It's Sunday Stealing

I'm joining up with the Sunday Stealing group. These Sundays roll around quickly each week! Thanks to Bev for coming up with the questions!!

1. What takes up too much of your time? I'm going to go with first thing that popped into my head -- scrolling on my phone or computer. I actually accomplish a lot every day and usually only scroll during commercials or if I'm stuck somewhere waiting.

2. What do you wish you knew more about? Right now I'm learning about the Revolutionary War period of the United States. I am not a history buff. I wish I could say that I want to know more . . .but I want an A and I want to move on to the next class. It is interesting - I just don't want to have to remember all of the dates and who fought what battle, etc. All of that to say, this is not what I really want to know more about.

3. What’s the best way to start the day? I start each day with a Diet Pepsi, 30 minutes of exercise, a little prayer or two, a shower and we make up our bed. It seems to be working for us.

4. What mystery do you wish you knew the answer to? I must be in a silly frame of mind this morning because the mystery that popped into my head is definitely silly. Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar? Our kids used to "sing song" that little diddy -- Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar? Laura stole the cookie from the cookie jar! Who me? Yes, you! Not me! Then who?

5. What’s your favorite genre of book or movie? For books, I love mysteries and thrillers. Every once in a while, I enjoy some historical fiction. For movies, I guess I like a rom-com or something with a little action.

6. What’s the farthest you’ve ever been from home? I've been to Israel several times. It is about a 12 hour plane ride from where we live. We are headed to Egypt, Turkey, and Greece in a few weeks. I think the first flight is 11 hours and the second flight is 2 1/2 hours -- that is after a 2+ hour drive/ride to Atlanta.

7. Where is the most interesting place you’ve been? We've loved our International travels - Israel, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Austria. There are so many places we want to visit.

8. When was the last time you climbed a tree for fun? It has been a long long long time since I climbed a tree for fun. I remember when our son was about 8 or 9, he wanted to climb every tree he saw.

9. What do you consider to be your best find? Does my hubby count? Our most recent "material" find that we both love is an antique chest we purchased for our entry hall. It is beautiful and unique and it looks awesome.

10. What’s special about the place where you grew up? When I was growing up, it felt just perfect. We could ride our bikes and run around the neighborhood and play kickball and go to school and church. We could walk to both. I mentioned this in another blog post recently -- it is not nice anymore and that is sad to see. 

11. What age do you wish you could permanently be? I don't know that I want to be stuck at any age because good and bad things happen every year. I wish we didn't have aches and pains and weren't quite as wrinkly and I wish I were 30 pounds thinner. I would wish for those things more than a year.

12. What fictional place would you most like to go? I would love to go to Narnia and meet Aslan.

I found this photo on someone's old blog post
from over 20 years ago - thanks!

13. Where is the most relaxing place you’ve ever been? Great question. I remember being very relaxed in St. Martin. Mark and I slipped away for a week when our kids were in middle school. I can also get pretty relaxed at the beach here in Alabama. 

14. What’s the most interesting piece of art you’ve seen? The Israel Museum in Jerusalem has some very interesting art. The Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museum have amazing art pieces. The Last Supper in a tiny chapel in Milan is amazing. I'm not sure any of those are what someone else might call "interesting," but I have loved seeing all of them.

15. Who has impressed you the most with what they have accomplished? We have a young man in our church who practically raised himself. With help, he has finished college and is on to higher ed PLUS he is just a neat young man. At various times in the process, he was working more than one job and taking a full PLUS load of classes and getting good grades. Another person that has impressed me is my oldest niece. She was in an abusive marriage and got out of that marriage. She had dropped out of high school and she obtained her GED. She was then sewing in a jeans factory that closed. They offered Pell Grants to any of the plant employees that wanted to go to school. She became a Dental Hygienist while raising three kids and I think she had a 4.0. She subs some now as a hygienest BUT she also makes quilts. She quit her full-time hygienist job a few years ago because her sewing skill is in such demand that she can actually do what she loves and make more money. She has taken care of my sister (her mom) who is not in good health. She has survived breast cancer and a double mastectomy and some complications. She does it all and still finds time to laugh.

Hodgepodge

I have blogged three days in a row. It's a miracle. Thanks to Joyce for this week's questions. I'd love to hear your answers!!

1. When the Hodgepodge lands on September 11th I want to acknowledge that. Will you purposely pause to remember, pray, or attend any sort of ceremony on 9/11? Share any thoughts or memories you'd like to share about this day. When I see the date "9/11" - I always think of that day. I was at the gym when the first tower went down. Everyone stopped doing whatever they were doing and walked away from their machines. As we stood in front of the TV in silence, the second tower was hit. Just typing those words gives me chills and takes me back to that day. After a few minutes, we all gathered our belongings and went home. I went home and was glued to the TV. I remember picking our kids up from school and we were all in shock. A former member of our church was in the Pentagon that day. He was never able to tell us much, but it had to be terrifying.

2. Growing up, did you spend a lot of time with your grandparents? What's something you learned from a grandparent? My daddy's parents lived in the same town and we saw them fairly often. I remember sitting on their porch on a summer night. We could hear all of the bugs and critters making night noises. My sister and I spent the night with them a few times over the years. My grandpa loved to garden and I still love fresh tomatoes and fresh beans and peas. My granny loved to quilt and cook. I didn't learn either from her, but I love to do both. My mother's mother lived further away. Now that we have interstates, it would have been a much shorter trip. Back then, it seemed like a day's journey. She was so poor. She lived in a tiny house in the woods and she didn't have indoor plumbing. Even though we didn't see her very often, I always felt so loved by her. What did I learn from her? Maybe I learned that even when you are dirt poor, you can still make a child feel very loved.

3. What's your go-to breakfast? My go-to breakfast is a turkey sandwich on keto bread. I sometimes eat Morningstar Farms sausage patties (fake) with a slice of 2% American cheese and a squirt of mustard.

4. Tell us the story behind one of your favorite photos. The photo below was taken by our friend, Halley, in November of 2020. We were still wearing masks. Our daughter's little girl wanted to wear the masks as a hat. This was not the photo we chose for our Christmas card, but I did want to remember.

I also love this one that we found when cleaning out Mark's mom's stuff. It is her with our kids at Halloween -- I don't know exactly how old they were in this picture -- but elementary school aged.

5. This week Friday lands on the 13th. Are you superstitious in any way? Do you like scary movies, and if so what's your favorite? My son says, "We aren't superstitious. We are just a little stitious." I think that is from a movie. I don't think I'm superstitious . . .but sometimes I might say, "don't do that or don't say that." I think it stems back to my childhood. My momma must have said that. When I was young, I watched more scary movies. I remember seeing The Shining and The Omen. I don't know if I could watch them now. I also remember watching Young Frankenstein. It wasn't scary . . .but it made me remember. I also remember watching some of the old Alfred Hitchcock movies . . .shiver!

6. Insert your own random thought here. Mark got his covid booster on Tuesday and I'm going to get mine today since we will be flying on a very long flight soon. We are actually getting covid, flu, and RSV -- all three. Have any of you ever been to Santorini? Did you do an excursion? We've been told that the bus tour isn't that great and I've been trying to find something we would both enjoy.

10 on the 10th

 I haven't joined in for ten on the tenth in a couple of months. Here are the questions - I'll answer below.

1. Mark and I feel very blessed in the friendship department. I have some deep meaningful relationships - some I see often. Some I don't see as often. I have some friends who are more on the periphery - I love them and they love me, but the relationships aren't as deep.

2. Bouquet or flowering bush? I would love to have a cutting garden with something blooming all of the time which would provide fresh flowers year round.

3. We know some folks who have been on the Antarctic cruise. Even with all of the luxuries in the world, I'm not sure I could take waves of 17 feet. I guess I'm going with the beach shack -- could I please have indoor plumbing and air conditioning?

4. I like SOME pumpkin spice. I don't need pumpkin spice everything.

5. I live in a state that has high humidity often. I guess I'm going with warm, sunny day with high humidity. I actually would prefer a 75-80 degree day with sunshine and low humidity. I know it wasn't a choice!

6. I think I would prefer a vintage real fur coat. I couldn't kill an animal for a coat  . . . unless I lived way back when that was my only choice BUT I could enjoy a vintage one. The problem is that it might get cold enough once every two years . . .most of the time a fur coat is too hot.

7. We talked about cars the other day. I actually love the car I drive. It is FILTHY right now from being at camp over the weekend. It would depend on the logo on whether I would pick to drive a car of my dreams . . .with a logo.

8. I would love to vote for the stilettos but at 66 years old, I am probably not going to wear any more stilettos. I love the way they look! I guess I'm voting for the tennis shoes -- I just bought some Hokas.

9. I guess I would choose a small cottage painted in colors I love.

10. I am going with the safe choice on this question -- I will vote for my favorite food every day for a year!

It was a great weekend!

On Friday, I packed my bag and headed north to Camp Sumatanga for our annual Women's Retreat. It is about an hour drive from my house to camp. While I was driving, I had a phone appointment with a nice person from the Samford Online program. I'm trying to decide if I'll pursue my Bachelor's after I graduate in May.

It was raining when I arrived at camp . . .but it was not hot. When we booked the camp a year ago, we felt like it would be sweltering on the first full weekend in September BUT IT WASN'T.

One of my jobs was putting together the gift bags for every bed. We had "S'mores and Snores Bags." I made a cute kit for S'mores and we had a small bottle of water, a sleep mask, and some earplugs! Have y'all seen the giant square marshmallows? They are so cool!

When Mark was at the farm a couple of weeks ago, I texted him and told him that we needed a tree's worth of small circles. A tree had fallen and he cut it up for us to use as part of the centerpieces. Our theme was "Camp Wilderness" and we used the stories from the Bible of those who were in the wilderness. Our mason jars have twinkle lights in them . . .lightning bugs/fireflies!

Our backdrop was this cute camper.

This is the first year that I haven't been in the skit. I was on the team and helped plan, but I guess I'm getting too old for the skit :-).

Our friend, Lynne, was one of the speakers and she shared her story and told us of the times in her life when she was in the wilderness.

They moved the backdrop and balloon arch to the lobby to use as a photo backdrop. I'm on the left (camp hair - don't care! no make-up!) and my friend, one of the Laura's, was in the middle, along with Anna Leigh. They were both on the team, too.

Here I am with the other Laura. She was on the team, too -- two Laura's and a Lisa and an Anna Leigh and an Amy! I didn't get a photo with Amy. Laura (below) was also my roommate this year plus the last two years.

Here I am with my friend, Debbie. She was also one of the speakers!!

She presented her story on Sunday morning. I have written about her before. While Mark and I were in Ireland in October 2021, her husband fell . . .and died. Our first Women's Retreat had been just days before he fell and he had really pushed her to attend. She made lots of friends that weekend and is glad she attended. Her husband, Don, was in Mark's weekly small group. Her story is so very powerful.

We ate. We laughed. We cried. We clapped and cheered. We crafted. We studied the Bible together -- all of those wilderness stories. We prayed about our own wilderness. We had all ages of women -- from 22 to 90. Isn't that amazing? I love multi-generational women's events. I even had a bug in my bed. I sound happy about that bug -- but I wasn't!! That is pretty campy, isn't it?

We cleaned up camp and everyone headed home and I got back in time to meet our son and his family for lunch at Culinary Dropout. I had a wonderful salad. Mark had the breakfast sandwich which had just about all of the breakfast ingredients on it. Glenn had Smokehouse Hash, which was also on the brunch menu. Our granddaughter #1 ordered French Toast made with banana bread. She said it was too sweet and swapped with our friend, Wynn. He had ordered Shaved Prime Rib dip -- a fancy roast beef sandwich and fries. She ate some of his and he finished hers. Our daughter-in-law had the same salad I ordered. I think I liked it better than she did.

We headed back to our house and I started a load of laundry and emptied my suitcase and we took a 30 minute nap. I was just about to go into a deep sleep when my alarm went off. We struggled awake and brushed our teeth and headed back to our church

because

At four, we had a trip meeting about our October trip. I'm getting so excited!! Our church chef prepared Greek snacks for everyone -- Spanakopita (which was amazing!), Baklava (Mark said it was good), hummus and other dips with pita bread, olives and maybe peppers . . .

Just FYI - I am tired. :-) zzzzzzzzz!!

 

Sunday Stealing

I'm joining up for the weekly questions from Sunday Stealing. Thanks to Bev for stealing the questions every week.

1. What shows are you into? We've been watching several. We are in the last season of Yellowstone. We finished Tracker and are waiting on a new season. We've been watching old 30 Rock -- it is usually the last thing we watch before bed. 

2. What’s your claim to fame? I was the first runner up in the Ironman Ski Queen Beauty Contest a million years ago. I got to ride around in a fancy ski boat with the winner and we waved at all of the people!

3. How often do you play sports? Rarely. I tried to learn to play tennis when I was younger and I was not good at it at all!!

4. Are you early or late? We are almost always early. For work, I'm right on time.

5. What quirks do you have? I'm a bit of a germaphobe. My husband would say I'm a lot of a germaphobe.

6. How often do you people watch? Not often enough hahaha! I love to go to live sporting events to people watch.

7. What’s your favorite drink? Diet Pepsi for the non-alcoholic drink and Margaritas or Moscow Mules for the alcoholic. 

8. What do you hope never changes? My ability to look for the positive -- sometimes it is hard. I hope our granddaughters always love us!

9. What’s your dream car? I drive a really nice car now. I guess my dream car would be a little Mercedes convertible. I did test drive a Mercedes before I bought my current vehicle . . .but not the little one.

10.  Where would you rather be from? I'm ok with where I'm from. 

11. What songs have you competely memorized? I know all of the words to several kids songs and I know the words to some hymns. I don't know if I know all of the words to any other songs or not.

12. What would you rate 10/10 - a day like today where the weather is just right! (I'm writing on Saturday and the sun is shining and the sky is blue and it is not unbearably hot.

13. What job would you be terrible at? I would be terrible at a manual labor job -- like creating roads and interstates.

14. What skill would you like to master? I would like to speak a second language.

15. What movie title best describes your life? I am at camp on a Women's Retreat. Last night we watched Summer Camp -- which was about a 50 year camp reunion. This isn't a reunion, but Summer Camp (since fall hasn't begun) works!

It's a Hodgepodge!

1. Something you're working on currently? Our women's retreat is this weekend and I'm on the team so we are working on goodie bags for the rooms, snacks for the movies, etc.

2. Tell us something about your first job? Was it a positive or negative experience for you? Did your parents insist you work while in school (either high school or college) or did you work because you wanted to? My first job was as a babysitter. While in high school, I sat with a few kids from church and for my niece and nephew. I'm not counting that though. I made fifty cents an hour. My next job was as a gift wrapper at Harris Smith Dry Goods store. I wrapped for Christmas and Mother's Day one year and loved it a lot!! I was in high school. My mom died when I was a sophomore and I don't remember which year I worked. My daddy actually encouraged us not to work but to focus on school. He said that we would be working the rest of our lives. My first real grown up job was at South Central Bell. I started the morning after I graduated from high school. I was a stenographer for several years and then the Area Vice President had me promoted to his assistant. I was 23 years old and was the youngest person ever promoted to that level. I also skipped a level which led to people assuming I was sleeping with the boss. I wasn't. A couple of years later, South Central Bell offered to pay college tuition if you were taking classes that would help with your job. I started taking classes at UAB and then at Jefferson State. I didn't finish hence the reason I'm in school at age 66. 

3. Have you ever had a job that required overnight travel? How did you feel about that? Have you ever had a job that required you to wear a uniform? Do you work better in the morning or at night? When I worked for AT&T (after divestiture, South Central Bell became American Bell for just a few months and then we became AT&T), I traveled several different times. I taught a training class in Jackson, MS. I went on several office work/fun trips. I really enjoyed traveling. I don't have to travel now BUT I get to - I've been to Israel four times, Austria, Germany, Italy, and we are headed to Turkey, Egypt, and Greece this fall. I do a lot of the pre-trip work. I LOVE IT. I've never had a job where I had to wear a uniform. I work much better in the morning. That is one of the reasons I get up early every day.

4. What's something you bake or cook that is labor intensive? Is it worth it? Mark's mother's recipe for German Chocolate Cake is divine but takes a while! It is totally worth it. Cheese straws also require a little time and they are definitely worth it.

5. One thing you're looking forward to in the month of September? Our Women's Retreat is this weekend. Our Staff Retreat is the last day of the month and the first day of September. We will hang out with friends some  - supper club and out to eat supper club. So sorry -- that was way more than one!!

6. Insert your own random thought here. We have a fun wedding to attend this month. We helped host a couple of parties for the bride and groom. Since I'm a relative, I've been invited to the Bridesmaids luncheon. One of our nephews is engaged and our niece is engaged so we will have a couple more weddings between now and June. Fun times.

Weekend in Review - Labor Day

About a week ago I was feeling sorry for us because we had no plans for the long weekend. It turned out to be just the right amount of down time plus some fun time.

I'm taking American History this semester and I did a lot of homework - we had several short writing assignments and I was able to knock those out.

It rained one afternoon and we went shoe shopping for our Egypt/Greece/Turkey trip that is coming soon. We both bought a pair of Hokas.

I worked Sunday morning and Mark went to worship. Our daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter #2 and granddaughter #3 arrived in time for a lunch of sandwiches and baked fries.

Later in the afternoon, our son and daughter-in-law, and granddaughter #1 arrived (pictured below). There was playtime with Pops and the Barbies. There was a little playtime in the park. There was some deviled egg making. They have chickens and the eggs were laid Sunday morning and were on our table Sunday night.

She did a great job with mommy's help.

There was a tiny bit of whining regarding the swings. Granddaughter #1 let Granddaughter #2 have the swing she wanted . . .even though her legs practically dragged the ground.

Mark's twin brother, wife, daughter, and fiance came along with Mark's sister and her husband. I think we had 14 for dinner. Their other brother and his wife were unable to attend. He had chemo #4 on Friday so he may not have been feeling well.

On Saturday, Mark and I made his mother's sour cream pound cake to serve for dessert. I thought it looked great. Mark said we need to cut the baking time by five minutes next time. Our oven must be hotter than his mother's was.

Look at chunky monkey in her cute frog seat. She is starting to babble and laugh. She is 5 months now. This seat was great because we put her on the island while I cooked breakfast.

She is five months old now. You might remember -- she was born at not quite 35 weeks. She is grabbing things and studying them intently.

I had a Williams Sonoma credit and I got the tiny pumpkin waffle maker. I want to use it every day!

Look at those cute waffles!!

They timed their departure between bottles so were on the road again by lunchtime. It was a short visit but a good visit. After they left, Mark and I took a nap! I washed all of the sheets and put clean ones on the upstairs beds and packed up the pack and play from my office and studied some more.

Did you rest any over the Labor Day weekend? Or did you just go, go, go??