Happy Homemaker Monday

Hello Friends and Happy 2020!

I've missed you. I'm finally joining real life again slowly. My holidays went on and on and it was wonderful! My son was here visiting from FL through New Years and went back home during the first week of January. We did a Christmas with my best friend and her family before he left. And then I hosted our annual girlfriend Christmas this year (we figure we'd been doing it over 30 years!) so I kept all of my decorations up and we just celebrated that this past weekend. I had appointments yesterday and I honestly haven't touched my computer much over the past several weeks. I had over 2,000 emails if that tells you anything. Lol 

So thank you for forgiving my absence and letting me join blogland life again. I feel so happy and hopeful about 2020. There may be many changes happening over the course of this year for me personally and maybe even the professional path I may choose to follow. I will also get officially divorced in this year as well. Again, this year is going to be a time of true change, growth, excitement and I believe happiness in my life. I look forward to sharing the ride with you all! And I look forward to coming around and finally catching up with all of you as well. I'm sure I've missed a lot. But it wasn't just a break for the holidays.  It was time I truly needed for me. The holidays were emotional, as you can imagine. I'm grateful my ex and I get along well. We were able to spend family time while Aaron was home and that was great. But it's still continual change and December was always extra special to us. We always hosted his family for all of the holidays and it was also our anniversary month. So I think I was processing some final grief over things as well. Thank you again for all of your love, prayers and support over this past year that was one of the hardest of my life. It was challenging....but I'm grateful to God for all of it. Because boy have I grown in kindness, forgiveness, compassion and love. I choose a word for the year each new year instead of a resolution. And that was the word I chose for this new year - L ❤️ VE. To grow in the Lord's love, in my love of myself, my children, my family and friends, my community and even my world. 

And I'm so grateful to all of you for being part of it all! 😘 🙏 

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING

cinnamon toast, berries, coffee

RIGHT NOW I AM:

Listening to praise and worship radio and working on my planner for the week

AS I LOOK OUTSIDE MY WINDOW

Cloudy and gray. We got a few new inches of snow last night. They're predicting more for tomorrow too. Ad's work guys were just here plowing my driveway

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE

I see a house in flux. Lol I started taking down the Christmas stuff yesterday since I waited through the weekend with my girlfriend gathering. But I was gone a lot yesterday. So I'm trying to knock out the rest of the put away. My ex always helped and now it's just me so I'm taking my time. Doing it a bit at a time and organizing it all a bit better too. 

ON THIS WEEK'S TO DO LIST:

Dentist appointments, help my mom with appointments, help with her laundry and few other things, Annie's hockey practices, her games this week, helping with senior night at the rink, going to dinner with my Bro and SIL this week, volunteer time, errands, groceries, home projects - going to go room by room and work on cleaning and organization over the next few weeks

 

CURRENTLY READING

Evie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes

ON THE TV TODAY:

 Kids baking championship, the Resident, The Good Doctor, New Amsterdam, Greys Anatomy, This is Us,  Will & Grace, Jeopardy Greatest of All Time, HGTV shows, some Hallmark movies and still catching up on the Crown on Netflix

 

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

MONDAY - leftovers


TUESDAY - muffin tin dutch babies with berries & syrup, bacon, breakfast potatoes


WEDNESDAY - out for dinner 


THURSDAY - senior night at the rink probably grab something there


FRIDAY -  salad bar night

WHAT I AM CREATING AT THE MOMENT

working on some jewelry projects on hold right now, but will share soon

NEW RECIPE I WANT TO TRY THIS WEEK:

??

TIP OF THE WEEK:

FROM THE CAMERA

my Anniebear 

We got to enjoy the glow extra long around here this season. These pics of kiddos are from our Christmas with my bestie and her family - that's her oldest daughter with Aaron and she's also away at college.

We enjoyed lots of comfort food over the holidays and made some of Aaron's faves while he was home like creamy tomato soup with homemade cheesy croutons and homemade twix bars

It snowed so pretty over the weekend and was perfect for one last Christmas with my besties. One of our group lives in CA for the past 20 years so we always miss her and usually call her during our time together. We've all been besties for over 30 years. 

For our GF Christmas we take turns picking a theme each year. Last year one of my friends picked nutcracker. Along with a few nutcracker gifts I found I also created this little nutcracker Christmas album. I forgot to take a pic of the title page, but it said "Favorite Holiday Memories and Recipes".  I found the cute patch on amazon that I hot glued on the cover. So it was a little mini album they could keep pics, stories, and recipes in. We don't draw names or anything - we just keep it generic and just trade differently each year. Unless one of us finds a perfect specific item and they can request to give to that specific friend that year. Also, the gal that picked the theme brought ingredients to make cocktails and brought us each a nutcracker champaigne flute you can see us holding in the photo of all of us. She also made the nutcracker cakes in the other pic. They were eggnog flavor.  I had cute nutcracker napkins to go with snowflake plates but I didn't grab a photo. I made some main dishes and everybody brings other things - we just kind of potluck. And we catch up, laugh, cry, graze, and just enjoy the day. They were here 9 hours if that gives you an idea. And we have done sleepovers before too! They are the family I got to choose and I love them with all of my heart - my true sisters of my ♥️ 

And Ruby is doing great for those that love keeping up on her. She recently turned 8! My sweet girl. 😘 

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

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

Happy Holidays!

Hello my Friends! 

I've missed you all. I hope you're having a wonderfully blessed holiday season so far. 🎄  I know it's crunch time now. But I wanted to take a minute to pop in and share a bit of what's been going on here in the northwoods and give a bit of an update. I meant to continue blogging over the holiday season, but life felt a bit overwhelming with Annie's hockey season extra busy this year. She plays JV and has been suiting up for varsity too and playing a little of it. So it's been extra practices for her then too. Since my ex has been less involved and he has struggled to want to be part of anything holiday, I have been mostly handling all of the holiday efforts around home and our families (& gifts etc). I still want the holidays special and so I have been getting it all done. 😊 
But I have also felt more joy for the first Christmas season in years, because I have a special friend in my life right now. ♥️  He is in law enforcement in a different state and with a different time zone, so it gets challenging at times. Extra time or efforts I have are also spent to communicate with him. He is currently working to get back to my area, as he grew up not too far from here. 

I am looking forward to the weeks ahead to share with family and friends. To share in good food, laughter, and love. And for me it's about remembering the baby born so long ago to save us all. He is always my reason for the season. 🌟  May you have a blessed Christmas and wishing you all joy and peace in 2020. I will be back to blogland after the holidays.