Planners and Journals

HOPE: I purchased a planner. A planner is an exercise in Hope. I hope to gain better control over my life and productivity. I hope to use this to keep everything in one place so I can feel less stress and anxiety. A new planner has so much hope riding on it. My two-pages per week, FranklinCovey Compass planning system I purchased at Office Depot, is quite simple as far as planners go. I get to fill in the dates, so I was able to set it up to start in May. I went ahead and set up the first two … Continue reading

Destruction of Purity

Several friends were discussing the the changes in our education system which even the parochial schools are embracing. We discussed a book assigned to middle school children written in first person from the perspective of a pedophile and everyone felt that it was not appropriate reading material for a child who is barely entering puberty.  They were wondering what the agenda was that caused the writers of this program to select a book about sexual deviancy for children who do not yet have their own healthy sexuality set solidly.  We agreed that the pornographic sex education was just wrong and … Continue reading

Great Weight Write-off Check In Feb. 16, 2013

Great Weight Write-off Check-In time!! pull up a mug of coffee and join in. This week was a net loss of weight!  YAY!!  I am now the lowest weight so far– and I feel very good about that!  Further, healing from my car wreck last December is progressing and the pain levels are coming down so I asked the doctor’s opinion on my returning to driving my own vehicle. Well, my doctor suggested it is now time to test my healing tissues by returning to more of my favorite physical activities. This week, I hope to add at least one … Continue reading

THE WAY a movie about living

THE WAY, “Written and directed by Emilio Estevez, THE WAY was filmed entirely in France and Spain along The Way of St. James, also known as “El Camino de Santiago.” ” [from the back of the DVD case], stars Martin Sheen, father of the director/writer Emelio Estevez.  Its a family affiar of a film including cameos of several members of Martin Sheen’s family. I LOVED this movie about a grieving father, a fallen away Catholic, who walks the Way for his son.  The movie included some interesting people, each struggling with their own pain, who join the main character along … Continue reading

Style, Sex and Substance: a review

I almost didn’t read Style, Sex and Substance because the title seemed flippant. On the other hand, I won’t readily forget the title!  Hallie Lord selected chapters (submitted by women bloggers, editors and writers) which were edifyingly about women struggling to live their vocations.  I found this to be a very effective book. All 10 ladies who wrote chapters for this book touched my heart deeply. I laughed, cried, and found myself making new commitments to aspects of my vocation that I had neglected.  I found this spirituality applied to everyday lives an effective way to communicate the importance of … Continue reading

REVIEW: It’s So You

“Personal style is a wink at the fashion world. Your style says, I’ve got control over you, and you’ve got nothing over me.” –from the introduction to It’s So You IT’S SO YOU by Mary Sheehan Warren, New York, Scepter Publishers, 2011, originally published by Spence Publishing, Dallas, TX, 2007; reprinted with permission. We all want to enjoy having control over fashion and often do not know how to do it.  Fashion is ever changing and usually totally wrong for anyone outside of the model walking down the runway.  IT’S SO YOU by Mary Sheehan Warren is a marvelous answer … Continue reading

7PM on Sunday Night

I recall as a child sitting down to the TV with my parents and siblings and the family dog.  Even with only the three stations our antennae could pull in, there were shows that a family could watch together that did not include gratuitous sex, violence, or swearing, lots and lots of swearing, and  adult themes were very limited until after 8 or 9 when the kids could be expected to be in bed. I’m not anti-Television.  I am a kid of the TV generation who grew up watching family shows in the evening before being sent off to bed … Continue reading

Home Improvement Revisited: Part I

My vocation includes making our home exude comfort and simplicity.  I grow spiritually and in the virtues when I work on my home with those things in mind. It is a battle ground for me. I look at clutter that has accumulated and ask myself, yet again, what does or doesn’t belong in this space? I look at my office because this was the room to which I first applied MY personal ideas of simplicity.  At the moment it is a bit cluttered with stuff for the baby.  Yet the bones of this space are still right. Every piece of … Continue reading

Mother Angelica’s Influence On My Writing

“You want to do something for the Lord…do it. Whatever you feel needs to be done, even though you’re shaking in your boots, you’re scared to death — take the first step forward. The grace comes with that one step and you get the grace as you step. Being afraid is not a problem; it’s doing nothing when you feel afraid.” — Mother Angelica Over at the National Catholic Reporter, Jennifer Fulwiler’s article on what she learned from Mother Angelica resonated with me. Years ago, my spiritual life had stalled.  The evangelical church I attended had invited a charismatic potential … Continue reading

Every Practicing Catholic Must Vote

This fall, every practicing Catholic must vote, and must vote their Catholic consciences, or by the following fall our Catholic schools, our Catholic hospitals, our Catholic Newman Centers, all our public ministries — only excepting our church buildings – could easily be shut down. Because no Catholic institution, under any circumstance, can ever cooperate with the intrinsic evil of killing innocent human life in the womb. No Catholic ministry – and yes, Mr. President, for Catholics our schools and hospitals are ministries – can remain faithful to the Lordship of the Risen Christ and to his glorious Gospel of Life … Continue reading