Memorial Day Weekend

How was your weekend?  Here is a recap of our Memorial Day Weekend, minus Memorial Day. 

Friday was our usual "online day" at school.  After taking Thursday off as a sick day, I was back as usual on Friday.  I worked alone in my room most of the day, grading all the student work which had been turned in on Thursday, which was the deadline for students to turn in assignments.  It was a productive Friday at work.  I also got more of my classroom cabinets packed up and ready for the move to the new building. All that is really left to pack up are the things in my desk drawers. 

Saturday was our "visit the graves" day. Charly and I started this tradition when we moved back to Utah and actually had family graves in the area to visit.  We started out with my maternal grandparents graves, which is in a town to the north of here.  We then went to the cemetery where my parents and paternal grandmother are buried and took flowers and flags to their graves.  I also discovered, quite by accident, that my aunt and uncle (my dad's sister and her husband) were buried very near to my parents.  I am not sure how I didn't know this before happening on their grave yesterday.  Charly's parents and uncle are buried in a different part of the same cemetery, so we visited and took flowers to them as well.  Later in the afternoon, I went alone to yet another cemetery to take flowers and a flag to the graves of my dad's younger brother and his wife.  I have such good memories of this uncle and aunt. They were so good to me when I was a child, so I was grateful to finally be able to visit their grave. My dad, all three of his brothers, and both of his sister's husbands, as well as Charly's dad all served in World War II.  I am grateful for their willingness to serve and defend our freedom. 

Saturday evening, we got take-out pizza for dinner.  We ended up with three different pizzas from two different pizza places.  The explanation for that could be a blog post all on its own, so suffice it to say we will have pizza leftovers for a couple of days to come.  That's fine with me. We all like leftover pizza. 

Pizza and salad  - hands-down my favorite weekend meal. 

After dinner on Saturday,  Josh and I went on a four-mile hike along the Jordan River Trail, which runs along the Jordan River, right through the center of the Salt Lake Valley.  The entire Jordan River Trail is almost 48 miles long, and Josh and I decided to try to hike the entire thing, one section at a time.  Saturday's hike was nice - it was a lovely cool evening - perfect hiking weather.  I enjoyed being with my son.  Josh has a big stride and walks/hikes fast, so hiking with him always gives me a great workout. 

Sunday morning before church, I spent some time out in my garden.  Another peony bloomed and I love how it is light pink in the middle surrounded by white petals. My peony blossoms are so big and full and they smell wonderful.  

There were more ripe strawberries in the garden Sunday morning, so I picked them and gave them to Charly to eat with his breakfast. 

I also discovered little green plumbs on our dwarf plum tree.  There are about six little green plums, and I will be watching and waiting for them to grow and ripen as the summer progresses.  

We went off to church as usual, and Charly wore his new suit.  I thought he looked very handsome.  Josh didn't wear his new suit. He said it was too warm to wear a suit today.  Church was good and uplifting. Josh helped with the Sacrament (communion) portion of the service.  It always makes me so happy and proud when Josh helps out at church.  As the scripture says, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. (3 John 1:4).

After church and a quick lunch (of leftover pizza) I did some indexing of handwritten Virginia death records from 1893.  I listened to podcasts and Youtubes while indexing.  It is enjoyable and relaxing, and I like helping to preserve important historic records.  

For Sunday dinner, I made a Jones family favorite - country fried steak with mashed potatoes and country gravy, fresh steamed broccoli and green beans. We had buttered French bread on the side.  It was a good dinner - one we all enjoyed.

After I finish this post, Charly and I will go on an evening walk, then I hope to relax and do some reading to finish off the evening.  

Coming up this week:

Monday (Memorial Day) - No school! I have a morning hike with a friend planned. 

Tuesday - Back to school for the last week of school.  

Wednesday - After school, I will be going to the St. Vincent de Paul kitchen in downtown Salt Lake City to help prepare the nightly dinner for the homeless and those in need. 

Thursday - Graduation for seniors at school.  It will take place during the morning at an outside venue.  I have been put on the committee to stay at the school building during graduation to "hold down the fort" (whatever that means).  No other students will be at school, and all of my grades will have been posted, so I  may have some time to read and listen to podcasts, while finishing packing up my classroom for the move. 

Friday - Last day of school for teachers.  Finally this crazy school year will be over!

I will close this post by wishing you a Happy Memorial Day, from our home to yours.  Thank God for those men and women who have given their all for our liberty. 

Thanks for stopping by. Have a good Memorial Day and a great week! Remember to thank and honor the veterans in your life.

😊Deb💙

Best of the Final Week of May

It's already the final week of May, and it's Friday - time to gather my thoughts and remember some of the best parts of the past week.  I am joining again with Susanne and friends over at Living to Tell the Story for Friday's Fave Five.

Blue skies - It was cool and wet at the first of the week, but Thursday was blue skies and sunshine all the way.   Charly and I enjoyed walking together on this lovely afternoon.

Lovely Flowers - I am enjoying the flowers in my container garden.   I love this time of year when the flowers are fresh and lovely, and not yet worn down by the heat of summer. 

Reasonable Bid - A few weeks ago we started getting bids to redo this outdated bathroom.  The company who did our other bathroom a couple of years ago came in with a bid about 3X what we were expecting.  Too expensive!  We finally found another contractor who came out and gave us a much more reasonable bid.  We will now choose tile, and the project will go forward in about a month.  

Glasses ordered - Charly and I both went to eye doctor earlier this month, and we went over to Costco to order our new glasses this week.  We each got a pair of glasses for normal reading (and in my case everything else) and a pair of prescription sunglasses.  The glasses will be ready in about a week.  

New Friend - The lady in this picture (Connie) lives in our neighborhood and goes to our church congregation.  I have known her casually almost since we moved in here.  Her husband (the man standing next to her in this picture) got Covid last fall and almost died. He lived, but is now bedridden and lives where he can get special care.  Connie now lives alone.  She visits her husband almost daily, but still spends a lot of time alone. She recently saw me out walking and said she would like to walk more, so I have been walking around the neighborhood with her a couple of evenings a week.  She is a lovely woman and it has been nice to walk with her, to get to know her better and to make a new friend.  

Feeling Better - I have an autoimmune condition that flares up and sometimes affects my bladder and kidneys.  The past couple of weeks, this condition has been acting up,  I have had some pain and haven't been able to sleep well some nights.  I have had this condition since I was pregnant for my first child (about 40 years). I took Thursday of this week off as a sick day, and rested, watched my diet (which has a big impact on the condition).  I have also been taking this supplement which has helped A LOT!  Tonight, I am feeling much better. (I am not recommending this supplement.  It may not work for everyone, but a friend recommended it and it is working for me).

Thank you for stopping by to share some of my favorite things from this week.  Have a good Memorial Day Weekend and come back again soon.

😊Deb💖

"Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out."

~ John Wooden

Cool and Rainy Weekend

Friday, when I got home from school, Charly gave me this beautiful white rose.  He got it for me when he went out grocery shopping while I was at school. This beautiful rose is one of the loveliest flowers I have ever seen.  It has sparkles on it.  It was a sweet surprise from my husband. 

I had an eye exam appointment Friday afternoon.  This was my first visit to a new eye doctor. The eye doctor I had seen before retired last summer. The exam went well, and I was impressed with the new doctor.  My eyes are healthy.  I got a new prescription for glasses, which I will probably order next week. 

Saturday morning I was up early to help out at the Shar-a-Thon.  There was a lot of stuff that was donated  and more than enough volunteers to help out.  I was only there about an hour.  I sorted more donated clothing and then realized that there really was not much for me to do, so I came home.  Hopefully, this event helped a lot of people in need. 

The weather was nice for the outdoor Shar-a-Thon.  When I got home, Charly and I went for a morning walk.   The it was sunny with a blue sky and a few high clouds, but it got increasingly more cool and cloudy as the day went on. 

By evening, there was no more sunshine. The sky was all cloudy and the temperatures had dropped so much that I had to wear a jacket when I took a second walk around the neighborhood with a friend after dinner. 

We worked outside for a while on Saturday afternoon while there was still a little sunshine.  All of the "color bowls," that we will put on family graves, are now planted with colorful annual flowers and are ready for Memorial Day weekend.  

We already have strawberries in our garden. These delicious little berries were on a plant that I planted last year.  The plant made it through the winter and is already producing fruit.  We ate these strawberries and they were very sweet and very good.

We also have these baby grapes on the vine from a plant we have had for two years.  Seems it need to adjust to conditions here for a couple of years before bearing fruit. 

Also Saturday, Josh had a few minutes to go over to the good men's clothing store we found, Mr. Mac, and choose a new suit, so both he and his dad will look sharp in new suits soon.  

Saturday night, Charly and dI had a little movie date (in home) watching The Dig on Netflix.  It was a good, interesting and uplifting movie.  Highly recommended. 

Sunday, was cloudy and rainy almost all day, except when we were at church. We went to church in person.  We sang this hymn as one of the songs in the service.  I love this hymn.  It is simple and beautiful and has a profound message of renewal. 

Sunday dinner was Hashbrown Pork Chop Bake, which I found here at Collard Valley Cooks.  It was a good pork chop recipe.  Charly and I enjoyed it and I found out that Josh has never liked pork chops.  I don't actually make pork chops much, which is probably why I never knew that.   Josh did like potato part of this casserole, just not the pork chops.

Tonight, after finishing this post, I will watch the final episode of Atlantic Crossing on PBS, then get ready for tomorrow, and hopefully spend some time reading before heading off to bed. 

Coming up this week:

Monday - two different bids for our bathroom remodel

Tuesday - one more bid on the bathroom remodel

Thursday - final deadline for my students to turn in their assignments

Thursday - pick up Charly and Josh's suits 

Friday - after work, we will take "color bowls" of flowers to family graves.

To do this week:

• Get new glasses ordered
• Catch up on correspondence
• Finish the book I am currently reading
• Pick up new book ordered from library
• Finish grading all student work turned in
• Finish packing up my classroom items for move to relocatable classroom

That's all for now.  Have a good week. 

😊Deb💖

"Never regret a day in your life.  Good days give happiness and bad days give experience, worst days give lessons and best days give memories."

~Anonymous 

 

The Best of this Week - Friday Favorites

 

Welcome to the weekly post where I remember many of my favorite parts of the week - those good things that I am most grateful for.  I love this weekly tradition so I am joining again this week with Susanne over at Living to Tell the Story  for Friday's Fave Five. 

Empty Nesters Dinner - Before Covid shut so many things down, we were part of an "Empty Nesters" group within our church community, and we met the second Monday of every month for a potluck dinner and a little social time.  The monthly dinners were resumed in May as our Covid numbers continue to decline and most of the group is vaccinated.  It was a smaller group than usual that gathered, but it was still a nice evening of eating, chatting and catching up. Charly and I enjoy these dinners and are grateful that they are back.

Share-a-Thon  - Tuesday evening was another opportunity to help get ready for our church sponsored Share-a-Thon which is basically a free yard sale that will take place this coming Saturday. This event will benefit refugees and others in need in our community.  Here are some of the many donations I helped sort through Tuesday night. 

All kinds of things have been donated - clothing of all kinds, housewares, towels and bedding, small appliances, furniture, toys and bicycles.  I am grateful for the opportunity to donate and volunteer my time to help others in need. 

House Leased - The tenants in our income property (the house in the middle with that long driveway) decided to move, but within a couple of weeks we had new tenants that had signed a one-year lease and are ready to move in as soon as the old tenants move out.  We bought this house in 2016 while we still lived in Arizona and we moved into it when we moved up here in 2017.  Ultimately, I didn't care for the neighborhood and I really wanted a main floor laundry (to save my knees) so we moved to our current home and kept this house as income property.  That, so far, has proved to be an excellent course of action. Houses here in Utah are going up in value quickly and are good investments.  The monthly rental income doesn't hurt either. 

New Suit - It has literally been years since Charly bought a new suit.  He used to wear suits to work every day when he worked for the Federal Government, but when we moved to Arizona, it was simply too warm to wear suits. Last Sunday, when he was getting reading for church, Charly decided that it was time for a new suit.  He wanted me to come with him this week to pick out a suit and give my opinions.  Having shopped for suits for Charly and my sons before, I feared this might be a long and grueling process, entailing trips to several stores and hours of trying on suits that weren't just right.  Imagine my surprise, when we went to this men's clothing store, Mr. Mac, which is a well-known Utah men's store, and Charly decided that the second suit he tried on was just right for him.  A very helpful clerk chalked up the alterations which are free at this store.  Charly then decided to get another pair of dress pants, and the clerk brought him just what he wanted and got those chalked up too.  I am not kidding at all when I say that the entire process from walking in the door to walking out, having purchased a new suit and slacks (currently being altered) took not more than twenty minutes.  In addition, the suit Charly bought was on sale, and we were told that if Josh wants to get a new suit as well, he can get one for $50 off the regular price.  I was very impressed with this place, and honestly, I am not frequently impressed with retail stores of any kind.  Mr. Mac is the epitome of customer service, and we will definitely go back there in another twenty years when Charly decides it's time for another new suit.

Another Good Book - I finished another book this week (21 so far this year).  You can see from all the little colored tabs at the top that I found a lot to love in this very readable and interesting book, which explains (scripturally) what we can do to make ourselves, and others happier. 

End of School Year - There is only one more full week of school.  I will be moving, along with the entire English department,  to a new classroom in a new "relocatable" building.  I have taken everything off of my classroom walls and am currently packing up books and other items so that the move can happen right after the end of school.  It's been quite a challenging school year and I am grateful that it is almost at an end. 

Thanks for stopping by to share some of the best parts of the past week.  I hope you also had a good week and that we all have a refreshing and relaxing weekend.  See you again soon!

😊Deb💖

"Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance."

~Eckhart Tolle

Mid-May Weekend

Friday afternoon, as I was leaving school, I noticed that the school greenhouse was open.  The botany teacher was selling the plants the students had raised as part of the class.  I couldn't resist getting some lovely healthy plants for a good price.  I purchased tomato plants, petunias, marigolds, a lily and some moss rose, and some other plants.  This was the plant haul I brought home from school Friday. 

Friday night's dinner was simple and delicious - Cheese burgers and seasoned fries. 

Friday night when I sent out on my walk, I met these little fellows on the lawn near my home.  We think they might have come from a pond at a nearby golf course. 

Saturday morning, I visited my new favorite plant nursery again and got a few more plants.  I got a Peony bush and a Clematis vine.  I sent most of the day planting, and Charly spent some time working on our lattice work project, so this is what our patio courtyard looked like most of the day Saturday. 

I got my new Dwarf Lilac planted in my Mother's Day present (the whiskey barrel planter) and surrounded it with bright pink petunias.

By evening, most all of the plants were planted.  I still have some petunias and marigolds to get into small pots which will be put on family graves on Memorial Day.  

I used the Home Depot gift card Josh gave me for  Mother's Day to buy the shepherd's crook that the hummingbird feeders are now hanging on. I will be moving everything around and positing the pots just where I want them, once Charly finishes with the lattice work project.   Overall, I enjoyed working in our little outside space and making it more beautiful with plants of all kinds.  

After all that planting, I was tired, so we got a couple of pizzas for dinner. 

Take-out pizza and salad is one of my favorite weekend meals. 

Saturday after dinner, Charly and I headed out to our local Ikea to get some light bulbs for an Ikea lamp we have.  We found what we needed and on the way out, I remembered how delicious these dark chocolate Ikea candy bars are, so I got some.  Almost immediately, upon arriving home, Josh spied the candy bars and asked if he could have one, so we may be going out to Ikea again before long to restock.  ;-)

Sunday morning, after eating my own breakfast, and getting Charly' breakfast out (he eats only cereal and fruit) I made breakfast for Josh.  Making a big breakfast for my son is a little weekend tradition I have acquired.  Josh usually gets a fast food breakfast on his way to work or school and because he doesn't do that on Sunday, I always try to make sure he goes off to church having had  a good breakfast.  Josh is a "meat and potatoes" kind of guy and his Sunday breakfasts reflect that. 

We went to church in person for the first time in several months.  This is a picture of the chapel right before the service started, with members of our congregation greeting each other and visiting quietly.  Most of the people were still wearing masks, and we did as well. We have a very nice and friendly congregation, which is a blessing. After our main service, we all stayed for the Sunday School scripture study. 

After church, I indexed some birth certificates from babies born in Chicago in the 1940s.  Some of these people could still be alive, so I marked the names out. When I index, I put the information from the original historic document (in this case a birth certificate) into a database (like at Ancestry.com) so that people searching for their ancestors and family members can access it.  It is volunteer work that I do to help preserve historic family and individual records and I find it quite fascinating. I surpassed my indexing goal for the month of May Sunday afternoon.

Sunday dinner was Lasagna, salad and black bread.  After dinner, the  rain we had off and on throughout the day stopped long enough to allow me to take a walk outside.   Charly and I then watched Atlantic Crossing on PBS.   It's been a busy, but good, weekend, and I am tired, so I will finish this post, read a bit, and then go off to bed.   I have a busy week coming up which includes an eye doctor visit, shopping for a new "Sunday Suit" for Charly,  and volunteering Tuesday evening and Saturday morning to help set up and run the Share-a-thon for refugees and others in need.  

Thanks for stopping by.

😊Deb💖

"Be happy not because everything is good, but because it is possible to see the good side of everything."

~Anonymous