An Ordinary Weekend at the End of June

Our weekend was good. Here is a little about what was going on in our world:

Friday morning was largely taken up with paperwork and other chores for the purchase of the home we are buying in Ivins, Utah.   Our realtor went out to the property to check on some things and took and texted us this picture showing him and the awesome view of Red Mountain (yes, that's the official name) from the backyard.  Our realtor is a very nice, personable and hard-working young man. He is probably one of the two best realtors we have ever worked with.  Since we are four hours away from the property we are buying, he is our eyes and ears for the entire process.  We are hoping to close on the house in mid-July and we will be in Southern Utah to sign the documents and get the keys in person.  After that, we are planning to rent out the house until I retire and we move there - probably just a year or two.  We don't want the house sitting vacant with the potential of some uninvited squatters moving in. 

Saturday afternoon, we went to the recreation center to walk.  One of our country library branches is on the first floor the recreation/community center.  When my children were little, every summer I had them participate in summer reading time through the library. They loved it and it kept them reading.  A few weeks ago, I was in the library and heard a librarian telling another patron that adults could also participate in the summer reading program.  Yes, please!  I got the sheet to record my reading and actually finished and turned in my first sheet on Saturday.  I was rewarded with a free book of my choice and I chose the one shown in the picture which I plan to give to my grandson.  I was told I could do the reading challenge again, so I got another sheet and have already started!  Library reading challenges are fun and for me they bring back good memories of summers when my kids were little.  We made lot of trips to the library!

Friday night's dinner was summertime easy and yummy - fish sticks, scalloped potatoes and green salad.  

Saturday morning, before it got too hot, I went for a walk around our neighborhood.  It was a beautiful, clear, summer day.  While I walked, I called and had about a twenty minute conversation with my birth mother.  We had a nice chat. 

There is an  elderly lady in our neighborhood who has beautiful rose bushes.  I always enjoy walking past her house to see, and to stop and smell, her amazing roses. 

When I got home from my neighborhood walk, Charly had finished the movie he had been watching, and he still needed to go on a walk, so we went to the rec center and I had walk #2.  After that we went to the grocery story to pick up a few things because we hadn't been grocery shopping for over two weeks. That "few things" ended up costing over $120!  I honestly don't think our cart was even full! 

After two walks and grocery shopping, I was tired, so I decided to take a little time out with a book on the reclining couch.  

For Saturday's dinner, I made a big pot of broccoli cheese soup.  We had avocado ranch salad and garlic bread with it.  There was enough of everything to have leftovers for Sunday dinner. 

We went to the store after dinner, and I got a new package of socks because I have recently noticed holes in some of my current socks. I decided that it time to sort out my socks and get rid of the onesie socks - those that had no mate.  I have no idea where the mates to these lonely socks went.  Anyone else hang on to mateless socks for way too long?

These are my sock bins now - much neater and better sorted.  I got rid of an entire bag of socks without mates and others I hadn't worn for years.   I have been needing to do this chore for a long time, and it feels good to have it done. 

Sunday morning, I slept in until the alarm went off at 6:30 a.m.. It was the first time in a while I haven't been up before the alarm.  We always try to be about 20 minutes early for our 9 a.m. worship service, but this morning, we literally arrived before anyone else. The chapel was completely empty when we got there, but it soon filled up.  We had a wonderful service with great messages. We also stayed for the class that takes place right after church and that was awesome.  I truly felt spiritually fed by the time we left church today. 

Right after we got home from church, I got these texts from my 16-year-old granddaughter who is leaving tonight for a three week service trip to Uganda!  We are praying that she will have an amazing experience as she helps and serves others there, and that she will return home safely with some awesome stories to share.  We are so proud of this young lady and we are so happy that she is our granddaughter. 

I baked more "mix muffins" Sunday afternoon.  We really enjoyed the muffins I baked last week, so I baked some more.   For dinner, we had leftover broccoli-cheese soup and salad.  

After dinner, we watched our weekly scripture study master class, then I went outside and watered my garden.  Sunday was a hot, but not unbearable day. Our temperatures were in the 90s.

I finished two more books this weekend, for a total of six books this month. The two best books I read this month were The Slow March of Light by Heather B. Moore, which is based on the true experiences of a young man who drafted into the Army during the early 1960s and was subsequently assigned by the Army to go undercover and covertly photograph military installations in East Germany. He was eventually found out and imprisoned for several months until he was freed through a prisoner exchange.  This book was extremely powerful and moving.  I think it had even more impact on me because the man who was imprisoned, went on to become a professor of political science at the college my son Josh attends.   The book, Never Give Up by Tom Brokaw was also very good.  It is a memoir of the former NBC news anchor's family roots in South Dakota.  The book is an interesting, touching and heartfelt tribute to his parents, his ancestors and to the American Dream they pursued.  It is a short, quick book and well worth the time to read it. 

Weekend gratitude:

• Getting stuff done in the yard and around the house
• Having good conversations with Josh
• Finishing three books
• Hearing great messages at church
• Receiving texts from our granddaughter
• Moving forward on the purchase of our home in Southern Utah

Coming up this week:

Sunday -  Our granddaughter leaves for Uganda

Monday - I'm getting together with a friend for lunch

Wednesday - We are heading down to Utah county for a while

Thursday - July 4th - INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!! 

Saturday - I am planning to meet up with friends in the morning

That's all for this weekend! Thanks for stopping by. 

Have a good week and HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY to all of my readers in the United States of America!

Until next time,

🎆Deb🎇

 

Much to be Grateful For

I have a lot to be grateful for when I look back at the past week.  I am joining, as always, with Susanne over at Living to Tell the Story  to remember the positive things in my life.  It is always good to look for blessing great and small, so let's get started! 

😊  It was a hot week here in Utah, with our high temperatures ranging from the high 90s to over 100.  It's hot to be sure, but it's always hot here in Utah in the Summer, because most of the state is, after all, a desert.  We have central air conditioning in our home, and while our air conditioner isn't brand new, it works very well at keep our house cool - sometimes too cool! There are times when I have to raise the thermostat or turn off the AC for a while just to warm up!   I am grateful for having good air conditioning in our home that makes summer heat bearable.

😊  I am also grateful that we have an automatic sprinkling system in our yard that keeps our lawn and garden areas well watered during the hot summer months. 

😊  My hydrangea are out in bloom and they are quite lovely.  I am so grateful for the flowers of summer!

😊  I am grateful that we have a small, easily manageable yard at our current home. I actually enjoy the mowing the lawn early in the morning before the temperatures climb. I enjoy having a neat and tidy yard with a small garden spot and some flower gardens.  I will probably figure out a way to have that in the home that we are buying in Southern Utah as well even with all the rock and desert landscaping. 

😊 Charly has been spending time each morning before it gets too hot painting the covered patio area in our backyard.  I am so grateful for having a hard working husband! 

😊 I enjoy walking outside whenever I can, but with temperatures soaring to past 100 several days, I am so grateful for a membership in our county recreation center, where we can walk the track in climate controlled comfort. 

😊 I had to take my new glasses back and have the prescription readjusted because they were giving me a terrible headache.  I am grateful for the patience of optometrist at my eye doctor's office and also the optician at Costco Optical for spending a good amount of time with me trying to troubleshoot and make sure that my new re-done prescription will work better.  

😊 Charly and I used to go to movies a lot when we were younger, but then children came along, and life got busy and many movies got more and more inappropriate for family viewing.  It seemed we went to fewer and fewer movies over the years.  When Covid hit, we stopped going out to movies altogether and got Netflix.  This week, however, there were two movies in the theaters that had been recommended and that we really wanted to see, so Wednesday evening, we went to Inside Out 2, a fun, clever, family Disney/Pixar movie.  Thursday during the day, we went to Escape From Germany, an independent film, which is a true story about a group of American missionaries who had to escape from Nazi Germany when Hitler came to power.  Both movies were good and we enjoyed going to the theater to see them.  We promised ourselves to try and get out to movies more often - like we used to.  I am grateful for two fun and enjoyable movie dates with my husband this week.

😊 It's a little hard to admit it, but I am almost 65 - the magic age when Medicare kicks in.  I tried to sign up online, but was having trouble, so I asked for a call from the Social Security office so someone could walk me through the process.  I was given a time when the call was to come, which was today (Friday afternoon).  I was so pleasantly surprised when I got the call a few days early and and even more pleased and grateful when the Social Security employee who called was kind, helpful and patient with my questions.  Turns out that signing up for Medicare wasn't as hard I had thought it would be. The enrollment process is now complete (at least for Part A since I am still covered under my employer's health plan).  I need only to wait to receive the Medicare card in the mail, and to celebrate my 65th birthday! 

😊  I'm not really sure how positive the presidential debate was, because I'm not a real fan of either candidate, but I am grateful that I live in a country where elections matter and that we, as citizens, can have a say in our government and who leads it.

Thanks for stopping by to share the positives.  I hope you have had much to be thankful for this past week. Enjoy your weekend!

Until next time, 

😊Deb💖

"Be grateful for today 

and never take anything for granted.

Life is a blessing."

~anon.

The First Weekend of Summer

It's officially summer and this was the first weekend of the summer season.  This post is later than usual because we had an internet outage that lasted from last night until this morning, but even though it's late, here's what was going on in our world this weekend.  

Friday was a warm day, but we had some heavy rain in the afternoon.  I was supposed to get together with a friend for lunch and thrift store shopping, but my friend was not feeling well, so we will reschedule. Charly and I were out running errands after lunch, when there was lightning and then the sky opened up in a downpour that included hail.  We put our errands on hold and went home to wait out the storm.  It passed quickly in our part of the state, but in Eastern Utah there was some wind damage and flooding.  

After the storm, we went out to continue our errands.  We stopped at one of our favorite thrift stores and I got this skirt and top.  Blue is my favorite color, and when I saw this skirt and top, I said "yes, please."  I think that both pieces of this outfit together cost less than $10.  I wore this outfit to church on Sunday.

Saturday morning was another warm day, but without the rain.  We went outside in the yard early to do some weeding and general clean-up.  We got quite a bit done before it too warm to work any more. 

My garden is doing well even in the very hot weather.  Of course, I am doing my best to keep it well watered.  

Right now, I am most excited about the little grapes on the grape vine. We have quite a few clusters, and the grapes from this vine, have in the past been absolutely delicious!  I have also several plums on the little plum tree I transplanted in the yard last summer. 

We got the home inspection report back on the house that we are buying in Southern Utah (Ivins). Overall, the report was very favorable. The house looks good in just about every way. There were some minor repairs (due to normal wear and tear) we asked the seller to make. She responded that she would just lower the price on the home and we could make the repairs ourselves.  Since she lowered the price more than the repairs are likely to cost, we were quite pleased with that response.  Things continue to move forward.  

I had a little time to relax and read on Saturday, which is always welcome.  Right now, I am reading these two books - In a New York Minute by Kate Spencer and Never Give Up by Tom Brokow.   I hope to be finished with both of these books by the end of June and will include them in my monthly Reading Roundup.  

Sunday we were up and off to church as usual.  It was a warm, sunny and breezy day as you can tell from the flag in the picture.  By late afternoon, it was 101 degrees!  I was actually cold in the house because our AC does an awesome job of keeping our little brick bungalow super cool.  At one point, I had to raise the temperature on the thermostat because I was freezing! 

Charly and I have been asked to help with worship services at a nearby care center and we will start doing that in July.  I am excited and pleased that we will be able to help with these services. After our classes today, I met with a woman who will be working with us and found out more about what we will need to do.  Mostly, we will be making sure that there is music and a message for the worship service.  The Sacrament (communion) is also available to residents of the care center during the service.  

After church, I did some indexing, then took a little nap. When I woke up, I did some reading in this book, It Will All Be Worth It which has a compilation of chapters by various authors.  I am trying to read only Christian/spiritual/religious books on Sunday, which for me is the Sabbath or Lord's Day.  This book is good and quite interesting.   I am reading it on the Kindle app on my phone. 

Even though it was a warm day, for some reason, I had a hankering to bake Sunday afternoon.  I made a couple of small batches of mix muffins which were super easy.  I made cinnamon and sugar and chocolate chip.    After dinner, I took some over to an elderly widow in our church congregation.  

The muffins didn't satisfy my baking urge, so  later I baked some zero sugar Dr. Pepper brownies, which are super quick and easy, and which Charly loves!  Simply add an entire can of zero sugar Dr. Pepper (my pick-me-up drink of choice) to a zero sugar brownie mix and bake as directed.  

Our Sunday dinner was beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, carrots and broccoli, kale salad and a bread stick.  It was so good! 

After dinner, I walked over to the home of an elderly woman in our church congregation. I took her some muffins and we sat and had a nice chat for about 45 minutes.  She is the mother of Charly's best friend, who he hung out with as a boy and is still in touch with.  It was nice to spend a little time with this lovely lady who is in her 90s. 

When I got home from from my visit with the elderly woman, I found that our internet was out and it didn't come back on until this morning. I ended my Sunday by relaxing and reading. 

Weekend gratitude:

• Being able to get stuff done and having time to relax too.
• Getting a little rain.
• Reading some interesting books.
• Hearing good messages and lessons at church.
• Visiting with my elderly friend on Sunday evening. 

That's all for this post. Have a great week!

Until next time,

😊Deb💖

“Optimism is a happiness magnet. 

If you stay positive, 

good things and good people

 will be drawn to you.” 

– Mary Lou Retton

Blessings of Another Road Trippin' Week

It's been another busy week for us with not one, but two different road trips!  We are safely back home now, and I am happy to be able to take a few minutes out to remember the blessings of the week.  To do that, I am joining again with Susanne and friends over at Living to Tell the Story for Friday's Fave Five. 

😊 I mentioned in my last post that we had made on offer on this house in Ivins, Utah (near St. George) that seemed perfect in every way for us.   Monday night, our realtor called with the good news that our offer had been accepted!  The property inspection was Thursday and didn't uncover any big problems with the home. We are now going through mountains of paperwork to make everything happen, but hopefully, in less than a month, this place will be our new home - which we will probably rent out for a year and then move to when I retire.  I am so grateful and excited about this.   

*After my last post, several reader asked me about the lack of lawn in the yard around the house.  This, my friends, is desert landscaping - rock and a few desert plants.  We got used to it when we lived in Arizona for 16 years, so it doesn't seem weird to me.  I like lawn, but honestly, lawn takes a lot of water, so many places in the desert landscape with rock.  Desert landscaping isn't for everyone, but it's very normal in the Desert Southwest and it is easy to take care.  

😊  We got home from a two day trip to St. George on Sunday afternoon, then left again on Tuesday to drive to Idaho to see Josh and take him to dinner on his birthday.  I am grateful that our road trips went well and we were blessed with safe travels. 

😊  I have been blogging since 2007 and in that time, I have come to know some of the nicest, kindest women I have ever known. I have always said that blogging friends are the best.  I am so grateful that I got to meet up with my long time blogging friend, Barb (at Barb's Blog) on this trip. She and her husband Bob, met Charly and I for lunch because Barb lives not far from the Idaho town where Josh goes to school.  Barb, Bob, Charly and I spent a delightful couple of hours at the Olive Garden enjoying a delicious lunch and some good conversation. I am so grateful for Barb and all of the wonderful people I have gotten to know through blogging. 

😊 After our lunch together, Barb and Bob gave us a little gift bag filled with honey and honey treats from the local Idaho area.  We love honey and I am so grateful for Barb's thoughtfulness and this lovely sweet gift. 

😊 We met up with Josh in Rexburg Tuesday evening to take him to dinner at Outback Steakhouse and give him his birthday present.  I am grateful for my youngest son.  He is a good man and I am grateful that we were able to see him on his birthday - despite his very busy school and work schedule. 

😊 Using our Wyndham Rewards points (from our Wyndham and Worldmark timeshares), we were able to get hotel rooms for our last two road trips to St.George and Rexburg for no charge.  I am grateful for being able to get hotel rooms free and save some $$$.

😊 Charly and I love to listen to audiobooks in the car when we go on road trips. We listened to and finished this book, The Slow March of Light, on our recent trips to St. George and Idaho.  What an excellent book!  It was so moving and uplifting, and it was based on a true story.  I am grateful for all good books and especially good audiobooks to listen to on a long drive. 

That's all for now. Thanks for stopping by to share the good in my week.  Have a good weekend!

Until next time,

😊Deb💖

ANOTHER Weekend Road Trip and a Confusing House Hunt Update

We were in St. George Sunday through Wednesday of last week, so Thursday and Friday were busy catch-up days at our house.  

We had found a nice, large home in a 55+ neighborhood in St. George earlier in the week, and we made an offer which was accepted, and we went under contract on the home.  Wednesday, before we came back to Salt Lake City, the inspection was done so we would know if the house had any problems.   On Thursday, we got the inspection report back, and it was not good. There were a number of expensive problems, including a big problem with the shower drain in the master bathroom.  The entire shower and drain would have to be dug up and replaced. We decided to cancel the contract on the house and continue our search. 

I received a text from a friend in the same area where the house that we made an offer on was located. She told us that another home in the 55+ area had just gone up for-sale-by-owner.  We called the owners and went through the home but decided that the home was just not big enough for our needs.   After deciding to cancel the contract on the home with the bad inspection report, we decided to reconsider the for-sale-by-owner home. We contacted the owner who told us that the home would be listed with a realtor early this coming week, so we decided to make one more quick trip to St. George to look carefully at the home before it was listed.   The owner offered us a much reduced price if we bought the home before it was listed, so Saturday morning, we drove once again to St. George to look carefully at the home and see if it would work for us.   It is a beautiful, well-kept and maintained home, and the current owners were delightful people to show us all the good (and not-so-good) of their home.  We are keeping this home in mind and may look at it again if our first choice (see below) doesn't work out. 

Since we were going to be in St. George, we decided to look at yet another home in Ivins (a small town near St. George) that just went on the market.  This is an aerial picture of beautiful Ivins - which has a populations of under 10,000 - and also a medical college, two resorts and a lot of multi-million-dollar homes.   The home we looked at was NOT one of those. 

We asked our realtor to show us the home, which I was pretty sure neither Charly or I would like much, but Ivins is a beautiful area right next door to Snow Canyon State Park where we love to hike.  You can see the amazing large red rock bluffs and cliffs which are part of the park, only a few blocks behind this home.  

In addition, this home is on a large piece of property with no HOA (Homeowners Association) and the monthly dues associated with that.  You can see in this drone shot that the property goes back to the wall behind the two sheds at the end of the long driveway.   All of this seems confusing but if you guessed that we liked this home best, you would be right!  We made an offer, and we are now on pins and needles waiting to see if the owner will accept it so we can go forward and buy this home.  We still have a ways to go in our home search/purchase, but we are encouraged that we have been able to find some nice homes in our price range, so if this one doesn't work out, we will keep looking.   I'll keep you posted!

 

Now on to a few other things that happened this weekend.  Whenever we drive to Southern Utah, our first "pit stop" point is this Flying J Truck Stop in Nephi, Utah. When we stopped there Saturday morning, to get a couple of snacks and use the facilities, the cashier who rang us up asked me if I was from Bountiful, Utah (a town about 50 miles north where I went to high school).  I replied that yes, I was, and she asked me if I remembered her. She had recognized me, and when she told me her name (she obviously looked a little different when I knew her over 48 years ago), I absolutely remembered her.  She lived around the corner from me, and we went to high school and church together.  It was so fun to see this woman, who I considered a friend so many years ago.  I thanked her for speaking up and asking me if I remembered her.  Since we stop at this truck stop every time we head down south, I hope that I will see her again from time to time. 

While we drove, Charly and I listened to an audiobook, The Slow March of Light, by Heather B. Moore, which is a novel based on the true life experiences of a young U.S. soldier who was captured and imprisoned by the East Germans while he was on assignment for the Army in the early 1960s.  It is truly an interesting and inspirational story.  

Of course, Sunday was Father's Day and Charly was remembered with calls, texts and gifts.  He is a good man and I am blessed to have married and had a family with such a guy. 

Sunday evening after dinner, I went for a walk.  While it was triple digit hot in St. George, temperatures here in the northern part of Utah were much cooler. 

After my walk, I checked out my garden and gave it a little extra water. If you look close, you can see a little green tomato on the vine already!  There are more on other plants as well. 

Weekend Gratitude:

• Traveling safely to and from St. George.
• Finding some good houses that would work for us.
• Having our children remember Charly on Father's Day. 

Looking forward to this coming week:

• We are making another quick road trip to see Josh and take him to dinner on his birthday.
• I have plans to meet up with my long-time blogging friend, Barb of Barb's Blog for lunch. She lives in Idaho, not far from where Josh goes to college.
• I'm getting together with another friend for lunch and shopping later in the week. 

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

Until next time,

😊Deb💖

"...be strong and of a good courage;

be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed:

for the Lord thy God

is with thee whithersoever thou goest."
~ Joshua 1:9