We’ve had another full but lovely week. Well, except that some have been sick. But hopefully all are on the mend. Here are a few favorites, shared with you all and Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. Family time. Jeremy, our oldest son, was here until yesterday. He had to work remotely from our house this week, but popped in for lunch and coffee breaks. It’s so nice he could do that rather than having to cut off his visit last weekend.

2. A mixed outing. Mayfield Dairies Farm Park advertised a Merry Mayfield Christmas.with all kinds of activities. We went on the last day, but it was strangely deserted. Only one other family was there besides us, though more came later. I only saw two employees on the field. About half the advertised activities were not available. Jeremy said it looked like one of those weird empty carnival movie sets where a maniacal clown was going jump out at us at any moment. But we played in what was available and had fun. The best part was an apple cannon, where you shoot old apples at targets. Strange as it sounds, it was very satisfying to do!

Apple cannon:

Me taking aim:

Big slide:

Tire swing:

Lassoing the fake cows with hula hoops. 🙂

Photo op:

3. More adventurous cooking. I mentioned last week that all my kids have become good cooks, though they didn’t show much interest in it while they were in high school and college. They’re also much more adventurous than I am. 🙂 Jeremy made Hungarian Chicken Paprikash for us one night. And I was amazed and delighted to learn from him about a couple of products I hadn’t known about–tomato paste in a tube (for when you only need a tablespoon or two) and frozen minced garlic.

4. Low-Key New Year’s Eve. We had an assortment of snacks, then played games. Everyone went home between 9 and 10. Jim, Jeremy, and I fell asleep in the living room, but Jeremy set his alarm so we could turn on the TV in time to watch the ball drop in NYC. 🙂

5. Coupon from Audible. Audible had an offer saying if you spent three credits within a specified time, they’d gift you a ccoupon of $15 towards audiobook purchases. I was able to find two Christmas novellas and one novel with my coupon.

Bonus: Good news from a friend undergoing a kidney transplant. All went well with the surgery and his numbers have improved immensely the first day after. One of my simple pleasures is getting new wall calendars set up for the year. Jeremy made it to RI with no scheduling problems. Though we miss him already, his cat was glad to have him back. 🙂 Jason and Mittu got me some much-needed larger plastic storage containers, unasked and unexpectedly (I think prompted by my sending soup home with them in the only large container I had which had a broken lid 🙂 ). We finally got some family photos New Year’s Eve:

Happy New Year to you!

This has been a week overflowing with blessings. I’m sharing a few here along with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. Our 46th wedding anniversary. We celebrated a couple of days early since we had other things going on the actual day. We usually go out to a nice place for dinner and exchange cards, but not presents, since it’s so close to Christmas. Last year we tried a new-to-us restaurant, and we decided to do the same this year. Even though we ended up not liking the restaurant (half the food was cold and they didn’t get the orders right), it was still fun to go out. And, on our way to the restaurant, we noticed there was a Krispy Kreme Doughnut place next door! We don’t have one near us (which is a good thing for our blood sugar levels). We bypassed the restaurant desserts to bring a couple of Krispy Kreme doughnuts home.

2. Jeremy is here! My oldest son’s first flight from RI was delayed, which caused him to miss his connecting flight and have to spend the night in a hotel. But he finally got here.

3. Family Fun Night at church. This is designed to be an informal time, something like the family at Grandma’s house, with different ones performing for the rest. Some were silly, some serious. We had vocal and piano solos, musical skits, readings, a Christmas quiz, and even a tap-dancing dad and daughter.

4. Dinner at my youngest son’s house. Usually when Jeremy is here, Jesse has us all over for dinner one night. He made some kind of Korean dish with tofu and pork belly and kimchee, I think. But he also made chicken teriyaki for those of us (mainly me) who aren’t adventurous eaters and don’t like spicy things. 🙂 Plus he made a snickerdoodle cheesecake. I’m amazed at the good cooks my sons have become. Then we played some new Jackbox games. Hear Say had us laughing.

5. Christmas. We’re so thankful the whole family could be here. We had a lovely time together all day, hearing the Christmas story from Luke 2, feasting, opening presents, most of us dozing in the afternoon, and later eating pie and playing games.

We’re staying mostly inside this day after Christmas, partly to rest, partly to avoid the craziness in stores, partly to savor the season, which went by way too fast.

How was your week? I hope you had a special Christmas.

It’s been a busy week, but a good one. I’m just a little behind where I wanted to be with Christmas preparations, but God has blessed with health and energy and productive days.

Thanks so much to those who prayed for my lower back pain. It’s not 100% yet, but it is much improved. I’m still moving carefully so I don’t set it off again.

I’m counting more blessings with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. Protection. My next-to-youngest sister was in a car accident this week. Another driver cut too close when passing another car and hit my sister’s car from behind, causing it to spin around and then flip over. Miraculously, she walked away from the wreck with no serious injuries–just soreness from the seat belts and being thrown around. The other driver did not stop, but other people did. One got the offending driver’s license tag number. We assumed the driver who caused the accident didn’t have insurance since they didn’t stop, but they did, and someone filed a claim the next day. So hopefully the legal/financial stuff won’t be a hassle. But mainly I am so thankful she was okay–especially after seeing photos of the car smashed and upside down.

2. Flowers.Jim bought these for me last week, and they still look lovely. They’ve opened beautifully.

3. A timely arrival. We had ordered something for my oldest son on Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend. It was a large item, so we had it shipped to his place in RI for an early Christmas present instead of shipping it here for Christmas and then to his address. It didn’t show a shipping time during the ordering process, but afterward I got a notice of an almost two week time span it could be delivered–and part of that time, he was going to be here rather than there. We figured, between neighbors and friends coming to feed his cat, someone would bring it in. But I was still concerned about it. I was relieved to hear it arrived while he was still home.

4. Back to church. I mentioned being thankful for live streaming services last week. But it’s especially good to be able to be back in the services and Bible study.

5. Christmas music .BBN Radio plays Christmas music throughout December, and I have a good collection on my phone. I’ve enjoyed listening while wrapping presents, making cards for the family, and puttering in the kitchen.

I hope you have a good week and a very special Christmas!

It’s time again to share blessings from the week with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. Steady progress. I have been discouraged that my lower back pain is still there. I start to feel pretty normal one day and worse the next. It’s like two steps forward and one back. But at least there is progress–it’s much better than it was originally.

2. A visit from Melanie. We usually get together once every few weeks but hadn’t seen each other since late September/early October due to scheduling and health issues. We wanted to try to get a visit in before the holidays and then my procedure in January. So she offered to come to my house for coffee or tea and a snack. Since Jim went to the store for me that morning, I ended up getting a lot of sweet and savory snacks. 🙂 So we had something of a finger food feast, but we had both missed lunch, so it worked out great.

3. Live streaming church. It’s always better to be there in person, but when we can’t, I am so thankful we can join in via live stream. I remember the days when sermons were audiotaped and then we had to wait a week to get a copy. That was better than nothing, but I so enjoy watching in real time.

4. Christmas cards. The first ones are starting to come in. I hope to get mine out this week.

5. A new microwave installed. I mentioned in October that our over-the-range microwave had died. It was still under a service contract, so the company sent someone out to fix it. After five service visits over two months replacing various parts (some twice), they finally replaced it. We had a little microwave from my husband’s office (from when my mother-in-law stayed there) to get us through, but it’s nice to have the kitchen back to normal.

6. A ingenious fix. I have trouble reaching items in the cabinet above the range unless they’re right on the edge. But often they get bumped back, or I can touch them but not get my fingers around them. We don’t keep a lot up there, but there was no good place to move them to. My husband solved the problem by putting a tension rod behind the items so it keeps them all at the forefront.

How was your week? I hope you’re getting done the things you need to while enjoying the season as well.

This has been a challenging week, but one where it’s especially good to look for the highlights along the way. It’s not a matter of just “looking on the bright side,” but counting God’s blessings. I’m sharing with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. Christmas decorating. I’m so thankful the whole family comes over to help decorate for Christmas (except for our out-of-state one 😦 ). Not only does everything get done in good time, but we have fun reminiscing over the decorations.

One tradition that arose over the years is that one of the boys–I think Jason, usually–puts one of our snowflake ornaments in an unusual place. Once it was on the ceiling above a chair. Another time it was on a shelf with some figurines. This time there was a whole line of them. 🙂

2. Mittu makes dinner on decorating night, this time a chili with cornbread baked on top dish.

3. Heating pads. My lower back was hurting last week, which happens every now and then. Usually Tylenol and Icy Hot over a couple of days take care of it. But Saturday night, one particular muscle in my back kept spasming painfully. Tylenol and Icy Hot weren’t touching it. I spent a couple of days and one night in my desk chair with a heating pad. I know they say to ice muscles, but a heating pad usually works for me. It’s much better now, but still twinging a little. So I am moving slowly and carefully.

4. My dear husband outdid himself this week, making dinner, taking care of the house, fetching things for me.

5. Cyber Monday shopping. We got most of our shopping done, finding some great deals.

Bonus: Procedure scheduled. I finally got a call back from the cardiologist’s office and have the ablations for atrial flutter and atrial fibrillation scheduled for January.

Special Bonus: My heart rate went back to normal last night after being in atrial flutter for two weeks!

How was your week?

This week is coming swiftly to a close, as is the month of November. I’m pausing for a bit with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story to stop, think, and be thankful for the blessings of the week.

1. Thanksgiving Day. We had a lovely time with all the family here and talked with my oldest son in RI the day before. Lots of good food, chatting, and fun.

2. Helpers. Because my heart rate is still elevated, Mittu offered to make all the side dishes for Thanksgiving–I think Timothy and Jason helped. Mittu made a beautiful gluten-free pie crust for my apple pie. Jesse made a pumpkin pie. And Jim cleaned bathrooms and vacuumed. He also always takes care of getting all the meat off the turkey bones after we eat and then washing the roasting pan. He also washed some of the bigger dirty dishes that wouldn’t fit in the dishwasher.

3. A nice Thanksgiving craft kit. I found this at Hobby Lobby–leaves that come with little bamboo sticks with which we can scratch designs. All the Thanksgiving items were half-off when I got them, plus I had a gift card.

A couple of ours: Mittu’s swirly one and Jim’s veined one.

4. This year’s thankful tree. It’s always fun to read everyone’s contributions.

5. Getting the dates set for Jeremy’s visit. It’s always good when everything is confirmed. Looking forward to his coming.

I hope those of you in the USA had a meaningful Thanksgiving, too! I’m planning on staying within my own four walls this Black Friday. How about you?

It’s time again to count the week’s blessings with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.

1. Thanksgiving crafts with Tim. I often have some little crafty thing to do on Thanksgiving to help wile away the long hours of cooking and then the time between the meal and dessert. I got a couple of kits at Hobby Lobby, forgetting Jason, Mittu, and Timothy weren’t going to be with us for Thanksgiving this year. So I got them out when we watched Timothy last Friday.

I started on the little pumpkin house, but it was hard to do! It was made of Styrafoam, with tabs from one piece going into the slots from another–but the tabs wouldn’t slide in. So I passed that on to Jim while Tim and I worked on the other pieces. Jim had to use toothpicks to push the tabs through and tape to hold them down on the inside. But it was cute when done, and everything else went together well.

I liked the little creatures, too, especially the fox.

Then we also had a kit for making fun faces with stickers and googly eyes.

I was thinking afterward that Timothy might think himself too old for these kinds of things before long. But I am glad he enjoyed them this year.

2. A free play. The Christian school associated with our church does a play a couple of times a year, and they invite the church, family, friends, etc. to a free showing of the final dress rehearsal. The kids performed a radio production version of It’s a Wonderful Life, complete with people manufacturing the sound effects. They did a great job. We were sitting near some other couples our age who joked about having a cheap date night. 🙂

3. Dinner out. After the play, Jim and I tossed around various ideas of where to go eat and ended up at Texas Roadhouse again. The food was so good. I had a grilled pork chop, baked potato, and salad, and Jim had grilled steak and shrimp with the same sides (and gave me a few of his shrimp). Plus they have these wonderful fluffy rolls and cinnamon butter. They even brought us some extra rolls and butter, so we had some to take home.

4. Leftovers. Jason and Mittu hosted their small group and had leftover roast, carrots, and potatoes, and apple pie, which they brought over to our house. They ate some with us and left the rest of the roast and vegetables for us.

5. An available appointment. In the not-so-good news department, I’ve been in atrial flutter for the last couple of days. 😦 I called the cardiologist to try to nip this in the bud this time and not let it go on for weeks like last time. At first they were talking about scheduling me for mid-December. I asked if I couldn’t get in the next few days, so they scheduled me for this morning. I’m probably going to end up having to have an ablation, which I really don’t want to do. But neither do I want to have this keep coming up. Thankfully, an ablation for atrial flutter is supposed to be a one-time thing, whereas an ablation for atrial fibrillation might have to be repeated.

I hope those of you in the US have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day next week! I wish you something good to eat, someone you love to eat it with, and much to be thankful for.

Susanne at Living to Tell the Story hosts a weekly opportunity to record and share blessings. She started this over 16 years ago, and I’ve enjoyed participating for most of that time. Today, though, I almost didn’t join in. It’s not been a bad week, but I just couldn’t think of anything to share. I decided to spend a few minutes thinking, looking through family texts for reminders, and jotting down what came to mind. I ended up with way more than five blessings. That’s one reason this exercise is so valuable. We can let God’s gifts go by unnoticed because we don’t take time to ponder and be thankful for them. So today, I am thankful for Susanne and Friday’s Fave Five. In addition:

1. A fairly easy return. I needed to return an item I had ordered online from a company where I shop once or twice a year. In the past, they included an invoice with the purchase that had a section to fill out for returns and a prepaid label. This time, I was perturbed to see they had outsourced their return procedure. I had to go to a website to initiate the return, get a QR code, and find where to return the item. The closest place was 15 minutes away in an area that was off the beaten path for me. But it wasn’t a bad drive, and the process was relatively painless. There was a long line, but it moved quickly. I didn’t even have to repackage the return–they scanned my QR code, printed off a label, and gave me a receipt.

Then, my GPS took me a different route on the way back to my area, and I discovered the road I was on turned into one road and then another that I was familiar with. I’m directionally challenged, so it was a light bulb moment to realize those connections.

2. Settled plans. Our Connect Four group had planned to meet this weekend to make Christmas cards. But one lady had to go out of town and left it up to the rest of us whether we wanted to reschedule or go ahead. The other ladies had not responded to a series of texts asking what we wanted to do. Since we were supposed to meet at my house, I needed to know what we were doing so I would know how to prepare. Finally I got word this week that one lady was sick and not planning to come, and the other had out-of-town family coming in. So we decided to cancel and regroup when everyone was back together. I was partly relieved, partly disappointed, but mainly glad to know for sure what the plan was.

Also in this category, we got the dates my oldest son is planning to be here in December.

3. Yard and window cleaning. Jim cleared out the dead plants, cut back the roses, and even cleaned some of the outer windows that had a bunch of spider webs in them. It all looks so much better.

4. A successful shopping trip. I got several things accomplished one afternoon. I found everything I needed for my Operation Christmas Child box at the Dollar Tree and spent gift cards at Hobby Lobby and Crumbl cookies. 🙂

5. A light snowfall. I’m very glad it was just that–a light dusting of snow.

Bonuses: I’m thankful for those who serve our country and the opportunity to honor them on Veteran’s Day. The Northern Lights were in our area again this week. It was too cloudy to see them from our house, but I saw many beautiful pictures on Facebook. Timothy got his upper braces this week, and, though they’re uncomfortable, he weathered the experience well.

I hope you’ve had a good week!

As we end the first week of November, I’m stopping for a moment to count the blessings of the week and sharing them with you all and Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. Family costume party. Back during the pandemic, when all the regular avenues of dressing up and getting candy were closed, Jason and Mittu proposed having our own family costume party on Halloween. We’ve done so ever since. It’s always fun to see what everyone comes up with.

Jesse’s is some kind of medieval outfit–I told him he looked like a blacksmith. Jim’s is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. I’m Rosie the Riveter. 🙂 Mittu is Hot Sauce. (Jason bought the costume. 🙂 ) And Jason is a Starbucks drink.

Timothy is kind of hidden in that picture–he dressed as Granddad!

Jim usually wears a polo shirt with a pen in the pocket, and he usually has his glasses on. So this is spot on. They even sprayed Timothy’s hair with grey highlights. 🙂

I was supposed to bring dessert but didn’t want to do ghosts or mummies or that kind of thing. So I made the easiest-ever peanut butter cookies (one cup of sugar, one cup of peanut butter, and one egg) and tried to decorate them as owls.

You see why I usually leave the food decorating to Mittu. 🙂

We had a really fun time with dinner, dessert, and games.

2. An extra hour Saturday night. It takes me a while to get adjusted to the time change, but I do love the extra hour that day. I really wouldn’t mind if they left Daylight Savings Time in place, except that school kids end up waiting for the bus in the dark around this time of year if we don’t change back to regular time.

3. A change of doctor but not of time. I got a call from the doctor’s office that the person I was supposed to see for back-to-back appointments in February (yearly physical and yearly Medicare wellness visit) was not going to be in the office that day. But, thankfully, someone else was free for both appointments.

4. Yard clean-up. Our wildflowers have been past their prime for a while now, and Jim was able to cut them down and clean out the flower beds this week. He didn’t plant tomatoes this year, but he found some unripe ones growing among the flowers. It’s odd they didn’t ripen over the summer–I guess the tall wildflowers blocked the sunlight from them. The yard looks immensely better.

5. New game. My oldest son told me about an online word game called Raddle that has been fun.

Bonus: When my husband says, “Do you want me to pick up some dinner, or do you have plans?” Even if I have plans, I won’t turn down take-out. 🙂

And that wraps up another week. How was yours?

It’s hard to believe we’re at the end of October already. I’m pausing for a moment with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story to share blessings of the week.

1. Annual pumpkin decorating night. Mittu brought shepherd’s pie and salad. I made caramel corn and apple cider. Here are the results of our labors:

I shared more detail about them in my end-of-month post yesterday.

2. Beautiful trees. I’ve been saying our fall color has been late coming and not as spectacular as usual. Sunday we drove around quite a bit–Jesse had flown to the wedding of friends over the weekend and came home Sunday afternoon. So we left church and ate lunch, then drove to the airport, then took Jesse home and came home ourselves. We saw lots of pretty fall foliage. Oddly, there’s still not much in our immediate neighborhood. I’m not much for taking a drive just to take a drive, so I’m glad we had the opportunity to get out for a bit in areas that had more color.

3. A $28 microwave. I mentioned last week that our microwave stopped heating–we’re still waiting for the needed part–and Jim brought in the little one from his office that we had bought when his mom was in assisted living. Then that one died. He went to Wal-Mart to look for another little one to replace it; he likes having one in his office to warm up whatever he’s eating or drinking. Plus we use it sometimes when we need extra help for big family dinners. He stopped one of their workers to ask a question, and she pointed him to a couple of microwaves that had been marked down to $28 because the boxes were dented. She said the microwaves themselves were fine because they were encased in Styrofoam. They just had to mark them down because customers avoided the dented boxes. Just finding someone to help and answer questions is getting to be a minor miracle there. Then to have her point out the mark-down was a bonus. My deal-loving husband was happy. 🙂

4. Soup. Though we have soups year round, they’re especially good when the weather turns cool. Last week we had hamburger vegetable soup (using ground turkey instead of beef) and corn muffins one night, then potato soup with open-faced English muffin sandwiches for lunch one day.

5. Rain. Overcast skies are not my favorite, but we really needed the rain. We had precipitation for parts of four days this week. I’m especially glad it was a pleasant rain rather than thunderstorms.

And that’s the end of another week–and another month! How was yours?