Hello Monday~April 6, 2026

 Happy Monday friends!  It is a new week and hope you all had a lovely weekend!

Late Thursday night, my oldest arrived and brought her Mahjong set home.  We played one game.  She won, I was confused.  I am convinced this is a game of pure luck and not much strategy.  I don't know if it's my thing, but it was fun to play with her.

She was gone all day Friday.  I went to Target and look who I saw!  Jenn!

Later in the day, my daughter and I got pedicures and then headed to a birthday party for my little great who turned 4 this weekend.

Little Cinderella came running to meet us.  It is the sweetest thing.  

She wanted lots of gum :)

I loved the brief time with her and will actually get to see her again at the end of the month!

She left Saturday mid-day and I spent the rest of the day at home packing up for my move.  It gets overwhelming fast doing this.

This was my first Easter Sunday of my life I have ever woken up in a house alone and went to church alone.  I was okay until I wasn't.  I had a good cry & then was better. I have been out of town the past 3 years & will probably do that again next year.

I haven't bought anything at McDonalds drive through in probably 55 years either, but I did buy myself a diet coke Sunday afternoon prior to meeting for another Facebook marketplace transaction.

One of my closest friends, Lori, invited me over and then I went to my sister's house.  Here I am with 11 of my greats! It is rare to have a picture with all of them!  

Enjoy your better Monday!

Talking About it Tuesday ~ Galentine's Day/February 17, 2026

Happy Tuesday friends!

 I know yesterday was Monday, but I didn't want to talk about Valentine's Day as the theme of the weekend since I wasn't with a guy or my kids.  This is one my boundaries where I can't spend too much time reading about these things. I was not on social media much at all over the weekend.  I am happy and I hope one day I will have this, so in the meantime, my Tuesday talk is all about Galentine's Day, celebrating friends!

I hosted a Galentine's party at my house Friday night and had bought this heart pasta at Aldi.

It was fun to decorate for Galentine's! Behind my table, is a string of old Valentine cards from my childhood.  They are from my parents, grandparents and even one from my brother.

I assembled a mixture of strawberry chex mix, a candy mix of popcorn, cookies and pretzels, and then I added a bag of red/white M&M's.  It was such a good mixture.  I ate so much of this over the weekend.

I also made red velvet M&M brownies and used my heart cutter with them.

Here are other pictures of some house decor...

I made sourdough foccacia bread, which turned out so good.  This is my favorite variety of sourdough.

I ordered a fun set of Galentine games (all paper games so we didn't have to leave the table :)) & we all started a little bit on creating ideas for a vision/bingo board for 2026.  In the background of these things was a great Galentine's playlist I created with the help of their imput on Spotify.

Kendra gave us each a gift, which was so cute and thoughtful. It was a fun night!

Hello Monday ~ December 1, 2025

Welcome December!  We have made it to the last month of 2025. November is my favorite month, but it kicked my butt this year.  I am coming up for air and welcoming the month that celebrates the thrill of hope for the weary world that can rejoice.  

The past week, I have taken such joy in following the travels of my daughter.  She spent a week in Scotland, with a 24 hour layover in London.  She went to London 12 years ago, but it was her first trip to Scotland.  I was so proud of her planning and paying for this trip on her own.  She grew up with a mom who loves to travel and was a travel agent.  Here are a few pictures...

She is a HUGE William and Kate fan and I loved seeing this picture she posted!

Last week, Brook and I went out for a meal, which was our first time to go out since she had been home.  We shared this pizza which was half BBQ chicken and half pepperoni/bacon/feta.  It was delicious!

Thursday morning, I did a turkey trot with my co-worker.  When we reached this Mile 1 sign, we felt like we had a long way left.  We walked 4 miles and it was not bad at all.  We enjoyed it and it felt good to get some exercise and be outside.  I love time with her!

Afterwards while walking to the car, we were stopped to take a picture of a family. They had a huge group and were basically tailgating post race.  They poured me a mimosa and we  talked like we were old friends.

I freshened up at my friend's house, then went to my realtor's house for a Thanksgiving lunch.  She and I have been friends for about 15 years. *Side note...I will give a house update tomorrow!*

 One thing I didn't mention is that I woke up that morning without a voice.  I was able to strain and talk a little though.  

There were 9 pies!

And they even were playing Darius Rucker radio!  Made me very happy and I felt at home!

After lunch, I drove to my sister's house to help with my great nieces.  Their parents have been out of town, so I went down to help while my sister prepared food.  I stayed for dinner where my parents and other niece/nephew and greats joined us.  It was a long day and I was glad to get the day behind me.  I really missed my girls.  I tried not to think about it too much. I will be honest with my feelings here....divorce sucks and it just cuts deeper on holidays.  I felt so betrayed and another level of hurt knowing I didn't have my daughter on a holiday & I was left behind.  I miss my in-laws and all of that side of the family.  There are so many levels of grief that come with divorce.  I do wish I had someone special in my life, but I don't and it sure gets lonely.  But, I know I am just getting stronger and stronger as a single person.  

I spent Friday at home and didn't see anyone.  I had a quick phone call but otherwise, stayed quiet to try to rest my voice.  I watched a ton of Hallmark/Great American movies and a little football.  I rested and went through a lot of stacks of papers.  It did feel good to get a little more organized.

Saturday, I helped my parents decorate their tree and clean up a little bit. I made a Wal-Mart run, then met up with Jenn at Salad Station before we went to a play.

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Sunday, I went to church and was thankful to have Brook back home.  We ran some errands and sweet girl treated me to some frozen yogurt.  I tried to rest my voice the rest of the day.  It is still rough.

Have a great Monday and I will be back tomorrow with a housing update!

 

Talking About itTuesdays ~ Easter weekend 2025

 Good morning!  I couldn't quite get a blog post in order for Monday, so I am joining up today to talk about my Easter weekend.  I hope you all had a lovely weekend and Monday!  

I headed out Friday morning and this was my ride over to Charlotte, North Carolina.  I was so thankful to have a weekend away and a change of scenery.

My oldest daughter had flown in town the night before and my youngest drove in from Savannah and picked me up at the airport.  We went to my sister-in-law's house that night and had a fun night laughing with family and new friends to us.  We also celebrated my nephew's 20th birthday as he grilled hamburgers for us.

Me and my sister-in-laws

Saturday, we went shopping at the Re-clectic store. Have you heard of this store?  There are  about 5 or 6 major cities around the country.  Here is the description:

"Reclectic, a division of Urban Outfitters, Inc. (URBN), is an eco-conscious solution to sell overstock and retired products from our family of brands."

They sell a lot of Anthropologie and I saw some Farm Rio dresses here too. 

We went out for a late lunch/early dinner.

My girls with their grandparents.

This was the first time the 3 of us had been together since Christmas!  Isabella had to leave Saturday evening, so we only had 24 hours together, but it did my hear so good to see them both at the same time!

Meanwhile, an Elvis tv was on tv with subtitles in German.

Sunday morning, we went to church and I always love the music on Easter!

We had a huge brunch with family.  There was bacon, quiche, deviled eggs, chicken and waffles, hasbrown casserole, ham and fuit.

My in-laws, Brook and my niece and nephew.

It was a great, short weekend with family I don't see that often. I am so thankful for them.  I flew home Sunday night and my flight was delayed by an hour and a half, which is why the blog post didn't happen for yesterday.  I am also thankful for Jenn who picked me up from the airport late last night!

Enjoy your Tuesday friends!