Hello Monday ~ October 14, 2024

 Hi friends! I hope you had a good weekend.  Mine was good, simple and went by fast!

I worked Friday morning from home then went to meet my new great nephew!

I spent the afternoon at my sister's house, then met my parents for an early dinner, which is always my preference!  I was home by 7. My next door neighbors often hang out in their driveway at night, so I went and hung out with them for a while.  I watched a Hallmark movie and did some random internet searches researching Christmas trees!  I am considering getting a new tree this year.

I was so happy Saturday morning when I had slept 8 hours!  Y'all, I don't sleep well and I honestly don't remember when I last slept 8 hours.  I did some light cleaning and watched a few episodes of Only Murders in the Building. I finally finished season 3 so I can start season 4.  I have heard good things about the new season.  Do you watch this show?

Jennifer and I went to explore a few Octoberfests in town Saturday afternoon and also stumbled upon the end of a car show.  We are learning to explore new places and new things.

We found a souvenir shop that had lots of fun Elvis items!

I took a walk Saturday evening and watched my first Christmas movie!  

My neighbors went out of town for a few days and I am watching their baby kitten at my house.  I am not really a cat person, but agreed to help.  This kitten is so small so I hope we can become friends during the week.  

I sure hope we had our last warm day this fall and I wore this brown jumpsuit on Sunday.

I made a stop by Home Depot to look at Christmas trees and enjoyed seeing all the yard decorations they sell.  

Sweet Tooth Cravings

My favorite sweet tooth craving is frozen yogurt, which is no surprise to anyone who reads this from time to time, ha!  Menchie's is my go-to frozen place.  

I do love chocolate, so I do love a warm chocolate chip cookie or a brownie.

I also love a key lime pie, caramel M&M's or Twizzlers.  

 I am trying to reign in my sweets right now.  I still have a birthday, 2 holidays, and other social things where I will be faced with some yummy desserts.  

Hope you have a great Monday!

Share Our Lives ~ September 2024

 Happy Monday!  I hope you had a great weekend.  I will be back tomorrow with a weekend re-cap.

 Today, I am linking up with these bloggers for September's monthly Share Our Lives.  

Finding Peace In Your Day

I am finding peace in my days in so many different ways.  Here are just a few that come to mind.....

1.  Worship music - Some of my favorites right now:

First Love by Hannah Nall

I am by Eddie James

and always, Goodness of God by Jenn Johnson

2.  Walking outside

3.  Text/call with a friend

4.  Thanking God for his promises and goodness to me

5.  A hug from a friend, better yet my daughters or greats

6.  Laughter with coworkers, friends, & from Instagram reels

7.  Deep breaths

8.  Thinking of hopeful things to come in my future

9.  Healthy eating

10.  Lighting a candle

Hello Monday/Share Our Lives ~ August 12, 2024

 Good morning.  I am sharing a little about the last few days and also linking up with Share Our Lives.

I am starting with going back to last Thursday.  I worked that day then  came home and prepared a quick appetizer to take to a gathering of women from our church at a friend's house.  I picked up these small peppers as my inspiration for an appetizer.  I washed them, cut them in half and took the seeds out the peppers (as best I could).  I added a little cream cheese, then topped with cooked ground beef , which had been cooked with taco seasoning, and sprinkled a little Mexican cheese blend on top.  I baked them for about 15 minutes at 350 and they turned out so good.  It was a somewhat healthy snack and was good for the gluten free people there too.  

On a side note, there are so many other variations of using peppers as an appetizer.  One option is cream cheese & everything but the bagel seasoning and serve it cold.  Or you can also add spinach artichoke dip or any other dip you prefer.

I worked Friday morning, then Isabella and I ran errands Friday afternoon. We went to a local church's bookstore here for the first time and she bought a new bible.  We went to 2 of her other favorite stores, Target and a trip to Smoothie King for an afternoon snack.

Friday night, we went to dinner with my best friend here and her blended family (2 of her daughters are not in the picture).  We love them all so much & I loved having my girls with me.  

I love having a friend who loves my girls so much!

My girls went to the lake Saturday with a group from my former church (they usually go to a different church when they are in town).  I spent the morning at home doing a little cleaning and weed eating.  I went to a cousin's house that afternoon and was able to see a few of my first and second cousins who were in town.  My girls both ended up going out Saturday night.  Sometimes, I enjoy time at home, but this night, I knew I needed to get out for a bit.  I took a drive and then ended up at a friend's house for a late night visit.  

Sunday morning, I took Isabella to the airport super early for a trip she is taking.  I am behind on reading and listenig to books, but I am listening to probably 2 books worth of podcasts each week!  I caught up on podcasts and went to church & ran some errands later in the day.  

Now on to Share Our Lives topic this month....Least Favorite Activities

Least Favorite Activities 

sleeping in a tent 

I have done this many times in my life, but those days are gone.  I don't mind sleeping in a camper and have even considered getting a small RV, but pitching a tent to sleep in doesn't sound fun anymore.

running/long hikes

 Oh how I have tried, and I just haven't caught on to this yet.   I will stroll, take a walk, or a trail walk, but running or taking long hikes isn't my thing.  A few miles on a trail is probably as long as I want.  I do enjoy that, but serious hiking, no thank you. 

playing a sport

This may go hand-in-hand with the last answer that I am just not very athletic.  I do enjoy white water rafting, if that counts!  

making the bed

I know, I know....I can hear my mom now and know most of you do this.  I live alone now, (except for when my girls are in town) and I just don't have it in me to make up my bed anymore.  Maybe one day I will do this on a regular basis.  I only do this after I wash the sheets or have a guest.

endless stacks of paperwork

I feel like I get bogged down with receipts, advertisements and such things.  I have a filing cabinet that needs to be purged probably of papers.  That will be a fall project.  I try to go through a stack of papers each week, but it is for sure a dreaded task of mine.

I'm sure after reading some of your responses, I may be prompted to think of some more.  I thought of a few things, but those are things that are super rare to happen.  I feel like I am pretty flexible for most things.

Enjoy the start to your week!

Share Our Lives ~ A Day in the Life/Summer Edition

 Good morning!  I am joining up with fellow bloggers for this month's Share Our Lives series.  

Today is highlighting a Day in the Life/Summer Edition.  I highlighted a Tuesday, which is a typical go to work day for me.  Honestly, this looks pretty similiar to a Tuesday any season of the year!

Starting the day with a great reminder, "The battle belonds to the Lord" 1 Samuel 17:47.

If I am up early enough, I try to read some blogs in the morning, but often, I don't get around to reading blogs until later in the day. My alarm goes off at 6:45, but I usually awake prior to this time.

This is my usual breakfast...a Built bar, which is often followed up with either/or fruit, sourdough bread, or yogurt.

I try to light a candle most mornings as I am getting ready for the day.  It is a new habit I have formed this year.

My brief morning routine is to wash my face with water, roll over my skin, add serum, under eye cream and moisturizer.  Afterwards, I applied makeup and a simple hair brush and style.

I had a long day ahead of me, so I wore my sneakers with this dress to work.

I took my morning vitamins...

and then I unloaded the dishwasher.  With Brook home, I run the dishwasher 2-3 times a week.  Running and emptying the dishwasher is not a daily task, but I had time this morning to unload the clean dishes and left some out to finishing drying.

I left for work around 7:15.  Normally during the summer when traffic isn't as bad, I leave a little later, but I had some work to get done early this morning at the office.

I listen to podcasts usually on my way to work.  I will actually be blogging about those later this week!

This is my 2nd breakfast, lunch and snacks for the day.  I had yogurt, banana, apple, Simple Mills almond flour crackers, grilled chicken, and a protein drink.

Here is one side of my desk.

And here is the other side.  I have a candle warmer and a fan on my desk!

A part of my job is ordering things for hospitals and random things for our office, so I get lots of Amazon packages at work too!

Because I had a lot on my to-do list this day, it didn't take long for my desk to look like this!

We have a weekly staff meeting and early afternoon, I recorded a podcast.  Part of my job is the recording part and scheduling our guests.

Typically, I am off mid afternoon, but I stayed until 5pm this day because I  had my last night of volunteering to serve dinner to campers and staff at SOS, the ministry I mentioned a few weeks ago. It was better to stay out all day than drive home and back to the dinner.  In between work and going to volunteer, I stopped by Smoothie King to get a drink for dinner.

.

I headed to SOS and helped serve dinner.  

Afterwards, I had some trouble going to sleep with my mind racing, but finally was able to get some rest after a long day.

Thanks for following along!

I will be back tomorrow with a brief weekend update!

Hello Monday/Share Our Lives ~ June 10, 2024

Good morning.  I am linking up with Hello Monday and Share Our Lives today.

I worked Friday morning for a few hours then spent some time at home organizing a few things for a yard sale. However, the highlight of my Friday was finding out I won an Amazon gift card!  Y'all know all the giveaways on instagram?  I finally won one!  This wasn't a huge amount, but enough to get something extra, so I was excited.  Lawd knows, I have been finding a lot on Amazon lately.

Saturday morning, I was up early to participate in a neighborhood yard sale.  My parents and sister donated a lot and some things sold, but still had a lot of things left.  I think this was the end of me and hosting a yard sale.  Most of what I sold was just little stuff, so it wasn't a big money maker.  However, I was able to sit outside for the morning with my husband (and it wasn't hot!) & got rid of some things. I was completely exhausted afterwards.  I had originally thought I would do a few things around the house that afternoon/evening, but all I managed to do was to get this pecanberry salad from Mc Alisters and then went to bed early. 

Sunday, I kept the nursery at church then came home to prep for the gummy bear party I am hosting for some of the sweetest little girls today.  I was still pretty exhausted from Saturday honestly.  

Now on to share foods to make for someone else....

Currently, the number one food I make to give to someone else is sourdough bread!

Typically if taking food to someone, I like to take a breakfast food, like muffins and fruit.  

For a meal, I would probably prepare a sheet pan meal with grilled chicken and vegetables that is easy to prepare, healthy and hopefully something most people would eat. Here are 3 good recipes...

Sheet Pan Pineapple Chicken

Sheet Pan BBQ Chicken and Vegetables

Chicken, Broccoli, and Sweet Potato Sheet Pan Dinner

Have a great day!  I'll be over here feasting on gummy bears :)