Wherein I Layer My Own Hair

Since I can remember I have always been vain about my hair.  I tend to skimp on a lot of things but when it comes to my hair, well, I am a product glutton.  After many babies with it's hormonal fluctuations coupled with thyroid issues, my hair is thinning and lifeless. Not knowing what to do with it as I temporarily denounced my hair vanity I just let it grow hidden under hats and pony tails.  

A couple of weeks ago, a friend (hi Anne W!) posted a "layer-your-own-hair" youtube video on Pinterest. It looked fairly simple, my hair was long enough to experiment with and if I screwed it up I figure that will be my excuse to go to the salon.  Sure enough, this video is all it's cracked up to be. One simple snip and my hair is layered. It's not salon perfect but it works and it's free! I was careful with my first try, cutting off about an inch then the following day having decided it's still too long I cut another inch off.  Well, two weeks later I decided I wanted piece-y layers so I clipped it one more time.  The layers are more pronounced and I officially have unintentional bangs LOL - pictures to share:

this is really not a good BEFORE picture but my ratty hair was always up in a ponytail

my hair post self-layering, pardon the camera resolution but you're supposed to look at my hair not my face LOL  I didn't use any products here, I love the volume that this cut gave my hair

Here is the how-to video:

If you are going to do this I suggest going conservative in the beginning, don't cut out too much too soon. And, of course, if you doubt your ability with the scissors go to a salon instead.  Happy Haircutting!

Plowing With Kindness

After telling my husband I needed something "more" this Lent we decided to attend the parish mission at our neighborhood church.  It just so happens that the speaker for this mission is one of our favorite Dominican priest who is in residence at the parish we belong to (not our neighborhood parish, it sounds complicated but it really isn't - we are not registered parishioners at the neighborhood church although it is technically our parish - nothing political or controversial, it's a lovely parish, our kids play sports there but the long and short of it is we currently belong to a parish where a lot of our homeschool friends belong).  Longest parenthetical sentence evah ovah.

It has been a lovely mission so far.  On the first night I went by myself and for the rest of it the whole clan tags along. My kids are of the temperament that they can sit and listen (or draw or sleep through anything) for an hour with minimal drama (except for potty breaks LOL).  Father's talk was about the Four Cardinal Virtues, Seven Capital Sins, Grace and tying it all together at the end. On the first day I was a little bit smug that this was Catechism 101, nothing new to hear, I have hammered these topics in the children's brains in the last two years, I even have the lapbooks to prove it!  On the second day, Father asked if anyone has ever heard a talk about the Seven Capital Sins or can enumerate them.  Very little show of hands, even Fr. Pastor (not his last name, it's his title) said they touched very little about it in seminary.  And then I understood.  This may be Catechism 101 to me but there are so many who have completely been deprived of this knowledge (not necessarily of their own accord).  There goes my sin of Pride ;-)

Father OP (not his last name, it's the name of his congregation - Order of Preachers) then said something that really struck me in a new way in reference to the Parable of the Sower - "Plow with kindness before sowing seeds of faith".  It's true, isn't it?  It's easier to evangelize, to make Christ known to another by act(s) of kindness instead of bludgeoning with (self-righteous) words. Like clanging cymbals are the words of the uncharitable.

I have been taking copious notes as we review our lapbooks and go through the lectures once again with my kids. I should mention that Fr. OP was prepared with crayons, word searches, etc. for the little ones who might get bored.  I'm so glad that we are able to go to this mission as a family. I intend to thank both priests, pastor and OP for the privilege.

Photos to share, as usual, some unrelated to the mission -

did I say I took copious notes?

copious and somewhat illegible! lol

the homemade lapbook that I was so smug about

capital sin no. 1 has my name written all over it

what the six-year-old drew at the mission on the Feast of the Annunciation, ignore that Mary's "yes" is backwards, it is sweet and I love it, I love the mind of that child

unrelated picture - the youngest lecturing me on the nuances of David and Goliath on the Kindle

March In All It's Madness

I was perusing through our photo albums for some Spring hope.  It's been a crazy Winter and despite now officially being Springtime there doesn't seem to be a let up on the cold.  So I had to chuckle a bit when I realized that on this very same day last year there was snow on the ground! -

 

We have no snow anywhere today so I shouldn't be complaining, the sun is out despite the lingering chill.

Today is a very special day because of the Solemnity of the Incarnation (Annunciation) which also happens to be the anniversary of the middle child's Consecration to Mary.  Like last year we went to Mass and had breakfast at Panera's.  According to Fr. Dury calories do not count today ;-)  

I love solemnities, I love how we get to celebrate it at home.  I love the smiles of the people especially the older folks at Church when they see the kids on these solemnities (during school hours LOL).  I love that we have every opportunity to be reminded of what is truly important - heaven. It is this hope of eternal happiness that gets me through the travails of life, big and small.  Like a van that you just spent a lot of money on for repairs and maintenance only to die a couple of weeks later.  Which meant you had to spend a(nother) boatload of money to bring it back to life.  Which means you will eat rice and beans for a whole year.  And I thought I was cruising through Lent! 

On a happier note...I had cinnamon sugar crusted bagel at Panera's and the calories don't count LOL

Speaking of March Madness, the kids are lamenting their NCAA tournament brackets.  I have no competence when it comes to sports so I will leave it up to you experts to understand what that means.  All I know is that there are broken hearts over here with Ohio State and Duke losing.

It is already looking to be a busy Spring, baseball practices have begun, we are in the thick of ice skating classes and the oldest is being interviewed for Confirmation (by our beloved Fr. Blau) this Saturday. He said he's not nervous, he's always been my confident child so we'll see.  Do keep him in your prayers.

I hope you are having a good feast day.  I have one last photo to share:

Happy Consecration anniversary to my middle child!

Irish Spring

This is not a post to promote the soap.

It seems as if Spring is finally making it to Central Ohio shortly after we celebrated the feast of St. Patrick.  My husband's family is of Irish descent so this feast day is a big deal over here. We made it to the parade downtown per usual. It was a bit chilly but the birds were singing and the hint of Spring is undeniable. There weren't too many spectators compared to years past. This meant less competition for parade candy ;-) 

Today the weather was still nippy but the sun is out and the days are longer and baseball practices have begun. I will stay in complete denial that in a couple of weeks I will be cursing this brutal season for the little allergy sufferers in our home.  For today I will breathe in the fresh air, bask in the overwhelming supply of free vitamin D and risk some Spring joy in the middle of Lent.

Here are some photos to share:

the girl made shamrock pancakes for breakfast using a shamrock cookie cutter

all decked out in green, she even made green crystal earrings to match and the natural red streaks on her hair is definitely from the Irish side of the family, the green streak is store-bought ;-)

more shamrock

the six-year-old won't be outdone

and neither would the middle child

the oldest child's contribution to the Irish family ensemble

my contribution to the festivities

our bedecked halls

this isn't a very good picture, long story, but even our mantle isn't spared the festive shamrocks to complement our Stations of the Cross votives

waiting for more candy

The celebration continues tomorrow with the feast of our beloved St. Joseph

Lenten Lessons

I have to admit Lent was off to a slow start for me.  It was probably because I started practicing my fasts weeks before Ash Wednesday so when it rolled around it almost felt anti-climactic?! I brought this concern to Adoration one evening at which the Lord put seeds of sacrifice ideas that I haven't given much thought before.  At first glance these things were inconsequential but the more I thought about and worked towards it, the more I realized the Lord knew what He was talking about.  The things I have taken for granted as banal, simple and un-meaningful were really things that are hard to sustain (joyfully) having masked itself as trivialities in my mind.  But at a closer scrutiny these are exactly what needs perfected in my life. 

So when my dear friend Mrs. Darwin posted about True Penance quoting St. Jose Maria Escriva, I recognized in it the Lenten plans God had for me.  It was a good extension of the penances/fasts I had planned for myself. It is only the second week of Lent, I haven't yet spiritually keeled over although physically it might be a different story! I am tired!

There is such beauty in these days of austerity and fasting. I have felt ever more the closeness of Christ in the quiet.  I have recognized even more the need for my conversion of life.  I am recognizing more and more what God created me to be (yup it's taken only this long) and I am recognizing more and more all He has done/is doing to get me to where I need to be in this life and the next.

I love Lent.  It is like being in a slow-motion scene while the rest of the secular world whirls about in it's maddening rat-race.  I love the feasts of Lent (St. Patrick and St. Joseph this week!), I love the extra devotions we take up during this season. I love Lent.

The moral of the story for this post is that if you are stuck in a rut this Lent, bring it to prayer.  Have the Lord tell you what it is He wants you to really give up and what virtues He wants you to work on.  Keep fasting, keep praying, keep giving alms, keep the quiet.

Praying with you all the way 'til Easter Sunday ;-)

If You Give A Child Modular Furniture

It's been an uneventful Lent over here so far...and that's exactly how I want it.  Other than the girl's ice skating classes and preparing for the start of Spring baseball, it's been fairly quiet. I thrive in quiet.  But there's also the Spring cleaning checklist that's slowly being checked off in the hopes that the season will start very soon.

As part of the purging and managing of our earthly "treasures" we bought a couple of storage shelves.  My husband put together the first one and then challenged the kids to build the second one.  It wasn't anything too elaborate but just seeing the pride in their eyes after the task was a gift. Unlike the building of Lego airplanes and K'nex ferris wheels, the building of usable furniture is a probably not as interesting but it did offer a them a different kind of joy. It took longer than usual but the valuable experience was worth it.  Now that we know what they can do I'm salivating over ideas for all the home improvement projects that they can help finish this Summer ;-)

 Here are some pictures to share:

figuring out the instructions

even the youngest wants in on the project

halfway there

the last piece of the puzzle

even the girl did her part

it's a family project after all

voila! finished project to hold their toys

What projects are your kids working on?

Some Lenten Resources

Did I say I am ready for Lent? Yes, I am.  I've been "practicing" my Lenten fast(s) for a while.  As I wrote last year, it's hard for me to go from feast to fast between Tuesday and Ash Wednesday.  Cold turkey for me is always a recipe for failure. So here we are, three days before Lent and I am so ready for the hush.  As always, I will be off Facebook but don't worry this blog will be open as much as the writing muse will allow.

Let me share a couple of favorite resources today then I will continue to write about the rest of our Lent plans tomorrow.  You will be familiar with some of these, if not all.

Fr. Lovasik Stations of The Cross

this is not your average Stations of The Cross for kids, the language is not watered or dumb down.  It moves the hearts of readers over here, young and old alike. 

The Miracle Maker 

a beautifully-made animated movie about the life of Christ

Stations of the Cross Posters

these posters are large and beautiful I make sure to line them up on the wall within reading height

Laudate App

this app is packed! - from prayers to Scripture to Papal Encyclicals, if it's Catholic it is most likely there.  The prayer section alone is a gem, you will never run out of novenas and devotions and best of all, it's free

IBreviary

Liturgy of the Hours app - I am committed to praying at least one of the Hours each day, it's my favorite "me" time before the kids wake up in the morning

Divine Office

another Liturgy of the Hours app, this one isn't free but you can also read it on the website - http://divineoffice.org/ 

Okay, gotta catch the rest of our Lord the Rings marathon! More tomorrow.  Happy Sunday.

Short Post

I had something written under drafts that I will publish tomorrow.  I'm in the midst of a Lord of The Rings marathon with the kidz but I have to fulfill my seven-day blogging commitment.

Short blog post. Sorry but my kids are my priority :-)  well, okay, Lord of The Rings is LOL.  Catch y'all back here tomorrow.  Pray that the Winter storm (yes, another one) won't be too terrible.

G' night!