Sunday

Today was a beautiful fall day around here.You can see the fall colors starting to show up on Mt.Olympus.  Charly and I spent a quiet day at home except for walking in the morning and again after dinner. Our congregation won't be having church in person again until October 11, we had church at home again. Josh left briefly around noon to help out a 99-year-old member of our congregation. 

Josh has been staying busy working on homework this weekend.  Here he is taking a break between assignments in our office playing an online game with Charly.

For dinner, we had chicken. potatoes and gravy cooked in the slow cooker, along with roasted asparagus - quite good. 

We have a possible buyer for our Corolla, so I cleaned it up so it will show well.  It was like saying goodbye to an old friend.  

Tonight, Charly and I are relaxing and watching a PBS mystery on TV, while I write this blog post. 

Coming up this week:

We have some very nice fall weather in the forecast.  

Goals for this week:

• Take delivery of our new car tomorrow night  
• Finish both of the books I am reading this week 
• Stay physically healthy by getting enough rest and exercise
• Stay mentally healthy by staying off social media as much as possible and seeking out positive people
• And perhaps most important...

Best of the Week - Fall Favorites on Saturday

The last week was busy and exhausting, and this is the first chance I have had to sit down and write a post.  Even though I am a day late in joining up with Susanne and friends over at Living to Tell the Story for Friday's Fave Five, I am here now and grateful and ready to go!

Zoom Parent/Teacher Conferences - the week started out with parent/teacher conferences Monday and Tuesday night after school. This year, conferences were virtual, over Zoom, instead of in person. At the last minute, our district decided we could do our Zoom conferences from home, so it was nice and more comfortable to be at home, rather than sitting alone in my classroom for several hours. 

Delicious Dinners - one perk our principal provides for teachers on Parent/Teacher conference nights is catered dinner  This year, we were able to pick up our takeout dinner and take them home with us.  One night we had barbequed  pork and chicken and the next night we had enchiladas from Cafe Rio.  It was nice not to have to rush home and figure dinner out before beginning conferences.  Charly and Josh were on their own for dinner those nights.  ;-)

A Long Weekend - Because we worked late doing parent/teacher conferences on Monday and Tuesday, we had a comp day on Friday. Long weekend are the best, especially after a busy and exhausting week. 

New Car - We had thought of going on a long weekend road trip this weekend, but ultimately cancelled those plans because Josh had a lot of homework, and Charly and I wanted to wrap up our car shopping. We went to a dealership about 50 miles away, but that deal didn't work out. Frustrated, we tried one more time at another dealership closer to home, and were able to close the deal Friday night.

This is our new car, which we will be taking delivery of Monday night.  I will have more pictures in my next post.

With the new car purchased, we are now trying to sell our oldest car, a 1996 Corolla, which my mom bought brand new a couple of years before she passed.  We have kept this car and it has been our family driver, which all of us used. For the past few years, Josh has driven to work and school. It's an old car, but it has been well maintained and cared for and hopefully it can be a transportation blessing to someone else. 

More Comfy Shoes - my feet are happy this week after receiving this wonderful brand new pair of hiking/walking shoes that were gifted to me after a dear friend purchased the wrong size.  She passed these lovely, high quality shoes on to me. They are a great fit and I can't wait to wear them out on a hike! I am thankful to have such a nice friend.

I also bought myself an "early birthday gift" of another pair of these comfortable "on your feet all day" shoes to wear to school.  I now have these Slow Man shoes in both black and blue. A few people asked me about where to get them - just search for Slow Man women's walking shoes on Amazon. 

Fall Walks - Our weather has been cool and delightful and of course Charly and I went on our daily walks - twice daily on the weekend. We met this little guy on one morning walk.  

On another walk, we saw these beautiful little purple flowers growing along our route...

...as well as trees that are losing lots of leaves. I love hearing leaves crunch under my feet as I walk. 

Cooler Temperatures - With cooler fall temps, my garden has perked up and is looking good.  I love fall flowers, and also the sweet little tomatoes that keep coming. 

Thanks for stopping by for my late favorites from the the beginning of fall.  Enjoy what's left of the weekend as well as the week ahead.

 

Mid-September Weekend

Friday was date night for us all. Josh had a dinner date with a certain young lady he's been wanting to go out with, and Charly and I spent the evening on a car shopping "date."

Saturday was cool and cloudy when we walked.  We had to cut our morning walk short due to rain.

Leaves are really starting to fall from the trees. 

Saturday mid morning, we went to our favorite thrift store to have a look around.  I found some nice fabric for my fabric stash and a few other things.  It's always fun to "treasure hunt" at the thrift store.

Saturday, we also did some more car shopping in the afternoon.  We ended up visiting five different dealerships this weekend. It was exhausting and rather frustrating, but we finally decided that we really like the car pictured above, and are now trying to negotiate some kind of a good deal on it.  I will keep you posted.  

Sunday was a lovely day. After having church at home, it was cool enough for Charly and I to take an afternoon walk.  Although the leaves are falling, there are still a lot of flowers out in bloom.  

My garden is decked out for fall, with scarecrows and lots of colorful blossoms that are loving the cooler temperatures. 

The flower garden by our front walk also looks lovely.  

Sunday dinner was Coca-Cola pot roast with vegetables. Here is the recipe.  

It was very delicious and we all enjoyed it. 

I did a little reading this weekend. I am currently reading this book,  which is very good.  I am also reading a non-fiction political book which shall remain nameless for the purposes of this post and keeping my blog non-controversial and apolitical.  Suffice it to say, I read books and articles (and listen to podcasts) on both sides and usually find that the real truth lies somewhere in the middle of the two extremes.

Charly and I are reading this book together. It is a very interesting commentary on the book of Exodus.  It really sheds a lot of light on the scriptures of the Old Testament. Next we will be reading Dennis Prager's commentary on the book of Genesis.  We like to read together at night before going to bed whenever possible.  

We watched a little TV Sunday night, including an episode of Mr. Selfridge, the excellent PBS Masterpiece series of a few years ago.  

It was an overall good and restful Sunday, which is good, because I have a busy week ahead. I hope you also had a good weekend. Thanks for stopping by.  I will leave with this quote from Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  May she rest in peace and may her family find comfort. 

Best of the Week - My Friday Favorites

Here it is the end of another week - time again to look back at some of the best things that have happened during the past seven days.  I am linking again with some of my favorite blogging friends over at Susanne's space, Living to Tell the Story.  Let's get started. 

In-person Church Service - Last Sunday our church congregation met in person for the first time since March. Everyone was wearing masks and tried to sit socially distanced.  The service was capped at 99 to stay in compliance with our county's COVID restrictions.  I counted between 75 and 80 people there.  It was nice to be back in our chapel to worship with members of our church family.  

Win-win - During last week's windstorm, over 1,000 huge old trees in Salt Lake City, were toppled.  Many more trees lost branches and limbs.  I found out from a friend, that this place, the Urban Indian Center, was accepting donations of wood to ship to Indian reservations so that Native American elders can use the wood to keep their houses warm this coming winter.  We didn't have any trees go down, but we did have several bundles of firewood that the old owner of our place left at the side of our house.  We weren't going to use it, so we took it here to donate.  It was a win-win to get rid of something we didn't need, while helping Native American elders. 

Street Tacos - One night this week, I came home very tired and I was stressing about what to fix for dinner (I'm not great at meal planning).  I was so grateful to find that Charly had bought all the fixings for grilled chicken street tacos. It was a quick, easy and healthy dinner and the street tacos were so delicious.  

A Nice Thank You - One of my students came in on Monday and gave me this - a yummy treat, a lovely thank you note and a $25 gift card to Target.  The student said his mother wanted to do something for his teachers to say thanks for getting school up and running during this time of COVID.  The kindness of this students and his mother is much appreciated.

A Clean Desk - one of the positive things about this very weird school year, is I finally have a clean desk. Since everything is online, I have no copies to make and no paper assignments waiting to be passed out or graded.  The only thing on my desk is my lesson plan book.  I love having a clean and orderly work space. 

Flowers from Charly - Now that he is retired, Charly has been doing the grocery shopping, which is a such a help.  Charly has always enjoyed  shopping and I am appreciative of coming home from school and having the shopping finished.  This week, he surprised me with this lovely pink carnations he bought at the grocery store.   He is so sweet and I am so blessed to be married to him. 

A Beautiful Sunset - I took this picture when Charly and I were out for our evening walk Thursday night.  I realize that the smoke from fires on the West Coast caused the orange sky and smokey sunset, but it was a beautiful sunset and I always enjoy a beautiful sunset. 

The U.S. Constitution - Thursday was the 233rd anniversary of the Constitution of the United States.  Even with all of the problems and even chaos here in the U.S. over the past months, I am still grateful to live in this country.  It is my home and I love it. I believe that the Constitution is one of the most important documents ever written in the history of the world.   May we always preserve, protect and defend it and elect those who will do likewise. 

Those are some of the best things about this past week.  Thanks for visiting my blog.  I will close with this quote.

 

Favorites on a Wild and Crazy Week

This has truly been a wild and crazy week here where we live, but in all the trials of the past week, there is a lot that I am personally grateful for, so let's get started with Friday's Fave Five.  Again today, I am linking with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story. 

photo from SaltLakeTribune.com

Safety for our daughter's family - when last I posted on Monday evening, parts of the town where our daughter, her husband and five children live (about 40 miles south of us, in Utah County) was under an evacuation order from the wild fire shown in the picture above.  We were worried that our daughter would have to be evacuated as well, and we prayed that would not be the case.  Our daughter and her family were not evacuated and the fire was actually brought under control by rains from the same storm system that brought the high winds that caused so much destruction here in the Salt Lake City area.  No homes were lost and the families who were evacuated where able to safely return to their homes the next day. 

Photo from KUTV.com

Safety for our home- We had a crazy, wild wind storm on Tuesday. We had hurricane force winds in the Salt Lake City area.  The wind gusts got as high as 112 mph.  There was a lot of damage and a lot of people who had no power for several days. 

Photo from Deseret.com

Over 1,000 mature old trees, some over 100 years old, were blown over, like the one you see in this picture. 

Photo from Deseret.com

Trees fell on cars and houses.  Semi-trucks were blown over on the freeway. In all this, only one person was killed, which is sad but actually amazing because it could have been much worse.  A lot of people are helping their neighbors and others to clean up.  

Although we have many trees, big and small, near our home, none of them came down in the storm. Neither the home where we live, or either of our income properties sustained any damage and the power in our area was only out for about 20 minutes in the morning.  I am grateful for that and I am praying for those who were affected by the crazy hurricane force winds.  

Comfortable Work Shoes - After years of arthritis and several foot surgeries, my feet hurt, a lot, especially during the day at school.  I have tried many different kinds of shoes for work, but I had never bought any shoes from Amazon. A few days ago, I was on Amazon looking for something else and an ad for these shoes popped up.  The ad said they are walking shoes recommended for those who are on their feet a lot.  That's me!  I decided I had nothing to lose.  If I got the shoes and they weren't comfortable, I could send them back.  Most of the time,  Amazon makes that super easy. I ordered the shoes, and they came earlier this week.   I wore them around the house for a few hours and they were wonderful!!  I am so looking forward to my feet not hurting when I come home in the afternoon!

Time to Read - I have spent some time reading every night before bed this week. I finished this book, which was a good one.  I love ending my day with a book. 

Good Dinners - This week, it has been so great to come home and have some tasty but easy dinners.  We had pizza one night, spaghetti last night, and chili, with tamales, french bread and corn on the cob tonight.  Easy and delicious!

Messages and Emails from Friends - This week, I have really enjoyed chatting via messenger, text, and email with friends and family members.  I appreciate those who contacted me after the windstorm to see if we were ok.  I have also enjoyed exchanging messages and emails with some of my blogging friends.  It is great to connect with some wonderful people who don't live nearby, but with whom I have a lot in common.  

Those of my favorites for this week.  There is always so much to be grateful for, and I am happy to have the opportunity to count my blessings every Friday.  

 

Labor Day Weekend

Here a little from my world this long Labor Day Weekend.  

I love flying my flag, and Labor Day weekend is a wonderful reason to fly this emblem of the land I love. 

We did some more car shopping on Saturday. We drove to Ogden, about 40 miles north, to look at this car.  We then went to another dealership a little closer to home to look at basically the exact same car, only with leather seats.  We liked the leather seats. Charly is still trying to decide and it is going to be his driver car, so it's his choice, although he does listen to my input.  We were going to go back to the dealership on Monday, but then decided against it.  We needed a break in car shopping.

Sunday morning, Charly and I went for our walk, then I spent some time out in my patio garden. 

It was a very pleasant morning.  I watered my plants and harvested some more tomatoes, and then put out my little scarecrows out because it is getting to be that scarecrow time of year. 

I did my scripture reading and Come Follow Me study. Josh went to in-person church at a congregation for young people.  Our congregation will begin meeting in person again on September 13, which is next week.   The service will be limited to 99 people, and there will only be two 45 minute services per month. 

I finished the puzzle I was working on.  This puzzle is an Eric Dowdle Puzzle of the Temple Square area of downtown Salt Lake City.  It was a hard, but enjoyable puzzle.

I did some indexing of voter registration records from Hawaii and Alabama from the 1920s and 1930s. I indexed 53 records Sunday afternoon, which surpassed my goal for the entire month. 

Sunday dinner was bacon cheese burgers, tater tots and corn on the cob.  It was a delicious, all-American dinner, perfect for a holiday weekend. 

Labor Day dawned hazy and smoky from fires in California and Central Utah.  My beloved Mt. Olympus can barely be seen through the haze in this picture I took during our morning walk. 

I did enjoy seeing all the flags out in the neighborhood.

Later, I got caught up on some mailing - a note to a blogging friend, an anniversary card for our oldest son, Alex and a birthday card for my birth mom. 

I also ordered a birthday gift for my birth mom through Amazon - and bath and body gift set. I use Amazon a lot for gift giving.  It makes things so much easier. 

Because we are getting low on the laundry detergent we make and use, we decided to get all the ingredients together and start making a batch.  The last batch we made lasted over a year, but we are down to our last jar.  

Every time I post about making laundry detergent, I am asked for the recipe, so here it is.  It is super easy to make, and great to use, even in HP washers.

2 cups finely grated bar soap (we use Ivory)

1 cup baking soda

1 cup washing soda

Use just 1/8 cup per load

photo from newsbreak.com

Just a while ago, this (Monday) evening, we found out that the town where our second oldest daughter lives, with her husband and five children, is under evacuation due to a wildfire. This is about 40 miles south of where we live.  You can see the smoke from the fire in this picture taken just a while ago.  We texted our daughter and she replied that their area of town, so far, hasn't been evacuated. Tomorrow, our weather is turning much colder, but wind gusts could get up to 75 miles per hour, which could quickly spread the fire.  We are praying tonight for the safety of our daughter and her family, as well as the entire community.  

It is time to post this and start getting ready for bed.  This will be another busy week.  Leaving you tonight, with this quote from Theodore Roosevelt.  See you again soon!