It’s the first Friday of March! Even though it is not officially spring yet, I couldn’t wait to use the spring FFF graphic. I’m joining Susanne at Living to Tell the Story to cultivate gratefulness by recounting God’s blessings of the week.

1. Running into an old friend at the store. I had dashed in to look for some Easter things while waiting for a prescription to be filled. We had a good chat for about 15-20 minutes and caught up with each other’s families and people we both knew. That brightened my whole week.

2. Dinner at Jason and Mittu’s house. Though we’ve gotten together at our house or other places, and they’ve made dinner for us several times, we had not been to their house since before Christmas for various reasons. Their central air was out for a while, I sprained something in my back earlier this year that made me unable to navigate the slope in their yard or their stairs, etc. So it was fun to visit over there.

3. Buds and blossoms. I’ve seen daffodils and pansies blooming this week and one tree (not sure what kind) starting to bud. I love seeing signs of spring!

4. Healing. I have cellulitis in one leg again. 😦 It’s odd I have gotten it this time of year each of the last three years. Though it was an ordeal each time before, this time it seems to be healing well so far. Antibiotics usually negatively affect my digestive system since I have issues with that anyway. But probiotics and IB Guard have helped tone that down a bit.

5. A husband that buys the groceries. Though he does multitudes of other things that I appreciate, this is one of the things I am most grateful for. I tried to avoid asking him when he was working 50+ hours a week. But he has assured me that he doesn’t mind. And since he has retired, I don’t feel as guilty. 🙂 Plus, sometimes he brings a surprise home–something to grill for dinner or something he saw that was marked down.

I hope your March is starting out well!

The last Friday of February–the end of a busy month. I’m pausing with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story to be grateful for the large and small blessings of the week.

1. My daughter-in-law’s birthday.

It’s a joy to celebrate her on her special day. Jason and Timothy made the heart-shaped brownie with frosting and sprinkles. Timothy is so tall now, we had to ask him to stoop down to be in the picture. 🙂

2. Good cardiology visit with the PA. This was just a follow-up two weeks after starting the new medication to see how it was doing. It seems to be fine so far.

3. An impromptu dinner date. My appointment was mid-afternoon, and by the time we headed home, it was almost dinner time. I suggested eating dinner at Texas Road House, even though it was a little early. As always, the food was so good there. My only complaint about this restaurant is that it is noisy, but it was a little less so this time. I had grilled pork chops, baked potato, and a salad, with enough for lunch for leftovers the next day. And their rolls and cinnamon butter were wonderful.

4. Great Bible studies. My friend Melanie suggested doing some type of Bible study together. We decided to go through Jen Wilkin’s None Like Him: 10 Reasons God Is Different From Us and Why That’s a Good Thing. This book is about the attributes only God has–infinitude, omniscience, etc. I had read it a few years ago and knew I wanted to read it again some time. It brings so much more out of the reading to discuss it with someone. It’s not laid out like a fill-in-the-blank Bible study, but it does have a few discussion questions at the end.

Then our ladies Bible study is using True Woman 201: Interior Design: Ten Elements of Biblical Womanhood by Mary Kassian and Nancy Leigh DeMoss (now Wolgemuth). We usually study a book of the Bible, but for various reasons decided to do a topical one this time. I had read this book about ten years ago and kind of felt like I didn’t really need to go through it again. But it’s been beneficial. There are several younger women attending who haven’t been in our Bible study before (at least since I have been there), and I have been so encouraged by their comments and insights.

5. Chick-Fil-A biscuit. I had a bad bout of food poisoning after eating food from Chick-Fil-A a year or two ago and haven’t had the stomach to eat much from there since. It had to have been a fluke, because we used to get food from there regularly. But I just didn’t have an appetite for them any more. Jim was out early one morning and texted to ask about bringing Chick-Fil-A breakfast biscuits home since he was near them. It was good!

Have you had a good last week of February?

Rain or shine, hot or cold, we take time to recount the good things God places in our lives with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.

1. Valentine’s Day. For the last several years, Valentine’s Day has been a family-based day for us. I’m thankful our children still like to come for Valentine’s Day even though they are grown. I make “meat hearts” and chocolate heart-shaped cupcakes. We exchange cards. Jim gets Mittu and me flowers. He gets me a bag of my favorite Lindt Lindor Milk Chocolate Truffles.

2 Timothy’s Valentine’s to Jim and me.

3. Quick power restoration. We were watching the Olympics one evening when the power suddenly went out unexpectedly. There were no weather conditions that would have caused it. We quickly ascertained that the whole neighborhood was without power. Just about the time we got lanterns out and batteries changed and Jim had started the generator in the camper, power came back on. Someone said nearby construction caused the outage. I’m thanlful it didn’t last long.

4. Flatbread. We’ve been using these as a base for individual pizzas in the air fryer. Quick, convenient, and tasty!

5. Nice temperatures. We’ve had a nice respite from the cold this week, with moderate temperatures in the forecast. We were supposed to get up to 70 one day! But winter isn’t over yet, and we’ll be in the 20s again next week.

How was your week?

It’s been quiet on the blog here this week–I’ve been working on Valentine’s cards for the family and looking forward to our Valentine dinner tomorrow. I’m sharing some of the best parts of the last few days with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story. Feel free to join in counting blessings!

1. A smooth transition. I was in afib a couple of days last week. I had my one-month check-up with the cardiologist’s PA since the ablation, and he decided I should change one of my medications. But first I had to be off the old one for three days so it was totally out of my system. Since I was in afib at the time, I was expecting it to continue or worsen without the medicine. But it resolved itself, and I felt better those three days than I had in a while. I started the new medication on Monday, and it seems to be working well so far. My cardiologist told me a year or two ago that afib isn’t cured, only managed. So I hope and pray this regimen manages it well.

2. Being back in church, which I had missed for a few weeks due to weather and health issues.

3. Time with family. We had been somewhat isolated due to icy roads for several days. Jason, Mittu, and Timothy came over Saturday night to make dinner, then we went out to lunch with them Sunday after church.

4. The Olympics. We don’t watch sports much. Even our local Vols football games aren’t usually available unless we want to pay more for the next level of ESPN. But there is something about the Olympics that makes me want to watch. My favorite is ice skating, but I have enjoyed the evening coverage of some of the other sports as well.

5. Lunch with Melanie. We usually get together once every 4-6 weeks, but hadn’t seen each other since early December. It was good to catch up over Cracker Barrel turkey and dressing. Then I enjoyed an excursion to Hobby Lobby.

While gathering the gift cards I had received for Christmas, I saw there was one I had forgotten about for the new Whataburger here. That restaurant is a staple where I grew up in TX, and we’ve been excited that Knoxville now has three of them. But the one closest to us had been too busy to try out since its opening. We enjoyed getting take-out from there for dinner. Then I topped the evening off with half the Double Chocolate Coca-Cola Cake I brought home from Cracker Barrel.

With all these outings, I feel a little like I have been emerging from a short hibernation. 🙂 The weather has been much more moderate lately, which is another blessing. I know winter is not over yet. We’ll likely have more cold spells before spring comes. But I’ll enjoy the respite.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

It’s been another cold week here in eastern TN, but not as bad as the one before. Here are some of the best parts of the last few days. I’m linking up with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story, who started this great exercise of sharing weekly blessings.

1. Snow. I think we got between 5-6 inches last weekend. We were all stocked up with supplies, so we enjoyed looking at it through the windows. We had low temperatures for the next few days, keeping snow and ice around more than usual. But it is finally melting off.

I like how the solar lanterns look like ice cream cones.

We had to drip water from the faucets a few nights in a row, but, thankfully, the pipes remained safe.

2. Sledding video. I commented on our family text message thread that I had seen Facebook videos of people sledding and building snowmen, and I missed that activity here. Then Jason sent a video of himself sledding down their street. 🙂

3. Good yearly physical. These days, physicals seem to be made up mainly of talk about lab work. 🙂 Thankfully, mine was good this time! One that was a little off (thyroid) can be helped with a medication adjustment. And, interestingly, that *might* help with the heart issue.

Bonus: I did my fasting lab work the day before, then afterward went to Bojangles for my once-or-twice-a-year steak and egg biscuit and Bo-berry biscuit. The blueberry biscuit was in a heart shape for Valentine’s Day.

4. A phone call from a friend at church. She said she was thinking about me and decided to call. We had a nice visit.

5. Preliminary work on a project that’s been on my mind for a long time. I hope to share more soon!

Next week, we’re supposed to get up to 50 and 60 degrees! I can’t wait!

How was your week? Stay warm.

We’re expecting another winter storm this weekend. We’ll see what happens! Meanwhile, I’m sharing the blessings of the week with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. No snowpocalypse. Last weekend, I heard the snow forecast for our area range from a few inches to over 20. We only got a dusting. But we got a lot of rain and sleet that froze overnight, followed by a couple of days of sub-freezing weather. There were a lot of fallen trees around the state. We stayed home Sunday and watched church online due to the potential of icy roads–Jim had walked out to check the night before and almost slipped and fell. We’re thankful we didn’t lose power and the weather was not as bad as it might have been.

2. Perspective. When you’ve had days with the temperatures at 9 degrees F, then suddenly 30 degrees feels nice. 🙂 Well, maybe not nice, but better.

3. A personal letter in the mail. It’s so rare these days to get an actual letter! It was a treat from my aunt.

4. Replacement suction cup thingies. How’s that for technical terminology. 🙂 The shower caddy in our bathroom kept popping out of the suction cup holders. So when I got my shampoo or soap out or held onto the shelf for balance when I rinsed my face, the caddy moved around. Jim found some replacements online. At first having one on each side wasn’t holding it either. So he added an additional one on either side, and that’s doing the trick.

5. Safety bars. I was using the step-in shower in another bathroom for a while after my surgery, and Jim added a safety bar on the outside. Then he got some for the inside of that shower and mine that adhere to the wall with suction. They’ve been a big help.

Otherwise, it’s been a pretty quiet week, which is a blessing in itself.

How was your last week of January?

We’re supposed to have a winter storm this weekend, so our streets might look like the picture above. I’ve heard different reports about whether we’ll get snow or ice and how much of each. We’ll see! One of my main concerns is losing power, so we’re praying that doesn’t happen.

Meanwhile, I’m joining with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story to cultivate thankfulness by share this week’s blessings.

1. A successful cardioversion. I was sorry to miss FFF last week, but I had a procedure scheduled that day. I didn’t have my thoughts together enough to get a post ready ahead of time. I had an ablation for atrial flutter and atrial fibrillation the week before, but those procedures left me in afib despite three cardioversions. My doctor advised going home and getting back on the medications I’d had to stop for the ablation to see if that helped. It didn’t, so he had me come in for another cardioversion on Friday. Thankfully that went well and my heart rate and rhythm have been back to normal since. My heart might still be a little jumpy over the next few weeks as it heals from the ablation, but it feels so much better than it did! It’s nice to have energy again. I’ve been slowly getting back into my regular routine and even got some tidying done this week.

2. Meals and a visit. Jason and Mittu and Timothy brought a meal over to us and ate with us one night. I enjoyed the food as well as the company. Then Mittu sent over a few other meals another night.

3. An outing. I had my follow-up visit with the cardiologist’s PA Monday, and all went well there. My appointment was for late morning, and his office is near one of Timothy’s favorite restaurants. So I texted his family the night before to see if they might want to meet us there for lunch after my appointment. They did! It was my first excursion in a long while. We enjoyed lunch, then Jim and I went to Crumble Cookies, and then home. I went back out for a haircut with a $9.99 coupon. The stylist got it a bit shorter than I had wanted–I always say to take about an inch off, but people have varying ideas about how much an inch is. 🙂 However, I liked the way it turned out.

4. A working furnace. We’d had a maintenance call scheduled for our AC/furnace unit long before we knew a winter storm was coming. A few hours after having it serviced, I noticed the temperature was a couple of degrees lower than our setting, yet the furnace wasn’t coming on. Jim called the man who had worked on it, and, thankfully, he was able to come back the same day. Some wire hadn’t gotten connected properly. I’m glad it was an easy fix and we didn’t have to wait to make another appointment. Even without a winter storm, it’s been cold at night.

5. Bible study. We had been off over the holidays and started back up in January. I had missed the first couple of meetings, but the books were delayed, so I didn’t miss any lessons. We usually study a book of the Bible, but this semester we’re going through True Woman 201: Interior Design: Ten Elements of Biblical Womanhood by Mary Kassian and Nancy Leigh DeMoss (now Wolgemuth). I had read it about ten years ago, but it will be good to go through it again. Our first discussion was very encouraging.

How was your week? Is a winter storm forecast for you as well?

This week has been a little more eventful than some, so I’ll just plunge right in sharing the blessing of this week with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. Taking Christmas decorations down with Jesse helping. It’s always a little sad yet a relief to get everything packed up and put away. The rooms look a little less cluttered.

Somehow we always miss some decoration until after the boxes have been stored back in the attic. Jesse and I discussed this and looked in places where we’ve left something out before. We couldn’t find anything, but Jesse said, “I just know you’re going to send me a picture of something we forgot.”

And sure enough, when I walked into my bathroom after Jesse left, I saw this:

And I texted him the photo. 🙂

That’s the only Christmas decoration I have in a bathroom, besides a Christmas hand towel. But it makes me happy. 🙂 It’s still there, but I’ll probably whisk it into the storage closet at some point.

2. Easy returns. Some of the clothes we had gotten for Timothy didn’t fit. They had all been ordered online, and I didn’t think to get gift receipts or save packages they came in. They were from two different stores, and I wasn’t looking forward to the ordeal of getting the approval to return and then finding boxes to send them back in. But the online process went amazingly smoothly. Plus, all the items could be taken to a local store without having to mail them. My dear husband took care of that part.

3. Surgery over. I went in Wednesday morning for ablations for atrial flutter and atrial fibrillation. Everything went well except I ended up in afib. 😦 I was told that I’d likely have more afib episodes for three months after the procedures, because the heart is a little sensitive and erratic from all the poking around they did in there. My son did some reading this morning and saw that it’s actually the scarring that develops from the zapped places that blocks the circuits causing afib. So it makes sense it would need some time to heal.

They shocked my heart three times after the ablations, but it wouldn’t convert back to normal. They theorized that once I got back on the medications I’d had to stop before surgery, that would help my heart to convert back to normal. If that doesn’t help, then I am supposed to call them and we’ll see if they want to do another cardioversion or try another medication.

Other than being in afib, I am doing well and feeling good. I had an allergic reaction to some of the adhesive pads that they use during the cardioversion, so I have been using a lot of Benadryl cream on the welts.

But the biggest thing I am thankful for is just that the surgery is over. Plus, last time I had to be on my back for 4-6 hours after the procedure, and then even longer when I started bleeding from the incision the first time they let me stand up. This time, I only had to lay flat for two hours. And I didn’t have any bleeding.

4. Excellent nurses, both the one who took care of me before and after the surgery as well as the one who discussed things with me before the surgery and then took me to the operating room. I don’t think I could ever have been a nurse, but I so appreciate those who are skilled, efficient, kind, and compassionate.

5. Friends who pray and send notes or texts telling me they are thinking about me and praying for me. And then Mittu told me that a number of people asked about me at church on Wednesday. That warms my heart.

And my dear husband has been going the extra mile through all this. He’s a much better caregiver than I am.:)

I hope your week has gone well! Many thanks to those of you who prayed for the surgery.

We’ve had another full but lovely week. Well, except that some have been sick. But hopefully all are on the mend. Here are a few favorites, shared with you all and Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. Family time. Jeremy, our oldest son, was here until yesterday. He had to work remotely from our house this week, but popped in for lunch and coffee breaks. It’s so nice he could do that rather than having to cut off his visit last weekend.

2. A mixed outing. Mayfield Dairies Farm Park advertised a Merry Mayfield Christmas.with all kinds of activities. We went on the last day, but it was strangely deserted. Only one other family was there besides us, though more came later. I only saw two employees on the field. About half the advertised activities were not available. Jeremy said it looked like one of those weird empty carnival movie sets where a maniacal clown was going jump out at us at any moment. But we played in what was available and had fun. The best part was an apple cannon, where you shoot old apples at targets. Strange as it sounds, it was very satisfying to do!

Apple cannon:

Me taking aim:

Big slide:

Tire swing:

Lassoing the fake cows with hula hoops. 🙂

Photo op:

3. More adventurous cooking. I mentioned last week that all my kids have become good cooks, though they didn’t show much interest in it while they were in high school and college. They’re also much more adventurous than I am. 🙂 Jeremy made Hungarian Chicken Paprikash for us one night. And I was amazed and delighted to learn from him about a couple of products I hadn’t known about–tomato paste in a tube (for when you only need a tablespoon or two) and frozen minced garlic.

4. Low-Key New Year’s Eve. We had an assortment of snacks, then played games. Everyone went home between 9 and 10. Jim, Jeremy, and I fell asleep in the living room, but Jeremy set his alarm so we could turn on the TV in time to watch the ball drop in NYC. 🙂

5. Coupon from Audible. Audible had an offer saying if you spent three credits within a specified time, they’d gift you a ccoupon of $15 towards audiobook purchases. I was able to find two Christmas novellas and one novel with my coupon.

Bonus: Good news from a friend undergoing a kidney transplant. All went well with the surgery and his numbers have improved immensely the first day after. One of my simple pleasures is getting new wall calendars set up for the year. Jeremy made it to RI with no scheduling problems. Though we miss him already, his cat was glad to have him back. 🙂 Jason and Mittu got me some much-needed larger plastic storage containers, unasked and unexpectedly (I think prompted by my sending soup home with them in the only large container I had which had a broken lid 🙂 ). We finally got some family photos New Year’s Eve:

Happy New Year to you!

This has been a week overflowing with blessings. I’m sharing a few here along with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. Our 46th wedding anniversary. We celebrated a couple of days early since we had other things going on the actual day. We usually go out to a nice place for dinner and exchange cards, but not presents, since it’s so close to Christmas. Last year we tried a new-to-us restaurant, and we decided to do the same this year. Even though we ended up not liking the restaurant (half the food was cold and they didn’t get the orders right), it was still fun to go out. And, on our way to the restaurant, we noticed there was a Krispy Kreme Doughnut place next door! We don’t have one near us (which is a good thing for our blood sugar levels). We bypassed the restaurant desserts to bring a couple of Krispy Kreme doughnuts home.

2. Jeremy is here! My oldest son’s first flight from RI was delayed, which caused him to miss his connecting flight and have to spend the night in a hotel. But he finally got here.

3. Family Fun Night at church. This is designed to be an informal time, something like the family at Grandma’s house, with different ones performing for the rest. Some were silly, some serious. We had vocal and piano solos, musical skits, readings, a Christmas quiz, and even a tap-dancing dad and daughter.

4. Dinner at my youngest son’s house. Usually when Jeremy is here, Jesse has us all over for dinner one night. He made some kind of Korean dish with tofu and pork belly and kimchee, I think. But he also made chicken teriyaki for those of us (mainly me) who aren’t adventurous eaters and don’t like spicy things. 🙂 Plus he made a snickerdoodle cheesecake. I’m amazed at the good cooks my sons have become. Then we played some new Jackbox games. Hear Say had us laughing.

5. Christmas. We’re so thankful the whole family could be here. We had a lovely time together all day, hearing the Christmas story from Luke 2, feasting, opening presents, most of us dozing in the afternoon, and later eating pie and playing games.

We’re staying mostly inside this day after Christmas, partly to rest, partly to avoid the craziness in stores, partly to savor the season, which went by way too fast.

How was your week? I hope you had a special Christmas.