It's a Hodgepodge

 

Thank you to Joyce for our questions! Copy and paste the questions into your own blog (or feel free to answer in the comments) and join us over at From This Side of the Pond!

1. When you think of autumn what sounds come to mind? hmmmm . . .a crackling fire, leaves crackling under our feet, soup or chili "bubbling" on the stove, marching bands, cheering from a football game

2.  Is a trip to the mountains something you enjoy? What's your favorite mountain? Mountains are nice. When I was growing up, my best friend's parents always took a trip to the beach and a trip to Gatlinburg (or surrounding area) and I went with them many times. I took my kids when they were older elementary age and it wasn't the same anymore. We've seen some beautiful mountains on our travels.

Lucerne, Switzerland

On the Rhine River

in Austria

This is also in Austria - we rode to the top and it
was so windy!

Austria - it looked like the Sound
of Music

This might be the Dolomites . . .?

This is in Israel - maybe the trail
beside Mt. Arbel??

We climbed to the top - this is also
in Israel - I need to dig through my blog
for the name of this place. It is a ruin.

This might be the Dolomites, too.

3. What's something that once felt like a mountain, but is now just a molehill? I have a whole list of things - losing weight and keeping it off, going back to school, giving birth to our kids and raising them - wait . . .maybe those are all mountains and looking backwards they just look smaller!!

4. Let's play this or that-fall foods edition. Yes you have to choose. 

• pumpkin spice latte or chai latte - I don't drink either but I'm going with pumpkin spice latte
• apple cider or hot chocolate  - apple cider
• stew or chili - chili
• sweet potato casserole or green bean casserole - sweet potato casserole
• butternut squash soup or creamy mushroom soup - butternut squash soup
• cranberry sauce or gravy - gravy all day!!

5. Sum up your September in a sentence or two. September has been a full month of juggling school, church responsibilities, leadership decisions, and the never-ending details of keeping life moving. Through it all, I've kept plugging away—finishing assignments, refining my research proposal, teaching adult Sunday School, investing in the Tuesday night young adults, and planning a trip to England and Ireland along with all of the everyday things!

6. Insert your own random thought here. Have y'all tried a dirty soda? We had one at work this week and I didn't think I would like it . . .but I tried it. It wasn't bad. My base was Diet Pepsi and then I added coconut syrup, coconut cream, and lime. I drank two sips - way too much sugar for me, but it wasn't bad! Also, have y'all been to Great Big Game Show? There is one at the Summit. We went as a team building exercise this week and it was so much fun!

Also . . .how is it already the end of September??? what????

Life Lately

Two of our granddaughters are cheering. Our oldest is in the middle below. She is in the 5th grade and is looking so grown up!

Last Monday night was Homecoming for her team.

Her daddy escorted her on the field!

Gosh - I love these two!!

On Friday, I did some work from home and I did a ton of homework. I also stripped our bed, washed the sheets, and remade the bed and washed my work clothes. While I did homework, I ran the roombas upstairs and down. Mark was at the farm so the house was quiet. I ordered groceries and had them delivered. I had planned to run a couple of errands, but didn't. Friday night I watched YouTube videos about York and Bath and made a list of pubs and places to see.

On Saturday morning, I was in the car before 7:00 a.m. and drove two hours south to watch our middle granddaughter cheer. She is 7 and the difference between the 10 year old squad and the 7 year old squad is pretty amazing. Those 7 year olds are cuties!! Our granddaughter is on the back row, second from the left.

There are so many girls on their squad! Even though it was cool when we all woke up, by 9:00 a.m. it was hot in the direct sun!

The little one was tired of being hot so her mama took her on a walk and they found some shade and a popsicle.

The girls did their half-time routine.

The game lasted about an hour. I had purchased some clothes for these two granddaughters at our church consignment sale so we moved those clothes from my car into our daughter's care. I hopped back into my car and drove 2 hours north. It was worth it to see the girls for a few minutes.

It was a gorgeous fall day - look at that blue sky!! That is a waterway (creek? branch? ??) that runs into Lake Jordan. Yes, I was driving and I had my eyes on the road - I was snapping photos blindly with one hand.

Our daughter and son-in-law told us about a "short-cut" and the drive is really beautiful. There are fields and crops and cows and water. It is very rural and there are a lot of trailers along the way, too, along with some lovely homes.

Look how pretty this lawn is with the trees and grass against the blue sky!

See the trees below? They are called Empress Splendor and they are not native to Alabama. Some say they are invasive. Everytime we've driven by them, we've tried to figure out what kind of trees they are. I was finally able to snap a photo of the sign and googled it when I got home. These are the fastest growing hardwood tree in the world. This tree can grow up to 20 feet in one year!

While I was on the road and Mark was at the farm, he picked a 5 gallon bucket of Spider Lilies. I think he and George actually picked (cut) two 5 gallon buckets - one for me and one for Alice, George's wife. This afternoon, I trimmed them and put them in vases all over the house. I have some on the dining room table.

I have some on the kitchen island.

I have some in the powder room.

I have some on the chest in front of the sofa.

Look at this bucket of flowers. They are so pretty!!

Of course since it is Sunday, I worked this morning. At noon we had a "trip meeting" for our upcoming England/Ireland trip. We have 70 people going - 2 buses full. I am a bus captain on one bus and my friend and co-worker, Laura, is the other bus captain. Brian, our senior pastor, will go back and forth between the two buses. Did you know that there are 365 pubs in York??

This afternoon Mark browned the ground beef and hot sausage and I cooked the pasta and grated the cheese. I made Killer Ziti for the Young Adults to eat on Tuesday night. In addition to ground beef and hot breakfast sausage, it has tiny pepperonis in it, too.

Mark made Mexican Chicken Soup last night for dinner and we are having leftovers for dinner tonight. He did a great job!

I hope you had a great week and weekend!

 

Sunday Stealing by the Usual Suspects

 

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!

Once again this week we aren't stealing, we're contributing! These are questions suggested by our "usual suspects." If you can, please take a moment and visit your fellow thieves. 

DIY Meme

1. If you were trapped in a TV universe for a month, what TV show would you choose? (Kwizgiver) I was just watching a youtube video on York, England (making a list of things I want to see). York makes me think of the show Patience . . .even though I would probably throw up if I saw a dead body or tried to solve a murder, I can see myself living in York! I would probably rather be in a comedy - how about Leanne?

2. What song instantly revs you up and gets you going?  (Annie) I love Overcomer by Mandisa. Another song that gets me revved up is Eye of the Tiger - an oldy, but goody! I actually just pulled it up on YouTube and listened to it!!

3. Are you decorating your home for fall? (Lori) Yes, I have a few fall decorations out. We will get out our skeletons later this weekend.

4. How do you treat a cold? (Syl)  I usually just keep going with a kleenex in my pocket! I will take nyquil before bed and I use a saline nasal wash every day because of my allergies.

5. What insignificant thing would you be genuinely annoyed if you lost it or it was taken from you? (Lisa) Shoot - evidently this is my question and it is too hard haha! Let's see - our kids always knew never to take the last diet pepsi. I would be annoyed if someone took the last one and I didn't have one to drink in the morning.

6. What place do you remember vividly, even though you haven't been there in years? (Country Dew) I can remember wandering through our grandpa's garden. It was massive. I went back to that house when I was an adult, and it was actually quite small! I also remember going to this general store when we were kids and were on vacation at the beach. We always stayed outside Panama City, Florida in an area called Laguna Beach. I think the store's name was The Seahorse! There were wooden floors and you could feel the sand under your bare feet. There was a giant pickle barrel. It seems like there was a porch with chairs. If I close my eyes, I can even smell the Coppertone!

7. Do you have a favorite Dolly Parton song or story? (Roger) I've been singing 9 to 5 today! We watched a special on Dolly on BBC last weekend and they played snippets of several of her songs. I had forgotten about "Coat of Many Colors." "Jolene" was a good one! "I Will Always Love You" is also a good one. According to Wikapedia, Dolly is the first artist to have top 20 hits on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart in six consecutive decades (1960s-2010s). Mark nor I are big country music fans but I did love Dolly. She was just a good human.

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.

Falling . . .Hodgepodge!

 

1. Fall arrives this week in the northern hemisphere. Does it look/feel like fall where you live?What's something you love to do this time of year that makes you feel its officially fall? It does not look like fall here - it is H.O.T. but we've heard that an Arctic front is coming through at the end of the week and the high will be in the 80's rather than almost 100! When the leaves start falling and crunch when you walk through them . . .it seems like fall!

*If you're answering today from the southern hemisphere feel free to sub spring for the word fall. 

2. What's a small daily task or chore that always seems to fall through the cracks when your schedule gets busy? Hmmm . . .I'm not sure. I always have a running list so I try hard to juggle and not let things fall through the cracks. I hate making phone calls lately . . .so I roll those from one day until the next until I finally have to call!

3. What's something you're falling for lately? Have you eaten Lesser Evil Himalayan Salt popcorn? I've been "falling in love" with that lately haha!

4.  Pumpkin is a popular flavor this time of year.  Are you a fan? What's your favorite pumpkin flavored food or beverage?  I do like pumpkin - I have a pound dropper recipe for some pumpkin bars that are good. Pumpkin bread is always good, too. 

5.What's something you wish would never change? Explain. Gosh - these are hard today! Everything has to change, right? When things are good for our children and for us, selfishly . . . I wish things wouldn't change. If things weren't changing, wouldn't we be stagnant? 

6. Insert your own random thought here. My random thought is more of a random rant. Do y'all have anonymous people leaving rude messages on your blogs? I received a rude comment a few months ago and I thought that it was odd because it said something about my physical appearance. I deleted it and moved on. I posted about getting flu and covid shots this past weekend and some anonymous person decided to say something rude. I deleted and did not respond. I might have a health concern that makes it important for me to get the vaccinations. If others don't want to get vaccinations, they get to make that choice. We are all entitled to our opinions. I just don't understand anonymous rude behavior and comments. ok - stepping off my soapbox.

 

Weekend in Review

Y'all know that we are usually on the go -- all of the time! This weekend has been very slow. I think Mark is bored to death!

On Thursday, we had a Partner Parish meeting with four other churches that took up a chunk of our day. It was a good meeting that was over at 2:00 p.m. As soon as it was over, I scooted to the church gym to shop at Lil Lambs . . . because my shift to work Lil Lambs was at 2:30. Oh my goodness . . .our church has hosted this sale for years and I wish they offered it back when our kids were little. 

I worked until 5:30 as the door keeper. Then I threw my things into the car and headed home because I had an assignment due by 11:59 p.m. I was almost home when I realized that I left my laptop in my office and my assignment was on that laptop. I was so irritated with myself. I called Mark and he said to come home first - he actually had dinner ready. After we ate, he drove me back to the church to get the laptop. I did homework on Thursday night.

On Friday, Mark and I both got our flu shots and a covid booster. Mark also got the two pneumonia shots. I've already had those. 

I ordered groceries and we had those delivered.

I did homework PLUS we took a nap! I also stripped our bed, washed sheets, and remade the bed along with more homework. Then I washed my work clothes . . .then I washed 10 tablecloths from the New Member lunch that was a week ago. I was doing all that laundry while doing homework. We had to write a Null hypothesis and a Research hypothesis and provide validation for our Behavioral Research class. I also took a quiz for the other class and did two peer reviews.

Mark cooked Halibut for dinner and I cooked some veggies to go alongside.

Saturday morning arrived and I headed to my WW meeting. On the way home from the meeting, I stopped at Walmart to pick up a few things that Target didn't have when I placed my Shipt order on Friday. Our TV was on football all day Saturday. I had been craving a cheeseburger so we made hamburger patties with 93/7 ground beef and used Keto buns. I cooked some onion rings and ore ida fries in the air fryer. The food tasted so good! Mark got annoyed during the Auburn game so we flipped over to another streaming service and watched some random TV shows.

Just FYI - I also took a nap on Saturday!!

Sunday morning dawned bright and early and I headed to work and was at my desk by 6:45 a.m. I had to take some information up to the sanctuary and print my Sunday School lesson and make copies of a spreadsheet for a meeting. I headed to the Welcome Desk until 9:30. At 9:30, I ran up to the third floor to teach our adult Sunday School class. When I got off work about 11:15, I headed to Culinary Dropout where we treated our son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter #1 to lunch.

What did we do after that? I changed clothes and rode the stationary bike while Mark browned 4 pounds of hamburger, 1 pound of hot breakfast saussage and one onion. When I came downstairs after riding the bike, I assembled two Firecracker Casseroles for Tuesday night. I will head back to the church in about 20 minutes to attend a nominations/lay leadershp meeting.

It was wonderful to have a Friday and Saturday with nothing planned. As I mentioned, Mark was bored. He did go to Academy at some point on Saturday.

So . . .what did you do? 

Sunday Stealing - Life of a Fool

 

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 our inspiration is Life of a Fool. This blogger maintains this meme has "been seen everywhere." The questions only require a simple, definitive answer, but if you'd like to elaborate, we'd like to hear what you have to say.

Four Superlatives

1. Your MOST overused word or phrase: Seriously? Yes, that is my word and I say it with a question mark at the end. 

2. Your BIGGEST expense: Our house?

3. Your WORST fear: I don't even say it out loud, nor will I type it into my blog.

4. Your BEST memory of Summer 26: We spent time with our kids and grandkids at the beach. Even though it rained and they all left early . . . it was still good to be together.

We played lots of card games and had so much fun.

Another great memory from this summer is that I hit my goal weight at WW (formerly known as Weight Watchers).

We also saw Leeann Morgan live in Montgomery - she was so funny!

I know I was only supposed to pick one - but all three were really good!

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.

A Beautiful Hodgepodge

 

1. How do you define beauty? 

I think beauty is found in the little things that make life better. It is a beautiful sunset, a great front porch, a good book, or sitting around a table with people you love. It can also be laughing until I cry with friends. Beauty is found in kindness, in people who make others feel welcome, and in the grace we give one another. Beauty isn't about being perfect. It's about finding joy and meaning in the life we've been given, even when things aren't always easy. To me, beauty is something that makes you stop, smile, and be thankful. Our world tends to define beauty as "our looks." 1 Samuel 16:7 - But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him, for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. I seem to have stepped onto a soapbox - please forgive me! 

2. Have you ever taken a trip by train? If so where did you go and what did you think of the experience? If not do you have any desire to do so? Where would you like to go? (You might find inspiration here-The Best Train Trips in The World) Our son and daughter-in-law, along with three of their best friends, just took the train from Birmingham to New Orleans. They said the first few hours were fun. They flew home haha! We took our kids to ride the "North Pole Express" when they were little. We boarded the train with Santa . . .and rode to the end of a track and back again. I think I would enjoy a luxury train trip through the northeast during autumn when the color of the leaves would be spectacular!  When we were in Austria, we took the train to get around the countryside. I enjoyed those rides every day!

3. Shell shocked, bombshell, bandshell, shellacking, in a nutshell, walking on eggshells...choose one and tell us why you chose it, or how it relates to your life in some way currently. I have been walking on eggshells with one person. I don't want to go into the story on my blog. 

4. Tacos, pistachios, oysters, clams, eggs...your favorite food on the list that comes in/with a shell? Well, I love tacos and I love pistachios. I am not a fan of oysters nor clams. I use eggs in recipes, but don't eat them alone very often. We hosted one of our neighborhood supper clubs at our house on Sunday night. I didn't take a single photo once everyone arrived! We were too busy laughing, talking, and eating. Michele brought the salad and it is my new favorite and it had pistachios in it! Here is a version of the recipe - I don't think Michele chopped the pistachios. https://iowagirleats.com/jennifer-aniston-salad/

5. Are birthdays a big deal in your house? Is your own birthday a big deal in some way? Elaborate. I would like for birthdays to be a bigger deal than they are! Mark's mother always made us all feel so special on our birthday. We have a hard time getting everyone together these days!

6. Insert your own random thought here. I really enjoyed getting out a few fall decorations for our dinner party. Y'all . . .I forgot to light the candles!