End of February Friday Favorites

I am not sure at all how February went by so quickly, but it sure did.  Now at the end of another week, I am taking a few minutes to recall the blessing of the past few day, by joining with Susanne and other grateful bloggers and linking over at Living to Tell the Story.

•  College Changes

The great little college Josh has been attending announced some big changes this week.

The name is being changed from LDS Business College to Ensign College.  Along with the name change, the college will begin offering some 4-year-degrees.  That has Josh really excited.  He loves the atmosphere of what he calls "my school" and now he can finish his bachelor's degree there without having to change to a larger university.  He said he had been worrying about where he would go for his bachelor's degree and now he doesn't have to worry at all because he can stay right where he's at.  He was very pleased about this, as were Charly and I.  We all consider this news a blessing for Josh and the other students at the school.  (Added BIG bonus - the tuition is very affordable - about $9,000 for a 4-year-degree!)

• Integrity

Every now and then, usually right out of the blue, we are confronted with a situation that tests our integrity.  I had such a situation arise this last week.  Without going into detail, I will just say that, with very little thought or hesitation, I made the correct choice - to be honest.  Later, I reported the situation to the principal of the school, who told me I had done just the right thing, but then I already knew that. I had a warm feeling for choosing the right and gratitude that my parents taught me to be honest.  

• Nice student

The same day I had the honesty issue come up, a very nice student, who had no idea about the situation I had just dealt with, gave me this package of M&Ms and told me she just wanted me to know that I am a good teacher, and she likes my class.  Made my day.

• Helping Kids

Charly's cousin is the manager of a toy company that partners with a non-profit each year to provide Easter baskets for kids in need.  This year, they are concentrating on children impacted by domestic violence, who live at the local Women's shelter.  The cousin's company provides the toys for the baskets, and they rely on community help for the chocolate bunnies and other Easter candy that complete the baskets.  Charly and I, along with some friends from one of the bookclubs I participate in, donated a lot of chocolate bunnies last year.  We are doing the same this year, only I decided to tell my students about the project as well, and several of them have also generously donated chocolate bunnies.  I always love the opportunity to help kids in need, and make their lives just a little brighter.  I also love that some of my high school students have joined in.

• Voting

It's primary election time.  Utah is participating in Super Tuesday voting for the first time.  Charly and I received out primary ballots in the mail, and marked them and mailed them back this week.  I love voting because I love my country and all it stands for. 

• Nice Walks

Charly has still been taking it easy this week as he recuperates from pneumonia, so I have been walking around our neighborhood, by myself, usually while listening to an interesting podcast. I walked a little later than usual one evening, and saw this beautiful sunset.  I love sunsets. The picture doesn't really do this one justice - it was awesome.  I do enjoy my daily walks, especially when I am able to walk outside. 

Mid-February Weekend

Friday afternoon, Charly went back to the doctor for a follow-up on his pneumonia.  After an exam and chest x-ray, the doctor found that the pneumonia is not completely gone.  He changed Charly's antibiotic and told him to come back again in two weeks.  Charly says he feels somewhat better, but getting over pneumonia always seems to take several weeks.  Prayers that the new antibiotic will work and that Charly can recover soon.

Saturday dawned with clouds, but the sun was trying to peek through. 

Here is another shot of the mountains to the east, taken from the parking lot of the grocery store where we shopped on Saturday morning.  It was a little chilly, but it is still February!

Charly and I went grocery shopping, as usual, Saturday morning.  The yellow price stickers show some of the manager's special we got.  

Later, I went for a walk by myself while Charly and Josh went to the bank so Josh could get a credit card.  Josh is a very frugal young man, but it really is time for him to start establishing some credit.  After all, his 1996 Corolla won't last forever and he will need to buy another car eventually.  Later on Saturday evening, Charly and I went to couple of stores to get out of the house, but by the time we got home, Charly was tired and coughing a lot.  I was also taking cold chills and feeling achy and exhausted.  We watched a little TV and went to bed.  

Because Charly was still coughing, and I was exhausted,  feverish and achy, we slept in and missed church again for the second week in a row.  I don't like to miss church.  My week seems off when I don't have that spiritual refreshment on Sunday.  I did however, read my scriptures and do my weekly "Come Follow Me" Study.  

I also did some indexing of records of African American soldiers who joined and served in the Union Army at the very end of the Civil War.

Later, Charly and Josh had a meeting for their calling with the children and youth ministry at church.  I felt well enough to walk around the neighborhood while they were gone.  I talked to my older sister on the phone as I walked.  Our relationship has been strained lately, so it was nice to have a pleasant chat for a while.  I hope that, going forward, things can be better.  I am so tired of strained relationships.  I have apologized for everything I can think of and now I want to heal, forgive and move on and have good relationships with all those I love.  I pray for this every day.

Sunday dinner was beef tips, potatoes, onions, carrots and gravy prepared in the slow cooker.  After dinner, Charly and I watched a bit of TV (PBS Masterpiece and Mystery), then we went to bed.

As the weekend comes to a close, I am grateful for the tender mercies and grace God gives us every day! This wasn't the most exciting weekend ever, but Charly is coughing less and says he is feeling better. I am feeling better as well - my aches and chills are gone. I am tired now and hoping for a good night's sleep and praying that the week ahead will go well. 

Friday Faves

There have been many good things about this February week.  I am joining once again with Susanne from Living to Tell the Story, and other blogging friends to remember some of my favorites.   Let's get started with some of the best things about this past five days. 

• Charly recovering
  

Charly seems to be getting better - recovering from the flu and resultant pneumonia that caused him to end up the hospital E.R. last weekend.  He has been resting a lot and took a couple of days off work.  He went back to work Thursday, and said he felt all right.   He even felt well enough to help with the cleaning.  He always vacuums and mops on cleaning night, and he insisted on doing that last night.  He has an appointment for a follow-up with our regular doctor today, so we hope his recovery continues.

• Daily Walks

While Charly has been laying low, I have been doing my daily walks by myself.  I walk around the neighborhood ( 2+ miles), and I have had some nice sunny afternoons to do it.  While I miss Charly, I have enjoyed these solitary walks with only my thoughts, my earbuds and an interesting podcast.  

• Inside Exercise

A few years, before she died, my mom purchased this "Health Walker" exercise machine.  I always liked this machine, so didn't get rid of it after my mom's death, but asked my mother-in-law to keep it for me in her basement.  When we moved back to Utah, I got it back and it is now in our basement.  I have enjoyed a nightly workout most nights this week on the Health Walker.   It gives a pretty good workout to the arms and legs, working different muscles than simply walking. 

Now that the electric fireplace and TV are set up in the downstairs family room, I can watch old TV shows while exercising.   I love watching these Andy Griffith reruns which bring back pleasant memories from my early childhood. 

I find I am looking forward to these nightly workouts now, in our family room, surrounded by my books, with our warm and cozy electric fireplace going, while watching old TV shows. 

• Charly and Josh's Church Calling

While you can only see Josh in this picture, it is actually both of my guys going out our back door last night to their activity for the 8-10-year-old boys at church.  Charly and Josh are the adult volunteer leaders.  Josh recently said he is enjoying this church calling and learning some valuable things.   I think its cool that Charly and Josh are serving together!

• Learning and earning

We had a paid professional development opportunity after school this afternoon.  I was a little tired, but, encouraged by my colleague in the room next door to mine, I decided to spend an extra hour reviewing some old things, learning some new things and earning a bit of extra cash.  The hour went quickly and I have some new activities I want to try in my classroom.

It's good to reflect at the end of each week and remember that there are always blessings and positive things - we just have to remember to look for and recognize the good in life every day.  Have a great weekend and I will see you again soon!

Oh What a Weekend!

It's Monday of a long weekend, so time for a weekend recap. Today is President's Day, so I am flying my flag outside in honor of our nation and the leaders and everyday people who have made it great!

This was a weekend of contrasts - very good and not so much.  Because so much happened, I decided to records the events of each day as they occurred.

It started with a day off on Friday, which was also Valentine's Day.  Charly and I always exchange small gifts on Valentine's.  He gave me a nice card and little bear...

...and I gave  him a couple of mystery books he had been wanting.  It was a pleasant way to begin our long weekend. 

Later in the morning, I went to Welfare Square in Salt Lake City.  

I needed to get some items for our pantry, namely, dehydrated apple slices, dehydrated onions, oatmeal and a few other items - like pancake mix and honey. 

I also went to the thrift store there and found a few interesting things.  Later, Charly wanted to go back with me to look for books at the thrift store he did find a couple of books he wanted.  

Charly has had a cough for several days, so we also paid a visit to the doctor Friday afternoon. The doctor gave him a prescription but didn't think Charly's cough was anything serious.  Boy was he wrong. 

I thought some comfort food might make us both feel better, so I made chicken and potatoes in the slow cooker.   It was very good.

Charly woke up not feeling very good on Saturday, even though he had been to the doctor Friday and got some meds to help him get better.  I wanted to go grocery shopping by myself so he could stay home and rest, but Charly has always loved to go grocery shopping with me, so he got up and we went together.  This is our grocery haul for Saturday. As you can see from the yellow tags, we got lots of manager's specials, so we saved some $$ on lots of items. 

Saturday afternoon, I told Charly to take some time and rest...

...while I went to spend a couple of hours at one of my favorite peaceful places.

Saturday was a cold, gray and cloudy day, so after dinner, Charly and I decided to walk at the mall.  Charly had rested all afternoon while I was gone to the temple and he said he was feeling like getting out and thought that doing our usual walk at the mall would do him good.  By about mid-way through our walk, I could see that Charly was really not feeling well.  I was afraid he was going to fall. I  urged him to stop, but he insisted that he could finish the walk. A few minutes later, he fell to the ground.  This was soooo scary, especially since the brain aneurysm Charly suffered just over two years ago.  I was able to help Charly get to his feet,  called Josh, and together we helped Charly to the car, as he insisted that there was nothing wrong with him and he just wanted to go home.  

So,  we went to the emergency room of a hospital just a couple of miles from our home.  

After he fell at the mall, there was no way I was going to take Charly back home without him being thoroughly checked out. 

Charly spent about four hours in E.R. with Josh and I with him.  There were blood tests and chest x-rays, a breathing treatment and finally a release with new medication and a diagnosis of the flu (even though Charly had a flu shot last fall), and resultant pneumonia.  We are so grateful that the doctors at the hospital found no sign of stroke or heart attack.  

Sunday was rainy and cold.  We all slept in Sunday, because it was very late when we brought Charly home on Saturday night.  No church for Charly and I on Sunday, but Josh went to a Young Adult service Sunday afternoon.  I had to go pick up meds for Charly, then we both spent a quiet day of rest.

One bit of excitement to our peaceful Sunday was when Chalry decided to fix himself some toast so he could take his medication with food as directed.  The toaster caught on fire.  Here is what our range and counter looked like after I put out the fire with baking soda.

Here is the blackened toaster sitting out on our driveway.  It went out with the trash this morning.  I was just glad that Charly and I and a box of baking soda were nearby when the flames started shooting out of the toaster.

Later, I made another recipe from our new cookbook - Taco Salad Casserole.

Here is the recipe, straight out of the book.  If you are interested, you can click on the picture to make it larger. 

It turned out to be an excellent recipe.  

We all enjoyed dinner and are glad we have leftovers for later today.

Today, we woke up to a clear and sunny morning, with just a slight coating of snow on the lawn. No big plans for today, except lots of rest for Charly. I am planning a walk around the neighborhood by myself while Charly relaxes at home.  

So for Charly, this is "resting and relaxing."  He is working on lessons for his substitute for this week since he will be taking a few days of sick time to get feeling better.  He is also doing Josh's taxes and starting on ours.  Pretty relaxing, huh!?!  At least he isn't out doing things that would cause a lot of physical exertion  

I also plan to do some reading,  finishing the book on the left and starting the book on the right.

As I look back over this "interesting" weekend, here are the blessings that I recognize:

• Charly, who is resting and recovering today
• Josh, who was an awesome help and support when his dad fell at the mall
• A big hospital with a great Emergency Room - nearby
• A long weekend 
• Answered prayers
• Concerned family - my sister, niece, sons and daughter
• A nearby box of baking soda

I will end this post with this quote, which is attributed to Abraham Lincoln, and whom we honor on this President's Day.  Seems like the quote, whether Lincoln really said it or not, really sums up most of the good and bad things that happen to us in life. 

Have a good week and I will see you again soon!

Favorites on Friday

ek.Here we go again - pausing at the end of the week to remember all the good that happened over the past seven days or so.  Please join with us over at Susanne's blog, Living to Tell the Story and remember the favorite parts of your week.

•  Opportunities to Give and Serve

I mentioned participating in a Days for Girls service project in my weekend post, but it was one of my favorite parts of the week, so I decided to mention it again here in my Friday Favorites post. 

Working with a lot of other nice women and girls to create hygiene items that can make a real difference in the lives of girls across the world, was such a great way to spend a Saturday morning.  I have plans to participate in the next Days for Girls day of service in April.  

I also got details yesterday for another service project that I will gathering donations for and participating in.  This project is creating Easter baskets for children who have had to leave their homes due to domestic violence.  Hearts Knit Together is the name of the organization that helps them.  I am also grateful to get to participate in this project and I was happy to get the dates and details yesterday!

• Parent-Teacher Conferences FINISHED!

We had Parent-Teacher Conferences both Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, which meant 12-hour days back to back (7 a.m. to 7 p.m.).  Here is a picture of my classroom set up for parent-teacher conferences. 

While I think it is super important for parents to come to their kid's parent-teacher conferences, the long days are exhausting for me and I am really happy to have them over for the year. 

• Dinners Provided

At the school where I teach, on parent-teacher conference night, the administration provides dinner for the teachers. This year our dinners were catered by Cafe Rio and Olive Garden.

It was nice to have some delicious food and some time to relax, eat and visit with our colleagues, prior to the conferences beginning.  I appreciated not having to go out and grab a fast food dinner on my own.  Have the delicious dinners, made the long evenings go better. 

• Regular Quitting Time

Since Parent-Teacher conferences are over and there were no after school meetings,  I was able to leave school at my regular quitting time.  When I leave school then, I get home close to 3 p.m., which allows me to get a few things done before dinner. 

• Outside Afternoon Walk

Both Charly and I were home early enough to walk before dinner Thursday.  Because I had parent-teacher conferences Tuesday and Wednesday, we were not able to walk either day and I sure missed it.  I am addicted to my daily walks!  Thursday was a  beautiful, sunny day with temperatures in the mid to high 40s, so our afternoon walk was lovely and enjoyable. 

• Long Weekend

Because of the two 12-hour days for parent-teacher conferences, we got a comp day today, Friday, February 14.  We also have President's Day off on Monday, so we have a nice long weekend to enjoy!

It was nice to be able to sleep in this morning.  I usually get up at 5:20 a.m., so sleeping in until 7 is lovely.

• Good Doctor

Charly has some kind of virus that he probably picked up at school.  He is going to the doctor later today to get checked out.  Going to the doctor is not my favorite thing, but I am grateful that we have a good doctor when we need him. 

• Valentine's Day

It's Valentine's Day. Charly and I always celebrate with cards and small gifts.  Perhaps later today or tomorrow, we will go out to lunch.  Of all the things in my life, he is my favorite on Friday or any day!