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. The hodgepodge lands on Ash Wednesday, which is the first day of Lent. Do you mark this season in some way? Will you be giving up something or adding something to your life in this Lenten season? First, I can't believe that it's already this season! Spring is coming, friends, and that is so exciting and hopeful. I can't wait! I don't really observe Lent, but I strengthen my faith everyday by reading the Bible and spending time in prayer. 

This was last year on Resurrection Sunday! We had lunch at my house that day; this is me with three/four of my sons, Mom, and my nephew Tyler.

2. Pancakes...are you a fan? Syrup or no syrup? Plain, blueberries, chocolate chip, bananas or some other add in? Are you a pancakes on your menu this week? I love pancakes, but I rarely eat them. I like them all of the ways, honestly, but my favorite was when I made lemon blueberry pancakes one time. I heated up some syrup and ate a small stack. They were delicious, but my sons ended up eating most of them! I'd done chocolate chip for them, but they liked mine more. I wasn't planning on having pancakes for dinner this week, but now I'm thinking I need to put them on the weekly menu!

3. Tell us about a time recently when you felt "spread too thin". I think a time when I recently felt spread too thin was when I was having to go through a lot of things to start the job I have now. I had to go through an onboarding process, and I had to do a lot of training and get paperwork in order. It felt overwhelming for a little while, but I was so glad to have made it through all of that. 

This was my first day back at work! 

4. What's your favorite jewel or gemstone? In terms of your wardrobe, would we find more gem tones, pastels, black and white, or primary colors? I'm not a huge fan of jewelry, so I really don't have a favorite. There's one gemstone that is turquoise in color (but not actual turquoise), and is beautiful. I don't know the name of it, but I would take it if someone were to give me something like that! 🤣 I'm more of a plain jewelry person, and I like solid gold or sometimes white gold/silver. My closet is plethora of color! I have all of the colors listed above.

5. What responsibility do you think is hardest about being in charge? The hardest responsibility by far to me is paying all of the bills! It's stressful being the one solely in charge. I don't like it, if I'm being honest. I am really bad at remembering certain bills, like the water bill and a credit card bill. I'm rolling my eyes at myself. It's ridiculous. I just had to go check this to make sure I am still caught up. I am! Whew. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. I have loved getting to see plays at The Orpheum this year. I purchased season tickets last spring in honor of my dad, and I haven't regretted that decision even once. They were pricey, but it's been so much fun to see plays again. I'm seeing one this weekend with my sister and can't wait! Do you ever get to see Broadway plays? 

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

Jenn 

inspired writing Tuesday--a luxurious feeling night at home

 

Happy Tuesday, friends! I thought I'd share about things I love doing to make an evening at home feel more luxurious. I hope you're inspired! 

Anytime I'm home for any length of time at all, I light a candle to add ambiance. I also never use the overhead lighting in my home, opting instead for lamp lighting. Are you like this? I also love to use lamps in the dark corners, like in my kitchen or in my dining room. 

I love to have a fire in the fireplace when the weather is cold. I only started doing this for the first time in a couple of years just recently. I am scared of inside fires, honestly, but now that I've started this I will continue. 

I love it when these outside lights are turned on; they looked beautiful in the snow. I love to sit outside when the weather is mild, but I have these lights set to come on with a timer. 

I love to use one of the many mugs that I have to eat things like soup, cereal, or ice cream in. I believe in things like using pretty mugs for this kind of thing, eating on real plates instead of paper, and using cloth napkins instead of paper. If more than one person is here with me to eat, I'll use paper napkins, but when it's just me I will always pick the cloth ones that Mom made for me several years ago.

I use them all year long, because they're reversible. 

I also believe in doing things like having music playing, having surfaces cleaned off, and having a basket of blankets close by on those cold nights. I'm a seasonal music gal; I have it playing almost all day long when I'm at home and my playlists change with the seasons. 

I like having books or magazines near by in case I'm tempted to pick up one to read. 

I like for my bed to be made everyday. Do you do this? It really does get my day started off on the right foot. I mention it here, because I love to climb into a bed that's been straightened already.

I like for my kitchen to be clean on the nights when I cook at home. 

I like to keep my closet as clean as possible; it's easier to maintain once you clean it thoroughly. I have been practicing hanging up or folding stuff the minute I take it off if it's not going into the dirty clothes basket. 

On the nights when I'm in for the evening, I like to be comfy. My favorite thing to do is to shower and wash my hair early enough so that it'll dry before I go to bed. I love to have a clean, moisturized face on the nights in!

I will sometimes use the nights that I'm at home to give myself a pedicure or a facial.

I do a little maintenance work while I'm at home, meaning that I do things to keep the house picked up and clean for the week. 

What are the things you like to do to make your evenings at home more pleasurable? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog today, friends. Love to all!

Jenn ❤️

Hello Monday, 2.16.2026.

 

Happy Monday, friends! I hope you had a great weekend! I can't wait to hear from you at the end of today's post. I'm linking up with Holly and Sarah for today's blog post. I'll jump right in!

I donned the shirt I'd been saving for this day for work and then regretted my choice of it all day long. It's cute, right? But the fabric is this terrible, synthetic material that I struggled with all day long. Work wasn't as crazy as I had thought it would be; nothing unusual happened and the day passed quickly. I was glad for this, because I was ready for my nighttime plans! 

A few weeks ago, Marilyn and I shopped together on a Saturday. We went to Dollar Tree and Hobby Lobby and were basically inspired to have a party. She hosted Kendra and me Friday night for a Galentine's day party, complete with its own playlist on Spotify. It was such a fun night! 

Mare made chicken pasta, focaccia bread, I took a salad, and Kendra brought the wine! It was a delicious meal. We ate and caught up and then we eventually moved on to Valentine's day games. 

We started working on our vision board ideas for 2026 and gathered some more ideas. I want to do this soon, but I need to figure out what I want to use as the board. It was a fun night! I stayed as long as I could before I started to get really tired. It was an early to bed night!

Kendra came with gifts! This one had us cracking up. 

Chris came over early on Saturday, and we spent the whole day together. This is where I confess that I struggled with the day all day long. I don't know why I had a hard time all day; I cried at one point and have no idea why. I was quiet all day, and though I was grateful to have Chris around, I didn't necessarily feel up to having someone with me, you know? I told him I probably would have canceled on him had he not just shown up when he did. I still don't know what the issue was that I was having, and I think it's okay that I don't know. He was a rock star and was a steady and loving presence all day long. We ate lunch, we did some running around, we came back to my house at one point, and then I went to give gifts to my favorite local little people, also known as Abbey's kids.

I loved getting to love on some little people that day! I think it's what turned it around for me, honestly. It was so good to see these friends! We stayed for about an hour before leaving again. (Levi isn't pictured because he was about to be taking a late afternoon nap.) I love these kids, and I loved introducing Chris to them. I think they made him feel at ease, but he was nervous walking in. He's always a little nervous meeting new people! I love this endearing quality about him. 

I made sure to reassure Chris all day that whatever I was feeling had nothing to do with him. He did everything just right, and the fact that he didn't let me push him away, so to speak, spoke volumes to me. He was just there, quiet and steady all day long. He held my hand, he hugged me, he let me lean on him, and he let me cry on him. Emotions are a funny thing, you know? That evening we went to a place here in town called Nashoba. We had dinner and listened to live music before calling it a somewhat early night and heading back to my house. 

It was a fun night! I'm thankful that by the time we left Abbey's and Steve's, that I felt almost normal again. I loved sitting side by side with Chris for dinner; we sat at a bar type thing away from the bar as we ate, and we had the perfect spot to see the band and to people watch. We were given lots of opportunities to people watch! We could have danced some, but we decided that we're both more the dance in the kitchen variety. And we do! I love dancing in the kitchen with this man; he's got moves. I love how romantic he is; we didn't do anything crazy to celebrate the day, but we make sure to speak love and truth into each other everyday. 

Sunday was church! I woke up early and wrote a bonus blog post; here's a link if you'd like to check it out! He came over bright and early and we ate lunch with Mom, Bill, and Graham afterward. We came back to my house to watch more of Ted Lasso and then we said our goodbyes after an early dinner of leftovers. 

How was your weekend? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog today, friends. Love to all. 

Jenn

weekly reflection

 

Happy Sunday, friends! I'm going to give a shout out to Jen for giving me the idea for this post. She shared something similar on her own blog this weekend; you should check it out! Here are the prompts that Chat GPT gave me when I asked her for some ideas.

What filled me up this week? Something that filled me up this week was seeing Chris a lot. One of his hugs can go a long way, you know? Another thing that filled me up this week was being back at work. I love my work friends so much! I also love the students, and was so happy to be back with them after two full weeks off. 

Where did I see God (or His goodness) this week? I see God and His goodness every single day, honestly. Something that was sweet this week was my prayer time each morning before leaving home. I have this routine where I get dressed and have my quiet time simultaneously...I pray, then I listen to the Bible being read to me. I have some things I'm praying about right now, and I felt peace from the Lord all throughout my week. He's the only one who can give someone that kind of peace, and the Bible says that it's the peace that transcends all understanding. 

What am I letting go of moving ahead into a new week? I'm letting go of yesterday. I will share more about this on tomorrow's blog post. 

What am I carrying forward with me this week? I'm carrying forward the reminder that each day is a new morning; God's mercies are new everyday! I'm trusting Him with everything, and I'm embracing and leaning on the people that are in my life right now. 

What's a tiny victory from this week? A tiny victory from the week was surviving the week. I always kind of dread re-entry after an extended time off.  My house is even clean! I took the time to do this on Saturday; Chris was so sweet to help me when he got here. He was wiping off the stair railing at one point, y'all. Another tiny victory was waking up on time each day; after the holidays I started waking up thirty minutes earlier each day, to prolong my morning. This has been life changing, and I don't feel rushed at all before I leave for work everyday. 

How would you answer one of these? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog today, friends. Love to all!

Jenn 

Friday Favorites, 2.13.2026.

 

Happy Friday (the 13th), friends! Are you superstitious? I'm not necessarily, but I do think Friday the 13th in a school on the day of Valentine's day class parties is a bit much. Think of me today when you're out doing adult things...I might be going crazy at that exact moment. I have lots of favorites from the week, though!

From the interwebs: 

I love each and every one of these images from Instagram this week! My favorite is the one that reminds us to look for the best in people. Nobody likes a mean girl, and nobody likes a Debbie Downer, either. I think smiles and kind words are life changing! This week at school, our focus has been on kindness. I adore our school counselors, and they've had some great things to say to the students on how they can carry this out each and everyday. 

Teacher treat days from our PTA are always a favorite! Please note the homemade cheddar sourdough bagel I enjoyed. They had coffee, soft drinks, energy drinks, sweet treats from Nothing Bundt Cakes and from scratch, several types of homemade bread, Babybel cheese, a tomato/cheese/basil salad, fruits and veggies, chips, granola bars, and more for us on this particular day. The offerings are always a lot and everything is delicious each month. We get these days once a month! I brought home an extra bagel when I saw there were some leftover at the end of Wednesday. 

Seeing the students again was a favorite this week. I've missed them so much! This sweet little one jumped into my arms when she saw me on Monday morning. I love getting to spend fifteen minutes with her each day, one on one. I'm so proud of her for how far she's come since August! I love getting to witness the spark in their little eyes as they learn to read and unscramble letters on a page. I would dare say it's one of the greatest joys I have in life! 

I love a themed week at school! I've worn all the Valentine's day things this week. These are the infamous earrings that Abbey gave me last year on Valentine's day that I've talked about here recently. 

It's a favorite seeing this banner displayed in our hallways at school! We were recently given this award of being one of the top ten schools in the state of Tennessee. Isn't that amazing?! 

Getting dressed for work is always a favorite! Here are my outfits from Sunday through Thursday; I didn't get a full outfit pic on Wednesday because I was running late, but I had on brown leggings, this blue and white striped button down, and the apricot colored vest from Amazon that I love. White sneakers have been my shoe of choice everyday so far this week! 

I was talking about this very thing with Chris recently; I often feel sleepy around him. Maybe this is why? I know he has said that he feels the same. 

Being busy at work is my favorite! I walked my rear end off at work Thursday morning and got this notification on my watch. I don't know how much I walked that day, but I ran for what felt like all day long.

Fifth graders can be my favorite sometimes. This was me waiting on them yesterday when I taught them.

Receiving this Eagle Award was my favorite part of the week! My friend and coworker said some incredibly nice things about me; the principal videoed me, and took pictures, and the third grade class that I was with at that moment erupted in cheers. It was the sweetest part of my week. 

What was a favorite of yours from the week? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog today, friends. Love to all!

Jenn