Welcome to Friday’s Fave Five, hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story, in which we can share five of our favorite things from the last week, wonderful exercise in looking for and appreciating the good things God blesses us with. Click on the button to learn more, then go to Susanne’s to read others’ faves and link up your own.
It’s been an overcast week here in eastern TN with the possibility of snow tonight. No accumulation expected, though many students, as well as parents and teachers, hope that part of the forecast is wrong! (Update: that part was written yesterday afternoon. We did get a bit of snow, but only got a 1 hour delay for school.)
Here are some of my favorite things from the last week:
1. Audiobooks. Wow, that has really transformed driving time! I’ll say more about it when I finish the first one.
2. Looking through a box of his mom’s old pictures with my husband. Jim’s sister had sent it just after their mom moved to be near us and we had been meaning to get that down from the attic for a long time so she could help us identify some of the people in them, but thankfully Jim knew who most of them were. We found several of his mom as a child, which Jim had never seen before, and several with her sister, who had passed away many years back.
3. Twice-baked potatoes using this recipe. I’ve had them a couple of times, but this was the first time I made them. So good! And though I am not the best planner in the kitchen, I did even plan ahead for this by making extra baked potatoes for a dinner earlier in the week.
4. These:
They say you shouldn’t go shopping when you’re hungry. They’re right. :blush: I dashed in for some supplies for Jim’s mom, saw this, and grabbed it. It’s a layer of brownie with a layer of chocolate chip cookie on top. Wonderful.
5. Finished projects. Jim’s mom’s new place has a shadow box outside each resident’s door for photos or whatever. My main project this week has been working on a collage for that (thus the looking through old pictures mentioned above). I wanted to include some older ones and some more recent ones. I got that finished yesterday — but forgot to take a picture of it! But here’s one of my favorite pictures of his mom:
And this is hot-off-the-press just finished last night — I haven’t even rinsed or pressed it yet:
Normally I like to use as much as floss as possible and not leave any white space behind the Xs, but this was a kit and I didn’t know if there would enough floss to use more strands than called for, so I just followed the instructions. But I like it overall.
Hope you have a great weekend in your part of the world!
Stray Thoughts 
I LOVE audio books for driving, but especially in the kitchen! Loving the photo of your MIL.
Previous comment by me…oops.
I love to see old family pictures ! and your brownies look very yummy !
Thank you for telling me that I had put the wrong link in Mr. Linky, I misundertood Susanne I thought my link to her blog wasn’t right !
The cookie brownie looks so good! I definitely want to try some of those!
Twice baked potatoes is something I have never tried. I don’t know why, because I love loaded potatoes skins and these look similar. I think it’s the planning ahead part that keeps me from doing it.
Your mother in law was very beautiful!
We have often listened to audiobooks when driving on a trip. It makes the trip seem to go so much quicker!
The picture of Jim’s mom is just beautiful!!
You have a very sweet tooth, don’t you? Those brownies made my mouth water! I really LOVE that embroidery, so pretty! Looking through old pictures is a fun activity on a cold winter’s night? I agree. Have a great weekend Barbara!
A fancy brownies box mix! I could make that. And I probably will next time I go shopping, I will look for this dessert.
Your xx is lovely. And even lovelier is the saying. The white background looks just fine. Do you have a favourite xx, Barbara?
I enjoy twice baked potatoes, but I remember them being labour intensive. I will have a look at your recipe to see if that is still true.
What a meaningful time to go through photos and then to make up a photo collage for your mil. Getting things done is a great feeling.
Have a great week.
YUM to the brownies!! And twiced baked potatos are a fave. I’m seriously drooling here, hahaa. I love looking thru old pics and that picture of his mom is beautiful!!
Love that great old photo of your MIL. Very nice. It’s also great that the pictures from the family stash are recognizable. Now of course I’d like a brownie….
Audio books (Audible.com) has transformed my driving time as well (and I have alot of driving time) I love listening to my stories. What are you listening to for your first one?
Old photos are the best – especially if you can go through them with someone who can tell you the stories that go along with them. The one of your MIL is great!
The crosstitch is lovely. Is it for a gift or will you keep it for yourself?
Audiobooks are great – I listen to them while I work around the house. Especially baking.
Those squares are killing me – I just joined weight watchers – I wonder how many points 🙂
Your mil is beautiful!!
Happy weekend!
Ooh, I think I need to try those cookie brownies – yum!! Wish I could do the potatoes too, but allergies have kept me from them for a couple of years now. 😦
Trish @ 5MFB
That is a beautiful embroidery piece. I’d like to try that some time. Your mother-in-law is beautiful. I love those older pictures. They look so much more classier for some reason. And those brownies look heavenly. Hmm….maybe I’ll bake this afternoon : )
What a beautiful picture of Jim’s mom. I love the look of those older photographs.
I have never tried an audiobook. It’s only about 10-15 minutes from one end of town to another here and I’m not in the car that often so a book would be slow going.
The cross stitch is beautiful, and in a very different way, so are those brownie/cookie bars. (now I’m hungry!)
I love the photo of Jim’s mom. I love the idea of the shadow box. It will remind the staff of who she IS. (not was) That is her, and she is a beautiful woman.
I’ll always prefer sitting down to read, but I love to have books in my iPod and in the card during all my taxiing, and my waiting for boys during karate or swimming.
YES, a thousand times yes on audiobooks. Isn’t it wonderful how much is available on audiobooks now? They’ve completely transformed my commute (about 1.5 hours each day). I really like your cross-stitch project — very sweet.
We enjoy audio books too–especially on long trips. What a sweet cross stitch project!
Did you talk about old photos?? On no! Now I’m reminded of my mess in the guest room–I hope I’ll have as much concentration as you to actually DO something with mine.
That is indeed a beautiful picture of Jim’s mom!
I like seeing your cross-stitch (or “needle work”?)
We DID have a good weekend. We went to Seattle with some friends of ours. And then we came back home and Bookworm1 had rather a scary medical emergency which occupied the next few days. Today is our first CALM day (so I’m playing catch up, as you might be able to tell!)