Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Reading Goal for 2010


I've never been a big reader and I always wished I were, so last year I decided to read books mostly for entertainment value, with story lines that weren't too challenging, and I think my plan worked.

Now I find that I enjoy sitting down to read a book, and I love that feeling. If I begin to read something now, that seems like it will NOT hold my interest for long, it seems easier to keep on reading, and then I'm usually hooked. I used to give up on books after the first or second chapters.

This year I read a lot of Wanda Brunstetter novels. Her books are very easy to read, but enjoyable all the same. My favorite read of the year was Trianon: A Novel of Royal France . If you have not read it, you should.

I've decided to challenge myself a bit more in 2010, so I came up with a reading plan. Here goes:

Political: 2 Books
Spiritual (saints, etc.): 4 Books
Apologetics: 1 Book
Historical: 1 Book
Read 4 Fun: 7 Books

The last category is already in my Amazon wish list, but I need help with the other four. If you could recommend a book or two I would greatly appreciate it.

Book List for 2009: **recommended

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

The Ant and the Grasshopper

This was sent to me in an email, and I just couldn't resist sharing.
____________________________________

This one is a little different......
Two Different Versions..................
Two Different Morals

OLD VERSION

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away..

Come winter, the ant is warmand well fed.

The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so hedies out in the cold.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Beresponsible for yourself!


MODERN VERSION

The ant works hard in the withering heat and the rain all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a pressconference and demands to know why the ant should beallowed to be warm and well fed while he is cold and starving.

CBS, NBC , PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to avideo of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast.

How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so? Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper and everybody cries when they sing, 'It's Not Easy Being Green...'

ACORN stages a demonstration in front of the ant's housewhere the news stations film the group singing, "Weshall overcome." Then Rev. Jeremiah Wright has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake.

President Obama condemns the ant and blames President Bush, President Reagan, Christopher Columbus, and the Pope for the grasshopper's plight. Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.

Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity & Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer. The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government Green Czar and given to the grasshopper.

The story ends as we see the grasshopper and his free-loading friends finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in, which, as you recall, just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around them because the grasshopper doesn't maintain it. The ant has disappeared in the snow, never to be seen again. The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident, and the house, now abandoned, is taken overby a gang of spiders who terrorize the ramshackle, once prosperous and once peaceful, neighborhood. The entire Nation collapses bringing the rest of the free world with it.


MORAL OF THE STORY: Be careful how you vote in 2010.

Monday, December 28, 2009

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Merry Christmas!! (a little late)


I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and I pray that a year full of joy and many blessings come your way.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Poor Posting Habit

I know I haven't posted anything new in a while & I apologize, I've just been a bit preoccupied & a little uninspired at the moment. I will be back in the game soon though, so please don't stop coming by. I truly enjoy reading all your comments.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Memories

I spent the evening going through old pictures & these are some of my favorites of myself as a kid. I especially like the ones with me in a dress because I'm sure it was not an easy task for my mom to get me in them. But my real favorites are the Halloween pics of me & my brother.





Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Ads In Comments


For the last month I've been getting comments made in old posts that aren't comments at all, they're advertisements. I'm not even sure what the ads are for, I just don't publish them, but it's getting annoying. I am glad I moderate my comments now though. It makes it much easier to delete.


Is this happening to anyone else?? If so, are you just as bothered by this as I am, or am I just too easily annoyed in this case?

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Sanctus Real

Thanks Allison!!

I love this song.

Friday, December 11, 2009

Duggar Emergency


"Michelle Duggar, star of TLC's "18 Kids and Counting" gave birth to her 19th child, a girl, Thursday night via emergency C-section, although she wasn't due to give birth until spring, TMZ reports. Josie Brooklyn Duggar weighed in at 1 lb., 6 ounces." Click here for whole story.

Please remember Michelle & Baby Josie in your prayers.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Amish Peace

Lately I've been reading a lot of novels about the Amish written by Wanda Brunstetter & a few by Beverly Lewis, and I've really enjoyed it. Really they are love stories with a more wholesome setting, and I'm a sucker for love stories.

Today I just started a book called Amish Peace: Simple Wisdom for a Complicated World and so far I love it. Each chapter is a small story about an Amish person or family (real stories) telling about the benefits of their simple yet hard working lifestyle. At the end of each chapter are some questions for the reader, and suggestions on how to live a simple life in our modern & very busy world.

I know, I know, what's with all the Amish books? In fact, when Paul saw I bought this one he asked "are you planning to go Amish?", of course he was kidding. While I would love to visit Amish country I have no wish to join their community, I do enjoy reading about their culture though.

It's amazing what all can be accomplished in a single day & pretty much all meals are made from scratch. Prayer is encouraged for every little decision, which to me just serves as a reminder to ask God for help, always. Men & women have their roles, and that's that!! Nowadays (for the most part) we modern folk are not brought up knowing the difference. We are taught that men should help with the dishes & a woman should want a career because being a wife & mother isn't good enough.

Over time I will make little posts with the reflection questions in the book, but not yet. Here are some pictures I found online.





Monday, December 7, 2009

In heaven by Stephen Crane


In heaven,
Some little blades of grass
Stood before God.
"What did you do?
"Then all save one of the little blades
Began eagerly to relate
The merits of their lives.
This one stayed a small way behind,
Ashamed.
Presently, God said,
"And what did you do?
"The little blade answered, "Oh my Lord,
Memory is bitter to me,
For, if I did good deeds,
I know not of them.
"Then God, in all His splendor,
Arose from His throne.
"Oh, best little blade of grass!" He said.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Monday, November 30, 2009

Latin Mass Appeal

I just read an article called Latin Mass Appeal (published in the NY Times)and it tells a little about who made the changes of the Mass & how Pope Benedict XVI is bringing the TLM back. The article also mentions that it's the younger generation who is helping the Latin Mass make it's wonderful come back.

I love the Latin Mass, and will be praying daily for these young Priests and Seminarians, I'm sure they'll have lots of road blocks on their journey.

Have any of you attended the Traditional Latin Mass before? Do you attend regularly? What is your opinion of the TLM?

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Preparation


Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, ever faithful to your promises and ever close to your Church: the earth rejoices in hope of the Savior's coming and looks forward with longing to his return at the end of time. Prepare our hearts and remove the sadness that hinders us from feeling the joy and hope which his presence will bestow, for he is Lord for ever and ever. Amen.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving


I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day with family, friends, and tons of great food. This year was an awesome one for me!! I was finally taught how to prepare an entire Thanksgiving meal.

Thanks Mom!!!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

MUCUS and MOTHER TERESA

by Dorothy Vining


I’m 86, I just got back from a Natural Family Planning course, and here I am, all excited all over again! I am, perhaps, not in the usual NFP demographic, but I never cease to be amazed at the wonders of the human body and I’ve been writing about the efficacy of NFP for years now.
I am also totally amazed that supposedly intelligent people, all green and natural, with their filtered water, their organic veggies, and their free ranging chickens, are willing to pollute their one and only body rather than – God forbid – abstain from sex every now and then. There is just no end to the variety of non-biological carcinogenic steroids that they are willing to ingest, insert, or apply as rings, things, pills and patches, rather than learn to understand their bodies and behave rationally.

Quite conveniently I have come across an old article of mine with a September, 1993, quote from the British Medical Journal authored by Dr. R.E.J. Ryder, Department of Endocrinology, Dudley Road Hospital in Birmingham, England. In it Dr. Ryder says that the Catholic church offers and approves a method of birth control which is “cheap, effective, without side-effects…and may be the family planning method of choice for the Third World.” His article provoked “unprecedented debate” in Great Britain and there was “enormous resistance” to its publication.

Dr. Ryder repeated the well-known facts that a woman’s egg has a lifespan of about 24 hours and is fertilizable for only part of that time. The sperm, however, may remain viable from four to seven days. “Thus a woman is potentially fertile for no more than six to eight days of her cycle, probably less in most cases.” Hormonal studies as well as ultrasound studies have confirmed that the clinical observations of changes in cervical mucus and body temperature as taught in Natural Family Planning can accurately identify the time of ovulation. He cited a World Health Organization study of 869 women of proven fertility in five centers (Auckland, Bangalore, Dublin, Manila, and San Miguel, El Salvador) showing that regardless of culture and education 93% of the women – even those who were illiterate — could recognize the mucus symptoms. “The probability of conception from intercourse outside the period of fertility defined by cervical mucus observation was 0.0004.”

Another study of 19,843 poor women of Calcutta found a failure rate for Natural Family Planning similar to that of the combined contraceptive pill (less than 2%). In closing his article Dr. Ryder wrote: “There is no doubt that it would be more efficient for the ongoing world debate on overpopulation, resources, environment, poverty and health to be conducted against a background of truth rather than fallacy. It is therefore important that the misconception that Catholicism is synonymous with ineffective birth control is laid to rest.”

One has only to Google any contraceptive medication to learn about their myriad complications and side-effects and realize they are all harmful to normal female functioning. (Dr. Herbert Ratner has called it chemical warfare against women!) A woman on the Pill can be a paying customer for 30 years. Doctor, pharmacist, and drug company all profit all that time. Unfortunately, nature has no lobby.

I went to this NFP meeting because I had heard that nowadays the NFP people have a new “one rule” which makes it easier to determine a woman’s fertile and infertile periods. Yes, there are still charts to keep (at least until you are well acquainted with how your particular body functions), temperatures to take, and mucus and cervical signs to record. The new rule is more about looking at the whole picture rather than any particular bodily indicator. For particulars, two resource sites might be helpful.

I was particularly intrigued by the wonders of cervical mucus. Who would have known? It turns out that there are various kinds of cervical mucus at various times during a woman’s cycle, some dense and unwelcoming, but there is a “slippery and stretchy mucus,” resembling raw egg white, in which the sperm can live for 2 to 3 days while waiting for a fertilized egg to arrive. Microscopically, it forms string-like channels and provides transport (‘swimming lanes’) for sperm cells. It produces a “wet, lubricative sensation at the vulva.”
I have read that the Missionaries of Charity (Mother Teresa’s order) have been able to teach effective natural birth control in India relying primarily on the mucus factor. As I recall, the instruction went something like this: Moisture makes babies grow; dryness prevents growth. (I don’t remember the exact words, but you get the idea.) There has been no more ardent advocate for natural family planning than Mother Teresa.

Who would think I would one day write a blog post on the marvels of mucus? Swimming channels for sperm in women’s cervical mucus! How much more accommodating could we get?

Surely, we are fearfully and wonderfully made!

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Great Finds

Paul has been finding some great pictures on the web lately & though I have yet to decide what to do with them, I thought you'd like to check them out. Great job Honey!!





Friday, November 20, 2009

GAY ACTIVISTS BULLY D.C. PRIESTS

from Catholic League
November 20, 2009

Thoughts & opinions on this article please.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue addresses a serious issue involving gay activists in the District of Columbia:

A new homosexual website, ChurchOuting.org, is intent on publicly disclosing who the gay priests are in the Archdiocese of Washington. The goal of this outing is to intimidate gay priests, as well as heterosexual priests who may be “romantically involved,” into voicing objections to the Catholic Church’s opposition to gay marriage.

This initiative is the work of Phil Attey, self-described as “Liberal-Gay-Ardent Obama Supporter”; he was active in the Obama Pride Metro-DC campaign. According to one news report, “Attey is going to approach priests he thinks are gay, and warn them that they better stop lobbying against gay people, seeing how gay they are…or…else?”

Catholic priests are also being pressured to sign the “Declaration of Religious Support for Marriage Equality,” a statement by Clergy United for Marriage Equality. The statement, while it is not one we support, is respectfully written. Accordingly, we will write to members of the Steering Committee of this group asking them to dissociate themselves from this attempted hijacking of their effort.

The Catholic League is prepared to assist any priest in the Archdiocese of Washington who is the victim of harassment, intimidation or stalking. Whatever resources the priest needs, we will see to it that he is served. If radical gay activists want a showdown with the Catholic League, we will not disappoint them.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

The Pill Kills Babies

Please pass this video along on your blog, facebook, or even your myspace page.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Pray For Our Veterans


God of peace, we pray for those who have served our nation and who laid down their lives to protect and defend our freedom.
We pray for those who have fought, whose spirits and bodies are scarred by war, whose nights are haunted by memories too painful for the light of day.
We pray for those who serve us now, especially for those in harm's way. Shield them from danger and bring them home.
Turn the hearts and minds of our leaders and our enemies to the work of justice and a harvest of peace.
Let the peace you left us,the peace you gave us,be the peace that sustains,the peace that saves us.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

10 Years Ago

Here's something interesting to do. Compare who you were 10 yrs ago to who you are now...I'm sure you'll find it amazing how much you have changed in someway or another.
I know that I am a completely different person now, and that's a GOOD thing.
Thanks be to God!!

Monday, November 9, 2009

Good Job Kid!

What a smart & brave little boy.

Embedded video from CNN Video

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Sense & Sensibility

My favorite seen of the whole movie. I can watch this over & over again.


Friday, November 6, 2009

Thursday, November 5, 2009


For wisdom is better than all the most precious things: and whatsoever may be desired cannot be compared to it.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

It's About Time!!


Today I finally made it to the court house and picked up our Marriage Certificate, YAY!!! It only took me 1 year, 9 months, and 1 day. Tomorrow I will go down to the Social Security office and legally change my name. Finally!! I don't know why I waited so long, I guess it's just the procrastinator in me. I had promised Paul that I would take of it before the end of this year, and I'm so glad it will be official soon.

Monday, November 2, 2009

All Souls' Day


Prayer for the Poor Souls in Purgatory

Latin:

V. Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine.

R. Et lux perpetua luceat eis. Fidelium animae, per misericordiam Dei, requiescant in pace. Amen


The commemoration of all the faithful departed is celebrated by the Church on 2 November, or, if this be a Sunday or a solemnity, on 3 November. The Office of the Dead must be recited by the clergy and all the Masses are to be of Requiem, except one of the current feast, where this is of obligation.
The theological basis for the feast is the doctrine that the souls which, on departing from the body, are not perfectly cleansed from venial sins, or have not fully atoned for past transgressions, are debarred from the Beatific Vision, and that the faithful on earth can help them by prayers, almsdeeds and especially by the sacrifice of the Mass. ( See PURGATORY.)
In the early days of Christianity the names of the departed brethren were entered in the diptychs. Later, in the sixth century, it was customary in Benedictine monasteries to hold a commemoration of the deceased members at Whitsuntide. In Spain there was such a day on Saturday before Sexagesima or before Pentecost, at the time of St. Isidore (d. 636). In Germany there existed (according to the testimony of Widukind, Abbot of Corvey, c. 980) a time-honoured ceremony of praying to the dead on 1 October. This was accepted and sanctified by the Church. St. Odilo of Cluny (d. 1048) ordered the commemoration of all the faithful departed to he held annually in the monasteries of his congregation. Thence it spread among the other congregations of the Benedictines and among the Carthusians.
Of the dioceses, Liège was the first to adopt it under Bishop Notger (d. 1008). It is then found in the martyrology of St. Protadius of Besançon (1053-66). Bishop Otricus (1120-25) introduced it into Milan for the 15 October. In Spain, Portugal, and Latin America, priests on this day say three Masses. A similar concession for the entire world was asked of Pope Leo XIII . He would not grant the favour but ordered a special Requiem on Sunday, 30 September, 1888.
In the Greek Rite this commemoration is held on the eve of Sexagesima Sunday, or on the eve of Pentecost. The Armenians celebrate the passover of the dead on the day after Easter.

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Trick-or-Treat

Paul & I spent our Halloween putting up Christmas decorations and listening to Christmas music, and it was a lot of fun.

We still have to get the tree up, but we got our fireplace decorated, Christmas Pillows on the couch, snowman canisters on the counter, and knick-knacks all over.

I know it may seem a bit early but we love having our Christmas stuff up & figure one month isn't long enough.

We do have candy ready to hand out to any trick-or-treaters that come our way, but we don't expect very many. We did have one little boy about 3 yrs old who started wandering into the house, but that's it so far. Of course it's still early.

How did you spend Halloween??

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Mary, Ark of the New Covenant

“The New Testament is the Old Testament revealed; the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed.”


Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Take a Minute

I just visited Gina's blog, and wanted to leave the link to her most recent post. It's titled "It is Time For A Real Sexual Counter-Revolution". It's worth reading.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Wasabi Snack


During my shopping trip to Trader Joe's I came across "Wasabi Tempura Seaweed Snacks" and since I love every ingredient in the name I just had to try them, and I'm so glad I did. They're wonderful.

What is your favorite snack?

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Movie Screening


I was discussing the movie Slumdog Millionaire with a friend a while back and since then I have been thinking about seeing it, but I had some concerns. I know the movie won or was nominated for all kinds of awards, which sad to say, made me sceptical of it's content. So today I asked Paul to do a search on the content of the film. Paul ended up finding a website he's never used before and I thought I would share it with all of you.

It's called Kids In Mind.

I often wonder how many ADULTS actually screen a movie's content for themselves & not just for the kids. I admit that sometimes I let the theme of the movie get me so interested I almost don't bother to look into it, but that is extremely rare nowadays.

Now I'm not saying it's always easy to make the choice of skipping a movie simply because it may show more than you'd want your child to see, especially in situations where you're around friends who couldn't care less about the inappropriateness of the film. I did not grow up in a "you can't watch that" household, but now as a grown woman I realize what damage is truly done to our minds and our souls from constant exposure to sexual content (even implied), extreme violence, etc...

If we are to remain pure of heart and childlike we must make a conscious effort to screen what we watch, listen to, and read at all times.

Please share your opinions/stories on this topic.
Added Later:
After making this post I starting thinking how over the last few years I have eliminated movies, books, and music that I thought were unsuitable. But now that I think about it, I realize there was one thing I hadn't given up: Grey's Anatomy. But from now on NO MORE Grey's. While I've grown attached to the characters, I have to admit that the storylines are a bit much.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Prayer of St. Ephraim


O Lord and Master of my life,

give me not the spirit of laziness,

despair, lust of power, and idle talk.

But give rather the spirit of sobriety,

humility, patience and love to Thy servant.

Yea, O Lord and King,

grant me to see my own transgressions

and not to judge my brother,

for blessed art Thou unto ages of ages.

Amen

Monday, October 19, 2009

Photoshop is Amazing!

Paul took a picture of me that did not come out well at all, but he liked it. So I did the best I could to fix it for him.

I can't believe I'm showing you both pictures, but here you go.



Before

& After


It's not perfect, but still an amazing difference, & even though I have no nose & half a mouth in the second photo, I like it.


Monday, October 12, 2009

The Fifteen Promises of the Rosary



1. Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall receive signal graces.

2. I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary.


3. The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies.


4. It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of people from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means.


5. The soul which recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall not perish.


6. Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying himself to the consideration of its Sacred Mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune. God will not chastise him in His justice, he shall not perish by an unprovided death; if he be just, he shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life.


7. Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church.


8. Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plentitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the Saints in Paradise.


9. I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary.


10. The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in Heaven.


11. You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the Rosary.


12. All those who propagate the Holy Rosary shall be aided by me in their necessities.


13. I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death.


14. All who recite the Rosary are my children, and brothers and sisters of my only Son, Jesus Christ.


15. Devotion of my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.

Friday, October 9, 2009

Church the Way it Used to Be

I just read a post from Baby Catholic & I wanted to share it with you. I'm am only going to post the beginning, hoping that you will view the whole post on her blog.

I’ve been dying to write a post on this ever since I saw the sign outside of a large protestant church which sits to the right on my way to Mary, Queen. The message sign out front said, “Church the Way it Used to Be.” This cracked me up!...

Are You Kidding Me???

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Autistic Basketball Player

Do you want to smile?? Watch this.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Ode to Autumn


Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,

Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

Conspiring with him how to load and bless

With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;

To bend with apples the mossed cottage-trees,

And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;

To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells

With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,

And still more, later flowers for the bees,

Until they think warm days will never cease,

For Summer has o'er-brimmed their clammy cell.


Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?

Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find

Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,

Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;

Or on a half-reaped furrow sound asleep,

Drowsed with the fume of poppies, while thy hook

Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers;

And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep

Steady thy laden head across a brook;

Or by a cider-press, with patient look,

Thou watchest the last oozings, hours by hours.


Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?

Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,--

While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,

And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;

Then in a wailful choir, the small gnats mourn

Among the river sallows, borne aloft

Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;

And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;

Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft

The redbreast whistles from a garden-croft,

And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.


~John Keats

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Road Trip!!

I'm sorry that I've been away from my blog (and from some of yours as well) for sooooo long. I will try not to let my postings be so far apart. I have missed my blog & all of you too.

At the begining of last month I went on a little road trip with my mom and brother. We went up to Northern California to visit family & on our way home went to the Big Basin Redwoods and headed home on Highway 1. We had a blast!

Here are some pictures.























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