Why small success? Because that’s the only kind I know! Even the big ones come in small steps. Here’s my paltry offering for the week:

1. Finished a novena – This is a fairly large success for me. I’m notoriously bad at completing novenas, which are simply nine days of prayer with a particular intention, usually through the intercession of a particular saint. I’ve tried all sorts of tricks, and remembering to spend about two minutes with a prayer nine days in a row is barely shy of miraculous for me. But, with the help of the free Pray app, I did it! And I’ve even begun another novena. The app is simple and clean. Choose a novena and tick off the days as you complete them. You can even invite friends to pray with you. A once-daily reminder is the key for me. I could do with more nudges, but apparently the reminder and seeing a little notice by the app icon is enough.
   

   Pray: The Catholic Novena App

1. Moved the chaos westward for five days – Our planned vacation to Lake Erie was nixed after our youngest son broke our flat-screen TV by hitting it with a plastic tackle box. It left no exterior damage, but the screen displayed only an eerie-looking crack-like image with bolts of pixelized damage emanating from the epicenter. Thankfully, my friend allowed us to use her basement as home base for five days while in Pittsburgh visiting family and using our pass for the museums and science center. (Our friends didn’t even flinch when we delivered the visit damage report at the end.) When we were newly-married, the handful of vacations we took seemed like adventures. Now vacations seem more like barely-managed chaos away from home.
   

   My girls playing a giant game of Operation at Highmark SportsWorks at the Carnegie Science Center.

2. The email – After being gone, but not out of touch, for five days, I had about 500 emails to attend to on two devices and a desktop computer. I had kept up with the messages by phone, but not in other locations. So much spam. So many subscriptions. Just so much. It was only five days. And I was online the entire time. At this point, I only owe a few remaining people return messages. Whew! When did life get so complicated?
3.  Signed kids up for swimming lessons – In my mind, this should be as simple as filling out a one-page form and writing a check. However, because a couple of my kids take lessons at the local Penn State campus, it is task of Herculean proportions. Registering a child for a half-hour on-site course for eight mornings during which I am present the entire time is no different from an adult registering for a 19-credit semester. Once I establish multiple usernames and passwords, I must provide social security numbers, health histories, immunization records and four (count ’em, four) emergency contacts. It’s an exhausting process wrought with glitches that always involve at least one frustrated email message and one slightly-frantic phone call. But, it’s done.
4. Wax off – I finally took five minutes to try to get the candle wax off of my son’s leather loafers. Somehow I hadn’t gotten to ironing the wax onto a brown paper bag after he spilled some as an altar server during Good Friday services. Finally done. I wondered whether the process would work as well on leather shoes as it does on carpet. The wax came off, but some stains remained.

That’s all I’ve got. Celebrate more small successes over at CatholicMom.com.

Have you had any small successes this week?

THANKS FOR STOPPING BY! STAY A WHILE AND LOOK AROUND. LEAVE A COMMENT. SHARE WITH A FRIEND. IF YOU LIKE WHAT YOU SEE, PLEASE SIGN UP FROM MY AUTHOR NEWSLETTER TO KEEP UP-TO-DATE ON NEW RELEASES, EXTRAS, AND HOT DEALS!