40 Weeks and Counting

Someone asked me this week if I enjoyed being pregnant, and I honestly had to respond no. The miracle of life is certainly amazing, and it is crazy to think how something the size of a poppy seed has grown into something the size of a watermelon all inside of me. But I would not count the past nine months as something easy to get through.

The belly at 40 weeks makes one feel like a beached whale.

It takes a lot of work to grow a tiny human, and there are so many things that the body tolerates in order to do this. While I anticipated the morning sickness (a.k.a. all day nausea that never goes away), I did not anticipate nine months of insomnia, water having a metallic taste, and bleeding gums nearly every time I brushed my teeth. As the weeks wore on, I anticipated my uterus stretching to make room for the growing baby, but I did not anticipate sciatic nerve pain, sore hips, shortness of breath, restless legs, and sharp pains in my abdomen any time I sneezed for months on end. My usually strong immune system became suppressed, which led to nasal congestion every single day, trying to keep a fever at bay while fighting off the stomach flu for nearly five days, and coming down with pink eye of all things.

As a very petite individual, with a starting weight of 112 pounds, my frame seems to have adapted reasonably well to the 44 pounds gained in about nine months, but the final weeks have been the most miserable as my legs started to swell from water retention. Who knew ankles could swell so much, and who knew plantar fasciitis was something that could developed on top of swollen feet?

Those baby kicks that started as something exciting and adorable have certainly gotten stronger and more painful as the baby has run out of room. It hurts when the baby kicks your ribs! While my doctor has reassured me that Baby will not be reenacting the movie Alien any time soon, I still have my doubts after viewing the misshapen curve of my belly on numerous occasions. The skin of my abdomen is stretched to the max and itches all the time, and the area around my belly button is still quite numb for the most part.

After having not felt well for nine months, I am ready to give this kiddo the eviction notice. The thought of giving birth is both exciting and terrifying, but the enthusiasm my husband has displayed as it all becomes more of a reality for him this week is encouraging to say the least. He and I have been on an emotional roller-coaster of feelings throughout the whole pregnancy, going from excitement to worry and fear to now restless anticipation, and it will be interesting to see what life brings postpartum.

For certain, I am thankful to my aunt for giving me a prayer card to St. Gerard (patron saint of mothers) which has helped keep me grounded all this time. The prayer for a mother with child has been a good mantra:

Almighty and everlasting God, through the operation of the Holy Spirit, you prepared the body and soul of the glorious Virgin Mary to be a worthy dwelling place of your divine Son. You sanctified St. John the Baptist, while still in his mother's womb; listen to my prayer. Through the intercession of St. Gerard, watch over my child and me and protect us at the time of delivery. May my child receive the saving graces of Baptism, lead a Christian life and, together with all the members of our family, attain everlasting happiness in heaven. Amen.

My New Respect for Parents

My husband and I were told at the end of December that our baby's 20 week ultrasound scan showed a few cysts. Initially I assumed it was me who had the cysts after the nurse told me on the phone that my doctor was going to wait to see if they go away on their own. After finally getting a chance to sit down with our doctor at the latest monthly check-up this past week and ask about that bit of information, it turns out these cysts were seen on our baby's brain. There was a big long name for this, but bilateral cysts are pretty much the only words I remember.

When these cysts show up, doctors will point out they are sometimes correlated to a chromosomal abnormality that can have serious complications. So my doctor did mention that, but she also was quick to say there were no other markers found on the ultrasound. Stupidly, I looked it up when I got home from the doctor. Because who does not scour the Internet for more information these days? (Probably people who know better than to go down that rabbit hole.) Of course the first results that come up for a search on bilateral cysts on a baby's brain in utero discuss how babies with this particular chromosomal abnormality associated with these kinds of cysts have a higher risk of stillbirth and often do not live past infancy.

Hello, freak out moment!

The reassuring news is that there was nothing indicating physical developmental complications, which would give doctors a high possibility of concern for this chromosomal anomaly. The rational side of me has had to repeatedly remind my husband and myself that if there were strong indications of something atypical with our baby the doctors would be scheduling tests immediately, not waiting weeks to perform another ultrasound as is the plan. While this is quite logical thinking, keeping one's sanity and having patience while we wait until week 28 is easier said than done.

The fact that there are so many results that even came up on an Internet search should tell me this is a fairly common phenomenon. I did find someone's post suggesting a correlation between seeing cysts on an ultrasound and extremely high IQ's in children after birth. I joked to my husband that perhaps we have nothing to worry about because we very likely made our very own Sheldon Cooper (from our favorite TV show The Big Bang Theory). My husband did not seem to find the humor in that.

And so we wait. Now every time the baby kicks me I pray that he or she is healthy because that is the only thing I can do. And I try to remember on days where there is less movement that I may not feel every kick because our baby had to be a rebel and attach him/herself to the front of my uterus.

News like this changes the tone of expectation for the birth of a child. We went from teasing each other about whether we will raise a boy or a girl to concern over the mere survival of this child. It is a gut wrenching fear that sits in the back of your mind and has no comparison for any other fear previously experienced in life. It creeps into your thoughts in the middle of the night as it invades your slumber, and it stalks your thoughts in the middle of the day. It gives me a whole new respect for parents.

But I am grateful for those little things that remind you perhaps everything will be okay. On day two of trying to wrap our minds around this unexpected hiccup, my husband and I received a package in the mail from a former co-worker of mine. She sent us a book to read while we wait for the arrival of our blessed little one. How coincidental is it that just as my husband and I are feeling anxious, a dear friend sends us the book Waiting Is Not Easy! by Mo Willems? In the book, Piggie has a surprise for Gerald, but Gerald is frustrated because he has to wait for the surprise. Piggie reassures him it will be worth it, and in the end Gerald declares it was worth the wait.

And so we wait.

Life's Little Curve Balls

It is a funny thing to stare at a plastic stick in a bathroom at five o'clock in the morning on a Saturday and realize your life will never be the same again. That was where I found myself in early September after my basal body temperature still had not dropped. I had a presumed knowledge of what was likely going on knowing the inner workings of the human body (thank you, Christian Sexuality class from freshman year of high school), but taking an at home pregnancy test and seeing a positive result is still quite surreal.

In actuality, my husband and I had not thought about kids in a while since we have been preoccupied with the can of worms familiarly known as PTSD. This year we learned just how long forty-five days can feel when he spent nearly all of June and July seeking in-patient treatment at a VA hospital after some pretty scary moments in May, and we had been preparing ourselves for an additional forty-five days as he had been scheduled to check back in to a VA hospital for more treatment at the end of September. As a married couple, there certainly have been times where it has felt like we are front-loading the "for worse" part of our marriage vows. And after nearly three years of marriage, we were naturally starting to wonder if kids were even possible, but one plastic stick in the wee hours of the morning ended any thought of that sort.

After a little breakfast while watching some morning news, an hour later that positive test result was still there staring back at me. Yep, this was really happening. The only remaining question was whether or not to wake my husband and tell him before leaving for work or wait until after work that day. Anyone married to a foreign war veteran learns quickly that waking a sleeping soldier is not usually recommended unless absolutely necessary.

In the end, telling my husband right away was probably the best decision made. While I contemplated all day what will happen in the next nine months, I found myself getting nervous about everything. I was not really sure if my husband comprehended what I had told him earlier while he was still half asleep, but then, at just the right moment, I received a text message from him sharing his excitement with me. When I expressed my nervousness, he reminded me how awesome it is to become parents.

Many years ago, a lot of friends questioned why I chose someone like my husband. At first glance it looks like he and I have nothing in common; he is certainly not like me in many aspects (thank goodness). Yet we are very much on the same wavelength, and I am often reminded how much of a match he is for me. He is not my duplicate but my compliment. Whenever I am weak, he is strong. If he had any nervous thoughts, I was not made aware of them, and that was exactly what I needed at the time.

After about two days of keeping this exciting news to ourselves, my husband was ready to burst. We spent that Sunday evening with my family celebrating my youngest brother's sixteenth birthday, and every time we caught each other's eye, a slight smirk crossed both of our faces. At one point my husband pulled me aside to tell me how he was going crazy keeping quiet, and he needed to tell someone. At first I attempted to convince him to wait a bit before we said anything, but he pointed out that everyone was there. When you are part of a large family, getting everyone together all at the same time can be tricky. My aunt and uncle had even stopped over, so it sure was an ideal time.

Unquestionably, there are moments of life that can be etched in your memory, and the look on my parents faces will always stay with me. From ecstatic grins to wide-open eyes full of surprise, the news of a baby has to be some of the best news in life. However, the best comment has to go to my uncle when  he said, "Good, now she can put on some weight." To which my sister responded, "Yeah, in her tummy." Needless to say, inheriting Grandma's metabolism has made me the butt of quite a few skinny jokes throughout my lifetime.

At 10 weeks, babies are about 1.25 inches long. So tiny!

After the excitement calmed, the pregnancy symptoms set in. For me, it took all of two days after getting a positive test result for nausea to grasp its hold, and it did not really let up until week thirteen. Morning sickness is really not an accurate description when the feeling lasts morning, noon, and night. Even worse, things that once worked as a remedy for feeling ill suddenly became things that exacerbated the problem, and tips from medical professionals only really took the edge off. If nausea were bad enough, add insomnia, frequent urination, shortness of breath due to increased heart rate, heartburn, fatigue, and (my personal favorite) vomiting all to the same day. Just when you think you survived the day, you realize that you get to likely do it all again the next day unless by some miracle your symptoms are cured. Eating enough food is an important thing to do, but even the thought of certain foods makes one want to gag when suffering from nausea. Oh, and water! It is hard to drink a lot of water when it tastes like metal. I am fairly certain I lost more weight than put on during the first trimester.

At 11 weeks, there is more than just bloating.

Despite those things, seeing our little tyke at ten weeks along during an ultrasound certainly makes it all worth it. My husband's reaction to the whole experience was priceless. Seeing that heart beating on the screen and watching those little arms and legs wiggle around is a great reminder of what a great miracle new life is. There is a living human getting ready to greet the world, and that miracle trumps all the difficulties that precede the arrival of that little bundle of joy. May cannot get here soon enough!

At 14 weeks, there is definitely a baby bump!

Thankfully, the end of the first trimester and start of the second has brought some relief. My body still has moments of nausea if I do not keep enough fuel in it throughout the day, but it is not quite the same as that initial constant feeling of illness that plagues you for weeks on end. It certainly came at the right time for me, but truth be told, part of me still wishes it were as easy as the stork from Disney's Dumbo making a special delivery.

A Wedding Toast

Those of us blessed with being asked to be maids or matrons of honor are also plagued by the fact that at some point during the wedding reception you are going to have to speak into a microphone in front of a large number of people. For pretty much everyone on the face of the planet, this is terrifying. Thoughts about what one should say are difficult to formulate into coherent paragraphs, much less statements. And for us female folk, there is also the knowledge that at some point during your speech you are most likely going to start crying.

My dilemma was not so much that I was going to be speaking in front of nearly 300 people (Thank you, youth ministry job, for teaching me many lessons regarding speeches in front of large audiences with whom you are unfamiliar!) My dilemma was simply that I was at a loss for what to say that would translate well in a room where I only really know half the people. Also, there were some still hurt feelings on my part that were nagging at me from my own wedding when a speech intended to be humorous did not exactly come across as planned, which at first made me less than enthused to give my own speech. At least my prior knowledge gave me a good starting point.

From an internet search for tips on how to give a decent wedding toast, I formulated an outline from multiple sites that proved to be very helpful and would recommend to others:

1. Introduce yourself (Not everyone is going to know who you are, of course.)
2. Provide a funny story or memory about the bride, groom, or couple.
3. Give some thoughts about love and marriage.
4. Articulate a wish, blessing, or toast for the bride and groom.

As always, the key to good speech-giving is to keep it short and sweet, otherwise known as get to the point. The more one rambles, the more likely it is that something could go amiss. Also, while I had gone over a basic speech in my head numerous times in the weeks before the wedding, I knew how extremely important it was to write it down. The moment the speech begins is usually the moment when your brain goes blank, so it is handy to have some notes close at hand.

Unfortunately, I did not find the time to write my thoughts down until the morning of the wedding. While we sat in the hair salon, I scribbled and re-scribbled my speech. I would recommend completing this earlier, but as a first-year teacher at a school, I do not exactly have a lot of free time these days. I had the foresight to bring note cards along since I knew I would have some down time that morning. I did not have the foresight that writing my speech was going to involve tearing up, which wreaked havoc on the false eyelashes the makeup artist had just applied. Oops.

Mom and I are trying to get a snap closed on the back of my sister's dress.

When it came time for me to speak, I opened with telling guests if anyone wanted to make money, they should pull out cell phones, start timing, and take bets on how long it was going to take until I started crying. It did get a good laugh, which helped break the ice for me a bit, and it helped to make me not feel so nervous. It was a good start.

Now of course I did not follow the written script word for word, but going off-script does have its consequences. After introducing myself, I spoke about how I could go on about stories of all the shenanigans my sister and I participated in as children, like when we used Crayola markers on our eyelids to make it look as if we were wearing eye shadow. (Thank you, Barbie doll, for that inspiration.) I also briefly mentioned the time I pushed my sister off the bed [when we were jumping on it] and she cracked open her head. At the time we were quite young, and I thought she was going to die. Our older brother tried, unhelpfully, to console me and told me that everything would be okay because if Katie died we could just get a new sister. It was here I nearly lost composure, but I paused and asked who won the bet to give me time to stop crying. After I was ready to proceed, I explained how my sister always tells me I am a mother hen to her, so I was going to do just that that evening.

My written speech was as follows:

For those who do not know me, I am Katie's [older] sister Amanda, also known by Rosie just to confuse people. I can attest I am happy to be here on such a joyous occasion, and I would like to thank Mom and Dad, Carol and Paul for hosting today. It is always a delight to see the hard work of preparation and planning come to fruition.

Perhaps Katie and Chad have heard many jokes over the years about when were they going to get married, much to the consternation of my sister, but all things happen for a reason and in their own time. Katie and Chad, today is your time.

Not too long ago, Pope Francis was in the news for commenting about couples throwing plates at each other, which by all means if you feel the need to do, I highly encourage it. But the news stories forgot to mention the rest of his message. Pope Francis went on to say, "Love is stronger than the moments in which we argue, and I therefore always advise married couples never to let the day draw to an end without making peace. There is no need to call in the United Nation peacekeeper. A little gesture is enough: a caress, see you tomorrow, and tomorrow we start afresh. This is life, and we must face it in this way, with the courage of living it together. Marriage is beautiful."

Katie and Chad, while I cannot promise all of your days will be as blissful as today, I can promise you the Beatles were correct when they sang, "Love is all you need." But they did miss a few other important things for a good marriage. Since I'm a teacher, we're going to review a few important phrases every couple needs to know, so pay attention because there'll be a quiz later. Repeat after me:

Proszę. Bitte. Please.

Dziękuję. Danke schön. Thank you.

Przykro mi. Es tut mir leid. I'm sorry.

Keep those sayings in your marriage toolbox, and they'll fix almost anything.

Walt Whitman once wrote, "The strongest and sweetest songs yet remain to be sung." Katie and Chad may you find many sweet songs to sing together in the years ahead, and may God bless you as you begin this new adventure in life together. To Katie and Chad!

Lamentably, the brief crying incident made me extremely nervous whereas before I had felt rather composed. Because of this, I skipped over a few sentences here and there, and I was definitely shaking more the longer I spoke. I guess that is why they call it the jitters! Thankfully, I was collected enough to ad-lib a few additional things, like how Pope Francis had my back on my suggestion that the Beatles missed a few items or explaining I had to include Polish and German into the key phrases to repeat since our family comes from those traditions.

On the bright side, the only thing I really regret is that I forgot to tell the guests to raise their glasses for the toast. I remembered it at the very last, but it felt so anti-climatic to me. You are your own worst critic, though. So, advice I would give to any future speech giver is to jot notes down about when to prompt guests to raise their glasses, just in case.

My beautiful sister the bride and me at the wedding reception.

At the same time, it was great to see my sister and now brother-in-law full of such joy that evening. That should always be the focus of celebrating a marriage. I do not know what it is about weddings, but they certainly display the best of what humanity has to offer. The bride in particular is so radiant. In general, a smile is plastered across her face from dawn until well past dusk, and it makes her glow all the more. It was a gaiety to sit back and watch my sister because I do not think I have ever seen her as joyful or beautiful as she appeared on her wedding day.

Family Celebrations

My family is a large family, and I love that there are so many of us. It makes family gatherings quite entertaining because there are so many people to catch up with, and we all have such distinct personalities. We can easily fill a room, and the noise level, depending on the side of the family, can make it difficult to hear oneself think. I would not change any of this.

That being said, I found my family bridal shower to be awkward and intimidating, not because of who was in the room but because of how many were in the room. Counting aunts, cousins, and cousins-once-removed to invite to bridal showers easily adds up to about 75 people. While it is rare to have every one of these ladies able to be at an event like a family bridal shower, it is not uncommon to have about 30 to 40 able to attend. As someone who is uncomfortable in most social situations, I found being the center of all this attention rather nerve-wracking.

I am not sure if my sister felt the same way back in September when I threw her a bridal shower to celebrate her future nuptials with our family, but she seemed to have more composure than I did. For that, I was slightly jealous.

I have been to quite a few bridal showers in which guests have to play games centered around how well one knows the bride. In a family as large as ours, it can be quite impossible to know a cousin or niece as well as the questions of those games ask. So, I asked myself why not flip that concept around?

Thus, a bridal shower theme developed around favorite things. I tried to pick out my sister's favorite foods to serve to our guests. I included a recipe card with the invitations for guests to fill out a favorite recipe to share with my sister, and I encouraged them to consider including a spice listed in the recipe as part of their bridal shower gift. I should not have been surprised, but it was amazing to see such a big response to this gesture.

When it came time for a few games, we played Guess the Age of the Bride. This seemed like a game that would have an equal playing field, and it certainly proved challenging for many. I picked out ten photos of my sister from birth on up, numbered them randomly, and had the women attendees write down my sister's age next to the corresponding photo number on a worksheet. Considering my sister was asked what grade she was going into a few months before her wedding, not many people guessed very many of the ages correctly. It was highly entertaining.

We ran out of good table space, but this cart worked out well for staging the first game.

The best game by far, though, had to have been Last Purse Standing. The whole purpose of this game was to reward the woman who had the most junk stuffed into her purse. My mother and I complied a lengthy list thinking we might need it, but we only got to about the fifteenth item on our list. It was a fitting game in honor of my sister as she nearly gave me a huge welt one time when we were in high school after she had whacked me with her purse. When I screamed out in agony and asked her what she had in her purse, she pulled out a padlock, a golf ball, and quite a few other very random items. For the game, ladies had to produce the item and hold it up for everyone to see. I have never seen so many women digging through purses so frantically before. It was amusing for me to administer, and judging from the laughter and smiles from our family and friends, it was an exhilarating game for them.

I was able to snap one picture at the beginning of the game Last Purse Standing before my camera died.

In keeping with a favorite theme, I gave out prizes to the winners of the games we played. Each of these gift bags was filled with either some of my sister's current favorite things or something she really liked as a child. There was a gift bag full of bath items that included my sister's favorite body cleanser, Neutrogena grapefruit scented body wash. Another gift bag included Leinenkugel's Honey Weiss beer with honey roasted peanuts, the only kind of peanut she would ever eat as a child. A third gift bag was filled with some Minnesota Twins drink-ware items.

The most expensive gift bag contained the movie Gone With the Wind along with some of her favorite candies like Reese's Pieces and Skittles. The Reese's Pieces was a current favorite, but the Skittles had a fun story from when she was small and constantly running around school during our brothers' basketball games with the rainbow colored candy. One of the priests at the Catholic school we attended always asked if she would share some Skittles with him when he stopped in to watch the games. Sometimes she would say yes, and sometimes she would say no. Then one time when our family brought the gifts up to the altar during Sunday mass, this same priest said to my sister, "Gee, Katie, I thought you were going to bring me some Skittles." Needless to say, everyone got a good chuckle out of that.

However, the most entertaining bag had to have been the one filled with coffee and powdered sugar mini-donuts. My sister refused to eat any other kind of doughnut as a kid after Sunday mass on fellowship days. My parents have stories about how she would bring the doughnuts, wrapped in napkins, home with her, and she would get powdered sugar everywhere in the car. I remember sometimes finding half-eaten doughnuts nearly a week later, still wrapped in its napkin somewhere around the house.

When it came time to open her gifts, my sister was certainly blessed by some very generous family members. I am always amazed at how giving people can be in our family. That is probably what makes families so great. We share joys and sorrows with each other, and we are a support network. Whether it is starting a new family or beginning a new marriage, families can be the best kind of encouragement.

A Bridal Shower Built for Two

I really cannot claim credit for this adorable couples shower some of my sister's friends threw, but I can say I offered assistance with the coordinating. The concept of a couples shower is something my husband would have really appreciated back when we were engaged. It would have been a great solution to the taunting he gave me after I came home from my bridal shower with some very generous gifts from my family.

"How come grooms don't get showers?" he often teased.

At the time, I told him there was nothing keeping him from having a shower, but he went on about how shower presents were all women's stuff anyway. (Who eats the meals made using said women's stuff, by the way?)

In reality, grooms can be a part of the pre-wedding celebrations just as much as the brides. This couples shower was simple and low-key, but it was also rather entertaining. A little food, a little music, a little alcohol and you have yourself a shindig. The ladies who did most of the planning came up with a great theme too: music.

Thank heavens for preschool teachers! They have tons of cute ideas, not to mention decorations.

My sister and her fiance first met when he was running karaoke at a nearby bar and grill. It was love at first song. Well, sort of. It took awhile before they actually started dating. Her fiance really loves music, though. So, the ladies thought it would be fun to make a bridal, err... couples shower, revolving around love songs.

Don't forget dessert!

A little music-themed Jeopardy, anyone?

The wall decorations were rather clever. Miss Heather had a few cute decor items she borrowed from her preschool classroom supplies. Miss Michelle helped cut out the music notes and hang them on the walls. The ladies made records to hang from black paper plates with a piece of construction paper made to look like an album label.

The records were actually used as labels for the food items. Each item had a designated song:

DYI Sandwich Station - "Any Way You Want It" by Journey

Cheese Tray - "Big Cheese" by Nirvana

Veggie Tray - "Vegetables" by The Beach Boys

Fruit Tray - "Strawberry Fields" by The Beatles

Fruit Tray - "Watermelon Crush" by Photo Jenny

Fruit Tray - "Blueberry Hill" by Fats Domino

Candy - "Candy Man" by Sammy Davis Jr.

Sweets - "How Sweet It Is to be Loved by You" by Marvin Gaye

Drinks - "Waterfalls" by TLC

Drinks - "Genie in a Bottle" by Christina Aguilera 

And of course, the sign for the bathroom was "Let It Go" from Disney's hit movie Frozen.

My sister and her soon-to-be husband.

The music trivia game was entertaining yet challenging, and then we ended the night at a bar and grill the couple frequents for some karaoke. Singing in a public venue like that is really not my cup of tea, but it was an entertaining time nonetheless. The most important part was that the couple had a great time.

The best part of this video clip has to be that our older brother can be heard singing louder than my sister for much of the song.

Palm Weaving

Palm Sunday always brings back childhood memories of watching my mother braiding palms taken home from church that day. I remember sitting near her so I could watch while she worked on this fascinating project. Sometimes it was a breeze for her to bend and manipulate the palms into the woven cone shape, but there were years in which the process of starting the weave escaped her memory, which led to some frustration on her part.

There is a universality that comes with being Roman Catholic, and around the world, the Catholic culture has familiarity to its congregants. At the end of my high school years, I spent a week doing service learning at the Red Lake Indian Reservation's Catholic mission. In the house of the religious sisters with whom we stayed, there were chalk markings above all of the door frames, put there to bless the house at the beginning of the year. This is a rather Catholic tradition, but whenever I see the markings elsewhere, it always brings me back to that house. After graduating high school, I spent about three weeks in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Despite my German language skills not being quite fluent enough to catch everything that was said in Mass, I was capable enough to pick up "Gott seid dank" (Thanks be to God) in the responses, among a few other phrases, because the Mass is the same in every language. My experiences in Germany, attending Mass once at a small chapel in the middle of a grove and once at the cathedral in Berlin, proved just how catholic (i.e. universal) the Roman church can be.

Keeping braided palms around the house is part of this Catholic culture, and I continue to practice it just as my parents and grandparents did. When I was younger, I tended to associate this tradition with yet another oddly rural thing my family still observed, but in reality it is not so much rural as it is a German and Polish Catholic tradition, which makes sense why my family did it. Sadly, it is starting to become a lost art. That is the thing with traditions; they are only continued if they are passed down to the next generation.

If palms are kept in the refrigerator after Palm Sunday, one will still be able to braid later in the week, but the longer one waits, the less malleable the palm fronds become. The tutorial here is for the square cone weave, the type of braid commonly found around my parents' and grandparents' homes when I was a child.

First things first, do not let cats eat the palms. Seriously, these are blessed. Also, they cannot digest them,
speaking from personal experience of cats getting into things they are not supposed to have.

Peel off the hard green edge of the palm fronds to have an easier time weaving.

For the cone weave, find four relatively similar sized palm fronds.

Secure the bottom ends somehow. I used tape this time; I have used a paper clip or a stapler other times.

Divide the palm fronds, pointing them in toward north, south, east, and west directions. Tip: my outside fronds
were my north and south palms.

Fold the south palm to the north. This will be the new north palm.

Fold the north palm to the south. This will be the new south palm.

Fold the east palm over the new north palm but under the new south palm.

Pull the east palm taught. This will be the new west palm.

Fold the west palm over the south palm but under the north palm. This will be the new east palm.

There should be a relatively loose weave starting to look something like this. Make sure to pull it taught
before continuing your braid.

Start with the east palm; fold it over to the west. Braid clockwise first.

Fold the south palm to the north.

Fold the west palm to the east.

To secure the weave, fold the north palm over the new east palm but under the new west palm.

Pull the weave taught. The first step of this braid is complete.

Start with the east palm again; fold it over to the west. Braid counterclockwise this time.

Fold the north palm to the south.

Fold the west palm to the east.

To secure the weave, fold the south palm over the new east palm but under the new west palm.

Pull the weave taught. The second step of the weave is complete.

Continue working clockwise then counterclockwise, always beginning with the east palm. After a few weaves,
the square cone shape will start to take form. 

When there is not much left to the palm fronds, stop the weave. Pull the palm fronds taught.

Gather the top ends together into a bunch.

Tie the loose ends off in a simple knot.

Ta da! The woven palm cone is complete. Place it anywhere around the home as a remembrance.

The easy thing about this weave is that it is really just repeating the same steps over again. The trickiest part is remembering how to start the weave by dividing the fronds into north, south, east, and west directions. The first folds can be difficult to hold together, but once the weave has a few secured braids completed, it is easy as pie. For other versions of palm weaving, there is a book published by the Franciscan Sisters, from near the area of Minnesota in which my father was raised. Palm Weaving by Sister Cecilia Schmitt, or a transcript of the book, is a good resource.

The Donkey

G. K. Chesterson

When fishes flew and forests walked

And figs grew upon thorn,

Some moment when the moon was blood

Then surely I was born.

With monstrous head and sickening cry

And ears like errant wings,

The devil's walking parody

On all four-footed things.

The tattered outlaw of the earth,

Of ancient crooked will;

Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb,

I keep my secret still.

Fools! For I also had my hour;

One far fierce hour and sweet:

There was a shout about my ears,

And palms before my feet.

Scalloped Potatoes - An Old Family Recipe

I have not decided if my mother will threaten bodily harm for spilling family recipe secrets, but this comfort food recipe is too good not to share. If you are used to modern cooking recipes, this is not one of those. There was a time when recipes were written for women who cooked all the time, and the wording tended to be vague and ambiguous because it was assumed the reader would understand even the simplest of guidelines. Modern cookbooks do not read like old fashioned cookbooks. I will have to share a few more old fashioned recipes as proof, but for now, here is the yummiest supper dish ever.

Scalloped Potatoes

Peel potatoes and slice. Rinse off well. (Note: my mother always used to soak them in water for a bit to remove some of the starch from the potatoes. Reserve the starch water for another use if you like.) Grease the bottom of a roasting pan. Layer potatoes, salt and pepper, butter, flour, and ham. Repeat the layers to fill the roaster. Pour in milk. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

The thinner the potato slices the better. I have used mandolin slicers in the past for this.

My first layer filled up about half of my roasting pan. I really need a larger pan.

Add as much or as little ham as you like. Hubby always says things could use more meat, so I added a lot.

Do not forget to add the milk like I almost did this time. We drink whole milk in this household. :)

Mmm! Yummy!

Tips:

• Use about half of a stick of butter for the first layer.
• Sprinkle about 2 Tbsp flour per layer for exact measurements.
• Fill with milk about half way up the pan.
• Cover when baking, stirring about halfway through.
• Add more flour to thicken as needed, more milk to thin.
• Bake for about an hour or until desired tenderness.

DIY Wedding Planning Book

My favorite (and only biological) sister is getting married. :) She expressed to me that she has no idea what she is doing when it comes to planning a wedding. Unlike some brides who have their entire weddings planned out by the age of 12, I also had no idea what I was doing when it came to planning my wedding. My biggest help was a wedding planning book I had purchased in addition to an e-book I had downloaded. Some of it was very useful to me, and some of it was stuff I did not use. Since I was not working full-time hours when I started my wedding planning, I ended up creating documents on the computer for my own use.

Thank you, Target! This binder seemed sturdy enough to hold all of my sister's wedding planning sheets.

I just finished putting together a wedding planning book for my sister similar to what I used for all of my wedding plans. Hopefully, it will be of use to her as my wedding planning book was of use to me. I ended up changing the font and format slightly to better suit her personality, and I told her she could use as much or as little of the pages she desired. If it helps her at all in her wedding planning process, all of the work put into the book will have been worth it. Chalk one up for the Matron of Honor!

I separated the pages into different sections with pocket dividers. The pockets will most likely come in handy for my sister once the vendor literature starts to accumulate. Some of those pamphlets are worth holding on to.

Everything was organized into a sturdy 3-ring binder. The one I purchased for my sister had a clasp for holding a paper notepad on the inside of the front cover. Having paper to take notes on during wedding planning is a must. I divided the different planning sheets into eight sections since I had purchased an 8-pack of sturdy pocket dividers. If there are any tiny pamphlets she acquires, which there most likely will be, I figured my sister could keep them in the pockets of the dividers. The papers were slid into sheet protectors. While possibly cumbersome to have to pull out the paper to write on, I thought it best to do it this way to protect the paper from the numerous times one goes through the pages in a wedding planning book.

I used sheet protectors because of how frequently I flipped through the pages of my own wedding
planning book.

If anyone else is seeking assistance in planning a wedding, feel free to download as many or as few of the pages I included in the book I made for my sister as you want. Every bride creates a wedding that is her own, and there really is no correct or incorrect way to plan.