Christ the Lord is Risen Today!

We walked from Katie's apartment to and from the Cathedral last night, in the rain.  It was a stunning Mass celebrated by the Archbishop, and I was so excited to see the 30 or so new members of the Church.

This morning, the kids are sleeping in because we were up way too late.  When they get up, they have to answer a couple of Catholic doctrine questions (from the Catholic Doctrine Playing Cards, of course!) to get clues to the location of their Easter baskets.

I think we're going to eat sugar, drink coffee, eat more sugar, and then eat ham and fall asleep, resting in the knowledge that our Lord is risen indeed.

Happy Easter!

Jesus Christ is risen today, Alleluia!
Our triumphant holy day, Alleluia!
Who did once, upon the cross, Alleluia!
Suffer to redeem our loss, Alleluia!

Hymns of praise then let us sing, Alleluia!
Unto Christ, our heavenly King, Alleluia!
Who endured the cross and grave, Alleluia!
Sinners to redeem and save, Alleluia!

But the pain which He endured, Alleluia!
Our salvation hath procured, Alleluia!
Now above the sky He's king, Alleluia!
Where the angels ever sing, Alleluia!

Sing we to our God above, Alleluia!
Praise eternal as His love, Alleluia!
Praise Him, all you heavenly host, Alleluia!
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Alleluia!

Linky Love

This is absolutely the best blog post I have seen with information about our new Holy Father, Pope Francis.  He's different from the last 2 popes whom I have loved very much, and for someone like me who is NOT a news junky, but a very simple reader who dislikes change of any kind, I found the explanations about how a "regular" pope will be different from a "secular" pope illuminating and reassuring.  If you don't know what a "regular pope" is, like me, you should click that link.  ;-)  Melanie's post is also a linky post, but I think she pulled out the best bits from the posts she linked to.

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This video on calligraphy is awe-inspiring and breathtaking.  If you love beauty and art, go watch.  Honestly, I can feel the itch to start a new hobby after watching it!


Forging the Future with the Tip of the Pen from This Is Our City on Vimeo.

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Have you seen this website called Cook, Taste, Eat with videos on how to prepare beautiful dishes?  Looks like a lot of fun....I'm inspired to find some ground lamb for lamb meatballs on Holy Thursday!

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Mamas, Don't Let Your Daughters Grow Up to be Disney Stars!  In case you don't know why you shouldn't, click that link.  The oversexualization of our culture and the devaluation of true womanhood is one of my biggest concerns.

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Finally, I don' t see how you could have missed it, but in case you did....

Did you see the video of Pope Francis going to visit Pope Emeritus Benedict?  My husband said it was "touching".  I must admit that the little tears welling up in my eyes at seeing how frail Benedict is overflowed when he humbly directed the new Peter to the place of honor in the chapel.  The humility of Francis coupled with his respect for his predecessor just did me in.

{PHFR} Yarn Along!

{pretty}
We found these babies at Goodwill last week!  They're in perfect condition.  A little large, but that just adds to their value since Meg can wear them longer.  That's the kind of tween shopping I like: stumbling across a perfect treasure when you're not even looking for it!   {happy}
Another treasure from Goodwill: A very imperfect picture of a perfect set of new Advent candles for $0.99!  As my sainted mother would say, "You can't beat that deal with a stick!"
{funny}

Meg's Secret Agent ID card.  Notice how tall she is?
{real}


"Real" is not finding time to blog my Yarn Along post yesterday, so I'm squeezing it into this one.  "Double prizes!"  (Name that movie!)
This is the ripple afghan I'm making out of my stash.  It's nice to have on my lap since Winter is making another effort to hang around!  I don't know if I'd call it pretty, but it has parts that I like and parts that I don't like.  I'm really just playing around with the colors and the width of the stripes.
My book for the week (ha! really, it was just 2 days) is War Horse.  I never saw the movie, and I checked the book out of the library on my Overdrive app.  I listened to it in just 2 days, so I guess it's not very long, but I loved it.  I had no idea what to expect, but you might imagine that it had me weeping in several spots, if you know anything about it.  I'd love to see the movie now.  Have you seen it or read it?

Shopping with Tweens

....is such a challenge!

Lately, my little (not-so-little-anymore) girl and I have had some difficult trips.  It's hard to be a super-tall 11 year-old with more style than your mom, and a list of Rules for Appropriate Dress a mile long!  People always say, "God bless you!" or something like that because I have 4 boys.  Well, let me tell you, boys are so much easier in many ways!  Really, all you have to do is accept the fact that they're noisy, energetic, and dangerous, and you're good to go!  Girls, on the other hand, come with a whole different set of challenges.

Back to the shopping...

I don't know who the designers think they're dressing, (21 year olds?) or who their audience is (pedophiles?), but the clothes are all super!  Super---

• short
• bare
• flimsy
• sexy
• skimpy!

She generally won't look at the big, fluffy Easter dresses, but I did find a very nice, simple one in her size to try on.  I also had her try on a couple of Adult Smalls out of desperation, one of which was actually very cute when we turned it around backwards (because it was too low-cut).  It didn't help that there was practically nothing in her size, but the (lack of) length on the ones she did try was ridiculous.

Happily, the fluffy Easter dress was a perfect fit, with just enough style, and not too babyish to be rejected!

Please tell me your shopping tips for your tweens and teens!  Do you have a list of Rules for Appropriate Dress?  What stores do you prefer?

In case you're wondering...

• wide straps on tanks to hide bra straps
• no bare shoulders at Mass
• skirts must be no shorter than an inch or two above the knees for Mass
• same length for "playclothes" but she has to wear bike shorts under them.

I don't think my rules are terribly strict, but they do make shopping a challenge!  Then again, any kind of standards makes shopping a challenge these days.

Pre-Dawn Daybook

FOR TODAY

Outside my window...
Dark.  Spring is just about here, but the spring storms have already arrived, sending us down in to the basement until they pass.  Yesterday was interesting here in GA, but fortunately the storm broke up in our area and we could relax.

I am thinking...
About our new Pope.  I am looking forward to getting to know him; he seems like a beautiful, caring person, as a pope should be.   I am happy that we got up early for the inauguration Mass this morning; it was a great way to start the day.  I'm a person who doesn't like change, though, so I'm just waiting and watching, reading other people's opinions, and watching them get smacked down for judging....so I'll just keep watching.  ;-)

I am thankful...
For the Hearts Afire Parish Programs.  I'm leading a 33 Days to Morning Glory group, and I'm participating in Consoling the Heart of Jesus.  It's a lot, I will admit.  It's definitely "doing" something for Lent!  But I love them both!  I'm getting so much more out of the Morning Glory retreats in a group than I did reading the book on my own, and I woke up the other morning anxious for my next Consoling the Heart of Jesus retreat.  I highly recommend finding one of these retreats in your area, or starting one yourself.  They are so good!

From the school table...
We are trying to stay on course.  Meg and Pip are officially enrolled in their hybrid school for next year.  One of my homeschooling friends who also does the hybrid says that it is NOT homeschooling.  It's just part time school.  But I'm okay with that.

In the kitchen...
Every day it comes as a surprise to me that I need to cook dinner...again.  Go ahead, roll your eyes!  I'm just in a serious cooking slump after 26 years of daily dinner planning.  I know, it's my job so it shouldn't be such a big deal.  I'm perfectly happy to get up and take care of the kids, nag them, do their laundry, educate them, drive them places, but I'm tired of the food aspect for some reason.  It's obviously past time to come up with a new set of monthly menus.  Or something.  Ideas?

Ah, but today being the Solemnity of St. Joseph, and a break from Lenten penances (if you were doing any of those!), and a big Italian feast day, as my half-Italian father reminded me, I think I'll try to have a little fun in the kitchen.  Is there such a thing as paleo cannoli?

I am hearing...
Audrey Assad.  I think I love her music.

I am knittingcrocheting...
A flat ripple afghan.  It's still fun, but I'm itching to break away from the scrap version and make a beautiful ombre version.

I am going... (to miss...)
Found out yesterday that I'm going to miss seeing my TMax off on his first prom because I'll be camping.  Grrrr.

I am reading...
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson for book club.  It's about hiking the Appalachian Trail, and I loved the book the first time I read it, but this time it's feeling about as long as the trail itself.

Thanks to Barbara, I found out about Overdrive, which I uploaded to my phone, and I'm listening to War Horse on it.

I am praying...
for Pope Francis, Pope Emeritus Benedict, Barb's FIL, a homeschooling friend who is pregnant and has cervical cancer, for vocations, and for all our priests and deacons.

I am looking forward to...
Easter, Spring flowers

I am hearing on my ipod...
(See "I am reading...")

Around the house...
So much to do.  Anxious for that spurt of energy that gets me started!  What gets you moving when it's time to paint a bedroom (or 2)?

A few plans for the rest of the week...
CHJ retreat, Boy Scouts, Teen Classics Book Club, field trip, AHG, Adoration---and that just gets us to Friday.  There are about 5 things on the calendar for Saturday, alone!

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

No pictures.  :-(  I really need to start taking more pictures.

Hosted by The Simple Woman's Daybook

{PHFR} Habemus Papam Edition!

I tried and tried to post yesterday, but couldn't.  The computer wouldn't cooperate, so here it is a day late.  You are still excited about hearing about Pope Francis, right?
{pretty}

{happy}



Jen Fulwiler's thoughts in the National Catholic Register...

It's a Great Day to be Catholic.  I thought the same thing yesterday...there is something special...different...about the Catholic Church that so many people would be glued to their televisions and gathered in St. Peter's Square for smoke to come out of a chimney!  Tears streaming down my face constantly, all I can think is that it is because the election of a new pope is just confirmation of Christ's promise that He would be with us always, and that the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church.



{funny}

{real}
Another great video from Father Roderick of SQPN:

In all this joy over our new Holy Father, I can't forget Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.  I hope he is as joyful as we are and knows that we still love him and pray for him.  He is not forgotten!

Really Late Quick Takes

---1---

I didn't have time for Quick Takes on Friday, even the super-quick variety because I was busy making my kids do their schoolwork and catch up a bit.

---2---

We finished a respectable amount of catch-up early in the day, but I refused to take them to co-op because they had been slackers all week.  Plus, Pip had a camping trip that afternoon, and I needed a break from the time pressure.  So I sat around working on that crochet project.

---3---

All in all, it was a relaxing Friday:  Katie came by to do her laundry for a visit; we went to the fish fry, and then to trivia night for the first time in months, where we discovered we were very rusty.

---4---

DH and I spend a fair amount of time on Pope Watch, or Conclave Watch.  I find that everything leaves me in a puddle of tears.  Stuff like this:  Smoke Signal Timetable.  Or the Making of a Pope.  

---5---

We read this interesting article yesterday on how to know who was elected faster than anyone else.  "Just for fun," he said, and then clicked the video to watch the announcement when BXVI was elected.  I was a wreck.  A wreck, I tell you.  You try it, and leave me a comment about your results!

---6---

So, I'm weird.  I cry about the strangest things, but I think what primarily gets to me is extraordinary virtue.  And these men, cardinals, bishops, priests, who give up their lives for Holy Mother Church show extraordinary virtue.  Yes, there are some big sinners out there, but I think that the bigger your sacrifice, the bigger the temptations by the devil.  That's something that's hard to overcome, especially on a worldwide stage!

---7---

Are you following @PapalSmokeStack on Twitter?  Or @ConclaveChimney?  Or @ConclaveStove?  I'm sure there are more.  And just in case, PopeAlarm will text you or email you when there is white smoke.  I'm so excited.

2 more days!  2 more days!  2 more days!

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Join the fun at Jen's for more 7 Quick Takes!

Yarn Along

I've pledge to get rid of my stash this year, and if you combine that with a renaissance of the ripple afghan, you get a great opportunity for stash busting!  I was really won over by this gorgeous blanket in shades of gray and brown.  Really...click that link...you won't be sorry!  I've decided to hone my ripple skills on a stash-buster, and then make one of those.  The ripple has been a mystery to me all my life, but now I think I've got it, thanks to Attic 24.

I've finished reading The Language of Flowers:


Honestly, it was one of the best books I've read in ages!  I couldn't put it down, and there haven't been many of those lately!  It haunted me for days afterward, and even now, I'd love to sit down and re-read it.  It's a heartbreaking story of a young girl who was abandoned at birth and passed from foster home to foster home until she was declared "unadoptable" and lived her teen years in a group home until she was 18.  What happens after she ages out is both sad and hopeful, but this poor young woman has been emotionally damaged by her life, and she uses the language of flowers to communicate.  It was an eye-opener for me about the foster system, and I found out that the author is a foster-parent, herself, as the book was profiled in this month's Costco magazine.  This is the 2nd book I've read that was highlighted in Costco Magazine---I think I'll look more closely at them every month.  They were both excellent!

7 Quick Takes

---1---

Coyotes are back in the neighborhood.  yay.  I really think they come up this way to deliver their pups in the spring.  So we can look forward to lots more howling and yipping when they have pack meetings or make a kill---which they did the other morning.  Pip and the dog were attracted by the vultures later, so they went to where the feast was.  He even climbed down the dropoff into the woods to take a picture of the deceased raccoon.  I'll spare you that.

You're welcome.

---2---

In really mundane household news...we got a new, powerful router yesterday!  It was getting to be too difficult to use the internet around here; we had to conserve streaming like we conserve hot water for the other people showering!  So, Pip and I spent what felt like hours dealing with this nightmare after plugging everything in the way the directions say.  Everything we tried, all the diagnostics, nothing worked.  Finally, I gave up to read a book.  He decided to change it up and use a LAN connection, and as soon as he did that, the computer said, "Doofus, your ethernet cable is in the wrong place!"  (or something like that!).  What did he do with the ethernet cable?  He put it back where it had been for the past 2 hours, and bazinga! , it worked.

And don't tell me the ethernet cable wasn't plugged in properly.  I checked it, like, 50 million times.

---3---

When I stopped to read that book, it was----and I know you're dying to know----

.

Someone in my internet-wanderings recommended this book, and I ordered it.  She must have been very forceful in her review because my reading list is a bit out of control, and another book is the last thing I need!  I. am. loving. it.  This is the first book I have read in ages that I want to keep reading---I read it during lunch; I pick it up instead of my knitting; I pick it up instead of my phone!  It's that good.  

---4---

I stopped at the big box store yesterday to get more paint swatches for Pip's bedroom.  Turns out that one of the colors he already said he likes matches his new comforter perfectly.  So I bought paint.  Now I have to paint.  Now I have to move everything out of his room.  I have to move his extra bed downstairs.  I have to refinish his dresser.  I have to get all the stuff of the walls.  

I think I have to have a nervous breakdown.  And a standing appointment with the chiropractor.

---5---

And when I'm done with that, there's Meg's room.

---6---

And then there is the hall bathroom with the original, floral wallpaper, which needs to be stripped before I paint it.

I think I'll go read a book.

---7---

Speaking of books!  Have you been reading the Catechism daily with the Flocknote emails?  I was.  Until I got a little behind.  By about a week.  Sometimes, I just get tired of reading on the computer.  And you'll never believe this....but I picked up the actual Catechism, and I've been reading it at night, before bed.  I manage to read more than I did before, and enjoy it a lot more.  I thought I was going to catch up, but now I hear that they're switching to YouCat.  I'm kind of glad that I switched to the book---now I can keep reading my 20-40 paragraphs per night instead of switching to YouCat.  Now, I may skim that in my email to see what it's like, but I'm happy with my giant book.

Provided I don't fall asleep and drop it on my face.

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Join the fun at Jen's for more 7 Quick Takes!