The Catholic Lovebirds

Ribbon on a tree wreath

2012-02-10T17:34:00.000-08:00

Another wreath I made. This one needs way less explaining than the blue one I made a few weeks ago

For this, I used a grapevine wreath available at most craft stores. I think mine came from Michaels, but I'd had it forever with no idea how to decorate it. I've seen them as low as $4. They always seem to be on sale

So a wreath and a roll of yellow grosgrain ribbon. I think the ribbon was a dollar, maybe two. I chose several different ribbons when I was shopping. After sitting down to do the project I got tired and just used the same ribbon.

Tie some bows to some branches. I found a length of about 3-4 inches made a good sized bow.

Et Voila, a wreath!

Support our troops, and their families. God Bless America

The one where Planned Parenthood and Komen cause dustin to lose his mind

2012-02-04T20:32:00.000-08:00

You may have seen the big prolife news earlier this week: Susan G. Komen dropped funding for Planned Parenthood. While the victory was short-lived (Susan G. Komen reversed its decision), it was enjoyable while it lasted.

Enjoyable might not be the best word to use. Yes, I was thrilled by their original decision, but outraged by Planned Parenthood and their supporters. Those people sounded off, so angered by the fact that someone would actually decide not to donate to them.

There was a "how dare they" attitude that those pro-abortion people had, and it truly boggles my mind. Planned Parenthood does not actually help people with breast cancer. They merely refer them to other places while giving women information on breast cancer. They don't do mammograms. Why should money donated to an organization that focuses on breast cancer be sent to an organization that focuses on abortion?

I had sent Komen a letter of support on Tuesday night, but apparently I should have waited, as my words don't seem to apply anymore. Speaking of words, I had to really resist the temptation to tweet what I REALLY thought of Planned Parenthood. I don't think saying, "F*** you Planned Parenthood" would have been the Christian thing to do, but every time I see PP president Cecille Richards, I want to run into a damn brick wall.

Her quote in regards to the Obama administration's move to force religious institutions to provide contraceptives was especially maddening.

“Planned Parenthood respects religious freedom and believes that neither government nor employers should intrude on individuals’ ability to practice their own religions or faiths, including their personal decisions about health care,” Richards said.

Yeah, I'd like to see her quote if the government forced Planned Parenthood to fund something they didn't side with morally.

I don't think I'm out of line at all to compare her to a terrorist: After all, she heads a multi-million dollar company whose primary goal is abortion. There's no way in Hell I'd ever give that company my support, or back down from that thought.

This brings up a bigger question though: Am I a hypocrite for not wanting to support Susan G. Komen if I purchase products from other companies that do support PP? (Answer: a painful yes). If I were to truly boycott every company that supported Planned Parenthood, I'd have my work cut out for me. For example, here's what I'd give up.

• Girl Scouts Inc. (no more cookies)
• Adobe (no more InDesign or Photoshop, two programs I use heavily for design)
• Ebay (goodbye cheap baby clothes)
• Walt Disney (goodbye ABC, ESPN, and my beloved movies)
• My employer, who will match donations by employees to Planned Parenthood (my job!)

Clearly, if you were to boycott every company that supported every company you were morally opposed to, you'd almost have to live as a hermit. That said, even if I do support companies that give their money to Planned Parenthood, I can let those companies know that I'd give them even more business if they dropped PP funding.

Of course, if we can just get rid of PP, then I would have one less thing to worry about.

My Lenten ambition, courtesy of Islam

2012-02-02T20:24:00.000-08:00

I think for years, I've held a strong admiration for our Muslim brothers and sisters. Whether it was the strong dedication to religious traditions, the architecture, or the names, I've always found something peaceful about their religion.

One thing I really admire is the fasting they do for religious holidays. For instance, during Ramadan they fast during daylight hours for an entire month, refraining from food, drink, cigarettes and sex. As for us Catholics, the only day we're encouraged to Fast is on Fridays, and that fast pales in comparison: One meal, and two small meals that don't equal a full meal.

Comparatively speaking, we're a bunch of wimps.

It's a fast that I was actually able to pull off last Good Friday, and it felt so rewarding. On a day where Christ suffered on the cross, it just felt wrong to drink a Pepsi. But I'd like to take this fast a little further. If our Islamic brothers and sisters can fast like that for a whole month, why can't I do the same fast during Lent?

So here is what I'm proposing for Lent: No food or water during daylight hours, except for the water used to brush my teeth and bathe. I don't drink or smoke cigarettes, so giving those up won't be an obstacle. And as far as sex is concerned, well, I personally think that's better during the nighttime hours anyways.

I know this is going to be difficult. So I did some research on how to get ready for a fast like this. A web site I found that helps get Muslims ready for Ramadan reminded me that fasting isn't just a competition to see if I could pull it off: It's about rededicating yourself to God and to your faith. The one thing that I need to remind myself of is that if I'm not prepared spiritually when Lent gets here, my Lenten promise will be a failure.

That prayer time that I put off? That needs to be fixed. That Bible I don't read enough? That needs to get picked up. That trust in God that I often lack? Without that trust, no amount of fasting will bring me any closer to God.

It is my hope and prayer that I can get my heart ready for the Lenten season. I believe if I can get that ready, then this will might end up being one of the most fulfilling things I'll ever do in my life.

Give a Little Gift

2012-02-02T09:17:00.000-08:00

I was born 8 weeks early. I have spent my entire pregnancy praying my baby would not be premature. I have a friend, Janet, and her husband, Mike, who weren't as lucky as I have been. They don't know I'm writing this post, and I really hope they don't mind. I'll show it to them when we're done here...

Janet and Mike are a sweet couple, smart, and funny. I enjoy their company. I met them through a friend a few years ago.

Janet and Mike got pregnant with twins after being married over a decade. They delivered their babies early, 16 weeks early. Which means their twins Jaina and Cade were born at 24 weeks. Sweet baby Jaina fought hard for a few days, but is now waiting in heaven for her family. Cade spent about 4 months in the NICU surrounded by nurses and doctors who cared for him expertly.

I cannot imagine travelling back and forth every day like Janet and Mike.
I cannot imagine the pain of bringing Cade home without his sister.

Cade 4mo old and home!

Why am I telling you this story and showing you an adorable baby photo? Janet is participating in the March Of Dimes walk and is raising money in honor of her beautiful son Cade, and in memory of her precious daughter Jaina. I'm hoping that by being a friend of TheCatholicLovebirds and all that we love, you might consider donating to this fight. There are so many babies born early, March of Dimes is doing everything they can to prevent this. When it can't be prevented March of Dimes does what they can to support these babies and their families. Think of all your friends, how many have been affected by miscarriage, early births, premature or preterm births, birth defects? Then click the link below and donate. Donate in honor of the babies that fight to become adults. Could you give a dollar? One dollar isn't much of a sacrifice really when you think of it... You've probably got that much between the couch cushions.

I've committed to donate a dollar amount equivalent to the weeks at which Lucy is born. What will you commit to? Pickel Family MOD page

MOD mission statement

Motherbird: A tear-jerking commercial

2012-01-30T16:21:00.000-08:00

Props to The Mill for creating this commercial for Hallmark. With my daughter Lucy on the way, commercials like this leave more of an impact than they would have three years ago.

Recipe: Insomniac's Chicken Pasta Stew

2012-01-29T14:31:00.000-08:00

I hope you'll pardon the dark photo.
It was 2:30 a.m. Friday, and I had a case of insomnia.
The house was a mess, there was a baptism meeting 10.5 hours later in our living room, and while Allicia and I are saving our money and "skipping" gifts for our two-year-anniversary of our first date, I had to do something nice for her.
So I decided to clean, with my thoughts being that I could stay up until 5 a.m. so that she didn't have to lift a finger (staying up until 5 a.m. was also good practice for baby Lucy's arrival in a month). While cleaning the kitchen, I opened the refrigerator and found some chicken that I had set in there to dethaw Wednesday night. Realizing that I needed to use it before it went bad, my eyes turned to my crockpot. I was already awake decluttering the house, why not add to my productity by getting Saturday's lunch ready?
Here's what I created: Insomniac's Chicken Pasta Stew. I wish I had a better photo, but it was the best my iPhone could give me. Enjoy.
Ingredients1 pound uncooked Chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces1 10.5 ounce can of Cream of Chicken1 10.5 ounce can of water1 Cup of baby carrots, chopped.3 green onions, washed and chopped.Garlic and Italian Seasoning to taste (I shook powdered garlic and italian seasoning over the mixture for 5 seconds each, but this is something that I'll let you decide on)12 ounces of Vegetable Radiatore pasta (we used the Trader Joe's brand)
1. Add vegetables to bottom of crockpot, season with spices.2. Add chicken pieces.3. Add cream of chicken, water.4. Set crockpot to low, cover and heat for six to seven hours.5. Turn crockpot off after six to seven hours, or place on the keep warm setting.6. When ready to eat, cook the pasta according to the manufacturer's instructions.7. Put the pasta on your place, and top with the chicken stew.8. Pray, then eat!
Alterations: We didn't have any potatoes, and I didn't feel like running to the store to get them at 2:30 a.m., but they would be a welcome addition in place of pasta noodles. Just turn the crockpot up to high and add them to the crockpot during the last 30 minutes. In place of green onions, half a cup of diced red onions. In place of italian seasoning, try sage and thyme. To spice things up, add black and red pepper to the veggies before cooking. And by all means, dump some tabasco sauce on the meal.

Maria, pregare per loro

2012-01-27T08:59:00.000-08:00

Excuse my Google Translator version of Italian. I found this photo in a slideshow here, and was compelled to share it. I cannot imagine the terror and fear that the passengers and crew of the Costa Concordia felt that first night, or what they are going through now. This photo reminds us we can always seek a mother's comfort. Mary is here to pray for us, even in a tragedy she can be found to put her arms around those who need her.

Mary, pray for them.

Divers recover a statue of the Madonna from inside the chapel of the Costa Concordia cruise ship.

The Study Edition of The Catholic Bible: A Review

2012-01-20T08:03:00.000-08:00

This Study Edition of The Catholic Bible is absolutely wonderful. This bible is a New American Bible with study and reading guides. It contains maps, reading guides and general background information. There are chapter introductions and foot notes. The numerous reading guides are full of details and include back story that will give the reader an inside look to what is the many layers of each chapter. The introductions to each book of the bible clearly indicate which books are meant to be literary stories and which are intended as historical. As Catholics we understand that some stories of the bible are simply that; stories to learn from, such as Jonah and The Whale. The scripture uses an authentic translation and the languange in the study sections of this book is clear. The footnotes not only clarify words that are no longer used (units of measurement, certain woods, customs, etc) but also direct the reader to other readings of scripture that will enhance the understanding of that particular reading. This version never dissapoints with detail. The reading guides and footnotes included in this study guide offer great insight to make the reading experience a full one. I recommend this Catholic Bible Study Edition to newcomers and those who are familiar with scripture. Both my husband and myself have a copy of this bible and find use for it all the time. We have used it at our own church, on occasion in addition to taking it with us to other places of worship when visiting family and friends. This edition is useful as both a study guide and a standard use bible. It makes a great item for personal use, but also is an excellent gift for any Catholic.

I wrote this review of The Catholic Bible: Personal Study Edition NAB for the free Catholic Book review program, created by Aquinas and More Catholic Goods, your source for Baptism Gifts and Oplatki Christmas Wafers.

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

I receive free product samples as compensation for writing reviews for Tiber River. We already owned this book though!

Saying goodbye to Catholicguyshow.com

2012-01-16T17:28:00.000-08:00

Over the last few months, I made a hard decision to end the catholicguyshow.com blog.

There were a lot of reasons, none involving any personal disdain for Lino Rulli. I just felt like it was time to try new things. With a baby on the way, my free time isn't what it used to be when I started the blog in May 2008.

I told Lino in an email that I want to start my own Catholic media ventures, and the first step to that is keeping this blog maintaned much more than I have. Now that I only have one blog to design and two blogs to write for, instead of three.

I've also started volunteering at a local radio station. I'm really excited about learning how radio works, even though it's a tiny AM station: the basics of radio are the same no matter where you are, so I think this ought to be a great place to learn the little things, like operating a board or trimming an interview.

With a happy marriage, little Lucy on the way, and a newfound sense of freedom, I feel like the future is bright. That said, I'm REALLY going to miss being the Lino Rulli expert.

New Years/Hanukkah Wreath

2012-01-09T16:25:00.000-08:00

I've been watching all my sisters in law having fun making wreaths they saw on Pinterest, and I was inspired. I wanted to make a wreath out of things I already had. Looking around my craft room I found some old stretchy fabric that I used for a blanket. I was having trouble sewing the fabric so it was the perfect one to use for this project.

-I used a green floral wreath for this because it is the only one my local store had

1) cut the fabric into 2 inch wide strips (totally didn't measure and no need for straight edges)

2) tie the ends of the fabric together. With this fabric it wasn't necessary to make bows, but if you are using a stiffer fabric it may be more aesthetically pleasing.

3) wrap, wrap, wrap I tucked the first edge and overlapped the second edge of the fabric strips so the raw edges don't show. The glue gun was helpful in getting the fabric coverage behind the bows.

4) I simply glued the end point and did an extra wrap and knot to form a hanging loop. This may not be as easy if using a stiffer (cotton) fabric, again I was using a stretchy fabric. You could simply make a hanging loop around your wreath.

5) add buttons to the some of the bows (to mimic a holly type look) or of course felt flowers would look great too.

Hang and enjoy.

Catholics Come Home Ad shows up during WWE programming

2011-12-19T20:42:00.000-08:00

I always want Catholics, especially those who handle media duties, to try thinking outside of the box. Don't just try reaching the people in the pews, go outside of that comfort zone!

While watching the exploits of CM Punk and John Cena on WWE Monday Night Raw, I saw those Catholics do exactly what I want: advertise in unique ways. Yes, Catholics Come Home ran an ad twice during the Monday night wrestling show.

Here's the ad, and I should add that it's very well done. It conveys the positive things about The Catholic Church without going too preachy. This video is the long version of the ad, but during RAW it was shortened to about 30 seconds.

I know that TV ads are purchased in different ways. Soemtimes a company buys ad space directly from the network, and other times it buys ad space from the cable or satellite provider. So I'm not sure if Catholics Come Home went directly to the WWE or USA Network and specifically requested to show up during Raw, if they bought the ad from USA Network and let them when to air it, or if they just bought ad space from DirecTV and let them decide what station and time.

So I have no idea if it was just DirecTV subscribers who saw this ad while watching wrestling, or if the entire four million who watch WWE on Mondays across the country saw it. Regardless, it was definitely a step in the right direction. Airing the ad during a crazy popular show that many families watch together is precisely where the ad needs to air.

We need good quality work like this. If the commercials suck, then nobody takes it seriously. God gave all of us artistic talents: we should do our very best when it comes to creating media that will attract lapsed Catholics and non-Catholics alike.

Well done, Catholics Come Home. Very well done.

Backlash against All-American Muslims give Christians a bad name

2011-12-14T20:11:00.000-08:00

My wife and I have started watching All-American Muslim on TLC. I wouldn't say that I'm a die-hard fan of the show, but I do watch it with great interest. What I really love about the show is that it shows Muslims living normal lives. Not that I'm shocked that Muslims live normal lives. But I love that TLC is willing to air a show that flies in the face of all the stupid stereotypes.

True, I'll never see eye-to-eye with the Islamic faith, but that doesn't mean that I can't admire their strong commitment to faith and family.

What annoys me to no end is when advertisers show a lack of guts/class and yank advertising, specifically when the group pressuring them to yank the advertising is an ignorant bunch of tools.

First, Lowes pulled it's advertising, and now Kayak.com is doing the same thing. I won't be giving either entity my business any time soon

Lowes did it because of a fundamentalist group called Florida Family Association, who said of the show,

"TLC's 'All-American Muslim' is propaganda that riskily hides the Islamic agenda's clear and present danger to American liberties and traditional values."

Traditional American liberties and values, such as freedom of religion? Apparently these tools from Florida forgot about that one.

Lowes is free to advertise or not advertise. That's one of those other American liberties that Florida Family Association loves so much. But to pull your advertising due to threats from ignorant people? That's ridiculous.

What is even more ridiculous about groups like the one in Florida is that they take the actions of a small minority, and try to say that the entire group of people share those beliefs. In this instance, because of terrorism, they have it in their brain that all Muslims are filled with hate.

OK, so if that is true, if the actions of a minority define everyone else, then aren't all Christians hateful people? Look at the Westboro Baptist Church: all they do is preach about God hating everyone. If I'm supposed to believe that Muslims are filled with hate because of a few terrorists, then shouldn't I believe that all Christians are fill with hate because of a few small churches?

This is why I could never support Herman Cain's presidential run: Because he decided early on that he wasn't going to have any Muslims in his cabinet because they weren't "American enough." Sorry Herman, but when you and groups like FFA stereotype races, you aren't very "American" yourself.

It's stories like these that make me ashamed to call myself Christian, even though I know the power of Christ is stronger than the ignorance of others. Still, fundamentalist Christians are probably the one group who annoys me the most: their fervant disdain of anything that differs from their interpretation of the Bible makes every other sincere Christian look bad.

I just hope that Muslims see us the way the most of us see them: A good lot of people with a few bad apples.

Link: Saying Goodbye to Gamepro

2011-12-14T06:55:00.001-08:00

On my other blog, I posted about my memories of the now-defunct magazine Gamepro. Definitely keep those employees in your thoughts and prayers, as Gamepro closed its doors after 22 years.

You can read my thoughts here.

The Catholic Channel celebrates five years of amazing radio.

2011-12-05T19:07:00.000-08:00

Today is the five-year anniversary of The Catholic Channel.

The faces have certainly changed. I remember the mornings being occupied by a hack-comedian and his wife, an amazing priest doing a calming radio show after the amazing Busted Halo Show, and a producer named Maureen who could never remember to send out prizes.

I won't rehash the amazing story of meeting my wife through The Catholic Guy Show. But even though it was Lino's show that introduced me to the greatest woman in my life, the whole channel deserves my thanks. If Lino was the only good show, I probably would have cancelled my Sirius subscription at one point (I'd had it since 2003, and only ditched it once, for two months in early 2007).

Lino was and is great, but there were a few times when I was too financially strapped to realistically keep Sirius radio. The Catholic Channel's quality of programming kept me from cutting that expense.

What makes it so great? Here are my favorite memories of each Catholic Channel show.

• Former Seize the Day producer Emily Marlow trying to teach Gus how to speak in German
• Greg and Jennifer Willits' annual turkey gobbling contest
• Talking to Bob Dunning about anything political
• Lino's lock-in (and the time that Allicia, Heather Luzzi and I appeared on the show)
• Brett Siddell eating Dave's Insanity Sauce
• Fr. Paul Keenan playing the song "Teardrops from my Eyes."

Not your standard Christian radio, eh? But that's what makes it so great: It's ability to entertain and enlighten.

The channel has helped so many people, myself included, become better Christians. For a channel to help people's souls as much as their funny bones, well, that's something that should be emulated by any well-meaning Christian radio station.

I hope to be around for the 10-year anniversary. If the first five years are any indication, then we're going to have a great celebration in 2017.

A big thank you to Lino Rulli, Lou Ruggieri, Maureen McMurray, Fr. Jim Chern, Fr. Rob Keighron, Ryan Stewart, Ryan Grant, Emily Marlow, Gus Llloyd, Adam Hamway, Greg Willits, Jennifer Willits, Bob Dunning, Peter Donalds, Nicole Krieger, Fr. Dave Dwyer, Brett Siddell, Matt Knight, the fantastic Robyn Gould, Brian Zagen, Krista D'Amore, Archbishops Timothy Dola and Edward Egan, Fr. Harry, and the late Fr. Paul Keenan. God bless you all.

Saying goodbye to the NBA

2011-11-27T08:44:00.000-08:00

For years now, I've been a huge Boston Celtics fan.

It started when I moved to Pittsburgh and met a guy we'll call Frank. Frank was a huge Boston fan, and we became pretty good friends (I've since lost touch with the man). Having been a casual fan of the Celtics for years (I was screaming at my TV in 2002, when they came back from a 21-point deficit in game three of the Eastern Conference Finals), I decided to jump on the bandwagon.

Yeah, I've pretty much admitted in print that I'm a bandwagon fan. I've always appreciated Dennis Johnson (who should have been in the hall of fame years ago), and Lord knows I've always hated the Lakers. But c'mon, when I hopped on the bandwagon, it was the 2006-07 season. They were the victims of an 18-game losing streak. Nobody willingly jumps on the bandwagon of a losing team.

But I did, and at the time, I had no idea that the next few seasons would be much better than that 06-07 campaign. The Celtics went on to two Finals appearances, defeating the Lakers in 2008 and losing to them in 2010. I thought I could be an NBA fan for life. Sure, the 2010-11 season started off subpar, but the Celtics had Kendrick Perkins and Rajon Rondo for the long haul: how could this team not improve?

But things slowly started getting ugly.

The seed of ugliness began to take root when the NBA failed to protect Seattle from losing the beloved Supersonics (a wonderful documentary about the Sonics can be found here) to Oklahoma City. It angers me to no end that a city could lose it's sports team because they won't give a millionaire owner tax dollars to build a new arena.

If you think that can't happen in your city, think again. The Supersonics were one of the most beloved teams of all time, and this move sets a horrible precedent: give sports teams your tax dollars or they're gone.

Only two owners voted against the move: Paul Allen (Portland Trailblazers) and Mark Cuban (Dallas Mavericks). The owner of my favorite team, the Celtics, voted for the move, showing a very gutless side. I've never been a big Seattle fan (although I do believe that Detlef Schrempf is the most underrated NBA player of all time), but you don't have to be a fan to see that millions of fans are being wronged.

So you can see, there's been a small part of me that has harbored anger and resentment toward the NBA for years now. I refuse to cheer for the Oklahoma City's basketball team, no matter who they're playing, even the hated Los Angeles Lakers.

That got put to the test this year. Boston, in all of it's "genius" decided to trade Kendrick Perkins to Oklahoma City. Kendrick Perkins! The source of the team's defensive toughness! The guy with a perpetual scowl! The guy who made the sign of the cross when I went to a Memphis-Boston game a few years ago. I loved Kendrick Perkins. A classy and extremely talented man.

Of all the guys to trade, they traded Perkins. Of all the teams to trade him too, they chose Oklahoma City.

I threw in the towel at that point. I could care less what happened the rest of the season. 'Maybe next year I'll feel better about it,' I told myself. They still had Rondo and Pierce, and maybe the new guys will step up. The 2011-12 NBA season would be fantastic! 82 games of fun!

Oh, that's right. There weren't 82 games this season. That's because the NBA owners and players couldn't agree on how to split billions of dollars. And instead of trying to get a collective bargaining agreement in place to save the season, they piddled around and games were lost. The NBA lockout cost the NBA it's preseason, all of November's games and probably 3/4 of December's games (The league and players announced an agreement that would give fans a 66-game season).

So those stadium workers, some working minimum wage, just lost two and a half month's of work because billionaires and millionaires couldn't agree on how to split huge profits. And I'm supposed to give them my hard-earned cash?

Screw that.

I'm now at a crossroads in my life. I'll be completely honest when I say that I haven't missed basketball. My schedule hasn't had any holes in it. I haven't sat down once and thought, "Wow I wish basketball was on." It's certainly not something I'd be willing to spend money on even if there wasn't a lockout.

I am angry. Starting with Seattle, then trading Perk, and now an NBA lockout. I just do not have it in me to still cheer for the Celtics, or anyone in the NBA right now. While everyone on my Twitter feed was rejoicing over the return of the NBA on Saturday, I couldn't be moved to any kind of joy.

I can safely say that I'm done with the NBA for good, after many months of thinking it over. I'll find other interests, I'll find other things to fill my time. Colin Cowherd on his ESPN radio show said it best: "Love your kids, like sports."

Being devoted to football, soccer and the WWE is a plenty-full sports schedule for any dad-to-be. When Lucy is born in a few months, I'll have even less time to devote to entertainment. It'll be a miracle if I find enough time for football and wrestling in the same week.

With that said, I thank the NBA for the many good memories they gave me, but will take this opportunity to bow out and say goodbye to it. I'll never say never when it comes to coming back, but the things that have transpired over the years would make any interest I have in the product a hollow one.

Now, if the Seattle Supersonics comes back...

My crazy list of 53 things I'm thankful for

2011-11-26T16:05:00.000-08:00

It's so cliche to name things you're thankful for. Chances are, you went around the table on Thanksgiving and said what you were thankful for. And if you don't immediately say family and friends and God and Jesus and health, then you are a selfish person who is extremely shallow and not grateful for anything.

Yeah, I'm shallow. So my list isn't going to list any of that. Besides, if you really need to find your name in a list to validate that I care about you, then we need to talk about your low self-esteem.

So here is my first annual list of things I'm thankful for. In no particular order.

1. 2-liter Sodas costing less per ounce than 20 oz bottles.
2. Those 10/$10 grocery store sales
3. Pineapple
4. Jars of Clay
5. Finishing Super Mario Bros. 3 earlier this year without using a warp whistle.
6. Feeling my kid kick in the womb
7. Minute Rice
8. Southwest chipotle Sauce at Subway
9. Full House reruns
10. The dog not using the bathroom inside the house
11. Chocolate
12. Leaves
13. Chocolate leaves
14. Picture frames
15. Records that play without skipping
16. My external hard drive still working
17. My job letting me listen to my iPhone
18. My iphone
19. CM Punk winning the WWE title twice this year
20. BBQ sauce
21. Not getting the LOGO channel
22. The TV show Mass Confusion
23. Fr. Dave Dwyer's laugh
24. My wife's red hair.
25. The music of Chicago
26. Entertaining TV commercials
27. The mail slot on the door
28. Dryer balls
29. Plucking that really long nose hair and not sneezing
30. Jack Black tearing up the demerit list on School of Rock
31. Scoring a centipede trackball on ebay for $12
32. Not getting a bad ebay review
33. Alka Seltzer
34. Black and White Mickey Mouse cartoons
35. Being on the last stage of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
36. Finishing Final Fantasy VII with ALL sidequests completed in less than 80 hours
37. The CatholicTV app
38. Not throwing up on the Mission Space Orange ride at Epcot on my honeymoon
39. Making a 24-hour car trip in 20 hours without stopping for more than two hours
40. Eminem's Recovery Album
41. Turning on the radio and not hearing Bruno Mars
42. Being straight-edge
43. Being able to pray for a red-haired child
44. Garageband
45. Fr.Leo Patalinghug's cookbook
46. Febreze
47. Clean underwear
48. The framed John Ritter autograph hanging up by my computer
49. Designing the Newman Bulletin each week.
50. The Optima Font
51. And the GilSans one too
52. The Can't Get Arrested web series
53. OK, and my wife Allicia, our healthy unborn Lucy, my family, friends (IRL and Twitter ones) and our dog Pixie.

Catholic sitcom sharing spotlight with football

2011-11-24T09:23:00.000-08:00

For so many years, football has been a staple of my Thanksgiving day celebration. Even if I could care less about the teams playing, football and Thanksgiving just go together, kind of like basketball and Christmas used to go together (not anymore, thanks to players and owners not being thankful for the billions of dollars they make each year).

And while I'll certainly going to keep that tradition alive this year (49ers-Ravens tonight feels like the best game), I'll get to add a Catholic sitcom to the many things I have the privilege of doing.

Yes, the world of Catholic media finally decided to branch out into areas previously untouched. Greg and Jennifer Willits, hosts of Sirius XM's The Catholics Next Door (heard on The Catholic Channel, Sirius XM 129), filmed a sitcom pilot for CatholicTV called Mass Confusion. The show airs at 8:30 p.m. ET. If you don't get CatholicTV, they have the ability to watch the show online or on your smartphone at that same time.

The storyline? It's Jennifer's birthday, and their friends come over to celebrate, but there is no beer (not a problem, they should be drinking Pepsi instead), so the guys have to load up the kids to go to the beer store. Based on the trailer, it looks like it's filmed in that mockumentary style, like The Office or Modern Family.

And here's the thing: It actually looks very well done. And funny.

Full disclosure: When Greg and Jennifer announced they were creating a sitcom, I winced. Winced is too light of a word. I think my stomach literally wretched itself out of my body. A sitcom? Really? This is going to be horrible.

But I didn't say anything out loud because I would have looked like an ass had I criticized someone for trying something new. Isn't that the point of Catholic media, to branch out into all forms of entertainment to attract an audience? My initial disdain was laced with hypocrisy. Instead of being supportive, I became a stereotypical old-fashioned Catholic, unwilling to try anything new.

But the stupid part of my brain was proven wrong very quickly when I saw that trailer. The more I read, the more I heard the excitement from other people besides Greg and Jennifer, the more I realized that this could be a good thing.

And now, eight hours from the premiere, I couldn't be more excited. Greg and Jennifer, who I thought had the best acting chops based on the trailer, are amazing radio hosts. They have a natural ability to inspire and entertain. I have no doubt that Mass Confusion will be a great venture.

The question is though, what if this is a breakout hit? If the sitcom takes off and demand is high, could we see Greg and Jennifer leave the radio to do a full-time tv show? Filming a sitcom is a lot of work, something they would probably find hard to do alongside a radio show.

It will be interesting to see what transpires after tonight. There's one thing I can be certain of: Whichever road they travel, I'll definitely stay entertained.

Middle Name Game

2011-11-21T12:33:00.001-08:00

I've always know I wanted to name a daughter Lucy, but now I'm struggling with a good middle name for our little gummibear. I could use your help!

I've listed a bunch of names we've been throwing around and I'd love to get some input. Please feel free to share what you think. Do you know someone with one of the names and they are awesome(or horrible?) How about if you think the name sounds right sandwiched between the two permanent choices?

I think I just need an outside perspective.

Potential Middle Names for Lucy ________ Faber

Amelia (one of my favs, also belongs to Cousin of hubby and MIL's middle name)
Hartley (originally a guys name, shows up several times on my mothers side)
Anne
Aurelia
Virginia (a grandmother)
Helen (a grandmother)
Janine
Faith (my mothers name)
Elizabeth (a grandmother)
Ella
Ellen
Catherine
Also taking new suggestions if you think of something adorable!

Encouraging letter helps me see value of prayer

2011-11-15T06:57:00.000-08:00

My wife Allicia and I received this in the mail a few days ago.

It is a letter from my parents church, First Baptist in Waldron, Ark., notifying us that they took a few minutes to pray for us out loud, with signatures from those in attendance for the Wednesday night service.

It hasn't been the easiest few months, what with Allicia's car getting wrecked and all. True, things could be much worse, as our unborn child is still happy and healthy, and we are able to pay the bills on time for the most part. But still, things could be just a little better.

The letter was extremely touching. It's a reminder to me that ALL of us Christians, whether Catholic or Baptist, are in this fight together. We have doctrinal differences that prevent us from worshipping in the same building. And sometimes those differences can help us lose sight of what's important: that we love each other the way Christ commanded us to do.

I know I've forgotten that more than a handful of times. After receiving written proof that other people keep my wife and I in their prayers, I am going to focus on praying for other Christians in my prayers. Not just family, friends and our Church.

I am so very thankful that when we visit my parents in Arkansas, we have two wonderful churches that we can call home. Thank you to St. Jude's and Waldron FBC for always being so kind to us every time we walk through your doors.

God bless.

Dog easing me into parenting responsibilities

2011-11-09T07:08:00.000-08:00

Over the past few years, my opinion of dogs hit the lowest of lows.

As with all things in life, bad experiences shaped that opinion. I once stayed with a friend who had the lunacy to keep a Jack Russell terrier inside of a tiny one-bedroom apartment (who was not housebroken, mind you). Then a neighbor's dog killed a baby chicken that my mom and I were raising together.

Add that to all the times when I'd visit someone who would cheerfully say, "Oh don't worry he doesn't bite," as their dog, giving it's best Teddy Bruschi impression, would nearly take me down. Now you can see why dogs were not high up on my list. But recently, a friend of ours had to get rid of her dog, and my wife decided that we should take the animal in.

I wasn't too crazy about it (we had dogsitted for these dogs before), but hey, marriage is about sacrifice right? Bring on the dog.

Ironically, this oversized rat has grown on me. Pixie is becoming my buddy.

What is wrong with me?

It's actually been nice. I'll be at the computer, and she'll sit quietly in my lap. We go on walks twice a day. She's really well-behaved. It's just a nice feeling, and I can see why people love their dogs so much.

Ironically, I think God put this dog in my life to get me ready for our daughter, who has a street-release date of March 2. After all, raising a child is pretty much like owning a dog that eventually learns how to talk. The reason why I think that Pixie is good dad training is because my biggest fear when it comes to parenting is being too selfish.

I like to do things on my time. If I want to sit around and watch TV all day, I can do that right now (as long as my wife doesn't need me to do anything). When the child gets here, I won't have that opportunity anymore. I'll have to schedule time for feeding, cleaning, activities, etc. No more lazy Dustin!

Now that Pixie is here, I'm having to schedule that stuff now. I can't just be lazy all morning: I have to make sure that Pixie gets walked, fed and crated (kicking around idea of leaving her in kitchen) before going to work. I now have to care for another being besides myself and my wife.

While it's nowhere near the amount of work that a child will require, it seems like a nice way to ease into those responsibilities later on.

Finding Catholicism in Final Fantasy VII

2011-11-05T09:06:00.000-07:00

Here is the link to an article I wrote about finding Catholicism in Final Fantasy VII. I'm now on the lookout for another 40-to-50-hour RPG to play.

http://catholicvideogamers.blogspot.com/2011/11/finding-catholicism-in-final-fantasy.html

Baby update: Successful ultrasound

2011-11-04T22:45:00.000-07:00

"The ultrasound can't detect everything," the doctor said. "We can only tell you that the baby appears healthy based on what we see."

That's a slight paraphrase, but it's what Dr. Beardface told us Thursday morning when we went in for another ultrasound. Our little gummy bear Lucy is a little over 22 weeks old, and to try to keep things simple, only has two "vents" on the umbilical cord. Normally a baby has three: two to deliver nutrients, and one to remove waste. However, since the cord only has one cashier open to take food orders, the doctor wanted an ultrasound to make sure the baby was growing the way it should.

Does that sound normal and uncomplicated to you? Good...cause to Allicia and I, it was a cause to panic! Just a few days ago, we were told the baby was fine. And now they want to do another ultrasound? Did they think of something that could be wrong? Most of my mind knew that everything would be fine, but that one percent was panicking (ok, more like 33 percent) and praying that our baby would be fine.

You can't take this for granted, especially after so many of our friends have experienced miscarriages.

I suppose the worry now is just practice for when the kid is running around without a bubble surrounding her. Oh, and we got further confirmation that the baby is a girl.

Which is fine with me. I think I'd be upset if it was a boy now, what with all the wonderful clothing we've already received for Lucy.

Thank everyone for their prayers.

Dealing with the pain of a friend's miscarriage

2011-10-27T18:18:00.000-07:00

Like most good Catholics, Allicia and I find time to listen to Greg and Jennifer Willits' afternoon radio show, The Catholic's Next Door (1-4 p.m. ET on Sirius XM 129). Already the parents of five children, Jennifer and Greg announced a few weeks ago that they were pregnant.

There was a scare early, with the doctors saying that the baby hadn't grown at all, and that a miscarriage was inevitable. Then there was a ray of hope when an ultrasound was done later. There was a heartbeat and a viable baby! But that joy soon turned ugly when Greg posted on his Facebook that the baby had died.

I've always known how sad these things are. But ever since I found out that I was going to be a dad, I feel more sensitive to these things. And hearing this news today HURT! I wanted to run out of work and scream. I was so angry that such good and wonderful people would be facing their third miscarriage.

I called Busted Halo tonight and requested this song, Teardrops from my Eyes by Ruth Brown. I think it's a nice fit considering everything that's happened. A good reminder that it's ok for teardrops to fall, and if we put our trust in God, things will turn out...manageable.

But I know that even though I don't understand God's plans, apparently he has one. I do just ask that anyone reading this pray for the Willits family at this time.

God bless you wonderful people. And God bless that wonderful baby.

Postponing the Toilet Awards

2011-10-27T18:14:00.000-07:00

Just a heads up, my once-weekly Toilet Awards, honoring the Catholic blogs with great reading quality, will now be a once-monthly thing. It gives me more time to read and do better picking. Plus, it makes the awards more meaningful. "I won the Toilet Award for November 2011," sounds better than "I won that toilet award two weeks ago!"

baby update

2011-10-27T08:05:00.000-07:00

We saw the baby doctor yesterday to go over the results of our ultrasound done two weeks ago. We were informed the baby has only a two vessel umbilical cord and were told not to worry. I was totally cool with the diagnosis. The Nurse Midwife we saw at our appointment yesterday said it was never usually discovered until birth. We'd do a few extra ultrasounds starting in about 8 weeks and I'd have to sit through a few non-stress tests. Measurements were good. Weight gain/loss on track. Heartbeat (love hearing that) was great at 160ish. See ya in 6 weeks.

No big deal. I wasn't worried.

Then, the secretary calls from my OBGYN's office and says that the doctor would like an ultrasound (yes, I tell her in 8 weeks, I was aware) actually- he wants one next week. A fetal echocardiogram. Basically meaning he wants to double check the baby's heart is working properly. (I work in a medical office we do echocardiograms on adults all the time) ...

Now I'm a little worried. I know I shouldn't be, but this is my BABY we are talking about here. How am I not supposed to worry.

All the evidence points to a very normal abnormality with little to no complications. A link here for some reassurance.

I suppose if we lived in the time when ultrasounds were rare, and shoddy quality at best, it wouldn't be a factor. I wouldn't know this information, would deliver a normal healthy baby, and then the doctor would exclaim that the umbilical cord was different than most others. But man, this is throwing me for a nicely placed loop.

Failed rapture prophecy exposes my own sins

2011-10-21T08:26:00.000-07:00

I'm sure if Christ wanted to return today, he'd do it in a heartbeat. But so far on Friday, Oct. 21, Harold Camping's prediction of world-wide annihilation with the exception of Christians is once again false.

That part isn't surprising. What is surprising to me is how I feel about the situation. Namely a little bit of guilt.

It's so easy to goof on people like Camping and his followers, and to a certain degree they deserve it. It is a very evil thing to convince people to give up their life savings, quit well-paying jobs all in the name of false prophesy. I'm betting Camping forgot about that little verse where Jesus says no man knows the hour of judgement day. Actually, I think Camping did read that, but tries to use other Bible verses like Ecclesiastes 8:5 to say that true believers will have the judgement day revealed to them.

And while Jesus did warn of false prophets in Matthew 7, it doesn't mean that I can't ache for these people who were deceived by Camping and similar phonies. Yes, they should have known better. But that's where my guilt comes into play.

All this time, I should have been praying for these people. I mean REALLY praying, not the five second "Lord help them" line that you say while preoccupied with other things. Instead, my heart was filled with cruel laughter and malice. What does that say about me? That I would see others who are in need of Christ's love and care and become a source of Christ-like comfort for them makes me just as bad as Camping or any of those other glorified sinners I mock.

When Jesus told me and other believers to love our neighbor, he didn't say to mock them for being misled by false prophets. He meant to show them compassion. He wants us to pray "without ceasing." I should be praying that they are able to move past this horrible stage in their life, not pulling up Youtube videos to mock them.

Just like most things in my life that I strive for, I've failed. But with God's help, I will succeed from this moment on.

While October 21 might not be the end of the world, it is a fresh start in my way of thinking.

The Weekly Catholic Toilet Reading Awards No. 4

2011-10-20T22:44:00.000-07:00

Over the last few weeks in our Catholic Weekend Previews, the most fun segment was the toilet awards: Catholic blogs that provided good reading while sitting on the toilet. And who else in Catholic media is providing you with such a thing? Oh certainly there are blogging awards, but those awards tell you great blogs to read while sitting at a computer.

Me? I'm giving you quality blog reading from your iPhone or Android while perched on a porcelain throne! Here are this week's three picks, based upon their ease of bathroom reading, and how good their posts for the past week were (meaning if it hasn't been updated in two months, I'm skipping it).

Beginning to Pray
www.beginningtopray.com
Follow on Twitter: @anthonylilles

This blog by DOCTOR Anthony Lilles (proof that not all bloggers live in their father's basement) could almost double as a daily devotional. His post on Oct. 18 about Contemplation blew me away: I had no idea that mental prayer could be anything more than "God this person in front of me has bloody gums please get them away from me." He definitely brought a brand new perspective to my prayer life, and for that, I salute the good doctor.

Snoring Scholar
www.snoringscholar.com
Follow on Twitter: @peerybingle

There was one point where I set out to pray a rosary each day. "It's so easy!" I told Fr. Jim Chern on the phone one day. "I could do this each day!" And that was the last time I prayed the Rosary that month. It's hard to do from a mental standpoint, something that Sarah Reinhold blogged about this week. She agreed to do it by accident! It was a great read in which she learned a few things about her own self during the "forced" prayers.

Journey of a Mercedarian Monk
www.monk2be.com
Follow on Twitter: @monk2be

One of the best lines I've read in a blog lately came from Michael, a former Mercaderian Monk in training in Philadelphia (Mike has since left religious life, which will have serious repercussions on his Twitter handle), who wrote the following: While watching a movie, my little niece laid her head on my chest and then looked up at me quizzically and asked “Uncle Mike, why is there a clock in your chest."

Mike writes about the pain of leaving the religious life, but realizes that there is hope in his life through God's amazing work. The way he combines the lessons from his heart troubles and the lessons he's learned from leaving the religious life are woven together very well. Might have been the best thing I've read all week.

The Catholic Shop in Harrisburg, PA

2011-10-20T10:36:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite places to buy rosary making parts is called The Catholic Shop. It is located in Harrisburg. Well, it is closing next Friday. The building had a lot of damage when we were bombarded with rain this August after Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee.

I'm telling you this, because if you are local you should stop in. Everything is 50% off and they will be open through next week. The building is located on Devonshire Rd at Jonestown Rd (next to Dominos and Pizza Hut), phone number is (717) 657-8747.

There is still a lot of inventory in the store. I was in today buying out most of their centerpieces and about 1/3 of their crucifixes (if you know anyone looking for a rosary I will have a good supply on hand-custom orders accepted)

I wanted to get the info out to as many Catholics in the area as I could so we can help out another Catholic. I'm not sure what the owner plans on doing with remaining inventory so get in there before Friday.
I believe they are willing to make deals for bulk purchases (hint hint Rel Ed and Clergy!)

Wishing everyone a happy weekend.

What's in the box? 10+ years of romance!

2011-10-19T10:12:00.000-07:00

The following is a repost from Dustinfaber.com.

For 11 years or so, I kept a secret from every woman I've ever dated, that I finally got to reveal to my bride the night before our wedding.

A shoebox under the bed was the object I hid for so many years.

This wasn't some crazy shoe box with a man's head inside of it, nor was it a pair of tennis shoes I was too lazy to remove from their rainbow-colored box. Far from it. No, this was a box filled with love.

You see, 10+ years ago at Super Summer in Arkadelphia, Ark., when I was in high school, a woman told us of one of the most romantic things in the world. She said to get a box, write love letters, and give them to your future spouse.

Well hot dog, that was right up my alley. I was crazy romantic in high school, almost to a fault of worshipping superficial signs of romantic attraction, but this sounded like a great idea. I loved to write, I loved love, and I loved my future spouse. Praying for her and writing to her were foreign concepts until that day.

So I got busy writing letters, putting them in a shoebox that I decorated with different colored printer paper. I wrote the date down on the bottom of the box, and got busy. Some letters I wrote over the years were silly and sappy. Some of them, ones I dare not share online, were full of shame and remorse. Regardless of the mood, I poured my heart out in each letter, just like I was talking to my wife. And with each letter, I made sure to say a prayer for that mystery girl.

Here's one from January 23, 2002:

This is just something I wanted to write to you about. My eyes are tearing up just thinking about you, and how wonderful you truly are. Everything about you is something I treasure. Your warmth and kindness, your ability to listen, your willingness to listen, oh I could go on and on but I'll stop.

_____________, I plan to spend the best years of my life with you. For me, there is no escape hatch. When I say "I do," I mean it. Even now I dream about you. And in 20 years, that will remain the same.

You are my everything. I thank God for us everyday. I love you.

Ok, so not my best writing, but I like to think that nine years of practice makes me better.

And I knew that no matter how cheesy my writing, my future wife would appreciate it.

For the next 10 years, I did my best to write as much as I could. The frequency died down when I got into college and started living a lifestyle that God was not proud of. I just felt so ashamed of myself that I couldn't bring myself to face my wife, in the form of that box.

That pain eventually went away, and while I thought about destroying the box (thinking that it was useless since I couldn't keep my promise of abstaining sexually), common sense won out, and the rainbow-colored shoe box traveled with me everywhere I went. I never felt tempted to tell anyone I dated about that box, for fear that knowledge of my letters would ruin the surprise if that girl turned out to be the woman I married (I think I told maybe five people about that box).

Eventually, I started dating Allicia, and when things got serious, I had my box with me. As the wedding got closer and closer, I kept thinking about the best way to present it to her. The rehearsal dinner? The honeymoon night? The Wedding itself? And what if she didn't even like the box? What if she just shrugged her shoulders and set it aside? What a letdown that would be!

Eventually I decided on the wedding rehearsal. I wanted the night to be a special one, surrounded by friends and family. I also knew that this was crazy romantic, and wanted others to be inspired (and yes, deep down a small part of me wanted everyone to see how cool I was for coming up with this idea a decade ago).

So as everyone got ready to eat, I stood up for big speech time. I can't remember exactly what was said, but I thanked everyone for coming, and told them that I didn't feel special enough for people to travel 1,000+ miles to see me for one weekend. I then turned to my bride, and told her she was the most amazing person that I had ever met.

"You see, I've been praying for you all my life," I said with a choked up voice as I reached under my seat to grab a container of so many emotions. "I've spent the last ten years writing love letters to you, praying for that amazing woman that God has for me. And now, I don't have to write letters to an anonymous person anymore. I have a name, I know who she is now, and I thank God for her every day."

And I got the reaction I dreamed of for so many years. Beyond words, beyond appreciation, tears. I worked so hard for so many years, and to be able to give her that box as a completion of this prayerful journey was the greatest reward (other than the actual marriage) that weekend gave to me.

I had no idea who this person was that I was writing to over the years. Hell, for all I knew, maybe there wouldn't be anyone to give that to. To finally cap those years of curiosity off on such a special occasion is something I'll never forget.

Now when I pray for my wife, I truly do have a name to pray for. And I couldn't be more blessed.

For any guy or girl who is still single, I highly encourage you to start a box like this. Sure it's a little bit of work, but the payoff is big. Being able to tell your spouse that you've been praying for them for so many years is rewarding, and it will enrich both her life and yours as well. Nothing shows you care like prayer, and if your marriage means anything to you, you'll start praying for it now.

It just got real

2011-10-15T08:58:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delayed posting. Been a hectic few weeks due to a new shift change at work (now working 11:30 to 8, as working into the evening gives me an extra dollar an hour).

But I did want to write quickly and let everyone know that after visiting the doctor, we are having a girl (Lucy Hartley Faber)! Yes, I was hoping for a boy. Since my sister has two boys, we would have gotten more hand-me-down items, and when our kids get to high school, an older brother would be added security when it comes to my daughter bringing home some boy who just wanted to get into her pants.

I'm not going to go King Henry VIII on my wife for not giving me a male heir, but part of me was a little disappointed.

For about 45 seconds. Then I started thinking about how amazing it would be to have a daughter, and since that Ultrasound, I'm counting down days in my head until our daughter is born.

Ironically, the ultrasound showed something I'll appreciate later on in life. The nurse was unable to actually see the baby's reproductive organs on the screen, instead pointing out three little white lines. These lines are apparently what is used to determine gender.

And it was then that my wife made an outstanding observation. "The one time you want your daughter to spread her legs, she doesn't do it!" Yes, our daughter being uncooperative during the ultrasound (delaying the gender reveal by 30 min or so), was frustrating, but I'm sure when she hits high school, I'll be thankful that she's already made the right decision to keep those private parts hidden from the world.

Before the gender was revealed, we knew we were having a baby. But finding out if the baby would be a boy or girl just seemed to make it more real. Instead of us having a baby being some abstract idea that would get here on Feb. 29, 2012, it got real. As if a candle was lit inside my brain, it dawned on me that I'm going to become a father.

I'm going to have a daughter.

God help us all.

Friday Quick Takes #2

2011-10-07T13:36:00.000-07:00

--- 1 ---

I'm so happy this week is over. It seems like this week took a long time to get through itself.

--- 2 ---

We went for an ultrasound this week. Got to see the baby! The technician told us it looks like a girl. Like a good southern lady the baby had her legs closed together most of the time.

--- 3 ---

Hubby is a bit disappointed the baby isn't a boy. I think all men secretly want a son. I know dustin will be over the moon when he meets his daughter, but until then, he's probably hoping the technician was wrong.

--- 4 ---

We've had two friends (two families) go through miscarriages in the last few weeks. I am working on a blog post about this specifically, but in the mean time, I'd ask all of you to pray for the Miller and Willits families.

--- 5 ---

I'm still without a car after last weeks accident. The bruise across my chest from the seat belt is fading and the soreness in my shoulder has mostly gone away. We're still waiting for the insurance to review a discrepancy.

--- 6 ---

I would like to vent here about the hours a day I spend on hold with insurance companies. However, out of respect for my workplace I won't do it. Just know, I would like to say not nice things.

--- 7 ---

It is my godson's birthday party this weekend. He is really cute. I have no idea what to get him for a gift, and he'll be 3 so he has no real concept of money... If you see me at ToysRus tomorrow looking confused please point me in the direction of guns, trains, or crayons!

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Friday Quick Takes (#1)

2011-10-02T20:25:00.000-07:00

--- 1 ---

This is my first quick take Friday. I've been reading them for months and never posted one before. It's like wanting to wear the same clothes as the cool kids and being fairly certain they'll know I've copied them. However, Kendra was super welcoming and convinced me I am one of the cool kids.

--- 2 ---

I got in a car accident the other day... Not just the other day, my husband's birthday. This stinks on several levels. Not only was his birthday ruined, but so was the front end of my car. There seems to be an insurance issue and they don't plan on covering any of my damages. P.S. I still owe $7000 on the car.

--- 3 ---

I love Delta SkyMiles and Hertz. I was able to find a super low costing rental car for this weekend. We had planned to go visit Dustin's sister this weekend. He shares a birthday with his nephew. I was super bummed when my car went crunch and thought we might not be able to go for the trip. Not only did I find a car for 20.00 a day, but I earn 100 Delta SkyMiles.

--- 4 ---

Wanting ice cream and needing ice cream are completely different things. I love ice cream and being pregnant makes it oh so much worse. And by worse, I mean, YUMMY ICE CREAM IN MY FREEZER!

--- 5 ---

It is now officially Sunday night, but I'm still going to post this and pretend I got it done Friday. Everyone just go along with it.

--- 6 ---

I got a Chocolate Mousse Cake to take to Virginia this weekend for Dustin and Riley's birthday. If you ever find yourself in the small town of New Cumberland, PA do yourself a favor and stop at Dingledein's Bakery. Funny name, AMAZING baked goods.

--- 7 ---

I'm trying to blog more frequently. I'd really like this to be more of a regular gig than a hobby. I'm looking for some themes to keep me on a schedule. If you have a suggestion please comment.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Your Catholic Weekend Guide No. 3

2011-09-29T21:00:00.000-07:00

Many web sites, to prove their usefulness, offer guides on how to live your life, win at your favorite football game, or how to make those little paper ducks. We at catholiclovebirds.com want to guide you as well, so we bring you the Catholic Weekend Guide, your guide to making the most out of your Friday to Sunday.

So my birthday was this week. The big 28 on Tuesday. Woo! I don't ask for much on my birthday. Maybe a trip to Waffle House or some small little gadget.

This year, I got a car wreck. My wife Allicia was in an accident that, praise God, did not hurt her or the baby. But it totaled the car. Absolutely destroyed the front part of it. The gas pedal sticks, the hood is all bent, and some bar on the inside is broken in two.

Happy Birthday to me!

I'm trying to do a good job of accepting the hand God has allowed to be dealt to me, but I gotta say it sucks. The only insurance that was on the car was liability, so there's no shot at the insurance company fixing any part of it. Which means that we still have to make payments on a car that we can't drive.

I know that God has a plan. But I can't quite figure out what the heck he's doing. Far be it from me to question The Almighty, but with a kid on the way, all Allicia and I want is just a little relief.

It could have been much worse.

Movie in theaters with a positive Christian Message
Courageous
Rated PG-13 for some violence and drug content. In wide release on Sept. 30.

Here's a film that is selling you on the positive Christian message. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? I've never seen any of the recent "faith" films like the depressing Left Behind or that Fireproof movie with Kirk Cameron (Kirk Cameron is the reason I have yet to see that film. So annoying). So out comes another film under the same banner, from the same creators.

I'm torn.

Part of me thinks I'm hypocritical because I'll watch silly movies like What About Bob, but don't want to sit through a movie that has strong faith ties. The other part of me wonders if there's so much of a focus on faith that actual film quality is neglected. As Jars of Clay frontman Dan Haseltine tweeted earlier today, "Even my 10yr old son dislikes faith based films because he says they are trying to sell him something like a commercial."

It just seems like Christian media has such a focus on "spreading the word of Jesus" that art quality is second-tier. Listen to your average Christian talk station and you'll hear what I mean: the programs have a very poor quality. Yet if you try to criticize, they'll almost always give you the "We don't have enough funding excuse." Which is crap: you can produce good radio without a budget if you're creative enough.

So why should I spend my hard-earned money on something that isn't great quality because the creators thought, "Oh we don't have to try our hardest, it's about Jesus, people will love it." Isn't that dishonoring Christ by slacking off? Meanwhile, there are "secular" movie makers who are giving their absolute best dedication to the gifts God has given them, making movies that may not have in-your-face Christian messages, but nevertheless paint a positive moral picture.

Why shouldn't I give my money to them instead? You don't have to push Jesus into people's faces for them to see him.

But, judging by the trailer, it seems like a very well-crafted film. For the first minute of that trailer, I was really amped about seeing this movie. But toward the end, it seemed to turn into one of those pamphlets you get on the street about trusting Jesus as your Lord and Saviour. Regardless of the overly-evangelical feeling I got at the end of the trailer, I probably will go see this film at some point soon, as I think the cinematic quality will outweigh the pushy evangelism.

Movie on TV this weekend with positive Christian messages
The Jackie Robinson Story (3 p.m. ET on ESPN Classic)

With the baseball playoffs coming up, what better way to get into the spirit than to watch a film highlighting one of the most courageous (see how I brought that full circle!) men of the 20th century. It definitely shows its age, and was low budget, but it's a pretty powerful story, especially seeing Robinson play himself. For anyone who thinks that athletes are too spoiled to be admired, Robinson provides a stark contrast to that snotty-rich athlete that seems all too common in today's world.

Catholic Football Predictions
Please don't use this information to place bets. If I could get rich based on these predictions, I wouldn't work customer service as a day job.

• Wake Forest over Boston College (Montel Harris is back! Hopefully he brings the glory days back to Wake Forest with an obnoxious win over BC)
• Notre Dame over Purdue (Tyler Eifert comes home! Big win for Notre Dame on the road)
• Duquesne over Bryant (I dated a girl from a town named Bryant. That relationship ended poorly. So will Bryant's game against Duquesne
• Colgate over Fordham (Fordham's PAtrick Murray was punter of the week!
• Holy Cross over New Hampshire (New Hampshire is dedicating their game to two brothers who were injured in an auto accident last month. Sadly, they'll lose the game)
• New England Patriots over Oakland (OK, so not a Catholic organization, but Tom Brady is Catholic, and he cut his hair. Just like Samson. Wait a minute....)

Last week's record: 2-2 (I predicted HC over NH last week. My bad)
Overall: 6-3

Beautiful Catholic Church worth driving to see
St. Mary's Basilica, Covington, Ky.

This church holds the world record for largest stained glass window. At 67 feet long by 24 feet wide, it's freakin amazing! And if you go to the church's official web site, they have NO good photos of the window itself. If your church holds a record for beauty, wouldn't you display that as soon as you could?

Remember what I said about Christian media not giving it their all? Ugh.

Anways, since you can't really see it online, you can visit the church from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Monday through Saturday. Mass times at 9:30 a.m. on weekdays, 4:30 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.

Best Catholic Blog to read on the Toilet
I'll man up and admit it: I do a lot of reading on teh toilet. Mostly Sports Illustrated and those interesting Yahoo! feature stories on the front page. But lately, I need to get more Catholicism in my life, on and off the pot.

This week's pick is Jeff Geerling's site, www.lifeisaprayer.com. Jeff's site is a good place to get updates from this year's Catholic New Media Celebration, an event Allicia and I originally planned on attending before finding out she was pregnant. Amazing how the miracle of life overrules Catholic podcasting!

One other reason I like Jeff's site is because he's geekier than I am! Remember what I said about Christian media not giving their 100 percent best? Jeff definitely doesn't fall into that category. He gives great insights on what it takes to design apps (such as this post about whether or not to develop for Android), along with a good dose of faith too.

His writing is so down to earth that even if you don't speak techno-babble, you can probably figure out what he's talking about. It's a very fun, sometimes educational, read from someone using their gifts and talents for God's glory.

Here's to Jeff Geerling, a good read in AND out of the bathroom.

What Your Priest Won't Tell You This Weekend

I'm no theologian. But if I was given this week's Gospel reading, here's what I'd tell my congregation, in an extremely short but poignant Homily. Which means that your priest will probably tell you something different and probably better. Oh, and this week's Gospel reading comes from Matthew 21:33-43.

It's an easy trap to fall into, to think that you are better than other people who loudly and actively preach against Christ and Christianity. 'I'm better than them, I'll think to myself, because I don't treat Jesus this way.'

'I wouldn've been one of the ones who killed the heir in this parable,' I think to myself. Or would I? See, the part that gets me feeling bad each time I read this is the line where the servants say, "let us kill him and acquire his inheritance." It makes me wonder how many times I've "killed" Christ in my heart, based on my own selfish desires to acquire great things. How many times have I acted selfishly in the name of greed?

So many that it puts me to shame. Christ's words at the end of the parable are a stark warning to me: God will take away his Kingdom from me and give it to people who produce wonderful things. Each time I read the story, I am reminded to pursue God for selfless reasons, and to always produce good things with the talents he has given me.

I don't want anything taken away.

I Found a Catholic on Youtube!
It's hard to believe sometimes, but there are Catholics that have embraced Youtube! Each week we scour Youtube to find a real Catholic who believes in the video format and share their goodness with other children of God. Here's this week's find!

Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh talks to Catholic Review about his Catholic faith and what he loves about it. I loved hearing that he has a Bible study with his coaches on Tuesday mornings, and that the players have a heavily-attended bible study on Thursday. And hearing an NFL coach talk about David's Mighty Men? Now that just makes me downright giddy.

If the Ravens end up beating the Patriots in the playoffs this year, hearing about Harbaugh's faith will only make me 97 percent mad that my team lost.

A Tweet to Leave You By

Congratulations (unnamed) 3rd world country: Hundreds of Boston Red Sox AL Wild Card tshirts are coming your way!Thu Sep 29 14:22:52 via webLino Rulli
linorulli

Crazy Dreams

2011-09-27T11:49:00.000-07:00

So apparently at this stage of my pregnancy (17/18weeks along) having odd dreams is normal. Just so we are clear the dreams are hormonal, and in no way a reflection on my mental status. Seriously, I was so happy to get an email from WhatToExpect.com with my little timeline reminding me that I am not a wack job, it is just the hormones. Thank you baby Jesus. I was really concerned for the sake of my parents cat, who has had purple hair in one dream; my living room which didn't really have bean bag furniture on Thursday; and my baby who was born while a cannon shooting blue goo and confetti exploded in the same room. This too shall pass!

Your Catholic Weekend Guide No. 2

2011-09-22T19:55:00.000-07:00

Many web sites, to prove their usefulness, offer guides on how to live your life, win at your favorite football game, or how to make those little paper ducks. We at catholiclovebirds.com want to guide you as well, so we bring you the Catholic Weekend Guide, your guide to making the most out of your Friday to Sunday.

One of the things I've heard about during a pregnancy is the fact that men put on sympathy weight. I didn't go out of my way to do this, but I admit I do look a little pudgy. Apparently I'm not the only one who notices. The other day at work, one of the guys who sits near me rolled his chair over to my cubicle, leans over and says, "You getting a little fat man," while pointing at my stomach.

He laughed and blamed it on my wife's pregnancy. What the heck???? If I had rolled over to any woman's desk and said, "Hey you're packing on a few pounds," I'd be hauled into HR. Yet a person I vaguely know can roll over to my desk and point out weight gain without any fear.

We live in a very sexist country to allow this behavior to flourish! I demand change! Come to think of it, I could have reported him. But I didn't. Instead I helped him change a flat tire. I'm so humble and awesome.

Movie in theaters with positive Christian overtones
Machine Gun Preacher
Rated R for a bunch of stuff blowing up, someone having non-Church approved sex, and some language your grandmother would never say. Opens in limited release on Friday.
I'm not sure what kind of rating the USCCB will give this film. Probably an L or O from the looks of it. But I heard Gerard Butler on Howard Stern's show a few days ago, and it sounded like a movie filled with redemption. Guy turns from his previous life of sin and dedicates his days to helping rebuild homes in East Africa, and defends the lives of children.

Based on a true story, it seems like an action movie that has a lot of heart and good character to accompany the violence. And that's always something nice for a movie to contain.

Movie on TV this weekend with positive Christian overtones
Cape Fear (1961) (3:30 a.m. ET on AMC)
USCCB gives this an AIII rating (Adults). How can you not love this film? It's Gregory Peck playing a lawyer! And it's on during the middle of the night, a perfect chance to frighten you.

Actually, this film shows the value of the sacrament of marriage! A man defending his wife against a sadistic convict trying to get revenge on the man who put him in jail. Watch this movie with your wives, and tell them you love them the way Peck loves his wife. Bonus points guaranteed.

My Catholic Football Predictions
Please don't use this information to place bets. If I could get rich based on these predictions, I wouldn't work customer service as a day job.
• Boston College over Massachusetts. (If BC doesn't win by 21, it signifies a failed season)
• Pittsburgh over Notre Dame (Notre Dame is too fluky to win two big games in a row)
• Duquesne over St. Francis (with all due respect to our saints, schools named specifically after saints do not win games)
• Fordham over Rhode Island (Dylan Smith, Rhode Island's kicker, was perfect on extra points in high school. Now a freshman, he's going to break down at the last second!)
• Holy Cross over New Hampshire (New Hampshire is lame!)
Last week's record: 4-1
Season record: 4-1

Beautiful Catholic Church you should drive a few hours to visit
Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, Jonesboro, AR

Located in the city of churches, Blessed Sacrament features a really long driveway you have to traverse to find a parking spot. Maybe the drive is longer in my head, but I remember thinking that it was a nuisance. Anyways, when you go inside though, its not all out amazing, but the soft brown color palette leaves you feeling peaceful. I felt like I was in a very calming building, and for a church to give off a vibe of comfort, that's always something to write home about.

I was there for a quick confession in 2009, and the priest couldn've been nicer. Great place to get forgiveness.

Sadly, their web site needs some help. Three frames on the bottom. Ugh!!

Best Catholic blog to read on the toilet
I'll man up and admit it: I do a lot of reading on the toilet. Mostly Sports Illustrated and those interesting Yahoo! feature stories on the front page. But lately, I need to get more Catholicism in my life, on and off the pot.

This week's pick goes to NunBlog, written by Sister Anne in Chicago. I first noticed Sister Anne's work on Twitter, where her clever haikus always brought a smile to my face (one reads, "Christ left you a share // of his cross that you can bear // for his Body's sake."). I really enjoy the blog because it gives me a glimpse into what life is like for a religious sister in today's planet earth.

From the lighthearted moments, such as ironing shirts, to dealing with a fellow nun's death, Sister Anne breathes freshness into my blog reading. If every religious community had a blogger as skilled as her, The Church would be much better off.

What Your Priest Won't Tell You This Weekend

Dear Zit, seriously? I'm pushing 40. Gimme a break.Sun Sep 18 23:24:36 via webDanielle Bean
DanielleBean

Finding justice for every Troy Davis

2011-09-21T19:28:00.000-07:00

Edit: This post was written shortly before finding out that the Supreme Court denied Troy Davis' request for an appeal. Davis was executed at 11:08 p.m. tonight. I urge everyone to keep Troy, his family, and the MacPhail family in their prayers tonight

"For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me." - Matthew 25:26

The execution of Troy Davis, which was scheduled to take place at 7 p.m. tonight, was delayed by the U.S. Supreme Court, sparing his life, even if just by a few hours.

If you don't know the story of Troy Davis, basically what happened is that he was convicted of murdering a policeman using some shaky evidence (no gun, for example), and sentenced to die. Years later, seven of the nine witnesses recanted all or part of their testimony against him, basically making the thought of an innocent man being executed an all-too-real thought.

Is Troy Davis guilty? Aside from the courts, nobody is sure. Is he innocent? Public perception seems to think he is. Should he die?

No. Absolutely not. Even if he was 100 percent guilty, we should not kill this man.

Why? Because all life is sacred. From the unborn child to the convicted rapist, every person has value. Every person is made in the image of God. It's why I strongly oppose abortion in in all cases, including rape. It's why I shudder every time I think of our country dropping an atomic bomb in Japan. It's why I shake my head in disgust at people who claim to be prolife but turn around and support the death penalty (I'm looking at you, Ann Coulter). And it's why I think that life in prison is sufficient punishment for even the most evil murderers in our country.

Are there exceptions? The way our country is run, there aren't any. In section 2267 of The Catechism of The Catholic Church, it states, "Assuming that the guilty party's identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.

If, however, non-lethal means are sufficient to defend and protect people's safety from the aggressor, authority will limit itself to such means, as these are more in keeping with the concrete conditions of the common good and more in conformity to the dignity of the human person.

Today, in fact, as a consequence of the possibilities which the state has for effectively preventing crime, by rendering one who has committed an offense incapable of doing harm - without definitely taking away from him the possibility of redeeming himself - the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity "are very rare, if not practically nonexistent."

Two hundred years ago, when prisons weren't as secure and a murderer had a good chance at escaping and committing more atrocities, then I could see the need for an execution. Nowadays though, if someone is locked up in prison for good, that is almost always sufficient in keeping that person from harming others.

So the Christian faith I subscribe to backs me up on this. That's always nice to have in your back pocket.

Other than the intrinsic wrong that is executing someone, let's look at executions on a logical level. If you believe that human life is sacred, why would you allow a system that can occasionally see an innocent man die? Of all the executions that have taken place in this country, logically you have to know that not every person executed was guilty. And these lives aren't statistics: they're people. If you have a system that can put an innocent person to death, then if you value life, you have no choice but to concede that it is a broken system.

On the flip side, if you sentence an innocent man to life in prison, there's still time to correct the wrong decision and compensate the man financially for the wrong-doing. For an innocent man put to death, all you can do is apologize at his grave.

I think the saddest part about any of these executions, aside from the obvious fact that a person's life is ending, is the "joy" that the victim's family gets out of seeing someone die. No, I'm not in their shoes, but isn't that just a LITTLE sick and twisted, finding comfort and satisfaction in someone else's death? This isn't me judging, but I have to wonder if those people are truly interested in seeing justice done, or if seeing someone die is just their way of exacting mental revenge on someone.

Sadly, I do think it's the latter. And if you wish death on someone, no matter what they've done, well, you're not following that whole "love your enemies" thing that Jesus made famous. If anyone in my family dies at the hands of a murderer, you can hold me to this next statement: I will fight against that person receiving the death penalty, no matter what.

Forgiveness is hard, but that's what Christ would want us to do. Whether it's a Troy Davis, an unborn baby, or a Timothy McVeigh, we should all have a chance at life.

Even if we don't "deserve" it.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repealed: Goodbye stupidity

2011-09-20T18:16:00.000-07:00

Today was a great victory in our country: Don't Ask, Don't Tell, a military policy barring homosexuals from serving in the military openly, was repealed at 12:01 a.m.

For years, I've thought this was a horrible law, drenched in equality and stupidity. I don't speak for The Catholic Church, which save for a few outspoken priests and bishops, has been silent on the issue. Well, not EXACTLY silent: the Cathecism of TCC states that homosexuals, while their behavior not condoned, must be, "accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided."

I believe that not being allowed to serve in the military is one of those injustices. Why not allow gays to serve in the military? Because of their lifestyle? Last time I checked, sex outside of marriage was frowned upon by our Church, regardless of the person's lifestyle: if you're going to kick out every heterosexual that has sex outside of marriage, we're going to be left with a really shoddy military.

So it's ok for straight people who break God's commandments to serve in the military, but homosexuals who do the same can't? Give me a break.

And spare me the whole, "Morale will suffer if you allow gays to serve openly." I believe that argument could have been made centuries ago when it came to non-whites or women serving in the military. It's not fair that people like Jonathan Lewis, who was going to be promoted to Major one year early, get the boot strictly because of a lifestyle choice. It's not as if Lewis was on his way out the door: getting a promotion to Major cleary showed that the military had faith in a guy who led three combat missions.

Just like thousands of others, he got flushed down the toilet.

If you want to defend me and my right to worship freely, vote freely, and live freely, I do not care what your sexual orientation is. I'm too busy being grateful for your sacrifice to spend time worrying about your lifestyle, something that isn't my business.

To all of our soldiers, gay and straight, I thank you so much for your service to our country. God bless you!

Your Catholic Weekend Guide no. I

2011-09-15T19:50:00.000-07:00

Many web sites, to prove their usefulness, offer guides on how to live your life, win at your favorite football game, or how to craft the perfect bonzai tree. We at catholiclovebirds.com want to guide you as well, so we're introducing the Catholic Weekend Guide, your guide to making the most out of your Friday to Sunday.

My wife and I have a party to attend on Sunday. A birthday party. You know you're old when the majority of your parties end up being birthday parties. The kid loves video games, so we'll probably go to the Game Traders Club and get him a gift card. Screw Gamestop. I go there on occasion, but only when I have no other choice. And by no other choice, I mean bored and it's right next to the clothing store my wife wants to shop in.

Does anyone outside of college even have non-birthday parties any more? I always hear about people having costume parties and things like that, but I have yet to see or hear of anyone who actually throws things like that. The closest thing I can think of are WWE and UFC pay-per-view gatherings, but I consider those to be get-togethers rather than actual parties.

Another sign that life on TV is more fun than life in 4D.

Anyways, here's your Catholic Weekend Guide on everything inside and outside of the Church. It's self-explanatory, and I hope to God someone reads this. Should be fun to write each week.

Movies
Film in wide-release with positive Christian overtones/messages:
The Lion King
Rated G by MPAA, A-1 (all ages) by United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
It's only available for two weeks. And besides, movies like this are fun to see on the big-screen again. Makes you feel like a kid again. I'm not sure about the prices, but I remember going to see the re-released Toy Story 1 and 2 a few years ago, and it cost me about $10 for both movies. I imagine that a re-released Lion King, even if it's in 3D, will probably be cheaper than the other movies showing.

Plus, seeing Lion King is a great way to teach your kids about responsibility and growing up. And know that sometimes grownups are bad and say things to you to make you feel horrible even though it's not true.

Film on basic cable with positive Christian overtones
The Green Mile (Fox, 12:30 p.m. ET)
Rated R by MPAA, AIII (Adults) by USCCB
One of my favorite movies and books. The Green Mile isn't for the type ~~that loves seeing prisoners fry~~ that supports capital punishment. Very uplifting Tom Hanks film that shows that every person has value and worth, even if they are convicted of the most horrible crimes imaginable. While not named specifically (much like the book of Esther), I think God definitely has a presence in this film. He has given each of us a gift, and nobody should waste it.

My Catholic football predictions
As a note, please don't use any of this information if you make a bet. If this insight could get you rich, I wouldn't be working customer service as a day-job.

• Boston College over Duke (If you never bet on Duke football, you'll live a successful life)
• Notre Dame over Michigan State (Notre Dame too good to go 0-3 this year)
• Duquesne over Valparaiso (Someone in Pittsburgh has to win a football game)
• Fordham over Columbia (Fordham sounds cooler than Columbia, etymologically speaking)
• Holy Cross over Harvard (my conscience won't allow me to select Harvard for anything positive)

Beautiful Catholic Church of the Week that you should try to go visit

The Cathedral of San Agustin in the Diocese of Laredo
That's a beautiful church right there. $675,000 was used to restore the church from 1989 to 1994, and they actually offer confessions 15 minutes before Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday's daily mass. But wow, look at that architecture! Now that is an amazing, gothic style church. If I lived in Laredo, I'd walk by it every day.

Best Catholic Blog to read on the toilet this weekend.

I'll man up and admit it: I do a lot of reading on the toilet. Mostly Sports Illustrated and those interesting Yahoo! feature stories on the front page. But lately, I need to get more Catholicism in my life, on and off the pot.

My recommendation to read this weekend? Engagedmarriage.com. OK, so maybe I'm biased toward a guy named Dustin who writes about faith and family, but I found his post on paying off $54,500 in debt in less than four years very inspiring. I will definitely make time to read this more of this blog, even without a porcelain seat. I just hope he finds the time to eliminate that ghastly Papyrus font that haunts his web site. Ewww Papyrus!

What your priest WON'T tell you this weekend.

I'm no theologian. But if I was given this week's Gospel reading, here's what I'd tell my congregation, in an extremely short but poignant Homily. Which means that your priest will probably tell you something different and probably better. Oh, and the reading is from Matthew 20:1-16a

(clears throat)

God is a fair God. God loves each of us. While it's great that we all have God's love, a lot of times it sucks. Because God treats all of us the same, there are many times when I think that he shouldn't be as fair to others based on their behavior. In the parable, men who worked all day for the landowner. They were probably faithful workers, busting their humps for the boss. And what happens? These guys off the street do half the amount of work and get paid the exact same thing!

I'd probably be mad too. Nothing is more annoying than hearing some person yammer on about how horrible of a person they were, only to find God's grace and magically turn everything around. I gotta be faithful, but this person gets to go out, have sex with thousands of women, but then they get to hop on the bandwagon and get the same forgiveness that I've appreciated for years?

Unfortunately, we can't call B.S. on God's love and forgiveness. This parable is a reminder that no matter how we conduct our lives, God loves each of us the same. And whether we were always faithful, or wait until the last second to seek his mercy, He's going to treat all of us the same.

One look at my ugly sins, and I immediately realize what a blessing that is.

I found a Catholic on Youtube!
It's hard to believe sometimes, but there are Catholics that have embraced Youtube! Each week we scour Youtube to find a real Catholic who believes in the video format and share their goodness with other children of God. Here's this week's find!

Word of caution: Make sure your speakers aren't turned up when you hit play. That girl's voice is extremely high-pitched. And talk about a genius shirt: A little on the cocky side, but it's pure genius.

Good explanation on how to become Catholic, but my only pet peeve (and this goes for anyone who is giving an explanation of their beliefs) is that she spends too much time explaining that she doesn't want to offend anyone with her beliefs. No need to apologize for what you believe in. And let's be honest: a pretty girl telling you how to become Catholic is more appealing than a crusty old man telling you the same thing.

A tweet to leave you by

When you're a 31 year-old man sharing DMs about how All My Children should end, maybe it's time to go to bed. Good night, y'all. #AMCTue Sep 13 05:12:59 via webDan Sealana
CatholicDan

Link: CNS tries to do story on video games, fails

2011-09-15T17:11:00.000-07:00

Here is a link to my post about a recent article from the Catholic News Service about video games.

Basically, it takes them to task for publishing an article that basically tells us everything we know about games already. Hardly a hard-hitting, informative article.

We Catholics can do much better than this.

The post where dustin's head explodes

2011-09-14T19:03:00.000-07:00

I can fully empathize with J.D. in that Scrubs clip. While I'm awfully grateful that God decided to give us a child now (instead of waiting a few months like I proposed to him so that we could get better financial footing), not a day goes by when I don't ask God, "Hey, how about some extra money to take care of this kid?"

It's my wife's dream to be a stay-at-home Mom. It's something I desperately want to provide to her. My heart aches at the idea of her not getting to do this. Yet when I'm only pulling in $24K a year, with a shitload of bills to pay, it seems like a distant fantasy.

Each week, I'm always scratching out expense estimates, that always look something like this:

Rent - $600
Car - $300
Food - $200
Debt - $200

There it is, there's my paycheck. I've left out car insurance, any form of digital media (internet, cell phones, tv, etc), any kind of savings, and gas for the car. And in Harrisburg, good luck finding a place under $600 where you won't get mugged daily. Yet, that small little budget you see exceeds my take-home pay (don't get me started on the stuff they withdraw. Why do I have to pay union fees when I don't belong to a stupid union??).

I love God for so many reasons, but the one thing that drives me nuts about following Christ is this brain-numbing. And I'm sure you've dealt with it a time or two. Is this rough situation due to the fact that it's not the path God wants me to go down, or is this situation hard because God wants me to have faith and persevere? I honestly have no clue.

We could try cutting down on bills, but the only extravagant thing we have is a DVR on our DirecTV. Do we cut out tv service all together? I know many people do that and rely solely on the internet or dvds, but losing TV service would be extremely due to her love of HGTV and my love of WWE Raw. Besides, it isn't like cutting TV magically puts us in range to be able to pay off everything. We'd still be coming up short.

You might have seen in our bills that only one car was listed. We have two cars, one a 2006 Ford Focus and the other a 1976 beetle. I could sell the Beetle, pay off the loan used to finance the car and pay off a credit card or two with the earnings, and become a one-car family. If Allicia is a stay-at-home mom, this isn't very difficult. But if we both have to work, only having one car seems like a tough thing to live with.

The best solution I can come up with, save for getting a better salary at work, is picking up a part-time job on the weekend. If we could find a lower rent home, trim up expenses to the point of pain, and add $150 to the budget each month, that could help.

Until then, pray for us. God knows we need all the help we can get.

We're up and running at catholiclovebirds.com

2011-09-14T16:28:00.000-07:00

We took the plunge and purchased a domain name for ourselves.

If you don't have us bookmarked (shame on you), we can now be accessed by typing www.catholiclovebirds.com in your world wide web browser.

We hope this brings us more visitors, since typing catholiclovebirds.com is much easier than typing out thecatholiclovebirds.blogspot.com (if someone left out "the" at the beginning of the old address, they got directed to a blog that hasn't been updated in three years).

Enjoy!

Updates from the Baby Doctors

2011-09-14T06:22:00.000-07:00

dustin and I went to the doctor for our second visit yesterday. VERY EARLY in the morning I might add. Everything was well, we heard the baby's heartbeat for the first time. At our first visit we saw the heartbeat on the ultrasound but no sound. This time we got to hear it. So cool! It is crazy thinking there is a person inside of me. Amazing to think that we create new life, and it is happening all over the world, every day! One day that little whoosh woosh sound coming from my belly will be eating PB&J, asking for the car keys, getting a job, going to school. Wow...

I'm about 16 weeks pregnant now, which means I have about 24 weeks to go. It seems like dustin and I are always counting down to something!

Next up- We will be going for an ultrasound in October to find out the gender of the baby. Yes, we want to know. We aren't quite sure yet if we want to do something special to break the news. We've heard lots of suggestions from people who have had the technician write the results and seal it in an envelope. dustin likes this idea. I don't like surprises. We'll see!

Short 9/11 thoughts

2011-09-11T07:40:00.000-07:00

Many others have said more elegant things about the subject than I ever could.

I didn't live in NYC, Shanksville, Pa., or Washington D.C. on September 11. I didn't lose any loved ones, so I can't identify with the horror of this day like thousands of others unfortunately can.

But I still remember that morning. I'm still heartbroken over what took place, and my prayers go up for the victims and their families on a regular basis.

The one thing I'll remember about that morning is telling my mom at 8:30 p.m. ET (30 min or so before the attack) something we both remember vividly 10 years later.

"Mom, I wish we were back in NYC today," I told her as she was brushing her teeth, me about to go to school (I was a senior in high school, and going to school that day still remains one of my top 5 regrets).

The thing is, even after those attacks, I don't take back that statement. I wished we were in New York City on that day. Maybe we could have helped. Or stood side by side with someone in mourning over the attacks. Being in NYC (or D.C. or Shanksville) that day and witnessing the willpower of those citizens would have been a powerful reminder that this country is strong, and will not take this lying down.

So I continue to pray, even during those moments of doubt. Pray for those who lost their lives. Pray for our country. Pray that she gets stronger by ridding herself of all evil, be it terrorism from afar, or abortion inside her borders.

God bless us all.

The great flood of Harrisburg (with video)

2011-09-10T03:50:00.000-07:00

With flooding reaching historic purposes in Harrisburg, PA (I live in a suburb called Wormleysburg, right across the river from the Capital building), I thought it would have been downright irresponsible NOT to report on this. After all, I do have a journalism degree from that school in Arkansas that shall not be named.

Second video is a little dark, but the thrill of going outside at 5:30 a.m. to shoot Youtube video was too good to pass up. Plus, after hearing one of the CBS news anchors tweet me and say that I was a natural after seeing the first video (even if it was just a too kind compliment), I definitely felt inspired.

Basically, the river was supposed to crest to 29 feet and wreak havoc on our neighborhood. And while other parts of the city were hit hard by this flooding (six people died), we were blessed to not have any damage whatsoever as of 6:49 a.m. on Saturday.

Enjoy!

Wanted: A disciplined life

2011-09-06T19:22:00.000-07:00

As I left work tonight, a chain reaction of events led me to the stark conclusion that I am a lazy bum.

OK, so lazy doesn't really cut it, because my professional work ethic is anything but lazy. But sloth perhaps has become a huge fault of mine since, well, since as long as I can remember.

Deep breath. "I am a sloth."

Wow, it felt good to get that off my chest. There are other lighter revelations I can bring to light, like my new preference for Pepsi over Coca Cola, or my secret desire to see the Arkansas Razorbacks succeed in their sporting endeavors.

Anyways, my realization that Sloth started to hit me right after getting off of work. I had to walk 30 seconds in the pouring rain to my car parked in the back. I had a great, close spot at work this morning. How'd I lose it? I chose to sleep in instead of packing a lunch, and had to waste most of my lunch break going to Subway instead (the new Oven Crisp Chicken Sandwich, despite what The Miz tells you, was disappointing).

After getting in my car, an old Beetle that has probably seen better days, water on the roof of my car came pouring into my car when I flipped it into reverse, splashing water onto my iPhone. The part of the phone where I hear people talking was affected, making conversations extremely hard to hear.

The water thing annoyed me so much that I thought I should sell my car, that I needed to convert my family to a one-car fam so that we could use the extra money to pay off debts. That got me thinking about the fact that I'm going to be a dad come March, and that every night when I come home, I don't do anything productive outside of cooking dinner for my beautiful wife.

I live an undisciplined life. I don't allow any time for prayer or Bible reading, I don't clean like I should. Instead, I get online and play around on Twitter (not even posting things of value for others most of the time), wasting valuable time that could be spent cleaning our messy home, or doing more productive things like writing.

Add that realization to the fact that the potholder was on the floor instead of hanging up where it should be, and I snapped. I've had it with my so-called life! God, my wife, our future child deserve a better me, a more disciplined me. Just this past weekend, a friend of High School named Sarah, a mother of two beautiful children, was posting on Facebook about doing all of this cleaning around the house.

It made me realize that with parenthood coming up, it is time to grow up in all aspects of my life, cleaning included.

So I made a pact with God, myself, and my wife. I would devote anywhere from 10-30 minutes each night doing some cleaning around the house, and when possible, 20-30 minutes of writing on our blog or posting helpful Twitter updates. And starting with 5-10 minutes of Scripture reading as well.

Even when doing that and cooking dinner, that still allows me at least an hour of fun time. I really think in the long-run, I'll be happier by having some structure in my personal life, instead of letting time pass me by.

Tonight, I did three loads of laundry and cleaned the oven. Tomorrow? Straighten up the living room. Maybe I'll dust some furniture on Thursday.

Who knew that cleaning could be so rewarding?

Mario Paint + Christian Music = Youtube Gold

2011-09-06T18:54:00.000-07:00

Visit this link for a post I wrote about Christian music being covered by the Mario Paint program on the SNES. Very creative covers that actually sound really good on 16-bit sound processors.

In fact, pretty much all video game centric posts will be located at catholicvideogamers.blogspot.com from now on.

Child abuse reaches past stained glass windows

2011-09-01T15:45:00.000-07:00

In 34 weeks or so, my wife Allicia and I will give birth to a son (it's not official, but I am 99 percent sure that our first born will undergo circumcision, while Allicia 99 percent disagrees with me). One of the things we are most excited about, other than the lady bug sleeper, is the idea of raising our children in the Catholic faith.

Allicia and I are both converts. She converted to Catholicism when she was 13, I did it when I was 26. This isn't to say that I was some kind of anti-religious kid whose upbringing consisted of vandalizing houses of worship. My mother and father did a great job at instilling a solid Christian faith in me. Dad taught Sunday School and practically began the bus ministry at Hillcrest Baptist Church in Augusta, while Mom made sure that church on Sundays was always the highest priority.

I can't thank my parents enough for giving me this backbone of faith that made Catholicism possible for me later in life.

So it is with that faith background that Allicia and I count down the days until we get to see our children baptized. First communion, first confession, and if we are lucky, hopefully we'll be able to see at least one of our children take a vow of religious life.

We understand that not everyone gets that excited over religious events in their lives. It's not our place to judge and decide that someone is full of skubala (ancient greek for shit) because they don't want to be a part of Catholicism.

That is, until someone posts a blog post that has "I'm full of skubala" written all over it. Far be it from me, a lowly blogger who still loves playing Mario Paint, to pick fights. But I just can't help but bring to attention this blog I saw while doing a search for Catholic Parenting. In it, the author talks about she and her husband leaving Catholicism after finding out that priests from her childhood did the worst crime possible: abuse children (not specifically her, however).

She goes on to say, "I knew that the Church’s walls were not my home anymore. Those walls certainly couldn’t be trusted to protect my children. I had no faith left in the Catholic Church."

Most importantly, I’m angry that God’s children were the last priority and that Canon Law took precedent over criminal law.But unlike Rice, I haven’t completely given up on organized religion.

Raising my children with religion is important to me. After many careful searches, my children have a church home where I feel we can provide a safe and nurturing religious environment.

Seriously? I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but no organized religion is perfect. Anything run by humans is bound to have imperfections. Was the sex abuse scandal a horrible chapter in Church history? Absolutely.

But to act like Catholicism is the only place where sex abuse takes place is ignorant. Six to 10 percent of children in public schools have been sexually abused or harassed by school employees. Yet I never see teachers vilified the way The Catholic Church has been through the past few years.

My God, you'd think that Catholicism was the only church with problems, but protestant churches have the same problem. Sexual abuse knows no boundaries. This isn't me pointing fingers at others while trying to excuse my Church for it's crimes. But I'm sick of The Catholic Church being constantly smeared while other walks of life with the exact same problem walk free.

And for this person to write that they now have a church home that appears safe is a bit naive. I'm glad she feels at peace, but what happens when the next denomination she joins has a member who abuses children. Does she leave that church? Where does it stop?

For someone to leave Catholicism solely because of a problem that exists beyond the boundaries of The Church wreaks of ignorance. Whether you are protestant or catholic, a teacher or a police officer, a parent or single person, we all have work to do when it comes to eradicating sexual abuse of children.

Leaving Catholicism because you think some other place is safer is not the answer. Making the faith you belong to safer, now that's a great place to start.

That author might have left Catholicism because of misguided fears. As for me and my wife? There isn't any other place we'd rather be.

Conquering Super Mario Bros. 3...the long way!

2011-08-27T20:33:00.000-07:00

With our baby on the way come March, there's a part of me that's ready to become a father. There's also a part of me that thinks that half the things I do for fun now will be severely crippled once that baby gets here.

With household chores, such as doing the dishes, if I'm in the middle of playing a game or watching a movie, I'll procrastinate and finish my fun. There's absolutely no way I can do that when baby needs feeding. No, you won't collect that seventh Chaos Emerald dustin, you will feed that kid, change his diapers, and maybe in a few days you'll get a 5-minute window to topple Robotnik.

MAYBE five minutes at the most. I know that might be a slight exaggeration, but I think I'm being realistic to think that when it comes to entertainment, my life will get a drastic overhaul.

So in the next few months, I'm taking the time to try doing things that I won't get many chances at doing later on in life. For instance, last Saturday Allicia and I took a random trip to Loretto, Pa., to see the Sunken Gardens (more on that in a separate post). Last night, however, I did something I could never manage to do when I was a child.

Complete Super Mario Bros. 3. Without warping.

At first this doesn't sound very difficult. But for some reason, Super Mario Bros. 3 was created without a battery backup to save your game, nor was there a password system. You had to finish this game in one sitting.

All 8 Worlds. Most people can't handle it and just use warp whistles to skip through levels. But I wanted to get that feeling of accomplishment, so last night I sat down at the NES after everyone had gone to bed (my sister is visiting this weekend) and threw myself back to the 90s. For four hours. A long time to play a game.

I'd only played the game sparingly since I was a child, never really dedicating any time to making progress in it. Playing through it though, I felt like a kid again. Grab that leaf, fly through the air, taking a boat to explore the islands of the water world, then head off to worlds filled with ice, pipes, and clouds. The game really did a great job of giving you a sense of adventure.

You could imagine yourself in that boat. You could imagine yourself roaming through the world of Ice. For a kid, that's an amazing feeling, one that I could only previously find in books.

As a brief aside, to show how much the game has stuck with me for years, this song, played on the world map of the Ice World, ALWAYS gets stuck in my head whenever it's really cold or snowy outside. The snow was so bad this winter in Harrisburg that I purposely cranked it up in my car and drove around on the icy roads.

Playing through the complete game really did draw me back to yesteryear. A few things that I noticed while playing through the game that I didn't pick up on before:

• The stages are really short. Which is a good thing, because without being able to save your progress, if they were any longer nobody would be able to complete the game. They seemed much longer when I was a kid, but I was able to get through a few in less than 30 seconds.

• Those special suits really don't show up very often. Take the Hammer Bros. suit, for instance. The only place I found it was in a mushroom house in world six (I didn't use a strategy guide, so it's possible it could have been in a few more spots). Once you lose it, you aren't getting it back. And that's a shame, because it was such a fun power-up, that it would have been nice to have it around longer.

• Level 5-3 houses the greatest Super Mario Bros. powerup in history, Kuribo's Shoe.

Why this hasn't shown up in any other Mario games is beyond me. When I was a child, this shoe was cool. At 27, this shoe is simply amazing.

But man, was it long and sometimes excruciating to play through this in one sitting. Twice I had to take a break because my hands started to cramp up. Nintendo should have thought about adding something to save your progress, but at least later releases allowed the ability to save.

Still, I think this could be the greatest Mario game ever created, for the simple fact that it was so revolutionary at the time. Sure, Mario 64 was revolutionary as well due to the 3D nature of the game. But when I completely finished Super Mario 64 in October, I immediately dreaded the idea of going back to it. I was done, all 125 stars collected. Absolutely no reason to go back and play again.

But after the mindcrunch that was SMB3 at 1:30 a.m., I still want to go back and play it, if only to try beating the game with that frog suit. I still like the third iteration of Super Mario best because of the wealth of abilities (the frog suit rocks!) in the game, the fact that it was accessible to novice players while still giving skilled gamers a challenge, and the fact that it ~~appeared in a movie with the dreamy Fred Savage!~~ had so much creativity in level and enemy design.

And being the nut I am, I felt the need to record this feat in my life as well.

Think I'll get a chance to pull four-hour NES sessions when our child is born? I don't think so either. Thank God that one item is crossed off my digital bucket list.

Yes, they make lingerie for children

2011-08-18T19:46:00.000-07:00

This news story should discredit any snobby European who thinks Americans are classless.

On Greg and Jennifer Willits show this afternoon, they mentioned that there was French lingerie company that is selling lingerie! You know, the sexy kind that when you see your wife wearing it, you get all warm and tingly cause she's so beautiful?

Actually no. This lingerie is marketed toward girls ages 4-12.

Lingerie for girls ages 4-12. Lets let that sink in for a moment or two. Lingerie. For girls. Age 4. To 12.

I'm not even going to post a picture. Toddlers and Tiaras makes me feel creepy all over, but this raises that ugly bar ten times more. There is a photo of a kid modeling this stuff with a bare stomach, in nothing but panties and a top.

What's the goal of a photo like that? I shudder to think of the men and women who probably have that as a desktop photo.

The goal of the "loungerie" made by Jours Apres Lunes (headed up by lingerie designer Sophie Morin) is to sell products similar to her adult line of clothing. And while there's certainly nothing wrong with lingerie, it takes on nine shades of ugliness when a child wears something so sexually provocative.

Perhaps the idea of expecting a child in a few months has made me more sensitive to these issues than I was a year or two ago. But this story comes on the heels of Corey Feldman's interview on Nightline where he says that the number one problem in Hollywood is pedophilia.

When you combine the two stories, I think it's long overdue to ask why people feel the need to sexualize minors. I am scared enough as it is to become a Father. After reading all of this, only the depths of Hell scares me more.

God have mercy on those children whose parents signed them up to model "loungerie."

The horrors of the World Youth Day Theme song

2011-08-15T18:00:00.000-07:00

Like many Catholics, my wife Allicia and I wish we were in Madrid for World Youth Day this week. Thousands of Catholics our age will be there to celebrate the faith, complete with a visit from Papa Benedict.

Unfortunately, we're a little short on the cash that it would take to spend a week in Spain, so we'll have to leave WYD to the richer Catholics. However, there is one aspect of WYD I'm glad I don't have to be present for, and that is the World Youth Day theme song.

Good God, could we have picked a worse tune. Take a listen and see for yourself.

Sure, that theme is OK, and Cherrie Anderson sounds like a fine musician. But for a World Youth rally? I nearly jumped out of the window of my five-story office when I heard that was the song that got the selection.

Call me silly, but I think this is an instance of the leaders in charge playing it "safe" and picking something that World Senior Day attendees would enjoy, not something that Youth would enjoy. I really, REALLY, think they are out of touch.

Why? It's as simple as the wording on their official web site. They refer to every WYD theme song as a "hymn." Hymns are great. I love hymns and wouldn't want anything different in Mass. But the theme song doesn't have to be one of those songs. Feel free to give someone a song that has a little more energy!

For further review at that same web site, listen to the theme song selections from the 1980s. They don't sound that much different than what was chosen today, proof that our Catholic leaders need to steal a page from our Evangelical brothers and sisters when it comes to music that sounds great.

For proof that Catholic singers can create great, pump it up tunes, listen to this song from Matt Maher, called "Your Grace Is Enough."

It's spiritually sound, it sounds fun, gets you amped up, and it's number 632 in your Catholic hymnal. Seems like that song fits the criteria.

Here's hoping that Matt Maher does the music for the 2014 WYD. Until then, for an example of a theme song done right, listen to the 1998 World Cup Theme Song, La Copa De La Vida by Ricky Martin.

There's absolutely no reason that The Church can't find something upbeat and fun like that for WYD. Martin's song is 13 years old, but still stands as inspiration as to what kind of theme song can get millions of people excited for an event.

Welcome to dustinfaber.com visitors!

2011-08-13T11:30:00.000-07:00

Just a quick shoutout to everyone who is directed here from dustinfaber.com. As I explained at http://dustinfaber.blogspot.com, trying to maintain three blogs didn't allow me to put as much quality work into them, and since I'm able to post all the musings that would have gone to that blog here, I've decided that I'll start posting here full-time.

Now I'm down to two blogs, and I couldn't be happier!

Baby worries, part gazillion

2011-08-11T07:54:00.001-07:00

It seems like all I worry about in life is money. It would be a lot easier if this shit grew on trees. Yes, that's a horrible cliche, but where else is money going to grow. In a flower bed? Then you'd have more theft, and nobody likes a thief.

Location of fictitious money aside, the one thing I hope and pray for is the ability for my wife Allicia to be a stay-at-home mom. Call me old-fashioned, but I think a woman (if she wants to), should be able to stay at home to raise her children. Yeah, financial considerations in this lifetime are nuts, forcing most families to work two jobs.

But what happened? Just a few generations ago, a stay-at-home mom was common. What has happened financially to change that? I'm not sure, but I just know that money shouldn't have this sort of grip on people. Yet here I am, opening this blog with the admission that I worry about money constantly.

No matter how many times I crunch estimated costs, the salary I make now (just shy of $25,000) cannot cover the living expenses. Even if we shaved $100 off rent, knocked our tv package next to nothing (there's no way we can cut tv: I love WWE Monday Night Raw way too much), and cut down debt payments to a bare minimum, it still doesn't seem like enough.

So where does this leave me? I desperately want to give my wife her dream of being a stay-at-home mommy. Job promotions dangling in front of my wide-eyed dreams seem to be a running theme in my life, but work posted some new customer service jobs. Same stuff I do now, but with a salary bump of at least $3,000 a year. If that doesn't pan out, perhaps if I took a second part-time job on the weekends I could make it work.

I know God will provide a way. Our intentions are pure: we want to give our gender-to-be-named child the best possible home life. I'm not begging for more money so I can buy a big-ass tv and every new video game (I would, however, speed up the creation of my arcade cabinet project I've been working on).

Help us God!

Baby sonogram!

2011-08-02T19:04:00.000-07:00

Today was the long-awaited day, when Allicia would visit the doctor for the first time and find out that there really was a child inside of her.

As you can see from the video above, we indeed are not crazy: there's actually a kid inside of my wife! At first, the baby wasn't moving, which was slightly alarming. But then after a few seconds of the sonogram wand moving around inside of her, it was like our child woke up and start dancing like a fool.

It's very inspiring to actually see the child for the first time. This whole time, we knew the child was there, but actually seeing the baby for the fist time was an unreal experience I don't think I'll ever forget. They gave us the due date of March 2, which still gives us a shot at having a leap-year day baby on Feb. 29.

As happy as I was to see this baby, I was a little disappointed: I wanted two! I knew this whole time we would have twins. I've wanted twins for so many years, and thought this was the right time! Perhaps we'll have twins down the road, but it seems like this year, with the exception of getting married, has been a year of God saying No to me. No, you can't have this better job. No your car won't run flawlessly for more than three months. No you don't have as much spending money as you want.

It would be nice to hear a Yes on something substantial by the end of this year. I do have a chance at a decent promotion at work, which would bring Allicia and I anywhere from $5,000-17,000 in extra yearly salary.

I hope I get a Yes on that one soon!

My Nursery theme wish-list

2011-07-27T20:29:00.000-07:00

Allicia and I made a deal. If the child we're having is a boy, then I get majority say-so on the theme of the nursery. If it's a girl, she gets the majority say-so.

With that in mind, I'm preparing for the possibility of coming up with what to decorate the room in. I love that little kid already, and I want him to have the coolest nursery ever. So he can look back and say, "My dad isn't that dumb."

So here are a few themes I'd go with, and a few I absolutely hate.

Good themes

Mickey Mouse - This, I suppose, could be Disney-themed, but I especially love the classic Mickey Mouse cartoons, so Mickey would get the nod here. One of my favorite Mickey Mouse pictures is this shot of him surfing. I think my cousin Amelia had a record with this photo on the front.

True, I know this isn't the cute and cuddly photo of Mickey that is familiar to most people, but it brings back so many childhood memories.

Farm - This theme would be a nod to my parents, who live on a farm full of Cattle. Cows, chickens and pigs always make good kid decorations, and the fact that my parents are on the farm gives me access to authentic items that could really spruce up the room, such as rope, hay, or cowbells.

Space - Our boy's name will probably be named after a famous astronaut (keeping this one a secret so it doesn't leak out), so having an outer space theme would be a nice touch considering his name. Planets make good mobiles too.

Shapes - Just a bunch of crazy shapes. Circles, rectangles, all in classy patterns and colors. No smiling characters on this one, but maybe that's for the best. I'm not sure I'd want a clown staring at me in my sleep.

Bad themes

Garfield - I still love and cherish Garfield's Christmas Special. It's a yearly tradition I share with my family. That being said, those were the good old days of Garfield. Now? He's a corporate schmuck who is responsible for Bill Murray's worst film. The merchandise is over the top and everywhere. Not in my kid's room.

Hooters - Yeah I didn't think this was a possible theme either, but on this message board, a woman said that her man was actually serious about this theme. Yes, let's teach our infant child to objectify women from the crib. That will be a swell life lesson.

WWE - I love the WWE more than any sport in the world. I'm in front of the TV on every Monday night. Still, I think that even John Cena would agree that he probably wouldn't make the best nursery theme.

The gross miracle of life

2011-07-11T12:41:00.000-07:00

I was stuck at home today because my car decided to play sick. I'm not sure if it's a battery issue or what, but it wouldn't start, leaving me here to watch daytime television and do some cleaning around the house.

After falling asleep on the couch watching NFL Network, I awoke to TLC. My wife is recording episodes of A Baby Story, and the dvr changed the channel. No big deal. Babies are cute. Why not load up the dvr with cute kids.

So I put the remote down, letting the story of new parents play out in the background, and went to the computer to check my Twitter and Facebook. It was then that I heard screaming coming from television set. I looked over my shoulder and saw a little girl, no more than 7 or 8, staring wide-eyed at something.

'What in the world is going on?' I innocently thought to myself, and as if the TV could read my mind, changed camera shots.

I was not prepared for what my tv put on display for me.

Just saw a woman give birth on TLC. They blurred out the vagina. I kinda wish they had blurred out the whole TV instead.Mon Jul 11 18:54:41 via webdustin Faber
16bitcatholic

Oh yes, they showed it ALL. Except for the blurred hoo hoo dilly, my eyes were burned with what I saw today.

And then I realized, I'm going to be in a similar predicament in about 8 months or so. I'm going to be in a room where nearly the same thing happens.

I really wish Storks were the ones who delivered babies.

Natural Family Planning

2011-07-08T12:38:00.000-07:00

I read this article today from Danielle Bean. I thought it would be good to share with my husband, our Catholic Friends, and everyone else. I know some of you wonder what dustin and I are talking about when we reference NFP and this was a nice article from a different perspective.

http://www.crisismagazine.com/2011/five-ways-i-dont-love-natural-family-planning

Expecting! Allicia's account

2011-07-07T10:44:00.000-07:00

Well, as dustin just filled in. We are expecting. A baby is on the way. We've got lots of time until the fun parts when there are ultrasound pictures and gender... for now though, I thought I'd share my part of the story. I am so proud of dustin for being open and honest about his feelings. It is only fair that I share some of my feelings on the subject.

Firstly, We started using a form of Natural Family Planning called The Creighton Model so we'd been tracking when "baby making" would be advisable or avoidable for post wedding planning. The great thing about this is that God is involved in the decision more presently than with other methods of avoiding pregnancy. Another wonderful thing is that we can change our minds any month.

Going into our wedding night/honeymoon we knew there was a chance we could conceive. We had put the final call in God's hands. If we were supposed to have a baby this soon into our marriage he would take the small chance we had given him and create a life, otherwise, we would wait 6 months to a year before starting. If you think about it, really, it is quite amazing anyone EVER gets pregnant. Imagine all the couples suffering infertility, and we conceived on the last day possible for that cycle. WOW.

Because I am incredibly impatient I did take a home pregnancy test two weeks after the wedding with negative results (a rookie mistake frankly, knowing the HCG levels would likely not be high enough for a positive result. I told myself I would recheck later if Mother Nature didn't visit on schedule)

My next few cues were a bit off. I had a light "cycle" followed by some cramping for the next few weeks. Cramping for me is normal especially going in to what I thought would be ovulation. It is easy to misread symptoms when you know what you are expecting to see and what you actually see nearly fits. I was under the ipression things were moving along and we agreed to wait until October to start trying to conceive.

As the weeks post wedding flew by we took a roadtrip to see dustin's family in Arkansas. I just adore his family. I fully expected a visit from Mother Nature while in Arkansas and thusly stopped at Target for supplies.

Expected Day #1 passed, Day #2 and I told my hubby it was odd that I was late, but chalked it up to the stress of travel, Day #3 and I started not feeling well, thought it was the heat, maybe even the wonderful food we've been eating all week. Thinking back I had been a pretty picky eater all week. By saturday (almost a week late by the way) I really was feeling sick in the mornings, Mom offered me milk with breakfast and I almost went running to the restroom!

There was no way I was spending any money on a pregnancy test when I had some at home, so we spent the next 20 hours in the car wondering if we were going to be parents....

to be continued when I get another break at work!

We're pregnant! dustin's side of things

2011-07-06T19:54:00.001-07:00

Last week my wife started feeling sick during our visit to Arkansas.

At first I thought it was just the humidity. The heat is a little more intense down south as opposed to Pennsylvania, a state full of wimps when it comes to handling the heat. I expected her to be fine after a few days of aspirins or children's tylenol.

However, a cure didn't come very fast. She felt nauseous. The billboard for the Whopper made her unusually queasy. Sore breasts. Exhaustion. Cramping. And as cranky as a waitress being tipped with Monopoly money.

Oh, and that promised menstrual period?

Late.

She never got her period. Instead, we got a stick with two lines on it. Yep, we're pregnant.

That Sunday morning after we got back from our 20-hour drive to the states, Allicia immediately took a pregnancy test. And it came back positive. But not after three minutes. We're talking mere seconds. Any doubts as to whether this pregnancy was legit was erased within seconds.

And within seconds, I realized that I'm about to embark upon a lifetime goal of raising up a faithful Catholic and productive member of society.

To quote a young Joey Lawrence, "Whoa!"

Let's get this out of the way now. I'm going to be a HORRIBLE father. Not because I'm going to go Casey Anthony on my children or anything, but because I'm still a horribly selfish man. Sure, some of that went away when I got married, but I like to have my own time to do whatever I want. If I want to stay up playing Epic Mickey, I can do so, because chances are my wife is in the other room working on her own crafts.

I know that I'll still have free time when the baby gets here, but I'm not going to be able to play video games whenever I want. I'm not going to be able to post on my blogs, or hurry up to post the latest Lino news whenever I want to. I realize that all of this probably sounds overly whiny, but this is the end of "dustin gets to do whatever he wants."

I'm sure it's a maturity thing. Hopefully I'll be able to find a good balance when that kid gets here. Eight months and counting.

Useless or Brilliant?

2011-06-15T11:30:00.000-07:00

If you are anything like me you take a million pictures. Years ago we all got negatives back with our photos (when we used film back in the dinosaur age) and never had anything to do with them.

Now, when we get photos from online services like shutterfly they send an index of all your prints. These are tiny copies of your photos so you know what is in that pile of photos.

Throwing them away is the usual though, but i offer a better idea... follow along below as I blow your mind with an easy project that will put an end to the question "What in the world are you to do with these teensy little photos?"

exibit A: Tiny copies of your photo prints you can never find a real use for

now, any good Mom or Crafter should have a stash of sticky magnets, whether they be full sheets, business card sized or the strip size. These come in handy for so many things (my favorite being kiddy thank you cards.) Today's adventure can be used with any size magnets with an adhesive backing on one side.

Step 1: cut magnets to fit the back of your photos... If using magnet strips you can skip this step

Step 2: remove adhesive on magnet and attach sticky side to the BACK SIDE of your photo index (you won't want to use the part of the index that has shipping info or blank areas just cut that off ahead of time)

Step 3: cut along the outside border of each index photo. This will create tiny photo magnets much like the refrigerator poetry collections you can arrange and create on any metal surface.

Ta-Da!

I now have tiny sized fridge magnets that are perfect for holding notices tight to the fridge. I've even placed a collection of them alone on the Wine Fridge in the dining room and it it adorable!

Have fun!

Man Bag Alternative

2011-06-01T09:40:00.000-07:00

Ok so I'm pretty much in LOVE with the ScottEVest... so much so that I actually want to fly more just so I have a reason to purchase one. Today I was on my lunch break browsing the web and saw an ad banner for it. I just thought it was incredible ironic but genius... The ScottEVest products are super awesome for holding all your stuff including your iPhone. So naturally a site dedicated to iPhone auto correct failures would feature such a product. I simply say "Brilliant" on the part of SEV. Kudos on your marketing!

Now everyone can go check out the products at SEV or the failures at DYAC before getting caught on the computer at work!

10 years of romance and prayer inside of a shoebox

2011-05-24T21:27:00.001-07:00

For 11 years or so, I kept a secret from every woman I've ever dated, that I finally got to reveal to my bride the night before our wedding.

A shoebox under the bed was the object I hid for so many years.

Here's one from January 23, 2002:

You are my everything. I thank God for us everyday. I love you.

Ok, so not my best writing, but I like to think that nine years of practice makes me better.

And I knew that no matter how cheesy my writing, my future wife would appreciate it.

Now when I pray for my wife, I truly do have a name to pray for. And I couldn't be more blessed.

A great week

2011-05-23T06:17:00.000-07:00

its been over a week since the wedding and it still doesnt seem real. I plan to do a little more writing tonight while dustin is watching WWE. I think mondays will be my new writing night!

We've had a great honeymoon and I want to tell you all about it. We are so thiankful to all our family and friends for your love and support.

Love,
the new Mrs. Faber

Today is the day!

2011-05-14T04:37:00.000-07:00

The big day is here! I don't have much time to write this morning, but I am beyond grateful to our wonderful Lord Jesus Christ that he gave Allicia to me. This weekend has been amazing so far, seeing family and friends that seemingly stepped out of yesteryear to wish us off today.

Being with them has been great, even the little stressful things will someday become special memories all by themselves (not having enough soda for the reception and doing last minute shopping, for instance). And I know that as I type this, the moment I've waited my entire life for will finally be here.

Think that's a cliche? I'll have a post up later this weekend that proves its anything BUT cliche.

Thank you for all of your prayers. God bless all of you. The next time we talk, I'll be married!

Dancing to the wedding

2011-05-04T18:45:00.000-07:00

The big day is 10 days away. Nine-and-a-half by 10:30 p.m. tonight.

Wow, what an adventure! More on this journey later on. Allicia and I had a different adventure on Monday. We took dance lessons!

I knew I was going to miss WWE Tough Enough and possibly the first few minutes of RAW that night, but I was looking forward to the dance lessons anyways (thank God for the DirecTV dvr!). I'm not a very good dancer, but in college I took a semester of ball room dancing.

I think I did very well in that ballroom dancing class, but there was one problem: I never had anyone to dance with. So sadly, my skills deteriorated over the natural course of dateless time.

However, when Allicia and I started planning the wedding, the one thing we really wanted was dancing. I'd never been to a wedding with dancing, but always thought they looked cool. And damnit, since it's my wedding day, I want dancing!

So off we went to dance classes at Arthur Murray. The first one was free, then we ended up getting two lessons while Allicia's parents purchased four for themselves. And wow, did I have fun!

Allicia and I learned basic dance positions from a guy named Luke (no lie, that dude was hot!), then the Rumba and some country western thing where you rock back and forth. She looked so beautiful dancing with me, it made me dream about the wedding reception even more!

I really hope the next two lessons get us in dance shape. I know we won't be John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John by the big day, but it's nice to know some basics.

But this time, I won't forget. I'll have someone to dance with for many years.

If God Calls...

2011-04-24T19:11:00.000-07:00

dustin and I have been praying about an opportunity. A potential job change which would require a location change. I don't want to say anything specific about what we are waiting for, but I have been spending some time thinking about what this would mean for us.

What could I give up if God came calling? The chance to do something that would make my husband happy while doing God's work has got to be a calling. If we are being called to accept a change, would we be able to pick up and follow Him?

Could we do without the space we have now? We have been blessed with so many things in our lives. I pray for the ability to learn to live without so many THINGS. Gadgets and books and blankets aren't going to do us any good when we get to heaven, but here on earth I sure do want them.

As he passed by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea; they were fishermen.

Jesus said to them, "Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men."

Then they abandoned their nets and followed him.

He walked along a little farther and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They too were in a boat mending their nets.

Then he called them. So they left their father Zebedee in the boat along with the hired men and followed him. Mark 1:16-20

Andrew, Simon, John and James didn't ask Jesus for a few days to settle things. Jesus called, they answered. How can I be more like that? How can I ready my heart so that I will have the faith to pick up and go. Will I have the strength to completely trust in the Lord to carry us through the hard parts.

I was talking to a friend about this and said I'd love to have a handbook for life. Her reply, short and sweet, perfectly precise; "You do. The Bible."

So that is where I will start. The Bible will always be the thing we take with us, no matter what we have to leave behind.

Emergency Contact

2011-04-06T15:16:00.000-07:00

In case you weren't aware, I work in a medical office. Everyday I hand people forms to fill out. One of these forms asks for the name and phone number of someone who should be called in case of an emergency while at our office. If you pass out, we want to know who to send frantically to the hospital to meet you.

Currently, I list my parents. My mother because she has always cared for me, and my father because doctors like other doctors. If I were in an emergency I want the M.D. after his name in the same room as the intern taking care of me at the underfunded hospital. They've always been there to take care of me, raise me, teach me when to call 911, why wouldn't they be who I have wanted to rely on in an emergent situation.

While inputting this vital information just the other day for something like the 400th time this year, something dawned on me... In 38 days, I will forever change my response to that blank line. Until last week I hadn't given much thought to how getting married would affect this part of my life. Sure, I'd have to fill out a marriage license, eventually be on the same health insurance plan, fold his socks, make sure not to eat the last piece of cake without checking first. But this is a new concept.

By marrying this man I am not only entrusting my heart to him metophorically, but now medically as well. This is the person who will be called if I'm sick or unresponsive after an accident. He is the one who will drive me to the emergency room and tell the doctors what medications I am taking regularly.

Thank God, for sending me someone to take on as a partner. Thank you God for giving me someone to trust as my new next of kin, because that is what dustin will be. On May 14th we are saying that we take eachother as a new branch of our families. We are each other's better half.

"A man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife" that is some big stuff. Just think on that for a second.

It is a milestone to be moving from a child to an adult, it takes a whole lot of steps to get to that place. This is one of them. Now, not only will dustin be taking me as his wife, but in the same I take his as my husband. I become his next of kin.

I pray for the guidance and the grace to know what he needs now and in the future. I am not just responsible for myself any longer. I will be part of a set. One of a pair. I am entrusted by the Lord, our families, and our faith to care for his well being. His well being is MY well being.

Marriage is way bigger than an "I do" and a few gold bands. I'm ready for this adventure.

pretty things to look at !

2011-03-31T10:39:00.000-07:00

A sampling of bridesmaid dresses from David's Bridal

I can drink to that!

2011-03-30T06:28:00.000-07:00

We'd like your help. We will be catering the wedding with the help of our families. We are trying to decide what to purchase for beverages! Do you have a preference? What is it? We want the reception to feel like a family get together-a reunion of sorts. We want you to feel included, so here's a poll to help!

Falling out of the bunk bed

2011-03-27T10:21:00.000-07:00

Shared some marriage thoughts at my personal blog, www.dustinfaber.com. Enjoy!

Breakups are scary

2011-03-23T19:27:00.000-07:00

Today's bad day capped off a horrible week for a co-worker of mine. Since last week, her boyfriend decided that they needed to take a break from talking (which I found silly: how do you solve problems by not talking?). I'm not sure what the issue was, as we're not that close, but she did mention that the problems were mutual.

Today was the deadline set to talk, which I assumed would end up being the resumption of the relationship. Last night I told her, "Tomorrow everything will be fine, he'll say we have some things to work on, but you'll both be stronger." I then went home and prayed like crazy that the right thing would happen, and that the five-and-a-half year relationship would be salvaged.

Turns out, I was really wrong. "Clara" came to work today, and when I asked how her morning was going, all I saw was a tear-stained face, eyes drained of the normal joy she possessed.

"Not good at all," Clara replied. After about 45 minutes and a long hug and pep talk from her friend "Stacy," Clara went home.

Maybe I've forgotten what heartbreak was like, but seeing the hurt on that little girl's face hurt more than every breakup I've experienced except for one. Perhaps Clara was totally wrong: I can't make assumptions on whether her boyfriend did the right thing or not, but after seeing that pain, I can only pray that he did what God led him to do.

While praying for her healing, I thanked God so much that I don't have to experience that. Call me arrogant and selfish, but I am fully confident that I'll never have to deal with Allicia dumping me. Having her in my life and knowing that God put us together for the Sacrament of Marriage makes me so happy that I'll never know the pain of getting broken up with.

I love Allicia so much. I make plenty of mistakes, but I can guarantee that I won't make her feel like Clara did Wednesday morning.

60 days

2011-03-15T19:22:00.000-07:00

Only 60 days until the wedding. Three if you're reading this on May 11.

It feels as if I've waited my whole life for this, yet I don't FEEL ready. Too much stuff to plan, not enough pay checks between now and then. I pray. Oh my God do I pray. So hopefully things will feel much better soon.

Actually I wanted to take this time to mention that today was Catholic Media day, created by The Catholic Channel's Greg and Jennifer Willits. A day when we recognize great achievements in Catholic media.

Forgive me for being conceited, but the greatest thing that Catholic media gave to the world was my fiance, Allicia. It was because of The Catholic Channel, Lino Rulli's show in particular, that I met Allicia. Without good programming and entertaining personalities, I probably wouldn've listened to The Catholic Channel for more than a few days, missing out on my chance at a Sacrament.

If that's not a testament to how important it is to put forth a great product in Catholic Media, I don't know what is. When done well, Catholic media helps people fulfill their vocation in life. It did that for Allicia and I on October 6, 2009, and I'm confident that The Catholic Channel will help others fulfill their goals in life.

Today on Greg Willit's show, he mentioned how important it was to tell people about your favorite Catholic programming. Which reminds me of our mentor couple meetings that Allicia and I recently had. They asked us how Allicia and I met.

"Well," I said, "Do you have Sirius or XM radio in your car?"

update issue

2011-02-10T11:32:00.000-08:00

I was going to start posting updates from my ipod and I cannot get the application to access the account. grrrrrrrrr. I'll figure this out soon. I would like to update more frequently.

sharing is caring...

2011-01-28T13:42:00.000-08:00

Invitations are done. D-O-N-E... well except for the two people I don't have addresses for. I've managed to address the majority of the envelopes using the computer (no hand cramping!). I have successfully drained every drop of black ink from my printer.

The invites are an off white card stock basic kit but with my clever craftiness I have transformed them into an adorable colorful expression of our happy occasion. The reply cards are going to serve double duty. I have asked each family to write a note or draw a picture for us on the back of the card. I will be making a book out of them post wedding, but some of the favorites might just make it into the reception decorations.

The guest list manages to be my biggest downfall at this point. I want to share this special day with everyone we love, it has been tricky for me to chop the ax on names. (if fact we haven't really chopped too many) I am trying to decide the best layout for our location, it is a two story barn with a great outdoor space.

The centerpieces have all been made. I am using a variety of clear vases and candle holders with a mix of ribbons in hopes of creating a laid back, relaxing, family oriented atmosphere. My true hope for the event is that everyone will have a great time, feel relaxed, and enjoy themselves.

Kids are a big part of our lives, we plan on having special activities for the kids to enjoy during the reception. There is a play park across the driveway from our reception location. There is two horseshoe pits and a volleyball court in the outdoor space at the Barn.

I'm off now to pick up my wedding dress from being altered... gotta get that bustle so I can dance in my dress. I am really looking forward to sharing a dance with my *husband* !

Peace and Blessings to you all,
Love, Allicia

Hotel Update

2011-01-25T12:15:00.000-08:00

Please visit our wedding website (link on the right side of the page) for Travel Accommodations. It has been updated with the hotel information. Rooms can be reserved at $99 a night. The location is just off the highway and half way between the Ceremony and Reception locations.

Love and Blessings,
Allicia & dustin

Big week in wedding planning

2011-01-20T17:08:00.000-08:00

We are now less than 4 months from the big day! Wow! Time really flies.
Lots of thing have happened since our last post. Most of tem happened in th last 10 days.

1. Pre Marital Counseling, Aldo known as Pre-Cana (yes, like the wedding feast where Jesus performed his first public miracle) we met with Bud and Betty our mentor couple. Thy have been married longer than my parents have been alive! They were so impressed with the way we met and our excitement for The Catholic Channel they wrote down the information to share with other young couples to enjoy!

2. Cake Testing! Oh my goodness, soooooooooooo yummy! A friend has offered to pay for the wedding cake (amazingly sweet of her) so we took her along to the tasting at Dingledein's Bakery in New Cumberland,Pa. They make the most amazing Boston Creme Donuts, and my dd was dying for the wedding cake to be from there and luckily his wish has been granted. We would have gotten some sheet cakes from costco for the cake which still would jaw been super tasty, but not as much customization and delivery/setup would be on us.

3.Florist. I had a meeting with the New Cumberland Olde Town Florist before Thanksgiving. I was eagerly awaiting the proposal. I had met with a chain florist a few months back and would have to sell a limb to pay for them! As I had been praying, the new cumberland florist quoits came in at an Oh So Reasonable rate. I just came back from signing the contract and putting in the deposit.

the dress

2010-12-30T09:40:00.000-08:00

I am going to get my wedding dress alterations done tonight. I absolutely love my dress and cannot wait to show it to everyone. dustin doesn't want to know anything about the dress so I can't go gushing about it here.

dustin wants me to wear a veil and i am still on the fence about that. I think i will try a few options while I am at the bridal shop tonight.

Searching for the perfect Honeymoon spot

2010-12-10T20:41:00.000-08:00

It's no surprise to anyone who knows us that we are on the very defintion of a shoe-string budget. I'm doing my best to save up money for the wedding, but that seems like fighting a losing battle at times.

Regardless, while Allicia is stressing out about wedding stuff, I'm bogged down by a Honeymoon destination. Thankfully, I am marrying an amazingly understanding woman who has left it to me to surprise her about where we go.

I know the important thing is that we're together. In a world where money isn't a problem, our dream trip would be a train ride across the country to Seattle, with our own little cabin, and a stay in a bed and breakfast while touring one of America's greatest cities. However, if we took that trip, I don't think we'd enjoy it because we'd be pinching pennies so hard and a train ride like that would look better in the fall, instead of early summer.

SOOOOO what to choose? Here are some ideas that I have. The key is to make sure we can drive there: Flying is too expensive.

1. Niagara Falls.

A very awesome idea. Beautiful falls, a quiet area, and a drive through Canada would be great. It's not too far from home, and would be relatively inexpensive.

2. Virginia Beach

Virginia Beach is a beautiful city as well. I used to live there (twice), so going back to my elementary school would be amazing. However, since my sister will be living there, it's a trip we'll make often. Not sure I want to use a Honeymoon trip on someplace we'll be 2 months later.

3. Lake Erie

Getting a bed and breakfast in Lake Erie would be a fun getaway that wouldn't take all day to get to. A Bed and Breakfast just sounds crazy romantic, and being in a small-town setting would be an extremely relaxing change of pace.

4. Harrisburg, PA

Remember that part about the important thing being that we are together? A staycation would put that notion to the test. Since my bride said to surprise her, I would probably run this one by her first. That way, she didn't have her hopes up, only to find that we are staying home. Still, we'll have just moved into a new place. It would be kinda fun and a little romantic to spend time decorating our house, making dinner/breakfast for each other, taking a day trip to Lancaster going antique shopping, etc.

So, what should I do? Do any of the options appeal to you? Or should I choose something radically different? Please tell us your suggestions!

Turkey, Travel, and Tons of Photos

2010-12-10T06:51:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the delay! It has been crazy around here

What a weekend! Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. There's lots of food and no need for presents! What person wouldn't love that!

Food:

Chocolate and Butterscotch chips, a vital ingredient in making "Auntie Barbara's LaChoy Noodle Treats"

The noodles, and an added surprise Pecans! I had some left over from the pie.

dustin made Collard Greens this year. Very tasty. I think Melissa would like them to become part of the tradition in our family too!

Allicia made her famous speciality Pecan Pie!

*Pecan Pie Fiasco of 2010*

My oven is okay, like not wonderful, but it works when I need to heat up chicken nuggets or a frozen pizza..

The oven decided to not cooperate with the Pecan Pie this year. Pre-heating was no issue. Pie was in there cooking away and got a nice crispy golden brown outer layer... tested the top and it seemed to spring back nicely. UNTIL, I unwrapped it from the foil at moms house. The inside had not cooked. The oven decided it wasn't going to stay on post preheat. What the HECK, man?

The before shot includes the recipe from KaroSyrup.com right on the iPod. See, and you thought I only used that things to play games!

We packed Jello, Greens, Pie, Green beans, and left over borrowed vanilla to bring over to Mom and Dad Wait's house

Joey made the appetizers... A cheese and cracker Christmas tree
*looks a bit like a robot if you ask me

the dessert spread!

Joey eating his pie with a knife...

The apple pie Olivia and Alexis helped Nana Faith make, and Lex enjoying said apple pie!

Travel:

This is the veiw from the scenic overlook on 84 in New York.

Peaceful and lovely... and only minutes from where Allicia got pulled over for ~~speeding~~ a safety violation. Thank you officer for doing your job and keeping people safe. I don't enjoy paying the $130.00 fine, but I do enjoy having my life. God Bless all the public workers.

The drive to Massachusetts was actually pretty good. We made fair time, the weather was decent.
Mom and Dad left at just about the same time, but took a different route. We actually got to the Mass Pike at the same time! dustin didn't do any driving on the way up for two reasons... 1. I forgot until we were driving through the city traffic each time. 2. I drive faster, and the trip is long enough going the speed limit, I couldn't imagine going under the speed limit! (reason 2 and a half, I'm a control freak!)

Myrah 'driving' the car at the mall.

Relatives:

Katie, my best friend in Massachusetts. We've known eachother since 3rd grade. She will be one of my bridesmaids and it was important that she and dustin like eachother. Here they are playing Dance Dance Revolution at the Bowling Alley. dustin loves this game, I HATE IT. I was glad to see dustin and Katie have a good time playing eachother on the game.

Myrah doodle! She was loving on her baby doll.

Cliff in his robe! He is doing well since his accident and is back to work.

Joey was tired and wanted to sleep on the hallway floor!

my love dustin.

Liv wearing Nana's shoes and the kidsswiping some snacks

Dad and Joey (notice dad's robe!) looking at something

Had to give Lex a squeeze and a kiss... Joey and Nana

Melissa taking a self portrait with dustin's camera... I told you it wasn't easy to do!

Joey and Lexi posing for the camera

The girls love to play on this piano. Pepere insists on keeping it!

more fooling around.. this time with the GIANT pie pumpkin Nana found at the farmers market

Joey thinks cliff's transformers gear is the coolest!

Uncle Cliff = Climbing wall

The kids made masks to keep themselves busy while the grownups were BORING... ya know, having actual conversations!! Uncle Cliffy helped!

Matt has been dating a girl named Kristy and we like her very much. Her daughter Madilynn is almost a year old. Madilynn is adorable. She is just fitting right in with the other kids. Joey and Olivia won't let her out of their site when she is visiting and Nana and I fight over who gets to hold her as soon as she walks in the door.

Myke and Joey

Joey pointing like Madilynn

Radio:

The following post was written by dustin regarding the radio situation on the ride home Sunday. It can be found at our CatholicGuyShow website.

"Last week, Lino Rulli talked about Father Leo Patalinghug's new show, "Stirring the Pot" which would air on Sunday night's at 7 p.m. eastern time during Advent. Fr. Leo always does a great job whenever he's on Greg and Jennifer Willit's morning show, so I was really looking forward to hearing it.

*photo borrowed from www.gracebeforemeals.com

"So Sunday night, as my future bride Allicia and I are driving back from visiting her family in Massachusetts, we turned to The Catholic Channel. But instead of seeing Fr. Leo's show on the display, we see the following:

"Wisconsin vs. Notre Dame. Tip-off at 7 p.m.

"Say what? This brand new show that got hyped up on the channel gets replaced by a basketball game? Good grief, that's incredibly lame.

"As a regular listener of The Catholic Channel, I've gotten used to Notre Dame sports interrupting programming. I don't mind that The Catholic Channel airs Notre Dame football, as it is almost always played on Saturdays, and does not interrupt live shows. Basketball, on the other hand, has a nasty habit of bumping Father Dave's Busted Halo Show and sometimes the last 30 minutes of Lino's show.

"Anyone remember last year's Roast of Lino Rulli? With 20 minutes left in the show, Notre Dame pre-game basketball interrupts one of the funniest segments the show ever had. Pre-game! Not an actual game, but pre-game, which is nothing more than commercials. And while that was VERY infuriating, what happened Sunday night was the straw that broke the camel's back.

"I really love The Catholic Channel. But this contract with Notre Dame sports HAS TO GO! Axe it, terminate it, please just get rid of it. Here are a few reasons why airing Notre Dame basketball makes absolutely no sense.

"1. The Catholic angle. Notre Dame is a Catholic institution. But so is Boston College. So is Georgetown. So is Holy Cross. Gonzaga too. Why doesn't the channel air their games as well? It's wildly unfair that Notre Dame is the only Catholic university that gets their games aired on the station. If I was a huge fan of any of those colleges, I'd be a little bummed out. If airing sports is a must, why not embrace the fact that you are The Catholic Channel, and air different Catholic college sports? That's a suggestion, however, that I hope they don't take me up on, because of reason number two.

"2. This is a religious station. I love sports. I watch the same NFL Network show all morning (on mute with Gus on the radio, obviously). I live and die by Boston Celtics wins and losses, and I'm still a little grumpy about the mediocre season the New England Revolution had. But if I want sports on Satellite Radio, I have plenty of options. ESPN, Mad Dog Radio, a ton of play-by-play options. When I turn to The Catholic Channel, I don't want sports: I want religious programming that will inspire and entertain me. Sometimes when I get off of work, I need a little pick me up. And hearing basketball in place of faith/fun is a real bummer.

"3. No promotion at all. Ever listen to a Notre Dame event? Despite it being on The Catholic Channel, there's absolutely ZERO promotion for any of the channel's shows. You won't hear commercials for Lino, Fr. Dave or Bob Dunning during the game. It's all commercials for sports, xerox printers, etc. They totally hijack the channel. Notre Dame sports does not bring new listeners to the channel, because other than the receiver saying "The Catholic Channel," you'd never know you were listening to a religious station. If they're going to take over the station, at least throw a bone to the shows that are getting bumped.

"4. It's everywhere else. It's not as if The Catholic Channel is hiring its own people to braodcast Notre Dame sports. They're all done by the Notre Dame sports network, which means the games are available everywhere. There are plenty of open play-by-play channels on Sirius XM that could easily broadcast the game. It shouldn't be done at the expense of programming that regular listeners love.

"In closing, I beg and plead with those who run The Catholic Channel: Please stop airing Notre Dame sports during live/new programming. It does nothing but anger your listeners and interrupt shows that we enjoy so much. Notre Dame isn't the only Catholic university, so it's wildly unfair that they get all of their games aired when others don't. Aside from that, they don't promote The Catholic Channel during events, there's space on other stations for it, and I would dare say that most listeners change the channel when it comes on the air.

"We're a lot more interested in faith than a preseason basketball game."
Posted by dustin (The 16-bit Catholic)

Tablescape

2010-11-16T10:14:00.000-08:00

The Knot

an adorable table setting similar to what I am envisioning for our reception... thoughts?

Photos

2010-11-15T16:41:00.000-08:00

New York-New Jersey January 2010 - We met in person on this day. It was love at first sight... of course it helped that we had been getting to know each other for months before this!

dustin let me go to Crate and Barrel on our first weekend together. He didn't mind so much since they had the heat on! It was SO COLD that weekend!

January 2010 just after visiting The Catholic Guy Show with Lino Rulli !

This was taken just moments before dustin proposed. If you look closely you can see the ring box in his pocket. I had no idea what was coming next. P.S. the wine was delicious!

Self-portraits aren't so easy to take! October 2010

My sister took some photos for us. October 2010

I love this guy!

The Ring!

The Bride, The Groom and... The Priest

2010-10-24T09:29:00.000-07:00

To be honest, completely honest, I was scared about going into our first meeting with the local priest about getting set up for marriage prep and filling out the necessary paperwork starting the process of our marriage in the church. dustin and I have only known each other for just over a year. We were dating less than 6 months before becoming engaged. To us, our relationship seems completely natural and we wouldn't want it any other way. To others, it may seem we are rushing. This relationship is built on a solid foundation that includes open communication, a shared faith, and a desire to work on the hard issues as they find us. The concern others have expressed over our quick courtship (because it was certainly treated more like a 'courtship' than the 'dating' of our peers) was my main reason for worry going into this meeting.

Father James Lease has been at St Theresa Catholic Church for a few years now. He is funny and has a great big vault of knowledge in that head of his. I have been going to this church since we moved to Pennsylvania in the mid 90's. Naturally, I would want to get married there. *and I am so happy the changed the carpet a few years ago in green rather than that maroon color that was there before and would have clashed with my wedding!

The meeting went wonderfully. We had a great time recounting out lives before meeting and it was great to re-tell the story of how we met and our courtship. We had a great time sharing stories and just might have to have Fr. Lease out to dinner sometime so we can keep the good time going. We had to fill out a questionnaire and certify that we are able to marry, able to marry each other, and able to fulfill the duties or marriage as the Catholic Church sees it. Fr. Lease put my worries to rest when he said his concern over our short courtship was eased by our maturity and openness.

We have lots of fun stuff to do now... meet with our Mentor Couple to start the actual marriage prep part, attend a conference at the diocese calld "God's Plan for a Joy Filled Marriage" and dustin's favorite start working on the program. I am excited to contact the florist and the music director at the church. He is a great guy and I know his love of music will help us well in blending our two family styles musically at the wedding mass.

With just over 6 and a half months left I have officially ended my "wedding planning break" and will be swinging full speed ahead with dustin hanging on for dear life right behind me!

Peace and Blessings to all our friends and family,
Love Allicia

p.s. A very special shout out to our friends Heather and Bill who got engaged this weeked. We are so thrilled for them to become a family. Heather, Bill, and Anna- we love you guys, congratulations!

an adorable post from dustin!

2010-10-20T13:36:00.000-07:00

Big Thanks To Lino

Another Allicia Update

2010-10-15T12:55:00.000-07:00

I am so happy dustin is in Pennsylvania now.

I drove him over to look at our possible reception location and got the appropriate nod of approval "uh huh, looks good hun" in man code is "of course you picked the most amazing location, all of our guests will be so happy to celebrate our nuptials here and you will do a fabulous job decorating it" in girl language- so that is a go!

The wedding dress is paid for and will be arriving some time in December!

We are considering catering the affair ourselves and would LOVE your input (please don't be mean, constructive criticism works best.) What are some favorite foods, family recipes, munchie must haves that you would be interested in seeing (and eating?) We are still in the research phase of this possible scenario and reserve the right to change my our mind.

Next up on the agenda:

-Looking at Menswear

-Meeting with the Priest (this will surely become an update)

Reasoning...

2010-09-21T13:10:00.000-07:00

I can't help but daydream about the days ahead when dustin is here and I get to see him regularly. Naturally I have my concerns (mostly that he will realize I am actually more annoying and less cute than he remembers) but genuinely I am excited. I would like to share some of the things that excite me about our pending change from long-distance relationship to an actual real person relationship and then ultimately our nuptials.

-I can't sit through a single mass without thinking about him... when he is sitting next to me at mass I will be less distracted... right?
-He has the most amazing camera ever. I LOVE taking photos with it, cannot wait to get my hands on it permanently and start snapping away like crazy
-City Island Soccer
-being able to show him all my favorite places and they become our favorite places
-He cooks WAY better than I do. (if you can call Macaroni & Cheese or Ramen Noodles cooking)
-Kissing his face
-Holding hands
-Watching post season baseball while he says "baseball is so boring" but secretly he doesn't mind because I love it. (GO REDSOX!!!)
-lowering our text messaging plans
-being able to actually listen to the radio instead of muting it so we can hear the phone
-going more than 3 minutes without checking our phones for a new text message
-looking at stuff together, at the same time, on the same computer/book/magazine/tv without sending it as an email first.
-hugs
-taking the drive to NJ for a day to see our friends at Montclair
-picking out new records and video games
-playing wii
-listening to records together
-naps... oh wait I do that now!
-sitting on the porch holding hands
-kissing at redlights
-watching movies together
-fighting over the remote
-convincing dustin it is in his best interest to put the toilet seat down
-more kisses, hugs, and handholding!

Yay... 16 days till dustin moves here and 235 till we are married! Each day is better and better!

Motivated to be a great father

2010-09-20T19:22:00.000-07:00

Today I spoke with my estranged father for the first time in two years.

The back story, briefly, involved dad feeling like my sister and I didn't appreciate him or respect him, and resulted in him telling us he didn't want us in his life anymore. I respected his decision and made no effort to talk to him, until this week, when it was discoverd that I had some savings bonds that needed his signature.

I called him last week, and explained it, and he agreed to meet me today at the bank to sign them. I had no idea how it would go. Would he back out at the last minute? Would he be an ass to me? Fortunately, my fears were soothed when we got into the bank and actually had a pleasant conversation. He asked me about my upcoming wedding, I asked him about his job situation. Nothing angry on either of our sides.

After we got done at the bank, we stood outside and talked for a few minutes. Then dad did something I never would have expected: he gave me his email address, gave me a hug and told me he loved me.

Two years ago, he wanted nothing to do with me. Today, he said he loved me.

I know it doesn't make up for the past, but damnit it felt so good hearing that. I know it will be a long road to reconciliation, but you have to start somewhere, right? Regardless, my father reminds me of Anakin Skywalker from Star Wars. A good man (dad pre-anger), then he turns to the dark side and becomes Darth Vader (dad during the two years we didn't speak), and now, he's close to being like Anakin after throwing Palpatine over the edge. I think Luke's line to Leia could really apply here: "There's still good in him, I know it."

However, this whole issue with my dad has really motivated me to become a great father. I remember all the fun I used to have with my dad: I got to go see his work office a ton of times (he was in the Navy, and big jets and ships are awesome!), he always used funny voices when reading books to us, and he could beat the last four levels of Super Mario Brothers with his eyes closed!

Dad was awesome. And that's the father and husband I hope to be someday: I want to be the Mike Faber of yesteryear! I have so many good memories of my dad (including matching tattoos!) that it would be impossible to be a dad without thinking of him and being inspired by him.

Kids scare me, they really do: the idea of someone looking to me to become a responsible contributer to the good of society is a sobering thought, but I imagine it will be amazing to do the things with my children that I loved so much about my own father.

I just hope he's around to see me use his good material.

Count Down

2010-09-07T15:44:00.000-07:00

This little time ticker is my new infatuation. I love logging into the Knot and it pops up reminding me how long I have until I get to have the best sacrament ever with my best friend ever!

what a man!

2010-08-31T09:15:00.000-07:00

I was having a bad day yesterday. It is our busiest day at work, the phones don't stop ringing all day. I hadn't slept well the night before- more crazy dreams. Been a bit stressed about the wedding planning at this point in the game-who knew making a list and finding a reception hall would be so hard. anyway, dustin calls me on his lunch everyday (one of the reasons I love him) and always asks me about my day. I couldn't really talk due to the work load waiting for me, and told him about my hectic morning. Told him that I loved him and missed him and would talk to him later...

Later, a delivery showed up. Red roses and baby's breath (dustin LOVES baby's breath) ... I tell you what, I love this guy all the time, but he really knows how to kick me into overdrive. It was the sweetest thing. I totally needed a pick me up and since he isn't here to give me a hug he sent flowers.

Just one more reason I love him (add it to the list with the other 754 reasons!)

Happy 7 month anniversary of going to Ikea and the airport for the first time!

allicia's august update

2010-08-28T18:03:00.000-07:00

I have been running myself ragged the last few weeks. Two weekend trips to Massachusetts in three weeks takes a toll on a person, even one who has made the trip around 40 times. I was sick all week and couldn't afford to take a day off of work. *the think about working for my parents is that when I can't work it doubles their load* Needless to say, today was supposed to be a rest and relax day.

I completely forgot about a meeting to see a reception location, lucky for me my handy iPod reminded me about 30 minutes before the appointment and I made it. Actually, quite a nice place, great location right off the highway, only a few minutes from the church and near a few restaurants and gas stations. This place actually quoted me the discounted rate for guests. She was the first one to actually provide that information up front. I have seen maybe 7 places, emailed about 10 more and have ruled out about 14. It would be so much easier doing this if dustin were here, but God's plan is unfolding in His time not ours. I didn't know how hard these beginning steps would be. I was always so worried about all the little details that come near the end of the planning I had no idea these first few decisions would be so difficult.

I decided against going back to organizing like I had originally planned for my rest day... how is organizing resting?- I know, but it needs to be done. I have way too many started craft projects and not nearly enough finished ones. Thus, the organizing! Rather than take on that task I decided to finish one of my wedding projects. I am a crafty person, and always felt it unnecessary to buy things that were clearly easily made at home.

Today's venture was to finish up the Save The Date magnets. We have geekily been altering the cards for the right font and for the logo to fit right. He's a Mac and I'm a PC so we have been having technical issues that I sometimes still don't understand.

Being that our wedding will take place in Pennsylvania and our families are mostly in Massachusetts and Arkansas, we plan to spread the word early. Custom and tradition are a bit different from North to South so if someone doesn't receive a save the date in the mail please don't be offended. Most people are being informed through our wedding website, email, and phone calls.

I am having a lot of fun playing with different tools and paper. There is a whole drawer of ribbon awaiting my command. I am starting to dream up the invitations but we are still working on the guest list. I knew I had a large family, but never really grasped how large until I wrote everyone's name on paper.

259 days to go!

The Booze conundrum

2010-08-26T19:18:00.000-07:00

Let me preface my post by saying that I've only been to one wedding in my entire life with alcohol. And that wedding was AWESOME!!! The others? Eh.

Actually one wedding did have all you can eat Mike and Ike's, so that was cool. But no alcohol? Please! Even Jesus turned water into wine. Making alcohol at weddings, like it or not, biblical!

We had actually thought about doing a dry wedding. Just telling people that if you want a beer, go out and get it on your own. I'll get a beer that night regardless, so I wasn't worried about missing out. And besides, the reception will start around noon anyways. Who boozes up that early and is normal?

But, my bride and I have decided to have some alcohol at the wedding, to compliment the meals that we'll serve to people. Nothing like an open bar (don't have the money for that), but maybe a choice between beer or wine with your meal. Seems acceptable.

Which leads me to my big conundrum. If we're only having one kind of beer, two max, what in the world do I choose? The responsibility of that decision rests on my shoulders, since my baby isn't a big fan of the greatest beverage ever made. Do I go with a well known national brand? A regional brew? It's a wedding reception for me, so I want to make sure I like the beer, but I'd like to get something unique that somebody might not have tried before.

I can already tell you up front that the following urine-flavored brands are out: Budweiser, Coors, Old English, Red Dog, Keystone, Natural Ice, and Pabst Blue Ribbon. Those beers suck so bad, and I don't care if half my guests like them: I will not supply beer I don't like. Sorry! Miller would have earned a spot on that list, even though I don't like it, but they earned good will by featuring John C. McGinley as the Beer Commish.

So seriously, what do I go with? The two brands I really like on a national scale are Samuel Adams and New Belgium. Do I go with bottles of Samuel Adams Boston Lager and New Belgium 1554 Enlightened Black Ale from tap? Or do I choose something a little more regional, like Sly Fox Ichor, and in turn help support the local economy?

I realize that I'm fretting over nothing, as any beer choice I make will be greeted by at least a handful of people saying, "Geez I can't believe he picked this beer, and I only get two glasses! What a cheap jerk!" Or "I can't believe he'd allow DRINKING at his wedding. Those Catholics are going to Hell!" (I come from a non-hateful Protestant family, btw).

Still, I want to be able to show everyone a good time, and share a beer with people I love at my wedding. If I only knew which kind. If you have any suggestions, please leave a comment. We need all the help we can get!

My First Love...

2010-08-26T12:56:00.000-07:00

As much as I try to forget it there was a time before dustin. I had to do something to pass my time waiting for the man of my dreams. What ever could I do to keep myself busy until my prince appeared? well, I crafted and I shopped. I have the best place for both of those things right here in the harrisburg area. The Hodge Podgery a shop run by a mother-daughter team specializing in local, handmade, and upcycled products. What in the world does that mean? Well, artists and crafters in the area can sell their wares at the shop. If they happen to reuse items that might have wasted away for millions of years in the dump they have just added upcycle to their resume. I am a huge supporter of this cause. I think Jess and Dawn (co-owners) are doing an amazing job of getting the word out about the shop. They offer classes and take home demonstrations. The shop has even branced out to the other local scenes and started a roadshow type event near the Broad Street Market on some Saturdays.

Ok, so the nitty-gritty, the WHY I posted this here, on our wedding blog...
Calligraphy Class! They are offering a calligraphy class in September. Brilliant! It is perfect timing, in my quest to plan an awesome wedding. I was planning on printing labels on the computer, but now I can hand write the addresses on the envelopes and it will actually look nice compared to my regular handwriting which can be questionable.

I also plan to do quite a bit of shopping there in the coming months for some gifts. The have an adorable selection of baby items. Awesome jewelry for special people in the wedding party and so many other things I could never get bored shopping there. I cannot wait for my handsome husband-to-be to get up here to Pennsylvania so I can drag him there and point out all the lovely gifts he can get me (wink wink hunnie)

As my business cards say "Writer, Crafter, and Social Media Lover" -the Hodge Podgery just feels like home to someone like me.

So, I was shopping today and...

2010-08-24T17:45:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I know it is "not cool" to directly discuss my wedding registries as a bride, but I just found the coolest place to register and I HAVE TO TELL EVERYONE. I totally stumbled upon it and had no idea it existed. I was looking up some books by Mark Hart the Bible Geek and found out I can register for things at Aquinas and More Giftstore that is so awesomely crazy! Most of you will think I am crazy, but if you know me and love me you already knew that!

Thanks for listening to me ramble. Your presence at our union is presents enough for us.

Sacrifices

2010-08-15T09:01:00.000-07:00

I've always heard that marriage is a perpetual sacrifice. You gotta give up this, you gotta give up that.

No problem. If being with the woman of my dreams means I have to give up a life of doing whatever I want , hey I'm all in. No more trying to find a date and having sex without guilty feelings makes it worth it.

But then it started to sink in after I got engaged. Things are really going to change!

For instance, I'm a huge video game nerd (check out dustinfaber.com if you don't believe me). I love to go shopping for old games, sometimes spending $15-$20 on old NES or SEGA games that I could easily download for half the price on the Wii virtual console. But I like the nostalgia of a cartridge, so I go do that.

When I get married? Sure I can still do that, but I'll have to check with our budget beforehand. Just to make sure we aren't spending money we don't have.

Or those Saturdays when I get to laze around the house and do absolutely nothing. Sure when I get married, there will be chances to be lazy and relax. But with two people in the same home, the place gets cluttered easier. Dishes need to be washed, furniture needs to be dusted. God forbid someone comes to the Faber home and thinks we're lazy, dirty bums.

So that lazy saturday I enjoy three times a month? Goodbye, and hello lazy Saturday once every six months.

No more sole ownership of the bathroom, kitchen, bedroom or television. No more doing things whenever I want without running it by anyone.

No more freedom!!! Talk about a sacrifice! That's more than I ever thought of when marriage first crossed my mind.

But ya know what? Maybe freedom (in a bachelor lifestyle kinda way) is overrated. Sure I don't get to do whatever I want whenever I want. But is that what I really want for the next 40 years? I say no.

True, the loss of some personal space will be sad. But just look at everything I gain. Someone to talk to each day. Someone to share the innermost thoughts that I'd never share with anyone else. Someone to eat dinner with, watch Revs games with, someone to play Duck Hunt with.

I get more freedom with the restrictions of marriage than I ever would sitting on the couch alone in my underwear watching Scrubs reruns while the laundry just piles up. Though I'll change and give up things that I love, the payoff will be worth it knowing that the most amazing person in the world is willing to be with me for the rest of her life.

Oh, and that other perk of marriage? Not having to clean the apartment by myself.

oh so pretty

2010-08-13T11:10:00.000-07:00

I think I may have found *THE DRESS* unfortunately for all of you I cannot discuss it here on such a public forum.. after all, the GROOM can't see it and I don't want to give him any ideas! I will just say this: My mom almost cried- SHE NEVER CRIES! ... Also, Stevie Nicks was playing on the radio and mom used to play her for me all the time when I was a baby. Fate? Divine Intervention? Total Coincidence? Who cares, I look good in that thing!

Normal Anxiety, right?

2010-08-12T08:31:00.000-07:00

So I had a horrible night of sleep last evening. I should start by saying I have been exhausted for the past few days and my darling fiance convinced me a nap was in order (not a hard fight of course) ...so I took to my nap around 6pm. Darling fiance called me during my nap to tell me Lino Rulli was discussing something important on The Catholic Guy Show XM117-Sirius159 (I was half asleep and can only remember Lino was talking about Man-gagement rings.)

Instead of getting up at 8 and doing some work around the house I just fell back asleep for the rest of the night. I will now tell you all about the ridiculously odd dreams I had about our upcoming wedding.

1. Father Jim Chern (our beloved priest and friend) who we are praying and praying and praying can perform our wedding mass called to tell dustin he is unable to do the wedding in May or June. Fr. Jim was telling dustin(in my dream) that he could ONLY do the wedding in February. Fine, no biggie...except I was terrified we wouldn't have enough time to complete the pre-cana work generally required by the church in order to be allowed to marry. I was so worried we would have everything set up and not be approved to get married. I just couldn't imagine Fr. Jim doing this to us. I know Fr. Jim would prefer we take longer to get married and get to know each other more before the wedding -so moving the date up to February made no sense at all.

2. dustin's mom offered to pay for the whole wedding... not too scary, except she also REFUSED to go to the reception! I was crying and begging her to come. The whole family on his side was not going to come. I was so distraught I told his sister she could come in a tank-top as long as she would be there. I was telling them that our family wasn't perfect, we are sarcastic and have water balloon fights.

3. We were taking photos and had to use a movie poster being projected as the backdrop. Also, there was a drumset and my dad started playing while we were supposed to be taking these photos. My dad doesn't play the drums... Another set appeared and dustin's family started playing too. The photos got canned so the families could have a jam session.

I have a sneaky suspicion this will not be the last time I have dreams about the wedding and reception going awry. I am confident though that dustin and I will get married and it will be wonderful saying "I do" no matter what the rest of the day holds.

eenie, meenie, miney, mo

2010-08-10T13:23:00.000-07:00

How do you slim down a guest list? I want to share my wedding with the whole world, especially my family and friends. Should I walk up to my loved ones and ask which of them are perfectly happy with looking at photos after the fact? It must be done and it will. I just want the world (and my family and friends) to know that if they don't receive an invitation it is not an expression of my feelings for them.

Long Distance Relationships suck

2010-08-09T20:01:00.001-07:00

Yes, these suck. For those of you who are blessed to have your special someone living nearby, cherish that and thank God for it daily.

You could be like Allicia and I. 1300 miles apart! Geez this Wedding can't get here soon enough.

Welcome

2010-08-09T18:51:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our little love nest. We are working our way to marriage and welcome you to come along for the ride.