The Last March Weekend

Friday after school, I went to the library to pick up this book I had on hold. This will be my next book to read. 

Friday I made some chicken soup for dinner.

I used this mix for the soup.  I have used Bear Creek soup mixes  before and they are quick, easy and delicious.

Saturday, I was deep into cleaning and organizing mode.  I put up some broom and mop holders to keep things in this small closet a little neater. 

I also took everything out of our upstairs pantry closet, cleaned the shelves, and put everything back in a more neat and well-organized manner.  If it still looks a little jumbled, believe me, it was worse before. 

We also did some shopping on Saturday and ended up at one of our favorite thrift stores.  We always seems to find a few books to bring home...because, ya know, we need more books.  ;-)

We got this new faucet for our kitchen that a plumber is coming to install on Monday.  The old faucet has been leaking for a while and needs to be replaced. 

Sunday, Charly and I watched church online again.  Church today was a conference of several congregations in our area (Stake Conference).  The messages were excellent.  I listened and took notes.  

One of the most interesting and powerful parts of the conference was a message from this woman in Nigeria who belongs to our church.  

After Zoom church on Sunday, Charly and I went for a walk. It was a beautiful, sunny day - just a little breezy.  What a perfect spring day! 

Sunday dinner was ham, mashed potatoes, cheddar-broccoli rice, steamed broccoli, green salad and French bread.  

After dinner, Josh and I drove to this hospital where he will be getting his Covid vaccine on Tuesday morning.  Josh wanted to see exactly where to go since he has never been there before.   I always enjoy driving places with Josh because we have the best conversations in the car.

Coming up this week:

All week - Spring Break!

Monday - Dishwasher repair tech AND plumber both coming on Monday.  

Tuesday -  Josh gets his first Covid vaccine.

Several days this week - Charly and I are thinking of going on a little Spring break getaway adventure.  Details to come.  :-)

Hope you had a nice weekend like we did. Thank you for stopping by.  Here's a little advice for the week ahead. 

"Take the time to do what makes your soul happy."

~ Anonymous 

😊Deb💜

 

My Favorite Things from This Week

I have much to be grateful for this week, so I will get right down to my favorites of the past week, as I link once again today with Susanne over at Living to Tell the Story for Friday's Fave Five.

Granddaughter's Birthday - Tuesday was our granddaughter Hailey's 13th birthday.  We sent her a card and gift card inside and then sent her a Marco Polo message and she sent us a Marco Polo message too.  It was fun to see her and feel like we were a little part of her birthday.  I can't believe I now have three grandchildren who are teenagers.  Where do the years go?

Charly's 2nd Covid Vaccine - Tuesday was also the day that this guy got his second Covid shot.  I am so grateful that in a couple of weeks when the shot kicks in, he will be good-to-go with regards to Covid.  

Covid Vaccine for Josh - Our governor here in Utah opened up Covid Vaccines for all adults a couple of days before that was expected, so I got online as soon as I heard (Josh was in class at the time) and got Josh an appointment for April 15.  That still seemed too far in the future so a few days later, I tried for an earlier appointment through Intermountain Health Care, a local hospital and healthcare provider, and was able to move his appointment up to March 30!  I am thankful for the earlier appointment because our state mask mandate goes away on April 10.  I am glad that he will be able to get his shots in time for a more normal summer. 

Vaccines for Mom and Sisters - My younger sister texted me to let me know that our mom had received her second vaccine. That's a relief to me because my mom is 81-years-old.  Both of my sisters (one in Colorado and one in New York) have also received their first vaccines. All of this vaccine news is very good news for which I am grateful. 

Evening Walks - This week, the temperatures have been colder than they have been recently and we have had some rain.  I have enjoyed walking outside, even bundled up a bit. 

I love that it is light enough now to walk after dinner.  This was a beautiful sunset from one of our evening walks.

Good Books - I finished this book last week - my 12th book this year!  It was an excellent book.  You can read my Goodreads review here.  I gave this book five stars *****!

I just got started on this book by one of my all time favorite authors, Anne Lamott.  I love, love, love her books.  I have read several and completely agree with one reviewer who wrote, "Anne Lamott has married a razor-sharp wit to a disarming spiritual sincerity." 

Spring Cleaning - Next week is my spring break from school and I have planned some good old fashioned cleaning and organizing around the house.  I started one afternoon this week, by cleaning out the cupboard under the kitchen sink - my least favorite cupboard to clean.  It looks so much better now and I have inspired myself to go forward and continue with more tidying up!

Those were some of my favorite things for this past week, which has brought much to be grateful for.  Thanks for stopping by.  

"Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."

~Melodie Beattie

😊Deb💙

 

Wet Weekend

Friday after I got home from school, I was exhausted and laid down for a while.  When I got up from my short nap, I went for my afternoon walk, by myself today.  It was cloudy but the temperature was over 60 and I had to take my jacket off to finish my walk. 

For Friday night's dinner, I made sloppy joes, macaroni and cheese and potatoes au gratin with sour cream and fresh steamed broccoli.  We all enjoyed everything. 

Last week, at a thrift store, I found a second brand-new copy of the book I am currently reading.  I bought the book to pass along to a good friend who also loves to read.  I took the book over to my friend after dinner Friday night.  It was good to see my friend and have a little chat on her front porch. 

Our church participated in a state-wide food drive, for the Utah Food Bank, on Saturday morning, so Friday night, I got some food from our pantry and put in a bag to donate.  I put the food out on our porch early Saturday.  Some teenage volunteers from our church congregation picked up the food and delivered it to the food bank.  This reminded me of when my sons were younger and they participated in Scouting for Food when they were in Boy Scouts.  My boys enjoyed working together with their Scout troop collecting food donations and helping others in need. 

My first chore on Saturday morning was laundry.  I try to get my laundry all caught up on Saturday so I don't have to do any on Sunday.  I ended up doing three small loads on Saturday. 

It rained all day on Saturday, the first day of Spring.  The one day rainfall total here Saturday set a new one day record, breaking a record set in 1946. We had a steady downpour all day. We also got a few snowflakes Saturday, but nothing stuck to the ground.  Charly and I took one of our vehicles to get an oil change. We also stopped at a thrift store and grocery store we like and got a few things, including some things from the deli for Saturday night's dinner.  Josh stayed home and worked on homework all day. It is almost the end of the semester for him and he has a big paper due. 

Because it was so rainy all day, I did my daily workout downstairs and listened to a podcast while I exercised. It was quite enjoyable. 

The plants in garden are showing signs of spring.   Saturday's rain probably did the them a lot of good. This is a bud on my fig tree. 

Here are the new little leaves on the plumb tree...

...and the strawberry plant. 

Saturday evening, I decided to relax at home and watch Dateline, the only show on TV that I watch with any regularity.  

I worked on this crocheted scarf project which I still haven't finished.  I now think I will run out of this color of yard before the scarf is long enough so this will be a short scarf.  I need to dig through my yarn and see if I have anymore in this color.  

This was the scene in front of my house Sunday morning.  We had rain yesterday and snow during the night.  It was cloudy and cold all day, and then we had even more snow flurries in the late afternoon and evening.   

Josh went to church in person Sunday morning and Charly and I watched on Zoom.  After our main church meeting, I watched Sunday School (adult scripture study) on Zoom while doing some indexing (data entry of genealogy records at Familysearch.org) of birth records from Wisconsin from 1909 and military records from 1927.  Later, I read, took a short nap, then went for a walk with Charly.  Sunday was a nice, restful day.

Dinner was slow cooker, Coca-Cola pot roast with potatoes and onions, asparagus, green salad and garlic bread  - one of my personal favorite Sunday dinners. After dinner I did my second work-out downstairs while listening to the Jordan B. Peterson podcast.   Dr. Peterson is a clinical psychologist who is often controversial but always quite interesting and thought-provoking. 

My plan for the rest of the evening is reading and hopefully finishing The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, and also watching The College Admissions Scandal , an interesting docudrama, on Netflix. 

Coming up this week:

• My grandson Thomas will be turning 11 tomorrow.
• My granddaughter Hailey will be 13 on Tuesday.
• We are having the ACT test for all juniors at school.  I am a proctor.
• Charly gets his second Covid shot on Tuesday.
• Josh can get his Covid vaccine scheduled on Wednesday.
• Grades for this grading period are due Wednesday.
• Thursday and Friday will be days with no students at school so teachers can plan for the final grading period of this school year. 

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you had a good weekend and that the coming week will be a good one for you!

😊Deb💗

 

 

Best of the "Ides of March" Week

Happy Friday and welcome to my Best of the Week post, Friday's Fave Five.  I link up every week with Susanne and other bloggers over at Living to Tell the Story, to recall the best parts of the last week with  a spirit of gratitude.  Let's get started.  

Government Covid Stimulus Money - We weren't really sure we would qualify, but there is was in our bank account Wednesday. Even Josh got $1400, which he didn't get last time there was a stimulus.  He was very pleased. Charly suggested that we get Chinese Food (a family favorite) to celebrate, so we had this delicious Mongolian Beef, egg roll and ham fried rice.  Not exactly traditional St. Patrick's Day fare, but it sure was good, and we are grateful for the stimulus money, which we will probably use on some home improvements this summer. 

Spring Flowers - our temperatures have been up and down this week, and we got some rain, but that is typical for spring.  I love spring flowers, and I am seeing more and more out in our neighborhood every day. 

Flowers from Charly - Charly came home from grocery shopping today with another bouquet of beautiful flowers.  I sure love it when Charly brings me flowers.  

Excellent Reading - I have been reading this book and it is so good!  Thank you Susanne and Faith for the recommendation.  To anyone looking for a good page-turner - this is it! 

Coming Covid Vaccines - Charly gets his second Covid shot this coming Tuesday, March 23. Today, our governor in the state of Utah opened up vaccines for all adults on March 24, next Wednesday.  Josh will be able to get an appointment for his Covid shot at that time. This is much earlier than expected, and he is excited to roll up his sleeve and get his vaccine as soon as possible, so he can get on with living life!

Spring Break - You will also notice, on my calendar, that Spring Break is coming for me at the end of March.  I just have one more week, and then a glorious week to rest, relax and finally (maybe) catch up from Daylight Savings Time!

Voter postcards - I finished and mailed another batch of postcards to voters.  I am not one to march or protest, but give me a pen and paper and I will go to town! I have also been known to call or write to my congressional representative and senators when there is an issue I care about, and yes, I did some of that this week too. A long-time friend got me involved in writing voter postcards. It's my small way of using my voice to stand up for this country I love and its precious Democracy, and to encourage other voters to do the same!

Thanks for visiting. I hope your week gave you much to be grateful for too.  Enjoy the coming weekend.  

😊Deb💚

Don't wait to live. This isn't a rehearsal; this isn't a dry run; this isn't a pre-performance routine. This is it.  This is real life. Don't wait. Savor every minute.

~ Jeffrey R. Holland

 

Rainy Weekend

It was a cold and rainy weekend here in Utah.  Some parts of the state got a lot of snow, but we got only rain. 

Friday was online learning day at school so I worked in my classroom alone most of the day. During a little break, I worked on some voter postcards, which I put in the mail on the way home.  This is my third batch of voter postcards.  I have now written and mailed postcards to voters in California, Arizona and North Carolina. 

Friday dinner was open face cheeseburgers, macaroni and cheese and green salad.  I got the recipe for the open face cheeseburgers over here at Mari's blog.  It's a quick, easy and delicious recipe. 

Saturday morning, we went out and did a little shopping.  We needed to go to Walmart, then we stopped at our favorite thrift store and looked around a bit.  I got a couple of books and a few other things. 

Later we went to Winco, a grocery store in our area that has lots of bulk items.  We got some nuts...

...and spices we were low on.  

Winco also had some good looking sushi and while I am not a sushi eater, Charly loves it and got some for his lunch. 

Because it rainy all day Saturday, I exercised in our downstairs family room.   I enjoy exercising down there, usually while listening to a podcast or watching TV.  I listened to a couple of podcasts while I exercised on Saturday afternoon. 

Saturday dinner was chicken tenders, mashed potatoes and country gravy and seasoned green beans. 

Saturday night after dinner, Charly went over to Big Lots and Dollar Tree to get some food items he likes.  I did not go along, but took an early shower and settled on the couch to watch a Dateline episode.  Dateline is about the only TV show I watch with any regularity.  Saturday's episode was a repeat, but I hadn't seen it for a while and couldn't remember if the bad guy actually got convicted at the end, so I watched it while I read some blogs.  Later, I finished reading this book, Melania and Me, which of course is about Melania Trump and a scandal (one of many Trump scandals) about the funding for his inauguration in 2016.  The book is written by Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, who was a former close friend of Melania's was at the center of the scandal.  The book was an interesting read. There were lots of details, and I learned a little about what life in the White House is like.  This was the 11th book I have finished so far in 2021. 

This is my 2021 reading chart. When my kids were little, we did lots of reading charts - usually it was a homework assignment for school.  I saw this chart online at the end of last year, and figured, why not?  The goal is to read at least 21 minutes every day in 2021.  So far I have done at least 21 minutes a day and usually much more than that.  It's kind of fun to keep track and visually see that I really am keeping my goal.

I got this cute snail-mail note card and nice letter from my blogging buddy Rita over at SoulComfort's Corner.  Thanks, Rita.  It is always nice to hear from you! I also got and responded to emails from Faith over at Gold in the Clouds and Jean, a fairly new blogging friend from What's Up at the Stauffers. I love, love, love hearing from blogging friends and truly believe that bloggers are some of the nicest people I have ever met!  In addition to hearing from blog friends, I got some nice messages this weekend from a couple of long-time friends from Arizona, a cousin who lives here in Utah and my niece and sister in New York.  

Sunday, Charly and I watched church via Zoom, while Josh went in person. The man shown in this picture, Steve Payne, is the new bishop of our congregation as of today.  He is a very nice man who lives nearby.  In our church, all of our local leaders and clergy are unpaid volunteers who have outside careers.  Bishop Payne is a recently retired manager who worked in the corporate office of Delta Airlines. Bishop Payne's counselors (assistants) are also from our Three Fountains neighborhood.  One is an attorney with ten adult children.  The other one, (I believe) is a psychologist.  He and his wife don't have any children. All of our leadership are very nice and kind men, at least that has been my experience with them.  

After church, I did some indexing of military discharge records from 1911 and Alabama voter registrations from the 1930s.  You can see from the green line in the graph on the lower part of the picture, that I have already surpassed by indexing goal for the month by quite a bit.  I really enjoy indexing and helping to preserve historic records.  

I started reading this book Sunday afternoon and I am already really interested in it.  I plan to read more later tonight before bed.  

I took two walks today - one in the afternoon with Charly...

...and a second by myself after dinner.  After a rainy Saturday, there was blue sky (at least most of the day), sunshine, and temperatures in the 50s.  Another couple of wet and wintry days will start tomorrow so I just had to get outside as much as I could today.  When I got back home from my second walk, I got my granddaughter, Hailey's birthday card all ready to mail and took it to the post office.  We were hoping to see her on her birthday and give her a card and gift in person, but our daughter decided we should wait to get together until after Charly has had his second Covid shot, so the earliest we will see them is April.  That's OK - we will mail her card now, then take her a little something else when we see her in person. 

As soon as I finish this post, Charly and I plan to watch an episode of The Chosen.  We are enjoying this series and it is perfect for a Sunday evening. 

I hope your weekend was a good one like mine.  Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great week. 

😊Deb💗

"There is not one great and grand thing we can do to arm ourselves spiritually. True spiritual power lies in numerous smaller acts woven together in a fabric of spiritual fortification that protects and shields from all evil." 

~ M. Russell Ballard