Lenten Theme of the Week: Steadfastness, and cheese lasagna for meatless Friday...

Happy midish point of Lent everyone, and let's have a group hug for making it this far, yes?

🤗

I'm keeping up with my 2 devotionals, but I'm letting myself take it easy with regards to staying perfectly on a Lenten timetable. Right now, our lives ARE LENT, so I think that simply by remaining steadfast and hanging in there, we're doing just fine right now.

For our part, we've all been trying to stay busy at home, our creativity flowing via online means, and still liking each other by the end of each week. ;-) Mike and I have both been working with the kids on their schoolwork, and also trying to get our own teaching work done from home. It's been a tough balancing act, for sure.

On the upside, I've been finding lots of time for crafting! My in-progress shawl is coming along very nicely, and I'm aiming to finish it to wear on Easter:

Pattern is Find Your Fade

I also received a few new rosary purchases, and am quite in love! First up is our pal St. Patrick, I love the pop of green this time of year!

St. Patrick rosary over at Rosaries by Allison

And the next is a 7 Sorrows Rosary, which is a totally new devotion for me, and it's perfect for Lent! You could also pray this without the specialty rosary, and just keep careful count. :-) This custom rosary though has medals depicting each of the sorrows, very handy!

Created by Rosaries by Allison

The 7 Sorrows of Mary are:

1.) The Prophecy of Simeon
2.) The Flight into Egypt
3.) The Loss of Jesus in the Temple
4.) Mary Meets Jesus on the Way to Calvary
5.) Mary Stands at the Foot of the Cross
6.) Mary Receives the Body of Jesus in her Arms
7.) Jesus is Placed in the Tomb

In our evening time, we've been watching the Lord of the Rings movies as a family. This isn't our first time doing so, but it's been a few years, so we're really sinking into them anew. And Anne didn't remember the stories particularly well, so they're almost like new to her. It's been nice to have an installment to look forward to after a long day of work, and I've been making popcorn for the kids to go along with it. Lord of the Rings has also been inspiring my crafting life:

Journey hues kit from Expression Fiber Arts

Yarn purchases and project planning has been keeping me sane right now. ;-) Also keeping me sane is the vast amount of dance and fitness classes that are available online now! I've been doing at least 1 daily, and it's helping to keep my creative juices flowing, along with meeting some of the items on my dance goals list for 2020! I'm getting to study with dancers that I would ordinarily not have the opportunity with, so I'm taking advantage of everything that I can.

In terms of meal planning, we're still at it:

We've been getting takeout 1-2 times per week from a local restaurant, and that's been another way of cheering ourselves up in the early evenings, along with supporting local businesses that are really suffering financially right now. For our meatless Friday this week, we're making a 3 cheese lasagna similar to this one:

Mike isn't a huge fan of ricotta cheese (believe me, I too cannot image how this could be true :-0) and when he makes this, he subs in swiss cheese. Unconventional, and I was skeptical, but I will say that it is delicious. And it is a perfect dish for a Lenten Friday!

How are you doing, friends? Do you need anything? How are you staying busy at home? Let's cheer each other up in the comments. :)

With November approaching, a prayer plan emerges...

Rosaries by Allison

Happy Halloeen, everyone! This morning, I raided my embarrassingly large rosary supply 😬 and brought out my Dia de los Muertos rosary, which is absolutely *perfect* for November, the month of All Souls! It's a great time to remember our family and friends who have passed before us, and to ask them to intercede for us. Speaking of that specific rosary, it is made by my dear friend, Allison, and she's having a special in her Etsy shop for 3 days only! So if you'd like to grab one of these rosaries, definitely hop onto her site and order asap!

As I was praying and driving into work this morning (for an 8 am class 😴), it occurred to me I'd like to plan another community novena. I ended up posting the St. John Paul II novena in our Facebook group recently, kind of spur of the moment, and it was very well received. I thought we could select an upcoming feast day and decide to pray as a community for those 9 days. I can post the prayers daily in the Facebook group, for those who follow along there, and I'll link to them here, of course, so that you can follow along regardless of if you participate over at Facebook or not. So! This begs an important question...

*beams*

Which novena would you like to pray? I'll include some ideas below, and please comment on this post with your vote!

St. Cecilia (feast Nov. 22nd)
All Souls (sort of a general November theme, feast is Nov. 2nd)
St. Francis Xavier Cabrini (feast Nov. 13th)
Christ the King (feast Nov. 24th)
St. Andrew Christmas novena (this would start on his feast of Nov. 30th, and is 25 days long leading up to Christmas)

Oh gosh, I'm getting so excited. :-0 Let me know your thoughts! We could potentially pray more than one of these!

Pondering the rosary...

I've been on a rosary kick lately, as I talked about last week. :-) It's hard for me to develop and stick with spiritual habits, but so far, this one is going pretty well. I pray the rosary a lot in the car, but sometimes on the weekends I'll pray it while I'm waiting for Mass to begin. This week, I was home sick one day with a horrible headache/24 hour bug, and I prayed a rosary while flat on my back in bed, because I had no choice but to lay there. The act of finding and wrenching my St. Francis rosary out of the pocket of my robe while it was still tangled around my body is not a rosary experience I'm looking to repeat, but I'll take what I can get. :-0 The point is that I have been committed to praying it daily, and it's stuck.

Towards that end, my ears perked recently when my sister Shauna'h mentioned that she'd been going through a short Bible study aimed towards better understanding the mysteries of the rosary. When she said that it was designed to last about a month, I offiically looked into it, as Advent is just over a month away. Once I espied it on Amazon, I knew that I had to get it. It's called Ponder, by Elizabeth Foss, and it's published by Take Up and Read.

I'm not particularly good at sticking with daily devotionals like this. But given that this one is designed to last 28 days, I'm cautiously optimistic that I can stick with it for the duration. Each day is only a short time commitment, and takes you through one of the 20 mysteries of the rosary. The other 8 days introduce the mysteries, or have you reflect on them when you complete all five in that set. I received my copy this week, and have just completed day three. The first day was an introduction to how the study will run, and then I've made my way through the first two Joyful Mysteries, the Annunciation and the Visitation. You're provided with the relevant scripture right there in the book, as well as a personal story by the author relating to the mystery. You also have space to answer questions each day:

• What personal message does the text have for me?
  
• What do I say to the Lord in response to His word?
  
• What conversion of mind, heart, and life is He asking of me today?

These are the same each day, but I'm already seeing how different my answers are each day depending upon the mystery and the scripture. You're also provided with some action item suggestions related to the mystery.

I have been agog the past two days over how much the discussion of the mystery for that day has related back to things I'm going through in my life right now involving my kids, the worry that I'm carrying in my heart each day. I'm getting a lot out of this! And I'm slated to finish up around November 19th. This works out well, because if for some reason I miss a day, I still have over a week before Advent begins. My goal is to have gone through the entire devotional, spanning all four mysteries of the rosary, before Advent. I'm particularly excited about getting to the Luminous mysteries! When I re-started my rosary quest recently, I was shocked to realize that it had been so long since I'd prayed them, that I had actually forgotten them. 😳 That has happily been remedied.

Has anyone else used Ponder, or another devotional in the Take Up and Read series? I'd love to hear about it in the comments!

During a tough season, the rosary has been a soothing balm...

Rosaries by Allison

So, I've been going through a period of spiritual dryness. It's been going on for quite some time, come to think. I had a brief respite in the late summer, but then as the dance competition loomed closer and the kids started back to school, I fell off doing the small bit of daily prayer that I had worked back into my routine, and things deteriorated once again. They weren't terrible, I still felt comfort from my faith and from going to Mass on Sundays, but that richness was lacking. It felt like I was trying to do everything myself, rather than letting God in to help me. The more that I was worried about (and the items piled up especially as September unfolded) the less I would seek out God. I knew He was there, but I had a difficult time asking for help.

About a week ago, my sister asked me about starting a daily challenge to pray a full rosary. I haven't prayed a full rosary in two years, and do you want to know why? Because of my car. I used to always pray the rosary in my car.

In September 2017, I had to replace my aged Honda Civic, and I wound up getting a 2017 Honda Fit that had a stick shift. I didn't know how to drive a stick shift, and thus I learned how. It was not easy, but I got it. However, the newness of the experience made me reluctant to give my hands something else to worry about when they were now so busy simply making the car go. And so for 2 years, I have not prayed a rosary with all 5 decades!

Shauna'h's query got me to thinking: I've been driving a stick now for 2 years, and I'm quite good at it. I also, of course, live in North America, and so I'm shifting with my right hand. My left hand is pretty passive, even when driving the stick. So last Friday, I got out my gorgeous new St. Jerome rosary and took it for a spin. I could easily keep count on the rosary tucked in my left hand while it was also placed on the steering wheel doing what it needed to do. I prayed half on my way into work, and half on my way home. I finished the entire rosary, with no impact on my driving the car.

Since then, I had prayed a full rosary every single day. Oftentimes in the car, but also before mass starts or in other spots throughout my day. I tend to not finish praying a rosary in a single sitting, but this works well for me with my contantly-on-overdrive brain.

I've noticed my anxiety abating a bit. I'm also feeling more positive about things that were previously eating me up inside. I look forward to getting into my car and going to work (where things have been quite stressful with teaching) so that I can have that quiet interior prayer time. I'm loving it.

It's really helped. And I'm hoping to keep it up. I know that sometimes I'll miss a day, things happen, and we're human. But the perseverence is what I need, especially as we move closer to Advent and the holiday season.

Do you have a daily rosary habit? Where do you pray it? I'd love to hear about it in the comments!

Uplifting fall vibes...

St. Jerome rosary, photo credit Rosaries by Allison

Happy Friday, friends, and although the weekend is here, my stress level continues to be high. :-0 There's been a lot going on for my family and I these past 6 weeks or so, and I'm just trying to manage it as best I can.

I've been trying to focus a lot on how much I love this time of year, when the air gets cooler and the leaves turn. I live in a beautiful part of the country to be able to enjoy it all. Often, as has been the case the past 3 years, work is busy and stressful for me right at this exact time (September through October) which has had the effect of me not taking advantage of the gorgeous fall weather and the fun activities that it can entail. This year, I endeavored to enjoy fall despite the stress, and I do think it's, for the most part, working. Even with the dance competition recently, some crazy teaching weeks, and increased concern about both kids at their adjustment to new school life, I've taken some moments to enjoy the beautiful fall we're having here in WNY. The skies are gray a lot, but for me, the fact that the air is crisp, the leaves are beginning to show color, and harvest/Halloween decor is out in abundance makes up for it completely.

It's definitely the little things, and the lack of uncomfortable heat and humidity, is a small, but important, joy for me. I've also been trying to really drink in the time that I get to spend on my hobbies: escaping to Hogwarts with Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, immersing myself in the combinations we're learning in my dance classes, the new flow segment in my lunchtime Piyo class on Mondays. I've never been good at doing this in the past, but something has changed. Does age really bring wisdom? ;-) I'm able to do it more so now, because I know how important it is to be able to recharge before tackling the stressful things again.

As you can see from the photo in this post, I commissioned my dear friend Allison to create a fall themed St. Jerome rosary for me, and I heart it so much I can hardly stand it. 😍 I have it tucked into the pocket on the driver's side door of my little Honda Fit, and I reach for it often to just hold, or pray a single decade. I may not get a whole rosary in, but I don't think that's anything to fret over. It comforts me to see the fall colors, and feel the smooth beads. St. Jerome is the patron saint of librarians, and so he's my buddy when I go off to teach a stressful 5 hour stretch of back-to-back classes. It's definitely the small things.

What are the small things you're grateful for this weekend? *heart* I'd love to hear about it in the comments!

Tea Time with Tiffany #57 - Podcasting misadventures & chaplet organization...

Good morning all! I hope you have your morning beverage for a humid mid-July edition of:

Today I'm talking about troubleshooting some Skype misadventures, my upcoming Google Hangout on Air that you can join (!), and how I organize my embarrassingly vast collection of chaplets and rosaries. Come join in the fun!

**To subscribe to the audio version of Tea Time with Tiffany, just search for it in iTunes or use this link to subscribe via Feedburner in your podcatcher of choice. Intro music is "Tea Ceremony" from PlayonLoop.com




Items mentioned in this episode:

• Happy feast of St. Kateri!
• My Chaplets page, which has about a dozen different video and downloadable audio recordings for you to pray along with.

How do you organize your prayer beads, or books, or whatever else you tend to collect? This librarian would love to hear all about it!

Praying with a 4 year old...

This morning, Anne woke up clutching this little foldout pamphlet with all 20 mysteries of the rosary printed on it that she had picked up after Mass yesterday. For each mystery, there is a tiny, color illustration, which is what I think captured her imagination the most.

I caught her "reading" it, still in her sleeper, when she was supposed to be getting dressed this morning. :0 25 minutes later...

"I'm ready, Mommy. Don't forget my little prayer book!"

She kept it with her throughout breakfast, then asked me for rosary beads so that "we could pray in the car on the way to school." I was absolutely delighted, but then remembered that I wasn't driving her to school today.

"Sorry darling, we can't pray in the car today. But how about while I pack our lunches?"

"Yeah!"

Score.

I fetch her a set of St. Kateri rosary beads that were hanging out in my purse, and hand them to her.

"I like the blue beads, Mommy!"

"Those are for the Our Fathers. We pray a Hail Mary on the other beads."

"I do not want to use the other beads."

"Well, that's how...OK, it doesn't matter right now. It's just good that you are holding the beads and want to pray the rosary. Let's look at your little pamphlet and you can pick one picture for us to pray about."

"I get to pick one of the pictures?!"

 That was a real crowd-pleaser.

"Yep! How about one of these on the far left? Those are the Joyful Mysteries, which we pray on Mondays."

"I like the one with the angel!"

"The first one, great!"

I got a child who enjoys chronology as much as I do. I see this as a blessing. ;-)

*I read the short blurb next to The Annunciation*

"All right, now we pray an Our Father."

"I don't know that one all the way yet."

"I know, that's OK. I'll pray that one. You just hold one of the blue beads."

"OK! I can pick whatever blue one I want, right?"

"Um, sure. Go ahead."

Why not, right?

*I pray Our Father*

"All right, now we move onto the Hail Mary, and you know that one really well. Do you want to pray those out loud for me?"

"No."

*surprised pause from Mommy*

"But you love praying the Hail Mary."

"I know, but I want to pick a new picture now!"

"Well, we we're not quite ready to move on yet, Dear..."

"Mommy, what's this one? Jesus is carrying this big cross. I want to pick that one!!"

"Well, OK, Darling, but then we do have to pray the prayers."

"OK!"

"Here, hold onto this red bead and keep track for Mommy since I have to pack our lunches."

"I do not want to hold that red bead."

"Well, fine, pick a different bead, but you have to keep count while Mommy packs. That IS the reason we have the beads, so that we can keep count."

"I do not want to do that. I want to pick one of the blue beads again!"

As you can likely surmise, we didn't get a whole lot of praying done. But any opportunity to talk to my kids about the rosary is a good thing, in my estimation. Right? We'll go with that.

But what about our own prayer lives?! I wrote about taking on "Easter Resolutions" over at CatholicMom.com this month. Want to take a peek?

I would LOVE for you to leave a comment with your thoughts over at Catholic Mom. Just like our dear Samantha has done, HI SAMANTHA! :0 What are you spiritual resolutions this Easter season? Write in!

In times of ailment, it's the simple things that come through...

Hi all! I come to you weakly today, as I've not been feeling well for the past few days. I'm not entirely certain what is ailing me, likely a seasonal bug of some sort. Of course, it doesn't help that there is SNOW AND ICE currently on the ground here in WNY. I know that we live in a colder climate, to be certain, but given that it is April 6th this is a bit over the top, to my mind. *glares* We're hanging in there.

At any rate, I left work early yesterday, as I was feeling far less than 100%. As I walk in the door, I'm greeted by both children, who each try to push the other out of the way to vie for my attention.

"Mommy, I have a surprise for you, since you are sick! Stop it, HENRY!"

"Mom, I got my report card, and I got an 89 in Math. Does that mean I can pick out a cookie cake? Anne, stop stepping on my feet!"

"Mommy, look at the surprise! TA DA!!" *slew of itty bitty cupcake photos shower over my head* It was like a belly dance tip/money shower situation for a group of excited toddlers.

"Oh Honey, how lovely, thank you!"

"Mom, I had my guitar lesson today, and..."

"Mommy, I HAVE SOMETHING ELSE TO SHOW YOU!" She is nothing if not demanding, that Anne.

"Anne, oh my goodness, STOP INTERRUPTING ME!"

Can I just pause here and share a moment of snorting laughter with you parents out there? One thing that I did not know about having children is that when you are in their presence, you will not have a single uninterrupted thought EVER.AGAIN. Thoughts running through my own head, oh how I long for your face!!!! Interruptions. CONSTANT. And so to have Henry, now age 10, react with frustrated horror to the phenomenon of child interrupting just really gave me a giggle. Henry, former Interrupter Champion of the UNIVERSE.

Truly, they both really lifted my spirits yesterday. Mike had to teach, and so I took the the kids to Panera for dinner, and we had a lovely time. Simple Thing That Made Me Happy Yesterday #1.

#2 is the solace I'm finding in my current devotional routine. I'm well into the 54 day rosary novena, and my daily rosary has been balm to my soul. I'm currently praying with a spring-hued Divine Mercy rosary, and it is positively sublime. I also started a prayer journal to keep track of all of my intentions, as well as those of my friends, and the novenas that we're in the process of praying or are in the queue. Yes, we are Catholic Nerds and proud of it. I think our next novena will be for St. Gianna Beretta Molla. If you'd like to join in, we start April 19th!

Simply organizing all of my prayer ideas into one spot, and including those of my friends, has given me such a warm feeling. If you'd ever like to have me include your intentions in my prayers, just write in and let me know! You can leave a comment, or write to me in the email address that is included in the "About Me" tab. :)

That's what is on my heart this morning, and I'm just grateful to be feeling a bit better this morning and like I'm on the upswing. I've also been making SUPER fun summer plans for this blog. Stay tuned!

As well, If you haven't written in about the book club yet, I would still love to hear from you! Just give my latest Tea Time a listen, and let me know your thoughts. A few of you have already, and I'm collecting the ideas and will report in about this tomorrow. ;-)

How are you doing, dear reader? How is the Easter season treating you? Any new novenas you'd like to pray, or intentions you'd like for me to include? Do leave a comment and let me know!

Tea Time with Tiffany #41 - Special Holy Week edition!

All! So nice to be with you on a special (rushy rushy! though not in terms of length ;-)) Holy Week edition of:

Today I talk about adventures with my kids in a Palm Sunday procession, my experiences at the outset of Holy Week (Sacrament of Reconciliation! SUCH a good thing), and the religious handmade gifts I picked out for the kids' Easter baskets. I LOVE supporting handmade sellers, and all of my recommendations are below!





**To subscribe to the audio version of Tea Time with Tiffany, just search for it in iTunes or use this link to subscribe via Feedburner in your podcatcher of choice.

Items mentioned in this episode:

• 54 Day Rosary Novena
• Divine Mercy Novena
• Palm Sunday decor at my parish.
• Henry's St. Maximillian Kolbe doll and rosary:

• St. Luke's Brush on Etsy
• Rosaries by Allison on Etsy
• Anne's St. Kateri necklace:

• Mary's Prayers on Etsy
• Saints for Girls: A First Book for Little Catholic Girls

Long show notes today, but that's a wrap! How is your Holy Week going? What are your Easter plans and traditions? Do you have any projects that you'd like to suggest to me for this upcoming spring and summer season, i.e. novenas or other prayer endeavors, podcast topics, blog topics, anything creative that comes into your brain that you'd like to collaborate on? Do write in and let me know!

Holy Week begins, and thus novenas are in the air!!

Ooooooh, look at that, it's Monday and I'm posting again!! Well, the fun times come to an end after this particular Monday, for sure. Until the semester wraps up, that is. Spring break is over, but my regular class is cancelled today in lieu of a "research day" (i.e. we didn't expect many of them to be alert and conscious on the first day back from break). I did have a one-time English Composition class to teach today, but that was done by 10 am, so my schedule is much more open today. This worked out well since the end of my week is going to be blog-less due to it being Holy Week.

But Holy Week.

*swoons*

I had a FANTASTIC start to things with Palm Sunday yesterday, and my plan is to talk about that during a special Holy Week edition of Tea Time with Tiffany that I will record on Wednesday. Tuesday? Ishk. If that's a word. Let's just be honest, it ISN'T. So, I'm coining this now, "ishk" means "don't even ask, it's THAT crappy." Very, very busy tomorrow, so I don't know if I'll have time to blog. But Wednesday we should be able to have tea together. So go ready your mugs!

In the meantime, I sorted out some novena plans over the weekend, and wanted to see if you all desired to join me! I am in need of a new rosary novena for some special intentions. To that end, I have created a brand new 54 Day Rosary Novena page, and the first day is TODAY! I have all of the deets on how the novena works (and why it is so long!) over on that page, so click on over, dear reader, and have a look! I love that the finish day when we start day is May 13th, feast of Our Lady of Fatima. I mean, is that perfect or what?! So start your rosaries today if you want to participate. If you start a day or so hence, just adjust your dates accordingly and we'll still be praying in tandem for the majority of the time, which is great too!

Also, this Friday marks day one of the annual Divine Mercy Novena, and I LOVE that one each year! Pray More Novenas is hosting this one, so you can sign up to get the prayers in your email inbox. Head on over to their site to join in!

Multiple novenas plus the other spiritual reading that I'm still finishing up for Lent? Indeed I may be setting myself up to miss something and not get a gold star on everything. But that's OK. I'll endeavor to do my best, and I'll be praying along with all of you. That is all that is important, and it keeps my focus on where it needs to be. I'll take it.

Joining in? Let me know! We can pray for each others' intentions. *heart*

Novenas always make me feel better...

Hi all!

*bleary*

Our overnights are getting better, but we're still dealing with some early morning coughing that is heralding the start of my day WELL before 6 am, so I'm a bit tired. And I have the evening reference shift tonight, so I'm stuck here until 8 pm. I couldn't come in later today to compensate, due to the nefarious parking situation that I will not go into further lest I start having to strike out profanity.

*glares*

So it's going to be a long day. I will almost certainly be very tired tomorrow at this very same time as well. But we'll get there.

I was thinking this morning as I drove in, using my winter-themed Our Lady of Lourdes/St. Bernadette rosary to pray, that I love having a novena going. It really does help to settle my mind about many things. And novenas are especially meaningful to me when I pray them leading up to the actual feast day. I mean, there's nothing saying we can't pray an Our Lady of Lourdes novena in the middle of July if we really wanted to. And sometimes, if I have a petition related to a specific saint's patronage, I do just that. But when I'm in tune with the liturgical calendar everything jives even more in my soul, know what I mean? I just love it.

And yes, I am a total Rosary Nerd and I own rosaries that are themed around seasons as well as different saints. I keep 3-4 tucked into a holding spot on the driver's side door of my car that I rotate out every seasonal quarter. That way I can pick an appropriate one each morning as I drive. Right now I have St. Francis de Sales, the Our Lady of Lourdes that you see pictured above, and the Holy Family. Come March, I'll switch to spring rosaries like the one with a Divine Mercy centerpiece, and St. Dymphna. Maybe I'll add Pope Francis in as a spring rosary too, since he was elected to the papacy in the spring. ;-) LOVE IT.

What are your rosary and novena habits, dear reader? Do you have specific rosaries that you pray with at different times of the year? When do you pray the rosary? Do write in and tell me all about it. :)

St. Monica novena starts today! And "rosary coaxing" my 9 year old...

Hi all! To put it mildly, I am having a day in which I feel very harried. I'm not saying that I'm justified in feeling harried, but I'm feeling harried. I have a lot on my mind this week, and thus am easily overwhelmed. It's not real pleasant, but I'm doing the best with it that I can.

So what I've been focusing on are small tasks, staying patient, and prayer. The St. Monica novena begins today, and the chaplets page has been updated with a video introduction to her chaplet and an audio recording of the chaplet prayers themselves, with the novena prayer included at the end. And let me tell you, this particular recording is very much like you're right here in the room praying along with me. I'll explain, but first let me chronicle my morning up to that point. Do you have your tea? Good. Me too.

So, this morning I was slated to ferry Henry to his allergist for an updated skin test. Fun wow, right? Especially for poor Henry. ;-) Since we didn't have to leave until 9 am, I made a quick trip to the pharmacy to pick up his asthma medication refills, and believe me, NEAR OCCASION OF SIN, right there. If nobody is going to pay attention to the drive up line, don't have one, kwim?! I ended up abandoning the drive up, parked, and went inside, where everybody was busily pretending that the drive up window and the waiting cars didn't exist. I KNEW IT.

But I digress. I fetched Henry's medicine, and then hurried home to gather my work stuff and my son. I found him looking surly and not too eager about his appointment, not that I can blame him. He wanted to pack his small Nintendo DS to occupy him since the skin testing requires him to sit still for a time with the schmutz on his arm or what have you. Naturally, he had forgotten to charge it and an angry red light was blinking furiously. This did nothing to improve his mood.

Mom saved the day by immediately plugging it in for a few minutes worth of charging before we left, and then locating the adapter so that we could charge it in the car. Upon getting settled in the car, I used my heroine status to my advantage:

"I usually pray the rosary in the car, Hank. Want to pray a decade with me?"

"You pray the rosary? In THE CAR?"

Henry is clearly not yet indoctrinated into the Love To Pray In The Car! Club. But he was feeling amenable generally to my cause since I had saved his ability to play video games for the next hour.

"Yeah! We have all this time, and it's very soothing. I'm on the 2nd Sorrowful Mystery. Do you want to lead or respond?"

*pause*

"Lead, I guess."

"That's the spirit!"

:0

"Do you want to use my pumpkin rosary?! It's particularly smashing!"

"No thanks. I'll count on my fingers."

Spoil sport. But he prayed along really well, and I even talked him into praying the 3rd mystery too, since we had more than enough time.

#forthewin!

But the pumpkin rosary? Prepare to swoon!

Once again, Rosaries by Allison, if you want to feed your own addiction :)

That's it there on the right, with the Madonna and Child centerpiece. It's my new fall rosary, and on the left is St. Francis de Sales, isn't he handsome as well?! I LOVE rosary beads. I may have a problem. Is there a 12 step program for rosary hoarders?

So then we got to the allergist's office, and Henry had the thing, and the poor child is allergic to pretty much every living thing that he may encounter outdoors: grass, weed pollen, dust, trees, cats, dogs, feathers (even my beloved birds!! so sad).

"Does this mean that I can't ever go outside?"

Henry looks concerned.

"Yes Henry. You're going to have to walk around in a giant bubble."

Henry does not look amused.

After that, Mike came to pick Henry up so that I could head to work, and I got in just in time for lunch. Ha! Which I used to make the St. Monica recordings. And here we come, full circle, yes? :)

I notice that my office neighbor is not in residence so I quickly get out my equipment and get down to praying. I have a private office, but the walls here are THIN. And, well. She is LOUD. She's a perfectly nice woman, but she is very, very loud. In everything that she does. Talking, sneezing, traversing her office, putting down her keys, see a theme here? And there's really no polite way to tell someone that they are a Loud Person, you know? They're just loud. They don't mean to be. But everything about them is loud.

And so I really *need* her to be out of her office to record anything in mine. She wasn't there, I start recording, and BAM!

Yes, that was her door, that wasn't just me being cutesy in my writing style. :0

I hadn't gotten very far yet, so I stopped recording. Because she had also started making other shuffling and chair dragging noises, and the effect really wasn't good. I ate my lunch and tried to wait her out.

BAM! Eureka!! She left, hurry, hurry, hurry! I grab my beads and my audio recorder and get to work. I get all the way around the chaplet, and am on the final few prayers when disaster strikes.

Literally, it sounds like someone has gotten shot in my office. :0 How is she SO LOUD?! But by that point, I was NOT going to start over again. I persevered, but in the back ground you can hear all kinds of banging and commotion. Sooooooo...consider this "ambiance" and like you're praying right along with me, snugged in my cozy office. ;-)

How are you, dear reader? What's new? I could use a little lightening of my week, so do write in to kibbutz with me. ;-)

Holy reminders this Lent- what are yours?

Morning all! It's good to be back with you. *heart* It's become somewhat rare for me to skip a weekday of blogging, but sometimes life happens. Yesterday I had a curriculum committee meeting that lasted all morning, and so imagine, I had to be a responsible adult and attend and pay attention. :0 Then I had just a few quick hours before I had to leave to get Henry to the allergist. Busy day! So no time to blog.

But here I am, back again. It's a beautiful spring day (more melting! *trumpets blare!*) and I was thinking this morning as I drove onto campus how close we are to Holy Week now. Lent has been ongoing for about a month... How has your Lent been going, dear reader?

Mine has been going pretty well. I remember feeling very spiritually dry last Lent (aside from Holy Week, which was transformative), but this Lent has been different. I wouldn't say that it's been perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I've been very aware of my Lenten promises and doing my best to keep at them, and get back to them if I slip up (which I do :)). I'm scheduled to head to Reconciliation next Tuesday, just before Holy Week, and I'm really looking forward to that.

But it struck me this morning that a big part of keeping Lenten promises, or any prayer routine really, is the reminders that we set up for ourselves. I remember seeing Mother Anglica on the EWTN Religious Catalogue show refer to sacramentals and other religious articles as "holy reminders," and I've always loved that characterization. Do you have any small items that you set out to remind yourself to pray? Catholic tchotchkes anyone? ;-)

My very favorite sacramentals are rosaries. The way that I corral mine are mostly in two locations: in my car, and in my purse. I do keep one next to my bed for nighttime praying if I wish. But otherwise, I keep one or two tucked into my purse (along with a slew of chaplets) so that I always have a few with me, and a huge pile in a nook on the driver's side door of my car. :0 I pray the rosary a lot when I drive, and I like to have a large assortment to choose from depending on what I'm feeling on any given commute. We've got Our Lady of Lourdes, Pope Francis, Pope St. John Paul II, Our Lady Undoer of Knots, the Divine Mercy, Bl. Mother Teresa, St. Kateri Tekakwitha...Well, you can see that I have a bit of a rosary habit. ;-) But each morning, I love pulling out the rosary I feel compelled to pray with that day. This morning, I was praying along with Pope Francis, but I've been favoring a blue and silver Our Lady of Lourdes rosary all winter. I pray with St. Kateri a lot when I go to Adoration. I'm planning to pray with St. Faustina and the Divine Mercy image throughout Easter. Love.

On my desk at work, I keep a small wooden statue of Our Lady Star of the Sea, which may be my very favorite Marian title, along with a matching rosary. She soothes me as I work, and is a good reminder to keep at the things I'm working on spiritually. I also have a fairly large collection of holy cards that I maintain for this same purpose. I'm working on getting them all displayed on a French style memo board.

In a very adorable aside, this Lent Anne has fallen in love with her Bible story book and with a small rosary prayer book that I gave her. I have had a bunch of those little rosary books through the years, and she has really taken a shine to her copy. She takes it to bed with her and prays a Hail Mary for each page in the book. I mean...it's ADORABLE. The cover is about to come off, it's so tattered. I recently discovered an expanded version of that rosary booklet, and I now keep that tucked into my purse, I love it. I don't always use it when I pray the rosary, because you know, driving. ;-) But if I'm at Adoration, it's ideal. That little blue book has always been my favorite if I do use an aid as I pray. I like seeing it in my purse when I reach in there for something, along with a Divine Mercy pamphlet that I keep in there as well.

What are your holy reminders this Lent? Do share in the comments. :)

Month of the rosary, and feast of the Guardian Angels!

There's my new rosary, in action. *heart* I've been praying with it both morning and evening as I embark on the 54 day rosary novena. And in fact October is the month of the rosary, very lovely, yes? What I love about the rosary is the way it helps me to focus on specific events from our faith as I pray. I also love the use of a physical aid in prayer. As a person who likes structure and crossing off items on a to-do list, there is something incredibly satisfying about moving the beads through my fingers toward a definite goal.

This morning, I was thinking about the fact that it's the feast of the Guardian Angels, and Magnificat had a lovely little tidbit to introduce the memorial:

"Popular piety encompasses many forms of devotion to the Guardian Angels. St. Basil the Great taught that 'each and every member of the faithful has a Guardian Angel to protect, guard, and guide them through life.' This ancient teaching was consolidated by biblical and patristic sources and lies behind many forms of piety. St. Bernard of Clairvaux was a great master and a notable promoter of devotion to the Guardian Angels. For him, they were proof 'that heaven denies us nothing that assists us,' and hence, 'these celestial spirits have been placed at our sides to protect us, instruct us, and to guide us.'"

Very comforting, especially as I woke up in a state of some anxiety. I'll spare you the details, but I have a few things on my week this week, and I didn't sleep well because I was thinking about them. Don't you hate that? At 2 am, even the simplest things take on an insurmountable quality that will quickly overwhelm the mind of your resident Nervous Nelly. Mike didn't sleep well either:

"I'm worried about getting all the grading and prep work done between now and Columbus Day."

So I'm not alone, I married a kindred worrying spirit (and a super cute one, at that). :) And praying the rosary helps when I'm trying to figure out ways of coping with larger concerns, you know? The familiar and the repetitive bring so much solace in such situations.

On the other hand, short, quick prayers are best when faced with these situations:

"MOMMY. What you doing?!"

"Just coming to check on you, Honey."

"Don't look in here!!" *closes toilet lid with a bang*

Oh sigh.

I own so many rosaries at this point, that I have one tucked into every coat pocket and conceivably useful spot to grab when the urge to pray occurs. I keep several in the car, that's a favorite prayer spot of mine. I keep one on my bedside table, one in the kitchen. One in Henry's room, to pray with him if we say a decade together. Pockets are also popular, and many a rosary has gotten an unexpected and rigorous washing when I've forgotten to take it out before the item went into the laundry. It's soothing to have them always so available, as a reminder that we are never alone.

One day at a time, you know? God never gives us more than we can handle. I just wish he didn't trust me so much, as said by a very wise Blessed who adorns my current favorite rosary. :0

A quick pondering on the daily rosary...

Afternoon everyone. :) I had a presentation first thing this morning as part of a new student orientation, and I am TIRED. I feel like a limp noodle sitting here at my desk. I did make tea, so that helps, but there's not enough tea in *the world* to banish this glassy eyed stare. :0 But we do what we can.

I had mentioned that I wanted to write about the rosary today, and thus I wanted to follow through despite my lack of energy. And I think this is even a good point to start off with on this topic, which is to say:

(1) Daily Prayer.

(2) Life & all it's responsibilities.

How do those two things mesh together for each one of us?

I'm certain that it's different for every person, and I thought it would be nice to come together and get ideas from each other. I love to pray the rosary in the car. I'm not completely certain why, but I do and I have for many years. I suppose part of it is that I am a person whose mind is constantly awhirl, and when I'm in the car alone I allow myself to relax a bit. A whirly worrywart? That seems pretty accurate. ;-) As an introvert, I always have a lot going on inside my own head, because I don't necessarily talk to *other* people all that often. :) I mean, certainly I do with people whose company I am comfortable with and genuinely enjoy. But otherwise? I keep it to myself.

But in the car I just need to concentrate on getting from one place to another. I don't really need to think about anything else, and so praying at that time just works for me. I keep a rosary (ok, THREE if you must know :0 I like to have my options open based upon mood and liturgical season #NERD) tucked into the holder in the driver's side door so that I can pull it out seamlessly and start praying whenever I have a long enough span to at least get a decade or two in. I don't necessarily aim to complete an entire rosary in one sitting. I'll pray however many decades I can get in and then pick back up whenever I get back into the car.

It doesn't work if I have other people in the car with me ("Mommy, I want the Happy Song!" "No Mommy, tell her no! I'm SO SICK of the Happy Song!!") but on my way to and from work it's a gem.

So how about you, dear reader? If you pray a rosary (or the Liturgy of the Hours, or some other devotion) how do you work that into your daily routine? Leave me a comment!

Catholic tchotchkes for everyone!

Happy Wednesday everybody! I've been writing book reviews on Wednesdays for the past 3-4 weeks, but sadly this Wednesday I didn't quite complete my current read, so that will debut a week from today instead. In case anybody wants to read along, my current review selection is Finding Grace by Laura Pearl:

This is a lovely coming-of-age story for Catholic young adults, TONS of interesting moral fodder in here plus interwoven inspiration from the saints - excellent! Look for all the details next Wednesday.

This Wednesday I have shopping on my mind, of the online variety, because is there any better way to shop when you're an introvert? I think not, dear reader. Since I am a person of the crafty persuasion (although if you ever saw me wielding glue in any form along with felt and uncooked macaroni or some other such three dimensional object you would doubt the veracity of that statement) I have quite a fascination with Etsy. I absolutely love handmade items, whether they are made by me or someone else. Every year I like to carefully choose some handmade gifts for my kids in crafts that I stink at am not particularly gifted. ;-) I like to tuck these things into their Christmas stockings, and as you know, I am a bit nuts about starting Christmas shopping right around the vernal equinox.

I've been doing lots of browsing and favoriting of new shops and items, and so thought it would be fun to share my ideas with all of you. I'm certain I'll do another one of these posts prior to the holidays, since this is certainly not an exhaustive list of Etsy shops that I find intriguing. But below are a handful that I've either purchased from recently or am plotting a purchase from soon. Perhaps it'll give you some ideas, and you can leave me your own ideas in the comments!

I've written about saint dolls before, because I sort of love them. Henry has a small collection of wooden ones that he displays, and Anne also has a few. I think this is a lovely way of helping children to keep their favorite saints in mind to intercede for them when something is bothering them. The store that I have previously purchased these from is no longer open, so I was looking around for alternatives. Thus began my obsession with St. Luke's Brush:

St. Kateri Tekakwitha

I mean, did you ever? The detail is *exquisite*. And the selection is second to none. Every saint that immediately came to my mind could be found there, including my confirmation patron St. Cecelia, and my favorite guy ever, St. John Paul II. Here is Henry's favorite saint:

St. Dominic Savio

And she has a custom listing for any saint you want. She will paint it. A-mazing. I found several that I want for my desk at work. :0 Including that St. Kateri featured above, she's beautiful!

This store also carries hand painted rosary cases:

...and I fixated on this First Communion one right away for Henry. I haven't ordered yet, and hand painted items can certainly add up in price because of the sheer amount of work and talent that goes into them, but I plan to carefully select a few saints to purchase in the fall, and will report back in. :)

I also found a few store selling soft saint dolls, and I'm interested in these for Anne. My friend Sarah on Twitter brought Saintly Silver to my attention:

Lovely St. Therese of Lisieux

These are made from felt and are very reasonably priced. She has an excellent selection, and will also custom create any doll you like that she doesn't have listed.  These would make wonderful squeezeable additions to a child's bedtime collection. :)

I also found Sanctus Stitches and while a bit more expensive, check out the detail:

We can tell she is one of my favorites: once again, St. Kateri :)

Gorgeous! Anne could create all sorts of adventures for this St. Kateri, just as she would any of her other dolls. I am positively *itching* to order this.

For rosaries, I have recently purchased from the lovely Rosaries by Allison:

Our Lady Star of the Sea

...and she is just the sweetest and does a beautiful job. She has some gorgeous designs which you should zoom right over to go look at :) and she will custom design anything you like. I have a few Christmas gifts tucked away from this store. *shhhhhh...*

Finally, a secular addition that is absolutely adorable. Anne loves the apron that I wear when I bake, so this immediately spurred me into looking for a child's apron for her, because seriously? PRECIOUS! I ended up ordering her one from  Designs by Dragon Lily:

!!!

I mean, SO CUTE. She was having a Christmas in July sale when I ordered, so I picked out an angels and 3 Wise Men design for Anne that I know she'll love. But so many cute patterns and extremely reasonable prices. She also sells makeup bags, which I'm thinking of getting for myself.

So, now it's your turn. Do you have a favorite Etsy shop? Do detail in the comments. :)

Wait, what was I supposed to be writing about?!

The summer is quiet on the reference desk, and so I thought to myself as I was preparing to go down for a shift:

"What do I need to bring with me? It's just an hour, maybe I'll have time to get a blog post started if I don't get interrupted too much."

Our office walls around here are pretty thin, so I try to have these conversations with myself as quietly as possible. :0

"Right. I need my glasses. Should I bring my phone? It's fun to keep up on Twitter and texts when I'm down there, but...nah, shouldn't bring it, too much of a distraction. Do I need a pen? I'm not going to bring my planner, so I don't need the pen. MY TEA! Yes, bring the tea cup, check."

I sort of move things around on my desk as I decide what to bring and not bring.

"Good God, my keys. If I lock myself out again I'm going to have to take our facilities manager out to dinner. Keys in pocket, ok whew!!! What else did I need?!"

I see my tea mug. I grab it. I check my pocket again to assure that the keys are in there, and I leave my office and shut the door. It's only halfway down the stairs that I remember: my glasses.

For the love of all that is holy, WHERE HAVE ALL MY BRAIN CELLS GONE?! That sensation of something having been in your mind one moment, and gone the next, is not a comfortable one, my friends. #sendhelp

So, I got down to the reference desk and then gabbed with the other librarian whom I was relieving, then gabbed a bit on gmail chat, then actually answered a patron chat question (international court cases, I certainly earned my keep on that one), and only THEN opened up a new blog post. And do I even need to mention that I couldn't remember what I was going to write about?

It's just one of those days. :0 However, there are a couple fun posts planned for this week, which are Catholic Book Club on Wednesday, and the Church Triumphant on Thursday, so stay tuned for those. It's major festival season this weekend, so a week from today you will be treated (snort!) to a Belly Dance Monday post which will feature me attempting to dance while balancing stuff on my head and hopefully not battling high winds. Here's hoping!

Ah, but before I go, I finished a rosary this weekend, this time for Anne:

Guardian Angel centerpiece, blue bead mix for the Aves, lavender pearls for the Paters

This will go in her Christmas stocking, and Henry will receive this:

This is a St. Dominic Savio chaplet, and I will devote a whole post in the Catholic Nook to it, maybe next week. So I've been busy! I've also been knitting like a very busy bee, working on my fall/winter/Christmas list, because I'm Type A like that.

#BigSurprise

How was everyone's weekend? If you're so inclined, leave me a comment! I always love to read them. :)

Hot off my workbench...

...aka the dining room table. :)

I've been hard at work on my new beading obsession when the kids are asleep. The results are far from perfect, but I'm learning real quick-like, and enjoying it very much. I really like my latest two creations, one of which is an Our Lady of Guadalupe rosary:

You know how I am about orange. :0 So this is a mix of different orange shades, citrine, and red for the Aves, and deep teal for the Paters. I love how it came out.

I also made my very first rosary bracelet, da da DAH! I call it the spring colors rosary bracelet:

I had to use a crimping technique for this, and I struggled a bit. It turned out lovely, as you can see, but this morning on my way into work, the crimping bead on the one end came loose and so I'm going to have to restring everything, sigh. All of the beads and the clasp are fine, but it needs to be restrung and recrimped, such is life. But at any rate, this is made with Swarovski round beads in pink, green, blue, yellow and orange, with an almond pearl for the Pater.

Besides repairing the bracelet, I have more rosaries on the horizon (Our Lady Star of the Sea for myself, and 2 Guardian Angel rosaries, one for Anne and one for my nephew Will), a St. Dominic Savio chaplet for Henry, plus some earrings for myself. Excited!

Speaking of chaplets, I'm planning to write a bit about those tomorrow. Are there any chaplet lovers out there? I love discovering new chaplets devoted to specific saints or needs. We'll delve in tomorrow!

A rosary linkup?! *eyes widen*

When I saw the rosary linkup over at Suspicio, well. Anybody who knows me knows that I justify buying a new rosary pretty much seasonally, so I thought it would be fun to talk about a few of the rosaries in my collection that I use most frequently. I can't even tell you how many rosaries I've loved and lost, or broken over time, I'm just a complete rosary hoarder. Yes, I have a problem.

This is a single decade rosary that I've had since April 2011. I remember when I bought it so well because it was the month my best friend came into the Church and I bought it along with a rosary to give her at the Easter Vigil. I had it with me for that trip to NYC to see her baptized and confirmed, and with me when I delivered Anne 3 weeks later. I carry it with me in my pocket a lot because it's small and fits easily. I love the beads on this one, They are oblong and faceted, and they feel very nice between the pads of your fingers. I can use this easily when I pray the rosary in the car, which I do daily, since it doesn't hang down and get tangled in things as I drive. I love the four way cross on this rosary, as it features a Miraculous Medal, St. Joseph, St. Christopher, and a scapular medal. The center is an image of Our Lady giving the rosary to St. Dominic, and how perfect is that for this Lay Dominican? When I pray with this rosary, I think of the global Church, and how we are all a family.

This is a rosary I bought just this past Easter. I really wanted a rosary with a John Paul II center, since he is just one of my favorite people of all time, and this one has an image of him as well as Benedict XVI! I love the Easter colors, they make me happy just to look at them. I really love the crucifix too, it's very delicate, with hearts inscribed on it. Right after this rosary arrived, our basement flooded, and I prayed with this rosary while taking shifts baling water from the floor with Mike. I keep it in my purse in it's own special pouch and take it out when I need a pick-me-up.This is my Hope in the Resurrection rosary.

This is Henry's rosary, I bought it for him for his First Reconciliation, which he made this past May. He picked it out because he loves the colors, and it actually has the same centerpiece as mine, with John Paul II and Benedict XVI on it. Cosmic connection! We pray a decade on it sometimes before he goes to bed (when he can be still for a whole decade :)), and he sleeps with it under his pillow, to keep bad dreams away. He assures me that this is a very effective method of dream management.

I also own a number of chaplets. We have...

The 7 Sorrows of Mary. A wonderful and touching Lenten devotion. I really take praying this chaplet to heart, and feel sad when I meditate on the sorrows. The black beads seem perfect on this one.

The Kateri Indian Rosary, in honor of my Mohawk heritage and my dad's confirmation saint when he joined the Church in the early 1990's. My parents had been married for over 20 years before my dad converted, so St. Kateri is pretty special in our house.

Our Lady Star of the Sea, given to me by my precious group of knitting friends who know of my love for chaplets. The smooth beads on this one are just wonderful to pray with, and the colors are a perfect reminder of the sea. I pray this a lot when a problem is on my mind, and I want to ask Our Lady to help me navigate it.

And I may or may not have just ordered a St. Therese chaplet, because my devotion to her has increased this month after reading about her more. I also have a gift rosary that I'm using right now to pray and sort of spiritually join forces with the upcoming recipient, because somehow this makes total sense to me. #crazyCatholicgirl. I also may or may not have an autumn colors rosary on order. I'm admitting to nothing, please don't judge me.

:)

We all need a little retail therapy, so read on to be enabled...

I'm still an emotional basket case, which I think is the prevalent mood this week, so I thought I'd write a light post on some happy shopping that may inspire Mother's Day ideas to cheer us all up.

Right after Easter I was feeling the urge for a new rosary (and thank God, because I've been praying with it non-stop since it arrived last week) and so I contacted the talented Carm over at Unbreakable Rosaries on Etsy. You all know my adoration of Blessed Pope John Paul II, and I don't have a rosary with his likeness on it. Carm has gorgeous, wire-wrapped rosaries (so they will not break, even when coiled up in your pocket or purse and then tugged out to pray on every day) listed in her store, but she also takes custom orders, and I was feeling specific. :) So I gave her my modest price range and asked if she could make me a rosary in cheerful, Easter colors for the Aves, large clear crystals for the Paters, a John Paul II centerpiece, and any crucifix design that she thought looked lovely with it. This is what she made me:

Isn't it stunning? I LOVE it, and I have barely put it down since it arrived last Monday. I had it with me for our sump pump crisis, some sleepless nights with Anne, and now for this very difficult week. I've been praying with it every single day and sleeping with it under my pillow at night. See "Emotional Basket Case" referenced above, supra. The Centerpiece has John Paul II on one side, and Benedict XVI on the other (love!) and the crucifix has cut out hearts on it, with tiny Alpha and Omega symbols on the crossbars. I simply adore it. So, for the Catholic mother in your life, check out Carm's work. :) There is really no other way to say it other than that she is a true artist, and a joy to work with.

Totally unrelated to rosaries, but also very apt Mother's Day gifts, is what I'm about to talk about next. A few months ago, I went to a craft fair with my mother-in-law and kids and we met a vendor selling handmade cold-process soaps, lotions, sugar scrubs, and fragrance roll-ons. I'm a sucker for handmade soap, as is my mother-in-law, and so we bought several bars.

Flash forward to recently and I've been using the soap. LOVE IT. So moisturizing and the thing smells so good that the entire bathroom benefits from its presence in our shower. My mother-in-law also raved about her bar, how good it made her skin feel. So, for Mother's Day, I decided to get in touch with the woman who made them and order baskets for both mothers.

So I did. And she's a total doll. She made me up custom baskets for each mother with 2 soaps, a sugar scrub, a body spray, and a loofah. I also added in 2 bars of soap for myself, plus a few lip balms.

She gave me an outstanding price on everything and included an amazing number of samples of other soap scents plus a sample of her hemp lotion.

Well. It went over big. :) Henry wanted to eat the soap it smelled so good, and Mike (who uses lotion every night on his hands and lower arms) loves the hemp lotion. And the surprising thing is, so do I! I usually hate how greasy lotions make me feel, but this sinks right in and is divine. I was able to pick up from her house since she only lives about 20 minutes from me, but she also has a web page here. The business is called "Soaptini" and via her online form you can order using Paypal. If you live in western New York you can arrange to pick up, like I did, very easy. I highly recommend her stuff. Her name is Kim and she's a real sweetheart. She got started making soap because one of her young sons has a severe skin condition. Her products are all natural. She has a great variety of products and a huge inventory of scents. I've tried:

Oatmeal Stout (beer soap): Absolutely divine.

Cherry Almond: Words cannot capture how good this smells.

Brown Sugar & Butter: !

Monkey Farts: Ok, I hate the name, but she did it to appeal to kids (and it does, Henry has a bar) but it smells FAB, like banana cream pie.

Chocolatini: This is the one Henry wanted to eat; smells like a brownie.

Aloe & Clove: This was the scent in the sample lotion; very fresh and true to its name.

Check out "Soaptini", great Mother's Day gifts. I *need* more of the hemp lotion and have already messaged her on Facebook about picking some up next week. :) Search for SOAPtini on Facebook to like her page and get updates.