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, a 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.
Wow, I am running super late this morning, but here are some of my faves from the last week.
1. Spring break! A little earlier than I am used to, but I’ll gladly take it whenever it comes!
2. Eating out. This one is actually a “leftover” from last week when Jesse was on his senior trip. It wasn’t planned this way, but Jim and I ate out twice, we brought pizza in one night, and then I got take-out from Cracker Barrel for one lunch. Plus Jason and Mittu had us over for dinner Saturday night. It almost felt like vacation, not having to plan for meals, cook, or clean up. A bonus is that in most cases there were leftovers! It’s probably not healthy financially or physically to eat from restaurants that often regularly, but I felt very rested.
3. Jim’s belated birthday celebration. We ate out at a restaurant right on the Tennessee Riverand got a table right at the window.
By the way, the bottle in front of Mittu is root beer. 🙂
4. Cleaning the stove-top — the result, not so much the process.
Before:
During:
After:
5. The Settlers of Catan iPhone app. I resisted getting it for a long time because it is one of the more expensive apps, but then I reasoned that I paid more for the board game and we don’t get together to play it all that often. I figured the app would help me learn how to strategize better. Well….I may be getting a wee bit obsessed. It’s fun, and it has improved my game!
Bonuses: A good report at my first dental visit since we moved here, and NOT losing power in the storm last night. We knew it went off while we were out because the computer was off and all the clocks were blinking when we got home, but we were thankful it was on and stayed on the rest of the night. Our first year here the power seemed to go off a lot so that’s a concern in any bad weather.
That’s my week. How was yours?
Stray Thoughts 
Oh your stovetop looks so clean! Mine needs cleaning so bad!
Anytime you don’t have to cook or clean the kitchen, I count it as a favorite!
Not losing power? Definitely a bonus AND a favorite!
Have a great week!
oh my goodness…an app for settlers of catan?? i’m gonna have to tell my hubby…he LOVES that game. I tolerate it. lol…..and yay for not having to cook or plan menus much…sometimes we all need that break….have a special weekend
How do you get your stove top so clean. I have a terrible time. I finally started lining it with foil. Don’t like the look, but at least it is clean. Also, I could never get the burner covers clean. they recently came out with scrubbing bubbles here and after two cleanings, they are coming clean. Maybe after a couple more they will be nice and gray again! One can hope!
I mainly used an SOS pad. I was afraid at first it would scratch the finish, but it hasn’t. My d-i-l told me she used baking soda and lemon juice on hers. That cleaned a good bit off mine but not all of it.
The view from the restaurant is gorgeous!
A mini vacation is how I felt last weekend too with next to no cooking.
I need to scrub the inside of my oven doors. Not looking forward to the job.
What a terrific family photo, Barbara! It’s so nice that your family enjoys getting together and building memories. As for the clean stove — hurray! I like using Greased Lightning (degreaser) and Barkeeper’s Friend (non-scratching powder).
That’s cute, about the stove. I HATE cleaning mine! I usually do a quick wipe with a wet paper towel and wait for the day my husband says “um, I think the stove should be cleaned” hahahaa and I’m thinking “THEN CLEAN IT”..sorry but it’s my most hated thing to do next to mopping : (
I’m glad you had some time off from planning the meals. Sometimes it feels like I’m on a hamster wheel. Breakfast cleaned up? Oh, it’s time for lunch! Then a snack, and then dinner. It’s always a special treat to eat out.
Your stovetop looks fantastic! We don’t have gas here.. I’m not a fan of Electric ranges, but the ceramic top sure cleans up a lot easier!
I love the family photo. =)
I always enjoy reading about your week. I can totally empathize re: stove cleaning. 🙂
Love the view from the restaurant for Jim’s birthday. And you pointing out the root beer bottle made me smile. 🙂
Hurray on a good report about your teeth. No dental work needed is definitely a fave. (I am paranoid about going to the dentist.)
Love the look of your stove. Mine needs cleaning too. I should take a photo of mine and post it. Maybe that would boost me into cleaning it. 🙂
I hope this week feels restful too.
BTW – My camera does not have the pencil sketch app since my camera is not a complicated one. But I do have a free photo program, Picasa, and that’s where I am learning to do such things.
My week last week was somewhat stressful (as you already know by now, after reading my post this morning!) I had a bad attitude on Friday so I avoided FFF but I should probably have done it!!
Sigh. Anyway.
Looks like Jim had a really fun (and beautiful) birthday dinner! I love a clean stovetop/kitchen/bedroom – anything! But, as you say, the process of getting it in a clean condition is not ALWAYS the fun part!