Totally "Terrific" Tuesday

When I was a second grade teacher (35,247 years ago), "Totally Terrific Tuesday" was the one day each week when students could bring in items to share with the class. We took turns taking home the "Totally Terrific Tuesday" bag to fill with treasures to share. Very exciting, I know.

Today, I kept trying to tell myself that it's "Totally TERRIFIC Tuesday" ... but other adjectives kept interjecting. For some reason Tuesdays are really hard for me. I just always tend to be dragging and there never seems to be much to do on Tuesdays. (So, if you ever want to invite the Ryzenga's for a fabulous - or even lame - adventure, call us on a Tuesday! We'll be game for anything!)

So, what did you do today? The "highlights" of my day were: laundry, dishes, schoolwork with the boys, cleaning the basement, taking suits to the cleaners, building and pretending to ride in a space shuttle (giant tent in the living room), reading a certain poem book about trucks for the 1,389th time, and making a salt dough crown of thorns.

A salt dough crown of thorns? Yes.... you read that right. My family will definitely chuckle about that. I had a beloved salt dough wreath Christmas ornament that I think I made in Kindergarten. Every year I insisted it be displayed in a place of prominence on our tree. Finally, it totally disintegrated. But, not to fear, a few years ago (before I had children of course), I made each of my family members a new salt dough wreath that I've been assured hangs in a place of prominence on each of their trees every year. So, I have a thing for salt dough.

Anyway, I read this idea on several blogs. Basically, you make a braided wreath out of salt dough and stick toothpicks in it. Some families make one every Lent and as the family members make Lenten sacrifices each day, they pull out toothpicks. Then at Easter they decorate the wreath with flowers. Very neat idea.

We had lots of fun making the salt dough and playing with it. The boys thought the braiding was really cool. Of course they added the toothpicks with great gusto. We had a really nice conversation about what it must have felt like for Jesus to wear a crown of thorns and about what it means to make sacrifices. We baked the wreath. We painted it. It is in a place of prominence on our prayer table. (However, I think we painted it too dark. I realize it looks kind of gross. Also, our toothpicks are really STUCK in the wreath for good. I think we will mostly use it as a decoration. We may put beads on the toothpicks to represent our sacrifices. We'll see.) It was a fun "hands on" Lenten project.



I'm posting a picture of our prayer table, which is in our living room. Some people may think it's weird to have this pseudo-altar in our home, but it is very meaningful to us. We change the cloth according to the liturgical season and we add appropriate books and religious objects/sacramentals to the table. We have pictures of Jesus and Mary and a bulletin board hanging above the table. We hang seasonal pictures and/or religious projects on the bulletin board. (Right now we have a Stations of the Cross poster on it.) The prayer table is a nice space where we gather for morning prayer when we start our school work. The boys have really taken ownership of the prayer area. They are proud of it and visit it regularly.



Ok.... that's it for today. I hope your Tuesday was "Totally Terrific" and your Wednesday will be "Wild and Wonderful!"