This Last Week in a Nutshell...

How to start this Blog today? This week most of my time was spent finishing this huge scanning project. I wanted to scan the contents of a huge tub of pictures and correspondence our son has stored in our basement. I wanted to do this and then give him a thumb drive with all the files on it for Christmas. This takes days and days of time and, with staying in because of the virus, I have that time. Jake is working and does not have that time. So, I started this project some time back and finished it yesterday, Saturday, November 22nd. It feels very good to get that completed before Thanksgiving. Spending all that time scanning doesn't leave me with a lot to Blog about. Hence the quandary of how to start this Blog. I could just say, "I spent my week scanning." and close the Blog for this week. But I will add a few other things. Here is a picture of the tub with all the binders and folders I scanned. Shh...don't say anything so I can surprise Jake for Christmas.

Claude and I worked together on Tuesday, November 17th, to clean out the pictures we have stored in the basement. There were two huge boxes full of pictures, frames, trophies and plaques. I have made peace with taking pictures of most things or scanning documents and tossing the things away. Claude has not been doing this. But he is learning as we work at cleaning and emptying out things in our home. We spent the morning and managed to empty those boxes down to just a few items. Three are pictures that our grandmonsters want. We will hold on to those and get them to Michigan at some point. The only other items are a few pictures of my parents. We used them to display at Mimi's funeral. Papa wanted them displayed at his funeral. So those pictures will be kept. All other items are scanned or photographed. Claude has taken all the frames that were in good shapes to the Goodwill. Our home is a bit lighter now!

In preparation for Christmas, I managed to get the Christmas cards addressed and ready for mailing. Claude spent this year with his colored pencils working away at coloring Christmas cards. He spends his evening coloring and loves to color things that will be useful. He usually is coloring cards we can use to mail to people. We were happy to find two books of Christmas cards and I used every one of them. The other thing I did was order gift cards for some of the Christmas presents. I am almost done with the Christmas gifts. Another item or two to come in the mail and that will be done. Love having the gifts purchased before Thanksgiving. 

Jake notified us on Thursday, November 19th, that he would go back to working from home. He may work in his office once each week to relieve someone else who needs to work from home. Michigan is in the top five of states with the Covid-19 increase. Working from home is a good thing. 

Friday was a day I was looking forward to. Pres. Russell M. Nelson was going to address us. It would be a short message but very timely. He spoke of difficult times and how we can deal with them. He challenged us to recognize things we should be grateful for and express gratitude for these things. He challenged us to flood social media each day for the next seven days with the acknowledgement of gratitude. That will take us to Thanksgiving. He concluded by offering a prayer. It touches my heart when a Prophet of God prays for and with us. I wanted Papa to have this address and, fortunately, I found the script that afternoon and was able to copy and paste it into his letter I wrote Friday evening. I have posted on Facebook on Friday, Saturday and today, Sunday. I will share those posts here.

Friday, November 20, 2020 Facebook Post

Sunday, September 13th, I started a gratitude journal. Every night I pause to record 5 things I am grateful for in the day. Big or little. Doesn't matter. Today I listened to a Prophet give a tender message to us to help us deal with difficult times. He counselled us to post something we are grateful for on social media for the next 7 days. I was happy I started the gratitude journal. Today I am grateful for watching my father always pause and say a blessing when they brought his meals in the nursing home. Such a small but great daily example of gratitude.

#GiveThanks

Saturday, November 21, 2020 Facebook Post

I am grateful for the little things. I truly believe the little things bring the most joy. Think about a moment in time when you quietly smiled to yourself at something said, a thoughtful gesture seeking no reward, a memory that brings happiness. All those little things make a happy life. One of my favorites is a hubby always willing to indulge my need for a plain biscuit and a soda. A little thing that means the world.

#GiveThanks

Sunday, November 22, 2020 Facebook Post

Genesis 1:31 And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good...

I am so grateful Claude Christensen and I have been blessed to enjoy traveling together. I will share a few pictures of some of the wonderful places we have seen and enjoyed. Grateful for the wonderful earth in all its diversity. #givethanks

When we visited Michigan in August for Aubrey and Jack's wedding, our daughter and her hubby, Nissa and Todd, gave us ground venison. Claude made chili for us on Sunday, November 15th. He told Nissa and Todd he was naming it Todd Tyler Memorial Chili. It was absolutely wonderful. A great meal that we totally enjoyed.

We did go to Georgetown on Monday and Friday to deliver a treat for Papa. On the Monday's walk I had Claude pause and I took a picture of us on our walk.

And on Friday, I took my new hat to wear on our walk. Claude did grocery shopping on Wednesday. He happened upon a hat that had purple. He purchased it and brought it home as a treat for me. Isn't that thoughtful. It is a Miracle-Gro hat and is made for gardening. I love this hat and how thoughtful Claude was in being an impulse buyer and getting this fun floppy hat for me.

On Friday I found a cute joke and sent it to our Mini's. It was called a 'Dad Joke'. "Do they allow loud laughing in Hawaii? Or just a low ha?" Such silliness.

Our daughter, Andie, has had to adjust her teaching so many times this year. It is not over yet for teachers adjusting. Kentucky has gone back to on-line school with the increase in the corona virus. Andie is working from her classroom at school a lot of the time. I ache for what our teachers are being asked to do to try and get an education in our children during this virus. As they are asked to move from virtual to in person and back to virtual to allowing parents three times during the year to change their choice of virtual or in person. Every one of these things increases the work load of a teacher immensely. And yet...our daughter smiles and gives it her very best for these little ones. Good grief, she had them outside for a funeral for a mouse that was in their classroom. Yep, if she teaches your little ones, you are a richly blessed parent. Be kind to teachers.

That about sums up this last week. Now we shall move on to see how we can productively fill another week while avoiding the virus...