Leila Marie Lawler's Blog, page 60

{bits & pieces}

The weekly “little of this, little of that” feature here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!




Reading update! I told you I’d try to keep you posted on our library books. We just got to the library late in the week, so we haven’t fully delved into our selection. So far, Finnabee is enjoying Richard Scarry’s Find Your ABC’s. Are you familiar with Richard Scarry? My siblings and I grew up with him and I can attest that this next generation is loving him as well. Somehow these books are just endlessly fun to look at and the stories are generally appealing to a wide range of ages.
I’m also liking The Dancing Tiger. I think I’m partial to children’s books in poem form. The Artist and I agree that we love the illustrations, although we’re not 100% sure about all the themes. If any of you are familiar with it, I’d be interested to hear your thoughts!

On to our links!

If you are someone who loves a good birth story, I recommend this one from my husband’s college friend: The story of Hazel’s Birth. I share it not only because it’s a good read, but because it’s a great example of a woman trusting her body and advocating for herself, surrounding by proper care and support. For every Hollywood birth scene we see (and I enjoy a funny depiction as much as the next girl) or traumatic story we hear about, we need several good, natural birth stories in our heads!


Have you been hearing the term ‘kosileg’ bouncing around? I first came upon it here: The Norwegian Secret to Enjoying a Long Winter. Note to self: remember, come January and February, that you decided you’re not going to bond with neighbors by complaining! (Writing it here, in public, to help myself stay accountable.)


Here’s a fascinating, very short documentary about a Philly-based chef who has had success despite a serious injury — that left him without his sense of taste. If there’s a Will, There’s a Way


Are you familiar with the artist Daniel Mitsui? He has a page where you can print out images of his work for your children to color. He has made them available specifically as a service so that they will have high-quality images to ponder during Mass – definitely read his little reflection about the project and get the printables (and make a donation, if you can) here!


A great question to be asking in the quest for a more stable marriage culture: are couples actually making marriage vows at their weddings? Sometimes, a whole wedding ceremony comes and goes and nothing substantial – much less marital – has actually been promised by either bride or groom. This matter is examined in I do? from First Things. This piece has some great insights and is a deep consideration of something that has bothered me for a while. (That being said, Auntie Leila would doubtless warn against relying on “programs” to address such problems, as the author calls for towards the end of the article.)If you wrote your own vows for your wedding and are not sure if you have made a real marriage commitment, I suggest you look up the traditional vows and get right on that! In a church. With witnesses. I mean it.


Music is a big part of church. How much do you know about what kind of music assists us as we worship? Our friend Paul Jernberg (who wrote this excellent essay) sent this article (not particularly new, but a good one), which delves into some of the questions.


Speaking of Mass, if you are in the greater Boston area this December 8, Feast of the Immaculate Conception (which is a Holy Day of Obligation), perhaps you can plan to worship with the St. Gregory the Great Church, which is a community of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter. Maybe we will meet you there! Here is their lovely poster with the information:





From the archives:

We already linked to this on our Facebook page (you will occasionally find some extra info there, so why not go “like” us now?), but don’t forget this classic Ask Auntie Leila post on No, Really, How Do You Prepare for Thanksgiving?


If you want to be kosileg(ing?), you have to be dressed properly.


Speaking about the truths of marriage as communicated by the ceremonies/celebrations, do you know a bride or mother of the bride who could benefit from the {pretty, happy, real weddings} series? Please pass it along!


A simple Advent craft from Sukie — if you grab some felt now, you’ll be ready to start this in a week or so!



 ~We’d like to be clear that, when we direct you to a site via one of our links, we’re not necessarily endorsing the whole site, but rather just referring you to the individual post in question (unless we state otherwise).~


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Auntie Leila’s Pinterest.
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{pretty, happy, funny, real}

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~

Every Thursday, here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!

First order of business — giveaway winners! The winners of the beautiful goodies from Sacred Art Series are Beatriz, Hannah, Colleen, and Michelle! Ladies, please look for an email from one of us sometime today for information on how to claim your prize.

If you didn’t win, but would still like a beautiful Rosary flip book or book of Gospels, Sacred Art Series is offering LMLD readers a great discount: today through Wednesday, November 25, enter the code LMLDBLOG when checking out at Amazon for 15% off one Sacred Art Series item or 25% off three or more items. (Find them on Amazon through the link above!)

{pretty}

We “traded” family photos with some friends last week — we all showed up at a pretty spot looking relatively put-together, and I took pictures of their family after they took pictures of ours. While they waited, the kids explored. (We chose our location based on its potential for both picture backgrounds and for exploring, assuming we’d be in need of both if we were going to be doing two family photo shoots!)

{happy}

The gravy I made to go with last week’s roast somehow ended up much too salty to salvage as gravy. Rather than toss it, I saved it in the fridge on the premise that I could make it into something else. In fact, I turned it (not without quite a bit more effort, I admit) into Sunday dinner. Half of it formed the base of a pot of French onion soup, and half got cooked up with some potatoes, mushrooms, and the last of the roast, then wrapped up in dough to make tasty little meat pies. (I baked them in a muffin tin! How Pinterest of me.) Sunday cooperated by being rather gray and rainy, so it was a perfect fit.

These little housewifely successes make me happy.

Chubby little baby toes also make me happy.

{funny}

Typical morning routine: wake up, put on your dinosaur coat, grab your bunny, and get Mom to put on some music so you can dance.

Then, after you get dressed, maybe you can drape yourself over some furniture and get some writing done.

Worst case scenario, you can just put on your sister’s princess hat and call it a day.

{real}

You might have a two-year-old in the house if…

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What Advent is really about.

I promised you a little series on “getting ready to get ready,” aka “thinking about Advent” — and I know you will forgive me for not having the usual random and disconnected photos to go along with this post, as I am not at home.

Maybe you will survive with a low-image-quality-high-cuteness-content baby photo.

 

Do you know what is the most important event in the history of the world?

The Incarnation of Christ. The moment in time when God became man; commonly called Christmas.

This is what I want to tell you about Advent today, so you can have it in the back of your mind as it slowly dawns on you that Thanksgiving is next week… and then Advent starts three days later.

You could panic. That is what I usually do, and my panic is never actually helped by being told that there are one million activities I could be queuing up. Back in the day of raising my kids, the more activities I heard about (and here let me breathe a sigh of relief that the Internet, much less Pinterest, had not been invented), the more inclined I was to curl up in a little ball of paralysis, thinking only about how much I’d like to read a novel. I’m actually quite able to do a craft or nourish a tradition, but the sense of an impending deadline coupled with the burden of coming up wtih activities generally made and makes me less disposed to do anything more than what I already must, and not even those things.

(Also by the way, school — home or otherwise — still has to happen during these weeks, and I personally am not able to figure out how to add much to school, chores, meals, and reasonable bedtimes as well as do my Christmas shopping/crafting.)

(Also, as I have told you before, three of my children have birthdays in December, related to the fact that they were born in that month. I simply mention that to emphasize the hardship of giving birth in this inconvenient month and then having to celebrate birthdays in this same month pretty much forever.)

Maybe this syndrome is temperamental and I am way less capable than most women. Entirely likely. But maybe it’s also an intuition that something as important as the celebration of even a high holy day ought not to require a continual pep rally, so to speak.

In other words, are we tempted to base how we experience this time on how we feel, specifically on how frantic and/or ecstatic we feel? (Worse, do we try to get our loved ones to feel a certain way? I will address that later.)

I’ve noticed that Catholics and many other Christians have begun to remember the liturgical, as opposed to commercial, celebration of the seasons — much more than when I was searching for how to live my faith. That is awesome.

Yet the general tendency, greatly aggravated by our modern mindset and its hold over us, to emphasize how we feel threatens to derail what could be a good trend. Even if we don’t think of ourselves as particularly modern, we retain modernism’s imprint, thinking that our reaction to things, measured by our emotions, is the only sign we can trust.

Are we spending a lot of time and energy (and, actually, money*)  watching ourselves feel something about Advent? Are we busily monitoring how we are doing with our religious efforts? Are we taking note of whether we are taking note? Very importantly, are we experiencing defeat when we don’t have what we consider the right feelings — the ones that the (well intentioned) people want us to feel?

Yikes. How to escape from this dangerous state?

Perhaps you could apply my parenting maxim (one of two**) to yourself: Don’t Seek Affirmation. In the case of our children, we should be affectionate, firm, and act for their good, without expecting them to register any particular emotion at the time.

What if we apply this thinking to ourselves? Instead of expecting affirmation from our feelings, we might try just worshiping God as He wants to be worshiped.

The whole of salvation history could be summed up, from our point of view, as trying to figure out in our fallenness how to accomplish the worship of God. What the Church offers is… well, the answer to how to bring our desire, deep in our heart, to offer worship God in line with the gift that God has given us in the Church.

The answer begins for us at Christmas.

The event of Christmas — the Incarnation — isn’t just a nice holy day — it is the turning point of every single hope of the human heart. The hugeness of all this challenges us (in the words of Romano Guardini), to renounce our own ideas and our own way, and “follow the lead of the liturgy.”

And that is what Advent calls us to do, and has to be for us, now (now is the acceptable time!): to orient ourselves to this momentous reality.

All I’m trying to say in this little post is that the Church has provided us with all we need and we don’t have to manufacture any feelings about it. Follow her lead in worship. That is, follow her in the celebration of the mysteries, the readings appointed for each day and each hour, and the prayers that gently and peacefully direct our gaze where it needs to be. Be attentive: Wisdom!

Bring this objectivity into the home with simple, liturgy-related traditions (and yes, a few little crafts, perhaps, and I will touch on those later) that appeal to you and your husband. Keep things old-fashioned so that, paradoxically, they remain timeless and universal. Make your devotions few and meaningful to your time and place. (E.g. if you are Swedish, then go for the daring St. Lucy crown of lit candles on a toddling girl’s head this December 13, but if you are not, don’t worry about it too much.)

Even traditions can devolve into distracting activities if they are not carefully connected to the life of the Church. Activity becomes busyness, busyness eclipses worship, and Church becomes not an altar of worship but a center for the administration of programs. Instead of turning to the liturgy as it uniquely guides us in its serene dispensation, every problem that we perceive calls forth its own special remedial program! We are in a sorry state of literally having programs to organize our programs, but very little in the way of actual worship.

However, we are made to worship…

This Advent, let’s learn to trust the Church to lead us to the star over Bethlehem.

We’ll talk about it some more, don’t worry.

_____________________________________

*We probably will need to buy some things. 

Get candles here for your wreath. Get a sweet calendar here. Maybe download Universalis to get familiar with the Liturgy of the Hours. (A one-time charge gets you full access.)
All the propers and readings for Sunday Masses can be found here. (I’m sure these can be found elsewhere as well, including on the Universalis site. You want to be sure that you are finding the Propers as well as the readings, because they reveal the mind of the Church for the day/week/season, and this way you will pattern your spiritual life on hers.)
The Little Oratory: A Beginner’s Guide to Praying in the Home — the book that will help you live the Liturgical Year in your home, with simplicity and beauty. Advent is the perfect time to start!

** Don’t Seek Affirmation is the first of my maxims. Part of doing right is that you don’t always get to see immediate results. The second maxim is Act, Don’t React. It’s related and I wrote about it here.

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Sukie has a baby!

I knew if I told you I would write a series of posts, the baby would come! Wasn’t that clever?

Welcome to little Desmond Andrew — 8 lbs., 11 oz.! On Friday Sukie’s water broke early in the morning (but not that early — hooray for getting some sleep the night before!) and she was off to the hospital by 11. At half past noon he was born, this little sweetie, the caboose on the amazing grandchild train of 2015!

 

Now that it’s nap time (can you see it in those sleepy eyes?), I am so happy to check in here and say that all is well. Sukie was quite efficient and feels good, Freddie is on top of the airplane situation when not napping (he can hear an airplane long before any of us can), and the Quack probably could use some sleep but is proud of his two boys. Habibti (moi) is glad that all of this didn’t run into Thanksgiving and that dear Desmond is here safe and sound!

We will resume the Advent talks soon, don’t worry!

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Giveaway! and {bits & pieces}!

The weekly “little of this, little of that” feature here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!

We have another great giveaway for you — jump-start your Christmas present shopping right here!

Last year we did a really popular giveaway for the Sacred Art Series‘ Rosary Flip books – -and followed up with their Gospel of St. Luke and St. John. These are wonderful aids in devotion, because what the publisher, Will Bloomfield, has done is present the Rosary and the Gospels with beautiful traditional art.

In addition, the Gospels offer something I think we’ve all looked for — not Bible stories but the actual Scriptures — but presented without the distraction of notes and numbers. Of course we all have our study Bibles handy. But for prayer and for the young person who is past Bible stories but still needs something simpler (yet still with a good translation and beautiful production), this edition can NOT be beat. Perfect for your teenage godson, perfect for your spouse.

You asked for a larger Rosary flip book that had a better, sturdier stand and higher quality images, and Bloomfield has delivered. It has been revised — the prior version was 8″ x 10″ and the current version is 7″ x 9″ which made the image sharper and the stand sturdier. (I’m going to say that I think that the issue is better, but not quite resolved, in that perhaps the original images are just not high quality enough to be printed absolutely well. However, as a flip book that everyone in the family or small class can see and pray with, I think it works well.)

You also clamored for the Luminous Mysteries (which of course weren’t a thing when the traditional set of mysteries was painted). The images in the Luminous Mysteries Flip Book are all from Fra Angelico and Giotto. If anything, I love this one more, and the printing quality is excellent. Peruse all the offerings at the Sacred Art Series site, and then leave a comment on this post to enter to win!

This time we will have four winners:

Two winners will receive the Gospels of St. Luke and St. John (these two Gospels in one book),
One winner will receive the small flip book for the Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary as well as the Luminous Mysteries flip book and
One winner will receive the  large flip book of the three traditional Rosary Mysteries as well as the Luminous Mysteries flip book.

And on to our links:

I hadn’t known many Californians, I guess, and when I made friends with one this whole “take the 190″ was so foreign to me. Here’s why she said it. Now I sometimes say it too because it’s cute.


An amazingly inventive ophthalmologist thought outside the box. Now he brings sight to thousands upon thousands of poor people quickly and cheaply. “Here, the returns are so clear,” Dr. Ruit said as he bandaged her eye. “It’s like no other medical intervention.”


Our Joseph once told me that he is astounded at how prophetic the writings of Tom Wolfe are. I’ve always been a fan (although I haven’t read I Am Charlotte Simmons: A Novel). But it just gets more so, this social commentary before the events happen…

Parents who get divorced tend to see things from their own point of view, pretty exclusively. Here is a roundup of articles that might give a different slant on things, if you are following the doings of the Synod on the Family and the question of Holy Communion for those who remarry.  I promise you that each one has insights about marriage, family, children, and the law (and the Law) even for those who aren’t Catholic.

Compassion has nothing to do with it, from the redoubtable and wise Ed Peters, canon lawyer.


A non-religious — and quite moving — view of divorce from the child’s perspective. What I hope you notice: their children give the couple a sense of shared history that nothing can replace and nothing — even seeming heartbreak — can destroy. The last line is a bit trite, but doesn’t take away the truth of what has been revealed.


In America Magazine (of all publications! America Magazine is the one that has been leading for the change in Church teaching on Communion for divorced and remarried), a group of people who grew up with divorce and cohabitation writes a moving and pointed defense of “hard truths.” A must read.


The Chief sums it all up, pending a document from Pope Francis.

Relatedly:

Children need to know that God wants everyone to have a happy ending, and the Gospel is the story upon which all stories (fairy tales most of all) are based, while being completely true. Specifically, Daniel Mattson writes, children need to know that no one is gay.


A child can teach you a lot. “Let the children come to me,” Jesus said, “and hinder them not.” Kelly Mantoan writes movingly about how suffering can save, and fear of suffering can kill — a person and the soul.


We deplore the devastation in Paris, the terror of last night. We in the West have to take a long look at ourselves if we are going to stand up to evil, because only with something can we fight against an ideology that sees a vacuum where faith should be. Our friend Fr. Pokorsky challenges our complacency here at home, where babies too are beheaded.

Well, we can only start with ourselves! Let’s commit to prayer and that “living differently” that Benedict XVI spoke of as the result of hope, hope in Christ.

When you are wondering what on earth you can do to build a community around you (especially if you are like me and feel pretty darned inadequate and like you are re-inventing the wheel every day), please consider joining or starting a St. Greg’s Pocket. If you see that one exists on Facebook already but nothing seems to be going on, that means that YOU can jump in and do one of the things we suggest in the linked posts. Maybe you’d like to read some good books with friends as you build your community? Well-Read Mom is hosting a giveaway to get you started. Your book club can be a subsidiary of your St. Greg’s Pocket! (Because eventually someone has a baby and needs meals… and then the kids get bigger and they need friends… so it’s about more than just your reading group… )

Remember, November is the month when Christians traditionally pray for those who have passed away. Now, before Thanksgiving is upon us, is a good time to put those memorial prayer cards of your beloved dead on or near your Little Oratory.

To enter our giveaway, leave a comment here and say which offering you’d like! And then go “like” the Sacred Art Series Facebook page, so that Will Bloomfield, “just a dad,” can continue to offer such good products.

 ~We’d like to be clear that, when we direct you to a site via one of our links, we’re not necessarily endorsing the whole site, but rather just referring you to the individual post in question (unless we state otherwise).~


Follow us on Twitter.
Like us on Facebook.

Auntie Leila’s Pinterest.
Rosie’s Pinterest.
Sukie’s Pinterest.
Deirdre’s Pinterest.
Habou’s Pinterest.
Bridget’s Pinterest.
Habou’s Blog: Corner Art Studio.
Auntie Leila’s Ravelry.
Auntie Leila’s Instagram.
Rosie’s Instagram.
Sukie’s Instagram.
Bridget’s Instagram.

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{pretty, happy, funny, real} ~ Before and During in Sukie’s Kitchen

 

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~

Every Thursday, here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!

 

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

We’re so happy to be back home on the East coast after our stint in Texas for the summer (the Quack did a four-month rotation at a hospital in Houston). It was a long, hot, busy summer; now we’re just settling into a new rental house and and getting ready for the impending expansion of our family.

My kitchen in our new house is all renovated brand-new (with gorgeous countertops), and it’s not a small room, but things are not quite as they should be. This has made made it hard to get set up properly — hence the clutter in that “before” picture up there!

Everything is on one side of the room, including the fridge-stove-sink all in a row, meaning that things end up having to be staged on the stovetop.

The cabinets were installed VERY high — I am a shorty, true, but I can only just reach the bottom shelf! Granted, things will be easier once I am not also reaching across a crazy 40+ week belly (if you’d like to go ahead and toss up a few prayers for a safe delivery relatively soon, I’d sure appreciate it!).

(Since the cabinets are so high, I got a good sturdy step stool for myself. Of course, Freddie immediately discovered that he can drag the step stool wherever he wants and get into everything — the world is his oyster! Or was, before I gated off the kitchen. Mama wins for now.) (I’m happy to have him in the kitchen with me. It’s him being in there when I’m in a different room that’s dangerous.)

Here is the full, sad width of the sink. That’s the bowl from my kitchenaid mixer for scale. I think it probably was meant to be a secondary sink in a large kitchen — you know, just for washing vegetables.

The room obviously cried out for a piece of furniture along the empty wall to make things manageable. I was here for 2 1/2 weeks before the Quack came — he had to finish up his rotation in Texas, while I had to get back here before I was too far along to travel. So from 36-38 1/2 weeks pregnant I was here solo parenting (I did have help from my mom and my sister-in-law, but still). Not the ideal situation for getting furniture.

Well, I still spent plenty of time perusing craigslist, and came across this Hoosier cabinet for a steal right before John came home. My A+, top-notch, amazing husband drove from Texas to Maryland in a couple of days, and then the very next day drove two hours round trip to get this beauty for me.

Little Dino #2 is due any day now, so my mom is here to help out. She did a whole bunch of organizing in my kitchen today. This wonderful cabinet is making the whole kitchen come together.

 

 

An awesome bonus of the Hoosier cabinet is that the enamel counter pulls out, enabling you (and in this case by “you” I mean “my mom”) to do some serious baking prep.

 

 

There’s still plenty more to do to make the flow of the kitchen work well for me — I’m planning to move all the dishes from that corner cupboard out into the dining room and store things that I don’t need so frequently in there instead–but it’s coming along! And the really crucial thing is that I didn’t give birth in those 2 1/2 weeks, right?

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Ask Auntie Leila: Help me gird my loins for Advent and Christmas

I’m here with Sukie as we await the birth of Freddie’s baby brother. (So if the photo is sideways or something, please forgive me!)

I’m thinking of you as my inbox is somewhat overflowing with advice-seeking on Advent and Christmas, and I sense a special urgency to answer these questions because on the one hand, everything depends on our living our Advent aright so that we may worship the Incarnate God on Christmas morning — and on the other, this living aright is not complicated and I hate to see you get stressed out. Is Pinterest stressing you out?

But I have children! you cry. And I answer: “Then nothing will be easier than living this Advent, for is it not as a little child that He came into this world?”

Simply because Jesus became a tiny baby for our delight and wonder, He made it so that we would discover everything we need to know by means of this moment. What’s hard for us to understand is that it’s in the very humbleness of His coming that we’ll find the key.

And a little part of you saying, “Does it really matter? Can’t we just do things the way everyone else does them?” But knowing that when January rolls around, you will have a bad taste in your mouth because of an opportunity missed, even if you don’t quite know what that opportunity was…

Here’s the thing. The Incarnation is the crucial event of the universe. God, uncreated, eternal, perfect, chose to send His only begotten Son to enter time and history with a human nature. This human nature is perfectly united with the divine nature of this Second Person of the Trinity. He didn’t pretend to be a baby. He was a baby.

Everyone knows that there is something about this that is mysterious and compelling. Even those who don’t believe simply must celebrate something. But of course, we wouldn’t think to have lights or decorations or anything at all if it weren’t for Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, a birth that contains within it His death and resurrection and all that was to come.

And it’s not too much to say that the way we celebrate this event can and ought to be the pivot on which the whole education in the faith of our children turns — as well as our own spiritual growth.

That is, if you ask the question, “How do I teach my children (very young and older too) the faith?” — and I’m sure this, this, is the burning question! The answer is, “By celebrating Christmas aright.”

All the wonder, all the promise, the happy ending we all seek:

“Christmas Day, encircling all our limited world like a magic ring, left nothing out for us to miss or seek; bound together all our home enjoyments, affections, and hopes; grouped everything and everyone around the Christmas fire; and made the little pictures shining in our bright young eyes, complete.” (Charles Dickens, quoted at the beginning of a book Habou and I highly recommend, Cradle of Redeeming Love: The Theology of the Christmas Mystery, by John Saward.)

It’s just that, alas, most of us are not piling into the sleigh to go to Midnight Mass, returning to a simple wassail lovingly prepared by devoted hands to break the fast. We aren’t living in a Tasha Tudor book or a Dickens novel. I for one wish we were!

Sounds amazing.

So we are in that terrible and oxymoronic predicament of having to sort of invent traditions — often while fending off well meaning (or sometimes bitter) relatives (and even some at church!) who have liturgy-thwarting ideas.

At least, this is what the lovely readers are telling me in their emails.

I will try to make this a little series on preparing for Advent (“Preparing for the season of preparation?” Rosie asked me… but sometimes a pep talk for thought and prayer helps) in the coming week.

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{bits & pieces} and the winners of ‘Drinking with the Saints!’

The regular “little of this, little of that” feature here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!

Congraulations, Maria, Maura, Heather, Jenny, and Abby! You will be receiving emails from us shortly – you have each won a (signed!) copy of Drinking with the Saints: The Sinner’s Guide to a Holy Happy Hour! Cheers!

Thanks to all who entered. If you’re not one of the winners, we think you’ll find that it’s worth the sticker price of $26.99 — but it’s only $18.99 on Amazon! If you use the link above, a bit of the proceeds will come to us as well; and we thank you!

~

My mom is always talking about how a candle should be lit on the table for the family meal. I’m finding some extra motivation now that the depressing dark veil of nigh-midday gloom has sunk oppressively upon our meager existence daylight savings is over.

Just for perspective, here is the same shot, only this time without the overhead light — at 5pm:

The little jack-o-lanterns from last week helped to remind me of the goal to light a candle rather than cursing the darkness. The pumpkins have since bit the dust, but I’m resolved to keep the tea-or-votive-lights-burning.

This week’s links!

Fun housekeep-y stuff:

Auntie Leila loved coming across this Facebook photo of beautiful feed sacks from back in the day. From the photo, I stumbled upon Feed Sacks: A Sustainable Fabric History. Cue sighs over the way things were once done!


Making It Work: Inside Madhur Jaffrey’s Kitchen. Size-wise, I’ll put my silly galley kitchen up against hers any day (I mean – hers seems to have all the integral parts of a kitchen actually in the kitchen [and even cupboards!] which is a plus from where I’m standing!). To be fair, however, I haven’t done any “hosting of dozens” from out of mine… nor do I plan to anytime soon! Check out the gallery; a very appealing glimpse of a work space!

File away under “social science merely validates common sense:”

Happy Moms Put Their Kids to Bed Earlier

 

Church and Faith-related

David Clayton provides some commentary on a (brief) video from Denis McNamara about the theological and philosophical underpinnings of beautiful architecture. If that sounds daunting to you, don’t let it; McNamara is extremely easy to listen to and eloquent while boiling down big ideas into (mostly) very simple and appealing language, and Clayton’s essay is very interesting as well.


A short and moving bio (also a video) about a holy man and Korean war hero, Fr. Emil Kapaun. Auntie Leila says “when I went to speak at Newman University in Wichita I was able to say a prayer at the chapel. Fr. Kapaun was ordained there. His story is immensely moving — our boys need to watch this short film!”


Don’t get drawn into the mistaken view that the letter of the law and the spirit of the law should be in competition.

From the Archives (an excellent selection this week, if I do say so myself):

The reasonably clean house starts with rules for the kids.


A peek at Pippo’s Room before we go. (This room is so lovely that it makes me want to cry, Rosie.)


Ask Auntie Leila: My three year old won’t nap!


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The post {bits & pieces} and the winners of ‘Drinking with the Saints!’ appeared first on Like Mother Like Daughter.

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

The giveaway of Drinking with the Saints is still going on! Leave a comment on the giveaway post for a chance to win one of five copies! We’ll wrap it up on Saturday.

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~

Every Thursday, here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!

{pretty}

Bear with me, will you? Soon enough I’ll be back to my trademark gray photos punctuated with piles of snow. For now…

Let’s take a walk in the orchard.

It’s getting a bit overgrown — they seem to be on a “low-prune” regimen in the past few years — but a few rows are left on purpose to make magical tunnels. (Yes, super sad to see all the apples on the ground like this. But pretty in its own way.)

 

{happy}

Every year I vaguely have some sort of idea (occurring to me sometime in January) that garlic should be planted in the fall, but never know enough to do it. This year my friend gave me a bit leftover from her planting (her daughter has been working on an intense organic farm and gave her a bunch to plant).

What’s in the bowl is hers, and the other is what I bought as the nicest-looking fat garlic I could find, just to make a whole (small) bed of garlic for the spring.

I kept thinking… “Oh man, the warm sunny weather will be gone soon — need to get out there and plant the garlic!” Finally on Tuesday I did it, and my next thought was… “I hope the garlic won’t start sprouting with all the warm weather we’re in for!” Heh.

 

 

In other happiness, All Soul’s Day is one of the few days in the year that the monks say Mass at the tiny chapel down by the river. Every year our family tries to go there on a pilgrimage in May. November 2 is another special day for the Guadaloupe shrine.

I stole this picture off their website so that you can see how small it is:

You follow that path lined with trees… all the way down…

Sorry for my quick cell-phone pics here. I’m standing in the doorway.That’s it. That’s how big it is! And there were a lot of people (not pictured), so lucky that it was balmy and sunny outside!

A beautiful way to pray for the Holy Souls.

{funny and real}

I think I’m vicariously nesting, because Sukie is about to have her baby and I really need to get some things done around the house before I go to be with her! Is that a thing? Grandmothers nesting??

I’ve had my dishwasher for more than 16 years. I happen to really like it a lot and it works very well, but in the past year or so, it’s been bugging me because it was so… well, not to put too fine a point on it, dirty.

I scrub it, even running those tablets through it, but recently I realized that what bothers me the most is the door seal gasket — that black rubber that goes around the tub — you can’t clean it after a certain point! Dirt builds up all around it! It’s not scrubbable! It’s gross!

Seriously, I was on the point of buying a new dishwasher! I figured it had given me its all (and it may still break down yet, who knows) and I just wanted a clean one. Is that too much to ask??

When I say 16 years, remember that it’s more like 25 dish-washing years, when you figure the 2 and even 3 times I ran it a day for so long, with up to 11 people a day to cook for at times. Plus, some of the interior bits have just started literally wearing away — there are some prongs on the racks that will never be heard from again, for one thing.

However, a new dishwasher isn’t cheap. As I was looking at them down at the discount appliance store, I suddenly noticed that the gasket is actually really easy to pull out.

And that gave me the thought to just buy a new gasket.

Do you see it? Please ignore the fact that the inside of the door isn’t sparkling white, due to being 16 years old and also there are dirty coffee cups in there and that’s when I took the picture. Focus on that crisp black gasket and the pristine area around it. Turns out that when you pull the old one out, you can then clean for real all around it. Since I don’t rinse dishes, it was really grody. (What a workhorse, right? No need to rinse dishes!)

For $30, I feel like a new woman with this dishwasher!

I’m telling you — you can pull yours out, clean it (and the channel it sits in), and put it back! Zero tools needed! If you could use a new one, just poke around on Google shopping with your model number and you’ll find it cheap.

And if you can stand any more of this fall-cleaning talk, I also took advantage of the warm weather and defrosted my deep freezer. Do you know that “deep freezer organization” is one of our top searches here at LMLD? Because of this old post! I thought you might like to see more, although I’m going to say that if you are a blogger and your deep freezer is in your Garage of Death you are never going to get great pictures.

Do you get the idea? You use those fruit boxes that have plenty of ventilation and even handle grip hole thingies cut in the sides. Just catch the guy as he’s stocking the produce section. You broadly divide up your food into categories like “big roasts” and “veggies” and “partially cooked stashed food,” using the boxes to keep it all contained. Stagger the boxes as you pile them up with the big things down low and in the spaces created by the boxes. The bread goes in the section that the manufacturer fenced off. The basket holds the little odds and ends that would otherwise fall to the bottom.

A lot fits in this way but it’s never just a pig-pile. (Don’t worry, that’s not really frost there, just a little condensation as I had the top open to show you.) Put a horizontal surface of some sort next to your freezer (any shelf will do) and that gives you a place to put a box while you are rummaging.

Okay, that’s a lot of contentment! Glad you made it this far!

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Giveaway! Drinking with the Saints and celebrating the liturgical year

The beautiful thing about Advent (which is coming shortly!) is that it’s a new beginning — the perfect time to act on the little promptings you’ve been feeling on living your time in God’s time.

In our book, The Little Oratory: A Beginner’s Guide to Praying in the Home, you’ll find lots of good reasons and practical help in this journey — whether you are just starting out or have been celebrating the Liturgical Year all along.

And here is another book, in a more rollicking vein, that goes right along with ours:

 

 

Since now (even before Advent begins) it’s also a good time to get a few gifts tucked away, we are giving away five — FIVE — copies of Drinking with the Saints by Michael P. Foley, signed by the author!

This book will make a wonderful gift for that special someone who enjoys mixing fun libations on festive occasions — or who perhaps needs a little help to become such a person!

The best parties (and even small gatherings) have some sort of celebration at the heart of them, however modest. (This article by Jeffrey Tucker made a big impression on me long ago, but I think it’s still relevant and isn’t limited to Catholics.)

It’s just that living the fullness of the Liturgical Year brings out the celebratory side of things! And Drinking with the Saints really helps by combining information about the saint (or feast day) in question with appropriate drinks (some familiar, some invented by Foley and/or his friends) to hoist in his/her/its honor.

The production of Drinking with the Saints was beyond my expectations. It’s big. It covers every day and season, often with more than one saint/drink suggestion per entry. Well made to last through many rounds, this hardcover book has a good index and is easy to thumb through. The writing hits just the right notes on the scale of jovial, light-hearted, and solemn, because Michael Foley understands festivity. He also understands the role of drink (just enough, not too much) and the ceremony that surrounds (and civilizes) it.

Friends invited us over for dinner last month and offered us a “Maple Leaf” cocktail to celebrate the Canadian martyrs, whose feast it was. Let me tell you, that drink hit the spot. Mixed exactly as directed in the book, it was delicious.

I love that Foley included a section on “How to Toast.” Dads, start now because your toasting abilities need to be sharpened, the better to shine on that marvelous day when you raise a glass at your daughter’s wedding! (Even if you only have sons, you will be called upon to set the tone at the rehearsal dinner. Best be learning!)

“Drinking isn’t about drinking; it’s about conviviality. And part of the art of conviviality is the toast, no matter how simple. Toasting is about as old as drinking itself and just as important, although it is in a lamentable decline these days. And it has deeply religious roots… Catholics should be natural toasters, for ritual is in our blood… formality does not replace spontaneity or joy but completes it, channels it, enriches it.”

Thus, I consider Drinking with the Saints to be a good and jolly companion to The Little Oratory. As we keep saying and demonstrating, it’s not enough to know that you should be celebrating the Liturgical Year. We all need a little help on how to do so. And that’s why you will love Drinking with the Saints.

Other books you find helpful for living the Liturgical Year:

The Little Oratory: A Beginner’s Guide to Praying in the Home

A Continual Feast: A Cookbook to Celebrate the Joys of Family and Faith Throughout the Christian Year

The Year & Our Children: Catholic Family Celebrations for Every Season

Take Joy, by Tasha Tudor. Although it’s out of print, this book is lovely. Keep your eye out at book sales for one!

And of course, Drinking with the Saints: The Sinner’s Guide to a Holy Happy Hour

Enter your comment below to enter the giveaway for Drinking with the Saints. Five lucky winners will each receive a signed copy of Drinking with the Saints! We will close the giveaway on Saturday.

The post Giveaway! Drinking with the Saints and celebrating the liturgical year appeared first on Like Mother Like Daughter.