7QT 38: Shrapnel, mac 'n cheese, and cilantro transplants
1. Holy Week Deep Cleaning
Monday of Holy Week always offers a unique conundrum. All the other days of the week are full of liturgy, beauty, and symbolism. Monday is just . . . well, it's Monday. So this year, I decided to do something different. With inspiration from Blessed is She, I deep cleaned the house Monday and had a quiet Monday. I turned off the music and podcasts I normally listened to, and took one day to prepare for the busyness of Holy Week.
It was such a beautiful time to prepare - and (bonus!) the house was clean for Easter Sunday. Speaking of Easter . . .
2. Easter Sunday, Langr style
This year, Joseph and I invited all of our family down for Easter dinner - yep, all of them. We decided that if we wait for a house big enough to have everyone over, we'll never invite anyone over. So all 15 members of our immediate family are headed over Sunday afternoon.
What's on the menu? A mac 'n cheese bar with tons of toppings, salad, dessert, and, of course, coffee. I'll let you know next week how it turns out. We're so excited to have everyone up here!
3. Metal shrapnel spewing may occur. . .
I got a notice in the mail that my Toyota Matrix had a recall. Normally, since my car just hit 230,340 miles, I am not in a huge rush to get things fixed. But this recall was for my passenger side airbag, again. The recall came with the warning that, upon the activation of the passenger side airbag, metal shrapnel may fly into the face of whoever is sitting in my passenger front seat. That sounded horrible, so I made an appointment to get it fixed.
I've already taken the car into the dealership for the same issue, but the fix didn't work. So I went back Wednesday at 7:40 in the morning.
But here's the thing - I love when there's a recall on my car. I take the car into the dealership, which is just ten minutes down the road. Their waiting area is like a freelance writer Heaven. Tons of outlets, they bring in Dunkin Donuts, there's free coffee. If you have a Toyota recall in the KC area, let me know. I'll gladly take you car into the dealership for you and get some writing done while I wait.
4. Holy Week
I work at a local Catholic bookstore, and had been warned that Holy Week was beautifully busy. They weren't lying - the days fly by and there is a steady rush of customers. I love seeing people finish up their Easter baskets, find cards for their family, and listening as people share their Lenten stories.
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5. All the grocery options
Joseph and I have been eating simple meals all throughout Lent. Today we did some grocery shopping for next week and Easter, and holy smokes, there. are. so. many. options. It took us a few minutes to adjust to shopping for more things than just oatmeal, sandwich stuff, chicken, and curry.
As a bonus, ALDI has so many new things to buy now. Pre-made salads and fruits greeted us in the produce section. In bad news, the almond cereal we used to eat (but had given up for Lent in exchange for oatmeal) is now gone. It turns out that after the Langrs stopped buying it, they must have decided to discontinue it.
6. Re-homing our cilantro
Our cilantro plant has outgrown its litte terracotta plant. Today we transplanted it to a new, bigger pot that we bought from IKEA the last time we were there. We had hoped to split the growing cilantro plant into two pots, but when we dug the plant out (with a spoon, we're garden professionals), it kind of fell apart. So into one pot it went.
Our cilantro plant now looks kind of lethargic, so we'll see if it survives the transplant. If not, we will have enough cilantro for one taco. Which is something.
7. The Catholic Podcast is starting a new series
I co-host The Catholic Podcast with Joe Heschmeyer. Throughout Lent, we looked at the passion through the difference characters of the Bible. Monday, we'll be starting a new series - The Physical Case for Catholicism. We're starting out with the empty tomb on Easter morning! Check in on Monday to hear what we chat about.