Work is busy, busy, busy, primarily due to meetings on a huge conversion project for which I am our office liaison. According to the MAP test I took back in October, prioritizing is one of my strengths; even I can't handle this much, at least without significant overtime. Naturally, we don't get paid for overtime, and it yields very little in the "good impression" stakes as well. My priority to minimize overtime is to say I simply can't take on any new/additional work until after Christmas. Well, that's my plan, anyway. Getting everyone else to respect it is another story.
The great church hunt continues, or rather enters another phase. Last spring I had more or less settled down at Waukesha Bible; however, the thirty mile round trip combined with the ridiculous gas prices this summer, leading to a reluctance on my part to commit. I have to admit that due to various circumstances, I pretty much took the summer off from worship services. Involvement in two Bible studies and with various friends has kept me full up on fellowship and study, but it's not really the same.
So last Sunday I revisited a small church I had first visited back in February or so. A dear friend and her son and daughter-in-law have attended there for the last several weeks (they also used to attend the CFABM), and Pam asked me to join them.
The church is right on with their statement of faith. The pastor is knowledgeable and makes a point of providing us with personal applications of the passages he preaches. The congregation has both young families and older couples, as well as everything in between. It's also more ethnically diverse than many churches I've visited. Rather than a thirty minute drive, it's about a fifteen minute walk from my house.
So, why didn't I go back after the initial visit?
It's really small - roughly 75 - 100 people in the service. Admittedly, not as small as the little Baptist church I tried where there were all of thirty people, including the pastor and the organist.
I have nothing against small churches as such; I think right now, I just want to slide in and out, and not necessarily get terribly involved. This is partly fallout from leaving the CFABM, but also a function of my personality. I really am an introvert and I tend to be very reserved and cautious on top of it. The plus side of that is that once I let you in, you're (generally) in for life.
Our early weekday morning Bible study has been meeting at Nancy's house for the last couple of months, as Nancy broke her foot in a motorcycle incident. It's not at all what you think: she was taking a motorcycle safety course so she could go riding with her husband, and the bike fell over on her foot. Since the object of this is to help Mrs. Gimpy out, the rest of us take turns bringing breakfast. Not the grab-a-coffeecake-and-run type of breakfast, either. The breakfasts I've had at the study are better than most of my lunches.
It's my turn tomorrow. Farmer's Breakfast Casserole and turkey breakfast sausage links. Last night I cooked the sausage, so it really just needs reheating. The casserole can fortunately be put together tonight. This does, however, entail my getting up at 4 a.m. or so to coax the oven up to the right temperature before popping the dish in to cook at 4:30.
Nancy is almost healed up - after Christmas we will probably go back to the restaurant rather than continue meeting at her place. Would you want a group of women at your house at 5:45 a.m. every Thursday morning?
Farmers Breakfast Casserole
3 cups potato -- shredded
3/4 cup fat free cheddar cheese -- shredded
3 ounces canadian bacon -- chopped
1/2 cup onion -- chopped
4 each whole egg -- beaten
12 ounces evaporated skimmed milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Preheat oven to 350. Spray an 8 x 8" pan with cooking spray. Arrange potatoes on the bottom of the pan, then sprinkle with cheese, canadian bacon and onion. In a large mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk and seasonings. Pour over mix in pan.
Bake uncovered for 40 minutes or until center appears set. Let sit 5 minutes before serving. * if made the night before, increase cooking time to 50 minutes.
The pizza timer is about to go off. I didn't have time to eat lunch until about 1:45 this afternoon (after getting to work at 6:45 a.m.), so I'm not terribly hungry now. But I've found that when this happens and I skip dinner entirely, I wake up absolutely ravenous.
Oh yeah - Jack's Naturally Rising The Works pizza, with added mushrooms, italian seasoning and parmesan cheese.
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