Wordless Wednesday

 

Happy Homemaker Monday

 

Good Monday morning Friends

No sunshine here this morning and instead a little thunderstorm is booming through right now. It's a good thing as we sure need the rain. Our bay is still so low! Sounds like we may get something more severe later today though and up to an inch of rain.

But hoping your Monday is starting with sunshine and birdsong and a spring in your step. 💗

Did you have a nice weekend? We had a fun one here. We ran up to the lake property and opened it up for Matt's folks who will be coming back for the summer from AZ soon. We did lots of cleaning and washing bedding, blankets etc. But we also went out for dinner one night and enjoyed the northwoods there as one day we had lovely warmer sunny weather. 

It's such a special place and we both love it there so much! One day it will probably be the primary summer property where we will live. We talk plans for the ways we'd like to change and add on to the cottage in the future. We may have an architect come look at things in the nearer future. It sure is fun to think on those retirement dreams. We also talk plans for wintering in AZ one day as well. It helps my arthritis so much when I'm there - there truly is something about dry heat. And we love being active (golf, pickle ball etc) and it's so easy for me to be more active down there. 

But enough dreaming and on to the week ahead...

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

iced coffee with just a little protein added and some almond creamer (back to fasting mode)

ON MY TO DO LIST THIS WEEK:

home projects, errands, lunch with a gf, dinner with another friend, a gf's Dad's funeral may be this week, need to make some appointments, hospice work

THINKING ABOUT:  

More things that I need to bag up to take to Goodwill. Matt sold his  house recently (the one he lived in when he first moved to my area) and so I have been making more room for some of his things. It's been good for me to go through my own things and reorganize and purge what I truly don't need. 

It can be difficult for me as I'm such a sentimental person (are you one of those?) and I just don't want to let of go of things. It's hard for me to let go of people for that matter too. I don't like to say goodbye. But the older I get... the more I realize that sometimes there is only a season to what once blessed my life and it's good to know when to let go. It's amazing what can change and grow when you learn to let go and remove the right things from your life. 

 

🌱💚

 

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE

It's so dark from the thunderstorm - I have some lamps on. I'm listening to peaceful violin music. I need to load a few dishes and I want to throw more laundry in, but I think I'll wait until the storm is done. I love a good (not scary) thunderstorm and watching it come through the bay. It's so cozy.

CURRENTLY READING

I'm working on a cross stitch project and focusing there more in my down time. I finished my last book but not sure what I'll read next yet.

ON THE TV TODAY:

 The Rookie , Jeopardy(& Masters), Shark Tank, Survivor, TWD catch up, Ghosts, Call the Midwife, The Handmaids Tale new season, Vacation House Rules & Castle Impossible (HGTV), cooking shows. 

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

    MONDAY - BBQ ribs, Mexican corn salad, roasted sheet pan veggie hash (will share all of these recipes later this week)

TUESDAY -  Spring Minestrone Soup with turkey meatballs (will share this one sometime soon too)

WEDNESDAY - BLT's on low carb rolls, veggies & protein ranch dip

THURSDAY -  leftovers

FRIDAY - out for dinner

TO RELAX THIS WEEK I WILL:

work on mother's day cross stitch craft, scrapbook

TIPS OR SOMETHING TO SHARE:

A fun healthier snack/treat. 

I recently made these lower calorie rice krispies treats and they're really tasty (if you're a peanut butter person). 

It's a recipe by Joy Bauer (joybauer.com) and they're really good! They're chewy and rich and peanut buttery. They don't have butter or marshmallow or the other high sugar more fattening ingredients, as the primary ingredient is just natural peanut butter.

I highly recommend them for when you want a treat as they taste great and they're still healthier (less sugar) and have protein from the natural peanut butter.  I used regular rice krispies, but you could use brown rice cereal for even more health benefits. Here's the recipe:

😋😋😋

 

FROM THE CAMERA:

Ruby lives for going to the lake and loves the ride there (even if she naps a lot). The lake is so beautiful and clear - although low like here too. They need the rain as well. But we got things all open and cleaned up and even hung up the fun & vibrant flags and hangings Matt's Mom (Sue) loves up in the window. We will be getting her hanging baskets of flowers for Mother's Day that she loves hanging in the window too. She has hangers in the trees to put them on.

At one point, when I was cleaning, I didn't see Ruby anywhere and I found her moping on Sue's bed missing her (she just loves Matt's folks, but especially Sue!) 

I may have brought my ipad and enjoyed more of my coloring app over the weekend too. How lovely would it be too have beautiful stained glass windows in your bedroom!??

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 a bestie (& her family) that recently lost her Dad. 

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

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

Thunderstorms, greening grass, my lily shoots sprouting up, opening the lake cottage - so many signs of Spring everywhere! 🌸

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

Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad and a Spring Berry Pie

 

Yay for Spring finally showing her lovely sunshiny face around here!! Yesterday it was in the 60's with glorious sunshine and it felt amazing. We're starting to get more mild days in the forecast...and the grass is even starting to get green. It sure makes my soul happy ☀️

We even cleaned out the grill and got it fired up last night. It felt like a summertime meal. 💚 I had thawed some brats in the freezer that we had gotten at our local meat market. We grilled them up and then sticking to our lower carb plan - we ate them without buns and I didn't even miss it! I only had a 1/2 a brat because I wanted more of the pasta salad. Lol We still put ketchup, mustard and raw onion on our brats though, of course.

😉😋

 I had made up a quick pasta salad with what was on hand to use up some of our veggies. I'll share that recipe below as it turned out really yummy! And to top off our BBQ meal we had watermelon too. We love eating watermelon with tajin seasoning (have you ever tried it that way?). Makes it taste even sweeter. Add a glass of iced tea and it was a meal that truly hit the spot! 

Now on to that yummy salad:

CHICKEN CAESAR VEGGIE PASTA SALAD

I didn't have a set recipe for this - I just made it with things I had on hand and based it on many kinds of pasta salads I've made in the past. So feel free to add what works for you as far as ingredients. But I'll try to share exactly what, and how much, I used. 

I started by boiling 1/2 a box of protein pasta and rinsed it in cold water when it was done and set aside. 

I prepped my veggies:

- cleaned and cut up a stalk of romaine lettuce

-peeled and cut up 2 carrots

-cut up one celery stalk

-cut up some mini peppers

I put all of that in a large bowl and tossed it together. I had some precooked & seasoned chicken skewers from Costco and I took the meat off the skewers and cut them up and put in the bowl too. The pasta was nice and dry by then and I added it in the bowl too. Then I took this low calorie caeser dressing and poured 1/4 to a 1/2 of the bottle over the salad and mixed until it was all coated. I sprinkled on some salt, pepper, dried garlic powder  and oregano over all, along with about 1/4 c. of shredded parmesan cheese. I tossed it all together and put in the fridge to chill until dinner. It was a very flavorful yummy chicken caesar salad with bonus veggies and protein. 

SPRING BERRY PIE

I also wanted to share this recipe for a no-bake pie that I had made at Easter. I have made it before, but wasn't sure if I had shared it here? I like to make this one as it's lower sugar and I make it gluten-free (my brother needs to eat gf and is diabetic). I found it at the website tasty.co 

I will share the full recipe below (it includes the graham cracker crust). But I don't make the crust myself. I buy a gluten-free one in that section of my grocery store. That way my brother can eat the pie too (plus it's a time saver!) You make a cream cheese filling sweetened with natural maple syrup and chill it in the pie crust. Then top with fresh fruit. And you make a sort of fruit jam on the stove and put that over the pie and chill until ready to serve. It's always really tasty and pretty easy overall - and a little healthier. The recipe is listed below. 

Have a blessed weekend ahead! 

xoxo

Happy Homemaker Monday

Happy Monday my Friends! 😘

Yay, He has conquered sin and death!! 

I hope that those who celebrated Easter had a blessed day. And that you all had a lovely weekend. :) 

It has been a busy whirlwind here getting back from our trip, doing hospice work, helping with my Bestie's daugther's baby shower Saturday, and then hosting Easter for family here yesterday after mass. But busy in such a wonderful way! I am behind getting back on track and visiting you all....so I will get back to that this week. 

I also woke up to the sad news that Pope Francis has died. As someone Catholic, this hits at my heart. May he rest in peace and we were grateful to have someone lead by example in so many ways. 🙏🏻

And I'm so thankful to Matt & Aaron for getting out the deck furniture this weekend! It was a lovely day on Saturday and they tackled that job (even though it snowed on it a bit this AM). And then when I was at the shower they spent the day together going to game stores and then coming home and playing some video games together. I love how my kiddos love my Hubby. Makes my heart full. 💗💗💗

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

iced coffee with protein splash and some almond milk creamer

ON MY TO DO LIST THIS WEEK:

appointments including my hair appt, lunch with a girlfriend, home projects, errands, hospice work

THINKING ABOUT:  

How crazy it is to me that out of our girlfriend groups babies is having a baby. I know we're "golden girl" age status now...but I don't think any of us feels like it! Lol 

It was so nice because one of our girlfriends came in from out-of-town for this shower. So almost all of my group of "sisters" were here (one lives in CA). Matt and I went extra early to help with all the prep. Matt helped John (Mr. C) to haul all the tables and chairs in and set up (taking them up 2 floors) and I picked up the corsage on my away and helped Kristi (Mrs. C) and her other daughter with decorating and set up. They wanted to treat us to dinner that night to thank us, but we still had a bit to do at home to host for Easter....including some prep cooking I needed to do. So we took a raincheck. Their daughters are truly like my nieces and they are all family I chose in this life. I'm grateful for how close Matt has become to them too. A highlight for me was one of the gifts I gave the Mom-to-be was a special album I had made. She loved it and passed it around to everyone. It made my heat so happy that she loved it :) 

We did get to hang with Aaron and Jill (so nice to have them here for the weekend) later that night and play games and visit. And then it was so fun having my Mom, Bro and SIL over for Easter the next day. We ate good food, played games, celebrated my SIL's birthday (it's tomorrow) and just enjoyed each others' company. We missed Annie who was in FL celebrating with her bf's family. I'm so very grateful for my kids (& so proud of them) and for all the family and friends in my life - including you! 💗

 

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE

It's overcast as it rain/snowed this AM. I'm listening to soft Celtic music. I have my devotional books next to me and it's still calm and quiet in the house other than the hum of the dryer.  Matt helped with dishes last night but there were a lot so I have one more load to throw in. 

CURRENTLY READING

I read one book on my trip and had started another...so I'm just finishing the 2nd one called:

The Strawberry Patch Pancake House by Laurie Gilmore

ON THE TV TODAY:

 The Rookie , Jeopardy, Shark Tank, Survivor, TWD catch up, Ghosts, Call the Midwife that I haven't started yet, Vacation House Rules (HGTV), cooking shows. There are some new series I want to start though sometime soon (the Pitt, Severance, maybe The Last of Us)

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

    MONDAY - leftover ham dinner

TUESDAY -  tacos

WEDNESDAY -any other leftovers

THURSDAY -  maybe thaw brats in the freezer and cook on the grill because we have it out now...yay! And have a side of veggies

FRIDAY - maybe out for dinner?

TO RELAX THIS WEEK I WILL:

read, scrapbook, work on Mother's Day craft

TIPS OR SOMETHING TO SHARE:

 

FROM THE CAMERA:

The theme of the shower was "A little wildflower is on the way" as they know it's a girl. Mrs. C made her famous cookies as a thank you take away and I think they turned out so beautiful!! 😍😢 The hydrangeas on the table and the dessert plant cart were prizes in the games we played. 

And I couldn't resist doing the AI Beatrix Potter filter on the Mom-to-be and all of us girlfriends. 🌸💗

It's so nice to have the deck stuff out, even if it is covered with a little snow currently. 

Aaron's Jill had made us an Easter card and baked us a batch of chocolate chip cookies. :) And we celebrated my brother Steven's Jill's birthday with a bunny cake. I also made a really yummy gluten-free pie (my Bro has to eat gluten-free) and it's so delish, healthier and I'll share the recipe later in the week. I forgot to take pics of family though, ugh. Oh well, I guess I was too busy enjoying time with them. 😍

*couldn't resist one more:

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 a bestie of mine who has a parent in hospice care. For the Pope to RIP and for God's hands over the new Pope to be chosen.

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

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

May God's love be with you today and always dear Friends. 

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