Hodgepodge ~ May 27, 2026

 Good morning!  I am linking up with Joyce today for Hodgepodge this last week of May. 

1. Do you like your name? Are you named after someone (grandparent, etc)? If you have children how did you choose their names? 

I do like my name, but often joke I am the youngest Marilyn still living! However, about 5 years ago when doing a college tour at University of Georgia, our college student tour guide's name was Marilyn.  She told me she was named after her grandmother & I said I have not doubt about that!

I always wanted my name to end with two n's though when I was younger, but now I am content.  My middle name is after my mother and grandmother and my oldest shares that same middle name. Both of my daughters have their parents middle names.

2.  A piece of red velvet cake, a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a slice of blueberry pie? You can only have one...which will you choose? If you could pick any red, white, or blue dessert other than those listed here, what would you choose? 

A scoop of vanilla ice cream, preferably frozen yogurt or if ice cream, can it be Jeni's? 

One of my favorite desserts, which doubles as breakfast too if I am honest, is strawberry pretzel salad.  

3.  What's a job you'd like to try for just one day? 

I am in such awe of air traffic controllers.  Last year, I was able to visit the Air Traffic Control Center in Memphis and was like a kid in a candy store.  I studied aviation in college, so this has has always been an interest. I think it is must be one of the hardest jobs along with being a specialized surgeon.  If I could have a job for just one day with a little less stress, I wish I could be a broadway star to act, sing and dance!

4. Any patriotic decor in your home currently or coming up this summer? 

I have some patriotic decor, but won't put it out this summer.  Don't get me wrong, I am patriotic and very thankful for freedom and those who have fought for it & served our country. However, last year, July 4th was such a sad day for us due to the Texas floods.  I want to be sensitive to this upcoming day.

5. It's the end of May, so let's exercise our brains. Sum up your month with an acrostic using the word MAY. We can do it!!  

M - The annual Mother's Day crawfish boil my sister and brother-in-law host each year is always a fun time with family.

A - Adorning my apartment with decor & Assembling furniture has been a fun part of the month! 

This is the new cabinet/closet for my garage.

TV with lights (that dim with a remote control) over my new fireplace stand

New curtains

Hanging shelves with my new favorite curtains

I assembled these bar stools for my kitchen.

Y - The Youthful Years of Yesterday have gone by oh so fast.  This little one graduates from college this week.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I will post again next week with some photos from graduation hopefully.  I would appreciate prayers for the next several days as the family gathers for this celebration. 

Hope this last week of May is going well for you and thanks for reading!

Hodgepodge ~ May 20, 2026

 Another Wednesday Hodgepodge with our lovely host, Joyce!  Thanks for stopping by!

1. What do you make more complicated than it needs to be? 

Dating in my mid 50's....Or wait, that is pretty complicated already!  

2. What impresses you? 

Integrity and honesty

3. On a scale of 1-10 how picky of an eater are you?  (1=extremely and 10=not at all) If you had to eat a meal made entirely of one color what color would you choose? 

7.  As a child, this number would be 3.  I have learned to like so many more foods as I have gotten older.  My plate would probably be a mix of brown/white.  Exhibit A:

This was my dinner Monday night...grilled chicken tenders, baked potato, and these delicious vegetable nests from Trader Joe's. They are a mix of kale, carrots and onions.

4. What does balance in life mean to you? Does your life currently feel 'balanced'? 

Balance is not doing one thing perfect by any means, but being in a space where you can juggle multiple things.  Multiple can be 2 or it can be 10!  I am thankful to be in a place where I do feel balanced.  I work 3 part time jobs, take care of my new home (cleaning and the business side of things), check in on my aging parents, mom to young adult daughters, spend time with friends and help out extended family by spending time with my greats. 

5. If you could travel the world for a year what would be your first destination? 

I would start in Australia, visiting Sydney and Brisbane. I would love to see the opera house in Sydney and my dear friends I met while living in Colombia that now live in Brisbane.  Then I would backtrack back over the USA and head over to Europe to go on my Sound of Music tour in Austria!

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

So my suggestion board on Instagram looks like this right now....Harry Styles.  He started his new world tour last Saturday night in Amsterdam and I am watching all the clips.  

And here are two funny things I saw this week...

Ha, ha!  May you find many more laughs today and good music too :)

Fashion Files ~ May 19, 2026

 Hi friends!  I am sharing a few outfits I wore throughout the week on today's Fashion Files.

This was the dress I wore for work which is so comfortable and has pockets!  It is from Amazon here. Sneakers are from Wal-Mart. I like to wear sneakers with dresses, especially days when I am working at the hospital serving meals.

This is my other work outfit with a shirt from Loft 2 years ago and white linen pants from Shein.

Sunday evening, I wore this Loft shirt with Democracy jeans.  

My yesterday work outfit was casual on a Monday since I didn't work a full day at the office.  I bought this shirt from Amazon last summer and paired it with jeans. I bought the shoes from Amazon 2 1/2 years ago and they are still my go-to shoes for a lot of summer outfits.  They are currently on sale too!

Hope you have a great day!

Hello Monday

 Hello Monday friends!  I am recapping a little bit from last week and the weekend since I didn't post on Friday.  I was tired last week & so the blog took a back seat for the rest of the week.  

Today is this precious girl's 6th birthday!  We had our lunch and shopping date last week.  I love this tradition with my greats. Friday night, I went to her birthday party with all the family. 

Last week, my co-workers and I went to a fundraising event/crawfish boil one afternoon.  They had good live music and it was nice to be out of the office.

The next day, we got frozen yogurt together.  We witnessed a car crash and a first date, which I mentioned both have similarities, ha!

With help, I finally got this garage closet finished and I am so pleased! There is a shelf I can place at the bottom, but for now, I am not using it.  I am storing my winter coats and extra outdoor shoes and rain boots here.

I worked on getting my back porch nice to sit outside.

And that is where I sat Saturday morning for my cinnamon sourdough bread and Amy's egg quiche.  I changed mine up a little bit and used bacon bits.  I mixed 6 eggs, maybe a 1 cup of cottage cheese (I didn't even measure),  real bacon bits, and some mozzarella cheese and baked it at 350 for 30-40 minutes.  It is a delicious healthy breakfast to eat all week.

Outside of a few little errands that took me under an hour, I was home all day Saturday and loved it.  I love that my errands are all close by where I live.  My good friend from San Antonio was in town, so he came to visit Saturday afternoon.  He has been a family friend of ours for the past 21 years.  Jenn came over to visit and was able to meet him too.  I love having my people knowing each other! Jenn stayed over for dinner too.

Sunday, I walked to church and I love being able to do that.  I ran 2 quick errands, sold some more things on marketplace, which I have been doing a lot of and then was home for the afternoon.  A friend came over and she and I sat by the pool.  Clearly I did not get in since I was wearing my sneakers!

Sunday evening, I walked back to church because we have a dinner one Sunday night a month together.  It is always nice & I had a friend come over after for a visit.

It was a great weekend being at home mostly, but having lots of friends coming and going.  

Hope you have a lovely start to your week and thanks for reading!

Hodgepodge ~ May 12, 2026

 Happy Hodgepodge day friends!  Thankful for this weekly fun post with Joyce.  

1. What's one piece of advice you would you give a recent or soon-to-be graduate? 

I have a soon-to-be graduate!  My first piece of advice to her is to breathe, relax and enjoy her summer :).  Once she starts working, there won't be a Christmas and summer break anymore.  She has had a very strenuous class schedule for 4 years and is coming back to a new home & I really want her to enjoy her summer.  In the working world, I want to encourage her to work with integrity, courage, flexibility and always laughter!

2. May 15th marks the birth date of L. Frank Baum, author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. At this point in time are you more in need of brains, courage, heart, or a trip back home? Explain. 

Oh what a fun question!  I would take brains, courage and heart.  I have a new home and so I am not looking back.  I would take brains because sometimes I have so much on the brain I need clarity, or sometimes I call it menopause brain.  Being a single woman in my 50's, I always need more courage in big and little situations to keep going.  For heart, I am learning how to protect my heart but also want to share it with someone.  The biggest part of my heart though is for my daughters and my greats! 

3.  "There's no place like home" is an oft repeated line from Baum's book. When was the last time you felt the truth of that statement? 

Every day for the past 3 weeks!  I love my new home and have been happier than I have been in the past 5 years.  I am so, so thankful for my new home! 

4. May is National BBQ Month...do you own a grill? Who does the grilling at your house? What's your favorite thing to throw on the grill? What's the last thing you grilled? 

skipping this question to stay on a positive note...basically my answer is N/A

5. What's a memory you replay in your head when you need a little joy? 

Snuggles with my daughters when they were little and now snuggles with my greats! This one specifically asked me for a photo this week.  I mean, how could I say no.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

When at my parents last week, their magnolias and iris' were so pretty in their yard.  Mississippi is the Magnolia state!

I went to Lowe's Saturday morning and planted these flowers. I am thankful for new flowers!

Have a great day!

Fashion Files ~ May 12, 2026

 Good morning!  I am linking up again with Amy and Marsha for this weeks Fashion Files.

This was my dress to work last week with my floral espadrilles wedges.  I bought this dress from a re-sale boutique last fall.

My second go-to-work outfit was a loose fitting long sleeve blouse and Old Navy linen pants.

I subbed one day and wore a basic brown shirt with my white Amazon jeans.

For the Jerry Seinfeld show, I wore a striped dress I purchased from Wal-Mart in the spring.  I apparently am drawn to blue and white striped dress because I have 3 in different styles.

Mother's Day, I wore this short set from Amazon.  I also wore a gauzy cream colored shirt over this at different parts of the day when it was cooler outside.

Yesterday, I wore this Shein top with my Wit and Wisdom jeans.

This spring like weather definitely has me dressing for cooler weather in the mornings and evenings.  I love this time of year weather wise!  

Thanks for reading and have a good day!

Hello Monday ~ May 11, 2026

 Happy Monday and a happy start to a new week for you!

My Friday was work, lunch with a friend, a few errands and a quiet night at home.  I really enjoyed actually laying on the couch after a few home projects and watching the Kentucky Roses movie on Hallmark. I haven't watched a Hallmark movie since Christmas, but this one was so cute and I loved all of the Churchill Downs/Derby scenes.  It also has one of my favorite Hallmark actors.

Saturday morning, I went to Lowes to buy some flowers and one was free in honor of Mother's if you had a Lowes reward card.  My pastor and his son delivered these garage cabinets to me Saturday morning.  I was so thankful to find them free on Facebook Marketplace and they know the guy who was getting rid of these.  I filled up the cabinets Saturday and will add another cabinet in between these two.  I spent some other time sorting through more boxes.

I came inside and found the 2009 World Series on tv with the Yankees.  Yep, I watched the end of it and it was honestly so fun to see all these great Yankees players that I loved. And the Yankees did win that year! I have always been a baseball/Yankees fan.

Saturday evening, I went downtown with a friend and saw Jerry Seinfeld!  He is so funny and a classic comedian to see in person.  I had seen him once before, but this time was so fun.  Ryan Hamilton was his opening act and he is pretty funny too.  He has a special on Netflix and a new one coming out this summer.  

We grabbed some dinner beforehand and I had this delicious cocktail...it was gin, prosecco and strawberries.  It got bonus points for being pretty.

The legend.  I watched the Seinfeld series every Thursday night back in the 90's and have seen the reruns many times too.  

Sunday, I made me a Mother's Day breakfast...bacon, scrambled eggs and my cinnamon sourdough bread.  I got texts from my daughters and talked with them both in the afternoon.

I went to my sister's house early afternoon, where they host their annual crawfish boil.  We think it has been at least 15 years now and maybe a little longer.  All of her kids and the 12 grandkids were there along with her in laws, their other kids, and my parents.  Just 3 generations and their crawfish!

And this cake was fabulous!  It was a chocolate cake with buttercream filling and icing, drizzled with salted caramel.  It looked like a piece of art.

These crazy kids jumped in the cold water.

We had 2 new babies with us for this Mother's Day this year!

I came home and tried to start assembling this new cabinet for my garage.  I did step one and then the directions didn't make sense to me so I stopped so I wouldn't do something wrong.  I honestly got frustrated that I couldn't do this on my own.  I will try again later tonight or may have to ask someone to help me.  This is the last item to be assembled....for anytime soon at least! I will hopefully have a completed picture to share soon. I came inside to get ready for bed, so I wouldn't keep staring at the directions and pieces for too long.

Thanks for reading and enjoy your day!