Category: Life

Holy Week! – Prayer and Preparation

Posted March 21, 2016 in Faith, Life / 0 Comments

It seems almost crazy that it is already Holy Week! Lent seems to have gone by both fast and slow. It is strange to think that we have just celebrated Palm Sunday of Passion of the Lord and that the Triduum and Easter are approaching.

My Daily Roman Missal said the following about yesterday, Palm Sunday:

On this day the Church recalls the entrance of Christ the Lord
into Jerusalem to accomplish His Paschal Mystery.

This is what the entire week is about. The whole week leads up to Good Friday when Jesus dies upon the Cross for all our sins. The whole week leads up to Holy Saturday when the Church awaits the coming Resurrection. The whole week leads up to Easter Sunday and the empty tomb.

The whole week is about the accomplishment of our redemption and the salvation of the world. This week is all about the Son of God, the Word, the Logos, the Lamb, the Son of Mary, the Christ, giving His very Life for us.

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Scheduling {Blog Organization}

Posted March 18, 2016 in Let's Discuss, Life, Reading / 12 Comments

Blog Organization: Scheduling

Welcome to the second part of my series on blog organization. The first part of the series was on the plugins I use and this post will be on scheduling.

I used to use exclusively Google Calendar to help me schedule my posts. It was great because I was able to sync between computer and my phone. However, I had some problems with it. I was forgetting to look at it or update it as often as I should.

Now, I use a May Designs planner. I have a months + dots agenda and I will show you how I use it. The months are, obviously, for scheduling and I use the dots to help keep track of reading challenges.

The first thing I did when I got my planner was add a key to each month’s page. My key is as follows:

  • red for Monthy Wrap-Ups
  • green for Reviews
  • purple for Discussions
  • blue for Memes
  • orange for Catholic Liturgical Calendar
  • pencil for personal things or tentative posts

Planner Key

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February 2016 in Review

Posted February 28, 2016 in Life, Reading / 6 Comments

February 2016 in Review

Things that Happened in February

  • First of all, this is going to be a LONG post.
  • Lent started which means that Easter is on the way!
  • I wrote TWO discussion posts. I am thoroughly impressed with myself.
  • There has been nasty stuff floating around the school I work at. I have, thankfully, not caught anything terrible yet. I, however, have been feeling a little under-the-weather.
  • Speaking of weather, we have been having the weirdest winter ever! I live in Montana. We should have snow in February. Instead, all of the snow and ice has melted and we have been enjoying temperatures in the 50s and 60s! This isn’t exactly as good as it sounds since the ranchers really need the moisture from the snow in order to for the year to work out. It has been… odd.
  • I finally convinced my sister to sign up with Pottermore and be sorted. (She is a Hufflepuff, in case you were curious.)
  • I attended a Brew Fest with my family. It was… interesting. I cannot drink beer due to celiac and an alcohol allergy. It was thanks to that alcohol allergy that I started to go into anaphylaxis at the event. I was all, “I can’t breathe.” My dad was, “You’re fine.” I was all, “No! I really can’t breathe!” Then my dad and a family friend got me out of the crowd enough that I could recover.
  • I had an amazing Religious Ed class with my students. They were extremely interested in why there are Popes, how Popes are elected, and the Popemobile (which they didn’t believe was a real thing until I showed them pictures).
  • I’m slowly learning to let God take over since things have been… interesting lately.
  • On the note about God, I am in the process of applying for acceptance into a Masters in Theology program. (Yes, this is a different program than my other Masters work and the previous credits will mean zero. *sigh*)
  • My favorite book of the month (non-reread) was Raelia which left me completely broken and (almost) sobbing on the floor. AMAZING!
  • My favorite reread of the month was Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I love this entire series, obviously, and could definitely use a time-turner.

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Lent is Almost Here! – My 2016 Lenten Sacrifices

Posted February 9, 2016 in Faith, Life / 0 Comments

Lent 2016

It is crazy to think that it is almost time for Lent to start. Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday already! What has happened to this year! Anyway, I want to share my Lenten Sacrifices, the things I am going to give up during Lent to grow closer to Christ. Some people may be going, “Why give anything up? That sounds ridiculous.” Well, I give up something so that I can deny myself and grow deeper in my love for Christ. Here is what EWTN says on the topic:

By denying ourselves something we enjoy, we discipline our wills so that we are not slaves to our pleasures. … By disciplining the will to refuse pleasures when they are not sinful, a habit is developed which allows the will to refuse pleasures when they are sinful. There are few better ways to keep one’s priorities straight than by periodically denying ourselves things of lesser priority to show us that they are not necessary and focus our attention on what is necessary.

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January 2016 in Review

Posted January 31, 2016 in Life, Reading / 12 Comments

January 2016 in Review

Things that Happened in January

  • It has been a stressful month. Apparently my brain needed books to manage the stress because I read quite a few books this month. And by “quite a few,” I mean “a lot.”
  • On the topic of the above, please pray for my sister. I can’t say more since I don’t want to share her story here, but she does need prayers.
  • I was able to attend my friend’s wedding in Washington, DC and it was beautiful. It was great to see so many friends that I haven’t seen in two years.
  • I read 17 books this month which is A LOT! I blame quite a bit of it on the traveling I did to and from Washington, DC. There isn’t much to do on a plane besides read and so I read.
  • My favorite book of the month (non-reread) was Illuminae and my favorite reread was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.

Books I Read in January

The Princess DiariesIlluminaeLibrary of SoulsWinterspellThis Shattered World
Their Fractured LightOutlanderRed QueenNot If I See You First
Princess in the SpotlightA Tyranny of PetticoatsThe Battle of the LabyrinthHarry Potter and the Sorcerer's StoneWold by Wolf
Daughters of RuinWild OrchidAnne of Green Gables

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