On the plus side of things  -

• I’ve washed my work clothes, and they are in the dryer
• I’ve listened to the Sunday sermon (the church I attend is working through Just Walk Across the Room by Bill Hybels.  I still need to read the chapters and the activities for my group meeting on Wednesday.
• I’ve been to the library.
• The dishes are done and my sink is shiny – well it’s clean.

And it’s 9:30ish.  And I’m tired.  I should go to bed.  I think I will.  Sometimes, and at my age, sleep is more important than anything else.

I do hope that I can get back to more coherent blogging soon, but just at this moment – my life isn’t very coherent!

Have a good night and soldier on! And if your life is as incoherent as mine at the moment, feel free to leave a venting kind of comment!  I think it helps!

Marcia

Well, with crazy shifts, celebrations with my friends, and homework, there isn’t enough time it seems.  It’s a good thing I gave up the farm!

Today marks the 125 anniversary of the largest snowflake falling.  Thank you Google for making me smile!  They celebrated by creating an animation which you can watch here.  I’m just glad it’s not snowing in Calgary today!

visiting with my friend!

I can’t think of a better way to spend my day off.  (And I resolved the computer issues with my course, so I can keep plugging along with that!)

I thought I would share my latest soup making experiment.  I was going to take pictures and write notes, but I got into the process and it just took off.

Broccoli Squash Soup – with a hint of Chipotle

I started with a small pumpkin that was going soft on me.  So I pared it, chopped it and threw the cubes in a bowl.  For fun I added:

• a large onion, chopped
• a butternut squash that met the same fate as the pumpkin, even though it wasn’t going soft
• about 5 cloves of fresh garlic that’s grown right here in Calgary!
• a splash of canola oil and some salt.

These got tossed about abit, coated with the oil and then I put them on a baking tray and roasted them for about 40 minutes.  (I need a deeper pan for this!)

While the veggies were roasting I chopped up the broccoli (1 bunch), even the ends and about 4 carrots. These were put directly in the crockpot together with vegetable stock cubes.

Once the other veggies were roasted I added them to my crockpot (It’s around 10 pm. now) and put the whole thing in the fridge overnight.

This morning I boiled a kettle full of water and added it to the crockpot, put the pot into the heating part and TURNED IT ON! (This step is vital to the procedure!) Then I went to the gym, volunteered, picked up some odds and ends, and came home.   I realized that I had forgotten the chipotle pepper! This was quickly added! I’m not a big fan of heat, but I enjoy my soup when I’ve added one pepper to the melange!  (I have stored them in my Tupperware in the freezer and take out one at a time)  I turned the pot onto low and let it simmer while I managed to resolve my computer issue and get ready for my friend to come.

We enjoyed our lunch, went for a walk to the library and Planet Organic and came home to knit and drink tea!  The soup did need some extra salt but that was all.  Love the effects of that chipotle!

Now it’s time to hunker down and do some homework! Have a good day!  For more of the “day to day” stuff, visit: One Year, One Week, One Pound!

Marcia

  I think this post summarizes quite nicely what I’d like to say about what I’ve been reading in my Napoleon Hill this week and last.

There was first of all the call to control my mind.  I need to be more aware of my choices and also my control over them.  Take last night’s peanut butter “binge” for example.  Sure I was tired, I was coldish, I was for lack of a better word, “blah”.  I could have made different choices.  I just didn’t bother to make them.   However, now that I’ve made those “less than stellar” choices, it’s time to move forward.

This weeks chapter talks about having a burning desire to achieve something.  Apparently it’s something I can create.  But how?

Dave Ramsey talks about “gazelle intensity” when working the debt snowball.  I don’t have that either.  I just keep plodding along, eliminating credit card after credit card until they will be all gone!  (Two left, one of which is almost done!)

In this third chapter, Hill mentions Henry Ford and John Wanamaker and he concludes it with a quote from Mr. Wanamaker

I acquired the education I needed the same way a locomotive takes on water – I scooped it up as I ran!

So here are the three steps I need to take in order to change:

1. Start where you stand – knowing what I know, being who I am, looking as I look…
2. Make the best of what I do have – employments, physical health, and all the many gifts God has blessed me with!
3. Trust that what I need will be available when I need it.
   

Now I need to jump in and get going!

I do hope this is helpful to you.  I know I need to sit down and make some plans for the next week, based on this!

Have a great day, stay warm if you’re in Alberta and wherever it’s still frigid out!

Marcia

Today

Chance of flurries
High: -28°
P.O.P. 30%It’s Cold and so I thought it would be helpful to remind you of some ways to keep warm – via the Calgary Philharmonic chorus.  I’ve posted about this before, but it bears repeating, now that we really need the information again!  If you need further explanation of some of their ideas, check here.

It’s been a while since I posted, so I thought I’d better catch you up on what’s going on in my very cold world.

I’ve braved the cold and made it to the gym both days.  And to work.  It just takes so very long to get all those layers on!  But I am so grateful for my ski-pants!  They make walking tolerable!

On the weight side of things, I did half a pound, so not quite what I wanted, but we’ll get there!  I did manage to record all my eating for yesterday, which is a major accomplishment for me.  I find it so very hard to keep track.  That’s where the PLAN comes in so handy.

Here’s today’s plan, based my shift (11 am – 7:30 pm) which embraces both lunch and supper.

8:30 am:  breakfast (which is ready now)

10:30 : am:  a spelt blueberry muffin, made by me.

1 pm: First break – slice of bread with bison

3:00 pm.  Lunch break – vegetable beef stew (lots of veggies) and a lovely slice of my spelt bread.

5:30 pm: Salad with half a can of salmon and roasted veggies for flavour.

8 pm (or whenever I get home)  almonds, 1 cup mixed veggies (mostly beans)

Of course all these times are approximate.  Life isn’t just like clockwork.  But the plan helps me to get it together.

Now it’s time for breakfast, so I hope that wherever  you are, you are warm and toasty.  Have a wonderful day!

Marcia

I’ve been reading about water at the gym, and very grateful that the water that comes from my tap is as good as it is.  Of course, it’s never pure enough, or clean enough.  So, with a gift card from my dear friend, I am going to be buying a Brita filter for drinking water.

I”ve also been reading through the New Testament in 90 days, although I am very behind.  But what keeps coming back to me is this:  Jesus was pure in a way that I can never be pure.  His living water is pure.  The water from my tap, even filtered through the most thorough of filters, will never be pure enough.

That is why I will always be in need of His great grace.

Purify my heart,

Marcia

(Do you know what’s so neat about this title? – comment your answer. )

Anyways, here’s Thursday’s “Napoleon Hill” post.  I am maintaining my habit of reading and rereading a chapter of “A Year of Growing Rich”

Last year I wrote my starting weight at the top of the first chapter (253.5 pounds).  This year I got to write a different number – 227.0. 

And if I stick to my intentions, next year the first number will very definitely be a one!

“No One Drifts to Success” is the title of the first chapter.  As I’ve been pedaling and reading some other books in my gym library, this has been ricocheting around in my head.  (The exercise bike is the easiest place to read, I find, so it’s my warm-up machine!)

Of course he asks the question “What is your one definite purpose in life — and what plans have you made to attain it?

I can’t determine one colour for my parachute, and I can’t really identify one definite purpose – except to move towards becoming the woman God created me to be – and that is in the process of becoming more definite.  But…I can define some definite purposes for each of my colours.  Together they will move me towards my definite purpose.

My yellow goal is to change my daily work and move into a paid teaching position.  Although I have and am studying to teach ESL, I am not limiting myself to simply ESL.  Teachers are trainers, encouragers, inspirers, mentors…. They share what they have learnt and are in the process of  learning.  This blog is kind of a teaching-learning process for me. 

But the year is already one week old and all I’ve done is register for a “techie” course and start my final CERTSL course.

Here’s my plan for next week:

1. Read Chapter one of What Colour is Your Parachute 2012 and do the head work asked of me.
2. Work on week two of my CERTSL course and begin my first assignment.
3. Register for a government sponsored job search program in my area.
4. Check out the websites for companies I might like to work with – with the potential of using my teaching abilities.

I will post my RED plan over at the new blog, although that might not happen today!  The other colours will have to wait for another post – and maybe a later date.  There is only so much I can focus on at one time!

In the meantime, here’s a clue to the riddle at the top of the post:

What is a palindrome?

Have a great day, enjoy some planning time and get on with life! It is God’s gift to you every day!

Marcia

A Wild Contatenation of Recipes

Today was cooking day at my house.  I was planning to make a “Fat burning” soup from a Don Colbert book, Get Healthy throu Detox and Fasting.  I’ve never done it, but the recipes at the back are nice.  It did help me make my grocery list!

What I ended up with was totally different – using another recipe I gleaned from Woman’s World and whatever was still in my fridge.

I started off okay, sauting the onion, garlic and celery in a tablespoon of canola oil.  When I got the carrots out of the fridge I noticed the parsnip.  That got chopped into the pot.  Then I added the organic vegetable broth that’s on sale at Calgary Co-op this week.  That was another Colbert touch.  But that was the last one!

I had decided to add some adzuki beans even before I started cooking – they were soaking while I was at the gym.  After a conversation about protein, I decided to add some quinoa to the mix as well.  This involved a good amount of rinsing, but there is no soapy taste to my soup.  The final addition was about 6 cups of tomato juice and a can of diced tomatoes. I forgot to mention the chopped bunch of parsley (no left overs) and fresh spinach that also topped off the mix!

All I can say, is that I won’t mind eating this for lunch for the next week or so.

I  hope this encourages you to play with your recipes, combining them to make new adventures for your tastebuds, and new nutrients for your body!

Thanks for popping by.  If you’ve got a good soup recipe, send me an email at:

5colourparachute at gmail dot com

I’m always looking for new inspiration!

Marcia!

Showing up for the things you say you are going to show up for is important if you want to get to where you are going.  It’s the beginning.

I’ve committed to showing up for Ni90 as well.  Then I signed up for the Canadian Living 6 Week Slimdown!  It should be finished in time for the Calgary Co-op Wellness Challenge. On top of all that, my last TESL course starts this week.  I think I’ll have to say NO to further commitments for a while – at least until April.

Most of my RED posts are heading over to the new blog.  But I will be posting a weekly update and perhaps a recipe or something.  So here, I hope is a chart I made for last weeks efforts.  The olliebollen have taken their toll (more about that later this week) but I still was able to lose a pound.  That was the goal!  That is the goal.  Just one pound.

Hmm.  I thought I had it figured out.  Some blogs I follow have such nifty charts.  Since I can download pdf. files, I saved my chart as one.  It shows up as a link. Sorry.  I am trying.  That’s another goal for the year.  I wonder if it’s the format I’m using, or if I have to spend some money in order to make charts.

In the meantime, here’s my starting picture, taken the last day of the year in my “Olympic” teeshirt!

Let’s see how loose that shirt gets this year!

Have a great Monday.  I’m off to the library, bank and post office before I head to work!

Marcia

  Clicking on the image should get you to her page and book description.  Because I get her newsletter via e-mail I know that her word for 2012 is MAGNIFY.

My problem is that I can’t really settle on one word.  For a while I was kicking around the idea of DILIGENCE.  The other words I’ve considered were faith and courage.  But, I just can’t seem to pick one.  Sound familiar?  That’s the reason my parachute has 5 colours – I can’t just pick one!   But, I can choose a word to guide my thinking for a while -  a month, a season – a week.

And because New Year’s Day is also a day for new beginnings I began my morning with a reading from Our Daily Bread  The main point was this:

• “Let’s be Ready”
• Being ready involves purification
• Purification involves keeping my heart from sinful distractions
• Purification involves focusing on becoming more like Jesus

So as I move through the rest of this winter season, I hope to focus on purity in all the colours of my life.

Feel free to share your word and why you chose it in the comments section.

Have a wonderful Sunday, and a wonderful beginning to a New Year!

Marcia