Some helpful advice

Every month I get a newsletter from my friend, Joanne, who is a Realtor working out of St. Augustine at this time. She has stayed with me on several occasions over the years but nowadays, I don't get to see her as much due to her venue change. I used to do these mailings for her when her office was here in OP. Love it that she still has me on her mailing list even though I haven't needed her services in several years. The last time she was here in a professional role was after the Great Flood when I was sure I wanted to sell and get out of here. Good thing cooler heads prevailed. At that time, it might not have been the best idea to cut and run as the economy was still reeling from the bursting bubble.

This month's letter included a print out from the professional support group to which Joanne belongs, listing 8 things for which to be thankful, not only one day, but every single day. I agree with it, for the most part:

Expressing gratitude---

1. will improve your attitude, give you a more optimistic       outlook and improve mental strength.

2. builds stronger relationships by using good manners         with family members and strangers. Pay attention           to others and their needs, build them up.

3. will help give you better mental health. How? Write  down whatever is causing you frustration or angst       which can help you evaluate and perhaps deal with the    matter. Expressing gratitude can help you deal better    with life's circumstances.

4. enhances physical health as studies have shown a      correlation between gratitude and health. Frequent      exercise and regular doctor visits will help to achieve     this.

5. boost self-esteem by taking inventory of what you      are grateful for to help maintain the proper               perspective so you don't compare yourself to others.

6. promotes better sleeping if you jot down the things    for which you are thankful to allow for a more             peaceful night's rest.

7.Increase your empathy for others by being more              sensitive to the needs and feelings of other people. 

  If a person is grateful they might be less likely to be         retaliatory in their actions.

8. spreads happiness as it spreads over your whole life, having a sense of well-being and satisfaction in your   daily living.

The source for this is from an article titled: 7 Scientifically Proven Benefits of Gratitude That Will Motivate You to Give Thanks Year Round, 2014. This is a mouthful and I am grateful to not have to type it again! 

Along with this list, I would like to recommend a book written by a Lutheran pastor in TX, "364 Days of Thanksgiving", released just this month. It is available via Amazon or Northwestern Publishing House. He has a blog title by the same name, and it has been a blessing to me. I am grateful for it!

Giving thanks at all times

Justin and I were pleased to host our early celebration of ThanksLiving with our group from church. I had gotten a bunch of the menu items ready last night and before Justin left for church he put the casseroles into the oven, set low. I had put the ham in the slow cooker this a.m. with a half can of ginger ale. Before I left for church, the house was already smelling wonderful!

I went to Bible study and worship on this, Saints Triumphant Sunday. One of my favorites of the church year, in End Times. I knew we'd be singing good hymns for our service, including "Jerusalem, the Golden", the 'old' melody. No matter which tune we used, I'd have wept through it. The mark of a good hymn for me, this one especially so for the pictures of heaven it paints. We also sang "For All the Saints" as a communion distribution hymn. This is in my top 5 favorites. 

After church pastor reminded that at the end of the month is favorite hymn Sunday. I leaned over and told Mike that we had it today! I wouldn't be choosing any since I'll be gone but Mike said he was going to choose one in my honor and asked which one. I said, "Crown Him with Many Crowns" and he agreed this was a good choice. Chances are they will sing it anyway due to it being Christ the King Sunday, but I appreciated his offer and sentiment.

After the blessing, Justin left church because he was stopping at Publix to get a couple things for our lunch. He wanted to get pickles and olives plus the whipped topping I forgot to buy. My instructions from him were to leave immediately after worship, with no talking, which he punctuated with a chuckle. He knew that wasn't about to happen, but I did fairly well with my hasty retreat. I did so well, in fact, that I got home before he did!  

We got our food finished up, the last thing was to microwave the potatoes I cooked last night. I had the butter and garlic ready to be melted and poured over the baby Yukons. I used my mushroom chafing dish to keep them hot at the table, thanks to the little candle in the bottom of the holder. Amazing what a candle can do! 

We had our ham, sweet potatoes, stuffing, my green bean casserole, the baby potatoes, orange Jell-o (of course!!), cranberries, and the relishes Justin picked up. He also made some Grand Biscuits to have besides the dinner rolls I had. We had two pies for dessert, one pumpkin and one apple pie with caramel drizzle. Justin also bought ice cream to have on the pie, messing with me by getting 'organic' vanilla. Ugh! 

From left is Terri, Mike S., Justin, Judy, Betty, and Michael 

Everything was good, at least that's what the diners said. My plateful was delicious, especially the ham, potatoes and the green beans. We have plenty of leftovers so Justin won't starve when I am gone. He worries about me and I will wonder about him. One year at Christmas time he told me he was too lazy to go shopping so he ate many meals involving meatballs, taken from the freezer. Now he is sick of them. We don't want that to happen again!

The PACE Ribbon cutting

Terri and OJ posed for a picture with me at the Open House. Terri and her group of volunteers from ATT's Pioneers look forward to being involved with the Center and the girls.

This is the actual ribbon cutting with this giant pair of scissors. Rob Bradley and Tay Tay are holding the scissors. Tay Tay was the young lady who spoke at the breakfast two weeks ago which Kay and I hosted

 An action shot of the ribbon being cut. Standing next to Rob is his wife, Jennifer, who is the Chairman of the Board for PACE plus some of the girls from the Center. When Kay and I were leaving, I heard one little girl thank Rob for getting PACE in Clay County. Since she started there, she has had only two anxiety attacks, and she wanted to express her thanks to Rob and Jennifer. I was quite touched.

A local bakery provided these special cookies for the event and I brought my two home with me. They positively glistened with their hard-crusted icing. They tasted as lovely as they expressed themselves to be. 

I am kaput!

Today was a full day for me and has left me exhausted. I cannot wait to go to sleep. But I am also filled up in a number of ways. Let me begin at the start of the day:

At Bible study today we were talking about I Timothy 3, the guidelines and qualifications for the leaders in a congregation, including the pastor. We had a good turnout again, three married couples plus a granddaughter of one of the ladies, a non-member whose little one is in the preschool. I wonder what she made of our discussion, since she comes from a different background. Anyway, good conversation and subject matter was had. 

From Victory I headed back to OP to meet Nancy W for lunch at The Club. It is fried chicken day, The Club known for their chicken. While Nancy and I were dining, my friend, Jacquie, came in with one of her neighbors. It was so good to see her again. The last time was on Hot Dog Day at the pool. That event finished their pool fun for them! Anyway, it was grand to see her and to have lunch with Nancy.

Justin had found a deal for us to serve on Sunday, as we are hosting our church friends for ThanksLiving, since I'll be gone on the actual day. The deal was a 6-8 pound ham, two 2# side dishes, rolls, and a pie for $60. I was willing to go along with it and went over to Winn Dixie to get it. After walking all over the store to get what I needed (making garlic potatoes plus green bean casserole besides the two sides), I could not find the 'deal'. Finally I found someone in the meat department who could not help me, but found the deli manager who should. 

"Steve" came out from the back room and told me that there was a problem with the special and it would not be available until early next week. The ad, as it showed on my phone, indicated 11-11 to 11-17, so they should have had everything I needed. While he was running around trying to figure out what to do. I found a ham in the same brand and type as the special, a 9 pounder, for $16. Hmmmm....this got me thinking. Steve did have the side dishes which he told me were about $5 each. I took them plus the ham (doing the math here?). He said he would call the front and let them know about our situation here and I asked him not to do that. I was going to make out better doing it my way than theirs!! Once I got the rolls, 2 packs of them, and 2 pies, the total for MY deal was about $41. That is one more pie than came with the deal. When I told Justin about it he said, "I wonder why I thought this was such a good deal..."

Once the young bagger got my items transferred to my car for me, including 6 cases of soda, I got into my car, exhausted. By the time I got home, it was nearly 2:00 pm. I could only carry up my refrigerated items, with some help from Connie. At three o'clock I was supposed to be at the ribbon cutting and open house for PACE but I could not imagine going. As I rested for a minute at my desk, I texted Kay to see if she was going. She was and would take me along with her. Great! She and I both were making dinner at home tonight so we agreed to not stay too long at the event. 

I met Terri T. at the ribbon cutting, with her friend, OJ, and another lady named Anna. Their philanthropic group from the ATT Pioneers are involved in the Duval PACE school and are in the process of getting on board with the Clay County PACE. Kay was busy with her fellow Board members so I stayed with Terri and her friends. They are a great bunch of ladies, and so civic-minded.  I got some nice hugs from Senator Bradley and his wife, Jenn, who is Chairman of the Board for Clay PACE. I've known them for years, and they are dear people. 

Once back home again, Kay helped me carry more of my groceries up, as I thought I needed my potatoes to serve with the chicken I was making. She is just a doll. I got my chicken coated and ready to go into the oven before I laid down on the bed. Ahhhhh.....I just can't do this anymore and that's it! Later I discovered a container of pre-made mashed potatoes in the fridge, Bob Evans brand, which I made with our chicken. That way my baby Yukons were saved for Sunday's meal. I can smell the chicken baking now and it makes my mouth water in anticipation. And I just had chicken for lunch!  I'm going to bed right after dinner and our TV shows are done. My poor, tired boy is bushed as well, but for a different reason than being a short, fat lady who is out of shape!

Wonderful gifts

Late afternoon, right in the midst of my watching The Five with Linda, Nancy W. called that she was coming over for a bit. Linda excused me, as I was sure she would. Nancy brought me some items she'd set aside for me from the estate sale held the past few days at her dad's house. At long last, over 2 years since he died, the house is nearly empty and is listed to be sold.  Already the Realtor has had some repeat viewers which is awesome news!

Nancy presented me with this sun catcher which was hand-made stained glass in amber. This was her dad's. The little book about Psalm 23 belonged to her mother. I am so moved by this, that Nancy would pick out these items from her parent's belongings and think, "This is good for Kim..." That just means everything to me! When I showed it to Justin he asked me if that was lead, and I told him it was. He said, "Just don't suck on it..." That is always good advice! He is so darn funny.

God gifted us with these gorgeous clouds!

While she was here, we took photos of the setting sun and how lovely it made the clouds look across the river. It had been a rainy day following another rainy day so this sight was most welcome. We had enough rain in the area that Justin did not have to go to work today, but now has to work on Friday instead to make up for it. Some areas in Mayport had 9-11" including some flooding of apartments causing people to evacuate. Ridiculous with this rain since summer. I don't believe OP got that much but it was enough that the yards would have been nothing but mush which is not good for the heavy mowers. Hoping for better weather the rest of the week!

Favorite day of the week

More than once I have claimed that Thursdays are my favorite day of the week due to this being my Bible study day at Victory. Having recently completed our lengthy study of Isaiah, every time an excellent opportunity to compare our times today with those of Isaiah's, seeing the similarities, we are now in Timothy. 

This subject matter came up sort of left-handedly when our group was asked to suggest topics or books of the Bible to move to next. One of the guys remarked, half-jokingly, that the women couldn't vote, but Pastor cut him off quickly. I mentioned I Timothy and ta da!, now we are studying it! And this gentleman had to leave class early because of a medical appointment so Pastor wanted to make sure we got through chapter 2 in order for him to learn from it. For us all to learn and remember from it, better said.

Some of the discussion was centered upon the lack of involvement of father's in today's society and how women are either forced to or willingly fill in where men leave off in regard to the family. Rita noted a report she heard where white middle-aged men's (45-55) #1 cause of death is now alcohol, drugs, or suicide, not heart problems or cancer. The report indicated the men are basically dying of despair. This was stunning. Only last night I heard about a nice young man who I knew from The Club and was now at Metro Diner found dead in his bed, due to drugs. I am dismayed about this. By all of this.

Not only is this true in families, but in the church, too, where men are expected to be the spiritual leaders. We talked about how it's hard to get competent men to serve on the Councils or as Elders. Just because someone is male does not mean they are the best person to serve. In a few weeks we will have elections at my church and I know some of the guys are done serving. I am hoping there are willing men to step up and serve. 

This photo shows Kristi with Lucy (2nd from left) Sunday night at Reformation Festival meal. She always likes to do the clean up, even at GS, where she was formerly a member. Center is Jean wearing the table decorations, as Brad is talking with David in the background.

At class a few weeks ago I paid attention to the fact that of the ten of us there, 6 were married couples. I would guess this is rare, and I loved it. Our group size varies week to week but that particular day we had three couples. Today Lucy brought the doughnuts and had a box placed right where I sit when I arrived. She knew which type of doughnut I liked! Only ate one of the two she had earmarked for me, and passed the remaining one to Stephanie when she arrived. One time I brought doughnuts and Lucy took me to the side to tell me to mark on my calendar to not bring them on the first Thursday of the month---that was HER day! Okay, sweetie, I won't. She is so darn cute! 

Today after class, Stephanie told me she is going to bring me some of the scarves she makes to be a donation to the PACE girls. I love it, absolutely love the generosity of people. I wish the girls knew how much support there was for them in the communities. Perhaps they do! 

A heartfelt gift

Last Thursday as I was driving to Victory, Justin sent me a photo in a text message. I waited until I was in the parking lot to look at it, and at first, couldn't figure out what he was sending me. All of a sudden, when made larger, I could pick out a Luther's Seal in the back window of the car. He asked me, "Do you know them?" He teases me because he thinks I know everyone from WI (I think I do, too!) and all other Lutherans. When I texted him back, I said, "Cool! I want one!"  And, today, Justin presented me with my very own Luther's Seal! 

Here is the photo Justin sent me. My seal is about 3" by 3" 

I got water eyes when he gave it to me, I am so thankful for this thoughtful gift. I love it, just love it!  Last week when I got into the church for class, I told Pastor H. about what he sent me and he remarked that these would be good things to have on hand for people. Tomorrow I will take mine in for 'show and tell' so they can see what is available, in case he wants to order some. 

This afternoon I was at last able to get to the groomers for my clipping. Man, I was so shaggy already but was trying to put off my visit to time it right for my travels to WI. I will get back at just about the 30 day time frame between visits. I know I could get it cut up in WI but doubt it would cost me $14 like it does here. Plus I won't always have transportation so I just got it done now and hope it won't make me wacky before my next visit to see Barb, the groomer. 

On the ride home I stopped in to see my friends at Great Hang Ups. All summer long I was pretty much absent so it was good to get caught up. I saw some beautiful artwork brought in for framing, including a giant piece Dee carried in to show us. It was commissioned, 6' tall. I don't know how she carried it around! 

Because it's leaning back, it's hard to see or realize how tall it actually is. She has to transport the piece to the decorator's office, and from there will be framed and mounted. I'd love to see where this piece is going to be displayed, it is a private home's commission. This photo doesn't really do it justice, though, it is quite a striking piece. She worked from a photo and had to reproduce it times ten!

After my visit at the shop, I went to the store to get what I needed for making my food for the PACE event. I ran all over the store, often back-tracking, to find the groceries needed for my recipes plus the necessary items for serving. I am a bit nervous about trying my recipes on company so I got some back-up coffee cakes and a tray of cookies. Kay is getting the rest of the food and taking care of beverages, etc. except for my cranberry punch. She is borrowing a beverage dispenser from her friend so it will be a pretty display of my punch and her lemon water. Hate having to tote all this stuff upstairs, glad some can wait until Justin gets home!