Not a cooking blog, but. . . .

I had some things getting old in the fridge, and it was lunchtime, so I threw together a surprisingly yummy lunch, which I thought I'd share. It is meatless as well as the other things I've posted, so it would make a perfect Friday breakfast or Lunch!

Just a little note: I always used Free Range eggs, organic if I can get them, as they are not only the products of healthier chickens, but they are much superior in nutritional value to regular commercial brand eggs. For one, regular eggs are from chickens that are so nutrient deficient, that they have to be fed food with yellow dye in it to make the yolks yellow-I am not kidding! They have also been traveling and sitting on grocery store shelves for 3 weeks or more (eggs DO last long, so they are still safe to eat, but the nutritional value might go down the longer they sit, so you are getting more nutrition still from free range eggs, even if they have sat!), and they may have some amount of antibiotics and/or hormones in them from the adult chicken passing it on to the egg. I'll add a link at the bottom of this page if you want to read more about eggs and their nutritional values.

Anyway. . .
Ingredients:
1 half inch wide slice off of a large eggplant, peeled and cut into very small cubes
3-4 Crimini (or regular domestic) Mushrooms, washed, sliced thinly
1 garlic clove, minced
1 Large Handful fresh spinach
2 eggs + 1 tspn milk
Salt to taste
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 small pat of butter

In a medium sized saucepan, combine the garlic, butter and olive oil: let these things sit while you chop the mushrooms and eggplant. Add the mushrooms and eggplant to the pan and stir well, coating the eggplant with the olive oil. Salt this very liberally (I use organic sea salt*). Turn pan to medium heat and saute vegetables until the eggplant is dark and thoroughly done, about 5-8 minutes, stirring constantly. When the mushrooms are droopy and the eggplant is totally tender, throw the spinach in whole, and stir until completely wilted. Beat the eggs and milk together until it starts to foam slightly, then pour over the contents of the pan. Let sit until lightly browned on the bottom, then with a good thin spatula, scoop up as much as you can and turn (mine went into three pieces). Or you could just be lazy and stir it; you'll get smaller bits of egg that way, but it will taste the same. Cook the egg thoroughly, then mound on a plate. Salt and pepper to taste, serve with a couple of green olives and a bit of salsa. A cooked tortilla on the side goes very well too.

*Organic sea salt is better than table salt because table salt has magnesium and other additives mixed in to keep the salt from caking together and flowing freely; these additives make the salt taste bitter, so they then add a sweetner to table salt to make it taste better. If you don't switch to either Kosher or organic sea salt for the health aspect, perhaps you will be interested in the fact that people tend to use much less salt on their foods when they use sea salt, since it is much saltier tasting than table salt, being a purer salt. So, gourmet cooks and relishers of find food, sea salt is the way to go.

Mother's Egg Page

Greenwood Farms-Scroll Down Page

I like to support local farmers, but sometimes I really can't afford it. If you have a Trader Joe's nearby, they have the least expensive free range eggs (Armstrong brand) in my town: 99cents per dozen!

Eat well!

A Wife's Charm Delights her Husband. . .

"A wife's charm delights her husband, and her skill puts fat on his bones" Sirach 26:13

Sirach seems to repeat himself a lot, but perhaps he repeats the things that are the most worth remembering.

Charm is one of the most mis-understood attributes a woman can have, and I mostly blame Hollywood for this. A lot of people think that charm equals sex appeal, or, "the barer you are, the charminger you are" (forget which movie that one came from :-P). Yes, that was bad English. However, in real life, charm is something very different from looks alone. It's personality! Most men look for a wife who won't hurt them, not a wife who will run around the house in a lime colored string bikini all the time. A charming person "charms", that is, places the other person at ease, at rest, at peace, evokes trust, kindles love and admiration. That is what charm is. A charming person is also non-threatening. This is not to say that charming women are weak and simpering, no, that is NOT charming at all. Inner strength and vitality, stability and courage, when not paraded about for admiration's sake, are extremely charming virtues that do show through your actions and words. Non-threatening means that you are not trying to compete with the man you love, beat him at everything so he'll recognize you are superior, think more clearly than he allll the time, drive better than he, etc. Even if you DO, by not competing in these lines, not threatening your husband, he will praise your virtues himself, without your nudging, because he will be left to recognize them on his own, not pushed by you to do so.

A woman can hurt a man in many more ways than just physically and emotionally. There is the ego. A man needs to be humble, obviously, but this is a virtue that he must cultivate himself. A wife should not undertake to humiliate her husband, in order to "teach him a lesson", not only because we ourselves would reject such an endeavor from him to us, but also because this is God's work, not ours. We are not their mothers, we are their wives, their partners, their companions. A blow to your husband's ego should come as a blow to yourself as well, because you are one. Even if your husband is wrong, if you defend him and his motives (not his wrong idea), instead of having to defend himself, he will more easily be able to admit that he was wrong, since you didn't attack him when his shield was down. This is common, human respect that we as Christian wives should have for all people. Too often though, we give this respect to everyone BUT our husbands. It's got to change though. By giving this respect to your husbands, they will in turn give this respect right back to you.

The part about fat on his bones is kind of cute, actually. Fat back then was a sign of affluence, a sign that you were doing well. A skinny person was obviously starving, crazy, lazy, or just having a long string of hard luck; you didn't want to be that! The wife's skill Sirach is referring to is most probably her cooking, but I also think other skill is required to "put fat on his bones". If you are not making your husband happy, he won't want to come home and eat of your skill, he'll want to stay out at the bar with his buddies and have a good old time. If you are not charming and constantly attracting your husband with your skills at being sweet and lovable, then he will have no appetite, for there will be nothing to tempt him. How would you like to eat plain oatmeal and a glass of milk every day for the rest of your life? Nourishing, sure, but. . .not very tasty. We as wives must be MORE than just adequate for our husbands, we must be a feast! "Drink from your own well" it says in the Wisdom of Solomon; he was telling his son to be faithful to his wife. If the water is sweet, then we can be assured that our husbands will want to drink from their own wells, and if our aim is to please God in all things, then we will be making our husbands happy men too.

How interesting. . . .

Your Blogging Type is Confident and Insightful

You've got a ton of brain power, and you leverage it into brilliant blog. Both creative and logical, you come up with amazing ideas and insights. A total perfectionist, you find yourself revising and rewriting posts a lot of the time. You blog for yourself - and you don't care how popular (or unpopular) your blog is!

What's Your Blogging Personality?

Well, well, well. . . .

Nah.

Really Good Meatless Spaghetti

This is what we had for dinner last Friday (by the way, I keep a couple different kinds of cooking alcohol on hand at all times, because they are a very easy way to make a simple dish more savory).

Ingredients:
1 Jar Garlic and Herb Tomatoe Sauce, 26oz
1 small can stewed tomatoes, drained
1 small eggplant peeled and cut into very small chunks
6-7 med/lrg. button mushrooms, sliced
3-4 tbspn extra virgin olive oil
1 tbspn butter
3-5 fresh garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1 very small onion, minced very fine
2 tbspns chianti (or Sicilian) wine
1/8 (or so) of milk

In a big pot, put enough water/oil on to boil for the amount of pasta you are making. The sauce recipe should serve 4-6.

In a large frying pan, combine the oil, butter, and minced garlic and onion, let sit for a little bit (the action of cold olive oil heating up draws the garlic oil out of the cloves and makes the sauce more flavorful) while you cut up other ingredients. Add the mushrooms and eggplant, turn on medium heat and saute the ingredients until the eggplant is thoroughly softened (about 8-10 minutes). The eggplant will lose any bitterness it has by being cooked well. At this time I usually grind a bit of sea salt over the ingredients in the pan.

When the eggplant is well done, if the onions are not yet tender, then keep sauteing until they are. If the onions are fine, then add the wine (some more to taste?) and stir a little bit. Let this mixture simmer for just a minute or two, then add the drained can of stewed tomatoes and the jar of tomatoe sauce. Quickly pour about 1/8 cup of milk into the jar, swirl it around, pour into pan, then put a little water in the jar too, swirl, then pour into pan. Stir this very, very well, bring to a slight boil, then reduce heat to low and let simmer for a while.

Meanwhile, the water for the pasta should be at a rolling boil: add your pasta, turn the heat down just a tad, but don't let the water stop actively boiling. Stir to coat pasta with the oil, and let cook, testing a noodle every once in a while until they are al dente. Drain well, serve in bowls with the sauce ladeled on top. Serve with chianti wine, or a good dry red wine, and some garlic bread with salad.

Saints and Blesseds who were Wives: St. Jane Frances de Chantal

St. Jane Frances de Chantal is known primarily for her holy friendship with St. Francis de Sales. She founded the order of the Visitation. However, before she was a religious, St. Jane Frances was married for 9 years, in a very holy, happy, and exemplary marriage.

I just want to reflect on a couple of her outstanding characteristics that have helped me in my marriage, but her biography is very worth reading. You can read a
brief biography and some of her writings there, or a more detailed one.

Her entire life was marked with extreme sadness. She very may well have been called a woman of sorrows, just as her mystical Spouse was the Man of Sorrows. The first few months of her young life witnessed the St. Bartholomew's Day massacres and the Hugenot wars were a part of her every day life while growing up. Her father, her husband, and her brother were in constant fear of their lives due to the religious and political conflicts of the time. Her mother died when she was only 2 years old, and the governess her father got for her treated her horribly. She was in constant spiritual anguish at the sight of so many souls leaving the true faith. She lost her beloved husband in a tragic accident, and only 4 of her 6 children survived infancy; the youngest of the four survivors died when she was only 10 years old. When her husband died, she was forced by her father-in-law to leave relatives that she loved, to live with relatives that hated her, and she was treated very badly at their hands.

The rest of her biography, as she eventually sought religious life (after having her remaining family well cared for) and met St. Francis de Sales, founding the order of the Visitation, is gone into more thoroughly in the links above.

St. Jane was extremely sensitive, very shy, had her feelings hurt easily, etc., but these weaknesses became her ticket to heaven. Instead of letting them build up to the point of dragging her down, she offered these extreme sadnesses (especially having her beloved husband die in her arms) to Jesus. She realized the true meaning of life, and was able to step out of what we see as reality, and go beyond it to the true reality. She loved her husband, her heart broke at him being taken away from her, but she loved Jesus and knew that His plan was perfect. Her heart was willingly broken many times, so that it would become a bigger dwelling for Himself. Giving her entire life up to Jesus, her children, her love, her happiness on earth, she became all the more happy because she was secure in Jesus.



The fact that in the midst of all this sorrow she was still able to discern a call to the religious life, shows how closely united her heart was to Jesus. Having finished one work on earth, that of being a good and consoling wife for her husband, and probably obtaining helping him obtain heaven upon his death, her children were now old enough to not need her, and she placed them all in the care of good and kind relatives. Jesus now wanted her all for herself. There is one story recounted of how her son, who was 15 at the time and basically at the age where he would have been considered a man, laid bodily down across the doorstep to keep his mother from leaving them all. Tears streaming down her face and her heart acquiring a new thorn into it, she courageously stepped over him, not looking back. It sounds so heartless, but Jesus was calling her. He doesn't call all mothers to do this, but St. Jane had another job to do on earth, and her son needed to learn now how to embrace Jesus, and adopt Mary as his mother. Ultimately, this would be their way to heaven as well as hers.

Her life shows how important it is for the wife of the home to maintain a loving and close relationship with Jesus Christ, for He is ultimately her true spouse. He is our true source of strength, enabling us to be good wives for our husbands. The love we give to our husbands, ultimately goes to Jesus, and the love we receive from our husbands, comes from Jesus. This relationship with the King of our Hearts will lead us on to hear His calls, to follow His will, no matter how much the world disagrees with what might be His will for us.

St. Jane Frances de Chantal, ora pro nobis.

A Good Wife is a Great Blessing

"A good wife is a great blessing; she will be granted among the blessings of the man who fears the Lord."

"Whether rich or poor, his heart is glad, and at all times his face is cheerful." Sirach 26:3-4

What a privilege we wives have! We have the opportunity of changing one man's life forever, for the better, giving him blessing upon blessing in our desire to serve the Lord.

So many women I know want very badly to help someone, anyone. . .my friends tell me things like, "If I could make a difference in one life, then I will not have lived in vain", or some such heroic notion. Yet they neglect their husbands and/or children in the pursuit of finding that "one life" to make a difference in, quite forgetting that there is a life right inside their own houses that needs a difference!

One distinguishing characteristic of all the sainted wives I've read about, is that no matter what kind of prayers, penances, sacrifices and charitable works they did, their husbands and families were always put first. A wife's main job is to be her husband's help-meet, his mate, the other half of his heart. A woman who will be all this for her husband is so valuable that Sirach adds her among the high blessings awarded by God to a man who fears the Lord.

We've got to be so careful of our actions, our words, our attitude, to make sure that we are every day building our husbands up, instead of tearing him down. Yes, you must be yourself around your husband, obviously, but instead of accepting the depressing, micro-managing, emotional woman that you are, you must make "yourself" into a better person, day by day. It takes so much work, but that is what we are on earth for.

I love the part about whether rich or poor. . .my husband and I can very well be considered poor by the world's standards, but even though we have gone through so many trials and tribulations together, we have each learned so much about being good spouses. More than money, more than food, more than even common necessities, we love and need each other, to help each other get to heaven. . .and that really is the whole point of life here on earth. He is the person God ordained for me from the very beginning, who would help direct my feet in the right paths, and I am the person God ordained for him from the very beginning, who would love and support all of his efforts, obey his directions, and be the heart of his home. I wouldn't trade my life with him for any amount of financial security, beautiful homes, rest or luxury in the entire world, because I know he is my good work for heaven.

Today is St. Jane Frances de Chantel's Feast Day (as well as Our Lady of Knock), and here is a little tid-bit about this sainted wife, given by a witness for her canonization:

"Together, these two spouses [St. Jane Frances de Chantel, and her husband Christopher de Rabutin] provided a model of a genuinely holy marriage. They had between them one heart and one soul. Jane Frances surrounded her young husband with honor and obedience and loved him with a touching tenderness, with ardor and reverence. At the same time she in turn was loved and respected just as much and surrounded by the most tender confidence of her husband. All of this was quite evident."

St. Jane Frances de Chantel, ora pro nobis. Our Lady of Knock, ora pro nobis.

Don't ever buy white carpet. . .

Temper, temper. . .counting to ten. . .take it from me, DON'T EVER BUY WHITE CARPET!

Ever Run out of Meatless Meal Ideas?

*Chuckles* I love Blogger! It's Saturday as I'm writing this, but I can post it so's it looks like I posted it on Friday! He he he!

Anyway, am I the only person who can't keep coming up with wholesome meatless meals for Fridays? I mean, after 4 consecutive Fridays of macaroni and cheese for lunch. . .and then leftover macaroni and cheese for dinner (might be slightly exaggerating), I kind of feel like I should try to broaden my horizons a bit. . .beyond just plain bread and water. :)

So, I would like to share some of my meatless meal recipes, and perhaps any readers out there could share some of theirs. Maybe we could do a recipe swap for Fridays. . .like one of those, "This is what my Family is having Today" type recipe club thingys.

This Friday we had (are having?) 12 minute Fako Minestrone Soup, a soup of my own creation (I know someone thought of it before, but as I threw things into the pot and thought up the name, it did seem like I was the first brilliant cook to ever come up with such an idea;) ). Don't worry, it came out really good, unlike some other experiments. Recipe follows:

  

12 Minute Fako Minestrone Soup-Should serve 4 Big Bowl-fulls
Ingredients:
4-6 Herb-ox vegetable bouillon cubes
8-10 cups water
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes (Hunt's and Del-Monte carry organic canned tomatoes btw)
2 15 oz cans mixed vegetables (includes celery,corn,green-beans,peas,limas,carrots,potatoes)
3 Big Cloves of Garlic
4 Tbspns. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 6 oz or half a 12 oz bag or box of any kind of small, soup kind of pasta (Barilla really is the best)
4-5 generous handfuls of clean, picked over spinach
12 Large, fresh Basil Leaves
Parmesean cheese, grated

Okay, so, first you crumble the bouillon cubes into the pot of water; put that over high heat so that it boils asap. Put the whole can of diced tomatoes in the pot and cover. Drain the cans of mixed veggies into a colander, let sit in sink while going to the next step. Dice the garlic into tiny pieces, put into med. frying pan with olive oil, some salt (I use sea salt in a salt grinder, so I just give the grinder a couple of cranks) and some pepper. Heat this over med. heat; when hot, add the mixed veggies and stir them in the hot oil for a couple minutes. Toss it all in the pot, scrape out every last drop of precious olive oil. Dump the pasta into the pot and watch the pot, because when it starts boiling, and the pasta is al dente, then the soup is done. This should take about 8 minutes from when the pot starts actually boiling. When the pasta is done, coarsely chop the spinach, throw that into the pot, cover and turn off the heat. While the spinach is wilting, take 4-5 Basil leaves at a time, roll them up into a "cigar" and slice them crosswise, then toss them into the pot too. Ladel soup into bowls, and shred parmesean cheese over them to whatever amount you like (or use that pre-shredded stuff. . .ew). Serve soup with some toasted bread and butter. And it really does take only 12 minutes or so.

Okay, now what have you ladies got up your sleeves?

Saints and Blesseds who were Wives: St. Margaret of Scotland

I hear quite often from ignorant Catholics that the Church seems to favor the religious (monks, priests, nuns, etc.) as saintable, while putting "holy people" who were married on the back burner, simply because they were married. This is silly, not only because a couple looks at the liturgical feast days would not only show a person plenty of saints who were married, but also because there are a lot more people who have acquired that high degree of holiness through the virginal life, than those who remained in the world and married. Let's be honest, the married state (and consequently the raising of children, shopping for groceries, paying the bills, keeping the household running, etc.) is not as conducive to holiness as is the religious state. However, that being said, those in the married state who DO reach sanctity, have waded through a bit more muck and mire of the world, so they might truly be considered "super saints".

Having a good example to follow and imitate makes things a bit easier, so I would like to have a little weekly series on my blog, in no particular order or preference by the way, with small biographies of saintly wives. They all encountered problems that we can relate to, no matter what time periods they were in; we can use their examples to change the way we deal with things in our day to day lives.

Though it's very hard, a married person, in today's society, can achieve sanctity. Nothing is impossible with God, and if you strive to conform your entire will, every day, to God's, then you will be a saint. A lot easier said than done, but it can be done. The question is, will you?

Saint Margaret of Scotland 1046-1093
There are many great stories attached to this saint. For more details not given in my very brief synopsis, visit these great links: here , here, andhere . I don't want to write another biographical sketch of her life, but I would like to refer to some key points that she dealt with, that could help us in our quests to be better wives.

St. Margaret was the great grand-niece of St. Edward the Confessor, and during her 11th-20th years she lived in his court as an exile (her father was the successor to the English throne, exiled to Hungary; her mother was a Hungarian Princess). In 1066, St. Margaret had to flee to Scotland were King Malcolm III Canmore took her and her brother in as refugees.

King Malcolm III was apparently a wild and spirited man, not bad, but unruly; however, after his marriage to Margaret, a significant change took place in his character, which everyone attributed to Margaret's good influence. This point here, by which Margaret's piety, love, and good example helped her husband, is one that stands out to me. Instead of nagging, pointing out faults, beating King Malcolm over the head with a frying pan. . .St. Margaret instead just simply kept up a constant good example, keeping close to Jesus, her first love, and showing intelligence and virtue. By acknowledging that his wife was onto something there, the King soon wanted it for himself, and so changed his own character, by his own decision. The husband is the head of the home, the wife. . .the heart.

The King could neither read nor write, nor could most of the entire Kingdom, so St. Margaret, who had benefited from a classical Benedictine education, arranged for the first Benedictines to enter Scotland, to come from England and instruct her people, and also her children. Her children also had the benefit of numerous tutors, which gave St. Margaret much more time for prayer and penances, and also gave a good example to the people under their rule. She was very involved in her children's religious upbringing, and told them that "If you love Christ, He will give you prosperity in this life and everlasting happiness with all the saints."

One more highly notable tid-bit; St. Margaret began some very rigorous reforms of the Church in Scotland. We wives can take part in this as well, if not in a higher level, at least beginning with our children, teaching them the Traditions of our Church, exposing the lies that are being taught day in and day out, and keeping abreast of what is really going on in the Church and in our world.

Queen Margaret, along with King Malcolm, visited the sick and imprisoned together, usually carrying food and drink with them to dole out to the poor they came across. St. Margaret practiced many forms of penance, prayed a great deal, and practiced many works of mercy, BUT, she never let any of these wonderful and saintly practices get in the way of her number 1 duty, that of being a good wife and mother. This holy couple had 8 children throughout their 23 year marriage.

Although Queen Margaret wasn't occupied with such things as taking kids to soccer games, cooking, cleaning, etc., she was still very busy with things that don't bother us now. As Queen she had to look over the affairs of the kingdom, along with her husband, and one particular part that she paid close attention to was the education and well-being of her subjects. She went throughout the kingdom settling quarrels and disputes, teaching good manners and temperance, cultivating Christian virtues, love of neighbor. . .and she would dismiss courtiers who failed to display irreproachable conduct at all times. Her main goal was very easy to see; that of reaching heaven. She knew that the only reason she was on earth was to know God, love God and serve God, and she took this very seriously. Her last words on earth were, "Lord Jesus, who through thy death hast given life to the world, deliver me from all evil." She was canonized by Pope Innocent IV as an exemplary wife and mother in 1251.

Everything that we do during the day and night should be aimed at this goal as well; to reach heaven. Looking beyond the hustle and bustle of daily life, we have to learn to steady our hearts and minds, and concentrate on this, the most important and only real reason for living-loving God, knowing God and serving God.

St. Margaret of Scotland, ora pro nobis.

He Will Complete His Years in Peace

"A loyal wife rejoices her husband, and he will complete his years in peace" Sirach 26:2

I remember back when I first met my husband. We had a very unusual courtship, as we lived at opposite ends of the USA. When we would get together in the evenings for an Instant Messenger fest, he couldn't help relating the harshness of his day at work. He was a teacher back then, a strong Traditionalist, teaching in a very secularized "catholic" high-school, and the flak he would get from "nice, sweet, catholics" was so full of injustice. He was eventually "let go", in favor of someone who would teach a much more tolerant religion. The days are much more bearable for him now that we are married and together, but this verse from Sirach makes me remember those early days. I had the opportunity to learn what was needed from a wife early on, in so far as loyalty and support goes.

When you are first in love, it is so easy to side with your sweetheart, even against your own family; you'll "go down with the ship" if you have to, backing him up whenever something or someone tries to unsettle him, encouraging him to follow his dreams and attain his goals. It does get a bit harder later on down the road, when life becomes normal and you are tempted to think about yourself all the time. But still, this support must be given. . .and out of love. Wives need to love their husbands in this way, because men doubt themselves all the time, and they need the assurance of this love and loyalty, or else they feel like half a man. You, his wife, are the only one he can show that self-doubt to, and unless you are available to listen to him and his trials, and offer consolation and support, then he will not share these problems with you, and will close himself off from you and your "nagging". This is a very precarious situation, because if you say something out of the teeniest bit of vengeance, anything to be-little him, get back at him, poke fun at him, etc., when he is at his most vulnerable (voluntarily humbling his ego to you), then you can destroy the very man you have been given by God to build up, and force him away from the safety of your heart, to the advice of others who don't love him as you do.

We must swallow our pride, and forget all of the little nuisances that crop up during married life, real or imagined. "Stand by your man, and show the world you love him" so an older (yeah, I know, dumb, secular music) song goes. Loyalty doesn't just mean marital fidelity, it is a whole host of things. Your husband needs your rock solid support, your devotion, your friendship. When he disciplines your children, back him up 100%, and if he is wrong, talk to him about it later, away from the divining eyes and ears of the little anarchists. If he sets a rule in the house, obey it as willingly and strictly as if you were obeying an order from God (unless, of course, his rule is one that goes against conscience), setting a good example for your children to obey you. If he has a problem with work or financial worries, listen to what he has to say, and only offer solutions if he asks for them. Most of the time, men just need to someone to listen to them or sympathize, which helps them immensely, while a woman's idea of being helpful, is offering all kinds of advice and solutions to problems. Keep in mind that this is not always welcome! Be careful when you ask your husband to accomplish something in or around the house, because women quickly turn to nagging when their husbands just want to relax after work. The Bible has a couple thing to say about nagging women! Instead, do your best to do your own jobs around the house, which will inspire your husband to also do his best. Believe me, that's the only way I can get my hubby to take out the trash and wash the dishes!

When you let your husband know that you are willing to work alongside him if the need arises, bear willingly all of the hardships he bears, sacrifice things you like in order for him to be happy, etc. he will know that the wall behind him is solid, and will be able to courageously stand up against the world and its evils, concentrating on the things that really need his attention, instead of splitting his thoughts between a crumbling support and the things that attack him head on. He will also be encouraged to do these same things for you!

If you are not this kind of wife already, it is never too late to begin cultivating these virtues, and if you think you ARE this kind of wife already, then don't stop working at it, because every day presents new challenges. You have to keep climbing the mountain, step after step. You won't reach the top until your life is at an end, but you have to keep climbing to get there. Let us help our husbands complete their years in peace.

How to Make Hubbies Happy Part II

They always say that "the surest way to a man's heart is through his stomach", and we all know that that is pretty much correct. However, it is so hard nowadays to figure out what to make, eat, and stay away from, because we all just gain weight, diet, and then just not eat.

I just finished a really good book called "Eat Right 4 Your Type", which is basically a theory put forth by a Natural Doctor, Peter D'Adamo, about how people with different blood types react to certain types of food (there is a process called "aglutination" which plays a key roll in the way everyone reacts). It's very well researched, and having studied nutrition for ions, it makes a lot of sense to me. The proof is in the pudding, however, and when I found that implementing Dr. D'Adamo's suggestions in my husband's diet (he's the guinea pig), he really has thrived on it! Being a type "O", he requires more animal derived protein than the other types, and in larger quantities, etc. (it's much more complicated than that, so that was just an example). My blood type is on the rather pansy-ish, vegetarian side, but I won't go there.

Previously, my DH had lost a lot of weight doing the "Atkin's Diet", which I was very, very at odds with (the Atkin's diet doesn't make much sense healthwise), but after putting Dr. D'Adamo's theories into practice, I DO see how my husband did well with Atkins, while I would never do well with it at all. It does seem to explain how some people do well with one diet, while others don't see any results at all, yet change the diet, and they do wonders.

Anyway. My point is, that one of the ways the Good Wife can make her hubby happy, is by paying attention to his nutrition. Don't just feed him anything to get him full, or send him with a bunch of processed snackies to work (to keep him happy). Ultimately, when your hubby isn't healthy, he won't be happy. Maybe he will wrinkle his nose to the substitution of cottage cheese for pringles in his lunch box, but after you implement changes in the diet, and explain that if he loves you, he will follow them, he will ultimately realize how much better he feels, and won't want to eat anything that will then make him feel bad.

My husband was raised eating meat and potatoes every night, a canned veggie once in a while, "healthy" frosted flakes for breakfasts, and school lunches (which in his time, were anything BUT healthy). He subsequently hated anything that wasn't loaded with salt and preservatives, wasn't sugary or caffeinated, or so greasy that he could oil the locks with the empty bag, but he was fortunate enough to go on a nice trip to Europe for a couple of semesters during his college years, and found out what food is really like! When he came back, he wanted to marry a woman who knew real food, and bumped into little old farm girl me. Although it's tough to break old habits, he put his wifey in charge of the kitchen, and lets me direct his eating. Wives should take this responsibility very seriously. Even if we're in a hurry all the time, we need to resist the temptation to buy all of those "convenient" and brightly packaged, and wow, "on sale too", foods at the grocery stores. Not only is it cheaper to make our own meals, but you get more satisfaction out of making your family's food, and your whole family is healthier because of it.

Here are some interesting links:

Organic Valley

Dr. D'Adamo's Site

The Benefits of Cooking at Home

Tridentine Mass

The closest you can get to heaven while still stuck here on earth.

How to Make Hubbies Happy Part I

One thing I think nice, young Catholic girls do wrong, is ban all forms of alcohol from their homes, or make their husbands feel bad if they drink a beer, etc. I can't talk for some of my wifey friends, but I was raised with a cluster of girls that thought alcohol was just plain evil, not to be associated with, all of whom have carried this through into their marriages. That is just wrong, unless, of course, your husband is a recovering alcoholic or sensitive in any way to alcohol. In that case, yeah, duh.

I experience a very fine comraderie with my husband in this sphere. He is a beer buff, and since we spend a lot of our time together, it would be very sad if he wasn't able to share this part of his life with me, so, in order to make him happy, I learned how to like beer, and now, yeah, I'm a beer buff too. And you know, I'm a much happier and lovable person, and my husband had the joy of sharing something he likes and enjoys with someone he loves, and had it appreciated. It works the other way as well; if I want to watch a sappy romance, which he would definitely rather not watch, he will still sit down and make an effort to laugh at the jokes, enjoy the acting, and every once in a while actually does enjoy himself. This keeps us together as a married couple, instead of splitting off to pursue our own particular interests, or keeping something that we enjoy away from our spouse, for fear that they might not like it.

My husband also happens to like mixed drinks, but they have to be done well. I went out and got a couple of two/three ounce shot glasses, a stainless steel mixer, two martini glasses, two highball glasses, and some odd sized glasses (all at the 99 cent store by the way; you don't have to spend a fortune), and a couple of bottles of the basics, to stock a little tiny corner of my china cabinet, which is now his liquor cabinet. Depending on what your husband likes, gin, rum, a coffee flavored liquor, cream, club soda, tonic water and lime/lemon juice are pretty good starters. You're not going to turn your husband into an alcoholic by letting him enjoy a drink or two in the evenings. I think it's kind of like indulging in some ice-cream or other desert after dinner. Lots of desert is harmful, but not in little, enjoyable quantities. Same thing with alcohol.

The rest of the ingredients can be found in your cupboard; powdered sugar, brown sugar, butter, spices, salt, etc. I don't usually indulge in these kind of pleasures myself (I could be pregnant most of any time), but I do take a little sip just to make sure it comes out all right. ;) Find out if your hubby likes certain drinks before or after dinner, or with desert, etc. If he's a beer lover, keep one or two big mugs in the freezer, and a couple beers in the fridge; when you pop off the cap and pour it, try to pour the beer as close to the mug as possble so there's the least oxidization as possible, then set the mug upright to develop a nice "head", which is the foam. After about a minute, serve :-D

Here are some basic recipes that your husband might enjoy, and that will be easy for you to make.

Classic Gin and Tonic
In a normal (8oz) drinking glass combine in order:
4-5 Tonic Water Ice Cubes (freeze tonic water in an ice-cube tray)
3 ounces Gin (we use Seagram's Extra Dry Gin-experiment)
4 ounces Tonic Water
1 Tablespoon Lime Juice (you can find this in the liquor section of the store)
Stir well, serve with a kiss :*. This is a nice, relaxing, cool beverage after a long day's work.

Hot Buttered Rum (my own version)
In an 8 oz coffee mug:
Cream together app. 2 tbspns. salted butter with a very small pinch of cinnamon, nutmeg, & cloves and 1 Tablespoon (adjust to taste) Dark Brown Sugar
Pour in 3 oz Dark Rum
Fill the mug the rest of the way with boiling water, stir well, serve with a yo-ho-ho.

Cafe Dessert (my own recipe)
In a three oz shotglass, pour:
1oz Kahlua/Starbucks Coffee Liquor/or other Coffee Liquor
2oz Heavy Cream/Half&Half/or Whole Milk
Stir slightly, serve with a milk moustache ;)

If this is interesting, I'll put more on later. There's nothing like eating a good dinner in a clean house, then settling back with your husband for some reading or a movie with a nice drink.

How Much of a Lady are You. . . .fun;)

You Are 92% Lady

No doubt about it, you are a lady with impeccable etiquette You know how to put others at ease, even if their manners aren't the greatest.

Are You A Lady?

This was a fun little quiz a friend sent to me! I got 92%. . .LOL

Happy is the husband. . . .

"Happy is the husband of a good wife; the number of his days
will be doubled" Sirach 26:1 (Or Ecclesiasticus 26:1)

Feast of St. Laurence

How many husbands in this world are happy? While it is the husband's job to care for, protect, shelter and love his wife, it is also just as much the wife's job to make her husband happy, as much as she possibly can. While the husband is expected to sacrifice 9,10, even more hours of the day to work in support of the family, the wife should be willing to make this sacrifice as well, and try to outdo her husband in love and kindness. Taking this attitude is rather hard sometimes. We wives want to be happy and when our husbands are thinking of other things, sometimes they forget to do the things that we want in order to be happy, tempting us to take matters into our own hands and make ourselves happy. That, however, is selfish. Our society thrives on selfishness and tries to turn it into good attributes. But what the saints used to do in those kind of situations, was turn to their real spouse, their real love, Jesus. When our husbands disappoint us, or in their tiredness, forget all of the little things we women make so much fuss over, it is an opportunity for us to grow in grace. Instead of treating him back the way we THINK we have been treated (we women also tend to exaggerate things in our own minds), we should always treat our husbands exactly as we would treat Jesus. That is how Christians must act.

It's a little easier to remember the golden rule with people outside of our homes and families. It just makes so much sense, "treat others the way you want to be treated". But you might never see that person again, whom you treated so politely today in the grocery store, or the post office, car wash, soccer game, everywhere we go, while you have to live forever with the husband who's ego you deflate day after day. Just let him take a poke at your ego though and see how you react!

Love makes no sense in the home or anywhere, unless it is directed towards Jesus. This is what holds you up when hard times happen, as they do in every marriage. Whether it be financial, emotional, physical, spiritual, the hard times come in one form or another, but they will not alter your decision to love each other if everything is always done for Jesus.

Sirach will now go into what makes a husband happy, and what is interesting is that the same things also make the wife happy! The things we can do and accomplish for our husband's happiness also serve to make us feel needed, fulfilled, loved, cherished, and beautiful. It is, in miniature, the relationship we also have with God. God gave us rules to follow, which make Him happy, and many of us find out, that when we follow those rules, we are also happy ourselves!

St. Laurence, pray for us. *Between the hours of 10pm and 4am, step outside and watch for "St. Laurence's Tears", the summer meteor showers.

The Good Wife in the Book of Sirach

The book of Sirach seems to be a much overlooked book in the Bible. Protestants do not count in this observation, since they don't even HAVE this book in their scripture collection, but amongst Catholics, the only time I ever heard of Sirach was during my parishes' non-traditional version of the Stations of the Cross every year. I forget exactly which station this verse was always interjected into, but it was probably when Simon was dragged over to help Jesus carry the cross. "A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter: he that finds one, finds a treasure", Sirach 6:14 Other than that, many modern day Catholics barely know that Sirach exists.

Along these lines, many Christian models for Biblical wives are based off of the "worthy woman", described by Lemuel, King of Massa, which his mother taught him [Proverbs 31]. Not only is it lengthy and descriptive, but since it is in both Protestant and Catholic bibles, it is an easy (ahem, ecumenical) way for women of all "faiths" to try to emulate a good wife. There is also the fact that many modern women also embrace this woman for their role model, in that the descriptions we have of her can be twisted to make her sound very appealing for the liberated, independent women of today, but that is a subject for another posting. What I want to think about today, is the very ignored Good Wife in the book of Sirach.

Sirach 26:1-4; 13-18 "Happy is the husband of a good wife;
the number of his days will be doubled. A loyal wife rejoices her husband, and he will complete his years in peace. A good wife is a great blessing; she will be granted among the blessings of the man who fears the Lord. Whether rich or poor, his heart is glad, and at all times his face is cheerful." "A wife's charm delights her husband, and her skill puts fat on his bones. A silent wife is a gift of the Lord, and there is nothing so precious as a disciplined soul. A
modest wife adds charm to charm, and no balance can weigh the value of a chaste soul. Like the sun rising in the heights of the Lord, so is the beauty of a good wife in her well-ordered home. Like the shining lamp on the holy lampstand, so is a beautiful face on a stately figure. Like pillars of gold on a base of silver, so are beautiful feet with a stead-fast heart."

Isn't that beautiful? A lot of women nowadays don't want to hear such descriptions of perfection, because they are content with the person they are right now. Our society and culture refuse to hold people up to standards of perfection; "everyone is special" is the mantra, meaning that no one needs to try to reach their full potential, because everyone is "fine right where they are." "Jesus loves you just as you are", I hear all the time. Of course He does, but He also loves us too much to leave us this way! I also hear many people, out of a false humility, state that they are simply aiming for purgatory, because, after all, they'll still get to heaven that way, and why should they "arrogantly assume they can make it to heaven in the first shot"; the reality of that attitude is, that aiming for heaven takes much self-discipline, sacrifice, crucifixion to their desires and earthly appetites, and that isn't fun. In all truth, if you aim for purgatory, what happens if you miss? The only thing lower than purgatory is hell. . . But if you aim for heaven, the worst you can do is hit purgatory. Aim high so that if your aim is off, you'll still BE somewhere.

In my next few postings will be some of my personal musings on how I put the above scriptures to use in my daily life. I want to be careful not to present my "own interpretation" of the scriptures, because that starts people going off the deep end. Instead, I just want to reflect on how I have decided to utilize them in my day to day life, and my hope is that my thoughts might help you, my reader, onto similar thoughts of your own.
May God's blessings rain down upon you this day.

God's Blessings Upon You :-D

Feast of St. Jean Marie Vianney, Cure d' Ars

Hello, and welcome to my Rose Garden.

It is hard being a lady in this day and age; I personally was raised doing hard, physical labor, keeping tough younger brothers in line, cooking, cleaning, swearing up a storm, and basically an independent tough young woman who needed NO ONE. I could take care of myself, all 5' 1" of me. I worked with large livestock and farm equipment, both of which could kill you if you weren't more tough than they, and basic survival instincts helped form the young woman my parents were raising into the person I became. My parents, though well meaning, toughened me up this way because they didn't see any hope for young girls of my generation. Their female siblings had gone through divorces, lawsuits, poverty, in spite of college educations (not my own "in spite of", but a contradiction to the world's point of view), and they figured that by the time I was a woman, there would be no one left to take care of me but. . .me.

Though I secretly admired beautiful things, flowers, lacey dresses, perfume, good manners, dainty shoes, I would have none of it, because it symbolized weakness to me, a characteristic that would not do for my image. During inescapable contact with the outside world (I always considered the place I grew up in as my own little shire), my main defense against myriads of young men pursueing my virginity, was the fact that I was just as tough, insensitive, cruel hearted, unfettered, and egotistical as they, above praising their virtue and accepting their assistance, unflattering to their egos, deflating to their pride. It worked. But it shouldn't have had to.

Trials and tribulations later, God's grace led me and my entire family to Traditional Catholicism, a story for another post, but the crux of all that turned my life around. I had been Catholic since birth, and had always striven after holiness; sainthood was always my family's goal, but confusion had reigned for so long in the hearts of Catholics since modernism had taken a stranglehold on humanity, that it was and is very hard to distinguish between black and white sometimes. Now there is no confusion. Only the realization that there is much, much hard work and sacrifice to be done.

The greatest joy in my life came when God blessed me by sending someone to take care of me. My husband and I have been married for almost two years, and he has been my defense against the outer world. His strength and humility, intelligence and perseverence have become the pillars that support my feeble soul. Our home is a sweet little shire, set apart from the world's influence, decorated in a Catholic and meditative manner, peaceful, and a place that my husband looks forward to coming back to after long hours of work. It sounds like a dream, and it was, but now it is real. It is my hope that perhaps some of the ideas put forth on this blog might help other young ladies to see that their dreams of marital bliss, holiness, sanctity, happiness, fulfillment, and everything else can be attained here on earth, if we will only do God's will.

Again, welcome to my little garden, and I hope you get yourself a cup of tea or coffee, a muffin or a bagel, and take some time out for yourself from the world, nestle up to thoughts of holiness and draw into your feminine heart which is so pleasing to God.

St. Therese of the Child Jesus is the patroness of this blog; if you have any issues, take them up with her. You can also comment on the posts; I am open to debate and will only delete offensive or mass coments.