Today I'm Thankful for My Struggles

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and I think it's fitting that I tell you all what I'm thankful for. I am thankful for my struggles.  Yes, you read that right. There are other things that I am thankful for of course,  my faith, my family, my friends, my home, but I do feel thankful for my problems too. One of my main struggles is taking things slowly, I am the kind of person who jumps headfirst into a situation without a plan, it usually ends with someone helping me out of the hole I dug. I also want people think and function like I do, a million things are always going through my head, and I do get angry when others can't keep up. Another struggle is following a pattern/plan. I like to crochet and knit without a pattern and make it up as I go, I do this with food as well, I would rather cook and see what happens than cook with a recipe. ( I should probably learn how to fix that, because I will be going to culinary school next year, and I don't think that they'll let me do that.) And as it normally goes, the food and craft doesn't always turn out like I want it to. Which leads to the problem of writing, specifically school, I have a 10 page paper that I am dreading with all my heart. Mainly because I would rather write my opinion, ( like on my blog) than write what someone wants. Which makes me great at creative writing but horrible at any other kind of writing. The reason that I am thankful for these things is because they make me the only me there is out there.  Yes, they are quirks, but once I put all my struggles out on my plate, and accept them, I can let God in to fix some of those problems, and make me the Emma Mooradian that He wants me to be.  Go and stuff yourselves full of turkey and pumpkin pie, consider your struggles and let God help.

Happy Thanksgiving, and Whistle while you work,
Emma

Salvation Sunday: Remember remember the 5th of November; Catholics and Guy Fawkes.

So, this post is a little late, seeings as it is the 6th and not the 5th. First thing first I'll give a little history on Guy Fawkes, Guido Fawkes became a Catholic when his mother remarried a Catholic man after the death of her husband. Once Guido grew up he went to fight the Eighty Years war with the Spanish. The Eighty Years war was fought between Catholic Spain and the Protestant Dutch. Guido changed his name to Guy during the war. When Guy returned to England, he and 12 other men devised the gunpowder plot, the plot to blow up parliament and King James the first. This plot failed, Guy was caught, and sentenced to death. Guy met a gruesome end when he jumped from the gallows, breaking his neck, to escape being hung drawn and quartered.
                             

                             
Most people probably only know Guy Fawkes for this mask.

Over all Guy Fawkes was a failure, his plot failed and he died. Yup, I would call that a failure. But was he? Let's back up a little and talk about Guy Fawkes being Catholic. What should we as Catholics think of Guy Fawkes? Obviously we know that trying to blow up the king goes against Church teachings, but let's put King James into the spotlight. Why would a Catholic man try to kill his king? Because King James was oppressive to the Catholics,  being a Protestant king himself. What should we ( Catholics) do when we are being oppressed by the government? Stand up for ourselves. And no, we should not blow them up, that would not be good. We should never go down without a fight, even if it isn't a physical fight, maybe it's a debate or maybe it is a physical fight. In modern day times it may seem like we won't be oppressed, but we are being oppressed, by the media, by the government, and by other religious denominations. Today ( or really yesterday) in England people celebrated Guy Fawkes day by burning a dummy that looked like Guy Fawkes.  They believe that they beat Guy Fawkes back in 1605, but did they? He seems like a failure, but Guy Fawkes' face ( mask above) is the face of rebellion. By wearing the Guy Fawkes mask people say that they will go against the government, against oppressors and the such.  He seems like a failure, but he's not, even today hundreds of years later he is making an impact. So the Church doesn't approve of Guy Fawkes' actions but I tip my hat to him. Whenever you are being oppressed remember a certain English man who stood up for his faith. Always remember remember the 5th of November.

Whistle while you work,
                            Emma

Inside out inspired outfits

I'm not really a fashion blogger,( mostly because I normally wear loose jeans and an old t-shirt)  but because we are only a few days away from Halloween I thought that I would do costume-like outfits. I love the movie Inside Out.
                                         
It definitely is one of my favorite Disney movies, so why not dress up as the characters?

My first outfit is Bing-Bong inspired
                          
                                   

                                 

This is what happens when the dog decides that she wants to be part of this post. 

The next outfit was inspired by Sadness.

 

I would honestly wear these outfits day to day, ( but they aren't loose jeans and an old t-shirt) however they do make good costumes. 

Whistle while you work,                                                                                                      

Emma                                                                    

Fall is ( almost) here!

School has started so fall draws nearer. And here in Kansas we still don't have cold weather. Somehow this greatly disappoints me. I love the cold weather and the things that I love about cold weather are.....

                         
Pumpkin spice coffee, or actually coffee in general. Our local Hyvee gas station has $0.99 hot coffee in the fall/ winter.

                         
Sweater weather is great, it's chilly enough to wear a light sweater but still warm enough to wear shorts.

                       
Fall colors are awesome and I love stepping on crunchy leaves, I will go out of my way to step on a crunchy leaf.
                     
It is officially apple cider weather, and that means apple scented everything, candles, febreze, and perfume. There is a little market in Topeka that makes the best frozen apple cider, and apple cider doughnuts!
                          
It is also officially cinnamon weather. To me cinnamon is the smell of fall and winter alike. So that means it's time for cinnamon candles and cinnamon tea.

                       
The smell of fall is next, while it does smell like apples and cinnamon, I mean the smell of nature in the fall, it smells wet, like leaves, and it smells just like chilly weather.
                          
I actually don't go too much bonfires, but the idea of a bonfire or even a fire in a fireplace is cozy and warm.
         
In a nutshell I love everything about fall! It very well may be one of the best seasons of the year. If only we could get some cold weather here in Topeka.

Whistle while you work,
                                Emma

Salvation Sunday: To feel your child's face.

This title sounds weird, I know, but stick with me. Imagine a blind expecting mother, unable to see her child when going to sonograms. Now watch this video,

The first time that I watched this video I cried, can you think about the sheer joy this mother felt? This was a commercial put out by huggies diapers, and when they put it out the probably were not intending to be super pro-life. But if you think about it, what if every mother had the chance to see, or feel her child? Could anyone consider an abortion after they saw a beautiful child's face? Seeing this video made me want to slap it into the faces of those who are pro-abortion. That little baby in the video is NOT a clump of cells.  Maybe there is somebody that you know that needs to watch this video, if so show it to them, say it's a diaper commercial.  Could you imagine what might happen if we got hundreds of people to watch this video? Just a thought!                                                          

                    

Whistle while you work,                                                                                           

                           Emma                                                                                          

Salvation Sunday: Gird your loins.

So today in Mass we heard the phrase "Gird your loins."  So what exactly does that mean?  A rough translation is tighten your belt. But what did Jesus mean? Surely He didn't just want us to tighten our belts. He meant be prepared. What do you as soon as you get in a car? Buckle your seat-belt. You are being prepared in case of an accident. Putting on any kind of belt is a sign of being ready for almost anything. So really Jesus is telling us to tighten our belts, He wants us to be ready for when He returns. We don't know when He'll come back, maybe today, maybe tomorrow, maybe a thousand years from now. I really hope it doesn't happen any time soon because it sounds a little scary. ( A subject that I will touch upon in maybe another blog post.) Everybody tighten your belts, go to confession and Mass often and be ready!!!

Whistle while you work,
                                Emma

Thrift store goodies.

So this past weekend I went thrift store shopping with my mom, and got some great stuff.

We will start with yarn, yes yarn, brand new yarn actually. Which is a great find for me because I usually have to pay about 5 to 7 dollars for one skein of yarn.

First is this reddish-purple color.

I bought three skeins in this color, I think the average for the skeins was about $1.75 for all three.                                                                                               

            

Next is the beautiful dark purple, it is pretty big compared to the last skein. I only bought one, and it was $1.50.                                                                                

                                                

                                             

Here is a dark green one, also $1.50 ( I am not sure why I made that face, I guess I was somehow disgusted by the yarn?)                                                                  

The final yarn I bought was this mustard color, it was the most expensive at $1.99. I love how well the color goes with the purple.                                     

The other goody is this Ireland sweatshirt, I saw it and had to have it. It combines my favorite things, Ireland, and sweatshirts. I washed it and then have not taken it off since then. I think it was $1.99. ( I am not exactly sure on that price) 

Also I love this shamrock design! So cool! 

But the biggest news of all....... yes, we got a dog, we convinced mom to get us a dog. So Iggy ( I absolutely hate the name!) joined the family.           

Whistle while you work,                                                                 

Emma