Pinball wizard

Pinballing is the only word I can come up with to describe this weekend. You know those periods where time simply does not belong to you bouncing along from one event to the next?  Where there is so much to do and so many places to go that nothing on the to-do list gets done.  For instance, I wrote "get poop off bathroom wall" and it's 12:09 on Sunday night and I still haven't gotten it done.

Statistics:  Friday school volunteer, kindergarten parent lunch, volleyball clinic, lacrosse game, football game, karate class, 5 (yes, 5) soccer games, hockey learn to play, Girl Scout April Showers (shoot me now), church with John's parents, brunch, science fair project, reading project and a birthday party.  It's the by-product of 4 kids.  Each of them does one-two things and suddenly you're driving around all weekend.  And I would add that I am driving around with a "check maintenance" light so there goes another thing onto the to-do list.

Two great finds:  at the soccer games we saw the new playground surface at Epiphany.  It's that nice spongy surface now.  Gone are the horrid little pebbles.  Raise your hand if you've ever gone to Epiphany and had a kid 1.  lose something in the pebbles or 2.  Come home so filthy that a black ring developed in the bathtub.

And the birthday party.  I muttered to myself as we walked in that we should have skipped it.  Too much going on.  But for little Mimi about whom the weekend does not evolve around, it was the most awesome thing ever.  Poor kid had never been to the baby pool at the Carondelet YMCA.   In fact, I seriously doubt she's even spent that much time in a baby pool, let alone one with a slide.  We just don't do that thing much anymore.  Our pool doesn't have one and I cannot think of the last time I took the anyone to a baby pool.  Her joyful shriek was so cute and she did that slide no fewer than 50 times.    

Now I feel guilty.  How much else has child #4 missed?  Did I somehow also forget to take her to the zoo, or to the Magic House (no, but you get the point).   One thing I didn't forget was to check the boxes of her sisters' old clothes for a swimsuit.  Pretty cute for a hand-me-down dating to 2005.

Finding Jesus in a bad mansard

Another gem on South Broadway. Is it a church? A health clinic? A store? I don't know. Well, according to the sign Jesus is there. And the other signage tells us the place is open. Balloons too! I propose a rename: the Jesus Family Outreach Balloon Bad Mansard store.

More about seeing/finding Jesus. I usually go to St. Margaret of Scotland. I try to go to Sts. Peter and Paul in Soulard once a month. It is the structurally largest of the many Catholic churches in my neighborhood- giant, Gothic, buff/black, 8th street, built by Germans, spire you can see from highway 55/44 merge.

Sts. Peter and Paul has a much smaller group of regulars than SMOS. My reasoning for skipping SMOS in favor of Sts.PP is that SMOS is pretty crowded and Peter/Paul is not. Peter and Paul really, really needs people to fill the pews. I am happy to go to Peter/Paul when I can. Fr. Foreman gives great homilies, Young Catholic Musicians operates out of Sts.PP and there is 365 day a year service to the homeless.

Anyway, Bishop Rice (who is excellent, by the way) was visiting Peter/Paul back in the fall. In his homily he encouraged that we find Jesus in the everyday chaos of life. I swear he was looking right at me when he said it, which wouldn't have been that hard considering the layout of Peter/Paul (like a mini amphitheatre in a huge Gothic church). So every since then that's been my spiritual goal. Finding Jesus in the chaos. There certainly is enough busy chaos at the badmansard house with 4 kids, stressful jobs, a full calendar and a new puppy. And some sad chaos with extended family that I won't try to explain. Anyway, everyday I am trying to see Jesus in it all.

Back to the mansard. This mansard is chaotic. I see Jesus. Enough said.

Combien?

How many materials can you count on the facade of this pathetic little mansard on Loughborough between 55 and Broadway? I count: wood brackets, brick, roofing material/awning, clay tile, plexiglass, plywood, permastone, and the backdrop for the sign. Oh yeah- don't forget the dude on the phone leaning on the mail box. That is tres South Side.