I’m not known for my flexibility.  It’s not just that I’m neither athletic nor interested in becoming more so.  It’s that I want my world situated into a planner, complete with alphabetized lists and prioritized to-dos.  (more…)

Love starts at home. (more…)

Have you heard of the Fairy Tale Novels? If not, then let me pause in my jumping up and down long enough to catch my breath and tell you to run as fast as you can to get them. (more…)

On my refrigerator, I have a scrap piece of paper that’s been around for months, maybe as long as a year.  It started life near my coffeepot, then it moved to the window over my kitchen sink, then it was on my bathroom mirror for a while. (more…)

I’m not a naturally flexible person.

I’d like to be, though.  I have great intentions.  I’ll set myself up with resolutions and plans of action and set out to conquer my inflexibility.  I’ll steam along and talk big. (more…)

It was cold and clear.  I was pregnant-to-bursting, wearing a shiny red shirt that looked festive but wasn’t warm. (more…)

A local farm near us does a reenactment of the Christmas Story every year, loading folks up on wagons and driving them to different stations. (more…)

Eight or nine years ago I attended my first midnight Christmas Mass.  I was with my boyfriend, a guy who seemed too good to be true. (more…)

Maybe she can’t help it.  Maybe she watches, from her perch in perfection, and she just can’t stop herself from reaching down and even actually appearing. (more…)

As we approach a holy day that I inevitably forget about and fail to plan for, despite the fact that I am not only a convert (which is supposed to give me some sort of free pass to remembering these sorts of things, isn’t it?) and that I have worked for many years in a parish office. (more…)

It’s not easy to admit, here in this highly Catholic space, to people who may or may not “really” know me, that just the other day, the phrase “I hate Christmas!” came out of my mouth. (more…)

I sat in the chair, one I hadn’t occupied for far too long, and enjoyed the feel of being pampered a bit.  Never mind that I hate having my hair straightened: this was adult conversation, and my hair was finally cut and styled. (more…)

In the last four years, I have come to a realization that I have a new favorite color.  Though I tend to like all the colors, favoring for scarlet and gray during football season, I feel almost guilty confessing that I’ve started to almost like the color pink. (more…)

I never have a problem finding my car in a parking lot, despite it being a popular make and model.  I have my four-year-old to thank for that. (more…)

I love to sing, though I won’t claim to be able to carry a tune in a bucket.  My kids and I sing in the car, and we make up silly songs of our own, and that’s as far as I thought it would ever go. (more…)

I’ve been Christian most of my life, though I tend to count the last eight years with a different weight, since becoming Catholic was more intentional than the Christianity of my youth. (more…)

Though I feel very called to pray the rosary — even as often as daily — I’d be lying if I told you I found this easy. (more…)

It was early January of this year when I realized, without a shadow of a doubt, that I HAD to say the rosary daily. (more…)

A while back, Deacon Tom Fox wrote a column in this space called “The Gift of Tears.”  I’m a dry-eyed gal most of the time, and I have always prided myself on that trait. (more…)

It’s the Month of the Rosary, and thanks to a group of generous sponsors, we have an October Rosary Giveaway!  To enter, you must leave a comment on this post with a valid email address (which won’t be published or shared) before Midnight PST on Saturday, October 31, 2009.  (Even more new items added since the contest began!) (more…)