7 Quick Takes (St. Joseph Edition)

~1~

Happy St. Joseph's Day!  

Here's a photo of our little altar that we've had up for a couple of weeks.  We didn't do the full altar with all the foods, but we had fun making our "icon" and framing it.

Prayer to St. Joseph the Worker

O Glorious St. Joseph, model of all who are devoted to labor, obtain for me the grace to work in the spirit of penance in expiation of my many sins; to work conscientiously by placing love of duty above my inclinations; to gratefully and joyously deem it an honor to employ and to develop by labor the gifts I have received from God, to work methodically, peacefully, and in moderation and patience, without ever shrinking from it through weariness or difficulty to work; above all, with purity of intention and unselfishness, having unceasingly before my eyes death and the account I have to render of time lost, talents unused, good not done, and vain complacency in success, so baneful to the work of God. All for Jesus, all for Mary, all to imitate thee, O Patriarch St. Joseph! This shall be my motto for life and eternity. Amen.

~2~

The community garden commences tomorrow.  I have to go and help mulch, and paint, and prepare my bed.  Excited.  Yet...somehow.....not.  I hope it goes better this year.

~3~

Pipster looks like he has the makings of a designer.   

Should I be worried?

~4~

Did I mention that I registered for the American Heritage Girls convention this summer in Cincinnati???  July 15-17.  The Little Princess and I will be attending together since this is an anniversary year (AHG is 15!) and there are activities for the scouts, too.

I'm excited about it, and I'm wondering if any of my Ohio friends want to get together for a little while!

~5~

Have you wondered about the SwagBucks swidget on my sidebar?  Don't look!  It's not there anymore!  I moved it to the bottom of the page so you could see the whole thing---especially the part where it says "Sign Up." ;-)


Read up on it.  Swag Bucks is a way of searching and earning "bucks" for that Stuff We All Get.  You get bucks for shopping at their places (which I don't do!), or for just using their toolbar to do your regular internet searches.  There are also special SwagCodes and SwagHunts that make it fun and help you get more bucks faster.  


We're using our SwagBucks to buy Amazon gift cards, which we're saving up to get something like Wii Fit Plus, or a KitchenAid stand mixer (since it doesn't look like I'm going to win one from PW!).  We're up to $15 in gift cards so far.  It may take a while, but it'll be FREE when we get it!


And yes, I get SwagBucks for referrals, if you sign up through my swidget.  So, there.  Full disclosure. :-)


~6~


I am so sad that Phoebe the hummingbird has left her nest and her non-viable egg!  We were so excited about watching it hatch.  I hope she'll lay another clutch in the yard (they say she has 3 nests there!) and we'll get to watch that one.


~7~


Finally, prayers for a sweet little girl, newly adopted from China, would be greatly appreciated.  She had open-heart surgery last week to repair a congenital defect; the surgery seemed to be a success until she went into cardiac arrest.  She has been on an ECMO machine for the past few days, and while her heart appears to be responding, she seems to have suffered severe brain damage from the cardiac arrest.


Her name is Kerrigan.  Please pray for her complete healing and for her loving family to have strength and courage during this extremely difficult time.


~~~~~


More Quick Takes at Jens.