I feel like it has been forever since last posting. Life has been busy. Here is a quick Online Daybook to catch you up. 🙂

~ 1 ~

Grateful for…

• Having a school for my kids that I trust.
• More time to myself to get things done.
• Support of friends.
• The love of my family.
• A visit from my parents last week.
• A phone call from my mom this morning.
• Running water. (Ours was out on Saturday.)

Praying for..

• The intentions of many friends.
• Those who have lost loved ones.
• Immigrants and victims of war.
• Victims of abuse and domestic violence.
• The conversion of hearts back to God.
• An end to the fires burning in CA (especially the local fire here) and WA.
• People to disagree respectfully without feeling the need to tear others down with hurtful words and actions.
• All pregnant moms, those trying to get pregnant, those who have lost their babies and for moms contemplating an abortion.
• The souls in purgatory, especially family, friend and those most forgotten.

Pondering…

I’m thinking about miscarriages. It seems like lately so many of my friends are suffering the loss of a child, whether early on or well into their pregnancies. For those who are new here, Brian and I were married in ’99 and it took a year to conceive our daughter Bella in 2001. In the years following we dealt with secondary infertility and the two times I was able to get pregnant, we lost both babies. Even though we lost them early, it hit me hard. Harder than anything else I had experienced prior. We prayed and felt our babies were boys so we named them Victor (my husband’s middle name) and Joseph (my husband’s patron saint.)

~ 2 ~

Around the House…

The house is much more picked up these days since we have set times in the day when the kids have to do a 5-minute clean up of the key messy areas of the house. There will always be the stray legos to plague my feet and the endless plastic superheroes lurking in the corners but it is much better than it was before. Baby steps, my friends. Baby steps.

Family Chit Chat…

It has been an eventful week! Last week my parents came up for a visit just in time for Grandparents Day at the kids’ school. They were so excited to recite their poems, sing their songs, dance their moves and show off their work. I’m not a huge fan of school performances in general but it was nice to see my parents just as excited as the kids to share it with them. Of course, I relished having time with my family. We are close and it sometimes hurts to be separated from them after living so many years under one crazy and loud roof. But luckily 400 miles is no more than a 7 hour drive (with bathroom breaks.)

Well, not to get too spoiled, this weekend we were given the opportunity to really appreciate things we take for granted – like running water! A city water main broke and we were without water for a day. It may not seem like long but the logistics of 6 people in a house without a flushing toilet can get rough. Note to self – Fill up some empty gallon bottles with tap water for flushing emergencies! Thankfully this morning we are all showered and have properly flushed.

~ 3 ~

In the Kitchen…

I’m going back to trying one new recipe each week in hopes to build up our sometimes boring meal rotation. This week I made chicken quesadillas (a no-brainer) with a salad that had Creamy Lime Dressing.

~ 4 ~

Watching…

(At the Movies)

I haven’t been to the movies in awhile but Brian said I should take the night off and go see something. Well, you don’t have t twist my arm…so I am thinking Mission Impossible or The Visit. Any thoughts?

(On Youtube)

Have you ever given your kids your phone so they can make a movie on it? Then as they show it to you, you think that it is absurd yet kinda funny and you love it anyway because of who made it. That’s what I felt about these Downton Abbey and Star Wars mashups. (I know, right!?) The second one is worth watching just to catch all the Downton Abbey character cameos. Hilarious. (Thanks to Emmy for the heads up.)

Listening to …

I recently found the band Silversun Pickups. I love their older music and look forward to their upcoming release Better Nature (9/25) that includes this song – Circadian Rhythm (Last Dance).

Reading…

These are on my nightstand now.

I’m embarrassed to admit that these are still sitting on my nightstand getting lonely since I read before bedtime and average about 1/2 a page before knocking out.

I’m also trying to finish all the half read books on my night stand, which includes Jennifer Fulwilers book Something Other Than God.

~ 5 ~

Here are my posts since the last Daybook. (It’s been a slow month.)

• Pinterest Party & Link-up (vol 39): Holy Spirit Prayer {Free} Printable & Bookmarker – The link-up is open until September 30th.
• September 2015 Goals (& A Review of My Summer Goals)
• My Favorite Songs of Summer 2015

~ 6 ~

In the blogosphere…

I haven’t had time to read many of my favorite blogs but there has been a lot of talk lately about a certain blog and forum where people “hate read” blogs and then bash them. There are numerous categories, including “annoying Catholics.” Some of my friends and fellow bloggers were listed and ridiculed.  I spent about 20 minutes on the site and had more than my fill.

I usually always try to see both sides of a story and while I understand why people may not like certain bloggers, how they write, what they believe or how they live their lives, what I don’t understand is this obsessive need to live out the “mean girl” attitude and spewing out hateful words with so much anger. If you don’t like it, don’t read it. Life is too damn short to waste your hours on that kind of negativity.

And it’s not just on this website but you see this nastiness all over – online and in real life, and from both sides. (I get just as sick to hear Christians bashing “non-believers” and spewing their own brand of hatred.) Instead of disagreeing and making a logical point, people feel the need to use snark and hateful words to tear a person down.

I know we don’t live in a big Kumbaya world and our beliefs will make us targets for those that hate the Church, but for my part, I am all for a sisterhood of building each other up rather than tearing each other down. We don’t have to agree with one another but I hope that I will always be respectful of you and vice versa.

This blog is too small and insignificant to affect anyone outside of my family and circle of friends but if you are reading this and you hate this blog, it’s content, me, my family, my beliefs and you don’t want to agree to disagree, then I’m truly sorry…but don’t let me waste anymore of your time. Just click the little X or the little red button at the top corner and I won’t bother you anymore.

~ 7 ~

The latest on Instagram (since my mom’s not on there and she wants to see.) 😉

1 – I woke up to smoke in the air from a fire in a nearby town. Offering prayers for our firefighters and the victims of all the CA (and elsewhere) fires.

2 – #projectblessed – Perfect. It’s a perfect day for a lunch date with my honey.

3 – #projectblessed -colors. I originally was going to just print a copy of the Holy Spirit prayer but then I started playing with colors, fonts and clip art and made this printable instead.

4 – #projectblessed – Dark. Thank God I am feeling much better now and was able to go to Target for some medicine (and Force Friday.) Matthew and I took a quick photo with Chewie. Our family will always be fighting the dark side.

5 – #projectblessed -Blue. Yesterday I was feeling blue because I had no energy to do my chores, let alone read, go online or work on my traveler’s notebook. I just wanted to sleep. I hate being sick.

6 – While Matthew was at school I showered, washed my hair and wore it down to pick him up at noon. After getting him he does a double take and says, “What the heck is going on with your hair?” Hahaha! I guess he’s only used to me wearing it up.

7 – WIDN – Tagged by @ordinarylovely and @betweenthebobseins. I have the next hour completely to myself so I want to put some of my bday gifts to use. Should I write a letter to a friend, paint my nails, pretty my planner or go to Target and then lunch. Decisions, decisions!!

8 – Tagged by @callherhappy for WIDN. I’m making fajitas, guacamole and salsa to eat with the yummiest chips! They are new at our Whole Foods. They are from a local company, non-GMO, and delicioso!

9 – The photo came out a little dark but here’s a bottle of Cholula on my kitchen window sill. I don’t use it but it reminds me of my dad and 5 brothers. (The flowers remind me of my mom and sisters.)

So that’s what I’ve been up to lately! What about you? What’s currently happening in your life? Do share.

Have a great week!

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