The 10 Commandments for the Digital & Social Media Age

By bobbi
March 1, 2013
4 Comments

I have been reading about many bloggers who have given up social media for Lent. Alas, I am not that holy and I’m not sure if I would have made it through Ash Wednesday. However, I do think that there needs to be some guidelines for social media use amongst Catholics. Here are my suggestions.

The 10 Commandments for the Digital and Social Media Age

I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt not have Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram or blogging before Me.
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God as OMG.
Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day and dare to unplug.*
Honor thy father and mother with a real phone call instead of a text, instant message or Facebook post.
Thou shalt not obsessively kill Angry Bird pigs.
Thou shalt not commit adultery by sleeping with your smart phone.
Thou shalt not steal illegally downloaded content.
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor and make your Facebook photos, profile and updates seem picture perfect.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s newest electronic gadget.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s Pinterest home décor, body image, fashion style, cooking skills, crafting project or witty sayings.

If you check your phone, you may be able to download a burning bush app to go with this.

*PS – Here’s an update. Shortly after writing this I heard about the National Day of Unplugging. Check out my 7 Quick Takes (3/1/13) for more info.

Lenten Ideas 2013

By bobbi
February 28, 2013
4 Comments

FOR THE UPDATED VERSION OF THIS POST, PLEASE GO TO – Pinterest Party & Link-up (vol 35): Lenten Activities for the Home

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Today is the second week of Lent. How has it been going? Are you making progress? Or were you too ambitious? Or maybe you still haven’t gotten your act together. The latter was probably closest to me. I was a little late in getting the kids Lenten projects together and barely finished our Lenten altar this week. (We have a regular family altar in the entry way of our home that stays the same year round but in the family room/eating area is our seasonal altar/shelf.)

Here are a few things we are doing this year.

I love putting wreaths and welcome signs on our door. For Lent, I made a simple Lenten wreath to mark the season.

We printed off Catholic Icing’s Lenten Calendar and I placed it in an inexpensive frame from Ikea. I use a dry erase pen to mark a cross on each day as it passes. The kids love using it to countdown the days even though Andrew says it will take “fooooooooooorever” to get to Easter. 😉

I adopted some of the ideas my sister posted in her Lenten Ideas for Kids. I particularly loved the jar idea so we made ones of our own. Each day we pick out one prayer intention and one act of love/ sacrifice we will work on that day. (ie. Share a toy with your sibling or be extra nice to someone at school or do an extra chore.)

I also loved her Lent wreath idea but I didn’t have a wreath so I used a rectangular candle tray I had instead. I purchase a pack of small dinner candles from Target and tiny wreaths from Michael’s that fit around the candle. We add a wreath to a candle on each Sunday of Lent.

Lastly we added our Stations of the Cross pictures and talk about one station each night. Our Lenten altar is right next to the table where we eat so we light our candles and say our prayers before dinner, when we’re guaranteed to all be together.

For our alms giving we are still supporting our sponsored child Abi from Mexico through CFCA but I’ll save that for another post. 🙂

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If you are part of the procrastinator club or just need to pump up your Lent a little bit, here are some links for inspiration.

40 Ways to Get the Most out of Lent – CatholicMom.com

Your Handy-Dandy List to Lenten Sacrifices – CatholicSistas.com

For the kiddos in your life, check out these links:

40 Simple Lenten Activities for Kids – CallHerHappy.com

Lenten Activities for Children – CatholicIcing.com

I hope you continue to have a blessed Lent!

Saturday Morning Quick Takes (2/23/13) & {pretty, happy, funny, real} vol 61 Mash-up: Photos, Boys’ Play & Motherhood

By bobbi
February 23, 2013
5 Comments

AND

I started this yesterday but it just wasn’t happening. However, the kids are quiet so I must strike while I can before the boys start their morning chorus of “Mine!” “No, Mine!” “MINE!” and “Mom!” 😉

~~ 1 ~~

{pretty}

This week for Cari’s Theme Thursday it was about architecture. Here are two photos I took of the Carmel Mission.

You can see the rest of the Mission photos here and all the other fabulous photos on Cari’s link up here. And a huge thank you to those who mentioned my photos on their blog (Cari and EML) and those who left kind comments. I truly appreciate it but it’s incredibly embarrassing because any photos I take outside or out in nature require ZERO talent. You cannot take a bad photo around here and even if you do, photo editing fixes that right up. My 3 year old with my iphone camera proves it. (But I love your appreciation anyway! xoxo)

This photo is for Day 5 of #cslentipj – Light. The sun #light is shining through my kitchen window.

~~ 2 ~~

{happy}

For Day 4 of #cslentipj – the subject was #love.

I posted this pic of Brian sitting in the crying room before Mass praying. I #love this man more than I can express and he brings me such happiness! Although, I know my mom is asking, “What are you doing taking a photo at Mass, Ms. Paparazzi?” Well, technically Mass hadn’t started yet and I just snapped this quickly with my phone while Brian had his eyes closed, which explains the poor quality. I didn’t notice until after, St. Joseph is just over his head. Quite appropriate. 🙂

~~ 3 ~~

Speaking of my prayerful man, yesterday was the feast of The Chair of St. Peter and Brian put together a Novena for the Papacy. It is a beautiful collection of traditional prayers and short, modern day reflections. Go check it out and see why he is called my better half. (While he is doing stuff like this I’m shopping at Target or browsing Pinterest. ;-))

~~ 4 ~~

{funny}

But just so you don’t think it is all work and no play, here is Day 6 of #cslentipj – Happiness.

I love when Brian’s playful, boyish side comes out and I hear the blissful happy squeals of the boys as they are playing. For Christmas the boys watched Star Wars for the first time and afterwards they begged me to take them to Target and get them those glow-in-the-dark light sabers. (Snort. As if someone had to beg me to go to Target. Refer to QT #3.) Of course I did, so now in the evenings we’ll often have lights out in the hallway as they do their battle.

The top half of the photo shows them playing. The bottom half has Matthew getting ready for battle next with my colander as a helmet. So funny. 🙂 Gotta love them boys!

~~ 5 ~~

{funny}

Speaking of life with boys…

Note to self: Remind the boys that after they eat an apple, throw it away. Don’t stick it back in the fruit bowl.

Day 5 of #40daysofphotos – #40. Here are #40 toy trains lined up in a row.

Matthew walked into the photo shoot and was ecstatic. It’s funny because we’ve had some of these trains for almost a decade. Bella used to love Thomas the Train and we started collecting them back then. The tradition continues with Andrew, John-Paul and now Matthew as he plays with them. (I’ve been talking a lot about the boys lately. Next week I’ll make one of the takes about Bella. It’s just harder with a tween who values her privacy. 😉

~~ 6 ~~

{real}

Day 6 of #40daysofphotos – My Lenten Sacrifice.

For lent, I have also been trying to curb my impatience and not lose my cool when things like permanent marker, broken glass, dumped wipes and spilled milk happens and offer it up for love of God. (Refer to my 2013 credo.) Sorry to say that I failed miserably the other day and after losing my temper I broke down and was literally crying over spilled milk. Time to get to confession and recharge the ol’ spiritual batteries. 😉

~~ 7 ~~

Confession is the first cure but you know what the second best cure is? I found out Thursday night when I had a huge treat. For the first time since I was pregnant with Matthew (say what?) I went to a mom’s night out. I was as giddy as a school girl because I had been craving some Catholic girl time in real life and I hadn’t seen a number of my old friends in ages. The food was delicious, the conversation was humorous yet uplifting and it just perked up my spirits. We decided to make this a regular thing and I wondered how Brian would feel about that. Well, the next day Brian was pleased to see me in such a good mood and so playful with the kids and affectionate with him. As long as this keeps up, he said he didn’t mind watching the kids again for the next outing. 😉 Woohoo!

~~ Bonus Take ~~

My sis Bridge with her godchild Matthew.

As you may know, I come from a large family – I’m the oldest of nine and so far three of us are married. Well, we can add another Mrs to the ranks because my sis Bridgette has announced her engagement to a wonderful man. (Bridge was born between me and my younger sister EML.) So not only will we be attending a wedding but we will be having a family reunion, which means EML and I will finally get to spend some face to face time together. (Insert happy dance.) We will also get to meet a number of little nieces and nephews/cousins that we have not met yet! I am soooo excited and will be spending even more time on Pinterest offering ever so helpful wedding suggestions to my sister. 😉

Have a fabulous weekend!

Novena for the Papacy

By bobbi
February 22, 2013
No Comments

Today is the feast day of the Seat of Peter. In honor of this day and in light of our Holy Father retiring and a new Pope being elected next month, my hubby (and better half) Brian put together a Novena for the Papacy. Here is the intro and first day. You can read the rest on his blog The Beggar Saint.

Source

This Novena is to begin on February 22nd, the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter and it ends on March 2nd. If you would like to start this Novena after the 22nd, feel free.

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph #811: “The Lord made Simon alone, whom he named Peter, the “rock” of his Church. He gave him the keys of his Church and instituted him shepherd of the whole flock.”

Let us offer this novena for:

Pope Benedict XVI , who will leave the Petrine Ministry on February 28th .
For the upcoming conclave, that the Holy Spirit will guide the Cardinals in electing a new Pope.
For the new Pope
For the Church

This Novena is divided into six parts. 1) Prayers to be recited each day before the Novena. 2) The Novena Prayer. 3) A reading from the Scriptures. 4) The Consideration which is brief to help facilitate, if need be, reflection. 5) Quiet time with Jesus. 6) Concluding Prayer.

The following prayers are to be said daily, before praying the Novena:

Prayer to the Holy Spirit:

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth.

Let us pray: O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever rejoice in His consolations, through Christ Our Lord, Amen.

Prayer to St. Peter:

O Glorious Saint Peter, because of your vibrant and generous faith, sincere humility and unfailing charity, Our Lord honored you with singular privileges and especially leadership of the whole Church. Obtain for us the grace of a living faith, a sincere loyalty to the Church, acceptance of all her teachings, and obedience to all her precepts. Let us enjoy an undisturbed peace on earth and everlasting happiness in Heaven. Amen.

Day One –

Lord Jesus Christ, I trust in You!

Novena Prayer: Heavenly Father, We love You! We praise You and we bless You! We ask, in the Precious name of Jesus Christ, to send forth Your Holy Spirit to enlighten, guide, strengthen and bless all the Cardinals gathering in the coming weeks to elect a new Pope. May Your Holy Will be done! Amen.

Holy Mary, Mother of the Church, pray for us. (Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be)

Reading – John 1:40-42 One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).

Consideration: Jesus, “looked at” and “called”, Peter by name. Today, He “looks at” and “calls” me by name. What does Jesus see and what does He say to me?

Spend some quiet time with Jesus…

Concluding Prayer:

Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
St. Peter, to whom were given the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, pray for us.
St. Peter, so ardent for the glory of Christ, pray for us.
St. Peter, whose heart was pierced with one look from Jesus, pray for us.

Pray (3) Glory be’s… Amen.

For Days 2 – 9, visit The Beggar Saint Blog.

Meatless Meals (Vol 1): Quesadillas & Low-Fat Broccoli Slaw

By bobbi
February 20, 2013
6 Comments

Lenten Fridays are always an exercise in culinary creativity, especially if you don’t want to hear, “Fishsticks again?” Brian usually works the late shift on Fridays so I keep the meals fairly simple. I’ll be sharing with you a few of our favorites and then linking up with Beth Anne’s Best and Tales from Astoria for Meatless Mondays.

Last Friday we ate Quesadillas & Low-Fat Broccoli Slaw. Do I really need to explain how to make a quesadilla? Just in case, here’s what I did.

I sautéed some onions, red peppers and green peppers in a little olive oil. You can also sprinkle them with a little Mexican seasoning or add your own spices like cumin, chili powder, garlic salt etc but keep it light. A little goes a long way.

Take your tortilla (I especially like Trader Joe’s Flame Cooked Tortillas) and fill half of it with the onions, peppers and grated pepper jack cheese. Fold in half. Warm on a griddle until toasty.

For the a veggie side, I made broccoli slaw using the recipe on the back of Trader Joe’s 12 oz pack of Organic Broccoli Slaw. (Can you tell I like shopping at Trader Joe’s?)

You need:

1 12 oz bag of slaw
¼ cup dried cranberries (I added a bit more)
½ cup chopped walnuts
1 cup diced apple
1 cup of your favorite dressing. (I only used ½ a cup because my dressing was pretty creamy.)

For the dressing, I used Ellie Krieger’s recipe for lower-fat Creamy Broccoli Slaw as my base.

1 cup lowfat Greek yogurt, or strained yogurt
¼ cup lowfat buttermilk
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 teaspoons spicy brown mustard
¼ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon salt

I mixed all the ingredients, using about 1/2 cup of the dressing. (I’ll make another batch of fresh slaw later in the week.) And there you have it. Voila! Or should I say, Ole!

Enjoy! And share your own meals here. 🙂

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See more Meatless Meals here.

Revolution of Love

Do small things with great love.

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