My Friend Tony (Old Post)

And yep, I mean St. Anthony of Padua, whose Feast is today!

How many times have people prayed some version of the prayer:

"Tony, Tony, come around.

Something's lost and must be found"?

I know St. Anthony is ALWAYS helping me find stuff.

Years ago, when I had just recently converted to Catholicism, I called

Mom at work (It was her usual break time.)

Mom said, "I can't talk right now. We're missing an important file and

we've looked all over for it."

"Okay," I said, "call me back when it turns up."

Well, within five minutes she called me. The file had been found.

"Aren't you going to thank me?" I asked.

"Thank you? What for? You're not even here."

"I know," I said, "but who do you think prayed to St. Anthony?"

More recently, I was chatting with a couple of my online friends, and

one of them was going slightly nuts because she had misplaced something, and couldn't find it anywhere. I said a prayer to St. Anthony, and then typed,

"Try looking again."

She didn't want to, but I persuaded her. And then she typed, in caps

"I FOUND IT!!!!!!"

I wasn't a bit surprised!

Does St. Anthony ALWAYS get lost articles back for me? Well, almost! One morning I couldn't find my Rosary. I looked. I prayed. To my surprise, I still did

not find it. But later that morning, I received a brand-new, beautiful Rosary from a Catholic organization. I'm almost SURE I heard St. Anthony chuckling.

BTW, the lost Rosary did turn up eventually.

Of course, there's much more to St. Anthony than just running the Lost and Found! :)

St. Anthony of Padua

Updated in 2013 to add Fr. Anthony's very inspirational homily.

Books Read In The Past Week

Books read for the first time are marked with a #

Books are listed by author (or series creator),
 and not necessarily in the order read.

"Nuts: Every Family Is A Little" #
by A. J. Cosmo
[children's fiction]
(Kindle Book)

"That Football Game

and What Came Of It"

by Fr. Francis J. Finn, S.J.

[children's fiction]

(free online book)

reserved for Sunday

"The Mother-Daughter Book Club"
"Much Ado About Anne"

by Heather Vogel Frederick

[children's/YA fiction]

"Silver Boxes: The Gift of Encouragement" #
by Florence Littauer
[nonfiction, Christian (Protestant)]
(openlibrary.org loan)

"Betsy In Spite Of Herself"  

by Maud Hart Lovelace

[YA fiction]

"Every Day Is A Gift

Minute Meditations for Every Day
Taken From the Holy Bible
and the Writings of the Saints"
Introduction by Rev. Frederick Schroeder 
 daily devotional reading for 2016  

Books Read In The Past Week

Books read for the first time are marked with a #

Books are listed by author (or series creator),
 and not necessarily in the order read.

"You're A Brick, Angela! 
A New Look At Girls' Fiction From 1839-1975"
by Mary Cadogan and Patricia Craig
[nonfiction]
it's been years since I read this.  I'd forgotten
that these authors disparaged some of my favorite books.

"That Football Game

and What Came Of It"

by Fr. Francis J. Finn, S.J.

[children's fiction]

(free online book)

reserved for Sunday

"The Mother-Daughter Book Club"

by Heather Vogel Frederick

[children's/YA fiction]

"Silver Boxes: The Gift of Encouragement" #
by Florence Littauer
[nonfiction, Christian (Protestant)]
(openlibrary.org loan)

"Heaven To Betsy"  

by Maud Hart Lovelace

[YA fiction]

(openlibrary.org loan)
my physical copy fell apart

"Every Day Is A Gift

Minute Meditations for Every Day
Taken From the Holy Bible
and the Writings of the Saints"
Introduction by Rev. Frederick Schroeder 
 daily devotional reading for 2016  

This list may seem a bit short; I've been trying to read more slowly.
Also, I don't list the short story collections I read during the week.

Books Read In The Past Week

Books read for the first time are marked with a #
Books are listed by author (or series creator),
 and not necessarily in the order read.

"You're A Brick, Angela! 
A New Look At Girls' Fiction From 1839-1975"
by Mary Cadogan and Patricia Craig[nonfiction]
it's been years since I read this.  I'd forgotten
that these authors disparaged some of my favorite books.

"Eleanor H. Porter's 
Pollyanna
A Children's Classic at 100" #
edited by Roxanne Harde and Lydia Kokkola
[nonfiction]
a collection of articles

"Claude Lightfoot
or How the Problem Was Solved"

"That Football Game

and What Came Of It"

by Fr. Francis J. Finn, S.J.

[children's fiction]

(free online books)

reserved for Sunday

"Heaven To Betsy"  

by Maud Hart Lovelace

[YA fiction]

(openlibrary.org loan)
my copy fell apart

"Every Day Is A Gift

Minute Meditations for Every Day
Taken From the Holy Bible
and the Writings of the Saints"
Introduction by Rev. Frederick Schroeder 
 daily devotional reading for 2016  

"Dobry"
by Monica Shannon
[children's fiction]

"90% Off-  Every Day!" #
by Diana Tenes
[nonfiction, autobiographical (she writes about her experiences
shopping for bargain)]
(Kindle Book)

"in-between Miya" #
by Yoshiko Uchida
[children's fiction]
(openlibrary.org loan)

Books Read In The Past Week

Books read for the first time are marked with a #
Books are listed by author (or series creator),
 and not necessarily in the order read.

"Little Women"

by Louisa May Alcott
[fiction]
(In Kindle book, "The Complete Works of Louisa May Alcott")

"House At The Corner" #
by Enid Blyton
[children's fiction]
the first Blyton book I've read
that is not part of a series, and
not set in a boarding school, although,
to my great delight, one of those schools
is mentioned!

"Eleanor H. Porter's 
Pollyanna
A Children's Classic at 100" #
edited by Roxanne Harde and Lydia Kokkola
[nonfiction]
a collection of articles

"Claude Lightfoot
or How the Problem Was Solved"

by Fr. Francis J. Finn, S.J.

[children's fiction]

(free online book)

reserved for Sunday

"Louisa May Alcott
Author, Nurse, Suffragette"#
by Carol Greene
[children's biography]
(openlibrary.org loan)

"The Wizzle War"

a slightly revised version

of The War With Mr. Wizzle

Warriors"

"The Zucchini Warriors"

"MacDonald Hall Goes Hollywood"
"Something Fishy at MacDonald Hall"

by Gordon Korman

[children's fiction]

"Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown"  

by Maud Hart Lovelace

[children's fiction]

"Everything Happens to Stuey"
by Lilian Moore
[children's fiction]

"Every Day Is A Gift

Minute Meditations for Every Day
Taken From the Holy Bible
and the Writings of the Saints"
Introduction by Rev. Frederick Schroeder 
 daily devotional reading for 2016  

Books Read In The Past Week

Books read for the first time are marked with a #
Books are listed by author (or series creator),
 and not necessarily in the order read.

"Little Women"
by Louisa May Alcott
[fiction]
(In Kindle book, "The Complete Works of Louisa May Alcott")


"Black Becomes A Rainbow
The Mother of a Baal Teshuvah
Tells Her Story"
by Agi L.Bauer
[autobiography, Jewish]

"Mama's Way"
by Thyra Ferre Bjorn
[non-fiction, Christian Protestant)] 

"Claude Lightfoot
or How the Problem Was Solved"

by Fr. Francis J. Finn, S.J.

[children's fiction]

(free online book)

reserved for Sunday

"Go Jump In The Pool!"

"Beware The Fish"

by Gordon Korman

[children's fiction]

"Betsy and Tacy Go Over The Big Hill"  

by Maud Hart Lovelace

[children's fiction]

"Every Day Is A Gift

Minute Meditations for Every Day
Taken From the Holy Bible
and the Writings of the Saints"
Introduction by Rev. Frederick Schroeder 
 daily devotional reading for 2016   

Clothes Shopping

I don't think I've ever blogged about clothes and clothes shopping before.   So now I'm going to blog about it.

To me, the most important question when it comes to deciding whether or not to buy an article of clothing is do I like it? If I like something, I'll wear it, whether it is the latest style, or completely unfashionable.  Of course, these days just about anything goes! One can develop a personal style.

Next: Is it modest, or would I be ashamed to have my Guardian Angel see me in it?

If it isn't modest, can it be worn OVER something that IS modest? Quite often, the answer is "yes."

Can I afford it?  I usually can, because I get my clothes second-hand. I have several reasons for this.  Yes, my budget has a great deal to do with it, but there are other considerations as well.  For one thing, it is better for the environment.  For another, I don't have to worry about where the item was manufactured.

 There used to be a stigma attached to buying and wearing second-hand clothes; thank God that's no longer the case! Now, one can sing with confidence:

"I'm wearing second hand clothes, second hand clothes."