Moments of Gratitude…
~ For my morning walk alone on the beach. (I only get the chance to do this on Mondays and Fridays.)
~ For a home with running water and electricity.
~ For blocks, puzzles and Pocoyo that kept the little boys quiet while my hubby and I had an in-house morning date.
Beauty in the Ordinary…
This may be TMI, so be forewarned, I am touched when God’s grace is poured out during Phase 2 (fertile stage) of NFP and instead of being resentful of what we “can’t” do, my hubby and I are able to really connect and have fun together despite the challenges of being faithful to God at times.
From the Kitchen…
I have carrots, zucchini and celery that I need to use up so I think I’ll make a pot of minestrone soup. My sister gave me a recipe about a year ago and it is soooo good. I’ll post later if I remember.
Praying…
~~ For all the souls in purgatory, especially for family members, friends and those who are most forgotten.
~~ For a baby boy named Jason who is very sick and in the hospital.
~~ For all our pregnant friends and for those who are trying to conceive or who have suffered a miscarriage.
~~ for the poor, the sick, the lonely and those suffering from addiction.
Pondering…
As I was walking on the beach this morning, I could see numerous sets of footprints in the sand but there was one set that was apart from the rest. It reminded me of the poem/ story Footprints in the Sand. I thought of how often God has carried and lifted me in my life, whether it was something serious or the mere daily grind of motherhood. He is always there and always patient with me as I am trying to learn the lessons He is teaching me. I pray for the grace to practice that with my own children… to be instructive, patient, and to know when to let them walk on their own and when to carry them in my arms.
Reading…
The same as last week.
The Lady of Milkweed Manor by Julie Klassen.
Small Steps for Catholic Moms by Danielle Bean and Elizabeth Foss (Currently out of print but hopefully will be reprinted soon.)
The Imitation of Christ.
Around the House…
You’ll find Matthew climbing every piece of furniture in sight. It annoys and amazes me at the same time.
Listening to…
The bubble machine and the boys giggling as they are trying to pop them.
Working on…
Updating my blogging binder. Notes include – “Make posts with a little more “meat” and less photos of the kids and the beach.”
Posts I’ve Starred in Google Reader…
The Morning Offering at The Holy Cloak – Brian (my hubby) started his own blog on the spiritual life. His posts are infrequent but I do love what he rights. (Although I may be a bit biased. 😉
I’m Going to Try at In the Heart of My Home – Elizabeth shares an honest and heartfelt post about her study on The Mission of Motherhood.
A Challenge! Make *Your* Bedroom Beautiful and Useful at Like Mother, Like Daughter. Leila gave a challenge for this week’s {pretty, happy, funny, real}. I’ll be participating!
Items I’ve Pinned…
~~ On my “Catholic Love” board – This saint and souls altar. I’m updating our prayer altar for the month of Nov to do the same.
~~ On my “What’s Cooking in the Slow Cooker?” board – Balsamic chicken. Looks so tasty!
~~ On my “What’s Baking” board – Turkey Cupcakes Cute!!
Plans for the Week…
~~ Finish the Christmas school project we are working on for underprivileged children.
~~ Finish the prayer altar.
~~ Work on cleaning the bedroom.
Captured…
From my walk this morning…

I know you are probably tired of seeing photos of the Pacific Ocean but the weather in Cali has been unseasonable warm this weekend and when I went to walk this morning I skipped the usual trail above the beach. I had to walk on the sand. My iPhone didn’t quite capture the breathtaking beauty of God’s creation but you get the idea. Only problem is that I was so busy snapping, I didn’t allow enough time to escape a big wave and my walking shoes and part of my pants were drenched. Oh well. 🙂

Have a wonderful evening!

This is a completely random post for RoL, but back in Jan 2012, I made a post referencing the episode of “Good Luck Charlie” where PJ tries to get his dad Bob Duncan to exercise and lose weight. His motto? “Less bacon and more shakin’.”

Since then I’ve gotten a number of hits from people searching about “Bob Duncan’s weight loss” since the actor Eric Allan Kramer has definitely been losing weight and building muscle.

In July 2012, the Toronto Sun posted an article about Eric and his oblivious weight loss. Here is the article.

‘Good Luck’ star muscles up by Toronto Sun.com (7/28/12).
LOS ANGELES – Whatever will the writers at Disney do with a suddenly buff and fit Eric Allan Kramer?
The University of Alberta drama alum and son of Calgary Stampeders offensive tackle Roger Kramer was hired three years ago to play the part of the goofy, overweight, hapless father, Bob Duncan, for the hit teen show, Good Luck Charlie.

With his comedic chops and cuddly big-man size of 6-foot-4 and 260 pounds, Kramer’s pest control owner character was often the butt of some very funny jokes.
Especially since Kramer plays a father to four cute kids on Good Luck Charlie, the No. 1 rated scripted series on cable television.
The mere sight of him standing in his Bob’s Bugs Be Gone pest control suit next to star Bridgit Mendler, who plays his wise-cracking teen daughter Teddy, elicited guffaws.
But as of January, the 50-year-old started going back to the gym and watching what he ate.
And his character Bob Duncan was becoming less of a sight gag.

“Before everybody’s eyes, I started changing,” Kramer tells QMI Agency. “And I don’t think they saw it coming.”
It was while filming the third season last fall that the former gym rat noticed he had put on a lot of extra weight and that his knees were killing him as a result.
“I had really bottomed out. Being a single dad with a full-time show, I had stopped paying attention to myself,” said the actor, who rose to fame after his hilarious portrayal of Little John in the 1993 film, Robin Hood: Men in Tights.

“At the start of the season, I was limping around with knee problems and felt really old and weak. When I looked at myself on the show, I didn’t recognize myself. I actually said, ‘Who is that guest star?’ and that’s when I said, ‘Holy crap! Time to get back to the gym.’ ”

Kramer was born in Grand Rapids, Mich., but was raised in Edmonton, where his father still lives after retiring from the Canadian Football League. The actor said his body’s beautiful change has been gradual, but noticeable. It started with consistent visits to the gym, four times a week, where he does a combination of weight training and cardio. His diet was modified from “anything goes” to smaller, lighter meals spaced properly throughout the day.

“The writers started coming up to me, saying, ‘Hey what’s going on? We wanted to write a joke about your physique and now we can’t,’ ” Kramer said laughingly.

With a 35-pound weight loss by the end of the filming season, Kramer had gone from flab dad to fab dad. In fact, his newest publicity photos make him look more like a muscular Mr. Clean than a couch potato papa. His body was so different that writers were forced to explain his weight loss on the show. The final shows were just taped and the Season 3 finale airs Aug 26.

“It was too noticeable to ignore,” he says.

Rest assured, the comedian is still playing Bob Duncan as funny.

“We’ll be explaining the change in the end cliffhanger. There’s still plenty about me to laugh about since as you see me get skinnier, I actually get balder,” he says jokingly.

News that yet another season of Good Luck Charlie has been ordered has Kramer feeling great about his life. Not only is he back to the weight he was while starring in some productions of the Rocky Horror Picture Show in the 1980s, he’s also beginning to direct some of the Disney episodes. He directed one this past season that was difficult to produce.

“It was an episode with indoor hurricanes and you have to figure out how to pull that off, it was a nice challenge,” he said.

Good for you, Bob/Mr. Kramer!

Hosted by Jen at Conversion Diary.

Out of It – I am so out of it today. I got a stomach bug on Halloween night and thankfully it only last 24 hours but it was enough to knock me out. Heck, I haven’t even had a single piece of Halloween candy! I know! (Hmm…maybe that’s a good thing.) I am feeling better now but I’m tired and a little lazy. And before you ask, no I am not pregnant.

Call Me Aunt B – BUT……someone near and dear to me is. I am going to be an aunt again! My amazing sister EML is pregnant with Baby #5. (She’s going to have 5 little ones under the age of 5.) Check out the adorable photo she made to announce the blessed event and then send her some prayers and congratulations!

Tricks of Treats? – Did you have a nice Halloween? We had a lot of fun at the various school parties and then we went trick or treating at our local outdoor mall, which took all the hassle out of it. By 4pm we were home ready to relax and dig through bags of candy. (Well some of us were.) Here is a photo of my three superheroes. Andrew was Spidey, John-Paul was Captain America and Matthew was Thor. Matty was loving that hammer!

My tween Bella, on the other hand, donned her Allie shirt (from Austin and Allie), her headphones, a pen and her lyrics journal and was “a songwriter.” (Why is my baby growing up so fast??)

Avast! – Bella also enjoyed her first overnight class field trip without me as a chaperone. They are learning about California history this year and she went on this neat program called The Age of Sail. They went “back in time” to 1906 and became the crew on a historic ship. All the guides/teachers were in full character and the kids had to do everything on the ship – from swabbing the deck, to tying the ropes, to cooking the meals on a wood burning stove and even 2 hour shifts of night watch, only to wake up the next morning at 5:30 AM. It was hard work but she had a lot of fun.

Tick Tock – Have you been keeping up with Once Upon A Time? The previous week’s episode with the introduction of Captain Hook was one of my favorite episodes of both seasons. Last week’s episode was Halloween ready with Dr. Whale as Dr. Frankenstein. (The creators said they would be branching out to other characters, not just fairy tale ones.) What do you think of the Regina situation? Will she redeem herself and will Cora become the new big baddie? How about Rumple and Belle? I have a bit of a soft spot for Mr. Gold myself. As much evil and mischief Rumpelstiltskin may cause, I still want Mr. Gold to find true love that will melt his hardened heart. As for future episodes we get Hurley as the Giant next week and in the horizon we will possibly see Ariel and Herbie the Love Bug?? (ie. Emma’s bug) Plus August will be returning and the creators are open to possibly bringing the huntsman back.
This weekend I’ll catch up on Grimm, Elementary and Call the Midwife. (That show has been requiring a fair amount of Kleenex!)

Links – Hmmm…what else?? How about some links.
~~ Do you need some help in the meal planning department? Leila over at Like Mother, Like Daughter has posted all her worksheets in one convenient place. Visit: Menu-Making Roundup — all the Worksheets!



~~ Over at Catholicmom.com I read a review on an intriguing book – Price to Pay: Shocking True Story of Muslim Convert to Catholicism. This may be the next book on my nightstand (or downloaded to my kindle.)

(Update 11/3/12 – This is an add on because I forgot to post the link yesterday.)
~~ I LOVE Dawn’s idea of an altar for saints and souls in her post In Remembrance. I’m updating our family prayer altar for the month of Nov to do the same thing.

Blast from the Past – Lastly, when Brian and I were dating we found it amusing that we both used to publish B&W mini magazines (zines). His were about the spiritual life. Mine were about music, bands, poetry and my faith journey. After we were married we started putting together a zine about our Catholic faith. After a couple issues however, we thought it would be wiser to expand our audience by started a website instead. Hence, it was ten years ago on the feast of All Saints Day that Brian and I started Revolution of Love.com. Although we don’t post on it anymore, we still get hits and emails from it so we haven’t taken it down. Over the next few weeks I’ll be reposting RoL items here on the blog. It should be a fun little blast from the past.
And with that I must bid you a good evening! Have a great weekend.

Moments of Gratitude…
~ For my morning walk along the beach this morning.
~ For a husband who will watch the kids when he is not working so I can have time to myself.
~ For the beauty of God’s creation.
~ For Bella’s safe return from her overnight field trip.
Beauty in the Ordinary…
I love when I return home, whether I’ve been gone for 15 minutes or hours and the kids exclaim, “Mama!” and give me a hug. It makes all the hard work of being a mom totally worth it.
From the Kitchen…
I tried a new meatball recipe and I’m making meatball sandwiches on garlic bread rolls with salad.
Praying…
I think we are all praying for the people on the east coast (especially loved ones) that they are spared harm from the storm.
Pondering…
Earthquakes. We had a fair size earthquake last week and while the ground is shaking and rumbling, in my head I am always wondering if this is finally the “Big One.” I also calculate how long it will take me to grab all the kids and get them to safety. Thankfully, this one didn’t last too long and I could go to bed. Then last night we had a tiny earthquake and immediately I thought about Bella (who was in San Francisco at the time.) I wondered if the quake was north of us and if so, was it near San Francisco. I quickly checked my phone and looked up the CA earthquake site and saw it was south of us and just a small one. I know every state has their own natural disasters to contend with but I hate that there are no warnings to an earthquake. You just have to be ready at a moment’s notice.
Reading…
The Lady of Milkweed Manor by Julie Klassen.
Small Steps for Catholic Moms by Danielle Bean and Elizabeth Foss (Currently out of print but hopefully will be reprinted soon.)
The Imitation of Christ.
Around the House…
Besides the usual Thomas the Train toys that land out in every room, I seem to have school paperwork, homework, permission slips all over. I need to get together a little system to keep it all together. I’m working on that now.
Listening to…
Brian playing on the deck with the kids.
Working on…
Andrew’s class website. I have about 100 photos I need to upload and organize onto it. (In fact, I am uploading as I am typing.)
Posts I’ve Starred in Google Reader…
Reader Space: Simply Organized! by iheartorganizing.com – I need to continue working on my Operation Clean & Organize so I’ve been getting motivation by browsing some of my favorite organizing blogs. This is one of them.
Tech Talk Digest for Last Week from Catholicmom.com – I’m a bit of a nerd in that I loved to be plugged in.
When “carrying my cross” is code for “I’M A HUGE CONTROL FREAK WHO CAN’T LET GO!!!” by Jennifer at Conversion Diary – Jennifer is one of my favorite bloggers. I love the way she can have me laughing out loud yet teach me a valuable lesson at the same time.
I live in uncertain times (this post has nothing to do with what you might think it does) by Kate Wicker – This has something in common with Jen’s post above. Is it wrong of me to like when Super Catholic Mom Bloggers post about not being so perfect? It’s not that I enjoy their troubles, I just like knowing that we are all in this together and that we all have good days and proud moments and days when we want to just crawl back in bed. God’s grace is ready and waiting for all.
Items I’ve Pinned…
A Year of Slow Cooking: CrockPot Rotisserie-Style Chicken Recipe
Index of bread recipes for the bread machine
Plans for the Week…
~ Halloween Party at John-Paul’s school followed by a Halloween Party at Bella & Andrew’s school.
~ Trick or Treating
~ All Saints’ Day Mass & at home ASD party
~ Candy Overload
Captured…
From my walk this morning…

AND

The Year of Faith – I mentioned last week that I was looking for ways to celebrate the year of faith. Brian told me about an app he is really enjoying on his iPhone. It’s called My Year of Faith. It’s purpose is to “engage the faithful each day of the 410 days of the Year of Faith, providing an online community of daily catechesis, challenges for spiritual growth and opportunities for participating in the New Evangelization.” You can also access them online at My Year of Faith.com.

We picked up this painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe by an artist in Peru when we were at the Mission fiesta.

Remember how I told you John-Paul has become a target-aholic like his mother? I told him that if he went to school without complaining that I’d take him with me the next time I went to Target. He behaved and was rewarded. He was sooo happy to help mama like a big boy.

Off and Running – Okay, and there’s a funny side story about that shopping trip. There were two other moms at Target with kids having complete meltdowns. I smiled at them and give them that “I understand look” but in my mind I thought thank God my kids are fairly well behaved in public. I’d hate to be in their shoes. Immediately a voice in my head said, “Don’t be prideful, Bobbi, or God may have to teach you a lesson in humility.” (You know where this is going.)

After John-Paul so pleasantly placed the items to be scanned, he started walking towards the exit. I called out for him to come back because we had to pay first. He turned around and looked at me and gave me that grin that told me he decided to play his favorite game – let’s run away from Mama and see how far I can get before she loses her mind. He walked towards the Target/Starbucks cafe but then turned and went out the exit door. I had to leave Matthew in the shopping cart while the guy was still ringing up my groceries and went after JP. Luckily, he hadn’t gone though the second set of doors that leads to the parking lot.
I knew if I ran toward him he’d bolt so I walked slowly and told him, “Get over here NOW!” He knew he went too far and walked over to me. I kept myself relatively calm as I scolded him but my head was still playing a scene from a Lifetime movie where the child gleefully runs out in the street while his mom watches in horror as he is struck by a car. (My head does crazy things like that all the time.) Thankfully, it was over fairly quickly and Matthew didn’t try to climb of his seat while my back was turned. JP was sorry but next time he’s grounded from Target for awhile. (And when I do take him again he wears a leash if I have too many groceries to stick him in the cart!) So God was swift in teaching his lesson and I decided that if I see a mom with a runaway kid or baby having a meltdown, I’m buying her a Starbucks coffee with a note that says, “Hang in there, mama!”

All Saints’ Day – Speaking of holidays, I have been getting a lot of hits for people looking for saint costume ideas. I posted a list of ideas year ago. I love how cute Bella and Andrew look so young! If you don’t want to reminisce, skip to the next take.
We bought Bella a Dorothy of Oz costume on Halloween and we changed it up to make a saint costume.

The following year Andrew was a cowboy for Halloween.

There is a church 40 minutes north of us that holds an elaborate All Saint’s Day party every year. Looking at the dates on these photos, we haven’t attended that party in four years. I just looked them up online and saw that they are doing it again this year but it’s tomorrow and Brian is working late. I think we may have to plan our own party at home instead.
Oh, and the amazing blog Catholic Icing also has a great list of saint costume ideas for boys and for girls. The photos are priceless!

My time is up so here is one last photo.

Have a great weekend!
PS – I forgot, a big thanks to all of you who LIKED the new RoL Facebook page. (Especially you, Beth Anne, for being the first!) I only need two more likes and I am “official”. 🙂