Mama-luia

I never got around to doing my All Saints' Day post. I also lazed around about doing an Advent post, and here we are post-Epiphany! What's wrong with me? So I will focus on Advent for now. Christmas soon to follow. Then maybe a New Year's wrap-up. By then it will likely be Noah's birthday so I'll have to regale you with stories all about us celebrating his turning one. Sigh. I'm not a lazy blogger. Just an otherwise-occupied one. I digress. I love Advent. As a child, I really only knew it to be the days preceding Christmas, but there was still a certain beauty to me in lighting the Advent wreath and singing the simultaneously mournful and joyous "O Come O Come, Emmanuel." I knew something was happening in the Church; something was happening in my heart, too. Baby Jesus was coming. And I was excited. As the "liturgical co-ordinator" of our domestic church, I take the responsibility of planning how we celebrate the Church calendar. ...

We are so busy here these days. Christmas is right around the corner, and we have decided this year to reeeeaaally simplify things. We were inspired by two very different people: Dave Ramsey , the Christian financial guru and capitalist extraordinaire (much to my quasi- Distributist chagrin) and Catherine Doherty , the holy poverella of Combermere. So we're giving only homemade, handmade, re-gifted or second-hand gifts. (We've also already told our family that we want to get gifts like this as well.) That makes for a busier pre-Christmas season (a season, of course, which is different from Advent, because we're already in the THICK of pre-Christmas now, and Advent doesn't begin until the 29th) than, say, if we were just going to our local Wal-mart and picking up bath salts and gift cards for our loved ones. In fact, almost all of the gifts on our list are going to be home-made, that is, sewn..., that is, Mama-is-in-charge-of-the-gifts-this-year. I am...

I just read the most beautiful blog post . I can't really sum it up; I couldn't do it justice. Just read it, dear friends. It's something I have been thinking about a lot lately -- being mindful as I go about my duties of the moment. It seems like a whole day passes by, and I have nothing to "show" for it. Then I look lovingly at my peacefully sleeping baby, my dedicated husband, my cosy (albeit messy) home, and think, the peace and joy in our home is in itself an accomplishment I can be proud of! There was a time when the only thing I wanted is what I already have right now. I want to return there, in my heart, and remember to be grateful. When we delight in Him, God gives us the desires of our heart. When I feel like I being drowned in housework, my inadequacies, my pursuance or fantasy for something "more", I become so divorced from my heart that I forget, this is actually what I've wanted all along. A friend of mine describes her life like this: ...

Okay, so officially speaking, 7 Quick Takes is a Friday affair. It's Saturday morning, but this was the first time I had the concentration to write anything. So here goes nothing! 1. When I was in grade 3, my teacher, for some strange reason, went around the classroom and told each student whether she thought we would make it to university or not. Really. I was slated against such a success, and was devastated, even at that age, by such an assessment. My mother and I have periodically joked that I should send a photocopy of my degree certificate to this teacher, to show her, not only did I make it there, I graduated... with Honours. I had the satisfaction of running into her yesterday, and because all women are magnetically attracted to my baby, she came to admire him, realized who I was, and was excited to see a former student's child. I causally told her about having gone to university et cetera, et cetera. It felt so good to finally set the record straight -- that I...

I have been mentally flagellating myself for say, about 5 and half months, that I am the biggest slob known to mankind, and ergo, a terrible wife. I wasn't a very clean person growing up! Far from it, actually. I was a mess as a single adult, and had very little time into my marriage before I became pregnant and puking, so I didn't improve much, needless to say. Why would I have thought I would be better at it all AFTER the baby was born... when there was MORE laundry to do? And MORE stuff accumulated? And LESS time to manage these things?! Then I read my sister's blog post . I laughed. I smiled. I delighted in the fact that she is a very good mother, and is setting her priorities straight: kids first, tidying later. I also read another blog post that was absolutely EXCELLENT on cutting women some slack about their housework, especially those with young children. The author, and one of her commentators, also showed very cleverly why this post isn't doing women any serv...

I love bread. I would be a failure on the Atkins Diet. I should be clear, though. I love good bread. Homemade bread. Artisan bread. Stuff that doesn't come in a plastic bag with a wee bread tag. My mom used to make bread when we were kids: soft, fluffy, aromatic bread. And you know what? I would still prefer store-bought stuff! (File that under "G" for " Gosh I was so constantly ungrateful to my mother as a child!"). Now I am "grown up", I would never be so foolish. Homemade bread is the best. This winter we bought a breadmaker. We're frugal people by nature so it seemed better than buying stuff in the store (and likely, more healthy) and the idea appealed also to Patrick's "do-it-yourself" streak. My innermost woman grieved on that day, however; making bread to save money was a good idea, but wouldn't it be better to make it from SCRATCH? I just never, ever saw myself with the patience to do that. So I felt like less of "...

It's quite lovely having a work-at-home husband. We have breakfast, lunch and dinner together, but also morning and afternoon coffee breaks! Also, while many husbands begin their work day at 9, and thus need to leave at 8:30 or something, my husband and I can enjoy our morning together and have him "leave for work" at 8:55. A sweet deal. One hard thing about our situation, though, is what he does for a living. Patrick is very courageous, and takes it all in stride, but writing about some of the things that Lifesite covers can be hard on a person. It can also be hard on a wife. Some days, I just don't want to ask over lunch what he's reporting on today. It's almost like our days are polar opposites, even though we're in the same home. I get to spend all day with a beautiful baby, and delight in him during patty-cake, laundry, diaper changes, tickle times, meal prep and everything in between. Patrick, however, spends all day ruminating about abortion, eutha...