What I did today....

Mum's Day and Job News!

Hubby had to work on Mother's Day, and Junior is on a Missions/Service Trip, so Princess took me to brunch, and to a local pottery gallery and we painted pottery together!  I had never done that before-it was so much fun!  We jibber-jabbered and painted...and someone else would clean up the mess!  While we were there we found many more items to paint in the future.  I think we will be headed back for more mother/daughter crafty time!  (We should have the finished products in about a week and I'll share pictures then.)

Then it was off for ice cream.  We had a wonderful day!

Other than that, there is not much going on lately...

Oh, wait!...I have started a new job!

I did like my previous job, but it looked like the 15 hours a week was going to be permanent-so I made the difficult decision to leave.  There was just too much work to be done in only 15 hours.  I couldn't do my best...and I worried.  That started a vicious circle of worry, hurry...worry, hurry.  Not a good thing.

I did a brave...or stupid thing...take your pick, and left a job without a new job in sight.  BUT I was only jobless for 16 days!

Now I am on another career path with double (plus) the hours!  I have been working at my new job for about three weeks now and so far so good!  There is much more standing with this job, so I will have to get used to it again.  For the past three years I have been sitting on my tush way too much!

Oh Where or Where Can Our Pascha Basket Be?

I know that I put it in the attic-set it carefully in a box then put that in a giant trash bag.

But I can't find it now.

Hopefully, putting it in a big, black trash bag was not an invitation to have someone...

Don't even want to think about it!

Going to look again this afternoon, after work.

Then the baking begins!

Lenten and Liturgical Time Travels...

Last evening we were fortunate to attend Pre-Sanctified at an Orthodox Church a little over an hour away.  We loaded up the crock pot filled with veggie soup and the vegan pumpkin bars in the trunk and went to share the liturgy and following pot luck with folks at an OCA parish in Madera, PA.

Part of the blessing of the evening was listening to Father Thomas Hopko speak in person!  Our family members are big Ancient Faith Radio podcast fans, so we listen to Fr. Thomas via computer all the time.  Listening to him is person was something we have always wanted to experience!

We had such a wonderful time at the pot luck dinner...we did not want to leave.  We met so many nice people, (and the food was delish, too!)  The long drive home late at night and the difficult time that we all had getting up and about this morning were small prices to pay...

Due to the timing of Western Easter this year we have not been able to attend Deanery Lenten Vespers yet  this Great Lent.  (Hubby the church organist had big days on Palm Sunday, Easter Vigil AND early Easter morning and this coming Sunday is Divine Mercy Sunday...)  Hopefully we can begin out Sunday evening vespers travels next weekend.

At times being an East-West family can be strange.  Attending a lenten Pre-Sanctified Liturgy during Hubby's Bright Week is just plain odd.  And singing Easter hymns like Jesus Christ is Risen Today at 8:00am Mass then Do Thou Open Unto Me the Doors of Repentance at 9:00am Matins is a liturgical time travel experience that only an East-West family can share!

(The rose is from a small plant that sits on my window shelf in the kitchen. I hope that I can put it in a pot outside on our porch soon...BUT...So far it and a few Robins are the only signs of spring around here.  Oh, did I mention that it was snowing yesterday?)

Great Lent should come with a Resident Vegetarian Chef!

I am trying so hard to make fasting food, tasty and fun.

This year Junior is away at school and Hubby has willingly offered to climb on that fasting bandwagon. He is such a dear! And 'his' Easter is this coming Sunday!

So out are coming the vegetarian cookbooks!  I am looking online and at scouring the local library for cookbooks to help me in varying our lenten fare.  In the past I have had only about 5 meals that rotated...and rotated...and rotated.  There was always meat for those in the house that were not Orthodox. 

I have tried a few recipes that I thought were great, but they did not receive rave reviews.  I really loved the Baked Black Bean Casserole-but Hubby?  Notsamuch...  The Garden Vegetable Soup I made for the pot luck after Pre-Sanctified last Wednesday was a keeper though.  Just as an aside as a OCS (Orthodox Convert Suggestion,) I wish that all the ladies would bring the recipes for the covered dishes they bring to the potlucks...I can really use some help!

Us converts can use all the help we can get!  Perhaps I should suggest a pre-lenten cooking workshop at the parish next year!

This evening I am preparing Spaghetti Squash (with a few substitutions-we're not feta folks,) and I hope that it is a  home crowd favorite.

I even purchased some firm tofu at the market for a recipe that I plan to (or might be brave enough to) try next week. I don't know how brave Hubby (or I)  really is...

Only 38 more dinners to go...

Great Lent Comes...Lent Life begins

Final preparations for Great Lent. Our fasting recipes are found and the ingredients purchased.  (It seems all these simple meatless, dairy-less meals take many ingredients that I don't regularly have in the pantry.)

Marathon 'church week' begins tomorrow. There is always a sense of excitement and expectation that I can't seem to explain well enough to my friends and family that are not Orthodox.

The Pre-Sanctified Liturgy on Wednesday is our highlight of each lenten week! The fellowship pot-luck afterward has given us such a sense of belonging and family.  Co-travelers on the road...

We sing the Easter Canon at Forgiveness Vespers...just a small taste of what awaits us all at the end of this journey to Pascha!

Forgive me if I have offended or caused offense...Lord Have Mercy on this sinner.

The journey begins again!

"Mom, its not my fault, but the sink fell off the wall."

Yes, it was that kind of weekend.

Junior was home on spring break and we had a great time together as a family for a week.  He brought a friend home and it was WONDERFUL! (yes, I said wonderful) to cook for 'a crowd' again!  That is one of the things that I miss since children have gone hither and yon.  I am still having a difficult time cooking for three.  Along with the wonderful was the the weird.

Now, back to the post title...

We had a leak under the bathroom sink a while back.  We fixed it, but it seems that the water had weakened the fiberboard vanity cupboard.  Junior just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, (leaning on the sink,) and BAM! the vanity crumbled, (literally) and the sink fell!  (Along with the plumbing.)

Now for that post title...

Junior called me at work right before I left on Friday and those were the first words he said to me over the phone.  Since I was getting ready to leave for the day, I told him just to wait until I got home. (And...to turn the water off to the bathroom!)

Of course, I thought the worst on the way home.  I had visions of water and sink parts everywhere...

Arriving at home I was met at the door by Junior who kept saying, "Honest, Mom, I didn't do anything....honest!" So we climbed the steps together and entered the bathroom.

What met my eyes was a vanity in crumbled pieces, with some pieces looking more like sawdust...and a sink with plumbing still partly attached sort of 'hanging' at a 45 degree angle.

AND...

I started laughing...

It just looked so silly.

And Junior was so verclempt!

His friend yelled from downstairs, "He yelled at me when I started to laugh..."

Soon I was laughing so hard, I was crying.  Our ugly old white vanity with the ugly brown sink that was ugly and old when we bought the house 27 years ago was finally history!

I hated that ugly thing.  But there never was a really good (enough) reason to replace it.  Enough other work needed to be done to keep other household items functioning, so the ugly, yet VERY functional vanity and sink were way down on the list.

Well, not any more!

After a weekend of five people and one bathroom without a bathroom sink, the plumber arrived this morning at 7:45am.

And just look what is in our bathroom now!

Isn't it pretty?

Thanks, Junior!

School...again...for a bit.

Well, Princess is now enrolled in an 8 week course, "Introduction to Internet, Microsoft Word, and Basic Computer Maintenance."  Very long title for an eight week course if you ask me!  I will be attending the first class (or two) with her, just to find her comfort level...then I am out!

I know that she can do this!  She is so excited and so is Mom.