they wanted from the store. No one ever said, “Cinnamon Toast Crunch.” But sometimes you don’t know what you’re missing until you see it.

~3~

We had a little ice storm on Friday morning, and it was just enough to give us a two-hour school delay and some shiny, shimmering trees. Isn’t nature incredible? It might be even more incredible than school delays.

Our bus was late coming, and I opened the door to yell outside to ask my older son if he wanted me to take him to school. When I closed the door, his brother—who was taking a sick day—was staring at me, astounded that I would humiliate someone that way. But that is part of a mother’s job, right?

Meanwhile, I’m worried we are teaching our children (and maybe ourselves) the wrong thing about sick days. Apparently, even the kids are expected to keep up with their schoolwork when they are out sick. What happened to people not doing things when they’re sick? Instead of learning to slow down, have we instead just learned how not to spread disease—and not actually care about recovering?

~4~

My father overbought clementines the other day, and he offered me some. I always accept extra clementines.

They’re pretty and sweet, and it’s easy to grab one when you’re running out the door to go to work and forgot to eat breakfast. And they look so elegant with an inflatable tiger blurred in the background.

In other news, our Chinese New Year decorations have been tucked away for another year, but the Tiger is still going strong.

~5~

Am I the only person who still reads Snapple cap facts? The other day I got one about birds: “The only bird who can see the color blue is the owl.” I love picturing scientists sitting there interviewing every bird in the world to see whether they can see the color blue.

I recognize that’s not how it works. But even with all their scientific knowledge about how eyes work, do they really know that how the owl sees blue is how I see blue? Do we even know that how I see blue is how you see blue?

~6~

Linda and Al Grasley invited me to be on their radio show, “Married and Family Living with the Grasleys,” and we recorded it in January. It was so much fun to record. I am nervous to watch it myself because I always want to edit myself after the fact, but you can see it here.

I did manage to wear my bird sweater and talk about the finches. And Al and Lin are an absolute delight. I really admire the work they are doing through their show at St. Joseph’s in Sykesville, Md.

~7~

Can you believe Lent starts Wednesday? I haven’t decided what I am doing this Lent. I do plan to fill a basket with slips of paper with prayer intentions because our list of prayer needs from friends and family is so long, not to mention the situation in Ukraine. And I’ve signed up for the Pray More Novenas Lenten Retreat, which is always so good. You can sign up here.

Beyond that, I might try to slip into daily Mass a little more frequently and maybe be a little less responsive via my phone. Is that possible? I don’t know. But it seems like a great idea.

Still, my best Lents tend to come my way and rarely follow the instructions I try to pick ahead of time. I feel ready for a little more peace and a little more prayer on my Lenten journey. And maybe some fish sticks, too.

Copyright © 2022 Catholic Review Media

 Print