Our April has gotten off to a good start. Temperatures were up into the 80s this week, but it looks like we’ll be back down in the 30s a couple of nights next week. It feels like spring has settled in a little more firmly.

I’m joining with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story to share some highlights of the week.

1. Watercolor painting. I’ve wanted to dabble in watercolors for some time, but just never seemed to find time to do it. Mittu asked a mutual artistic friend from church if she’d come over for lunch on Saturday and teach us a bit about watercolors. It turns out to be a lot harder than it looks! Even our friend, with more experience than either of us, had sheets and sheet of practice flowers. So that was a little dismaying on one hand, but encouraging on the other–my lackluster beginning attempts aren’t an indication that I can’t do it, just an indication that it takes time to develop and eye and feel for it. Even more than the painting, we enjoyed the conversation around the table.

We used this video for the tulips and this tutorial for ten small flowers, but only got through the first five.

My results for the afternoon. I think the single tulip turned out the best.

2. Repairs. A few weeks ago, a spring in our garage door broke, making the door come crashing down. Thankfully, nothing was under the door at the time. It took several days for a repair person to come out and fix it. But then, the motor of the garage door opener made a grinding noise whenever we tried to open and close it. Jim tried a couple of repairs that didn’t fix the problem. So he ordered a new system. He had it installed rather than trying to do it himself. It took another several days for them to come out, but that finally got done this week. It’s nice to have it working again.

Then our kitchen faucet has been having issues, getting harder to maneuver, even getting stuck a couple of times. Jim got a new one and installed it this week. Much better! While he had everything out of the cabinet under the sink, he installed a couple of pull-out organizers, making it easier to reach items.

3. A good dentist’s visit. Even a simple dental cleaning is one of my least favorite things to do. But after one a couple of years ago that discovered a cavity under a bridge and several visits to take care of that, I’ve been a little more antsy about going to the dentist. It’s nice to get the all-clear there for another six months.

4. Dogwood blooms. I’ve seen some white dogwood trees blooming around the neighborhood, but our backyard pink ones are just now budding. It’s exciting to see the flowers come in.

5. Checking off a to-do list. I’ve almost completed everything on my list this week, and I should finish up today. Of course, there are always more things to be done. But it feels good to complete a list.

Bonus: Timothy’s birthday isn’t for a couple of weeks. But he has an orthodontist’s visit between now and then, so he wanted to have his birthday dinner before his mouth became sore from that. He chose Fai Thai Kitchen. I was a little apprehensive, because I have not liked any Thai food I’ve tried. So I ate a sandwich beforehand. 🙂 But I was pleasantly surprised. I got the Basil Fried Rice with chicken and the shrimp spring rolls, which were both very good. Some of the entrees were sent out on this robot, which had a cute little voice saying “Here I am!” when it came to the table.

As we commemorate the death of Jesus today, I am so thankful He was willing to suffer all that He did on our behalf. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:212).

Happy Easter to you!

Here we are at the last FFF of the month already. This has been a great week for me–I hope for you, too! I link up on Fridays with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story, who started this edifying practice of sharing five good things, large or small, that God blesses us with during the week.

1. A much more productive week than I have had lately. I know life isn’t all about getting things done–but there are still things to get done. “A desire accomplished is sweet to the soul” (Proverbs 13:19).

2. A shelf expander and cabinet reorganization. I realized that I had serving platters in two different places. There was one shelf that had a little space, but I didn’t want all the platters stacked on top of each other. I found this expandable shelf that worked great. That led to cleaning out two cabinets, rearranging some things, and setting aside a few items for the thrift store.

Top shelf, before:

Top shelf, after:

3. Guys’ camping trip. Timothy wanted to take a camping trip for his birthday next month. But he has an orthodontist visit before then, and wanted to camp before that so he could enjoy it without his mouth being sore. 🙂 Jim, Jason, and Timothy went up to the Douglas Dam Camprgound from Monday through Wednesday. Mittu and I went up on Tuesday for a few hours and enjoyed burgers made by the guys. The weather was a little cold, but otherwise beautiful. I love that the camp sites are right by the lake. The view from were I sat:

Jason’s picture by the dam with the Blue Ridge Mountains in the background.

A cute little duck couple came up to the camp site. The female, in particular, seemed almost totally unafraid of humans. The male was a little more wary. Jason and Mittu took turns feeding them some bread.

4. The Count of Monte Cristo on PBS Masterpiece Theatre, which began last Sunday night. I loved reading the book a few years ago, so I was excited to hear PBS was making a series based on the book. I was confused that IMDB showed this film having been produced in 2024, when the MT site said it was “all new.” But then I read something that indicated this was the US premiere of the series. And, because we have a subscription to MT, we have access to the whole series without having to wait for them to air! We’ve seen the first three episodes so far, and they are excellent. I hope the remaining episodes are just as good.

5. A light cooking week. I had an offer from Ruby Tuesday’s to buy one entree and get another for $3, so we used that for takeout last Saturday night. With Jim gone Monday night, I got take-out Mexican food. I ate out at their campsite Tuesday. Then last night we tried the brand new Culver’s that just opened near us. It took a while, because so many people are eating there for their opening week. But the food was really good. I had the beef pot roast sandwich and Jim had jumbo shrimp. Though hamburgers are their main thing, I like that they have a variety of options other fast food places don’t have.

Happy last week of March!

We usually celebrate Pi Day on 3/14. But I forgot about it until my Facebook memories reminded me. By that time I didn’t have either the ingredients or the oomph to prepare. We didn’t really do anything to observe St. Patrick’s Day, either, though we don’t always.

So it’s been a much needed quiet week. Here are some of the best parts, sharing with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.

1. Safety despite storms. This has been a wild weather week. We had some thunderstorms one night, which can lead to fallen limbs and power loss. But they didn’t this time. Then we got snow one day, but it didn’t even stick here. The kids had a slight accumulation in their neighborhoods, but it melted pretty quickly.

2. Recaps. Our church posts snippets from the Sunday sermon on Facebook and Instagram through the week, and our Sunday School teacher will sometimes email a recap of the morning’s lesson. I find them all helpful in remembering and meditating on what was shared on Sunday. It can be hard to take everything in at the moment. Plus, for whatever reason, I have the most trouble sleeping on Saturday nights, so sometimes I am fighting to keep awake and alert on Sunday mornings.

3. Financial paperwork is not a favorite, generally. But I am thankful my husband has a head for that kind of thing. I do not. And I am grateful he has taken the initiative in preparing ahead in order to make things easier on the kids when we’re gone.

4. The first day of spring! It’s nice to have it officially here, and bringing a bit of a warming trend with it.

5. Affresh. Our washing machine had kind of a yucky smell. The paperwork that came with it suggested something called Affresh, tablets to run through a cycle to clean it out. Our washer even has a cycle setting just for that. We hadn’t used it before, but found it at the grocery store. It took a couple of run-throughs, but the washer smells much better now. Sometimes it’s the little things. 🙂

How was your mid-March week?

It’s been a busy week! I’m thankful there’s nothing on the agenda for Friday and Saturday. There are always things to be done, and I hope to get to some of them. But we have a little more breathing room now.

I’m joining with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story to share some of the week’s blessings.

1. My dear husband’s birthday. The local kids came over and we Facetimed with Jeremy.

2. Our nephew-in-law’s memorial service. We’re sorry that he is gone so soon, and we ache for his family. But we were thankful his service was live-streamed. His wife (our niece) and children all spoke–I was amazed they were able to. I don’t know if I could. I enjoyed seeing their different personalities come out in their reflections. It was good to hear testimonies from others as well. It’s amazing how many lives one person can touch.

3. An impromptu dinner out. We had some errands to run Wednesday afternoon. As we finished up, we began to talk about eating out somewhere and decided to text and see if the kids were free to join us. Jesse had other plans, but Jason, Mittu, and Timothy met us at a local Mexican food restaurant.

4. Healing. I had a follow-up visit with the doctor to check on the cellulitis on my leg. It looks much better, though it’s not entirely healed. But he didn’t prescribe any more antibiotics (Yay!) and didn’t schedule me to come in again–he just said to call if it starts to look worse. That was the outcome I was hoping for.

5. Budding trees and bushes. More signs of spring! The whole area is full of fluffy white trees–Bradford pears, I think. And though I am not generally fond of yellow, the forsythia bushes in the neighborhood are a cheerful sight.

Our weather forecast is predicting that winter will have another fling next week, hopefully the last one. We’ve had both the heater and AC on this week. But I am happy we can switch between them at the push of a button.

How was your week?

It’s the first Friday of March! Even though it is not officially spring yet, I couldn’t wait to use the spring FFF graphic. I’m joining Susanne at Living to Tell the Story to cultivate gratefulness by recounting God’s blessings of the week.

1. Running into an old friend at the store. I had dashed in to look for some Easter things while waiting for a prescription to be filled. We had a good chat for about 15-20 minutes and caught up with each other’s families and people we both knew. That brightened my whole week.

2. Dinner at Jason and Mittu’s house. Though we’ve gotten together at our house or other places, and they’ve made dinner for us several times, we had not been to their house since before Christmas for various reasons. Their central air was out for a while, I sprained something in my back earlier this year that made me unable to navigate the slope in their yard or their stairs, etc. So it was fun to visit over there.

3. Buds and blossoms. I’ve seen daffodils and pansies blooming this week and one tree (not sure what kind) starting to bud. I love seeing signs of spring!

4. Healing. I have cellulitis in one leg again. 😦 It’s odd I have gotten it this time of year each of the last three years. Though it was an ordeal each time before, this time it seems to be healing well so far. Antibiotics usually negatively affect my digestive system since I have issues with that anyway. But probiotics and IB Guard have helped tone that down a bit.

5. A husband that buys the groceries. Though he does multitudes of other things that I appreciate, this is one of the things I am most grateful for. I tried to avoid asking him when he was working 50+ hours a week. But he has assured me that he doesn’t mind. And since he has retired, I don’t feel as guilty. 🙂 Plus, sometimes he brings a surprise home–something to grill for dinner or something he saw that was marked down.

I hope your March is starting out well!

The last Friday of February–the end of a busy month. I’m pausing with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story to be grateful for the large and small blessings of the week.

1. My daughter-in-law’s birthday.

It’s a joy to celebrate her on her special day. Jason and Timothy made the heart-shaped brownie with frosting and sprinkles. Timothy is so tall now, we had to ask him to stoop down to be in the picture. 🙂

2. Good cardiology visit with the PA. This was just a follow-up two weeks after starting the new medication to see how it was doing. It seems to be fine so far.

3. An impromptu dinner date. My appointment was mid-afternoon, and by the time we headed home, it was almost dinner time. I suggested eating dinner at Texas Road House, even though it was a little early. As always, the food was so good there. My only complaint about this restaurant is that it is noisy, but it was a little less so this time. I had grilled pork chops, baked potato, and a salad, with enough for lunch for leftovers the next day. And their rolls and cinnamon butter were wonderful.

4. Great Bible studies. My friend Melanie suggested doing some type of Bible study together. We decided to go through Jen Wilkin’s None Like Him: 10 Reasons God Is Different From Us and Why That’s a Good Thing. This book is about the attributes only God has–infinitude, omniscience, etc. I had read it a few years ago and knew I wanted to read it again some time. It brings so much more out of the reading to discuss it with someone. It’s not laid out like a fill-in-the-blank Bible study, but it does have a few discussion questions at the end.

Then our ladies Bible study is using True Woman 201: Interior Design: Ten Elements of Biblical Womanhood by Mary Kassian and Nancy Leigh DeMoss (now Wolgemuth). We usually study a book of the Bible, but for various reasons decided to do a topical one this time. I had read this book about ten years ago and kind of felt like I didn’t really need to go through it again. But it’s been beneficial. There are several younger women attending who haven’t been in our Bible study before (at least since I have been there), and I have been so encouraged by their comments and insights.

5. Chick-Fil-A biscuit. I had a bad bout of food poisoning after eating food from Chick-Fil-A a year or two ago and haven’t had the stomach to eat much from there since. It had to have been a fluke, because we used to get food from there regularly. But I just didn’t have an appetite for them any more. Jim was out early one morning and texted to ask about bringing Chick-Fil-A breakfast biscuits home since he was near them. It was good!

Have you had a good last week of February?

Rain or shine, hot or cold, we take time to recount the good things God places in our lives with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.

1. Valentine’s Day. For the last several years, Valentine’s Day has been a family-based day for us. I’m thankful our children still like to come for Valentine’s Day even though they are grown. I make “meat hearts” and chocolate heart-shaped cupcakes. We exchange cards. Jim gets Mittu and me flowers. He gets me a bag of my favorite Lindt Lindor Milk Chocolate Truffles.

2 Timothy’s Valentine’s to Jim and me.

3. Quick power restoration. We were watching the Olympics one evening when the power suddenly went out unexpectedly. There were no weather conditions that would have caused it. We quickly ascertained that the whole neighborhood was without power. Just about the time we got lanterns out and batteries changed and Jim had started the generator in the camper, power came back on. Someone said nearby construction caused the outage. I’m thanlful it didn’t last long.

4. Flatbread. We’ve been using these as a base for individual pizzas in the air fryer. Quick, convenient, and tasty!

5. Nice temperatures. We’ve had a nice respite from the cold this week, with moderate temperatures in the forecast. We were supposed to get up to 70 one day! But winter isn’t over yet, and we’ll be in the 20s again next week.

How was your week?

It’s been quiet on the blog here this week–I’ve been working on Valentine’s cards for the family and looking forward to our Valentine dinner tomorrow. I’m sharing some of the best parts of the last few days with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story. Feel free to join in counting blessings!

1. A smooth transition. I was in afib a couple of days last week. I had my one-month check-up with the cardiologist’s PA since the ablation, and he decided I should change one of my medications. But first I had to be off the old one for three days so it was totally out of my system. Since I was in afib at the time, I was expecting it to continue or worsen without the medicine. But it resolved itself, and I felt better those three days than I had in a while. I started the new medication on Monday, and it seems to be working well so far. My cardiologist told me a year or two ago that afib isn’t cured, only managed. So I hope and pray this regimen manages it well.

2. Being back in church, which I had missed for a few weeks due to weather and health issues.

3. Time with family. We had been somewhat isolated due to icy roads for several days. Jason, Mittu, and Timothy came over Saturday night to make dinner, then we went out to lunch with them Sunday after church.

4. The Olympics. We don’t watch sports much. Even our local Vols football games aren’t usually available unless we want to pay more for the next level of ESPN. But there is something about the Olympics that makes me want to watch. My favorite is ice skating, but I have enjoyed the evening coverage of some of the other sports as well.

5. Lunch with Melanie. We usually get together once every 4-6 weeks, but hadn’t seen each other since early December. It was good to catch up over Cracker Barrel turkey and dressing. Then I enjoyed an excursion to Hobby Lobby.

While gathering the gift cards I had received for Christmas, I saw there was one I had forgotten about for the new Whataburger here. That restaurant is a staple where I grew up in TX, and we’ve been excited that Knoxville now has three of them. But the one closest to us had been too busy to try out since its opening. We enjoyed getting take-out from there for dinner. Then I topped the evening off with half the Double Chocolate Coca-Cola Cake I brought home from Cracker Barrel.

With all these outings, I feel a little like I have been emerging from a short hibernation. 🙂 The weather has been much more moderate lately, which is another blessing. I know winter is not over yet. We’ll likely have more cold spells before spring comes. But I’ll enjoy the respite.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

It’s been another cold week here in eastern TN, but not as bad as the one before. Here are some of the best parts of the last few days. I’m linking up with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story, who started this great exercise of sharing weekly blessings.

1. Snow. I think we got between 5-6 inches last weekend. We were all stocked up with supplies, so we enjoyed looking at it through the windows. We had low temperatures for the next few days, keeping snow and ice around more than usual. But it is finally melting off.

I like how the solar lanterns look like ice cream cones.

We had to drip water from the faucets a few nights in a row, but, thankfully, the pipes remained safe.

2. Sledding video. I commented on our family text message thread that I had seen Facebook videos of people sledding and building snowmen, and I missed that activity here. Then Jason sent a video of himself sledding down their street. 🙂

3. Good yearly physical. These days, physicals seem to be made up mainly of talk about lab work. 🙂 Thankfully, mine was good this time! One that was a little off (thyroid) can be helped with a medication adjustment. And, interestingly, that *might* help with the heart issue.

Bonus: I did my fasting lab work the day before, then afterward went to Bojangles for my once-or-twice-a-year steak and egg biscuit and Bo-berry biscuit. The blueberry biscuit was in a heart shape for Valentine’s Day.

4. A phone call from a friend at church. She said she was thinking about me and decided to call. We had a nice visit.

5. Preliminary work on a project that’s been on my mind for a long time. I hope to share more soon!

Next week, we’re supposed to get up to 50 and 60 degrees! I can’t wait!

How was your week? Stay warm.

We’re expecting another winter storm this weekend. We’ll see what happens! Meanwhile, I’m sharing the blessings of the week with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. No snowpocalypse. Last weekend, I heard the snow forecast for our area range from a few inches to over 20. We only got a dusting. But we got a lot of rain and sleet that froze overnight, followed by a couple of days of sub-freezing weather. There were a lot of fallen trees around the state. We stayed home Sunday and watched church online due to the potential of icy roads–Jim had walked out to check the night before and almost slipped and fell. We’re thankful we didn’t lose power and the weather was not as bad as it might have been.

2. Perspective. When you’ve had days with the temperatures at 9 degrees F, then suddenly 30 degrees feels nice. 🙂 Well, maybe not nice, but better.

3. A personal letter in the mail. It’s so rare these days to get an actual letter! It was a treat from my aunt.

4. Replacement suction cup thingies. How’s that for technical terminology. 🙂 The shower caddy in our bathroom kept popping out of the suction cup holders. So when I got my shampoo or soap out or held onto the shelf for balance when I rinsed my face, the caddy moved around. Jim found some replacements online. At first having one on each side wasn’t holding it either. So he added an additional one on either side, and that’s doing the trick.

5. Safety bars. I was using the step-in shower in another bathroom for a while after my surgery, and Jim added a safety bar on the outside. Then he got some for the inside of that shower and mine that adhere to the wall with suction. They’ve been a big help.

Otherwise, it’s been a pretty quiet week, which is a blessing in itself.

How was your last week of January?