Blog
Ending Child Abuse
My sweet friend Maggie is a wonderful writer and she has a big heart as well. She's blogging today on her fundraising efforts for child abuse prevention via Childhelp. Will you take a minute to visit her site and consider making a donation? And while you are there,...
An Embarrassment of Riches?
Most of the time five kids doesn't seem like a lot to me, it just seems normal. I can blithely respond to that ubiquitous comment, "I don't know how you do it!" with "Oh, after three it's not any harder, just louder," and mostly mean it. But there are times when I...
I'm Lovin' It
Here's a new way to find me, folks! And it's a great and easy way to follow other blogs you like. Check it out. Bloglovin' is very simple to set up. <a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/5419853/?claim=jqb64exnej5">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a> I'm...
Prejudice Hurts
I know how I lucky I am to live in a country where my freedom to worship however I wish is guaranteed. I take that for granted and I find it hard to realize that people are still persecuted to the point of death for their beliefs in other parts of the world even...
It's a Great Time to Be Catholic!
So, I'm thinking now's a good time to be getting all Catholic on the blog because HABEMUS PAPAM, y'all! This doesn't happen every day--I mean, this is only the fourth time it's happened in my whole life (which is edging ever closer toward the--gasp--half-century...
48 Questions (and the answers too!)
Last week I was too busy LIVING my life to write about it! And this week I'm playing catch up from last week. So here's a self-indulgent, quickie post, inspired by my friend Elizabeth, to get me back to blogging. 1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?Yes. My first...
Strawberry Birthday Cake, and not from a box
Another reason I miss my recipe notebook acutely at this time of year is BIRTHDAYS. Lots and lots of birthdays. Jake's is January 27, John AND Emily's is February 4, Teddy's is February 15, and William's is March 5. That's a lot of cake. We've been through one...
Vegetable Chili That Even Meat Lovers Love
I was 19 when I moved into my first apartment--on-campus housing at Georgetown University with three friends. Excited about having a kitchen, I ambitiously dumped the meal plan and looked forward to home-cooked meals. To prepare, I bought a green notebook and wrote...
Sanctuary Redux
I promised a while back I would post pictures of my new bedroom furniture once it was in place but then Christmas came and you know how that goes. Anyway, the lighting in my room is not the best but you can get a decent idea in the pictures below: There's a cedar...
Not This Woman’s Issue
If you're on Facebook you can't escape knowing that today's the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. If you have a diverse group of Facebook friends like I do you'll have seen a bewildering array of contradictory posts, some commemorating the day as a tragedy, others as...
He who does not weep does not see
Y'all, I am OBSESSED with Les Miserables right now. Searching Twitter and Tumblr tags, listening to every soundtrack I can find on Spotify pretty much nonstop, reading reviews and analyses online . . . I cannot WAIT to see it again. Let's not call this a review,...
Spring Cleaning
Winter cleaning doesn't sound right, and actually it was fall when we did it, but we (mostly me) thoroughly cleaned out our garage a couple of weekends ago in preparation for the arrival of the contents of Grandma's house. [Update: And I will be doing it again this...
Christmas, 1973
My first picture with Santa at age six. Up till then I was always too scared.
What Would Jesus Do about School Violence?
I don't want to blog about Newtown because it feels too much like I am mining a tragedy for material. But the fact is that aside from occasional stress-filled forays into pre-Christmas panic, Newtown is pretty much all I am thinking about. And I don't believe I am...
Some Things Don't Make Sense
Terrible things evoke many responses: tears; prayers; the urge to hide, to sleep, not to read or look or hear any more, or even to obsessively read and watch and learn everything about what happened; and, for writers, to write. You wonder if maybe you shouldn't....
Embracing Change
I don't like change. I never have liked change, and anyone who knows me well knows this about me. Now I would assume that it would be hard on ANYONE to lose every single personal possession to fire, to have to move into a new house with all new things in it, but...
The Best Laid Plans . . .
So the past few days have been an exercise in stress (not that I needed any more exercise in that area), endurance, and the necessity of flexibility. I guess it all started around midnight on Thursday . . . Many of you will remember that John's grandmother died last...
More Advent Memories . . .
. . . but not here! I'm guest posting today at Living on Love, as part of Lacy's marvelous series on Advent. Please go check out my post, and once you're there look around the rest of the blog. Lacy's a young mother who writes thoughtfully about motherhood,...
We're a Little Bit Pagan . . .
Did y'all ever think about how WEIRD Christmas is? I don't mean what we are celebrating, of course--I know you know that. Maybe what I really should be asking is did y'all ever think about how weird communal traditions are in general, or if weird isn't the right...
Countdown to Christmas
That's what they call some of the calendars in stores this time of year, and it irritates me. Of course, Advent doesn't always correspond exactly to the dates on the calendar, but it's an Advent Calendar all the same! I remember the first one I ever had--a Nativity...
Signs of the Season II
And one last link on the Advent Workshop, this one from the Knoxville News Sentinel. William was quoted in this story! Can you tell I really, really liked the Advent Workshop? So much so that I never missed one, even though one year that meant I showed up with a...
One Year Later
Last year getting ready for Christmas was . . . strange. And maybe I will write more about that letter. But reading this guest post I did last year brings it all back. Go read it while you are waiting for new content!
I Took a Little Break . . .
. . . because NaBloPoMo is over, and I did it! One post every day for a month. Now it turns out they have a monthly version of it now, and maybe it will be a good thing to do in January, but December is busy enough. I'm going to start off the month, though, with a...
Serendipity in the Kitchen
I rarely use recipes, certainly not for everyday foods. I like to think of my own mind as a sort of cookbook, capable of synthesizing ingredients into masterpieces. I'm not sure if that's a special talent or something that can be learned from years of cooking, maybe...
Temptations
People waste time at the office--we all know that. They hang out at the water cooler, take long smoke breaks, sneak onto Facebook and email when no one is watching. Working at home comes with its own set of time-wasting temptations. Particularly when I had no one to...
Books Worth Reading
I'm cheating a bit on this post because it's so late and I don't have much time to make the NaBloPoMo deadline, but I'm a sucker for this kind of thing anyway. Yesterday a Facebook friend invited me to do the following: The rules: Don't take too long to think about...
Fire or Ice?
Fire and Ice Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I've tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate To say that for destruction ice Is also great And would suffice. - ...
Too Tired to Even Think of a Good Title
That's where I am tonight (and I pride myself on thinking up good titles!) I am ever so grateful to the folks at BlogHer for this NaBloPoMo challenge--it's gotten me into great posting habits that I hope to be able to continue when November ends. HOWEVER, when it...
More Southern Grammar: Double Modals
Whoa! Sounds fancy, doesn't it? It's hard to believe that something many people consider "bad grammar" has such a fancy name. So what the hell am I talking about? From Wikipedia: "A modal verb (also modal, modal auxiliary verb, modal auxiliary) is a type...
Such Stuff As Dreams Are Made On
I've written before about my anxiety dreams. Last night I had a doozy. I dreamt that I suddenly realized that I was enrolled in college and that my life had become so complicated that I had simply forgotten all about attending classes for some weeks. I remember...
So This Is Christmas
Except it isn't, not really. It isn't even Advent yet. Once upon a time I might have complained about the onslaught of Christmas when Thanksgiving is barely over, but no more. I used up all my indignation fussing about people putting up decorations right after...
The Best Turkey I Ever Made
I don't know about you, but I always get nervous about roasting the Thanksgiving turkey. It's such a big responsibility. If your casserole doesn't turn out exactly right, so what? There are about 100 more casseroles on the table. But if the turkey is bad? That's...
Busy Busy Busy
Y'all, that's only a little of what I've been up to today. If you're hosting a dinner tomorrow you've probably been doing the same. It's almost midnight and I've just had to send my kids out for things I forgot, I'm toasting pecans, and I'm desperately trying to thaw...
Let the Preparations Begin!
That's my counter, waiting for tomorrow. We are hosting Thanksgiving for the first time in several years, and I expect to be cooking all day. I hope to have only the turkey to deal with on Thursday. When I was growing up, Thanksgiving was so comforting, following...
Conviction about Things We Do Not See
So yesterday I posted a picture of the slate I got from my church roof, and my sister thought she saw a face in it. Please don't think I'm attributing miraculous intervention into this and I'm not going to offer my slate for sale on ebay, but I still think it's a...
Southern Vocabulary: Useful Words
“It's impossible to explain to a Yankee what `tacky' is. They simply have no word for it up north, but my God, do they ever need one.” -- from The Lords of Discipline by Pat Conroy I think that "tacky" may be universally understood by...
If This Stone Could Shout!
Can you guess what this is? If you were at Immaculate Conception Church this morning you probably can, but I'm guessing everyone else is going to be puzzled. It's slate. A slate roof tile from the church, as a matter of fact. With a new roof being installed, some...
Unburdened
I made my First Confession at Holy Ghost Church, back when I was seven, in the good old anonymous darkened confessional. Every three months thereafter, Father Henkel and his current associate pastor would appear at St. Joseph School and we would be told that today we...
Haunted House of Dreams?
So far I have posted every day in November and have had no difficulty finding inspiration. Truth be told, I have whole pages of ideas for blog posts, and new ones float in and out of my head all day every day! Some I remember and some I forget; some I scrawl down...
I Will Keep Sunday Holy
Second grade is a big year for Catholic children. Lorelei and her classmates will prepare all year for First Communion, and this Saturday they will participate in the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the first time. Lorelei has said the Act of Contrition about 10,000...
Tripping
Field tripping, that is. Today was the day Lorelei and the other second graders had been longing for and talking about for WEEKS. (These little kids get so worked up over things that they are bouncing off the walls DAYS in advance.) Finally, they were going on their...
Debauchery
I knew something was up when I heard the front door open this morning before I even went downstairs. But I have a secret weapon: thanks to our security system and the wonders of the iPhone, I can look on my phone and instantly know every time the door has opened in...
I'm Cooking Again
Actually, I am always cooking, or at least I am always feeding people. With six people in the house, all on different schedules, someone is always hungry, and sometimes I feel like a short order cook. And we run out of groceries around here so quick that you probably...
Southern Grammar: It’s Got Rules, Y’all!
No snarky comments about the title, please! If you aren't a lover of language and words like I am, you might not realize that all dialects have their own internal grammar and operate according to rules. And I'm going to write from time to time about the rules of the...
Happy Birthday . . .
. . . to Lorelei, who turned eight today! And because I was busy today shopping, baking, and partying, that's all there is to say. 🙂
Pumpkins Pumpkins Everywhere!
Yes, it's that time of year--or really, it's slightly after that time of year, since I couldn't find a carving-sized pumpkin for love or money the night before Halloween, which is when I attempted to buy them. But that meant I ended up with several smaller ones...
It's Just Not Fun Anymore
The last few days before Election Day, my Facebook newsfeed was jammed with posts and memes indicating how tired everyone was of the campaign. One little girl was famously moved to tears over the whole thing, and I think I know how she felt. Constant negativity IS...
Autumn Baby
Highlight of my day: Visiting with my precious nephew Leo. He's a little blurry, because he is always in motion, but isn't he darling?
Talking to Kids about Politics
I just saw a tweet from an online acquaintance who was upset because her little kindergartner came home with the news that her classmates had told her that "Obama kills babies." Now that is all kinds of wrong for all kinds of reasons. Number one, it's factually...
The $64,000 Question – Answered
So, feeling like you do about both Romney and Obama, who ARE you going to vote for? That's more or less what I was asked by a friend recently, and I promised I would be answering here. There's going to be a long and complicated explanation before I get to the answer,...
Give Thanks in All Circumstances
"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." I Thessalonians 5:18 I first encountered that quotation as a child when reading The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom. Corrie and her sister Betsie have been imprisoned in a...
Reading Aloud: It's Not Just for the Kids
David Copperfield. Gone with the Wind. The Lord of the Rings. Dracula. The Lords of Discipline. The Hobbit. The Dark is Rising series. The Chronicles of Narnia. A Tale of Two Cities. Little House on the Prairie. What do the above books have in common (besides being...
Sweet Home Alabama
We took a whirlwind trip to Mobile, Alabama last weekend. It was our last Family Weekend at Spring Hill College--Emily will graduate in May. For the last four Octobers we've made (or some of us have, depending on who was available--I'm the only one who's made all...
NaBloPoMo
So I just heard about this--I mean, really, like just now, with less than 20 minutes to go in the first day! And I think it's a great idea, since I've been terrible about blogging lately--as much as I want to--and clearly I need some outside motivation. But with only...
Who Are the Uninsured?
So the other day I was looking at this sort of small boil thing on my leg (I know, I know, TMI but necessary to the story). "Do you think this could be a staph infection?" I asked Teddy, figuring he would be the expert since things like that tend to lurk in locker...
What’s a Catholic Voter to Do Part Three
A couple of people posted on my last entry that the reaction to what I had written showed the power of my words. It was nice to think of it that way. But the fact that the reaction was the exact OPPOSITE of what I was looking for when I wrote the original...
What’s a Catholic Voter to Do Part Two
This is Part 2 of a story which begins here. It chronicles the unforeseen results of my having had the temerity to publish a column on voting in the local Catholic press just before the 2004 elections. I felt good about what I had written. I thought I had expressed...
What’s a Catholic Voter to Do?
This is an edited version of a column I wrote in the fall of 2004. At the time I was extremely disturbed by the vitriol surrounding the Presidential campaign, particularly that directed by Catholics toward other Catholics, presuming to assert that there was only one...
Praying with Facebook
Facebook is a lot of things to a lot of people. It has the power to unite and to divide, to heal and to injure. It sounds ridiculous, no doubt, to non-users, but its effect on my life has been profound. But one of its most surprising and beneficial effects has been...
The Things That Really Matter
Closet space. Is there ever enough of it? There were next to no closets in our Victorian house. We purchased three armoires from Myrtle's Mess for the bedrooms, and crammed them so full the doors would barely close. (John's enormous oak armoire is one of three...
Standing outside the Fire
I've written this post in my head dozens of times, each one different. It's an anniversary, and I knew I should--that I wanted to, NEEDED to--commemorate it in some way. But should I talk about what I've learned? The good things it brought about? Just start off...
The Exception that Proves the Rule
In the wake of Todd Akin's stupid (really, I could think of a fancier word but I think that one covers it) remarks about rape and abortion, and then VP-hopeful Paul Ryan's follow-up distancing himself from Akin and downplaying his own oft-stated convictions regarding...
The Politics of Email
The quotation "Never discuss politics or religion in polite company" has been repeated so often that its original source is long forgotten. And nowadays the wisdom of this advice goes unheeded, especially, I find, when email is involved. Please don't get me wrong: I...
Training the Mind
"A liberal education is at the heart of a civil society, and at the heart of a liberal education is the act of teaching." ~ A. Bartlett Giamatti I am a BIG believer in Liberal Arts education. I majored in English at Georgetown University, and rather obviously I did...
College Search 2012
Twenty-eight summers ago, my family took me on a college-shopping trip. Much of our recent vacation was a re-enactment of that journey, with the college-shopper this time around being my 17-year-old son Teddy. The memories of that long-ago journey overlaid this...
Hey It's Good to Be Back Home Again . . .
. . . after ten days away! (about which much more later, I hope!) The last time we went to Baltimore, our house burned down. So I think we were all a little nervous and were happy to come home to this: Two of three kitties have yet to put in an appearance, though, so...
That Liturgical Music Thing Again
Y'all, sometimes I just have to get things off my chest. And I haven't ranted about church music in a while. So, for those of you who like such things, enjoy this mini-rant. I sang in the choir at the 7 p.m. Mass at Georgetown all four years. (We had Masses...
Thank Heaven for Little Girls
I love sharing pictures of my new house with you and I hope you like seeing how far we've come since September. The reason these postings are few and far between is that the rooms have to be clean before I photograph them (got to keep it Pinterest safe!). Today's...
Things I Am Afraid to Tell You
If you are a blogger, or if you follow a lot of blogs, you probably know about this already. One blogger's courageous admission that there was more to her than what she shared every day on her blog led to a movement. The theory is that we can all be brave together...
THINGS I KNOW: Raising Teenagers
In an uncertain world, there's a certain appeal in believing that there is anything we are sure about, and pride in celebrating and sharing lessons learned and wisdom gained. And I do know a lot of things, some of them instinctively and others through hard life...
In Which TIME Magazine Channels Its Inner National Enquirer
Inquiring minds want to know . . . does that woman on the cover of Time Magazine REALLY nurse her kid in that position? And did she REALLY think she was furthering the cause of extended breastfeeding by posing for that controversial cover shot? And did it ever occur...
55 Reading Questions
I have a Tumblr, which you can find here. I don't do much with it; I think I'm not really in the demographic it's meant for, but I signed up so I could see what my daughter posts. And recently I happened upon this list of questions from timaspublishing via...
Chips off the Old Block
More on the topic of when your kids are like you . . . I really should have taken a picture, even though all you would have seen was the backs of their heads. The other night ALL FIVE of our kids (Emily being home from college for the summer already!) were lounging...
I Hear America Crying
I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear; Those of mechanics—each one singing his, as it should be, blithe and strong; The carpenter singing his, as he measures his plank or beam, The mason singing his, as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work; The...
The Future Is in Her Hands
I recently wrote about how cool it is when your kid is good at something that you aren't able to do at all. But how about when your kid is BETTER than you at something you are pretty good at? 🙂 My family are writers from way back. My mother has a journalism...
A Breath of Smoke and Ashes
It's there every time I go into the garage. The smell of fire. It's there, and then I'm here: That's not a place I really like to be, figuratively or otherwise. In fact, it's become a bit of a thing: I don't drive down that part of Northshore any more, no matter...
Feed the Dog and Get the Girl
A couple of days ago I encountered the following link on a friend's Facebook Wall. Christi has a knack for getting good conversations started on her Wall (or now I guess I have to sadly say Timeline) and this was no exception. Go read it or what I'm going to write...
Easter Blessings
As I've written before, I love Easter. It's my favorite holiday. This Easter felt like even a bigger deal than usual to me. For one thing, all holidays post-fire feel like milestones. I know what happened to us doesn't compare to a death in the family, but things...
What Mothers Do
I've got five kids and I've been a mother for over 21 years. I find that my "mothering urges" sort of spread themselves over whatever children happen to be around me. When my kids have friends over, I'm all "sweetheart" and "honey" at them. I feed them. I feel...
Our First, Most Cherished Liberty
Yesterday, the United States Council of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) published an eloquent statement on what it means to be both Catholic and American, and the importance of religious freedom. Since the Bishops don't give me a personal call when they make statements, or...
What Is the Mass For?
Today is Holy Thursday, the day of Holy Week on which we remember that Last Supper Jesus shared with his Apostles, the birthday, as it were, of the Mass itself. We'll hear the story tonight at church, and some of us will have our feet washed in commemoration of Jesus'...
Over One Thousand Pounds
That's how much weight my second son lifted (not all at once!) at the KCHS Football Liftathon on Monday night. To be exact, it was 1,100 lbs. He benched 340, power cleaned 300, and squatted 460. [youtube...
Straight from the Horse's Mouth
I think the Internet's pretty awesome, really I do. It's great to be able to settle dinnertime arguments and answer children's millions of questions with a click of an iPhone button. It's way convenient not have to travel down to the library to check out a book or...
Why Do Catholics Contracept and What Can the Church Do about It?
Someday I'll write a post about lies, damned lies, and statistics so you will know that the "98% of Catholic women use artificial birth control" you've seen bandied about as though it were gospel is a distorted statistic turned damned lie. I've already written one in...
I'd Rather Be Reading
I have a grant proposal to write today. I have a stack of legal work to do. My desk is a mess. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, the dog is sleeping in a patch of sunlight in the backyard, and what I'd really like to do is make another cup of coffee and go...
Things I Never Thought I'd Cry About: Losing a Dentist
A few weeks ago, I finally got around to calling William and Lorelei's dentist to make appointments for them. They hadn't been there for over a year--I'd had to cancel one appointment, and then I got a little distracted by my house burning down. Making those...
Red Red Red
In my pre-fire life, I used to think about redecorating my kitchen. Apparently some people actually do that kind of thing, but in a single-income seven-member family, you replace things when they break with whatever you can afford--you don't "redecorate." Granted...
Kids' Books You Can Read without Wanting to Shoot Yourself in the Head
If you are a parent, you KNOW that you understand exactly what I mean, right? Your kid fixates on some favorite book--which you HATE--and he wants to hear it multiple times a day, sometimes chanting "Again, again!" right after you finish it, like a Teletubby. After...
My Debt to St. Patrick
"Catholic and Southern, Wife and Mother." That's how I described myself for my original About page on this blog as well as on Twitter. What I put first says everything about who I think I am and what is important to me. Being Catholic is at the core of everything...
There's Always That 5%
Yesterday was the Feast Day of St. Louise de Marillac. Frankly, I don't know the first thing about St. Louise, but I was well-acquainted with one of her namesakes. Sister Louise de Marillac Lovejoy (just Sister Louise to us) was my American History teacher when I was...
Bye Bye Britannica
I'm not even exaggerating when I say I almost cried when I read that the print version of the Encyclopedia Britannica is no more. I'm not a dinosaur, okay? I can't remember the last time I cracked an actual book to find information (besides, all my reference books...
Hidden Mothers
I don't remember how I happened to run across my first hidden--or even better, invisible--mother photograph. But I've been haunted by the pictures ever since I discovered them. There's really nothing sinister about them. The shrouded mother was never meant to be...
Best Picture = Best Worldview?
Okay, y'all, this is essentially an irrelevant fluff post, because I lost an hour of sleep this weekend and it took extreme heroism for me not to just go straight back to bed after John and Lorelei left this morning. So, John was reading Time Magazine the other day...
My Big Baby
This will be short and sweet today because we are having a birthday party here tonight which means I have to actually clean the house. And bake a cake. In addition to all that other stuff. It's a measure of just how crazy things are around here that poor William...
Sanctuary
When I was eleven my family moved to a new house. It was a split level, and I had the basement bedroom. I had a three yellow walls, one wall with yellow roses, and wall-to-wall spring green carpet under my French Provincial 1970s bedroom suite, complete with canopy...
Voting's Not a Game–or It Shouldn't Be
I have to tell you, I am pretty disgusted with some of my fellow Tennesseans this morning. No, NOT because Rick Santorum won our primary. Let's be honest--the pickings are slim in the Republican field. You've got to vote for somebody, right? It's not the Republicans...
Cat People
This morning, the first thing on the agenda is to take Mace to the vet for his first set of shots. Mace is one of three now half-grown kittens who adopted us when we moved here. We didn't start off being cat people. John never had a cat growing up. In fact, he SAID...
New and New to Me
For seven years, our family lived here: It was built in 1889, and parts of it didn't seem to have been replaced since then. It had been patched and smoothed over so that we did not realize what we were getting into until it began to disintegrate around us. We are...
Eleven Answers
So the other day my friend Christi (whose blog is hysterical, by the way--check it out!) was feeling sorry for what a hard life I lead, so she decided I needed an easy blog post to do and included me in the following challenge. Here’s the deal: 1. post these rules. 2....
That’s What I Like About . . . Me
Okay, y'all, I've kind of been procrastinating about participating in this challenge. Making a list of things I like about myself is sort of cringe-inducing. If you know me in real life, you know that I have a pretty high opinion of myself in several areas. But...
