Happy Homemaker Monday

Happy Monday to you my Friends ~ 

It's a beautiful Monday here in the northwoods and it's supposed to be almost 80 degrees today! A real treat for where I live in May. I'm looking forward to some outside time with Ms Ruby and even some time in the sunshine out on the deck looking at the water now that the bay is fully open and things are starting to get green. I hope your day is bringing you beautiful weather too ...and a wonderful day!! 

We had another weekend full of, yep you guessed it, - soccer! We were gone on another tourney for Annie's select team. They played really well and made it to the championship but unfortunately lost 1 - 0 in the final.  Annie even had an assist and scored a goal in one of her games!! We were a little further south so it was warmer all weekend and we got lots of sunshine. We even had our first thunderstorm of the season down there. It was a lot of fun and now on to another busy week ahead. Not only lots of sports and things this week - but also our sweet Girl's birthday on Friday and Mother's Day on Sunday, so lots of party prepping around here...

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

Sunny and gorgeous! As I said, nice and warm today but then going to cool down during the week ahead. Only 50's and 60's the rest of the week. Maybe even 40's this weekend (yuck!). Some chances of rain which would be good as it's been really dry in our area and we need it

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

honey nut chex cereal with bananas on top, coffee

RIGHT NOW I AM:

Petting Ruby. Looking at the sports schedule and where we need to run for that.  Plus, working on Annie's birthday party the end of the week (our baby will be 12 already!) and the Mother's Day plans and menu

AS I LOOK OUTSIDE MY WINDOW

Looking at the bay and loving how the sun sparkles on the water. I'd been missing that all winter! 

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE:

The sun is pouring in and it's wonderful. Listening to the birds through the open window. Seeing a few things that need tidying but overall just clean and bright ;) 

ON THIS WEEK'S TO DO LIST:

Annie's soccer practices and hockey practices, soccer game, groceries and errands for her birthday & Mother's Day plans, visit MIL and meal to FIL, getting menu together & gifts for mother's day as having my Mom and Ad's folks over for a meal, volunteer time, Aaron's spring concert at school, projects around the house

 

CURRENTLY READING:

I'm planning to read Whispering in French by Sophia Nash next, but haven't started it yet (still didn't start this one yet)

 

ON THE TV TODAY:

Timeless,  American Idol, Greys Anatomy, Gold Rush, Survivor, Billions, Call the Midwife, Dancing with the Stars 

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

MONDAY: grilled polish, baked beans, veggies & dip

TUESDAY: pancakes with fruit topping, bacon, fruit

WEDNESDAY: not sure - soccer game so will be an easy night maybe Subway?

THURSDAY: salad bar night, breadsticks

FRIDAY: Annie's birthday - pineapple party per her request:  pizza (some with pineapple), veggies & dip, pineapple guac & chips, fruit, pineapple punch, pineapple upside down cupcakes with coconut or vanilla ice cream, pineapple punch

 **for Mother's Day menu: slow cooker BBQ chicken sandwiches, pasta salad, corn on the cob, fruit, chips and for dessert - fruit pizza cookies and caramel cashew bars (per my Mom's request)

SOMETHING INTERESTING I WATCHED

This is a new category by Sandra who hosts these Happy Homemaker Monday's. I haven't watched any new movies lately, but online I did watch Ed Sheeran's new video to the song Happier (still just love him!)

WHAT I AM CREATING AT THE MOMENT

Last of my Grandpa's scrapbook, spring clean/organize projects around here, jewelry project

NEW RECIPE I WANT TO TRY THIS WEEK:

pineapple guac and the punch for Annie's bday will be new

TIP OF THE WEEK:

FROM THE CAMERA:

Our Girl in action from this past weekend

Ruby says happy Monday ;) 

It almost looks like summer out there today (minus some leaves on the trees yet and hanging baskets of flowers) :P

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

Since it's Annie's birthday week I thought I'd share this bit of inspiration in honor of her. She's obsessed with all thing pineapple these days - she has pineapple decorations in her room, pineapple print on some of her clothes and this is the quote she keeps on her lock screen on her phone. Lol That's why she's requesting a pineapple party where the menu has lots of pineapple and I also got her a cute light up pineapple and a banner of pineapples wearing sunglasses to hang for decorations for her pizza party and sleepover with her friends. She may be getting some more pineapple goodies as gifts too ;) 

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

Happy Homemaker Monday

Happy Monday Friends 

It was quite an exciting week here last week. I was absent from blog or even much computer time due to a busy week that ended up having extra action in it. I did have to report in for jury duty and due to some other volunteering I was limited in some "me" time last week anyway. But then on top of all that last Thursday my little town made the national news when a local refinery, only about 7 miles from my home, had a major explosion. Thanks be to God no one was killed. Several were injured and from what I understand  - only one person severely injured. They had several fires after that they could only fight defensively and that were releasing tons of toxic smoke into our air. Certain parts of our city were under mandatory evacuation. Thankfully our house remained in a "safe zone", but they were still recommending if you didn't need to stay in the city to leave because if the wind shifted...or if nearby tanks even more dangerous were to catch fire it would really get disastrous. We were under a national state of emergency. You can read about it and see videos here and here.  

My Hubby's work was in a "safe zone" as well so he continued working and had to deal with business issues related to what was going on. I decided to go up to my kiddos' private school in a nearby city about 15 minutes away and Annie and I spent the latter part of the day and early evening doing some shopping and hanging out at the mall. ;) It truly was a scary time and it took them a long time to be able to contain the fire. Here's a photo I caught of the big smoke plume only a few miles away when I was driving:

I'm just so grateful it turned out okay, as it truly could have been so much worse! Then Friday we headed out of town to WI Dells for Annie's soccer tourney. The weekend was a little chilly for watching outdoor soccer, but other than that it was a lot of fun. We stayed at a big water park and we let Annie bring one of her friends along to be part of the fun. So now I'm hoping this week is far more calm and I thankfully I have no more jury duty to worry about - yay! So I plan to catch up on all things blogland, computer, emails etc.  

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

Rainy today, but it is supposed to get warm up in the 70's. The rest of the week looks pleasant at mostly in the 60's and sunny.

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

whole wheat toast with lemon curd and some hazelnut coffee

RIGHT NOW I AM:

Working on my planner for the week. Figuring out the sports schedules ahead and my grocery and errands plans for the week. Listening to Eva Cassidy radio on pandora and watching it sprinkle a little out the window

AS I LOOK OUTSIDE MY WINDOW

Looks like more rain coming. As I look out at our bay it's so nice to see so many more open areas of water. The ice that is left is so thin and I have no doubt it will all flow out to the big lake this week and we will have open water again for the season. Yay! True sign of Spring ;) 

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE:

Need to throw in more laundry from the trip and going to do some vacuuming. But our son did a good job of keeping the house tidy while we were gone (he helped hold down the fort, along with my Mom, while we were gone for the tourney)

ON THIS WEEK'S TO DO LIST:

Annie's soccer and hockey, running errands, time with my Mom, visit MIL and bring meal to FIL, hospice volunteer time, groceries, pedi's and lunch with my girlfriend, work on cleaning and organize craft room/office, order items and work on booking things for Annie's bday coming up

 

CURRENTLY READING:

I'm planning to read Whispering in French by Sophia Nash next, but haven't started it yet (still didn't start this one yet)

 

ON THE TV TODAY:

Timeless, The Spring Baking Championship,  American Idol, Greys Anatomy, Gold Rush, Survivor, Billions, Call the Midwife, Howards End, Dancing with the Stars tonight

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

MONDAY: penne pasta I didn't make last week, garlic cheese bread, veggies 

TUESDAY: leftovers and clean out the fridge

WEDNESDAY: slow cooker chicken cordon bleu casserole, salad

THURSDAY: pinwheel sandwiches, soup, fruit

FRIDAY: out for dinner

 **bake some banana bread this week

WHAT I AM CREATING AT THE MOMENT

Last of my Grandpa's scrapbook, spring clean/organize projects around here, jewelry project

NEW RECIPE I WANT TO TRY THIS WEEK:

the chicken cordon bleu casserole will be a new recipe

TIP OF THE WEEK:

in case you want to keep up-to-date ;) 

FROM THE CAMERA:

lots of soccer action and then fun walking the streets of the Wisconsin Dells and the  girls enjoying the water park where we stayed  

Photos just from this AM on the bay: cloudy and rainy but no snow on the ground and parts of the bay with open water! Also, some blue jays visiting out my window this morning ;) 

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

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