Another September Week - Almost Fall

Wow, September is almost half over.  The older I get, the faster time passes.  Here are some of my favorite things from the past week.  

The new Rose of Sharon bush that I bought and planted over the Labor Day weekend seems to LOVE its new home in my front yard.  It is healthy and thriving and giving us beautiful flowers to enjoy. 

I'm excited that the little bare root apple tree that we bought for $10 and planted last spring has finally started to come out in leaf.  I think that the sunny days and cooler temperatures have helped bring it out of dormancy.  I hope that this tree will survive the coming winter months. 

These are some of the little grape tomatoes I harvested from small tomato garden.  These tomatoes are so delicious!  I'm so glad that I have room for a few tomatoes in my small backyard.

We've had some lovely fall-like weather this past week.  Our temperatures were still warm - in the 80s, but the evenings and mornings were cooler.  I'm loving the fall leaves turning on the mountain sides near my home. 

I subscribed to Angel streaming service this past summer, and as part of that, we have been getting free movie tickets to Angel releases. This past week, we saw the new Angel film Runner.   It was a good action-packed movie, with no objectionable language or sex, although there was violence.  Charly and I enjoyed the movie and we are looking forward to more free movies as they are released by Angel Studios. 

Our big project this week was moving things around in our garage because we are going to have some storage shelves built in our garage this coming week. 

Josh came down on Saturday and helped us with moving some of the heavier things.  His help is much appreciated. 

This is the wall where the shelves will be built beginning Monday.

Sunday morning brought some blue skies, but also some low, dark clouds, as you can see in this picture of nearby Mt. Timpanogos. 

We went to church Sunday morning.  We always get there a few minutes before the service begins and there weren't many people there when we got there.  A few minutes later, when the service began, the chapel was full. 

In our Sunday School class, after the worship service, we were studying Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.  

Sunday was my birth mom's 87th birthday. Here is a picture of her that my sister texted me.  I think mom looks pretty good for 87.  She is also in good health mentally and physically so that is a great blessing!

Josh ate dinner with us Sunday, then when he went home, I went for an evening walk.  It was a great way to end a very good and restful Sunday.

This past week, I've been reading The Secret Lives of Utah Wives on my Kindle.  When I started the book, I had my doubts, however, I am finding it an excellent, tightly written mystery.  I am really enjoying it. The plot of the book really doesn't have much to do with Utah, other than the using the names of some well-known places in the state.  So far, there isn't much objectionable in it. 

I'm also reading this scripture study book about the characteristics of Jesus Christ  and how he helps us with our problems - Wonderful Counselor. 

Gratitude for this week:

• Worshipping at the temple this past week. 
• Getting an email from my granddaughter who is studying Norwegian and will be going to Norway to be a missionary soon. 
• Getting our garage ready for the new shelves. 
• Having Josh come down to stay with us over the weekend. 

Praying for: 

• My children and grandchildren. 
• Our nation.

Looking forward to:

• Getting our garage shelves built. 
• Going on a little trip next month. 

Until next time,

😊Deb💖

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💖

 

Spring Break Week and Moving Day

This last week, I had the whole week off from school. This was the last spring break of my career because I am retiring at the end of May.  There were no trips and not much relaxation during this spring break, because we are right in the middle of moving to our new home.  Here's how the week went. 

Monday, we donated three big furniture pieces to The Other Side Academy which helps those overcoming addiction and incarceration.  This organization runs a used furniture store which we love, and we have bought several pieces of furniture from them, but this week it was time to give back and donate some unwanted and unneeded furniture items.  The two men who came to pick up our donations were incredibly strong and skilled at moving heavy furniture and they had our items out in their truck in no time at all.

Tuesday, we took time out of the busyness of moving to worship at the temple on morning.  The flowers in front of the temple were gorgeous.   The picture does not do them justice, but they were fragrant and very lovely. 

Worshipping at the temple with my sweetheart always makes me happy!

We made daily trips to our new home, and also to the thrift store with items to donate. 

I also went through a lot of old files and spent quite a while shredding documents and bills we don't need anymore.  I'm embarrassed to say that I found some bills from our dentist in Arizona dating back to 2002!  We paid those long ago!

Thursday was moving day. The moving van arrived at our old house at 8:45 a.m..

The moving crew was skilled, fast, and efficient. They had all of the heavy furniture in our house loaded up in the truck in about an hour. 

Here is the almost empty truck in front of our new home after everything was unloaded.  The entire process from start to finish only took about three hours. 

Thursday night, after doing some unpacking and arranging at our new house, we returned to the old house to do some yard work.  We will be staying in this house, most nights, until the school year is over at the end of May, but it is mostly empty now, and will go on the market for sale within a week or two. 

Charly and I both needed pedicures, so we took care of that Friday morning.  We have both found that getting pedicures every few weeks helps our foot health.  I haven't had an ingrown nail since I started getting regular pedicures. 

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were cooler and cloudy.  We received some much-needed rain.   We stayed both Friday and Saturday nights at our new home.

Of course, we still have lots of unpacking and arranging to do at the new place, but we are making progress.  Two projects I accomplished over the weekend at our new house were setting up our doorbell camera and, also installing a new shower head in the master bathroom.  

Sunday, we attended church in the congregation near our new home. We will go to church there from now on. This picture of Jesus was the first thing we saw when we walked through the door of the church, and I knew I was in the right place.  

This is our new chapel and congregation getting ready for the worship service to begin Sunday morning. 

We went back to the old house after church because I had listed these bookcases for sale on Facebook Marketplace, and the buyer wanted to come and pick them up.  

The bookcases are gone now, and the family room is nearly empty except for a few things that we will be taking to the new house in the next few days. 

After the bookcases were picked up, I went for a walk around the old neighborhood.  It was cloudy and windy, but I managed to finish my walk without getting rained on. 

Dinner was Asian chicken, vegetables, and noodles with French bread.    It came from the grocery store deli and wasn't as good as I had hoped it would be.  Nothing beats home cooking, and I hope to do much more of that again once this move is finished. 

Tonight, after I post this, I plan to finish this book that I have been reading for a while.  I know the author. We went to the same church congregation when we lived in Arizona.  She has written a lot of books and I have read a few, and this one is the best one so far.  Charly and I had toyed with the idea of packing the car and making one more Sunday night run to the new home, but we are both tired, and I go back to school tomorrow, so I need to get ready for that.  This has been a busy and exhausting spring break and I hope to get in bed early and sleep well. 

Gratitude:

• Being on the last spring break of my career. 
• Getting all of our heavy furniture moved to the new home. 
• Traveling safely back and forth between two homes. 
• Attending church at our new congregation. 
• Worshipping at the temple. 
• Getting rain!

Praying For:

• Our children and grandchildren.
• Help in selling our home. 
• Our nation. 
• Our military.

Looking Forward To:

• Taking Thursday and Friday off to attend a history, theology, and apologetics conference. 
• Completing the school year and retiring in 34 school days!

That's all for now.  Thanks for stopping by.  Have a good week. 

Until next time, 

😊Deb💖

"Take therefore no thought for the morrow:

For the morrow shall take thought 

for the things of itself.  

Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."

Matthew 6:34 KJV