Tag: life

Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot May 8

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn Weekend Traffic Jam12 Comments

Welcome to the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot, where we offer a place for bloggers to link up and get a fresh set of eyes on their posts. We also feature one blog a week, letting our readers know about the blog and providing a link so readers can learn more about it. Please feel free to post new blog posts or old ones you want to bring attention to again.

Look for the post to go live about 9:30 PM EST on Thursdays.

When you post online, you expect people to be mean these days, but when they are, it still sometimes can be a shock or sting. Especially when what they are upset about isn’t that big of a deal.

Today I opened up my Facebook page and I had spelled the name of a celebrity featured in a video I shared wrong and instead of politely telling me I had made an error a person wrote, “Gerald McRaney would appreciate you spelling his name right.”

The person who wrote that seemed to be a woman in her 60s or 70s, someone who should know better, and I was shocked by how nasty it was that I actually teared up. It wasn’t necessarily that it was directed at me that hurt me, it was that it reminded online how cruel, hurtful, and mean people can really be. I didn’t even know this person. They don’t know me. Why would they speak that way to me?

I went offline for much of the day after that, but when I was online, I focused on being kinder in my responses and reactions to people so I won’t be like that woman, who is spreading negativity and making people feel awful.

I also stopped and thought about the times in the past that I have lashed out at people because I was annoyed about something else. I made a mental note to be/do better in the future.

Now, let’s introduce our current hosts for the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot:

Marsha from Marsha in the Middle started blogging in 2021 as an exercise in increasing her neuroplasticity.  Oh, who are we kidding?  Marsha started blogging because she loves clothes, and she loves to talk or, in this case, write!  

Melynda from Scratch Made Food! & DIY Homemade Household  – The name says it all, we homestead in East Texas, with three generations sharing this land. I cook and bake from scratch, between gardening and running after the chickens, and knitting! 

Lisa from Boondock Ramblings shares about the fiction she writes and reads, her faith, homeschooling, photography and more. 

Cat from Cat’s Wire is a bookworm, movie fan, crazy cat lady, armed with beads, cabs, wire and a very jumpy brain which loves to go down rabbit holes!

Rena from Fine, Whatever writes about style, midlife, and the “fine whatever” moments that make life both meaningful and fun. Since 2015, she’s been celebrating creativity, confidence, and finding joy in the everyday.

We would love to have additional Co-Hosts to share in the creativity and fun! If you think this would be a good fit for you and you like having fun (come on, who doesn’t!) while still being creative, drop one of us an email and someone will get back with you!

WTJR will be highlighting a different blogger each week this year! We invite you to stop by their blog, take a look around and say hello!

This week we are spotlighting: Ink Torrents



Thank you so much for joining us for our link-up!

And now some posts that were highlights for me this past week:

Shelbee is channeling her best Zombie (by The Cranberries that is!)

They’re Making Flower Petal Creations at Our Grand Lives!

I love Amy’s devotional coloring book!

I loved this inspirational post from Grace Filled Moments

Melynda is canning rhubarb! Yummmmm!

Important things to know about the link-up:

This link party is for blog posts only. All other links will be deleted. 

Please link only blog posts you created yourself. 

Please link directly to the URL of your post and not the main address of your blog.

Please do not add links to videos, sales ads, or social media links such as YouTube videos or Shorts, Instagram or Facebook Reels, TikTok videos, or any other “social media” based content.

But do visit other blogs and give the gift of a comment.

Notice: By linking with Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot, you assert that content and photos are your own property. And you give us permission to share said content if your post or blog is showcased.

We welcome unlimited, family friendly content! This can include opinion pieces, recipes, travel recaps, fashion ideas, crafts, thrifting, lifestyle, book reviews or discussions, photography, art, and so much more! Thank you for joining us! 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter
https://fresh.inlinkz.com/js/widget/load.js?id=c0efdbe6b4add43dd7ef

Hello! Welcome to my blog. I am a blogger, homeschool mom, and I write cozy mysteries.

You can find my Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.

You can also find me on Instagram and YouTube.

Saturday Evening Chat: Two sick cats. This is getting weird.

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings15 Comments

Ya’ll, it’s been a week….as my Southern relatives might say.

I would say it’s been a month but we are in May now so April was a month…of good and bad, but when it comes to cats it was bad!

Not only did our youngest cat get sprayed with a skunk and then get an eye infection, he was also acting like he was in pain and sick this past week. Shortly after I noticed his issues, our second-oldest cat came down with something too, got worse and acted way worse than the youngest cat, and ended up at the vet with 104 degree fever.

This was all happening while Little Miss had a sore throat for two days and on one of those days refused to eat and almost passed out on me.

Scout, the older cat, is slowly recovering but I am still very concerned. She was given an antibiotic shot and a fever reducer and spends most of her time sleeping and eats only if we take food and water to her in Little Miss’s room where she has taken up residence.

The Husband drove the cat to the vet, which I felt awful about, because I had planned to take her later in the day. He’s been working full-time and rehearsing for a play and has barely been home because the bridge to get to the town where he works has been out, adding another half an hour to his 25-minute drive. That means he’s been staying in town after work to wait for the rehearsal to start. Rehearsals have been lasting until 9 or 10 and then he’s home at 11, falls asleep, gets up and starts over again.

He called the vet in the morning, though, and he had an opening so he took it and drove 45 minutes up and back to have her seen.

The vet really didn’t have an answer to why she had a fever, other than it must be an infection somewhere. That didn’t seem very thorough to me but at least they did something, I guess.

Scout was still very weak yesterday, so The Husband called and they said if there was no change to call again on Monday.

She did eat some food and drink some water, but then she lays back down again and passed out. It’s awful. This is the kitty who comes up to me when I am sitting in places where I can’t really hold her — like the toilet — and stretches both paws up at me as if asking for me to pick her up.

Sometimes I do even when it is inconvenient.

Then she likes to come up at 4 a.m. and curl up against my shoulder and insists, with little taps on my arm, that I pet her. She also pats my arm when she wants me to give her some of my food. Always very polite. I’ve never had a cat who did anything like that or a cat as cuddly as she is…or can be when she’s in the mood.

I am trying to be optimistic, but I have to be honest that I’m very worried we could lose her.

I’ve had Scout since she was a kitten. I saw her photo on the site of a rescue shelter near us and said I had to have her. I can’t believe I did that as I am the one who always says we don’t need more pets. We got her, during COVID, and she used to lay on my chest to keep like I was her mom. She kept doing it until she was just too big. She’s a very long, polydactyl, Tuxedo cat. When she stretches her body full length, she can reach our doorknobs and rattle them to let us know she wants to go out.

She’s our cat that got stuck in a tall tree our front and our neighbor, who is on the borough council, called the fire company to use their truck ladder to bring her down.

What’s odd is that right before Scout got sick, my dad had to take his outdoor cat to the vet because she seemed sick and had a cold like illness (not distemper) and had been cuddling with Little Miss. So now we are trying to figure if we brought Dad’s cat’s illness home to our cats.

Regardless, they are being treated and hopefully will be on the mend soon.

This week was our possible last week of a weekly art class that Little Miss has been taking. I say possible because I signed Little Miss up for horse riding lessons on the same day as the art classes, but the opposite direction. I only did that because the art class was starting a medium she’s already done and it was a new four-week session and because I hate the road we have to drive on to get there. Also, Little Miss has been asking for horse-riding lessons for years.

But now Little Miss says she’s disappointed to miss out on the next pottery class. So I may have to somehow try to get her to both classes or just one. We will see how it goes. I’m grateful for the opportunities but I do wish they weren’t so far away from where we live. Oh well! Such is the life of a homeschooling family in a rural area.

So what have you been up to lately?

I hope having a good week last week and having a good week this week!

Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot May 1

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn Weekend Traffic Jam10 Comments

Welcome to the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot, where we offer a place for bloggers to link up and get a fresh set of eyes on their posts. We also feature one blog a week, letting our readers know about the blog and providing a link so readers can learn more about it. Please feel free to post new blog posts or old ones you want to bring attention to again.

Look for the post to go live about 9:30 PM EST on Thursdays.

How in the world is it already May! Well, may we all have some lovely May flowers from our April showers!

Now, let’s introduce our current hosts for the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot:

Marsha from Marsha in the Middle started blogging in 2021 as an exercise in increasing her neuroplasticity.  Oh, who are we kidding?  Marsha started blogging because she loves clothes, and she loves to talk or, in this case, write!  

Melynda from Scratch Made Food! & DIY Homemade Household  – The name says it all, we homestead in East Texas, with three generations sharing this land. I cook and bake from scratch, between gardening and running after the chickens, and knitting! 

Lisa from Boondock Ramblings shares about the fiction she writes and reads, her faith, homeschooling, photography and more. 

Cat from Cat’s Wire is a bookworm, movie fan, crazy cat lady, armed with beads, cabs, wire and a very jumpy brain which loves to go down rabbit holes!

Rena from Fine, Whatever writes about style, midlife, and the “fine whatever” moments that make life both meaningful and fun. Since 2015, she’s been celebrating creativity, confidence, and finding joy in the everyday.

We would love to have additional Co-Hosts to share in the creativity and fun! If you think this would be a good fit for you and you like having fun (come on, who doesn’t!) while still being creative, drop one of us an email and someone will get back with you!

WTJR will be highlighting a different blogger each week this year! We invite you to stop by their blog, take a look around and say hello!

This week we are spotlighting: Fit Foodie Megha



A little about Fit Foodie Megha:

Fitfoodiemegha.com is created to inspire you to eat, eat and eat!

Welcome to Fitfoodiemegha.com, owned by Megha Chhatbar, who is obsessed with food. She is an honest food reviewer, ardent traveller and an enthusiastic painter who also loves reading, cooking, trying new cuisines and making good friends. Basically, FitfoodieMegha.com is your guide to good food, wherein, she has shared her personal experience by spending most of the time sampling the city’s food offerings and reviewing restaurants.

And now some posts that were highlights for me this past week:

Krafty Planner’s free May templates are so nice!

Doused in Pink is showing off some nice renovations

Lisa has some ideas on how to reset when you’re feeling off

Pam is sharing about a new Melanie Dobson book

I love Cat’s Barbie outfit for her Bubblecut Barbie

Erin’s sharing books with disability representation

Important things to know about the link-up:

This link party is for blog posts only. All other links will be deleted. 

Please link only blog posts you created yourself. 

Please link directly to the URL of your post and not the main address of your blog.

Please do not add links to videos, sales ads, or social media links such as YouTube videos or Shorts, Instagram or Facebook Reels, TikTok videos, or any other “social media” based content.

But do visit other blogs and give the gift of a comment.

Notice: By linking with Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot, you assert that content and photos are your own property. And you give us permission to share said content if your post or blog is showcased.

We welcome unlimited, family friendly content! This can include opinion pieces, recipes, travel recaps, fashion ideas, crafts, thrifting, lifestyle, book reviews or discussions, photography, art, and so much more! Thank you for joining us! 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter
https://fresh.inlinkz.com/js/widget/load.js?id=c0efdbe6b4add43dd7ef

Hello! Welcome to my blog. I am a blogger, homeschool mom, and I write cozy mysteries.

You can find my Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.

You can also find me on Instagram and YouTube.

Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot March 6

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn Weekend Traffic Jam14 Comments

Welcome to the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot, where we offer a place for bloggers to link up and get a fresh set of eyes on their posts. We also feature one blog a week, letting our readers know about the blog and providing a link so readers can learn more about it. Please feel free to post new blog posts or old ones you want to bring attention to again.

Look for the post to go live about 9:30 PM EST on Thursdays.

I have a bit of an addiction of buying books from Thriftbooks. I seem to be able to find the older books I enjoy reading there easier than other places. II’m never quite sure what I am going to get in the mail even though I think I’ve bought a certain edition.

Sometimes the books are in good shape, sometimes they smell a bit musty.

This last time all of the books seem to be in good shape, including a nice hardback of A Tramp Abroad by Mark Twain. It’s from the 1970s and has a nice material for the cover.



Do you like buying used books? And do they need to be in pretty good shape for you to want to buy them?

Now, let’s introduce our current hosts for the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot:

Marsha from Marsha in the Middle started blogging in 2021 as an exercise in increasing her neuroplasticity.  Oh, who are we kidding?  Marsha started blogging because she loves clothes, and she loves to talk or, in this case, write!  

Melynda from Scratch Made Food! & DIY Homemade Household  – The name says it all, we homestead in East Texas, with three generations sharing this land. I cook and bake from scratch, between gardening and running after the chickens, and knitting! 

Lisa from Boondock Ramblings shares about the fiction she writes and reads, her faith, homeschooling, photography and more. 

Cat from Cat’s Wire is a bookworm, movie fan, crazy cat lady, armed with beads, cabs, wire and a very jumpy brain which loves to go down rabbit holes!

Rena from Fine, Whatever writes about style, midlife, and the “fine whatever” moments that make life both meaningful and fun. Since 2015, she’s been celebrating creativity, confidence, and finding joy in the everyday.

We would love to have additional Co-Hosts to share in the creativity and fun! If you think this would be a good fit for you and you like having fun (come on, who doesn’t!) while still being creative, drop one of us an email and someone will get back with you!

WTJR will be highlighting a different blogger each week this year! We invite you to stop by their blog, take a look around and say hello!

This week we are spotlighting: Musings and Glimpses of Faith



A little about Paula:

Okay, I know what you’re thinking: “Paula, what are you up to now?” Most of you know me from my home site, Grace Filled Moments, or my book blog, Between The Bookends. And you’re right to wonder!

This middle-aged Gen X gal has so much more to share – musings and glimpses, if you will! We’re talking about everything that pops up in midlife, like extra doses of encouragement, the joy of small-batch comfort food, the art of apartment and small-space living, clever solutions for everyday life, small-space decorating tips, fun, small-space entertaining ideas, humor, and so much more. And let’s not forget my love for nostalgia (Gen X anyone?)! There are so many stories to tell and memories to share. Do you remember?

Thank you so much for joining us for our link-up!

And now some posts that were highlights for me this past week:

Does this cardigan feature a falcon or an eagle?

Debbie celebrates with family and shares decorations in her home

I love Doused in Pink’s trouser suit!

I loved these Valentine outfits from Within A World of My Own

Esme’s Crispy Orange Pistachio Cranberry Biscotti looks amazing!

Important things to know about the link-up:

This link party is for blog posts only. All other links will be deleted. 

Please link only blog posts you created yourself. 

Please link directly to the URL of your post and not the main address of your blog.

Please do not add links to videos, sales ads, or social media links such as YouTube videos or Shorts, Instagram or Facebook Reels, TikTok videos, or any other “social media” based content.

But do visit other blogs and give the gift of a comment.

Notice: By linking with Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot, you assert that content and photos are your own property. And you give us permission to share said content if your post or blog is showcased.

We welcome unlimited, family friendly content! This can include opinion pieces, recipes, travel recaps, fashion ideas, crafts, thrifting, lifestyle, book reviews or discussions, photography, art, and so much more! Thank you for joining us! 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter
https://fresh.inlinkz.com/js/widget/load.js?id=c0efdbe6b4add43dd7ef

Hello! Welcome to my blog. I am a blogger, homeschool mom, and I write cozy mysteries.

You can find my Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.

You can also find me on Instagram and YouTube.

If you enjoy the kind of content on my blog and all that goes into it, you can support my writing for $2.99 a month or a single donation. Learn more here: https://lisahoweler.com/support-my-writing/

Saturday Evening Chat: Small things that make me happy

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings, Saturday Afternoon Tea14 Comments

The world is absolutely insane right now, I think many of us can agree on that.

Yesterday, Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs wrote about combating all the stress from national/world event by focusing on some small things that make her happy and I thought that today I would copy her.

First, I have to agree with Erin wrote about enjoying oranges lately. My parents’ neighbors gave them some oranges called Cara oranges the other week. They are pink inside and so delicious. We picked some up from Aldi for ourselves and now opening one is like having a moment of respite in the middle of a crazy day.

This is not my photo…I didn’t have any of the oranges left to take a photo of! Ha!

I love the smell of them, but I’ve always loved the smell of citrus things. I have an essential oil called Energy and it is full of citrus essential oils — lemon, orange, etc. It’s such a mood booster for me when I sniff it. Sadly, I haven’t been able to find my bottle, so I’ll have to get another one soon.

Another small thing that is making me happy these days is reading Miss Read’s Village School by Miss Read.


It’s an easy-going book about a teacher in a small school in a small village in England. There are quirky characters and interesting storylines throughout, with most of the chapters set up as their own little stories, but with the same characters.

Reading it helps me feel like I can escape the craziness of my life and the world right now, if only for a half an hour or so. I read and I step from Little Town, Pa. to Faircare, England.

Another small thing that is making me happy is finding Cagney & Lacey on Amazon Prime and starting to watch it for the first time.

For those who aren’t familiar, it’s a show about two women cops that use to air on CBS back in the 1980s.

The main characters are Christine Cagney (Meg Foster for the first six episodes and then Sharon Gless) and Mary Beth Lacey (Tyne Daly). The show is surprisingly pretty good, though there are some cheesy 80s moments. It’s similar to Murder, She Wrote in that it is good and addictive but sometimes it must be made a bit of (affectionate) fun of.

I’m also finding happiness in the journal The Husband gave me for Christmas. It’s a journal in the front with an agenda in the back. It has a pretty front cover and nice lined pages inside with a place to write the date as the month, day, and year.

I am using it to get back into personal, daily or at least weekly journaling. I hope to record the good as much as the bad because when I was younger, I recorded mostly the bad, which made me look either super depressed or super cranky all of the time.

If I don’t write a full entry, I am trying to at least list three things I am thankful for. Let’s see how long that lasts.

Another small thing that is making me happy is warming up my rice pack in this cold weather (which is starting to return), sticking it under my blanket near my feet and either writing, reading, or watching something.

I’ve already shared that sometimes I then pull my blanket over my laptop and head and create a makeshift heated dome/tent for myself.

It’s very cozy and feels like shutting out the world in a small way.

My neighbors have not taken all their Christmas lights and displays down yet and I love looking out my window and seeing them. They started taking them down today but I told the wife I’d love if they at least leave the ones up on their front porch (they’re white and blue) to perk up the darkness of January and February.

I could probably list a few small things that are making me happy, but I think I’ll save those for another day because I have a feeling I am going to need to make my world smaller again to feel less overwhelmed.

Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot Nov. 28

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn Weekend Traffic Jam10 Comments

Welcome to the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot, where we offer a place for bloggers to link up and get a fresh set of eyes on their posts. We also feature one blog a week, letting our readers know about the blog and providing a link so readers can learn more about it. Please feel free to post new blog posts or old ones you want to bring attention to again.

Look for the post to go live about 9:30 PM EST on Thursdays.

I hope everyone in the U.S. had a great Thanksgiving today (yesterday if you are reading this Friday). My small family spent the day with my parents and ate turkey prepared by my husband. He did a wonderful job. It was one of the best turkeys I’ve ever had at Thanksgiving. Little Miss and I made a couple of pumpkin pies and then I made potatoes and sweet potato soup (usually it’s sweet potato casserole, but Little Miss wanted something different. Then when it came to dinner she wouldn’t eat it but that’s another story. Kids!)

Now, let’s introduce our current hosts for the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot:

Marsha from Marsha in the Middle started blogging in 2021 as an exercise in increasing her neuroplasticity.  Oh, who are we kidding?  Marsha started blogging because she loves clothes, and she loves to talk or, in this case, write!  

Melynda from Scratch Made Food! & DIY Homemade Household  – The name says it all, we homestead in East Texas, with three generations sharing this land. I cook and bake from scratch, between gardening and running after the chickens, and knitting! 

Lisa from Boondock Ramblings shares about the fiction she writes and reads, her faith, homeschooling, photography and more. 

Cat from Cat’s Wire is a bookworm, movie fan, crazy cat lady, armed with beads, cabs, wire and a very jumpy brain which loves to go down rabbit holes!

Rena from Fine, Whatever writes about style, midlife, and the “fine whatever” moments that make life both meaningful and fun. Since 2015, she’s been celebrating creativity, confidence, and finding joy in the everyday.

We would love to have additional Co-Hosts to share in the creativity and fun! If you think this would be a good fit for you and you like having fun (come on, who doesn’t!) while still being creative, drop one of us an email and someone will get back with you!

WTJR will be highlighting a different blogger each week this year! We invite you to stop by their blog, take a look around and say hello!

This week we are spotlighting: My Inspired Home



A little about Anam:

I’m a story teller. Everyday, I make someone listen to me as I talk about how I caught my bus last minute, which YouTube video I watched, why my little brother made me laugh, or what I think about a politician who’s acting up.  Throughout my youth, I would victimize my mom, siblings or a fellow school buddy for this purpose.  When I graduated from university, it hit me that I would no longer meet the people I’d been seeing for the past four years!  And of course, it was a given that they were gonna miss hearing about my adventures… :P Besides, I thought having a blog would be a great way to keep in touch. It’s also fun to read a piece written by someone you personally know or have been following for sometime.

Thank you so much for joining us for our link-up!

And now some posts that were highlights for me this past week:

Rena gives bloggers some great tips on how to improve their blogs.

(Nancy is giving us some great Christmas gift ideas!)

(Loving the variety of ways to wear vests on Chez Mireille Fashion)

I love this counter decoration from Thrifting Wonderland

Important things to know about the link-up:

  • You may add unlimited family-friendly blog post links, linked to specific blog posts, not just the blog.
  • Be sure to visit other links and leave a kind comment for each link you post (it would be too hard to visit every link, of course!)
  • The party opens Thursday evening and ends on Wednesday.
  • Thank you for participating. Have fun!

*By linking to The Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot Link Up, you give permission to share your post and images on the hosts’ blogs.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter
https://fresh.inlinkz.com/js/widget/load.js?id=c0efdbe6b4add43dd7ef

Hello! Welcome to my blog. I am a blogger, homeschool mom, and I write cozy mysteries.

You can find my Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.

You can also find me on Instagram and YouTube.

Faithfully Thinking: Eating Watermelon with Shirley

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn Faithfully Thinking15 Comments

A friend of our family, of mine, died last Thursday.



I was already having a bit of a down day and struggling with a lot of memories and feelings from past events when I received the news that Shirley had died.

How dare Shirley die on one of those down days I have from time to time. Yes, I can say that with the utmost sarcasm, knowing that it would have cracked Shirley up if she heard me say it.

Shirley and I could exchange sarcastic retorts affectionately and easily anytime we were together, no matter how long it had been since we’d seen each other.

Her youngest daughter, Denise, and I have been friends since I was probably six or seven.

We visited the Davis family often when I was growing up and there was even a short time they lived with us, pitching their teepee in our backyard. Poor Gary, Shirley’s son, was the one who had to tell me when my 14-year-old dog died. My dad had gone to work and my mom was too emotional, if I remember correctly.

When I am down or feeling off kilter emotionally, I turn on either The Andy Griffith Show or The Dick VanDyke Show and on the day I heard Shirley died, I chose Dick VanDyke. I didn’t look at what the episode was about, I just clicked on it. I need laughter, and I needed it quickly.

The episode was entitled “Never Name A Duck.”

It was about Rob Petry, the main character, bringing home two baby ducks and Laura saying they couldn’t keep the ducks but then their son Richie saw the ducklings and begged to keep them. Rob and Laura agree but, sadly, the one duck, Oliver, dies. Stanley, the other duck, lives into adulthood but Laura and Rob notice one day that he is starting to look sick, similar to how Oliver did before he died.

Rob takes the duck to a vet and comes home without him.

Laura and Richie think Stanley has died, but Rob tells them he didn’t die; Rob just released him into a lake to be with other ducks because he was slowly dying in captivity. He didn’t belong in a human house. He belonged in nature with other ducks. It was what the vet suggested.

Richie is absolutely devastated and screams that if Stanley can’t live there, he doesn’t want to live there either. He runs from the living room, to his bedroom and slams the door.

Rob follows him and they have a heart-to-heart. He tells Richie he knows it hurts, but that by making Stanley stay in their home they were actually being selfish. Stanley was sad in their house. He needed to be with other ducks and in nature. That was his real home.

He asked Richie if he would want to take his goldfish out of its bowl and lay it on his pillow next to him at night.

“No,” Richie says tearfully.

“Why?” Rob asks.

“Because he’d die out of water,” Richie responds.

Rob explains that this was what was really happening to Stanley. He was slowly dying in their house.

In a similar way, we humans don’t belong on earth. Not really. This is not our ultimate home and we Christians believe our body is also temporary- a shell to hold our spirit or soul.

As Rob had this conversation with Richie, I immediately thought of Shirley.


Much like Richie didn’t want to let go of his duck, and I didn’t want to let go of my aunts and uncles and my grandparents and won’t want to let go of my parents one day, I don’t want to let go of Shirley.

I want Shirley here with us.

I want to hear her laughter and see her mischievous smile.

I want to watch her eat a whole watermelon drowned in salt.

I want to hear her preach again about the goodness of God despite all her family went through.

I want to hear her saying, “Oh, shut up, you” when I one-up her on the sarcasm level.

I want to hear her tell my parents, again, how much she loves them.


I have what Rob Petrh called selfish-love.

“I love Shirley. I want her here, so am I really being selfish?” I asked myself that day when I thought about this connection.

The answer that came to mind was, yes, I am selfish because Shirley is worshipping Jesus now.

She’s in his arms. Tom, her husband, and her children, Gary and Mechelle, are with her. They have surrounded her, and they are having what my family calls a group hug right now — a very long, very overdue group hug.

One day, a very, very long time from now, Denise will join them, so it is up to all of us to give Denise group hugs here on earth until God chooses to take her home.

It is selfish of me to want Shirley to leave all that beauty, all that glory, all that all-encompassing love and come back to all this pain and sadness here on earth.

She is where she was meant to be, created to be. Earth was never her permanent home, and it is not ours.



I once heard a story about a very young girl dying of cancer and shortly before she died, she took her mom’s hand and said, “Don’t worry, Mom. Heaven is closer than you think.”

Heaven is closer than we all think which means Shirley is also closer than we think.

Shirley is home, her real home, with her family and more importantly her creator. That home is also our home when we ask Jesus to forgive our sins and become our savior.

Shirley would want you to form a personal relationship with Jesus because she wants you there with her. Don’t make her eat all that watermelon on her own.

When it is time for you to leave this temporary home, when God decides it is your time, Shirley and Jesus are waiting for you.

They’ve left a seat for you, for all of us, at the table.



Saturday Afternoon Chat: Teaching my kids about Whitney Houston and a shared moment with strangers

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings, Saturday Afternoon Tea18 Comments

Good afternoon! Care for a cup of tea?

Which one would you like to try?

Simply Cinnamon Apple?

Salted Caramel?

Peppermint Bark?

Pumpkin Spice?

I personally liked the peppermint bark, but not as much as plain peppermint.

The last couple of days we have been celebrating Little Miss as she turned 11 on Thursday. We didn’t mean to celebrate her for four days but that’s how it worked out because activities we wanted to do with her were spread out a bit.

On Thursday she wanted to have pancakes at a diner downtown so her brother and I took her down. She had chocolate chip pancakes and a fresh fruit cup. The owner sang happy birthday to her.

The diner was decorated very nicely for fall. This diner always does a very nice job at decorating, from what I understand, but I have only visited there twice. My dad and son have visited there more.

After breakfast, we hung out at home for a bit and then Little Miss and I headed to my parents’ for some pizza and to celebrate her birthday with them.

We played a board game called Aggravation and Little Miss won (with a little help from Grandma and me this time, but usually she wins outright on her own). What was funny was my dad was going to play but sat down in his room for a few minutes and drifted off to sleep. I decided I would play for him and for myself until he woke up, but in the end, he didn’t wake up until the game was almost over.

Dad usually wins at this game, and he almost won this time, even though he was asleep. He was three spots from winning when my mom sent him home again because she didn’t have any other moves she could make.

After we played board games, Little Miss had an animal club meeting on Zoom and then she went home and rode bikes with her brother and then …. Yes, there is more… they watched two Disney movies. She really wrung every last minute out of her birthday and crashed pretty hard that night.

The Husband had to work on her birthday but yesterday he took the day off and we all went out to dinner at a nice restaurant and then they all went in Walmart to pick out a new dog bed and a gifts for the dog because that is what Little Miss wanted to do for her birthday. She also picked out a gift for her friend who is coming for a sleepover today because that little girl’s birthday was this past Monday.

I stayed in the car due to a sore leg and read my book. It was very cozy.

Tomorrow we are headed to a reptile zoo called Reptileland because Little Miss loves reptiles.

We are already fairly tired from celebrating already. By tomorrow night The Husband and I will be virtually comatose. We will be this way because we are, as Little Miss has reminded us a few times this week — old.

She’s been watching YouTube Shorts making fun of life in the 1990s and early 2000s and asking us if that is what it was really like “back then.”

It is hard to accept those years are so long ago, so I just pretend they aren’t and ignore her. Ha!

To show how old I am and how I have failed at educating my children about the 1990s — I learned yesterday that neither of them knew who Whitney Houston was. They sort of rolled their eyes when I mentioned her. There was some meme that mentioned her and my almost 19-year-old son said, “I don’t even know who that is.”

I was horrified and pulled up YouTube to educate them. They did recognize “I Want to Dance With Somebody” and “I Will Always Love You,” but I also made them watch her doing the Star Spangled Banner and The Boy was blown away.

“Okay, yeah, she was amazing,” he told me.

I went to tell him how she threw her life away and it was so heartbreaking to me and started to cry. She shouldn’t have died so young. No matter her talent and her beauty, she never seemed to feel worthy enough to enjoy her life of happiness and health and that always broke my heart. Now all we have left of her is her music and memories and we should have had her for so much longer.

Thank God we still have her friend and my favorite female singer CeCe Winans.

I am going to have to show them videos of CeCe this week too.

Earlier in the week I saw a beautiful sunset and even though I’m having an issue with my sciatica and leg, I made it outside to take a photo. While I was there, two guys (probably about my age) riding bikes came by our house. We do have some bike or foot traffic on our street but it is a back street so we don’t as often as some streets.

I was startled a little by them but had to laugh when the one guy looked at the sunset, pumped his fist and yelled out “’Merica!”

The other guy, with a shirt or something wrapped around the top of his head, looked up at me smiling and said, “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

I said it was, and they kept going while smiling and left me smiling.

Later, Erin (Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs) told me she thought it was cool that we’d had that shared moment together. I hadn’t thought of it that way, and her comment made me think.

After weeks of anger, hatred, and just all out sadness in the world, it was nice to have that shared moment of joy while admiring a gorgeous sunset.

The photos do not do it justice.

How about you?

How was your week last week? Anything exciting coming up for this week?

Saturday Afternoon Chat: Birthday celebration, Supernatural, and changing leaves!

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn Saturday Afternoon Tea10 Comments

Good afternoon! How are you all doing?



Glad you stopped by for a chat and thanks to my sister-in-law’s gift of some new teas, I can offer you some different varieties.

She even brought them in a very cute little basket that Little Miss had fun rearranging yesterday. She plopped my jar of honey right in the middle of the teas.

I have never tried the cold tea brews before so I am excited to do that later this week.

The Boy has already tried the pumpkin spice one and has loved it.

Yesterday was my birthday and The Husband took me to a very fancy restaurant in our area that he’s been saying he wanted to take me to for a long time.

Every time we would drive by it on our way to cities southeast of us, he would say, “I’m going to take you there for our anniversary one day.”

Well, he didn’t for our anniversary, which was totally fine with me, but he did for my birthday, and it absolutely lived up to the hype.

We sat out on the patio overlooking a creek and a tiki torch, as well as the walking trails. The weather was absolutely perfect, even if the trees had not changed as fast as the ones near us are changing.

The food was much fancier than what we would normally eat and absolutely incredible. I’ve never tasted steak like that. It was like butter in my mouth it was so tender. I mean, it tasted like steak not butter, but I think you get what I mean.

I gave my daughter a sample when I got home and she said she had no idea what I meant by the butter comment and sort of looked annoyed at me, but for me it was amazing.

The Husband had chicken marsala.

We both had potatoes with a fancy name, which the waitress explained was simply mashed red potatoes with the skin on. Ha! Fancy name or not, the potatoes were insanely good.

It was very relaxing to sit there and look out over the small creek that runs on the property. They have a botanical garden somewhere but we didn’t find it. They also have a garden on the property where they grow food for the restaurant. So, it is essentially farm to table.

The restaurant is also an inn and it’s a gem in the middle of nowhere really. It’s not in a bigger city near us — it’s a little bit away from a small “city” near us but there really isn’t anything else around it.  I will say I felt a little out of place there, since I would say most of the clientele is in a different financial bracket than my me and my husband. I ignored those feelings, though, and made up stories in my head about the people around us as I waited for our food.

I decided the man sitting behind my husband, who did look a bit tired and unshaven, though well dressed, was a businessman who hadn’t yet told his wife that things were falling apart. He was also a closet gambler and alcoholic.

The young waiter who looked about 16 but was probably older, was a rich kid made to work there after his family kicked him out because he was an entitled brat who felt he didn’t have to do anything to contribute to his family, alone society. (Of course I didn’t really think this about the kid, despite the weird side eye he gave me on the way by — these are just stories I made up!)

Then there was the group of friends all in their 50s or 60s who were sitting in chairs along the creek, sipping their various alcoholic drinks.

I definitely knew they could be the basis of a murder mystery and tried to choose which one might get knocked off first. I chose the one man in white shorts and blue polo holding his cocktail, looking annoyed as everyone else pulled chairs up to sit next to him. I also imagined he used the word “insufferable” a lot in every day conversation, especially when referring to some of the women around him.

Most of the men and women in the group were wearing blue tops and white pants. I don’t know if that is a rich person thing or just a style choice. Either way, they all looked lovely and like they were having a good, yet slightly annoying time. By “slightly annoying” I mean none of them were really smiling much. They seemed somewhat annoyed at each other. Gosh, looking back, maybe they had come from a funeral or something. Like the funeral of their murdered friend….

Okay, yes, I need to stop reading and watching so many murder mysteries.

The man behind us was in the middle of an interview for a job at State Farm with a guy who made a lot of dad jokes, so I don’t think he needed a made up story. He just needed an escape. I didn’t hear the first comment, but I did hear when the older man said, “Because we’re always there. Get it? Like State Farm is there…”

There was some nervous laughter that trickled around the table and then the sales pitch to join the team started after that.

After dinner, we headed to where all birthday girls around here go — Walmart. Ha! Actually, The Husband ran in to grab some bottled water my parents. We made a quick stop after that and picked up a treat for the kids.

At home I watched a couple episodes of Supernatural with The Boy, but don’t know if I will do that again. I enjoyed them to a point, but they were also quite disturbing in parts.

It was hard to see Jared Padalecki as anyone but Dean on Gilmore Girls and it was confusing that his name was Sam in this show, but his brother was Dean. I kept getting confused.

Speaking of The Boy — he got his driver’s permit yesterday and we were so happy for him. He was a little nervous about the test but it turned out to be much easier than he thought. Though he has waited a bit to get his permit, he has been driving grandpa’s tractors and truck around his property for a couple of years now, so he knows what he is doing.

Right after he passed the test my dad actually took him driving around some backroads for a couple of hours.

We are definitely having fall weather and fall vibes in our  neck of the woods right now. The trees are changing fast and falling down on the ground. It seems like we got our color much quicker than I thought we would and I am trying to enjoy it as much as I can before our trees are bare.

When even more of the trees have changed we plan to go leaf peeping and admire the views.

I hope to post some photos for all of you of the leaves on here but I am having an issue with WordPress,, who says my storage is almost full and they want me to pay even more than what I do so I can add more storage.

I’m rejected the idea of paying more by backing up some old posts, deleting them from this blog, and moving them to a backup blog. These are posts from seven or eight years ago, not recent ones.

I’ve also been combining photos on collages I’ve made in Canva to help cut down on how much storage space I am using.

Another blogger friend of mine, Mama’s Empty Nest, has been struggling with this for months now. She’s also been struggling with a lot more as her husband had to undergo an emergency surgery and her daughter was admitted to the hospital after going into labor way too early. I don’t know if she has mentioned this on her blog yet, but the baby did not make it and I just ask that you pray for that family right now. This would have been her daughter’s second child, as she has an older daughter. The little girl is around the same age as Little Miss and was really looking forward to a sibling. Just please pray for their healing and comfort at this time.

Luckily, Mr. Empty Nest is doing fairly well after his surgery, but I just can’t imagine how hard it was for him and his wife with him recovering and their daughter suffering as she lost her little one in the hospital.

I would say that I am ending my post with some sadness, but there is also joy in the story. This little one has gone back to Jesus where her family will meet her again one day and her grandpa is getting healthier by the day and will be able to spend more time with her older sister. There is some joy in the midst of heartache, thankfully.

This upcoming week isn’t yet a busy one for us, but we will see how that goes.

Do you have anything interesting planned for next week?

Did you do anything interesting last week?

Let me know in the comments. I’d love to know.