Wednesday Wonder

 

Yay for Thanksgiving almost here and the holidays ahead! 

It's cozy season and I'm so here for it this year! I have one chick coming back to the nest tonight and he'll be staying all weekend. Looking forward to spoiling him and his Jill and getting quality time with them. 

Matt & I have been enjoying crisp frosty walks by street light. Bundling up and peeking in neighbor's windows to see their Christmas trees or just cozy lamplight and decorations as we walk by. We can always smell the one neighbor's wood stove when we get close to home and that is one of the coziest aromas around! I love this time of year when home just feels that much more like a haven we love to revel in. 

We come home from those cold evening walks - where we can see our breath...and into our warm home all decorated with twinkly lights and candles. I made up my turkey bone broth last night and it cooked all night in the slow cooker and I then strained it this AM. I'll use that liquid gold to do the make ahead gravy and dressing. And the rest gets put in leftover turkey noodle soup. Yum! 

I also baked up a loaf of browned butter pumpkin butterscotch bread. It's so good! I'll share the recipe soon. Just a few more dishes to prep today as I'm cutting lots of corners this year and I'm not mad about that. It feels wonderful that it's going to be a small relaxed Thanksgiving! The house is all clean and I've got my stretchy pants on standby. Lol 

I hope you and yours and have a wonderfully blessed and cozy Thanksgiving day. 🦃🧡

xoxo

Happy Homemaker Monday

Hello and happy Monday Friends ~

How are things in your area of the world? For my friends in the states - are you getting all set for Thanksgiving ahead? 🦃

We are getting set for it here, but it will definitely be a smaller more casual gathering and it sure makes things in my world nice and easy. My daughter will be staying down south but will be home for a month at Christmas -yay! My son is coming and will be staying with us through the weekend (makes my Momma heart happy!). His Jill will probably hang out here a lot too. My Bro and SIL are going with her family as her parents are moving back to the area that week. And my step Dad is going to spend some time with his daughters. So I think our only guests will be my son (and his Jill popping by later) and my Mom. 

And this year I've been feeling in the spirit to decorate the house early for Christmas - so that's just what I've been doing - with help from Matt of course. :) I have to finish just a couple of things...but for the most part it's all decorated, inside and out, and all my trees are up and only one needs finishing! Also, I have 3/4 of my Christmas shopping done and will start wrapping and have gifts under the tree probably by Thanksgiving! Feeling very accomplished. ☺️✨ And this morning we even woke up to about an inch of snow! Let the holiday season begin ❤️💚

Also, we had a lovely weekend in here in our northwoods: besides errands, decorating etc. We also went to a hockey game on Friday with the C's as Mr. C gets box seats from the bank he works for. It's always so fun!  Saturday we did a Costco run and got some of the Thanksgiving groceries.  And yesterday we went out for brunch with my Mom and step Dad after church and then back to their place to help them decorate for Christmas, play cards, and watch some of the Packer game there (they won again -yay!)

When we got home from my Mom's I finished the downstairs tree while Matt and I watched the rest of the game. 2 of my favorite things - Christmas and the Packers! 

A cute little bunny hanging out in the snow this morning.

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

coffee with sugar-free peppermint mocha creamer (fasting)

ON MY TO DO LIST THIS WEEK:

The rest of the Thanksgiving groceries, finish decorating get bins put away and finish some cleaning, baking and prepping dishes for Thursday, hospice work Friday

THINKING ABOUT:  

How I'm giving myself grace to not make everything homemade this year - I plan to cut some corners and I'm kind of excited that I won't have so much to do this week.  

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE

Listening to Christmas music as per usual. Lol I love looking around and seeing Christmas spirit all over the house and snow out my windows. I'm truly ready to dive in and enjoy this whole holiday season!

CURRENTLY READING

nothing currently

ON THE TV TODAY:

Dancing with the Stars,  Survivor,  Great British Bake Off, Jeopardy, Ghosts, Shark Tank, Grey's Anatomy,  Holiday Baking Championship, Walking Dead catch up

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

    MONDAY - leftovers

TUESDAY -  pasties, veggies and protein ranch dip

WEDNESDAY - something easy....maybe even a little egg bake to use up old veggies (& add cheese & bacon) It will be nice to have for Thanksgiving morning too

THURSDAY - Thanksgiving meal: roast turkey(Matt is doing), mashed potatoes, dressing, gravy, cranberries, broccoli salad, fruit salad, corn dish Matt is making, crudite, cheeses, dinner rolls, pecan pie, butterscotch pumpkin bread, iced cream, hot apple cider and other drinks

FRIDAY - turkey soup from leftovers

TO RELAX THIS WEEK I WILL:

wrap gifts, listen to Christmas music, play games with Aaron & Jill

TIPS OR SOMETHING TO SHARE:

FROM THE CAMERA:

On Friday Matt and I popped into an antique store to check out any unique gifts we might pick up for the holidays (we found a couple of treasures). However, we did not take home this almost life sized spartan statue that had been from an old restaurant. Lol  It was such a nice and we had to walk a little ways to the hockey game and we enjoyed the views of the lift bridge in our area. Then we watched hockey with the C's and Matt snuck a pic of me and my bestie Mrs C getting into the game. 

I found this cute padded placemat at Hobby Lobby and I thought it would be cute under these trees I got to be a centerpiece on the dining room table. I love the placemat looks so vintage northwoods. And I love how the trees glow at night. 

We've got our glow on all over the house now. It's so cozy at night time. We never had outlets outside in front of the house - other than in the garage...but Matt had one put in and he strung up lights outside and I love the big vintage looking ones! And I put candles in all the windows out front too.  🎶 It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! 🎶🎵

Even getting Christmas cozy in the kitchen. I put out a bowl of different cocoas and candy cane stirrers by the keurig instead of a cocoa bar this year. Keeping it simple :) 

The downstairs tree with lots of white garland and accents and all the family decorations is done. I still need to finish the upstairs tree (lots of accents of red and mainly just gold and red ornaments - lots of northwoods theme) Here's a peek of it:

PRAYER LIST:

 For an end to the conflicts all over the world and anyone living in war & fear. For peace and unity in this country, especially from hate and shootings or violence.  For anyone sick, suffering, in pain, fear, loneliness etc ... that God bring them comfort and peace. For Mrs. C's Mom having surgery today. For everyone celebrating this week to have a safe and very Happy Thanksgiving! 

For Christ's Light and Love to cast out the darkness everywhere and help the world find its way. 🙏🏻

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

Even with all the Christmas cozy all around I'm thinking very grateful Thanksgiving thoughts and look forward to the time with loved ones to celebrate our many blessings. I pray you have a wonderful warm and Happy Thanksgiving if you celebrate and that you all have a blessed week ahead. I'm sharing this with Sandra of Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.

Wordless Wednesday

 

Happy Homemaker Monday

Hello and happy Monday Friends ~

I hope you had a fun weekend! 💗

We spent ours out-of-town visiting my Aunt Mary Jo. She moved almost 2 years ago from our area to St. Joseph, MN. It's such an adorable town next to a bigger city. She lives on a college campus (a little section of senior housing there) and her home is so cute. She's involved on the campus with the nuns there and helping in the chapels etc. And I love that we could walk to the local coffee shop for lunch, did some grocery shopping at the co-op, and even some holiday shopping in a cute Christmas shop. She lives less than a mile from lots of neat things like that. While we walked we heard the chapel bells ringing on the campus and it was very pleasant out. Kind of feels like a Hallmark movie in her area. Lol

She wanted to put me on some bank paperwork (she doesn't have any kids) and it needed to be during work day hours. So Matt and I made a weekend of it to get visiting time with her too. We had visited her earlier this year too. She's loving it there and we always have fun with her. We also helped her with picking out some new furniture for her place, as she was in need of it. She said she is "no good with design things" and wanted my "expertise". Lol  She's always been an extra special Auntie in my life and I love that she only lives a few hours away. 

We also went out to dinner one night at a fun hibachi place Matt knew, we hung out and played games, went for walks, and just visited and caught up. Then Sunday came too fast and it was time to head home and we listened to the Packers game in the car on the drive. Kind of an ugly win, but we'll take it! 😁 Hey Jean, did you see we pulled a KC for our game ender this week?😂

Then last night the C's invited us to a favorite local pizza place for a little family gathering to celebrate their youngest daughter's bday. So we hung out with them and their relatives and had pizza and cake. Yummy and fun! Not a bad way to end a weekend! 😋 

Now on to this week ahead...

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

coffee with sugar-free peppermint mocha creamer, half a bagel (will be back to fasting tomorrow) 

ON MY TO DO LIST THIS WEEK:

Christmas shopping with my Mom, decorating here and helping at her place, lunch out with a friend, work on Christmas lights outside, hospice work

THINKING ABOUT:  

mainly holiday lists on the brain: Thanksgiving and Christmas (meals, shopping plans, decorating, gifts etc)

I've caught the bug, and especially since Thanksgiving is so late, I'm going to decorate (or be working on it) before Thanksgiving this year. 

so excited to get the Christmas vibes going ✨

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE

I'm currently listening to kind of a vintage Christmas music station and Bing Crosby is singing about Holly & Ivy. I also hear the hum of the humidifier. I'm wearing my cozy sweatshirt as it's chilly this morning. It's sunny but there's frost on our deck and on the rooftops of our neighbor's homes. I love how frost glistens like diamonds in the sun. 😍 

I'm looking at all the Fall decorations and I think of all the work ahead of me to put it all away, clean (want to shampoo carpets too), and then haul out all the Christmas stuff - and I have A LOT! 🙈 Thank goodness for the help of a strong Hubby! 

CURRENTLY READING

need to get back to my book - but still reading holiday magazines and some cookbooks for holiday recipes ahead 

ON THE TV TODAY:

Dancing with the Stars,  Survivor,  Great British Bake Off, Jeopardy, Ghosts, Shark Tank, Grey's Anatomy, Love is Blind, Holiday Baking Championship, Walking Dead catch up

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

    MONDAY - marinara +meatballs over healthy noodles, foccacia, roasted Italian broccoli

TUESDAY -  clean out fridge

WEDNESDAY - maybe breakfast for dinner - egg bake or scramble

THURSDAY - slow cooker pork fajitas (didn't make last week cuz of trip and froze the roast)

FRIDAY -  out for dinner with C's and local hockey game

*might bake a new bread recipe for butterscotch pumpkin bread made with browned butter - yum!

TO RELAX THIS WEEK I WILL:

ipad coloring, crafting, Christmas decorating 

TIPS OR SOMETHING TO SHARE:

We know this well in the northwoods. If you are wondering about the cat litter, it's to add grip for your tires if you're stuck in an icy spot.

FROM THE CAMERA:

some of the fabric samples we brought back to test colors in my Aunt's home

Matt caught pics of our hibachi time!

These pics are outside my Aunt's back door. I was out with her when we let her dog Luna out. The moon was so pretty. That's her cozy back door and I love the warm light looking inside. :) 

And this was out her front door. The HOA puts up Christmas lights in the neighborhood each year and they had just put them up that day:

And of course our furry babies were so happy when we got home and we had some nap time together late Sunday afternoon. 

I was taking a pic of the sunset from in the house and I loved how the reflection of lamplight was reflected in it

PRAYER LIST:

 For an end to the conflicts all over the world and anyone living in war & fear. For peace and unity in this country, especially from hate and shootings or violence.  For anyone sick, suffering, in pain, fear, loneliness etc ... that God bring them comfort and peace. 

For Christ's Light and Love to cast out the darkness everywhere and help the world find its way. 🙏🏻

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

There is rain in our immediate forecast and then cold temps and snow in our extended forecast. I have a feeling winter may be settling in very soon. Bring on the cozy! 

found these cozy vibe pics on pinterest

Have a wonderful week ahead friends and all my blogging Besties! I'm sharing this with Sandra of Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.