First of September Daybook

Outside my window: The sun is setting and it is cloudy,with rays of sun peeping through.  Quite pretty.  Maybe another rain storm will come later on.

I am listening to:  My washing machine and the hum of the air conditioner.  Today was another hot one and our recent monsoon rainstorms have brought more humidity to the mix.

I am thinking: My daughter's birthday is September 1! She is grown into a great young woman and we are super proud of her and her family.  Happy Birthday Tiffany!

I am thankful for: My missionary son sent us a good, positive, upbeat email today.  I love reading about the things he is learning and the ways he is growing.  I am also thankful that we have two temples close by.  I spent some peaceful time at the Mesa Temple last week.

In the kitchen: Things are tidied up and put away for the evening.  Hubby is working on his laptop computer at the kitchen island.

Around the house: Things are basically clean and in order.  I have some dry laundry to put away and some wet laundry to hang, but I got the bathrooms cleaned and the dusting finished on Saturday. Hubby is doing some vacuuming upstairs in our master bedroom tonight.

I am reading:  I just finished the book Quiet by Susan Cain this afternoon.  Since both my husband and I, and two of our four children tend to be introverts, I looked forward to this being the "fascinating" read that the back cover promised.  While there were interesting parts, I didn't like it as much as I thought I would.  Some parts were right down boring and it took me much longer to "plow" through it than I had hoped.  You can read the Goodreads review I wrote here.  I have a couple of possibilities for my next read, so I will be doing some "book test-drives" later tonight.

Some favorite things: Discoveries in family history, indexing historical records, letters from missionaries (I got four today!) and Arizona lightening shows during nightly monsoon rainstorms.

Plans for the week: Real estate class with Charly, time at the temple, helping a friend, a possible day trip to the mountains over the long weekend. 

I am excited about:  Having long weekend coming up - Yea for Labor Day!

A peek into my day:

Monsoon clouds make for a pretty stunning sunset.

Linking today with Peggy at the The Simple Woman's Blog.

A HOT Happy Homemaker Monday

On the weather front:
HOT, HOT, HOT
Maybe a little rain at the beginning of the week, but we will be back up to 110 by Friday.  I am ready for a break from the heat.

On my bedside table:
Non-fiction book Quiet by Susan Cain.  This book was loaned to me by a friend, but honestly, I'm not finding it as interesting as she did.  Lots and lots of scientific research about the personalities of introverts and extroverts.  I watched the TED Talk the author did on this subject and that about summed it up in ten minutes.

On my TV:
The only thing I have watched in the past few days is American Greed on CNBC on Friday night. Hubby and I enjoy this show about true life "Scams, suckers and scoundrels."

Favorite Youtube video last week:
I actually have a couple to share.  Check this one out.  It reminds me of Elder Jones, so I love it!  :-) 
This one may made me think about how I treat others and share what I have. Both are worth watching.

News stories that caught my attention:

• The craziness in the stock market is always interesting in an anxiety producing sort of way. 
• The Denver City Council may decide NOT to let to Chick-Fil-A have a restaurant at the Denver airport because of it's CEO's views on gay marriage.  What happened to freedom of speech and religion in American? 
• The story three Americans who stopped the train massacre is definitely a big news story. These three young men no doubt saved many lives and are truly brave heroes!

On the menu:
I made a big pan of cheese enchilada for dinner last nigh, so we will have those left overs for a couple of days.  Beyond that, I haven't decided, although there is plenty of potential in the freezer.

Looking forward to:

• Starting the real estate class that Charly and I are taking together at the local community college.  
• Finishing the book I'm currently reading so I can go on to something more interesting to me.

What I plan on doing for myself this week:

Keep up with everything I have going on so I don't feel overwhelmed by the end of the week!  I also plan to eat smart, cut back on sugar and salt, monitor my blood pressure, exercise and get enough sleep. Take some time to read and relax every day.

Favorite photos:

A flowering plant in our backyard.  I love the tiny delicate little individual flowers the make up the larger blossom.

This evening's sunset makes me think of clouds with silver linings.

Lesson learned last week:

Don't procrastinate.  Keep up with daily chores, especially when life is at it's busiest.  Get things done early if possible.

A meaningful scripture:
"Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee...

"And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
"And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
"And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when though sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up."
                                                                               --Deuteronomy 6: 3,5-7

Linking today with Sandra at Diary of a Stay-at-Home for

Looking back at last week's favorites

A short post on a Sunday afternoon to look back at some of my favorite parts of last week.

It's a girl!  This is our 8th grandchild  and 5th grand daughter who will make her entrance into the world in late December or early January.  We had known that a new baby was on the way, but just found out last week that it's a girl!

Speaking of grand daughters, I got this sweet post card from seven-year-old Hailey.  Made my day!

More goodness came in the mail with this lovely heart felt letter from one of the "orphan missionaries" (my term for Mormon missionaries serving with out family support) I recently wrote to.

I always love making new friends whether its through the mail or in person.  Last week I made a new friend - my new visiting teacher from church, who stopped by to get acquainted. She brought a delicious loaf of homemade wheat bread and some yummy freezer jam, which Charly and I have really enjoyed.

More delicious goodness was was the fresh raspberries I have been loving for breakfast this last week.

I made a crock-post full of our favorite meatless black bean chili this week. (Yes, it also has red kidney beans and I took the picture just after I had added the cloves of garlic but before I stirred them in). With just Charly and I at home now, we enjoyed the leftovers of this chili for several evenings. It's health and tasty.

These three nice people, two of whom were total strangers to us (the woman in the middle used to be in our church congregation) were on a "service scavenger hunt" Saturday morning for an organization called Life Leadership.  They saw my husband working out in the yard, gave him a bottle of water and asked if they could wash our rain-spotted old Toyota.  You bet - wash away. The water and the wash job was much appreciated.  

With that, this seems like an appropriate thought for the coming week...

Thanks again to Susanne at Living to Tell the Story for the opportunity to share my favorite things of the past week.

Good things on a Monday

Last week was the beginning of the new school year for Charly and I. Monday and Tuesday we had teacher prep meetings, then the students all came back on Wednesday.  Exhausting was pretty much the only way I can describe last week, but there were also many good things that happened.

Joshua continues to do well on his mission.  We had a great positive, newsy email from him today. We are truly proud of this guy and the good work he is doing.  With God's help, he is helping many people and touching hearts and changing lives for the better.

I enjoy genealogy and family history, and while I am by no means an expert, it sure is fun and interesting to see who we may be related to and descended from.  Yesterday, I spent some time following Charly's family line clear back into the late 1500s and we found that Charly is a descendant of this distinguished looking  Native American Wahunsunacock - otherwise known as Chief Powhatan.  He led the a combination of over 30 Indians tribes who eventually attacked the English colonial settlement at Jamestown.  He was also the father of Pocahontas of Disney movie fame (no doubt through a different wife than my husband is descended from). I shared the find with my children who found this family history morsel very interesting.  It will also give my Grandchildren a new perspective next time they watch a cartoon version of Pocahontas and John Rolfe serenading each other a la Disney.

This past week has been brutally hot here in Phoenix.  A few days back, we set a record at 117!  It was only 109 today - a real cool down.  I am looking forward to the (hopefully) much cooler temperatures of fall.

The heat brings monsoon rains at this time of year and we got some of those last week.   We had a mid-morning Haboob or dust storm...

...followed by heavy winds and rains that took some trees down...

and caused some flooding. This is standing water in a park near our home the morning after one storm.

 

All of this kind of weather is common here in Arizona during the hot summer months, but beautiful sunrises over the desert, like this one, are common too.

All in all, not a bad week here in warm and wonderful Arizona.  I will leave you with this thought...

First week of August favorites

Another month has come and gone and my summer vacation is now over.  Charly and I went back to school Thursday to get ready for our students to come back next week.  Summer break always goes too quickly, but it is good to have a job to return to, and I'm not sure I would want to be doing anything other than what I am doing every day. Without further delay, let's get to some of my favorite parts of last week...

• Letters and pictures from Mexico!

We got three letters from Joshua last Saturday.  One was mailed in early July, two were mailed in June and one was a special Father's Day letter to his dad - wishes for a Happy Father's  Day a bit late, but still appreciated.  It was so great to find these letters in our mail box!

Today, when I went to the mail box, there was another letter from Mexico, and this one included the SD card from Josh's camera that he told me he was sending home (and that we prayed hard would make it here with all the pictures still on it).  Our prayers were answered and there were some great pictures, which were taken a few months ago, but we will take whatever he sends. He also sent a two-minute video and it was so great to hear his voice.  Here are some of the pictures he sent home. I love how happy Josh looks in every picture.  He said he loves the beautiful mountains in the city where he is serving.

Elder Jones and his companion, Elder Maza

Another picture of Elder Jones and Elder Maza.

Elder Jones and some other missionaries at a baptism. He was very excited because he had taught this couple for quite a while, and they finally got baptized!

 The temple in the city where Josh is serving.

 Another temple picture - one of Josh's favorite places.

 The nearby mountains are often shrouded in low clouds.

The temple grounds.

Josh is doing very well and sends his love and appreciates to everyone (especially my wonderful blogging friends) who have been kind enough to write and send cards to him. Thank you all!

• Skyping with the grand kids!

It was our youngest grand daughter's 1st birthday last week, so we sang her happy birthday via skype. We also got see her sister hula-hoop...

...meet her brother's blow-up dinosaur...

...and see her oldest brother's Lego robot creation.  It was a fun skype call and we enjoyed seeing what is going on in our grandchildren's lives.  Our grand kids are a true joy to us.

• Rain!

 A cloudy and overcast morning...

 ...developed into a significant amount of rainfall in the afternoon and evening.

Rain and cooler temperatures are always a welcome change during the hot Arizona summer.

• Ice cream!

Sometimes you just need ice cream so Charly and I decided on a "Blizzard Date."  We don't do it often, but a little sweetness every now and then goes a long ways!

• Good Book!

I am really enjoying this "positive mental attitude" book recommended by my physical therapist. Yes, it started out a little hokey, but so much of what it say really "speaks" to me in that place I am right now in life.  I need a more positive attitude about some things going on right now, and this book is giving me a lot of good ideas to get and keep my attitude on a positive track.  I may be looking for some more books by this author - that's how much I like this book.  I'm almost finished and I am planning a review sometime next week.

• Back to school!

Finally, I will end where I began. Summer vacation is over (or close to it) almost everywhere here in Arizona.  The school district I live in actually started a week earlier than the one in which I teach. The other morning, as I was enjoying my morning walk, I noticed some school buses taking excited/apprehensive students to their first day of the new school year.  When the school buses come out in the early morning, summer vacation is at an end!

While having some down time is always good, I am grateful that I have the opportunity to work with young people every day and try to help them move in the direction of a bright and confident future, so here's to new beginnings and a great new school year!

• Thought for the week (a good one for a school teacher on the first week of a new school year).

Joining again today with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story for :