Tuesday the 24th: Spring and Spring cleaning

 The first crocus has arrived! So far I've seen one purple and one yellow. There should be more soon.

I'm trying to create more spaciousness in the house, so we are purging and then packing. One bookshelf is done and the second is started. 

 

 

Monday the 23rd: St. Polycarp of Smyrna

 St. Polycarp is an important saint as he gives us insight into the second generation of the Church: he was a disciple of St. John, died in Roman persecutions, and left writings that help us see how the Church was surviving amidst obstacles.

He was condemned to death but burning but the flamed did not harm him, so he had to stabbed with a dagger. The account of his death is our oldest account of martyrdom by a single individual.

Quotes from St. Polycarp: 

 “For eighty years I have served him and he has never wronged me; how can I renounce the king who has saved me?”—Polycarp when asked to renounce Jesus

  “For every one who shall not confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is antichrist; and whoso shall not confess the testimony of the Cross is of the devil; and whoso shall distort the words of the Lord to his own desires, and say that there is neither resurrection nor judgment, this is the first-born of Satan.”

 “Stand fast, therefore, in [your]conduct and follow the example of the Lord, ‘firm and unchangeable in faith, lovers of brotherhood, loving each other, united in truth,’ helping each other with the mildness of the Lord, despising no man.”—Letter to the Philippians

 

 

Friday the 20th: Shopping and Messes

*Picture 1: family member asked for 2 Ikea sharks and we obliged. They will have a shark family now!

*Picture 2: I went to teach CGS last week and found half of my room covered in scaffolding and building materials. Not the half of my room that I use but in my storage space. I had to do a fair amount of sweeping of my half to get the room ready for the children. 

 

 

Thursday the 19th: Food of the Week

 *Sunday we had stromboli and worked on finishing up desserts (which we finally did on Tuesday). The Son was a little indignant that we still had unfinished chocolate from Valentine's day so we put it in the freezer to keep for Easter.

*Monday the Son made Caesar salad and chicken-less chicken strips.  His Betty Crocker recipe included the raw egg yolk, but overall the dressing was too sour. He likes the idea but we'll try again with a different recipe. The chickenless strips were actually surprisingly good and would be a good meatless alternative if we needed that.

*Tuesday was Fat Tuesday so I made pancakes and bacon.  My current griddle is cast iron and I haven't yet made friends with what temperature it needs so the first batch was a little burned, but these are the Husband's favorite pancake.

*Wednesday was Ash Wednesday. I always make pasta salad; this year I used frozen peas, sauteed (for just 5 mintues) carrot and celery and onion, leftover bottled vinaigrette and a homemade vinaigrette with a little mustard and herbs, and egg noodles (because that's what I needed to use up). It was tasty, but having only one big meal for the day makes almost anything tasty.

*Tonight I have already started the slow cooker for Swiss Steak that I'll serve with rice and a veggie. This will be my second year of trying hard to have a fruit or veggie with every meal. I really don't eat as healthy as I should, and I feel like this also helps me snack less.

*Tomorrow we are having huevos rancheros; to make that happen, I'm going to try to make the salsa part today.  I scramble the eggs before placing them in the wells because most of us prefer all-the-way cooked eggs and that's the easiest way to make this dish and make it happen. It's delicious.

 

 

Wednesday the 18th: Music of the Week

*I thought I had all my solos but got one more new one over the weekend. And it's a doozy! It an orchestra reduction from Haydn and it's going to take a lot of work. That will start today!

 And a holy Ash Wednesday to all who celebrate!

 

Tuesday the 17th: Souper Bowl Food

 *We celebrated both the Husband's birthday food and a big football game with enticing ads. Lunch was beef barley soup and homemade pesto biscuits. Supper was fancy pigs in blankets, carrots and chips with Love dip, snickers salad with pretzels, and peanut m and ms. I already posted pictures of the birthday cake, and I'll eat the last piece today before Lent begins tomorrow.

 

Monday the 16th: Season of the Week

 

Not yet...but Ash Wednesday begins our Lenten season on Wednesday. I heard a really good reflection at my Oblate meeting this weekend that instead of just deciding what we should do or not do for Lent, it's really important to take the time to sit in reflection with the Lord and let Him decide or guide us where we need to grow this Lent. 

 

 

Friday the 13th: Kale Pesto

 I know! But I just finished reading The Everlasting Cookbook by Tamar Adler, and she reminds me that you can use any kind of green, not just basil, and you can really be more flexible with what you have than most recipes would lead you to believe. My only complaint about this pesto was that the sunflower seeds that I used for the nuts, even though I just purchased them, were a little stale and that really came through. Otherwise a quite respectable Friday night dish to eat and watch Olympics.

 

 

Thursday the 12th: Food of the Week

 *Tomorrow we're having picadillo, similar to this recipe but no olives and craisins for raisins. 

*Tonight is sweet potato broth and peanut chicken stew.  It makes plenty so we should have leftovers for next week. I need to look at freezing some of it, and some of our bolognese, so we can buy less groceries in March.

*Yesterday we had Arby's as I had teaching until 5 and the Son had to leave for work at 5:10. He was nice enough to pick it up and leave me mine on the counter.

*Tuesday we had scones and pizza. A weird combination, I know, but the Son wanted to make scones and we needed something else to make it a full meal. So there we are.

*Monday I made burgers and fries. And a salad kit. It was really tasty! I used my cast iron griddle and the burgers had a lovely crust on the outside. The stove was also a mess, but that's the way of it sometimes.

*Sunday lunch was beef barley soup, and supper was pigs in blankets and dip and chips and m and ms and birthday cake and ice cream. The cake is peanut and chocolate, and it's still really tasty. 

 

 

Wednesday the 11th: Music of the Week

 *I just got a violin accompanying piece for solo festival, so that's now 19 pieces for solo work. Our first spring concert for our two small choirs is on March 3, so we are moving ever closer! 

Tuesday the 10th: IPA

 Part of spring semester for us is teaching solos to those who choose to take two memorized songs to small group regionals and potentially state. One of our students is doing a song in German so he got a crash course in German vowels a few weeks ago to start learning his song.

Monday the 9th: Saints of the Week

My favorite story about St. Scholastica, co-patron of Benedictines with her brother, St. Benedict, comes from St. Gregory the Great: 

Scholastica, the sister of Saint Benedict, had been consecrated to God from her earliest years. She was accustomed to visiting her brother once a year. He would come down to meet her at a place on the monastery property, not far outside the gate.

One day she came as usual and her saintly brother went with some of his disciples; they spent the whole day praising God and talking of sacred things. As night fell they had supper together.

Their spiritual conversation went on and the hour grew late. The holy nun said to her brother, "Please do not leave me tonight; let us go on until morning talking about the delights of the spiritual life."

"Sister," he replied, "What are you saying? I simply cannot stay outside my cell."

When she heard her brother refuse her request, the holy woman joined her hands on the table, laid her head on them and began to pray. As she raised her head from the table, there were such brilliant flashes of lightning, such great peals of thunder and such a heavy downpour of rain that neither Benedict nor his brethren could stir across the threshold of the place where they had been seated. Sadly, he began to complain.

"May God forgive you, sister. What have you done?"

"Well, she answered, "I asked you and you would not listen; so I asked my God and he did listen. So now go off, if you can, leave me and return to your monastery."

So it came about that they stayed awake the whole night, engrossed in their conversation about the spiritual life.

Three days later, Benedict was in his cell. Looking up to the sky, he saw his sister's soul leave her body in the form of a dove, and fly up to the secret places of heaven. Rejoicing in her great glory, he thanked almighty God with hymns and words of praise. He then sent his brethren to bring her body to the monastery and lay it in the tomb he had prepared for himself.--from Dialogues by Pope Saint Gregory the Great

 

 (Picture on Pinterest from http://www.clydemonastery.org/StoneStories/?p=1273)

 

Friday the 6th: Valentine Vomit

 We went out to eat the evening of January 31 in the South Plaza and got to witness this explosion of decoration. It's not my thing but I also appreciate those who really like to decorate. It was amazing.

 

 

Thursday the 5th: Food of the Week

 *Friday I'm making cheese ravioli (from the freezer) with kale and sunflower seed pesto. Kale is much cheaper than basil right now.

*Tonight is fast food after we all work at the regionals Scholars Bowl tournament. This weekend we'll celebrate the Husband's birthday with a chocolate and peanut butter cake. I just finished making the cake rounds; I'll freeze them and make the frosting tomorrow, then refrigerate it again and put the drizzle on on Saturday. 

*Last night I made broccoli and cheddar flan and it was delicious! The hardest part is finding the chopped broccoli in the freezer section and then cleaning the pan after.

*Tuesday the son made Crunchy Pea Salad and picked up chicken strips for us. We ate while watching the middle third of Rogue One.

*Monday we had another breakfast dish, a breakfast hash with potatoes, onion, bell peppers, seasoning, and then I added eggs and cheese. We ate up every bite.

*Sunday we enjoyed a slow cooker bolognese that I cooked all day on Saturday.  The house smelled amazing and finishing the meal on Sunday (in between 3 Masses and with help from the boys) was easy.

 

 

Wednesday the 4th: Music of the Week

 *I just finished making copies for our solos for regionals and (hopefully) state. We have two copies of each book, but for ease of transport we make copies for me and for the soloist.

*I think (?) we have all songs selected for small and large group state. 

*I only have one Mass this weekend at one parish and my music is pretty much ready to go. 

Tuesday the 3rd: Piano and stuff

 Trying to show my sister how I organize my books and piano stuff. I know it doesn't look organized! But all my piano books are mostly on the lower two shelves to the left; the books I play every day are on top; my church binders are to the right.

 

 

Monday the 2nd: Saint of the Week

 *Luke 2:22-24 tells us about the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, the feast for today. This was traditionally Candlemas, a day to bless the candles to be used for sacred purposes for the rest of the year, and a traditional day to enter the Church. Here we see Mary and Anna blessing the child and the couple, recognizing Jesus the Light coming back to the Temple.

(picture:  http://www.balamand.edu.lb/theology/iconentrance.jpg)