Happy Monday dear Friends 🧡
And....
I think of November as an underrated month. It seems so many like to skip past what this month could be all about and just go straight into Christmas mode. I like to think of November as a time to slow down a bit. A month of gratitude and focusing on blessings. And a month of preparation for all the holiday season to come.
We even have some chances of snowflakes in our forecast! So I'm thinking of hibernation time. We need to put more things away in the shed. Do some final buttoning up the house chores to get ready for the weather that may come our way sooner than we'd like. So that's next on the agenda this week.
But it was a lovely weekend here. Early on Friday we got a delivery that my Dad and step Mom had sent for our October bdays but Halloween was the earliest day they could ship it. My Dad & Mary had gone to New England for a Fall trip and it included Maine. They had the best lobster there and shipped us LIVE lobsters! It was crazy and kind of hilarious how Matt & I had to deal with these live lobsters. But we were able to boil them up successfully and they were amazing! We had a little of them with melted butter right away. Then chilled the rest and I made us lobster roll sliders over the weekend. Then Halloween evening we went to Mr. C's Aunt's home for Halloween and they do a big gathering of family and friends. They put on a giant pot of chili and everyone potlucks all kinds of sides and treats. We hung out there and visited and it was a lot of fun🎃 The C's daughter even popped in with their granddaughter Thea and we got to see her in her costume. She was a dragonfly and was SO adorable! I forgot to get a pic though. She's very much in the "stranger danger" phase of things so she would only stick with her parents or her Grandma (my bestie Mrs. C). Then the C's came back to our house and we stayed up til the wee hours playing cards and gabbing away. Such a fun night!
Saturday Hubby and I ran errands, went to evening mass, and went out for dinner. And yesterday we lounged, watched football (darn Packers lost - boo), and then I went out with a couple girlfriends for our Fall birthdays that we do every year. It was a really fun and relaxing weekend and now it's time to dive into this new week....
THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:
ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:
protein coffee, a piece of the pumpkin cream cheese bread I baked over the weekend
ON MY TO DO LIST THIS WEEK:
errands we need to run, house chores to get done before snow, my Mom & step Dad over for dinner, my hair appt, my face surgery for the little skin cancer spot, home projects, hospice work
THINKING ABOUT:
The chores to get done outside this week. I'm going to tackle cleaning out the pantry cabinets in the kitchen today (tomorrow is garbage day) and give them a good cleaning and I plan to clean my oven this week too. I also got items to put together more blessing bags to keep in my car and need to get them completed.
THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY:
Putting on the fireplace this time of year in the evening sometimes. We will do a no tv night and just be cozy in front of the fire in the living room for the evening - chatting, reading, and relaxing. It makes life feel such a slower pace.
CURRENTLY READING
Some new holiday magazines and an old book I hadn't finished before.
ON THE TV TODAY:
Jeopardy, old seasons of big brother and the office, Great British Baking Show (need to catch up), Dancing with the Stars, Survivor, Shark Tank, Shifting Gears, Ghosts, might start diving into Hallmark movies for fun ;)
ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:
MONDAY - clean out the fridge of leftovers & a salad kit to use up
TUESDAY - (my Mom & step Dad over) slow cooker pot roast (includes potatoes and carrots), I make a gravy from the juices, biscuits with homemade honey cinnamon butter, spiced peach pie with vanilla bean ice cream
WEDNESDAY - protein waffle breakfast sammy's (think scrambled eggs, sausage and cheese in between), veggies & dip, fruit
THURSDAY - tacos
FRIDAY - slow cooker ham & scalloped potatoes, salad
TO RELAX THIS WEEK I WILL:
sketch and paint, crochet, work on what I want to bake ahead for the season and freeze
TIPS OR SOMETHING TO SHARE:
When we were dealing with all of Bubba's health issues recently I found out that essential oils are toxic to pets. When I was doing my diffuser the mist could have been getting on Bubba and when he would lick and clean his fur it could make him sick. So I got rid of my old oils and bought all new pet friendly ones.
FROM THE CAMERA:
Matt's face shows perfectly what we thought about dealing with live lobsters for our bday gift...we both kept joking that at least Halloween was a perfect time to commit murder. Lol 😂🙈 I did apologize to the lobsters and blessed them first. It made me feel a little better. And they were delish 😋
Halloween night I wore my spider web shirt and spider earrings to the party we went to. Bubbs was fully in the Halloween spirit too. I brought sweet and salty munchie mix (bake cheesy spiced nuts and mix with golden grahams cereal), and Halloween bark you chill and then break into pieces. I also baked pumpkin cream cheese bread (so yummy!). You can find all of these recipes fully under my recipes tab.
the moon put on a perfect Halloween show:
