Thursday Thankfulness: Something to "Write Home About"

Happy Thursday! I hope your week is going well so far!  It's been fairly quiet here this week, with no special events going on, "nothing to write home about".    Do you ever wonder where such sayings come from? This one just struck me as I wrote it, and so I consulted my new friend "AI", and here's what he (or is it a she?) said:

"The phrase "nothing to write home about" emerged in the late 1800s among travelers and deployed soldiers. It comes from the idea that when away from family, you would only fill your letters with truly exciting or noteworthy news; therefore, an unremarkable event or mediocre place is "nothing to write home about". [1, 2, 3, 4]

The idiom became widely popularized during World War I, as troops stationed overseas routinely used the phrase to describe mundane or disappointing experiences in letters to their loved ones. The earliest known written record of the phrase dates back to North America in 1905, though the concept of being "worth writing home about" was used in advertising and literature as early as 1860. [1, 2, 3, 4]"

I kind of figured it had something to do with soldiers, but just didn't know how far back it went. Now we know! Do you ever use that phrase?  I feel like when I am writing a blog post it is a lot like writing a letter to home...and you are my family.  Sometimes I have exciting and interesting news to share, and sometimes I have to search for something noteworthy.  Today seems to be one of those days. Although I did do something interesting and special this morning, but I've promised not to share it until after the person for whom it is intended has been properly notified and surprised, so you will have to wait a week for that. Now I've got you wondering. LOL. Just stay tuned until next week.  

Thinking about having "something to write home about"...back in the days many years ago when we lived far away from home while serving in the ministry, I wrote a lot of letters to my parents, and I asked them to try and save some of them so that I would have them to look back upon and maybe use them to write a book someday. Well, my mother was diligent to save a lot of them in this little box, but I still haven't written that book:

There is a smattering of letters and cards  and pictures from many years ago, when our boys were very young (and so were we)...and these are a treasure trove of memories...

Here's one card/letter that I sent...that would be typical of me and the kinds of pictures that I liked on cards...

Anyway, back then I usually had something "to write home about" because we were young and our kids were little and doing something different all the time, and I wanted our parents to know what was going on since they were so far away.  Gosh, I just started reading some of these letters, and decided I'd better stop or I'd never get this post written! In one of them I even told my mother that I'd just felt my 1st baby move for the first time!  That was definitely something to write home about!  

So meanwhile, let's get back to this July Photo a Day Challenge.  I'm still trying to get caught up. 

I never did do the "shadow" picture for the 13th. We had such cloudy days and I just couldn't find anything really "shadowy" to capture in a photo.  Then finally when we took a walk yesterday morning I noticed the sun was shining behind us, so I called hubby over to me and said, "Stand still a minute and let me take a picture of our shadows!".  Thankfully he was a willing companion.   If his head looks kind of like he has long hair, it's because he's wearing one of those hats with a bug screen over his face. My hubby is so sweet that the bugs just seem to flock to him when we go outside, so this bugscreen hat is really a life saver for him.  The bugs don't bother me as much. Not sure why. Perhaps I'm just not sweet enough? LOL. Probably so.

This next picture was taken when we took a ride last evening. Although you can't really tell they are shadows, we were driving through the combined shadows of those trees over the road, also known as "shade", but you can see the sunshine in the distance where the trees have disappeared.

So I already did the picture for the 14th on my last post, but I haven't done the one for the 15th and 16th yet. So this morning I went around and took some pictures of some signs inside our house, and therefore they should suffice for both prompts...signs, and indoors.

Our son Benton used to make all kinds of signs and sell them. He doesn't do so many signs now, but I happen to have quite a few of them in our house. Here's a sampling of a few. 

This one is in my bathroom, above the bathtub:

Yikes, don't look too closely, or you will see our unmade bed reflected in the mirror. I did these when I first got up this morning before I got around to making the bed, so please forgive the untidiness of this picture. LOL.

Sadly I don't ever use this bathtub. It's too big of a risk for me getting in and out and it uses too much water that we have to pay for! But if you are a guest and wish to take a bath in the tub, I will only charge you 25 cents...however if you want soap and a towel, we'll have to discuss that! LOL.

This was the original sign at our entry table at the front door, where you are supposed to sign the guest book when you come to visit (if I remember to remind you, which I seem to always forget anymore!)

But then last year Benton and Rose made this sign for me for Christmas,  "Come in and Cozy Up", because I had seen one like it at a store and wanted one like it. So now it sits on that table.

OH, this sign hangs over the door to our laundry room:

And this one, that they both made for me, sits inside my "Room With a View", where I can see it when I am writing to you. It's a good reminder for me to remember why I write this blog...even if I don't have "anything to write home about", there's always the Good News of the Gospel to share with you, and to remind you that Jesus Loves You.

And with that I think I will close this post for today.  I am thankful for my home and family, and for my parents, who have been gone to heaven for many years now, but I love that they saved my letters and cards so that I could go back and remember some really special times in our lives. Oh, and I have a lot of their letters and cards that they wrote to us as well.  I really don't like to throw things like that away.

I am thankful for you, and I hope that you are having a memorable day in some way as well.  I hope that you have "something to write home about" that you can share with us!

One more sign, which is hanging above our bedroom door:

And here's the verse that goes with that:

Yes, the "greatest of these is love."  Amen.  

Have a blessed and wonderful rest of your day my friends....