What I Wore Sunday

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Happy Divine Mercy Sunday! I just love the image of Divine Mercy...because heaven knows..we could all use more Mercy.  Thinking about God's Mercy, reminds me to be more merciful with my children. 

Now, back to our regularly scheduled topic...What I Wore Sunday. 'Cause I know you are just dying to know what I wore to Mass today..okay, maybe not.  But, posting these helps me be more mindful of my outfit and dressing up a bit nicer on Sunday for Mass, reminds me that it is a special day.

So, here it is!

I apologize for the weird angle. You'll just have to tilt your head to look at the picture.  My photographer thought it would be funny to hold the camera upside down.   Whatevah.  Since she is  just an amateur and works for free, I can't complain too much.

Shirt and Tank: Shade Clothing.  Purchased with a gift card given to me after the birth of Elsa.  If you're reading this..THANKS CMs!

Skirt: Given to me from a friend who "would never fit into it again".  This skirt is a repeat from a WIWS a few weeks ago.

Shoes: Given to my 2 years ago from our neighbor when they moved.

I love it when other people give me their clothes...especially when they are moving away.  Wearing that item, always reminds me of that person and makes me think of them!


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And, then there is this:

It's kinda a blurry picture, but that is a St. Francis of Assis Medal that was blessed by Pope Francis!! Jealous??  I stole it am wearing it for safekeeping for my son.  My friend's husband was in Rome for the conclave and he brought back blessed medals for all the children in our homeschool coop. Yay!!   The girls happily wear theirs, but John doesn't want to wear his. Necklaces are for girls.  I tried to tell him that's not true..but there's no arguing with a 5 year old.  So, I'm keeping it for him..and the safest place for me to do that, is around my neck...so there it is!

So, that's what I wore.  Go visit FLAP to see what everyone else wore today!

Three Reasons I Love Catholicism

Linking up with Michaela at California to Korea for Three Reasons I Love Catholicism.

I just love, love, love this Link-up idea.  Love it!  Wish I had thought of it myself!

Here are my top three reasons on Why I Love Catholicism.

1.

It's Universal. I can go to Catholic Mass anywhere, and while the "flavor" may change, the Mass itself..the readings, the prayers remain the same.  I love that there is one central Creed and the doctrines remain the same.

2.

Catholicism is not wishy-washy. And, it's not for the faint of heart.  While the practices may change, the doctrines and dogmas WILL NEVER change.  They've basically been the same, since, oh, the time of Christ.  They don't change with the times, they don't change with the culture, etc. Catholicism does not bow to peer pressure.  Right now, it's pretty counter-cultural...and I love being counter-cultural. It's my rebellious streak coming out.

3.

Her teaching on contraception.  No seriously...I really do love this.  Honestly, it just makes so much sense.  And, hormonal contraception is really bad for you...like really, really bad.   It just doesn't make sense to take a pill or something to make your body NOT work the way it's supposed to.    Medicine should be to make sick people better....not prevent the body of a well person from working.   People talk about "getting fixed"..but really, sterilization is actually "getting broken"...literally.   Plus, I love the way Catholicism views children as a blessing. And, really all the zero-population growth people are going to contracept themselves into oblivion and the Catholics (and other faith denominations) who have large families will soon take over the world. Bwhaaahhhaahahahahahaha

Now, go see the more articulate Catholic bloggers.

7 Quick Takes Friday.. in which I show off my terrible sewing skills

--- 1 ---

It's Friday!  Yay for 7QTF. Today, our homeschool coop was cancelled, so we had an unexpectedly free morning.  I thought to myself, Hmm, self...what should I do with my free morning.  I could go through our books to see which ones to sell at an upcoming curriculum fair.  I could bloggity, blog, blog.  I could rearrange my closets.  I could clean.

And, then my genius daughter said, Mom, can we sew that doll's shirt from the pattern Aunt Alison made us. 

I said, Daughter, you are a genius.  What a perfectly lovely thing to do on a rainy, Friday morning.

--- 2 ---

And, then I spent the next six hours cursing (just kidding..remember we don't curse)..because the pattern which I though would be easy, was decidedly NOT easy.  You see, my sewing skills are extremely infantile.   Extremely.  It's a good thing that Aunt Al sent us a bunch of extra fabric, because we needed it.   It took me awhile to realize that where it said fold on the pattern, that meant you were supposed to place that along a fold.  Duh!  A sewing genius, I am NOT. 

--- 3 ---

But, we did it!!!  We did it!   We made a matching doll shirt to match the shirt Aunt Al had made Heidi.  It even looks all right, if you don't look at it too closely.

 --- 4 ---

--- 5 ---

On an unrelated note, I just learned today that cockroaches can live for up to one month in a decapitated state. Lovely,  Who put that science book for the kids for the kindle anyway?    Let's all have a collective ewwww.  EEEEWWWWW!!

--- 6 ---

In less than 2 months, we will likely be bidding adieu to the fair state of Florida. That makes me sad.  I won't miss the decapitated cockroaches though.

--- 7 ---
 I'm excited that the show Call the Midwife is now available on Netflix, Season 1.  And, season two is airing on PBS.  Think I can watch both seasons at the same time?

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

{Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real}

I just love me a good link-up!  Linking up today with LMLD and CD

{Pretty}

Check out that scenery. Goooorgeous!

{Happy} 

 Why yes, I do dress my baby up in a bathing suit and lay her on the bed to take pictures.  Doesn't everyone?  Actually, I took this picture to show off her chubby thighs.  Our pediatrician was harping on me the other day that she should be eating three solid meals of solids a day at the tender age of 6 months.  Whatevah.  Clearly...those thighs demonstrate how starving she is.  Her belly is no flat pancake either...in fact it kinda resembles that of a famous fat man whose name starts with a B and has a religion named after him.

{Funny}

Notice the first sentence.  This is Greta's.  She meant to write Jack is, and  why yes, she DOES know how to spell the word is and use it properly, but apparently she was going too fast and accidentally wrote this.  And, just to be clear...we don't use profanity in this house..and she has probably never really heard the term jack ass..it was just a SUPER funny mistake..so I'm linking up with Theme Thursday: Funny. 

{real}

This is Elsa, quietly destroying Greta's perfectly arranged doll house.  When we sit Elsa in front of the doll-house..she is in baby grab and play with everything heaven.

Now, go see some more pretty, happy, funny, real.

 

Five Favorites

Linking up again with Jen who hijacked Hallie's blog for Five Favorites on a sunny, hot, Wednesday afternoon.

1.

Rapunzel Let Down: A Fairy Tale Retold

 This book.  You should totally read it!  However, despite the title..it's not a kid's book and only for mature teens and adults. 

2.

And, you should read aforementioned book on your Kindle.

Because I love, love, love ours.  There is nothing better than having an entire library at your fingertips that only weighs a few ounces.  And, Ben is a genius at finding free kindle books or books very inexpensively..so we've got a nice library going. 

3.

Nettle leaves...because nettle is a super powerhouse of nutrition and you can totally buy organic nettle cheaply and make your own nettle infusion.   Place one cup of dried nettle in a large mason jar.  Cover with boiling water and let steep over night.  Strain, store in fridge and drink one cup a day!  Tons of nutrients are are contained within that one cup of liquid.

4.

Sweet Onion Mashed potatoes.  I can't link to a recipe because I just made it up myself.  Basically, when you boil your potatoes to make mashed potatoes, add in 1 whole, sweet onion.  It gets soft and then you just mash it with the potatoes (and LOTS of butter of course and Real Salt).  It adds an awesome flavor!  Try it!

5.

Major, major sales!  I found these on sale for only 25 cents!  That's like 90% off or something. Totally stocked up...which means lots of muffin and cookie baking will be going on in Household Bentrup.

Now, go visit the others for more 5 Favorites!

 

Catholic Woman's Almanac (CWA)

Happy Easter Monday!!

And, Happy April Fool's Day to those of you clever enough to play tricks.

Today I am:

Thankful for:

......My Mom, who sent us these lovely Easter candies...including my absolute favorite..chocolate truffles  There are also 3 chocolate ballerinas (not actually an upside down female symbol as they might look like int he pic.), a cross, 1 chocolate car and 2 peanut butter eggs!  Yum!!

If one were to look very, very closely at this picture, one might just find that a few of the truffles are missing.  That might, just might be that a certain someone who shall remain nameless couldn't resist trying a few, before snapping the picture!

They just arrived today..which was perfect because then I didn't need to have any willpower before jumping right in to indulge. 
 

 

...good friends...who had us and several other families over for a super fun Easter lunch/egg hunt yesterday.

Reading:

....Rapunzel, Let Down  by Regina Doman..who is my absolute favorite Catholic author.   I bought myself the Kindle version for only $5..and it's a real page turner.  Hard to put down!    When I finish it, I'll try to post a book review.

In the kitchen:

...baking a ham.  Since we weren't home yesterday, I'm making us ham today.  I only  make ham twice a year..on Christmas and Easter, but it is the one meat that everyone likes (hmmm...wonder why).  It's not the healthiest thing though..so I only make it twice a year and we enjoy it for a week, and then it's gone.   I actually looked in Whole Foods for a healthier version without any nitrates, and almost fainted at their prices..so we just went with the regular, unhealthy, nitrate-laden version.  Oh well.   I have a friend who taught me that every time we say grace before eating and bless the food, we should pray that God will protect us from any pesticides, GMO's nitrates or whatever other junk is in there.   I have another friend who always prays that the calories don't stick to her hips..but that seems..ummm...not quite orthodox to me, so I don't do that.

Playing Tricks:

....I'm terrible at April Fool's day tricks, but I did manage to convince my kids for some time that I had set cockroach traps in the garage, captures a male and female and was planning on starting a whole roach farm that I was going to keep in their beds.  They were quite aghast at the concept...and kept protesting to keep roaches in their bed and that no, roaches are NOT cute.  

Praying For:

....friends who need prayers...due to sickness or various other issue

.....for Ben to find a job and for the bar exam.

Capturing:

...cute pics.

Pondering:

....topics for future blog posts.  I have so many rambling around in my head...just need to write them.  

Now go visit Suscipio for more CWA.

What I Wore Easter Sunday...and Gluten Free Goodies

Linking up again for a fun What I wore Easter post!

I spent the entire day yesterday baking goodies for this morning. I made brownies with chocolate butter cream frosting, peanut butter sandwich cookies with a cream frosting and coffee cake...everything gluten-free of course.

 And, guys...I going to spill a secret about gluten-free baking. It's not that hard. Honestly..it's not. For everything, except for breads and pizza crusts, I basically use any regular recipe and substitute a good gluten-free flour blend with xanthum gum or guar gum. I prefer Namaste Perfect Flour blend, because Whole Foods has it for a decent price and it already has xanthum gum in it..but Better Batter brand is also really good.

 I don't like the Bob's Red Mill GF flour blend though...it contains bean flours which aren't that great for baking...so don't buy it...unless of course you want to ignore the voice of experience.

..  

 For the brownies, I used a brownie recipe from The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook (subbing for the flour) and frosted them with a regular chocolate butter cream frosting (butter, powdered sugar, cocoa, vanilla and milk). 

 For the peanut butter sandwich cookies, I simply made flourless peanut butter cookies. The recipe is so easy..just 1 cup peanut butter, 1 cup sugar and 1 egg. Form into balls, flatten and bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes. I filled them with cool whip mixed with melted chocolate chips. I was hoping to turn the cool whip into chocolate, but it didn't quite work out that way, the chocolate chips just hardened into little small bits..but it was still super, super good..almost like an oreo cream filling. I made sandwiches out of the cookies and used the cool whip in the middle. 

 For the coffee cake, I used a basic recipe for cinnamon coffee cake and just subbed the flour. We had that for breakfast (along with ice cream and the peanut butter sandwich cookies) after Mass. I took the brownies with me to a SUPER fun Easter gathering at a friend's house with a bunch of  other families, the kids had an eggs hunt and a good time was had by all! 

And, I don't know why I just spent the first several paragraphs of this post blathering on about food...other than the fact that I love to eat and love food and baking...and I wanted to talk about my goodies.

And, I probably subconsciously think that food is more interesting than clothes. 

So, now you all know where my priorities lie. 

 But, here is the actual point of this post. What I wore Easter.

   

 Dress: Thrifted from an awesome thrift store in Rhode Island. I bought it while I was pregnant with Elsa, even though it's not a maternity dress...but I hoped I could wear it as one. I couldn't..it looked terrible. But, it actually works pretty decent as a nursing dress...even though it's not one. I usually hate wearing dresses because they are hard to nurse in, but this one isn't so bad...although I do need to use a cover with it, because I have to come out over the top. I'm not a big nursing cover fan..but I did have one and it worked pretty well with this dress, and Elsa is at the age where the cover actually helps her nurse because she is easily distracted.

 Tank top: Wal-Mart 

 Belt: Amazon.com 

Shoes: acquired for free from Payless. 

 Glasses: Zenni Optical (I have so many glasses from there..love that place). 

 And, here's a pic of the kids. I could NOT get a good one, before they started mutiny. They were especially uncooperative this morning. All their clothes are hand-me downs from others, except for Heidi's. She bought her skirt with her birthday money off Zulily (sob..my girl wants to spend birthday money on clothes?!?!?) and her shirt was bought from Wal-Mart (I think).

This one is a tiny, tiny bit better:

   

 But, not much.  

So, go check-out the better dressed families at the link-up and I'll be linking up with Fine Linen and Purple tomorrow. 

And have a wonderful and Blessed Easter and Easter Week Everyone!! Alleluia!!!