Sunday, November 6, 2011

Feel-Good Sunday

What feels good today?


I woke up early, having gained an hour. The house was a bit on the chilly side, which is OK, 'cause I like putting on a pot of coffee on a crisp Fall morning in my jammies and wearing a woolen cardigan.


Within minutes of my feet hitting the ground out of bed, the Christmas music was on. That feels better than good.


I put a big enamelware pot on the stove and boiled chicken breasts to make chicken salad for lunches this week. Fasten the seat belt, it's gonna be a crazy one at Unboundary. I'll need lunches to grab on the go. The homey smell of chicken coupled with the Dutchman's Tangello candle burning on the kitchen island . . . one of the many reasons I love Chateau Gahan.





I got all of my errands out of the way yesterday, with the exception of grocery shopping, which I love, by the way. Besides shopping in thrift stores, I'll leisurely walk the aisles of Ingles any day over mall or retail store shopping. I've got to pick up items for an office birthday breakfast (I'm making my standard fare breakfast casserole with salsa side), for The Feast (I do the stuffing and Nana's cranberry salad; might do a green bean casserole as well. Oh, and I have a special treat I'm making as goodies for everyone to take. A little secret . . . this year's theme is "The Kids' Table"), and for our family Thanksgiving meal. What's better than grocery shopping? HOLIDAY grocery shopping!!!!
(And I was made to grocery shop today, and not at the usual Ingles, because I ran into friend Melinda at Publix and we're long overdue to get together.)

My sister Beth, living through a bit of upheaval and healing now, took time out of her crazy schedule to cross-stitch and sew these Christmas hangers for me. She knows I start Christmas November 1, and these arrived in time to kick-off the holiday season with a bit of Sissy to make me smile (and cause me, as always, to miss her like crazy).





Good is getting to the gym both yesterday and today. Come to find out, an hour out of the day to stay healthy is not only doable, but it feels amazing.


Church this morning, as it does every Sunday, made me well-up, especially this day as it is All Saints Sunday, when names of the departed are in print and read aloud, each name to the sound of a church bell. And I was in charge of setting the altar table for communion. I love Altar Guild, all the ritual and holiness surrounding the Lord's Supper.


And one of the sweetest musings of this Feel-Good Sunday post is what began Friday when I got home from work. A phone message awaited me. A woman named Laura who had just found my blog, gushed praises that reminded me how worth it it is to share The Gahan Girls, and apologetically said she had googled me on whitepages.com to find my phone number (All of us bloggers have felt like stalkers at one time or another. Laura, no apologies necessary. In fact, for the most part we're an over-trustworthy lot of well-meaning folks.). Anywho, she had an embroidered piece of art that she's had for awhile, and after reading my blog, she knew she was meant to gift it to me. I called her back and we hit it off immediately. Made arrangements for her to stop by (she lives two towns over), as her son had a sporting event in my neck of the woods. The embroidered piece has my name written all over it, but most heartwarming is that she and I have a ton in common and I've found a kindred spirit in a once-was-stranger. 


On the right, it is covering my fireplace and so you can get an idea of its grand size.








Here it is in Harleigh's room where it goes so perfectly with her color scheme. She'd been drawn to embroidered artwork the few times we've gone into thrift and vintage stores, so there's a good chance she'll be smitten with this one!



May you have a Feel Good Sunday and a feel good week. 
(And thank you, Laura, for doing such a generous thing, for making me feel so good!)

3 comments:

  1. It sounds like a wonderful Sunday. I love Christmas, too, but I never get around to decorating until December, which is okay because I keep the few Halloween decorations I have up until then ;)

    What a lovely gesture from Laura, and a beautiful picture. How sweet!

    Take care
    xo

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  2. You did have a lovely day. And what a sweet gift from a new friend!

    xo
    Claudia

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  3. love this dawn. made me tear up during a meeting. needed that.

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