This & That

I received my December issue of Cooking Light, and there was a great article about eating mindfully. Like I discussed in this anti-dieting post, the article encouraged readers to think in terms of choosing to do something or choosing not to do something rather than telling yourself, “I should eat this,” or “I shouldn’t eat that.”

The article also included a great quote that I’m going to type up, print out, and put in a prominent spot as I enter what can easily become the holiday-binge-fest-I-feel-rounder-than-Jolly-Old-Saint-Nick-right-about-now-season.

“Never eat anything you don’t enjoy and truly enjoy everything you eat.”

The message here is beautifully simple: Don’t swear off gastronomy during the holidays – or ever. And don’t rush through the ritual of eating. I’ll add these tips as well: Don’t mindlessly nosh on Doritos at the holiday potluck. (You can have chips any old time.) Instead, make your taste buds happy. Dive into the chocolate fondue. Eat foods that are special during this special time of year. And if you overindulge, try to keep the focus on the present. Put the fork down, think about how delicious your treat was, and then start choosing healthy bites (not boring ones) that you still will enjoy. When we overeat, it’s so tempting to tell ourselves we’ll start anew tomorrow, so we eat another sleeve of Oreos since we’ve already screwed up instead of trying to eat more mindfully right at the very moment we realize we might have caved in to gluttony.

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But enough about food. I have other things on my mind like Advent.

I meant to get my act together and compile a post of Advent activities, but ever since our fourth baby arrived I’m finding it increasingly difficult to devote all that much time to this blog. Taking care of my family and myself is a full time job. (That simple statement is fodder for an entire post or column – one I plan to piece together one of these days, but don’t hold me to it.) Since there will be no official “how we do Advent” post, I’ll share a past link that includes some of our family’s own traditions as well as links to other folks’ Advent-themed posts: Preparing Our Hearts and Homes.

One new tradition I’ll share is our Giving Tree. I recently read Shell Silverstein’s The Giving Tree to the girls, and we discussed it together talking about things like how the tree could symbolize our all-loving God. Since we’re going to be preoccupied with Turkey Day business this week, we went ahead and made our Giving Tree and hung it up on the kitchen even though I’m intending for it to be an Advent activity. We all worked on coloring the trunk together. Madeline was in charge of drawing the leaves. I cut them out, and Rachel glued them onto the branches. All the girls colored a few apples, and Madeline and I cut them out.

I told the girls that during the Advent season they could earn “apples” by making sacrifices or by doing something above and beyond their normal calls of duties. Madeline, for instance, wanted to get an apple for making her bed, but I told her that’s something she’s expected to do daily. However, when she voluntarily offered to let her sister pick what to watch during their special screen time, she earned an apple. The wonderful Catholic Mosaic: Living the Liturgical Year With Children actually recommends something similar during the month of Lent, but we always make Lenten mice and tie knots in their tails for sacrifices, so I wanted something different for Advent.

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Babymoons, Evangelizing through New Media, & Pumpkin Chocolate Chunk Scones

I recently joined the Faith & Family Podcast for the first time since giving birth to Thomas. It’s hard to believe our little dude will be six weeks tomorrow.

Danielle Bean, Lisa Hendey, and I dished about babymoons, the importance of taking care of yourself especially during stressful periods, and evangelizing through new media. It was so much fun catching up with some of the F&F crew. However, I didn’t feel like I was on top of my game and found myself stumbling on my words a bit. (I’m my worst critic though so hopefully you won’t notice.) Click here to listen.

Maybe I should have nibbled on the chocolate chunk pumpkin scones I mentioned during the podcast. Oh my, they’re so good. I tend to crave sweet things when I’m not getting enough sleep, so right now my sweet tooth is giving Willy Wonka a run for his money. On Thursday, I solicited the help of Rae and Mary Elizabeth and made a quick batch of these delicious scones to satisfy my hankering for sweetness. I’ll share the recipe just in case any of you are pining for something yummy. We make lots of stuff with pumpkin in honor of fall, and these definitely are one of my favorite treats for the season. Dip them in coffee, and you’ll be swooning.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chunk Scones

2 cups flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup pumpkin
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup dark chocolate chunks

Preheat oven to 375°. Mix together flour, sugar, spices, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Cut butter into small pieces and cut into flour until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. In a separate bowl mix together the pumpkin, buttermilk, and vanilla. Add to flour mixture and mix until the dough comes together. Stir in chocolate chunks.

Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead gently 3 to 4 times (or use the dough hook on your standing mixture to do the work for you). Gently shape the dough into a circle about 1 1/2 inches thick. Cut into equal, triangular wedges (you should be able to make about six scones). I use a pizza cutter to divide my scone dough.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Among Women Podcast: Making Peace with Your Body

I’m honored to be a guest on this week’s Among Women Podcast with the industrious and faithful Pat Gohn.

(If you haven’t ever tuned in to Pat’s award-winning podcast, she not only covers great topics, but she has a radio voice – smooth and soothing to listen to – and, in fact, worked in radio broadcasting for a long time.)

Pat and I discussed Weightless and covered everything from body image and body acceptance to the virtue of temperance, especially when it comes to food.

I hope you’ll consider joining in our conversation.

Tune into episode 107 here.

Many thanks to Pat for allowing me to share my voice with her listeners!

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A pregnancy aside because this baby and pregnancy is what’s always on my heart and mind (and pressing on my cervix) these days: I’ll be off to another prenatal appointment with my midwife in just a few hours. I remain a ticking, gestating time bomb now at 37 weeks and counting. Thank you for all of your prayers over the last two months. What a blessing they have been.

Now I find myself praying for a happy and safe delivery as well as trust and patience that this baby will fall – yes, it does feel like the baby’s just going fall out into the world – into my arms when he or she is ready. I’m trying not to stress about the fact that my husband anticipated the baby’s early and imminent arrival (like the rest of us) and adjusted his work schedule accordingly and will soon be working longer hours and soon faces a weekend of call.

Plenty of people have been asking, “So when are you going to have that baby?” I don’t know. No one knows. I’ve been in limbo now since June 29th when I was hospitalized for preterm labor. I feel blessed we’ve made it so far, but sometimes I start to feel anxious, too.

This pregnancy, probably more than anything else in my life, has taught me that I must live in the now and to not look to what might happen or even to question “Why me?” Not “Why me?” as in why have I had to deal with all this uncertainty? But, rather, “Why did my preterm labor not result in scary interventions or a premature birth like it has with some of my friends? Why was (am) I so lucky?”

Why not me?

Oh, and this question frequently pops up, too: “How in the world does a low rider incubate for so long on a paper thin, dilating cervix?” I may have a jumpy, raring-to-go cervix, but it’s not as incompetent as I’ve been tempted to label it during my last three pregnancies when it’s given us a scare but has held on longer than we thought was medically possible!

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