Happy Homemaker Monday

Hi Friends ~ 

I hope this Monday is finding you well rested and enjoying some sunshine today. ;) We had a nice weekend here. Lots of soccer. Watched more World Cup with hubby and kiddos. Also, Annie played in a local soccer tourney and her team won the championship! Annie even had a goal in one of the games! My Dad and step Mom were able to come watch some of the games too. Their final game yesterday was SO cold though. It was an early game at 7:30AM and it was only 47 degrees outside with the hardest whipping winds. Bbrrr!! But worth it to see them win the championship. One of her soccer games at the same field last week it was 85 with hot sun and no breeze. Welcome to weather in the northwoods. Lol Here's a pic of the Girls wearing their championship t-shirts they got after the game. The front had the name of the tourney and the back said Champs '18. I was in the parking lot already so I got a pic of the front of their shirts while other Mom's were getting a shot of their backs. ;) Annie was pretty proud and happy. 

Now on to the week ahead - 

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

50's to low 60's today - so a little chilly. Gray and cloudy right now. Low 60's tomorrow but then up into the 80's the rest of the week and some chances of rain by the end of the week.

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

A piece of banana bread (I baked yesterday) and a cup of coffee with amaretto cream

RIGHT NOW I AM:

Listening to Enya radio as I was doing some yoga this morning. I've have often been starting my day with some yoga along with my prayer time. I've also been adding a little bit of yoga into my workout time. Harder than it seems! Great for toning for sure

AS I LOOK OUTSIDE MY WINDOW

Watching the trees sway in the wind. Pretty breezy again today. 

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE:

Pretty clean and tidy from the weekend. Annie slept over with her cousins last night - maybe that's why it's so peaceful and clean right now. Lol  I finished up dishes that were left from baking and making dinner last night. Since it was chilly yesterday I took advantage and spent some kitchen time. 

ON THIS WEEK'S TO DO LIST:

Another busy one ahead. Lots of errands need to be run. Groceries this week too. Ruby has a vet appointment. Annie has lots of soccer (practices and travel game). I have my volunteer time and visit MIL and bring meal to FIL. A few other potential appointments too. 

 

CURRENTLY READING:

Still reading this and loving it

ON THE TV TODAY:

  America's Got Talent, American Pickers, Cooking shows, Next Food Network Star, some Billions we still haven't watched, Deadliest Catch, Bear Grylls, Great British Bake Off

 

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

MONDAY: leftover Italian parmesan chicken dinner from last night

TUESDAY: monte cristo roll-ups, fruit, summer salad

WEDNESDAY: hashbrown breakfast pizza topped with sausage, veggies & cheese

THURSDAY: easy night - soccer

FRIDAY: grill or out to eat?

SOMETHING INTERESTING I WATCHED 

I love a lot of British shows and their humor.  Miranda is a British comedy series that starred Miranda Hart (who played Chummy in Call the Midwife). I have watched all of the episodes on YouTube and loved every one and often laughed until I was in tears! You can find the first episode of the first season here.

WHAT I AM CREATING AT THE MOMENT

Scrapbook catch up. More Etsy things. Other projects I'll share in the future. Here is a recent canvas I completed that ended up being French themed. 

I had this vintage Paris postcard that I wanted to use. I liked it against this pretty floral paper, that I left the edges torn as I liked that look. I also like the vintage looking tag with a quote by Victor Hugo.  I have been collecting vintage and several  other kinds of pins that I like to use in projects. So I used one on this sweet little 8x10 canvas - that can be removable and worn. I am also creating other canvases that will be decorated with papers or mixed media and have a spot to clip a photo or a recipe. All in different themes or looks. 

NEW RECIPE I WANT TO TRY THIS WEEK:

Some new summer recipes I want to try that I will share in a post tomorrow when I link up with Jean and Rebecca for 30 days of summer. See my previous post about that and please join in! Such a fun and easy link up and would love to know some of your summer favorites. I hope to link up at least once or twice each week ;) 

TIP OF THE WEEK:

I like to use wool dryer balls instead of dryer sheets. Dryer sheets have so many chemicals on them which then get into our clothes which our skin sucks up. Yuck.  I use these dryer balls with a little lavender essential oil or tea tree oil on them. Just throw 5 or 6 in your dryer and that's it. When I'm taking out the laundry to fold I will often throw the balls into a little basket next to the dryer. Sprinkle on more oil drops and throw them in and the throw in the next load of clothes. I think they cut down on static even better than the dryer sheets anyways. And I can reuse the over and over and over again. I have been using these same ones for months now. There are instructions how to freshen them again if needed. 

Also, I realized I never really shared about our laundry room redo and will do a little post on that soon. ;) 

FROM THE CAMERA:

summer walks with Ruby

butterfly on daisies

first fire of the season under a little summer moon

Ruby being zen by the fire 

Until my Mom brought her dog over. She's a little younger and more hyper than Ruby. Lol

beautiful peonies in the park on one of our walks

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

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

30 Days of Summer: Walks by the Bay

Hi Friends! 

Today I'm sharing a post to link up with my blogging friends Jean and Rebecca.  This blogging series is about sharing some of your favorite things about summer. It will be running through to  September - so just know if you'd like to join the fun you don't need to do a post or link everyday for 30 days in a row. Just when it works for throughout the summer.  I'm hoping to join in a couple of times each week! You can read more about it all here. 

But for my first day joining up I wanted to share one of my favorite things about summer - which is to go walking with my Ruby (if  you haven't figured that out already) :P  I just love it here on the bay - but it's especially beautiful in summertime. We have roads out in my neighborhood that go next to the bay - and then I also like to go to a lovely city park close by our house as well. The park runs along the bay as well.  And all the little bays in my area flow into big beautiful Lake Superior. 

Here's a shot of the bay I took the other day on one of our walks. 

I love to listen to music when I walk. Either something soft and calming. Or something with a good beat to get me to step up my walk a bit. ;)  I love that in the summer, as I walk, I can smell the different flowers in bloom. Throughout these next months I will see lilacs, wild lupine, bridal veil like spirea shrubs, buttercups, Indian paintbrush, honeysuckle,  Queen Anne's lace .... I love them all and will often pick wildflower bouquets to bring home and put in water in my kitchen window.

These shots are from today's walk and I captured this butterfly on a bunch of wild daisies. True picture of summer, don't ya think?   Happy first day of summer to you Friends  xo

Won't you join in the fun and share some of your summer favorites too? I'm linking this post at 30 Days of Summer that you can find here and here.

Happy Homemaker Monday

Hello and Happy Monday to you Friends ~  

This is late edition HHM for me. We weren't around a lot today so I'm finally sitting down now to pop in and do this post. I hope you had a lovely weekend and those that celebrated Father's Day had a great day yesterday. We took my Dad out on Saturday night.  Yesterday we celebrated with Hubby early and then had my FIL over and got my MIL from the facility so she could be here too. WE had lunch with them and watched some World Cup soccer and I made angel food cake with strawberries for dessert. It was pretty stormy on and off all weekend so didn't do too much outside - but got lots done around the house. All in all a nice weekend. Now the week ahead...

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

Today was 78 and sunny and lovely. Looks like 60's and 70's and clear the rest of the week and potential rain again next weekend.

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

1/2 bagel with butter spread, berries, and vanilla hazelnut iced coffee

RIGHT NOW I AM:

Listening to pandora and going through the mail and reading the local paper as i work on this too

AS I LOOK OUTSIDE MY WINDOW

I see my daughter running around outside with her friends and laughing. They were jumping on the trampoline earlier playing a kind of dodgeball game on there. We're often the "hang out" house all summer. ;) We have an extra fridge that we keep stocked with beverages and popsicles etc. 

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE:

I'm looking at my kitchen and some dishes I need to clean up when I go get dinner started pretty soon. Ruby is barking at a squirrel out the window :P

ON THIS WEEK'S TO DO LIST:

Soccer practices, belated lunch with one Aunt, and a get together lunch with a different Aunt, outing with my Mom and Annie, errands, big local soccer tourney coming up this weekend, volunteer time, visit MIL later in the week, bring dinner for FIL

 

CURRENTLY READING:

I had started another book, but then forgot I had ordered this one and it came the other day:

So this is now the one I'm starting because I can't wait to dive in. The Anne of Green Gables series is one of my absolute favorites of all time, that I first read when I was a teenager. I loved the Emily of New Moon ones too. So I'm so excited to read more about the author behind my favorites 

ON THE TV TODAY:

  America's Got Talent, American Pickers, Cooking shows, Bering Sea Gold, Next Food Network Star, some Billions we still haven't watched, Deadliest Catch

 

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

MONDAY: chickie chip on toast, fruit

TUESDAY:ham & cheese baked roll-ups with honey mustard dip, chips, veggies 

WEDNESDAY: leftovers

THURSDAY: penne pasta, salad, garlic bread, dutch apple pie & ice cream

FRIDAY: maybe thaw something to grill?

SOMETHING INTERESTING I WATCHED 

nothing new to share here this week

WHAT I AM CREATING AT THE MOMENT

We had a fun day the end of last week working on some cards for my Mom. She's on a tighter budget and I have so many card making things that when she was hanging out here last week and it was rainy we decided to make some cards she could keep to use for occasions she needs them. My daughter and her friend joined in and we made a nice pile all together so she's all stocked up now. ;)  I've also been working on some of my scrapbooking catch up

NEW RECIPE I WANT TO TRY THIS WEEK:

the dutch apple pie is a new recipe

TIP OF THE WEEK:

I made a more natural daily shower spray recently that will help cut down mildew in our master bath shower. I found the idea on pinterest. I filled a spray bottle with 1 & 1/2 c. water, 1 c. white vinegar, 1/2 c. rubbing alcohol, 1 tsp dawn dish soap, about 15 drops of tea tree oil, and 15 drops of lavender essential oil.  So far it seems to be working great!

FROM THE CAMERA:

Some more flower power from around here:

This is from an instagram story I put up last week - we were visited by a mama snapping turtle looking to lay her eggs on our hill:

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

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