Didn't bake, staying home, visiting neighbors

 I guess those words cover yesterday and today.  No, I did not bake yesterday.  My SIL came over and did move the Skylight calendar to another location.  Hubby's comment when he got home and saw that it had been moved?  "Why did you move it?" "Because you threw a fit about moving your golf picture."  "I got over that yesterday; you could have left the calendar there."  RIGHT.

I did go visit Ms. Diane at the new Senior Care facility her kids placed her in.  My heart breaks for her as she is so lonely and just wants to die.  She barely smiled the entire time I was there - which was nearly an hour.  It is a huge 'house' (has ten 'guests' so at least 10 bedrooms) in which her room contained a twin bed, a small side table, a small recliner, and her wheelchair.  TV is on the wall; she has a bathroom and a small closet. I would guess it is about the size of our screened area in the back. She was so glad I visited. Her daughter came by to drop off NEW medications... that poor woman - she said she counted 19 medications they give her - plus these new ones now. What in the world are they treating her for?  Seriously, at 87, unable to walk at all now, sits in a chair all day - does she really need cholesterol pills? Can not some of those pills be eliminated and let her die peacefully?  She did repeat herself a few times, but I mark that up to little interaction with other people; I'm sure she sits in her room most of the day. 

After visiting Ms. Diane, I decided to run over and visit Ms. Vicky for a little while.  We had a nice visit and then I came home and finished up pulling dinner together.  After dinner we both settled down to read (which made me happy).  I finished another book last night and I think I have 7 to go to meet my goal of 50 for the year.  It feels so close, and yet, so far away.  Hubby will have the TV on today watching any football game and then NCIS and will ask if I want to watch a movie.  He did leave it off Friday AND Saturday, so I can't tell him 'no'.  Give my eyes a rest from reading, perhaps.  

And... we are staying home from church this morning.  I was awakened at 3AM with the rain pounding on the roof and ground.  I got up and came in here, trying to go back to sleep, to no avail.  Hubby got up and took a shower shortly after.  I don't hear the rain now, so it has died down, but about 7AM I went to get a 2nd cup of coffee and mentioned to hubby about the rain and possible flooding of the roads.  He remembered there were large puddles at church he had to walk around yesterday.  It rained hard here for about 3 hours at least.  We walked outside as it was starting to get light and looked at our street - there is about a 6 ft path down the middle of the road; the rest of the road is under water.  I'm willing to drive to church, but we also discussed the way the parking lot is laid out.... yeah, there is upper and lower areas...  and I'm sure the lower areas are full of water. Granted, we aren't that far from the church and could possibly make it easily enough... but.... not knowing how flooded the roads are between here and there... long story short, we decided to stay home and watch on TV at 10:30AM.  I would be needing to get started fixing myself up about now if we were going... and here I am in my jammies still. :-)  Maybe the rain is over here... I hear birds chirping.

Today my youngest (and his wife and son) are 'celebrating' their birthdays. I have a box I want them to take to my little sister (and save me $$ on shipping charges!) (did you hear where Trump has given the post office permission to raise shipping rates through the Christmas season to help boost their finances?).  I have some heavy and large things in the box that would cost quite a bit to ship.  We've decided to just exchange cookbooks for Christmas as of last year - so I may as well go ahead and get these things to her so that I'm done with that. My little sister's husband's cancer has spread to his hips now and he will be on chemo every week versus once a month.  My cranberry pumpkin bread is the only thing that he can taste when he is on chemo so I will make a couple loaves for him.  My sister says she doesn't eat it cause she doesn't like cranberries.  Wah.  Try it, you might like it!  I'll make it for him.

And now my thoughts are rambling and I need to get off here. Didn't even come up with a scripture as my mind is all over the place this morning. Maybe it is the second cup of coffee I'm drinking?  I just reread the above and deleted a bunch of ramblings.... you are welcome.

Proverbs 1:8-9 (NIV):  Listen, my son, to your father's instruction and do not forsake your mother's teaching. They are a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck.

Yeah, I had to put one in here.  I like the part of 'do not forsake your mother's teaching', don't you? LOL  We all want our children to be independent thinkers - and want them to stand up for themselves. But if we have parents who love the Lord and give good advice, it is worth following.

And with that - I'm off here.  I got some more time to be with Jesus this morning and I'm going to snuggle up with my journal and chat with Him.  Then maybe I'll cook breakfast; I have time before the service. Advantage of staying at home. :-)  Hope you stay in and stay dry.

Blessings!

For me it was a fun day

 Friday night, after I shut down the computer, I made two key lime pies to hand off to our neighbors yesterday.  I also got caught up in the 'making of desserts' and made two pans of chocolate eclair type desserts, complete with chocolate candy bar sprinkled on top.  Then I found an easy recipe for cheesecake - and made it into a blueberry cheesecake.  Yeah - I got dessert happy.  Oh, and I made a batch of eggs ole', and some salsa.

Yesterday afternoon I headed over to Ms. Vicky's and took her some eggs ole and salsa, plus one of the smaller portions of the eclair dessert.  Visited with her about an hour then headed back home.  Picked up more eggs ole' and a key lime pie and headed over to Ms. Diane's.  FINALLY, I am back on track with visiting them!  They both crave company and most days it appears I am it.  Visited with Ms. Diane for a bit and came back home.

My daughter came up earlier in the day and picked up the blueberry cheesecake (for today's lunch) and some eggs ole' (for their breakfast today).  I took the last key lime pie over to our 'other neighbor' after my visits with Ms. Vicky and Ms. Diane.  I still have a chocolate eclair dessert and although someone else is bringing dessert today (other than the cheesecake I made) - my donation to lunch is deviled eggs - I will take it and maybe someone will take it home with them.   I had just gotten caught up in baking and making and I was in my 'realm of fun'.  Two things I made were new recipes so that was fun and I'm curious how people will like them (the cheesecake was a new recipe and the eclair is a new recipe).  I kept some eggs ole for us and we had it for lunch - and dinner - last night - and will finish it off this morning for breakfast.  

Today we will pack our things for our getaway and head to the daughter's for lunch.  After that we will continue on down the road south.  I know hubby is over the top about getting out of town, and I'm looking forward to it as well.  I know this sounds horrible, but I just want some space.  Definitely won't be getting it, but at least a change of scenery will be nice.  We won't be there long - we return home on Tuesday.  I plan to contact the granddaughter once we are on our way to see if they have any time for us to get together for a short visit.  I really do not want to disrupt their routines and since it is during the week, versus a weekend, I'm more conscious of schedules.  We have school and work and a new baby - all which takes time.  Which reminds me, I need to get the great-granddaughter's birthday gifts together so that I don't forget them - and I did finish the new baby's quilt last night so will be taking it as well.

I am looking forward to this week off work, although I am sure at some point I will be thinking about work and getting back into it.  But both of my top bosses are on PTO Thursday and Friday as well, so I shouldn't have too much work going on to come back to.  

We postponed our Jailbreak Getaway - I think I told you that before - and am glad we did.  Up north got snow - and some areas got nearly a foot of snow this weekend!  I don't want snow on our getaway.  Waiting until the end of May will hopefully provide much nicer weather.  I am definitely looking forward to Jailbreak - we actually DO things while we are gone.

Today is Easter.  Free Chapel / Jentezen Franklin - is having an Easter program and you can find it on You Tube.  It is amazing.  We will watch it at 8AM today.  It is really good, and I would encourage you to go to You Tube and bring up Free Chapel or Jentezen Franklin and watch it for Easter.  You will be glad you did.  Do it for you, for your spouse, for your family.  Let the REASON we celebrate Easter come to you. You won't regret it.

I Corinthians 15:55-57 (NKJV):  O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Matthew 28:6 (NKJV):  He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

We celebrate the Risen Christ today.  My prayer is that you will pause in your busyness and take time to reflect on the reason we 'celebrate' Easter.  

Jesus left heaven and came to earth in human form.  He showed us by example on how to live and love others.  He took all our sins upon Himself and went to the cross.... for you, and for me.  All of our sins.  It's hard to imagine anyone taking the bad stuff, the crappy stuff that we do - and going to the cross for us.  But Jesus did.  He took the burden of our sins, so that we could be set free from sin and death - and have eternal life with Him forever.  

It's sometimes hard to imagine the reason why He would do that (because He loves us), and it is hard to watch scenes that show the beatings, the ripping out of His beard, His hair, the metal tips of the whip ripping open His skin - let alone the nails going through his hands/wrists and feet.  I can barely watch it in movies.  But Jesus did it - because He loves us so much - and He gave His life for us, that our sins when confessed, are no more.  

I am so grateful for His forgiveness of all my sins.  And trust me, I've done some things that I am not proud of at all. Grateful for forgiveness, and that He has provided me a way by His stripes, that I am healed and set free.  And you are as well.

Pause for a moment and thank Him.  He is our Risen Saviour.

Blessings!

I got 'er done! WhooHoo!

 As soon as hubby left yesterday morning, I jumped up, got dressed, and started cleaning the laundry room counter.  It.Felt.So.Good to do something on my own.  I know, I'm weird.  I did discover one thing... I bought two shelving pieces, and only needed one.  But that's ok.  I have another project in mind (cleaning off the top of the refrigerator and freezer in the laundry room) and can put the shelving up there to stack things better (plus get rid of of a lot of 'stuff' that has ended up there).  After I finished that, and hubby still wasn't home, I started juicing oranges I had gotten earlier in the week.  Decided to juice for my neighbors as well.  Ended up going out and picking more oranges and grapefruit.  Brought them back in and juiced up more oranges, cut up some grapefruit for snacks.  I still have a bag of lemons to juice that I just haven't gotten to yet.  I will freeze that juice.  

Hubby came home as I finished up juicing and cutting up the fruit.  I decided to clean out the pantry as well... and yes, what I expected, happened.  Hubby had to watch me for awhile before he finally walked away to get on his computer.  Drives me crazy.  I did rearrange the pantry, threw away a lot of expired things, and took out two bags of trash.  Got it done, called Ms. Vicky next door to see if she wanted fresh orange juice - she did not.  She had just juiced up a big pitcher of grapefruit juice and didn't want the orange juice.  No problem.  

I called Ms. Diane and yes, she wanted the juice.  Then she mentioned she hadn't had breakfast (which, as I shared before, she doesn't always eat - sometimes nearly all day, and she's a diabetic and has lost about 45 pounds this past year because of it).... so I told her to take her time and raise the garage door and I'll come over and visit for a bit.  I hurriedly made her french toast and scrambled an egg, grabbed the juice, and by that time the garage door was open so I took it all over.  Took over some cut up grapefruit and sliced oranges too.  She.ate.every.bite. of the hot food I took her.  She is such a hoot.  I love visiting with her cause when I mentioned I like something I get a "I do too!"  And she may, but I find it amusing that she likes everything I do.  I mentioned I liked cooking and she goes "I do too!" so I told her that I would think of something and perhaps bring it over and she and I can 'make it together' (so that I can make sure she can participate but not fall in the process) and she was thrilled.  

I guess it is pretty hard to be alone when you get old enough you have to use a walker.  Sometimes you just don't want to bother with things.  Which is why she doesn't eat much.  Oh - and she again said "Now I can tell Cindy (her daughter) that I ate breakfast and not lie to her)"  LOL  Cindy called while I was there and she told Cindy that 'her wonderful neighbor across the street brought her french toast and scrambled eggs and orange juice.  She was eating the orange slices by the time I left.

Hubby and I attended a granddaughter's ribbon-cutting ceremony last night at a retail type store in Glendale.  It was very nice and I am so proud of her.  I never have enough confidence in the things I make to do something like that.  I always feel I can do better, no matter what it is. 

Hubby and I also made the decision yesterday afternoon (after the veggies and fruits has given hubby diarrhea for the past three days) that we probably needed to modify our fast for his sake.  The opportunity came last night when we went out to a Mexican restaurant with family.  We didn't do too bad... and discussed our 'breaking the fast versus modifying the fast' from here on.  We have decided to continue our fast with the fruits and vegetables, but add in fish or chicken.  In fact, going back to my BBCD - no beef, no breads, no chocolate, no desserts.  It gives his body a bit more substance and fills it up with more than just fruits and vegetables.

I need to check in with Ms. Amy this afternoon. And I have the Bible study tonight at 4PM.  I have no idea where I put my folder, which means I also have not done my 'homework'.  Oops.  Slacker.  I will need to find it when we get home from church, which, today, is up at Pioneer Village as hubby is to speak today.  It will be his last time there.

I saw an email this morning from our RV Park here in town and they asked me to pick a Sunday in each month - November - March to get on the schedule for next year.  I'm the first one they asked, so I have my choice.  I told them I'd check the calendar later today and make the decision.  

John 8:31-32 (NKJV):  "Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

Jesus wasn't just saying that to the Jews, He is saying it to us today.  If we live by His word, if we choose to believe what His word says, which is the Bible, and we choose to follow Him, we are truly His disciples and through His Word, the truth shall live in us and we shall be be free.  Does that make sense?

Do you even realize how much free-er you will feel if you follow Jesus?  The chains will fall off, you will not be burdened with guilt or shame; He releases that chain from you when you confess it to Him and let Him remove it.

Do you even realize how much Jesus loves you and desires to bless you so abundantly ... and the only thing you need to do is give your life to Him.  Choose Jesus to serve.  Choose the Bible and follow it's Word, which is the Word of God Himself, breathed by the Holy Spirit into others to write.  Whew!  It is so full of good stuff!

Yeah, we read about about the struggles, about the bad stuff too!  Who hasn't heard about David and Bathsheba?  But we also read in Psalm 51 ...

Psalm 51:1-4 (NKJV):  "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to your lovingkindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.  For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.  Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight - that You may be found just when You speak, and blameless when You judge."

and God forgave him.

Psalm 51:17 (NKJV):  "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart - these, O God, You will not despise."

It is so easy to come to God and ask forgiveness.  He forgives, and welcomes us with open arms.  It doesn't mean that we don't suffer the consequences of our sin, but we have Him to walk through it with us.  It is so easy to follow Jesus and walk with Him.  You want to do good and right, correct?  Come to Jesus and ask for His help in following Him.  It is a step you will never regret.  He will help you find the Way, He will help you find Him. Choose Jesus.

I heard there was to be a lot of rain starting last night through Tuesday - I haven't checked outside - but haven't heard it raining either.  Hold off, I ask!  At least until we are back home from church! :-)

Blessings!