Holy Week Favorites and Gratitude

Here are a few of the things I am most grateful for as this Holy Week ends.  Please link with me and other bloggers over at Susanne's blog, Living to Tell the Story for lots of good things in Friday's Fave Five.

😊 Even though it's April, this has been an incredibly snowy week where I live.  Places in the Salt Lake Valley, near where I live, got from 18 inches to two feet of snow from Sunday night through Wednesday.  The roads, both freeways and surface streets, were a mess, and one day, most schools in the area were either remote learning or on a two-hour late start.  If I had to be stuck home with Covid, this was a good week for it.  I am grateful I didn't have to go out at all on some really nasty, snowy days. 

😊 I am grateful to be slowly on the mend after being hit hard with Covid.  It seems like my recovery is not a straight-line upward.  I would feel better for a while, then wonder if I would ever feel normal again.  I am grateful for Paxlovid, which I am sure helped my symptoms quite a bit.  I am also grateful for sick time so I could stay home and rest and try to get over this.  

😊 Before her family left to go out of town for spring break, I gave my daughter some potted daffodils that were not in bloom.  Due to all the cold weather and snow we have had, I wondered if they would blossom at all,  so I was pleased and grateful when my daughter texted me this picture of lovely daffodil blooms.  She thanked me and said she really liked them. 

😊 I got a nice letter in a handmade book card from my long-time blogging friend, Rita over at SoulComfort's Corner. I am always grateful to get snail mail from blogging friends who are some of the kindest people and best friends out there.  I also got an Easter card from the old friend who randomly called on the phone earlier in the week.  I am grateful for thoughtful friends who keep in touch. 

😊 One day last week, when I was at home recovering from Covid, I got a phone call from a realtor we had talked to many months ago about listing our current home.  I had actually forgotten about the conversation, so when he called I wasn't over excited to hear from him and set up an appointment for him to look at our  place.  I told him we were home with Covid and that we couldn't meet for at least a couple of weeks, hoping that would put him off.  A few minutes later, I got a text that DoorDash was making a delivery at our home.  I was confused thinking it must have been a mistake, but it was actually two bowls of delicious chicken soup and along with some huge rolls from Kneaders, a favorite eatery around here.  It was from the realtor with the message, get well soon.  I realize he is trying to win our business, and I don't know that he will, but it was a kind thing for him to do, and I am always grateful for kindness. 

😊 Another night (before he too started getting sick with Covid), Charly found an Amish recipe he thought I would like and made it for our dinner. A bonus was that it made enough for us to have leftovers! Charly knows how much I love Amish comfort food.  I am grateful for his thoughtfulness and love, and a really good casserole. 

😊 Finally, on Wednesday afternoon, the sun came out and there were blue skies and the sound of melting snow.  Best of all, after being wiped out by a brief trip to the store Wednesday morning, I actually felt like getting out and walking a little, so I did.  I think that walking in the sunshine for a few minutes did me a world of good, and I actually felt energized instead of exhausted when I got home. 

😊 Thursday was another beautiful day. When I went out for a  walk (to help build up my stamina) there was not one single cloud in the beautiful, blue sky.  I am so grateful for gorgeous days like this one! 

😊 I am grateful on this Holy Week and for my Christian Faith that give me hope for the future, especially at times when things are not easy.  Jesus took our sins and sorrows upon himself, died for us and came forth on Easter morning. Nothing has ever been the same since.  Because of Him, all things are possible for us.  I think you will enjoy the short video below about what Easter really means for all of us. 

That's all for this week.  Thanks for coming over to share the good.  Have a good weekend and a very Happy Easter!

Until next time,

😊Deb💖

Currently - on a Snowy Tuesday

Today, I am linking with Jennifer over at Overflowing with Thankfulness for...

Currently... 

I am...

Reading - Hallelujah Anyway by Anne Lamott. I love Anne Lamott and have read many of her books. In addition, I just got a notification from the library that a book I had requested became available, so I masked up and drove over to the library to pick-up When Harry Became Sally - Responding to the Transgender Moment by Ryan Anderson.  I have been wanting to read this book for a while, and was pleased that I could get it through the library because it is no longer available from Amazon.  I feel like I like am in the middle of the "transgender moment" every day at school. The contagion of gender ideology and "transgenderism" is a real thing among young people.  Very troubling in my opinion. 

Listening to - the audiobook From Grace to Charity by Emily Belle Freeman and a news feed about the arraignment of Donald Trump.  History in the making. 

Loving - that I received a very random phone call from an old friend this morning.   She had no idea I was home with Covid, but because I was, I could talk to and catch-up with her for a few minutes, and it was really nice. 

Hoping - to be able to go back to work on Thursday, but I am still not sure I will be able to.  A long, masked-up day in the classroom, when I am still dealing with Covid symptoms, especially headaches and fatigue, may not work. 

Thinking - about what a busy month April is shaping up to be.  I honestly never expected to have this entire week pretty much being taken up with Covid.  I just put in for a sick day for tomorrow as well.  Covid fatigue is a real thing.  

Other things coming up in April are a visit from Josh for his spring break, more medical stuff that I have been putting off too long, and our grandson's birthday and taking him out to breakfast or lunch. 

Feeling - incrementally better as my Covid symptoms improve.  

Celebrating - Holy Week and Easter, in my heart. We won't be having a family gathering and may not even attend church because I, and now Charly as well, have Covid. 

Grateful for - Paxlovid, which is helping me with my Covid symptoms.   I am also grateful that Charly is getting a prescription for Paxlovid, after a positive Covid test Tuesday morning, and a virtual conversation with the doctor in the evening.  

Weather - we are having another snowy day.  Our high temperatures are in the 30s and the roads have been so snowy and treacherous that schools in our area either went remote or were on a two-hour snow delay.   Roads have remained dicey for drivers all day.

Enjoying - having extra time at home with my sweet husband and best friend.  Even though we both have Covid and that is the reason we are home together, there is no place I would rather be than home with my husband.  

A quote to share - 

"In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves.  The process never ends until we die.  And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility." 

~ Eleanor Roosevelt

 Until next time,

😊Deb💖

The Weekend Covid Caught Up With Me

We began our Friday with a retirement planning meeting.  A very nice representative from Utah Retirement Systems (our state pension plan) met with Charly and I and showed us different retirement options available.  It was a very helpful meeting and gave us some concrete numbers that helps us with planning for our future.

In the afternoon, we had an appointment with a realtor to talk about selling this condominium where we currently live.  We plan to interview one or two more realtors before making a final decision about who we will list with, but we plan to get this place on the market sometime between the end of April and first of June. 

Friday's dinner was simple but tasty fish sticks and white cheddar mac-n-cheese with broccoli.  

After dinner, I worked out downstairs, then took a walk.  It was a chili evening but at least the snow and rain had stopped. 

Friday night, after the walk, as I settled down to read before bed, I started feeling feverish and achy.  I had a dry cough and figured it must be a little cold.  Saturday, I woke up feeling even worse, with a headache, fever and chills.  I had some unexpired Covid tests to decided to check and I ended up testing positive.  Ugh.  Even though I have had all the available vaccinations and boosters, I guess it was only a matter of time until I too got Covid. 

I had a phone visit with the doctor at the clinic I have been going to and he prescripted Paxlovid, which I started taking as soon as I could pick it up from the pharmacy Saturday morning.  I had all the classic Covid symptoms - fatigue, headache, dry cough, achiness, and a weird taste in my mouth.  Not a good way to end spring break, and in fact it extended my break as I must take off at least Monday and Tuesday before returning to school wearing a mask.  

I actually did very little on Saturday. Just picking up the prescription wore me out.  I was very tired and had two naps.  Charly went and got a take-n-bake pizza for our dinner.  After all that resting, I started feeling a little better Saturday night.  The headache lessened as did the achiness.  

Sunday morning, after a good night's sleep, I felt just a little better. I watched the April General Conference of our church. The caption in the pictures says "Saturday Evening Session" and I watched both that and the Sunday morning session, as well as the Saturday afternoon session.  The  messages were wonderful and inspiring! 

While I watched and listened, I got these Easter cards ready to mail to my grandchildren in Virginia.  I also sent these sweet and beloved grandchildren an Easter Egg painting kit and some Easter books, through Amazon.  We took some fun Easter books and crafts to our Utah grandchildren when we saw them last week. 

I also worked on and completed another batch of six cards for Letters Against Isolation. These are going to Meals on Wheels in Orem, Utah. 

Later, I did some indexing of handwritten records from the 1840s to the 1860s while listening to the afternoon session of our church conference. 

This was my Sunday evening dinner.  Honestly, Covid has completely taken my appetite and made me feel nauseous just thinking of most food, including the delicious ham steaks I did have planned for Sunday dinner.  Instead, Charly had leftover pizza from last night  and I had PBJ Uncrustables because, for some reason, peanut butter is one of the few foods that is not making me feel nauseous.  I have no appetite at all and I am forcing myself to eat and drink. (Actually I only had one PBJ then half a bag of microwave popcorn and a few raw carrots.  I felt nauseous after everything I ate). 

We watched an episode of The Chosen while we ate dinner.  The rest of this evening, I may watch a little TV and do some reading, and I will probably go to bed quite early since I am still experiencing a lot of fatigue.

Weekend Gratitude:

• Testing positive for Covid at the END of spring break instead of the beginning.
• Getting a prescription of Paxlovid right after I tested positive.
• Feeling a slight improvement in my Covid symptoms. 
• So far Charly doesn't have any Covid symptoms.  I hope he doesn't get it as he is at great risk than I am. 

Coming up this week:

• Another big snowstorm is in the forecast for Monday and Tuesday.  The mountains will get several more feet of snow and we could get 4-6 inches here in the valley.  Can winter please be over now? We have over 800 inches of snow in some areas of our mountains - that 67 feet!  We are so ready for spring and a very gradual warm-up so we don't have flooding.
• Charly is getting a new computer.  His old computer got a virus (oh, the irony) as he was finishing up the taxes.  We are hopefully that his new computer (which is being custom built) will be ready Monday or Tuesday. 
• I am hoping to feel well enough to go back to school, masked up, on Wednesday or Thursday. 
• I have an appointment on Wednesday that will need to be cancelled due to Covid. 
• We have an appointment with another realtor on Thursday and we will probably reschedule that as well. 

That's all for this weekend.  I hope you have a good week. Stay well - Covid is still lurking out there. 

Until next time,

😊Deb💖

"Jesus Christ can lighten our load.

Jesus Christ can lift our burdens.

Jesus Christ provides a way for us

 to be relieved of the weight of sin.

Jesus Christ is our relief."

~Camille N. Johnson

  

 

Mid-May Weekend

Friday as soon as I got home from school, Charly and I took our walk, then we went to our the office of our family doctor and got our second Covid boosters.  We have quite a bit of travel planned this summer and we want to stay healthy and safe. 

We had a community food drive on Saturday sponsored by the U.S. Postal Service, called "Stamp Out Hunger."  We always want to help others when we get the opportunity, so after dinner on Friday night, I went to our downstairs pantry room and got some things to donate to the food drive. 

Saturday morning, I added a few more things to the bag and put it out by our front door to be picked up. 

Saturday was a gorgeous spring day, although Charly and I did not take a morning walk as we usually do on Saturday. We were both feeling achy and tired when we got up, no doubt an effect of our second Covid boosters. 

During my Saturday morning scripture reading and study time, I finished this book, The User-Friendly Old Testament by Marilyn Green Faulkner. It was good, and I marked a lot of things in the book as you can see, but did not go as in-depth as I would have liked.

Later, I finished the audiobook, Forgiving What You Can't Forget by Lysa Terkeurst. It is an excellent book.  I will have a review of both books in my May Reading Roundup. 

I spent some time Saturday morning cleaning up our back patio where I have my container garden.  We have a lot of big trees around our home, so we get a lot of leaves on the back patio during the fall and winter months.  I swept up a garbage can full of leaves. 

I moved some of the planters on the patio around.  I have some plants that survived the winter are and coming back - grapevines, strawberries, our plum tree and some mum plants.  Unfortunately, it doesn't look like my beloved fig tree survived.  I was sad about that. 

My dwarf lilac is doing well and my clematis has buds, as does my peony bush.  My hydrangea has returned and I look forward to that blooming.   I am also trying to revive the geraniums that I tried "wintering" in a box (something I read on the internet).  I don't know if it will work, but I trimmed them back and planted them on Saturday afternoon.   My geraniums were gorgeous last year, so I do hope they come back. 

I haven't been super motivated to plant a lot of other things.  For a while, it looked like we were going to sell our condo (where we live now) and move back into the house where we used to live that we have been renting out for three years. We need to live in that house for at least 2-3 years before selling it if we want to avoid paying capital gains taxes on the profits. Since real estate here has appreciated A LOT over the past few years, saving capital gains taxes will mean that we will have more money to buy a newer home in a better location when I retire (about four years away).  Charly told the tenants in our house that we were going to raise the rent a full 20%. We fully expected that they would move out and we could move back in and begin renovating and remodeling the house so we can sell it for top dollar. However, the tenants are finding it difficult to find another place and so they have agreed verbally to pay the higher rent. They still haven't signed a new lease yet, so we aren't sure what is going on.  I don't want to do a lot of new planting here, when we may be moving in a few months.  Plus, we will be doing quite a bit of traveling this summer, and finding someone to water the container garden can be a challenge.  

At noon on Saturday, I met up with my cousin, LeaDawn, for lunch. We get together every couple of months or so, and enjoy visiting and laughing together.  I am so grateful we were able to reconnect when we moved back to Utah a few years ago.   She is a true friend and we really seem to "get" each other. 

By dinner time on Saturday, I was starting to feel the full effects of the Covid booster.  I was even more achy, fatigued and feverish, so I wanted an easy dinner.  I settled on breakfast for dinner - bacon, scrambled eggs and hashbrowns.  Charly and Josh made theirs into breakfast burritos.  

After dinner, I was exhausted, so I sat on the couch and watched a Dateline episode, then later did some reading.  This is fiction book I am reading.  It is good, but long.  I am about half-way finished with it. 

Sunday morning, both Charly and I were still achy from the Covid booster shot, so we stayed home and watched church on Zoom.  Josh went to church at his young adult congregation. 

After church, I did some indexing of military records from 1910 and 1911.  I also reviewed some 1950s census records.  So far, I have reviewed over 750 census records from Colorado, Florida, South Dakota, Nebraska and Texas. 

Because neither Charly or I were feeling 100% all weekend (due to the Covid booster), we decided to make Sunday a restful and relaxing day. Other than indexing and reading, about the most I accomplished on Sunday was filling my new hummingbird feeder with nectar and hanging it out in the yard. 

Sunday dinner was this colorful cass  It is technically a "breakfast casserole" so I put it together Sunday morning and let it set in the fridge until late afternoon when it was time to warm it in the oven for an hour.  

We had steamed broccoli and Thai chile salad with the casserole.   It was a delicious meal. 

Here is the recipe for the casserole.  It is from a cookbook that Josh gave to me.  

I made bread pudding for our dessert.  I love bread pudding.  My mom used to make it, but I don't have her recipe, so I use this recipe from my friend Kathy over at Looking at Life Through My Bifocals.

After dinner, we settled on the couch and watched an episode of The Chosen.  

The plan for the rest Sunday is to get ready for tomorrow, shower, read and get into bed early. 

Weekend Gratitude:

• Second Covid booster
• Lunch with my cousin
• Zoom church
• Beautiful spring weather
• Time to read 
• A restful Sabbath

Thanks for stopping by to share my weekend.  Have a good week. 😊

🙏💙Deb💛🙏

"Be happy.

Enjoy every moment of your life.

Life is too short to waste on grudges.

Laugh when you can.

Apologize when you should. 

Let go of what you can't change." 

~Anon.

 

Gratitude for Good Things

This last week was a busy one for me, so it is nice  to slow down, take a break and focus on the good things that happened.  To do this, I am joining with Susanne over at Living to Tell the Story for Friday's Fave Five and Rebecca Jo at Knit by God's Hand for Thankful Thursday. 

An afternoon at home - We had College Day at school this week, and I ended up having to give up my classroom for the afternoon so college presentations could take place there.  It turned out fine, though, because I was able to come home a little early and take a lovely early afternoon walk in the February sunshine with Charly.  After the walk, I took a short nap, which I needed.  It was nice to have the afternoon at home. 

Virtual parent-teacher conferences - We had parent- teacher conferences two evenings this week, and we got to do the first night (Tuesday) virtually.  It was nice to be in my own home, and meet with parents over Zoom.  There were a couple of glitches, but overall, things went well. 

Dinner provided - the school always provides dinner for the teachers and staff on parent -teacher conference evenings.  We had in-person conferences on Wednesday and the school provided soup, salad and breadsticks from Olive Garden.  It is always a nice perk to get a good dinner at school on busy parent-teacher nights. 

The view from my classroom - I have spent a lot of time in classrooms over the years, but this is the first classroom I have had with two windows and a wonderful view of the mountains.  This was sunrise on Wednesday morning.  I thought it was interesting how the sun broke through the clouds and was shining down on just one section of the mountain. 

This is sunset on the same day.  You can see how the setting sun shows light on just the bottom part of the mountains.  It was more stunning than the picture shows.  

This was sunrise on Thursday morning. So beautiful.  I am grateful that I am able to look out my window and see the changing sky and light on the mountains throughout the day. 

Time to relax - when I got home from the second night of parent-teacher conferences, I was exhausted.  It was so nice to take a hot shower, put on my pjs and relax with some good reading until bedtime.  

More comfortable masks - I am still masking up at school, and both Charly and I mask up when we go out in public (please, no comments disparaging mask wearing now that some mask mandates have been lifted.  We are doing things the way we feel is best for us).  I recently found that KN94 masks that are just as protective as the recommended KN95 masks, yet far more comfortable and better fitting.  Even the elastic that goes around the ears is softer and not as irritating. In this picture, I am wearing a Korean made KN94 mask.  I ordered some a while back and they took a while to arrive, but I can really tell the difference in fit and comfort.  I am grateful these much better masks finally arrived.   We will continue wearing masks as long as we feel it is right for us.  😊

Josh recovering - last, but not least, Josh is doing better and has returned to work and school (still masked up). He said he feels a little better every day, but still can't taste food very well.  So far, Charly and I have not caught Covid from him, and we feel cautiously optimistic that we won't.  I appreciate the way Josh has taken precautions to keep Charly and I well, like eating by himself and masking up when he is upstairs around us.   

That's it for this week of gratitude.  Now, I have a three-day weekend and a possible adventure in the making.  More on that in my next post. 

See you again soon. 

😊Deb💖

"It isn't what you have in your pocket that makes you thankful, 

but what you have in your heart."

~Anon.