Happy Homemaker Monday

Hello Dear Friends! 

I know I'm getting to this a bit late today - but I still wanted to say hi. We had a busy weekend with both of our kiddos in soccer tourneys. Unfortunately it wasn't the warmest weather here in the northwoods and we got rained on a bit too. My Hubby now has a sore throat and cold and I'm afraid I may be next! But we did have a nice date night out for dinner together one night when our daughter was at a sleepover. And we watched some movies at home for some down time. Our Aaron even came to watch one of Annie's games and then we all went out for pizza after. Nice family time. Hope you had a great weekend and are jumping into the week already! 

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

Cloudy and sunny with some rain on and off. Low 70's and lovely when the sun is out. Looks like it will be mid 70's tomorrow then more rain Wednesday and 60's for the rest of the week.

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

Honey nut chex cereal and iced coffee

RIGHT NOW I AM:

Listening to some Celtic music and getting ready to do one more load of laundry.

AS I LOOK OUTSIDE MY WINDOW:

Later in the day then when I usually do this so it's different lighting then usual in my office. Kind of cloudy right now but I see patches of blue sky. Watching out the driveway for my Hubby to be home from work soon.

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE:

Pretty clean as I tidied up earlier today when I did some other home things. I had to take my daughter to soccer practice earlier too. My son is now done with his soccer and working full time for my Hubby. He's happy to be making some big bucks! ;) 

ON TODAY'S (& this week's) TO DO LIST:

A lot of the usual stuff. Annie has some soccer practices, 2 games this week and hockey practice. I went and got some groceries this past weekend but later in the week I'll have to go pick up some things I'll be making for the July 4th party on Saturday with some family and friends. Some other errands to run  this week too. Visit my MIL. I made dinner for my FIL for tonight.  Ruby has a vet appointment and I'll be getting a hair trim and color touch up as well. If it's going to be rainy I'm hoping to work on more of the projects I've been neglecting around here. Including some things to finish for the Etsy store I promise I haven't forgotten about too! The curve ball life threw a few months ago shook some things up, but getting slowly back on track. 

CURRENTLY READING:

Catching up on some newspapers and magazines. I have started a book that I read in the past but felt like re-reading.

ON THE TV TODAY:

Catching up on some old episodes of Timeless that I never finished actually! The Profit, Grantchester, Food Network Star, and Big Brother starts this week too! Total guilty pleasure tv time! Lol

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

MONDAY:Tacos (left over from weekend)

TUESDAY: Homemade cream puff buns for chicken salad sandwiches, fruit, chips and cherry hand pies - going to bring some to my Mom too as some of her faves

WEDNESDAY: probably leftovers

THURSDAY: slow cooker BBQ pineapple meatballs, baked potatoes, veggies

FRIDAY: maybe out for dinner or something easy? 

*For the July 4th party I may be making homemade mac & cheese bites and homemade salsa and chips to contribute. Also some junk food brownies and maybe strawberry cheesecake bites.

WHAT I AM CREATING AT THE MOMENT

Etsy store albums and canvases 

Legacy box stuff  

My Grandpa's heritage album  

My Mom's album & my family album catch up 

(this is my continuing list)

NEW RECIPE I WANT TO TRY THIS WEEK:

Several new ones - the cream puffs (my Mom used to make something similar), the BBQ pineapple meatballs and the junk food brownies for the weekend (think brownies with crushed up potato chips, pretzels and caramel on top!)

TIP OF THE WEEK:

I've never heard of this before? I always have chapstick handy though - so good to know!

FROM THE CAMERA:

My Hubby fixed up a nice little zip line kind of run for my Mom's dog Angel this past weekend. She's been just loving it!! 

I've been enjoying this coffee artwork Annie painted at her art camp again this summer in my kitchen. ;)  Not like a really need a reminder to have my coffee in the morning #canyoussayzombie

More fairy love around here - sweet little boy and his puppy

A frog (or secret prince) in the pond. 

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

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

This Week

Hello my Friends! 

I'm sorry I'm late with this post. I meant to do it yesterday for my Friday 5 - so I'm still doing that, however on Saturday instead. ;)  I just thought I'd share a bit about my week. I hope yours was great and that you're having a wonderful weekend. 

ONE

Got the last of the flowers planted - including this big pot on the deck. Of course had to let the fairies move in as this lovely lady chose this pot. I love the solar watering can stake because it glows different colors at night. 

TWO

Now that it's been feeling more like full on summer - there's been lots of bugs and critters visiting our northwoods yard. The bees have been humming and the dragonflies have been coming to admire my flowers. 

THREE

The little garden outside Annie's window has been looking lovely and several of the shrubs in there have been starting to bloom. So pretty!

FOUR

I made a new recipe of maple dijon slow cooker chicken with fresh rosemary. It was so easy and really flavorful! I think next time I would use skin on chicken breasts as I think the sauce would have adhered nicely to it. I doubled the "sauce" as we like it saucy here. But I think sticking to the original would have been good too and thickened up even more. The photo above is when I had just gotten everything into the slow cooker to cook. I forgot and "after" photo.  We had it with roasted red potatoes, salad, and apple cinnamon muffins. Delish!  The recipe is from a pin I had added to my pinterest slow cooker board you can find here.  Here is the recipe:

1. 4 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, use skinned boneless chicken thighs if you wish.

2. ½ cup Dijon Mustard.

3. ¼ cup Maple Syrup.

4. 1 tablespoon Red Wine Vinegar.

5. Salt & Black Pepper to taste.

6. Rosemary, dry powdered or fresh.

To make this in the slow cooker, combine all ingredients and cook on low for 3-4 hours.

FIVE

She's number 1 on her jersey and in our hearts. ;) 

Lots of soccer action! My Annie had 2 games this week, plus a tourney going on all weekend. The bottom photo is of one of her BFF's who came with us to watch Annie, and she must have been good luck as Annie scored a goal in that game to break a tie! ;) 

I'm sharing this with Tricky of the blog FAST for Five on Friday.

Wednesday Wonder

SUMMER SOLSTICE

 I've been enjoying some late blooming lilacs and my bleeding hearts are hanging in there too - so I added a few of those. 

Happy Summer Solstice Friends! xo

Happy Homemaker Monday

Good morning All! 

I hope you had a lovely weekend. For those that celebrated Father's Day - I hope it was a day filled with fun, loved ones and great weather! ;) We had a nice one here. My son was at his friend's cabin for part of the weekend, but Ad and Annie and I had fun going out for dinner and going mini golfing. Ad and I watched some movies over the weekend that we had taped too. And we all worked on things around the house. My son was back in time for Father's Day and we took my FIL (& MIL) out for a nice lunch yesterday. It was nice weather too, so we enjoyed some of that too! Now on to the week ahead...

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

Gray today so far and low 60's. It's supposed to get sunnier later and in the upper 60's though. Some chance of rain Wednesday, but otherwise supposed to be sunshine and 70's most of the week! 

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

Some toast and iced vanilla coffee

RIGHT NOW I AM:

Listening to Joshua Bell music and sorting some things in my office and throwing in next load of laundry while I work on this.

AS I LOOK OUTSIDE MY WINDOW:

I see some sun trying to break through the clouds. I see a squirrel in our driveway running between the flower pots. And I see the garbage truck picking up our garbage at the top of our driveway, from my office window. Monday is garbage day and every other one is recycling too. 

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE:

I see a few things I need to tidy up, but overall it looks clean and peaceful. My daughter is playing with her friend in her room and my son is gone to soccer practice. 

ON TODAY'S (& this week's) TO DO LIST:

The usual action! Both kiddos have several soccer games this week, besides their practices. I'll need to run errands and probably do a visit to my MIL later in the week. I'm going to help my Mom get the rest of her flowers to plant in her pots and window box for the summer this week too. Take Ruby for some walks. And of course my daily devotional and other workout times. I'm now down 26 pounds! I've been loving getting some new clothes for summer that are 2 sizes smaller than most of my stuff from last summer! Yay me! 

CURRENTLY READING:

I cannot make up my mind what to read yet - haven't focused well on reading lately. I have lots of magazines to catch up on right now too - so tackle that pile first. I have so many fun suggestions for books from my friend Carrie of Anniehow blog and I've kept a list - so think I'm going to start getting in to some off of that list. 

ON THE TV TODAY:

Food Network Star. Grantchester just started back, as well as Great British Baking show, both on PBS. Yay!!  Some movies still taped too.

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

MONDAY: leftovers from this weekend including burgers and things from a BBQ night. Also I made a yummy alfredo pasta with broccoli and peas yesterday and threw in some rotisserie chicken I needed to use up. So those things along with some fruit and veggie side dishes

TUESDAY: easy night due to soccer (might pick up subway?)

WEDNESDAY:  A slow cooker maple dijon chicken, roasted red potatoes, salad and honeyed corn muffins

THURSDAY: easy pizzas or breakfast for dinner

FRIDAY: soccer tourney begins so not sure yet??

WHAT I AM CREATING AT THE MOMENT

Etsy store albums and canvases 

Legacy box stuff  

My Grandpa's heritage album  

My Mom's album & my family album catch up 

(this is my continuing list)

NEW RECIPE I WANT TO TRY THIS WEEK:

The maple dijon chicken recipe is new and I will share later in the week.

TIP OF THE WEEK:

Good tip if you're going for some coffee this summer with a friend. ;) 

FROM THE CAMERA:

I just grabbed some quick candid photos at mini golf. I should have had them pose pretty too. Of  course Daddy beat both of us (he always does and had probably 5 holes in one). ;) Fun night and Annie hit the playground after too:

And of course she had to climb to the top :P

And she was so excited because Daddy taught her how to work the riding lawn mower. So she and Adam tackled all the yard work together as a team! 

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

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