Category Archives: Lessons

Saints, Ramblings and the F-word

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30 whole minutes!  Alone.  In my house.  Unheard of (unless I come home for lunch).  We split up for Masses today due to lawns/training/Faith Formation, etc, etc, etc and somehow I am alone.  AHHH.  You don’t even know.  or maybe you do.  It’s bliss.

I’ll take advantage of it and blog in peace.  My mind has been running all morning.  It’s going to be a patchwork quilt of my stream of consciousness…enjoy….

My friend sent me a link (to a blog I follow–hee hee, BUT hadn’t read yet) last week or so and the piece was on the F-word and the how our use of the English language has truly lowered the bar in regards to vulgarity.  It is a GREAT post and you can click below on the link and I will tell you I have been re-thinking before I speak more frequently lately as well as being glad that my blog hasn’t gone that road…even though it might get more hits if it did, but in the end, it’s just not me.  most of the time.  though sometimes….I’m sad to say, it is…the link to Tom’s post is here:  “Defusing the F-bomb” with Neal Obstat Theological Pining

I’ve also given a lot of thought to the amazing lessons we learn from the Saints and figured I’d join in with “Saints Sunday” with The Kennedy Adventures today.  Especially as during Mass I had to referee a disagreement between 2 girls for the first 1/4 of Mass…always a joy…you’d think with only 2 kids at Mass it would have been a breeze.  I should  have taken the other 2.  However, as I was praying “Dear, Jesus, Mary AND Joseph protect my children from the demon threatening to break free from my neck at any minute to silence these girls…help me to be graceful and love them even though they are getting on my last.  ever-loving.  nerve. right now.  Amen”  Right then I had a flash of Saint Monica and was shown how motherhood is a marathon.  Now, Lord Help these kids if it takes me 30 years, but…I was filled with a sense of peace and a guiding of “Continue on.  You’re on the right path.”, neck muscles relaxed, girls relaxed and the rest of Mass was good.  Talk about your instant gratification/affirmation.  Yes, please and thank you!!

The temptations of the saints were seen as opportunities for self­discovery. They allowed temptations to show them the breaches in the fortress of their souls, which needed to be fortified until they would become the strongest points. This explains the curious fact about many saintly people-that they often become the opposite of what they once seemed to be.      (Lift Up Y our Heart)  Venerable Fulton John Sheen 

Confirmation.  Our 9th grader is making his this year.  Parent meeting today and his first of 6 classes tonight with a dinner.  Praying for the right sponsor for him, he needs the right  person to talk to and spark that mustard seed.

Busy Saturday.  Football in the morning.  Hubby took our girl while I took the other girl grocery shopping and tackled the house.  Then, after lunch I took both girls to our oldest girl’s first soccer game while Hubby stayed with the boys and tackled the tree stump in the back yard so we can plant a new tree.  The weather was good, the drive was quick (for 1.5 hour to AND from the game–that says aLOT!), and best of all, we made it home in time for dinner on the table!  SCORE!!!

Chill Sunday.  It appears we are getting Isaac reincarnated today.  Not quite the storm he was his first pass before he let loose on the Gulf coast, Louisiana and Mississippi, but it’s a blustery and rainy day.  The library is in store for SURE!!!

And one last note on a Saint-to-be…today Bishop Fulton J. Sheen is decreed as “Venerable” by the Vatican and a celebration of his life and vocation is taking place in Peoria at Celebrate Sheen, a Mass of Thanksgiving for an amazing man and true blessing to the Church.

Game 1. A loss, but a GREAT game with lots of potential to the season!!

 

Redemption through a Pot Roast…

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and other weekly synopses with Jen Fulwiler (soon-to-be-reality-documentary-diva) and pals…

It’s been a short week with Labor Day hogging up my Monday (LOVE me a 4-day work week…it just messes up my, “what-dayis-it?” for the week).  And yet HALLELUJAH, here it is FRIDAY!  Can I get a WOOP WOOP???  And since I need to get kids up and dinner prepped this is going to be quick-ish:

  1. I made ham and northern bean soup the other night for dinner.  It sucked.  the beans didn’t soak and/or cook long enough.  Without fear, they are frozen and will be delectable for round 2, however, I DID make a mean pot roast last night and totally redeemed my cooking skilz…as my Hubby says, “you can’t go wrong with a pot roast”..phew, cuz I was thinking I was losing my touch…

    Even the picky kid had seconds…yep, THAT good!

    2.  Had a needlestick a work last Friday.  A dirty needle.  First time ever.  In 20 years.  So here’s to strong prayers for a better day today!!  Fortunately, all blood tests (mine and source patient) are clean, I’ll just go for a 6 month check up and be done.  Talk about nerve-wracking…ugh..

    3 hours in my local ER on a Friday afternoon isn’t really my idea of a good time…

    3.  Enjoyed a smokin’ hot football game on Saturday with my girls.  90+ temps and a 31-0 win.  Check out our set-up….And yes, people were hating on me…they would be the ones in the bleacher seats and no umbrella…go ahead and hate, people, go ahead…

    Totally worth the effort of twitching biceps from carrying all that swag 1/2 mile from the parking lot…

    4.  Dad and the boys hit the Zoom Air course with Hubby’s bestie (can guys have BFFs??)…maybe I should say best bro’….either way, it was a 3-hour blast!!

    A view of one of the courses….

    5.  I’ve been working in the exercise this week and took the girls for a walk (they bladed) a couple of times…prepping for next week’s Peak 313 challenge...

    A re-enactment…AWWW, they really DO like each other….

    6.  Another walk/blade sesh brought us to the local park and we were able to see some ducks settling in for the night and almost a mama duck nipping off a little dog’s nose for messing with her babies.  Well.  That’s what you get when you mess with mama’s babies…..

    Settling those teenagers down….

    7.  On Labor Day I cleaned out the “junk drawer” and updated the chore board…happy to report 4 days later…the drawer is still clean-ish and the board changes have been noted and followed…mostly…

    Wet erase board+vibrant markers+initial magnets=peace (mostly)

    Have a great weekend, y’all!!

     

     

     

Mid-Week, post Labor Day blues…

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I’m not really blue (although 3 day weekends are always SO nice…).  I am confused.  Mondays off of work/school always throw me for the rest of the week.  It’s a full-on conscious effort to remind myself exactly what day it is, and in order to make sure the kiddos get to where they need to be WHEN they need to be there.  Therefore, today my mantra is:  Today is Wednesday.  Phew.  Now to repeat for the rest of the day!!!

Here in the states we celebrated Labor Day, which is defined  by the US Department of Labor as:  Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country. I Labor, therefore I get a day.  However, Hubby labors and worked, so did lots of other people…..still a reminder and a paid holiday for me, so I’ll take it!

A few other things Labor day signifies, officially, unofficially, either way it’s a benchmark:

Fall:  It’s a comin’.  Maybe not here in the South where we will continue to swelter enjoy 90-degree temps for another month or so, but it is coming!

Pumpkin:  Fall flavors @ Starbucks.  Pumpkin spice cream cheese (oh MY!!  I bought this weekend and holy cow!!  Delish.  Go get some).  Pumpkin muffins.  Pumpkin cookies.  Pumpkin pancakes.  ‘Tis the season of pumpkin!  Enjoy!!

Fashion:  No more white pants, shoes, etc.  WhatEVA!!!  When we are enjoying 90-degree temps, I WILL be wearing white, just sayin’.  Deal.

End of the beach season:  Maybe for others, not so much for us.  In fact, I avoided the beach this weekend because I know NEXT weekend I won’t be fighting the crowds.

Back to school:  We’re in week 3 here, but at this time of the year, the entire country is BACK TO SCHOOL!  AMEN!!  Perfect time to hit Disney if you are a local…NO lines, baby.

Sometimes with season changes come other changes:  Spring cleaning, fitness changes, furniture re-decorating, garage sales,and so on.   For me, season change usually signal a change-up in my fitness routine and this is what I’m doing to kick off Fall:

Peak 313 has a 5-week challenge starting on the 10th…a Monday, of course!  It’s up over 200 people!  WOW!  I’m always up for a change; I  get  bored so quickly.  It will be good accountability and challenging.  Of course, I’ll still be hitting my track routine during cheer practice and the gym @ lunch a few days a week…so this will be extra!  5 weeks never sounds so bad in the beginning does it?  There’s still time to join in, you can click HERE if you want to find out all the details, etc, etc, etc….

That’s it for today….time to get crackin’ on the day!  Happy Hump day!!!

Someone has to be the base….

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Teamwork

In cheerleading stunts, I am learning the lingo.  The “base” is the support for the girl who is being lifted (aka, the flyer) and tossed in the air.  The base must be strong and sturdy and fully focused on her flyer.  The flyer seems more glamorous in their “elevated” status and exciting tricks while being lifted and then tossed, however, they also must be strong, flexible and focused, completely trusting and relying on their base.  It’s teamwork at its best.

In life, and in cheerleading, our best tricks and “AHHHHHH-inspiring” moments only come when we have a good sturdy foundation.  A base we can trust to hold us up and catch us when we fall.  A lesson I’m learning throughout this, our first cheer season, is to hold my tongue in regards to the gossip-monger cliques, for it is quickly becoming obvious how unreliable their own bases are in their own “mean-girl” actions.  A teachable season for both my daughter and I  to  discern people for who they are, pinpoint traits to emulate and moments to rise above.  There are many girls in this sport who are amazing and wonderful girls and I pray they can all rise above the few who are Divas-in-training to encourage and lift up their teammates; that they can be the “base” in their actions and words.  We all have the opportunity to be both base and flyer; its important to remember it all starts with the base.

How sturdy is your base?

1 Thessalonians 5:11 

Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.

 

Friday Frenzy….

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It’s the end of the week AAAAAAAANNNNNNNDDDDD the end of the month, how in the???  what???  ugh.  You know when you’re growing up and all the old people your parents tell you, “The older you get the quicker time goes by”; I hate that they were right.  Therefore, as we roll out of August and into September (and subsequently get ready to celebrate our SECOND teenager) you can join me AND Jen and all her groupies/bloggies as THEY wrap up THEIR  week, too!

  1. I am having a little bit (just a touch) of CNMC 2012 envy.  It’s the Catholic New Media Conference and I think it would be a completely phenomenal way to spend a few days meeting a lot of these people I follow through blogs and podcasts, books and the National Catholic Register.  I’m sure I’d be a complete geek, stalker.  It would be fun though.  I imagine it to be a  huge pep rally going into the “Year of Faith” and New Evangelizer focus in the Catholic church.  I’ll have to put it on my bucket list.  Ah, but then I’d have to start a bucket list…  
  2. Partly because of the CNMC and Hurricane Isaac (in case you don’t know, it was a huge storm that took the same path as Hurricane Katrina did 7 years ago TO.  THE.  DAY.  right into Louisiana, Mississippi and some of Alabama) I joined Twitter.  Mainly just to get the updates.  I can’t change anything, but I need to be informed and my news input through the day is just sporadic between patients.  So.

    A pic from our Louisiana friends. Thankfully, they evacuated and are safe!

  3. In regards to Twitter , I don’t REALLY get it.  I think I may have just sucked myself into yet another social vortex.  You can follow me.  So far, I’ve got nothing to say (on Twitter), I’m standing there with my mouth wide open….I want to put the tweets into folders or something…can’t you organize it better?  Ah, for now I’ll just check in and scroll…..and scroll…..and scroll.
  4. Week 2 of school and I think we are getting into the swing here.  Some tasty meals (and quick…..I’ll add 2 new recipes in my recipe section if interested!), some extra graces for pushed back bedtime on sports nights and kids getting into their homework groove.  The key has been communication.  If we can keep this up……we’re golden.  I usually peter out about 2 weeks in and fall back into my ways, hopefully Hubby can keep me on track!
  5. And lunches….making them the night before a HUGE time saver.  HUGE I say.
  6. Workouts…ehhhhhhh, not quite on track this week, the rain has been killing us in the evenings (excuse 1) and I haven’t been going to the gym @ lunch b/c I am counting on walking in the evening and sooo……you can see the pattern.  I have seen what needs to be changed, I’ll take care of that next week!
  7. Resume is updated.  CPR is updated.  Professionally, I’m feeling pretty organized, let’s see if it brings me any luck…..I’m feeling God has something in mind for me and to say I’m stepping out and going blind is pretty fair.  I’m just putting it out there and we will see what happens.

The high schooler is stirring and thus begins the Friday Frenzy……I AM the EARLY girl today!  C ya, peeps!  Have a great weekend and be sure to blog….I’ll have lots of time @ the football fields between games and such!!