just another day of Catholic pondering by Sarah Reinhard
Non-foodies everywhere are quaking in their boots, and while the audience in the kitchen today might be made up primarily of those who savor the challenge ahead with a string of major holidays, let me be the one to call for some sanity.
In my world, hosting a major family gathering usually guarantees that my heart rate and stress level will soar while my family’s appreciation of those things will plummet.
Is it worth it?
The answer and the rest of my reflection are up over at Catholic Foodie.
And Jeff, the Catholic Foodie Extraordinaire, has a new site! And look! There’s a whole section devoted to Mary in the Kitchen! Check it out!
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This week we celebrated Mary’s birthday. That’s Mary the Mother of God. The Blessed Virgin. My homegirl.
Yeah, what’s a birthday to her?
But to us? Well, WE have every right to celebrate!
And celebrate we are…with prayer AND giveaways!
Over at CatholicMom.com, we’ve put together NINE DAYS of giveaways–a novena of giveaways, complete with an actual novena.
Don’t worry about jumping in late…your prayers are never wasted. Don’t waste any time, though, getting over there for today’s giveaway, sponsored by On This Day Designs! Be sure to check in every day until the 16th, too, because there are books, jewelry, rosaries, embroidered goodies, and more books coming!
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About a year ago, I bought Meredith Gould‘s The Catholic Home: Celebrations and Traditions for Holidays, Feast Days, and Every Day. I justified purchasing it because I was planning to use it for research for my book which is due out in March.
I thoroughly enjoyed The Catholic Home, and I was excited to hear that Meredith has put together a study guide for it.
The study guide‘s free and, from what I’ve been able to see so far, a wonderful accompaniment to the book.
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Speaking of the book that’s due out in March, I think it’s safe to share some information. And the fact that people I really admire tell me they’re getting copies of it for early review and blurbs.
An author friend told me recently that it’s nerve-wracking when people start getting early copies of your book.
I smiled, but I really had NO CLUE.
With Welcome Baby Jesus (and Welcome Risen Jesus, which is due out at the beginning of the year), I didn’t have this to worry about, in part because of the booklet format and publication cycle.
But Catholic Family Fun: A Guide for the Adventurous, Overwhelmed, Creative, or Clueless is going through all the traditional hoops. I wrote it last summer, edited it this summer, and sit here biting my fingernails as good friends and writing colleagues and heroes tell me about getting their copies.
I haven’t even seen copies of it! Is the cover pretty? Is there a picture of me pulling out my hair? (Did my three-year-old take said picture?) Is it good? (Because I didn’t think so until we had thrashed through the editing process. And then I only liked it grudgingly.)
Oh, and do you think I’ll be able to get my kids to try out some of the neat ideas I shared in it?
Um, wait. I’m not supposed to admit that… 
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Don’t you love that subtitle? A Guide for the Adventurous, Overwhelmed, Creative, or Clueless
I’m going to have to do some working to get it memorized, but I gotta hand it to those Daughters of St. Paul: they captured exactly what I wanted to get in the title!
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You know who else gets me?
Jeff Young (aka Catholic Foodie).
Every time I listen to his show (except for my Mary in the Kitchen segment), I drool.
His latest episode is no different. Maybe it’s that I love pizza. A LOT. And that I have found my inner Southerner in my passion for crawfish and southern eats.
The part about Mama cooking love into her food? What part of that doesn’t make you think of Mary?
My Mary in the Kitchen segment is a reflection on Mary’s birthday, taken in large part from a column I wrote a couple of years ago for Faith & Family Live.
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In other news, I had to buy new socks this week:
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This is a snapshot of the week via Twitter. See if you can feel my pain/amusement/horror/joy:
(Click to enlarge. And yes, he IS now pulling himself up. AND crawling. AND smiling like crazy.)
Stop by to see Jen at Conversion Diary for all the fun that is 7 Quick Takes Friday!
On Catholic Foodie 121, my Mary in the Kitchen segment combines a fussy baby, a beautiful sunrise (which you’ve seen pictured in this space, actually), and Mary.
On Faith & Family Live Cast #105, I’m talking back to school and confession with Danielle and Rebecca. It’s a conversation I needed, and I recommend a great read, too. (Because that’s really my goal in life: to share good reads with other people.)
Hope you’ll listen in! And while you’re at it, have a great weekend!
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I’m back to working out intensely twice a week. I took most of the summer off, so this is week 2. Butt = kicked.
It’s zumba, a sort of Latin dance thing (there’s a video here, and I look about like the guy in the back). We are a bunch of moms, not one of us under 30 (I think), except for the kids who get dragged along. I never would have expected to like it, but there are a couple of factors keeping me going back:
(1) A good friend and I call or text each other. If one of us misses, the other is haranguing her. Accountability is a good thing.
(2) The instructor is really laid back. In fact, she’s a lot of fun. In fact, I like her. Even though she causes me a lot of pain.
(3) The sweating isn’t so bad. The pain isn’t so bad. The laughing is great. I know all the ladies (it’s a group from our parish), and when I feel like it’s too much, I just look over at the 72-year-old lady beside me and realize I could slow down, take a drink, and start over.
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I haven’t noticed that exercise is good for my mental health. I know the facts support that, but I think having a routine will help me more than the exercise, to be honest. And next week, school starts.
School = routine.
Yay!
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Speaking of school, I thought we were all set with school supplies and such. Then my husband looked at me, a bit shocked, and declared that our six-year-old, who will be entering first grade, needed a new outfit. And probably new shoes.
Said six-year-old was in complete agreement.
So, on Wednesday, I sucked it up, found an aunt to take the three-year-old, and took her to the store.
Where I bought her a new outfit and new shoes.
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Those shoes? They were SIZE FIVE!
I’m still in shock. She’s tall, yes, but SIZE FIVE?!?
And then a friend of mine told me that it probably translates into a women’s size seven.
I need a fainting couch.
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My nieces have been cleaning out their closets, and it’s with much rejoicing that I find myself as the aunt who can take hand-me-downs from nieces who are taller and more stylish than me.
That does not, however, make me fabulous, though a writer who I admire very much interviewed me recently and flattered me by calling me just that in her title. Do stop over to see the interesting questions Ginny Kubitz Moyer of Random Acts of Momness posed for me.
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Back to school for kids means back to a stricter writing schedule for me (and the acknowledgement of a looming deadline). Is that why I’m pondering where my office really is on the latest Mary in the Kitchen on the Catholic Foodie podcast? Maybe. Or maybe I’m just in my kitchen a lot.
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Arwen, Lisa, and I discussed girlfriends and mom survival this week on the Faith & Family podcast, and I’d love to hear what you think about these topics. I’m not in survival mode the way Arwen is, but I’m in a tough stretch lately, all the same. Listen in and let us know what you think!
Be sure to visit Jen at Conversion Diary for Quick Takes Friday!
Yeah, I know. Cheap shot to introduce my latest Mary in the Kitchen segment, huh?
Except…no it’s not! Jeff’s a die-hard Saints fan, and we love the Saints too (the team and the communion of, thankyouverymuch), and who better to be cheering for than Mary! WHO DAT!
I share why I like “Valentime’s” Day now. And Jeff has a great show for the rest of it. Go check it out!
And though I haven’t been doing much writing elsewhere, I do have a new piece up at CatholicMom.com: The Lesson of Afghans.
And now, I’m off to gear up for the “fake birthday” party for a six-year-old who I’m surprised slept at all last night. Have a great day!
Here at Snoring Scholar, you'll find marriage and motherhood, book talk and rambling remarks, observations and distractions, in the midst of life in rural Ohio on a farm, with kids, critters, and Catholic flair.
Catholic Family Fun: A Guide for the Adventurous, Overwhelmed, Creative, or Clueless is now available for ordering! Read more about it and what others are saying or visit the book's website and Facebook page.
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