Life Lately - a quick catch up!

 Here is a quick catch-up of life since we returned from our trip, and the pictures loaded totally backward... so we will start with today - I'm writing on Sunday evening! We are headed to our neighborhood supper club tonight. I am taking an appetizer - sausage and cream cheese pinwheels. A few minutes ago, I got a text from the hostess asking what I'm bringing for dessert. I pulled up the email chain, and I am not taking dessert. I told her we have some Costco popsicles we could bring!

Also, I have had laryngitis for five days! Isn't that ridiculous? I started on a Z-pack this afternoon, and I am hoping for a speedy recovery.

Yesterday, we met some of our young adults at the Lister Hill Library on the UAB campus. One of our young adults is a museum curator, and they have a new exhibit: House Visits to Hospitals. We had a private tour, and it was very interesting. I only took a few photos, and I have posted them below.

Our worlds collide -- we just saw a copy of John Wesley's book when we visited his home and gardens. The same book was on display in the museum exhibit.

Ella had also pulled several other interesting things for us to look at. She had an amputation kit from Japan. A US doctor came into possession of this amputation kit during the war. She had a centrifuge that had a handle like an antique egg beater!

On Friday night, we met Mark's siblings and their spouses at Giuseppe's for dinner. I had no voice, but it was good to be together.

Last week, our church hosted a conference - Common Table. We had wonderful speakers, great worship sessions, and breakout sessions.

I was busy working but was able to hear Kevin Muriel. He was amazing. He told us that he was used to a congregation talking back to him while he preached and that we were going to have to do that!

I led the volunteer hub. Our congregation stepped up and showed warm hospitality to all of the attendees. From the moment an attendee stepped out of their car, they were warmly greeted with a smile. One attendee said she had never seen so many happy people in her life haha!

I had schedules for everything and lists of time slots and names. All but one volunteer showed up!

I had snacks for them. I don't need that many snacks next year.

We had safety vests for the parking lot greeters. All volunteers had hot pink lanyards - How Can I Help You?

We hosted the young adults on Tuesday night. I made chicken pot pies and yes . . . I cut the crust into pumpkin shapes. We read scriptures about gratitude and talked about the things we take for granted.

On Tuesday, I voted! The polls were very crowded before work. I leave the office at 2:00 on Tuesdays and work from home while I cook for the Young Adults. I was able to swing by and vote on my way home - no line no waiting.

Monday was a really tough day at work. I drove home, parked my car, walked through the garage, grabbed a hard cider, and went out to the front porch.

Sunday, November 1 was All Saints' Day at church. I snapped a quick photo of the bagpipe player as he was entering the welcome center. He was excited to play during the service.

We have fewer deaths each year as our congregation gets younger. This is such a beautiful worship service. During the communion liturgy, the names are read of the members who died this year. A bell is rung after each name. It is a wonderful way of remembering.

Our son, daughter-in-law, oldest granddaughter, and our friend, Wynn, came over for Sunday lunch after church. I purchased a 1/4 ham from HoneyBaked and a pan of their mac and cheese. Glenn loves baby limas, so we put some in the crockpot before we left for church. On Saturday, I made homemade chunky tomato sauce. Mark's mother always served homemade tomato sauce (cold) on top of baby limas, and our kids love it. We also bought a couple of salad kits and mixed those up. It was nice to be together.

We are almost caught up -- we are all the way back to Halloween in the neighborhood. We gave out 1400 pieces of candy. It wasn't even dark yet, and the trick-or-treaters were out in full force.

This is our neighbor, Lu, dressed as a unicorn.

And this is Hannah. She comes every year to help me give out candy. She dresses as a different Disney princess each year and she speaks Spanish fluently.

We set up our chairs at the foot of the porch steps and give out candy from there. Our first trick-or-treaters arrived at 4:30 and we ran out of candy by 8:00. It was a steady stream of humans for most of the night.

On Friday, the 30th, I went to the hair salon for a trim and a root coverup.

The photo below is silly, but the cleaning crew came on Wednesday, the 28th. The lady who cleans the kitchen left a cute bow on top of the paper towels!