Author: Marylou

Church Campout 2009 – Wednesday November 11, 2009

On By MarylouIn Uncategorized9 Comments

This is the third year in a row for this particular campground and it has more memories attached to it. The bathroom/shower houses are still as spiderwebby, the one toilet still rocks, the cabins are no more insulated than before, the commercial ovens still take long to heat up, but each year we add to the bank of memories.

This year seemed a little more laid back than usual. Could be a variety of reasons. This past year was a big one for our church: the loss of a beloved minister’s wife, saying good-bye to husband and son who moved to Ohio, 2 ordinations for ministers within 2 months of each other, as well as other individual ups and downs. God is faithful through it all and our service Sunday morning service was another reminder of who He is.

I decided to go with all b&w for this slide show. I tend to stick mostly to color so this hopefully will give a different twist to the slideshow. When you eliminate color, you eliminate some distractions and hopefully focus better on the subject. For some reason I have more faces that activities captured here.

Fall Giveaway Winner – Monday November 2, 2009

On By MarylouIn Uncategorized5 Comments

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a winner!

The random number generator chose #26, the number of the comment left by Theda.

Congratulations, Theda! Hope you enjoy your picture! I will send you a message for more information.

Thanks to everyone who participated!! You all found many lovely things about fall. And you made me hungry! I happen to love everything pumpkin and apple as well.

May your fall continue to be lovely!

Fall Giveaway – Thursday October 29, 2009

On By MarylouIn Uncategorized46 Comments

Free to a good home:

11×14 of the following print

(you will be able to pick a different verse or choose no verse/saying at all)

Fall Giveaway

What you need to do:

leave a comment and tell us what your favorite part of fall is, or a favorite seasonal food.

 

How long is the contest open:

from now until midnight on Sunday night

 

You should be able to leave a comment even if you don’t have xanga site. If you leave a comment as an anonymous commenter, please leave your first name. For those of you with facebook, I will only be choosing from the comments left here, to keep it simpler.

A random winner will be chosen on Monday.

 

 

Soupy Weather – Chicken Enchilada Soup

On By MarylouIn Recipes5 Comments

Literally. Today it is dropping lightly from the sky. At a balmy 75*. Our seasons consist of summer, summer, summer and chili. When the first post-summer weather hits, post-summer weather being the first day that we have zero humidity and highs in the 60s, the tomato aisles in the grocery stores get wiped out. Tomato sauce is the local base of choice for Chili. And we’re talking Chili here, not Chili Soup. You know, the kind that makes you invest in small stocks like Tums.

While Chili is one of my favorites, Hearty Hamburger & Broccoli Cheese Soups & Cheesy Chicken Chowder are also among my favorites, I think I have a new favorite:

Chicken Enchilada Soup inspired by someone else’s recipe. adapted to what I had on hand.

chicken-enchilada-soup

 I opened so many cans for this that it almost wasn’t feeling like homemade soup anymore so feel free to replace items with your home-grown, home-canned products. You’ll feel better about it.

Without further non-sensical ado:

Chicken Enchilada Soup

1 can (15 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (10 oz) rotel tomatoes
1 can (15 oz) whole kernel corn
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium bell pepper, chopped
1 can (10 oz) enchilada sauce
1 can (10.75 oz) cream of chicken soup
1 cup water or chicken broth
1-2 cups cooked, diced chicken

Toppings:
shredded pepper jack or sharp cheddar cheese
sour cream
chopped fresh cilantro
fried tortilla strips or tortilla chips

In a medium saucepan, bring water and juice drained from corn to a boil. Cook onions and pepper until nearly soft. Add remaining soup ingredients. Heat and serve. If it is too thick, add milk to desired thinness. Serves 4-6.

chicken-enchilada-soup-2

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

This is a little on the spicy side due to the Rotel tomatoes so you could replace them with diced tomatoes instead. And you could add jalapenos to taste. And the corn, I’m thinking home-frozen corn would be really good instead of the canned. And you could make your own enchilada sauce too. I have a recipe that I got from my friend Nettie years ago in the faraway land of NW Ontario.

So if you try it, let me know what if you liked it or not. And what substitutes you made, ’cause if your a non-conformist like me, you find it really hard to follow a recipe to a T.

And stay tuned. A give-away is coming up very soon…….


Monday October 19, 2009

On By MarylouIn Uncategorized7 Comments

So I was busy chasing wild geese on Friday (it involved a electric company, a new residential building site, a current commercial building site, 1 check, 3 building permits, a trip back to the office for another check) and had time on the road to listen to the news and formulate opinions.

The story about the Columbus, OH Burlington Coat Factory episode came up. We are supposedly one of the most “most civilized” countries of the world but an incident like this just goes to show that civilized or not, the human nature is often uncivil toward fellow humans.

In case you haven’t read the story, a lady entered the story, claimed to have just won the lottery and offered a $500 per person shopping spree. People went wild trying to get stuff to buy, plus they called their friends and family and another boatload of people tried to get into the store to take part in the shopping spree. After they found out the lady didn’t win the lottery and had no money to pay for the shopping spree, they left the store in shambles.

“Everybody was like, ‘I still want my free stuff,’ and that started the riot,” he (police detective Steven Nace) said. “It looks like (Hurricane) Katrina went through the store.”

What is it about greed that makes people lose civility? Remember the Black Friday episode where a security man was killed in NY because of people trying to enter a Wal*mart for sales?

And what would you do if you were in a store and a legitimate announcement was made for a $500 shopping spree by someone who won the lottery? Would you participate? I think the first thing I would do is head out the door, taking the above story in consideration.

And the lottery … now there’s another topic for discussion. Or not. Mostly not. Lottery is a tax on people who are bad at math. Or like a t-shirt I just saw: Play the Lottery. Learn Statistics.

A GM salesman stopped in at the office today. He was talking about how many people are scratching for work these days. We spoke of some of the benefits of the economy taking a downturn, most which tie into evaluating what’s really important in our lives and what we can live without. He said that it’s been good for him and his wife to take a look at things. “I have 9 televisions in my house,” he said, “and there are only three of us living there. We really don’t need that many. My son is in high school so he’s not home much. We cut out cable since we get our news on the internet and rarely watch tv anyway. But we have 5 computers in our house. That’s one for each of us plus 2 extra.”

You know, there are times when being rendered speechless is a good thing.