What a good day!

It is Sunday. Sort of a double plus to start with. Then, Ruth and I taught Sunday school this morning. We only do that once a month; when it's a combined Sunday school with all of the age groups up to but not including teens. We usually combine Sunday school with the Anglican kids, who have their service at the same time but once a month meet in the evening. So once a month we do something totally different with our kids, so that the lessons stay in step, so to speak, with the Anglican kids. So Ruth and I get to do whatever we want; once a month. This Sunday we chose to tell the story of manna and quail. This is actually a story about being thankful and not complaining. (A very important concept, as far as I'm concerned). We had just over 10 kids - all but two of them were preschoolers. We told the story, with actions and song (very important) then we made quail from paper plates for a craft. Finally we had snack... manna and quail of course (rice krispies and chicken fingers). It all went over very well. I had made playdough and had colouring pictures as well, but didn't need them.

Then, for lunch we went out to Classic Buffet (Walter P bought). It's the Hinnergardt's anniversary this coming week. They were married 19 years ago. (Lloyd and I were also married 19 years ago, but in November). We all ate a lot, but more importantly, had a really good visit with everyone there.

Before service this morning, I baked cookies, and I'm really pleased with them too. I tried a new recipe, and this one's a keeper. I was wanting a recipe for cookies that I could slice and bake after I had frozen the dough. I remember my Grandmother Orr doing this, whenever she had guests show up; but of course, G'ma Orr made oatmeal cookies and I'm not going there. However, these are very nice cookies. The recipe is from cdkitchen.com; it makes a really large batch, and doesn't contain eggs. All good things. (I doubled the ginger from the recipe and used blackstrap molasses instead of light molasses, because I really like the molasses flavour). It's called Slice and Bake Ginger Cookies.

This evening I'll help with Bible Quizzing practice. I also really enjoy that. Sometime today I'm going to fit in piano practice, my regular letter writing and marking (the essentials of life). Life is good.

I wonder if Joseph

when he spent those long years in prison for something he didn't do, ever went back over the events that had happened to him; trying to second-guess himself. "Maybe if I had told her..." or "Maybe if I had done x with my brothers...."

Even when he was second only to Pharoah, he still felt the rupture from his birth family. "Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh and said, 'It is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father's household.'". (Gen 41.51)

How sick was I?

Lets just say....

• I have a whole lot of laundry that needs to get done and
• Immodium is my new best friend
• My bathroom floor got scrubbed several times yesterday

I'm feeling much better now.

Still challenged

To be honest, I did try to use the time bake feature on my oven on Sunday - with the owner's manual in hand - and it still didn't start and stop when I wanted to. I'll have to try again, because I refuse to be bested by an inanimate object. (TV's, VCR's and DVD players are another matter altogether - I refuse to be bested by an inanimate object that I need to use. I have none of the above three items and I don't need them, so they're free to best me.)

I'm still being challenged by my dominant seventh chords as well. I have a new fingering pattern to try: 3 4 3 4 - and I'm to say the correct fingering before I try the chord. This is going to be the week I get it! I need to be able to move on to other challenges; such as diminished seventh chords.

I have conquered some challenges however; my rhythm exercises have been going well; I've been able to do some cataloguing in the library (the hard way, the internet still isn't working for me to do copy cataloguing and Paul, our resident tecchie, is on vacation) and I'm back to working out regularly after nearly two full weeks off due to illness and having to get other essentials done.

Sunday afternoon

The Pradzynski's usually have potluck at their house Sunday afternoons, however I decided to host it today. The Williams opened their apartment up as well, so we had both apartments to expand into and we likely had between 25 and 40 people (it's hard to tell for sure). Ruth had made lasagne, I had cooked a small ham and Loopie had roast pork. Ruth also had a bag of salad and I made tabouli and homemade bread and apple cobbler and matrimonial cake for dessert. There was lots of food and the young adults/teens are playing various games right now.

I've always been really hesitant about having people over. It dates back to when Lloyd and I were young parents (Rose was either a baby or a toddler) and we invited another couple over after service and they turned us down because they were busy and a couple minutes later I heard them make plans with someone else. I had the courage to confront them and they told me that they didn't like to visit us because our house was always so messy. I've felt very inadequate about that ever since and have never wanted to invite anyone over unless my house was absolutely spotless (and it never was).

However, I've recently come to the conclusion that the problem was more with them than with me - yes my house may have been cluttered, but it was never dirty. Now that I'm living by myself, I don't have any trouble keeping a tidy house anyway (and I haven't accumulated enough stuff to have clutter) and I'm delighted to be able to learn hospitality.

I had an e-mail from Rose this afternoon and she's been feeling ill; stayed home from school for a day or two and is having trouble with diarrhea, etc. I wish I could be closer, but hopefully she'll be with me for second semester. It is hard to be a long-distant parent - but it does ensure that I have a real active prayer life.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was so very nice. To start with, my kids were down for the weekend, and it was so good to see them and spend time with them. In addition, it was Lectureship, so I got to hear great lessons as well as see many, many family members and friends. I have so much to be thankful for.

It snowed this weekend and although the weather has risen briefly above freezing, there is still lots of snow on the ground. I like the snow - I have to, I live in Canada. It's either like it, or be miserable a lot of the time.

I'm having an "adult" supper - turnips, swiss chard and other food that kids generally turn their noses up at. That's fine, I'm an adult, and I like it. Besides that, if I don't eat it, it'll go off and I'll have to throw it out.

The Williams family (Les, Loopie, Thomas and Bailey) have moved in next door to me. I'm glad to have such good neighbours.

It took them over a week, but blogger has unlocked my thankfulness blog. Apparently their automated software and identified it as a potential spam blog and so they locked it until a real person could read it and decide if it was real or not. So, now I can get back to counting my blessings on a regular basis.

Ahhh!

I was busy working out a spreadsheet with my students' marks on it. I had been working on it for about 45 minutes to an hour when I figured I would save it and then print. I needed to save it in a different format so that I could read it at work, but when I selected that option, it told me that the earlier format couldn't read all of my formulas. So I hit cancel, which I thought meant cancel saving it in that format, but what it cancelled was saving it - it just closed it without saving!

So, I have just spent a second 45 minutes to an hour reinputting the data. This time I was a good girl and saved it at regular intervals throughout the development of the spreadsheet. I also printed out a copy. However, I hadn't really wanted to do the whole thing twice. After all, how badly did I really want to learn patience this morning?

Staying humble

Well I was feeling pretty good when I started my piano lesson yesterday. Although I had been sick the previous week and hadn't gotten in as much practice as I would have liked to, I had worked on the areas that had previously defeated me and had them fairly solid. However, Lore had me start with my dominant sevenths in B and D flat. Guess what? I'm still struggling with my dom 7ths, especially in those black note keys. (I'm thinking I should be working on my diminished 7ths as well, as I'm betting that the holiday on the minor keys won't last forever.) It's good to know there's always so much more to learn.

The days before Lectureship and Thanksgiving are speeding by. Rose and Bram will arrive, Lord willing, Thursday night - on two different flights. I'm really looking forward to seeing them.

The weather has changed fairly abruptly from sunshine and unseasonably warm weather to cloud, wind, rain and coolness. I had to scrape my window for the first time to drive to piano lessons Tuesday. I am still enjoying the change of seasons though.

My card arrived in the mail yesterday for my extended medical benefits as a STF member. I promptly went to the closest medical clinic and got a prescription for an Epipen. Then I got the prescription filled. I had lost my previous one in the move south and had been doing without. With the extended medical, it cost me $10; otherwise it would have been $110. Now, hopefully I'll never have to use it.

It's Monday!

I know a lot of people dread Mondays, but I have always enjoyed them. I like the start of the week where (theoretically at least) things start new again, where I'm not behind on things, and I can begin with energy. Maybe it's because I'm a morning person. By Friday I tend to be exhausted. This past Friday was particularly bad because I was fighting a losing battle with a cold. I left work early and went home and slept the entire evening (as I had the day before).

I went shopping yesterday (at Sears Clearance Centre) and bought myself two outfits. One's "dress-up clothes" and I have to put in a new hem (about four inches shorter) before I can wear it. I'm wearing the other outfit, a turquoise suit, this morning. The sleeves were a little long on it, but it's a type of polyester peachskin that doesn't fray, so I just trimmed them with scissors. The sleeves and bottom of the jacket both a very pretty have laser cut pattern of holes making a lacy pattern and then the sleeves had a scalloped edge. The lacy pattern is now just a little shorter on the sleeves, but I reproduced the scalloped edge with my scissors. I will admit it was a little scary taking scissors to my brand new suit though.

One of the things I help with at school is the Bible Quiz group. They had a local meet this past Saturday and did quite well. Although they didn't make the finals, they won one match and came in second in their other three matches. (There are always three teams competing at the same time.) It was very interesting to see how the meet was run too. The next meet will be in Winkler, Manitoba in November. The students are learning (memorizing large portions of) the book of Luke this year. This past meet was only on the first three chapters (not including the geneology), and the questions were really tough. I was impressed by the knowledge of all the competitors. Sunday evening we always have a practice session, so we were able to talk about what went well on Saturday, review which verses they had memorized, and practice quizzing a little bit. I'm really enjoying the whole thing.

Follow-up

I have to follow-up on a previous post on being technologically challenged. My parents were up for several days this week, and my mom brought me a copy of the owner's manual for the stove. From now on I'll have no excuse for being unable to set the time bake function.

A new thing (for me)

This month's Reader's Digest has an excellent article on it on the importance of being grateful and having an attitude of thankfulness. It recommended journalling daily on the things you're thankful for, and why. So, I've started a new blog (it's private, I won't give you the link) of the things I'm thankful for. What a great way to start my day - by listing all the things I'm thankful for!

I'm teaching a creative writing class this semester and have been encouraging my class to keep a journal of some sort (preferably daily). When I read that article in the Reader's Digest, I felt it tied in very nicely with what I had been saying, so I read it aloud to them. However, it's important to practice what I preach, so I've started it for myself. I consider this blog to also be a regular journal, but don't feel obligated to keep it up on a daily basis (and I have to be careful what I write, as I do know it is being read by who knows whom).