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."

The Perfect Mother (Repost)

The Perfect Mother

Today, Mother's Day, I'm going to blog about the perfect mother. 

Most mothers, both real and fictional, are not perfect; they

make mistakes from time to time.  Not even Mrs. March

in Louisa May Alcott's Little Women was perfect.

The following is taken from one of my older posts:

Remember the chapter called "Jo Meets Apollyon," where
Amy burned the book Jo had worked on for several years
because Jo wouldn't let her come to the theater with her 
and Meg and Laurie?

Jo was, of course, furious with Amy... just as I would have been,
 just as almost anybody would have been.

But how did Mrs. March, Marmee, handle the situation?
"Mrs. March came home, and, having heard the story, 
soon brought Amy to a sense of the wrong she had done her sister."
That's it.  We never find out just how she "brought Amy to a
sense of the wrong she had done her sister."  We never learn
what Marmee said to Amy.

Mrs. March, in fact, seemed much more concerned about Jo's very
 understandable anger than about Amy's deliberate, vindictive 
destruction of Jo's property.

If I were a mother, I'm sure that I would not be perfect either.
For example, I might scold or punish a child undeservedly, or

too severely.  On the other hand, I might "look the other way"

when I ought to exercise some parental discipline.

In all the history of the world, there has been only one perfect Mother.

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.

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

Ramona's World"
by Beverly Cleary
[children's fiction]

(openlibrary.org loan)

"Harry Dee

or Making it  Out"

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

[children's fiction]

(free online book)

reserved for Sunday

"This Can't Be Happening At MacDonald Hall!"
by Gordon Korman

[children's fiction]

(openlibrary.org loan)

"Betsy-Tacy and Tib"  

by Maud Hart Lovelace

[children's fiction]

"Penina Levine Is A Potato Pancake" 
"Penina Levine Is A Hard-Boiled Egg"
 by Rebecca O'Connell
[children's fiction, Judaica] 

"Davita's Harp"

by Chaim Potok

[fiction, Judaica]

"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   

"Happiness Is A Warm Puppy"
by Charles M. Schulz
[nonfiiction]
(openlibrary.org loan)  

"A Childhood at Green Hedges" #
by Imogen Smallwood
daughter of Enid Blyton
[autobiography, biography]
(openlibrary.org loan)

Liturgy Of The Hours: IBreviary or Books?

IBreviary is a wonderful resource, easy to use,and a great money-saver, so it will never be removed from this blog. 

I, however, prefer to use a physical copy of the Liturgy Of The Hours, for the following reasons:

1: Sometimes there is a power failure, and I can't use the computer, but I can always use the books, with a flashlight if need be.

The next two reasons involve my cat, Winky.

2: Sometimes Winky will be taking a nap on the computer chair.

3: Sometimes, when I used to pray the LOTH using IBreviary, Winky would get between me and the computer screen.

4: But the main reason is that I find that I concentrate better, pray better, with my eyes on the book rather than on the screen.

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.

"Ramona's World"
by Beverly Cleary
[children's fiction]

(openlibrary.org loan)


"Percy Wynn

or Making a Boy Of Him" 

"Harry Dee

or Making it  Out"

by Fr. Francis J. Finn, S.J.
[children's fiction]

(free online books)

reserved for Sunday

"Bette Bao Lord: 
Novelist and Chinese Voice for Change" #
by Mary Virginia Fox
[children's biography]
(openlibrary.org loan)

"Betsy-Tacy"
"Winona's Pony Cart"

by Maud Hart Lovelace

[children's fiction] 

Upsetting Annie"

"Jazz Off-key"
(physical copies)
"Storm Warning"
(Kindle book)

by Dandi Daley Mackall 

[children's/YA fiction, Christian (Protestant, no denomination or denominations specified), Blog On series]

"Davita's Harp"

by Chaim Potok

[fiction, Judaica]

"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.


"The Way of a Pilgrim
and The Pilgrim Continues His Way"
author unknown
Translated by Helen Bacovcin
Foreword by Walter J. Ciszek, S.J.
[Spirituality (Orthodox, Russian) Fiction? Non-fiction?]
this is a newer translation than the one Franny Glass reads in "Franny and Zooey"

"The Life of J. D. Salinger" #
by Charles River Editors
[biography]
(Kindle book)


"Ramona and Her Mother"
"Ramona Quimby, Age 8"
"Ramona Forever"
by Beverly Cleary
[children's fiction]
(openlibrary.org loans)

"Percy Wynn

or Making a Boy Of Him" 

by Fr. Francis J. Finn, S.J.
[children's fiction]

(free online book)

reserved for Sunday

"One Hundred And Eight Bells"
by Jane Flory
[children's fiction]

"Chaimkel the Dreamer"

by Meir Uri Gottesman

[children's fiction, Jewish]

"Grace Under Pressure"
"Upsetting Annie"

by Dandi Daley Mackall 

[children's/YA fiction, Christian (Protestant, no denomination or denominations specified), Blog On series]

"Junie B. Jones and

the Stupid, Smelly Bus" #

by Barbara Park
[children's fiction]
(openlbrary.org loan)

"Raise High The Roof Beam, Carpenters"
"Seymour: An  Introduction"

by J. D. Salinger

[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   

Some Present!!!

I'm sure most of you, if not all of you, know the story of what happened to Mother Angelica years ago at a Christmas party, when she was Rita Rizzo.

The nuns presented each child with a brand-new gift.  And then, it was Rita's turn.   Did she get a nice, new toy or book?  NO!
What those nuns had reserved for her was an old, scratched yo-yo with a knotted string.

Why?  Because her parents were divorced.

It always infuriates me when CHILDREN are picked on for what their PARENTS do. 

I hope that those nuns felt ashamed, later on, for what they did, not because they did it to the little girl who grew up to be Mother Angelica.

I hope they were ashamed because they did it to a child!