May's Musings

Cooking on Saturday

2012-02-11T17:04:00.000-08:00

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

2012-02-07T05:00:00.000-08:00

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.

Sunday Evening

2012-01-29T16:13:00.001-08:00

It's been a very long and stressful weekend. School starts again tomorrow. In addition to the quiz tournament - which took up all of my time from 6:30 pm Friday through 9:30 this morning, there was also the big society meeting at Western.

So this post will be about the quiz tournament. I need to reflect a little more about the upcoming changes at Western before I can write about them.

I ended up on billeting nine for the quiz tournament. However, I had requested two couples and up to six teenage boys and ended up with nine teenage boys. It all worked out just fine though. They were very well behaved; and aside from only having one bathroom, (and therefore only one shower), things went very well with them. Apparently the last one had a cold shower this morning. Oh well, nothing I can do about that.

Friday night Western's team had two matches, we had a third match Saturday morning. We won some, came in second on others - and by the time the stats had been calculated, we were in 14th place - at the bottom of the A division. However it meant that we weren't bumped down to the A consolation side. During the eliminations, we won our first match, and then lost the next two matches, so we ended up in 12th place. Bram was 7th overall for points in the A division, so ended up in the top ten, which was very good.

Friday night, quizzing and other activities ran until 10 pm; then I had to meet my billets and get them home. Because I had nine billets and two of Western's quizzers, plus myself to get home with only an eight-seater van, this was also a bit of a challenge. Leslie and Loopie were also billeting two boys, and they took two others, and another coach took two boys and then I had enough. Because I needed to drop off one quizzer at her house, this meant that we were home before 11 pm. The boys were wired, however, and I'm not sure when they finally all went to sleep. I can tell you that the living room looks a lot smaller with that many boys in it. Every couch was taken, including the little love seat; and I think only one ended up sleeping on the floor.

One interesting side story was that Radio Canada (CBC TV in French) interviewed Bram on Saturday afternoon. They said the interview would be on the website, but I haven't been able to find it there yet.

Saturday night we only had eight billets as one left after the quizzing ended. However things ran later, so we weren't home until around 11:30. I got up this morning at 7 (after laying in bed awake for a couple of hours). The boys weren't as quick to get up, so finally at 8 (when I had breakfast all ready), I started frying bacon, and in less than ten minutes, they were all up. Saturday morning I fed them cold cereal with toast, milk and oranges. Sunday they got sausages, eggs, toast, orange juice, oranges, and a little bit of bacon. The bacon was primarily to get everyone out of bed.

This may be my last year to coach quizzing (wait for my post later about Western for the reasons for this). I will miss it when it's over; I have really enjoyed it and cannot stress how good it's been for the kids involved in it.

New Semester

2012-01-26T19:39:00.000-08:00

Today was the last day of exams at school. I had supervised exams all day yesterday but spent today marking, signing books back in, telling students to look one more time in their locker for books, etc. Got all my marking done and the marks entered. This makes me very happy. Tomorrow is a teacher work day. For me that means double checking what texts haven't been returned yet, putting all the texts that have been returned back in the back room and signing out texts for the next semester, as well as making up a list of what's still outstanding and who should be billed for missing books. I'm glad to have a full day to do all that.

I'm still unsure what I'll be teaching next semester; I know I'm team-teaching math with Mark H. three days a week (he's teaching two different math programs at the same time; same grade - actually four programs because we'll have one girl repeating last semester's math and one doing remedial math) and the other two days a week I'll be teaching Life Transitions (which is a type of team-teaching with Monica O. - because she only teaches three days a week.) However, that's only one period a day, so aside from the two periods a day I'm dedicated to the library, I don't know what I'm doing for the rest of the day yet. I'd like to know in advance, but oh well, I figure I'll find out sooner or later. Seeing as the new semester starts Monday, I guess it'll be pretty soon, even though it's later.

There's a quiz tournament this weekend; starts tomorrow night and runs all day Saturday. In addition to coaching Western's team, I'll be billeting some others. I've said I could take up to 6 boys and two couples. That will fill my spare room (one couple), my living room on the hide-a-bed (second couple) and the family room (six boys). So Bram and I went out this afternoon after school to get supplies. I only have to feed them breakfast for two days, but I know that six teenage boys can eat a lot. I'm planning for them to eat cold cereal for Saturday breakfast and having sausages, bacon, eggs, toast, etc. for Sunday breakfast. Snack food for the evenings is also really important for teenage boys (or so Bram informs me). We're having super nachos and popcorn for snack, plus Bram told me that even though it goes against our moral code to do such a thing, he's never been billeted where they didn't offer pop as well, so we bought four two-litre bottles. I guess if we have leftovers we can serve it for Sunday potluck.

Tammy came over today and cleaned for me. I hadn't had her come over since before Christmas because I've been short of funds, but it's so wonderful to come home to a clean house! I love it. I'm so grateful to her. It makes me wonder how I thought I couldn't afford it. Now I'm truly ready to have ten more people over for a couple of days.

Things I'm thankful for:
1. Tammy and my wonderful clean house.
2. Marking's completely done and marks entered.
3. Everything prepared and ready for the weekend.
4. Tammy and my wonderful clean house. (This does bear repeating.)
5. Not having to plan meals for Saturday. (Because I'm coaching for the quiz tournament, I will eat with the kids. It'll likely be taco in a bag or pizza or something, because it's a real challenge to feed around 450 extra bodies, but I'm fine with that.)

Clean Sheet Day

2012-01-26T19:13:00.000-08:00

Saturday was clean sheet day. I got the boys to strip their beds, and I did the guest beds and my bed. Unfortunately - the boys aren't nearly as good at remaking their bed (they don't have a problem with leaving it and sleeping on the mattress cover) so I got to remake the beds as well. There's something about clean sheet day, sleeping on fresh linen, getting the blankets readjusted so they're at just the right height, I love it.

Now before you can strip the bed, you have to remove all the books from the bed, as well as all the other detritus that has accumulated. This is also a good thing. Now I know the commercials all tell how fresh the sheets smell after washing. However I use unscented laundry soap and don't use fabric softeners of any kind (I've kids with allergies to scents), so my sheets don't smell at all. I'm ok with that.

I also did up the menu for next week. I find when I've got two teenage boys in the house, if I don't do up a menu for both lunch and supper, they've got nothing for lunch because it's all been inhaled for supper. So I have to make up both a lunch menu and a supper menu for the week. The boys are on their own for breakfasts (I'm on the hook to ensure that there's enough milk and cereals.) Ruth and Walter were away for an Elder’s workshop in the States so I didn’t have to cook with her; had a lazy morning. Cut out a quilt.

I tried to post the menu too, but this program doesn't like the table, which is why I didn't post this on Saturday when I wrote it.

Sat. Supper Chicken Noodle Soup
Sun. Lunch Eat Out
Supper Ham biscuits with white gravy
Mon. Lunch Chicken soup and biscuits
Supper Fish Chowder in Slow Cooker
Tues. Lunch Stir Fry
Supper Spaghetti squash with sausages
Wed. Lunch Quiche?
Supper Chili
Thurs. Lunch Chili
Supper Chicken and Rice
Fri. Lunch Chicken and Rice
Supper Homemade pizza

Now it's Thursday night - and I can tell you that I ate at Jamdon's at noon Monday, Monday's supper wasn't chowder (Leo made supper, sausages, something with tomatoes and eggs and rice). Tuesday at noon I was running errands and ate at Taco Time (5 tacos for $5); Wed. the boys ate at Jamdon's and I had chicken soup but we did have chili for supper. I had chili for lunch today but Leo made lunch (same as Monday's supper) and I pulled a frozen premade supper out of the freezer for supper (Lentils and mushrooms with cheese - very good actually). I'm probably not making pizza for supper tomorrow anyway, but we'll see.

Update on The Party

2012-01-16T20:07:00.000-08:00

This year has had many changes for The Party. We moved from Wascana School to the Rainbow Youth Centre. We changed from Tuesdays to Mondays. We totally split the teens (Grades 6 and up) from the younger kids. The teens meet at a different location - Zeike's Place. We changed the format somewhat, and we have different helpers and different group leaders. However, we are still able to see the Lord at work each week.

This year we have unstructured games (run the kids ragged so they'll be able to sit and listen a bit) from 6 to 6:30. Then the teens get driven over to Zeike's place. At about 6:40 we have circle time until about 7. Then we have three groups or centres that we rotate through: story time, snack time and activity time. Last week I did the circle time. The kids were amazingly well behaved. When I said it was circle time, they all came and sat down - participated in the singing, and listened.

This week was a little more normal. It took a little more coercion to get everyone to participate, and it was a little more hairy at the various centres. We had 33 kids in our group and about 15 or so in the teens group.

Last year I was the snack lady, and I did attendance. This year I still do attendance, but I'm also doing the circle time more often (I don't have the male carrying voice - so I'm fine if someone else does it), as well as more of the crowd control, making sure the groups rotate on time, etc. However one of the blessings of The Party is that there are so many people who work together to ensure that it happens.

We have regular drivers, who pick up the kids (15 passenger van load at a time) - thank you Dennis, Kirk and Lisa. We have our regular snack providers - Margaret made soup and bannock this week; which was excellent. Marina and Melissa made cookies last week. We have the regular teen helpers from Western and QCC. Thank you, Caleb, Daryl, Camden, Bram, Leo, Thomas, Naomi, Joanne, Vivian and Jane. (We missed three of the girls tonight, but they are regular helpers). Thanks to the many people from Northwest congregation who also help regularly: Rene, Marina, Debbie, Ruth, Melissa, and the other Daryl.

I think the changes have been good changes. We have more space for the kids and we're reaching more kids and their families. I can see how we're making a difference in lives. It feels good.

Jesus Priceless Treasure

2012-01-15T21:42:00.000-08:00

Words by Johann Crüger (1653) Jesu, meine Freude - translated by Catherine Winkworth, 1863. Music by J.S. Bach, 1723.

Jesus, priceless Treasure,
Source of purest pleasure,
Truest Friend to me.
Ah, how long in anguish
Shall my spirit languish,
Yearning, Lord, for Thee?
Thou art mine, O Lamb divine!
I will suffer naught to hide Thee,
Naught I ask beside Thee.

It's actually Ruth's fault. We were singing together in the van last night as we were driving back from Minot and she started this one - and neither of us could remember all the words. It wasn't in either of the hymn books I had in the van, so it's been an ear worm all day today. Lovely harmonies though; if you have to have an ear worm, choose one with lovely harmonies.

Had a lovely service today; appointed elders for Northwest congregation. In order of height, they're Dennis Belliveau, Dwight Muller, Leslie Williams, Walter Pradzynski.
Then had a crowd over for lunch (which was a bit of a surprise to me - was only planning on Walt and Ruth, my parents, Leo and myself - but had around 20 or so.)

Have been visiting with Rose on skype for most of the evening. It's nice that even though she's living so far away, we can still talk daily.

Bram arrives home tomorrow from the quiz tournament he's been at in Minneapolis. He phoned me Thursday and Friday nights and gave me updates but haven't heard from him for the past two nights so I don't know how they did in the end.

It's late. Need to go to bed.

Sleep Blessings

2012-01-08T15:25:00.001-08:00

I had to get up a little after 5 this morning, so I could take Bram and myself over to help Al and Nancy clean Old Navy. We finished by 9:30, which meant that we were only a minute or two late for the start of services, which start at 9:45 but are across town.

This was an important morning as we're attempting to install elders at Northwest congregation. Unfortunately, when I got up at 5, it wasn't the first time I had woken up during the night and I ended up dozing off during service. I really don't like doing that, but some days are harder than others to stay awake.

I actually enjoy the cleaning (seeing as it's only once a month) - wouldn't like to do it full-time.

I managed to get two more wetsuits finished yesterday evening. Sorry, didn't manage to get pictures taken of them before I sent them off to Saskatoon. Hopefully they'll fit the kids I made them for. I told Nancy that if I'm making them for her granddaughters now, she definitely has too many granddaughters. However, I'm now out of contrast fabric (still have the main fabric), so if anyone wants me to make another one for their kid, they'll have to find me some contrast fabric. I've used up all that I had in my stash. I wonder how old that particular fabric was? I think I sewed the last set of wetsuits for my kids when they were preschoolers. Rose is now 20 and Bram will turn 18 Feb 2 - so it's been awhile. I'm glad I was able to use it up.

I titled this sleep blessings but really haven't written much about sleep. I had a beautiful afternoon nap after we got home from lunch. Bram said it must be because I didn't sleep long enough in church. Fair enough.

Little things

2012-01-07T14:50:00.000-08:00

I've been getting lots of little things done today. Ruth came over and we got our grocery shopping done and planned what meals we were going to make. We had great plans, but just as soon as we got back from getting groceries, Emmet and Jane arrived and we also started babysitting, which severely limited the cooking as it took pretty much one person full time to keep them happy. Bram played with Emmet the first while, which was helpful, and I wore Jane in a sling, until she crashed. However that didn't last long as Emmet demonstrated that, "See? If I talk to her, she wakes up again." Thank you Emmet. However we did manage to make a marinated vegetable salad, a Moroccan chickpea and tomato salad, three pans of (vegetarian) lasagna (but don't tell, because if you don't tell people they won't know), two freezer bags of squash soup, and a cheese-topped mushroom and lentil casserole. We had planned to make at least two more casseroles, another salad and another soup, but oh well, we did get lots done.

We also managed to get the living room cleaned up again after playing with Emmet and all the toys, and the dining room cleaned up, after doing all the cutting up and chopping there, and the kitchen (partly) cleaned up after doing the cooking. I'd like to do some sewing this evening, but we'll have to see if I catch my second wind first.

All good things come to an end

2012-01-05T05:44:00.000-08:00

And holidays are over, as of this morning. It's time to go back to work. I'm actually ready to go to work - I've enjoyed the break, but for the past several days have been thinking about what to do with my classes.

Yesterday afternoon, Ruth and I drove to Moose Jaw and went to the spa. Very nice. We left Regina at around 3:30 and arrived back here around 7 pm. I can't stay there for even an hour (we were in the water about 50 minutes); but it was a nice way to end the holidays. We also had a good visit on the trip to and from Moose Jaw.

I had set a few goals for myself of things I wanted to do over the holidays. I wanted to get Abby's wetsuit sewn. I wanted to sew a dress for Gloria (Joyce requested it) - which I did yesterday. Finally, I wanted to find a lawyer in the NWT that would accept a family law case so I could get a settlement from Lloyd. Got those last two things done yesterday as well. I'm feeling proud of myself.

Stuff

2012-01-04T08:25:00.001-08:00

One of the curious things that I notice when I go to Canadian Tire, is that a large percentage of what they sell is containers. Rubbermaid tubs, wicker baskets, tool chests, plastic drawer sets, shelving units, etc. We have so much stuff in our lives that stores can do very well selling us things to help us organize our stuff.

When I moved to New Guinea (1980), I had a carry-on and the largest suitcase you could bring on the plane. When I moved home two years later, I had gained an additional suitcase. When I moved to Yellowknife (1988), I carried all of my possessions in the back of a quarter ton pick-up. When I moved south from Yellowknife three and a half years ago, I pulled the smallest U-Haul I could rent behind my van. (Mind you, I left lots and lots of stuff behind - and I had to purchase furniture once I got here.)

When I moved from my apartment to my house, it took about six men and four vehicles several hours and many loads to help me move in. How did I accumulate so much stuff in such a short time? I now own: four couches and a futon, a piano, two piano benches, two cedar chests, three arm chairs, four stacking stools, one queen-sized bed, two twin beds and a queen-sized Murphy bed, two dining tables (one's taken apart in storage) and a kitchen table (also in storage), twelve dining chairs (two sets of 6), three Christmas trees, five sewing machines, two sergers, the list goes on. A lot of the furniture has been purchased either in garage sales or on Kijiji, but I still realize that I have more than what I need.

I think I need to simplify my life a little. Be more concerned with people than stuff. Use the stuff in creating relationships with people - I think that's called hospitality.

French Onion Soup

2012-01-04T08:08:00.000-08:00

This is also an easy recipe - although it's much easier if you get someone else to cut up the onions (they make me cry).

4 yellow onions - diced
brown in 1/4 cup butter
Add:
6 cups beef broth (I like to cook a roast in the slow cooker in several inches of water and use that for the starter for the broth. I supplement it with water and liquid bouillon.)

Serve with toasted French bread, covered with mozza cheese melted on top.

Ruth's Borscht Recipe

2012-01-03T18:24:00.000-08:00

Ruth got this recipe from a Ukrainian restaurant where she was eating with Walt. They liked the borscht there so much, she asked them for the recipe. Here it is:

Beet Borscht
3 medium beets - grated in a food processor
3 medium carrots - cut into small chunks or pennies
2-3 medium potatoes - cut into small chunks (because I'm allergic to potatoes we don't put them in when we're making borscht at my house)
1 cup dill pickle juice
About 4-6" of garlic sausage, cut into small chunks
1 can pork and beans (in tomato sauce)
1 medium onion, diced

Serve with sour cream

Because everything is cut fairly small, it doesn't take very long to cook this. You can start it in the morning in a slow cooker and have it ready for lunch; or start it after work (mind you, I get off work at 4 pm) and have it ready for supper.

"I have everything I need"

2012-01-03T11:23:00.001-08:00

When I first moved to Regina from Yellowknife, I had many adjustments to make. The culture was different here; I was doing a very different type of teaching and for the first time in nearly 20 years I was alone, without either spouse or children. All of these were big changes. Another change that I had to adapt to was that for the first time since I was in university, I was living on a very tight budget. I had one income rather than two, and I had many more expenses than I was used to.

One of the things that has helped me adjust to these changes was Psalm 23: The Lord is my shepherd, I have everything I need. I have learned to rest in my Lord's blessings and to trust that He is sufficient for all of my needs.

I have taught myself to view flyers and catalogues as opportunities to thank God for all that I have and all that I don't need. When I moved into my house here, I met the person who did the flyer deliveries and asked to not receive the regular flyers. Not only do I have less garbage or recycling to deal with, but I also haven't had to worry about coveting all that has been advertised.

There have been many times when I've had to decide which bill would be paid first and which bills could wait for a bit. I've never had to do that before, and it has made me more aware of others and the burdens they may be carrying. I haven't enjoyed having to count pennies and to budget, but it has allowed me to grow in faith. And you know? The Lord continues to provide all that I need. And I am thankful.

Time passes

2012-01-02T08:41:00.000-08:00

It's interesting to notice how tied I am (we are?) to time. I misplaced my watch the other day. I don't wear a wrist watch, I've worn a watch brooch for over 25 years. For two days I couldn't find it. Now there's no shortage of time pieces in the house. My cell phone tells time. My laptop tells time. The current time is shown on my alarm clock, on the microwave, the clock in the dining room, etc. In addition, when I'm home alone, I usually have CBC radio on, which gives me an update as to the time at least every 30 minutes. However, I've felt that I've been sort of lost without my watch. However, I'm on holidays! Why do I need to know what time it is, this minute?

One of the common aspects of the New Year is to evaluate and plan for the future. How do I want to spend my time? How am I spending my time well; where do I need to spend it better? Perhaps I need to be more aware of the passing of time so I can use it more wisely, but at the same time, I need to be less aware of the passing of the individual minutes.

More Recipes

2012-01-01T19:50:00.001-08:00

I haven't done recipes for some time now (I think not since August or September when I did all the salad ones) but as Ruth and I are now doing lots of soups for winter lunches, I thought I should post some of our soup recipes.

This is one of my personal favourites because it's so fast and simple. It's a nice soup to prepare for unexpected visitors because if you have the ingredients on hand, it's just a matter of heating them up; it doesn't need a long cooking time.
Pizza Soup
1 large can (28 oz or 400 mL) Italian seasoned diced tomatoes
1 can water
1 can sliced olives (drained)
1 small onion diced or 2-3 green onions chopped small
about 1 cup of chopped pepperoni
Anything else you like on pizza such as: green peppers, chopped; chunks of ham, you name it.
Heat everything up. Serve with croutons and grated cheese.

Winter has arrived?

2012-01-01T19:25:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year. Happy Birthday, Marge. It's actually -16 out this evening. I noticed it was a fair bit colder when I walked to church. My living room is cool enough at the best of times that it's not comfortable to sit in it without a blanket. However, adding a blanket is way cheaper than doing the mega insulation thing, although I wouldn't mind doing that. I have a big living room with lots of big windows and it makes it cool. However, I've lived in Yellowknife long enough that it's no big deal to me to need a blanket when sitting in any room. That's just a normal thing.

Had the crowd over for Sunday dinner today. It was a smaller crowd, less than 20 I think. We've had so many big meals lately, that we had soup (and leftover ham and scalloped potatoes). Loopie brought dessert and drinks. We made borscht, pizza soup and french onion soup, and I had leftover vegetable soup as well. Lots of choices. I only ate the pizza soup and a bit of ham - but I'll get to eat leftovers of all the rest this week, so that's not a real hardship. It was good to visit with everyone. It was especially nice to have Jeff, Glenda and Sonia come and visit. I don't get to see them as often.

I'm also thankful that because I had people coming over, I had to tidy up my house. I slept in this morning (woke up at 3 am and had trouble getting back to sleep and then before I knew it, it was 9 am! Church starts at 9:45 and it's a 5 minute walk. I got up, showered and dressed, unloaded and reloaded this dishwasher, got the soups started and was at church on time. (I can work really fast when I'm short of time.)
I've got everything cleaned up and put away afterwards except for the borscht, which needed to cook awhile longer. I think the dishwasher has done three full loads of dishes today. I'm very thankful for dishwashers. I also did at least two sinkfuls of pots and pans. However, I was able to serve everyone on real plates and bowls instead of paper plates, which is very nice to do. I'm thankful that I have sufficient to do that. I'm also very thankful for my three-pot slow cooker. (I bought it for myself for Christmas.) It's so nice for a crowd as can have three things on the go. Today I had three soups in it, plus another slow cooker for the borscht and the oven for the ham.

Saturday

2011-12-31T09:59:00.000-08:00

Ruth is over and we're making soups and salads - three soups and two salads today. We're planning to have ham, scalloped potatoes and three types of soups for tomorrow. The soups are: French onion, borscht and pizza. The salads are green bean and coleslaw forever. Got the coleslaw made - it's really easy. The green bean salad will have to wait until we go back to the grocery store because we forgot to buy a bag of frozen green beans. Got the French onion soup cooking and will eat some for lunch. Ruth is grating the beets and carrots in the machine but we won't put the other soups on until tomorrow before service.

While I was in Saskatoon this week, I went by Scott's Parables and picked up materials for The Party. Ruth and I have looked through them and they look good.

It's windy with blowing snow outside. A good day to be inside. Glenda and Jeff just stopped by. We all shared French onion soup with freshly baked French bread. Very nice. I don't think we'll have enough soup for tomorrow but that's ok, we'll have two other kinds plus ham and scalloped potatoes.

Today's Thankfulness

2011-12-30T10:02:00.001-08:00

It snowed yesterday - but only after we had freezing rain for a time. Travel was not recommended for anywhere around the Regina area. I was wanting to go out, but didn't really need to go out - so I didn't. I'm thankful that I didn't need to go out yesterday. This morning I got up and shoveled out my driveway. I'm thankful that it didn't really take that long - and I'm also very thankful for Bram, who normally does that for me. (Leo's still in bed.) I'm very thankful as well, for whoever drove the little bobcat that did the sidewalk for the whole block, so I didn't have to do my sidewalk. I had a quick visit with my next door neighbour to the west, who offered to shovel my driveway for me, but I had it done before he had finished the errand he had to do first. I'm thankful that it wasn't such a big job to do it; and also for the opportunity to visit with my neighbour. It's a beautiful sunny day today, only -4. Although they still don't recommend much travel today, I'm going out because I'm feeling a little housebound. The streets have been cleaned and I've got a few errands to run. I'm thankful for snowtires (and for Walter who put them on for me).

I was wanting to sew a little jumper today for Gloria but can't find the pattern I traced off for it, so maybe my errand will be to pick up a pattern from Fabricland. (Oh the hardship - I need to go to Fabricland!)

Sewing

2011-12-29T09:51:00.000-08:00

I haven't sewn for so long that I wondered whether I even remembered how to do it again. I got home from Saskatoon yesterday afternoon and vowed to stop procrastinating about it. Traced off the pattern (it's Kwiksew and they have to be traced) and cut out the pieces. Couldn't manage to get myself to start sewing though.

So this morning, I hunted out a serger, and a foot pedal, and a power cord - got it up and ready to go and sewed Abby a wetsuit. I'm pleased with myself. It's so tiny! I hope it fits. I'm feeling pleased with myself. If you omit the time taken for procrastination, it was about one hour to trace out the pattern and cut it out, and one hour to sew it. Not bad!

Christmas Morning

2011-12-25T06:59:00.000-08:00

It's Sunday morning. I'm in Saskatoon at my parents' house; updating my blog from my Dad's Ipad. Spent last night at my brother Rob's house - but they're in Gravelbourg. It's a standing joke that whenever I come to visit, they're not home.

Things that I'm thankful for today:
1. The warm weather. We're not having a white Christmas but the highway was clear and dry when I drove up here. I'm thankful for the good weather when there are so many traveling. I remember the Christmas when my kids spent 12 hours in an airplane sitting on the tarmac in Vancouver and didn't make it to Regina until a day late. This year, Rose is in Ottawa and Bram is in YK, but I'm still with family for Christmas.
2. Modern communications. I've already texted to Rose back and forth for Christmas; we talked to Robin last night on Skype; I'm posting to my blog this morning. When I was in New Guinea, for the two years I was there, I talked to my family a total of three times; once for each Christmas, and once when I sent off a really blue letter and they phoned to make sure I was ok. To write a letter and receive a reply usually took a month.
3. Family. I had supper with my parents last night (and breakfast this morning). We'll be having family meals for much of this week - we had one yesterday, one this afternoon, etc.
4. Worship. We'll be going to worship shortly. What a blessing to be able to go and freely worship and praise God for our many blessings.
5. Music. I'm listening to Handel's Messiah right now. What amazing music that is. I'm so happy to be able to participate in creating music, listening to music, experiencing music.

The day before

2011-12-24T07:28:00.000-08:00

I slept in until 7, then I got up and started making present bags. Thought I was done twice, then remembered other presents that I had tucked away elsewhere. But I think I'm done now. Presents wrapped and under the tree. House tidied (well, almost - I do need to do some more there.) Laundry in the dryer. Ready to go.

I think I'm doing three Christmas dinners this year. One today. One tomorrow, and one on Tuesday. I'm hosting the one today; then just bringing stuff for the next two.

Things I'm thankful for today:
1. For the countless blessings I am given each day. I woke up this morning thankful for a warm bed and clean sheets and a warm house. That was just a start.
2. For being able to give gifts to others.
3. For my children. Although right now they're both thousands of km away; I'm only a second away from them on Skype, and they're always in my heart.
4. For my extended family. That it's only possible to get together in three different family gatherings, because there is so many of us.
5. For the beautiful weather. I don't have to worry about blizzards or anything else as I travel to Saskatoon this afternoon.

Small Miracles

2011-12-23T07:17:00.000-08:00

I put Bram on the plane this morning; dropped him off at the airport at 5:15 am. He's had such a bad cold all week, is on antibiotics and is improving, but had to ensure he had his pockets stuffed with tissues and that he had cough candies in his pockets to interrupt the coughing cycle. I feel sorry for the people travelling with him, as they'll all be exposed to his terrible cold, but at least he's been on antibiotics for a few days so he should be less contagious, I hope. Then I came home and gratefully went back to bed - to try to sleep.

When I have difficulty falling back to sleep, I frequently turn on my bedside radio on very low volume. It interrupts my own thoughts and helps me sleep again. When I woke up this morning, on The Current they were talking about the importance of gratitude and how people who keep a gratitude journal (five things they were grateful for daily) were benefited in many ways. I think I'll try that. Here's my five things for today:
1. Bram was well enough to travel; we got to the airport on time and he caught his flight. (That's really just one thing, not three).
2. Bram ran his cell phone through the wash with his laundry on Tuesday (both washer and dryer), but he tried it last night, and aside from needing to be charged, it works! (That's the small miracle in the title.)
3. I was able to get back to sleep after dropping Bram off, and then was able to sleep in.
4. I'm off work on holidays for two weeks starting today!
5. I've got all of my Christmas shopping done (I think); I paid cash for everything and I still have (a little) money left at the end of the month.

Far Away but not forgotten

2011-12-22T19:37:00.000-08:00

Bram is packing tonight to go to Yellowknife for the holidays. I've got his present bags made and the presents put in them - and he's decided that he doesn't have room for all of them in his suitcase. That's fair; he can either open them before he leaves or wait until he's back in two weeks.

Rose won't be home for Christmas either. She's decided it costs too much to fly to either home for the break. Since she was denied her student financial assistance from the territorial government, and since she hasn't been able to find a job in Ottawa yet, she's been pretty short of funds.

I talked to her this morning at 5:45. She was awake because she had a toothache. It's hard to have my kids so far away - especially when they have needs that I can't do anything about. It makes me realize two things: one is that when I went to New Guinea, I was only 19 - Rose is 20, and instead of being half-way around the world, she's only halfway across Canada. And, we can talk daily by phone or email or texting. It makes me appreciate my parents so much more. Now that I'm a parent, I realize the tremendous faith they had to allow me to go so far alone. Secondly, I realize that I have to leave my children in the Lord's hands. It helps me to realize that they've been there all along - but I have to trust his love and care over them. They're really in no different place than they've been all along.

Projects and Plans

2011-12-20T18:25:00.000-08:00

I haven't sewn (really sewn) for several years now. I miss it. What makes the difference for me is having my sewing space set up so that I can sew and leave it and come back without having to clean up and put everything away. So I've set up my sewing machine (that's a start) and I've found my serger, although it's not set up yet, and I want to do some sewing over the break.

My sister-in-law would like me to sew a wetsuit for her daughter, who gets hives when she gets cold. I sewed wetsuits for my kids when they were young, so I have done it before. I pulled out my rubbermaid tubs and found the leftover wetsuit fabric. Melissa has ordered the pattern (it's out of print and she had to order it from EBay) and when it arrives I guess I'll get started. I'd also like to get back into quilting. I quilted for years, and have really enjoyed it, but haven't done it at all since I moved down her to Regina.

Rose is also wanting to create. She went shopping this afternoon at Fabricland in Ottawa and found what she wants to start hand sewing a quilt (a traditional Japanese pattern). She was texting me about what to get and how much to pay for about an hour this afternoon. However she now has all that she needs and I'm anxious to see what her project will look like.

Bram is also planning a project. His is more art than fabric based - he's designed a picture that involves number theory, prime numbers, different colours and sizes of beads, etc. He now needs fishing line to string the beads (and probably a canvas for the project) and he'll be ready to go.

It's interesting how we're all wanting to be creative at the same time; but we're all going to be doing quite different projects. I'm looking forward to seeing the works in progress.

Sisters

2011-12-18T16:15:00.001-08:00

Ruth and I have spent most of the day together. We jointly prepared lunch, sat beside each other in service, ate lunch together, and cleaned up together. Then we went together to pick up a very special Christmas present, came back to my house to do some Christmas baking together, and we're just going to run out to the grocery store for some more ingredients. It's been such a blessing to have a sister here in town. We do lots of things together, and both of us have really enjoyed it. We usually do salads together on Saturdays (we skipped yesterday)as well as a fair bit of Sundays. I lived for 20 years in YK with no sisters near, and this is one of the things I really enjoy about living down here. There are some things that a sister really understands best.

It might have been awhile

2011-12-17T16:12:00.001-08:00

I got so frustrated last time I tried posting an entry to my blog because it wouldn't let me save and I had to email it to myself and post from a different computer. However, I really miss blogging and I'm going to try again.

Bram and I drove to Moose Jaw this afternoon to visit his Grandmother Thiessen. We hadn't been since Rose was here for her Reading Week, which was in early November, I think. Last time when we visited, she didn't really know me, and it was rather sad trying to visit with her. However this time she was with it. We visited for awhile and than we sang together until it was time for her to go down for supper. It was very nice to have a visit with her.

I was pondering this week on traditions. When I moved from Yellowknife, I had to establish new traditions for myself. One of the first ones I started was about decorating the tree. Lloyd would never have a Christmas tree, although I had grown up with one. So I put my pennies together and bought an artificial tree (Rose is allergic to evergreens) and decorations and decorated my first tree in about 20 years. I invited people to come over to help me decorate. We set it up and decorated it on November 25 because that's my anniversary and I knew that it would be a hard day for me. I did that again for the next two years, however this year, it wasn't as essential for me to have people over and be busy that night. Western had decorated some beautiful Christmas trees that they were selling by sealed bid auction at the musical and I put a bid in on three of them and won the bid for two of them. This means that I now have three Christmas trees. I set up the biggest one (and it's really huge) in the corner of the living room. I also have a really big living room, so there was lots of space for it. I set up the prettiest one (my personal opinion, I know) in the family room. I've left the third one in its box in weird closet #2.

I haven't done any baking for Christmas. I'd like to do that - but I just am not motivated. One of the things I left behind by accident when I left Yellowknife was my recipe box with all of my personal and family recipes. So I really need to get them from other sources in order to make the cookies, etc. that we have always eaten for Christmas.

OK, this entry is long enough - let's see if I can post it or if I'll have difficulties again.

Back home

2011-10-31T21:27:00.000-07:00

I can't over emphasize how good it feels to be home tonight. Normally I'd be out for The Party, but it was cancelled due to Hallowe'en. I was away all weekend up to Saskatoon. It was good to be there, but it's so nice to be back home again.

It was a little more eventful getting to Saskatoon than I had intended. We had planned to go by way of Moose Jaw and to visit with Mom Thiessen there. Part of the reason to travel was so that Rose could visit with family while she was here for Reading Week. Going by way of Moose Jaw isn't that much further out of the way. However this time it was. First of all, we had a flat tire about 3 km short of Moose Jaw, so I phoned and got a tow truck to come and put my spare on for me. By the time that was done, it was nearly 6 o'clock, so I dropped Rose, Bram and Leo off at the nursing home while I went to see about my tire.

However, it's impossible to get anything done at 6 pm on a Friday. I was concerned that my spare wouldn't be good enough to drive to S'toon on. We finally ended up driving to Eyebrow and Doug kindly looked at it and gave me a new spare. By the time all of that was done, it was pretty late and pretty dark. I didn't want to drive to S'toon through Elbow as the last time I'd gone that way the highway was pretty bad so I went on the grid at Tugaske and drove to Craik, rejoining highway 11. That is a trifle further, but the grid was excellent. It also meant that by the time we got to Warman, it was 11:30.

We spent much of Saturday looking for a Hallowe'en costume for Leo. We didn't find anything he'd like, but we did get him a winter coat for a very good price at Mark's Work Warehouse. Friday night we had supper at Dad and Mom's and were able to visit with David and Shirley as well, which was a bonus. Then we went over to Rob and Melissa's to get our first glimpse of the new nephew. He's very cute.

Sunday we went to worship (how I enjoyed the singing - the acoustics are wonderful!) then left immediately to drive back to Regina as Rose's plane left at 4:30. We arrived in Regina at 2:30 so had time to stop at the house before I took her to the airport. Sunday night Bram and I watched The King's Speech. I hadn't seen it before and really enjoyed it, even though it kept me up past my bedtime a bit.

We only had 6 kids come to the door for Hallowe'en tonight. Bram and Leo went out to the Hallowe'en party at school. Bram was the scariest - he dressed as a telemarketer. Leo finally ended up going as a vampire. We went after school today and picked him up what he needed. He was so excited about dressing up for Hallowe'en. He'd been talking about it for weeks!

Family

2011-10-24T14:11:00.000-07:00

I'm supposed to turn in a family photo for something at work. However, I don't seem to be able to find a family photo with me, Rose and Bram. However, Rose is here this week - and Bram lives with me - so I'm going to try to get a family photo taken. It might be nice to have a photo of our family. This is high on my to do list for this week.

Packing

2011-10-18T15:22:00.000-07:00

I should be packing right now - I'm leaving tomorrow right after school with most of the rest of our staff to go to Calgary for teacher's convention. We'll be back, Lord willing, late Friday night. However, I need to do some deep breathing and unwinding after school before I can start another task.

I also need to remind Bram to pack, as he flies up to Yellowknife for the long weekend tomorrow. I've had a little bit of arranging to do, to ensure that he can make his flight, as he leaves after I do - but Ruth has said she'll take him to the airport.

We're leaving Leo home alone for a couple of days; but he's 18 and should be fine. I need to make sure that there's lots of choices in the fridge for him.

Rose is likely packing in the next couple of days too, as she has reading week next week and is flying here to see us. She should arrive Friday evening (likely before I get back from Calgary). This means that I also had to make arrangements for her to get picked up from the airport.

Bram arrives back from YK Sunday night, and then we're done travelling for a little bit. I want to drive everyone up to S'toon next weekend. There's a new baby up there that we haven't seen yet.

It's strange in a way; when I lived in the north, travelling "out" was such a big deal and only happened once or twice a year. However, now I'm living in Regina, where so many places are so much closer - I rarely go anywhere. I don't think I've been to Saskatoon since dad's birthday at the end of April. Aside from the cruise this summer, and going to Clearview Camp for a week, the only other place that I can remember travelling is to Gravelbourg - once in May and once in September. I guess I'm really a home body.

I've figured it out

2011-10-11T11:50:00.000-07:00

I've been unable to post to my blog from home lately - it allows me to write it and save it, but not post it for some reason. So I'm posting it from work, during lunch hour. The whole thing is rather frustrating, but it is a work around.

I've really missed updating my blog. I have so many things that I contemplate on, or just to keep track of what's going on in my life, and I've used the blog for years to do that.

Right now it's the end of the six-week marking period at school. Marks have to be in before 9 am tomorrow. I've got all my marking done, I just need to put them into the program. That shouldn't take me very long. It feels good to be (almost) finished.

Thankfulness

2011-10-10T16:56:00.000-07:00

I got frustrated last time I tried to post here because it would only save my title, and it wouldn't save what I had written. We'll see if it'll work this time.

It's Thanksgiving today and I have so much to be thankful for. It was Lectureship this weekend and I got to see and visit with a number of people that I hadn't seen for some time, as well as with my parents, etc. It was also good just to sing for an extended time.

Sunday afternoon I had a small crowd over for Thanksgiving dinner. I was thankful that so many people came and brought food as well, because it really wasn't much work that way. Mind you, it wasn't that big a crowd; I think there were just under 40 people. I'm so thankful that I have a large house and it's easy to accommodate a crowd. Then I had an evening nap, got up and visited with Rose on the phone for a bit. I'm so thankful that she's enjoying school and is getting settled. She's going to two Thanksgiving potlucks today; one at her boarding house and one at the Preacher's house. She phoned me to ask what she should bring since she has no bowls besides a small soup bowl. I suggested that she bake sweet potatoes in the microwave and bring them, because you don't really need a bowl for that.

This morning I did the final clean up from yesterday. I washed dishes and did laundry (which took about an hour) and was so thankful that I had the time to do that. I always find it amazing that what takes so much effort the night before is really not that much work the next day. I was also thankful that it was so easy to clean up; and that I had the dishes to wash and a place to put them when they're clean (I put them in the empty dishwasher to dry).

This afternoon Bram, Leo (my boarder) and I drove to Moose Jaw to visit my mother-in-law. She was happy to see us; called me Marilyn Orr (which I guess has always been my name - just not one I've used for over 20 years). We sang with her for a bit and visited for a bit. She asked me how I knew her, which was a little sad. then we had to leave. I'm thankful that I live close enough that I am able to visit and sorry that I don't visit as often as I'd like to. I don't think I've been there since July.

Done?

2011-08-31T20:40:00.001-07:00

New Beginnings

2011-08-30T20:45:00.000-07:00

I've always felt like the new year starts in the fall, not in January. Probably that's because I'm a teacher and in North America at least, that's when school starts. This year there are lots of new beginnings in my life.

The first new thing was flying out to Ottawa and getting Rose set up to go to university there. It was hard to leave her there, but I can trust in God that he's in control, as always, and will watch over her and keep her safe. I skype or IM with her nearly everyday, which helps.

The second new beginning was when my boarder arrived. Last year I had a 15 year old girl; this year I have a 17 year old boy. These are students from Queen City Collegiate (which is on the same campus as Western); and are from China. I think this year will work out better, as he's the same age as Bram and they get along very well. In addition, he's pretty outgoing. He came to church with Bram and I on Sunday, and is consciously making an effort to practice learning English. Leo arrived Saturday morning.

Bram arrived back for school Saturday night. I'm wanting to get him moved into Rose's old room, as it's larger and has a built-in desk, but I've been so busy working on one of my suites, trying to get it ready to be rented for the first of September, that I haven't had much of a chance to help him get settled into a different room.

School was the last new beginning. We started on Monday with registration and orientation. I'll be teaching the remedial math again, as well as helping with the French Immersion classes on Mondays and Fridays. I'm teaching Information Processing again (a fancy name for computer class). I was supposed to be teaching accounting as well, but I don't think anyone signed up for it. Oh well, I'm doing a lot more of the planning for one of the French Immersion classes, so I'll keep busy regardless.

Today was the first day of classes, which, as a librarian is a really busy day, getting textbooks signed out to students. However, the library software wasn't working, which made my life pretty challenging. The tecchie guy arrived at the end of classes and worked for over an hour on it, which meant that he was finally able to get a work-around for me so I can do my job. It's still not working entirely right, but at least I can access the program. The air conditioning isn't working in the library and it was 27 in there at the start of the day; then it started heating up. I'm glad I've at least got a fan to sit in front of.

This morning I got up before 5, as I was at the apartment by 5 am, painting walls. We finished up tonight. Bram and Leo came over and helped put the metal thinggies back in the registers. I'd taken them out to paint them. They also put the cover plates back on the switches and plug-ins, and helped clean up and take out the garbage. Loopie and Bayley also came over. Loopie scraped windows for me so I could paint them. She also loaned me her shop vac and vacuumed up things for me. I'm now done over there, except I need to have the new blinds I purchased hung (where's my brother-in-law?); and I need to steam clean the carpets tomorrow. I've been working on this apartment for two full weeks (it was incredibly filthy) and I'm ready to be finished. I've got renters for it already without advertising - they're related to the renters I have downstairs. It's 10 pm now and I think I need to go to bed.

More Travel

2011-08-22T06:43:00.001-07:00

I drove Dad and Mom to Gravelbourg yesterday and we visited the Bells after service. They were saying that they'd never been there before, but mom especially was feeling right at home because most of the older people there were people she had grown up with. After all, it was right in the area she was from.

We also had a very nice visit with the Bells - and they have a lovely farm. Robert, Melissa and kids were also there. It was however, just over 400 km there and back. I was ready for bed when we got home. On the plus side, I didn't do any more painting.

Speaking of painting, I'm done all of the trim (not window trim), but the master bedroom trim needs a second coat. It'll have to wait until I'm back from Ottawa though. I'm off to Ottawa this morning to meet Rose there. I've been paying bills on the computer this morning, and Dad's on the computer in the other room renting a car for us for the two days I'm there. I'll arrive close to midnight this evening, and I fly out again at 7 pm on Wednesday. I start work again on Thursday (which, coincidentally, is pay day - that's also a good thing.) So I've got two days with Rose in Ottawa to find and rent her a place for her to live while she goes to university there. She's been doing some of the prep work for that, I believe she delegated getting us a place to stay (a hostel) for the two nights I'm there to Bram.

I've got Rose's suitcases packed, a carry-on for myself, and I'm ready to go. A bit of running around to do this morning and I fly out at noon.

More Painting

2011-08-20T11:22:00.001-07:00

I've got the trim done - two coats in all the rooms except the master bedroom. Well, actually the other bedroom just has the first coat and I'll need to do a second coat there. Got the holes in the walls patched (thanks, Dad), several coats of mudding done, and first coat of primer on. (Forgot to put primer on the spot behind the door, but the other holes are all mudded, sanded and primed.) Got the feature wall painted the same colour as the trim through out the house. Got the front and back doors painted, two coats. Linen closet door is painted one coat. The bad news is all the trim needs two coats to look good. The good news is, I think I can get away with one coat on the walls.

Still to do:

second coat on trim in second bedroom
second coat on linen closet door
first and second coats on trim in master bedroom
all the walls in all the rooms - I've just done the trim
the window trim - I've just done baseboards and door trim (and doors)

Painting update

2011-08-19T16:11:00.001-07:00

I've got the baseboards and trim painted in the living room and the door frames for both bedrooms. That leaves... the baseboards in both bedrooms and the kitchen. Then, the real painting starts - the walls. I'm painting the walls the same colour as my walls, and the trim the same colour as the feature wall and pillars in my living room. That way, anytime I need to do some more painting, I should have more on hand - either for any of my suites or for my house. Works for me.

Margaret came and cleaned for me. She worked pretty much nonstop from 8:30 to 4 pm, with an hour off for lunch. I'm picking her up tomorrow to do more of the same. She's made great progress - but there's lots of cleaning still to be done. (Sort of like the painting.)

I painted pretty much all the time that Margaret was cleaning - except for the two hours when I took Rachel to the hospital. No, no baby yet - but it wasn't moving at all and she was worried. I got to babysit Emmet while she got checked out. I was wearing my really grubby painting clothes, and sitting in the waiting room with Emmet on my lap when I realized that the knee that Emmet was on was damper than it should be. So I changed Emmet - but I didn't want to get any other jeans all painty - so I wore them back to the apartment this afternoon. But I think I want to wash them before I wear them again tomorrow.

The next step

2011-08-19T07:07:00.000-07:00

OK, I've been busy filling out forms for the Office of Residential Tenancies - trying to reclaim the damage deposit and back rent, and to dispose of abandoned property. Lots of forms. Not much fun. Then I have to drop them off. Nearly done.

Cleaning and Painting

2011-08-18T11:14:00.002-07:00

I evicted a tenant this month. It's hard to do that, but she'd been getting more and more in arrears on her rent, and it was time to cut my losses. She's left the place pretty dirty, and the whole thing needs repainting. I'm hoping to hire someone to do the cleaning for me while I tackle the painting. I got started this morning and got the kitchen, living room and hall ceilings painted. Just two more ceilings to go. Then I'll start on the walls and baseboards. I'm hoping that if I leave it long enough, I'll be able to get hold of the woman I want to clean for me, so that the baseboards will be washed, and I can just start painting. It's noon right now and I'm feeling pretty wiped. Time for a break.

The other recipe

2011-08-18T06:41:00.000-07:00

I mentioned that we invented two new recipes Tuesday. The other one is:

Asparagus Couscous Salad

1 cup whole wheat couscous

2 cups boiling water

1 ½ cup asparagus – chopped and steamed

½ cup diced dried apricots

½ cup chopped red pepper

3 TLB chopped chives

2 TLB chopped parsley

We used one of our standard vinaigrettes, with lemon juice and we would have used garlic, except I was out of it. This makes a very mild flavoured salad, that would be best eaten early on in the week because I don't think the gentle flavour of the asparagus would keep well.

Insomnia

2011-08-18T06:05:00.001-07:00

There are many reasons why I wake up in the middle of the night. Sometimes I'm too hot or too cold - sometimes I'm both at the same time (I believe that's called menopause). Sometimes I have a strange dream or a troubling dream. Sometimes I have restless legs. Sometimes a hand or a foot has gone to sleep and I need to reposition myself. Sometimes I have something on my mind that I can't get out of my head. Sometimes I need to go to the bathroom (which usually means that I'm camping and I have to walk across the campground in the cold, in the dark).

So, what to do about it? If I'm lucky, I'll just roll over and go back to sleep. Otherwise, I'll try counting my blessings - seeing how long a list I can make. I'll practice taking deep relaxing breaths. Many times I'll turn on the radio and listen to the BBC (CBC in the middle of the night has the BBC on). I hate opening my eyes, because it's an admission that I actually am awake, but sometimes I read.

Last night was one of those nights. I woke up several times for several reasons. I had a really strange dream, a hand went to sleep (a couple of times), I was too hot - no, too cold - no, just uncomfortable, a hand asleep again....I drifted back to sleep several times but was awake pretty steadily from about 4 am on. I counted my blessings, practiced breathing and turned on the BBC. However, it's time to be up now. Maybe I'll take an afternoon nap later.

Routine?

2011-08-17T08:04:00.001-07:00

I have a flat tire, so can't drive my van right now. I'm hopeful it'll be fixed today some time - but right now I'm dependent on others for transportation. So yesterday I phoned Ruth and suggested we go grocery shopping together. That went well (we usually grocery shop together), and so we had supper together before we made salads together. We tried two new salads (made up the recipes ourselves) - they're both pretty good, however we were out of garlic and short on onions and I personally feel that any salad can be improved with the addition of those two ingredients. Here's one recipe:

Green Bean Salad

1 bundle Chinese green beans (just less than 2 lbs)

Chop green beans and steam until just tender

¼ cup bacon bits

1 diced onion

1 pint grape tomatoes

1 cup chopped celery

Vinaigrette

¼ cup oil

2 TLB soya sauce

1 tsp sesame sauce

2 TLB lime juice

Goodbyes

2011-08-16T13:26:00.000-07:00

While we were in Vancouver, we stopped by to see Aunt Trudy. She's 93 now, and living in a nursing home. It was very good to be able to stop by and visit. She's so with it - knows what's going on, and keeps up with everyone. However, it was also very difficult to say goodbye, knowing that we may never see her again in this life.

I've been talking on the phone to Rose, as she's getting ready to go off to university in Ottawa. Supposedly first year students are guaranteed a place in residence. In actuality - not always. So, she's phoning different places for rent off campus. Rose, like me, hates phoning people. Especially strangers. She's finding this very difficult, and I really feel for her. We'll meet in Ottawa next week and I'll have two days to help her get settled into a place before I have to fly back to Regina and start school. It will be a new kind of goodbye there. It's always hard saying goodbye.

In both cases, I have to trust in the Lord; that he will keep loved ones in his care; that he will watch over them and keep them safe. That everything will work out.

Back Home

2011-08-16T08:19:00.001-07:00

It felt so good to sleep in my own bed last night. The cruise ended Sunday morning - it took until nearly 1 am Tuesday to get back home. But it's good to be home. My tomatoes are ripe and I picked a double handful this morning. I've put the contents of my suitcase in the laundry and started it, but am feeling pretty brain dead right now. Will write more later.

Saturday

2011-08-06T10:26:00.000-07:00

OK, I fly out this afternoon with my parents. Going cruising. Walter and Ruth fly out at noon. Different flights. I've helped run errands for the last two days getting ready. Got everything packed and checked. Am ready now, I think, I hope. Discovered I had a flat tire this morning. I'm going to impose on my niece - see if they can arrange to get it fixed while I'm gone.

Time to go.

Friday - the day before departure

2011-08-05T07:53:00.000-07:00

I stained the wall in the living room again this morning. It looks really good and the fumes are making me feel a little ill. My parents arrived last night as we'll all be flying out of Regina. They've already figured out at least two things they forgot to bring. I guess I need to get packing - I need to do some laundry first.

I did get the washer and dryer - a front loader set for $400. It's currently sitting in my living room; have to get the old ones detached and moved out before I can put the new ones in place.

I had to give one of my long-term tenants notice. She's not happy about it; actually I'm not happy about it either, but she's over 3 months behind and I just don't think there's any possibility of her catching up; need to cut my losses.

I went by Chapters yesterday and picked up Sharon Lee and Steve Miller's latest book, Ghost Ship. It was very disappointing. It continues on in the series, but is very obviously the next book in the series. It doesn't introduce any new concepts or ideas or really any new characters. It's obviously a bridging book to the next one in the series. I wouldn't recommend purchasing it, rather would wait until it comes out in the library.

Thursday - what to do?

2011-08-04T10:10:00.000-07:00

I'm definitely not planning on doing a daily thing all the time, but it has been interesting to try it for a short time period. I've been busy IMing with Rose this morning; have got her flight to Ottawa in late August booked, as well as mine. We'll meet there and I'll help get her set up for school.

I ended up buying a fridge from Sears. I've found out that you can't purchase a smaller fridge without wire shelves; all smaller fridges come with wire shelving - that's the only option. Oh well, I had wanted something a little nicer, but I don't want to rip out the really nice cupboards in the apartment, just so she can have a larger fridge.

I'm giving notice to one of my tenants today - she's mega behind on her rent, and has been for months. I'm giving her until the 15th to get caught up or move out. It's a really difficult decision to make, but it has to be done. (Actually, Walter P is doing it for me. God bless my brother-in-law.)

I went into Ruth's office this morning and did a quick cleaning for her. I usually save the cleaning jobs for the Taylor side of the family, but Rachel has been doing it up until now, and she's just too pregnant lately to consider doing that. I was going to go in really early and have it done before anyone got in; however I got there and realized I forgot to bring in a vacuum cleaner and had to go home and get mine - so by the time I got there, everyone was there anyway. So I have to go back this evening to vacuum Marcy's office, but did the rest of it. (I didn't wash the tile, but it's summer, and it doesn't really need it. I'll apologize to the picky, picky people I know, but I'm doing this more as a favour than as a job.) If it looks like I will do this on a more regular basis (or that Bram will), then I'm going to insist on some real tools - like a toilet brush for each bathroom (we don't have to share some things), and a real broom, not one of those silly kitchen-sized things. Also some garbage bags the right size for the garbage cans.

My reward for doing all of that is that I get to go to the public library and waste time there. I've earned it! (My to do list is gratifyingly small.)

Wednesday - countdown

2011-08-03T07:47:00.000-07:00

OK, I fly out on Saturday with my parents to go on a cruise from Anchorage to Vancouver. This is very exciting. Trying to get things done before I go.

I spent a fair bit of yesterday going from place to place looking for fridges. One of my tenants has a fridge that isn't defrosting properly and is leaking water all over her floor. She's a good tenant - has lived there 25 years, and when I looked at the fridge I realized that it's more than just unclogging the little pipe thing inside. Her fridge is a harvest gold colour! So I've promised her a new fridge. The space she has for a fridge is 30" x 60" (maybe as much as 62 or 63 inches). She has beautiful oak cupboards surrounding the space that we don't want to cut into. The Brick has a very nice fridge on sale; only $400 - 29" x 65". Sorry, just a bit too tall. Most fridges are much larger now than they used to be. I still need to check out a few more places.

I checked out the Sears Warehouse store yesterday - their appliances are a terrible price - but I did get two dressy outfits for Ruth, who has out shrunk all of her clothing. She and Walter are also coming on the cruise. I also went by the Re Store - found a whirlpool tub for $375 that I'm also musing about. They also had a really nice fridge that's just a bit too big.

Someone on Kijiji or Used Regina - I don't remember which is selling a front load washer/dryer combination for 500. I'm to see it today at 3:30 with Walter P. That's a really good price for the two of them together. I hadn't really planned on replacing mine - but I would be really happy to if I can get them for that price.

Tuesday - the last recipe?

2011-08-02T12:40:00.000-07:00

I went into work for a bit this morning and finished ordering all the books needed for this fall. Feels good to have that done and it's always more fun spending someone else's money. Then I went home and paid bills on-line. One of those chores I never like doing, but has serious consequences if I don't. Feels good to have that done too. Did laundry this morning too - I've been holding off doing that because Regina's been asking us to restrict water use because the storm last weekend damaged the transformer at the pumping station at Buffalo Pound. However, you can't wait forever and I needed to do laundry. I've now got clean sheets spread all over my family room, because why should I heat up my housing drying them? They'll be dry by nightfall, I'm sure. I've purchased a clothesline and hopefully at some time I'll get someone to put it up for me. Until then, it's very nice to have a family room to spread laundry out over.

Last night I stained the cedar wall in my living room. Looks much better now. I need to do it a second time I think, but will have to wait because it's still tacky.

OK, I haven't even tried my last recipe yet - it's a wheat berry one, but it looks like it'll be good. This is salad number 21; we have 20 in our 4 week rotation - 5 per week, plus the fake-um potato salad, which isn't in the rotation. I've tried to vary my rotation so that we've got at least two vegetable-based salads each week, and at least one of a pulse-based (beans, peas or lentils) and at least one grain-based (quinoa, millet, rice, barley, bulgar, wheat berries). In addition, I have one marinated-type salad each week, and one supremely easy salad (doesn't require a lot of chopping or prep time). Now I'm working on having the weekly grocery lists made up; then I'm done!

Wheatberry Salad
1 lb wheat
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup minced red onion
1/3 cup finely chopped fresh herbs

Vinaigrette
¼ cup raspberry vinegar
2 LTB oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Cook wheat in 3 L water with 1 TLB salt for 1 hour, or until soft but chewy. Drain well. Add remaining ingredients. Pour vinaigrette over.

Monday, August 1

2011-08-01T19:11:00.000-07:00

I just got back from collecting rent. Got something from everyone - and everyone's caught up, except for one person. Doing well.

Had a good visit with Rose this afternoon. Trying to ensure that she has a place to live when she goes to U of Ottawa this fall. This is her last week in Quebec, then she flies back to Yellowknife - then Lloyd, Rose and Bram are planning on driving to the Yukon on holidays. I hope they have a wonderful time.

This next recipe is one of my all-time favourites; I think because it has lots of parsley in it - parsley improves just about anything, as far as I'm concerned.

Tabbouleh
2 cups bulgar
2 cups fresh parsley, chopped fine
2 TLB chopped fresh mint
1 chopped yellow pepper
4 green onions, chopped
3 large tomatoes, chopped and seeded
½ cup oil
¼ cup lemon juice
2 tsp chopped garlic

Place bulgar in bowl and cover with boiling water. Let stand for 10 min. Drain. Combine remaining ingredients and stir into bulgar. Mix.

When Ruth and I first started making salads together - about 6 months ago or so, this was the first salad that we made up the recipe for ourselves on. It's really best if you have the broccoli cut quite small, so even if you buy a bag of broccoli florets, you'll likely need to cut them smaller anyway.

Broccoli Salad

1 head broccoli cut into small florets OR 1 bag broccoli florets (cut smaller)
2-3 TLB fake-um bacon bits
¼ cup sunflower seeds
2 cups small red seedless grapes
(if you can’t get small grapes, cut larger ones in half or quarters)
½ red onion, chopped

Toss together. You can either use a mayonnaise dressing or a vinaigrette for this; the salad with the mayonnaise dressing doesn’t keep as well and you’ll have to use it within 2 days; with a vinaigrette it will keep all week.

Mayonnaise Dressing
½ cup mayonnaise or salad dressing
2 TLB cider vinegar

Vinaigrette Dressing
½ cup oil
3/8 cup red wine vinegar
1 tsp chopped garlic
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper

Sunday potluck

2011-07-31T13:21:00.001-07:00

There weren't very many people at church this morning - around 45. Probably because it was a long weekend and a lot of people were at camp. However I invited the entire congregation home for lunch. We had around 30 who came. It was an easy lunch though - we barbequed, and had the salads we made yesterday as well as a green salad. It's nice to be hospitable, especially when it's simple to do.

I now have 21 different salad recipes, which means that we can do five different ones a week and have a four-week rotation. I've done up a spreadsheet with the rotation on it; trying to have a nice variety of salads that are mainly vegetables, pulse-based salads (ones with beans, peas or lentils in them), grain-based salads; ones that are super easy along with ones that take a fair bit more chopping and preparation.

The Current Quinoa is one of my particular favourites.

Currant and Quinoa Salad Yield: 12 cups
1 1/3 cups quinoa, rinsed and drained
3 cups water
¼ tsp salt
Boil water and salt. Stir in quinoa. Reduce heat & simmer, covered for about 20 minutes, without stirring, until quinoa is tender and liquid is absorbed. Transfer to large bowl. Cool. Add:
2 cups lentils, rinsed and drained
1 cup diced red pepper
1 cup currants
½ cup parmesan cheese
½ cup slivered almonds
¼ cup thinly sliced green onion
Dressing
6 Tbsp canola oil
5 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 tsp raspberry jam
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 ½ tsp sugar (or substitute)
1 ½ tsp salt
1 ½ tsp pepper
1 garlic clove, minced

Lentil and Brown Rice Salad
1 c. dry lentils
1 c. dry brown rice
2 c. peas
1 c. chopped onions
1/2 c.chopped celery
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. soya sauce
3 tbsp. vinegar
1/2 c. oil
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 tbsp sugar
1 to 2 handfuls chow mein noodles

Cook lentils, rice and peas. Let cool.
Combine lentils, rice, peas, onions and celery in a large bowl.

Combine salt, soya sauce, vinegar, oil, curry powder and sugar in a pot. Bring just to a boil then pour over lentil mixture. Let sit overnight. Just before serving, add chow mein noodles.

Saturday - new salads

2011-07-30T10:37:00.001-07:00

We experimented with two new salads today; and tried some variations on some of our tried and true ones. One of our favourites is the Sweet Potato Black Bean - however, I wanted to try it today with a change in the vinaigrette. So we tried it, and it's definitely a keeper. We changed the 1/4 cup lime juice to 1/4 cup concentrated orange juice, and omited the sugar. Mmm good!

The two new salads we tried were a parsnip salad and a buckwheat salad. Company's Coming has a parsnip salad in their salads book, and we tried it before and didn't really like it, so we made up our own. Because we had already opened a can of frozen orange juice we used it in the vinaigrette, but we wanted it to be a lighter colour to complement the parsnips, so we used rice wine vinegar.

Parsnip Salad – makes 8 cups

6 parsnips, grated

½ turnip grated

½ cup grated carrot

3-4 chopped green onions

½ cup chopped celery

¼ cup chopped parsley

½ chopped red pepper

½ cup raisins

Vinaigrette

½ cup oil

¼ cup lemon juice

½ cup concentrated orange juice

2 tsp chopped garlic

¼ cup rice wine vinegar

1 tsp salt

We also tried a buckwheat salad, that had possibilities but we decided that the buckwheat is too strong for a salad. If we make it again we're going to try it with millet instead. So here it is:

Millet Rice Salad – makes 4 cups

1 cup brown rice

¼ cup wild rice

1 cup millet

Cook grains. Cool. Add

¼ cup dried cranberries

¼ cup raw pecans

1 small bunch fresh parsley, chopped

3 radishes, thinly sliced

2 green onions, chopped

Vinaigrette

2 TLB oil

1 TLB lemon juice

1 TLB soya sauce

2 TLB concentrated orange juice

They had a lot of tomatoes half price at the store today, so we ended up making a Greek Salad with chopped tomatoes instead of cherry tomatoes. Cleaning out the fridge I discovered several cucumbers and a big bag of sugar snap peas so we also made a Marinated Asian Vegetable. We added the cucumbers to it even though the recipe didn't call for it, and used sugar snap peas instead of edamame. They look so pretty that even though I never put pictures on my blog, I have to today.

Friday

2011-07-29T11:18:00.000-07:00

I went into work for a little bit this morning. Had a mouse greet me there - twice. I don't really care for that type of greeting; however would rather meet a mouse at work than at home. Frankly, I'd much prefer anyone else greet it than me though.

This next salad is really huge - because it's a layered salad, it's best made in an attractive bowl; it's a good one for potlucks. However it also tastes really good in a pita.

Layered Moroccan Salad Yield: 16 cups

1 ½ cups prepared chicken broth

1 ½ cups couscous (roasted garlic & olive oil)

Boil broth, add couscous and stir. Remove from heat. Let stand, covered, for about 5 minutes until liquid is absorbed. Fluff with fork. Transfer to extra-large glass bowl. Chill, uncovered, for about 30 minutes until cold. Combine the next 9 ingredients in medium bowl:

1 cup mayonnaise

1 cup plain yogurt

¼ cup each chopped fresh mint & parsley

2 Tbsp liquid honey

1 Tbsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

Add ½ mayonnaise mixture plus 540 ml can of lentils (rinsed and drained) to couscous. Stir and layer the next 5 ingredients in the order given and top with the remaining mayo mixture.

2 cups thinly sliced carrots

2 cups sliced English cucumber (with peel)

2 cups cherry tomatoes

Scatter with ½ cup each of dried apricot, dried cranberries & seeds or nuts. Serve with lettuce if desired.

This next one is a variation on your basic marinated vegetable salad, because it uses Asian vegetables and an Asian-type marinade as well. The original recipe called for edamame however it's not recommended for people with thyroid problems, as Ruth has, so we've substituted chickpeas, which we get for free anyway.

Marinated Asian Vegetable Salad

Yield: 9 cups

2 - 3 cups chick peas or edamame, cooked

398 ml can cut baby corn, drained

350 g package of firm tofu, cut into ½ inch cubes

1 cup baby carrots, halved lengthwise

1 cup celery, sliced diagonally

1 cup diced red pepper

1 cup grape tomatoes

1 cup snow peas, trimmed & halved

Dressing

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

¼ cup canola oil

4 tsp fish sauce

1 Tbsp finely grated ginger root

1 Tbsp sugar (or substitute)

2 tsp chili paste

Marin

Thursday

2011-07-28T11:32:00.000-07:00

Rachel had a good day yesterday; mostly sitting around - as there's a lot of that involved in being an extra for a TV show. Emmet and I enjoyed the morning together; we went to the farmer's market and the library and then his Friesen grandparents had him for the afternoon. It feels strange to have nothing in particular on my plate for today -but I'm sure I can handle it.

Here's the next two salads:

Marinated Vegetable Salad

1 bag mixed vegetables OR

1 small cauliflower cut

3 cups chopped broccoli

2 cups cherry tomatoes

2 cups celery cut in sticks

3 carrots cut in sticks OR 2 cups mini carrots

1 can mushrooms (the canned mushrooms work better because they don't blacken over time)

1 green pepper cut in strips or rings

Vinaigrette

½ cup oil

¼ cup red wine vinegar

1 tsp chopped garlic

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

2 tbsp lime juice

The Greek salad is one of Ruth's favourites - mind you, I don't think you can ever go wrong with feta cheese and garlic. Feel free to add more feta; it kind of depends on how much cucumber you put in.

Greek Salad

1 pint grape tomatoes

1 or 2 diced English cucumbers

½ red onion cut in rings

½ cup diced feta cheese

1 can pitted black olives

1 diced red onion

Vinaigrette

½ cup oil

¼ cup red wine vinegar

1 tsp chopped garlic

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

2 tbsp lime juice

Recipes for Wednesday

2011-07-27T07:08:00.000-07:00

Bean Salad

1 can mixed beans

1 can green beans

1 can yellow beans

1 can baby corn (cut)

½ red onion chopped OR 1 jar marinated onions

1 chopped green pepper or red pepper

Drain all the cans, rinse the mixed beans.

Vinaigrette

½ cup oil

¼ cup cider vinegar

1 tsp chopped garlic

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

¼ cup sugar or sugar replacement

We used to purchase a large (commercial size) container of low cal Italian dressing and used it on all of our salads for the vinaigrette, but we've found that we prefer to make our own salad dressings; they taste better and give each salad its own distinctive taste. We do purchase the 10 lb sack of red onions though, because we go through a lot of red onion.

Lentil and Black Bean Salad

1 can black beans

1 ½ cups cooked lentils

¾ cup corn

½ cup chopped red onions

½ cup green pepper

¼ cup parsley

Vinaigrette

½ cup oil

¼ cup cider vinegar

1 ½ tsp Dijon mustard

1 ½ tsp cumin

1 garlic clove

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

Babysitting

2011-07-27T07:06:00.000-07:00

Rachel is going to be an extra in a movie today - they need pregnant women for a scene. So I'm babysitting Emmet for the day. We'll see how this goes. It may be a long day; on the other hand, it may go perfectly fine.

The next two recipes

2011-07-26T06:01:00.000-07:00

Vegetable Pecan Salad

2 cups broccoli florets

1 cup cauliflower florets

½ cup snow peas, trimmed

1 large red pepper, thinly sliced

3 green onions, sliced

Vinaigrette

½ cup canola oil

2 TLB red wine vinegar

2 TLB balsamic vinegar

1 garlic clove, minced

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp ground coriander (optional)

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

1 cup pecan halves

This next salad is one of my personal favourites; we always make really big salads because we're splitting them at least three ways, plus serving them for potluck Sunday dinner, however this one can be easily halved:

Sweet Potato Black Bean Salad

Yield 12 cups

6 – 8 cups sweet potato, cooked and cubed

2 cups red pepper, chopped

2 x 540 ml can black beans, rinsed and drained

½ cup thinly sliced red onion

¼ cup parsley, chopped

Dressing

½ cup canola oil

¼ cup lime juice

2 Tbsp red wine vinegar

2 tsp sugar (or substitute)

1 tsp salt

2 small garlic cloves, minced or ¼ tsp powder

A good memory, but short

2011-07-26T05:59:00.000-07:00

OK, we had a wind-up meeting for Mission 6:10 last night. I remembered it this morning. Oops! Oh well, I wasn't in town anyway; Bram and I had gone to Moose Jaw to visit my mother-in-law. She's doing ok; wasn't as with it as the last time we had visited. We had caught a ride with Ruth, who had to go on to Caronport to do some business with some friends there - so it was after 8:30 by the time we got back to Regina, and the meeting was at 7 pm, so I'm sorry I missed it.

Monday - already late July

2011-07-25T08:03:00.001-07:00

Where has the time gone! Bram flies up to Yellowknife tomorrow, I think. I still don't have flight particulars.

Here's another salad recipe though - an old family favourite. Unfortunately, neither of my kids like coleslaw, but I can confidently state that it's one of Walter P's favourites.

Coleslaw Forever

1 bag coleslaw mix OR

½ bag coleslaw mix and

½ bag broccoslaw mix

Dressing

¾ cup vinegar (I like to use apple cider vinegar)

½ cup canola oil

3/8 cup sugar (or Splenda)

1 TLB salt

1 TLB celery seed

Mix dressing together; heat in microwave until sugar dissolves; pour over salad.

This salad mixes up well in an empty ice cream pail; it makes 1 gallon. It will keep for several weeks.

Actually, since neither of my kids like salads very much at all - I don't have much competition for the salads in the fridge. Here's another one that Ruth and I tweaked to make it our own:

Cauliflower Salad

1 head cauliflower, cut into florets

3 apples, cored and diced

½ cup lemon juice

3 grated carrots

½ cup sunflower seeds

½ cup parsley, diced

3 green onions, chopped

Cut up cauliflower quite small; dice apples and turn in lemon juice to prevent browning. Add remaining ingredients. You can use whatever lemon juice is left over as part of the vinaigrette.

Vinaigrette

2 TLB lime juice

2 TLB red wine vinegar

½ cup canola oil

1 tsp garlic, minced

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

2 tsp Splenda

Fixed it!

2011-07-24T17:28:00.000-07:00

I've got Skype working properly now - got the microphone to work (just changed the settings). This makes Rose happy. It's also much easier to visit that way.

Recipes 2 and 3

2011-07-24T14:36:00.001-07:00

I think we had around 50 for lunch today - it's really hard to count when there's that many. However we did have the group that came up with the Steiners from Arkansas plus the Williams and the Kings, Friesens and the Pradzynskis; the Vance boys, etc. The salads went over very well. It was interesting though - different people liked different ones. I'm now up to 16 salad recipes - and Ruth and I realized that we didn't have our broccoli salad recipe typed up yet - so that will make it 17.

I'm busy IMing with Rose on Skype. Her microphone works but I can't seem to get mine to work, so she talks and I IM back. It's a good thing I type quickly.

OK, here's a salad we tried for the first time yesterday - and were very impressed. You can't tell it's not potato salad (and as I'm allergic to potato salad, I think it's a great recipe because I can eat it).

Fake-um Potato Salad (Cauliflower)

1 large head cauliflower or 2 small heads chopped small and steamed

4 hard boiled eggs, sliced

½ cup parsley chopped

3 green onions chopped

2 large dill pickles or 4 small dill pickles, chopped

2 stalks celery, sliced

4 radishes, chopped

Dressing

½ cup mayonnaise or salad dressing

¼ cup dill pickle juice

Because potato salad is obviously a summer salad, I'll do another salad as well:

Nutty Wild Rice Salad

3 cups cooked wild rice (I use a mixture of wild and brown rice – about 1:4)

1 cup cherry tomatoes

½ cup chopped fresh parsley

½ cup diced yellow pepper

1/3 cup chopped green onion

1/3 cup craisins

¼ cup coarsely chopped pecans

Raspberry Dressing

1/3 cup canola oil

3 TLB vinegar (I use rice vinegar)

2 TLB raspberry jam

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 minced garlic clove

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

Saturday Salad Making

2011-07-23T13:27:00.000-07:00

We made five salads again this morning - actually six, if you count the jello salad. However, in our effort to make all salads that we hadn't done in the last two weeks, we ended up making all marinated-type salads. In any case, we now have in individual cookbooks (little photo albums), fifteen different salad recipes. Today we made: Marinated Vegetable salad, Lentil Black Bean Salad, Fake-um Potato Salad made with Cauliflower, Bean Salad, and Greek Salad. We also made up a huge batch of Swedish Meatballs for potluck tomorrow, and Ruth made up some low carb chocolate banana cakes (also for potluck) and some lentil casserole. I will still make some lazy man's cabbage rolls (meatless ones because I'm not going out to purchase more meat when I still have lots of lentils on hand, and they're free!).

So, I figure I need to post at least one recipe at day for the next few weeks. For today:

Moroccan Chickpea Barley Salad

Cook Barley:

1.5 cups barley

1.5 cups chicken or veggie broth or water

1.5 cups water

1 tsp salt and canola oil

Combine cooked barley with:

1 - 15 oz can of chickpeas, rinsed and strained

1 cup nuts or seeds (we usually use either slivered almonds or sunflower seeds)

1 cup diced dried apricots

2-3 chopped green onions

1 cup chopped parsley

zest and juice of one lemon

1 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp cardamom

1/4 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 to 1.5 tsp curry powder

salt to taste

You'll notice this salad doesn't actually have a dressing or vinaigrette. It doesn't need one - keeps fine without it, and is very nice.

Combine

Mission 6:10 windup

2011-07-22T09:32:00.001-07:00

OK, to start with, here are some links about what's been happening:
From CTV: a news clip

From CBC: a news clip

From CJME: a news clip

We finished up last night. We had the last night of VBS, wound up the various construction projects that had been going on and everyone ended up at the mural for a time of prayer and dedication. The group from Greenville Oaks flew back to Texas leaving at 6:20 this morning.

It has been a very busy and intense week. A lot of good has been accomplished. There are some really great photos out there of the various projects, but I'm not great at taking pictures so you'll have to look elsewhere for them. If you're friends with Carla C on Facebook, she has a lot of pictures. I'll try to get some links from the group at Greenville Oaks as well and post that when I get them.

Some of the highlights for me:

Spending the afternoon with my sister, Glenda and visiting with her.
Being on a mission trip with my sister and her family; listening to Glenda's testimony.
Getting to meet the East Indian family in the park and making a new connection there.
Visiting with many of the group from Greenville Oaks and sharing stories.
Not having to plan meals for nearly a full week!
Listening to Oscar's testimony.
Being able to do many small things, like picking up snack for VBS each day- that made the week run more smoothly.

Yesterday

2011-07-21T07:00:00.001-07:00

It was threatening rain and the wind was blowing really strongly all day yesterday. The forecast was 70% probability of rain and it looked really threatening. I was praying to the God who controls the wind and the rain because if it rained it would affect the mural as well as most of the construction sites and the VBS in the park. The strong wind would also affect the VBS in the park as it would be very difficult to hold the VBS and the kids wouldn't come out for it.

So it didn't rain all day, aside from a few windblown sprinkles.

When I drove over to Glen Elm to pick up things to bring to the park, the wind was still blowing very strongly - in fact I could feel it buffet my van on my way back to the park. However at the park the wind was calm, even though we could see the tops of the trees bending over in the wind. We had a good session - about 45 kids, and we weren't disrupted by the wind at all. Now there was a bit of disruption by the film crew. Apparently they were filming a horror movie just down the street 1/2 a block from the park and they had the big trailers and the film crew out - so there was a big distraction; and the kids were really hyper last night, but things went well regardless. The Lord continues to answer prayer.

Mission 6:10

2011-07-20T12:18:00.000-07:00

It is the week for Mission 6:10. It has been extremely hot - 33 yesterday and Monday, and although it's cooled down to 21 today, it's still extremely humid. This has hampered things a little, but things have been going well.

There is a group up from Greenville Oaks church from Allen, TX up for it; joined by a smaller group from Canada, and a few from Arlington, TX. This year we are running three VBS's - one at Glen Elm, one in North Central in the park at 7th and Pasqua, and a middle school group running in the city core. I'm the coordinator for the VBS in the park - but all the planning, etc. was done by the group from Greenville Oaks. Monday night was our first night, and we had 65 kids! Last night the number was down to 42 - however with the extreme heat, we're still thankful for all the kids who attended.

In addition to the VBS, there are several other projects on the go. There's a group painting a mural on the side of the Jolly Roger (the notorious bar in North Central) - this is preventing it from being a site for graffiti - and creating a positive presence in the community. In addition, there's another group doing construction and fixing up of several homes in the community for residents who needed some assistance. The teens are painting dumpsters, going on a prayer walk, meeting kids in the community and helping in a community garden for their service projects. It's all been very hectic, quite inspiring, and way too hot out.

Tomorrow is the last day. It's hard to think that it will end so soon, but it has been and continues to be a great time for all of us.

Monday, again

2011-07-18T06:26:00.000-07:00

OK, Mission 6:10 started Friday night and I immediately got very busy. Last year it was hosted at Western; everyone slept in the dorms, and it was very close to where I live. This year it's hosted by Glen Elm, the teens are sleeping there and the adults are sleeping in a hotel right by there, and I get to drive across town 2-3 times a day. I find it makes a big difference. However, things are going well.

We had the carnival last night, which was our way of advertising the VBS for this week. It was very hot, but things went very well. Ashley R (Tate's girlfriend) organized the carnival, and she borrowed a farm truck with a water tank on the back from her sister, and so we were able to have a massive water fight (with sponges and pails) as part of the fun at the carnival (after the face painting, the clowns, and the other games had grown a little stale) and everyone had fun. We had one teen who I think likely had a little heat stroke by the end of things, but everyone seemed to do very well. The VBS starts this evening.

Both NW and Glen Elm congregations had potlucks yesterday to welcome the crew from Texas that were up for Mission 6:10. NW had theirs as a bbq, with members bringing salads and desserts. I brought salads (of course) - the ones we had made the day before. We had made: coleslaw forever, vegetable pecan salad (had both broccoli and cauliflower in it), cauliflower salad, nutty wild rice salad, and potato salad. We had also made a diabetic jello salad with strawberries in it. Then I ran errands the rest of the day, up until time for the carnival. I'll do the same thing this morning - try to be over a Glen Elm for the leader's meeting at 8:30 - then hopefully I'll have a little down time for a bit.

Last night after I got home (around 9 pm) I phoned Rose and had a bit of a visit with her but collapsed into bed by 9:30. Rose likes phone calls and e-mails; if you email me, I'll give you her phone number or if you know my cell number, her's is the same only the last digit is 3 instead of 2.

I open my windows at night to allow things to cool off a bit - it didn't do much cooling off last night; it was still 76 in the house when I got up this morning. However I've closed the windows again because it can only get hotter outside.

Time to go pick up things before I head over to Glen Elm.

Wednesday

2011-07-13T16:02:00.000-07:00

It's been a quiet, lazy day. I'm enjoying it. I went downtown to pay some bills that I needed to do in person; checked out the farmer's market and the library while I was there came home and haven't done much else. It's kind of nice to do that sometimes. I have the Pradzynski's over for supper as usual for Wednesday, but I checked through my freezer and found a premade meal to toss into the oven for that. Oh yeah, I reread a book that I've read before and enjoyed, and bagged up some clothing to take to Value Village. This evening there's a Prayer Walk for North Central. I'll enjoy that.

Tuesday

2011-07-12T16:08:00.000-07:00

I woke up at 3 am this morning and wasn't able to go back to sleep, so got up and worked on some of the stuff I promised I'd get ready for Mission 6:10 - the summer youth mission camp that will start this weekend. Got three prayer walks done (two totally done; one well started) - was only asked for one, but that's the way it goes. I'm feeling a little wonky - could be from turning my night and day around. I've tried an afternoon nap, but it's not the same.

I hear Daryl and Kristen have a new baby girl born last night, but that's all I've heard. When I have more info, I'll share it.

Rose and Bram received their report cards yesterday. They did extremely well! Bram has a 90% average and Rose's is in the high 80's. Bram received credit for 12 classes over two semesters! That's pretty impressive in and of itself, not to mention that his lowest mark was an 84. Rose took five classes second semester, three of them 30 level courses, on top of working just about full time at Safeway.

Monday

2011-07-11T08:49:00.001-07:00

It feels like the first day of my holidays today. Actually last week was - but I was at camp, cooking; which was fun, but I had my time scheduled for me, so to speak. Today I'm (sort of) free. This doesn't, of course, mean that I'm actually free - I have things I need to do, but I can choose when and how to do them. I slept in this morning until 6 and didn't actually get up until after 8 (I love to luxuriate in bed in the mornings).

Bram has the week off before Mission 6:10 next week. I'm sending him off to see if he can find work for this week. (Probably not, but there's no point in not asking).

Sunday evening

2011-07-10T20:55:00.000-07:00

I've just written a letter to my daughter, I need to write one to my mother-in-law, and I'm feeling the urge to go to bed. Before any of those, however, I think I'll do a quick post.

It's been a good day and a very good weekend. I had many of the usual crowd over for Sunday dinner. I counted 34 afterwards; there could have been others that I missed, but that was a good-sized group anyway. It was easy - just barbecue and the salads we made yesterday, plus various desserts brought by various people. I'm so thankful for a house I can easily be hospitable in, and the courage to invite people over (it's really hard for me to invite people, so I'm also glad people just come over), and friends, family and fellowship.

Bram has been practicing juggling in the living room. When the balls hit, thump! it's a really strange sound without a rhythm and I finally had to go see what was making that sound. He came back from camp last night; I picked him up at the airport. It's good to have him home again. This was his last year to go to burn camp - he's been going since he was six years old but next year he'll be 18 and too old. It has created lots of good memories for him, though. They had a circus theme this year, hence the juggling balls. He made his own, and then made another set today to give away.

Last night, after picking up Bram from the airport, we met the Williams family and friends for pizza and to celebrate Tate's birthday. It was really good to see them again. They left this morning at 5 am to drive to Minnesota for camp, so I'm glad I was able to see them before they left. They'll be back in a week, Lord willing.

I've visited with Rose on the phone a couple of times since I've been back. She's not having a lot of fun at her course, but I hope she'll enjoy it more as time progresses. She phoned this afternoon to find out how to use a toaster over (we've never had one, so she's never used one before). It's good to talk with her a little bit. I wrote her a Sunday letter too. I've been writing Sunday letters since I was 15 and away at Western for school. They've mostly turned into blog postings lately, but I'm thankful for the years of practice. I do enjoy writing them, and long ago I discovered it's really easy to write if I do it regularly, but it's really hard to start if I quit for awhile.

Back from camp

2011-07-09T16:15:00.000-07:00

I spent the past week at family camp at Kenosee. It was good. I don't have much of a history at Clearview - we always went to Heritage camp, I think I only went to Clearview once as a child; but now I'm living in Regina, it's the closest camp. I helped cook. It was a lot of fun, and not onerous at all. I enjoyed the relaxation and was very happy to be back in my own bed last night.

I'm currently washing up my bedding and clothing worn at camp. When I arrived at camp and opened my sleeping bag, I discovered a bag of Bram's dirty clothing inside the stuff sack with my sleeping bag. Since he borrowed my sleeping bag back when we went to Gravelbourg (one month ago!) I figure they've been there since then. It wasn't a really welcome discovery, but I washed them once I got home. Bram should be back tonight from burn camp.

Last night was the only night I've been the only one at home in my house. I didn't move in until the end of August, and Rose was with me then. In addition, Betty moved in the middle of September, and has been with me every night from then on. To add to that, Bram moved in in January. So last night was a first. It was kind of creepy. I was having trouble sleeping. To add to that, I got up about 1 am to get a drink of water, and saw a small rodent run across my counter top. I haven't had any sign of mice since about November, and let me let you, it wasn't a comforting sign to see one now. I'm disappointed to think that I'll have to go back to traps and poison.

This morning Ruth and I made salads as usual. Lisa Vance came over and cooked with us. We all had fun. We msde five salads, as usual: Moroccan chickpea barley, a layered salad with couscous (also from Morocco), quinoa currant, sweet potato black bean and a marinated Asian salad. I also have coleslaw forever left over from last week, so we'll have lots of variety for tomorrow lunch.

I talked to Rose on the phone last night. She's settled in Quebec City; not finding her course particularly exciting, but hopeful that it will improve over time. She's not finding it particularly difficult.

Summer time

2011-07-02T12:10:00.001-07:00

I'm now off work. Rose is in Ottawa, on her way to Quebec for the summer. She has a day in Ottawa so she can scout out where everything is before she moves there for university in the fall. She just phoned me to say, "I'm on such and such a corner, can you give me directions to get to....?" Isn't the internet wonderful? She says her laptop weighs a ton and it's really hot and sticky out; but I'm glad to hear from her. She's phoned me several times - once from Toronto, once at 5:30 this morning (I know you always wake up early anyway), once at 10:30 and now this time. I'm glad we changed the cellphone package so that I'm not paying for the long distance on this.

I was thinking, how is it that I can let my daughter take off by herself and go somewhere else for university, etc. Then I thought, hey I was only 19 when I went to New Guinea for two years. Rose is 20. It is hard to loosen those apron strings though.

It feels really good to be finished work. (Sort of, I need to go back in over the summer and get a few small things done, but I'm essentially done.) I went by the library yesterday and borrowed a bunch of books, which should last me awhile, I hope.

Sunday evening

2011-06-26T18:32:00.000-07:00

Rose is at work - only one more work day for her left. Bram's supposedly finishing up the last of his calculus assignment (far more likely to be playing games on the computer).

We had a lovely Sunday afternoon church picnic. It was supposed to be up at the Evratz park - but they had it closed to the public for a staff picnic, so it took awhile for everyone to get the phone call about where we were meeting; but it did happen. We've had three days without rain now. They've been very nice.

Value Village has a half-price sale on tomorrow. Ruth, Rose and I have a date to be there at 7 when they open and pick up the clothes we picked out this afternoon. Seeing as Ruth is doing the incredible shrinking woman, she's needing new clothing all the time. I'm also shrinking out of my stuff and could use some more. Rose needs hot weather stuff for Quebec and Ottawa. We've also picked out some clothes for Rachel and Kristin - who are doing the opposite of shrinking.

I got all of my report card marks in Friday. Only three more days of work left! Feels good.

Gravelbourg

2011-06-19T07:56:00.001-07:00

Bram and I got home from a short visit to Gravelbourg last night. We had gone for the Festival du Soleil as part of a field trip for the French students from Western. We had met up with the Gravelbourg youth group while we were there. Although the sun wasn't much in evidence - it poured rain much of the time, and was overcast the rest of the time; everyone enjoyed themselves.

We spent the night at the church building, as did the youth group. This allowed everyone to get to know each other a little better. They played an ice breaker game, then had a crokinole tournament, and followed up with watching movies and playing spoons. I crashed around midnight in the cry room, as I had been awake since 5 am, but there were other adults supervising as well, and I wasn't essential.

It was also really good to see and visit with my cousin, Janelle a bit, and to see her kids. Bram was paired up with Tyson for some of the activities and they seemed to enjoy each other.

Friday night there was an international food festival in the arena. All of Saturday's events were moved to the arena as well, because of the rain. We did a tour of the museum and the cathedral Saturday. (We had a choice of taking the tour in French or in English.) I did the tour in French (as did most of the students), and while I may not have caught everything; I got the gist of pretty much everything, I think. It was fascinating! We ate lunch at the Cafe Paris - good food; not too pricey; definitely worth the visit. The kids helped volunteer at different things during the festival. It was easy to do, as everything was at the same venue.

One of the students was telling Monica that the trip exceeded their expectations. I know that all the ones I had in my van really appreciated it. However, it was also really good to be back home in my own bed last night.

Early Friday

2011-06-17T05:43:00.000-07:00

It's before 7 am, Friday. My parents have just left to go back to Saskatoon. It's been so nice having them here with me this past week, but they were anxious to go home. No one else is awake or up yet.

The big news this week is that Rose has been accepted into the program of her choice, International Studies and Modern Languages at the University of Ottawa. We have confirmed her acceptance and have put in her request to live in residence so far. She still needs to register for her classes and take a French test. However, she'll be taking French Immersion in Quebec all summer, and she doesn't have to take the French test before August 31, so I've recommended that she put off taking the French test until she's finished her summer program.

Rose has requested for her birthday (end of May) that I make her up a cookbook with easy to make recipes for her to use while she's in Quebec, as she's staying with a host family, but has requested kitchen privileges instead of the meal option because of her allergies. Any suggestions? Please send them to me on Facebook.

It was awards day yesterday at Western. I MC'd it, which was really easy. I just introduced the next presenter each time. Bram won awards for honour roll and spirit of cooperation. He figures he must have sat third place in the class standings or he would have gotten the bronze medal if he was second place. His goal is to be second place for grade 12. (To supplant the girl in first place would require way too much effort.)

Bram and I take off this afternoon for Gravelbourg for the Summer Solstice festival. Unfortunately, it's raining really hard and the forecast is for rain the entire weekend. So I washed the mud off my rubber boots and will bring them along; I also bring shoes instead of sandals - what more can I do?

My computer is still giving me grief, but I have everything backed up. I turn it off carefully when I'm done working on it, instead of leaving it on. Then it doesn't freeze up, forcing me to do a hard reboot. That's the best I can do.

Sunday afternoon

2011-06-12T16:26:00.000-07:00

It's that quiet time after everyone has gone home. Bram went to have his hair cut (thank you, Amelia)and then to small groups. Rose is working, and Betty is, as usual, in her room. I have chicken soup on the stove for supper. I think I'll make dumplings to go with it.

We had over 30 for Sunday dinner today. I think I counted 32 - but there could have been more. It was a nice crowd, we all were able to visit - the kids enjoyed the WII and played Sorry. One of the girls who comes to The Party regularly was at my house for the first time. She came to the living room once, looked confused and said, "OK, I'm lost. Where's the room with the WII?"

Monday I'm hosting the Grade 9 class party at my house - at noon. That is, assuming they all get their permission forms back. Tuesday is the final day for The Party - a wind-up barbecue. I need to get some supplies for that. Friday night and Saturday there's a field trip to Gravelbourg for the French students. We're definitely in the wind-up mode right now. I'm fine with that.

Farewell

2011-06-11T18:31:00.001-07:00

OK, I want you to know that I NEVER post pictures on my blog - but I actually had photos to post - so I attempted, but the computer was having none of it. It took me two tries and about half an hour - but I managed it!

We had Farewell on Thursday. Farewell is an afternoon and evening planned by the staff as a present for the students. It's always fun - and it's always a surprise. This year Farewell was a bananarama. It was like a car rally; we were all divided up into groups with a list of things to find the measurement of (like the length of the bottom step at the Legislative Assembly, or the length of a stranger's arm, or the circumference of the pig in front of the Connaught Library) - however, you were to measure them all with a banana. We were also to take a picture at each stop. The first thing to do was to take the supplied toonie and purchase a banana. By the end of the quest, the bananas were black! We all met at Willow Island at 4 pm; the ferry took us across and we had a barbeque (hotdogs) and banana splits (of course!). I think we all had fun.

My computer gave me the blue screen of death today. We turned it off and rebooted it and it seems to be ok now, but I'm nervous about it. I think I'll buy a hard drive and back everything up.

Ruth and I made salads as usual this morning. We made a couple of new ones that are really good. One of them was supposed to be a layered salad, but we weren't paying attention and started tossing it, so then we had to finish tossing it. It's really good, but I expect it would have looked spectacular if we had layered it. It tastes really good in a pita.

Rose put in her two-week notice this morning at work because she'll be going to Quebec at the end of the month for the 5-week French Immersion thing. I hope she has a wonderful time there. She's busy trying to pack everything right now - on top of working and school and everything else.

Countdown

2011-06-03T06:45:00.001-07:00

It is the countdown to the end of the school year. We're into June and there is a finite number of days left. Farewell and Awards Day are coming up, as are final exams. Rose is going to Quebec for the five week French Immersion experience, and Bram was charting out his summer holidays last night as well. (Burn camp here, Mission 6:10 here, what dates are Heritage Camp?) He's planning on driving to the Yukon with his dad for two weeks as well. I don't have such extensive plans for the summer. I think my plans involve a whole lot of deep breathing. I'm not taking a summer session, and I'm really not planning on going anywhere exciting. I'll be helping with Clearview Camp for a week, and with Mission 6:10. Aside from that, who knows?

I've been waking up hoarse every morning and I think I need to break down and go back to the doctor and get a prescription for Nexium again. I haven't needed it for a couple years, but I seem to be back needing it again. It's for GERD.

I switched from my winter breakfast (Red River Cereal with raisins) to my summer breakfast (spoon-sized shredded wheat and bran with bran buds and frozen blueberries) yesterday. I also discovered that I can eat porridge in the morning and last until noon, but when I have cold cereal for breakfast, I only last to about 10:30. So I guess I need to bring a snack with me too. One thing I'm really looking forward to is only having to make my own lunch and supper over the summer.

Time to rush off to school.

Week's End

2011-05-27T06:47:00.001-07:00

It's been a good week. I had my birthday on Wednesday - I'm now starting a new decade. We had a potluck and gathering (at my house because I have the most room). We counted up who had been there afterwards, and there had been at least 33 people. I am again so thankful that it's so easy to host that many people, when you've got the space for it. My parents showed up, which was a very nice surprise.

The rest of the teachers were on strike Wednesday and Thursday, but because I work at an independent school - we weren't. Which is good. However over half of the Grade 12 class decided to skip Wesdnesday, which wasn't so good. They'll have to deal with the consequences, once we figure out what they are. The main frustration Wednesday was that some bright lights decided to break into the library and remove all the balls from every mouse in the computer lab. This meant that I was forced to cancel my first period class (computers) and we closed the library for the day. Yesterday, the balls had all been mysteriously replaced.

I purchased a dining room set last night. I'm quite excited about it. It's a table with two leaves, six upholstered chairs, and a china cabinet - for $400. I'm thankful for Regina Kijiji. It's in excellent shape. We picked up the chairs last night when we went to look at it, and will pick up the table and china cabinet either tonight or tomorrow. The table is much larger than the one I currently have - it's the same size as my current table, when my current table has a leaf in it, and my new one is at its smallest. Then you can add two sixteen in leaves. It's a double pedestal table and has rounded corners, so you can easily fit 12 and could squeeze 14 in.

I have replaced my bedding plants (thank's for the birthday present, Dad and Mom) seeing as I was too eager earlier in the year and they died in the frost. I carried them in last night, and put them out again this morning. Now I need to get the rest of my seeds planted, and I'll have a garden!

We had 45 at The Party on Tuesday. They've started taking the older kids (grade 6-8) to join up with another group that has a youth group on Tuesday nights. This gives us more room, and allows both of our groups to work more productively. However, we lose a couple of helpers taking the teens to the other group and staying with them there. However, it's a great trade off, I think. There were only five of the older group, so that meant we had 40 kids, which we split into four groups. Before this, we'd only been able to split them into three groups. It makes a big difference, being able to run another group.

A Productive Monday

2011-05-24T06:32:00.000-07:00

It's great having a long weekend. Bram and I caught a ride to Moose Jaw with Walt and Ruth (Walt was looking at a used car), and had a very nice visit with Mom Thiessen. She's in a new nursing home there - and the new home is so much nicer than the old one! She has a really large private room - with her own washroom and a large window looking out over a good view. If you count the washroom area, she has about double the space of her old room in the other home, and this one is a private - not a shared room! We had one of the best visits we have ever had I think.

Then before we left to drive back to Regina, Walter wanted to go back one more time to see that car, so he dropped Bram and I off at Zellers, as Bram needed some more pants. They had what he liked, on 25% off! That makes me happy. That also saved me quite a bit of time, as we didn't have to go shopping when we got back home.

We went to the airport last night to pick up Rose, but she wasn't on the plane. Apparently she's taking this week off and will fly in NEXT Monday night. I hadn't realized that. I hope she stays on top of her homework!

We're back to work this morning. The rest of the province has no school Wednesday and Thursday, but we do at Western! I'm actually fairly happy about that. I would feel very uncomfortable going on strike, although I do empathize with the teachers (and if they get a raise, so do I!)

Sunday Evening

2011-05-22T21:45:00.000-07:00

It`s Sunday evening. I`ve been sitting at the computer playing mindless games but it`s really time to go to bed. Rose has finally sent me her itinerary, so there`s not excuse for being late to pick her up tomorrow night. I`ll be glad to have her back. Bram`s in the living room (also known as the up room - the family room is the down room) - in theory working on one of his essays, but probably playing mindless computer games on his laptop. I can hear him whistling (Blessed Assurance). I`m a little jealous because I`ve never been able to whistle - and definitely not whistle a tune - however I guess everyone has their own talents.

Bram has two papers due in the near future. One for Christian Ethics (he`s writing about Menno Simmons) and one for Chemistry 30 (he`s writing about organic acids). He was explaining about organic acids to me - and I finally told him I was nodding to show that I was listening, not because I had any inkling about what he was talking about.

We had a smaller group over for Sunday dinner today - probably about 20 or so. A group of them stayed and visited in the living room until it was time to go to small groups. I visited for awhile then went and had an afternoon nap. It`s nice it`s my house, because I can do that. I felt a little bit guilty about it, because I had visitors over, but not guilty enough to not do it. (I needed a Sunday afternoon nap - it`s Biblical! Just ask Eutichus) We had Swedish meatballs, homemade buns and three kinds of salads, plus veggies and dip for lunch. Homemade cinnamon buns for dessert. Bram helped make the buns. We made them last night - the cinnamon buns and the dough; then made up one tray of buns and put them in the fridge before service, and baked them right after service - however they disappeared quickly enough that I had to make up another tray to bake them for lunch - then I made up a tray for Bram`s small group. I still have a bowl of dough in the fridge (need to punch it down before I go to bed). It was a big batch of dough.

Somehow we`ve been getting bumble bees inside the house. We try to catch them in a plastic cup and send them outside. I`ve caught one, Bram`s caught two and David`s caught three - and there was one more in the up room this evening. I have no idea how they`re getting in. All of my windows are screwed shut and cannot be opened!

Cooking for the next generation

2011-05-21T16:08:00.000-07:00

Several times lately I've been thinking about how I cook so differently than my mother did - and yet she cooked quite differently than her mother. For example, my grandmother frequently made pies - she liked to make pies and she was good at it. My mother also makes pies, when she needs to. However, when we were growing up, she always used canned fillings for her pies. (When you're mom to 8+ kids, some things have to go - and it was the extra steps of peeling, coring and slicing the apples.) I remember the "spitting cherry" pies she made from nanking cherries - which are so tiny that they are the size of blueberries. You didn't serve it to company - but they were good pies. My sisters and I make pies on occasion as well - but we're far more likely to pick up a pie on sale at the grocery store. (When you work full-time something has to go - and it's making everything from scratch).

I made grilled cheese sandwiches the other day; layered the bread with the cheese inside, buttered the outside of the slices, and then fried them. I have to admit though, that when we were growing up - that's not how we made grilled cheese sandwiches. In fact, I don't think I had eaten grilled cheese sandwiches like that until I saw them at a restaurant once. We made open-faced grilled cheese sandwiches, in the oven under the grill. (Again, can you imagine how long it would take to make them in the frying pan, for up to 12 people!)

However, many of the things I do the same way my mother does. We don't eat out much - maybe once every couple of months. I know that is very different from the Canadian norm, but that is the way I grew up. I make homemade soup very frequently; and think canned soup is really to put into casseroles, not for eating. If I want really good bread or buns, I make it myself. All of that I learned from my mother.

Even though I don't do it all the time, I still don't feel like the table is set properly without a tablecloth or placemats, all the cutlery, glasses, and the main course in a serving dish (not the pot it was made in). I learned that from my mother.

Ruth and I were making salads this morning. We had missed doing it the past two weeks, and it was good to get back into the routine. That's another thing I learned from growing up in a large family. Things are much more fun, when done with someone else.

Thank you, mom, for the many things I have learned from you.

We still read aloud

2011-05-20T07:13:00.001-07:00

One of the things I've really appreciated this past year is that both of my kids have been living with me. It's been really good to get to know them as young adults, and I've appreciated the opportunity.

Last night Bram drove me over to the Vance's where there was a get together and farewell for Lloyd and Elaine Jacobs, as they move to Weyburn. When we got home, Bram and I discussed what homework he wants to get done over the long weekend (he has two essays to write; one for Christian Ethics and one for Chemistry). He's writing his CE essay on Menno Simmons, and his Chemistry one on organic acids, and he's got some books out from the library to help him with both.

Then we read to each other. We've been reading aloud since they were preschoolers, but hadn't done it nearly so much since they've gotten old enough to read for themselves. However, I wanted to introduce Bram to a book I was sure he'd enjoy - and the best way to do that is to read it aloud. Now we take turns reading aloud, stopping to comment on the book, the author's writing style, etc. I am thankful that we're never too old to enjoy being read to.

Spring Cold

2011-05-15T07:50:00.000-07:00

I've had a bad cold the past couple of days, as well as what I thought was a really bad sore throat. Figured out that the sore throat was actually a canker sore on the underside of my tongue really far back. Doesn't make it any less sore. Anyway, woke up this morning and have absolutely no voice - not even a whisper. Not feeling very well either; I think I'll stay home from church, and not invite everyone home afterwards the way I normally do. I need to be feeling better for school tomorrow.

I've gotten into the habit of carrying my bedding plants inside every evening and back out every morning. None of my tomato plants survived though - I'll have to buy new ones. I'm waiting to purchase new plants until I don't have to cart them outside and back in twice a day though. When it's warm enough that I can just worry about watering them - then I'll purchase them. It was a shame though - I had so many beautiful tomato plants, and none of them survived. (To be honest, Bram does most of the carrying out and back in for me.)

I purchased a new bbq from The Brick - it was a display model and I got it with a good discount, brought it home and tried it out for the first time for Ruth's birthday. It didn't work! However after talking to The Brick and then to 1-800 number that they gave me, we've got it working now, I think. Walter did most of the phoning and checking out for me, and I'm grateful.

The flooding around Wascana Creek has gone down a lot. Bram and I went out for a walk the other evening to see for ourselves. The path has reappeared in most locations, and although the water is still high, it's nothing like it once was.

Bram found his learner's permit - he thought it had been in the jacket he had lost, but it turned up (even though the jacket didn't). So he drove me to pick up Rose from work the other night. He needs lots more practice, and I'd love to not be the one to give it to him, but I guess that's part of parenting too. Oh well, I guess it's good for my prayer life.

Update

2011-05-11T21:07:00.000-07:00

Last night at The Party we had about 65 kids; that counts three boys that we had to ask to leave. I think that's a new record - we may have had more kids on a feast night, but for an ordinary night, that's definitely a record. We only had about 15 helpers, so it was a fairly wild and crazy time, but nothing out of the ordinary. We had more of the older kids (Grades 6-8) than we normally have, which is really good. We're really trying to reach out to that age group, and it looks like it's working.

I finally found my census form and started filling it out. I didn't manage to get just the short form, and I always get to those questions about how much did I spend last year on heating, and electricity, etc. - and I have no idea. I don't track that. So I decided it was time to quit and go to bed and think about it another day.

I hear my mother-in-law has been transferred to an different nursing home in Moose Jaw (the better one), but is finding the change a little difficult. Hopefully it will be a good move for her. I need to get over there to visit her again. I haven't been able to write her for the past couple of weeks because my printer hasn't been working properly.

I had a tenant wake me up at 2:30 am last night so am feeling a little tired - I think it's time to quit and go to bed.

More Procrastination

2011-04-27T08:13:00.000-07:00

I did put my bedding plants out on Monday as it was a beautiful day. According to the weather office, the coldest it got Monday night and last night was +7. Apparently that's still too cold for my tomato plants - the peppers and everything else seem just fine, but I don't know if any of my tomatoes survived at all. Sigh.

We went to the spa yesterday. Ruth had never been before. Had fun. Came home. Went to bed.

I still don't have my taxes done - but am working on them. Got my bills out and sorted, so that I can catch up on my bookkeeping for the rental property. That's step one.

Had a guy come over and do my yard work both front and back. Cut down all the unnecessary trees in my back yard - I now only have 19 trees in the back yard! That's a great improvement as there were many more than that. He also dragged away all of the brush he cut down! I'm happy.

The woman who was having surgery had it yesterday. Double mastectomy. Is due to be transferred to Moosomin today, so the son left this morning. Done up the laundry already. That was easy.

Pay Day and a Holiday!

2011-04-25T07:50:00.000-07:00

I realized this morning that today is both payday (I get paid once a month on the 25th) and it's a holiday! What a great way to start my day. They were also reporting on the radio that it should warm up to 19 this morning! That's another real plus. It goes downhill from there - I have to do my taxes today and finish working on report cards - but it's definitely a positive first thought.

It is Easter break from school. Unlike the NWT, where the break is always two weeks long - and the last two week of March - break here follows Easter and is one week - and is whenever Easter is. Bram is back in Yellowknife for the break, where it's a balmy -16 (oh I really miss that), while I'm thinking that here in Regina I may be able to bring my bedding plants outside for the day. Rose and Betty are still in bed - I likely won't see them before noon. (In fact, I may not see Betty all day.) I know I'll see Rose because she has to work this afternoon.

The snow is gone from the back yard - and very nearly gone from the front. The front yard has been raked, and looks really good. Not so much with the back yard (I can't compete with the 18 trees there!) I may get ambitious and rake it again, or then again, I may not. We'll see.

I had a much smaller crowd over for sunday dinner yesterday - just around 20 people. It meant that we were able to visit with everyone. That was nice. I was also able to practice piano for the first time in months yesterday. I think I'll have to give up on my dream of getting my next few grades in piano, but at least I can play for personal enjoyment. I was sightreading several pieces and could even tell what I was playing, which is a real plus!

Seeing as I have the week off school, Rose and I are planning to make a trip to Moose Jaw and hit the spa - probably tomorrow. Ruth is wanting to come with us as well. We've invited Betty but she's declined. That's the extent of my plans for this exciting week off work (do taxes, hit the spa, do yard work). Oh yeah - go to Saskatoon for my Dad's 80th birthday on Saturday. You're all invited (it's a potluck).

I'm also hosting someone this week from the Wawota area; in town because his mother is having major surgery. He's supposed to arrive this evening - and it's only supposed to be for a few days. He'll have Bram's room as Bram's out of town. I daily thank God that he's blessed me with a home large enough to be hospitable without a lot of extra effort on my part. I'm taking on a role I've never done before, and I love it.

Homecoming

2011-04-11T21:28:00.001-07:00

This past weekend was Homecoming at Western. The honoured classes were any year ending in 11 - 51, 61, 71, 81, 91, 01 and 06. My cousin Leslie graduated in 81, my sister Ruth in 71, my Aunt Verna in 61, my Aunt Alice in 51. I probably had relatives in 91, 01 and 06 - but I can't think of who they were off hand.

My cousin Janice (Boatwright) Pringle also graduated in 71 and came up for Homecoming and stayed with me for the weekend. She left this morning to head back to Ft. Worth. I'm sure I haven't seen her in at least 15 years or so - and it was really nice to get a visit in. I hosted the class party for 71 on Saturday night. There was a really big turn-out - maybe 35-45 people. The house was full; but I'm so happy that I have a big house and can host that many people without difficulty.

Saturday Rose, Bram and I also headed over to Moose Jaw and visited Mom Thiessen in the nursing home there. It's not a good nursing home and we're really hoping that she'll make it closer to the top of the list to be transferred to another one soon. That being said, she's doing her best to make the best of a poor situation, and I'm happy we were finally able to visit her again. We also had a quick visit with Doug and Darlene. We met at Bonanza and ate together before we had to dash back to Regina for the Homecoming program Saturday night. We arrived back in Regina at 6:50 - the program started at 7 pm and the first item on the program was the chorus singing (and Bram's in the chorus). We were a little rushed.

Some of the highlights of Homecoming was the tribute given to Uncle Roland and Aunt Lois for their years of service - and that Aunt Alice was honoured as Alumna of the Year! All in all it was a very special time.

Sunday morning was the monthly cleaning at Old Navy, so Bram and I got up shortly after 5 - were there by 6 to help Al and Nancy do the cleaning. We finished before church, then went to church. We ate at Jamdon's after service; the first time I've had their Sunday brunch, and it was amazing! Very good. Then it was time for an afternoon nap.

Rose's arm and hand is doing much better - I can't say enough good things about physio. She now has a full range of motion in her arm, and is using her hand without any difficulty. She's allowed to go back to work (but not more than 4-5 hours in a shift) and not to lift anything over about 5 lbs, but that's such an amazing improvement over the start of last week! She still has exercises to do (I don't think she's doing them) to help rebuild her strength.

Bram has come down with a really bad cold and stayed home from school today. I don't know whether he'll be well enough to go tomorrow or not. He's been feeling pretty miserable. I think Rose is also coming down with it and I just hope they don't feel like they have to share with me. I dashed out this morning and bought a large package of boxes of Kleenex because we were down to one box, and it wasn't sufficient.

Tuesday Update

2011-04-06T06:44:00.001-07:00

Rose saw the orthopedic specialist first thing yesterday morning. He essentially said, "it's soft tissue because nothing shows up on an x-ray; go see a physio." So, I phoned around until I found a clinic that could see her the same day - not in two weeks. The physio massaged her arm and shoulder, put her hand in hot wax and gave her exercises to do. The good news is, she has gone from being unable to do anything at all with her arm or hand, to being able to raise her arm, make a fist with her hand, and use her hand. The bad news is, all of this hurts, and it's hard work - but it's a good start. The physio also says that there seems to be some nerve damage somewhere because while she can feel touch, she can't distinguish between hot and cold or sharp and dull. (This means she's not supposed to do dishes, or anything involving hot temperatures for awhile.)

We had 52 kids and 26 helpers at The Party last night. As usual, it was a fairly wild and crazy time, but everyone enjoyed themselves, I think.

Ski Aftermath

2011-04-02T16:14:00.000-07:00

Rose apparently skied into a tree on the ski trip. She had fun though, and although she didn't try skiing the next day, she did go tubing with Bram and I and didn't limit her activities at all. However when she got home, she was complaining of her arm and hand hurting so went to the clinic. The doctor had her shoulder x-rayed and had her see an orthopedic specialist that afternoon. Moving her arm around to get it x-rayed was exquisitely painful and she's really been unable to move her arm since then. She's supposed to go back to see the orthopedic specialist on Tuesday. She said this morning that her shoulder clicks when she moves her arm. She was unable to go to work yesterday or today. It's been kind of nice having her around, even if she's essentially unable to do anything with only one usable arm. I even have to help her dress.

This morning Ruth and I went grocery shopping as usual and then Kristen and Rachel (and kids) came over to make salads with us. They're both pregnant, and are wanting to eat healthier - and salads are a good way to do that. We did five salads (as usual), but four of them new new ones we hadn't tried before. We made a cucumber salad (a really huge one - so that's what we'll have for Sunday dinner tomorrow); a lentil one (that also has brown rice and split peas in it); our regular chickpea salad that everyone likes so much, a carrot salad and a parsnip salad. We also had a fun time visiting, and enjoyed ourselves very much. We didn't start as early as we usually did, so we didn't actually finish until around 2 pm. Then Ruth and I made cabbage rolls for tomorrow.

My van is needing a brake job, so I'm trying to not drive it as much as possible until that's done. I needed to go to the Zellers across town, so Ruth, Rachel and I went together, with Emmett. Rachel stopped at Ruth's office to clean it for her, and we took Emmett to Zellers with us. I was buying some folding chairs, because it really would be nice to have chairs to sit on when people come over to visit. However they also had bed-in-a-bag sets for only $40, and they looked really nice, so we each bought one, plus matching sheets to go with them (the sheets were only $20). I guess that's my big splurge for this month.

Home again

2011-03-31T21:09:00.001-07:00

We're just back from a two-day school ski trip to Aesissippi, MB - not far from Russell, MB, or just over the Saskatchewan/Manitoba border. It was great fun, everyone enjoyed themselves, no one was injured, and we'll all sleep well tonight.

Having said that, I find it really strange to live in the middle of the prairies and have a school (downhill) ski trip! Did I ski? No! I did go tubing though. Bram tried downhill for the first time ever; I think it was Rose's second time. Aesissippi is about a three-hour drive from Regina, and there's an hour's time difference as well. We lost an hour on the way there and gained it on the way back.

I'm too tired to write much; I'll try another day to give my impressions.

Sunday evening

2011-03-27T19:26:00.000-07:00

It's Sunday evening. Rose got called into work this afternoon and is sleeping for a bit now before she gets up to do homework. Bram hasn't arrived home from Chorus Tour, but I expect him within the hour. Betty just finished doing laundry and is now back in her room (where she spends all her time).

We had a larger crowd for Sunday dinner today - between 30 and 35 I'd guess. Ruth and Lisa Vance brought casseroles and I cooked a roast. We had some good visiting going on; one group in the family room, one in the dining room and one in the living room. I'm so thankful that I have a home large enough to accommodate pretty much as many people as I want to invite over. The most I've had over I think was at Thanksgiving when we had around 60 people, but I've done over 30 several times now.

I've been working on planning how to redo my bathroom lately. I've been wanting to add a shower to the half-bath in my bedroom, and update things in both bathrooms (the pink fixtures from 1957 can disappear - they've done their duty for over 50 years and it's time for something not quite as dated.) I had a really nice floor plan sketched out, but my dad says that I can't do it because the plumbing stack is in the wall between the two bathrooms and as I have a low-slope roof, I can't move it without redoing my roof. I'm not wanting to redo my roof, so I'm working on plan B. Apparently Dad also sketched out another possibility for me, but took it back to S'toon with him, and I haven't seen it. Yesterday Walter P and I went and looked at fixtures, etc. at both Rona and Home Depot. Somethings are cheaper at one place than another. I've also looked on-line at Sears and CDN Tire. Haven't bought anything yet.

Finally figured out why my dishwasher leaks sometimes and not others. It's from 1967 according to the serial number, so it's nearly 50 years old as well. The seal on the inside as perished in one spot. It doesn't leak unless I do two loads back to back - then it heats up enough that it just doesn't seal properly. Walt thinks I should just replace it - but I'm in bathroom more than kitchen mode right now. I think a towel on the floor also works - but if I get a DW at a really good price, I may replace it.

New Book

2011-03-11T16:24:00.001-08:00

OK, I've bought my first on-line book for my kobo. I was waiting last night for Rose to be done work, so I went by Chapters (it's right by the Safeway where she works), and read half a book. I just found it on-line and downloaded it to my kobo so that I can finish reading it while I man the registration table for youth rally.

Update

2011-03-08T05:34:00.001-08:00

I've been informed that I haven't updated my blog for quite awhile. Sorry. I've been sending a weekly letter to my mother-in-law and my parents, and don't seem to manage to keep everything updated.

So, what's going on in our life here in Regina? I've given up on waiting for spring and have ordered seeds. Hopefully when I get them started, it will look like spring inside if not outside yet.

Rose is still suffering from allergies, etc. and has taken a week off school to work from home where there are less allergens. We're going to try her back at school again today and see how it goes. She went to S'toon last weekend, met some of her friends there, bought too many books (this comes as a shock and a surprise?) and bought me a kobo (e-book reader). She's going to Japan for Easter break and is finalizing her plans right now.

So, I've read a book on the kobo. I wasn't impressed by the book - in fact, was totally disgusted. At the end it left things hanging, didn't resolve anything, and was just frustrating! About the kobo? I'm unsure. It's certainly a lot easier to hold than a paperback book; I like the way it's easy to adjust the print size; however when "turning" the page, it takes a second or so to refresh the screen and up to 5 seconds at the end of each chapter. It's not much of a wait at the end of each page, but is a little frustrating to start a new chapter. It's definitely set up for a right-handed person (and I'm a lefty), the navigation button is on the bottom right hand corner. I'll reserve judgment.

Bram is continuing to do well. He's up to date on all his assignments; and is taking a pretty heavy load, including calculus by self-study. I really enjoy having him live at home with Rose and I instead of in the dorm.

OK, I've updated things. TTYL

On drugs

2011-02-19T16:49:00.000-08:00

Rose has had a full day on antihistamines and is back to feeling fine again. We'll file the symptoms away for future reference. Oh the wonders of modern drugs.

I'm much improved as well, but not back to full strength yet. My throat now feels like I've been swallowing gravel (pointy gravel). This is an improvement because before it felt like I had been swallowing razorblades. Ruth and I went grocery shopping together and then we were both wiped and had to go home to our respective beds to lie down for a bit. I've discovered that they weren't kidding when they said one of the possible side effects of the antibiotic I'm on is diarrhoea. What joy!

Bram just phoned me from Yellowknife (he's up there for the long weekend) to find out what temperature to bake sweet potato fries at. Glad to be of assistance.

More pain

2011-02-18T17:07:00.000-08:00

I woke up Monday with a sore throat. Tuesday it was bad enough that I cut school for an hour to go to the closest clinic - to have the doctor say, "You have a cold. Drink lots of fluids." Today I had a message from the clinic saying, "Come in to see the doctor again." That's because I have strep throat. I knew I had strep throat on Tuesday, but they had to swab my throat and wait for the results to come back. Meanwhile I've been exposing my germs to the entire school. However, I'm now on antibiotics and hopefully will improve soon. I've been going to work everyday, and doing not much, then coming home and collapsing. Today was no different.

Rose has also been suffering. However she's been suffering with migraines and severe dizzyness. I finally came to the brilliant conclusion that she likely has been reacting to the snow mold because the snow has been melting. So I bought her antihistamines, and hopefully she'll improve too. She went to work today after school but wasn't feeling well at all.

Pain and hopefully, relief

2011-02-08T14:43:00.000-08:00

I saw the chiropractor yesterday. I've been having trouble with my arms again. She agreed that I've been having trouble with my arms. In fact, as she expressed it, she'd never seen anyone with arms as stiff as mine. She put a rib back in alignment, gave me a short treatment for my arms (the bruises shouldn't start showing up until tomorrow)and told me that I need to see her for at least twice a week for a minimum of three weeks, plus I should be having regular massages. She also showed me some exercises to do.

So today? I hurt. My arms hurt more than they have for some time. I felt my back go back out again last night. The good news is I'll see her again on Thursday.

Tournament Weekends

2011-02-06T19:29:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I accompanied Western's Bible Quiz team to Nipawin for a tournament. It was a busy time - we left Friday at noon, arrived in time for supper, quizzed until after 10 pm, then went to our billets. The next day, the tournament started at 9 and things wrapped up closer to 11 pm. Sunday they had two services; the quizzers went to the early service, made a bag lunch and left around 11 am. There were around 350 quizzers, coaches, etc. there. It was an excellent time, but I was very glad to get home by the end of it.

This past weekend I accompanied the wrestling team to Saskatoon. We left in the morning as the tournament started at 1 pm. My parents and my sister Glenda billeted us. The next day the tournament started a 9 am and we finished around 4 pm. There were about 350 wrestlers on Friday and closer to 500 on Saturday. It was two very long days sitting on gym bleachers (my back can attest to it).

This coming weekend, my hope is to stay home and have a quiet relaxing weekend with no extra responsibilities.

Even though I was gone for both Saturdays, Ruth and I still managed to get our weekly salad making done. We did it on Sunday afternoon instead. It is so nice to have all of those salads in the fridge - and it makes lunch so easy! Grab a salad and something to go with it, and you're ready! We just finished about an hour ago and I've got the dishwasher running to finish up the clean up.

Wednesday night

2011-01-19T16:28:00.000-08:00

We had The Party last night. I heard the week before was really crazy. It was our first week back after the Christmas break, we had 36 kids, and it was a zoo. I wasn't there. I was at school helping students write essays. Last night was much better though. The kids listened, and were well behaved. However, three kids left early - and we have a rule that if you leave early you can't come back in. However they were at the door, banging, trying to get us to let them back in. When we wouldn't pay them any attention, two of them beat up the third one. That wasn't good and I'm glad that Kevin gets to deal with it instead of me. However we can say that aside from that, things went really well.

I have the Pradzynski's over tonight for supper, however supper is going to be late. I had to run to the library downtown before 5 pm to get a resource, and that made me late starting supper. It'll be ready shortly though. I made cannelloni because I needed to use up the left over spinach/cottage cheese mixture we mixed up for lasagne Saturday and then didn't use.

TGIF

2011-01-14T15:36:00.000-08:00

Bram came over right after school and started spaghetti sauce. He's supposed to start pizza too, but he had to run back to the dorm because he'd only signed out until 5 pm. I told him to wear boots when he came back as I'm going to get him to shovel some snow for me. After all, what's the point of having a teenaged son if you can't take advantage of it.

There's only one more week left in the first semester. Then a week of exams. There's a Bible Quiz tournament in Nipawin the last weekend of January, then the second semester wills start. I spent part of today prepping and planning for second semester. It's been confirmed what I'm teaching, so I can do some planning.

I'm happy for the weekend. My parents are on their way to Regina and should arrive shortly. (I guess that means I should clean up the living room?) Maybe I should log off and do that now.