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.