Decorating with Books

I'm at the library checking out books on decorating. Rob and I have rented the same house for the past 14 years and our landlord likes white walls and beige carpets. Now that I own my own home, I'm going to have fun! I'm planning some bright, bold colors!

Anyhoo, I just had to stop at the computer and tell you about this one cool book I found: Decorating with Books.

Here I've been beating myself up because I can't part with my thousands of books. I have six large bookshelves in my living room alone. Then there are the bookshelves in the basement, in the kid's rooms, in Rob's office. Gosh, I've got books stashed in the master bathroom!

I did try to purge my shelves. I managed to sell 30 books on CathSwap and I did give quite a few to St. Vincent dePaul, but it hardly made a dent.

But, now, I need not feel guilty any longer. I can decorate with my books!

Meet Me in Joliet

If you live in driving distance of Joliet, IL, come see me at the Illinois Catholic Homeschool Conference and Vendor Fair, May 23 and 24, 2008. I'll have a vendor table so I'll be available both days to chat with visitors. I'll also be giving two talks: Educating God's Wildflowers (homeschooling special needs children) and Relax, You Can Do It (for new and wanna-be homeschoolers).

I hope that the gas prices won't keep too many people away. These conferences are just too important to miss. Even as a seasoned homeschooler, I get a ton out of going to Catholic homeschooling conferences. Gee, just being under the same roof with hundreds of like-minded folks is enough to energize me for the next year. And, even with gas at $4 a gallon, I save money. There are always good deals, no shipping costs, and I get to see curricula up close and personal before spending my hard earned money on it.

Though I'm in the midst of moving my home, I'm really excited about Joliet. I just love going to homeschooling conferences, period. It's a great opportunity to meet Catholic homeschoolers from all over the country. It's also an opportunity to give back to the community that has given so much to me. The icing on the cake is that I'll spend a few days visitng with my sister Chrissy in Chicago, who sadly is moving back to California in June.

Learning Curve: Living in the Country

Living in the country is going to be a whole new experience for me. No longer will my ability to parallel park a 12-seater van on a dime be a necessity. No longer will I need to carry extra change for parking meters. I'm learning about all kinds of new things like septic tanks, boilers, wells, water softners, etc. Did you know that if you have a septic tank and your electricity goes out you can't flush the toilet? We'll be getting a generator before winter gets here!

Catholic Clubs for Kids

One of the things my children will miss when we move away from Lansing is their Little Flower and Blue Knight Clubs. (Thank you Julie for organizing the clubs!)

If you participate in these clubs, or want to learn more, Ecce Homo Press has started a couple of official blogs to help you along:
Little Flowers Girls Club
Blue Knights Boys Club

Please Buy My Books

Moving day has been set. May 31st and June 1st we make the trek with all of our worldly belongings to our new home in our new city.

I really, really do not want to move 400 books. I'd rather ship them from my front porch to your mailbox. So, I'm offering a bulk deal to you and your friends. (Of course, you are welcomed to buy individual books by clicking on the button(s) in the sidebar. Note that I don't plan on raising the postage cost until after I move, even though the post office has raised their prices.)

If you would like to take orders for my new Catholic homeschooling book For the Love of Literature on behalf of your homeschool support group and friends, I'll give you a nice deal. If you order ten or more books it's only $11.50 per copy of For the Love of Literature, all autographed, plus $1.00 per book for Priority Shipping (to a single address). I can take PayPal, including credit cards, or checks.

If you'd like to substitute The Catholic Homeschool Companion to make up your 10 or more books, I can offer those for a 10% discount at $22.50 per autographed book. Again, only $1.00 per book for Priority Shipping.

For the person taking the order, I'll add a FREE copy of the audio CD Catholic Homeschooling 101.

Email me HERE to make arrangements.

Twain on Good Books

The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.
-- Mark Twain

Breastfeeding Makes You Smart

Sitting on the couch with the newspaper, my brother-in-law read aloud, "A new study provides some of the best evidence to date that breast-feeding can make children smarter, an international team of researchers said. Children whose mothers breast-fed them longer and did not mix in baby formula scored higher on intelligence tests, the researchers in Canada and Belarus reported."

Then he looked up and exclaimed, in a bit of a smart-alecky tone, "Yeah Maureen and Rob's kids have got to be freakin' geniuses!"

Hey, I wean them before they get to kindergarten!

Of course I didn't tell him that the reason they're so smart is because they're sucking my brain cells out through my breast milk. Which explains my lack of brain function these days.

Help for Coordinating Volunteers

My friend Lisa forwarded this information from a friend to me. I'm not sure of the original author, but it looks like a neat service:

As stay at home moms we are constantly finding ourselves involved in helps ministries. That is God's plan for His family. I just read about two websites that can help organize these ministries. They provide free tools for coordinators to set up calendars for meals and other services and then give the password for just that calendar to the people involved so they can sign up, change dates, get directions, be reminded, get updates, etc. What a blessing to make this invaluable service easier and more organized. Check them out.
http://www.carecalendar.org/
http://www.lotsahelpinghands.com/

Prayers for a Special Intention

This is my 1001st post to this blog. If you'd like to send a gift to celebrate this milestone, please send the gift of prayer.

I have a special intention that really needs praying over today. I don't want to go into details right now, but will tell you that it has to do with Teen Son, his future vocation, and college.

Will fill you in on the particulars at a much later date. Right now there are bureaucrats and paperwork to deal with, all while some serious discernment takes place.

We Have Shingles

One would think that if you homeschool, your children are less likely to get sick. After all, they wouldn't be surrounded by 25 to 30 germ-carrying children each school day. In fact, my oldest son was a lot healthier when I pulled him out of daycare and I became a SAHM all those years ago.

Yet, this has been a killer year for us, sickness wise. We had the killer flu, strep throat, scarlatina, and now Princess Rose has shingles. If you're not familiar with shingles, it shows up when someone who has already had chicken pox has been exposed to the virus again. It's usually associated with older people whose immune systems have weakened, but it can show up in children. In fact, I got it when I was 16. It's painful and takes at least a few weeks to clear up.

And, just because we don't have enough sickness, Teen Daughter 2 woke up with a sore throat this morning. Even though she finished her second round of antibiotics for strep throat a couple of days ago. I guess we'll have to go into the doctor for yet another culture.

I think next school year we'll stay in the house and hibernate. Who needs outside socialization anyway? They've got brothers and sisters to play with.

The Truth of It

Found this quote via Regina Doman:

"A good novel tells the truth about the hero; but a bad novel tells the truth about the author."
-- G.K. Chesterton

Lunch in the Outdoors

I had lunch on the front porch of my new country house, under the dogwood tree. It was so lovely, I don't think I shall ever eat inside again.

AOL Gone Wacky

There is something odd going on with my AOL email account. I'm not getting any email from my Yahoo Groups. Plus, I've got a friend who tells me that her emails to me have been bouncing back to her.

The really weird thing is that not all my emails are going out. For example, I've tried twice to send an email to the Catholic Charlotte Mason Yahoo Group, but neither was received by CCM. They show up in my "sent box" yet they were never received.

So, if anyone out there is having trouble reaching me via email, try this email address.

Mater et Magistra

There is a new Catholic Homeschooling magazine in town. Mater Et Magistra is taking over for the former Heart and Mind magazine.

It'll be published by the highly reliable press Hillside Education, owned by Margot Davidson. I am so looking forward to reading my first issue. Go check it out: Mater Et Magistra Magazine.

Bats in Our Belfry

It looks like we may have bats living in the attic of the new house. We were out there yesterday and saw a bat, in the middle of the day, flying around one of the ponds. Rob and the kids observed it go into a hole under the eaves of the house.

My friend Sheila was there, helping me plan wallpaper removal and paint colors. She told me the story of her uncle who had hundreds of bats living in his attic. Creepy!

Then I mentioned the bats to another friend and she related a story similar to Sheila's! Way too creepy!

Now, at first, Rob was excited to see a bat. After all, they eat lots of insects. With a creek, 2 ponds, and some marshy area, I'm sure the insects will be killer this summer. But, the bats will need to find a new home. I'm not too keen on sharing my house with them.

Fortunately, it's a fairly easy problem to solve. You cover the hole(s) into the house with wire mesh, taping it with duct tape on three sides. The bats are able to get out through the side without the tape, but cannot get back in.

And, being the wacko environmentalist types we are, we'll put some bat houses around the property so that the little bats have a place to go.

Being homeschoolers, we'll have to turn this into a bat unit study!

The Mystery Continues

We found a box of Russian chocolate hidden back in a kitchen cabinet as we cleaned the new house yesterday.

Obviously, a Russian immigrant mother who kept her chocolate hidden from the kids lived there.

(Though, I always get caught when I try to stash chocolate. The children can be asleep for hours and still hear the paper tearing three rooms away. I try to hide it, but they smell it on my breath and then beg to share. Someday they'll grow up, move away, and I'll have all the chocolate to myself.)

Blog Worth

My blog is worth $35,566.02.
How much is your blog worth?

Wow! Anybody want to buy a blog? I'll let you have it for only $32,000. And here I was, worried about how I was going to get my kid into college!

Hat tip: Lapaz Farm Learning

Groucho Marx: Reading Fanatic

I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.
-- Groucho Marx

Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.
-- Groucho Marx

The Mystery of the House History

Our new house is a mystery. It was built in 1968 and it's been vacant for almost 2 years. That's about all we know of it's history. However, clues are beginning to present themselves:

• There are no less than 6 phone lines going into the house.
• The inspector said that he's never seen a house so wired for electricity. It has more wires than mansions he's inspected.
• We found Russian toothpaste and Hanukkah candles.

Then there is this piece of artwork when you walk in the front door (above). Could it be another clue? Is it a map of some sort?

Could the house have once been owned by Russian Jews with bad taste running a phone bank smuggling dissidents out of the old Soviet Union?

Thank You St. Jude

Friday: We make our final offer to the bank. We decide this is where we draw the line. If the bank turns us down, then we walk away from the deal. No compromise.

Monday evening: Still no response from the bank, even though closing is scheduled for the next day. We call our real estate agent to formally pull our offer and arrange to fill out the necessary paperwork.

Today 9:30 AM : Rob calls me on the cell phone as I pull up to the public library with a van full of children. "The deal isn't dead yet." Our agent and the selling agent were working to save the deal.

10:00 AM: The cell phone vibrates and I head to the library lobby. It's my agent. She tries to convince me that this is the house for us and we should go ahead even though the bank won't give into our concessions. "No," I say.

10:15 AM: Back to the library lobby. Our agent and the selling agent are willing to give up part of their commissions to make this deal. "No, I say again, "Rob and I have made concessions, you and the selling agent have made concessions, everyone is making concessions except the bank."

10:30 AM: Back to the library lobby. It's Rob. We talk it out. We love the house, we want the house, we can see our family in that house, but we have a fiscal responsibility to our family.

11:00 AM: Back to the library lobby. It's my agent again. The librarians are beginning to look at me funny. She tells me, "You've really been praying over this. Can you offer up one more prayer to St. Jude?" The bank wasn't budging and we needed a miracle.

11:15 AM: I give up getting anything done at the library. I gather up the children, check out our books, and get into the van. I pray silently, "St. Jude, you're the patron of desperate situations and I've got one for you. Closing is scheduled for 1:00 PM and if it's going to happen, the bank has to make the concession we asked for. Please help me. If this house is meant for us, please help it happen. If the bank doesn't come back in the next half hour, I'll accept it's God's will. No regrets. No looking back."

11:30 AM: I walk into the house and the phone rings. The bank conceded. Closing is on. The agent doesn't know if I accept or not as I'm crying so hard. She asks, "You prayed to St. Jude, didn't you?" I finally blurt out, "Yes!"

Noon: I'm in the car. It's an hour's drive to the title company.

1:00 PM: Closing begins. There were some last minute problems to iron out with all the last minute changes, but we sign everything.

3:03 PM: We are officially home owners.

Thank you St. Jude. You rock!

A Reversion Story

"Hello Maureen, this is Bill"

"Yes," I responded, concerned as his voice sounded full of tearful emotion.

"I hope you don't mind me calling you. I just have to tell you that this has been the most incredible Lent of my life and it's all because of your family."

"I don't understand Bill."

"I'm back in the Church. I've been going to daily Mass since Ash Wednesday. I hadn't been in a church since I was a child."

"This is wonderful news! I'm so happy for you! But I don't understand what my family had to do with it." I was searching my brain. I hadn't been praying for Bill's conversion. It wasn't even on my radar. I hadn't even had a single apologetics debate with him. And, oh, how I love a good apologetics debate.

"Just your example. Living next door to you and seeing how you live your lives. One day, your daughter Therese told me, 'Bill you're my hero!' But I knew I was no hero and I had to do something about it."

You see, Bill (I've changed the names in this story) was our next door neighbor. He was a 40-ish single man. An executive for an insurance company. He was very nice and we would exchange friendly waves and polite greetings, but not much more for the first few years we lived there.

Then he quit his job and began his own business. He was an early riser and would sit out on his front porch working on his laptop in the wee hours. Each morning, Patricia, all of 8-years old, would throw up her bedroom window and cheerfully exclaim, "Good morning Bill!"

The children began to invite Bill over for our picnic lunches in the front yard. They would then beg him to play ball afterwards. Bill loved it and looked forward to playing with the children during "recess."

Each Sunday as we loaded into the family van for Mass, the children would see Bill working in his garden and ask if they could invite him to come with us. I would tell them no, he probably already went to Mass the night before. I didn't want to break their little hearts and confess that he probably didn't attend church. Though I didn't really know since the subject never came up and he was very private about such things. But, after many weeks of asking, I finally gave them permission to invite Bill.

He never accepted the children's invitation, so it was a surprise when I picked up the phone that Good Friday to hear Bill tell me of his conversion experience.

He told me that my children saved his life. That he was heading down a destructive path and their example and their unconditional love changed his heart. He commended Rob and me for living out the Christian lessons we were teaching the children in school.

He also asked me to be his confirmation sponsor. Though he attended a Catholic church as a child, he'd never been confirmed. The sacrament would take place in a few months. He closed by saying, "Thank you for the best Easter ever!"

It's been eight years since that conversation and I am still blown away by it. A grown man brought to Christ by little children.

As St. Francis is famous for saying, "Preach the Gospel always and when necessary, use words."

Helping Homeschoolers in the Library

Adrienne Furness has kindly included For the Love of Literature as a must-have book for public libraries. Thank you Adrienne!

If you haven't yet, ask your library to purchase Adrienne's book, Helping Homeschoolers in the Library. I have a review copy here and I'm very happy with Adrienne's portrayal of the homeschooling population. In fact, I gave her a five-star review at Amazon.

On a similar note, I've learned recently that For the Love of Literature is being featured at several library shows and a good number of public libraries have purchased copies for their collections. If you don't yet own For the Love of Literature and would like a peek at it before you spend your hard earned money, then check your library. If they don't have it on the shelf yet, check inter-library loan options or make a purchase request.

Finding Joy in Christ

Yesterday's Gospel reminded me of the importance of being joyful in my faith.

Years ago, I asked my Aunt Kay why she converted to Catholicism. She replied, "Catholics were the happiest people I knew. I wanted to find out why."

Mmm, makes one think. Am I a joyful Catholic? Am I happy to be a child of Christ? Do I allow my joy to shine forth? Do people look at me and wonder, "What's special about her that she is so happy? Could it be her faith that makes her life so worthwhile?"

I think I need to work on that.