Weekend in Review

I have had the hardest time loading photos into the blog lately! It won't add them all at once, so I have to add in tiny batches and sometimes it loads them backwards! These are ALMOST in order but not quite!

Last week was Spring Break for our oldest grand. On Friday, we met her mom at the Shell station (our meeting point) and brought our girl home with us. But first, we visited Tractor Supply. She and Pops checked out the farm vehicles.

We were hoping for baby turkeys . . .but they only had baby ducks. They sure were cute. Of course, we bought a few random things!

She and Pops played Barbie upstairs and then she and I crafted while our frozen pizza was in the oven. I bought those crafts at the Dollar Tree ($1.25 each) and they were really cute! 

I bought the seed ball at Tractor Supply and hung it in the yard. I don't think anyone has found it yet.

This is when they were playing Barbie upstairs - they had a Barbie farm because our girl loves cows right now and we bought a couple of play cows at Tractor Supply.

One morning over the weekend, THIS was our sunrise. It was spectacular. I was standing in our front door looking out and thanking God for a new day filled with new mercies!

I have on no make up but my cap and gown and honors cords arrived in the mail and I snapped a quick photo to send to our kids!

On Friday night, I drove around the circle and picked up Lu and Dave and we headed to Casual Pint. I had a new to me beverage. It was a mix of grapefruit and some other fruit. It was tasty.

On Saturday morning, we headed south to our daughter's house for our youngest granddaughter's first birthday party.

I picked up the geese in the dollar ($3 I think) bins at Target.

Our kids are twins - y'all know that, right? Laura and Glenn -- Laura's daughters both love their Uncle Glenn. When they won't go to any of us, they will go to him.

Here she is with her daddy and this was right before she grabbed one of those apples!

It was a low key first birthday - she had a couple of gifts from us and a gift from Uncle Glenn and his family.

The gift below was her favorite -- I imagine Aunt Lauren picked it out . ..but Uncle Glenn could be the shopper.

Here I am with all three of our grands. Heart is full.

Look at this cutie!!

Pops got some icing on his finger and put it in her mouth and she figured out quickly that it was tasty!!

I know we live in the south, but it is not really swimming weather yet . . .but these girls were going to swim - cold or not!

They both can swim. Both Laura and Glenn were early swimmers - they could jump off the diving board at 3 1/2 years old and do a crawl stroke to the ladder. I am not a strong swimmer, but Mark was. Both of these girls were early swimmers, too.

She finally cuddled up in Pops lap!!

She wanted my Diet Pepsi bottle!!

I had asked Laura if big sister needed a small surprise. She was the only for over 4 years and sometimes I think it is hard when a new baby arrives and gets all of the attention. She needed a new Elsa dress . . .and Gran was a winner. She loved it.

On Sunday morning, we had a Fifth Sunday Fellowship. We kept this one low-key since it was the first and it was the Sunday at the end of spring break and EVERYONE goes somewhere (but us!). Sunday was the fourth Sunday of Lent which is Laetare Sunday. Our pastors wear pink stoles and the paraments in the church are pink and we are encouraged to wear pink .. .so I bought pink tablecloths, plates, and napkins! It is really "rose" but pink is what we have! Laetare is a Sunday for rejoicing in the middle of Lent.

I grabbed a couple of photos - it was a success! Multi-generational and a decent number of folks attended = a success.

Here is a photo of some of the guys from our class.

For Sunday lunch, I fixed the tortilla smash burgers again. We love them!

And that is a wrap on our weekend!! What did you do?

Sunday Stealing from Shannon

 I'm joining up with the Sunday Stealing Thieves! 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!

Back in 2016, regular Sunday Stealer Shannon W. from Moments of Introspection took on 43 questions. We're lazy, so we pared it back to 15. 

Stealing from Shannon 

 
1. What book are you currently reading? For pleasure, I'm reading Bridal Shower Murder by Leslie Meier. I'm also reading my online textbook for my class.

2. Have you ever smoked? I tried one puff of a cigarette one time. My daddy died of lung cancer so I don't think I would ever smoke.

3. Do you own a gun? I do not, but my husband has always hunted.

4. What is your favorite candy? I don't eat candy anymore, but if I did, it would be Reese's all the way - the holiday ones because the chocolate/peanut butter is the perfect ratio.

5. Hot dogs: yay or nay? Sure.

6. Favorite movie? I'm not a huge movie buff, but I do enjoy a good movie! I don't have a favorite.

7. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Diet Pepsi

8. What do you drink throughout the day? Diet Pepsi and I switch to Diet Ginger Ale at night. I try to drink some water, too.

9. Do you do push ups? hahahahahaha!

10. What’s your favorite piece of jewelry? my engagement ring and wedding band

11. Current worry? mmmmm . . .not sure . . .which is actually a good feeling after the few months we've had

12. Current annoyance? traffic

13. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? I don't think I have ever slept on satin sheets. I do love good quality sheets.

15.  Can you whistle? I can whistle . . .and in my head, I think I'm whistling a tune, but no one else can figure it out . . .so I must not be a good whistler!

April A to Z 2025

Theme Reveal

Just FYI - I may have lost my mind! In the midst of writing a paper/preparing a speech for school, I have signed up for the April A to Z blog challenge. I participated for the first time in 2017. One of my favorite years was the year I wrote about all of the foods we ate or tried during covid!!

My theme for this year is based on travel (which we love!) through Egypt, Turkey, and Greece.

I hope you will check back in April.

Spring Has Sprung Hodgepodge

 

It is Wednesday, so it is time for the HodgePodge! Many thanks to Joyce for our questions each week.

1. Spring has officially sprung (in the northern hemisphere anyway)...did she roll in more like a lion or more like a lamb in your neck of the woods? What needs more of your attention in terms of a good spring clean this year-your house or your garden/yard? 

I guess she rolled in like a lamb . . .though looking ahead to the possibility of bad weather this weekend, she may be changing to a lion! Spring in Alabama has lots of extremes - possibility of tornadoes, could be warm, could be quite chilly.

Mark does all of the yard work and he is actually going to talk to a landscaper about having our bushes changed out in front of the house, so I guess that would be sort of a "spring clean." We need to finish cleaning out our attic. We keep the inside of the house fairly clean, but I need to clean out some closets.

2. What's put a spring in your step lately? 

We have signed up for a river cruise for later this year!

3. When you were a kid, what was the best snack to find in your lunchbox? If you didn't do the lunchbox thing, tell us what was your favorite after school snack. 

Wow - so many years ago! I can't remember. I do remember taking my lunch in a cute little lunch box but I have no idea what was in it! The one thing I DO remember is that we could purchase two oatmeal cookies and a little cup of ice cream in the lunch room. We used the little "wooden spoon" to go around the edges of the ice cream and loosen it up. We then slid the ice cream onto one of the cookies and placed the other cookie on top. Oh My Goodness! It was so delicious and a very rare treat. I know my mom had snacks for us after school because I, in turn, had snacks for our kids after school. I tried to keep those snacks healthy, but fun. Ants on a log or good fresh fruit were favorites.

4. In what area of your life are you planting seeds? 

Mark and I plant seeds every Tuesday night as we feed/lead/facilitate a group of Young Professionals. Last week, counting us, there were 20 people on Tuesday night. I'm writing this at 5:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning (of this week!) and I think our number will be smaller tonight. One of our guys is out of the country for six weeks. One of the young women will be in Montana for four weeks.

5. Why do you live where you do? Would you consider living somewhere else? Why or why not? 

Mark and I both grew up in the greater Birmingham area. Actually, we both lived in smaller cities nearby (suburbs). Mark did live in another city in Alabama when we were first dating, but moved back to Birmingham before we got engaged. We had the opportunity to move to a different city in Alabama many years ago, and we chose not to do so. At this stage of life, I might consider living somewhere else, but it would be tough - we have a great friend group and we love our church and we love our neighborhood.

6. Insert your own random thought here. We don't get a lot of snow in the south . . .but we get LOTS OF pollen!

Photo Overload - Weekend in Review

Photo Warning!! There are 27 photos in today's post, so I know everyone won't be interested - this is so that when I'm old and my mind is feeble, I can look back!! On Thursday after work, I drove 45 minutes to our son and daughter-in-law's house and Mark met me there so that we could take Granddaughter #1 to dinner. Before we left, my son gave us a dozen eggs and used their new stamp on the carton.

We went "down the road" to the Mexican restaurant nearby so that we could celebrate her 9th birthday!

The restaurant was packed - on a Thursday night - and she knew just about everyone and was flitting from table to table as she visited with friends.

When they found out it was her birthday, they brought a cool birthday dessert!

On Friday morning, I worked on straightening up my home "office/place to craft/room where youngest grandbaby sleeps in porta crib" room. I'm constantly shopping for a rocking chir that is smaller in size and more in line with the small desk. When I find the one I want, I'll know it. I haven't found it yet.

I tried to straighten up the bookshelves. I should get rid of some more books.

Our upstairs is much more personalized that our downstairs. I have paintings/drawings done by our granddaughters and I have all sorts of random pictures of family and friends. In the hallway, I have pictures from our travels on both sides.

On Friday, the youngest granddaughter celebrated her first birthday! We will head down to their house this weekend to celebrate.

On Friday night, we hosted our long-time supper club. It is amazing to me that we've been gathering together every month for over 20 years.

We had a great menu. Terry brought a black bean and corn dip with fritos for our appetizer. Kim brought a wonderful slaw. Laura brought baked beans.

Phella brought banana pudding and some kind of a bar. I didn't eat either, but they both looked delicious.

Mark smoked the meat on his Pit Barrel Smoker and then he sliced it, rather than shredding it. It makes a much prettier presentation.

I kept it simple - just a few flowers in a vase in the center of the table. I love our dining room. I've heard that the trend is moving back towards actual dining rooms. An actual dining room was on my list of non-negotiables when we were house hunting.

Saturday morning, we headed to Homewood to the Mouat Chapel in our church. It is a sweet chapel that will hold 75-90 people. My sister-in-law, Alice, made the gorgeous flower arrangement. I'm sorry that my picture is slanted. I could have corrected that . . .

Bill loved to do all of the outdoor activities from canoeing and white water rafting to camping and more. When Mark and I were dating and first married, Bill had the "tank" below. This picture makes me smile!!

A member of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra reached out to me and said that she knew Bill from the Lakeshore Walking Trail where he rode his recumbent bike. She wanted to honor Bill by playing at his service. She played a four minute prelude before the service began and it was so beautiful. I watched her face and fingers as she played and she truly honored Bill. For those of you who have never had to book musicians . . .let me just say that she truly gave us a gift.

After the service, Mark and I rode with George and Alice to the graveside. It was over an hour north of us in a graveyard by a tiny church. There are four little old ladies left as members of the church. Our brother-in-law, Bob, dug the hole on Friday and he and Susie placed Bill's ashes in the ground. Alice took the beautiful flowers from the altar with us and placed them on the grave.

Mark read the 14th chapter of John and he and George recited the 23rd Psalm. 

Alice and I were walking around looking at all of the grave markers in the cemetery. I turned around and the two brothers were still standing by the grave.

The farms and pastureland were beautiful -- but we were out in the middle of some deep country! Let me just say that the chapel service and the graveside was just right for Bill.

On the way home, we stopped at Smith Farms Smoked Meats. The first item of business for me was to find the ladies' room! I should have snapped a picture. The walls were tile on the bottom and corrugated metal above.

There was a wide array of cheese and sausage and meat sticks and jelly and jam and salsa.

There was also a "wine tasting." There were 8 bottles on each side and you had to take a card in and out for it to work (to keep kids from using!). There were all sorts of interesting flavors from scuppernong to blueberry to cranberry to merlot, etc. Many of the wines were actually labeled Smith Farm so they evidently make some of their own.

The guys had removed their suit jackets and ties before the long ride. In those white shirts, even with George's beard . . .that identical twin thing shows.

We came home and crashed after a very long day. I know we ate something and I know we watched something on TV - Reacher, I think!

Sunday morning, I had to be at work at 7:00 and the sun was just coming up. It was beautiful.

I worked and taught our Sunday School class on the Christus Victor theory of atonement and Mark went to worship and Sunday school and then we headed home for the afternoon. We ate some left-over BBQ from Friday night and took a nap! Later in the afternoon, Mark cooked the sausage (from Smith Farms) over charcoal and he cooked some boneless chicken breasts for my meal prep lunches while the fire was hot. I prepped my lunches.

Guess what we did after that? We booked a river cruise for the fall. We need something fun to look forward to -- we have a couple of family weddings (May and June) and another wedding in June and those will be fun. The cruise is a "big fun" in the future.

The table below is the one made by our son. Mark has been decorating the screened porch. The old drinkcontainer was my daddy's. The fishing equipment is very old from Mark's side of the family. Can you see those cool blue jars? and the two old lanterns? It looks great! He cleaned the pollen off and it was back not 30 minutes later.

What did you do this weekend?