Just a quick check in post to wish everyone a Happy Valentine’s Day! In a very few short minutes, I’m off to work. It’s a rainy day here in KC, so wish all the preschool and elementary teachers doing Valentine’s Day parties luck today.
Didn’t have to buy myself flowers this morning. (Ha, if you know the song I just referenced, tell me how often do you hear on the radio? I like it but the station seems to play it all the time.)
And yes, those are marshmallow peeps in the bottom left corner, that’s my husband’s purchase and not part of my Valentine. I told him it was way too early.
Hope everyone has a wonderful Tuesday!
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(Probably won’t have much of a chance to visit all your wonderful blogs until tomorrow evening)
You knew I had to do that, right? And it was a good game as well.
Okay, now it’s time to quickly join in with Sandra over at Diary Of A Stay At Home Mom for the Happy Homemaker Monday link up. I’ve only got about 35 minutes before I need to leave for work so this is going to be a quick one. (Let me apologize in advance for the lack of pictures in this post.)
The Weather
Nice today, highs in the upper 50’s. WooHoo, preschool kids get to go OUTSIDE. Rain all day tomorrow. High 40’s for Chiefs Victory parade day and then, I think it turns a bit cooler for the rest of the week.
As I Look Outside My Window
Blue skies and sunshine, going to be a beautiful day.
Right Now
This post, then work, followed by J’s baritone lesson. Grocery store afterward.
Thinking And Pondering
J’s still struggling a bit with getting to school and I’m at the point where I’m just done. I know that sounds awful but I’m so tired of not knowing every morning what’s going to happen. And it just seems like every time I get my hopes up that things are going better, we have a slip. Can I please cut in line to have my breakdown now?
On My Bedside Table
Just the lamp and a phone charger but you don’t want to see my dresser!
On My TV
Chiefs coverage mostly. Earlier yesterday, I did watch the first episode of You. I’m hooked.
Listening To
I started the dishwasher before running down here so I can hear it running upstairs.
On The Lunch Plate
No idea what’s for lunch at work but I’m taking a PBJ with me today.
On The Dinner Plate
I need to go to the store and I work until 5. They’re going to have to fend for themselves. Honestly, I’m thinking about getting an “87” concrete (special ice cream flavor from a local place) and calling it dinner
On The Menu This Week
Chocolate covered strawberries “Chiefs colors” for the Super Bowl Party yesterday
This category is such a mess after we’ve been eating out so much and all having different things.
MONDAY: On Their Own *I work 8:30-5* *J has a baritone lesson at 6:30*
TUESDAY: Maybe roast in the crockpot? *I work 8:30-4:15* OH, I just remembered it’s Valentine’s Day. Maybe OUT. Chocolate pie for dessert. I don’t know.
WEDNESDAY: Roast in the crockpot? *I might work 8:30-5 depending on whether or not school closes for the Chiefs parade, I imagine I’ll be working*
THURSDAY: A day to breathe! Maybe pepper steak that I keep putting on the menu and then, not making.
FRIDAY: No school for J (officially)…maybe spicy potato soup and homemade bread?
All of the above is subject to change and probably will change.
On My Reading Pile
Between books again. Probably going to share about a couple I read in a different post. Yesterday I finished up All Good People Here by Ashley Flowers. It was ok, not the best. Of course, in fairness, the two books I read prior were excellent so it made the mediocracy a bit more apparent.
On My To Do List
Work
Figure out Valentine’s Day
Grocery Store
Probably other stuff
Plans This Week
Work, Valentine’s Day, Watch the Chiefs parade if I’m home, maybe relax at some point?
Simple Pleasure
Hanging out with friends
Looking Around The House
Looks like we had a Super Bowl party here instead of going to one.
From The Camera
Hoping I do better with this category next week. Here’s a phone pic I snapped this morning of my holiday cactus. Looks like more blooms in the future!
On My Prayer List
Friends, family, strangers. The people of Turkey and Syria.
New week. Chiefsmas is the unofficial name of the day in Kansas City. Hoping for a win in the big game!
Still need to take time, however, to post for the Blog 365 challenge. I’m finding my Sunday posts falling into a bit of a pattern where I simply share a few photos and quotes on a topic. Love is the word for the day with Valentine’s Day around the corner.
(Photos are combination of new and old ones)
Love is patient love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. ( 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8)
Who being loved is poor? (Oscar Wilde)
Let all that you do be done in love. (1 Corinthians 16:14)
A friend loves at all times. (Proverbs 17:17)
Look here and here for my bible verses on love (and in the bible!). Find other great quotes about love here and on Pinterest.
Well, I think perhaps I might know the cause of my headache yesterday. I needed sleep apparently. So rare for me but I slept until 8AM this morning! And I went to bed before 9PM last night.
I’m still moving slow but I don’t feel bad and my headache is gone. So glad, I was a bit concerned I was possibly coming down with something. A teacher at work was out last week as her young son had the flu.
I’ve decided to just spend the day relaxing and catching up on a few things. Paying some bills. Cleaning the house a little. Maybe watching a little tv. Washing my “hang to dry” clothes. Included in that load, my Chiefs gear for tomorrow. And of course, visiting my blogging friends!
Let’s just do a week in review post for today as somehow, though it was filled with fun things, last week felt like climbing a mountain!
MONDAY/TUESDAY
Monday is honestly a blur. I know I worked in the afternoon for a very short amount of time. Just long enough for a teacher to go and take care of some paperwork. Remember taking J to his baritone lesson and trying to place the piano piece we heard while leaving. His instructor’s wife is a piano teacher and gives piano lessons upstairs while her husband gives brass lessons downstairs. So frustrated as I couldn’t place it yet knew it was Beethoven. So simple, why didn’t I remember the title of the piece: Fur Elise. Well, I guess college music appreciation wasn’t a total fail as I did get the composer right at least.
Tuesday was a fun although busy day with our first annual Galentine’s Day Dinner at the Cheesecake Factory on the Plaza. I spent most the day running around trying to figure out the gifts for small tokens of love and friendship. A whole post about the day and our dinner coming soon.
Galentine’s Day gifts ready to go
WEDNESDAY/THURSDAY
I planned to spend all day Wednesday focusing on my husband’s birthday. Making his cake. Cleaning the house. However, a very early phone call from a teacher led to me working part of the morning. Still spent the day doing those things just not as much time on either of them. Out to dinner at a local steakhouse, joined by my brother-in-law and his wife. They declined coming back to the house for cake at the last minute. I think they didn’t want to stay out later in the rainy weather. It was okay though I was a bit disappointed they didn’t join us for cake.
A late evening text changed my work hours on Thursday from starting at noon to starting at 9:30. And still staying until 6. We awoke to that crazy snowfall. The snow was so heavy as I cleaned off my car. Great snowman weather but by the time I left work, almost all gone! Actually, almost all gone by 2PM. Work was a bit crazy and tiring but not awful. The day had started too early, first with the gray alarm cat waking me at 4AM, only to be woke once again with the no school phone call from the public school at 5.
FRIDAY/SATURDAY (today)
Yesterday I worked a full day in the class I typically work in most often. The class I started this year working in for a full week. I am in there again on Monday, working for a teacher lucky enough to go to the Super bowl this weekend. Very excited for her!
Something Red for the Chiefs!
It was share day and the letter “e” sound as in elephants and eggs. First kid presents his share item and we are stumped. Tiny Minecraft figurines. Huh? In frustration, he blurts out “they’re effigies!” Okay, then. “A sculpture or model of a person.” (Google dictionary). We all learned a new word. Always interesting. After that, the items were more typical: eggs, elephants, an “empty” box…
The rest of the day was fine although I did find myself with a bit of a bad headache as the afternoon wore on (suffice it to say a preschool classroom is not an ideal setting for that). Came home, everyone did their own thing for dinner, and then, I went to bed early.
As I said earlier in my post, I’m just planning to have a slow, relaxing Saturday catching up on things before the big game tomorrow. And just one last random photo. I’ve been trying to capture a decent shot of my hyacinths with the “real” camera on and off all week but the phone camera did the job:
How was your week? How are you spending your Saturday?
I came home from work with a hellacious headache. Not a bad day at all. Just a headache. I skipped the school lunch so it could be from that. A Luna bar and apple being not quite enough to get through the day. Or my hair still being damp when I put it in a ponytail. Either way, this is just going to be enough of a post to stick to the Blog 365 goal.
Here are a few phone photos from the park where I stopped for a minute on the way to work yesterday. The roads weren’t bad by the time I went to work. I had allowed myself too much time and didn’t really want to be there super early so I stopped at the park for a moment.
What was I saying yesterday about the weather not cooperating for my winter appreciation project?
We went from beautiful weather for our Galentine’s dinner on the Country Club Plaza:
(I was excited the lights were still on, usually they turn them off in late January)
To waking up to 2 inches of snow and a snow day for the public schools:
(Chelsey’s little cat prints in the snow, silly cat went outside this morning. It’s not very cold though just a thick, wet snow falling after overnight rain)
Busy Week Just Gets Busier
My work hours increased this week. Yesterday morning, I covered for an early morning teacher who’d just lost her grandfather. Thankfully, another sub came in soon to relieve me so I could finish preparations for my husband’s birthday.
In the midst of baking his cake, I had to run to the grocery store as I’d run out of shortening. Usually just buy a small tub but of course, the store only had the large ones. Is it me or are stores out of the most random things ever since the COVID shortages? Oh well, as I told the other shopper, perhaps lots of pies in our future! I typically only use shortening for this family birthday cake and pie crust. My mom used it to fry chicken if I recall correctly. Maybe I’ll be brave.
And moving on to today, no snow day for me and now I’m working starting at 9:30 instead of noon. Downside of working at a small private school, pretty much not going to get a snow day unless it’s a snow armageddon out there. Or maybe ice. Even then, the odds are slim.
Time to go see if the car fairies cleared my car of the snow. What car fairies, Jean? Exactly. Hope you all have a great Thursday!
Super quick post while I wait for my husband’s birthday cake to cool this afternoon. Ended up working this morning so lots I still need to do.
First, let’s check….
The Weather
It’s cloudy and with a chill in the air but still warm enough that I could run outside coatless a minute ago without feeling terrible. Current temperature is 42. Supposed to rain later this afternoon/evening so it’s pretty cloudy outside right now as well.
Fevers
Two kinds of fevers currently sweeping across our city with our temperatures pretty warm for February. And no snow. So strange. I’m still cautious about a late season storm. Anyway, the first fever is of course, Super Bowl Fever with the Chiefs in the big game. As far as I can tell, the main symptoms of that one are almost everyone wearing Chiefs gear and being in a good mood. Spirit weeks a plenty at the schools.
The second kind of fever is more in line with this post: Spring Fever. I’ve tried pretty hard to appreciate winter this year. However, the weather really didn’t cooperate. And if the weather is going to be lovely and not cooperate, I just want to move on to Spring.
Thankfully, my friends last night did tell me it was too soon to uncover all my spring bulbs and to leave my mulched leaves on top for a few more weeks. So, I’ll just continue to enjoy my store-bought hyacinths instead. And go on dreaming of when I can start planting all this:
Yesterday, Billie Jo over at Afternoon Coffee And Evening Tea declared it Get To Know Your Blog Friends Week. And shared a few things, encouraging us to also share a few things most people probably don’t know about us.
So, for today’s post, I’m taking her idea and sharing a few random things about myself.
As soon as someone says tell me about yourself or asks my favorite anything, I tend to go blank. Except for with my favorite color, green.
I’m a college graduate with a B.A. in psychology but also hold a minor in economics. Not home economics but actual supply/demand/micro/macro economics. Please don’t quiz me, college was a long time ago!
There are only 3 places I’ve ever lived all in this same citywide area: my childhood home (we never moved when I was a kid), my own apartment, and this house where I now live with my husband.
With very few exceptions (covered strawberries or pretzels are okay but we usually do those things with almond bark around here), I think white chocolate is an abomination. It’s not even real chocolate, says so right here. Dark chocolate is my favorite but I also like milk chocolate just not as much.
When I was about 11, I hid under the neighbor’s boat during a game of hide and seek with friends. The license plate hung down and I cut my back climbing out from under the boat after the game. Still have a slight scar from the 14 stitches it required. It was not a fun summer after that.
Diet Coke used to be my go to drink. I won’t touch it or any other diet soda now. Artificial sweeteners with the exception of small amounts of Stevia give me bad headaches.
I started college as an English major and strive for the green smiley face on my “readability score” on all my blog posts.
Lily-of-the-Valley are my favorite flowers but I won’t grow them in the yard because they’re also highly poisonous.
The color of my first “bought completely on my own” new car was fire engine red. It was a 1993 Pontiac sunbird. I cried when my husband said it was time to get something new (it was 7 years old by then)
Ironic since I have a blog, however, I tend to be a fairly private person.
Bonus item: I always worry that I’m using the word ironic wrong.
Okay, now that I truly feel as if I’ve told you more than you ever wanted to know about me, it’s your turn. What are some things I might not know about you?
Happy Monday! Pretty typical type Monday start over here. Woke up to find out we were out of milk. Ahh! My coffee without milk? Ugh. Tried it with some whipped cream and then some coffee ice cream but neither was really doing it for me. Sometimes I just want my regular coffee especially on a Monday.
However, I ran to the store right after dropping J at school. And now I feel much better thanks to my “regular” caramel macchiato from Starbucks. And a croissant for breakfast.
Time to join in with Sandra for Happy Homemaker Monday. Let’s just get right to the categories.
The Weather
Enjoyed watching the sky go from pink to this lavender shade this morning
Right now it’s beautiful, almost 50 degrees and partly cloudy. A bit blustery, glad I grabbed a light jacket to wear to the store. I did hear rumblings of a cold front moving into the area tonight or maybe tomorrow. I know it’s supposed to get chilly and rain on Wednesday. And maybe again on Friday. I see temps in the 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s listed throughout this week.
As I Look Outside My Window
I saw a cardinal on the regular bird feeder and several sparrows protesting still. Who knew they were such foodies? Changed back to safflower seed and added a new bird feeder. They apparently don’t like it. That’s a good thing. The sparrows were emptying my feeders on a daily basis and I couldn’t keep up (too expensive). Now maybe my favorite little chickadees and cardinals might get to eat again.
Right Now
Working on this post while enjoying the coffee swirling through my system.
Thinking And Pondering
Nothing too serious at the moment, the timing of some baking I need to do this week (husband’s birthday on Wednesday), what plans to make (or not make) for the Super bowl.
On My Bedside Table
I keep it clear but should I confess my dresser is always a mess? And currently covered with sweaters that don’t quite fit in the drawers at the moment? Need to get that cleaned off soon.
On My TV Today
Local morning news earlier, not sure maybe my weekly episode of Dr. Who unless I save that until tomorrow. Mondays aren’t big tv days for me.
Listening To
The wind blowing outside, another noise I can’t quite identify..someone outside doing some sort of work. This morning I heard the call of an owl in the backyard.
On The Lunch Plate
Not sure yet. Perhaps scrambled eggs?
On The Dinner Plate
Leaning toward a very basic dinner of ham steaks and fried potatoes
On The Menu This Week
This is an oddly busy week where we’re going in different directions that makes menu planning a bit of a challenge.
MONDAY: ham steaks, fried potatoes, something green (maybe salads or some fruit) *I work 2-3:45ish* *J has a lesson at 6:30*
TUESDAY: Out for me, Out for G, husband and J on their own. I might make some taco meat during the day so they can just have tacos.
WEDNESDAY: OUT to a local steakhouse for husband’s birthday.
THURSDAY: Something in the crock pot, either a crock pot version of chicken and noodles or maybe white chicken chili *I work 12-6*
FRIDAY: Pizza, maybe, frozen, homemade, or out. *I work 8:30-5*
On My Reading Pile
Over the weekend, I read my Amazon First Reads choice of The Maid’s Diary by Loreth Anne White. Very well-written and intriguing. Always appreciate a mystery that I haven’t predicted 50% into the book. This one kept me guessing right up to the end. Plan to look for more books by the author.
Oh, and somewhere in there I read a memoir by Katy Tur called Rough Draft. It was okay, I didn’t really know who she was as we don’t have cable. Appreciated the insight into the world of journalism/tv. Her difficult relationship with her father/parents was compelling. Ended up skimming some of her recounting of covering the former president though.
Now, I’ve started on one of my library books that came up off my hold list: I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy. So far, this one is heartbreaking.
On My To Do List
The usual (bills, laundry, clean the house)
Get birthday presents for my husband’s birthday
Invite brother-in-law/sister-in-law to have dinner and cake with us for husband’s birthday
Bake cookies/cake for Galentine’s dinner/husbands birthday (not sure how these two things ended up back to back, sigh)
Give entry way a GOOD cleaning (and remove season’s greeting mat from under new mat)
Finish/renew physical library books about home stuff
Plans For This Week
Work, Dinner out with friends on Tuesday evening, Dinner out with family to celebrate husband’s birthday on Wednesday evening, Watch the Super Bowl (Go Chiefs!)
What I Am Creating
Haven’t yet started my diamond art kit. This week I’ll be creating chocolate chip cookies and homemade chocolate cake with white frosting.
My Simple Pleasure
Turning the calendar page over to a new month
Looking Around The House
I should be able to get it in decent shape by Wednesday. It’s really not even too bad this morning.
From The Camera
The full “snow” moon last night
Quote For The Week
The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still. (Exodus 14:14)
P.S.
I know the headings in red are super bright, I can see it. However, I can’t change it until the Chiefs win the Super Bowl. Not that I’m superstitious or anything….
I’ve needed this weekend to rest and recharge. So not too many photos today.
Take rest; a field that has rested gives a beautiful crop. (Ovid)
There is virtue in work and there is virtue in rest. Use both and overlook neither. (Alan Cohen)
Life is all about balance. You don’t always need to be getting stuff done. Sometimes, it’s perfectly okay, and absolutely necessary, to shut down, kick back, and do nothing. (Lori Deschene)
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)
