OneThing #47 - October Summary

This will be short because I never did the calendar for October! Lou died on October 3. His celebration of life was on October 14 (Betty's birthday). We had a very, very busy month. My "mantra" was "One Thing at a time." It helped me to focus on what most needed to get done. 

I didn't have a specific Scripture verse that I referred to, but I definitely prayed for God's grace! Here's a link to Lou's obituary. Viv wrote it. Angela officiated at his funeral service.

Louie and I have all of Lou's worldly possessions here, so I've been trying to work my way through them and move them on to new homes when appropriate. I've donated almost all his clothing. I'm working on the furniture slowly. Also sorting papers - ongoing. It's a lot.

There are SO MANY fun photos of Lou. I like the ones from his youth the best.

He was in football, choir, and drama. He graduated in 1948 from Grand Island High School, Nebraska.

2025 OneThing#46 - Lots of Stuff!

 Here are some of the things that got done the week of October 19-25, 2025:

• We got rid of the popup! A nice young man named Raymond (from Frazee) paid $75 for it and it's finally gone. He shared pics the next day - he had already stripped off all the camper parts and had it down to the frame, axle, and wheels. He plans to make it into an ice fishing house. Very cool! 
• I burned one grocery sack of Lou's papers with medical and/or financial info on them. It took a long time! I alternated some pieces of paper with some of the twigs from our brush pile. I have bag #2 almost full for the next trip to the lake. (Alex gave us an old burn barrel. It's super convenient for this.)
• I subbed for three days and worked extra to get the room cleaned up and info ready for quarter 2.
• Louie and I went to Wednesday evening prayer at church. That was nice.
• We did lots of lake stuff (unloaded the Fiero; transplanted some flowers, mint, and rhubarb; dug dirt to fill low spots; etc.) AND I did two jigsaw puzzles. 

It was a full week and I am glad it included time at the lake! Reading over this, I realize it's not in chronological order. Too bad! I'm moving on . . .

 

2025 OneThing #45 - Miscellany

 I haven't even wiped off my September info and written October in yet!

Here are some of the extra things I've done:

We donated furniture from my father-in-law's room to Bridging in Bloomington. What a great organization! They use volunteers to help with donations, repairs, etc. so that people moving from homelessness to a place of their own can have furnishings and household items. It feels good to donate to them! (And to get rid of things we don't need.)

 

This desk was purchased by my sister-in-law Del and I thought about keeping it in my sewing room. But I am terrible about cleaning and the open shelves are dust collectors.

 

Lou had lots of lovely photos of family members on them. He also liked the pull-out drawer shelf thing.

A few people have commented on how cool this furniture design is . . . art deco, maybe? Sure, there might be a flipper who would love this and give it a new life, but I just wanted it gone.

Lou kept his socks, underwear, etc. in here. It's pretty heavy but the veneer is pulling away in places. I just didn't want to invest more time and energy into this.

The nightstand was sturdy and easy for me to carry alone. It went with the other two items.

I have two pieces of his furniture that Viv said she wanted but she didn't have time to deal with on the day of the funeral.

I have another eight(?) that I'm going to try to sell. Louie is going to keep at least one of the filing cabinets to put tools into up in the pole barn.

Next, I'm tackling the clothing. Everyone who wanted a shirt was able to take one. I've already loaded five bags into my car to drop off tomorrow. There's plenty more here to deal with!

2025 OneThing #44 - Know When to Say When . . .

My plan for 9.28.2025 was to write about sending letters of encouragement to our church's missionaries. That still has not happened. I had good intentions! But I spent many, many hours at St. Francis Hospital with my father-in-law and more time with him at Suite Living. He passed away on Friday, October 3rd at 2:19pm. We are in the thick of funeral planning and pretty much everything else has gone by the wayside.

SO this entry will cover 

• 9/28 - encouragement to missionaries
• 9/30 - September summary
• 10/5 - week of thinking I would be working on my "Abide" fabric word . . . 
• 10/12 - not setting a new goal for this week that's already half over (Hence the title of this entry.)
  

 

I have no idea what my "OneThing" will be for October 12-18. The funeral is on 10/14. We have something planned for each day of the week. Right now, Saturday, October 18 is my only unplanned day for the entire week. Sigh. I have to focus on my blessings because my life is filled with them!

Here's the sign I put up at church inviting people to share with our missions people:

Some people did write notes, but I haven't done my own yet and I think I should just wrap that up and mail whatever we do have!

I love snail mail but I recognize that not everyone enjoys that. Still, I had hoped for a more robust response. We gave people four weeks to participate.

Here's my calendar for a few weeks (I thought I was getting back on track!):

 Actually, weeks one and two went well. It's funny how much of a difference it makes when you rely on the Lord instead of yourself!

I'm also happy with the gift for Benjamin, but I can't believe I didn't get a single photograph at his birthday party!

My verse was from Galatians 6:9-10

 

 

 

 

Here's my fabric for my word for this school year:

My sister Ann expressed some confusion about this word. To me, it's best explained by John15:4. "Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me." 

I want to daily seek God's presence. I want to dwell in the shelter of the Lord. When I try to do things my own way, I end up frustrated / exhausted / defeated. 

Abide is the word I want for this school year! It's also my plan to stop doing the One Word after this school year. Perhaps I'll get back to quilting one of these days.

It's too depressing to take a photo of my house's piles of papers, photos, clothing, etc. And there's still more at Suite Living! We're almost done removing Lou's personal effects. After that, we'll take out the furniture. As usual, we have more to do than time to do it!

2025 OneThing #43 - Benjamin Birthday Gift

My grandson turned three yesterday. I thought of a pretty neat gift idea that was very personalized . . . and realized that I could not bring it to fruition this past week without a lot of stress and / or a disappointing result. I had been turning ideas over in my mind for quite a few months. We are all so blessed, my grandsons included! We have so many things. 

When I realized that I wanted to follow through on my idea but that it was not realistic to have it ready for today's celebration, I decided to work on it for Christmas. I will blog about that at a later date. It was a good call because I've had plenty of other things to occupy my time lately!

I decided to get my grandson a Fisher-Price record player. I realize record players are pretty anachronistic in 2025, but I think it will be a fun thing for him anyhow. I don't care for battery-operated toys, but I love music. I hope he enjoys opening it and playing with it! I sewed the gift bag from some novelty fabric I have.

I love my family so much. I'm glad I get to see some of them this evening!

2025 OneThing #42 - Praise God and Thank Him Each Day

This one should definitely be an "always" goal and not a one week in time thing . . . but it was a very good focus for me this week. Having my grandsons last weekend, helping Lou and Joyce with stuff, subbing two days . . . I needed a bit of a "reset" this week.

Choosing to praise God and be thankful for His love, grace, and mercy helped me to cope with being a bit overtired and overbusy. Putting my focus on the Lord and my gratefulness got me through this week!

I also got to do THREE fun things! Louie and I went out to dinner with Mike and Laurie on Thursday 9/11 at the Brick & Bourbon in Stillwater. I went to my friend Lisa's Decades Dance Party on Friday 9/12 (though I didn't even make it all the way through the 80s). Louie and I went to Lisa's and Tony's backyard concert last night. It was a lovely evening and we had a lovely time!

As a bonus, Pastor Mark Sullivan preached this morning and it was a wonderful message. God is good!

Since I love photos, here are some from the decades party and the backyard concert:

2025 OneThing #41 - Move Lou's Stuff to Pool Table

I'm calling this a success even though there's lots more to be done! My 95-year-old father-in-law recently moved to a care facility. His wife has a tendency to throw everything away without even knowing what it is. I helped her remove all of Lou's stuff and that man LOVES his paperwork! Initially, I put it in the living room, thinking it would be a good place to sort and organize. Having my grandsons over the past weekend meant I needed to clear it out.

I took before pics and laugh to think that my f-i-l wants me to bring his papers to him! (I am bringing him a few file folders at a time. His room is 400 square feet and already has six pieces of furniture in it . . . 

Technically, the four bins / boxes in the back of this last photo are still here from two years ago when my sister-in-law emptied her Maple Grove house. They are mostly photographs, cards, etc. I have a lot of sorting to do!

I don't mind doing this too much, but having dealt with the packrat tendencies of my own parents and siblings, I'm becoming more of a "toss it out" person. My personal focus is: buy less, donate or recycle, make do with what you have. I'm a work in progress!

I wish I had better "after" pictures, but my grandsons kept me busy AND we still have camping stuff out from my August 26 trip up to the North Shore with my sister. Life has been quite full lately!

To be fair, I have plenty of my own papers which I moved to one end of the pool table before bringing Lou's stuff down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So I have my living room "back" mostly. The stuff on the wingback chair is ready to go to his home. The stuff in the laundry basket is being prepped to go. These are the little odds and ends I'm close to getting rid of.

 

 

And here's what I'm facing downstairs in my office space. Wish me luck! Or better yet, come over and help me sort. :-)