Happy Homemaker Monday

Hello and Happy Monday! Sorry I was kind of MIA for a few days. My dearest "bestie" from way back (since we were 2 years old) was here for a visit over the past week. She now lives in California and I hadn't seen her for 2 years and so we really needed to play catch up! She came with her 2 beautiful kiddos and we had some wonderful quality time all together. We even finally got our new pontoon boat and had fun night all out on that with some other friends too! I thought I would maybe still get more blogging time in, but it just didn't happen. She heads back today so I'm back on track in blogging world. Hope you all had a wonderful well rested weekend too! 

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

It's so beautiful today! It's in the low 70's and sunny and nice breeze! So pleasant and lovely (and it's actually not raining on a Monday! - Lol) It's supposed to hit 76* today - pure summer bliss!!

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

I was not awake when I picked up my MIL and since I hadn't had fast food in a couple of weeks I thought McD's breakfast was in order. So for me it was an egg mcmuffin and vanilla iced coffee.

  AS I LOOK OUTSIDE MY WINDOW:

I'm actually not looking out from my window, I'm outside as I type this! My MIL and I are sitting out on the deck enjoying this beautiful fresh air and listening to the birds sing. I wasn't sure my computer signal would cooperate this well (it doesn't always) but today it is - so yay!! My MIL loves to keep commenting on my "beautiful flowers".  The lilies are up everywhere and the yard was all newly mowed - so it's darn pretty back here this AM.

RIGHT NOW I AM:

Chatting with my MIL, listening to soft pandora enya music (my MIL likes that) and birds singing. Sometimes we take a turn throwing the tennis ball for Ruby and watch her chase it down the hill.  Annie is playing with her friend and the teenager is.....you guessed it SLEEPING!

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE:

I know the dishes are waiting for me in there - have them soaking in the sink.  I desperately need to throw my son's hockey stuff in the wash!! He had a hockey tourney over the weekend and it's smelling, well lets say...ripe. 

ON TODAY'S TO DO LIST:

I need to make up some dinner for the in-law's to take them dinner when I drop off my MIL later. Annie has piano lessons later and when we drop her off going to run some quick errands too. In the mean time I'll get some house chores done and feed us all lunch later and maybe go for a lovely walk.  May have my MIL do some more coloring and she was really able to focus on that project last week.

CURRENTLY READING:

Still catching up on magazines and I have such a wonderful stack of books piling up and I need to find time in my day to get reading!! 

ON THE TV TODAY:

Cedar Cove is back and I did catch up on that late last night. I have some cooking shows taped and we may have an America's Got Talent to catch up on too. We like to watch that one as a family.

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

I made some yummy eats this weekend for my friend's visit. I made some munchie mix, some homemade guacamole and chips, a nice cheese, sausage and cracker platter, fruit, s'mores bars (I'll share the recipe later this week), and I made my blog friend Billie Jo's mixed berry pie. I made it with organic berries and topped the pie crust with a milk wash and a sprinkle of cinnamon/sugar. Then topped it while it was warm with natural vanilla bean ice cream. I'm telling you it was summer heaven on a plate!! I think I'm going to make tacos for the in-law's tonight (my FIL requesting it) and not sure about later in the week. I have an Aunt and some cousins coming for a visit this coming weekend and I have a few dishes planned for that too. I think I may make some tortilla roll-ups and maybe Billie Jo's pie again (it was so good!). Also, a really yummy banana split dessert that I'll share recipe for probably next week. 

WHAT I AM CREATING AT THE MOMENT:

Still addicted to my coloring - aahhh!!! Need to get more caught up on scrapping though. I think I'm going to pre-organize a bunch of pages soon so I can have a fast scrapbook session in the future and knock out a bunch of pages. 

NEW RECIPE I WANT TO TRY THIS WEEK:

Nothing new in mind for this week, but may add something to the grocery list so stay tuned!  

TIP OF THE WEEK:

It's probably a pretty common sense tip - but I find when I'm taking the cooler for a picnic in the park or on the pontoon it works well to freeze some little bottles of water and use them as part of the "ice" that keeps the stuff in the cooler nice and cold. If you're out for a length of time it will melt and be nice and cold to drink too!

FROM THE CAMERA:

the new pontoon!

One of my besties in the whole wide world!

beautiful sky while we were out on the pontoon

fading sunset at the end of the ride

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

and they are such a blessing to me!!

Now I need to get to work and give my MIL some more attention. I will try get around and catch up with everyone over next couple of days as I wasn't able to fully last week either. I'm linking with Sandra from Diary of a SAHM for happy homemaker monday.