I’m pausing for a moment with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story to look back at the good things of the week.

1. Freezer organization. We have a side-by-side freezer and refrigerator. I keep the frozen items I use most often in this freezer and save the bigger or lesser-used frozen foods for the chest freezer in the garage. The one in the kitchen was full of bagged things that probably save space, but slide around. Plus I couldn’t see what was in the very back and bottom. So on Saturday, I dragged the table over, put most of the freezer contents on it, and put like things together. I got rid of a couple of things. Jim unstuck the bottom drawer for me, and I pulled it out out to clean it. It felt good to get reacquainted with what was there and have things in better order.

2. Surprise sausage. One of the freezer items I hadn’t realized I had was a partial roll of ground sausage. I’m not sure what it was doing there—I don’t get it often, and I usually brown it all at once when I do have it. I thawed it out, browned it, used some for these crescent sausage rolls for dinner, some for a breakfast burrito the next day, and sprinkled some on a couple of pieces of leftover pizza. And I still have some left!

3. Trying something new. After church on Sunday, Timothy suggested going out to a restaurant. 🙂 We hadn’t done that in a while–often their care group or ours meets for Sunday lunch. But none of us had anything scheduled that day. Our first choice of restaurant was crowded, with a line extending out the door. So they suggested a nearby Mexican restaurant we hadn’t been to before. The menu didn’t have my usual Mexican food entree choices, but something called Cozumel Rice caught my eye–grilled shrimp with Mexican rice, topped with cheese sauce. It was so good.

4. A good visit. Mittu’s aunt and uncle from OK were traveling nearby in TN and stopped to spend a few hours at Jason and Mittu’s house. J&M invited us over as well. We enjoyed the time visiting with them–we hadn’t seen them since Jason and Mittu’s wedding.

5. Lindor Lindt Milk Chocolate Truffles, my favorite candy. Jim saw them on sale at the grocery store and brought back a couple of bags. I try to keep consummation of them under control by rationing one or occasionally two a day.

Bonus: We had much-needed soaking rain yesterday.

Any special blessings from your week?

Friday is here again, time to pause with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story and count the week’s blessings. Mine are mostly simple pleasures this week.

1. A grocery delivery snafu that worked out. On Saturday, I stopped to look out the front door window, and noticed a bunch of groceries on our front porch. We hadn’t ordered any. The name on the bags wasn’t anyone we knew. I called the store, but they said we could keep them–even if they came to pick them back up, they couldn’t deliver them to the original customer after the goods had been out of the store’s hands. They said they’d send the customer a refund.

Before we brought the groceries in, though, we decided to call one neighbor who knows everyone on the next three streets to see if she knew the name on the bags. While we were doing that, someone pulled up and said she thought the groceries were hers. She turned out to be the granddaughter of one of our neighbors. I’m glad it all worked out okay and she got her stuff without having to order them all over again.

2. Flowers. We had planted wildflowers from seeds, and they are really taking off now! It’s so pretty to see them from the kitchen window.

As they were coming up, we weren’t sure what was flower and what was weed until they started blooming. So I think some weeds are mixed in there. 🙂 I’m not sure what that tall feathery thing is.

In addition, the planters are filling out nicely. We had planted zinnias from seeds for the first time, and they’re coming up well, too, though they haven’t bloomed yet.

I’m thankful my husband faithfully keeps everything watered

3. Our first squash. We haven’t planted vegetables in many years, but my husband planted yellow squash and tomatoes this year. Both are coming along, and he brought in our first squash today (Thursday).

4. Hummingbirds. We didn’t see any even though I put the feeder out several weeks ago. I decided to make a new batch and have seen several now. The wildflowers we planted are supposed to be the kind that attracts them, so hopefully we’ll see more.

5. An Apple gift card. I’d had one for some time, but hadn’t loaded into my account so it wouldn’t get frittered away. I wish Apple and Amazon would let us adjust settings so they don’t automatically use gift cards as the first payment option. The Apple gift card can be used for iTunes, and I was able to buy a few songs this week.

How was your week?

We’re officially halfway through 2024. Can you believe it? On Fridays I take a few moments to join with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story to slow down and be thankful for the good things of the past week.

1. Guys’ camping trip. Jim, Jason, and Timothy went camping for a few days about an hour from here. I drove up on Friday for a few hours and ate dinner with them. Jim made what his mom used to call hobo packets: a burger patty (we used turkey burgers) with potatoes and vegetables seasoned and wrapped with foil, that could be given out, and these men would cook them over their campfires. Jim put frozen French fries in his, which I thought might get soggy. But they didn’t, probably because the turkey burgers were less greasy than ground beef. It was a good meal and a nice time to visit outdoors. Then I got to come home to my own bed and AC. 🙂 (Mittu didn’t come because she wasn’t feeling well.)

I passed a Dunkin Donuts on the way there and decided to stop and get a box of Munchkins on the way back. I don’t actually like their donuts much, but I like the Munchkins. Plus their box triggers special memories for me: when my mother’s father used to come visit us, he always brought a box of Dunkin Donuts. I can hardly see their logo without thinking of him.

2. Easy meals. Monday, Jim said he had a couple of his uncooked “hobo packets” still in the RV refrigerator and asked if I wanted to use them for dinner. Sure! Then Tuesday night, I came into the kitchen to start dinner and saw that he already had. Wednesday night, I used a package of frozen shredded chicken to make chicken tacos.

3. Lunch with a friend. Melanie and I used some accumulated gift cards for lunch at Red Lobster. Thankfully, most restaurants that we go to don’t mind if we hang around and talk for an hour or more after we finish eating (and the places aren’t crowded at lunch time, so we’re not keeping anyone else from being seated). We even thought to take a picture this time.

4. A love note with a newly-bloomed wildflower. We planted wildflowers from seeds this year, though we probably started them a little late. This one was one of the first flowers to show up.

5. Independence Day. Our country is not perfect and has its share of problems, but I am immensely glad that I was born here. We enjoyed burgers and sides with the family and played games. They brought over sparklers and “Pop-its.” We saw a few bigger fireworks displays, but most were obscured by trees.

Bonus: Catching up on housework. With the last several weeks being extra busy, I had gotten behind on things that didn’t absolutely have to be done. Housework is not my favorite thing to do, but I do like the results. And dusting gave me a chance to listen to my Dickens audiobook.

Another bonus. A literal empty nest. I’ve shown pictures over the last few weeks of a bird’s nest, then eggs, then baby birds in our front flower arrangement. I think they were house finches. They are gone already! That was quick. They left quite a mess. I thought I could salvage some of the flowers, but I ended up throwing them all away. Even though we enjoyed having them, it will be nice to use our front door normally without fear of startling the mama bird.

That’s our first week of July. How was yours?

Here we are at the end of June already. Pausing to reflect on the blessings of the week with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story helps slow time just a bit–or at least it helps us enjoy the good things a bit longer.

1. A fairly quiet week after two busy ones.

2. A routine dentist’s visit. Though the dentist’s office is not my favorite place to be, even just for a cleaning, this appointment was about as non-problematic as it could be.

3. Rain has been much needed around here, and we got a bit this week, with more forecast for the weekend.

4. Visiting with CA relatives. All of my husband’s extended family lives on the west side of the country. We learned that the husband and son of his niece in CA were going to be about two hours away from us here in TN last week. Both our nephew-in-law and great nephew have been involved with the high school robotics team for several years and were going to be in TN for a MATE (Marine Advanced Technology Education) ROV competition. The teams built their own robots and had them perform underwater tasks based on real-life scenarios.

I had thought we’d only have a brief time with our family members, since they’d be busy with the competition. But as it turned out, only six members of the team could be on the floor during the competition, minus their coach. So not only were we able to visit, but Mike, our nephew-in-law and also the coach, was able to give us a play-by-play commentary during the team’s turn–which was very helpful, as I did not know what was going on. 🙂

None of these is my great nephew’s team, but it gives you an idea of the setting. The robot had to go in and out of the water from the white square.

Split screens in the bleachers showed the activity from a live feed from underwater cameras. Again, these were not for the team we were rooting for, but it showed two teams at a time, side by side.

My great-nephew’s team was one of only a couple of high school teams: the rest were college teams from all over the world. And his team had one the last three years! They came in second this year, but that’s still a record to be proud of.

Jason, Mittu, and Timothy came as well. I think Timothy had a different kind of robot in mind before we went. He asked if they were going to do battle bots. 🙂 But I think he enjoyed the experience, especially some little dolphins our great nephew made for his team’s display table.

5. Baby birds in my front flower arrangement.

Happy Friday!

This has been one hectic week. The last two, in fact, have been busier than usual. It’s good to stop and take a breath and remember God’s blessings scattered through the days. I’m sharing with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. Getting through. I’m thankful for God’s faithfulness in getting me through the last couple of weeks and various answers to prayer along the way. I have a couple of things on the agenda next week, but then July looks like a more normal schedule.

2. Father’s Day. We enjoyed celebrating Jim and Jason with stroganoff, and a Chantilly cake Mittu made with berries on top and between layers.

We got a few photos–unfortunately, Jesse had already left by the time we took them, and of course Jeremy was in RI.

3. A gastroenterology visit went well. The things they gave me to try last time seem to be helping.

4. Ruby Tuesday BOGO. When we get take-out, it’s usually fast food. Last weekend, we wanted something a little more upscale. I checked my “Sales” email folder and found a buy one entree/get one free offer from Ruby Tuesdays–and it was only good for last weekend. Good timing! We has Crispy Shrimp and Ribs along with a baked potato. Jim grabbed a bagged salad from the grocery store on his way to pick up the take-out.

5. Radio Interview. I had an interview Wednesday with Kurt and Kate Mornings on Moody Radio Florida. They wanted to discuss my post Life Doesn’t Always Turn Out Like We Thought It Would. We had a technical glitch at the beginning, with a delay in my responses getting to them. So they switched to using my phone. The sound is a little fuzzy, but at least it worked. My oldest son recorded it for me and made a link for the interview. You can listen to it here if you like. There are some commercials and a weather report in the middle. I cringed a little as I listened to it yesterday, noticing the “ums” and “you knows” and the dead air space as I pondered the answer to some of their questions. I don’t usually think “on my feet” very well—I guess that’s one reason I like to write: I can take time to process. But I prayed for the words God wanted me to say before and during the interview, so I trust it was helpful to listeners.

The eggs in our flower arrangement have hatched!

Have a great weekend!

I know it sounds cliche to talk about how fast time passes every week—but it does seem to keep going faster. All the more reason to pause and reflect once in a while. I do that on Fridays with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story. Here are five favorites from the week:

1. An impromptu get-together. Sunday afternoon, Jason asked if we minded if they invited themselves over. They are always welcome, of course. We hadn’t seem them much the previous week because Timothy was in VBS and Mittu was helping with a class. We didn’t have an organized dinner—we rummaged around for leftovers or heat-and-eat things in the freezer. We enjoyed time with them, as we always do.

2. Feeling better. I had a routine cardiologist visit this week—nothing new to report, EKG went well. But that evening and through the next two days, my heart was more fluttery than usual. It wasn’t full-fledged afib. It’s not unusual to have little flutters or abnormal beats every now and then–they say that’s nothing to worry about. But I don’t normally have that many that close together. I was just on the verge of calling the cardiologist back when everything went back to normal.

3. Dinner and flowers. One of the nights I wasn’t feeling well, Jason and Mittu brought dinner and flowers. Timothy either made or helped make cupcakes.

4. VBS, or Vacation Bible School. Some of the FFF friends are from other countries, and I don’t know if they have VBS everywhere. Here, many churches host a week-long Vacation Bible School for kids to have fun, get together, and most importantly learn about God. We weren’t involved this year except to pray and donate supplies. Sunday morning, the kids sang a song they learned and the director told about some things that happened that week. The decorations were amazing. I’m so thankful for the people who pour themselves into that ministry and for the opportunity to share truth with kids. I pray that the seeds planted will be watered and come to fruition. I saw one sweet photo on FaceBook with a little girl who fell asleep holding the Bible she had received that week. This was Timothy’s first time to attend, and he enjoyed it.

5. Machine recovery. I was using the Cricut machine to make a card this week that was rather involved. I usually go for simple designs, but I liked this one so much, I decided to go for it. It had multiple parts to be cut out. On the next to last one, the lights that indicate when to load the machine and when to start cutting stopped working and the machine stopped responding. So frustrating! The power light was still on, so it hadn’t died completely. I tried turning it off and back on and various other things, then looked up online what to do. Nothing was working, and I stated filling out a customer service form on their site. I tried one more thing–and that worked, for which I was extremely thankful. I had to do it for each step, but I was able to complete my project. I’m hoping it just got a little confused with the complicated project and this isn’t a regular thing.

Bonus: a new old song. I was looking for something else on YouTube when one of their suggested videos caught my eye, a song titled “Dear Refuge of My Weary Soul.” I saw it was written by Anne Steele, a hymnwriter from the 18th century known as “the Baptist equivalent of Isaac Watts.” I listened, and have listened many times since then. The words are here.

Also, the nest in the flower arrangement I mentioned last week has two more eggs in it. They came two at a time, which I was surprised at. But the birds are so small, it makes sense that she couldn’t lay all those at once. We caught a glimpse of the mama bird–she’s reddish but not a cardinal. Since this is right by the front door, she startles and flies away every time we open it. So we’re trying to use other doors as much as possible.

That’s our week. How was yours?

The first week of June has been busy, fast, and also good. I’m sharing favorites of the week with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. A surprise chicken biscuit. Jim brought back biscuits from Chick-Fil-A after his time at the gym Friday morning. Those are always welcome, but that day I had some extra tasks to do in the morning. So it was especially nice to have breakfast already made.

2. Leftovers and family time. Jason and Mittu had several friends over on Friday night. They had a good bit of food left over and asked if we wanted to share it on Saturday. So we enjoyed a meal with them and some fellowship.

3. Lunch with Melanie. We tried something different from our usual meeting places and went to Lulu’s Tea Room. We both had Chicken Pecan Quiche, and we enjoyed catching up with each other even more.

4. A long overdue haircut. I go to a walk-in place and usually have to wait for my stylist to finish with one or two people in front of me. When I walked in on Thursday, she had no customers, so I got right in.

5. A surprise in the flower arrangement. I noticed there was some kind of viny thing hanging from my spring flower arrangement on the front porch. I tried to pull it out, but it was stuck. Then I noticed it was attached to a little nest on top which kind of smushed the flowers. It has four eggs in it. I had been meaning to change the spring arrangement out for a summer one–I guess I’ll have to wait a bit now. 🙂

Have a good weekend!

It’s the last Friday of May already. I’m pausing with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story to look back over the blessings of the past week.

1. The National Memorial Day Concert on PBS Sunday night reminded and helped us honor the memories of those who died that we might enjoy freedom.

2. Grilling and family time. Monday, we enjoyed grilled burgers, hot dogs, sausage, sides, and cheesecake. We ended the day playing games.

3. Our care group met Sunday after church for a shared dinner and time of fellowship and prayer.

4. Sunny days. After several torrential downpours, tornado watches, and a bit of hail last week, it’s been nice to see the sun out all this week.

5. Pantry reorganizing. Our kitchen pantry is the size and shape of a small walk-in closet. The shelves on the right hold food. The shelves on the left hold some small appliances, paper goods, serving dishes, and assorted other items. I had an idea to reorganize some of the items on the left. I had hoped to create more space. Though that didn’t happen, the area looks neater and seems a little more efficiently arranged. That’s been on my mind to do for a while, so it was nice to have a chance to do it.

And that ends another week—and month! What’s a blessing from your week?

This month is just speeding by. I’m pausing for a few moments with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story to remember and be thankful for the good things of the week.

1. Spaghetti fundraiser. A group of families in our church is going on a mission trip this summer and hosted a spaghetti dinner fundraiser after church last Sunday. It was nice to have dinner taken care of and have some time to fellowship.

2. End-of-fourth-grade celebration. Jason and Mittu invited us over to celebrate the end of Timothy’s school year with homemade Chicago-style pizza, salad, garlic bread, and a chocolate pudding/cream cheese/whipped topping dessert..

3. Dinner offering. Jason and Mittu had to cancel plans with another family because Timothy got sick. But they already had a bunch of food in the crock pot. So Jason texted, “Don’t make dinner! We’ll bring some over at 6.” I was sorry Timothy wasn’t feeling well but happy to receive food.

4. A light cooking week. With the meals mentioned above, plus getting Subway one night and Chick-Fil-A another, I’ve had an unplanned mini-vacation from the kitchen this week.

5. Jim’s routine colonoscopy went well. No problems reported.

A short but sweet list. How was your week?

Just like that, we’re halfway through May already. It’s time to pause with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story to look back over the blessings of the past week.

1. Mother’s Day. My family always makes me feel extra-special that day. Mittu made a Mother’s Day breakfast of quiche, potatoes, and muffins, and Jason brought it over the night before. It was so nice to just heat up Sunday morning breakfast, plus it was enough for Monday’s breakfast as well.

After church, Jim grilled burgers, hot dogs, and sausage. The kids contributed sides, and Jason made Chocolate Pretzel Pie.

I received flowers, thoughtful gifts, and sweet cards. We FaceTimed with Jeremy. It was a great day.

2. Unexpected funny moments. When I opened Jim’s card, the inside had a series of flaps with little messages. He signed what he thought was the last space, but it looked to me like that was another flap. I lifted it up, and the card started loudly belting out a song titled “Some Kind of Wonderful.” It surprised us all, even Jim—he hadn’t known it was a musical card. We all had a good laugh.

3. Aurora Borealis, or the Northern Lights, were visible over much of the US last weekend. We only saw a faint purplish-pink glow one night. But friends around town posted on Facebook photos where they saw a variety of colors and streaks. It was really neat to see something like that—I never thought I would.

4. Plants. Last Saturday, Jim and I shopped for plants for hanging baskets and planters. I was astonished at how expensive some of those things had gotten! But we did find some lower-priced options. It’s so nice to see the hanging baskets outside the windows and to have the planters cleaned up and looking nice.

5. A quiet week. We’ve had absolutely nothing extra this week since Sunday. I enjoy our church Bible study, critique group, family outings and such—but it’s nice and restful sometimes to have a free and quiet week.

And that wraps up another week. How was yours?