Around the world in 48 hours

I followed this decoupage tutorial to give new life to an old wooden folding table that my husband bought his first year of graduate school, and had been loved with ink stains etc since. If I lived in a house and tended to keep things in between craft projects, the only thing I would have bought was the polyacrylic. I painted the table legs blue, and used my old Eurail map as the top (I skipped building a second top, as the piece was unfinished). It’s a great way to give new life to old treasures and a facelift to old furniture.

If I was doing it again, I would:

-trim out the corner squares. My hospital corners didn't look as neat after the polyacrylic.

-dip the whole map in the medium (as one would for wall paper). I ended up with a few wrinkles, despite my best efforts.

Helpful Culinary Hints

Dr. Boli shares some of his best kitchen tips, including:

If you have boiling water left over after making tea, it may be frozen and stored indefinitely, and then reheated when you need it to make tea again.

Aren't you glad we're here to pass along such useful information?

Find the rest here.

Tea Tasting

(image source)

During these hot months, my tea drinking is restricted to strong sun tea made from the cheapest tea bags I can procure. It is nearly to the point, though, where I can start thinking of hot beverages again without breaking a sweat, so this idea from Kinfolk magazine's blog has me intrigued.

A tea tasting party would be a fun and creative way to spend an afternoon with friends, but it would also be rather practical, I think, as I have a tendency to end up with several half boxes of tea that I only sort of like. One could choose a variety of flavors, or pick one flavor and compare across vendors (A friend and I have been on an ongoing quest for the Holy Grail of Earl Grey Cremes for quite some time now.)

What other kinds of would you think of hosting? Exotic fruit comes to mind as one of those things that often intrigues me, but I probably wouldn't buy for just myself.

He has spoken through the prophets

How is Vacation Bible School done at your parish? When I was growing up in the Deep South, we had a wonderful set up/curriculum. The structure of the day was meant to imitate that of a temple education, like that of Samuel. Grades K-5 were divided into two classes a grade, and each given the name of one of the tribes of Israel. The children learned Scripture in the morning. Several of the parish dads got together and built a marketplace that was set up in the parish hall, and during the afternoon, they were apprentices to a trade, such as weaving, coppersmithing, basketweaving, etc. Each trade had a weeklong project the kids engaged in, as well as a day craft that could be done in free time. Other successful components for immersion into the era where: costumes (old t-shirts and optional sashes, etc and biblical snacks, including making flat bread every morning.

But as important as knowing the roots of our faith are, in recent years I can see the value of a more Catholic catechesis summer program, especially as religious education programs are being asked to do more and more with less time. Our friends at Faith and Family recently posted about two interesting programs (albeit ones that I have no personal experience with).

Vatican VBS:

Tour the Vatican Treasures! All about the Holy Father, St. Peter’s Basilica, St. Peter’s Square, Sistine Chapel, Swiss Guard, Michelangelo, Children’s Eucharistic Adoration & more …Campers… DON’T MISS THE BUS! Climb aboard The Vatican Express! Meet your tour guide, a member of the Swiss Guard and uncover the Vatican treasures. First stop…St. Peter’s Square!
* Explore St. Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel.

* Meet and greet our Pope.

* Get to know St. Peter and find out how the Church started.

* Read about Saint Jerome (who translated the Bible), and his friend, Lion.
FUN is just around the corner. Step into sensational skits, exciting Bible stories, creative crafts and amazing music!

Fasten your seatbelts for the ride of your life! All Aboard the Vatican Express.

Totus Tuus:

Totus Tuus is a summer Catholic youth program dedicated to sharing the Gospel and promoting the Catholic faith through evangelization, catechesis, Christian witness, and Eucharistic worship. Our week-long Parish Summer Catechetical Program and Summer Camps assist parents and parishes in the evangelizing and catechizing of their youth by supplementing the work they are already doing.

The methodology, structure, content, and enthusiasm of Totus Tuus is concerned not only with teaching the faith, but also igniting the hearts of the team members and young people. The result has been the formation of young adults who continue to dedicate themselves to the Church’s mission of evangelization.

Image source

In pictures: Waterlily Napkin fold

Use a large napkin to create a placemat/charger of sorts, a medium napkin in the center of plates, or a small paper cocktail napkin under glasses at a party for an elegant coaster.

Very true.

via bemerrykate on Pinterest

The woman dressed Grace Kelly, so she knows of what she speaks.

Saint Rose of Lima, pray for us!

It that wonderful linking way of blogs I recently stumbled on this article describing lay involvement with various religious orders.

All of the great Catholic religious orders have their associated laypeople. Franciscans have their Secular Order, Carmelites their Third Order, Dominicans have their Tertiaries, Benedictines have their Oblates, Passionists have their Associates, and so forth; and the differences are very slight. Third (or Secular) Orders are literally “third” parts of the Dominican, Franciscan and Carmelite families and those laypeople who join them try to adapt the charisms and characteristics of each order into their daily routines, which in turn tends to shape their lives in ways reflective of the lives of their vowed brothers and sisters.

I'm posting it for a few reasons: I learned new things, I think our dear readers would be interested, and I know Francesca would be interested. (So here you go, dear!)

On a related note, happy feast day to all you Roses. It's easy to think Saint Rose of Lima was a professed nun since she's typically pictured in full religious garb, but out of obedience to her parents she instead became a Dominican tertiary.

Thank you to the Anchoress, herself a Benedictine Oblate.

Image credit: SQPN

More Knitted Gifts- Part 2

Knitting Daily editor Kathleen Cubley shares some cute knitted gift ideas. I'm particularly intrigued by the bottle sleeve- maybe at last I can reconcile my preferential option for pinot noir with light colored tablecloths.

Queenship of Mary

"Because the virgin Mary was raised to such a lofty dignity as to be
the mother of the King of kings, it is deservedly and by every right
that the Church has honored her with the title of 'Queen'."
(St Alphonsus Liguori)

Check out Pope Pius XII's encyclical "Ad Caeli Reginam"

Image Source:
Raphael, The Crowning of the Virgin (Oddi Altarpiece)
1502-03
Oil on canvas

Sunny side up Sundays

How do your weekend mornings go? My family isn't much for hot breakfasts during the week, but after Sunday Mass, everyone is starving. My crockpot is usually on deck or in use for the Sunday roast, so what's a Church Lady to do? So many easy hot breakfasts can get slowed down by only being able to fit so much in a frying pan. If you don't have a stove with a griddle, an electric griddle or skillet makes it a snap to serve breakfast to a crowd.

Electric pans come in two varieties, griddles or skillets. Griddles tend to have more real estate, but I'm partial to the skillet version. Because of the sides, it's more versatile. In addition to hot breakfasts, it can be used to cook dishes when entertaining or during the holidays, such as paella. The pan portion of my skillet is removeable for easy cleaning, and can also be used in the oven. With an impending move, cooking in the skillet helps me keep the stove clean.

I often find myself stumped for what to make for breakfast, so here are some ideas: scrambled eggs, pancakes, fried bread, birds in a nest, potato pancakes, or hash and eggs. What are your family's hot breakfast favorites?