Slice of Life: A Stretch Reflection!

Today I join my fellow bloggers in "serving up a slice" 

to the Tuesday Slice of Life (SOL) community.

Thanks to Stacey, Tara, Betsy, Dana, Beth, Anna, Kathleen, and Deb

                    for hosting this meeting place each Tuesday and nurturing our writing lives.

Here's the visual I made last year with a
little help from fellow blogger, Michelle.

Moving On (an acrostic composed in January for my 2015 OLW)

Steps,
Tiny steps, with time to
Refresh, to celebrate
Each day's small effort as I seek
To gently grow,
Comfortable as a cat, content and
Happy to move forward slowly.


I'm totally amazed at how quickly a year passes.  It's a fifth Tuesday, and one of the days I devote to reflecting on my one little word for the year.  I'm reluctant to write, feeling that I somehow didn't measure up to my wishes for this to be a year of stretching.  However, a few glances back at some posts remind me that I did indeed do a bit of stretching this past year.

I filled in for six weeks in our school library (a delightful stretch). 
I was lucky to witness a long-wished-for remodel of our kitchen
And I stretched as I decluttered many items while packing up.
I continued to log many steps throughout our very mild winter,
a delightful spring, and a drier than usual summer.  
I must admit the arrival of a very wet fall and winter
has resulted in fewer steps.  
I've made progress with my boxes from teaching, 
(thanks to daughter's help)!
I can't say that I'm done, but I continue to 
celebrate any small effort in the right direction. 
I've read many of the possibilities
for this year's Newbery award.
Our after school book club has stretched 
to include many more students.  
A new opportunity arrived at the end of September
when I was asked to accept a new calling
to serve the women of our congregation.
This calling is a "big stretch" for me, 
and I'm grateful for the support of family and friends
as I stretch my circle of caring,
as I learn to gently grow, and
to be content and happy 
with any forward progress, however small. 


Now, I'm thinking about next year's OLW, maybe by next week it will find me!

Celebrate This Week

                                   Join us each weekend for Celebrate This Week with Ruth Ayres.  
                                          When we pause to celebrate, we find the joy. 

  A week filled with moments to celebrate and remember!

Sharing this week's celebrations in pics!

Book club members Disha and Katie attend fellow
member Elsa's Nutcracker performance.

Imi enjoys books all by herself!

Imi (the sheep) with her two angel sisters,
Lenna and Kilee, at the nativity rehearsal.   

The girls model Santa's Christmas Eve gift -
never too old for new PJs. 

Beecher's Mac & Cheese - a must at Pike Place Market!

Stefi and Sara stay cozy by the fire while the guys make pizza!

The guys prep for Pizza Night!

Max asked me about Blake two weeks ago
and was so excited to see him at church today.

Slice of Life: Christmas Storytime!

Today I join my fellow bloggers in "serving up a slice" 

to the Tuesday Slice of Life (SOL) community.

Thanks to Stacey, Tara, Betsy, Dana, Beth, Anna, Kathleen, and Deb

for hosting this meeting place each Tuesday and nurturing our writing lives.

Books ready for sharing!

Storytime!

It's something I'd wanted to do for several years:  invite some young friends over for stories and cookies.  I finally squeezed it into the schedule last year.  And now, it's a new tradition!  Take the shortest day of the year, pull out a few favorite Christmas books, bake some cookies, and add four lovely ladies (with memories from last year's party when we had a scavenger hunt for some treats).  We started with stories, stopped for hot chocolate, cookies, and warm homemade bread (contributed by Mallory,) and improvised with a lively game of "Find the Baby Jesus," 
(it's okay, he's wooden)!  

Lady Lenna

Kilee the Kid

Incredible Imi!

Sometimes you just have to touch and toot!

Parting shot on the stairs!
And a parting comment from Kilee on the way to the car:
"That was awesome!"
Thanks, Kilee, I totally agree!

Celebrate This Week!

                              Join us each weekend for Celebrate This Week with Ruth Ayres.  
                                          When we pause to celebrate, we find the joy. 

  A week filled with moments to celebrate and remember!

So many happy celebrations this week . . .

Sara and I enjoyed a mother-daughter getaway in Portland.

Cathy's birthday celebration included dinner and a concert.

Lance's eye surgery went well.

I'm finally decorating the tree (thank goodness).

Most of the Christmas cards are mailed.

We're going to The Messiah this weekend.

Blake and Stefi arrive Wednesday evening!

In the midst of happy celebrations, 

I think of those who have lost loved ones and

know their Christmas season is a challenging time.

 I pray for comfort in their loss and 

faith in our Savior who gives us the gift of eternal life.  

 Truly the best celebration of all!

Slice of Life: Recipe for a Perfect Day

                                                       

                                      Today I join my fellow bloggers in "serving up a slice" 

to the Tuesday Slice of Life (SOL) community.
Thanks to Stacey, Tara, Betsy, Dana, Beth, Anna, Kathleen, and Deb

                    for hosting this meeting place each Tuesday and nurturing our writing lives.

              Begin with an early morning departure. 

                Mix in a giddy mother and daughter. 

           Season with three travel hours of laughter, 

             planning, stories, and Christmas music.  

                      Stir in Christmas shopping, 

               leisurely time at Powell's bookstore,

                        

                   

                    
                         
                            and an afternoon movie.    

    Top with dinner beside the fire at a favorite restaurant 

        with goodies-to-go for bedtime reading pleasure. 

Celebrate This Week

                              Join us each weekend for Celebrate This Week with Ruth Ayres.  
                                          When we pause to celebrate, we find the joy. 

  A week filled with moments to celebrate and remember!

I'm late to the celebration, but that's because I was busy celebrating Christmas with my church family.  Our ladies' group was in charge of the party.  The above pic was taken on Friday evening as we finished set-up for Saturday's party.  We based our celebration on a Polar Express theme, enjoyed dinner together, journeyed to the North Pole, and encouraged the little ones to ring their bells for Santa's arrival.  We closed the evening with a few songs and Silent Night as a lovely reminder to believe in the "Son of God, love's pure light" whose "redeeming grace" is a reminder of His love for each of us.  I'm especially thankful for all who contributed to making this a lovely evening for our church family.  I hope you'll enjoy these pics from the celebration.  The only one I took was of Miss Imi, but her mom shared some with me.  

Ticket taker collects Polar Express tickets

(that's Imi's big sis, Lenna).  

Note the train tracks leading into the dining car.  

After dinner, guests enjoyed desserts and the hot chocolate bar. 

If you look closely, you'll see Santa entering our

dining car after our arrival at the North Pole.  

And this is my buddy, Imi, and 
her beautiful mommy, Mallory!

Slice of Life: Rainy Ruminations

Today I join my fellow bloggers in "serving up a slice" 

to the Tuesday Slice of Life (SOL) community.
Thanks to Stacey, Tara, Betsy, Dana, Beth, Anna, Kathleen, and Deb

                    for hosting this meeting place each Tuesday and nurturing our writing lives.

Evidence that it's raining more than usual in Seattle:

Every student who arrived at the high school where I was substituting on Monday was drenched.  It's a satellite campus and most of them walk from about two blocks away.  When I left school on Monday afternoon, it rained inside my car for the next twenty minutes.  I had parked my car on a slope and for some reason the rain pooled on the roof and dripped on me (inside the car) while I ran my errands.   I'm convinced that it was because of the slope where I parked.  I've never had this problem before, and there was no repeat performance today even though I was out in the rain for four hours.  

My biggest concern when I left Costco this afternoon was for the 10 lb. sack of sugar I had just purchased.  Everything else could withstand the pounding rain.  The sack of sugar was too big to stash in my jacket.  The lady at the door helped me solve the problem by putting it under the clamshell apple container.  Thank goodness for her quick thinking.  As I paused  just outside the store to zip up and pull on my hood, I watched as the playful wind whisked several umbrellas inside out.  

More rain than usual, the darkest December day in nine years on Monday, an atmospheric river over Western Washington, and today we added wind gusts to our winter brew.  Some would say to be grateful that the temps were warm enough so we didn't have snow.  But I think snow is more fun than rain, especially in Seattle where snow brings everything to a standstill.  

Thank goodness for that tiny bit of dry weather Sunday afternoon when I managed to put the white lights on the deck.  They comfort my wet, bedraggled soul on these short, gloomy days.  Just checked the fifteen day forecast and there's only one day with a bit of sun peeking through the clouds.  I'm hanging on to my belief that extended weather forecasts are unreliable.  That's my hope, and I'm clinging to it!

Celebrate This Week

                              Join us each weekend for Celebrate This Week with Ruth Ayres.  
                                          When we pause to celebrate, we find the joy. 

  A week filled with moments to celebrate and remember!

In a week filled with lists, sadness,
commitments, and challenges, I celebrate:

My

despicable

cold is almost gone.

 This calendar quote that

arrived when I most needed it: 

"Comparison is the thief of joy."  

My tree's not up, but thanks to the
help of Sara and Shelly - mantels, tables, 
and bookshelves are decorated and bedecked.

This  note from one member of Books Brownies
and Beyond, our after school book club, currently
reading Newbery possibilities:  "I just started reading
Echo yesterday, but finished it today, and I was wondering
if it was one of the candidates for the winning book, because
I want to change my vote to Echo from The War That Saved
My Life.  It is very emotional, and really enjoyable.  I love how
it all connects at the end.  Thank you, and see you next week." 

 The Dickens' Carolers (a gift from Friends of the Library to our community)

making my last hour of a four hour shift at the book sale a high point of the week.

 Have

a wonderful

weekend, friends! 

The tree is supposed to be all green, but blogger and I are not getting along this am!  Maybe I shouldn't blame it on blogger since we're experiencing internet issues.  I make it all green, but it refuses to save that way.  Gotta love technology!

Slice of Life: Newspaper Nuggets

Today I join my fellow bloggers in "serving up a slice" 

to the Tuesday Slice of Life (SOL) community.
Thanks to Stacey, Tara, Betsy, Dana, Beth, Anna, Kathleen, and Deb

                    for hosting this meeting place each Tuesday and nurturing our writing lives

I love newspapers, and I thought when I retired, that I'd get the newspaper read every day.  It's still a "some of the time" occurrence, but since I've been sick for the past week, I've had more time to read the paper.  Here are some of my finds from the past week and why I can't give up the newspaper!

1.  Your Guide to Turkey Day TV - highlights for holiday specials from Thanksgiving to Christmas.  Tonight is Rudolph on CBS and tomorrow night NBC has Christmas in Rockefeller Center.  Thanks to Tivo, I can tape some of these for viewing while I decorate the tree.  Yep, it's December 1st, and my tree isn't up yet!

2.  The Great Gift of Reading by Frank Bruni, a piece about Reading Is Fundamental (RIF).  Include this quote from Frank in your next note to parents:  "Kids who read more get better at reading, and because they are better at reading, it's easier and more pleasurable so they read still more...Reading tugs them outside of themselves, connecting them to a wider wold and filling it with wonder.  It's more than fundamental.  It's transformative."

3.  The Most Colorful Time of the Year - Meghan Cox Gurdon's guide to books of the season.  Can't wait to pick up Oskar and the Eight Blessings from the library when it arrives on my holds shelf.

4.  A recipe for Muffin Tin Quiches 

5.  Portland Style, a guide to shopping in Portland (OR).  Sara and I are headed there for a mother daughter getaway later this month

6.  Looking for ground cover?  Try paving stones by Ciscoe Morris - I'm never sure why I read these (not a gardener, but my daddy was).  But in this article I discovered this tidbit:  "...the only maintenance required to keep the surface looking great is an occasional vinegar spray to prevent weeds from coming up in the cracks between the stones."  Now I need to email Ciscoe about the proper ratio of water to vinegar.  

7.  The New York Times Magazine - I'm still sad every week when I turn to the final page and my favorite part of the magazine (the essay) is gone.  Even when I didn't have time to read the magazine, I would tear out this page for later reading.  Because that is the kind of writing I want to do when I grow up (and they took it away).  However, I still read the magazine.   I love the poems selected by Natasha Trethewey, especially this week's Ted Kooser poem, "Sleep Apnea."  This week's On Clothing pays homage to the winter hat - "...is it possible to find a way to wear one that isn't ridiculous?"  And the Letter of Recommendation, "Kitchen Timer" commends the timer as a tool of time management.  Life can be measured into pomodoros (25 minute chunks)!

And now I ask, are those the kinds of things I could have found online?  Perhaps, but probably not.  That's why I still pick up the newsPAPER to be delighted by the odd find, to be sustained in my ongoing search to master my time, to read a poem, peruse a book review, or find a recipe.  And now I must close this post for I still have The Book Review, Sunday Review, and the Travel section from Sunday's paper calling to me from my unread newspaper stack!