Red, White, Blue and You ~ 4th of July Decor

Happy Monday!  Today I am linking up with Living on Cloud Nine and the Horton Family for the Red, White, Blue and You summer link.  Here are this years simple 4th of July Decor:

From the inside looking out, our front door and front window have flags displayed.  I also have a a few flags in my flower pots out front.

Inside, I have a few banners and favorite holiday pictures on display.

Like this picture of the Statue of Liberty with the twin towers in the background.

This is a cross stitch picture I did back in the early 90's.

Our kitchen counter has a few red, white and blue things.  I always see such cute photos of decorating tiered trays.  However, I haven't done that yet because I use ours every day for our fruit and coffee station.   

Breakfast eating area

We don't have any big plans yet for the 4th, but I do have some patriotic paper goods we will use for whatever the holiday weekend brings.

For some decorating and pinterest ideas, you can check out my 4th of July board here.

Friday Favorites ~ Family Time

Happy Friday!  This week, my favorite has been a reunion of my family.  My brother moved away last year, but it had been a year and a half since I had seen him, which is the longest I have gone & seems crazy to me considering I lived in another country for 3 years!

He was visiting his son, which is about 3 1/2 hours away from me.  My parents had already gone to see him, so my sister and I went the next day for a quick visit.  We had a great time together and were also able to celebrate my Dad's birthday.  

But first, prior to picking up my sister for our road trip, I had lunch with my niece.

 

This is my sister and I with my nephew who turns 24 today. 

My sister, brother and I.....love these 2 so much. 

So thankful for my family! 

Yesterday morning, we were able to get in sibling walk before the rain came.  

This was such a special, and rare occasion for us to be together, one we will remember for a long time.

Happy weekend!

What's Up Wednesday ~ June 2020

It is time for the monthly link up What's Up Wednesday!  Woo hoo....we are half way done with 2020!

What we're eating this week....

We have been trying to eat a little healthier around here.  By healthy, I mean more veggies and less sugary snacks.

Monday - grilled chicken w/onions & peppers in the air fryer, sweet potato, zucchini and squash

Tuesday - homemade lasagna, but I substituted the lasagna noodles with whole wheat pasta.  I used 96% lean ground beef, fat free ricotta, low fat mozzarella cheese, and no sugar added sauce. I served this with 2 ingredient breadsticks, made with flour and nonfat yogurt, and a salad.

Wednesday - out of town

Thursday - probably take out

Friday - ?? We will see what inspires me at the grocery store that morning!

What I'm reminiscing about....

I still often miss days when my girls were young.

What I'm loving....

I am loving every day I am able to stay at home. I am super thankful for this unique time until I find another job this fall.

What we've been up to....

We have been working on some remodeling and are at the stage now to have others come in our home and do some work. We are doing some work on our back patio and remodeling our master bath.  More to come on this later.

What I'm dreading....

My first thought is returning to work, but I am praying I find a job I don't dread, so I am hopeful and going to say nothing here!

What I'm working on.....

I am basically working on watching our remodeling budget and keeping the dust and debris as clean as possibly without being unrealistic with all of this work going on inside our home.

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

Our new bathroom!  When we bought this home 3 1/2 years ago, I said the first thing I wanted to do was remove carpet from the bathroom.  This was finally done 2 weeks ago and it is good to see progress.  

What I'm watching/reading.......

I mentioned this before on the blog, but I watched Hart of Dixie this month and loved it!  I also watched a Hallmark movie this week from 2018 called "Timeless Love".  I had not seen this one and it believe it or not, the plot was a little different :).

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

When I am in the car with my daughter, we listen to either Elvis or Harry Styles, both whom I am a fan too, so that helps!  

In the world of Podcasts, I still listen to Proverbs 31, Big Boo and Office Ladies.

What I'm wearing.....

I am wearing jeans and a t-shirt/or regular top most days, depending on my activity outside of the house :)

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

My plans consist of setting out some 4th of July decor and mowing the grass.  I know, exciting times.  We will resume with our Sunday night church meeting since we didn't go last week due to Father's Day. We are a part of a church plant, so it is a small number of people and we are thankful to meet in person.

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

My only planned activity for July is I am beginning a Tuesday morning ladies bible study. I am looking forward to that and we will be studying the book of Ruth.  No other current plans as of now though!

What else is new....

I get to see my brother this week, whom I haven't seen in a year and a half, so I'm looking forward to that.

Also, my daughter has a piece of artwork that will be displayed in the airport!  We drop it off this week.  I will reveal it in another post soon, but this is what she started with....

Happy Wednesday!

Weekend Wrap Up

Here we are, another Monday and watching June go by so fast!  It was a good, low key weekend with more work being done at our home.

On our way back from our walk the other evening, the sun's rays looked so pretty beaming down through the trees.  I love our shaded lot!

I started Saturday off with some homemade pumpkin pancakes :).  It was an easy, healthy recipe, so I just went with it and it was lovely.

Afterwards, my daughter and I went to the local farmer's market to get a few things. 

Sunday consisted of making breakfast for the family and then my daughters created this spread to celebrate Father's Day lunch.  It was so yummy!  We had carrots, hummus, guacamole, oranges, grapes, strawberries, crackers, cheddar and gouda cheese, smoked turkey sausage, and trail mix.  For dessert, we had brownie bites and dipped them in a chocolate fondue.  We also dipped our strawberries and basically anything else we could find in this fondue!  The good thing is, overall, this was a fairly healthy meal.  The crackers were a mix of Ritz and rice crackers. The brownie bites and fondue were both made from the Pillsbury brand sugar free brownies and sugar free frosting.  I substituted applesauce for the oil, added a drizzle of sugar free chocolate syrup and these turned out so good.  They were a nice indulgence since we have been trying to slow down on treats this month.  We spent 2 1/2 months on a dessert kick, so now we are trying to pull back from that habit...just a little bit :).

Meanwhile, my husband worked on our bathroom remodel to get it ready for tile.  It has taken 2 weekends of working hard for sure. I'll do a post on this later when the tile is finished, which is stage  1 of the bathroom remodel, but here are a few pictures:

Before with old jacuzzi tub, classic for a house built in the 80's (he had just begun to remove trip from the old window)

And this is how it looks today. 

  After working all day, we were able to have a family swim at a friend's house who let us borrow her pool.  It was a nice way to end the evening.  I am so thankful for my husband being a good father to my kids and for my father, whom I love very much.  I am also thankful to have a legacy of Godly grandfathers and I have a father-in-law who loves us like his own as well.  

Last but not least, this picture popped up as a memory from 4 years ago this weekend:

This is after the last time I saw Huey Lewis in concert and was thankfully able to meet him after the show.  This was the 2nd time I had met my favorite singer.  I was pretty happy that night because it was so out of the blue that we saw him afterwards. 

Happy Monday!

Furniture Painting

In the past few years, I have painted some pieces of furniture.  I am certainly no professional, but they have turned out pretty good and have held up well over the past 2 years.  In the past few weeks, I have painted two more pieces of furniture.  Both pieces were given to us, so it was a small investment to paint these pieces.

This is the paint I used.  It is sold at Lowes and you must use a Valspar paint color.  I really like this because it does not require sanding or priming.  On some prior pieces, if the wood had any dents, you can use wood filler and sand first.  However, if you are painting over a smooth surface, no sanding is required.

Before picture of a dresser

I taped up the handles and this picture clearly has some better lighting.

I apply 3 coats and wait 12-24 hours in between each coat.  

This is the final product.  As you can see, there is a flawed piece of the furniture on a drawer.  Since this was a free piece and will be used for my daughter in college, I didn't sweat the flaw.  We just needed a piece of furniture for her to use for a few years.  

Side by side comparison

The second piece of furniture I painted was this cabinet in our guest bedroom.  I had taped the hardware here before painting.

This is the final product and below is a side by side comparison. 

 Here are links to some other projects I have painted if you want to see a few more pictures:

 http://memphisbridges.blogspot.com/2018/07/girl-chat-painting-furniture-best-paint.html

http://memphisbridges.blogspot.com/2018/08/painting-furniture-part-2.html

http://memphisbridges.blogspot.com/2019/02/tuesday-talk-painting-projects.html

 Hope you have a great Wednesday!

Life Lately ~ June 2020

June 2020.....This is my first post of the month & just doing a little catch up on life lately.

First, lots of prayers for our hurting nation.  I am thankful for my friends who don't look like me and grew up differently.  May we all continue to learn and love and make a better generation for our kids.  

My oldest is babysitting this summer, so my younger daughter and I spent a morning with my greats last week.  It was the best morning!

I have been a space fan over the last 10 years and it was so cool to watch the launch of Space X 2 weeks ago!

I finally enjoyed some frozen yogurt for the first time in 2 1/2 months!

Over the weekend, we were able to have a video chat with our friends in Australia.  We met Edwin while living in Colombia and consider him like family.  He just got married to the sweetest girl this year.  When talking to someone on another continent, sometimes you have to wait for an internet reconnection :).

I watch shows on Netflix, but I did my first binge and watched "Hart of Dixie".  I loved it and it has more humor in it than "Virgin River".  I am a big fan of that show too and can't wait for season 2!

Last but not least, we are doing some remodeling projects around here so this is our temporary addition.  More to come on these projects soon!

Happy Monday!