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The 1930s were a different time....

Cooking

Cooking for one has challenges and benefits. The challenge is that I only know how to cook for 4-6 people, most recipes are for 4-6 people, and most ingredients come in large packages. The benefit is that I don't have to cook very often. I'm okay with leftovers and freezing meal-sized portions for later.

This is my busy time, so I have been cooking only on Wednesdays and Fridays, the two days that I'm home to cook. I realized, though, that my freezer is getting full, so now I'm only cooking on Wednesdays and eating leftovers from the freezer for part of the week.

I've been trying some different recipes. I have a subscription to a produce delivery service which means that I get a variety of fruits and vegetables each week. Today the box contained 3 baby bok choy, 4 apples, 2 pears, 2 bell peppers, 2 English cucumbers, a small container of tomatoes, 4 mandarins, a pomegranate, a head of lettuce, and an acorn squash. This is the box for one person and it's plenty for me. I still have onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and a bit of celery from previous weeks!

The squash has been coming regularly lately. I don't generally like the texture of squash. Zucchini and spaghetti squash are fine; all others feel wrong. Lately I've been trying, though, to like the squash, with mixed results.

One week the squash was zucchini, and I made zucchini marinara and it was so very good.

There were two weeks of kabocha squash, which was new to me. I tried stuffed squash one week and it was okay. Then I tried maple roasted squash and nope. It still has that squash texture. I ate it because it was all nutritious and stuff, but I probably won't try it again.

Now we're at acorn squash. I roasted one, mashed it up, and made acorn squash muffins. That works for me, although I'm going to try a different recipe. The one I used seems a bit dry and could use some spices to add flavor. I also roasted the squash seeds with a little oil and salt, and they taste quite good.

I have one more acorn squash to figure out. Will I roast it? Bake it? Make it into soup? Make more muffins (although I have some squashed acorn squash in the freezer as well now). I have no idea!

Next week is ham and bok choy stir fry (I also bought a good sized ham at the beginning of October and have a lot of that in the freezer). 

After that....it depends on what the box brings!

Random Stuff

I have been so busy lately! Homeschool facilitating season has started and I've been in meetings for the past couple weeks. I like my job and I like my families and I still look forward to being done! Honestly, I have 9 incredibly busy weeks (and if I keep getting through the meetings at my current speed, I may even be done early), so I have no reason to complain.

Today I read two books to my little guys in the homeschool room. We didn't have enough time to read the third, so I told them the story very dramatically while showing them the pictures, and they seemed to enjoy that a lot.

On Saturday I tried making stuffed squash. The stuffing was good. I still don't like the texture of squash. I'm going to keep trying, though, because I keep getting squash in my veggie box.

I spent most of Thanksgiving Day reading. I was thankful for a quiet day to read!

The weather is getting colder and it's freezing most nights. Most of my flowers are dead, although the petunias seem determined to keep going. I moved the pot of tomato plants inside and they're still ripening on the vines.

I like fall. It's cooler and nice for walking. I do a lot of walking between buses and meetings and sometimes between meetings.

The next two days I have Fort Sask meetings. I like the people, but it takes forever (and 5 buses) to get there. I am thankful that after Friday I will be done with that journey until spring.

I have been listening to Symphony of Psalms on YouTube lately. I really, really enjoy them and listening to and singing the Psalms has been helping my heart.

There's not much of any excitement going on. Life is good.

A "Day Off"

When I was teaching, one of my students told me that when she grew up, she would have an exciting life and do cool things on her day off.

She's probably pretty much grown up by now. I wonder how that's working out for her.

Today was my day off. In the morning I was at the church for women's ministry, caring for my sweet lambs, so officially my day off started when I got home at lunch time.

Today I enjoyed my exciting day off as I:

• Finished reports for work
• Sent emails
• Booked meetings
• Did a couple loads of laundry
• Learned about a coworker's baby grandson who will need surgery soon after his birth; prayed for the family; and passed the prayer request off to my people
• Took care of some messages, emails, and prize orders for Sunday School
• Dusted
• Made baked blueberry and banana oatmeal
• Put a ham in the oven, then an hour later realized that I had automatically turned off the over after taking out the oatmeal, so the ham wasn't cooking
• Turned on the oven so the ham would cook
• Made some very good cheddar broccoli soup (a new recipe)
• Gathered the garbage

I still need to:

• Finish cooking and dealing with the ham (some for meals this week; the rest to freeze in various forms for breakfasts, sandwiches, soups, and casseroles; and the bone and bits to be put aside to make soup stock on Saturday)
• Take out the garbage
• Vacuum

Yup, here I am, living the exciting life of a grown up!

Being Thankful in a Tough Week

Sunday was hard. The church got to the last stage of church discipline for a dear friend and I felt shattered. I cried a lot that day and in the days after. I still cry sometimes. I have been grieving for him and his refusal to repent, for his wife who stood with him in his sin, and for his family who were by extension affected. I am grieving for our broken fellowship and for the loss of a family I counted as one of my own.

It took a few days before I started to see things to be thankful for in the midst of my grief.

I am thankful that God gave us faithful elders who are willing to do the painful task of church discipline, not out of anger or a desire to punish, but out of love and a desire to for repentance and restoration. I am thankful that if I start to stray, they will do their best to bring me back. I am thankful that they will protect the church family from those who would cause them harm. 

I am also thankful for their willingness to answer my questions and pray for me and encourage me in the midst of this trouble.

I am thankful that it happened the week I would spend the most time with members of the church family. This was the first week of fall meetings, and both Monday and Thursday I met with friends from church. I also had lunch with friends on Monday, Thursday, and Friday. And Wednesday is women's ministry so I was with the ladies and my homeschool kids that morning as well. It was helpful to be surrounded by people I love and who love me and, to remember that despite the loss of one family whom I love dearly, I am not alone.

I am thankful that God used this to show some areas in my heart that needed attention, some sinful attitudes that I needed to deal with right away.

I am thankful that God left this family with us for around 15 years. The parents had every chance to know Him for real (and even in the process of church discipline, every chance to repent and to turn to Christ), and the children were able to grow up in a loving church where the gospel was preached regularly.

I am thankful that God is so invested in the unity of the church and in the protection of His sheep that He will remove someone who would cause them harm.

I am thankful for years of friendship; even in my grief, I wouldn't wish those years away.

I am thankful that God is patient and forgiving, and if my friend and his wife repent, He will welcome them with open arms.

I am hurting, and there will probably be more tears, but there is still much to be thankful for.