So, this morning when I woke up (the first time at 5:00) I got thinking about a dilemma that I currently have. I have a few jars of lovely home made tomato soup (kindly given to me by good friends who grow tomatoes and not weeds in their gardens). I also have a great love of grilled cheese sandwiches. Now for the dilemma: I cannot stand at the stove to cook grilled cheese sandwiches. So I got to thinking and I realized there must be a way to bake grilled cheese instead of frying it. It turns out, as it often does, that internet people have already thought of this brilliant idea. I'll let you do your own googling on this one, check out some of the comments on some of the sites--people are really into this!
I made my sandwich the usual grilled cheese way except I pre-heated my toaster oven to about 425F and popped it in. I flipped the sandwich after about 5 minutes and about 5 minutes later it was done! The bread was golden brown and the cheese was perfectly melted with barely any standing on my part! Of course, I accompanied this culinary delight with some of the aforementioned tomato soup.
This morning when I woke up (for the second time at 9:30) it was to the sound of the phone ringing. On the other end of that phone call was a lady from the Civic Hospital here in Ottawa. She was calling to let me know that I will be having back surgery on October 26th. It is a day surgery and they will be moving some muscle and some nerve and cutting some bone to get to my disk and remove part of it (it is called a diskectomy). I guess if a disk slips, it gets removed from play to teach it a lesson. I have intentionally not googled this surgery but my neurosurgeon tells me that I will have a 6 to 8 week recovery period then I'll be able to resume normal activities. The irony is, the recovery period involves pretty much the same sort of stuff I'm doing now--avoiding sitting, changing position frequently, watching Netflix. Hopefully the recovery will involve less pain and fewer drugs. My Mom will come down to Ottawa to take care of me during the first part of my recovery (it's so nice to have a Mom who is a retired nurse!).
Well, that's all I can think to write at this point. All my current knitting projects are of the top secret variety so you'll have to sit tight!
As I drink my birthday coffee I thought I would answer some birthday questions that you are most certainly asking. Q: What type of birthday cake do you like the best?
A: Carrot Cake with cream cheese icing, hands down. I also like chocolate cake with vanilla icing. Q: What do you want for your birthday? A: I want to be able to spend time with friends and family and to enjoy the beautiful fall colours. Some of that carrot cake would be nice too.
Q: Do you feel upstaged having your birthday so close to Thanksgiving weekend? A: No, Thanksgiving just feels like an extension of my birthday. It is perfect timing because it means that I can see my family. It also happens to be one of my favourite holidays since it includes some of my favourite things: hiking, apples, pumpkin pie and turkey dinners. Q: Are you upset that you won't get to go hiking this birthday/Thanksgiving? A: Honestly, it is a bit frustrating to not be able to get outside and be active like I usually am. With my back the way it is, I wouldn't enjoy it right now anyway...I would barely make it to the corner! I just have to remind myself that this is only for a time and will not last forever.
Q: How many birthdays have you had so far? A: This would be my thirtieth birthday, not counting the very first on in 1982. Q: Do you feel that this birthday marks your official entrance into spinsterhood? A: No, according to Wikipedia, "A spinster, or old maid, is an older, childless woman who has never been married, typically in her late 40's and older." Clearly I have at least 15 more birthdays before could be a certified spinster. Also, although I am an avid knitter, I haven't yet taken up the hobby of spinning wool thus excluding me from even the original definition of spinster. Q: What are some of your recent knitting projects? A: I'm glad you asked, this week I finished a cute little hat and I am almost done a pair of mittens. The hat is based on the Sweetie Pie Hat from Purl Soho. I sized it to (hopefully) fit a 3-6 month old baby which turned out to be a simple change from worsted weight to sport and DK weight. I used Cascade 220 Superwash Sport in Green Apple and King Cole Merino Blend DK in French Navy.
The mittens, which are 3/4 done, are Ambroso Mittens from Knitty. As you can see I used Merino Blend for these too but in the colour Clerical. I found it hard to get gauge for these ones, the suggested needles were 3.5 mm and I ended up having to go up three sizes to 4.5 mm when I am usually right on the money with gauge. Maybe this DK tends to be a bit thicker than most. The right mitten seems to have turned out alright and the left one is coming along nicely. I actually bought the grey Merino Blend several years ago to knit a sweater. I have now given up on this sweater for two reasons: 1) because I was such a novice knitter that I can't trust my counting or gauge; 2) because I am still bored at the thought of the rows and rows of flat stockinette stitch involved in this particular sweater. ** This post is going up a bit later than I initially had planned. I did have a nice surprise visit from South Carleton friends who brought some cake and good times with them. Now I'm awaiting my family who will roll in later this evening!**
This morning I woke up at 5:40 and couldn't get back to sleep. I tried to doze until about 8:00 when I 'threw in the towel' and got up. It was kind of nice to be up early and not have to rush to a doctor's appointment. Since I have been off work with this back thing, I have fallen into the bad habit of staying up until past midnight and waking up around 11. Usually I will wake up one or two times in the night, take some pills, read some blogs and drift back to sleep. That makes me sound like a bit of a drug addict, most of the pills I take are ibuprofen or tylenol...and sometimes prescription narcotics...
Ok...back to this morning...it was quite nice to wake up and not have to rush off anywhere. I turned on the radio to hear Radio 2 Morning, something I often miss given my current sleep habits. The very last song of the morning was Of Whom Shall I be Afraid by Jim Byrnes, a blues musician from Vancouver. I really enjoyed this song and it went right along with the story of Gideon I was reading in the Bible. Here is a video of Jim Byrnes with the Sojornors singing the song at a music festival:
Gideon can be found in Judges 6, 7 and 8. The basics of the story of Gideon are pretty well known: little guy--hiding from Israel's enemies--Angel of the Lord appears and calls him a great warrior--asks God to show him a sign that this is true--puts out fleeces for proof--fleeces are wet then dry--he defeats the enemy with God's strength. The signs that he asks for are sometimes seen as a lack of faith (my question would be: why does he make it to Hebrews 11-the Hall of Faith?).
If you go and read about Gideon, you will see that he quickly looses confidence in himself and in what he thinks he has heard from God--he doesn't lose faith in God. At every point of decision in this story, Gideon looks to God for reassurance. God always comes through. At each turn in the story, God reminds Gideon where his strength is. Gideon doesn't wallow in self doubt, he acts on what God tells him is true. Gideon places his hope and trust in God.
God knows that people need reassurance. He knows that we need to ask and see him move; that we need to listen and hear his voice. That is why he gives us things along the way. If you are hoping in him for something very big that he hasn't given you yet then he has probably shown you other, smaller things that confirm that promise or other ones that he has made to you. God doesn't leave us dangling, not in pain, not in waiting, not in loneliness or disappointment. God always moves and will show us how he is moving if we ask. This is one of the reasons Jim Byrnes's song is so true!
