Friday's Fave Five #830

Whew, it has been a week.  So busy with all sorts of commitments. It's a good thing we have this little space that reminds us to slow down, take a breath, pause and look for blessings from the past week.  Having a busy week like I did, it's so easy for me not to even take note.  The blessings become a blur as I'm rushing onto the next thing.  Which starts me seeing more of the negative than I do the blessings.  The older I get the more I see how important being intentionally thankful is.  Please join us by sharing your favorite 5 blessings from the week.  

~ birthday celebrations ~  Friday we celebrated my sis in law's bday.  We had a wonderful evening at our favorite Italian restaurant.  Great meal, great conversation and the opportunity to celebrate a special lady.  

~ leading study ~ this week I was asked to lead the lady's study I am a part of.  I was a bit nervous, as it's been about 4 years since I stopped leading a study group.  But all went well, we had some great conversation with everyone participating.  I'm thankful that I was able to get out of my rut with the opportunity.  It made me realize how much I missed having a group of my own.

~ new show ~ well now that Monk is no longer available on the streaming channel we have, Hubby and I needed to find something else we could watch together.  We found House of David on another streaming service we have and have been enjoying the episodes so far.  

~ body butter ~ my hands have been so dry lately, especially the knuckles.  Probably something to do with the 1000 times a day I have to wash my hands while working with preschoolers.  I found a nicely scented body butter that seems to be doing the trick to soothe it.

~ ice cream ~ had to make my list this month as my favorite local small batch ice cream shop had two great feature flavors this month:  Chocolate dipped strawberry and Grasshopper Pie.  Oh my, both were so delicious!  Made even sweeter with the purchase paid for by a gift card I received for Christmas.

What were you're favorite blessings from your week?

Jinx!

Well then.....

....guess I spoke too soon about the mud being gone

Friday's Fave Five #829

Welcome to Friday's Fave Five.  We are looking for our blessings of the past week and being thankful so that we do not take them for granted.  In the happiest of times or the darkest of days, there is always blessings from God if we take some time to notice them.  Sometimes they are obvious and sometimes we have to get past the clutter to notice.  Weekly taking the intentional time to do that helps us to develop grateful hearts.  Please join us.  Guidelines are linked in the sidebar if you've never joined us before.

~ spring bird song ~  the last couple of days the birds have been singing their spring songs.  It so nice to hear them and it's an immediate mood lift.  The woodpeckers with their "laughing" song, the robins, and several others that I don't know to name, they all joined the chorus throughout the day.  It was heaven to my ears.

~ mud dried up ~  finally, finally the mud under my lawn has dried up. This makes me so happy because I don't have to deal with said mud on the boots and clothing of 6 kids on the daily.  

~ open windows ~ though it's been quite crisp temperature wise we have been able to open the windows for a short time each day.  So nice to have that fresh air coming into the house again.

~ relaxed Sunday ~ I really hate the time change both spring and fall.  It just takes my body so long to readjust.  I'm not a morning person to begin with and this just makes it that much harder for me to get going in my early morning wake ups.  So Sunday we decided to just let ourselves sleep in and spent a relaxing day.  I cooked a nice lunch, took the dog for a walk, read and had coffee and got my house tidied and cleaned.  It was a huge blessing to be able to do this knowing I was coming up to a week of kids out of sorts from the time change as well.

~ a great read ~ every once in awhile I hit upon a book that just hits right and becomes an all time favorite and this last weekend I closed the last page on one of those.  The Borrowed Life of Fredrick Fife by Anna Johnston just got me in all the feels.  I'll be reviewing it soon.  But highly recommend.  It's a blessing to read and to be able to have such easy access to so many great books at our libraries.

What are your 5 favorite blessings from the last week?

photo courtesy of sandjest.com

Friday's Fave Five #828

Friday has rolled around once again and it's time for looking back and taking note of the blessings God has gifted us with over the past week.  The practice of being grateful to God for all his good gifts, large and small, can powerfully change our hearts, our minds, our outlook, our perspective and even our lives.  Let's develop a heart of gratitude as we go about our busy days.  Please join in as we share five of our favorite blessings from the last week.

~ another lunch treat ~ Hubby treated us to lunch once again this week, this time from Chopped Leaf.  We tried their new Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese along with our fave salad, the Bangkok.  Both were delicious.  We had enough left for supper so it was a double blessing in that I had a lunch treat and I didn't have to cook supper.  

~ several beautiful walks ~ last weekend's weather was absolutely stunning and it was a real gift to get out into the sunshine and go for walks.  On Sunday it was so nice I even dug out the capris and just had to wear a light hoodie.  The dog was so happy to get several walks in on the weekend as were we.

 

~ first grilled steaks of the year ~  We decided we couldn't pass up the opportunity the glorious weather was giving us and pulled a couple steaks out of the freezer for grilling for Sunday's lunch.  I'm always nervous on the first grill of the year as it's almost like getting back on a bike after not riding for awhile.  But the steaks turned out perfect.  Good thing we took advantage of the lovely weather because the next day the weather turned to cold and gave us a dose of wet rain/snow the next day.  

~ time with a special little friend ~ I had a special afternoon with my little friend who is a former dayhome child.  We always have a lot of fun together and I really enjoy her.  We went and saw Paddington in Peru  and then went to the pet shop.  While she liked the show, she was in her glory in the pet store.  There was an employee there showing everyone the animals and birds and talking about them.  It was actually his day off but was there with his friend and just rolled with the interest the kids were showing.  You could really tell it was his passion.  A lady had brought her pet chinchilla in and let my little friend hold it.  She was beside herself and her smile was ear to ear.  And she actually pushed past her fear and touched the big ol' lizard another employee had out and was showing the kids.  Took her a solid 10 minutes but she did it.  We had so much fun.  Bonus was the pet store didn't cost a dime and was the best part of our outing.  

~ dishwasher ~ Sometimes big blessings are just practical that help alleviate the load of work in one's day.  At my house, there is always lots of dirty dishes.  Between ourselves and the dayhome there is always a full load to run on the daily and that doesn't even include the pots that hubby so helpfully washes by hand.  So thankful for a hard working dishwasher (and hubby) that gets them clean and shiny for me. 

What have been your favorite blessings this week?

Specters in the Glass House by Jaime Jo Wright ~ Book Review 2025

In 1921, Marian Arnold's family built their fortune in the brewing business.  But after her parent's death, and prohibition demolishing the business, Marian goes to live in her mother's summer estate which is the only thing left to her.  But when she is there Marian starts experiencing frightening visions.  When the milkman is found dead in her mother's beloved butterfly house, things take an ominous turn in Marian's life.  Then when her cousin Ivo, shows up, Marian is excited as she has always looked up to Ivo.  But Ivo does not come alone.  He shows up bringing a fiance and friends in tow and Marianne is no longer sure of his intentions.  The group doesn't seem to care that prohibition exists and are only too eager to break out the drinks each night.  When another person turns up dead, chaos ensues and Marian no longer knows who to trust. Fearing she is next, Marian turns to her childhood friend Felix, a war veteran, who lives on the estate with his mother.  But is he enough to protect her from what is happening?

In the present day, Remy Shaw has taken a job as a research assistant with a popular biographer.  She moves into his sprawling home which is the former manor of his latest person of interest to write about, Marian Arnold.  The house is odd, with many strange hallways and rooms and a layout that makes no sense and Remy is given a bedroom off a little room where it is rumored Marian Arnold was killed by the infamous Butterfly Butcher serial killer who was never identified or caught.  As she starts to dig into Marian's  life and the mysterious murders linked to the mansion, out of the blue, Marian's great-great grandson turns up wanting to protect his ancestor's legacy from anything Remy and the author may find.  

I really enjoyed this book.  Though not a huge fan of being scared, this author blends just the right mix of creepiness, mystery and great story telling that also takes on a serious subject.  The era is interesting as I have not read many books that deal with the effects on the lives of people who were affected by prohibition.  The main characters and some of the relationships really drew me in and all the emotions are brought out in the reveals as the story moves along.  The pacing was excellent and kept me wanting to pick up the book and keep going to find out what was going on.  

I rated this a 10/10

Friday's Fave Five #827

Welcome to Friday's Fave Five and the last Faves of February.  Time is just a motoring along, days are busy and it's nice to just pause and remember those things we have been blessed with in our week.  These pauses have been vital over the years in helping me to be more thankful and grateful for the good things God has blessed me with.  It helps me to keep my perspective when harder times come.  I'm so glad you have joined in with me this week to share five of your favorite blessings from the last week.

~ chocxo passionfruit chocolates ~   Every time our local C0stco gets a different flavor of these chocolate cups I have to try it and I have really like everyone of them.  This passionfruit one is no exception.  Organic, way less sugar, tastes wonderful.  Yes, please!

~ another learning opportunity done ~ I was able to get another learning opportunity done last week and this one I actually get reimbursed the cost and I got paid for the time.  Whoo hoo.  Now I've completed 3 towards the minimum of 6 that I'm required for the year.  

~ "false" spring ~ after an absolutely frigid 3 weeks the warmer days that started at the end of last week have continued into this week.  We are having above normal temps everyday and it's been wonderful.  But living where I do, we know it's a "false spring" and we will still probably get a blast of cold and probably snow at some point.  So we have been out enjoying every single day that we can.  Unfortunately here in southern Alberta we also had the wicked wind today, gusting up to 110 km/hr (68.35 mph) so we made our fun indoors.

~ great discussions ~ this week at ladies study we had some great questions that prompted lots of good discussion.  I love when this happens rather just sitting listening to one person talk.  

~ surprise lunch ~ yesterday Hubby came home with a surprise lunch of burritos and mexi fries (tater tots).   Bonus that it filled us up enough that I didn't have to cook supper.

What were your favorite blessings from the last week?

Friday's Fave Five #826

Welcome to Friday and Friday's Fave Five.  Can't hardly believe we are into the second half of February already! But today is the day in our week we intentionally take a pause and look for our blessings from over the past week that  God has graciously given  into our lives.  Thanks so much to all of you for being a part of this wonderful community training ourselves to be intentional in noticing the good in our everyday and being thankful and grateful to God.   If you are new please feel free to join in!  

~ longer days ~ this past week I've really noticed that the days are longer.  This is so welcome after the winter where I wake up and am working for an hour already before the day starts to get lighter and it's dark before I even start supper.  Just knowing this brings more energy it seems.

~ sweet rose from one of the kids ~ one of the dayhome children gifted me a lovely rose on Valentine's day.  A week later it's still gorgeous.  This is a minor miracle at the Living to Tell house as I usually cannot keep cut roses going for more than a few days before they flop or start dropping petals.  This lovely has not dropped one single petal and has opened up beautifully.  

~ valentines dinner in~  we rarely go out for Valentine's anymore.  The crowds and the feeling of being rushed through is not a fave experience so we usually either do take out or I make a favorite dinner.  This year we got takeout from our favorite Indian restaurant.  As usual it was delicious and we had a lovely "date" at home.

~ birthday dinner out ~ Saturday was the day we finally got to celebrate my birthday with my Hubby's sister and brother in law.  We go out for each of our birthdays.  It's our way of staying connected.  My choice was Tony Roma's for ribs.  Neither of us couples had been there for a while and it was a delcious treat.  Food was excellent and the company was wonderful.  We even got a pic with their Valentine background which was still up as lots of people choose to go out the day after Valentines to avoid the big crowds.  

~temperatures rising ~  Our temps have been bitter cold going on 3 weeks now but a shift has dramatically started going from -28*C (-18.4*F) on Wednesday to 2*C  (35.6*F) on Thursday.  And the miracle of this was it was without the chinook wind which is usually what brings this in.  Areas around us experienced the wind with lots of white out conditions on the highways due to the blowing snow but our city for some reason was like it was in a lovely, warm bubble.  I took the kids outside to play for the first time in 2 1/2 weeks and it was glorious.  They came in rosy cheeked and very, very wet but oh, so worth it.  The next week is supposed to be beautiful with Sunday afternoon predicted to be a stunning for us 14*C ( 57*F).

What have been your favorite blessings from the last week?