Happy Homemaker Monday

Hello and happy Monday Friends ~

This is me this AM as I am needing an extra cup of coffee boost and it feels like a Monday. Time to wake up! 

First of all, I hope you had a wonderful weekend. 

I had a great one because I got to spend lots of time with my besties!! We get together every January to do a belated Christmas together. We've been doing it over 30 years now (might be close to 35!) and it's a highlight for all of us every year...and always such an amazing way to begin a new year. They are sisters of my heart that have been with me through thick and thin my whole adult life. We share all that's on our hearts, in our lives, and our dreams of the future. Of course lots of talk about hubby's and our kids and now one of us is expecting a grandchild in June! And we called our other bestie that lives in California now and has been out there for about 25 years or so now. We always pick a theme the year before. Bring a gift related to the theme and anything else fun that fits. This year our meal was even related to our theme! I'll share more below. 

We started that day by going together to a funeral. I mentioned praying for a classmate of ours that lost her husband - and he had been a classmate too. He was a doctor in our area and we all went to the funeral to give some support. Needless to say it was a full house in the cathedral because they were both in so many circles, as well as the fact that he was only in his early 50's. Definitely hit the message home to enjoy each moment because we never know when our time to go will be. So it was nice to get together after (I hosted this year) and gather here and laugh (we always do so much belly laughing) and share and feel the joy of living after such a somber time earlier. I love my girlfriends so much! They are truly the sisters of my heart and I thank God for them every day. 

Then Sunday was a nice relaxation day. Matt & I snuggled in and watched lots of football. Unfortunately my Pack lost to the Eagles and are all done now. Boo! Maybe next year! 

But, finally, what I also wanted to bring up today is the fact that I, as per usual, completely forgot about my blogaversary! It was in November and because it's always a busy holiday time - I think that's why I forget. It was my 10th blogaversary!! Which I can't even believe! But I always like to do a giveaway in the start of the new year. So I will be working on that and share about it soon - so stay tuned! Being a 10th anniversary I may need to giveaway 3 separate prize bundles, instead of just 2, to make it  extra special. Plus, more chances to win for you! 😉✨

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

coffee with splash of protein creamer and a little almond milk - fasting

ON MY TO DO LIST THIS WEEK:

helping out a friend, errands, check on my Mom & step Dad sick with colds, take down Christmas now that gf gathering done, home projects, hospice work

THINKING ABOUT:  

How kind of sad it is every year to take down Christmas - but it was nice having it up longer for my gf gathering.

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE

I see bins ready to house decorations. Bubba is next to me rubbing his head on my computer. I'm listening to Michael Buble sing and I can see sun sparkling on the snow out the window. We finally got about 5-6 inches of white fluffy stuff this weekend! Makes everything so much prettier. 

CURRENTLY READING

My new awesome herb book I got from Aaron for Christmas. It's called The Cook's Herb Garden: Grow, Harvest, Cook

by Jeff Cox & Marie Pierre Moine

I also added The Little Book of Cottagecore: Traditional Skills for a Simpler Life by Emily Kent on my kindle

Plus, when Annie & I were out shopping recently I also picked up the newest edition of In Her Studio: spaces and stories of creative women (love those magazines!!)

ON THE TV TODAY:

When Calls the Heart, Virgin river, All Creatures Great & Small, The Rookie , Miss Scarlet, movies taped & cooking shows

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

    MONDAY - leftover pasta from the weekend, salad

TUESDAY -  tacos

WEDNESDAY - Costco sesame ginger chicken crumbles we do in cauliflower rice bowls & top with some sweet chili sauce & peanuts

THURSDAY - roasted veggies & cheese egg bake (add cottage cheese for protein boost), whole grain toast, fruit

FRIDAY - leftovers or out for dinner

*will be doing a Costco run and figure out meal plan for the week

TO RELAX THIS WEEK I WILL:

 work on our wedding scrapbook I'm making, read, maybe cross stitch

TIPS OR SOMETHING TO SHARE:

FROM THE CAMERA:

It's a world of white once again:

We have so much when we gather each year. Since we had an elf theme I modeled the meal after the movie "Elf" and we had spaghetti (I did my slow cooker sauce recipe here.)  And I also added caesar salad & some fruit & dip. A gf brought garlic bread. Another gf brought veggies, mini bundt cakes (they were awesome!), and another gf brought cocktails & appetizers. We never starve! Like the movie I had also put syrup and poptarts on the table. Lol My friend, Heidi, had also brought cute elf hats for us to wear for a photo op. 😉 

The friend that brought the hats also brought us each a little solar elf. I love mine - he's so cute and does a little happy dance. Here's some video:

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 all those affected by the wildfires in CA and for the firefighters working so hard. For a friend (& family) that recently lost her husband unexpectedly - continued prayers for their healing in the days and years ahead. 

For Christ's Light and Love to cast out the darkness everywhere and help the world find its way. 🙏🏻

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

I am so blessed to have those kinds of girlfriends in my life and they have proved it over and over again. Thank You for them Lord! 

I hope you have an amazing week ahead. I'm sharing this with Sandra of Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.

Blueberry French Toast Bake & Fun No Bake Dill Ranch Pretzels

Hello Dear Friends! 

Today I wanted to finally share the recipe for blueberry french toast bake that's easy to assemble and was a stellar breakfast for dinner for us one of the nights Annie was home (as breakfast food is probably one of her absolute favorites). 

I halved the recipe and made it in a pie pan. But the full recipe is for a 9x13 pan. You cut up bread cubes (I had homemade french bread from a neighbor friend - very yummy😋). Put them in the greased pan. Top with blueberries. Make the custard mixture and pour over the top and let the mixture soak overnight or at least for several hours. 

Then when ready to bake, you make a wonderful streusel mixture and cut in some cold butter until you get nice crumbs. Crumble it all over the top of the bake and put it in the oven & bake it up until it's time to eat. Top with syrup and more berries if you wish. We had ours with a side of homemade red breakfast potatoes and bacon. It was delish! As I mentioned the other day - Annie's review of it: "Mom this is fire and you definitely need to make it again!" High praise indeed. 😉

I forgot to get a pic of the pie plate before we dug in - but here's a shot of 1/2  the pan. And a shot of it with syrup on my plate. I found this recipe at sallysbakingaddiction.com and I list the recipe below. I highly recommend this one! It would be excellent for a brunch or a holiday breakfast too. 

Another fun recipe I made over the holidays were some garlic ranch dill pretzels. They couldn't have been easier! I kind of combined several different recipes I read here and there. I doubled the recipe and made 2 baggies full with 2 different kinds of pretzels. 

DILL RANCH PRETZELS

1/2 c. of popcorn oil (like Orville Redenbacher) 

1 packet ranch seasoning mix (add after initial mix)

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp dried dillweed

1 lb bag of pretzels

Instructions: Take a gallon sized baggie and pour the bag of pretzels in. Add the popcorn oil and coat the pretzels by sealing and rolling bag around. Add in the garlic powder and dill weed. Roll & toss around bag every 10 mins for about an hour. After an hour add the ranch seasoning and give another good toss. Your pretzels are ready! Enjoy! 

If you're not a dill fan you could easily just do garlic and ranch. Easy to double and make in 2 baggies and then I poured both bags in a large bowl with good sealing lid and lasted us through the Christmas season. They were also a hit!

Enjoy! xo

Wordless Wednesday

 

Happy Homemaker Monday

Hello and happy Monday Friends ~

And Happy 2025!! It's my first time checking in since the calendar officially turned. 

I hope you've all been having a wonderful start to this shiny new year. We rang it in with our friends - the C's and it was a lot of fun! We got dressed up and met them out for a fancier dinner. And then they came back to our place and we did sort of a belated Christmas and exchanged gifts. Annie hung out with us too. And then we stayed up late gabbing away  - ringing in the new year and with them leaving around 1:30 AM! They have a lot of exciting things going on in their world. So there was a lot to gab about: Their oldest daughter is engaged to be married and is expecting their first child (a granddaughter) in June!! Pretty fun stuff. :) 

Matt and I did lots of lounging on New Year's day. We watched the Rose Parade, played cards, watched movies and he played video games while I read. We helped Annie work on her puzzle and she hung out with us a bit too. 

Annie and I have been having such fun while she's been home. Going out shopping, hanging out a lot, great chats, watching shows, playing games and working on her puzzle. It's going to be so hard to watch her leave back to FL this week. But I've treasured every minute and we're planning to meet up with her in AZ late winter/early Spring - like we usually do to visit my Dad and step Mom. And in between we will text or talk on the phone almost every day - so that helps too. 💗

I don't usually do new year resolutions - as I think they're too easy to break and feel down on yourself. I typically pick a word for the year. Something I can go back to meditating on all through the year. More of a concept than a resolution of any kind. But it gives me a sort of beacon to keep finding my way back to for a little extra purpose for the year. 

This year my word is HOME. For many different reasons:

*an obvious one is literally being home more this year as we were gone so much last year with our epic trips etc. We have projects planned around here and just want to love our first married year continuing to plant our roots here

*spiritually I want to go back "home" - to the start and dive more into the word. I do a lot of devotional time with books I have, but I'm not always as good about reading my bible. That changes this year!

*and mentally/physically going back to the basics or "home base" to get back on my healthier routine...especially for the sake of my arthritis etc. Matt & I have lots of plans of golfing, playing pickleball, camping - very active things and I plan to lead the charge with all of it! 

We had even hoped to be snow shoeing by now - but we still don't have snow. It's just so crazy and really hurts our winter industries up here (ski trails, snowmobiling, sled dog races etc) Plus we need the moisture badly. Our bay was so low last year already, that if this keeps up we won't be putting in our dock this Spring. So I'm hoping that changes and we can get out in the woods for good exercise and activity soon! 

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

some coffee with protein creamer and a little bit of sugar-free cinnamon roll flavor creamer. Also a grapefruit. Annie's boyfriend's family sent us a crate full of wonderful citrus fruit from FL for Christmas. Everything in it has been SO delicious!! 

ON MY TO DO LIST THIS WEEK:

Costco run, other errands, Matt & I meeting with our financial planner (starting NY the right way there too), home projects, hospice work

THINKING ABOUT:  

What a blessing my kiddos and Matt are in my life and reflecting on all my hopes for them and fun for us all in 2025! 

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE

I still have my decorations up and enjoy the glow each night. My besties and I have been getting together to do Christmas in January for around 30 years now and I'm hosting it this year. We get together this weekend, so I wanted to keep up my decorations for that. ✨❤️💚

CURRENTLY READING

My new awesome herb book I got from Aaron for Christmas. It's called The Cook's Herb Garden: Grow, Harvest, Cook

by Jeff Cox & Marie Pierre Moine

I also added The Little Book of Cottagecore: Traditional Skills for a Simpler Life by Emily Kent on my kindle

Plus, when Annie & I were out shopping recently I also picked up the newest edition of In Her Studio: spaces and stories of creative women (love those magazines!!)

ON THE TV TODAY:

When Calls the Heart, Virgin river, All Creatures Great & Small (starts this week), The Rookie starts this week, movies taped & cooking shows, lots of football (Packers lost - boo....but at least Vikings lost to the Lions - yay!)

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

    MONDAY - leftovers 

TUESDAY -  

WEDNESDAY - 

THURSDAY - 

FRIDAY - 

*will be doing a Costco run and figure out meal plan for the week

TO RELAX THIS WEEK I WILL:

 read, organize craft plans in my office, do fun workouts (too cold to walk outside)

TIPS OR SOMETHING TO SHARE:

I found this on Youtube and it's called "Vintazy" and shows a vintage pic while playing fun vintage music. Nice back drop for cleaning/reading. And they have nighttime jazz ones nice to fall asleep to as well.

FROM THE CAMERA:

We got all dressed up and headed out in New Year's Eve. Look at our cute downtown all decorated for the season. ✨ On our way there it started to snow and added a lot of pretty - however it didn't last. Sigh

I made some yummy ranch dill pretzels for a new year's eve snack for Annie (& a friend she hung out with) and for us all to nibble for new years day lounging. 

I also made this truly amazing blueberry french toast bake. Annie's direct quote: "Mom this is fire and you should definitely make it again!" 😋

I will share recipes later this week!

Lots of wonderful lounging on NY's day

The very difficult - but finally completed puzzle Annie had gotten at Christmas

Bubba last night giving the evil eye to the Vikes so the Lions would win (& they did! 😉)

I still have an ipad coloring addiction when I'm not reading. Going to try to focus on more books  and crafting now. 🙈

As you know, Matt spoiled me so much at Christmas but this little gift was definitely a fave and makes me so happy. It's a little bookstore that lights up that I'm loving on my bookcase (in between the books) in my office. Annie's friend was over crafting with Annie on new year's and they put it together for me. Isn't it adorable??

💗💗💗

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 all those affected in the New Orleans tragedy. For a friend (& family) that recently lost her husband unexpectedly and very young and the funeral is soon. 

For Christ's Light and Love to cast out the darkness everywhere and help the world find its way. 🙏🏻

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

Wishing you good health, blessed peace, and endless joy for 2025 my Friends! 🙏🏻✨

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