Hodgepodge/Let's Look ~ August 14, 2014

 I am happy to join up with Joyce today for this Wednesday's Hodgepodge & also participating in Let's Look.

1.What was the best (or one of the best) summers of your life? Tell us why. 

I loved summers when the girls were little and we would go on trips.  We had a travel trailer and went for a 10 day trip one summer.  We went to museums, an amusement parks and saw a little bit of the country. I loved that time with my family.

2. When you have a trip coming up do you make a list and check it twice to ensure you don't forget anything? Or are you a 'throw whatever you can think of into the suitcase at the last minute' kind of packer? When returning from a trip do you unpack immediately or leave the suitcase right where it lands? 

I sometimes make a list, but if not on paper, at least in my head of the activities.  I have become a pack the night before I leave kind of person.  When I return, I do like to unpack the same day, if I don't arrive back home too late.

3. What's your favorite food or beverage made with lemons? Is that a flavor you enjoy? 

My favorite food with lemon is lemon pie and beverage would be diet lemonade, especially from Chick-fil-A!

4. When was the last time you had to make lemonade out of lemons, figuratively speaking I mean? 

I am learning to pivot quite frequently when things don't turn out like I think.  A small example would be last Saturday night, I thought I would be home with the girls, but they both had last minute plans.  I went out for a drive and ended up at a friend's house eating steak and drinking Rose at 9pm!

5. Did you like school growing up? Why or why not? 

I liked it overall.  I do remember a few hard days, which are part of it, but it was a positive experience for me.  I attended public school from 1st-12th grade.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Once again, this was a fun questionaire to ask my daughter and her boyfriend last night as I was writing this! It is a fun way to learn also about the people around you :)

What's In My Pantry

My pantry is behind a small door in my kitchen.

The top shelf is baking goods, misc. boxed goods on the next shelf and 2 baskets below that with chips, tea bags and a few misc. items.  I keep a small little basket for my bag clips.

I have another shelf with baskets that holds some breakfast baking goods and then a basket of bars and snacks. The bottom floor holds some cereal containers, refill plastic bags (I keep my main stache in a drawer) and grocery plastic bags.

The door holds all of my spices and some oils.

Next to my cooktop/oven, I have a pull out drawer where I keep my smaller canned items and cooking spray.

Nothing revolutionary here, but it works for me!  

Have a great day!

Let's Look/Hodgepodge ~ July 10, 2024

Such fun link ups today with Let's Look talking about podcasts and shows we binge and the fun weekly Hodgepodge!

First, I will mention a few shows I have binged.  Some, I wouldn't technically called binged, but I have watched all the episodes at least once.

The Office, Friends, Seinfeld, Modern Family, Parks and Recreation, Heart of Dixie, Virgin River, The Bear, White Lotus, Emily in Paris...and probably others I am forgetting!

I am a podcast fan and often add/delete podcasts on my list.  Some are more on a personal level, so I am not sharing those here, but I still have plenty I will share! Some of these podcasts are not updated weekly.  Even with this long list, plus a few others, I don't listen to every episode as some topics some weeks don't really relate to my season of life.  

First Thing with Kevin Mano

-the host does a 10 minute podcast each day highlighting top stories of the day, including political and entertainment news

Our Time to Rise

-Hosted by Krista Gilbert & Alexandra Kuykendall talking about life's seasons and challenges of the heavy and light hearted things

I Hate Green Beans

-Lincee Ray does a recap on movies, tv shows and during the season, she highlights the Bachelor and the Bachelorette

Over 50 & Flourishing

-This covers an array of topics of living your best life in your 50's
Journey Women

-This podcast comes along you in seasons of life to know God and His word.  They are currently doing a series on Psalms

Don't Mom Alone

-This podcast talks about motherhood, friendship and lots of topics for women. 

In the Face of Illness

-This is a podcast about families who have experienced childhood illness and also staff members who work with families

The Best of You

-Dr. Allison Cook, a therapist, unpacks psychology for a faith based perspective as she unpacks painful patterns and tough challenges

The Big Boo Podcast

-This one most everyone probably knows about!  Melanie Shankle and Sophie Hudson talk about every day life and a lot of SEC sports!

Midlife Matters

-A few ladies talk about parenting, aging, home and other random things

Office Ladies

-Two of the stars from The Office breaks down every episode from the tv show

Proverbs 31 Ministries

-This covers lots of topics on living life as a believer in Jesus

Living Proof with Beth Moore

-This is teaching from Beth Moore, who is such an excellent bible teacher

Where Life and Scripture Meet

-This podcast is from a counseling standpoint of how scripture meets us in day to day life covering topics such as emotions, rest, trauma, and more.

Therapy & Theology

-These are great conversations of trauma from a therapeutic and theology viewpoint.

Let's Read the Gospels

-Annie Downs reads through the gospels in different bible translations, but she is currently taking a break from this.

1. Do you feel older or younger than your age? Elaborate. 

I feel younger in my mind than 53! However, there are a few times lately I feel my age physically. I didn't have children until I was I was 30.  I have been told I look younger for most of my life due to being short and also good genes.  I appreciate the compliment much more now that I am in my 50's!  

       2. What's one thing you should toss right now, but just can't? 

I have some pictures with a few other momentos, but it is hard to toss. I am in the midst of trying to go through every cabinet/drawer in the house so I have been tossing a lot of little things.  It is hard to toss electrical cords, old cards, and other random things, but I am trying to do better to throw away old papers. For example, I threw away this Yellow Pages!  Believe it or not, it was just 2 years old.

                     3. Have you visited many of the 63 National Parks in the US of A? You'll find a list here. Do you have a favorite? What National Park that you haven't seen do you most want to see? 

I have been to about 10 of the National Parks.  The park I haven't seen that I would like to see is the Grand Canyon.  My favorite is Glacier National Park in Montana because I got married there & also went back to visit 20 years later. It is beautiful.

 4. How often do you get take out? What's your favorite? 

I rarely get take out.  If I do, it is from our local pizza place.  I either eat at home or at a restaurant, but I have never had a food delivery, other than pizza.

                 5. Do you have many (or any) subscriptions? Not necessarily magazines, but thinking more along the lines of boxes or products that companies offer, and you can sign up to receive on a regular basis. Could be weekly, monthly, quarterly, even daily. Tell us about them.

I subscribe to Southern Living and I get an AARP magazine. I don't have any box subscriptions, but I do have a few rotating subscribe and save items through Amazon.

 6. Insert your own random thought here. 

This meme just made me laugh out loud this week! And Lord knows, a laugh a is good for the soul!

Have a good day!

 

Let's Look ~ February 2024

 I am linking up today with the Let's Look series of 2024.

Little things we do every day......

Well, this may seem a little routine, but playing along with the prompts, here are my every day routines!

Brush my teeth :)

Wash my face  - My morning routine is pretty simple.  I wash with just water, follow up with a face roller and use e.l.f. moisturizer.

Take vitamins

Eat a protein bar (either a Quest or Built bar)

Read devotional book

Check my phone for messages (text/Instagram/Facebook Message/What's App)

Text or call with my best friend in North Carolina

Check my emails, personal and work

Most days....

Cook dinner

Read/post blogs

Listen to podcasts

Go on a walk inside or on the treadmill

Watch TV

Read

This basically sums up a day in the life of routine things for me!

Let's Look & 11 Years!

 Good morning!  Today is the first day of 2023's Let's Look.  Today is about scheduling/organizing.

I will be honest, at this stage of life, I don't have a busy family schedule since I am in the empty nesting phase of life.  Since we all go a few different directions, it can be a challenge to schedule a trip, but we have still made that happen whether it is done in advance or last minute.  Any scheduling or organizing is done by my phone calendar and communication!

In other news, today is my 11 year blog anniversary!

There have been some ebb and flow over the years, but I have always enjoyed this outlet.  I was originally prompted to write my first post about my health and the faithfulness of God.  Since then, this space has been an online diary for me.  I have blogged on life with family, including many trips, homeschooling, holidays, recipes and home misc.  

I am thankful for what this community is today and the encouragement and inspiration from readers. 

I continue to blog on similar topics, but enjoy the link ups these days too! 

Here I am last summer:

And 11 years ago!  This was one of the earliest pictures I found of myself on my blog.  I was standing with my rolling cart that I took to a homeschool conference.

And here are my girls 11 years ago...

And here they are as of December.

I hope, Lord willing, I can continue blogging, with a goal of 2-3 times a week, linking up with others, and also sharing about travel and life.  

Thank you for reading today and each week!

Let's Look ~ January 2022

 Happy mid-week to you all!  Linking up today for the monthly Let's Look.

The theme of this month is how you organize.  

I don't do anything particularly ground breaking or different in January than I do the rest of the year.  Like most, it does seem like a good time of the year to purge! While putting away fall and Christmas decor this year, I actually set out several items that I didn't use to give away.  Basically, if I haven't used the item the past 2 holiday seasons, chances are, I won't be using it in the future. 

I am also realizing that with my stuff, my girls will more than likely not want to use any of this when they get older.  

The key for me to stay organized is to have use lots of hooks, organizing containers and a place/routine for things.  I find that paperwork, like bills and receipts, stacks up easily so I set aside some time weekly to sort through these.

I stay organized by writing most things down on my phone.....my to-do list and reminders. 

I am looking forward to seeing what others do for organization.  At the end of the day, we all need to do what works for us and a system that we will stick with past January :).

Let's Look ~ Christmas Decorations

 Today I am linking up for Let's Look.  I am sharing my Christmas home decor with you.  

I usually decorate the second week of November, but will wait until Thanksgiving Day to decorate the tree and turn on any outside lights.  

Our front door

It is fun each year to put things in new places.  This year, I put these two small clay nativity scense I bought while living in Bogota, Colombia.  

Our dining room

In our window ledge, I have my "International Tree".  On this tree, I have all my ornaments collected while living in South America, with a few other ornaments from other countries like England, France, and Thailand.

This year, I added light up garland in front of our tv and it's been a fun addition.  

Sweet childhood handprint Christmas trees from years past of our girls are displayed, along with a basket I added of past received Christmas cards organized by years.

I have my nativity set my parents bought me 25 years ago from Isreal displayed on the bottom of this end table.  I have actually left this out year round!  I did add the touches on the top shelf along with a Christmas candle that I burn each night.

I have just a few Christmas pillows displayed as well.

Every year, I display this felt stocking I made as a kid for my grandfather.  I remember being sad he didn't have a stocking so I made this one.  My precious grandfather passed away in 1989, but I have still displayed this every year.

I finally wrapped a few few gifts over the weekend!

In my kitchen, I have just a few small touches.

I was inspired by Jennifer to add wreaths on my cabinets.  I found these two small ones, bought some Christmas ribbon and hung them last week.

I love the simple addition!

I have a Christmas towel, soap and candle in our guest bath.

This is a door hanger my mom made when I was a child.  I hang it on a door going into our guest bedroom/bath area.

We have this mistletoe hanging at the doorway from our bedroom to our bathroom.

And I added some lighted garland to our headboard for a more festive look.  

That wraps up the highlights of our decor.  I do have a small table top tree upstairs, Christmas soaps in our bathrooms and a few other Christmas touches on our back porch, but those are simple touches.

It is always fun to decorate and thanks for sharing along with me today!

Let's Look ~ April 2021

 This month's Let's Look link up is about our fridge and pantry.  This is an interesting topic to see how we are all different!

First, is a quick picture inside our refrigerator.  I am sharing this one basically because of the little tray.  I bought two of these from Costco earlier this year and they are little "lazy susans".  They are advertised to be used in a pantry, but I use both of mine in my refrigerator.  I have our soda of choice, Coke Zero, on this, but usually have a few more options and it is easier to turn the table than move things around inside.  Staples I keep on hand are greek yogurt, almond milk, string cheese sticks and eggs.

Next, is my pantry area.  The pantry is the small door and the other doors lead to laundry, where I do keep some overflow pantry items.

These rolling trays have been great storage areas and easy to access with the wheels.  I can easily move them to look for something, since I keep these in my laundry area.  I have some Costco box finds usually stored here, along with paper products.

Speaking of Costco, these are now two of my staple Costco items we like to have on hand.  The rice can be microwaved and ready in 90 seconds.  The brownie mix is so good.  It is healthy and actually taste like a regular mix to me, yet it is sugar free.  

Inside my pantry door (and a hall closet too), I have the Elfa storage system.  Elfa is a storage system The Container Store sells and they have a sale on this every January.  They have lots of options, but I love this for my pantry & it basically holds spices and some baking essentials.

I usually organize/clean my pantry at least once a month.  Well, of course, it had not been done when I took these pictures, so I am not sharing too much :).  I do have baskets we use for chips, snacks and some breakfast goodies. On top shelves, I do have some clear, labeled containers for baking goods.

On the bottom floor, I have cereal containers and this bread box.  My husband bought this for me, but it was also fun for me to see this is sold at Ree Drummond's Pioneer Woman Mercantile store in Oklahoma, when I visited there 2 years ago.  I actually use this for tortillas and buns, but store my loaf bread in the fridge.

Nothing to groundbreaking here, and even though I can always use more storage, I am thankful for this system!

Enjoy your day and the rest of your week!  I am off for another little adventure, so won't be blogging anymore this week.