Sunday Reflections
Blessed Sunday to all! Welcome to my lifestyle post called Sunday Reflections.
On this day, I share in Sunday Reflections a little from my past week and plans for the week ahead.
There really is no organization to these posts. They change in topics often…just like my ever-changing life.
One week, I may be reflecting on my cooking…another week, my house.
This week, Sunday Reflections is quite a hodge podge of topics….
So, let’s get warm and cozy..(I’m freezing, so I know most of you are!)
And enjoy reflections together….
SUNDAY REFLECTIONS: GOOD NEWS
The good news this week was that despite the 18 degree weather, Mr. B and I attended a basketball game for one of the local colleges.
It was fun to get out and enjoy an office party…that included delicious barbecue.
I wore a Clara Sun Woo sweater, Talbots wide leg corduroy pants; a green & gold Talbots scarf; leopard socks; and gold metallic sneakers.
Over it was a short, navy P coat and my leather gloves.
I wore the sneakers because I knew being on a college campus, some walking might be involved and it was.
We had a great time….and they won!
It’s good news that during really cold days, I have a faithful companion to be with at home.
This is where Tux sits while I am working at my computer close by.
I have to raise the shades so he can bark at delivery trucks! I think I have told you before that the lamb is his favorite toy…and we have been through many of them.
This is better than good news…it is amazing news.
On January 17, I wrote about my latest venture into good health in the post JOURNEY TO BETTER BONES, STRENGTH AND BALANCE.
I have been going to OSTEOSTRONG for a month, and this week I was able to get up off the floor from doing floor exercises at home without holding on to anything! That is a huge accomplishment for me! Light the fireworks!
I can feel my body changing…in a good way.
Also, one of the trainers suggested that the stiffness I feel in my foot that is recovering, may be scar tissue from the two surgeries.
She said that they have seen great results with healing scar tissue in the red light therapy room.
So, I began last week to do red light therapy that is focused on that foot, and will be doing this for four minutes once a week.
I will keep you up to date, but it has given me hope that the foot will feel more normal at some point…she did say that it takes time and consistency with the infrared light.
This is a modality at Osteo Strong, so I am NOT paying more for it. I signed up for two modalities a week with the plan I selected in the beginning.
I am so encouraged that this is helping me to achieve the results I was looking for.
SUNDAY REFLECTIONS: BAD NEWS
I rarely say that I did not enjoy a book. But, the one I took on vacation with me, was not enjoyable.
O January 20, I wrote a review of a book by Julie Satow that I really enjoyed…the post was WHY WOMEN STILL SHOP DEPARTMENT STORES.
If you have not read this post, it is worth your time to read and especially the comments…women shared such wonderful stories. It is one of my favorite posts ever.
I said then I was so impressed with the author that I was going to order her book about historical Plaza Hotel in New York City.
I was convinced that it was make for a great read on my vacation.
The book is still well documented…and well reported…it just focused on so much sadness that this optimistic lady (ME!) wasn’t ready for it on an enjoyable time in Mexico.
The Plaza is more about the financial evolution of the hotel and the many suicides that occurred throughout the history as personal wealth ebbed and flowed.
I think I just wanted more about the happenings at the hotel…the events in detail, the description of fashions, the parties, more about the time of F. Scott Fitzgerald, gatherings in the tea room, the celebrities…etc.
This book was very sad and depressing, but full of stories to demonstrate that wealth does not bring happiness.
I did find another older book that may have in it what I was seeking. The author is Curtis Gathje.
It is on the Thriftbooks page, AT THE PLAZA: AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF THE WORLD’S MOST FAMOUS HOTEL.
I do want to clarify that Julie Satow is an excellent journalist and does document all of her research. The book was well written, just too depressing for me.
I am not sure what my next read is, but I may be in the mood for a little fiction…we’ll see.
SUNDAY REFLECTIONS: CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
I hope every one in America has a wonderful President’s Day!
For many of us, it means that we see family more during three day weekends.
My new home town is unique in that it appears most businesses close on Mondays.
Every time I want to go somewhere on a Monday, it is closed.
But, Saturdays are really active! I need to get accustomed to getting out more on Saturdays.
At my old home, Saturdays was a “do-things-around-the-house-day.”
This is a reminder not to scowl at yourself in the mirror. YOU ARE GOD’S MASTERPIECE.
Don’t grimace at your wrinkles, your weight; your age; your hair, your age spots…you get it. GOD MADE IT ALL.
Go out and do those good things He planned for you long ago!
Thanks for being here for SUNDAY REFLECTIONS…I am so thankful for you!
COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS & KEEP SMILING!!
By Pamela Lutrell
Whether shopping new arrivals or clearance sales, please shop with the links on my SHOPPING PAGE…thank you, thank you to all who shop this way.
College basketball is so much fun, especially at a smaller, local school! I miss my part-time job working the college athletic events in our arena on the campus where I worked for over 20 years. I love the outfit you put together for that outing, which includes the same scarf I bought at Talbot’s. Seeing you wear it this reminded me that it is not just for Christmas. I’ll be hunting for some really warm outfits in my closet this week, as we plunge into the teens at night and don’t get above freezing for a couple of days. That kind of weather is great inspiration for staying at my old house and packing with a vengeance. I’d love any tips that helped you pack for your recent move. I keep trying to set priorities for packing and take it a room at a time, but I end up wandering from room to room doing a little bit in several locations at once and not ever really completing any of it. I am trying to purge in the old house and only pay to move the things I know I will use in the next house, which is smaller. The big truck arrives on the 26th, so I have to get serious about this, but I’m having such a hard time packing for hours at a time like I should. Any wisdom you or your readers have gained from moving experiences would be greatly appreciated!
I have church this morning…but will return later and join in the conversation!
Hi, Pam. Thanks for giving us the good news first. And it is fabulous news. You’re on a roll like butter! (sorry for the bad joke. Hope it brought a smile). Have you read any of Frances Mayes? She writes about her travels and it is delightful. She has written some novels. too, like under the Tuscan Sun, which is really her memoir. If you like vintage books, The Blue Castle is the best. By Lucy M. Montgomery. Happy Sunday!
I’m back from a month long vacation cruising the Hawaiian islands and seeing family in California. We, thankfully, missed a lot of snow and frigid weather. We had a wonderful time, but my clothes are tight! I’m back at the healthy eating starting now, but I have to be serious about it. Good for you, to have kept up your plan! Getting up from the floor is so important to our healthy, safe aging. If you want an uplifting, cozy mystery, I recommend the Secret, Book and Scone Society series. There is some understated premarital sex, but less than what you would find on cable tv.
Dear Texas Aggie,
As someone who made 2 moves in 3 years just a handful of years ago, moved my folks twice in the recent past, and helped our youngest son to make his big move out of the nest 5 years ago, I consider myself a near-expert at the purge-pack-and-move experience. ☺️ My method is to sketch out a rough floorplan of the new house, imagine how you want to live in, use and furnish each of those spaces. Perhaps you want to switch things up in the new setting – dining room as library if a kitchen eating space is available and all that’s needed, for example. Anyway, once you think that through, then walk about your current house and start assigning pieces into their new rooms. You can color-code and mark both furniture and boxes now. While it might feel like extra work on this end, it makes it less of a chore and more of a vision board. 👍 Then, you hopefully won’t have to move much at all on the unpacking end of things, and you’ll be motivated to bring your vision to life.
Best of luck to you, and many blessings for your new home.
Oh, my book suggestion is by Rinker Buck, “The Oregon Trail” … and not because I am an Oregonian and love trail history, but rather, because his story is a contemporary tale of he and his brother attempting to replicate the trail experience for themselves. Yes, you learn a lot about the trail, etc., but it is a story of love and patience, and what you learn when you set out on an adventure.
Wait- your bad news is that you didn’t care for a book?
Connie has some great suggestions! Make sure you see her comment.
Hi Marcia,
I did read The Blue Castle years ago, but I had forgotten about Tuscan Sun. I need to read that one…I enjoyed the movie with Diane Ladd.
So happy to have you back safe and sound, Linda. I am really being dedicated to my new health plan…and I know you will be to yours.
Oh how I wish I had done what she recommends about sketching out a floorplan…I might not have purged the pieces I wish I had kept. It is very freeing to move forward and let go of the past that is just sitting around because it is the past.
Yes, I know, sounds crazy…but I try to find redeeming value in everything I read…and this one was such a huge disappointment as a vacation read that it is bad news for me to have to report negatively on a book. Of I read things, that I never tell the blog audience about, but since I had already told you that I was going to read this book, I felt like I needed to do a follow up.
This sounds like a book Mr. B would love! It may be one of his Father’s Day gifts. Thanks Connie for all your wisdom today.
How wonderful that you can feel your body changing and getting stronger. I’m so happy that you found a program that is working so well for you. Tux is so cute with Lambchop. I always loved Sheri Lewis and Lambchop and I have my own little stuffed Lambchop that I don’t let the dogs play with because Cocoa would tear it to pieces in minutes. I have just started “When Women Ran 5th Ave” and am enjoying. I got tired of waiting for the library copy of Ina’s book and bought the audio book which is delightful as she is the reader. I always have 1 or 2 print books plus an audiobook underway. Happy Sunday!
Thank you for your thoughts on Julie Satow’s book The Plaza. I am currently reading & enjoying When Women Ran Fifth Avenue, so I was thinking about trying to find her other book. I don’t believe I will do that now. I am happy to hear that your hard work with Osteo Strong is paying off. I love that verse from Ephesians. Oh, that we could see ourselves & others the way God sees us!
Tux has been through so many “Lambies” as we call them. He loves on them…uses them for pillows…rips them to shreds…and then he gets a new one! If I had an original Lamb Chop, I would protect it! Thanks Kathie.
So true, Becky…we are masterpieces in His eyes. The Plaza book was so depressing. I was just hoping to return to some of the glitz and glam and not just the hard parts. She does a great job with the other book of telling the bright spots mixed with the difficult ones…and there were so many suicides in the Plaza. I know that is reality…I just do not want to focus on it.
Thanks so much to Connie for the suggestions! At my realtor’s suggestion, I measured all my furniture before I toured prospective houses. Whenever I found a contender I would go down a printed checklist and use a tape measure to be sure my furniture would fit. (Real estate ads often list incorrect dimensions of rooms, so you can’t really trust those.) That has helped so much, as I had placement pretty much decided before making the offer on the house. Today I am using painters’ tape to lay out my major pieces of furniture on the floors to give the movers a handy reference, since I can’t be in all the rooms at once with them. I think this will help me recognize any potential mistakes before getting the actual furniture in the house, and hopefully prevent scratching the old hardwood floors scooting furniture around. Rooms look so big when they are empty, but each room in the new house is smaller than the corresponding space in my current home. I’m also losing my 10’x20′ sunroom, which is home to my office, grandkids’ play area, crafting and giftwrapping functions. I think I have figured out ways for those functions to be absorbed into the spaces in my new home, but I won’t really know if it works until I’ve spent some time there. I would be very grateful for any tips on wading through the actual packing process. I get so bogged down in it, stopping to read when packing books, cutting articles out of magazines, etc. I got a set of labels on Amazon that have the name of each room, and a roll of “fragile” stickers. Those have saved me so much time writing on boxes, since all I have to add is the contents. This will be my go-to “happy new home” gift for any friends who are moving in the future.
Kudos to Pam on the incredible improvement in your strength! I have identified an Osteostrong location in my area, and I’ll be watching for future updates to see if the modality treatment helps the scar tissue in your post-surgical foot, since I have the same issue. I used to feel really guilty if I didn’t finish a book I disliked, but reading Seabiscuit cured me of that. People raved about that book, but I found it so depressing, much like the hotel book affected you. We need to remember that in retirement we generally read for enjoyment and/or enlightenment, and not every book is going to bring us those things. We can give ourselves permission not to finish reading a book that we aren’t loving. Think of all the wonderful books out there that you haven’t read yet! You’re just clearing space for more of those.
so glad you share your foot struggles as i have suffered since 1985 and shoes that were comfy were impossible to find-not to mention ugly-keep sharing
I will Jill! What I thought would be a simple surgery ended up in two surgeries and big changes! I do think Easy Spirit and SAS Shoes have seen me through!