crying over cars (still); some other happenings

Last week, I heard the story of the song at the scaffold on audio (the story of civilization volume 3), and was inspired to read the actual book. I can only hope to have that kind of accepting joy like the nuns had, when I am about to do something I don't want to!


Last week, I took a trip for 8 days to visit/babysit for a family I used to babysit more regularly. They just had their 6th baby in July. I live life fast & hard chasing the 2 year old around all day, playing with the other kids, holding the baby, and eating Popsicles + hanging out with their mom each night. This made for exhausting days, but it was great trip!


On the trip, I was walking home from an afternoon out with the two year old in the stroller. We turned from the library, and there was a silver grand caravan braun ability adapted van, and all of a sudden, the tears came hard for me. I cried the whole walk back to the house. Jeremiah kept saying "Don't crying Miss Frannie" and it was maybe the cutest thing ever. It IS a little frustrating how much crying I do over cars these days....


In other car notes, I am pretty close to rebuilding the engine on my Camry, so I will hopefully have that back soon.


Liturgical Living this month:
this was the first time I did this/knew about this---the Portuincula Indulgence
+ the regular things


got the steers butchered this week. picked up the pork from the pigs. and now all I can think about is getting more steers and more pigs. I'm quite bored with just one turkey ;)

April & May books read + new books

April:

How to get to "I do": a dating guide for Women by Amy Bonacorsso
A Love that Multiplies by Jim Bob & Michelle Duggar
Somebody I Used to Know by Wendy Mitchell
Mother Teresa of Calcutta: a personal portrait




Myrtle Beach trip:

Fabiola by Cardinal Wiseman

Re-reads:
Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry
Leo the Lion by Jennifer Montemurro
Each Little Bird that Sings

Haven't finished yet:
National Catholic Reader book six


New books:
the Catholic All May booklet
The Catholic all June Booklet
(what else were you expecting for new books???)



Also,
I have now started to get Homeschool Magazines and Catalogs to ME and in MY name. (Yes  I am very dorky)
so far I have received things from....
Memoria press
Mother of Divine Grace School
Seton
Catholic heritage Curricula

March reads

One Beautiful Dream by Jennifer Fulwiler
Bible History by Ignatius Schuster (in progress from a previous month)
Nathan Coulter by Wendell Berry
Good Saint Anne (booklet)

+ Mass Facing the People by the same author 

March Feast days 3/1/19-3/5/19

3/1/19
-Read from a character calendar

3/2-3/3
-Mass
-fell asleep reading from with the church volume 1 :/ I had a really bad headache that day, so the reading doesn't count, but the effort was made to do it.

3/4/19 St Casimir
-Father Oak: white
-Low Mass
-read the dream of the rood and the stabat mater dolorosa
-read from a character calendar
-read "st chad" from Saints and Festivals
-started to read Yesterday, Today and Forever by Maria Von Trapp, its rather boring.
-received calendars from Dumb Ox Publications in the Mail, My first purchase from Dumb Ox Publications, and I am excited!

3/5/19
-Litany of loretto
-did some writing
-read from with the church volume 1, finished chapter from Sunday
-Read from Yesterday, Today and Forever by Maria Von Trapp. Its rather boring, I don't know if I will finish it.
-read from A Character Calendar
-reviewed Lent plans (again)

February Reads

*not including liturgical year books/reading.

I've been using the library again, and have been on a bit of a kick now....

(I've been reading some Fascinating ALS Memoirs lately...so good!)

12.27.18 an update

Hey friends,

It's been a while since I last wrote.. mostly because the next two weeks after I last wrote got really crazy..so here is a big update...
Its been an especially busy/stressful month, 2-3 weeks in particular, so although I still did some writing, I haven't opened this website in weeks, and have barely had any time for any blog reading.
I have finished my first semester of classes at UW Superior. I am glad to have the semester over with & behind me! Just a few weeks before classes start again....
November 30th-December 2nd I had a steer show, the Badger Kickoff Classic. This was my third year doing the show, and my first time bringing a Gelbvieh steer (AOB class). I had a really stressful two weeks before the show, I was feeling very unprepared leading up to it and was hesitant if I should even go, but am really glad I powered through and did the show!
Last weekend we got more hay and in a few weeks we weigh the steers again + move them into another pen.

Listening to lately:
I've been through many song listening kicks in the last few weeks with many new additions to my Spotify and YouTube playlists.... King Tut by Steve martin, Pachabel's Canon in D, Hello Dolly, Jump Around, Safe & Sound by Taylor Swift, Istanbul....
We were at a wrestling meet and "Long way to the top" by AC/DC played, and I've been obsessed ever since.
I'm conviced that I have the greatest spotify playlist ever with the latest additions of Andrea Boccelli covers, Sonata 14 in C Sharp Minor, The River Kwai March, some Bing Crosby and some Frank Sinatra.
I am still very much enjoying the Punch Bowl Podcast and the SSPX podcast.

Reading:
I haven't been keeping pace on my reading, but have been keeping up with some "themes": bible history, catechesis of the good Shepard & the liturgical year.
Currently Reading: Art Through Faith, the pictures are beautiful!

Watching:
lots of Parks & Recreation (way too much of it) while babysitting; I have decided that Tom is my favorite character
My siblings and I went and saw The Grinch at the theater. We saw ads for the new Mary Poppins at the theater and I'm not much into Mary Poppins (like at all!) but I saw that Dick van Dyke is in the new one (everyone in my circles thinks he's dead!) so I would consider going to see the new Mary Poppins because he is in it...
For Christmas my uncle, my Grandpa and I all got 2 Sebastian Maniscalco DVDs!

Liturgical Year:
In December, I went to a mass said by Cardinal Burke at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. I have no pictures, but it was a cool experience. I really wanted to ask him about his shoes...
It's always hard that the show weekend is always right before the end of the semester and the first weekend of Advent, so my advent doesn't always get off to an amazing start.  My Advent has not been as robust as I had planned; I have done some reading, did the O antiphons, did a Jesse Tree variation, some writing & I think that is about it. I haven't gone to daily mass in 20 days, but made it today (!!) for the Feast of Saint John. It was so good to be back on this rainy morning!
As many of you may know, back in November, Our beloved Bishop Morlino died quite unexpectedly. That was a big shock. I ended up going to his funeral mass, as well vespers/a visitation the night before. I have a lot more to say about him/his death, to be written later. I now have a painted peg doll of him on my desk, and a funeral holy card of him in my missal. It still feel very surreal...
My Instagram has suddenly become a little more lively with liturgical living updates. I might make an account just for the liturgical year.
For the feast of saint Stephen I found some fun versions of Good King Wenceslaus--Here and Here
We had a very routine Christmas with my mom's immediate family -- lots of cooking & visitors throughout the day, a trip to the cemetery, dinner, movies, looking at Christmas lights, opening gifts & the Midnight mass. This year, for the first time, some of my siblings played their instruments in the choir. I realized that the Nativity scene at the church is the biggest, most magnificent nativity set I have ever seen in a church.
I turn 21 in just a few days, so there are more liturgical celebrations ahead of us. Speaking of the year 1998, I had a moment the other day where I was reading my new Sebastian Maniscalco autobiography and I asked out loud if Frank Sinatra was still alive, and I was answered with "he died May 14 1998!" and I answered right away "so many greats died that year...Father Kunz, Frank Sinatra, and the last season of Seinfeld!" So many things happened the year I was born!!
I'm also diving head first into some liturgical year projects. I hope to share more at their completion.

Memory Work:
So there are these two songs--"who did swallow Jonah?" and "little David" that the teachers at Catholic Schoolhouse taught the kids, and sadly, I too memorized these songs...
I still have the Creed and the Beverly Hillbillies theme song in my "Memory Work" YouTube playlist. I think that I have the Beverly Hillbillies theme song memorized enough, but the creed is still slowly coming a long.
And, yes, memorizing AC/DC songs as well.

Today I have to run to the post office (returning some defective beats that I got) and have a dress rehearsal tonight. It's been a  rainy day here and my brother and I lit the burn barrel. We took around the yard and discovered that the big steer pen is in total disarray, so that has to be fixed before we put the steers in there (!).

Happy Christmastide, everyone! I hope to do some more writing in just a few days! 

Currently Reading This Week

Our Quest to Happiness series: Toward the Eternal Commencement

I've been reading this book for awhile, at least all Summer. Its good and all, but I haven't been plowing through it as quickly as I would have liked--I have read way too many catechism type books this summer. I put in a lot of reading/study in it this past week, so  I now have about 200 pages left. I am really hoping to finish this book this weekend and I think it will happen!

Introduction to the Devout Life   

This summer Mrs KBL and I read through the 40 dreams of St John Bosco twice. I like this book a lot, but for my sake, it needed to be rotated out of our reading pile for a little bit. Earlier this week I chose the Introduction of the Devout Life by St Francis de Sales for us to read together. Two years ago, I read this book for Advent but wasn't really into it but kept with it because it is a spiritual classic. This week I have gotten pretty into it. I don't think its the best book for us to read aloud, but its working for now. We are currently on page 39. I have skipped around a little bit while reading out loud because the meditations seemed a little weird to read out loud. We also sit and talk about the readings when I stop to catch my breath, and I always find those few minutes so valuable in our "reading time". With in a few hours of reading to her or the next morning, I take the time to make my notes on our reading either with quotes, a written narration or questions from the Kolbe Academy study guide for this book. As of now, I plan on us reading this book the whole way through, skipping some things here and there. With this book I don't, and really can't, have a goal for when to finish it. This book is clearly such a spiritual classic and I am so glad that I am taking time to read this book again!

Praying for our Priests by Monsignor Peter Dunne and Vicki Herout

This book came in the mail yesterday and I didn't get a chance to look it over to much yet, but I am excited to add it to my collection of Spiritual Motherhood for Priests/Seminarians resources. It seems more like a prayer book and less like a reading book.

Spiritual Motherhood for Priests/Seminarians Resources

The Spiritual Motherhood for priests and seminarians is one of my favorite devotions. When I was younger, but certainly not much younger, I didn't really see the importance of praying for priests with great intensity. Sure, I knew many priests in our diocese with varying degrees of familiarity and I had my favorites and all. And I did pray for priests, sometimes, but it wasn't until 3 or so years ago when I really realized the importance of the priesthood, the great need for priests and the seriousness of the vocation. I had first briefly discovered this devotion through this blog. Back then I had a close friend discerning the priesthood and he is now in the seminary. That's when I really began praying for his vocation, appreciating the priesthood and number of seminarians in my dioceses as well as making a big connection between the current seminarians being priests of the future, my future, and so now, I pray with great intensity with priests and seminarians and try to build strong & strengthen relationships with them. About two years ago I fully discovered this devotion it was through this talk and since then, and many notes and prayers later, I have gathered many resources. For awhile I offered my Tuesday mass for priests/seminarians. Now, its more like a daily thing for me. I usually say the Archbishop Brady Prayer for Vocations as well as one other prayer. And, I am always looking for new ideas to increase this devotion in my own life.

Prayers:
Archbishop Brady's Prayer for Vocations a parish that I regularly attend prays this prayer after the Gospel is read
A Daily Prayer for Priests
Jesus Make Me Worthy book, prayer for priests. I try to say this during/at mass at some point.
Institute of Christ the King when I first discovered this devotion this page was linked so this was the prayer I prayed.
Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary  a close friend of mine is at this seminary right now

Links:
Seven Sisters Apostolate-about, actual website
Msgr Bartylla Homily, vocation story

Talks:
Sensus Fedelium  about 2 years ago I re-discovered this devotion through this talk

Reading Material:
Adoration, Reparation, Spiritual Motherhood for Priests  this is the booklet that is talked about in the above talk. its a good one to print off and have on hand.
The 40 Dreams of st John Bosco. one of my absolute favorite spiritual reading books. a friend and I read this book almost daily.
This book  I just discovered this book today and quickly ordered it from Amazon