Things I hope I taught my daughter...........

Yesterday I realized it's been months and months since I posted on my blog. :(   My only excuse is that  A's senior year was like a full time job all in itself!  I had such good intentions of posting my way through A's senior year, I was doing well with my homecoming, Grease and then Halloween posts, but then the holidays hit. After that, I sort of abandoned all hope of doing anything but just holding on from day to day. Well now that she's off to college and little C is back in school, which I took her in kicking and screaming by the way, I can now focus a little more on things I want to do. So I thought I would post a short recap of the big events. First there was Prom.

Then, there was GRADUATION.

Then it was time to get ready for college!

 We had such fun  decorating her dorm.

I didn't think leaving her would be as hard as it was.  After all, she has chosen a Catholic school in our city. Across town, maybe, but only 20 miles away. We can see her whenever we like. I can call, text or skype her every night if I want. Still, that day and this past week has still been tough. It isn't the idea that she moved to the dorm that bothers me. She didn't really leave, she comes back on the weekends to work. Soon there will be breaks and holidays that she will be home.So, no, it isn't that she is gone very far at all. It is that she grew up. I can remember her first day of kindergarten like it was yesterday. She was so small, so confident, so blonde! I feel like it really wasn't very long at all. It doesn't feel like it's been 13 years. Actually what worries me the most is that she will forget about me and the things I really wanted to teach her. When they are young you think you have so much time and then one day you are leaving them behind in a dorm room! So what to do? I ran across a blog on Pinterest about a mom who had 100 things she wanted to teach her daughter. While reading them over I realized how many of them were the exact same things I wanted to say. Borrowing a few of hers, tweaking some of hers and writing my own I began a long list of the 75 most important things I hope I taught A while she was at home. I typed them up and that was it. Peace at last. Now at least I had a concrete list of what I wanted her to know. Sort of like a Sparks notes to life.  I put them in a program format on publisher, added a few pictures and done.  Gave it to her last night when I dropped her off at the dorm after work. Haven't gotten a response from her yet but oh well.... Maybe it's all sinking in.  Here is the note on the front and my list of  the 75 things I wanted to pass on to my daughters.
     

Last week we sent you off to college. Wow. While you were growing up  I tried to do my best, I think I did ok, you turned out so wonderful! Lately I have been wondering if all the things I taught you while you were home, the things that I felt were important for me to pass on to you, really made it through the day to day mundane haze of life.  So I decided to make a list of the things I felt were the very most important things I wanted you to    remember throughout your life.

Think of me often!

Love,

Mom 

                                                    August 28, 2012                                                       

Beauty is a state of mind, not a state of body.

There will always be mean girls – that doesn’t mean we find a tower and Rapunzel ourselves away from the world.

The world needs your point of view.

Food is a joy.

Ice cream is a language.

Cook, decorate, clean, organize because you love to, not because someone tells you you’re meant to.

Music makes everything better.

Dance – especially when you’re cleaning the kitchen.

Nothing you tell me will ever make me want to stop hearing from you.

Washing your face every night is the best kind of beauty routine.

Sunscreen – you got your dad’s genes.

Disney and popcorn make for a perfect evening.

An oyster is the perfect food, it’s delicious and may have jewelry in it!

A good movie can change how you understand someone else.

Words can build bridges and walls between people.

Home is not where we live but who we love.

Staying up late to read a good book is never time wasted.

A great lip gloss is always worth the investment.

Everyone should have a nap at 4pm.

There is no place better than a seashore.

Saying sorry first is a sign of strength not a weakness.

I’m on your side; especially on the days when it doesn’t feel like it.

Marriage is an act of courage, commitment and sacrifice. It’s also the most fun you’ll ever have with your best friend.

Patience is never wasted.  

Love Waits.    

Learn at least one other language. 

Always fight fair. But don’t be afraid to fight.

Long hair requires a really good conditioner.                                                         

God says He has made all things beautiful – that includes you– no matter what!

Fashion is not my forte; but you can’t go wrong with The Classics!!

A good cry is great therapy.                      

Homesickness never gets easier.

There is no substitute for FAITH.

Bad hair days are inevitable.

A strong man is never threatened by a strong woman.

Go big even if it means failing big. Especially then.

Be the friend you wish you had.

Travel.

You can’t control what others think about you. Let it go.

I will be your best friend. But I will be your mother more.

Your dad will teach you about music.

Stop for sunsets.

Prince Charming isn’t a fairytale, he’s a myth

Daughters teach us about our mothers. You gave me back my mom.

Celebrate everything with Cupcakes!

Husbands need a wife. Not another mom.

Don’t just Instagram your life. Live it. But take plenty of pics along the way.

Don’t be afraid of a broken heart.

The only thing holding you back from making a difference in the world will be yourself.

Girlfriends are the best kind of free therapy there is.

I’m never tired of being your mother.

American Pie can teach you everything about politics, life in America and music in the 60’s and 70’s

You can always come home.

 We need each other. 

Don’t be afraid to be foolish. 

Real life is always better than online. 

A good friend loves at all times. Period.

Read everything written by  Madeleine L’Engle. 

Eating too much candy will be something your teeth make you regret in your forties.    

I’m more interested in your growth than your happiness.

When you hurt, I hurt worse.  

Embrace the seasons, especially Fall. Each new season is a new start.

If it makes you feel uncomfortable, don’t do it, wear it or say it.  

Drinks taste better in a mason jar. 

Interreligious marriage is much harder than you can ever imagine.

Bad haircuts grow out eventually.

Movies lie. Real romance isn’t found on a marble staircase, a far off place or on an incredible adventure. It  is falling asleep with your toes touching after doing the dishes and getting the kids to bed.

The painful truth is always easier than a messy lie.

Jesus loves you, this I know

There’s no such thing as perfect.

Nothing will make me love you less.

The mirror is not the boss of you.

You’re the most brave when you’re the most scared and keep going anyway.

You can get through anything with an ICE COLD COKE & A ROSARY!

You will always be my baby girl.

 There you go, 75 things I hope I taught my daughter before she left for college. Count them. Yes there are 75. Here is a link to the post that I got the idea from, hope she doesn't mind me putting my spin on it.

http://lisajobaker.com/2012/07/raising-a-girl-100-things-i-want-to-teach-my-daughter/ 

Leave a comment and let me know what you think of my list! 

                                                      

Halloween Vignettes-Part 2

My challenge every Halloween is to make my decorations look "real."  I like my Halloween decorations to look like they belong there, they aren't just some orange paper cheap party decorations that I picked up from the supermarket or Walmart and threw onto the tables next to my regular stuff.  I want the regular stuff out and the Halloween stuff to look like it has been there all along.  The last post showed my  Halloween mantle and here are some other little vignettes sprinkled through the house.

This black table sits in my living room and usually holds family pictures and board games on the shelf underneath.  During October it holds apothecary jars filled with glittered spiders (dollar store), candy corn and whatever black and orange candy my kids are craving this year.  I use this cloche all year long just changing what goes underneath it.  Halloween finds a creepy styrofoam skull on a silver tray beneath it.  There is a black and orange glittered spider on the table as well.  The black chair next to it holds a handmade felt pillow that a lady at my church made for the festival last year.

This table usually holds our Bible and a candle with a cross.  Right now it has a wooden Halloween child's puzzle that I found years ago at Tuesday Morning, and a creepy little graveyard that I found at a garage sale.  What I like the best is the framed scaredy cat that I made.  Do you remember these party decorations from the late1960's-1970's?  I remember them decorating every hallway at school.  They were very popular and manufactured by Beistle.  I found one at a garage sale among a bunch of old Halloween decorations.  I remembered seeing them everywhere when I was a kid and had to have it.  They charged me .25 for the cat, a witch and two owls.  I added in a black frame from the same garage sale for .75 and with a little green scrapbook paper, my favorite framed piece was born!!  Between our kitchen and living room sits an antique desk that belonged to my grandmother (and probably hers).  I like to add some touches of fall there, too. I especially love the cinnamon Born in a Barn jar candle hand made in my SIL's barn on her property in Indiana.

The kitchen table is a good place to show off some stuff!  Every little shelf holds some other Halloween treat. The cable box/dvd player shelf above the tv is filled with little pumpkins that I painted years ago.  Every year I try to move the decorations around or make something that will add to the creepiness of my home.  I try to make at least one project every Halloween,  this year I am working on a t-shirt that says pumpkin queen.  Stay tuned.........

Halloween Vignettes-Part 1

Halloween is, without a doubt, my favorite time of the year.  I love the fall and everything about it.  I love the way Texas' 102 degree summer days give way to the "cooler" 88 degree days and I love the pumpkins.   I love the way the trees start to drop their leaves and the way the squirrels go around hiding pecans and such for the winter.  I love apples, pears and apple cider.  I love pumpkin bread and Halloween candy.  October 1 through the 31st is my absolute favorite month, even more than my birthday month, March.  One of my favorite things to do in October is to decorate for Halloween.  The mantle (which is just a shelf) over my fireplace offers the best spot to dress up for Halloween.  I change everything, even the picture over the fireplace.  I replace that with  4 framed Halloween icons that I made myself.  I purchased the plain black wooden frames during a sale at Michaels.  I used a scrapbook tool that tears paper neatly and made layers of white and black scrapbook paper.  I printed out the pictures (these came from the Martha Stewart website) , traced them and cut them out.  Then I glued them to the layers of paper and stuck them in the frame.  Probably cost $20.00 (the frames were the biggest expense).  If I were doing this again, I would definitely use my cricut to cut out the pics, but at the time I made these I didn' have one.  The rest of the mantle is made from stuff I found.  I already had the wooden witch statue and the black books it's standing on.  I just went to my husband's book shelf and took the covers off a few books until I found some thin black ones.  The crystal ball looking thing was confiscated from my mom and dad's house years ago.  I did purchase the three glass cylinders from the dollar store, they are vases I think.  I cut three pieces of vellum out and placed them inside the cylinders.  The BOO I cut out from my cricut.  The cylinders are sitting on a metal tray that I found at a garage sale and spray painted black.  The black decorative  picture frame was 50% off at Hobby Lobby and I printed out a quote from PSYCHO to go into it.  The small black urn was a hand me down from my SIL, it actually used to have a Christmasy silk amaryllis bulb in it.  I popped out the silk amaryllis and added a piece of styrofoam and stuck the sticks in.  I think I found the sticks outside in the backyard.  I spray painted them black and added the moss.  To finish the mantle off, I added a bunch of sparkly tulle that comes on a ribbon spool. (50% off at Hobby Lobby) The whole thing was soo simple and cost me less than $40.00.  Next post I will show some other vignettes that I put out around the house.

A Truly Texas Tradition

Texas high School Football in underway and that means the big homecoming game can't be far off! Oddly enough, the biggest fashion statement of the week is not the homecoming dress but the homecoming mum. If you're not from Texas you may not know what a homecoming mum even looks like, the mums seem to be popular only in Texas and Southern Oklahoma.  In the 1920's chrysanthemums became the popular choice for corsages that boyfriends brought to their girlfriends when attending the big game.  Soon the florists began tying little ribbons in the school colors on them.  In the 1960's it became popular to add more ribbons  and trinkets representing the school activities of the girls and their boyfriends.  Throughout the 60's and 70's the mums began to grow to TEXAS size proportions and today the ribbons can hang 3-5 feet off the corsage and weigh up to 12 lbs.

My niece's mum

Some detail

Lil Sis Mum

Senior Queen Mum

 It's not unusual to see the mums adorned with stuffed bears, feather boas and even lights. Now everyone gives and receives mums.  Mums are presented by best friends, siblings, aunts, boyfriends, sports teammates, boyfriends, girlfriends and parents.  Every mum is unique and every mum is different. I remember my first mum in the 1980's. It was given to me by my brother my junior year in High School. In those days we used real flowers but, alas, after a few weeks the dried mum petals would fall to the floor and all that was left was droopy ribbons.  Sometime between my mums and my daughter's mums, faux mums became vogue, mostly so that the huge corsages could adorn high school girl's rooms throughout their four years of high school.  When my daughter was a freshman I learned her number one homecoming rule.  NO COWBELLS!  Cowbells are a favorite trinket to hang off mums in Texas.  The distinct tinkling of the cowbells while Ally walked down school hallways, however, seemed too much for my conservative Texas girl and the bells were scotch taped quiet by second period.  That afternoon I found the offensive cowbell hanging from the hall linen closet doorknob as a warning to other cowbells that may try to make their way onto her mums throughout her HS years.  It is still tied there today.  I love making the mums and Ally's dates are always happy to hear that I have the mum situation under control. This year's mum was a bit of a challenge.  A senior mum is different than a regular mum.  A senior mum has to be white and gold or white and silver.  It should never have the school colors in it, only white and gold/silver.  Since our school colors are purple and gold, our secondary color needed to be gold.  Not as easy to work with than the purple and gold from previous years.  Ally's date is not a senior, which means his had to be purple and gold. I still threw in some white so they would match better. BTW, I always use the scraps to make Catherine a Lil Sis mum, everyone needs a mum!  If your state isn't doing mums, it might be a good year to show off your special kid, there is only one homecoming queen and one homecoming king, but everyone can feel special when they are wearing a Texas Homecoming Mum!!

We Go Together.....

The last few weeks in the Piotrowski household have been devoted to the musical GREASE.  Last spring Ally was cast as "Sandy" and it was the role of a lifetime.  She did a fantastic job with the role, she really developed her character.  Unlike in the movie where Olivia Newton John's Sandy seemed shy and prudish, Ally's stage Sandy had a whole different level.  In our Grease, Sandy came across as a teen who definitely was not happy with her station at Rydell.  She came across as a feisty Sandy, clearly not happy with the prude label she had been given but not quite willing to compromise her values to a group of pink jacket wearing girls who seemed to make one bad decision after another.  However, she did not fit in with the ever happy, ever gloating cheerleader types either, which left Sandy with no where to go.  You could see the struggle on her face throughout the second act of the show.  She wasn't a "go all the way" girl and was clearly confused as to why that was a requirement to fit in with the other girls and the "greaser" type guys. Unlike in the movie where Sandy seems to be compromising her values to become the 'new' Sandy, in the stage version, Sandy seems to make the 'new' Sandy fit her.  During the song Sandra Dee  you can see her plan forming.  She has not been happy with the Sandra Dee role she was assigned to and clearly wanted to make a change on her own terms.  In the end she seems confident and happy in her new role, a stronger, happier,  Sandy.  

The talent in this show was absolutely amazing.  Every single student was outstanding.  No one more than another.  Each student became their character.  It was a little disconcerting to run into Kennicke or Frenchie offstage and realize they were totally different in real life than on stage.  Every song was perfect and every joke was hilarious. The Greased Lightening car quickly became an audience favorite. This ensemble cast (including the car) was a treat to watch and everyone who attended the show had fun. What a wonderful way for Ally to end her HS musical career!

P.S. What are some jobs that this mom (and other booster moms) did to get ready for the show? The list includes preparing four cast dinners, making a cast board with head shots, decorating and running a concession stand that included fresh popped popcorn, candy, drinks, break a legs and roses, ordering t-shirts and running around looking for costumes.  Wow, when it was time for the cast party wrap up, I was happiest of all, and the first one to sleep.

A Pilgrim's Journey

This summer I took a group of teens to the Archdiocesan Youth Conference.  They all had a great time and were particularly interested in the Evening Prayer that we participated in.  That gave me an idea!! I asked them if they would like to meet every Monday night from the end of AYC to the beginning of school to talk about  different types of prayer that they may not have heard of or participated in.  So far I feel like it's been pretty successful.  The first evening we learned about Liturgy of the Hours and we prayed evening prayer together.  The next week we tried a Lectio Divina.  I thought none of them would come back after that.  Lo and behold the next Monday night, there they were!  So we prayed a Scriptural Rosary (always a favorite of mine because by the third Hail Mary I have usually forgotten what mystery I was meditating on) and believe it or not-they liked it.  Some had never even prayed a regular Rosary before. But that was the last trick up my sleeve. I was running out of ideas.

Recently I have been reading up on Labyrinths and so I decided that had to be my last hurrah to finish the summer up.  I needed to take the kids to one.  I found one at the Holy Name Retreat Center not far from our church.  Permission slips in hand I set out with 6 kids on a very special journey.  Up until recently, the only Labyrinth I had heard of had a minotaur in it.  What I discovered through my research is that a Labyrinth is a tool for prayer and meditation.  They have been around for centuries but became very popular during the middle ages.  Christians wanted to make pilgrimages to the Holy Land but the Crusades, expense and plague made it almost impossible.  Cathedrals across Europe were designated as pilgrimage sites and they installed circular labyrinths to mirror a pilgrims journey to the Holy Land.  The twists and turns of the Labyrinth reminded the pilgrims of their own lives and their own faith journey.  Today we can use Labyrinths for our own spiritual growth.

A Labyrinth is divided into three parts, the journey in, reaching the middle and the journey out.  We began by silently stating what our intention was.  Two of the kids are going off to college this fall and I wondered if that was what they wanted to ponder about.  For me, my intention was just to find a peaceful end to a terribly busy and demanding day.  We each chose something to keep us focused during our journey, some chose a bible passage and I chose to repeat the Hail Mary. Then, one by one we began to walk.  I have to say I was somewhat preoccupied with how the teens were doing and in taking a few photos so I didn't feel like my mind was quieted enough to receive the peace I was looking for, nevertheless, I still came away from the experience happy and rested.  I noticed that when the kids reached the middle, one by one, they sat down and didn't leave.  At first I thought they just didn't know what to do but as I got closer I realized that most of them were praying.  No one said a word the whole time.  One by one they slowly walked back out.

VBS-Pandamania

I know it's been a while since I've been on, I took it easy in June and July to rest a bit.  Since I was on last I completed my VBS program at the church.  Around 40 kids attended the week of fun and exciting events.  Here is how it went. 

This is how the stage decorations came out.  My husband built the screens and my kids and some of our friends, the Blanco's, helped out.  At night, lit up, it really felt like a bamboo forest in China!  Here is how we decorated some of the other rooms.

I LOVED the Junior high room, I really think they had a blast.  I made the table decorations in the snack area with my CRICUT machine.  This is such a great program for the children of St. Matthew's!

 Here are some of my favorite shots!  There is even a shot of our "whale" from the Jonah and the Whale Bible Adventure.  The kids loved sitting inside the giant whale!

As you can see we had a blast all week!  If your child attended Totally Catholic Pandamania this year and you want these or other pics, e-mail me and I will e-mail them to you-I have ton of shots.