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 time next week, it will be June! But for now, let’s enjoy what’s left of May. Here are some favorite parts of the last week:

1. Patio additions. Jim had bought this bench to provide a place to sit at the edge of the front yard when we watch Timothy in his riding toys on the cul-de-sac. But we pulled it back to the patio for our first grilled meal, and we decided we like it there. Then, I used my Amazon points to get a water table for Timothy, and he has enjoyed using it several times already.

2. Watching a movie with Jim. Last weekend we found ourselves alone for the evening with nothing on TV to watch. Someone had mentioned the movie “Wonder” to me, and the previews looked good, so we watched it together. So good. Even though it’s primarily about a boy with a disfigured face, the theme can be summed up in one of the precepts that his teacher conveys to the class: “Be kind, for everyone is fighting a tough battle.”

3. A satisfactory ending to a dispute. An item I had bought online had a problem, and after several emails the dispute was finally settled to my satisfaction. I usually ask my husband to handle these kinds of things, but I was pleased that I saw it through and that it worked out well.

4. Mending done. I tend to put off mending as it’s often a headache. But one item needing attention was my husband’s most often worn sports coat. So I worked on it and a pair of pants with the cuff coming undone. They both came together about as easily as they possibly could have, much to my relief.

5. Checking off the to-do list. I had a number of minor tasks around the house that I had been putting off. When I finally got to them one day this week, it only took around an hour to take care of them all.

Here in the US we have a 3-day weekend with Memorial Day on Monday. It’s usually a time of get-togethers and cookouts, the kick-off to summer. But we don’t want to forget those who helped to make such days possible.

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

We’re halfway through May already. It has been a good month so far. Here are some of the highlights of the last week:

1. New flowers. Usually my husband gets new hanging baskets and sometimes new plants for some of the other planters in conjunction with Mother’s Day.  This year he proposed that we choose them together, so Saturday morning we went plant-shopping and then spent the rest of the morning putting them in their respective places.

2. Mother’s Day. My family always does a wonderful job making me feel special on Mother’s Day. Jim grilled teriyaki chicken, I think everyone pitched in making the cheesy potatoes, salad, and rolls, and Mittu made chocolate pretzel pie.

My hair is a little wonky – we had been outside and I didn’t know it had gotten windblown.

3. Ladies group. This was actually from almost two weeks ago, but I forgot to mention it. The ladies from our church met to discuss the first five psalms, not in a formal Bible study, but just sharing what we learned. It has been a long time since I have been able to participate regularly in any kind of church ladies’ Bible study or discussion due to scheduling conflicts. This is only my second time to attend here, but I enjoyed it very much.

4. Jim washed my car. This was also from a couple of weeks ago. My car has some pieces on the outside which my husband doesn’t think would fare well in a commercial car wash. So he washed it himself, and it looks so much better.

5. Abiding Radio. I had this on my computer at one time, but I never listen to music while on the computer, so I forgot about it. Then recently someone mentioned their app – since the advent of smart phones, it hadn’t occurred to me to see if they had an app. I’ve enjoyed listening to it a few times.

Bonus: My roses are still doing nicely, in spite of me.

I thought these looked especially pretty after I watered plants one morning.

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.

Another week is almost down for the count. Here are some of the best parts of it:

1. Roses blooming. My rose bushes have been leafing and budding for weeks and they finally exploded.

2. Sitting on the patio. My dear husband has been hard at work getting the patio cleaned up and ready for usage. We enjoyed sitting out there last Sunday night as Timothy drove his little car around. The weather has been gorgeous most of the week.

3. A quiet week. For me, anyway. Jim had to travel a couple of days, but I didn’t have anything extra on the schedule this week, and I was able to put some quality time into some projects.

4. Books. I could list them as favorites every week. 🙂 But for some reason I seemed to make more headway with a couple than I have been able to for a while (maybe because of #3).

5. Meatloaf is one of my favorite meals, but we don’t have it very often because we only eat red meat occasionally, and lean ground beef doesn’t go on sale very often. But I snagged some a while back. We enjoyed it one night this week. Then, one of my favorite lunches is to take leftover meatloaf and put it in a grilled cheese sandwich. Yum!

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 the first Friday in May, and it has been a wonderfully springy week! Here are some of the best parts of the past week:

1. Lunch with a friend. Melanie came over for a potluck soup and sandwiches lunch and then we delved into some card-making supplies. Fun! Somehow we hadn’t seen each other in a while.

2. Catching up with an long-time friend, one I’ve known since early married days. I got a Facebook message asking if I had time to talk, and I did, so she called. We had been messaging on Facebook about the desire to actually phone each other some time, but it hadn’t worked out until this day. I so enjoyed catching up with each other.

3. A dinner get-together. We had my son and daughter-in-law and grandson over along with the pastor of the church we’ve been visiting and his family, with all of us contributing parts to the meal. We thoroughly enjoyed visiting together and ended with a rousing game of Telestrations.

4. Nostalgic discoveries. I caught sight of a box of children’s books I had forgotten about in a closet, so I pulled it out to see if any of the books would be suitable for Timothy’s age now. Some of them were favorites I remember reading to my kids, and it was fun to find them again. Some notebooks of my kids’ drawings, mostly Jason’s were also in the box, and I enjoyed looking through them and then showing them to Jason the next time he came over.

5. A repainted swing. The seat that my husband had built for our patio swing looked weather-beaten, so he sanded it and painted it this time with outdoor paint rather than staining it. It looks much better, and hopefully it will hold up better. I need to make a replacement for the cover it used to have, and that should help even more, as well as providing shade.

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 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!