Thankful Thursday

Things I'm thankful for:

* Some beautiful sunshiny days up in the mid 60's and I can't wait to have some more - I see some blue skies this morning, but it's only going to be in the 40's today, but that's okay too since it's not raining

* Some quiet evenings at home with hubby - and today we're heading out for lunch and some errands and then back home for the rest.  I think we're going to Cheddars for lunch...yummy

* Crocheting another baby blanket...I have 2 in progress...I'm trying to use up some of my stash of yarn. I'm so glad I learned to do this many years ago and it's fun doing this with my sister and friends.  My sister and I were both crocheting at the hospital during her husband's surgery.  It sure helps to pass the time. By the way, I'm thankful her husband is doing better.  The first couple days were a little rough, but he should be coming home today.

* Enjoying a cup of hot chocolate while doing some Bible study yesterday and I enjoyed both.

My favorite cup

* Trying a new to me type study called verse mapping...my daughter got me a journal type book for it and I did my first mapping yesterday...I'm just trying to figure it out but I'm not sure it's something I will like, but you never know until you try it.  Have any of you done verse mapping? If so, what're your thoughts and suggestions?

* I'm thankful for Jennifer who hosts Thankful Thursday each week.  You can link up with her here, if you'd like.

There are so many things I am thankful for, but when I sit down to write a post, I seem to have trouble remembering them.  Maybe I should start writing at least one down each evening before bed.

Thanks for visiting.  

Cathy
 

 

Wednesday Hodgepodge

 

1. February is coming to a close. Give us a two-word phrase that tells us something about how yours went. Some changes

2. If you had to describe how you're feeling right now as an amusement park ride, what ride are you on? Explain. Merry-go-round.  It just seems so many friends and us some too are having physical issues, surgeries, colds, etc.  We're all getting through, but I still feel like I'm on one of the horses that go up and down and then we're all going around and around with one thing after another.

 

3. What's something on your desk or a nearby wall that cheers you up when you see it or walk past?  This painting hung in my office at work for the last several years before I retired.  It was painted by my daughter upon my request.  It is now hanging in my little office at church.  This is the desire of my heart.

4. Are you a salad eater? How many salads do you typically eat in a week? Your favorite kind of salad? Since seeing a cardiologist, I have become a salad eater.  I'm probably eat 3-5 salads a week and I'm actually really enjoying them.  I prefer iceberg lettuce with some grated cheese, tomatoes, olives, sunflower seeds and ranch dressing.  I also really love a good cobb salad.

 5. Without telling us the category give us your top five ______________. 

1. Great Is Thy Faithfulness  

2.  It is Well With My Soul

3.  I Am A Child of God

4.  What A Day That Will Be

5.  Amazing Grace 

6. Insert your own random thought here.  I could certainly enjoy a couple of days seeing this view.

Thanks for visiting.

Cathy

Bits of This and That and Tuesday 4

 

Good morning.

I usually write this post on Monday, but I didn't get to it.  Actually, I was at the hospital most of the day.  My sister's husband had a fairly serious surgery and I didn't want her sitting by herself during that. Then when I came home yesterday afternoon, I did read a few blog posts, but never wrote one. Anyway, her husband's surgery went well.  The doctor was very pleased with how it all went.  He'll have a time of recovery, but then he should be good.

We had some really beautiful weather over the weekend and even still yet today.  We went out for lunch a couple of times and ran some errands over the weekend.  We had church on Sunday and then came home and had lunch and took a nap and a walk with the dog, and then back to church.

Hubby's had a bit of a scare the last couple of days.  He's seeing a flashing light in the periphery of his eye and one floater.  So, this morning he called his eye doctor and from what he told them, she said, at this time, it didn't sound like an emergency and that he should just keep an eye on it and if anything changes, let her know.  So, we're both breathing a little bit easier at this point.  

Now for the Tuesday 4:

The Music of Home

Hello again! You are very welcome here at Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4.

From the play Greenwillow comes the song The Music of Home:

Tis the music of home

The music of home

Full of wonder as angel song

All the music of home

Thе music of home

Singing, "Home is wherе I

Belong"

There is a music to home.. let's talk about the music in your home.

1. Was home always your safe place?  Or did it leave a lot to be desired?  What would improve the music in your home today? I've always felt loved and safe in my homes.  I love it just the way it is.

2.Do you like coming home at the end of a day?  How about when you were a kid? Yes, I do love coming home, I've always felt loved and felt safe in my home as a child and also my homes as an adult.  I've been blessed.

3. What is the music of your home?  How would you describe life in your home growing up.. in the middle of your life and right now?  Is there a song that might fit your home? We actually don't listen to a lot of music at home.  But when we do it's probably southern gospel and praise and worship type music most.

4. Like a symphony, home has it's ups and downs as the picture to the side illustrates.  What are your homes best ups and worst downs?( stories of happy times, busted water heaters, goofy things that have happened, etc. Like everyone, we've had our share of things going bad, like a leaky roof (new shingles a few years back took care of that, broken appliances, etc.  Nothing too drastic.

So all in all, it's been a good weekend and in the parts that were not too easy, God was definitely there with us through it all.  How was your weekend?

Cathy

Share 4 Somethings - February 2024

 

Today is the February edition of Share 4 Somethings, where we're talking about some things we loved or disliked, accomplished, improved upon or something that needs improvement, and noticed this month. I hope you make plans to join Jennifer and the rest of us!  Link-up here.  It's always the last Saturday of every month. 

Loved - We had Olive Garden yesterday for lunch and I enjoyed that.  I'm still loving the books I'm reading.  I've started another series by the same author and it takes place during the time of the King Saul.  I haven't actually started reading it yet, but I checked it out through Libby.  I need to finish another book I have first.  It shouldn't take too long.

Accomplished - Our neighbors hired a crew to take down some trees in their yard and one of them saw me outside and came over and asked if we were interested in having the wood line at the back of our lot cleaned up some.  The last couple of years, the honeysuckle has grown wild and hubby and I are just not able to keep up with it like we used to.  So, we hired them to do it for us.  They did a pretty good job, of course it will look a lot better when the leaves grow back.  Right now it looks like a bunch of dead trees left.  lol (I'll try to remember to post a picture this spring,)  Below are a couple of photos of the stack of brush they cleaned out.  They came back yesterday and chipped them up and got them out of the front yard.  I'm so glad that task has been completed.

Improved -  We've improved some of our eating habits.  We're eating more salads at home and I'm really enjoying that.  I've also enjoyed some Cobb salads when we've gone out for lunch.  Wendy's has a really good Cobb salad and so does Outback.  I'm eating more fish too.  He kept telling me to eat salmon.  I said I don't like salmon, how about other fish.  He said all fish is good except not Long John Silvers.  lol   We still need to do better, but I think it's not a bad start.

Noticed - I'm noticing more and more that getting old is definitely not for sissies.  Seems like so many people I know are fighting health issues of some kind. Whether it's hip replacements, knee replacements, heart issues, cancer, etc.  While I know you don't have to be old to need these things, I think recovery is a little harder for the elderly.  But even though getting older is not easy, I'm so glad to be alive and I think I appreciate that fact more every day.  I no longer just take life for granted.

Thanks for visiting.  What have you loved, accomplished, improved or noticed in February?

Cathy

Thankful Thursday

Link up is here.

Sorry, I've mostly been MIA this week.  I just haven't had much to say.  I've had a good week, but just have kind of lost my blogging mojo.  But I still want to take time to be thankful.

*  I am so thankful for my sister.  We spent a few hours together on Monday.  We went to Hobby Lobby and Whole Foods Market and then to Kroger and had lunch at Taco Bell.  It was just a few hours, but I had so much fun.  

*  I'm so thankful for both of my daughters.  I've talked to both of them several times this week and I so love that.  

*  Kelli (the oldest) and I are doing a long distance Bible Study together called, "Jesus & Women in the First Century and Now."  So far it has been very good.  I feel like I'm learning and stretching and growing closer to God and also to Kelli.  She brings in so many insights that I would never think of and I hope I'm doing the same for her.  Oh and this will be the same study I will be doing with our Women's Bible Study starting in mid-March.

*  I would also like to show you a photograph of my daughter's latest painting.  I showed it last week, but I had stolen it off of Instagram.  Kelli sent this one to me, so I think it will be a bit better quality.  I am so amazed at her talent and how she's getting better and better all the time.  Here is a link to Kelli's art page on Instagram  @klsg.art is the name.

Gilded Transcendence 

I also love this doodle she sent me back in 2009.

There are so many things I'm thankful for:  warmer weather, some days of blue skies (though not today), good books I'm reading, evenings at home with hubby and so much more.  God has been so good to me.

Well, I'm going to stop here.  Tell me, what you are thankful for today.  Thanks for visiting.

Cathy

Thankful Thursday on Friday

Good Morning:

I've been kind of absent around here this week.  There is nothing wrong.  I just haven't had much to say.  But I missed my Thankful post last week and I'm a day late, but I really didn't want to miss it again.  I'll be linking up with Jennifer here.

I stole the above photo from my daughter's Instagram.  This is her latest painting and I love it so much.  She used gold gilding in places and it's beautiful.  I'll try to get a better photo later to post or you can check out her Insta account at klsg.art.  I am so proud of her and thankful that she is pursuing her God-given talent of painting.  I'm also thrilled that she and I are doing a Bible study together.  I love discussing the things of God with her.

I'm thankful that my sister and I got to got to lunch together on Monday and then we went shopping for a while.  It's been a bit since we've had time to do this.  The picture of the goose is from when we walked out of Outback and there were 2 of these very large geese, but I was only able to get this picture of one.  I don't think they liked me messing around to get this photo instead of just walking by.  lol

I'm so grateful for the lovely blue skies and nice weather we've had this week.  This picture is from last week, but this is pretty much what most of my walks looked like this week.

I so enjoy Amazon sometimes.  I'm hoping this will be a favorite of mine very soon.  It's so pretty and I'm hoping it will be very comfortable in my hands when I crochet.  If I like it as much as I hope I will, I can see some more of these being ordered in different sizes in the future.  I ordered it last night and will get it on Sunday.

I also ordered this last night.  I've been wanting a digital scale as the scale I have is not very accurate and it's hard to know exactly what I weigh sometimes.  Maybe that's a blessing.  lol  

I'm thankful for this author and the books I've read by her.  This is the last book in the 2 series I have been reading this year.  I'm hoping to finish it this weekend.  I have enjoyed them all so much.  The one right before this one took me a bit to get into, but I ended up loving it too.

I'm going to have to end this here as I have to get cleaned up to go to lunch with my mother-in-law.  Take care my friends and I hope you have a blessed weekend.

Cathy

Tuesday 4 - Banana Splits

 

Banana Splits

Amos Sewell's Banana Split

Welcome to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4 where we ask you just four questions weekly.
 The painting is named Banana Splits and is by Amos Sewell.   It tells a story but I think the story is left up to us to figure out.

1. What do you think the man in the painting is thinking? I wonder if I can sneak a bite when she's not looking?  That really looks good...I should have bought one of those for me instead of this sandwich and drink,

2.  In your story what  kind of sandwich and beverage is he having? Grilled Cheese and Coffee

3.  Do you think he is a stranger to the children or does he know them? I think he knows them. Why do you think so?  Because who else would buy these for them and not be sitting with them.  I think he's probably an uncle and maybe not totally comfortable around children.

4. Do you keep ice cream at home? Yes, sometimes.  We buy the Kroger brand with no sugar added.    Banana splits usually have 3 or 4 scoops of ice cream.   What flavor ice cream should be in your banana split?  I'd rather have a cone of chocolate chip or black raspberry chip ice cream than a banana split.

These were some fun questions to answer.  Thanks Annie! Click on the Banana Splits words at the top of the page to link up and play along.  Hope everyone has a good day.

Cathy

Bits of This and That

 

Good morning:

I hope all is well with you and that you are looking forward to a good week ahead.  I am well and looking forward to this week.  But first, let's talk about the weekend.  

On Thursday, I had an appointment with a cardiologist to talk about the results of an echocardiogram I had in December.  My primary care doctor advised that I had a heart murmur (which I had been told before) and she decided I should have an echo done.  Then there were some things found that she thought I should see a heart doctor.  So a month later, that's where I was on Thursday afternoon.  First of all, I really liked this doctor.  He explained things very well, plus he had a good sense of humor and I really like that.  Anyway, I have some stenosis of the aortic valve and there is a good chance that in 6-10 years, I may have to have the valve replaced.  My mom had to have that probably about 10-12 years ago.  It was pretty terrible, but she came through it.  However, since then, they no longer have to crack open your ribs and have such a terrible recovery.  He said now they go through the groin and recovery is pretty quick.  So, I'm hoping if I come up in the future and need this, who knows what they will have discovered by then and it will be even better than that.  But he also recommended some life style changes.  The biggie is to change my diet.  Like, eating lots of veggies and fish.  Do away with all the sweet stuff.  Donuts and candy and cakes are not my friends.  Also, exercise 30 minutes a day.  Walking is good he said.  And along with this, hopefully lose some weight.  So, I think I will be following through with these suggestions and possibly, I will never have to have the surgery.  I know this may seem bad, but to me I'm thankful it wasn't worse than this and I'm thankful to have the chance to maybe reverse or at least keep it from getting worse.  

So on Friday, hubby and I went to Outback for lunch and I had a Cobb salad, which was absolutely delicious!  And I'm sure I will be having a lot more of those in the future as the doctor suggested a big salad for lunches.  I have also done my 30 minutes of exercise every day this weekend starting on Thursday when we got home after my appointment.  

Saturday we ran some errands and watched part of a Hallmark movie and enjoyed the evening at home.

Sunday we had both services and I had a nap in the afternoon and took the dog for a walk.  Below is the pre-recorded version of the Sunday morning sermon.

This has been a good weekend and I hope yours was too.  We've had some beautiful weather with some blue skies and sunshine.  We had some rain and gray skies too, but I still think it's been a really good weekend.

The view from one of the walks with Lucy

Love this little bird enjoying the blues skies too.

  

Cathy

Currently - February 2024

Today is the time for the February edition of Currently where we are talking about what we're currently loving, looking forward to, doing to be romantic, changing, and celebrating. I hope you make plans to join us! Jennifer is our host and you can link up here.   

Loving - I'm loving crocheting...sometimes I get a little tired of crocheting, but right now it's one of my favorite activities while watching TV in the evening with hubby,  Here are a couple of pictures of what I'm currently crocheting.  I started this a long time ago and have set it aside several times to work on other projects.  I have another project in mind, but decided to put that off for at least a few more days as I'm enjoying making this one grow.

 

Looking Forward To - I'm looking forward to our upcoming 35th Anniversary on February 18th.  I love my man and I'm so very thankful for our years together.

Doing to Be Romantic - I think one of the most romantic things I can do for my hubby, is to be kind to him.  I think most everyone responds well when kindness is given.  I know kindness, when shown to me, makes me very happy. And kindness and happiness with my hubby can be very romantic.  

Changing - Maybe my attitude...I'm working on being less critical of others and accepting them as they are.  I'm also trying to be less critical of myself and remember that God made me the way that I am and He loves me, so I should love myself.  Not that that gives me free license to quit trying to improve myself in areas that need it.

Celebrating - Retirement for a former co-worker this past week and our upcoming anniversary as I mentioned above.

Thanks for visiting.  There is a link up above if you'd like to participate.  It's the first Wednesday of every month.

Cathy

Wednesday Hodgepodge

 

The link is above.

1. Something you've waited for recently?  I waited for hubby to come out from his doctor's appointment.  Speaking of doctor's, I'm waiting to see the cardiologist on Thursday, to see what he's sees from the echocardiogram I had last month.

2. What's something you loved to do as a child? I loved playing on the swing set and swimming and bike riding and the hula hoop, and reading.

3. Something you learned from a grandparent?  I can't think of anything specific.  But my mom's dad was a singer and I think I learned my love of singing and hymns and southern gospel music from him and my mom and dad too.  My dad's dad also sang and he was a preacher and I know all of my grandparents showed me Jesus in their lives. 

4. The most visited cities in the world last year (according to this site) were-Bangkok, Paris, London, Dubai, and Singapore. Have you been to any of the cities mentioned? Which would you most like to see? How do you feel about international travel in general these days? I have not been to any of these cities.  I really no longer have any desire to travel outside the states.  There are still so many places here I'd love to see.

5. February is the perfect month to celebrate 35 years of marriage, which for us is February 18. 

6. Insert your own random thought here.

The above quote is something hubby often reminds us of.  It really helps when God doesn't answer my prayers the way I want or when we have problems and sickness, etc.  I just remember this and it helps me to let go of what I think things should be and just step down and let God be God and do it His way.  Life is so much better that way.  Hubby also reminds us along with this that we should strip that big red "S" off our chest, because we are not Superman and just trust God!

Thanks for visiting.

Cathy

Tuesday 4 - You and Your Books

 

You and Your Books

 

Welcome to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4... Let's jump right in.

1. Which books never grow old for you?  Most any of them written by my favorite author, Lori Wick.  I wish she were still writing and publishing books.

2. We will make a movie from your favorite novel.  Which actors would fit the parts well? My favorite novel is "Pretense" by Lori Wick and I really have no idea who I'd want to play the 2 main characters.

3. Do  you find yourself daydreaming and thinking about the books you read? Yes, sometimes.

4.   When you get ready to sit down and read is there a ritual to it? Do you assemble a drink or snacks? How do you make yourself comfy?  I really have no set ritual.  It's just whenever I have the time and inclination, I'll pick up and read.  Of course, now after answering these questions, I think it's about time for me to read "Pretense" again.

Thanks for visiting.  Click on the phrase, you and your books, at the top for the link up.

Cathy

Bits of This and That

 

Good morning!

We had a nice weekend. We spent quite a bit of time at home, but we did get out every day for a little while.  We've actually seen some sunshine, which just lifts my spirits a lot!  In fact the sun is shining right now as I'm writing this.

On Friday morning we both had chiropractor's appointments.  It was a very good thing as I've been having some minor issues with my sciatica.  It's feeling quite a bit better now.  Hubby's doing a lot better too as most of his neck issues are completely gone.  After that we came by the church to finish up a few things and then went out to lunch and ran some errands and then home for the evening. I watched a good movie called, Finding Forrester.  Some pretty harsh language, but the story was pretty awesome.  

Saturday we went to Outback for lunch.  It's been months since we've had Outback and it was very delicious!  I watched another movie called, Queen Bees.  I enjoyed this one too.  It was just so funny!

Then that evening, I went to a retirement party for a former co-worker. He is such a great guy and I'm so happy for him. I worked with him for all of his career, except the last 2 years.  He is one of the kindest men I have ever known. It was so good seeing so many friends that I hadn't seen for quite awhile.  Here's a photo (from FB) of the retiree as, of course, I didn't take any pictures.  Thanks Chris for your 25 years of service.  

On Sunday, we had 2 services with a nice nap in the afternoon.  Always, my favorite activity on Sunday afternoons.  And it's just not because I'm old, as I've always loved a Sunday afternoon nap.

Below is the pre-recorded sermon, which is the last in the Jonah - Outrageous Grace series.

Thanks for visiting.

Cathy