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How My Mind Spins Out (or Why I Didn’t Rent a Movie)
My 15 year old son is a basketball fanatic. Like playing-outside-in-shorts-and-no-shirt-in-30-degrees-and-snow fanatic. He found out a few days ago his school, which he’s never actually been to, had basketball tryouts yesterday and today. Today was my turn to drive him and his friend there, and my husband would pick them up later. I reeeeeally didn’t want to drive since it’s been blizzardly all day. I hate driving in snow. But I picked up his friend and drove the boys to their last night of tryouts. I drove home like an old lady, white-knuckling the steering wheel. I decided to stop at Wegmans to get groceries and a Red Box movie…
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How Far Would You Go for Free Stuff?
I think I go to Goodwill about four times a week. It’s a problem. Sometimes I sit home and think about the new stuff they’re bringing out to the floor. I’m not looking for anything in particular, but what if they bring out something I’m not looking for and I end up needing it and loving it? That’s a very real possibility. Yesterday I had to drop my oldest off at his cousin’s house to go snow tubing. There’s a Goodwill around the corner. My husband was home with the two younger kids, but I had to stop at the Goodwill. I had to. And lucky for me I did.…
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I’m the Worst
You know how you feel really great when you’re doing something you’re supposed to be doing, like exercising or eating right? Then you completely fall off the salad wagon and eat nothing but junk for months? That’s where I am. I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes back in March. I knew I was pre-diabetic, but didn’t pay much attention to that fact. The day I was diagnosed was days before Covid really hit our area (pre-masks and hand sanitizer everywhere). And, unfortunately, just as I was leaving the house for my doctor’s appointment to find out blood test results, I received some terrible news about a family member. I…
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Jennifer Fulwiler
I keep a notebook by my side when I read books on Catholicism. I have to. I have so many questions about being Catholic, which is funny because I was raised Catholic until I was 10. I should know more. But I’m learning that many Catholics who were born into it sort of just go through the motions, and don’t really know what certain traditions are for. The first book I read was Did Adam & Eve Have Belly Buttons? by Matthew J. Pinto. It asked the simple questions I had at the beginning and provided easy-to-understand answers. I need easy-to-understand. Even though I received the Sacraments of Baptism, Communion,…
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The Journey
In my head, I’m a fantastic blogger. I blog every day and talk about the things I’m going through, that bother me, and that I question. And, lately, there have been a lot of things like that. I’ve been on a journey of sorts; one that I wasn’t expecting or looking for. A few weeks ago, after hanging out with one of his friends, my 14-year-old son ask me about Catholicism. I was Catholic from when I was born until I was about 10, and my mom pulled us out of the church because “we don’t need a middle man to ask God for forgiveness.” I’m sure there were other…
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Jennifer Fulwiler
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Quarantining with Three Kids
I’ve lost track of how many weeks we’ve been in the house now. Eight, maybe? Either way, it’s been interesting getting used to having our oldest son home every day. After being homeschooled for almost ten years, he decided to try public school. We’ve really missed having him home with us, so it’s been fun…mostly. Getting him to do his online public school work is a daily challenge. And one I hate facing every day. I admit I have a very hard time figuring out exactly what his teachers want. I have sent so many emails to pretty much every one of his teachers, asking what he’s supposed to be…
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Letting Go of Things
“You’re weird because…”(never how you want your husband starting a sentence)…”you are constantly decluttering and getting rid of things, yet you are also constantly bringing new things into the house.” It’s true. Clutter and too many things around the house make me anxious. This past year we had six babies come stay with us through foster care. They were all newborns except one, and I’d have to get up all night long for feedings. Every night I’d make a bottle, change a diaper, then sit in the living room staring at the fireplace where the bookshelves are, and think about how when I’m actually up for the day, I’m going…
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Jennifer Fulwiler
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Family Experiences
We’re a pretty simple family. We rarely go out to dinner, we don’t have a lot of stuff, and we don’t go out and dd things that cost a lot of money. I’m making us sound pretty lame, but we do have fun. We chose to live the way we do, and because of it, we get to spend a lot of time together as a family. We have game and movie nights, just joined the YMCA, and the kids often have friends over or sleepovers with cousins. For the kids’ birthdays this year, my in-laws got them four tickets to see the Harlem Globetrotters. My husband and I went…
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Winter Homeschooling
This winter our homeschool life has looked different than any other year. For starters, we added a new baby to the house. We got our foster daughter in October and she was one week old. She’s now over four months and doesn’t nap nearly as much as back then. At the beginning of the year, I bought our first homeschool curriculum in over 10 years. Build Your Library by Emily Cook is a secular, literature-based curriculum. After years of flying by the seat of my pants for schooling, this sounded perfect. My son is in 3rd grade, but I started with Level 0 just so we wouldn’t miss anything. I…
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The Teen Years – Not Totally Bad
I admit I wasn’t prepared for the teen years. I especially wasn’t prepared for them to start when my son was 11. It started out as him being a little mouthy and now, at almost 14, we’re at the mumbling, rude, constant eye roll stage. We’ve never really had to discipline our son. He’s always been good, respectful, and a pleasure to be around. But…wow. These teenage years ain’t no joke. I’ve had a hard time controlling my own temper with him sometimes. When he lashes out or blames me for things I have absolutely no control over, it’s like I revert to acting like his sibling instead of his…
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Jennifer Fulwiler
