Highlights of the Week and Weekend Before Christmas

It's been another busy week and weekend.  Here are some of the highlights, and things, big and small, for which I am very grateful this week.

Last Tuesday, the sale of our condo closed. The whole thing basically went off without a hitch, and we are both incredibly grateful that everything went OK, and that we have closed this chapter, and made a little money that we will roll over into a home we will move into when I retire. 

This is that house! After we signed papers for the sale of our condo, we went to the home inspection at this townhome we are buying in Utah County.  Yes, this is a different house than we thought we were going to buy, but his one is much bigger and in much nicer inside.  In fact, it is just perfect for us, and we are so grateful that the home inspection went really well. This townhome has been well taken care of, and is beautiful and spacious.  We will move in a little at a time because I need to stay in our current place until the end of the school year, but we are very excited and grateful to be moving closer to our grandchildren and many other things we love in Utah County.  We are also keeping the house we bought in Southern Utah about a year and a half ago. Right now, we are renting that house, but eventually, we plan to make it a second home and divide our time between Utah  County and Southern Utah.  

This is the street our new home is on.  I love the awesome mountain view. 

Also last week, I received this wonderful, thoughtful Christmas gift from my long-time blogging friend Faith over at Gold in the Clouds. Faith and I have been blog friends for many years.  Hers was one of the first blogs I followed when I started blogging "back in the day."  This National Park tote bag, pouch and stickers, which she sent me, is the perfect gift because I love the National Parks and we try to visit these special places in our nation whenever we get the opportunity.  Thank you so much, Faith!

Friday was the final day of school before Christmas break, and official end of the first half of the school year.   I am counting the days left in the school year, as you can see.  When I go back to school January 5, 2026, there will be 97 days left in the school year.

Our school admin tried to make it a fun day for the students. We had shortened class periods, then there was a student vs. teacher basketball game, and then school was dismissed early. 

A student gave me this sweet note on Friday.  The note was completely unsolicited and done on her own.  I found it my box Friday morning, and it honestly brought tears to my eyes.  I had some problems with this student my first couple of weeks at the school, then I decided to focus on forming a positive relationship with her, and it has succeeded. She also turned in a lot of assignments and brought her grade up in the class.  It made me feel like I might miss teaching just a bit after I retire. 

It was nice to be out of school early, and after school, Charly and I went back to take care of some more business having to do with the purchase of the home. We stopped and had lunch at our favorite Asian place, which will be a lot closer to us after we move to our new home in Utah County. 

When we got home, I was tired and a little stressed and decided to relax with some homemade hot cocoa, which my daughter made and gave me.  It is really good - much better than store bought stuff, in my opinion. 

Friday night, I finished reading this book Cratchit - A Christmas Carol Continues by R. M. Bouknight. I gave it 3/5 stars on Goodreads.  It was not anywhere near as good as Dicken's original A Christmas Carol  - but then, most sequels by someone other than the original author are not.  

I'm also pleased and grateful that my Christmas Cactus is blooming  again.   This is how it looked on Friday. 

Saturday morning was rainy.  We still haven't had any snow in the valley.  It has just been too warm.  We walked at the mall before the stores opened.  

Saturday afternoon, we went to a wonderful Christmas performance that focused on the true story of Jesus, his birth and life.  It was awesome.  Our son-in-law got the tickets for us, and he and two of our granddaughters met us and watched the performance with us.  It was a great event that focused on Jesus Christ and the real meaning of the holiday we are celebrating. 

Sunday was a blustery day - cloudy and windy, but no snow or rain. The high was about 60 degrees.  I got up about 6:30 a.m..  Before we went to church, I called my birth mother and talked to her for a while, thanked her for a gift card she sent us for Christmas and wished her a Merry Christmas. 

We had a special Christmas service at church, and we sang lots of Christmas songs.  You can see that our congregation is not very large.  Rumor has it that our congregation may be combined with another nearby congregation in the near future. 

After church, we had refreshments - mostly Christmas cookies and milk. 

Most of the people in our congregation stayed, and we visited as we enjoyed some Christmas cookies.   There are many older people in our congregation, but also a few younger families with children.

Our Sunday dinner was meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and green salad.  Comfort food.  It was good. 

As the new week starts, I am reading three books - Charles Dickens' original Christmas classic - A Christmas Carol, Christ versus Caesar by Connor Boyack, and Christmas Through Jewish Eyes by Mitch Glasser. 

Gratitude:

• Selling our little condo. 
• Attending the wonderful Savior of the World performance.
• Making it halfway through the school year.
• Finding a great townhouse in Utah County to buy and move to. 

Praying for:

• Josh as he moves into his own place in January and looks for a new job. 
• My grandchildren. 
• Our nation.

Looking forward to:

• Taking our grandson to lunch this week. 
• Seeing our grandchildren when we take their presents to them. 
• Christmas.
• A post-Christmas getaway to St. George.

That's all for this post.  Have a good week and have a 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Until next time, 

🎄Deb🎄

Gorgeous Fall Weekend

 Here are some highlights of this weekend. 

Friday night I met up with two friends and we went to dinner at this place, Cafe Delice.  It was already dark when we were there. This is a picture of the place that I found online.  We had a very nice dinner and visit.  One of the friends is going to be moving to Arizona later this month, and she will be missed. 

Saturday was an absolutely gorgeous fall day, however, it was a bit chilly.

The fall leaves in our area are at their peak, and they are beautiful. 

We went to the mall to walk before the stores opened.  If you look closely, you will see some Christmas decorations in the picture. 

Later, we went to Utah County and looked at some more houses.  We saw a couple that would work for us.  We just need to sell that little condo.  

After looking at the houses, we went to lunch at our favorite place to eat, the BYU Creamery on the BYU campus. They make the best burgers and fries there.  

Sunday was another beautiful, bright, chilly fall day.  We went to church as usual. 

 

It was our children's program Sunday.  Once a year, the worship service program is put on completely by the children and their teachers. The children's program is always well-attended and there were lots of people at church

After church, I ate lunch, then took a lovely Sunday nap.  A friend from our church congregation brought over a "Happy Sabbath" treat of some chocolate/peanut butter candy and a candle.  I visited with my friend for quite a while so I didn't get my usual Sunday afternoon walk.  

I made sheet pan roasted chicken dinner with chicken, potatoes, onions, green beans and carrots.  This has become one of our favorite Sunday dinners.  We all enjoy it. 

While we were eating dinner, I got a text from my 14-year-old grandson with the picture above. He had baked homemade bread and the whole family had enjoyed the fresh, hot bread with the Huckleberry jam and honey we brought them from our trip to Idaho in October.  I'm so glad they liked the honey and jam.

After I post this, Charly and I will watch a video about the archeology of the miracle of the parting of the Red Sea described in the Bible book of Exodus. I also plan to do some reading. I am reading this very interesting nonfiction, Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker.   I'm also reading Christ Versus Caesar by Connor Boyack.   I'm reading both books on my Kindle.

Weekend gratitude:

• Having a nice Saturday in Utah County.
• Seeing the grandkids on Saturday.
• Getting together with friends. 
• Worshipping at church. 

Praying for:

• My children and grandchildren who are experiencing challenges and struggles.
• An end to the government shutdown.
• Safety at school.
• A quick sale of our little condo. 

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

Until next time,

😊Deb💖

"Give thanks unto the Lord;

for he is good

for his mercy endureth 

forever."

~I Chronicles 16:34

Best of a Mid-May Weekend

 

Here are some of  the best parts from the past weekend.  

I came home Friday afternoon to some personal snail mail - always an extra treat. Inside the envelope was this lovely belated Mother's Day card from my blogging friend Billie Jo over at Afternoon Coffee and Evening Tea.  Billie Jo has been a wonderful blogging friend of mine for many years and the card and sweet note inside made my day.

You can see the card on the right-hand side of our mantle with the other Mother's Day cards I received this year.   Thank you so much for thinking of me, Billie Jo!

Friday night after dinner, Charly and I went to worship at a temple not far from our home.  When life gets stressful, the quiet contemplation and worship in the temple help bring me peace.  

Saturday morning, Charly and I got some exercise by walking almost two miles in the mall.  It's a little weekend change-of-pace from walking at the rec. center. 

We drove to Utah County to have lunch at our favorite Asian place.  We love the food there. 

We also wanted to go to a couple of used book sale events that were taking place in Utah County.  One sale was a going-out-of-business sale for a used bookstore we had always wanted to visit. We finally went in and looked around on the last day it was in business.  We got several books for $1 each.  We then went to a warehouse book sale in the same town and got a few more books. Some were $1 and a few were $2.  We had fun looking at all the books and we weren't alone. Both sales were quite crowded with book lovers in search of a bargain.

Here are some of the books I brought home.  

I was very excited to find several Hardy Boys books and one Nancy Drew book to add to my growing collection. Three of the Hardy Boys books have the original 1970s cover. 

Here's what my growing collection looks like now.  It seems to be much easier to find Hardy Boys books than Nancy Drew books.  I'm guessing that more people have held on to and still collect Nancy Drew books. 

On the way home, we stopped and picked up take-n-bake deli pizza for dinner.   The one we got on Saturday was a taco pizza and it was delicious!

We have pizza quite often, but pizza with a green salad on the side is one of my favorite meals.  

Rain was in the forecast for Saturday evening, and the later in the day it got, the more cool, cloudy, and windy it was. 

The rain started over night, and continued into Sunday morning. This is the view of my street shortly after I got up on Sunday. 

By the time we got to church mid-morning, it was raining even harder.   There was a freeze warning issued for parts of our state, and a winter storm warning for the mountains predicted up to 17 inches of spring snow.  Fortunately, we got only rain where we are. 

Our church service was good.  I talked to a friend in the congregation who is one of my best friends in this area and found out that she plans to put her house on the market and move to Arizona where her father lives.  I was a little sad at this news, but I also know that she hasn't been happy with her current situation for a while, so I wasn't totally surprised.  After church, I was very tired so took a little nap.  A little extra rest is always good and napping is a great thing to do on a rainy Sunday afternoon.

We have a very "domesticated squirrel" in our backyard. One of my neighbors actually feeds him. He was up on the outside window ledge Sunday afternoon.  It was almost like he was trying to see what was going on in our kitchen!  Here he is sitting on the railing in the rain,  just a few feet from the back door.   He is quite interesting to watch. 

I did some reading Sunday afternoon and finished the book A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea by Melissa Fleming. The book is about a family of refugees from Syria and the horrific things that happened to them.  It was a hard book to read in parts, but very eye-opening.  I didn't know much about Syria or what had happened there in the mid-2000s so I learned a lot from reading this book. 

I admit to not being super energetic or motivated Sunday afternoon, but since it was the Sabbath - a day of rest - I think that's OK.  I listened to a couple of scripture study YouTube/Podcasts that I enjoy and always learn from. 

Sunday dinner was crock pot cooked beef cubes and gravy over rice and mashed potatoes, along with a green salad and fresh steamed green beans.  Good comfort food we all enjoyed.  

Later, Josh and I both decided that we needed a walk. The rain had stopped but there were still plenty of clouds and it wasn't very warm.  We walked at one of our favorite walking paths which is several miles from our home.   It was a nice way to end our Sunday. 

Weekend gratitude:

• Receiving a Mother's Day card from my blog friend, Billie Jo.
• Worshipping at the temple Friday night. 
• Enjoying a "day date" in Utah County with my husband. 
• Getting a good soaking rain - great for our garden plants. 
• Chatting with a friend before church. 
• Walking with Josh after Sunday dinner. 

Praying for:

• Josh to be able to go full-time on his job. 
• Our grandchildren.
• Resolution to my work situation so I can retire when I want to. 
• Help in selling out income-property condo. 
• Our nation.

That's all for now.  Have a great week!

Until next time,

😊 Deb 💖