Favorites from the First Friday of Fall

After a couple of weeks away from my blog, I am checking in and catching up with favorites for the first Friday of Fall

 We had some amazing cloud formations in the skies here in Arizona as summer came to an end.

We have had some "Fire in the Sky" sunsets.

The beautiful sunrises and stunning sunsets of this past week have been one of my favorite things.

We've had some rain. This was the "lake" behind my classroom building on Wednesday morning after a down pour Tuesday night.  Cooling rains bringing moisture to the desert was another favorite this week.

 Delicate fall flowers are always a favorite. 

These little yellow blossoms are about the size of my fingernail.  I think this is actually a weed growing by the gate to our swimming pool area, but the flowers are so cute, neither hubby or I can bring ourselves to pull it up.

It is definitely NOT my favorite thing to get sick, but sick I got as a bad cold became a sinus infection and pneumonia.   After a few days of thinking I would "feel better tomorrow, " I finally gave up, took a couple of days of sick leave and called my doctor.  I was able to see the doctor the next morning and came away from his office with a diagnosis and prescription.  It has taken about ten days, but I am finally starting to feel better, although pneumonia always takes a toll on me and it is several weeks before I really my old self again.

I only took a couple of sick days from school, but there was so much to catch up on, that my desk has looked like this since I returned.  Only now I am starting to finally feel like I am getting caught up with grading - just in time for another test and big project which is due tomorrow.  Getting and keeping caught up with grading is a favorite thing.

While I was home resting and trying to get well, I decided to get a head start on Christmas shopping by ordering this photo collage blanket for my mother-in-law for Christmas.  My mother in law is very elderly, not well and easily chilled.  She only asks for family pictures for her birthday and Christmas and I thought this would be unique way to literally keep her warm with the love and memories of her family. It was super easy to upload and design the blanket, and the company that made it was having a 60% off sale last weekend. Best of all, the finished blanket came in the mail today and it is beautiful. I was not disappointed at all, nor do I think my mother-in-law will be when she gets it this Christmas.  Designing, ordering and receiving this fun blanket was definitely a favorite.

Even though I did spend a lot of time resting and trying to get well, I did keep walking even when I was sick.  I only missed a couple of days - when I felt my worst. I admit to being "addicted" to my daily walk.   My day simply isn't complete without it and it always helps me feel better in body, mind and spirit.  My daily walks are another  favorite of this past week.

I will leave today with this thought from one of my favorite positive authors and speakers.  I totally agree that happiness is a choice we make each day - whether life is going our way or not.  There is something to be happy about every day - we just have to find it and keep it in our focus.  

I am happy to be joining again with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story for Friday Fave Five.

Mid-September Happy Homemaker Monday

Breakfast time - on the menu this morning:

oatmeal with ground flax seed flakes and blueberries on the side.

On today's to do list:
-make doctor appoint first thing when his office opens
-laundry
-ironing
-update Elder Jones' blogs as soon as this week's email comes in
-read, rest and get feeling better

Currently reading:
I am still only about half-way done with...

On the TV today:
Possibly the news or  Shark Tank  tonight while I am ironing.

The weather this week is:

On the menu this week:
Always subject to change but this is what is planned -
Monday - leftover Chinese take-out
Tuesday - Veggie burgers
Wednesday- Brats
Thursday - Chicken sandwiches
Friday- Grilled cheese sandwiches and soup

If I have a few minutes to myself, I will: 
read my book or some blogs

Favorite photo:
I didn't take this picture - my sister did - but it is my birth mom, who celebrated her 76th birthday yesterday.

Homemaking tip:
I tried something new for my lunch last week and it worked really well - making sandwiches ahead, freezing them and then grabbing one on the way out the door in the morning. Add an apple or banana, and you have a fairly nutritious lunch that is super quick economical.  I usually take left-overs for lunch, but when there are no left-overs, being able to grab a pre-made sandwich as I leave the house is super quick and convenient.  Last week I tried this with peanut butter and jelly. This week I am trying it with a deli-sub sandwich that I got on manager's clearance at the grocery store Saturday evening.  I cut the sandwich in half, wrapped both halves in foil and put it in the freezer.  I am hoping that it is is just as good as last week's PB & Js!  

Visiting with blog friends:

I mentioned this in my last post, but I love this service project that Tracey is doing over at her lovely blog, Clover. Check it out and help if you can.

My frozen PB & J tip came from Danielle over at Blissful and Domestic. Danielle has a little bit of everything over at her blog and it is always fun and interesting. She has even written a book which I want to read - Living a Beautiful Life on Less.

Praying for:

Elder Jones in Mexico, other missionaries in need of extra prayers, family members who are struggling to forgive and let go of grudges, a good friend battling stage-three lung cancer, another good friend whose father passed away this weekend.

Scripture :

"For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

"But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

"And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace."

                                                                           --James 3:16-18

Thought for this week:

Joining with Sandra at Dairy of a Stay at Home Mom for Happy Homemaker Monday.

Catching up on favorites

It has been almost two weeks since my last blog post - time to take account of my blessings and share some of my favorite things from the past couple of weeks.

If you have been reading my blog for any length of time, you will know that I am a hard-core sky-watcher.  I love sunrises and sunsets and interesting clouds.

These pictures are from one of my favorite sunsets, a few days ago.

We had some cloudy and rainy weather which has now been replaced by sunshine, but temps are a little cooler and we have had several days when we came in under 100 degrees.

The Saturday before Labor Day, Charly and I drove up to Show Low, which is in the mountains about 3 hours north east of here. It was a cloudy and overcast day, but the drive was really beautiful.

 We loved being in the green coolness of Show Low.

We went there to meat up with some friends of our who have just purchased some property.  We wanted to see their property because we were considering purchasing the lot right next to theirs, and putting a cabin there..

 Unfortunately, the lot we were most interested in sold the day before we went up to see it.

We had a nice lunch with our friends and enjoyed seeing their property and the improvements they have made to it.

We considered making an offer on the lot on the other side of our friend's property, but it is much more expensive.  Although we didn't come home with mountain property for a cabin, we had a very nice day and will probably go back again soon.

I've had a cold this week - it has settled in my chest, stolen my voice, given me a hacking cough and totally wiped me out.  I made it through the week with the assistance of Airborne and Zinc Cold Therapy, and although I 'm not really sure either thing really helps, I am feeling just slightly better today than I have felt all week.  I plan do a good amount of resting the rest of the weekend.

 Cold or no cold, I do look forward to my early Saturday morning walk. I am blessed to live in a very "walking friendly area" with lots of sidewalks, parks and green spaces.

This morning, despite my cold, I walked 2.2 miles.

Charly has been spending some time in the yard trimming back the overgrown Mesquite trees in our front yard, as well as the palm trees in the back yard.

It's hard work to stand on a step ladder holding a chain saw on a pole above your head, cutting branches off of a tree, but it's hard to find reliable people to hire for such a big job, so Charly usually does it himself.

here's the pile of branches he removed, ready for the green waste truck which will come this week.

My blogging friend Tracey over at Clover, has asked blogging friends to help with a service project to donate at least 100 pairs of socks to the homeless.  Tracey is a talented knitter, so she is knitting socks for the homeless. I do not knit, but purchased some socks which will help keep some homeless feet warmer in the coming winter months.

The socks are now packed up and will be in the mail within the next few days.  I really appreciate the opportunity to help out where there is a need. Thanks, Tracey for sharing this wonderful service project and letting your blogging friends participate. 

While Charly was working in the yard this morning, I ran some errands.  I ended up at the grocery store, where I found this soda on "Manager's Special."  I am not a huge soda drinker, but I do like creme soda, so I decided to give it a try.

Since I am trying to count calories and loose a few pounds and also limit my caffeine intake, the fact that this soda has no sugar, artificial sweeteners and caffeine appealed to me, but would it also lack taste?  I was pleasantly surprised that it is the best tasting soda I've had in a long time.  It is sweetened with Stevia, which I know pretty much nothing about and will have to research, but I will be looking to buy this soda again.

Another stop on my errand running was the bank which was near one of my favorite Ross stores, so of course I had to go in and have a look to see what they had.  I wasn't expecting to find anything, (I usually don't), but today, I found a pair of my favorite Gloria Vanderbuilt "Amanda" color jeans (I wear these kind of jeans to school almost every day) and a Claudia Richard top in my favorite style (cool and loose for Arizona heat). Both were on clearance and I love a great deal, so I brought them home with me.  

I've been reading this book, which I checked out from the school library a couple of weeks ago.  I haven't been reading it very quickly and I almost decided to give up on it a couple of times because it was moving so slow, but the story has picked up now and I am enjoying it, although it is still going pretty slow. 

Other things that are are going on that I don't have pictures for...

A good friend from church has spent literally hours here at our house helping to rebuild an old computer and bring it up to date.  This guy is one of those "computer genius" types and he is doing all of the work for just the cost of the computer components.  What a nice guy.

Charly and I are taking a real estate class at a local community college. For a while now, we have been thinking about buying some income property, so becoming licensed real estate agents seemed like a good thing to do.  Neither one of us plan to quit our day jobs, but it will be nice to be able to buy and sell our own property, should we decide to do it. It is also kind of fun to take the class together - it's really almost like a weekly date.

And speaking of dates, Charly and I will be heading out on a little date in just a few minutes (going to get Chinese food) so I will wrap up this post with this thought:

Joining again this week with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story for