Seven Quick Takes

1 - I have this thing for stompy, clappy, sing-a-long songs. This one nicely fits the bill.


2 - So I'm going to the 2014 Behold Conference in East Peoria, IL on March 1st. Anyone else?

I'm really looking forward to Mother Assumpta and Like Mother, Like Daughter's Deirdre. Marie Miller will be back again, which makes me super happy too.

If you register before December 6th you can save $15. And, if like me, $60 is still a bit too much for your budget you can apply for a scholarship, like me. (Having scholarships is one of the things that makes Behold so nice, I think. The women who are planning it know that many of the women who want to come are moms with mouths to feed and budgets to watch.) 

I know I was really excited when Jen and Hallie announced their Texas party-conference but since the availability is so limited and the expense of travel and all is so great I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high of being able to attend.

SO! I'm wondering if any bloggers or any of my blog readers would want to come to Peoria a day early and we could plan our own little party. Maybe at my house, maybe at a restaurant... Then the next morning we can pray, sing, worship, learn, and be together at the conference. Would anyone be game for that?  

And then if I do end up getting to go to Texas, well, boo-yah for me!

And now go register for Behold and boo-yah for both of us!

3 - This week Hallie included the book Victorian Secrets in her Five Favorites post. And maybe, just maybe, I looked into wearing a tight-lacing corset. What?! 


4 - Really switching gears here... Fulton Sheen's unofficial feast day is coming up (he entered into eternal life - aka died - on December 9th). To celebrate and to hopefully build support for his canonization I'm going to be dedicating the first week of Advent to Sheen. I have some guest posts coming in from fellow Sheen lovers and another Knot Bad video with my friend Katie as a guest. She'll be the Charlotte Wu to my Lizzie Bennet.

Then on December 9th everyone can join us in praying for Sheen's canonization
and then we'll all celebrate his feast
and then the Holy Spirit will urge Pope Francis to look into Sheen's cause's progress
and then on the 10th he'll read about my son's alleged miracle
and then MERRY CHRISTMAS! Christ is born and we got a miracle!

It could totally go down that way - fyi.


5 - My brother-in-law works as a farmhand (which always makes me think of Lurvy from Charlotte's Web) and he invited us to come up and ride with him during harvest.

I did not grow up on a farm, but our house was on the outer loop of a subdivision that sat next to a field. The field was farmed by my dad's cousin and so twice a year we would hear the combine and run outside, the kitchen's screen door slamming behind us as we yelled, "Tim's in the combine! Let's go for a ride!" I loved doing that and so riding with my brother-in-law was really a lot of fun.

It made me grateful for two things: living where I do and having such wonderful in-laws.


6 - So it finally happened: someone was mean to L. After school earlier this week L climbed into her car seat and said, "So-and-so hurt my feelings today." It was nothing really - a small incident where a little kid said something not really knowing it would hurt - but it still made my heart sad to hear the pain in her voice.


7 - Haley an Daniel Stewart from Carrots for Michaelmas wrote a book!

It's on sale right now for $4.99!

It's one part real foods cookbook and one part reflections on living the liturgical seasons in the home.

I was lucky enough to get a preview copy of it and, people, it is so great. 

The photos are beautiful and the essays written by Daniel and Haley are really lovely. They do a great job of telling their story, sharing their thoughts, and doing it in a way that we're all being brought into "the know". This isn't a book just for Catholics, or for people who eat healthy. The Stewarts really are excellent writers and as they invite us to their table and show us their lives they also explain the whys and hows. 

And I must confess, I am often really intimidated by healthy eaters, paleo diet people, organic-only, no red dye, gluten-free, sugar-free people. Honestly I thought that I wouldn't connect with their meals, their food, their celebrations, their recipes. 

But I was wrong. First, Haley and Daniel are not the ridiculous eaters I thought they were, but they do try to use real foods. Looking at their recipes I saw that most of the ingredients were things we eat, food I have around the house. I was actually excited to see these new, yummy ways to prepare the food in a healthy way.

I bet you want the book too now, don't you?

Well come back here on Monday for a chance to win. That's right, folks, we're giving one away to a lucky winner! Woo-hoo!

(Feast! is an ebook available in PDF form.)

And, as always, thanks to Jen for hosting!