MAILBAG TIME! Question: How you have accomplished drug-free births? I have about 7 weeks to go and I'm toying with the idea of no epidural. But I'm scared. So far my birth experiences have been: emergency c-section due to late (i.e. during labor) discovery that baby...
It wasn't me. Someone has been entering this blog's email address into the "my contact information" field of Catholic websites, and leaving harassing messages. I've gotten a few auto response emails back. One was a list of like 50 self-published books on Amazon...
MAILBAG TIME! Question: My oldest is now approaching Kindergarten age and, honestly, I am getting cold feet about the whole homeschooling thing. Sending him to a Catholic school nearby is oh-so-tempting. Even though I'm drawn to it, the whole homeschool thing is very...
My friend Kelly is hosting Seven Quick Takes today, so I'm back on the link-up wagon. -one- The Quotable Cranky Frankie Frankie (3): a mornin mama Me: mornin Frank Frankie: No! I'm Frankie! Me: <whispering> Good morning Frankie. Frankie: No! Not like...
I am so, so late to jump aboard the Once Upon a Time train. Not as late as I was for Doctor Who, I guess. But still, Once Upon a Time has been on the air since 2011, and I only started watching it last month. I had heard of it. I knew Haley liked it, but . ....
Is that too strong? Well, it's what WE are going to do anyway: CLEAN OUT THE COAT CLOSET! It's something we can ALL do, no matter our financial circumstances. We can take a look in our coat closets and see if we have anything to spare. Maybe we do, maybe we don't. But...
Jack, how did you manage to get to see Big Hero 6 on opening night? We were driving past a billboard, and I said. "Hey Mom, that movie looks cool." And then you said, "You have a lot of money. Why don't you take us to see it?" That's not how I remember it. No, that's...
Dear Mr. President, So, you gave a speech last weekend, huh? And . . . three, two, one, BOOM went the mommy wars. I'm pretty sure you didn't intend to say that being a stay at home mom isn't "a choice we want Americans to make." I mean, that IS what you said, but it...
I was so amazed at the awesomeness of your entries in the Catholic Costume Contest, that I decided to post, not just the winner, not just a handful of favorites, but almost 200 awesome Catholic costumes, made by real parents and kids just like you and yours. It seems...
Tomorrow, Sunday November 2nd, is All Souls Day. In our home we commemorate the day by going to a cemetery and praying a family rosary for people who have died. We pray particularly, but not exclusively, for our family's deceased friends and relatives. In honor of the...
-- 1. Pumpkin Picking -- We had Frankie's birthday party last weekend and the husband has been out of town this week, so our first chance to get pumpkins was Thursday. I suppose it's just as well, because I've learned the hard way what happens when you carve pumpkins...
Alright. The big capsule wardrobe reveal is here. And, yes, I know how silly this is. But, really, I can see why the internet is abuzz with capsule wardrobes. We are a people living under the yoke of luxury. Even those of us who aren't rich. We don't know when to...
On Sunday, Frankie turned three years old. You can imagine his excitement. We threw him a Little Monster-themed birthday party. Here's how it went down. THE DECOR Red tissue balls and green hanging fans, fabric circus bunting, a mini monsters banner, a homemade...
So, you're all set for Hallowtide, right? Your kids have got a Halloween costume and an All Saints Day costume all set and ready to go? No? Not to worry. These costumes can be thrown together in a couple of days, and if you have Amazon Prime, you might not even need...
I am on a ridiculous (and completely unintentional) streak of two weeks of almost daily blog posts. We can't keep this up forever. I'm trying to stop. Really I am. But there's been all the guest posting and sponsored posting to tell you about. And Frankie was grumpy...
Blind obedience is a tough sell these days. If you're anything like me, it's going to take a lot to even convince you that it's not utterly WRONG, let alone a virtue to be cultivated. In our culture, the concept of obedience has fallen out of favor. We are hesitant to...
You'll find me at Blessed Is She today, discussing the parable of the rich man who stores up his grain . . . I don’t have any grain, myself. But you know what I do have? Baby clothes. Washed and folded, sorted by size and separated into bins. I installed built-ins in...
For my inaugural Netflix Stream Team sponsored post, we're going to look at the kids' Halloween-type movies streaming has available. I'm going to tell you about a few I really like, a bunch that are kinda meh, and a few that you should NOT SHOW TO YOUR CHILDREN. This...
We spent this afternoon and evening at our parish's annual festival. A good time was had by all. Even Frankie. But you wouldn't have known it to look at him. Kid has a bad case of grumpy resting face. There were just too, too many to Instagram them all, so I decided...
There are people who have blogs who eventually learn that there are things you're just not allowed to write about on the internet: vaccines, spanking, breastfeeding in public, crying it out, etc. I am not one of those people. And I get a lot of reader questions...
The recent stories of Brittany Maynard and Jennifer Lawrence are quite different in circumstance and gravity. But both women are suffering. And both have a skewed way of rationalizing what is happening to them. My glioblastoma is going to kill me, and that's out of my...
A quick tour of recent headlines regarding the Synod . . . in which we see that folks are, as usual, flipping the flip out over nothing new. The Globe and Mail: Bishops say homosexuals should be accepted by the Catholic church Pope Benedict, from then-Cardinal...
Okay, so where were we? Flew to Barcelona, saw modern masterpiece; went to Lourdes, prayed for intentions; went to Torreciudad, saw mosaic of Virgin Mary on her iPhone . . . which means . . . LOOK OUT TINY TOURISTS! THERE'S A GIANT BABY IN FRONT OF THE...
And I want you to come with me. The good folks at Netflix Streaming invited me to join their team and write monthly about Netflix shows. So, since I was already doing that for free, I said okay. Once a month, I'll be regaling you with thoughts about movies and TV...
If you missed Part I (in which I learn that not all modern architecture reminds me of jello jigglers) and Part II (in which I wax poetic about Lourdes) of the recap, you already missed my favorite part of the trip. Today, you'll get to see my SECOND favorite part,...
Our family has a very special devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes. My parents volunteer there for a service week each year, my kids love the CCC cartoon about St. Bernadette, and, oh yeah, we believe that my husband is alive because of her intercession. So, even though we...
It was Spain. That's where Lulu was. And a little bit France, but mostly Spain. As you may recall, the whole family was in France just last spring. So we didn't really intend to go back to Europe this year, but the husband was invited to be a part of a delegation...
Question: How do you stop the fighting between your kids? What do you do with them? I've tried many things like separation, spanking (which I hate but it sure works on my older one!), toys taken away, stickers toward new toy for good behavior, etc. but I get the...
Hey all! The husband, the baby, and I are back from our sojourn in Spain (and a little France). It was a wonderful trip. Details are forthcoming. But first, here are all the winners of my birthday week giveaway! First up, the Sacro Cross giveaway . . . The...
Can you believe it's October?! With the weather we've been having in Southern California . . . I cannot. But, there you have it. Probably, you want to be an awesome, totally organized mom who remembered that All Saint's Day and Halloween were coming up. But probably...
