Friday Favorites, 11.14.2025.

 

Happy Friday, friends! It's my favorite day/blog post of the week, and it's my Friday as I write this. I'm taking the day off from work to help Marilyn out with some final things at her old house and then set up again at her new place. I am so glad I did this! I also had a couple of appointments this morning, so it's a productive day. I have loads of favorites from this week, so I'll jump right in!

It's always a favorite when one of my sons is at church with me! This is Graham on the right, laughing and talking to my friend/worship pastor Joshua; I love their banter and that Joshua told Graham that he smelled handsome that day. 🤣 What?! 

I had lunch with Graham, Mom and Bill after church, then came home for a bit (and caught up with my three sons who live here) and changed to go to Marilyn's. Any time with Marilyn is my favorite; it was so cold this day! I will do anything for this dear friend. We did a few things at her house, then took some things to her parents' house, and finally ended with dinner and yogurt. 

Frozen yogurt is another favorite! This was dark chocolate, white chocolate cheesecake, and peanut butter. It was so good!

I love both of these that Marilyn sent me! I have made my way through all the steps of the one titled The Stages of Letting Go, and I'm mostly through the one right above this one. Number nine doesn't really apply to me, though...but still. Aren't these great? I think this could be said for a lot of things. 

Monday mornings are not Chloe's favorite. 

I made my favorite soup for dinner on Monday night since it was so cold outside! This was the night that I realized how much I'd made, so I invited Kendra over for dinner. I'm glad she took me up on my offer! 

These were my outfits from the week; do you have a favorite? 

The Veteran's Day program and parade on Tuesday at school was my favorite! How sweet is this? 

Celebrating Marilyn at the birthday dinner her friend Tuesday night was a favorite! 

This kind of activity is my favorite thing to do with students; we read this passage and worked through the questions together. Do you know what PQA is? I made them do that with each question, which isn't their favorite, but oh well. It means, "put question in answer" and it assures that they write in complete sentences. 

Dinner with this one Wednesday night was a favorite! 

This was one of my favorite things from social media this week; how true is this? I can feel every bit of this statement. 

It was a favorite getting to see the students perform a snippet of the play they're putting on this weekend, Suessical. They were amazing! I stood out in the hall with my two little first graders for fifteen minutes watching; they were mesmerized! So was I, for that matter. 

I made my favorite little hot ham and cheese sliders for dinner last night for Jonah and me. My niece was going to come over with her family, but she didn't feel great and seems to be coming down with something. I was exhausted from the day, so it was easy for me to tell her to stay home and rest. I ate, showered, and then got comfy by six thirty. 

I feel like it was a quick week and was filled with some great moments. Do you have a favorite from your week? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog today, friends. Love to all! 

Jenn 

a day in the life...a normal Wednesday

 

Happy Thursday (again) and bonus blog post day! When Joyce mentioned she was doing a link up for a day in the life post, I couldn't help but join in. I love these types of posts! Here was my Wednesday. Happy reading!

I wake up every morning between 5:30-5:45. The first thing I do is let the dogs out, turn on the lights, and make my coffee. Most mornings I like iced coffee, but when it's cold, I prefer it hot. I've had hot coffee everyday this week. Isn't my mug cute? After I let the dogs in and feed them for Jonah, I sit and read blogs/correspond on my own with the comments. Sometimes when I'm done with that, I'll work on a post for the next day. 

This is what each morning looks like with the pups; they love to play! On this morning, I folded some clothes for both Jonah and myself, then made my lunch and to go drinks (water and protein iced coffee). I took the dogs back to Jonah's room, then went to put up my laundry. I always make my bed while the moisturizer dries on my face, then I start with makeup, hair, and I end with clothes. 

Here's the outfit I chose for yesterday; I was both comfy and cozy, and I'm still getting my money out of this cute Amazon sweater. 

I came downstairs and put on this pretty lipstick and took a picture to send Chris. He asked me to do this a long time ago, and told me it brightens his day. Isn't that sweet? I ended up removing this lipstick when it got darker on me, then replaced it with my usual neutral. This makes me want to find a burgundy lipstick, though! 

I loaded my car and let it warm up, then drove to my church and called Marilyn. I do this every morning! I love this about our relationship. I always call my mom next as I drive to work. Look how pretty the trees are at my church!

I always walk in around 8:15-8:20. I put my stuff away, then kind of chill/talk to co-workers until 8:40 when I walk outside for car line duty. 

Thankfully it wasn't as cold Wednesday! I wore my puffer vest instead of the coat I've worn all week.

I went down to work with my little first grade friend, then made it back to my classroom until I left again at 10:40. I have a huge break in my mornings, so I use this time to do personal things like pay bills, scroll socials, journal, and anything I need to do to help anyone. Actually that's the first thing I look to do, but nobody ever needs anything, so I do all the other things.

Look at these cute fifth graders I saw on IG yesterday! They were dressed up for our Veteran's day program and parade. The one second from left is one that I work with sometimes; he is a doll! 

I work with 4th grade at 10:50, 5th grade at 11:40, then my lunch starts at 12:30. Second grade comes in at 1:00, then third grade at 1:50, then I leave for my 1st grade friends at 2:45. Each class is 45-50 minutes long, so you can see why my day flies. From there I walk a couple of students out at 3:40 and walk out for the day at 4:00. I always, always, always call Chris when I get to my car; we get off work at the same time. I came home yesterday to admire my newly painted garage, then I met Chris for dinner. 

He makes me laugh really hard; we're terrible at selfies, because he's so tall. It works best when he stands behind me, which is my favorite. I think we're cute together! It's been a long time since I've been this happy, friends. We have a deal that when we eat together, we spend half the time across from each other so we can see each other's eyes, then when we're done, he sits next to me so we can be close. That's my preference. 

After dinner I went to choir practice until 7:30, then I came home afterward for the first time since school started. Nobody could do Rotolo's on this night (both of them had great reasons), so I was glad to come home. I've been tired the past couple of nights, so it felt good to be here. I headed upstairs at nine to wash my face and lay down, and I talked to Chris on the phone until I got sleepy. I would much prefer to talk to him than watch TikTok videos. 

So that was my day, in a nutshell! I can't wait to read your posts about your day. Thanks for reading my bonus blog post, friends. Love to all! 

Jenn ❤️

Thankful Thursday

 

Happy Thursday, friends! I love these thankful posts...I've been trying to be more intentional in writing things down everyday that I'm thankful for. Do you do this? Here's my list for the week.

I'm thankful for God's love. Where would I be without Him? I don't like to think about it, honestly, and it makes me pray more diligently for the people I know (and love/care for) who don't know Him. 

I'm thankful for His word! I'm thinking about next year, and what my quiet time will look like. I think I may read random books at a time...maybe some of my favorites, like Esther, Ruth, Exodus, James, Ephesians, Philippians...and journal my way through them. I want to be more intentional and need a break from reading the Bible through in a year. Sometimes that can become ritual, and that's when I know I'm not listening as much as I need to be listening. Does that make sense? It's just time for me to switch it up again. 

I'm thankful for my sons, the relationship we have, and the friendship they have with each other. They'll all be together again this weekend in McKinney! My heart is full knowing this. 

I'm thankful for my family: my parents, my siblings. I can't imagine life without them. I love calling my mom every morning as I drive to work!

I'm thankful for friends that feel like family. 

I'm thankful that I have a brick-and-mortar bank that I love; I've had issues with fraudulent charges recently, so it's nice knowing that I can go in and they'll help me get things taken care of. 

I'm thankful for a fun dinner out this week; Marilyn's friend hosted a birthday dinner for her on Tuesday night, and it was a really fun night getting to see her friends again, and meeting a few others. 

I'm thankful for Christian music artists that put out excellent Christmas music; my current favorites are ones that are sung by Matt Maher and Katy Nichole. 

I'm thankful for my dear friend and co-worker, Karen. She was gone for three days recently, and though the sub was wonderful (an old friend of mine), it was so good to see her back Tuesday. 

I'm thankful for the laughter that Jonah's dogs bring to me; I've had some funny moments with them this week. They've both been kind of naughty recently, but I don't really get upset at them for acting like dogs. The most recent thing is that Stella swiped some chicken I was cutting up for soup from the counter on Monday night. I was so startled to see her standing at the counter doing this, because I've never had a dog to counter surf like that. 

What are you thankful for this week? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog today, friends. Love to all!

Jenn 

the Wednesday hodgepodge

 

Happy Wednesday, friends! I'm here with Joyce again today for the weekly hodgepodge...this is a post that I dearly love; thank you, Joyce, for your inspiring and thought provoking questions each and every week! I'll jump right in. 

1. What does patriotism mean to you? When I think of patriotism, I think of freedom. If not for the brave men and women who fought for our freedom, we wouldn't enjoy all that we get to today. It's because of them that we live in the type of country we do; it's one that is nowhere near perfect, but even on our worst day, we are still so fortunate to have all that we do. I attribute all of this to the soldiers who risked or gave their lives so that we could have ours. I'll forever be grateful. 

We always loved to spend Veteran's day with Dad; we went downtown every year for the annual parade, and this was one such day. They all spontaneously made posters for the veterans and made the local evening news this year! 

2. September-October-November...what's your favorite fall month? Tell us why. If you live in the Southern Hemisphere use these months but sub in the word spring for fall. My favorite fall month is November, because it's finally fully fall, and the leaves are changing for us here in West Tennessee by that time. 

I cannot get enough of the beautiful leaves and colors! 

3. A song you love with the word thanks (or some form of that word) in the title or lyrics? Hands down, my answer to this is the song Gratitude by Brandon Lake. Here's a few of the lyrics:

all my words fall short

I've got nothing new

how could I express

all my gratitude?

4. November is National Peanut Butter month. Are you a fan? What's the last peanut butter bite you had? Fill in the blank: peanut butter and ______________. Oh, and you can't say jelly. I love peanut butter! I sometimes eat it on a spoon when I'm craving something and I don't know what. My favorite combination with peanut butter is chocolate. It's so good! 

5. This week's gratitude question: what event from this past year are you most grateful for? I'm grateful for the event that led me to today...so this sounds weird, but that would mean that I'm grateful for my divorce. I don't know how that's possible when I look back at where I started, but I've healed, and I feel like I'm in a healthy mind space. I don't give a lot of thought to the person or events that took place leading to today anymore, but when I do, I can honestly look back and be thankful for the life that we shared up to that day in June of 2024. I'm so grateful to be here today, on my own for the most part, but also getting to know someone new. I put in the work to be here today, and I feel like I've come a long way. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Guess what, friends? I'm finally to the point where I'm starting to love being at home again. After a year and a half, you have no idea how good this feels! I'm never bored anymore, and I never dread nights that I stay in. It's possible that it has to do with the time of year, or being tired after my work each day. Whatever it is, I'll take what it took to get me here. I loved both of these images I recently found on socials; they remind me of what I'm saying here. The first image above reminds me of what took place Monday night; I came home and made a pot of chicken tortilla soup. It was so much that I texted my friend Kendra and invited her over for dinner. I was thrilled that she took me up on my offer! We ate, then we talked for a couple of hours before she left to go home to grade papers. It was a nice, unexpected night! 

I can't wait to read your posts! Thanks for being here to read mine today. Love to all!

Jenn xoxo