Author Archives: tracye1

About tracye1

A wee bit about me, Tracy. Married to my high school sweetie for a looooong time. Mama of 4 beautiful kiddos, now ADULTS!!!! This blog is a potpourri of posts. Some wax on about my Catholic faith, others family, some are just a “diary” of life updates. Life is a journey, taken one day at a time (sometimes one step at a time) and my blog is about my personal trek through life. Peace!

Everyday in May…sorta.

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My super-de-duperty creative and brilliant friend, Lea who has been blogging for several more years than I….has for several years had a theme of “Blog every day in May”. I’ve participated in the past 3 years and somehow………

it is May 9th!!!!!!!!!! WHAT?!?!?!?!?

and she called me today to remind me that NEITHER of us has begun the annual blog-fest and promptly directed me to her blog to see what she did to rectify that situation. Yep. The woman done went and CAUGHT UP!!! So now….my goal-oriented-task-driven-competitiveness has kicked in. I won’t even bother to back track. Serious talk. Too tired. BUT…..I did blog last Friday and for us, weekends are a kind of bonus, so I’ll start now. So go ‘head…”follow”, add me on Bloglovin’, follow on the Twitter…whatever you need to do and git ready! Because I’d really like to celebrate with some blackberry grits and tea with Lea after this!!

And so here’s the deali-O…if you are blogging everyday in May…leave a comment and we can check it out and spread the word. I’ll leave a little list at the bottom of this post of some other bloggers doing the same. OK, OK, just one for now…but let me know if you’re blogging every day!! If I REALLY get ambitious I’ll put a sidebar with May bloggers to make it easy…no promises, just dreams of grandeur.

It’s really just wrong we do this anyway…. I mean…it’s MAY! The busiest month of the year….truly. Even December…baby Jesus’ birthmonth isn’t as stressful as end-of-year wrap up, testing, recitals, First Communion, birthdays, Mother’s day, etc, etc, etc! But hey, if a little writing and reading gets us through….blog on we shall!

Rachel Balducci @ Testosterhome…..got boys? lots of ’em? and a princess? She does, too!!! And stories abound. AND she even wrote a book!!

Could YOU befriend Paul?

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My sweet friend sent me a small booklet to read a little bit ago and for a gagillion reasons I’ve not been able to get into it. Until this morning. You see, I had a wedding to go to last night in St. Augustine for two former co-workers (just seriously the sweetest couple) and this morning I awoke before my friends did and had 2 HOURS OF TOTAL QUIET. Unheard of, people. Unheard. Of. Just me and my coffee and after working on my 1000 Gifts book I dove into the booklet: Uniformity with God’s Will by Saint Alphonsus de Liguori.

I can see why I couldn’t get into it initially. God wanted my full and undivided attention. Focused. Small bits. It is powerful. I’ll share with you my insight this morning…all 2 pages in.

Some back story: in talking about Saul, who persecuted Christians for their faith. Not only persecuted, but hunted down and killed Christians, routinely. Until…….God got his attention with a little episode of blindness. Enlightening Saul and converting him to Paul. (God often likes to change your name when He drafts you to His team).

Paul asks God, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” Acts 9:6

The Lord calls him a vessel of election and apostle to the Gentiles: “This man is to me a vessel of election, to carry my name before the Gentiles.” Acts 9:15

So, Paul, previously Saul, is a huge player in the Bible and on Team God. He’s a huge instrument of God in spreading the Word, instructing Christians in how to live and love according to God’s will. And….Paul has a past. A really bad past. Yet, God USES him. Mightily. Over and over again. Amongst the very people he previously persecuted.

Think about it. We ALL know a modern-day Paul. People who have failed us, who have fallen, who have a past. Shoot, realistically we ALL have our Saul-seasons. With God’s grace we can ALL enjoy our Paul-seasons as well. The best thing is, God can and does use Paul. Mightily. Over and over again. Among the very people they have wronged. However, how many of us fail to see the Paul and only see the Saul? How many of us fail to see the blessings and instructions of the Paul because we can’t move beyond the Saul?

God forgives. God moves on. Beyond the “Sauls”. God uses ALL things. May we be more like God and focused on the “Pauls” in the world, God’s new creations and let us let go of the “Sauls”.

Five Favorites…

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Last week was fun for me, so I say…do it again!!! Joining in the Baby-Mooning Mama, Hallie @ Moxie Wife for 5 Favorites…

This is week 3 for me in my Clean Eating/ Paleo / no processed crap. Basically, I’ve not had bread (unless you count Ezekiel bread–of which I’ve had 4 slices in 3 weeks); no snacks/sweets/candy/soda/chocolate (unless you count chocolate protein powder in a smoothie and 6 chocolate chips in a spoonful of almond butter). I’m here to tell you….holy cow, I’m surviving!!!! I have energy!!!! I’ve lost 5 pounds in 2 weeks!!!! I mentioned a few things last Friday and here’s a few more…..5 to be exact:

Hard boiled eggs. Mix in some baking soda into the water to make for easier peeling. Great snack!!!!
Avocado. Mix it in my eggs. Mix it in my smoothie. Mix it in my salad. One avocado goes a long way!!
MyFitnessPal. I’m actually logging my food and exercise in aaaaaaaand it can be done on the phone or the ‘puter. Snap!! (now you know my user name if you want to follow/join/encourage)
Paleomg.com I’m getting so many great recipes off this site and my family even loves them. FOR THE WIN!!!!
Clean Eating magazine and website. Another great resource for family friendly recipes. If I can’t get them on board this isn’t going to work and I refuse to be a short order cook making separate dinners for them and myself. Nope.

There it is. 5 quick and easy things I am loving these past few weeks, let’s hope I keep loving them!!!! Have some good clean eating tips??? Bring it!!!

Now go check out Hallie and all the favorites!!

Fasty Friday and Favorites…

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not fasty as in fasting, but more like quick..you know? Fasty. Or you can just say Quick Takes and 5 Favorites combo’d. QTs is over @ CampPatton again this week because new Mama Jen FINALLY GOT TO TAKE THE BABY HOME FROM THE NICU!!! Awesome news in this week of ickiness. Superb, in fact. AND……in a bid to bring joyful and useful news among the rough news week, I am ALSO joining in with Hallie and her 5 Favorite Things link up….but mine will have 7-ish. A two-fer if you will. It’s always fun to see what people are up to during the week and I’ve been enjoying the 5 faves and seeing what folks around the internets consider their favorite products and such. Go check ’em ALL out!!

It’s a clean eating theme.

This week marks the end of my 2nd week of eating clean. It’s not a hard and fast “Clean” and/or Paleo, but a bit of a combined, best-of-both worlds and guess what??? It’s totally working. Of course, the fact that I have planned out our meals and have made sure to have adequate food for my eating purposes has certainly helped….but, I think this is something that I could totes live with. Now, that said, I’m heading into week 3 which is where I have generally sputtered and run out of motivation in the past, so pray for me and feel free to send on some encouragement, etc, etc! Ok, ok, here’s my 7:

Adoration. I’ve been TWICE this week. I love Adoration. Peace. Quiet. Prayers. In light of all the tragedy this week in Boston and Texas amongst other family and friend urgent prayer needs, it was a welcome respite in which I highly recommend.
Pat Gohn. Love her podcast. And she has a new book out, “Blessed, Beautiful and Bodacious!” which is on my night stand in the next-to-read position. This week she interviewed Mary Wallace and they talked of working moms OUTSIDE the home and incorporating your faith life in your work life. It was a stellar podcast and has encouraged me to begin a “Positivity Project” . Without going into detail, I’ll just say office morale is totally in the toilet…BUT Mary and Pat encouraged me to “be the change”. Every person can make small efforts to turn the tide even if those who should be setting the example don’t. I started yesterday with Gandhi’s quote, “Be the change you want to see in the world”. I’d like to see a lot less whining, griping and people just doing their job and helping others…..
Pre-cooked food. Eating Clean-eo has been much easier with cooking up some roasted veggies and hard-boiled eggs on the weekend for some ease in putting together lunches and snacks for me for the week. However, I’ll just say that I’ve now given brussel sprouts THREE separate tries and they really are not good. I ate them. They weren’t horrible. However, I won’t be eating them again.
Pre-planned meals. Meal planning for the week just helps me stay focused. No guess-work in the morning on what to take out, no fumbling after work for what we’ll eat. It’s just working for me. Winning.
Almond milk. Since I’ve cut out dairy, this is my substitute for my coffee additive in the a.m. and my smoothie base after workout. No dairy. No gluten. Tasty.
Spin bike and burpees. Actually, I hate them both. However, to get my cardio in on non-workout days the spin bike fits the bill and when I break it up into 5-8 minute sessions with a set of 10 Burpees in between it goes much quicker. Not to mention I am sweating like a sweaty person when I’m done.
Choco-cado smoothie. Before you get all EWWWW, sounds gross on me….let me just say….it is so delicious I thought I was cheating. The fact I’ve had no sugar and/or processed stuff for twoweeks probably increased the yum factor, but seriously…..DELISH!!!! I’m including the link on the pic credit, but here’s MY version: 8 oz Almond Milk, 1 frozen banana (go ahead and peel that BEFORE you freeze it so you don’t have to nuke it to get the peel off…ask me how I know this.) 1 giant handful of spinach. 1/4 of a avocado. 1 scoop of chocolate protein powder. Blend and enjoy. You are welcome.
Image Credit and Recipe

Now go check out all the other people and their QTs and Faves…Happy Weekend!!

Blue one. Red one. Black and blue arm @ the VW fest…

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Generally on Sundays after Mass, our girls usually have Religious Ed and so, rather than go home and come back, I bring my walking clothes and get a good 45 minute or so walk in. Today on my walk around our City Circle I was surprised to see a VW festival gathering of sorts going on. I heard the music LOOOOOOOONG before I saw the VWs EVERY. WHERE. I walked with a smile; not because we own a VW but because my Hubby went through a VW phase in college. First with a pale blue beetle and later with a VW Bus. I hated both of them. I was always afraid I was going to get dirt on me, there was no A/C and they were LOUD. Ick. However, I smile because he loved those cars (the bus more than the car) and they had some funny stories attached to them involving fraternities, road trips, steep roads and a line of traffic, among others. Given a choice, I am willing to bet my Hubs would love another one….given sufficient fundage, I’d say…go for it, sweets. Enjoy the pics, it was a great 45 minute walk!