March 10, 2013
Laetare Sunday
Claire, Timothy, and I got a little bonus Lenten mortification today. Not only did we all have to adjust to the Daylight Saving Time change, but the three of us had to serve at the 7 o'clock Mass. To help keep family peace Michelle took Abby and the twins to Mass yesterday at 4 o'clock. Still it's not usually as hard to get Claire and Timothy up on time when the need calls. In honor of Laetare Sunday I wore a pink tie and our pastor wore rose and purple vestments. Not that he didn't joke about it with a faux resistance to the liturgical norm.
After Mass we went to Donut Fresh Express for breakfast. Michelle met us there with the twins. After breakfast she picked up a breakfast sandwich to bring home to sleepy Abby.
We used the day to do some spring cleaning of the cars and the garage. Abby swept out the garage while Michelle and I took the cars to the car wash for vacuuming and external wash. While Michelle made a second trip to the car wash with Pearl, Timothy and I ran errands. We stopped at AutoZone to pick up some Rain-X and headlight restoration. Then we head over to GameStop and picked up a used 5th generation iPod Nano to work with our little boom box. Our old iPod Photo from Nov 2004 is getting too flakey.
When we got back I Windex'd and Rain-X'd the front windshields. Abby cleaned the windows from the insides. Finally I worked on Pearl's foggy headlight lenses. You can see the procedure below. I have to admit it was a bit scary. Like many things in life, it gets worse before it gets better. You start out using 500 grit paper and grind down the old yellowing UV layer. This makes the lens far cloudier than when you started. But then using progressively finer surfaces and finally rubbing compound, you end up with a nice clear lens like new. Now we just have to see how it lasts.
One last honey-do item was to replace a couple of light bulbs in the garage. I did that while Claire head off to work in Pearl and Michelle dropped Abby off at a friend's house. Once Michelle, the boys, and I got settled we watched Disney/Pixar's “Wreck It Ralph”. I took the boys to see it in the theater months ago, but Michelle missed it because she took Abby to another screen to see Breaking Dawn. I'd forgotten what a cute movie it was. Michelle liked it and asked that I keep it on the TiVo for Abby to see soon.
We wrapped up the day with me picking up dinner from Milano's: pizza, ravioli, and gyros. Can you tell we couldn't decide what we were in the mood for? Once dinner was done I went to pick up Abby. She was quite warm from having practiced tennis and a mini Just Dance marathon. Then Timothy and I reformatted the “new” iPod, sync'd it our library, and tested it on the boom box. First song was Carly Rae Jepsen's “Call Me Maybe”, but then I tortured Michelle with Gorilla singing “Carol of the Bells”. «grin»
Because of the time shift, most of us went to bed early. Tomorrow it's back to school, but at least the kids have Tuesday off. It's town elections and a teacher workshop day. I'm debating taking a vacation day on it. I'd kind of like to take the family to see “Oz The Great and Powerful”. It looks like a lot of fun.
“While he was still a long way off,
his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion.
He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.” — Luke 15