It's the weekend. And what a looooovely weekend it's been too.
- My sister Katie is home from Africa today! She's also the birthday girl today. Wish her a good one.
- Carrots for Michaelmas blogger Haley's husband Daniel wrote an awesome response about kids bringing the party to church.
- Rod Dreher asked his readers to recommend 3 books about one religion, and list in order of preference. Here is Leah's response (and more background) and now, here are mine:
- An Affair to Remember by Graham Greene (fiction)
- The Imitation of Christ by St. Thomas a Kempis
- Introduction to Christianity by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI (as Joseph Ratzinger)
- Comedian vs. Smart Phone - the saga continues at TIC.
- How do you like my new blog look? Because I am actually very happy with it... and I did it! (With a friendly thanks to my friend Kate for helping me with re-sizing the header picture.)
- Talk to me about meat for dinner. What kind of meat dishes do you like? How do you decide? Do you think it's worth buying meat at Whole Foods/Fresh Market vs. "regular" grocery stores? How much of your budget (% or $$) do you allot for meat?
 |
| Love so great for a person so small... |
And now, an excerpt of a reflection by Pope Francis (as Jorge Bergoglio) on the lepers' encounter with Jesus (today's Gospel is Luke 17:11-19); as found in October's
Magnificat (emphasis mine):
Everything in our life, today just as in Jesus' time, begins with an encounter. ...
We cannot understand this dynamic of encounter which brings forth wonder and adherence if it has not been triggered...by mercy. Only someone who has encountered mercy, who has been caressed by the tenderness of mercy, is happy and comfortable with the Lord. ...
In front of this merciful embrace...we feel real desire to respond, to change, to correspond; a new morality arises. ...Christian morality is simply a response. It is the heartfelt response to a surprising, unforeseeable, "unjust" mercy... The surprising, unforeseeable "unjust" mercy...of one who knows me, knows my betrayals and loves me just the same, appreciates me, embraces me, calls me again, hopes in me, and expects from me. This is why the Christian conception of morality is a revolution; it is not a never falling down but an always getting up again. ...
Jesus is encountered, just as two thousand years ago, in a human presence, the Church, the company of those whom he assimilates to himself, his Body, the sign and sacrament of his Presence. ...It is a question of starting to say "You" to Christ, and saying it often. It is impossible to desire it without asking for it. And if someone asks for it, it is because in the depths of his being he feels attracted, called, looked at, awaited...There from the depths of my being, something attracts me toward Someone who looked for me first, is waiting for me first.
I hope you all are enjoying a blessed weekend!
I really like the new look! The header, sidebar, and font is cute! I just can't tell what the background image is - maybe because I am looking at it on Safari? I know sometimes different browsers do weird things!
ReplyDeleteSailboat sails! Perhaps! Thanks for the feedback, Liesl!
DeleteAh I see it now!
DeleteMeat: Kroger's Manager's Specials. I buy meat when it is about to expire, divide it up into plastic bags, freeze and thaw when I need it. I got 5lbs of ground chuck for $7 yesterday. Last week, 14lbs of chicken (one package of breasts, one of thighs, one of legs quarters) for $6.70 total. I find if you go to Kroger on weekday mornings there is a good chance of finding it marked down. Frequently the marked-down meat is some of the organic varieties as well. I've seen everything from ground lamb to steak to salmon. It saves 50-80% off the regular price.
ReplyDeleteOh I also sometimes use my Winn-Dixie baby club coupons (they have like $1 pork, $2 off beef) on the smallest packages of meat I can find at Publix (they accept competitor coupons).
So there ya go! : )
This is what I try to do as well! Buy it when it's marked down due to soon expiration dates. Or also when they are having a major buy one get one sale, and buy two smaller ones!
DeleteWell I don't use my own money, but I have an arrangement with a boy on my floor in which he buys the groceries I tell him I need and necessities to prepare them and I cook dinner a few times a week. When we go to the grocery, we usually spend about 1/3 of our budget on meat, 1/3 on fresh or frozen vegetables, and the other 1/3 on carbs, herbs, desserts, spices, and utensils.
ReplyDeletep.s. I love the new blog. Very chic.
First off, Grace is so precious and I just cannot wait until Thanksgiving.
ReplyDeleteSecond, website looks lovely. Good job!
Third, I totally get where you're coming from with the meat question. We're both married to poor students and there's no money! None at all! Haha! If I had the money, I know I would only buy meat from farmers markets or our local co-op (no Whole Foods here). But since Eric and I just don't have the money to eat meat daily that hasn't been tortured, or washed with ammonia, or pumped with antibiotics, we decided to just stop buying it. This decision came about over a long time of reading about the meat industry and actually witnessing it for ourselves. When Eric visited a pig farm and saw how the pigs are confined and all the dead pigs lying around, and then when he visited the slaughterhouse that butchers hundreds of millions of pigs a year, he called me up and said he didn't want to buy conventionally raised and slaughtered meat anymore. For me, reading Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer was what got me on board with this. So, we only buy meat when we know the animal wasn't tortured and it was humanely slaughtered. This means you have to do your research, you have limited options, and it also costs a lot. This consequently means we save a lot of money because we simply don't buy any meat, which is a lot more expensive than our daily intake of beans and tofu.
Anyways, that's just my take on the meat question. If you want to try out some vegetarian dishes on Will that include lentils, beans, or tofu just let me know! (haha- thinking of your quesadilla story!) Love you!