Friday the 30th: Belleville

 Picture 1: A spire dedicated for the New Millenium that represents our prayers going up to heaven.

Picture 2: The outdoor ampitheatre for Mass with several beautiful chapels underneath and a stylized M on top for Mary. 

 

 

Thursday the 29th: Food of the Week

 *Friday will be Pasta with Roasted Vegetables (pepper and broccoli). I'm hopeful it will be tasty.

*Today will be Miner's Steak. This is one of the husband's favorite recipes, and I'll serve it with rice.

*Yesterday the Husband made macaroni and cheese while I went to a concert in Lenexa.

*Tuesday the Son made crock pot chili from Betty Crocker. It turned out wonderful!

*Monday we ended up doing a pizza and leftovers. We had accumulated quite an array, and we're really working this week on working them down.

Below are the cookies we made this week for Christmas: Chocolate Almond. They are delicious. 

 

 

Wednesday the 28th: Chores of the Week

 *The Husband took PTO Monday through Wednesday this week, so after getting back from Dallas/OKC, he's been shimming doors, changing furnace filters, filling car tires with air, getting grocery money for the month, helping me figure out an e-check, etc., etc.

*I still hope to work on a desk and phone this week.

*Today I'm taking a nephew to therapy and then taking a niece with me to Lenexa to hear my previous choirs in their first concert of the year.

 

Tuesday the 27th: Our Lady of the Snows

 *Today's photos are from the Shrine of Our Lady of Snows in Belleville, IL, just over the border from St. Louis. The first pictures is the one that inspired the priest to minister to those in isolated communities, and the second is from the Father's Garden on the grounds.

 

 

Friday the 23rd: St. Louis Arch

 We saw the arch, toured the museum underneath, visited the gift shop, and then took an hour riverboat cruise down and back on the Mississippi. The cruise was pretty disappointing, partly because there's not much to see on that stretch of the Mississippi other than bridges. 

 

 

Thursday the 22nd: Food of the Week

 *Tomorrow I'm making pasta with a pesto sauce. I have a basil plant thriving outside and I want to use up the plant before it gets frost bitten.

*Tonight we're having sausages, potatoes with dill and parsley, applesauce, and sweetened sauerkraut. It's our version of an Oktoberfest.

*Last night we had chicken rice with buttery onions from Smitten Kitchen. The rice took longer than the recipe said, but the finished recipe was quite tasty. The picture below is the pumpkin muffins I made for Christmas.

*Tuesday the Son made a buffalo chicken Cobb salad. While it was good, there were a few too many differing ingredients: the buffalo chicken, black beans, avocado, celery, carrots, romaine lettuce, blue cheese, and a creamy buffalo dressing. I still enjoyed it.

*Monday I made a sweet potato and turkey chili in the crockpot.  It was surprisingly good, thick, and we have very few leftovers.

*Last weekend it was my mom's turn to host family dinner, and she made roast and potatoes to have for my dad's birthday with an Italian cream cake.

 

 

Wednesday the 21st: Chores of the Week

 *Hopefully tomorrow I will call the dentist to schedule new appointments after getting the old ones cancelled last week.

*Still need to work on desk and phone; this will just take me a while.

*I still need to get rods or decide to make the ones we have here work. Paint still needs to be bought.

*One new thing this week is to make a "house chores" list for the Husband so he knows what the new priorities for the fall are to get done on weekends. 

Tuesday the 20th: STL Food

 *It's not a Voboril trip if there's not a lot of food.

*We visited the Chocolate Chocolate factory; we didn't tour, but we did buy lots of chocolate. On the way, we passed one of the Italian bakeries and were forced to buy some treats.

*For lunch we did Bogart's ribs. They were wonderful as always. We've been often enough that we know exactly what our favorites are.

*Supper was amatriciana that we made at home. The salad was really good as was the sauce my mom made on bucatini, all from Italian grocery stores less than a mile from us. 

 

 

Monday the 19th: Saint of the Week

 

Saint Isaac Jocques, John de Brebeuf, Priests and Companions (USA-M), “The North American Martyrs”

                Dates:  October 19                              IJ born 1607; d.1642, 1647-9; canonized 1930    

                Place:  from France; Jesuit missionaries to the “New World”

                Importance: tortured by Iriquois and died for faith in Canada/New York area

                Patron:   Canada; Americas

                Prayer:  “O God, you consecrated the first beginnings of the faith in North America by the preaching and martyrdom of Saints John and Isaac and their companions.  Through their intercession let more people everywhere respond to Good News of salvation.  We ask this…Amen.”

Quotes:  Holy Martyrs and patrons, protect this land which you have blessed by the shedding of your blood. Renew in these days our Catholic faith which you helped to establish in this new land. Bring all our fellow citizens to a knowledge and love of the truth. Make us zealous in the profession of our faith so that we may continue and perfect the work which you have begun with so much labour and suffering. Pray for our homes, our schools, our missions, for vocations, for the conversion of sinners, the return of those who have wandered from the fold, and the perseverance of all the Faithful. And foster a deeper and increasing unity among all Christians. Amen.--Jesuit novena prayer to the martyrs

Friday the 16th: Forest Park and The Hill

 We visited the St. Louis Art Museum and had a variety of adventures as we wandered around. I found a lot of good present for family members for Christmas and took a picture of one of my favorite impressionist paintings. We had supper at one of the Italian restaurants on the Hill; it was delicious and we probably got way too much food, but it was delicious.

 

 

Thursday the 15th: Food of the Week

 *Tomorrow the Husband and I are going on a date! I don't know where yet, but the other members of the household are going to enjoy frozen pizza while we're gone.

*Tonight the Son has already started stew in the crockpot. He was able to get up early before work to get it begun which is great!

*Yesterday I made the second and third pictures below: the last one is Caramel-Nut Revel Bars for Christmas. They are very tasty but too soft to cut well and freeze, so I will not make them again.  The second picture was supper: oven baked crispy fish with Red Lobster biscuits from a mix, green beans, and homemade tartar sauce. I really enjoyed the meal; the fish was delicious. I didn't find the thick filets they called for so I just baked it for less time; I also used hamburger buns for the sandwich bread, and they broke up even better than the bread does. 

*Tuesday we had Domino's at a birthday party for my niece and my dad, along with chocolate cake and mint chocolate chip ice cream.

*Monday I made tacos; we had thought we would have guests, but they were not able to make it. I used ground seasoned beef with onion and garlic, crispy hash browns, peas, sauteed peppers, lettuce, sour cream, cilantro, and chips and tortillas. Everything was eaten.

*Sunday we made two Alabama Grilled Chickens, crispy potato cubes,  corn and carrots, and then my mom brought pumpkin dump cake. We now have lots of leftover chicken--I might need to freeze some this weekend for the future.

*Saturday I want to include because we went to the St. George Orthodox Fundraiser dinner, and that's the top picture below. Kibbe, stuffed grape leaves, salad with fattousch dressing, baklava, and the ruz and yaknee (green beans with beef) were all delicious and fed us for almost 3 meals. 

 

 

Wednesday the 14th: Chores of the Week

 *I gave myself a long list this week, and so far I'm not completely successful.

--Write to a music director about playing at his parish: done

--Work on desk: not yet

--Work on new phone: some research done, now need to visit a star

--rods for downstairs windows: I think I need shower rods because they are recessed windows, but I need thinner ones so I can use cafe curtains.

--Trip due date check: done, now to get an electronic check to pay for it. I have some guide books picked out to purchase next week.

--Write to caretaker for friend: not yet

--Pay dentist bill and cancel appts and move to new dentist: tomorrow

--Buy ticket to empty bowls: not yet

--Contact friend about supper: not yet! 

Tuesday the 13th: Parks and Restaurants

We walked to this park on The Hill almost every night to enjoy the fountain in the heat.

I got to meet our student teacher from the semester before for lunch along with friends of my brother. She's rocking in her first year as a full time music teacher.