The Evolution of The Princess' Hair

Over the last month, The Princess has had several changes in her hair. The first picture below shows her just after she begged me to cut her hair. As much as it pained me, I did it & it did looked very cute on her.


This next picture was taken last Monday after she & The Archangel were once again playing "Beauty Shop." I was downstairs working w/ The Prophet on some of his schoolwork. All of a sudden, she calls me from the top of the stairs & says, "Look, (The Archangel) cut my hair!" And indeed he did! She told me that she asked him to, but he was supposed to use her play scissors, not his school ones! So, off we went to Grandma's for an emergency haircut.

This picture was taken on our Hocking Hills vacation this past week. See how short her hair ended up? It does look cute, but to go from her long hair to this almost pixy style in less than a month was very difficult for me.

Getting Through Life's Tough Spots

I normally listen to our local Christian music station, but for the past few weeks, I've been on a Country kick. Maybe it's the nostalgic feeling I seem to get every Fall...I don't know. Some of my favorites lately have been Toby Keith's American Ride (leave it to Toby to tell it like it is!), several of Taylor Swift's songs, almost anything by Tim McGraw, & various others.

This refrain from Rodney Adkins just struck me as I was listening to the radio.

If you're going through hell,
Keep on going, don't slow down,
If you're scared, don't show it,
You might get out before the devil even knows you're there.

It seems that lately, we've just hit one rough patch after another. (I won't bore you w/ all the details!) What a great way to shift the focus away from the tough spots life throws at you. Of course, leaning on God is the best defense & even when going through hell, He's there w/ us.

Almost Wordless Wednesday - She Begged Me to Cut Her Hair!

(Isn't is cute the way The Saint is hugging her in her new dress? Casinodad had just hugged her, so Baby was imitating Daddy! The dress she's wearing is one I was going to make until I realized I was in over my head. So, a dear friend of mine volunteered to make it for her, along w/ the matching purse. It's the same material I used to make my version of the Moby Wrap.)

Does Your Man Talk Like This?

Is it just my dear Casinodad or do other men do this? Whenever he talks to his guy friends, whether on the phone or in person, he seems to take on a different tone of voice. He speaks w/ various accents, lowers his voice, & uses a lot of "Hey Man!", What's up, Dude?", "I hear ya, Bro!", & other manly-type phrases. He even has kind of a "stoned" sound to his voice (think Sean Penn in Fast Times at Ridgemont High or Ashton Kutcher in "Dude, Where's My Car?").

So, does your man do this too? Inquiring minds want to know!!!

Small Successes

Oops! I missed Small Successes last week! We are in our fourth week of school & I'm still trying to get us organized & on some type of schedule. At the rate I'm going, we might be on track by Christmas!!

Anyway, here are this week's Small Successes...

1) I went through all the boys' clothes in the crawlspace, decided what to keep & what to send to my in-laws for their garage sale.

2) No matter how much I've wanted to stay in bed lately, I've been making myself get up, go downstairs, start coffee, & read the day's readings. On Sept. 1, I also started working my way through Proverbs - one chapter per day. My plan is to continue this each month.

3) Casinodad & I had a night to ourselves last Saturday. My parents took all four munchkins overnight. We rented a movie (Pink Panther 2 w/ Steve Martin - very, very funny & clean too!), had a nice relaxing dinner (chicken, green peppers, & pineapple in soy sauce, rice, cheese wontons, & coconut-crusted shrimp w/ mango chutney sauce), & just enjoyed each other's company. We slept in the next morning (we'd gone to Mass Saturday evening), went to Tim Hortons for breakfast, & stopped at a couple garage sales. We really needed this time to focus & spend w/ each other.

What are your successes? Share them at Faith & Family Live & while you're at it, check out others!

Wordless Wednesday

Book Review - Fire of God's Love: 120 Reflections on the Eucharist

My recent review for The Catholic Company is Fire of God's Love: 120 Reflections on the Eucharist compiled by Mike Aquilina. Mr. Aquilina has collected 120 reflections on the Eucharist written by over 75 people during the past 2000 years.

I struggled for many years to understand the Eucharist (see my post here), so when I saw the title of this book, I thought it would be perfect for me. I was right! This book is full of encouragement & inspiration, both of which I found to help me in my journey toward fully understanding the Eucharist. I marked numerous reflections which jumped out at me. Several of my favorites come from St. John Vianney:

"When God desired to give a food to our soul to sustain it in the pilgrimage of life, he looked upon creation and found nothing that was worthy of it. Then he turned again to himself, and resolved to give himself."

"He who comes to Communion loses himself in God, as a drop of water in the ocean. They can be no more separated."

Besides the many great reflections, Mr. Aquilina has included a section at the back of the book that gives some information on the authors of each reflection. I found this to be a great tool. While I recognized many of the names, some were unfamiliar to me. This would be a great book for someone who participates in Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament at their church. The reflections are fairly short. One can read straight through them or take one at a time for deeper reflection. I plan on revisiting this book for many years!

This review has been written for The Catholic Company. Visit their website to order this & other fine Catholic books & materials.