Friday’s Fave Fives

Posted on February 7, 2014 by Barbara Harper

Welcome to Friday’s Fave Five, hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story, in which we can share five of our favorite things from the last week, a wonderful exercise in looking for and appreciating the good things God blesses us with. Click on the button to learn more, then go to Susanne’s to read others’ faves and link up your own.

It’s been another not-quite-normal week, but a good one overall. Here are the highlights:

1. A changed perspective. It has been overcast much of the week, raining some, and down in the 30s, which would normally cloud my own outlook a bit. But after the ice and snow and 1 degree temperatures a few weeks ago, the weather this week hasn’t bothered me at all.

2. Special services on Sunday. We had the Aaron Coffey team at church for Sunday School and both services. I had heard of him, and our church supports him, but I had never heard him preach or his team sing. Evidently this is the first year they’ve had a team traveling with them. Both the music and the preaching really ministered to me.

3. Watching sports, not a usual thing for our family, but there is something about the Olympics that draws me in. I’ve already enjoyed watching a bit of ice skating last night and look forward to the opening ceremonies tonight. We don’t usually watch football, either, and had no interest in either team in the Super Bowl, but Jason and Mittu were here and we turned it on and got some pizza and chicken wings. It was kind of fun to be in on what so much of the country was watching and to know what people were talking about when they mentioned it on Facebook, even if the game itself was kind of a wash.

4. Not an ER visit, but the fact that it was relatively minor, that my dear family all jumped in in different ways to help, and that the follow-up doctor’s visit concluded that if this is the first time it has happened in several years, we probably don’t need to change anything we’re doing unless it starts happening more frequently.

5. Progress on two fronts. I started exercising again, and as much as I don’t look forward to it, I have to admit I do feel better, more energetic, and more awake when I do it. And Jesse is supposed to do an internship this semester, but so far all the leads he has checked out haven’t worked out. There is a possibility that just came up this week that looks really good and looks like it might work out.

Happy Friday!

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on January 31, 2014 by Barbara Harper

I almost didn’t do a FFF today – I wasn’t sure if I would have time, at least not until later in the day. It was a strange and off-kilter week with a dentist appointment that I thought was for a cleaning turning out to be for a gingivectomy I had forgotten about, Jim’s mom’s caregiver’s accident, a distressing day for his mom with getting confused and disoriented – nothing “favorite” about it really stood out at first. But sometimes it’s that kind of week when it is most helpful to actively look for bright spots. So here are some faves from this week:

1. Safety on the roads. I mentioned yesterday that my mother-in-law’s caregiver left early when it snowed on Tuesday, and ended up in a ditch that had some boulders in it. Thankfully she wasn’t hurt, and her husband picked her up, with AAA advising her to leave the car there since it was off the road, and they’d get to it when they could. Then, after they left, another car went into the ditch behind her and crashed into her car from behind. 😦 I’m just thankful she wasn’t still in it waiting for her husband when that happened. Then Jesse and Jim made it home safely – I was especially concerned about Jesse since he hasn’t had much experience driving in the snow.

I know some folks from up North get amused at us Southerners about dealing with snow, but they just can’t invest in all the snow plows and such here when they would only need them once or twice a year. In fact, I saw this on Facebook:

Be patient. We only have one snow plow.

🙂 Seriously, though, snow is slippery, and we truly don’t have the resources the North has to take care of the roads, and most people here aren’t used to driving in it, so all of that combined creates driving hazards.

2. Warmth. It’s been another bitterly cold week, and I’m so glad for central heating and the power not going out and pipes not freezing.

3. Pizza. My favorite pizza is from a local place that my husband doesn’t care for, so one night this week when he had a dinner he had to attend, I splurged and got pizza.

4. Helpers. I also mentioned yesterday that Grandma’s caregiver being away for a day and a half made me appreciate her all the more, since it was the first time I had had to care for Grandma alone for that amount of time. I was praying the time would go smoothly, especially as she’d had a distressing evening before, and God graciously answered. Then our weekend helper got a full time job and therefore quit her weekend one, and the service we use has been searching for someone to replace her. They sent someone to fill in last weekend, but we were hoping we wouldn’t have several weekends of fill-ins – Jim didn’t want to spend every weekend showing someone new the ropes. But a new person just applied and was hired this week, and she has been out a couple of times to train with the regular caregiver, so hopefully she’ll work out and be a regular.

5. The end of January. Someone that seems like a giant leap toward spring.

Bonus: The ladies’ newsletter for church coming together, especially during a week when so much else was going on. It’s interesting when I get started and I’m not sure what to put in the different sections, and then somehow God lays different things on my heart, and it all falls together. God answers prayer even about newsletters and caregivers and smooth days after rough ones.

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on January 24, 2014 by Barbara Harper

Another Friday, another opportunity to look back over the blessings of the last week. Here are a few of mine:

1. A gender reveal party to find out what our new grandchild is going to be. A friend of my son and daughter-in-law made this adorable cake:

The filling inside would be pink or blue, indicating girl or boy. And, it’s going to be…

A boy! I think all of us were thinking girl for some reason, so we’ve had to adjust our thinking. We got to see the latest ultrasound pictures and we’re very much looking forward to meeting this little guy in a few months!

2. Flowers. My daughter-in-law’s mom was here this last weekend and brought some flowers when she came for the gender-reveal party. I thought they were pretty but didn’t look at them too closely because I was getting things ready for the party. Then one day this week I walked by and caught a whiff of carnation, probably my favorite floral smell. Most flowers make me sneezy and sniffle if I smell much of them, but not carnations. And pink ones even! Having flowers in the house in January, especially, brightens up winter days.

3. A new car for my oldest son. He’s had his car for over 10 years and was saving up to replace it next year, but the car has been having one problem after another, has broken down and had to be towed several times just in the last few months, and he finally decided not to put any more money into fixing it. He and my husband and a friend did a lot of car shopping online and in both our towns, and he finally found one he likes and can afford with a high reliability rating. That’s such a big relief.

4. A call from a dear friend of 30+ years. It’s so good to touch base and catch up with each other.

5. Glad for things that didn’t happen. It has been bitterly cold this week, but thankfully no precipitation to make driving treacherous and no broken pipes. And they say these hard freezes kill off some of the bug population, so I’m happy there will be that fringe benefit this spring and summer. 🙂

Happy Friday!

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on January 17, 2014 by Barbara Harper

This has been a fairly balanced week between getting some things done yet not feeling pressured and overburdened to get things done. Here are some of the highlights of the week:

1. Good weather. Not only did we not get predicted bad weather this week, but we actually had sunshine! Or at least more than we’ve had in a while. Does my heart good.

2. Rest. I wasn’t feeling well Sunday – nothing major, but it was enough that I needed to stay home from church. We’re not legalistic about Sunday activities, but I do try to keep it a day of rest as much as possible by not doing anything around the house that doesn’t absolutely have to be done, so I felt free to just rest, doze, and read off and on all day rather than feeling like I needed to be up doing something, and it was so refreshing.

3. A decorating dilemma solved. I had some more formal, elegant candle holders, wedding gifts from dear friends, on the mantel in the family room, along with some birdhouses, which are a bit more casual. I didn’t feel the candle holders “fit” there, but I didn’t want to move them until I had something to replace them, and I wasn’t sure where to put them. Our living room is a bit dressier, but much smaller than in our previous house, so there was no place for them there. I went out to Hobby Lobby this week and found this neat little piece:

It was on sale half-price, but even then was a bit more than I wanted to spend…but I had a gift card for HL from Christmas, so I let it be my Christmas present. 🙂 It fits in nicely with the rest, I think:

Next decorating project: replacing the plaque over the mantel. Love it (and I do have another place in mind for it), but it’s out of proportion to everything else. I do have some ideas – just have to decide which one to use.

The candle holders found a home on top of my desk:

I probably should put candles in them, huh? 🙂 The little angel figurine, by the way, was originally in a dish garden arrangement that my mom had sent to me for Valentine’s Day in college ages ago, and the little wooden house on the mantel was made by Jim’s dad.

4. Getting just a bit of sorting and organizing done: just the basket on my desk and the most-used drawer of my desk, but it felt good to get them in order.

5. Another problem solved: finding a way to turn my mother-in-law’s nightgowns into hospital-type gowns. Easier to dress and undress her, and more comfortable, too.

Overall a good week! I hope yours was, too.

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on January 10, 2014 by Barbara Harper

Brrr! It was 1 degree F on Monday and didn’t get above the mid-teens all day, and this was after rain and snow, so it was pretty icy out. I haven’t been that cold in a very long time. 45 degrees today (Thursday) felt almost balmy! Here are some favorite parts of the week.

1. Not losing power. Sometimes a favorite is something that didn’t happen that you were afraid might! According to the local news, about 500 or so homes did. I felt so bad for them and prayed it would be restored quickly.

2. No broken pipes here: our church did have one, but because they were taking precautions it was minor.

3. Not running out of supplies. Somehow I was not as prepared for the weather this time as I usually am, and I’ve found that makes a great deal of difference in how I feel about the weather! We were running low on a couple of things before I felt comfortable enough to venture out, but didn’t run out completely, thankfully.

4. Warmer weather, relatively, later in the week. Supposed to be in the 60s by the weekend!

5. Sous-vide chicken. I mentioned last week that my son made a sous vide cooking apparatus for my husband for Christmas, and this is his third and so far best experiment with it. He made three kinds of chicken: teriyaki, barbecue, and a marinade he had found at the store (it is nice with this system that one can make different flavors without their mixing together with each other). The chicken breasts were so thick that he never could have grilled them without burning the outside before getting the inside done. They were so moist and good.

BTW, when I mentioned sous vide last time, someone commented on the cost of the cooker. Jim said new they’re about $500, but Jeremy had found a link with instructions to make a sous-vide cooker for about $40 and put one together for his dad. When they were first discussing it, I thought, “OK, so, what’s the big deal?” But now I am a definite fan!

Bonuses: Safety on super-icy roads was a blessing, as was my mother-in-law’s aide being able to come in spite of the weather, and throw blankets, coffee, and good books have helped make the cold days a good bit cozier.

Happy Friday!

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on January 3, 2014 by Barbara Harper

The first FFF of the new year! As much as I loved all the activity of Christmas week, Monday I got hit with a wave of extreme tiredness, and I’ve been glad this week has been quieter. Monday I got the worst haircut of my life (no, I didn’t take any pictures of it), Tuesday I went to a different place to try to get it fixed, and Wednesday I finagled with it a bit and finally got it to an acceptable style. We took down the Christmas decorations Wednesday, always a combination of relief and wistfulness. Except for the hair fiasco, it’s been a pleasant week. Here are some highlights:

1. Sharing the news that I’m becoming a grandmother this summer. I actually knew about it a few weeks ago, but didn’t want to say anything until Jason and Mittu were ready for the news to go public.

2. Sous-vide cooking. My son discovered this, a way of cooking food in plastic bags in water in a slow cooker at a regulated even temperature. He built his own mechanism, and my husband thought it looked like a good idea and asked for one for Christmas. So far he has tried steaks and ribs in it.

3. Jim’s glasses. Those who have been reading here the last year know that my husband had surgery for retinal detachment back in April, and his vision got steadily worse ever since until he had cataract surgery in the same eye a few weeks ago. He finally was able to get prescription glasses, and while his eyesight is still not the same as it was before the detached retina, it’s much improved and much of the constant eyestrain is gone.

4. New calendars. I love putting fresh new calendars up in January with its pages blank except for birthdays.

5. The winter solstice, which actually was last week, just because I know that after it the days start getting longer. Even though it doesn’t look like we’re getting any more daylight yet, just knowing that it’s happening is a boon.

Hope you’ve had a great week as well, and I wish you a wonderful 2014!

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on December 27, 2013 by Barbara Harper

Some weeks you really have to search for five good things about the week, and the FFF is so helpful for that, because there are always things to be thankful for. And some weeks there are so many good things that you’re about to burst, and FFF is helpful for that as well. This week has been the latter! I’ll try to squeeze as much into just five “faves” as I can:

1. Our anniversary. We celebrated 34 years of marriage on Saturday. Jim took me out to dinner on Friday for our anniversary and then Jason and Mittu came over to make dinner for us on Saturday.

2. Family times. Our oldest son, Jeremy, flew in Friday night and has been here all week, and we’ve seen Jason and Mittu every day, I think. We’ve had fun times talking, watching movies, playing games, and having a few outings.

3. Christmas. The remembrance of the greatest gift of all, God’s gift of the Lord Jesus Christ to be our Savior. The love. The giving and receiving. The food! 🙂

4. Nights off in the kitchen. Usually during holidays or when the family is all together, there is a lot more time in the kitchen both cooking and cleaning up. But this week Jason and Mittu made dinner once, Jeremy is planning to make dinner this weekend, and we’ve eaten out a few times in conjunction with some of our outings. Then Jason cleaned up the dishes for me a couple of times. We might make this a tradition of everyone making one meal when we’re all together! It helped me not to feel as tired and not to feel like I was missing out on the visiting because I was in the kitchen.

5. Quiet times. I can get pretty cranky and stressed without some quiet moments here and there, and though this week and has been fuller and busier than usual, there have been pockets of quiet time and rest just when I needed them.

It has been a lovely week, and Jeremy is here for a few more days, so we’ll have some more family times together this weekend. I’m so thankful that everyone had some extended time off this week.

I hope you’ve had a great week, too.

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on December 20, 2013 by Barbara Harper

Whew! What a busy week! After thinking last week that the schedule of Christmas-related tasks was going pretty well, I hit a couple of snags this week that threw me behind and made for one stressful day in particular. I’m making adjustments to plans as I go along, and I think everything will be fine. Here are some highlights of the last week:

1. A quiz and a pen. Our Sunday School teacher gives a Christmas quiz every December, a series of questions about the Christmas story in the Bible, designed as a way to get us to spend time in those passages. For prizes for the top three “students” who get the most points, he makes little gifts using his woodworking skills: an ornament, key chain, yo-yo, pen, etc. I think our first year here I came in third and got the yo-yo, but really wanted the pen. 🙂 I haven’t placed in the top three since then, but this year I came in first and got the pen. 🙂 It helped a lot that the couple who usually gets first place (often coming in at #1 and 2) was absent on quiz day this year. 🙂

2. Carolers. On Wednesday night this week our church members divided up into groups and each group went to visit one of the at-home members who, due to age or illness, can’t make it to services. We enjoyed their visit to my mother-in-law. They also brought her a nice gift basket.

3. Christmas card garland. I mentioned on my Christmas meme that I had wanted to hang the Christmas cards we received on a garland this year, and got that done this week. I love being able to look at and enjoy the Christmas cards throughout the weeks until Christmas.

By the way, feel free to join in on the Christmas meme if you have time!

4. The first harvest loaf cake of the season!

5. Christmas devotions. I’ve been reading The Women of Christmas by Liz Curtis Higgs per my friend Kim‘s suggestion, and it has been just what I wanted this year. I’ll have more to say about it next week.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on December 13, 2013 by Barbara Harper

It’s beginning to look and feel and sound a lot more like Christmas! Here are a few highlights since last week:

1. Ladies’ Christmas party. The Christmas party for our ladies from church was last Friday, and I especially enjoyed the fellowship and the testimonies. A favorite moment: the songleader asked us for favorite Christmas carols to sing, and someone volunteered “As the Deer.” The songleader gently explained that we wanted Christmas songs, and someone said, “As the Reindeer, then.” 🙂

2. The children’s Christmas program at church was Sunday night. They always do the Nativity story and sing various songs, and it’s always cute, especially the littlest ones dressed up in pajama-type costumes to represent the animals in the stable. This year it seemed like there were a record number of parents there from our church’s van ministry whose children come to the children’s ministry, and I pray that the gospel message found its way to their hearts.

3. Online shopping. Love it! Much nicer than traveling place to place to place to shop, though I do like to get out and about for Christmas shopping a little bit. And then all the packages coming in the mail as a result is fun, too. 🙂

4. Progress. When I realized that, with the lateness of Thanksgiving this year, we had just a few short weeks until Christmas, I almost started to panic, but this week I got most of my shopping done (thanks to online shopping! 🙂 ) and am almost finished with my Christmas cards and letters, so I am feeling pretty good about the Christmas schedule now.

5. Cake pops. Just discovered these yesterday. I had been wanting something chocolate and cakey, but I don’t dare buy or bake a whole cake for just the three of us, and when I saw this, I thought, “That’s it! Just what I want!”

Happy Friday!

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on December 6, 2013 by Barbara Harper

I apologize if several posts with no content popped up in your feed readers from me yesterday. Every time I hit “Publish” or “Save Draft,” everything would disappear except the title. I tried several times and put in a note with the WordPress forums, with no help from that quarter yet, but I am hoping it was a temporary fluke and that everything will work like it it supposed to today.

Here are some favorite parts of the last week or so:

1. Praise service. This was actually the Sunday before Thanksgiving, and I can’t believe I forgot to mention it. In all of the other churches we have been in, the Wednesday or Tuesday before Thanksgiving has always been a time for testimonies about how God has worked in our lives the previous year, and it has always been the highlight of the church year for me. Up to this point our current church provided that time at the end of a fall festival earlier in the month, but not everyone can attend that, and and fewer people can participate since it is at the end of a number of other activities. This month they decided to have it the Sunday night before Thanksgiving, and it was a joy to hear different people share how God met them in the circumstances of the past year.

2. Family time. My oldest son was home for Thanksgiving and stayed until Monday, and everyone else (except Mom 🙂 ) was off until Monday as well, so we enjoyed a nice long weekend of feasting, playing games, decorating for Christmas, and enjoying each other.

3. Dinner at Cheddar’s. Not only is it one of my favorite places to eat, but it was nice to have a break from cooking and dishwashing.

4. Making gingerbread houses. This is a new tradition our daughter-in-law introduced to us. This year we had a Charlie Brown theme.

5. The end of a bad day. Yesterday was an extremely frustrating day for a number of reasons. The post I was trying to publish yesterday took much longer to write than I had planned, and then the silly thing wouldn’t publish, and I spent a great deal of time trying to get it to. Then I had a couple of mishaps in the kitchen, including burning the caramel for caramel corn (burnt caramel is not a good scent for the home…:)). But that day is over, and hopefully this one will be better.