12 dozen cookies...5 Christmasy things...a Retreat Day, Some Snow Fun...

And a partridge in a pear tree....(Ok that one is a lie...there was no partridge. Here we go with catching up with my life for the past 6 weeks!)

This entry begins with one of my family traditions COOKIE BAKING. I hate cookie baking. Well, that isn't totally true either. I don't like group kitchen projects. For me the kitchen is a sacred space and I really enjoy cooking/baking alone. Maybe that's strange...but I've never claimed to be boring!

This year...I put my foot down! Mom calls, "Hey Kate...when do you want to bake cookies this year?" UGH..."Hey, Mom...I'm so busy and I just don't have much time and I really don't like baking cookies...can you just do it without me?" Mom: "Well, sure Kate...if you really don't want to." Kate: "Yes, mom...I really don't wanna." (Fast forward a few days later). Mom calls again, "Hey Kate...Grandma wants to bake cookies with us and she really would love it if you joined us." (She pulled the Grandma card...I do ANYTHING for my Grandma). Kate: "OK...we can bake cookies, but you have to come over to my house to bake." Mom: "Great! We're looking forward to it!" So much for putting my foot down; but it's for Grandma! :-)

So Mom, Grama, and Ellie (my littlest sister) came over and we had cookie baking extravaganza 2007. Molly had to work otherwise she would have come for the tons of cookie fun. I gave all of the ladies an apron and we were off! To the left we have Jill (my mama) sporting Beth's apron and me to the right with my special "One Fun Nun" apron. We both got KitchenAid mixers for gifts recently...and love them; new favorite kitchen toys!

Here's the baby pretending to work...just kidding Smelly; you did a very good job sugaring your peanut butter blossoms. Here's a view of the crew and some of the goodies. And finally a loverly picture of my mama and my grama. Awwwww....

Ok...ok...so it wasn't that bad! We had a wonderful time together, laughed a lot, and made wonderfully yummy cookies! Until next year...when the fun will happen again....

So there's #1 in my list of December fun....I'm going to post in separate entries so they don't get too long. Peace out...yo!

Where's the Fun Nun?

Where's the Fun Nun? Oh...my! Where could she be? November 13th was her last posting...aye yoy yoy! Hellllllllloooooooooooooooooooo.....are you out there? Helllooooo laadddddyyyyyyy.

I'm here! I'm here! To make up for such lost time...I'll will give you the 6 week update in 3 separate posts! Thanks for sticking with me! Enjoy the next few posts!

Comedy Sportz

What does a newly professed School Sister of St. Francis/elementary school principal do in her "spare time" for FUN?

Naturally she has been studying the art of improvisational comedy...and performing every 8 weeks after successful completion of her course work at Milwaukee's very own Comedy Sportz! I'm sure you all guessed it correctly! Right?! What do you mean you can't believe it?!

For those of you still scratching his/her head...have you ever seen the show Who's Line is it Anyway? That's improvisational comedy! No...it's not the same as stand-up or sketch (SNL). It's fun, challenging, clean...and a great stress relief and creative outlet for this fun nun.

Comedy Sportz is something I've always wanted to do. Last year, one of my best friends, Lisa, was going to start taking the workshops. I said, "By golly gee wilakers...it's about time! I think I'll take it too!" So we did it...I told the Sisters I was engaging in a top secret endeavor and 8 weeks later I would reveal it. We had our classes and then I invited the Sisters, family, and friends to our first "final assessment" (performance)...it was awesome! I just love it! SSSFs were in good form...filling the entire front row!

Fast forward a few months...Lisa and I took 102 and then 103. Last week Monday was our performance from our last class (103) YES, I WILL UP LOAD PICTURES...hang on a titch! It was a great show...lots of laughs and of course we had a lot of fun. I have met some great people and I look forward to continuing with Sportz.

This is Mr. Dave Theune...he was one of our teachers. Woo hoo...go Dave! He is a really good teacher.

And now what you've all been waiting for...visuals! To the left is me and David Lane playing our warm-up game called Word Express.

Here we have (from L-R) Casey, me, and Jon playing one of my most favorite games: Good, Bad, Worse advice. We get advice-type questions from the audience and we have a distinctive character and answer depending on if we are assigned good, bad, or worse advice.

(See that cute hair with the maroon jacket...that's Jill...she's my mama! Yay Jill!)

The funky woman in the blue sweater...that's Lisa. I love her. Here's our friendship story in 25 words or less:

Circa January 2001...I get off plane in Manchester, England. Blonde walks over to me, "HI! I'm Lisa" "Hi! I'm Katy" (Hey she has my accent...hmmm..) Lisa says, "I'm from a small town in Wisconsin, but I go to school in Milwaukee." Katy replies, "No way...I go to school in Milwaukee...Alverno" "Stritch" Wow! Bada bing...friends forever. Awwwwww. Or something very close to that story.

We do a phenomenal impression of bagpipers by the way...if you ever meet us together, ask us...we do impromptu concerts for a nominal fee.

To the right is Lisa, Patrick, and me...I forget which game we are playing there, but we are sure smiling pretty!

That's right, gentlemen...three people can fit on that horse...ride off into the sunset! What you don't know is that the "horse" was in the teacher's lounge...hilarious scene!

That's all I have for now, folks. For those of you who thought, "What will she think of next?" I hope you have enjoyed this posting! It was a super great show. Some of my faculty even came...which was really nice. I think they had a great time.

On a more serious note:

Please pray for my teachers and students this week Thursday and next week Monday. We have 1st Quarter parent/student/teacher conferences. This is always a busy time of year and makes for lonnnnnnng days for my teachers.

Ciao for now...laaaaaaaaaaadies and gents. Peace out!

Nun Run 2007

Nuns and Running? Don't let your eyes or mind deceive you! What is a nun run you may ask? It has nothing to do with running and very little to do with Nuns to be quite honest. It's a catchy little phrase and cute little photo though...isn't it? Sorry...not happening on this blog!

This past weekend I was on the coordinating team for a NUNRUN in the Milwaukee Archdiocese.

A NunRun is a 24hour (ish) experience for women who would like to learn more about religious life and how it is expressed in different congregations. In the Milwaukee Archdiocese, there is a collaborative effort among all of the religious congregations and their vocation directors (VMMA). Twice a year, we try to have a NunRun featuring 4 or 5 different congregations. The participants get an opportunity to experience diversity in community life and housing, learn a bit about the charism (spirit or flavor) of each particular congregation, and share prayer and meals together.

This NunRun featured 4 fantastic Milwaukee congregations: (I've linked them for you)

• School Sisters of St. Francis (SSSF) (WOO HOO...I have a bias and I'm owning it.)
• Sisters of the Divine Savior (SDS)
• Racine Dominicans (OP)
• Congregation of St. Agnes (CSA)

Or as I affectionately call them: The Franny's, The Salvies, The Dommies, and The Aggy's.

We started at our SSSF Mama Casa, got the 3 women participants settled. Then we hopped in the way cool SSSF van and proceeded to the SDS Provincial Center, which is adjoined to their high school, Divine Savior Holy Angels. We were greeted by Srs. Carol Jean, Karlyn, and Mary Lee (their Provie). We shared a spectacular supper, had a tour, and learned a bit about the Salvie charism and history.

Hopped back into the official vehicle of the 2007 NunRun and went back to our Mama Casa. We were greeted by Sr. Maureen (our Provie...to the right) and had some snacks and conversation. After a good night's sleep...we had a delightful morning prayer service and a tour of our motherhouse, history wall (I love our photo wall), and chapel. Said adios...to the SSSFs and headed onto Racine.

The Racine Dommies, have a spectacular place. They run a retreat center and it is RIGHT ON THE LAKE...absolutely gorgeous. I love it there. The participants got a tour, we enjoyed lunch with some of the Dommies and some of the other vocation directors...then we gave the participants some time to enjoy the retreat space. They were able to walk and talk with a vocation person, if they wanted, or they could just use the time for themselves.

An aside note: Half of my living group was at Racine this weekend! Deb our new affiliate was there for her intercommunity group and Sr. Beth was there for a weekend gathering too! Throw Sr. Mary Ann and Sr. Stella (a Lake OSF) in the mix too..it was PARTY in Racine on a Saturday afternoon. That was nice...I visited with Deb, Stella, and Mary Ann a bit and then was back to work with the NunRunners.

Bye, bye, bye...to Racine and onto the Aggys to complete our tour. So far the participants had an experience of a modern Provincial house, a gigundo Mother House with a lot of history, a half motherhouse/half retreat center type place, and finally a "regular living space" experience of housing. That's right...we visited a local Agnesian community home. There are 5 sisters living in this house. They were superbly hospitable to us. We did some sharing, enjoyed a delicious supper, and then had a lovely prayer to end our time together. My friend Sr. Vicki is a temporary professed with the Aggys...she lives at that house. It was great to see her and get a little CRAZY.

Overall...I thought the NunRun was a success...we met our objectives and I think the participants got a great, diverse flavor of the possibilities in religious life. I really do enjoy this type of interaction with people, although I was really wiped out by Saturday night. It's nice to share our community's story with people as well as learn about others.

WICKED

It's 1:00a.m. and I can't sleep. I know I have been awful at posting on a weekly basis. I just haven't had much to write about...not like there is nothing going on. I'll try and give a brief update on what has been happening:


Last weekend I went with my other living group...the White House Sisters, to Chicago to see WICKED! It was incredible; seriously one of the best musicals I have ever seen. I want to see it again.

It was a lovely day with my Sisters. We took the train down from Milwaukee and played cards. Enjoyed some lunch...headed off to the theatre. Experienced this AMAZING performance and then ate Chicago stuffed pizza for supper. It was one, wonderful, "one short day" in the Chicago City! (That was a cheesy call back from the musical...I know...I know)

Galinda was phenomenal; however, I was totally inspired by the character of Elphaba. The singing was spectacular, costuming, choreography...it was truly "the whole package". I have a new "dream role" to add to my list of roles in the "If I ever have time to perform in musical theatre again" category. Elphaba of course...although for me I think Galinda would be more challenging character wise. Elphaba would be more fun for me!

Wednesday at school...for part of our professional development time, we explored a greater meaning of collegiality and played together. Yes you read that correctly, we PLAYED. We have been having some difficult times these past few weeks. It was time for a morale booster...not that I can take the credit for it. Two of my teachers planned and facilitated it. To see my faculty letting loose a bit, laughing, joking and enjoying one another was worth it! We need time and space to boost our morale so that we can develop as professionals. And for those of you reading this think that this doesn't connecting with a professional standard of education...I hereby give you:

• Wisconsin Teacher Standard #10: Teachers are connected with other teachers and the community. The teacher fosters relationships with school colleagues, parents, and agencies in the larger community to support pupil learning and well-being and acts with integrity, fairness and in an ethical manner.

Oh yeah...we're connecting and fostering relationships...because ultimately...that's what's best for the kiddos. And that's why we are all here. I hope this time was good for the faculty and that people are in better spirits this coming week. We do have a short week, so I think the break on Friday will be rejuvinating...for all of us too.

This past week seemed like a whirlwind (ok...which doesn't). This weekend I sang at a friend's wedding. It was really nice. I was happy to be able to do that for her and her husband. Saturday was quite relaxing...I went for two long walks. Today I was in Chicago for my prayer group. That was nice too...I missed seeing my Chicago contingency of Sisters.

Now it's 1:00a.m. and I should try and sleep. I have a busy week coming up...a lot of SSSF events! Yipee!!