Here we are....at the end of the first week of January.
It's been a crazy busy week but in some ways it had some relaxing moments too. I'm here to share FIVE of the blessings that came my way this week...the five that made me smile or say "Thanks, God". Other bloggers do this too and we all link up at Susanne's blog.
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| Christmas gift from Claire |
- CHORES COMPLETED: Over the weekend, my husband Dave, because he had Monday off, completed a bunch of chores I had been wanting him to help with. One of those was to get his gift from our youngest daughter (a Xmas gift) for his office (her old bedroom) onto the wall. If you zoom in on the picture, you will see that she had it personalized with our last name. It looks great in his office (he still works from home twice a week) and he also completed some other chores around the house that needed attention. I'm thankful for husbands who help.
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| new leaves on my large rose bush!! |
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| "Red Fred" at our backyard feeder |
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| Black-capped Chickadees visit, too! |
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| Sunday's Sky |
- NATURE SCENES: Sunday and Monday were days where I was mainly just relaxing and enjoying the last 2 days of Christmas break. Sunday turned out to be a gorgeous day....in fact, it was very mild.....and the sky was just gorgeous. It was so mild that i spied new baby leaves on my large rose bush in the front flower bed. I know this probably isn't good.....climate change....a very mild winter so far here in eastern New York....but I have loved seeing the birds flit between the suet feeder and the regular bird feeder. We had 2 woodpeckers at the suet feeder but they flew off before I could snap a photo. I was also able to walk almost every day outdoors last week and weekend. I'm thankful for God's creation and the different things we can see in nature.
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| image courtesy of wikip*dia |
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| image courtesy of wine made easy site |
- NEW YEAR'S EVE: It was just Dave and I for New Year's Eve for like the first time ever...the first time since 1989!! Every single year as newlyweds or parents of little ones, we would either go to Boston for First Night, go to central NY to spend the night with my folks, or have parties in our home once the girls got to the point where they could put themselves to bed or play in the basement playroom with guests' children. Sometimes the 4 of us would go to parties of church friends. About 10 years ago, we stopped throwing parties for church friends and neighbors and just had the 4 of us doing board games, movies, etc. Well, now that both girls are on their own with their own group of friends, and both had friend parties to attend, it was just me and my husband. It felt a bit odd at first. But we were so ready for "just us". We had a wonderful dinner of stuffed ravioli with olive oil and basil/oregano/garlic. The ravioli was stuffed with chicken and spinach. And we had glasses of white wine...my fave...Riesling by the Konstantin Frank vineyard in the NYS Finger Lakes. It was delicious. We didn't want dessert as all of the cookies from Christmas were gone and we are now cutting out desserts for the most part. We ate on the couch in the family room where the television is to watch the Netflix movie shown above. It was a fun movie although not as good as the first one, Knives Out. After that one, we read our books for a bit, chatted, and then started another movie which was just ok. We did stay up to watch the new year come in but we were reading not watching tv. It was uneventful but so nice to have the down time. I'm thankful my husband wanted a quiet evening in.
- BACK TO THE CLASSROOM! Tuesday we headed back to work. The blessing? The children haven't regressed all that much and we received hugs from so many of the 12. It felt so good to have their hugs.....although some are non-verbal, it's one of the best ways they communicate....through the sense of touch. I'm thankful I get to be a special education preK teacher. It's really awesome to work for a private agency that allows hugging. (public schools sadly do not).
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| a robin...unheard of in eastern NY in Jan!! |
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| the start of a mini hike at our town park |
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| the woods at The Crossings Town Park |
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| the last part of The Woodlands through the large meadow |
- AFTER WORK HIKE! Yesterday was downright perfect for a mild winter day. As you can see, our area of eastern NY still doesn't have snow! It's crazy. The temps were 48 degrees when I left work and all I needed to hike was my jacket and a scarf around my neck. we had some nice sunshine during the better part of the day but after work it began to get cloudy. I decided instead of power walking at our town park, I would just take the back portion (south end of park) and hike through The Woodlands. I did every trail available which only equals 1.8 miles. It felt good to be outside and there were several walkers, joggers, and even small children on the playgrounds. I'm thankful to be able to get out of work by 2:30 so I can enjoy some time in nature before twilight settles in.
That wraps up my five faves from the past week.
There were other special blessings as well: a phone chat with a good friend from my childhood hometown; a text message from a friend I rarely get together with but her encouragement and advise made me smile; hugs and foot massages from my husband and evenings drinking hot herbal tea together while we read our books or watched a movie on Netflix. Life has many blessings.........just think about the things that make you smile.
HAVE A RESTFUL WEEKEND!
10 comments:
Hi Faith. No spring leaves out here yet. We have just had one storm after another and thankfully now our snow pack is 170% of normal. Lost of rain and snow in the West this year. I wonder if the latest storm will make it your way. So glad you had a good New Year celebration and time off. Sounds like your year is off to a good start in many ways. I hope you have a good weekend!
We've had nice weather this week, but it was bitingly cold Christmas week. We usually get our coldest weather Jan.-Feb., so we'll probably have more cold snaps before it's over.
We had a quiet NYE, too. We were out earlier in the day for pizza and bowling. But we like to be in before the tipsy people start driving.
What a lovely gift from Claire. Glad your work week started out smoothly.
Oh, Faith, I couldnt make it without my dear husband. I am so blessed that he likes to do things around the house and he knows I am limited in my mobility and he never complains. I also enjoyed returning back to school in January. I loved hearing about the students holidays and it jsut seemed very dear to be bak together. They were ready and so was I. Have a great new year!!
That clock in really nice! Thanks for being a special ed teacher. My son had some really good teachers when he was in school. He is doing fine now and almost 40! The 40's is so cold for us here in So California. Enjoy your weekend!
Lots to smile about in your week Faith. Enjoy the weekend.
Thank you. I can’t wait to check out your soups! Have a lovely weekend!
It has been a crazy winter so far! Record low temps in some places and milder in places that it usually isn't like that! I'm glad the weather is holding out for you to do your hikes. My New Years was quiet and that's okay. I'm glad you have a nice one with your husband. That clock is so nice - such a sweet gift. My hat is off to you teaching special ed. Such a calling! Have a great weekend.
I also had a quiet nice New Year's eve together with my three widow neighbors in my building. It was the first time without Rick. In Europe all men with working wives share the household scores, which everybody considers as normal because both partners work. When the woman stays home as it had often been in my mother's generation, then of course it was her work to do the household. We were married 54 years and have always shared household scores. We have a flu epidemic here, the hospitals are full, even I caught it and that's
5 years I didn't even have a cold. Useless to say that I am feeling lousy !
We have just come off of a bitter cold December and the chinook has moved in and we are supposed to get to 9*C (48*F) today. But sometimes it can feel cooler because the wind blowing off the snow makes it humid. It has sure made for some treacherous wet ice conditions on roads and sidewalks as it melts and compacts and freezes again overnight.
Unique gift to your hubby from your daughter. I've enjoyed a super quiet New Years too. I liked it!!
Our weather has been lovely outside this week too which meant that we were able to get in some walks. (no off pavement hikes as it was super muddy). And our sunsets were amazing.
What a blessing to get the chores done. And spend some quiet evenings together. Especially New Year's Eve.
Professor and I have always shared chores. He's a better cook, so he does most of the cooking (except soups).
Have a good weekend!
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