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.

Free Shipping Contest

 October Journaling

 

1.     Church, then a luncheon to welcome our new youth leader and his wife. No evening service.

2.     I’ve had a dry cough since we were at the cottage so over a month. Tested negative for covid. Working on my lesson for Bible study Wednesday.

3.     Housekeeper. I love that my house is clean at least once a month. Sending parcels to Nunavut with the free shipping for six Tuesdays. I’m sending her yarn, Hallowe’en candies, bras and underwear, and toiletries.

4.     Chiro and massage.

5.     Bible Study, then our son-in-law is coming to stay over with the grandkids because he has a conference in Toronto tomorrow. My husband is taking the day off to help out. Sausage for dinner, and sauna of course.

6.     Fun day with the grandkids, outside, and doing crafts. Our other daughter arrived for almost a week. It’s my son-in-law’s birthday.

7.     Picking up the turkey for my mother-in-law, from Longos. She’s hosting but took a cue from what I’ve done the last few years and had them cook the turkey. They don’t deliver anymore though. Bringing two appetizers and three desserts for tomorrow.

8.     Church, a joint service with EBCE. Thanksgiving dinner at my mother-in-law’s house.

9.     I entered a contest through Canada Post because I use them for shipping. We can win one of five gifts of $5,000 in free shipping in a year, so that would help so much with Uganda. I wrote a handwritten letter stating what it would mean to win it. Sent it with prayers.

10. A doctor’s visit for my mom, and she needs me to go with her.

11. Expecting a large order from Amazon, some containers for decluttering and organizing my pantry, and early Christmas gifts for the kids. They had Amazon prime day yesterday, the day after Canadian Thanksgiving, I guess to give Canadians something similar to Black Friday in the U.S. Sent another parcel to Yukon.

12. Received my deliveries from Amazon. Out to Michaels Craft store to buy yarn for the woman in Nunavut. She crochets, too. Prayer meeting tonight.

13. Thinking of getting an upright freezer; my mom offered to pay. It will be our Christmas gift; very generous.

14. I cleaned out and reorganized my pantry. It took ten hours over two days. It’s beautiful. I’ll post a picture. Missions' week kicked off with a breakfast.

15. Missionaries from Thailand this morning; went out to a restaurant with them for lunch; then a nap, then an evangelist who teaches the church how to share the gospel.

16. Writing, preparing for my lesson this Thursday.

17. More writing. Finished.

18. Mammogram; ouch. Our new upright freezer is coming today. I’m so excited. Prayer meeting; the speaker is from Samaritan’s Purse about the Christmas shoeboxes.

19. Bible study. Then going to Costco to buy things that will actually fit in my freezer.

20. Organized my stand-up freezer. It’s full already.

21. Cleaned out the freezer under my fridge. Threw out so much stuff. But now I know what I have.

22. Church. Conclusion to Missions Week. Our daughter arrived back from Colorado after ten days. She met her ‘in-laws’ and took a trip to Aspen.

23. Working on my lesson for Thursday.

24. More writing. Our granddaughter (6) lost her second tooth. So cute.

25. Finished my lesson for tomorrow. We will be changing our format for Bible study after we finish Ephesians. It takes me so much time I can’t get much else done. So we will use my prepared lessons on Exodus from my podcast, Bible Companion Series. I told them it was either that, or someone else needed to teach because I was burned out. They liked this option, unsurprisingly.

26.Taught my class on Eph. 5:22-33 about the responsibilities of husbands and wives in a Christian marriage. I felt like cooking after grocery shopping so I prepared some vegan mushroom soup for our daughter and her boyfriend for over Christmas, and meal prepped some beef and broccoli, made some chicken stock, and steamed and froze some spinach. I’m loving my new upright freezer.

27. Recording and cooking. Today I made tomato soup, salsa, and two sheet pan meal preps.

28. More cooking and baking.

29. Church. Excellent preaching.

30. Working on my lesson. Also packaged up some shoeboxes for kids through Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child; 2-4 year olds which are often forgotten.

31. Housekeeper. Also, it’s Reformation Day. After darkness, light.

Addicted to decluttering

 

September Journaling

1.     Drove into the trading post and bought the grandkids some matching pajamas. Made Finnish pancakes and sausages for breakfast; freshly caught fish and buttered noodles for lunch; and karjalanpaistia and mashed potatoes for dinner. Some crafts and then a campfire.

2.     Final full day at camp. 30 degrees. Our daughter keeps sending us listings for cottages up here; they’re so cheap, around $100,000 for two lots with a camp on them. Maybe next year. She’s heading into 8 months of school with no income. Fireworks tonight put on by the camp.

3.     Driving home. Picked up some northern blueberries on the way back.

4.     Been watching some youtube content about decluttering, minimalism, and organizing. I realize that what I thought was decluttering was just reorganizing clutter since I actually got rid of very little.  I will never be a minimalist, but I am determined to be able to access my closets and know where everything is.

5.     Finally finished Joshua chapter one for my podcast. Vacation slowed everything down. Just need to record and post it this week.

6.     Housekeeper here for the day. Thankfully I finally cleaned and organized the grandkids’ craft supplies. We’ll see how long they stay that way. Chiro and massage today. Prayer meeting this evening.

7.     Grocery shopping. Writing. Made keto chicken strips and corn on the cob for dinner.

8.     My husband has a men’s retreat this weekend with church. Today I am tackling a big closet for decluttering.

9.     More decluttering. Finished that closet. It’s addicting because it feels so good to get rid of junk.

10. Church, mostly women as the men are still away. Then decluttering a big closet in another room.

11. The 22^nd anniversary of the attacks on the U.S. Finished the second big closet, it’s mostly wrapping paper, so now it’s all sorted.

12. My mom has bloodwork and ultrasounds to check how much blockage she has in her arteries; under 50 % is good, over 50% is not good.

13. Prayer meeting.

14. Back to our Bible study; getting burned out; will finish the book of Ephesians but then need to look at either doing something I already have prepared, or hand it over to another teacher.

15. Went to IKEA for dinner and bought some storage units for the grandkids craft things to keep them out of sight. Our daughter is coming here for the weekend from Ottawa.

16. Decluttered and cleaned out the drawers and cupboards in our bathroom. Helped my husband assemble the cupboards.

17. Church. We had three child dedications, communion, and a resumption of evening services with preaching by one of the missionary families we support who serve with Bible Translation in Indonesia.

18. Had to take my car in because the muffler is shot, also the fan belt.

19. Working on my podcast. When I was at IKEA I bought a ring light and phone holder to try making a youtube channel. Our second grandchild (6) lost her first tooth last night, her left eye tooth, and it is picture day today. But it’s cute. Went grocery shopping. I need to declutter and organize my freezers because they are both filled to the brim and I only ever use what’s on top because I don’t know what’s in there or what’s still good to use.

20. Recorded a podcast episode; Joshua chapter two. Reviewed my class notes for tomorrow; we have a new person joining us; she found out about us through the website. Decluttered the hall coat closet. So many shoes I don’t wear but still keep, and a million scarves and hats and mittens. Prayer meeting tonight.

21. Bible study.

22. I decluttered, cleaned, and reorganized our fridge using clear containers. It’s a thing of beauty, but it took me a few hours. I’ll post a picture.

23. Booked our cottage for next summer at a different place, and they wanted a 50% deposit up front. We paid ours and our daughters, so no dinner out tonight with the extra expense.

24. Church. Our former pastor is the guest speaker and my husband is preaching in the evening.

25. Day at home catching up on writing.

26. Botox injections for pain. Decluttered one cupboard in the laundry room.

27. Going with my mom for a cardiologist appointment. Then we went out for lunch, then to Walmart. My daughter called and asked if I could come over to watch the three year old because she has impetigo and needs to be on antibiotics for 24 hours before she can go back to daycare, so I drove over.

28. I had to do my Bible study teaching virtually because I was in Hamilton.

29. Pain clinic for back injections.

30. Women’s meeting at church; we painted by pouring paint onto a canvas. I liked it. Baking and cooking for a luncheon tomorrow to welcome our new youth leader and his wife. I made a veggie platter, cilantro-lime rice, and carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.

Cottage Life

 

August Journaling

1.     Our youngest is going to PEI for a week.

2.     To Hamilton; lasagna and Caesar salad for dinner. Staying overnight.

3.     Took the kids to a nearby zoo; it was nice but it was hard for me to push the toddler in the stroller over rough surfaces. Mashed potatoes and meatballs for dinner. The taste of my childhood.

4.     Getting some things done till the kids come over. Our daughter and her kids came to stay overnight so her husband could get some work done. Souvlaki and salad for dinner. She had a friend over for a sauna.

5.     Burgers for dinner. No fire on the new bbq.

6.     Church, then taking a new family out to a restaurant to get to know them. Had our travel buddies and the three Mexican men who helped rebuild our deck over for dinner and cards.

7.     Civic holiday. Went to their house and had lunch there and a card game marathon. Exhausting, since it was during my usual nap time.

8.     Writing.

9.     To Hamilton for two days. I took the kids to African Lion Safari. It was crowded; I didn’t know it was so popular. We couldn’t do the water park because of the cast, but we did a tour by bus and then watched a birds of prey show. Exhausting form me, but they loved it.

10. We baked and did crafts today. The toddler got her cast off today. Yay!

11. Writing. Harvesting my herbs from my herb garden. Going to see Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.

12. A day at home, cleaning out drawers in my kitchen island. They never take as long as you’d expect. Playing cards on the deck with my husband.

13. Church. I’m on a keto diet and have lost 4.5 pounds since the cruise.

14. Writing; working on my lessons for the women’s Bible study in September. I’ve had two months off, but still don’t feel ready to get back into it.

15. More of what I did yesterday.

16. A trip to the Dollar Store to buy craft supplies for the grandkids when we go up north. Prayer meeting.

17. More decluttering and organizing of drawers in my kitchen. Writing.

18. Finally catching up on my podcast, beginning the book of Joshua. Don’t ask how long it took to do Genesis to Deuteronomy and Job: 3-1/2 years. This looks like it’s going to be my magnum opus.

19. Random stuff around the house.

20. Church, then drove up to my brother-in-law’s for his birthday. Their other brother was up from Florida. We went for a boat ride in his new boat.

21. Prepared my eighth parcel to the orphans in Uganda. 75 hats, 90 sunglasses and maple cookies, a whiteboard and pads. 

22. I made keto/low carb bagels with a recipe from lowcarblove.com and it was very good. Going to the doctor with my mom.

23. Dentist appointment.

24. Packing for up north.

25. Pain clinic and final packing.

26. Long drive up north to the cottage on Wakomata Lake. First camp fire.

27. Grocery shopping in Thessalon for the week. The kids are catching fish.

28. Swimming and kayaking. Our friend flew into the lake with his float plane. All the neighbours came running to see it. We made them lasagna, Caesar salad, and blueberry crumble with ice cream for dessert.

29. Rainy day; doing crafts with the kids.

30. Friends of ours from a nearby camp came for supper; chicken, ribs, corn on the cob, and brownies for dessert.

31. Drove into the Soo. Stopped in at Pino’s grocery store for their famous sausages (bought five packages plus breakfast sausages), then went to my dad’s gravesite with my mom and the rest of us. Ironically, it was the day he died 56 years ago. Then we went to visit my cousin in hospital; she is being discharged today after six weeks. We left my mom with them to visit. Then we drove out to my other cousin’s house on a lake and went for sauna and swim and stayed for dinner. Two hour drive back out to the cottage.

37th Anniversary

 

July Journaling

1.     Day ten: second sea day. The second part of the on-board behind the scenes excursion of the theatre, kitchen, bakery, laundry, and supply storage. Very interesting. It’s also Canada Day. We dressed in red and brought the flags to dinner again.

2.     Day eleven: Kiel, Germany again, so we stayed on board. I had a Bali foot massage and pedicure.

3.     Day twelve: Copenhagen, Denmark. We did a hop on hop off Royal City bus tour. It was nice to see the little mermaid but it was otherwise unremarkable and the stops weren’t clearly marked to get back on, so we took a cab back to the ship so we wouldn’t miss it and also it was raining. The weather changed every five minutes there. That evening we rewatched the theatre show Aziza with this amazing contortionist. We heard our three-year-old granddaughter broke her leg on the trampoline. This kind of fracture is common in preschoolers, apparently.

4.     Day thirteen: fourth and final sea day. Packed, dinner at Butcher’s Cut. They didn’t serve butter with the lobster so it wasn’t very good. I guess I compare it to the Keg which is much better. And for it being the only specialty restaurant on board this ship, they should have chosen a better location without a view of the lifeboats.

5.     Day fourteen: Tallinn, Estonia. I liked this place; it has a language closest to Finnish so I could make out most signs. Everything is cheaper there so many Finns go over by ferry to buy alcohol and other things. We also went to a KGB prison which didn’t close down until 1991. It was near the Russian embassy which had a bunch of signs protesting the war in Ukraine.

6.     Day fifteen: Returned to Helsinki. We had the morning here, so my sister invited us for a beautiful Finnish brunch. Then we had a long return flight home. We flew on Finnair and American Airlines. I watched two movies because I couldn’t sleep well. We had a layover in Chicago. We were awake 24 hours. Glad to get home.

7.     So. Much. Laundry. My mom was dropped off by my cousin. She was in London with my aunt the whole time.

8.     I pulled a muscle in my leg so I’m limping around.

9.     Back at church. Picked up the grandkids for VBS this coming week. The little one has a cast but can weight bear a little bit.

10. First day of VBS; the theme is Keepers of the Kingdom about the armor of God and the two kingdoms. I’m in charge of snacks this week. We took the kids swimming today and we covered the little one’s cast and dipped her ‘like a teabag’.

11. The busiest day for snacks this week because it is baking and we only have two hours to make enough for 80 people. Then I go out to the grocery store to get the food for the following day.

12. Went for another swim today after VBS and I swam too.

13. The kids had VBS then the older ones were taken to a trout pond to try to catch fish, but only one of the adults caught four, and none for anyone else. It was her first time. We ate them and they were good.

14. Final day of VBS and then we had a hot dog lunch for the kids and their parents. Our daughter and her husband came to pick up the kids on their way home from a few nights away together.

15. Finally a calm and quiet day for the first time after our trip.

16. Church. I was on coffee time, and there was a lot of leftover stuff. I also baked an apple cake.

17. Our daughter is visiting her boyfriend in Colorado for the weekend and meeting his dog, Aldo.

18. Guest speaker at church, then we had him over for lunch. It was Roger Fellows, whom we’ve known for thirty years.

19. My mom had an appointment with a kidney specialist a year and a half after her acute renal failure. That’s a bit ridiculous. Went to Hamilton to help out and will stay overnight. My mom is coming too, but it’s harder for her with CPAP and things like that. The three-year-old is starting to weight-bear.

20. Took the grandkids to Giant Tiger to buy hats and sunglasses for the kids in Uganda. Of course they got some too.

21. Women’s ministry meeting. Finally back to my podcasts after a month. Some are missing. I’ll have to re-record them.

22. Church then out to Pickle Barrel with our travel companions for lunch.

23. Taking my mom to the hospital for a scheduled iron infusion. It should top her up for ahile.

24. The cleaning lady is coming today, but we’ll be out in Hamilton for two days.

25. The two older kids are at gymnastics camp all week, so it’s just the three-year-old with the broken leg with us during the day. It’s also our 37^th wedding anniversary, but we’ll celebrate on the weekend. I’ll post our wedding photo and a recent one. She is weight bearing quite well and can scooch up and down the stairs on her butt.

26. Trying to figure out how to reduce the price of my book on amazon.ca They are charging over $80 for a paperback copy, whereas it started out at $21 and I’d be happy with $9.99 They are not an easy company to work with.

27. Going out to the Keg for our anniversary dinner. Our daughter is coming home for the weekend for a concert.

28. Had an awning installed on the deck for more shade. It’s almost back to normal after the fire in mid-April.

29. My three-year-old granddaughter was told she needed to have fruit with her waffle at breakfast. She asked, “Is a Timbit fruit?”

30. Church this morning. Concerned about my mom’s health. An x-ray showed calcification of both her carotid arteries and aorta. I contacted the cardiologist to see about increasing her blood thinners. No change.

31. Organized my spices into a drawer instead of a cupboard for accessibility. Much better. Dropping our daughter off at the train. She won’t be back until Thanksgiving.