~1~

You know what I love about Mary? There’s a title for every season, every mood, every color scheme, and, as it turns out, there’s even one for New Media. Yep, that’s right, and you can read all about it at my latest column at Faith & Family Live: “Star of the New Evangelization.”

~2~

Speaking of Mary, the question of Mary and her girlfriends had girlfriends has been rattling around in my brain for about five years. I was inspired, by both meeting Maria in person and reading her first take on the Catholic New Media Celebration, to put together my own thoughts. You can listen to them in this week’s Mary in the Kitchen segment, which can be found exclusively on the Catholic Foodie show.

(If you aren’t already listening to Catholic Foodie, prepare yourself. Not only does Jeff put together a top-notch show, it’s even entertaining if you’re, ahem, slightly, cough, kitchen-challenged. Not that I know anyone like that. AHEM.)

~3~

So, since we’ve segued into food talk, I thought I’d share my new favorite recipe. It’s been difficult to pull off some nights, but I’ve gotten quite expert at it.

I call it the “Sarah doesn’t cook” recipe.

Yeah, you can pretty much figure out that it involves equal amounts of PB&J, being at someone else’s house, and pure luck and compassion on my husband’s part. But…the weather seems to have broken around here, and we are even considering wearing socks again, so I’m going to be back in business very, very soon. And then I’ll be scouring the new cookbook I bought over the summer (to help me with my sad lack of summer cooking). I haven’t used my oven since, um, I forget — maybe late June. My kitchen’s on the west side of my non-air conditioned house and it’s foolhardy to even think about turning it off. The grill is also on that side of the house. (Yeah, I know, I could have troubleshot this before August 27, but…let’s move forward, shall we?).

Here’s the link to my favorite recipes (and one of the easiest meals I know how to make): notsanga. We’ll probably start having variations of it weekly again next week. It serves well for Lent and for large company dinners and is my favorite recipe to share for a new baby or surgery dinner.

What’s YOUR favorite recipe?

~4~

This week has been the grand Gearing Up for Kindergarten Week in the Reinhard House. Our five-year-old is excited, and after finding out that she would not have to ride for more than 15 minutes, I’ve agreed to let her ride the bus to school. (We live minutes from the school. It seems silly to have them pick her up and drop her off if the ride’s going to be very long.)

We have gone shoe shopping. (To everyone who ever endured that with me in the past, I hereby call you even with me. Forever.) We have purchased school supplies. (No hardship with that kind of shopping!) We have attending the reading assessment and the parent orientation.

And on Monday, we will enter the world of having a child in the public school system. I’m so glad I took the time this summer to read Going Public: Your Child Can Thrive in Public School, by David & Kelly Pritchard. I plan to review it in-depth soon. It gave voice to a lot of the things my husband and I have discussed and discerned.

But really, for me, it comes back to the realization that each year, it’s a new decision. And it’s not life or death. Ever.

~5~

This week’s quotable, via Twitter:

You probably thought I was done talking about wasps, huh? Well. Maybe I am. And maybe…shudder…I’m NOT!

~6~

October’s coming! October’s coming! In my world, that means I’m thinking of rosary reflections to share, ways to honor Mary, and about pumpkins, football, and apple butter. The leaves will be changing soon and the rhythm of the seasons will point me, once again, to cuddling under blankets and a new way of life.

Oh, and there’s a baby coming before too long!

~7~

You still have time left in August. For what? To enter the Dog Days of Summer Catholic Fiction Giveaway at CatholicMom.com. Go on! There’s lots to win, but time’s a-wastin…

(Just wait til you see what we have in store for September!)

The place for Quick Takes is Conversion Diary. Go there, whether you care about Quick Takes or not. Jen, our lovely and gracious hostess, is working on a new site and could use some love in the dust trail she has while things get up and running.