December 2020 Randoms

 Last 2020 post...thank goodness!

When I wear green it usually brings out the green in my hazel green eyes...

Accurate 

Good catalog covers and catalog things:

These are some of my favorite colors and patterns to wear 😍 

I love teddy bears

Our neighbor in Iowa, the Olympic wrestler Dan Gable, was awarded the Medal of Freedom by President Trump! We watched the ceremony on TV and all of his family was there in the White House with him, including his daughter Jenny and her family, who lived across the street from us. We're still Christmas card buddies, as you will see below. It was really neat to see them on national TV with the president. And Dan Gable totally deserved this honor!

This won the best Christmas card award this year 😄

"Doomscrolling" definitely became a thing for me in 2020

My first time wearing this new dress. Longsleeve dresses are hard to find so I was pleased with this.

 Also, on the side is my new winter coat from Lands' End, which I love, love, love.

FYI

This selfie with Sam didn't quite work...

...but this one did!

A peaceful Sunday afternoon when it was snowing out. It was the Sunday before Christmas.

Pretty house 😍 (from Cape Cod magazine)

A nutritious, orange lunch

A pretty evening sky

I thought it was funny that they titled it "Aunt Becky Released" instead of "Lori Loughlin Released" 😆

From a fun movie night with three of my friends in which we watched the live-action Tarzan movie. The actor who played Tarzan was very pleasing to the eye, especially when he was in Tarzan mode, so one of them made eye candy cake pops, and another one made (stud) muffins! 😂

I spent the evening of New Year's Eve peacefully finishing reading Mayflower. Because I'm nerdy like that. 😊

December 2020 Wisdom

 Here's my collection of accumulated wisdom from last month, at least as far as my phone camera goes. 😄

First, three things about capitalism:

The CEO of Whole Foods is one smart guy. He is spot-on about the benefits of capitalism over socialism, and also about health (he's said that Americans need to take much better care of themselves and that would reduce a lot of the stress on the healthcare and health insurance industries, not to mention on Americans themselves). Before I found out about John Mackey I wasn't so sure about Whole Foods because of its connection to Amazon and Jeff Bezos, but I feel better about shopping there now. I'm going to support this guy!

The roots of capitalism, potentially started by my GREAT (many times over) grandfather.

Good thoughts from this guy who sent his opinion in to The Wall Street Journal. I agree with him. Jesus Christ and His teachings trump capitalism (and everything else).

I thought this obituary was really sweet. Optimistic people are the best.

Personal revelation is more important than ever.

I've been on the receiving end of this lack of commitment, and it's painful. One of the most important things in life is to be committed to the things that matter most, even when it's hard and scary. 

I love this quote.

I've loved this quote for a long time too. 

Franklin Planners forever! 🙌 I've relied on mine for over twenty years now--half my life!

cough*Big Tech and liberal Democrats*cough. We're on a slippery slope in the U.S.

YES!

I've been working on this, especially when trying to see the other side of issues without immediately dismissing them.

More wise words from another WSJ reader.

New Dishwasher

 A few weeks before Christmas our dishwasher died. I don't know how old it was but I suspect that it was pretty old. I'd had someone out to repair it once since moving here, and other times it randomly leaked or didn't work right. So it was kind of a relief for it to finally die. It was not a relief to have to handwash all of the dishes for nearly two weeks, however, which is very inefficient (and wasteful with water, I might add) when compared to the efficiency and convenience of a dishwasher. 

After conducting a little research, I decided to get a Bosch or a KitchenAid, which are the two highest-rated dishwasher brands. We got a Bosch in Iowa when we had to replace our dishwasher there and it was very nice. At Lowe's I found out that most of the Bosch models were on backorder until February or the spring (thanks to China and the virus it unleashed and the havoc it/they have wreaked on manufacturing and supply lines everywhere. Sorry. I'm still bitter.). I definitely wasn't willing to wait that long, plus most of the Bosch models were hundreds of dollars more than KitchenAid, which is pretty much just as good, and there was a model I liked that was in stock, so KitchenAid it was. Less than a week later it had been delivered and installed and life was back to normal as far as dishwashing went. Merry Christmas to me! 

The new one 😍

Ready to get installed here

This picture proves that a kitchen without a dishwasher is incomplete 😉

A perfect fit!

My favorite feature is that it has three racks. The top rack holds cups and glasses on their sides and utensils. What a great use of space! 

When I was dishwasher shopping I noticed that many of them don't have a towel bar anymore, but I wanted a towel bar, which is another reason that I chose the model I did. There's no other good place in my kitchen to hang a dishtowel--I need that bar!

I expect that it will work well for many years to come. {It better, at that price! 😜} 

Here's to new dishwashers and clean dishes! 😊

The Christmas Star

 I think it's really neat that we had a "Christmas star" to end the crazy year of 2020. What a beautiful symbol of hope and peace for those who choose to see it that way. The ideal night to watch it was December 21st, but the sky clouded up that evening so I wasn't able to see it. The next evening, however, was bright and clear and I could see it perfectly. It was neat to see Jupiter and Saturn so close to each other with the naked eye. I wish I'd had a telescope so that I could spot some of their moons or maybe Saturn's rings. Maybe next time, in 2080, when I'll be 100. 👵

Do you see it? It's that bright white spot in the sky in the middle of the picture, above the tree. It was my phone camera, I did the best I could! 

In this picture you can see the two planets side by side a lot better.

I love these thoughts from President Nelson about it.

🌟🌟🌟