It’s been a good and relatively quiet week here. We’ve had a slight break in temperatures–80s instead of 90s–and a bit of welcome rain. I’m pausing once again with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story to recount the good things from the week.

1. Independence Day. The kids came over for burgers, made by Jason, Mittu, and Timothy this time. They also brought over some non-fireworks fireworks–“Pop-its,” which you throw on the ground, where they make noise when they hit, and these other things shaped like a cone or bottle where you pull a string, and it makes a loud pop and shoots out colored streamers. We saw a few larger fireworks from other places in-between trees. We played a few games and ate cookies with red, white, and blue sugar toppings. A good day, all in all.

2. Sunday lunch. We usually get take-out on the way home from church. This last Sunday, I wasn’t in the mood for any of our fast-food choices. I had a hankering for Cracker Barrel’s meatloaf, so I asked Jim what he thought about eating there. That’s not his favorite place, but he’ll indulge me every now and then. 🙂 Thankfully, his food was great (as was mine, but I always like the food there) and we had an excellent waiter, so it was a fun experience. There was a long wait, so I don’t know if I’d suggest it for Sundays again. But by the time we were finishing up, the restaurant was starting to clear out and quiet down.

3. The Princess Bride was scheduled to be on regular TV last Sunday night. Even though I know it well, I thought it would be fun to watch it again. Coincidentally, our pastor had made a passing reference to one of the characters in the movie that morning. So when I asked Jim if he wanted to watch it, he said, he needed to because he didn’t get the pastor’s reference. 😀 Once we started watching, he remembered having seen it before. It was fun seeing again and anticipating favorite parts.

4. Good lab reports. I had a six-month follow-up visit from my physical with my doctor this week, which mostly involved checking blood work. I’m not diabetic, but my blood sugar is slightly elevated. I get the lab work done a day ahead of time, so I got the results before I went in. I thought I read that my A1C, which measures blood sugar, was 7, which is way high–they want you to be around 5.7, and my last test was 6.2. I was bracing myself for a scolding. But when I got there, they said it was 6, lower than last time. Whew! I looked back at the report when I got home, and it did say 6–I don’t know how 7 got into my mind. And my cholesterol and everything else was normal. So the doctor and I were both pleased.

5. Picture hung. I found this picture online and requested and received it for Mother’s Day. I hadn’t hung it up yet because it turned out to be a little small for the space I had in mind. So I was pondering other places to put it, then finally decided to go ahead and put it where I wanted it in the first place, in my bedroom above a small bookcase.

I love the verse, the colors, everything about it. I love that it looks like it could have been painted in our area, with the Blue Ridge mountains in the background.

Bonus: Jim is cleaning out our shed and brought in some boxes for us to go through. One contained mostly school and Sunday school papers from when our oldest two were younger, but we found some treasures in their notes to each other, Jeremy’s plans for a boys club with “no girls aloud” and “no smoking” but with snacks, postcards Jim had sent from his travels, etc. Another box had some of Jim’s and my high school and college notebooks. My high school Algebra and college Zoology notebooks went straight into the trash (I was never sure why Zoology was needed for a Home Economics major. All I remember from it was some worm that could get into people’s skin in tropical watery places, grow the length of their leg, and have to be slowly pulled out centimeter by centimeter lest it break. Bleah.). But we found some fun treasures in that box, too, like this unusual to-do list:

Miss Barker was the Dean of Women. We got married over Christmas break my second senior year (I crammed four years into five, as the saying goes . . .). I had to see her for “permission” to get married and do whatever paperwork was involved. Then Mrs. Forsythe was the director of the girls’ extension ministries–groups from the college that went out to various places, like kids’ Bible clubs and nursing homes. I was going to need to drop out of the nursing home ministry I was in after we got married. We both had a laugh over this list, especially seeing the Dean about marriage.

Well, that wraps up another week here. How was yours?

Not only is is a new month, but we’re officially halfway through the year! Time’s a-flying. But in an effort not to let the blessings of the week fly by unnoticed, I join up with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story on Fridays to share our blessings.

1. Visit from a dear friend. One of my friends since early married days was traveling from SC to OH and went out of her way to stop and see us in TN. It was so good to visit in person and catch up with each other. She took us out to lunch at a nearby local restaurant, and then my kids came over for dinner while she was here.

2. My dear husband’s help in preparing for my friend’s visit. He cleaned bathrooms and vacuumed, among other things.

3. A dinner gift. I forgot to mention this last week. I got a text from Timothy saying his mom was making dinner for us that day. A pleasant surprise!

4. Impromptu lunch out. Our church has “care groups” that meet a couple of times a month. Jason and Mittu are in a different one than Jim and I are in. Both our groups meet after church for Sunday lunch. Sometimes our groups meet the same Sundays–sometimes we meet on different Sundays. This last Sunday, none of us had our care groups, so we went out to lunch.

5. Applesauce cake made with oat flour. Such good stuff. We had this while my friend was here. I don’t make the cream cheese frosting in the recipe–I make a vanilla buttercream from my forty-plus-year-old Betty Crocker cookbook. In the past, I’ve ground oatmeal for the flour. Oatmeal is gluten-free in itself, but some brands say their oats are grown near wheat fields, so there might be some cross-contamination. I found Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Oat Flour at the grocery store–not only did that save time, but I was assured it was gluten-free for our gluten-sensitive family members.

Bonus: A couple of times a year when I have early-morning fasting lab work at the doctor’s office, I reward myself with a breakfast biscuit. This time it was a steak and egg biscuit from Bojangles along with their Bo-Berry Biscuit. Those are the only things I like there.

Funny story: one time when Jim and I went through their drive-through, Jim asked for a couple of blueberry biscuits. The person at the window said, “Two BO-Berry biscuits. Anything else?” Throughout the rest of the interaction, he kept emphasizing the “BO.” That’s (however much money) for your BO-Berry biscuits, sir.” “Here are your “BO-Berry biscuits.” We got the idea–they’re BO-Berry, not blueberry biscuits at Bojangles. 🙂

Happy Independence Day to my American friends!

It’s hard to believe we’re at the last Friday in June already. Even though we’re only officially into summer by a week or so, to me it seems summer is a third of the way over with the end of June in sight. I’m fighting the heat wave and fostering gratitude by pausing for a few moments with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story to focus on the blessings of the week.

1. An old video. My Facebook memories pulled up a video Jason published eleven years ago. Timothy had been born ten and a half weeks early and spent that amount of time in the NICU. He got to go home on his original due date in June. Jason made a video showing Timothy’s progress and homecoming. It always makes me a little teary and abundantly grateful.

2. Amazon gift cards. I had a couple on hand for a few months, waiting to enter them until I knew what I wanted to spend them on. Otherwise they get frittered away. I finally used them this week. It’s like extending Mother’s Day and Christmas.

3. Air conditioning and ceiling fans. I imagine a lot of us will list those this week. I don’t know how people survived summer heat and humidity before AC.

4. Nowhere to go this week. First time that’s happened in a long time.

5. Getting “extras” done. One of my dearest friends is coming to visit next week. I got over the idea that I needed to practically spring-clean when company was coming long ago. But there are always little extras we like to tend to before they get here.

How was your last full week of June?

Whew, this week has been a blur. Thursday, as I write this, is my first day all week without something scheduled. I thought I’d get a lot done at home today; instead, I’ve been wiped out and took a nap. 🙂

Thankfully, much of the busy stuff has also been good. I’m sharing highlights with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. First birds in the birdbath. Some had perched on the side before; one had taken a drink. But finally a couple of birds splashed around in there. That was fun to see.

2. Wildflowers. The ones Jim planted from seeds around Mother’s Day are blooming nicely.

3. Father’s Day. We enjoyed celebrating my husband and the son who is also a father by getting the family together for lasagna and presents. Mittu made lemon pound cake.

4. Timothy. Jason and Mittu asked if we’d watch Timothy Monday night so they could go on a date. They brought pizza as well. We worked on the Lego-type camper van they had given Jim a while back. Then Timothy showed us how to use his 3-D printing pen. I’ve mentioned before that he likes tornado sirens. I am amazed by how much he knows about them. He was telling us all about where Knoxville used to have theirs and even knew what brands they were.

5. Appointments done. I see my cardiologist twice a year and just had one of those appointments this week. Then I also had the appointment to apply for my Real ID. Both went well, and I am very glad to have them behind me.

Happy first day of summer! How was your week?

The first week of June turned out to be a quiet week, which is fine by me. Though this week seemed fairly uneventful, there are always blessings along the way if we look for them. I’m sharing a few with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. Impromptu get-together. Sunday evening, Jason texted to ask if they could come over. I love that they live close enough to do that. Organized dinners and outings are fun, but so are the unexpected ones.

2. Flowers inside and out. Jim brought in the first wildflowers to bloom from the seeds he planted and placed them on my desk. These are tiny–the “vase” is the cover to a hair-spray bottle. 🙂 Cute and sweet.

Jason, Mittu, and Timothy brought these gorgeous peonies when they came over Sunday night.

Our hydrangea bush is thriving, as are the “bargain” plants in the planter.

The front planters are doing well, too. The yellowish-green stuff in front, which my Picture This app tells me is Creeping Jenny, came back from last year. The ones in the back were another of the bargain arrangements Jim found several weeks ago.

I love seeing plants blooming when I go outside.

3. Shelves cleaned and reorganized. I was able to work on a few closet shelves this week.

4. Ironing is not a favorite activity, but I am glad to have put a dent into the pile this week.

5. Sorting and organizing toys. For a long time I have wanted to sort through Timothy’s toys that we have here and pull out the ones he has outgrown. I specifically wanted to clean and set aide the “baby” ones for when we have people over who have infants. It was good to finally tackle that.

There was a song some years ago about simple pleasures being the best. The big ones are pretty nice, too, but I think most of life is made up of simple everyday pleasures.

What are some of your simple pleasures this week?

We’re not only nearing the end of the week, but also the end of the month. I’m not eager to transition to summer: I’d like for spring to stretch out a bit more. I know summer doesn’t officially start until June 20, but I always think of summer being from June through August. But we don’t really have a choice about how long a season is. We can only take a day at a time and pause along the way to take notice of the blessings God bestows on us. I’m doing that today with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. End-of-school-year party. Timothy completed fifth grade, so we got together to celebrate with Mexican bowls (seasoned chicken, Mexican rice, and toppings) and banana cream pie (all made by Mittu).

2. Memorial Day. I am thankful for those who fought and died for our country.

3. A long weekend. We had the kids over for my husband’s scrumptious grilled sou vide burgers along with the usual cookout accoutrements.

4. An $8.99 coupon for a haircut, which I used this week.

5. Dinner outing. When I came back from my haircut, it was nearly dinner time. We talked about whether to bring something in, but then decided to go out to Texas Roadhouse. Everything was great. Then we went to get the rest of the plants we needed to finish out our planters and flower beds. We could see storm clouds on the horizon, which I assume were responsible for the delicious cool breeze as we looked at plants. We got home well before the rain. It was a pleasant evening overall.

How was your week?

On Fridays, some of us pause the busyness to think back through the ways God has blessed us this week. Please feel free to join in with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. Birdbath and fountain. One of my Mother’s Day gifts was a birdbath and solar fountain. Jim was able to set them up this week.

I wanted one that was resin (plastic) rather than metal so it hopefully won’t get too hot. I don’t know if the birds will be interested in the fountain, but we figure it might help algae not develop. So far the birds haven’t shown any interest in it. But I hope they will soon!

2. A celebration of life service for a man in our church. It might sound odd to list this as a favorite–we grieve with the family, especially his wife. But I always enjoy hearing the overview of a person’s life as well as testimonies of his faithfulness and character. His brother spoke, and their testimonies were intertwined. I hadn’t heard them before and marveled at how God worked to bring them to Himself.

3. Impromptu lunch with Jason, Mittu, and Timothy on Saturday at Kern’s Food Hall. Jim and Mittu got Indian food; Jason got a burger and fries; Timothy and I got pizza.

4. Church-wide lunch Sunday. It was nice to have lunch taken care of and visit with people while eating. They had chili along with chips, vegetables, and cheese. The kids were manning the serving tables, and Timothy’s job was to keep the chip bowls refilled. 🙂

5. Bird visitors. As I went to the sink yesterday, I saw a little bird perched on the windowsill.

He was there quite a while–maybe an hour or more. Finally, his mom or dad brought him something to eat. Jim got this photo:

We think the baby either fell or was blown out of the nest a little too early or was trying to fly and got waylaid by the wind. It was fun to watch them while they were so close by.

And that wraps up another week! How was yours?

Well, it’s been a week! It’s good to pause amidst the busyness and reflect on the blessings God sprinkles throughout our days. We share some of those blessings each week with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. Safety in a medium earthquake. Saturday morning around 9, I was sitting at my desk when I heard a rumbling sound. As I tried to figure out what it was, the house started shaking and I heard a loud crack somewhere. Then everything went still, though the rumble took a while to fade out. Immediately, Facebook and other neighborhood forums were filled with posts asking, “Was that an earthquake?” It was! A 4.1 magnitude centered about 30 miles from us. I looked up some information afterward and found that damage doesn’t usually occur until an earthquake is 5.5 and above. And I hope I am never in one stronger than this one! It was very disconcerting, but I am glad no major damage was reported.

2. Mother’s Day breakfast. Saturday night, Jason and Timothy brought over a breakfast Mittu had made for us to warm up for Sunday Mother’s Day breakfast: quiche, potatoes, mangoes, and banana bread. It was good! And I was able to sleep a little longer since all I had to do was warm things up.

3. Mother’s Day. My family always goes above and beyond to make Mother’s Day special. Jim grilled burgers and turkey sausage. Mittu made what I call Four-Layer Dessert (like this recipe except we make a graham cracker crust), but she calls Chocolate Lasagna. It’s good by any name!

I received cards and flowers and treats and thoughtful gifts.

And a Crumbl cookie. 🙂

4. Dishwasher duty. I think Jim and the boys took care of the dishes Sunday, though Mittu may have as well (I remember hearing Jim ask, “Why is Mittu working? 🙂 ). But Monday morning, when I got up, Jim was unloading the packed dishwasher and dish drainer as well.

5. Phone call with a friend recuperating from an accident a few weeks ago. It was good to hear her voice and learn directly how she was doing.

I hope you had a great week!

It’s been a busy, up-and-down kind of week. It’s easy to get stuck in doldrums over the “down” parts, so it helps to remind ourselves of the good parts–which we do every Friday with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. Ladies’ Luncheon at church. We had a couple of sessions before and after with the theme of telling our stories of God’s work in our lives.

2. A mistake is often not good, but this time it was. We got a weird email, supposedly from our insurance company. But we brushed it off as a scam attempt. The next day we got an email from them thanking us for our conversation that day, with an attachment of an insurance policy. We began to be concerned about identity theft. After some research and phone calls, we discovered the agent had used the wrong email.

3. Valet parking and finding our way. I had an appointment at UT Medical Center this week, which is a huge, confusing complex. Jim offered to drive me and drop me off at the right building while he parked. But we discovered they had valet parking for only $2 more than the parking garage charge would be. Then we had to go in one building to get to another building and felt a bit like rats in a maze, but we found our way in and out without any problems. I’m quite directionally challenged, so I appreciated that Jim drove and then went with me to find the right place.

4. Spring flowers. Jim was looking around the garden section of Home Depot and found some plants marked down. He decided to get several for the planters around the house, thinking that if I didn’t like any of them, he could plant them somewhere else. But I liked them all!

5. Real ID appointment set up. I was concerned that I might not get an appointment before my driver’s license expired–the web site said most appointments are made 90 days out. But, thankfully, I was able to set it in time. I dug up all the appropriate paperwork, so all I have to do with it now is wait for the appointment.

How was your week?