The Mother of All Linky Posts!

Hosted by This Ain't The Lyceum

1.  Today is September 11th.  Everyone has a story of that day back in 2001.  It's a dull ache this fourteen years later, but when you see the pictures of the before and the after, the knife of it comes back.   So hug your family today, and stop and breathe deep the air of this country. We're free. We have our fights and our problems to be sure, but we have the gift of this day, and so many on that day, don't.   

2.  This was unexpected.  But it's lovely to see, lovely to hear, and gives me great hope, and I say that as someone who has never voted for Joe Biden.  Hearing two men on prime television during popular time, talk about suffering, death, and their faith, felt so natural and normal, and yet it isn't, so let yourself enjoy this clip.  I will be watching more of Stephen Colbert in part because of this sort of surprise. 

 

3. I didn't link up yesterday to Small Success Thursday, in part because yesterday was it's meeting day. I had meetings in the morning and the evening.  So if you need a break, stop and count your blessings.

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4.  NEWS FLASH...I am considering a smart phone.  This seems as good a time as will ever come to dust off this published gem, "Imprisoned Without a Cell to Speak of" from my past.

Monday, I spent two hours at the same store.  They were nicer. They told me I should not buy from the store, but buy online.   They are gentler.  I wish they told me that two hours ago.

They are still woefully irritating when it comes to selling me what I want, and getting to it sooner than never.   That being said, I may soon succumb to the need to get a new phone, or take up letter writing.

5.   Happy Birthday Paul!  

My son turns seven next week.  It does not seem like seven years have passed.  He's happier than the picture indicates, but he never likes sitting still for pictures.   

6.  What am I reading?

Well, I just finished up True Radiance by Lisa Mladinich, as a reviewer for the Catholic Writers Guild. and I enjoyed it.  It's a good reflection (for the most part), on the nature of internal beauty. Here's a snippet to show what happens when she gets going:

"To allow the culture to mislead us about our identity as daughters of God has an impact on more than just ourselves.  We are the hearts of our homes and communities, creators and caretakers of tradition and mentors of the generations to come."  Lovely stuff.

 I've also just read a snatch of another book, Your Sacred Yes by Susie Larson.

"Jesus invites us to live as a joyful, secure, expectant people who respond to the nudges of the Holy Spirit within us, who live awakened to the adventure of faith God invites us to, and who believe that as a kingdom people, everywhere we place our feet, the spiritual atmosphere changes, because Christ-in-us has led us there."  

That quote alone made me very interested to see how she follows up.

7. What's For Dinner?

Well, with three nights filled by Back to School, this week's dinner menu has been....creative. Yesterday, I punted and ordered pizza.  Wednesday, my oldest son at home, made spaghetti and meatballs and salad, and Tuesday, I made pot roast that cooked all day, smelled awesome, all of the kids ate, but all of them said they hated it.  All I got was the brown cooked onions on the bottom. Granted, those were delicious, but it didn't quite satisfy.  Tonight?  We're having chicken.  How?

Baked chicken with parmesan brown butter. (Don't get too excited, it's an easy recipe).

1) Bake chicken --with skin on, for 1 hour at 375.

2) Turn oven up to 425.  Take chicken out of oven and pour grease off. 

3) Put chicken back in oven.

4) Let cook for 25 more minutes, or until the skin is toasty and brown.

5) Melt a stick of butter in a pan, let it heat (on low), until it turns a nutty brown.

6) Take chicken out of oven.  Cover/dust with parmesan. (The green can of stuff will work fine).

7) Pour melted butter over the pieces of chicken. The heat from the butter melts the cheese onto the crust.  It is yummy.  

Serve with green beans, bread, and the obligatory salad 85% of my family won't eat.  

7 Quick Takes

Hosted actually at This Ain't the Lyceum

1. We have a garden in the backyard.  We've planted beans.  The shoots have grown tall, lovely, full of beautiful red flowers.  They tower over the rest of the garden, and create a fantastic visual display.  However, there are no beans, only blossoms.  It takes a special sort of bee to visit and pollinate these flowers, and that one is not anywhere to be seen.   I've thought about taking a q-tip and trying to cross pollinate the bean plants, but it might damage the flowers, meaning that even if the right bee were to show up, they would be unable to make the plant germinate and bear fruit.   The plants remain a showcase of the garden, and yet, they cannot feed us. They will wither and die because they were made for a symbiotic relationship that for whatever reason, isn't happening.   (Sigh).   

2.  We cleaned out three laundry bags full of not fitting anyone clothing, just from the upstairs!   Now I have to hit the main floor and it's rather like trying to take a spiritual inventory.  You discover your sins if you start to look.  It's possible to work really hard, and discover you engage in systemic sloth.   I don't want to will to do something, so it waits until it is a galactic project.    Why do I like galactic projects?  

3.  The sacred and luminous surround us, if only we look.  

I read Facebook, I follow the news, there are people everywhere declaring their despair; over Encyclicals, over Supreme Court decisions, over actions past and present, over riots, shootings, debt, the rage and outrage, the roar and gnashing and wailing of teeth is visible.  

Being a peacemaker, means seeing both sides of the issue, not proclaiming a single victor and telling the other side, "Suck it."   Being merciful means extending charity where it is not deserved, because we would want it given when we have failed to live up to expectations, or to being what is good, true and beautiful.   Being humble, means not demanding my will, but Thy will be done.   

It's not easy, because even when a soul is in a state of grace, that "my will" will show up and say....But God didn't mean that...or God couldn't want this...and seek some form of rationalization for whatever it is to be my will, rather than "thy."  If we want a peaceful, merciful, charitable nation, we will have to start being more peaceful, (which does not mean flaccid or mellow).  If we want a more merciful nation, we will have to practice being more merciful (not chortling when our opinion is affirmed at those disappointed), and not taking glee in others' pain or comeuppance. 

It isn't easy to be charitable (giving, and being cheerful about it), but it is what we're called to be in all things and at all times.  If Saint Maximilian  Kolbe can sing songs of praise in isolation in the concentration camps at Auschwitz, then we can sing with full hearts no matter what vexes us.  So we don't have an excuse.  We'll have to will it.   That means, yes, another galactic project.   

4.   Which brings me to this song from our wedding.  I'm busy trying to find someone to transfer everything to a digital copy from our video (VHS) cassette for our 25th Anniversary. Watching the movie brings back a lot of memories.   It also stuns the children to see their father and me young.   We were...I will scan photos of us when I get done with getting a digital copy of everything...in the meantime, this is my favorite song from our wedding, even if it's not sung by those who sang it for us.  

  

So sing.   Sing loud.  Sing full.  

5.  But back to the mood of the nation.  What can we do?  To mend the nation? To heal the wounds of our society that seem to be constantly picked open, rather than dressed and made clean?   To make the public discourse of life, whether on the internet or in real life, a source of peace, joy and hope?  

    1) "Jesus if you will it, you can make me clean." (We need to ask).  

    2) Prayer and fasting.  (because some wrongs can only be cast off with such penance). 

    3)  Almsgiving.  (Redress for all the wrongs we've inflicted, past and present).  

(I confess, I'm not very good at fasting if diets are any indication, nor am I a great almsgiver, and even prayer life has sluffed off with the summer).   Will work on it...all of it

6.  I'm really glad I'm an adult now. I'm not sure I could take being a teenager now, with everything digitalized and immortalized.  I was stupid as a teen, so I'm glad my stupidity is not as well known as it would be if I were a teen now.

Also, none of my teens have held part time jobs, because all jobs are done through the main office, and they want only adults, never teens.   They also want full time, never part. To me, holding a job was part of being a teen, learning about working a job.   I'm sorry the first three haven't had the opportunity.  

7.    What am I reading?  The House of Brede!  It's taking a bit of discipline not to run through the pages because I like it so much.  I tend to gobble a book I like, but it shouldn't be done with this one, or I'll miss something important.   

7 Quick Takes With LOTS of LINKY LOVE....

1.  Small Success Thursday!  

I wrote it late Wednesday,which is past the deadline so I thought the piece would be DOA.  

It wasn't, but I didn't know until late last night.  So if you'd like to stop, smell the roses, count your blessings and take stock of the past week, here's your chance over at Catholic Mom!

Hint: Road Trip!

2.  Eat Sleep Write:  

I post a lot of humor pieces over at Eat Sleep Write.  In return, there's a bit of extra exposure.  I hope all of you go take a look at the work and maybe leave a comment.  Same humor, same voice, same chaos fighting against the possibility of order, same Sherry, just a different web address.   Here's my latest:  Ask a Stupid Question.

3.  Check out the flyer!!!

To those who bought my book, thank you.  It makes a writer's day to know someone else enjoyed it.  To those of you thinking about it, here's your chance for a fun summer read.  

4. Didn't I tell you lots of linky love this week?   

Have write a book on your bucket list?  

          Have a book you need to polish for publication?  

                   Have a desire to write but don't know how?  

Here's your answer. 

Writer's World is a critique community I've been a member of for over a year. You can only self teach so much; sometimes what you need is an extra set of eyes pointing out the flaws.  

Randall Andrews is the editor/creator of Writers World and the Writers World Boot Camp. I am currently in the first boot camp, though I owe about 12,000 words.  (The equivalent of a twenty mile march with a backpack all night and then 1000 push ups).    So as part of my penance for my negligence of poor Penelope, I'm suggesting you consider (whether you're a fiction, fan fiction or non-fiction writer) enlisting in his next camp.     

Writers World Boot Camp 2
July 1st, 2015 - January 1st, 2016

Hosted by Randall Andrews, the Writers World Boot Camp is a six-month course designed to polish writers of any skill level. Whether you are just beginning or have been writing for years, this boot camp will provide valuable lessons, experiences, and instructions to help you develop your book.

By the end of Boot Camp, you will have a finished novel ready for publishing. If the novel is of high enough quality, Randall may extend the offer of a contract through JaCol Publishing at the end of the six month period. Boot camp is broken up into three sections:

• Lessons and Exercises
• Writing
• Rewrites

During each segment, you will work with your peers in the camp to develop your ideas and stories as well as working with Randall and his staff, who will guide you as you write your novel.

$50.00/month

For more information, questions, or sign-ups contact Randall Andrews at randalla3@yahoo.com

Oh and here's the link.  Tell Randall, Sherry sent you.  ;)

5.  We normally do a bucket list for the summer.  I normally post it.   I haven't yet.  So in honor of the official start of Summer (tomorrow):

1) Berry picking 

2) swimming 

3) barbecue

4)  library

5)  movies

6) date nights

7) baseball

8) capture the flag

9) water balloons

10)  go to the park

11) go to a water park

12) enter a art piece in the fair

13) learn to juggle

14) learn a new song on the piano or guitar

15) attend a circus

16)  painting (for fun) 

17) painting (a room).

18) go to a museum

19)  kite flying

20) firefly catching

21)  fishing

22)  canoeing

23)  ice cream from the truck

24)  reading 100 books

25) go to plays

26)  chalk drawing

27)  all day magic tournament

28)  going to a new restaurant

29) listening to an outdoor concert

30)  fireworks

31)  beach

32) walk local civil war battle fields

33) sing-along

34) go to the zoo

35) go to watch horse races

36) walk or run in a 5K unless you're Peter, in which case, a 10 K or more.

37)  volunteer work

38) pick flowers.

39) pass drivers tests (Bonnie and Marta)

40) blow  bubbles

41) trying a new food (not at the fair. No matter how tempting, whatever they've fried, it will make you sick so no. No fried candy. No fried oreos.  No).  

42) going to a farmer's market

43) riding a horse

44) hiking a trail

45) take kids to the aquarium

46) Explore local caves (it's been a few years).

47)  going to a swimming hole

48) finish book (Sherry)

49) Visit colleges for Marta

50) throw a party.   

I know there are 73 days until school starts and I only listed 50 things, but some of these will take more than one day to enjoy.

6.  Wish I was going...you might want to...It's being held July 22-24, 2015.  Meet in Somerset, NJ for workshops, pitch sessions with publishers, opportunities for members to market their books directly to bookstores, and more fun than you can get out of a bucket of ice cream.  I know several of the speakers from past work with Catholicmom.com and the National Catholic Register and being a memberr of the Catholic Writer's Guild.    

And here's the link for Registration!

7. Lastly, if you've not started reading but plan to delve into Pope Francis' Encyclical, it's available free online.  Here you go.  Yes, it counts toward the 100 books for the summer.  Enjoy!

P.S.  You can read more 7-Quick Takes over at This Ain't the Lyceum. (Love the name).

7 Quick Takes

1.  TBR list.   I need to create one.  Why?  Because I do what I put on lists. If it's not on a list, it's not happening.  I write Blog on a list every Sunday, Tuesday and Friday, and SST on Monday so it's ready for Thursday which I didn't do this week and thus, no Small Success Thursday was written.  So, on to my To Be Read list. 

 

2. 

Yep.  I start to make a list and it gets unreasonable.  But here's my next five.

A Pius Trilogy

The Odyssey

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

The Hemlock Society

and

The Hunger Games --because I haven't read it.

 

3.  What am I doing?   Reading, adjusting to having two in high school, four in elementary and one in middle school plus two in college and one at home.   Also editing a book (not mine). 

 

4.  So what are you writing?  Well, this blog has been a bit dusty lately.  So I'm trying to get back to a writing regimen.  I also am working on Penelope but it's been hard lately to carve out time.

 

5. How's the diet going?  I'm down 4 lbs. from my worst number, but have 14 to go to meet my goal. 

 

6.  How's the exercise going?  Well, it's hot.  So my daughter has put me on a core work out.  We'll see how well I do.  I have gone two weeks sans fast food so I know that's good for me.

 

7.  Is this blog ever going to tell funny slice of life stories again?  Yes.  I'm going to work on restarting my humor blog so it isn't all just what it has been as of late. 

 

 

 

7 Quick Takes

1.  Happy 4th of July!   Having just spent this past Tuesday visiting the Baltimore Basilica for an upcoming article, I thought it important to remind people of these less famous words.

"The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for, among old parchments, or musty records.  They are written, as with a sun beam in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power." --Alexander Hamilton 1775

The Declaration of Independence was the promise; the Constitution was the fulfillment.  I have a pamphlet given to me by a woman back in 1994.  She served on the Commission on the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution, and created pocket Constitutions.  I've kept it ever since.  Every 4th of July, I ferret it out and read as much as time and situation allow.  If you don't have a copy, here's an excellent place to get one.  This is a document every American should read at least once in their lifetime, if not once a year, to remember how special and unique in history, this place aspires to be. 

 

2.  Small Success Thursday...again on Friday

 

So come and leave a link or a list of what you did this past week that deserves to be celebrated!

I know I should always link on Thursday, but yesterday we were celebrating my birthday!  I plead Chocolate Cake coma. 

 

3.  CAKE CAKE CAKE CAKE CAKE CAKE CAKE CAKE THIS CAKE CAKE TAKES THE CAKE.  

Seven children yesterday really discovered this experience.  As such, today, there is one slice left, claimed by my theoretically super health conscious daughter, the one who made the cake!  Two don't like chocolate and one doesn't eat frosting so we will just ignore those standard deviations. 

 

My sister hooked me on The Pioneer Woman, here's her take.  My mom made this kind of cake for my birthday for years. It's my favorite and it takes a year to recover from the sugar intake but so so so worth it.  Failing to experience this may be considered an act of extreme willful deprivation.  I admire your steely willpower.   More for me. 

 

4.  This past week, in addition to traveling to Baltimore, feasting on chocolaty goodness and turning 48, we continued my mad quest to declutter our lives doing the 40 bags in 40 days which turns more into 40 bags in 120 days, (as I get to 40 about every two to three days), after which, I need a break.   But I see progress, and that's worth celebrating.   If you'd like to consider doing this sort of purge, and I recommend it, both emotionally and spiritually, they have a Facebook page here.

 

5.  Yesterday, to celebrate turning 48 and get to one of the things on our list, we went to Butler's Orchard and picked what can be also known as Anna and Marta's version of natural crack, blueberries.  We picked more than a bucket full and today, shall make pies.  

 

 

 

6.  Every mother of children who play musical instruments dreams of this: 

 

 

and this: 

 

 

 

and if we're honest with ourselves, we'll settle for this...

 

 

But what we mostly get...is that final scene from the Music man, which I searched for a clip but could not find. The internet has failed me. 

 

7.  All of which means, all of us including me, should go out and stop using the think system to enjoy life.   I'm going to make all of them break out their instruments and play something patriotic while we fire up the grill to make ribs, corn on the cob, and finish it with watermelon and pie. 

 

 

Have a great 4th!  

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

7 Quick Takes

1.   We got to Friday and somehow, I'm surprised.   I also didn't link up to Small Success Thursday --because yesterday was so very busy.   So here's the link to go count your blessings over at Catholicmom.com! 

Sorry it's a day after the fact. 

 

2.  Helen news!   I got a review over at Catholic Fiction.com!  I submitted her back in September.  You can go read it here.  

3.  Next week is the Gaithersburg Book Festival.  I wish I were presenting, but I'll be volunteering for my kids' school at a booth, which will probably (but not assuredly) prevent me from spending too much money on books!

4.  This weekend, my daughter is receiving her first communion.  I've been through now six of these with my children, and they are always special, but this one, she already has such a love of Jesus, it is breath taking and heart squeezing.   So offer a prayer for her as she prepares. 

5.  My son is confirmed next week.  Confirmation is my very favorite sacrament.  Keep him in your prayers as well. 

6.  Next week, we also gear into high exams for my two teens, followed by graduation the following week for one, and exams for my younger adolescents.  We will exhale in June.  

7.  Penelope is doing well, I've been writing on her every day this week, or reading about her, or researching.  I'm taking an online course on Scrivener and it's really helping me to understand this writer's software, it's also making me look at my WIP --work in progress, more often, so it has the double effect of generating more words.  

Here's a sniff: 

“Are you going to chose one of them my queen?” Erika noted the pearl pendant and emerald and gold earrings on her night stand.

“Eurydamas and Peisander at least make a pretense of courting me and not the throne.” Penelope answered. Her face reddened. Erika, seeing her mistress’s embarrassment left the room.

Looking at the jewelry, Penelope sighed. For three years, she’d kept all 108 men dancing, and not one of her servants understood her reasons. She reminded herself they had to be equally unsure of her intent, in order to maintain the facade. Was she perpetually faithful, or perpetually fickle? The men had to believe both, in order to pursue her, and think they had the slightest chance. Her life, like the jewels in the earrings, held many facets, not all of which could be seen at once, only the ones she let catch light.

She put on the pendant for a moment to consider it, and then took it off, wearing such a thing would be too much of a signal of favoritism. She placed both gifts back in her box of trinkets, polished her favorite blue stone silver ring, and placing it on her ring finger, steadied herself for another day of holding all of the court, all of Ithaca, all the world she knew, together, all while hoping somehow, the next day, things would be better.

She walked into the dining room, Men were asleep in their chairs, some drunk on the floor, others missing from the room were probably stealing a few hours with servants willing to serve more than wine and bread. She took the moment to work tiny mischief, and threw open the curtains from the walls, revealing the cutaways her husband created to allow for more light. She rang a bell to signal to the morning staff to assemble and begin clean up, part of which included sweeping out those left over from the evenings repast.

She saw these men for who they were. She scrolled through each of their faces. Agelaus, weak in mind and heart but not body, Amphimedon, ambitious with no prospects and no loyalty either, Amphinomus, decent but dull, Antinous, malicious in every way, rather like keeping a poisonous serpent as a pet. You couldn’t release it, it might return out of habit, and it might bite you just the same if you didn’t. Ctesippus, crude and cruel. Demoptolemus covetous and envious, Elatus, too young and stupid, clinging to where all the men were, not realizing so few of them acted as actual men, Euryades, lazy but desiring a life of luxury. Euryachus, like oil, she didn’t trust him. Eurynomus, the ignoble brother of Antiphus, he lacked his brother’s courage to go serve Ithaca in the fight. She went through them all, she knew them all, it was a tedious business all of these men, none of them moved her mind, body and heart, none of them touched all. Odysseus had. Odysseus still did.

But it had been a long 20 years.

7 Quick Takes Friday

 

1.  Yesterday I saw a Barred Owl.  It was on the ground, it flew into the tree.  It was nothing short of cool.   We watched it until it grew bored and pumped its great wings and vanished into the trees. Looking at these creatures, it is amazing. 

 

2.  Great News!  My oldest son got a job at his school!

 

Cue the celebration!

 

3.  Wasted words.  I'm giving up the Combox wars.  It happens all the time, I'll read an article, respond, and it turns into High School debate time.  I don't want it. It's not interesting, and it isn't discussion, most of the time, it's agree or go away.  Bleah. Who needs it?  The thing is, I like reading things, I like commenting, I like staying informed.  But I realized it was a means of not being isolated, of making a mark in the broader community, but it was not the mark I wanted. Most people have figured out not to fight the internet, but I had sites I liked visiting if only to know that day, my brain jogged around the park.   It was like grass, here today, burned tomorrow.  To be called conservative by liberals, and a liberal by conservatives, left me feeling like each site considered me the flying monkey of the enemy. 

 

Where's my banana?





 

4.  So what to do now?  Offer my own two cents of course, for a nickel. 

Intellectual club sandwiches served free of charge for special blockheads.

I should stipulate, I've always identified with Lucy Van Pelt.  My brother Joe can testify to this truth.

5.  So what started this? 

I read an article over at an online magazine, and I commented.  The tribe at the site had deemed a popular Catholic writer a heretic for declaring as excessive either dismissal of the value of the state in serving the poor, or the absolute virtue of the state in providing charity.  They felt otherwise.  They declared him the uncharitable heretic for pointing out that faith in the state created utopia is as heretical as putting full faith in the idea of sola rugged individual.

I found myself in agreement with the targeted scapegoat.   The state may serve, but cannot fully substitute for the charity of the human person to human person.  It may compliment, supplement and augment.   I'm not sure what they wanted as an alternative, only that this writer humbly submit to their scorn, acknowledge their favored ideology as pure, himself to be a heretic and take the subsequent much deserved in their opinion, lumps.  

I wondered, how spending mental and written energy ferreting out bloggers to take down, helped deal with the inequalities they felt this blogger failed to properly acknowledge by not agreeing with their non articulated orthodoxy.   This was an echo chamber, deeply committed to reminding everyone, only to repeat the echo.   Catholicism is not an echo chamber, it goes out, it goes into people's hearts, it imitates the universe, being universal, it ever expands. 

6.  So here's what I wrote: 

The reality is that we must in our own lives, to a person, to a people, to the world, be charitable; the Calcuttas of our world, the poor are everywhere. They will always be with us, but that by no means eliminates the charge upon all of us who have, to be generous.

 

It is a hard truth, one we've forgotten in the comfort of our capitalist Catholicism, which is not a demand we become socialist or confiscate wealth. We are called, to "sell what we have" and build up treasure in heaven. Being lazy, we like easy answers. I'll be the first to say, my initial reaction to that is, "You first." because I have a nice home, I have ten kids, I have bills. Surely someone else should take care of this.
Government to the rescue! Taxes and state redistribution seems like an easy answer. But I'm then reminded of the words of Christmas Present, the stinging rebuke to my comfort, "Are there no work houses? Are there no prisons?"
Merely confiscating the wealth of those we don't know, to give benefits to people we don't know, brings us only irritation, envy, resentment and inefficiency. Only true generosity, rendering to the poor the good we have to share, will bring about the true spiritual benefits of charity.

 

Poverty is never just money, it is the feeling of being isolated, alone, without recourse, without hope, without help, without someone who cares if you exist, without the ability to somehow, get out of the pain. If we would really change the world by how we live, we must recognize, it won't be without sacrifice, and it won't be if we do not freely begin to serve. Not easy medicine for any of us.

7.  I won't link to the place to give it traffic, since that is what the site wanted.  Plus, I now have the hard consequence of having begun this thinking in the first place, it can't just stay words.  

Here's what I didn't write on the site: 

It is discomfiting and inconvenient to our sensibilities to recognize the world and our lives do not live out the faith we profess, not fully.  Knowing this, we face two choices, prayer & service, serious study and sacrifice, a call to do something more than we are doing, starting with serious prayer for all those we scorn, or doubling down on what we already do, i.e. continuing to be as comfortable with our reasonable understandings of things, comfortable with our lives and sedated as possible in our current existence. 

If we are honest, most of us hope we can eek out a last minute deal with the Almighty by being okay, gambling we can slip into purgatory because we weren't ax murderers who ate puppies and gouged customers with cheap imports made on the back of child labor while underpaying anyone we had to hire. We weren't cartoon villains and pure evil.  We were comfortably bath water warm. 

Except we aren't called to be good or to win, or to be right in the comboxes.  We're called to be saints.



I'm so doomed. 

 

 







7 Quick Takes

 

1.  So I didn't post Small Success Thursday on Thursday as I didn't want it to crowd an already written post.  So here's your link to participate in yesterday's celebration of everyday victories over minutia, schedules, clutter, exercise, resisting the urge to hunt down your children's hidden stashes of Easter Chocolate, etc.     Stop over at Catholicmom.com and visit by clicking here.

2. This week is Prom week for our second oldest.  She and I went shopping and found her whole outfit.  She's going with friends tonight, but I'm posting the "selfie" she did for Facebook so you can see, she looks lovely and happy, all you could ask for.  

 

 

3.  What am I reading?  Well, this week I finished rereading Watership Down, and polished off A Kitchen House.  The former was a dream, the later, not so much.  Now I'm working on a book my husband gave me, "How the Irish Saved Civilization."  Can't pour out what I don't put in.  Which leads to the next part of this post. 

4.  What's in a review?   I belong to the community of Catholicmom.com and as such sometimes get books to read and review.  In January, I received Daughters in Danger by Elayne Bennett. I wanted this particular one, given I have 6 daughters and one is going off to college. 


I read it in February and prepared to post it when we got to March.   It is now April.   I am posting the review here and at Amazon, I wanted to give 4 or 5 stars because I know the blood, sweat, time and energy that goes into writing a book, I know no one ever feels good when they get something other than 4 or 5 stars, I wanted to really dig into the topic.

The Good: 
Bennett's assessment of the multiple threats facing children growing up in the cyber age is spot on. Her work and writing indicates a sincere desire to help arm today's youth with the tools to maintain their innate dignity and security, and she has twenty years of serving at risk populations to back up her solutions. Her message is good, we must do better by our daughters as a matter of justice, if not love.

 



 I know the culture we must raise them in has serious threats that must be vigilantly met, and the author has the history and background chops to really dig into this topic. She gives good qualitative examples of the problem torn from the headlines of recent years, I remembered most of these cases and understand the problem of how to teach our girls to be alert, to be aware, and to be savvy not just about the world but themselves.
The Mixed and the Frustrating:
However, her solutions would be better received if they were bolstered by quantitative research, which it would seem she could add given her 20 years of running a nationwide program that reaches out and seeks to help at risk children. I kept waiting for the stats, they came but late in the book. The stats bolster what she asserts and if she were to illustrate from the 2 decades of providing community based support the before and after or the outcomes 5, 10 years out, of those who participated and those who didn't, statistically speaking, she could win people easily. I also think, the politics of the issues, while facts, unintentionally distract and detract from her presentation. Stick to what you do and why, reveal why it works, make the case for why it should continue.

I still agree with her premise and the promise of this book. I believe to help all teens thrive, we need to engage them on a personal level, to teach them that they must have respect for their minds, hearts and bodies if they want to break out of the shackles of low expectations that can often plague girls in particular and foster a cycle of poverty hard to break.

If they gave half stars, I would feel more comfortable, 3.5. 

Final Opinion: 

My impression was that the final chapter should have been the outline for the structure of the book, to give it a sharper focus, because the book gives good stories, outlines the problems young women face today, and provides suggestions for solutions, but those strong points are marred by the method of presentation which feels bloggy in style, jumping topics. I wanted more meat to the bones of the argument being put forth, and I felt it could have been given, so it frustrated me as a former educator of at risk students, I wanted to delve into it deeper. This should be a better book given the hard work being done and being proposed, the daughters in danger deserve our attention.

5.  I follow an  Archeology site as part of ongoing research for Penelope. They found a statue of Demeter in Turkey owing to two people doing an illegal excavation.  You can read the story here.


I thought it cool, you have to wonder, how many other treasures are lurking under our feet around the world? 

6.  This weekend, in addition to Prom, we have two teens running in a 5K, two birthday parties --one of which we're hosting, and the normal every week stuff that tends to crowd up the weekend.  Next week is 1st Communion, and then we get into the super crazy part of May, with Confirmation, exams, graduations, a birthday, Mother's day and still the ordinary stuff that makes up life.   Writing may become more scarce as a result. 

7.  I missed the sign up sheet for swimming lessons, which always fill up early around here, with sign ups being some time in March, but I always forget to think Swimming and Summer until some time in April.   So I'm now searching for a place to sign up the 7, 8, 10 and 12 year old for lessons, the 14 year old to learn lifeguard skills, and the 3 and 5 year old to start water safety.   Some day I'll remember that every season is best planned two months before, but I'm almost always playing catch up.  

7 Quick Takes

1.  I forgot to post a link to yesterday's Small Success Thursday, so here's one now.

Come join us over at Catholicmom.com to share your week of successes!

 

2.  Decision Time!  She chose it for the art program. It's an intense 79 hours worth of course work in art, including a showing at the art gallery every semester.

The campus is beautiful, it's small and surrounded by gorgeous trees, beautiful architecture and the beach.  But what I think tickled her heart the most, was their crest: 

Which in turn generated this: 

http://legacy.flagler.edu/products/hogwarts-t-shirt

 

3.  We're deep in birthday paloozah now, with Faith's party with her friends tonight, and Regina's actual birthday Sunday, and the need to schedule her party with her friends for after Easter.  Tonight, it's pizza and the second installment of the Hobbit  for Faith and her friends while the boys take in Captain America with their dad.  The older girls will be holding down the fort with the littles and a separate showing of probably Frozen, but they don't know that yet.   

 

I've seen it.  It's a b-movie except for the production value and power ballad.

 

It's immature and sophomoric...I still laughed.  

 

Then there's the hilarious fund raiser Simcha Fisher did where she promised to sing Let it go if they raised $4000, they did.  You can help her friend with the start up business and watch her sing in fulfillment of the pledge here.  I love when she says "Oh shoot."

 

4. Our son Paul is starting to talk and that's leading to interesting and unexpected conversations.  Yesterday, Regina's teacher came over to visit with me in the van in the parking lot. She reached over and chatted with Anna who gave her lots of smiles and was equally chatty back.  Paul looked over and said, "HEY! I'm Over Here!"  So she stopped and said I see you there. He nodded his head, all was right with the world. 

 

5.  Hey Sherry, how is the writing coming?  Well, slowly, but more frequently.  I logged in 3K on The Soul of the Minotaur this week, and 1K on Penelope, who seems to be stepping forward a bit more.   

 

6.   This week is the Erma Bombeck Conference, and I see many of my friends hosting the seminars, and it's hard to not be there, it's hard to feel like this year, writing has been at best, thwarted.  Bad computer, bad timing, I'd planned to host two seminars at the Catholic Writer's Conference Online, but that fell through because of a family emergency, it was scheduled for the Monday following Dad's death.  I cancelled because I didn't know 1) how I would be and 2) where I would be.   I'd submitted The Book of Helen for a few opportunities, but so far, it's like a bad fishing trip, nothing is biting.  I'm reminded of my dad's story about praying to his mother for a fish, and catching a beautiful speckled trout almost immediately, and it was the only fish of the day,  Admittedly, I'd like to get a line in the water this year.  Successfully finishing the second book would be the equivalent of a pretty good fish in my case.    

 

7.  Sacrament Season Starts soon.   We've got one month to First Communion, two months to confirmation and three months until my newest niece gets baptized.  

Marc will be the Godfather. 

 

That's seven, it was more work than I thought it would be.  Happy Palm Sunday and hav a good Holy Week.

 

7 Quick Takes on Monday...

1. Only 20 days until Easter!

Get hopping already!  

2.  We've had such a cold spring, yesterday it hailed and snowed.  My daughter and I attended a Mother/Graduating Class tea at her school.   It was so cold outside, I drank three cups of hot tea just because it kept me sitting in the warm building touching a hot tea cup, I don't even like tea. My daughter found her friends and so I sat. It gave me some quiet time, time I admit, I've been craving.  It lets me think.  The tendency in grief is to keep so busy you don't think.  I have to work against that natural predisposition.

I even learned how to properly hold a tea cup.    

3.  On Friday, I got my hair done.  I didn't get the stylist I prefer, and so my hair is a monotone.  My youngest said, "Mom, your hair looks weird." and she patted it.   Others said it looked nice, but I look in the mirror, I see weird.  

4. Saturday, there was a job fair.  I went.  Getting back into the swing of things will require looking, so I went mostly to look.  Interviewing at a few schools, I found some administrators were interested.   I still have to get my GRE scores if I can so as to avoid taking a standardized test as part of the re-certification process.  Everyday I'm inching forward, but it is slow progress.  

Not yet.

5.  How's your Lent going?  I'm not sure how mine is going, I love the Lenten resolution to call my sister, I enjoy our talks, I feel closer to her, I'm grateful for it, and at the same time, what the joy of those moments reveal, is how empty the rest of the space in my life is, and how cluttered at the same time.  There are long bouts of silence, long bouts of activity, but much of it is repetitive, routine, and doesn't do anything save get us through the day.  We aren't made to just get through the day. The desert feels 360, with no tracks, and no apparent goal.  Maybe one has to get into the midst of the desert of life in Lent, to feel the sand underneath, like everything is not secure, to recognize one is lost.  Only then would a lost sheep call out, when they recognize, they are alone.  

(Thought this was a cute picture of a lost sheep, please don't read more into the photo than that).  We're supposed to get lost in the desert, and it is supposed to be uncomfortable, and it is supposed to reveal to us what God wants of us, how He wants us to be, and that's never an easy thing, even if it is right, good, true and beautiful.   The hard part is the being willing to wait and to listen.  That's why we need the desert of these 40 days, because if you're anything like me, waiting and listening, they're hard to do if there's any distraction possible whatsoever.  

6.  Bob

Part of my distraction is the nature of my life.  On Friday, my teen son came down the stairs with a twinkle in his eye, he was calling everyone Bob.  Most understood this to be a tease and ignored it, but Paul took the name change seriously and got very angry.  In a three word response, he declared under no uncertain terms, "I'M NOT BOB!"  So I congratulated my older son on getting him to talk using what teachers call an adverse technique.  "Congratulations." I said, "Now, don't do it again."


7.  We are hitting the mid point of Birthday Palosa, with a 12 year old tomorrow. She wants her ears pierced and to see Winter Soldier.  I'm handling the first part of the equation, Dad's handling the later this weekend. She's also taken to doing the dishes each night unasked.  It is a warm freely given gift, very much illustrative of the person she's becoming.   That reminds me to get some brownie mix so I can make a treat for her class tomorrow.   Happy Birthday to my dear Faith!  It's been a fast 12 years.