We’re almost halfway through July already. I’m not sure how that happened so quickly, but it’s time once again for a break to remember the best parts of the week with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. Job provision. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that the particular service desk where my youngest son, Jesse, worked was closing. But the company felt they had places for everyone at other desks. (Same company, same location, but they do IT work for a variety of businesses.) He got confirmation just yesterday that he was hired for another desk, pending a security check–which should not be a problem since he cleared security before. There was no reason to think it wouldn’t all work out, but it’s a joy and relief to know it did and his immediate work future isn’t in question.

2. Recipe updates. A few years ago, I organized notebooks for recipes I had cut from newspapers and magazines and, more recently, printed out from the Internet. For some time now, I’ve wanted to go through those, pull out what I didn’t want any more, and add in some new ones. I had a strong desire earlier this week to accomplish something that did not involve the computer, so I spent a few evenings sorting, culling, adding, and rearranging the recipes in the notebooks. I still have a couple of small notebooks to do, but I went through the biggest ones. It felt quite good to do so! And as an added bonus, we had a few laughs over “What was I thinking when I cut this out?” recipes, like this one:

Jim said, “Yep, that makes a mockery of pecan pie.” I like pinto beans, but not masquerading as pecan pie filling.

3. A successful new recipe. Oddly, after all that recipe shuffling, I was uninspired to cook this week. But I pulled out one recipe I’d wanted to try for a while, Asian Lettuce Wraps. I didn’t have some of the ingredients on hand, so I made a simplified version using ground turkey instead of chicken. It was really good. We had some romaine leaves on hand that Jim uses in place of tortillas for tacos and hamburger buns to try to reduce his carbs, so we used those. I think I might try Bibb lettuce next. This is a versatile recipe that can be adjusted for various substitutes, so I am sure we’ll be using it again.

4. Chung’s Mini Frozen Egg Rolls. These are very good and do surprisingly well in the microwave. They made a nice supplement to the Asian wraps for both dinner and lunch the next day.

5. Good toilet paper. 🙂 When TP was in short supply during the pandemic, we got some of the lowest bargain basement brands as “extras.” We hadn’t had to use them much. But this week I missed going to the store at my usual time, and we ran out of TP. I opened one of the individually wrapped store brands–and I was never so glad to finish a roll of toilet paper in my life. Think the worst public gas station TP. Yuck. This may sound silly, but since we use TP every day, and it affects our hygiene and comfort level, I’m happy our regular brand is readily available these days.

How are you this week?

Here we are at another Friday, time to pause with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story to stop and count our blessing.

1. Gifts from the garden. Our neighbors have a sizeable garden and bring us some of their excess throughout the summer. They just gave us some fresh zucchini last week.

2. Independence Day. We’re thankful for the freedoms we enjoy in this country that so many fought so hard for. We had grilled burgers and hot dogs for dinner along with several sides and a banana cream pie that Mittu made. Jim had bought some small fireworks and Jason had bought sparklers and “pop-its” that you throw on the ground to make a popping sound. From our lawn chairs in the front yard, we could see over the trees a bit of larger fireworks displays in other areas. It was a fun day!

3. Lunch out together Sunday. Jason, Mittu, and Timothy had joined us for church Sunday. Afterward, we proposed going to eat somewhere. After a lot of looking at apps to see what was nearby, we ended up at a Mexican food place near our house. Jim had not been terribly impressed with it the last time we ate there together, but he enjoyed the meal Sunday. So maybe we can go back some time. 🙂 As it stood, I would sometimes get takeout from there when Jim was away. I grew up in southern TX, where Mexican food was a staple!

On a side note, the restaurant had several TV screens on around the room. They were showing, of all things, a hot dog eating contest. It was pretty disgusting to watch.

4. Hours of reading. After coming home Sunday and taking a nap, I spent most of the evening reading. I fit most of my reading in here and there, so reading for hours felt so luxurious and restful.

5. Not getting thunderstorms. My weather app showed the possibility of thunderstorms for several days this week. I don’t think we got any, though we did get some rain here and there. Thunderstorms always include the possibility of losing power, so I am thankful we didn’t have to deal with any of that this week.

How was your week? Good, I hope.

As June winds down to a close, it’s time to pause and consider the blessings of the past week with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. Model rocket adventures. When our boys were younger, they had fun putting together and launching model rockets. My husband found one of our old rockets from those days and supplemented it with some new items from Hobby Lobby. We invited Jason, Mittu, and Timothy to meet at a park to launch them, and Mittu made us a picnic lunch. Unfortunately, though, she wasn’t feeling well and ended up not coming.

We had a great time, and Timothy was impressed and excited. 🙂 I wish I could put a video here of his reaction.

2. Bad news/good news. My youngest son, Jesse, works for a company that does out-service tech support for various other companies. They’re divided up into different service desks for each company. He got word this week that the service desk he has worked in for years will be closing. The good news is, his company thinks they they have places on other service desks for all the employees.

3. A benign test result. Jim had a biopsy this week and got good results back. It was expected that the results would be benign, but it’s great to get that confirmation.

4. Good feedback. It was my turn to present a chapter for our critique group, and the feedback was so encouraging and helpful. If you’re thinking of writing for publication, I can’t recommend a critique group highly enough. It helps to know where you’re on the right track and where you need more clarity, or to have a perfect suggestion for wording or arrangement.

5. Fifteen minutes extra. Our critique group has added fifteen minutes extra to our meeting time for whoever can stay, just for some open discussion time. Sometimes someone will have a specific question about their own work or a general question about writing or publishing. Not only has this time been helpful, but it’s been fun to get to know the ladies more.

And that’s a wrap. How was your week?

June is flying by quickly, and it’s Friday once again. Time to gather with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story to think back through the best parts of the week.

1. Father’s Day. I felt bad about Jim grilling on the day set aside to honor him. It seemed like I should have cooked something while he sat with his feet up. But grilling is what he wanted to do, and we all love his burgers. 🙂 It was actually a group effort, with different ones contributing food or tasks. Mittu made a tasty spice cheesecake. We FaceTimed with Jeremy while Jim opened presents from us all. It was a great day.

2. Four solid hours of sleep. I wake up several times at night due to various physical issues. Once I’m awake, I have to get up and go to the bathroom. I usually get back to sleep pretty easily. But one night last week, I slept over four hours without interruption. It was lovely and refreshing. I wish I knew what made the difference so I could try to replicate the conditions.

3. Zaxby’s ice. I love their food, too. But I also look forward to their munchy crunchy ice. Along with my meal, I get a cup of just ice and bring it home to pour my own decaf tea over it. I usually have more than half a cup of ice left, which keeps well overnight in their insulated cup in the refrigerator so I can do it again the next day. A simple but much-enjoyed pleasure.

4. Planters filling out. I didn’t take a picture when we first planted these in May, because they looked pretty sparse then. But they grew quickly. The only disappointment was that I had a few pink petunias there that didn’t make it for some reason. But the purple ones really took off.

5. Unexpected Take-out. I was at the computer yesterday afternoon when Jim came in to get a cup of coffee. He asked if I had any dinner plans and whether I’d want to order something out—not from our usual fast-food places, but from a restaurant. Yes!

I’m also thankful for safety this week as Jim traveled out-of-town, partly in the rain, and I was home during thunder storms. The power blinked a couple of times, but, thankfully, did not go out.

How was your week?

This was a week when it was hard to come up with five favorites. It wasn’t a bad week, but nothing stood out as worth mentioning. But that’s one reason I love this exercise with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story. When I look and consider, the blessings are there. Here are a few:

1. Impromptu family dinner. We’ve had a pork loin in the freezer for a while, and Jim decided he wanted to cook it Tuesday. He cuts it up and marinates it in the sous vide cooker Jeremy made for him, then finishes it off on the grill. As he cut the meat up, I thought, that’s much more than the two of us can deal with. I texted the kids to see if they wanted to come over, and they were all free.

2. A cool summer evening. Summer hasn’t officially started, but the temperature and humidity feel like it. I ran errands Tuesday afternoon, and by the time I navigated the grocery store and lugged groceries in and put them away, I was red-faced, hot, and sweaty–and, I am sorry to say, a little irritable. I bumped the AC down and turned on the ceiling fan while preparing dinner, and finally cooled off. I wasn’t excited when everyone congregated outside, but I was pleasantly surprised that it felt really nice as we sat and talked and watched Timothy play.

3. A good meeting. Jim met with the pastor of the church that we’ve been visiting the last several weeks to ask several questions.

4. Good answers to a couple of specific prayers this week.

5. A productive week after a couple where I felt like I was spinning my wheels.

Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers out there this weekend!

The Fridays keep coming, seemingly faster each week. It’s good to pause in the busyness to remember and give thanks for the good things of the week with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. Dinner and photos. We had the family over Saturday night to hear about my youngest son’s trip to RI to visit my oldest. Jesse doesn’t take a lot of pictures, but he did manage a few. It was fun to hear more about the trip.

2. Pudding Chip cookies, recipe here. I don’t bake much any more with just the two of us, especially with my husband working hard to keep his blood sugar down. So it was a treat to whip up a batch of cookies for the family get-together and send some home with the kids. I substituted King Arthur Measure for Measure Gluten-Free Flour for the flour called for, since we have a couple of gluten-intolerant members, and everything came out fine.

3. Discovering a beautiful song. While baking, I had BBN Radio on. I heard a new-to-me song titled “This Is the Will of God.” The voices, melody, harmonies, and rich lyrics all captivated me. I was going to email BBN to find out who had sung the song. But then I decided to poke around YouTube and see if it was there. It was!

The notes on YouTube share how the song grew out of the author’s study about God’s will. The group is Forever Be Sure. I spent a little time reading their “about” articles and listening to some of their other songs. I look forward to listening to more!

4. An uneventful cardiologist’s visit. I felt like I could just phone in this one rather than driving half an hour to this appointment, except for their having to do an EKG and listen to my heart every visit. But it’s good, very good, that things have been normal and there are no new issues! I see the physician’s assistant every other visit and love talking to her. She answered a couple of long-time questions I had not been clear on. Maybe by the time I see the doctor in December, we can go to once-a-year visits instead of every six months.

5. Afternoon shopping and errands. I’ve been wanting to visit the large At Home store which is just down the street from the cardiologist’s office. So I figured I’d wait til I was on that side of town. I didn’t find quite what I wanted, but at least now I’ve got visiting that store out of my system. I enjoyed roaming around the store.

Also in the same area is a Great American Cookie shop. I love their peanut butter cookies and hadn’t had them in a long time. In all honesty—they weren’t quite as good as I remember them. Maybe Crumbl Cookies surpassed them. But Crumble Cookies changes their selection every week, which can be fun—but I always know GAM will have their familiar fare.

And that wraps us this week. How was yours?

It’s the first Friday of June, a good time to stop and remember the best parts of the last week with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. Lunch out with the family. Jim suggested going to Texas Roadhouse after church Sunday with Jason, Mittu, and Timothy. The food was great and we enjoyed time together. This particular location was very loud, though, which was uncomfortable. Jim had bought extra ribs and let me have some of his leftovers the next day. 🙂 Plus we had extras of their rolls and butter, which are some of their best features.

2. Memorial Day. I always like to watch the National Memorial Day concert on PBS the Sunday night before Memorial Day. they always include a few stories of those who have given their lives in the battle for freedom, reminding us what this day is all about.

We went with Jason, Mittu, and Timothy to a picnic area near Douglas Dam for lunch Monday. Timothy is greatly interested in dams, and I am amazed at the details he knows about the different locals ones and how they work.

In all honesty, I wasn’t exactly thrilled about driving 40 or so minutes for a cookout. But it was fine, and I enjoyed the day. I thought the place would be packed out on Memorial Day, but it wasn’t. We had our picnic area mostly to ourselves. Jim got the food and supplies ready for the outing and cooked burgers there. We took the RV so we had cooking supplies, shelter if it rained–and a bathroom. 🙂 I had found a game on sale at Hobby Lobby and brought it–it was kind of like corn hole, except it used rubber balls and had a small trampoline-like stretchy frame where we were supposed to bounce the balls on before they went into the pockets. That turned out to be fun, and Timothy enjoyed setting it up in different areas.

Jim and I had never been to this dam before, and saw directions to an upper and lower area. We turned to the lower. We drove to the upper area afterward and decided that if we ever went again, we’d go the upper route–there was a lovely view of the dam, river, and hills.

3. A regular dentist cleaning went well, much better than the last one where some significant damage was found under a bridge. I still need to decide what to do about that tooth–neither the dentist or endodontist can give me clear direction about whether to pull it or retreat it, so it’s basically up to me. But at least no new damage was found. The hygienist even complimented me on my oral care. 🙂 Plus, last time I had a severe occurrence of vertigo, so I was especially praying that would not happen again. Thankfully, it didn’t.

4. An Audible coupon. I received notice that I had earned a $10 gift coupon with Audible during their promotion. I had not even known this one was going on. The next audiobook I wanted to listen to was $10.99, so that worked out nicely.

5. Jesse’s trip to RI to visit Jeremy. He got home safely, and they both said they had a great time. We’re getting together Saturday to hear more about it and see pictures.

Bonus: After a grocery store excursion this week, I got to thinking about some of the supply issues we had during and after the pandemic. Thankfully, we never lacked anything we seriously needed during all that time. Sometimes it took stops to two or three stores to find things, or we had to order them online. What we couldn’t find, we could live without. But now it seems like things are back to normal in that regard.

How was your week? Hope you have a good weekend.

It’s hard to fathom that we’re at the last Friday of May already. Time goes by so fast! I like to stretch out the moments a bit by sharing the best with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. Family gatherings. Saturday, my son and daughter-in-law had us over to celebrate my grandson’s successful completion of third grade. 🙂 We had pizza, salad, garlic bread, and this cute Oreo cake Mittu made.

Then Wednesday, we had everyone but Mittu over for dinner (unfortunately, she was nursing a sore throat).

2. Jesse’s travels. My youngest son is off to visit my oldest son in RI. This is the first time Jesse has traveled by himself and the first time any of us has been to see Jeremy except my husband when he helped him move. So far the trip has gone well. They’re not only both avid game players, but they like long strategy games that none of the rest of us usually plays. I’m sure they’ll have a great time playing, seeing sights, and meeting Jeremy’s friends, many of whom are also avid game players. One of these days, we’re going to get up to RI, too.

3. Eating out. On the way home from the airport, Jim and I discussed whether to eat dinner somewhere or get something to take home. After discovering one restaurant I’d wanted to visit had closed, we ended up at Cracker Barrel. That was a treat for me, not only because it is one of my favorite places, but it is not Jim’s. 🙂 So it was nice not only to eat out with him, but for him to offer to take me there. He did find that he liked their lemon trout.

4. A light cooking week. If you’ve read here long, you know this is a favorite. 🙂 Due to the party, taking Jesse to the airport, and various other reasons, I only cooked this week for dinner on Wednesday and breakfast Sunday morning. I think that’s a record. It almost felt like vacation. One of those times, Jim had an eye doctor appointment near a mall which has a Sarku’s (which we love. I wish they were located other places than malls). So he offered to bring some home.

5. A non-dairy treat. I’ve been lactose-intolerant for many years, but lately I’ve been trying to cut down on dairy products in general to see if that helps some stomach issues. I perused the non-dairy items in the freezer section and brought home this. I sampled a couple of spoonfuls before putting it in the freezer, and it was pretty good.

That’s my week. How was yours?

I hope you have a good Memorial Day weekend as we honor those who have given their lives for us.

It’s time to pause for just a bit to reflect on the week’s blessings with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. A pre-Mother’s Day dinner out. We stopped going out for Mother’s Day years ago due to long wait times. But I suggested this year going out all together some time before Sunday. So we did that Friday night. Even though the restaurant somehow didn’t have our reservation listed, they got us in fairly soon. I got a piece of Triple Chocolate Cake to take home. It was such a big piece and so rich, I had to split it over two days. The meal and time together were both great.

2. Mother’s Day breakfast. We’ve usually kept our Sunday morning breakfast routine on special Sundays just due to logistics. Saturday night, I was puzzled when Jason and Timothy came over around 9 p.m. They brought a wonderful Mother’s Day breakfast that Mittu had made which I could just reheat in the morning: quiche, fried potatoes, orange slices, grapes, and carrot muffins.

That was such a sweet and thoughtful thing to do. And it was very good! We could only eat about half of it Sunday, so we had leftovers for a couple more breakfasts this week.

3. Mother’s Day. Jim grilled burgers, Jesse shucked corn on the cob and other assorted things, Jason made Chocolate Pretzel Pie.

It was nice to have the day off in the kitchen, and everything was delicious. I received some sweet cards and gifts.

4. Hanging plants. Jim usually gets annuals in hanging baskets for me for Mother’s Day. This year he asked if I wanted to go with him to pick out the flowers. It was fun to do that together (he said it was less-time-consuming and stressful, but more expensive 🙂 ).

Then, I had not yet planted the flowers I had bought the day before for the planters in front and back of the house. Jim helped with that by clearing out the old stuff. Plus he planted a few in an area by the mailbox. So often, over the years, we’ve had to “divide and conquer” things like this for various reasons. It was nice to do them together. Plus everything looks so nice with fresh flowers in.

As we were walking around the garden center, we spied this interesting looking plant. We found it was a foxglove, so we decided to get it for the front porch. I didn’t know they grew so tall–about four feet. It has become something of a conversation piece.

5. Oven guards. Somehow I came upon a reel of neat things found on Amazon–and because I stopped to watch it, my reels on Instagram were then flooded with similar videos. But this sounded great, because I frequently burn my wrist on the top rack when putting something in the oven. Our family does “wish lists” for gift ideas, so I put this on my list, and my husband got it for me. I haven’t baked anything yet since I installed them, but I am looking forward to doing so pain-free!

I could list more, but I’ll stop at 5. 🙂 It’s been a lovely week. I hope yours has, too.

Another week has flown by, and I’m pausing with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story to count its blessings.

1. Sunday lunch out with the family at a favorite local Asian place. Jason, Mittu, and Timothy came to church with us and then we went out for lunch.

2. First round of dentist visits over. Somehow I managed to get a cavity in what’s left of a tooth under a crown which is under a bridge. Tuesday the dentist took off the bridge and crown and drilled out the old filling and decay. She doesn’t think the remaining tooth is enough to support another filling and crown, but I’m going to an endodontist next week for a second opinion just to be sure. If not, it will have to be extracted, which will be another appointment with an oral surgeon. Then we’ll have to discuss whether to replace that tooth as well as the missing tooth that the bridge was covering with either a dental implant or partial denture. So, there’s a long way to go yet. But the first part is done, and though not particularly pleasant, it wasn’t awful. I’m also especially thankful for praying friends I sent notes to asking for prayer for calmness of heart, mind, soul, and body during the procedure.

3. A Chick-Fil-A biscuit. Jim had to go out one day for some early morning lab work while fasting. That doctor’s office is across the street from a Chick-Fil-A, so I asked if he could bring back breakfast from there. A treat!

4. Time with family. Mittu texted saying Timothy wanted to come over and play, and offered to make nachos. They brought his bicycle, and we set lawn chairs in the driveway while Timothy rode his bike. Granddad got out his bike and joined him for a bit, and Jason and Mittu and Timothy played basketball for a while. The weather was really pleasant as well.

5. Flowers for the planters. I got them yesterday but haven’t had a chance to plant them yet. It’s supposed to rain much of today, but hopefully I’ll be able to get them planted today or tomorrow. I always love how flowers brighten up the front of the house as well as the back patio.

I hope you have a good weekend celebrating your mom, whether she’s with you in person or in memory.