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

What better way to end the first week of a new month than by counting blessings? Here are a few from the last week:

1. Progress. When I first started going to the gym near the end of February, I had to push myself to make it eight minutes on the bike. This week I got up to 20! And I finally reached my goal of 5 minutes on the rowing machine after that. I walk a few laps before, between, and after those.

2. A very productive Saturday. I got most of the weekly housekeeping done in a day.

3. Meals out – or rather, brought in. Not to sound whiny, but the main cook in a household doesn’t get weekends, holidays, or vacations off, unless we travel somewhere, so I regard buying restaurant meals once a week or so as a much-appreciated break. We had Mexican food Saturday night, then Jim brought home a Little Caesar’s pizza after church Sunday night.

4. A good doctor’s visit. This week I was scheduled for a follow-up appointment 6 months after my last physical, where they were concerned about my blood sugar and cholesterol levels. They were elevated, and though not in a danger zone, needed to be addressed before they did get dangerous. That’s one reason I started exercising regularly. We didn’t do the blood work today (no one had told me to come fasting…so I’ll do that one morning in the next few days), but by their records I’ve lost some weight since last time. Not enough to break any records, but enough that they were pleased. It’s good to hear, “Good work! Keep it up!” as opposed to warnings.

5. Timed naps. I can’t seem to get through the day without a nap, even though I do feel more energized from exercising. For a while I tried going to bed a little earlier – but then I just ended up waking up earlier.  So now when I get drowsy during the day, usually at my desk, I set the timer on my phone for 20-30 minutes, then set some music to play, and then recline in my desk chair. That has worked out well – I get just enough of a nap to pick up and go again, but not so much that I lose a good chunk of the afternoon.

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.

Another week has flown by! Here are a few highlights from it:

1. My daughter-in-law’s birthday. It was fun to celebrate her. 🙂

2. The Blaze pizza place, Mittu’s lunch place of choice on her birthday. It’s kind of like Subway (only for pizza) in that you go down the line and tell them whatever sauces and toppings you want, and then they fire it up in their big oven for 3 minutes. They even have gluten-free crusts! My only complaint was that it was really noisy, especially the (supposedly) background music, but otherwise it was a fun outing.

3. A successful baby-sitting venture. I watched Timothy over at his house (because it’s more baby-proof and I’d be watching him alone) one morning when Mittu had an appointment, and he did fine – didn’t seem to be bothered at all when his parents left. We had great fun. 🙂

4. “Nose kisses.” That’s what Timothy’s parents call rubbing noses, and he has learned how to do so with vigor. 🙂

5. A successful dentist’s appointment. After dealing with a tooth being pulled and a bridge being put in at the beginning of last year, I’m greatly relieved when a routine cleaning shows no problems.

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.

I’m late to the party! It’s been a busy day – a busy week. Here are some highlights of the past week:

1. A new Cricut Explore. This was actually from last week, and I couldn’t believe I forgot to mention it. My husband keeps up with a few “deal of the day” type sites as well as Amazon’s specials, saw this on sale, and surprised me with it. I have an older one, but this newer version hooks up to the computer so you can use their design site for some images as well as being able to link the cartridges for the older machines up to it. There is a bit of a learning curve to it. but I am making headway and enjoying it so far. It’s nice to be able to search for an image instead of having to change cartridges out several times.

2. Making Valentine cards while listening to Emile Pandolfi made for a very pleasant afternoon.

3. Comfort. Tuesday was a very frustrating and exasperating day. It would take too long to go into here but mainly involved waiting on hospice people to either call or come to do my mother-in-law’s shower, not hearing from anyone (because we had a dusting of snow the office didn’t open til 10) til mid-morning, going ahead and doing her shower ourselves, waiting for the nurse, who said she was coming after seeing one other patient, but she didn’t show up until 2:30, so I missed both my time at the gym plus didn’t get a shower til late afternoon because I didn’t want to be in there when she came. I got a lot of other stuff done while waiting, but was so frustrated at being left hanging all day. I don’t usually “vent” on Facebook, but did that day. Thankfully a few friends were very sympathetic, especially a few who’d had experience with home health care as well. Then my dear daughter-in-law saw that post and offered to bring dinner over.

4. A Valentine treat for my mother-in-law. Someone from church dropped off this bag that some folks there had put together for the home-bound folks for Valentine’s Day. She couldn’t eat the frosted sugar cookies or candy – we were happy to deal with those for her. 🙂 But the Kids 4 Truth kids gave her a bunch of kids’ Valentines with their names signed, and I know she will get a kick out of that.

5. This picture of my husband and grandson taking a walk made my heart happy. Timothy loves to take a walk!

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.

Here are some highlights of the past week:

1. A pink hoodie! I don’t know why I have never gotten a hoodie before now. I got it partly to wear with gym clothes, but I am finding it perfect for in-between sweater and jacket temperatures.

2. An uninterrupted afternoon. I’ve mentioned before that, though I appreciate hospice’s services for my mother-in-law, one frustration for me is having so many people come in and out of my home. There is a bath aide two days a week, a nurse one day a week, a chaplain once every 10 days-2 weeks, a social worker once a month, and a doctor once every 3 or 4 months. Last week they all came in the same week (some without calling ahead…argh!), and I felt like my time was extremely fragmented. This week was starting out the same, but for different reasons, and this is the week I needed to finish the ladies’ booklet I compile for church. I didn’t get started on it til Wednesday – and I needed to have it ready to print by Friday. Usually I get started on it much earlier than that. I felt if I could get one good solid afternoon to work on it, I could make a good dent in it – and that finally happened Wednesday. With that time and a lot of prayer, I got most of it done then and finished up the rest Thursday except for something I am waiting on from someone else. Thank you, Lord! That afternoon felt so good.

3. The rowing machine at the fitness center is something I didn’t think I could do, between knee problems and not having much arm strength. But I tried it Saturday and love it!

4. Pink tulips. I had seen and almost got some at the store to bring some springiness into the house, but ended up not buying them. My son and daughter-in-law didn’t even know about that but surprised me with some pink tulips one day this week.

5. Sunshine! It was rainy and overcast earlier in the week, but it’s always heartening to see the sunshine again. Plus we got one day in the 60s, a nice preview of spring. It’s back to the 20s now with snow forecast for next week – but spring is coming!

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 quite the weather week: snow one day, rain another, freezing fog (I had never heard of that before) another, and cold throughout. Thankfully we did see sunshine a couple of afternoons – that is always uplifting this time of year.

Here are some highlights of the week:

1. Not getting a predicted snowfall. We’d gotten 4″ last week with another 3-4 forecast for Saturday, but thankfully only got maybe an inch or so that day.

2. A date at the fitness center. My husband and I tried out a nearby fitness center last Saturday. He had already joined and had a guest pass I’ve used a few times this week. I will probably be signing up this weekend. I never thought I’d do that – one thing I struggle with concerning exercise is making time, and to add on driving and changing time seemed too much when I could exercise in my own home. But another enemy of exercise is boredom, and the fitness center has a variety of machines and activities one can do. Jim likes doing laps in the pool. I enjoy their walking track and have tried out what I think is a sitting elliptical (like an exercise bike but also has the poles you moves back and forth with your hands) and another machine where you sit on a bench and rotate what looks like a bicycle wheel with your hands. My balance is a little too iffy for some of the standing machines, but it’s nice that there are others that you can really tell are working you out. Plus, as many of you know, with caring for my mother-in-law here, my husband and I just don’t get out much together. But we have someone with her in the mornings, and it was nice to walk and talk together. We’re talking about making it a regular Saturday event.

3. A cute pink gym bag. 🙂

4. Christmasy fabric with pink in it. My dishes have pink flowers on them, so it is hard to find Christmas table linens that won’t clash with them. I was in Wal-Mart this week passing by the fabric department and saw this. Perfect! I think it is probably too small for a tablecloth, but I might try to make a runner or something out of it.

It’s looking a little orangy in this photo, but in person it’s varying shades of pink.

5. Kids pitching in. My husband takes our garbage and recycling to a local center once a week, but it was closed this past week because of bad weather. He wouldn’t have another chance to do it through the week, and we were already over capacity and couldn’t let it go another week. So Jesse took care of it one morning this week. And Jason and Mittu made dinner and cleaned up the kitchen last Sunday. I appreciate their help greatly.

Hope you’re having a good week!

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

Thankfully it has been a much quieter week than the last few. I still haven’t gotten to some of the things I have been wanting to get done, but the peacefulness has been a blessing. Here are some of this week’s highlights:

1. An in-house date night. All the kids had other plans last Saturday night, so our in-house date consisted mainly of getting take-out from my husband’s favorite Asian restaurant. It was lovely not to have to cook or clean up after a meal.

2. Dinner at my son and daughter-in-law’s on Sunday. Jason got a new grill for Christmas and wanted to break it in, so my husband initiated him into the ways of the Grillmaster. 🙂  Because of these first two, I basically had the weekend off from cooking except for Sunday morning breakfast and my mother-in-law’s stuff. Nice!

3. A husband who cleans up the kitchen on Sunday mornings. I always appreciate his help, but I don’t usually ask for it because he already works 10-12 hours most days. But when his mom first came to our home and we went through a number of different caregivers for her on weekends, he would always stay home from church the first few days we had anyone new, both to train them and to make sure of how they handled his mom. Since he was home those days, he would finish the dishes and wipe down the counters and stove while we were at church. Since we have a regular caregiver now and he’s been able to attend church again, he’s kept up the habit of cleaning up Sunday mornings. That’s been such a big help. Often I would not have time and then would have to clean up from both breakfast and lunch after church. This last Sunday, there was enough to start the dishwasher before we left, so to walk in after church and eating at J&M’s to a spotless kitchen and to just be able to rest and relax was heavenly.

4. A day of rest. With meals and kitchen clean-up taken care of, I don’t know why I was so wiped out on Sunday afternoon, except that I was out more than normal over the weekend. Those of you who read here regularly know that I place great importance on church. I know sometimes even if I’m feeling kind of draggy, by the time I get there, I’m fine and glad I went. But for whatever reason, I crashed when we got home in the afternoon and didn’t wake up til 6:30, then read for most of the evening. I felt so refreshed.

5. A limited allergic reaction. One day this week, my little grandson had an allergic reaction, we think from the strawberries in his yogurt at lunchtime. My d-i-l said he broke out into hives and tiny blisters. They started him on Benadryl right away and took him to the doctor as soon as my son could get home from work, and by that time everything had settled down. He’s supposed to stay on Benadryl for a while. Though I am sad he had a reaction, I’ve read of so many life-threatening occurrences requiring an ER visit from friends with kids who have allergies that I was glad it didn’t go that far.

If I were to add a bonus this week, it would be a good winter coat. We’ve been blessed with a very mild winter until recently. This week it has started actually feeling like January with the lowest temperatures we’ve had so far. I don’t like to wear my winter coat often because it’s so heavy, but when it is needed it sure does the job.

Hope you are warm and comfy where you are! 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.

We’ve had a two-week break from FFF since the last two Fridays were on holidays. I’ve missed it, but I appreciated the break as well. I don’t know if I could have gotten posts in on those days, but even if I could have, I would not have had time to visit around, and I think if someone is going to participate in some thing like this, they should visit at least some of the others. I think most of us were probably in this boat. It’s funny, though, that FFF has become such a habit that I kept thinking of things I needed to write down for it. I’m thankful Susanne started us on this habit of noticing and acknowledging our blessings.

Some weeks I do keep a running list of things for the FFF, and I wish I had this time, because there was so much to be thankful for that I’m sure I can’t remember it all. I won’t try to recap the whole last three weeks, but here are some highlights of my favorite things.

1. Christmas, of course. From our “traditional” breakfast of cinnamon rolls, sausage rolls, and fruit, to reading the Christmas story, to a wonderful time exchanging gifts, especially with a 19-moth-old grandchild. 🙂 To Christmas dinner with ham, cheesy potatoes, green bean casserole, to desserts of four different kinds of pies, to family time and enjoying being together. I did mess up Christmas dinner in two ways – I didn’t check to see how long the ham would take to bake, and when I started getting it ready, saw it was going to take much longer than expected. So we ended up having it for the evening meal rather than early afternoon. And then I had frozen rolls that I was supposed to take out to rise 3-5 hours before we needed them – and I totally forgot. But my family overlooked my oversights. 🙂 I was also thankful that at some point during the week and a half of “Christmas break,” everyone pitched in to help in some way. More people in the house make for more food prep, dishes, etc., so it’s really nice to have help in those areas.

This is Timothy with a couple of his gifts – a child-sized chair and a stuffed doggie. 🙂

2. Family time. My oldest son came down and Jason and Mittu were able to be here a good bit even though Jason had to work a lot of overtime. It was fun just to sit and catch up, but we also enjoyed playing games, watching movies, going bowling, and doing a lot of eating. 🙂

3. Harvest loaf cake. I made myself wait to make it until Jeremy came. I made extras for gifts for freezing and for later, and we’re working on the last mini-loaf currently.

4. Our 36th anniversary in Dec. We went out to a new restaurant we’ve been wanting to try, then dropped in on the kids at Jason and Mittu’s house. 🙂 We actually went out the night after our anniversary because the restaurant we wanted to try wasn’t opened the night of, and on our actual anniversary, Jason and Mittu brought over some pie and chocolate covered nuts for our anniversary.

5. A perfect gift. It’s hard to know what to get for my mother-in-law at her stage of life. But somewhere a while back I saw someone mention a blanket gotten through collage.com which had family member’s pictures on it, so I tucked that idea away for Christmas. I was thoroughly pleased with how well it came out and surprised at how clear the photos looked on a fleece blanket (this is not an ad – I am just a pleased customer!) I can’t show you the whole thing because I don’t have everyone’s permission, but I made a row for each of her kids and their families, and here is our row:

They had a more contemporary design where you could put the photos in a hodgepodge way in different sizes, but I couldn’t make the rows work that way.

I’ve also enjoyed end of the year activities like looking through the year’s posts and book reviews to choose favorites and then making reading plans for the year. I don’t usually make New year’s resolutions or choose words for the year for various reasons, but I do usually take some time the first week of the year after everyone else has gone back to work to evaluate and maybe set some goals for the year. So far my quiet week to do that hasn’t happened yet. 🙂 Much to do, many interruptions, and much of it taking much longer than planned. So maybe next week!

It’s funny how it’s such a joy to change up the routine for the holidays, and then it’s nice to get back to the routine afterward, yet it’s still a bit sad to have the kids gone and the decorations down. But I think we’re pretty much transitioned to the New Year now, with its own tasks and things to look forward to.

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 no matter how much you get done ahead of time, these weeks before Christmas are still busy! But everything is coming together though there is still a bit to do. May we remember amidst all the bustle the purpose and message of the season and the grace of God in the everyday. That’s one reason I am glad for this weekly time to stop and recount some of those blessings. Here are a few:

1. My oldest son is home. He’s normally here for a week at Christmastime, but he had some extra vacation days to use up so is with us for a longer time than I think he has been since he left home.

2. The Toy Story That Time Forgot might, I think, be my new favorite Christmas TV program, or at least one of them. So cute yet so poignant in parts!

3. Forgotten gift cards. I was at Hobby Lobby this week and planned to finish off what was left on a gift card, but at the checkout discovered I had another one that had not been used at all. Sweet!

4. Pumpkin spice cookies from a Betty Crocker mix topped with cream cheese frosting mixed with cinnamon. Some day I will try these from scratch, but the mix made for a quick treat. After the first pan of them I got the idea to add in some chocolate chips – even better!

5. LED candles. I like the look of candles, but they give me a headache, esocially scented ones. I recently discovered some decorative LED pillar candles and ordered them. I haven’t gotten them out of the box yet, but I know just where I want to put them and anticipate enjoying them. They even come with a remote to turn them on and off!

Besides these, there are joys of communicating with loved ones this time of year – I still love to send and receive Christmas cards and letters even though it is an investment of time, time with family, preparing gifts of love, and listening to the blessings in Christmas music while accomplishing some of those other things, and rejoicing in the gift of our Savior come to redeem and help and fellowship with us.

Since next Friday is Christmas Day, I am not sure what Susanne has planned for the FFF. I can’t imagine that I would post or have time to visit that day, unless I post something the day before and visit after Christmas, but most likely I’ll not have another FFF until after Christmas. I hope you have a blessed and merry Christmas celebration!