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.

Spiritual 911

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As my friend the Kitchen Madonna says!

Today’s Spiritual 911 has a theme: employment

TheDad told me this morning that he will have a “stressful day” at work, as part of it will be spent defending why his programming group should keep a 5-year contract rather than have it jobbed out to a small consulting company.

I will be praying that St. Joseph, patron of workers, will intercede on his behalf.

I also ask the generosity of your prayers for the Kitchen Madonna and for Bill, husband of Jean at Catholic Fire, regarding their own employment concerns.

PRAYER FOR EMPLOYMENT:
God, our Father, I turn to you seeking your divine help and guidance as I look for suitable employment.
I need your wisdom to guide my footsteps along the right path, and to lead me to find the proper things to say and do in this quest. I wish to use the gifts and talents you have given me, but I need the opportunity to do so with gainful employment.
Do not abandon me, dear Father, in this search, but rather grant me this favor I seek so that I may return to you with praise and thanksgiving for your gracious assistance.
Grant this through Christ, our Lord.
Amen

Irreverent

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Why is it that Father Daren’s quote from the life of St. Francis makes me think of Weekend at Bernie’s?

Take a corpse and put it where you will! You will see that it does not resist being moved, nor murmur about its position nor protest when it is cast aside. If it is placed on a throne, it will not raise its eyes up, but cast them down. If it is clothed in purple, it will look twice as pale. This is a truly obedient man. He does not judge why he is moved; he does not care where he is placed; he does not insist on being transferred. If he is raised to an office, he retains his customary humility. The more he is honored, the more unworthy he considers himself.

Obviously I need to take greater care not to let the secular invade the spiritual….

A Disappointment

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Little Brother just came sleepily down the stairs and got in my lap.

“Did you hear a funny noise just before, Mom?”

“What kind of noise?”

“A weird kind of noise.”

“You mean when Daddy dropped a bunch of stuff in the bathroom?”

“No, not THAT noise. A noise that sounded like this: ssshhhhhhhh.”

I thought about it for a minute, then remembered:

“OH! That was the street-sweeper machine going by! That must have been what you heard!”

I thought he’d be happy to know I figured it out. But he just looked at me seriously and said, “I thought it was an alien ship.”

Oh well. Maybe next time!

With Age Comes Wisdom

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I didn’t just turn 42 for nothing.

Tonight when Little Brother wanted a piece of my Deep Chocolate, Chocolate Iced, Caramel Drizzled, Walnut Sprinkled birthday cake (made by Middle Sister, and can she bake cake!), I found a plastic fork, a Zoopals plate, and sent him outside to enjoy his dessert “al fresco.”

Things that make you go, "HUH?"

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A few minutes ago, Backyard Neighbor Girl knocked at our front door. She asked Big Brother to have Middle Sister call her on the phone in five minutes.

We were all wondering what was up with that, so in five minutes Middle Sister called her. I could hear the one-sided conversation:

“Hi, this is Middle Sister. Can I speak to Backyard Neighbor Girl? She asked me to call her….yeah, she knocked on our front door five minutes ago and asked me to call her….hi, what did you want? Did your balloon break?…oh…ok…bye.”

Heading down the stairs and out the back door, she hollered, “I’m going over there to be a priest at a balloon funeral.”

There’s a first time for everything, I guess!

Busy Signal

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I have a new toy!

TheDad picked out this cool new Smart Phone for me for my birthday. It replaces my functional but Extremely Not Cool According to My Children basic cell phone as well as my well-used PDA that will no longer sync with my computer software.
This means that all my addresses and phone numbers and calendars will be in one place. And as soon as I figure out how to switch over the files I’ve created over the past 6 years, I will have an extremely powerful database tool at my fingertips.
It’s definitely Geek Day at the SFO Mom house. Good thing I’ve got an easy dinner planned. It will be difficult to squeeze in a complicated meal, with all the digital organizing I’ve got to do!

Jersey Girl Bloggers

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Esther started compiling a list of the bloggers she knows who are in New Jersey.

I have a few to add:

1. Amy from R.C. Mommy, who grew up in Philly but now lives in North Jersey.

2. Ellen From Across the Net, who grew up in Pennsylvania but married a North Jersey guy and settled in South Jersey.

3. Christine M. of The Simple and the Ordinary who lives near my husband’s “old stomping ground.” Hey Christine, have you ever eaten at the Reo Diner? I miss that place.

4. One of my very first blog readers, Jill of Jill’s Write Stuff, who’s up in North Jersey.

Those with New Jersey roots who’ve moved on to other states:

5. Chris of Ramblings of a Catholic Soccer Mom and Domestic Vocation.

6. Esther, the Hawaii Catholic Mom, who got this whole ball rolling!

7. Michelle from Rosetta Stone, who will always be a Jersey Girl considering she learned to drive here!

I had to illustrate this with the picture of my favorite waterfall. Every time I see this, it makes me remember home. Yes, I’m still in the state but I’m 100 miles from Paterson now, and I rarely get to see the falls that we’d pass on our way to and from my grandmother’s. Thanks, Esther, for the photo!

The only time I ever lived out of state was when I was in college (Scranton, PA) and grad school (South Bend, IN). And the only thing I ever missed was closeness to family. For that matter, I miss it now. But I love it here in South Jersey, where things are a little slower paced, a little less congested. I don’t think I could survive it if I had to drive Turnpike Exit 12 to 10, then 287 north to Piscataway, each and every morning-rush hour, anymore. I’m amazed I’m still alive to tell the tale.

New Jersey is the Rodney Dangerfield of states. It gets no respect and deserves plenty.

And in the great New Jersey tradition, out of the 3 of these bloggers I’ve met, two were at diners!

Instructions du jour

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Or more stuff I never thought I’d have to say:

“Little Brother, don’t walk on chairs that have place mats on them!”

Weird News

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A woman who lives in my grandmother’s old neighborhood woke up yesterday to find that her backyard pool had been stolen.

H/T to Esther, who finds out about news in my home state even though I am in it and she is in Hawaii!

What’s Your Superpower?

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I must have read Ellen’s mind while taking this quiz.

Your Superpower Should Be Mind Reading

You are brilliant, insightful, and intuitive.
You understand people better than they would like to be understood.
Highly sensitive, you are good at putting together seemingly irrelevant details.
You figure out what’s going on before anyone knows that anything is going on!

Why you would be a good superhero: You don’t care what people think, and you’d do whatever needed to be done

Your biggest problem as a superhero: Feeling even more isolated than you do now