Friendly Fill-Ins – 19 November 2021

Please join Ellen over at 15andMeowing.com and Lorianne at Four-Legged Furballs for Friendly Fill-Ins each Friday. What a fun start to the weekend!

1. I am thankful for __________, _________, and __________.

I am thankful for David and the kids, the safe arrival of our grandson, and our new granddaughter due in the spring.  I am also thankful for Ellen and her kind heart and all of the rest of you out there in bloggy land.

2. I look forward to eating ________________ on Thanksgiving. 

ALL the things. Haha  Thanksgiving dinner has always been my favorite meal. I could eat it all year long. 🙂

3. I didn’t realize __________ until __________.

I didn’t realize that my grandpa had been married before he married my grandma until I was nearly grown. I had a half-aunt from that marriage who was about 15 years old when my mother was born. 

4. There’s no shame in _________.

There’s no shame in needing help or asking for it. When we need help and accept it from others, we are not the only ones receiving a blessing. The giver is blessed for their giving heart. We shouldn’t deny them the opportunity for that blessing by refusing their help when it is offered.   

That is easier said than done for me. I have always had an independent spirit. It is one of the things about me that set me and my recently departed mother at odds throughout my life. She wanted to help me learn how to walk. I wanted to “do it myself”. It went downhill from there. 

I believe that Heavenly Father gave me that independent spirit in order to survive some of the things that I have had to endure.  But, there comes a time in our lives when we have to depend on others or we will not have the things we need or be able to do the things we need to do. 

Accepting help from others is something that is very difficult for me. The “I do it myself!” attitude is still strong, but the body is no longer strong. Along with accepting help from others, I have to accept that I can no longer do some things on my own.  

There is no shame in that.

Happy Thanksgiving, all of you!

Friendly Fill-Ins – 5 Nov 2021

Please join Ellen over at 15andMeowing.com and Lorianne at Four-Legged Furballs for Friendly Fill-Ins each Friday. What a fun start to the weekend!

Better late than never, right? Here are my responses to last week’s sentences.

1. Something I lost, and was never able to find was ___________________.

Our wedding album!  It was lost in the move out there and in all these last 17 years, I have not been able to find it as I’ve unpacked things. Thankfully, David had scanned the album at some point before we moved, so we do have the photos. Unfortunately, it was before we understood about scan resolution and they are not at a high enough resolution to print. 

2. When _____________, I want to _____________________.

When I wake up, I want to get right back to the family history research projects that I have going on.

3. ____________________________________ doesn’t bother me.

Being busy doesn’t bother me, as long as I can do the “busy-ness” here at home. I really don’t feel comfortable leaving the house these days due to some of our health issues. 

4. I don’t handle _________________________________ very well.

I don’t handle change or stress very well at all. Especially change, because that creates a great deal of stress for me. The websites are always changing and sometimes I think it is just for the sake of changing, not because it really creates any improvements or ease of use.  I like for things to stay like I am used to them being. Having to constantly relearn things, and dealing with the challenges that newness brings, makes me feel very cognitively challenged.

This is from our annual October photo shoot, taken on 31 October 2021.

Friendly Fill-Ins – 24 September 2021

Friendly Fill-Ins

24 September 2021

Please join Ellen and the gang over at 15andMeowing.com for Friendly Fill-Ins.

1. Every fall I ____________________.

2. It is never too early to ___________________.

3. I would describe my lifestyle as _________.

4. _________ requires a lot of patience.

Every fall I look forward to winter…except I don’t look forward to it this year. The storm in February was hopefully a once-in-a-lifetime thing for us here in this part of Texas. If it happens again, we won’t have a house left.  But, winter is my favorite season solely for the (maybe) cooler temps.

It is never too early to plan for the end of life. Even a non-funeral, just burial, costs over $3,000 here, not including the graves (which thankfully we have already!). Once you have life insurance, do everything within your power to keep it. You never know what may happen later in your life that will make you ineligible for life insurance. I don’t want any of you to have to face what is ahead for our family.  When David’s daddy died back in 1987, and we lost our jobs (his dad was our employer), we had a one-year old child and no way to feed him. We cashed in our life insurance policies in order to feed us. Then, life happened – again. Now, we can’t get it. Please don’t make our mistake.  It wasn’t a mistake to feed the baby, of course. The mistake was in not looking hard enough to find a way to keep the life insurance instead of taking the (seemingly) easy way out and cashing it in. 

I would describe my lifestyle as being a homebody. I am perfectly fine staying home and trying to get this house and yard back in order. I am very introverted and getting more so with each passing day. I can’t function around the noise of being out in the world. 

Being a caregiver requires a lot of patience. I do the best that I can, but sometimes I maybe don’t have as much as I should. 

Thank you all for reading.  Have a blessed weekend!

Stepping Back In

How have all of you been? The pandemic sure has made life interesting and a challenge, hasn’t it? I hope that you’re all doing well.

First thing….it sure does look different here on the post writing page. I hope this post doesn’t go all wonky. I’m not very good with change and having to re-learn things. Too many things on my mind these days.

Second thing…there have been some big challenges here at McClendon Villa this year, starting with the winter storm damage to our home. We survived. The house, not so much. It is a work in progress.

Most recently, our yard was attacked by Hurricane Nicholas. That has been fun to work on with a bad knee and shoulders, but I enjoy the yard work.

Third, and most important, our family has been hit with some very scary health challenges that I am not at liberty to get into here. Please keep our family in your prayers.

And, to end this first post in over a year…we’re expecting two grandbabies…FINALLY! Everyone else, cousins and siblings alike, got started on them years ago, when they were young enough to chase them around. I can’t wait!

Have a blessed evening, y’all. 🙂

Tiggy and Mommy researching together. 🙂

Friendly Fill-Ins and Feline Friday

Friendly Fill-Ins is a fun meme co-hosted by 15 and Meowing and Four-Legged Furballs. Feline Friday is a funny kitty adventure hosted by Sandee over at Comedy Plus. Be sure to visit all of them and join in the fun!

Thank you all for everything! I appreciate you very much. {{{Hugs}}}

Sweet little Tiglet, summer 2018, before he and the Soot Sprites were brought inside to live.

Here are the fill-ins:

1. If you want ___________, you have to ___________.
2. During the month of August, I plan to _________.
3. Others might think it’s strange that I  __________.
4. ______________________________ seems so far away.

Here are my responses:

If you want something to happen, you have to make some move to make it happen. It is highly unlikely to just magically happen all on its own.

During the month of August, I plan to not be 54 years old anymore.

Others might think it’s strange that I am obsessed with family history and that it has been my passion since I was 14 years old…so 40 years now.

A life of true peace and no more fear seems so far away.

Have a blessed weekend, y’all!