SEO: August 2018

Thank God for Errands and Ordinary Time

The news hit hard this week. Fortunately, as much as my brain wanted to sit with the stories and consume article after article, sifting through the various perspectives to discern what's what, school starts tomorrow, and we still need hair cuts, lunch boxes, to put finishing touches on projects, and all the ordinary things of every day like laundry and oil changes and dinner.

Saints understood

1,300 Embraced Splinters

Over and over again, in everyday stuff and online, I find faces of despair. People have much to be angry over, and they're hurt they have to wrestle with this pain when there's so much that needs tending too. This great mess called life keeps getting somehow messier, and it's frustrating to people of good conscience, of good will, of good faith, to find themselves overwhelmed with the levels of

It's Thursday...

And I forgot to write a Small Success Thursday this week so there is no linky-love to Catholicmom.com this week. We did launch three kids to Graduate School, College One and College 2 this week, so there's that, but we didn't get to writing about it. I do have a column over at the National Catholic Register if you'd like to take a look-see. Thanks as always for stopping by, and see you next

Ugly Questions Unanswered

The deeper one reads, the harder it gets.

There have been some who sought to soften the impact or influence of the Pennsylvania Grand Jury report, by disputing whether rape took place, pointing out media bias, and blasting the fact that this report includes some material inadmissible in court, and without the opportunity of those accused within the report, to dispute it. However, the sheer

This week's link up

I forgot to link up to SST, in part because what's going on in the Church, and the ordinary stuff of real life, took over too much time to sit and write even a link in sentence. Here's this week's offering, which I can't spend a lot of time on this morning because I have to take her to cross country practice.

We're Going to Have to Wrestle With This...

Lots of people say, "I'm spiritual, not religious." and it is because they fail to see the connection between the physical actions (in the sacraments and ceremony) and the deeper reality these physical signs, symbols, gestures and prayers, reveal. Faith without works is dead, as Saint James said. In the case of the Pennsylvania report detailing accusations, assaults, actual documentations and

Have a piece at Aleteia

Hey everyone, I have a piece over at Aleteia on Adoration. I hope you enjoy it.

August is my adoration month, where I try to go every day. I don't always make it, but I try. For those unfamiliar with the practice, this piece might help introduce you to the way to enter into this form of prayer. I'm hoping it makes it hard to find a seat at the local 24-7 chapel. How to Spend an Hour in

The Worth of It

How do you do it? Anywhere someone discovers we have ten kids, the question comes up. I understand. It's unusual. My flippant answer is "Some days, I don't." and that can mean house work, reading, exercise or getting a shower. I'm fairly certain the "it" they wonder about, is the work. It's true. There's always more to do, and as far as I know, I've never been finished. To do "it" would

Small Success Thursday on Thursday!

It happens sometimes. Here's the link to my weekly piece over at Catholicmom.com. Hope your week was full of Small Successes.

Today, I'm at Aleteia

The goal for this year was to hit six pieces a month. Last month fell short, and this month started slow. However, today, I have a piece over at Aleteia.

I called it, "One Thousand Second Days" but that seems obscure if you don't already know what the piece is about so it's titled, "Seven Spiritual Lessons to Learn With Your Sneakers On.

For those interested, I've been working out with

Over at the Register today

What I wrote the other day, the National Catholic Register picked up for publication. I'm very touched. On another note, I do want to remind everyone, you can watch Bishop Barron's series, Catholicism for free at the link embedded. It's a reminder to all of us, why we stay, because being Catholic is so much more than the exercises and prayers and obligations, it is all of that as manifestations

Sometimes We All Need Reminders

Woke up in the middle of the night feeling like I'd somehow flunked a quiz. Writing/publishing's been slow. Weight's remained steady despite exercise (Consistently) since July 4th. In short, life felt rather like a dog day of summer. I'd fallen asleep after rereading "A Horse and His Boy," by C.S. Lewis, and in that early hour of the morning, the chastening of Bree, the War Horse struck home.

A Quick Chat About Intermittent Fasting!

A great tool in weight-loss is using an idea called Intermittent Fasting (IF). In the simplest terms it is skipping meals with intention. The most popular form of using IF is following a 16:8 rule, which means in a 24 hour time span you will only have an 8 hour window to eat.

So why would I want to skip a meal? Are there benefits?

The most popular reason of using IF is to help with weight-loss and tightening loose skin. I for one love the fact that I am meal prepping less because I don't need to eat as much food. Also, less food means less money that needs to be spent!! Who doesn't love that???
Being diabetic myself and using IF has helped me lower my A1c / glucose levels. My personal results in following the ketogenic diet and IF - my A1C lowered from 7.4 to 5.7 in three months!

The hardest part? In my journey, the hardest part was the initial start of IF. Going from eating multiple meals a day to only 1 maybe 2 was hard psychologically. Ketogenic made this transition easier because with eating high fat I was naturally becoming less hungry, and being full faster.

I would highly recommend though, if you have had an eating disorder to talk with a nutritionist or doctor before trying out IF.

Disclaimer - These are the tools that I use for Keto Success. I am not a nutritionist, please meet with your doctor before following any plan!

The Reason to Stay

“Lord, to whom would we go?”
It is the reason I stay. I've read enough of the reports and the findings to feel beyond sad. I read it because it's important to know, even as it hurts.

If the Church were merely a worldly institution, a club with rules and
regulations, I’d be demanding all the money I’ve given, all the time, all the
work paid back with interest for the abject failure of so many

Small Success Thursday, maybe don't climb every mountain

Went on vacation this past week, so blogging has been lighter than usual. However while on vacation, we hiked up a mountain. The guide said the trail could be described as "Moderate." Moderate sounds so reasonable. Surely we who are not totally unfit can handle a "Moderate" trail. Moderate sounds urbane, rational, modern, smooth. Moderate is a relative term.

A 1.9 tenths of a mile trail