Well, perhaps the liturgical color for Ordinary Time needs year-round attention from Catholics, I think we were all sensing that care for the environment was a moral responsibility, but now it has been clarified: http://green.yahoo.com/news/nm/20080310/hl_nm/pope_sins_dc.html I’ve heard that if you compost and recycle properly, the average American family would only have one bag of trash a week. Read more

Since becoming a mother, I’ve caught myself saying things that MY mom and dad said to me when I was a child…Things that I thought I would never find myself saying because they bothered me so sometimes! 🙂   1) I’ve adopted the phrase “First things first” when talking with C, a phrase that my mother LOVED to use with us when trying to drive home the point that before you could get to the “fun” activities, you had to... Read more

Since we are chatting about finances, and I mentioned that I find it very educational and empowering to have some money that is my own to spend, I am planning to do the same for the children. I had noticed that they lose pencils, break crayons, etc, with little thought to any consequences. If they were in school outside of the home, there might be more natural consequences, but borrowing a pencil from Mom always seems like an easy option... Read more

Recently, the hot topic around our house has been our family’s budget! We’re nearing the end of a two-year stint without any income, and while business school has been a great experience, I think we can all agree that it’s about time for it to be over so that we can begin life in the “real world” again 🙂 As we look at our projected budget for next year, we seem to come back to the same questions over and... Read more

Just a note to let all you snowbound northerners know that you are incredible! I don’t know how you do it!! We had our once-every-5-years snowfall in Texas last night. Before 8am we had built a snowman. By 10am it had melted. By noon, the snow was gone and now it is in the mid-50’s. Currently, the house is a mess with unmatched gloves, boots and hats laying everywhere. I am exhausted! I don’t know how you ladies keep track... Read more

My style always has been a neat, frequently-checked, carefully-maintained to-do list on a notepad sitting alone on a relatively tidy desk. And then I had kids. Now that same notepad seems to scream to 3 year old Bella “take out that glittery colored pen from the desk drawer and graffiti me beyond recognition” and to 18 month old Bean “rip me into bite-sized pieces and consume me.” So, while we’re on the topic of home organization, how in the world... Read more

I asked my husband what I should post about, and he said, “Isn’t this supposed to be a Catholic blog? Maybe you should write about something besides food.” I calmly explained to him that eating is a sacred participation in God’s creative order. He just shook his head and walked away. Now that that’s settled, let’s talk about Tupperware! When we got married, I registered for nice tupperware. Almost immediately, lids started disappearing and soon I was left with very... Read more

Someone forwarded me an article, from the Catholic Exchange, I thought it might be of interest: Why We Are Not Losing the Battle I was recently at a party where my picture was taken, I was an Ivy League educated, under 30 mother of 5 and I was sitting next to an Ivy League educated, under 30, fully habited religious sister! By the grace of God, we had both found our vocations, and I think it is a pretty hopeful... Read more