Daybook No. 82

Outside my window::

Cloudy, a good day for staying inside with the fireplace on and the tree lit.

My Christmas Tree, 2014

Wearing::

Jeans and an IBM Innovate conference long-sleeved shirt. (When we’ve gone to Disney the past two years, this is what we went for–that conference. Dad and I have matching shirts. 🙂 ) And fuzzy Life is Good socks, because it’s chilly!

Reading::

Love Does, Seeking Spiritual Direction. And of course my Advent books.

In the CD player::

Renee Fleming’s Christmas in New York. I’m really loving her version of “In the Bleak Midwinter.”

Around the house::

This week I’m working on the kitchen–cleaning out the fridge and freezer, stuff like that. I’m trying to stick with the Zones, with some adjustments, because I want to polish all the furniture on the first level before Christmas week, sow hen people come over it’s pretty. 🙂

From the kitchen::

I’m working on some recipes from Mad Hungry. Yes, it’s for “feeding men and boys”, but man there are great recipes in here. Dinner is chicken and a side salad. Lunch is–tentatively–a meal-sized salad.

Health::

Clinic on Monday. Scheduled a colonoscopy for January–happy new year to me, eh? 🙂 Currently my stomach is acting up and refusing food, so we’ll see if it changes its mind later. It might, it might not. No biggie. I mean, not currently a biggie. If it decides to act up more, I will be displeased, but at the moment, it’s kosher.

Plans for the week::

Hockey game on Saturday night–Pens/Jackets. A tough night for cheering–but either way, a team I love wins! Sunday, I make life promises!!!!!! Ahhhhhhh!!!!

Pondering::

This amazing blog. People. This mom? This family? This shows us grace, and how God works. How He is good all the time. I love this family. These are my sorts of people!
Click over? Read the story? (You might want to start here.)

Really, it’s all grace. Overwhelming grace, God’s grace, the gifts we get every day. This family, this mom, gets that.

I try to live my life this way. And God knows, man, I fail and I fall and I flounder around going, Where is the burning bush?! But the older I get, the more I realize that grace is just everywhere, abundant, and that trust is how we find Him.

Daybook No. 75

St. Michael the Archangel

Happy Michaelmas–the feast of Sts. Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, the three Archangels. 

“And I do not have you married by Michaelmas, it will not be my fault.”

—Sense and Sensibility

Outside my window::

Another lovely fall day, it looks like. On the warm side; I wouldn’t mind some fall temperatures!

Wearing::

PJs. I was doing my Morning Pages, and after this it’ll be time for Morning Prayer, and then I’ll get dressed.

Reading::

Voyager (yes I am working my way through the Outlander series again, duh); Love Does, and whatever I bring back from today’s library trip. Monday is my new “library day”, I’ve decided. I’m returning what I got last week and have finished, and checking out whatever strikes me.

In the CD player::

Dolly, of course. It’s all off-book now, but practice makes perfect!

Theater::

Speaking of Dolly, massive rehearsals start this weekend as we get ever closer to opening! You can get tickets here.

Liturgy::

It’s a busy week for it! Today is Michaelmas, one of my feast days, because my middle name is a derivative of Michael; St. Therese’s Feast Day is on Wednesday, and she’s my Confirmation Patron, and Friday is the First Friday of October. Whew!

St. Therese of Lisieux 

I’m going to get to Mass on Wednesday and hopefully on Friday, too. Today I didn’t get up early enough to get things done before Mass, but I hope St. Michael will understand. 🙂 October and November are so chock-full of saints’ days and feasts, and then we’re into Advent again. Can you believe it?

CCD funny::

(In class this week, we discussed the creation story in Genesis and had the kids draw pictures of what they thought it looked like.)

Me: (looking at student’s drawing) Oh, what’s that?

Student: (gleefully) It’s a tidal wave!!!

These kids, they kill me.

Pondering::

It is a repeated observation of St. John of the Cross that God prostrates souls in a preliminary trial when he intends to draw closer in love. Here a pattern is noted, calling for our insight. No doubt we need to understand the providence of God differently.

Trials do not reflect a sign of disfavor with God. Rather, the reverse is indicated. God is offering an invitation, even if it hardly seems so. He is teaching, even if it seems a harsh lesson. It may be a hard truth to accept that God’s greater love is proven by the prevalence of trials we could not foresee, and by their lingering despite every plea for their removal. It is a rare soul that learns to take no surprise at this.

There are indeed many shocks in what can seem God’s rough treatment. Perhaps it is not unusual that we attempt to persuade God to be more gentle in his manner. It appears sometimes that nothing moves him in this regard. More love for God, for example, rather than overcoming a trial, will seem on occasion to extend the duration of a time of trial. But at the end of the day we face always the same question. Would we prefer to love less if it meant not to suffer?

–Father Donald Haggerty

Fitness::

I lost two pounds last week! This week it’s gym and I want to work in a yoga workout as well, possibly on Thursday. We’ll see how the schedule unfolds.

Around the house::

Working on cleaning out my closet as well as purging books and magazines from the first floor rooms. My pile of things to take to Half Price Books is growing, as is the pile in the recycling bag. (Trader Joe’s bags are excellent for paper recycling, because you can just throw everything in, including the bag. 🙂 )

From the kitchen::

Working on The Chew cookbooks this week; I’ve got some salads, chili recipes, and tonight’s meal, General Tso’s Chicken, in the works.

Catholic Women’s Daybook No. 63

(using Elizabeth F’s prompts today 🙂 )

I find myself::

::Noticing God’s glory

A red-winged blackbird was hopping around the backyard today. These are such gorgeous birds that I love it when they come to visit.

::Listening to

The Cast Recording of The Bridges of Madison County is in my car, and I’ve got Giada at Home on the TV.

::Clothing myself in

Jeans and a deep pink colored t-shirt. Around the house today, so I chose easy things.

::Pondering

Goals for the month–religious goals, creative goals, fitness goals….all sorts of goals. 🙂

::cultivating rhythm

This is something I’ve been working on for a few months now–the idea of a daily rhythm. When I have rehab, it’s easy, because I have to be at the hospital at a certain time. But when I don’t, I can’t just be willy-nilly with my time. So I’m working on a schedule. Since we’re back from Disney, it’s easier to think about those things now.

::reading

I gulped down Written In My Own Heart’s Blood today…..yummmmmm….now I have to re-read. 🙂

::creativity

My first Ebook should be making an appearance this week. I am really excited about that. I just have to do a last round of proofing and then get iBooks Author formatting to work with me! 🙂  The book proposal is still being worked on, as well.

::In the kitchen

I have a meal plan for this week. One of the problems I’m noticing is that making three “big” meals every day, or most days of the week, is hard for me. If I make breakfast and dinner, then I crave Chipotle for lunch. Or if I make lunch, I want to go out for dinner. Hmmmm. It’s not that I don’t have the capability to cook just abut anything–it’s that my kitchen is smallish, and cooking three meals a day gets hard on the pots, pans, dishwasher, sink, etc. I have to think of a way around this that doesn’t just involve salads for lunch, because that would also get old fast. I made a really good Rachael Ray chicken recipe today that involved a brown butter sauce (I only used a little, it’s all good), herby chicken and a small bed of mixed spring greens with lemon and coarse salt. That was really good.

::Theater

I’ve missed my theater family, so I’m glad to be getting back to Music Man this week! We open in a month.

 

Catholic Woman’s Daybook No. 55

Outside my window::

Well it’s not “my” window, it’s the hospital’s window–I’m hanging out here all day, first with tests and then with pulm rehab crew at three. I’m in the hospital’s “magic forrest”, sitting right behind this guy’s tail:

Squirrel!

This guy, coincidentally, is also the “mascot” for the transplant floor. Each floor has an animal mascot that greets you when you come off the elevator.

It’s crazy sunny, so I can’t complain about that , especially after being in a dark room in Nuclear Medicine for the past two hours.

Wearing::

Jeans, black flats, and a green and blue stripped sweater.

Reading::

A Dance With Dragons, City of God, and St. Faustina’s Diary. I made good progress on Dragons over the weekend. Sometimes I’ve found the Game of Thrones books a little hard to start, but once I’ve started, I’m sucked in.

Lent::

Went to confession on Saturday, so I’m glad I got that done. I will never be someone who loves confession, so yeah, I talk about “getting it done.” However, I did have the best confessor my parish has, so that’s a definite plus. For my lectio, I’m working my way through the Gospel of Matthew in the Ignatius Study Bible.

Around the house::

Today it’s the normal stuff, like taking out the trash and dusting and vacuuming. This week’s focus is in the living room, according to the Fly Lady plan I’m valiantly attempting to follow. So the idea is to do some serious cleaning in that room this week. I also have to change the sheets when I get back to the house today.

In the kitchen::

Making cock-a-leekie soup tonight from the Unofficial Harry Potter cookbook. It just sounds fun. And it’s sort of chilly, so soup is good! Not sure what else this week. I have ideas, so I need to do that later today too. I might reprise the potato salad from last week, because that was crazy good.

Plans for the week::

Tomorrow: Lunch at my alma mater with one of my favorite people. 🙂

Wednesday: Back here for a CT scan and more rehab.

Thursday: Stuff with mom–lunch and making a fleece blanket

Friday: Rehab and Pens/Jackets game with my dad (wheee!)

Sunday: Teaching the kids in CCD about Jesus’ second coming and the four last things.

And also, I’m doing this crazy awesome workshop called Restore, which, I gotta tell you, is really exciting. The whole idea is to, well, restore. To slow life down to a manageable pace and not be all frantic and all over the place, like, oh, my life has been for the past four months or so?

Catholic Women’s Almanac No. 47

Outside my window:

It is frigid. We’re talking below 0, without wind chill, for the actual temperature. With wind chill, it’s in the negative 20s and 30s. So what am I wearing? The warmest clothes I have–my only turtleneck, light blue cashmere, brown pants, wool socks. Tomorrow it’s going to be negative temps for the high. Yeah. So I’ll look like Randy in A Christmas Story, as opposed to a human being…. Good thing I have so many scarves!

I am never, ever complaining about heat again. Ever. I love all heat. Sun. Sand. Warm water. Oh heck yes.

whirpool lurking at Stormalong Bay, Walt Disney World’s Beach Club Resort

Books::

Mythology, by Edith Hamilton; also re-reading One Thousand Gifts. Also there’s a facebook group: Reading Augustine’s City of God in 2014. I joined and my copy should be coming today. Doctors of the Church, yo! On deck: Charles Dickens, Dance with Dragons.

Memorizing::

This right here. Join us?

From the kitchen::

My new planner has a great feature where I can write in the week’s menu at the bottom of each day. Keeps me so organized.

Tonight: Greek Shrimp with Feta

T: Jamie Oliver’s meatloaf (because it’s going to be really cold, and this requires a really hot oven)

W: Stir-fry, or pasta

Th: Mustard and apple pork chops

F: Cacio e pepi (pasta with pepper and cheese)

Around the house::

Vacuuming today. Dusting. The usual. Nothing that involves going outside. 🙂

In the CD player::

Frozen soundtrack. A propos, right? Been listening to David Neuve’s etheral piano recordings, though, at home. Check them out if you love gentle, soothing music. It’s great when I’m writing or cooking.

1000 gifts::

I’m up to No. 84 in my journal!

Plans for the week::

Not to freeze? Sounds like a good plan. 🙂 We warm up on Wednesday and Thursday though, praise Jesus. Lay Dominicans meeting on Sunday.

Catholic Women’s Almanac No. 43

Happy Feast of St. Catherine of Alexandria, Co-Patroness of the Dominican Order! 🙂 

Outside my window::

Getting dark, and it’s COLD. Like in the teens at night cold. Brrr!

Wearing::

Black v-neck dress with a deep blue camisole, and black flats earlier, but those are off. My “grover” (my furry North Face Fleece, which is bright blue) is getting a lot of use as well these days.

In the kitchen::

Pasta, cacio e pepi, which is basically pasta with lots of cheese and pepper.

Reading::

St. Catherine of Siena’s dialogues. I should finish this tonight!

Fun links::

Pride and patridges: Jane Austen and food. 

Knitting as a feminist issue? 

Praying for::
Angela in her “cancer eradication” surgery today. 🙂 (That’s what she’s calling it)

My pregnant friends

Around the house::

I have to start wrapping Christmas gifts. I did a lot of cleaning this weekend and my Advent wreath and my Nativity are both us. The tree is this weekend’s project. I only have work until Wednesday at noon, so a nice long holiday is in my future! Plenty of time to clean and deck the halls.

Being creative::

A bit less than 9,000 words left in NaNoWriMo sweeps! Yes! I also ordered a ton of new yarn today for a ridiculously low price, so I want to finish the scarf I have going on now and then clear my needles for the yarn that’s coming!

In the CD player::

Oh yeah, it’s Christmas music. 🙂

Plans for the week::

In no particular order: Thanksgiving (well, on Thursday, duh); three Pure Barre classes; my brother coming over with his girlfriend; the OSU Michigan game; putting up the tree; seeing Frozen, and going to a production of A Christmas Carol on Sunday. And I want to see Book Thief too!

Head over to Suscipio for more CWAs!

Catholic Women’s Almanac No. 39

Thanking God For::

*Beautiful autumn days

*scones

*Coffee

*Sunshine

*Sleeping in (yes, I had today off…Columbus Day for the win, people)

*His Word

 

Outside my window::
Well it’s not my window, it’s the coffeeshop’s window. That being said: I’m in Bexley, my old college stomping grounds, so I’m seeing the library and the trees along Main Street turning colors. It’s a glorious autumn day, about 75 degrees or so. I’ve got hot coffee and a chocolate chip scone in front of me. Life is good.

Praying::

*Friends who are pregnant

*Thomas Peters

*an Internet friend who is going through her umpteenth round of chemo

 

Pondering::

My NaNoWriMo novel for this year. I’m planning to do it again; I’m all signed up and ready to go. October is the “planning month”. I have a sort of plot, but I’m not sure where the plot will ultimately end up, so I do need to work on that.

 

Reading::
Proverbs is the lectio book of the Bible du jour; Game of Thrones: A Feast for Crows (book 4 in the series). Also re-reading the Wrinkle In Time series–I’m on A Wind  In The Door.

 

Creating::

Zee Christmas Scarves. Yes. I think I’m on the last one, but one can never be sure.

 

In the kitchen::

It’s Tech Week for And Then There Were None. So it’s catch as catch can. I’m thinking carbonara tonight, though. Because I love carbonara, it’s quick to make, and carbs are good for stage energy. 🙂

 

Around the house::

Today I have cleaned the bathroom (tub, toilet, mirrors); swept the kitchen floor; dusted; vacuumed, and cleared off piles of stuff from the Kitchen Table. I have also worked on the constant weeding out of the library. I am pleased. When I get home from my coffee klatch I’m planning on mopping the Kitchen floor and spending some time in the library and my bedroom.

 

Wearing::

Jeans, a mulberry colored sweater with a pink camisole under it and a grey/white/khaki infinity scarf, and pink flats.

Looking forward to:

Tech Week. I mean it’s a lot of work but it’s also fun to see the whole show come together. We open on Friday!

The week ahead::

Um, tech week. 🙂 The show opens on Friday. We have shows Friday and Saturday Evening and then a Sunday matinee. We do it again next weekend.

My sister’s birthday is on Thursday

 

Catholic Women’s Almanac No. 37

A midweek edition.

Wearing::

Blue top, blue patterned skirt, blue shoes…a theme? 🙂 Shirt and skirt from Talbot’s. I love their full skirts and try to get a new one every fall so I have lots of them to wear. They’re sort of my uniform.

In the CD player::

Renee Fleming, Guilty Pleasures (her new album)

Reading::

Just finished Having a Mary Heart In A Martha World. Some good insights here and things I know I need to work on. Also re-reading The Kane Chronicles and Percy Jackson, because, really, there isn’t a bad time to do those things. Also reading Back to Virtue by Peter kreeft.

In the kitchen::

Tonight is a spring pasta, although it’s, you know, Fall. It’s pasta with asparagus and peas.  Here are two things I made last weekend that I loved:

Panko crusted salmon

Summer vegetable stew

I tried eggplant parm on Monday. Yeah, I just don’t like eggplant. It’s official.

Around the house::

Vacuuming, dusting the first floor and the vents in the master bath. Oh joy!

Praying::

Thomas Peters

Pregnant friends

Syria

Creating::

Christmas scarf No.4, which is almost done!

Plans for the week::

Dinner w/ Tiffany tomorrow; rehearsal Fri, Sat.., Sunday; teaching my CCD class on Sunday. We’re talking about Heaven. 🙂

Catholic Women’s Almanac No. 30

Wearing::

Black and white stripped maxi skirt; purple elbow-length sleeve top. Both from White House, Black Market.

Black flats

Reading::

Re-reading Madeline L’Engle’s Austin series, so I’m on book two of that (out of five), and Keeping House.  I have a $50 B&N gift card so I’m going to go stock up tomorrow. Last week I read Veronica Roth’s Divergent, so I need to get the sequel, Insurgent.

In the CD player::

Renee Fleming’s I Want Magic! American opera arias.

Around the house::

Unpacking from the weekend, and the show. Still have some things that need put away from the Les Miz adventure. Also mopping the kitchen floor, vacuuming and taking out the trash from upstairs.

From the kitchen::

Gosh, I haven’t been to the grocery in about two weeks. I think I’ll see what’s hiding in my pantry. Also I love this. Think it’s time to do this again.

Being healthy::

Workouts this week shall resume. I sort of gave myself a week off post Les Miz. I went hiking over the weekend and did outdoorsy things. So now we get back into the regular routine. But not today, because apparently I did soemthing to my lower back while being all outdoorsy, so I’m taking it easy until it decides to cooperate. Grrrrrr. Oh well. more time to knit (see below) and watch opera on the telly!

Being creative::

Since I finally learned to knit, I’m working on my first project, a scarf. I’m also going to write outlines for two writing projects I’ve been pondering.

Praying for::

My friends’ houses to sell.

My pregnant friends, and their babies! (I have three friends who are currently pregnant. One is supposed to deliver her daughter tomorrow!)

Plans for the week::

Tomorrow–book shopping 🙂

Wednesday: Lunch w/ dad

Weekend: The FIRST free weekend I have had in months. Like, since April. The only thing on my calendar is a virtual book club meeting (book: Moloka’i), and that’s fun. I am going to delight in this.

Tuesday Daybook

Wearing::

a blue and white Talbots’ skirt, and a navy 3/4 length sleeve sweater from Banana Republic. I love this sweater because the neckline dips a little in the back, which is always a fun feature. And black flats

Reading::

Middlemarch; Slim for Life (Jilliam Michaels–in the “losing weight” motivation category); Summa; Return of the Native, and some Dear America books that I recently uncovered.

Around the house::

Vacuuming must happen today. Also general tossing in the bedroom. There’s all sorts of “stuff” in there that doesn’t belong. Also finishing polishing (actually POLISHING) my furniture!

In the CD player::

Les Miz Complete Recording. But oh my goodness…the woman singing Cosette has the most annoying female voice EVER.

From the kitchen::

I haven’t done a meal plan (yet) this week, so tonight is sort of a soup and sandwich night. Tomorrow I think I might try a barefoot contessa chicken recipe.

Creating::

packing lists; my travel journal for all the traveling that I’m doing this summer, and a bit of creative writing and journaling. Also working on Les Miz music for at least 30 minutes every day. That’s creative. 🙂

Praying::

for our diocese

for Syria

for those injured/killed in the Boston bombing, and their families.

This week::

Not a whole lot, other than Les Miz rehearsal on Sunday and a St. Catherine of Siena party that same day. Getting my car fixed on Friday so I’m swapping cars with my parents for the Friday commute.

Linkage::

I just love this.

Getting Healthy::

Lost a pound last week. Huzzah! I think the new drug I’m on is causing some muscle issues, though, so we might have to dump/change it.