Pansyiana: May 2004 Archives

This morning we went to Mass in Auriesville and saw another family we know from homeschooling events. They are a very nice family who stumbled upon our old NO parish on the days they had the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Albany. The couple of times they went, they lucked out because my father was homilising, so I think they got the nice impression that the Parish was somewhat orthodox. Anywho, they are sweet because whenever I see them they have wonderful compliments for my father, who is usually criticised for his backwards thinking around here.

The wife was telling me she just returned from Lourdes with her husband and one of her daughters because her daughter has severe epilepsy. Apparently not only is the epilepsy debilitating, but the drugs the little girl is on cause behavourial problems. A group I never heard of called the Knights of Malta financed the trip for her family in the hopes of a miracle. I pray she gets one. Please say a prayer for this family.

During Mass the two youngest boys were, well, Little Monsters. I imagine people watching us from behind must have seen this crazy lady shaking her fist at raucous little boys. No, I didn't really shake my fist at them, but I kept whispering so many "knock that off"s I felt like an evil crazy lady.

After Mass an older couple stopped me and started speaking Spanish to me which, besides the fact I do not speak Spanish, threw me off because the man who clearly looked Italian was speaking fluently with an Italian accent. It threw me off because at first I thought he was speaking Italian and I had this sudden sense of comfort from what is familiar. People never look at me and think "Italian", but rather that I am Spanish, so I was momentarily psyched. Silly, I know.

The couple instantly started telling me (in English) that we had a beautiful family and we reminded them of themselves when their children were small. They had 7 boys and Mass was always an adventure for them, as it was for us this morning. They had so many wonderful compliments, it was very nice. Later I asked the man in Italian if he spoke Italian as well...Si.

7 boys! Here I am thinking that after three boys in a row, with the luck of the draw the next one should be a girl. My friend Karen just had her 8th girl (she has 2 boys as well). And I think after three boys I should get a girl. Maybe if I pray really hard that God will realise I know better than He does what kinds of souls to send me!

Well, off to make eggplant parmagiana for dinner.

Because I feel much better, thank you. I still have a headache, but it is feeling like a normal headache, not the horrible kind.

So, yesterday we worked on the garden. I wish I had My Peony here to give me advice and show me where I was going wrong. My husband built me one raised bed because that was all I needed so far for all the plants I had that are ready to go out. My neighbor plowed this huge plot of land and the one raised bed is barely a speck on it. I think that is one of the points of raised beds though, less room. I planted the rhubarb and some corn conventionally so I felt like I am utilising some more of the land.

The soil is just dreadful. It is rocky and dry and you hit clay three inches down. That was when I wished I had my Peony. It is also hard to water becaue the hand pump close to it in the horse barn is not working. We are not sure if we are doing something worng, such as not pumping it enough, or if it is broken. Still, even if nothing grows, the kids, hubby and I had a fun afternoon digging in the dirt together. All except Gorbulas who sat himself in the van (doors open) and fell asleep for the event.

In the morning we attended 9 AM Mass in Auriesville. My husband would like to make that the normal Sunday routine since it is actually the closest Church to us. They will only be open until fall, so we should take advantage of it as long as the weather is nice.

We came home and had a late Sunday breakfast, worked in the garden and I made manicotti for dinner. I also spent the day snacking on pepper jack cheese, and roasted red peppers with anchovies. It was a little nicer than the usual Sunday running around. Especially since Gorbulas was so under the weather.

In the meantime here is my Recipe for Manicotti (pronounced mah-nee-gawt).
4 beaten eggs (Egg Beaters work just as well)
1 cup of water
1 cup of all purpose flour

Mix together, it will make a watery batter. Spread about 1/3 a cup of the batter on a hot, small non-stick skillet and flip once like a pancake. The manicotti will be very thin.

For the filling mix 2 pounds of ricotta cheese, 1 egg, salt, pepper and parsley and I like to add some romano cheese if I have it. Fill the manicotti and roll it up. Place in a baking dish (with gravy on the bottom) side by side. Cover with gravy and bake for like 1/2 an hour.Serve with the usual Italian condiments and sides, grated cheese and crushed red pepper, salad and Italian bread. Nummy!

*Gorbulas did it again! It was a beautiful day out (which is a blessing in and of itself because the forecast predicted thunder showers all day). When Polo came him, Gorbulas, who had shed his pants was just in sneakers, a T-shirt a diaper and Mickey Mouse ears, took his diaper off and let him run around dressed like Porky Pig (a shirt and no pants). This was around 5 and he is still (7PM) attired the same way with no accidents because he went potty all on his own!

* My cantaloupe seedlings are sprouting, I am so excited. I put my plants outside to get some real sun and fresh air, but it was too windy, they got blown away. They also got very dry.

Gorbulas went potty yesterday.

I took off his clothes last night to get him ready for his bath. Sometimes I let him run around naked and pinch him on his cute little baby butt. Like most babies(yeah, I know he's 2, but whenever there is an older sibling, the youngest is automatically "the baby"), as soon as you take his clothes off he hops around with glee. Then he hopped right into the bathroom and we all heard "tinkle, tinkle" so we (well we made Rosey Posey do it) ran into the bathroom in a panic thinking he peed on the floor. He came hopping out saying "potty" and sure enough, that's where he went.

I actually had not even considered starting potty training yet because the whole thing stresses me out. Looks like I will have to get on the ball.

We had a nasty cold, sans the rash around the same time up here. Actually, it was not very nasty-24 hours from start to finish-at least for those of us who do not have astma. For the asthmatics, Gorbulas and Fastolph, it was horrible. Fastolph has not had an attack like this is years and Gorbulas was almost hospitalised-again because his oxygen was at 92. Deo Gratias the doc was able to turn it around with a steroid shot. Deo Gratias again for good doctors.

Gorbulas has similar Daddy fondness right now as well. I did something pretty mean this morning. First of all, do not get me wrong, I adore my babies, but I am trying to wean Gorbulas. He is whiney from being two and short, he is whiney from being ill, he is whiney form being weaned. I feel for the kid, but he is also annoying. Since it is Saturday, I wanted to sleep in a few extra minutes. Gorbulas came up to bother me for Mommyjuice and Polo followed to see if was OK.

After Polo left he started to look to nurse and get all whiney, so I said "say Bye
Daddy," to which Gorbulas started to get all panicy and teary eyed "noooo, Duh-ddeeee!" thinking Polo was off to work. He climbed down and ran to his father.

I heard my husband say from the hallway "You did that on purpose!"

I am so excited because I found a rhubarb plant at the farm store yesterday. Of course I cannot make pie out of it any time soon, so I also bought a pound of rhubarb. Today I made a lattice top rhubarb (with some strawberries in it) pie-for after dinner.

I went into the kitchen to prepare some dinner stuff (mango avocado salsa) and noticed a trail of crumbs from the pie and nibble marks on the edge. I asked "who was nibbling on my pie?" to which my husband replied "Fastolph!".

I said "Fastolph, did you nibble on the pie?"

"Ye-ess!"

He was very proud of himself.

My brother said I should start a whole blog called "Fastolph Tales".

Each night, Gorbulas and Fastoph sit on either side of me on the couch and snuggle as they fall asleep. It is actually incredibly uncomfortable, but the pay off I get for the double cuddles is well worth it. Last night as Fastolph was sitting there, he patted my tummy.
Fastolph:Mom, you're getting fat.
Me: Do you know why I am getting fat?
Fastolph:Yeah! Because you eat too much!
Me:No, there's a baby in thee. That's your little brother or sister.
Fastolph: You ate a baby?!? I would never eat a baby. It's yucky in there.

I decided that was enough of a birds and the bees conversation for one day.