Friday's Fave Five #359

Welcome to Friday's Fave Five.  It has been a very busy and emotionally hard week this week so I need this focus of purposefully looking at the blessings that are in my life.  Please join me in taking a moment to pause in the busyness and be thankful for the good things in our lives.

1.  Good Movie:  Enjoyed a pretty good movie, Boychoir, with hubby on the weekend.  It's a story driven movie and took it's time building but was worth the watch. I love good action movies, don't get me wrong, but I also love ones that tell a good story with values and leave me feeling good.  Both of us really enjoyed it especially as hubby did sing in a boys choir when he was a kid.

2.  A new yummy fast dinner find.  Sunday afternoon found me finishing up Christmas shopping and doing some grocery shopping to boot.  After being out for hours and with the task of still unloading and putting groceries away, the last thing I wanted to do was cook supper too.  So while at Costco perusing the fresh dinners section I came across Ham and Broccoli Crepes.  They looked delicious and only required about 20 minutes to heat up so into the cart they went.  They were so good.  With a homemade greek salad on the side it was the perfect supper for a very busy day.  Fast food without being "fast food", if you know what I mean.  They'll go on my list as another option for those kinds of days.

3.  Christmas Lights and Decorating.  Love seeing all the outdoor lights and decorations all lit up.  There are quite a few spectacular displays in our city and the do have a list of all the really good ones up on facebook so that one can do a little driving tour and see them all.

4. Snow!  It has been quite a balmy season so far and balmy means warm, windy...and brown.  We had a snowfall the other day and it made me so happy.  So much nicer to see white, it definitely makes it feel more like Christmas than fall.

5.  Shopping done!  What a relief.  I felt so behind this year so I am very glad to be done with it. Wrapping is started and will be done today as tomorrow we pick up my daughter for a 2 week visit!  And I definitely don't want to be shopping when she is here to visit.

Friday's Fave Five will be taking a break next week for sure and possibly the week after also.  We'll have to see how that week goes.  We'll be needing to take my daughter back to the city where she catches the bus back and I'm not quite sure what day that will be.  And my son will be coming home for a late Christmas celebration on the 29th.  I want to leave things open to enjoy and be spontaneous to family activites so computer time is going to be very limited this holiday.  To all my Friday's Fave Five participants I want to say thank you for joining me.  It really inspires and motivates me to read your posts.  May you all have a very Merry Christmas if I don't "hear" from you before Christmas.

What were your favourite blessings and good things this week?

Friday's Fave Five #358

Welcome back to Friday's Fave Five.  It just shocks me that I haven't posted a thing since the last FFF.  It seems to be my pattern as of late. I have these great intentions and then it just seems my days are overwhelming and my evenings are spent trying to regroup.  Especially now that it's only 2 weeks away from Christmas.  Yikes. And I also need to apologize for not getting around to anyone's FFF's from last week.  Sigh.   But all the more reason for me to sit and ponder the good things from the last week before they go by unnoticed.  Please join in with me.  

1.  Holiday dinner at our friends place.  Our friends cooked us and another couple up a lovely Christmas turkey dinner on the weekend.   It was a lovely evening filled with food and laughter. A lovely way to start off December and the holiday season.

2.  Decorating done.  Finally, the halls are decked and the tree is sparkling.  I thought it would never get done but now I can sit back and enjoy it.  I love the reflection in the bay window.  It  just multiplies the sparkle.

3.  An easy-peasy interview.  Dayhome interviews stress me out.  There I said it.  I have spent 25 years of my career having constant interviews and I still stress about them.  But this one went super easy and ended with a contract starting February which works perfect for me.  

4.  Chai Tea.  In these hectic filled days I've been savouring a cup a hot, spicy chai tea when I have a moment to relax.  The fragrant smell, soothing warmth and bit of a bite from the spices  of my favourite chai tea is just what I need to slow down during the hectic days.  Drizzle with just a touch of good honey and maybe a chapter or two from a good read and it's amazing how it rejuvenates.

5.  Telephone chats with both my grown kids who live out of town.  It's so wonderful to hear their voices on the phone and get caught up.  K will be down in a week for Christmas and J sadly will not be home for Christmas as he will be on working as a medic on the rigs.  We're hoping that he can get a few days home at New Years before the next semester of college starts.    But in the interim those phone chats are precious.

What have been your favourite blessings from this busy last week?

Friday's Fave Five #357

Well the Christmas button is up and I just can't believe it is that time!  Yikes where has the fall gone?  I am so not ready at all.  It's a good thing I have FFF to keep me grounded and at least let's me know when it's Friday and gives me pause to notice the blessings that may otherwise just go unnoticed or unacknowledged in my life.  Please join in!

1.  Dishwashers.  As I sit here the dishwasher is humming away cleaning up the never ending dirty dishes.  I am so thankful for that appliance I can't even express.  I go through a lot of dishes in a day between the dayhome and my family and that baby saves me a whole lot of time.  We usually try to load it as we go throughout the day so that at the end of the evening I just turn it on and voila, clean dishes in the morning.

2.  Hard working, pot scrubbing hubby.  Another thing I am very thankful for is that my dear hubby scrubs the pots pretty much every single night.  Only rarely do I take that chore on.  He has taken it upon himself without me asking quite a few years back.  So thankful for that.

3.  The big 2 annual responsibilities from the fall over and done!  Fall is always super busy for me with Operation Christmas Child and also being the Silent Auction/Door Prize Donation Co-ordinator for our annual Ladies Christmas Party at church.  The second is a huge job that takes quite a bit of time and perseverence and they both happen to go on at the same time so it's always a huge relief come the last Friday in November when the evening is done and it is in the books for another year.  

4.  A few extra minutes in the mornings.  I don't know where they've been coming from but I'll take 'em.  Mornings for me can tend to be rushed especially in the fall and winter.  I am so not a morning person and getting up in the dark is tough stuff for me.  So a couple of extra minutes just to focus myself before the chaos of the day starts is such a blessing.  A few minutes in the Word or a devotional, a few extra sips of coffee and just a big breath before that first knock on the door is like gold.

5.  Grapes.  My favourite fruit and this week I picked a good bunch.  I think they are the sweetest and juiciest red grapes I've ever had.  I've been savouring them like candy they are so sweet.  Yum!

What have been your favourites this week?

Friday's Fave Five #356

First off, a very happy Thanksgiving to all my bloggy friends south of the border.  I hope you all had a wonderful day filled with good food, friends and/or family and festivities.  I know some of you will probably be up at the crack of dawn waiting in line at stores this morning but we are still pausing to take a moment to be thankful. Even if you can't find the time to actually do a post I encourage you to take a moment in your busy day to pause and think of those blessings of your past week.

1.  A tough work situation over and done.  What a relief when something that is difficult at work is finally over with and a new fresh start can be made.  Whew.  I am thankful for God's mercies, new every morning!  The opportunity to move past stress and a into a new day is a blessing.

2.  Dayhome Christmas gifts done and at a great deal to boot!  I quit giving toys to the Dayhome kids for Christmas a long time ago.  Instead I buy a new toy for the dayhome which they open together on the last day before Christmas and I send them home with a gift of a book.  I love to give the gift of reading!  And I did all my shopping for the books this year online at BookOutlet.  Their already great prices were reduced another 30% for this weekend and they sent me a $5 off coupon code for Black Friday.  Not having to be in a crowded store and still getting a great deal is definitely a blessing.

3.  Phone Reminders.  I love having a task and event memo in my phone.  And what I love even more is I can send myself reminders complete with an audible alarm.  This feature has saved me so many times I cannot even count.  Everything from something as simple as a reminder just to call my mom which can get lost in the shuffle of a busy day to big events and tasks no longer get forgotten.  So thankful for an easy way to remember things!

4.  Warmth after cold.  It's been a bit chilly this last week but starting today is a week long warming trend with an actual 7 days in a row of sunshine predicted!  I need me some good, natural vitamin D!  Warm breaks in the middle of chilly weather is a blessing!

5.  Cheesy Christmas movies.  The made for tv kind.  The kind you'd never pay good money for at the movies.  Love them all.  Add a  nice hot drink and a cozy blanket.   Bring them on!

Again Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  Hope you find that moment to find the blessings not only of the holiday but those everyday little blessings that make life good!

Friday's Fave Five #355

Welcome to Friday's Fave Five.  It's a place we gather each Friday to reflect on and share our 5 favourite blessings from the week.  Whether it's been an awesome week or one that's knocked the wind out of your sales, it's always a great discipline to look for and be thankful what is good in life.  Please join us.

1. Free lunch at a fave restaurant.  Don't know if I mentioned it but I won a pair of tickets for lunch and we finally got to use them on Saturday.  This restaurant is totally unique for a few reasons and is quickly becoming one of our favourites.  First, it's one of two restaurants built into our city's old water tower.  The tower was set for demolition when a local builder convinced the city to sell it to him and let him turn it into a restaurant. 12 stories above the city it's a lovely place to eat.  Every table is a window view. It first had a fine dining restaurant on the top 2nd level and a lounge on the 1st level.  But this spring they changed the lounge to a more family friendly restaurant with a unique concept.    They totally change the menu and decor 3 times a year.  Last was an Americana menu and decor, and it just changed over to a Rustic European.  So delicious with such great flavors and great view.

2.  Evening tea.  As it has become cooler in the evenings I really enjoy a nice hot cup of tea.  So relaxing and cozy with a warm blanket and a good book.

3.  Lunch with my Dad.  It was a weekend of lunches out apparently.  But my Dad took me and my sis to lunch on Sunday.  It was a rare treat that I really enjoyed.  He was so excited to have me try a favourite dish of the both of us at a place I'd never had it.  I was quite happy to oblige.  

4.  Dance time.  Most of the kids in dayhome love to dance and it's a treat in the day to turn on a kid's music station on the radio and watch them let loose.  They are so fun and carefree when they dance.  And I love that the new fandangled thing my hubby got that pulls in internet radio so that I can have a kid's station going.  And Christian music stations.  And easy listening stations.  All sorts of choices I can set it to.

5.  On the tail end of a big project.  Once a year at this time I'm in charge of a certain area at church that requires quite a bit of concentrated work.  We are now on the tail end of it and I always finish with a sigh of relief.  I love doing it but also am glad when it is done.  Whew, now with Operation Christmas Child also done for the year, I can concentrate on Christmas.

What were your favourites this week?

Friday's Fave Five #354

Welcome to another edition of Friday's Fave Five.  Join on in as we share 5 of our favourite blessings from the past week, big or small.

1.  Day off right smack in the middle of the week.  I'll take a day off anytime but Remembrance Day fell right into the middle of the work week and it broke up the week just perfectly.  It was a lazy day for sure, sitting around in jammies, drinking coffee, reading.  Then hubby and I worked on his facebook page for the business he is starting and then I went Operation Christmas Child shoebox gift shopping.  I didn't even cook supper!  

2.  A little detour.  I kinda sorta took a little detour to Winner's  when going shopping for my OCC gift boxes.  And I found me a cute dress for the winter/Christmas season at a decent price.  I don't wear a whole lot of dresses but was in need of a wintery type one so I didn't want to spend a lot of money and this is one I really like.  I can make it fancier with the right jewelry and heels or dress it down a bit with thicker tights and ankle boots.   Glad I took the detour.

3.  Shopping for OCC is always one of my favourite things to do in a year. I've done it since the '90's and involved my kids with it when they were little.  It was always a special Sunday afternoon event to go and fill their very own boxes with their ideas for gifts to send.  I still enjoy it though now I do it on my own.  I take my coffee and just enjoy the process.  This is what kicks off the Christmas season for me.

4.  My daughter landed a FT job this week.  What a blessing this was.  She's been looking for awhile and it came at a good time as Christmas season is starting.  I think this will be a really great fit for her and I'm excited for the possibilities for her.  At the very least it will get her feet wet in the design and decor industry  to see if she wants to pursue that for a degree.

5.  Caramel Brulee lattes are back for the Christmas season at Starbucks.  My very favourite of all their drinks.  Though I rarely have sweets anymore it's nice to get a few of these in the season.  And I always get the Grande size with only 2 pumps as opposed to the 4 they usually come with (trying to eventually make it 1) so I don't feel too terribly bad about enjoying one here and there.


What were your favourite blessings this week?

Friday's Fave Five #353

Hello and welcome.  It's Friday so that means it's the day to post our 5 favourite blessings from the week.  May I just pause and say I can't believe it's Friday already?  Yeesh.  I had so many good intentions of doing at least 3 posts this week but you know, life happened.  And I didn't get to it.  Ah well, hopefully next week I'll be a bit better about putting up something other than a FFF.  But today that's what it is so please join us!

1.  Warm, flavourful soups of fall.  One think I love about fall is I get back in the mood for my all time favourite comfort food and that is soups.  I love me some soup!  I've always been like that.  My mom made the best soups ever and when she made my favourites I would eat them breakfast, lunch and dinner till it was gone!  So far this month I've made Hamburger Soup, Dave's Mom's Borsht Soup, and last night I made Cabbage Roll Soup. Oh my word it was soooo delicious.   I'll have to post some recipes but some like the Cabbage Roll soup I really just made off the cuff thinking of the things I would put into a good Hungarian cabbage roll and then making it soupy.  It was so good without all the work of pre-blanching the cabbage and then rolling it all and baking.  Anyway, the warm and comforting soups are one of my faves this week.

2. Monthly bills that actually go down instead of up.  So I purchase my tv through a company called Telus and a couple of months ago they contacted me and said they had repackaged some of their theme packages and they thought I could lower my bill.  I finally found the time to get on the phone with the fella and lo and behold we got my bill down 12 dollars a month and I only lost one channel which I didn't care about anyway.  How about that?  I love that they took the initiative to contact me and I especially love that I get to save some bucks.  $12 a month may not sound like much but that my friends is $144 in a year.    I know, I know...some of you are thinking if I just got rid of tv altogether I'd be rich but hey, it's about making it better than it was before, right?

3.  Growth.  Our ladies bible study is a pretty tight knit group of ladies who appreciate where each person is at individually.  But leading this group of great ladies one of my greatest joys is seeing someone "get" something out of the Word of God and watching how it changes their lives or watching one of them step out of their comfort zones and take a step of faith in an area that had been difficult.   Tuesday evening at our study a lady who has never prayed out loud before because she was very shy about it, picked up on something I said just in conversation before study started that I was having a struggle with and without me asking for prayer for it, she all of a sudden during prayer time prayed for me.  What a sweet blessing that was!  I felt like a proud parent!  It was a great encouragement.

4.  Coffee at the ready.  My sweet hubby always has a fresh pot of coffee ready for me when I get up in the morning.  What a gift this is to be able to stumble out still half asleep after brushing my teeth and have a cup poured ready and waiting with just the right amount of cream waiting for me.  He is awesome!

5.  New gym.  My Curves gym has changed owners and they have built a brand spanking new gym in a location just a few blocks from my house.  It's nice to be able to go to somewhere really close by and the freshness and newness helps along with the motivation somehow.  

What have your favourites been this week?

Friday's Fave Five #352

Well this week has been a bit of a tough one as I haven't felt well and my energy level has been totally sapped.  But that makes it perfect for an FFF as it forces me to focus in and find some good things




1.  A good quote

"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds you plant"

                                                                    Robert Louis Stevenson

I don't even know where I saw this quote but I found it quite encouraging because it reminds me that if I'm planing good seeds they will eventually take root and grow into good fruit.  Sometimes it takes time.  But it's the diligent planting of good things, like being thankful, that will produce good harvest in my life.

2.   Big Smiley Hello's.   One of my dayhome kids always come in with a great big smile and a big hello.  It's such a lovely way to start the work day.  You can't help but smile back.

3.  Having my daughter read my favourite author.  And  the one she's starting with is the exact same one by him that I did, "Wrapped in Rain".   This book hooked me and I have been devouring Charles Martin books since.   I don't know why, but having my grown kids read books that so touch me is very exciting to me.  I can hardly wait to have a book discussion with her about it.  Hopefully she'll like it too and read more his novels.

4.  Tea.  Nice hot tea.  Being the coffee lover that I am it always surprises me how when I don't feel well the first indication is coffee just doesn't appeal to me.  But tea certainly does.  It's so soothing.  Maybe it's something in the tea, maybe it's childhood memories of my mom always making a big pot of lemon tea when we didn't feel good.  She still tells me to drink tea with lemon when she finds out I'm sick.

5.  Leaves falling. My towering aspen trees in the backyard are the last to drop their leaves.  And when frosted just right they turn absolutely gold overnight.  

And then they start to fall and all the fun starts with the dayhome kids.  We spend hours raking, jumping in, throwing them, crunching through them with feet and toys.  Today they even sat still in them for 20 minutes all lined up in a row.  When I asked what they were doing they said they were pretending they were covered in a blanket watching tv.  Hilarious. Wish I woud have got a picture.

What have your favourite blessings been this week?



  

Friday's Fave Five #351

Hi everyone and welcome to Friday's Fave Five.  Time to look for our blessings big and small from our last week.  Please join us.

I'm not feeling so great tonight (Thursday) and I'm nodding off so I'm just going to put up the linky and let you all give it a good start and then I'll be by later in the morning to post my own 5.  See you all later!

Updated:

Whew, it is 1:40 MST and I am just now able to sit down for a moment while the dayhome kids enjoy their Friday afternoon movie.  Three batches of popcorn later they are finally in a bit of a food coma and settled watching their movie.  But I find especially in the overwhelmed busy times it's good to take a pause and take note of the good blessings in our lives.  So here goes!

1.  Great bargains!  So I've been humming and hawwing over whether to do a book study at my ladies bible study or stick with the usual format.  But then this week Bookoutlet sent me an email so that I could register for an extra 15% off of their already great prices on a certain few days this month.  So I browsed around and there was one of the books we had been considering at a good deal already but with the 15% off of that it was awesome!  So we are going to do "Fearless" by Max Lucado starting in January.  I think it will be very timely for us.  Too many of us are paralyzed by varying degrees and types of fear!  Especially with the crazy election we just had in Canada, as a Christian that result was downright fear inducing.  But God says "Fear not" so many times to us in the bible.  I'm looking forward to getting deep down into this study!  That is a load of my mind making that decision.

2.  Jazzed up rice.  Ok, this is a somewhat weird one but really it was great for me.  My hubby is a rice lover.  Plain old white rice is a carb nirvana to him.  Me?  Not so much.  In fact, for me to enjoy rice it has to be doing the back stroke in some kind of gravy or sauce.  But yesterday, I had a revelation.  I had no sauce, so had to get creative.  As I was looking through the cupboard to see what to do, I saw my container of butter and my bottle of Soffrito Herb de Provence infused olive oil that I had bought last trip to Calgary.  So I put about a good heaping tablespoon of butter and equal amount of the oil into a heavy cast iron fry pan and then added the already cooked plain white rice and heated it up. Oh my goodness.  It was subtle and delicious and made me like rice.  I love experimenting and trying things out off the top of my head.

3.  Massage Therapy.  I know I've mentioned it before but I seriously was thankful for an appointment yesterday.  I don't know what was going on but Tuesday my upper back muscles so seized up and knotted causing so much pain that I thought for sure I wouldn't even be able to sleep.  But I had one more sample package of that Biofreeze left that she gave me  (mentioned in last week's FFF).  So I put that on and took some advil and by bedtime it was actually feeling better.  Then last night she massaged that darn knot right out of there and I actually felt functional again this morning.

4.  Grilling Weather still a go!  We have been taking full advantage of using our bbq every weekend.  It's been such a mild fall but I know that is going to end shockingly one of these fine days but meanwhile we've been using that bbq to get our fill of burgers, grilled chicken and steak.  I love meals done on the bbq!

5.  It's Friday.  Oh my goodness, this is definitely a blessing.  So thankful the work week is at a close.

If you haven't already, please join in as we count our blessings and share 5.  

Friday's FaveFive #350

Welcome to a gorgeous very autumny Friday's Fave Five.  We are half way through October already!  Hard to believe.  The days are just whipping by right now.  Perfect time to slow down and take note of the blessings in our lives.  Please join in!

1.  Thanksgiving!  I would have to say Thanksgiving is my favourite holiday.  There's the awesome food, the family time, the friend time, the day off, the rich meaning and tradition all without the crazy commercialism of what Christmas has become.  We had my mom, my sis and family and Hubby's sis and hubby over for turkey dinner on Saturday.  Monday is the official holiday but when one works from home and has dayhome families coming into one's home, it is just too much to have company for dinner that day as I have to have the house clean!  Talk about stress.  So Saturday was the day and I love that because it allowed me to go to church on Sunday and relax!  We love our traditional turkey and dressing, gravy and mashed potatoes, spaghetti squash, and asparagus.  I broke from tradition this year and made home made cranberry sauce using this recipe.  I will never used canned sauce again.  This was so delicious and so easy.  I also made Crockpot Ranch Mushrooms, a big hit with everyone and  again so easy! I also broke tradition by not getting pumpkin pie and instead got a Costco Pumpkin Cream Cake...soooo good and I tried this Impossible Pie.  Again super easy and everyone really liked it.  I think next time though, I'd put shaved chocolate on the cooled pie to serve.  Sunday it was dinner at my sister's with my dad and a total food fest there too.  It was a wonderful weekend and  I lived in the moment and didn't even get around to taking one picture.  I was too busy just enjoying and soaking in what was going on instead of being behind the lens.  And you know what?  That was ok for this year.  

2.  Control.  In spite of all the delicious food, by the grace of God, I managed to control my during cooking tasting,  my dinner eating and my dessert hoarding. I actually only had a small sliver of desert to taste it and no Pop! That is huge for me.   It's on my favourite list because I've never been able to do this before.  I've always been a total glutton to the point where I just would not stop eating and I was so full yet still stuffing my face.  

3.  Incredible Sunset.  Last Friday, after running into the grocery store for the last of the Thanksgiving dinner stuff, I came out to everyone holding up their cell phones taking pictures of the sky.  It was incredible.  Pictures just can't do it justice.   I couldn't get my phone out of my purse fast enough.  The colors and scene were changing by the minute.   I have never seen the clouds so textured! What a gift from my God who is the great creator and artist!  Great way to start off Thanksgiving!

4.  And the winner is....  I went on Facebook real quick one day this week for a quick check and one of my fave restaurants was running a contest and I won!  Two free lunches.  Me and hubby are going on a date!!

5.  Special gift.  One of my little dayhome kids went to Disneyland last week and she brought back this cute little mug for me.  What a sweet thing for her and her mom to think on me when they were on vacation.  And coffee just tastes better in a princess mug, don't ya know!  And my favourite princess at that.

What were your favourite blessings from the last week?

Friday's Fave Five #349

Welcome to Friday's Fave Five.  This weekend in Canada is Thanksgiving so we already have our minds towards being thankful.  But it's always good to look for things in our everyday to be thankful for whether the calendar date officially tells us to or not.  Please join us as weekly we turn our hearts to look for good blessings in our lives.

1.  Operation Christmas Child kick-off.  Sunday was the official start of Operation Christmas Child   (U.S.A. site) at my church.   Being the one heading this up, I always look forward to this time of year both with excitement and a bit of nervousness.  The announcement went well and lots of boxes went out the door to be prayerfully filled for children in the throes of war, poverty or disease.  Children who have never in their lives received a gift before.  Such a small thing for us who have so much in this country.  I am always amazed when I see the colored map and see only a handful of countries that pack the boxes and pretty much the rest of the world receiving them at some point.  God has blessed us so that we can be a blessing to those who have not and to bring joy and the gospel.  What a privilege to be able to be a part.

And just in case you ever wondered if it really makes kids happy to get one of these boxes this is one of my favourite videos recorded by somebody there, not a put together promotional video.  Here is the pure unadulterated reality:

Makes me smile everytime!
2.  Bio-Freeze.  Last month my massage therapist had given me about 3 sample sizes of Bio-Freeze to try out at home.  It's a professional strength cold (cyro)therapy.    I took it out of my purse, put it on my dresser and promptly forgot about it.  Then this week my sciatic nerve was acting up and giving me major grief.  Anyone who's had a sciatica pain knows how awful and consuming it can be.  I was having to get up in the middle of the night to take more advil.  Then 3 days into it I remembered the Bio-Freeze.  It helped. A lot.  It didn't totally remove the pain but boy oh boy it helped to tone it down a whole lot.  I am so going to buy some of this stuff to have on hand.
3.  A trip to the salon.  It's really amazing how a nice trim and refresh of the highlights perks me right up.  It seems like overnight my hair is too long and won't do what it's supposed to do. And the fresh highlights just brightens it all up.  Yup I am very grateful that as of now I get the chance to have someone do this for me.  There have been times in my life where I had to do my own color and let me tell you, I don't have the knack for getting it really nice.  It's not a I will die without a salon highlight, in reality it really is a 1st world problem,  but it sure is a blessing when I can have them.  
4.  A full dayhome once again.  Back in the spring I knew I would be losing two kids to grade 1, but seeing I was having carpal tunnel surgery in the summer, I didn't work real hard to replace them.  I wanted to give myself time to heal properly.  Well come September, in an unusual occurrence, I didn't get one suitable call.  But now just this week, I've got a couple newcomers that seem to be a really good fit.  I like when the dayhome is full.  It really is easier for me than having it only half filled.   I enjoy the fun and laughter when all are here.
5.  Good Reads.  I've been on a roll with some good reads lately.  I always love that.  Add a cup of  good coffee, some beautiful Indian Summer weather and some uninterrupted time and I'm a happy camper!

What were your blessings this week?

And Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian bloggy friends!

Fridays's Fave Five # 348

Good Morning!  It's Friday today and that means time to look, recognize and be thankful for the good things, the blessings, the things that uplifted us during the week.  Please join us even if you are having a hard week.  This week for me was super busy and a bit stressful and it was easy for me to get bogged down in negativity...but the FFF helps me to get past all that and take note that there was good in the midst of all that!  Please join in!

So in no particular order

1.  Jalepeno Cheese Bagels.  A silly one but seriously one of my favourite treats. And the Costco here and the Tim Horton's both make excellent ones.  Of course, it needs to be toasted and spread with garlic herb cream cheese!  Sometimes for breaky, sometimes for lunch.  Yum.  Better stop talking about it now 'cause I am out of them at the moment.

2.  Last batch of tomatoes from the garden.  This last week we enjoyed the last of the tomato crop from my 3 plants in my mom's garden.  It has been plentiful and so delicious.  It doesn't compare to the sad, unripe, tasteless ones in the store.  I will miss them, for sure.

3.  Movie night out with the ladies bible study.  We skipped out of the study and went and saw War Room on study night instead.  It may not have been in the Hollywood block buster category but it was a good film and provided for  much conversation afterwards.  I love when a movie does that.

4.  A gift from a friend.  Just when I needed some encouragement a friend (from study group) handed me a totally unexpected and most precious gift.  It was a real lifter upper, if there is such word, for me.  I don't know what I would do without good friendships in my life or my study group ladies.  Over and over I'm shown we cannot do this life alone and how important connections with others beyond surface aquaintance-ship is.

5.  Tea in the evening.  As the evenings get cooler, the tea pot calls my name.  I really enjoy a nice hot cup of tea in the evenings.  I've really gotten to love the loose leaf kind and have several varieties to choose from.  Organic Peppermint is a favourite stand by but I've also been enjoying Lemon Meringue and Bluberry Lagoon.  Pina Colada and Creamsicle is next on my list to try.  It's relaxing and fragrant and cozy.

What were your favourite blessings this week?

Friday's Fave Five #346

Hello and Welcome!  So sorry I am up late with the FFF linky.  I am so mixed up on my days this week!  It didn't hit me until I was waking up this morning that today is Friday and not Thursday as I was thinking it was going to be. But with all the time in the world to reflect...or not... it is still a good thing to look for the good things, the blessings in our lives from the past week.  Thanks for being so faithful with me!  I'll give it a start and put up the Linky but will probably have to come back a little later this morning to finish my own post.

1.  A ladies evening out.  My friend and I went to a local decor design store which also carries an awesome little section full of scarves, jewellry, stylin' rubber boots and purses.  They were having a ladies event and had a scarf stylist there to teach how to wear some of the different scarves.  Plaid is really in the thing this fall and winter apparently.  Lots of fun.  I went to get a plaid scarf, love plaid, but ended up with something totally different but lovely all the same.  And the prices were reasonable, not something I was expecting from a design store.  And even though I drooled over several of the purses, you will be so proud of me that I walked out of there with nary a one.  But the blessing was in the time spent with my friend and the chat over tea afterwards.

2.  A last hurrah day trip to Waterton.  The mountains are my happy place as I've mentioned several times before on the blog.  But shock of all shocks, I have never been there in the fall.  I know it's the very beginning of fall right now but there was still some lovely turning of the leaves.  It was a perfect day with perfect weather.  Did some walking of trails we've never tried before though it was a tiny bit nerve wracking because it is bear season where bears are bolder looking for berries to gorge on stocking up for their hibernation.  One path we took, Cameron Lake,  even has a grizzly area sign at the beginning of the path.  We were fairly confident though, that we wouldn't run into one as the path was soooo busy.

Look, Faith, how would you love to kayak here?!

Cameron Lake - Wateron Lakes National Park

I can never get enough of the gorgeous scenery at Waterton Lakes National Park!

3.  Ladies Group kick off.  My ladies bible study group takes a break over the summer so it was really nice to get back with these ladies.  They are so much fun and it's a great privilege getting to lead this group.  We had a potluck dinner which is always delicious.   I'm looking forward to all we'll learn and explore this year out of the Word of God.

4.  Cool nights and sunny days.  This is the way I love it.  The nights cool off, though, it has been quite crisp this last week.  All of Alberta had a frost warning out the other night, but I don't mind.  The days warm right back up.  It's definitely layered dressing time.  Fall is my favourite season.

5.  And speaking of fall season, the fall scents,  are definitely a fave with me.  Everything from the smell of the air, the falling leaves, and of course fall scented candles.  My current fave that I'm burning is Pumpkin Apple from Bath and Body Works.  

What are your favourites from the last week?