Future Reads

 Last week I went to the North Webster Friends of the Library sale.

I did find some books to purchase. Actually, I want to read a series by Beth Wiseman on Hoopla so these purchases may wait a while.

The closet book I will save for the day we move into an apartment which will probably be 5 or 6 years ahead. We will need to efficiently use limited space. We have some condo neighbors who will be moving into my husband's sister's former apartment. They are having a patio slab installed and redoing the kitchen. They also wanted a new sink vanity in the bathroom, but there are long delays in getting things like this because of the supply problems.

The Jody Hedlund book is Christian historical romance. I have read some of her other books and enjoyed them. Terri Blackstock writes Christian suspense books. Suzanne Chazin is a secular mystery/suspense writer; I have not read any of her books before. The cost for the books was $1 each.

Landscapes of His Grace : a Visual Devotional was published by Charles Stanley's In Touch Ministries. Apparently Mr. Stanley is quite an avid photographer.

Since he has traveled all over the world speaking and ministering, his photos reflect lots of diversity. 

There are devotional entries with comments and Scripture and a photo facing the written page, followed by 2-4 more photos. The main thrust is seeing God not only in His Word but in His world (creation).

I wish they had labelled below or next to the picture where it is or what it is. Instead there is an "index" in the back that correlates with the page number. There are over 200 glossy photos. It resembles a coffee-table book and must have been expensive to publish. The book jacket says $40, but I assume this was sent as a gift to donors. 

I just started it yesterday. It should be a nice resource for several weeks. I will flip back to the index because I do want to know the places photographed. The first photo was a barn in the Grand Tetons that I also photographed. We got up really early so the rising sun would shine on the barn. Looks like he did, too. Probably a lot of people will just drink in the beauty of the photos without using the index.

I am scheduled for an MRI on Thursday (Cinco de Mayo); the follow-up at Fort Wayne Orthopedics will be May 10th. In a week I should have some answers and hopefully some options to relieve pain. 

New Things In a New Year

While grocery shopping today I bought Beyond Meat patties. Normally, these would be too pricy, but today they were BOGO (buy one, get one free). I put them in the freezer to try later. We will see how they compare to the Impossible Whopper burger we ate at Burger King. The store also had Beyond Meat sausages.

I changed from traditional Medicare to a Medicare Advantage plan starting this year. I have been reading thru the materials to familiarize myself with the benefits and costs. I do know that my YMCA membership will be free. I paid $34 per month for an individual membership last year. The insurance company and plan are what my husband has been using so I have some feel for the provisions, but this year they added vision (besides an exam) and dental benefits which could save us more money. I do need to get new eyeglasses, and my husband is thinking of getting a dental crown. Not sure how all of these work yet, but the dental coverage includes out-of-network dentists. We have never had dental insurance our entire lives. The OTC catalog ($50 credit each quarter) is now run thru Walmart though not using the store, just a web site. I created an account for that. I shared my new insurance information with my pharmacy, but I had trouble registering for the mail-order site. I got some phone help yesterday, but in the middle of the call, I suddenly was flipped back to the intro/greeting module and had no way to return to the agent helping me.

I still need to use my new camera more to understand what it has to offer. I decided on my last walk, that the strap which I had attached to the left side of the camera would feel more normal on the right. I just changed that. The memory card does fit into the slot on my computer so I no longer have to use a USB cable to upload my pictures from the camera to the computer. I will pick a few "subjects" to photograph in different modes and with different tweaks to see what the variations are and compare. 

I have some books I want to share with you, but the only one I have completed so far is Educated by Tara Westover. Next week my Bible study group starts up again, but no choir for another week. I will have some free time to read. Our winter so far has had a lot of ups and downs. Cold enough for snow a few days, but then warming up to the high 30's, low 40's so rain is expected. Not extremely cold for the most part, except for wind making it feel colder. Even so, it is not comfortable to walk around outside. Sitting in my recliner reading seems the best option.

I finally sorted through my small chest freezer in the garage. I am ashamed to admit I had a few frozen meals dating back to 2017. I had to toss them. I am going to try using some frozen grated zucchini to make bread. The zucchini is from a year and a half ago; I don't think it will affect the bread or us negatively. We will find out on Saturday when I bake the bread. 

Hope you have some positive aspects to explore for your new year.