Two Strange Messes, a Meat Friday, and Car Yogurt

For the second week in a row, I'm late. 

Sigh. Fair warning, as this pregnancy progresses I'm probably going to become less and less consistent. Preggo brain is real. 

1.) The Sink got Sunk

My darling toddler daughter, whom I love dearly, somehow got it into her head that she should clean the sink using a bar of soap and a roll of toilet paper. 

I did not find this out until she had clogged said sink with toilet paper and soap, run the tap, and was trying to deal with the resulting overflowing sink and huge water mess on the floor by using the rest of the roll of (now very soaked) toilet paper to mop it up. 

She did thankfully think to turn off the tap. 

The now mostly dry bathroom still has dried on bits of toilet paper stuck all over the floor and the sink counter. 

2.) Irish Food 

Wednesday was the feast of St. Patrick, so Irish food seemed to be very much the order of the day. Unfortunately, corned beef is kind of expensive, and I try to keep Wednesday a low meat day during Lent. 

So we ended up eating like poor Irish people, with a meal of potatoes topped with an egg and green onion, cabbage cooked in bacon fat, and slices of cheese. 

It felt authentic enough, and it was actually pretty tasty. Possibly more authentic than corned beef, though the cheddar cheese (cheddar being very English) may have nullified that a bit. 

3.) Car Cheese 

The second strange mess this week was a leftover piece of cheese leftover from a picnic lunch left on a black car seat by a toddler. 

Apparently, even in 70 degree weather, a a chunk of cheese left on a dark colored surface in a car in direct sunlight will melt. 

I discovered this one coming out from an excursion to the library. So I got to scrape melted cheese off in a parking lot with my hand, toss it into the grass, and hope no one cared. I got most of it, but there's still some deeply ingrained in the fabric. 

4.) Porch Garden

I don't feel like it's prudent to do a full scale garden this year because we've got a new baby coming, but I have been growing a few odds and ends on the porch. 

The green beans have actually been doing pretty well, and it's so nice to have something alive and pretty on the porch even if it doesn't end up producing worth a darn. I've also got some basil and dill coming up, and I planted some marigolds in a bucket with the kids. They have yet to sprout, but I'm remaining cautiously optimistic. 

5.) Meat Friday! 

"St Joseph at St Peter's" by Lawrence OP is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Today is the solemnity of St. Joseph. Solemnities supersede fasts, and St. Joseph is one of our family's patron saints, so we are having Father's day food (and cream puffs filled with pudding, because apparently that's traditional). 

I checked with two people I know who have master's degrees in theology, and we can indeed eat meat today. So we are firing up the grill, and having sausages for the grown ups, hot dogs for the kids, potato chips (a treat in our house) and spinach salad because I found spinach and mushrooms on clearance the other day at the store. 

It's going to be fun. And probably stressful to make the cream puffs, but I'll roll with that. It's a holiday and it's a Friday at the end of a busy week, so I think it's worth it. 

6.) Abuse of Adults in the Church 

I try not to spam my takes with this stuff (unless I've written it), but I actually feel pretty strongly about this one. 

Everyone, especially mothers, are aware of abuse of children in the Church. What people aren't as aware of, and what is commonly really misunderstood, is sexual abuse of adults in the Church, especially women. 

Awake Milwaukee, an organization I've received support through after my own experience with sexual abuse by a clergy member, recently hosted a panel with two experts on this area and a testimony given by a friend of mine that has also experienced this type of abuse. 

It's not something you want to watch or listen to without earbuds when there's kiddos in the room, but I wanted to pass it on in case someone finds this helpful. And I really do think it's something women need to be aware can happen in their communities. 

We don't need to be fearful, but we do need to be aware. 

7.) Car Yogurt

We ran out of WIC yogurt this month, because I've been eating a ton of it lately in order to choke down the powdered super greens my midwife insists I need to be taking (I slipped up and bought the chocolate one It's still gross tasting in a yogurt smoothie, but I think it'd be far worse with juice). We were down to the last quarter cup when I had a brainwave. 

We have a TON of milk. Chris comes home from the school loaded down with mini cartons his high schoolers give him (they don't want them, and they go in the trash otherwise), and WIC is VERY generous with the amount they give you every month. So, seeing as the yogurt we had still had live cultures, I decided to make some. 

I heated up the milk, let it cool to the right temperature, mixed in the leftover yogurt we had, then put it in a mason jar wrapped in towels in an insulated lunchbox. 

Now, yogurt has to remain at a temperature of about 115 degrees Fahrenheit for several hours to actually ferment and turn into yogurt. Many people use their instapot to do this, but seeing as I don't have one of these apparently magical devices and seeing as I'm cheap and don't like to burn energy anyway, I just stick it in my car. 

Springtime in South Texas is plenty warm enough to keep it pretty toasty. During the summer, I only do this if the car is parked in the shade, or I risk heating it up too much and killing the culture. But I've done it before successfully, and it makes the otherwise annoying car greenhouse effect actually serve a purpose for once. 

I have not yet tried baking cookies in a car, though I admit I've been tempted. I'll let you know if I ever do. 

See the rest of this week's takes here.