Soup's On

Yesterday I made a wonderful pot of vegetable soup.  It lacks a little spunk; but, I’m sharing some with a family who does not eat spicy food, so I held back on the hot sauce.  It was fairly easy to make.  I only had to chop the onions, a potato, and part of a head of cabbage.  The other ingredients came either from a can – diced tomatoes and Italian stewed tomatoes – or were frozen – the corn, peas, and sliced okra.  While the weather here is relatively balmy, the wind is wicked.  It's definitely soup weather.

Joy to the World

As the song says, Joy to the World, the Lord has come.  I also baptized my new Peanuts cup by making the homemade hot chocolate recipe from the Pioneer Woman website.  It contains organic skim milk, organic heavy cream and semisweet chocolate bits.  Here's hoping the organic makes up for all the fat and sugar I just imbibed.

The Stockings Are Hung . . .

Waiting Patiently for Santa

My How You've Grown

(Ebenezer is now significantly larger than Isabelle)

Tuna?

Blessed

One of the benefits of being single is that I have had the opportunity to pour myself into the lives of so many people through sports, children’s ministry and the like. The day after Thanksgiving I received a letter from one of my Compassion kids in Kenya. Kelly, who is middle-school age, is really smart. She wants to be a doctor.  Her English has progressed to the point that she can compose her own letters. How many of you know Kiswahili?

In her most recent note, Kelly shared the usual school news with me and then asked – Have you heard about the famine? Ouch. I had just returned from my neighborhood grocery store – the one I do not like – where I chewed out a produce clerk because there were no fresh cranberries. Never mind that both King Soopers and Door to Door Organics had delivered food in the last 72 hours. I wanted my cranberries and I wanted them right now!

Sometimes, I forget how blessed I am to live in a place where food is plentiful, relatively inexpensive, and the water is safe to drink. 

And You Thought Maytag Made Washers

I recently received a two-pound wheel of Maytag blue cheese.  Way back when, several members of the Maytag family went into the blue cheese business.  It's really good.  Next week, I'm going to make homemade mac and cheese with blue cheese and fontina and bow tie pasta.

Visions of Tuna Cans . . .

I took this sweet picture of Ebenezer yesterday. It looks better in black and white than it does in color. 

Ode to Joy

Roughly five hours after I took the sunset picture, I returned to the Little Condo on the Prairie to find that I had NO keys with me.  It was close to - never mind what time - and I had spent 12 hours at school.  All I wanted to do was SLEEP.  I called the locksmith on my cell phone.  He - who spoke neither English nor Spanish - came out to pick the lock and let me in.  No dice.  The locksmith had to destroy the lock to let me in.  The end result?  I  have a new doorknob.

This morning I awoke to a most joyful sight - snow.  Once a ski instructor, always a ski instructor.

Santa's Makin Candy

I took this picture at the Seminary yesterday.  The back side of the property is nicely landscaped and has beautiful trees.  When I was little, my maternal grandparents used to say that Santa was making candy whenever there was a wonderful sunset.

Black Friday

Turkey Coma

Gathering Supplies

Not Bad for a Cat

So Many Placemats

Today, many of the children at my Boulder church made placemats for a Thanksgiving dinner for people who have no other place to go.  It's an awesome opportunity to show children how they can serve the least of these.  Unfortunately, I was so busy goading the kids to complete their placemats that I did not take any pictures of them . . . the kids that is.

Shoe Boxes

Collection Week just ended for Operation Christmas Child, a ministry of Christian relief organization Samaritan's Purse.  Donors pack shoe boxes - the plastic kind are easiest - with hygiene items, school supplies, and toys for a boy or girl, ages 2-4, 5-9, or 10-14.  Samaritan's Purse inserts a copy of the Christmas Story in each box.  Boxes are distributed by churches throughout the developing world.  I always have fun packing boxes.  This year, Ebenezer did too!

Pick a label, any label.

How far will this stretch?

Mine!

Caramel Apple Treats

I love Caramel Apples.  More specifically, I like treats that taste like caramel apples.  I don't think I've eaten a whole caramel apple since middle school.  Lately, I have been making my own warm caramel apple drink in the microwave.

While I don't like the fact that the caramel topping is chock-full of chemicals and preservatives, I have neither the time nor the ambition to make it from scratch.  I only use about one teaspoon caramel topping and a shake of cinnamon per large cup of apple cider.

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I also like to make a caramel-like dip to serve with apple slices. 

CARAMEL APPLE DIP

Mix about one cup light brown sugar with two eight ounce blocks of softened cream cheese.  Add about one-half cup finely-chopped nuts of your choosing and one tablespoon vanilla.  Stir.  Serve with slices of raw apple.  This makes a bunch.  You might want to halve the recipe if you aren't serving guests.

I Heart This Book

I purchased the ZooBorns Cats! book for my cousin's daughter Maddie Grace.  Not surprisingly, I broke down and bought a copy for myself.  I love this book.  It contains pictures of not only newborn lions and tigers (the Denver Zoo's triplets born this past summer are here), but also more exotic felines such as the Kodkod, Iberian Lynx, and Rusty Spotted Cat.  According to the blurb on the back of the book, "Every sale of ZooBorns Cats! supports the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Conservation Endowment Fund."

Such A Great Plate

I saw this great license plate in the church parking lot on Sunday.  It's particularly poignant because my mom drove a green VW bug when I was little. 

Those Bell Peppers Look Awesome

 

Take A Chance

My friend Tamara adopted this sweet pup from her neighborhood veterinary office.  She's never owned a dog.  That's one of the reasons he is named Chance.

Red and White

Photography, whether done with traditional or digital equipment, is an inexact science.  I took some pictures of tree branches with melting snow that I thought were going to be great.  They weren't.  I like these maple leaves.

Fall Color

Monday, it was 80 degrees.  Today it's snowing and it's supposed to get down to 20 or so overnight.

Carrots

My friend Jeannette shared some produce with me this morning.  I love baby carrots.  If carrots improve your eyes as much as the experts say they do, I should have xray vision.

Orange

The Big Apple

I received the apple on the right in my most recent box from Door to Door Organic.  And you thought the Big Apple was on the East Coast.

There Goes The Neighborhood

Breakfast Potatoes

I receive a box of vegetables from Door to Door Organics every other week.  I used the potatoes, onions, celery and bell peppers from Wednesday's box to make potato salad and Breakfast Potatoes.  I LOVE eating breakfast for supper.  I wish that making such a simple meal did not generate so many dishes and so much mess.  It's probably good that I do not have kids because I would never consent to making a mess in the kitchen early in the morning.

Steve Jobs - 1955-2011

An entire music collection on one device that fits in any pocket

Pure Genius

Scrub A Dub Dub

Last Friday, my washer died.  I called my appliance repair folks.  The motor was burned-out.  Because I replaced the motor two years ago, I wasn’t about to spend $350 to replace it again.  My new washer, a high-efficiency model that uses less water and less energy, arrived yesterday.  I won't bore you with the details on how it works (My uncle shared that with me on a drive from O'Hare to South Bend a couple of years ago).  While I got a good deal, I have to say the new models are pretty pricey.  It is, afterall, a washing machine - not a plane ticket to Nairobi, a nifty new pair of skis or a screaming fast computer.  The new dryer comes next week.  The one that came with my condo is making high-priced noises.

Ebenezer, little stinker that he is, took a nap in the laundry that piled up in my closet.

Stinky Cat

So Many Settings

 

Curriculum Cat

This Fall, I have the opportunity to teach in the Fourth Grade class at my church. Yesterday, I prepared game cards to help the kids learn the Books of the Old Testament. Ebenzezer, whose name means Stone of Hope in Hebrew, helped me.

Tuna Tuesday

Masters of Disaster

When I arrived home late last night, look what I found! As many of you know, I love ORDER. The cards and envelopes I use to make cards are organized by color of the rainbow in bins in my closet. Moreover, I love a CLEAN HOUSE. On Friday, I had my condo professionally cleaned. Yesterday, the carpet cleaners came. It's a good thing that I love MY CATS more than I love a clean house. Who did this? Isabelle? Ebenezer? Only God knows for sure.

What a long tongue you have . . .

Issie's tongue looks as if it belongs to the Big Bad Wolf from Little Red Riding Hood.

Beads, Baskets, Widows and Orphans

The necklace in the picture above comes from the wonderful website, 31bits.com. I’ve been buying necklaces and bracelets from 31 Bits for several years.  They sell beaded jewelry made from recycled paper that is crafted by internally-displaced women in Uganda. Why do I like these necklaces so much? First, they are uniquely beautiful.  Second, making jewelry provides  the women with money they can use to send their children to school.

Trading For Treasures is another organization that sells products from Africa. Headquartered here in Colorado, Trading For Treasures markets baskets made by women in Rwanda. These baskets, some that are designed for decoration and others that can be used as serving pieces, are made of sisal fibers, sweet grass, banana leaves and raffia. Go the website and take a look. I have purchased a number of these baskets for wedding and housewarming gifts.

I’ll close with the story of Miriam Neff. Miriam’s husband Bob, was a Vice President with Moody Broadcasting in Chicago. A wife, mother, and high school counselor, Miriam had the opportunity to travel overseas with her husband who, in addition to his responsibilities at Moody, helped jump-start Christian radio stations overseas.

Bob Neff died of Lou Gehrig’s disease in 2006. Miriam began reaching out to other women and started Widow Connection. Here in the States, Widow Connection provides a variety of resources to those who have lost a spouse. In Africa, Miriam’s organization partners with other ministries to teach widows how to sew on Singer treadle machines. The ladies ultimately learn to make school uniforms which they sell.

I'm not sure why I’m passionate about the plight of these people.  I grew up in a solidly middle class home.  My exposure to poverty has been minimal.  I didn’t spend much time in church until my early-twenties.  Nevertheless, I am reminded of the oft-quoted proverb which says, ‘Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he eats for a lifetime.’  James 1:27 reminds us of the importance of caring for widows and orphans.  “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”