The Welcome Wagon

The Welcome Wagon is alive and well, I have decided after a conversation with Eric today.

Molly and I had lunch with him, and at one point, he said that he had slept so soundly last night -- more soundly than he has been able to for a while (because of being sick).

I told him that I knew he must really be sleeping because I was able to get into bed and asleep without him reaching over to touch me. Despite efforts on my part to get into bed as quietly as possible, I apparently almost always wake him up. Although at that point I am beat, and the last thing I typically want is to sneak into bed and be detected.

I said to Eric as I drove, "It's just like you want to welcome me into our marriage bed each night in the hopes that it will, um....really be our marriage bed."

Eric said, "SEE! There you go! I am not trying to bug you, I'm just trying to be hospitable."

So...apparently all these years, I thought he was trying something, and all these years he just thought it was being a polite host.

Hmmm...yeah, that's it.

How I came to start the Catholic Mothers Online blog roll

It was last year around this time when I was getting farther into blogging (having started in December 2006), and I was on the look out for a blog roll for Catholic women (I was, of course, just about to become a Catholic woman last year at this time). Unfortunately, no matter what search words I was putting in or where I looked, I just didn't seem to be coming across anything.

I then found a Christian blog roll that looked interesting, and I decided to sign up. However, as I read through the belief requirements, I realized that this list did not include Catholics. I read through it again, and remembered the very specific wording used on one requirement (I can't, unfortunately, recall it now) that reminded me of hearing of the Protestant Reformation in history classes. So, I was sad, but I didn't try to join, obviously. It was just shortly after that that I found out another blogger I knew (who is Catholic) was specifically denied membership because she was Catholic.

I became not only sad, but angry. I remember thinking, still a Protestant at that point for another week or so, "How can you abandon me? I have been one of you my whole life. How can you deny me being on a Christian blog roll just because I now want to be a Catholic Christian?"

This made my search become more furious for a blog roll for Catholics. And, I felt like I was coming up empty handed.

Late one night with this heavy on my mind and heart, I sat in one of the recliners in my living room with my computer on my lap. I puttered around the Internet, and then I heard a voice that spoke to me through my heart. "If there is no blog roll that's right, start one yourself."

"I don't know how," I answered. "Besides, what if nobody joins and then we look stupid? It will look like proof that there shouldn't be a Catholic women's blog roll."

The voice in my heart urged me forward, "Trust Me. I am with you, and you need to trust Me. I want you to do this."

"I don't know how," I answered again. Because, well...I didn't. Not even a little bit.

"You'll figure it out," I was told. "Now...go get busy. Figure it out."

And, that's what I did. For hours on end after the kids all went to sleep, I worked on it. I looked at other blog rolls, I studied coding that I might be able to tweak, and I experienced a whole lot of trial and error.

I was blessed to not only have the voice that spoke through my heart each night to push me along, but also very sweet and encouraging postings in my comments from Rosemary at A Catholic Mother's Thoughts. Surely the Holy Spirit was working through her to help me along.

I will admit, I felt guilty at this point. I was working on all the details like a maniac throughout Holy Week. I thought to myself, "I should be in prayer. I shouldn't be sitting here working on JavaScript coding." I thought this many times until then the voice in my heart said, "I asked you to do this. You are doing this for Me. Stop feeling guilty!" And, so I did.

Finally, my coding was done, the blog was up, buttons were made, and the blog roll was launched. I watched my email inbox for sign ups, and though I got a couple, it was very slow going.

I doubted myself and the blog roll. "This was foolish," I said one night at the computer. Of course, my attitude was quickly met by the voice, "BE PATIENT! You NEED to trust in what you were called to do."

I will admit that I still wasn't patient. But, then, emails started flooding in. I was shocked. People I didn't know saw the blog roll on someone's blog that I also didn't know, and wanted to sign up.

I got so many emails of people who were excited about the blog roll. Women who thanked me for starting it. Women who said that finding out about the blog roll was an answer to their prayers. And, every time, I was humbled. I had been so untrusting about this, and something so wonderful was created that has spoken to so many people and helped to form new friendships and a new community.

And, so less than a year later and numbering over 300 blogs on the blog roll, I thank God that I was asked to be part of this. What a beautiful experience it has been so far!

What's Going in the Kids' Easter Baskets? (Thursday Thirteen #5)

Thirteen Things about...What's going into the Easter baskets this year(this is just a hodge podge list of all three of the kids' stuff put together)

1. Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party Bundle (for the Wii) (I used a $50 gift certificate that was a gift to me to make this a more affordable gift option to give to one of the kids, since then I only really spent $20 of our money on it)

2. Ben Ten (for the Playstation 2)

3. Barbie Mariposa Rayla doll

4. Care Bears Oopsy Does It DVD (with little Oopsy figure)

5. A small $5 Oopsy Care Bear (stuffed animal)

6. One package of swirly sidewalk chalk with a sidewalk chalk holder

7. Plastic Army men

8. small chocolate bunnies (one for each basket)

9. A package of M&M minis to split between the baskets

10. A bag of Nestle chocolate eggs to break up between the baskets

11. Absolutely no plastic eggs

12. Yep...no Easter grass either

13. No cheap plastic junky toys just to act as filler so that it looks like more -- we prefered the idea of better things but fewer things

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Protecting Your Refrigerator While Thawing Meat (Works for Me Wednesday)

I just posted this tip as a comment on someone else's blog, and then I thought, "Hang on...maybe I should go ahead and post it on my own blog too!"

So, here's my friendly tip about safely thawing meat (or really anything) in your refrigerator while also keeping your refrigerator clean...

One thing that I think is important to remember for helping to keep your refrigerator cleaner is to always put things you are thawing on a plate or in a bowl.

Yes, I know -- sometimes space in a refrigerator can be a precious commodity, and adding in a plate or bowl takes up more room. But, it is REALLY worth it!

I had one time that I was thawing a roast in the refrigerator and am SO thankful I had it sitting in a bowl because the bowl ended up with blood/juices all in the bottom -- the package had leaked while thawing.

Eeewwwww!

If I had just had that sitting on a refrigerator shelf, not only would it have been a huge mess to clean up, it would have been seriously unsanitary!

So, lose a little space in your refrigerator with a bowl or plate, or maybe even a small bin specifically for throwing in things that you are thawing (if you thaw a lot). But, save yourself the future headache (and potential health risk) of having a horrible leak!

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For more tips and ideas, be sure to check out Works for me Wednesday at Rocks in My Dryer!!!