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The Cry Room: A Parents’ Guide to Survival
Okay, we’ve all been there — we’ve all been in the cry room. That awful, horrid place were children and parents are left to live sad, lonely lives — spurned by the families with well-behaved children. That room where all your hopes and dreams have been dashed to pieces amidst the cheerios, that awful diaper smell, and the other equally pathetic parents who find themselves there. That room where you are will ultimately find yourself asking questions like, “What is wrong with me?” “Why can’t I get it together?” or “Where did I go wrong? ” Well I’m here to tell you that you are just fine — in fact, you are more than…
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Blue Monday — We Got This!
Blue Monday is a name given to the day in January (typically the third Monday of the month) reported to be the most depressing day of the year for those in the Northern Hemisphere. So, according to my calculations, today promises to be the most depressing day of the year for most of the people reading this post — yay for us — not really. 🙁 You know, the Church foresaw Blue Monday way before Wikipedia made it a thing — it’s called Ordinary Time — and coming off of the highs of the Christmas Season can be hard for all of us. The parties are over, family has returned to their…
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Readjusting to Ordinary Time :(
Welcome back to ordinary time. 🙁 I’m not going to lie, it’s hard to get back into ordinary time. I mean, couldn’t the Church have come up with a better name than “Ordinary“? Ordinary time just sounds so — well, ordinary. And who likes ordinary? No, we want a life of adventure and excitement — so why does the Church have to bring us down with all of it’s talk of ordinary time? I’ll tell you why — because life can’t always be one high after the next — it has highs and lows and there is a natural ebb and flow to life and maybe the Church knows better than…
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Pax Et Bonum, Fr. Mike
No doubt, some of you have heard that Fr. Mike Scanlan died this past week. He spent 85 years doing good on this earth, and after an extended illness, he went to be with his Lord. Though my head is currently swimming with memories of this amazing man, I can’t let this week pass by without a few words — though greatly inadequate — about the man who made me want to be a Saint. He was one of the greatest influences of my late teens and early twenties — and I like to believe that those encounters have made me a better person and still remain with me to this day. I know I’m not alone…
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And…It’s a Wrap!
Happy Epiphany! (technically, it’s been moved to Sunday in the US — but for the rest of the world –Happy Epiphany!) How was your Christmas? Mine was just what it was supposed to be — sometimes quiet, sometimes loud, sometimes chaotic, sometimes peaceful — and I wouldn’t change one second of it. I know we’re still in the Christmas Season, but we’re slowly coming to the end, and all of us are beginning to look forward to a little more normalcy in our lives. Even last night, I returned home from a gathering with friends after midnight — and my baby was still up! So, though I love this time of year and…
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Small World, Big Dysfunctional Family
No doubt you’ve heard it said before, “Oh they’re a dysfunctional family”, and maybe you’re convinced that your own family is dysfunctional — you might even go so far as to think that you’re the only sane one in a big ol’ bag of nuts? If you’re the latter, I want to be at one of your family gatherings — crazy people are the best! However, I regret to inform you that you’re probably nuts yourself and just don’t know it yet 🙁 But you know what I have found myself pondering as of late — why do we expect any family to be anything but “dysfunctional”? I mean, we’re not…
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Perfect Holiday Cocktails – Gotta Try These!
Merry Christmas! Okay, I’m taking a break from my “break” to share a quick recipe for a delicious cranberry cocktail — you’re welcome! 🙂 These are just so perfect for this time of year that I had to share. And hey, the cranberry juice and whole organic cranberries make this drink pretty darn close to taking your vitamins — so go for it! We made a non-alcaholic version for the kiddos. So enjoy these with the people you love! Sparkling Cranberry Ginger Cocktails: 1 ½ cups vodka. 1 cup cranberry juice (we used Trader Joe’s unsweetened pure cranberry juice). 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice. 1 cup ginger beer or…
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Let’s Get Hygge With It
Okay, first a disclaimer: I didn’t sleep last night — at all — babies just being babies. Whoever came up with the phrase “I slept like a baby” clearly didn’t have any. Anyhow, I’m currently at the slap-happy stage of my day and will most likely crash mid-post, so please don’t hold it against me if this is the worst post you’ve ever read, okay? We are just 2 days away from Christmas — can you believe it? It’s been a challenging Advent, but a fitting one. I’ve actually seen the blessings amidst the chaos and challenges — and I know that is a grace from God. But I’m…
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Advent Has Me Like…
Wow, Advent has been like a mini Lent — exactly what the Church says it’s supposed to be — but I don’t really like to suffer and be inconvenienced so it has been a time of stretching. We’re not talking a pleasant yoga-type-stretching — it’s been more of a medieval being-stretched-on-a-rack type of stretching — not pleasant. 🙁 And just when I thought we were over the hump of little sufferings and inconveniences and making way for Christmas, we found ourselves in the midst of another entirely unexpected kind-of-big drama this week. We’re still in the midst of it and it’s sad for a whole bunch of reasons — but I’ll leave…
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Advent So Far
How is your Advent going? Not gonna lie, it has been an emotionally draining Advent, thus far. Honestly, I tried to write a post earlier in the week, and I was just too drained to get a coherent thought out of my head — that and the fact that my house is falling apart — which means I can just about manage to get a 7 Quick Takes post out for the week. Here goes: 1.We buried a beloved brother-in-law this week. He was definitely the peacemaker of the family, the one that never got too involved with family arguments and chose to build bridges instead. He never met a stranger —…
