Resurrection

My poor poor little neglected blog!

Instead of saying that I have been too busy to write, I choose to say that I’ve been on blog sabbatical for the past 6 months. Now I’m rested and ready to write. (It’s not completely true, but my life is calming down enough that I can spend some time on personal improvement and enjoyment.) As London Tipton says “yeah me!”

So let’s see what’s been going on in my life while I’ve been on sabbatical:

I’ve been working on a committee exploring the option of a county-wide metropolitan park district. (We met almost weekly for most of that time.) Unfortunately, although it is a good idea, the economy is such that it not the right time. (I think we’re either 3 year too early or too late.) There is still some serious interest to pursuing a North County MPD and so we’ll see where it goes from here.

I have also been part of a citizens group who opposing the Bonneville Power Administration BPA’s proposed new substation and new high voltage power lines. They want to build the 10-15 acre substation right around the corner from my house and the biggest power lines in the industry running from it across Kelso / Lexington down to Vancouver / Portland. So far we’ve been somewhat successful, they are looking to move it to a less populated area. However, I am still very concerned about the exposure to the high EMF levels and the risk of cancer. The citizens group would like to have them bury the lines or shield them better. There is a public meeting in Castle Rock on August 30th.

I am also the co-chair of the Finance Counsel for my parish. Unfortunately, we have not had an active Parish/Pastoral and Finance Counsels for the last 5-6 years. Which means there hasn’t been a working budget in all that time for our parish and our sister parish. It was a very, very difficult process, and after many, many difficult meetings we were able to create a balanced budget. Unfortunately, in order to do that we had to slash staff levels. That was such a horrible experience!! I felt sick for weeks!!! The one silver lining to come from this was that we were able to make sure that our parish was able to at least have our own clerical staff – even if it’s not full time.

In February, I was appointed to the County’s Parks Board for a 6 year term. I’m very excited to be on the committee! It is something I applied for 5 years ago, but they didn’t have any positions open for the North County area where I live. They finally did and now I’m able to participate. (Unfortunately, the park’s board meetings are on the same night as my bunco group. I was pretty bummed to give up bunco. They are a very fun group of women and I really enjoyed it.) I came on at a very fortuitous time. We have been working on our 20 year strategic plan for the county’s parks system. (Not sure we will have a parks system in next year - let alone in 20 years, if we don’t get a dedicated funding stream. Currently, the county is down to only ONE parks ranger to do all the maintenance and upkeep for all the 17 parks properties. They call him the Lone Ranger.) Hopefully, with a comprehensive strategic plan in place, they will be able to apply for grants too keep the department open.

My kids and I are actively fundraising so that we can go on pilgrimage to the 2011 World Youth Day in Madrid, Spain with our church youth group. Due to a number of factors, our group got a late start on fundraising, so I’m not sure we’ll get enough money. We’re sure making a valiant effort!! So far, we’ve sold raffle tickets to a gorgeous quilt, ran a rummage sale and rented the parking lot for KHS graduation, did a plant sale, held car washes and managed a raspberry patch. W.

Bipolar Summer – can’t decide if its going to be hot or cold. The highs are either in upper 60's or in the upper 90's. Don't like the extremes. Just give me 75 degrees. It's perfect.

Well, off to work

Miracle Melon

This started out to be a pity plant but became a miracle melon.
My son asked me this spring "Mom, could we please grow a watermelon plant this year?" I told him yes we could try but it probably wouldn't grow. As a true testament to how many hot days we had this summer, he actually had 3 grow. C is holding his "small" watermelon which was very yummy.

Fall Sports Abound

We are completely in the throes of fall sports. Most nights we don't get home until 7pm or later. (Well, I don't get home then but we're all on different schedules so it's really more accurate to say that we ALL don't get home until about 8pm.) The nice thing about middle school sports is that practices are right after school and NO GAMES ON SATURDAY!!!!




M is playing middle school soccer. All that conditioning with high school team over the summer has paid off and she is one of the starting midfielders and is one of the goalies. They've had a pretty good season so far. She is also reff'ing 3 or 4 of the recreation league games on Saturdays. (Just when I could chortle about soccer free saturdays! oh well, she gets paid pretty good to do it and she loves it so its good for her.)






B is playing middle school volleyball and is on the 7th grade team. This is a new sport for most of the girls so there has been a slight adjustment for them, but it hasn't really affected their record. Ithink they've only lost 1 match so far. B even got an ACE in Tuesday's game. She was very excited! B is also on the yearbook and school newspaper. She took this picture of her teammates at Tuesday's game.

C is playing Cowlitz League (youth football - NOT pop warner). He has been one of the starting linemen all season. In fact he has been playing almost every down (only break is when the 2nd string defense is out there.) He is the starting center and sometimes tackle on offense and kick offs. He is the starting nose guard for defense and kick returns. He's loving it and the coach would like to work with him a little bit on learning some new positions.

So sorry we've dropped off the face of the earth. Right now with the various committees I'm on and the organizations, activities and sports the kids are doing, we are super crazy booked. (Even Sunday's I've usually triple booked in the evenings and usually booked solid through the day.) Crazy Fall Schedule!!!

First Day of School - 2009

It's that time of year again. (It seemed to sneak up on us this year. We were good until the weekend and got so focused on all the "little projects" that it seemed to all of a sudden "Bam!! School is here.)

Here's some pix of the kids before the first day of school. Wow! They have really grown up.

M is a 8th grader this year and is one of the Orientation Crew Leaders. Wow! She's got a lot of stuff. I bet she's going to be very smart by tonight. We already put her Sax in the car - I'm taking that since there was too much to bring on the bus.

B is a 7th grader this year. Doesn't she look so pretty!!!!

She's pretty excited for her journalism class.

C is a 5th grader this year. He is sooo excited for school to start!!! He almost did a back flip when he found out that 3 of his 4 best friends are in his class. (Pray for those teachers.)

North County Recreation Association

Castle Rock is a small town. Offially the census says there's a little over 2,100 people in the city limits. But there's probably 5-10k people in the school district. Neighboring Toutle Lake is even smaller. Needless to say, the Castle Rock / Toutle areas are very tight knit communities and life revolves around school and kid activities. There was a huge need to replace our decrepit old baseball fields and create some new soccer fields. So a dedicated group of local business leaders and parents had a vision to create the North County Recreation Association. They raised money, negiotiated for land to be donated and use agreements with the school district and city, applied and received several large grants to build the North County Recreation / Sports Complex back behind CR's high school.

It is truly amazing what they have been able to accomplish with almost total volunteer labor (fairly recently they did hire a baseball concessions manager but other than that its all volunteer support). There is a awesome sports complex with a 2 story club house, 3 or 4 very nice little league baseball fields (part of the state tourney is held there for the last 2-3 years) and 2 girls softball fields. There is a huge area for the soccer fields. In a addition, there is a mile long path that circles this part of the complex and excercise equipment is being installed along it so that you can get a complete workout on the circuit. In addition, work on the new boat launch into the Cowlitz River is going at a frantic pace. (After several years of review, they finally got the necessary permits from the Corps of Engineers late last week. All 'in river' work must be completed by September 15th so not to affect the salmon. If they miss the deadline, they will have to wait until next August to resume.) I walk the loop most nights and it's been impressive to see the progress is going. (They truly are working dawn to dusk.) There are also plans for a campground and playground and paving the parking lot to be put in future phases.

Obviously, all this costs money. So every October, North County hosts a big dinner/dance auction event which raises a lot of money to support all upkeep and maintenance of everything we've built so far. (I've been helping with it for a couple years and it is a lot of fun and has a lot of great items.) So mark Saturday, October 3rd on your calendars. (Place TBD - which is the subject of another post.) So if you know anyone who would like to donate items for the auction or would like to attend, let me know. If you want to donate that would be even better. NCRA is a 501c3 non profit and its tax deductible.

Virtego... Smirtego!

The results are back from our doctors visit this morning.
The doc says B has a pretty bad case of veritgo which is unfortunately a viral infection which can take up to 6 weeks to over come. We can only treat the symptoms, so I got her some meclazine. (sea sickness pills) Oh I learned something interesting about that. Yesterday I tried to get some at the store, but they only had the chewable dramanine, which I learned only is for nasuea. (the package may say that it does dizziness and the other symptoms, but it really doesn't.) The non-chewable (or non-drowsy) dramamine which we did not have at our little store was what I needed.

Long story shorter...After an hour in the doctor's office, we ran over to Kaiser and got the correct kind of pills (funy thing is that my pharmacy only sells the correct medicine in a chewable format). I quickly ran her home and then scurried to work.

She gets one dose a day and already B is doing MUCH better now. I was pretty worried about her. She wouldn't even watch tv or read and just stayed in her room for 3 days. Her behavior and general level of interaction with the world is night and day now. She's getting back to her normal silly, kooky self. Hurray!!!

This is the second time she's gotten it this year. I need to research more about it. Anyone know anything about vertigo? Any tips for prevention? cures? old wives' tales? etc....

Lost Weekend with a Twist

I had such high hopes and plans for this weekend. (I was going to cram 5-6 days worth of work into this weekend and I had some fun plans too.) The best laid plans of mice and men are laid to waste.....

Unfortunately, I got sick Friday night and never really left the bed and/or couch all day Saturday. Being so tired from the late night at the emergency room the night before didn't help either. B was also sick Friday night, all day Saturday and Sunday - she had a relapse of the crud from earlier in the week. (I'm taking her into the doctor this morning.)

Sunday: I left the house at 8am for church and wasn't home for more than 5-10 minutes at a time until 10:15pm. After church ,we came home and checked on B and changed clothes. M, C and I then met my sister and her friend in Woodland which is about 40 miles south of us. We went to my favorite U-pick berry farm and picked blueberries for an hour and half. (The kids and I got about 15 pounds. - Sure missed B -my berry picking machine) But 15 pounds is still a pretty good haul. (don't think we'll be making any blue berry jelly, since we'll probably eat or freeze all of it for personal conusmpution becasue we LOVE blueberries. In fact I had a bowl late last night when I got home. They were sooo good!!!)

After berry picking, we ran to the store and got a veggie platter and went to a combined parish picnic at Riverside Park. The kids had fun running around playing with some of the other kids. This new priest we have is really interesting. He is very young - less than 30 but he is very traditional in many ways. He wears the old fashioned clergy "costume" for casual - You know the one you see in all the old movies (pre Vatican II uniform) black pants, black cassosk that comes down to his knees and the black rounded hat. It was cool to see him out there playing the water balloon toss in his full regalia. He's kid oriented and is supportive of our idea to attend World Youth Day in Spain in 2011. That is great! So we're going to start working on a planning / fundraising meeting next week. (I really wanted to go to the one in Australia, but my kids were too young.)
After the parish picnic, we went home and checked on B who was still sick. I had M & C stay home and watch her. I had a scout committee meeting. I knew it was going to be big because we were organizing the entire year, coordinating and identifying fundraisers / assigning chairmen and their duties, in addition to the myriad details that come up for start of the year organizing. The meeting started at 5pm. Knowing how our meetings take for ever and seeing the very full agenda, I half-jokingly told M to call at 9pm to spring me. I half hoped we'd be really effiecient and done by 7 or 8pm so I could take C to get some school supplies. But no such luck!! I didn't leave until 10 pm. UGH!!!!! That's a long meeting and several were still going strong when I left.

When I got home, I had the BEST surprise waiting for me. M had spent the time while I was gone to clean my kitchen. It looked SOOOO pretty!!!! It was so nice of her. She even cleaned out a couple of my cupboards and organized the chargers and extra cords. She did a FABULOUS job. What a nice surprise! Now my weekend wasn't completely lost!

2nd Opinion

Well, the orthopedic doctor looked at Meg's hospital xrays and pronounced that wrist / arm definitely did NOT look broken. HE says its probably just a sprain. He is having her come in Wednesday just to double check. (Keep your fingers crossed...soccer tryouts are in less than 2 weeks.)

Jinxed

My coworker, George, jinxed me! Boy is he going to hear about it when I get to work today!!!

Yes, we were talking about my kids and their seemingly frequent flyer mileage to the Emergency Room and specifically how Megan always seems to get hurt about this time of year. This summer she has been working out with the varsity high school team several days a week doing their conditioning training. We last night during a scrimmage, she collided with another player and fell. She landed funny on her left wrist. (It was at the end of practice, but being the tough dedicated player, she continued playing.) Long story - short.

We eventually went to the Emergency Department to get it checked out. (It didn't feel broken, but we decided to go just in case.) One good thing was that we got to see our old neighbor Carolyn who works in radiology. It was actually a pretty quick trip - less than 3 hours, but it was still 1am before I got home. Well, they don't think its broken, but decided to put a splint on and refer her to the orthoped just to be safe. Well this splint is HONKING HUGE!!!! She's had casts smaller. Bad thing is that soccer tryouts are in 2-3 weeks and if its broken, she's out for the season. oh well....positive thoughts!!! Only a mild sprain.

We'll keep you in the loop.

7+ hour Kenny Chesney concert

We had a blast at the Kenny Chesney Concert on August 1st at Qwest Field. I think he set a record for attendance.

Barc and me hanging out waiting for the concert. She was quite the little trooper!! (country music is not her favorite.)

CJ, Meg and Me clowning around.

Meg and Me.

Sun City Carnival....

Brooks and Dunn were AWESOME!!!! I love those guys!

They did a good show and I really enjoy their music.

Lady Antebellum kicked off the 7 hour concert.

Nose Bleed Seats in Qwest Field!

But for $20 each it was worth it! It meant we got to enjoy a fabulous lunch at Cheesecake Factory and we could see just fine. We were in the shade and could dance around and have fun.

The only down side was the loooooooonggggg hike up the ramps to get to the 3rd level.

THAT was crazy!!!!

Kenny's Concert started just as the sun went down over the Sound. It was very pretty.

WOW!!!! Kenny Chesney puts on an AMAZING show. It was non-stop for over 2 hours. (We finally had to leave at 11pm to go home. I had a 2.5 hour drive home and Chris had to finish packing for his week long scout trip. Kenny was still going strong as we got on the interstate.) Like I said....WOW what a performer!!!

Seattle Fun

We went to Seattle for the Kenny Chesney concert the first week of August. It was a lot of fun!! I really enjoyed showing the kids some of our old stomping grounds and doing some "touristy" things. We ran out of time so we didn't get to visit Pike Place Market, but did FINALLY got to go up in the Space Needle.

I took the kids to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch. We had a fabulous lunch and then enjoyed delicious cheesecake. The crazy thing is that the chocolate lover extraordinnaire - got key lime while my kiddos had about every other chocoalte version available. They were all very yummy and was a wonderful treat.

We visited the Fremont Troll.

The kids thought it was pretty cool - C really liked it... especially when he realized that it was a REAL VW bug that the troll had in his other hand.

Below are the "3 billy goats gruff" which is just below where the troll is. (I just love the sense of humor in that neighborhood.)

St Bridget's which is just a few blocks away from our little apartment near Sandpoint and Children's Hospital. This the parish where M was baptised. She loves going back and learning about her history. She is especially fascinated with the hospital she was born at.

Some of the pretty stained glass at St. Bridget's. It was a beautiful sunny Saturday morning and we really enjoyed the few moments of peace and tranquility.

The kids looking out over Elliot Bay from the Space Needle.

More Space Needle Pictures. It's been years and years since we've been up there. B has been REALLY wanting to go up for past 3 or 4 years, but always something happens and we can't. So this time we made it the priority and we had a lot of fun. It was very pretty that morning.

Over looking downtown Seattle from the Space Needle.

Where we lived when M was born. It was a great little apartment. (The carpets were a horrendous orange shag, but we had our own patio, storage area and a little yard garden.) It was close to UW and a very easy commute for me.

Craziness......

Kids' Family Fun

I had to head back to Castle Rock because unfortunately, I haven't won the lottery yet and work awaited. The kids stayed an extra week in Idaho and had fun with the Millward side of the family.

The kids pose with Grandpa and cousin with one of the 1 LARGE sturgeon they caught.

(One of C's fish was a 7 footer.)

Grandpa took them to Balanced Rock and to the natural hot springs swimming pool near by.

The kids clowing around at the Hagerman Horse Fossil museum.

(Some of the oldest horse fossils in the United States are there - back when horses were smaller than our golden retriever.)

Rocking Around The Rock

This is the "poodle skirt" featured in a previous post. B looked so cute in it as she was bee-bopping around the gym to Rock Around the Clock. Theye did a great job. You should have heard the sax and electric guitar solos. Both choirs did an amazing job. B was one of the top performers again. (I hope enough kids signed up so that there will be a Middle School Choir next year, but I think there are too many other choices that it won't happen.) I guess if they don't have choir, she will do journalism. Which is a perfect pick for her. B would be fabulous helping create the school newspaper and annual since she loves to write and is a great photographer.

Most Improved

Much to her surprise, M was voted "Most Improved Musician" at last night's Spring Concert. This is because she just started learning how to play the alto sax in October. She has gotten prettty good (proud mama talking) and I guess it was a landslide because she had a steep learning curve. Their band got a Superior plus in the 15 band competition last week.
Good job guys!!

Gifts from the Heart1

My kids are the best!! (I know I'm biased but I just have to take a moment and brag.)
All on their own and without my knowledge, they arranged with the local florist to buy a floral arrangement and have it delivered to the house. They even paid for it completely with their own money. On Thursday, the kinda let the surprise slip a little when they asked if we would be home between 11am and 3pm. Thinking back on previous Mother's Day presents, all I could think was that somehow, they were getting me a cow. (NO JOKE!!) I was pretty nervous for 2 days and very happily relieved at my beautiful bouquet. You see, M really wants a cow and for the past year she has been talking to someone who has a bunch of a baby jerseys about getting one this Spring. (knowing my daughter and past gifts....my concerns were NOT much of a leap of imagination.) Anyway.... I LOVE my beautiful bouquet!! They know I love flowers and hardly ever get them. I'm so proud of them that they were able to buy them for me. They are growing up so fast!



B found this at our local farmer's market and thought that I should have a plant at my desk. So she bought me this cute "hens & chicks" planter. Out of all the options, this was my favorite. (This was also a surprise gift.)

I'll have to do another post with some of the other gifts. (C gave me a cute school made magnet.)

Mother's Day

This year, I decided to have a relaxing time with my kids. After a busy morning of games, helping friends move, and farmer's market, we went to the river at Camelot and had a very fun afternoon playing in the sun, fishing (M caught a rock. - It even ate her worm. It was totally classic!!), sandcastles, exploring the beach with Trooper and Queenie, and a yummy picnic. Afterwards, we cleaned up and saw StarTrek. (Which was AWESOME!!! They did a great job of mixing the tv show, and all the other movies.) All in all, a good day with my kids.

C playing a little stick ball at the beach.

He got pretty good at hitting those rocks (even the little ones).

M and our new River Dog - Trooper the Chihuahua playing in the water.

B & C making sandcastles.

C drowning some worms.

M catching those elusive rocks.
Either the rock ate the worm and then got tangled up in the line,

or the worm escaped and tied up the nearest rock as part of his escape.

You pick....

out of it

Wow! I just realized it's been almost a month since I was last on here. YIKES!!! only feels like a week. I have been so crazy busy that when I finally do get home, I just collapse in my bed and try to get some sleep before I have to get up too early to start it again.

Basic update...I still have my job. (Whew!!!) But it is not good at work right now. Too many good people and vital jobs were cut. I don't know how we're going to make it work. (no security staff anymore, the clerk's office closed to the public just to name a few.) Everyone is very cranky and on edge. Morale is shot and it's going to get worse. (I half-jokingly say I'm going to hang out at the morgue because it's got to be cheerier.) I'm just keeping my head down and working hard. Just finsihed helping on a huge (as in 3/4 of a million dollars kind of huge) 3 year federal grant which will hopefully save the Drug Court program and even expand it's treatment capacity and options. We'll know in early September if we got it. If not, the county is shutting down the Drug Court program October 1st. Keep your fingers crossed.

It is Spring. This means the kids are very busy in sports and I'm running hither and yon to trying to make it all work while trying to keep my hair in my head.

M is doing track and is competing in long jump, javelin or hurdles, and the 100 meter dash and she is also on the 4 by 100 meter relay. They are awesome!! So far they have beaten every 7th grade girls team and a lot of the 8th grade teams as well. (A lot of times, they run both groups together.) I'll try to do a video of one of her races.

B is on a Spring Soccer league. They are doing well and having lots of fun. (It's her last season of soccer since she doesn't want to continue it when she gets to Middle School so I'm glad it's going to end on positive note - with a coach she admires and her friends / teammates that she's had since kindergarten. Yep. The core of this team has been together 7+ years.) It's so mellow and laid back. I love it!!

C is playing baseball. What can I say???? Hmmmm.... This year is a little challenging (as a parent) due to the composition of the team and some of the personalities involved, but thankfully my happy-go-lucky son is blissfully unaware of all the conflict swirling around and is having a ball. (Thank God for small miracles!) He is doing fabulous!! He is playing short stop and 3rd base primarily and actually doing well. He has also been hitting really well. In fact, he got a true stand up triple on Saturday and then stole home. He's having an Allstar season which I'm glad for him.

I'm up to my eyeballs in meetings for parks and library consolidation boards, patient advisory board, and the church's June revival mission, plus the normal fun stuff like scouts and book group, etc.,.

Well, gotta go check on the kiddos' (I've got 2 home sick today and we're waiting for the doctor's appts at 1pm)

April Fools

I usually "celebrate" April Fools for the kids and send funny crazy stuff in their lunches and plan meals etc. But it snuck up on me....all the stuff at work and the kids being on Spring Break contributing to my malaise.

Well, never fear.....This year B was especially inspired to play pranks on anyone in sight. (She and C had a lot of fun planning and executing these elaborate almost Rube Goldberg schemes.) I'll only describe a couple here....believe me the merriment went on all day.

B has this old fashioned, really funny, loud and somewhat annoying monkey alarm clock. It makes loud monkey shrieks in addition to the clanging bells continually until you wake up and turn the darn thing off. (Did I say it was loud and makes monkey noises?)

Well, she set it for Oh-dark-30 and hid it in her sisters bedroom. hee hee. Well M turned it off and went back to bed, so B snuck down into M's room retrieved the clock and did the same thing to her brother who is a very sound sleeper. Did I mention it is VERY loud and makes monkey noises? Well, the thing went off for over 12minutes before he woke up and found it hidden under his bed. (I was on the verge of waking him up myself because it was so loud and obnoxious. - His story was that he knew it was going for that long but he decided to wear out the batteries...nice try bub! No one believes him - especially since I looked in on him noisly several times hoping to "accidentally" stir him and to see if he was dead because I couldn't see how anyone could sleep through it.)

I knew I should have been worried about B volunteering to make me lunch... but she had mentioned the night before that she would save her extra taco for my lunch so I thought I was safe and that she was being the nice, kind, thoughtful daughter that she is. (I should have known better!!!) After eating my entire lunch, I noticed that there was a little note in the bottom of my bag which read.... "Mom I licked everything first." and then in very tiny almost so you couldn't see it she wrote "April Fools" The rat!!!

I think I'm going to celebrate "Boomerang Day" It's where April Fool's comes back and gets them when they're least expecting it. hee hee

Father Daughter Ball

This year for the annual Father Daughter Ball was the last weekend in February. We decided to keep it "local" because we knew that it would be a real hardship for any of the families to come over from the Intermountain area. The girls selected their escorts with care and were really excited when they were able to come over for the weekend. B picked her godmother /aunt's boyfriend, Kevin and M chose a really good family friend Lee (aka Elkman). A friend who works at a florist showed the girls how to make their own corsages and boutinieres. They ate dinner at a local restuarant (Judy's) which is famous for it's pasta dishes and desserts. They had a lot of fun dancing, talking and generally having a good time.

The chicken dance champs who were "robbed" at the crowning ceremony ham it for the camera.

B pinning her flowers on Kevin. (only a little blood - good thing he wore layers.)

Lee and M pose for the camera





M looking very pretty and very grown up.

B looking gorgeous and very stylish.

Lee, M, B and Kevin say "cheese" one more time for the paparazzi before the big dance.

Good times were had by all. Thanks guys!

We really appreciate it!!! You can't know how much it means to the girls (and to me).

Moral Delimma

For his birthday, my son got to "redo" his room which hadn't been updated since he was 3. The jungle theme was getting a little old and we were both ready for a change.

So what's my moral delimma you might ask? Well, it's simple and yet so complicated.

We have a fairly old fashioned priest. I guess one of the old pre-Vatican II conventions was to have 'annual house blessings' in January. (Holy Family Sunday was designated "the" Sunday to do that.) This entails, blessed chalk being given to the parishioners and man of the house would write on the outside of their house above the front door the "Roman code" with the current new year. This is supposed to bless your house and keep it for another year....yada yada yada - You get the picture.

(Don't strike me down Lord for being somewhat irreverent and not going into the detail required to do this wonderfully holy pronouncement of our faith justice. But I had never heard of this until this priest revived this tradition, so I'm not as hip on the verbiage and full meaning of all the symbolism behind it.)
After some wild arm gesticulations in the sign of the cross and couple quick Hail Mary's, I'm back.

Anywhooo.....

So a couple years ago, they ran out of white chalk and so the priest blessed a bunch of colored chalk. When it came time to pick up our family's piece of chalk, C, the little "man of my house" decided that red chalk would be really cool. (I thought that would be ok since we have a red brick front.) Well, before I could even get my coat off after we got home, C had run into his room and in about 8 or 9 different places had wrote "BLESS" all over his walls with this holy chalk. (He was so excited about the whole concept and being entrusted with "the holy chalk", that he forgot that the priest said it was supposed to go outside and above the front door.)

So I've been in a moral quandry ever since.... How do you remove it without going to hell?

And so for the last 2 years "BLESS" has covered every wall in his room in several obvious locations, while I struggled with the holy ramifications. (By now the red has seeped into the wall paint and I have to deal with it because I need to prepare the walls to paint.) I finally figured out what to do. - Yes I had an epiphany of sorts! It was so simple and yet has elegant grace that matches the symbolism needed for this quandry.

You ask....How do you remove holy writing from your son's walls? With Holy Water of Course!!

Yes! I did. I got some holy water from church and used it to wash C's walls where the red blesses were written. It looks great and is still holier than thou's room.