Monday Monday!!

 

Sunrise, September 22, 2025, the first day of Autumn!

Happy Monday! I hope this finds you all enjoying this first official day of Autumn! We've been "pretending" it was autumn here already for a few weeks, not so much in temperature, although it has been a rather mild September for Florida, but in decorations and wishful thinking!  But September is special for me in a more significant way, as it is also my birthmonth!  And this particular birthday, which is coming up actually on the 25th, marks my 3/4 century mark, so it really is significant to me! I can't believe I'm really this old! LOL.  

So we started out celebrating early this past weekend, since that is when the "kids" could all be here at the same time.  Originally we had hoped that my sister and her family could come up and join us as well, but they live a couple of hours away and sometimes it's just not that easy to get everyone together with work schedules and other concerns, so we decided that we'll get together with them another time.  Like I told my sister on the phone, "I'll be 75 for a whole year, so we can celebrate anytime!"  

Anyway, on Saturday Scott came down and joined Benton and Rose and hubby and me at the Sonny's BBQ in Palatka for lunch.  (If you're a Facebook friend, you've probably already seen most of these photos, so just bear with me, and thank you already for your sweet comments there!)

Sorry this picture shows my food already partially eaten, but I wanted to show you that I had a half rack of Baby Back ribs, some other sliced smoked pork, a sweet potato and coleslaw! I can't believe I ate the whole thing! It was SO good!! (I gave my garlic toast to the kids, so I didn't eat any bread! That's good, right?)  

Then we went home and sweet DIL Rose had baked an apple pie for my birthday "cake", which is what I prefer. My mother had always baked an apple pie for me, and then when she passed away my sister Doris took over that little job, but since she couldn't come, Rose took care of it! She's a keeper!

Everyone is singing Happy Birthday to me...

And then comes the best part...the "big blow"....

It took every breath I had to blow out all those 75 candles! LOL.

But I did it! So now I hope all my wishes will come true!

Here I am with sweet hubby and son Scott...

And here's my sweet Benton and precious Rose...  I am SO thankful for our wonderful family. God has been so good to us.

Next came the gifts...son Scott is a man of many talents. One of his specialties is turning trash into treasure...in the past you may have seen some of his creations using Dove Candy wrappers to create special characters...(although I can't find these in my old blogs, but I know I shared them on Facebook years ago)

He created these "Ninja Warriors" to symbolize warriors fighting against cancer, after our son Matthew fought a valiant battle for four years before God called him home. They are created with Dove Candy wrappers and aluminum foil. The details are amazing. I think this was a kind of therapy for him in dealing with the loss of his brother at the time.

These are some other characters he created as gifts over the years, just a small example of the many more he has given away to friends and family. We usually gift him with bags of Dove candy for Easter, birthdays, and Christmas, so he has more "supplies" for his craft, but lately he's kind of quit doing this in favor of some other new creations...

Like painting! Years ago when he was a teenager he wanted a Bob Ross painting kit, and so he got one for Christmas, but at that time he never really did anything with it.  Now, many years later he has renewed his interest in painting and so this is what he gave me for my birthday:

I think it's beautiful!!  But there's more to the story.

In keeping with his tradition of creating treasures from trash, he paints things on the back of cardboard boxes from food items like Hostess Twinkies and in this case, tea bags!  He wanted me to have this particular one and framed it so you can see the tea bag design on the back, because he knows how much I love tea!  Isn't that amazing?  It's definitely a treasure to me!!!

Also, in a previous post I had mentioned that I hoped I could get one of my strong sons to dig a hole and plant this Rose of Sharon bush for me...and so here's Scott doing just that!

Thank you, sweet Scott! Now may it grow and prosper!

But Scott isn't the only one with artistic/creative talent in the family...son Benton built these wooden planters for me to put my mums in. I had already bought the mums, but didn't want to dig holes in the ground, so he built these to hold them, and they are just perfect! What a wonderful gift!

And sweet Rose not only baked the apple pie, but she gave me these cookbooks because she knew that I was wanting to try some different diet plans, and also she got some for herself too so we can all start trying to eat healthier, after we finished the pie, of course!  

I also received a fun package in the mail from one of my dearest blogging friends, who shall remain nameless but she knows who she is and how very dear she is to my heart.  Oh, Lily Grace helped open up this package because this person is very dear to her as well...

There were all kinds of fun and interesting things in the package, including these beautiful china handled tea spoons, each with a different floral pattern...so beautiful!

And this lovely pillow case, which fits perfectly on a little pillow that I have:

And also this lovely acrylic stained glass window hanger with such beautiful birds on it!

And she never forgets her "niece Lily Grace", so there was a fun little blue pony with a comb to comb her long tail and mane...

I don't know how she packed so many fun things in one little box, but there was also this wonderful fall potholder mitt that matches some dishes I already have...

And also this beautiful "Grateful" hand towel, which also matches some dishes that I have!

And yes, I am extremely Thankful and Grateful for this dear friend, as well as for my family and all of my wonderful friends out here in Blogland!

It truly was a wonderful early birthday celebration.  We don't really have any special plans for my actual day, but we will see what develops.  The "kids" are getting ready to go on a trip to Minnesota to see Rose's father and her other siblings up there, so that is one reason we needed plan the celebration a little early. Maybe hubby and I will do something together on the actual day...we shall see.

Meanwhile, yesterday at church was a special day also.  One of our dear members is moving away, and she is someone who has done so much for our church and community over the years...just a very committed Christian woman, and we are all going to miss her so much.  In honor of our friend, it was decided that everyone who could would wear a hat on Sunday, since "Norma" always wears a hat to church.  She was really surprised to see us all there wearing hats and was very touched by our love.

Here's a few pictures that were taken to put on our church Facebook page:

This is Norma...and she was actually making an announcement about something coming up even though she is leaving.  Then we surprised her with a nice gift card from the church and the congregation and choir sang the song "Friends", which brought a few tears to all our eyes.

This is our Pastor and wife. Someone said he looked like "The Godfather". LOL.

He did take his hat off to preach the sermon. He said he didn't want to look like a gangster while he was preaching. LOL.  

This is our choir

Here's the song "Friends are Friends Forever" by Michael W. Smith along with Amy Grant.  

It was a kind of bittersweet day.  

But we are thankful for Norma and pray for her in her new adventures. We know God will use her wherever she goes.

John took this picture of me before we left home for church. That floppy hat was in my eyes all morning, but it was fun.

Let's see what else is going on? Well, some have asked if our kids have ever finished their kitchen remodeling project...and actually they are just about finished. They sent me these pictures last night:

They still have to finish the backsplash and some other trim work and then they will take off the blue plastic covering on the new dishwasher. That came on it from the store, and they left it on to protect it while painting.

They are also still working on the area behind Rose below. That is their utility area and also a little "breakfast nook", but they use it as a work area for their Etsy business.

Everything looks so bright and clean and fresh!!

They painted over the paneling with a white paint,  and painted the wood cabinets with that kind of a coastal greenish bluish color...I think it's called Quietude, or something like that. And then they put on new butcher block countertops.  

These are some "before photos":

It's been quite a project, and I know they are happy to finally be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!

Let me just close by saying how very thankful I am to be alive and well and celebrating my 75th year of life! I give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! His love and mercy endures forever!!

Psalm 16:5-8

5 O Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup;

You maintain my lot.

6 The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;

Yes, I have a good inheritance.

7 I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel;

My heart also instructs me in the night seasons.

8 I have set the Lord always before me;

Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.

Amen.