A Simple Twist of Faith

Rejoice Always

One of my New Year’s resolutions is to “Rejoice Always.”  (II Thessalonians 5: 16)  During the Christmas season, as I was rushing all over town in my mini-van, I hear a segment on the radio that has stuck with me.  The interview was on happiness.  In the conversation, the guest asserted that 50% of happiness comes from hereditary sources.  One is born with a sanguine or melancholy disposition.  10% of happiness comes from life circumstances. One’s finances, social, economic, and physical well being are included in this percentage.  That leaves 40% of happiness based on a choice, choosing to be happy.  40%!

What is Wisdom?

This morning, I read the following reflection on Psalm 37 in Give Us This Day  and thought I would like to share it with you, my friends:

"What then is wisdom?  It is concerned that life should have meaning, have a part in what endures.  Wisdom takes care that in the end a man should not stand empty-handed.  It is based upon the gift of distinguishing what is valuable and what is cheap, what endures and what passes, what is genuine and what is specious...

    But if we ask, "What then shall I do?  Wisdom, counsel me!" then wisdom replies, " You must learn to dstinguish.  You must bring into your life things that are of divine character, things that do not merely pile up or excite, but have value."

    And what has value? Wisdom replies, "the good!" When we have a duty, even though it is unpleasant, the situation changes, the action is past, but something remains: the good has been done.  This has divine character.

    Or if I act kindly towards a person, whom perhaps I do not like, try to understand him, help him-in this fulfillment of the divine command something takes place which remains...

    So we might speak of many things-also of this-ad it would not be unimportant-that it is a part of wisdom to be careful of one's own wisdom.  It is a virtue which is easily spoiled. If one is too conscious of it, or emphasizes it, then wisdom itself becomes folly, and a greater than that which it sought to overcome. "

Fr. Romano Guardini, The Wisdom of the Psalms

Take Control of Thanksgiving

(To be honest, the following was written by my husband, Rick)

For 16 years, we have held Thanksgiving at our house for the family--sometimes nearly 20 people attend this dinner held  in a tiny 1,200 square foot house. In those 16 years, we have found our "home court advantage," per se. Here's the run-down:

First, we get organized and delegate all the difficult dishes to our family while we take care of all the easy stuff. If you are the one delegating, why not make your life easy? Believe me, if someone is delegating you to do something, it WON'T be easy--that's what we call, "home court advantage."

Secondly, this is all happening at your house. You REALLY should have to cook NOTHING because you have to set-up you home, pre-clean, and clean up afterward. Those are the biggest jobs of all and you don't need to also be doing all of the difficult cooking.

Decorating Day

I used to work retail for many years.  Even when I moved up to  the corporate offices, many times I was asked to work in the stores on Black Friday or during the Christmas shopping season.  That is not a part of my life anymore, and I was so thankful to sleep in this morning.

Today was decorating day, and it was relaxing, calm, and productive.  I forced myself to vacuum the house last night after everyone left so I could wake up to a reasonably clean house, well at least there wasn't any food on the floor.

By 9:30 am, everyone was feed, clothed, and had their teeth brushed.  Then my husband, pulled all nine Christmas decoration boxes down from the attic.  The girls and I decorated the tree with Christmas music in the background and sipping warm apple cider. Then my five year old niece came over, and played with my girls, they had a blast and I finished the rest of the job. 

I think it helped that last year I forced myself streamlined our decorations.  I have scaled it down to the Christmas tree, the snow village I have collected for years, and the Nativity set.  I used cuttings from our red berry Nandina bush to add natural greenery through the house.  I also took pictures of how my snow village was set up, so it took the guess work out of that task.

 Tomorrow, I will pull out my Christmas list and get busy, but I feel really good about today.  I think I just started a new Christmas tradition in our house:

Boycott Black Friday and establish "Decorating Day".

Tackle It Tuesday # 9: The Guest Room

Some people have junk drawers, some people have junk closets, some people, like my friend, Bridget jokes, have junk tables.  But I have a secret weapon in the war against clutter, it's called the guest room.  When people come over, I just throw all my junk into it and lock the door.

This week I cleaned it out, we will see how long this lasts.  At least, I took pictures so I can remember how it looked.

Before

 

and After:

Tackle It Tuesday # 8: The Girls' Bedroom

 

This summer I decided to join forces with 5 Minutes for Mom, and tackle one big project every week and blog around it.  This week's project had been more than one week's work, but accumulation of a summer's work.

In April, my Ladybug turned six years old.  She asked for two things for her birthday, a DS handheld gaming system, and a bunk bed.  After looking  around at bunk beds, my husband decided he would built one on his own.  When I say, on his own, I mean it.  Rick is your classic Kinesthetic learner.  The bunk bed was totally of his own design, and resembles outdoor play equipment.  This bed is SOLID.  My husband was also on his own time table.  So, it was only appropriate, that the bunk bed project started for Ladybug's birthday on April 8th, would be completed just in time for Bumblebee's birthday on August 8th.

During this time, Ladybug decided how she would like the bunk bed painted. Her inspiration was a Henry and Mudge book,where Annie, Henry's prissy but beloved cousin moves next door.   Mommy did her best to recreate a garden setting, you be the judge...

 

A Sane Woman

I have been reading a variety of books this summer. Several of my friends have given me books to borrow including The Robe, Breakfast with the Pope, the Outlander series, and the book I would like to talk about today, A Sane Woman's Guide to Raising a Large Family by Mary Ostyn.

One day I must have looked especially harried, because my friend, Carmen, recommended this book and let me borrow it.  Thank you Carmen!   Now, I know I am not raising a large family, only two very precocious girls, ages six and almost four.  However, I could identify with many aspects of this book.      

First, some background on the author, Mary Ostyn, is a mother of ten children, six who came to her family through adoption.  She home schools her children, and written many articles on parenting and adoption.  She als had written a cookbook and shopping list entitled Family Feast for $75 a week. She blogs about her adventures at Owlhaven where she shares her stories, her recipes, and her beautiful photos.  

To me, women like her are rock stars.  How she can keep it all together is amazing to me.  I hoped by reading her book I might gleam some insight and pick up some tips.

 

Tackle It Tuesday #6: Meal Planning

 

A few weeks ago, I posted a link from Bernice at the Living the Balanced Life talking about using routines to simply your life and improve productivity around     the house.  This summer one areas I have been struggling with is meal planning.  Living in the South, this time of year, my crock pot recipes just don't hit the spot.  All I really want is salad and ice cream!

I needed a little inspiration and organization.  So, for week #6 of Tackle It Tuesday, I decided to revive my meal planning.  Here's what helped me this week:

From life...your way: Home Management Notebook printables which include several different types of forms depending on your organizational style.  Here I found a meal planning sheet, pantry inventory sheet, and shopping list sheet. 

From my wonderful friend, Kristy, who had a wonderful idea to make mornings easier.  At the beginning of the week, make a breakfast casserole that could be reheated on mornings through the week.  This will allow my husband to go to morning Mass, have a hearty breakfast which He loves and not be rushed going to work.  It also leaves me with less clean-up in the kitchen. 

Here's the breakfast casserole recipe:

Tackle It Tuesday #5

This summer  made it a goal to tackle one big project a week and blog about it to keep me on task. 

I am teaming up with 5 Minutes for Mom and this is my fifth week of Tackle It Tuesday.

Here are the results so far:

• Cleaning out the Garage
• Cleaning out the Home Schooling area Part I
• Cleaning out the Home Schooling area Part II
• Cleaning out the Junk drawer
• and this week's project...

Tackle It Tuesday #4: Clean out the Junk Drawer

Welcome to Tackle It Tuesday #4. This summer, I am teaming up with 5 Minutes for Mom and completing one organizational project a week.

So far, I have:

Clean out our Garage

Clean out our Home Schooling stuff and then more stuff

The week's project was our kitchen junk drawer and the cabinet below it.  I organized all our bits and bobs, and underneath created  a self-serve drawer for my girls' plates, bowls and cups.