Hodgepodge might be a priority!

Thank you to Joyce for the questions. I was surprised she was able to come up with new questions while keeping all three grandchildren. Way to go, JoyceJoyce!!

1. Growing up, at what age did you think you'd become an adult? At what age did you actually become an adult? I’ve had a conversation about this VERY recently. On Tuesday, May 21, the YA small group that meets at our house was discussing Galatians 4. I shared with the group when Jewish boys move from being a boy to being a man. We talked about how in ancient Greece, a boy was under his mother’s care until age 7 and then, under his father’s care, and how he had his long hair cut off. One more example was under Roman law, a boy became a man between 14 and 17. Then I asked the group, “In our culture today, when do you think men and women become adults? I know it is different for different folks, but what age or event do you think about when you think of someone moving from childhood to adulthood?” Joyce – were you at our house last Tuesday night?? Just kidding. The young adults in our group range from 22-32 and we had some interesting responses. Some said you become an adult when you graduate from college. Someone else said you become an adult when you can pay your own bills. I wasn’t an adult yet, but after our mom died, I did have to cook dinner and learn to do laundry when I was not quite 16. Growing up, I assumed you were an adult as soon as you graduated from high school. I feel like I did. I started to work at South Central Bell the morning after I graduated from high school and my daddy had to sign a release form because I wasn’t quite 18. Looking back, I think becoming an adult was a more gradual process. Am I a fully grown adult now? Most of the time . . .but not always!

2.  What's a favorite item you've bought this year? I do love our new appliances but they were actually purchased before this year. I’m trying to think if we’ve made any truly major purchases this year. I could definitely do an Amazon Prime purchase list!! Mark ordered a self-winder for his watch yesterday.

3. May 28th is National Hamburger Day...are you a fan? If so, how do you like yours? When was the last time you had a hamburger? Besides the backyard grill, what's your favorite place to go for a burger? I LOVE a good hamburger. I actually just drove to Hero and picked up a burger and fries for my boss. His appointment arrived and he had ordered and didn’t have time to pick up. My whole care smelled like delicious French fries. We ate a “pretend hamburger” yesterday for lunch. It was a very lean 93/7 burger patty on a low carb bun. Our power was out and I quickly opened the fridge and grabbed a couple of condiments. I don’t think it really counted hahaha! I love a burger with lettuce, tomato, pickles, no raw onions but cooked onions are ok, mustard, ketchup, a little mayo, and a slice of cheese. More importantly, I want fries with my burger, please. Our son made smash burgers for us a while back and they were EXCELLENT. We rarely eat fast food, but I do enjoy a single with cheese from Wendy’s. I’m trying to think where we’ve eaten the best burgers.

4.  How have your priorities changed over time? My priorities at 65 lean more toward people than things; more toward experiences and travel than material goods. My faith has always been a priority (except for a couple of years many many years ago). My husband and I used to be involved in the Emmaus Community (3 day spiritual weekend). Each weekend has multiple talks given by both clergy and lay people. The first talk of each weekend is entitled “Priority.” You quite often need your priorities in order to move forward and grow.

5. What's one thing on your June calendar you're really looking forward to? We are going to see a play on Thursday night. We will have supper club at our house at the end of the month. We are going to help our daughter with her two daughters at the end of next week.

6. Insert your own random thought here. Now I want a hamburger. I’m not even hungry and I want a hamburger hahaha! My truly random thought is: our power was out for 12 hours on Monday due to a storm that blew through around 5:00 a.m. Monday morning. Just in case you were wondering, I do still have PTSD when we have major thunder and lightning which makes me sad because pre-fire, I loved a good thunderstorm. I didn’t cry yesterday when it was storming which was good. Yes, I saw a counselor about this for a whole year and yes, she was very helpful. The real random thought is that we are so spoiled. We didn’t have air conditioning nor internet due to this power outage. We were very inconvenienced BUT we were safe. See . . .I’m spoiled and I know it but I do know what is important (priorities)!

Review of the previous days . . .

The following is basically a photo dump. Welcome to a review of the previous days.

Beginning in August through the first half of May, I work our Welcome Desk on Wednesday nights. This past Wednesday night, I didn’t have to work and Mark was out of town. I used one of my Mother’s Day gift cards for a pedicure! It was much needed! My toes went from teal to pink!

Thursday night we met six friends from church at Casual Pint. We’ve enjoyed getting to know these folks! This group was our "out to eat" supper club group from our Sunday School class. It rotates a couple of times a year and we are placed with different folks. This time our group consisted of Mark and me (we've been in the class since it began in 1984) and three new couples. We knew one couple more than the other two couples so it has been fun to get to know the others.

I love this Wild Leap Strawberry Mango!!

I actually felt horrible on Friday. I have been fighting off either an allergy/asthma attack or a late spring cold. I took a nap before lunch!! I may have taken a nap after lunch, too. I studied a little and did laundry and a few other things around the house.

After lunch, I went with Mark to Simmons. I actually sat in the car with the air conditioner running.

He was buying fishing worms in a specific color! I usually go in and wander around the store because they have some cool merchandise, but like I said, I wasn't 100% on Friday.

We stopped at Winn Dixie to buy two pork butts …which were on sale …and they only had a few left and none big enough.

https://zoombait.com/

I finished the last new cushion. You can see I'm in the recliner sewing. Still not 100%.

Our bougainvillea is blooming!

Both of our older granddaughters had their last day of school on Thursday. Granddaughter #2 finished 4K and will go to Kindergarten in August! She was dressed for water day!

Granddaughter #1 finished second grade and will head to third grade in August!!

Last weekend was our 40th anniversary but we didn’t celebrate until this weekend!

Helen is a restaurant here in town and the Chef and his wife are a part of our church. They are also the owners. We had a reservation for dinner on Saturday night and we were excited to try a “new to us” restaurant. Thank goodness I was feeling better on Saturday. I wasn't 100% but I was much better.

Our experience didn’t disappoint!

We started with a charcuterie appetizer. I ate some of everything except the Blue Cheese. Mark said the Blue Cheese was amazing. Everything else was yummy!!

SOUTHERN SMASH, SALAMI PICANTE, BENTON’S HAM,THOMASVILLE TOMME, WITHERSBROOK BLUE, TRILLIUM,

BLACK PEPPER CRACKERS

I ordered the chicken. I loved how it was cooked using some form of red chili oil.

Smoked Joyce Farms half chicken

Mark ordered the Day Boat Gulf Snapper a la Plancha. Helen and one other restaurant in Birmingham buy fish from an individual fisherman. He goes and catches the fish in the Gulf of Mexico and drives it to Birmingham and the two chefs cook the fish and it is served fresh. Mark is very picky when it comes to fish . . .because he loves to fish and eat fish . . .and he said it was EXCELLENT.

Just FYI - a la Plancha is a method of cooking using high temperature searing with a little bit of smoking. There was a chimichurri sauce on top.

Our entrees were delicious BUT THE VEGGIES . . . oh my goodness, they were true stars on their own. We had Lady Peas (fresh and as local as possible) topped with poolhouse slaw (sort of like a chow chow), pork jus, and garlic aioli. I'm a good cook but I've never made peas taste so good. Sides are served family style to share.

Our other side was just as delicious. It was Belle Meadow Farm Coal Roasted Cabbage. You might think to yourself, "Why is a high end restaurant serving cabbage?" Let me tell you! It was magnificient. It had Steen's Cane Syrup Glaze, Gremolata, and peanuts. I didn't see any peanuts but the menu said peanuts. You might think it would be sweet with that glaze. It did have a hint of sweet, but it wasn't overpowering. 

Mark ordered dessert, Strawberry Angel Crisp. It was made using Chilton County Strawberries (very local - a few counties away). He ate most of it even though he was very full. It was actually his least favorite part of the meal (if you were ranking).

Sunday found me where I am most Sunday mornings. I worked the Welcome Desk at church. I had on a navy dress and wore my cute red, white, and blue earrings made by A. Edge. She goes to our church, too, and I love her jewelry.

We went to my mother-in-law's house for Sunday lunch and then headed home. I studied a little and piddled around thinking that I would have ALL DAY Monday to do other things.

Monday morning around 5:00 a.m. a BIG thunderstorm came through and knocked out our power. It is 5:16 p.m. now and we still don't have power or internet. 

Mark prepares dinner for his mother and sitter on Monday night so since it was hot in our house, I decided to come along. We are going to eat left-overs from yesterday. Power trucks were arriving when we left home . . .so I'm hoping there will be power (air conditioner!) when we get home.

It's a Birdy Sunday Stealing!

I am writing Sunday Stealing on Saturday morning. Thirty minutes ago I looked at the weather forecast and there was a slim chance of rain. Ten minutes ago . . .the rain began to pour from the sky. I feel sorry for those who try to predict the weather!

Thanks, as always, to Bev who steals our questions every week. This week the questions were stolen from SwapBot.

1. Have you ever been stung or bitten by an animal? I have been stung by a bee before. We also have lots of mosquitos here. Does a mosquito "bite" count? Harvey, our big cat, doesn't have front claws and when he wants to get your attention, he opens his mouth and gently puts his teeth on you. When you have old, thin skin . . .he sometimes breaks the skin. 

Our youngest nephew, who is a grown man now, was bitten by a dalmatian when he was a tiny boy. The dog took a chunk out of Thomas's ear. My sister-in-law was smart and bought a gentle dog so that he wouldn't be terrified of dogs.

2. Do you have a favorite bird? Do you feed the birds at your house or park? I love to watch birds. I don't know that I have a favorite. The state bird of Alabama is the Flicker and a Flicker is a handsome bird. Some people call the Flicker a "Yellowhammer."

We have a hummingbird feeder in our courtyard and I do enjoy watching them as they flit around. They are territorial little birds and will dive bomb others trying to come to their feeder. This is a highly magnified picture of one in the first photo. In the second photo, the hummingbird is sitting on the left of the feeder. He/she blends into the foilage! These birds are quite tiny. Have you ever heard their wings? They are actually quite loud!! Their feathers also are iridescent!

3. What is the last thing you said to somebody before replying to this question? Mark and I were just talking about snoring!

4. How do you get yourself ready to sleep at night? We watch an episode or two of whatever shows we are currently watching. We check our cat's litter box and clean it out. We floss and brush our teeth and we floss Harvey's teeth. (Video of flossing is below - I didn't want to video us in the bathroom!). I put my Apple Watch on the charger. We plug in the fan we keep in our bathroom. I set my alarm on my phone for 5:00 a.m. (except for Fridays and Saturdays) and I turn on the white noise app on my phone and put my phone on the charger. We say good night and I love you and we go to sleep!

5. When was the last time you wrote a proper letter? I have written several thank you notes recently and actually have one I need to write today. I don't think that counts as a full letter. 

6. What is the worst injury you have ever sustained? I guess it would be when I fell on the metal pier when we were on vacation a few years ago. I was walking quickly (for exercise) and evidently the toe of my shoe caught on a tiny crack. I fell face first on a metal pier. I didn't break the fall with my hands. It happened too quickly. Here are just two of the photos. We facetimed with our doctor. In hindsight, I should have gone to the hospital.

This was a few days after I fell.

This was over a week later.

7. If you could choose your career based strictly on what you think would be fun instead of your qualifications/salary/etc., what would it be? Mark would probably want to be a fishing guide or something like that! I would want to do something crafty - own a store and sell Silhouette cutters and supplies?

8. You can live on another planet, which one and why? I think I'll stay here on earth if that is ok.

9. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? I haven't eaten ice cream in years. When Mark and I were dating, a Chinese restaurant where he was living served coconut ice cream and it was divine! I've always loved strawberry ice cream and maybe the best is Mark's family's homemade vanilla. It is a cooked custard ice cream. Top it with Chilton County peaches and it is really good!!

10. What do you think of tattoos? Do you have any? I don't have any. I like small ones. I'm not as fond of whole sleeves or tattoos all over the face and neck. I actually went to a local tattoo artist and was going to have one put on my wrist (this was a few months ago). The young man was very nice and told me that what I wanted and the tiny size wouldn't work.

11. Are you very active or do you prefer to just relax in your free time? I ride my stationary bike at least 6 days a week . . usually 7. I usually ride for 30-35 minutes. Unless I'm sick, I always make my stand goal which is a minimum of standing up and walking 100 steps every hour. I do that anywhere from 12-16 times a day. I log at least 7,000 steps every day and my goal is 10,000. I do love to relax, too! I didn't feel very well yesterday - either a late spring cold/upper respiratory thing OR my allergies and asthma were on overdrive. I sat in the recliner a lot and read and napped. I rode the stationary bike in short spurts and only logged 24 out of 30 minutes of exercise, but I still stood during at least 17 hours and I had 9,408 steps. 

12. If you could bring back one TV show that was cancelled, which one would you bring back? I wish there were more episodes of Ted Lasso!!

13. Do you prefer to watch movies in the theater or in the comfort of your own home? We rarely watch movies. Mark can't sit still that long! I enjoy going to the theater. I also watch movies sometimes when Mark is at the farm.

14. If you opened a restaurant, what kind of food would you serve? Good question. I guess I would serve good Southern food. Maybe I could have a restaurant where I serve whatever I like - - sort of like the meals I fix the young adults on Tuesday night. I could have a chalkboard on the sidewalk and advertise what I was cooking that day! I don't think that is a good business plan but I'm just playing along with the questions!

15. If money were no object what would you do for your next birthday?? I'm going to add something to this question. If money and TIME were no object what would you do for your next birthday? My birthday is in a few weeks. I would be traveling somewhere in the world where I haven't been before. Scotland? England? France? Spain? Maybe Australia and New Zealand?? Or maybe I would book an around the world cruise on the Azamara (the ship we will be traveling on in October). Check out their world tour here!! 155 nights - 37 countries!! You said money was no object so I will book the Club Ocean Suite . . . or maybe the Owner's Suite.

Juggle Juggle Juggle Hodgepodge

Thanks to Joyce for our weekly questions.

1. What are you currently juggling in your life? I'm typing this on Tuesday night and class starts tomorrow. I'll be juggling class alongside work and fun. Speaking of juggling, Mark used to juggle quite often.

2. How often do you buy new clothes? What was the last piece of clothing you purchased? I buy things as needed or when I get tired of wearing what I already own or sometimes I buy clothes for a special occasion or trip. I don't have a set "time" to buy clothes. Last week, I ordered some shorts online from Belk. I bought one pair last year and wished I had purchased more so I ordered three more pairs in various colors. (Crown and Ivy women's scalloped shorts). I had ordered a new dress from Talbots and ordered two sized. When I returned one of the dresses to the store, I bought some new shirts to go with the shorts.

3. What food festival would you most like to attend? If you need help here are links to some of the bigger and more popular food events around the world-

Ten Food Festivals Worth Traveling To Find

2024 Best Food And Drink Festivals And Events In The US

20 Popular Food Festivals Around The World In 2024 For Your Unconditional Love Of Food

Oh . . . Sydney, Dubai, and Prague all sound wonderful. I've always thought it would be fun to go to Germany for Octoberfest. Does that count as a food festival? There is also a food and wine event at Disneyworld that has always interested me. I'm not sure this would count as a food "festival" or not, but before Mark retired, he and the owner of his company attended a dinner for BBVA Compass (pre-PNC) and Manolo Sanchez was the host. The dinner was multiple (LOTS!) courses and each course was paired with a special wine and they told everyone about the course and the wine, etc. etc.

4. May is the 5th month of the year. Tell us something you remember about your 5th grade year. I remember quite a few things about my sixth grade year but I don't know if I remember a single thing about my 5th grade year.

5. What are your favorite five words right now? Positivity, Granddaughters, Fun (as in don't take the fun out of funeral), October trip!

6. Insert your own random thought here. I took this picture on the way to work this morning. I have at least three different routes I can drive to work and I usually check Waze before I leave and go the quickest. I pass this house quite often and the speed limit is VERY SLOW on the road in front of their house and no one was behind me this morning so I stopped, hit the button for the window to go down and snapped a quick photo. I think this is so cool and it is in their front yard! Art on a different level!!

Weekend in Review ON MONDAY! YAY!

Since I work on Sundays, my weekend is sort of Friday and Saturday. When I leave work on Thursday evening, I am thinking of all I need to accomplish. Mark was at the farm so I read, and watched some old TV, and ordered groceries to be delivered on Friday morning.

I have two preferred shoppers and they both do a great job. I love using Shipt/Target delivery. There is no mark-up on items from Target and I trust my shoppers.

I buy a lot of groceries every week because in addition to our own food at home, I usually help my sister-in-laws with Sunday lunch (I didn't help this week), and we cook for the Young Adults on Tuesday night.

Groceries arrived early Friday morning and I put them away and did laundry and rode my bike and emailed my potential professor.

Mark came home around lunchtime and he worked on our screens. The neighbor's cat tore a hole in the screen and Mark decided to replace all of the screens with a better aluminum screen.

I dragged a few more tubs out of the attic and cleaned the outside of the tub and sorted out the inside. I'm going to be honest. I do not know if this is a project I will ever finish. I thought about having the whole floor done while the house was torn up . . .but I didn't . . .and I wish I had.

I'm enjoying cutting letters with the silhouette. Now if I could just get Mark to put the tubs in Holiday order.

Our son called around lunchtime on Saturday and wanted to know if our pool is open because granddaughter #1 wanted to go to a pool to swim.

She and our daughter-in-law came over and I went with them for about 30 minutes. They stayed longer but this "old lady skin" was burning!

She had fun and I loved watching her and my daugher-in-law and I had some nice conversation time.

Saturday night was our annual Neighborhood Supper Club. I've told y'all about the monthly gatherings where we are assigned to random homes and eat together. The May gathering is at our townhall and a committee (those who haven't hosted in their homes) orders and pays for the meat, buns, tea, and water. Everyone else signs up for appetizers, specific sides, and desserts.

I made the Asian Slaw on the left of the plate. I had some baked beans and BBQ (no bun), a tiny bite of mac and cheese (in the middle) and a scoop of potato salad. The theme was Western - as in jeans and bandanas. I wore a denim skort which was as "western" as I had!

The town hall is lovely.

The inside is lovely, too. The middle section is where we are in the photo below. To the right is a living room area and to the left are restrooms and a work out facility.

I thought I took more photos but only have these few. I thought the centerpieces were cute and simple - bandanas with mason jars and flowers.

It was about to rain so we drove my car even though it was only 3 blocks from our house. When we came home, the sun was setting and it was spectacular. I was literally standing in the alley behind my car when I took this photo. The sky had huge streaks of pink.

Sunday morning, I was at work by 7:00. It was Pentecost Sunday and everything was lovely. The flowers on the altar were amazing and looked like "flames." The Children's moment involved sparklers! Our Bishop is moving on after serving our area for 12 years and she preached. In between services, we consecrated our space. Pre-covid was started on a $14M building project - some of which was mold remediation plus new kid's Sunday School rooms and an additional worship space. The building was finished and ready to open and COVID COVID COVID - a worldwide pandemic happened. Finally, we were able to use the space again and all along, people kept paying off the debt. We are debt free now - hence, the consecration! We had cake on the lawn for the "birthday of the church/Pentecost" and also to celebrate that we are debt free which enables us to do SO MUCH ministry -- like feeding 500 families a week with our Food Share program (where Mark volunteers).

Since our Bishop was with us, she prayed over our buildings.

I've told y'all about my "boss" before - the senior pastor. Here is a photo of him at the Consecration.

I had a meeting at 3:00 at another UMC and then I went home and crashed. Mark and I both exercised and folded laundry and watched some TV!

What did you do this weekend?

 

FORTY, yes I said 40 Years!

May 19, 1984 -- Forty years ago today we said I do to each other. Over the years I'm sure there have been many times we questioned that decision, but we stuck it out. Back in 1984, my hair was still the original color! Mark had a giant mustache. We drove to Atlanta after the wedding reception, which was held at the church and we served fruit, cheese straws, wedding cake, grooms cake, nuts, and non-alcoholic punch. I just remembered a funny detail. Mark let me out at the door to the hotel and went to park. There was a fire in the hotel and the fire alarm went off AFTER Mark drove off. People were pouring out of the hotel and bar into the parking lot. A man who had been in the bar . . .tried to pick me up. I remember giving him the stare of death and saying, "I just got married!" The next morning we flew to the Bahamas. A whole lot of weird things happened that week from not being able to check into the hotel for hours and Mark was not willing to leave our luggage. Also, he took his fishing poles on our honeymoon BUT he didn't use them. After our week away, when we got ready to fly home, there was a teenager flying our plane. Seriously. He was sitting in that cockpit and we both look at each other. We made it home . . .but our luggage didn't. It came in a day or so later and that gorgeous conk shell packed in our suitcase SMELLED HORRIBLE. 

In the attic, in boxes yet unpacked, are pictures of us along the way. We were pregnant with twins on our second anniversary and I gave birth in November of 1986. There were some tough years -- years where we were tired and sick and tired of being tired. For most of the first 18 years of our kid's life, I was a stay at home mom. I worked part-time for a few years from the time they were 2 1/2 until they were in lower Elementary school. Then I stayed home with them until spring break of their junior year of high school.

Then they went off to college and it was just the two of us again. It took a little while to get back into the groove of being Mark and Lisa again, rather than the parents of our kids.

Our son proposed to his wife when they were finishing up at Auburn and they got married in the same church where Mark and I married and they had a cat and a dog and a baby.

We became grandparents . . .no longer just Mark and Lisa, but Pops and Gran.

Then our daughter got married in the same church.

and she and Scott had a baby.

And then covid . . . . .  a global pandemic.

The world began to re-open and we started doing fun things again.

And we are still married and still traveling together and still doing family together.

And then our house burned down and we moved to an apartment and started along year and 10 day journey to come home again.

The photo above was in November after we moved home at the end of July. Our daughter was pregnant with baby number 2.

And below was in March at granddaughter #1's eighth birthday party and we are still married.

And we've arrived at the 40 year point. I won't lie to anyone who asks. Some years have been amazing and some years have been tough. Our faith in Christ has kept us together many times.

FORTY YEARS!!

Happy Anniversary to us!

Sunday Stealing on a Saturday

Thanks to Bev and Swapbot for the Sunday Stealing questions!

1. What inspires you the most? I answered a similar question recently. I am inspired by the kindness of others. I am inspired when I see someone else do well. I am inspired by the beauty of nature around me. I am inspired by my faith.

2. How do you think the world will change in 20 years? I cannot even imagine what the world will be like in 2044. Surely there will be flying cars by then, right? I hope we, and those coming behind us, will start taking better care of the earth so that we will still have some natural resources left in 20 years.

In 20 years, our oldest granddaughter will be 28; our middle granddaughter will be almost 25; our newest granddaughter will be 20. I will be 85 and I will be approaching my 86^th birthday. Mark will be approaching his 91^st birthday. He might make it because his mother’s father lived until his 80’s and his mother’s mother lived to be 95. His mother will be 99 in July. He will probably outlive me.

3. Cats or dogs and why? We have a cat named Harvey who is a rescue and he is spoiled rotten. Our son and his family and Mark’s sister all have dogs. I like them ok. I very much dislike dog toenails. They always scratch me. I do love Glenn’s GSP’s soft ears and she likes me to rub them!!

4. What is the funniest memory from your childhood? Oh my goodness – you are asking me to think back a long time ago. This wasn’t funny at the time, and it probably shouldn’t be now, but we were playing kickball and one of the neighborhood guys and I fell at the same time and I broke his leg! When I was in high school and was joining some club, we had initiation and had to dress in pajamas and go to the mall. Once again, it wasn’t funny at the time (to me) but thinking back it is pretty funny.

5. Where do you not mind waiting? I don’t mind waiting in an air conditioned room with windows or in a “just the right temperature” outside spot if I have something to read. I-phones saved the day because I always have something to read at my fingertips. I don't like waiting in traffic or standing in a line in direct sunlight.

6. What was the best thing before sliced bread? Is this a literal question? Sliced bread has been around since way before I was born. I’m going to go with the creation of toilet paper and the creation of feminine hygiene products. I have no idea when they were created but those things changed life for the better!

7. What product would you stockpile if you found out they weren’t going to sell it anymore? Diet Pepsi . . .but actually, the drinks wouldn’t be good years down the road. When they get past the date, I can taste a difference. Thinking back to my answer to #6, I might stockpile toilet paper!! We love Dial soap (bar) for our showers so I might stockpile that, too!

8. What do you get every time you go grocery shopping? See answer to #7 – Diet Pepsis! I also usually get bananas, keto bread, another fruit that is in season, fresh veggies, lean meat.

9. What do people do too much of today? We probably all spend too much time on our phones and other devices. We also spend too much time worrying about what other people think. Maybe I should change the “we” to “I.”

10. Are you a GoodWill, or any second hand store customer? We have a consignment sale twice a year at our church – Lil Lambs. I have bought tons of children’s clothes for one of our granddaughters. My daughter-in-law and I don’t have the same taste so I don’t buy many things for our oldest granddaughter.

We give a LOT of stuff to the Salvation Army store because it is only a couple of miles from our house. I am not a big thrift/second hand store customer. In our last house, I did buy a wooden kitchen table at the Salvation Army store that I used for crafting.

11. How do you feel about the death penalty? I don’t feel that I, personally, have the right to take anyone else’s life.

12. Are there brands of certain items that you will ONLY buy that brand? paper towels, ketchup etc. I prefer Heinz ketchup, Diet Pepsi, Hope’s Granite and Hope’s Glass cleaner, Tylenol, and Motrin just to name a few.

13. What are some things that you will buy the Store brand, and find the quality to be great? I like the 99% fat free ground turkey from Aldi. I went this morning and they were sold out! There are several things at Aldi and Trader Jo’s that I like. There are also several things that are Good & Gather brand at Target that I will buy.

14. What is a Name brand item that really disappointed you recently? I can’t think of anything.

15. Do you wear glasses or contacts? I used to wear glasses and then contacts and about 20 years ago, I had Lasik surgery which was worth every single penny. Now I wear reading glasses from the drugstore.

Let's Review Last Weekend before we begin another weekend!!

This "weekend in review" actually begins with events that happened a week ago. Our friend, Steve, died and his memorial service was last week. Steve was a writer and had an amazing sense of humor. Back in 2011, he was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer (not what killed him) and he wrote a Directive of things he wanted when he died. He wanted to be cremated and then he wanted to have a "wine and cheese" reception. We can't serve alcohol in our church so we did the next best thing. We had a reception with cheese and finger sandwiches from Ouslers and fruit and nuts and white grape juice and red punch. Close enough. His Directive was read during the service by his girlfriend, Lynne. Steve was 84 years old and he and Lynne (also in our Sunday School class) had dated for 14 years. One of the things he wrote was "don't take the fun out of funeral." Everyone in the chapel was laughing as Lynne read what he had written. I actually left his service feeling better than when I entered the chapel.

My sister-in-law arranged the flowers on the table for the reception and provided the antique cloth. Our church parlor looked lovely and the family and friends seemed very appreciative of the "Cheese and juice" party.

I didn't take a picture after we added all of the food!

Steve's book is below. The book is a compilation of stories. He was a wonderful story teller. His son told those attending the service that his dad always said, "don't let the truth get in the way of a good story." I'm chuckling as I type those words.

On Friday morning, I had an appointment for color and cut (hair) and I told y'all last month that my hair stylist has moved to a nearby town. It was a 37 ish minute drive and the day was beautiful and the farm country provided great scenery.

After the hair cut, I drove 40+ minutes back to the neighboring city where I work to meet three friends for lunch. I've told y'all about them before. We meet once a month for lunch. We raised our kids together and that hour is such a needed time together. Have you eaten at Ashley Mac's? It is a nice spot to grab lunch.

Friday night, we were with some of our regular supper club folks. Two couples were unable to attend. Our friends live on a crest overlooking the "main city." I love the views.

Our hostess tried something new! We made our own Poke' Bowls. She had Ahi Tuna, Smoked Salmon, and/or shrimp and all sorts of additions from two kinds of rice to seaweed chips.

We even ate with chopsticks -- the hostess nor I are in the photo.

I actually ran back onto the porch because I wanted to snap a quick photo of the sun setting.

Friday night, the Northern Lights were showing out even in Alabama. My neighbor took this photo on our circle. I went outside at 10:00 and didn't see anything and went to bed. I didn't know you had to look through your camera lens.

On Saturday, I "played" in my office. I worked on the cushions for outside.

I cleaned out some tubs from the attic. I still have a LOT more. I'm going to try to do a couple per week. I cut out more vinyl letters to label the tubs using my Silhouette. I took a few things to the Salvation Army and I took some things to the trash!!

Ta Da! Here are the new cushions for outside.

I'm actually quite proud of them.

I think our courtyard is beginning to look lovely again. Since I took this picture (below) on Sunday afternoon, even more Hydrangeas have bloomed. We have about 40 on each bush.

I got a text message from our daughter with their newborn pictures. Here is big sister who will be five in July.

And here is new baby girl. This was taken a couple of weeks ago and she is already looking so much more awake and alert and growing so fast.

We don't have as many things to do this weekend. My class will start next week so I'm going to try to enjoy some down time!