Monday Meanderings

It'll take a while to catch up on blogs since our internet was super slow this weekend. Usually things settle down by late Sunday but that wasn't the case this time. After church last night the connection was sketchy at best, constantly timing out or just flat cutting out completely. Actually we've had a lot more trouble lately. Not sure why.

Anyway, we'll see how it goes this morning.

And a beautiful morning it is! Another sun-filled AND WARM winter day -- it's supposed to get up to 75°! Yesterday we went for a walk in short sleeves. This is definitely my kind of climate :-)

One load of laundry is on the line, another in the wash. With the clear skies and dry weather I should be able to whip through three loads today. Woot!

Things are starting to green up, even saw a few yellow blossoms on a forsythia bush this morning. Ivan's going to ask at the nursery when we should spray the peach tree. Don't want to miss the window of opportunity because we are looking forward to a bountiful crop of mostly-bug-free peaches in January. I'm also thinking it's time to prune the rose bushes...all 13 of them. They're just way too tall and spindly and we think they'll have more blooms if pruned.

Hard to believe we still have over a month of winter because it feels like spring NOW.

Tomorrow in Spanish class I'll tell a Bible story. Before leaving the U.S. we were given the entire Betty Lukens flannelgraph set and this will be its inaugural presentation. I'm rather nervous about this assignment and am writing out the entire story in Spanish first and then I'll practice a time or thirteen :-)

We ate a lot of pork this weekend. Pork is my favorite! Bacon and eggs, grilled pork ribs, and then Cuban pork roast last night. We're going to use the leftover roast to make Cuban sandwiches. Ever had one? They are so tasty, especially when you have super flavorful homemade roast that was marinated and then cooked in TONS of garlic. After I crashed around 9 pm on Saturday Ivan took the time to put it in to marinate. For next Saturday Stirrings I'll share both the roast and sandwich recipes. Easy-peasy and oh so good!

Ivan's been battling the flu for over a week. He'll feel better for a few days, then have a bit of a relapse. Thankfully they're less frequent and intense and we're praying for a full recovery very soon. Men are terrible patients because they want to be up-and-at-'em as soon as they start feeling the least bit better. Which usually just prolongs things. I think I need to teach him the art of a long, drawn out swoon done up good and dramatically the southern way :-)

Used up the last of my Ghirardelli chocolate chips in scones yesterday. Not as sad as I thought I'd be...finding the yummy Equadorian chocolate at my local Disco helped soften the blow. Also finished off the 2nd bottle of maple syrup (of 4 we brought) in a batch of homemade granola. I tried a while back to make granola using honey but just didn't care as much for the flavor. Does that make me a granola snob? I also don't like dried fruit in granola. Makes it overly sweet. Except for dried cranberries or blueberries, neither of which is available here. Can't get rough cut grains other than oats either. Makes for some pretty plain granola but suits us fine :-) I do add a lot of nuts. This time I used almonds and walnuts.

Can you tell it's almost lunch time by the obsession with food in this post? Oh yeah, I write about food ALL THE TIME. I can't remember which of my kids once said, "Our family is either eating, preparing to eat or talking about eating."

Now I'm always writing about it.

The man who taught me much about the written word (as well as the Word) has an excellent post about the influences on our writing.

I think that's all for today. I have a Bible lesson to write in Spanish.

No, not one of the many stories about food.