Top Ten Things from the Weekend

It has been another good weekend, full of  chores, errands, classes, family, friends, church, books and every day life.   Here's a quick look at the "top ten" best parts of the weekend.

1. Cooler temperatures have been lovely.  It was a bit on the warm side this afternoon, but this morning it was clear down to sixty, and in Arizona, that's sweater weather.

2. The water in the pool looked crystal clear and oh so inviting, but with the dropping temperatures, it's too cool to swim now.

3. The sky has been a lovely cloudless blue all weekend.  That spec in the center of the picture is actually a little humming bird.

4. The lemons on the tree will begin ripening in the next few weeks.  We have an abundance of lemons this year - even more than in the past.  I noticed this weekend that one of the branches on the tree is weighed down with so much fruit it is touching the ground.  We will be enjoying fresh lemonade before long!

5. Fall decorations were put out this weekend.  I am not found of ghoulish Halloween decorations, but I do like scarecrows.  I found these little friends at a thrift store this weekend - for a bargain price!  They are now making our living room feel happy and festive for fall!

6. A new recipe from a friend's lovely blog, Afternoon Coffee and Evening Tea was hit with the family.  It is Crock Pot Pizza Bake and it was delicious!  I love finding and trying new recipes from other blogs.

7. Cookies baked this afternoon - some to keep and some to share.

8. Good Night, Mr. Tom,  is a book I just started and spent some time with this weekend. It is an older book, but I have never read it and I am really enjoying it. The story is about a young boy who is evacuated to the English countryside at the beginning of World War II, and ends up living with a gruff but kindly old man who comes to love him as a son.  I'm not far into the book, but already I'm feeling this might be  tear-jerker at the end.

9.  The messages of the Relief Society Broadcast of our church this weekend were beautiful and inspiring. I plan to listen to these messages again soon.

10.  Church today was, as usual, wonderful and brought peace and inspiration.  I love this scripture which one of the speakers today read:

"Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom."

                                                      --Proverbs 13:10

I believe that so much of contention, strife, mean spiritedness, anger and hate come from pride.  God's grace and peace come to us when our hearts are humble and open to His will.

Some other positive things this weekend included:

• A nice phone visit with my oldest daughter and her children.
• Josh getting together with some of his friends - nice young men with good goals and high standards.
• Hubby completing a Saturday training for math teachers.
• I completed another online college class!  Will be starting another one next week.
• Hubby cleaning the furnace filters in preparation for cooler temperatures and maybe even using our furnace one day.
• Evening walks and good conversations with my sweet husband.

Hope your weekend was good 

and that week ahead will bring lots of positive things!

Scenes from a Good Weekend

Our weekend has been a good one.  It has included:

 High School Football - it was homecoming and the home team won!

 

The Mesa Temple - one of my favorite places to spend early Saturday mornings.

Constitution Fair and Celebration - an annual event in our town to commemorate the ratification of the U.S. Constitution on  September 17, 1787.  The fair had all kinds of patriotic and historic displays and events, complete with historical figures from the past.  Here, Josh meets George.

There were lots of games, food and patriotic displays including a Vietnam war helicopter and lots of other historic military equipment.

A miniature Boston was set up on the shores of the town lake.

There was an inflatable Washington Monument, complete with flags...

...as well as the capitol and other historic buildings.

No celebration is complete without music and there was plenty at the Constitution Fair.

The star of the show was David Osmond - nephew of Donnie and Marie (son of Alan Osmond).

He is a very talented guy and put on an awesome show filled with plenty of rock-n-roll and patriotic music.

My favorite part was the fireworks at the end of the evening.

I love to watch fireworks - they are probably one of my favorite things.  I even love the smell of fireworks.

It was a great show and a great evening to celebrate a great country -- in fact the entire weekend was pretty great!

Hope your weekend was also a good one - enjoy the week ahead. 

Thankful Thursday - Many Blessings (and a couple of recipes)

I decided to get a jump on Thankful Thursday this Wednesday evening, recounting some of the best parts of this week so far.

 This beautiful Arizona sunrise was about  6:10 a.m. Monday morning...

and this one was the next day, about the same time.  I love getting up and leaving for school early so I get to see the Sunrise most days.  To me, it is a great blessing that I get to start my days early with amazing scenes like these.

I had some bananas that were ripening too quickly, so modified an old favorite recipe and made these muffins that were about the best tasting banana nut muffins I have ever made.

They turned out so well, I decided to share a few with an elderly widowed friend who lives down the street. It is always a blessing to be able to share something delicious with a friend.   I have included the recipe below because it was really very good.

Honey & Spice Banana Muffins

1 cup Bran Flakes Cereal

1/4 cup milk

1 cup flour (I used half wheat flour - and really liked the results)

1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup melted butter (I always use real dairy butter)

2/3 cup ripe mashed banana

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Heat oven to 375.  In a small bowl, soak cereal in milk for five minutes.  In a large mixing bowl, combine the remaining ingredients, then add cereal mixtures.  Beat at medium speed scraping bowl often, until well mixed (1 to 2 minutes).  Spoon into greased or paper-lined muffin pan.  Fill cups 2/3 full.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until tops spring back when touched lightly.  Cool  five minutes and remove from pan.  Yield:  12 muffins, but recipe is easily doubled so you can have enough muffins to share!

I had success with another quick and easy recipe this week.  I admit that cooking is not my favorite thing, but I do consider it a blessing when I can prepare a meal that my family enjoys:

Italian Meatball Sandwich

1 - 1/2 pounds ground turkey or lean ground beef.  I actually used some ground pork I had in the freezer, combined with 1/2 pound of lean ground beef.

1 envelope onion soup mix

1 can spaghetti sauce

grated mozzarella cheese

Thoroughly mix together the ground meat and onion soup mix.  Shape into 1 - 1 1/2 inch meat balls. Brown meatballs in a lightly greased skillet. (I used olive oil).  Pour spaghetti sauce over meatballs; cover pan and simmer for 30 minutes.  Serve meatballs on a lightly toasted hoagie roll (or bread of choice  - we used Chompie's Thick Sliced Texas Toast).  Top with grated mozzarella.   Yield - 18-20 meatballs.  

My family enjoyed this the first day and the leftovers were even more tasty.  

Yesterday, about dinner time, our doorbell rang.  It was our next door neighbor telling us that water was shooting out of our swimming pool pipes over into his yard. He was right.  We had water shooting up into the air a good 15 -20 feet.  The problem is shown in the picture above.  The black tube was supposed to be attached where the small hole in the clamp on the angular pipe is.    We immediately called the pool repair company we usually use and were told they could not come out to even look at the problem until next Monday and they estimated the repair would cost at least $600! 

Waiting almost a week to get the pool repaired would not be a good thing at all because, as you can see, we already have algae growing in the pool in our still triple-digit end of summer temperatures.  We decided to call another pool guy we had used a couple of years ago with good result.  Long story short, he came out this afternoon, and while he didn't have the needed part, he promised to get it and return tomorrow and have the pool fixed five days before the other company could come out!  The best part is, that this repairman said the cost will be less than $150! Getting the pool fixed quickly and at a significant saving - now that is a blessing!

It was my birth mother's birthday a few days ago and I sent her this little plaque that really says how I feel. Although she did not raise me (I was adopted when I was six months old), we have been in contact for over 25 years and have a good relationship.  We talk on the phone at least a couple of times a month.  She brought me into this world,  gave me up to a better life, and is now my friend.  I consider her, and my entire birth family, a great blessing in my life.

Uplifting and inspirational books are always a blessing.  These are some of the ones I have been spending time with this week.

Finally, I am finally getting caught up after feeling overwhelmed and buried with work since the school year began.  I finished and submitted a big work project, got ahead in my online class and graded most of the student essays that had been turned in.  It is always a blessing to be productive and feel a sense of accomplishment.

Hope you are seeing blessings in your life this week as well!

Thankful Thursday - Never Forget - Ever Be Grateful

As I write this post, my son is watching a special on the History Channel about the attack on our nation that took place twelve years ago today.  He was only five when it happened; he was in a kindergarten classroom when it all took place.  The teachers tried hard not to act upset and let on to the children in their care that anything was wrong.  He has vague recollections of watching the events on TV later at home, but mostly he was in the world of a five-year-old, knowing something important and horrible was happening and maybe being a bit afraid, but still feeling that his world remained safe and in tact.   Life went on.  Most teenagers have no memory of what happened on 9-11-2001.  It is now just another subheading with a few paragraphs in a history book, or a special program on the History Channel.   Some might argue that is how it should be.   Today, I heard a radio talk show host argue that it is right that we move past commemorating 9-11-2001 and focus on "more positive things."

I agree that we should focus on the positive things about our society and our nation, but that is just why we must never forget 9-11-2001.  Fear, horror, and anger were all emotions that we felt that day, true, but more important was the courage, empathy, caring, and pride that we saw exhibited more than any other time in recent history.   For a brief moment, we came together as a nation and as a society to help and comfort each other.  We recognized that there is evil in this world and then resolved to fight it with all the good we could muster.   We flew flags. We gave blood. We donated money.  We tried to be a little more kind and a little more patient and a little more understanding.  We loved our families and cherished our friends like we never had before.   We prayed and we believed.  

As I think back to that morning twelve years ago, I remember feeling afraid and being appalled and angry, but I also remember how truly proud and grateful I was to be an American and to believe in "one nation under God, with liberty and justice for all."    That day, I felt so thankful to live in this land and be a part of this grand experiment in self-governance that has become a "city on a hill" for the entire world. I still feel that way today.  I am still thankful today, and every day, for this country - my country.  Being a part of the United States of America is one of my greatest blessings - and I will never stop pledging allegiance to the flag and thanking God that "this land is my land."  

Never Forget -- Ever be Grateful!

Gratitude Sunday - There is Always Something to be Thankful For

This past week has been stressful and busy (and did I mention stressful?) but I didn't have to look far this morning to find many good things - large and small - to be grateful for.

Rain!!  It has has been quite wet the past few days.  Those lines on the right hand side of the picture above are rain drops that have been coming down sometimes fast and furious and sometimes light and steady since Friday.  Moisture is always welcome at this time of year in Arizona, and it is something to be grateful for.

We received the above letter, which began (in big bold letters with the asterisks), "***Your Institution Has Been Closed***" It was notice that one of the banks we have been dealing with has failed and been closed by the FDIC. This is the second bank failure we have had to deal with in the past several years.  Washington Mutual in June 2008.  The term "bank failure" always brings to mind the great depressions and pictures like this...

Fortunately, we did not have go through something like the bank run shown in this picture.  We simply went into the branch of the failed bank (now sold and open under another name), got a cashier's check for the amount of our account and put it in another bank.  I am grateful that there are institutions (like the FDIC), laws, and procedures in this nation that make financial ruin from a bank closure less likely for most of us.

I am grateful for Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Blizzards (which were on sale this week - buy one get one for .99 cents!), and helped us congratulate and celebrate...

this son...

who worked hard and memorized a lengthy passage from this book.  How nice to be the mother of a seventeen-year-old who does so many good things!  I am grateful for him.

I am grateful that when this happened to the tire on my husband's car this week, he was able to get a roadside assistance mechanic to respond quickly, put his spare tire on and send him safely on his way.  The tire had a huge nail in it and was a total loss, but Charly was able get a new tire installed the next day.  

With deadlines looming all around, I am grateful I was able to at least get started on a big annual project at school and get a week ahead in assignments for my online college class.

I am also grateful to "Google Images" which helps me out when I don't have my own pictures. ;-)

Hope you take the opportunity to think about what you are grateful for today!

Happy Homemaker Monday - Labor Day Edition

Joining today with Sandra at Dairy of a Stay at Home Mom for Happy Homemaker Monday.

The weather here in Phoenix is still in the triple digits but, hey, it isn't 119 every day any more so we are making progress.

Right now I am writing this post while taking quick breaks to hang laundry and oversee food preparation in the kitchen, all while enjoying a diet cherry cola flavor enhanced with French Vanilla coffee creamer (see my last posts for more about this new favorite beverage).  I am nothing if not a multi-tasker!

Thinking that I am so very glad I have an extra day this weekend to get things done, relax a bit and enjoy my family.

On my reading pile the scriptures, textbook from the online class I am taking, daily devotional Let Him Ask of God and a fascinating book about a neurosurgeon's journey into the afterlife when he contracted bacterial meningitis, Proof of Heaven.

Something interesting and inspirational from the internet can be found here, at this post on The Exponent, a Mormon oriented online magazine/blog.  The article, by a woman name Deborah who is NOT me, is about Pope Francis, the "allurement of fashion" and respect for the human person.  I have always had a deep respect for my practicing Catholic friends (including my Catholic blogging friends) and the Catholic Church so this article really resonated with me. It is well worth the few minutes it takes to read it.

On the menu for the week (I really do have one this week - just hope I actually feel like cooking what is on it):

Monday - Brats on the menu, but in reality, we will finish up leftovers from the weekend.
Tuesday - Swiss steak
Wednesday - Chicken salad sandwiches
Thursday - Quesadillas
Friday - Biscuit pizzas

On my to-do list is the usual weekly cleaning - bathrooms, dusting, mopping, vacuuming, laundry, and ironing, as well as doing the assignments for module two of my online teacher class.

In the craft basket is fabric that I purchased a few weeks back to make pillow cases for my grand kids.  I'm not sure I will get to work on them this week.  I still haven't finished my crochet afghan either.  I need to make a conscious effort to spend at least a few minutes a day on it (little-by-little I might actually finish it).

Looking forward to a short school week with plenty of grading and lesson planning to do at school.  In the evenings there is a church youth activity for Josh on Tuesday, a meeting for me on Tuesday and a class for Charly on Wednesday.  Also, on Thursday, I am preparing and taking dinner in to a family from church who just welcomed twin sons!

Looking around the house I see laundry that is drying in the back bedroom and will need to be folded and just a bit of straightening up here and there.  Hubby has just finished a phone conversation with his sister and Josh is playing a video game.

On my prayer list is my youngest son who has some big decisions to make; my husband who has a bad cold; Barb,a friend suffering from a painful pinched nerve, Braden, a former student who is leaving this week to serve as a missionary in Equador, Sue, a friend from Illinois who has breast cancer and kidney failure; Jacob the son of a friend who is a missionary in Columbia where strikes are threatening unrest and violence; blogger friend Lori, who has a brain tumor; and blogger friend Beth Marie who is recovering from cancer.

Scripture for the week:
"Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
"And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."
                                                                                 --Philippians 4:6-7 KJV
From the Camera:
Here are the clouds that finally opened up and brought us some nice rain on Friday and Saturday.

And, some sky shots from our Sunday evening walk:

What a truly wonderful world.  Enjoy the week ahead!