Friday the 11th: We Remember

 I was in my first year of teaching, my grandma was dying, I was preparing to get married in 3 months, and I was setting up for Mass when the priest burst in to the chapel saying, "what do I talk about in my homily?" 

And that's how I found out. 

For the rest of the day we watched TV and read about virtue. My mom came home early and pulled my brothers out of school a little early too. In Wichita the skies were silent, which is rare for an airplane manufacturing town.

And every year since, I tell my students or remember with my family, and one of the parts that makes me choke up every time is the sacrifice of the passengers in Pennsylvania. What courage. 

Thursday the 10th: Food of the Week

 *Chores of the week isn't happening because I got too busy yesterday.

*Friday meal is probably leftover potatoes and some chicken mole from Trader Joe's.

*Today is Skillet Chicken Fajitas.  This recipe is both really good and a lot of work; I'm going to use bell peppers rather than poblanos to make sure it's not too hot. I'm also making two loaves of zucchini bread to take to Oblate meeting and to have for breakfasts here; everything is ready to go except for grating the zucchini, which needs to happen in the next 10 minutes. I will be squeezing the zucchini shreds first to prevent too much moisture in the bread, and I'm leaving out both nuts and raisins since I don't know allergy status at the meeting.

*Yesterday was Linguine with Garlic sauce; I made the veggies in a separate pan and only added about 3/4 of the white sauce to it as I had one eater who didn't want the veggies. As usual with this recipe, it was a little gloppy (maybe more milk?) and could use a little parmesan cheese--but still good and very elegant looking.

*Tuesday the Son made waffles and bacon. He had to eat the first two "for quality assurance" but they were all delicious and a great breakfast for supper meal.

*Monday I made sheet pan nachos with shredded barbecued beef leftover from Sunday. Our niece was surprised that the different flavors worked well together. I used canned diced tomatoes for the tomatoes and only one can of refried beans--two was too many.  

*Sunday we ate baked potatoes and the barbecued beef and an ice cream cake. Everything was a huge hit, and the beef was delicious.  The weather was hot enough that our coals had no problem lasting, there was a great smoky flavor, and the sauce is delicious.

 (Picture below is nachos with peaches)

 

Tuesday the 8th: Moving continued

  *Picture one: empty empty rooms ready for move out. The Husband actually spent one more week in the downstairs bedroom and bathroom until we closed on the house.

*Picture two and three are our first family pictures in the new house as we worked on unpacking. We were so tired. I had so many steps that day. Settling is still ongoing. 

 

Monday the 8th: Saint of the Week

Tuesday is the birth of the Virgin Mary, one of only 3 birthdays celebrated in the Church Year.

From a homily of St. Augustine: Dearly beloved: the much-desired feast of Blessed Mary ever Virgin has come; so let the earth made bright by her birth rejoice with exceeding great joy. For she is the wild rose on the lowland plain from whom bloomed the precious Lily of the valley. Now let Mary play upon musical instruments and let timbrels reverberate under the fleet fingers of this young Mother. Let joyous choirs sing together harmoniously and let sweet songs be blended together now with one melody and now with another. Hear how our timbrel player has sung. For she has said: "My soul magnifies the Lord because He has regarded the lowliness of His handmaid. For behold, all generations shall call me blessed, because He who is mighty has done great things to me."   

 (Found on Pinterest: detail from birth of the Virgin Mary, workshop of Michael Pacher, c. 1498, Austria (castle Rychnov, Czechia)

 

Friday the 4th: more moving

 *Pic 1: moving truck arrives.

*Pic 2: cleaning up rooms, emptying out the house

*Pic 3: Getting the treadmill out was really hard. 

 

 

Thursday the 3rd: Food of the Week

Tomorrow is chicken apple and rice. It's an old recipe off a rice-a-roni box; it's good? Maybe nostalgic for me as it's one of the first recipes I found and made after getting married.

Today I made open-faced tuna sandwiches from a Martha Stewart recipe. I already made the tuna salad because I'm leaving for an enrichment session in Wamego soon.

Yesterday we made a cumin-cocoa-allspice rub for steaks, grilled them, and had them with a pasta salad and some frozen french bread pizzas. This was the meal to celebrate the Husband's kidney transplant anniversary.

Tuesday we had chicken and broth made by the Son; he decided he might like oven cooking more than stovetop cooking, especially since the gas stove heat can sometimes be hard to manage. 

Monday I made the picture below, an apple chicken sausage flatbread with a cream cheese sauce. It was delightful and I probably could have eaten most of it myself.

 

 

 

Wednesday the 2nd: Chores of the week

 *Even though I haven't played the organ much this summer I'm still working on a few preludes and postludes for whenever I do make it back.

*Today we are buying socks for the Son and new curtain rods for the kitchen and hearth room. Yesterday I got a lamp for the guest bathroom and a wreath and curtains for the office.

*I still need to buy paint, but I haven't made it to Ace hardware yet to get a sample. 

*The Husband is getting new tires today for his car.

*Hopefully today I'll finish signing up for my sub account. 

Tuesday the 1st: Moving Day

 I'm now up to the moving day in posting pictures.

First, see our checklist for making sure we were ready to move.

Second, see our son leaving the Caenen house for the last time. 

 

 

Monday the 31st: Saint of the Week

 This week is actually very slim for saints. We have St. Gregory the Great on Thursday and St. Teresa of Calcutta (Mother Teresa) on Saturday.

Saint Gregory the Great (M), Pope, one of the four great Doctors of the Latin Church; “Father of the Fathers”

                Dates:  September 3        540-604; consecrated pope 9/3/590    

                Place:  born in Rome

                Importance:  took papal title of “Servant of the Servants of God”; clergy reform, sent monks to England, Benedictine, cared for poor during Lombardy invasions; founded Papal States

                Food/Symbol: musical notes, dove, triple cross

                Patron:  teachers, Church music, musicians

                Prayer:  “O Lord, You look upon Your people with compassion and rule them with love.  Through the intercession of Pope St. Gregory, give wisdom to the leaders of Your church that the growth of Your people in holiness may be the everlasting joy of our pastors.”

                Quotes:  “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.”

 Picture from https://anastpaul.com/tag/st-pope-gregory-the-great/page/3/

 

Friday the 28th: Moving on

 My students threw a party for me, and the main decoration with the phrase that I would tell them at the end of each class. I feel like it sounds harsh, but it was meant to get them moving to their next class.

I had the ribbon below it on my key chain, on the main key to our house, for 11 years. I took it off the day I put the key in the pile to transfer to the new owners.  

 

 

Thursday the 27th: Food of the Week

 *Friday I'm making french toast sandwiches with peanut butter and banana in the middle.

*Thursday, today, we're having cheeseburgers from somewhere because we have several evening commitments. Maybe Spangles because I want to try their chicken and waffles as well.

*Wednesday, yesterday, I made turkey burgers with shallots and parsley and mint in them. They were quite good even though we ate late due to phone calls and work.

*Tuesday the Son made pancakes and bacon, alone, because of another meeting. What a week! He learned how hard it is to regulate temperature when cooking pancakes on a gas stove. It was really nice.

*Monday I made chicken salad with tarragon, toasted almonds, and grapes. I love it. I also made Syrian Bread that is a little bland alone but really good with chicken salad. 

Wednesday the 26th: Work of the Week

 Yesterday I did a haircut and met with a videographer for a short interview and made connections with a formation leader in the area.

Today I did groceries and laundry and worked on chores. I'll be available for a back to school night if a sibling needs backup. We also got some food delivered that we had ordered so we have some fun things on hand.

Tomorrow I want to keep looking for a desk and arrange for a TB test.  

Tuesday the 25th: Heading out and using up

 I used up frozen strawberries, chocolate sauce, and puff pastry to make the fancy dessert.

We bought a new fireplace screen for the first buyer who pulled out, it was disliked by the second buyer, but the third buyer (who stuck with it) didn't make any objection. 

 

 

Monday the 24th: Saint of the Week

 

 

Saint Bartholomew (F), Apostle, martyr (also called Nathaniel)

                Dates:  August 24                               

                Place:  born in Cana; preached in Arabia,India and Armenia; flayed alive and beheaded

                Food/Symbol: silver scimitar on red shield or silver shield w/ fig branch; cross cake or book cake w/ frosting knife

                Patron:  Plasterers, bookbinders, butchers, tanners, twitching

                Readings:  Rv. 21:9b-14, Ps. 145, Jn. 1:45-51

 (Picture from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartholomew_the_Apostle)