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??

 

It's All About Ice Cream Sunday Stealing

Thank you to Bev for stealing the prompts for us each week. These were stolen from Swap Bot

1. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? I haven't eaten ice cream in probably seven years. I used to love a good strawberry or butter pecan. 

2. If you could invent a new flavor of ice cream, what would it be? Oh! I thought it was just one question about ice cream. Let me think . . .how about Limoncello ice cream?

3. Who do you like to eat ice cream with? Ice cream is good by itself!

4. If you were a flavor of ice cream, what flavor would you be? I would be Margarita flavored ice cream with a touch of jalapeno.

5. Does your family eat ice cream regularly, or just for a special treat? I don't eat it at all (see #1) and the rest of the family eats it as a treat.

6. What is your favorite treat from the ice cream truck? I LOVED choco-tacos! They quit making them a few years ago, but I think my son said they are bringing them back.

7. Does frozen yogurt taste different than ice cream? I think it probably does. Most people are eating one or the other so you aren't sitting there comparing the two by spoonful.

8. If you could make a super sundae, what would it have? I actually keep thinking I might make a sundae using a no sugar added fudge pop and some sugar free cool whip with a cherry on top.

9. Can ice cream make a bad day better? It might!

10. Have you ever had homemade ice cream? Yes. My husband has mastered his mother's recipe for cooked custard homemade vanilla ice cream.

11. When is your favorite time to eat ice cream? I eat my no sugar added fudge pops after dinner.

12. What is the best kind of ice cream you ever had? I don't know. I didn't eat it but Mark said Jenni's blueberry lemon was one of the best ice creams he had ever eaten.

13. Do you prefer your ice cream in a cone or in a bowl? When I would eat ice cream, I usually ate it in a bowl, but I think it is more fun in a cone.

14. Is there such a thing as a bad flavor of ice cream? I imagine there is. I just googled it and am now gagging. Evidently an ice cream store in Delaware sells booger flavored ice cream. Just typing those words makes me gag again.

15. They say an apple a day keeps the doctor away. What does an ice cream a day do? It could make you fat or have diabetes. Sorry to all of you ice cream lovers.

16. Is ice cream better when it’s fresh or slightly melted? I never liked it when it was so hard that it was difficult to get out of the carton.

17, What is the craziest flavor of ice cream you’ve ever seen? I've never seen it . . .but the ice cream I mentioned in #14 sounds pretty crazy (and gross)!!

Hodgepodge

Hey friends! It is Wednesday, so it must be Hodgepodge time! Thank you to Joyce at From This Side of the Pond for our questions every week!! I would love to hear your answers. I'm really looking forward to reading all of the responses to question number one.

1. What is one cliche you think is nonsense? Everything happens for a reason. No, it doesn't always. Humans have freewill to make decisions and sometimes humans make incorrect decisions. As a Christian, I do believe that God can work good through all situations BUT I don't think everything happens for a reason. Another one that isn't always true is "if you work hard, you will succeed." I guess that depends on how you define success. We've seen some people work so hard, but never get ahead. What's one you think holds truth? You can't judge a book by its cover. I definitely think this is true and I am SO GUILTY of judging people by appearance. Almost every time, it comes back to me and I realize I was sooo wrong!

2. What's the last thing you broke and how did it happen? My sweet daughter-in-law dropped something at my mother-in-law's house the other day and it shattered. It was one of the millions of things Mark and his sister have found deep inside cabinets and closets. I didn't break it, but I was standing right there. I'm trying to think what I've broken lately . . .

3. Are you a fan of s'mores? Have you had a s'more this summer? Last thing you ate that you wanted to ask for 's'more of'? I don't eat sweets, so I haven't had one this year, but I do think s'mores are yummy. As a matter of fact, I have the supplies to make 100 s'mores kits for an upcoming event. Everything is in a giant box in my bedroom floor. It was on the dining room table, but we use the dining room table on Tuesday nights. I'm trying to think what I wanted s'more of . . .have you tried Lesser Evil popcorn? I bought some over the weekend and I did want s'more of that!

4. A mode of transportation you've never tried? Will you someday? This is a great question. I've never traveled in a Rickshaw nor a pedicab. My mom always said, "never say never," so who knows? I might ride in one someday.

5. Believe it or not, next week's Hodgepodge lands in a brand new month. What's your happiest memory from the month we're bidding adieu? Oh my goodness! The months are flying by. August was hard because we had to have Harvey put down, but there was still joy. We ate with friends several times. We had the back to school carnival (Party in the Lot) at church. Also, as Mark and Susie continue to clean out their mother's belongings, they keep finding treasures. Here is Uncle John (Mark's uncle . . .but he became mine, too) holding Glenn on the day of Glenn and Laura's baptism. He was such a fine man.

Here I am -- so young (the month before my 29th birthday) and with my original dark hair! I still love a good pearl earring!

A friend brought fresh silver queen corn to us and Mark cooked halibut from Alaska.

Mark celebrated a birthday and I made a blackberry cobbler using blackberries that Glenn picked. Our family likes lots of fruit in the cobbler. This is 11 cups of blackberries!!

6. Insert your own random thought here. I mentioned treasures. Mark brought these glasses home -- the ones with gold rims. We are going to use the water goblets for wine glasses and the champagne/sherbets for drinks like Cosmopolitans. I searched on Replacements and the pattern is by Minton and the glasses are HAND BLOWN. The replacements aren't that expensive but we have 12 waters and 11 champagne/sherbets. I may order another champagne. We have one small glass plate and I ended up putting it on the bar under a bottle of bourbon. The pattern was new in 1930. Mark's mom had so many china patterns -- full sets. Some of the granddaughters are taking a set of china. Our daughter is getting the set below and it is beautiful.

I told y'all about the print we had framed for our bathroom. You can scroll down this post and see the print. I wish I had thought to photographer the other things we've brought home. 

When was the last time Sunday Stealing?

I'm joining up with the thieves from Sunday Stealing. I still haven't figured out how I answered this week's questions last week . . .so, I'm going to answer last week's questions . . .this week.

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU ....

1 - Handwrote a letter to a friend? Do thank you notes count? If so, I wrote a couple last week. I haven't written a full blown letter in a long time.

2 - Cried? I cried buckets when we had to have Harvey put down a couple of weeks ago. My eyes still fill up with water when I think about it.

My friend texted to check on me and
I sent her this photo - my eyes
were swollen from crying
many tears.

3 - Fell over? About a month ago I was walking QUICKLY down the hall toward our chapel to set up for a baptism. I felt the toe of my sandal catch and I knew a fall was coming! I broke the fall with my knees and arms and was just a tad bruised. I hopped up and looked around to make sure no one saw me.

4 - Bought a present for someone? Mark's birthday was Wednesday and I bought a present for him.

5 - Had a pajama day? I have to be really sick or recovering from surgery to stay in pajamas all day. I just don't enjoy doing so.

6 - Watched a movie that you wouldn't have gone to the cinema to see? I rarely go to the movie theater so everything I've watched has been right here.

7 - Stayed up all night? Oh goodness . . .I haven't stayed up all night in many years.

8 - Bought something on eBay? I bought a text book on eBay last year and I bought an antique cookie press.

9 - Colored in a coloring book? I love coloring with the granddaughters. I colored with #2 a few weeks ago. I may have kept coloring even after she moved on.

10 - Told someone you love them? The last thing we do before going to sleep is say "I love you."

11 - Kissed someone? I kissed my hubby!

12 - Went to the doctors? I've been to the Dermatologist several times lately for this cancer on my ear. He didn't get it all so I have to go back on November 8.

13 - You traveled by train? We rode the trains a lot when we were in Austria. We don't have subways where we live. Our mass transit is almost non-existent. We enjoyed traveling around by train. Having our friend, Dave, who speaks German, with us helped a lot!

train station was about a mile from our small
family owned hotel. It was downhill to the station,
but after a day of walking everywhere . . .that
mile uphill was tough.

14 - Screamed because you were scared? We had a thunderstorm a few weeks ago with LOUD thunder and BRIGHT lightning. I screamed. I still have some PTSD.

15 - Visited your hometown? It has been a while. It is only about 30 minutes or so from where I live now, BUT it is so depressing. The community has gone down and is not very safe anymore. It was like Mayberry when I was growing up!

16 - Went on vacation? We went to the beach last October. 

The lighting is horrible in this photo. We were at
an outdoor restaurant - The Gulf.

We still had just two granddaughters . . .
but one was on the way! Laura
shared their surprise that 
weekend.

17 - Finished reading a book? I finish a book and then I begin reading the next one. I'm reading a light mystery right now . . .in addition to my American History. 

18 - Went to a church service? I work in a church. I'm there all of the time. For those of us who work on Sunday mornings, we have chapel once a week. Chapel and staff meetings are on Tuesdays.

19 - Wore a hat? I'll be wearing a hat when outside from now on. The last time I wore it was at our Party in the Lot a week or so ago. I also have my neck fan/air conditioner going full blast.

20 - Turned off your mobile phone? I turn it off every once in a while if it starts acting up. I turn my ringer off quite often but rarely turn my phone all the way off.