We arrived home late Monday night from the baptism trip, exhausted. It was a beautiful thing to be there with Dominic and Shawn and Winifred while she was welcomed and initiated into the household of God. Different work schedules meant that the whole family couldn't be there the whole weekend, but all the kids and their spouses and kids were able to be there Sunday, which was the best.

Since this is late, I'm just hoping it will help people in retrospect. Yasmina will be elsewhere Friday night, so we are taking that opportunity to eat shrimp, as it is not her favorite.

We have Jerome's name day this week, and we are seeking the prayers of both Saint Jerome and you, as we get ready for his next surgery. One of the plates in his jaw has sprung and it will need to be removed and replaced.

• Sunday
  Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs with Potatoes, Peppers and Onions, Sausages, Toast, Tea and Coffee
  Dinner: Sandwich, Soup, and Salad Bar, Ice Cream
• Monday - Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels
  Breakfast: Hard Boiled Eggs, Bagels, Figs, Milk, Tea and Coffee
  Dinner: Fried Chicken, Lobster Bisque (for Jerome), Fruit, Vanilla Cake
• Tuesday - Feast of Saint Jerome
  Breakfast: Breakfast Hash with Queso Fresco, Plums, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Middle Eastern Lamb Bowl with Eggplant and Rice, Duqqus, Shredded Lettuce, Chopped Tomatoes, Roasted Red Peppers, Olives and Feta, Fruit Plate
• Wednesday
  Breakfast: Oatmeal with Cinnamon and Brown Sugar, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Eggplant Shawerma Bowl, Duqqus, Fresh Tomatoes, Fruit Plate
• Thursday
  Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs with Cheese and Tomatoes, Bacon, Toast, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Papas con Chorizo served with Salsa and Sour Cream, Plums and Peaches
• Friday
  Breakfast: Peanut Butter Toast and Honey (Yogurt and Jam for Jerome), Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Stir Fried Shrimp and Vegetables over Jasmine Rice, Plums and Applesauce for Jerome
• Saturday - Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi
  Breakfast: Rice Pudding with Raisins and Cinnamon, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Instant Pot Chicken and Noodles (GF for Jerome), Steam Sautéed Carrots and Peas with Garlic and Dill, Plums

What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up on Saturday.

Labels: Church Year, Family, Homemaking, Menu Plans, Name Day, Prayer Requests, Tales from the Kitchen

The baptismal gown is knit, with ends woven in, and bathing. There is still blocking to do, and then I will sew on the buttons. She is finished! I will share finished, finished, finished photos after Winnie is baptized.

Next on my list are to knit the bear paw mittens to match the bear sweater, finish Crossandra, start a Prettyish Wilderness shawl (by Linette Grayum) for my aunty, and start the adult sized Saint Catherine (which I hope to have ready for beta in a month or so). I will be casting on the mittens tonight. They might even be finished by the end of tomorrow night or Saturday.

Just a reminder, since I finished Saint Patrick, I am seeking beta knitters. If you are interested in beta knitting this shawl, I would love your help. Please e-mail me for more information.

I've finished The Murder at the Vicarage, and am still reading here and there with other books. The Murder at the Vicarage was such a wonderful book. I've watched the Miss Marple shows and love them, but reading the books is so much better. This will not be my last Miss Marple read. The story has so much more depth than the television renditions, and the characters are much more full.

Linking to Unraveled Wednesday

If you would like to receive updates and early notice of new patterns, beta knitting opportunities, and great discounts (plus pictures of new yarns, new tools, fun places, neat hints, book ideas, recipes and more) each month, please subscribe to 1,001 Knits. My best, and sometimes my only, discounts go to my subscribers.

I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Any time you click on a book link, it gives me the opportunity to earn a few cents for our family.

Labels: Books, Design, Family, FOs, Homemaking, Knitting, WIP, Yarn Along

We had such a busy week that I never hit publish on this.

This is a super busy week for us. We have our homeschool co-op beginning, plus getting ready for Winnie's baptism.

Jerome has had a health setback, as a piece of the hardware in his jaw has popped out and he will need more surgery. It is not as extensive, but is still fairly serious. This also means he is back to a no-chew diet. Please pray for him and for us.

In fact, pray for us in general. There is a lot going on here.

• Sunday - Feast of Saint Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist
  Breakfast: Leftovers, Fruit, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Ranchero Beans, Quick and Dirty Mexican Rice, Garlic Bread, Sliced Watermelon
• Monday
  Breakfast: Breakfast Hash, Fruit Plate, Tea and Coffee
  Dinner: Leftovers
• Tuesday
  Breakfast: Ful, Toast, Chopped Tomatoes and Onions, Fruit, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Beef, Tomato and Eggplant Skillet, Rice, Moroccan Beet Salad, Fruit Plate
• Wednesday
  Breakfast: Toast with Tomatoes, Za'atar and Olive Oil, Fruit, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Potato Hash, Blueberry Smoothies
• Thursday
  Breakfast: Cereal with Milk, Fruit, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Leftovers
• Friday
  Breakfast: Yogurt and Jam, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Dinner Out at a Lebanese Restaurant
• Saturday
  Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs and Cheese, Roasted Rosemary Potatoes, Sausages, Toasted Bagels, Hot Chocolate and Coffee
  Dinner: Pizza and Salads, Leftovers from Lebanese Restaurant

What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up on Saturday.

Labels: Church Year, Family, Homemaking, Homeschooling, Homesteading, Menu Plans, Prayer Requests, Tales from the Kitchen

Since I last participated in Unraveled Wednesday, we had fair week, Winifred was born, Jerome had major jaw surgery, I went down to help Dominic and Shawn and hold Winnie as much as I could, we have gone to a couple weddings, one work trip, it's has been a busy time. What have I done since I last posted? A lot, actually. I finished the bear sweater for Winnie, which is quite appropriate. I will be working on matching mitts for her, too.

I finished Saint Patrick, which will be published in an online magazine in December. If you are interested in beta knitting this shawl, I would love your help. Please e-mail me for more information.

Because of trying to get Saint Patrick ready for photography, I had a late start on the baptismal gown, but I did start it, and I am hustling to finish it. Her baptism is in just over a week! I'm further along than that photo shows, because it is literally all I am knitting at the moment. When I am finished with this, I will start the mitts.

For fair week, our family made a good showing. Rich even entered some of his plants and produce and won first prizes for all but one (second for his Persian basil - we think because they expected it to look like Italian basil). A couple of the girls entered baked goods and received first place, plus some art work which also won almost all first prizes. I entered several baked goods myself, plus a couple of my finished samples from this past year, all with first prize ribbons, as well.

This past month was a good one for my reading! I finished: Taco USA (except for where he tried to write about religion, he really showed a lot of knowledge; his religious knowledge wasn't so great and caused him to make errors of interpretation, as well), The One and Only GooGoosh, Poirot Investigates, Towards Zero (read it, rather than watch the execrable television series), Regency Etiquette (this was delightful!), and The Forgotten Bookshop in Paris (I enjoyed this, but I hated the marital relationship. It didn't have to be the way it was, but it seems that modern authors need to have bad marriages and broken ones in every story). I'm reading a few things now, both fiction and non-fiction. I'm working through the sad, but important, Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, as well as some more Poirot and Miss Marple, as lighter reading when I need a break from the heaviness of the non-fiction.

Linking to Unraveled Wednesday

If you would like to receive updates and early notice of new patterns, beta knitting opportunities, and great discounts (plus pictures of new yarns, new tools, fun places, neat hints, book ideas, recipes and more) each month, please subscribe to 1,001 Knits. My best, and sometimes my only, discounts go to my subscribers.

I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Any time you click on a book link, it gives me the opportunity to earn a few cents for our family.

Labels: Books, Design, Family, FOs, Homemaking, Knitting, WIP, Yarn Along

Hello! Remember me? It's been a bit of a whirlwind this past month. We had fair week, and right in the middle of it, with all hands on deck working the neighborhood booth, Dominic and Shawn welcomed their little girl. The next day was Jerome's scheduled jaw surgery (both jaws, plus his wisdom teeth out, it was gruesome, and I can tell you more if you aren't squeamish). His birthday was four days later. Happy birthday! We had a pot roast we puréed for him, over mashed potatoes and chocolate pudding with chantilly cream for dessert. His care was really difficult at first, with something like 20 pills he had to take (crushed and added to liquid which went in a syringe, because he couldn't swallow or chew), and almost all his food and drink had to go through a syringe for the first week.

The day after that, I left on a bus for Dominic and Shawn's to make meals, clean up, and hold Winnie. It was a delight, but exhausting. Also, I learned a lot about people on the bus rides to and from their home. While I was gone, Rich was doing a lot, while also trying to be at work, and the kids at home helped with much around the house and with Jerome. Then, Rich and I had a trip to Canon Beach to be there for our godson's wedding, which was also kind of an early anniversary trip for us, because this year won't be an anniversary trip year. Also, a one night work trip the same week.

We are exhausted. In the meantime, some of the kids' classes have started, and we are easing into our school year beginning (which is the end of September). However, their group science class has started, and our co-op begins soon. So, yes, it's a little busy around here.

Our church family has been amazing, making meals, taking care of things while we are gone, looking out for our kids. They are doing so much to relieve pressure and stress for us. They even provided the dinner tonight, so I didn't have to cook any of the things I had planned and could rest on our day of rest.

We have a couple weeks without too much, but Winnie's baptism is coming up, and that will be exciting and beautiful. Please pray for her, her parents, and her godparents. Also, please keep Jerome in prayer. After a month of good recovery, he may have overdone it and has an infection. It is being treated, but that is now his second round of antibiotics in a month.

• Sunday - Feasts of the Elevation of the Holy Cross and Saint John Chrystostom
  Breakfast: Biscuits and Sausage Gravy, Nectarines, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Pork Street Tacos, Caprese Salad, Custard Puddings, Almond Cookies and Peanut Butter Brownies, Plums
• Monday
  Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs and Veggies, Toast, Cantaloupe Balls, Coffee and Milk
  Dinner: Pork Chile Verde, Mexican Tomato Rice, Pears, Apple Cider Doughnuts and GF Pear Fritters with Cider Glaze
• Tuesday
  Breakfast: Feta, Tomatoes, Za’atar and Olive Oil, Toast, Plums, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Zurbiyan with Lamb, Duqqus, Mutawam Kusa, Sliced Watermelon
• Wednesday
  Breakfast: Potato and Vegetable Hash with Salsa, Pluots, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Baba Ghanooj, Hummus, Tamis, Sliced Cucumbers, Olives, Moroccan Beet Salad, Sliced Watermelon
• Thursday
  Breakfast: Salatat Battatas ou Bayd, Plums, Tea and Coffee
  Dinner: Leftovers, Pears, Sliced Watermelon
• Friday - Feast of Saint Theodore
  Breakfast: Egyptian Style Ful, Duqqus, Toast, Sliced Cucumbers, Fruit Plate, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Vegetarian Ranchero Beans, Quick and Dirty Mexican Rice, Sliced Watermelon
• Saturday
  Breakfast: Turkish Menemen, Shawerma Spiced Sausage Patties, Toast, Sliced Cantaloupe, Mint Tea with Honey and Coffee
  Dinner: Lebanese Roasted Stuffed Onions, Rice, Mafrouka

What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up on Saturday.

Labels: Church Year, Family, Homemaking, Homeschooling, Homesteading, Menu Plans, Prayer Requests, Tales from the Kitchen