Book Review: U Got 2 Love

Ok, I have to admit when I was perusing the selection of books available on the list for The Catholic Company's Book Reviewer program, that I hesitated before taking the plunge and giving U Got 2 Love a whirl. For one, I pretty much abhor texting language. Send me an email, text or IM that uses "u" instead of you or even worse "ur" for your and I likely won't acknowledge that I ever got it. I'll turn a partially blind eye to LOL or my personal favorite ROTFLOL (When I read it aloud I can't help but think of Scooby Doo.) but, for the most part I'm too much of a grammar snob to conform to text lingo. So the title of U Got 2 Love put me off a bit. I did a little online searching on the author, and found some YouTube videos. Turns out, Fr. Stan Fortuna is a pretty cool guy. I decided I could look past the U and 2 in the title and give the book a chance.

I have mixed feelings about this book. The grammar snob in me hated the book. If you've ever heard Fr. Stan talk (just google him and check out a YouTube video) you'll see that he drops the g's in a lot of -ing words. When speaking, that doesn't bother me all that much. However, when you also write like that, it's enough to make someone like me want to slam their head against a wall.....repeatedly. If you are like me, and you pick up on typos and then fixate on them, this book is certainly not for you. To be fair, Fr. Stan does tell you in the introduction that he purposely left the g's off of words because that's how he speaks and he wanted the book to sound like him linguistically. I'm sure this drove the poor proofreader insane, not to mention this poor reviewer.

Now the book itself, wasn't bad. It's certainly not a fast read. Fr. Stan takes quotes from Pope John Paul II, Pope Benidict XVI and various saints and explains to the reader why it is essential that we love. This book is not light reading. Maybe it's the dropped g's that made me feel this way, but I found this book to be very heavy on the theological philosophical. He explains many of the considerations (there are 33 in all) of why "U got 2 love" very well. There were a few considerations where I felt like his explanation was just going around in circles and I found myself on the verge of "spiritual indigestion" (St. Augustine, anyone?). Aside from the dropped g's, I think the book was actually well done and it will force you to think. It would be a decent Lenten read.

Given that the dropped g's drove me nutty, I have to say that my favorite portion of the book was the compilation of quotes at the end of the book called "The Love Zone." I'm not sure I would have selected that as the title for this portion of the book, but it's not my book. I found the quotes contained in this section to be inspirational and thought provoking. And best of all, no dropped g's!

I take issue with the fact that this book is supposed to be geared to teens. I suppose if the teens in question are reading on a college level then sure, it's for teens. Personally, I'm not buying it. I wouldn't run out and buy this for a 7th or 8th grader who's being confirmed. The book will be too lofty for them. I teach a 7th grade CCD class and I seriously doubt that any of those kids would be able to easily read this book now or within the next year. Not to mention much of vocabulary is on what I would consider a college level. This would probably be a great book for a young adult group. In our parish, the young adult group is for 18-25 year olds. I think this book would be perfect for that age range.

As an aside, I don't suppose it wouldn't be in the spirit of love if I sent Fr. Stan a box with a bunch of g's and a little note saying "I thought maybe you could use these," would it?

This book review has been brought to you by the letter G. Remember kids, G's are letters, too!

Actually, this book review was written as part of the Catholic Book Reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on U Got 2 Love.

A complimentary copy of U Got 2 Love (complete with missing g's) was provided to me by The Catholic Company in exchange for my honest review.

Snow (again)

I'm thoroughly tired of snow. I have seen a blanket of white stretched across my property for more days than I care to remember. We had one day this week where it looked like we were finally going to start seeing the grass again. It rained all day on Tuesday and lots of our snow began to melt at long last. I was hopeful that we were finally on the way to seeing more than just white. Sadly, I was wrong.

Starting late on Wednesday night the blasted snowflakes began falling again. I was still hopeful that the snow wouldn't stick since I heard the glorious sound of melting snow for two days. It was above freezing and everyone knows that snow doesn't stick when it's above freezing.

The school district decided to have a shortened day yesterday since the snow was expected to fall all day into today. Fine. I can deal with a half day. The roads were perfectly clear and the half day was totally unnecessary. The 5:30 wake up call from the district yesterday morning was also unnecessary and annoying.

Last night the snow started coming down with a bit more oomph. I was still hopeful that school would be in session, but after a quick run to Little Caesar's to get my Crazy Bread (It's an addiction that I'm embracing now that I finally have a Little Caesar's close to home.) I realized that my hopes for a normal Friday were fading fast. Ugh! The worst part was knowing that we were likely going to get another early morning wake up call from the school district.

I didn't sleep well last night. I woke up at 1:30AM on the family room couch and realized that Bryan and I both fell asleep watching the Olympics. I got him up so we could go to bed and that's when Bryan wanted to play with the telephone. For some reason, he wanted to make sure the phone was nice and close to our bed for the school wake up call. I was in favor of shutting off the ringer and letting the answering machine take the call. I managed to convince him to keep the ringer off, but the cost was I was not wide awake. It's hard to sleep when you know that you're going to get a call that startles you awake at 5:30AM. Between my annoyance at impending early morning annoyance and my incredible wakefulness after playing with the ringer settings on the phone, I scarcely got any sleep last night. When I did manage to fall asleep, I had very vivid and odd dreams that startled me awake. (I keep having odd dreams that involve Ellie dying. I'm finding these dreams to be very disturbing.)

At 5:08AM that dreaded wake-up call came. Ugh! Another snow day. I'm so tired of snow days. Earlier this week the school sent out a revised calendar that took into account all the snow days. The administration, not wanting to extend the school year decided to strip the school calendar of just about all half days and days off between now and June 18th. Spring recess is virtually eliminated. Good Friday is the only day of Spring recess that hasn't been touched [yet]. I'll be pulling Madeline out of school on Holy Thursday and the Monday after Easter. I scheduled our dentist appointments for the Monday after Easter nearly 6 months ago, so I'm rather irritated with the school for the calendar change. Now that we have another snow day, I'm fairly confident that the school will probably turn Good Friday into a school day.

I've had it with snow and snow days. And to top it all off, Bryan and Madeline are both under the weather.

I'm ready for Spring.

Sweet Temptation

Could this child be any more of a temptress today? Adorable and wearing a Reese Cup shirt. I'm very thankful that Madeline hasn't decided to parade around in her Jolly Rancher's tee. Hopefully she doesn't get any ideas from her little sister.

Bryan thinks Ellie's choice of clothing is rather amusing given the circumstances. I told him I'm going to see if I can find a hamburger tee for her to wear. He didn't find that quite as funny.

Small Successes-First Week of Lent

Celebrating the little things in life that add up.

1. I'm on top of the laundry! Yay! Of course, now that it's snowing [again], I'm sure there's a good chance I'm going to get buried in laundry once more.

2. My decluttering Lent project is moving along nicely. I haven't actually bagged up most of what I'm giving away for the 40 bags in 40 days challenge, but I'm certain that I'm on track to successfully get rid of at least 40 bags of superfluous stuff.

3. I have fed my children nice well balanced meals every night this week. Two vegetables have made their way on to their plates just about every night since Ash Wednesday. Funny how me not eating candy [for Lent] has focused me on providing better dinners for my kids. The kids are loving it. Poor Bryan isn't exactly amused that I'm serving up chicken almost every night since he gave up meat for Lent. I need to add a few meat free dinners to the rotation.

Bonus: I got my girls hooked on the Holy Heroes Lenten Adventure. I wasn't sure Madeline would go for it, but she did. She's asking me every day if a new video has been emailed to me. Ellie is loving the coloring pages. Now I'm wishing I had done the Advent Adventure with her last year. The girls are praying a decade of the rosary with me every day and they're actually asking to do it.

Book Review: The Handbook for Catholic Moms

I recently had the opportunity to review Lisa Hendey's The Handbook for Catholic Moms through the Tiber River blogger review program. The book is focused on nurturing the heart, mind, body and soul of the Catholic mom. The book is written in a very engaging style that will keep you turning pages. It reads like you are having a nice chat with a good friend.

I particularly liked the way the book was set up. The book is divided into four parts: Heart, Mind, Body and Soul. Each section has several well-rounded chapters which are peppered with inspiring quotes from the catechism, Pope John Paul II and many others. All of the chapters are prefaced with scripture that tie in nicely with the subject matter. Following that, each chapter starts out with an introduction of Lisa's experience in this area, be it personal experiences or observations she has made. Then you'll find a few sections that discuss the subject at hand. Every chapter features contributions from another Catholic mom or person who can offer more insight or a different perspective. At the end of every chapter you'll find sections entitled "Mom's Homework" and "Web Resources". "Mom's Homework" offers suggestions for implementing the subject matter into your life. The "Web Resources" section will direct you to a few sites that can give you more information on the material presented in the chapter.

As a whole, the book covers pretty much every facet of being a Catholic mom. The book is a nice mixture of encouragement, catechesis and sound advice for being a Catholic mom in today's busy world. The reader may find that a chapter here and there that doesn't exactly apply to her at this point in time, but those chapters are filled with plenty of wisdom for mothers who are in those situations.

I loved the book. I think it should be on the bookshelf of every Catholic mom. It offers encouragement, and plenty of valuable information to help today's Catholic mom carry out her vocation as a mother.
You can purchase this book here.
I wrote this review of The Handbook for Catholic Moms for the Tiber River Blogger Review program, created by Aquinas and More Catholic Goods. For more information and to purchase, please visit Aquinas and More Catholic Goods.

Tiber River is the first Catholic book review site, started in 2000 to help you make informed decisions about Catholic book purchases.

I received a free copy of this book from Tiber River in exchange for my honest review.

Comfort Food

Over the years, I have heard lots of people talk about comfort foods. I'd listen to the people and wonder to myself what exactly made a food a comfort food. I didn't get it, and I certainly didn't understand it. Generally speaking, food is something I view as fuel. I run (skip, prance, tap dance, leap, and wander) around the house all day. I graze on food almost constantly from the time I wake up until I go to sleep. If by comfort food these people mean that feeling that you're not going to die from feeling hungry, then I got what they meant.

I gave up candy (all candy) for Lent. Today is day seven of no delightful sugary confections. I've had days where I wonder why I chose to do this to myself. I could have easily forgone cookies or some other tasty treat, but instead I cut right to the core and placed candy, deliciously tart and tangy candy, off limits. I'll live. I keep reminding myself off all the other equally sugary foods that are tart that I can still have, like fruit. Anyway, I've come to realize that the candy I consumed in copious amounts was comfort food. Imagine that! I had comfort foods all along and I didn't even realize it.

From my candy fast, I've come to realize that other comfort foods lurk in the background. Since Ash Wednesday, I think I've consumed a baked potato loaded with butter just about every day. (I love butter!) When I was a kid, I lived on (or tried to at the very least) potatoes (baked or french fries), bread (generally rolls and crackers), fruit and candy. Now that candy is temporarily out of the picture, I've come to find that I'm hitting my old standbys.

I have to say that I'm just really surprised to discover that I actually have comfort foods. I'm even more surprised that I don't really miss the candy all that much. I just wish that I didn't find myself standing at the pantry several times a day instinctually reaching for candy only to realize what I'm doing at the last second. I really need to put some notes up in the pantry reminding myself that it's Lent before I accidentally eat candy.

I like this video

Most mornings I eat my breakfast with my laptop in the dining room. I like to check my email and read some blogs while I eat. In many ways, it's better than listening to two small people chew loudly or bicker at the kitchen table. Actually, I've spent most of my life eating breakfast alone, so it's not just because of the kids that I go and hide in another room. I guess I'm just an anti-social breakfast person.

Anway, I was reading the blog ADAM'S ALE and I clicked on the video you see below.

I can think of a few people who could benefit from watching this.