It’s Friday, time to look back over the blessings of the week with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and other friends.

I know I often say I can’t believe we’re near the end of another month – yet I feel that way almost every time! April has been an up and down, back and forth month, but I think spring is pretty firmly settled in now. I’m soaking it up before the heat of summer hits in another month or so. Meanwhile, here are some of the favorite parts of the last week:

1. A painted door. Most of the framework outside our home is painted an almost rosy beige, but the back door, door frame, and screen door were orange for some reason. I really, really, really don’t like orange in home decorating (though I do like it on autumn leaves and pumpkins and such.) My dear husband has more than enough home projects on his plate when the weather turns warm and dry, but he was able to get to this door last Saturday. I was planning to take a picture, but at the moment I am writing (Thursday afternoon) it’s a rainy day. It’s nice to enjoy looking at a door instead of chafing every time I see it.

2. Sarku is a fast food Asian restaurant at the mall. I wish they had restaurants outside the mall, because I love their chicken teriyaki. We don’t get to them very often any more because we don’t live near a mall like we used to, when we ate there frequently. Last Sunday we were in the vicinity around lunchtime, and my husband suggested we get lunch from there to take home. I enjoyed having their teriyaki again.

3. Things not turning out as badly as expected. 🙂 Both my husband and I had forgotten that his mother’s regular caregiver was going to be off one day this week until she reminded us the day before. When the agency knows ahead of time that we’re going to need a substitute, they usually send someone out to train with our regular caregiver for an hour or two before the substitute has to fly solo. But this time, for whatever reason, they didn’t work that out, so we had someone completely new come. Usually when any caregiver is here for the first time, my husband spends some of the time showing them how we like things done with his mom. Theoretically anyone from the agency should be competent and experienced, but that’s not always the case, and even if they are, each patient has their own particular quirks. This time, however, my husband was going to be out of town except for the first half-hour this new person was here. I had had other plans for the day, and I was dreading dealing with a new person, both the time involved in showing them the ropes plus the potential or dealing with problems or issues that usually fall to my husband. But everything turned out relatively well and all that angst was wasted (when will I ever learn?).

4. Ideas. I’ve mentioned working on a book. One day this week out of the blue, a watershed idea came to mind that I think will bring everything into focus with it. I need to think and pray over it some more to make sure, but I’m excited that this might be the emphasis to build the rest of the book around. And, as I believe God guides us in these things, this also encouraged me that this is something He really does want me to do.

5. God’s speaking to our hearts. One morning this week I was struggling with a particular area. My devotions that morning involved just reading the next chapters in my normal routine, but the passage I was in spoke to that specific issue. Then later in the day I turned on the Christian radio station for just a few minutes while I prepared something, and the speaker at that moment spoke to the same issue. I felt so loved and encouraged.

Bonus: My daughter-in-law came over and made dinner the night my husband was out of town and my son and grandson did the dishes. 🙂

If you haven’t seen it yet, I have a poll about your blog reading preferences here. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Happy Friday!

It’s Friday, time to look back over the blessings of the week with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and other friends.

I have much to be thankful for this week! These are at the top of the list:

1. Timothy’s birthday!

2. Flying kites! Jim had gotten a kite for his birthday a few weeks ago, and then my son and daughter-in-law got one for Timothy.  We went to a park last weekend to fly them, and the day could not have been more perfect for it.

Our caregiver wasn’t available at the time we could all go, so we took my husband’s mother with us. She seemed a little agitated at first, but after a bit she settled down. She didn’t seem to see the kites when I tried to point them out to her, but later on it looked as if she was following them with her eyes (between dozes :)). I think she was glad to get back home, but I hope the change of venue did her good.

3. The Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge. We all went there last Saturday morning. I was quite impressed! Oak Ridge played a big part in the Manhatten Project during WWII, so much of the museum concerns that. But the rest of it is just a museum geared to kids. I think Timothy’s favorite parts were the life-sized dollhouse, the rain forest room, the water room, and the space room.

In the old-time classroom, Jim took on the role of teacher.

Jim met some new friends there. 🙂

Mittu packed us a picnic lunch which we were able to eat inside. There were tables and a playground outside as well. All in all a fun outing!

4. Family time. My oldest son had come in towards the end of last week and was able to stay through Monday. Besides all the outings and activities mentioned, we had fun just talking, playing games, eating pizza, barbecue, and Mexican food at different times. I especially enjoyed having the whole family together at church Sunday morning.

5. Safety. I had a scary encounter Thursday morning. I was in my car waiting at a red light when I heard some noise, but it didn’t register what it was. I had my windows rolled up and an audiobook on, and I thought it was a nearby car with people talking loudly or a radio on. Then a huge guy got out of the passenger’s side of the car to my left, but I thought perhaps they were just changing drivers. Then I realized the noise was that guy yelling, and he went to the car on his left and started punching the passenger side door, eventually breaking the mirror. The driver pulled forward, but his light was red (although, if it the situation had gone on any longer, I would not have blamed him for disregarding the light). But the attacker stopped punching and stalked back to his own car. Besides that whole situation being disturbing, the bigger fear was that the situation would escalate- that he’d attack the driver personally, that someone would pull out a gun,  that he’d see me watching and then start punching my door. Thankfully none of that happened. It was all over in a few seconds, the traffic lights changed, and we all drove off. It’s scary how some people have little to no control when they’re angry. I was glad nothing worse happened, but I was rattled for a while afterward.

I hope you had a good week as well!

It’s Friday, time to look back over the blessings of the week with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and other friends.

Though it has been a great week, at first I had trouble pinning down five specific favorites items. But that’s one thing the FFF is great for: making the time to think over the week and recount the blessings. And if some of these are “repeats,” that’s fine – it’s good to be thankful for them as often as they occur!

1. My oldest son is visiting! It’s not only good to see him and spend time with him, but we also have extra time with the whole family when he’s here.

2. Spring days. Finally in the last couple of days it has started to feel like spring. Sunshine, nice temperatures, cool breezes. I see one more night in the 30s in next week’s forecast, but hopefully spring is here to stay. We especially enjoyed hanging around in the back yard yesterday evening while Timothy played.

3. Dogwoods budding! For some reason the buds in this picture came out darker than real life, and my attempts to lighten the photo distorted it, so I left it.

In addition, the new little tree we planted last fall, that has just looked like bare sticks for months, is sprouting some new baby leaves.

4. Lunch at my son and daughter in law’s with the family. Always fun to spend time there.

5. Plans and preparations. A certain little someone’s birthday is coming up soon! And we have a few more family activities planned while everyone is here.

Happy Friday!

It’s Friday, time to look back over the blessings of the week with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and other friends.

It’s nice to be in April! Although we’ve had nights down in the 30s and we had to turn the heater back on, the days have been pleasant. I love this time of year before the heat of summer sets in. Here are some of the best parts of the last week:

1. Easter. We had a nice service at church, a good meal, and an Easter egg hunt with toys in the eggs for Timothy and money for the older kids.

And a couple of candy-filled bunnies.

And a real one came by!

2. New furniture. I’ve mentioned furniture shopping on a few Saturday mornings. Our sofa and loveseat were getting worn: the sofa had developed obvious and growing holes on the seat. We finally made a purchase, which was delivered Thursday!

3. A good report at the dentist’s and getting that over with for another six months. And though going to the dentist is about my least favorite thing to do, I am glad we have good dental care in our country.

4. Great-grandma speaking. Jim’s mom has been mostly silent for I don’t know how long now – a year, maybe more. All of a sudden the last several days, she’s been saying a few words here and there. We can’t always understand her, but often she’s clear, and it’s been nice to have that form of communication again.

5. Spring closet changeover. I always love getting my spring clothes out and putting the dark, heavy winter ones away.

Bonus: Tulips! This is the first time I have ever had tulips in my yard, and I am so glad they’re coming up and thriving!

Happy Friday!

It’s Friday, time to look back over the blessings of the week with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and other friends.

Wow, this week has just flown by! But it has been a good one! Here are some of the highlights:

1. An unexpected lasagna meal. My daughter-in-law had made a few pans of lasagna for a large family welcoming another child into their home. She ended up with one extra and asked if she could bring it over to share with us for dinner one night. Well, their company and lasagna are always treats, but that offer occurred on an especially busy day, and it was such a blessing to have the time I would have spent preparing dinner available for the other tasks I needed to get done.

2. Having new friends over for dinner. We asked the pastor of the church we have been visiting and his family over for dinner one night. We enjoyed their fellowship so much, and had an opportunity to ask some questions concerning the church. They took some time to meet and visit with Jim’s mom.

3. New gluten- and dairy-free options. When we have people over, I usually stay with meals that I have done several times over and know they work. We had a number of different dietary considerations at the above-mentioned dinner, so I ventured into some new territory, and thankfully everything turned out well. I wanted to mention them because I know some of you are gluten- and/or dairy-free or have friends or family who are, so you might like to know about these, too. I made baked chicken breasts and a salad, and for a side dish, where I would normally have a starch, instead I made Sauteed Julienned Summer Vegetables. I had gotten a Spiralizer for Christmas and used that to make zucchini and squash noodles. I had shredded carrots on hand but decided to leave them out at the last minute: I think next time I’ll add them in. (We’ve tried the spiralized zucchini noodles in place of spaghetti, and they were a little different, but ok. So far it’s hard for me to get them done enough without going too far and making them mushy, but hopefully that will improve with practice.) Then for dessert I was going to make a fruit salad, but had a thought and searched to see if someone had found a way to make gluten-free shortcakes – and they had: Easy Gluten-Free Shortcakes! Bread products are the hardest things to come out right without gluten, but I was amazed that these turned out well and were easy to do. The only thing I’d change would be to take them out of the oven maybe a minute or so earlier, but that’s probably due to my oven – I have to do that with biscuits and rolls, too. Since not everyone could eat all the fruit I wanted to serve, I decided to do “make your own shortcakes,” with four different types of fruit people could choose from or mix together. My son and daughter-in-law had told me about a dairy-free whipped topping they had discovered for a friend of theirs who is dairy-free, so we tried that as well.

It’s in the freezer section of the grocery store, next to the other dairy toppings.

4. Playing with Timothy, my grandson. His mom had a doctor’s appointment this week, so he came to stay with me for a few hours. We had a good time. I don’t know why I am always a little afraid that he’ll miss his parents too much or get upset – he always does well. In the midst of the Little People we kept from when our kids were small, there’s one that’s a baby and a white-haired lady Timothy calls a Grandma. We had a lot of Baby and Grandma adventures – playing on the playground, fending off a marauding dinosaur, Grandma coming to the rescue in a helicopter. 🙂 I was telling my son about it afterward, and he said, “Yeah, it’s fun that his play has narrative now.”

5. Spring decorations. It’s nice to have them out.

Bonus: This came up on my Facebook memories – so this isn’t the first spring like the one we’ve had this year, though this year seems more extreme. But it made me smile again:

INSTALLING SPRING…
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33% DONE. Install delayed….please wait. Installation failed. Please try again.

I wish you a very blessed Easter weekend!

It’s Friday, time to look back over the blessings of the week with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and other friends.

It’s been a crazy week weather-wise: warm, cold, rain, snow, and sunshine. Thankfully, though, we didn’t get anywhere near the bad weather predicted. Even though we had more wintry weather after the first day of spring, I love the fact that it’s officially spring now. Soon it will begin feeling like it! Here are some of the best parts of the last week.

1. Lunch out with the family. My son, daughter-in-law, and grandson discovered a new restaurant they liked, and my grandson in particular wanted Grandma and Granddad to experience it, too. 🙂 We met there for lunch last Saturday and had a great meal and time together.

2. “Manager’s specials.” At the grocery store where I shop most often, sometimes I’ll find “Manager’s special” markdowns in the meat section. Last week I found some wonderful boneless beef ribs at a great price. I almost never make ribs at home, but I couldn’t pass up that deal! I tried this recipe, minus the cayenne pepper. I thought it could have used more of the spices and less liquid, but it was very good, especially with Sticky Fingers barbecue sauce on the side.

3. A Writer’s Survival Kit, put together by the pastor’s wife of the church we have been visiting. Such a neat and thoughtful gift!

4. My husband’s car. He had been needing to replace his car for a while but hadn’t had a chance to do so yet. He finally got a moment to look last week, and at the first dealership everything was above the price he wanted to pay. Almost on a whim he stopped at another. He had not had a chance to research the cars of this particular company, but found one he liked that met his specifications, except that it was also too expensive. The manager “just happened by” at that moment and said they had a slightly older model of that car with very little mileage. Long story short, my husband got pretty close to the deal he wanted for a car that will meet his needs, and since he uses it for work, he receives a car allowance that will cover the payments. We’re so thankful for God’s leading and provision.

5. More light in the evenings. I don’t like the changeover to Daylight Savings Time, and in the middle of the summer it’s hard to wind down at night when it is light so late, but this time of year I feel like I am coming out of hibernation. 🙂 It is nice that there is more light in the evenings now.

Happy Friday!

It’s Friday, time to look back over the blessings of the week with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and other friends.

It’s been another good but busy week. Here are some of the best parts:

1. Attending my first writer’s conference! That was the adventure I alluded to last week. It was a great experience, and I am still processing what I learned. I am sure I will be for a very long time.

2. My dear husband encouraged me to go, made it possible for me to go, took care of his mom alone while I was gone, and offered to come get me when I got sick.

3. Pi Day. March 14 is called Pi Day because 3.14 is pi. The last few years we’ve had a pie-based meal on March 14. I planned to go to the store that morning, but my other morning activities took too long. I looked at my list and decided grocery-shopping could wait til the next day. But I had forgotten I had planned to get ingredients for either Hamburger Pie or Chicken Pot Pie, so when it came time to start dinner, I realized I didn’t have what I needed. My husband suggested pizza pie – so that’s what we got! Then I looked through supplies and saw I could make 4 Layer Dessert – usually I make a half recipe in a square pan, but I put it in a pie pan this time. So we celebrated Pi Day after all!

4. Online grocery shopping. A few stores in town allow for shopping for your groceries online, setting a time for pick-up, and then going to the store where they have it all bagged for you and put it in your car. I tried it for the first time this week – and loved it! It saved me so much time and eliminated impulse shopping.

5. Guest-posting. I had the opportunity this week to share a couple of posts at The Perennial Gen, a blog for “mid-lifers.” Yesterday I shared thoughts on Why Older Women Don’t Serve in the church, and today I suggested Ways Older Women Can Serve.

Bonus: Friends. I had let a few friends know about my trip and asked for prayer, and then texted one when I was sick in the hotel room. She prayed for me, sent encouragement, and checked on me throughout the day. Then I asked an editing question on Facebook and got some excellent advice from some who are much more proficient at grammar than I am.

Happy Friday!

It’s Friday, time to look back over the blessings of the week with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and other friends.

Whew – it’s been a busy week. And a colder one – we even had a little snow! Going from winter to spring is a back and forth business here. But spring is ever closer! Here are some highlights of the last week:

1. My husband’s birthday. We all enjoyed celebrating him on his special day.

2. Ladies group at church. The church we’re visiting had a ladies’ gathering Saturday morning where we discussed a passage we’ve been reading together as a church and prayed together. It has been a very long time since I have been able to attend anything like that, and it was a special time.

3. Lunch at my son and daughter-in-law’s. Usually we gather at our house because of Jim’s mom’s situation and needing someone to be with her. But it worked out to go on a Saturday while her caregiver was here. It was fun!

4. Encouraging texts from friends.

5. An adventure!

I often feel about adventures like hobbits do, but one came up this week! I’ll tell you more about it next week. 🙂

It’s Friday, time to look back over the blessings of the week with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and other friends.

The sun is shining brightly today after several overcast, rainy days left fields looking like lakes. The beginning of March feels like spring to me, even though it won’t be “officially” until the 20th. Here are some of the best parts of the last week or so:

1. Sunday lunch with new friends. It’s been….ages since anyone has invited us to their home, so we enjoyed not only being out and having a wonderful meal, but a sweet time of fellowship.

2. A surprise visit. A friend stopped by this week just to drop off some flowers for me and my mother-in-law.

3. Puttering. I wasn’t feeling 100% Saturday and just wanted to stay home, so while my husband worked on outdoor projects, I puttered around inside and ended up with a productive but unpressured day. It’s nice to have those times when nothing is pressing and you can get to those odds and ends chores that keep getting pushed down the to-do list.

4. Sometimes it’s the little things – like finding a better way to organize a shelf.

5. FaceTime. We had not seen my son, daughter-in-law, and grandson in almost a week, and they FaceTimed last night, so we had a nice visit. 🙂

Have  great weekend!

It’s Friday, time to look back over the blessings of the week with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and other friends.

Here are some highlights of the last week or so:

1. Nice temperatures, mostly in the 60s, some cloudy skies but some sunshiny days, too. A great week weather-wise!

2. A church potluck. The church we have been visiting had an anniversary potluck dinner last week. I love potlucks – always good food. 🙂 And a good way to get to know people.

3. Mittu’s birthday. Always nice to celebrate our daughter-in-law. 🙂

I had to smile at the party plates Timothy (3 1/2) picked out for his mommy:

4. Shopping and lunch with my husband. We’re still looking for living room furniture, so we did that Saturday morning. I like that we can have fun no matter what we’re doing.

5. Girl Scout Cookies! It’s that time of year again!

Bonus: Getting a new high score on HQ Trivia! Maybe some day I’ll get all twelve questions.

All in all a good week. We’ve enjoyed the Olympics, but we’re glad they’re winding down.

Happy Friday!