On Monday, I took TheKid shopping for new uniform pants (to replace the ones I got him in FEBRUARY, which he outgrew already). I am not in the mood to spend $40 per pair on pants for less than 1 school year, especially since the uniform company no longer adds a generous hem to the pants. They used to give 2 inches–now it’s 1/2 inch, and I can’t do a thing with that. So it was off to WalMart, because he told me that his friends got their pants there, and I found school pants for $14 per pair.

And then we headed next door to Modell’s for some new sneakers for him. When they didn’t have his size in stock, I asked if they could get the shoes for us. Turns out, store policy is to ship them free to your home in cases like that! And while I couldn’t use the 15%-off in-store coupon I had with me, the cashier offered to use a different online shopping code so I got the same discount.

I also found a pair of track pants that I’d been eyeing–and they were on sale. When I tried them on, they made me look skinny! Even better, they made me FEEL skinny! So I bought them. And then, on Wednesday, I went back and bought a second pair. If I could find a way to wear these things 24/7, I would, believe me.

I also gathered up all my courage and pressed the SEND button on an email about a project I’ve been asked to work on with a few other writers. Prayers would be most appreciated!

Finally, I walked into the parish office yesterday and the business manager waved a copy of Word by Word at me, telling everyone in the vicinity that I am an author! I’m a contributor–one of 40–but wow, it really was cool to see my name on the pages of that book.

Share your Small Successes at CatholicMom.com by joining the linkup in the bottom of today’s post. No blog? List yours in the comments box!

If you’re interested in purchasing Word by Word, consider stopping in at your local Catholic bookstore first. It’s also available online, and if you use my Amazon link, Franciscanmom.com gets a small percentage of the sales.

2015

October 12, 2015 franciscanmomLeave a comment

A lot of writing happened in this space last week–not so much in the others.

At CatholicMom.com

Tech Talk: All the Catholic News, All in One Place. I reviewed the new free app from the USCCB. The Catholic Church app is packed full of national and international Catholic news and many other resources.

At Cook and Count

Sausage and Pepper Pasta Bake. We are all about the sausage and pepper sandwiches around here, so it wasn’t too much of a stretch to take the best of that meal and turn it into a baked-pasta dish.

Small Success: Shrines and Sick Days

October 1, 2015October 1, 2015 franciscanmom5 Comments

Thursdays at CatholicMom.com begin with a look at the past week’s Small Successes!

I’m supposed to be substitute-teaching right now, but TheKid and I both have some kind of stomach ickiness, where you just feel terrible but nothing terrible actually happens. I haven’t had (or wanted) coffee since Tuesday, so something is definitely amiss.

I know he’s not malingering today, because I reminded him that no school today means no rehearsal tonight, and he didn’t protest.

When I picked up TheKid at school yesterday after the nurse called me, I stopped at the office to let them know that teaching today wasn’t happening. They graciously reminded me that TheKid comes first. Then the secretary called a few hours later to ask how he was and to let me know that they’d found someone to sub today–because she knew I’d be feeling bad about that.

I’d worked hard on Tuesday to get ahead on things, which was good, because I just wasn’t feeling it yesterday. Instead, I did a little bit of work and then bailed to the couch with my ginger ale and crackers and a novel I’ll be reviewing soon.

SKD with Pat and Lisa 2 photo by Lisa Hendey — Photo credit: Lisa Hendey

BUT I did have one nice big success on Monday. I got to visit with Lisa Hendey and Pat Gohn on the last stop of their Papal Pilgrimage to Philly: the Shrine of St. Katharine Drexel in Bensalem, PA. It’s less than 25 minutes away, and I’d never been there. It was a beautiful place to pray, walk and chat. I took many photos but they deserve a post of their own.

Share your Small Successes at CatholicMom.com by joining the linkup in the bottom of today’s post. No blog? List yours in the comments box!

Small Success: Flying Solo (Again)

April 23, 2015April 23, 2015 franciscanmom6 Comments

Thursdays at CatholicMom.com begin with a look at the past week’s Small Successes!

Today ends Week 4 of a series of business trips Hubs is taking to Kansas. I try not to complain too much about it, because if he’s going on business trips, that means he has a job. But still. It wears on you.

Concentrating on the Good Things is keeping me going. Here are a few:

-1-

I mowed the lawn on Sunday. For the very first time. Actually, it wasn’t that bad. It’s a pretty gratifying task. I wish the mower had a padded handle, though. I might repurpose a pool noodle for that next time. (And I know that Father M gave a homily a few weeks back on “no unnecessary servile work” on Sundays, but I needed to do it while Hubs was around to show me how AND it had to get done before it rained on Monday. And Tuesday. And Wednesday.)

-2-

Little Brother’s Confirmation prep meeting was last night. Hubs wasn’t around to go, so I had to cancel choir practice. BUT I didn’t have any social-anxiety issues AND I managed to convince Little Brother that they had given him a Bible because he was required to read it twice before Confirmation.

He actually believes me.

I even made up a fake “Bible reading log” and slipped it into his folder of Confirmation papers.

He’ll probably find out at school today that I made the whole thing up, but I don’t think it’s a bad thing to encourage the kids to read the Bible. Why else would they give them out at the Confirmation meeting?

(It’s a nice Bible, too. Nice and big. No 0.5-point font.)

-3-

I managed to figure out why, when I sent documents to the printer, nothing would ever print. Turns out I have a “ghost printer” in the system someplace, and somehow that got set as the default. Everything prints very nicely now, thankyouverymuch.

-4-

Come on over! The pool’s open! Actually, this is not MY success. It’s all Hubs, who opened the pool on Saturday when it was 80 degrees out.

Yes, kids were in it.

Yes, I am already picking up wet beach towels in the yard, and on the porch, and in the family room. In April. In New Jersey.

It beats picking up abandoned gloves and snow boots.

Share your Small Successes at CatholicMom.com by joining the linkup in the bottom of today’s post. No blog? List yours in the comments box!

Monday Recap 3/16

March 16, 2015 franciscanmomLeave a comment

It’s been a pretty quiet writing week, as I’ve been settling in to a new job and spent 2 days as a stagehand and 1/2 day substitute-teaching.

I am praying that this week is very, very quiet by comparison.

My Meatless Friday feature at Catholic Bloggers Network this week: Crab Mac-N-Cheese! (It only tastes expensive.)

My Tech Talk at CatholicMom.com features the Pauline Books & Media app and an interview with its creator, Sister Kathryn James!

Small Success Thursday: Sigh of Relief Edition

November 7, 2013November 6, 2013 franciscanmom12 Comments

I’m linking up with Small Success Thursday at CatholicMom.com!

If you’d asked me on Monday whether I would be participating in Small Success Thursday, I’d have flat-out told you NO. Monday was not a good day around here. It was a crazy day of caregiving and housework with no breaks, and I’d woken up at 4 AM thanks to that lovely custom of “falling back” to Standard Time. (Just pick one already and be done with it!) I usually spend about 2 hours a day writing (I do freelance work, mostly web content) and there was no time for that at all. But there was a lot of time for fretting about what I wasn’t getting done.

All of that is just a lead-up to the small successes I have managed this week (it’s just about 3 PM on Wednesday as I write this).

1. After gutting it out on Tuesday and earlier today, I got caught up enough on work that I don’t HAVE to do any more until Saturday, if I don’t have the time.

2. I am caught up on laundry. My bed has fresh sheets. I cleaned both bathrooms today.

3. While listening to a podcast about podcasts, I heard Lisa Hendey mention two parts of CatholicMom.com that are near and dear to my heart: Tech Talk and Meatless Fridays. It’s my privilege to be a contributor for both of these features. Hearing something that I’m involved in mentioned on a podcast really gave me a lift.

4. I managed to get over to Little Brother’s school and meet him as he shopped at the Book Fair. He let me know this morning that it meant a lot to him for me to be there. Unlike other years, I’m not able to block out 3 days to volunteer at school and help with this event, and he really wanted me to be there when his class was shopping.

I was a little extra freaked out about getting stuff done by the end of the day Wednesday, because on Thursday and Friday I will be substitute-teaching at Little Brother’s school. (TheDad will work from home and take over the caregiving.) On Thursday I will have the middle-schoolers, including 8th-grade Language Arts, where they’re reading my very favorite creepy Edgar Allan Poe story: “The Cask of Amontillado.” Friday will be a challenge: I’ll have 3rd grade, self-contained. I don’t think I’ve taught a self-contained class since I substituted during my college days. I’m used to kids coming and going every 45 minutes.

Here’s what happened the LAST time I taught a self-contained class. (Remember, I was still a college student.) It was a 3rd-grade class at the parish school where my uncle was the pastor. When the morning bell rang, I went out to the playground to collect my students. We entered the classroom and the kids got busy with their morning routine…until the kids whose job it was to feed the fish noticed that the class pet had gone belly-up in the aquarium. Pandemonium ensued, with all the girls shrieking and all the boys yelling, “The fish is dead! Can I flush it?” In the middle of all that, my uncle strolled by the classroom.

I’m praying that Friday’s 3rd-grade classroom has no pets.

Join the rest of the participants in Small Success Thursday and celebrate those little (and big) accomplishments! It’s bound to put a smile on your face, even if you had a Monday like I did.

FranciscanMom

Held together by the grace of God, coffee, and crazy glue

Tag: CatholicMom

Small Success: Discounts & Books

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