Wednesday Hodgepodge

Click above to link-up with Joyce.

1. What is a childhood habit or preference you will never outgrow?  Reading.  Mom had such a love of reading and she passed that love onto most of her children.

2. Did you know July is beans month? No  What's your favorite bean? green beans. Your favorite recipe that calls for beans? Soup beans made with Great Northern Beans.  When it comes to chili are you team beans or team no beans? I prefer no beans, but hubby loves the beans and he makes the chili, so I'm okay with beans in my chili.  lol

3. Some historical figures have a tag line after their name, something like 'the brave' or 'the wise' or 'the mad'...what would your tag line be? Cathy, the Questioner. Explain why? Because I'm always asking questions, just ask my hubby.

4. The way to my heart is Kind words of encouragement.

5. The calendar rolls into August this week, but before we go give us four adjectives that describe your July. hot, rainy, fun, family...while these are not all adjectives, they are what I think about looking back over the month.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

A recent memory verse. And it's been so
true during a hard situation we've been in
and actually still are.

So very true!

Thanks for visiting and I hope you have a great day.

Cathy

Tuesday 4 - Painting with Tom Sawyer

Painting With Tom Sawyer

Norman Rockwell's Whitewashing the Fence

From Annie:  "Well, we are on the doorstep of August. How do you like that?   A lot of Tom Sawyers adventures take place in the summer like whitewashing Aunt Polly's fence.

Hannibal, Missouri has fence painting contests in July and and July 4th is National Tom Sawyer day there.  They have a parade, carnival,  fireworks, and a general good time is had by all it seems.

So here is another set of questions for Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4.        I hope you enjoy them."

1. What special things happen around you in summer? The Warren County Fair takes place in our town.  It just ended last week.  The amusement park, Kings Island is in our county and it's a great park. If nothing, have you ever considered organizing something? Nope.  

2. Tom hated painting. But on the subject of painting, what color is your house? Red brick with black shutters Your living room? 3 shades of Teal, from very light to pretty dark.  Your bedroom? Pale Blue Thinking of  changing anything? Yep.

3. Were your childhood summers carefree and did you have any adventures or chores like Tom did? Our chores were whatever we were told to do. We had lots of playtime and in the summer mom took us to the library and we did lots of reading.

4. Did you ever help paint a house or a fence or anything at all? Yes  How did that go? Pretty good I guess, although, I do not enjoy painting.

Thanks for visiting.

Cathy

Bits of This and That - Hello Monday

 

Good Morning:

Hope you have had a good weekend.  We did, so I'll share a little here.  As usual we had a very quiet, laid-back kinda weekend, the kind I love. We slept in on Friday morning, and then cleaned up and went to lunch at Texas Roadhouse.  I hadn't had a good steak in a while and really wanted one.  As we were pulling in, I saw my brother-in-law walk out of the restaurant to get something from their vehicle.  After parking the van, I walked up to the entrance and hubby and brother-in-law were standing there talking and waiting on me.  We had no idea they were going to be there.  They already had their salad, but they moved tables to sit with us for the meal.  It was so fun to get to have a delicious, unplanned lunch with them.  After that, we headed home and had a very quiet rest of the day there doing, laundry, watching TV, etc.

On Saturday, we picked up hubby's mom and we went to Firehouse Subs for lunch. The food was good and the conversation even better.  I love my mother-in-law and always enjoy spending time with her.  Hubby and I went home after dropping her back off at home.  I left then to run some errands.  I went to the post office to pick up the church mail.  I dropped the mail off at the church and spent some time practicing the piano.  I'm starting to find, I need to spend more time playing in order to keep my fingers limber. After that I ran to Wal-mart to pick up a few things. We  made chicken sandwiches and corn on the cob for dinner. 

On Sunday, we went to church, picked up some lunch and went home.  Both of us took a nap and then we went back to church for a fun time of singing Hymns together.  These are always fun services.

I had heard we had a new sculpture in one of the small parks in our town.  I stopped on the way to the post office on Saturday and took these pictures. I think this is so gorgeous!

Here are a couple of pictures of Lucy from our weekend.

Caught Lucy napping in my chair

And here she is napping in the same chair with me.

Here's the video from Sunday morning's pre-recorded sermon.  It is the last one in our series on Psalms.

I'm linking up with Holly & Sarah for Hello Monday.  Thanks for visiting today and I hope you have a good day.

Cathy

Share 4 Somethings - July 2024

 

This is my July edition of Share 4 Somethings, where I'll talk about the things I loved/disliked, accomplished, improved upon/needs improvement and something I noticed. Link-up is here. 

Loved or Disliked: I loved having Kelli home with us for 4 days this month.  I loved talking with her, shopping with her, eating with her, seeing a movie with her, playing games with her and visiting family with her.  Anything we did together was something I loved.  And I really loved listening to her and her daddy talking together.  They hadn't seen each other in over 2 years!

Accomplished: Replaced the stove/oven and dishwasher as both went kaput this month!

Improved Upon/Needs Improvement: I've improved on my walking routine in July, but I still need to be more consistent...but at least I've improved.

Noticed: I have only completed 2 books in the month of July, however I have watched a few more movies than normal though.  I've watched several movies from the FRNDLY app and Netflix too. Plus Kelli and I went to the theater to see "Sound of Hope, the Story of Possum Trot".  It was an excellent movie and I'm so glad we took the time to go see it. I've enjoyed the movies, but I'm starting to miss the reading. Maybe I can add 1 more book read before the end of the month.

That's the end of my Share 4 Somethings this month.  Thanks for reading and I hope you have a great weekend. Again, the Link-up is here. 

Cathy

Friday Photos

Here are some photos from the month of July.  Some I've taken, some I've gotten from my girls or I've stolen from their FB pages.  Hopefully, I'll get back into the swing of taking photos real soon.

Kerri and Colton at Disney yesterday

Current baby blanket I'm working on

We're trying out this dog food for Lucy. 
 She has become very picky in her
eating habits lately. 
She seems to be eating this very well though.

Bible Study Time with Kelli

Game time after church on Sunday night

Bookstore Cat - New store in our town

I snapped this while sitting in line at Culver's.  So pretty

First time we've had a bird nest in this bird house

We hosted a Bluegrass concert at our church!

Our church was packed out and we enjoyed
every second of it.

 That's all for my Friday Photos.  Hope you have a great day!

Cathy

Wednesday Hodgepodge and Thankful Thursday

 

1. The Olympics kick off this coming weekend. Will you be watching? Hopefully I'll get to watch some of it, If you could watch just one event in person, which one would you choose? Ladies' Gymnastics - I would like to see Simone Biles.

2. Have you ever been to Paris? No Is this a city you'd like to visit? Not really. What's your favorite 'French thing'? I have no idea.

3. Macaron, creme brulee, chocolate soufle, mille feuille, or an eclair...your favorite French patisserie from the ones listed? Eclair

4. July 24th is National Cousins Day...do you have many cousins? Yes, I have lots of them.  Are you close to them? Some yes...Love them all, but don't get to see a lot of them very often. Will you see any of your cousins on July 24th? No, I didn't.

5. Last time you went somewhere that felt like 'everyone and his cousin' was there? Probably a graduation party a few weeks ago. Here are a group of the cousins who were there.  These are some of the cousins from my mom's side of the family. 

 

6. Insert your own random thought here. Adding my Thankful Thursday post here.

I am thankful for:

* Visit with daughter:  We had so much fun for those few days. 

* Bible Study:  Just finished the 2nd Bible Study with my daughter. "Gospel on the Ground" by Kristi McClelland. I'm thankful for the chance to actually do the last 2 videos in person. We actually have one more discussion to go to completely finish it.

* Crocheting: I've been enjoying crocheting a lot lately. I'm working on a pink baby blanket.

* Cooler Weather:  We've had a short time of a little cooler weather and I've loved that.

* Crown:  Finally got my crown finished and it feels pretty good. I hope I'm finished for awhile with seeing the dentist.

That's all I'll list for now.  Thanks for visiting and I hope you have a wonderful day.

Cathy

Tuesday 4 - Great Architecture

 

Great Architecture

 

From Annie: "Welcome back to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4. She would be delighted you are here to join in and so am I.

The photo to the right is the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark, New Jersey.  It is the largest cathedral outside Europe . Not only is it beautiful inside and out but has a magnificent pipe organ   It's cornerstone was laid in 1899.

As  buildings go she is a masterpiece of great workmanship."

1. What are some beautiful buildings in your neck of the woods? As I was starting this post, I got these pictures from my brother. This is his home and he has just completely finished remodeling the whole thing and now they are going to sell. If anyone is interested, it lists Wed/Thurs. I think it's beautiful!

2.  What buildings of renown have you experienced or would like to experience? The Louvre? Maybe  Versailles? Things closer to home perhaps? Probably one of the most interesting homes I've seen is in Wisconsin and it is called House on the Rock. Here is a link to their website.

3. What do you think of the current trends in modern buildings? I think they are fine. Times are changing and so do building trends. I'm okay with change.

4. If you could choose any style home you would like, what would it be? Victorian, Farm House, Craftsmen, Ranch, Georgian, Tudor, Cape Cod? I've always enjoyed the Cape Cod style.  But I love our ranch a lot. At this time in our life, we definitely don't need anything with stairs.

Thanks for visiting and if you'd like to join in, here is the link.

Bits of This and That - Hello Monday

 Good Morning Friends:

It's Monday morning and I'm linking up with Hello Monday.  We had a nice weekend and I'm going to share a little bit with you.

Holly & Sarah

Our oldest daughter came to town this week. She flew in on Monday and her friend picked her up at the airport and Kelli spent the first part of the week with her and her family.  On Thursday, we met them in Dayton at a Cracker Barrel and had brunch together and then Kelli came home with us for the rest of her trip.  I hate to say it, but I did not take one single picture of us and all the family we visited with.  But here's a picture she just shared with me from her trip to Italy.

We had so much fun and good talks and visits with family.  It was a wonderful weekend for sure.

Thursday afternoon after we got home, we just all sat and relaxed and enjoyed being together. Then Kelli and I left as we had tickets to go see "Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot" and she wanted to go to the Half Price Book Store first.  Half Price Book Stores were our favorite family place to go almost every Saturday for many years. Great memories going there.  Then we headed to the movie and checked in and then went next door to the Rusty Bucket for dinner as we still had an hour before the movie.  Food was good and so was the service.  The movie was very good and even opened some good chats afterwards about adoption.  I don't know if all of you know our girls were adopted.  They are half-sisters and came to live with us when they were 2 and 5. It was a year or so later that we actually were able to adopt them officially. Best choice hubby and I ever made!

On Friday, we spent the morning at home and Kelli and I actually got to do a week of our Bible Study in person.  Here's a picture Kelli took that I stole off FB.

That evening she went and visited with her grandma and then had supper with her aunt from her biological family.  I know she enjoyed the time with each of them. When she came home, the weather had cooled down quite a lot, so she did some work in the back yard that needed to be done.  After a bit, I went out to help her.  I think that now, I'll be able to get the rest of it finished.

On Saturday, we finished the last video of our Bible study and then got cleaned up and went downtown to visit some of the antique and specialty stores.  And then we found a new used bookstore, that I've never been in before.  It was such a cute place and we had a really good time.

This is the store cat. Very friendly.

Then that evening we went to my sister's and our brother and his family all came and we had so much fun together. So Kelli got to visit my whole side of the family at once.  It was definitely a great evening.  But again, no pictures.

We all went to church Sunday morning and it had been quite a few years since Kelli had been back to the church. It was fun for her to get to catch up with everyone there.  Their daddy was installed as the pastor of this church the same month the girls came to live with us...we also moved into our new house (which my dad built) that same month!  Needless to say, September, 1996 was a very wonderful and crazy month for all of us!  lol

After church, we went to Kelli's favorite pizza place (they don't have them in Florida) and got lunch with Tracy's family.  Again, it was a great time of catching up for Kelli.  It's been over 2 years since Kelli was in Ohio.  

After evening service, Kelli and I sat at the table and played a couple of games of Sequence.  Here's another picture from Kelli's FB.  She very graciously did not get much of me in the picture as I was already in my pj's and nobody wants to see that! lol

We all ended up going to bed a little early (at least for us) because we had to be up this morning at 5:30 to get her to the airport to go home.  She's in the air over Atlanta as I'm typing this.  It's been such a truly great time together!

Thanks for visiting!  

Cathy

Here's Sunday morning's sermon for anyone who has been listening to this Series on Psalms.

Tuesday 4 - Trouble Right Here in River City

 

Trouble Right here in River City

 From Annie:  "Welcome to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4 where we strive to interest you with 4 questions each week.

"ya got trouble my friend, right here I say trouble right here in River City..." the music man

Problems come to us all and you don't even need to live in River City!

Some you can solve, some you can't. Some scare you.    For instance, on Facebook I lost a lot of people from my friends list and I have no idea why. It was enough people to make me think it was a glitch but then I was too shy to ask people if they had gotten rid of me because they just don't like me....so I did nothing.    What about your problems?"  All in purple is from Annie.

1. Do you think that you handle problems well over all? I think I do fairly well.  But I also think I have a tendency to spend too much time worrying, before I just go ahead and handle them. I need to work on stopping the worrying and ask God for help. The verse I'm working on memorizing this week is, Isaiah 26:3. "You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You because he trusts in you."

2. What kinds of problems send you into a tizzy or downright scare you? Maybe some just exasperate you? Dealing with insurance and Medicare are biggies that scare me.  Again, if I will pray and then start the process and just make the phone calls, etc., it usually works out.  Exasperations would be when things quit working and I have no idea how to fix them (especially like computer issues and issues with apps that quit working, etc.  Now those really irritate me.  lol

3. We always have God in our corner but besides him do you have a reliable back up system to go to for help with car trouble, home repairs and maintenance, or any troubles that may arise for you? My back-up was always my dad until he passed away in 2016. If he couldn't fix it, he had a friend that could.  We do have a good mechanic that we trust so we're okay with vehicle problems.  As for the other, that's part of why I still haven't gotten new floors and the walls painted.  I dread finding someone to do the work and dealing with all the decisions.

4 I love the idea that a lovely cupcake can fix anything at all.  "Oh, you are sick? Just eat a dozen of these delicious cupcakes and you will be right as rain!"      What foods, places, music or whatever can make a problem  seem easier to handle?    I guess we are talking about what brings you comfort in the way of material things.  Praying helps calm me and then just starting small and accomplishing the problems a bit at a time (As long as the problems don't have to be fixed immediately.)  Accomplishing small tasks, keep me at peace and motivated.

Thank you Annie for today's questions.  They were fun.  Thank you everyone for visiting.  You can link up here, if you'd like to participate in the Tuesday 4.

Cathy

Bits of This and That

 

Good Morning Friends:

It's Monday morning and I'm linking up with Hello Monday.  We had a nice weekend and I'm going to share a little bit with you.

Friday morning hubby and I had a chiropractor appointment and after having to postpone it for 2 weeks, it was needed and enjoyed.  After that we picked up hubby's mom and we went to Fazoli's for lunch and some great conversation.  After that, I dropped MIL off at home and then dropped hubby off at home and I went to Walmart.  We had a rather large list of things to get.  I didn't get everything, but I definitely got what we needed. I did some cleaning and some TV watching and some laundry and reading too.

Saturday I finished a book and started another.  Hubby had to go to church to pre-record the Sunday morning sermon for FB and YouTube and I needed to run copies of the bulletin and Sunday morning's Sermon Notes. (I'll post the YouTube video of the sermon at the bottom of this post for anyone who may be interested)  After that we picked up some lunch from Buffalo Wild Wings and the evening was pretty much a repeat of Friday evening. 

Sunday we had church and then grabbed a bite and came home and rested and I finished my book.  After evening service we watched some TV and I did some crocheting.  Here's a photo of my current WIP.

While we were watching TV and I was 
crocheting, this is what Lucy was doing.

Just the kind of weekend we like.  Oh, and we got our dishwasher delivered and installed on Thursday.  I now have a fully operational kitchen again.  lol   Thanks for visiting.

Cathy

Thankful Thursday

 

Today I am thankful for these things:

    *Our new stove/oven delivered and installed last Thursday.

    *Our new dishwasher is supposed to be delivered and installed today.

    *The Bible Study my daughter and I are doing together - Kristi McClelland's Gospel on the Ground.     

I was thankful for the Starbuck drink too.  lol

    *I'm thankful to be blogging again. The break was good for me as I was just feeling overwhelmed. Then while I was on break hubby became ill.  We're still not sure what was wrong, but he was pretty sick for a bit.  He's much better now and is almost back to where he was before he got sick. 

    *I missed you all and I'm happy to be back again and catching up on your lives. I am very thankful for each one of you.

Cathy 

Wednesday Hodgepodge

 

1. Do you feel older or younger than your age? I don't know.  Elaborate. What is 66 supposed to feel like?  lol  I think I feel pretty good and I'm happy with that.

2. What's one thing you should toss right now, but just can't? A lot of my scrapbooking tools.  I don't think I'll ever scrapbook again, but I just can't bring myself to get rid of them yet.

3. Have you visited many of the 63 National Parks in the US of A? No, I have not been to very many. You'll find a list here. Do you have a favorite? Great Smoky Mountains  What National Park that you haven't seen do you most want to see? The Grand Canyon

The girls in 2005

4. How often do you get take out? Several times a week, if you count fast food drive-thru's.  What's your favorite? We just tried Olive Garden last week for the first time and they did take out very well. 

5. Do you have many (or any) subscriptions? Not necessarily magazines, but thinking more along the lines of boxes or products that companies offer, and you can sign up to receive on a regular basis. Could be weekly, monthly, quarterly, even daily. Tell us about them. No, I don't have any.

6. Insert your own random thought here. Our stove/oven and our dishwasher both went out last week.  So, on Wednesday,  my sister and I went to Lowe's and picked out new ones for us.  On Thursday, the stove/oven was delivered and hooked up, which is awesome, as I can cook again.  We still don't have the dishwasher, but I don't mind washing the dishes by hand for awhile.  You just don't know how much you depend on your appliances until they are gone.  lol.  

Cathy