Good things from the past two weeks

It has been another busy couple of weeks, but they have not been without blessings.  I am always grateful to join with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story to acknowledge the hand of God in my life and the good things He has given me.

*Cancer Free! This young man, my grandson, Thomas, finished Round Ten of his Chemo Therapy and is now Cancer Free! That is truly awesome news for our entire family!

Now, Thomas and his family are heading to Disney World in Florida courtesy  of the Make-a-Wish Foundation.  I hope they all have a wonderful time!

* New Job - Yes, Josh got a new full-time job, which, after his first week, seems to be going well.  He seems to like what he is doing and comes home happy.  A plus is that he gets to work with one of his best friends from his high school days, and he is working outside doing a lot of different things, which is the kind of job Josh prefers at this point in his life. 

*Book Sale - Charly and I enjoyed going to the annual VNSA book sale at the Arizona State Fairgrounds.  This is a February tradition for us.

There were lots of book lovers there. We always look forward to this and end up bringing home some treasures.

*Valentines Day -I realize I haven't done a "favorites" post since Valentine's Day, but here are the lovely cards and notes I got from my husband and son.  Much cherished and appreciated.

*Activity Day -last Tuesday was another Activity Day.

We combined two groups of girls from 8 to 11-years-old so we had a big group. 

The girls really enjoyed playing this game to help them learn more about the Gospel. 

*Fresh Fruit - Josh's bishop is a farmer and has a lovely garden.  He recently gave Josh some fresh fruits and vegetables to share with the family.  We have really enjoyed everything....

...especially the fresh citrus juice. There is just nothing like it.  So good!

*Purging Books - Life has been very busy the past two weeks, but I did find another box of books in the garage to purge.  These are some books I collected for my classroom over the years, and most are brand-new and, sadly, never read.  I have posted them on Craig's List to see if I get sell them, and there has already been some interest, so I am hopeful.  If they don't sell, I'll donate them. Hopefully, another teacher will be able to use them in his or her classroom.

*New Recipe - I tried a new recipe last night that was a hit.  Chicken Burrito Bowls was something Josh saw on Face Book and requested that I try, so I did.  If you want to take a look at this delicious recipe, the link is here.

*Reading this week -  Going through my "to read" cupboard a few days ago,  I found this book that I bought last year at the VNSA book sale.  Because I work with students who have asperges's syndrome, I decided to read this book next, and I am quite enjoying it.

*Keeping it real - One not so great moment recently was when I opened my mail box to find this speeding ticket inside. Yes, I got the first ticket of my life over the weekend.   Obviously, I am not happy about this because I will soon be almost $300 poorer because of this, but hey that's life, I guess, especially when you are driving home really tired and get photographed going eleven miles an hour over the speed limit in a school zone.  

Finally, thought for the new week:

The Kindness Challenge - Book Review

There is a life-changing power in being kind.  The Kindness Challenge - Thirty Days to Improve Any Relationship by Shaunti Feldhahn is a book that takes a close, even scientific look,  at the benefits of being positive and kind.  The author explores a number of research investigations showing that being kind actually makes human beings happier.  It makes the doer as well as the receiver of kind words and actions better, stronger, more contented people.  As the Christian author so aptly writes, “True kindness always strengthens and empowers, never weakens.  It changes you, not just others, It melts hardness and makes gentleness immensely powerful.”

The author encourages the reader to undertake a “30-Day Kindness Challenge,” to improve any relationship.  The challenge consists of three parts:

1. Say nothing negative about your person, either to them or to someone else.
2. Every day, find one positive thing that you can sincerely raise or affirm about your person and tell them, and tell someone else.
3. Every day, do a small act of kindness or generosity for your person.

This book goes step-by-step into how to eliminate negative, unkind habits and install gracious, generous, kind habits in their place.  Emphasis is on how this can really change marriages, but being kind makes all relationships better.  At the end of the book, the author includes “Daily Kindness Tips,” specifically broken down for wives to do for husbands, husbands for wives, and things to do to improve any relationship with anyone.  

Over 89% of those who participated in the kindness challenge, who were studied, felt that doing the three things outlined in the challenge, for at least 30 days,  improved their relationships.  With odds like that, I am definitely in.  I gave this book 5 stars ***** because if followed, it has the potential to be life-altering, in a positive way.  Highly recommended reading.  

Thanks to Blogging for Books and Penguin Random House Publishers for a free copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.   

A Day in My Life

I haven't done a post like this for a while, but I recently read one done by my good blogging buddy Mari at My Little Corner of the World, so decided to do a "A Day in My Life" post as well. The day from my life I decided write about is, Tuesday, February 7.

Every school day, Charly and I arise at 4:30 a.m..  I have to be in my classroom, ready to teach my A hour by 6:30 a.m. so getting up early is a necessity.  By 4:37 a.m., I am downstairs beginning to eat my breakfast.

My usual breakfast is a bowl of multi-grain Cheerios and a glass of Zip Fizz mixed with lemon juice or lemonade.  In addition, I either eat a bowl of blue berries or drink a green smoothie made of Kale, cucumber, bananas, shredded carrots and apple juice. While I eat, I write about the previous day in my journal and then read scriptures on my Kindle. 

I usually leave the house before my husband,  and am on my way by 6:15 a.m..  Right now, it is still very dark out when I begin my drive.

Tuesday morning, my junior classes were registering for next year, so we walked from my classroom on the West side of campus to the main academic building, shown here. 

Here are the students, in the school library, with the counselors, registering for next year's classes.

My seniors will be graduating in May, so they didn't need to register.  Instead, they had a test over Macbeth, which we have recently finished studying.  This picture was taken after the text when students were reading for a book project they have. My senior classes are both very small because many of these students are English Language Learners or special education students.

Because I begin my day so early, my classes are over by 2 p.m.. I usually work through lunch, so I head for home between 2 and 2:30 p.m..

I had to made several stops on the way home Tuesday, but was home by shortly after 3 p.m..

Tuesday afternoon was a busy one.  It was one of the bi-monthly Activity Days for the 8- and 9-year-old girls from our church congregation. I am the Activity Day leader and so I plan and carry out these events.

We made Valentine's Cards for four young missionaries serving in various parts of the world from our congregation. 

The girls love making things.  They are very creative and energetic.

Tuesday, we also had two moms come and talk to us about their own missions.  This mom served in Pennsylvania...

...and this mom served in Ireland. It was fun to hear their missionary experiences and it got the girls thinking about possibly serving as missionaries themselves one day.

I had Activity Day and Josh had class, so a Papa Murphy's take-n-bake pizza seemed like the best dinner for a busy night. 

Charly and I go for our walk after dinner and Tuesday night was no exception.  Right now, the sun is setting about the time that we walk at night and the sunsets are stunning! When Josh isn't in class, I also walk with him at a nearby park, so I get over eight miles in every day. On this particular night, I was tired after Activity Day and my walk, so I didn't even much more than load the pictures for this blog post.  On most nights, I try to be more productive and at least get a load of laundry done. Josh's math class went until 6:45 p.m., then he stayed for a religion class (Institute) after that.  He got home about 9 p.m. and by that time, I had already gone upstairs to read.  He did come up and chat with me for a while (he often does that at night), so we did touch base before we called it a day.

This is my my comfy bed and my book - two of my favorite things after a full day. By 9 p.m., I am usually exhausted and ready for reading time and then lights out before 10 p.m., so I can be ready for another early day. 

February Faves on Friday

It has been at least two weeks since my last Friday Favorites post, so time, once again to remember the best things about the past two weeks.

Since Josh still hasn't found a job, he decided to enroll in another college class and was fortunate to find one he needed that started a week after the beginning of the semester. The class was already full and closed, but Josh used his charm  ;-) to gain the approval of the department chair, and he got in.This is part of the campus of the small community college where he is taking classes. Both classes meet the same two days of the week and,  of course,  Josh is still looking for and hoping to get a part-time job that will fill in the other days. and provide him with some much needed funds.  

 We have had some rain and cooler temperatures the past two weeks...

...but now we are back to sunny skies and temperatures in the 70s during the day.  It won't be long until the spring warm-up begins, and then the heat of the summer follows.  In the mean time, I am enjoying the cooler weather and some beautiful sunsets like this one last night. 

In case you are like me, and don't know what this is, it is the heater core of a car...

...and when it goes out, it has to be replaced by completely disassembling the dashboard of the car, as this illustration from the internet shows.   It is a time consuming and costly process. The heater core went out in our car as I drove home from work last week - literally in a cloud of white smoke.  The good thing is that the repair shop was able to get the part and repair the car promptly and the car is fixed now, even though it did cost a bit of money.  

Remember last September when I posted about a small plane catching fire and crashing into this house down the street from where we live?  The house has been being dismantled piece by piece
until...

...it now looks like this.  Just a pile of rubble.  I hope the house will be rebuilt, but I wonder if the old owners will move back in.  I don't think I would want to move back into a home that had been destroyed by a plane crash.  

I finished reading this book, and was inspired to go through and purge some of the children's books I had held onto since my kids were little.

I was going to donate all these books, but my husband suggested we put them on Craigs List and see if we could get a bit of extra cash for them.  I was skeptical that they would sell, but within one day, all of these books had found a new home with a family with three children who love books, and Charly and I were $50 richer!

We visited our local office supply store to get something Josh needed for one of his classes and found (to our chagrin) that the store was closing.  On the bright side though, they had marked down all of these expensive candy bars and snacks to .50 each so we stocked up a bit. 

This picture of my youngest grand daughter, who turned a year old earlier this month, floated through my Facebook feed and I just had to share.  Seeing her picture warmed my heart and made me miss her all the same. This little sweetie always has a smile - makes me happy just to look at her! Sure do love her and all eight of my cute grandchildren. What a blessing!

I will end this post with this thought.  I really need to making sure that I always "THINK" before I speak. Had a bit of a family misunderstanding earlier this week because I don't always do this, so  I really want to get much better at keeping the things I say positive, helpful and kind. 

Linking up again today with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.