7 Quick Takes

1.
On a tearful note: My heart is heavy for the Snow Family as they kiss their little sainted one goodbye. Their strength and faith is awe-inspiring.

2.
On a cheerful note: I have blueberry muffins, blue candles, blue vases, blue dishes and blue ribbons just waiting to decorate my house for a Baby Blue Brunch Shower I am hosting tomorrow for another SIL in the area who is due to deliver a bouncing baby boy in October. I love sonograms! I know there are people who want to be "surprised" and those who have been surprised to find out that the sonogram lied. But I just delight in getting to decorate and plan and shop with a theme in mind and "gender neutral" just doesn't do it for me!

3.
On a joyful note: Still listening to L'Angelus and loving it. This kind of music is seriously energizing! It gets you up and gets you moving. I am very happy to report that Husband (not a country music fan) enjoys them too. He says, "They have an authentic sound. You can't fake that."

4.
On a fearful note: I hate leaving my kids with baby sitters even if they are a family we have known for years who are perfectly capable of taking care of them. I know. I should be excited to get to go out with my husband, right? I'll keep telling myself that.

5.
On a playful note: I bought two American Girl games after Christmas when they were on clearance for $5. We (even the boys) have been enjoying them. I thought they would be little, mindless diversions, but they surprisingly take some skill and strategy. The boys would like me to point out that they are opting to use Lego figures, not American Girl characters! They also burp out loud when they play.

6.
On a distasteful note: I always assume that if someone doesn't like what I have to say that they would argue against it or just ignore it and move on. Personal attacks really surprise me. This week, I learned just how utterly contempible I am to someone else. I pray that my actions and words never make anyone feel that despised.

7.
On a thankful note: I always appreciate those people who are interested in a different perspective and are willing to share theirs with me. I am trying to teach my children that learning is a never ending activity and that charity means respecting other people even when you don't agree with their opinions. I am constantly finding something new to think about out here in this great big online world. I am thankful for those people who allow others to disagree with them on non-essential matters as long as we are united in the essential ones.

Happy Friday!

Lawn Jay Loose

I'm waltzing a lot right now and really finding it hard to not two-step in the kitchen listening to the amazing music of L'Angelus. Darn these sandals! Where are some boots when you need 'em? You can take a peek at them on YouTube.

From their website:

A brother and two sisters- from Lafayette, Louisiana who deliver the spirit of their Cajun and Irish roots with heart, wit, flair and confidence through some of the sweetest harmonies and most electrifying sounds you'll ever hear.

It's all true. Ca C'est Bon is delighting my ears and feet right now (along with Lily Mae and Marianne and The Waltz of St. Cecilia...), but earlier, we were all enjoying the beautiful harmonies of their Sacred Song Collection. The Tantum Ergo will make you cry while the hauntingly beautiful Salve Regina calms your soul. And just when I thought I had their style figured out, the smooth Spanish style of Muerto Para El Mundo pleasantly surprised me. But my favorite is Be Thou My Vision which draws you in with the evocative strains of the first verse sung in the original Old Irish written by St. Dallan Forghaill sometime in the 6th century.

The liner notes to Ca C'est Bon were written by the father (of seven ten children) on the Feast of the Assumption 2005. He says:

I also thought about expounding on the theory that our Cajun culture is in danger of being extinguished by the modern attack of those who would reduce it to food and song, attempting to kill its soul- the Catholic faith of our ancestors that compelled them to preserve their way of life even when the cost was dear.

Mr. Rees, your family is doing a beautiful job of following in their ancestors' toe-tapping footsteps of Faith. Thank you for sharing them with us! I'm pretty sure my girls want to learn French now.



*I was not compensated for this review in any way. I ordered these two CD's on my own after seeing a link to them on Aquinas and More and am delighted to tell you how much we are enjoying them!

Reflections

Anxiety proceeds from an ill-regulated desire to be delivered from the evil we experience, or to acquire the good to which we aspire; nevertheless, nothing aggravates evil and hinders good so much as anxiety and worry. ~ St. Francis de Sales

Amen.

FOUND!!!!!

As of 2:12pm, our parish has confirmed that Luke has been found and he is healthy and safe. His family is on their way to pick him up. They don't know anything else at this time.

UPDATE 3:15pm:
Luke Dillier was found this afternoon, Monday July 26th. He is safe and back at home with his family. Luke was identified by a DART Police officer who had just 5 minutes before seen one of the fliers our community has been posting. The family wishes to thank the entire community and the police officers for their support, love and prayers that brought Luke home safely to them.

Praise God!!!! Please offer prayers of thanksgiving and for Luke and his family to receive the graces they need to put this difficult ordeal behind them.

MISSING ~ Day 3

You can help!

Please take Luke's picture and post it on your blog in the sidebar with a link to this Facebook page which is an open group (you don't need an account). All of the evidence right now points to the strong probability that he left of his own free will. Whether he had help, nobody knows. What happened to him after he left, nobody knows. It is possible that he is still in this area. It is possible that he's making his way to other parts of the country. If we can get his picture circulated far and wide, we stand the best chance of someone recognizing him. It only takes one to bring him home.

St. Raphael, protect him! St. Luke, protect him! St. Anthony, please find him!

MISSING

6'2", 200 lb and 15 year old Luke Dillier is missing. Luke went to his brother's violin lesson on Friday July 24, 2009 around 9 AM in the area of Coit and 635. He said he had forgotten something in his van and left the instructor's house to go out and retrieve it. He never returned. If anyone has any info about his whereabouts, knows of any suspicious activity in the area, or has any other information, please immediately call 911 and relay the information.

Please keep Luke and his family in your prayers. Luke is a sweet, loyal, intelligent young man - devoted to his faith, family and community. His family is desperate to have him back home with them. Please send this link to all you can to get Luke's face out there to hopefully bring him home quickly and safely. ~ from this Facebook page

Luke's family went to the same parish we did for a few years. We remember him as a tall, sweet, soft spoken young man. My kids called him "George" when they were little even though we told them his name was Luke. They were 2, 3, and 4 then and were just enamored with this big, tall boy! He never minded that they always got his name wrong. He would just sweetly smile and chuckle. Please, dear Lord, return him to his family safe and sound!

His brother is in the Coast Guard Academy and needs safe travel prayers to help get him home as soon as possible. His family needs prayers to cope during this unspeakably difficult time. Husband has gone to join the search efforts and I will update when he has more information. We are trying to get as much media attention as we can so please, spread the word.

*They now have a Twitter page set up.

* Update: KTVT Channel 11 or 21 will be running an interview with Luke's oldest brother tonight at 10pm.

*Update: The police dogs tracked his scent for about a mile before the dogs got dehydrated and had to be pulled in. There are many bus routes in that area. The police are treating it as a runaway situation.

*Update: He has brown eyes and was wearing a dark green and brown striped polo shirt and dark brown khaki pants. Also, at this time, the family does not suspect foul play.

7 Quick Takes

(Curiosity killed the cat, but for a while I Jennifer was a suspect. ~ mostly Stephen Wright)

1.

BigBoy is loving his little Fr. Robert. He comes out for breakfast every morning asking, "Can I see what my vestment is for today?" Is it wrong of me to imagine him asking that 20 years from now in a sacristy somewhere?

2.

The Professor's godparents are in the process of repairing the damage done by a tornado back in June. BigBoy heard me say to the kids after getting off the phone that Auntie Q and Uncle T got hit by a tornado to which he replied, "Where did they land?"

3.

We are looking for a toaster oven. I've never owned one before. Our regular toaster, which is supposed to have 4 working toast/bagel slots, is now down to 2 sometimes-working-if-you-jiggle-the-handle-just-right slots. Suggestions are appreciated. I would prefer one that doesn't burn on the outside or melt the paint off your cabinets. Oh, and... no exploding glass doors. Is that too much to ask?

4.

Husband brought home these super cool ace reporter style notepads for the kids so of course they HAD to have super cool press passes to go with them. Each child picked their own alias and a new birthday. Husband and I made them last night and left them at their breakfast spots this morning. We are now the proud parents of Gilthoniel, Rowena, Samantha and Ranger Maul. And apparently my new name is Hildegard Fancybottom. It's a pleasure to meet you!

5.

I went shoe shopping this week and discovered, yet again, how much I hate it. Not a hard thing to do when you wear a size "titanic" (that's 10-11 US and 44-45 European) . But never before did I realize how much I loathe it in the summer. As far as body parts go, feet are ugly. I'm sorry. Maybe yours aren't, but mine are and no amount of sparkly straps, or flowers or beads are going to make them pretty. Let's just cover them up, protect them from the elements which only ages them faster and for heaven's sake don't even think about letting my toes play peek-a-boo. OK?

6.

I am about half way through Mockingbird, the (wonderful!) biography of Nelle Harper Lee (correctly pronounced: Nail Hah-puh Lee) and we just Netflixed in (is that a verb now?) the award winning movie with the awe-inspiring Mr. Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch. I am in a mint julep state of mind! In the special features, it mentioned that Harper Lee cried during Mr. Peck's first scene because he reminded her so much of her father, even down to his little pot belly. I couldn't help noticing how much Mr. Peck (as an old man) reminded me of my Pawpaw.
And then I started crying.

7.

1282!
Wii Fit Expert Level Rhythm Boxing Champ.
'Nuff said!
If you even dream of beating me you'd better wake up and apologize. ~ Mohammad Ali

St. Anne's Feast

It's hard for us to really celebrate St. Anne's feast day on the day since it is Husband's birthday although he is more than willing to share. This year, the 26th falls on a Sunday which means that the Sunday should take precedence so we made the decision to celebrate early. We already have our St. Anne's Family Album but the girls have asked if they could make a smaller version for their holy cards.

According to My Nameday: Come For Dessert, the traditional colors you will find St. Anne dressed in are shades of red and green. In fact, it used to be a tradition for girls named after St. Anne to wear red and green ribbons in their hair on her feast day. It doesn't have to be Christmas red and green. A light green or a pale pink is a lovely variation of color to honor St. Anne. No one here is named for St. Anne (yet!) but we made some hair pretties anyway. We simply slipped the thin ribbon through the back of a tiny little alligator clip and tied on the wider ones. A stitch or two with a needle and thread will secure it so that the bow doesn't come out. The French have a very strong devotion to St. Anne so many recipes suggested for her special day will involve seafood. You might consider making your favorite seafood meal for dinner. Since it is summer time, when we think of red and green, we think of watermelons! That's where our inspiration began.
We found some seashells in the clearance section of our local craft store to use for decorating the table and also this watermelon clip which was just too cute to pass up. A light green table cloth and bright red plates were a nice combination of St. Anne's colors. Watermelon cookies and watermelon lemonade make a perfect summertime treat.

Watermelon Cookies

I used Betty Crocker's Sugar Cookie Mix. Mix sugar cookies using cut-out cookie recipe and red food coloring. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4 inch thick. Cut out circles with a cookie cutter or other round object, such as a glass or round plastic container. Place circles on ungreased cookie sheet. (I used parchment paper.) With a knife, carefully slice circle in half and separate by at least 1/2 inch to allow for expansion during baking. Gently press miniature semi sweet morsels into each semicircle. (Little ones can do this just know that the mini morsels melt quickly if handled too much. Refrigerating them beforehand helps. I sprinkled them onto the unbaked cookies and then let the kids push them into place where they fell.)

Bake for 6-8 minutes, checking after 6 minutes. Cookies will be done when edges are lightly browned. Do not allow cookies to get too brown. Remove from oven and allow cookies to cool on cookie sheets for 5 minutes. Remove from cookies sheets to aluminum foil on a flat surface and allow to cool completely.

Glaze:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 tbsp water
15-20 drops green food coloring

In a small bowl mix together all ingredients to form a glaze. You may add drops of water to thin glaze if it is too thick. To decorate the cookies, roll the round end of the cookie in the glaze, allow excess to drip off into bowl. Place cookies back on foil until glaze dries.

Like this!

Watermelon Lemonade

• 2 (12-ounce) cans frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
• 15 cups seeded and cubed watermelon
• *2 sprigs mint (optional)
Process watermelon, in batches, in a blender or food processor until smooth. Combine concentrate and 2 mint sprigs, and cook in a saucepan over medium-high heat 10 minutes. Stir together watermelon puree and lemonade mixture; cover and chill 8 hours. Remove and discard mint. Stir and serve over ice.

*If you are not going to add the mint, then skip the stove top step.

I made half of this recipe and I strained my watermelon puree through cheesecloth so there wouldn't be much pulp. 10 cups of watermelon made about 8 cups of puree which made 5 1/2 C. of watermelon juice once it was strained. I mixed those 5 1/2 C. with one can of frozen lemonade.

Missionaries of the Eucharist

I am honored to say that I am related to one of these amazing young persons who are spreading their joy for the Catholic faith all across the northeast this summer. Please keep an eye out for them, pray for their efforts as they all consider their vocations and should they be in your neck of the woods, give them a pat on the back and maybe a glass of water!

From their blog:

We begin everyday receiving Jesus in the Mass. We then bear Him out to all those whom we encounter.
Our mission is to evangelize those whom we meet. We hand out rosaries, speak in parishes, and pray and counsel outside of abortion clinics. We open our hearts to the needs of all those whom we meet, ranging from homelessness to addiction to questions about the Faith.

St. Anne Coloring Page

Shortcake received this beautiful statue from her Grammie as a gift celebrating her First Holy Communion last year. Beautiful doesn't even begin to describe it. I made a coloring page based on this image and I hope your little ones will enjoy making their own beautiful image of Our Lady learning at the knee of her mother.

St. Anne Coloring Page

For those of you who would prefer the name and date at the top I've uploaded another version:

St. Anne Coloring Page (with name and date at top even though you can't see it on the Scribd page, when you download it, the text shows up)

Coming up... ideas for celebrating St. Anne's Feast Day!

UPDATE: Scribd is having problems. You might want to download and then print instead of printing directly. It is a known issues and they are working on it.

July 20, 1969

The Eagle has separated from the Command Module and is preparing for ignition which will take it to the landing site where history was made. The Professor is huddled around the glowing screen, enthusiastically awaiting the next phase of this mission. Forty years after the fact, he is just as fascinated as a child of yesteryear. He has the benefit of all of the excitement with none of the anxiety. He knows how the mission will go, he knows the mission forward and backwards, he knows those three brave men will return safely and what turns the Space Race takes from there. He isn't supposed to be doing science this summer, but this kid just can't help it. During the down times, he's listening to the astronauts chat and banter and looking at pictures of what life was like waaaaay back before his mother and father were born. (OK, not that far back.)

This recent fascination started with One Small Step, which is filled with interactive fun of the book variety. It was my special birthday treat to go to the bookstore with them and let them pick out something that electrified their imagination. The kid was hugging this one all the way to the register. He loves every part of it. Right now, he gets to live it in a very special way. And all he has been able to say is, "Wow. Oh, wow! This is just amazing."

"...we choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone,..." ~ President John F. Kennedy, Rice University, Houston, Texas on 12 September 1962

Please pray...

For baby Matthew and his dear parents.

Update from Emily.

Poor Papa

Do you think he'd let us sign his cast? Maybe some extra prayers instead! : )

Friday Fun

You Are a Popsicle

You are colorful, creative, and expressive. You are often in your own little world, having the time of your life. People might be surprised to know that you're actually a bit of a perfectionist. You like things to be neat and orderly. You can deal with chaos, as long as it's controlled chaos.

What Frozen Treat Are You?

HT: She may be dipped but don't call her dippy.

Spice Cabinet Organization

My first thought when it came to spice cabinet organization was to look at spice racks online but most of them come with preselected spices and they require either counter space or wall space, two things I am severely lacking in my galley style kitchen. That doesn't mean that I didn't drool over Jennifer beautiful, home re-made spice rack! While I couldn't fit something like that in my kitchen, I really liked her idea of creating a baking center. I tackled the job by first removing everything from the cabinet (it's my favorite way to start) and then tossing what was old or unused. Boy, that was a hard one. I tend to stow away spices just in case I get the urge to make a really unique dish that calls for white pepper, coriander and chervil leaf. Just get rid of it, you silly girl!
Next step... I organized my spices based on the ones I use most of the time. Yours will look different but, for example, mine are garlic salt, minced onion, pinto bean seasoning (great for chili), cumin, cilantro, parsley, onion powder, garlic powder, cajun seasoning, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. Those are kept up front, within reach. Everything else, I moved to this handy little storage box. It's actually a CD holder from Walmart. I think it was $1. They are stackable if you have taller shelves. I put all of my less frequently used spices there stacked on top of each other. That messiness doesn't bother me because I'm not sorting through them every day. It created so much space on the other side of the cabinet... a perfect place for a baking center.
The only thing I don't like is keeping my flour in the paper sacks. They are incredibly messy. I am considering making flour sacks out of some scrap fabric. Anyone have any thoughts on that? Have you ever tried it? I'd love some ideas.

Technical difficulties with Scribd printing?

Someone mentioned in the comments below that they are having problems printing the Saints 'N Stitches patterns. Anyone else had this problem? Have you figured out a solution? Right now, it might be easier to download them, then print.

Yesterday's high

The heat index was 122 degrees. That's what we call stinkin' hot!

We're havin' a heat wave.
A tropical heat wave.
The temperature's rising,
It isn't surprising.
She certainly can can-can!

Saints 'N Stitches

Kelle over at A Pew All Our Own mentioned an idea that really got my creative juices flowing. She said in this post that she wanted to make saint dolls using the basic angel doll pattern we made back in March. I was in the process of working on a new angel doll pattern since I had lost my original and thought how easy it would be to make saints too in the same style. To say thanks for the inspiration, here are St. Genevieve and St. Claire especially for your gorgeous girls, Kelle.

Saints 'N Stitches 1 ~ St. Genevieve and St. Claire

Saints 'N Stitches 2 ~ St. Michael and St. John Bosco

Saints 'N Stitches 3 ~ St. Anthony and St. Blaise

Saints 'N Stitches 4 ~ Blessed Mother Teresa and St. Therese

Saints 'N Stitches 5~ St. Elizabeth of Hungary and St. Josephine Bakhita

Saints 'N Stitches 6~ St. Francis of Assisi and a Cistercian brother in habit

After seeing these, my girls are itching to embroider again. Now, when I say "they embroider" what I mean is the girls use embroidery floss and hoops and go to town coloring with thread. We haven't yet learned proper stitches or fancy flourishes. They just really like to sew a design and watch it come to life. Since I just finished drawing these today, they are really rough copies and we haven't even had a chance to test them out. We hope to get to do that soon. If you want to try them, get an iron-on transfer pencil (like the one in this post), print out the pattern, trace over it with the pencil, flip the pattern face down on your fabric and iron on using high heat (no steam). And then don't forget to show me when you are done!

Just like the coloring pages in the sidebar, these are free for anyone to use for themselves or with a group of friends as long as they are not sold for profit. And speaking of coloring pages, I have one for St. Anne's feast day coming up but other than that, I don't have anymore planned. We have been very busy this summer and I feel like we are only at the top of the roller coaster, not the bottom. Everyone buckle up, hang on and keep your hands inside the car at all times.

Anatomy

Pointing to the back side of his knee, BigBoy says, "Mommy, I have a cramp in my legpit."

'Cuz if you have an armpit you must have a legpit.

Craft Closet Organization

The organization bug is biting everyone it seems. Meredith's pantry challenge first got me thinking about those areas where I was wasting valuable storage space. If you haven't read Elizabeth's interview, it just might be the boost you need to get you digging through your cabinets and closets. De-cluttering is a great thing to do when you are cooped up inside anyway. I have been meaning to tackle my craft closets and finally got around to it last week. It annoys me when I know I'm not using my space efficiently and that was the case with these cabinets. While I am a firm believer in the principle that good organization can sometimes means spending money on the right tools, my goal for this project was to use what I had. When I looked inside I saw empty containers and stuff piled on top of stuff...

...on top of stuff...

...and more stuff!

The best way to handle this kind of job was to pull every thing out, sort it, organize it and then label it. I love labels! (I will spare you the Ode to Labels I composed expressing my unending love for these sticky little sanity savers.) These cabinets are in our garage and we originally purchased them to be pantries for our old house which didn't have one. I ended up tossing a trash bag full of unusable stuff and using only what I already had in the closets for organization.

Ahhhh...that's better!

Donut's for lunch?

subtitled: How history is conspiring against me

Sea captain, baker and inventor John F. Blondel received a patent for a doughnut cutter on this day in 1872. He liked to put holes in the middle of his fried cake pastries so he could fit them over the handles of the helm of his ship. Make or eat doughnuts today.

Now why did the kids circle this date on the Learning Calendar?

A dear friend of mine says:
A super easy way to make donuts is to get the large biscuits (Grands?), cut a hole and fry them. Easy and yummy when topped with powdered sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon sugar or glaze (chocolate or vanilla).

But you probably didn't want to know that, did you?

Praying...

... for Melanie and Dom. Won't you join us?

UPDATE: Baby Benedict born at 11:44 AM EST at 7lb. 9oz. Melanie is fine and in recovery now.

How do YOU pronounce Joachim?

From the combox below, Bev asks:

Question for you: What is the correct way to pronounce Joachim? (I fear we've been butchering it for years! :)

Bev,
That's a good question. I had always heard his name pronounced JOE-uh-kim but recently I have heard it pronounced wah-KEEM. That sounds too Spanish to my ear. This website indicates that it is pronounced JOE-uh-keem. But a person familiar with Aramaic says here that it is properly pronounced yo-a-CHIM with a hard, gutteral ch sound. In German, it would be yo-AHK-im so it really depends on what language you are considering. I remember thinking that the name Giselle (zhee-SELL) sounded so beautiful in French but was shocked to hear it pronounced GEE-suh-luh in German. Most historians agree that Our Lord and also his mother would have spoken Aramaic (along with Hebrew and maybe even Kione Greek) and since I have a SIL who speaks Aramaic, I can ask her to pronounce it for me and get back to you.