Happiness Challenge Day 5 - Triple Happiness!

 

I am joining in the August Happiness Challenge with bloggers, like The Gal Herself, who are finding and posting one thing that makes them happy every day during this month.  Today, however, there were several things that made me smile and feel happy, so I decided to post about all of them. 

😊 This morning, I decided that my email had gotten completely out of hand and filled with junk, so I took a few minutes and cleaned up my inbox and unsubscribed to a myriad of companies that somehow had my email address and was sending me junk emails and ads on a daily basis.  It made me smile that, at least for the moment, my inbox is cleaned out and my email is more manageable. 

😊 Work continued on our backyard deck today.  We are very pleased with the quality of  workmanship that our contractors are doing.  The patio cover should be completed next week.  I know that we will enjoy this deck and patio cover for many years to come and that makes me happy.

😊 A few weeks ago I subscribed to Angel Studios, but I had a hard time getting the service set up.  I admit that I am not the most tech savvy person and when I tried to access Angel on our TVs, I would try and fail and then get frustrated and quit trying. (We think that the problem was that both of our TVs are 7-10 years old).  This morning, however, I decided to figure it out, and finally had success!  I was able to find the Angel Studios app on my TV, create an account and get signed in to watch the awesome, family-friendly content (including The Chosen) that Angel produces.  I don't watch a lot of TV, but it made me happy that I was able to figure out how to access Angel and it's excellent content. 

What made you happy today? If you want to join in, each day in August you are to post about something that makes *you* happy. Pretty simple. And, it doesn't even have to be every day if you don't want it to be. It's a great way to remind ourselves that there are positive things going on in our lives, our communities, and the world.

Until next time,

😊Deb💖

"Being happy never goes out of style."

~Lilly Pulitzer

Happiness Challenge Day 4

 

I am joining in the August Happiness Challenge with bloggers, like The Gal Herself, who are finding and posting one thing that makes them happy every day during this month. 

Today, August 4, it made me happy to visit an antique store owned by a friend of a friend. The shop was in a historic home built in 1884. It was a fun place to browse.  The owners also had a green house full of house plants next door, so I bought an African Violet, which I hope I can keep alive.   It makes me happy to explore fun places like this in my community. 

If you want to join in, each day in August you are to post about something that makes *you* happy. Pretty simple. And, it doesn't even have to be every day if you don't want it to be. It's a great way to remind ourselves that there are positive things going on in our lives, our communities, and the world.

Until next time, 

😊Deb💖

I decided to join with The Gal Herself  and other bloggers for the August Happiness Challenge.  I will try to post something that made me happy for each day this month. As you can see, I am already behind, so because it is August 3, I will post three things that have made me happy so far this month! 

😊 Today was the day that teachers in the school district where I taught returned to school, and I WAS NOT among them!  Even though my retirement has so far been very busy, I am loving it!  Not having to be anywhere at any particular time most days and having more time for the things and people I love make me very happy! 

😊 I had not yet been to the library in our new city to get a library card, but today was the day.  I went to the lovely local library which is less than a mile from our home, and I came away with a new library card.  Now I have access to all the resources of the local library, and I feel a little more part of our new community! That makes me very happy!

😊 This afternoon, I visited one of my favorite Christian book publishers, looking for a gift.  I didn't end up getting the gift, but I did get three brand new, slightly damaged books from their "scratch and dent" shelf.  All of these brand-new Christian titles cost me less than $5.  New books for a fraction of their regular cost makes me happy! 

Thanks for joining me for the August Happiness Challenge.  God willing I'll be back tomorrow with more happiness!

Until next time, 

😊Deb💖

“Happiness depends upon ourselves.” 

—Aristotle

End of July, First of August Catch-Up

Here are some of the things that have been going on in my world this hot summer week. 

Our backyard project is continuing.  We are having a new deck and patio cover built.  This is what the project looks like at the end of this week. Work will continue on Monday, but because there is a delay getting the materials for the roof, it probably won't be finished until the end of next week.  We are so impressed with the quality of workmanship the contractors we hired are doing. This is going to be a great addition to our backyard. 

Charly had his annual eye exam last week, and I am so grateful that his eye health is good.  It's my turn to go to the eye doctor next week.  I don't love going to the eye doctor, but I know that it's important to get my vision checked once a year. 

We had a couple of days of cooler temperatures last week, and even got some rain, which was great.  Today the heat is back, but it was nice to have at least a couple of days with cooler, cloudier weather. 

We went to Market Night on Wednesday of last week.  

Our favorite thing to buy at Market Night is Sourdough bread, and this last week we got Cheddar Cheese Sourdough bread.  Delicious!

Charly and I tried a new sandwich place near our home on Friday, and it was reasonably priced with good excellent sandwiches. 

This is the BLT on wheat that I had for lunch.  It was huge.  I ate half for lunch one day and saved the other half for the next day's lunch. 

Saturday was a low-key day for us.  It was a very hot day with temperatures over 100.  We went for a walk in the morning, then we were home almost the entire day until we went to the grocery store in the evening.  

Charly hung my book clock on Saturday. It wasn't easy to hang because it is a very heavy clock. I bought it at a thrift store for $14 when we were in St. George earlier this summer.  It didn't work, so we had to take it to a clock repair shop.  We were able to have it repaired for a reasonable price, and now it is hanging in our basement family room.  I really like this cute clock which, the clockmaker told us dated back to the 1960s or 1970s. 

I went out for an evening walk on Saturday after we got home from the grocery store.  I have been noticing that it's getting dark a little earlier each night, now that we are moving toward fall. 

Sunday morning, the flowers in my front yard garden looked so pretty.  I took this picture as we were on our way to church. 

We went to church.  I passed this beautiful painting on my way into the chapel. After the main worship service, we attended Sunday School. 

Sunday, we got the news that our dear friend Ron, (second from the left in this old picture), had died.  He is a long-time friend of Charly's and we have known he and his wife since before we were both married.  Our children were similar ages.  His wife (on the far left) passed from cancer about two years ago, and then his son (on the far right) passed from colon cancer just a few weeks after his mother.  It was all very sad.   We had seen Ron just a few weeks ago when he was in a hospital in Salt Lake City.  He was then released from the hospital and went home to Wyoming where he died this morning. 

Sunday dinner was Cowboy Breakfast Casserole, with green salad, coleslaw and fruit.  I thought the casserole was very good, but Charly said it wasn't one of his favorites.  Josh joined us for dinner as he does most Sundays. 

I did quite a bit of reading last week and finished this book, Leap of Faith by Kate Hewitt. It is about a typical suburban family who decided to leave the stresses of modern life behind and move to a homestead in West Virginia.  I really quite liked this book.   My reading has drastically fallen off this year due to a number of things, but I was pleased that I finished four books during the month of July.

Also last week, we finished watching the series on Netflix about Teddy Roosevelt and started watching this documentary on FDR.   I love history documentaries and these are both excellent!

Gratitude for this week:

😊Making progress on our deck and patio cover project. 

😊Having a productive week. 

😊Being retired.

Praying for:

🙏 My children and grandchildren.

🙏 Health for Charly and I.

🙏 Help with making some important decisions we are facing.

🙏 The family of our friend who passed on Sunday. 

Looking forward to:

🠞 The completion of the deck and patio cover project.

🠞 Seeing our grandchildren next weekend.

🠞 Not going back to school next week!

That's all for this week.  Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy the week ahead. 

Until next time, 

😊Deb💖

" Be not afraid 

nor dismayed...

for the battle is not yours, but God's."

2 Chronicles 20:15

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The Best of the Last Week

These are some of the things that made me happy this past week. 

We sold the last piece of furniture we had in our old house this week.  I put this old filing cabinet on Facebook Marketplace for $10 and was pleased when a young couple came and carried it out of our basement and gave us a $10 bill.   It is so good to get that last item gone from our old house.

I have a large Hibiscus plant in my front yard, and it is out in bloom, covered with these large, beautiful flowers.  I love Hibiscus.  I didn't realize that I had a Hibiscus bush in the yard when we bought this place, but having it is kind of like a little bonus. 

We bought and Charly assembled this hose cady which is so helpful to me as I water the Hibiscus and other bushes in my front garden. 

We had our annual church congregation barbeque and swimming party at a local park.  It was well attended.  

Charly and I didn't swim, but it was fun to enjoy a summer picnic dinner while visiting with some of our fellow church members. 

We went to our town's market night again, and got some more fresh-baked sour dough bread, which we have really been enjoying. Since it was dinner time when we went, we got some very delicious Philly cheesesteak sandwiches for dinner. They were made just like the cheesesteaks in Philadelphia, complete with Cheese Whiz, and boy were they good! 

I went to worship at the temple with my oldest granddaughter.  It was a nice experience for just the two of us to attend and worship at the temple on a Tuesday afternoon. 

I've been continuing to work on hanging pictures up in our home. This past week, I hung some family pictures in our bedroom and downstairs in a hallway.   We have a lot of family pictures and there isn't room to display all of them, but it doesn't feel like home without pictures of those I love on the walls. 

We went to a thrift store we like this past week, and I found all of these Nancy Drew books I needed for my collection.

This is Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys collections now.  I need just a few books to complete both collections. 

Charly and I also found another fun antique mall near our home that we enjoyed exploring. 

We got some things for the Coke shelves in our home. 

Even though it's been quite hot this week, I've been able to take both morning and evening walks most days this week.  This is a nearby walking park where I like to walk in the morning. 

I love attending church, and I am always grateful when I can worship there.  We had good messages and lessons in church on Sunday.

I've been using this air fryer that I got for $5 from a neighbor's yard sale a few weeks ago.  I love the way it cooks food. We had French fries last night and hashbrowns with our dinner tonight and they were delicious!  I'll be using this a lot more! 

This past week, I finished this book, Sandwich by Catherine Newman.  I didn't like it much.  It had a lot of bad language and adult themes and content, and I didn't really care for the story either.

I also finished this book, Don't Miss This in the Old Testament, which Charly and I have been reading together.  I loved this devotional book and gave it 5 stars on Goodreads. 

I started three new books this week, Leap of Faith by Kate Hewitt, Don't Miss This in the New Testament and Secrets of a Happy Life by David O. McKay. 

What I'm most grateful for this week:

💗Being retired. 
💗Having a good visit with Josh when he came to dinner tonight. 
💗Making some friends in our new church congregation. 

Praying for:
🙏My husband, children and grandchildren.

🙏A friend recently diagnosed with cancer. 

🙏The sale of our old house. 

🙏Help in finding good volunteer opportunities in retirement.

Coming up this week:

😊Charly has an eye doctor appointment.

😊Contractors are coming to start on our backyard project of a new deck and patio cover. 

That's all for right now.  Thanks for stopping by. See you again soon!

Until next time. 

😊Deb💖

 

Currently on a Hot July Sunday

 

The weather has been hot, as expected in mid-July.   The next week is expected to be very warm and we may get some rain from monsoon storms.  There have been some strong monsoon storms in Southern Utah, and there have been tragic deaths from flash flooding.  Sunday, the I-15, the freeway that goes from one end of Utah to the other, was closed due to flooding and a mudslide.  Despite that, we haven't had a lot of rain here in Northern Utah. 

I've been reading this novel, Sandwich by Catherine Newman.  I will be finished with it in a couple of days. 

I've been watching a documentary on Theodore Roosevelt on Netflix which is very interesting.  I really like documentaries about historical people and events, and this is a good one. 

I've been enjoying going to our city's Farmer's Market every Wednesday evening this month. There is a vender there who makes excellent, fresh sour dough bread and it is delicious!  

 i

I'm loving that Charly and I have been going to the temple to worship almost every week.   Last week, we went in the morning and it was a great way to start the day. 

I've been working on the "plant ledge" above our kitchen cabinets.  After getting the Coca-Cola bench I wrote about in my last post, we decided to use some fun Coke items as part of our decor.  We got some things through Facebook Marketplace and a few things at an antique and at a yard sale we went to on Saturday. 

Here's a closer view of the fun things we put up there on the ledge.  

We also got this vintage Coke Clock which is now hanging above the French doors by our dining room table. 

In my garden I put out these new garden flags in the front garden, replacing the 4th of July flags that had been there.   I also put a new welcome sign on the front door.

I have some little tomatoes (which are delicious) and lots of flowers, which I love.   The yard at our new home is small, but it is manageable and I am grateful that I have a place to grow flowers and vegetables. 

In the kitchen I made baked chicken, potatoes and green beans for Sunday dinner. I also baked blue berry and banana nut muffins. Josh and our grandson Miles came to eat dinner with us Sunday and it was nice to have them here. 

I'm grateful that this has been a good Sabbath with worship in the morning, a nice nap in the afternoon, dinner with Josh and Miles, a good documentary to watch, and a Sunday evening walk. 

I'm looking forward to (hopefully) going fishing with our grandsons this week.  This is my grandson Clay with a fish he caught last week.   I'm looking forward to spending some time with and learning from this young expert fisherman!

That's all for now!  Thanks for stopping by.  Have a good week, and I will see you again soon!

Until next time,

😊Deb💖

"Everything good, everything magical

happens between the months of 

June and August."

~Jenny Han