Do you ever come across a word you haven’t used in a while and realize how much you love it? I did that this week with “miscellany.” I happened to type it (maybe on Facebook?) and thought, “Wow, that’s a great word – nice and concise. I should use it more often.”

And then on Sunday afternoon I was thinking of the miscellany of little thoughts and observances from the previous few days, which I wanted to share with you.

And of how, more than any other time of the week, I like to sit still and read blogs on Monday mornings. That’s when I’m all numb and exhausted from busy weekends and I have enough time in my schedule (Hello, Recovery Mondays!) to sit for a while. But (boo-hoo) none of my favorite bloggers tend to publish new posts on Monday mornings. When I started the blog, I thought it would be nice to try to regularly have something new to share at the very beginning of the week.

Enter: Monday Morning Miscellany. I’m going to try – when I don’t have another, more substantial post to offer, that is – to at least throw a few miscellaneous items on the blog each Monday morning. Today, this is what I have for you:

— 1 —

I have about a half-dozen blogs that I keep close tabs on. (And a number of others that I dabble in, too.) The big seven are all written by Catholic mothers. Some write primarily on their home lives, some also get into some other issues – faith, society, public policy, books, art, music… I love them and I’m very happy with my daily clicks onto each of their sites:

Testosterhome by Rachel Balducci
Conversion Diary by Jennifer Fulweiler
I Have To Sit Down by Simcha Fisher
Camp Patton by Grace Patton
Mama Needs Coffee by Jenny Uebbing
Like Mother, Like Daughter by Leila Lawler and her daughters
House Unseen by Dwija Borobia

But in the past week or so I’ve been realizing that I need to expand my horizons somewhat, especially toward bloggers who write on society and politics. (On those fronts, I’ve been getting my news and commentary from NPR, the Washington Post, the BBC, and the Economist.) I’m starting to check out more of the Patheos blogs. Do you have any suggestions as to additional blogs I should be reading?

— 2 —

One of the bloggers I mentioned above, Dwija Borobia of House Unseen, has been having a tough go of it lately. She’s experiencing some very serious issues with her pregnancy, which pose great danger to her baby and require Dwija to limit her activity. At the same time, her laundry facilities (an ailing washer and a nonexistent dryer) are adding to her burden. Cari Donaldson of Clan Donaldson is spearheading an effort to raise enough funds to repair/renovate Dwija’s laundry machine(s)/room. If you’re one of the many, many folks whom Dwija cheers and makes laugh on a regular basis, I hope you’ll consider donating.

— 3 —

My husband and I had a wedding to attend on Saturday evening. As usual, we were running behind in our preparations and feeling a bit of stress about it. But this time we had something pretty darned unusual to slow us down. A swarm of honeybees. Which had set up shop under our siding – three stories up. Here are a couple of pictures of the little buggers flying into their gap in the siding:

But you know what? My husband happens to be a beekeeper. How fitting is that? Now, if these bees had lodged themselves closer to the ground, this whole situation would have actually been an odd little stroke of luck. His hive died this year, and as swarms can sometimes be caught and successfully housed, this could have just meant free bees for us. But – three stories up. My husband would have needed scaffolding to do the work that needed to be done to get the bees out of the siding and still save the colony. But he doesn’t. And you have to work fast to remove honeybees, before they fill the cavity behind the siding with wax and honey. So he had to improvise:

Yes, that’s a vaccum. Taped to the outside of our house. Sucking up the unsuspecting little bees as they fly in and out of their unfortunately-placed hive. And yes, it will kill them. We’re sad about that. We would have loved to have kept them. But you gotta do what you gotta do. Poor bees.

— 4 —

Our three-year-old was on a roll on Friday. I was keeping Facebook very busy with reports of all the funny things he was saying. Here they are, along with a few more comments from the weekend:

As he was resisting my efforts to get him to eat some fruit with his lunch:
Him: “Just weave me awone.”
Me: “You don’t say that to me.”
Him: “I just need a bweak.”
(I let him have his “bweak” and then he told me which fruit he’d eat.)

Me: “How old are you now?”
Him: “I free ears ode. I jus had a buhday cake. Es was yummy. But now es awww gone.”
(Noticing it still sitting on the counter.)
Him: “Oh! My buhday cake! Es aw bwoken!”

After I got the boys set up at their water table I told them, “I’ll be in the kitchen!”
Him: “Okay. Imawoar if I need you.”
(It took me a few repeats before I understood that “Imawoar” = “I’m going to roar.”)

Him (holding a tiny bug): “See dis, Mommy? Dis my yiddle buddy. Him my besss fwend.”
Me: “I thought your brother was your best friend.”
Breck: “No, he was fwashin’ (splashing) me. Dis my bess fwend.”
He then carried carried his bug around in a basket, saying things like, “Don worry, yiddle buddy.” and (to his brother) “SOP! Yeave my yiddle buddy awone!”

Him: “My tummy’s cwyin’.”
Me: “Why is your tummy crying?”
Him: “Just nuffin’.”

While a fly buzzed around the boys as they ate:
“Mommy! Can you bwow dat fwy in your mouf, yike a wind?”
“Oh, my budder sared it! Amazin!”
And: “Fwy! Your upposed to fwy, emember?”

Him: “Shoo, fwy!”
His little brother, who calls all bugs “boo-boo”, mimicking him: “Doo, booboo!”

Me: “Did you have a bath?”
Him: “Yeah. Daddy watered me. But it’s okay!”

All prepared with his flashlight:
I’m imbestigate in da dark!

— 5 —

Lately our 20-month old doesn’t want me to put him down for his nap. We go into his room and he points toward the door, saying “Dairs! Dairs!” (Stairs, as in, I want to go downstairs.) So I’ve been going the lazy/sneaky route and letting him sit on the sofa while his brother watches his quiet-time movie. It only takes the little guy about five minutes to fall asleep and then I carry him upstairs to bed. Here are a few asleep-on-the-sofa pics from this past week:

Happy Monday!