Seven Quick Takes: Volume 28 // Theme Thursday

Jan. 24, Feast of St. Frances de Sales, bishop and doctor.  Memorial of Our Lady of Peace.

A scene from my friend's wedding last weekend.  For more photos from the wedding, see below.

-- 1 --

The Kumquat Festival ushers in early spring cleaning.  I actually took a personal day from work because otherwise I'd never have managed.  We're clearing out, gathering up, and tucking away.  The plan is to hold a yard sale tomorrow (my first!).  If you have any advice about how to best direct a sale of this type to be the most lucrative, the comment box is down below. (*points*)

As for clothes (mommy & baby), I have an inner criteria that go something like this:

• Do I still like it?
• Does it look good on me?
• Do I still wear it?
• Have I worn it in a year?
• Do I fit in it?
• Will I ever use it again (honestly)?
• Does it have sentimental value?
• Did someone I love give it to me?
• Did whoever gave it to me mean it as a special present?

It's surprisingly easy to weed things out by these.  Many of the clothes I'm holding onto answer a resounding "no" to all of the questions above.

-- 2 --

While we're executing this project, I'm listening to the latest Audrey Assad CD my sister gave me.  I knew it would be a beautiful album because of the songs I had heard on YouTube and blogs, but I didn't guess that every song would be moving (with maybe the exception of Track 2, whose name I don't know, but I have to disclaim my exceptionally picky and temperamental sense of taste in music).

As a synthesis of liturgical, medieval chant, psalm, and actual prayer, it's incredibly moving and passes well beyond into the realm of Art with a capital A.  I think your average Christian pop radio tune is praise, but that's only one kind of prayer.  Audrey's songs are the deep internal groanings of the soul searching for God, the pilgrim aching for home never seen.

Jenna introduced me to this one, and it hits far too close to home for me to hear it without shedding a tear:

From the love of my own comfort

From the fear of having nothing

From a life of worldly passions

Deliver me O God

From the need to be understood

From the need to be accepted

From the fear of being lonely

Deliver me O God

Deliver me O God

And I shall not want, I shall not want

when I taste Your goodness I shall not want

when I taste Your goodness I shall not want

From the fear of serving others

From the fear of death or trial

From the fear of humility

Deliver me O God

Deliver me O God

And please pray for her husband.  My sister tells me he has cancer.  Again and again, God has shown me that in a mystery I don't understand, those who are most precious to him experience the most suffering.  If you love Jesus, you love the Cross.  The two can't be separated.  And in the darkest moments, the fact that the former comes with the latter, is sometimes the only comfort.  But it is utterly sufficient.

-- 3 --

The Squirt's birthday is coming up soon, and seeing as he has little friends to invite this year, I really want to throw him a birthday party.  It's the day before Valentine's Day, so I was thinking about the weekend before.  I already know a lovely lady who makes delicious cakes, so that's set.  As for the rest, it will have to be low key for financial reasons, but I am all. about. themes.  Right now, it's a toss-up between St. Valentine's Day and Where the Wild Things Are.

What kind of themes and birthday party life-hacks have you implemented?

-- 4 --

This week's Theme Thursday was catching people unawares.  Oh Cari, what will you think of next?

-- 5 --

My nephew will be baptized into the Body of Christ this Sunday.  I'm sad I won't be able to be there, but will you remember him in your prayers this weekend?  I don't have permission yet to use his name on this blog, so you can just refer to him as "Christie's nephew."  c:  Thank you!

-- 6 --

Haley sweetly shared Everything to Someone over on Carrots for Michaelmas, which delights me because I respect Haley for her thoroughly good literary taste and have turned to her well-established practice of liturgical living in striking out on my own liturgical lifestyle.  Someone must have acted on her advice and nominated EtS for Bonnie's Sheenazing Catholic Bloggers Award, in two divisions.  Like in Whose Line Is It Anyway?, where the points don't matter, the only reward for winning is the sparkly-smug self-satisfaction . . . but that works for me!  And it's just really fun.  We need more fun for fun's sake.

Venerable Fulton Sheen, pray for us!

-- 7 --

Links I love this week:

Wardrobe Adjustments--Being Pretty by Masha at Piękno
How to Keep the SAINT in St. Valentine's Day by Madni at Messy Wife, Blessed Life
A Bloody Anniversary by Leila of Little Catholic Bubble
Getting Started with Homeschooling at Sure as the World
23 Things to Do at 23 (No Matter Your Relationship Status) by Molly at Molly Makes Do
Kyle Andrews's "You Always Make Me Smile" music video on Yotube (definitely makes me smile)  c;

There's more Quick Takes, or so I'm told, at Jen's.