More to Feel Good about than Last Friday

Last Friday was NOT a Feel Good Friday. (For more details go here.) Today, however, is a Feel Good Friday. Want to know why? Let me tell you.


:: Yesterday morning I hit (and surpassed) 1000 views on my blog for this month. Now maybe for some of you bloggers out there 1000 views doesn't sound that great, but for me it was pretty exciting. I don't know what I average a month, but I do know that until this month my highest count had been 874. So thank you to everyone who clicked on my blog. Keep coming back, and not to sound ungrateful, but I'd love more comments.
:: Dh and I have been helping with the marriage ministry at our congregation for the last little while. Last Sunday we taught the morning class. It just went really well. So well in fact that later in the week I ran into one of the participants in the grocery store and he HUGGED me. I love feeling as if we are helping others and making a difference!
:: I'm feeling better emotionally than I have in a while. I think my hiatus from home last weekend helped a lot (see yesterday's post).
:: I am really enjoying the study of Daniel I am doing on Thursdays. For whatever  reason this study is really piquing my curiosity. Yesterday we did the in-depth study of chapter 1. There is so much information packed into those 21 verses!
:: Finally, we're supposed to have cooler weather this weekend. I love autumn with cool days, sunshine and crisp evenings. It's shawl weather time and that just makes me smile.

Sweet November Shawl

Wishing everyone a Feel Good Friday and a lovely weekend!


catch up with more "Feel Good Friday" at lia sophia tomgirl

I Ran Away from Home

I've been feeling a little more frantic than usual of late. Frantic and anxious used to be my constant state. Over the years I've worked hard to learn to relax and "go with the flow". It's not natural to me!

Last Friday I imploded. I stood in the kitchen and wept. Thankfully (see!) my dh had come home early from work to go do some other work. He stopped by the house to change clothes. First he was met with stoic wife. Shortly after his arrival, angry wife made an appearance. She was soon followed by frantic, weeping wife.

We stood in the kitchen and I cried and vented. He listened and hugged me. Then he said the magic words, "What do you need?" and I responded with the first thought that popped into my head. "A beach." Without skipping a beat he said, "Go." 

Long story short, I didn't go to the beach, but I did go and spend a night and day at a hotel not far from home in mileage, but eons away from the stress that had been building for me.

So for this Thankful Thursday I'm thankful first and foremost for my dear husband. He put my needs ahead of everything else and that made a huge difference. 

But I'm also thankful for realizing I needed a break and being willing to share that need; for having enough money to be able to take a break of this sort; and for the support of friends who didn't think I was crazy, but rather seemed to think I was smart!

Go figure!?!

may you find grace, peace, gratitude, 

and blessings this day and every day

for more Thankful Thursday visit Grace Alone

Wordless Wednesday -- Friends

Amish, Dahlia, Kenyan, Polly, Prudence

for more photos visit Wordless Wednesday

The Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY . . . September 27, 2011

Outside my window . . . it is cool and clear. There is a heavy dew on the grass and it is only 49 degrees.

I am thinking . . . that I am proud of myself for helping dh with a new Bible class this past Sunday at church. I got up and spoke (briefly) to the class, and I felt that the whole class went really well.

I am thankful . . . for encouraging words from several different people of late. Moving outside my comfort zone is less painful with kind words ringing in my ears.

From the learning rooms . . . we're nearing the end of the first quarter/nine weeks. Grades are definitely better than in the past, but there is a lot of work looming at this grading period ends.

In the kitchen . . . tonight is baked tilapia, steamed green beans with slivered almonds, and cheesy squash casserole.

I am wearing . . . my "I am the Lorax" t-shirt, my summer weight robe, and blue Target "crocs". As you know by now I am quite the fashionista!

I am creating . . . still working on that afghan, but also on a new Sweet November scarf for a friend. I am using Spa: A Silky Soft Bamboo Blend in rose bisque. I really like the way it feels and looks.

I am going . . . to the library today to pick up a book on hold, to turn in overdue books (and pay fines), and to renew a book that is overdue that I haven't even started yet! I am NOT the poster child for good library citizenship this month!

I am wondering . . . about cobwebs. Where do they come from exactly? I seem to have more than my share of them this fall inside and outside my house. I've heard that a plethora of cobwebs in fall is a sign of a snowy winter. If that is true I have mixed emotions. We had plenty of snow last winter!

I am reading . . . lots! I started Fall Into Reading 2011. I've got to make time to get this reading and reviewing done, because I signed up to do it, but mostly because I really, really want to!

I am hoping . . . to get some fall decor out today. Wait a minute didn't I say that last week?

I am looking forward to . . . new episodes of Castle and The Mentalist. Shallow I know, but I do enjoy those two shows!

I am hearing . . . nothing but the twitter of birds and distant traffic.

Around the house . . . dh and the kids worked on the bonus room some this weekend. It's not all better, but there is definite improvement.

I am pondering . . . the random things that strangers share with me. Yesterday at the grocery store, the gentleman who bagged my groceries shared with me about the struggles he is having in his marriage. I have no idea why, but I was blessed that the Lord gave me something to share. I am adding Jason and his wife to my prayer list.

One of my favorite things . . . is my new hedgehog air freshener from Bath & Body Works



A few plans for the rest of the week . . . working on that balance between fun and productivity. It is a real struggle for me.

Here is a picture for thought I am sharing . . . 

last week my neighbors had a huge fairy ring it their yard!

for more visit The Simple Woman's Daybook

Made By You Monday -- Pumpkin Bread

Around my house, it's not officially autumn until pumpkin bread is baked. Well this week I baked pumpkin bread. I've been making this recipe since I was about 12 or 13 years old. I love it! The flavors and texture are just what I want in a sweet bread. Now I am a purest where pumpkin bread is concerned -- no nuts, no raisins, and certainly no chocolate chips! The point of pumpkin bread bread is the PUMPKIN and the SPICES. Nothing else should interfere with these flavors. So's here's my recipe. My kids demand mini loaves now, but when they were little they were all about the mini muffins. If you make full size loaves, cut them in half long ways to serve in smaller slices (this is accepted way to serve THIS bread! LOL!) Warning: We can knock back one whole loaf straight out of the oven!

Pumpkin Bread

4 eggs                                                       

3 cups sugar                                            

1 cup oil                                                    

½ cup water                                            

2 cups canned pumpkin

2 t. baking soda

1 ½ t. cinnamon

1 ½ t. nutmeg

1 ½ t. salt           

3 ½ cups flour

Spray 3 loaf pans or 5-6 mini-loaf pans. Preheat oven to 350°. Beat eggs in large in large mixing bowl with electric mixer until light. Add sugar gradually, beating all the time. Add oil, water and pumpkin. Mix well. In a separate bowl, mix all dry ingredients. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and mix well. Divide batter among loaf pans, filling each 2/3 full. Bake on middle rack of oven for 45 minutes. Check for doneness by sticking a toothpick in the center. If not done, bake up to 15 additional minutes checking every 3-5 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Wrap in foil and store in refrigerator. May be frozen. Yield: 3 standard loaves; 5-6 mini-loaves.

(originally published here)

for more go to Skip to My Lou

Fall Into Reading 2011: Are You Up to the Challenge?

Katrina over at Callapidder Days is doing her Fall Into Reading challenge again. I tried to participate last year, and didn't do very well. Anyhoo. I'm going to try again, so read along with me and share what you're reading at the link below.

1. The Book of Daniel (NIV) -- okay I'm listing this one first because I'm in a Bible study and I'm really determined to not fall behind.

(I admit, I've got a head start on this since our study started on the 8th.)

2. Manner of Death by Stephen White

The past resurfaces in ways that are as intimate as they are frightening when Dr. Alan Gregory and Dr. Sawyer Sackett-a woman he once loved-are plunged into the private nightmare of a killer who knows about the terrifying power of mind games. (This one's already checked out from the library, and waiting on my desk!)

3. Life of Pi by Yann Martel

In a wonderful display of storytelling verve, Martel takes a distinctly unpromising premise--a "story that will make you believe in God" about a boy trapped on a lifeboat with an enormous tiger--and pulls it off with complete and winning confidence. (I started this one in MAY! I got sidetracked from it, but I really want to finish it.)

4. Red Hook Road by Ayelet Waldman

Set on the coast of Maine over the course of four summers, Red Hook Road tells the story of two families, the Tetherlys and the Copakens, and of the ways in which their lives are unraveled and stitched together by misfortune, by good intentions and failure, and by love and calamity. (I picked this one up at Border's going out of business sale and started it right away. It's a bit depressing, so I put it aside. We'll see if I'm up for now or not.)

5.  One Was a Soldier by Julia Spencer-Fleming (maybe!)

On a warm September evening in the Millers Kill community center, five veterans sit down in rickety chairs to try to make sense of their experiences in Iraq. What they will find is murder, conspiracy, and the unbreakable ties that bind them to one another and their small Adirondack town. (This one is dependent on time and availability. I don't buy fiction as a general rule, so I have to wait for my HOLD from the library on this one.)

to see more participants go to Fall Into Reading 2011

Thankful Thursday

:: an excellent lesson on Sunday!

You may listen to it here.

:: a good swim at the YMCA.

I hadn't been swimming in quite

awhile, so I was very pleased

to make it better than 3/4 of

a mile in 30 minutes.

:: considerable progress on a 

handmade Christmas gift, and

a baby gift completed before the

baby shower!

:: getting back my cooking mojo.

It's not up to full speed,

but it's definitely better than 

it had been.

:: taking better care of myself and

feeling less anxiety about it.

may you find grace, peace, gratitude, 

and blessings this day and every day

for more Thankful Thursday visit Grace Alone