random things on Tuesday

 

Happy Tuesday, friends! How was your Halloween night? I love this night, because it's a night most of us sit in our driveways and pass out candy and talk to the neighbors we don't see all that often. It's always so good to talk and catch up on our kids that are all grown. Have I mentioned we've lived in this house for eighteen years? We have. It'll be eighteen years this month, in fact, so we're some of the older neighbors on the street. When our boys were little and wanted to be here to trick or treat, our whole extended family would come over. I'd always make a big pot of some kind of soup, we would eat, have dessert, celebrate Papa Jerry, whose birthday was on this day, then while the kids trick-or-treated, we would split up and half would stay here and half would go with them. It was always such a fun night! Then our church started having a fall festival and they wanted to go to that, so we started meeting there instead, then it morphed into them wanting to hang out with friends. 

Do or did you have traditions like this? I love hearing about those!

One year we brought a fire pit out there and sat when it was cold. I love a fire pit! A couple of our neighbors had them last night, but it was too warm when everyone first got started. 

This was us sitting outside last night. One of our neighbors took a red balloon and tied it to the grate covering the storm drain, in the style of It. It was the perfect night! Until I came inside and discovered one of the dogs had an accident and then I was irritated at my sons for ignoring them. #reallife

Making a hard subject change, I've decided to start writing Scripture out again. I have taken a break all of this year, but I decided to start back in November. I'm excited! I've done this for about seven years now, and it's something that has helped me memorize the word of God. Have you ever done this? Feel free to join me! I just wrote all of these down in my journal, and I'll use that as a guide each day. There are lots of plans to choose from when you browse Pinterest. 

My husband is still losing weight! He looks great, but all of a sudden, everyone is noticing it. I know that makes him feel so good about himself! He has worked so hard. I, on the other hand, have about given up what I was doing in favor of just eating as healthy as possible and not beating myself up over it. I will still stay away from most carbs, except for at the dinner hour when I need to fill myself up, I'll not eat a ton of sweets if I can help myself—aside from the Halloween candy I consumed last night. I can do what he does all day long, but it just doesn't work for me. I'll keep drinking a protein drink at breakfast and I'll eat protein bars when I'm feeling hungry and want to replace a meal with one, but other than, I'm just going to do my own thing. It takes too much thought to come up with different meals for people! The other thing I'm working on is portion control. And you know what? If I always stay the exact same as I am right now, the same way I've been for the last ten years, he loves me just as I am. At least I'm maintaining where I am right now! I could be gaining, but I'm not. 

He looks amazing! Look at this picture from about five years ago.

He looks so different! I'm really, really proud of him, and also kind of jealous, since he has practically an entirely new wardrobe of things he's held onto for years that didn't fit him and now do. 

Aren't these pictures great? I was so teary watching my brother say goodbye to my dad on Friday when we dropped Paul off at the airport. If I've said it once, I've said it a million times—I hate goodbyes! Life seems to get a little shorter, the older I get. I not only dislike goodbyes for myself, I can hardly watch other people hug and say them. We never know when it's going to be the last time. Speaking of that, my brother did something that I loved while we were on our way to the airport, which is that he told me how much it means to him that I spend every Friday with Dad. He thanked me for that and a few other things, which was very sweet, though unnecessary. I am a fan of not waiting until a funeral to tell someone how you feel about them. Have you ever thought about that, or am I just a really morbid human being? I do think of things like this often and I try to do that with people I love. I am not perfect at it and I do forget lots more times than I remember, but I try. I want to do better at this and be even more intentional! 

Well,  that's about all I've got for this random post of things on a Tuesday. I'll see you back here tomorrow for the Currently link party! Thanks for reading my blog, friends. Love to all!