WWRW: Really What I'm Reading

I'm not sure if Jessica is hosting this week but I've really enjoyed the reflection of my reading on Wednesdays so I am going to write either way.

Last week, I was fortunate enough to win Dynamic Catholic over at Annery at Home. And because we are local she dropped it off for me, which even though it was a total of 30 seconds (she had her girls in the car and I was in the process of wrangling a C into clothes for an errand) it marked my first blogger meet up. So that was pretty darn cool!!

So we've been dog sitting right? It's funny, the only other Matthew Kelly book I've read is Rediscovering Catholicism, and it was the last time we were dog sitting in August 2012. Isn't that a hoot? So I've been delving into Dynamic Catholic. This week I am going to take full advantage of the word "reading" because despite my best efforts, I am not finished due in part to taking on 2 canines.

But so far Kelly is proving to be the same writer I knew and coming up with great actions to become dynamic. So far he has provided realistic expectations to provide growth. It's not all jump in the deep end of becoming engaged in your faith but it does offer suggestions and key ideas. Which is good I think. I certainly could be more engaged and I look forward to finishing the book and encouraging my journey.

If you were to ask me what else I've been reading lately the answer would be board books. Lots and lots of board books. And I'm sure I'm going out on a limb but my post won't determine whether or not you decide to read Goodnight Moon for the umpteenth time. I mean, certainly we all like saying goodnight to mush but either you read Goodnight Moon or you don't.

Anyway, have a delightful Wednesday prepping for Thanksgiving. I actually have only one thing to prep today. But we are going the mostly non-traditional way as far as food goes and well, there's only 3 of us to feed. That sure takes a lot of stress out of it.

Oh. If you read this post, could you take a minute to say a prayer for Beth and her sweet baby girl? Beth was my very very first blog I ever read with regularity. Her kid's antics got me through grad school and led me to blogging myself. She has just been on my heart and she needs some prayer warriors.

Puppies and 18 months

Eh, I feel like blogging but I don't really have a lot to say. I know that's really exciting.

We've been dog sitting for Husband's canine cousins Gable and Jess. Pretty awesome. Well... Jess is a puppy still, less than a year. In Yellow Lab standards she's almost full grown, maybe she is full grown, I'm not their owner so I don't really know. And on some levels it's fun, the big house, cable television and other things like that. Oh and as a special bonus when I dropped the relatives off at the airport I got to drive the Lexus. That was pretty sweet.

But on the other side it's like having 2 toddlers. Jess and C are needy. Though they do entertain themselves for the most part which is cute. This however is reaffirming our decision to not be pet people. We just are not cut out to be dog owners. But it's nice to hang with them occasionally.

We are gearing up for Thanksgiving. It's just going to be the 3 of us and we're still in debates on the food. I'm sure we'll figure it out before Thursday though. I am excited to watch the parade in my pajamas and have a special breakfast with my boys. (Jury is still out on what that's going to be too.)

C had his 18 month old check up yesterday, it went well. I can't believe my baby is a year and a half old! That's almost 2 people. Which is too old already!! Every day he surprises me with something which is the best part of parenting I think. At his checkup we could hear a little baby crying and I he looked at me and said sweetly "cry." He was concerned for the baby. So sweet. And when Nurse Sherry came in for the pokes he knew and started whimpering during the alcohol swab, poor sweetheart.

But he is right on track developmentally which is good, I think any parent worries a little (or a lot) about that. I just can't stand that he is so big already. I just want to hit pause.

Life is pretty good I think. And Advent starts on Sunday. I cannot wait!!

Catching Fire

You guys. I went with my friend to see The Hunger Games Catching Fire last night. (We went at 8:45. Neither of us was crazy enough to stay up for a midnight release these days.)

The movie was emotional. Captivating. Beautiful even. Honestly I thought the book was the weakest of the trilogy. This movie was not only better than the first but also possibly better than the book?!?!

It was so good. Stanley Tucci and Lenny Kravitz are amazing. Just amazing. Go see this movie. Well if you know what's going on go see it. If you haven't seen the first one I maybe wouldn't just dive in to this one.

But otherwise go.

Theme Thursday: Shaming

This is kind of a big week for me. Shaming became an official Theme Thursday Theme after Rebekah's comment and my prompting. So that's pretty cool. Plus I am the featured blog of the month over at Cari's. Now, she just went alphabetical and all but it's still more than kind of awesome.

So you'd think I'd rise to the occasion and bring you the best Theme Thursday in the history of ever. But alas, alack. I spent all week trying to come up with something GREAT! And I said "shaming" so many times in the past week that it started to sound like:

Do you watch The Big Bang Theory? I love it. Some of the humor is a little crude which is not my thing but the smart humor makes up for it. It just makes me smile. Plus the Barenaked Ladies wrote and sing the theme song so that is a bonus. 

In self shaming I give you: 

I made 5 different kinds of Chex Mix. It looked awesome. It tasted awesome. Yet what you see above is the truth. No photo evidence of the Chex Mix. The birthday cake one stole the show. It's delicious I tell you. Pinterest rocks occasionally rather than being a source of shame. 

And I know I said that the research told me that shaming children is basically one step above the worst thing you can do but sometimes toddlers are proud. Plus he's funny. And we totally lost the button after it fell out. The replacement remotes are $20 too. Rigby is a rip-off! Bonus points if you know that reference. So the point is we are going to make do with the missing button. My pinkie can get right in there anyhow. 

So on this delightful Theme Thursday I am linking up with the great and powerful Cari. And have you checked out her new blog design? Pretty snazzy. 

It's the Holiday season. So Whoop-dee-doo!

It's Touchy Topics Thursday! (I just made that up. Seriously.)

All the blogs. All the memes. All the news stories.

“If you shop on Thanksgiving you are part of the problem.”

And yeah, okay on the surface that makes sense. Thanksgiving is a day set aside for the entire country to be thankful and spend time with family. Maybe a big meal. Maybe not. Either way it is a bonus day of rest the government has so thoughtfully given to everyone no matter their religion, race or creed. Then all these horrible corporations are having huge discounted sales and forcing their employees to work and give up their holiday. And if you dare to shop you are just encouraging the corporations to do that to their employees over and over again.

I get it.

But let’s look at the flip side for just a second. Thanksgiving is just a Thursday. I know it’s a holiday and all that, but it isn’t a Holy Day. There is no required Mass. And even if there was, the church doesn’t state how we spend the rest of the day. Thanksgiving is no different than Memorial Day, Fourth of July or Labor Day. But nobody makes a fuss about people working and the corporate sales on those days.

I’m not entirely sure why Thanksgiving is so sacred in people’s minds. It has never been my favorite holiday. Sure the sentiment is nice, being thankful. But let’s be real. Aren’t we supposed to be thankful 365 days a year? I am. And I have never liked turkey. PLUS it’s a Thursday. And if your company is mean, (like every company Husband has ever worked for.) you have to go back to work on Friday. Which severely limits the traveling plans for us and I’m sure many others in our same shoes. 

Oh yeah, then there’s the fact that in theory when you see your family for Thanksgiving you have a high chance to turn around and see them all again in four-ish weeks for Christmas. Canada has it right. Thanksgiving is in mid-October. On a Monday. Boom! 3 day weekend to be thankful. Far enough removed from Christmas that you can replenish your small talk subjects and burn off the calories in order to do it all again.

But whatever. This post isn’t about the merits of Thanksgiving as it is clearly SO IMPORTANT. And I don't even disagree with that even if I don't think it's all that and some gravy.

I will move on to Black Friday invading Thanksgiving Thursday. If you don’t want to shop? Don’t. Personally, there are very few things at a deep enough discount for me to determine standing outside in a line is worth it. I've done it before. I don’t really have plans to this year. But for society as a whole it actually makes sense for the shopping to happen on Thursday. Because a lot of people don’t have to work. So they have time.

But Madeline, think about those poor employees and single mothers who are forced to work at Target and Wal-Mart on Thanksgiving to put food on the table. I've been there. When I worked for the giant cell phone company customer service I worked on holidays. It wasn't the most fun time I've ever spent. But the company tried. There were prizes and games and ways to be festive just for being there. And the money was fantastic. 8 hours of holiday work was the pay of 20 hours. That was my entire Christmas budget right there. In one day. Plus the company was very upfront about it when I was hired.

I don’t imagine anyone who works at Wal-Mart or Best Buy is overly shocked when come “the holiday season” they work on holidays. (Especially seasonal employees.) And the money they earn just might be worth the people clamoring to get cheap stuff. I know with the economy many people are stuck between a rock and a hard place when taking these jobs initially, so some may not be happy about working on Thanksgiving but feel “forced” to. To these individuals I say, thank you for sacrificing for your family to provide for them.

As it happens many places have taken the rush (literally and figuratively) out of Black Friday shopping. They hand out coupons in line so there’s no question who gets what hours before the doors open. This makes it safer for the employees as well which I am sure is appreciated. 

Okay Madeline, they are compensated for working on these holidays, but what about the precious time with their family? Everyone deserves a day with their family! I agree. I do. But who says they’re not spending time together? 

If they don’t have to be to work until 4:00 PM perhaps they had their Thanksgiving meal earlier. In Husband’s family Thanksgiving is OVER by then because the farmers have to go do chores. (They work every day, there’s no such thing as a holiday for them.) Or perhaps they aren't seeing their family on Thanksgiving proper, maybe the best day for everyone to get together is on Sunday after church. What if they have no family? And Thanksgiving just makes them sad? Why can't they make a little money while not feeling so alone?

And to address the shoppers who “should be home with their families,” I also know families where they all go shopping together, that’s how they celebrate. And staying up a little late (and when stores open at 8:00 PM that’s not even that late.) might be better for some than waking up early.

All I’m saying is there is a flip side to the “rampant consumerism ruining holidays” argument. If the world is clamoring for Thanksgiving to be sacred they should be arguing the same for the other holidays. Yet somehow the turkey dinner is deemed more important than the barbecues of summer. I don’t know why. 

This year my little family will be hanging out just the three of us. And I am pretty excited for it. And I'm not going shopping, but only because I think there's nothing worth battling crowds for. We will be thankful and grateful together. But we won't begrudge those who do. They're just celebrating differently than us. 

WWRW: It's a Trapp

I don't know what it is. But The Sound of Music is everywhere.

I think it all started when I say what GI Kids was reading 2 Wednesday's ago. But since then it's just been insane.

Ignoring the fact that the radio station somehow thinks "My Favorite Things" is a Christmas song is one thing. (And just because she says sleigh-bells and snowflakes, I think we can all agree, does not a carol make.)

Then the whole hype about NBC's live televised Carrie Underwood stage version. The stage version is different from the movie. I cannot stress this enough. The Baroness has songs. There is no "Something Good." and "My Favorite Things" starts out between Mother Abbess and Maria, not during a storm. I'm not saying it won't be good. I'm just saying it's going to be different and you should know that. Also all the ads say how it this is unprecedented. It isn't. In the 50s they did live versions of musicals on TV all the time. But I digress.

Then a friend posted this on the book of face and I about died from laughing. So funny. 19, 23 and 29 are my favorite.

Then even Cari got into the game by posting one of Ken's bitstrips.

So what I'm saying here is that The Sound of Music is everywhere. It is. But I couldn't immediately download The Story of the Trapp Family Singers. So I had to old school order it. But I could get Yesterday, Today and Forever. So I did. How bad could it be right? It's about the Trapps. And I love them.

I was blown away. This was not just a revamp of the movie I know and love. This was an in depth expose of Maria, her family and their love of Jesus. She weaves personal thoughts, anecdotes and stories with passages from the Bible and how she developed a lasting relationship with Jesus. And all from a Catholic perspecitive. (Let's be real, she was going to be a nun. If you didn't know that already you've been living under a rock.) 

Throughout the book, she asks questions of the reader and herself in order to develop a strong foundation in her faith, which she does. Trapp obviously takes some license in the interpretation of passages, but always shows you her process in getting to that point. On top of the fact the book is thought provoking and inspiring, it is also eloquently written. 

Then the library called and The Story of the Trapp Family Singers was in. So I went and got that one. It is similar to Yesterday, Today and Forever. Some of the stories are the same (How could they not be?) but The Story of the Trapp Family Singers was more in depth about the story and less about faith.

I imagine that in the right time period Maria Augusta Trapp would have been a Catholic Moms of Many blogger. Her writing style is concise and she knows when the reader needs to laugh and when a reader can gain a solid message from her.

This book is just wonderful. But again I was the precocious 8 year old who would debate the merits of ever song in the movie and be aghast at people who honestly thought "Climb Every Mountain" was the best song. Oh goodness. The passion I had for The Sound of Music.In April, for Husband's birthday we even went to see it on the IMAX screen where it was playing as a special series. It was C's first movie in a movie theater. And yes, Husband wanted to go see the movie, more than I even did. And I have to say, it's really spectacular on the big screen. I've seen that movie dozens of times and there were still new things I noticed when it was big.

Anyway if you are looking for a book, I would recommend either of these. Maria Augusta Trapp has a good story to share. From a Catholic perspective however, I'd go with  Yesterday, Today and Forever. Because it's a book about people you already care about. The Trapp Family and Jesus. Just doesn't get more interesting than that.

I am linking up with Jessica over at Housewifespice because I like to read. I like to find out what you're reading and quite often I'm going to take your suggestions!

Getting Ready to Host Book Club

Tonight is Book Club!

I am pretty darn excited to be hosting this month, especially because it is the last one of 2013.

The book we I picked was Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. You can read my thoughts on it here. I have a list of discussion points all ready to go, if people have actually read the book. You can never tell with these gals. Obviously part of the fun is snacking and chatting but I do hope I was able to pick a discussion worthy book.

But the snacks are important too. Yes. Yes they are. I am having a buffet of Chex Mixes!! Last night we made three out of the five mixes.

We are having The Original and Delicious Party Mix. (Without the nuts partly because I forgot to buy them and partly because I don't really like nuts. Okay, I forgot to buy them and decided I didn't care because I don't like them.)

Rounding up the salty snack side we also have Cheesy Ranch Chex Mix. Featuring Pretzel, Baby and Parmesan Goldfish. It looks very fun with the little fishies swimming in a sea of squares.

There is no other word to describe Funfetti Puppy Chow other than tasty. It's funfetti. It's puppy chow. It's tasty. Make this for your next event. Sprinkles go with anything.

Still on the docket we are set to make the Classic Puppy Chow. They can call it Muddy Buddies all they want. But you know, and I know that it is Puppy Chow. I'd ask who doesn't love peanut butter and chocolate together but I was just recently informed of one such person. Doesn't matter. More for me. (And the book club guests.)

Red Velvet Chex Party Mix is a new one to me, but one I am really looking forward to. It is a slightly different process to make than the other three but I imagine it is going to be good. I hope it makes me want to cut into an armadillo. Because if it does... so much easier than creating an armadillo let's be honest.

Tomorrow I'll give each version of Chex Mix a grade.