An Ode to Ulcerative Colitis

Wow, sorry for my lengthy retreat from Blog Land. I have this pesky disease called Ulcerative Colitis and I have been recovering from a pretty bad flare. The positive of this is that I've had a little time to read an amazing, very lengthy book that I'm excited to tell you about. Also, I've been doing a lot of baking, which is always top on my "ideas of a good time" list. Since my recent flare, I've been doing some research on UC and diets that might help me stay in remission. I found the holy grail of diet blogs, written by Danielle Walker. It's basically Paleo, and a lot of her recipes are SCD (Specific Carbohydrate Diet) friendly. If you have no clue what I'm talking about as I throw out these terms like "SCD" and "Paleo", consider yourself lucky. Having a severely restrictive diet is, well, I'm not going to sugar coat it- it sucks. 😆 For now, I can not partake in what I consider to be some of the yummiest things in existence. Thank goodness I can still eat seafood!

Some days I would honestly trade my left foot for a hot, steamy cup of coffee with a gigantic dollop of cream in it and tons of sugar. But enough complaints out of me. Instead, check out these delicious muffins I made today, recipe here.

Banana Chocolate Chunk Muffins

Onto the book:

I just finished a lovely book called In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden. Soooooo good. A little backstory: When I was a little girl, I decided I wanted to be a nun. I was pretty convinced of this until my teenage years. I was completely fascinated with stories of the lives of saints, and they had a major effect on me. Any time my brother and I got into a tussle, a little guilt would pop up in the back recesses of my mind, because someday when they wrote my saintly biography, fighting with my brother wasn't going to be considered a "saintly act." However, I admit I still fought with my brother on a regular basis.

 Clearly, God had other vocational plans for me in life, but I still have a serious fascination with nuns. While reading this book, I felt like I got to peep into the lives of a bunch of cloistered nuns, regardless of the fact that they were fictional characters. There were so many important areas touched on in the book- the spiritual battles certain nuns had to go through, lessons about trusting that God will provide, forgiveness, and overcoming pride, just to name a few. The book is over 600 pages long, but I breezed through it because I couldn't put it down. I loved all of the characters, esp. Abbess Catherine. The plot was so well written. When I started the book, I was sort of afraid it was going to be something I had trouble "getting into" but after the first 20 pages, I was hooked. Highly, highly recommend it.

The Extraordinary Parents of St. Therese of Lisieux....and laundry. :(

Ok, wow. I seriously wasn't even kidding about how much of a flake I am! My second post is a week after my first! I know this isn't an excuse but I'd really like everyone to feel super sorry for me because of all this laundry that's been holding me back from being a more productive person:

And this isn't even the half of it (or the third, for that matter.) If you want to do a really complicated math problem that unlocks the secrets of the Universe, try figuring out why I end up doing three to four loads of laundry a day when only 6 people live in this house? Ok, I know 6 sounds like a lot, but I have a seriously huge front load washer. I think some homeless people may be camping out in the basement and slipping some extra clothes in there...

I don't normally fold my laundry on the dining room table, but when your rolling up your sleeves to do some serious damage to the massive pile growing in your laundry room, the table seems like an easy place to set it all. (This also forces me to put it away by dinner time...I've been known to run out of time in a day and shove it in a basket and put it in the corner of my bedroom for two weeks.) All laundry aside, my house generally looks like this:

So, I guess I really shouldn't use laundry as an excuse. But stick with me- I'm determined to actually make a habit of writing a blog. It's pretty much top of my list for 2016 Goals.

Now then, to the topic at hand. My latest book. I just finished reading The Extraordinary Parents of St. Thérèse of Lisieux by Hélène Mongin. Ah, the French. I seriously LOVE their accent marks. And this book- wow, this book. So good! Get out and read it!

I have a special place in my heart for St. Zélie Martin- I feel a real affinity with her. She was a working mother to five daughters (Nine children altogether, but five surviving daughters- all became nuns, to say the least)  and she really valued her faith life, fitting it into every available nook and cranny of each busy day. After reading this book, I find myself inspired to try harder to say the rosary daily or to incorporate new prayers into my day. She also made me want to make a better effort to go to a weekday mass once in awhile. I think if I ever have another girl, I'm going to name her Zélie. What an amazing woman! 

And I really don't want to leave out St. Louis. Such a gentle and loving father! And I thought MY 

husband was a great father. 😊 After I finished reading this book, I have to say, felt a little sad I was done.

The book I'm currently reading was suggested to me by my Godmother and I can already tell you it's amazing. Jesus and The Jewish Roots of The Eucharist by Brant Pitre. 

Stay tuned for my take on it...