Skip to content

Author: CAstfalk

Carolyn Astfalk is a wife, mother, and author of contemporary Catholic romances, including her latest, All in Good Time. She formerly worked as a communications director and now works just to keep her head above water. Find her books on Amazon and her other words scattered around the blogosphere and social media.

Seven Quick Takes

Seven Quick Takes Friday

Child-Wrangling Olympics Edition

Promotions for the upcoming Summer Olympics are beginning to appear, and while some may be excited for the return of golf to the worldwide sporting events, I’ve noted the gaping chasm where parental competition should be. Let’s face it, most of us slogging through day jobs, home maintenance, and child rearing have little time or energy left for Olympic-caliber competition. Schlepping through the grocery store and scrubbing the toilet are taxing enough. Sadly, our society ignores the skills honed during those years when mothers and fathers nurture and safeguard their wily, wiry offspring on minimal sleep and some combination of coffee, wine, and adrenaline bursts. Should parenting be incorporated into the next Olympics, these are my recommended events. (This post enhanced by simultaneously listening to the Chariots of Fire theme music.)

4 Comments

#WorthRevisit: When Does Itching Signify Danger?

Worth Revisit WednesdayI’m linking up with Theology is a Verb and Reconciled to You for #WorthRevisit Wednesday Linkup.

June is ICP Awareness Month, the perfect time to re-share about the rare condition I experienced with some of my pregnancies. In hindsight, pregnancy seems like such a short time, a blip on the radar of life, especially as compared to the many years spent nurturing a baby and raising a child. But as you’re experiencing it, pregnancy can seem endless, especially if you’re enduring pain, nausea, discomfort, or severe and relentless itching.

Please take a few minutes to read. Your knowledge of this rare pregnancy condition could help save a baby’s life.


During the third trimester of my first pregnancy, the soles of my feet began to itch. In frustration, I would rub my bare feet over the claw feet of our dining room table during meals. I scrubbed them over bristling carpet. Finally, my husband bought me a foot massage tool that I could rub my feet over, offering some relief from the relentless itch.

2 Comments

Love a Mystery? Try Dying for Revenge

Dying for Revenge: The Lady Doc Murders Book 1, the latest release from Full Quiver Publishing, is now available in print and ebook from Amazon.com. This complex mystery with a spiritual subplot kept this non-mystery reader’s rapt attention despite its length. I encourage you to follow along on the virtual book tour, which includes giveaways opportunities to win a paperback copy of the book!

Jump ahead for an excerpt, my review, book (blog) tour dates, and a chance to win a paperback copy!

Dying for Revenge cover

Someone is killing the rich and famous residents of Telluride, Colorado, and the medical investigator, Dr. Jane Wallace, is on a collision course with the murderer. Compelled by profound loss and injustice, Jane will risk her own life to protect others from vengeful death, even as she exacts a high price from those who have destroyed her world. Dying for Revenge is a story of love, obsession and forgiveness, seen through the eyes of a passionate, beautiful woman trying to live her life — imperfectly but vibrantly — even if she won’t survive.

4 Comments

New Christian Teen Fiction: Life-Changing Love

Life Changing Love CoverI wish that Life-Changing Love by Theresa Linden were around when I was a teen. It has all the the tummy-tingling sparks of the does he/doesn’t he blush of teenage crushes along with a hefty dose of drama that delivers the truth. Even girls who slip through adolescence insulated by perpetual wallflower status (like me) will be heartened and encouraged by Caitlyn’s story, empowered to be a better friend, a more obedient daughter, and a more patient young woman.

4 Comments

Small Success Thursday

Small Success Thursday

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. Visited the township recycling center – Before you roll your eyes at this minuscule task, let me explain why this is an accomplishment of any sort. First, after weeks of tripping over the overflowing box of plastic caps and bag of used batteries along the basement stairs, I have to get said recyclable stuff – along with the old UV bulb encased in bubble wrap – to the car. Without spillage by little hands. Here’s the big challenge: Our township recycling center keeps arcane operating hours, changeable at any moment. It’s open something like the third Wednesday following the full moon and the hours between twilight and dusk on Fridays equidistant from the nearest solstices.
3 Comments