On Fridays I like to pause for a few moments with Susanne and friends
to reflect on some of the blessings of the week.

Well, most of us are officially in the Christmas season now. Here are some favorites from the first week in December

1. Christmas tree shopping and decorating. We got our tree Saturday. We still do it the old-fashioned way and buy a live one from a lot. Jason and Mittu and Timothy come along to help choose the tree and then decorate it at our house. Jesse got decorations from the attic. Mittu made soup and sandwich for lunch. It’s always fun to hear the kids exclaim over the ornaments as they put them on the tree. And I love how Timothy plunges right in. I love how everyone takes part, and we get it all done in a few hours.

It hadn’t seemed like it was time for Christmas yet. But once we got everything decorated and started playing Christmas music, the Christmas spirit definitely arrived.

2. Christmas music. I enjoy listening to Christian music in the kitchen and other times, but there is something special about Christmas music.

3. Productive days. I made a little shift in my order of doing things, and it has made a big difference.

4. Enough leftovers for meals. With just three of us home, I still pretty much cook like I always have, and we use the leftovers for lunches. Somehow we ended up with a stuffed refrigerator, not even counting Thanksgiving fare. I didn’t think we’d conquer it all at lunchtime, and I had enough of two main dishes to use for dinner two nights. It was nice having a couple of evenings of just warming up food and adding a new side.

Jim’s mom asked me once, years ago, if my family minded leftovers. I told her it depended on what was left over. Thankfully, everyone was ok with what we had, though we were glad to see some of it finished off.

5. Sweaters, heaters, throw blankets, and fingerless gloves have all helped keep me warm during the cold snap we’ve had this week. We even had our first snowfall—the kind I love: big fat fluffy flakes that don’t accumulate on the roads and only stay around for a day.

What’s one good thing from your week?

On Fridays I like to pause for a few moments with Susanne and friends
to reflect on some of the blessings of the week.

Happy Day after Thanksgiving! May the thanksgiving continue! Here are some highlights of the last week:

1. Thanksgiving, of course. Though we’re to be thankful all the time, I love this emphasis as a nation on being thankful. And, with all the family’s help, the work was divided. Though it was a busy day, it wasn’t stressful.

2. Thanksgiving food. Though Thanksgiving isn’t mainly about food, the Thanksgiving meal is a highlight of the day. We go pretty traditional around here—turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole. Plus desserts—apple pie, pumpkin pie, and this year, banana cream pie. I don’t vary much from the menu since this is the only time we have all this at one time, and we look forward to it! Plus all that cooking lasts for a few days. With some gluten-intolerant family members, in the past we’ve had two dressings and two gravies, one gluten-free and one not. This year I tried dressing from a gluten-free cornbread mix. GF breads don’t always taste as good as the non-GF kinds, but cornbread has always tasted fine. And the one time before I tried to make turkey gravy with GF flour, it didn’t turn out well at all. But this time, both dishes turned out great and were enjoyed by all. It helped simplify things not to make two versions of each.

3. A fun tablecloth. I found this neat Thanksgiving tablecloth at WalMart, full of activities to do. Timothy enjoyed it while waiting for dinner, and several of us used it while talking afterward.

4. Good customer service representatives. I called a number given specifically for answering questions about a particular piece of medical equipment. The person who answered was very nice, but it was obvious she wasn’t knowledgeable. I knew part of what she told me was wrong. The next day, someone from the business called me back, and, to my relief, was much more on top of things. Then, my poor dear husband is still dealing with an issue with one firm that has taken hours of his time. The person he’s been on the phone with this morning has been the most helpful yet. And when the call died, she called him back—it was so nice that he didn’t have to start all over with someone else. On one other call he made for another issue, the person was so helpful, he asked for her supervisor just to let them know she did a phenomenal job.

Good customer service people are worth their weight in gold, and we probably don’t tell them that enough.

5. Sleeping in. The last two days were busy preparing for Thanksgiving, and we’re decorating for Christmas tomorrow. So I am taking today to lay low and rest up. It was so nice to sleep in. It’s sad that 7 a.m. is sleeping in these days! But I’ll take it.

Hope you’ve had a great week!

On Fridays I like to pause for a few moments with Susanne and friends
to reflect on some of the blessings of the week.

Here we are at another Friday already! And here are my five favorites from the week:

1. A Zoom call. A friend and I had our own Zoom meeting so we could catch up by seeing as well as hearing each other.

2. Haircuts. My dear daughter-in-law cut my and my husband’s hair for us again—second time for me since the pandemic started, third time for my husband. We so appreciate this! And then she fed us lunch afterward.

3. My husband’s head for business and finances. We recently refinanced our mortgage to take advantage of lower interest rates and to borrow a little extra to take care of paying off our solar panels, one of our sons’ school loans, etc. As my husband and the loan officer were discussing the papers we were signing, I was thankful he knew what questions to ask and what it all meant—not just for closing, but for the whole process.

4. An excellent customer service experience after a couple of bad ones. My husband had to deal with a situation with a company that involved several hours on the phone over two days, being on hold and transferred multiple times, then going to the store for three hours—and the issue is still not resolved. By contrast, we went to another business this week to take care of a few things. The two people we dealt with were knowledgeable, efficient, and friendly. So refreshing.

5. Attending a funeral virtually. The pastor of the church where I was saved as a teenager passed away at the age of 91. He was a kind, faithful, godly man, and his preaching and teaching gave me a good foundation for the rest of my Christian life. He conducted the funerals of both my parents even though I had moved away and no one from the family attended church there any more. Though sad for the loss, I was thankful the service was live-streamed and recorded so those of us who couldn’t be there could participate. It was a blessing to hear of his history, character, and personality (most of it I knew, but some was new to me). It was also fun to see people I knew from my time in Houston who participated in the service. “The memory of the just is blessed” (Proverbs 10:7a).

Bonus: We don’t have any particular rites or traditions to observe Veteran’s Day, but I like to take a moment to be thankful for the veterans in my own family and all those who are serving and have served. It’s amazing that anyone would sacrifice so much for others, and it’s much appreciated.

Happy Friday! What is something good from your week?

On Fridays I like to pause for a few moments with Susanne and friends
to reflect on some of the blessings of the week.

The first week of November has flown by. I want to hold it in hand just a few moments before it vanishes completely by remembering the best parts.

1. Dressing up. Because my son and daughter-in-law couldn’t take my grandson trick-or-treating, they had a family get-together Halloween night and asked us all to dress up. Even though I tried to think of something with minimal work, it was fun.

Mittu potrays a tired stay-at-home mom with her coffee (love the shirt!). Jason is the Brawny paper towel guy. Jim is a wolf. I’m a fairy-tale Grandma. Jesse is Cyclops, an X-men character. Timothy is Marshmellow. (They don’t endorse all that the singer Marshmellow puts out, but they let Timothy watch a couple of his videos).

And here’s an encounter between Grandma and the Big Bad Wolf. 🙂

We enjoyed spaghetti and a wonderful chocolate swirl cake, and then played some games.

2. An extra hour. I sure hate to give that hour up in the spring for Daylight Savings Time, but I love getting it back in the fall.

3. The election. I was hoping and praying the results would be more definitive. At the time of this writing, we still don’t have a final result. But I am thankful we have the opportunity to make a choice.

4. At-home sleep study. That’s been on the horizon for six weeks now, and it was nice to get it over with. It will be 7-10 days before I hear the results.

5. Winning a book. I received notice that I won a book in a contest I had forgotten about entering! A nice surprise.

We’re having a cold snap this week, making us finally turn the central heat on. I think I say this every year, but I am so thankful we can heat the whole house with the push of a button. We had a fireplace in our last house that we used just for ambience sometimes or when the power was out. It was cozy, but a lot of work to keep adding wood and clearing ashes. I’m glad we don’t have to do that to keep warm.

The cold has made it seem like we had a short autumn and skipped ahead to winter. But it’s supposed to be a bit warmer next week. We hadn’t been out and around to see the fall color this year, but I drank in what was left on my way back from the sleep center.

And that wraps up this week! How was your first week of November?

On Fridays I like to pause for a few moments with Susanne and friends
to reflect on some of the blessings of the week.

It’s hard to believe we’re on the last Friday of October. Soon holiday season will be here! Here’s what I am thankful for this week:

1. Pumpkin decorating. We had our annual pumpkin carving/decorating on Saturday. Always a fun time!

2. Caramel corn and apple cider, two treats I always make for this occasion! Making the caramel corn is labor-intensive, but the recipe makes a lot and is so good.

3. Productive days. I got a lot done around the house this week, plus some work on the blog, an article, and my book. Usually either physical work or computer time gets done, so it was nice to make strides in both.

4. A successful new recipe. I’m trying to find leaner main dishes. I tend to have a lot of starches in mine, with a fair amount of meat and a few vegetables. So I am trying to find healthier ratios. These Juicy Air Fryer Chicken Breasts were so good.

5. Intersections. It’s amazing how often the different sources I read all contain the same message on the same day. The Bible passage, devotional book, commentary, and a couple of blog posts I read this morning all spoke of waiting on the Lord.

Do you have any blessings to share from this last week in October? I’d love to hear them in the comments.

On Fridays I like to pause for a few moments with Susanne and friends
to reflect on some of the blessings of the week.

Somehow this week has gone fast. They all do these days, but this one got to the end much sooner than expected! Here are some highlights from it.

1. Our ladies’ Bible study met in a home rather than outside due to rain, but had a Zoom option for those who didn’t feel comfortable meeting inside. I was the only one to Zoom in, but it all went well.

2. Tutorials. I mentioned last week frustration with the new WordPress editor. After neatly pulling my hair out trying to do Monday’s post, I decided I needed to dedicate some time to figuring this out. I looked up a few WP articles as well as some tutorials from others on YouTube. And I told my brain that learning new things was good for it. 🙂 I got a handle on the basics, which is probably all I will need (I told my family it was like someone created a high end camera with ten lenses and scores of bells and whistles when most people just want to point and shoot). I especially appreciated finding out here that if I revert to a “classic block,” the beloved toolbar that I had been missing will show up.

3. Family time and games. My son and daughter-in-law invited us over Sunday evening for grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup, chocolate cake, and games. One we tried was Pictionary Air, which integrates with an iPad. I don’t draw well on paper, so I figured drawing in the air would be even worse. But I found I was decent at it! It was a fun night.

4. Early voting. I appreciate the privilege we have to vote in our country. There was a long line, extending out the building and around the corner. But it moved pretty quickly, and everyone was masked and distanced. The time we waited outside, it was a nice temperature with a pleasant breeze. We had fill-in-the-box ballots rather than the usual electronic screen. But everything went efficiently and everyone was pleasant.

5. Takeout pizza. We got done voting right around the time I usually start dinner, and Little Caesar’s was on the way home. 🙂 And I had loaded and run the dishwasher in the afternoon, so no cooking or kitchen clean-up that night—always a fave.

I hope your week went well!

On Fridays I like to pause for a few moments with Susanne and friends
to reflect on some of the blessings of the week.

The first full week of October was cool and lovely.

One NOT-favorite thing this week is WordPress’s new block editor. Is anyone else frustrated with that? I didn’t even like the Classic Editor—I liked the old editor before that. It had a toolbar across the top and a sidebar with everything I needed. Now I’m having to look up how to do the simplest tasks. It’s maddening when a simple process is done away and replaced with a complicated one. They’re allowing us to still use the Classic one, at least for a while—but sometimes the post will switch from classic to block when I am right in the middle of it. Grr!

Well, on to more pleasant things:

1. Cleaning off my desk. Probably no one else would be able to tell a difference. But I can. 🙂 Plus, in cleaning out my “in box,” I found three gift cards that I had forgotten about!

2. A church picnic. We seem to be having these a little more often than the pre-pandemic potlucks we used to have. We have them outside on a covered pavilion with everyone distancing and bringing their own food so as to avoid cross contamination. We did share cupcakes this time, though, for the pastor’s son’s birthday! It was nice to catch up with folks, especially a few who are not on Facebook much.

3. Cleaning catch-up. I’ve been keeping up with dishes and laundry and occasional sweeping, but not much else since my hospitalization a few of weeks ago. I can’t say I enjoy housework, but I enjoy the results. 🙂 I got caught up on some routine housework tasks plus did a partial cleanout of my closet, including throwing away a few things that I should have last spring.

4. A meal from my daughter-in-law. I know I mention this often. But it’s a favorite every time. 🙂 This day in particular, I had my annual physical then went to the grocery store. My husband usually helps bring in and put away groceries, but he was away that day and Jesse was working–he can only take breaks on schedule. So by the time I got done, I was a little frazzled. Then I got a text from Mittu offering to bring over rotisserie chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, and banana chocolate chip cake. Though I always appreciate it when she brings over a meal, it was especially welcome that day. Then she and Jason cleaned the meat off the bones and let us have the leftover meat, enough for 2-3 more meals.

5. Fixing an iPhone and iPad glitch. I have two email accounts and hadn’t been able to access one on my devices. I could read email but not send or forward it. I’ve just been handling mail for that account on my computer. But this week I uninstalled and reinstalled that email account on both devices, and it seems to work ok now.

And that wraps up my week. How was yours?

On Fridays I like to pause for a few moments with Susanne and friends
to reflect on some of the blessings of the week.

I was so sorry to miss FFF last week due to being unexpectedly hospitalized for a couple of days. I’m doing better now—waiting on a couple of follow-up appointments to see what, if any, next steps should be taken.

But I have two weeks of favorites to catch up on! These are not in chronological order: most of the events happened before the hospital stay.

1. Jim being with me in the hospital. I didn’t think he’d be allowed due to COVID restrictions, but I am so glad he was.

2. An in-person Ladies Bible Study. We met sort-of outdoors in our pastor’s wife’s garage so we could spread out and still allow for air circulation. I sat just outside the garage door so as to maximize fresh air flow. I actually enjoyed the Zoom meetings, but it was good to see each other in person again.

3. Grandparent’s Day September 13. My daughter-in-law made Sunday lunch and Timothy drew pictures for us. 🙂 I was gifted with beautiful roses and Godiva chocolates, and Jim with coffee beans.

4. Jesse’s birthday.

He always asks for stroganoff for dinner and lemon cake for dessert. I’m usually more of a chocolate person, but I do look forward to this cake every year! Since he’s looking to move out soon, I’m trying not to think about this being his last birthday while living at home….

5. Cool weather. The fall-like temperatures some of you mentioned finally arrived here! I love the cool crispness of fall after the heat of summer and before the chill of winter. A few leaves are starting to change. I changed my front wreath, but will add some other fall decor this weekend when someone can get boxes down from the attic for me.

Bonuses. My daughter-in-law brought shepherd’s pie over for dinner the day I got out of the hospital. We had stuff in the freezer for easy meals the rest of the weekend. Then she brought chili and cornbread over last night. I took advantage of the cool weather to cut back our rose bushes and some ivy in planters that was trying to take over. I’m not a gardener by any means, but I enjoy working outside every now and then.

And that wraps it up for me. I hope your week went well!