Saturday Night 7 Quick Takes, {pretty, happy, funny, real} & Answer Me This

By bobbi
June 1, 2014
4 Comments

~ 1 ~

I spent all week finishing up my You’re A Good Mom post and never got to finish my link-up posts. So today you get a trio post with Jen’s 7 Quick Takes, LMLD’s {pretty, happy, funny, real} and Kendra’s Answer Me This.

~ 2~
{pretty}

The view from our deck.

~ 3~

{happy}

On Monday Brian and I went on a lunch date before he started Round 4 of chemo on Tuesday. We had lunch then walked around downtown Carmel.

I was super happy to go out with my sweetheart. 🙂

~ 4 ~
{funny}

Our hallway doubles as a parking garage.

I was in the other room and heard, “You can do it, Spidey!” 🙂

~ 5 ~
{real}

The other day it was really windy outside and the boys wanted to make paper airplanes to see if they’d fly. However, John-Paul insisted that we fly kites, even though we don’t have any. I compromised. We made the airplanes and got out the Tinker Toys to create make-shift airplane kites. They had a blast. 🙂

~ 6 ~
Now Answer Me This hosted by Kendra at Catholic All Year.

1. Do you have a smart phone?

I have an iPhone and it literally goes with me everywhere and holds so much of my stuff, it’s crazy. I have the older 4S and plan to update it but I am waiting for the new iPhone 6 coming out in September. I remember that I bought my current iPhone in August of 2011 as an early birthday gift. I wanted to have it before I went into go into labor with John-Paul. I loved that I was able to post to post to Facebook and tweet labor updates as I was waking up and down the halls waiting for the contractions to get stronger. Here is one of the first photos taken with my phone.

2. Which is your favorite meal of the day?

Probably dinner since that is the meal in which we are all able to sit down together and eat. Lunch is usually something quick while I am running around picking up kids from pre-school. I am not a huge “breakfast food” fan. In fact this morning for breakfast I had a bowl on lentil soup. 😉

3. Shower or bath?

Definitely shower. I don’t have time to bathe and even if I did I am not brave enough to sit in our tub (where I shower the boys.) Scary.

4. Think of a person you love. How many days have you been in love with that person? (Don’t worry, this site will do the math for you. And, hey, now you can order this card!)

I can’t tell you the exact date I fell in love with Brian but I know I fell in love with him before I met him in person, so I will start it on the date I read his online profile and sent him an email. Have you heard this story? It is such a God-coincidence. In a nutshell – Brian was in the seminary for 1 and 1/2 years but discerned it wasn’t his vocation. Someone recommended that he try to find a good Catholic girl on Ave Maria Singles.com. He came home, joined and started a novena to find the woman God meant to be his wife. On the last day of the novena he went to the chapel at the Carmel Mission, finished his novena prayers and told God that if he was meant to be married then God would just have to bring his future wife right to his doorstep. Later that night, God delivered his future wife on the doorstep of his computer. I also joined Ave Maria and sent my first email to him on the 9th day of the novena. A year later we were married at the Mission. 🙂 So I have been in love with Brian for 5,683 days. 🙂

5. What’s the best church you’ve ever been inside?

St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Breathtaking.

6. Happy Feast of the Visitation (on Saturday!) Has anyone ever come to help YOU?

Me, Bella and my sisters Jacinta and Bridgette.

My family is always there when I need their help, even though we live 400 miles apart. (I am in Central CA and they are in So Cal.) My mom and my sisters were especially there when I needed them most – during baby births and while Brian was sick in the hospital. Even when it is not emergency, anytime they come they always help me out. It’s not often that my entire family gets up here (I’m the oldest of 9) but I get the most visits from my parents and two of my three sisters. Elena is the only family member not living in California. I told her when Matthew turns 5 (in 2 years!) then we’d try to come to VA to visit them. 🙂

~ 7 ~

It is late so I must say good night. Have a blessed Sunday! 🙂

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, GoodReads, Letterboxd or Instagram (It’s set to private but I’ll approve you.) 😉

PPS – This post may contain affiliate links.

Pinterest Party & Link-up (Vol 23) and Operation Clean & Organize (vol 19): Weekly Menu Board (Revised)

By bobbi
May 27, 2014
2 Comments

It’s a two for one post today. I still get a number of hits for the post I wrote three years ago – Operation Clean & Organize: Vol 2 – Weekly Menu Board but I have since updated my menu board so I thought I’d update the post as well.

* * * * *

Welcome to the RoL Pinterest Party. Join me every 2nd and 4th Tuesday as we link up and share how we made, cooked, baked, crafted, planned, organized, followed or created one of the pins on our Pinterest boards OR share something original that others can pin onto their boards. (New and old posts welcome.)

AND

Taming the procrastinating, ADD, mess cat within me.

* * * * *

Back in August of 2011, I was looking for a weekly menu board to use in our kitchen. Thanks to Pinterest I finally found this one.

source

I liked it but it was too big and I wanted it to be weekly not a monthly menu so I decided to make my own smaller magnetic weekly menu. I spent a total of about $20 for a Board Dudes magnetic board the right size to fit on my fridge, a pack of Avery Printable Magnetic Sheets, and “Days of the Week” magnets that I found at Target in the Back to School seasonal section. (You can find similar products at Amazon – Board Dudes Magnetic Board, Board Dudes Days of the Week Magnets and Avery Magnet Sheets.)

Next I sat down and made a master list of all the meals, side dishes and veggies I normally cook. In a Word document I made four columns of labels and typed up the list of foods. I color coded the labels: main dish – blue, sides – orange, veggies – green, appointments – purple, and school lunches – red. I made sure to have a number of blank labels to fill in later as I tried new recipes. Next, I printed and cut out the labels. Lastly, I arranged the meals on my board along with a shrunken down copy of Bella’s school lunch menu.

Here’s what it looked like then.

It looked great and worked well for awhile but fast forward three years (and two more kids) later. I still have the same magnetic board BUT the whole magnetic food items were just too time consuming. First, we changed our diet and I had to update or delete old meals. Plus, I was often trying new recipes, which meant I had to make a new label each time. The whole thing was fun while it lasted but not realistic.

I finally got rid of the food labels and just wrote straight on the board with a dry erase marker.

Now it works perfectly. I still have my shopping list next to the board and I still keep a shrunken version of the kids’ school hot lunch menu there and make note of evenings when we have something planned. If there is a last minute change in the menu I can change it with a quick swish of my finger. (And write in “Chipotles burrito bowls.”) 😉

It may not be as pin-worthy as my previous version and perhaps when all the kids are in school and I have more free time I can go back to using the labels but for now, it’s not realistic. Plain and simple yet functional will have to do. 😉

* * * * *

Now it’s your turn.

1. Choose your creation, share about it and snap a photo if you can.

2. In your post, link back the original blogger/idea, rather than your Pinterest pin. That way credit goes to the proper person. 🙂 (But feel free to add your Pinterest profile link so we can follow you!)

3. Add a link back here so others can play along.

4. If you want to use it, here is the html code for the logo:

5. Link up below. Make sure you’re sending us to your actual post, and not to your general blog address.

Lastly, you can follow me on Pinterest here: http://pinterest.com/rol_bobbi/. 🙂

The link up will be active for 10 days. Have fun!

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, GoodReads, Letterboxd or Instagram. (It’s set to private but I’ll approve you.) 😉

PPS – This post may contain affiliate links.

An InLinkz Link-up

Answer Me This (vol 5)

By bobbi
May 25, 2014
4 Comments

I’m linking up with Kendra for Sunday’s Answer Me This. 🙂

1. Beach or Mountains? Where would you rather be?

Living along the Central Coast of California, we’ve got the beach and mountains right next to each other so to get the best of both worlds, I’d climb the mountain that looks down at the ocean. If I was forced to choose only one, I’d say beach…but the quiet beaches here not the crazy, loud ones with too many people. 😉

2. Which is more fun: Christmas Eve, or Christmas morning?

Christmas morning. On Christmas Eve we attend the children’s Christmas Eve Mass, which is nice, then we go home and have dinner. Afterwards it’s been a tradition to go to my in-laws for dessert. It’s enjoyable and stressful at the same time because the boys are used to being in bed at a certain time and when they stay up past their bedtime they get hyper and/or cranky and we just land out eating and running but it’s a family thing so what can you do? On the other hand, Christmas morning with kids is still magical. We bring out baby Jesus, give Him our cards/letters and sing Happy birthday and then enjoy the usual Christmas festivities. I’m a sucker for Christmas. 🙂

3. What’s the most embarrassing childhood outfit you remember wearing?

source

I wasn’t a child but around age 19 or 20 I bought a culotte type jumpsuit with a floral print. It was during my BC days (before Christ) so maybe I was drunk but God only knows what possessed me to buy it. (I think it was on clearance so cheap I couldn’t resist.) But can you imagine?? I mean it is borderline ridiculous on a tall, leggy blonde but on a short, chubby Mexican? OMG, it would have been a SNL skit. Thank God I never actually wore it. Regardless, two decades later and my mom still teases me about that outfit. LOL.

4. Your house is quiet, you don’t have to do work (housework included). What do you do?

Hmm…it is a toss up between blogging/writing or watching a movie or if I am in the middle of a page turner, then finishing my book. Right now it is quiet so I did all three. I finished the book I was reading. Then I started this post as I am watching The Book Thief with Brian. It is the end of the movie and I don’t feel like bawling so I am purposely ignoring Death.

5. What movie do you want to watch when you’re feeling under the weather?

Okay, this is nearly impossible to answer because we literally have 100’s of movies in our collection. Something nostalgic would work if I was under the weather. I’d either do a classic B&W like Shop around the Corner or the modern version You’ve Got Mail or else I’d go literary classic like Persuasion or Sense and Sensibility.

6. Did you have an American Girl doll when you were little? If so, which one?

source

No, I did not. I remember that my little sister (child #6) got an American Girl but the older kids had the Fisher Price “My Friend” dolls. We had all four of these. I had the first one pictured – the red headed Becky. Ah, such memories. 😉

PPS – This post may contain affiliate links.

Online Daybook (5/19/14) and Currently and Answer Me This Mash-up

By bobbi
May 19, 2014
9 Comments

Moments of Gratitude…

Today I am especially thankful for

Family time.
Quiet time with Brian.
Spring walks.
Seeing the light at the end of a huge laundry tunnel.
A tax return that paid for a new desktop computer because the old one finally bit the dust.
Little boys that are playing (relatively) quiet so I can blog. 😉

Beauty in the Ordinary…

You’ll see a lot of ice plants in these coastal areas and our backyard is in full bloom with their flowers.

In the Kitchen…

M – Turkey burgers, coleslaw and veggies

T – Pork Roast, brown rice, broccoli

W – Soup and tuna salad sandwiches (We have a school function that evening so quickie dinner.)

Th – Grilled Chicken and All Hail Kale Salad

F – Breakfast dinner

S – Leftovers

S – Dinner at Oma and Opa’s

Praying…

For Brian’s chemo and continued recovery from cancer.
For all those who are fighting cancer and other illnesses.
For my brother-in-law who left home for training before being deployed to Afghanistan.
For my sister, his newlywed bride, that she is given the strength and courage to endure the separation.
For all our military, especially those we’ve adopted.
For the military wives and family left behind.
For peace throughout the world and in the hearts of mankind.
For all those who suffer abuse or are victims of crime, especially the kidnapped Nigerian girls and particular Na’omi Bitrus, the girl I chose to keep in prayer.

On the homefront……

Today starts Brian’s off week of chemo. He is officially half way done with treatment. Yay! He starts round four on Tuesday. Since the doc adjusted his meds, this third round was not as difficult as the second. He’s hanging in there. Thanks for the continued prayers! 🙂 We had such a lovely weekend together and I made sure we spent time as a family and that Brian had time with me while the kids were at the in-laws. It’s so wonderful to see him smiling and happy.

Pondering…

My prayer life. During Lent it was going really well. I was spending time each day in meditative prayer with God and it was helping with my attitude and keeping the family in harmony. Frankly, after Easter and going on our spring vacation, it was like I also took a vacation from my prayer routine. All those lessons I was learning in the Restore workshop were falling to the wayside. I could feel the negative effect of it – it gets much harder to be at peace amidst the chaos when I am going at it alone. I need to keep on top of my prayer routine. It doesn’t take away the trials of the day but it helps greatly in keeping me focused on God so I can take care of Brian and the kids and keep a peaceful atmosphere at home.

Time in prayer with God is key but I also know that taking care of myself, having alone time to recharge and having time alone with Brian for us to reconnect is also vital. I was talking to Brian about this yesterday and told him I am going to work on getting back on track and reinstall the disciplines that were helping us. First on the agenda – a schedule change so I get some prayer time in the morning; Second – Confession for a good soul scrubbing and a boost of grace; Third – schedule a date this weekend with Brian. After all, we’re better and happier parents when we keep our love and friendship alive and growing. 🙂

Around the house…

You’ll find a new computer in our front room since our old one was hanging by a thread. Thankfully, I learned from my previous mistakes and back upped all my docs, photos and videos on an external drive so I wouldn’t lose them. As I was looking through some old folders, I found a bunch of old videos I took of the boys when they were all babies and toddlers. The boys spend almost an hour watching through them and giggling at their cuteness. Why does time have to go by so incredibly fast? Sigh.

Reading…

Same as last week.

Something Other Than God: How I Passionately Sought Happiness and Accidentally Found It.

The Little Oratory: A Beginner’s Guide to Praying in the Home

The Fault in Our Stars

Listening to…

h/t creative minority report.com

This Frozen’s Let It Go – Mom Parody. It’s hilarious.

Watching…

Mr. Selfridge Season 2, Grimm, The Middle, Hallmark’s Signed, Sealed and Delivered past seasons of Veronica Mars and Big Bang Theory. (Bazinga!) 😉

On the blog…

I’m finishing up a post with an update on my Menu Board and a post listing all the weekly link-ups available to Catholic bloggers. Sometimes it takes a link up to get us motivated to write and post on a regular basis. 😉 I’ll also continue on the Restore series.

In the blogosphere…

Yesterday I meant to link up with Kendra / Haley for Answer Me This but I never got around to it so I’ll answer the questions here instead.

1. What’s the scariest thing that’s ever been in your yard?

Hmmm… the only thing that comes to mind is when Brian and I were living in a rental when Bella was our only child. Outiode our front door there was a wasp nest and every time we got near it the wasps got angry. We had to go around the side and enter our home from the rear until we could get the landlord to take care of it.

2. Beards. Thumbs up or thumbs down?

I would say I’m thumbs up 75% of the time. There are a few faces I’ve seen that actually look better clean shaven. I grew up with my dad having a beard and a number of my 5 brothers having beards at various times so it seems natural to me. I relished when Brian came home for the hospital after his surgery in January and had a beard. He let me enjoy it for a few weeks before shaving it off.

3. If stuff breaks, can you fix it?

Depends on what it is. If someone gets a hole in their stiffed animal or loses a button, then Brian is the one to fix it. If something electrical breaks down – computer, TV, ipod, then I’m the one to get it running again. Anything requiring hammer and nails or tools is a toss up. But fixing a car? Hopeless.

4. What was your first car?

source

It looked something like this only I think the curves were a little chubbier and rounder. (Kinda like me. ;-))

My first car was a white Chevrolet Prizm. I was spending the weekend with girl friends and when my parents came to pick me up they had this new shiny, white car. I thought it was a rental. They took the money I was saving for a used smaller car and helped me with the down payment on this car instead. I was ECSTATIC. I remember that every night I would go out in the garage and sit in it and smell the new car smell for a few minutes before going to bed. LOL. I know there is a photo is of me sitting in the car on the day my parents delivered it but I can’t find it. Do you have it, mom?

5. How often do you eat out?

Nothing like we used to! There were times when we’d eat out 3 times a week. Now that we eat healthier it is more likely to be once every 2-3 weeks. Our treat it a burrito bowl at Chipotles. Yum!

6. Why is your hair like that?

Because every now and then God likes to play a mean joke. 😉

I have thick, dry, unruly, curly hair. I have been able to tame it using these products. These days, I keep it shoulder length so I can wear it down for special occasions but 99% of the time I have it up and off my neck with a scarf/bandana.

Pinned…

My timer is almost up so here is a screen shot of my latest pics. Get the links here – pinterest.com/rol_bobbi/pins/

Plans for the Week…

On Wednesday Bella is participating in her first school musical. They are doing Peter Pan Jr and she plays one of the Indians. I am not sure if we are doing anything special for Memorial Day but I’ll see if my father-in-law can babysit the kids so Brian and I can go out on a lunch date before he starts his 4th round of chemo.

Captured…

I never posted the photos from Mother’s Day so here are a few shots I captured.

John-Paul’s preschool had a Mothers’ Day tea. 🙂

John-Paul in his class.

Matthew. He starts preschool here next year. He can’t wait. 🙂

A quick snap.

All my treasured homemade gifts from the kids.

Linking-Up with…

Jenny at The Littlest Way

A Mama Collective’s Currently

Answer Me This

PPS – This post may contain affiliate links.

Pinterest Party & Link-up (Vol 24): I’m Too Stressed to Be Creative So I Went to the Movies Instead (Mom’s Night Out)

By bobbi
May 16, 2014
No Comments

* * * * *

Sorry for the delay on this week’s Pinterest Party! I have been on an unplanned blogging break. Frankly, I have been too busy to even look at Pinterest, let alone try anything new so I am afraid I don’t have any new recipe or bit of creativity to share. Things have been so go, go, go and I have been a little stressed. (I can hear Brian snicker, “A little?!) Add that to a small bout of writers block and you get the picture. No bueno. So last night Brian kicked me out of the house, literally. Lucky for me I had just enough time to catch the evening showing of the new movie Mom’s Night Out.

I was not sure what to expect. It was getting a lot of faith based promotion, and I admit that I assumed it would be on the “lower budget” end of movies, therefore not as good as something mainstream. However, this movie was able to find a balance of being a well made movie and yet it had a positive message – even using speaking about God and Jesus directly without being preachy.

source

In a nutshell, the story is about a mommy blogger (the line about her having four blog followers and she just lost one, had me giggling. ;-)) with three kids. Her view of the perfect mom doesn’t coincide with her own chaotic, messy life. She and two other mommy friends (including Patricia Heaton’s character as the preacher’s wife) decided to go on a Mom’s night out. I thought this first part of the movie was hilarious, especially the voice over, the screen shots of their text messages and the cameo of the Hulk. (I was having a Bruce Banner moment just earlier in the day.) The middle part of the movie is a little far fetched with the whole lost baby scenario but there were also parts that had me laughing my mascara off. (“Say hello to my little sippy cup.” and “He killed mama.”)

However, the conversation between Ally and Bones had me in tears because it was healing to hear that despite whatever limitations we may have, God gave our children just the mama they needed. We were chosen for them. God gives us the grace we need to be a good mom (and wife), we just need to let go of our insecurities and hang ups and instead hang onto Him so we can see the beauty in the mess. 🙂

For a full movie review check out my favorite movie loving nun – Sr. Helen Burns.

And I didn’t see this until this morning but CatholicMom.com also has a number of blog posts regarding the movie in their A Real Life Look series. There’s some great commentary on the movie and mommy life. 🙂

Speaking of CatholicMom.com, I pinned this yesterday. Today is the last day of the contest, so join the fun. (But don’t join too many times cuz I really want to win. ;-))

Anyway, this weekend, I’ll try to get a sitter so I can see the movie again with Brian. He’ll love the slap stick comedy parts.

Have you seen the movie yet? What was your favorite scene?

And for the rest of you who were more creative than I was, below is the Pinterest Party link-up. If you did a movie review of Mom’s Night Out, please link it below so I can read it. 🙂

* * * * *

Now it’s your turn.

1. Choose your creation, share about it and snap a photo if you can.

3. Add a link back here so others can play along.

4. If you want to use it, here is the html code for the logo:

5. Link up below. Make sure you’re sending us to your actual post, and not to your general blog address.

You can find me here: http://pinterest.com/rol_bobbi/. 🙂

The link up will be active for a week. Have fun!

An InLinkz Link-up

Revolution of Love

Do small things with great love.

Category Archives: weekly quizzes/questionnaires

Saturday Night 7 Quick Takes, {pretty, happy, funny, real} & Answer Me This

Pinterest Party & Link-up (Vol 23) and Operation Clean & Organize (vol 19): Weekly Menu Board (Revised)

Answer Me This (vol 5)

Online Daybook (5/19/14) and Currently and Answer Me This Mash-up

Pinterest Party & Link-up (Vol 24): I’m Too Stressed to Be Creative So I Went to the Movies Instead (Mom’s Night Out)