Author: franciscanmom

Barb Szyszkiewicz is a wife, mom, Secular Franciscan and freelance writer and serves as Editor for CatholicMom.com. Mom to three young adults, she enjoys writing, cooking, and reading. Barb is a music minister at her parish. She is also an avid Notre Dame football and basketball fan. Barb blogs at FranciscanMom.com and shares her family’s favorite recipes with nutrition information for diabetics at www.Cook and Count.wordpress.com.

New to the Blogroll

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New to my blogroll is More Moms for McCain.

From their sidebar:

**We want a future for our children that is full of goodness and hope.

**We want a tomorrow full of opportunity for them.

**We want a country that stresses both individualism and community–a place where people reach out in kindness to help, but also encourage one another in self-sufficiency.

**We want safety, security and a country with a CULTURE OF LIFE.

**We want freedom to worship our God without ridicule.

**We want minimal government intrusion and the LIBERTY to PURSUE HAPPINESS.

**We want to keep what we work so hard to earn.

**We want to be partners in rebuilding the America our forefathers envisioned.

We want JOHN MCCAIN for PRESIDENT.

This blog is packed with news and links and commentary. Add it to YOUR blogroll/RSS feed.

Help! I’m Nag-Impaired!

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Big Brother’s high school uses this convenient online service that allows parents to spy on their kids’ grades keep a check on their children’s academic progress.

It’s a nice idea, because a parent can check out test grades, homework completion, and participation.

It’s a nice idea when the site works.

We’re two weeks into the school year and I can’t access any data on my son’s progress for this year. According to the website, there have been no assignments or tests to date.

Today I contacted the school’s tech support person and explained the problem, and I got this reply:

We apologize for the inconvenience; however, we are awaiting a necessary update which needs to be done by the Diocese in order for ParentConnect to work for this year. Please be patient while we work with the Diocese to get this done. Thank you.

Did the Diocese not realize that school started 2 weeks ago? Whose idea was it to wait until school started to make sure things were updated?

If the site doesn’t do what it’s designed to do, I have to assume that all homework is being done and all tests have been preceded by proper study. I need this site–it helps me nag!

Things Parents Say (when they live in my house): a retrospective

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  • Who left their gum at the Nativity scene?
  • If you go around hitting people with your T-shirt, don’t complain when it gets ripped.
  • Pouring your glass of milk down the toilet does not constitute Drinking The Milk!
  • You may not hang your robe from your ceiling!
  • Little Brother, don’t walk on chairs that have place mats on them!
  • Do not dribble the basketball on your sister’s head.
  • You may not do damage to anyone else’s eyebrows.
  • You may not use silverware to clean your sneakers.
  • Don’t braid your earrings.
  • Stop tickling your brother’s soda cup!
  • Candy corn is NOT a vegetable!
  • HEY! Get this hockey stick off the organ!
  • Paper dolls and Koosh balls don’t mix.

Brought to you by the mom with the Paratrooper in the Candlesticks and the Army Guy guarding the bathroom sink.

Underground

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That’s where I’ll be spending a good deal of time this week.

TheDad has determined that his at-home computer work requires a better place to concentrate than the Dining Room Table.

Not to mention that I keep kicking all his stuff out of there every time we want to eat. Which we do fairly regularly….

We’ve got a semi-finished basement with a bedroom/office space in the “finished” section. It’s about a 12X12 space. Right now it is chock full of bins of clothing for Little Brother to grow into (one bin each for sizes 8 through 14), a whole bunch of Little Brother’s old toys, lots of craft supplies that Middle Sister enjoys rummaging through, 2 bookcases of TheDad’s computer books and the overflow of my literature books, and miscellaneous camping gear. Then there are the 2 defunct printers, the 1/2 case of printer paper and the paper shredder….this room is not an office. It’s a dump!

Except for what I refer to as the “Technology Graveyard,” there’s no good reason I can’t deal with most of what’s down there. So I’ll be busy cleaning and hauling and offering things on freecycle and throwing out and reorganizing and repurposing–and I hope that pretty soon I will have made a nice office space for TheDad.

I think the printer paper and the paper shredder can stay. Anything else is fair game.

The Stigmata of St. Francis

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Father Daren at Servant and Steward has a beautiful post on the Stigmata of St. Francis, including a reading from his biographer, Thomas of Celano, and some art depicting the event.

If you’re interested in learning more about Francis, read here.

And don’t miss a beautiful prayer of St. Anthony!

Prayer Requests

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On my heart today:

My father-in-law, who needs heart valve replacement surgery, and who is NOT going to like the recovery…he will not be able to go out each day and get his coffee and his paper and chat with the other retired guys and roam Home Depot…may he be restored to his full health so he can get back to his regular routine and return to building computers for his friends.

SFO Girl’s daughter N, who should be released from the hospital today. I pray that a donor kidney will be found soon so that her time on dialysis will be short. I also keep her family, especially her sisters, in prayer at this time.

Barbara’s dear friend Jill.

All those in the path of Hurricane Ike, including Milehimama and some members of Denise’s family. Donna Marie Cooper-O’Boyle has a prayer for those in the hurricane’s path.

Accomplishment

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OK, it’s not much. But I’m happy with it.

This morning I made a “Stuff-Mart” run to pick up some over-the-counter medicines, TheDad’s “Chick Coffee” (this chick won’t touch that stuff, but he loves it, so I graciously buy it for him, even though the checkout lady probably thinks I’m the one addicted to it…) and a new mop head.

I hate changing mop heads. Ewwwww.

Anyway, when I was rummaging around in the mops I found this really cool Libman Scrub-Brush-On-A-Stick. Let me be the first to say that this thing is a GENIUS idea. My kitchen floor (which is white–somebody smack me if I ever choose that color for a floor again) was bordering on the disgusting, so I knew that this scrubber was for me. Definitely worth $6.

So I took my new Scrub-Brush-On-A-Stick and a bucket of Lestoil and got to scrubbing. Then I took my old mop and another bucket of water so I could rinse as I go. I scrubbed and scrubbed. Scrubbing is a really good workout, I might add.

If Lestoil didn’t smell so strong, it wouldn’t work so good. (Can you sing that commercial jingle, too?) Well, it sure does smell; I’m glad the windows are open–but my floor is so clean. So shiny.

They are guaranteed to stay that way at least one more hour, until the school bus gets here. All bets are off after that.

So I think I have earned the opportunity to make myself a nice cup of coffee and put my feet up and read until that school bus arrives. And then I will greet everyone and force them to admire my nice shiny clean floor.

And then I won’t let anyone in the kitchen, so no one can spill. Yeah, that’ll work…

Stuff I Don’t Do

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Every mom has an unwritten list of stuff she doesn’t “do” and I am no exception.

Danielle and Aimee have crossed over to the other side graciously written out their lists so every other mom will feel that she is not alone.

So…I will hereby demonstrate just how much of a Slacker Mom I really am.

I don’t do window screens. I can’t figure out how to get them out of the windows, which I admit I don’t wash too frequently either.

I don’t clean things that are higher than my head. I’m 5’2″. A lot of things are higher than my head. I just chuck stuff up there and pretend it’s invisible.

I don’t do “outside.” Inside the house is generally my domain.

I don’t do insects. That’s what TheDad is for; if he’s not around, I can generally count on Adventure Boy!

I don’t dust if I can at all help it. Lucky for me, Middle Sister likes to dust. When I was growing up, my sister had very bad asthma, and it seems like Mom was ALWAYS making me dust. I figure I’ve done enough dusting for one lifetime.

I don’t vacuum behind furniture, except in the family room. If we ever move, I shudder to think of the size of the dust bunnies that must be living back there.

(I do iron, though. But not the kids’ uniforms, once I discovered what they do with them in between the time I iron the clothes and the kids put them on.)

A Message to Obama

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A HUGE “thank you” to Milehimama, who created this poster and has generously shared it.

In my house, we vote PRO-LIFE!

Common Sense

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Via Colleen Hammond, I came across this column on personal responsiblity.

As Justice Casey Percell said, “It is not the responsibility of the government or the legal system to protect a citizen from himself.“ You made a poor choice, take your lumps and move on.

So true! Read the whole thing.