7 Quick Takes Friday: Scrumptious Blog Edition

Sarah Therese from Footprints on My Heart kindly tagged me, more than a month ago, for a "Scrumptious Blog Award."

First of all let me say that I'm sorry, Sarah Therese, that it's taken me this long to respond!  And secondly, I never thought of this blog as "scrumptious" before, but now I've decided that's an adjective I'd love to have associated with my String of Pearls.  What could possibly be better than something scrumptious?  So thank you, thank you, thank you.

 

Here are Sarah Therese's questions for me

 (which are going to double as 7Quick Takes...or perhaps 10):

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1. What is your favorite children's book? 



I have the hardest time with questions like these, because I always love so many books.  But for little ones, it's a toss-up between two.  One is The Boy with a Drum, a Little Golden Book that I read to my boys ad nauseam when they were tots.  It's the first book I ever read aloud to my oldest, starting when he was about six months old.  ("There once was a boy with a little toy drum, Rat-a-tat, Tat-a-tat, Rum-a-tum-tum...")  This book has it all: sing-song rhyme, lots of animals, darling illustrations--love, love, love it.  I also adore The Runaway Bunny, which I read a lot to son #2, who was the child of ours who was most prone to threatening that he was going to run away from home.  "That's okay, because if you do, I'll be just like the mother bunny," I'd tell him.  "If you become a fish in a stream, I'll become a fisherman and fish for you.  If you become a bird and fly away from me, I'll become a tree that you'll come home to.  If you become a boat, I'll become the wind that blows you back to me...You can't win, buddy.  So you might as well stay here." Personally, I think this work from Margaret Wise Brown is way better than Goodnight Moon--but what do I know?  For middle school-aged children, my favorite book ever is Ralph Fletcher's novel Fig Pudding (RL: 4.7~ages 9-12).  Narrated by Clifford Allyn Abernathy III, the oldest in a family of six children, it is one of the most beautiful and poignant peeks inside a tight-knit, loving, normal family that you'll ever read.  It's really not just for kids, although they love it; adults should read this gem, too.  You'll laugh and you'll cry, and you won't soon forget the Abernathy clan.  (If you're like me, you'll read it more than once.)

 

2. What is your favorite book from the Old Testament?

Here's where my ignorance is going to show, because I don't read the Bible enough to have a favorite Old Testament book.  I am much more apt to read from the New Testament.  This question, however, has inspired me to do a little--make that a lot of--reading.  And I'll have to get back to you with my answer.  I just asked my husband, though (and he's a lot more scrumptious than I am anyway), and he said he's partial to the Book of Ecclesiasticus (or Sirach).

 

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3. What is your favorite past time?

When my kids were growing up, my favorite way to spend time was just being with my husband and boys, for simple activities like "family movie night."  Or standing on the sidelines of one of their football or lacrosse games, next to my favorite person (their dad), watching them do their thing.  Now that they're grown and on their own, traveling has become a favorite past time, because that's what my husband and I need to do in order to see our beloved brood (which includes three edible granddaughters).  Reading is also a favorite past time, especially reading on a rainy or snowy day, when there's no point in going out anyway, and you can curl up on the couch under a blanky without guilt...Hey, how many favorites are you allowed to have?  Because I have a list of activities I could add here, but I'll spare you.

 

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4. What is your favorite childhood memory?

Waking up on Christmas morning!  I know that's hardly a creative answer, but it is hand's down my favorite memory from childhood.  We didn't have a fireplace, so Santa always left our stockings at the end of our beds.  Those bulging stockings were the first things we saw when our eyes popped open on Christmas morning.  When the five of us kids woke up (at zero dark thirty!), we were allowed to congregate and open all the little toys in them, while waiting for our parents to wake up hours later and make their coffee before we were allowed to start opening what was under the tree.  We weren't even supposed to peek at the tree (although sometimes we cheated), but those whispered hours in the middle of the night, sitting on each other's beds and exclaiming over the cheap little plastic treasures in our stockings, were magical.  I was therefore thrilled the Christmas our youngest son was five (and he'd woken up at about 3:00 a.m. with his ten-year-old brother) and he said his favorite part of the festivities that year was "the stockings in the dark."

 

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5. What is your favorite ice cream flavor?  (If vanilla, favorite topping.)

I am addicted to soft-serve vanilla ice cream, which I've blogged about before (and frozen yogurt is not an acceptable substitute).  I don't really like to ruin its pristine perfection, but if forced to add a topping, it would be a toss-up between hot fudge, bits of Heath bars, or crushed Oreos. (I could choke any of those toppings down, with little effort.  You know, for the team.  But give me plain old vanilla soft-serve any day of the week.)

 

6. What is your favorite form of exercise?  (I thought it would be good to put this in the same section as the above question, since it's the ice cream habit that makes the exercise so necessary.)

My favorite form of exercise these days is not called "running"; it's called  "Turbo Jam," which comes in a set of DVD's from Beach Body.  It includes cardio, punching and kicking (but I'm not a violent person, I swear), and stretching.  It strengthens your core.  It's sort of fun; the moves are more athletic than dance-like, which suits me.  And after a few weeks, you really do start to notice a difference.

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7. What is one thing you like to do on rainy days? 

See #3 for the answer to this one.  Let's move on to the next question, then--because after all, movie watching is another perfect rainy/snowy day activity.

8. What's one movie that makes you laugh and cry each time?

Oh, that would have to be "It's a Wonderful Life."  Some of my boys don't share my love of this oldie but goodie, and they make fun of Jimmy Stewart's corny lines as George is wooing Mary (you should hear sons #4 and #5, both brilliant mimics, do the whole moonbeams shooting out of her fingers and toes schtick).  But I just love this classic movie, and I never fail to get teary-eyed at the end, when Stewart's George Bailey is surrounded by his loving family and all the loyal townspeople who've rallied to save him from financial ruin, and Harry Bailey bursts into the house and cries, "A toast to my big brother George--the richest man in town!"

 

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 9. Rain or sunshine? 

Oooh, tough one.  Of course I love sunshine.  But sometimes a rainy day is a bit of a treat (see #3...again!).  My sister-in-law who lives in FL was not disturbed in the least by the three straight weeks of almost constant rain she encountered when spending part of the summer in Upstate NY a few months ago.  It's boring, she says, when there's nothing but unrelenting sunshine.  I think I agree with her; so I guess rain and sunshine are both my favorites.

 

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 10. What is your favorite inspirational quote?

That would have to be this one, which I put right at the beginning of my novel Finding Grace because I absolutely couldn't imagine not including it in my heroine's story:

 

"God would never inspire me with desires which cannot be realized; so in spite of my littleness, I can hope to be a saint." ~ St. Therese of Lisieux

Now head on over and visit my friend Sarah Therese's scrumptious blog; and while you're at it, stop by and see more 7's from Jen and the gang at Conversion Diary.

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Here are the rules for the SCRUMPTIOUS BLOG AWARD:
1. Once you are awarded, post about it on your blog and link back to the person who awarded you.
2. Answer all of the questions on the tag.
3. Do not award anyone who has more than 100 followers.
4. Come up with 10 new questions.
5. Tag 5 to 10 people.

I tag the following 6 bloggers:
Erica from Boys, Books, and Balls
Olivia from To the Heights
Kristin from Team Boda
Natalie from Between the Bobseins
Amelia from One Catholic Mama
Rebekah from Rebekah's Web Log

Here are my questions for you:
1. What was your favorite sitcom growing up?
2. What song makes you happy every time you hear it?
3. Have you ever had anything happen to you that you thought was bad, but it turned out to be for the best?
4. Do you have a favorite saint you pray to, or one to whom you feel a special friendship?
5. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
6. Do you prefer scary movies or comedies?
7. If you could learn to do anything, what would it be?
8. When you have 30 minutes of free time, how do you spend it?
9. What's the hardest thing you've ever done?
10. If you could be any fictional character, whom would you choose?

 

Theme Thursday: Double

My better half and I have some great advice for all of you parents out there whose children are going and growing up on you (wait--how did that happen?), leaving your nicely feathered nest (the nerve!), getting married (a joy, to be sure), and having children of their own (the gold at the end of the rainbow, I tell you).  Here it is: when you have your first grandchild...have twins!  Why have a single when a double is so much more fun for everyone?  (And by everyone, I mean the grandparents...because we've seen what taking care of infant twins round the clock looks like, and believe me, it's not for the faint of heart.  It's the best possible way to break into the grandparenthood club, but not quite as easy for a set of first-time parents.)

I realize you can't order just exactly what you want, but twins truly are the very best way to start out, especially when Papa and Grammy have been missing having babies around the house as much as my husband and I had been by the time Bonny Babe and Cutie Pie arrived on the scene just over two years ago.  We both admit that it would have been well nigh impossible to wait our turns if there'd only been one little bundle of joy to hold and cuddle, one little soft head to sniff.  We might have behaved like a pair of nap-deprived toddlers, yelling, "Mine, mine, mine!"  But we each had a baby to hold, a baby who looked so much like her identical counterpart that it was as if we were seeing double.

Now, these two look-alikes have a seven-month-old baby sister, Little Gal, and our cup runneth over.  As we look forward to the wedding of our #3 son in December, we can't help but think of all the other angels that will be added to our String of Pearls in the coming years (no pressure, kids).

But no doubt about it: we were doubly blessed, right out of the gate.

Now head on over to Cari's and you'll really be seeing double.

What We're Reading Wednesday, and the Giveaway Winner

It's Wednesday, which is exciting for two reasons: it's a day to link up and talk about books with Jessica and all the other eager readers who visit Housewifespice for this weekly on-line celebration of the written word;

and it's the day I get to announce the winner of my latest giveaway contest (the prize being a signed paperback copy of my novel Finding Grace).

The names are all there in the hat (a dapper one at that, a straw cowboy hat with "ND" embroidered on the band, because every item of clothing my husband owns is a paean to his alma mater), so drumroll please...

And the winner is Rebekah Es!

Rebekah is an extremely talented writer who blogs at Rebekah's Web Log, if you haven't discovered her yet.  I am actually very happy to send Rebekah this prize, almost as a thank you, since she has told me that she's in the midst of reading my book already (and she's not even related to me!).  I hope by the time she finishes it, she'll still be glad she won another copy.

Rebekah, please let me know where I can send the book (by going to the "Email me" tab on the right).  And thanks for entering.  For that matter, thanks to everyone else who threw their names into the hat.  This was fun for me.

What isn't quite as fun is reading Michelle Buckman's Death Panels: A Novel of Life, Liberty, and Faith--but not because it isn't well-written and a page-turner to boot.  A novel set in America in the year 2042, it is reminiscent of 1984 and Brave New World; but because so much of the "that will never happen" aspects of those cautionary tales have become a whole lot less unthinkable in our modern world, it is that much more frightening. Given all that is going on in our country today (and I'm not going to go into details here, because I swore I'd keep this blog a happy place and there's no possible way to talk about politics or the state of our government and still be happy), it almost reads like a news story rather than fiction.  In Buckman's futuristic America, which has ceded its national sovereignty to a global entity called the UO (Unified Order of the World), babies born with abnormalities are routinely euthanized, women who dare to become pregnant after having two children are taken away for forced abortions, and patients are routinely denied care, depending on how the government perceives their worthiness.  Marriage is all but a dead institution, and Christians who are out in the world and haven't been banished to The Dome (a place where Christians called Dominians live together in poverty) must keep their religion a secret.  Each citizen has an ID chip that helps the state keep track of his every move--and even his every food choice.  The government controls every single solitary aspect of life, and its mantra is "For the good of the nation, for the good of the world."  Does any of this sound as if it's not too far-off in our once great nation, if we're not careful?

I'm not too far into Buckman's book yet, but I will say that there are heroes--among the Dominians as well as those living out in the world under the noses of the corrupt government.  And these people are willing to risk their own lives to save even one innocent baby born with Down's Syndrome from government-enforced euthanasia.  So even in what appears to be a very dark story, there is hope.  When I finish, I'll try to remember to post a more in-depth review.

Okay now, for more book talk, head on over to Jessica's.

Giveaway Reminder!

Today is that last day to leave me a comment (I love comments!) on this post, and you'll have a chance to win a copy of my novel Finding Grace.  See, it's just sitting there on my little desk, waiting to find out where its new home will be.

If you really like free stuff, and you really like to read, just stop by and say hi, and your name will be in the hat tonight when I pick the winner.

Good luck!

On Dying

I've read some Catholic blogs lately about dying.  I know that sounds depressing, but it really wasn't.  They were written by young Catholic wives and mothers who, if things go the way they should and normally do go, will be around for a long, long time.  But they pointed out, in their essays on the subject, that like it or not, no matter how young, fit, and healthy we are, we are ALL in the process of dying.  That is the end game for every human being; we all know that we will ultimately die (and no amount of exercise or Botox can keep this from happening).  The only thing we don't know is the hour or the day.

Just when I was thinking of writing a blog post filled with instructions for the type of wake and funeral I'd like my family to plan for me (no eulogies, please!), as these girls did here, here, and here, we got the sad news that my husband's uncle (the husband of his late father's sister) died yesterday morning.  He was in his late 80's and he'd been ill for a while, so it wasn't totally unexpected.  But it was totally devastating for his family nonetheless.

This uncle was a character if there ever was one.  A father of six (as well as a grandfather and great-grandfather), he had a sometimes biting sense of humor. He liked to shoo us off his property when he deemed it time for a family gathering to end, with a growl that would frighten away a Grizzly bear (or a shy woman like me who married into my husband's gregarious clan).  His sometimes crotchety demeanor, however, couldn't quite hide the softness of his heart, for he was a family man all the way.  The more I was able to see his soft side, the more I loved that guy.  I'll never forget how excited he was to show me the elaborate doll house he'd spent hours and hours putting together for his granddaughter.  It is only fitting that he was blessed to have his family gathered around him at the end, when he passed from this short life into eternal life.

My husband and I get nervous about canonizing people when they die, knowing that many of us will have to spend a bit--and maybe even a lot--of time in Purgatory before we see the face of God.  (Note to my family: Pray for my soul when I am gone!  Have lots of Masses said for the repose of my soul!  Don't ever assume that I've made it to the finish line when I take my last breath--I think I'm going to need lots and lots and lots of prayers!)

So I won't canonize my husband's uncle here.  But he was a good Catholic, a devoted husband, a man who took care of his brood and lived his life for them.  I like his odds, but I will pray for him anyway.

 Rest in peace, Uncle D.

Theme Thursday: Secret

It's been a little while since I joined Cari and her fellow shutterbugs for a Theme Thursday link-up, so I thought I'd hop in on the action today...I believe this is what is commonly known these days as photo bombing?

My #3 son is getting married in about two months, and I've been busy working on making flower girl dresses and addressing rehearsal dinner invitations--so understandably, I've had weddings on the brain lately.  And that led me to feelings of nostalgia, which led me to breaking out my own wedding albums.

Back in 1980, a wedding shoot was a whole different animal than it is today.  It was all very simple and straightforward, with not a hint of Pinteresty creativity.  The package we got from our photographer included about seventy proofs (4 X 6"), out of which we were allowed to choose twelve shots that were made into 8 X 10" prints.  There was nothing particularly artsy about most of the poses: aside from the pictures of everyone coming down the aisle before and after the ceremony, they were mostly of the wedding party lined up on the altar, and then the parents with the bride and groom lined up on the altar, and various other groups snapped in line-up fashion.

There is one candid moment that our photographer happened to capture on film that I find to be rather sweet, however.  There we were, kneeling side-by-side shortly after we'd recited our vows, and my newly minted husband leaned over to whisper something to me (I wish I could remember what it was!), and I in turn smiled at him like the deliriously happy bride I was (as I played with the new gold wedding band on my finger).  I love this picture, and I'll always be so grateful that the photographer happened to catch my husband in the act of sharing a secret with me on our wedding day.

Excuse me for a minute...I've got to grab a hanky...

Okay, then.  It's no secret that you'll find some interesting photos over at Clan Donaldson, so maybe you should head on over there...I'll just be here poring over these old albums...

Oh, and by the way: apparently the best kept secret is that I'm giving away a paperback copy of my novel Finding Grace.  If you're interested in winning a free copy, go to yesterday's post and leave me a comment!  :)

WWRW: Falling for Your Madness (and Finding Grace?--You Could Win a Copy!)

"What We're Reading Wednesday" is one of my favorite blogging link-ups, because reading is one of my favorite things.  So thanks, Jessica, for hosting this wonderful Wednesday celebration of the written word.

I just finished re-reading a book I thoroughly enjoyed the first time around.  It's a debut novel by Katherine Grubb (who blogs at 10 Minute Writer) titled Falling for Your Madness.  Ten pages into it, I looked at my husband and said, "This book should be made into a movie.  I can absolutely see these scenes playing out on the big screen."  Since many people would rather see the film than read the book, I hope it is made into a movie, because the story of artist Laura Adamsky's courtship with an eccentric (and possibly insane) Boston College professor named Dr. David Julius Arthur Bowles is one that would appeal to a widespread audience.

Ladies, if you're looking for a completely satisfying romance in which there is absolutely nothing R-rated involved, this is your book.  If you enjoy a great love story and sometimes wish you could go back to a time when men were chivalrous knights in shining armor who honored women and treated them with utmost respect--or if you just plain like to read books that are well-written and full of likable characters and witty dialogue--this is your book.  Falling for Your Madness is funny and heart-warming, and it'll keep you turning the pages long after you should have turned out the light and gone to sleep.

I'm not going to give away the story, because it's just too much fun to read--I mean, it is utterly whimsical and quirky and charming--and it would be so much better if you knew very little going in.  Let's just say that poetry-quoting, tea-drinking, dyed-in-the-wool Anglophile David is unlike any man Laura has ever been involved with before; he has strict "rules" for courtship that seem pretty bizarre in this day and age.  It's not easy being his sweetheart, and there are times when she wonders whether he might be just a little bit off his rocker.  But then again, she's never been in a relationship where she feels so safe and cherished...Is David crazy?  Or is he the best thing that's ever happened to her?

And that's all I'm going to say before I end up saying too much. 

Now, there's another book I'd like to tell you about--and maybe some Wednesday it'll be what you're reading (fingers crossed!).  It's my Catholic novel Finding Grace.

A pro-chastity, pro-family, pro-life coming-of-age love story, Finding Grace is targeted at teens and young adults, but it has appeal for adult readers as well.  In fact, my publisher, Bezalel Books, has included it with some other titles in a Kindle group called "Women's Inspirational Christian Fiction."

Published in August of 2012, Finding Grace received the Catholic Writers Guild Seal of Approval that year and was a finalist for the CWG's 2013 Catholic Arts & Letters Award (CALA) for best Catholic fiction in the YA category.

I thought today, as a "WWRW" treat, I'd do a giveaway here at the old blog.  If you'd like to win a signed copy of my book, just leave me a comment at the end of this post.  Next Tuesday night, I'll write the names on pieces of paper, put them in a hat, close my eyes, and pick one.  Then I'll announce the lucky winner a week from today.

Good luck!  And now head on over to Housewifespice for more bookishness.