I call BS. This is a fantasy, an impossible dream.
When I see this statement in job descriptions, I run the opposite direction.
For some perspective, check out “Essentialism” by Greg McKeown.
Charisms: Your Superpowers from the Holy Spirit
Sometimes thinking about it, I say “No, can’t be. Superpowers!?”
But when you learn more about the Charisms – special supernatural gifts given by the Holy Spirit to every person for his or her personal Mission, for their Calling to perform his or her task in the Church and in the World. These special gifts are given for the benefit of others, not for ourselves. But when we are exercising our Charisms we feel “in the flow” and as if the action “fits us” in a special way. The other wonderful thing about Charisms is that when you are exercising yours, you are effective in a remarkable or extra-ordinary way: when a person with the Charism of Teaching teaches, people learn as if God were teaching, when a person exercises the Charism of Healing, people are Healed as if God were healing.
Interested in learning more? Check out the Catherine of Siena Institute: http://siena.org/
I am hoping to be able to offer a small group workshop soon for the Discernment of Charisms at St. Rose of Lima in Newtown. Stay tuned.
FotoJet – Super Easy, Free Online Art Designer
I am not an artist…but I appreciate good graphics and love it when I find a tool (especially a FREE tool) that lets me get creative with words and photos. FotoJet has a bunch of really creative collage formats and styles and includes pre-formatted templates like: Facebook Post, Google+ Cover, YouTube Banner, Instagram Posts, Pinterest Graphics… the list goes on!
This afternoon I played with creating Magazine Covers (Time Person of the Century!?)
Check it out and have fun!
Special Education Services – Age Limits by State
I had a challenging time finding this information until I hit upon the right search phrase, so I thought I would publish a quick reference to Special Education Age Limits by State. This is one of the areas that is not mandated at the Federal Level, so if you are planning Transition services for your child, you need to know the age limits in your state.
The following information was gathered from a PDF published by the U.S. Department of Education on the Ages that Special Education Services are provided (by State). The end dates often include additional details. See the PDF or contact your State Department of Education for further information. https://www2.ed.gov/policy/speced/guid/idea/letters/2002-2/osep0206-2q2002.pdf
| State | Ages |
| AL | 3 through 20 |
| AK | 3 through 21 |
| AZ | 3 through 21 |
| AR | 3 through 20 |
| CA | 3 through 18 |
| CO | 3 through 20 |
| CT | 3 through 20 |
| DE | 3 through 20 |
| DC | 3 through 21 |
| FL | 3 through 21 |
| GA | 3 through 21 |
| HI | 3 through 19 |
| ID | 3 through 20 |
| IL | 3 through 20 |
| IN | 3 through 21 |
| IA | 3 through 20 |
| KS | 3 through 20 |
| KY | 3 through 20 |
| LA | 3 through 21 |
| ME | 3 through 19 |
| MD | 3 through 20 |
| MA | 3 through 21 |
| MI | 3 through 21 |
| MN | 3 through 20 |
| MS | 3 through 20 |
| MO | 3 through 20 |
| MT | 3 through 18 |
| NE | 3 through 20 |
| NV | 3 through 21 |
| NH | 3 through 20 |
| NJ | 3 through 21 |
| NM | 3 through 21 |
| NY | 3 through 20 |
| NC | 3 through 20 |
| ND | 3 through 20 |
| OH | 3 through 21 |
| OK | 3 through 21 |
| OR | 3 through 20 |
| PA | 3 through 20 |
| PR | 3 through 21 |
| RI | 3 through 20 |
| SC | 3 through 21 |
| SD | 3 through 20 |
| TN | 3 through 21 |
| TX | 3 through 21 |
| UT | 3 through 21 |
| VT | 3 through 21 |
| VA | 3 through 21 |
| WA | 3 through 20 |
| WV | 3 through 20 |
| WI | 3 through 20 |
| WY | 3 through 20 |
I work during the day too.
There’s a Bible Study at our church (Walking with Purpose at St. Rose of Lima) that last year only took place on Wednesday mornings, but this Fall will have an evening offering on Tuesdays. It’s a study just for women and is transformative to say the very least.
Frequently when I would mention it to people to invite them to the Connect Coffee sessions they would respond “I’d love to, but I work.” or “Sounds nice, but I work during the day.” Now, maybe it’s me, but I always heard the implication that I, who also “work during the day” but have a flexible schedule was being seen as a “woman of leisure” who spent her day eating bon bons and reading books instead of working for a living.
I am very grateful that I do have a flexible schedule, that I can work evenings and weekends to make up for any time I take during the day for something like a Bible Study. I hope that in the future more people will have the option for flexible schedules. Schedules that allow them to take that elusive afternoon or morning off to spend time with family, or in a Bible Study, or just appreciating the great outdoors.
How are you Judging your own Genius?
5 Autism Films on Netflix
Found this on Autism Speaks today: https://www.autismspeaks.org/news/news-item/5-autism-films-netflix
This is the one I think I’ll watch first:
Petunia Care: How to Prune Petunias
I mostly limit my gardening to my organic veggie garden, but I do love the look of flowers around the house. I love petunias for their bright, happy looking flowers, but somehow mine always end up looking leggy and ragged a few weeks after I bring them home from the nursery. I did a search on the web to find the answers to the burning question of how to properly care for and prune petunias. Here is what I found.
How to Cut Back My Petunias to Make Them Bloom More
This article from SFGate has a good basic step by step for cutting back petunias.
Locate a node or point at least half way between the tip and base of the main stem where smaller stems or leaves branch. When petunias produce long stems with few leaves and stop producing flowers, trimming them back improves the overall look and promotes new growth and flower production. Make these pruning cuts in mid-summer.
This video has a nice demonstration where to clip the stems (at about 1:57 seconds he shows the part of the stem that you should remove behind the spent flower).
And this article from gardenlady.com does a very good job of explaining how to keep your petunias full of flowers and bushy vs. “stemmy”
Problems with Petunias
If you look at your petunia plants you will notice that they only form flowers at the END of the stems. So as the stems grow longer all the flowers are at the edges of the plants, with bare stems leading up to them. This is the case if you are growing the Wave, Super Petunias or regular ones.
In order to keep the plants full, bushy and not “stemmy” – you need to clip some of the stems each week.
And here’s some really great advice for rejuvenating a stemmy plant and even rooting the cuttings that you take from the plant… and who doesn’t love MORE plants for FREE??
What should you do if your plant is “stemmy” or has stopped flowering? Clip the stems back by 2/3 and fertilize. You could clip all at once, or do a third at a time (randomly over the plant – clip a third every week or 10 days) so that the plant isn’t cut back all at once.
You can also root the ends of the stems you clip off – cut them to 8″ long and put them in fresh, damp potting soil after coating the stems with rooting hormone.
Lastly, don’t forget to fertilize! The GardenLady recommends every three weeks. Always water first, never fertilize a thirsty plant.
Why I Left Facebook, and Why I Returned
Last year, around this time, I got a little “Like Happy”on Facebook and liked a post that made a statement that wasn’t “quite” true… I got “slapped” by a few friends, calling me on the accuracy of the statement. And in my frustrated embarrassment, I left Facebook in a fit of pique.
For a long while it was wonderful, it cut down on the noise in my life, it freed up time that otherwise would have been sucked into the cyber-vortex of browsing my news feed. I kept my account active, because I do some administration on clients’ Facebook pages, but I didn’t post, or read my news feed for months and months.
The best part was the quiet. The worst was the loss of information, the loss of connection.
Like it or not, Facebook is a global communication medium, an arena where people of all ages “gather” in cyberspace to share information, to boast a bit, to express viewpoints as well as sympathy and prayers. It provides a way to reach large groups of people quickly and easily. I don’t think it’s reach can be duplicated in any other way.
So, here I am, back on Facebook… liking posts, cruising my newsfeed, boasting a bit and enjoying the feeling of being just a little more connected.
God, What Do You Think I Should Do?
According to Matthew Kelly, Dynamic Catholic Speaker and Author, this the THE question. The question that changed his life. The question that has dropped out of the vocabulary of Christians world-wide. The question that is possibly the most important question you can ask to move you toward the life God wants you to lead, the life where you become the Best Version of Yourself.
After Matthew came to do a Passion and Purpose Workshop at St. Rose of Lima in 2011, I started asking the question daily in my journal, and getting answers! I just recently found that journal (that I handily abandoned sometime along the way) and was amazed by the answers. The answers were profound, clearly inspired by the Holy Spirit and delivered to me in writing simply because I ASKED the question.
Have I followed through on the advice I so divinely received? Sort of. Well, some of the time. I’ve thought about them a lot.
But that’s a topic for another post.
Find the Answers, Ask the Questions!!