Savoring Christmas Memories and Joyful Winter Decluttering....

Is decluttering really a word? It is a wonderful concept. A noble action. Removing clutter, a.k.a. "decluttering," is my 2011 resolution.

Webster's defines "clutter" as both noun and verb. It is "an untidy mess, a state of disorder" or "liter, things left around untidily." As well, to clutter is "to disorder, make untidy."

So, to declutter is to role one's sleeves up and put things in proper order. I like it. I need it. I was just telling the girls that I love seeing the human hope for renewal and improvement that roles around every January. All the shops showcase cleverly designed shelving, colorful storage boxes and some very nice exercise suits. In these North Atlanta suburbs, the air is full of resolution and of home and self improvement.

As Catholics, we pass on to our young the idea that "Hope springs eternal." From the Sacraments, God's grace springs forth giving us baptized faithful life, renewal, strength and reconciliation. We Catholics are called to declutter our souls regularly through daily prayer, good works, frequent reception of our Lord Jesus in the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Reconciliation (also called Penance and Confession).

We had the beautiful gift of hosting our dear family friends from Miami over Christmas week. Other homeschooling friends joined us for Christmas feasting; and, it was one of the merriest Christmas seasons of my life. My dear sisters in Christ have always shown me the joys of authentic Catholic housekeeping and homeschooling. We all know that joy is not an absence of pain. My personal experience is that joy increases where there is deep and abiding faith. We are up against a culture that challenges our faith on so many levels. But back to Christmas and grace-filled resolutions for 2011...

All of us moms enjoyed revisiting certain practical and spiritual topics; and I felt the quiet, yet powerful, presence of the Holy Spirit in all of the love and friendship of our Christmastide festivities and warm, homey visits. Along side all the festivities with our homeschooling brothers and sisters in Christ, we gathered with grandparents and much loved brothers and sisters in Christ from our parish during Christmastide, including Happy New Year 2011! It was so hard to get back to work and school, but God had a marvelous plan! We had just been back to the "daily grind" for a week when we got a HUGE and wonderful SNOW. We were trapped and I was about as far from "cabin fever" as you can get (I was hoping for more snow!).

As the snowstorm hit ten or so days ago, I was surprised at the blessing of this gift to stay put for a number of days. My houseguests had left the house cleaner than when they came, so I kept the cleaning/decluttering ball rolling. I also gave much more time than usual to quiet and to prayer. I realized how much shopping that I had been doing and how exhausting and depleting that can be for me. With our middle child's 13th birthday this week, we finished our snow days making merry with friends and family again over these past few days.

I know God speaks to us through our friendships and our daily duties and our family ups and downs. The good news for us Sullivans is that 2011 is already, and I pray it continues, a year of rolling up the sleeves and decluttering our souls, our home and our schedule. I learn every year that our sweet Savior and His Blessed Mother, draw us in to their Holy Hearts. Jesus and Mary want us to help them save souls.

An act of housekeeping, a home-cooked meal,a warm embrace from a loved one, a listening ear or kind remark can all be little works of redemption. Wow and Alleluia all at once! We must keep house for Christ and build a strong Mother Church from our little domestic churches. God will bring us guests and make us guests of His awesome Love and Mercy. Jesus burns for love of us, fallen creatures that we are. He wants us to give every possible effort to allow the Holy Spirit to fill us with His Eucharistic Heart. We must, in earnest, ask the Mother of Mercy to hide us in her Immaculate Heart so that we will be properly disposed to receive her Son in a spirit of truth and light. I am reading an excellent treatment of this, The Passion of the Infant Christ, by Caryll Houselander.

Read this book. It could change your life, and we must pray for the grace to be constantly changing and growing. May we all bless God in thought, word and deed. I look forward to all of us making Confession soon, knowing in my heart that Holy Mother Church will declutter her children. I am learning more and more about our Heavenly Father's plan for all of His children. He wants us all to be a new creation in Christ Jesus. We have only to ask our Blessed Mother for her help, and grace will do the work in our souls.

Thank you, Lord Jesus and Mother Mary for all of our many blessings! May the Infant Christ reign in our hearts -- Amen.

My food resolution...

... that I wrote about in January...is hard to keep up. I cooked us up a good Sunday supper today. Last week, I was the "casserole queen." I made two casserole recipes out of my new Loretta Lynn cookbook that my in-laws gave me. This week, I'd like to try three new recipes (I printed them off the Internet and will try to go back and find the links.).

Hamburger/lentil soup, blueberry/banana bread and this chicken pot pie recipe.

A link to soaking whole grains before cooking or baking...

This recipe for "muffin bread" looks easy and appealing.

I am headed down to our parish, now a half hour drive south of us, to see our middle school youth group act out The Stations of the Cross. I think I overheard JB say that she is enacting Pontius Pilate. Should be good.

New cooking blog and basil muffins -- YUM!

I just posted this blog on my sidebar, as I am really looking forward to continuing to push harder to: 1.) meal plan and shop ahead 2.) get the kiddos, including "number-one son" involved in food planning and preparation.

These zucchini-basil muffins look so good!

Some recipes I'd like to try....

I have never made pork ribs and just found this Portuguese recipe.

Also, over here are two meatless recipes:

***a bow-tie lasagna made with yellow squash -- looks so good and easy!

***a broccoli-cheese soup that looks easier than the 2 recipes that I've tried

I am cutting and pasting the bow-tie lasagna:

Bow-Tie Lasagna
4 cups spaghetti sauce (more or less to taste)
1 lb bow-tie pasta, cooked and drained
1 container ricotta cheese
1 egg
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 t basil
1/4 t garlic powder salt and pepper, to taste
8 oz mozzarella cheese
2 sml yellow squash, finely shredded

Heat oven to 350. In a large bowl, combine ricotta, parmesan, egg and spices. Lightly toss bow-ties with squash and ricotta mixture, Layer in a lasagna dish with sauce and mozzarella. Bake for about 1 hour.

Yummy new meatloaf recipe for Sunday supper...

I just found this blog today and, as I am very visual, I love her step-by-step pictures. One of my husband's resolutions, for the new year 2010, was for us to EAT OUT LESS (I really don't mean to "scream" this -- if you could see my face, you'd know that I am smiling, as I love to eat homemade food, shop for food and cook, ummmm, in that order!).

So, check out this beautiful meatloaf with mushroom sauce.

I'd really make Jerry happy if I were to whip up some braised (fresh) brussel sprouts and some creamed potatoes to accompany the meatloaf. Happy Cooking!

Warm nutritious cookies to fight winter bugs....

I was over at this blog and found this yummy-looking cookie recipe:


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Whisk together
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour (ground finely)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Cream together
1 cup packed light brown sugar (can take less actually)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup butter, softened

To butter mixture, add
1 mashed very ripe banana
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Mix in flour mixture until well combined, then add
2 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup sweetened cranberries
1/2 cup walnuts

Using a large ice cream scoop, drop mounds onto ungreased baking sheet. Bake 11 minutes or until just golden. Let cool a bit on baking sheet, about 5 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool a bit more.

We like our cookies warm so we eat them right away, but you can store these in airtight containers (to preserve chewiness, though they are also DELICIOUS when the outsides have crisped up.

Variation: Sub 1/2 cup butterscotch chips for half of the chocolate chips. All kinds of awesome.

Bonus for Mom: quiet time at 10 in the morning....

So, what am I doing, but dreaming about this lovely lemon bread. I am also filing away some paperwork and trying to clear the big shelf in the dining room, where most of our homeschooling books, notebooks and workbooks are hanging out. What a mess! We are off to Challenge today and so glad to see everyone, cause lots of teams are meeting at same time, same place -- how good!

I woke up thinking about a watercoloring technique I saw in a catalogue a few weeks ago...more later on that...Go over to the Bonnie Glen for a post full of resources for families wanting to learn Greek and Latin.

More Christmas 2008 diary...

JMJ, pray for us! Yesterday was the 3rd Day of Christmas and I finally cooked up a feast (...as an aside, I plan to boil a fresh turkey today or tomorrow, since I tend to rubberize roasted poultry...). I made pork tenderloin in the Crockpot with creamy wine mushroom sauce, egg noodles, simmered apples (yum!), green peas and a delicious baked sweet potato casserole. We placed our Nativity on the breakfast room table and Dad and I sang our best "Away in a Manger," which was weak, but a good start. Earlier in the day, Dad and I watched a replay of Carl Sagan's Cosmos, Dad took the girls to the pet store and Little Man played with his new toys. I did alot of de-cluttering and got our learning room almost ready. Began St. Therese Novena again, as I stopped at day 4 or 5 when we came back from BGKY. Did laundry. Talked with girls. Stared at all the stuff I need to either pack up or get rid of soon. Read ultra-inspiring article in the Dec./Jan. American Spectator by Michael Novak recounting the death of his brother, a priest, Fr. Richard Novak, in 1964, in Pakistan. Enjoyed husband being off work. Day-dreamed of painting. Plans: Going to see Tale of Despereaux up in Dawsonville with another hschooling family, toasting in 2009 with friends, continuing house/yard cleaning while we have help from Dad, hoping to have some lunch and/or coffee date with my mom friends (sans kiddos) and gearing up for Winter academic quarter.

2nd Day of Christmas

2nd Day of Christmas: I am really trying to savor every moment. We are so glad to have Dad home for two weeks with no work! He took us to his favorite lunch spot, where he usually goes with all his fellow software engineers. Then, we joined the swarm at Target, and, believe it or not, THE MALL! Oh, my goodness, it was waves and waves of people. The general feeling was very happy and laid back with lots of extended families walking in groups. This area is so new that lots of folks must have grandparents, aunts/uncles, etc...in town to stay. It reminded me of when I lived in Madrid, which, when I lived there, was such a laid back city full of families strolling and shopping and eating. I learned to love strong coffee in Madrid's cafes. (...okay, the cheap, good red table wine was good too...) Well, back to yesterday. M and Dad walked the whole Mall and J, JB and I made a small circle, bought frosty Orange Juluii and plopped right on the floor in front of Waldenbooks and had such a good time watching people and looking at JB's half price calendars (...she has a calendar collection...). I am writing and delivering a few Christmas cards every day, hopefully to have them all out by Epiphany. The girls are helping with delivery of local cards/gifts and helping cook and clean. Little Man does dishes, sweeping and family room pick up. Some seasonal greeting cards are going through email this year. The girls and I went to Publix, and we all settled in to watch a very strange and funny movie called The Bee Movie. Earlier in the day, we recorded a bunch of the show Myth Busters, which we've heard alot about but never seen, and watched a few of those episodes here and there. The dogs and cats were in heaven having us all piled in the family room so much. Dad was playing lots of guitar. Looking ahead: We want to try some new recipes: sausage balls and a chocolate cake and more. And, I'm trying to talk Dad into roasting a fresh turkey, while they are available. M and I are looking at studying the works of George MacDonald this coming quarter. I am getting the planning itch and want to go solo to the library next week while Dad holds down the fort.

A simple, yet regal, family dinner for Sunday

Was just visiting over at Catholic Cuisine and hope to make this dinner and dessert for us on Sunday to celebrate the feast of Christ the King -- may He reign in our hearts and homes!

Good eats!

I was looking at E.Foss's blog and found this Chicken Masala recipe (Indian and good to celebrate St. Teresa of Calcutta). And, her baked mac and cheese looks good too. We are trying to save money by planning our meals.

I want to get back to having black beans and rice once a week with pan sauteed chicken breasts, baked chicken legs or fish or pork. We eat too much dairy and red sauce and breads -- I love how the Saving Dinner recipes suggest brown rice with alot of their meals. Admission -- I cannot pull the weekly SD menus off yet. It is inspiring! (Also, I want to add good quality cod liver oil as one of my many supplements.)

Discovery -- buying plain yogurt and flavoring it with good, local honey. I ate so many peaches this summer sprinkled with wheat germ and yog and honey. (One of these days, I am going to have to make my friend Angela's recipe for homemade yogurt from local, fresh milk.)

A few nights ago, I was reading The Bad Catholic's Guide to Good Living by John Zmirak and Denise Matychowiak, a book sure to get that down-deep, belly laugh. They published a recipe for Devil's Food Cake to celebrate the feast of the Archangels on September 29th and here it is:

They say in the book that the following recipe was inspired by a Charlie Trotter creation:
2/3 cup grapeseed oil 1 t baking powder
1T plus 1t ancho chili powder 1/4 t salt
2t vanilla extract 2/3 cup cocoa
1 cup sugar 4 ounces bittersweet choc., melted
2 eggs 1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup pumpkin puree powdered sugar
1 cup plus 2T flour

Preheat oven to 350 and oil and coat an 8 inch cake pan with cocoa. Heat oil and ancho together until pepper darkens. Allow to cool. Add vanilla. Strain into bowl with sugar. Beat 5 minutes. Add egg and pumpkin. Mix until thoroughly blended. Sift together dry ingredients and blend into sugar mixture. Add chocolate and sour cream. Mix well. Pour into cake pan. Smooth top and bake about 35 min. Serve with dusting of powdered sugar. Serves 8-10. My note: it would be fun to make a paper stencil of one of the archangels to lay on the top before dusting with p.sugar.

Professor Fox-Genovese's posthumously published book and saintly soaps

Just read a book review by Lorraine V. Murray, in The Georgia Bulletin, and will buy the book , Marriage: the Dream that Refuses to Die, by Elizabeth Fox-Genovese.

As usual, found a small, lovely bit of inspiration on Elizabeth Foss's blog. Click here for a link to saintly soaps. The candles look so nice, too.

Our Lady of La Leche, pray for us!

I was back on the Around the World with Mary, and found a virtual tour of the shrine to Our Lady of La Leche, in St. Augustine, Florida, which is great because I'd really like to take the family to St. Augustine sometime this summer. (click here for the virtual tour).

J and I are getting ready to walk down to the pool with JB as she is our only swimmer on our neighborhood swim team this year. It has been all about the pool since it opened on Saturday.

We are also gearing up for a trip to a South Carolina beach with another family who have been our dear friends for over 15 years. Preparing to leave for the beach has motivated me to get everyone doing extra house and yard work lately. I have, at times, felt the assistance of the Blessed Mother this month in a special way. I thank her for hearing a petition I made on Wednesday the 21st, as I helped organize a small dinner at our local Greenwood's restaurant that was such a good time. Hail Mary, full of grace!

Lovely Lavender

from World Book: Lavender is a small bush that bears fragrant flowers and leaves. It belongs to the mint family....Lavender comes from the Latin word lavo, meaning to wash. This name was used because the Romans put the leaves and flowers in the water when they bathed. In tradition, lavender represents purity.
We are taking a quick break to boil eggs and make a tuna fish salad, and then back to our gardening, where, among other plants, we are cultivating lovely lavender. Click here for a link to cooking with this fragrant herb.
We celebrated M's birthday yesterday. Since she was my first baby, I was thinking how super fast the time goes by and how very blessed I am to be a mother.

Spring Cleaning: this Mom is on a Mission.

A week from this Thursday, we are to host a celebratory dinner after JB's acting in our TORCH coop's play Alice in Wonderland. So, please pray for me that I can keep the spring cleaning going (We made a big Goodwill trip today.). I think it is no accident, that after a very short time surfing on the Internet, I came upon this post on Elizabeth Foss's blog. Ouch! --and, praise God! -- at the same time. It is so often a struggle for me to get my children involved in household work. We are making progress and doing much better than we were a year ago. We still, however, let things go and are out and about, when we should be in and working. I want to do a better job of taking short walks, or a picnic in the yard, as a break. It seems when we get out in the car, the day escapes us and so do our chores.

Blustery and cold in Georgia

After taking Holy Week off, we are about at half mast today. It was so cold here. JB is loading up her guitar for her music lesson later. I have corned beef in the crock pot. We were very blessed last week with a retreat for the girls and the quiet and time to reflect on Christ's Passion.

Mercy and Absolutism and Getting T.V.

Very oddly and beautifully, a person with absolute faith in Mother Church -- her reasonable precepts, teachings and sanctioned devotions -- is also a person of mercy. Mercy and deep and loving absolutism are like the two strands of the DNA molecule, with actual graces being the rungs of the ladder. People who have no notion of first and last principles tend to be rigorous and, in general, lacking in forgiveness. While my sanguine temperament protected me, during my many days as a secular liberal, from petty judgementalism, I'd swing in the direction of "go along to get along," a permissiveness that has little to do with true and abiding mercy.

I got to thinking about all of this because I am getting ready to make the call to our local cable television distributor to install cable t.v. in our family room and basement living/family room. I absolutely believe that exposure to inappropriate media tears at the soul in the same way that any inappropriate/sinful experience does. Even wholesome t.v. can be a temptation when it distracts and diverts from what we really ought to be doing.

With that in mind, because we cannot , at the outset, refuse to pay our provider for stations/networks we object to, we will, then, with the new technology (It is new to me.), block the stations/networks that we would never pay for, if we had the choice. I know our good Lord is calling me to advocate more as a consumer of media. I see this as an opportunity to exercise Christian discipline and virtue. The virtues are not acquired if they are not exercised.

So, here we go. Domine, quo vadis? Dear Lord Jesus, I hope we are with You, as we make this choice for our family. Amen.

The Pope on an "education in goodness"

Here is a link to the big goal. The first 6 months we home educated, I postponed blogging and kept, instead, "Mom's Weekly Lesson Plan Journal", a spin-off of my time management style, which is to keep a monthly calendar on the fridge and write a weekly "to do" list, which would be modified daily by what was actually done, aka a "to done" list. When I was pregnant with Mags, my friend Jenny taught me this sanity saving device. If a mom gets too attached to her "to do" list, she risks being out of touch with the real and pressing needs of her children. Children of any age need to know that they are blessings to their families. I have longed chaffed against the idea that it is the job of the parents to keep their kids constantly active and entertained. One of the reasons we have a decline in large families is because we have so many high maintenance adults. Many in my generation were raised with too much too often. Too little or non-existent prayer is a disease in this country; there is no "education in goodness" without prayer.

a time to be silent and a time to speak

Around 4pm, I curled up on the couch in our family room with one of my favorite books on the liturgical year, A Continual Feast. We are all thinking about feasting and fasting and the value of fasting as a means to repent, a turning back to God. Below is the famous Scripture from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NIV). It is on page 89 of A Continual Feast. After fasting yesterday for Ash Wednesday, the children and I enjoyed a "mini-feast" at luncheon with my dear, dear sister in Christ, Rachel and her daughter, Autumn. We feasted on discussion and play, built a Lego battlefield, cleaned rooms and painted hooks. Both of us moms are very fond of the widely known quote of Cardinal John Henry Newman, "To know history is to cease to be Protestant." We often discuss history and the lives of the saints. Today we were talking about Hillaire Belloc's very important book, The Characters of the Reformation. Belloc's studies and ideas are a light to a confused and darkened cultural landscape. (Belloc was a contemporary and dear friend to the more famous writer, G.K. Chesterton.) We Catholics need to wake up and listen to inspired voices, like Belloc, so as to get our Lord's saving Word out into the world. The world, the flesh and the devil are to be conquered by full participation in the sacramental life of the Church. We should not be surprised when human beings fail, no matter how much grace they have received. We ought to be very surprised and impassioned that the truth is so hard come by these days.



Mother Church gave us the gift of the canon of Scripture so as to help us hear God's will for each and every person. The Eucharist came before the canon of Scripture; and, it is from this most Blessed Sacrament that we have what is today widely known as the Bible. Rachel and I are both converts and fervently believe that, one day, there will be a time for unity among Christians. We both try our best to feast on God's Word -- this is for you, Rach:



There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:

a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

a time to search and a time to give up,

a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend,

a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate,

a time for war and a time for peace.