For dinner throughout the week we enjoyed recipes from From a Monastery Kitchen. On Wednesday, we had fun learning about the history of pretzels (first made by monks as early as 610 AD to use up leftover scraps of dough, they were formed to represent a child's arms in prayer) and making our own. Ours, unfortunately, didn't look quite right, but they were absolutely delicious!
On Thursday, we were finally able to begin our study of Irish saints. We watched the St. Patrick segment from "In Search of Ancient Ireland" and read The Life of St. Patrick: Enlightener of the Irish by Zachary Lynch. We also began work on this gorgeous 500 pc puzzle of St. Patrick from Project Kells/Tailten Games:

I can honestly say that this puzzle is the *hardest* we've ever done! There are many, many pieces that fit together perfectly and look as though they belong together, until you notice just the tiniest speck of another color that doesn't belong. All of the intricate Celtic knotwork and detail is enough to make a person crazy, but for the most part we're enjoying it.
Friday was a busy day, so we skipped school work entirely. In the morning I finally had an appointment with a plastic surgeon for Botox (which I've been postponing since early last month due to the cost!). Last November, my new neurosurgeon informed me that I would need to try Botox for my migraines before he'd see me again. Essentially, the Botox freezes the muscles compressing the trigeminal nerve which triggers migraines. If it works to relieve my headaches (the plastic surgeon feels confident that it will), then I'll need to have a brow lift done to permanently cut away the offending muscle(s). Naturally none of this is covered by insurance, ugh. I was told that it would take about a week for the Botox to start working, but that many patients report relief immediately. Thus far, I've been blissfully headache-free, which is really amazing since I have headaches, in varying degrees, daily. Let's just hope it continues!
Friday afternoon was spent trying to get everything together so that the twins (or Elon) are ready for school next week. I'm anticipating a much smoother course now that we'll be relatively free of daily complaints and disruptions (hopefully), so, I'll be adding some additional work back into our schedule. I'll have more on that just as soon as I get it all sorted out.
For my own self-education this week, I read half of The Autobiography of Henry VIII by Margaret George and half of Sun Dancing by Geoffrey Moorhouse; I also read roughly a quarter of both The Book of Margery Kempe and The Age of the Cloister, as well as portions of The Beginnings of Western Science, Medieval Hospitals of England and Medieval Hospitals of Yorkshire. Frankly, it was a bit stressful juggling so many different books, so my goal for next week is to simplify things a little. I got seriously sidetracked this week by my research on Irish saints and medieval hopsitals, which had not been planned. I have not made any progress in my Praeceptor Training, which is hardly setting a good example for the kids!