Happy Homemaker Monday

Hello my dear Friends!

Happy Monday. ☀️

The sun is shining away this morning here in the northwoods. It's been sunny and lovely for about 4 days now and the snow has melted a ton. It's been wonderful! 

But of course we know where we live and we don't get too excited for Spring yet. In fact, there is a storm system a-brewin' and looks like we may get 6 inches of snow or more in the days ahead. ::sigh:: But I dream on Spring...even if I can't get excited yet. :) 

We had a nice relaxing weekend here and hope you did too. 💗 We did a lot of the usuals and also watched more Olympics and celebrated a yummy and mellow Valentine's Day together. I hope you had your batteries recharged, are getting lots of sunshine too, and are ready to dive into the week ahead...

 

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

coffee and a yogurt with berries

ON MY TO DO LIST THIS WEEK:

running some things to my Mom, errands, deep clean master bath cabinets, work projects, hospice work

THINKING ABOUT: 

how the sunshine streaming in gives me such energy and life as I listen to some praise and worship music

THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY:

the smell of a rose (as I sniff at one that I got this weekend) ❤️

CURRENTLY READING

The Selected Journals of Emma M. Lion vol. 1 by Beth Brower (there is a whole series but I'm going to see what I think of the first one)  

ON THE TV TODAY:

 the Olympics, Jeopardy, old seasons of big brother & the office, Junk or Jackpot on HGTV, Best Medicine, the Pitt, Miss Scarlet & All Creatures Great and Small on PBS, cooking shows and movies

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

    MONDAY - BLT's on keto bread, fresh veggies & dip

TUESDAY - chicken soup dumplings, veggie spring rolls

WEDNESDAY -  I plan to fast most of the day for Ash Wednesday

THURSDAY - slow cooker chicken fajitas

FRIDAY - ? not sure

TO RELAX THIS WEEK I WILL:

scrapbook, read, watch a movie

TIPS OR SOMETHING TO SHARE:

FROM THE CAMERA:

Still enjoying cozy days here which include some comfort food moments like my Gram's chickie chip casserole (secret ingredient: potato chips) and the recipe is under my recipe tab. Also, coloring on my ipad, doing more watercolor paintings, and when I'm not crafting I am reading my book or Spring dreaming magazines on the couch in my office with a view. I put the tv on in there with some mood music from youtube. I sit on the chaise lounger side of the couch while Ruby takes her nap on the other side. :) 

I have been finding some fun papers and stickers for our travel scrapbook as I catch up on past and current trips we've taken. 

I especially love this set of stickers I found on Etsy of the epic universe park - right down to the butterbeer and the BBQ and mac & cheese cone Matt loved. 

Valentines with my Honey is always the sweetest. We gave each other cards and little gifts - including he got me the cute Yoshi & Toadette plaque. Those are the characters we always choose when we play Mario Party together or with the kids. 😍  He took my out for a sushi lunch date and the restaurant gave me this sweet rose. Then I made my friend Mari's buttery air fryer steak bites for us for dinner (they were phenomenal Mari! That recipe is a keeper!!) And to go with it I made this smashed potato salad (tater tots) that had cukes, pickles, red onion and bacon with an amazing lemony briny dressing. It was so good too!  And then I made us homemade chocolate fondue for 2 for dessert with dippers of course! Doing extra walking miles this week but such a yummy weekend😋 And we snuggled in and watched the Olympics and shows and played some cards and video games. A perfect relaxing weekend with my sweet Hubby. 

This little stinker doesn't like it when I work on my computer and I don't give him enough attention. Lol I just love him though - I mean the cuteness alone. 😉

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 the Olympics to be fun and safe. For Nancy Gutherie to be found 😢

For the Lord's love and peace to fill 2026. ❤️ 

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

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

Doing lots of this instead of "doom scrolling" 😊 

Blessings on your week Friends! I'm sharing this with my friend Sandra of Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.

Vintage Charm Party: Grandma Scrapbook Made With Love

 Happy Wednesday Friends! And welcome to this month of sunshine, flowers and all the promise of summer to come. I hope you're already sipping some lemonade or sweet tea and easing into the lazy days mindset. 

In getting ready for summer's goodness Ruby got her haircut and looked so cute with her little bumblebees. But going to the salon takes a lot out of a girl...so a nap immediately followed. Pretty adorable isn't she?

And speaking of adorable and summer...I need to get the rest of my flower pots planted so I can use this new sleepy fairy and gate I found when out treasure hunting. Any excuse to dig in the dirt some more works for me. It's definitely a favorite past time!

But on to the main reason I'm posting today and that is to share this sweet album I just finished for my Bestie Mrs. C. She became a grandma for the first time recently with her granddaughter, Thea. So I wanted to make a little something special for her with such a big milestone. 

She loves paper ephemera kinds of things too and so I thought how about going old school and making her a scrapbooked brag book. I know everything is on our phone nowadays. But I thought how lovely it might be to have a small decorated album that can be a keepsake too. It's something where she can easily slide new photos in and out of the page's protective sleeves as Thea grows and changes. And then once she has favorites she can stick those baby photos in to keep and it will be a keepsake. 

This is the cover and the spine with sweet little gold flowers on them:

I found a pack of sweet floral papers and used them, along with some precious baby related stickers. Here are pages if you'd like to see them... along with some sweet details highlighted bigger for you. The first page will have a little white box like the one I edited on the pic to give you an idea. It will include Thea's name, birthdate and weight & size. That's the last detail I need to do. I had a few pics on my phone Mrs. C sent me, so I printed them up with my Canon mini printer and stuck them on for her.

Then for the final page I put this cute Mary Engelbreit print on it with a few more stickers. 

All of our schedules have been so busy, but Mrs C. and I are getting together for lunch soon and I'll surprise her with it. There is talk that I may get to see and snuggle up sweet Thea myself soon! Ooohh I can't wait 😍 The next best thing to having my own grandbaby one day💗

Even though scrapbooks can be considered vintage in today's world - I still love holding tangible memories and creating something out of my imagination in that way. So today I thought I'd share this vintage charm with the Vintage Charm Party held by the lovely blogs My Thrift Store Addiction  and Our Hopeful Home.