Tis the Season - Advent! Mega Links

This is my mega Advent link list for organization and activities for Advent and will be stuck to the top of the blog until Christmas Day - enjoy!

Advent Calendars:
EWTN
About homeschooling Christmas Calendar
Geneology of Jesus
Teaching mom advent calendar - this is 2007 as they don't have 2008 up and might not because they are revising the site - but still great info here!
Organized Christmas

Advent reading
Kids literature link for Advent
Father Sanders, History of the Advent Wreath

Preparing the Jesse Tree
Jesse Tree ornaments
More Jesse Tree ornaments


Prayers of the season!
Advent prayers
Audrey's links - Christian (not Catholic) links for the advent and Christmas season
A longer, but interesting read on advent prayers and traditions
Blessing of the creche from USCCB

Immaculate Conception
NEWMary Candle
Celebrating the Immaculate Conception
 St. Nicholas
St. Nicholas Center
Advent and Christmas Links at Domestic church.com
St. Nicholas
My del.icio.us St. Nicholas Links!

Jesse Trees4Real Forums: Alternate Art Study - Jesse Trees





OAntiphons
O Antiphon craft with altoid box!
More O Antiphon links and crafts.
Lots of O Antiphon links!

Other miscellaneous resources!
Tons of links from Catholic Mom
Lots oLinks from Love2Learn.net
Star of Bethlehem
Saints of the season - links!
All my del.icio.us links for Advent!
Bible movies in the first weeks of Advent
Homemade gifts and ideas via the Common Room!
 How to Save Advent
Whether to Homeschool During December or not.

NEW! Ruth's Advent Activities and Links for Children!
Ornaments and daily readings!
Owen's Prayers for the souls in Purgatory until Christmas!
Catholic Fire- 12 Tips to a Better Advent











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My Daily Domestic Diigolet 12/05/2008

• Catholic Cuisine: From Thy Bounty Fair, St. Nicholas

  Visit the St. Nicholas Festival for wonderful ideas on celebrating the feast!

  tags: Catholic++feast, st.nicholas

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Daily Domestic Diigolet 12/04/2008

• Gizmo's - 50 Places for Free Books Online | Gizmo's Tech Support Alert

  Lots of links for free ebooks!

  tags: ebooks, resources, books, homeschool, literature

• no-melt sparkleball

  tags: artscrafts, fun

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Feast of St. Nicholas

By the way, the Feast of St. Nicholas is coming up this weekend. This is what we had last year. I think it's pretty self-explanatory! Izzy had fun making it. Her brothers had fun eating it. Think we will do a re-do this year!








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Works for Me Wednesday- What's your backup plan?

I always knew that I should back up my computer, but I wasn't really sure HOW to back up my computer or even what was the best way to back up my computer.

Back in January, I wrote about how I woke up one morning to the blue screen of death. My computer had died and my tech guy said there was no way to fix it (although he told me for $600 there was a company that specialized in pulling data off of dead hard drives!)

With my current computer, I wanted to make sure that I NEVER went through that experience again, and I signed up for Mozy and got 2GB totally free online backup! But after a few months I decided I wanted to back up everything, instead of trying to pick and choose what was most important. So I signed up for Mozy Unlimited Backup for only $4.95/Month. And now I don't worry about backing my files up!

Yesterday however, I noticed that my Mozy wasn't working and that a backup hadn't happened automatically in about 12 days. So I contacted their tech support and after a very brief wait, a technician was able to Live chat with me and we fixed the problem. He even followed up with an e-mail, which I thought was very professional. My Mozy had been backing up my files ever since.

This month Mozy is having a 10% discount when you sign up for an annual or biannual unlimited. Just type in the code DECEMBER. Just type that into the referral box. Works for me!


ALSO - since I couldn't get into Works for Me Wednesday last week when Mr. Linky was down, here is my post on Twitter Helps!










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My Daily Domestic Diigolet 12/03/2008

• Catholic Family Vignettes

  tags: Catholic, catholic, simplewoman

• Mountaineer Country

  tags: catholic, simplewoman

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Po Moyemu--In My Opinion: The 153rd Carnival of Homeschooling

Po Moyemu--In My Opinion: The 153rd Carnival of Homeschooling







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The Catholic Carnival is Up!

and this time it is a contest! Vote for your favorite post in the carnival, promote the carnival on your blog and maybe you could win Ruth's lovely book on the rosary!

This That and the Other Thing: Catholic Carnival 201: Let's Have a Contest







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My Daily Domestic Diigolet 12/02/2008

• Just Another Day In Paradise

  tags: Catholic, Simplewoman

• Mountaineer Country

  tags: Catholic, simplewoman

• True Confessions of a Prodigal Daughter: A Simple Woman's Daybook

  tags: catholic, SimpleWoman

• Signs and Wonders

  tags: Catholic, SimpleWoman

• A Month For The Souls In Purgatory 2008

  A wonderful site to remember the souls of our beloved dead every day until Christmas! You can add the names of your own deceased loved ones and family members.

  tags: Catholic, purgatory, prayer

• Countdown to Christmas By Amy Puetz

  Interesting ebook for Christmas preparations

  tags: Christmas, books, ebooks

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

How Sam is getting ready for the CLEP test in American History

I did quite a bit of research to get the materials for Sam to use in preparing for the CLEP test.



I started by spending a lot of time at the ClepForHomeschool Yahoo Group. From there I was able to glean a lot of tips and support. From there I determined that I needed a "spine" for Sam's course of study and I could add reading material, films and more to that.

Every week we start out by reading a section from CLEP History of the United States I (REA) (Test Preps)

I pick and choose a lot of information from this site. We drill often from the US Quiz page and Instacert.

With all of that in place, I am hoping that Sam will do well when he takes the test in January.

In addition, he is also studying Abeka American Government as well as American Literature based loosely on The Complete Idiot's Guide to American Literature.

Hopefully with this under his belt, he will be able to CLEP out of all three subjects before next September. I am highly encouraged by the example of members on my Yahoo Group and also Empty Nest Mom - who passed several CLEPs to get her associate degree!.








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Simple Woman

Outside my window...It is pitch black and cold!

I am thinking...That I really want to make Advent a holy and peaceful time and I want my kids to be truly living the holy anticipation of Christmas.

I am thankful for...My baby girl. I had a healthy baby at age 46. How wonderful is that! And I am in awe every time I see her. I am also grateful that I housebroke a dog and potty trained my daughter in one week! I simply told Rosie I thought the puppy would get the hang of it before she did! That's all it took. Competition is a wonderful thing some times.

From the learning rooms...I hope to finish Johnny Tremain this week (which is an awesome, awesome book! I am SO GLAD that I got a chance to read it. That is what I love about homeschooling- everything I missed the first time, I can get the second, third, fourth etc. time around! I also want to get some crafts together for Izzy and the boys to work on.

From the kitchen... Cheesy turkey burritos and a side salad.

I am wearing...My fancy black pants from church, but a stretchy hoodie and my favorite red sweater and my athletic shoes - it's an interesting look!

I am creating...beautiful music. I didn't touch my flute all summer and then people asked me to play for Christmas! So after about four weeks of rehearsals with different groups, I performed in my first concert today (including a difficult flute part in Pat A Pan). I have two more next Sunday and then a big concern for church with all three of our choirs. The 16th the kids have a piano recital at mom's nursing home. A truly musical Christmas.

I am going... to be signing up with another transcription company this week in addition to my other accounts. There is work out there, and I want to get my hands on some of it!!

I am reading...The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness

I am hoping...that I can handle all of this extra transcription work on top of everything else.
I am hearing...I found something on Youtube that sounds exactly like my tinnitus!

Around the house...Clean up my office tomorrow, and then the classroom on Tuesday.

A few plans for the rest of the week:Buckle down with that exercise program. I have exactly six months before the big birthday! and I am determined to be in shape for it!

Here is picture thought I am sharing...


Calvin and Sarah working on their Anniversary/Christmas Fleece Blanket

Are you a Catholic mom who participates in the Simple Woman meme every week with uniquely Catholic traditions and family life to share? Then please leave a comment in the comment box and I will put your blog in the special aggregator on the side bar so that other Catholic ladies can read them.








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My Daily Domestic Diigolet 11/30/2008

• The Common Room: Round-Up of Christmas Crafts and Decorating Ideas, homemade gifts, and more

  tags: advent, christmas, artsandcrafts, Catholic

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Daily Domestic Diigolet 11/29/2008

• Things Your Personal Trainer Won’t Tell You | TheIFLife - Simple Fat Loss, Muscle, Health and Longevity

  tags: fitness

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Daily Domestic Diigolet 11/28/2008

• Our Journey Westward » Blog Archive » American Revolution Unit

  tags: history, homeschooling

• Cause for Canonization of Servant of God Queen Isabel the Catholic

  tags: Catholic, saints, history, homeschooling

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

From Mama Says and Meredith







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In the spirit of Thanksgiving Ecumenism, we continue to battle Candy Brauer's anti-Catholic revisionist history rantings (Columbus and Isabella being her current targets) over on Visits to Candyland.







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From my Thanksgiving E-mail

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My Daily Domestic Diigolet 11/27/2008

• Can CLEP credits transfer to non-CLEP colleges? - Yahoo! Answers

  Interesting Q&A about CLEP and transfer credits.

  tags: CLEP, college, homeschool

• 18 Hair-Raising Uses for Hairspray | Life Hackery

  Some surprising uses- just in time for the holidays

  tags: homemaking

• There is no contradiction between faith and works, Pope asserts

  tags: catholic, pope

  • Vatican City, Nov 26, 2008 / 12:12 pm (CNA).- Pope Benedict continued his reflections on St. Paul today, urging the 9,000 people present to consider Paul's teaching on faith and works in the process of justification. Emphasizing that works do not justify a person, the Pope said that works necessarily flow from love for Christ.

    
    

    In his catechesis on St. Paul’s teaching on justification, the Pontiff stated that man is unable to justify himself by his works, but becomes just before God only because God restores us to right relationship by uniting us with Christ.

    
    

    He continued, "Man obtains this union with Christ by means of faith." This faith, if it is true and real, becomes love and expresses itself in charity; without charity faith would be dead.

    
    

    Pope Benedict then noted that there has been confusion concerning the relevance of man's actions for salvation.

    
    

    According to the Pope, the interpretive key can be found in St. Paul's Letter to the Galatians, which emphasizes the gratuitousness of justification apart from man's works and highlights the relationship between faith and charity and faith and works.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln
Originally uploaded by George Eastman House.

Proclamation of Thanksgiving
by the President of the United States of America

The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful years and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the Source from which they come, others have been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that they can not fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict, while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the field of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than theretofore. Population has steadily increased notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.

In testimony wherof I have herunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

[Signed]
A. Lincoln

My Daily Domestic Diigolet 11/26/2008

• Monday’s List: 100+ Homemade Christmas Gifts for the Craft-Impaired at Semicolon

  tags: artsandcrafts, fun

• Refuting Relativism

  Excellent debate techniques

  tags: debate, discussion, logic

• The Secret to Having a Clean Home Without Really Trying

  tags: homemaking

• sidewalk chalk guy

  Beautiful sidwalk art

  tags: art, fun

• DRUDGE REPORT: RUSSIAN ANALYST PREDICTS DECLINE AND BREAKUP OF USA 2008�

  I don't think it is as bleak as this guy says, but he does make several good points, and for all I know he could be right. One thing I think he forgot to add in his analysis is that if America fails, it will be because we did not educate our children. Many Obama supporters were simply uninformed or uneducated about the consequences of his election. This was the worst possible time to elect a tax-and spend Democrat. Historically that has been proven - the electorate voted one in anyway.
  
  Another point I think this analyst has left out is that Americans vote forchange every two years. If Obama doesn't bring the magic people are expecting (and logically I don't think he can) expect a Republican sweep in 2010.

  tags: politics

  • Asked why he expected the U.S. to break up into separate parts, he said: "A whole range of reasons. Firstly, the financial problems in the U.S. will get worse. Millions of citizens there have lost their savings. Prices and unemployment are on the rise. General Motors and Ford are on the verge of collapse, and this means that whole cities will be left without work. Governors are already insistently demanding money from the federal center. Dissatisfaction is growing, and at the moment it is only being held back by the elections and the hope that Obama can work miracles. But by spring, it will be clear that there are no miracles."

• The Sparrow's Nest: Pumpkin Tealights

  Adorable little candle holders for Thanksgiving Day!

  tags: feast, Thanksgiving, artsandcrafts, fun

• Even More Sneaky Ideas to Get Kids Writing | Blissfully Domestic

  tags: homeschool, writing

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Calvin and Sarah's anniversary fleece blanket

Calvin and Sarah's anniversary fleece blanket
Originally uploaded by elliemom.

Calvin and Sarah have been dating now for two years. For their anniversary they bought some yards of Christmas fleece and made this pretty throw that they can use when they watch t.v.

and Rosie helped just like a good little sister should!

I thought that was a very inexpensive and practical thing to do for an anniversary. I think these two could end up being quite a frugal couple!

A note on large families - something to think about

With my uncle's passing, there are now only two children left from my great grandparents' union. But there are innumerable first and second cousins and we have have a support system of sorts between us as well. In fact, I just sent an e-mail out to the cousins asking them to share their "Uncle Ernie" stories as we remember the man and his life today.

Last year, I took quite a bit of criticism for openly voicing reservations when a blogger publicly announced on her blog that that she was purposely not having any more children. I suggested that perhaps this might not be the wisest course of action for many reasons. I think when people make these types of decisions, they don't often look more than a year or two down the road. With the passing of my uncle, my family has the unique opportunity to take a much deeper look back - about 100 years or so!

My great grandparents went to upper Michigan to farm. When they arrived they did not have a place to live and so they lived out of the train box car for a time with two toddlers! They most certainly had good reason I suppose to not want any more children but they ended up having eight more! And while I know they suffered many hardships, they had wonderful family times as well. While I was growing up, I sat quietly through many a reunion listening to my aunts and uncles tell their stories of growing up on a farm and the many adventures they had together. Those hardships drew them together and gave them an even closer bond.

And because my great grandparents were generous, they were blessed with children, grandchildren and great grandchildren who went on to become very fine people, good folks, who live all over the United States. Most of us know of our grandparent's homestead. We know what connects us, and the stories about Uncle Calvin, Uncle Sam, Aunt Mary, Aunt Opal, Uncle Ernie and so on connects us to that early time and place.

I'm sure in the coming weeks, my cousins will receive many cards, letters and e-mails from cousins that she may not even remember. They will hear and read stories about her dad she didn't even know. They will share memories, laughter and tears with their extended kin folk. Because that's what siblings and cousins are supposed to do. We support each other.

And what a wondrous blessing this is! How fortunate we are that grandparents weren't afraid to be blessed with the gift of many children.

This Thanksgiving especially, we will give thanks for the wonderful man who was Uncle Ernie. We will be thanking for having known him and having shared even a part of is long life. And I will tell my own kids about the young couple with nothing, who took two babies up to Michigan to find prosperity, and when their plans didn't work out for them, they made their own.







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My Uncle Ernie passed away last evening. I know his entire family will miss him.

Eternal rest grant unto them him O Lord.
And let perpetual light shine upon them him.
May their soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, rest in peace.
Amen.







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My Daily Domestic Diigolet 11/25/2008

• 
  
  
  
  Why Johnny Can't Read: Schools Favor Girls | LiveScience
  tags: education, homeschooling
Obama skips church, heads to gym - Jonathan Martin and Carol E. Lee - Politico.com
tags: obama
• 
  
  Obama has yet to attend church services since winning the election, a departure from his two predecessors.
  President-elect Barack Obama has yet to attend church services since winning the White House earlier this month, a departure from the example of his two immediate predecessors.
  
  
  
  On the three Sundays since his election, Obama has instead used his free time to get in workouts at a Chicago gym.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.