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.

Crockpot Festival!

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Barbara is hosting a Crockpot Festival at her cooking blog!

Normally I save this kind of message for my own cooking blog, but I figured that someone else might be in the same position I’m in right now. I just got Big Brother’s school calendar in the mail today, and I know the other kids’ calendar will soon follow. Then it will be the cross-country meet schedule, and basketball season, and, well, you know the drill! I’m going to need all the great ideas for slow-cooked meals I can find–and all of these are family-tested.

So despite the fact that I haven’t even finished my August menu plan, I’m using this excuse to think ahead and browse among the offerings in the Crockpot Festival. Check it out!

Judging a Food by its Wrapper

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Danielle gave me the heads-up to this article:
Food Tastes Better with McDonalds Logo, Kids Say

As Big Brother would say, “Thank you, Captain Obvious!”

Our tax dollars paid for this study since it was funded by the Centers for Disease Control, when any parent or teacher or anyone who has spent time with small children could have told them what they’d find. Hear that, Centers for Disease Control? I could have told you this for FREE! (It really toasts my marshmallows when I see how my money is wasted!)

We’re visual people. We’re very vulnerable to visual cues, which include brand messages but are certainly not limited to them. Food marketers know it, and that’s why they choose certain colors for packaging, among other strategies they employ to entice customers to buy more of their products.

As a parent, I have endured the quirks of small (and even not-so-small) children who insist that their ice water tastes better in the green cup, or the Philadelphia Eagles cup, or the Peter Rabbit “coffee cup.” Preferences can change daily or hang on for years! I have weathered the tantrums of the child who wanted the pink sippy cup, not the purple one. I’ve got a teenager who thinks that pasta shells are better than ziti, but being the bottomless pit he is, he’ll happily eat whichever form of pasta I serve (the ingredients are identical, after all).

We’ve all got our preferences. TheDad likes his flavored instant coffee (and after all my efforts to teach him that real coffee is SO much better). I only like “generic” Honeycomb. No two family members in this house like the same kind of soda best. It’s what makes us all unique.

One night we took the kids, and a friend of Big Brother, to the local Chinese buffet. Our visiting teenager returned to the table with his plate heaped high, a few kinds of food running into the others. I like to sample things at the buffet, so I arranged my plate with rice in the middle and a few different entrees all around. “Wow, your plate looks so much better than mine,” he commented–even though we had pretty much the same food.

Presentation is everything. It’s why adults buy pretty dishes, trays and tablecloths. It’s why the Zoopals paper plates are so popular. I like them because of those little divided sections, great for some grapes or crackers, but you know that kids are going to fight over who gets the frog and who gets the fish.

What really disturbed me about the study was the number of small children in this survey who apparently eat McDonalds food more than once per week, and the number of them who had TVs in their rooms.

Let’s stop blaming McDonalds for capitalizing on human nature and put the blame where it belongs–on the parents who indulge their children in this manner. Frequent fast-food consumption is not good for anyone. And no little kid needs a TV in his room! Where does the “product familiarity” mentioned in the article come from? Thin air? I don’t think so. These parents need to grow a spine and say “no” to Happy Meals once in a while.

I’ll stick to making sure the green cup is clean so Little Brother can have his ice water in his favorite cup. With four ice cubes, please.

Compromising My Mental Health

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Or what’s left of it!

My brother- and sister-in-law gave me some puzzles for my birthday.

Both of them are rated “extreme” on a scale of “beginner” to “ultra extreme.”

This one is mostly coffee beans. The extreme difficulty here will only be enhanced by the fact that I’m assembling it on a brown coffee table. I’m still sorting out the “edge” pieces.


And I’ll have to buy some bigger furniture before I can make this one. At the very least, we’ll have to drag in a sheet of plywood to put this puzzle together, as it’s 39 by 27! It’s so big it comes with a poster to help you figure out how it should look.

Anyone up for a puzzle party? I hate to suffer alone. But I’m powerless over the lure of the jigsaw.

Cold Front

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For the ninety-gazillionth time this summer I had to remind Little Brother not to stand around with the door wide open: “Close the door, please! You’re letting out all the cold!”

“But the fan will keep going around and around and making more cold!”

“Yes it will, but we shouldn’t waste the cold by putting it outside.”

“But if we did, then it would SNOW!”

Required Reading

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If you have any daughters, you should read this book!

Girls Gone Mild by Wendy Shalit is an honest and eye-opening discussion about the challenges our daughters face in a world where toys, music, the media, and fashion discourage them from modest and chaste behavior and dress. I’m right there with her on the “Bratz” issue, and that was only the introduction! It’s encouraging to know that there are girls out there who aren’t interested in buying into the values being pushed on them. I hope my daughter will be strong enough to be one of them, and I certainly want to encourage that.

I’m not done reading the book yet, so you may hear more from me as I get deeper into it. Meanwhile, check out what Danielle and Denise have said about this book.

Disclaimer: I was not compensated in any way to recommend this book here. I purchased the book myself and am glad I did. I’ll also be recommending that my public library purchase this book.

I Am Grateful

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…for my husband, who stuck right by my side and worried about me and wouldn’t let me do a lick of work for 24 hours while I endured The Worst Cramps Ever (I think labor pains were less painful)

…for my husband (again) who pretty much flew solo when we had a dozen friends over for an after-church brunch

…for those dozen friends, whose children and grandchildren pitched in by moving furniture, carrying bags of ice and helping with the dishes

…for my own Big Kids who helped my husband clean up the nightmare of a kitchen last night and left the place neater than I usually find it in the morning after I’ve cleaned it up (I let the dishes drip dry on the rack all night. THEY dried the dishes and put them away!)

…for Little Brother’s extra (and extra-gentle) hugs

…for our friends who invited us over after brunch so we could enjoy dinner and a swim in their backyard

…for the large bottle of ibuprofen in my medicine cabinet

…for all these blessings that I experienced yesterday. God is good–and generous!


This is what was left on the dining-room table after the Big Kids and TheDad washed and put away all the breakfast stuff. I told them that if they didn’t know where to store something, to leave it on the table.
But what’s with the fishing pole?

Logic, when you’re 5

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As I walked through the family room carrying a laundry basket, I saw Little Brother lying facedown on the floor, silently kicking his feet.

No, he was not having a temper tantrum (this time).

Adventure Boy was setting up a train track next to Little Brother. He looked up at me and declared, “Little Brother is a fish.”

“Little Brother’s a fish? Then why are you building a train track?”

The logical answer, of course: “Because it’s his birthday!”

It’s not Little Brother’s birthday, of course. But nothing else about this conversation made sense either.

New Catholic Radio Resource

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I’ve recently been enjoying some of the offerings from a new Catholic “internet radio” resource: Catholic Radio International.
Here’s a little bit of background from their site:

We created Catholic Radio International to bring you honest and truthful information about our world. We promise never to pull punches when giving you the news, critiquing our culture or discussing the faith.

Our goal is to provide you with straightforward information and insights about the world around us – insights which we believe are essential for the well-being of our culture, nation and ourselves.

Above all, conscious of our responsibility as Christians to our fellow men, we will strive to deliver to you more than mere news but also to communicate to you an understanding of “He who is”, as Pope Benedict XVI wrote, “the ultimate foundation and meaning of human, personal and social existence.”

Right now, there are three different programs you can choose from, along with the days of the week that they are updated:

Monday, Wednesday, Friday: Thread of Grace with Sally Robb: Connecting our faith and our daily life.

Tuesday, Thursday: The Heart of the Matter: Current events from a Catholic perspective. Topics have included war, environmentalism, euthanasia, the Mass in Latin, China, freedom of speech, and more.

Biweekly: UltraSound: Prolife programming.

I thought I was too busy to listen to this kind of radio program, but then I discovered that they’re only about 5 minutes long. I can listen while I tidy up my desk or dust the living room. The programs are well-produced, faithful to the magisterium, and provide food for thought that lasts long after the 5-minute show ends.

How did I find out about Catholic Radio International? My “cousin-in-law” Tom Szyszkiewicz is one of the cofounders. You may recognize his name from his freelance work in the National Catholic Register. I wish him every success in this new venture.

Check it out!

Feast of the Portiuncula: Peace and All Good!

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Today is the Feast of Our Lady of the Angels of the Portiuncula.

It’s a biggie for all Franciscans because the Church of Our Lady of the Angels of the Portiuncula is the little abandoned chapel that Francis rebuilt stone by stone. Later he founded the Franciscan order there and all Franciscan work began there, and this is where he asked to be placed when he was dying. A large church was built around the little chapel.

In the Mirror of Perfection, Francis wrote:

“Holy of Holies is this Place of Places,
Meetly held worthy of surpassing honor!
Happy thereof of the surname, of the Angels.
Happier yet the name, Blessed Mary.
Now a true omen the third name conferreth,
The Little Portion on the Little Brethren:
Here where by night a presence oft of Angels
Singing sweet hymns illumineth the watches.
Here was the old world’s broad highway made narrow,
Here the way made broader for the Chosen People;
Here grew the rule, here Poverty, here Our Lady,
Smiting back pride, called back the Cross amongst us.”
(Mirror of Perfection #84)

Prayer to Our Lady of the Angels

O Virgin of the Angels, who has for centuries established your throne of mercy at the
Porziuncula,
hear the prayer of your children,
who trust in you.
From this truly holy place and the habitation of the Lord,
so dear to the heart of saint Francis,
you have always invited all men to love.
Your tender eyes assure us of a never failing motherly help
and a promise of divine help to all those who humbly have recourse to your throne,
or who from afar, turn to you to ask for help.
You are, indeed, our sweet Queen and our only hope.
O Lady of the Angels, obtain for us,
through the intercession of blessed Francis,
pardon for our sins, help us to keep away from sin and indifference,
so that we shall be worthy of calling you our Mother for evermore.
Bless our homes, our toil and our rest,
by giving us that same serenity we experience within the walls of the Porziuncula, where hate, guilt and tears turn into a song of joy
like that once was sung by the Angels and the seraphic Francis.
Help those who are in need and hungry,
those who are in danger of body and soul,
those who are sad and downhearted,
those who are sick and dying.
Bless us, your most beloved children, and, we pray you,
bless also with the same motherly gesture,
all those who are innocent, together with those are guilty;
those who are faithful, together with those who have gone astray;
those who believe, together with those who are in doubt.
Bless all humanity, so that all men acknowledging that they are God’s children,
would find through love, real Peace and real Good.
Amen.

Just Say No

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to the kind of attitude that produces bumper stickers like the one I saw today:

Just say no to sex
with prolifers

Just say no to the idea that intimacy should not be used for selfish reasons. After all, selfishness is what it’s all about. Everything’s OK, as long as you feel good about it, and since you can easily take care of any “consequences” later.

(And what surprised me most about the bumper sticker is that it was on a minivan being driven by a male senior citizen! Yes, I did a double take right there on the highway.)

Lord, have mercy.