Favorite Things of 2018

This list is shorter than last year's, because I just couldn't think of a lot of things. That makes me sound ungrateful (or boring), but there weren't as many stand-outs. But here are seven, in no particular order.


1. going out for breakfast on Saturday mornings
I think it started when I went out to a local family-owned restaurant earlier this year with my mother, and then my husband felt bad that I'd gone without him, so I took him there for breakfast, too. And now we go several Saturdays each month--enough so that the owner recognizes us. I usually have the country skillet (hash browns topped with ham, onions, green peppers, and two eggs over-easy. And then I don't eat until nighttime.


2. my Mother's Day card
Mother's Day can be a hard day for stepmoms, let me tell you. But my (step)son actually remembered this year, and the card and message he wrote was a sweet one. I cherish those cards.

3. my grandson's band concerts

Is there anything neater than a middle-school band concert? Where they're all squeaky and breathless and gawky. The concerts are blessedly short, because I think I'm as nervous as Bo is. Bo took up clarinet in the sixth grade, and this year (seventh grade), he's trying other instruments and is has been chosen to be a part of the honors band at the university playing bass clarinet.

4. trying a new Chinese delivery

I'd always ordered my Chinese food from the Fortune Cookie, but that place will often close for a month with no warning, leaving me out of luck on Chinese ordering night. So I tried a local buffet place that we've gone to for years but never used for delivery. And it was delicious. My favorite dish is the pork and string beans.

5. Felicity Vuolo

You all know my longtime love the Duggar family. Now that the older kids are married and having lots of babies, I find myself keeping up with lots of Duggar offshoot families. This year I've loved Jinger (Duggar) Vuolo's Instagram feed where she shares photos of her baby girl, Felicity. I've fallen in love with the baby and the name.

6. President George H. W. Bush's funerals
I'm a huge George H. W. Bush fan, and the news of his passing made me so sad. I did a lot of prayerwork this fall to know that the qualities he held in abundance and that I loved so much about him--his integrity, his humor, and his modesty, especially--do not leave the world with his passing. Those qualities of God are ever present. Also, I'd like to have Jon Meacham speak about me and Reba McEntire sing for me some day.

7. jigsaw puzzles
I may have used this one in the past, but I don't remember. I set up the card table in the spare bedroom again this winter, and I've already completed this one and this one. Next up is this one. Sunday afternoon, after all my chores are done, I spend a couple of hours listening to Christmas movies and puzzling.