Hot Cross Buns

Hot cross buns! Hot cross buns!

One a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns!

It's a curious tradition, beginning the most solemn, most severely penitential day of the year with sweet rolls. Like the cross itself, it is a paradox, but not a difficult one. The sweetness of the bun is a little foretaste of the Resurrection; Good Friday will always lead to Easter Sunday. The suffering we experience through our fasting and penance can itself be sweet. Finally, today we have been given the sweetest of gifts, our Savior offering Himself for our sin, that we may have eternal life.

We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you, because by Thy holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world!

Since my last post...

-Anthony turned one had his first birthday party! It was a Hungry Caterpillar party, because he really likes that book. It's so cute how he laughs at the repetition of "...but he was still hungry!" My parents and my sister Teresa were in town for that weekend. We hadn't seen them since Christmas! It turned out to be a gorgeous spring day and some of our good Cincinnati friends came to play! Anthony had a really good time. He's going to be a social butterfly, I can already tell. Plus he managed to eat an entire cupcake.

-There are vegetables growing in the garden! Peas and lettuce and spinach and broccoli are all up. Carrots and brussels sprouts have been planted, but no sprouts yet. Some more things are still indoors, but they haven't really been getting any bigger. Fertilizer? Ryan built an amazing cold frame that we used to protect the broccoli transplants from the downpours we've had this week.

-The dogwood trees are blossoming! They're late this year. To me it isn't truly spring until the dogwood flowers are out. I love those trees. We had a pink one in front of our house growing up, and we always took Easter pictures in front of the flowering tree. My grandparents had a white dogwood in front of their house. At our house we have one of each: white in front and pink in back. Yet another bit of evidence that our house was really found for us by divine Providence. :)

-I finished addressing Katie's wedding invitations! Then I made her shower invitations and bought her a present. Good thing I like her so much.

-Ryan and I went to the gala supper for which I made the quilt in the last post. It was fun, and sort of a date for us. (We left Anthony with two of his "god-siblings".) The address was about "building our domestic churches", a good topic! Good food and good friends. TONS of stuff was raffled off. My quilt was priced at $200! Maybe I should think about an Etsy shop. Ryan won a very pretty collection of plates with Our Lady on them; my grandmother had the Our Lady of Lourdes one. They're now hanging in our bedroom, but Ryan doesn't know yet.

-Because Ryan's away in New York for his sister's senior fashion show. It's a big deal for her as a design major who's done the show each year she's earned the right to show an entire line of her designs. Her clothes are lots of knits and very soft textures. I am not there because little Bubs was very very sick on Wednesday and Thursday, and was not sufficiently recovered for a ten-hour trip. (He's pretty much back to normal now.)

-So this weekend I rearranged the bedroom and hung up CURTAINS! Like some women like shoes, my mom likes curtains. I have inherited her appreciation for properly dressed windows. Every single room in our house but Anthony's had mini blinds when we moved in. I detest mini blinds. To carry the shoe analogy, they are the cheap Wal-Mart white sneakers of window treatments. Curtains have not been a budget priority, so they remained, until I pulled the old one-two punch of clearance plus coupon at Bed Bath & Beyond! Our bedroom is now clean and pretty and romantic for when Ryan comes home. Or it will be once I chuck the Jumperoo out of here. :)

Mango Blues

It's finished! Just in time for the silent auction on Saturday. I've never named my quilts, but "Mango Blues" just seems to fit. It's 4 feet square, machine pieced and quilted. The texture came out really well; I love crinkly quilts!

I debated back and forth about whether to do a pieced binding or not. I'm glad I decided on the aqua. Using the leftover scraps would have been thrifty but it would have been too busy.


I did do a pieced backing. I think I like the back as much as the front! The brightness is a nice contrast to all the white on the other side.



So there you are, St. Edmund Campion Academy!

Daily Routine

While doing my Monday dust-through, I pondered today on the need we creatures have for rhythm and routine. Nature has the seasons, night and day, the cycle of life and death. The Church has Matins, Lauds, Vespers, and Compline; Sunday Mass and Friday penance; Lenten fast followed by Easter feast. The home has dishes and laundry, bathrooms and shopping day, spring cleaning and holiday decorating. Day in and day out, year after year, world without end Amen.

This Lent, I have really been working on establishing my set routines. Before I did the necessary tasks, but it was on a catch-as-catch-can basis, and there were times I found myself wondering when exactly I last cleaned the kitchen floor or begging my husband to help dig me out of Mt. Washmore. It has really blessed our family to know that the laundry will be done, the kitchen clean enough to make a meal, and something planned for dinner for which all the necessary groceries are on hand. That alone is enough reason to have a routine, but I've found more time for leisure activities that rejuvenate me and make me a much happier and relaxed woman. When I've successfully done my routines in a day, it really does give me a sense of accomplishment.

Why do we thrive on this sort of order? Beyond the practical benefits of knowing that when you open the drawer you will find clean underwear, I think it is because in my own small way, creating this small ordered universe I call my home is a reflection of He who is perfect order. Not that my home is pefect! Haha, if you came in right now you'd find a still questionable kitchen floor. Of course it doesn't help that it's white. But it's definitely generally improved over past months. Aim for progress, yes? To conform to an outward discipline is generally good for the soul in strengthening humility and charity, two of the most essential virtues. I'm sure you can come up with your own examples as this relates to housework. It of course also applies to one's prayer life.

So here is my weekday routine. Like everything else, it is a work in progress. This is really more of an ideal. It's a rare day indeed that absolutely everything happens in this order, but even having the framework established keeps me focused and on task if you will. Anthony's naptimes are changing now; lately he's been having only one nap at midday.

Morning routine:
-Wake up 6:15
-Morning offering
-Shower, dress, fix hair and face
-Quick clean bathroom (spray down shower, swish toilet bowl, wipe down mirror, sink, toilet, and floor. This takes two minutes and my bathroom is presentable!)
-Head downstairs with hamper of dirty laundry, sort laundry and put a load in the washer (on delay start so Ryan can get his shower)
-Empty dishwasher
-Make breakfast, look over calendar and to-do list while I eat
-I generally hear Ryan in the shower about now, turn on the coffee.
-Make Ryan's lunch, wash dishes
-Anthony wakes up: morning nursing, get him dressed, straighten his crib. (You may have noticed making the bed isn't on this list--my wonderful husband does that!)
-Kiss Ryan goodbye (very important!)
-9:00 Mass (bonus points for walking)

Daytime routine:
-Anthony's morning nap around 10:30- prayer time and cleaning (I have a rotation for this, another post perhaps)
-12:00 Angelus
-Lunch around 12:30

Afternoon/evening routine:
-Put away laundry from earlier
-Afternoon nap around 3:00- Mama's fun time! Sewing, reading, or talk to a friend.
-4:30-ish pick up around the downstairs
-Around 5:00 start thinking about starting dinner; Anthony usually feeds himself finger foods while I cook.
-6:00 Ryan comes home, Angelus, suppertime
-Dishes, playtime
-8:00 bedtime for Bubs
-Rosary, time for Ryan and me
-Make sure kitchen's clean, start dishwasher. I've decided to run it every evening because it's so nice to start the day with all your dishes that you need clean. Luckily, we have a "half load" option to reduce waste.
-Pick out clothes for tomorrow, hang them in the bathroom
-Wash up for bed
-Prayer and bed. Going to bed at a decent time is the hardest part!

More babies!

I'm itching for another baby. Anthony needs a little brother or sister! I found this on another blog and thought it so good that I wanted to share:

The blessing of children is definitely underrated in our society and in our world. Here are some great reasons to add more children to your family.

Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him. Psalm 127:3


1. Have another child to join with God in the creation of an immortal soul. Parents are given the incredible opportunity to assist God in the creation of an immortal soul. As the late Cardinal Mindszenty said, even the angels have not been given such a grace. “The most important person on earth is a mother. She cannot claim the honor of having built Notre Dame Cathedral. She need not. She has built something more magnificent than any cathedral—a dwelling for an immortal soul, the tiny perfection of her baby’s body...Even the angels have not been given such a grace! What is more glorious than this—to be a mother.” Joseph Cardinal Mindszenty

2. Have another child to bring joy into your life. There is no joy like the joy of welcoming another child into your life. You will marvel anew at how perfectly formed your little one is, and over how quickly you will fall head over heels in love with him. You will be enchanted with every tiny aspect of her appearance. The color of her hair, the shape of her nose, and the winsomeness of her smile will occasion endless happy debates about from which side of the family (yours, of course) she got that adorable trait. The birth of a child will bind you to God more tightly than ever before, in awed gratitude. “She was the most miraculous thing that had ever happened in my life,” Whittaker Chambers wrote about his new daughter in Witness. And in the lives of most of us. I thought that one day I would be a famous artist and create great works of art. Instead, God made me a mother,and my children are His masterpiece. The design of their lives will live on after me. What is painted on their hearts will last an eternity - Anonymous

3. Have another child to help end abortion. When Mother Teresa of Calcutta was asked by a young mother about the best way to proceed with pro-life work, she responded emphatically, “Have a big family. That is the best way to end abortion!” How this works is not difficult to understand. As children become more rare due to contraception, sterilization and abortion, whole segments of society become less and less familiar with the sense of joy and hope that only babies and children can give. In this climate, contraception and abortion feed on themselves, as the increasingly selfish few further reduce their number. By having another child, you demonstrate once again to the world that children are God’s greatest gifts. “Children build up the life of the family and society,” as Pope John Paul II has said. “The child becomes a gift to its brothers and sisters, parents and entire family. Its entire life becomes a gift for the very people who were givers of life and who cannot help but feel its presence, its sharing in their life and its contribution to the common good and to the community of the family.” The more children there are in society, the more pro-life that society will become, and the easier it will be for the great evil of abortion to be eradicated once and for all. “Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live.” Deuteronomy 30:19

4. Have another child to grown in holiness and virtue. For those who marry and have families, children are the primary means God uses to help them grow in holiness and virtue. Children teach their parents patience, perseverance, charity, and humility. They give their parents the opportunity to practice the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. They come into the world naked, and we clothe them, hungry and we feed them. Thirsty, and we give them drink. All of the things that we are required to do for the “least of these our brothers,” we do first and foremost for our own children. St. Catherine of Siena once had a vision in which God took her to a roomful of crosses and told her to pick one. St. Catherine went to the largest, heaviest cross in the room and would have chosen it. But God told her that it was not for her: That was reserved for the parents of large families. “Mary gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes.” Luke 2:7

5. A) Have another child so your sons will have brothers and your daughters will have sisters. Children who have siblings learn early to share. They learn to take turns and to put the needs of others before their own. The bond formed between brothers and sisters is lifelong, and stronger than the bond between the closest friends. “How good it is, how pleasant, where the brothers dwell as one!” Psalm 133:1-2 B) Have another child so your sons will have sisters and your daughters will have brothers. Boys who have sisters learn the dignity of women. They learn to treat other girls and women with respect, as they consider how they would like their own sisters to be treated. Girls who have brothers learn the complementarity of men and women, both fashioned in the image and likeness of God. “Love begins by taking care of the closest ones—the ones at home.” Mother Teresa

6. Have another child so you (and your parents) won’t be lonely in old age. People who have children don’t have to rely upon strangers to care for them in their old age. Children also become the parents of your grandchildren. Grandchildren bring joy, happiness, and laughter, while still allowing you to get a good night’s sleep! “Grandchildren are the crown of old men, and the glory of children is their parentage.” Proverbs 17:6

7. Have another child because people are our greatest resource. Humans are blessed with the gifts of an intellect and free will. It is human ingenuity that discovers creative solutions to the problems which confront us. People without children should remember that it will be someone else’s child who will become the doctor that performs their life-saving operations. Someone else’s child will become the firefighter that saves their house. Someone else’s child will become the railroad engineer. “How can there be too many children? That’s like saying there are too many flowers.” ~Mother Teresa

8. Have another child to contribute to the economy. Families with children are fuel to the economy, purchasing houses and cars and college educations. Without young people to enter the workforce, social security systems fail. Without children to attend school, teachers are jobless. Many industries, from fast food restaurants to toy stores, obviously rely heavily upon business from and for children to stay in business. But ultimately the whole economy does. “Like a fruitful vine your wife within your home, Like olive plants your children around your table. Just so will they be blessed who fear the Lord.” Psalm 128:3-4

9. Have another child to counter global depopulation. Anyone who has traveled from coast to coast in the United States and seen the vast empty spaces should know that America is not overpopulated. In fact, the entire population of the world could live in the state of Texas, in single-family dwellings with front and back yards. Fertility rates are falling everywhere. The world’s population will never again double. If current trends continue, world population will peak by the middle of this century and then begin demographic freefall. Our long-term problem is not too many children, but too few children. Having another child will help offset the coming population implosion. “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth.” Genesis 1:28.

10. Have another child to help populate heaven. The child that you and your spouse have been generous in accepting from God was created to return to Him, after a life of love, service, and obedience on earth, to spend eternity with God in heaven. Our Lord Himself said that there was plenty of room for those immortal souls. There is no overpopulation problem in Heaven! “There are many mansions in my Father’s house.” John 14:2

from “Ten Great Reasons to Have Another Child” Permission to reprint granted. Redistribute widely.Credit requested. http://www.pop.org/