It’s Friday, time to look back over the blessings of the week
with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and other friends.
This FFF button is particularly apt because we’ve had snow twice this week. Thankfully it wasn’t heavy and didn’t impact travel either time.
This first week of the new year ended up not being quite as back-to-the-routine as I was expecting. But overall, everything went well. Here are a few favorites.
1. Time with family and safe travels. We had one last weekend all together before my oldest had to fly back to RI. It’s always hard to say goodbye, but I so treasure those weeks together. Thankfully all his flights went as scheduled even though we heard of massive numbers of flights being cancelled due to staff shortages.
2. A hot water heater fix. On the last shower of the last day of Jeremy’s visit, the hot water heater went out. My husband cleaned out the motor area and took some things apart. He looked up the part he thought was needed, but it wouldn’t get here for several days. I began to think of all the ramifications of not having hot water for several days. He worked on it a good bit of the afternoon and got it going. My hero!
3. New calendars. One of my favorite things is setting up new wall calendars for the new year. I have two, one near my desk and one in the kitchen. I go through them and put all our birthdays and anniversaries in it before hanging it up. It’s such a pleasure to see those clean pages.
4. A good first doctor’s visit. I’ve had some digestive issues for a number of years which have steadily gotten worse. I saw a gastroenterologist when this all first started, but he was the kind of doctor who could only help if he found something he could cut out. When he didn’t, he referred me to the internet. 
We’ve moved since then, and I finally decided to ask my family doctor for a referral. I had my first appointment with the new doctor this week, and he was very easy to talk to and much more knowledgeable about the various facets of digestive troubles. He gave me a couple of things to try and scheduled a couple of easy tests. Then we’ll get those results and see what steps we need to take next.
5. A beautiful sunrise. Our house is positioned such that we don’t normally see sunrises or sunsets. Sometimes we’ll catch a bit of beautiful color in one window, but will have to step outside to see much more. And even then, we’re surrounded by so many trees that we only get what looks like a few feet of skyline before it’s gone. I had to leave the house while it was still dark one morning and was able to see the whole sunrise stretch across the sky while I was driving. It was so glorious and such a pleasure. I couldn’t stop to get a picture, but I enjoyed it immensely.
(Edited to add): Bonus: Help putting Christmas things away. The whole family comes over to help decorate for Christmas. This is our first Christmas without Jesse living at home, and I was not relishing putting everything away with just Jim and I. Thankfully, Jesse was willing to stay after Jeremy left and help, and Jason and Mittu also helped a bit before they had to leave. As tired as I was afterward even with help, I can’t imagine how wiped out I’d have been if we’d had to do it alone. It was also nice to get it done and not have all the totes everywhere for days.
I hope your first week of 2022 contained blessings large and small.
Stray Thoughts 
Love all of your faves especially your family time and help! that is a HUGE blessing. I put away everything by myself although my wonderful hubby did pull apart the artificial tree for me and carried the largest piece down to the basement and he also secured the box a lot better than I would have! I appreciate good help 🙂
I started having some digestive issues when I went through menopause and discovered (through a LOT of research, a good nutritionist friend and some from my doc) that our bodies actually need a good probiotic and less dairy. (I’ve cut out all dairy other than some occasional cheese like on pizza or when a recipe calls for cheddar). I HIGHLY recommend you ask your specialist or whomever about taking Renew Life for Women. You can find it at CVS or Target. And online at Amazon. It’s rated one of the top probiotics for women and I’ve been using it now for about 8 years with NO MORE digestive issues!!! Cutting out dairy is a HUGE help (our bodies really weren’t meant to drink cow’s help if you do the research on that as well!!).
ENJOY the weekend……we are finally getting some snow here in eastern NYS!!
We had a light dusting of snow last night, but it is very very cold here. I love to look at the brightness.
I’m a sunset lover–sunrises happen too early for me. But once in a while, it is lovely to see a sunrise, too.
I do hope this new dr will be able to help you with your tummy issues.
Christmas decor—hmmm, I guess I should do something today. Thanks for the reminder 🙂
I love new calendars, too! So much possibility in those blank squares. Family together and a handy husband. Yes, I’d say that’s a good week! I rarely see sunrises, so love when I can catch one. I’m up early, but don’t ‘wake up’ until the sun is way over the horizon. Happy New Year:)
I’m glad you got help with putting all the Christmas stuff away. It can be quite a demanding job. I envy you having a hubby who can sort out things like water heaters. My hubby wouldn’t have a clue! I hope you get some proper help with the digestive issues now you’ve changed doctors. Have a good weekend.
Ah, the putting away….glad you had good help for that! This year was perhaps our simplest in terms of decoration, including no big tree haul around.
And I was just talking with a co-worker about his sticker-shock when he had to have his water heater replaced. So nice that your husband figured it out and you weren’t lacking in hot water in the middle of winter!
While I rely on electronic calendars, it’s nice to have paper ones, too. Glad yours are in good standing for the new year. Very pleased you’ve got a much more suitable doctor to help you through digestive issues. For some of my friends and family, new sensitivities (lactose, gluten, fruit, tree nuts) develop with age. Hope your malady gets diagnosed soon!
So glad you had a nice holiday with family close at hand. Help with putting the decorations away is always a good things and much appreciated. So glad your husband was able to fix your hot water heater. Ours is old and we need to be thinking about replacing it. Also good that you found a new doctor you like. I hope you get the help you need to feel better. I like clean new calendars too, but unfortunately, thanks to a big Covid spike here, I have already had to cross some scheduled events off of our new calendar. Hope you have a good weekend. 🙂
I said goodbye to one child last week and another today, so I feel your pain there. YAY for a good new doctor! After several bad experiences with my family doctor a year or so back, I took a leap and chose a new one. I loved him — great to talk to, seemed to really listen and be willing to think about issues and possible solutions. Then sadly, about 4 months later he switched to emergency medicine ;( He referred me to someone else in the practice, and I’ll meet her later this month. I really hope I’ll like her as you do yours!
May you have another wonderful week!
Glad there was undelayed and safe travels for your son. There have been hundreds of flights cancelled around here too due to employees off sick due to Covid. Wow, my mind is boggled at the response from that first doctor. So glad you have found one that is willing to put in the work to find what is wrong and what will work for you. I usually put away all the Christmas decor too but hubby does pull apart the tree and carries the boxes downstairs to storage for me. I find over the last couple of years I have put out way less, probably because I don’t want to pack it all away by myself. Yay for Jim fixing the water heater on his own. That’s not a fun expense right after Christmas!