OK, I'm here for just 5 minutes....

...I am so bad at self control. I can't even stay off for a week. but I just HAD to share this with any Alias fans...

Question: Any news on Lena Olin's possible return to Alias? — Tatiana

Ausiello: Yes! The deal closed last week and Syd's mama will be back for the big 90-minute season finale on May 25. And no one is more relieved than J.J. Abrams. "It's something I've been trying to do for a long time," he says. "I was hoping all year that we would be able to pull this off, and we managed to. I have to give a lot of credit to her agents, who were incredibly helpful in making this happen, because this is certainly a story that we wanted to tell. We're really excited about it."

BTW, My daughter has only gone potty 2 times in three days. Alexa, I may be inclined to lean in your favor on the 3 years, 3 months theory if things don't get better soon.

Gone until after Easter....

I've decided to take a break from the internet until after Holy Week. First, I want to focus on the spirit of the week and incorporate more prayer into my days.

But also, I am having the entire family over for Easter, and I am very nervous about getting everything ready. I am making a ham, and the last time I did that I screwed it up. Believe me, if anyone can mess up a ham, it's me. Plus, we have a lot of cleaning to do before the big day.

And third (and this is the one I need MAJOR prayers for), I am potty training my daughter this week. I was going to start next week, but I just so happened to run out of diapers today, so I have begun my efforts early. Please say a prayer for me in this! She is 2 and a half, and every other time I have potty trained (3 other times), it took at least a month. I would really like to be one of those moms who brag "Oh, it only took me two days and she was done!" Please, Lord, Please....

I hope you all have a very blessed and reflective Holy Week, and that your Easter is joyful all around. I offer you all up in prayer, especially those who are suffering in some way this week.

And before I go, watch Veronica Mars on UPN on Tuesday night at 9:00 p.m. for me!

I needed to hear this today...

Fr. Henri Nouwen, A Catholic priest and writer, once went to Mother Theresa and poured out his problems - he wasn't appreciated, he was misunderstood, his higher-ups weren't helping him in his good work.

Mother Theresa's advice was simple. "You wouldn't be having these problems if you prayed more." And that was all she said.

Thanks to Sara at Catholic Mom Community for this.

Veronica Mars Wins!

For all of you who don't watch Veronica Mars on Tuesday nights, 9pm, on UPN, well you better start. It's pretty much one of the best shows on TV and a critic favorite, but one of the most underwatched.

But hopefully that will, change, because Veronica Mars won E! Entertainment Online's Save Our Show campaign. This will hopefully bring the show much needed exposure, and viewers.

The part that is most astounding is the overwhelming percentage the show won by, even ahead of shows such as Arrested Development and American Dreams. The other shows up for votes didn't even hit higher than a 10% portion of the votes.

I won't go into a synopsis of the show here because I have many links towards the bottom of my sidebar that could offer you much better details of the show. However I will give you reasons why I watch it.

1. Very smart, witty writing
2. Extremely intriguing mysteries spanning the entire season (who killed Lily Kane? Where is Veronica's mom? Who violated Veronica at the party? and more).
3. Excellent character development, making viewers love and sympathize with everyone, including the villain of the show.
4. A father daughter relationship that warms the heart without being cheesy.

It's just a great show. So, I am doing my part by promoting it here. It does come on at the same time as The Amazing Race, but come on, this is what VCR's and TiVo's were made for! And for those of you who have teens watching TV at this time, this show is so much better than One Tree Hill!

There's another re-run set to air this upcoming Tuesday, but it's a good one to watch to get a bit updated on how the show works. But then, it's all brand new episodes for the next seven weeks starting March 29th (Woohoo! I can't wait)!

Congrats to everyone who has anything to do with Veronica Mars for this victory. Now, if only TV Guide would bring back their popular feature of the past "The Best Show You're Not Watching" (past winners included Party of Five and Seventh Heaven), and put our beloved Veronica Mars on the cover of the magazine, then I would be really happy and hopeful. As for now, this feature from E! Online will for sure secure VM for a second season.

I've never had God speak to me like this before...

Last night between 3:30 and 4:00 a.m. I woke up because I was having a horrible dream. I dreamt that there was a huge black widow in my house and it was set to attack. The black widow was as big as my hand and was flying through the air shooting it's web out to swing across the room. When I looked to see who it was going to attack, it was my 10 year old niece who lives across the country from me. I haven't seen her or talked to her in a long while. Anyways, the black widow jumped out at her and I ran and pushed her out of the way, and grabbed her and started running through the house to get her out of the way, and the black widow kept shooting out at us trying to get her. In the dream I was completely willing to let the spider attack me to save her. I finally got into my room and slammed the door, but the spider was out there waiting for us, and I was so scared because my children were out there, and I wanted to run out and get them but I new the black widow would either get me or get in the room to get my niece.

That's when I woke up and I was so so scared. I couldn't get back to sleep. Then, I really felt that there was someone in my house. I knew it wasn't a physical person, but it felt like it. I felt it was very spiritual and very evil and I was so scared. I woke up my husband and he held me for a bit, and then we prayed a Rosary together.

While I was praying the Rosary, I really felt God showing me what it all meant. My BIL and SIL (my nieces parents) are going through horrible problems in their marriage and as of now they will be getting a divorce. I felt like God was telling me that satan was on the attack, and the attack was on my niece and that I really needed to make an effort to pray for her. He also showed me that the struggles I have been going through during Lent need to also be offered up for my niece.

I also felt God was saying that the presence I felt in the house was indeed there. It wasn't evil but rather from God Himself, and it was intended to scare me so that I would be inspired to pray.

I told this to my husband after we finished the Rosary, meditating on the sorrowful mysteries. During the rosary I did get up and go bless all of my children. My dh went back to sleep, but I couldn't, so I prayed another Rosary, meditating on the Glorious mysteries and then finally fell asleep.

I am not sure whether or not to share this with other members of my family to get a lot of prayer support going for my niece. Please say a prayer for her, and remember her in your Rosaries. Her name is Katie. Please pray for her parents and their marriage, and their conversions. Thanks.

Children are like martinis...

This article is great...and possibly a little too accurate of a portrayal of my family! Check it out for a good laugh.

Meet Arwen/Elizabeth

I have recently come upon this new blog, which I have thoroughly LOVED reading so far. Arwen/Elizabeth's most recent post was an inspiration to me. If you all have time, check it out, and I'm also including my comment to her post here:

Your post has really inspired me. No, it did not inspire me to have my husband read this post so he could be more like your Michael, although the thought did pass through my head! :) Actually, it inspired me to be like your husband to my husband. I am certainly the more selfish out of the two of us. It is something I get inspired to work on every so often, but then the feeling leaves and I am back on the couch asking my dear hubby to "get this" or "get that" or "do this or that" for me....please?

Sometimes he gets in a selfish mood as well, and it is almost like we are competing for who can get what out of each other! And is really should be the other way around. We should be competing to serve each other and love each other. "No, let ME do that for you!", "No, really, I will!" "No, YOU sleep in, I'll get the kids their cereal!" "No, please, let ME change the baby's poopy pamper!"

Give your Michael a big thank you from this selfish wife. And thank you for your gratitude, because without it there wouldn't have been this post.

Holy Distractions

I shared with you all that there is a particular temptation I have been struggling with this past Lent. I know this struggle will bring about many graces for me and my family, but I have been really stressed out about this cross in my life.

Oh, but how God chooses to show me relief. Just when I began to get very discouraged with this struggle, going to Confession on Saturday thinking, "How am I ever going to prevail over this?", I awoke Sunday morning and did my exercises. Now, I have been recording some exercise programs off the FitTV channel since they are on at around 5 am Pacific time. So I did one of these recorded workouts Sunday morning, which included some trampoline exercises. OK, so I don't have a trampoline, so I just jumped around on the ground. Oh, and I wasn't wearing tennis shoes either. Needless to say, my back paid the price dearly.

So, this entire week I have spent putting heating pads on my back, resting, trying to find ways to sit down comfortably, attempting to resume into my routine but realizing that my back needed more pampering, and having my husband dig his fingers into my back to loosen me up. Yesterday was the first day my back felt better, and since I have been resting this entire week, my house is a disaster! So I have been frantically trying to get my household back to some kind of organized normalcy.

Where am I going with this? Well, in all this week of dealing with the cross of back-pain, I have had very little time to think about that "other" cross. I haven't had as strong of temptations, I haven't stumbled as much, and I haven't been as stressed about it either. I asked God for relief from this struggle, and it was just interesting in what form His relief came.

This happened a couple of months ago as well. I was struggling with this particular cross over the Christmas/New Year holidays. Many of you who know I was anticipating the premeire of Alias on January 5th and was going to have a huge bash for it. Well, I had to cancel that because of a severe throat infection that knocked me out for a week. Well, once again, I had asked God for help in dealing with my cross, and I became physically ill that week. But it worked. That week was a relief for me, of sorts. (By the way, Alias has nothing to do with my particular struggle. Heaven forbid!)

I am not quite sure what to think of our Lord's answers to my prayers. Does He just have a very odd sense of humor, or is there a lesson in this? I guess, if there was some deeper meaning, it would be that when we have crosses or stumbling blocks in our lives that come about and are completely out of our control, then we should focus on them and embrace them, because they could be holy crosses distracting us from more sinister temptations. I never thought that illness or injury would be a cause of joyful thanksgiving from me to my Father. He really does work in mysterious ways.