The Week in Positives

There were many positive things in my life this past week. 

I had lunch with Josh at one of the newest fast food places in town.  This is a restaurant that has been up in the Salt Lake City area since the 1960s but only recently opened up a place near us.  Even though we try to eat healthy and have cut way back on red meat, there are certainly times when only a burger and fries will do.

 We are winning the late August battle of the ants (at least in one cupboard).  Clearing out the cupboard also gave me the opportunity to clean and reorganize.

We continue to save A LOT on our electricity bill because we have basically quit using our clothes dryer.  I have used it only twice since it went out and then got fixed back in May.  On the graph, this year is shown in black.  You can see how much less our electricity usage was compared with the two previous years.

Even though one of our spare bedrooms now looks like this, I am willing to put up with it to save $$.

Our neighborhood was peaceful and quiet and the area behind our house was crime and police command post free after the drive-by shooting, a couple of weeks ago.

 The week was cloudy but that made for some beautiful sunrises.

We did have one dust storm  (The sky in this picture is not overcast grey but brown with dust).

By Friday night the clouds have finally produced a steady rain that lasted several hours.  It was heavy enough in some places to produce some flash flooding.

I have been experimenting with some new freezer meal recipes that have turned out to be quite tasty. This one is for Slow Cooker Sweet Teriyaki Chicken,

and here are the makings for Slow Cooker Beef and Mushrooms.  (This one is still in the freezer, but I am looking forward to giving it a try!)

This week, I also started another tuition free online college class (offered through Norther Arizona University), which I can count for professional development hours and salary advancement credit.  This latest class is on autism in the general education classroom.  This is an important topic since more and more kids are being diagnosed with autism. The classes always have great information and did I mention that they are tuition free for teachers?!

I finished one excellent book and started another one.  I would recommend either or both.

I have a new favorite drink that I have been meaning to share for a while - coffee creamer in Diet Coke or Diet Cherry Cola.  (Diet Dr. Pepper is also good).  Anyone who likes ice cream floats will like this - it has that ice cream float flavor without the calories of ice cream.  It is a tasty little afternoon pick-me-up.

Saturday mornings at the Mesa Temple are always peaceful and inspirational and this morning was no exception.  This is quickly becoming a part of my week that I look forward to and miss when I can't attend.

I had my very first blogger luncheon today with blog friend Roe, AKA  Arizona Wild Woman.    I had been reading and following her blog for a while before I realized that she lived quite close to me, in fact, she is just down the street from the school where I teach.  We finally got together for lunch today at one of my favorite Mexican Restaurants, Tia Rosa, pictured above.  We had a lovely lunch and I found Roe to be just as friendly, fun and interesting as her blog is.  Today might have been my first blogger luncheon - I hope it isn't my last.

This sweet young lady, who just happens to be one of my precious granddaughters, started kindergarten this last week.  Here she is all ready for her very first day of school!  Kindergarten - now that is quite a milestone!

The mother of my sweet granddaughter, our daughter Tiffany, shown above with her husband and the rest of her cute family, is celebrating a birthday this weekend! Giving birth to Tiffany gave new meaning to the term Labor Day Weekend ;-) She has always been a blessing and a joy!  We love you so much Tiffany! Happy Birthday!!!

Hope your week had lots of positives too!