cathyjoweidner

Maybe one of these years I will actually slice Every. Single. Day.

Maybe one of these years I will make it.

Wish me Luck!

So if you know me, you know a few things…I’m not for everyone, I’m definitely an acquired taste, I’m a bit ridiculous (ok I’m being humble…I’m super redic). If you know me well, you know my husband is an amazing, patient, caring, wonderful, (did I mention patient?) man.

This winter he decided we should go cut down our own Christmas tree for our Northwoods Wisconsin house. I’ve never cut down my own Christmas tree. It was the most ridiculous shit I have ever done! First of all we walked around a cut your own tree farm that can only be described as the Island of the Misfits. Every tree we thought might work was complete empty on the other side, or multiple trees grown together. All while trekking around in knee deep snow.

I finally find “our tree.” My husband laughs hysterically and tells me “it looks smaller outside because there’s no comparison points.” I tell him he’s being dramatic and the tree will fit. He proceeds to cut it down while I film it. I mean it is my first cut your own Christmas tree experience.

I film it being dragged to the truck. I take pictures of it after we’ve loaded it into the truck and attempted to secure it. Hahahaha! I can not stop giggling and laughing.

We drive about a mile an realize we need to change the position of the tree. Roadside shenanigans and laughter ensue.

Finally get the tree home. My husband pulls out the measuring tape and is calmly and logically trying to demonstrate the height of our cathedral ceiling in our family room. My laughter continues. We go outside and measure the tree we have cut and brought home.

Hmmmm it appears to be about 6 feet too tall. Six feet too tall…hahahaha!

We cut four feet off and put it in the tree stand. Laughter continues. It looks amazing! Let’s take it in.

Drag it in and stand it up. Oh! Ok let’s move it out a bit. Yeah that’s good. Time for lights…

Ummm, let’s move the couch to drag it over to the open staircase to put lights on it. That should work.

How many more sets of lights do we have? None? We’ve only strung 1/2 the tree. Time to order more from Amazon.

It was one of the most ridiculous, hysterical, fun-filled, gleeful, pure, truly grounding experiences I have ever had the opportunity to enjoy. And one I will surely never forget!

So today my slice is going to take a sad turn. It’s not usually one I travel down. Today my mother in law passed away. I sit here and reflect on many things.

All I can think about is the things this woman has seen in her 101 years of life. Yes! You read that correctly! She lived to be one hundred one years old. She contracted COVID and beat it. She buried her husband and two of her children. She outlived all of her siblings despite being the oldest.

Think of the advancements that occurred in her lifetime! Many that any of us will never see in the same leaps and bounds she did. Cars. Phones. Computers. The internet. Appliances. Airplanes. Space travel. Health care.

This woman was born in 1920. She was born before our country started numbering its highways. She was 7 when Lindbergh successfully completed the first nonstop flight over the Atlantic. She was alive for the stock market crash and felt the repercussions that that. She was born before the Empire State Building was built. She saw the bombing of Pearl Harbor. She was alive to see the Berlin Wall built and later torn down. She lived through 19 US Presidents.

The average life expectancy in 1920 was 58 years old. And here in 2021, she lived to be 101!

Though she never cared for me (it’s ok, I know I’m not for everyone), I am thankful that she raised a wonderful man, that I happily call my husband.

All the ways having a baby puppy is different than having a baby:

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Yeah! Just as exhausting!

Sleepless nights.

Constant potty breaks.

Constant monitoring.

Learning things.

Honestly, I told my kids today that I’m more tired today than I ever was when they were little 🤣

Obviously it’s all worth it, because people keep having babies and adopting puppies.

Sorry friends for the late post.

Sorry for for the short post.

I’m exhausted.

But here he is…

And we’re already in love ❤️🐾

It all started when Isabella sent me a funny video on TicTok. They’re nice enough to let you watch the video sent to you…but then they only show you the first few seconds of the next one. And that’s the story of how I downloaded TicTok this evening. I’m such a sucker for funny animal clips. I just felt like I was missing out. Talk about a rabbit hole! My apologies to my friends who will likely be getting clips sent to them for eternity now. But serious…so freakin’ funny! Off to watch more puppies ❤️

Today we were completing day 2 of our state testing (I know…don’t get me started). Anywho…I told the kids (who were obviously annoyed with the state testing and making sure to audibly grumble about it) “Look guys think of it this way, we already half done.” And I kid you not, one of my boys says excitedly, “Mrs. Weidner! That’s 50%! Since we’ve finished 3 out of 6! That’s 1/2. And after this one we’ll be 2/3 done, since we’ll be finished with 4 out of 6 tests!” (All things were been talking about in math for weeks now.)

Today I learned that despite all the obstacles and changes and curveballs this school year has thrown at all of us teachers- and my students- my kids are learning! I couldn’t have been any prouder as I congratulated this young man on clearly master some math, and helping raise his classmate’s spirits.

I guess I’ll go back again tomorrow 🙃

May the road rise up to meet you.

May the wind be always at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face;

the rains fall soft upon your fields

and until we meet again,

may God hold you in the palm of his hand.

I remember my (very Italian) great aunt had this blessing on a card displayed in her China cabinet. I always loved the flow of the words. The sing-songy-ness to it. Almost a sprawling cadence of sorts. The peace that I felt while reading it over and over.

It wasn’t until much later in life that I realized the symbolism. It is basically a blessing that the road you take will be an easy one. That the struggles will be minimal as things around you adapt to make your travels easier. A blessing that God will protect you along your journey. And maybe, just maybe, I realized that deep down I did understand it as a child, even if I didn’t realize it. That sense of peace and calmness wasn’t just because of the flow of the words, but rather the peace it provided knowing that God was watching out for me and trying to shield me. The peace come from believing that the “walk” through life would be an easy one, without many obstacles to overcome.

Sláinte!

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose. By any other name would smell as sweet.~ William Shakespeare

We’ve been exploring the word name and our own names in our community time discussions this week. I lead with the “story” behind my name and the legacy it left so to speak (some parts omitted for appropriateness for my students).

Here’s the full version: I was born (4 weeks late according to my mother) on a warm Wednesday morning (quickly as I was already 4 weeks late…contractions to birth under 5 hours so I hear). My father (who hates hospitals) comes to see me being born and isn’t allowed in (because it was a Catholic hospital and my parents weren’t married in a Catholic Church). He comes the following day to meet me and check on my mom. My mother always dreamed of my name being Rachel Lynn. Kimberly Ann was the second choice. My father takes one look at me and says no. That’s it…just…no!

Along comes Saturday, they’re trying to send my mother and myself home, but there’s a problem. They can’t “release” me without a name on the birth certificate. She calls my father (in tears because she just wants to go home) and he agrees to come to the hospital to name me so we can be released. He walks in and says “CathyJo”. My mother (without much pause, because she just wants to go home with her new baby) says ok! And off we went.

My father decided that he wanted to honor both of my great grandmothers. But at the same time didn’t want to name me Catherine Josephine or Josephine Catherine (as he thought those both sounded like old lady names according to him). So he decided on CathyJo. And here I am…first name: CathyJo; middle name: none.

I can’t even begin to tell you how many arguments I’ve gotten into with people over the fact that I don’t have a middle name. Like they think I’m lying to them (ps I have better things to do). That’s a whole different topic!

My mother had remained steadfast in her version of this story over all the years I can remember. So I think it was almost ingrained in me, when I found out I was pregnant with a baby girl. I immediately knew her name: Rachel Lynn.

And so I carry on the legacy of two amazing, strong, badass women, I am the namesake of Catherine Wahl and Josephine Antonacci.

Think your name is hard to find on a keychain? Try finding CathyJo…

So again I ask…what’s in a name? If I were Rachel Lynn would I be any more or less sarcastic? Spunky? Sassy? Loving? Caring? Thoughtful? Humorous? Entertaining?

I’m channeling my inner Tootsie Roll Pop Owl…the world may never know…and I’m ok with that! Because CathyJo is part of my identity.

Today is the one day of March that I usually bail out of the SOL challenge. It’s the day we do St. Patrick’s Day dinner with our family. We ate and I immediately passed out in what I can only describe as a food coma. It was so apparent that my daughter went upstairs and told her sister that she thought I passed out in a food coma. I feel those are usually reserved for Thanksgiving ( you know that stuff that starts with T that’s in turkey that makes you super sleepy). Well I think someone slipped some into my corned beef this evening. Sweet dreams!