Revolution of Love

Revolution of Love

Do small things with great love.

7 Quick Takes (7/27/13): Busy Days, 90’s Music & Beauty Despite Disability

I’m linking up with Jen for today’s 7 Quick Takes.

~ 1 ~

It seems like awhile since I have done a Quick Takes. That’s usually because by the time Friday comes around I am so fried from the week that the thought of blogging loses its appeal. But the big kids are at school, the little kids are sitting quietly (I know, shocker) eating a banana and watching Pingu. (Yeah, I don’t get the appeal of that show but for this particular moment, silence is golden.) I just sat down to eat my breakfast burrito. (Did you notice, sis? I used the proper terminology and not the ridiculous word “wrap.” Does that only bug us? Maybe it’s a Mexican thing. But I digress…) Since I am sitting at the computer eating my breakfast anyway, let’s see what I can type with one hand while I eat with the other. Ready…go.

~ 2 ~

“Bang, bang on the door, baby…” I’m listening to my 90’s playlist as I am typing. Can you guess which song/band is playing now??

Source

September is always a busy month for us but this week it hits its peak. We had our carpets cleaned yesterday and ohmygoodness, that was the best chunk of change we’ve spent all year. We have four kids and light colored carpet. I believe it was my mother-in-law that chose the color (we are living in the home of Brian’s grandmother who has since passed away.) If you saw my MIL, you’d know why she picked that carpet. She looks JUST LIKE Eva Gabor on Green Acres. The last time we took a trip to Lake Tahoe together she wore white, head to toe. Five hours later she came out of the car perfectly coiffed and spotless. I can out of the car with bed head and a big ketchup stain on my chest from the happy meal fries I snagged from Matthew. Enough said. So yeah, this light carpet is lovely for a childless couple but it is not exactly the best for a family of six.

Anyway, the guy from My Pro Dry (if you are on the Monterey Peninsula, give them your business. They rock!) must have drawn the short straw. I am sure our customer case file says “bio hazard equipment optional” written somewhere. He made our disgusting looking carpets sparkle again. As I looked at the clean, empty room I was tempted to lock the kids out of the house so I could have just one day of my house looking like it could be on “Better Homes and Garden” instead of a repeat of “Hoarders: Buried Alive.”ย  Oh well. Now that everything is dry, I have to move all the furniture and junk that is piled up in the corners back where it belongs. Fun stuff, people.

~ 3 ~

Name that band – “It’s the end of the world as we know it…”

Speaking of messy, last week Nicki over at A Catholic Heart for Home continued her Not Alone Series with her Favorite Mom Blogs. And guess what? My sis and I were both mentioned. My sister’s mentioned accomplishment were having 5 kids under 5, homeschooling and making things from scratch. (I know, right!) She rocks. My accomplishment? That I am so messy that I make Nicki not feel so bad about her own domestic struggles…or something to that effect. If I wasn’t in such a good mood I could get all “Marsha, Marsha, Marsha” about my sis, but I won’t. Seriously, thanks for the mention, Nicki. I am glad to hear that you are enjoying the blog, messiness and all. xoxo ๐Ÿ˜‰

~ 4 ~

Name that band – “Come as you are, as you were, As I want you to be As a friend, as a friend, as an old enemy. Take your time, hurry up The choice is yours, don’t be late. Take a rest, as a friend, as an old memoria. Memoria…”

[Pretend there is a topic related photo here.]

This weekend we also have Bella’s birthday party with her friends, Bella’s family party at the inlaws and our school Fiesta that all families are required to work. I am avoiding all this madness by typing and spilling salsa on my shirt. Dang it! “You should wear white more often,” said no one ever. Forget the one hand typing. I need both so I can finish this before my timer runs out. Hit the snooze! I need 5 more minutes!

~ 5 ~

Name that band – “Sorry I’m not home right now, I’m walking into spiderwebs. So leave a message and I’ll call you back. A likely story, but (Yeah) leave a message. And I’ll call you back” (Aw, remember the old days before we had caller ID.) ;-)

I wanted to join Suscipio in their 3-2-1 Fantastically Fun Friday Link-up without the link-up! Whether you are a blogger or a non-blogger, just answer the 3 questions in their comment box. This week Jen is going to the state fair so her prompts are fair related. Here is my contribution:

3 Things I’m Thankful For
~ I may jokingly complain but for the four sweet kiddos who make our carpets so dirty.
~ For twelve years of blessed life with my sweet Bella Bambina.
~ For date nights that land in Phase 3. Woohoo. (Ignore that, mom. I know you don’t like when I mention such things in “public.”) ๐Ÿ˜‰

2 Foods at the Fair I Love to Eat
~ A corn dog OR
~ A BBQ pulled pork sandwich.

1 Ride at the Fair I Am TERRIFIED of
~ I’ll go on a roller coaster but anything with a clown...Scary.

 

~ 6 ~

Name that song/band -“Teachers, Keep on teachin’ Preachers, Keep on preachin’, World, keep on turnin’, ‘Cause it won’t be too long. Oh, no Lovers, Keep on lovin’ While believers Keep on believin’. Sleepers, Just stop sleepin, Cause it won’t be too long. Oh, no!” (I dare you to hear that song and not dance around.) ๐Ÿ˜‰

Matty in the waiting room.

For those who didn’t already read the news on my Facebook page or Instagram, we took Matthew to Stanford Hospital last Friday so a specialist could take a look at his legs. Basically, Matthew’s leg bone is facing the wrong direction. In old days, they would have put him in a brace but, thankfully, they don’t do that anymore. Instead we have some simple home therapy we have to do with his legs and as he grows taller, 99% of the time, the leg bone will rotate into the correct position.ย  Praise, God.

Thanks for all your prayers and encouraging words. Please just say a prayer that he continues to heal. And let’s not forget all the kids who are suffering various ailments. As we sat in the waiting room we felt incredibly blessed that Matthew’s problem wasn’t more serious. There were so many little broken bodies, it brought tears to my eyes. There was one little guy sitting in his wheel chair hardly able to move. He was holding a Dora sticker in his hand and dropped it. He moaned for his grandma to pick it up but she didn’t look so hot herself. I don’t think she understood what he wanted. I walked over and picked up his sticker and gave it back to him. He lovingly caressed it as if it was a precious prize. Then he smiled at me and his face lit up. I smiled back and sat down.

I looked at another girl in a wheel chair and she smiled too. She had a lovely smile that was reflected in her eyes. I looked around the room and for a brief moment I didn’t see the disabilities and the limitations, I just saw kids who were happy and playful in situations that would have broken me. They were beautiful. So for those sweet kids carrying incredible crosses, let’s say a prayer for them and their families and take a moment to be thankful for our own blessings.

~ 7 ~

With perfect timing, the song โ€œThatโ€™s the Impression That I Getโ€ from the Mighty, Mighty Bosstones just came on. It’s so good I need to add the video. (Never have white socks with a dark suit looked so good.)

Have a great weekend! xoxo

Oh, and don’t forget to enter the contest to win a free copy of Small Steps for Catholic Moms OR A Book of Saints for Catholic Moms here. All you have to do is tell me which you prefer. (And you get an extra entry if you like(d) RoL on facebook.) ๐Ÿ™‚

 

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 or Instagram. ๐Ÿ˜‰


7 Quick Takes (9/6/13): Prayer, Discipline and Foyle’s War

I’m linking up with Jen today for 7 Quick Takes. ๐Ÿ™‚

~ 1 ~

 

Pray for Peace – You’ve most likely seen these already but in case you haven’t, I’m posting it here. The Holy Father has called for a day of prayer and fasting for peace in Syria. It is on Saturday, September 7. I think I will fast from my phone/computer/camera. Hopefully I can make it 24 hours. ๐Ÿ˜‰ But seriously, whatever level you can do, we should all be joining in!

 

~ 2 ~

Prayer Request – Speaking of prayer, please say a prayer for my little guy Matthew. He has an issue with his legs – he is pigeon toed and has relatively severe bow legs. His tibula bone (particularly on his left leg is facing outward instead of forward. Usually in time, it will rotate but he is going to be 2 1/2 and it is still pretty bad. So now we need to take him to a pediatric orthopedic up in Stanford (about 2 hours north of us) to get an evaluation done. We are hoping he will not need surgery. So an extra prayer for my little guy is much appreciated!!

 

~ 3 ~

Quiet time – Speaking of Matthew, with Bella and Andrew back in school and John-Paul going three days out of the week for a few hours, Matthew and I have more time alone together. After dropping JP off at preschool we’ll often go make a visit to the Chapel. It’s good for him and definitely good for me. Sometimes I get so busy with day to day living I forget to just stop, quiet myself and be in the presence of Our Lord. Amazingly, Matthew is quiet and just sits/kneels with me patiently. Quite the opposite of how he acts with his brothers at Sunday Mass!

 

~~ 4 ~~

Slackers Unite – Along with spending a little more time in quiet before God, I could also use a reboot in the discipline department. That is why I was intrigued when I read Jen’s post about doing an online book discussion of the e-bookย  21 Days to a More Disciplined Life. I clicked over and read the intro of the book, not expecting much. Then I read this section:

Who is this book for?

  • You have trouble following through.
  • You get overwhelmed by huge projects.
  • You start strong, but your passion fizzles out.
  • You are super-disciplined in a few areas of your life, but you have one or two pet areas that you just canโ€™t get under control.
  • You check out 10 different books on discipline and organization from the library, but return all of them late.

The last one had me laughing out loud. Yeah, that is so me. This summer I was in super slacker mode and as I mentioned on Monday, September 1st is my Jan 1. My drive to improve my problem areas is strongest right now. I pulled out my planner and got back into using it (cuz if I don’t write it down, I don’t remember it!) and I am ready to work on a little discipline that doesn’t burn out in a day or two. I downloaded the e-book and will be joining in the discussion. If you are interested, join us!

 

~ 5 ~

Bday Wishes – Bella’s birthday is coming at the end of the month. She is going to be 12! She loves the music from the Broadway musical “Newsies” so I thought I would give her a Newsies themed party. The poster is my base. Colors could be black, white and red. Any other suggestions??

 

~ 6 ~

Foyle’s War – Are you a Foyle’s War fan? Brian and I have been watching Foyle’s War of PBS for years and were ecstatic when the show was coming out of retirement and picking up where it left off. Season 7 starts on Sunday, Sept 15 on PBS’s Masterpiece Mystery. If you’ve never watched it before and like period dramas or mysteries, you should check it out on Netflix.

 

~ 7 ~

Okay, it is an hour past my bed time (and you wonder why I need a book on discipline) and I can barely keep my eyes open so I better stop here. Have a great Friday!

UPDATE: At midnight last night I could not remember what the #7 Take was supposed to be. Now in the light of morning, I remember!

I wanted to join Suscipio in their 3-2-1 Fantastically Fun Friday Link-up without the link-up! Whether you are a blogger or a non-blogger, just answer the 3 questions in their comment box. This week Angela is hosting.ย  Here is my contribution:

3 Things I’m Thankful For
~ When my little guy hugs me from behind and says, “I wub you, mama.” Swoon.
~ For the upcoming weekend and having everyone home.
~ For packages in the mail with sweet surprises.

2 Things in My Purse That Don’t Need to Be There
~ A 1/2 of string cheese that’s hard as a rock
~ A roll of scotch tape. (My 4 year old would disagree. He is always accidentally tearing a page in one of the books he’s always carrying around. He likes me to fix it immediately, not when we get home. ๐Ÿ˜‰

1 Thing I Love, Love, Love to Eat
~ It’s a tie between a BBQ Turkey Burger or Taco Salad. Yum.

Thanks for hosting, Angela!

Okay, now you can have a great weekend. ๐Ÿ˜‰

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 or Instagram. ๐Ÿ˜‰


7 Quick Takes (8/23/13): Mary, Reading & Traveling

I’m linking up with Jen today for 7 Quick Takes and because I am so on the ball today, I am linker #138. Out of the 200’s, baby!ย  ๐Ÿ˜‰

~ 1 ~

My friend Maria sent me this article last week and I forgot I wanted to post it.

Pope to Consecrate World to Mary’s Immaculate Heart

Vatican City, Aug 14, 2013 / 12:03 am (CNA).- Pope Francis will consecrate the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary this Oct. 13 as part of the Marian Day celebration that will involve the statue of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima.

โ€œThe Holy Father strongly desires that the Marian Day may have present, as a special sign, one of the most significant Marian icons for Christians throughout the world and, for that reason, we thought of the beloved original Statue of Our Lady of Fatima,โ€ wrote Archbishop Rino Fisichella.

Continue reading…

 

~ 2 ~

Here are some posts you may enjoy…

Speaking of consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Annabelle has a great post – Blog Enthronement and Consecration to the Two Hearts.

Then her blog lead me to a great post by Sue – Confessions of a Former Hot-Tempered Mother.

I read this post from Rhonda, bookmarked it, printed it out and reference it when I start being ornery (as Brian calls it.)ย  It’s stuff I already know but too often need a reminder. – R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Eleven Tips for Spicing Up Your Marriage

Then when you are done keeping things nice and lovely with your spouse you can visit my sis and get some tips for having Kids at Mass.

Lastly, speaking of kids, if you have a blog with kid photos, make sure to read Kierste’s post – {do you have a family blog? tips to safeguard your familyโ€™s online photo safety}.

 

~ 3 ~

Photo Source: ยฉ http://10kmiles.com/

Okay, was that too much self-help reading? Then sit back and enjoy a treat. A friend of theย  family has taken on an amazing adventure! Basically, he quit his job and is traveling across the United States exploring and taking photos. This is what he says:

I was working a great job for a private school in Silicon Valley, but I just wasnโ€™t happy. I have a work to live mentality and Silicon Valley has very much a โ€œlive to workโ€ mentality. So I decided that instead, I just want to live and experience life!

I had this tugging in my gut for months to just drop everything and hit the road. The opportunity finally provided itself and I gave notice at my job. In August 2013 I will be hitting the road on a 10,000 mile journey throughout the US. Iโ€™ll be taking photos (which I would love for you to purchase to help me eat on this journey) and looking for hidden gems.

K.C. is blogging about his journey here – http://10kmiles.com and he’s on Facebook here.ย  It has been exciting and moving to read. The traveler in me makes me want to go on a road trip, although the mother in me worries about his safety! LOL. And the woefully amateur photographer in me is in love with his photos. So gorgeous. Go check it out!

 

~ 4 ~

For your random bit of humor… Have you ever wondered what celebs would look like if they were normal schmucks like us? NYC artist Danny Evans used photoshop to give us peek at what could have been. Frankly, I could not stop laughing. My long ago teen idol Johnny Depp went from dream to nightmare but it is interesting that they only way he could make David Beckham look bad was to change him into a businessman. LOL.

 

~ 5 ~

Attention back seat shoppers, if you read my 5 Favorites post on Wednesday, you already know that I am looking for a sleeve to carry my Macbook Air. I have narrowed it down to two from Etsy.

I like the bright colors and design of this one and the fact that it zips all the way around and has sturdier protection.

On the other hand I also really like the color and design of this one, especially the zippered section in the front. However, the main compartment does not zipper and has a button opening instead.

Help an undecided girl out, which do you think would be better?

 

ย ~ 6 ~

 

Jen over at Suscipio is hosting the 3-2-1 Fantastically Fun Friday link-up without the link-up! “Huh?” you may say. Instead of linking your blog you simply answer her 3 questions in the comment box so bloggers and non-bloggers can participate and so it does not interfere with your already scheduled link-ups (Like Jen F’s 7QT.) So here is my contribution:

3 Things I’m Grateful For:

  • Brian finally got his scheduled changed so he no longer has to work the late shift (coming home at 7:30) and he has his weekends off now. Happy dance. (To the glee and embarrassment of my children.)
  • For a great (even if it was incredibly fast) summer that officially ends on Monday when the last of the kiddos are back in school. Then Matthew and I will be solo at home a few hours of the day. Now if only I could teach him to throw the dirty laundry in the washer instead of the toilet, we’d be golden. ๐Ÿ˜‰
  • I’m thankful for another year of this crazy but incredibly blessed life.

2 Places I Would Love to Visit

  • I’d love to take another cross country trip but this time with my hubby and kids. (See what you started, KC.)
  • Either back to Rome with the kids (Brian and I went for our first anniversary) or to Austria, where my mother-in-law is from and the pictures I’ve seen are gorgeous or actually the whole UK… (Did I mention I have a hard time of narrowing things down?)

1 Place I Love to Go

  • There are so many spots of gorgeous nature here along the coast that I love but I still can’t resist slipping away every once in awhile and going to sit inside the movie theater to be swept away in a good story. (In fact, if you texted me last night and I didn’t answer, it was because my phone was on Cinemode. ;-))

 

~ 7 ~

I know I almost never miss Cari’s Theme Thursday photography challenge but since the topic was Food and I just posted a recipe with strawberries…

and I just posted a recipe with blueberries

that I thought I’d skip this week and join next week’s theme “Shadow” instead.

Have a great weekend!

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 or Instagram. ๐Ÿ˜‰


7 Quick Takes (8/3/13): OJ Baths, Penpals & Catholic Posts

~ 1 ~

I’m linking up with Jen for this week’s Saturday Morning Quick Takes. I wasn’t going to write a Quick Takes this week but I could use 30 minutes of destressing time so I’ll set the timer and punch out some really quick Quick Takes. Ready, Steady, Go!

~ 2 ~

I can tell it is going to be one of those mornings. I opened up a new orange juice and just as I was about to serve it I had to stop and help Matthew with something. Later I went back to the orange juice and without thinking gave the container a good shake…with the cap off. Yeah, so I had a nice orange juice bath and the counter top and everything on it got a lovely OJ spray. Everything else just went downhill from there.

~ 3 ~

It’s funny but as I was going through a particularly difficult moment yesterday, you know when you are feeling like you going to lose your mommy mind, and I thought about an email I just wrote to another mom and sharing how all these little mommy crosses we have to carry is the road to our sanctification. As I was stomping around the house mad at something I kept repeating to myself, “This is my road to sanctification, this is my road to sanctification…” Funny that it is a lot easier to offer this advice to someone else rather than to actually live it yourself! Luckily my harried moment ended and all was good again. ๐Ÿ˜‰

~ 4 ~

I was reading a post from Call Her Happy which led me to the blog The Big White Farmhouse. Ashely of BWF has this cool blog with a homey feel that makes you want to be a better homemaker. She is also a lover of old school mail and has set up the Pen Pal Cirlces where participants are grouped together with 3 other moms and you exchange letters with each other. Real letters – stationary, stamps, an envelope in the mailbox that is not a bill or junk mail. Swoon! I signed up and if you are interested go over and sign up too! The form will be online until Aug 4. After that you can just email Ashely directly and join. ๐Ÿ™‚ย  Fun!

~ 5 ~

I was looking at my calendar and it said that it is now August. Is that possible?? The kids will be back in school in a couple weeks and this month I will turn another year older. Ugh. (Let’s not think about that. The OJ bath was enough fun for one day.) Well, a new month means the Holy Father has new prayer intentions for us to focus on during August.

GENERAL INTENTION: That parents and teachers may help the new generation to grow in upright conscience and life.

MISSION INTENTION: That the local Church in Africa, faithfully proclaiming the Gospel, may promote peace and justice.

~6~

Today is also the First Saturday of the month so it is time for Convert Journal’s New Evangelist Monthly.

This is an informal, dynamic, crowd-sourced โ€œmeta-magazineโ€ showcasing the best posts faithful Catholic bloggers publish each month. Here you will find many different, but faithfully Catholic viewpoints, insights and perspectives.

You can link up your favorite post of last month. It can be about the faith, family life, motherhood, whatever. The main thing is for it to be from a Catholic perspective. This month I linked my conversion story My Journey to God. If you are a Catholic blogger, add your best/favorite post too! ๐Ÿ™‚

~ 7 ~

Okay, my time is up so I better say good bye. Have a great weekend. I’ll leave you with a recent photo I took. (The photo challenge theme was “wildlife.” I think a bee could be considered wild. ;-))

 

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 or Instagram. ๐Ÿ˜‰


7 Quick Takes (7/26/13): Patron Saints, Catholic Fiction & The Walking Dead

~ 1 ~

This is Day 5 of Jen’s 7 Posts in 7 Days Challenge. I am also linking to her weekly 7 Quick Takes. ๐Ÿ™‚

~ 2 ~

Happy feast of St. Anne and St. Joachim! St. Anne is my patron saint and my name sake (Bobbi-Ann) so this day has always been a special feast day for me, especially when I was single. St. Anne and Blessed Anne Maria Taigi were the two I asked to intercede for me in finding a holy husband. They did an excellent job. ๐Ÿ˜‰

~ 3 ~

Speaking of St. Anne finding me a man, Grace shared her how-we-met story and put a link-up for people to share their stories as well. My sister posted hers and it is so sweet. E & V are a perfect match! I feel like I have told my how-we-met story so many times that I am like this…

and you’re like this…

But on the off chance that you haven’t read it yet, here’s the link. ๐Ÿ˜‰

~ 4 ~

Brian was telling me about a website that he loves – Catholic Fiction.net. It is a great source for finding out about Catholic novels and since he reads all the time, he is always going through various Catholic fiction books. If only I could get him to do some reviews! Anyway, I was excited to see one of the books I am reading right now featured on there. It is Mysterious Albion (Vatican Vampire Hunters.) So far I am loving it. If I get it done in time I’ll review it for next week’s “What We’re Reading Wednesday” hosted by Jessica.

~ 5 ~

I’ve added Comment Luv to the blog so if you are a blogger and you leave a comment please add your blog link. When you do your latest blog post link will show up under your name. That way I (and others) can visit your blog as well. I especially love to visit the blogs of new visitors. ๐Ÿ™‚ Once you’ve typed in your link the first time, it should automatically come up when you visit again.

~ 6 ~

I don’t watch Brittan’s Got Talent but a friend had this clip on her Facebook page and I watched it. Ohmygoodness, it actually brought tears to my eyes. So beautiful! It is worth the watch.

 

ย ~ 7~

Here are two other videos if you are a Walking Dead fan. I binged all week and finally finished season 3 so I’ve got zombies on the brain. The first is the hilarious Walking Dead Bad Lip Reading Video. (Note – Only watch this is you are already a WD fan. Otherwise, skip it.) La-Bibbida-Bibba-Dum ๐Ÿ˜‰

The second is calledย  Zombie Story: A Mind Blowing Comparison of Toy Story and the Walking Dead. Pretty funny… and coincidental?

Have a great Friday! Thanks to Jen for hosting! ๐Ÿ™‚

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 or Instagram (bobbi_rol). ๐Ÿ˜‰