It’s the last day of February! Twenty days until spring! It’s time to once again reflect on the last week and look for the highlights and blessings God places in our path along with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. My daughter-in-law’s birthday was actually the week before, but they took a short trip to Chattanooga, saw Ruby Falls (a waterfall in a cave), and took a train ride that week. We celebrated her birthday Sunday by going to lunch at Kern’s Food Hall–a big food court with a lot of ethnic cooking to choose from. Not being an adventurous eater, I stayed with pizza. 🙂 But Mittu, Timothy, and Jim got Indian food while Jason got Mexican and Jesse got sushi. Then we went to their house for presents and cake. Mittu made her own cake–a black forest cheesecake. Jason or I have made her cakes in the past, but she wanted to do this one. We Face-timed with Jeremy while there and enjoyed the afternoon.

2. A schedule adjustment. With an empty nest and a retired husband, I don’t have to get up at any set time most days. I’ve been sleeping later and later until it feels like I don’t have a lot of the morning left to accomplish anything. Though I’ve loved not having to set an alarm, I’m starting to time it for about half an hour earlier than I’ve been getting up. So far, that’s going well. Once I get used to that, I’ll set it back another half hour. The key–and the hard part– is getting to bed earlier. I’m naturally a night owl, but I get more done during the day than I do at night.

3. Nice weather. A lot of our winter weather has looked like the picture at the top. But we’ve had some lovely days this week–sunshine and afternoons in the 60s and 70s.

4. Lunch with Melanie. We talked about trying someplace different, but we ended up at one of our favorite places–Cracker Barrel. I always enjoy the time together, and I had enough leftovers for lunch the next day.

5. Daffodil leaves peeking through the soil. They’re not my favorite flower, but I love that they signal spring is coming.

Happy last day of February!

It’s been another very cold week. But we’re one week closer to spring! I’m cultivating gratefulness with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story by sharing five favorite things from the week.

1. Valentine’s Day is probably my favorite holiday, maybe tied with Christmas. We had our usual “meat hearts,” chocolate cupcakes, flowers, cards with the family.

2. Sleep. What I call “good sleep” can sometimes be elusive. One night I fell asleep on the couch from about 8:30 to 11:30. I thought I’d have a hard time getting back to sleep, but I got another six hours in after I went to bed. It’s amazing how seep chases the mental cobwebs away.

3. Hobby Lobby is one of my favorite places to just wander around. This week, I didn’t find what I was looking for and didn’t buy anything, but I still enjoyed the excursion.

4. Good news. My oldest son had a scan we were concerned about a couple of weeks ago. He got the results this week. He had some damage, but there’s a new medicine that has good results reversing the damage.

5. A couple of especially productive days, one of which came after the good night of sleep. Imagine that! 🙂

How was your week?

Happy Valentine’s Day! This will just be a fly-by post today as there is still much to do before our family Valentine’s dinner tonight. I’m cultivating gratefulness with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. Pretty pens. Sometimes the pretty ones don’t write very well, but this one is both lovely to look at and functional.

2. Hiding cords and cables. I love our electronics, but I hate to see cords and cables and wires hanging off the furniture or tangled on the floor. With all the moving furniture around while painting, Jim has been finding ways to make the cords less noticeable.

3. A picture rehung. A picture above our bed has been off-center ever since we moved the bed over to make room for a chair. I have balance issues, so I wasn’t able to stand on the bed to rehang it, and the bed doesn’t move easily. Jim painted the master bedroom this week, and we finally got the picture in the right place while the bed was away from the wall.

4. No ice or snow. Our temperatures have varied this week with a lot of rain, but thankfully the rain didn’t come on days when the temperatures were low.

5. Good fellowship. I always enjoy being at church, but the last few weeks have had some especially good conversations with different people.

I hope you have a wonderful day and know how much you are loved.

Usually I jot down things to include for FFF throughout the week. Somehow I didn’t this time. As I sit down to write, I’m thinking . . . .what did happen this week? I’m sharing blessings with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. Feeling much better. Thanks so much for your prayers last week for my sinus and back pain.

2. Sunshine and warmth. We’ve had rain off and on and more is predicted for most of next week. But I am thankful the temperatures are too warm for snow and ice, and we have seen blue skies and sunshine some days. We almost hit 70 on Thursday. I know winter is not over yet, but it’s nice to have a reprieve from bone-chilling cold.

3. More home improvements. Jim finished painting the living room last week and this week did what we call the alcove, the study, or the office. It’s a little extension off the dining area where we keep a couple of desks. I didn’t do “before” and “after” pictures of the other rooms, but thought I’d do so here to give you an idea of how things have been brightening up all over the house.

Before: beige walls, off-white blinds that look old and yellowish.

After: light grey walls, new white blinds, brighter light bulbs.

We’ve been so pleased with the transformation.

My dear husband even cleaned the windows inside and out as well as the window screens.

The only major rooms left are the master bedroom and Jim’s office. After that, there’s stuff like the pantry, laundry room, and closets. We have four closets near the garage door with coats, Timothy’s toys, games, and decorating items. We need to take all of that out to paint and want to go through everything before putting it back in. That will be a chore, but it will be nice to get it done.

4. Mug warmer. One of the kids–Jeremy, I think–bought this for me some time ago. I wanted the cord to go behind the desk, which was going to entail someone scrambling around on the floor to plug it in, since this desk is too massive to scoot. So I put this in the desk until such time as I remembered to ask someone to set it up. Since Jim had to move the desk around while painting, I asked if he could plug this in behind the desk while he had it pulled out. It’s been so nice to keep my decaf coffee warm while I’m at the computer!

5. Dinner at Jason and Mittu’s for the first time since Christmas break. Jesse came, too, and we Face-timed with Jeremy.

Timothy has a thing for tornado sirens, and I am amazed at his knowledge of them. Jim and Jeremy were making one for him for Christmas with their 3-D printers, but a problem getting materials meant they couldn’t get it ready in time. Jim got it finished, and we brought it over last night. It’s nowhere near as loud as the real thing, of course, but I think he enjoyed using it. Plus Jim brought it over in pieces so Timothy could see how it was made and help put it together.

So thankfully, a little reflection brought to mind many highlights of the week. That’s one thing this exercise is so good for.

How was your week?

This has not been a great week. I started coming down with a head cold late Sunday night. I think it might be a sinus infection now, but I am waiting to see if it goes away on its own. I can’t take decongestants due to afib, so I muddle through with Tylenol, cough drops, and rest.

Then I did something to my back one day this week. Though it feels much better now, it’s also a little twingy. So I’m trying to remember to move slowly and deliberately rather than suddenly.

But even on the not-so-good weeks, there are blessings to be found. I’m thankful Susanne at Living to Tell the Story started this weekly exercise in cultivating gratefulness.

1. A peaceful transfer of power. I forgot to mention the inauguration last week. I’m thankful that, whatever political affiliations are represented, we have a peaceful transfer.

2. Lunch with Melanie was also from the week before. I always enjoy our lunches. We met on a Friday, and I had already published my FFF for the day. Then I forgot last week. We went to Red Lobster courtesy of some gift cards I had received. The waitress even gave us some extra Cheddar Bay biscuits to take home with our leftovers.

3. Home improvements. One of the things we looked at during our excursion to Home Depot last week was new knobs for our kitchen cabinets. We discussed painting the cabinets but weren’t sure if that’s what we really wanted to do. But I did want to go ahead and change out the plain brassy knobs. We bought three to try out, then after we made a decision, Jim took back the ones we didn’t choose and bought enough of our choice to do the whole kitchen–something like 29 knobs. I took a picture when he was part-way through installing the new ones:

New ones are on the left, old ones are on the right.

I liked some of the antique brass ones we saw. But if we ever do paint the cabinets, I want to paint them grey, and the black would look better on those. I think they look better now. 🙂 Funny how such a little thing can spruce up a whole room.

Jim is almost done painting the family room, probably the most used room in the house. That room and one other had off-white window blinds that looked old and discolored–plus would not go well with the light grey walls. I’ve wanted to get rid of them for a long time, and now Jim replaced them with white ones. They look so nice!

4. Dry cleaning sheets. With painting the window frames, we wanted to clean our valances. The fabric I used for them is dry clean only. Woolite makes sheets for the dryer for dry clean items. Jim cleaned off dust and cobwebs from the curtain, and I popped them into the dryer with the Woolite sheet for twenty minutes. So much nicer than trying to find a dry cleaner and paying their prices! The valances came our great.

5. A “Bed Buddy” pad that can be used for heat or cold. I put it in the microwave to heat and use when my back was bothering me and Icy Hot and Tylenol weren’t working. It helped a great deal. I wish it was unscented, but at least the scent didn’t give me a headache like scented things usually do.

Just sharing the highlights of the week has lifted my spirits.

How was your week?

January is one month that I am glad to see speeding by. This has been a frigid week: you know it’s been cold when 30 degrees seems like warming up. Today, I’m looking for blessings with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. Light! This is the first week it was still light outside when we left for Bible study! I know we get more daylight each day after the winter solstice, but this is the first I’ve seen actual evidence of it. On top of that, the sunset was gorgeous that day, and we got to view it on our drive.

2. An impromptu visit with the kids. Jason, Mittu, and Timothy popped in for a while one afternoon this week. Timothy made some brownies from a recipe in the Minecraft cookbook he had received for Christmas, and he wanted to share some with us.

3. A field trip and dinner out. I don’t know why I think an excursion to Home Depot is a field trip, but I do. 🙂 Jim and I had gone together to look at several things for the house. We got done right at dinner time, and he suggested we go out to the same Mexican food restaurant we had taken the kids to over the holidays. We hadn’t eaten out in a while–we usually get take-out to bring home. And though the restaurant was a bit noisy, it was enjoyable.

4. Nights off from the kitchen. When Jim was painting in the kitchen/dining area, he suggested getting takeout since everything was in disarray. He went out and got Panda Express for us. The next night we ate leftovers from that meal. Then we had the dinner outing mentioned above.

5. Another area painted. This week, Jim worked on painting another bathroom and hallway. This hallway has six doors–one to the bathroom, one to the garage, and four closet doors. We’re blessed with a lot of storage space in this house, but the doors do take longer to paint than the walls.

How was your week?

We did get our predicted snow last Friday–3-4 inches at our house. Thankfully the power stayed on. We stayed home Saturday and then ventured out to church Sunday with no problem. It’s been cold enough that some snow is still around. The roads and parking lots are mostly clear, but there’s enough ice to require watchfulness. We’re supposed to get more snow Sunday.

Meanwhile, we’re counting blessings with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. A long overdue haircut and a coupon. I had a coupon for a $7.95 haircut at a new place near us. I hadn’t had a cut since September, so it felt really good for the shaggy ends to be cleaned up.

2. An outing. Jason and Mittu invited us to Timothy’s favorite pizza place to celebrate his reaching his reading goals. It was good to get together again–somehow we hadn’t seen each other in a couple of weeks except in passing at church. Plus I enjoyed getting out to do something fun.

3. A dentist’s visit over with. Seeing the dentist is not my favorite thing to do, even as nice as she is. This time, I was concerned about a couple of bumps on the side of my tongue. When one sees bumps where there are not supposed to be any, one’s mind jumps to the worst case scenario (at least this one does). She didn’t think they were anything serious, but took pictures to research further and perhaps consult with an oral surgeon. We talked so much about my tongue that nothing was said about my teeth, but I assume they are all okay.

4. More rooms painted. We have front room that’s smaller than a living room which we have called the sitting room, reading nook, and various other designations. Jim painted that this week and is now on the kitchen/dining area. Along the way, he’s replacing old yellowish light bulbs with brighter white ones. I am so pleased with how everything is looking!

5. Spring cleaning as we go. While Jim had the curtains off the front room window, I thought to myself that I should wash the window while he went out for more paint. That window is hard to get to normally. Then he mentioned that he already had washed it. I washed and ironed the curtains while he took care of the blinds. I mentioned that I’d like to dust the top of some of the pictures before he put them back on the wall, because I had trouble reaching them while dusting. He said he had been dusting all the pictures and plaques before hanging them back up. Isn’t he thoughtful? I helped do some of that after he finished painting the front room. I’ve been astonished at how much dust was still on things that I regularly dust!

While the furniture has been moved out of the way, he’s swept and vacuumed normally hard-to-reach areas.

Probably no one will notice that the curtains have been washed or the farthest corners under the couch swept or the backs of plaques dusted. But it feels good to have them done. It hadn’t occurred to me that we’d be doing this cleaning while painting room by room, but it makes sense to do it while the furniture is out of the way and everything is off the walls. Doing a room at a time is easier than doing all the spring cleaning at once. And, to be honest, I don’t think I have ever spring cleaned this thoroughly.

How is your January going so far?

This image is apt for today, as we’re predicted to get 3-6 inches of snow. That is a really big deal in our area. I’m hoping we get less than that and that the power stays on. But Jim went to the store yesterday, and we’re ready to hunker down and see what happens.

Meanwhile, I’m dwelling on things to be thankful for from the last week with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. A steak and egg biscuit. I had to go in for some fasting lab work last Friday, and rewarded myself afterward with a steak and egg biscuit from Bojangles. I don’t care for the rest of their food, but I like their biscuits. This one was so good. It’s a little too heavy to eat very often, but it hit the spot that day. Plus I got Bo-Berry (blueberry) Biscuits to split with Jim.

2. Good lab results. These days, physicals seem to consist primarily of talking about blood chemistry. I’m thankful all my numbers were good–even my overall cholesterol as well as the good and bad kinds were within normal range.

3. Help taking down Christmas decorations. Jesse came over last Saturday to help us take down Christmas stuff, which was greatly appreciated. Plus, I’ve wanted for a long time to sort through ornaments and pull out the ones that needed repair or that we don’t really use any more. Usually there’s not time in the rush of putting up or taking down decorations. But I wanted to do that even if it meant leaving that one box out for a while. I was able to get that done (which wasn’t as involved as I thought it would be) plus reorganize some of the boxes so things fit better.

4. Sorting, organizing, and purging. I don’t know what it is about January that inspires those activities, but I was glad I was able to scratch that itch a bit. 🙂

5. Painting. Jim has been painting the hallway this week, and it looks so much brighter than the Basic Builder’s Beige that was on the walls. We were going for a very light grey, but the paint looks white, which is fine. The hallway walls didn’t take long, but it was a little tedious to take down all the family pictures and put them back up. Plus, between three bedrooms, a bathroom, two closets, and a small room housing the furnace and hot water heater, he had seven doors to paint. Those were not as fun. But they look great.

It’s hard to believe we are a third of the way through January already. How was your week?

Stay warm, friends!

Though we slowed down a little from holiday festivities, this was still a pretty full week. I’m sharing blessings with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. A Lego book nook. I haven’t put Legos together since my youngest son was a child, maybe twenty years or more ago. I saw this Lego set and commented on it online somewhere, which my husband saw and then searched for it for Christmas. I put it together while Jeremy and Jesse were at the other end of the table playing games in case I needed help with the instructions or tiny pieces. But I was able to do it all by myself! The instruction booklet said a lady submitted this idea for a Lego challenge and won. How fun it must have been to see her idea turned into an actual Lego kit.

Isn’t that the cutest thing? Here’s a view with the ladder removed:

I love the details–the mail, the feather pen and ink well, the globe, the scroll work at the top of the shelves.

2. Mexican food. Jeremy wanted to go to a Mexican restaurant while he was here because the ones near where he lives in RI don’t have the cheese dip we love. We had a bit of a wait, but once we were seated, everything went well and the food was delicious. Plus some of us had enough for another meal.

3. Games. We love playing games and tried some new ones as well as some old favorites. One new one I got was Ransom Notes–each player has a metal tray and takes a “pinch” of magnetic words. Then a card is turned over with a prompt, and everyone has to try to make sentences to express that prompt. The only downside was that it took a lot of time for each player to get new words each round and spread them out. But otherwise it was a lot of fun. (We found a few inappropriate prompts in the card which we weeded out as we came to them. I’ll probably go through and eliminate any others before we play again.)

Jeremy brought Wave Length, a game where you divide into teams, and one person picks a card with a prompt of extremes, like “hot” on one side and “cold” on the other. They spin a dial and see where the points land. Then then try to give one clue so their team can guess where on the dial the highest points are. So if the highest points were on the left, for “hot” and “cold” you might say “lava” so the team knows the points are on that end of the spectrum. Each team gets points for how close they come to what’s on the dial. Plus the other team can get a point if they correctly guess whether the opposing team guessed too high or too low.

We always love Jackbox games, especially Blather Round and Drawful (Timothy likes Earwax). We play them through the Apple TV so everyone can see the game on the TV, but they cam be played through other systems as well. Each person logs into Jackbox on their phone or tablet to play. Jeremy told us about a new one called Jackbox Survey Scramble, which is somewhat like Family Feud but with several variations: a prompt is given, like “items in a junk drawer,” and we all give answers which are then ranked according to survey results.

4. Gingerbread houses. Somehow we’ve missed this the last few years.

On the left, Jeremy’s at the top, then mine, and Jesse’s. On the right, Mittu’s, Timothy’s, and Jason’s. I had to give Jim center stage because his was so elaborate. I thought his trees looked like something from Dr. Seuss, and he sprinkled everything with powdered sugar through a strainer to look like fresh snow.

5. Christmas cards and letters. I love receiving these every year–even the late ones! It’s so good to catch up with everyone’s families.

Bonus: New calendars! I love setting these up with birthdays and anniversaries for the new year.

Jeremy went home Wednesday. It’s strange how two things can be true at the same time–intensely missing all the family togetherness, yet enjoying a lower-key rest of the week. We’ll take the Christmas stuff down this weekend, which also involves mixed emotions. But I guess that’s life. 🙂

Some weeks, it takes some thought to come up with a list of five favorite things. Christmas week, though, usually overflows with blessings. I’m joining Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story to cultivate gratefulness with these weekly observations.

1. Jeremy home! My oldest son flew in from RI with no problems or delays.

2. Christmas Concert. We enjoyed the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra’s Holiday Concert last Saturday evening.

3. Christmas Eve Service. Our church doesn’t usually meet Christmas Eve, but they decided to this year for just a short time of singing carols and hearing Scripture. To be honest, my first thought was that was a busy time for a service . . . but the pie was assembled that afternoon and most of the other Christmas necessities were taken care of before and after. It turned out to be an enjoyable service.

4. Christmas Day, of course. We were blessed to have all the family here. We had a breakfast feast and then a reading of the Christmas story, followed thoughtful gifts and cards, then a mid-afternoon lunch/dinner, with dessert in the evening.

5. Family time. Jesse was able to get several days off while Jeremy was here, and Jason, Mittu, and Timothy have been over a lot as well. We went to Jason’s one night for dinner and will go to Jesse’s another night. I love the conversations, the catching up, the games, and all.

Bonus: Pockets of quiet time. As much as I love my family, I get strung out when there’s constant activity. Having a few hours unexpected hours of quiet here and there has rejuvenated me to enjoy the times together.

Happy New Year, friends!