What's Up Wednesday ~ April 2019

What we are eating this week.........

Monday - Avery and I had an impromptu date night, while listening to a friend play live music

Tuesday - chicken and pasta casserole, roasted veggies

Wednesday - church

Thursday - chicken with salsa/cream cheese mixture, chips and salad

Friday - fajitas, chips and salad

Saturday - wedding

What I'm reminiscing about............

We hosted a graduation party for our daughter last week and loved having a house full of people we love.

What I'm loving...........

I am loving the spring weather and our Easter celebration with family!

What we've been up to............

We have been busy with the preparations for the graduation party.

What I'm dreading...........

Working full time this summer when so many other activities are going on and my daughter is out of school and then sending one away to college...more of a sad thing for this mom, as much as I am excited for her too...so many mixed emotions!

What I'm working on...........

I am working on more graduation requirements and activities at home and my work has increased quite a bit at my job as well.

What I'm excited about........

I am excited about celebrating with friends this weekend!

What I'm watching........

I am watching Blackish, Jimmy Fallon clips, Live with Kelly and Ryan, and the new Today with Hoda and Jenna.  I am also in and out watching this season's The Voice and Survivor.

What I'm listening to.........

Podcasts - Greg Laurie and Proverbs 31

Music - 80's on 8 channel

What I'm wearing..........

I am wearing jeans and slowly transitioning from long sleeve to short sleeve shirts.

What I'm doing this weekend...........

I am so excited to celebrate one my best friends who is getting married this weekend!  It should be a really fun day!

What I'm looking forward to next month.........

I am looking forward to the end of school & high school graduation, wedding anniversary, and camp for our family to attend.

What else is new.............

This weekend I hope to organize my spring wardrobe and maybe even exercise a little bit :).

Have a great week!

Life Lately

Happy Wednesday! Since I am blogging on average once a week this past month, I am going to do a Life Lately post with some highlights from the past month.  

After I returned from my visit to Oklahoma to see where the Pioneer Woman resides, I enjoyed eating my leftovers from her restaurant while watching her show on the Food Network!  We took a cooler with us and any food we had left over from our meals, I brought home in the cooler.

Belgian waffles one Saturday morning

Pioneer Woman's tomato soup with a homemade grilled cheese sandwich for Saturday lunch

My husband and oldest daughter went to South America and brought back my youngest her favorite drink (we lived in Colombia for 3 years).  She was pretty excited. 

They bought this at the airport after security and brought this home. 

We decorated and celebrated St. Patrick's Day. 

 

My husband caught a fish doing some spring fishing at our lake. 

 

My daughter and I made a visit to her future college for a meeting and walked through her dorm building.  Things have come a long way since the 80's! 

 

Speaking of college, first we will get our daughter graduated from high school.  My beautiful niece, Nicole, took her senior pictures.  I am working on a graduation party this weekend, picking up cap and gown, submitting photos for slide shows, and ordering announcements and thank you notes for graduation.  Needless to say, working full time and this is keeping me busy with little time for much else.  I am enjoying the process while trying to just remember everything!

My work load has doubled the past week, so therefore, I have been enjoying these chocolates from Colombia.  This is what I received as a gift :). 

 

Thanks for taking a peek at life lately and I'll be back again next week with some highlights of the graduation party and Easter.  

Hope you all have a wonderful Easter weekend with family and friends as we reflect on the resurrection of Jesus.  Because He lives, we can face tomorrow.  Amen and thank you Lord.

10th on the 10th ~ April 2019

Happy Wednesday!  It's been a minute since I have blogged.  I will be honest, working full time and trying to work on a homeschoolers high school graduation, college prep, another one in school, being a wife and keeping things going around home keep me busy to where I just don't get to blogging as much some weeks.   But, I am jumping back in today with this link up. 

Today I am linking up with The Bolin Bunch for 10 on the 10th.  This months topic is 10 household tips.

1.  Open mail every day.

Otherwise, we all know what happens......it piles up and seems overwhelming versus just opening up one piece at a time, or throwing the trash away.

2.  Run dishwasher every night.

Don't we all love a clean sink/kitchen/dishes when we wake up in the morning?

3.  Robot vacuum cleaner.

I purchased ours last year during the Black Friday sales and have no regrets.  It helps so much to keep our floors clean and saves me so much time as a working mom.

4.  Wipe down kitchen counter tops.

I try to do this every day, or at least every other day.....if we don't cook or we are all out of the house for most of the day, I may skip that day.

5.  Put up shoes, blankets in basket, any clean clothes from sofa.

Sometimes our living area collects these things, but I like to have them put away at the end of the day.  We are past the stage of toys in our home (except for a few in a our guest room if we have kids over), so basically, our living area stays pretty clean.

6. Meal prep.

I am preaching to myself here.  I want easy, healthy meal prep that is a variety.  That is sometimes hard for me to accomplish.  When I do meal prep and plan, I feel much more organized in other areas because I am thinking, "at least I have dinner planned!"

7.  Have a place for everything, especially papers.

This goes back to number one and also to my next answer.  Somehow households collect so much stuff and having a place for everything eventually helps to eliminate stuff.  We moved back to the USA 2 1/2 years ago with very little.  Now we have filled up a home.  My husband says it doesn't matter have much space you have, you will fill it, and that is true.  So, wouldn't it be nice to have an empty drawer or cabinet or at least one that is not too cluttered?  Having a place for things is essential.

8.  Drawer organizers.

Whether it is a sock drawer, junk drawer, make up drawer or a kitchen drawer, any little organizers are so helpful to keep things looking neat and to have a place for everything.  It also makes things easier to find, especially if you are asking someone to look for something in a drawer.

9.  Pick up grocery service.

I have only used our pick up grocery service a handful of times, but sometimes, that $5 fee is just so worth the convenience.  There are times I like to look and touch my produce or meat, but sometimes, I just let that control go and need someone else to do this for me.   

10.  Online shopping.

I think we all are fans of this.  Ideally, free shipping is the best way to go, but sometimes with the hassle of going to a store or one that is not nearby, even paying for shipping is worth the cost.  The service I use the most is Amazon Prime and Target.  This helps with so many little, random things we need.