Currently ~ March 2021

 Happy March and Happy Wednesday!  I missed blogging Monday and Tuesday, but today am linking up with Anne for the currently series.

These are the things I am currently doing......

Choosing ~ I am choosing joy and less emotion.  There are some hard situations that come up each week and I am trying not to attach too much emotion to them, or more than is required as usually it is not healthy emotions.  I am trying to remain joyful and rooted in faith in the Lord to meet me where I am.

Imagining ~ I am imagining a world where Covid isn't the main decision factor behind everything...social gatherings, church, school, etc.  I am so, so hoping my daughter can resume to regular school teaching this fall for her senior year.  It has been a long year of virtual only and she has 3 more months of it.  I am so proud of her being a trooper this year.  

Making ~ I am making dinner most nights.  We did go out to eat last Sunday night and it was so nice just to eat out again after cooking for a few weeks straight.  Some nights are leftovers and easy stuff, but always a treat when we can eat out and/or with others.

Recommending ~ I am recommending being with people.  Obviously, we still have to be careful and considerate of others, but my goodness, we need each other.  Whoever your people are....your family, your neighbors, your church family....enter life with others.  It will be an encouragement to you and you can be an encouragement to them.  It has been a hard year in so many ways with mentally being near the top of the list.  

Wearing ~ I am enjoying wearing dresses again on Sundays for church.  Days where I have errands, I am wearing jeans and a sweater or shirt/cardigan.  I usually have at least one day a week at home where I am in leggings and a sweatshirt or tunic.

Monthly Musings ~ February 2021

Today, I am linking up with Holly and Patty for the spring fashion edition of Monthly Musings.

I do like fashion, however, I have never felt like I am a fashion blogger.  Basically, my fashion approach is finding what is age appropriate, comfortable and fits me well, with input from other fashion bloggers and my daughters too!

 My spring must have pieces are good, lightweight cardigans!  I love a good cardigan and it is helpful when place are cool inside but the weather is warming up outside.

My must have spring accessories are really the same things I wear year round....bracelets, necklaces and double earrings since each ear has 2 holes.

I transition my wardrobe to spring with thin, long sleeve shirts, more color and cardigans.  I always have a sad moment when I put away my boots as the weather gets warmer.

My favorite colors to wear in spring are white and reds.

I do apply additional sun screen every day as the weather gets warmer.  In the winter, I usually just stick with what is in my makeup.

My skin care stays the same year round, with the same exception as above....more sunscreen!

I don't wear scents very often, but I do like a lightweight smell for lotion.

Best budget tip for updating your wardrobe is finding cute clothes at good prices at Target, WalMart, or TJMaxx, which all have improved in their fashion choices the last few years in my opinion.  My daughter is a fan of the thrift stores, but I have found some are more conducive than others for finding good deals.  

I plan on wearing some dresses this year and probably more than in the past.  I lost some weight last year, so I can finally fit in some of my older summer dresses and have even bought a few new ones that are super casual. 

What's Up Wednesday ~ February 2021

 Linking up today for What's Up Wednesday!  Here we go!

What we're eating this week.............

Monday - turkey sausage with BBQ sauce, cheese, crackers

Tuesday - breakfast food, consisting of scrambled eggs, bacon and hash browns

Wednesday - gumbo!  My mother-in-law made gumbo for us when she was in town in January and we still have some containers frozen that I have pulled out from time to time.  My in-laws are originally from Louisiana, so this is gumbo made right.

Thursday -  Sheet pan dinner from my pinterest page...just not sure which one yet!

Friday - ??

Saturday - ??

What I'm reminiscing about..........

With the warmer temperatures, it is crazy to think we were snowed in last week!!!

What I'm loving...........

Honestly, the freedom to go out and about again this week! 

What we've been up to...............

In addition to the multitude of pictures I posted Monday from our snow week, my daughter and I did a photo shoot one day when it was actually snowing.  It was so fun!

What I'm dreading............

Paying bills :)

What I'm working on..............

I am slowly but surely working on my 2020 photo album.  I make one online each year with Picaboo using my highlight photos from the year.  I love having these memories to look back on in the future.  Twenty years ago, I was big into Creative Memories scrapbooking and have tons of those in a cabinet.  I do love the convenience of doing them online now.

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

I am excited about getting our new washing machine later this week. While I am grateful for my friend who let me borrow her washer, never take for granted the gift to do laundry!

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

One show we started watching last fall that I'm not sure I have mentioned is All Rise on CBS.  We really like it and the fact that is has the actor from Hart of Dixie is what originally drew me to the show.  I was excited on Sunday to watch the new season of When Calls the Heart!  #teamnathan

A cute movie we watched on Amazon Prime last week is called "My Spy".  It is really a cute family movie with only 1 or 2 cuss words in it.  

As far as reading goes, y'all know this was one of my 2021 goals because I am just a slow reader and honestly, I just don't sit and read for fun.  But, I am still on track with my goal of reading one book a month.  I know some of you do this in a day....I take my time :).  I am reading Pioneer Woman's book and also a marriage book.  

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

All the podcasts!!  The Big Boo Cast, Bible Recap, Office Ladies, Daily Grace, Open Door Sisterhood and two new ones this month.....Family Life Today (which is all on marriage) and Don't Mom Alone.

What I'm wearing..................

It is nice to not be wearing 3 layers of clothing this week anytime I go outside.  So, I am back to wearing jeans and this week, thin long sleeve shirts with our warmer weather.  

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

I am probably dong a lot of laundry catch up since I haven't washed at home in almost 2 weeks!

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

I am looking forward to traveling via airplane for the first time in over a year!  And that means seeing my daughter's artwork hanging up in our airport!

What else is new.....................

It has just been a busy week so far with running errands after being inside all last week.  I am trying to eat better, but healthy snacking during the day can be hard!  

Happy Mid-Week!

Week/Weekend Wrap Up ~ Snow Edition/February 22, 2021

 Back to blogging this week after a snowy, cold week for our country. Like so many, we had record temperatures and snowfall.  It was a long, hard week at times.  But I'm going to tell you, I took 10,000 pictures because the snow was beautiful.  As of this morning, we have had temperatures above freezing for 24 hours now so the snow is beginning to melt.  I may be blogging snow pictures for the next week, just to have a record of this. I left the house yesterday for the first time in a week, other than walking in our neighborhood.

This was just the beginning a week ago Sunday morning on our way to church.

Seeing our front porch get snow was so exciting! Little did we know what else was to come.

Monday, our washing machine pump busted and water covered our laundry room floor.

The cedar mop bucket came in handy!  Update....I am washing clothes at a friend's house this week and a new machine will come the end of this week.

We had 4 inches by Monday afternoon.

We went to go sledding at our neighborhood hill.  After one time down and walking back up, I began to feel very faint.  I have a history of fainting and a blood clot disorder, so I think the combination of that and the extreme cold temperature in the teens contributed to this.  A neighbor had to carry me while my husband had gone ahead to try to get his truck. It was eventful and needless to say, I stayed inside the next 2 days.

While inside, I worked a puzzle.

Was amazed at the icicles...

And we saw deer tracks on our walkway!

Wednesday, it snowed for 6 hours straight and I just sat at the window watching.  I couldn't stop.  My daughter and I did a photo shoot in the snow, which I will share later.

It was amazing to see the difference of our walkway from Tuesday to Thursday.

We had at least 8 inches in our yard.

My husband and I

We went back to our sledding hill for another try since temperatures were in the 20's, which felt so much warmer than Monday! I sure missed my older daughter through all of this!

We took a walk and this is looking from the woods back up to the hill where everyone sleds in our neighborhood.  One guy was even on skies!

Here is a picture from the front side of the hill of Brook bringing our sled after a ride down.

We took a walk through the woods and the views were stunning!  I loved seeing the snow piled on the trees!

I stopped to make a snow angel.

It was a good day.

Friday, we built a snowman, which was so fun.  We listened to "Do you want to build a snowman" and Gwen Stefani's Christmas music :).  The snow was perfect for a snowman and we built him around a tree! 

My daughter only had Monday out of school for the holiday, so all of our other time outside was done after school.  Some days, I honestly felt like I had lived 3 days in one.  It was a long week.  We are boiling water here and hopefully soon, shelves will be replenished at the grocery stores.  We went to church yesterday, which was my first time in a week to ride somewhere.  It was so exciting!  Parts of this week felt like some time last March when the shut downs happened.  After a week of cooking at home, I will be glad to go out to eat and get a little bit of a normal routine this week.  It seems there have been very few weeks of 2021 that have been normal routine.  This year is keeping us on our toes again!  Even though we've had some hardships with my health, water and no washing machine, we are very thankful and have been so concerned for our friends in Texas.  So thankful the warmer weather is back for all of us.  Thanks for bearing through some snow pictures if you made it this far!

Linking up with Tanya today.  

Tuesday Talk ~ Valentine's Celebration

Good morning from the snowy, cold South! Like a lot of you, we finally have some cold and snowy weather here.  Before I get to that, here is a Valentine re-cap I am linking up with Tuesday Talk.

My husband and I had a quick, Valentine breakfast date Friday.

I had delicious hashbrowns with an egg/bacon omelette.

Sunday morning, we already had snow falling, but the roads were still good, so we were thankful to go to church.

Breakfast was simple with eggs and fruit.

I made a simple lunch with table decorations.

I had purchased these plates and silverware holders on clearance after Valentine's last year.

My daughter and I made these blondies for dessert and added Fudge Brownie M&M's to the mix.  So good.

It was a simple, but good day and was thankful for a facetime with our college girl.

More on snow adventures coming up later in the week! Stay warm friends!

Friday Favorites ~ February 12, 2021

Happy Friday friends!  I am sharing today some randomness from the last 2 weeks.

I was excited to open up my 2nd container of the much blogged about Colleen Rothschild cleansing balm.  This is worth the purchase, especially when on sale, and last a long time!  I love the feel of this when cleaning my face at night.

When I put away winter decorations, I was excited to get a new front door mat to use this spring and summer.

You may have seen this on the internet, but this meme really made me laugh!

This is the Double Chocolate Cheesecake from McAlister's Deli, which is Rich Godiva cheesecake baked with chunks of milk chocolate topped with chocolate mousse, chocolate ganache and chocolate whipped cream.  I thought I would share this, but once I brought a piece of this home, I took one bite and next thing I knew, I had finished and enjoyed every bite.  My goodness, this was a delicious treat!

After 11 months, we resumed going back to the gym this week!  It felt good to slowly get back in the habit of exercise.  

It has been a cold week, so it has been a good time to build a fire and stay cozy.

Also, I went to the grocery store this week to get some things and this was a new scene.  There were empty boxes of Rotel and tomato sauce.  This made me think everyone is buying this to make soups and comfort foods!

That's it for today.   Just staying warm and getting ready to celebrate Valentine's on Sunday. So fun it falls on a Sunday and hope you are all able to celebrate your people well, feeling love from each other and most importantly, our Heavenly Father.