It's basically been a shade of gray outside for the past ... um... FOREVER.
I'm pretty sure I've forgotten what sunlight looks like.
& I'll remind you that I run on sunlight. When it's not out, I feel like my body just doesnt want to move.
I'm basically Supergirl. (yeah, right!)
Friday, I decided to fight against the gloom & do something productive. That meant going to the grocery & spending all my money.
OUCH... my bill - after coupons & discounts was $167.00. & that's basically a week's worth of food for Ricky & I. Healthy eating costs us money. Granted, I will say, I had to stock up on some stuff - like coconut oil, olive oil, some quinoa & some higher ticket stuff. But GEEEEEEEZZZ.
I did have to laugh when the guy behind me put his food up on the grocery belt & there was my stuff - all organic & fruits & veggies & everything on the outskirts of the store, like they say - & he had a bunch of chips, beer, frozen pizza. Looked like a party was happening at his house. & he told the grocery store cashier "My good starts where the healthy stuff ends". I felt kinda proud of myself.
& then a little sick by the price of it all. UGH.
This is actual truth... Ricky did bring home pizza for dinner |
I got home, got all the food up & then started on getting our Christmas stuff down. Except 2 little boys kinda didnt want that to happen. Bruno loves laying by the tree... & Harvey, I think he just wanted to be where I was at - so needless to say, I had a lot of stepping over animals all night long.
& they made me just give up half way through.
Saturday, Ricky had to work so that gave me time to finish getting the rest of the Christmas stuff up. Sigh. Always so depressing.
Except, my bare tree is in the corner now. & record usually shows that a bare tree stays up in my house at least till February.... so even if its bare, I dont care. I've turned it on all weekend long. I love the glow of a tree. I am waiting for it to become normal to have a glowing tree in a house all year long. It can become a thing, right?
After I got it all done, & Ricky bought some lunch home, I ended up laying on the couch & started digging into the new show, The Crown.
I am kinda royal obsessed anyways so cant believe I haven't jumped on this sooner rather than later. I fell in love with it within the first 10 minutes when Phillip & Elizabeth get married.
I feel so badly for Phillip right now. & actually felt really bad for Elizabeth & the letter she received from her grandmother about what she has to give up to be the Queen. Makes me see her in a whole new light really.
I had to make myself stop long enough to get on the treadmill & get in my long run for the week... but traded in my Gilmore Girls for another episode of The Crown....
& then watched another episode when I got off the treadmill.
I finally had to stop myself after 5 episodes because I want it to last a least a little bit. I could have easily watched the whole season in one swoop. Am loving it. I just love history pieces anyways, much less things that involves princesses & queens & all things royal.
I pretty much carried on the extent of lazy & just sat & knitted all night while catching up on all the Bravo shows. Still trying to deal with our messed up DVR/cable boxes. Sigh. Again - I'm paying a BUTT LOAD of money & our movie channels dont work on it. After an hour phone call, they said if it doesnt work in 24 hours, call back, they'll have to schedule another repairman. Geez..... this is just getting stupid.
Sunday, I was up (I was going to say "bright & early" - but NOTHING has been bright here lately) & heading to church. Ricky, poor guy, was just exhausted from working the day before & fell back asleep. He said he was going to meet up for Youth... but ended up sleeping through that as well.
I was so glad I went. It was Baptism Sunday. THE BEST DAY at church. There's just something so special at seeing people get baptized. Especially a line of people doing it together. Watching whole families get baptized together - just stop. I'm sobbing. Legit, sobbing. Thank goodness the lady next to me in church was a fellow youth leader & knows me so when I started sobbing, she knows how I am & told me I was going to make her cry too.
It's just the coolest thing when these people would go in the water & come out, the whole place would erupt in applause. So JOYOUS.
& there was one man, he was a more 'mature' man. I would say he had to be in his 70's or older. & it just was so special to see that its never too late to make that choice to follow Jesus. & even better? When he came out of the water, he baptized his whole family - like ENTIRE family. What a special moment.
Yeah... I was a hot mess watching that one.
& there was a young kid who also went forward. I was standing by the Pastor up front who was leading people & saw this young man come up alone. I was nervous. Why was he alone - where was his family. I almost followed him just to let him know someone was there (sorry, the middle school leader in me)... but then noticed after he was changed & ready to get in the water, a bunch of people swarmed the tank & took pictures & was so happy for him. His family. I am assuming they were letting him make the decision all on his own to do it going forward. I respect that. & love that when he came out of the water, he was surrounded by his loved one cheering him on.
After we finished our youth service, I went to the bathroom & walked in to at least 20 women with wet hair who had just got baptized & a line of women changing to GET baptized. I had to just yell CONGRATULATIONS to everyone in the bathroom & they all laughed. & I turned around & there was a young girl that just came for her first time to our church that day. I had met her & her father just an hour before & heard a little bit of her story. She had been through a lot lately but knew God & was making the decisions to be baptized so this was a perfect day for her to come. It was so funny when she tapped me on the shoulder & said, "I'm doing it today"... so I had to stay & watch her. So glad I did.
I ended up getting all emotional watching more people make this decision.
This church... they do it right. They had full tables of shirts & shorts & everything you could want to get baptized. They even had floor mats all the way lining the halls to the bathrooms so everyone was safe. & people at all these stations to give them bibles & information & encouragement. It's just always so well done.
I left church 35 minutes later than usual & the sanctuary was still packed. & bless that worship team - they were still up there singing all the way through. THE BEST SUNDAY!!!!
I ended up stopping to pick up some lunch for Ricky & I & headed home through the still gloomy, gray day.
I finished up my evening by doing some yoga (GO ME!! Finally did it) & then settled in on the couch to finish up some knitting & get another special order project going. I got caught up in the Scientology thing on A&E & just sat amazed watching it. Mind blowing to me.
& here we are... starting another week. Another gloomy week apparently. I think the sun is supposed to come out Saturday. I'm keeping fingers crossed & praying that doesn't change. If it's as warm as they say & sunny - you'll find me just laying on my back porch soaking in all the Vitamin D I can get.
How was your weekend?
Have you watched The Crown yet?
Has it been gloomy where you are?
Linking up with B Loved Boston
I have The Crown on my 'to watch list' but over the weekend I discovered Alone (not on Netflix) and have been totally binge watching that! I knew that churches who practice adult/older baptism tend to make it a big deal, but I had no idea how much of an event it is! We have been cycling back and forth between bitter cold and warm, there have been days when the temperature difference is 20 degrees. Hopefully you see some sun soon!
ReplyDeleteLove that cable hat. Church sounds like it was wonderful. God is just so good. I'm rather tired of the gray weather too. Looking forward to seeing some blue skies. Hopefully it won't be too long. Have a great day.
ReplyDeleteI feel ya on the gloom. There is NOTHING grayer than southwestern PA in January and February. The sky is gray, the trees and grass are gray, the roads are gray, everything is coated with a gray layer of salt from the roads. Sigh. They say we officially have more cloudy days than Seattle. It is so....blah. It gets so bad at times that I physically crave sunlight.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean with the gloom. I'm so happy to see the sunshine here today! I'll have to check out the Crown, I've been hearing it's good! Have a great week!
ReplyDeleteI went grocery shopping on Sunday per usual and then we ordered Chinese take-out. Lol. Always ends up that way. I have been sticking to the outside edges more, though, which makes me feel proud :)
ReplyDeleteObviously I need to start watching The Crown :D
I've never seen baptisms done as you described. Our church approaches it much differently. That sounds like a really cool experience, though! Both for you and the newly baptized!
oh how Dreary this weather has been indeed! I need sun and warmth of my face I Tells ya! I love that hat and that grocery shopping Meme is so me, it is expensive to eat healthy but I guess worth it.
ReplyDeleteWinter here is usually pretty gloomy, but so far it hasn't been too bad, we're definitely not through the thick of it yet, but it wasn't so gloomy I COULDN'T wear sunglasses to run on Saturday - so that's a good sign. We've been getting some peeks of sunshine. And I did hear it may get into the 50's here this week, but it's gonna be rainy. So, apparently I can have warm, or sunshine, but not both. :/
ReplyDeleteMy weekend was gloomy as well. We prepared for this huge ice storm Friday, and hardly got anything. My work did close in anticipation of it, and I'm off today for Martin Luther King Day, so I did get a 4 day weekend out of it. But, it was a 4 day weekend of rain and gloom. Lots of Walter snuggling going on.
ReplyDeleteI've been so perplexed with our weather. Even when it was icy out the sun was out in all its glory. Why didn't the ice melt?
ReplyDeleteI've been particularly interested in the weather and sky lately ( I know that's weird). I think i've been inspired by all the photographs I see of the sky on social media. I'm not a fan of winter but I can not complain cus our winter here has not been bad at all. It's certainly not the Polar vortex I read about from other bloggers and in some way that makes me feel better. So when you feel bad about your weather check out someone in Instagram who lives in Nebraska! That should make you feel better....lol
I love what your church does for baptism day. My family all got baptized together as well. I'm so glad I have pictures of that day!
SO OVER THE GLOOMINESS. I can't take it... UGH! Rainy, cloudy, foggy.. you name it. We had bad storms last night too, but PRAISE JESUS the sun is out right now! Blinding me... haha
ReplyDeleteGirl so awesome that you eat healthy, but I too hate how expensive it is. That image is so true.. get home with all the food and then don't want to cook. The struggle is so real
Loved seeing all the pics of the baptism. So awesome
Our Church does baptisms differently but I have seen it done similarly. It wasn't quite as emotional for me but it was a friend's Church so I didn't have that emotional connection with anyone either. I watched Victoria last night on PBS. You might like it since you enjoy the royals, although Victoria was a tad before Queen Elizabeth's time. :D
ReplyDeleteThe Crown really made me look at Phillip in a whole new light. I'm obsessed with the monarchy. it's so intriguing!
ReplyDeleteI wish i remembered what sunlight looked like too!
Trish - tales from trish
I still have Christmas stuff up...sort of...actually it's all down, and spread out everywhere, I'm trying to get organized so next year it's not as hard to go through everything to see everything that I have before starting. I think we're going to watch The Crown next. We just started The OA, you have to watch it, so good! Also finished 3%, that was really good too!
ReplyDeleteI must find that Scientology documentary on Hulu or something.
ReplyDeleteI say get a big ol' ficus and wrap that in lights!
I watched half of The Crown. I need to finish the series but I haven't been in the mood. I did like it though.
ReplyDeleteIt's nice and gloomy here too, which is odd for Colorado. The sun basically never stops shining.
I feel ya on the groceries. I stopped for a few things on Thursday but I needed a few different types of vitamins so that upped the bill and made it seem more than it really was. Sigh.
I haven't watched the Crown, but I've been wondering about it!
ReplyDeleteA friend got me into the Longmire series about 5 months ago, LOL Yeah, I'm no good at Netflix binging I don't have the time. But I'm slowly working my way through those episodes. One day I'll finish and then maybe I should try the Crown!
Great job on getting the tree decor down!
If it helps my sisters mother in law keeps her tree up in her cabin (that she really lives in) all year long and decorates it for every holiday. No kidding 4th of July, Easter to even birthdays that tree has an entirely new set of decor for each holiday and it's not a small tree either, it's nearly 9 feet tall, in fact she keeps the garland up over the fireplace too and a huge wreath (undecorated) hanging below the top mid roof triangle year round... Oddly she does it with class and it kinda works, LOL
Wow! What an amazing Sunday you had!
ReplyDeleteI'm ready for Daylight Savings! Too dark, too early. The hat looks great! YAY for getting the Christmas stuff away.
ReplyDeleteWater baptisms at my church are some of my favorite services! Always so emotional (and it blows away the dreary, gray day!)
ReplyDeleteThat grocery bill!! Oh lordy! And you know I love that hat!! It's not sunny here in Pittsburgh the entire winter, so I definitely hear you when it comes to not seeing sunshine! :( it's terrible!
ReplyDeleteI know that grocery bill too. Ugh it hurts. Add in organic children's foods which kills us. Ugh. We have had awful cold dreary weather here as well. Winter is here in full force.
ReplyDeleteOur weather has been the wonkiest. It feels like spring and we keep getting rain. ha. but it's not cold! So weird. Just doing what I can I guess. Cozy movie, game, cooking weekends at home! :) Groceries, yes, yes, yes to that! go you! That meme is so right, I always want to order something after getting a big grocery haul! I need to start The Crown. It looks so good. Tons of shows to start.. I feel so far behind! hahah Hope you get a bit of sun this week! XO - Alexandra
ReplyDeleteSimply Alexandra: My Favorite Things