Seven Quick Takes

So I should be napping (seriously, sleep this week has been very little), but I can't not participate in 7 Quick Takes, so here we go!

1. Pittsburgh Catholic Mommas made the cover of Franciscan Way, the magazine from my Alma Mater. It was an honor to be featured there, and it makes me smile a little bit more about where I went to school. How many other universities would want to feature a Mom's Group on their cover? Not many. Nope. Not many at all. I am very blessed.

2. Christi met with me this week and started me on Phase 2 of her workout plan. Oh. My. Goodness. My legs are jello, and my abs just hurt. But you know what? It feels so stinking good! I love it and love her. The workout is definitely a challenge for me, but in a good way. I even overhead another woman at the gym say as I was jumping up and onto a box, "Wow. That's amazing." Oh yeah. :)

3. Noah has been teething terribly this past week. He is 16 months old and until Monday, he only had 7 teeth (the top 4 and bottom 3). Well, that all changed rapidly. Suddenly, he got a low grade fever, got a clear runny nose, became inconsolable, stopped sleeping through the night, and his gums began bleeding. So far, he has gotten two molars in completely. And I counted at least six other tooth buds ready to burst through this morning. I feel bad for him and he won't eat. I don't know what else I can do (we do IB Profen round the clock and Oragel). Matthew never had this hard of time with getting teeth. I am beyond exhausted, and I am tired of seeing my usually happy baby in pain. I am thankful that this too shall pass and selfishly thankful that it's happening before the holidays come along.

4. The boys and I picked up a Cake Boss cake to celebrate Abby's birthday a week late. We had plans to celebrate last Saturday night, but Matthew ended up getting really sick. Anyways, I LOVE Cake Boss. It all began when Matthew was first born and wouldn't sleep at night. I watched every episode of the first season of Cake Boss about a dozen times when they were being rerun at all hours of the night. At one point I was sure I could make all of his cakes in my sleep. He came to Pittsburgh this past April and gave away cakes for free. Matthew and I went down to Market Square and each got one. That was a crazy experience. (People were ready to fist fight. Cause we're classy like that in the Burgh.) The cakes are delicious, even though they are refrigerated, and I am excited to try the Red Velvet tonight.

5. Here are some pics from our outing to get free Cake Boss Cakes (And yes I did just make one quick take into two. Score!)

 

The cake we are eating tonight. :)

 6. Two weeks from now, Brian and I will be on our way to Wine Country in Erie to celebrate our five year anniversary. I am beyond excited. I cannot wait to finally have some much needed one-on-one time with just my hubby. And also we will get to sleep in! Yay! Plus, there's wine. And I really like wine. :)

7. Speaking of our anniversary, Brian and I have a new little picture and featured blurb on AveMariaSingles.com Success Story part of their website. It's kinda cool. That site is so special to us, and I highly recommend it to anyone. It was some of the best money I ever spent to join. My life would be drastically different today without it. Check out the new Success Story Page. :)

Have a great weekend! Happy Friday!

Seven Quick Takes

1. My Dream House

A while ago, we put an offer in on a house, had our offer accepted (with no counter from the seller), and then pulled our offer when the inspection on the house showed some major issues that we just didn't want to deal with in the long run. But I really don't think that was the house for us anyways. It was a bit too far from my parents' house, quite honestly (okay, so it was about 15 minutes instead of 5), but still, not in walking distance, so that had me a bit nervous. Since then, Brian and I have agreed that our number one area to find a house in is where my parents live now. We were looking around a few weeks ago, and my dream house popped up. It's on a flat street and is HUGE. It has five bedrooms, two baths...a typical big, old suburbs of Pittsburgh house. And it's cheap. Like dirt cheap.Why so cheap? Well, in the kitchen needs an updated floor and in the pictures, the beautiful finished attic clearly has signs of past water damage. Oh, and there's those holes in the dry wall. Minor really. (As Brian looks at me like I'm crazy.) But I love it. It has so much charm and potential. And it's big. It could hold a lot of kids. (Or stuff since after this lovely afternoon, I am done forever with having little ones around.) We were getting ready to send an email about going to see it when suddenly, the website showed it as contingent. :( I am not happy, and I dream of this house. But God has a plan...

2. Speaking of dreams....

This is totally random, but I slept soundly (meaning uninterrupted) for four whole hours last night. This has got to be a record. During that time, I had one very vivid dream. Was it about the house I love? Or future children? Or my dear grandparents who have since left this life? No, no, no. My dream was, of course, about the reality show, Million Dollar Listing, which Brian and I had just watched before turning in for the night. All the main realtors were in this dream, and they were all trying to get deals done...in my living room. It was a fun dream, and it was nice because we were all friends. But, oh how strange! When you wake up from dreams like that, you really start to think you are completely losing your mind. Totally random, but I had to share.

The guy on the far right, Josh Altman, is totally my dream realtor. He knows how to make a deal better than anyone else.

3. Want to Laugh?

Then click here. This is a voicemail of someone describing an accident scene that he just happens to witness. The accident, thank goodness, is not very serious, but his description will leave you laughing very, very hard. It's totally worth three minutes of your time.

4.

 

This is totally Pittsburgh. But this also happens to be my FAVORITE merge in the city. This is the only place you can drive aggressively and get away with it. The problems come when people don't know what they are doing and therefore come to a dead stop on the bridge. Um, way to cause an accident! Anyways, whenever I am feeling a bit frustrated, I know I can always take this way home and get some aggressions out. It's great. No, really, it is.

5. Big Brother Finale

The Big Brother Finale was on Wednesday of this past week. It was awesome! I LOVED every second,  especially the part where Dr. Will (one of the two greatest players to ever play the game) returned. Great times. I am a bit bummed that GinaMarie didn't take home the grand prize after she made the BIGGEST move of the entire season, but Andy did play quite the social game and did it well without really getting personal. It was fun to come home from lots of tutoring to watch on Wednesday night. Brian and I love that show and since it airs three nights a week, we are not sure what we will do with all the extra time on our hands...not to worry, though. Nashville and Grey's Anatomy both premiere this week! Whew! That was close!

6. What Happens When Mommy Goes to Clean Upstairs for 15 Minutes...

Me: How did Noah get in there?
Matthew: Well, I helped him!

As one of my friends said, It could be worse. At least they were laughing and not crying and actually, not destroying anything. With all the billions of toys they have, I should've known the bins would be their favorite thing.

7. The Hillbilly Way

Brian and I decided this week that we are going to head out to see them play the night before Thanksgiving at Saddleridge, so that had me listening to all of their music when I drove to tutoring this week. Never heard of them? You have no idea what you are missing! They are totally awesome and their live shows are some of the best.  Check them out here! The lead singer, Abby, is just totally amazing. Love him. (In fact, I will never forget when the original band, the Povertyneck Hillbillies, performed at Franciscan and Abby did the Hillbilly Shake and since then, no secular band has ever been invited back. I, however, chose to master the Hillbilly Shake! See, I have left the bubble!)

My two favorite Hillbillies, Abby and Junior. :)

Have a fantastic weekend!

Being Catholic in the Real World

I like tell people that I spent five years in the glorious bubble known as Franciscan University of Steubenville. (4 as an undergrad at main campus with one semester at the mini campus in Austria, and one when Brian and I were dating/engaged as he played the role of assistant mens's basketball coach.) It was a great, Catholic environment up on its own little hill. And it was wonderful there. Everywhere you turned people were calling you on to live the faith. Everything was Catholic. You didn't have to think much about defending your faith because that wasn't necessary. Every class (yes, even my mathematics courses) had Catholic undertones. It was really pretty cool, and whenever I make a student loan payment each month I feel great peace knowing that it was worth every penny (most of which were shelled out by parents) to attend there. I wouldn't trade those years for anything. (Including going back in time and taking the free ride I was offered at a different college.) Nope. The debt from Franciscan is good debt for sure.

For five years now, I have been living the faith full time in the real world. I have broken out of the Catholic bubble, and oh does it feel good! I've always had a very Opus Dei mindset about the faith. I know we are called to live our faith deeply and truly, but I honestly feel called to live it out most in the day to day operations of my life. When Brian and I were dating this is one thing we both very much agreed on from the start. Although he had been in the seminary for a good period of his young adult life and I had spent most of mine living in my favorite bubble (I mean that as a good thing. The bubble allowed me to grow in my faith in ways other campuses and schools would not have allowed at the time for me.), we both felt called to live out the faith in our lives in the real world with our children.

So what does that look like? Does that mean we check the faith at the door each time we leave the house? Do we compromise the Church's teachings or beliefs? Do we not defend the Church when she needs it? No, no, no, and no. Living the faith in the world means the faith comes with us EVERYWHERE. We don't turn our home into a little Catholic bubble and just stay there. We come back to our little bubble to refresh and recharge and then venture out with the faith in our hands into the world every day. (I may add that I am a member of a Catholic Moms' Group, and that, too, is a wonderful, much needed bubble where one can go to recharge!)

We don't shut out the world. We listen to modern music (I'm a big fan of Britney Spears' Womanizer right now to run to. I know it's only like 4 years old. I'm catching up!) We go to concerts when we can. We watch modern day television shows (I am counting down until Grey's Anatomy premieres!) We read modern literature. (Mary Higgins Clark, anyone?)  We take advice from sources that aren't always Catholic. (Bethenny Frankel's Skinnygirl Solutions has changed the way I eat and think about food. Dr. Laura Schlessinger's The Proper Care and Feeding of Marriage has changed my entire view of how to be a good wife to Brian.) We enjoy what the world has to offer. (Now, clearly we don't indulge in the evils the world has to offer, but we enjoy what is good about the world.) All the while, we don't lose our Catholic faith or identity.

My faith comes with me when I tutor. When I'm particularly frustrated that a student hasn't done a homework assignment since the last time I saw them, I try to take deep breaths and remember to see them as God sees them. Brian takes his faith to work with him, too. How can you serve adults with intellectual disabilities without the faith? I take the faith to the gym. (There are some awesome Rosary apps out there, btw.) Matthew takes the faith with him into school, and I pray that continues for the rest of his school career. We take the faith with us to concerts. And we bring our Catholic ideas and ideas about our faith to whatever we happen to be reading and apply them there.

In a way, everyone lives the faith in the real world. We certainly know lots of modern, Catholic families striving to do the same thing we are. But there are those bubbles throughout the world where Catholics just associate with other Catholics. Franciscan is the biggest one, but at that time in young adult lives, I think it's needed. And some people are called to always live within the bubble. But our family is clearly not called to do that. We embrace this modern world and take it on on a daily basis. And when we need a little break and refreshing, we come back home to our mini bubble and gear up to take on the world all over again. Now, after five years, breaking out of the bubble is finally starting to feel normal and good. And I wouldn't trade this living in the real world thing for anything either. :)

Life Lessons from Dr. Sunyoger

The above picture was taken today at Fort Steuben Mall in Steubenville, Ohio. The woman I am standing with is Dr. Mary Antoinette Sunyoger, my most admired and respected professor from my undergrad days at Franciscan University of Steubenville. She and her husband even attended my graduation party in Pittsburgh and were guests at my wedding to Brian. Today, Brian and I piled the boys into the van and headed out to see Dr. Sunyoger at a book signing for her new book, Life Lessons.

I will always remember my first class with Dr. Sunyoger. It was the spring of 2006, and I registered for Grammar and Its Teaching Methods as well as Rhetoric. I had heard of Dr. Sunyoger through others who had taken classes with her before, and I had met her for about five minutes when she had to sign a form to waive a prerequisite for me to take her class. Everyone raved about her. Still, I wasn't quite sure what to expect on that dreary January day in 2006.

Dr. Sunyoger walked into class and immediately had us put our desks into a circle. She took role and made sure to learn each of our names that very first day. I remember how much she loved my Steelers finger nails (Pittsburgh was on its way to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1995, so I went all out!) Then, she got down to the rules and class expectations. She is the only person in the world who can be serious and stern about the rules all while smiling and pleasantly going through them. It was quite the paradox. Somehow, though, within the first ten minutes of class, she had earned every single student's respect. That's not an easy task. Plus, she did it without us even really knowing how it happened. You couldn't help but leave class with a little bit of fear (I had a feeling she'd come down hard, but rightly so, if you didn't keep up with the work and come prepared to class). You were also excited as you left the room that first day. Her class would be exciting and she was beyond passionate about teaching. At 9am, that was a very good thing.

As the days passed, I grew to LOVE her class and LOVE her.  I enjoyed the reading and couldn't wait to participate in class discussions. I also really appreciated the way she cared about us as people, not just as students. I remember one morning when I was feeling particularly homesick. I had cried that morning getting ready and just wasn't into participating much in class. I missed my parents and my house and my two dogs, and I wanted to go back to Pittsburgh at that moment and never return to Steubenville. I had shut down in class and zoned out for much of it. I remember after class, Dr. Sunyoger pulled me aside and walked with me down the hall very slowly and checked in with me to make sure everything was okay. The best was, she actually listened to me! I had never had another teacher or professor ever do that before. It meant a lot to me, and it is a moment I will never forget.

Her class required a lot of writing. For my entire career in school, I had always been told I could not write. My writing was too repetitive, my teachers would say. My mom had been proofreading my papers all through college and that was allowing me to pull high B's on them in English classes. The test and quizzes kept me at A's somehow. However, I knew this writing weakness would be an issue in this class, so I took advantage of Dr. Sunyoger's office hours and had her help me with the first paper that was due. She took extra time to show me how to stop being repetitive, and she taught me how to actually write a strong thesis statement. She was the first teacher in my entire life to say, "You are a great writer. Fantastic job!" She gave me the confidence to write more and made me believe in myself as a writer. She even read some of my still unfinished novel and said, "One day you will be a famous novelist. I just know it." (I'm still trying to finish that novel. One day I will have time!) She believed in me, and she gave me the confidence necessary to finish out college as a good writer. Why it took 21 years for me to hear that I am a good writer, I'm not sure. Maybe it's because Dr. Sunyoger saw the potential in me that others had missed when it came to my writing. Maybe it's because she cared enough to help me become a good writer. She taught me to believe in my writing abilities and not be scared to put pen to paper. That is a gift for which I will be forever grateful.

Dr. Sunyoger is an AMAZING woman of God. She goes above and beyond for her students and loves each one as if they are her own. She is tough but fair, just as any good teacher should be. When I tutor each evening, I try to remember what she taught me and how to really take a special interest in each individual student. I try to ask them about the day they had and take an active interest in their daily activities. I do this because she taught me to do it, and I know from being on the receiving end how beneficial it can be for a student. I am not perfect at it, and I fail all of the time. But I am trying, and I am trying to improve with each tutoring session that passes.

In her new book, Dr. Sunyoger talks about Life Lessons that her students have taught her. I'm pretty sure all of her students could write a book about what she has taught us. I was truly blessed to have her for three classes while at Franciscan University. I wish I could've taken more. I will forever treasure how she taught me to write and believe in myself as well as what she taught me about being a great teacher. How different my life would be had our paths not crossed on that snowy January day. God is good.

Dr. Sunyoger, if you read this and there are grammatical errors, I apologize! I may need to retake one of your classes! I am losing my touch! :)

Dr. Sunyoger and myself at my graduation party back in 2007. I say we have aged incredibly well!