We Haven’t Left.

We are going somewhere today, and Ed will speak to our church, so I go with him to finish what I am reading, and to clean the tables for the group who will come eat supper.

This has been a quiet morning. I have been on the internet off and on, and I do this because I like to write, and I like to keep writing to my growing audience. Some leave, but many come because I put fresh writings on daily. I write what I am thinking and usually this flows.

Today I finished Leviticus, which is a smaller book, but over 15 chapters. I read, and read. Finally, I came to the end of it. The next book will be Numbers, and this will be another long, detailed book. I don’t mind. I have the time to read, and to glean.

By this I mean if I find a passage that I must read over, and over, I copy it down in my journal. It usually takes me two months to finish the Bible. There are some books that are shorter, so I read a variety of books, but I stay for about two hours on a day when I have nothing else to do. Those two hours are peaceful, quiet, and not interrupted.

I wake up, and get up. I might brush my teeth, and comb my hair, but I leave the dressing for the day for another time. My thoughts are that I want some hot tea, and I want to read the Bible for me.

The peace of Christ settles in the den where I sit. I turn the lamp on, and notice that the dog is asleep, and there are no cats who want my attention. I fix Green tea, with Stevia that is in the powdered form. You know, I can’t read all day. My eyes would not do well, but they do get the privilege of reading with me for two, hours. I might get up to stretch, and refresh my tea.

Why do I do this? I have an organized page before me, and my goal. I think, “I need to go read for me. ” If I don’t go read, then my son will soon ask, “Have you read your Bible today?”

I believe the Word when it says that it is a light to my path. I pray much, but there must be a balance of the Word, and the praying. I use verses in my prayers, and this is another time that will take a while to finish. I am currently reading a row of verses for the Psalms. I read about twenty at a time. They are so peaceful, and some are very long.

I read shorter books, and the longer ones. Exodus is long also, but it is finished. My plan is to read the same amount of times this year. I finished the 7th time one week into the new year. I still counted it for last year.

You know, God is so good. He wrote the Bible for us to read, study, enjoy, and think on. It is a light in us, and if the light is not turned on, then you are walking in darkness. The darkness doesn’t like to read the Bible, and it works against those who are trying, but can’t seem to open their Bibles.

I do believe in the future I may have passages memorized. It is not going to be hard to know them if I keep reading and reading. I believe God is not willing that any of us perish, but He wants all of us to come to repentance, and to receive Christ as our Savior. Have a blessed day, and know that God loves you, and wants you to read the Bible for you.

I read many chapters of the Bible at one sitting. I get up early, and read for two hours. This works for me. Today I finished, Leviticus.

Ed Asked Me To Make Cubed Steak.

Ed went to the store with Isaac. He came back with Cubed steak ready to fry up. I took it out of the package while the oil was getting hot in the pan. I knew I must fry the cubed steak, before letting it cook. Isaac beat the patties longer, and flatter. I dipped them in Cake flour at his suggestion. It worked.

The cubed steak adhered to the cake flour, immediately. I dipped both sides in the cake flour. Meanwhile, we had a frying pan, an iron skillet with oil in it. This became sizzling hot. I put two, huge, cube steaks in the iron skillet, and waited for each side to brown. I had to turn it once or twice. This took time. Once the meat was fried in the oil, and the flour was cooked on them, they were ready to be put in a bigger, pan with some water in it.

We put all the cubed steak in one, big, round, pan. We cooked the meat for an hour on the stove. Gravy was made soon, because the flour thickened the water, and the water turned to this sauce that you put on the cubed steak when you eat it. I added salt, sparingly, and pepper. I The meal would be done soon if I made the potatoes.

We bought a small bag of oversized, potatoes. I peeled these with a knife at first, and then I used the peeler.. It worked well. These were not easy to peal with just a knife. Soon the potatoes were ready to rinse and slice. I did this with a sharp, knife. We put the potatoes in a pan of water after it was hot, and ready to boil.

There was no rush. The meat had an hour to cook in the big pot before it was done. We bought three packages of cubed steak, and this was enough for four people. We served squash Isaac’s way, and it was soon tender on the stove. He has a way of cutting the squash into standing squares. They are small, but when cooked, they are sweet on their own. He peeled the squash, and cut it with a special cutter that makes squares. This yellow squash is good to eat without much on it. It cooks in about 15 minutes.

We found butter for the mashed potatoes once Isaac beat them well. They were up to the rim of the large pan. We made plenty. I said, “We can make potato patties of them tomorrow for breakfast, if we don’t eat all the potatoes. “

Ed ate, and ate the meal. He went back for seconds. He had no lunch, so I supposed he was starving by the time we ate at 6:15 P. M. after doing all the above. We have left overs for today, or lunch tomorrow. You know, cubed steak is work, but this was so tender because he beat them flatter, and larger with the cook beater. It is a hammer with teeth on it. The teeth go into the meat when he hammers it one or two times. Each side gets hammered.

I have learned that real butter is better, so we put a large piece on the hot potatoes. Talk about silence while we ate. We were later eating, but the meal was hot, at home, and fresh off the stove. The cubed steak was so tender you didn’t have to chew and chew it. It was swallowed, easily. No wonder Ed loves this meal.

A good friend showed me how to make this, and I think of her when I make it. It took time to make this meal, but it was worth the effort. Isaac could do this on his own, but I was there to lead, and to keep things moving. We ate in time before his class, and before Ed had to go anywhere. He didn’t go, and we were full, and well contented.

We had a tiny, dish of ice cream for dessert. Ed bought the things we would need for this meal that afternoon. That took time, and I rested until time to cook. Our guest went out to shop, and brought back Neapolitan Ice Cream. Wow. So good.

Becoming a Good Cook.

I believe the basics come from my Home Economics classes that I took in High School. I had three years of Home Economics. We didn’t have tests, but we had to know what we were doing. I knew the basics. My parents had us girls doing chores before we went to school. We had to make our beds every day, and this was not a choice on our part.

Well, Mom wasn’t a cook. She was a business person, and she managed an office of five doctors for a while. She could type, and she knew book keeping, and she could make 10 dollars stretch to 20 dollars. She found bargains on food, and froze pies. We would eat frozen pieces of pie, and think, “Wow!” Cherry pie was especially good.

Mom might have known how to make pies, but she wouldn’t. She wanted to keep her weight down, and no sweets was her secret. She and I would go off sweets together.

Dad loved ice cream, and he would give us ice cream after we went to the doctor for our shots. He also popped popcorn. Mom, and I stayed together on our decision to keep the weight off. I lost, and so did she. I miss Mother.

Mom is the one who led me to Christ, and I was happier after this. I took the hymnal, and sang all the songs I knew. The joy of the Lord was real now. I was 8 years old. She gave me things to memorize, and worked me into knowing about life, and Christ. She helped me come to know the Lord, and put my confidence in Him. I am thankful for her training.

I Still Do More Than I Should.

I work more than I should, but I think about the exercise, and the good this will do my body. I did manage to get on the bench again yesterday. I went to 150 this time. I will be going to 200 if I get on today. A little exercise helps when you are eating ice cream at night. I forgot that I had been on the bench.

Our guest brought home ice cream, and Ed had no choice, but to serve us a small container dish of ice cream. These are maybe a cup size, and they are glass. I told him a tiny dish is better than a bigger one. Today I stepped on the scale, and I didn’t gain, or lose. I will try to stay off the sweets tonight. Desserts are wonderful when you want to put on the extra weight. I am not to this point yet. The ice cream had vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry in rows. I thoroughly enjoyed eating our surprise ice cream.

Colder Weather is Coming.

We have had a pleasant Winter with very little cold. Now the forecast says we will endure more cold, and it will get low. I like to stay warm. I have a bag of socks to choose from, and they are in a see through, zippered container. I can move them anywhere I like, and the socks are in one place. It is comforting that they are matched. I can dress faster because my socks are separated. Smile.

What else? I try to wear flats most of the time. I wear them with a warm pair of socks. If my feet and hands are cold, I have a problem. I like to stay warm, and cozy. With the new weather coming to us, I hope to stay warmer than I was last year. Smile.

I finished Leviticus. I’m ready for the next book.

I am slowly reading through my Bible again. I just finished Leviticus today. I am ready for Numbers, or a small book in the New Testament. I read, and read today. It isn’t easy to do so much reading, but my goal is the same as last year. I want to read all the way through the Bible for 7 times this year.

If I happen to make more times, I will think this is wonderful. I am learning as I go. I can ask questions of those who know more than I do when the questions come to mind. I love to read early in the morning before the dog, or other people get up. I rise when I wake up, and I do pray that God will waken me. It is good. I become peaceful, and quietly, happier.

Save Rags to Scrub.

At times the corners of the room are dirt filled. I looked at the corner in my bathroom, and it had something dirty in every place there was in the corner. I took a rag, and wiped that corner cleaner. It was a dish rag that I know I washed, because it was dirty at the time.

I clean with an old dish rag, because it is small, and no bulky. I can get into corners easily with this rag. I have to bend down when I am cleaning. It makes me agile when I finish, because I have had a different kind of exercise.

Cleaning the corners is important as the whole, room. I believe dust likes to collect, and the corner of my bathroom proved me right. I wiped the corner, and the rest of the area around that wall.

I began thinking about when we put the tile down for our bathroom. My sister and her husband spent time at our home while we were away. They remodeled the bathroom, and the new tile was beautiful to us. They set the tile in with some heavy duty glue, because we haven’t had to do a thing to it. It has stayed in place. This is why I loved to see my folks come to see us.

If were were away, they stayed to check the house to see what they could do. We bought a home with everything on the same floor. We have an attic and the pull down rope to let the ladder down. It stores things for the next season or two. Even there we clean it, and throw what is not needed.

Cubed Steak was Wonderful.

Yes, we had cubed steak, and it boiled for an hour to get tender. It made a gravy for the potatoes, and the steak was so tender it didn’t have to be chewed much. We had mashed potatoes, and we still have some of those left. I plan to make potato patties of them if I get started on them early enough.

Tomorrow is Wednesday. I have no doctor appointments tomorrow. We do go to the church earlier, in order for Ed to study. I study also, and at times I get more read. I don’t have the meal tomorrow night. I usually fix the tables, and measure the amount of coffee to make. It takes time, but I like to pray over those who plan to be there. We know weather is coming in to this area again. I have an appointment with my eyes on the 7th. Until then I will work at home, and go with Ed when we need to be gone.

I am reading through Leviticus again. I am half way. I finished Exodus finally. These books are long, but I read until I can’t see straight. I don’t know that I will make it through the Bible this month. It usually takes two months. This has been a good day. Isaac and I made the meal together today. I loved cooking with him, because he is talented, and knows what to do to make things turn out right. We haven’t had cubed steak in a while. Ed requested that I make it. I did my best. It was tender.