We went on vacation last week, so I missed out on the Small Success fun. It’s good to be back!
My successes from the past week–
I took the week off. I’d worked very hard to get everything done ahead of time at CatholicMom so that I could take the time off and not leave stuff for Lisa Hendey to have to handle. That success is not all on me, though–it’s due to all the writers who stepped up and got their articles in early so I could do that. I’m really grateful to all of them; I stayed off the “work” end of the website but did visit the site so I could leave comments. And Monday morning, I was refreshed and ready to jump back into my job.
It was kind of hard to leave this view behind…
I planned ahead. Getting that work done meant a lot of advance planning–but so did the family logistics that go with a week’s vacation. We stayed in a condo so that we could make most of our meals there. Not only is this a money-saver, but it’s also a comfort when you have any special dietary needs in your family. Since TheKid is diabetic, I planned our meals ahead and did most of the grocery shopping before we left. I packed a large cooler with milk, butter, vegetables and meats. Here’s the pile of non-perishable food (and a few other necessities) we brought for our 7-day stay:
I didn’t get “how I get” on vacation. Usually I last about 3 days before I start getting anxious, and believe me when I say that’s no fun for everyone. Maybe it’s because the kids are older and more independent; maybe I’m just getting better at reining that in (or letting it go); maybe it was our agreement that, for the most part, we didn’t ALL have to do All The Things. While Hubs and TheKid played mini-golf one night, Daughter and I went to the shopping center to hunt for souvenirs; we all met for ice cream at the end of the evening’s activities. And some days, I didn’t stray further than the edge of the beach where I could pick up scallop shells.
Last week my family and I went on vacation to Myrtle Beach, SC, where this was the view from my office, located on the 19th-floor balcony of a high-rise hotel:
I could sit and look at that all day. And a lot of the time, I did exactly that.
We arrived late Saturday evening and after unpacking, got set to find a church for Mass the next morning. It made sense to go to the closest one after spending many more hours in the car than we’d planned (traffic on I-95 in Virginia was terribly slow. For hundreds of miles.)
After Mass, we were handed a bulletin on the way out, and I idly scanned it on our way back from church. That’s when I saw a familiar name in the list of announced Masses for Monday morning.
The Mass was for one of my great-aunts. She had moved to Myrtle Beach a few years ago to be near her only daughter.
She’d passed away the year before at the age of ninety-something, predeceased by her husband and daughter. Another aunt (my mom’s sister) had made a few trips to SC during Aunt Marge’s final illness to help arrange things, so I texted my cousin to tell her about finding Aunt Marge’s name in the bulletin. My cousin said that one of the parish priests was faithful in visiting Aunt Marge in the nursing home, praying with her and giving her the Sacrament of the Sick. After Aunt Marge’s death, my mom’s sister sent a donation to the parish in gratitude. She received a note of thanks that stated that the priest had dedicated that donation to several Masses for the repose of Aunt Marge’s soul.
Hubs and I made sure to get up early the next day so we could attend that Mass for Aunt Marge.
What are the odds that we’d have chosen that vacation destination, putting us closest to that church, during that very week? We couldn’t have planned it better if we’d tried.
When I met him at the Catholic Writers Guild Conference earlier this summer, cookbook author, podcaster and CatholicMom.com contributor Jeff Young told me that he purposely creates his recipes to feed large groups of people–that way, you’ll want to share.
Don’t be intimidated by the idea of “Middle Eastern Cuisine.” Most of the ingredients in Jeff’s recipes are easy to find. One spice that might be more difficult to get locally is sumac, but you can get that online. I was fortunate to find it in a local Turkish market.
When you make Jeff’s recipes, you’ll be using real foods: fresh ingredients and no chemical substitutes. It’s a healthier way to eat, and I guarantee you that it’s more delicious too. I’ve followed Jeff’s blog for years; I think I found it when I was looking for a jambalaya recipe, but you’ll find much more than Louisiana cooking at his site. Soups, breads, pizza–it’s all there.
Jeff’s directions are clear, and he includes plenty of tips on working with certain ingredients and mixing your own spice blends. But one of my favorite things about this cookbook is the story that goes with each recipe. Stories are part of the fun around the dinner table, and they’re part of the fun of this cookbook as well. Many of these Middle-Eastern recipes originated in the Holy Land, and the first two chapters of the book are all about the family table, food in the Bible and “where food meets faith.” Don’t skip these just to get to the recipes!
I’ve made several recipes from this cookbook so far:
Oven-Baked Salmon (3-ingredient easy and completely delicious)
Some of these recipes have made it into the regular rotation around here. All of them have been excellent, and I have a few more recipes in my meal plan for the coming weeks. (I even planted a grape vine this spring so I could get grape leaves to make one of the recipes, but I don’t have quite enough leaves to do this yet.)
Finally, I’ve given two copies of this cookbook as gifts to people I love who love cooking and trying new flavors. I’m not done trying recipes from this book and I’m also not done purchasing it as a gift.
Note: Your purchase of this cookbook through my Amazon affiliate link helps feed my cookbook habit. Thank you!
Do you have a go-to devotional book, one that you use so much that you want to carry it around with you? If you don’t, I recommend Teresa Tomeo’s new devotional, Walk Softly and Carry a Great Bag. You’re not too busy to read this book; the longest chapter is only 4 pages long. But while the chapters are short, they give you plenty to think–and pray–about.
Author, talk-show host and motivational speaker Teresa Tomeo doesn’t get too heavy-handed in this book. She brings along plenty of humor while driving home practical encouragement. Each chapter begins with a Scripture quote and ends with a prayer prompt. Her confidence, energy and great sense of humor shine through on every page and provide inspiration and out-loud laughter.
It was my privilege to interview Teresa Tomeo about her book:
1. As a devotional, this book is different in focus from your previous books. What was the hardest part about writing this type of book?
Actually this book wasn’t really hard to write. It was a lot of fun and because we were and are trying to reach Christians at a variety of faith levels it allowed me to include different types of analogies and reflections: analogies and reflections I might not use for a specifically Catholic book.
2. What was the best part about writing this type of book?
Creating the titles from popular and well known sayings and cliches. As I go through the book again I can even see some more book ideas developing from the different chapter titles.
3. Which chapter is your favorite and why?
I can’t say that I have a favorite chapter: maybe a favorite topic or area of interest in the book would be more appropriate. I really enjoy helping people connect the dots in terms of what is happening in the world and help them see how truth in nature, science, experience so beautifully back up Catholic teaching. So Give It a Test Already and If All the Women Jumped Off a Bridge Would You Jump Too? would fit nicely into those categories.
4. How did you choose the Scripture quotes used in the book? Were those writing/prayer prompts as you wrote the reflections?
Yes I was prompted quite often during the writing of the manuscript but many of the verses used were already favorite verses of mine that I quote in my motivational presentations especially my personal testimony. They are verses to which many women can relate given the craziness of the world right now and the continued pressure for women to be all things to all people.
5. Just for fun: describe your own “great bag!”
A great bag is one that is versatile: a bag that will get you from day to evening. I love patent leather and black patent in particular. Always classic and stylish and very Italian chic! A great bag is also practical allowing you to fit in more than just a lipstick and some tissue. A great bag is one that you love and always go back to time and time again much like the basic black dress or the classic pumps that never go out of style.
Here’s my own “great bag” with plenty of room for this terrific little book.
This book’s small format makes it the perfect size to tuck into your favorite bag, so it’ll be right at hand whenever you have a few free moments. Walk Softly and Carry a Great Bag is excellent reading for Adoration AND the carpool line.
Your purchase of this book through my affiliate link helps defray the costs of hosting this website. Thanks!
Copyright 2015 Barb Szyszkiewicz.
Photo copyright 2015 Barb Szyszkiewicz. All rights reserved.
The other day I lived through an example of how things said online aren’t always what they seem. After a Murphy’s Law hour, when everything that could go wrong did, I blew off a little steam on Facebook and then got down to the business of dealing with All The Things.
My oven is broken and there’s a mouse in the back porch. Also, I’m all out of Milky Ways.
Yes, I was whining. And venting. And trying to make light of the situation, all at the same time.
After the fact, it was interesting to do a little people-watching in terms of the reactions.
Some people sympathized.
Boo.
Oh no!
Dislike!
Triple trouble.
Noooooooo
What a bummer of a day for you.
Disaster!
Some people got the joke. And the need for chocolate at a time like this.
The worst was the last one. 🙂
Me: I’d definitely be dealing better with the first 2 if that last thing wasn’t also a factor.
That’s some serious <redacted> you’re dealing with!! lol
Without the chocolate, I would not be able to deal with the other two issues! LOL! 😉
Me: EXACTLY.
You can’t handle all that stress without chocolate!!
Local friend who understands my weakness for ice cream: Guess you need a trip to The Meadows
That last one is the deal breaker really
Noooooo!!! Not out of Milky Ways!!!! I’m sorry for loss.
This ranks as a State of Emergency.
Barb, you were on the Nightly News no Milky Ways !!! lol
Local friend 2 who likes my homemade cookies: It was the Milky Ways that really make this sad! Oh, and your oven, too (no cookies)!
Crumb. Any other chocolate?
Oh no! Out of Milky Ways!!!
Then we got down to solving some problems.
Me: Mouse-in-the-porch plan: when Street Urchins arrive, promise them donuts if they find the mouse and safely relocate it OUTSIDE. Not that it couldn’t get right back in again, but…
Friend: broken oven– I switch to the steel wok on the grill, or a crock pot– but that last one– out of chocolate with nuts– oh that is major bad!
Me: I have a toaster oven and a Nesco roaster, so I can make it work (though there won’t be cookies).
Friend 2: I have made cookies in a toaster oven…cannot be helped when you have a cookie craving in the middle of a heatwave… Lol
Friend 3: First things first: Make a run to the drug store!
Friend 4: Tomcat traps are great. You never have to touch the mouse’s carcass —- OR you can get a humane trap and bait it with peanut butter and/or chocolate. You just have to be sure to haul the catch far, far away (3 or 4 miles, or on the other side of a creek or river) so they don’t return.Then follow Friend 3’s advice and run to the store for those Milky Ways! LOL
Me: Street Urchins are currently debating whether a donut is “worth it” in this case.
Friend 6: You can solve that milky way crisis pretty easily. The others, not so much….
Friend 7: Mice hate peppermint and a mini peanut butter cracker on a mouse trap works quite well. you’re on your own with the oven. I’d call a repairman or someone with those skills.
World-traveling friend: It is too hot to turn on the oven. Pay the urchin five bucks for catching the mouse. Amazon should take care of the Milky Way problem, unless you want British ones and then I can bring some back next week. Let me know.
And then, a progress report:
Me: Looks like the Street Urchins have prevailed over the mouse! (And killed a giant bee as a bonus!)
Friend 4: HOORAY!!!!!
And then, a ray of hope for my broken appliance:
Friend 5: Barb, my husband repairs ovens! What’s wrong with it?
Me: Well, it is flashing E2 F3 in the display and burning SUPER hot.
Friend 5: I will have him call you! What make oven and how old. Gas or electric?
Commence discussion re: make, model and what’s a good time to call.
Further resolution of the situation and other good news:
Street Urchins have been repaid for the safe capture and relocation of the mouse with donuts. And I have a caramel iced coffee, so I think we’re pretty much all set.
For the record, it was decaf. And very much needed.
AND things keep looking up. I requested jury duty postponement so it wouldn’t be during TheKid’s summer vacation, and I just got a postcard saying I’m excused!
(And there was rejoicing in all the land.)
Final report:
The urchins caught the mouse for 2 donuts each plus Klondike bars. 🙂
World-traveling friend: Excellent financial negotiation skills! Amp him with sugar and send him home
Further on down the line, after it was all over:
Friend 8: actually, i don’t like this like this. i am saddened by this, but like that you find humor even in the broken mousiness and the absent milky ways…
Me: That’s my survival skill, 🙂 At least we got the mouse safely to the woods down the block instead of my porch.
Friend 9: This sounds like a very bad day! 🙁
Me: Fortunately, it got better. But all that in one hour was not fun.
And then there was this:
First world problems …
Now that’s the comment I don’t know how to take. Because it didn’t come with any emoticon to soften it, and the person who typed it isn’t someone I know in person (but who is a friend of many of my friends, and professionally I do wind up “friending” such people).
I am well aware that the lack of a working oven and the presence of a mouse are not major crises, and that not having any Milky Ways in the house does not constitute a State of Emergency.
So, OK. I was complaining about some pretty minor stuff. My friends got that it was minor, but upsetting, and the back-and-forth helped me get through the afternoon with some semblance of my sanity intact.
But now I feel like I am being judged, like I’m being told, “Suck it up, buttercup! There are starving people in <insert Third World Country here> who would love to have your ‘problems’.”
I wasn’t kidding when I told that one friend that finding humor in this situation is my survival skill. The humor here was that there were no Milky Ways, and bargaining with the Street Urchins for donuts in exchange for safe mouse relocation.
I can’t be sure that this person’s comment was meant as a put-down, but that’s how I interpreted it. Again, it’s hard to tell, just based on text and not knowing the person behind the words.
This may indicate that it’s time for me to evaluate whether it’s a good idea to have people as friends just because we have 47 mutual friends on Facebook. I might need to make an announcement that if I don’t know you in person or work with you, I’m unfriending, and then direct folks to “like” my author page.
(And yes, “work with you” counts because I work with over 100 people whom I’ve never met! If those people send me friend requests, I grant them.)
Yesterday I had one of THOSE mornings. You know the kind.
I dropped off my van to get brake fluid and transmission fluid changed out, only to have the mechanic call to tell me that they’d had to jump-start “Brucie” to get him into the shop, and I needed a new battery.
TheKid lost the charm from his medic-alert necklace.
My oven decided to overachieve, burning a frozen pizza that should take 15 minutes to cook in 5 minutes flat, then flashing an error message on the screen.
There was a mouse sighting on the back porch.
And I had NO Milky Ways in the house to help me deal with any of this.
There may or may not have been a bit of a meltdown for a little while around here…and then…
I (reluctantly) bit the bullet on the van repair.
I ordered TheKid a set of medic-alert rubber bracelets that say “Type 1 Diabetes” on them. 4 for $12. They’ll be here Friday. Thank you, Amazon Prime.
One of the Secular Franciscans saw my Facebook vent and messaged me that her husband repairs appliances! He called to help diagnose the problem. We’re not sure if a part’s available or if the stove is worth the price of the repair, but progress is being made.
For the record, it was decaf. And very much needed.
I told TheKid that if the Street Urchins helped him to safely capture and relocate the porch mouse, I’d buy them all donuts. They caught the mouse and took it down the street where there are some woods and a creek. I bought the donuts. And a caramel iced coffee, to compensate for the lack of Milky Ways.
I got a postcard from the jury duty people who had scheduled me for the end of August. I’d asked for a postponement until sometime during the school year. They excused me from duty altogether.
I don’t know what helped get things turned around after that one hour when one thing after another went wrong. There was a lot of “God, help me” going on, that’s for sure! These were not all big things but all of that at once was more than I wanted to handle.
Note: I originally published this article 4 years ago at a shopping website where I worked at the time. In order to make it easier to share this information with family and friends, I’m reposting it here, in slightly updated form.
University freshmen often experience “packer’s remorse” after arriving at the dorm on Move-In Day and discovering that they can’t fit all their stuff into their half of a closet-sized room. A group of experienced college students offered advice on the best things to bring—and what to leave at home. All agreed that it’s better to rely on multi-purpose devices rather than a bunch of separate, single-purpose items.
Leave It Behind:
Alarm clock. Every sophomore I spoke to mentioned this—who needs an alarm clock when you’ve got a cell phone?
Luggage. Send it home with your folks after they drop you off. All you’ll need is a small duffel for weekends off. Those big suitcases take up plenty of space!
An umbrella. No one carries umbrellas. They just put up the hood of their sweatshirt and tough it out.
50% of your wardrobe. Even the girls agreed that they didn’t wear all the stuff they brought with them—not even those cute shoes! They decided to pack smarter this year, bringing fewer clothes. And students who plan to be involved in sports or school activities will be collecting plenty of FREE T-shirts, so don’t bring too many of those either. What clothes DO you need plenty of? Survey says: socks and underwear.
Your CD and DVD collection. Add all your music to your computer, phone or MP3 player and bring a good set of small speakers. That’s all you’ll need. For movies, sign up for a streaming service like Netflix and watch them on your computer.
Your book collection. Chances are good that your university takes great pride in its well-stocked library. Bring the books you know you’ll need and a couple for recreational reading—you won’t have time to do much of that anyway. Or use an e-reader, iPad or tablet to keep a big library in a small space.
Prohibited items. Most universities don’t allow you to bring candles, incense, toasters, hot plates, amplifiers and weapons—among other things. Check your school’s policy before you pack.
Your Mileage May Vary:
Desk lamp. Many students don’t study at their desks. A better bet is a clip-on lamp that can be attached to your headboard, or a floor lamp if you’re not using bunk beds.
TV. At least wait until you know if your roommate is bringing one. You may be able to watch many of your favorite shows on your laptop or tablet with an online-streaming service.
Storage units. Until you know what kind of storage space is in your room, it’s best to defer buying these. Sign up for Amazon Student and get free Prime shipping for 6 months. You can find storage items at a great price and they’ll be delivered to your dorm in just a couple of days.
Don’t Leave Home Without It:
Ethernet cable, and make it a long one. While most campuses have WiFi, it hasn’t always made it to the dorms.
Surge-protecting power strips for all your electronics. Along with those network cables, campus stores charge a premium for these, so bring one more than you think you’ll need.
Flip-flops for the shower. Just because you have to share a bathroom doesn’t mean you want your dorm-mates to share athlete’s foot with you. Buy these now before they disappear with the rest of the summer items.
Earplugs. Whether it’s shutting out a snoring roommate, city traffic or noisy neighbors, earplugs can save your sanity by helping you get much-needed shut-eye.
Air fresheners. Even if your room doesn’t smell, you’ll find that odors from the neighbors can find their way in. And a few strategically-placed air fresheners can go a long way toward combating the Smelly Roommate problem.
Multivitamins. Get the “gummi bear” kind if you want, or bring a bottle of Flintstones; you’ll need to do something to supplement your diet of Lucky Charms, ramen noodles, and pizza.
Fan. Climate control in dorms leaves a lot to be desired. Even in winter, things can get stuffy. In spring and fall, weather in the dorms can be downright oppressive! Keep the fresh air moving with a small oscillating fan.
Mattress pad. Egg-crate pads covered by a mattress protector do wonders for those thin, lumpy dorm mattresses.
Clear storage bin for your food. Make sure this has a tight, secure closure to keep mice and insects out of your Cap’n Crunch.
Tools of the trade. Small screwdrivers, pliers, a can opener, scissors and a first-aid kit don’t take up a lot of room, but they’ll definitely get used.
Communicate with your roommate and decide on who’s bringing what, in terms of the big stuff like refrigerators. Coordinated bed linens mean much less in the scheme of things than actually having space to live in your limited living space!
Thursdays at CatholicMom.com begin with a look at the past week’s Small Successes!
