Author Archives: tracye1

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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!

Election Day…finally an end to the campaigning!!

If you live in the US you’ve been swamped with campaign mail, telephone solicitation, Facebook opinions, mudslinging, debates, tweets and so on and so on and can I get a HUGE “AMEN” that this glorious day brings an end to it all (because if you voted early you continue to receive all of the above stated).

My eyes are burning and I’m ready for bed, however…..my “practice” ballot is ready and come lunch time, my cheat sheet and I will whip through those little booths with sticker readily displayed.  Hopefully by tomorrow at this time we will have a clear answer as to who the winners are, until then… a prayer my precious former neighbor emailed to me and I will now share with you.

Dear Beloved God in Heaven
Please give us a president that loves this country and everything it
stands for.
Please give us a president who respects you as the one true God.
Please give us a president who will, with your help, restore this
nation to its former glory, the way you created her.
Please help us to respect what you have given to us and not take
anything for granted ever again.
Please God weaken the evil and strengthen the good both without and within.
May our eyes be opened.
In Jesus’ name, Amen
God Bless America

Contradeception

Yesterday’s post was fun and girly and….Holy Cow…had my second highest views of all time.  There is no denying that fashion is FUN!!  Fashion is fun because we, as women, like to feel pretty and feminine; the kicker is….God made us that way.  We are softer than men, we have less upper body strength than men, we are nurturers and caregivers, it is our nature; that is a GOOD thing.  Why do we fight it?  Today I am posting a brief my sweet friend, Carrie, wrote regarding our femininity.  It’s great food for thought with the election tomorrow, not to mention how we view ourselves and the creature God made us to be.  It may or may not sway your vote, however, I hope it helps to solidify the reality of what it is when we are made WOMAN.  Blessings!!  And if you haven’t already…go vote tomorrow!!

“Why ain’t a boy in a hundred gets to whitewash an illustrious fence like this one,”

The infamous Tom Sawyer spoke intently, baiting the first of many friends who passed by his lousy post, convincing them to exchange their prized possessions for an opportunity to do his dirty work.

“He had discovered a great law of human action, without knowing it” Author Mark Twain narrates, “ Namely, that in order to make a man or a boy, covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain.”

The rapidly approaching presidential election reflects this dark principle of human nature. By exploiting a cause, one can run on an appalling record and still influence votes. After all, in order to make a girl or a woman covet a thing, it is only necessary to tell her a man can do it.

Our Commander-in-Chief, during the debate on domestic affairs, pledged to do all he can to afford woman the same opportunities as men. He asserted, woman in our country and around the world have been subject to grave injustices. Woman like Lily Ledbetter who worked many years making less money than her male equivalent without justice and well deserved recognition had top billing.

The media conversation in the days following the debate centered on what they called the war on women. Hearing the countless horror stories on the news of so many nameless women who have been denied pay, protection and sadly, dignity, are impossible and impermissible to ignore. We grieve that women in our own backyard have starved to feed their families, have been objectified and abandoned. War has been waged and Americans know they cannot sit idly by. America needs a pro-women candidate and Barack Obama is confident he is the guy.

His bold response to the inequality:  More contraception:  mandatory coverage for all. Stopping at nothing to ensure every prescription is filled and every womb empty because all of our womanly woes obviously stem from a lack of available contraception.

As women, we have suffered many fates at the hand of this illustrious pill;  yet our government wants us to open wide to swallow yet another dose of deception. Is this the revolution American women have been longing for? Do we need protection from our threatening reproductive systems, our broken bodies that every month do this crazy thing called ovulate. Are we really that naïve?

The pill our president peddles is not only detrimental to our health but to our society at large. Over the last century our country has endured a rapid moral decline; one that not-so-coincidentally coincides with the wide-spread availability of the pill. American women are smart enough to understand the correlation but sufficiently terrified of their own femininity and choose to ignore it.

The readily available statistics of the abuse and objectification of women and families in America are staggering. Is it not enough that more than half the women in America are without spouses, half the children live without at a father or a mother in their home, and millions of innocent children are ripped from their mother’s wombs when the cure-all first line of defense fails?

There is war on women. Femininity is being assaulted by those that claim who we are made to be as women, is simply not good enough.

Take a look in the mirror, ladies. Seriously take a long, deep, gaze at your bare outline.

Now take a second look, beyond the shame and unrealistic expectations about what the world tells you your femininity ought to resemble. This time, what do you see?

Behold, the glorious feminine frame, curves, breasts and the intricate lines that cover our most captivating capacity, our ability to nurture life. You are beautiful!

Femininity is not a disease, it is privilege. We don’t need a cure, or the hollow and dangerous promises that come at a devastating cost to our very nature as women. We do not want to hand over our most prized possession, the truth of our femininity, to partake in a dirty agenda. We can no longer pretend to be something we are not. Who we are is undeniably etched in our existence. We are worth infinitely more. Why ain’t every girl in a hundred liberated by this truth?

What I wore Sunday….

Today I’m joining in @ Fine Linen and Purple for a wrap up of what a bunch of lovely ladies wore to church on Sunday.  So yes, this would be a “church lady fashion” post…sooooooo if you’re not interested…move on until tomorrow 😉

Sunday Mass is my one day of the week where I can dress up.  All week-long I wear scrubs and sneakers and although the Sunday Mass shoes don’t always feel so great due to the constant sneaker wearing….I gladly suffer.

I’ll just say that I don’t enjoy “selfies”, but I took one for the team and gave you a few.  I even included some closeups of jewelry and such (inspired by Dwija @ House Unseen).  Without further adieu….my FIRST “What I wore Sunday”:

Apparently the lighting in my room (excuse Hubby’s work mess…) gave me a shiny mustache….so I figured if you’re going to have a mustache might as well go big.

Dana Buchman. Kohl’s. A little higher heel than I usually go for, but super cute!

Lia Sophia…my favorite ring, about 5 years old…SO worth hosting the jewelry party for.

another Lia Sophia piece from hosting ANOTHER show.

My early Christmas present from my friend, Amanda. It’s a “Thirty-One” metro bag, it’s so roomy, I love it!!

I needed my bag to hold my change of clothes to walk in AFTER Mass while the girls were at Religious Ed/Faith Formation/CCD…I really wish they’d stop changing the name…

Because it was a BEAUTIFUL morning for a walk!!!

Here’s one without the mustache. And you can see the fluffy and fun neckline on my Koh’s tank-top, covered with my black (yes, Kohl’s) cardigan.

Pumpkin-obsessed

It’s fall.  Though we don’t get MUCH of a season change here in Central Florida, the humidity and temp do take periodic dives, sending us into a state of bliss.  This is the time of year I get to add my favorite item a little extry, extry into the recipes and food rotation.  Sadly, it appears my family does not share my excitement over pumpkin….at least not to the degree that I love it.  Boo hiss.  More than once I’ve been asked to “cool it on the pumpkin”.

Here are a few things “we” have enjoyed…(by we, I mean it’s been purchased and entered the house, however, not everyone has partaken of):

  • Pumpkin oatmeal….oh wow!  I love oatmeal for breakfast and this was a super yummy addition, not to mention healthy
  • Pumpkin muffins
  • Pumpkin pie Pop Tarts (yes, apparently Pop Tarts has “seasonal” flavors.  who knew?!
  • Pumpkin bread
  • Pumpkin ravioli
  • Pumpkin protein smoothie
  • Pumpkin marshmallows
  • Pumpkin coffee
  • Pumpkin spice coffee creamer
  • Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (regular recipe just add a can of pumpkin and cinnamon and nutmeg to taste!)
  • and……I still have 6 cans of pumpkin in the pantry!!!  and I WILL use them. oh yes, I will.   family requests be darned!

Now tonight for dinner, along with out 3 Bean Bake, I made that family of mine pumpkin muffins and added some cream cheese filling and guess what???  No complaints.  and no leftovers. That’s right.   I’m bringing them over to the pumpkin side…..

What do you think?  Too much pumpkin or just right?  Maybe I DO have a problem….

 

Two late nights, two tired, too tired…

Last night was the Jr. Pee Wee’s Pop Warner play off game.  Started @ 7.  Miss Cheer had to be there @ 6, Miss Soccer had practice @ 615.  Everyone made it where they needed to be on time and I taxied and waited and Miss Soccer and I went to catch the 2nd half of the game–I am a fabulous wife and gave Hubby a pass–however, shooting myself in the foot doing so because it was flippin’ COLD @ that game AND it didn’t get over until 9 therefore putting the little Misses to bed @ almost 10 after dinner and showers.  Usual bed time:  830.  Good times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This morning was pretty decent considering they had Halloween to look forward to, so the rousing wasn’t too terrible.  And tonight was fun….trick or treating with a friend in an easy ‘hood…those girls BANKED on the candy (Dad and the boys are excited about that share-factor).  Holy cow.  However, after walking for an hour and a half and enjoying a creepy haunted house (not ME, I stayed on the sidewalk…call me chicken..I don’t care), it was again bed late. Tomorrow morning should be interesting, right?  Maybe I’ll just coax them with chocolate….

The Cowgirl and Erkel….(the boys are too big…sniff, sniff)