This was show week for The Kid’s theatre camp, which meant several extra trips (20 minutes each way) and working the concession stand for 2 shows and a cast party AND auditions for the next production. There hasn’t been much writing OR cooking this week.
But there was a little “stress baking” yesterday between that cast party and audition.
One of the many things that makes me realize that I married my opposite is our opinions on surprises.
He loves them. Me, not so much.
He’s thrown three surprise parties for me over the years, one for each birthday that ends in a 0.
I did not react gracefully the first two times he did this.
But on Sunday afternoon, I was surprised again, and I count it as a success that:
no one got hurt
I had a fun time
my family managed to get this surprise past me.
Also, Big Brother and I won our round of Kanjam, though I did discover that it’s hard on the fingers and I do try to protect those so I can play guitar.
If I had to celebrate a “decade birthday” I am grateful that I was able to do so surrounded by family and friends, fun, good food and even live music (provided by a couple of my friends)! I received wonderful gifts (coffee gift cards, bookstore gift cards, and tickets to see Notre Dame play Temple) but the best gift of all was the fun time we had on Sunday afternoon.
“Dashboard” by Tomo Nakajima (2013), Flickr. All rights reserved. If this car had Sirius radio, I’d buy it.
Every morning on the way to theater camp it’s the same. The Kid and I fight over what we’re going to listen to on the radio. He punches buttons and I veto his selections.
Then I get, “But Mom! It’s ‘Loota’!”
Me: “We are not listening to people who name themselves after criminals who steal from stores during riots.”
Kid: …
Then I see the display on the stereo screen: Ludacris.
I still made him change the station.
It was a lot easier when he was small and had to sit in the back and couldn’t reach the radio.
And any of you who tell me I need to savor these last 3 1/2 years until he gets s driver’s license and is no longer in my passenger seat, you can have his musical (and I use that term loosely) selections.
Review: Catholic Sistas Planner. I review this printable planner that contains sections for your calendar, homeschool, homemaking and blogging purposes. Don’t miss my giveaway right here, ending Friday!
Meatless Friday: Farmer’s Market Roundup. I’ve gathered up a baker’s dozen recipes from the Meatless Friday archives that feature fresh produce–because now’s the time to get it and enjoy it at its best!
At Cook and Count:
Blueprint Recipe: Rosemary Chicken Thighs. Worth turning on the oven on a hot day, with a spice-rack option in case you don’t have any fresh herbs.
What’s the best part about the start of a new school year? New crayons, new pencils, fresh pink erasers, and (for moms) a brand-new calendar all ready to be filled with school schedules, sports schedules, play rehearsals, parties and dinner menus.
I use Google calendar (and various apps that support it) on my computer, phone and tablet, but a lot of my best thinking, planning and dreaming is done with pencil in hand, so for me, a paper planner is a must. I’m picky about my planner too–I like to have a Catholic planner with daily readings and the saint of the day listed. That way I don’t have to go somewhere else to get that information.
The Catholic Through the Year Planner from Catholic Sistas covers all the bases. In the sample page at left (half of a 2-page weekly spread) you’ll see that the top box for each day is dedicated to the Catholic part of the planner: daily readings, saints/feasts of the day, and even the daily mysteries of the Rosary. Fridays have a little fish icon to remind you to plan a meatless meal (here’s my opportunity for a shameless plug for my pet project, the Meatless Friday feature at CatholicMom.com!) Three boxes per day below that allow you to customize your planning to your own family’s needs. Then there’s a handy checklist along the side and an area for other notes at the bottom–with a quote from a saint each week.
Customization is the name of the game with this planner. You can choose a calendar, homeschool planner, blog planner and household planner–or any combination of these. Want it all? Grab the Whole Enchilada. Everything is on sale through the end of today (7/31), and the prices can’t be beat!
My favorite items from the household planner are definitely the monthly menu calendar and the reusable to-do list and daily, weekly and monthly cleaning lists, which can be placed in sheet protectors or laminated.
If you don’t have your new calendar for this school year yet, there’s good news–your new planner is as close as your printer. Print it out and get it bound at an office-supply store, or punch holes in the pages and slip them into a binder. (For some of the household pages, I use a clipboard.)
And now for the GIVEAWAY!
Catholic Sistas is generously offering a planner for one Franciscanmom reader. For your chance to win, name your favorite feature from this planner–check the list below for ALL that’s inside. The winner will be chosen at random from all comments made before August 7, 2015 at noon Eastern and will be notified by email.
Remember, you’ve got to be in it to win it! Leave a comment to enter!
I’m sharing the full table of contents below from the Catholic Sistas page, so you can get an idea of what’s inside.
154 8.5″x11″downloadable pages to print using your own home printer or take to a printer to have it professionally printed – your choice! {you can also adjust your printer to print it in booklet size, making it perfect for tossing in your purse}
print in COLOR or B&W — your choice
beautiful cover sheet
2015/2016 academic and 2015 traditional calendar available
this liturgical planner was created using the standard guidelines of the Church calendar, both the Roman Missal promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1969 used in the Ordinary Form of the Latin Rite {the Novus Ordo} and the Roman Missal promulgated by Pope St. Pius V and reissued by Pope St. John XXIII in 1962 used in the Extraordinary Form {the Traditional Latin Mass – TLM}
year at a glance
12 month at-a-glance pages {two-page spread per month for maximum use}
weekly planners for each month, giving you plenty of customizable space to meet your family’s needs
includes a personal information page,
contact sheet for friends, family, & acquaintances,
multiple pages for note taking {or doodling, if that’s what you like to do!},
and a meaty section on prayer, including verses from Sacred Scripture, quotes from saints, & references pulled from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, as well as a truncated list of common prayers.
o beautiful cover sheet
o 48 pages total
o 36 pages of blank lesson plans waiting for you to get ready for the school year! Verses from Sacred Scripture, quotes from saints, and snippets from the Catechism of the Catholic Church laced throughout.
o grade sheet printable to print as many times as needed
o an evaluation sheet to monitor your kiddo/s’ work habits, as well as yourself!
o and a report card printable for you to print on card stock, making your homeschool reporting look professional!
Here’s how that monthly menu page looks after I get my hands on it! As you can see, I’ve used this planner before–this is a 2014 menu, but the format is still the same. This is a page that lives on my clipboard for quick reference.
daily maintenance sheet to keep track of your posts and what you’ve done with social media, did you pray?, etc.
brainstorm sheet with room to spread out and jot down ideas, tags, categories, SEO, where to promote, time and supplies needed, and any offshoot post ideas
guest post sheet to keep track of details for those who wish to write on your blog
sponsor sheet to keep track of ads, $$ coming in, and start/end date for the ads
AND a month of posts sheet to jot down all the post titles for the month, as well as recording numbers for all your social media
Copyright 2015 Barb Szyszkiewicz, OFS. Planner image and header photo copyright 2015 Martina Kreitzer. All rights reserved. Menu planner photo copyright 2015 Barb Szyszkiewicz, OFS. All rights reserved.
But here’s my Birthday Happiness, which I count as success:
1. Everybody was home for dinner for my birthday. Big Brother came over. Middle Sister didn’t have to work. She made me a delicious lemon pound cake. Yum. I cooked dinner, because I like to cook, and yes, I did make a mess-intensive meal because the boys did the cleanup. Best. Present. Ever.
2. More cake was enjoyed last night at folk group practice. Chocolate bundt cake with vanilla glaze. Yum.
(Related: I hereby declare that if it’s your birthday cake, it has no calories.)
3. The Street Urchins sang “Happy birthday” to me and even signed a card, along with The Kid. That’s a keeper.
4. My parents are driving down to visit for the day and we’re all going out for lunch.
Once I’m all done celebrating, I’m going to go about considering what I can do to make sure that this year is, indeed, golden. For the moment, though, I’m going to savor it.
Get into a car with me and you’ll meet a whole different Barb. While I’m not Road Rage Incorporated, in the sense that I don’t get aggressive and tailgate or illegally pass people, I do vocally (with windows safely rolled up, but within earshot of my children) express my frustration with people who drive 30 or even 45 when the speed limit is 50, who leave the turn signal on for miles or don’t use it at all, or commit the Cardinal Sin of Driving: neglecting the “Thank-you Wave.”
I mean, how hard is that?
And then I remember Luke 14: 13-14:
But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.
In other words, I can’t be a saint until I stop expecting a thank-you wave.
Meet and greet: that was the name of the game at the Catholic Writers Guild Live Conference last week. (It’s called a Live Conference because there’s also an online version in the spring!)
I started right off meeting and greeting as I filled in at the registration desk, stuffing bags and checking in a few authors. My first conference selfie wound up being photobombed.
At the registration desk with Janice Willett. Photobomb courtesy of Ron O’Gorman.
Why the selfies? There was a contest. That started off being just for fun, but then there were prizes!
With Ellen Gable Hrkach, author and owner of Full Quiver Publishing, in the Trade Show booth.With the “Paper Pope” and volunteer coordinator Rebecca Willen. The folks at OSV were holding the “Welcome Pope Francis” sign.With @datechguyblog, a Catholic radio show host–who rocked the hat.
I am terrible at selfies, but it was fun.
More meeting and greeting continued at the Tuesday-night ice cream social. I got to meet my boss, Lisa Hendey of CatholicMom.com, who declared that I’m shorter than I appear on the Internet. Yes, before Tuesday, I had never met my boss or even spoken with her over the phone. Internet magic!
I got to meet authors and an editor at breakfast the next day. I wished I’d brought along my copy of Unleashed so Sonja Corbitt could have signed it. I suppose a hug will have to do.
With Margaret Rose Realy, Obl. OSB and Erin McCole-Cupp, OP.
I participated in a panel discussion on third-order religious life with Benedictine Oblate Margaret Rose Realy and Lay Dominican Erin McCole-Cupp.
The conference theme was Perseverance, and I listened to two excellent presentations on that theme.
Schedules matter; if you’re consistently off-schedule that means your plan isn’t realistic.
So true. I know all about unrealistic plans.
I enjoyed lunch with Lisa, worked a couple of shifts at the Trade Show booth where I answered questions about what the Catholic Writers Guild does and recommended some of my favorite books by Guild authors.
The Wednesday dinner table included me, one kids’ fiction writer, two sci-fi writers, one horror writer, one poet, one Sherlock Holmes fanfic writer and two fiction writers. I’ll leave the conversation topics to your imagination and promise that it was even more outrageous than that.
With (rear) Nancy Ward, Lisa Mladinich, Pat Gohn, Karee Santos, Lisa Hendey, Leticia Velasquez, and (front) Jeff Young (the Catholic Foodie) and Margaret Rose Realy, Obl. OSB.
Thursday’s breakfast banquet offered an opportunity to meet some of the wonderful CatholicMom.com authors I work with. The only drawback: there was a banquet speaker, so we had to eat quietly and listen, but all we wanted to do was visit with each other!
My St. Francis “bag booster.” It’s even more gorgeous in person!
I met an illustrator and was asked for feedback on her manuscript. I chatted with a bookstore owner about the need for good Catholic books for kids. I did a little shopping–got a St. Francis “bag booster” from CatholicArtWorks.com, a neat family business where Mom does the art and the teenage daughters do custom and unique beadwork. No two bag boosters are alike! And these are not cheesy plastic. That stained-glass piece is heavy and sturdy.
Tiny Nativity in a pottery “stable”–it fits in the palm of my hand!
This little Nativity came from Ole Peru Imports. She had Nativity scenes of all sizes from Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. All are handmade and unique.
With notebooks by Jen Norton, illustrator. Her artwork is beautiful and unique.
And I purchased two notebooks from Jen Norton, who did the cover art for Sarah Reinhard’s Word by Word book, for which I was a participating author.
I met so many people whose work I admire, and so many others whose work I’m just beginning to know. It was a wonderful event!
Thanks to the magic of prescheduling, I was able to attend the Catholic Writers Guild Conference last week–and leave my computer behind! There were many people to meet and lots of knowledge to absorb.
Guest Blogging
For NFP Week, I was a guest blogger at Erin McCole-Cupp’s Will Write for Tomato Pie in her “Captive Panda” series. What’s a Captive Panda? Go on over and find out. I’ve met 3 out of 4 authors from that series (and am well-acquainted with the last one, as we work together at 2 different websites.) Thanks, Erin, for hosting this important discussion.
At Cook and Count
Just one recipe this week, and it’s for one of my very favorite side dishes: Tiny Potatoes with Parsley.
At CatholicMom.com
I reviewed Casting the First Stone by Lisa Lawmaster Hess, a fellow CatholicMom.com contributor who’s also a Jersey girl. She’s working on the sequel (I peeked. It’s good stuff!) This novel questions whether anyone can actually “win” in a child-custody battle.
“Panda” by George Lu (2011) via Flickr, CC BY 2.0. Text added by author.
Pandas in captivity are notorious for their infrequent ability to conceive. They can conceive, but their fertility is compromised. I experienced subfertility for several years, and my use of NFP (and persistence in searching for a doctor who would take me seriously) finally helped me learn what was at the root of the problem.
