Tuesday 4~ What Will We Find?

 What Will We Find....

Hello! Welcome to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4.
Thank you to our hostess Annie for these weekly questions for us to ponder and share our answers. These questions for this week are kind of fun and interesting, so let's go find out what we will find...

1. What will we find on top of your refrigerator?

Well, you know me...a picture is worth a thousand words, so I will be answering these questions with pictures! Here's the top of my refrigerator. Hopefully you can't see the dust...well, if you look closely, you will definitely see dust. I didn't take time to dust the top of the refrigerator for this picture, so you might as well get the real picture...

2. What will we find on your nightstand?

An alarm clock that also has a phone charger built into it, which is very convenient. A lamp. A box of Kleenex, a flashlight, and that pink round thing behind the lamp is actually a hand fan. It's one of those that you can "fold up" and put in your purse, if you can figure out how to do it. I can't,  so it just stays there and I can grab it as needed.

3. What is in your purse or handbag?

My wallet, keys, sunglasses, a little tiny cosmetic bag with lipstick, fingernail file, eyedrops and other emergency things...ink pen, a purse pack of tissues, notepad. And earlier today my Bible and Bible Study guide were also in there...oh, and my cell phone goes in there when we go out.  

4. What will we find on your coffee table or side tables? How about your kitchen or dining table?

The Coffee Table: That book in the middle front is a photo album called "My Pastbook", which I created a few years ago based on photographs that I had put on Facebook over the years. It turned out pretty good. I need to do a more recent one sometime.  The little book on the right is entitled "Beside Still Waters", by Darrell Bush, which I have written about before HERE. That little book was instrumental in our naming our pond "Still Waters Pond". The bowl in the back middle was created for us by a dear friend who has since gone on to heaven. He created it from a "burl" in a maple tree from New Hampshire. It is made in the shape of an eagle. It is holding a couple of those little wire puzzles that you have to figure out how to put it together and then get it apart again.  You will recognize the game to the left of that as coming from Cracker Barrel, and to the left of that are some magazines. Of course we always have coasters on every table.

The side table between our recliners. Yes, we each have our own remote. Sometimes we play dueling remotes to see who gets to watch what they want the fastest. Or who can mute the commercials the fastest, or which one of us wins how loud the volume needs to be. It can be rather commical at times. I turn it up, he turns it down. I want to watch a certain commercial, he mutes it. I want to watch something on HGTV, he wants to watch sports. One thing we do agree on is we like to watch "What's My Line" old reruns while we eat supper in front of the TV. But I think you need to be as old as we are to appreciate them.

The puzzle and game table. The Chess board was created by my father for my husband years ago, because he knew how much he loved to play chess. Sadly, I don't think anyone has played it in years. Maybe I need to challenge him to a game...he taught me how to play right after we got married, and once I got good enough to beat him, we didn't play it as often. LOL. It's been a long time, and I'm not sure I can remember all the moves now.

The little sign "He leads me beside the still waters" was lovingly created by my sweet DIL Rose for me for Christmas one year after we moved here "Beside Still Waters Pond".  The table itself was built by our son Benton, so that makes it extra special.  It can also be used as a bench when we need extra seating for company when we need to add more tables, like at Thanksgiving.

Current View of The Dining Room Table.

This is my Easter Bunny collection, which started originally with the green one in the middle, which was given to me by my maternal grandmother when I was a child. Then the little bunny laying on his back looking at a butterfly was given to Scott, when he was a "baby", by my mother. She also gave Benton and Matthew the two smaller brown bunnies. 

 The white bunny with the Easter egg was for our grandson Noah when he came to visit for Easter as a young child, and the flowered bunny on the left with the pink ribbon in this picture above was for his mother Nicole.   The little white bunny with the pink flower was added when Rose joined our family, but then she saw the cute little brown bunny next to it, and he was a little scuffed up and one of his ears had broken off. So she took him home and fixed his ear and painted him and said she really loved that little bunny the best, because when she was a little girl she used to raise real bunnies like that. So I guess the white one with the flower is up for grabs...maybe Blackie would like that one??? LOL. 

The gray bunny on the far right is the newest member  of the family. My hubby was the only one who didn't have his own bunny, and I saw this last week at the Dollar General store, and it was perfect for him. 

This is how he looks every morning, with his glasses, a cup of coffee, and his laptop. Perfect!

So there you have the current dining room table display. I will share more pictures on Easter when the table is set and ready for Easter Dinner.  

Speaking of Blackie: Last evening while we were outside doing a little yard work, Blackie came out to follow us around as per usual.  For the first time ever that I've witnessed, since his buddy and our sweet Sunshine went over the Rainbow Bridge, Blackie noticed the little gravesite where Sunshine is buried.

He sat right down on the little stones we set there mainly to make sure no critters came and tried to dig there. He sat and watched us working and seemed to be protecting that place and claiming it as his "territory".

It was a very sweet and touching moment that just might have a brought a tear or two to my eyes.

I will close this post today with these verses about love...some powerful words to ponder as we live out this week, the events of which demonstrate the greatest love of all time.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7, 13 NLT

4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

13 Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

John 3:16-17 NKJV

16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 

17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

John 15:13 KJV

13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

I hope you and yours have a blessed Holy Week and Easter.

Sunday Night Review and Celebration

 Greetings Friends!  I surely hope and pray this finds you all safe and sound from the horrific storms of this weekend.  I know some of you may have been in the line of fire for those tornadoes and other terrible wind storms and thunderstorms.  We were under a tornado watch all day today, and this afternoon it did get pretty stormy and scary for a few minutes, but thankfully it passed us by with no major issues.  I do hope and pray that is the case for all of you in blogland.

We had a special day today as we were celebrating our youngest son Scott's birthday, which isn't until Tuesday, but today was the only time we could get together with him. Sadly our DIL Rose was not able to come as she had to work, but Benton and the doggies came and joined us for lunch and birthday party, and we had a great time. Here's some pictures so you can see!

Here's how it looked out on Still Waters Pond when that storm was passing through:  

The rain and wind got pretty intense for a few minutes and we prayed that no tornado would develop in this storm, and thankfully it did not.

Our grandpup Spice was pretty anxious the whole time and mostly stayed in "daddy's" arms or very close by his side...

Sugar was a little more laid back and stayed either in her bed or in a dark corner of the room waiting for the storm to pass by...

That was hardly the scene earlier when the pups got their first look at our kitty Blackie on the back porch:

First Spice and Blackie had quite the stare down

The Sugar came and joined in, and the barking started, and you can see that Blackie had his back arched and tail raised, ears in fight formation:

Thankfully the glass door was closed tight and NO ONE was about to open it! LOL

Finally Blackie, tail raised, back arched, scooted away from the window so they couldn't see him anymore, and then I'm not sure where he disappeared to because I haven't seen him since.  I'm sure he will show up when he gets hungry enough.

Speaking of hungry, before all this excitement we had a delicious lunch of lasagna, salad and garlic toast, Scott's request:

I made two pans of this, so everyone could take home some left overs, especially for Rose since she didn't get to come.  It turned out really good, but I missed my sweet DIL Rose's help with making the lasagna. She's really good at it and I used her adapted recipe from my Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook. It's so nice to have those bake in the oven lasagna noodles now that you don't have to boil ahead of time! That makes it so much easier!  I made the meat sauce yesterday and then just assembled it when I got home from church and put it in the oven to bake for 30 minutes while Benton helped me make a salad and set the table. I love all our helpers!

After our dinner settled down a bit we had the birthday celebration with cake and ice cream:

Yes, my "baby" is 48 years old! You will notice a number "2" sitting in front of the cake. Scott made that because he didn't want to admit that he was 48 either and said he thought he was only 28! LOL. Don't I wish! How can my baby be 48 when I am only 50?  LOL.

Yes, it's a family tradition that you must blow out your candles when we sing Happy Birthday to you. You are never too old to do that.   Oh, and for those of you who are wondering why he's wearing a hat in the house, well, I asked that too...he said his hair was a mess from working this morning at his job at the golf course, and he thought his hair would look worse than wearing a hat. Okay, I'll take that...I don't make a fuss over such things any more. I'm just thankful to have him here alive and well and safe and sound. That's really all that matters to me.

Next came the gifts and cards (which often contain the gifts)

Sometimes cards say special things too that mean a lot...especially when your Daddy takes the time to write it out by hand...to me those cards are the "keepers"...

Next came a special gift...this t-shirt was meaningful to Scott. "Primus" is one of his favorite musical groups, and he has been to several of their concerts over the years.  A couple of weeks ago when he was here helping to plant some trees for us, one of his favorite Primus shirts got a tear in in accidentally and he was kind of bummed since he'd had it a long time from one of those concerts.

So Amazon to the rescue. Although I couldn't find the exact same t-shirt design as the one that was torn, he was quite surprised and happy with this one just as well, so that helped make the day extra happy.

It's the little things that mean a lot...even when you're 48...

Meanwhile Benton was enjoying his cake and ice cream...

And hubby was being a bit silly and this was the only smile I could get...He was happy "having his cake and eating it too!" LOL.

And Mother and Son were having a happy ending moment:

So yes, it was a lovely birthday celebration and even though it makes me feel old to have a "baby" this old, I am very thankful to have this strong handsome and sweet son to enjoy and celebrate!

Some words of wisdom from God's Word, the Bible...God the Father talking to King Solomon: And a prayer for every son...

Proverbs 23:26 NKJV

"My son, give me your heart,

And let your eyes observe my ways."

Amen.

Here's just a few more photos from the day and from "Pamela's Wild Kingdom", as it is becoming around here it seems:

The Sand Hill Cranes continue to take turns coming in for a bite of bird seeds throughout the day, while one is sitting on the nest...

After the storm was over I walked around the pond to see if I could catch Mrs. Crane standing up on the nest so I could count how many eggs...but still I just can't manage to be there at the right time.

However, by my calculations, the eggs could be hatching out any day now. It's been almost 30 days since I first saw her sitting on the nest...

So I will be checking more often this week to see if anything has developed.

Meanwhile, these Muscovy ducks (now three of them) have been hanging around the pond quite a bit lately.

They were helping themselves to some bird seed on the ground under the bird feeder today too:

And I thought this was funny the other day...the ducks were up close to the shore of the pond, and "Sunshine" the kitty was sitting right there with her back turned to them as if she didn't know they were there...



But soon she turned around and saw them, but that didn't seem to scare the ducks away...

And I really don't think Sunshine cared too much about them being there either. It was just funny to see this.

This was a look at the little canal between our shore and Goose Island on Still Waters Pond, after the storm today.

And another look around the other side of Goose Island. Speaking of which, the Canada Geese still show up every day, but to my knowledge they have not started to build a nest anywhere on the pond that I have seen...so either it is too early, or they are going to skip nesting this year. Time will tell.

Well, friends, I think that's all for tonight! I hope you've enjoyed this lovely day with me. 

We are very thankful for God's protection over our home and family and friends. 

Final thought for the day:

So let us love one another!

Amen and Good Night!