Random

Image by genibee via Flickr

I know it seems like a common sense statement but I am continually amazed how the more big life events I experience the more I can relate to others.  Getting engaged, getting married, being a teacher, having a baby, being a mom, etc.  As these  things happen, I feel like I understand more of life.  This also means that as I learn more, the more I cringe when I think about things I’ve done that were insensitive and un-understanding.

When I worked at a women’s homeless shelter where we lived with undocumented women and children we always had a few pregnant women staying with us.  When they would go into labor we would take them to the emergency room, make sure they got checked in, then leave them with food and our phone number to call us once they were going to be discharged from the hospital or if there were any problems.  We were always super busy and short staffed so we probably couldn’t have stayed with them even if we wanted to but I can’t help but think about how alone and confused these women must have felt.  It’d be like putting me in France, pregnant, alone, homeless, no money, no insurance, language I don’t understand at all and just having to trust the medical staff during one of the most physically trying acts a woman can sustain.  Those poor women.  One woman told us how she had her baby by herself on her bed because the nurses weren’t responding to her calls.  Another young girl who was 19 told us that when she was released they told her they had given her a sterilization shot that lasted 3 months.  She had not consented. 

After going through labor, I cannot imagine what it must have been like for those women.  I really don’t think that we could have stayed with them but at least I could have been more sympathetic to what they went through.  Had I known then what I know now I would have also encouraged breastfeeding more, too.

Another thing that I am realizing now is how much I took my mom for granted.  She always worked 50-60 hour weeks and me and my dad still expected her to get all our food for us and to do all the cleaning.  Which she gladly did.  My mom loves cleaning so she always did it.  The food thing was harder.  We usually ate fast food or take out but she would cook sometimes.  Still even if it meant picking it up, we always expected my mom to bring food.  I remember how angry I would get at her if she came home without food.  Mostly because I was hungry and totally helpless.  I didn’t know how to make anything other than Ritz crackers with cream cheese and jam.

After becoming a wife and mother, I realize how hard it is to be the one that is entirely in charge of every meal and cleaning.  Kraft and I are trying to figure out how share these responsibilities more but with his schedule pretty erratic it makes sense that most of it fall to me, not to mention I don’t have a job.  I now understand this responsibility that my mom had on top of working overtime.  And she never complained.  She never told us that we should get off our duffs and learn how to help with the food.  She never told us that she was tired and needed us to help her.  She just took our complaints and our ingratitude. 

Sometimes I don’t give my mom the credit I should for being such a good mom.  Thanks mom. 

Image via Wikipedia

I’ve known about Busted Halo for a while since it is powered by the Paulist Fathers and I’m married to Kraft.  I even used some of their material for lesson plans last year.  But I’ve been reading more of it recently.  It is a really good website.  They seem unafraid to tackle big issues and ask tough questions.  They don’t dance around things and try to get straight answers.

During our recent house hunting, 2 out of the 8 homes that we have seen are being sold by gay couples that have adopted children and want to move to a bigger place.  This has gotten me thinking about the Church and homosexuality.  What do they have on their home page?  An interview between a nun and her openly gay cousin who is living with his partner.  It’s a good read.

Take a gander.

Man, I am pooped.  It has been a whirlwind of a couple weeks. With house hunting and Easter and my college friends coming into town this past weekend, I am really tired.  But really happy.  (Well, the house hunting doesn’t make me happy.  It makes me really anxious and I feel like if I am not constantly checking the MLS then the perfect house is slipping through our fingers.)
Easter was great but that’s another post.

On Wednesday, 3 of my best friends from college came to Austin to finally meet the Squeaker.  I love those girls.  We has so much fun in school.  And I had forgotten how different all of us are from each other.  We have the business oriented, tough as nails one; the quirky, always up for an adventure musician; the hippy, gluten/dairy free screenwriter; and me, the mom.  I miss them so much.  I love hanging out with them.  We didn’t get to do tons while they were here because we had to work around O’s nap/sleeping schedule but we managed to get some good stuff in.

$1 margaritas at El Arroyo on Thursday were amazing.  It was the first margarita I have had since last Dec 2008.  It was cold and salty and heavenly.  I only had one and it was about 5oz but it was awesome.

Then on Friday night Kraft was on O duty and me and the girls went dancing at the Broken Spoke.  We had so much fun.  I loooove dancing but get super nervous because I am not good at it.  So I spend most of the night nervous that someone is going to ask me to dance but secretly hoping they will because I love it.  This place was great because it was just a bunch of old guys that take you for a spin around the dance floor then walk you back to your seat.  Such gentlemen.  No sleazy guys trying to hit on you.  It was fun.  I definitely want to go again.

O loved them.  She did not sleep very well because she loved hanging out with them.  I tried to put her to sleep at her regular time but she did not want to sleep.  She wanted to be with everyone else.  It’s funny how metiche (busybody) she is.  Tonight was the first night since Wednesday that she has fallen asleep before 11pm.

So this is why I haven’t blogged in a while.  Sorry if this one is kind of rambly.  I’m tired and not witty at the moment.  I got some good topics in my head though that I want to get out.  Hopefully those will come in the next couple days.

For now, I’m just really thankful for my community of friends.

Image by Casey Serin via Flickr

I’ve been kinda flaky with blogging for the last week or so.  I blame this on the fact that me and Brandon have been obsessed with combing trulia.com for houses. 

We were on our way home from Mass a couple of Sundays ago and a house was on sale just down the street from St. Ignatius.  They also were having an open house at that exact moment.  Ok, we’ll bite.  So we walked in and really liked it.  It is in the exact location that we would love to live.  When the Squeaker is old enough to go to St. Ignaitus, we could just walk her to and from school everyday.  And it had a big backyard that we fell in love with.  The idea of planting orange and avocado trees is almost too much to handle.  And picturing having parties in that backyard.  Love it.  So we started just browsing for homes around the same area just to see some comparables (as any good HGTV watcher would know to do). 

We set up an appt to see it again this past weekend.  And just by chance a house on the next block over was having an open house.  We saw the first one and then went to the open house.  Uh, fell in looove with, not the first house, but this open house house.  The second I walked in it seemed perfect.  Open and light-filled.  Heck, it even had a nursery with the most adorable mural of a hippo and monkeys and a toucan.  My dad said the hippo has O’s eyes.  It was a beautiful home.

So here we are not even thinking about buying a house and a week later finding one that feels like home.  Things went super fast at this point.  We contacted a realtor, got pre-qualified (which apparently you have to do) and put in an offer for the house today.  Someone had already put in an offer before us but we knew we were offering more than them.

They didn’t take our offer.  It all just happened so quickly and seemed so perfect that I felt like this is really what God wanted us to do.  It just seemed very easy.  Guess not.  It is a bummer.  But from the beginning I told myself that if this is what God had planned for us then it would work out. 

I can’t help but feel personally offended by these homeowners, though.  We met our realtor at the house today to do a walk through before putting in the offer and the mom came in with her baby twins.  She was not warm or welcoming but instead seemed very flustered and irritated.  Apparently the twins were not having anything to do with the walk they were on.  But O was with me and she saw her.  Who the heck can say no to the Squeaker?  With those pudgy cheeks?  Jerkfaces.

I got the call from our realtor about the rejection in the middle of Specs.  Me and O were with our good friend, M.  Specs was doing this thing where they offer samples of 30 beers and different cheeses and snacks they have.  Brilliant is what it is.  And yes, I was in fact that lady with a baby in a liquor store sampling beers.  Don’t worry, if what I drank added up to half a beer I’d be surprised.  No one seemed too offended.  Had I gotten this news in any other place I feel that I would have been much more bummed.  You can’t feel too bad while drinking free beer.

(Side note – please try Leinenkugels Berry Weiss or Summer Sandy beer.  Delicious.  Girly, but delicious.)

Oh well.  I’m not sure if I want to continue the house search right now.  I feel like maybe this is God telling us to back off.  But I have been wrong about what God has planned for us before.  Our realtor was very upbeat that there would be other fish in the sea.  I guess we’ll see.

I’ll just keep dreaming about those orange trees.