Friday, November 6, 2009

I have a prayer service this morning with the school kids and then it's another insanely busy day. I have soap to package, White Chocolate Chex mix to make, craft show bins to pack, a batch of candles to pour, and someday maybe I can get a path cleared in this house. My two grandmothers were as different as night and day. Grandma Caputo's house was always spotless and always filled with the aroma of her wonderful cooking. Grandma Milliron's house always looked like a flea market (literally!!!), but we had the best tea parties under the bushes in her garden. This month has been a Grandma Milliron month - minus the tea parties.

I have gotten some Christmas shopping done online, but the rest will be done locally to support our local economy. Around Thanksgiving we girls pay ourselves from the craft shows and stocking sales. It is this money that determines my Christmas spending. We also tithe 10 per cent of our gross sales from the craft shows. We haven't decided what to do with that money yet. I'm torn between struggling families in the area and doing something for the military personnel.

Today's Flylady Holiday Mission is budgeting. Since I left my job at the school, I have done very well with budgeting. When Harold and I decided that he needed to retire from Medler (which meant I would have to retire from the school), I made it a point to get my credit card paid off. I have kept the balance low ever since - paying it off each month. I use my card because I get points toward Amazon gift certificates.



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Friday of the Thirty-first week in Ordinary Time
Today the Church celebrates : St. Leonard (+ c. 550)
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 16:1-8.

Then he also said to his disciples, "A rich man had a steward who was reported to him for squandering his property. He summoned him and said, 'What is this I hear about you? Prepare a full account of your stewardship, because you can no longer be my steward.' The steward said to himself, 'What shall I do, now that my master is taking the position of steward away from me? I am not strong enough to dig and I am ashamed to beg. I know what I shall do so that, when I am removed from the stewardship, they may welcome me into their homes.' He called in his master's debtors one by one. To the first he said, 'How much do you owe my master?' He replied, 'One hundred measures of olive oil.' He said to him, 'Here is your promissory note. Sit down and quickly write one for fifty.' Then to another he said, 'And you, how much do you owe?' He replied, 'One hundred kors of wheat.' He said to him, 'Here is your promissory note; write one for eighty.' And the master commended that dishonest steward for acting prudently. "For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.