Bits of This and That - Hello Monday

 

Good Morning:

It's been a good weekend.  

On Friday, we went to hubby's mom's and he worked on getting her iPad and Roku TV set up.  She just recently got internet in her home.  She and I went and picked up some lunch from Olive Garden and had lunch at her house.  It was a good time of good food and good talking and getting her stuff set up.  After that we headed home and had a quiet evening together, just the way we like it. Also, Friday was my blogoversary.  I've been here since 2008.  I can hardly believe it's been this long.

On Saturday, we ran some errands and then spent the rest of the day at home.  I did some laundry and pulled out some fall decorations. That evening we watched the third Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Sunday we had church (pre-recorded sermon below) and brought home a sandwich for lunch and took a nap and then back for evening service.  

Friday was our youngest daughter's 30th birthday and today, Monday is Colton's 8th Birthday.  Man, time is going way too fast!  Love these two lots.

Opened his gifts early

At Disney World on Saturday

Aunt Kelli, Colton & Kerri

Happy Birthday Kerri and Colton!  Talk to you later today!

That was pretty much our weekend.  Hope you had a good one. I'm linking up with Holly and Sarah at Hello Monday.

Thanks for visiting.

Cathy

Thankful Thursday

 

Good morning:

I try on most Thursdays to make a post of things I am thankful for.  I believe it’s important to be intentional about giving thanks to the Lord, because He is worthy.  So, here are a few of the things I’m thinking about and giving praise to God for.

Music - I love many different kinds of music and I’m so thankful for the joy it brings to me and that we can use music to honor and praise Him.

Laughter - I love to laugh and I love to hear others laugh. A good belly laugh can sure add a lot of joy to my day.

Bible Study - Our fall Bible Study started Tuesday.  It was so good seeing all these ladies again and having some new ones join us too.  We’re studying Luke using this study by Lisa Harper.

Skies - I love beautiful sun rises and sunsets. I love night skies and day skies. I love seeing all the beautiful skies that God gives us. I don’t know how anyone can look up at the sky and then believe there is no God. 

Family and Friends - I am so grateful for my immediate family and my extended family, my church family, my friends and my blogging friends. I feel so blessed having all these in my life.

So, what’s something you are thankful for today?  I’d love to know. Thanks for visiting here.

Cathy

Wednesday Hodgepodge

 

1. When the Hodgepodge lands on September 11th I want to acknowledge that. Will you purposely pause to remember, pray, or attend any sort of ceremony on 9/11?  I'm sure I'll find myself thinking about it.  Actually, I think hubby recently found a documentary about 9/11, so maybe we'll find time to watch that. Share any thoughts or memories you'd like to share about this day. I was in surgery that morning to have my gall bladder removed. I was the first surgery of the day.  My surgery had just ended when the first plane hit.  So at least, my surgeon was not distracted by that.  I remember they told me as they were taking me back to my room and there was a small TV on the wall that looked so far away.  I really had no idea what they were talking about.  But after getting home, that's all we watched for days.  So sad!

2. Growing up, did you spend a lot of time with your grandparents? What's something you learned from a grandparent? I don't know if I'd say a lot, but we saw my mom's parents every week as we went to church together, and then when I was in high school, they built a house right next door to us.  I saw my dad's parents when they were home in the summertime and quite often we visited them in Florida during Christmas break from school.  I'd say I learned the love of the Lord and our church (because both sets of grandparents started the work of the church that I grew up in)  I would not change that heritage for anything.

My Dad's Mom and Dad. These are the ones who had the Fruit Loops
and lived in Florida in the winter.  I also remember their little dog,
Bubbles, who was from the same litter as our dog, Poochie.  Grandpa
had taught Bubbles to bow her head when they prayed before
 they ate.  We loved Bubbles and Poochie.

This Mom's Dad and Mom.  Grandpa always sang
bass in quartets at our church.  He was very good. 
He also played guitar, although I can't remember that. 
He was injured in a farming accident and cut off his 4
fingers on one hand.   I only remember him this way. 
He later gave his guitar to my mom and as an adult
with 5 kids, she took lessons and learned to play. 
That guitar has now been given to my nephew who is a
fabulous guitar player.  It wasn't too long ago he brought
it out when we visited their home and played
it for us.  What a blessing that was!

3. What's your go-to breakfast? I really don't have a go-to breakfast.  I almost always eat breakfast, but what I eat changes daily.

4. Tell us the story behind one of your favorite photos. 

This photo was taken in the courtroom on Adoption Day of our girls.  And that is my brother's son with them.  Aren't they all just the cutest!  Some day, I need to share the full story of their adoption and all the miracles God did, just to bring us all together as a family!  God is so so good!!

5. This week Friday lands on the 13th. Are you superstitious in any way? Do you like scary movies, and if so what's your favorite? I am not superstitious and I'm not fond of really scary movies.

6. Insert your own random thought here.    I saw this on Instagram and wanted to share it and this seems like the perfect place.  It was posted in by @heidileeanderson.  

Thank you Joyce for another great Hodgepodge of Questions.  Thank you all for visiting and you can click on the Hodgepodge button at the top of this post to link up should you like to join us all.

Cathy

Tuesday 4 - September Musings

 September Musings

From Annie:  "September is back to school month and even if you are an adult now, you can usually still recall the back to school days. It was a new beginning.. sometimes scary, sometimes joyous. New experiences were awaiting you.

How about now? September is still a new beginning to the year. What will it hold for you?"

1. As summer's heat fades do you get out and about in nature often?  As it gets cooler it's easier to be more consistent with my walking and if I miss it in the morning, I'm able to do it later in the day.  In the heat of summer, not so much.  Where do you go, what do you do?  Walk our neighborhood and sometimes even sit on the porch and relax.  What would you like to do? Honestly, I think I do what I want already.  I'm really not a big outdoors person. 

2. What has changed in your life that you miss/regret the most?  I miss my family members who have died.  There used to be seven of us and now there are only 3 left.

3. Money is no object, nothing stands in your way.. are you going to move or stay where you are?  Most likely stay where we are.

4. How can you improve your life?  Just walk closer each day to the Lord.  I'm very happy with my life.

Cathy

Bits of This and That - Hello Monday

 

Good Morning:

We had a really nice weekend.  On Friday hubby had to go have a blood test and then I took him to the church for a couple hours.  I met up with some former co-workers and we took a tour of the old Sheriff's Office and residence in our town.  The building hasn't been used in 10 years and is in really bad shape.  I hope someone will restore it to what it used to be.

I didn't get a picture of the outside on Friday, but stopped by on the way to pick up a friend for church Sunday morning.

This is the lady giving the tour...very interesting stuff.

I loved this stairwell and stain glass window.

I believe this room was the Sheriff's master bedroom and the wall behind the fan separated them from the jail cells.  How'd you like to have to listen to the prisoners when they are brought in intoxicated in the middle of the night.

Some of the jail cells

I'm so glad I went and got to learn about some of the history of our town.  After they finished with this being the residence for the sheriff and adult jail (although juveniles were housed there if needed.) They then turned it into the juvenile jail (which was there during the beginning of my career).  After the juvenile detention center moved, it was turned into county offices and now it's been vacant for 10 years.

Worked this puzzle this weekend.  I love working jigsaw puzzles in the fall and winter months.  And my sister has bunches to share.  I've done 2 so far and have brought three more home when I returned the first 2.  I haven't started those yet.  Below is the #2 puzzle and #1 is on Friday's post.

Saturday night we watched  Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.  Love this annual (well almost annually) marathon. One movie a week.

On Sunday we had church and below is the pre-recorded sermon.  We had a long nap in the afternoon, which was much needed on my part for sure.

Beautiful sun just before sunset as we were driving home.

So how was your weekend.  I'd love to know.  I'm linking up with Holly and Sarah at Hello Monday.

Thanks for visiting.

Cathy

Friday Photos

 Good morning:  

I've had a good start to my day.  Lucy and I went out and took a good walk before the temperatures get to high.  It's supposed to get pretty warm today.  Hoping we get some rain, as our grass is getting pretty brown.

Here are a few pictures I've taken in the past couple of days.

We saw this horse and buggy going down the road when we came out of the bakery.  Such a beautiful horse.  This was the only one I saw.  Hubby saw several as he sat in the car and enjoyed the cool breezes when we went in shopping.  He said he saw a man and woman in a wagon and he pulled up to the store and she ran in to get something.  He said when they left he could see in the back, 3 little boys sitting,  I would have loved to have seen that.  

My sister and I went to the cemetery to put some new flowers out.  For some reason, the cemetery was full of vultures and they were very active.  In the past, we've only seen them in the trees in one corner of the cemetery.  But yesterday, they were all over the place.  It was kinda creepy, but cool too.  Fortunately, they were not too close to the ones we decorated,  Of course, I had to take some pictures to show you.

I think this is my favorite one.

Sorry for the glare on these, as I took these pictures through the windshield,

I kinda like how they spread out their wings and just sit there.

Yesterday, I worked this puzzle.  It's been quite awhile since I've worked a puzzle and I really enjoyed it.  I borrowed 2 from my sister.  So I have another one to work today or tomorrow.  She has tons of puzzles, so when I return these 2, I may have to get a couple more.  I love working puzzles this time of year and especially in the winter months coming up. 

Wouldn't you just love to be at this craft sale!

Hubby has 2 days left of his vacation and I'm not sure exactly what we'll be getting into.  Thanks for visiting and I hope you have a wonderful day!

Cathy

Thankful Thursday

 Things I'm thankful for:

    *  God is always with us - He doesn't always take us out of our problems, but He always will walk through them with us.  (How do people live this life without Him)

    *    Day trip we took yesterday to a small area of Amish stores and some residents.  We went to a General Store and a Bakery.  I bought some cheese, ham, butter,  yellow tomatoes, chia seeds, and whoopie pies.  It's been quite awhile since I've had a whoopie pie and it was delicious!

    *   On this same trip, we saw the cutest thing.  As we were heading back towards home, we were behind a school bus.  They stopped, and as we were watching, about 7-8 little dogs came running down the driveway towards the bus and the child getting off.  They were the cutest little things and they just looked so happy running toward their child.  This scene just made us all so happy.  Puppies are the best and I'm so thankful for ours too.  

    *   My new yarn winder.  I ripped out the afghan I was making and rather than winding them in balls, I instead used the yarn winder.  It's actually kind of fun and it is so fast and easy.  I'm also using it to wind up my partial skeins of yarn, so I can neaten up my yarn stash storage shelves. This is good because, it's fun, it's helping me to get the restart on my afghan, plus it's helping me with cleaning up my craft room.

    *    Always my family, friends, and you, my blogging friends.

So what are you thankful for this week?  I would love to hear about it.  Thanks for visiting.

Cathy

Wednesday Hodgepodge and Currently - September

 

Click above for Hodgepodge Link

1. Something you're working on currently?  A crochet pink baby blanket   

2. Tell us something about your first job? I got my first job the week after I turned 16.  I worked at Kings Island Amusement Park in a gift shop located in the front gate area. Was it a positive or negative experience for you?  Positive.  Did your parents insist you work while in school (either high school or college) or did you work because you wanted to? They did not insist on me working during school, but they let me and even drove me there part of the time because I did not have a license, let alone a car.  

3. Have you ever had a job that required overnight travel?  No, except for some of the training I did for the police department required me to go to an academy and stay overnight.   How did you feel about that? It made me nervous, but it was good.  Have you ever had a job that required you to wear a uniform? Yes, I wore a uniform at Kings Island and I also wore a uniform for some of the years I worked at the police department (see photos below).   Do you work better in the morning or at night? I prefer mornings.  I hated when I had to work midnight shifts from midnight to 8:00 am.   

  

4. What's something you bake or cook that is labor intensive? Lasagna Is it worth it? My husband thinks so. 

5. One thing you're looking forward to in the month of September? Our upcoming women's Bible Study which starts next week.  

6. Insert your own random thought here. My random is the September Currently post.

Click above for the Currently Link

Welcome to the September edition of Currently! Here are the prompts for September:  loving, looking forward to, smelling, watching, and admiring. 

Click on the blue Currently above to link up with Jennifer.

Loving:  The Linda Ford books I've been reading lately, you can see them in my side bar.

Looking forward to:  I'm writing this late Tuesday night.  I'm looking forward to tomorrow as we're (being Tracy, his mom and me) meeting my sister and her husband for lunch and then we're heading to a town called Bainbridge.  We've heard there are some Amish there and we're going to do a bit of exploring.

Smelling:  Not much of anything, as I lost most of my sense of smell and have never gotten it back.

Watching:  NCIS, CSI Cyber, Cold Case and documentaries here and there.

Admiring:  These photos of the Ohio River and these old buildings beside it.

 We took a drive along the river yesterday. It was a gorgeous day.

Thanks for visiting.

Cathy