Asking Myself

...am I a poor listener?

I read this on a blog yesterday and came back to it today as I think it is definitely worth thinking about...

"You are a poor listener if you are solely interested in leading every conversation and showing no interest in anything that is said by others; if you are uneasy while others are speaking and are thinking only of what you are going to say when you get a chance; if you belittle the truth or value of what others say by always butting in something more significant, always topping their stories with something better; if you interrupt others in order that you may speak and reveal your pride and self-love; or if you are unable to keep silence while others are managing to keep a conversation alive. It is uncharitable to ignore certain of one's companions during a conversation. This is done when, in a small group, two of the group launch out into a personal conversation whose subject matter and interest completely exclude the other members of the group. This springs from selfishness and a sense of self-importance. ~ Fr. Lawrence Lovasik

Binders and Notebooks and Journals...oh my!

I realized the other day just how many binders and notebooks and journals I have and I decided to take a picture of the ones I am currently working in. It makes me smile. You might ask what they all contain. Notebooks from the left...Financial Info Notebook, Prayer Intentions Notebook, Book List Notebook (and reflections on what I read), Daily Prayers Notebook, Gospel Meditation Journal (currently working on the Gospel of Luke using The Better Part by Fr Bartunek), My Weekly Planner Notebook, My Holy Hour Notebook, and a beautiful journal I received from my daughters :) Binders are from the left...Family binder (articles etc regarding family life and other inspirational articles), Binder of Beautiful Things (clipped from old magazines), Recipes and Menus Binder, Living the Liturgical Year Binder, and my Daily Health Journal binder.

January 2012 My Little Corner

12 MONTHS OF ORGANIZING..JANUARY PAPERWORK

Better Homes and Gardens mentioned the idea of taking a whole year to organize your home by doing one thing/room each month. This caught my attention. They started with the Home Office in January. It seems manageable so I am going to set the goal to follow their plan with a little bit of tweaking. I know January is Income Tax/FAFSA/Scholarship so most of the organization this month will not be visible. I do have my little desk and my counter which are my "home office" so in addition to the invisible paperwork I will tackle these 2 areas.

Together Under One Roof

Here are our precious 4 on Christmas morning just after they opened the gifts that filled their stockings. With a few exceptions we have spent our Christmas Eve's at Granny and Papa's and Santa fills their stockings to open there. The morning after we return home we have our own Christmas. This year we had to wait until the last minute to see what the girls work schedules were going to be to see how it would all play out. We were blessed that both girls were off in time to make it to Canton to celebrate with Granny, Papa, Aunt Maureen, Uncle Larry, Ben, Hannah, Aunt Patty, Uncle Tim, Timmy and Madde. Michelle had to work the morning after Christmas so when we returned home on Christmas Day it was present time...well as soon as mom and dad wrapped the last few presents. I did feel some disapointment over not getting to experince the early morning wake up to open presents but how could I dwell on that when I am blessed to have an amazing husband and 4 beautiful children and we were all together under one roof. We ended the day with a lively game of CLUE.

Thinking about it...

“Take care of your body as if you were going to live forever; and take care of your soul as if you were going to die tomorrow.” St Augustine

2012

Started off the year with sparklers (and a very fine meal if I do say so myself)....I think it's going to be a good year!