The Spring Daybook Edition

The Spring Daybook Edition

Outside my window... beautiful, glorious sunshine and warmth!

I am thinking... of all the things that need to be done around here.  There's never a shortage of things to do!

I am thankful... for a dear friend of mine, who made it possible for my husband to make it to the funeral of one of his best friend's dad.

In the kitchen... salmon croquettes tonight, since it's Lent and it's Friday. ;)  We're also getting everything all prepared for yummy corned beef and cabbage to go into the slow cooker in the morning, for our dinner tomorrow night! :D

I am wearing... short-sleeved knit shirt and stretchy denim shorts, no shoes.

I am wondering... when I'm ever going to get used to this time change. 

I am reading... Bringing Lent Home with Mother Teresa: Prayers, Reflections, and Activities for Families by Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle

I am hoping... to get back to exercising.  I have let that go way too long!  

I am looking forward to... more lovely spring weather!

I am learning... to let go of things.  It's extremely hard for me, but I really need to do this.

Around the house... lots of projects, de-cluttering, and general tidying up for springtime.

I am pondering... all the books I have sitting here waiting to be read, and how I'm going to get them all read.

A favorite quote for today... "Simply believing in the existence of God is not exactly what I would call a commitment. After all, even the devil believes that God exists!  Believing has to change the way we live." ~Mother Angelica

One of my favorite things... having the windows open, a gentle breeze blowing the curtains, and listening to all the wonderful sounds of the birds and animals outside.

A few plans for the rest of the week... preparing for Mass on Sunday, and getting a good start on next week.

My daughter at her 16th birthday party, at the home of a dear friend of mine.

My son, at one of his favorite restaurants. 

Daughter feeding one of the Lories at the zoo.

The Garden in Winter

The Garden in Winter 

by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Frosty-white and cold it lies 

Underneath the fretful skies; 

Snowflakes flutter where the red 

Banners of the poppies spread, 

And the drifts are wide and deep 

Where the lilies fell asleep. 

But the sunsets o'er it throw 

Flame-like splendor, lucent glow, 

And the moonshine makes it gleam 

Like a wonderland of dream, 

And the sharp winds all the day 

Pipe and whistle shrilly gay. 

Safe beneath the snowdrifts lie 

Rainbow buds of by-and-by; 

In the long, sweet days of spring 

Music of bluebells shall ring, 

And its faintly golden cup 

Many a primrose will hold up. 

Though the winds are keen and chill 

Roses' hearts are beating still, 

And the garden tranquilly 

Dreams of happy hours to be­

In the summer days of blue 

All its dreamings will come true.

Weird things going on at Facebook/Networked Blogs

I am having the craziest time getting my blog posts to post to my Facebook through Networked Blogs over there.  Here is the previous blog post I have been trying to get to show up:

http://4js4him.blogspot.com/2011/12/standing-on-my-head-christians-awake.html

Hopefully this one will show up over there.  Sorry if I've bothered anyone too many times with new blog posts showing up. 

Merry Christmas, and a great blog post I ran across...

This is an excellent post, that I ran across on my Facebook news feed. I have not been able to share it on Facebook yet, because for some strange reason it just will not let it go through, so I'm posting it here instead.

Standing on My Head: Christians Awake

I do pray everyone had a most blessedly wonderful Merry Christmas with their loved ones.  Please remember to pray for all those less fortunate, who may have lost loved ones this year or who have someone sick (home or hospital), due to disease or injury.  Also, remember to pray for our troops scattered about the world, who are without their families this Christmas.  Thanks!

My son at the altar in his alb, Christmas Eve Vigil Mass, Feast of the Nativity

Being silly at the HUGE Christmas tree, in a nearby town

The family after Mass, in the Narthex (gathering space outside of the Sanctuary)

Loss of a true Thanksgiving & Black Friday greed

I've been ranting for a while now (my poor family, lol) about the "rushing" of Christmas, and this year just took the cake with people having to report to work on Thanksgiving evening, in order for the stores to have their Black Friday sales start by 10pm and so on, Thanksgiving evening. It's just pure greed, on not only the retailers part, but the consumers as well. In fact, more of the blame lies on the consumers, because their demands are what drive the retailers to keep the hours they do. My hubby was a retail manager for years, and we never got to have him home on holidays or Sundays (still works semi-retail but has Sundays off, along with Thanksgiving and Christmas). When the rest of the world was having fun and family time, he was at work (along with most everyone else in the retail world). I don't see it getting better either, anytime soon, only worse. We all need to pray without ceasing, and we also need to support those retailers that DO take a stand and keep Sundays and holidays off for their employees.

How hard is it really, to plan to buy the things you need for a Sunday, or a holiday, BEFORE the actual holiday? I know, but what about the people that work odd hours/shifts? Well, are you telling me they can't get their shopping done before the actual "day of" the holiday? Why not? With just a bit of pre-planning, it can be done. Easily. And why are we having to rush into every holiday, particularly Christmas? Are we that consumed with greed that we can't wait until the day after Thanksgiving to start it all up? Why can't people wait until normal business hours on the day after Thanksgiving to shop the great sales? Why do they have to camp outside of stores for hours, or even DAYS, waiting for the appointed sales hour? Why do they feel the need to STAMPEDE into said stores for items that they truly don't NEED, but they feel they HAVE to have them, or that they are ENTITLED to have them. When did we become a country so consumed with greed? It's just so sad to see this stuff. So many people across the country had to sleep during the day today, so they could be ready to report to work this evening, just so a bunch of people could stampede into stores, buying things that are not necessities, just a bunch of things they think they need, or they think their children must have (or their children have demanded of them). Sad. Very, very sad. We need to keep praying, because I fear this is never going to get better, only worse. 

Okay, my rant is now over. You may return to your regularly scheduled programming. ;)

The Simple Woman's Daybook - November 10, 2011

The Simple Woman's Daybook - November 10, 2011

Outside my window... night has fallen and it is crisp and cool outside, warm and cozy inside.

I am thinking... how hard it can be for our young people growing up with the world the way it is these days.  

I am thankful for... my hard-working husband, and my wonderful children. 

From the learning rooms... noses to the grindstone; er, books that is!

From the kitchen... spaghetti with meatballs, with a homemade sauce.  The smell of the sauce is so wonderful!  We do seriously eat other things.  It's too funny we're having this again, exactly one week later!  We do have a wonderful cake for after dinner tonight.  My daughter made it. 

I am wearing... denim stretch shorts, green short-sleeved knit shirt, and barefoot. (Same clothes as this day last week too!)

I am reading... Mother Teresa and Me: Ten Years of Friendship byDonna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle

I am hoping... have a nice, long weekend since my hubby is off for four days.   

I am hearing... my daughter busy busy in the kitchen fixing dinner, my son playing with one of our dogs, and music in the background.

Around the house... hoping to work on the projects I listed out last week, now that my hubby has a nice, long weekend off.

One of my favorite things... listening to beautiful music. 

A few plans for the rest of the week...having a nice, long weekend, getting lots of work done, and then going to Mass on Sunday, watching my family all participate fully!

Here is picture for thought I am sharing...

 My son the day he was awarded (after earning it) his first rank in Boy Scouts, the rank of Scout.  He was also awarded his first merit badge, Motorboating!

My sweet, beautiful daughter!  She seems to always have her picture taken in the truck.  LOL!

Prayers needed for those in accident

Please pray for the people, and all the emergency personnel responding, in the horrific accident I saw just a little while ago. It was fully engulfed in flames as I went past, many fire engines and EMS units on scene. I have since found out that it was an RV rollover w/entrapment. I cannot see anyway someone would have survived that, without a lot of prayer and a miracle. The fire was so hot, and so far along, that I could see the frame of the vehicle, and I was on the opposite side of the 4 lane, divided highway. Please just pray. It was so horrible. Thanks.

***Update***

It appears it was an RV, pulling a minivan, and there was only one survivor, who managed to jump through one of the windows.  The other two in the RV died.  Please pray for the man, who has just lost his family, and also for the motorists that tried so desperately to help get the family out, and for the emergency repsonders as well.  Thanks.

***Update***
The "official" word has been put out.  There was just one elderly man in the RV, and he perished in the fire.  The firefighters and other motorists tried desperately to get him out, but the flames were just too intense.  The last person who tried had to leap out of the front window to escape the flames, hurting themselves in the process.  Please pray for the man who perished, his family whom the officials are trying to locate, and all those involved in attempted rescue and fighting the fire.
Thanks.

Beautiful, gorgeous, autumn!

The Autumn

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1833)

Go, sit upon the lofty hill,

And turn your eyes around,

Where waving woods and waters wild

Do hymn an autumn sound.

The summer sun is faint on them —

The summer flowers depart —

Sit still — as all transform’d to stone,

Except your musing heart.

How there you sat in summer-time,

May yet be in your mind;

And how you heard the green woods sing

Beneath the freshening wind.

Though the same wind now blows around,

You would its blast recall;

For every breath that stirs the trees,

Doth cause a leaf to fall.

Oh! like that wind, is all the mirth

That flesh and dust impart:

We cannot bear its visitings,

When change is on the heart.

Gay words and jests may make us smile,

When Sorrow is asleep;

But other things must make us smile,

When Sorrow bids us weep!

The dearest hands that clasp our hands, —

Their presence may be o’er;

The dearest voice that meets our ear,

That tone may come no more!

Youth fades; and then, the joys of youth,

Which once refresh’d our mind,

Shall come — as, on those sighing woods,

The chilling autumn wind.

Hear not the wind — view not the woods;

Look out o’er vale and hill —

In spring, the sky encircled them —

The sky is round them still.

Come autumn’s scathe — come winter’s cold —

Come change — and human fate!

Whatever prospect Heaven doth bound,

Can ne’er be desolate.

The November Daybook Edition, November 3rd

The Simple Woman's Daybook - November 3, 2011

Outside my window... absolutely gorgeous sunshine and cool temperatures!

I am thinking... how fast my children are growing up.  

I am thankful for...the wonderful job my husband has.  It's a true blessing after all we've been through since 2008.  We are patiently waiting for the pay to get back up to where we once were, but all in God's time. 

From the learning rooms... keeping the motivation going!

From the kitchen... spaghetti with meatballs, with a homemade sauce.  The smell of the sauce is so wonderful!

I am wearing... denim stretch shorts, green short-sleeved knit shirt, and barefoot.

I am reading... mater et magistra magazine

I am hoping... to finish decluttering the house.   

I am hearing... the birds and animals all making their sounds outside.  We had rain last night (thank you Lord!), and that always gets the birds all chirping away the next day.  

Around the house... We are hoping to rip out the carpeting in our son's room, and will be staining the concrete floor.  Our daughter is wanting to paint it blue, and do random clouds all over the floor.  I think it sounds really neat.  If that goes well, then our daughter wants to rip out her carpeting and paint her floor. 

One of my favorite things... this beautiful fall weather we are having.  I love having the windows open, and being able to listen to all the sounds from outdoors. 

A few plans for the rest of the week...just getting ready for the weekend.  Hubby has the weekend off, and our son is helping another Boy Scout work on his Eagle project.  He is very excited to be helping out with that.

Here is picture for thought I am sharing...

 Our son posing for the first time in his Boy Scout uniform.  He has earned the rank of Scout and has earned the Boating Merit Badge.  He is now working on the rank of Tenderfoot.

Fantastic Article about Halloween

Danielle Bean wrote a fantastic article about Halloween at Crisis today.  The link is below:

A Catholic Halloween

Please read the article, comment on it or pass it on.  If you have a Facebook account, share it over there.  I did.  

I hope and pray everyone has a fantastic, and safe, Halloween this evening.  

Don't forget to go to the Vigil Mass tonight, or Mass tomorrow for All Saint's Day.  It's a Holy Day of Obligation.  All Soul's Day is on Wednesday, and though not a Holy Day of Obligation, is very important also, remembering the souls of all our loved ones who have gone before us.  

~Kathy

These are my son's and daughter's Jack-o-lanterns.  My daughter's is on the left, and my son's on the right.  We laughed and said the top picture looked like his Jack-o-lantern was griping at hers.  LOL!