Category: Planning

On my bookshelf with shelf of Catholic fiction

An Open Book: Self-Improvement Edition

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#OpenBook: (Month, Year) Reads

The first Wednesday of each month, Carolyn Astfalk hosts #OpenBook, where bloggers link posts about books they’ve read recently. Since it’s January, “new year new you” and all of that, I thought I’d focus on some self-improvement books that have come my way recently.

I read these differently than I read fiction, dipping into and out of them and flipping around, rather than diving in (as I do with a novel) and not coming up for air until I’ve finished.

A different kind of planner

nullI was offered a review copy of The Saintmaker Catholic Life Planner, and I’m always willing to try out a new planner. This is different from any planner I’ve used before. First of all, it’s a quarterly book (and it’s as big as a full-year week-at-a-time planner already). It has daily, weekly, and monthly planning sections as well as goal-setting sections, a generous notebook section (that’s my “bullet journal” for various lists, monthly meal planning, things like that. There are three ribbons to help save my place in the different sections of the planner as well as three virtue tracker bookmarks, one for each month the planner covers.

There’s a lot in here, as you can see from this photo of the 2-page daily spread. I have not used all of this in the course of a day, but as the week has gone on, I’ve tried these various sections—appointments, to-do list, notes are my big three, and there are also gratitudes, daily cross, devotions, meditation journal, and examination of conscience. Slowly I’m figuring out what works for me. Even with all the structure this planner has, there’s room for flexibility and customization, which I appreciate!

Bonus features include weekly examination of conscience worksheets, discernment journal, prayer intention list, Catholic themes for day, week, and month, and novena starter guide. I’ll be sharing more about The Saintmaker planner on my social media as the quarter goes on.

You can save 10% on The Saintmaker planner with affiliate code FRANCISCANMOM.

 

Habits of Freedom

nullI am not very familiar with Ignatian spirituality, but I have heard it said (more than once) that the saint was very practical-minded, and I am all about that! Habits of Freedom: 5 Ignatian Tools for Clearing Your Mind and Resting Daily with the Lord by Christopher S. Collins, SJ (Ave Maria Press) is an excellent book for a new beginning.

Discerning how to proceed with life—not just with big decisions, but with more immediate habits of daily living—is crucial if we want to stay on track. To be happy. To be free. To be free enough to love and to live fully. (ix)

Each chapter ends with Exercises to Cultivate Habits of Freedom. These are great journal prompts. And at the back of the book, there’s a small-group discussion guide that makes me wish I were part of a small group reading this book.

My friend Deanna Bartalini has been dedicating episodes of her Not Lukewarm Podcast to a chapter-by-chapter discussion of this book, and I’ve enjoyed hearing a second perspective on what I’d already read on my own. I received a review copy of this book from the publisher.

 

Ignatius on Forgiveness

nullIt’s pretty curious that two Ignatian books have landed in front of me at the same time, but sometimes that’s how things happen, and that often means God’s trying to tell me something. The Ignatian Guide to Forgiveness: 10 Steps to Healing by Marina Berzins McCoy (Loyola Press) is an excellent guide to letting go of the paint that keeps us from moving forward with forgiveness, and with our lives.

The author walks you through stories from Scripture, Ignatian teaching, and real-life stories in each chapter, concluding the chapters with prayers and (often) practical ways to apply the principles described in each chapter.

I’m still reading this one, bit by bit in the Adoration chapel. This is definitely a book that lends itself to this approach.

 

Too Busy? Read this one!

nullI moved The Busy Person’s Guide to an Extraordinary Life by Deacon Greg Kandra (The Word Among Us Press) to the top of my “to be read” pile when I realized I’d purchased it more than a year ago and never gotten around to reading it. There’s no excuse! I’ve been a longtime fan of Deacon Greg’s work because his writing is clear, precise, simple, and accessible. There’s nothing complicated here; Deacon Greg is a terrific writer and inspiring storyteller.

Chapters are brief and can be read in any order. They include a meditation, which sometimes comes with an anecdote or three; “Consider This” with long quotes to ponder; “Try This” with a challenge; and “Pray This.”

 

This Bible Is Much More than a Pretty Face

nullThe brand-new Living the Word Catholic Women’s Bible from Ave Maria Press is undoubtedly beautiful, inside and out. I don’t know who did the book design for this, but the design team outdid themselves on this one.

I think it’s good to have a beautiful Bible. First of all, beauty invites you to look inside, and the first step to reading the Bible is opening the Bible. There are lovely touches throughout, from colorful headings to invitations to further reflection to the “Women of the Word” and “Living in the Light of Faith” and several other series of reflective essays sprinkled throughout the book. These essays, along with the boxes labeled “Take It to Heart” and the ruled journaling space on nearly ever page, offer opportunities to personalize this Bible by frequent reading, reflection, prayer, and writing. If you want to read the Bible more this year, this is the Bible for you. (Review copy received from publisher)

 

Visit the January #OpenBook post to join the linkup or just get some great ideas about what to read! You’ll find it at Carolyn Astfalk’s A Scribbler’s Heart and at CatholicMom.com!

Copyright 2023 Barb Szyszkiewicz

Links to books in this post are Amazon affiliate links. Your purchases made through these links support Franciscanmom.com. Thank you!

Where noted, books are review copies. If that is not indicated, I either purchased the book myself or borrowed it from the library.

Plan Your Days with the Christian Planner: Catholic Edition

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On a bookshelf in my office, you’ll find planners dating all the way back to 2013. I recently found a few more in a box in my basement and will be adding them to the shelf as well. For me, a planner is not something I use all year and then throw away. It’s an essential part of my record-keeping for home and work. 

While 2020 has meant that out-of-the-house activities and work travel came to a screeching halt in mid-March and still haven’t really resumed, that doesn’t mean I don’t still need a planner. In some ways, I need it more than ever. I’ve been exploring new-to-me ways to use planners and new planner formats, and I’m very impressed with the new Catholic edition of the Christian Planner. You can use this high-quality planner at work, home, or school — and it doubles as a spiritual journal. 

I’m a beginner at using planners for spiritual journaling, but it’s a practice I’d like to try more often, ever since I listened to a recent episode of the Catholic Momcast in which Lisa Hendey shares how she uses her planner as a spiritual journal.

The Christian Planner: Catholic Edition offers a weekly two-page devotional spread. At the bottom of one of the pages you’ll find references for the Sunday readings and a quote from Sunday’s Gospel. The rest of the space is for you to use however you’d like; one page is blank and the other ruled, so you can doodle, letter a quote, write … or even use some space for pre-planning the week ahead.

The spiritual content in this planner begins as soon as you open the book, with an overview of the liturgical year and four pages of “Seeking Sainthood” worksheets with prayer/journaling prompts, bucket list, and yearly spiritual goals.

I prefer that my planners contain liturgical-year information; the monthly views in the Christian Planner: Catholic Edition boast feast-day information and the liturgical designation for each Sunday of the year.

Another aspect of the monthly view I’m finding useful is its 6-week format. You won’t see those split boxes with two days jammed into the space for one because the planner only offers a 4- or 5-week grid. With a 6-week grid, there’s plenty of room, and it’s good to see the extra days preceding and following the current month. The dates for the current month are in bold type, so they stand out.

The monthly pages also contain a to-do list, Scripture quote, and reflection/action questions to help you celebrate your blessings and contemplate ways you’ll serve God and others in the month ahead.

The weekly pages in this planner are divided into day and evening sections, but do not have specific times written in. That allows for flexibility to use those sections for appointments, scheduled tasks, or simply to-dos, whichever you prefer. There’s also a list section in the side margin, a habit tracker, Scripture quote, and some extra “free space” for whatever you need.

In the photo above you can also see that instead of tabs for each month, this planner has a little shaded index section. No more bent tabs, but it’s easy to flip right to the month you want to view.

The Catholic Edition of the Christian Planner is available in hardcover with a lay-flat binding and elastic to help keep your page open, as well as two bookmark ribbons so you can easily flip from monthly view to weekly view. There are three color options, including plum, celery, and this lovely sapphire blue.

The paper in this planner is high-quality, bright white 70-lb. paper, and the planner measures approximately 7 inches wide by 9 inches high. There’s also a slip pocket on the back cover for those extra papers or receipts.

Do you like to try before you buy? You can download free PDFs of the Christian Planner to see if the format works for you. These PDFs don’t include the Catholic content, but the basic format is the same. You’ll be asked to provide an email address, and then you’ll immediately receive access to the downloads.

Copyright 2020 Barb Szyszkiewicz
I received a free copy of this planner for review purposes. Opinions expressed here are mine alone.

Trying out the bullet journal: Never say never @franciscanmom

Never Say Never: My Bullet Journal

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The Bullet Journal is THE THING in the planning & productivity world these days.

“It’s a fad,” I said. “A bullet journal is not going to work for me.”

And then last week I went on vacation. I didn’t take my computer and I didn’t take my planner.

So I started a bullet journal in the small notebook I’d brought with me, in case I needed to write anything down.

It just seemed to make sense. And that whole index-at-the-beginning thing? A lifesaver!

My Michele Quigley Catholic planner. @franciscanmom

I’m a confirmed fan of the paper planner, and a loyal customer of Michele Quigley, whose planners I love because they are beautiful, well-made in a family business, functional and contain all kinds of useful Catholic data like the daily readings, saint of the day, quotes from saints, papal prayer intentions and more.

My Michele Quigley Catholic planner. @franciscanmom

I purchased the notebook addition for the back of the planner and use that as my “bullet journal” for work. I also have a section there for organizing book reviews, because I don’t want those to fall through the cracks (that’s not the way to stay on the good side of authors and publishers!)

I wasn’t using a bullet journal for anything else, but did have a brain-dump notebook that I used on and off through the winter and spring. That sort of fell off when summer came along.

Since I double-dog-dared Deanna Bartalini to try (and report on) using the bullet journal and have actually begun using one myself, I figure that the least I can do is play along and link up at her CatholicMom.com post.

Like Deanna, I’m not out to create a work of art here. I might use a ruler to make a vertical line–that’s it (my notebook is ruled, not graph paper). And look: I don’t even use the same color pen for everything. It’s random–and that’s OK.

My bullet journal @franciscanmom

Unlike Deanna, I’m not using this as my planner. It’s a notebook with indexed pages for whatever I need to write down at a particular time. During my vacation, I used it to track:

  • micro-reviews of books I read on the trip (7 total) for input into Goodreads after my return
  • some brainstorming for the regular feature I’ll be writing for Today’s Catholic Teacher
  • a list of dinner ideas
  • items to discuss with TheKid’s guidance counselor regarding what his classroom teachers will need to know about diabetes
  • “random airport sightings” — things that popped into my head while we sat in the San Juan airport for 6 hours. (Times like that, I wish I were a fiction writer. There was lots of story fodder going on, and I don’t mean that in an uncharitable way. Airports are fascinating places for people-watching.)

Once I let go of the idea that it had to LOOK good, I found that the bullet journal really can work for me!

Have you tried using a bullet journal? Join the linkup at CatholicMom.com and share what works (and doesn’t work) for you!

Trying out the bullet journal: Never say never @franciscanmom

Heads Up: Printable Catholic Planner Sale

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The Catholic Through The Year Planner by Martina Kreitzer of Catholic Sistas is on sale today for 50% off the usual price!

I’ve reviewed this planner before, and all the things I find super useful are still in it. There are four sections, and you can choose some or all of them: Calendar, Homeschool, Blogger and Household Management. To get the full package, choose the Whole Enchilada.

Being a Hybrid Girl when it comes to planning systems, I need to write things down–and rewrite them–and rearrange them–and I like things to look nice. So the ability to reprint a page after I’ve drawn circles and arrows and crossed things out is definitely a bonus.

This planner is made to be printed out and kept in a binder (or you could take it to an office-supply store and have it spiral bound). I don’t do that. I keep mine on my clipboards–one for family-related items and one for work stuff. I also have the two-page monthly spread printed smaller, on a single page (after I figured out how to do that) and I tacked the current month and the following month onto my office bulletin board.

A previous year's meal plan calendar on my trusty clipboard. Make this planner work for you!
A previous year’s meal plan calendar on my trusty clipboard. Make this planner work for you!

But that’s the cool thing about this planner. You can use it any way you like–whatever works for you. The 2-page weekly spread, for example, has 3 boxes per date, and a space for you to write in your own label. It can be “Home/Family/Work” or whatever you want it to be–and it can change from week to week. For example, I don’t homeschool, but the Lesson Plan pages from that bundle can be used in a ton of other ways. Be creative!

Even at the regular price, this downloadable planner is a steal at $18 for the Whole Enchilada ($7.50 for just the calendar and $5 per bundle) but today’s 50% off price can’t be beat! To get the discount, use the coupon code for each individual product – CALENDAR, HOUSEHOLD, HOMESCHOOL, BLOGGER, or ENCHILADA for all the files to get 50% off at the Catholic Sistas store.

I love the colorful touches on the planner this year–the page borders on some sections like the monthly menu planner look like they were done in watercolor. So pretty! (That reminds me, I need to make a planner note to purchase some color ink cartridges for my printer so I can have these pages in color. I had to use black and white for them right now, which is why I’m not showing you this year’s page in the photo above.)

Go ahead over to Catholic Sistas to see lots of photos of the planner pages and purchase your copy.

The cover, though–it’s a coloring page! How cool is that? Get out your markers or colored pencils and make your planner even prettier.

Want a sample? Download some free weekly pages here. Try it out! All you need to do in return is share information about the planner with a friend or via social media. Super easy!

Photo courtesy of CatholicSistas.com. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
Photo courtesy of CatholicSistas.com. Used with permission. All rights reserved.

The Fine Print I received a review copy of the “Whole Enchilada” version of the CTTY planner and no other compensation for this review. All opinions are my own.

Small Success Thursday: High-Tech Party Planning Edition

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Small-Success-Thursday-400pxIt’s Small Success Thursday, and at CatholicMom.com that means we celebrate those little accomplishments that make our world go ’round!

We’re getting ready for a Double Graduation around here, so my successes are going to be party-related.

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I figured out how to make a Facebook event to invite the family and friends who use that platform. That saved me a LOT in color-printing and postage costs. (Translation:  more in the party budget for delicious food!)

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I made a party logo with the help of Microsoft Publisher! I think it’s pretty spiffy!

Big Brother is graduating from LaSalle and starting a job in his field at Monetate.

Middle Sister is graduating from Holy Cross High School and entering LaSalle in the fall.

one out one in

(Little Brother is not graduating at this time.)

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High-tech party planning continues with the help of an Excel spreadsheet. I still hate Excel, but it really is the best way to go to keep track of all the EVERYTHING that goes into having a big backyard bash with over 100 invited guests. I’ve got the setup figured out, and data entry will take place today.

And one week from tomorrow, Big Brother will move out of his college apartment for the final time. It’s hard to wrap my head around that idea–and hard to express how very proud I am of his accomplishments. (Next week my Small Success had better include “make space in the garage or basement for Big Brother’s kitchen equipment.”)

Join us over at CatholicMom.com and share your successes for the week! No blog? No problem! Just post your successes in the comments box.

But I Switched to Decaf (well, Half-Caff, anyway)

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I was having a really good (and quite productive) morning. By 10:30 AM I’d started laundry, hung one load on the line, had some “prayer and coffee” time, made my to-do list for the day, set up the kids’ chore schedule for the week, and gone to Mass, the bakery and the supermarket.8046b-michelesplanners

Then I got home and started working the phones and the planner.

I needed to call the soccer camp where we’d just registered Little Brother to clear up a few questions (such as why I’d never received an email confirming his registration, for starters).

I called the pediatrician to schedule Little Brother’s physical.

I called my gynecologist to make an appointment for my mother-in-law, who has dementia and needs to see a gynecologist (but can’t remember who her GYN is or when she last saw that doctor).

I scheduled 4 college visits in the next 3 weeks for Middle Sister.

And then I couldn’t settle down. I was so agitated that I couldn’t sit here and write. I’m having a hard time writing this, actually. I can’t get calm.

I decided to run over to the GYN’s office and pick up the new-patient packet that needs to be filled out before the appointment. Then I went to the Carter’s store to get a baby gift for my cousin’s little girl who’s being christened this weekend.

Driving home, I was still agitated and really wondering what the problem is. I’d had 2 cups of coffee today, but one was half-caff and the other decaf. Yet I feel like I’ve had a whole pot of high-test.

Then I thought about how I spent my morning. Phone calls, scheduling of appointments and college visits and other things that are going to be unsettling at the very least–no wonder I’m agitated. Anxiety is in high gear right now.

And there will be no more coffee for this mama today.

Packing List

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I don’t know if it’s just me, but when I am getting us all ready to go on vacation (for the fourth summer in a row, a week in a house down the shore) I always make sure to pack my planner, a notebook or clipboard with paper, and at least one time-management/household management/motivational book.

I know I can count on at least one night of insomnia out of the seven we’ll be there. Plus I tend to wake up earlier than most family members, so I get a good amount of quiet time for thinking and planning. Little Brother’s the other early riser, but I can usually convince him that it would be fun to go back to sleep with Daddy, and buy myself a few extra quiet minutes.

It’s almost like a time for making New Year’s Resolutions. I write, make charts, and compose lists.

I’ve come to look forward to this aspect of our vacation. This year I’m reading It’s All Too Much by Peter Walsh. It’s easy to read about decluttering when I’m not surrounded by all our clutter.

From the front porch of the house we’re renting, I can see the ocean. What a peaceful place to sit and plan! We’ll be there in a week–I can’t wait!

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!

Lenten Penitential Meals

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As the penitential season of Lent approaches, and I make my menu plans, I start thinking about what constitutes a “penitential” meal for my family.

My dad expressed it well when we were kids: “If pizza or fish is a treat, how can it be a penance?”

Maybe it’s a penance only for the one who has to budget around the extra expense of eating fish instead of less-expensive meats, or ordering a pizza?

I wouldn’t want to serve my family foods they don’t like, and call it a penance. All I’d achieve would be rebellion and wastefulness.

No one has really noticed that I’ve been serving them meatless dinners every Friday for months now. It’s pretty much become routine. Growing up, I was taught that only Fridays in Lent were supposed to be meatless (and Ash Wednesday, of course!) but I have learned lately that all Fridays are penitential days. I haven’t mentioned it–it’s just been happening here. But I bet the issue will be on the table, so to speak, the first Friday after Easter.

It’s been more of a stretch for me than for them. They eat what I put on the table. (Sometimes someone moans and groans about it, but my family generally consists of good eaters–even adventurous ones. Middle Sister likes sushi, for example.) I am the one who thinks about what to serve on which day, and I can shuffle the meal plan as events warrant, but Friday’s dinner is Friday’s dinner because that is Meatless Night.

But anyway, the issue at hand really is: if they really LIKE shrimp marinara over linguine, or Spanish Garlic Shrimp, or sauteed tilapia, or even pizza, where’s the sacrifice?

Maybe it’s time to lay this on the table with my family and see what ideas everyone comes up with.