This archeological dig known as "helping Mom & Dad downsize"

I mentioned earlier that we've been helping Mom and Dad clean out their house in preparation for their move to an apartment.

On Thursday, the movers came to pack and load the truck. The next day they moved everything to the apartment.

Halfway through the morning on Friday, one of the movers said, "I've got good news and bad news. The good news: the truck is half empty. The bad news: The remaining half is 15 feet high."

Oh yeah. There was a lot of stuff.

But now Mom's moved in, the furniture arranged, the pictures hung (all 52 of them), the boxes unpacked (all but just a few). It's really a lovely place, and the apartment looks great, very cozy and inviting and homelike.

My three brothers came armed with a laser leveler, hammer, nails, and ruler. They got the pictures hung up pretty quickly, considering they had to first get Mom to decide where she wanted everything.

While they did that, I worked with Mom to sort through huge boxes of linens. We separated into piles of "keep" and "give away", and now I have a new category: "fret over".

Why? Because we discovered linens made by my maternal great-grandmother in the cotton mills where she worked in the late 1800's, in Alsace-Lorraine (which was sometimes Germany, sometimes France, depending on who won the last war).

One of the pieces was a white cotton sheet with a large embroidered "O" (for her last name, Offner) in a lovely calligraphic style. The sheet is in mint condition (except for a tiny tear in the fine stitching between top hem and the body of the sheet, which I sadly fear I may have caused when taking it out of the bag; more reason to fret. Mom insists I didn't do it, but I'm not so sure.)

We also found a beautiful piece of cloth hemmed all around with several inches of hand-knit lace, according to a note written by my paternal Great-Aunt Catherine. The note also said, in her ultra-tiny yet perfectly legible handwriting, "Put this cloth on the table when receiving Communion at home."

These are treasures, no doubt.

But now what? Obviously we keep them, but should we do something to preserve them? Should we display them somehow? Or find archival tissue and boxes and pack them away with additional notes for future generations to find?

Or should we use the sheet (as Mom had been doing over the years when guests stayed over) and let it serve its purpose, till it's all used up? We could certainly use the Communion cloth, should anyone receive Communion at home.

Still, I fret.

I also do Google searches on "antique linens" and "cotton mills Alsace-Lorraine".

And I ask you, my friends and relatives, who stop by here occasionally: What would you do?

Today

So last night I wasn't ashamed to admit I cried. Well, today, of course, I'm embarrassed that I admitted it! Oh well. Chalk it up to the 1/4 Irish in my blood, along with a glass of red wine which helped drown my sorrows.

I still believe what I said, however: America is lost. We've lost our understanding of freedom and what it means to be an American. We've lost our moral bearings completely (well, not completely, as gay "marriage" bans passed in California and Florida). We've lost our economic freedom because we're indebted to the tune of trillions of dollars.

Today, it's time to figure out what we're doing next.

Michele Malkin says "gird your loins, conservatives".

Feminine-Genius says "God's will in all things", and also encourages us to:

• Pray and work to defend the marriage bond;
• Pray and work to defend the sanctity of all human life;
• Pray and work to restore life-giving collaboration between men and women;
• Pray and work to restore cherished devotions and a Catholic culture.
• Stay close to the sacraments and allow God to use use you as He will.

The Anchoress has a huge round-up of reactions.

My thoughts:

• I'm thankful that we had a peaceful election (though I can't say I'm sure it would have been that way had the outcome been reversed, based on the attacks, bullying, and intimidation that happened during the campaign).
  

• Since we might not always have talk radio or conservative blogs, we should start planning other ways for conservatives to stay connected to each other.

• If you still have your kids in public school, take them out immediately. We simply cannot have any more children brainwashed by the leftists in charge of government schools and textbooks. Send them to private schools, or better yet, homeschool them. You can do it, trust me. You certainly won't do any worse than most of the public schools, and you'll probably do much better at teaching your children the truths of faith and freedom. More about this later.

• Figure out what you personally can do to build a culture of love and life. More about this later, too.
  

Back to work here ... a house to clean, kids to take to various things, and supper to cook... the beauty of quotidian activities.

Election Day, at last

A gorgeous day here in Wisconsin: warm, sunny, with brilliant red, orange and yellow still on the trees and bushes.

I've had a beautiful day enjoying my rights as a free American. I went to Mass with the kids to pray for the country, as is my First Amendment right.

We came home and had a great morning homeschooling, as is my God-given right and duty as a parent, using my own choice of curriculum without state interference, as I may lawfully do in my Wisconsin.

After lunch with the kids, I went to pick up our college daughter her Catholic University to go to a doctor's appointment in our state-of-the art, envy-of-the-world, non-socialized health care system.

Then we went to vote, as is our right as women under the Nineteenth Amendment. Breeze in, breeze out; there were people voting, but nobody in line. It was peaceful and orderly, as it always should be in America, and as I pray it always will be, today and forever.

Now, I'm sitting here for a few minutes blogging, once again exercising my First Amendment rights.

I'm staying very calm today: not too much coffee this morning, no Fox news AT ALL, just occasionally checking Drudge for any flashing red and blue lights (nothing yet, but a big red headline saying exit polls show Obama big... well, surprise, surprise, but I don't trust the exit polls, I'll wait for the actual poll results, thank you), and mostly just waiting till this evening when I'll break my fast from wine and spirits and indulge in a nice glass of something or other, either to celebrate, or to drown my sorrows.

And I'm still praying! I hope you are, too. If McCain wins, it truly will be a miracle. If he doesn't, well, that means that our prayers will be answered in other ways, but never for one minute do I believe that our prayers went unanswered or that they were in vain.

Keep praying, everyone. "Oh Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!"