My days have been dizzily running into each other and I’ve still had trouble keeping up with what day it really is! I’m thankful that I’m feeling a lot better today and was even able to go with my husband to buy a few groceries. It was nice to get out of the house after a week and a half of being house bound.

I’ve begun working my way through the Together for the Gospel conference messages. They were geared to an audience of pastors, but I have no problem ‘getting’ what they’re saying and find them helpful for my life too. I’m thankful that the audios/videos have been made available to us. When I read bloggers’ reports about attending the conference, I fluctuate between wanting to go in 2014 and being glad I can listen to the messages without having to deal with thousands of other people.

Gas prices have dropped down to $3.89—so much better than the $4.29/gallon we had for a while. Such ridiculous prices.

It’s a beautiful sunny day—I hope yours is too.

So today is Thursday. Told you I was dizzy; see yesterday’s post. I really thought it was Thursday, yesterday.

Still dizzy, but at least I figured it out when I saw your posts today. Am having trouble typing, so will save comments for another day.

Dinner’s in the oven.

We have gorgeous weather today: 72 degrees, with blue sky and sunshine. Perfect weather, according to me.

A sister is in the hospital, a sister-in-law is still in the the hospital. Both are having tough times, but are facing them with faith and courage. I’ll be going back to the hospital tomorrow.

I had a return visit to the dentist on Monday. It takes so much Novocaine to numb the area they were working on, even my forehead was numb. I didn’t quite fly out of the chair this time. Guess I’m really, really sensitive….The dentist thinks it might have something to do with fibromyalgia. He also says that the most difficult work is done. Yay.

Here’s a tip for you for the next time you have blood work done. Ask your doctor to check your C-Reactive Protein level. It’s important.

I’m eager for green leaves to appear on our trees.

Open my front door, and this is what you see….

…and this is the view from my kitchen door. I love how the snow piles up so perfectly on the bench Harry made. I’m thinkin’ it’s a perfect day for Aaron and me to have a bowl of soup and watch a movie.

I spent all morning in the dentist chair, one of my most dreaded places to be. It was meant to be a two-hour appointment, but as things are wont to go, it stretched into three hours. As he began, the dentist said, “Rosemary, will you open your mouth?” I answered, “No.” He laughed and asked if I was going to be problematic. Ha. I had the right idea in the first place; I should have kept my mouth clamped shut, because the appointment turned out to be a difficult process.

Given a choice of genre of music to listen to through earphones, I chose classical. The dentist drilled, drilled some more, and then I just about flew out of the chair. Time for an additional dose of Novocaine. It was so deep I was surprised that the needle didn’t exit the side of my jaw. The music played on, and then….the instrumental tune to “This is my Father’s world, and to my listening ears, all nature sings and round me rings the music of the spheres” began playing. In my mind I sang through all the verses I know. The phrase that I kept repeating was “This is my Father’s world, O let me ne’er forget that though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet…..He speaks to me everywhere.” I could feel tears running from the corners of my eyes down the side of my face. I was glad they had put dark glasses on me so they couldn’t see.

I’m so thankful and glad to be a follower of Christ. A child of God. I’m thankful that not a single part of my life is apart from his sovereign purpose. As I sit in the dentist chair, God is the ruler yet. He speaks to me there, reminding me through an old English tune and some lyrics I learned as a child that he is good. Every place we can be and every circumstance in which we find ourselves is under his rule, and is therefore the best thing for us. And this is a wonder: it serves his glory!

The thought did cross my mind, though, that if I wanted to extract information from a terrorist, I’d put him in a dentist chair and have at it, with insufficient Novocaine. I’m guessing that experience would make waterboarding seem like a day at a water park.

This blog has deteriorated into a Sunday Hymn and Thankful Thursday blog, but I even missed half of that yesterday. My computer was doing strange things and I was unable to use it to write or even comment on posts. (I did read your blogs on another computer, though.) Son Nate was out of town, and he’s my fix-it guy, so I had to wait until he came back and could do his magic. I’m thankful that he can do such things.

On another topic. I’ve had a rather long history of sleeping poorly, but I’ve seen some mighty good improvement lately. I’ve started taking 1000 mg of calcium and 500 mg of magnesium before I go to bed. Boy, has that ever helped! I sleep more deeply and if I wake up in the night, I’m able to get back to sleep right away instead of tossing for hours until daybreak. Such an easy and helpful fix.

We’ll be rooting for the Giants on Sunday. My husband grew up in New Jersey and has been a Giants fan since he was a boy. I think I’m gonna make some sliders and hot wings for our party.

The weather has been so mild our grass is turning green. I’m looking at raised bed directions for a garden this year. If they’re elevated, it will be so much easier for me to take care of, and I’m sure my husband could build them. I can’t wait. I’ll have to do something to protect them from wildlife, though. I’m not keen on gardening to feed birds, bunnies, deer and wild turkeys.

Are you planning to have a garden this summer? Can you tell I’m ready for winter to be over, already?

So I went to a much-dreaded dental appointment this morning, the first of several scheduled in my near future. As it turned out, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be. State-of-the-art techniques and materials in the hands of a really nice hygienist really helped to keep me comfortable.

But the most surprising thing was to be taken to the ‘spa’ section of the office and receive a hand waxing before the procedure began. I said, “You’re trying to distract me, aren’t you?” She laughed and said that was the idea. I’ve never had a hand waxing before, and it really felt good. Kept my hands all warm, and did at least partly distract me.

Does your hygienist do that?

This morning I drove to Milwaukee to see my sisters, take them to lunch, and check out the Home Goods store near their apartment building. Nary a thing caught my eye, at least anything I needed.

Harry attended a downtown business owners breakfast yesterday morning for the first time. The thing about a small town is, everybody notices what you’re doing. We eat in their restaurants, not so much because the food is good–because it mostly isn’t–but to support the local business and get to know the owners. My husband’s clients stay in the hotel, eat in local restaurants and spend money in the mom-and-pop shops. The “So what brings you to town” question* to our clients gets asked and answered frequently, so everyone is very aware of the folks who are there for week for biblical counseling and teaching. Curiosity mounts, and yesterday at the breakfast my husband was able to speak to several people about his ministry. We signed up to host a breakfast at our office in June, the first available date. They asked him to “give a talk” at our breakfast. Isn’t that fabulous? We have prayed for months for our town and that God would use us to make Himself known to the people there. We are frequently amazed as we meet people that they already know about us, and that my husband does “good work.” We thank God for these answers to prayer and we’re excited about whatever He has in store in the months ahead.

*I guess I should explain that our clients are not local. They come from all over the US and sometimes other countries, staying for a week of intensive counseling and teaching. Therefore, they make use of local business, who very much appreciate it.

Yesterday was bread-baking day, apparently. I made three loaves of cinnamon raisin bread–two to share–and a loaf of pumpkin cranberry bread. I like to make my family happy.

I wish the GOP candidates would just cut it out. Squabbling isn’t attractive.

It’s kind of different living in a place where it’s so cold that the snow doesn’t melt away when the sun comes out.

This is to mark our first snowfall of the year. We’ve seen a few flurries now and then, but it’s coming down like it means it right now. Beautiful fat snowflakes. Normally, the first snowfall makes me want to bake cookies…..but I’ve done enough of that lately to curb the urge. The tendency is more to eat cookies, with a hot cup of tea. Not that that is a good thing, either.

In Colorado where we used to live, they’ve had some 18-or-more inch snowfalls already, coming long before Christmas. One more reason I’m glad to be here, not there. But can you believe this is Wisconsin, the end of December, and we’re just now getting our first snowfall?

Yesterday I got a flu vaccine and a pneumonia vaccine. I don’t usually have a reaction to the flu shot, but I sure am achy this time. Must be the pneumonia one. I’m sitting in my robe, drinking lemon-ginger tea; something I always do when I don’t feel well.

Did you know that brushing and flossing your teeth before you go to bed adds six years to your life? Yes, indeedy. If you don’t brush and floss, all the nasty bacteria in your teeth travels straight to your heart while you sleep, causing heart problems. So says my new doctor. So when you’re really tired and are tempted to skip flossing for a night, don’t. Preaching to myself.

The local Christmas parade in Saturday night. Since our office is at the beginning of the parade route, we were asked to host Santa for a while so he can take a little rest after the parade and before heading out to have a bazillion children tell him what they want for Christmas and have their picture taken with him. Of course we said yes. Want me to personally hand him your Christmas list? I could make him read it before he gets the coffee and cookies.

Containers of peeled and cubed butternut squash were on sale for $1.97 at Costco today. I roasted a pan full, then used it to make a quick soup for lunch. Roasting the squash makes a big difference in the flavor of the soup. So good and warming.

Chills are setting in now—must be a reaction to the shot. Think I’ll have a rest.