Category Archives: Gratitude

Precious life

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Photo via Sometimes Martha, always Mary...whose POST gave peace in my heart in the midst of yesterday's tragedy.

Photo via Sometimes Martha, always Mary...whose POST gave me a slice of peace in my heart in the midst of yesterday’s tragedy.

I don’t know if I’ll write more or if this is it.

Yesterday’s news was incomprehensible.  I can’t imagine nor do I WANT to imagine.  When my mind starts to go there….it just can’t.  Can’t.

We live in a culture of death.  The media will feed on this for weeks.  Each story will bring new knowledge and grief.  Only time will bring healing.

Political agenda on guns?  Some will turn this into it.  The reality is:  You can’t legislate morality.  Stole that from my Hubby…he’s brilliant, BTW.

As for me, I went to Adoration at lunch yesterday.  Cried, prayed and cried some more. A pattern I’m certain to repeat in the coming days.  Lord, have mercy.

I hugged my kids and my Hubby.  Hard.  Long.  Even my 13 and 15 year olds did not pull away.

We let our son go skate with his friends.  We let our daughter go to her birthday party.  You have to live.

We watched Elf.  Our son ate spaghetti and syrup for dinner (in preparation for Elf).  I joined in with this gal and this gal as they hosted a “Twitter party” during Elf.  I made peppermint milkshakes and let everyone finish the leftover luncheon “Cherry Cheesecake Dip” (Pinterest WIN!!)  Laughing felt great.  Therapy.

Screen shot 2012-12-15 at 7.20.44 AM

I texted with my mom and my sister.

I read the news sparingly.

Today.  I’m up.  I’ll walk.  I’ll pray. Hubby and I will decide how to proceed with broaching this topic with our kids.   We’ll make a more concentrated effort at living each day as a PRESENT.  We’ll live our lives with RESPECT to LIFE.  All life.  We will trust in God even when we don’t understand, even when we are furious, confused, scared and anxious.  Our children and our lives are not our own.  We belong to Him. Let us love one another.

Jesus, come quickly.  Until then,

Our Lady of Sorrows, pray for us.

 

 

It’s the most wonderful (busy) time of year…

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The girls and I at the Nutcracker

The girls and I at the Nutcracker

Here we are:  12 days until Christmas.  Which would explain my semi-absence from the blogsta world.  So much is packed into this month.  I love it.  It’s hectic and chaotic, but it is fun!!  The anticipation of Christmas, Advent activities, baking, shopping, it’s awesome!  I figured it’s Thursday night so I’d tie this into Quick Takes @Conversion Diary and now TV Fame with Minor Revisions!  Woot, woot!!

With so much packed into this month there are things I’ve neglected or have yet to find the time/energy to deal with yet (7 off the top of my head):

  • hanging Christmas cards up (they are still in the basket we collect them in)
  • Passing out Advent Anonymous cards (need to print up the notes)
  • Finish baking (it’s an ongoing process and a tasty one at that!)
  • blogging
  • reading blogs
  • watching Christmas shows
  • watching Minor Revisions…Plan B is Saturday night @ 10p.m….

However, there is so much I HAVE done with the time I’ve not spent on the above (more than 7):

  • Walking several times a week (at least 20 minutes…I need some de-stressing)
  • Maximizing my hour-long lunch break (can you say Power Shopping!)
  • Burned up the internet with my online shopping (a working mom’s best friend—heck, EVERY mom’s best friend!!!)
  • Peanut butter buckeyes x 2 (cookie swap and prepping for neighbor sharing)
  • Attended the Nutcracker with the girls
  • Working at my J.O.B.
  • Sent my Christmas cards out
  • Made a PLAN for the coming week (before the kids get out of school and are in my way at lunch break!)
  • Picnicked with Hubby and the girls one Sunday afternoon
  • Prepared kids for various upcoming concerts, Christmas programs, Girl Scout sleepover and birthday parties
  • Planned for Christmas Eve, dinner, Mass….
  • Thrift shopped (a whole post really needs to be devoted to that…serious fun!)
  • Participated in the #AdventPhotoADay contest/photo sharing
Day 13, Feast Day of St. Lucy...The Eyes have it..

Day 13, Feast Day of St. Lucy…The Eyes have it..

And now I shall wake the minions (those still remaining…..the high schooler and Papa are already gone for the day)

So get on with your busy elf….and I’ll check back intermittently!  Blessings and Make way for the Lord, Christmas is coming!!!

The ADVENT of the holidays….

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It’s post Thanksgiving and a month of “Thankful Posts” on Facebook and elsewhere (I didn’t participate publicly because I felt it would stress me out….go figure….), but I AM so thankful for everything in my life, even the not-so-great stuff.  God is good and He uses every bit of it to make us stronger and bring us closer to Him.  Rarely does it feel “good” in the middle of our trials, in hindsight it often makes sense.

Among the many things I AM thankful for is the coming of Advent.  I love Christmas and I love Advent.  The only problem is….it goes so quickly!!!  So, I’ll do my best to enjoy each and every hectic moment of decorating, cookie making, gift buying, wrapping, delivering, cards, music and preparation for the coming of Our Lord.  It’s gonna be hard though.  At least we have the Powerball chaos to keep us busy….and yes, I already bought my ticket…just one.  $500 mill, yo….I’ll throw a dollar in…

One of the things during Advent that is crucial, for me, is receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  I generally don’t look forward to it, but always feel better after it.  The other day Dwija put this link up on the book of Faceand I can honestly “say” that I’ve NEVER received this message quite like this before.  Reconciliation from a priest’s perspective.  Click HERE to read the entire article.  It was interesting for me because in the back of my mind, I always wonder when I see the priest after reconciliation….”is he thinking about what I told him?”.  Yes,  apparently I think I’m that big of a deal that among ALL the confessions he hears that MINE would be the most riveting….nevermind the fact it’s essentially the same-ish every time…which is really not so good since I’m still struggling in the same areas…but that’s a different post altogether.  In spite of my rambling…read the article, it’s truly a blessing!!

 

 

Focus on the prize

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Thanksgiving week here in the U.S.  Thursday we will give thanks for our many blessings and watch football, spend time with family and friends, and nap after a ridiculously huge and delicious meal.  The next day many will head out and shop ’til they drop, thus signifying the start of a month-long season of eating, drinking and generally living in gluttonous excess in celebration of the birth of Our Saviour.  Weird, huh?

The average weight gain during “the holidays” is reported to be about 7 pounds per American, other studies show its more realistically about a pound…..for my, it’s about 4. Average spending per American is about $700 during the holidays.  No wonder we are all stressed.  I was thinking about all of this the other day and decided THIS year I am approaching the holidays differently.  Much differently.

I enlisted my girlfriend who I work with and another girlfriend who I know does EVERYTHING for EVERYONE all year-long and can use some de-stressing as well.

It’s simple, really.

One day at a time.

  • Focus on regular exercise throughout the remainder of the year.  Shooting for a minimum of 20 minutes a day.  That is NOTHING!!!!!  Just plan it.  A quick 20 minute walk before your day gets going.  20 minutes while dinner is in the over.  20 minutes after dinner.  Whatever.  The time is there.  Just do it.
  • Healthy eating choices.  Log food or plan it out.  Be AWARE of what is going in.  So much temptation.  Ask yourself, “is it worth it”?

This season is about Jesus.  Let us focus on Him.  Let us treat our bodies as the Temples they are.  If we don’t take care of ourselves, how in the WORLD can we love and take care of those around us???  The airlines don’t tell us to put our own oxygen on first and then the kids for nothing…

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

19 Or do you not know that your body is a [a]temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from [b]God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

I plan on blogging throughout the month-ish and re-blogging encouraging and inspirational blogs as well to cheer us on.  Be blessed.  Don’t stress.

To encourage you….this morning I did 20 minutes of P90X Cardio X.  20 minutes.  It’s what I had time for.  Bring it!

Friday, Advent and style…it’s a theme.

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It’s Friday, so that means it must be:  7 Quick Takes with Jennifer Fulwiler et al.  Join on in, it’s a super crowd!!

1) I don’t want to get anyone all crazy or anything but Advent is just around the corner, December 2, 2012…the first day.  You ready??  Huh??  Huh??  Huh??  Me??  Uhhhhhh.  Sorta.  Our family does a little thing each Advent, for every day, this will be our 3rd year.  I have procured the items we will need over the past many months.  It’s something a good friend of mine started us on our first year in where we randomly and anonymously “gift” someone throughout Advent.  It’s not anything big, just something small to hopefully brighten their day and spread some CHRISTmas joy.  Yes, the cards even say “Merry Christmas”…..scandalous in this P.C. day and age, right??

2) Now I’ve just spent 2 hours trying to decide which site to use for our Christmas card with the right pictures and coupon code and the site freaked out and I had to start over.   Grrrr..  Bedtime!!

3) We’ve had soccer and cheer all week, staggered so it’s been very DRAWN OUT!  At least I’m getting my walks in!!  However, joy of joys….it is the LAST week of both girl’s sports.  Our last  soccer game is tomorrow and it’s at HOME, and cheer finishes up with competition on Black Friday (can you believe the nerve?!?!?)

4) This week gave me a little reminder of how busy the holiday season is going to be and my girlfriend and I are going to start a little holiday health challenge/focus to get us through the New Year.  It’s such an insane time of year with parties, plays, gift giving, meals, time off from school, juggling family visits etc, that, as a woman (and I’m sure a few men, too) we tend to get so caught up in taking care of others and focusing on activities that we OFTEN forget to take care of ourselves.  Therefore, we are planning on being accountable for regular exercise (nothing crazy…just staying active) and watching what we put in our mouths.  We need to remind ourselves our body is The Temple of Christ and I think we all forget that from time to time.  Isn’t Advent a “good” time to focus on that?  Anyone can join in…if there’s a big interest I’ll make up something “official-like”, for now it’s just email and texting and friends at work accountability, too!

5) Speaking of Advent…(apparently there’s a little bit of a theme this week since I continue to return to Advent), My blog is almost at 100 followers!  So, I’ve decided that  I’m going to do a giveaway of Dan Lord’s new book, “Choosing Joy:  The secret to living a fully Christian life”.    If you didn’t know, Dan is married to Hallie Lord, author of “Style, sex and substance” and blogger on marriage and style over at Moxie Wife.   I’ll post a blog on the official giveaway and all that jazz once I hit 100 followers!

6) On style….for the past two Sundays I’ve participated in “What I wore Sunday” over at Fine Linen and Purple.  It’s been super fun (awesome for visitors to my blog!!!!) and inspirational on paying a little more attention to dressing for Mass and other times when I’m out of my scrubs and workout clothes (95% of my time!).  As timing would have it,  Dwija at House Unseen posted about taking care of appearance in general and the subtle messages it sends to our families and loved ones when we do or don’t pay attention to how we look.  It definitely made me think about taking a few extra minutes on regular days, too.

7) Last one, also in reference to style….last night I bought some boots.  Target.  My boot envy got the best of me, especially since I currently don’t have any boots and will need them on our surprise trip in January to Pennsylvania!  So exciting.  The only thing about boots is that my calves are muscular and sometimes it’s really difficult to find a pair of boots to zip up past my calves.  Frustrating I tell you!!

Alrighty then….I’m out.  Time to wake the kiddies and get this day rockin’ on into the weekend!  Blessings and don’t forget to check out Conversion Diary for other great peeps!!