Being a housewife...

.....is what I love to do more than anything. It's an honorable position and I believe that being a wife and mother is what I was born to be.

I get to be a full time wife every Thursday because it's my day off from work. While my job isn't that bad, there are more cons than pros when working away from home. You know what it's like to work with other women, right? And when you aren't among like-minded people (I'm talking about Christians now) then you are subject to all kinds of ugly behavior. That being said, I've had worse jobs but it's my and Sam's prayer that I can come home soon. My granddaughters will be here before you know it and my son asked me last night if I thought I would be able to quit working anytime in the near future so that I can spend as much time with them as I want. I wish I could have said yes but I just told him I wouldn't let my job interfere with my family and I would be there as much as time allows. I sometimes wish we lived in the same town as they do but we don't know what the future holds and they may eventually move closer to us. That would be wonderful! In the meantime, I need to focus on what God has blessed me with and not have any more pity parties.

I have a pot of black bean soup simmering on the stove for Sam when he comes home for lunch in about an hour. I'm about to bake some cornbread, too. It's in the 40's today so I thought this would be a tummy warming meal. I have no idea what supper will be but I'll cross that bridge later. I sometimes fly by the seat of my pants. Thankfully, I manage to get most of the things done that I need to with little planning but I do work on being more organized. I write myself little notes all during the day as reminders of things that need to be done. Do y'all do that, too? I can be sitting in one room and think of something I need in another and by the time I walk a few steps, I have completely forgotten what I went after. It drives me crazy and does make me wonder about my sanity. I just tell myself that I have such a busy little mind that there just isn't enough room for all of my memories. Either that or I'm suffering from dementia of some sort.

With that, I'll say goodbye for now and hope you all have a good Thursday.

Prayer request

My beloved sister-in-law's mother passed away last night. Please pray for her as she has lost her husband this year (my brother) and now her mom. She also has lupus and stress almost always triggers a setback. Please pray that God will be merciful to her and protect her.

How was your Tuesday? It was sunny and cool here with a promise of rain later in the week. I looked ahead to next week on the weather site and there was a mention of snow possible but if you're like me, you'll believe it when you see it. I have a co-worker who is going to Disney World next week and can't wait to be in the warmer climate and I just don't see it, honestly. I feel so much better physically when it's cold. Heat saps my energy, makes me grumpy, and I just feel gross! This same co-worker wears longjohns under her work clothes every day even when the temps get to 70 or so! She also has a tower heater thing that she turns on which also sometimes blows on me since we sit side by side and we've had more than one discussion about that thing. We pick at each other and try to be good natured about it, but as I've tried explaining to her..."you'll be in your 50's someday and you'll know what the term hot flash is all about". Y'all know what I'm talking about, huh?

I still haven't finished decorating for Christmas. I hope that I'll have some energy on my day off this week and get that job done. Since we are looking to buy a house one day soon, my enthusiasm for decorating has definitely waned but this is where the Lord wants us for the time being and so I'll decorate and enjoy this Christmas season (and pray that next year we're in a bigger house.) We have to have plenty of room for our granddaughters, you know. Bless their hearts. I love them so much even now - even before they've made their entrance into this world.

I'm off to soak in a hot bath...mmmm....sounds wonderful, doesn't it? I hope you all have a wonderful evening and sleep tight.

Steak and potatoes

That is what I was craving for supper tonight. It was a crazy day at work and I was so tired so Sam and I decided to go out for a steak dinner. I was not disappointed.

I've had a full day, I have a full tummy, and my flannel sheets beckon me. Y'all have sweet dreams. Night, night.

A soft Sunday

I pray you are having a blessed Lord's Day. It's cloudy and cool here, which I love, and all is right with the world. Sam and I are Reformed Christians and we love our little church. We live in a particularly beautiful area of the South and are surrounded by mountains. Our church is on a hilltop in the country and the view as we step out of church every Sunday reminds us of God's glory and we still pinch ourselves that we get to live here. Sam and I moved here from Texas almost two years ago and although I dearly love Texas because I was born and raised there, we have fallen in love with our new home. Our oldest son lives about 2 hours from us so when my granddaughters are born, we'll be able to see them much more often. My youngest son is still in Texas and I miss him terribly. But he attends college and is in a serious relationship with a young lady so I know he's happy where he is and thankfully, we can talk as often as we like by phone. (Thank the Lord for unlimited long distance.) This has been a bittersweet Thanksgiving as my parents are both deceased (my mom in '93 and my daddy in '03) and my only sibling, a brother, died very suddenly in January. Even with my Sam by my side and the love of my children, I miss my family so much and often feel very alone. It's very weird knowing you're the last one left of your birth family.



Okay, on to other things. We're going to decorate for Christmas today. I've been rather ambivalent about it this year and I'm usually really anxious to get my stuff put out and get the tree up and decorated. But Sam pointed out to me that I might be feeling depressed - my brother's death hit me very hard and was so senseless. You see, he had abused his body with drugs (legal and otherwise) for most of his life and he died as result of bleeding internally. His wife and one of his precious daughters witnessed this. This happened just days after my son's wedding. So - it's been a year of highs and lows and although I miss my brother terribly, I pray he's in a better place. He professed to be a Christian and I do believe that anyone who could abuse themselves that way had to be mentally ill to some degree and could still be a Christian, so I comfort myself with that knowledge.



I just read the above and realize this isn't exactly the feel good post of the year, is it? Well, it's part of my life and who I am so there's no point in pretending otherwise. This life is a vale of tears but even during the lowest times, God is faithful and merciful and I am very blessed.



I have a roast in the crockpot that smells soooo good and I need to decide what to fix to go with that. We have about eaten up the last of the turkey and things from Thanksgiving so I need to work on a menu for the upcoming week. I have found that having a menu really helps me when I buy groceries and it keeps me from wondering what on earth I'm gonna fix for supper that night. As I've mentioned before, I do love to cook but the hardest part for me is deciding what to have. Sam is so easy to cook for and is very appreciative of whatever I prepare for our meals and he's a huge help in the kitchen. I don't get home from work most nights until after 6 so he will either help get supper started or offers to wash dishes afterward so I can rest. He is the best husband imaginable.



I hope the remainder of your Sunday is restful, joyful, and serene.

Antiques and Fleas

Sam and I just got back home from shopping at a couple of antique/flea markets in our downtown area. It's so beautiful down there and although there are mostly antique stores and a few cafes down there, it does take me back to my childhood in Texas when my mother and I would go shopping. The only place to go shopping back then was downtown and I recall vividly how everything looked and mostly smelled. Do you remember the hot summer days when you would walk through those heavy glass doors (which were kind of yellow-tinted) and the cold air would hit you in the face? And the smell....it was new clothes/leather smelling and intoxicating to me. There was always the gumball machine sitting there by the entrance and I loved dropping my penny into the silver slot and pushing the little lever from one side to the other and wondering what color would pop out....my favorite being either red or blue. Those were such sweet days. Anyway, back to my shopping trip. We were on a mission - I want a ceramic Christmas tree. We didn't have one when I was little but Sam's family did and his mom still has two of them left. They are so cute and colorful and nostalgic. My dear mother-in-law isn't going to part with them any time soon so I would like to find one of my own. We didn't have any success today, though, but I did come across an old recipe book that is full of clippings and handwritten recipes. I just peeked at a few of them and realized what a treasure I had found for $2.00! I'll share more with you as I hopefully discover some old, if not yummy, recipes.

Work was okay today. It was tiresome because we weren't terribly busy and it made the morning crawl. I have a co-worker who gets on my nerves most days and today was no exception. She is a very talkative person and never, ever stops talking - ever. I try to tune her out without being rude but it's about impossible. At any rate, once I get home, I have to decompress for a few minutes in complete silence, if at all possible, just to get the droning out my head.

I should head to the kitchen and see what I can do with some pork chops I have thawed. I LOVE to cook and I'll share my menus with you along with some recipes from time to time.

Y'all have a good evening.

Lagniappe (a little bit more)

.....about me.



It's taken me a while to figure out how on earth to do this, and I'm sure this will be one of the more unadorned blogs you'll read. But then again, I'm kinda plain and simple myself. I've learned to make things easy on myself most of the time... plus I have a very hard time making decisions, so the very fact that I'm actually doing this is quite remarkable.



Okay, a little bit more about me. I am married to Sam and we have two grown sons, one of whom is married and about to make me a grandmother to twin girls! We have a little old dog, Snow Pea, and two weird cats and two even weirder parakeets. But I don't think anyone else would love them or take care of them like we could, so we treasure them. I'll fill you in on more about my 2-legged and 4-legged loved ones as time goes on.



I wanted to start this yesterday because I thought Thanksgiving was an appropriate day for this undertaking. I do have so much I'm grateful for. It was that strange aversion I have to making decisions that kept me from starting this yesterday so here I am.



I work part time as an office manager in a small, family owned business. I only work 4 hours on Fridays so I went in this afternoon. I would have preferred being at home with Sam. We love being together more than anything in this world and so every moment together is precious to us. Our kids weren't able to be with us yesterday for the holiday. Our youngest son lives in another state (attending college) and our oldest is a couple of hours from us but can't travel due to my daughter-in-law's pregnancy. The babies are due in two months but she's not allowed to travel anymore until the birth. We'll go see them in the next week or two and I'll prepare some meals for them to put in the freezer so she doesn't have to be on her feet too much. I cannot wait to meet my granddaughters - God has richly blessed me.



I love bad weather. Not tornadoes - that's another story. But cold, windy, snowy, sleety, thundery-lightening-y - ummm...did I mention cold?.....those are the days I like. My family is like that, too. I get sad on sunny Sundays. Do any of y'all dread Sundays, too? I don't know why I do, although I suspect there is some dark reason for it. I can tolerate some sunny days besides Sunday, but after a few weeks of the cheerful look, I'm ready for glorious gloom. How about you?



It's late and I'm just mentally exhausted trying to figure out how to get started on this thing. I think it will be a joyful journey and I really look forward to sharing my thoughts on life and the challenges of being middle-aged with you. As I mentioned in my "about me" thingy, I don't necessarily fit into a particular category. I hope you have a pleasant night and sweet dreams.