Monday, March 28, 2016

Weekend Recap

I'm feeling like I really need to step up this whole blogging thing, so let's do a little weekend recap. Bullet format.

●Friday I started feeling like I was getting a cold. Noteworthy? To me, yes. I feel like I have been sick or recovering from sickness or surgery or something since Thanksgiving. So done with that.

●Friday night we watched some college basketball only to see our Alma Mater lose a Sweet 16 game.

● I fully expected my cold to be worse Saturday morning, thankfully it wasn't, so we were up and headed off to North Carolina to see my parents and siblings.

● It was good to sit and talk with my dad for a while when we first got there.

●My siblings decided that it would be "easier" to go to Easter church service Saturday night.  Honestly? I didn't feel anything like Easter to me. While I have never been to a Sunrise Easter Service, I still feel like there is something to celebrating Easter on Sunday morning.

●The church we went to is one of those huge churches that has multiple (8?) campuses. Hubby and I agree that we just don't get the appeal. There just doesn't seem to be a way to know people or see people you may know. I guess you can be involved in a small group, but even then what are the odds of seeing the people you do know on a Sunday morning?

●I was NOT impressed by the joke the pastor gave right at the beginning of the sermon about two drunk guys in a bar. So inappropriate for any church service ever. Why do some pastors feel the need to entertain rather than just flat out preach God's word?

●My brother-in-law is learning to be a master of the smoker that came with their new house. We had some fantastic prime rib, pork and lamb chops.

●Sunday morning I woke up feeling terrible and could barely talk. Ugh.

●We got to watch my niece's and nephew's girls hunt for Easter eggs. Here's a picture of the girls (and my dad) waiting for the go ahead


●We ended up leaving earlier than we planned because I felt so terrible and kept wanting to fall asleep.

●The four hour drive home was stressful due to the heavy rain the whole way. Hubby is a champ for doing all the driving!

●The trip home was made a little better with a stop at IKEA. We were worried we wouldn't make it before it closed because of traffic delays, but we had a whole 22 minutes before it closed. I just wanted a couple of things, but came out with five things. I love IKEA.

●We both like to unpack everything as soon as we get home from a trip. Do you do that or do you do it the next day or over the next week? Or maybe you just shove the suitcase in the corner to wait until your next trip?

●I had a hard time getting to sleep last night due to the coughing, but feel a little better today.

●I'm baking a little today to have some bars to bring to our Bible study social tonight.

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Wednesday Hodgepodging


Hey! I'm joining up with Joyce and her Wednesday Hodgepodge today. Click on over to here,  http://joyce-fromthissideofthepond.blogspot.com/,  to read her answers to these questions and as a bonus you can read lots of other bloggers' answers!  (I cannot figure out for the life of me how to copy the logo for this. Stupid tablet.)

1. February ended with an extra 24 hours in 2016. What did you do with your bonus day?

Monday was a busy day for me. I don't have a lot of busy days and I kind of enjoyed it.
First, I made a visit to a quilt shop to get a few fabrics to finish off the latest quilt I'm working on. I'm so thankful there's a good, but small, quilt shop 10 minutes from my house.
Next stop was the grocery store. It had been a few weeks since I had bought groceries and it was time.
After I put the groceries away, I was able to sit down at home for about a half an hour before I was off to meet my husband at the cardiologist's office. Because of the Supraventricular Tachycardia episode I had in December, I am having a procedure done on March 17th to fix the cells in my heart that are causing the problem. We were meeting with the doctor to finalize that.
After supper at home, Hubby and I went to our weekly Community Bible Study meeting. This week's lesson was in Matthew 22. We really enjoy the people in our group.

2. What's something in your life that's grown by leaps and bounds in recent days, weeks, months, or years? I'm giving you lots of room to come up with an answer here, so no fair passing on this one.

This is a no-brainer for me. I've watched this Lydia sweetie grow so much this year. I am always fascinated how MUCH a baby learns in one year!



3. Do you read reviews about a film before deciding if you'll see it? Did you watch The Oscars this year, and if so your thoughts on the program? How many of the Best Picture nominees had you seen prior to the broadcast? (Spotlight, The Martian, The Big Short, The Revenant, Mad Max: Fury Road, Room, and Brooklyn) If you watched The Oscars who gets your award for 'best dressed'?

I always read a summary of the movies. I used to read reviews more consistently when I my kids were still home. I sometimes regret not reading reviews when the movie was a dud.
I only watched bits and pieces of the Oscars. It didn't hold my attention. The  only movie I have see from that list is "Brooklyn" and I really liked it.

4. When did you last have overnight house guests? Give us your top three tips on being a good house guest.

The last overnight guests we had were my daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter last August. And they will be our next overnight guests in three weeks!
When Hubby and I stay at someone elses house we try to clearly communicate when we will arrive and how long we will be staying. We also try to keep our stuff contained. At the end of the day,  we take our stuff back to our bedroom with us.
I guess that's only two tips.

5. March 2nd is Peanut Butter Lover's Day. Will you be celebrating? If so, would you prefer a home made peanut butter cookie, a Reese's peanut butter cup, an old fashioned peanut butter and jelly sandwich, or shall I just hand you a jar and a tablespoon?

I am pretty picky about my peanut butter. Since I got a food processor a few years ago I have been making my own. It's very simple and I like that I can control the saltiness and I do not add sugar. I don't like sweet peanut butter. Having said that, I love Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. But then again, sometimes there's nothing like a PB&J sandwich or a peanut butter cookie!

6. Why is failure important? Or isn't it?

It is important because it keeps you humble and makes you realize how dependent you need to be on God. I heard a song yesterday that's new to me by MercyMe called "Wishful Thinking" and this line really stuck with me:

                                "Cuz without suffering grace is hard to see"

Think on that for a while.

7. Share with us one fun thing on your March calendar.

My Granddaughter is turning ONE! I'm excited to be able to celebrate with her!


8.  Insert your own random thought here.
I am recovering well from my thyroid surgery. The pathology report showed that the large nodule was totally benign (!!!!) and that there was a very small nodule that I don't think the doctor knew was there and that had a very small microscopic bit of cancer in that. If I wouldn't have had the racing heart episode in December that I went to the ER for, I would have never had a CT scan that showed something on my thyroid and that microscopic bit of cancer would have grown and grown before I knew anything about it. I wholeheartedly believe that God performed a miracle in that situation! I bawled for an hour when I heard the news. God cares about me and thinks about me and loves me far more than I give Him credit for! I have a scar on my neck front and center from the thyroid surgery and I truthfully don't care how invisible it is in the long run. I want to see it and be reminded of what God did for me.