The weekend that most trees were going up while trees around us were going down......

What a weekend..... I felt like I was tapping into my inner Laura Ingalls. Except I totally failed & never want to do this again.

Most of you know what I'm talking about because when I'm grumpy & want to complain, I'm all over social media - isn't that what its for?

So yeah.... an ice storm came through on Wednesday night & we lost our power at 2am that night.... & 60 hours later, we have lights. 60 LONG HOURS... & whose counting? Me - that's who. I was counting every last long eternal minute.

Thursday night was miserable.... we slept in the cold. It was decent under all the blankets & all the layers of clothes I had on, but having to get ready for work in the dark, & having to get out from under those warm blankets - & let's talk about the worst part- sitting on an ice cold toilet seat - HELLLOOOOO.... that was miserable.

& it was awful when you get off work & come home & its already dark out. So when you come into a house with no electricity, it makes the darkness even more awful.

Friday, Ricky got a generator hooked up.  We had hooked up into it one lamp in our kitchen, one heater for the bedroom & of course, our phones & tablets charged up.  At least we were warm Friday night.  Actually - HOT!  Close up a bedroom with a space heater & dogs wrapped around your head, & it gets warm really quick.  I tucked into bed Friday night with my Kindle & just glad it was the weekend & I didnt have to go to work second guessing if my make up was even on right & if my socks matched.

The bad thing for me, Saturday, Ricky had to work.... so I was alone in the house all by myself.

Ricky had found one little TV that got a local station - that basically only shows old TV shows from the 50's & 60's... I was happy for any kind of entertainment. My morning was full of Beverly Hillbillies & Green Acres.  I actually did laugh at some of it.....

All the flashlights on the dresser :) haha

I ventured into the cold house & waited for some day light to do some house cleaning. & then I found out, its not easy to clean the house in the dark.  Day light isn't enough light to see if you're swiping all the dust.

I called it quits & just sat by the window & worked on some Bible Journaling. If you are alone in quiet & need some help, Jesus is where you need to go.... & exactly what I did.

All the cords from the generator on the table... where we plugged in our phones to charge up

I even reached out to the women leaders in my HSM group & asked them to start praying.  Because we were hearing that we were in such a small area of outages that we would be last to get repaired - & it could be Monday or Tuesday. WE NEED GOD POWER HERE!!!!! 

Still waiting on Ricky to get home, I was trying to figure out what else to do to waste some time... & you know I have plenty of yarn laying around, so I started a new project.

& FINALLY - Ricky got home....

He dug out another generator that we had & he was going to try & hook us up some more power for another heater....

except he couldnt get it going.  At least the sun finally came out & it felt decent.

I ventured out to see some of the damage around us.  This tree is in the fenced in area of our back yard.

You can see another broken tree in the tree covered area of our property.  I actually wanted to take my camera back into the woods & show even more trees down. It was crazy how much was destroyed with this small ice storm.

Winter, I hate you. Already.

We walked the dogs a little bit to get their energy burned off because they were feeling the stress from us, I think.... & we went to check in with our neighbors how they were doing. Just as miserable as we were....

& we came home & I told Ricky I was going to take a nap... .because after all, I had no coffee maker.  SO SAD...

Candles in memory of my coffee pot

Laying on the couch, getting ready to doze off, around 2pm .... BEEP!  Our house alarm went off.

Can I tell you, I have not felt that much happiness in a long time. I literally took off running.  Why? I have no idea.  But I ran outside & started screaming & raising my hands & screaming, "THANK YOU GOD!" "PRAISE THE LORD"  "THANK YOU JESUS" .... I didnt go as far as Ricky Bobby & jerk off all my clothes thinking an invisible fire was on me - but it was close.

At this point, we didnt know what to do with ourselves.... what DO you do first after not having electricity for 3 days?  You'd think I'd finally start on laundry, or clean the stuff I couldnt see before. Nope. We were like, Let's go eat!!!!

Basically because we didnt have food any more.  We had to throw away everything in the refrigerator & the freezer.  That was a little depressing with a lot of stuff I just bought....

This is stuff we stopped & got after we went out to eat.... coffee creamer was top on the list
& a Starbucks iced coffee #priorities

But it's the cleanest my fridge & freezer has been since we got it.

& you know, sometimes you need a fresh start.  We found stuff at the bottom of our freezer that I'm not even sure when it was bought.

We even got dessert to celebrate our power being back on. 

Chocolate Chip Pecan Pie

I know - I know... its kind of sad how horrible I make it sound & how much I complained - when so many live in even worse conditions daily & think nothing of it - or people who have no home to even have shelter. 

It's been a big wide eye perspective shift.

That night, my hot shower felt like heaven... & my hot coffee in bed the next morning took on a whole new feeling of blessings.

Sunday was all about church & thanking my sweet church family for praying us through the power outage... & ordering more groceries to refill my fridge.... & helping mom order her groceries.

It did break my heart to go to my mom's & seeing all the trees down in her area too.  She had some big limbs down - one even put a hole in her garage roof & there's huge limbs all over the porch... & the worse part?  My dad's covered wagon got destroyed.

He built this handicap ramp for my mom & of course put his touch on it.  He worked so hard to get vines to grow underneath of it on a trellis & wanted nothing more than flowers & squash growing on it - he would take the squash & dry them out & paint them for fall..... & now, its squashed.

I know my brother can fix it - but it just wont be the same.... but nothing is anyways, is it?

So this was definitely a memorable weekend.... I had intentions to get my tree up, but that was the last on the list to worry about... especially with trees DOWN everywhere. 

& here we go into the kickoff of the holidays.  One where I am VERY Thankful for the blessings we have!

How was your weekend?

Did the ice storm reach you?

What's the longest you've gone without power?

Good view, cast my vote & saw how Starbucks blesses .... {Thankful Thursday #196}

This week I am Thankful For:

Library
I just love my library. It's just easy to stop on my way home & see what the latest books are. I especially love they have a section dedicated to the latest books that just came out. That's basically where I visit every time & walk out with way too many books that I can read in a month.

Finished Hat
... even though I hate it....
I really like the pattern of this hat - & I followed it to a tee. Which every time I follow a pattern, it just never seems to work out for me. & this one follows suit. It's not long enough. It doesnt cover my ears.  I'm not sure that it would fit a child either because the width is for an adult head. DANG IT! ... but I am grateful I did it & now know what to do on the next hat I make using this cable method. I'll make sure to add at LEAST 2 more cable rounds.

VOTE!!!!
The right to vote is always something we should be thankful for.  We may not like how things turn out, or get upset when our party doesn't win, but it's always something to stop & be grateful for that we can take a stand with in the polls.

Good Samaritan
I had stopped in at Starbucks on my lunch walk & the lady in front of me ordered a yummy venti Christmas drink, along with a yummy snowman Christmas cookie. I thought, man, she's in the Christmas spirit.  But when she got her order, I watched her walk out & give it all to a man who sits on the corner & plays his guitar every day during the lunch rush.  He keeps his guitar open & hopes for change for passerby's.  A delivery person was holding the door open in Starbucks so I could hear their conversation - & she just offered it to him so kindly & thanked him for making beautiful music.  He was so surprised & so grateful. He asked her what her favorite song was & then he sang it for her.... I was just so grateful to be a witness to the moment.  Of seeing two strangers just share kindness to one another.

Insightful conversation
So we're back for a few weeks for HSM home groups & this past week, we were talking about Peter stepping out of the boat to go see Jesus walking on water.  We got hooked on one question - was Peter a WIN or a FAIL for doing this? I mean, the other disciples were shaking in their boots in the boat... BUT Peter doubted & started  to sink in the water.  So how do you see it?  The conversation & the debate was SO STINKIN' GOOD!  There were excellent points made on each side... & in the end, I'm just grateful that these girls can stand up for what they think, discuss the Bible with passion to one another & in the end, that we came out knowing more about this story than we did before.

Veteran's Day Parade
... it goes down the street right where my office overlooks - so I had the perfect view - in a warm building.

Cart
I took my momma to the store the other night & it was FREEZING COLD - & she had a LOT of bags. I dreaded taking them in a few at a time - but then she told me she had this cart. It has like 3 wheels on each side so you can roll it up stairs.  We were able to load up all the bags in this cart & get them in her house in a one shop stop.  I gotta get me one of these for my own house!

Breakfast date
No other time in the world will I be happy to be woken up at 6am except to go on a breakfast date with my love.

New Lamp
I actually just posted the lamp in yesterday's CURRENTLY post - but I am loving having the warm light on dreary nights.

What are you Thankful For this week?

Currently

Studying
Still in The Faithful Bible Study... & got 2 more weeks.  But I already have my Bible Study for Advent delivered & ready to go. I've never done any of the Bible Studies from The Daily Grace - but am giving it a try for Advent.

It's on sale right now for $15.00!

Dumbfounded
Listened to the latest salaries that TV actor/actresses get.  MILLIONS!!! Millions of dollars.... AN EPISODE!!!!! ... Who decided that? I mean, who said, "Let's make people who work hard for a living every day of their life, barely make a salary that will cover living expenses.... & while we're at it, let's give people who get to play pretend for a few hours a day for about 3 months a year - let's give them enough money where they dont ever have to worry about anything".... I just dont get it.  & we wonder what's wrong with the world.

Loving
My new lamp. I got a lamp for my kitchen table because 1. I just mentioned how I scooted my table over a little & its letting us use it more. But I hate how dark everything is right now when we get home, so I got this little lamp to put on the edge of the table to bring some light & just that comfy warm feeling of a lamp. Plus, its got a USB port on it - how cool is that. Its like a real restaurant when we eat now - got the phone nearby charging

Listening to:
Dr. Death Podcast. & let me tell you something. Dont listen to this when you are going into surgery in 2 weeks. Probably one of the worst choices of my life.  Not  like I'm not already a nervous wreck but listening to crazy people with scalpels in their hands? YEAHHHHH ... that wasn't smart.

Working on:
Uploading some of my latest things into my Etsy store. Be sure to check it out for the colder weather to treat yourself or to snag up some unique Christmas gifts!

Waiting to See:
A Star is Born... I have no idea what it's about. I keep hearing how sad people are from watching it - but I dont know why. I'm shocked I havent seen spoilers on it yet - but I'm hoping to steer clear of it till I can see it myself.

Praying for:
So many people hurting right now!  All the people dealing with these fires - all the shootings - & people recovering from Hurricane Michael.  One of my dearest friends, Nathalie, has been documenting it so well on her blog & her IG account.  It's so easy to think things are OK once media coverage is over, but to see the aftermath & the struggle to get things back to normal even still... its eye opening. Visit her & check it out - even more so, give her some encouragement. She just started back to school yesterday - in a different classroom. I can imagine how the kids school year has just been turned on its head. Can you imagine if you were a Senior in high school this year & you basically missed a month of school?  & you're not even back in your own school when  you DO go back? ... so much to pray for

Show Us Your Books - November 2018

Favorite day of the month for reading bloggers..... Be sure to join in with all the others who link up with Steph & Jana (Link at the bottom) & check out all the latest reads!!

Beloved: 365 Devotions for Young Women

Quick Summary: just what the title says :)

This book is just lovely for the young lady in your life & to help them learn about spending time with God every day. These devotions are short, but based on scripture & each day has a scripture that is to be read, followed with the devotional that wouldnt take but a few minutes each day to read.

The devotions are easy to understand, insightful & also has a dose of powerful messages for young hearts.

This would be lovely for a mother to do along with her daughter.

The book is sturdy & will definitely last a year with all the opening & closing.

Each day also has a little area at the bottom for note taking, thoughts or even prayer requests - or what you all know I love - THANKFULNESS.  However you want to use it.

The paper is also beautiful.  Each page has floral embellishments on the edges of the pages, which makes the paper spine of the book so beautiful as well.

This really is a nice book for someone special.

Thanks to Handlebar Marketing for sending to me to look over & give my honest opinions.

_________________________

When Dimple Met Rishi
*** / Liked It

Quick Summary:  An Indian girl goes to a summer program to peruse her love of coding - & to get away from her pressure driving mother - only to find the boy there that her parents have intended her to marry & she discovers he's not so bad.

I had seen this book on many lists & seen a few reviews. So I was happy when I saw it on the shelf at the library.

It's a super fast read alternating between Dimple & Rishi - sometimes switching a few times, in the same story - which was interesting.

It's super sweet, SUPER YA, but super cute.  Sort of predictable. & of course, sort of irritating.  When youth teens are making stupid choices for stupid reasons in a book, it makes me irritated with the character & makes me want to reach in & tell them "GROW UP ... MAKE GOOD CHOICES" .... who says I dont get invested in my book friends?

But in the end, I really did enjoy the book. It's not gasp worthy or life changing - but it's interesting to see a little nerdy couple & interesting to get a little glimpse into the Indian culture.

Read if you enjoy YA, cute little easy love story reads, if you are a nerd & a fan of anything like Comic-Con or if you are interested in a little idea of Indiana culture.

“He already knew the first time he saw Dimple’s picture that their story would become a sort of legend” 

...when I get aggravated at reading young, dumb decisions...

__________________________

Miracle Creek
*** / Liked It

Quick Summary:  A couple owns & runs a hyperbaric chamber for people with health issues & when it explodes, we see the truth come out throughout the story of the trial.

This was quite the mystery to find out who created this explosion, which resulted in deaths & many people harmed - mentally and physically.

The courtroom action was the most interesting part to me in the story.  Other times, the story got really long & complicated with all the characters & seemed to drag on in areas.

There's also an interesting view on the family who runs the HBOT as we see culture come into play & just the dynamics of a couple with a teenager daughter & the relationships they have.

In the end, I had to keep on reading to find out the truth on what happened because just when you think one person is the cause, you dig a little deeper into the mystery.

Read if you enjoy a mystery - or if you are intrigued by hyperbaric therapy, or if you are involved in the autistic therapies or know anyone with dealing with autism.

*Book was provided by NetGalley for an honest review*

Me the entire time trying to figure out the mystery

______________________

Dear Mrs. Bird
DNF / 0 Stars

Quick Summary: Set in WWII, a woman mistakenly takes a job at a Women's Magazine & starts answering questions ALA Dear Abby, when Mrs. Bird wont answer the more provocative questions.

I really did start off enjoying this book. The first few chapters? I was all in... & I dont know if it was mood, or timing, or a busy life, but I just didnt care to keep reading.

I had to return it to the library & I was just like, So what - I wont renew.

Oh well... I keep seeing great reviews about it - maybe I'll try again later. I did make it 50% of the way so if I pick it back up, I'm half way there!

When I took the book back without finishing:

____________________________________

& now a Fun little surprise....

If you love books or looking for gifts for a book lover - be sure to stop by & visit 

Literary Book Gifts

& you can use a code that was generated for my readers for an extra 20% off!

Who doesnt love a sale?  Just use PROMO CODE: KBGH20 

I may have to snag up this bag myself.... 

Check out their tees & bags.

_____________________

Thanks as always Steph & Jana for hosting!

Click over & visit all the readers!!!!

The weekend we had a date at 6am.....

I had hopes of putting my tree up this weekend.

But Ricky caught on to me when I hinted to him putting it up all week. Friday night, he said, "Its not even Thanksgiving week yet" _ DANG IT! I was hoping he didnt notice.  But he did tell me that next weekend, we'd start digging in the basement for the boxes.  At least that will be a week earlier.

It's OK - I didnt have time to put up our tree anyways.

Friday night, I took my momma to the store & MAN OH MAN - was it cold! The wind was BRUTUAL. I dont know if it was just because it was the first cold of the year, making it extra cold, but it just felt like it was skin cutting.

I dont know what happened to me though - I got home & got ready for bed & got in bed to watch some things on my DVR & I think I was passed out by 9pm. Goodness gracious - I cant stay up late at all anymore.

Saturday morning, I heard Ricky standing next to me while I was sleeping & whispering, "Rebecca.... Rebecca...." -I sleep with a sleep mask on most nights & I lifted it & said, "What's wrong?" ... & he pleasantly surprised me when he said, "Want to go on a breakfast date?"... ahhhh.....

Cute, right?

So I asked, What time is it? & he said, "8:00am"... & I was like, Yeah, let's do it... & then rolled over & saw the clock on the ceiling (we have one of those projector ones) & it was 6am.  I was like, HOLD UP!!! It's 6am... WHAT IS THIS TRICKERY?..... he said he thought it said 8 - which I wondered why it was still dark outside.

Good thing that I fell asleep at 9pm - I was OK getting up at 6am.... so we headed out bright & early for our little breakfast date.

There's just something fun about getting up before the world does. When things are still slow & traffic isn't everywhere & you dont have to fight people on the road or in a restaurant.

We really did enjoy the morning & watching the sun rise up....

& after we got done with breakfast, we ended up heading to Sam's Club that was having a One Day Sale... which is probably why Ricky suggested the date in the first place - but that's OK.... I found some good deals myself! 

Ricky did keep the love going though by stopping at Starbucks on the way home....

& look at us, leaving with THREE drink! haha.  We each drank one & Ricky always likes to get one to take home to warm up for later. 

We ended up heading home around noon - which one little boy was happy - because let me tell you - he LOVES the weekends too. He was all a panic when we left early that morning. He likes to snuggle in & loves all the attention & just being near us.

He's happier than he appears... dude hates his picture taken.

I did my Bible Study for the day....

& then did some reading....

& then I was on a mission. Going through my closet. ... & I was just over it. I am just tired of the clutter of clothes that I dont ever wear anymore- or dont fit & just depress me to look at it - so I said, That's it.  & I pulled everything out.

I ended up with 3 HUGE bags full of clothes - stuffed to the rims.  & about 5 shoe boxes of brand new shoes - & even a bag of jewelry that I dont wear.

There is a place near us that is like a cute store & its like an upscale Goodwill - & their funds go to women's charity - so I'm taking all my clothes to them.  There are brand new items, things with tags still on them - I hope it helps them.

After getting a shower after being exhausted - I got tucked into bed & finally watched A Wrinkle in Time....

& then was up working on some yarn projects & not tired, so I started watching Sabrina on Netflix.

Whooooo - that is super dark, isn't it?

But I'm hooked on it - anxious to see how it plays out... & plus, I'm a Riverdale fan so excited to see if it ever is going to go into a cross over.

Sunday, I got up to watch another episode of Sabrina & then headed to church.

The youth girls went on a weekend retreat & I couldnt wait to hear all about it. I so badly wanted to go, but when they registered for it, I was originally scheduled for surgery the week before - so I didnt register.  & then I was just afraid to travel & be away from home in case I had a flare up & being in the middle of the woods, in a cabin - it just scared me.  I missed going & being with my girls.

But they got back & told me all about it - all the fun stuff & the deep lessons they talked about over the weekend. The topic was "friendship" - which is ideal for teenager girls that just have drama ingrained in the puberty gene. 

I picked up some lunch for Ricky & I & headed home - got my bills made out - did some meal prep stuff & just stayed tucked in from the cold.

Another weekend behind... one more closer to the holidays... one more closer to my surgery (I still cant talk about it)

Do you like going out to Breakfast?

Are you watching Sabrina?

How often do you clean out your closet?

Trekking in fall, How Great is Our God & G'Day Mate with my coffee every day {Thankful Thursday #195}

This week I am Thankful For:

Hair Day!
The fresh hair, fresh brows & shampooing of the scalp is top notch - but I also loved that this time, there was no one else in the salon - which is a rarity. But it was great to talk with my friend about things. It was just like a good girl gab fest. ... & yeah, the hair.

A Cappuccino
I hadn't had one in the longest time & got one on the walk back to work one day after lunch - & it was DELICIOUS. I forgot how yummy they can be.

Faster methods
I found a faster way to do one part of my job & letters I have to send out weekly.  It's made my life so much easier. I love when anything in life is easier.

Door alarm for mom
Mom got really nervous after a stormy night when the wind was really strong. It was rattling her door a little bit & she was convinced someone was trying to break in.  Luckily, Ricky had an extra door alarm he picked up somewhere & we took it over & my brother installed it & it gave mom such peace of mind. Us too.

Australia!!!!
OK - I am loving all my Starbucks mugs - but this one?  Came from the other side of the world. HOW COOL IS THAT???? I just love Erin - a fellow American gal that has ended up in another country.  & a blogger & reader & ROCKER & just the coolest person.  & that she sent me a mug from Australia?  Just the coolest surprise. & I've actually been using this mug every day since.  All my others, I have stored together until I have a good place to put them out together... & I thought I'd store this one somewhere special... but nope, I've been using this one & thinking how far it adventured to get to me.

....I need to write a kids book about all these mugs coming from everywhere - dont I? ... wouldnt that be fun????

Slept till 9am on Saturday
.... nothing more needs to be said about that. Bliss.

Walked 3 miles
Havent done that forever.  Glad it was a glorious warm fall day to do it - however slow it was - I did it.

Cousin vist
So surprised to see my dad's cousins who had stopped in at my mom's house this weekend.  Always love catching up & getting hugs from family.

Dinner with framily
We let the kids picks out where to go & we ended up getting pizza. It was nice though because we didnt have to rush out which is exactly what we needed because we ended up sitting in there for over 2 hours chatting.  The time blew by so fast.  Love these people so much.

Chris Tomlin leads worship
I thought it was so cool that they ended up simulcasting Chris Tomlin's worship to all the campuses of our church at the same time.  Just the idea that all of our churches were doing the exact same thing at the exact same time - lifting our voices to God in the same way - it gave me chills actually. THOUSANDS of people - together in one voice.... I just have to imagine what the angels & the Heavens heard.

Big Group
A few of our girls that had been missing due to parents working were back this week.  We ended up having a large small group on Sunday.  But each one of these girls are such a big part of our group.  The cutest girls that love each other so well.

What are you Thankful for this week?