Fridays Fave Five

 

We're halfway through the sixth month of the year. Can you believe it? This morning, I sit down and think about the blessings that have come to me this week. Many thanks to Susanne at Living to Tell the Story. Come on over and join us! 

1.  Air conditioning: We've been having some hot days here in Tennessee, like a lot of the country so I really am so thankful that my home has air conditioning! When and I have to go outside, it's such a joy and relief to come back in where it's cool. I know Apollo really loves it!

2.  June birthdays: June reminds me what a blessing I have with family. I have 2 children and 2 grandchildren all born within 2 weeks of each other. One daughter was able to spend her birthday with her daughter whose birthday was also coming up soon. 

3.  Scripture memorization:  I have a dear friend who got me into doing this. I've tried in the past and it hasn't stuck. This time, I write my verse of the week on an index card, and it sits near my computer. 

"Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You."

Psalm 119:11

4.  Borrowing books:  I am so thankful for Libby through my local library and Amazon Kindle Unlimited who give me such a great selection of books. Libby is free, while Kindle Unlimited is a subscription service, but between the two I rarely ever have to buy a book I want to read. I really enjoy reading and this is a blessing.

5.  I'm a fitful sleeper and if I wake up during the night, sometimes I can't get back to sleep. But this week, I have had some wonderful nights of sleep. It makes a big difference with my fibromyalgia and energy when I sleep well.

Hurricane season is up and running and with several children / friends / grandchildren living in Florida, I have the  National Hurricane Center in my favorites again. I checked it daily when I lived all those years in Florida and even though I've moved to Tennessee, my habit hasn't changed. I certainly remember those days of looking at "spaghetti tracks" and predictions. 

Have a great weekend!

Friday's Fave Five

 

It's the end of the first week of June and I sit here thinking of the blessings God has sent my way this week. I love this time when I sit back and reflect on things - both big and small that truly have blessed me. Thank you, Susanne for hosting this spot each week!

1. Birthdays: This week has brought two birthdays of the three children I have been blessed with. My youngest son, Mike celebrated on Monday and my daughter, Jill on Wednesday. She was given a special treat as one of her daughters flew in from out of town to spend the week with her.

Taken at Dollywood several years ago. Jill and Mike are on the far left.

2. Frozen Head State Park: For Mike's birthday on Monday, the three of us visited Frozen Head State Park with a picnic lunch. Tennessee is covered with state parks, at least in my part of the state and it was just the perfect day for it! There is a campground for both RVs and tent sites, walking trails, lots of bathrooms, and a lovely stream running through it. It was the perfect weather and it felt so good to get out into nature. And it's only about an hour from where I live. 

I know that dandelions are looked at as the scourge of the manicured lawn

but I think they're lovely.

My daughter in law Steph in the stream. She collects rocks and then grinds

them into powder and makes beautiful watercolors.

3. Lunch with a friend: I had lunch with Barbara yesterday. We usually meet up at a Cracker Barrel or Red Lobster type restaurant but yesterday we ate at Lulu's Tea Room. It's a small place but full of charm and her lunch was outstanding! It's a popular place and because she's only open for 2 hours, reservations are a must. I wish I had taken a photo of my meal before I dug in. Mine was Chicken Pecan quiche with a side of wonderful tomato soup and fresh fruit. And, of course, it was a wonderful time for Barbara and I to catch up with our lives.

4. A gift of a book: Barbara wrote a review of a commentary by Warren Wiersbe on the Song of Solomon back in May. You can find it HERE. I had expressed interest in the book she used so yesterday she gave it to me!

I'm going to enjoy this!

5. A coloring app for my phone: Years ago, I downloaded an app called Happy Color onto my phone. It's a color-by-number game and I really enjoyed it. It became so addictive that I finally had to delete it! The other day, I found it again and the last couple of days I've been coloring all sorts of pictures. I can already see that I'm going to have to take it off my phone. . . .again! It's fun though. Have any of you tried any of these apps? 

June here in Tennessee is lovely but the temps are beginning to climb. I'm having to do my walks in the early morning before the heat and humidity begin. I hope this finds all of you doing well and looking forward to a great weekend! 

Weekly Chat

 

We're now into June and about halfway through the year 2024. What on earth happened? These days, I blink, and a month has gone past. Here's my weekly check in,

DATE:  June 3, 2024

WEATHER:  Mid 60s early and supposed to hit mid 80s today. Sunny, A good day for a trip to the Smokies! 

READING:  Seaside Friends (Bay Harbor book #1) - Nellie Brooks. Still working on: The End - Mark Hitchcock. The Gospel's Power and Message - Paul Washer

LISTENING TO: In This Mountain - Jan Karon

VIEWING:  About to begin All Creatures Great and Small (new series) all over again.

THANKFUL FOR:  Daily scripture reading - seeing what God has to say to me today.

FUNNY OF THE WEEK:

PONDERING/PRAYING:  I'm celebrating two birthdays this week - youngest son today and daughter on Wednesday. I'm so thankful for these fantastic human beings who I was blessed to be their mother. 

Praying for the state of our country, for Israel, for unsaved loved ones, needs that I have been aware of.

A PEEK INTO MY LIFE:  

Youngest son! Today is his birthday!

QUOTE:

SCRIPTURE:

"Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God,

that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him,

for He cares for you."

1 Peter 5:6-7

Friday's Fave Five

 

It's a bit surreal, seeing the tail end of the first month of 2024! Where did it go? Between being sick and then snowed in, it's been a quiet month. I'm happy to see another Friday, to count the blessings of the week. Thank you, Susanne from Living to Tell the Story for hosting this! Come join us!

1. A new great grand daughter: The biggest blessing of the week! Samantha Dawn was born January 18th coming in around 7 and a half pounds and 20 inches. There had been a concern with the snowy conditions if she'd be able to get where she needed to be. But all went well, and I am now a great grandmother of 7! And me just a mere child myself!

2. Another great granddaughter birthday: Today Miss Savannah is 5 years old!

Here she is hold her new baby sister, Samantha. Savannah,....Samantha! Those two close names will keep me on my toes! She is so proud. 

3. Back to normal: After over a week of snow and ice, we now have rain. It has effectively gotten rid of the snow and now what is left is slush. Not as pretty as the fluffy stuff but at least I was able to get to the grocery store and the dumpster to get rid of garbage, and even to my car without slipping. The temps are also much more pleasant. We actually had mail delivery yesterday!

4. A new glass tumbler: Now, doesn't that sound exciting! If you recall last week, I shared a photo of a candle called "Cynthia". 

"Cynthia" came with instructions on the care of this candle, including a suggestion of how to use the glass when the candle was gone. So, here we have "Cynthia, the tumbler."

This really is a blessing because I needed a small tumbler for my occasional diet soda. The size is perfect and it's hefty. I love to recycle things. I can be a hoarder, if I'm not careful.

5. A crock pot meal: to me, there's nothing more satisfying that putting a whole chicken, carrots, celery and onion in my crock pot, and five hours later, I have 3 or 4 meals plus soup with the bones. And it makes the whole place smell wonderful! Tomorrow, I'm using some of the chicken to make a Chicken and stuffing casserole from a recipe I found on the internet. I'll let you know how it goes!

I hope you all are doing well with the very interesting weather we've had. How strange it is to grow up in snow country as a child and love every minute of it. And then, as an adult, I have to make myself enjoy its beauty and forget the inconveniences. Ah, to be a child again and make snow angels and sled down hills on my aunt and uncle's farm! Any of you tired of "adulting?" I think of Jesus asking us to become as little children. There is a trusting innocence there that everything will be alright. I'm so thankful that with Jesus I can become that little child once again. 

Have a lovely weekend. 

Friday Fave Five

Such a wonderful time of the year! Amid all the shopping and Christmas lights and Santas on every corner, I make sure I remember the biggest Blessing of all - .the birth of the Christ Child. Here are some blessings and favs that have come my way this week. Thank you to Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.for giving s a spot to share.

1.  A new mattress: My present mattress is ages old and the worse for wear. This week, my daughter and son-in-law blessed me with an early Christmas gift - a new mattress. It's a hybrid - a combination of inner springs and foam. It came in a 67-pound box via UPS and the kind driver brought the box in for me. My son and daughter in law came later to help me set it up. It really is quite amazing. You open this box and out comes the mattress compressed and rolled up. Undo the plastic wrapping and you quickly have a queen size mattress. It's recommended that I give it 24 hours before I use it but I have no other option for sleeping so I've had to test it out early. 

2.  Another blessing: My daughter in law brought lasagna for us after the bed was set up (and my old mattress taken to the trash pickup area.). The leftovers stayed with me so I have dinner for tomorrow night as well.

3.  Christmas reading: I love to read, and I have certain books that I traditionally read around Christmas time. Along with "Shepherds Abiding" by Jan Karon which I'm reading with the Mitford Book Club group on Face Book, I read "A Christmas Mouse" and "No Holly for Miss Quinn", both by Miss Read - another of my favorite authors. Next on my list is "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. 

4.  A finished knit project: My first ever completed knit project is a cowl made of some very soft and pretty yarn. It's a cotton and acrylic combo, light weight and soft - perfect as an accessory rather than for warmth.

It was not my favorite stitch to do, and I made lots of mistakes. But my daughter, a wonderful knitter and my mentor told me to be proud of it and embrace the mistakes. So, I have.

5.  My husband's birthday in heaven: That probably doesn't sound like it should be in "faves" but even though he's no longer with me, I have the wonderful memories of our time together. And he is free of pain and the seizure disorder he suffered with most of his life. And he is with Jesus. Someday I'll see him again.

Our wedding in 1982. We didn't have much money then. His suit came from a consignment shop and my dress was a prom dress on clearance from a local shop. 

Ten days until Christmas! Where does the time go? Wishing everyone a blessed Christmas season!

Friday's Fave Five (done Saturday)

 

It's been ages since I posted on Susanne's Living to Tell the Story and I've missed it. It's been a challenging year for me and sometimes it was difficult to see the blessings that were all around me. And those are the times when I needed to list them, to remind myself that I am blessed. So here I am!

This week was full of surprises and blessings. It was my birthday week!

1. Lunch and a card:  Barbara and I were finally able to get together for lunch and she blessed me with one of her beautiful handmade cards!

Some of my favorite colors and it's so pretty! As only she can do. We had a wonderful lunch and time of catching up. We usually try to get together once a month, but we were overdue for this one! 

2. Birthday blessings:  My day was full of birthday greetings by phone, by text and Face Book. In the evening, my son Mike and daughter-in-love Steph took me out for some wonderful pizza! No photo of the pizza. It was so good; it didn't last long. They gave me an egg cooker which I had wanted. My usual breakfast consists of 2 soft boiled eggs and it's always a challenge of getting them just the way I like them. This wonderful gadget takes the guess work out of it. 

Part of my breakfast the next morning. Not a very inspiring photo but they were perfectly done!

3. My morning coffee: While I'm feeding Apollo first thing in the morning, my coffee is brewing. I usually only have one cup a day but it's essential for me to wake up and remember my name. Then while Apollo is eating, I sip and read. I generally go for flavored coffee with half and half although sometimes it's regular coffee with a flavored creamer. 

4. Book club annual reading: The Mitford Book Club on Face Book is such a joy to belong to. We read through a book at a time of the Mitford book series by Jan Karon and discuss the chapter for the week. Right after Thanksgiving every year, we do our annual reading of Shepherds Abiding - our 'official' Christmas Mitford read. Such a delightful story. Do you have books or stories that are traditional Christmas reading? My other choices are A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and A Christmas Mouse by Miss Read.

5. Birthday yarn:  I have been drooling over yarn from Expression Fiber Arts for a long time. My daughter has been gently encouraging me to get into knitting and through her tutelage, I've learned the difference between worsted, DK, Sport and Fingering weights. I've learned to knit, purl, slip a stitch, yarn over . . . . it's been interesting. The beautiful hand dyed yarn from this company has definitely encouraged me further. It's a bit pricey but my daughter decided to gift me with some for my birthday.  

 This is from the Mirage Sport collection called "Still of the Night" and it's gorgeous. I don't mean to be an advertisement for the company but I'm just so excited to have some! It will be knitted into a lacy scarf and my daughter is going to knit one at the same time so that she can help me along the way. She also included in my package this beautiful embroidery project bag from the same company.

I hope you all are doing well and enjoying this blessed season we have entered in to. My biggest blessing has been the Gift that God gave us 2000 years ago. A baby born to be our Savior. 

Have a great weekend!
 

What's going on around here. . .

It's been a few days since I got on here so I thought I'd jot a note or two here to sort of recap what's going on. 

1.    Yesterday was my great granddaughter Arabella's birthday. She turned one! Her sister Ava turned three last week. Such cuties and I'd say that even if I wasn't their Great Grandmother.

Last weekend, their parent's had one big birthday party for both of them. I sure wish I could have been there.

2.    Wildfires! Here in east Tennessee, we are in a severe drought. Low humidity coupled with high winds are causing outbreaks every day. Thankfully, they've been able to be contained. The TN Division of Forestry even has a map you can visit to see where the fires are in your area and at what percentage they are contained. Right now, there are two going - one in my county but not near me and the other farther east. Today, it's raining lightly and predicted to continue for most of the day. I'm very thankful. We also have high winds as well with predicted gusts up to 37 mph in the higher elevations, so tensions are high. My sincere admiration for the forestry crews and other fire fighters who have been so busy keeping us safe. And as I understand it - our area is not unique. North Carolina, West Virgina among other places are also facing the same problems. 

3.     I've not done this before, but I decorated for Christmas before Thanksgiving. I usually do this the weekend after Thanksgiving, but his has been a challenging year and I just decided I needed a pick me up. I'll probably do a blog post later in the week - and show off the results but for now. . .

My Mitford Village (the winter pieces) complete with the Mitford snowmen.

I have the entire Mitford village collection, but some are from the spring collection, so I alternate between the two for seasonal displays. 

4.    My social calendar is getting full for this week and next. This week is Thanksgiving. Next week, I'm having lunch with my friend, Barbara. We get together usually every month but we're about 2 weeks overdue. My small group at church is having their Christmas luncheon next Wednesday which is also my birthday. Then the next day, my daughter in law Stephanie and I are celebrating our birthdays together with lunch.

5.     I just read the best book! It's called Adventures in Yarn Farming - Four Seasons on a New England Fiber Farm. My daughter gave it to me because it has knitting patterns in it. The best bit for me though is reading what all is entailed to get from sheep to a skein of yarn. Everything from lambing, shearing, choosing the strain of sheep that produce certain kinds of wool, feeding them, protecting them, and then how their wool is prepared to be spun and eventually dyed. I recently told a friend that one of my favorite things to watch on Face Book are the sheep shearing videos. I've always been curious as to how my yarn came to be. I'm very grateful for those like Barbara Parry who wrote the book. Such a lot more work than I ever realized.

I'm looking forward to spending Thanksgiving Day with my son and daughter in law. I've so much to be Thankful for this year and God's faithfulness in all of it. 

I wish you all a very special, wonderful Thanksgiving!

A month full of birthdays!

 Do you have months when your calendar is full of birthday reminders? I have a couple. January is one for me - mostly grandchildren. November is the other one. Mine is the end of the month. Don't worry, I'll remind you all ahead of time! 

About mid-month is when most of the family birthdays hit. I have one great great granddaughter the 11th, and her sister on the 20th. Two hit on the 12th - a grandson and a daughter in law.

Here are the two sister cuties born 9 days apart (but not in the same year!) :)

Avalene just turned 3 on Saturday! 

Here she is - at 1 yr...2 years...and 3! So full of life and always smiling!

Her sister Arabella turns 1 on the 20th.

 At one month. . .

 With Grammie (AKA my daughter Jill) on Sunday. Their parents held a big Birthday Bash for both girls for all the family. 

Ava had her own party on Saturday and Bella will have her's on the 20th. 

November 12th

My grandson Jonathan at his high school graduation

And

 My daughter in law, Stephanie.

Hers and Jonathan's birthday are on the same day.

Other famous birthdays in November. . .

Daniel Boone - November 2, 1734

Marie Curie - November 7, 1867

Grace Kelly - November 12, 1929

Alan Shepherd - November 18, 1923

Charles Schultz - November 26, 1922

Mark Twain - November 30, 1835

Winston Churchill - November 30, 1874

If you were born in November, you're in good company!