is it the thought that counts . . .

So I know it was just last week when I stated that Mondays were good for blogging days. I was doing so well with two Mondays in a row . . . and then this past Monday hit.  I had every intention of posting.  I even knew what pics I'd share and what I'd say . . . but life.  You feel me, right?  And then Tuesday was a chemo day.

Look at Todd smiling for the camera! Tuesday night was tough and Wednesday I stayed home with him, so here it is on Thursday and I'm playing catch-up. Harrumph. Thursdays just feel like a good time for a new post.  LOL!  :)

Last week started out fun. The Merkel crew came by work on Tuesday (during the week of National Afternoon Tea), and so we had a tea party!

It was baby brother's first tea party (with all the trimmings) with Neesey.  He did a great job of holding that tea cup, sitting in the chair, and was very polite at the table!

I'd stopped at Peggy Ann's Bakery on the way in, and picked up some suitable tea treats. Their petit fours are unarguably the best around! Everyone at our tea table agreed with me.

Thursday was the annual MBA Clerk's Conference. I host this event annually for all the church clerks in our association. The MBA provides lunch and I always spend (too much) time picking out goodies for favor bags for them. This year I decided to do a "My Favorites" favor bag, and had a lot of fun collecting my favorite things to share . . .

So if you've known me for any length of time, you aren't surprised to find that there's a pumpkin front and center.  HA! These cute little pumpkins were a $1 at Dollar General!  I'm going to go back and get one for each grandchild and fill it will treats-no-tricks! In case you're wondering, those Moser Roth wrapped bars are chocolate. It's made exclusively for Aldi grocery stores, and it's marvelous.  The dark chocolate with orange and almond bits is heavenly! And you'll notice the leopard print pen.  It's a TŪL pen, and they are my very favorite writing utensils, whether it's pens, pencils, highlighters, markers, whatever.  And y'all ... my love language is paper and pens, so my opinion is strong! 

Friday, Joc had a babysitting emergency, so I headed over there for the afternoon/evening. We had a fun time. I love it when I get there, and all four kids spill out the door hollering, Neesey! Neesey! Such love! Joc had made arrangements for pizza to be delivered and we did pizza and a movie.  I was so tickled to see the girls pull out the picnic quilt!

This is *exactly* what this quilt was created for! 

After dinner we went upstairs and got baby brother into bed (and I did it, first try!), and played and talked and giggled until it was time for the girls to go to bed.  

Love these kiddos and so thankful they're close by so I can run over there when there's a need!

Saturday morning I had a church brunch with our ladies . . .

Isn't that a beautiful spread??  It was lovely.  From there I spent time with my mom, then on to my part-time bookkeeping job, then home for some down time and slow stitching. Phew. I'd completed the stitching part of my Mason jar sunflowers, but it still needed to be *finished*.

I'd wanted a mug rug, but didn't want the sunflowers to compete with a print. I had the brilliant idea to blanket stitch the Aida to wool!

Y'all ... I'm so pleased with how this turned out!  Aida is perfect for stitching, because you can be SO precise with the height and width of your blanket stitches!  And the wool I used is just delicious.  If you can enlarge the photo and look at it closely, you'll see what I mean.  It was the perfect pairing!

So, now I'm mostly caught up and will try again on Monday to get my blogging on. We're hoping, even though Todd had chemo on Tuesday (and will just get his pump out today), that he'll feel up to fishing tomorrow.  We've had a break in the high heat/humidity, and the weather is supposed to be glorious!  Then Ellie is coming over on Saturday to spend the rest of the weekend with us, so I should have things to share!

Toodles!

:)

tah dah . . .

Monday mornings just feel like a good time for a new post. I've accumulated a week's worth of doings, the weekend is fresh behind me, and the coming week stretches out like a blank canvas before me. 

Well, not entirely blank, but you know what I mean. :)

Our trip to Vandy went well.  The prognosis didn't change, but we left feeling lighter-hearted and better educated about what exactly we're dealing with.  

Todd was supposed to have chemo this week (the part of the canvas that isn't blank), but when he went in for labs this morning, his counts were too low.  He was armed with some questions to ask from the doc at Vandy, and got an appointment for a CT scan next week. We're hoping we can consult with Vanderbilt and be treated in Huntsville; that the two entities will be willing to work together.  

While we were in Vandy, we had lunch at the Pancake Palace, Est. 1961.  We both had breakfast for lunch, but I think I actually had dessert . . .

Right? Ganache-filled crepes topped with raspberry compote and whipped cream. Whew! I ate about half.  I was super glad we'd walked from the hospital to the restaurant and back! (Especially since I was driving the two hours home!)

I haven't been able to get out into the Nook as much as I would like recently.  For one thing, it's a hot mess and I need at LEAST a day to finagle it into shape.  The thing is, I can definitely tell when I've not spent time *creating*.  This week I poured it into our die-cut tree at work.  Since area kids went back to school last week, I felt like this was themed appropriately!

Pencils, crayons, backpacks, ABCs, buses, and apples, ready to gift to the teacher!  And I even 'tossed' in a few footballs (because, glory, glory, college football starts in nineteen days)! Hahaha!

And speaking of work, I had a few of my favorite visitors on Thursday . . . 

These three played under the table (secret fort), but Ellie pretty much stayed put in the chair for most of the visit; she's definitely a pre-teen!  

I love it when they come and visit me ... it makes my heart so happy.  ♥

We finally were able to go out on the water for a bit, early Saturday morning—first time since July 5 that Todd's felt up to it and the weather cooperated. We've found that Todd starts tiring in the afternoon, and combine that with the high heat we've had, it's too much.  So we got up at 3AM and were on the lake by daybreak.  

It was beautiful.  It was also a bit foggy in places . . .

It's very disorienting to be on the water when the fog is thick.  Luckily, this was just a patch that cleared up quickly.  And as the sun came up, it burned through that, making another pretty capture.

Gosh, I just haven't found a bad time to capture photos on the water! The landscape, the creatures, the sky, the water . . . it's all so beautiful in every situation.  Even storms are fascinating to watch!  God's creation never ceases to thrill me.  :)  We were back in our slip by about 10AM, but before we got there, we found a patch covered up in water lilies.

I snagged two . . . they're so sweet!  And I never realized this until Saturday -- they smell wonderful!

Sometimes cooking/baking satisfies my creative urges, too.  This weekend I tried a recipe from The Reluctant Entertainer:  Baked Cheesy Zucchini Bites. 

These were super yummy and very easy to make.  And packed with zucchini—which if your garden is anything like mine, anything new that can be done with zucchini is a good thing!  Browse around her recipes if you click over . . . she's got several interesting zucchini recipes!  The Air-Fryer Zucchini Parmesan bites look really good, too!

I rearranged things on my wood tray:

This little vignette just makes me so happy! Shiny pretties, lit candles, and the reminder that God is good.  And do you see the "heal" hanging there in the background?  That was a piece I did after taking a quilted word workshop with Meg Cox ... I did it right before my first shoulder surgery.  It feels appropriate to have it hanging now.  I pray that word over Todd a lot. 

Finally, I have been doing some stitching . . . 

I've got everything done on this cute little Mason Jar Sunflower piece, except the flowers themselves.  I'll probably wrap it up this week and finish it the way I'd planned (mug rug). I've been able to cut back on the majority of commitments that I had (guild, church, work, etc.), so I can spend as much time in the evenings after work, with Todd.  Even if it's just me stitching and him dozing.  :)

Okay ... let's get ready to face this blank canvas of a week and paint it with all the colors!  

Slán go fóill!

:)