It is nearly mid-month so I guess I had better finally finish this post about my monthly goals. It’s a little funny that my last few posts have all been about setting goals when two months ago my big daily goal was just getting through the day without losing my mind and maybe managing to wash and dry one load of laundry (and try not to forget to put the clothes in the dryer until they smell so bad I have to rewash them.)

Someone who just started reading my blog in the past week may think, wow, she has it so together with her planner and goal making. Well, girl, you have no idea how wrong that impression is! Seriously, this summer has just been super busy, super stressful and by the time August rolled around I felt I was going to explode. Everything was in chaos – the house, my spiritual life, my budget, my diet, everything! Top that off with a husband trying to get through the last difficult rounds of his chemo and, well, you get the idea.

My life was craving some order and direction. Thankfully, whenever I get like this God always sends just what I need to help me get back on track. As I mentioned in a previous post, I finished Lara Casey’s Powersheets and did all the prep work before choosing my five Main Goals I want to work on over the next six months.  My September goals are things that will help me eventually reach the Main Goals.

“Make known to me your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths.” Psalms 25:4

Main Goal #1: To always have God at the center of my life and to deepen my love for Him. I want his will to be my will and motivation.

September Goals

• I have done much better in improving my night prayer so this month I am focusing on bettering my morning prayer/devotion time. There is a small window of 20 minutes that I have between getting the older kids off to school and before getting Matthew ready for pre school when I can pray my morning devotion.

• Monthly confession.

“With this ring, I thee wed…”

Main Goal #2 – To be a loving and holy wife to Brian and to work at keeping our marriage strong. I want to spend more time with him to strengthen not only our love but our friendship.

September Goals

• Spend time each day to talk and touch base, preferably after the kids have gone to bed. Also, I’ll ask Brian questions and let him talk without monopolizing the conversation.

• Plan weekly date nights. They can be at home dates but at least one date a month should be out of the house.

• Find a second sitter since our normal sitter is so busy with college now.

My inspiration shot – This is what my kitchen could looks like when I clear off all the messy counters.

Main Goal #3 – To bring order into our home so I am not stressed out by the mess and chaos. When things are organized our family life runs smoother and there is more peace.

September Goals

• Make a master list of all the areas in the house that need to be cleaned out or organized. Instead of getting overwhelmed by it all, I will tackle small bits on Fridays since that is the day I have a few hours at home without needing to be anywhere else.

• Make a weekly cleaning schedule for maintenance. For example, the laundry gets insane if I don’t do at least one load every day or so. Wednesdays are the days I have an hour window at home so I can assign housework on those days.

One of the kids favorite outings is to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Main Goal #4 – To be a good mother that loves her kids and spends time with them and is not always “too busy.” I want to teach them about their faith and how to love and serve God in their young lives.

September Goals

• Plan bi-weekly outings as a family. The off weeks can be spent playing with them in the backyard searching fossils or blowing bubbles or having a picnic on the deck.

• Update the kids’ chore chart to give them more responsibility around the house. Go back to the sticker reward charts since they seem to work well.

• Incorporate 1-2 church feast days into family life.

Along the Monterey Recreation Trail.

Main Goal #5 – To take care of myself physically, spiritually and mentally so I can be a happy and healthy wife, mother and friend. Taking care of myself mentally also means challenging myself to come out of my comfort zone and facing my fears.

September Goals

• Daily hydrate, take vitamins and walk for 20-30 min. Use my Fitbit to keep track.

• Now that I signed up as a room mom, use the opportunity to approach other moms and get to know them. There may be new friendships waiting to be made.

It may seem a bit lofty but I have six months to make progress and at the end of each month I’ll evaluate what’s working and what needs to be tweaked. I have good days – like today – and bad days like yesterday when everything was going wrong and I was losing it big time. So goes life. Thanks to God’s grace and mercy, I have been able to pick myself up, dust myself off and keep going. I also scheduled confession for Saturday morning. The extra boost of grace is just what I need.

What are you going to work on this month?

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, GoodReads, Letterboxd or Instagram. (It’s set to private but I’ll approve you.)

PPS – This post may contain affiliate links.

One of my goals in August was to improve my night prayers. I had gotten into the habit of saying my night prayers in bed before I feel asleep. However, 99% of the time I was snoring before I even got into it. Praying in the horizontal position was definitely not working for me. My goal was to say my prayers before I hit the pillow so I changed my routine. Now when the boys go to bed at 7:30-ish and the house becomes incredibly quiet, I grab my quiet-time-tote-bag (that holds my books, laptop, earphones, etc) and find a quiet spot where I can spend a little time with God.

First I say a prayer to the Holy Spirit and ask Him to enlighten my heart and my mind so I can review my day and learn from my mistakes and be grateful for my blessings. To help improve these nightly exams of the heart (and my monthly confessions) I picked up an old practice I used to do years ago. It was brought back to mind when I was discussing night prayer with someone on the Blessed Is She Facebook page. I recalled how much it helped me then and I knew God was nudging me to return to it. So I bought a cheap 50 cent composition book and I use it as my exam book. I write down the things I am sorry for that day. My impatience or losing my temper or taking Brian for granted or for being unkind to so and so. Whatever it is. On occasion, there is something I don’t want to put down on paper knowing that this book may be seen by other eyes so I literally write it in a code that I would know what it is but someone else wouldn’t. I also wrote on the first page, “This is for my eyes only. If I have died and you find this book, please throw it away for me.” LOL! No, but seriously. I did. 

Putting it down on paper may seem dumb but seriously after writing “for losing my patience” every stinkin day for weeks on end it really hits home that, girl, I gotta do something about this! And I do try and make a greater effort to control myself. It also helps when it is time for confession. I can thumb through the past month’s entries and see what things I need to bring to the foot of the cross.

When I examine my day, I don’t just look at the negative. I also look at the good things that have happened. So after I write down the things I am sorry for, I open up my gratitude journal and write down five things I am grateful for that day. It can be a blessing – like a date night with Brian or getting all the laundry done or a phone call from my mom or it can be the grace of not losing my temper when someone scribbled on the wall with permanent marker. That shows me not only God’s grace in action but that I am making baby steps towards improvement. Once my books are filled, I keep the gratitude journal and trash the other.

After my exam, I say an Evening Prayer. My favorite is found on the IMissal app on my iPhone. It reads:

O my God, at the end of this day I thank You most heartily for all the graces I have received from You. I am sorry that I have not made a better use of them. I am sorry for all the sins I have committed against You. Forgive me, O my God, and graciously protect me this night. Blessed Virgin Mary, my dear heavenly mother, take me under your protection. St. Joseph, my dear Guardian Angel, and all you saints of God, pray for me. Sweet Jesus, have pity on all poor sinners, and save them from hell. Have mercy on the suffering souls in purgatory…

(followed with Act of Contrition)

It may sound like a lot of work for our already busy lives, but seriously I can get the exam done in 10 minutes easy and from there I can spend more time in quiet prayer or say a rosary or read from a spiritual book to make it a block of 20 – 30 minutes in prayer. If I am on a tight schedule and have a lot of other obligations to finish before bed, then I keep it short. You can make it as short or as long as you want, depending on your situation. If you are a busy mom with crying babies or tugging toddlers, five minutes may be your tops. For moms who nurse at night, your exam may be said at 2 AM. For moms with older kids, you may be saying yours on the couch as you wait for them to come home from their date. Do whatever works for you. The main thing is to reconnect and reconcile with God and to thank Him for all the blessings of the day, even when you have to work really hard at finding a blessing on a “bad” day.

I’ll admit there are times when I want to skip this prayer because I have so many other things that I need to do but the extra effort is worth the peace and grace I receive from ending my day with God. Plus the act of physically quieting myself reminds me that above all else, God must be at the center of my heart. Only then will everything else fall into place.

How do you say your night prayers? Do you have a tip to help with preparing for confession?

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, GoodReads, Letterboxd or Instagram (It’s set to private but I’ll approve you.)

PPS – This post may contain affiliate links.

Welcome to the RoL Pinterest Party. Join me every 2nd and 4th Tuesday as we link up and share how we made, cooked, baked, crafted, planned, organized, followed or created one of the pins on our Pinterest boards OR share something original that others can pin onto their boards.

Not on Pinterest? No problem. Link-up your own creation to inspire us so we can pin in to our own boards. It can be a recipe, sewing project, Catholic craft, homeschool project, organizing/ homemaking tip, themed birthday party, whatever you’d like.

Don’t have a post ready? The link-up will be open for 10 days so there’s still time. Plus, feel free to link up a new post or an older post that hasn’t had much traffic lately.

* * * * *

The inspiration for this post…

Photo Credit – Lara Casey Shop.com

You can find me on Pinterest here – http://www.pinterest.com/rol_bobbi/.

The pin for this post is here.

If you’ve been reading my last few posts, you know I have been working on Lara Casey’s Powersheets. They are basically a series of worksheets that help you to focus on what is most important to you in life and what you would like to accomplish. They gives you the tools you need to draw up a plan and follow through on making those things happen.There is nothing “magical” about Powersheets; the same way there is nothing “magical” about a StairMaster. Both can sit in the corner and gather dust. However, if you get off your butt and workout on either, transformation is inevitable.

This kind of set up is perfect for me because I am scattered and unorganized and always doing too many things at once and seemingly never accomplishing anything. The powersheets have helped me to focus on what matters most in my life. It has also motivated me to dig deeper and look into myself. One sheet had me listing my fears and it was a fear in itself to voice those things, let alone document them on paper. But it has been a productive process and I am already feeling at peace. Life is still crazy and hectic but at least I feel like I am making baby steps towards handling it better and bringing some much needed order into my life and our home.

One of my favorite steps in the process was putting together a Vision Board of the things that motivate me and fill me with joy. It was recommended that we make a Pinterest Board to add things that inspire us. I started one this week here. I also wanted to create my own board with photos I’ve taken that I could print off and hang up by my desk or in the kitchen. This is what it looks like.

The photos remind me of the things that inspire me – Faith, Love, Family, Home, Nature, and Creativity.

What kind of things inspire you? Do you have an inspirational board on Pinterest? Leave the link in the comments so I can check it out. 

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Now it’s your turn.

1. Choose your creation, share about it and snap a photo if you can.

2. In your post, link back the original blogger/idea, rather than your Pinterest pin. That way credit goes to the proper person. (But feel free to add your Pinterest profile link so we can follow you!)

3. Add a link back here so others can play along.

4. If you want to use it, here is the html code for the logo:

<a href=”http://www.revolutionoflove.com/blog/?p=2157″><img title=”Revolution of Love Blog – Pinterest Party &amp; Link-up” src=”http://www.revolutionoflove.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/pinterest_2_medW32-300×240.jpg” alt=”" width=”300″ height=”240″ /></a>

5. Link up below. Make sure you’re sending us to your actual post, and not to your general blog address.

The link up will be active for 10 days. Have fun!

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, GoodReads, Letterboxd or Instagram. (It’s set to private but I’ll approve you.)

PPS – This post may contain affiliate links.

As I mentioned in a previous post, August was the first time I set up monthly goals and I have to admit that it has really helped me. Things are still chaotic and busy but I feel like I have a better handle on it. Here is a rundown of what my August goals were and how I’ve done with them.

Review of my August Goals

1. Dust off my planner.

I did dust off my planner and it has made life so much easier having one place where I can keep track of everything. I also made a daily goals sheet that I love. However, I am also in the process of moving to a new planner style – I ordered an Erin Condren Life Planner and it should be shipped soon. (Okay, this is crazy. An email from EC literally just popped up as I am typing this post. My planner has been shipped and will be here Wednesday. Any planner nerds out there will understand just how exciting that is. Add that to the announcement of the new iPhone tomorrow and I am officially geeking out here!!)

2. Do a better job at beginning and ending my day with prayer.

My night prayers were really lacking so I have been putting my focus on that. I set up a new routine and I think I have made real progress! However, I decided to write the details on a separate post for Wednesday. (UPDATE: Read the post here.)

3. Be more grateful for the little things.

I have coupled this with my night exams and it has certainly helped make me grateful for the little things and not to take for granted the blessings of my life. Again, more details Wednesday. (UPDATE: Read the post here.)

4. Make time for a few moments of creativity each day. 

I snapped Instagrams of moments like these.

 After a busy day I stopped here to relax for a few minutes and breath in the ocean air.

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Brian and I went out on a date and I know some people hate food pics but, come on! This is a work of art! If you are ever visiting Pebble Beach stop by The Tap Room and order their famous coconut cake for dessert. Yummmmm!

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I brought out my big camera and took photos for my sister of her new dog. Then used PicMonkey to edit it.

Diego fit right into dog-loving Carmel.

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I also took time to write handwritten thank you notes or “just because” cards because I love putting paper to pen and most people love to get something in the mail other than bills.

5. Make a master goal list.

I did order the Laura Casey #Powersheets (just before they sold out!) and I have completed the prep work and am now finishing up my September goal list. I’ll post my September goals on Wednesday or Thursday.

Did you make goal in August? How did it go?

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, GoodReads, Letterboxd or Instagram (It’s set to private but I’ll approve you.)

PPS – This post may contain affiliate links.

Linking up with Jenna over at Call Her Happy.

August has been super busy at home and super slow on the blog. I think I only posted 4 or 5 times this whole month. Since I haven’t been around much, here is the rundown the happenings.

Aug 1 – I get a little dizzy at how fast the summer is going!

Aug 3 – For the first time I made a set of goals I wanted to accomplish for the  month of August. I blog about it here. (Next I’ll blog about how it went!)

Aug 6 – My baby Matthew starts his first day of pre-school! I’m still getting used to not having a little guy by my side a couple days out of the week.

Aug 12 – For my Pinterest Party I made homemade granola bars. Brian and the kids really liked them. (BTW, Elena, yes they were more chewy than crunchy.)

Aug 15 – We celebrate the feast of the Assumption and Niki tags me for a blog hop about writing. (I promise I’ll answer next week, Niki!)

Aug 18 – I celebrate another year of life. My mom called and asked if I was stressing out that I am another year older. I was happy to say that I wasn’t. Nowadays I am just happy to be alive another year! I also posted my Online Daybook and talk about cleaning projects (like my disastrous laundry room), prayer, and TV, particularly with Kendra’s Answer Me This.

Aug 24 – John-Paul turns 5 years old. He is such a little man.

Aug 25 -  The bigger kids start their first day of school – a 7th grade, 1st grade and Pre-K.

Yet I can’t stop thinking about when they looked like this just a few short years ago!

Aug 26 – For the Pinterest Party I work on my daily schedule and offer a free printable – Daily Goal Sheet.

Aug 27 – My sister arrives for a visit and I am giddy with excitement.

Aug 28 – Sweet Bella has surgery to remove five baby teeth that weren’t coming out then she gets the rest of her braces on. She is a trooper!

Aug 29 -Brian leaves for a Catholic conference in SoCal. I’m glad he will have some time away after all he’s been through but I don’t like being separated from him!

Aug 31 – Brian returned home and the following day we went out on a date. It was seriously one of the best dates we’ve had in years. We jokingly decided that he should go away for a few days more often.

There were a lot of other things but these are the highlights. What have you been up to lately?

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, GoodReads, Letterboxd or Instagram (It’s set to private but I’ll approve you.)

PPS – This post contains affiliate links.

Welcome to the RoL Pinterest Party. Join me every 2nd and 4th Tuesday as we link up and share how we made, cooked, baked, crafted, planned, organized, followed or created one of the pins on our Pinterest boards OR share something original that others can pin onto their boards.

Not on Pinterest? No problem. Link-up your own creation to inspire us so we can pin in to our own boards. It can be a recipe, sewing project, Catholic craft, homeschool project, organizing/ homemaking tip, themed birthday party, whatever you’d like.

Don’t have a post ready? The link-up will be open for 10 days so there’s still time. Plus, feel free to link up a new post or an older post that hasn’t had much traffic lately.

* * * * *

The link for the pin to this post is here.

You can follow me on Pinterest here: http://pinterest.com/rol_bobbi/.

Lately for the Pinterest Parties I’ve been doing recipes but today I am doing something a little different. It’s the kids’ first day of school and we have been busy preparing uniforms, picking out new lunch boxes and buying school supplies. The air is filled with anticipation and the aroma of “bouquets of sharpened pencils.” (Name that classic rom-com!) Ever since I was a kid, this time of year has always been my favorite. Even as an adult, I still get giddy as I walk through Staples and chose a new notebook or planner and matching accessories. Yeah, I know. Nerd. But I can’t help it.

The new school year is also when I review over my current planner and try something new. This is especially important to me since I have been working so hard to accomplish my August 2014 Goals. I love my 2014 planner and it has served me well. However, the one draw back is that it is too big and bulky to carry around in my purse. That was fine when I spent most of my days home but now that the kids are all in school and I will be busy with upcoming school fundraisers and helping Andrew’s class as a room mom, I need to carry my planner with me. So while I am still in the process of changing over to something new (more of that in another post) the one constant I have been using with my weekly planner is a separate daily sheet of the day’s goals. I searched all over for one that was perfect for me and couldn’t quite find it so I finally just created one myself using Word. It is simple but it has the info I want and it is colorful enough to keep my attention.

Ideally, I get up early enough to say morning prayer before the munchkins are up. Sometimes it’s 15 minutes quietly on the couch and sometimes it’s two minutes as I’m late jumping in the shower. Either way, I read over and think about the day’s prayer/reflection. Then I chose a concrete act I can do to put into practice my spiritual resolution of the day.

The time and effort you put into this will vary, depending on your season of life. There were many days when my resolution daily resolution was to try and take a 3 minute shower before Brian got home. You know what your life looks like right now. Challenge yourself but be realistic. God knows where your heart is and the crosses you are bearing right now. For a mom with a newborn her goal may be to stay in bed a few minutes longer and catch some ZZZ’s to make up for a sleepless night. My goal would be the opposite right now. Get my butt out of bed and stop lingering on my pillow.

Next I review over my weekly planner and fill in the places I need to be and people I need to contact. Then I see what items I simply MUST do that day – ie. Pay the electricity before they shut off the lights or fill out that permission slip before my kid is banned from the field trip. This also includes household things I need to get done – ie. Get a load of whites done because no one has any underwear left or clean out the fish tank because the water is so mucky I can’t see Anakin Fishwalker in the tank.  If I finish all my “must do’s” then I can tackle some of the “should do’s” next. (Although I have yet to actually have that happen.)

I also included on my sheet my a food/exercise/water/vitamin journal, even though I am terrible at keeping track, a prayer section to remind me to make sure I slow down and reconnect with God (instead of browsing Facebook) and my notes section.

There you have it. I know there are many people who hate TO DO lists but I am too scatterbrained not to write it all down. Plus I have a tendency to be a little ADD and doing five things at once but never completing anything. This helps me to stay focused and finish the task at hand before starting something new. My goal sheet may change as I continue to work through the introductory pages of Lara Casy’s Powersheets (another future post!) but for now, it works well.

If you’d like to download a copy of my goal sheet, please feel free to do so! I have two PDFs for you.

This is Goal Sheet 1 with the bird and blue writing. Download it from Google Drive here.

This is Goal Sheet 2, which is the rainbow chevron version. Download it from Google Drive here.

Well, that is my creative share for this week! What have you been up to? Add your link or if you don’t blog, share in the comment box!

POSTSCRIPT – Of course on the day that I post all about how I am following my daily plan, I happen to sleep through my alarm (darn cold medicine!), I skip my morning prayer (other than a few desperate invocations), I barely get the kids to school before the gate is locked, my breakfast is logged in as “a cold chicken nugget and half eaten piece of toast left on the table,” I have a load of errands that keeps me out of the house until the afternoon and when I finally do get around to looking at my goal sheet I see a munchkin drew all over it before he spilled his juice on it. God likes to keep it real, people. So when you feel like nothing is going according to plan, don’t sweat it. That’s life. Work with what you can and work around what you can’t.

* * * * *

Now it’s your turn.

1. Choose your creation, share about it and snap a photo if you can.

2. In your post, link back the original blogger/idea, rather than your Pinterest pin. That way credit goes to the proper person. (But feel free to add your Pinterest profile link so we can follow you!)

3. Add a link back here so others can play along.

4. If you want to use it, here is the html code for the logo:

<a href=”http://www.revolutionoflove.com/blog/?p=2157″><img title=”Revolution of Love Blog – Pinterest Party &amp; Link-up” src=”http://www.revolutionoflove.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/pinterest_2_medW32-300×240.jpg” alt=”" width=”300″ height=”240″ /></a>

5. Link up below. Make sure you’re sending us to your actual post, and not to your general blog address.

The link up will be active for 10 days. Have fun!

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, GoodReads, Letterboxd or Instagram. (It’s set to private but I’ll approve you.)

PPS – This post may contain affiliate links.

Since I don’t use my real name online I googled “Bobbi at Revolution of Love.” The first photo was one of me and Brian from a year or two ago.

Here is the screenshot of all the images.

I love that also included in the search was the joyful sister from The Dominican Sister of Mary, Dwija’s daughter Lizzy wearing the dress we gave her and  Michelle who was also a participant in Cari’s Snapshots from Sunday.

Thanks for a fun diversion, Cari, but now it’s tie to make dinner.

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, GoodReads, Letterboxd or Instagram (It’s set to private but I’ll approve you.)

PPS – This post may contain affiliate links.

Moments of Gratitude…

Today I am especially thankful…

• For the blessing of another year of life.
• For Matthew loving his new school.
• For an at-home date night with Brian.
• For a new haircut that I desperately needed.
• For the love and fellowship of family and friends.

Embracing the Ordinary…

I’m linking up with Gina over at Someday Saints for Embrace the Ordinary.

I was trying out a new recipe and taking a photo of the final product when Matthew climbed up on the other side of the counter and said, “Tale a picture of me, Mama!” He is my “helper” in the kitchen and loves to cook by my side. Although, the background is messy I like that I can also see Andrew and Brian playing, mostly likely getting ready to build a Lego creation.

In the Kitchen…

I’m in a menu funk and feeling like I make the same things over and over again. Honestly, Brian and the kids LIKE the same things over and over. They are creatures of habit. I like tried and true but with a little variety. So I will look though my old monthly menus and my binder of new recipes to try change up this week’s menu a little. In the meantime, you’ll have to settle for this photo of lovely tasting bread that is begging for some butter and jam.

Praying…

• For my brother-in-law Mick and his fellow soldiers who were deployed to the Middle East last week. Also, for my sister Bridgette who is enduring their first separation since getting married less than a year ago.
• For Brian’s continued recovery from the side effects of his chemo.
• For those who are being persecuted for their faith.
• For a greater love and appreciation of my faith and my freedom.
• For those who are suffering physically, mentally and spiritually.
• For some special intentions.

On the homefront……

Things are busy but going well. Matthew started pre school last week. My baby is in school now! It’s going to be really weird once the other kids are in school next week and I have a few hours when the house will be completely quiet! I’m going to have to put on Star Wars or The Incredibles or Cars to make it sound more normal.

Around the house…

The spring cleaning bug always hits me (months late) in autumn. In 2012, my theme was homemaking and getting some order into my messy house. I was doing well but 2013 was the year of the cross with Brian’s cancer… and that carried on into the beginning of 2014. In the meantime, my cleaning projects were put on the back burner. Well, it is time to get back to it, especially while I have the itch and motivation to clean. (Lord knows it doesn’t last very long.)

On Friday it was the first day in a loooooong time when I didn’t have to be anywhere or drive anyone to anything so I unplugged the phone and the computer and committed myself to cleaning out my laundry room. There were so many piles of dirty laundry and so many bags of random crap thrown in the corners that I could barely walk in the room. It literally took me from 9 in the morning until 5 at night but I got it done! Yay! Now it has motivated me to tackle a few more cleaning messes. I won’t have a long stretch of time like I did on Friday but as Annie reminded me, “Slow and steady wins the race.” (PS. Mom, this photo is dedicated to you, although I still haven’t replaced that hanging rack that you hate. LOL. )

Pondering…

Last Monday I was feeling overwhelmed with all the world news of turmoil and my heart cried for the victims of atrocities, especially fellow Christians. I was saddened that one actor’s suicide seemed to spark nasty arguments amongst Catholics over moral theology. Meanwhile, family and friends were carrying heavy crosses and everything seemed to be in chaos. So after a good cry and turning of the computer and logging off of Facebook I thought, okay God what the heck can I do about all of this? Immediately the image of St. Terese came to mind. I needed to LIVE my motto  – little things done with great love. Crying and wringing my hands was not going to help.

I know prayer is powerful but I couldn’t go kneel before Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament as I desired. Instead I had mouths to feed and bottoms to be wiped and bathrooms to be scrubbed. I had to offer all those little things to God as my prayer for all the needs of the world. It may seem incredibly insignificant but God knows my heart. Which is the greater sacrifice to me? Making a Holy Hour or shutting my mouth and not complaining or losing my temper when milk is spilled or pee doesn’t land in the toilet or my favorite picture frame is smashed by a reckless light saber? Um, yeah, He knows the answer to that. So right here, right now, is my mission work!

Reading…

Danielle Bean’s book Momnipotent.

Catholicmom.com’s online book club will be reading Momnipotent in September.  It kicks off on August 30th with an interview with Danielle Bean. I’ll be reading along. Join me.

The Giver by Lois Lowry (I want to finish the book before I watch the movie.)

Listening to…

I’m kinda addicted to Echosmith right now, she said as she sang, “We are going to come together now…”

Watching…

At the Movies – August is a big movie month! I saw Guardians of the Galaxy which I loved. I was going to skip it, thinking it looked a little too weird (a talking raccoon and tree??) but I read positive reviews from Kendra and Steven so I gave it a try. It far exceeded my expectations and was a fun movie. I’m hoping to see it again with Brian.  The Hundred-Foot Journey, was another “foodie” movie like Chef. Chef was like eating a delicious steak taco with extra salsa while you’re listening to lively music. The Hundred-Foot Journey was more like dressing up and going out to eat at a fancy restaurant without kid menus. A different, more polished experience but still enjoyable. The acting was well done, the story line intriguing, the family-love brimming and shockingly all done with a PG rating. It really is a sweet movie.

On TV – We’ve got one episode left of the last season of Veronica Mars then we’ll rent the movie.

On YouTube – Are you a Hitchcock fan? If, so check this out. I’ve seen about 3/4 of this movies but missed many of these cameos!

On the blog…

Life has been going fast and posting has been slow, so only two new posts these last three weeks!

• August 2014 Goals

• Pinterest Party & Link-up (Vol 27): Homemade Granola Bars (The Pinterest Party is open until Friday so there is still time to join!)

Upcoming posts will include an update on my August goals, a review of the Fitbit and tips for getting out of a mom-slump.

In the blogosphere…

This one from my sis was hard to read but needed.

• The Day I Said Goodbye to Joan by Barefoot and Sometimes Pregnant (my sis )

These two were great reminders to me to keep my perspective on the positive!

• Your Daily Dose of Perspectives – By Slow Mama

• The Great Flood (part deux): Lessons in Gratitude by The Pitter Patter Diaries

These were helpful and/or I just enjoyed them.

• Confessions of a Paralytic by Filling My Prayer Closet

• Teaching Kids to Be Kind by Slow Mama

• Our Reversion Story by A Catholic Reversal

Pinned…

I love this from the Blessed Is She pinterest page. #catholicdevotional

Plans for the Week…

Well, since it is my birthday today I am allowed to just play on the computer and decorate my planner and listen to music and not worry about crossing things off my To Do list. (It’s cold and gloomy out so I may even get a cup of cocoa. LOL) This is actually our last week of summer vacation so we’ve got a lot of school orientations and uniforms sales and maybe we’ll try a beach trip if the sun plans to come out later in the week. Next week Bella, Andrew and John-Paul start school. Bella has oral surgery scheduled to pull out a few baby teeth that won’t come out and she is a little freaked out because she has to be put under. (Please keep her in your prayers!) Lastly, my sister Bridgette is coming up for an extended trip next week. I can’t wait!!

Captured…

For those who follow me on Instagram, you’ve already seen these. I’m adding them for my mom to see.

I went to Costco with the kids and John-Paul and Andrew found Halloween costume that they loved – a police man and an army soldier. Matthew is not allowed to get a costume until closer to Halloween since it changes all the time. So far in the running we have Captain America, Spiderman, a Ninja Turtle, Dash from The Incredibles , a race car driver or a Jedi Knight with a green light saber. He was very specific about that. Luckily, (except for Dash) we already have all these costumes at home.

We needed to have Matthew potty trained before he went to pre school. The other kids took forever to be fully potty trained so I told Matthew that I would finally buy him the big boy bike he wanted once he was potty trained. We made a chart and put on his stickers and two weeks later he was completely trained and in his undies. I should have done this years earlier!

 Matthew and I were walking along when I saw this fruit on the floor. I told Matthew, “Look what fell off that tree.” He said, “Wow! Meatballs!” LOL. I think we need an agricultural review.

Linking-Up with…

A Mama Collective’s Currently

Gina’s Embrace the Ordinary

AND

It’s a triple header with my last link up being with Kendra’s Answer Me This.

1. What is your favorite room in the house?

Mostly likely the kitchen since I spend so much time there. The house we are living on now was Brian’s grandma’s house. When she passed away, his aunt lived here. She has since passed and we were able to move in when Bella was four and an only child. This is what the kitchen looked like then.

We slowly have been working on it and nine years later it looks like this.

You can see the rest of the remodel photos here.

2. Do you subscribe to any magazines or other periodicals?

Can you guess which mag is mine and which is the mag of my holier spouse?

I love magazines! I love the photos and the feel of holding paper in your hand, even though 95% of my reading is done with ebooks. I like the bite-sized articles that I can fit in here are there rather than trying to put down a book I can’t stop reading. I currently subscribe to Catholic Digest, Real Simple, Martha Stewart Living, Cooking Light, Food Network (although I’m letting the subscription run out on that one), Lucky and Entertainment Weekly.

3. How do you feel about the sign of peace in Mass? Enriching? Awkward? Overdone? Just right? Some combination of the above?

I am a touchy-feely hugger so I enjoy the sign of peace as long as the other person touching my hand hasn’t been sneezing all through Mass and as long as everyone STOPS once the Lamb of God starts.

4. What is your least favorite sound?

It’s a three-way tie: Nails on a chalkboard or high-pitched whining or Matthew’s current practice of screeching at the top of his lungs.

5. What was your favorite TV show (or shows) growing up?

As a little kid my favorite cartoon was Scooby Doo. My favorite family shows were Little House on the Prairie,  The Cosby Show and repeats of The Brady Bunch. However, the one show that is the closest to my heart is I Love Lucy. Watching a show today brings me right back to the kitchen with my mom laughing with Lucy and Ricky. I own every episode on DVD and my kids have seen them all too. When I am with my family we still quote lines to each other in our normal conversation.

6. What are your favorite TV shows now?

I always have way more shows in my DVR than I have time to watch but it carries over to the summer months when there is nothing on and I can catch up on the past fall shows I never finished. My current faves are Sherlock, almost all the Masterpiece Mystery shows,  Downton Abbey, The Walking Dead, Sleepy Hollow, The Blacklist, The Middle, The Big Bang Theory, Parenthood, Grimm, and for a bit of guilty pleasure -Pretty Little Liars. The show I am most looking forward to watching in fall is Gotham. I’ll also mention that I used to be a fan of Once Upon A Time but the Peter Pan storyline was draaaaaaaging on and I gave up and deleted the shows from my DVR. Well, with the summer slump I started watching again and got back into it so I have a few more episodes to go and I’ll be ready for the new season.

Wow, that was a long post. Thanks for reading through it.

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, GoodReads, Letterboxd or Instagram (It’s set to private but I’ll approve you.)

PPS – This post contains affiliate links.

Welcome to the RoL Pinterest Party. Join me every 2nd and 4th Tuesday as we link up and share how we made, cooked, baked, crafted, planned, organized, followed or created one of the pins on our Pinterest boards OR share something original that others can pin onto their boards.

Not on Pinterest? No problem. Link-up your own creation to inspire us so we can pin in to our own boards. It can be a recipe, sewing project, Catholic craft, homeschool project, organizing/ homemaking tip, themed birthday party, whatever you’d like.

Don’t have a post ready? The link-up will be open for 10 days so there’s still time. Plus, feel free to link up a new post or an older post that hasn’t had much traffic lately.

* * * * *

Since we are trying to eat healthier and more whole foods, when I saw this recipe for homemade Grab and Go Granola Bars  I was eager to give them a try. The recipe was posted by Amy over at Super Healthy Kids.com.

She originally got it from Anni Daulter, the author of

The Organic Family Cookbook: Growing, Greening, and Cooking Together.

Here’s the recipe:

• 2 cups Rolled oats
• 1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries (I used raisins instead.)
• 1/4 cup wheat germ
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup natural peanut butter
• 3/4 cup honey
• 1 tablespoon flax oil
• 3 TBL brown sugar (I used unrefined coconut sugar instead.)
• mini chocolate chips (optional – white or milk)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a ceramic or glass 9X13 inch baking dish.

Mix oats, sunflower seeds, cranberries, wheat germ, and almonds altogether in a bowl.

Spread mixture on a sheet pan and toast in preheated oven for 8 minutes. Return mixture to a large bowl.

In a medium saucepan, combine salt, peanut butter, honey, flax oil, and brown sugar. Bring to a boil over medium heat and immediately remove from heat.(Watch closely! It can burn easily. Don’t ask me how I know. )

Pour over oats mixture and combine until dry ingredients are evenly coated.

Stir in chocolate if you are using it.

Pour into baking dish. Press mixture down into pan. Bake for 20 minutes.

Let cool for up to 2 hours and then cut and serve.

I cooked the granola for 20 minutes but I should have done it a little less or lowered the temp because my oven always runs a little hotter and the edges of the pan were overcooked. Next time I also need to press the granola down more. There were pockets where it was too loose and it crumbled. Despite a few glitches, no one besides me seemed to mind and the family gobbled up the bars. I’ll definitely be making these again. I think next time I’ll also add some coconut.

* * * * *

Now it’s your turn.

1. Choose your creation, share about it and snap a photo if you can.

2. In your post, link back the original blogger/idea, rather than your Pinterest pin. That way credit goes to the proper person. (But feel free to add your Pinterest profile link so we can follow you!)

3. Add a link back here so others can play along.

4. If you want to use it, here is the html code for the logo:

<a href=”http://www.revolutionoflove.com/blog/?p=2157″><img title=”Revolution of Love Blog – Pinterest Party &amp; Link-up” src=”http://www.revolutionoflove.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/pinterest_2_medW32-300×240.jpg” alt=”" width=”300″ height=”240″ /></a>

5. Link up below. Make sure you’re sending us to your actual post, and not to your general blog address.

Lastly, you can follow me on Pinterest here: http://pinterest.com/rol_bobbi/.

The link up will be active for 10 days. Have fun!

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, GoodReads, Letterboxd or Instagram. (It’s set to private but I’ll approve you.)

PPS – This post contains affiliate links.

July is gone and August is here to usher the end of our summer days. I love the feeling you get when a new month starts. Turning the calendar to a new page is like a fresh start to new adventures and to work on the areas you want to improve.

There is one area that has been on my mind ever since I took Elizabeth Foss’ Restore course back in spring. (I blogged about it here.) I went back and reread Elizabeth’s essay about having a well ordered day. I felt like everything she was saying was just what I needed to hear, again. It also had me thinking about setting goals in my life. I always admired how Ashley at The Big White Farmhouse had her yearly and monthly goals that she wanted to accomplish. I loved the idea! I also noticed today that Jenna over at A Mama Collective also made a list of August goals she wanted to work on.

I never gave much thought to having life goals before now. (Well, except for the huge goal of finding a good husband when I was still single. ) Seriously, I always imagined “goals” as being grand, lofty things like starting a business or going back to school or writing a book or something. It seemed ridiculous to make those kind of goals when I was just trying to make it to the end of the day with my sanity and perhaps a clean load of laundry. Lately, I’ve definitely been surviving, not thriving. Then I read what Elizabeth said here:

What do you want your life to look like? What do you see as your unique calling? These might be grand, lofty, complex things, like starting a ministry or taking a mission trip. But they might also be less grandiose, but deeply textured things like running a well-ordered home and opening your doors to your neighbors. Honestly, for right now, in this season, one of your primary goals might just be to get some sleep!

Well, that made sense. Thankfully, I’m at the stage where all the kids sleep through the night now so I’m getting enough sleep for the most part. (Except for those fave TV show binges on the weekend.) But I can feel that things in my life are shifting a little. Matthew, the youngest of the kids, is not a toddler anymore. He is three and will start preschool next week. I’ll have a couple hours three days a week when I’m alone and can get things done. But what? What does God want of me? I am reminded of Elizabeth’s words again:

Think about where you want to be next month, next year, five years from now, twenty years from now. Think about who you want to be. Ask God what His unique call is on your life. Our goal in life really is to use ourselves up. Our goal is to pour ourselves out in doing what He intended for us. Our goal is to be fully present in the love our Creator. Now, look at your calendar? Do you see the goal being lived out there?

Thinking where I want to be 25 years from now seems a little daunting! I want to be..alive? For now I’ll start small. Today I am just going to focus on where I want to be by next month. So these are my goals for August 2014.

1. Dust off my planner.

Once school was over in June and we left for our vacation in Lake Tahoe, I happily put my daily planner aside and wanted to just enjoy the leisure days of summer. Well, that was fine in Tahoe but once we got back home it has been a whirlwind of swimming lessons, summer activities, doctor, dentist and ortho appointments, home improvement projects and numerous family obligations. I am floundering with the chaos of it all. I feel like this has been the busiest summer in years, and not in a good way. I  have been trying to keep it all straight in my head, randomly writing post-its or leaving reminders on my iphone and IT. IS. NOT. WORKING. I have a terrible memory and if I don’t have it all written down in one place, you can forget about it happening! My concrete action – Go back to writing everything I need to do in my planner and not scraps of paper.

2. Do a better job at beginning and ending my day with prayer.

Sometimes it is hit and miss, especially my night prayer. My concrete action – I need to do my evening prayer before I lay down in bed. Praying in the horizontal position is no bueno for me!

The gratitude journal I won from Sarah’s contest at Fumbling towards Grace. The cover says, “In everything give thanks.” I love it.

3. Be more grateful for the little things.

Truth be told, too often I let all the little crosses of a mom’s life overwhelm me. (I can hear my mom say, “Well, that’s a shocker.”) Seriously, there has just been a lot going on with Brian’s cancer and the kids and life…and yada, yada, yada that I sometimes forget just how incredibly blessed I am! I want to have more glass-half-full moments than glass-half-empty ones. My concrete action – When I do my nightly exam I will return to writing down 5 things that I am grateful for that day. On good days it’s easy. On rough days, not so much but I still need to do it.

4. Make time for a few moments of creativity each day.

I get such a real joy when I am doing something that requires creativity. Whether is taking a photograph or working on my Project Life album or scribbling in my journal or making a scripture meme for the blog…all those little things can draw a person closer to God who is the master Creator. My concrete action – To help me keep that goal I’ll  be doing #31daysofgratitude on Instagram.

5. Make a master goal list.

I seriously have numerous goals in my head right now, particularly in the homemaking department, but I need to hone my ideas. I think the next best step would be to take more time to sit and pray and ask God what He desires of me. Where does He want me to be a year from now – physically, spiritually and emotionally? I’ll them break down those bigger goals into smaller monthly and weekly goals. My concrete action – Sit down and fill out the Laura Casey Powersheets that Elizabeth recommended.

Do you normally set goals? What goals are you working on this month?

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, GoodReads, Letterboxd or Instagram (It’s set to private but I’ll approve you.)

PPS – This post may contain affiliate links.