Tag Archives: Friday’s Fave Five

FFF ~ Late Snow

It’s time to look back and choose favorites from the past week. Susanne at Living to Tell the Story is our hostess for this weekly event.

I’ll intersperse my Fave 5 amongst these snow shots. We had some late snow for our parts. It’s always a surprise around here and we get all worked up over an inch or two of snow. Last night some areas north of Seattle got 14 inches of snow which is unusual. One of the things that makes snow in the Seattle area very hard to deal with is our hilly terrain. We are not flat like Chicago!

 

1. Well since that’s our apple tree in the snow I’ll start my favorites with the fact that we finally got all our tree pruning done!

 

2. When it snows I tend to stock up and cook meals at home. Right now I’m smelling the great aroma of chicken cooking in my Crock pot.

 

3. Another favorite from this week was a telephone call from our son in Eastern Washington just to let us know they got another 10 inches of snow out at the cabin he’s living in. He also made arrangements for us to use some of his Marriott free nights at a hotel we’ll be staying at in Washington D.C. Thanks Dan!

 

4. My father passed out for no reason last Friday and ended up in the hospital for a couple nights. They tested him out for heart and brain issues and everything came back negative. The doctor thinks the problem was a medication issue and gave him instructions. He’s home and I’m glad it wasn’t something major. My mom was so cute she said “I tested the lonely life and it didn’t pass” That was after only one night without my dad at home. My dad also told us he didn’t need his Bible at the hospital because he just recited all the Psalms he’s memorized when he couldn’t sleep. I’m so thankful for my parents and the love they have for each other and all of us.

 

5. My Friday cleaning schedule is going well. I’m always thankful when I stick to a plan. It was also very satisfying to see my daughter thoroughly clean the main bathroom. It’s her bathroom for the most part so it’s her responsibility. She even cleaned out all the drawers, etc. Scary what she found in there. One of the funny things was that there was enough dental floss for a family of 25. I won’t even mention the retainers she found….

 

So what were your favorites this past week? I’ll be around really early before my cleaning schedule starts or late in the day to see your favorites.

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

FFF ~ Friends, Food, Felicity…

Looking back over this last week again reminds me that I have so much to be thankful for. On Fridays we join Susanne at Living to Tell the Story with our 5 favorites.

1. Last Friday we went to our son’s open house for his new business. Dave, Jody, Bob and Jan were at the Open House the same time we were so Dave and Jody invited us all over for an impromptu dinner along with my sister Lana and her husband Steve. We had a wonderful time. The photo is from our trip to England in 2006 with Dave, Jody, Bob and Jan. Bob is taking the photo.

 

2. On Sunday night Dear and I met Bev and Harv for dinner at a local Mexican Restaurant. Bev is part of our Mennonite Girls Can Cook blog. Bev and Harv hosted me while the Mennonite Girls had their summit in Canada. They were in Seattle for the weekend. It was fun to have our husbands meet each other. During the evening we found out that our lives intersected more then we thought with Bev, Harv, one of their sons and DIL and our good old friends Dave and Jody that we had dinner with in #1.

 

3. Bev was very thoughtful to give me two bundles of beautiful hand made cards that she created. I will really enjoy using them. Thank you Bev!

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4. Valentine’s Day was a very nice day around here. I got beautiful red tulips from Dear with a card that really touched my heart. He also decided to cook a Valentine’s Day dinner for us which was wonderful. Steak & asparagus with a Bearnaise sauce, baked potato, and salad with a Persian dressing were on the menu. Katie helped with the salad dressing and sauce. It was all very yummy. After dinner the power went out for a few hours and we enjoyed each others company in the dark with candles and Katie reading to us.

5. All of a sudden it seems too many of my favorite shows are on T.V. again. Survivor started last night and the fun new twist with this show is that my sister Lana knows one of the contestants! We’ll be watching just to see how he does. He’s the nice looking older guy, Steve. Amazing Race starts on Sunday and I’m still watching Top Chef which is down to 6 contestants. Then there’s American Idol. Sheesh! Good thing some of the shows are on demand and we can watch at our convenience.

I’ve started a house cleaning routine on Fridays so I’ll be around to see your favorites later today when I’m sitting with my feet up after my cleaning workout!!

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

FFF ~ February Begins…

…but before January was over we had one last January birthday celebration!

 

Little Miss D. turned 1 and we had a fun time watching her eat a cupcake for the first time. She also is quite the dancer and gave us some great moves that made us smile! I left my good camera at home so my photos were not great. We are friends with little Miss’ grandparents and our son Dan is best friends with her dad.

 

Sunrises were beautiful this week with our clear cold weather.

 

My daughter and I had fun checking out another wedding venue on Lake Union.

 

After checking out the venue we found a local eatery and had a very tasty lunch with a nice view.

 

Last but not least it was good to hear about answered prayers for health issues from friends this past week.

Please visit Susanne at Living to Tell the Story to join in with Friday’s Fave Five!

I was able to check off a few items on my 60 in 60 list. I made 3 new recipes last weekend and ate at a new restaurant (see above) and explored a new neighborhood in the Seattle area. YeeHaw!

So are you having a Superbowl party this weekend?

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

FFF ~ The Needle & The Dress…

Time to look back and find 5 favorites from the past week. If you want to join in visit Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and sign in with your link.

The Space Needle, Wedding Dress and the family time around them were my favorites from this past week.

 

1. On Saturday Katie and I traveled to the Seattle Center for a wedding show. The most famous landmark in the Northwest is located at the Seattle Center. It was a beautiful day to walk around and get some good shots of the Space Needle.

 

2. On Wednesday Dear, Katie and I went to Katie’s first wedding dress fitting. There were needles and pins involved here, too. This was Dear’s first time to see the dress on Katie and he wholeheartedly approved of the gown. Good thing since it’s his hard earned cash that payed for it.

3. After the fitting we went to Z Tejas for a bite to eat before we headed across Lake Washington to a Wedding Open House at the Space Needle. This time we got to see it up close and personal in the evening.

 

4. We got some great VIP attention and enjoyed appetizers and drinks on the house while we considered the space for a possible wedding venue.

 

There wasn’t a bad view in the house.

 

5. This was my very first time up in the Space Needle. It also is on my 60 things to do in my 60th year. So I’m on my way in completing my 60. I’m still working on the list and as soon as I complete it I’ll share it. We completed the evening by going up to the observation deck and checking out the 360 degree view of Seattle.

 

What were the favorites from your past week?

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

FFF ~ Celebrating, Good News, and Sunshine

It’s time to look back over this last week and share your favorites. Visit Susanne at Living to Tell the Story to join in.

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1. Having a good time celebrating our son’s birthday on Saturday and then celebrating a day off with my sister Lana on Monday. Lana and I made our traditional trip to Goodwill on a holiday. It is our tradition, too, that the person who spends the most at Goodwill has to buy lunch. She won again. I bought some exercise pants, a table runner originally from Pier One, a book on the back roads of South Carolina, and some fabric that I’m considering making napkins with.

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We stopped at a restaurant in Bellevue, Wa. called Brief Encounter. They have great food and their potato pancakes are my favorite.

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2. Good news. The best news. My father called to let us know that my 86 year old aunt decided to make peace with God by facing her sinful condition and accepting what Christ did for us on the cross. She is finally at peace and says she’s ready to go and be with Jesus. Remember the Billy Graham Crusades and singing Just As I Am? These are a couple stanzas from the song…

Just as I am, thou wilt receive,
Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve;
Because thy promise I believe,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

Just a I am; thy love unknown
Has broken every barrier down;
Now to be thine, yea, thine alone,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

3. Reading and studying. I’m reading a couple books right now, a fun entertaining mystery and a heavier book by Philip Yancey. I’m also continuing in a woman’s Bible study in Philippians. Have you ever read these two passages (Philippians 2:5-11 & Isaiah 14:12-15) and considered the contrast in attitudes?

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4. Sunshine in the middle of the week. A full day of sunshine that made me grab my camera and head to Lake Washington to get a good dose of vitamin D.

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5. Seeing a new kind of duck that I don’t think I’ve seen before…on that sunny day.

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Thanks to one of my MGCC girlfriends Bev,  I now know this is a  male Bufflehead Duck.

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Thanks for stopping by. I’ll be around later today and tomorrow to check out your favorites.
Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

FFF ~ Fun in the Midst of Slumps…

Time to get your favorites together to share. Susanne at Living to Tell the Story is our hostess for this event. Click on over and see what events, products, people, books, made the list!

I shared earlier this week that I’m in a bloggy slump of sorts but even in the midst of slumpiness there are lots of good things around me. The Light always shines I just need to see it. So here are my favorites from this past week.
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1. Soccer is my favorite sport in general but I have to say that the Seahawk football game against the Saints makes it on my favorites this week. Mostly because of this unbelievable run that you all probably have heard about already. The Seattle fans even made the Seismic charts.
Seattle is all a-buzz and on Sunday they’ll play the Chicago Bulls Bears to see if they keep their amazing run alive.
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2. I’m happy to report that my big toe was not broken last week but just bruised badly so I was able to go to Zumba on Monday morning. I’m really enjoying this form of exercise and have met some fun ladies my age and younger who keep me going. Here’s how Zumba is described: “Zumba Fitness® is the only Latin-inspired dance-fitness program that blends red-hot international music, created by Grammy Award-winning producers, and contagious steps to form a “fitness-party” that is downright addictive”. At first I felt like I had 2 left feet but the routines are the same every time you go and before long you can do the steps automatically.
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3. The blower/fan in our fireplace insert died. Dear had to take the whole thing apart to figure out what part we needed. We ordered it online because it wasn’t available locally. It finally arrived on Wednesday and Dear put it all back together and we now have heat in our living room area again. This is our 2nd major heat source so we were pretty chilly for a few days and cuddled up in the family room where our little cast iron stove kept us warm. I’m happy Dear could fix it for a fraction of the cost to replace it.  $150 instead of $1500. Now Dear thinks he should be able to buy himself something for $1350. There is something suspect in that reasoning…
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4. Dear and I went to our local Mexican Restaurant this week and it was a great relaxing time with good conversation and debriefing on things that were on our minds this week. Sometimes it is just good to get out of the house so you aren’t a slave to your normal routines. We know the waitstaff by name here and they always make us feel welcomed. That’s Carne Asada and I’ll share the recipe closer to summer time on the Mennonite Girls Can Cook Blog.

 

5. Speaking of the Mennonite Girls, we’ve had fun news about our upcoming cookbook this week. A few weeks ago the cover was released. This is what the cover will look like. Some of the gals have been interviewed by their local papers and this week one of the T.V. stations in Canada is interviewing a couple of the gals on their Sunday show. We keep pinching ourselves. Our Royalties from the sale of the book will be going to an organization in the Ukraine that feeds children. You can click on the cover to see more information on the book.

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Hope you are doing well. I’ll be coming around today or tomorrow to see your Faves…
Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

FFF ~ Back to It…

 

I’ve missed a few weeks of Friday’s Fave Five because of Christmas and all but I’m getting back to it now. Thank you to Susanne at Living to tell the Story for hosting this event each Friday. Click on the logo above to join in…

 

1. Fresh flowers in the winter are such a treat. Our winters can be pretty dark so it’s so nice when the sun shines and brightens things up.

 

2. Our very cold and clear weather has afforded us some beautiful sunrises and sunsets. Sunrises are easier to see from inside my warm house then sunsets. This is a Sunrise…

 

3. Lots of good food has been cooked and eaten around here. These were the lamb chops we had on New Year’s Eve with a pepper cream sauce.

 

4. Dear’s new smoker is becoming a favorite around here.  Dear has smoked ribs, a Prime Rib Roast, and Pork Roasts in it already.

 

5. This last one is therapy I purchased for myself for $1.60. When I was little I always wished I’d get a package of Life Savers like this for Christmas. I saw them at the store and then saw kids at church who were flaunting them on Christmas morning. I never got one. When I was at the store this week there they were…a whole table of them for half-price. I stood there looking, then I picked one up and opened it to check the flavors of the rolls inside. I almost walked away and then I decided it was time to lay the wanting to rest and I threw one in the cart with a smile on my face and walked away. Ahhh…I’m free from that deprivation in my childhood!

6. This is an extra. Our daughter Katie was feeling ill at the beginning of the week and we were afraid it was appendicitis but it ended up being a kidney infection that could be treated with antibiotics and she’s feeling a whole lot better.  Yesterday a bag of groceries tore and a large bottle of juice landed on my big toe. Boy was I in a lot of pain and I thought it was broken but it’s feeling so much better today.

I’m looking forward to catching up with all of you this week…

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

FFF ~ I’m in Hot Water Now…

It’s time to reflect on your past week and see the many good things that you were blessed with. Visit Susanne at Living to tell the Story to join in this worthwhile exercise.

My favorites from this past week…

 

1. A decorated Christmas tree filling the living room with a nice fragrance. Oops somethings crooked!

 

2. Nativities to remind us why we celebrate Christmas.

 

3. Hot Water! Our old water heater was giving up the ghost and we didn’t want to be surprised some morning with a cold shower so Dear with his handiness put in a new one this week. We had to live without hot water for 24 hours but we knew about it in advance and boy are we all ever thankful to have the hot water flowing again.

4. Thankful once again for a husband who can take on most any project around the house and do a good job at it!

 

5. These great words I read this morning;

2 Timothy 4:18 (ESV)~

The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

and 2 Thessalonians 2: 16-17 (ESV) ~

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.

This weekend Dear and I are escaping to Whidbey Island for an overnight at a Bed and Breakfast Inn to celebrate our anniversary. I hope to tell you all about it next week. We have a heavy rain and flooding forecast which might make things interesting on our trip. Enjoy your day and weekend!

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

FFF ~ Filled, Full, & Flowing

A time to remember some good things that have happened in the last week. What are your favorites. Visit Susanne at Living to Tell the Story to join in this worthwhile activity.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. James 1:17 (ESV).

On Thursday morning I had one of those times of overwhelming thankfulness to God for what He has done and continues to do in my life and the lives of those around me.

 

1. I was given the gift of appreciation of old friends who have been in our lives for years. Several of these friends came to our house on Sunday to celebrate our daughter Katie’s engagement to Andrew. Then on Tuesday night some young long time friends and I sat together at the U.S. Open Cup Final and enjoyed the excitement of winning the game with high fives all around and hilarious stories during our ride to the game and back home.

2. Our son Dan is really close to completing his time of training and will return to Washington State to his own space and regular work environment next month. God has been gracious to him and given him a gift of a job that he is really cut out for. During his time away he has been protected and safe and I am so thankful to God for that.

 

3. On Sunday morning as I was preparing for the open house we were having for Katie and Andrew’s engagement I listened to my daughter singing praises to God in the shower. I walked into the guest room and said to Andrew “Thank you Andrew for rescuing my daughter from her old boyfriend” My daughter had lost her joy in that past relationship and her personality was altered from her usual bright and positive self. I am so thankful to God for sending Andrew into Katie’s life and for the fact that they bring out the best in each other.

 

4. Our son Josh started a new job this week. He was pursued by a company that recognized his skills and work ethic. I thank God for the gift of this new job for Josh. I also thank God for Josh and Laura’s relationship and how they support each other. This was a bonus week for me because I got to enjoy two winning Sounders games with Josh and Laura! Whoohoo!

5. I’m thankful for my “Dear” who gives me the freedom to pursue and enjoy adventures in life. Many of the adventures we enjoy together but he’s man enough to let me go off on adventures without him, too. I’m more of a sports fan then he is and our relationship can manage that reality. He is a great provider and works hard so that I can spend his money. He is faithful to me and our family and I do not take that for granted. God has been good to us in giving us a trusting relationship. Greg is a man of integrity and our children recognize that and have been positively effected by that.

Yes my cup is full to overflowing this week.

And on a “lighter” note I sure wish I weighed what I weighed in that last photo taken with Dear in Edinburgh almost 5 years ago. :0)

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

FFF ~ Food Glorious Food…

Friday-end of a traditional work week, the beginning of the weekend, a time to look back and count your blessings. Please click on over to Living to Tell the Story and join Susanne and other Bloggers in telling us your favorites from this past week.

 

This collage isn’t just about food but it’s all about the people and celebrations surrounding this food! I’ve missed a couple Fave Fives because family were visiting us here in the Northwest. We had lots of fun filled days and nights and of course so many of our adventures centered around food. So here are 5 food events…

1. A wonderful lamb burger at Olive You where we celebrated my sister Lana’s birthday.

2. A sandwich and soup at Three Cups of Tea with my sisters, DIL, and nieces after a trip to the Lavender Farm.

3. A frozen raspberry dessert that I made for an early birthday celebration for my niece Melissa.

4. A potato side dish to use up the potatoes my brother bought for the wonderful breakfasts he made while he was with us.

5. Apple crisp that I made from the ripe apples off our apple tree for just the three of us after our company departed!

I’ve missed all of my Fave Five Friends. Hope all is well with you.

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.