Happy Homemaker Monday

Hello and Happy Memorial Day Monday to those celebrating the holiday weekend. ☀️ 🇺🇸 God bless all of the men and women that gave the ultimate sacrifice...and their families too. 🙏 

I hope everyone is feeling ready to greet a new week.  Life here has been crazy, but in the best ways! Matt will be starting his new job a week from now! We have been on the house hunt but the market is still kinda crazy here. Homes going into bidding wars and some folks willing to purchase without inspections - that kind of thing. So it seems as soon as one is on the market it's gone. But he's making an offer on one tomorrow and there are a few more we're going to be looking at too. He will be staying here until that's all settled - so I've been clearing space for his work clothes etc. Plus, my sweet Aaron is coming home for a visit from TX this week too. So you get the idea of the crazy going on. But I'm a happy Momma and Lady and ready to keep rolling with all the fun ahead! ♥️ 

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

           

 

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

cereal with berries, coffee

ON MY TO DO LIST:

chiropractor visits, potentially more house hunting with Matt, errands, hospice work, fun plans with Aaron visiting, groceries, more Europe trip planning

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE   

it 's been gray and rainy or cloudy all day, but now the sun is trying to come out on and off and sends beams through the windows

CURRENTLY READING

ready to start the 3rd book in the series I've been reading - I'll share more next week

ON THE TV TODAY:

 , Love on the Spectrum - US version now, HGTV shows, The Chase, America's Got Talent, Matt & I are looking at what series we want to stream together next.  

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

I feel like I share so many versions of the same menu here as Annie only likes a certain handful of things it seems. One day when Matt is here full time there will be far more variety and a true menu to share. 😋 So in the meantime I will share a recipe or some other kind of food fun here.  

If you look at my pinterest in the column to the right you can check out some new summer kinds of salads I recently pinned under my board "salads". Like this one:

TO RELAX THIS WEEK I WILL:

look at houses with Matt, play cards, walk Ruby, read

TIPS OR SOMETHING TO SHARE:

FROM THE CAMERA:

Had the first s'mores of the season with Matt and Ruby on a lovely night recently - it was wonderful!!

Matt got some cute solar lights for the yard and I love them! They're nice because they're more flush with the ground so you can still mow etc. I want to get more 😍 

 

A Mama bear and her 4 cubs pranced through the yard the other night. One cub is hidden behind this post in my window. They were so cute! 

PRAYER LIST:

My Momma heart can't stop hurting with the recent shooting in Uvalde TX. We have had so many shootings in this country with no real change or reform. What we're doing is NOT working and I believe those lawmakers with the ability to make things change need to finally take a stand and make it happen!! I continue to pray - but this issue is beyond just prayer and we need some kind of gun reform and more mental health resources. It's too easy to become numb and desensitized to it all....and that scares me - and it makes me sad and angry 😢 

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

I'm linking with Sandra of Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.

Happy Homemaker Monday on a Tuesday

Good morning Friends ☀️ 

I hope you're having a wonderful Tuesday! Sorry I'm late this week. I was at Matt's place yesterday.

First of all I have some exciting news! Matt got a job up here! Yay!! He will be moving up here very soon. He knows I want to give Annie even more time to be comfortable and get to know him even more - so he will be getting his own place for now and not moving in here. But I'm THRILLED he will be local!!

Also, I went to the lake property he owns (it used to be his Granny's home) where his folks live in the summers. I got to meet his parents and enjoyed the most wonderful weekend with them! You can see the pics below. 

I apologize in advance for all of the pictures! We were finally able to have Annie's belated birthday party last week - plus she chose to get her nose pierced as one of her gifts!! I also went to my cousin's DIL's baby shower and the decorations were so cute that I'm sharing some of those too. 

😊 

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

yogurt, iced coffee

ON MY TO DO LIST:

chiropractor visits, errands, Ruby's vet appointment, Matt here house hunting, groceries, hospice work, projects, going to Downton Abbey movie with my Mom and SIL - yay!

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE   

nice and sunny and Ruby is sleeping extra hard next to me...she has her vet appointment and she has to take "doggie downers" before I take her because she hates it so much (my poor baby 🤗 )

CURRENTLY READING

Haven't been getting as much reading in - still need to finish my last book and have been reading some magazines

ON THE TV TODAY:

 Greys Anatomy, This is Us, Survivor, New Amsterdam, Love on the Spectrum, HGTV shows. 

I've been catching up on some shows recently and I'm not sure if you watch This is Us, but it's been gutting me! 😭 If you do and are behind skip the rest of this as there are spoilers mentioned. I was catching up on last week's episode. And they were taking turns saying goodbye to Rebecca as she is slowly slipping away after suffering many years with alzheimers. And her mind is processing the "trip" as being on a train. And her daughter in law, Beth, comes in to talk to her. I empathize so much with what she says to her because I lost my MIL to alzheimers. And I was incredibly close to her. She was one of my very best friends, besides being a MIL. And Beth had been around her MIL since she was a teen. And it was the same for me with Cherie - my MIL. And Beth tells her how she spent her whole life doing her best impression of Rebecca to be the best mom she could. And I felt like so much of that was me with Cherie too. And she thanked her for the beautiful complicated boy she raised. And I said the same thing to my MIL when she was dying. Even with the pain I was dealing with in our marriage....I always felt nothing but gratitude he came into my life and all the years I spent with him, and all of them, as my family. 

And later on the bartender on the train is the doc that delivered Rebecca's children. And he talks about how she was a survivor as she almost died giving birth. I also almost died having Aaron. And he goes on to say how tough she is and what a great job she did with her big messy life. And I'd like to think that will be me one day looking back at life. I feel like I have been through some of the hardest chapters of my life already. And through it all I've discovered my strength. And how truly precious all of this is...and I believe it's all about how we approach it, and what we do with it. So much of it is a choice- beyond just what happens to us. 

I am truly trying to heal the last of the pain from what was. To make peace with how things are and the choices that continue to be made and affect my life... but that I have no control over. My children will forever be everything to me, and being a mom is without a doubt the best thing that ever happened to me. I know that my whole life I have been a person that gives my all and cares so much about the people in my life.... but I will say I am mostly proud of the fact that I love with abandon. Even with the biggest love of my life costing me so much pain - I chose to open my heart again. Because I have a heart that wants to keep growing and sharing. And now I just focus on the beautiful, messy, fun-filled, loving and adventurous life ahead of me.  Especially now that Matt will be moving here in the next couple of weeks and we can continue this beautiful chapter we have only just begun. 

♥️ 

....As the character William tells Rebecca at the end of that episode: it's easy to think of life as sad because everything ends and everything dies at some point. But if you give yourself the gift of perspective and seeing the full picture - you'll see that the end really isn't sad....it's just the start of the next incredibly beautiful thing.

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

I feel like I share so many versions of the same menu here as Annie only likes a certain handful of things it seems. One day when Matt is here full time there will be far more variety and a true menu to share. 😋 So in the meantime I will share a recipe or some other kind of food fun here.  

Annie picked a strawberry fudge poke cake for her birthday that I had pinned on pinterest. The recipe was initially from the site you can find here.

TO RELAX THIS WEEK I WILL:

look at houses with Matt, play cards, walk Ruby, 

TIPS OR SOMETHING TO SHARE:

I've heard this is so good by a few people and need to watch it. Anyone else seen it??

FROM THE CAMERA:

smiling with a needle in her nose -can you imagine?? 

I've been loving seeing the bay and flowers out my window 💕 

Loved the woodland theme to the baby shower. They had a big taco bar and these adorable cupcakes. 🦌 

Of course I loved all of the adorable pics of Matt at the lake property. It was kind of cold and they didn't have the dock in yet so didn't get lake photo but it's a beautiful clear lake! Can't wait to go back!! And I loved his parents. Matt said his Mom said that she felt more comfortable with me already, than she ever really felt with his ex wife....I sure took that as an amazing compliment! I just love his folks and look forward to more time with them. We played cards and dominoes. His Mom made some amazing meals for us and we had so much fun. Don't you love the cornball fella in so many of the photos. Lol 😝 

PRAYER LIST:

Prayers of gratitude and thankfulness for so many blessings. I'm so grateful that my Mom's friend is healing well now from her accident! And I met up with an Aunt that I'm close to, as she recently lost her husband (Adam's Uncle) and she's doing really well too. Thanks for those prayers! 

 For Ukraine, Russia, and the surrounding countries taking refugees. For the Lord's light, love, and peace to spread in our world and cast out the dark and bring peace.

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

I know it's not a devotional kind of thing but it struck me as funny. And I relate too well! So thought I'd share. Have a wonderful rest of the week! I'm linking with Sandra of Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.