How Much Coriander Does One Person Need, Anyway?

Before I answer this question, I should update you on my mom's condition. I called her this morning to check on her. She said she was sitting upright. "So you've improved at least 45 degrees,huh?" I asked.

She came home last evening after the doctor went over six pages of inconclusive findings. While she did have stroke-like symptoms, the CT scan was negative. They didn't do an MRI. My mom finally told the doctor she thinks it's her medications which had recently been changed. He dismissed her notion with a wave of the hand. But she is an avid documenter of her own meds (once a nurse, always a nurse) and she can pretty well surmise that it's probably a build-up of meds that her body isn't ultimately adjusting to very well. She has felt unsteady on her feet since her "a-fib" in December. But they are still planning to travel to Birobidjhan next Tuesday. I am taking them dinner toight--bean enchiladas and Caribbean Salad (they're vegetarians).

Not me. Today I ate another elephant. One "bite" at a time, I knocked out spring cleaning of about 1/9 of my kitchen. I vacuumed the crown moulding, Sarah wiped them down plus the fronts of the upper cabinets (which she can reach without a chair) and I tackled the fronts of the base cabinets AND my lazy Susan. I took pics but will save them for a bigger "ta-da" post when I boast about how all good I am in the cleaning department. What was so sweet of the Lord was how near His presence was during this and how it felt like he was my groom and I his new bride doing the whole homemaking thing out of pure joy. That doesn't happen often, especially when I'm wiping down 21 different somewhat gunky canisters of spices. What I discovered was a preponderance of coriander. I have whole coriander in a chrome carousel. I have crushed coriander in a plastic bottle. I have coriander enough to feed a small army . But tell me, what small army would want it? So I ditched half of it. I also have a jug of oregano to spice up a year's worth of spaghetti sauce for a Roman army. But most other quantities of spices on hand are reasonable. So I kept wiping down their exteriors and rearranging them. I was reminded of Mary of Magdalene who came to her Lord's tomb to anoint her Lord's body with spices.

While I relocated my Christmas cookie cutters to their new home in my new-to-me (but free!) buffet table, I thought about my Operation Gummi Worm club who made cookies for Trip at Christmas and Valentines. Darling girls--and Joel.

When I was reorganizing my tea stash, I thought of (and prayed for) Isabelle. How I'd love to have a cup of tea in your flat in Paris someday, ma chere! When I saw my new coffee tin from Sarah, I thanked God for my thoughtful daughter . Every now and then she picks up some bargain for me that she knows I'll like. One week it's a clock, the next week a coffee tin. Thanks, Sarah!

During this time, Paul was outside pressure washing/de-staining the deck. The sky was grey and overcast, not burning his skin. But he was soaking wet. No sooner had I finished fussing over my "new Sue," the sun came out and shone brightly through my new clean window (accidentally clean from the pressure washer's overspray). The sun brightened up the countertops. The stainless steel was all shiny.

"A sun-kissed kitchen!" I thought. Then it was almost like Jesus whispered, "Thanks, honey. It looks so nice." (No, it wasn't Paul's voice. He came in a little later for lunch and said,"So, is somebody gonna do the top of the fridge, too?" (ERGH!:))

So those are my two happy reports for the day. Time to start those enchiladas and read a quick chapter for ladies' fellowship tonight. (If it weren't for the last minute, I'd get nothing done.)