Free Online Organizer ~ All Saints Day

Free online organizer:

I haven't investigated this yet but it looks promising.  I use Keep and Share to track 4-H activities for Record Books so I would have to see how they compare.  I can tell already though that my brain type would not get the full benefit out of this tool; however, it may prove useful to someone:
http://www.cozi.com/

What's Cookin'?

Poutine:  Seriously?  French fries covered in gravy and cheese?  I'm there!  What indulgence!  Use healthy fats for frying, homemade bone broth, organic potatoes (only $2+ per bag at Wal-mart), and real cheese.  Then call it a health food.  Seriously!  (and I happen to have all of those ingredients on hand!)
http://www.cheeseslave.com/2011/07/28/poutine/

Dinner:  I had some German sausage from a local farm and some pre-cooked kidney beans in the freezer.  I put the beans to heat in the crock pot and about 30 minutes before dinner I cut up the sausage and put it in the oven to plump.  Then I added it to the beans.  I needed something to temper the spiciness of the sausage (I'm a wimp!) so I made some polenta.  I had never made polenta.  I had never eaten polenta.  I wasn't quite sure what I was doing :).  Since I hadn't planned it ahead and therefore did not soak the corn in lime I thought I would at least soak it a few hours in water with some lemon juice to hopefully neutralize some of the mold (aflatoxin? something in corn affects me the same as aflatoxin in beans).  When I poured the water off of the soaked corn I measured it so at to replace it with the same measured amount.  Except for that soaking I basically followed the directions on the package of Bob's Red Mill Polenta (I made a 1/2 batch).  It was a big hit.

All Saints Day

I've been a bit overwhelmed with our move (and with catching something going around) so tomorrow's celebration will be simple, simple, simple.  My plans:

- Pray the Litany of the Saints together.
- Go to Mass at noon.
- Make pretzels in the shape of a figure 8 to represent saints and martyrs.  What great role models they are for living out our faith!  I'll make either these or these.
- Dig through a few boxes and hopefully find our saints candles.  One year each child chose a saint, I printed out a picture of each chosen saint, and we put them on votive candle holders (I chose St. Faustina).
- The dc like to dress up as different saints and we guess who they are.  It usually takes me several tries but I've learned a lot through this activity :).