TODAY IS: 8 January 2024
AROUND ME: We have just been up a bit and enjoyed a breakfast of oatmeal with bananas and cinnamon. Strongheart is reading as I am typing.
I AM PONDERING: The workings of God through His Spirit as He works in my life.
BOOKS I AM CURRENTLY ENJOYING: The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment by Jeremiah Burroughs, which will take me a bit to get through. Puritan writers seem to do that for me...so rich in wisdom and knowledge...but this is a book that I make it a point to read once a year. It's such a rich book!
Refreshment for the Soul is a compliation of Richard Sibbes' works done in a devotional style, which is the devotional I will be using this year. I'm thoroughly enjoying this one!
I AM THANKFUL FOR: the beauty in nature that God allows us to enjoy. We've had so many different variations of weather this past week but as I type I am enjoying beautiful white fluffy snow resting on the evergreens, and white hanging on fiercely to leafless branches in the woods behind us. Such beauty He has allowed us.
NEVER TOO OLD TO LEARN: Last week I mentioned about the pie crust on my "Christmas pie" that I made to take to a friend's home for dinner on Christmas evening and how a saw would have been easier to cut it with than a knife! Well, I have learned from my mistakes. At one point last week I made a turkey pot pie and had the flakiest pie crust ever! I went by my tried and true method rather than trying to do as the lady on YouTube did.
FROM THE KITCHEN: I tried a new recipe for butternut squash soup. It contains butternut squash, sweet potatoes, onions, and an apple...all cut up in 1 inch pieces, placed in the crock pot with some seasonings and cooked on low for several hours. Then pureed it in the blender and it was delicious. There's still a bit of it left, which we will have for lunch. Not sure about dinner yet.
The book shelf puzzle does look challenging. I would do better with a small one, I think. I love to see snow when I'm home and warm and don't have to go anywhere. I sure missed seeing it when I lived in Florida. Your plants are looking good. Are they a "plant of the month" type gift?
ReplyDeleteThank you, Melanie. To answer your question, yes, these plants are part of a plant a month club that our daughter gave me for Christmas. She signed up for three months, so the two pictured are December, January and February will come next month. The thing I enjoy is that since they are all bulbs I will be able to enjoy them for years to come.
DeleteThe book shelf puzzle would have interested me too, but having the same titles really makes it hard!
ReplyDeleteYour plant gift is fun! (Although they wouldn't live in my house, I can't keep them alive).
We had beauty yesterday. It snowed and everything was covered in white as we drove to church. Just gorgeous! I would have loved to be taking pictures on the way, but Bob needed to be there on time. :)
Oh my, Friend, those same titles on so many different shelves did make it hard! But it was fun. The only thing I don't like about doing jigsaw puzzles is that we don't really have a separate place to work them, so we have to use the kitchen table. By the time the four days was up on that puzzle, I was definitely ready to have my kitchen back in order!
DeleteI look forward to being able to plant these bulbs and enjoy them for years to come. I want to have a special section in one of my flower beds for them because they were a gift from our daughter and son-in-law.
I hear you when it comes to taking pictures when Bob needed to be at church on time. :-) I thought about you this weekend and wondered if you had snow.
That book title puzzle does look hard. Good job persevering. I'm persevering on a Beatrix Potter puzzle right now. Yikes, it is hard. I noted that quote by Alistair, too. Those Puritans...I'm learning to love them more. We are a fortunate people to have the light of the World in us! Happy day to you.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ellen. The Beatrix Potter puzzle sounds interesting! Did you purchase that when you were in the UK? The compliation of Richard Sibbes' writings for the devotional I am using this year is SO good. He brings out SO many things that I would overlook in Scripture.
DeleteThat's a healthy, delicious breakfast you had! A good beginning of the week.
ReplyDeleteWishing you success with the two plants received as gift from your daughter and Son-in-law!
Snow is a beautiful sight! Sadly, we have practically no snow here, in the Middle East.
We really like oatmeal here and enjoy it quite often throughout the week for breakfast with different fruits and sometimes a bit of maple syrup. I'm really looking forward to when the Amaryllis opens up. It shouldn't be long now. :-) Have a wonderful week, Duta.
DeleteI have that same feeling of having no place to keep a puzzle set out. Plus it bugged me having something out that was unfinished. :-) Somehow we never got into that--I think we did one as a family years ago. I have a jigsaw puzzle app on my iPad mini that I do in the evenings when we're either watching TV or Jim is reading or dozing. :-) It has one free puzzle a day (though they often want you to buy more). You can set how hard you want it to be. I have it set to 81 pieces and can easily finish it in a fairly short time. That scratches that itch for me.
ReplyDeleteI saw the comment about the bulb of the month. What a neat gift idea!
I had to chuckle when I read your comment, Barbara. As much as I enjoy working these puzzles with Carroll, I also enjoy using the jigsaw puzzle part of Microsoft Casual Games on the computer! The only thing with it is that I like the challenge of doing the ones with lots of pieces and I tend to get so engrossed in it that I spend too much screen time with it...and that's not good for my eyes.
DeleteYes...I thought the gift from our daughter and son-in-law was a neat gift idea. She knows her mother well. :-)
The book puzzle looks like quite a challenge. We just finished the snowman puzzle!!
ReplyDeleteIt was, Karen. But we enjoyed working on it together. Yay for finishing the snowman puzzle. I'll look forward to seeing it.
DeleteYou are very quick with the puzzles! The plants are such a lovely and thoughtful gift.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Lauren. We had fun with the puzzles. Some of the flowers have bloomed and have now been trimmed back, but I certainly have enjoyed them. I will be able to plant the bulbs in my flower gardens and then watch them bloom year after year. I have often thought about your garden and wondering how it is.
DeleteI’m looking forward to spring to get back into the garden. The children enjoy the garden but they are really into bird watching. We love identifying the birds that visit our garden.
DeleteThank you, Lauren, for telling me about your garden. I'm happy to hear that the children enjoy bird watching.
DeleteI love your Nantucket puzzle! I'm curious - once your finish your puzzle (as in, put all the work into it), do you simply dump it back in the box?? We have a friend who is an avid puzzle lover and that is exactly what he does. That would just make my heart sad, I do believe! Kudos for you for not quitting on pie crust. I always say that I can't make crust....but I think that is because I quit after the first disaster!! (much like yeast bread) Shame on me! I hope you are having a good week. Hope there is an unexpected blessing in the next few days ahead for you:)
ReplyDeleteThank you for stopping by, Jennifer. Yes, once we finish the puzzle, we leave it out for a day and then I take it apart piece by piece and put it back in the box. For us, it's all about the memories of the challenges and fun that we had working it together.
DeleteI have gotten out of practice with making pies since it's just the two of us. Our family always prefers pie over cake and I am a cookie girl.
Just so you know, the Lord did give me an unexpected blessing just today!
I have been knitting up a storm and really creative in my knitting, that has me so excited and happy! Love seeing a peek into what you are thinking and doing :)
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad that you are able to be knitting up a storm again! That's an answer to prayer!
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