Yesterday and Today

Yesterday was a wonderful day at Church!  The speakers and teachers were all so inspiring and motivating.  They really made me want to be better.  I spent the evening knitting with a friend who made me a delicious supper--lavash bread sandwich and the best wheat/coconut/chocolate cookies in the world.  Really.  She is working on some beautiful socks that she is knitting toe up.  We thought she was at the point where the heel started but it looked like she needed three more rows.  Maybe we can start the heel next time we get together.  I did go over the pattern and write in the numbers at various places since she has a finer gauge than the pattern so changes in numbers were needed.


After the pepping up yesterday my plan was to visit two sisters with my companion but, when we looked out first thing this morning, sleet and freezing rain were hitting the road surfaces at an alarming rate and we just did not dare to go out (me) and children were home from school (my companion) so we will try again next week.

Since my planned church work was at a standstill I decided to spend the day profitably doing something else of real value and chose: family history consultant training.  One nice thing about this training is that records are kept and you can see what modules you have already completed.  That is also a bad thing about this training system:  you discover that either you had not finished all the modules after all, OR there were new modules to do.  So I went to work. I worked through several of them, taking time off to work on our own family history as part of the training.  There again I found that some of the people I thought I had already entered in the system were not there, so now they are.

Now that it has already been a productive day I feel the need to pick up the charity knitting project and get rolling on getting the last of the sisters' squares sewn together.  There is one more strip to go.  On Saturday I had a brain flash that I was not going to get the blanket finished in time for the meeting on the 8th of March--well, that was not the brain flash...that was just common sense:there is too much knitting still to do to get it completed with hand-knitting.  The brain flash came when it occurred to me to see if anyone on FREECYCLE had a knitting machine they would let me borrow, so I sent a message on Saturday evening.  Yesterday there was a message and offer!  Of course, I must drive to Springfield to get it and the roads were just too awful today; tomorrow I am going to the temple; so on Wednesday I am going to get up early and drive down there to pick it up before the potential knitting group meeting. I should be able to knit six strips pretty fast with that machine then pick up stitches to get a border around the whole thing.  We shall see.  Below is a picture of most of the squares.

Satisfying

Today has been a somewhat satisfying day...to this point, and hopefully it will continue on in like fashion.

Up somewhat late-ish and made a quick breakfast of hard-boiled eggs, warmed in the microwave, for Bob.  I ate a leftover sandwich from yesterday.  With the energy derived from this food, I was at the computer by 8 AM and worked until after noon on the Visiting Teaching lists/emails/letters.  The wonderful ladies have started responding already!  Yay for them!

It was sunny and beautiful outside and almost got me out there but I was cold and headache-y so I took a nap instead.  When I woke up the opportunity for a walk on a gorgeous day was gone. I hope Jonathan was able to get all his taps placed today while it was yet lovely out there.  Of course, slogging through the extra foot of snow that came yesterday may have made it less than a pleasurable activity...

Next on the agenda was to make some Black Bean Chili.  This is the recipe I used:

Black Bean Chili
www.grasslandmeats.com

Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds boneless pork, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 15 1/2-oz. cans black beans, drained
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped yellow bell pepper
1 cup thick and chunky salsa
1 15 1/2-oz. can diced tomatoes, do not drain
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

Directions
Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker.
Cover and cook on low heat setting 7 to 8 hours.

This is what I did differently:  instead of 1 cup of chunky salsa, I put in the whole jar.  Since I have just ordered my Pampered Chef garlic press I passed on the garlic and instead used about a tablespoon of some granulated garlic/chili powder/granulated onion/ground cumin mix that I use to put on buttered popcorn.  I added another teaspoon of straight chili powder and left out the crushed red pepper, though I am thinking of squirting in some chipotle sauce before serving this.  It tasted good when I first put it into the pot.  Oh...and I used a full 4 cups of cooked black beans and nearly two cups of chopped onions.

The proof in the pudding/chili will be if Bob likes it.

 It is snowing outside!  Great night to eat this chili...or at least some hot soup.

Busy

Whew!  Has life ever been busy lately.  Too many things to do; nearly all of them enjoyable but demanding.  Many knitting projects completed; new ones started.  Right now in a pinch to get a charity project finished by March 8th.  We shall see.

This photo is Egeblad, knit in ecru sport-weight cotton yarn from Mary Maxim.