Homework

I just don't do things well in the evenings. I'm a morning person - and my brain functions best then. (That's my excuse for putting off putting in the last report card marks until morning). However I have two kids that are the opposite and do their homework, etc. in the evenings. I've been IMing with Rose about the Berlin Wall as she's been writing in German about Berlin. At the same time I've been discussing with Bram the implications of the War of 1812 on the nation of Canada for his Science Humaine 30 class. It means I'm feeling a little disjointed. I think I need to go to bed. Rose is now done her homework and Bram is finishing up his.

Trade-offs

I don't have to make supper tonight; there's steak night at school, and then the chorus is singing. However I do have to have report card marks in for tomorrow morning. This means that I can't just take the evening off; I have to do some homework. It's only fair though - Bram has homework most evenings, as does Leo. Tonight's my night.

What I'd really like to do is have a nap - I was a bad girl last night and read a book into the wee small hours instead of going right to sleep. However, maybe I'll go to bed early instead.

Saturday I started some bedding plants - tomatoes (red cherry tomatoes and yellow cherry tomatoes) and green onions. I'll start some more another day. However I'm a little frustrated because I can't find my leftover seeds from last year and my little portable green house. I know it's somewhere - I just can't find where. I really would hate to purchase more seeds when I know I've got lots left over from last year... somewhere.

Saturday morning

Ruth and I went and got groceries last night and she was here by 7:30 this morning for us to cook together. I had set the chick peas to boil last night and then turned them off and let them soak. This morning they were almost ready, but we set them to boil again as they weren't quite soft enough. While they were cooking, we put some wild rice on to boil for another recipe (I had some leftover brown rice) and we got to work.

We made: Chickpea Feta Salad (which was a new one that we hadn't tried before); Nutty Wild Rice Salad, Cauliflower Salad, and Coleslaw Forever with broccoli stems and purple cabbage. For casseroles we made a scalloped sweet potatoes with ham and a multi-bean soup. I've posted the recipes for all of the salads except for the chickpea feta (check out my recipes, or look in August) so I'll write it up below:

2.5 cups cooked chickpeas
1/2 container (about 200 g) light feta cheese, crumbled
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1 chopped red onion
1/2 English cucumber, diced.

Vinaigrette:
1/2 cup oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 TLB chopped garlic
2 TLB lime juice
dash of salt and pepper

What's Next

So the talk among the staff is, "So, what are your plans for next year?", knowing that the choices likely are not that good. None of us particularly want to move, and jobs in Regina will likely be scarce. So we talk about possibilities and how we can trust in God and wonder what he has in store for us.

If I could pick the ideal job, I'd like to go back to teaching in Adult Education. That was what I was doing in Yellowknife before I moved down here and I really enjoyed it.

However, right now I'm just working on updating my resume and making sure it's ready to go out.

It's March already

I didn't even realize it was March until Saturday when Ruth said she needed to go collect rent - and I realized that I did too! Last weekend was the ROCK tournament here; I ran the canteen, and it was a big job. I had really wanted to go to S'toon for Colin's shower but just couldn't see my way clear to do that. However, will be there this weekend for a quizzing tournament.

It's been so hectic, and nothing slows down anytime soon. This weekend is the quiz tournament. There's also both boys and girls basketball tournaments this weekend; the boys in Gravelbourg and the girls at Holdfast. Then we have a semi-quiet week followed by:
Mon. March 19 - steak night to support Grad.
Wed. March 21-March 25 - chorus tour (no, I'm not going, but Bram is). (For those students not going on chorus tour; we're helping to host the boys provincial basketball tournament at U of R and have to provide 10 students and staff members to man the door, etc.
March 28-29 - ski trip to Assissippi
March 31 weekend - Homecoming

I'm glad I'm busy though. People have asked me how I'm feeling about things; and right now I'm mostly feeling sad. I received my official layoff notice this week due to the school closing. I don't know where or what I'll be doing next year (and I'd really like to know). My lawyer is filing my application for divorce, child support and separation agreement this week as well. I think I'm handling it ok; but it is tough. This is my fourth year working for Western; and it's been a really good place for me to be. I've been very thankful for the Lord for placing me here - and I am confident that he'll place me somewhere else where I will continue to be blessed. I just have to keep reminding myself of that.

I had my weigh and measure at Curves this morning (no, I haven't lost any weight or inches) and she was asking me whether I was meeting my goal of feeling less stress. No, I can't say that; although maybe I'm handling the stress better than I would be if I wasn't working out regularly.

Cooking on Saturday

Ruth and I slept in this morning and so didn't didn't get groceries and start cooking until around 8 am. However we were very efficient and had things started really quickly. We pulled out my three-pot slow cooker and made chili, shipwreck and cabbage borscht. Then made cauliflower salad, green bean salad, and Moroccan chickpea salad. The only thing that really slowed us up was that we kept on finding that we hadn't purchased all the ingredients needed. We ended up making an additional two trips to the grocery store! However had everything done by 1:30 pm. Ate chili for lunch - it was good too. It ended up being a really huge cauliflower salad, probably close to 18 cups worth, as we filled two eight-cup plastic containers and Bram ate a generous cup full before we put the vinaigrette on it.

Then we tried on dresses (we were given a bunch of "dress-up" or dressy outfits to try) and then Ruth had to dash to work to meet with a client and I had an afternoon nap. Then I mended a pair of Walter's pants and altered a dress that one of the girls is wanting to wear to winter banquet. All in all a pretty productive day I think.

Doing Dishes

I thank the Lord for my dishwasher nearly every day. It's old (the serial number says 1967), it doesn't always get things on the top shelf clean, and it takes nearly an hour for it to go through its (single) cycle. However, it does clean everything on the bottom shelf very well, and it sterilizes the dishes. More than that, it means that I usually only have to wash the pots and pans.

Ruth and I get together Saturdays and cook. We started by making salads; we've expanded recently so that we make a soup or two as well as a casserole. We generally plan out the week's menus for both of us and then make a good stab at getting it all cooked.

This past Saturday Ruth and I made three or four salads, and a chicken casserole in one of the slow cookers. However I wasn't feeling too well, and when Ruth had to go meet with a client, I went back to bed. I phoned her bright and early Sunday, however, so that she could come and help me clean up before everyone came over. We did up those dishes, but while we were doing dishes and cleaning up, we also made up three big pans of lasagne. (Two in baking pans, one in a large crock pot). However then it was time to go to services, and we didn't get cleaned up from that.

Monday night we have The Party, and it was our week to bring the snack for it. Sunday afternoon I started the slow cooker with sloppy joes in it. In the morning I set it out on the front step to cool and freeze, and Bram brought it in after school and turned it back on high. I didn't even have time to stir it before it was time to go.

All of this cooking means that there was lots of dishes to do. So this morning I got up a half hour earlier, and got to work. I loaded the dishwasher again, and then started on the pots and pans. It only took me 40 mins. but I'm done. I think I'll get the boys to put everything away.