The F.U.N. Quotient... if you are musician, you'll love this!

Joy in the Congo - an amazing story of the dedication of Congolese musicians to learn and share classical music. (13 minutes of video on CBS' 60 Minutes.)

The F.U.N. Quotient... an Ode to Joy

The F.U.N. Quotient.... piano edition

Oh, and do go over to Maria Johnson's Another Cup of Coffee for another great piano video.

Among Women ReadHER 6.2.12... kids, Not-Cosmo, tech, and outrage....

Archbishop Lori and the First Principle
By Kathryn Jean Lopez at National Review Online
The fight for religious liberty continues, and whether Catholic lawsuits against Obamacare undo it or not remains to be seen. But the ramifications of this fight are huge. 

Outrage
By Betty Duffy at her blog by the same name
About casting the first stone... and the occasion of being disappointed in a priests' bad behavior.


Tech Talk Now a Daily Feature at CatholicMom.com
By Sarah Reinhard at CatholicMom.com
Always the go-to page for Moms, now even techier and geekier! Android and iPhone users rejoice! Sarah is my guest this week on AW 135.


Growing Up Without a Dad Affects [our] Concept of God
Posted at Zenit (The World Seen From Rome)
Part of a transcript of Pope Benedict's catechesis at the May 23rd General Audience in Rome. 


The Antidote to Cosmo
By Elizabeth Kantor at The Huffington Post
A new women's magazine -- Verily -- available online by subscription. Looks interesting in its inaugural edition... as their website says the women's mag's out there don't talk about real women... Note, this is not an article about a Catholic or Christian magazine, but it looks like a women's mag headed in a good direction, one that wants to uphold the beauty of women rather than exploiting it. That being said, I'm not endorsing anything here, just offering something that might be worth a look, and something that could grow. The blog for the new Verily magazine is here.

Do We Spend Enough Time with Our Kids?
By Mary Beth Hicks at Family Events
A great post as we head into summer, with additional articles listed as well. On this subject, don't miss this week's Among Women with Sarah Reinhard talking about her book about Catholic Family Fun.


H/T: Thanks for fine women at the Of Sound Mind and Spirit blog for linking to this:



H/T: One more, just for fun, via Lisa Hendey on Pinterest...

The F.U.N. Quotient... dirty dishes edition

One silly and spoofy... 



One somewhat serious... but you'll love this one... (Go ahead, Mom, crank it up!)

Among Women Podcast #135: Books: For the Fun of It!

Among Women 135 takes a look at a new book, Catholic Family Fun, from Catholic wife and mom, author-blogger, Sarah Reinhard. Together we share fun memories of growing up, and ways to keep families bonded together using the glue of fun! It's all part of the conversation we had as we take ideas from her new book and head into the summer months. Plus enter a special free drawing for this book! (Send in your name to via the contact details below.)

Check out Sarah's previous guest post on the AW blog from last month.

Also featured in this episode, a reading describing the faith and faith-filled death of St Monica, patron of mothers, from Augustine's Confessions.


This week, we have a few announcements!

Don't forget to make your reservations to attend the Catholic New Media Conference, Aug. 29-31 in Dallas.


Among Women Special Edition: on Joy!  Send Pat your reflections on what gives you joy, or where you find joy... for a future edition of the Among Women Podcast later this summer.  Contact Pat at pat.gohn@comcast.net or find AW on facebook.

Finally, listen to this new podcast as Pat announces her book project that will be of special interest to the AW listening audience.

The F.U.N. Quotient... ya gotta laugh...

Click here: Fr. James Martin joking around. 

image: morguefile

The F.U.N. Quotient... babies and giggles and Moms edition

Happy Mother's Day Weekend to all the Moms out there!

The F.U.N. Quotient... allergy edition

Sarah Reinhard shares "Five Ways to Have Fun with Family Fun"

Happy to welcome author and blogger Sarah Reinhard to this space today. Her new book Catholic Family Fun just came out and it's, well, fun, and funny... It reminds us that fun and joy and, gosh, just being together as a family is some of the best glue that binds hearts and minds. So make some funnish plans and see what happens! (Cuz you know, even tho' spontaneous fun is grand, we all know how darn busy we can be. So read this book and try an new idea or two.) Enjoy the joie de vivre and the random silliness that may follow and remember blessed are those who don't take themselves too seriously. Look for Sarah Reinhard to be a guest on an upcoming episode of Among Women. (But until then you can look back to her guest slots on Among Women 11 & 116.)

Five Ways to Have Fun with Family Fun

It still seems unlikely to me that *I* am the author of Catholic Family Fun: A Guide for the Adventurous, Overwhelmed, Creative, or Clueless, because, so often, I feel like I'm firmly planted in the Land of the Clueless.

Here are five ways I’ve found to make my attempts at family fun actually enjoyable for me, the mom who has to plan, execute, and repeat. I find that, when I can remember to follow my own advice, my instances of family fun burnout are less frequent and my ability to laugh is more sincere.

1. Plan ahead (as much as you can)

Though I like to act like I’m a Type A person, the reality of my life and my big streak of laziness often combine to make me far less prepared than I should be. I’ve learned that planning ahead is the best way to enjoy family fun. That way, I’m not scrambling at the last minute for everything (just for that one thing I forgot).

2. Remain flexible (also known as “being an optimist”)

This is, admittedly, pretty hard for me. I want to plan and then stick with the plan. After all, isn’t that what a plan is for? Well, yes and no. When you have other people involved, and when those other people might have their own ideas about things, then the plan can be more like a guideline than a hard-and-fast procedure. This also allows me to have a mindset that doesn’t see a problem but a different opportunity for fun.

3. Get input from the other participants (and then ignore it if necessary)

It’s helpful to find out what the kids want to do and to think of what they’re naturally inclined to enjoy. Sometimes, though, they aren’t very helpful with their input. (“That dinner was terrible, Mom. Don’t make it ever again. Oh, and we want chocolate.”) You’re the adult, but that doesn’t mean you can’t ask them for input (or solicit it in some sneaky detective-type way). If they’re invested in what you’re going to do, it might change the entire tone and fun-level. Then again, it might not. You be the judge.

4. Accept imperfection (because perfection can be highly overrated)

Why is it that I have an idea of what this fun thing will look like, and that idea is “perfect”? Nothing and no one can live up to my ideal, my “perfect” family fun. For one thing, there is no such “perfect” family. For another, someone’s sure to throw some sort of wrench into things. (I may even be the wrench-thrower!) Starting out with a standard that doesn’t demand the elusive perfection is a must for me, and it might just be something for you to embrace, too!

5. Smile (even if you’re faking it)

Hey, we’re here to have FUN, right? So why is the four-year-old crying, the seven-year-old pouting, and the 35-year-old huffing? Oh, wait. YOUR family might not have a problem with this or need a reminder. But me? I need this reminder. A lot. I need to keep my focus on the family, on the fun, on the faith that ties us all together. And then? I need to smile. Funny how just moving my lips into the shape of a smile can change my outlook…

What are YOUR tips for having fun with your family fun?

Sarah Reinhard shares her struggles and triumphs, muses and ramblings, reading and links at SnoringScholar.com.  

The F.U.N. Quotient... the beauty of moments, the life of abundance...

Sometimes the beauty of a single moment eludes me... here, in these videos, a single moment seems to arrest me... in a good way.

Enjoy these three minutes of beauty, goodness, and celebration of LIFE!

Jesus came, and died, and rose that we might have life in abundance. (See John 10:10.)

Seconds Of Beauty - 1st round compilation from The Beauty Of A Second on Vimeo.

The Beauty Of a Second - 2nd round compilation from The Beauty Of A Second on Vimeo.

The Beauty Of a Second - 3rd round compilation (Instant Bliss) from The Beauty Of A Second on Vimeo.

Now, go make a moment. 

The F.U.N. Quotient

The Bible, according to kids.

St Paul's Third Letter to the Corinthians.

The F.U.N. Quotient... a virtual choir from around the world -- real voices synced together -- beautiful and amazing.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The F.U.N. Quotient... for book lovers

The F.U.N. Quotient... a goat rodeo... but a real treat for music lovers!

Reviewers are calling it a hybrid of bluegrass and classical... I'm calling it downright joyous. Here's a taste ...


I had the pleasure of seeing these gentlemen perform in concert in Boston recently -- a fun night out with my daughter. Anyway, this concert will be on PBS in the weeks to come, but for the time being I'm content with the music from this collection filling my speakers.

The F.U.N. Quotient... more comics...

I've been following the Savage Chickens by Doug Savage for some time... (I never really appreciated the post-it note as a source of creativity before!)

A few recent favorites:

We all scream.

Insufficient.

Paying attention.

It's academic.

The F.U.N. Quotient... the comics edition

Once, in a galaxy long ago and far away, in a middle-school theatre production I played "Patty" in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. I was reared on Peanuts, spending many summers reading comics books, so I couldn't resist passing this along...

10 Peanuts Characters You've Probably Forgotten

And then, there's this: Happiness is Loving Your Enemies...

----
And then there's this totally-unrelated-to-Peanuts little gem... of subtle humor that only MAC users would understand.

The F.U.N. Quotient - further proof that I am easily amused

For the moms and caregivers out there -- did any one of your children even go through a dinosaur phase? Mine did. And so, here's a brief send up to those memories...

Dino Fail.

Dino Lego.

Dino Comes to School: Kids "gobsmacked"!


Dino movie:

The F.U.N. Quotient... happy Christmas traveling edition...

The F.U.N. Quotient... Bethlehemian Rhapsody

Some Advent Humor.