A New Week

Ever since I quit working outside the home, I've come to enjoy Mondays. I get the feeling that it's a new beginning, a time to start over after my plans from the week before didn't quite work out. It's a time to pick myself up and begin again or to continue with what's been working.

This summer, the routines have flown out the window. After two kids with pneumonia, things were slightly askew, but everyone is better now and I look forward to planning things again and actually going through with them, God willing!

Today will be a busy day. I have some errands to do, then pay a visit to my mother, who I haven't seen in awhile. I have lots of tomatoes to give her. My tomato plant has really started producing. I've had to start picking them while they are slightly orange, almost red. When I wait for them to get a nice red color, they've already gotten a little soft and mushy on the the inside. But they are delicious. A wonderful aroma with a taste that's hard to get all the time from the grocery store.

My blog has been neglected lately and I really need to update my list of books read. I've been on a kick for reading Michael Connelly books. My sister-in-law let me borrow some of her books because she knew I liked the Jack Bauer character from "24". The main character from these books, Harry Bosch, is a lot like Jack Bauer. The ones I've read so far are really good. They are good who dunnit, crime fiction stories. There is a little swearing and some adult situations, ..ahem, but not an excessive amount, and well, they are crime stories.

Last night, I saw the movie The Pursuit of Happyness. I just loved it! What an inspiring story about a father doing everything he can to provide a better life for his son! I stayed up way too late to finish this one and by the end, I just had tears falling down. If you've never seen this movie, I'd recommend it if you don't mind shedding a few tears! There's not many movies I give 5 stars to on my Netflix queue, but this is one.

Well, I need to get going with the rest of my day. I hope you all have a blessed week!

Book Meme

I was tagged for this meme by Tracy:



I'm supposed to find the book closest to me, turn to page 56 and type out the 5th sentence and then two to five more sentences after that.



The book closest to me right now is, The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs.



Page 56, sentence five and a few more after that: Only in a gown. A tight gown." The blonde leaned over to whisper in Georgia's ear. "And we won't hesitate to play up my decolletage, will we? Show it off a bit."



I haven't actually started reading this book yet. The title seemed pretty interesting since I like to knit. I haven't updated my sidebar to show what I'm reading right now, but I am doing some reading here and there. Let's see, aside from the above mentioned book, I have:

Love Takes Wing - Janette Oke
Love Finds a Home - Janette Oke

These are the 7th and 8th books in the Love Comes Softly series. I'm just loving these books. I love the old-fashioned values that are depicted, the way the women took care of their families and homes, and just the simpler way of life.

When Calls the Heart - Janette Oke

This is the first book in another prairie series. I hope it's as good as the other one.

These books are due back at the library in two weeks. I don't know if I'll have them read by that time. With all the Christmas preparation that will be going on, I'm not too sure. I may have to renew some of them.

As you can tell, I'm in my light fiction reading phase right now. My brain can't sink into the more deep spiritual insight books right at this moment, although I should take the time to find one to read during this Advent season. I need to focus myself and my family on the "reason for the season."

Old Treasures

I love reading prayer books and general Catholic books written pre-Vatican II. I find that they are very concise and straight to the point about what it means to be a Catholic. The prayers are often beautiful and God centered rather than me centered. I learn a lot from those type of books. And they help me in my prayer life.

I wanted to share a couple of these treasures.

My mother recently found this book at her house when she was doing some digging around. My father had ordered this some time in 1964. At least that's what is written in the front of the book. This book is called My Catholic Faith by the Most Reverend Louis Laravoire Morrow, S.T.D. It was printed in 1949. It contains information about what Catholics believe and even information about the hierarchy of the Church. It is written in Q & A format and has those Catholic illustrations that seem to abound in old books.

Sorry for the blurry picture. My camera doesn't take close-ups very well. This is a shot of the chapter about Sins Against Truth.

What is a LIE?

A lie is something said for the purpose of deceiving others, which we know or suspect to be untrue.

A lie expresses opposition between one's word and one's thought; it implies the intention to deceive by stating what is false.

Lying is a sin even when it may be the means of effecting much good; we must not commit evil in order to obtain good.

Further questions asked are: When does a person commit the sin of Rash Judgement? When does a person commit the sin of Detraction? When does a person commit the sin of Calumny or Slander?

I happened to google this book and came up with an on-line version. It is not the complete book but it has a lot of information. You can find it HERE.

The other old book I'd like to share is this prayer book that my mother gave me. She has an exact copy from my grandmother, which was in better condition, so she gave me her own copy. I love that it is worn. It shows that it was used a lot. I have so many fond memories of this book, even though it's in Spanish. Ever since I can remember, my mother has belonged to a Rosary prayer group. Once a month she has gotten together with other ladies and said the Rosary as a group and then shared a meal together. She has been the official leader in the recitation of the Rosary and she always used this prayer book, which had a Rosary novena prayer and a litany of the Blessed Mother.

This prayer book is called El Devocionario Para Todos (The Devotional For Everyone). It was printed in 1942. Aside from the Rosary prayers, it has meditations, Gospel readings, novenas, and many more prayers. It is just a treasure to me. Besides the spiritual aspect, it is such a wonderful reminder of my mother. It is something that gave her strength and was important in her relationship with God.

I have a few other old gems, but so far, these are my favorites!

What I've Been Up To

I've just been taking it easy and trying to keep the kids occupied so they won't get on each other's nerves.

Earlier in the week, we went to Universal City Walk (an outdoor shopping area) near Universal Studios. We had some lunch, spent an accidental fortune on candy, and just enjoyed window shopping. Regarding the candy, the store is one of those where you choose your own in a bag and pay by weight. As I was helping Emily get her 1/4 of a lb amount, Kathryn went on her own and loaded up on Jelly Beans and M&M's. She thought you just filled up the bag with whatever you wanted. Of course, the rules are, once you get the candy, you just can't put it back. The total ended up being something like $20.00. Too much for our pocketbook, on candy, no less!!!

This is Emily enjoying some of Kathryn's loot!

Steve painted Kathryn's room. It's now a BRIGHT pink. A very modern look for our cool girl!

This is just a swatch of the color. It's much brighter in real life.

The kids had lots of basketball practice going on. Games are usually on the weekend.

We've done some reading and worked on Math skills.

We had this visitor in our house the other day.




When Ryan and Emily came running into my room saying there was some kind of big bug flying in the living room, I was secretly panicking because I was so hoping it would not be a flying cockroach. Those things FREAK ME OUT!!!! I need Steve to handle that stuff but he was at work, so I had to be the grown up and take care of the situation. I was so relieved when I saw that it was just one of these beetles. I don't know what they're really called but we call them Japanese Beetles. They have a really pretty fluorescent green shell. We seem to get these in the house every so often. I don't know how they get in, but when we find one, we get it and send it back outside. It makes a buzzing noise like the June bugs.

Yesterday was the start of our county fair. I love going there every year. I usually go twice - once with the kids and once just Steve and I. The kids don't usually care to spend lots of time looking at the foods and crafts on display. I enjoy looking at all that stuff. I have to take snapshots of beautiful crocheted and knitted items for inspiration! That reminds me I need to continue with the Minnie Mouse afghan!!

Here's a snapshot of the books I'm reading right now. I usually try to read one book at a time, but I couldn't resist when I saw these at the local library and my church library.

Love's Abiding Joy by Janette Oke - 4th in the Love Comes Softly series

This is a wonderful story about living in the frontier West.

Come Be My Light - writings of Blessed Mother Teresa

Excellent insights into her life

Only Heroic Catholic Families Will Survive - Fr. Robert J. Fox

These are great essays and articles written by an assortment of people about family life, marriage, parenthood, and what it truly means to be a Catholic family in today's culture.

So, I'm enjoying these warm summer days, just doing the simple things with my family.

I hope you're all enjoying your summer. And for those of you Down Under, I hope you're staying warm and cozy!

What's Been Going On

I've been busy catching up on some reading. I've had St. Frances de Sales book Introduction to the Devout Life sitting on my nightstand for what seems like forever. There are so many things to ponder that I was trudging, wanting to savor or reflect on what I just read, until I finally decided to just go ahead and read at a regular pace and just wait for something to really jump out at me. I figured the Holy Spirit would lead me to where I needed to concentrate. So I'm finally making headway with the book and should be finished soon.

Another book that I recently finished but want to re-read is Dressing with Dignity by Colleen Hammond. This book really opened my eyes about how the way we dress can be an occasion of sin for others, especially men. It's made me really think about modest dressing and whether I will be making changes in how I dress. I haven't sorted it out yet but I'm praying about it.

I'm still working on the Minnie Mouse afghan. I also started working on a knitted dishcloth, but I made a mistake, dropped a stitch and will have to do some ripping out of stitches. I've always had problems correcting mistakes in knitting because I don't quite know what to do. My knitting teacher, back when I was taking the knitting class, showed me what to do so I was beginning to recognize exactly what kind of mistake I made and make the correction. Well, I couldn't make heads or tails of my mistake so I think I need to rip out the stitches. I easily get intimidated when these things happen and end up just putting the thing away for a while. I don't want to do that this time. I will forge ahead!

I'm also still trying to finish watching Gone With the Wind. The only time I get a chance to watch it is when the kids are in bed. By then, I'm so tuckered out that I only get to watch about 15 or 20 minutes before I start dozing off! But, I'm enjoying it so far.

I think I have some sick, hopefully not dead, trees in my front yard. There's hardly any leaves on them and they just look so bare! All the other trees in the neighborhood look normal, but somethings not right with mine.

This is what my tree should look like right now. Nice and bushy, giving lots of shade.

This is one of my trees. It looks pretty sparse.

This is the other tree. Quite pathetic.

I called the city to come investigate, but of course no human answered the phone, so I left a message with the tree maintenance supervisor to have someone come out to take a look. I haven't seen anyone from the city around, so I don't know if they came around or not. I haven't gotten a call back either. I'll have to call again this coming week. I'm going to miss the shade this summer!

Well, I'm off to relax for the rest of the night. Shall I attempt to watch Gone With the Wind?

Bad Habit

I've been really trying to curb this habit and was doing pretty good, but today I couldn't resist it. I was browsing through Amazon.com ( big mistake) looking at the description of some books that were on my wish list and before I knew it, I was finalizing my order for three items! I don't usually do this, but it was all a blur. I usually write down the names of the books I'd like and check to see if they are available at my library or the other branches.

In case anyone is curious as to what made me give in, here is what I bought:



I've heard good reviews about this book, Home Comforts by Cheryl Mendelson. Keeping house does not come naturally to me. It was not taught to me growing up, so a lot of what I've learned comes from books such as this, observing others, and reading homemaking blogs. Someday I'll do a post about my homemaking adventures.

Previously, I posted a meditation written by Elizabeth Leseur that really spoke to me. I wanted to read more about her and more of her writings, so I had to get this one, The Secret Diary of Elizabeth Leseur

Now, this one is not a book, but I couldn't resist getting it- Champions of Faith. It's an evangelistic tool/documentary about Catholic professional baseball players and the importance of the Catholic faith in their lives. We are a baseball loving family and I'd really love to see the witness of these players and how they love their faith.

So, there you have it. Now, I will have to do some clean up on my sidebar. Lately, the reading has been pushed to the side as I've been devoting more time to my knitting. I'm sure I'll go back to the reading when my shipment comes in!

What Happened?

How does this happen? I told Kathryn and Ryan that I would take them to the bookstore to buy ONE Reader/Chapter book each. Kathryn needs to do another book report and Ryan needs to start reading to me, period. Emily came along and I knew I'd have to get her a book, too. But that's OK, as long as they like reading books, that's what counts. I figured they could each find a cheap paperback book that's under five dollars. They're not too expensive.

How did Ryan and Emily end up with cute Spot stuffed animals? Ryan got a bug book that was above the target price range. He ended up with no Reader/Chapter book. Emily didn't get any book. Kathryn got a Chapter book (yeah!) but is more interested in her tween girl talk book that she bought with her own money. Yours truly had no will power and ended up buying a book to add to my list of 500 books to be read (hee hee - a little exaggerated).

Note to self: Break out the library cards!