the Wednesday hodgepodge (a spook-tacular Halloween)

 

Happy Wednesday, friends! I'm linking up with Joyce for today's hodgepodge post. I'll jump right in!

1. What most recently gave you goose bumps? Well this week, I've had the literal kind because the fourth grade classroom I'm in is so cold. I'm not complaining, though! I'd rather be cold than hot. But the metaphorical kind is another story. I recently read something on social media that gave me chills; it was about someone who was somewhere at just the right time. Some people call such things a coincidence; I call them kisses from the King. 

2. What does Halloween look like in your home or neighborhood these days? Do you participate? I'll be honest; this is always one of the harder days for me. I used to love Halloween as a wife and mom; once the kids grew up, we would sit outside in the driveway surrounded by the neighbors doing the same. It was always a fun night to visit with people and to see the cute little trick-or-treaters looking for candy. I've avoided it the last two years, but this year might be different. Stay tuned! 

3. Pumpkin, sunflower, sesame, chia...your favorite seed on the list? What is something you like to make or eat that includes one of these types of seed in the recipe? I love sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds. I love them plain or toasted in the oven!

Me and Trish...this is one of my favorite pictures of us!

4. What's the most (or one of the most) fall photos you've ever taken? Share it here; just one.

I'll share this cool picture from my Maine sisters trip last year!

5. Somehow we're rolling into November next week. If your October were a chapter in a book, what would the title be? How about this one: Somewhere Between Sweater Weather and a Plot Twist?

6. Insert your own random thought here. I've been rewatching A Different World on Netflix, the one from 1987, which is where this thought is coming from. There should be a word for that moment when a song comes on and you suddenly remember an entirely different version of yourself. Three minutes ago you were just a middle aged woman sitting down writing a blog post and watching a show that's playing in the background; now I'm seventeen again, riding around with my friends. Somehow I still remember every word of that song, why I loved this show, and who I loved watching it with. 

Please tell me I'm not the only one. Well, thanks for reading here today, friends. I'd wrap this up with something more witty, but it's Wednesday of a dress up week in my elementary school, Halloween, and an impending time change; I've already used up all my good brain cells. Maybe I'll try again tomorrow! Love to all. 

Jen 

monthly musings

 

Happy Tuesday and bonus blog post day, friends! I'm joining the Monthly Musings link party today. I'll jump right in! 

1. Are you good at managing the weekly laundry at your house, or do you need help? Share tips if you're good at this. This one has changed drastically for me as I've gotten older. I only wash my own laundry, even though I have two sons living with me still. I might switch something of theirs from the washer to the dryer, but I do my own and they each do theirs now. When everyone was younger and I had a husband at home, I did all of the laundry. My tip that was life changing back then was to do one full load of laundry everyday from start to finish, including putting it all away (or having them put their own away). If I did that, I would stay on top of the endless laundry.

2. Best tips for containing the kitchen and dishes chaos? I deal with it right away, even when I don't want to deal with it immediately. I've noticed that if I put it off, it gets pushed to the side and forgotten. When I'm cooking, I clean as I go; I wash all the big items by hand, dry them and put them away, then I load the dishwasher with all the smaller things. 

3. What grocery items do you always have on hand to make a quick meal? Feel free to share the recipe. I almost always have meat and sides on hand for quick weeknight cooking. Last night was one of those nights; Jonah grilled our salmon, and I took care of the sides and cleaned the kitchen after.

(Pictured above are some recent meals.)

4. Best tips for saving money on groceries. Don't eat! Just kidding. I save money when I order groceries for delivery through Walmart. I pay for Walmart + and it's worth every penny to take this one thing off my plate. 

5. Cleaning service...DIY or is house cleaning overrated? I've always cleaned my own house; it may be overrated, but it's something someone has to do. 

6. Favorite cleaning products? I'm pretty basic; I use Windex, Pledge, 409, Comet, Scrubbing Bubbles, and Mrs. Meyer's to make it smell better. 

7. Do you try to use "green" products in your house? Mrs. Meyer's is the most "green" product I use, and I love all the seasonal scents she offers. Over the weekend, I bought some fancy laundry detergent that's clean and smells like a dream. 

8. Do you schedule certain tasks for certain days of the week? Yes! Saturday is for laundry; I love washing my sheets each weekend on this day, and I start early. I throw my bath towels into that same load, then I wash my clothes. I also always use Saturday to clean and put everything back in order.

9. What is the most overwhelming part of your week that you think you need help with right now? I don't think that any part of my life is overwhelming right now; I'm so grateful to be able to say this! 

10. What part of your week do you think you excel at? I feel like I do a great job of staying on track, honestly. My house stays pretty clean and picked up at all times, though I do let my closet go a lot. I organized it again over the weekend, because it looked like a tornado had gone through there! How did I ever such a small space with a man??? 🤣

These are always fun! Thanks for reading here today, friends. Love to all!

Jen 

Ps. Keep reading! There's another blog post under this one.

fashion files and a day date with myself

 

Happy Tuesday, friends! I'm linking up with Amy for the weekly Fashion Files and Joanne for Tuesday Talk. I'll jump right in!

I wore this out Sunday for errands; black leggings, these new Croc flip flops with my pedicure showing off, and a denim top. I changed into white sneakers at some point, because though these are very comfortable, I need a little more support.

This was for Pinktoberfest last Friday at school.

I loved this outfit! Denim dress, new Amazon cardigan, faithful sneakers.

This was Unity day at work, and we wore orange to spread kindness. My sweatshirt says, "Happy to see your face!"

Favorite outfit of the week! Brown leggings, new denim shirt/jacket from Old Navy.

I liked this outfit, too; it's an old boutique top and pants from Marshall's. 

Do you have a favorite? I'd love to hear your input. 

And now for the second part of today's blog post...

I had the very best day Sunday! I took myself out on all day date with me, myself, and I. I'll show you what I did! 

First, I overslept because I was out so late the night before, and I missed church. Again. It's okay! I enjoyed the extra sleep and time spent being comfy drinking coffee. I even had more than one cup! I had made plans with Mom and Bill to meet for lunch after church; I took a quick shower, got dressed, and left here at 11:30 to grab a table for us at our favorite Mexican restaurant, La Perla Tapatia. 

Chloe had some things to say on my blog, apparently!

After lunch (I had chicken tortilla soup), I went to Marshall's. I'm in need of some tops for work and life in general. I walked around the whole store and didn't buy anything. I left there and headed into the next town, Germantown, to visit a really cute coffee shop called JoJo's.  

On the way there, my friend Karen from work just so happened to text me, and I asked her if she wanted to meet me there! She did, so that was super fun. 

It was decorated beautifully for fall! I had a delicious brown butter oat frozen latte. I don't often buy coffee shop coffee, but this one was worth every penny! We enjoyed talking for as long as our drinks lasted, then we decided to walk across the way to Buff City Soap. I splurged on some fancy laundry detergent, and I have zero regrets. I also bought some soap, body butter, shower gel, and a body spray.

This is such a cute little area! They call this Thornwood. 

We parted ways, then I drove back toward Collierville and decided to visit the library for some fall books.

Score! After that I went to see a friend for about half an hour, then came home to settle in for the night. I made a giant pot of taco soup and took a long, hot shower.

I ate some soup after my shower, then watched TV, talked on the phone, and had my quiet time before going upstairs to lay down at 8:30. I read for a little while in bed and then scrolled some, and fell fast asleep before long. It was an amazing day! I don't often do things like that, but I was gone from 11:30 until almost 6. 

I'm open to your suggestions for my next day date with myself! Thanks for reading here today, friends. Love to all!

Jen

Hello Monday

 

Happy Monday, friends! How was your weekend? I'm linking up with Holly and Sarah to talk about mine. 

Friday was "wear pink" day to support breast cancer research and the survivors we know and love; I love an excuse to wear leggings to work! I wore these new ones I bought from Halara...

I love the leather strip that runs down the sides of them. I sent this picture to Amy, because she appreciate quality items of clothing and I wanted her to see the contrast of the leggings and this strip. It's weird, I know, but this is what we do! It was a great day at school; Fridays usually are. We're always so excited that it's the weekend around there and we celebrate with dance parties and singing in the hallways. This past Friday was no different! I love working with the amazing people that I get to work with! More about this in a few minutes...

Friday night found me having my favorite Mexican food and soft serve margarita with a friend. I love that feeling of staying up later on Friday nights! Sleeping in on Saturdays is the very best. It was good that I did that, because I ended up having a little bit of car troubles over the weekend, but I was able to remedy that thanks to a scanner thing that my friend had and a son that works at a VW dealership. I was so glad that all of this happened on a Saturday, a non work day, and on a day when Noah was at work and they weren't busy. I was also grateful for the family and friends discount they offer to employees!

I visited a Costco this weekend! It's almost time for this, friends. How do you feel about it? I can't wait to put up my Christmas in a week or so! 

I couldn't help myself when I found these at Costco for $7.99 each! 

After my car troubles, I treated myself to a pedicure. It felt lovely! I got the OPI color Every Month is Oktoberfest. It's a rich burgundy color that has a sheen and that's very dark. 

I will ALWAYS love getting flowers from someone! 😍

I came home after this and took a shower and washed my hair. I had fun plans Saturday night, and my hair needed brushing, which I only do in the shower while I have conditioner in it. I did a few things around my house to make me feel better about the condition of it, and then I started to get ready for the night. My friend Nicole at work wanted to celebrate her birthday with work friends, so that's what we did! We met at a restaurant called Bosco's in this cute little midtown district called Cooper Young or Overton Square...the food is always excellent, but they're also known for their distinctive beers they have on tap. I'm not a beer drinker, but I heard several people say how good they were! After dinner we walked across the street to a place called Lafayette's for live music and dancing. I only danced at the very end, because I'm not much of one, but I was enjoying talking to my friends from work. It was a really fun night! 

The band was great, but I don't remember their name. Oddly enough, the only song I danced to when I was saying goodbye to everyone was one by Nirvana. 🤣 

I met Mom and Bill for lunch on Sunday after church and then I ran around and did a few things before coming back home for the evening. It was a great weekend! I'm ready for my week and am thankful to be going into a fun week feeling refreshed and ready for whatever may come. Tell me what you did this weekend! I'd love to hear from you. Thanks for reading my blog today, friends! Just a reminder that I wrote two extra posts over the weekend, and this coming Saturday (Halloween!!!) is the scheduled Share 4 Somethings post. I hope you make plans to join me! See you tomorrow. Love to all!


Jen

quiet time ideas and resources

 

Happy Sunday! Since it's the Lord's day, I thought I'd spend time talking about a few things I use and do for my quiet time. I'll jump right in! 

I have to rewind a bit first...for years I have read the Bible for my quiet time, even reading it from cover to cover. And then life happened, and something began to happen to my attention span. I've read that trauma does this to your brain, and I've had a series of traumatic events happen, as you know. I've tried and tried to get back to reading consistently, or at least listening consistently, but it just hasn't happened yet. So, my quiet time started to change. I've gone from not having it to using devotionals to just spending a few minutes praying. I'm glad that the Lord doesn't have a set of requirements for me to spend time with Him, He just wants my heart. 

Then I remembered my love for writing out Scripture, so I started doing that just this month. I've got a full binder of pages that I've written out and I am so happy to be doing this again. By this time I've been going long enough that it's become a habit again. So that's what I do each morning when I first get to work, because my mornings at home fly by and also because I usually leave my journal at work accidentally, so...

Here are a few ideas you can use, if this is something you struggle with.

Get a Bible you enjoy reading! I recommend a familiar translation with room to underline or make notes. A few well-loved passages can be a wonderful place to begin! I personally love the Christian Standard Bible translation (CSB); the last time I checked, it was the most accurate translation of the ancient passages (originally written in Hebrew and Greek) that's also the most readable. 

Here's what mine often looks like; my Bible is the She Reads Truth Bible, and is my third or fourth copy. I like to change it out every few years.

You need a plan to have quiet time whether it's a Bible reading plan, a devotional, or some Scripture to write out. I always love reading in the book of Psalm, but another great place is the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John).

I love the short, Scripture centered readings that my beloved devotionals offer. A favorite is New Morning Mercies by Paul David Tripp.

You need a journal and a pen. I love to write out prayers, lists, questions, or verses in mine as I read.

I think it's good to keep a list of things to pray for in your journal.

Play some worship music or instrumental hymns as you spend time with God each day! I use Spotify for this and you can just type it into the search bar.

A quiet spot is key. For me, it's my kitchen table so that I can spread out. I usually do this while nobody is awake yet, and I love to light a candle during this time. It just makes it more cozy. My favorite time of year and place to do this is at Christmas time in my living room with just one or two dim lights turned on and the lights of the tree shining. 

These are things that help me settle in for priority time with the Lord, but I'm also learning that I don't need a perfect setting or even an uninterrupted hour. I can open my Bible, bring to the Lord what's on my heart, and begin right where I am. If you're a believer, how do you spend time with God? I always love to hear other people's versions of this. Of course not all of my days go like this, and sometimes days in a row pass without me doing this at all! On those days I just pray, and that's all I have to give because life can be hard, friends. 

Thanks for reading today, friends. Love to all.

Jen