Happy Homemaker Monday

Happy Monday Friends! 

Sorry I'm getting to this post a bit late - but I've been busy catching up around my home, as we were gone most of the weekend. My Girl had a double duty sports weekend. A hockey tournament and a volleyball tourney at the same time. We ran back and forth for both and spent many hours in a rink - or even more hours in a gym ALL weekend! It's nutty I know...but when your daughter is a tomboy and loves it all SO much, what's a mom to do? While she's young (& believe it or not these schedules are more reasonable than when she gets older) - it's the time to let her do multiple sports. When she's older it will not be realistic and she'll hopefully know by then what she really wants to pursue. ;) 

I also miss you my Friends! I will come visiting this week as much as possible. Thank you for visiting me and leaving such lovely comments! I love them so much. I read them from my phone even when I'm stuck at sports and such. Lol 

Not much else to report beyond just lots of sports this past weekend. And Friday was my kiddos' last day of Spring break and Annie and I had a fun outing with my Mom. We also stopped to visit my MIL and spent some time with her...which was really nice.  Now Easter week is already here! I can hardly believe it and I need to get moving on getting things ready. Hope you're ready to face the week ahead Friends - because here we go!.....

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

Today is pretty yucky. Cloudy and cold - only in the upper 30's. Maybe rain later? But tomorrow and the rest of the week look much nicer - 50's and sun! Then Saturday it may get even warmer but also may be thunderstorms. Then Easter Sunday (for right now) they're predicting 50's and sunshine! Here's hoping!!

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

small bowl of raisin bran and coffee

RIGHT NOW I AM:

Listening to classical music. Starting my grocery list and looking at my calendar for the busy week ahead!

 

AS I LOOK OUTSIDE MY WINDOW:

Gray and yucky. However, our backyard grass has gotten greener! And there are robins out there right now (& one pesky crow!). Also, our bay is almost completely open - yay!! Only a little bit of ice here and there. Spring is here!

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE:

Got laundry going, dusting and some vacuuming. I have some dishes soaking and need to load rest in dishwasher. Didn't change sheets yet and need to get that done. Just wasn't around much to give my home love this weekend and I was too tired when we got home at night. :P

ON TODAY'S (& this week's) TO DO LIST:

Busy week ahead! I need to go let my Mom's dog out and spend some time with her as my Mumsy has busy activities she'll be out and about for later. Other things going on this week: getting my hair done, getting my son fitted for tux for prom in near future, get Easter groceries, take my Aunt out to lunch for her birthday, color Easter eggs with Annie, do more cleaning for Easter Sunday, kiddo sports for the week etc ....

CURRENTLY READING:

Still trying to decide what I'm going to read next. 

ON THE TV TODAY:

I have several shows to catch up on - Call the Midwife, Grey's Anatomy, cooking shows, Spring Baking Championship (don't know the winner yet so don't tell me- Lol!), and some movies taped.

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

MONDAY: didn't get to the Blue Apron spinach and mozzarella pizza - making it tonight with a salad

TUESDAY: also I froze my ground beef as we did different plan last Fri - so making chili and cornbread tonight (& bring to FIL) and also bake up some chocolate chip bars

WEDNESDAY: No Blue Apron this week - skipped it since it's Easter week. Easy night...wrap sandwiches, chips and fruit salad

THURSDAY: Annie night. Breakfast for dinner: scrambled eggs, bacon, fresh fruit, cherry butter braid baked and then glazed (from our freezer)

FRIDAY:Good Friday - fish for me and not sure about my Crew yet.

**Easter Sunday menu is our traditional one: glazed ham, cheesy potato bake with crunchy topping, strawberry spinach salad with my homemade sugared pecans and poppyseed dressing, corn, deviled egg platter, sliced cheese and crudite, dinner rolls, water, lemonade, iced tea and coffee. Desserts - lemon bars, mini dessert fruit pizzas, assorted Easter chocolates

WHAT I AM CREATING AT THE MOMENT

Final things in kiddos' school year albums and final sorting in their bins. Next up - I ordered a legacy box and going to take my Dad's old family slides to make into CD's for my Brother and myself. Also, having a family reunion this summer and it would have been my Grandpa's 100th birthday (my Dad's father) - so they're making that the theme of our celebration. I have my Grandpa's wonderful old scrapbooks he made for my Grandma during the war (I used to pour over them all of the time as a young kiddo - so when my Gram passed the family wanted me to have them). They have the old black pages in them and he wrote captions for lots of the pics. The books are falling apart so I'm going to save the photos and cut out the captions and make a new archival quality heritage scrapbook and then bring the finished result to the reunion. ;)  

**Also, still working on albums and few final items for my planned Etsy store soon! 

NEW RECIPE I WANT TO TRY THIS WEEK:

???

TIP OF THE WEEK:

I love this because I love listening to music when I'm putting on my make up and doing my hair to get ready. ;) 

FROM THE CAMERA:

Annie got a loving kiss from her Grandma when we visited her in her facility. She didn't know Annie, but she thought she was "awfully cute".  Alzheimer's is such an unfair disease! 

We spent a lot of time here this weekend. My volleyball Girl in action!

Annie's team took 3rd in their hockey tourney! 

Big lake Superior so calm and pretty as we head back over the bridge (look to left side of photo: we cross over between MN and WI  for sports and many other things regularly). You can see the big grain elevators off in the distance too. We have big great lakes ships that come in and load up there. 

Look at that open water on the bay!!! Felix the Frog likes the view. ;) 

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

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

Fun Week

Hello Dear Friends! 

I know I'm very late with this post today, but I thought I'd still try to sneak it in. It's been a wonderfully busy - and fun - week in my northwoods. My Kiddos are on Spring break as I mentioned before. We've all had some fun outdoor time...playing sports in our driveway and playing frisbee with Ruby in our backyard. Even my teenager played along nicely with his sister some of the time, and we all played some fun games together. But my Annie and I have spent a lot of time together. Crafting, playing games, watching shows, shopping etc. So I thought I'd share a few quick photos of some of my week for my 5 things today.  I will try to come around sometime this weekend and catch up visits with many of you lovely Friends! My daughter is in a hockey AND a volleyball tourney this weekend. So we will be doing extra running around! (pray for me!) Lol

ONE

Annie had some buddies sleepover and we had a big day out at the mall and went to Bridgeman's for lunch....and of course ice cream!

TWO

She is definitely my Girl. On the chillier days we put it in a lot of time crafting away! PS: Spot the Ruby in this photo. ;) 

THREE

I recently picked up some old keys at an antique store. I cleaned them up and started using my modge podge and jewelry glue to embellish them a bit. I've made 3 different ones so far (I'll share more in another post). I plan to make a few more yet and then I'll share all about them. I added cording to them in order to re-purpose them to have a second life  as necklaces. 

I, also, recently picked up a new sketch pad, and I was trying my hand at some sketching of different kinds of tulips. Next up I'm going to try coloring them with my watercolor pencils.  

FOUR

We watched the bay begin to open up and even show open water in some areas! I think there's a chance all the ice could flow out by Easter time and we'd have full water again for the season. Yay Spring!!  Even Ruby was enjoying nature's show. ;) 

FIVE

My Mom and I often go visit my MIL (whom has Alzheimer's and lives in a facility) during the week. But it was a special treat to have Annie along to get extra time with her Grandma too. 

I'm sharing this Tricky and Carly of the blog FAST (Family Attempting to Survive the Times) for Five on Friday.

Wednesday Wonder

THE MANY MOODS OF THE BAY

So far this early Spring our bay has been cold, pleasant, foggy, and even magical at twilight and sunset. But I'm especially looking forward to these days ahead:

Summer (& deck life) on the bay are about as good as it gets. The end.

Happy Homemaker Monday

Hello dear Friends! 

Happy Monday and hope you had a lovely weekend. It was a busy one in the northwoods with kiddos' sports (both are in full swing with soccer) and my daughter's hockey. Thankfully no volleyball this past weekend, as I don't know where we would have fit it! Then running errands, groceries, more Spring cleaning of the rooms we hadn't gotten to yet, and of course church time too. My Hubby and I did have a fun date night at home, on Saturday, of movie and pizza - as both kiddos were out with friends. 

Oh one other fun thing - we got our deck furniture for the season! That's pretty early for my northwoods. But it's been so unseasonably lovely this year we felt it was pretty safe to do. Now on to the week ahead! 

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

Today is really foggy and only in the 40's. The week ahead looks okay. Some chances of rain here and there, but some upper 50 degree days too. Maybe even 60 by the weekend! Yay!

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

Banana bread, yogurt with fruit and some coffee. My belly has been better and I'm taking probiotics now too. 

RIGHT NOW I AM:

Listening to Joshua Bell on Pandora along with nature sounds on youtube. 

 

AS I LOOK OUTSIDE MY WINDOW:

Hauntingly pretty fog all around. Might clear up by late this afternoon. 

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE:

Pretty clean from all the work we did this weekend. Already have more laundry going too. My daughter and her friends are playing tag and running around the house. My kiddos have Spring break this week so she had a couple of buddies sleep over. That's why I'm slower getting to this today. I was busy getting their breakfasts settled and talking about plans for today and the sports my daughter has this week. I was also playing games with them a bit too. ;) 

ON TODAY'S (& this week's) TO DO LIST:

For Spring break week going to do a mall day with my daughter (& her friends) for fun. We're also going to have a road trip day with my Mom and take a scenic drive - where there are cute candy shops and coffee and antique shops too...all along the way. Do a fun lunch at a place we love. Just good girlie time. The teenager has several of his own plans. ;) Plus, going to visit my MIL with Annie this week. Make a meal and visit my FIL. Get Annie to some of her practices etc.  I also really need to catch up on visiting many of you today. As well as, I'm hoping to change up my header and things for April. Yay Spring!!

CURRENTLY READING:

I'm still finishing an interesting health book about personality styles and eating and healthy habits. Magazines of course. Newspaper each day and do the crossword and other puzzles.

ON THE TV TODAY:

Some cooking shows taped. Hallmark mystery movies. Amazing race is back for the season - yay! I want to watch the Good Fight (spinoff from the Good Wife), but it's a subscribed service and I'm not sure I want to do that. Ggrrrr. Why do they do that for so many shows nowadays??!! Oh, also Call the Midwife started back last night. I already watched it. Love that show so much!! 

 

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

MONDAY: still hadn't made the kale and cheddar quesadillas - so making those tonight (B.A. meal from last week), and easy pasta for the kiddos. 

TUESDAY: mall day and maybe fun dinner out

WEDNESDAY: Blue Apron delivery - fontina stuffed pork chops with roasted potatoes with pizzaiola sauce

THURSDAY: chicken under a brick with roasted veggies and Italian dressing (B.A. meal)

FRIDAY: hubby requested chili for a last time for the season so going to make that and cornbread and get some to my FIL too. I'll just eat salad and cornbread (no meat for Lent)

** on the weekend I'll make spinach and mozzarella pizza with olives, bell pepper, and ricotta salata (other B.A. meal in this week's delivery)

WHAT I AM CREATING AT THE MOMENT

Not sure how much I'll get to work on things this week with kiddos home on break. I have accomplished so much in my kiddos' school years scrapbooks more recently and I'm almost all caught up! I'm so happy!! I just need to organize their file folders a bit more (with their awards, artwork etc). It will be so nice to put that aside for a while and work on my many other projects! I did have fun at an antique store with a friend over the weekend and picked up some awesome treasures that I'm going to use to make more fun things for my store! I'm hoping to have it up and running by this month or next at the latest. Stay tuned! ;) 

NEW RECIPE I WANT TO TRY THIS WEEK:

Might bake something fun with Annie this week! 

TIP OF THE WEEK:

Do you think this actually works? I have binoculars I use often to check out birds in our yard. Lol

FROM THE CAMERA:

Getting things all Spring cleaned around here.

We had a beautiful day on the bay this past weekend. Warmer temps, sunshine, birds a singing! I took Ruby for a nice walk and recorded some of it along the way on my insta story if you happened to catch it. ;) 

True signs of Spring! Deck furniture, fire table, grill, wind chimes - love it all!!

Made another loaf of banana chocolate & butterscotch bread & brought some to my Mumsy this time too. ;) 

The bay this morning - closed in by the hauntingly pretty fog.

Welcoming April in my planner. 

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

Love this - from my devotional yesterday. xoxo

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