Recent Purchases + More

Hello!




How is your week going?
It's been chilly and cloudy here, and I LOVE it.
It feels wintery and festive.


Clouds aren't a typical thing for us, so when we have them, they are special!



We've gotten decorated, inside and out.

Allistair enjoying the tree:

Juvy under the tree:

Welcome to our home!

Tonight I'm hoping to get some more Christmas cards written out, maybe

while watching some fun Christmas movie.

I have been feeling not-great for over a month now, and I've been trying to get
a good pace of life back that is a little slower again.  Since my illnesses wax and wane,
sometimes I'm able to do 70% of what a healthy Christie would be able to do, and sometimes I'm able to do 40% of what a healthy Christie would do.

It was a huge blessing and miracle to be able to "deliver" all three of the binders that were ordered
so far this week digitally - and mostly from my couch!  What a blessing that God has allowed me to work slowly and steadily over the past nine years, contributing, doing meaningful work at a pace I can manage!   What a blessing that Greg has been supportive and encouraging!

He was my hero all over again for rescuing me on Sunday.

When I came out of church at 1 PM, my tire was flat.

When I'm not feeling well, I have difficulty making decisions, so I almost could

hear superhero music in my head as I saw Greg walking towards me.  I was thinking,

"Greg will be able to help me figure out the best way to handle this!"

And he did.  He took off the flat tire and put on the spare.

OF COURSE this was much more work than that one sentence can communicate because

OF COURSE my "trunk" was completely packed full of stuff to be donated to charity and

we had to move it all to the backseat and OF COURSE the spare was flat!

But Greg was intrepid and didn't grumble once!

I went to the tire place today to get the tire patched, but apparently I drove on it too much and it needs to be replaced (I didn't notice it was flat driving the rest of the way to church - and it's a 30 minute drive).  They ordered a matching tire for me that will probably come in a couple of days.

Allistair has taken to sitting on our laps!

This is a fairly new thing for him.  He doesn't like to be alone for sure,

but now he'll curl right up on our laps, even though he's a big boy.

It's pretty sweet, so we're always trying to get good photos of the event:

One of the many nice things about our cats is that they LOVE us.

They always want to be around us and they like to sit ON us quite often.

Juvy has been especially lap-sitty lately, too.  I think it's beyond a doubt that

they know when I'm under the weather and they want to comfort me 

(and take advantage of my warm human lap!)

I'm re-reading the Harry Potter series as a form of self-comfort, too.

Saturday when we woke up, our phones said "dense fog".

I had to go out to check, and it was TRUE!

It's hard to take photos of fog, but it was dense and fog-like.

Sometimes my physical health difficulties get me down a bit, and 

on the day I was feeling the worst my sweet Dad called me.

He asked if there was anything I could do or eat that would make me feel happy or 

that would taste good.  I couldn't think of anything, but I knew I needed to cook something

that would nourish me and help me get better.

I decided to try a new to me recipe of chickpea noodle soup casserole (plus banana bread)!

Here's the banana bread.  I sprinkled coconut shreds on top.

I'm not a food photographer, but this still looks pretty good to me.

I might have some more tonight!

Sometimes when I'm feeling lousy, I browse online.
Recently I bought these things.


This is a BEAUTIFUL blouse.  The texture is perfect,
the length is great, the pattern is lovely, the neckline is just right.
I checked to find other patterns because I'll be wearing this one often.

Charter Club blouse (Macy's)



This is one of the other patterns I found!  It hasn't arrived yet,
but it looks like it will be just as great (and it was marked down to $15!)

Charter Club blouse (Macy's)


I like the above blouses enough that I'm considering ordering this one, as well.

Charter Club (Macy's)


I'm considering this with the above floral blouse as my Christmas outfit.
I'm a sucker for anything with a scalloped hem!

Maison Jules (Macy's)



This is my favorite new tote bag (for church and professional events).
It's extra cool because it looks like this most of the time . . .

Iris tote (Target)

. . . but the sides open up wider and can stay like that to accommodate
a laptop or a large binder.  It's made of a nice smooth faux-leather, it has minimal
hardware, and it looks more expensive than it actually was.  Great find!


I bought a few books lately, too.

I had been checking books out of the library, but these books are some that

my library doesn't carry.

Here are two of them that I recommend . . . 

Amazon



Amazon


Well, time to get all cuddled up in bed to read and relax with a book and some sparkling water.
Have a wonderful evening yourself!