Stuff

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

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

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"

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

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

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?

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.