Lost and Found

I was looking to see if I had Google Sites available with my personal email address when I rediscovered I had a blog.  lol  It seems every few years I'm going to rediscover this.  It shows how much time I actually spend in front of a computer when I'm at home.  I have pretty much given up Facebook because it is such a time suck.  In the process I've taught myself to crochet and have made blankets, rugs and purses.  We also have been fixing the house up.  Now that I work full time at Augustana I don't have time for a lot and spending it on Facebook is not how I want to spend it.  And I thought I was busy homeschooling.  That is nothing to having a full time job. I may sit at a desk all day long, but it drains me mentally and physically!

I was reading my past blogs to see what it is that I wrote about and noticed there were 30 grand kids and soon to be 7 great grand kids.  We now have at least 30 great grand kids...not me, but my mother in law.  They would be my grand nieces and nephews.  My kids are pretty much grown up now.  My youngest will be 13. Two still in college and the rest are living in the real world now.  Michael and Bonnie have been together 3 years and Danny will be getting married June 13, 2019, to Elly whom he's been dating for over 5 years.  Joe is in Chicago living the dream.  Caity is in Guatemala right now.  (She is spending 3 months living with a family and doing an immersive language course.  She is also teaching English to employees at a weaving cooperative in exchange for weaving lessons.  She is making scarves for everyone for Christmas.  She comes home December 9th only to go back in January.  When she returns she will be volunteering at a special needs clinic.  She has been applying for grad school.  She wants to be a bilingual therapist.) Andrew and Lisa are still at Augustana College and Michelle is at Williams Intermediate in the Special Education program.  (She has been participating in Penguin Project the last two years.  Last year she was a whoville citizen in Suessical the Musical Jr and this year she is a Gazelle in Lion King the Musical.)  My kids will never see this but, no, Caity and Michelle are not my favorites because I went into more detail on them. lol

I was wanting to create a website to hold all of our family traditions and recipes, but I'm not sure a blog is the format I am wanting and I do not want to do it using Google Sites from my work email - ha! I will have to research and see if there are any free places to develop websites.  If I remember (lol) I will come back and let you know what I discover.   Hopefully, it is not that I have Alzheimer's!

It's Been a Long Time

It's been a long time since I rock and rolled, it's been a long time since I did the stroll, been a long time, been a long time, been a long, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely time. I wrote my title and the song just came into my head, so I had to sing it for you. The last time I wrote, I started a new blog. After writing in it for 8 months, I decided to deleted it...for a couple of reasons. 1) I was having mixed feelings on the whole copy write thing and whether it was all okay or not...I know sorta silly. The main reason was I was running out of time and getting lazy.

Now I'm getting extremely busy with homeschool and I started my new Scentsy business. I am extremely excited about it. My niece started selling it and came into town to have a party. I went out of obligation...and to see her and her kids; didn't really like the scent that she had going at the party, bought a plug in and left. Got my products and fell in love!!! Got on line to order more and ended up signing up to sell. I think coconut lemongrass is my favorite! 

In Him We Live

I've started a new blog that is going to be a daily meditation. It is from a book that is out of print called In Him We Live. All the details are on the blog, the title links you to it. I'm starting January 1st.

Snow Day & Oliger Family Christmas

I don't think we got as much snow as predicted, but it is very cold and windy! That doesn't stop the kids though! They have been out sledding and playing in it since it began. The dog is right there with them. He doesn't know what to think!! So much so that I think he was afraid to poop in it, as he did that twice in the house...I was not a very happy camper. He never makes mistakes anymore.

I always walk in circles on snow days! What the heck should I do? My routine is way out of whack and it is really hard to get stuff done with everyone around. So, I am scanning my husband's family's slides into the computer. We are going to put the best of the best on a DVD to watch during the Christmas Party.

The Oliger family Christmas party is my favorite. I remember my first experience with it; I had to hide the tears through the whole thing. It is so full of laughter, love, tradition and the true meaning of Christmas. Every year the grandkids put on a Christmas pageant and put a rose in the vases on either side of the Nativity scene. Santa comes and lets all the kids sit on his lap and everyone sings Jingle Bells and Up On The House Top. The kids open presents from grandma (that all the parents bought) and from Godparents if they have any there. And the food is unending.

There is now 30 grandkids and I think 5 great grandkids...soon to be 7, so it is a housefull, though not everyone can come every year anymore. The kids still look forward to it. We had a family reunion this summer that all but one was able to attend. The grandkids made a "You Know Your an Oliger if" presentation that was awesome. It pretty much sums us up. Here it is:

You Know You're an Oliger If:
Your backside is so flat you can put your pants on backwards or forwards and they fit the same way.
You can't drink champagne, not because you don't like it, but because your nose doesn't fit in the glass.
You ever referred to a color as "Virgin Mary Blue."
You played church growing up while all your friends played house.
You're usually not late but you're NEVER early.
You rhyme all the time.
You can't tell a story without your hands.
You randomly burst into song.
You laugh at your own jokes.
You learn about politics by reading Uncle Bill's e-mails.
No one in your family calls you by your real name.
You could say the rosary before the abc's.
You have the same name or birthday as someone in your family.
You ever fought to be Mary or Joseph in the Christmas Pageant.
You know all the actions to "Up on the Roof Top."
Your cousins are also your best friends.
When you hear Grandma say "tyi tyi tyi" (sp) you automatically say "mother may I."
You ever looked like a "million buck," said, "everythings copasetic" on a good day, or have said, "It's a jungle out there!"
You have ever been or wanted to be prep of the week.
Every time your family gets together it's bigger then it was before.
If it's Sunday, and you don't have the family letter in your inbox, you start to worry.
You've ever dressed up as a biblical character, Saint, nun or priest for Halloween.
You've ever heard or said, "You're dumb, you're stupid and you don't know what you're talking about."
When describing your girlfriend or boyfriend you first say their name and then say "they're Catholic."
You've ever received a Schlymer gift.
You shop at the GW (Good Will) or the SA (Salvation Army).
You have ever been or are homeschooled.
You have ever been asked "who's your favorite Aunt/Uncle?"
It takes forever to get to the point of a story, but even longer to say goodbye.
No one loves us more than we love ourselves.
If people have ever said, "Oh you're an Oliger!"
You sneeze no less than 3x in a row.
You're not sleeping in the chair you're only resting your eyes.
You can fall asleep better than a narcoleptic.
You have ever prayed for the dead ants on the sidewalk.
You were ever told you were gonna get a knuckle sandwich.
Your friends don't need to ask what you're doing Sundays because they know that's family rosary time at Grandma's.
You pray for everything, even the travelers on "both sides."
You can hardly put your car in park before Grandma hops in.
You have more Holy things in your house than the Church.
You have a stash of rosaries including the one with you right now.
You get excited when your cousin is wearing a cute outfit because you know it will be yours someday.
You think it's normal to have at least 4 kids in a family.
You've ever played "riddley-riddley-eye-double-dee" or "huckle buckle beanstock."
You wear short sleeves on Christmas Eve because you know it's going to be 90 degrees in Grandma's house.
Your stomach has ever hurt after laughing too hard.
And lastly, you have a grandmother who loves you dearly, a grandfather whose "blua, blua, blua" always made you smile, an uncle whose prayers you depended on, an uncle who had a purity and dependability you had to admire, an uncle who's wacky names and vibrant personality shown brighter than any star, and a family so loving you couldn't ask for anything more.

Thankful for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving and the weekend that follows have changed so much over the past 15 years. There have been different seasons of our lives that have changed our traditions. Thanksgiving used to be at my mom's house with all of my aunts, uncles and cousins. The food was unending as my mom's side loved to cook and associated love, family and socializing with good food. I am continually telling my kids cooking stories about my family. I've actually told two this past week. 1) My Aunt LaVonne used to make Red Food Coloring Cake, which is Red Velvet Cake in it's original title. My aunt always called it "cancer cake" because at that time a certain red food coloring was known to cause cancer. I'm sure the name was changed to save face for that very reason. 2) When I was very young, my Aunt LaVonne made a tuna noodle casserole that I just loved. I asked her what it was called and she told me, "Horse Poop Casserole." Sorta like a lady responds to a compliment on a dress: Oh this ol' thing?! Anyway, that is what we all called it ever since. I even have a recipe card with that title, which I showed the kids recently when I made it and they said, "Wow, this is good, what is it?" They wouldn't believe me until I showed them the recipe card.

After my mom passed away, it wasn't the same. Then my sister moved to Colorado. So, we started having a small, but nice and peaceful thanksgiving at home with just us. I'm sure my mom would just have a fit because I use instant mashed potatoes in my Thanksgiving dinner...my kids won't eat the real thing, so why bother!

Again circumstances change, and last year we had John's mom and his brother, Bill, join us for dinner. This year it didn't quite work out and the whole day was just plain Unthanksgivingy (nice word). My green bean casserole was horrible and I forgot to make 7 layered salad. My menu never changes: Turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, green bean casserole, 7 layered salad, pumpkin and apple pie. Also, some of our traditions have not come to pass yet, such as, we usually watch My Life the night before. This is a real tear jerker that makes you realize that you have plenty to be thankful for. But others are underway, such as decorating the house for Christmas and taking the yearly family Christmas picture. I always write our family Christmas newsletter by Thanksgiving and list all the things we are thankful for. Putting it in writing makes you realize that life isn't so bad after all. There really is so, so very much to be thankful for.

We are rethinking our traditions and are going to try a few new things next year. We are entering a new season of our life: our children are getting older and we need to accommodate new interests and attention spans. I love Thanksgiving and can't wait to try again next year.

Facebook

I started Facebook when my oldest son went off to AIT for 5 months and he didn't want to miss out on my youngest daughter's "firsts." I put pictures and videos on there of her for him to see, but that is about all I used it for. Almost three years later I have over 200 friends and I spend more time hiding games and crap I don't want to read, than I do reading anything worth while. I finally unfriended a bunch of people that I really didn't know or didn't know that well, because I didn't have the time to read everything about everyone. I am almost to the point of completely getting rid of facebook because people are so rude to each other and to certain groupings of people. I love being a part of it all and seeing what my family is up to, but I am not sure it is all worth my time. Am I any better for spending time on there? I'm not so sure I am. I would much rather be typing on my blog, whether anyone looks at it or not. On my blog I can be myself and not worry about being attacked because of what I believe and what I stand for.

Commentary taken from Daily Gospel Online

Commentary of the day :

Saint Symeon the New Theologian (c.949-1022), Greek monk
Catecheses, III, 19 (©Friends of Henry Ashworth; cf SC 113, p.165f.)

Believing in Jesus today


Many people never stop saying - I have heard them myself - "If only we had lived in the days of the apostles, and been counted worthy to gaze upon Christ as they did, we should have become holy like them." Such people do not realize that the Christ who spoke then and the Christ who speaks now throughout the whole world is one and the same... The position now is not the same as it was then, but our situation now, in the present day, is very much better. It leads us more easily to a deeper faith and conviction than seeing and hearing him in the flesh would have done.

Then he appeared to the uncomprehending as a man of lowly station: now he is proclaimed to us as true God. Then in his body he associated with tax collectors and sinners and ate with them: now he is seated at the right hand of God the Father, and is never in any way separated from him... Then even those of lowliest condition held him in contempt. They said: «Is not this the son of Mary, and of Joseph the carpenter?» (Mk 6,3; Jn 6,42) Now kings and rulers worship him as Son of the true God, and himself true God... Then he was thought to be mortal and corruptible like the rest of humankind. He was no different in appearance from other men. The formless and invisible God, without change or alteration, assumed a human form and showed himself to be a normal human being. He ate, he drank, he slept, he sweated, and he grew weary. He did everything other people do, except that he did not sin.

For anyone to recognize him in that human body, and to believe that he was the God who made heaven and earth and everything in them was very exceptional... It is certain, therefore, that anyone who now hears Christ cry out daily through the holy gospels and proclaim the will of his blessed Father, but does not obey him with fear and trembling and keep his commandments: it is certain that such a person would have refused to believe in him then.