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 high points of the last week:

1. Healing. Thankfully we seem to be doing much better this week, though Jim still has a cough.

2. Live streaming. Jason was in a friend’s wedding out of state last weekend. I knew the groom: he has been at our home several times. But I had never met the bride. Thankfully they live-streamed the wedding, so I got to see not only the ceremony but also a glimpse of Mittu and Timothy when the camera panned the audience a few times.

3. A good trip for Jason, Mittu, and Timothy. They had safety traveling, they got to connect with a couple of old friends, Timothy handled everything really well, and they got to visit the Creation Museum!

4. Shopping is something I usually do at home online on purpose. But every now and then it’s fun to shop in town as well, especially when I find what I am looking for.

5. Fall/winter meals. I don’t use the oven a lot in the summer because the AC can’t keep up. So when the weather cools off it’s nice to get back to those oven meals plus “warm” meals like soup. We had soup a couple of times this week, a quiche, and hamburger pie. They not only make the house feel and smell cozy, but they are hearty as well.

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.

This week has gone by in a blur. Jim was out of town almost 4 full days. He usually gets up in the middle of the night to turn his mom over (to avoid bedsores since she can’t turn herself). I don’t know how he does that and still functions for work the next day – I felt like a zombie after just three nights, even with opportunities to nap in the daytime. But we all survived the week. Here are a few favorite spots:

1. My dear daughter-in-law came over one night with Jason and Timothy while Jim was gone and made nachos for all of us, then sent shepherd’s pie over another night. With having the full care of Jim’s mom, it was nice to be relieved in the area of cooking. And then they brought dinner over Thursday night as well!

2. Safety for all. Jim’s flights went well and we had no major issues while he was gone.

3. A helpful customer service representative. There was a problem on one of Jim’s flights that not only wasn’t handled, but both the flight attendant and the pilot seemed flippant about it. Jim contacted the airline after he got home. So often when you talk to a company about a problem, they just want to give you a coupon and be done with it, without really listening and addressing the problem. But the rep he talked with listened and took it seriously.

4. Gluten free blondies. Baked goods are the hardest things to make gluten-free with the right texture and taste. I tried this recipe, and they were wonderful! Some gluten free things taste ok the first day, but get worse by the day: these stayed good until they were all gone. Definitely a keeper.

5 Cooler temperatures. I’ve been saying for weeks that it doesn’t feel like fall yet – now it finally does! We have temperatures in the 60s in the daytime and 40s at night this week. I love having a space between the extremes of summer and winter.

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.

Here we are near the end of the first week of October. It’s still not looking too fallish outside. Some leaves have started changing a bit, but I am looking forward to blazing fall colors, hopefully soon. And crisp, cool fall weather! The temperatures have lowered some, but they are not in “cool” range yet.

Meanwhile, here are some favorite parts of the last week:

1. A dripping faucet fixed. The incessant dripping I heard every time I went into the bathroom was about to drive me buggy – on top of the thought of wasted water and money. My husband took care of it last Saturday – and then cleaned the tub and toilet while he was there. Nice man. ♥

2. Sunshine. We had a lot of rainy or overcast weather for several days last week, and the sunshine this week has lifted my spirits.

3. A good visit with my daughter-in-law’s parents who were visiting for a long weekend and came over Sunday night for dinner.

4. A quick take-out lunch. I mentioned last week not cooking for three days in a row. I made up for it this week! I had some extra time in the kitchen last weekend. Picking up lunch after church from McAlister’s Deli was a big help.

5. New fall decorations. I mentioned last week that all the fall decorations were the same as the last few years. But this week I added to them. I have wanted to make a burlap wreath for years now and finally did so this week. I shared the process and the tutorials I worked from yesterday.

Then, in looking through my autumn Pinterest board, I found a lot of free printables and printed and framed a couple. This one is from this site:

I normally have a floral printable with a verse in that frame, so I just slipped this in on top of it. I may start rotating printables there with the season.

And this one is from this site:

Thankfully I had an unused frame tucked in a closet. The “blessings” leaf and “Hello Fall” block are new, courtesy of a Hobby Lobby gift card. The little wooden pie cutout I have had for years and tuck it here and there. The little “Be Thankful” pumpkin was a birthday gift from a friend. The little rosy clock looks a little out of place amid the fall things, but that’s ok. Usually my decorations match it better, but we can make exceptions for fall and Christmas. 🙂

All in all, a very good week. I hope yours was, too, and if not – may next week be better!

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’m trying not to start every single FFF with a comment about how fast the week went…but, man, it sure seems like September flew by quickly! For now, I get a few moments to slow down time by reflecting on the best parts of the last week:

1. Lunch with a friend at her house. Great food and fellowship. 🙂

2. Meals out or brought in. My daughter-in-law recently said that eating out is her love language, and I feel much the same way. Somehow I ended up not cooking for three days in a row.

3. Quick, simple meals. I’m thankful my family is content with just soup and sandwiches when I have had a busy day and am late getting to meal preparation.  And! Soup! Though we have it year round, it’s especially nice in the fall and winter.

4. Fall decorations. No picture, since it is pretty much the same every year. I’m feeling more ready for fall now that they’re up.

5. Flourless Applesauce Spice Cake. Wonderful stuff even if you don’t need to go flourless.

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.

OK, I will finally use the fall FFF button, since fall officially starts this weekend, even though it doesn’t feel like fall yet. 🙂 I sure am looking forward to cool breezes, hopefully soon.

Here are some of the best parts of last week:

1. Jesse’s birthday. We love birthdays around here.  🙂

2. Choco-Peanut Butter Dreams. Awkward name, but great taste! They’re not specifically associated with fall, but that’s when I crave them.

3. Better weather than the forecast. We were supposed to have a couple of days of heavy rain from Hurricane Florence, with flash flood warnings and predictions of power outages. Thankfully none of that occurred. We did get some rain one day, but it was not at all heavy.

I just got an email this morning from a missionary helping with relief efforts on the NC coast. He said Florence has all but dropped from the news, but the devastation it left on the coast is still an issue.

4. Finding an errand done. We use milk for almost all of my mother-in-law’s meals to make her pureed food the right consistency, and we ran out one morning after breakfast. I was originally planning to go to the store the next day, but since I needed to get milk, I was debating whether to get my whole grocery list or just get milk. I decided on the latter, and when I told my husband what I was about to do, he said he had already gotten milk while I was in the shower. So nice to find that taken care of!

5. Clearing out files and baskets. I have a basket on my desk and on the kitchen counter for receipts, mail I need to answer, things I need to think about and take care of later, etc. Naturally those get full occasionally, leading me to go through them. I also cleared out a couple of paperwork files. None were very big or time-consuming jobs, but they needed to get done, and that kind of work is very satisfying sometimes.

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 a busy week! Here are some of the best parts:

1. Labor Day. It was nice to have a Monday off and an excuse for grilled burgers with the usual accompaniments. Jason, Mittu, and Timothy had not been feeling well for nearly a week, but were able to come over that evening.

2. Getting my physical over with. Not something I look forward to, but it’s nice to get it over with for another year. No major issues this time, thankfully. And I even had some good news: My cholesterol numbers were much improved from last time. The only major change I made was switching to oatmeal and whole wheat toast for breakfast most mornings (as opposed to the bacon and egg sandwiches I used to have…).

3. Successful blood draws and nurses who pray over them. My veins don’t like to give up their contents. It usually takes a few attempts for a nurse to draw blood from them. This time, just before the third try, the nurse prayed, “Lord Jesus, help us,” and when the blood finally flowed, she said, “Thank you, Jesus.”

4. Finally getting a haircut. The stylist I like only works two days a week because she has young children and wants to be with them rather than working full time. I support and applaud that, and I really like her personally. But sometimes it’s hard to get in on the days she’s there. Our schedules came together this week, though, and I feel less shaggy. 🙂

5. Getting a number of little things done: getting a package to the post office, making a couple of deliveries, clearing accumulated clutter off a counter, and doing some rearranging in the pantry. I had requested for my birthday these plastic baskets with handles. They hold some of the small, loose items in the pantry, and the handle makes it easier to pull them out to get what I need.

Bonus: Jason sent me this photo of Timothy “having a meeting.” His daddy works from home, so he’s seen plenty of such meetings. 🙂

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 a good week! I rested the first part of it, after having all the family here the week before, then caught up on laundry and such, then transitioned back into a regular week. Here are some of the highlights:

1. A day at the park. Saturday was the only day everyone had off, and among all the possibilities of what we could do, we chose a picnic lunch at a park. Granddad and Timothy got to fly kites for a bit, and the other boys tried out Jim’s drone. Then we went to the playground area –  a very nice one!

2. A playdate with Timothy. That’s what his parents call it when we babysit. 🙂 All the kids went to a restaurant. A few times Timothy mentioned missing them, but one time he said, “I like spending time with you and Granddad, too!” ♥

3. A fun Sunday. Jeremy’s flight left, unfortunately, right in the middle of church time. We weren’t inclined to drop him off way early or have only one of us take him while everyone else went to church, so all of us but Jesse went to the airport. Saying good-bye was not fun. But afterward we went to a nearby coffee shop thinking Timothy would be able to watch planes come in and out for a while. We ended up not seeing any planes at that point. But it was a pleasant day to sit outside. Plus Jeremy texted pictures of his progress in the airport for Timothy (and us) to see: displays in the airport, the coffee shop he visited, the walkway to the airplane, the inside of it, the outside when they exited on the tarmac at his layover, etc. That was fun for all of us to share. We kept track of when his plane was taxiing and did get to see it take off in the distance. Then, Mittu had noticed a Mexican food restaurant nearby, so we decided to go get lunch. The restaurant turned out to be not so good (food on the floor, torn seating, cold food, unfriendly waitress). But Timothy enjoyed the colorfulness, and we did get to see several planes coming in for a landing. I spent the rest of Sunday alternating between sleeping and reading, with a brief interruption to heat some leftovers for dinner.

4. Phone fans. Where have these been all my life?! Jason and Mittu put a couple in the pinata we had for Jeremy’s birthday. I think she said she found them at a dollar store. You just plug them in and they come on – no apps, no on and off signal.

5. Brownies with a dollop on peanut butter on top. Mmmmm.

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 was so sorry to have missed last week! With preparations for a church baby shower, two family birthdays, and a visit from my out-of-town son, I just didn’t have time to sit down and compose a post then. But I am glad to be back now with a full week and heart. Here are some of the best parts:

1. My son’s visit. He’s here for a little over a week!

2. My son’s birthday. He wasn’t here on his actual birthday, but we celebrated a few days late.

We had a grilled hamburger feast, and Timothy wanted to do a pinata. I thought it would fall apart with one whack, but it took a while to break through! Jason and Mittu had filled it with a little candy but also some little fun things like small bubble solutions, little finger lights, etc.

2. My birthday! It was nice to have the family all together for it. We usually can’t go out to eat dinner due to Jim’s mom needing someone with her, but we asked her daytime caregiver to come back that evening. We went to one of my favorite restaurants right on a lake. The view was gorgeous and the food was great. It seems like every time we go to a restaurant lately, something is wrong with someone’s order, but this time everything came out right.

My daughter-in-law made my lovely cake!

3. Family time. I always enjoy having everyone together to talk, play games, or just hang out. Besides my oldest son being here, my husband took the week off, and Jason and Jesse took a day or two off as well. We didn’t have any “big” outings this week, but we’re looking forward to a picnic this weekend.

4. A rediscovered lamp. My sewing room has never had enough light, even when I open the blinds and turn on two lamps and the closet light. But it’s better in the afternoons when the sun is on that side of the house and more light comes in the window. One day last week, however, I needed to work in there in the morning and was frustrated over the lack of light. I remembered that my husband had gotten me a lamp for my work table a long time ago, but I had not put it out because there wasn’t a place for it. But I got it out and tried it. Even though there is still not a good place for it, it helped so much having light right where I needed it. I found out the lamp has three settings, too, so I can adjust it just right.

5. A ceiling fan for my bedroom. I have wanted one for a long time and finally got one for my birthday.

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.

Funny how this week seems to have gone fast in some ways, slow in others. Here are my favorite parts.

1. Sunday lunch out with the family. Somehow we were all out of church and in the same vicinity at the same time, so we texted and met for lunch.

2. Lunch with my friend Melanie. We hadn’t been able to get together for a while. so it was nice to catch up. Plus we ate at Cracker Barrel, one of my favorite places. Plus I took home a slice of their Chocolate Coca-Cola cake, which is always scrumptious. Plus Melanie gifted me with a pretty teacup, as she is downsizing her collection.

3. A not so bad week. That might sound odd. 🙂 Jim was gone from Monday through Thursday this week, longer than he usually travels. He tries to keep it to a day or two, but it couldn’t be helped. I sometimes get a little down or depressed in regard to having all of his mom’s care on my shoulders for even a night, so I was afraid I was going to be a basket case before the week was over. But I prayed about it at the beginning of the week, tried to just take it a day at a time, and here we are nearly at the end. As I write this on Thursday, he is on his way after being delayed due to storms. (Update: he got home a few hours later than planned, but safely.) Jason and Mittu brought dinner over one night and then cleaned up the kitchen while I fed Jim’s mom, and that was a big help.

4. Cutting back sweet treats. I have been telling myself that I needed to cut back on sweets to at least once a day, but I keep not doing it. Then this week I was reading a book about someone changing their lifestyle and routine to a healthier version, and she mentioned she only had sweets a couple of times a week. I thought, “I should probably do that.” And, only by God’s grace, I have! I’m astounded, especially after struggling so long with the idea of cutting back at all. And though I occasionally crave my Hershey’s miniatures or other treats, once I ignore the craving and go on to do other things, I am not bothered by it any more. I still drink my glass of decaf sweet tea with lunch, but everything else I drink is sugarless. It’s only been a few days, but I’ve lost five pounds already! Though there are other measures I need to take in addition, this was a big one. To God be the Glory!

5. Two anniversaries. My son and daughter-in-law celebrated their anniversary this week! And it was eight years ago today we moved to TN. That was a year of many big changes, but God was good and faithful through them all.

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.

The first of August always seem like the beginning of summer’s end, even though technically summer lasts well into September. We still probably have the hottest part of year to go through. But schools start here next week! Here are some highlights of the last week:

1. Replacement parts. With pureeing my mother-in-law’s meals for the last five years, we have worn out a lot of hand blenders and their parts. These were the last couple of cups we had, cracking in places. Thankfully we’ve found sources online for those and a few other items. It’s nice to use bright, shiny clear ones and not worry about whether they’ll hold up.

2. Lunch with my son, daughter-in-law, and grandson. They invited us over last Saturday – always a treat.

3. Voting. Oh, the process of voting, and even sometimes the process of choosing candidates, is not all that fun, but I am thankful for the privilege. And I was especially thankful my husband was able to go with me this time, as we discovered upon arriving at the polling place that voting was not where it usually was. It was quite a hike to get to the right place, but the whole process was not as disconcerting with him with me.

4. Medical care at home. My mother-in-law is under hospice care, and part of that service is sending a nurse out once a week and a doctor out every couple of months. Even though she doesn’t have any major issues just now, it’s nice that someone is accessible to ask questions of, to check on her, and to prescribe anything she needs.

5. Timothyisms. My son and daughter-in-law send me texts of the cute or funny things my grandson says. One day he was playing doctor with his mom, and left and then came back with his play saw. He assured her, “It’s ok Mommy! I put a bandaid on it when I’m done.” Then yesterday my daughter-in-law sent me this conversation:

“Timothy, we’re going to go vote today.”

T: “We are getting a boat?!”

“No, we are going to vote.”

T: “We are going fishing in a boat?”

“No, voting is when we pick who helps America.”

T: “Fishing helps America too.”

Happy Friday!