Devotion to Christ

Last night I posted about this to the Catholic BVI Readers blog (BVI for Blind or Visually Impaired); but this morning it has occurred to me that I ought to share the information about these talks with everyone!

At the EWTN site, you can find an abundance of audio talks available. What I discovered yesterday, and got excited about, is a series of talks on Devotion to Christ given by Fr. Benedict Groeschel.

You can download these to your computer; and download RealPlayer for free, I believe, if you don't already have it. Just go here to check out these talks.

Old Time Radio Programs

Have you heard your grandparents reminisce about old radio programs? I'm not talking about music or call-in talk shows. I'm talking about pre-television drama. You can walk down that memory lane, show your children how people used to be entertained. You can enjoy comedy or adventure. You can listen to "My Favorite Husband", starring Lucille Ball, or to Abbot and Costello, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Ozzie and Harriet, and others at Old Time Radio website.

HT: Danielle Daily

Saint of the Day Service

You can get a "saint of the day" story delivered right to your inbox...or you can visit at the website, whichever you like. You can even get it in auditory format if you'd like. Here's where to go to check it out.

Personally, I like getting mail...and having things right at my fingertips, including a daily Gospel reading (see Devotions on the Net in the sidebar for the gospel resource).

Happy Hearts

If you like recipes or thrifty living tips, here's a great blog for you:
Happy Hearts at Home
Her subtitle is Homeschooling and Frugal Living on One Income

Here are just some of the things featured on this blog:
100 Ways We Save Money
Frugal Recipes
Making It On One Income
Thrifty Decorating And Remodel

Greeting Cards

Have you ever searched for just the right e-card to send to a friend? Or have you ever wanted to slow down and just relax a bit?

You might want to check out these “movies” from Inspiring Thots . They are actually more like slide shows, except that you watch beautiful pictures as the words slowly appear, disappear, and reappear, while you listen to soothing music in the background. There are many themes: friendship, encouragement, happiness, parenting, and so forth.

Another great source of online greeting cards is Franciscan Peace Cards. Sister Patricia has provided Catholic postcards for just about any occasion: birthday, sacraments, feasts, inspiration, and even just fun.

Both of these resources are provided free, but - in both cases - donations would be helpful to keep the sites going, if we’re able and inspired to contribute.

Bloglines.com

If you like visiting blogs, you just might like Bloglines! Bloglines.com offers ready access to the blogs you like to visit. After the easy-peasy, free sign-up, you add the blogs you like. (I then just stay logged in to the site on my computer, with my Bloglines page bookmarked in my "Favorites".)

When you go to your personalized bloglines page, you can see right away who has posted something new at their blog. You click on the blog name and "voila"! The new post appears in a nice neat format, pictures and all. If you'd like to go to the blog itself, with the blog owner's personal template, you simply click on the title and there you go!

For me, this saves multiple visiting to see if so-and-so has posted anything new lately. Very nifty.

Hat tip to my new friend Holly at A Woman Seeking Grace. Thanks, Holly!

Free Books Online!

Many people have worked hard to get classical books onto the internet, so they will be available to as many people as possible. These are books that are in the public domain. "Public domain" means that a book is past its copyright (usually published in the early 1900's and before).

Librivox provides books that are read orally by readers for your - or your child's - listening pleasure. If your computer is equipped to read an MP3 file, you can simply click and read. Alternatively, if you wish, you can download a file onto your hard drive.

If you would like for your student to read the text on the computer, or if you want to print materials for him or her, you may also like the more plentiful options available at byGosh.com. This site provides: Kid's Classics, Short Stories, Novels, Nonfiction, and Poems.

Another resource I would like to share is the Gutenberg Project. These are files that you download onto your computer. I haven't tried them yet, as I had an overloaded computer until very recently; so I got used to using only things that we could just "click and read"; but the advantage here is the scope. The Gutenberg Project has 20,000 free books available. If you like the Gutenberg Project, you may like some of the curriculum ideas from Miss Maggie at her Old Fashioned Education website.

Another resource where downloading is required is AudioBooksforFree.com. At this site, they will be happy to sell you downloads to your MP3 or other personal player; however, they also offer free downloads to your computer.

I hope something here will be helpful to you!

Free Online Catholic Books!

Many classical books and other out-of-print books in the "public domain" are available for free online. These include older Catholic books.

You can read the Douay-Rheims Bible, the Catholic Encyclopedia (of 1910), the Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas (1920 translation), and much more at New Advent.

If you're looking for something for Lent, you can read The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ by Anna Catherine Emmerich or The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis.

One important book that is NOT "old", that is available online, is The Catechism of the Catholic Church. It is even searchable.