pieces and bits: the second week of lent

 Let's make this "pieces and bits" a weekly thing!

Last Sunday afternoon, Little M and I attend the baptism and reception for a school friend's little sister.  We had such a lovely time. In the car on the way home, she looked peaky but said that she was "just tired." As soon as we entered the house, before we even had time to take off shoes and coats, she said, "Mom, my tummy hurts!  MOM, I don't feel good! MOM! I feel like I'm going to--" and then she did, all over Big M's favorite shoes.  Sorry to lead with that one.  Life does tend to change direction unexpectedly. (Thank God, her illness was a one-off, and she was better within 24 hours.)

I've finally gotten our art cabinet in order!  We took all the doors off several years ago, when one fell off after G pulled the whole hutch down on top of himself.  By some miracle G wasn't seriously injured.  I'll say it again, and this time I really mean it: the whole unit will be getting a coat of paint this summer.  I'm leaning toward green, but which one? And maybe some lovely paper on the back?  Maybe even wallpaper? I'm going to pretend that the budget is unlimited...I usually like wood to stay wood-looking, but this piece is so racketty-packetty that paint will vastly improve it.

Across from our art cabinet is the bookshelf that houses all of our picture books.  Recently I consolidated them to just two shelves and moved all of our so-so quality juvenile series to the remaining two shelves.

This freed up quite bit of space on our schoolroom bookshelves, satisfying our librarian, Z, who spent Sunday afternoon straightening and re-alphabetizing the books there.  We continue to have bookshelf real estate woes, which my 2022-2023 school year ordering will aggravate.  Still, we'll enjoy the tidiness of shelves while it lasts.  It's the little things...

When I walked in late last Friday night, after Z and I saw her best friend in a production of 42nd Street (It was amazing!  So much tap dancing and singing!  The entire cast did such a great job.), M pushed our container of sponge rollers into my hands and asked if I could put them in his hair.  What.  I don't understand teenage boys.  On Saturday morning he pulled them out, fluffed his hair like Napoleon Dynamite, and then immediately showered.  I'm still trying to figure out the whole thing, but he let me document his experiment for posterity.

On the menu, mostly without recipes because I've been at this a while:

~ Minimalist Baker's Easy Vegan Moussaka (potatoes on the bottom and squash instead of eggplant                 because the store was out of stock)
~ Revithia me spanaki with rice (My ingredients are basically the same, but I don't use a recipe.)

~ Shrimp and black bean burritos

~ Crock pot vegan chili with Fritos (a total Lenten indulgence)

~ Tempura shrimp with fries and coleslaw

~ Mujadara with a cilantro/walnut sauce

Our weekend is jam-packed--not my favorite, but the current stage of life.  I'm asking the Lord for the strength to weather it.

May your weekend be blessed.