Friday Favorites

There was a lot going on this last week, but even on the busiest weeks it good to take time and look back at the good things that happened. 

Josh started his first college class last week.  He wasn't too happy about posing for a "first day of school" picture, but, I've had a "first day picture" every year since kindergarten, so I need a complete set!  His seasonal job with UPS ended on the January 15, and the job he thought he had turned out not to be what he thought, so he is still looking for work. The good news is that he had a job interview with a really great company yesterday and he said the interview went well, so we are hoping and praying he will be employed again soon. 

I was able to go to the temple Thursday afternoon and came out of that place feeling my burdens lightened and my heart made joyful!  I do love the temple!

Went to Costco last week and got a big back of these.  Josh says they are just crunchy air, and he's probably right, but right now they are my "low cal" snack of choice.

I enjoyed these veggie straws instead of chips with my homemade cheese burger.  They are much lighter than chips, and not as greasy.

I cooked a pork roast in root beer (NOT diet) in my crock pot for Sunday dinner.  After cooking, I added some barbecue sauce for scrumptious pulled pork. It was delicious and we have been eating left-over pulled pork sandwiches all week.

I borrowed this book from a friend at school to get some ideas and motivation for my on-going goal of purging and downsizing.  Honestly, the book is kind of boring, but it did motivate me to spend some of my Monday holiday (Martin Luther King Day) going through hand-me-down books in the garage.  I ended up getting rid of five boxes of books! I love books, but these were some that were given to me that I thought I might have some  classroom use for, but did not.  It is time for them to be read and enjoyed by others!  I do love one thing that the author of the tidying up book says, if a possession does not bring you joy, get rid of it!  I agree. The books in the garage were not bringing me any joy, so there was no reason to keep them and off they went to Goodwill!  

We've had rain this past week (you can see our wet driveway), and more is expected over the weekend. It's also been chilly enough for jackets, which is a nice change here in the Arizona desert.

I have been enjoying teaching and working with the eight and nine-year-old children at church in Primary (Children's church). The leaders always have such fun and creative ways of teaching the children the gospel. Here they are clapping the rhythm to a song with paper plates.

Last week was also our Activity Day. Twice a month, I meet with the girls to have a lesson and some sort of craft or activity to reinforce Gospel Principles.

This week's activity was making and personalizing journals. The girls loved being creative.  It was messy, but a lot of fun!

Finally, I am looking forward to the Presidential Inauguration. Although I am not going to say I am overly excited about or confident in the new president, I am willing to have an open mind and give him a chance.  Honestly, some things Mr. Trump has done do not set right with me, but he was constitutionally elected president. I do love my country, and I am grateful for the constitution that allows us a voice in who leads us and what they do.  I plan to let my students watch the inauguration because I think it is an important historical event no matter who is taking the oath of office.  I hope Mr. Trump is a truly great President because, if he does well, we will all benefit in the end!

Finally, this thought about happiness.  So true and a good reminder.

Joining once again with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story for

Mid-January Favorites

Another very busy week, with school family and church activities and responsibilities, but it has not been without its blessings.  Here are a few:

Josh got an email early this week, telling him that his application packet is complete and he has been accepted at the college he hopes attend next fall. Because it is an out-of-state college, we are hoping for an in-state tuition waiver to make the school affordable. That waiver is not a sure thing and we have to wait until after March 1 to find out if he gets one, so while it is great that he got accepted into the college, we still don't know for sure that he will be able to attend. I was told, by someone in the scholarship office at the college, that because his application is complete and he was accepted early in the year, he is in a very good position to  get a waiver, however it is not a sure thing. We are hoping and praying that whatever is best for him will come to pass.

Josh's former mission president (the man in charge of his mission in Mexico) was in town on business last week and and he called Josh and took him to lunch. Josh really loves this guy and thinks he is a great mentor and role model.  It was so nice of him to take time out of his very busy schedule to spend some time with my son.

I used some of my Christmas money to buy this digital scale.  It was on-sale at Costco, and I have been wanting one for while.  I am trying to lose a bit of weight and want a true picture of where I stand each day. 

I spent some time this week in a machine that looks much like this.  I had a mishap on the stairs clear back in September and have had a considerable amount of pain in my left foot ever since.  Two x-rays have not shown a broken bone, but the doctor said sometimes it takes an MRI to show a broken bone in the foot.  Whatever is going on, I decided that after three and a half months, it was time to find out what the problem is, so I went with the doctor's advice and had an MRI of my left foot and ankle. No results yet, but I am glad that the MRI itself is finished.  Hopefully by this time next week, I will know what is up with my foot and how to fix it!

It was club picture day at school last week.  I am one of the sponsors of the National Honor Society chapter at our school, so here is a picture of the Honor Society kids just after the photographer had snapped the official yearbook picture.  The students in Honor Society are great and I enjoy working with the other teacher who is a sponsor of the club. The best thing about club picture day though, is that it signals that the school year is more than half-way finished!

I think I mentioned in a previous post that I am reading and thoroughly this book, which my daughter, Tiffany, gave my for Christmas.  It is the story of an orphan girl from Iowa who inherits homestead claim in Montana.  The story is based on the life of the author's great-grand mother, Hattie Inez Brooks as well as diaries and journals from actual Montana Homesteaders from the early 1900s.  I like this book so much that I have already ordered the sequel to it,  Hattie Ever After.  I hoped to have Hattie Big Sky finished already, but life got in the way.  It will be finished this weekend however, and I can already tell you that it is going to get five out of five ***** stars!

This week was very cloudy and overcast here in the Valley of the Sun. While I do love bright, sunny days, I don't enjoy the heat that accompanies  the sun here in Arizona, so I am always thankful for cloudy overcast days. The rain expected later today is an added bonus!

I will end this "favorites' post" with this quote.  I am trying to be most positive this year, and this is a good reminder.

Joining once again with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story for Friday's Fave Five.

New Year Faves

The first week of the year is complete, and here are some of my favorite things about the last several days. 

We had these two fine young elders over to eat our New Year's Eve dinner with us - Elder Olsen from Utah and Elder Martell from Montana. We always enjoy having the full-time missionaries in our home. They bring such a nice spirit with them when they visit.

During the past two weeks, I have enjoyed watching more movies than I had in months. This is the latest movie that Charly and I watched. It is based on a true story and it is good - but very emotionally and spiritually moving, so you might want to have some tissue ready.  

My daughter Tiffany gave me this book for Christmas and I just started reading it this week and I am sure loving it.  I had forgotten just how much I loved reading these Newbury Award Winning Books when I was younger.  Even though they are technically "children's books," they always have an excellent story line, uplifting message and no objectionable "surprises."  I am really enjoying this book.

Before we went back to work on Wednesday, Charly and I spent a morning making homemade laundry detergent to replenish our stock.  We have been making our own laundry detergent for several years now and find that it cleans our clothes better and is much more economical than commercially manufactured laundry detergent.

It is a little bit of effort to make it, but in one morning, we made enough to last us six months to a year. When ever I post about making detergent, I am asked the recipe, so I  tried to show it in the picture (I write the recipe on each jar of detergent), but in case you can't read the picture, here is the recipe again.

2 cups finely grated bar soap - we use Ivory
1 cup borax
1 cup baking soda
1 cup washing soda

Use 1/8 cup per load of laundry

We put this mixture in a washed out peanut butter jar which keeps the moisture out.  My husband tend to get skin irritation from some kinds of detergent and he has never had a problem with our homemade stuff so that is another plus, and makes it worth the little bit of effort to make it.

This might a look little gross to some, but my morning green smoothies are becoming a favorite part of my day.  Both of my daughters drink green smoothies, so I had to give it a try to and now it is an important part of my breakfast.  I just put some bananas, kale, baby spinach leaves, cucumbers, grated carrots, and apple juice in the blender and the the result is a healthy and delicious smoothie.  

Our family calendars finally arrived in the mail last week.  I was hoping they were be here sooner, but better late than never.  The first order was actually lost in the mail so I called the company I ordered them from (Snapfish.com) and they promptly overnighted me another order. Great customer service actually, but then, you guessed it, the first order became "unlost" and arrived a few days later.  Now I have twice the number of family calendars I ordered.  Even though it is quite an undertaking to create these calendars each year, I love sending them to family members and having the picture memories and family birthdays right on the wall to remind of all of how blessed we are. 

This smiling little grand daughter turned one-year-old yesterday! She is the happiest baby I have ever seen and seems to have a smile for everyone.  I sure loved being able to spend a lot of time with her last summer.

 She is such a special and loving part of our family. Happy Birthday, Maddie. We all love you!

I will close with this thought for the week - a quote which I love.

I am joining again today with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story for a weekly look back at the good things of the week in Friday's Fave Five.

My Words

When I began thinking about my word for 2017 - two words actually came to mind.  They are found in this scripture:

and also here:

I feel that God is telling me that I have things to accomplish this year.  He knows that I have a tendency to be a little lazy  - maybe a little satisfied with the status quo, when actually I need to be be moving forward.  This year, I need to be doing what He would have me do whether it is easy or not, finding joy in the journey as I..

Go and Do!

Long Way Gone - Book Review

Cooper O'Conner is the son of a widowed traveling revival preacher/gospel musician. His father is a kind and loving, yet larger-than-life figure who does his best to teach Cooper to develop and use his God-given musical talents to reach and left others. At the age of 18, Cooper rejects his father's love and concern and vows to take control of his own life and destiny. He steals everything he can take from his father and heads to Nashville in search of his own fame and fortune. Nothing goes according to his plan and it isn't long before Cooper has lost everything, and longs to return home, but feels he is not worthy to do so. When he meets Daley Cross, a beautiful Country singer on her way up, he shares his own songs with her and in so doing helps her find her own voice. They fall in love and plan to marry, and for a while they appear to be two stars on an endless climb upward. However, just when everything seems to be going right, Cooper finds that his fall to the bottom is not yet complete. When a shooting and a fire almost take his life, Cooper's life is mysteriously saved at the last moment. What follows is a long, slow painful climb back to those he loved, left and lost.

Told in first-person, by the main character, this story is tender rework of Jesus's parable of the Prodigal Son found in the New Testament of the Bible. The characters are fully developed and feel like friends - flawed and imperfect but valuable and lovable nonetheless. The details, descriptions and storyline make the reader feel like he is right there experiencing what Cooper O'Conner experienced. 

Music is a huge part of this story and I learned a lot about the making and selling of music through reading this book. I think this story and its characters will stay with me for a long time - not only because I love the parable of the Prodigal Son upon which it is based, but because Long Way Gone is a memorable and moving tale in its own right. 

Thanks to BookLook Bloggers for providing a Kindle version of this book in exchange for my honest review. I give this book 4 **** out of 5 stars.