The Great Library Adventure Begins: From a Tiny Room to a Large Building

When I recently heard that my beloved library would close, I was devastated. Yes, it was closing so that a better library could be built in its place. Yes, a temporary library would be created to take care of my literary needs. But still, that specific branch would have to close down for two whole weeks so that the books could be transferred from the old library to the temporary library's location. 
How could I manage to survive a whole fortnight without my library????????

After a brief moment of panic as I contemplated this tragedy, I realized that this situation presented me with a golden opportunity: I could go on a literary expedition and explore the various branches of Oklahoma City's Metropolitan Library System. When we first moved here and were apartment hunting, we visited a few different libraries, but after a while, I settled comfortably in one particular branch. While it's been a great location, I was excited to begin this adventure so that I could see the diversity in Oklahoma City's libraries. Since I had commitments in different parts of town on Wednesday, I decided to begin my literary journey then. 

Learning About Our Lady of Sorrows

Yesterday was the feast of the Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order. Since I love writing about all things liturgical or saintly, I had planned to create an article for this feast about why these men from the 13th century matter to us living in the 21st century. I had planned to talk about their devotion to Our Lady and her sorrows, those occasions in the Gospels where a sword pierced her heart (Lk 2:34-35). I had planned to discuss simple ways that we can draw closer to Mary under the title of Our Lady of Sorrows. 

Thankfully, I never had the time to write this article. I say "thankfully," because God had another lesson to teach me. See, learning about Our Lady of Sorrows isn't neat and tidy, like a 500-word blog post that has a list of facts and prayers. Learning about Our Lady of Sorrows-really learning about her-is agonizing, challenging, and full of tears. 

Spaceman: A Review

With humor, detail, and suspense, Mike Massimino’s Spaceman (Crown Archetype 2016) takes the reader on a wild ride through NASA’s space program. First, though, Massimino introduces us to the world in which he grew up: a blue-collar ethnic community in Long Island. In this environment, Massimino didn’t see himself launching into a career as an astronaut. Scared of heights, hating water, and subject to vision problems, he seemed to embody what astronauts were not. Yet, as the years went on and Massimino’s studies of engineering deepened, he began looking into NASA’s program. Obstacles and failures leaped up in his path time and time again. But one day, he received the call from Johnson Space Center that changed his future.

The Missing Kennedy: A Review

With depth and care, Elizabeth Koehler-Pentacoff’s memoir, The Missing Kennedy: RosemaryKennedy and the Secret Bonds of Four Women (Bancroft Press 2016), respectfully discusses the presence of both mental illness and intellectual disabilities in our nation. Across the backdrop of 20^th century America, Koehler-Pentacoff weaves together the story of her family and her connection to Rosemary Kennedy, the sister of President Kennedy. The author’s beautiful prose and extensive research create a lovely work of Creative Nonfiction which was quite enlightening.

~Many thanks to ImMedia for providing me 
a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

All opinions are my own.~

Dear Milk Chocolate, We Need to Talk

Dear Milk Chocolate,

We need to talk.

It’s almost Valentine’s Day, and as people around the nation flock towards you, I’m sure you’re expecting me to do the same. We’ve been together for quite some time, and you seem pretty committed to our relationship. I wish I could say the same about you. I believe in being straightforward, so I’m not going to beat around the bush.

Gelato, the Super Bowl, and a Library Tragedy (7QT)

Hey there, everyone!

I don't have the brain space for anything too deep this week, so I'm joining Kelly and the other lovely bloggers for some quick takes.

Quesadillas at Midnight

I love being a mother, and I love my sweet son. I love that, ever since birth, he has been a fairly good sleeper, and even has slept the whole night through on some occasions. I guess I've gotten pampered, because when he decided to stop sleeping well a few days ago, I thought I was going to lose my mind. I grabbed a book about sleep from the library and hammered out some good, achievable goals with my husband. On Friday night, my husband successfully put Peter to sleep for the night without me, and I was so refreshed the next day. I was hoping that we could duplicate that experience, but on Saturday night, my  husband was out of town and I learned that solo parenting at bedtime is rough. After an hour and a half of trying-and failing-to get Peter down for the night, I sighed and brought him back to the living room for more playtime. 

It was midnight, we had been up since 9 a.m., and the only real nap that Peter had taken all day was a 45 minute-long snooze while he was strapped to my back during the early afternoon. I was exhausted and hungry and needed to pull through somehow. So, I made quesadillas. 

Why Your Parish Needs a Meal Train for New Moms

When I gave birth to my son last summer, I was very excited to receive food from others, via a meal train that a woman at my parish coordinated. I loved the meal train during my postpartum period as I adjusted to life with a newborn. However, I loved the meal train program long before I ever gave birth, and I continue to love it even though I'm not pregnant. I am very glad that a woman I know organizes this program in my parish, and I think it would be awesome if every parish operated one of these.

On the Bookshelf: Some Heart-Wrenching Books & Some Light Reading

Hello and happy February, everyone! I, for one, cannot believe that January is already over and gone. Seriously, where does the time go???? Life has been interesting over here (not only has my baby not been napping consistently, but he's teething to the extreme), so I have just not been able to come over to this blog much. But, I have a little bit of time and want to tell y'all about what I've been reading. It's a mismatch of cookbooks, heart-wrenching (and non-heart-wrenching) nonfiction,and some very fun fiction.