Moments of Gratitude…

Today I am especially thankful…

• For the blessing of another year of life.
• For Matthew loving his new school.
• For an at-home date night with Brian.
• For a new haircut that I desperately needed.
• For the love and fellowship of family and friends.

 

Embracing the Ordinary…

I’m linking up with Gina over at Someday Saints for Embrace the Ordinary.

I was trying out a new recipe and taking a photo of the final product when Matthew climbed up on the other side of the counter and said, “Tale a picture of me, Mama!” He is my “helper” in the kitchen and loves to cook by my side. Although, the background is messy I like that I can also see Andrew and Brian playing, mostly likely getting ready to build a Lego creation. 🙂

 

In the Kitchen…

I’m in a menu funk and feeling like I make the same things over and over again. Honestly, Brian and the kids LIKE the same things over and over. They are creatures of habit. I like tried and true but with a little variety. So I will look though my old monthly menus and my binder of new recipes to try change up this week’s menu a little. In the meantime, you’ll have to settle for this photo of lovely tasting bread that is begging for some butter and jam. 😉

 

Praying…

• For my brother-in-law Mick and his fellow soldiers who were deployed to the Middle East last week. Also, for my sister Bridgette who is enduring their first separation since getting married less than a year ago.
• For Brian’s continued recovery from the side effects of his chemo.
• For those who are being persecuted for their faith.
• For a greater love and appreciation of my faith and my freedom.
• For those who are suffering physically, mentally and spiritually.
• For some special intentions.

 

On the homefront……

Things are busy but going well. Matthew started pre school last week. My baby is in school now! It’s going to be really weird once the other kids are in school next week and I have a few hours when the house will be completely quiet! I’m going to have to put on Star Wars or The Incredibles or Cars to make it sound more normal. 😉

 

Around the house…

The spring cleaning bug always hits me (months late) in autumn. In 2012, my theme was homemaking and getting some order into my messy house. I was doing well but 2013 was the year of the cross with Brian’s cancer… and that carried on into the beginning of 2014. In the meantime, my cleaning projects were put on the back burner. Well, it is time to get back to it, especially while I have the itch and motivation to clean. (Lord knows it doesn’t last very long.)

On Friday it was the first day in a loooooong time when I didn’t have to be anywhere or drive anyone to anything so I unplugged the phone and the computer and committed myself to cleaning out my laundry room. There were so many piles of dirty laundry and so many bags of random crap thrown in the corners that I could barely walk in the room. It literally took me from 9 in the morning until 5 at night but I got it done! Yay! Now it has motivated me to tackle a few more cleaning messes. I won’t have a long stretch of time like I did on Friday but as Annie reminded me, “Slow and steady wins the race.” (PS. Mom, this photo is dedicated to you, although I still haven’t replaced that hanging rack that you hate. LOL. ;-))

 

Pondering…

Last Monday I was feeling overwhelmed with all the world news of turmoil and my heart cried for the victims of atrocities, especially fellow Christians. I was saddened that one actor’s suicide seemed to spark nasty arguments amongst Catholics over moral theology. Meanwhile, family and friends were carrying heavy crosses and everything seemed to be in chaos. So after a good cry and turning of the computer and logging off of Facebook I thought, okay God what the heck can I do about all of this? Immediately the image of St. Terese came to mind. I needed to LIVE my motto  – little things done with great love. Crying and wringing my hands was not going to help.

I know prayer is powerful but I couldn’t go kneel before Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament as I desired. Instead I had mouths to feed and bottoms to be wiped and bathrooms to be scrubbed. I had to offer all those little things to God as my prayer for all the needs of the world. It may seem incredibly insignificant but God knows my heart. Which is the greater sacrifice to me? Making a Holy Hour or shutting my mouth and not complaining or losing my temper when milk is spilled or pee doesn’t land in the toilet or my favorite picture frame is smashed by a reckless light saber? Um, yeah, He knows the answer to that. So right here, right now, is my mission work!

 

Reading…

Danielle Bean’s book Momnipotent.

Catholicmom.com’s online book club will be reading Momnipotent in September.  It kicks off on August 30th with an interview with Danielle Bean. I’ll be reading along. Join me. 🙂

 

The Giver by Lois Lowry (I want to finish the book before I watch the movie.)

 

Listening to…

I’m kinda addicted to Echosmith right now, she said as she sang, “We are going to come together now…”

 

Watching…

At the Movies – August is a big movie month! I saw Guardians of the Galaxy which I loved. I was going to skip it, thinking it looked a little too weird (a talking raccoon and tree??) but I read positive reviews from Kendra and Steven so I gave it a try. It far exceeded my expectations and was a fun movie. I’m hoping to see it again with Brian.  The Hundred-Foot Journey, was another “foodie” movie like Chef. Chef was like eating a delicious steak taco with extra salsa while you’re listening to lively music. The Hundred-Foot Journey was more like dressing up and going out to eat at a fancy restaurant without kid menus. A different, more polished experience but still enjoyable. The acting was well done, the story line intriguing, the family-love brimming and shockingly all done with a PG rating. It really is a sweet movie. 🙂

On TV – We’ve got one episode left of the last season of Veronica Mars then we’ll rent the movie.

On YouTube – Are you a Hitchcock fan? If, so check this out. I’ve seen about 3/4 of this movies but missed many of these cameos!

 

On the blog…

Life has been going fast and posting has been slow, so only two new posts these last three weeks!

• August 2014 Goals

• Pinterest Party & Link-up (Vol 27): Homemade Granola Bars (The Pinterest Party is open until Friday so there is still time to join!)

Upcoming posts will include an update on my August goals, a review of the Fitbit and tips for getting out of a mom-slump. 🙂

 

In the blogosphere…

This one from my sis was hard to read but needed.

• The Day I Said Goodbye to Joan by Barefoot and Sometimes Pregnant (my sis ;-))

These two were great reminders to me to keep my perspective on the positive!

• Your Daily Dose of Perspectives – By Slow Mama

• The Great Flood (part deux): Lessons in Gratitude by The Pitter Patter Diaries

These were helpful and/or I just enjoyed them. 🙂

• Confessions of a Paralytic by Filling My Prayer Closet

• Teaching Kids to Be Kind by Slow Mama

• Our Reversion Story by A Catholic Reversal

 

Pinned…

I love this from the Blessed Is She pinterest page. #catholicdevotional

 

 

Plans for the Week…

Well, since it is my birthday today I am allowed to just play on the computer and decorate my planner and listen to music and not worry about crossing things off my To Do list. 🙂 (It’s cold and gloomy out so I may even get a cup of cocoa. LOL) This is actually our last week of summer vacation so we’ve got a lot of school orientations and uniforms sales and maybe we’ll try a beach trip if the sun plans to come out later in the week. Next week Bella, Andrew and John-Paul start school. Bella has oral surgery scheduled to pull out a few baby teeth that won’t come out and she is a little freaked out because she has to be put under. (Please keep her in your prayers!) Lastly, my sister Bridgette is coming up for an extended trip next week. I can’t wait!!

 

Captured…

For those who follow me on Instagram, you’ve already seen these. I’m adding them for my mom to see. 🙂

I went to Costco with the kids and John-Paul and Andrew found Halloween costume that they loved – a police man and an army soldier. Matthew is not allowed to get a costume until closer to Halloween since it changes all the time. So far in the running we have Captain America, Spiderman, a Ninja Turtle, Dash from The Incredibles , a race car driver or a Jedi Knight with a green light saber. He was very specific about that. Luckily, (except for Dash) we already have all these costumes at home.

We needed to have Matthew potty trained before he went to pre school. The other kids took forever to be fully potty trained so I told Matthew that I would finally buy him the big boy bike he wanted once he was potty trained. We made a chart and put on his stickers and two weeks later he was completely trained and in his undies. I should have done this years earlier!

 Matthew and I were walking along when I saw this fruit on the floor. I told Matthew, “Look what fell off that tree.” He said, “Wow! Meatballs!” LOL. I think we need an agricultural review.

 

Linking-Up with…

A Mama Collective’s Currently

Gina’s Embrace the Ordinary

AND

It’s a triple header with my last link up being with Kendra’s Answer Me This.

1. What is your favorite room in the house?

Mostly likely the kitchen since I spend so much time there. The house we are living on now was Brian’s grandma’s house. When she passed away, his aunt lived here. She has since passed and we were able to move in when Bella was four and an only child. This is what the kitchen looked like then.

We slowly have been working on it and nine years later it looks like this.

You can see the rest of the remodel photos here.

2. Do you subscribe to any magazines or other periodicals?

Can you guess which mag is mine and which is the mag of my holier spouse? 🙂

I love magazines! I love the photos and the feel of holding paper in your hand, even though 95% of my reading is done with ebooks. I like the bite-sized articles that I can fit in here are there rather than trying to put down a book I can’t stop reading. I currently subscribe to Catholic Digest, Real Simple, Martha Stewart Living, Cooking Light, Food Network (although I’m letting the subscription run out on that one), Lucky and Entertainment Weekly.

3. How do you feel about the sign of peace in Mass? Enriching? Awkward? Overdone? Just right? Some combination of the above?

I am a touchy-feely hugger so I enjoy the sign of peace as long as the other person touching my hand hasn’t been sneezing all through Mass and as long as everyone STOPS once the Lamb of God starts.

4. What is your least favorite sound?

It’s a three-way tie: Nails on a chalkboard or high-pitched whining or Matthew’s current practice of screeching at the top of his lungs.

5. What was your favorite TV show (or shows) growing up?

As a little kid my favorite cartoon was Scooby Doo. My favorite family shows were Little House on the Prairie,  The Cosby Show and repeats of The Brady Bunch. However, the one show that is the closest to my heart is I Love Lucy. Watching a show today brings me right back to the kitchen with my mom laughing with Lucy and Ricky. I own every episode on DVD and my kids have seen them all too. When I am with my family we still quote lines to each other in our normal conversation. 🙂

6. What are your favorite TV shows now?

I always have way more shows in my DVR than I have time to watch but it carries over to the summer months when there is nothing on and I can catch up on the past fall shows I never finished. My current faves are Sherlock, almost all the Masterpiece Mystery shows,  Downton Abbey, The Walking Dead, Sleepy Hollow, The Blacklist, The Middle, The Big Bang Theory, Parenthood, Grimm, and for a bit of guilty pleasure –Pretty Little Liars. The show I am most looking forward to watching in fall is Gotham. I’ll also mention that I used to be a fan of Once Upon A Time but the Peter Pan storyline was draaaaaaaging on and I gave up and deleted the shows from my DVR. Well, with the summer slump I started watching again and got back into it so I have a few more episodes to go and I’ll be ready for the new season.

Wow, that was a long post. Thanks for reading through it. 🙂

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