Currently on the Last Thursday of March

As the month of March moves toward its end, here is some of what is going on in my world. 

Outside my window it is gray, cloudy, chilly and rainy.  This week has been up and down weather-wise.  It seems like we've had blue skies one minute, rain the next and then a bit of snow. 

Wednesday was mostly sunny, but Thursday was cold, cloudy and rainy. More rain and even some more snow is coming for the weekend. 

I'm reading Dr. Phil's new book, We've Got Issues.  I'm about a quarter of the way through the book, and so far it feels like a very long rant about everything that is wrong with in society today. 

Earlier this week, I finished the very excellent nonfiction book, Bad Therapy by Abigail Shrier. I recommend this book to all parents and grandparents of teens and young adults. 

I've been watching another lesson in my online Hillsdale College on The Book of Exodus.   It is so interesting and I'm learning a lot!

I've been listening to more podcasts, including some special day-by-day Holy Week podcasts, which I am enjoying and learning from.

I've been creating and working on - content and assignments for my 9th grade and 11th grade classes for the rest of the school year. 

I'm enjoying walks at the rec center almost every night.

I'm  hoping that this Emergen-C, Zicam and zinc will help me quickly get over the sore throat and head cold symptoms I have been feeling coming on the past couple of days.

I'm looking forward to an upcoming spring break trip to one of our favorite places. Yes, soon we will soon be heading back down to St. George for a few days. 

In the kitchen Charly made a delicious chicken stir-fry meal for us on Thursday night.  It was so yummy and I appreciate his help. 

I'm loving that my sweet husband often brings home fresh flowers for me.  

I'm grateful for my husband, my children and grandchildren, my home,  my health, my job (on most days) and that I will soon have a week off for spring break!

That's all for now.  Have a nice weekend!

Until next time,

😊Deb💖

"Make your weekend shine

with smiles and happiness."

~anon.

 

First Spring Weekend

Here's a little about the first weekend of spring around here. 

 

Friday night after we ate dinner, we went to our nearby Crumbl Cookie store and got this "birthday box" of cookies to take to our granddaughter Hailey who turned "Sweet 16" on Saturday!

Saturday was gray and windy. We even got some rain. 

The gray day couldn't keep us from seeing our beautiful granddaughter and taking her to breakfast for her birthday. Hailey is truly a lovely young lady in every way!

We love getting together with our grandchildren for a little one-on-one time on their birthday's. 

We had a lovely breakfast and visit with our granddaughter at her favorite breakfast place. 

When we took Hailey home,  we spent a little time visiting with our daughter, son-in-law and our other grandkids.  The youngest always loves it when grandpa plays with her, and grandpa loves it too! 

After leaving our daughter's home, we went to one of our favorite thrift stores in Utah County and found a few interesting things which we brought home with us.  My favorite find was this Willow Tree Figurine.

I have a collection of Willow Tree Figurines, and my latest find has now joined my other Willow Trees in my special display cabinet.

When we got home Saturday afternoon, even though it was cool and windy, I went for a walk outside around the neighborhood. 

I saw some daffodils out in bloom on my walk.  I love these bright yellow flowers announcing that winter is over. 

Sunday morning, we got up at 6:30 a.m. and I put a roast in the slow cooker for dinner. We went to church and stayed after the main worship service for the separate womens' and mens' study meetings. 

Today is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week, and, in addition to my normal daily scripture reading,  I am doing several special study plans - one on our church's app and two on the Youversion Bible app.  

Sunday was another rainy and snowy day. Here are the views from our front porch and backyard Ring cameras on Sunday afternoon.  We didn't get a lot of snow, and what we did get didn't stay on the ground long.  It did however cause a slick and slushy film on the roads. 

The rain stopped later in the afternoon, so I went out for a walk.  About half-way through the walk, the rain started up again, so I went back home.  

One unusual thing I saw on my afternoon walk was these four chickens at the top of my street.  I know that some people around here raise chickens, and apparently some of them got out.  I hope the owner found them and got them out of the street. 

Our delicious Sunday dinner was slow cooker pot roast with potatoes, fresh green beans and french bread. We had salad on the side.  This is one of my favorite Sunday dinners.

After dinner, I talked to Josh on the phone and then Charly and I watched our scripture master class.

As the new week begins, I am still reading this excellent nonfiction book, Bad Therapy by Abigail Shrier, which I highly recommend for all parents and grandparents and anyone who interacts with teens and young adults.   I'm also reading Dr. Phil's new book, We've Got Issues, which I borrowed electronically from our local library. The book is good, but it is quite long and dense and I am not sure I'm going to be able to finish it before the library loan is over. 

A couple of my blogging friends have ask what happened with the two houses we really liked in St. George when we were there last weekend.  We made an offer on the house on the bottom portion of the picture, but the owners got another offer at the same time and and they were trying to start a bidding war between us and the people who made the other offer. We did not want to get in a bidding war, so we  withdrew our offer and let the other people have the house.  We are still thinking about trying to buy the house the house pictured on top. That one is still for sale by owner, and we have been talked to the owner and expressed interest, but we have not made a formal offer, and cannot do anything until the buyer-broker agreement we signed with the realtor expires at the end of April.  If we sign a contract before then, we will have to pay the realtor $10,000 for doing absolutely nothing. (Needless to say, right now I do not have a very high opinion of realtors, especially the one we have been working with). We plan to reach out to the owner of the house again after April 29, and if the house is still available, we may try to work out a deal. 

Weekend Gratitude:

• Taking our granddaughter out to breakfast.
• Spending time with our daughter and her family.
• Hearing great messages at church today.
• Not getting too much snow in the valleys.
• Getting up to two feet of new snow in the mountains. 
• Having an overall good weekend. 

That's all for this post.  Thanks for stopping by. Have a good week!

Until next time,

😊Deb💖

"Therefore my heart is glad

and my tongue rejoices;

my body also will rest secure."

~Psalm 16:9

Spring Favorites and Gratitude

We had a gorgeous first few days of spring here in Utah, and the change of seasons brings much to be grateful for, so I am joining once again with Susanne and friends over at Living to Tell the Story for Friday's Fave Five.  

😊 After a cold and snowy winter,  I am grateful that spring brought sunshine and warmer temperatures this past week.  We have been in the upper 60s around here, although cooler temps, rain and snow are supposed to be coming this weekend.  It is after all, springtime.  

😊 The little plum tree, that I transplanted last summer from a big planter I had it growing in on the patio of our condo,  has new leaf buds and appears to have survived the winter.  It's a nice little tree, and I'm grateful that it made it through all the cold and snow. I am hoping for a few plums this coming summer.  

😊 With all of the nice weather and warmer temperatures, I am grateful that I have windows in my classroom that I can open up to some fresh air during the day.  

😊 Our church had a dinner just for the women.  I am grateful for a nice evening chatting and sharing experiences with the other women of our congregation. 

😊 Charly and I went out to lunch earlier this week while we were out running errands. I am always grateful for time with my sweet husband. 

😊 I am doing another free Hillsdale College online class - this one is about the Book of Exodus in the Old Testament. I find the Hillsdale College lecture based non-credit classes interesting and thought-provoking. I have already completed 30 of these classes and my goal now is to finish one a month. I am always grateful for the opportunities like this to continue being a lifelong learner. 

There's always more to be grateful for, but I will stop here for now.  Thanks for stopping by.  Have a good weekend. 

Until next time,

😊Deb💖

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life."

~ Melody Beattie

 

The Best of the Weekend

I was out of town and did not get to participate in the Friday Favorites post that I usually join with.  I decided instead to write about some of the best things that happened in my world this past weekend. 

We drove to St. George, in Southern Utah Thursday after I got out of school.  We always enjoy our time in St.George. The first night we were there, we were eating dinner when I saw this amazingly beautiful sunset from the window the restaurant.  I ran outside in the middle of my meal to get a picture of this beautiful sky.  

Our main purpose for going to St. George was to look at some properties.  If you have been reading this blog for any length of time, you will know that we are looking to buy a home to move to when I retire in either one or two years.  If we find a house we like, we may buy it, then rent it out until I retire and we move to St. George.  We looked at about ten houses and found two that we really like. If these two houses look alike, it is because they are both in the same subdivision and have essentially the same floor plan.  We are thinking about putting an offer on one of these houses.  I'll let you know what we decide. 

One afternoon, after looking at houses, we went to one of our favorite thrift stores in St. George.  We found these two wall plaques which go perfectly with the sunflower curtains we have on our kitchen door.  We also really liked the quotes on both of them, and they are now in our dining area. 

I also finished two books over the weekend - She Did - Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Faith by Emily Cushing and Bekki Hood.  We listened to that audiobook in the car on our war to St. George.  I also finished an excellent novel - If the Creek Don't Rise by Leah Weiss.  I read that one on the Kindle app on my phone.  

We had generally good weather in St. George. Temperatures were chilly with a few clouds and a little rain, but overall, we didn't have any weather related problems. 

When we got home Sunday afternoon, I was surprised and very pleased to see these little grape hyacinths growing in my backyard. 

We hadn't been home very long when our doorbell rang, and there was the girl we had ordered Girl Scout Cookies from. We are trying cut way back on sugar, so we just got a couple of boxes of Thin Mints.  We'll ration them and hopefully we will be enjoying one or two a day for a while.  

We were both tired after we got home and unpacked.  Charly helped prepare dinner.  We had salmon patties,  fresh steamed broccoli and cheddar mashed potatoes.  I also made us a little treat of cinnamon-sugar muffins.   Everything was very good, and I was glad to have a healthy, home-cooked meal after several days of eating fast-food on the run in St. George. 

Weekend Gratitude:

• Safe travels to and from St. George.
• An enjoyable weekend in a beautiful place that we love. 
• Upcoming plans for seeing our daughter and grandchildren next weekend.

That's all for this weekend. Thanks for stopping by.  Have a good week!

Unit next time, 

😊Deb💖

"Everyday is a new beginning. 

Take a deep breath, smile,

and start again." 

~anon. 

Ten Things on Tuesday

 Here, in no particular order, are ten things on my mind this rainy Tuesday night. 

1. Daylight Savings Time - Spring ahead always messes with my sleep schedule and throws my whole mind and body off for a week or two.  I wish that the powers that be would keep the time the same all year so we could quit springing ahead and falling back.  Not having to change time back and forth was one of the best things about living in Arizona. 

2. Students behind in reading - All the students at our school have three reading assessments every year - at the beginning, middle and end of the school year.  I gave my students the end of the year assessment today (even though we have more than two more months of school - that's the way our district schedules the assessment).   I am always appalled at how many of my 11th grade students are WAY BEHIND when it comes to reading.  Only about 25% or less of my students are on grade level with reading skills.  Most are at least 1-2 years behind and some are still reading on an elementary school level.  I find this very concerning for these students individually and for our society in general.  

3. ACT Test - This "right of passage" for all 11th grade students is coming up soon.  Teachers got their room assignments for proctoring the test, and I was pleasantly surprised and pleased that I have been assigned, not to proctor, but to be in the hall directing students to their testing classrooms.  I may have to be a substitute proctor as well, but I am hopeful that I can spend the ACT Testing time out in the hall and not in a classroom looking over student's shoulders.  Test proctoring is one of my least favorite things about teaching. 

4. School year almost over - Although sometimes each day seems interminably long, the school year has just a little over two months left.  I even had the yearly meeting with my department chair today about my schedule for next year.  I am looking at retirement either at the end of next year or the year after that.  That still seems like a long way off, but when I consider that seven years have passed since we moved from Arizona to Utah, it doesn't seem all that long. It really is true that the days are slow but the years are fast. 

5. More rain and possibly snow - we are having a rainy Tuesday evening here where I am, and more snow is possibly overnight, although the forecast is that very little will stay on the ground here in the valley.  The mountains will probably get another 6 - 12 inches. 

6.  Travel concerns - we are planning a little road trip in a few days, and we may run into some snow.  I am really hoping that it doesn't end up being a big deal, but it is giving me some anxiety.

7. Car licensed - Charly took our 2015 Honda to be inspected and licensed today when I got home.  I was tired and I really appreciate that he was able to take care of this, so we can pass this car on to Josh next month, and give the old 2010 Kia he is now driving to our grandson who is heading off to college in the fall. 

8.  Sweet 16 - Our oldest Utah granddaughter will be turning "Sweet 16" later this month, and she truly is one of the sweetest, nicest teenage girls I know (and believe me, I know quite a few).   Of course, I'm not at all prejudiced.  We are going to take her out to breakfast on her birthday and I am looking forward to that.  Any time spent with our grandchildren is a good time. 

9.  Heading to Uganda - This same granddaughter is going on a mission trip to Uganda this summer.  I think she is much braver than I was at the same age, or maybe she is just braver than I am now.  At any rate, we are super proud of her.  

10.  Upcoming election - The upcoming presidential election is giving me more than a little heartburn.  Honestly, I am not a fan of either candidate and I wish we didn't have to repeat the most distasteful and divisive campaign I can remember. 

That's all for now. What's on your mind this Tuesday?  

Until next time,

😊Deb💖

"Whether it's the best of times,

of the worst of times,

it's the only time we've got."

~Art Buchwald

Sunny Weekend

Here's a little about this second weekend in the month of March.

Friday was a pretty good day at school.  It was the final day that students could turn in work for this grading period, and quite a few students turned in late work and brought their grades up.  I was very pleased!  I took a walk in the neighborhood after dinner because the rec center closes early on Friday evenings.  It was a nice evening and I enjoyed walking about a mile and a half before it was dark and I had to go home. 

Saturday morning, I was up at 6 a.m. to meet up with a friend to go to the temple for some worship and prayer there. 

Saturday was a beautiful, sunny day without a cloud in the sky. Temperatures were in the 50s but a cool breeze made it feel chilly.  I thought this giant flag looked beautiful flying in the breeze against the snowy mountains and blue skies.  

No flowers yet, but you can see the tulip bulbs in my front garden are coming up.  I look forward to their colorful blossoms coming soon. 

Saturday afternoon, we went to a couple of thrift stores, and I found this book, Peoples of Utah, which is an out of print history book.  This is an original copy of the book and it is in excellent condition.  This book has recently been featured on our local news in stories about native Americans in this area and other groups that immigrated and settled here. 

One of the really cool things about this book, is that one of the main writers and researchers was a history professor I had as a young 18-year-old Freshman at the University of Utah.  Professor Brigham D. Madsen taught my first American history class and his lessons really made my love for this country and its history grow. 

Later on Saturday, after dinner, we went to our church to set up tables for Sunday's "Linger Longer" (refreshments after the service).  Unfortunately, setting up tables and chairs did not do my back much good and I had some back pain on Sunday.

Sunday morning, I got up at 6:30 a.m. and put Sunday dinner, (beef with with mushrooms in gravy),  in the crock pot.  I was tired because Daylight Savings Time took an hour of sleep between Saturday night and Sunday morning. 

I wore the new skirt I got at one of our favorite thrift stores on Saturday.  I found the skirt and thought it went well with a favorite sweater I already had.  The color match was perfect, and the skirt was high quality and fit well. This is me ready to go to church Sunday morning.

Sunday's church service was very good.  After the main service, we stayed for the separate men's and women's scripture study/meetings.  After that, we went to the "Linger Longer" (which this week was a cereal bar) and fellowshipped with other members of our congregation.  I will admit that our first inclination was not to stay for the refreshments and fellowshipping, but after talking it over, we decided that we need to make more of an effort to be social, so we went back in and enjoyed eating a bowl of cereal and getting to know a young family in our congregation.  

After church, I tried to take a little Sunday nap, but Josh called, so I chatted with him instead.  Later, Charly and I watched the scripture study master class on Youtube that is taught by a university professor. 

This was our Sunday dinner - beef, mushroom, onions in gravy over white rice, with fresh steamed green beans, Asian salad and French bread. This is one of my favorite dinners.  It's delicious comfort food.  

After dinner, I went for a two mile walk around our neighborhood.  It was nice to be able to walk outside after dinner and have it still be light.   When I got home, Charly and I watched another episode of  a Youtube about the Hebrew language and archeological scriptural evidence.  It's a very interesting series.

After I post this, I plan to get ready for tomorrow, get ready for bed and spend some time with a good book. 

Weekend Gratitude:

• Beautiful weather
• Prayer and worship at the temple with a friend
• Good conversations with our daughter Tiffany and son Josh
• Great messages and fellowship at church

Thanks for joining me for a look back at a nice weekend.  See you again soon.  Have a good week!

Until next time,

😊Deb💖

"...Whoso trusteth in the Lord

happy is he."

~ Proverbs 16:20