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.
A quick post this morning as I’m off to work very soon. I still wanted to do a quick Five on Friday post. Thought it might be fun to share a photo from each day this week. These are all phone photos.
MONDAY
Day started rain and cloudy and ended cloudy. I got to see the owls (not pictured) while I was standing outside talking to one of my brothers on the phone, super exciting as I often hear but seldom see them.
TUESDAY
The outside of a fun restaurant a little ways out of town where we ate lunch. 58 Diner, kind of food you’d expect. Suzy Q fries were fun.
And also, I did vote. And I have so much I could say about our (local) politics and how angry I am with certain sports teams (suffice it to say I voted a big NO on their stadium ideas). I’m not even sure I’ll be able to forgive the Chiefs for their scare tactics campaign to get the yes votes by the time football season starts. No (nice) comment about the Royals either. If the teams want to leave, hope the door doesn’t hit them on their way. Not the way to treat fans who’ve been loyal for years even when they weren’t Super Bowl material.
We better move on before I fall off my soap box.
WEDNESDAY
Fun sticker from my favorite fancy coffee place. Also, keep trying to see the owls again with camera and/or phone in hand. No luck. Easter bunny showed up late.
THURSDAY
Finally saw the hawk again yesterday. Hanging out in the front yard in the afternoon.
Friday
Seems I’ve shared a lot about the fancy coffees lately so just a pic to show what my coffee looks like most of the time including today.
Plain Folgers brewed from a regular coffee machine. No idea why it won’t let me make the photo big.
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Don’t forget to check out Five on Friday! And now, I’m off to work (please forgive any typos as I wrote this very fast this morning).
Thought it might be fun to do a Happy Homemaker Monday post on a Friday. Instead of a planning post, more of a what was planned vs what actually happened kind of post. So basically a week in review post with the Happy Homemaker Monday categories.
The Weather
On Sunday afternoon
The beginning of the week was beautiful, a bit above normal in the high 40’s and then, we hit the 60’s. Today, cold and snowy.
snowflakes and tree branches reflected in car’s windshield
As I Look Outside My Window
Didn’t have much time to look out my window on Monday. I was called into open at work (meaning I had to be there by 7:00a.m.). Now, I see snow and I think the cat sees a bird.
Right Now
I worked every day this week. And I forgot my coat at work yesterday. So, after running into work to grab it early this morning, I’m finally sitting down to write a proper post.
Thinking and Pondering
Too many thoughts and too few words to express them.
How I am Feeling
Well, after working mostly for sick teachers all week…I’m still managing to be 85% healthy. Okay, maybe closer to 80%. Lots of vitamins in my morning routine this week. And early bedtimes mostly.
On the Breakfast Plate
Monday was some sort of flip yogurt, coffee, and vitamins. Today, I took the time to make lemon poppyseed muffins (from a box mix). Vitamins and coffee.
On the Lunch Plate
Maybe my leftover Chinese food from Valentine’s Day. Not sure.
On The Dinner Plate
Leaning towards pulling the minestrone I made a few weeks ago out of the freezer for dinner tonight. Or maybe some other form of pasta.
On The Menu
My sad attempt at KC Chiefs logo on sugar cookies from Sunday. Left these for the kids as we were in charge of taking salad to our party.
This is what a week with no menu plan looks like at our house:
MONDAY: leftovers from the super bowl…we took a big salad to our party so we had rotisserie chicken and salad. *I worked 7:00-3:30*
TUESDAY: Plan was for pancakes but I worked and then, went pretty much straight to the movie theater as I had plans with a friend. (We saw Wonka, I really enjoyed it!) I don’t even remember what the husband ended up doing…I think he thawed taco soup maybe? *I worked 7:00-3:45*
WEDNESDAY: We ordered in Chinese food for Valentine’s Day *I worked 7:00-3:40ish*
THURSDAY: They all ate leftover Chinese food for dinner. I ate a yogurt as I wasn’t super hungry. *I worked 8:15-6:10* (stayed a little later than planned to cover a different teacher)
FRIDAY: Pasta of some sort….*glad to have a day at home finally*
What I Am Wearing Today
Monday, I wore a Chiefs shirt, of course. Today, I’m wearing a pink work hoodie and blue leggings, tennis shoes.
On My Reading Pile
A December to Remember by Jenny Bayliss. Waited a long time for it, a nice perfect fun and lighter read so far.
On My TV This Week
Well, had this been on Monday, I’d obviously been saying how ’bout those Chiefs!!!! We had so much fun watching the game with friends (a couple of them were obnoxiously cheering on San Francisco, so lots of good natured ribbing during the game). Not really any time for much tv on Mon/Tues though I did manage to watch The Floor. On Wednesday, I finally had to just turn the news off and had G watch part of Dune with me. He’s agreed to go see part 2 in the theaters. Last night, I sort of dozed through Next Level Chef. Not sure what if anything I’ll watch this weekend.
Looking Around the House
Looks like I’ve not been here much though we did manage to keep the laundry and kitchen areas somewhat on track.
On My To Do List
Mostly I went to work this week. Other things from my list:
Grocery store
Go see Wonka movie with friend (we’d planned on doing this over Christmas break but then, life happened…)
Get Valentine’s for husband and kids *did NOT happen, it’s okay everyone was happy with their “million dollar Chinese food*
Laundry *Husband helped with this A LOT, good enough Valentine for me*
Sort out some issues with J’s college finances *In progress*
From The Camera
Probably goes without saying, didn’t really pick my camera up this week. All pictures in post are from my phone.
On My Prayer List
This city, this country, the world. SIGH
A Funny And Weekend Plans
Since I’d like to end this post on a lighter note, I thought I’d share a “warning” if you pick up candy from another country out of the discount cart at the grocery. Turn it over and see what is actually in it. I bought Italian candy labeled Caramelle Dure thinking oh, caramels! I like caramel. Um, no I’ve discovered Italian cough drops. They were menthol and eucalyptus candies. Yikes! Not caramel. Timely for having a slight sore throat, however.
No real weekend plans here. Anyone else have big weekend plans?
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?
Hope everyone had a wonderful first week of 2024! Mine was a nice balance of relaxing and working with a few pleasant unexpected surprises.
Monday: A Relaxing Start
I didn’t even do my regular Monday grocery run (and I should’ve to get my Chiefs gas discount, hoping they do well tomorrow in general and so I can get a good gas discount!). Strange how the first day of the new year already seems like a long time ago.
Tuesday: Winter Walk and Winner Winner Chicken Dinner
I found enough energy on Tuesday to take a winter walk at the nature center. Shared the pictures in my first Winter Wednesday post of 2024. I’ve decided to bring back Winter Wednesdays as they really did help me not mind winter so much. And somehow, this rarely happens, I managed to cook just the right amount of chicken for our copycat Chik-Fil-A dinner on Tuesday evening. Everyone had enough without tons of leftover. And it turned out really good. Small win but sometimes those are the best!
Wednesday: A Late Christmas Gift, Slice of Pizza, and A Bald Eagle Sighting!
Super blurry and hard to see but it is indeed a bald eagle in that tree!
Mid-week was a full work day for me, the first one of the year! And it was a great one. Came to work to find a student had brought me a Christmas present. A co-teacher ordered pizza for her lunch and they messed up the order, giving her an extra pizza so yes, I’ll have a slice of pizza for lunch. Yum!
And then, the best thing ever on my break. Cutting thru the park on my way back to school and there just sitting in a tree? A bald eagle! So fun and unexpected. Nobody behind me so I grabbed my phone and then, of course, there was someone behind me. As much as I wanted to circle back, I had to get back to work so settled for one very blurry photo. And of course, I can’t get my photo edit computer thing to work today so this is the basis unedited photo from my phone.
Thursday: Finding A Dress In the Back of the closet!
Thursday was another slow day around here with me just taking my time with things. And discovering a dress in the back of the closet, perfect work dress with some black leggings. Sold! And for $0.
Friday: More Work And the First Snow of 2024!
I had a feeling it would happen and it did, I worked the full day instead of just half a day. It was an odd work day with me starting in the pre-primary class for a teacher having car trouble, going to my planned primary class (and them driving me a bit nuts, unusual in this particular class), and then, returning to the pre-primary class to finish the shift of a sick teacher. Somewhere during the unusual mixed up busy day, it started snowing!
One of the sweet pre-primary students looked out the window upon seeing the snow and said: This makes me so happy!
It made me happy as well. As much as I love my summer, I also love all the seasons and couldn’t imagine living somewhere with minimal weather changes.
Friday night, I was tired. Leftovers for dinner and silly science fiction movie: The Creator. It was enjoyable enough for the genre, I called the plot Terminator in reverse.
Today is the The Epiphany
I’ve made our traditional cake but not really done much else. Spent this morning watching another movie, this one on Netflix, called Leave the World Behind. It was pretty good and I enjoyed it though the ending seemed a bit hokey. Did request the book from the library.
Actually, I’m still in my pajama pants at almost 3p.m. Later, I’ll put a ham in the oven for dinner. The plans for the rest of the day, a nice dinner and watching the football games.
My purple didn’t turn out very pretty this year but I liked the swirl in the middle of the plate
Tomorrow, I’ll put away the rest of the Christmas decorations (or I may do it tonight) and get out for the walk I missed on Thursday. And of course, watch the Chiefs game. More snow is heading our way for Monday into Tuesday.
How are you spending your first full weekend of 2024?
December is here at last or perhaps suddenly. Feels more like suddenly this year doesn’t it? We have lots on our December calendar and I’m excited for it.
However, first I think I’ll take a minute to look back at the whirlwind last week of November. Isn’t it weird how sometimes a week with nothing special on the calendar can speed by as fast as one that’s super busy?
MONDAY AND TUESDAY
Nothing too exciting happened on Monday except my usual grocery store trip. I guess I’m officially a “regular” as that’s how the lunchmeat counter manager referred to me. “I’m seeing all my regulars today.” HA. It’s true though, I typically shop on Mondays and get the same things from that counter.
Tuesday, J had his class and I took a snowy hike through some of the nature center trails. You can see the post about that here.
I worked for just a few hours on Tuesday afternoon. It was definitely a bit more chilly in the late afternoon on the playground than it had been on the nature center trails. And so muddy! Ugh. However, I still enjoyed seeing the kids. J didn’t have his evening class so our evening was fairly relaxed, I mostly read in my book and watched a bit of TV.
WEDNESDAY
With lots of sunshine and warmer weather, I opted to drive out to a nature center on the east side of town and do a bit of walking. I didn’t take my boots so mostly stayed on the paved trails. I had the best time seeing a new (to me) bird as well as some eagles flying over head! The eagle picture turned out blurry but here’s my new tiny bird friend:
Golden-crowned kinglet
A bit of real life: Unfortunately, the evening ended on a bit of a sour note as J and I came home starving from his class and my husband had not even bothered to start dinner. He’d been home a decent amount of time, saying “I didn’t know what you wanted.” I’d written two options on our menu board. My temper flared a bit as I made dinner (loudly) but everyone was fed. I ended up making sausage, orzo, & broccoli.
Maybe I’d come home in a bit of worse mood as I’d finished reading Holly by Stephen King and found myself quite disappointed in it.
Life and dinners go on…
red-bellied woodpecker
THURSDAY
Yesterday, I went hiking at the closer nature center trails again. Wore my boots and was glad I did as a lot of the snow melted into slippery leaves and mud.
So strange to see how the weather and trails can change in a matter of two days. This is the same spot 2 days apart:
I also finally managed to get to the library and pick up my on hold books (as well as return my overdue ones). Also picked up a few new cookbooks, not sure if I’ve mentioned it but the library is such a great place to grab cookbooks to preview. In my current collection, I have Trisha Yearwood’s cookbook as well as one by Chrissy Teigen plus a couple random ones.
Not from a cookbook but last night we made these banana pancakes for dinner. Whatever you’re planning for your next meal, change it and make these instead! So good. We added mini chocolate chips to ours. They really didn’t even need syrup. Next time, I think I’d like to add blueberries instead of the chocolate chips.
Ended my November watching, not a Christmas movie but an old dateline special about Jonestown. Why? And then, I turned on the football game but fell asleep.
Our Weekend Plans
And now it’s December! Ours is a bit busier than normal but after a few years of quiet holidays, I’m excited about it.
Prior to this post, I took a moment to enjoy a cup of hazelnut coffee as the Keurig is plugged in for the holiday season. It only comes out for hunting season/Christmas, the rest of the year is the regular coffee maker coffee which I also had a cup of earlier in the morning.
And read the first day of Simply Christmas, a favorite devotional for this month. While it’s geared to moms with younger children, I still find wisdom in the pages.
Tonight we have J’s college Christmas concert to attend. Tomorrow, our first of the month dinner/game night with friends. We’ve not had a proper game night in a while so I do hope we actually play a few games tomorrow. And then, Sunday night is the Chiefs game. Between all that fun, I am hoping to get the rest of the house decorated for Christmas, maybe do a bit of shopping or baking, and taking some time to enjoy the start of the Christmas season.
If the sun shines, you know I’ll be out taking a walk with my camera soaking it in while I can. I’ve told myself every time I can be out walking and enjoying the sunshine in the next few months, I’m going to do it.
I’m having a bit of a red, green, and black Friday over here. Shopping or not, it’s still red Friday for the Chiefs game on Sunday. Of course, all my Chiefs gear is in the wash so I’m wearing a red Grinch t-shirt. Bit of a green Friday happening as well since I have no intention of leaving the house today & have added a green cardigan with a Christmas tree design to my ensemble since it’s chilly in here. Finally, I am doing a bit of online black Friday bargaining. Mostly, it involves streaming deals.
However, I thought I’d take a quick break from not really doing much to share about my week.
Monday and Tuesday
The weather was fairly nice to start the week. I worked on Monday and Tuesday both. Though I only worked in the afternoon on Tuesday, it felt like a full day. Those kids were a bit crazy! It was nice that I was able to enjoy afternoon birthday celebrations both days. However, can I just suggest…IF you want to make your child’s birthday treat (it’s fine and allowed at our school) and make some sort of bars/cake/rice krispie treats, PLEASE cut them into pieces before bringing them to school. Couldn’t really help the teacher with the kids during the celebration as I was cutting the birthday treats into 20 servings. Anyway, did I mention Tuesday was a crazy day at my work? The main teacher actually sent me a text later that night thanking me for my help. A super nice thing to do.
Pre-Thanksgiving (AKA Wednesday)
Wednesday was a pretty easy day as none of us had anywhere we needed to be. Such a change from the days of traveling to Oklahoma! Maybe that’s why I had the itch to go somewhere later in the afternoon so hopped in the car to brave Target. I did actually need a few items there plus wanted to look for the flavored whipped creams I’d read about somewhere (salted caramel sounded like a great addition to my apple pie but alas they were out of it).
I took some time before going into the craziness of Target to stop at a different local nature center and quickly walk just their short (.25 mile, I think) paved trail. Didn’t bring my camera so these photos I’m sharing are all from my phone. Since it was a bright sunny day, I had on my sunglasses and forgot to switch back to regular glasses before setting off into the woods. Oops! I definitely need to go back there with my good camera and without my sunglasses.
One last thing to mention about my hike, I really think taking the walk before going into a crowded store helped me be a bit less stressed. I don’t do crowds well and I really think having some time in nature prior to the crowded indoor excursion helped.
Thanksgiving
Did I forget to take any pictures at all? I did indeed! Even the photo of my cranberry relish in progress was from Wednesday.
It was such a nice and relaxing day! I can’t remember the last time we’ve had such a nice Thanksgiving in these parts. My brother’s dinner wasn’t until 4 so I had all day to make my pies. Had a wonderful dinner and visit with my 3 brothers and two of my nieces and their families. And political talk was at a minimum barely happening at all (I’m beyond thankful for that one!). G took the car (we all rode together) to go feed a friend’s cat and took J with him around 7ish so dropped J off at home. J’s not the most social so we try to respect that. The rest of us stayed and visited until almost 11!
Today
Today’s weather was slightly different when I woke up this morning. A feels like temperature of 18 degrees! What? It’s 35 now but not supposed to get any warmer and they’re still calling for snow (just a dusting) overnight.
My plans for today were to start decorating for Christmas but all I’ve managed so far is to take down the fall decor and add in a few Christmas bathroom towels. Oh, and I pulled out my Christmas sweaters and a few warm sweatshirts, putting away the shorts finally.
My plans for the rest of the weekend are fairly open, finish decorating for Christmas (hopefully), G’s offered to get me a McRib since our McD’s has them right now (I’ll probably be disappointed but I still want one), and hopefully watch maybe a Christmas movie plus the Chiefs game on Sunday. Nothing too exciting which is fine as our December is shaping up to be a busy one (with all good stuff though)!
What color is your Friday? Big plans for the rest of the weekend?
First thing is I really need to work on my blog titles. Can you believe another week’s gone by? What happened in your week? Here’s a glimpse into mine.
CATNAP NEEDED
I’m going to start with this morning’s adventure. I thought it would be going to get my haircut but no, this little cat had other plans:
Let her outside early because she was fussing. Few minutes later heard a ruckus, opened the door and thought I saw her over toward the neighbor’s house. Didn’t worry too much, figured things had worked themselves out (sometimes other little cats come to play and they don’t always play nice). Later in the morning, went to let her back inside as it was quite chilly and glance to the side and….she’s up in the elm tree that sits between our house and the neighbors. SIGH.
Husband had trimmed some branches over the summer (something about them falling and hitting our roof if a good wind happened). And now, the cat struggled to get down the tree. So picture me (sorry no actual footage for you), bright and early on a Saturday morning, outside in a sweatshirt and pajama bottoms giving a pep talk to get the cat back down the tree. Husband is off hunting and I really thought I was going to have to find someone with a ladder to help us. However, she managed and is now tucked into our bed in front of the heater.
AROUND THE FRONT YARD
J slept through his Thursday classes so I missed out on my morning walk, unless you count Menards where I had a few errands. It’s a big store but walking through the artificial Christmas trees is not quite as relaxing as walking in the wooded areas. Thought I’d make it up on Friday but was called into work. I was glad to go though as I had things to drop off for a teacher gift basket. Here’s a few images I took on Thursday afternoon just to have a moment with my camera at least.
Pansies are enduring through the crazy up and down temperatures. Full view of the hanging basket is not quite as pretty.
A couple images from the flower garden around the basket. The late stage of the coneflower is very striking to me.
And the very end of the brown-eyed Susans. I admit, I did cut quite a few of them down a bit this year (had to as I needed to reach the bee balm that I also cut down due to disease). They’ll be back next year I’m sure.
IN THE BACKYARD
Not our tree but I just love this sweet gum tree that belongs to the neighbor. The leaves seem much smaller this year, probably because of the drought.
Thursday was a fairly quiet day and while I had lots I needed to do, I didn’t do much of it.
CAKE
This cake, I’ve made it for so many years now. And it seldom comes out perfect. Actually, I don’t know that it’s ever come out perfect. There is a certain beauty to an imperfect homemade cake, I think.
J had a nice birthday, I think. Birthdays are different in those young adult times. He had class still so we didn’t do much other than the standard dinner, presents, and cake with the four of us. He seemed to like his gifts, a lightweight zip up hoodie (strange weather, he needed something lightweight), a box of “full price” cheez its, peppermint lifesavers and a large Three Musketeers bar. Of course, his large present was the symphony tickets for all of us later in December.
(Monday and Tuesday of this week are a bit of a blur, I think I was probably running around doing pre-birthday things for J.)
THIS WEEKEND
Last night, I was too tired to do much of anything and opted to watch a movie. Just in case you don’t know, Fast X has a sequel. I was not happy about that though I did actually enjoy the movie (I’ve never sat and watched 1-9 of the Fast and Furious movies so don’t ask why I opted to watch the 10th installment). Jason Momoa should play a villian in all movies, he was a great villain in this!
After the cat drama this morning, I still managed to go get my haircut and then, came down here to finish this post. I’m feeling the pull to clean, bake, and decorate for Christmas though I’m not “allowed” to decorate until after Thanksgiving. I’ll probably spend the afternoon cleaning out the fridge, putting together the Mexican lasagna that I didn’t make yesterday, and reading in my book. Or maybe I’ll go for a walk as the weather is supposed to be nice today before taking a cold turn moving forward into the holiday week.
It’s Friday once again! And I must ask, did your week fly by like mine did?
Or did your week flow with a more leisurely pace giving you time to bask in the autumn sun?
I ended up working Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday this week. Only Monday was a full day but it sure made the week go by quick. Happily, I still managed to get my walks in this week. Once again, I think I’ll just share 5 things from this week.
ONE: WEIRD WEATHER
Our weather is always a bit up and down and sideways around here. However, I can’t recall the last time I ran the a/c on a Wednesday and by Thursday evening bumped on the heat! In fairness to our lovely Midwest fall weather, at our house, opening the windows isn’t a current option. Hello, hackberry gnats! UGH. What’s a hackberry gnat you ask? A tiny gnat that comes from the hackberry tree. Their super power? They can fit through the window screens and there are millions of them right now.
TWO: A WONDERFUL AND FREE WEDNESDAY
J had no class on Wednesday and oddly enough I wasn’t called into work. Really, probably should’ve bought myself a lottery ticket over that one.
I spent the day bringing all my houseplants inside (again) and reconfiguring the plant stand. A few plants I thought might spend winter indoors just weren’t working. Bye, beautiful begonias! So long lemon balm (see you again in the spring I hope!).
And I also had time to run a few plant-related errands. Dollar Tree for some little rocks to go under the plants requiring more humidity. G thought they were candy! Glad he asked about them before chomping down on handful. More soil to replant a couple asparagus ferns (sorry rolly pollies, you can’t spend winter inside with us). And a trip to Menards to walk through their Christmas aisle before buying the plastic things to go under the plants (drip trays? not sure what we to call them). Did I buy more spring bulbs? No comment. And another perennial? Again, no comment.
THREE: CROCKPOT DELIGHTS AND OTHER THINGS
Wednesday for dinner we had our French Dip sandwiches using this recipe and oh, they were so good! The recipe is definitely going into the rotation. Funnily enough, this coming Sunday is National French Dip day. Guess we were a bit ahead of things, I didn’t even know the sandwich had its own day. And by the way, they aren’t French at all.
Yesterday, after getting called into work, I scrambled to make my favorite minestrone soup and throw it in the crockpot (minus the pasta which I added after getting home). The only change I make to the recipe linked here is that I use smaller pasta (soup shells) as I think the elbow macaroni is too big. And leave out the beans (picky eaters club around here). You probably can’t convince me there’s a better soup than minestrone.
And this morning, I made a batch of pumpkin chocolate chip muffins from scratch. I’ve not made completely homemade muffins in a while so they hit the spot. I’ll likely share that recipe as my Thanksgiving Tip/Recipe on Monday.
FOUR: NEW TRAIL ROUTE
Not expecting to work yesterday, I walked two trails in the morning. Thankfully, the new one was a short loop. Funny I’d been avoiding it as I worried it would be too long and you know different can be scary. It turned out to be much shorter than my normal trail! And gave way to some very pretty views.
FIVE: TURKEY STEW
Yesterday, at work, I “made” turkey stew with the kids. It’s a group activity/chant: Turkey Stew, Turkey Stew, What should we put in our turkey stew? Then, you ask each kid what they’d like to add. Once they tell you their ingredient, you chop, chop, chop and drop, drop, drop. Then, stir and stir and sip, sip, sip. (We change the words seasonally, so pumpkin stew for October, maybe Christmas soup for next month, etc.)
These might be a kind of mushroom called turkey tails though I’m not sure
Not sure I’d really want to sip turkey stew made from the following (from what I can remember): M&M’s, mushrooms, water (interesting, we poured and poured and poured some more for that), turkey, carrots, bread, lollipops, chicken, chocolate, a whole bucket of Halloween candy, milk…I think someone said broccoli. There were things I’ve forgotten and some repeats, of course. However, YUCK, glad that stew isn’t real. Ha!
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Later today, I have to go Bath and Body Works because my replacement candle also arrived broken! I’m just taking this one back to the store instead of messing with online things (I think this particular style of candle must be defective) and exchanging it there, have a few errands to run over that way so I might as well.
Our weekend is oddly open once again and no KC Chiefs game on Sunday either. I’m undecided on how I’ll spend it. Cleaning, baking, finding a new place to hike, planting the new bulbs I just bought all comes to mind. As well as maybe just being a lazy and reading my books or watching a movie.
