Tuesday already?

Well, summer is here!  Whoo whee has been pretty muggy and warm.  We are having above ave temps here.  I know it won't last all June (maybe).  And I am learning to just accept that it will be hot and muggy most of the summer here in the (mid) south.  I hope you all are not getting too much Cristobel damage!  Sure seems like hurricane season is early!  We are also above ave rainfall here too.  Weird weather, virus, rioting, etc.  I feel bad for all the people who are reeling from all the virus damage and now rioting damage.  I support the sentiments, I just wish it would stay peaceful.

My husband got an inflammatory email about the BLM movement.  I see people I know on FB post things and I feel sad and hopeless.  I cannot even imagine how people feel who have experienced racism their entire lives (and generations!).  I feel bad for our kids who are going to have to pay for all this deficit and heal our country.  I do worry because I feel this is going to require a spiritual solution and it seems like people and families are moving away from churches.  Maybe I cannot envision the future and I just give it up and pray for God to heal us all.

I feel sorry for old people locked away in their quarantines (like my dear granny).  I feel for all the animals being neglected...I am a real ray of sunshine but the important thing is...that DH and I had a talk about it and we both feel comfortable to support BLM and my DH is a former homicide detective.  So, enough about such weighty subjects!  I am just working and doing my yoga couple evenings a week and walking few times a week...I am enjoying my structure.

Structure for me brings order and peace and quiets my mind.  As so does my devotional readings, meditation, exercise, music and mindless escapes like podcasts and Netflix!  And blogs!

Here is a picture of my patio sitting area.  This makes me feel peaceful.  I hope you are finding your own oasis in the heat of this strange summer.  Peace!

P.S.  My brother in law came down and got grand dad's homemade cabinet.  I got all of DH 45 years old huge wooden furniture moved out and I am waiting for a chance to run to closets IKEA for better/lighter/more efficient/brighter storage solutions for our sweaters and sweatshirts...and more importantly, my treadmill has been moved and I got my sitting room back.  I will be working (and yoga-ing) in here more, so I am happy for the space.  

I truly loved this lovely one of a kind cabinet, but I just cannot afford the space.  It is going to the brother in the family who has kids.  They have some really cool WW2 artifacts to store in it.  Pictures on the room make over soon!

Here is my cute sitting room

Here is the same small guest room before we bought the house.

Before I go, just wanted to share a delicious thing I have been doing with fresh veggies, greens, frozen veggies - whatever you have!  I have learned that I prefer my arugula cooked.  So I cooked it in generous amount of butter.  Sauteed some slivered almonds and then I toss it with cooked pasta (I have used rice noodles for less gluten option) and I throw in some vegan faux cheese, and or feta cheese and or goat cheese and it is DELICIOUS.  My In laws loved it.  I have used fresh and frozen veggies (carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, zuchhini, etc) and greens - kale, spinach and/or arugula.  

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Happy Palm Sunday

I really had intended to find a church home by now.  Feel bad about that.   I have dome good friends well at home in their churches who share scripture and their journey.

We have been sharing in group texts a lot since 2 of our group fighting cancer.  I love the uplift.  

3 of us drove back to our hometown and surprised our friend L by mulching her front flower garden and planting some flowers.  We got her couple pillows to match afgan I made her.  D bought and hung her a windchime.  B gave her couple butterfly bushes.  L was gone all day taking her 24 to son to Topgolf in the tge city.  When they all got home, she was very surprised.   She had to use a wheelchair because the cancer has the weak and she recently fell and broke her foot.

She was elated that we surprised her.  She had just remarked to her husband C last week she had nothing pretty to look at out on her front porch.  She does now!

DH and I got our raised beds ready to plant some cold weather veggies.  I am inspired to get some flowers myself!

Have a lovely Sunday.

Day 10, Wellness Challenge

Today for the wellness challenge, it is get rid of 5 things you don't need.

I have been mercilessly cleaning out extra physical stuff as we have been here, retired 2 months and one week.  I take about a car load a week to Goodwill.  I even went throught my Christmas decorations early and donated my last big tree last Monday.  I need to go through my crafts chest next.  But, there is not much left.

I am going to do the Home Organization Challenge in January with Bowl Full of Lemons blog/FB page.  I want to streamline my cleaning and organizing in a fun, useful way.  That would be in a group sharing with others.

I also plan to find a church and start going Sunday Mornings.  I still enjoy my daily devotional and Psalm 31 materials, but want a little more.  I do want to share a very special photo of a painting today.  My Granny did this and dedicated it to the memorial of my grandfather.

Dr. Tony Evans:  "Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for sending Your Son, Jesus Christ, to come in order that He might provide the pathway to You, for me and all those who trust in Him. Thank You for the multitude of blessings You have given to me over the course of my life. Please gently nudge me and remind me if I start to get so busy that I forgot to honor and worship You with my thoughts, words or actions. You are the reason for the focus of this season, and I want to remember that throughout this month. I worship You, Lord, for You are holy, powerful, restoring and the source of my very life. In Jesus’ Name, Amen."

Amen.

Have a great week.  The things I am doing without today are 1)  worry, 2) fear, 3)  judgment, 4)  doubt and negativity.

Merry Christmas

I am back at city house, after spending weekend at retirement house.  Had great Christmas dinner with in laws at SIL and her husbands beautuful home.  So enjoyed seeing MIL& FIL with their new puppy.  My husband and his siblings think it will literally make their 83 yo father live longer having a new dog.  It snowed about a half inch whike we were there and it melted same day.

We drive home Sunday Christmas eve in time fir church with my maternal aunts and uncles and cousins.  They light candles at the end...it was magical.  My heart swelled up with happiness and love.  There was a time in my life the sadness crowded out the happiness.  That is distant memory.

Today is just DH and I enjoying our last Christmas in CH.  I am roasting a pheasant gifted to us last year and i bought a few other treats for us.  We are going to enjoy a quiet day...then go back to work tomorrow.  As much as i am sad when the holidays are over, I am getting to the point I enjoy getting more balanced diet and scheduke back...and the white, cold, dark quiet of January.  Sort of a clean slate. 
I hope if you read this, you can get a clesn slate feeling for the time after the holidays.  Sort of like when you lay in a fetal position after yoga...to let it sink in.  Namaste 2017.

Sunday Surplus

Relaxing at home after having early coffee and buying couple gift cards/delivering couple gifts/church.

Then came home and finished up some leftovers for lunch.  Sure was glad I braved WM after the museum Saturday, even though it was crazy busy yesterday.  I will avoid WM and Target until well after the holidays now.  I will go to Aldis or reg grocery now...maybe Sams, but I try to avoid WM and Target right before/after Christmas/New Years.  I just stress over crowds and rude people, but add in the crazed commercialism and my anxiety just increases!

After the museum, and after WM shopping last night we had soup I had in crock pot and bread I made in our bread machine.  It was good!  I used some frozen gr beef and half the frozen turkey stock from TG and added taco seasoning, ranch seasoning, can tomatoes, can kidney beans, frozen corn, can rotel.  The bread made the house smell great!  I bought my bread machine in 1990 and used it regularly since!  Mostly limited to winter only.  I cant believe it has lasted so long. 

So our neighbors let us know, their daughter passed 2am sat morning.  She was only 49.  A year younger than me.  A year older than my mom was when she passed away.  My DH went over and started their truck and let it run for about 15 min.  He said it was reluctant to start.  Before we went to museum we bought a trickle charger to keep it on and keep battery charged.  They are good people, we wish we could do more, but obviously we cannot.  They are going to have their daughter's services in her state she died in, where her daughter still lives.  My neighbor texted to say they will stay for a while longer.  The past year and 4 months, they have driven 8 hours one way about once a month, sometimes a couple times.  This last trip they have been there since well before TG.  they are in early 70's.  I cannot imagine how exhausted they must be.  I have been through the process too...more than once...the vigil to see a lived one's life ebb and flow...more on that someday.

Never again will I complain about the holidays...God please confort T and R and J's children as only you can...Amen.

Whirlwind Weekend

So tired when I got home Fri, DH decided we would order delivery Chinese.  Works for me!  The place we like delivers really good food and a lot of it!  So for about $25 we get 2 meals each and I have my lunch today.  So, that is 5 meals out of it!  Thurs night and Sat night I did 2 more crockpots full of chunky cinnamon applesauce.  I shared with family and friends and froze 5 quarts in bags laid flat.  Sat/Sun I finished backing up my entire computer (music, documents, pictures) and erased one of the accounts that was acting up.  The computer repair people I talked to about my computer issues said 2 accounts on one computer won't affect speed or updates, but I think it did.  My original account when I bought the laptop  4 years ago evidently had something wrong, because a year later when I was trying to be able to watch Amazon Prime videos on it, I called Microsoft for help and they set up a whole different account.  Well, sometimes I would get error messages or the updates would not download for one or the other.  I never moved all the music, docs and photos over to the new account, so I still went back and forth.  Well, NOT ANYMORE!  WOOOOOO HOOOOOOO.  It took me a couple of weeks (off and on) to get all the stuff off the old account and on to the new account (plus backed up to thumb drives!.  I got that finished yesterday and loaded the new giant storage thumb drive for music for my car.  Then I deleted the old account.  So fingers crossed, we shall see.

Sat late morning while DH was still hunting (he got up at 4:30am), I cleaned house, did sheets and towels.  Went to grocery store.  Then when he got home (sans deer).  He wanted to play golf, because he and his normal golf partner (his brother - BIL 3) could not play earlier in the week, like they normally do on Wed.  So, since they played Sat, I was off work and I got to play too!  It was cold, but not too windy, about mid 40's.  We have played in the 30's, so we don't mind.  But on about hole 3 it started a steady drizzle.  On hole 5 I still had feeling in my fingers and par'd the 4 par.  Not only that, I chipped a 50 foot chip shot right off the green and it went right in!  Plop!  Nothing but net!  Didn't even bounce!  Right in!  It was thrilling.  I got on the green sev more times to put for par, even one birdie...but I really need to work on my putting game.  My BIL3 says I will shave many points off once I lock down my putting.  Boy were we freezing!  It just drizzled on all afternoon, nothing showing up on radar, but we continued on.  Downed a cup of coffee for the back 9.  It just got too dark and by hole 17 I was done.  I drove, it was nice and right down the middle but too hard to see, esp if we went in the rough!  So we called it.  Sat night I did the applesauce.  I processed 3 bushels of apples this fall and didn't waste any!  I hate waste.  I wanted to take a bit over to my friend, but she was being released from hospital and preferred for me to come by Sun.

Sunday I got up and started cooking at 8 after I walked the dogs and had a cup of coffee.  Got the broccoli casserole assembled, apples ready and pork roast/veggies in the oven while I went to church.  Got home, baked corn bread and DH and I ate while apple brown betty baked.  Then, DH went to hunt more and I took my girlfriend soup, cornbread, roast pork and veggies, broccoli casserole and apple brown betty.  She is doing well after neck surgery, except for nausea.  She is going to check in with the doctor today.  She has a friend of her husband's staying with her, we will call her Gemma.  My friend is a dear person.  It is hard to see her feeling bad, I wish I could help.  I told Gemma even if T can't eat then the food can help all her family and friends helping check on T.

Sitting at work today.  Waiting for my assignment.  Will prob get more relaxation here at work.  Is still dark and drizzly but church inspired me yesterday (Peter 4:10-14), it was about being of service to glorify God.  I enjoyed the sermon with my friend C and church regular P.  I am looking forward to hot yoga tonight.  Hope you all have a great week!