The Thing Post (October, 2026)

THING ONE

After a recent family gathering, I went into one of our guest bedrooms and found this sweet note on the desk. You can bet it brightened up my day!

THING TWO

I was cutting a red pepper and saw a tiny green pepper growing inside.  To be honest, it sort of alarmed me for a moment until I Googled it and found out it was perfectly normal.  I asked a couple of people if they had seen that before, and they had.  It took me until the age of sixty-four to finally see my first baby pepper inside a big pepper; I feel like it’s a rite of passage, or something.  (One of my friends is curious as to whether or not you could grow a new pepper from a baby pepper; if you have the answer, let us know in the comments.)

THING THREE

I would just like to announce that I am available for free wardrobe consultations because, quite obviously, I have reached the pinnacle of knowledge in this area.

Friday morning at work, my earrings were bothering my ears a little, so I reached up to take them out. And you’ll never guess what I saw.

I saw . . . this.

Do not even ask me how I managed that feat of fashion because I have no idea except that I was running late and obviously grabbing blindly in my earring drawer for whatever I could find.. And the fact that they were the same shape with the same kind of attachment probably played into the decision.  Not everyone has my skills!

THING FOUR

Saturday night we gathered for a (late) 37th birthday celebration for this guy.  (And I hate to say it, but in my muddled, middle-agedness, I forgot to get out the birthday hat.) I love this photo because Nathan’s glance and smile were directed at Meagan.

He threw the paper over his head to carry on his Grandpa Smith’s famous tradition.

Part of our repast included a variety of cheese curds we bought in Wisconsin.  We are definitely a cheese curd family.

THING FIVE

Not to alarm you too much, but this is me getting my hair cut and my grays covered. (Which is one of my least favorite things to do.)

My stylist does a great job of washing those grays right out of my hair.

And don’t you love this necklace with the scarf woven through? I so enjoy creative jewelry.

THING SIX

I read somewhere that Netflix had put out a TV show that uses colors and sounds that appeal to dogs and cats. It’s called Sealook. We put it on the other night as an experiment and sure enough–the dogs were entranced. I guess we’ll pull that up when we leave the house instead of quiet music.

THING SEVEN

You would think that after five decades of cooking, I would have finally figured out the secret of how to cook rice that doesn’t stick together. But I have not. I get rice at a restaurant, and every grain is beautifully separated from all the grains around it. I am just in awe.

I asked a couple of women at work about it: the first one says she sprays the bottom of the pan to keep the rice from sticking, and then during the first six minutes of cooking, she stirs it twice with a fork.  (Which surprised me because I thought you weren’t supposed to lift the lid at all.)

The second woman, who is Asian, said, “Oh, in our house we want our rice to stick together because it’s easier to eat with chopsticks!”

I had never even considered that for some people, sticky rice is a good thing. But not for me. I want mine to be fluffy and separated. If you have any tips, leave them in the comments.

THING EIGHT

When I was at Debbie’s house, and Ruth came over, the three of us worked on putting a puzzle together. It wasn’t done by dinner time, so they cleverly put a tablecloth over the puzzle to keep the pieces in place. And it worked!

Ruth also had another great puzzle idea. When it was time for her to leave, the puzzle was only about 70% finished. She didn’t want to have to start all over again, and so she divided the pieces into four Ziploc bags and wrote left bottom section, top right section, etc. on each bag. That way, when she worked on it at home, all the pieces from each area were in their own bag.

THING NINE

Steve is becoming quite the musician in demand these days.
(Photos from Hope City North FB page.)

Our church has 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. services, so he arrives at the church at 7 a.m. for rehearsal and then plays for both services. And now our church has just opened a new location that meets at 2 p.m.  Until they can build up their congregation and talent pool, Steve is helping out by playing at that service as well.  That makes for a full Sunday.

And then he just heard from a church he played bass at before, and they said, “We really miss you. On your monthly Sunday off from your current church, can you come back over and play with us?” He may or may not do that but it’s nice to be asked.

In addition to him working at a music academy on Monday nights, his musical gifts are definitely not going to waste. And since playing bass is one of his favorite things to do, it’s a win-win. Here he is in his happy place.

Well, that’s all the “things” for this post. Have a wonderful week, and I’ll see you next Monday.

What about you?

Do you know if a new pepper can be grown out of a baby pepper?

Do you have tips to keep rice from sticking together?

Do you enjoy putting puzzles together? 

Have you ever put on two wrong earrings or two wrong shoes?

Do you play an instrument on a regular basis either for fun or out in public?