Crocheting

 

December Journaling

1.     Getting my winter tires on today. Went to a President’s Banquet at the Old Mill. It is for Toronto Baptist Seminary, and our Pastor and his wife came along. So nice to see old friends.

2.     Our daughter is here for the weekend again. Slept poorly last night. Sauna this evening. Ready for my class on Thursday.

3.     Church. Went grocery shopping.

4.     Writing. I didn’t post one episode of my podcast last month because I was so busy. Chili and cornbread for dinner.

5.     Crocheting. Discovered a new stitch on youtube. Made a scarf with fringe and an ear warmer to match. Haddock and corn on the cob for dinner.

6.     Chiro. Haircut. Prayer meeting. Cobb salad for dinner.

7.     Taught my class. My husband had his work Christmas party so I drove him there and picked him up so he could have a drink. Ordered my Christmas meal from Longos again.

8.     Pain clinic.

9.     Crocheting scarves; found an easy and unique pattern and learned how to put fringe on them.

10. Church. My husband preached in the evening. Italian wedding soup for lunch and spaghetti carbonara for dinner. It seems we’re Italian today. Our grandkids were in the Christmas play at church; the oldest boy was a wise man; his dad painted a beard on him and now I can’t tell him apart from his dad, the oldest girl was a cow in a cow suit with a painted face, and the youngest girl was a sheep with a white face and a black nose. So cute.

11. Writing. My final lesson for this week is done, so working on my podcast episode.

12. Botox injections for pain.

13. Prayer meeting. Spaghetti and sauce with sausage for dinner.

14. Final lesson of the year. Chicken pot pie for dinner, also made four for the freezer.

15. My husband and I are going to babysit this evening so our daughter can go to a Christmas party.

16. Baking for coffee time tomorrow.

17. Church. Our friends who we travelled with this summer are back from another cruise.

18. Writing. Cleaning out a cupboard. Our church Christmas party is at a Greek restaurant tonight.

19. Home day; preparing my pills for the next month.

20. Elders and wives’ dinner tonight. I am bringing dessert; a chocolate cake.

21. Going to Hamilton to watch the grandkids in their school Christmas play of some songs from Handel’s Messiah.

22. The parcels of Christmas gifts for the orphans in Uganda arrived today, just in time for Christmas. An answer to prayer. Our daughter came from Ottawa and her boyfriend from Colorado. They decorated the Christmas tree. I crocheted six strings of white snowflakes. I’ll post a picture.

23. My sister who lives in B.C. showed up unexpectedly for Christmas. My mom was so happy.

24. The grandkids aren’t coming to sleep over after all since one of them has been vomiting all night.

25. Hosted Christmas dinner for sixteen family members. Our grandkids have a lull in illness so they’re coming for the day after all, which makes the whole holiday better.

26. Clean up.

27. Our daughter went back to Ottawa and her boyfriend returned to Colorado. Making turkey broth for soup and turkey pot pie with leftovers. Setting our budget for the new year.

28. Baked some vegan eggnog bundt cake to freeze for my daughter and her boyfriend. It was made with oat nog, vegan butter, and flax eggs.

29. I crocheted about twelve scarves this month. It takes one evening to make one along with a matching ear warmer if I have enough yarn. I’ll post a picture. I learned how to make fringe on youtube. My wrist is sore from the repetitive stress.

30. I made homemade shrimp and okra soup which we haven’t had in years.

31. Church. Had Mary Brown’s chicken and okra for dinner. I’ve been doing my Bible teaching podcast, Bible Companion Series for four years now. I have 259 episodes, covering the books Genesis to Deuteronomy, Job, and now into Joshua. If you are planning to read through the Bible chronologically in 2024, come along with me. Bible Companion Series | Podcasts

Pikku Joulu 2023

 

November Journaling

1.     Had blood work done today, then chiro, nap, dinner, and prayer meeting.

2.     Going to Hamilton with my mom to help out with the grandkids. Super early morning so I can drop off the grandkids at school.

3.     Going to attempt to buy very few groceries this month, to save money. I have prepped several meals and we have a full freezer, fridge, and pantry to work with. Prepped some regular and vegan chili.

4.     Baking for tomorrow at church. Also made chicken pot pie for dinner.

5.     Church. Cobb salad for lunch.

6.     Writing my lesson on the last half of Ephesians 6 on the armor of God. Shrimp fried rice for dinner.

7.     Attending a doctor’s appointment with my mom. No nap today. She thanked me with flowers. Homemade turkey burgers for dinner.

8.     Scrambling to finish my lesson.

9.     The grandkids and our eldest daughter are coming for two nights since they have a PA day tomorrow. I made homemade chicken strips and corn on the cob.

10. Doing crafts with the grandkids.

11. Remembrance Day.

12. Church.

13. Writing. Got a second opinion for my mom about dental work, so now she will switch to a dentist who goes to our church. The other one suggested full lower dentures because she lost a tooth. Too extreme. She has kept her teeth for 83 years.

14. Finishing my summary of Ephesians.

15. Finished, printing it at church. Prayer meeting. The three Mexican men who worked with John for the summer and rebuilt our deck are returning home this week. We’re going to miss them. One in particular, Jhosmar, has been very involved at church and hopes to return to Canada with his family.

16. Presented my summary. They do appreciate all the work, but I’m happy to take a break from all the preparation and do a book that is already done; Exodus. It’s also one of my favourites.

17. Taking my mom to the dentist. Working on my podcast. I’m in the book of Joshua, chapter five.

18. Christmas shopping. My insulin levels which had been three times normal, then two times normal, are now normal. Yay! Anything to avoid getting diabetes.

19. Church. This evening our pastor preached about the gender ideology issues.

20. Finished my lesson for this week. So much easier to rework messages I already sweated over.

21. Dentist for me, then my mom. I’m switching dentists on my next visit after 30 years, to one who goes to our church.

22. Last night I processed 10 pounds of potatoes into three bags of mashed potatoes for the freezer, a large serving of hassleback potatoes, and homemade hashbrowns. Today I’ll use the rest to try to make gnocchi for the first time. Also writing. Frozen sheet pan meal for dinner. Church tonight, my husband is leading it.

23. Bible study, beginning Exodus. Only two chapters, but I made a fill-in-the-blanks page for each chapter to guide their reading and aid comprehension.

24. Baking and shopping for the weekend in London.

25. Drove to London for Pikku Joulu (little Christmas) with the Finnish side of the family. All of the husbands are non-Finns, or outsiders as my husband calls them. A lack of dark sour rye bread caused this one to be known as the Great Potato Sandwich Famine. My daughter will search for a recipe and make sure this won’t happen next year.

26. Home. Missed church today with our youth leader and his wife becoming members.

27. Prepped my lesson for this Thursday, and the fill-in-the-blanks worksheets. It will be online only this week since I’ll be in Hamilton again, helping out.

28. Decorated for Christmas, the housekeeper was here to clean up the mess from the garland bits.

29. Made Finnish buttermilk cake. Working on my podcast. I haven’t posted in a month because of my class, but I should be able to do more now because of the change in format. Prayer meeting.

30. Went to Hamilton to help out because the grandkids’ school is changing locations and they need two days to make the move. Did paper mache with them. They love crafts. Made ribs and hassleback potatoes for dinner.