Happy Homemaker Monday

Hello Friends and happy new week to you! 

November has arrived and it sure looks like it around here. Most of the leaves are gone, trees are bare, the ground is brown and leaf covered (except where Matt used the leaf blower Lol), and the geese are flying over in huge groups. Most mornings there is a little bit of ice on the bay. All signs that winter is knocking on the door. 

Did you have a lovely weekend? It was a fun one here. We went out for dinner Friday night. Then Saturday did housework, ran errands and then went to dinner with the C's (& Annie to). Then came to our house and played games (Annie too for a while), and then played cards until late. Sunday was church, brunch and watching football. Then last night we all went to Annie's volleyball banquet. She got several awards (lettered, for academic achievement, and basically the positivity/kindness award - so proud of our girl!!)

Now on to this rainy chilly cozy looking week ahead...

*trying to figure out privacy settings and still not sure if I've got it right - so thanks for your patience!! 😊 

**addendum: I realized it didn't offer a place for you to ask permission to join blog - so I put back to public for the moment. I will get it figured out eventually! Lol

        

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

activia yogurt, blackberries, coffee

ON MY TO DO LIST THIS WEEK:

gf lunch, errands, dinner with my Mom and step Dad, meeting up at Annie's school about a future trip she's taking, Annie's hockey, hospice work

THINKING ABOUT:  

focused mostly on the holidays for now...but I am in contact with our hopeful future wedding venue already and we are beginning some wedding planning ♥️ 

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE

It feels so cozy. It's gray outside and raining on and off. Everything is brown and bare. I have the little kitchen lamp on and I'm listening to Christmas music - don't judge! Once Halloween is over I fully go into Christmas music mode. I don't decorate (other than outside) until after Thanksgiving though. I put way some Halloween things around the house and I have a few of my Thanksgiving kinds of things out now. 🍂 🦃 

CURRENTLY READING

A Slice of Summer by Melissa McClone - because the second book is an autumn one after this one (still reading and some Christmas magazines!)

ON THE TV TODAY:

  Big Brother, Dancing with the Stars, Survivor, Shark Tank, Jeopardy, The Morning Show, Great British Baking Show, Gilmore Girls episodes, movies taped

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

    MONDAY -  salmon baked in basil pesto butter, satueed asparagus with lemon and parm, salad

And making Matt's favorite peanut butter pie for our 2 year "anniversary"

TUESDAY -  roast chicken, cheddar mashed potatoes, salad kit

WEDNESDAY -  cheddar broccoli soup w/ chicken, fruit, veggie tray

THURSDAY - breakfast for dinner? (maybe french toast & sides)

FRIDAY -  out for dinner? 

TO RELAX THIS WEEK I WILL:

going to lunch with girlfriends, play cards with my Mom and step Dad, Christmas shop, read

TIPS OR SOMETHING TO SHARE:

I can be a big gum chewer at times. Do you like gum or does it help you with concentration? Stress? etc

FROM THE CAMERA:

Happy Anniversary to this Sweetheart! 💝 

PRAYER LIST:

 For an end to the conflict in the Ukraine and Israel and of all parts of the world living in war & fear. For peace and unity in this country, especially from hate and shootings or violence.  For all of the families of the victims in the Maine shooting. For anyone sick, suffering, in pain or fear... that God bring them comfort and peace. For His Light and Love to cast out the dark everywhere. 🙏 

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

Have a cozy week ahead! I'm linking with Sandra of Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.

Happy Homemaker Monday (and a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT)

Hello my dear Friends! 

Sorry I'm getting to this post late today, but I've been busy with friends popping in and talking to relatives on the phone because this last weekend was a big one:

I said YES!! 💍 💝 

We were in Green Bay over the weekend - visiting family, but we also went to the Packers game with our friends the C's and Matt proposed at Lambeau field. It was absolutely amazing!! We've talked about getting married one day, and I knew a proposal might come in the near future...but I never expected it there. When we would talk about it I would say don't worry about doing anything elaborate and teased him not to do anything public! So I was in total shock and I will share all in more detail (& a million pics) below. I thank God He brought this amazing man into my life and I look forward to forever with him. 

♥️ ♥️ ♥️ 

*A little side note: I had mentioned in a post the other day that I want to work on making my blog private. I haven't looked into it a lot yet, but I think all you will need to do to continue following me normally is just ask permission to the blog. I apologize if it causes any inconvenience, and I thank you for your understanding. I treasure the time here with you friends! And I'll have lots to share with the future plans and want you all in the loop! Lol 🤗 💕 

        

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

fruit, pumpkin spice biscotti, coffee

ON MY TO DO LIST THIS WEEK:

getting together with friends for Halloween, errands, groceries later in the week, hockey parent meeting, Annie's has hockey practices, getting together with my Mom, hospice work

THINKING ABOUT:  

so many of the very obvious things - wedding planning talk has already begun 💕 

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE

The lights are on as it's early evening and cloudy and gray out - so it's feeling cozy. We're supposed to get some snow flurries this evening already. Winter is definitely in the air.

CURRENTLY READING

A Slice of Summer by Melissa McClone - because the second book is an autumn one after this one

ON THE TV TODAY:

  Big Brother, Dancing with the Stars, Survivor, Shark Tank, Jeopardy, Better Call Saul, The Morning Show, Great British Baking Show, Gilmore Girls episodes, movies taped

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

    MONDAY -  sausage and veggie sheet pan we didn't make last week

TUESDAY -  at Mr. C's relatives for a Halloween party (they're serving chili and fixings - I'm planning to bring caramel apple salad and to try to make my friend Billie Jo's spider web munch dessert)

WEDNESDAY -  pork chop pinwheels filled with wild rice stuffing, cheddar mashed potatoes, veggie side

THURSDAY - pasties with beef, rutabaga and potato, salads

FRIDAY -  clean out fridge/freezer or out for dinner

TO RELAX THIS WEEK I WILL:

read, go for fun chilly walks as now we have to bundle up well! do wedding planning, hang with friends

TIPS OR SOMETHING TO SHARE:

Pro tip: Get engaged to your best friend and be the happiest girl around.

 😉 💕 

FROM THE CAMERA:

Here is the tale of the weekend and I have lots of photos because you know I do that anyways. Lol But I have pics Matt took too. But I will try to keep it as condensed as possible. 

I don't have pics from Friday night -but that night just Matt and I got to Green Bay and went to my Aunt's house for dinner. My other Aunt was there too and my special Uncle Don. We had a wonderful dinner and dessert and sang happy birthday to Matt (as it was his birthday that day). And we visited until late. Such a great night. Then we went to lunch on Saturday with my Cousin Dave and his wife Micki and had a great time catching up with them. It was so fun! The whole weekend was so fun and I wish I could do it all over again. 😊 

Getting into town and can see Lambeau off in the distance

Our hotel even had a funky football mural. Lol Green Bay has such a small town feel for being a bigger city, because everyone is sort of team focused. It's pretty cute unless you're Mr. C who is a Vikings fan. Lol 

Then by late afternoon Saturday our friends the C's rolled into town and we hung out with them. Then we went to restaurant my Aunt had recommended and I had made reservations the week prior. It was such a neat old school supper club. It has been in the same family over 100 years. The atmosphere is just cool and the food was amazing! 

Even though it was located outside of green bay and I made reservations over a week ago it was pretty booked up - but they had their earliest reservation available. So we were the first ones there (along with the C's of course) but about 15 minutes after this pic was taken the place was almost full. 

They had all the supper club kinds of things: a tray of veggies, soft homemade dinner rolls and little garlic toasts and little dishes of ham salad, liver pate, and cheese you could eat on the toasts or with the veggies. We had delish cocktails too! 

I had the lobster ravioli, a side of broccoli and a salad with cranberry vinaigrette and Matt had the wedge salad, NY strip with a side of potato. So good 😋  

Just a neat vibe to all the different dining areas they had in the building and even an old phone booth with a working phone! ;) 

We had all driven in one car and after dinner we drove around my Aunt's neighborhood to show the C's the amazing homes there. My aunt lives in a gated kind of estates community and a lot of Packer players live around her. Some of the homes there are unbelievable! It was dark by then so I didn't get pics - but we had such fun trying to guess which players lived in which homes. Lol Then after that we went to the casino. Mrs. C won money playing slots and Matt and I won money playing blackjack! Mr. C played blackjack too, but sadly didn't win. I think it's cuz he's a Vikes fan. 😉 

Then Sunday was game day! It was the noon game so we got going early. Mrs. C had a former colleague that lived down there and told us to park by her house as she was only a few blocks from the stadium. I loved the cute big spider on her roof. Lol 

The C's in front of us - don't let Mrs. C's light lavender coat fool you. She's a packer fan through and through and her hat was a gray packers one with a matching packers scarf. Go Pack Go! 

A former colleague of Matt's that had lived in GB before said he was going to be there and they tailgate and we should stop by. So the four of us wen to visit with him and his wife and they were so nice. 

We took fun pics along the way back by the stadium. Then before we went in Matt said we should take one in the front of the stadium to truly document the occasion. Little did I know he had tipped off Mrs. C that morning by text what he was going to do so she could film it. 🙈 

I felt like an abominable snow person all day because I had so many layers on (we all did). It was only in the 30's outside. So I had on long underwear, extra pants and like 3 layers under my winter coat. Feeling so attractive. Lol I never thought for one second I was about to get engaged! 

So we had decided we were going to do a picture under the Vince Lombardi statue and when we got there Matt turned to me and started to read some amazing things he had written down in his phone and had tears in his eyes. And I turned to look and Mrs. C was filming and I knew this was it and I immediately started crying and put my blanket up by my face. Lol These are screen shots I took from some of the video. I feel so badly I kept the blanket up by my face but I kept trying to hide my ugly cry. 😂 

And I of course I said yes! And then we pulled ourselves together and we went to hug Mr & Mrs C who were also so choked up and so happy for us. 💗 

Then we went in for the game. And even though the Pack didn't play great it was a very fun game. We had cool people sitting around us and it was fun watching Mr. C be so pleased with himself and we all gave him lots of crap. Ha! We had great seats - 50 rows up behind the Pack bench.

Then it was over all too soon and it was time to head back home. It was a lovely drive. Lots of very WI farms and the sunset was gorgeous. And then the full moon came out. We even drove through a little stretch of snow! 

On the drive we were talking about plans and called his folks and talked to them on speaker phone and I had a lot of texting and talking to family before I made it official on social media. And everyone was over the moon for us. My parents and step parents and most of all my kids. Which moved me so much. They adore Matt and are so very happy for us. It's all just a dream and I feel beyond blessed!! 😃 

And because I know many of you will ask - here's the ring. It's a carat & 1/2 halo diamond ring with yellow gold. And once we're married it will have the diamond wedding band underneath too (like lower pic). I just love that it's kind of vintage looking - almost art deco style and it's just so sparkly and perfect!! 

PRAYER LIST:

 For an end to the conflict in the Ukraine and Israel and of all parts of the world living in war & fear. For peace and unity in this country, especially from hate and shootings or violence.  For all of the families of the victims in the Maine shooting. For my Uncle 

Don having some health issues. For anyone sick, suffering, in pain or fear... that God bring them comfort and peace. For His Light and Love to cast out the dark everywhere. 🙏 

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

I hope you have a great week ahead! I'm sharing this with Sandra of Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.