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 quite the weather week: snow one day, rain another, freezing fog (I had never heard of that before) another, and cold throughout. Thankfully we did see sunshine a couple of afternoons – that is always uplifting this time of year.

Here are some highlights of the week:

1. Not getting a predicted snowfall. We’d gotten 4″ last week with another 3-4 forecast for Saturday, but thankfully only got maybe an inch or so that day.

2. A date at the fitness center. My husband and I tried out a nearby fitness center last Saturday. He had already joined and had a guest pass I’ve used a few times this week. I will probably be signing up this weekend. I never thought I’d do that – one thing I struggle with concerning exercise is making time, and to add on driving and changing time seemed too much when I could exercise in my own home. But another enemy of exercise is boredom, and the fitness center has a variety of machines and activities one can do. Jim likes doing laps in the pool. I enjoy their walking track and have tried out what I think is a sitting elliptical (like an exercise bike but also has the poles you moves back and forth with your hands) and another machine where you sit on a bench and rotate what looks like a bicycle wheel with your hands. My balance is a little too iffy for some of the standing machines, but it’s nice that there are others that you can really tell are working you out. Plus, as many of you know, with caring for my mother-in-law here, my husband and I just don’t get out much together. But we have someone with her in the mornings, and it was nice to walk and talk together. We’re talking about making it a regular Saturday event.

3. A cute pink gym bag. 🙂

4. Christmasy fabric with pink in it. My dishes have pink flowers on them, so it is hard to find Christmas table linens that won’t clash with them. I was in Wal-Mart this week passing by the fabric department and saw this. Perfect! I think it is probably too small for a tablecloth, but I might try to make a runner or something out of it.

It’s looking a little orangy in this photo, but in person it’s varying shades of pink.

5. Kids pitching in. My husband takes our garbage and recycling to a local center once a week, but it was closed this past week because of bad weather. He wouldn’t have another chance to do it through the week, and we were already over capacity and couldn’t let it go another week. So Jesse took care of it one morning this week. And Jason and Mittu made dinner and cleaned up the kitchen last Sunday. I appreciate their help greatly.

Hope you’re having a good 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.

Thankfully it has been a much quieter week than the last few. I still haven’t gotten to some of the things I have been wanting to get done, but the peacefulness has been a blessing. Here are some of this week’s highlights:

1. An in-house date night. All the kids had other plans last Saturday night, so our in-house date consisted mainly of getting take-out from my husband’s favorite Asian restaurant. It was lovely not to have to cook or clean up after a meal.

2. Dinner at my son and daughter-in-law’s on Sunday. Jason got a new grill for Christmas and wanted to break it in, so my husband initiated him into the ways of the Grillmaster. 🙂  Because of these first two, I basically had the weekend off from cooking except for Sunday morning breakfast and my mother-in-law’s stuff. Nice!

3. A husband who cleans up the kitchen on Sunday mornings. I always appreciate his help, but I don’t usually ask for it because he already works 10-12 hours most days. But when his mom first came to our home and we went through a number of different caregivers for her on weekends, he would always stay home from church the first few days we had anyone new, both to train them and to make sure of how they handled his mom. Since he was home those days, he would finish the dishes and wipe down the counters and stove while we were at church. Since we have a regular caregiver now and he’s been able to attend church again, he’s kept up the habit of cleaning up Sunday mornings. That’s been such a big help. Often I would not have time and then would have to clean up from both breakfast and lunch after church. This last Sunday, there was enough to start the dishwasher before we left, so to walk in after church and eating at J&M’s to a spotless kitchen and to just be able to rest and relax was heavenly.

4. A day of rest. With meals and kitchen clean-up taken care of, I don’t know why I was so wiped out on Sunday afternoon, except that I was out more than normal over the weekend. Those of you who read here regularly know that I place great importance on church. I know sometimes even if I’m feeling kind of draggy, by the time I get there, I’m fine and glad I went. But for whatever reason, I crashed when we got home in the afternoon and didn’t wake up til 6:30, then read for most of the evening. I felt so refreshed.

5. A limited allergic reaction. One day this week, my little grandson had an allergic reaction, we think from the strawberries in his yogurt at lunchtime. My d-i-l said he broke out into hives and tiny blisters. They started him on Benadryl right away and took him to the doctor as soon as my son could get home from work, and by that time everything had settled down. He’s supposed to stay on Benadryl for a while. Though I am sad he had a reaction, I’ve read of so many life-threatening occurrences requiring an ER visit from friends with kids who have allergies that I was glad it didn’t go that far.

If I were to add a bonus this week, it would be a good winter coat. We’ve been blessed with a very mild winter until recently. This week it has started actually feeling like January with the lowest temperatures we’ve had so far. I don’t like to wear my winter coat often because it’s so heavy, but when it is needed it sure does the job.

Hope you are warm and comfy where you are! 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.

We’ve had a two-week break from FFF since the last two Fridays were on holidays. I’ve missed it, but I appreciated the break as well. I don’t know if I could have gotten posts in on those days, but even if I could have, I would not have had time to visit around, and I think if someone is going to participate in some thing like this, they should visit at least some of the others. I think most of us were probably in this boat. It’s funny, though, that FFF has become such a habit that I kept thinking of things I needed to write down for it. I’m thankful Susanne started us on this habit of noticing and acknowledging our blessings.

Some weeks I do keep a running list of things for the FFF, and I wish I had this time, because there was so much to be thankful for that I’m sure I can’t remember it all. I won’t try to recap the whole last three weeks, but here are some highlights of my favorite things.

1. Christmas, of course. From our “traditional” breakfast of cinnamon rolls, sausage rolls, and fruit, to reading the Christmas story, to a wonderful time exchanging gifts, especially with a 19-moth-old grandchild. 🙂 To Christmas dinner with ham, cheesy potatoes, green bean casserole, to desserts of four different kinds of pies, to family time and enjoying being together. I did mess up Christmas dinner in two ways – I didn’t check to see how long the ham would take to bake, and when I started getting it ready, saw it was going to take much longer than expected. So we ended up having it for the evening meal rather than early afternoon. And then I had frozen rolls that I was supposed to take out to rise 3-5 hours before we needed them – and I totally forgot. But my family overlooked my oversights. 🙂 I was also thankful that at some point during the week and a half of “Christmas break,” everyone pitched in to help in some way. More people in the house make for more food prep, dishes, etc., so it’s really nice to have help in those areas.

This is Timothy with a couple of his gifts – a child-sized chair and a stuffed doggie. 🙂

2. Family time. My oldest son came down and Jason and Mittu were able to be here a good bit even though Jason had to work a lot of overtime. It was fun just to sit and catch up, but we also enjoyed playing games, watching movies, going bowling, and doing a lot of eating. 🙂

3. Harvest loaf cake. I made myself wait to make it until Jeremy came. I made extras for gifts for freezing and for later, and we’re working on the last mini-loaf currently.

4. Our 36th anniversary in Dec. We went out to a new restaurant we’ve been wanting to try, then dropped in on the kids at Jason and Mittu’s house. 🙂 We actually went out the night after our anniversary because the restaurant we wanted to try wasn’t opened the night of, and on our actual anniversary, Jason and Mittu brought over some pie and chocolate covered nuts for our anniversary.

5. A perfect gift. It’s hard to know what to get for my mother-in-law at her stage of life. But somewhere a while back I saw someone mention a blanket gotten through collage.com which had family member’s pictures on it, so I tucked that idea away for Christmas. I was thoroughly pleased with how well it came out and surprised at how clear the photos looked on a fleece blanket (this is not an ad – I am just a pleased customer!) I can’t show you the whole thing because I don’t have everyone’s permission, but I made a row for each of her kids and their families, and here is our row:

They had a more contemporary design where you could put the photos in a hodgepodge way in different sizes, but I couldn’t make the rows work that way.

I’ve also enjoyed end of the year activities like looking through the year’s posts and book reviews to choose favorites and then making reading plans for the year. I don’t usually make New year’s resolutions or choose words for the year for various reasons, but I do usually take some time the first week of the year after everyone else has gone back to work to evaluate and maybe set some goals for the year. So far my quiet week to do that hasn’t happened yet. 🙂 Much to do, many interruptions, and much of it taking much longer than planned. So maybe next week!

It’s funny how it’s such a joy to change up the routine for the holidays, and then it’s nice to get back to the routine afterward, yet it’s still a bit sad to have the kids gone and the decorations down. But I think we’re pretty much transitioned to the New Year now, with its own tasks and things to look forward to.

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 seems like no matter how much you get done ahead of time, these weeks before Christmas are still busy! But everything is coming together though there is still a bit to do. May we remember amidst all the bustle the purpose and message of the season and the grace of God in the everyday. That’s one reason I am glad for this weekly time to stop and recount some of those blessings. Here are a few:

1. My oldest son is home. He’s normally here for a week at Christmastime, but he had some extra vacation days to use up so is with us for a longer time than I think he has been since he left home.

2. The Toy Story That Time Forgot might, I think, be my new favorite Christmas TV program, or at least one of them. So cute yet so poignant in parts!

3. Forgotten gift cards. I was at Hobby Lobby this week and planned to finish off what was left on a gift card, but at the checkout discovered I had another one that had not been used at all. Sweet!

4. Pumpkin spice cookies from a Betty Crocker mix topped with cream cheese frosting mixed with cinnamon. Some day I will try these from scratch, but the mix made for a quick treat. After the first pan of them I got the idea to add in some chocolate chips – even better!

5. LED candles. I like the look of candles, but they give me a headache, esocially scented ones. I recently discovered some decorative LED pillar candles and ordered them. I haven’t gotten them out of the box yet, but I know just where I want to put them and anticipate enjoying them. They even come with a remote to turn them on and off!

Besides these, there are joys of communicating with loved ones this time of year – I still love to send and receive Christmas cards and letters even though it is an investment of time, time with family, preparing gifts of love, and listening to the blessings in Christmas music while accomplishing some of those other things, and rejoicing in the gift of our Savior come to redeem and help and fellowship with us.

Since next Friday is Christmas Day, I am not sure what Susanne has planned for the FFF. I can’t imagine that I would post or have time to visit that day, unless I post something the day before and visit after Christmas, but most likely I’ll not have another FFF until after Christmas. I hope you have a blessed and merry Christmas celebration!

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 so hard to believe we’re into December already! Here are some highlights of the week:

1. Decorating for Christmas. It was a really enjoyable day all together. We found a new spot to get a tree (our previous place closed down, and getting a tree at Home Depot last year just wasn’t the same). Having a little helper this year was great fun, too. 🙂

2. Turkey Bone Soup. One of my favorite leftover turkey dishes.

3. Not having rain and cold on the same days. 🙂 The beginning of the week was rainy and overcast, but temperatures were in the 50s. By the time we got down into the 30s later in the week, the rain had gone. If the situation had been reversed – we would have had a mess of icy and/or slushy roads. I’m sure we will at some point this winter, but I am glad we escaped it this week.

4. Online shopping. It was good to knock out the greater part of Christmas shopping at home all in one morning.

5. A turn for the better. My younger two sons both work in customer service in the same online company. Of course, Black Friday and Cyber Monday generated a lot of business, which they were expecting, but some problems in their system caused trouble for both them and their customers. Jesse came home Wednesday night quite discouraged – no matter how much he worked, the number of tickets they needed to answer kept rising by the hundreds. But a server upgrade Thursday plus the end of their extended Cyber Monday sales has made catching up look possible again, and he was in a much better frame of mind yesterday.

Happy Friday! Hope you have a great week ahead.

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

Hope those of you in the US had a good Thanksgiving Day. Here are a few highlights of the week:

1.  The Galkin Evangelistic Team made our church their last stop of their fall term, and we enjoyed a feast from the Word in both music and message.

2. Central heating. We’ve had temperatures in the 20s this week – so nice to have a warm home.

3. Throw blankets. I don’t know how they make them just right, but they are perfect for cool evenings on the couch while reading or watching TV.

4. Thanksgiving. Ours was a little different this year: this was the first time our oldest son wasn’t here for it. I’ve been trying hard not to be emotional about it and to look on the good points, that he came in the spring for Timothy’s birthday and will be here at Christmas. And we did get to Face Time. Jason and Jesse both have to work Friday – we’re used to all of us having the whole weekend off. But we still have much to be thankful for: that Jason’s family was all well enough to come, after having been sick earlier in the week, that we had a great Thanksgiving feast and time with family, among multitudes of other things.

5. Silicon kitchen helpers. I had gotten these for presents earlier this year but hadn’t had an opportunity to use them yet until Thanksgiving.

The left one is a pie guard, to put around the edges of a pie so they don’t get over-cooked. It worked well – smelled a little funny, but that didn’t affect the taste of the pie, and I am hoping the smell goes away after using it more. It has little notches on one end and slots on the other so you can adjust it to the size needed, and it’s easy to hook on. I always hate wrestling with foil strips and then trying to get them to stay in place, so this was nice. The other you put over a pan of whatever you have boiling and it keeps it from boiling over. That always happens when I am boiling potatoes for mashing: no matter how closely I watch them, as soon as my head is turned, they boil over. This did work really well. There was still a teeny bit of liquid that spilled over, but not nearly as much as usual.

No Black Friday shopping for us – for me, anyway. I’d rather shop weekdays when it’s not so crowded. 🙂 We’re going to work on Christmas decorations this weekend. It doesn’t feel at all like it should be December yet, but maybe this will help. 🙂 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 are a few highlights of the week:

1. Mexican food take-out. Love chicken chimichangas and chips and cheese dip!

2. Running into an old friend in the grocery store parking lot and catching up for a few minutes.

3. Pizza from a local business. Jesse and I love pizza from a local non-chain restaurant, but my husband isn’t fond of it. He had to be out for dinner one night this week, and though I don’t like that, it was an opportunity to get pizza from this place.

4. Single serving soup. Jesse and I were just discussing how we wished that the Bear Creek soup mixes (we LOVE the cheddar potato) came in smaller versions. The one we usually use makes more than enough for dinner one night and a couple of lunches later in the week, but sometimes you only want one or two servings. Then when I went to the store I saw just that! I haven’t tried it yet but I am optimistic it will be as good as what we’ve been having.

5. Safety. I pass through one particular intersection in front of W-Mart at least once a week: it has no traffic light and I have to turn left across several lanes of traffic, but I am usually careful to look both ways before pulling out. But one day last week somehow I missed seeing a car in the lane I was entering and didn’t realize it until he swerved, honking, around me. For some reason then he just stopped in front of me straddling the line dividing two lanes. We hadn’t hit, so I tried to pull past him, and then he pulled out in front of me, wagging his finger at me. I was behind him for several blocks, and whenever we were stopped, he’d look back at me in his rear-view mirror and make angry gestures pointing to his head, indicating he thought I was crazy, speaking constantly and animatedly (which I am glad I could not hear). I was relieved when we finally went in different directions. I wished I could have apologized, but on the other hand I was glad I didn’t have to actually speak to the guy. I wanted to say, “Look, I’m sorry. It was stupid of me – I don’t know how I missed seeing you. But everyone is okay and there was no harm done, so can we move on now?” And that was a reminder to me as well that when I am steamed over another driver’s actions, to just let it go and move on instead of rehearsing it and stewing over it way too long. So I am thankful for safety both from my dumb mistake and from road rage.

Hope you have a great weekend!