Beowolf

 A long, long time ago, after my two older sisters' graduations from Archbishop Murry Memorial High School (AMMHS), I inherited a copy of their English textbook, England in Literature. It was a wonderful book, leading me to knowledge of Old English, Roman and medieval England, and the tale of Beowulf. I kept that book for many years, using it occasionally for reference and for pleasure. I eventually sold it when my days as a homeschooling mom came to an end. But I still regret it. 

Fast forward to the present. I have had a few sleepless nights, curtesy of MSG in my food, and thoughts of my kitchen cabinet project. (As I lay in bed I am re-arranging  the contents of cupboards to figure out what will work best where.) My usual recourse to insomnia, besides praying the rosary or Divine Mercy chaplet, is to read. I move to the little bedroom, crawl under my down comforter, and grab a book. My current read is one of my homeschool juvenile collection books, The King's Thane, by Charles A. Brady (Clarion Books, Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden City, NY 1961). It is the tale of Beorn, a lame lad who serves under the great hunter, Bjarki, later known as Beowulf. It is a difficult read in terms of medieval linguistics. But it is also written in a rather poetic style with lots of alliteration. I would call it sing-song. I have resorted to the computer to look up words such as Geat, scop and Gautland. But it is grwoing on me. I am almost half way done. Beorn is a descendant of King Arthur, and mention is made of Augustine of Canterbury and others whom I have met in my reading. What it all boils down to is that after I finish this book, I will have to read my copy of Beowulf the Warrior (Ian Serraillier, Bethlehm Books/Ignatius Press, 1994), along with some of my other books from that time period. 

I got a new estimate and some kitchen designs with and without an island on Friday. I will stick with the original design proposed by Steve from MHI. I will have to buy a smaller dish washer than originally planned, but that will be no problem. I am sure the next people who buy our house in the future will not have ten children. If they do, they will just have to run the dishwasher three times a day instead of one. I am going to be my own contractor. I have the time to make phone calls and get estimates. It looks like I will be able to stay within our budget and still be able to purchase the dining room table that I have picked out. It is a fun project. This is the first time we have made an real changes in our house on the interior, besides flooring and paint.  

Alleluia!

 He is Risen as He said. Alleluia!

What consolations I have received this Easter season! For the first time in many years I did not suffer from scrupulosity. I am usually plagued the most around Christmas and Easter. This year, just peace. I am not sure what has made the difference besides gentle, good confessors over time. Not much else has changed. But I am very grateful.

About two weeks ago our snow finally stopped. It was then that I remembered that I still had a bag of unblessed palms out on our deck. When I opened it up they were still pliable and had no mold. Before dumping them in the compost pile I decided to give the Palmeto rose one last exasperated try. Lois Maciej taught this rose in her class, and I have spent lots of time watching Youtube videos on how to do it. Still, I had noever been able to figure it out. I watched  this video one more time, and then sat on the deck to practice. Ran back to watch the video a few more times, and then back out to practice. Finally something clicked, and I got it. I recognized that certain folds should always run paralell to other folds. That was all I needed to know. I've got both muscle memory and verbal cues locked into place. Looking forward to using it next Palm Sunday. I am so glad. So cool.

Akin to palm weaving is napin folding, and I am happy to say that I added the butterfly fold to my repertoire. 

I am re-doing my kitchen. I was unsure where to start on the project, and which way I wanted to go. Originally we thought that we would just have the lower cupboards and the counters replaced. I wanted to do it myself, but Husband was not very enthused. He wanted stain again, and that is much harder to match than paint. Then we thought that if we do cupboards, we may as well put in a space for a dishwasher to increase the market value of our house. But then I would lose all my drawer space. That limited our options. So I started making phone calls and checking on Angi. Then Steve from Minnesota Home Improvement came over last week and gave me some good suggestions. Now I wait estimates on cupboards and counters. For the sake of comparison I am getting one for custom cabinets, and one for ready-built. But my inclination is for custom built. I have my cabinet color, style and crown picked out. I know where I want drawers and where I will want cabinets. We will get rid of our railing along the steps and replace that with drywall and cabinets. When I get a cabinet timeline nailded down we can start on the drywall and electrical work in the middle room, which will become our new dining room. Very exciting. I plan on getting a dining table large enough to accommodate family and friends. 

The sun is out and our weather is beautiful. Time to go pull quack grass.