I need to take a survey. How many of you do this with your brown sugar:

Is it just a Minnesota thing? I keep a crust of bread in my brown sugar to keep it from going hard, like my mother did before me. It feels like important lore that should be passed on from generation to generation.

New topic: flooring. We’ve been in this house for just about 20 years and have replaced a lot of flooring (almost all of it) over those years. This year, in 2025, the last remaining carpet original to the house will finally be taken away from our sight like the eyesore that it is. The carpet is dead, long live the new Pergo flooring! My husband will be doing all the removal and installation, but I played a somewhat significant role in boxing up all the books that resided in the bookshelves.

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Isn’t it exciting? We have to take what excitements we can whilst living through January.

Blessed be the Lord who daily loads us with benefits – Here are a few from this past week:

a husband who loves working hard
Cortisone shots and happier knees
Prayer time with women at our church via Zoom
Tea time in the afternoon
homemade bread and soup
having a local swimming pool
A formal ball hosted by our church
The hymn: Rise Again Ye Lion Hearted

I’ll probably delete this in the morning…

Knees: A Reminiscence.
I heard these good old knees recall
The former days of glory
When everything they wanted to do
Was an eloquent song and story.

Jumprope? A thing of ease and grace.
Running? No one could stop them.
Kneeling and squatting? Good heavens, those knees,
Nothing, but nothing, could pop them.

Knees: The Middle Ages.
And then one day, a creaking was heard
A pain upon climbing the stairs,
Alarm bells rang when trying to stoop down,
Or lower myself onto chairs.

I’m sorry I took you for granted, my friends
Your service was simply unsung.
Knees of my youth, it wasn’t your fault,
To arthritis you now have succumbed.

Knees: The Cortisone Days
I limped my way to a young MD
A learned doctor of bones,
“You can’t get new knees quite yet, my dear,
But a shot of cortisone!”

“It’s effective, it’s wondrous, it’ll bring relief.”
He said with a smile on his face.
But I, I wondered how long it would last
Before I’d be back at his place.

Therefore we do not lose heart,
But though our outer man is decaying,
Yet our inner man is being renewed
day by day.
2 Corinthians 4:16

I’ll probably give this tired old blog post a shot of cortisone in the morning.

But then, aren’t all snowmen cheerful? These inanimate creations of snow have no troubles, nor anxieties. They don’t even have minds, which cause some of us a lot of trouble some days. But they’re also lifeless and made of stuff that will melt, so there’s that.

Copied from the Instagram account @beck_and_rose.

I’d like to do some knitting this year and maybe make some more felt creatures – I still have a lot of felt leftover after finishing all the creatures in the book The Little Travelers” featuring our favorite froggie, Fig Newton. And I might take up sewing some small projects as well. And small cross-stitch pieces. And of course, I’ll continue to paint and hopefully get better at it.

“Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.”
Excerpt from James 5:13

This cheerful, yet inanimate blog, will melt in the morning.

A friend gave me this charming blank book (thank you, Teresa!) over a year ago and I spent some time contemplating just how I wanted to use it. Prayer request journal? A place to enter books that I’m reading? A place to record ideas for my blog posts?

A couple months ago it came to me: this would be the perfect commonplace book! If you’ve never heard that term, a commonplace book is simply a book in which you record quotes that you come across that you want to save.

And lo, it came to pass. I’ve filled several pages with quotes and plan to continue doing it – from books I’m reading, things I run across online, or something I hear on a podcast. I’m loving it!

Therefore, on Tuesdays this year for a while, I’m going to share some of my commonplace quotes (along with occasional true stories from my life). Feel free to share in the comments section any quotes you’ve enjoyed and appreciated. I might add them to my book!

Send a heavy heart up to Christ;
it shall be welcome.
Samuel Rutherford

The taking up of the cross is the continual daily practice of small duties which are distasteful to us.
Elisabeth Elliot

Tradition is not the worship of ashes,
but the preservation of fire.
Gustav Mahler

When I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me. …
You will cast all our sins into the depth of the sea.
Micah 7:7b and 19b

You can’t solve problems for those people who
don’t want their problem solved.
Anonymous – found in my mother’s music cabinet November 2024

That’s all for now – and you can quote me on that! Unless I delete this in the morning.

First of all, happy new year!

Yes, we stayed up until midnight – pretty bold move for the over-60 crowd, right? We watched “It’s a Wonderful Life,” which ended right before midnight. What did you do to ring in the new year?

We had a Charlie Brown Christmas tree this year. It shed needles constantly. Even as we would vacuum needles off the carpet, the tree saw this as a sign that MORE needles were needed to cover the carpet and would send a shower of them to make up for what we vacuumed up. By the time we escorted it out the door, whole branches were denuded.

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But no matter – Christmas came and went and ours was lovely. I hope yours was too.

There’s a Bible verse that says, “Blessed be the Lord who daily loads us with benefits.” (Psalm 68:19). I want to take a season on my blog to explore these daily loads of benefits – I’ll just do that on Mondays, but will be looking for them every day. Maybe you’ll be inspired to do the same. Here’s a couple examples:

I’m still enjoying the presence of this “Mom Bear.” (See: The Mom Bear) It watches over me while I read the Bible in the morning and is a frequent reminder of my Mom who passed away last year. Thank you, Lord!

A little heater in our living room on these cold days. Thank you, Lord!

All righty then! As usual, even in the new year of 2025, I’ll probably delete this in the morning.