Miscellany #4
in which we Lent, let Kristin touch our bruises, and decide if I should get a cat
Happy Saturday Reading Friends,
I feel like we are now solidly in Lent. Does that first partial week even count? I am in the melancholic back and forth of “feeling in the Lenten groove” and “wondering if this is hard enough.” Alas I need to be reminded again and again that the point of Lent is to grow closer to Christ and not set any records of personal fasts. But alas I am a slow learner. And will keep praying that the Lord would lead me through Lent with a desire for Easter.
This week I have been working my way through the second Kristin book (The Wife) and wow is it a page turner and so painful at the same time. I see so much of my sinful self in Kristin and yet feel so frustrated with her at the same time. If only I could direct myself to holiness as well as I feel like I can give Kristin directions!
Other than Kristin I have been immersing myself in educational philosophy this week in preparation for The Children’s Tradition Spring Conference (I will provide more info soon) that my husband and I are speaking at. This week I have been rereading the Educational Philosophy section in The Children’s Tradition curriculum guide. It is truly worth the price of the curriculum just for that! If you’re curious then definitely check out our podcast on Monday with Amanda Faus herself!
In other news, I was pretty sure there might be a mouse in my house. I am now positive there is at least one mouse in my house. If I go and get a kitten will this solve my problem? Or do I need an experienced mouser old lady cat? Or do I just double down on exterminator traps (obviously that hasn’t eradicated the problem yet). Send advice. Send help. Send cat!
Related to the mouse/cat problem: Brambley Hedge and the Mouse Nuns books(by Haley Stewart) have caused my children to think we should welcome the mice into our house with open arms. Literature is dangerous people…don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
What’s New(ish) Around Here
On the Podcast
This Week- ep. 97: Reader’s Choice Book Draft
Last Year- ep. 43: Favorite Lent Reads
Coming Up- On Monday our conversation with Amanda Faus about Classical Education and the Integrated Humanities Program (and her curriculum based on that, The Children’s Tradition). You are really in for a treat!
Everything Kristin Lavransdatter
Essay: Why Read Fiction-Kristin Lavransdatter Edition by Jessica Risma
Virtual Book Club for The Wife is March 23rd. Message me for info!
Everything Paradise Lost
Introduction to Paradise Lost (free for everyone)
Paradise Lost Book One (Paid Subscribers only)
We will be recording the podcast for Book Two this week so keep an eye out for that very soon! I hope you are enjoying reading this challenging and spiritually fruitful work.
Other Goings On
February Book Club Book
Don’t forget that we are a group of actual book clubs (in person and virtual), not just a podcast/Substack. So we’d love you to read along with us and join or start a group! This month we are still reading Kristin Lavransdatter. After an amazing month with The Wreath we are now moving onto The Wife for March! Thank you to everyone who participated in Virtual and in person book clubs!
Up Next
Here are the next few books we’re reading in case you want to get ahead and order your copies! If you were going to order them new anyway, this is a good way to support us.
April- The Cross by Sigrid Undset (Kristin Lavransdatter Book Three) (Book Drop Day Post)
May- The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Book Drop Day Post)
June- Oedipus Rex and Antigone by Sophocles (Book Drop Day Post)
Random Things I’m Enjoying
I have been enjoying The Substack Print so much! Thanks again to danielle (𝓇𝒶𝓌 & 𝒻𝑒𝓇𝒶𝓁) for making it! I usually print all my articles out on Saturday morning and then read them on paper over the weekend. Which means that I end up sharing them “a week late.” But, I think that might be a feature and not a bug. I get to share with you all what is still on my mind after a week instead of instant sharing them. So here are a few things I enjoyed last weekend…
I loved this essay by Meredith Hinds (I will never stop sharing her essays because she is so funny and insightful!), How I Flunked My Way Into a Village. If you’ve read Leah Libresco Sargeant’s The Dignity of Dependence, this is a great follow up. Or just helpful thoughts!
The Most Dangerous Mom Has One Podcast in Her Back Pocket! And don’t we all know it because we have all been that mom/human. This was a great essay by Autumn Kern that I will be thinking about for a long time. Deep breaths. Make changes slowly. Pray.
I was a Jenny Uebbing fan girl back in the day. I think I found her on the old Fountains of Carrots podcast (hosted by Haley Stewart and Christy Isinger) and then devoured her Mama Needs Coffee blog! So I am so glad that she is on Substack and writing about the next stage of mother (and I am conveniently a few years behind her so I can soak up the wisdom). Her latest essay, The Middle Age of Motherhood is a gem. And starting out with a good High School Musical reference was gold!
“If there is one thing that being the mother of a large-ish family has disabused me of, it has to be the notion of growth in competence accompanying experience, which, in any other area of life, tends to apply…And maybe that’s the design”
Here is my summary of this stage of life in the form of an Office meme…
If you need some more Lenten inspiration (or re-inspiration) then look no further than Tsh Oxenreider’s Simple Guide to Lent. This is a great way to remember what Lent is all about and get a few ideas of creative fasts!
“Much of the Lenten season is about fighting your “noonday devil.” Acedia is one of our most universally felt and universally unspoken-of enemies in our modern era. It’s spiritual apathy, or as my favorite shorthand definition puts it: it’s a sadness that good things are hard.”
Emily Stimpson Chapman and Scott Hahn have a new children’s book coming out about St. Joseph! Definitely grab a copy because they are always great!
Alright, that is all I have for now….off to see if I should get a kitten to add to my literary lifestyle.
Till next time,
Kelsie Hartley
Until next time, keep revisiting the good books that enrich your life and nourish your soul.
What We’re Reading:
February-April
Kristen Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset
Paid Subscriber Read-Along
Paradise Lost by John Milton
A Few Reminders:
If you are wanting to get in on the in person or virtual community please contact us!
We have turned on paid subscriptions which will allow you to support the work we are doing here.
If you would like to make a small contribution to the work we’re doing here at Reading Revisited, we invite you to do so with the Buy (Us) a Coffee button below. We so appreciate your support!
*As always, some of the links are affiliate links. If you don’t have the books yet and are planning to buy them, we appreciate you using the links. The few cents earned with each purchase you make after clicking links (at no extra cost to you) goes toward the time and effort it takes to keep Reading Revisited running, and we appreciate it!
We've struggled with mice off and on for years, so we finally got a cat. We didn't see/hear any evidence of mice for a long time after getting our cat, so I think it helped. That being said, the mice came back at some point, and I saw our cat catch one, paw at it, and release it! Ugh! (Though I've heard some cats are good "mousers", I don't think it was true of ours.)
We've used the sticky traps (but sometimes they get caught on them and make awful noises, and then you have to, um, finish the job, which is not for the faint of heart) - and we've used the snap traps (I prefer these, and my husband or sons will release the mice and reset them). My husband searched the attic and basement and sealed up any openings he could locate with steel wool (they can't chew through that).
I always tell my children mice are adorable in storybooks, but once they get in the house, NO MERCY!
Best of luck with your mouse problem!
If you go the cat route get sweet cat who will be a great pet/employee. They are obligated to carnivores and they will pounce a mouse. I once found out about a mouse in the house by our old cat Arlo who just meowed and stared at a cabinet for days turns out it was a mouse. The perks of a cat.