Someone told me last week that my Friday’s Fave Five and monthly recap posts made my life sound so perfect. Let me assure you, we and our circumstances are far from perfect. 🙂 But one thing I like about FFF is that it gets my mind off the problems, inconveniences, aches, and everything bothersome and makes me look for the positives.
The hardest weeks for me to come up with an FFF post are not the ones with something major going on. Rather, the everyday, not especially bad but not especially good, blah weeks are the hardest for me to find things to be thankful for. But when I look for them, I find them. Some people write gratitude journals; I participate in Friday’s Fave Five with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story. 🙂
1. Surprise breakfast sandwiches. Jim was out early one morning and came back with some breakfast sandwiches from McDonald’s and Burger King. I used to get something out for breakfast once a week or so when I was taking kids to school, but I’m not usually out that early these days. So it’s a nice treat.
2. Primary elections and pool working. We had primary elections this week. I am always grateful we have an opportunity to vote in this country, and I was sad to learn that only about 17% of those eligible in our county voted this week. On Sunday, a man at church told us that there was a shortage of poll workers. Jim contacted the proper authorities and was able to work one of the polling places. He’s much more interested in politics than I am, so I was glad he had an opportunity to participate in the process. He said it was also a nice way to get involved in the community and touch base with neighbors.
3. Lunch with my friend, Melanie, with Red Lobster gift cards form my family. We hadn’t met for lunch for a couple of months, and had to reschedule this one a couple of times. So it was good to finally get together. The food was wonderful and our waiter was great. But we mainly enjoyed the conversation together.
4. Annual flower purchases and planting. Jim and I went out this week to get hanging flower baskets and plants for the front and back planters. They’ve gotten incredibly expensive, but we were able to find some good deals. Some of the wildflowers from last year have come back along the fence line, so we’re waiting to see if we need to do anything there. We’ve talked about placing bushes and/or perennials there, but haven’t quite decided what to do.
I’ll hold off on pictures of the planters until they fill out a little bit, But I always love these hanging baskets. I can see them from my desk and the dining room table.
5. Mother’s Day is this Sunday. I’m thankful for my mom year round, but especially this weekend. She passed away over twenty years ago, and I wish I had more pictures of us together. But I’m so grateful for her love for me, her influence in my life, and the many good memories I have of her.
Happy Mother’s Day to moms and mothering figures! May you have a joyous time remembering your mom and celebrating her.
Stray Thoughts 
Happy Mother’s Day weekend! I hope you enjoy a blessed time with your family. 🙂
Happy Mother’s Day! I just love all the pics of you and your mom…how very precious.
Sounds like a wonderful week of special treats and blessings.
Hm…someone once emailed me and said “must be nice to have such a perfect life’. Um. Nope. NO perfect life over here….trust me…..i just happen to have a lot of joy of the Lord that hopefully spills over to my blog, like yours does and I LOVE finding blessings in the more mundane weeks. Like this past one! Nothing exciting…but special things anyways to give thanks for.
Awwww what sweet photos of you with your mom! The flowers are beautiful and will just keep getting better as they fill out. I worked an election a few years ago and yes, it was fun seeing so many area people who I normally don’t. Such a long day though … we voted too although there were no “big” elections here. A couple of local ones came down to a difference of under 50 votes deciding the winner. Happy Mother’s Day!
What sweet photos of your Mom! I see so much of you in her face. My mom has been gone for 9 years. I sure miss her as you do yours.
I’m glad you found some good deals with your hanging flowers shopping. They look beautiful hanging there alongside your home.
I always enjoy our lunches together. Our waiter was wonderful. The food was good although the grouper I brought home was a bit dry.
My favorite drive-through breakfast is always the McD’s sausage egg McMuffin. It’s been ages since I’ve gone to Burger King.
Have a lovely weekend and special Mother’s Day, my friend.
Happy Mother’s Day to you and lovely pics of your Mum. We celebrate Mother’s Day in March here in the UK. Yes I find the uneventful weeks tricky to find things to be grateful for too but they’re always there – just have to look a bit harder. We had local elections here too yesterday but we’ve done postal votes for a while now so no rushing out to get to a polling station for us. Have a good weekend.
Jim is so thoughtful with the “little ” things he does for you like bringing home those breakfast sandwiches.
I’m glad he was able to fill a need in your community by volunteering at the polls. It’s something I have considered in the past,but just didn’t check in to what I needed to do.
Your hanging baskets are beautiful, Barbara.
Happy Mother’s Day to you.
Hi Barbara, I agree with you about life. FF lets me focus on the positive. Who wants to hear just about my aching back or decluttering though I do mention it a bit. Flowers do make things pretty! I took some pictures of my roses and saw they are in need of pruning, but my back won’t let me. My grandson will help me when school is out. I am glad you and Melanie were able to meet up. Have a wonderful Happy Mother’s Day!
Happy Mother’s Day Barbara! Your mother was very pretty! I too am thankful for a mother who loved me, encouraged me, and prepared me well for independence. (Dad did a stellar job too!)
You are right about our lives not being perfect. But we choose to focus on gratitude.
I’m glad you had your lunch time with Melanie. I know you both enjoy it.
Happy Mother’s Day to you! I miss my mom, too.
What wonderful pics of your Mom! Love the row of hanging baskets. I’m cutting way back on flower purchases this year. So I say now. We’ll see what happens when I’m at the nursery and want them all. LOL. Glad you finally had your lunch with Melanie! So neat that you guys get together regularly.
Yah, perfection is not what we’re trying to present here — just a remembrance of God’s goodness to us.
That’s so neat that your husband could participate in serving the community now that he has a bit more time. My brother worked the (surprisingly frequent) elections in his county and eventually got a full time job — this was quite the answer to prayer since he’d been under-employed for ages.
What a treat to see these photos of your dear mother.