It’s Friday, time to look back over the blessings of the week with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and other friends.

After a busy weekend, the rest of the week hasn’t been quite as productive as I had hoped, but it has been a good one. Here are some of the best parts:

1. Lunch with a friend last Friday. Enjoyed a great conversation and time away.

2. Bagels. I’d only had one bagel in my life before, and I was not impressed: it was on an airplane, and the outside of it was so hard, I couldn’t bite into it. I had to pull out the soft bread inside of it to eat it. Jason told me not to judge all bagels by an airplane bagel. So when my friend wanted to meet at Einstein Bros Bagels, I wasn’t so sure at first, but then decided this would be a good opportunity to give bagels another try. I ordered pizza bagels, thinking that if the crust was a little firm, it wouldn’t be too bad. But they were very soft and very good! Nice to have a new food option!

3. Fencing. I’ve mentioned before having to take down a row of diseased trees bordering the back of our property. We wanted to replace them with a fence, and my husband found a great deal on fencing on Craig’s list and picked it up last Saturday. He has two panels up already.

4. Delicious weather. It’s been my favorite kind of weather most of this week – sunny and cool. I’m treasuring up the coolness, knowing before long it will be hot and humid out there.

5. A productive Saturday. I had a marathon grocery shopping expedition in the morning and then spent the afternoon catching up on “Amazing Race” episodes on the Tivo while ironing. While ironing and grocery shopping aren’t favorite things to do, there is a sense of satisfaction getting them done.

Happy Friday!

It’s Friday, time to look back over the blessings of the week with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and other friends.

It’s so hard to believe April is about over. I don’t know where this month went! But here are some highlights from the last week:

1. “Skinny” Chocolate “Ice Cream.” I’ve been collecting lower-calorie or healthier recipes on Pinterest. and tried this one this week. I halved it to 1 sliced, frozen banana, 1 Tbsp. of peanut butter, and 1/2 Tbsp cocoa. It was pretty good. It was a little hard to get the frozen banana completely blended with the little off-brand “magic bullet” type blender I was using, but otherwise it was fine.

2. One pound. My weight has been stuck at about the same level for a couple of weeks. It finally went down another pound this week – a pound that put me under a weight that ends in zero. 🙂 That pound from one set of ten down to the next feels really nice.

3. A quiet day. I wasn’t feeling well last weekend and ended up staying home from church on Sunday. I tried listening to a sermon online, but mainly slept while everyone was gone, then spent most of the evening reading. It was a refreshing day.

4. Two take-out meals. We got take-out from my husband’s favorite Asian place on Saturday, then, when I stayed home Sunday, I asked if we could get take-out from McAlister’s Deli for lunch – so basically I had the weekend “off” from cooking except for Great-Grandma’s stuff and heating up leftovers for Sunday night.

5. Our little grandson and his new battery-operated car – or cycle – or “mower” as he calls it, since it’s shaped like his granddad’s riding lawn mower. My husband checks several “deal” sites often and found it for a good price. It was so fun to show it to Timothy and hear his giggles as he tried it. Unfortunately I didn’t get a photo then: in this one I was trying to get him to look up and smile, but he was distracted by a neighbor on his riding lawn mower.

Happy Friday!

It’s Friday, time to look back over the blessings of the week with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and other friends.

It’s been a little quiet around the blog this week – I’ve been busy with other things. But here are some highlights of the week:

1. Timothy’s birthday! My little grandson turned 2 this week! Some of you may remember that two years ago he was born 10 weeks early and spent that whole ten weeks until his due date in the NICU. It was a very long and emotional time, as he’d experience pluses one day and then minuses the next. But I am so grateful God spared him. He has been such a joy, and I can’t wait to see how God uses his life!

The card I made for Timothy’s birthday

2. A trip to a little zoo for Timothy’s birthday. We had planned to revisit the Knoxville zoo, but someone at my husband’s work told him about Little Ponderosa, so we decided to give it a try. We weren’t sure how big it would be and feared they might have only a handful of animals, but they had plenty. They also had paved trails, something else we had wondered about. We could walk up to most of the enclosures and touch and feed the animals. It was just the right size for Timothy’s age.

Timothy petting the goats in the spiffed-up wagon Granddad put together for him – came in handy when he got hot and tired near the end.

We went home for a nap and then got back together again for dinner, cake, and presents. All in all it was a wonderful day!

Toddler birthday dinner – mini tacos and juice boxes with car-themed plates!

3. The adorable birthday cake my daughter-in-law made. He’s very much into anything on wheels right now, but especially cars.

4. Lunch at a favorite but distant restaurant. When we were first visiting the area to look at houses, schools, etc., before moving, we stayed in the same hotel, stocked up on supplies at the same W*Mart, and ate often at an Italian restaurant called Gondoliers.  I love their stuff, but they’re too far away for us to go to regularly. It was fun to be back in that area and to eat their Meat Eaters pizza there.

5. Not having to replace a shower curtain. My son’s shower curtain had what I thought was mildew over a good portion of it. I treated it in several ways with no luck. I looked around and this particular style was no longer sold, plus I couldn’t find anything in the colors I wanted. I decided to toss it in the washer – and it came out almost as good as new! I don’t know why just washing it worked when stronger treatments didn’t, but I was very glad I was going to be able to keep it.

That’s life – big blessings mixed in with the smaller everyday ones. I’m thankful for this opportunity to stop and count them.

Happy Friday!

It’s Friday, time to look back over the blessings of the week with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and other friends.

Many of us skipped the FFF last week, due to Good Friday and Easter preparations and also because our hostess, Susanne, was getting ready for her daughter’s wedding the next day and would need to take a week off from FFF, even though she graciously left it open for the rest of us. So we should have two weeks of blessings to catch up on…except that I didn’t make notes and can’t remember much past this week. (Blush!) But here are some of the highlights:

1. Easter isn’t the only time we think about the resurrection of Christ and all it means to us, but it is a time for special emphasis on it. What a cause for joy!

2. Celebrating with the family. We enjoyed a nice meal and then had a little Easter egg hunt, Timothy’s first. For years we’ve put coins in the little plastic eggs for the older kids, with an occasional bill of some kind. Timothy is not into money yet, and no one here likes hard-boiled eggs, so we put Goldfish crackers and M&Ms in his. He caught on right away to gathering the eggs but was more interested in gathering, opening, and closing them than on what was inside. Later we had an extended Facetime with my oldest son out of state.

3. New spring dish towels. I found these at JoAnn’s and thought they were a little pricy, but they were on sale 40% off and I had a gift card. 🙂 Lately it’s been rare for me to find the fluffy type of dish towels in any kind of design I like, so I was thrilled with these.

4. Safe travels. Jason, Mittu, and Timothy traveled several hundred miles for her mom’s birthday last week. They had a bit of an issue with their car that thankfully happened there and not on the road, but delayed them a bit getting back. Last time Timothy wasn’t too happy with all the time in the car seat, but this time he traveled well and wasn’t overwhelmed with being around unfamiliar people. All in all it was a good trip for them. Then Jim safely went to Atlanta for a day earlier this week.

5. Flowering trees around town are such beautiful harbingers of spring…even though they ramp up pollen production and allergy problems.

Hope you’re having a wonderful Friday free from “April fools.” 🙂

It’s Friday, time to look back over the blessings of the week with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and other friends.

It seems like nearly every Friday I comment on how fast time flies by…but it really is hard to believe we’re 1/3 of the way through March already. Seems like March just got here! Here are a few favorites from the last week:

1. My husband’s birthday. He requested tacos for dinner and Boston Cream pie for dessert. It was fun to honor him on his special day.

2. A week with nothing scheduled was much needed after several very busy ones. There are always things to do, but it’s been nice not to have anything “extra” on the schedule this week.

3. Daffodils are beginning to bloom in the neighborhood! They’re not my favorite flowers, but I enjoy their perkiness and their signaling that spring really is on its way.

4. Dinner and roses from my son and daughter-in-law.

5. The Downton Abbey finale hit just the right notes.

Happy Weekend! And don’t forget to turn your clocks ahead Sat. night!