Happy Homemaker Monday

Happy 1st Monday in August my Peeps!

August is here, and you know what that means? We are only 1 month away from the "ber" months. Yay!! 

For the moment we are still soaking up all things summer though. We have been busy bees over here. We visited with family in cute Bayfield WI (which I shared in my last post). Then this weekend we went to Brennah & Isaac's wedding. Brennah is the oldest daughter of our besties (the C's) It was so much fun to see the C's and their families. I have known the C's since we were all in high school together. My closest girlfriends (also since high school) were there with their hubby's too. We were missing one of our bestie group because she lives out in California now. We had such a blast and I was so happy for the lovely couple! They got a gorgeous day and everything went beautifully. 

Then yesterday we met up with my Bro & SIL for some lunch and mini golf. It's been busy days with my Annie, but we know she heads back to FL for college soon - so we're enjoying every minute!

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

a small 100 calorie hashbrown patty that I air fried and put a little put of salted mashed avocado on top and a drizzle of hot honey. So good! And my iced protein coffee of course 😋

ON MY TO DO LIST THIS WEEK:

errands, cleaning folks I hired for my Mom's place, bring things for my Mom, we meet with the company that is doing a bathroom renovation for us soon (they came to do final measuring and the design team is going to show us the full rendering of their plans), a lab appt for me, a virtual MD appt for me, hospice work

THINKING ABOUT: 

I was just looking at the cute jacket that my step Mom gave me when we spent the Bayfield day with them. She found this seamstress that makes beautiful creations and she got it as a bday gift for me from her and my Dad - even thought it isn't currently my birthday. Lol  But she said she couldn't wait to give it to me because she thought I'd love it so much and would want to wear it as soon as Fall weather begins. (my birthday is really in October) It is the sweetest jean jacket and a true original creation. I love it! The details are so cute. 

THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY:

grilling while we sit out on the deck and listen to the bird song and watch the sunset 

CURRENTLY READING

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brower volumes 1&2

 

ON THE TV TODAY:

Jeopardy, Big Brother (some old seasons and the current one), AGT, taped, we need to get back to House of Dragon and finish this new season

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

    MONDAY -grilling burgers and teriyaki veggie & pineapple skewers (for Annie my non-meat eater), salad, corn on the cob, melon and lemon meringue s'mores for dessert  *this was meal we were going to do last week but Annie wanted pizza instead

TUESDAY - maybe leftovers (Annie & Kris may be out with friends)

WEDNESDAY - breakfast for dinner: french toast, bacon, eggs or omelets (Kris loves ham & cheese ones and I've made him one already for lunch one day he said was "awesome"), fruit

THURSDAY -  ?

FRIDAY - maybe out for dinner

*I have so many fun recipes I have saved on different social media sites. Right now I'm catering to a lot of Annie's requests while she's home. But once she heads back to school I hope to make at least one new recipe a week I can try... and then share with you to share it with you and if we liked it our not.

TO RELAX THIS WEEK I WILL:

read, watch shows, play ladderball or "bags" with the kids

TIPS OR SOMETHING TO SHARE:

 

FROM THE CAMERA:

the blushing bride (my honorary niece)

the bride's sister (my other honorary niece)

the bride & groom's daughter Thea

the C's (our besties)

the venue was so perfectly "them" (they each have a horse and they met at a stables - and the bride has a degree in equine management)

my other besties and their hubbys

they said do something goofy and I was jokingly going to kick my leg up and my friends started to grab it (there may have already been some alcohol involved. Lol 🙈)

the husbands

It cooled off a bit lately, so Matt & I also got a couple miles of walking in:

some lemon balm and hydrangea

dreaming of Fall but still dressing for summer

PRAYER LIST:

 For an end to the conflicts all over the world and anyone living in war & fear, especially everything going on in the middle east right now. 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 newlyweds and their beautiful future together.

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

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:

Love to you all dear Friends and have a great week! 

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

Happy Homemaker Monday

 

Happy Monday dear Friends 🧡

And....

Can you believe we are getting so close to the end of the year already? Time is whizzing by. 

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:

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 government shutdown to end. For my upcoming surgery.

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:

So thankful for all of you Friends and send you wishes for a slow and gratitude filled November. 🍁🧡

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