Thanksgiving Day

We had a quiet, small holiday. Honey had a hankering for lasagna and that’s what we had. Just the Girls and The Usher and Pinky in attendance. Papa kept busy showing his little gal her favorite video of Old McDonald. If there is too much Ei, Ei, OOOOO, we have not discovered it yet. She will bring him his phone and glasses, back up into his lap saying Ei, Ei, Oooo.

Also many books read, because Pinky is a reader! She was unfortunately coming down with something and had spent quite a bit of time coughing and having her nose wiped, and those are unpopular activities.

Our Dear Friends The Hostler’s came over for dessert, and their daughter Nurse Lauren was in town with her family! Their precious little granddaughter, Ju-Beanie, was absolutely vibrating with excitement when she saw our KITTIES!! I think she and Pinky would have liked to interact, but by this time Pinky had a fever and we thought it best to keep them apart 😦

Mousey and Usher had already taken her home by the time we had our annual photo shoot.

Here’s one from this past summer when they were in, minus Miss Baby, who had already gone to bed!

Thankful for holidays and long time family friends to share them with! ❤

Potent Quotable

Thankful for this ❤

The Grandpa

This is one of my favorite pictures of my Dad. Firstly, because he looks so cute, and secondly because it is a perfect picture of who he is. He is a helper with a servants heart ❤

He is sanding the corners and tough spots on the floors of The Boy and The Dane’s first home, that was over a hundred years old! There was some major sanding going on over there! He helped in many other ways, but he spent a lot of time down there.

He was also around while work was being done on Mousey and The Usher’s first house. He has vast experience and expertise in just about everything, considering he built one of his homes and has maintained and improved all the others that he has lived in! He has lent Honey a hand on countless occasions, and has also made himself available to his church, friends and even some folks he didn’t know. That’s just how he rolls. These are some of the many ways he serves The Lord, his family and his neighbors.

He is a great Grandpa, as well as a Great Grandpa! 🙂

Still loves that connection with all of his Furlings!

He’s also been a very faithful Dad ❤️

We are thankful for The Grandpa.

Potent Quotable

Ever so thankful for The One who died for me ❤

Baby Gets a Blog Name!

Mousey and I have had several conversations about a blog name for the Little Miss, I believe one of them was when she was in the hospital about to give birth! I jokingly suggested Baby Mouse, and then we wondered, what was a baby mouse really called? It’s called a pinky! And I guess it’s stuck 🙂 Hi Pinky, you sweet baby girl! ❤ SOOOOOO, thankful for our little Baby Muggins!

She has started holding her arms out to be picked up, and smiles when she sees us and comes in for a hug ❤ What’s not to love about that!

Everything is new and fun to her!

She’s a real honey bear and is always willing to give her people loves. This is her first doll from Great Grandpa.

Her favorite things right now are books, playing with her kitchen, everything Bluey and Bingo, kitties, and her Papa, because he is SO much FUN!

We are so thankful for our little Pinky, she fills our hearts with JOY!

Reading

I have been a reader since I have been old enough to read. One of my fondest memories of elementary school was asking our librarian, Mrs. Lamont, for a recommendation of a “good book”. When I wasn’t reading, and rereading, my favorites by Laura Ingalls Wilder of course 😉

I loved to go to the public library in the city I grew up in. During the summer I would check out as many as the Alfred Noble Library, or my Mom, would allow.

The trend has continued now for decades. I don’t check out tons of books anymore though, because it often takes me much longer to get through a book these days! The Ab-Cat has followed closely in my footsteps, and actually passed me by. She heads to our local library every Friday after work to pick up whatever they have saved for her on the hold shelf, whether movie, music or reading material. The Boy is a prolific reader, though mostly non-fiction, and Mousey has recently rediscovered her love of the novel ❤

I always loved reading to our children and I saved the majority of their books in boxes for our future grandchildren. When Moonpie and the Little Dipper came to live with us from Washington State, I brought up a box. Moonpie could not get enough! She would bring me as many as her little arms could carry, and say “BOOK”. And then we would read. And read. And then she would go and get another armful!

We have read those two kids stacks and stacks of books. We worked our way through board books with brightly colored pictures of everyday things and animals, to Goodnight Moon, Corduroy, and I Love You Stinky Face, Madeline, The Day The Crayons Quit, Me First, The Paper Bag Princess, Big Al, Snowed in at Pokeweed Public School and one of their all time favorites, Bedtime For Francis, among many, many others. Last winter in Florida I read Moonpie her first chapter book; Ramona the Pest. I really loved Ramona when I was young, but I remember not understanding all of the things that pertained to the fifties when it was written. It was even harder to explain some of those things to Moonpie!

We are back to the board books with the Little Miss! She is also a very intent reader in her own right! Her favorites right now seem to be cat and animal related. 1,2,3 Cats and that naughty kitty boy Skippy Jon Jones are a couple of her loves ❤ She will bring you a book, then back up into your lap. I love it.

I’m thankful for reading, for myself and with our Little Furlings.

Potent Quotable

This. I’m thankful for this.

Dedication

A couple of Sundays ago we joined Mousey and The Usher at their church for Baby Dedication. They really should call it a Parent Dedication, because the parents are pledging to train up their children in the Way they should go, so that when they are old they will not depart from it ❤ Proverbs 22:6

They had a baby explosion at their church last year! About 7 families and only one other had a child over 1!

I was holding the Little Miss before they went up on the stage. She loves Grammy’s Capri bell. We are practicing being gentle.

Aunt Stacey was on our other side taking some sweet pictures.

Honey and I are so thankful that all of our grandchildren have been dedicated back to the Lord. They are gifts from a Holy God, created in His image.

Thank you Lord for this new little one to tell about your mercy and grace. And help Honey and I to have a part in sharing about a faithful God who is worthy of praise and our love and obedience ❤

Snacks

I’m just going to put it out there, I’m thankful for snacks. Because of my propensity to get hangry, I like to have a snack on hand. It’s really better for all concerned, just ask Honey. The last few years my preference has been the ever reliable cashew nut. I share this fondness with my brother Beeve. We have been known to exchange the giant containers at Christmas. His from Costco, mine from Sam’s Club. A handful can replace breakfast, or tide you over until a meal is available. I liked to carry them in my purse as well, just in case. But that can get tricky, because if the baggie is in there too long they start to absorb purse flavors, like gum or just general purse smell. Which unfortunately turns a yummy snack into what I sadly call “purse nuts”. They’ll do in a pinch, but not optimum for enjoyment.

I think I have only bought one container of cashews since we have been home from Florida, and I’m sorry to tell you they tasted weird. Could have been the batch, or could have been me, but it has knocked me out of my cashew groove. It’s ok though, because I remembered that I liked pistachios! Or as Moonpie calls them, “stachios”. They are not cheap though! About $16 for a one and a half pound bag. And Honey has joined me in the pistachio snacking, causing us to go through about 1 bag every two weeks. Or possibly less.

Now the little German cookies? They are a full on addiction. When we visited our dear friends The Schmenkman’s in Virginia last fall, they introduced us to the little spiced cookies from Aldi. So good and deceptively …slim. What is a serving size? Two? Four? Twelve?? I try and limit myself to four. But that could happen a couple times a day. And what if you need a little snick snack while watching tv in the evening? See, twelve, easy peasy!

I’m thankful for snacks, one of the things that makes life more pleasurable. 🙂

Thankful November

Hello to those who still visit this dormant space! I am aiming to post all month with the many things I am thankful for, hoping you will join me.

It has been a VERY busy, hectic summer, and a lot has happened in our neck of the woods. Most notably, we changed woods. After the past 25 years with one address, we switched to another. Goodbye beautiful home where many memories were made ❤

Hello new home, where memories are yet to be made.

We came home from Florida at the end of April, listed the house mid June and it sold within the first 5 days. We had movers come the end of July and turned over the keys on August 3. That all sounds neat and tidy but there was a LOT of hard work throughout and we were bone tired on August 4th.

We have been dreading this move for years and for many reasons, but have prayed for the perfect buyer and the Lord produced them at just the right time. The woman whose family now resides there told me that the first time she went in it felt like home ❤

Honey and I probably moved 80% of the stuff ourselves, and if you saw our basement right now, you would know that it was a herculean effort!! And that was with having two garage sales and many truckloads and trips to the Salvation Army over the last three years! Apparently we had spent the last 25 years accumulating! That seems to be how it goes, you spend the first half of your life getting, and the last half getting rid of it. We will be the first to tell you that we still have too much stuff, but in our defense, we still have a lot of Mousey’s stuff (that she says she really does want, but can’t take at this time!), and a good amount of The Ab-Cat’s stuff that she will take with her when she moves into her own new home next spring. Which is another HUGE thankfulness post all by itself!

So, today I am thankful for a sold house, a new home, and to God for giving us the strength to move every single thing.