Once in a while I’ll do a family update. Today is one such day. This post is just some random thoughts.
- Weather – The ‘polar vortex’ has disappeared back up north, thankfully. That was cold! We’ve had rain and mild temps but the past couple of days we’ve actually seen the sun (what’s that yellow ball in the sky?). I had to get gas for the van so I got it washed as well. Perfect time to do it (I’m not pretending it will stay clean for long). We’re supposed to get a couple of inches of snow over the next couple of days so the ground will look nice again.
- Food – Every week it’s the same, what should we plan for supper? This week we’re a bit more organized. Yesterday evening Wanda put together a Weight Watchers recipe; penne casserole dish with mushrooms, zucchinis, tomatoes and cheese. It was good. Tonight we’re going Middle Eastern; we buy warm, soft pita bread and the best hummus in town from Al-Arabesque restaurant then I make fuul (looks like refried beans) and Wanda makes a tomato/ cucumber ME salad. It’s usually a favorite. Tomorrow night we eat at Conrad Grebel (see next), Thursday we’ll have a roast beef dinner, Friday I’ll make pizza to round up the week. Saturday we are going to two ‘Buck & Doe’ events (never heard of that? neither had I until I got here. They are basically fundraising events for engaged couples, like a co-ed shower party. There should be lots of food at both places.
- Conrad Grebel/ U of Waterloo – There is a special event for all Grade 10 students in the Waterloo region at U of Waterloo that Conrad Grebel is piggy backing on. So we’ll go to supper at CGUC and then go onto the U of W campus for a 2 hour meet and greet session. Amani and Abby have been on the Hesston campus, on the Canadian Mennonite University campus and now at CGUC/ UW. We have 2 years to show them Goshen (and EMU?) . . .
- Exercising and health – This section is just about Wanda & myself since the girls have been getting enough exercise with sports and PE. We’re back to exercising daily, either by walking outside or inside with the treadmill or elliptical. Or sometimes I say I’ve had enough exercise by cleaning the house or shoveling snow (I get an achy back to present as evidence). Went for a physical the other day. A few minor complaints and worries were mostly put to rest by the doc but with my sinuses/ respiration issues, she said she will try to get me to an allergist. I think it’s pretty clear by now (to me anyways) that our cats are the source of our sneezing and wheezing. Never had problems to this extent before. The Doc suggested I try Claritin or the like for 30 days and see if that helps. So I probably will. She also suggested I lose weight, it would probably help me sleep, among other things. She’s probably right. Hmmm. Wanda did lose alot of weight over the past year so I have an example right in my own home (she’s fighting the post Christmas weight gain right now. It’s tough to revert to a disciplined form, especially with non-converts like me around).
- House work – Was a plumber over the past week, the bathroom sinks upstairs are now fixed (ours from leaking, the girls from being stopped up, what a ball of hair I extracted from both the sink and bathtub!). Next on the list, puttying and sanding the dining room and then painting. Should happen in the next week or so.
- Miscellaneous – I was digging around in my boxes last night trying to help the twins in their family genealogy projects (information about 3 generations in their families and a ‘show and tell’ type of artifact from their families). I was looking at old Kidron Mennonite pictorial directories, my ’79 graduation box, looking at letters and my Dalton yearbooks. I also found my James O. Lehman Sonnenberg: A Haven and Heritage book. Boy I wish I had had that with me a couple of years ago when we were in Switzerland! In the book were documents about our John Amstutz family I had put in there and had forgotten. The towns where the Amstutz family lived in the Juras were circled, we were only minutes away in the summer of 2011! I reread some of the parts of his book, it makes more sense to me now that I am older and know more. I should read his book again.
amstutzfamily5 