Category: introspective

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Autism Mother to Mother Luncheon

For the past several months, I have been part of a committee planning a luncheon for mothers of kids with autism. I was in charge of registration, which included communicating with the moms who had signed up for the luncheon as well as getting everything we needed to hand out at registration together.

It was a lot of work and was stressful at times, but it was so worth it! The event took place last Saturday, and we had over 70 moms in attendance. We also provided childcare for about 20 kids. In addition to the lunch itself, there was a program that was simulcast from the main location in Chambersburg to our location in Harrisburg and one additional location in Lebanon.

One of the neat things about the luncheon is that we find different people to design each table and decorate it with china and a centerpiece and small favors for the moms at that table. We also collect gift baskets and other items to raffle off to the moms. The event was hosted by a local church, New Love in Christ, who provided so much support! The pastor’s wife even created some amazing balloon art for the fellowship hall and the sanctuary.

One of the tables
Several of the other tables
Registration Area
Gift Table
Sanctuary Balloon Art
Fellowship Hall Balloon Art

The speaker for the event was Kate Swenson, co-author with Carrie Cariello and Adrian Wood of Autism Out Loud: Life with a Child on the Spectrum, from Diagnosis to Young Adulthood (which we all got a copy of). She shared about her experiences raising an autistic child and focused a lot on the need to be part of a community instead of living in isolation. It was very encouraging, and I am happy to say that I did make a few new connections that day. I am so glad I decided to get involved with the planning of this incredible event.

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Catching Up – March 2025

March has been one of my busiest months in a while, and I am ready for things to slow down.

One of the things that has been keeping me quite busy is being on the planning committee for the 10th Autism Mother to Mother Luncheon that is taking place this Saturday. I am in charge of registration, which also includes getting everything ready that we are going to hand out in the folders for each mom. I am glad to be working on that and not more people-intensive things like fundraising or recruiting volunteers, but it has still been stressful at times.

I haven’t been able to do much puzzling because of the luncheon planning. I completed two puzzles on my own and two puzzles with friends at the church brunch & craft event. Even with that, one of the puzzles I did on my own was only 99 pieces!

Here is how far I am on my current puzzle:

I did reach a milestone on my puzzle Instagram – I hit 1000 followers! I am quite pleased by that. I only have 150 followers on my Bookstagram, although probably half of those are people I know IRL and I usually average only 10 likes per post on there. I’m not really sure if it will grow much because most of the accounts I look at to consider following are into romance, romantasy, fantasy, or thrillers. On the other end are more literary accounts, which I prefer but don’t feel I can compare myself to. It is harder to find people similar to myself on there, whereas with puzzles it is quite easy to find common ground and even if their tastes are different from mine, I don’t usually mind too much.

I have also started posting my puzzles and book reviews on my Facebook feed. There are a few people who like them and since they aren’t on Instagram, I do it mainly for them. I get nervous posting books that relate to my faith journey because I have a number of conservative friends on there, but no one has said anything mean or argumentative so far. I don’t really want to spark debates; I just want to share what is going on with me and hope maybe it will make someone think a bit.

Michael is still job hunting, but he has had some success in his health journey. He has been climbing stairs during the winter while it has been too cold to go on walks and can really tell a difference in his stamina. He also weighed in at 199 lbs a few days ago when we saw the weight management doctor, which was very exciting! I am very happy for him to be taking care of himself so well. I wish I could say the same about myself.

Here is a screenshot of my puzzle Instagram when it hit 1000 followers:

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Catching Up – February 2025

Peanut Butter likes to hang out with me while I am working (my desk is in my bedroom). He has taken to jumping up on my desk lately, but often he gets comfortable on my bed. He will turn 12 next month and thankfully is in good health.

Lately I have been spending quite a bit of time helping to plan the 2025 Autism Mother to Mother Luncheon. I am coordinating the registration committee. Online registration for the event opened yesterday, and we have had almost 70 moms sign up already! We can accommodate 100, so we still have a few spots left. I am also working on all the handouts, such as the program, name tags, etc.

I am not super involved in fundraising since it is not one of my strengths, but I did get a gift basket donated by my hairstylist for the raffle we are holding at the event. Here’s a picture of it:

My friend Kim and I have been spending our weekly Saturday lunch and movie get togethers going through the Good Witch movies. We have finished all the ones that took place before the TV show started, so now I am watching the show on my own and we are watching the additional movies together where they fit in the timeline.

For Christmas, I had given Kim a t-shirt that mashes together the Bennet sisters from Pride & Prejudice with the Abbey Road album cover from the Beatles. She wore it yesterday so I was able to get a shot of it:

I have really been enjoying the women’s table group at church. We meet every other Wednesday evening and share a meal and discussion about the recent Sunday sermons. The idea popped into my head a few days ago to suggest that we open the group to non-binary people and, when I suggested it to the group, they all seemed to like the idea. Our leader is going to talk to the pastor who oversees the groups and let her decide the best way to communicate it. I am really happy that they liked the idea.

March is going to be a very busy month with the luncheon planning ramping up and lots of appointments for both me and Michael. Work has also been quite busy with lots of overtime needed to keep up. I’m hoping to be able to still carve out some time to relax and recharge by myself.

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Catching Up – December 2024

This is another catch-up post, but hopefully a bit more of a fun one. I’m not going to talk about work or health issues in this one.

In early November, Michael ran a short D&D campaign for me that he created based on Undertale and Delta Rune. It was actually a lot of fun, and I thought he did a great job writing it, drawing the maps, and running the campaign.

I tried a couple of new things in November as well. I had my first meeting on the planning committee for the 10th Annual Mother-to-Mother Luncheon. This year they are having it in three locations, one of which is Harrisburg. I volunteered to run the registration committee. I also attended a potluck and a support group meeting at a new organization called the Neurodiverse Network. I enjoyed the potluck, but the support group was a bit uncomfortable, especially when someone started saying how much they hate autism moms. I used to fit into that category and, although I have changed a lot of my views over time, I am still bouncing between being an autistic woman and the mother of an autistic adult. I haven’t interacted with them any further, and I doubt that I will.

In mid-November, our good friends Bill & Jenn came for a visit one evening. We had dinner and great conversation. Jenn even played puzzle chess with me and liked it enough that she wanted to play a second round!

For Thanksgiving, Michael was at his dad’s house, so I went to Renee’s for the day. Her boys were there as well as a couple of friends. Her boyfriend Chris cooked the meal, and it was fantastic. The brined turkey was so flavorful and my favorite sides were the sweet potato casserole with pecans and the sausage stuffing muffins. I took a 300-piece puzzle to do with whoever wanted to join in (Colorful Harvest, posted earlier this month).

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Kim & I went to see the movie Wicked. I didn’t really know the story, although I had heard a couple of the songs from the musical before. I absolutely loved it! It was 2 hours 40 minutes, but felt much shorter than that. I can’t wait until part 2 comes out next year!

Here are a couple of pictures I wanted to share. One was taken in the front of my church while I was greeting last Sunday, and the other is a picture of my former dog Baxter with his new owner’s mother’s dog Hudson. I am so glad he is still doing well.

I finally decorated my apartment this week, after having the boxes sit in my living room for a week or so. I would like to get a bigger, fuller tree sometime, but this one will do for now.

This week has been a bit busier. On Tuesday, Suzanne came over. We ordered Panera and started a puzzle. On Wednesday, Renee took me to Gabriella Italian Restaurant for my birthday. We had a great time and some wonderful food. On Friday, Jessyca showed up at my place with a Christmas gift for me, a custom puzzle. I was so surprised and happy to see her again after several months of total silence from her. Today, Michael & I went to an open house at a center that our church is considering a move to. We would need to build a worship space to add to the existing building, but it does seem like a pretty good option for us. I’m looking forward to seeing if things work out for this.

I’ll sign off with a pic of my recent haircut. I’m not going to keep it this short, but I do kind of like how it looks.

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My Deconstruction Journey Through Books

My Deconstruction Journey

I have come a long way in the last few years with regard to my faith and my understanding of God and the church. Many beliefs that I never felt comfortable with have been discarded, and other ideas that I had accepted as gospel have been dispelled as man-made and untrue. I have listened to a lot of podcasts and learned a lot from various forms of social media, but I have also read several books that have been very helpful. I still have a long way to go and a lot to learn, but I wanted to share the books I have learned from so far here.

An Early Foray into Deconstruction

The first book I can recall reading in the deconstruction area was in July 2020, and the book was Fierce, Free and Full of Fire: The Guide to Being Glorious You by Jen Hatmaker.  At the time it made me nervous to even be reading the book because some of her views did not align with the doctrine I had been taught all my life growing up in a pentecostal church and then moving into a charismatic church later on.  I ended up skimming the book and not really looking for anything else like it.

A Year of Biblical Womanhood

Fast forward to November of 2023 and I had moved to an inclusive, justice-oriented church and was starting to embrace some new ideas and let go of some old ones.  I then read A Year of Biblical Womanhood by Rachel Held Evans, which was a very readable book detailing how she spent a year trying to live out characteristics and actions commonly thought to make a biblical woman.  She spent one month focusing on each of twelve different areas.  It was fascinating and I felt my spirit opening up to more possibilities of what it could mean to be a Christian.

Fierce, Free and Full of Fire: The Guide to Being Glorious You

After that, in December 2023, I decided to reread Fierce, Free and Full of Fire: The Guide to Being Glorious You by Jen Hatmaker.  I appreciated it a lot more the second time around.  It is a self-reflective book and very encouraging.

Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again

In January 2024, I read another Rachel Held Evans book called Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again.  This book focused on exploring the Bible in a variety of ways using different types of literary expression.  Interestingly enough, one of my Bible professors in college talked a lot about the Bible as literature.  He was considered borderline heretical by some of the students, but he was still pretty conservative in what he shared with us compared to some of what I have read and heard over the last few years.

She Deserves Better: Raising Girls to Resist Toxic Teachings on Sex, Self, and Speaking Up

The next book I read in March 2024 was She Deserves Better: Raising Girls to Resist Toxic Teachings on Sex, Self, and Speaking Up by Sheila Wray Gregoire, Rebecca Gregoire Lindenbach, and Joanna Sawatsky.  This is a book aimed primarily at women who have daughters and want to give them better messages about their bodies and themselves than they would get from purity culture. I really enjoyed this book; even though I don’t have a daughter, it helped me with some of the internalized messages I still had from growing up in a conservative church environment.  This book is based on strong research the authors have conducted and contains a lot of charts and graphs highlighting various results they found.

Where We Meet: A Lenten Study of Systems, Stories, and Hope

During the Lent season of 2024, I attended a virtual Bible study hosted by my pastor, and we read and discussed the book Where We Meet: A Lenten Study of Systems, Stories, and Hope by Rachel Gilmore, Candace Lewis, et al.  The book contained daily reflections with a different topic for each week: Beginning the Journey, Diversity, Postcolonial, Equity, Contextual, and Innovation.  I was introduced to a lot of new concepts that I hope to spend more time studying at some point.

The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth

In May 2024, I read Beth Allison Barr’s book The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth.  In this book, Barr traces the history of the belief that God designed women to be submissive wives, virtuous mothers, and joyful homemakers. This was a well-written, easy-to-follow account of the historical events that have shaped this teaching into what it is today in American conservative circles.  It really helped solidify my thoughts on this topic.

Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation

Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation by Kristin Kobes Du Mez is another book tracing the history of the conservative American church.  I read this in August 2024 and found it thoroughly fascinating and readable.  Du Mez takes us through the last 75 years of white evangelicalism in America, showing us how rugged masculinity and Christian Nationalism have taken over and also how these developments have led to the championing of Donald Trump by the religious right.

The Exvangelicals: Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church

In September 2024, I picked up a recently released book called The Exvangelicals: Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church by Sarah McCammon.  This was a very well-written book that is part memoir and part informational discourse on the issues that arise for people who don’t fit or who start to question the church.  I could relate to a lot of this book and found it very encouraging to the journey I have been on myself.

DNF (Did Not Finish)

I was recently reading Her Gates Will Never Be Shut: Hope, Hell, and the New Jerusalem by Bradley Jersak.  This was my second time attempting this book.  The writing is more dry and complicated, and I just had too hard a time getting through it.  I have always had a lot of fear of hell (and the rapture!), and what I got from what I did read is that there is really no way to know definitively what is going to happen as the Bible can be used to support several different views of the afterlife.  A related book I also DNF’d was Revelation for the Rest of Us: A Prophetic Call to Follow Jesus as a Dissident Disciple by Scot McKnight with Cody Matchett.  That book was too esoteric for me.

Moving Forward

I have noticed that all but one of the books I have read have been written by women.  I think that is interesting.  I have listened to a number of male podcasters, so I’m not anti-men by any means, but it seems like I gravitate towards books that are written from a woman’s perspective.

I have a large list of books related to deconstruction on my TBR.  Here is what I have at this point:

  • Faith Unraveled: How a Girl Who Knew All the Answers Learned to Ask Questions by Rachel Held Evans
  • Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church by Rachel Held Evans
  • A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today by Bonnie Kristian
  • The Evangelical Imagination: How Stories, Images, and Metaphors Created a Culture in Crisis by Karen Swallow Prior
  • How God Sees Women: The End of Patriarchy by Terran Williams
  • Marriage in the Bible: What Do the Texts Say? By Jennifer Grace Bird
  • The Liturgy of Politics: Spiritual Formation for the Sake of Our Neighbor by Kaitlyn Schiess
  • The Ballot and the Bible: How Scripture Has Been Used and Abused in American Politics and Where We Go from Here by Kaitlyn Schiess
  • Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope by Esau McCaulley
  • The Color of Compromise: The Truth About the American Church’s Complicity in Racism by Jemar Tisby
  • How to Fight Racism: Courageous Christianity and the Journey Toward Racial Justice by Jemar Tisby
  • Beyond Fragility: A Skills-Based Guide to Effective Anti-Racist Allyship by Yara Mekawi, Natalie Watson-Singleton, and Danyelle Dawson (I think this is a secular book, but it seems to fit in this list.)
  • The Great Sex Rescue: The Lies You’ve Been Taught and How to Recover What God Intended by Sheila Wray Gregoire, Rebecca Gregoire Lindenbach, and Joanna Sawatsky
  • Baby Dinosaurs on the Ark: The Bible and Modern Science and the Trouble of Making It All Fit by Janet Kellogg Ray
  • God and the Gay Christian: The Biblical Case in Support of Same-Sex Relationships by Matthew Vines
  • UnClobber by Colby Martin
  • Star-Spangled Jesus: Leaving Christian Nationalism and Finding a True Faith by April Ajoy

I am open to suggestions of other books you have found helpful in deconstructing harmful doctrines that are taught in the American church and in finding your way to a more honest and loving faith.

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Catching Up – October 2024

It has been a busy few months, yet I’m not sure how much progress I have made on things.

Michael did have two work assessments, but still has one more scheduled. He is applying for jobs as well. I believe his job coach is now on board with our feelings that Michael would do best in an office environment and without customer interaction. Now the hard part is finding something close by and part time.

Michael’s health is good. He has been losing weight. He is also meeting with his therapist regularly and has really taken ownership of those sessions. I recently took him to the podiatrist, which we learned should probably have been done several years ago, and he gave him some suggestions to assist with his issues. The main problem is flat feet.

Last weekend Michael flew to Minneapolis with his dad and stepmom for his cousin Kyle’s wedding. It seemed to go fairly well, although he was glad to get home.

I am still working on my health issues.

Mental Health – I am very happy with my psych nurse practitioner. We tried increasing my sertraline to help with my anxiety, but it had some side effects that I didn’t like. So now we are trying buspirone, which is supposed to help with anxiety but also may help with some other issues I have been experiencing.

GI – My allergist determined that I do not need Dupixent. She said my condition would now be described as PPI responsive esophageal eosinophila. She wanted me to take the PPI for three more months and then see the GI doc. It took two weeks and several phone calls to get the prescription to the right place and to get the GI clinic to schedule my appointment. It was very frustrating and I had to escalate the issue at both doctors’ offices.

Dental – I have had a cleaning, two fillings done, and a root canal. Next up is a permanent filling over the root canal and an extraction. After that, I’m going to check what’s still available on my insurance and make plans for additional work to be done.

Diabetes – My diet went downhill for a couple of months, but I am doing better with it now. I was starting to feel really tired all of the time and even had some sleep disturbances which my PCP thinks may be related to my blood sugar. She ordered me a Dexcom continuous glucose monitor, and I am looking forward to being able to track my blood sugar and hopefully be more in control of things.

Arthritis – The arthritis in my right hip has been acting up lately. My hip hurt so badly one day that I wasn’t able to put my right sock on, and I had to have Michael help me. After that, I bought a sock aid that Renee recommended, which is really nice. I also had difficulty standing for greeting at church last time I did it. I spoke to Pastor Shannon afterwards and asked if they had a tall chair that I could sit on while greeting. They do have one, and she agreed that I could use it for that.

In fun news, I have been spending my down time reading, puzzling, and streaming shows. I started a second Instagram account to post about books, since my first one has become mostly puzzles. I haven’t posted much on the book account yet, but I hope to keep adding to it.

In puzzle news, I bought a fun accessory – a desktop vacuum. It works great to clean up puzzle dust and even has a nozzle to get in the corners. I also framed my 2000-piece puzzle, Novel Avenue, and hung it above my couch. The frame I got is a bit flimsy since it was intended for a picture or a poster, not a puzzle, but it works for now.

Desktop vacuum
Novel Avenue puzzle

Last Saturday, Kim brought over her puppy Remus for our weekly lunch and a movie. He had just gotten fixed, so she didn’t want to leave him alone. At one point, he laid down on the couch in the same spot that her previous dog Sabbath had chosen when he was here shortly before he passed away. It was so sweet.

Remus
Sabbath

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Catching Up – July 2024

I wanted to write a catch up post since it has been a while. The main areas I want to cover are Michael, work, health, church, and friends.

Michael left his job in May. He was having an emotional crisis and just couldn’t handle it anymore. I’m not going to post the details because it’s not my story to tell, but it was a difficult time. It has taken a while to get new services in place, but we are meeting with a new employment agency next week, and he is planning to complete a community based work assessment. This will involve working for a few hours at several different jobs to see what he likes and has aptitude for. It will also help the new agency to get to know him.

Work is going well. I am continuing to enter new products and also supporting the staff with the ERP. I recently approached my boss about reviewing my title and compensation and did get a new title and a raise. My title has changed from Data Specialist to Software Analyst, which I feel is a good reflection of what I have been doing for a while now.

I have been making a lot of progress on my health lately. I met with a new psychiatrist. She is a nurse practitioner at the Penn State Hershey autism clinic. Our first appointment was about an hour and a half, and we covered a lot of information in that time! We decided to keep my meds where they are for right now and reassess at our next appointment. I am currently taking Risperidone and Sertraline. I am thinking of trying to switch from the Risperidone to a mood stabilizer that would be less likely to cause weight gain.

I also had an EGD recently to check for the level of eosinophils in my esophagus. The pathology report seems to say there weren’t any, which is good news, although the doctor did say there were rings and inflammation visible, which is continued evidence of EOE. I have a telehealth appointment scheduled with my allergist to discuss next steps and what medication would be most appropriate for me.

Another important step I took was visiting a new dentist. I have had one bad experience since leaving my previous dentist due to an insurance issue, but I was hopeful about this one because I had gotten a good referral to them. I was so pleased with them – everyone was friendly and helpful. The doctor explained everything very well, and we are going to work through my dental issues over time. I am scheduled with them for a cleaning and two cavities to be taken care of. I also got referrals for one tooth extraction and one possible root canal. I think that will be a good start, although there will still be more to be done.

My diabetes is going okay. I have had a harder time lately keeping my carbs down. My A1C recently went up from 5.9 to 6.4. The doctor was still happy with that, but I know that I need to do a better job. It’s a constant struggle!

I am still loving my church, The Journey. I am actually watching the service from this morning as I write this post. I didn’t go because I was feeling depressed when I woke up and couldn’t get myself together to go in person. Thankfully, they stream the service online. I have joined the community ministry team and am looking forward to my first event with them, the Back to School party. It’s a Saturday afternoon community event with free food and haircuts and backpacks with school supplies. I am going to help with registration.

With regard to friends, I am still seeing Kim most Saturdays for lunch and a movie. She is going through a difficult time right now. Renee has been busy, but we still text and talk sometimes. I am hoping to plan a visit soon. I have done a couple of things with Suzanne, and she is a good support if I am having a hard day. On a sad note, I haven’t had any contact with Jessyca for several weeks. She lost her job and the last I heard from her was two days after that happened. She has not responded to any of my messages since then. I am so sad about this because I miss her a great deal and I also am quite worried about her.

So that’s an update on my life right now. I feel good about the progress I have made in a lot of areas, and I am looking forward to continuing my efforts to make things better.

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Festival of the Nine Birds

Festival of the Nine Birds is a 1000-piece puzzle from Cross & Glory, which is a new puzzle brand for me. I had seen this puzzle online a while ago and put it on my wishlist, but it was pretty expensive, so I kept holding off on the purchase. At some point, it went on sale enough for me to spring for it.

I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle. The image was so interesting with a lot of different colors and textures, and the piece quality was quite good as well.

Here’s a picture of the finished puzzle:

Normally I post images of my puzzles to Instagram and Facebook. On Facebook, they go on my feed and on two puzzle groups I am a part of. When I posted this one, I got a comment on one of the posts saying that this person won’t do puzzles from the brand because they use AI generated images and lie about it. Another person then commented that they didn’t care if they were AI because they liked the images so much.

I looked into it and there is some discussion on Reddit about this company using AI generated images. Apparently, they used to have an artist’s page that was AI generated but took it down after some people questioned it.

I’m not totally sure how I feel about doing puzzles with AI generated images. I know some people are totally against it on principle and other people just don’t like when companies aren’t upfront about it. On the one hand, the art is generated based off the AI’s consumption of existing art, so it could be considered unfair to those artists. On the other hand, every artist is influenced by what they have seen and experienced in their lives and that is okay.

I am going to have to think about this some more before I come to a conclusion. In the meantime, I already have another puzzle from this brand, and I will be putting it together since I already own it.

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Catching Up – February 2024

My new decor.

A lot has happened the last few weeks, so I wanted to jot things down for myself to remember.

Michael started working his first job in mid-December, and he is currently working 12 hours per week. The job is at a laundry facility that supports the Fort Indiantown Gap. He is working with linens and towels. There have been a few challenges as he learns the job, but he is continuing to improve.

Also in mid-December, I started having swallowing issues again and went in early February to have an endoscopy with dilation. In the meantime, I also visited an allergist to discuss my problems eating eggs. Now that I have been diagnosed with diabetes, it would be helpful to be able to eat eggs. (I can eat them as an ingredient in baked goods, just not in their original form.) The allergist told me about a new medication, Dupixent, that treats EOE and said I might be a candidate for it. She is requesting my GI records to evaluate my case.

After my endoscopy, the GI doc said he did find increased eosinophils and prescribed a steroid called Budesonide. I can only get it in a capsule, however, and I am terrified to try to swallow it because I have gotten pills stuck before. It also can increase blood sugar, and I don’t have a way to check my sugar right now. My PCP said she could put me on a continuous glucose monitor if I needed it. I have decided to just wait until I meet with the allergist to discuss the Dupixent again before I choose whether to take the Budesonide. Another factor is that the GI doc didn’t answer my questions about the medication despite my sending multiple messages to his office, and the allergist is very thorough in explaining things.

In other news, I have been getting more involved at my new church. The women’s table group I was a part of last fall has started again, so I am enjoying that. I also attended my first Ash Wednesday service. It was quite moving, and I have joined a Lenten book study that the pastor is leading weekly over Zoom. We have just had one meeting so far, and there were eight of us including the pastor. I was very nervous to participate, but I did force myself to speak up one time during the session. I am hopeful that by preparing my thoughts ahead of time, I will be able to participate more during the rest of the sessions.

Another thing I am going to be doing at church is greeting one service a month. I met with the hospitality team leader and she showed me what was involved, and next Sunday will be my first time doing it. I am actually not nervous about interacting with people because it should be pretty straightforward. The only thing I am nervous about is whether the arthritis in my right hip will act up. It does bother me when I am standing during worship at church, but I think if I move around a bit while greeting, it will be okay.

In friend news, Renee had her third back surgery. The doctor replaced her remaining rod with two new curved rods and also put in something to help the vertebrae grow. I am seeing Kim weekly for lunch and a movie. Yesterday, she helped me hang the two puzzles in the picture above. I’m really happy with them.

I have also made two new friends at church – Suzanne and Jessyca. Suzanne and I have gotten together three times for dinner, and Jessyca is coming over tomorrow to do a puzzle. I have met some other people that I talk to at church as well. It feels good to be expanding my circle a bit!

I’ll wrap up here as that is quite a lot for one post!

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Winter Break

This year, I took off the week between Christmas and New Year’s. I like having off at this time of year because work is usually slow, and it’s nice to have a few days to just putter around.

Christmas Eve fell on a Sunday this year. I went to the family-friendly morning service and the evening candlelight service. I really enjoyed the evening service, although the wax from the candle did drip onto my hands a couple of times! After church, I redid the puzzle Michael Storrings New York City Subway.

Christmas day was pretty quiet. I watched a few episodes of Silo and did some reading. My mom had sent money for Christmas, and I had bought a few books that had been on my wish list for a while because it didn’t seem like the library was ever going to get them. I have read the first two already and loved them!

Michael came home around 6:30. He had forgotten my presents at his dad’s house, so I gave him mine and opened the couple I had gotten myself, lol. We had dinner together, and then later on, his dad brought over the presents Michael had gotten me. Of course, he got me two puzzles – one for Christmas and one for my birthday!

Wednesday and Thursday Michael had work from 10-2. On Wednesday, Kim came over, and we ate lunch and watched a movie. After I picked Michael up, we went to Target to get a drive up order. I have decided to use Target instead of Amazon when I can due to a package being stolen last week.

On Thursday, I had therapy, which went well. I also went to Barnes and Noble to check out their puzzle selection. They had a good number, but I didn’t see anything I had to have. After I picked Michael up, we went to the Colonial Park Mall to pick up a package from the Amazon locker. That’s what I have decided to do for things I have to get from Amazon.

On Friday, I went to get an oil change. In the afternoon, we attempted to build two dining room chairs. We had built the first two when Bill & Jenn were coming over, but we had more people coming over that evening, so we needed them. One of them was fine, but the other one had an issue with one of the screws not going in properly. I also made artichoke dip and monster cookies. Along with that, I served veggies and dip plus meat, cheese, and crackers.

Friday evening was a lot of fun. Renee and her boys, Evan and Hans, came over along with our friend Chris. They enjoyed the food, and we played part of a game of Star Munchkin. Chris cleaned up my kitchen for me and superglued the chair piece that was causing a problem. It was a wonderful evening!

On Saturday, Kim came over for our weekly lunch and movie. I took a nap that afternoon because I had stayed up way too late the night before. I also went to bed early and woke up Sunday just in time for the online pre-recorded service my church did for what they call Sabbath Sunday. They are closed the week between Christmas and New Year’s to give the staff a rest.

Sunday afternoon, I started a 1000 piece puzzle that I had won in a contest a little over a year ago. I will share that in a separate post. I did stay up until 2 am on New Year’s Day to finish it.

Monday was New Year’s Day and the last day of my break. I slept in, and then Michael and I drove to Target to pick up a vacuum I had ordered. I got him Chick-fil-A since we were near there (I had already eaten lunch). When we got home, I did a 100-piece puzzle as part of the Winter Bingo for The Casual Puzzler’s Facebook group. I also did a 500-piece puzzle, also for the Winter Bingo. I’ll post both of those later this week.

All in all, this was a fun and relaxing break for me. I really like having some time off around the holidays.

Edited to add: I forgot to mention that my friend Kim gave me a 500-piece puzzle when she came over on Wednesday, and I put it together that night.