My Pinterest Addiction

Hello, my name is Christina and I'm addicted to Pinterest.

Well, maybe it's not that bad. I'm sure there are other people out there who are more addicted to it than I am. There are tons of really neat looking recipes, crafts, home decor ideas, exercise regiments, disciplining ideas, and so forth. Some of them work out wonderfully, but others turn out horribly horribly wrong. There are examples all over the web of people bemoaning the epic failures of their Pinterest crafts. (Some examples) And yet, we keep going back for more.

I've done a few of the recipes and crafts with mixed results, none of them epic failures. But honestly, I have yet to attempt more than 75% of what I've pinned. Eh, maybe one day I'll get around to some of it. Until then, I'm sure I'll just keep pinning a ton of other ideas that I'll never try my hand at.

Post Vacation

I'm currently in recovery mode from our family vacation.  After we left Grandma's house we drove down to Disney World to start the second leg of our family vacation, this time with my family. My parents, brother, and his daughter were there and we had lots of fun. Honestly the kids had the most fun. I on the other hand was sick, dealing with heat exhaustion, sunburned, and dealing with an injured foot. And so I'm not really in the mood to write at the moment.  

Beautiful sunset, Panama City Florida

Fun on Vacation

So here we are in sticky, sunny, mosquito infested Florida. We've had lots of fun and excitement so far, and it all started while on the plane.

The one thing that I did not want to happen while on stuck on a plane did happen, of course. Owen decided to unload a very hot and stinky surprise in his diaper, and the cleanup in the tiny little airplane latrine was, simply put, unpleasant.  I had to clean him off while he was standing up, which was a challenge by itself. Now imagine the plane hitting a bit of turbulence and us bouncing around in there while trying to get him all cleaned up. Good times!

While at Grandma's house Owen and his big sister were running up and down the hallway and Owen just couldn't stop his short little legs in time and ran headlong into a doorknob. A beautiful knot ensued. Later that afternoon, Owen and his big sister were once again playing, this time on Grandma's bed. Owen hit his forehead on Grandma's headboard and a huge knot sprung up next to the smaller one left by the doorknob. Grandma freaked out and started crying. Owen screamed and was only consoled with nursing. And after a trip the hospital's urgent care, everyone's worries (mostly Grandma's) were put to rest.

Owen at the urgent care.

The mosquitoes are eating me alive. Within the first 36 hours of getting to Grandma's house I had seven bites. The only relief I had was when we drove down to Panama City for one night, but within three hours of getting back to her place I had three more bites.  GRRRRRRRRRR!!   How many bites does my husband have? ZERO.  How many does Grandma have? Zero How many do my children have? ZERO. I'm the best mosquito repellent out there; if only I could keep them away from myself.

Blogging Bug

I've caught the blogging bug. Yesterday I came up with half a dozen things I wanted to write about (marriage, divorce, annulment, depression, etc.), and I revisited my very first blog at diaryland last night. It's hard to believe that I started that sucker ten years ago, that's right I had a blog before blogging was cool. Since that time I've tried to start other blogs, but just never felt the urge to keep on writing. But alas, I must go and get ready for our big trip tomorrow. If I have time after I get everything done (or I take a break to procrastinate) I'll try to get to some of these many topics floating in my head.

Untitled

I don't want this to become a blog focused on Catholic apologetics; I know that my previous posts are mostly on religious topics, but you must know that my faith is a major factor in my life. Three years ago, I was a "Cafeteria Catholic" meaning that I allowed myself to pick and choose what to believe and what not to believe. If I disagreed with the Church on something I would just ignore it. But over the past three years I have picked up a lot of books on theology and Church history, some of them light reading others not so much. And it has transformed my life. Hence the major focus of my faith on this blog.

Let me take some time to introduce you to my beloved family that sometimes make me feel as if I'm going crazy. First is my husband, Mike. I was very lucky to be able to marry not only the love of my life but also my best friend. Just for putting up with me and all the garbage that my past life I feel as if I should shout, "Santo subito!!" (Sainthood now!!) whenever he's around.

They agree! (Actually this picture is from the Vatican and for Bl. John Paul the Great)

My daughter, Sasha is an explosion of pink and she's obsessed with all things princesses. Neither of which I am a huge fan of, especially the pink. She is going into Pre-K next year and let's be  honest the school year can't start soon enough, for her and for me. I love her to pieces; she has an über contagious laugh, she's very smart, and lots of fun to be around.  Her little brother, Owen, is in the very early stages of potty training. That is, he's starting to be interested in all things bathroom related, but I'm going to wait until after we get back from our vacation before I even think about really trying to get him started. He loves all things trains, trucks/cars, balls, rough housing, and playing dress up with Sasha.

And finally a little bit about me. I'm a SAHM (Stay-At-Home-Mom) who is horrible at keeping my house clean. There are several reasons for this: 1.) I'm lazy, 2.) I live with, quite possibly, the world's messiest trio, and 3.) I can find a lot of things that I'd rather be doing other than cleaning.  I am a nerd/geek/dork who loves all things Doctor Who. There are some out there who would say I'm borderline obsessed with the show. *shrug* I love history and have read many biographies on people that I find fascinating (e.g. Mary Stuart, Eleanor of Aquitaine) as well as books on particular areas or past events. I am quite fascinated with the late Roman Empire, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance. My B.A. in Anthropology is collecting dust and while I still have dreams and aspirations to one day be an archaeologist working in either Africa, at a museum, or at a University researching our past ancestors (Australopithecus Afarensis, Neanderthalensis, Archaic and Modern Homosapien sapiens, etc.) I know that they are just that...dreams. Even though I still dream big and oftentimes long to be working in the archaeological field in some capacity, I am currently more focused on getting into Grad school to earn a Masters in Theology. The key factor that is holding me back from going forward and enrolling is the tiny little problem of money. But I'm sure you know all about that problem as well. So until the time God blesses us with some additional funds and makes it feasible for me to go back to school I'll  have to settle for reading some super awesome apologetic books. 

Going on Vacation

My family and I are getting ready to go on a much needed family vacation. How relaxing it is going to be has yet to be determined. Flying with two young children is very stressful; I really believe that it's harder on the parents than on anyone else in the plane. Why? Because we as parents are worried about our children being a bother to the other passengers. If and when you fly next please say a prayer for that family and remember that the parents are doing their best.

Return to Rome

I wasn't always so keen on all of the teachings of Catholicism, and looking back I can honestly say that it was due to poor catechesis. This is evident in how easy it was for me to walk away from Christianity all together when I was 15. Where did I go? I entered the world of the New Age movement and I began to study different belief systems: Wicca, Paganism, Shamanism, Celtic/Druidic Paganism, Stregheria, Zoroastrianism, Scientology, Buddhism, etc. There was even a time when I was agnostic bordering on atheistic. But mostly I stayed in the realm of paganism and witchcraft.

While I was studying all of these different beliefs I began to wonder, "Self, what if all of these religions are all worshiping the same God, but none of them have it quite right? What if their religions all began as worship of the one true God, but they could only grasp the truth to the extent in which it was given to them? That they just haven't received the whole big picture and can only understand those things that have been shown to them based on what they know about the world around them."

I will honestly say that I'm not entirely sure how and why I came back to Christianity. There wasn't one thing, but a lot of little things. There was never a question about which denomination of Christianity I would go back to. Being a person who has a great love of science and history there was only one choice. The Roman Catholic Church. Even when I was away from the Church, I remember thinking that if I were to ever return to Christianity I would be Catholic.

During the Easter Vigil Mass on March 26, 2005 I finally received the Sacrament of Confirmation. Yet, even then I wasn't 100% on board with Church teaching. It wouldn't be until a few years later and after much personal study (brought on due to attending Bible study at an Evangelical church) that I became on fire for the Truth and for my faith.