{SQT} Link-toberfest the Third

Welcome back to Link-toberfest III; a sequel that doesn’t suck. Yeah, you heard me Transformers.

1.Things were quiet on the blog this week because my family and I spent a few days at the beach. This is possible because homeschooling is portable and my husband is exclusively working from home right now. As we took our lunch breaks on the boardwalk, several times I caught myself thinking “We answer to no one!!! MWAHAHAHA!” I totally felt like I was getting away with something the entire trip.

2.Tony and I also managed to squeeze in a walk at sunset on our 14th anniversary, sans kids.

The whole experience was supposed to inspire some deep reflection about marriage that I could share with y’all but this is all I came up with:

I thought I would share how marriage is like the ocean.

First, the ocean is bigger than my husband and I. Taken at a glance, it’s huge and scary and full of things like sharks, those fish that glow in the dark and the Bermuda Triangle. I’ve heard a lot of bad stuff about the ocean! It ate the Titanic after all.

The idea of marriage can also seem big and scary. A whole life time committed to one, single person! I can’t just do whatever I want whenever I want- I have this other person I need to consider! Divorce is rampant! And babies, I’ll have to raise babies with this person, or perhaps a herd of dogs.

And then I never really got around to writing about how marriage is great, just like the ocean is great. The metaphors just kept getting worse.

Sure, sometimes things are smelly and there’s this gross stuff that’s dragged up from the deep by the currents that you’re totally unprepared for. You hold your nose, turn suddenly, and step on a jellyfish which hurts like hell. Even on an otherwise clear day, the salt water will suddenly sting your eyes or choke in your throat do it a careless or foolhardy move on your part. The castle you spent hours working on comes crashing down as the tide moves in and now the kids are sad, cranky and trying to bring 3,485 pounds of shells, partially dead sea creatures and sand back home. On those days, we wonder, was it worth it?

In conclusion, yes, marriage is worth it! But please don’t make me explain why!

3. Considering I was at the beach, you might be expecting lots of great photos. In fact, I somehow managed to come home with only a couple grainy selfies of Tony and I, plus a couple from our walk on the beach.

Had I brought my A-game I could have joined up with the new Theme Thursday hosted at California to Korea, for this week’s theme of ‘sun flare’. I mean seriously, could I have dropped a bigger ball??? Check out the betters at Micaela’s. 

4. This week’s Link-toberfest bonus question is “Who is your favorite blogger that you discovered through Quick Takes?” This is a tough one for me. When I started blogging, I googled ‘catholic mom bloggers’ and immediately found Conversion Diary, Clan Donaldson, Like Mother, Like Daughter, and House Unseen. From their blog rolls and Quick Takes, I quickly found many other bloggers that I read to this day. It’s hard for me to remember which bloggers I found where, however there is one blogger I know I found through Quick Takes that I still read, and I can say we’ve become good friends though I have yet to actually meet her in person.

Jen always finds a spot at the top of the link up (West Coast advantage) which is probably how I first noticed her, but I kept coming back for her dry humor, no punches pulled manner of writing, and our shared struggles with special needs parenting. If you haven’t visited her before, please do so today!

**Remember answering the question in your Takes or in the comments below gets you an additional entry for ALL THESE GREAT PRIZES!!!  **

5. Some of my readers may have heard of the catastrophic fire at the Shrine of Christ the King, Chicago. I first learned about it through a Facebook post on the day of the fire that showed firemen bringing a 300 year old wooden Infant of Prague statue and the Tabernacle containing Our Lord out of the church miraculously unscathed. (Which you can view through their Facebook page.)

Unfortunately the rest of the sanctuary and building was destroyed; the roof, the choir loft and the organ are a total loss. To learn more about the parish, which had be slated for demolition only ten years ago and how you can help please click. At the very least, please remember the parish community in your prayers.

6. Probably the most academic of all the Quick Takes last week was Miss Alexandrina who wrote about a psychology seminar she presented entitled ‘Are Faces and the Emotions they Convey Innate?’. I enjoyed the takes because she touched on Paul Ekman, whose work was also cited in the book ‘Blink’ by Malcolm Gladwell (which I recently read.) How accurately, and quickly, can we read one another by the expressions on our face? And how easy is it to hide our true feelings from appearing across our visage? These are the things that never cross my mind until I read something interesting (like the above post or book), and then I over analyze all my dealings with people for days.

7. The only souvenir we brought home from the beach this week was dirty laundry. Amy, is a fan of magnets. She wrote Seven Quick Takes about magnets being great souvenirs. If you would have asked me to give you an impossible topic to write SQT about, I might have suggested, magnets. But even without the throwdown, The Salt Stories stepped up and delivered a good group of takes about the most under-appreciated souvenir of all (next to seashells with googly eyes), the refrigerator magnet.  She also designed a really sweet Quick Takes logo that perhaps we should all vote to adopt?

Alright, that’s my story and I’m sticking with it. Join up below with a link back to this post so your readers can find the rest of Link-toberfest! I look forward to reading your posts! The Fine Print: Link up your blog for an entry. Link up a Seven Quick Takes post every week between now and October 23 for up to four chances. Readers, leave a comment for an entry. Leave comments here every Friday between now and October 23 for up to four chances. Bloggers, for a bonus entry, answer the featured question in your takes each week, and leave a comment here so I know. Readers, for a bonus entry, Tweet me @kellymantoan with your favorite Takes of the week, up to four times between now and October 29th. Winners will be selected at random and announced in the October 30th Quick Takes.