Happy Homemaker Monday

Hello Dear Friends and Happy Monday to you

I see that my friend Sandra, that hosts HHM, changed up some of the categories. So I'm going to change mine to follow her....just fyi for the changes you'll find ahead.  I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. We had a nice mellow one here... which was kind of nice after all the crazy of the holidays. I had hauled many of the bins of decorations to garage storage. But I also have some storage downstairs. I had hauled things down there but hadn't put it away in the the crawl space. So I worked on a lot of that this weekend. I pulled out the fall and spring/summer decorations in order to put Christmas all in the way back. Then put back everything else accordingly. And i scrubbed and vacuumed everything really well too. It was a project but I'm glad I took the time and now it's done. But I also rested, caught up on some movies, took a bath and did some baking. It was wonderful. And one of the most fun parts is I finished booking a trip for Annie and I to Florida in February to visit Aaron! She has a break from school so we're going to see him and also stay at one of the Disneyworld resorts and do the Disney parks too. Sun and fun soon. Yay! ☀️ 

And today Annie didn't have school due to MLK Day. But she had make up hockey games. So I spent all day at the rink and that's why I'm getting to this late. 

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING

Went to caribou coffee with Annie's friend that came to watch her hockey games too, since we had time to kill after dropping Annie off to get ready. I had a chicken chorizo, meunster cheese, and egg breakfast sandwich that happened to come on a gluten free bun. It was really good! And a cabin bar mocha coffee which was a coffee with a little bit of chocolate and hint of peanut butter too. Total dessert kind of coffee and was naughty and yummy! 😋 

HOW I AM FEELING THIS MORNING:

I'm still a little sore from all of the hauling over the weekend. And I did some workouts too. 

ON MY MIND:

Looking ahead to my schedule for the week and things to accomplish. Also, more reading I want to do on our future trip. Tips for the parks, book fast passes ahead of time etc. 

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE

overall pretty tidy and sun shining in 

CHORE I'M NOT LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS WEEK:

I really need to tackle more deep cleaning and even carpet shampooing - which I don't enjoy. 

 

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, The Bachelor, HGTV shows, American Housewife, 911 Lone Star, some Hallmark movies and still catching up on the Crown on Netflix

 

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

MONDAY -out for dinner with Annie's friend & my Mom too


TUESDAY - tacos


WEDNESDAY - taco salad


THURSDAY - slow cooker pot roast, from the oven dinner rolls


FRIDAY -  pot roast sandwich, veggie chips

TO RELAX THIS WEEK I WILL:

Try to get more reading in. I've been terrible and hot and cold with books. I read the newspaper each day and magazines. But I'd like to at least fully read a book or 2 a month. 

FROM THE CAMERA

One of my favorite places this time of year 🛀 

Used this for bubbles in my last bath and it smelled heavenly!

Got more snow over the weekend and I'm so grateful for the guys that plow my giant driveway but the snow piles are getting outta hand!! Lol

Ruby loves her usual cozy perch ❤️ 

Banana bread that went in this weekend

My Girl in action today defending her goal (white #15)

PRAYER LIST:

A girlfriend going through a hard time, another friend adjusting in a new job




PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:




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

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.