
Hi everyone and welcome to Friday's Fave Five. I am so glad to have you join me in pausing and looking for blessings from God in our lives this week. I am especially needing to take that pause. I'm at the point of being over this whole COVID restriction stuff. We've been on major restrictions since before Christmas looking for that January 11th date we thought they'd lift them. And they've just extended them to the 21st. It's pretty tense in Alberta right now as people are getting pretty frustrated with the restrictions some of which make absolutely no sense. And after so many of us following rules, guidelines and giving up seeing families for Christmas it has come to light this week that all sorts of Alberta's politicians travelled for Christmas vacations and to visit relatives out of Canada. It is beyond irritating and then days later announcing that restrictions were being extended. I definitely need to get into a thankful and grateful headspace looking at the things that are good in my life right now. So let's get to it!
~ beautiful weather ~ the weather this week has been absolutely glorious! Warm and sunny, above freezing. Me and the dayhome kids have been getting outside every single day to soak up that sunshine. Sitting on the steps in the warmth of the sun's rays and reading my book, listening to them burning up some energy does my soul good. Very thankful for this time outside.
~ blankets scarf ~ my sis got me a blanket scarf for my birthday. I've never got one thinking they were so large and cumbersome. I've been using it inside in the evenings while I'm watching tv or reading a book. The nights still are cold and it is so cozy and just right as sometimes a blanket is just too much. Thankful for this lovely gift.
~ gift cards ~ I'm one of those people who totally love getting gift cards as a gift. I don't think they are impersonal gifts at all. I love being able to go and choose something I know I'm going to use and enjoy. Our son got us a gift card to a favorite local Mexican restaurant for Christmas. He wasn't able to be here to celebrate with us but he really wanted to support local business during this time so he phoned the restaurant and purchased the card and the owner actually delivered it to our mail box. On the weekend we enjoyed a delicious meal with it and I know it really was a blessing to the restaurant. They have all been suffering from the closures in these last restrictions. I also got a gift card to another restaurant in town and one to a local coffee roasters from dayhome parents and one to a book store from Tamara and from hubby I got one to Marshalls and one to Starbucks. I look forward to using those too in the coming weeks and I appreciate each one and the giver for thinking of me.
~ washer and dryer ~ a post about wringer washers came up in my news feed in facebook this week and it got me noticing how often I use my washer and dryer in a week. I am so thankful for modern day appliances. With my dayhome, I use my washer and dryer every day and I can't imagine having to use a wringer washer, even though that was a major work saver at one time. And though I grew up with the wonderful smell of line dried bedding, I can't even fathom hanging all all my daily wash up, waiting for it to dry and then possibly having to iron it too. My mom spent hours upon hours at these chores. And this week I was reminded what a blessing it is to be able to have these appliances.
~ instant pot ~ last month my handy, dandy crockpot went on the blink and hubby bought me an instant pot with air fryer. At first I wasn't sure I wanted it, I wanted my crockpot. But he was so excited because he'd heard such good things, I didn't have the heart to make him take it back and exchange it. It took a few weeks before I used it, the thing intimidated me. But I've now used it to cook roast from frozen, the most tender made from scratch butter chicken, and fall off the bone ribs that were awesome because of the browned and carmelized finish with the air fryer. I still want a crockpot because apparently the slow cook feature is a whole other ball game with the instant pot but I've been enjoying the blessing of learning to use this and have super tender delicious meals so far in way less time.
What have been your blessings from the last week?