7QT: Opan Lenten Style

1.  Peter realized on the eve of Ash Wednesday that Lent is ACTUALLY FORTY DAYS, if you don't count the Sundays (because every Sunday is Easter, yada yada yada).

He told me this amazing fact in a state of wonder and disbelief.

But, Mom, I counted the days on the calendar, and it is EXACTLY forty!  Does this happen every year?

Peter has gone to Catholic schools for thirteen years, and is supposedly ready for college.  He even did well on his ACT and SAT, where I guess "How many days are actually in Lent?" is not part of those tests.

I thought it was hit or miss, like some years it's forty-two days and some years it's only thirty-seven. Whoa!  HOW DO THEY MAKE IT EXACTLY FORTY EVERY YEAR?

You could hear the sound of his mind blowing up at least two doors down.

Yes, all of my children are blonde.

2. One of my more popular posts about Meat Fridays, ironically (did I do that right?  That's ironic right?) included another mind-blowing fact.

Bone broth is not meat.  Chicken broth, beef broth, these items are not considered meat.  When you're making vegetarian minestrone tonight and realize you don't have vegetable broth, don't worry.  Broth is not meat.

My resident expert explained it like this:

Basically, in the 1917 code (of Canon Law) you could not eat soups made from meat. A revision to this part of the law happened in 1966 but omitted the phrase on soups made from meat. Under canon law this is called derogation and the part of the former law that is omitted in the new law is no longer binding.

This is in Canon Law, folks.  Or rather, it ISN'T in Canon Law.

3.  Nowhere in the rules does it state that you can only have clear liquids on a day of fast.  

I don't know where some people got this crazy notion (Mom), but you can have liquids between meals, whether or not they are clear. If your liquid is a glass of milk or an opaque Guinness, you're just as good as the person who is drinking iced tea or Bud Light or water.

If you choose the Guinness, you are getting less calories than if you chose skim milk or orange juice, and less alcohol than lots of other beers, but I digress.

Canon law, as it written today, does not mention clear or opaque liquids.  Canon law DOES refer you to your own diocesan rules.  My diocesan rules specifically state that liquids including milk and fruit juices are allowed.  My diocese makes no reference to the opacity of the liquids.

4.

Looking for meatless meal ideas?  I can give you some good ideas here (the bulk of my ideas on the topic), here (if you're near a Trader Joe's, this is a good one), here (meatless and gluten-free migas), and here (Potato and Egg Tacos and Spicy Quinoa with Kidney Beans, Corn, and Lime).

I bought a Ninja Blender sometime in the last year, and I've been very impressed with the small cookbook that came with it.  Here is a list that links to lots of soup recipes from that book, and most of them are meatless.

5.  We were listening to The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child, when I heard for the very first time that the 10 plagues sent to Egypt were in direct correlation to 10 ancient Egyptian gods!

Peter probably already knew this and would make sarcastic remarks about my mind being blown by something so obvious, and it is!  But seriously, did you know that the plague of darkness is for Ra the sun god?  And the plague of boils is for Isis the goddess of healing?  Google it.  Lots of sites have charts for this.

6.

The Prince of Egypt is streaming on Netflix right now.  We watched it a few weeks ago for our Ancient Egypt Unit Study, but Jill wanted to watch "the Moses movie" again this week when she was ill.

And she wanted me to watch it with her.

How could I refuse my poor little pneumonia baby?

I forgot what a great movie it is and for once, the critics at Rotten Tomatoes agree with me mentioning the "stunning visuals" and "first-rate voice cast."

I think the songs are superb.  Definitely not the ear worms you get in Frozen.

It should definitely be part of this list of our Holy Week movies.

The story of Moses from birth until leaving Egypt is fairly accurate.  There are some scary sequences when Moses realizes what happened to all the other baby boy Israelites the year he was born, and also that last plague is very grim, but Jill wasn't phased.

Jill loves the parts with the baby in the basket and the wedding.

I like the parts with Moses and the burning bush, the wedding, and the jaw-dropping parting of the Red Sea scene.

7.  My favorite part about the Prince of Egypt movie is this song:

especially this line, "A man's life isn't judged by what he builds or buys..."

which gave me great comfort in the wee small hours on Ash Wednesday when I had a freak-out and wrote this:

Waking up at 3:18 am.  Wondering if I'll ever catch up on my photo albums.  Wondering if the basement will ever be clean.  Wondering if Edmund will ever go to high school.  Wondering where to put the new baby's dresser.  Wondering why I am so durned hungry at 3:18 am on ASH WEDNESDAY!  I had banana cream pie last night for crying out loud!

Wondering if Jesus will share some of my workload.  Wondering which of my worries is actually even worth worrying about because I read somewhere recently, probably a FB meme, that a man's life isn't judged by what he builds or buys but look at your life through heaven's eyes.

Wait.  Googled it.  Not a meme, but that animated Prince of Egypt movie from way back in 1998 that Jill made me watch with her when she was sick.

I think Jesus is trying to tell me to screw the scrapbooks and the basement and go eat some night cheese.

Linking up with Jen and the cool kids.