Hope everyone who celebrated had a great Thanksgiving. I thought of this blog and all of you reading it (Thank you if you are still hanging here with me through the silences) when thinking of thankful things yesterday.
My fees for some sort of the behind the scene magic of this blog were due recently and I considered letting the blog go as I’ve had trouble keeping up lately. However, I decided in the end it brought me too much joy when I did hop on here to let go of it just yet. I’ll have a bit more time during Christmas break.
And I do like to blog during the holiday season. Be ready for a 2 post day from me as I plan to join Tamy over at Chasing My Life for her Blogmas.
If you’re wondering, yes I know it’s technically black Friday but we can’t call it that in KC when the Chiefs are playing the Raiders (Their colors are black and silver).
On to my random thoughts.
You don’t have to like someone else’s politics to still love them.
This thought occurred to me yesterday while having Thanksgiving with my brother. He graciously hosts every year and to say our politics are a bit different is an understatement.
We had a great dinner including an order for me to bring 2 chocolate pies to Christmas (the pie went fast!). Lovely conversation about many non-political topics, we both love plants and gardening, birds, and sports. I enjoyed talking to my sister in law about teaching (she taught middle school for years and has good stories) and my late nephew.
The one big argument on the afternoon was actually over Tyreek Hill, LOL. And in the end, we just agreed to disagree.
Another family member chose to estrange themselves from most of us over politics. And thinking about it made me sad. If I’d have passed on dinner simply because of politics, I’d have missed out on spending time with people I love and some very yummy food as well!
Maybe my viewpoint is different because our house here is divided but please, don’t let politics blind you to loving and spending time with your family.
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Love the people around you and don’t let politicians in far off places stop you from doing it. Just something I felt compelled to share this morning.
Oops, once again I seem to have disappeared. I just can’t seem to get back into my blogging rhythm over here. And also, I feel as though I’ve typed that sentence in a previous post. Recently.
So much for a slow September, here we are at almost the end of it. I worked a lot more than I expected during the “slow” time. Guess I’m going to have to make an effort to create my own slower paced schedule for a bit.
Anyway, I do have a plan to get back into blogging regularly in this space and spending some time checking in on all my favorite blogging buddies (I apologize as I’ve not kept up well with that at all either).
October is the unofficial 31 days of blogging time. Used to be official with a site to link up to and all that. However, I just like to do it on my own now. And I’ve decided it’s exactly what I need.
One month, 31 straight days of blogging, one topic (sort of).
I’ve decided to get back to the roots of this blog and keep my 31 days in a chit chat style. So, starting in October, I’m going to do 31 days of questions!
Topics that might come up if you and I were sitting have a cup of coffee (or tea or whatever your favorite beverage of the moment might be….maybe we can pretend were out having margaritas if that’s more your style).
So as just a preview (and because I’m not quite ready to go back to cleaning the house/laundry), here’s one for you.
31 Days of Questions Preview
I don’t have any fancy graphics made yet and I may change the title. Or I might leave it as it’s pretty straightforward. Anyway, here’s an idea of what I’m thinking of doing every day in October.
Spotted this huge rain cloud at dusk one evening and was fascinated by it. I could see the lightning within the cloud striking at different points.
Have you ever watched a storm cloud where you could see the lightning in it before? Are you a fan of a good thunderstorm?
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So be ready to grab your coffee/tea/margarita/water and join me in October for some fun questions and (hopefully) a few answers!
My answers: I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a cloud like that before though my husband thought it was much less fascinating so maybe I have and simply forgot. And yes, I do love a good thunderstorm as long as we’re all safe at home. Driving in one, not so much of a fan.
Still struggling to pick up my camera over here (it’s on my list of goals for next week!) but here’s a quick phone pick of my zinnias to go with this post. The brown-eyed Susans are ever present in the background as well.
For today’s post, I thought I’d just share a few happy moments from my week.
Monday
I ended up working on Monday, the first day of school. It was a pretty good start to the new school year.
A coffee for me! One of the parents brought the teachers coffee so I ended up with the drink that would’ve gone to the teacher out sick (coffee doesn’t really keep overnight). A golden eagle from Dutch Bros. Yum
Things kids said that melted my heart and made me smile that day:
“Ms Jean, you look so pretty today!”
“I miss you, when are you going to be in My class again?!”
“I’m just going to hang out with you” (from a brand new student)
Tuesday
Things I said: Bunco!! Six times!! Had the most wins as well. (Bunco is a dice game I go play with friends one a month)
Lavender lemonade
Phone call with my brother
Wednesday
A day off work!
Haircut
Cleaning off the table
Time to relax!
Thursday
Back to work this time in the pre-primary classroom.
Pleasantly surprised by how peaceful the classroom felt (there’d been a few teacher changes, one I knew about but one I did not). I’d been braced from chaos but had a nice calm day instead.
Comment from one of the primary kids passing by: Can you be in our class next?
Husband ordered pizza for dinner so I didn’t have to worry about cooking when I arrived home
Friday
It’s still a bit early today but my day has started fairly well. Quiet morning at home, time to water all my flowers. Looking forward to going in and working just for the afternoon in the class where I spent my summer. And then a paint night out tonight.
I stole this post idea from a radio program I heard on the way home from work yesterday. They were talking about their favorite nonfood smells. The idea was that most of us love the smell of fresh baked cookies or bread but what about our favorite smells that aren’t food related.
Some of the ones mentioned on the program:
fresh-cut grass
the smell of gasoline
a crisp fall morning
your significant other
sunscreen
brand-new books
a grandparent’s basement
air conditioning right as it starts in the car.
A wide range. Some seemed weird to me until they explained. For example, gasoline reminded them of trips to the lake and filling up the boat for boat rides.
Here are a few of my favorites in no particular order.
Hot asphalt
Laundry fresh out of the dryer
Summer rain after a hot day (just summer, fall rain smell different)
Plants and flowers right after they’ve been watered (especially herbs)
Lavender, mint, and sage…
I think my answers have a theme: outside or clean. Hot asphalt is my odd one, I guess. It reminds me of working a few summers at a local amusement park, happy memories.
What are some of your favorite nonfood smells? And all this talk of smells made me think of another one of my favorite childhood books. Did anyone else ever have this wonderful story?
PS: Am I the only person left who actually listens to the regular car radio? Just wondering…
While technically, it’s still summer until September 21, the schools around here start back up next Monday. And so it feels as if summer is ending. It’s gone by in the blink of an eye over here.
I spent a lot of it working. In between, I did do a few fun summer things. Here’s a quick glimpse.
MAY
May? What happened in May? Doesn’t that feel like last year?
This is aptly named the Northland Fountain
J and I went to visit a local fountain in the “northland” part of Kansas City. I was telling him how this fountain runs all year. It really is fun to see frozen in the winter. Still also pretty in the summer.
Also, I found a feather from a barred owl in the backyard one weekend while mowing. I had fun sharing it with my preschool kids.
Other things that happened in May: Preschool graduation (I always help out), Mother’s Day (Thai food, yum!), and G’s birthday! Oh, and he started working (maybe before May?) at one of the local community colleges in the advising offices. He even has his own office.
JUNE
June was actually a fun month despite some minor (though at the time they seemed quite major) work frustrations. Suffice it to say I spent some time checking out my options for other employment for a bit. Ultimately, I decided to ride out the summer. Anyway, back to the fun stuff.
The second weekend in June, I went on a girlfriend weekend trip to Hermann, MO. So much fun. It’s a community rich with German heritage pretty much right on the Missouri River. And also known for all the local wineries.
And I discovered something called a wine slushie (though full disclosure I preferred the ones at a winery different from the one pictured above). We also had fun touring the historic homes in Hermann. And seeing their kitchen gardens. If only….
On the way home, we stopped for brunch at a cute outdoor cafe along the Katy Trail in Rocheport, MO. It’s mostly a biking trail though you can walk it. It runs for 239 miles along our state. Near Rocheport, it runs along the bluffs of the Missouri River.
Also in June, lots of random garage sales with friends (it was our Saturday thing for a while), Father’s Day (we took my husband to a local Mexican restaurant he likes), and the start of a fair amount of working for the summer for me.
JULY
I worked a lot in July! Somewhere in there I did get my hair permed though it’s mostly grown out. It worked well for our excessively hot days. We had a quiet family Fourth of July (J and I bought a lot of fireworks and our neighbors put on quite a show as well).
Always exciting to see what the kids find on the playground. This actually came from a little girl’s backyard. Google lens told us it was a woodpecker feather! I can’t remember the exact species anymore.
Later in July was the visit to the Rabbit HOle Museum. They’ve re-created the whole scene of Goodnight Moon. Smaller children can go inside the little toy house as well as climb up in the bed, not pictured below. Also, again not in my photo, you can pick up the red phone beside the bed to hear the story. It’s so fun!
My photo came out too blurry to share but the museum even had a section for my favorite children book series by Russell Hoban. I still have my Bread and Jam for Frances and Bedtime for Frances books.
I didn’t get to spend as much time in June or July or this month yet tending to my front porch flowers. One thing about brown-eyed Susans is they don’t demand much. Oh, and mine are apparently plotting to take over the world.
At least the pink petunias are behaved despite being a bit neglected.
I did spend some time during the weekend mornings/afternoons hawk watching. Have you ever seen a hawk laying down? A first for me!
(Excuse the terrible photo quality, zoom on a real camera beats zoom on the phone but my camera battery was dead. Paid the price for not touching my camera all summer, I suppose)
And finally, we closed out July with a trip to Saint Louis, Mo for the music festival J participates in annually. This year, he chose to only play with his brass band ensemble so it was a pretty relaxed trip. Other than, I forgot to schedule the weekend off and had to scramble to find someone to cover me half a day. Over all though, it was a nice weekend. Here’s my other photo of the Missouri River in Saint Charles, MO (the only 2 pictures I took that weekend).
August So Far…
If you made it this far in the post, then you are all caught up with my summer activities. Mostly work but a little bit of fun in there. I’ve already noted to myself that perhaps I overscheduled my summer work hours a bit. I worked more to start this month and am finally ready to slow things down enjoying the last few weeks of summer. Once I get over being sick, UGH. Currently, I’m downing vitamins and watching every Fast and Furious movie (I’d only ever seen X all the way through, enjoying these movies way more than I expected).
Perhaps I’ll make a list of the things I’d like to do to close out the summer season. I’ll share it in a different post. How has your summer been? What things do you still have on your summer list?
Well, I sort of took summer off of blogging! Didn’t exactly mean to do that but I was getting a bit burned out with things. Started working full time hours for the summer at the preschool. I love it but it’s a bit exhausting.
However, I’m winding down my last days of full time subbing in the next couple weeks. Sometime in mid to late August, I’ll return to this space.
I haven’t even had a lot of time for “plant rescue” from my local garden centers but I did pick up this hibiscus on clearance when I had a few days at the beginning of the month. So I’ll end this post with a phone picture of the blooms which just make me happy.
Hello, I haven’t fallen off the edge of the Earth or gone sailing around it (oh, that might be fun!). A few days of sickness gave way into a crazy working schedule. All the teachers had a turn being sick with either a stomach bug or a nasty respiratory virus, thankfully not Covid. And I’m glad to have not drawn the stomach bug card at least.
My amaryllis bloomed!
Not sure how many Happy Homemaker Mondays I’ve missed. The first one I missed because I favored sleep over Internet activities. The past few I’ve missed because of working. Quite a few more early (7:00 AM start) shifts than normal, after those…again, sleep over Internet activities).
Today, I get a bit of a break as I don’t need to go into work until noon before returning to an early start tomorrow and another full day on Friday. Spring break is next week for us. My list of things for next week is growing exponentially each day. Catching up with all my blogging friends is absolutely on the list!
Other Happenings and Random Things
Somehow, it’s gone from snow to crocus blooms to daffodils to tiny purple flowers covering the yard and more daffodils. Hopefully, better pictures coming soon. It’s been too long since I’ve properly picked up my good camera.
More daffodil pictures coming soon hopefully! Along with prettier purple flower pictures (squill/glory of the snow flowers)
G made dinner a couple nights while I was sick. Very helpful. French Toast and spaghetti, not at the same time! Once I felt better, J and I attempted spring rolls (his idea) to go with the Korean meatballs. They were semi-successful. Rice paper is a tad difficult. Trying again tonight as accompaniment to our pepper steak. Oh and last week, I tried avocado toast at work. Really liked it so we had it alongside taco salads for dinner last night.
This Week’s Menu
Monday: I grilled bbq chicken and garlic butter chicken (saved for later) that I picked up already marinated from the grocery store. *I worked 7 to 1*
TUESDAY: taco salads and avocado toast *I worked 7 to 3:45*
WEDNESDAY: pepper steak, rice, spring rolls *I work 12:30-3:45*
THURSDAY: Leftovers plus I picked up a cookies and cream pie for Pi day (3.14) *I work 7:15 to possibly 3:45, need to clarify* Mom’s Night Out! (If my work day is short, I might make a quiche for dinner instead to keep with the pie theme)
FRIDAY: fettuccine alfredo with garlic butter chicken, salad maybe? *I work 10:30-4:30*
Reading/TV watching
Didn’t do much reading while I was sick or I can’t recall much of what I read. Casually read an early 2 book series by V.E. Schwab, Vicious and Vengeful. They were just okay. Her later books are so much better. I’ve just started a promising book called The Secret Life of Flora Lee by Patti Callahan Henry.
So much yet so little tv watching. Since I felt a bit like a zombie, I rewatched the first season of The Walking Dead and part of the 2nd season as well. Watched the new Rick and Michonne series, need to catch up on the last episode. Can’t decide, any other fans out there…what do you think? For all the hype, I think to start the Daryl Dixon series is way better.
Husband and I watched The Voice, of course now that they have their teams I’m probably done.
And once I started feeling like a human again, I was happy to watch Next Level Chef and see that the Spring Baking Championship is back (hooray, one of my favorite shows!).
Movies? Hmmm…Oh, I rewatched the original Jurassic Park just because. And the last half of the Oscars ( I was at Target/waiting on J’s band practice to end for the first half). So, I’ll end this section with my Oscar look via my silly phone game.
What do you think of my red carpet look? Ha.
Winter Wednesday Weather
Did you know today is the last Wednesday for this season? Our winter weather to see out the season calls for a high in the 70’s (again, yesterday was the same) followed by a chance of thunderstorms. Oh, how I hope we get some rain. Last night the rain missed our local area. Such a strange winter we’ve had! Makes me wonder what’s in store for spring and summer.
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Stopping my not a quick post after all here. Thanks for reading my rather lengthy update if you’re still here.
Time for me to go get ready for work. Tell me what’s the weather look like where you are?
While it’s had its moments of happiness, it’s also been a bit of just a weary winter week around here. And no sunshine! Oh how I miss it!
Just thought I’d pop on here for a little week in review though not much to share. Taking a break from the aggravations of adding up tax numbers. The main aggravation coming from the local utility department insisting we have no account. Computer glitch probably but very annoying.
A few tidbits from my week and sadly, not many pictures as it’s been rainy and foggy so outside photos didn’t happen. Perhaps a sign to work on my indoor photos? Hmm. Something to ponder.
A hawk came to visit, doesn’t seem thrilled with the weather either
MONDAY and TUESDAY:
Everything started off icy this week. Thankfully, by Monday afternoon the temperature bumped up enough that I felt safe to go get a few things at the grocery store. And J got out to his band class as well. Always good to get out. He also shared with me what was going on so we started on fixing that (Just some college administration things that arrived last week. Somehow they were counting a dual credit class from 2 years ago into last semester’s grades causing all kinds of havoc with financial things.). Tuesday was another bit of an icy start so no classes for J again. I don’t know what I did, maybe some cleaning and clearing? Oh yes, that is it. I cleaned out our medicine cabinet. So far I’ve cleared the pantry, medicine cabinet, and a few things from our bedroom.
WEDNESDAY and THURSDAY:
Wednesday was a struggle. My solar battery started to wear down very fast. Had a bit of an argument with J. Went to the library and the power went out while I was there. However, they were very kind to write down my books so I could still take them. Had the things to drop off at the donation center in my trunk (still there) but the donation area was closed probably due to weather. My husband did make dinner Wednesday evening (pancakes and bacon) so that helped a bit as well.
Yesterday was much better even though it poured down rain the entire day! J went off to his classes and I spent most the morning making minestrone soup.
The beginning of minestrone
Treated myself to a much needed Starbucks chai latte when I had to run to the store for pasta (I’ve decided dinatale pasta is the best for minestrone even though my recipe calls for elbow macaroni).
Last night I went out with friends, never underestimate how much that can help with a down week. We went to the Nelson (how we refer to the main art gallery in town locally) to see a Monet exhibit as well as exhibit of the works of Evelyn Hofer (very interesting!). Our kind friend obtained tickets to the exhibit for us through her work.
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
And then, we all went out to eat a bit of a Kansas City institution of hamburger restaurants, Winsteads. I’d not been there in years! We were at the original location but they used to have restaurants throughout the city including a couple close to us. Sadly, those restaurants are long gone.
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Today and the rest of the weekend: I’m wearing my lucky red sweater for red Friday today. Trying to remember to wash my lucky long-sleeved red Chiefs shirt so it’ll be dry in time for Sunday (it’s a no dryer item). Our weather is supposed to bump way up in temperature but I’m still going to wear it. J needs to go the college bookstore later.
I’d like to maybe visit a Hallmark store as I’m starting to think on my 2 focus words for February….love and friendship are calling to me. Think I’ve done a decent job with my cleaning and clearing for January–perhaps a blog post is in order. It’s another weekend where we have no big plans (outside of cheering on the Chiefs on Sunday afternoon) but I’m not mad about it. Maybe I’ll spend some time practicing on indoor photos.
If the sun shines, you know I’ll be chasing it. And if it doesn’t, I’m planning to get outside anyway (I can manage anything but ice and pouring rain, I think).
How has your week been? What big or small plans do you have for the weekend?
Just finished an entire week in review blog post and then, decided it was so boring I’m not publishing it. So, here we have try two with the photos I downloaded for the deleted post. (I’m also counting this as my winter Wednesday post even though it’s Friday.) I’m just going to list some random items from the week.
We missed trash day on Wednesday! The trash truck usually always comes around 9:30 in the morning but for some reason they came at 6:30 on Wednesday. Thankfully, we didn’t have too much trash this week and should be okay to make it until next week.
Sickness also found J on Wednesday so he missed the start of his college classes this semester. Shouldn’t be too bad as Tuesday was a snow day.
A blue jay for my blue Wednesday
Did you know blue Monday meant that it was supposedly the most depressing day of the year? I had more of a blue Wednesday but really haven’t been super depressed this winter (yet). Getting outside makes such a difference!
Snow flowers?
I watched Trolls and School of Rock on Wednesday afternoon, both older movies and yet somehow I’d never seen them. Go watch them if you’ve not seen them yet, worth your time. Light and fun as well.
Want to know something that works good for sifting powdered sugar onto things if you don’t want to break out the entire sifter? A slotted spoon! Probably one of those I’m the last person to know that kind of things but thought I’d share it in case I’m just the second to last person to think of it.
I went to the grocery store twice this week. Once on Monday and again yesterday, both times to prepare for cold and snow. Yesterday was more about getting birdseed and a few snack items for the weekend.
A Few More Items
My editing stuff says I need a subheading, so there you go.
Don’t discount the mental and physical benefits of a snowy hike. Not a snowy workout, just a walk on the snow covered trail admiring the season.
If you line your pan with foil to avoid a mess from a sticky sauce, clean said pan before the sauce cools and “glues” the foil to your pan. Ack! What a mess. SIGH.
Let myself say no to work a few times this week, why is it so hard to prioritize my own plans even if they aren’t “big”?
Excited for G who has a job interview coming up in a couple of weeks. He’d been a bit discouraged so this helps.
Started the week with laundry and here I am ending it with more laundry? How?
Weekend Plans
None really. More laundry, cleaning and clearing of clutter for today. And some paperwork. Ugh. Waiting to see how J feels when he wakes up and whether he’s going to his classes (they don’t start until 2).
Football watching on the agenda for the weekend mostly. Go Chiefs! Go Packers! (or am I supposed to say Pack? Carrie?) and Go Lions! Not sure on who I’ll cheer on for the fourth game. Maybe a walk on Sunday if it “warms” up a bit more.
How was your week? Any plans for the weekend that might be more exciting than mine?
As I was stepping into my rain/mud/snow boots this morning, I mentioned to my husband they were game changers for me. For the most part, until about 4 years ago, I never really owned boots that actually kept my feet dry and (this is important) were easy to get on and off. Boots that were also actually comfortable.
Thought I had a picture of them but can’t find it. However, here is a link to them.
These boots make me more willing to go outside in the rain, mud, and snow. They helped me go on more hikes this fall (and hopefully, this winter as well) since I wasn’t relying on just tennis shoes.
Anyway, then I started thinking about a few other things that were game changers for me in the past few years. And I thought it might be fun to share just a few of them in a post here.
ONE: Parchment Paper
Why did it take me so many years to embrace the idea of parchment paper? I finally started using it on the family chocolate birthday cake a few years ago. Only recently did I realize I could use it to keep things like my banana bread from sticking in the pan. And on cookie sheets instead of greasing them when recipes called for it.
TWO: Great Advice I Really Needed
Reading this little tidbit has helped me so much with not feeling guilty when I say no to work. It’s made me realize that my plans for just myself are also important. I’ve quit canceling on myself (and sometimes my family) to put someone else’s priorities above my own. And let me take a day to relax if I know I need one.
THREE: Warm Socks
This kind of fits up there with my thoughts about having a good and easy pair of boots. Warm socks make it so much easier and enjoyable to be outside in the winter. Who knew? Probably everyone but me.
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These are all just small things but they’ve made such a big difference for me. What do you consider some of your game changers?
