Sunday! Sunday! Sunday Stealing!

Welcome to Sunday Stealing. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

This week we return to steal again from Manic Monday, a blog that is no more.

Just Another Manic Monday

1. What is something you should throw away, but just can't bring yourself to part with? 

Sometimes I have a hard time throwing away sentimental items. Mark nor I are "keepers." We don't like clutter and we don't have a lot of tchotchkes (I looked up the spelling for that word! There are a lot of consonants and very few vowels in that word!!). We still have full cabinets, closets, attic, and garage. My office upstairs might be the one room that has too much stuff. That is where the sentimental things, like art from our granddaughters, goes to live.

Lots of artwork from trips in the hallway
and family photos and kid's drawings in my office

2. When you make yourself a sandwich, do you cut it on the diagonal, straight up the middle, or not at all? 

The only sandwich I usually cut is a grilled cheese. After making the sandwich, I cut the crusts off and eat those first. Sometimes I cut the sandwich into four little squares and sometimes I just eat the rest of the sandwich whole (minus crusts that I've already eaten). 

3. What song or sound brings back memories of childhood? 

Jesus loves the little children. 

All the children of the world. 

Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight. 

Jesus loves the little children of the world.

I remember singing that song in Sunday School and Vacation Bible school as a kid. I imagine it isn't politically correct in 2025. From what I understand, the song was meant to be more inclusive back in the 1960's, but today it may be racist, and if so, I truly apologize for even typing the lyrics. 

I think one of the sounds that brings back childhood memories would be lawnmowers on Saturday mornings (along with the smell of freshly mown grass).

You didn't ask this -- but a smell that takes me back to childhood is of a roast cooking in the oven or homemade vegetable beef soup cooking on the stove.

4. Who is the first person you call when you have good news? 

If Mark isn't with me, he is usually the first person I call! I usally call or text our kids, too.

5. Have you ever set out on a walk in the rain? 

Are you asking if I went on a walk in the rain for pleasure or exercise? I have, but not in a few years. When we are traveling in another country and are there for a limited amount of time, we head out in the rain quite often.

Kylemore Abbey in the rain (horrible selfie) Galway, Ireland

Rain jackets on a cold and rainy day in Israel

It's a Hodgepodge

 

1. What does adventure mean to you? 

Adventure is something "out of the norm" for me. It can also be a healthy way to look at things. One time we had a HUGE snowstorm in Alabama. We even had green lightning. Our kids were in kindergarten. When things thawed and Mark was back at work, his co-worker said, "we just looked at the whole thing as an adventure." It wasn't planned, but when it happened they rolled with it and called it an adventure. 

I also think that our international travels are an adventure. Mark and I love going to new places and seeing and learning new things.

2.  What are your thoughts on tipping? What businesses or service providers do you regularly tip? Do you resent being asked if you'd like to add a tip? What about when a suggested amount is presented? 

Since covid, I routinely tip at least 20%, unless the service is horrible (which rarely happens). Every Wednesday, Mark eats breakfast with several other guys. Their server has Mark's coffee ready almost as soon as he walks through the door. They tip her generously every week, and then at Christmas, the give her a Christmas card with a very nice tip enclosed. I tip servers in restaurants. I tip the nail tech when I get a pedicure (20-25% - depends on how good the massage is!). I tip my hair stylist - usually a flat $25. I struggle with tipping when I order at the counter. There is a place in town where I eat at least once a month. You order at a counter, but they do deliver your food to the table. They have the percentage amounts on the screen as you pay. There have been a few times where having the suggested amounts on the screen have actually "hurt" the server. I pick one, but might have tipped more if I were just adding it on.

3. I scream you scream we all scream for ice cream...do we? Is ice cream a favorite treat at your house? What's your favorite flavor? Regular, soft serve, gelato, sherbet, or some sort of non-dairy version of ice cream...what's your pleasure? 

We only buy ice cream if we are serving a dessert to company that needs ice cream (cobbler, apple roll, etc.). I don't eat it anymore, but I do love a good strawberry or a chocolate and peanut butter flavor. I actually like all of the kinds. Mark and I make "banana ice cream" about once a week. We slice very ripe bananas and freeze them. We then put them in the food processor along with a few blueberries or a couple of strawberries or some fresh frozen peaches . . .chop and blend until creamy. It may sound weird, but it is delicious.

4. What's your 'back in my day, we____________________ ' story or saying? 

Back in my day, if you missed your favorite TV show . . .you missed it! VCR's had not been invented yet. There were no streaming services. Actually, we had 3 TV channels - period. Also, back in my day, all phones had cords and you hoped your phone had a really long cord so you could pull it into another room away from your family. I remember when rotary dials went away. I remember when we got our first cordless phone!! I also remember when I got my first cell phone. It was MASSIVE.

Ours was very similar to this one!

our phone looked like this!

5. Somehow this is our last Hodgepodge in the month of June. Next week's Hodgepodge lands in July. Wow. Sum up your June using three adjectives. 

Full. Emotional. Purposeful

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

By this time next week, I will have my first class at Samford University under my belt. (Summer semester for me consists of two five week terms.) I have been terribly worried about my transition from community college to a four year university . . .but I'm closing in on the end of the first class!! My final is July 2. I have two projects due this week. I emailed the professor and asked if there would be a study guide for the final. NOPE. oh well . . .

This and That from Last Week

Photo Overload

Please don't feel bad if you skip over (but please feel free to stay and look!)

The United Methodist Church has missionaries all over the world. Our church (Trinity) usually has one or two trips per year to work with our missionary in Panama and one trip to Costa Rica and sometimes one trip to Africa.

Hannah (second from the left below) led a trip to Costa Rica last year and loved it so much that she led a trip last week. Last year, the team was five young adults from our Tuesday night group. This year, there were three from our group and two people from my age group. They returned on Saturday with smiles on their faces. 

We have a man on our church staff who has been working with us for over 25 years BUT he thinks that last week was his 25th anniversary. Hans was a part of a local program - Horizons - which teaches life skills to folks who might not otherwise be able to live alone. He came to work at Trinity after completing that program many years ago. Horizons is affiliated with UAB so when people are talking about where they attended college, he tells them he graduated from UAB. All of that to say, we celebrated like last week was the official 25th anniversary. We gave him a trophy and I picked up GINORMOUS balloons. He was happy!

Mark spent two days at the farm and got even more done on the kitchen. They reused cabinets from two of our houses and it is coming together. This has been a long time coming.

On Friday afternoon, our daughter, son-in-law, and our almost six-year-old granddaughter arrived. Laura, Mark, and I headed out to Oven Bird for the rehearsal dinner for our niece, Grace. It was the start to a busy and fun weekend.

Saturday morning dawned bright and early and Laura and I packed up our stuff and drove to our sister-in-law's house to help host a "morning of the wedding day brunch" for Grace and the women from the two families that were in town.

Grace is very talented. You may remember that she painted the big picture that hangs in my kitchen. She paints and does other artistic things really well. (she is an engineer by education)

She had painted sunflowers years ago and we used that painting on the invitations and as our theme (van Gogh-ish).

I even found wooden skewers with sunflowers for the fruit kebabs. You give our family a theme and we can run with it!

I never could get high enough over this to get both names fully in the photo. We were using fiesta dishes so we went with fun primary colors. Bob made the donut holder and it was so cute. They can mount it on the wall and hang mugs on it or they can put it in one of their offices at their house and use it as fun & quirky art.

I made a lettuce and avocado and green onion salad with a homemade lemon vinaigrette. It was so good.

The party favors were little tiny easels painted in primary colors with a square sugar cookie art piece. The cookie baker was able to take the art that Grace painted and make the cookies look like miniature canvases of her painting.

We used Grandmother's silver goblets - we loved the juxtaposition of fun fiestaware alongside the silver goblets. Mark's momma would have loved the party. We sure do miss her. She's been gone a year this month.

There were six of us at the kitchen table.

Isn't the dining room lovely?

There were 10 ladies in the dining room.

As soon as the party was over, everyone headed to their respective homes or back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding.

At the rehearsal dinner, the groom's mom had cool light sticks on the table for everyone and we brought several home for our granddaughter to have. She loved them!

We had to be at the church at 3:15 for family photos. Traffic was at a standstill and we literally had to go south and then east and all around the world to get there. We were only a few minutes late. I wish my daughter-in-law had told me the trick below (my arm over toward Mark) when we were taking the big family photo. I can tell you right now that I'm not going to be happy with that family photo BUT the day wasn't about me :-). Mark and I married in this same sanctuary 41 years ago.

Grace had painted two little birds that were then reproduced on the wedding invitations. She felted the two birds on top of the wedding cake as the topper. They were lovely.

The reception was held at The Club. I was teaching our granddaughter that it isn't the Club, but The Club. Both words are said equally strong. The (with a long E) - I don't know if that makes sense, but it is the way it has always been pronounced.

The wedding cake layers were not all the same flavor - some were strawberry and some were red velvet.

The groom's cake was 450 baby bites. If you are ever in Birmingham, swing by Pastry Art to taste a baby bite. You won't be disappointed.

Both the bride and groom are Auburn graduates (in engineering).

The flowers at the reception were gorgeous. My sister-in-law (the mother of the bride) made the bark vases. She loves flowers.

The picture frame below was on a big easel as you entered the room. You can see the birds that Grace painted.

Grace and Paul cut the cake at some point in the evening. Everyone said it was yummy.

Here are our two oldest granddaughters - Our oldest is 9 and our middle granddaughter is just a few weeks shy of 6.

This is our son, daughter-in-law, and oldest granddaughter.

While we were waiting for the service to begin, the girls were playing games. (These photos are totally out of order - these were at the church and I've already shown you the reception. Blogger has not been nice to me lately regarding the loading of photos.)

The oldest has a Louis Vuitton purse that she has had for years. When she was three she called it her woowie.

We headed home after the reception and went to bed not long after we arrived at home. I left for work at 6:45 a.m. Sunday morning while everyone else was still fast asleep (except for Mark). He stayed home and played with our granddaughter when she woke up. They left to drive home while I was still at work. I was the only Elliott "representing" at church on Sunday morning and I told our Sunday School class that I was on the payroll! (not for teaching but for working the welcome desk)

I left the church at 11:15 and drove home and Mark and I dragged a couple of things out of the fridge and ate a quick bite of lunch and I took a 30 minute nap. I was out cold. My alarm went off and we hopped up and got dressed again. A former associate pastor, Suzanne Pruitt, died last week after a long battle with cancer. I was blessed to know her as a pastor and a friend and a co-worker. Her daughters had her funeral in north Alabama on Saturday, but she was inurned in our columbarium at Trinity. The service was at 2:00 p.m. and my car thermometer said it was 95 degrees. They moved the main portion into a glassed in hallway that overlooks the columbarium due to the heat. We only had to stand outside for a final prayer and for them to place her ashes in the niche.

I shared with y'all about glueing on the new crosses. Doesn't it look lovely? Rest in peace, sweet Suzanne.

My car has been having a gas vapor lock issue so we stopped at Mark's twin brother's house to borrow a car so we could put mine in the shop. Now imagine all we've done over this weekend and how tired we were. We took the car. Mark filled out the information on the envelope. I handed him the key fob and he dropped it all into the overnight box at the dealership. We drove to our house (not far) and when we pulled into the driveway I asked Mark, "do you have a house key?" Mine is now in the dropbox. We called around and no one had a key. Why not??? They will all have keys after this week. Our daughter, who lives an hour and a half away had a key. She had just arrived home and we called and said, "can you meet us halfway?" We started driving and I said, "why don't we call a locksmith?" I googled and called the first one (not recommended) and he said he could be there in 25 minutes. Red flag #1 - he wouldn't give me an estimate over the phone. When he got here, it was significantly higher than he indicated, but by that point. . .money was just that - money.

My hair is literally stuck to my head. We had on dress clothes and we were sitting on our front porch sweating!

He arrived and we took him around to the back door. Of course, we have the kind of lock that can't be picked. He had to drill it out. I gave him 5 stars on google simply because he did arrive on time and he did fix it. Last night, I actually put a chair in front of the door . . .just in case. Mark replaced the locks today.

After all of that, we went into the house and changed clothes. I had to change EVERYTHING. TMI? After we changed, he went to the garage and I went upstairs. We knew we were too tired to try to talk about anything.

So . . .how was your weekend? or last week?

I'm coming to the end of this summer mini term. My final is July 2. I have a couple of big (ish) projects due this week - I have to create a 15 minute teaching video with slides for the project that is due Wednesday night.

If you read all of this, you deserve a prize!!

Sunday Stealing

 Welcome to Sunday Stealing. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

This week we were inspired by Lucky Zoan. She suggested themes for letters to particular people. Let's change it up a bit and imagine conversations rather than correspondence.

What Would You Say At This Moment to: (I wrote my answers on Friday night and I just now realized that I didn't answer them "correctly" -- I answered the first two according to the prompt, and the rest . . .so I'm adding extra quick responses now at 5:21 a.m.)

1) Someone you have hurt? I am so very sorry. Please accept my deepest apologies. Please forgive me.

2) Someone who has hurt you? I will be honest. I might not be able to say this at the moment whatever event happened, but I hope to eventually say, "I forgive you." I have very strong feelings about this. I can forgive someone BUT I do NOT have to be reconciled with that person. Some hurts are too egregious. Our failure to forgive usually only hurts us in that type of situation.

3) Your favorite teacher from grade school? I had several favorites. I went to a small elementary school where we had 2 classes for each grade (1-6). Back then, we didn't have public kindergarten. Sometimes I loved the teacher of the other class more than my own teacher. Ms. Vann was especially lovely. Thank you for teaching me not just about reading, writing, and 'rithmatic, but thank you for teaching me about life.

4) Your most hated teacher from high school? I didn't hate him, but I made the worst grade of my school career to date in his class. I made a D one six week period. It was geometry taught by Coach Grostick. He shouldn't have been teaching geometry. (Coach Grostick - you should have told them, "no thank you! I don't teach geometry." I know you tried hard. I really do!)  I loved Ms. Ferebee. She was young and beautiful and kind. I also loved Ms. Studdard who was ancient and a tough teacher but I learned so much from her. I had a huge crush on Mr. Romanell (sp?). His first name was Juan and I think all of the girls had a crush on him.

5) Your best friend from college? Considering I'm in college NOW at 67 years old, I didn't have a best friend in college (in the 18-21 age frame). I did take some classes at UAB at night when I was 20 or so, and I do remember socializing with some of my classmates. Now I am in a co-hort of women who are studying the same major online and we have to discuss a lot of things. 

6) Your favorite recording artist? I have no idea. Seriously. (How about "thank you for the music"?)

7) Your favorite author? I love too many to name! I just finished, "Killers of a Certain Age" about four women who were assassins in a covert government operation and they are now retirement age. It is by Deanna Raybourne. I do love James Patterson, too. I also like Jana Deleon. (Thank you for giving me hours upon hours of pleasure. I love to read. All the cool kids are reading!!)

8) Your first boss? I wrapped presents in a department store my senior year of high school. I don't remember who my boss was. I went to work at South Central Bell after high school and I can see the lady in my mind's eye, but can't remember her name. I've had some memorable bosses. I loved Mel. He was a great boss. I worked for a man by the name of Ed Onimus and I need to write a whole post about those years. Goodness gracious. (To Mel: Thank you for helping me through some really tough times and for being a great boss and friend. To Mr. Onimus: As a grown man, you should not have acted that way. You really should be ashamed.)

9) Your first love? In the 6th grade, I had a crush on Billy Wentz. I dated a couple of other guys in highschool where the whole group moved from one place to the next. Then I met Jimmy, my first husband. We were married for 18 months and he left because he was gay. This was a long long time ago. After our divorce, I thought I was in love with a guy named Jim (ironic on the name choice). After we broke up, I dated several guys until I met Mark. We've been married 41 years. (To Jimmy: I'm sorry you tried to be someone you couldn't be. May you rest in peace.)

10) Your true love? As I just said, Mark and I have been married 41 years. (To Mark: I love you!)

our wedding in May of 1984

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.

Hodgepodge Number 607

Joyce has written questions/prompts for us 607 times. Y'all - we should give Joyce a prize!! Here are this week's questions:

1. Summer officially begins this week (in the northern hemisphere)...what was your favorite thing to do in the summer when you were a kid? In the summer, we played kickball and a game that resembled baseball (with a much softer ball). We spent hours singing and swinging. We put on beauty pageants using picnic benches as the runway and the picnic table was the stage. We spent hours playing with our Barbies. We used shoe boxes and wash cloths and made elaborate Barbie houses. Recently, I posted the picture below -- those are the girls I grew up with . . .plus we had boys in the neighborhood.

What do you like most about summer now? I LOVE LOVE LOVE the hours and hours of daylight. I wish we could have it year round. It is daylight at about 5:17 and it gets dark about 8:20. 

2.  Something you'll celebrate this summer? We celebrated my birthday on Saturday! Our niece is getting married this Saturday and we will attend the rehearsal dinner on Friday night. On Saturday morning my sister-in-law and I are hosting a "morning of the wedding" brunch for Grace and the ladies. The wedding is Saturday night and the reception is at The Club. It will be fun! Mark's sister's birthday is in July and Mark's birthday is in August - so even more things to celebrate!

3. Summer tastes like? ripe watermelon Smells like? grass that has been freshly mowed (or is it mown?) and coppertone sunscreen Sounds like? birds singing at 5:00 a.m.

4. June 18th is National Splurge Day...what's the last thing you splurged on? I don't think I splurged, but I bought several new dresses. When we were at dinner on Saturday night, our friend ordered a burger that came with french fries. The french fries were fried in beef tallow. I asked for one and it was so delicious!! What might you splurge on today? I don't have plans to splurge on anything, but if I do  . . . I'll let y'all know!

5. Share a favorite summer quote, saying, song lyric, or meme. I live in Alabama and it is always hot and humid in the summer. Here is a good meme! This meme is actually truth!

Summertime music would be something played on steel drums like you might hear in the Bahamas or Jimmy Buffet singing "Margaritaville" or "It's Five O'clock Somewhere."

Summertime quote is also from Jimmy Buffet, "If there's heaven for me, I'm sure it has a beach attached to it." 

6. Insert your own random thought here. I've made an appointment with the designer, Liz, at ELM. ELM is the company that rebuilt our house after the fire. I can't believe it has been almost three years (7.9.22). I think we have our house in pretty good shape, but I want her to walk through and recommend anything else I might need to add. I can't have rugs in the bedroom or draperies in the house due to severe allergies, but she might suggest a piece of furniture or some throw pillows or plants or art.

This is in the loft upstairs.

Life Last Week

 Last Tuesday night, as soon as the young adults left our house, I had to run to Walgreen's to pick up a prescription. When I pulled back into the neighborhood, the moon was amazing!

Mark spent a couple of nights at the farm. He has been working hard to redo the kitchen in the old house. Our brother-in-law has been helping him. They are doing a great job.

We have a columbarium at our church and a friend has made some beautiful crosses in his workshop. I ordered a special super glue and an activator (recommended by the maker of the crosses). My co-worker was gluing the cross on the first urn.

On Thursday, when I arrived at the office, another co-worker had a card, balloons, and a tray of fruit for me. I felt so loved.

When I left the office, I found a $10 right beside my car. I texxted the person who had been parked there -- they didn't drop it. 

Friday morning, I did the 45 minute drive to the hair salon and had the roots covered and a trim! Then I hit up the Dollar General.

Mark cooked fish for dinner on Friday night. I ate mine in a taco. Our neighbor caught it and shared.

Mark has been crafting lately. He has some antique lures and some antique jars and some bamboo. They look so cool. He has been making them for gifts. These ball jars are from the early 1900's.

Saturday was my birthday!! Mark made a reservation at Blueprint on 3rd and invited two other couples to join us. We had so much fun. We ate some great food and laughed so much!!

Mark ordered bread pudding with whiskey sauce and they put a candle in it for my birthday! I didn't eat it but they also ordered a cobbler and everyone else shared the two desserts.

Sunday morning I got a text with the following photo. The three in the middle are from our Tuesday night group. They are in Costa Rica on a mission trip. Hannah, second from the left, is the leader.

I worked on Sunday morning and then taught Sunday School. We had a quiet afternoon. Mark purchased a new air conditioner for the garage as his father's day gift. I had a card and a bag with a few surprises in it to give to him.

So . . .what did you do last week or over the weekend?