10 on the 10th

 

Hey friends! I'm joining up with Marsha in the Middle for her 10 on the 10th! She has asked us to tell her 10 things I like about birthdays.

1. I like knowing that I made it another year around the sun! My mom died a month after her 50th birthday. I'm now 66 and I have felt like each year has been a gift!!

2. I love getting birthday messages on Facebook! I actually don't get on Facebook very often BUT I always think it is so fun to read messages from all sorts of folks on my birthday.

3. I usually get text messages from close friends and co-workers wishing me a happy birthday. It is nice to know that folks care!

4. I love it when our granddaughters sing happy birthday to me. Their voices are so sweet!!

5. I think that with each year, I feel a little more at ease with myself. I think I care a little less about what other's think about me!

6. I love to receive birthday cards in the mail!! I still love paper mail.

7. Our kids have decided that the adults don't need to exchange gifts for events like birthdays and Christmas . . .and I have mixed emotions about that new trend in our family. I enjoy buying for our cute granddaughters! Sometimes it is fun to receive a present and you realize that the person actually knows you well enough to buy something you really like. 

8. I love balloons! Seriously. 

9. One year, during my birthday month (June), I decided to do nice things for other people every day that month. I actually loved that birthday month and I need to remember to do it again this year!

10. I love a good celebration - a family dinner; a special dessert (even if I don't eat it); a few cards. Mark's mother always made birthdays a sweet celebration.

Walk to a Park Day Hodgepodge!

I'm joining up with Joyce at From This Side of the Pond! I would love to hear your answers!!

1. Thursday is National Walk To A Park Day. I know these celebratory days are mostly made up, but some are fun to think about. Do you live close enough to a park to walk to one on Thursday? Will you? The most famous park in the world is Central Park located in NYC. Have you ever been to Central Park? What did you think? If you haven't been is this a place you'd like to see? I won’t be at my own house on Thursday, but if I were . . . all I would have to do would be to walk out my front door and cross the street . . . and I would be in a park! We live on a “U-shaped” street and inside the U is a park. I have never been to New York City but would love to go and I would love to visit Central Park. One of our nephews is a doctor in New York City and he walks his dog in Central Park!

2. Something you've done recently that turned out to be a 'walk in the park'? I don't have a good answer for this question!

3. Can you parallel park? Do you have to do this often where you live? My car parallel parks for me and I LOVE that feature!! I don’t have to do it often, but parallel parking is available in quite a few areas in Birmingham.

4. The colors of fall...red, brown, russet, golden bronze, golden yellow, purplish red, light tan, crimson, orange red, and scarlet. Are these colors you like to wear? Is this your season in terms of color? What about your home? Would we see these tones in your home decorating? I love the colors of fall. Of those I do wear some reds and oranges. Back in the day, you could pay to have your “color read” and my roommate and I did it. I think I was a summer! I love to wear pretty greens, bright blues, and bright pinks the most. Right now, there are touches of orange in our house because I have up our Halloween/fall decorations. Our tiny pop of color in most of our rooms is red.

5. What part of history do you find most interesting? Elaborate. Interesting question since I’m mid-semester studying American History. It is so interesting reading primary sources that were not available when I was a young student – for instance, letters and articles written by the girls who lived at Lowell Mills. I’ve never really enjoyed history – I can’t up with what war or battle happened in what year, but when you involve real people and their lives and their stories, it is fascinating.

6. Insert your own random thought here. I’ll be out of pocket for a couple of weeks. I may have time to check in here and there, but I may not. I have no idea!! if not, please pray for good health and safe travels for us and I’ll see you in a couple of weeks!

Not so much happening this weekend!

Mark went to the farm and stayed over on Thursday night and after work I went to have my eyebrows threaded and to get a pedicure. While I was doing those things, Lynn came to clean our house. Having someone clean our house every few weeks is such a luxury. I LOVE coming home to a clean house. I was tired and didn't want to mess up the kitchen so I swung by The Bluff Park Diner and ordered a four veggie plate. I actually went in and sat down and ate in the restaurant! After eating my yummy dinner, I came home and started working on my homework that is due while we will be out of the country. I ordered groceries before I went to bed.

Brandon delivered the groceries on Friday morning. I had the brilliant idea to watch our duvet cover, pillowshams, etc. When we are getting ready for a long trip, I have this ridiculous need to make sure everything is clean!!

I kept working on homework and then met three good friends for lunch. I love those friends!! We try to go to lunch once a month and I had to miss the last two lunches. Do you have Ashley Mac's where you live? The food is always yummy.

I had to pick up a few things for the trip after lunch and then headed home . . .to iron those linens and put them back on our bed.

Saturday morning I stripped the rest of the bed (sheets and blankets) and washed all of those. I started dragging clothes out of the closet and started packing my suitcase. I do not understand how people can pack for 12 days and get everything in a carry on.

I gathered and ironed and packed on and off all day.

Auburn played football and lost again but the most amazing thing happened -- Vanderbilt beat Alabama!!

We picked up our good friends who live across the street - Lu and Dave - and headed to Casual Pint for dinner.

Lu and I both had the seasonal salad -- blackberries and feta and chicken - yummy!!

Our drinks were colorful!!

We drove through the neighborhood to check out the new decorations in someone's yard. This pumpkin is MASSIVE!

I worked on Sunday morning and taught Sunday School. We got together with Mark's siblings and families for Sunday lunch. George smoked a brisket and it was amazing. I made deviled eggs and Mark picked up rolls at Edgar's. We had salad and green beans and broccoli and mashed potatoes. Mark's sister even made a pound cake.

We came home and finished packing and did more laundry and watched TV!

What did you do this weekend?

Sunday Sunday! Sunday Stealing!

I'm joining up with Bev and the other thieves for Sunday Stealing.

1. What gets you fired up? I can get on my soapbox about several things – incompetencies in elected officials, our ridiculously corrupt Birmingham Water Works Board and our even more ridiculously expensive water bills, people who say they are one thing yet act like another, bad drivers . . .shall I go on? Or did you mean get fired up for a good reason? If so, I want to continue to host the young adults on Tuesday nights. I want to see the world.

2. What makes a good life? Let’s see . . .a home, clean water (even though it is expensive), family and friends, a purpose. You can have a good life without money BUT a little extra money helps, too.

3. What risks are worth taking? I wrote about this recently. We aren’t huge risk takers. There are some risks worth taking. A risk worth taking would be saving the life of a child.

4. Who inspires you to be better? I think our granddaughters inspire me to be better because I want to be a good example for them.

5. What do you have doubts about? I’m doubting whether I need to go on and get my BA after I graduate with my AA in May 2025. I’m not sure doubting is the right word – I’m trying to decide – do I need it or not? Do I want it? Yes.

6. What fact are you resigned to? I am getting older. Plain and simple. Annoying.

7. What book impacted you the most? As a Christian, my answer should be the Bible, and it has BUT there have been some others that have affected me a lot. Have you read American Dirt? Or Same Kind of Different as Me? My Sociology textbook and my American Lit textbook and my American History textbook have also affected me greatly.

8. What irrational fear do you have? I don’t like bugs.

9. What is the hardest lesson you’ve learned? I’ve lived 66 years so I guess I’ve learned some hard lessons. You can’t always trust every person. Even if you want to . . . sometimes you can’t. Mark would say “no good deed goes unpunished.” We laugh about that and we know it isn’t really true, but sometimes it seems like it is! Lightning can strike your house and it can catch on fire and you realize that things are just things and that life is so much more important.

10. What is something you’re self-conscious about? I’m self-conscious about my weight. I should do something about it! I’ve kept off 50 pounds but need to get the rest off. I’m self-conscious about not having my college degree – working on that one! I’m self-conscious about bad breath.

11. What are one or two of your favorite smells? I love to smell popcorn popping. I love to smell the beach – the combination of sand, saltwater on the breeze, sun. I love to smell the head of a clean baby! I love the smell of the library in my hometown (when I was growing up). It was a mix of furniture polish and old books and lots of wood. I have a hard time with scented things but I used to love my daddy’s Old Spice after shave. I also like the smell of peppermint oil and I like the smell of fresh lemon.

12. Have you given to charities? We tithe to our church and we donate to a few other charities, too. Mark volunteers weekly at a food bank.

13. What is the best compliment you have received? People have complimented my smile over the years and that always makes me feel good. I was trying to think of a compliment on my character – if I try to write about some of those, it feels like I’m tooting my own horn.

14. What chance encounter changed your life forever? I have read this question multiple times. I don’t know that a chance encounter has changed my life forever. I can’t wait to read some of your answers!!

15. What was the most memorable gift you’ve received? I wrote about this one other time. My sister, Becky, lives in Texas. I’m the baby and she is the middle sister and the two of us were living at home when our mom died. I was 15 and she was 23. We were very close. After she married, her husband (now ex husband) took a job in Texas and they moved. After Mark and I had been married a couple of years, we had twins and then they had a son who is about 8 weeks younger than our kids. Long distance calls were expensive so we talked on Saturday mornings. Mark bought a camera for our computer and a camera for Becky’s computer for us to be able to see each other -- - this was a long time before Facetime or Zoom or any of the other apps. It never worked well, but he tried so hard!!

Fall Staff Retreat 2024

Our church staff tries to take one overnight retreat a year. We headed to Camp Sumatanga last Monday morning to begin at 9:00.  We brought in a Spiritual Director for the two days and her name is Kimberly.  I've told y'all before that as I drive into camp, I always feel right at home.

We sang hymns together and we celebrated communion together. We did a lot of self-examination and we spent some time in silence.

Our boss (senior pastor) grilled burgers and dogs and conecuh and ribs and we had all of the sides to go with the meat.

S'mores were made around a fire.

We played crazy games -- toilet paper rolls with tiny horses (representing John Wesley haha!), balloons and solo cups, and dribbling tiny basketballs.

 We were there from 9:00 a.m. on Monday through noon on Tuesday and it may have been the best retreat yet!

Halloween Decorations & Stuff

If you've known me a long time, you know that Mark's mother prepared Sunday lunch for her family every week. Our children grew up eating at their grandmother's dining table. Mark and I have been married 40 years and I've eaten Sunday lunch there almost every Sunday of those years. Life is different since she died. I work on Sunday mornings and we've met our son and his family for lunch a few times after church (restaurants) and we've gathered together at Mark's mom's house with his siblings a few times and we had everyone over to our house on Labor Day weekend.

This past Sunday, it was just the two of us and I snapped a photo because this is just so different from the last 40 years. Mark grilled some burgers for us and I put some fries in the air fryer and made a couple of salads. It was nothing fancy. It was sustenance. It is different. Life moves on.

Sunday afternoon found Mark on the ladder on the front porch. One of our Tuesday night young adults LOVES Disney princesses. She asked Mark if he would consider decorating our skeletons in that manner this year. I went online and found the costumes from Tangled - Rapunzel, Flynn Rider, and Mother Gothel PLUS a lizard/chameleon whatever he is Paschal.

Mark came up with the clever idea to make her 'TOWER' a tailgate chair haha! He ziptied it to the post. She has on two wigs to make it long enough. I bought a Lady Godiva one . . .our young adults didn't know about Lady Godiva!! I also used the one that came with the costume. Braiding them was not easy.

Mark does such a good job of keeping our flowers alive on our porch. We added some pumpkins.

Inside the entry hall, I have mini pumpkins and fall leaves, a Snoopy Dracula, and witches legs.

The dining table has pumpkin candle holders, a fall wreath placed flat on the table with the plant sistting inside, a witch leg, and some bats!

I need to trade out the forsythia in my arrangement for the fall stems I have stored upstairs. The pumpkin has twinkle lights. Laura or Glenn made the little ghost when they were kids. Looking at it . . .I believe it might be a poop emoji today hahahaha!

This cool piece of furniture came from Mark's mom's house. I think one of our kids painted the ceramic pumpkin so I took it from Mark's mom's house, too. I have had the wooden witch for years and years.

I have a silly Trick or Treat sign hanging over the sink with some miniature pumpkins and burlap leaves in the dough bowl.

I added three jeweled pumpkins to the plant on the mantle along with a few of those burlap leaves. I have a little witch cauldren on the hearth. It would be cute if it could hang in the fireplace. I never thought of that until just now!

We have orange lights on the downstairs and upstairs porch railings. Here you can see Flynn trying to climb to Rapunzel and Mother Gothel over to the side.

You can see Paschal on her arm.

Let me just tell you that it took some wrangling on my part to get these costumes on these skeletons. I had to put velcro command strips on their heads to keep the wigs on. I think we may go back to our skeleton men who are fishing off the porch next year.

If you haven't followed along for a while . . .you might be wondering, why??? Our neighborhood goes ALL OUT for Halloween. We will have about 1200 Trick or Treaters that night. Everyone just takes their chairs and beverages and food and sits outside and hands out candy and visits with neighbors. In addition to our neighborhood kids, grandkids, friends, etc., we have lots of other trick or treaters. Our neighborhood still has homes being built and some of the workmen realize they can bring their kids to our neighborhood for a fun (and possibly more safe) adventure. 

 

Beginning of October Hodgepodge

1. Hey, it's October...what's one fun thing on your October calendar? We have lots of fun stuff in October. I just got back from a Staff Retreat where we had fun. We are headed out of the country soon for a wonderful trip. We will have a Halloween party with our young adults on the last Tuesday of the month.

2. Thursday is National Poetry Day (first Thursday in October)...do you like to read poetry? If so, what's a favorite poem, or whose poetry do you especially enjoy? I do not like poetry very much. I have always had a hard time understanding it. During my two American Lit classes, there were a few I sort of enjoyed.

3. Tell us about something you've seen recently that could be described as 'poetry in motion'. I haven't seen it recently, but when I have seen a deer running across a field, I think that is definitely poetry in motion.

4. What's one song on your autumn playlist? Do you have an autumn playlist? If not, pretend you do. If yes, then feel free to share more than one. We listened to some music by Sarah Groves and by Lauren Daigle while on retreat. Those are set on replay in my head right now.

5. Share a quote that inspires you this time of year especially. 

photo cred - google

6. Insert your own random thought here. I can't believe it is October.