Feeding Frenzy Wednesday (?) VI

OK, so it doesn't have the same ring as Feeding Frenzy Friday, but I thought I'd post this week's item early since on Friday and Saturday it'll be more difficult to do anything about it.  I'll probably do the same again next week.  This week's items are cake mixes (and icing to go with them).

Facebooking the First Christmas

This was a neat video I found on Facebook.  One of the people who commented on it said that they cried watching it.  I was thinking "sure, whatever..."  Then I watched it.  I didn't cry, but I definitely got goosebumps (and on a different day, maybe I would have teared up a bit).  Enjoy!

Feeding Frenzy Friday V

The Feeding Frenzy Friday item for this week is soup crackers (saltines, oyster crackers, etc.).  To learn more about this, click here and have a blessed Friday!

A Giveaway for the Girls

I follow the blog, It's OK to be WEIRD.  Sweet Mummy posted a giveaway yesterday that I'd love to win...one Purse Perfector (winner's choice of color).  You can see the details here.  I've always loved large purses, but I rarely own one because I can't keep it organized.  This is just what I need!  Even if you are too late to enter the giveaway yourself, she has written up a great review.

Not Even a Taste!

In my post about Catholic (Christian) Morality, I mentioned that I struggle somewhat with my weight.  I always have...mostly due to my love of chocolate and that my #1 leisure time activity is reading (you don't burn a lot of calories turning pages).  However, my weight has gone up more, recently, than ever before.  I spent several years teaching part time at 2-4 different schools to make my hours (and my checks) add up to a full time job. Those were years I spent just surviving. I'd spend the weekend trying to get ready for the next week (but usually only getting as far as Wednesday), then Monday through Wednesday evenings getting ready for Thursday and Thursday night scrambling to get ready for Friday. Saturday would roll around and I'd start all over again. I didn't have time to take care of myself and my weight reflects that. Now that I've been teaching at just one school for over a year, I've decided it's time to get serious about getting back to the weight I was at when I graduated college (or a little less).  I firmly believe that I need to take better care of my body. 

So, with this new resolve, I created a profile at http://www.myfitnesspal.com/.  It's a free calorie counter in which I can keep track of the foods that I eat and the exercise I get.  I'm sure it's not perfect, but I haven't had any trouble finding the foods I ate today or the exercise I wanted to log.  You'll notice that I've added a ticker at the bottom of my blog's home page that shows how far I am in my weight loss (right now it show 0, but I'm looking forward to making it move).  The nice thing is that I don't just have to count walking or weight lifting as exercise to earn calories...I can even earn positive calories for playing my flute or time spent cooking.  It's also a bit of social networking because members are encouraged to friend each other for support.  If this sounds like something that would help you, feel free to look me up when you join.  My username is monsmusic.

One way I know I must be serious is that I just spent an hour in the kitchen chopping Twix candy bars up and making some bars to take to a cookie exchange and ALL of the leftovers are still downstairs in the kitchen.  I didn't even have a taste.

Amazing

I work with this amazing lady named Jeanne.  She accompanies my school church choir and plays for our concerts.  Last Lent, she was diagnosed with cancer.  She allowed Father to perform the Sacrament of Healing (Anointing of the Sick) for her during a school Mass despite her concern about how it might affect the kids' faith if she died of her cancer.  She took about six weeks off after surgery but continued to play for us through her chemo.  On her first day back, the student body all wore yellow shirts (the color associated with cancer research) in her honor.  Shortly after that, she gave a reflection on her faith experience with cancer.  She brought a stuffed frog and told the students that it reminded her that she must Fully Rely On God.  She was given a clean bill of health in June.  Then, just before Thanksgiving, she pulled me aside after our school's Thanksgiving Mass to tell me that her cancer was back and this time it was deemed terminal.  The doctors are giving her months.  Today at Mass, she and Father broke the news to the student body and Father gave her the Anointing of the Sick again.  She pulled out her frog and told the kids that she had an amazing summer that she wouldn't have had without their prayers, but "you can't pray someone alive forever, you know."  She told them she was a bit apprehensive because she didn't know exactly how it would go, but she trusted that it would be wonderful and that she was truly looking forward to heaven.  I was, fortunately, not the only one crying.  She is one amazing lady and I can only pray that when it is my time to die, I can show as much courage and teach as many kids about faith as she is doing now.  Please pray for us all.

Is It Wrong to Love a Pair of Boots?

(Note: I was not given any sort of compensation for this review.)

I think I would be considered a "loyal consumer."  When I get good service and good products from a store or brand, I tend to return to them almost obsessively.  For instance, I am a Land's End girl.  I got a Land's End coat for Christmas 4 years ago when I started to have to do recess duty at one of my schools and love it (there are times I find myself looking forward to cold weather so I can get my coat out again!).  Land's End Trekker Shoes (especially this style) are my favorite shoes.  I wear them until snow hits the ground (and sticks).  Therefore, when I needed new boots for this winter, the first place I looked was LandsEnd.com.  However, I had something very specific in mind and didn't find what I was looking for there.  I need boots that are tall, waterproof and at least moderately warm.  Last year, when we got 20+ inches of snow dumped on us in one day, I was leaving my blue jeans outside my boots to try to keep snow from getting down into them.  My feet ended up wet and cold anyway, since the water resistance had worn off (or just couldn't handle what the weather was throwing at it).  Eventually, I found these boots made by L.L. Bean.  I thought they looked like exactly what I needed.  Most of the reviews were good, I decided to go for it.  That decision was made just in the nick of time...they arrived last Wednesday, we got our first "sticking" snow of the season Thursday, and our first blizzard Saturday and Sunday.  Here are the positives about these boots:

• They are tall.  I can even make them taller by unfolding the cuff at the top and tying the lace at the front.  They don't come up to my knees or anything, but they were plenty tall to deal with shoveling the 10.5 inches of snow we got on Saturday.
• They are warm.  I wore a pair of thick socks and the boots for shoveling and my feet did not get at all cold.  That's important to me, because I don't wear thick socks to work and I don't want to have to bring an extra pair (I'm already carrying my shoes) in order to not freeze.
• They are waterproof.  The shoe part of the boots (about up to the ankle) is rubber.  Unless I'm walking through a flood, my feet won't get wet.
• There are good treads on the bottom.  I feel like as long as I'm walking on snow I have decent footing.  Not much helps on ice, short of cleats.

These boots are not for everyone:

• My mom tried them on and found them uncomfortably tight.  She does usually wear a wide shoe (I don't).  She felt, even with a larger size, that she wouldn't have enough room to be comfortable.
• You can definitely feel where the rubber shoe ends and the fabric upper begins.  This might bother some people though I have not found it troublesome.
• There is not a lot of arch support.  If I was going to be using the boots for a long period of time, I'd put an insert in them to help.

Why a Blog?

To be honest, I still occasionally ask myself why I started a blog.  I have not always kept a diary.  I do not have the ambition to become a writer.  I do not even really feel the need to have a hundred "followers" of my blog.  (Though I will admit to checking my stats occasionally to see if anyone has checked it out lately.  My favorite thing is to see where those who have looked at it are from...I had 10 views from Russia last week!) 

The idea came to me when I was trying to write a letter to Rachel.  She's a former band student (still a current private student) of mine who asked me to be her Confirmation sponsor.  All sponsors were asked to write a letter for their candidates to read at their retreat.  I sat down to write the letter and got stuck.  So I did what many of us do so readily these days...I Googled "tips for writing a letter to a Confirmation candidate" and I found this blog entry.  It was incredibly helpful and all that I needed to get started.  Looking around that blog I found a link to St. Blog's Parish and I discovered that there are actually a lot of Catholic bloggers out there.  I got the itch to do a little blogging myself.  I got this blog set up rather quickly and posted my first entry on Nov. 11.  The rest is in my archives.  For other thoughts on why I'm working on this blog, check out this post from a couple of weeks ago.

On a side note, there are some young teens in my life who are having a hard time (some as a result of life and some as a result of bad choices).  Please pray. 

Feeding Frenzy Friday IV

The Feeding Frenzy Friday item for this week is Cream of Wheat...not very exciting, but nice to eat warm on a cold winter day!

Our Lady of Good Help

You may have heard in the news that yesterday, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, Bishop Ricken, of the Diocese of Green Bay gave official approval of the Marian apparitions at the shrine of Our Lady of Good Help in Wisconsin.  He stated, “I declare with moral certainty and in accord with the norms of the Church that the events, apparitions and locutions given to Adele Brise in October of 1859 do exhibit the substance of supernatural character, and I do hereby approve these apparitions as worthy of belief (although not obligatory) by the Christian faithful.” 

As a part of earning my Marian Medal for Girl Scouts in middle school, I visited the shrine with my troop.  It's really a neat place and I've wanted to get back there for ages.  That's something that definitely rose high on my "to-do" list yesterday...maybe a Sunday drive after the New Year...

Anyway, if you want the full story, check out these links:

The news story posted by CatholicCulture.org: http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=8505

The official web site of the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help:
http://www.shrineofourladyofgoodhelp.com/index.html

A Picture is Worth...

I should get to bed, so how about a wordless Wednesday...

Theology of the Body for Beginners ~ My Thoughts

Yesterday, I finished reading Theology of the Body for Beginners by Christopher West.  I have to admit that there really weren't any major surprises for me.  The thoughts and ideas presented and the topics covered in the book were much what I expected them to be.  That is not, however, to say that I didn't learn anything.

The main idea of Pope John Paul II's Theology of the Body is that sexual union is sacred and meant to be shared between husband and wife, joined by the sacrament of marriage in a way that reflects God's "free, total, faithful, fruitful love."  It is a sacrament in itself...a physical symbol of something invisible - the union of Christ and His Church.

In this context, TOB covers the ideas of chastity, marital sex, pre-marital sex, and contraceptives.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) is frequently referenced.  The insights offered in this work are incredible and the book is well-written and easy to read.  I highly recommend it to anyone, but especially if you've ever wondered why the Church takes the stance it does on these topics.

Sundays

"Remember to keep holy the sabbath day.  Six days you may labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord, your God.  No work may be done then either by you, or your son or daughter, or your male or female slave, or your beast, or by the alien who lives with you.  In six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them; but on the seventh day he rested.  That is why the Lord has blessed the sabbath day and made it holy."  ~Exodus 20:8-11

"Sunday, the "Lord's Day," is the principal day for the celebration of the Eucharist because it is the day of the Resurrection.  It is the pre-eminent day of the liturgical assembly, the day of the Christian family, and the day of joy and rest from work.  Sunday is the 'foundation and kernel of the whole liturgical year."  ~CCC, no. 1193, citing SC no. 106

"The Biblical Sabbath is not primarily a day of rules and prohibitions...the Sabbath was given to us as a gift, not as a penalty.  The people to whom it was first given had grown up as slaves in Egypt.  God said to them 'When you were slaves, someone else owned your time.  You could do only what they told you to do.  Now that you're free, you can use your time for your own purposes.'  That is why, to this day, 3000 years after the event, a Jewish family welcoming the Sabbath, refers to it as 'a reminder of our liberation from Egyptian slavery.'  Animals are controlled by time...Human beings, and only human beings control time...If during the week, a man or woman is bound to a schedule, if our lives are ruled by the clock so that we are not free to do what we want, when we want to, the Sabbath, whether observed on Saturday, Sunday, or even on a weekday for those who have to work weekends, is a day to replenish our souls by being free to do those things that identify us as human.  It is a time for family, for reading, and, of course, for worship, another uniquely human activity." ~Rabbi Harold Kushner, The Lord is My Shepherd.

For most of my life, Sunday has been the day I go to Mass and then go back to my normal life.  In the culture we live in it is rarely practical and occasionally not even possible to take Sunday as a "day of rest."  However, after living several years during which I never stopped running...very nearly to the point of collapse, I was listening to an audio book - The Lord is My Shepherd read by the author, Rabbi Harold Kushner.  I was out for a walk when I heard the part I quoted above (it's much longer but I couldn't quote the whole thing here...the rest of the book is definitely something I'll cover in another post; there was a lot of great stuff in it).  I could even tell you exactly what street I was on as the ideas sunk in.  The bit about the need for time for God to replenish our souls spoke to me so completely that I knew I had to try harder to find time for daily quiet prayer and to do more than just make sure I could check off my "obligation" of a Sunday Mass.

As I stated above, this is not always practical or possible, but at the very least, I try to take more time on Sunday (if I can't take the whole day) for extra prayer, Bible study, reading and other refreshing pursuits.  I am still a person who likes lists, however, so here is my list of things to try to accomplish on a Sunday:

• Read an extra chapter from whatever Book of the Bible I'm working on.  Normally I read one section of a chapter each morning and evening...Sundays I do that and then also another full chapter.
• Read (or listen to) a chapter from another book on the topic of faith.  Examples are The Lord is My Shepherd and Theology of the Body for Beginners.
• Spend at least 30 minutes in service to my parents...this can be helping with whatever they are trying to accomplish that day, a couple of extra loads of laundry, or whatever I think might be useful.
• Write in my prayer journal.
• Spend some time quilting, reading, and catching up on the blogs I've gotten behind on.

 It truly is amazing the difference I see in my weeks when I can spend more time observing the Sabbath as a Holy Day.

Fruits of the Spirit: Always in Season

At the beginning of the school-year, it was announced that the school's Faith Focus was going to be the Fruits of the Holy Spirit.  We are focusing on one each month as a school (in prayer during announcements, at school Masses, and in the classrooms).  Teachers were asked to post the Fruits of the Spirit somewhere in their classrooms.  I'd already finished my bulletin boards by then, so I had some trouble figuring out where I was going to put them, but I found a tree that fit just great above my prayer table.  It came with green leaves and leaves in fall colors.  I started it out with green leaves and slowly changed them over to fall.  Then as fall started to feel more like winter, I took the leaves off.  At that point, I was thinking it looked kind of dumb...a tree that looked dead with a whole bunch of different fruit.  That's when I came up with the "tag line" that I put on the trunk:

I decided to put up a few snowflakes every time it snows until spring when I'll switch them out for the green leaves again.  December's Fruit is Patience, which is why there are currently 3 pears on the tree.  I put one of each on the tree to begin with and then as each month rolls around, I put 3 of that Fruit on the tree to show what we are focusing on.  At that point, they get a quote from scripture pertaining to that Fruit of the Spirit.

I'm very happy with it now...for a long time I felt like it looked like an afterthought in the room, but now it looks a little more like it belongs.

Feeding Frenzy Friday III

OK, so I know I promised some pictures from my classroom a couple of days ago...the end of the week kind of got away from me.  I'll do it when I get home...I promise!

The Feeding Frenzy Friday item of the week is breakfast cereal.

To-Do Lists vs. ADD

Most days, I can write a to-do list and count on getting at least some of it done.  Today, however, my ADD won.  Yes, everything I did was productive, but (until about 5:30 PM) none of it was actually on the list.  UGH!  On the other hand, I finally feel like my Fruits of the Spirit tree in my classroom is finally complete (I'll post some pictures tomorrow) and the 5th grade band members started voting on one of their pieces for the spring concert (something we had to do this week so I could order it), but the list is far from done and I'm going to bed and remembering that tomorrow is another day.

Excitement

Excitement at school today...we lost power for about an hour at the very end of the day.  There are no windows in my classroom, just an emergency light in the hall (which is no where near as bright as I thought it would be) and 2 small emergency flashlights plugged in around the room that charge whenever the power is on and turn on when the power is off.  I had 18 kindergartners in my classroom at the time and it got VERY dark.  We were lucky they were all sitting and we were rehearsing.  No one was up and getting a tissue or in the bathroom.  I was standing at the piano, kind of hoping it would come right back on, when there was a very small voice, "What happened?"  They were great...just stayed in their seats (no crying, no panic) until I could get the doors open and grab one of my flashlights out of an outlet.  By the time I was getting them into line, a few at a time, their teacher arrived and took them back to their classroom (where they had windows).  I <3 my kids!

Added 11/30/10: I can't just leave it at that, after the other 'excitement' not too far from here yesterday afternoon/evening.  Praise God that was all we dealt with in our school yesterday.  Please pray for all students and teachers at Marinette High School and especially for that young "suspect/victim."  God help our children!

Catholic (Christian) Morality

"The first line in the Catechism's section on morality speaks volumes. It is not, 'Give up everything you really want and follow all these miserable rules or you're going to hell." It is 'Christian, recognize your dignity.'"

That statement jumped off of the page at me today.  I've been (rather slowly) working on reading Theology of the Body for beginners by Christopher West.  It is "A Basic Introduction to Pope John Paul II's Sexual Revolution."  I've tried to read a chapter each Sunday, when I take a little more time for prayer, refreshment of the soul, and study of God than I'm usually able to do during the rest of the week.  I just finished chapter 8 (of 9, so I'm almost done).  Once I actually finish the book, I'll run through the important points of the whole in a sort of review.  Hopefully that will happen next week...

This statement, however, just cried out to me as something I wanted to talk about TODAY..."The first line in the Catechism's section on morality speaks volumes. It is not, 'Give up everything you really want and follow all these miserable rules or you're going to hell." It is 'Christian, recognize your dignity.'"

What a great way to summarize why we should follow the rules and how we should decide a course of action in difficult situations.  We need to make our moral decisions based on our own dignity and the dignity of our fellow human beings.  A few applications of this statement:

• Sexual intimacy...that's (obviously) the main focus of the Theology of the Body...the dignity of the "one body" union of marriage and the beauty of sacrament that it is.  More about this when I actually finish the book.
• Language...this is an area I've slipped up in recent years.  I kept my language clean through college, but since I graduated, I've let quite a few words slip into my "at home" language that my younger self would be ashamed of.  I'm making a commitment, right here, right now, to clean it up...I know I can - I keep it 100% clean at school.  Keeping one's language clean shows that you recognize your own dignity and respect the dignity of those around you.
• Media consumption...there's so much garbage out there, on TV and the radio.  I don't need to elaborate, you've already thought of several examples of your own.  Do we really respect our own dignity by watching or listening to it, regardless of whether or not we think it has an effect on us?  Do we respect the dignity of those who work in the industry by reinforcing the notion that "sex sells?"  Can we even do anything to change it?  (That's the toughest question).  The way the industry is going these days, we have to weigh the good with the bad and make a decision on a case by case basis, but I'd like to try to work harder to not take the easy way...choosing the movies and music that the commercials tell me I should like, but finding out if there are other options that reflect our dignity better and supporting those.  I love country music, for example, but so much of the music is about drinking and sex that I've changed to choosing my country song by song on iTunes and listening to Christian radio instead of the local country station...more control that way.
• How we care for our bodies...most things are good (or at least fine) in moderation, but how hard is it to find moderation these days?  The upper Midwest (and very "country") mentality of "it's not a good time unless you are too drunk to remember it" certainly does not reflect the dignity of the human person.  Along with much of the country, I struggle with my weight.  I'm not morbidly obese, but I ought to lose 40 lbs or so to be healthy and taking care of my body the way I should.  It's something I try very hard to do...perhaps something else to blog about.  My state has finally enacted a state-wide smoking ban.  (Praise God!)  So many are upset about it ("The government shouldn't be telling us what to do!"), but if we won't respect the health of the people around us, someone should make us!  Many of those working as bar tenders have no choice in their profession (and in this economy, who can afford to quit their job?).

I'm not trying to get on a soapbox and do any preaching here...these are just thoughts that came to mind...any others?  Please share in the comments!

Feeding Frenzy Friday II

I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving!  I'm not a Black Friday Shopper, so I probably won't go out to pick this up until tomorrow, but the Feeding Frenzy Friday item for this week is canned stews and chili.  Click the link to learn more.

Working for a Church

There are advantages and disadvantages to every kind of job.  Environment, pay, co-workers...all can play into whether or not someone loves or hates their work.  Fortunately, there are many different types of people in this world, because there are jobs I just couldn't survive doing...but I digress.  There are many things I love about my job...the kids are #1, the other teachers I work with, the environment of the parish is fantastic.  There are things I wish were better, of course.  I wish my classroom had windows and the salary was a little closer to a real "living wage," but again, I digress.  One of my favorite things (after my students, of course) about working in a Catholic school is that I have access to a church, 24/7.  I hate the fact that there are people out there that require us to keep churches locked (and I'm not talking about the insurance people, either...I'm talking about the people we're trying to keep out...the vandals and the thieves).  There is a hallway just outside my classroom, however, that leads directly into the church basement.  It's locked going into the school but not going into the church.  There is very little I find more peaceful than a quiet, dark church and after I've had a particularly stressful day, I'll usually make my way up into the Eucharistic Chapel and sit in adoration for a while.  I'm always more relaxed and at peace when I leave (and I usually pay a little extra for a candle, too, so my evening visits are benefiting the church).  I wish everyone could experience, even just once, the peace of a quiet, dark, empty church.

...but my favorite Book is...

One of my favorite tools for prayer is my Bible...one in particular.  Fireside Catholic Publishing has several "Themed" Bibles.  Each one of their themed Bibles has inserts relevant to the age/group that Bible is published for.  The Fireside Youth Bible is great for middle and high school students.  I have a Youth Bible on my prayer table in my classroom.  I'll cover it in a post some other time.  My Bible is their Faith-Filled Catholic Women's Bible. 

The translation is the NAB (New American Bible) and is the full Catholic Bible.  In addition to the actual books of the Bible, in Fireside's themed Bibles, there are 4-page articles inserted every 60 pages or so.   The articles in the women's Bible are on the topics of acceptance, compassion, diligence, faith, forgiveness, generosity, goodness, holiness, hope, humility, joy, justice, kindness, love, loyalty, patience, peace, sacrifice, suffering, triumph, understanding, and wisdom.

Each article starts with a page called Plan and Purpose that covers the importance of (in this instance) hope in our lives, where it's easy to fall short, and what scripture has to say about it.

The next page has a list of scripture on the topic, scripture-based reflections, and suggestions for ways to respond to the call.  At the top of the page is a prayer to say before delving into the scripture.  The third page has a Profile in Faith, highlighting a saint whose story is relevant to the topic at hand.

The last page has an everyday story of Faith in Action.  I'm not sure if these stories are fact or fiction, but I always look forward to reading them.

I find these articles so helpful in developing a Scripture-based prayer life.  I read the first page one day, then 1-2 of the pieces of scripture each day until I've worked through those.  I do the reflections the next day or two and try to choose one of the "responding" suggestions.  The next day I read the Profile in Faith and Faith in Action.  In all, I spend about a week on each topic, trying to focus on that area in my life as well as in my prayer.

Book Nerd

So apparently (if my sources are correct...) the BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books listed here.  I've bolded the books I've read in their entirety and italicized the books I've only read part of.  The comments after the author are my own.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien 

3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling

5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee  

6 The Bible         ...I'm working on it.

7  Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell 

9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott   ...and Little Men and Jo's Boys :)

12 Tess of the D'urbervilles - Thomas Hardy

13 Catch-22 - Joseph Heller

14 The Complete Works of Shakespeare

15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier

16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien

17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk

18 Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger

19 The Time-Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

20 Middlemarch - George Eliot

21 Gone With the Wind - Margaret Mitchell

22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald

24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy

25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll

30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Graeme

31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis

34 Emma - Jane Austen

35 Persuasion - Jane Austen

36 The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - CS Lewis   ...ok, now didn't I just claim the whole Chronicles of Narnia at #33??? 

37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres

39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

40 Winnie the Pooh - A.A. Milne

41 Animal Farm - George Orwell

42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving

45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

46 Anne of Green Gables - L.M. Montgommery   ...and the entire rest of the series...something like 10 or 11 more books.

47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood

49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding

50 Atonement - Ian McEwan

51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel

52 Dune - Frank Herbert

53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth

56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon

60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov

63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt

64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas

66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac

67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy

68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding

69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie

70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville   ...I have no intention of finishing it.  The only book I've ever read that I really didn't enjoy.  At all.

71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens

72 Dracula - Bram Stoker

73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson

75 Ulysses - James Joyce

76 The Inferno - Dante

77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome

78 Germinal - Emile Zola

79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray

80 Possession - AS Byatt

81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker

84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert

86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

87 Charlotte’s Web - E.B. White

88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom

89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton

91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

92 The Little Prince - Antoine St. Exupery

93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks

94 Watership Down - Richard Adams

95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute

97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas

98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare    

99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl 

100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Ok, so if most people will only read 6 and I've read 24, I guess that makes me a book nerd.  Well, I guess that won't really surprise anyone in my life...

How many have you read?

Feeding Frenzy Friday

Something I've noticed about many blogs is that they have a special theme for certain days of the week.  Thankful Thursday, Weird Wednesday, Wordless Wednesday, Family Time Friday, etc.  I've decided to start Feeding Frenzy Friday.

I've been so blessed.  I'm far from wealthy, but I don't go to bed hungry, sleep on the street, or worry about where my next meal is coming from.  There are so many in this world who can't say the same.  There are hundreds of homeless students in the local school district.  The food pantries can't keep up with the demand.  There are quite a few extra drives going on around here to help stock their shelves, but I'm hearing that they still don't have what they need.  There are simply too many in need and money is so tight for all.  I'm always so discouraged by the small amount I can do, but if many people each do something small, it turns into something big.  Every Friday, I'm going to post an item and then go to the store and pick up $5-10 worth of that item to take to church on Sunday for the food collection.  I invite any of you that can to do the same (set your own amount based on your own situation) and leave me a comment that you participated so we can all see what we contributed to.  (All of the items I choose will be taken directly from the list posted online by one of our local pantries of things they need the most...It's a very long list.)

This week's item: Peanut Butter

Preach the Gospel

"Preach the Gospel at all times; when necessary, use words."

That's a quote frequently attributed to St. Francis of Assisi.  Various sources are conflicted about whether or not he actually said it, but it's a quote I like.  I am much more comfortable with people noticing my beliefs than having to tell them about what I believe.  My prayer life is very private...I'm not sure the people who share the same house as me even know when or how I pray.  I hope they know that I do, but I don't sit down in the living room to study my Bible or say my morning prayers...those things happen in my bedroom and, more often than not, the door is closed.  I'm not saying I live a perfect life...far from it.  The times I fail to live up to the ideal in just one day would make a lengthy list, but I try.  At the same time, we all know it's true that we have to speak about our faith at times.  As a Catholic School teacher, it's part of my job (and, I believe, an important part).  It's just not something I feel like I do well when put "on the spot."  I think that's part of the reason I started a blog.  Even if no one reads it, I'm putting my thoughts and ideas out there, having time to think about what I want to say and how I want to say it.  That will help in the "on the spot" moments, and if someone does actually read it, I might even get some feedback or start a conversation.

Prayer Request Page

I've added a Prayer Requests page to my blog.  When I have prayer requests, I'll add them to the page.  If you have prayer requests, please add them in the comments.

On Sunday, my grandmother (on my mom's side) fell and broke her pelvis.  It's a pretty minor break...the bones didn't move around, just broke, but she's going to be laid up for a while.  Prayers for a quick recovery and peace during the process would be greatly appreciated.

On a side note, she is one awesome and smart lady!  She couldn't get my uncle's attention (it was early in the morning and he was still asleep) and she couldn't get up.  However, she could reach the TV remote, so she turned the TV on and all the way up.  As my aunt poitned out, he must have woken up thinking, 'OK, time to get her some hearing aids!"  Thank God for blessings...that she wasn't alone, that she was able to wake him up, that she didn't have a concussion, and that the break is "nondisplaced" (meaning the bone stayed where it should, despite the break).

Celebrations

A couple of years ago, we came up with the idea to make and decorate cupcakes as a new birthday tradition.  This idea came from the fact that we either made a cake, ate 5 pieces (1 each) after the birthday dinner and then had leftovers and ate way too much sugar for a week, or tried to make a healthier dessert and the birthday boy/girl ended up feeling cheated it didn't really feel as much like a birthday cake.  With cupcakes, we each get one and then we can either throw away the extras or (more often) send them to work with someone (you can't take 1/2 of a cake to work, but you can take 12 cupcakes).  My sister got this great book, Hello Cupcake, and we started trying different designs.  Some are very complicated.  We've also bought What's New, Cupcake and tried some out of there.  These designs tend to be easier.  Yesterday was my mom's birthday and we all got together and celebrated today.  The cupcakes we chose to make for her were, by far, some of the easiest we've made.  These were in the What's New, Cupcake book and only took a couple of hours to decorate (as opposed to an entire day).  We were very happy with how they turned out.  On a side note, I can't take credit for the pictures...my sister is the photographer in the family.

Prayer

My prayer life has always been a bit more of a conversation on the run.  I like to think that I pray my way through life, thanking God for blessings (large and small) and asking for help when it's needed.  I do think that type of prayer is effective and important, but lately I've found that I need more.  Days when I start out with 10-15 minutes of quiet, structured, "sit down and be still" prayer and a reading or two from my Bible go better...I'm more content and at peace with life.  My attitude during weeks when I get consistent morning and evening structured prayer and reading time is so drastically different than weeks when I don't have take the time.  I want to write later about some prayers, books, and other tools that I've found helpful and inspiring, but for now, I just want to share two of my favorite morning prayers.

I remember reading about a daily offertory prayer when I was young, but I never got it written down and didn't think of it again until recently when I came across this slightly modified version that I really like.

God, my friend,

I offer you this day.

Let all my prayer, work, joy, suffering today

join with the lives offered to you

by the whole People of God

and especially with our great Eucharist,

Jesus,

your Son and our Brother.

Let your Spirit be with me today,

especially in...

And I ask your loving concern today,

especially for my friend...

Remind me, through the day, that I am not alone

Amen.

from Daily Prayers for Busy People by Fr. William J. O'Malley

As a teacher, I think it is important to pray for my students daily.  Every morning, when I walk into my classroom, I light the battery operated candles on my prayer table and offer prayers for my students.  This is a prayer I say for me...

Lord, let the joy of my days be a snare for the young;

let me lure them from lackluster lives to Life;

let my love and patience entice them to you!

Amen!

Source forgotten...oops!



Land of the Free, Because of the Brave

How appropriate that I start this blog...the epitome of free speech...on the day we in America mark to celebrate, remember, and thank those who have fought for our freedoms.  So, for my first post, I think I'm going to leave it with just a simple prayer:

God bless America,
Land that I love.
Stand beside her,
And guide her
Through the night
With the light
From Above.

From the mountains,
To the prairies,
To the oceans,
White with foam,
God bless America,
My home, sweet home.
God bless America,
My home, sweet home.

St. Michael the Archangel stand with our troops in battle.  Pray for us.