My grandma, my dad’s mom. She died suddenly in late 2001 after an aneurysm, so it’s been almost 20 years now. I know that by now, the odds of her being gone would be really high, but in 2001, none of us expected to lose her. What really sucks about the timing of her death…
A previous prompt asked for three, which I listed here. So I guess I should think of a fourth now! Hmm. This is sort of related to the first one in my previous list, but it’s more general: I get annoyed when things take way longer than they need to. This could happen because people…
The last picture you took On my phone, a photo of my desk. On my actual camera, a photo of last night’s dinner. And both of those were for blog purposes! The last time you cried I think it was Sunday morning at church, because of the words of a song (so, not negative tears)…
I love to learn things! So I can think of multiple answers to this prompt. An obvious one: I am going back to school. For the next four semesters, I’m doing pre-requisites, and after that, I plan to join the nursing program. That’s definitely a mind-expanding thing to do in my 40s. Another: I’m casually…
Catfish. When we were at the food pantry on Saturday, they sent home two 2-pound bags of frozen catfish fillets with us. I’d never had catfish before, but on Monday night, I breaded and fried one bag into fish sticks, using a Cook’s Country recipe. And despite the fact that I: patted the fish dry…
I actually saw this prompt on Twitter but I thought it would make a fun post. So. 1. Babysitter I did a lot of babysitting when I was a teenager, and this was probably my first paid work. I babysat for my neighbor, for families at church, for Bible studies, and so on. 2. In-Ground…
homemade yeast bread This is my culinary specialty, and since homemade yeast baking isn’t a universal skill, people tend to remember that it’s something I do. being cheerful It’s the tagline of my main blog, so I’m definitely known for this online. But people who know me in real life would also describe me this…
This is not the most recent time, but it is what came to mind for this prompt. A little while back (before Covid, so it was a while ago!), I stopped at Walmart to buy something. (Which is a little odd. I almost never go to Walmart because I just don’t like the Walmart shopping…
I was listening to the How to Money podcast the other day, and the hosts were talking about how planning a trip is really half the fun of a trip. I could NOT disagree more. I really, really hate planning trips. And this is especially true for a trip that requires a lot of decisions….
Like a lot of other people in Christian circles, I’ve been listening to the current podcast called The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill. I listen with great interest because while I didn’t go to Mars Hill, I am a church person, and I knew about Mars Hill while it still existed. Anyway. Several times…
Sometime in the last year, I heard a sermon on forgiveness from Tim Keller. There were lots of helpful nuggets in there, but there’s one in particular that has stuck with me: To have a more merciful attitude toward someone who hurt you, remember that the character flaw that hurt you is often going to…
When I was in my mid-20s, in the space between Lisey’s birth and Sonia’s birth, I had my tonsils out. They’d been causing problems since my childhood, but much to my parents’ chagrin, I never qualified for the military’s health care system’s tonsil removal standards. (Obviously, routine tonsil removal practice has its flaws. But I…
I don’t think this would be draining to everyone in the world, but it is definitely draining for me: being around someone who is easily offended and reads things in a negative light, rather than giving giving the benefit of the doubt. If I had a personality that was less in tune with other people’s…
This has actually been something mentioned in multiple medical/body books I’ve read of late: that CPR has a distressingly low rate of success. I guess prior to reading these books, I had thought that CPR was a pretty reliable life-saving maneuver! I mean, it’s a technique taught to even non-medical people. (And I am not…
Hmm. Lisey often makes me laugh. Also, the book, “This is Going to Hurt” is definitely funny. I don’t often laugh out loud at books, but his writing has made me chuckle out loud multiple times. (Just so you know: his writing is a little crass in places, and there’s definitely some language. But those…
Well. I am having some success at taming the email monster of late! I credit a few things for this change. One First, I turned off email comment notifications for my main blog. This doesn’t mean I skip reading comments; it just means I go to the dashboard of my blog to read them. This…
I’m gonna go with a money-related one: I disagree with Dave Ramsey on two points. One I disagree with his hard line on credit cards. I agree that credit cards are dangerous for some people. But for many other people, I think they are a useful tool and that they offer many benefits. Mr. FG…
Uncomfortable might be a mild word for this story, but I’ll roll with it. Long ago, when I had four young kids, we used to take my van to a mechanic who had a garage basically in his back yard. It was a one-man shop, and he was very good with cars. I know we…
Encouragement! I was chatting with my friend Nicole (from Frugal Chic Life) about this the other day. She’s a personal finance blogger and YouTuber, and she had posted an encouraging email from a follower, telling Nicole how much she’d helped this follower with their finances. Sometimes, the same type of thing happens to me; a…
In five years, my answers might be different than they are now! But from where I sit at this moment, at the age of 43: I’d like to have my nursing degree. I’d like to have a job as a nurse. I’d like to have my dream car. I’d like to have an empty nest,…
Let’s see. I’ve been listening to a podcast called The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill. It’s put out by Christianity Today, and while it is about Mars Hill and Mark Driscoll, it is also about megachurch culture and celebrity pastors, and how they came to be such a “thing” in the American church. I’m…
I think there are usually a lot of relationships I nurture every day. On the day I wrote this post: I babysat for my cousin’s two kids and chatted with her. I texted with Lisey and Sonia when they were on breaks at work. I took Zoe to a PT appointment and chatted with her…
Hmm. I know when I was a kid, I was always pretty afraid of losing my sight or of being paralyzed. When my kids were younger, I felt some fear that I might die young and leave my kids motherless. When I think about aging, I feel afraid of losing my mind and my memory;…
That is actually one of the prompts for this month. Ha. The lack of posts here might answer the question, though! Part of the issue is that I had two trips pretty close to each other, one of which was a week long. Also, I was getting so frustrated with the tech issues on this…
My first thought after reading this prompt was about how we humans often say, “Oh, I wish I had time to ______”. And while there are exceptions to this, it is true that the problem is often not that we don’t have time for something, but that we are just choosing not to prioritize that…
When I was up in New Hampshire for my soon-to-be sister-in-law’s bachelorette weekend, we went on a hike to a place called Diana’s Baths. It’s a pretty easy hike (one of the ladies in our group was pregnant!) but the path takes you to a really extensive waterfall area, with enormous granite rocks. It was…
Yesterday, Zoe and a friend wanted to go see a movie that I was not at all interested in seeing. It was showing in a shopping center, so I bought them their tickets and then took myself over to Starbucks, where I got an iced tea. (They are both 15, in case you are worried…
Y’all, I apologize for all the issues on this blog recently. I think they are all resolved now (new posts are showing up, comments are showing up, etc). If there are any more issues, though, please do let me know so I can get it fixed. Because of the blog problems, I got really behind…
I don’t know if it was exactly a party, unless a whole weekend can be a party! I’m getting a new sister-in-law this month, and I spent the past few days in New Hampshire with the bridal party for a bachelorette weekend. (I promise it was extremely calm..we’re all Christians and we are all married…
I’m sure I can think of more than three. But I will try to stick to the prompt. paint my bedroom I have had this on my to-do list for eons and I have never gotten around to it. But I am so freaking sick of the mid-2000s burgundy and I am dying for a…
