Monday the 8th: Saint of the Week

 *Today is the Feast of the Birth of the Virgin Mary. We celebrate only 3 birth days over the course of the liturgical year: Mary, Jesus, and John the Baptist. Everyone else is only celebrated on the day of their death, their "birthday" into heaven as it were. Mary is believed to have been conceived without original sin, thus born without original sin. What would this have changed about her as a baby? We don't really know; one theory is that it would have been easier for her to be virtuous, and that her intellect would not have been clouded so it would also be easier for her to learn. She still had free will, so it's not impossible that she sinned, only easier for her not to sin than it is for us with concupiscence even after baptism.

 (Found on Pinterest: detail from birth of the virgin mary, workshop of Michael Pacher, c. 1498, Austria (castle Rychnov, Czech Republic))

 

Friday the 5th: Books unchanged

 No new picture because I haven't added any books to my pile this week. Maybe I can finish my tea shop mystery before next Friday...

Thursday the 4th: Music of the Week

 *We've added a few new songs to flesh out some of the choirs, and our all-choir piece was finally shipped today so I should have that in my hands tomorrow or the next day.

*I have two Masses this weekend but they are both using the same Mass parts, so this should be easy. 

Wednesday the 3rd: Food of the Week

 *Sunday we had a Steak Salad for lunch. We adapted it; we used the dressing also as a marinade and added olive oil to it. We also grilled the bell pepper and added an onion. Finally, we grilled two leftover pitas and tore them up to use for croutons. I made zucchini bread for our dessert and lunch for the week. We had also bought a tahini-chocolate coffee cake from Zingerman's; it's not amazing but it is quite good for snack/breakfast.

*Monday we made  meatballs and had them with sauce and rigatoni. The Son and I made some chickpea mac and cheese for supper because the Husband left on a work trip to West Plains and won't be home until Thursday.

*Tuesday I made Spanish Tortilla.  This is always tasty and not too hard to put together as long as I am reconciled to a few extra dishes and peeling and thinly slicing potatoes to start. I also put roasted red peppers in the fridge to realize I already had some, so I now have two partial jars of roasted red peppers to use up.

*Tonight is going to be leftovers or food from somewhere. When the boy gets to choose that usually means some kind of chicken. Thursday will be tacos with ground beef and corn and potatoes and the good Costco tortillas. Friday the Son is going to make French Toast Supreme, two pieces of cinnamon bread with cream cheese in between and battered and pan fried. 

Tuesday the 2nd: FLW puzzle

 I loved this puzzle so much I finished it in about 4 days. It also was only 500 pieces so maybe that helped? The geometric shapes were very satisfying to finish.

 

 

Monday the 1st: Saint of the Week

 *We've gone from a very very active saint season to one a little quieter. The only saint this week is Gregory the Great, one of the four Latin Doctors of the Church and the "Father of the Fathers." He lived from approximately 540 to 604 and was pope for 14 years. During the breakdown of Rome he cared for the poor and protected the Romans during the Lombard invasions.

Picture is from Pinterest but source is unknown. 

A quote found on catholicsaints.info: “Whatever is vicious must be utterly eradicated, wrenched away not merely from being put into act, but even from being so much as thought of….No matter what obstacles we encounter, we must not allow them to turn us aside from the joy of the heavenly feast…Nor must we allow the charm of success to seduce us….We make use of temporal things, but our hearts are set on what is eternal.”

  

Friday the 29th: Book of the Week

 

 * I finished last week's cookbook and my remaining library book (before I go back to reload) is a tea shop mystery by Laura Childs. She has two other series that I don't love as much, but the tea shop series is still pretty enjoyable and not just the same thing over and over.