CHOCOLATE FOR YOUR BRAIN!

When We See

2012-02-12T23:46:00.000-05:00

This past weekend I flew down to Texas. It was for a baptism, meeting a future sister-in-law and seeing my mom and my dad who suffers from Alzheimer's and cannot say all the things he thinks or know anymore all the things he once knew with startling ease. We ate, we talked, we went to mass. We hugged, we did ordinary things like shopping for diet coke and jeans and making pot roast and folding

Small Success Thursday

2012-02-09T06:34:00.001-05:00

Today's going to be crazy....when isn't it though? But Thursday is good for me, because it makes me stop and count my blessings, stop and recognize that we are getting there, stop and assess where's I'm stopped in my life, and stop and thank God for all of it. So leave a link to your blog listing three things or more that reveal little things done with great love, little triumphs of the will

Should I Be Concerned?

2012-02-07T21:01:00.000-05:00

Facebook friends have seen this already. The other day it snowed and my kids made a snowman. Then the sun came out over the weekend and melted all the snow. So my kids made this. The soul of Calvin and Hobbes is alive and well in my progeny.

A Catholic Cassandra Call Out

2012-02-07T00:32:00.004-05:00

Kathleen Sebelius declares that her policy mandating that all institutions and organizations provide for coverage of birth control and sterilization and abortifacient medications respects religion. It respects her religion. Kathleen is a practicing faithful Democrat. I've been reading the defense of this policy that drew a swift and sure response from a body of people that normally don't

Taking the Cake

2012-02-05T10:52:00.003-05:00

Ten children have necessitated I learn how to plan and organize. But every once in a while, I'm reminded that this is not my natural state. It is an adaptive skill I've learned to survive; a nurtured Darwinian response to the level of things that must be attended to in a given day. This past Friday was the last day of Catholic Schools' Week. As a parent of currently six kids in Catholic

Why it Matters: A Pink Reflection

2012-02-03T17:08:00.009-05:00

The blogopshere, specifically, the Catholic blogosphere has been alive for four days with the sounds of people singing the praises of the Susan G. Komen Community for announcing it would no longer fund Planned Parenthood via its grants to do referrals for breast cancer. Given that they were easily one of the most popular and visible charities around, one has to ask why did they do this? Some

Catholic Survival Guide for Today and Everyday

2012-02-02T13:24:00.000-05:00

If you read the headlines, watch the news or just go on Facebook in the Catholic blogosphere (admittedly my favorite place to hang), you know that the administration's HHS policy has long tentacles, and that it is an assault on religious liberties for the government to tell religious institutions that they must violate their creed and consciences or face heavy fines. Catholics in particular have

We Interrupt Your Regular Blog Post for a few Commercials

2012-02-01T23:59:00.000-05:00

Apparently, the powers that be have determined we all need cars. First, because Twilight Mocks are always welcome here. And this makes you want...well I don't know if it makes you want a car, but it's cool. And finally, because I'm a child of the 80's and nostalgic: So now, if you don't want to watch the Patriots and the Giants duke it out over four hours of fattening food on Sunday, I've

Small Success Thursday

2012-02-01T23:17:00.001-05:00

This week I: 1) signed the petition against the HHS policy that demands that Catholic institutions pay for birth control, sterilizations and abortion inducing medications and pretends that it isn't an assault on religious liberties. 2) played with my kids -magic, football, and went outside (70 degrees gorgeous for Feb 1st!). 3) survived 2 days of husband being away. 4) went to mass and

It Beats Purgatory

2012-01-30T13:09:00.002-05:00

It began with going to my friend's funeral service. During one of her jaunts to the Mayo clinic, she'd planned her inter-faith memorial to the Nth detail. I went to be with her family, to miss her, to weep, to remember and to pray. But while we sang, wept and prayed, I kept getting pulled out of the experience because it was in a Catholic church but every once in a while, it would gong non

Make Sure You Make Time for Me

2012-01-27T17:06:00.001-05:00

It's the motto of every woman's magazine article that ever was. It's the demand of every commercial that stumps for yogurt, birth control, a gym or a cup of coffee. "Me." "Time for me." "Me time." as if all those other minutes are selfless and as such, this little oasis must be carved out of the world to ensure sanity. As always, the world has it backwards. These little emotional get aways

Small Success Thursday

2012-01-26T09:13:00.000-05:00

It's Thursday so I'm here. It's 9:05 but I'm here. This week was a week of successes, some of which aren't finished. 1) I made it to Alexandria on Monday for a friend's funeral service. It was good to go and be there with other people who loved her. I will miss her much more than our regular contact with each other would seem to indicate. 2) I worked on Helen. Every word is progress.

Doomed Romance

2012-01-26T09:03:00.001-05:00

His 100%

2012-01-23T10:15:00.001-05:00

It is a mother's fear, a mother's concern; that my son Paul is three and does not speak. He's social. He smiles. He says some things. He dumps oatmeal on his head if I'm not vigilant. He will open the drawers in the kitchen until I give in and give him a sippy cup with a drink. He says RRAAHHH! That's the animal sound for every animal from deer to dog to dinosaurs. He jumps up and down when

Thoughts on Birth Control

2012-01-22T12:43:00.001-05:00

This past weekend the administration came forth with it's final policy which will require all employers with very few exceptions to provide free of co-pays, deductibles or other contributions, prescription birth control for those who wish it. Catholic hospitals, universities and other charitable organizations that perform their corporeal acts of mercy as an outreach of their faith, shall not be

Small Success Thursday

2012-01-19T09:13:00.002-05:00

Writing sometimes makes me wonder, what am I doing? Am I spinning my wheels? Am I wasting my time? Then I get a gift. A friend, a family member, even a total stranger from the internet, will let me know something written made them laugh, smile, think, or feel better about their day. The words that seemed so useless only five minutes ago have changed, to reveal their deeper reality, how

Breaking Down the Brick Walls in Our Hearts

2012-01-17T13:13:00.004-05:00

When we found out Paul needed open heart surgery, there was no question that we would do it. There was fear, there was great fear about what it would mean, whether he would survive, but there was no question that we had to try. Paul's Down Syndrome was irrelevant to the question. He needed his heart repaired to live, ergo his heart would be repaired. Paul's age was irrelevant to the question

Spin Cycle on Doing Laundry

2012-01-15T23:03:00.001-05:00

Laundry systems work best in theory. The best theory is to let someone else do them. That's a system that works every time it is tried. Normal laundry systems work too, it's just they work until the person working them is tired. Recently I was asked to share the secrets of my laundry system because I felt proud that there were 14 baskets of laundry sitting in my main room. There are no

Small Success Thursday

2012-01-12T06:00:00.026-05:00

It's Small Success Thursday and I'm here. Some days, that's an accomplishment. Today we recount the past week and take stock of those little things that add up to a lot of love. It can be folded laundry, an exercise routine, anything; but we recognize that the small victories in life often go uncelebrated with a trophy and music and a parade and ice cream. So here, we're having a trophy and

My Brother Runs for Our Dad, and For Us

2012-01-11T09:28:00.000-05:00

My younger brother runs in marathons and teaches high school English. This is the brother that almost lost everything in a fire, but his dog was saved, as were many important sentimental things, and the rest has been replaced. For the second year, he is running to help raise money to address/cure Alzheimer's. Our Dad suffers from it. But Dad is still Dad. And as my mother wrote: He is still

Some of Life's Meaning is Lost

2012-01-10T16:58:00.003-05:00

http://moneyland.time.com/2012/01/10/hostess-maker-of-twinkies-to-file-for-bankruptcy/ Hostess is filing for Chapter 11. Bang the drum slowly and summon all ye couch potatoes to pay homage to a food group that shall be no more: the preserved completely unhealthy no matter what you do sweet that's cheap, not gourmet, not cool and decidely lazy eating. Do you understand that there shall be no

Bad Homilies

2012-01-09T12:20:00.000-05:00

We've all been there at the mass where our heads were suddenly stunned into a religious stupor by something said after the Gospel. You know what I speak of, not the long homily, not the goes everywhere homily, not the it's not a homily, it's a reminder that we're due for an annual appeal lecture, but the BAD homily. The BAD homily is not theologically unsound although that sometimes happens,

Faces on Film, and a Friend I Wish I Could See to Say Goodbye

2012-01-07T21:43:00.005-05:00

Every year we watch our wedding tape. It was a gorgeous event with over 400 guests. But it has become a sort of mini-All Saint's day as time has progressed. There are many faces I now must miss; like the Bishop who married us and gave us a large nativity set that reminds me of him every Christmas. I'm reminded how we'd lost my cousin too soon, a college friend to cancer, a second cousin to a

Smile! What Doesn't Kill Me Makes Me Stronger

2012-01-06T16:17:00.002-05:00

The other day my son came to me at 11 o'clock to ask for help because he was missing his toothpaste. Now I do not know what goes on in other people's households, but in mine, whenever someone cannot find something, they are quite certain that another child has deliberately STOLEN the item that is missing, or out of spite, simply moved it to a hidden location. It couldn't POSSIBLY be that the

SMALL SUCCESS 2012 BEGINS!

2012-01-05T08:01:00.003-05:00

Hello and welcome to Small Success Thursday! for 2012. This is the day we take stock of those little things that we've done in the past week that either advanced us towards a goal, advanced us towards preserving our family or showed that we did the little things this week that matter, that add up to a lot of little things done with great love. To participate, just list three or more if you