Author: darcee

Just one more Catholic wife and mother on the internet, blogging about homeschooling, living the faith and all that sort of thing.
Catholic homemaking · Catholic Homeschooling · Christmas · Homemaking · Mary Mary and Martha · My world · Simplicity

Holiday Grand Plan Week One.

darcee8 Comments

The Official Holiday Grand Plan starts on August 31.  In order to accommodate the Advent season I am starting earlier, this week, and I hope to have everything in order and ready for a calm and spiritual Advent season.

Week One
It is the middle of August and December Holidays and the cold and snow of winter seem a million miles away, but we all know that they are right around the corner.  It is also a busy time for moms.  School is starting, the summer is ended, there are peaches to preserve and weeds to pull and all those small projects that need doing in between squeezing in a last bit of summer fun or beating off the late summer heat. 

Cleaning:  The front porch is the space on the agenda this week.    While I am outside looking at my front porch I am also looking around the outside of the house and making some notes for the fall maintenance.  The cleaning list linked above is a good place to start. 

Planning:  I use my family planning notebook instead of a separate holiday planner.  This is called “List week” because you are setting up your lists.  I have the following that I am making:

Gift list – who we are shopping for
Card list – collect and update addresses
Parties – which parties we will host
Menus – menus for the holiday meals we will be hosting and rough menus for the Holiday season.
Decorating – plan for decorating for Advent and Christmas
Baking – plan for the baking needs for gifts and goodies
Devotionals – what devotionals will we be doing during Advent/Christmas and what supplies we will need
Traditions – things we enjoy doing as a family or things we might want to experience this year for the first time.

The main goals of the lists at this point are to decide a rough budget and space out the shopping for the Holidays, make sure that we have things we need ready (no shopping for Advent Candles the day after Thanksgiving), and to just get a handle on things.

I am not printing out additional calendar pages, because my master planner has the calendar in it already.   Most lists I make on the computer and then print out lists that I need for my dayrunner or my family planning notebook as needed.

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The Simple Woman’s Daybook – August 18, 2008

darcee3 Comments


he Simple Woman’s Daybook
is hosted by Peggy at the Simple Woman.
Thank you Peggy.

FOR TODAY : August 18, 2008
Thunder and lightening and a whole bunch of running around today.  

Outside My Window… A light shower, thunder and lightening.  A wonderful break from the oppressive heat we have been experiencing.
I am thinking…  Today I am starting the Holiday Grand Plan, tweaked for those of us who do Advent.  I will be posting on this later today.
I am thankful for…  My 16 year old who has been a really big help this summer.
From the kitchen… I have my coffee this morning.  If the weather stays cooler I will bake some break this afternoon. 
I am wearing… My PJs.  
I am creating…  A new website.
I am going…  To take my mother to have cataract surgery this morning.
I am reading…  A Mother’s Rule of Life. 
I am hoping…  That everything goes well with mom, that the weather stays cool and that the next few days go quickly.
I am hearing… Not the stupid crow.  It must not like thunder.   
Around the house…  I planted two new hanging baskets this weekend.  I am working on the front porch this week.  I miss my husband, he is traveling on business. 
One of my favorite things…  The smell of rain on hot dry ground.
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: Lots of cleaning and planting and getting ready for the end of summer.

Here is picture thought I am sharing…


Blogs I Know · Catholic stuff · My world

The love that lasts

darcee4 Comments

Years ago I sat in my grandparent’s kitchen, my grandmother was washing dishes when my grandfather came into the room.  He walked up behind her and gave her a hug “My little bride” he said lovingly, with a big grin on his face.  I knew then and there that was what I wanted – a love that would last. 

My grandparents didn’t have a perfect life, they had sickness and health, good times and very, very bad times.  They had seen war, grief, betrayal, hope, love and everything in between.  But they had each other for better or worse and they made it through.  For over 50 years they lived together.  It wouldn’t be more than a year after that little scene in the kitchen that my grandfather would pass away and my own marriage imploded and ended in divorce.  That was almost 15 years ago.  Today  I am happily married to a great guy who loves me and who I love very much.  We have been married for almost eight years.  I can’t help but wish that my grandfather had lived to see it.

There was more to my grandparent’s relationship than just a warm romance.  There was a deep commitment.  The summer before my grandfather died he and I sat in his truck while he messed with the something while listening to the radio.  There were a good number of people visiting and my grandmother has never been known as one who manages stress very well.  “You are hiding” I accused him when I managed to slip away from the house to go find some place quiet. 

“Yeah, but you know, that woman has given me a lot of fine years.”  Grandpa and my conversations were most commonly like that.  One of us would say almost nothing and the other would comment as though a whole paragraph had been spoken.   Yes, he was hiding because grandma would start picking up little things to be upset over and she would find a laundry list of things that he had to do right away if she could see what he wasn’t doing.  And it bothered him, and he hated to see it and it had been getting worse with time.  Dementia  was slowly setting in and brought out most fervently during stress.  And he was worried about her and he was a man with a great deal of honor and deep sense of duty.  He had made a vow for better or worse, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t escape to the truck for a little while now and again. 

Love like that isn’t the fruit of some chemical attraction.  It isn’t based on the other person being “the one” or “right for me” or “making me happy.”  Love that lasts that long even through bad times is something that requires commitment and work and at many times a sense of selflessness.  I was reading earlier today this homily From Deacon Greg over at the Anchoress.

I appreciate the take they both have about the importance of love, perseverance and constancy.  Our devotion to love.  I have read a good deal this year on life being looked at from a “utilitarian” view and how dehumanising and therefore dangerous it is.

There was a time in my life where I viewed life’s value as having a great deal to do with one’s intellectual capabilities.  This changed as I aged and most profoundly changed as I came to terms with my own daughter’s disability.  It becomes almost a cautionary tale.  Any of us at any moment could fall victim to an accident or illness and be the one without the ability to contribute to society in a utilitarian sense.

Autism · Catholic stuff · My world

An update for Carol Race

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The charges for violating the restraining order have been dropped against Carol Race. You can read the news article here.

I spoke to Carol last week and told her that I would publish a link to her latest endeavour. There is a petition on the website “Project: Adam’s Pew” I have read it and I am still considering it. In reality I think I need more feedback from those beyond myself. The petition is asking for the Bishops to consider forming a task force to look into how their former recommendations are being carried out. Which I can’t imagine being a harmful thing.

At the point where we are looking to send a petition off to the Bishops to address the “issue” of inclusion of people with disabilites into the communal celebration of the mass the story stops being about Adam or Rachel or any other particular child or adult and becomes about the best practices for all involved. To decide what is best we need to look at the needs of the community, the needs of individuals within the community, and the teachings of the Church.

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The Simple Woman’s Daybook – August 11, 2008

darcee7 Comments


he Simple Woman’s Daybook
is hosted by Peggy at the Simple Woman.
Thank you Peggy.

FOR TODAY : August 11, 2008
More swimming lesson, registering for nearly everything, summer’s nearly over.  

Outside My Window… A good  morning, almost cool and moist.
I am thinking…  That I need to get back into shape.  I serriously need some exercise.
I am thankful for…  .
From the kitchen… I need to make some bannana bread. 
I am wearing… brown capris and my favorite white blouse.  
I am creating…  A new website.
I am going…  To the pool.
I am reading…  Laundry, and A Mother’s Rule of Life. 
I am hoping…  That I can be productive this morning.
I am hearing… The crow.  Again, still, I don’t know he has been here all summer it seems.   
Around the house… We have some new flowers to go in and I am planting some herb seeds for the winter window box garden. 
One of my favorite things…  Apples
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: This is destined to be a busy week. Swimming, work, lots of stuff to do and plan for the kids for the fall.

Here is picture thought I am sharing…


my grandmother and mom at the cabin

Catholic Basics · Catholic stuff

Catholic Basics – Knowing God.

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For Francis (St Francis of Assisi) religion was not a thing like a theory but a thing like a love affair.
– G.K. Chesterton


Moretto Brescia – The Holy Family

Love God, know God, obey God, serve God and one another.    This is the sum of Christian theology.   It seems most common that those coming into the faith rarely do so because they were first intellectually convinced.  It is most commonly that they had some experience that led them to love God and then they found themselves desiring to know God.  Something draws the soul to God and the the relationship must be built from there.

Our relationship with God is in many ways like any other relationship.  It takes time, effort and understanding  to develop the deep and satisfying relationship with God that we desire.  There will be times, as there are in any relationship, where you are more or less on autopilot.  And there may even be times where you are separated from God or where communication is difficult but the relationship goes on and reunion is perfect and beautiful.  

Here are a few of the ways in which we met God allow us to more fully know Him.

Nature, Art, Music and Beauty  The beauty of the creator is reflected in creation.  Music and Art that stirs the soul and lifts our thoughts to God.  God whispers His love to us in the beauty of every face around us.  Each little flower, each blade of grass act in a symphony of life that hums constantly with the joy of being.   If we take the time to savor life we see God in the world around us.

Prayer There are so many kinds of prayer.  Each person has their own favored ways of praying.  Communal prayer, meditative prayer, Rosaries, Chaplets, Psalms the list could go on and on and I would undoubtedly  miss something.  Speak to God and spend some prayer time listening. 

Scriptures The scriptures are God’s gift to us in them we learn about God’s teaching and commandments, His nature and His earthly life.  We see the example of those who served God before us.  I always find it rather funny when someone has the impression that Catholics do not use the Bible.  We do, every single mass has multiple readings from scripture.   We use Scripture to learn about and to draw closer to God.

Catechism Whenever there is a question about what the Church teaches I go to the catechism.  Our Catechism is a rich resource containing the wisdom and teachings of 2000 years distilled into a rather manageable text.  By learning the catechism we learn about God, his lover for us and the commandments He would have us live.

The Sacraments Any of the sacraments bring us closer to God.  Our Baptism, the Holy Eucharist, Confession – they all draw us closer to God and allow us to know him more fully.  There is such love an peace contained in the Eucharist.  The reception of the Eucharist, Eucharistic adoration and confession bring us close to God in very special ways.  They heal us from our self-inflicted wounds and allow us to glimpse the reality that love is sacrifice.

Writings of the Saints and others  Reading the writings of Christians who have come before us and reading about their lives bring us closer to God in a special way.  Sort of like family get togethers where we all share stories about our love ones.  We learn more about God by learning how others have experienced His love.

The Lives of Others  We all shine like the sun to God.  By recognising the beauty and humanity in the lives of others we learn a great deal about the nature of God and what it means to be Christian.  We are not supposed to start out perfect, we are perfected in Christ. 

Our Service to Others “It is in giving that we receive”.  When we act on Christ’s behalf for others we see Christ more clearly and allow His glory to shine through us into the lives of others.