Thankful Thursday

Between moving, finishing up the school year, and getting ready to retire, my life is very busy right now.  Still, it's good for the soul to stop, and look at all the things, big and small, that there are to be thankful for.  

😊 Our granddaughter is graduating from high school next week. We received her announcement, which is lovely, and is now hanging on our fridge.  We are so proud of her.  I am grateful that we have been invited to be part of her graduation and attend the graduation ceremony and her graduation party.  

😊 Our daughter invited us to come with her to a plant sale held by a family in her neighborhood, that grows seedlings in greenhouses they have on their property.  This is an annual event, and we got some seedlings for our garden there last year as well.  I'm grateful the we could attend the sale and get a good start on the little garden we will have in the backyard of our new home.   My daughter also bought me some flower seedings at the sale as my Mother's Day gift, which was so very thoughtful of her.

😊 We have a much smaller backyard in our new home, which is fine with us.  We wanted something small and manageable, but with enough space for some plants and a small garden.  I had been looking for a raised garden box, but had not found what I wanted, and the idea of assembling a raised box was daunting to me.  I am grateful that I found the raised box shown in the picture at my local Tractor Supply, which is rapidly becoming my favorite store!  This was the display model, so I didn't have to assemble it, and it was also on sale! Win-win-win!  I'm growing some tomato plants from the plant sale in it. 

😊 We are continuing to move and get settled in our new home.  I have hung some pictures and am pleased with the way our formal living room is taking shape.  I am grateful for our new home, and I can't wait to live there full-time once I retire on May 29!

😊 We are still staying at our old home during the week so I don't have a long commute to school, and we continue to empty the old place out as much as we can while still living there. This past week, I sold this IKEA pantry unit on Facebook Marketplace.  I'm grateful that we were able to sell something else, and I'm grateful that it went to a very nice, kind young married couple who were happy to get it!

😊 I'm also grateful that I was able to get my car in for the routine service and maintenance it needed.  I had a day off for another appointment, and dropped my car off for an oil change.  It was finished in about an hour.  It's always nice that car service can be done with a minimum of hassle and disruption. 

😊 I feel terribly old, but I have officially applied for my Social Security benefits as well as my state teacher's pension.  I am grateful for these benefits that will help us have a good retirement.  I'm also grateful for a very kind and patient young man who walked me through applying for Social Security.

😊 I'm grateful for our new church congregation.  Charly and I have been asked to speak in our worship service this Sunday, to introduce ourselves and share a message.  It's always a bit daunting to me to speak in church, but I'm happy that we are being welcomed to the new congregation. 

Thanks for stopping by to share the good.  I hope you also have much to be grateful for!

Until next time,

😊Deb💖

"It's the little blessings 

that fill our days with love."

~anon.

The End of April and Beginning of May

It's time for another update at the end of a busy week. Honestly, last week at school was VERY stressful. With year-end standardized testing and increasingly crazy student behavior, I was beginning to wonder if I could actually make it to retirement! I needed some time away.  

Attending BYU Women's Conference was the perfect way to use some needed PTO.   I loved and learned so much from the keynote speaker sessions as well as individual classes.  I always enjoy being on the beautiful BYU Campus, which is actually only about ten minutes from our new home!

On Thursday, Josh happened to be on the BYU campus for another reason, and he texted me, so we met up for a few minutes during my lunch break from classes.  It's always good to see one of my children. 

While I was at BYU Women's Conference, our realtor was busy getting everything ready for the listing of our house to go live!  We now have the sign in front of our house, and we already had a showing within the first 24 hours it was listed.  We are hoping that this bodes well for a quick sale. 

We stayed in our new home all weekend, because it is so close to the BYU campus, where the conference was held.  Saturday, I enjoyed a morning walk to the post office to mail a Mother's Day card to my mom.

Later, Saturday, we met up with our grandson, who just turned 15-years-old, for his birthday lunch. He brought his dad, our awesome son-in-law, along. We had a great lunch at Dave's Hot Chicken, the restaurant our grandson chose for his birthday lunch. 

Our grandson told us that he just got his learner's permit, so he can learn to drive, now that he is 15.  He will be a sophomore in high school next year. I have no idea where the time goes. Here he is after lunch at our house with his birthday gift. 

In addition to everything else we did on Saturday, we also did some work in our new little backyard.  The backyard of our townhouse isn't big, but it has room for some gardening, and that's honestly all I need. We got some plants at Home Depot and then discovered this store, which is very near our new home, and had little fruit trees on sale for only $10!  Needless to say, we now have three small fruit trees that we will be planting in our yard.  I had never been in a Tractor Supply Store, but honestly, it was a fun place, and I'm sure we will be going back there often!

Sunday morning we were up and at church by 8:45 a.m..  This is another of the beautiful paintings in our church meeting house. 

Sunday dinner was deep-dish "Detroit Style" pizza from Papa Murphy's (take-n-bake), coleslaw,  macaroni salad, and fruit. 

After dinner, I went for a Sunday evening walk around the neighborhood.  

A lovely surprise I received this weekend, was this fun retirement gift box from my blogging friend Faith over at Gold in the Clouds.  I love everything in the box, especially the tote bag, which I took to BYU Women's Conference.  It was perfect for all the things I needed to have with me there.   Thank you so much Faith!  Blogging friends are just the best! 

Gratitude:

• Taking our grandson and son-in-law to lunch on Saturday.
• Attending BYU Women's Conference.
• Getting our current house on the market. 
• Having a showing within the first 24 hours. 
• Receiving a surprise retirement gift from my blogging friend Faith.

Praying For:

• Help in my last weeks of school as student behavior deteriorates. 
• A quick sale for our house. 
• My children and grandchildren. 
• Our nation.

Looking Forward To:

• Selling our home. 
• Getting through the last 19 days of school.
• Going to a plant sale with our daughter next week.
• Finishing the last 19 days of the school year and my career!

That's all for now! Thanks for stopping by.  

Have a great week!

Until next time,

😊Deb💖

"Hope is being able to see

that there is light

despite all the darkness." 

~anon.

Currently on a Rainy Sunday

 

The weather is cool and rainy.  It has been raining steadily since last night, and it is now 6:11 p.m. on Sunday evening.  I'm not complaining because we desperately need the water. The picture is of of our new street earlier this afternoon. 

I'm reading three books currently.   All are nonfiction religious/ scripture-based books. They are Rise Up by Connor Boyack, Modern Idolatry and the End of the World by Avraham Gileadi, and a devotional book I that am reading every night with my husband, Don't Miss This in the Old Testament by Emily Belle Freeman and David Butler.   I am finding that I don't have a lot of time to read right now, so I'm not reading any fiction. 

I'm listening to this audiobook, Lies My Liberal Teacher Told Me by Wilfred Reilly.  It was recommended in one of the classes I attended at the FIRM Foundation Conference last.  I'm finding it very interesting, and I am learning a lot.

I've been working on planting flowers and trimming bushes in our new front yard.  If you look closely, you can see some new little plants in the dirt.  We also got two blueberry bushes for our backyard. 

I'm also working on selling and donating everything we don't need.  These are some comic books that Josh had for years, and he asked me to put them on Facebook Marketplace. They sold in a matter of hours.   The person who bought them also bought an old Wii game system that we had for our boys when they were younger.  I also posted and sold a teacher cart that Charly used when he was teaching.   We are donating what we don't sell, and last week, we made multiple trips to the thrift store with things we no longer need.

I'm enjoying walking in our new area.  This picture was taken on a Saturday morning walk I took yesterday. 

I'm loving that my Christmas Cactus keeps blooming.  It is really beautiful!

I'm also loving attending church in our new congregation.  Our new church house has many lovely paintings of Jesus, which add to the overall spiritual atmosphere.   We are also finding the members of the new congregation to be very kind and friendly.

In the kitchen not much has been going on this week.  We got a take-n-bake deli pizza one night, another night we went to a sit-down restaurant, and then another night we stopped into a local Wendy's. 

Our Sunday dinner was some excellent, ready-made deli sandwiches and salads from a local grocery store in our new town. Once we have completely moved and I retire, I do plan to start actually cooking again. 

I'm celebrating my grandson's birthday. Saturday, he turned 14. This is a picture taken on his birthday eleven years ago.  Time goes so quickly.  We will be taking him out to lunch and giving him his birthday gift next Saturday.   He is growing to be a smart, kind, and capable  young man, and we are very proud of him!

I'm looking forward to attending the BYU Women's Conference at the end of this coming week.   I will only be attending the last day of the conference, Friday, May 1.

I'm also looking forward to getting our current house listed and on the market in the coming week.  We're hoping that it sells quickly and for a good price, like other homes in our neighborhood.

I'm grateful that the end of school and the end of my teaching career is coming in only 24 school days!

That's all for this week's post.  Thanks for visiting. Have a good week, and I'll see you all again soon!

Until next time,

😊Deb💖

"Optimism is a happiness magnet.

If you stay positive, good things

and good people

will be drawn to you."

~ Mary Lou Retton

A Good Mid-April Week

There has been a lot going on here, so I haven't been in blogland a lot this past week.  Here's a quick catch-up on what has been going on in my world in the middle of April. 

It's been another six months since my last trip to the dentist, so I went in for my bi-annual visit last week.  Everything went well - no problems and no cavities.  I was in and out in under half-an-hour.  Charly also had his check-up and wasn't as lucky as I was.  He has a small cavity that will be taken care of next week. 

I took my last two personal days on Thursday and Friday last week, and Charly and I attended the FIRM Foundation Conference and Expo.  This event takes place every April and October, and Charly and I have been attending for the past few years.  We always learn a lot and have a good time. This conference is held at a local community college and has many different speakers and classes on topics as diverse as health, science, politics, history, religion, and the scriptures.  

Even though we are still living in our old house, (so I can go to work until the end of the school year), most of the rooms are empty or almost empty.  

We haven't had the pictures of our old house taken yet (that will happen next week), but our realtor brought a potential buyer through this weekend. We have the "For Sale" sign, and it will go in the front yard as soon as the pictures are taken and the house is officially listed. 

We stayed at our new home Saturday night after the conference, and attended church at our new congregation Sunday morning. This is the church where our new congregation meets.  It is about three blocks from our new house.

After church, we spent some time doing some organizing at the new house.  We are trying to put things away as we bring them to the house.  This is my "Christmas Cactus" which is now by a large window in the lower level of the home.  Apparently, this plant loves where it's at because I have never had it blossom like this - and it's not every Christmastime!

We came back to our old house Sunday afternoon, in time for me to actually cook dinner. We had this beefy rice casserole, with roasted carrots, which was very good! 

Here's the very easy and delicious recipe, which I found on Facebook. 

Sunday evening was perfect for a walk, so I went out and, walked around the neighborhood after dinner. We had some rain and cooler temperatures last week, so the grass and trees were green and lovely.

Gratitude:

• Attending the FIRM Foundation Conference with Charly. 
• Traveling safely. 
• Having a good dental check-up. 
• Continuing with the move to the new house. 

Praying For:

• Our children and grandchildren.
• Help in selling our old home. 
• Help in dealing with some difficult students at school.
• Our nation. 
• Our military. 

Looking Forward To:

• Having lunch with an old friend this week. 
• Getting our current home on the market at the end of this week. 
• Getting through the last six weeks of my teaching career. 
• An upcoming Women's Conference that I will be attending the week after next.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a good week!

Until next time, 

😊Deb💖

Spring Break Week and Moving Day

This last week, I had the whole week off from school. This was the last spring break of my career because I am retiring at the end of May.  There were no trips and not much relaxation during this spring break, because we are right in the middle of moving to our new home.  Here's how the week went. 

Monday, we donated three big furniture pieces to The Other Side Academy which helps those overcoming addiction and incarceration.  This organization runs a used furniture store which we love, and we have bought several pieces of furniture from them, but this week it was time to give back and donate some unwanted and unneeded furniture items.  The two men who came to pick up our donations were incredibly strong and skilled at moving heavy furniture and they had our items out in their truck in no time at all.

Tuesday, we took time out of the busyness of moving to worship at the temple on morning.  The flowers in front of the temple were gorgeous.   The picture does not do them justice, but they were fragrant and very lovely. 

Worshipping at the temple with my sweetheart always makes me happy!

We made daily trips to our new home, and also to the thrift store with items to donate. 

I also went through a lot of old files and spent quite a while shredding documents and bills we don't need anymore.  I'm embarrassed to say that I found some bills from our dentist in Arizona dating back to 2002!  We paid those long ago!

Thursday was moving day. The moving van arrived at our old house at 8:45 a.m..

The moving crew was skilled, fast, and efficient. They had all of the heavy furniture in our house loaded up in the truck in about an hour. 

Here is the almost empty truck in front of our new home after everything was unloaded.  The entire process from start to finish only took about three hours. 

Thursday night, after doing some unpacking and arranging at our new house, we returned to the old house to do some yard work.  We will be staying in this house, most nights, until the school year is over at the end of May, but it is mostly empty now, and will go on the market for sale within a week or two. 

Charly and I both needed pedicures, so we took care of that Friday morning.  We have both found that getting pedicures every few weeks helps our foot health.  I haven't had an ingrown nail since I started getting regular pedicures. 

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were cooler and cloudy.  We received some much-needed rain.   We stayed both Friday and Saturday nights at our new home.

Of course, we still have lots of unpacking and arranging to do at the new place, but we are making progress.  Two projects I accomplished over the weekend at our new house were setting up our doorbell camera and, also installing a new shower head in the master bathroom.  

Sunday, we attended church in the congregation near our new home. We will go to church there from now on. This picture of Jesus was the first thing we saw when we walked through the door of the church, and I knew I was in the right place.  

This is our new chapel and congregation getting ready for the worship service to begin Sunday morning. 

We went back to the old house after church because I had listed these bookcases for sale on Facebook Marketplace, and the buyer wanted to come and pick them up.  

The bookcases are gone now, and the family room is nearly empty except for a few things that we will be taking to the new house in the next few days. 

After the bookcases were picked up, I went for a walk around the old neighborhood.  It was cloudy and windy, but I managed to finish my walk without getting rained on. 

Dinner was Asian chicken, vegetables, and noodles with French bread.    It came from the grocery store deli and wasn't as good as I had hoped it would be.  Nothing beats home cooking, and I hope to do much more of that again once this move is finished. 

Tonight, after I post this, I plan to finish this book that I have been reading for a while.  I know the author. We went to the same church congregation when we lived in Arizona.  She has written a lot of books and I have read a few, and this one is the best one so far.  Charly and I had toyed with the idea of packing the car and making one more Sunday night run to the new home, but we are both tired, and I go back to school tomorrow, so I need to get ready for that.  This has been a busy and exhausting spring break and I hope to get in bed early and sleep well. 

Gratitude:

• Being on the last spring break of my career. 
• Getting all of our heavy furniture moved to the new home. 
• Traveling safely back and forth between two homes. 
• Attending church at our new congregation. 
• Worshipping at the temple. 
• Getting rain!

Praying For:

• Our children and grandchildren.
• Help in selling our home. 
• Our nation. 
• Our military.

Looking Forward To:

• Taking Thursday and Friday off to attend a history, theology, and apologetics conference. 
• Completing the school year and retiring in 34 school days!

That's all for now.  Thanks for stopping by.  Have a good week. 

Until next time, 

😊Deb💖

"Take therefore no thought for the morrow:

For the morrow shall take thought 

for the things of itself.  

Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."

Matthew 6:34 KJV