currently hodgepodging

 

Happy Wednesday, friends! For the first part of today's blog post, I'll be linking up with Amy and Marsha. For the latter part of the post, I'll be joining Joyce! 

savoring:

I'm savoring family dinner nights, easy lunches, memories with friends, time with my sweet man, and morning coffee.

wrapping up: 

I'm wrapping up my favorite season (pool season) this coming weekend and swimming for what may be the last time this year; I'm trading in my swimming suit for school supplies as we start the 2026/2027 school year today with the students. Isn't my little Eagle the cutest? Our new principal Toni gave us all these over the summer when we met with her to meet her.

preparing:

In preparing for the new school year, I set up my little desk at work on Monday. I got some new school supplies and some clear organizers. Isn't my little emotional support heart plant adorable? 

remembering:

I've been remembering times that have gone by lately; I ran across this picture of Dad the other day with five of his seven grandsons. It's my four with my nephew Devin; how sweet is this? Time is a funny thing. I have been thinking of my dad a lot lately and missing him. There's no reason or trigger for this, I just genuinely miss him and the presence he was in my life. Even with dementia, he was full of love for Jesus, and I miss all of our deep talks that happened on Fridays.

organizing:

I'm currently organizing school rooms, my days for the school year, and everything in my house. I'm still on an organizational kick, and am loving having neat and tidy spaces. 

And now for the hodgepodge...

1. What's something on your August calendar that you're looking forward to (or dreading)? I'm looking forward to the routine of getting back into the school year; call me crazy if you want. I love a fresh start, and I consider August like another new year. Add to the fact that I got to buy new school supplies for myself and well...I am a happy little clam. There's nothing I dread at the moment! 

2. August 5th is National Oyster Day...do you partake? How do you feel about pearls? My dad convinced me to try raw oysters as a young girl, and I wasn't a fan. If I was at someone's house and that was part of their meal they offered I would eat it, but it's not something I'd order. 

3. Tell us about a time when your felt like the "world was your oyster". I kind of feel like that at the beginning of a new season or year; honestly, August reminds me of a second new year. I've operated on a school calendar for so long now...45 years, to be exact!

4. Trip advisor lists seven islands in the U.S. that don't require a passport if you're a U.S. citizen traveling there. Have you been to any of the seven listed? Let's pretend you get an all expense paid trip to one of these islands...where are you going and why did you pick that particular island?

Catalina Island, California; Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts; Mackinac Island, Michigan; Key West, Florida; South Padre Island, Texas; Kauai, Hawaii

Of these choices, I would pick Mackinac Island, Michigan; it's some place I've wanted to visit for a long time now. I have a friend who is from Michigan who first told me about this place when our sons were in elementary school; I was immediately enthralled.

5. Sylvia Plath is credited with the following...

"August rain: the best of the summer gone, and the new fall not yet born. The odd, uneven time." 

Do you agree or disagree? In other words, how do you feel about this month? I love this quote and think it sums up well the passing of one season to the next. August is not my favorite month, and it is kind of an odd time that is still summer but feels like it should be fall with school back in session. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

These images were generated by Chat GPT. I am going to paint my front door soon; these are the colors I've narrowed it down to. Do you have a favorite? Please chime in! 

Thanks for reading my blog today, friends. I will see you back here tomorrow! Love to all.

Jen 

a little bit of fashion, a lot about our weekly family dinner night

Happy Tuesday, friends! I'm here to talk about some things I've worn recently, and about the family dinner night that I reinstated this summer. I'm linking up with Amy for the weekly Fashion Files and Joanne for Tuesday Talk for this post. I'll jump right in! 

First up is all about the outfits I wore last week...

I wanted to look cute at work last week; I also wanted to be comfortable and cool as I worked in rooms getting my friends ready to teach for the school year. Because of that, I lived in gauze and tee shirt dresses all week, and I loved being all of those things I wanted to be. I wore a mixture of sandals and sneakers; this last picture of us is from Saturday night. I'd bought a dress to wear to a wedding this weekend, but I had a last minute outfit chance once Jonah took a picture of us outside and I saw what the dress looked like. Inside the house, it was fine; outside, it turned sheer, and I didn't love that. I went back inside at the last minute and threw this one on instead. 

Do you have thoughts on any of the outfits? I'd love to hear them! 

And now onto family dinner...

Most of you know that four weeks ago, I reinstated family dinner night. This takes place each week on Sunday afternoon at five; I go to church, then I come home to prepare for my sons and Mallory (plus any extras) to come eat dinner. I never take pictures of this during the main event, which is great because I'm living in the moment instead of being on my phone. This week I decided to try to take some pictures.

I try to keep things as simple as possible. The first week I made an Italian pasta dish they love with garlic bread; week two was requested by Noah: chicken poppyseed casserole, rice, and green beans. Week three found us Mallory's and Drew's apartment for swimming and poolside pizza! 

Mallory is a twin! This is her twin sister Meredith on the left.

Mallory's parents were also there; her mom is also a Jennifer, and she's there in the baseball hat in the picture above.

This was such a fun afternoon; I got there at two and stayed until six. The pool felt amazing! This week was back at my house for week four; I made French dip sandwiches, homemade macaroni and cheese (in the crock pot), and for dessert we had cookies with ice cream. Like I said before, I keep things as simple as possible, so I make the things they love that are easy. I also use paper products when I have them on hand.

I forgot to buy some this week, so I used these Christmas since I had them on hand. I loved this! It was like a Christmas in August party. I always have two liters of soft drinks for them, and bottles of water. Sometimes they bring their own alcoholic drinks, and sometimes I have some on hand already. The goal isn't perfection or a Pinterest worthy night; the goal is to be together, to laugh, and to have fun while we connect. They can't make it each week, and I don't expect that, but each week I provide a meal for them all. When it doesn't work out for my sons to be here, I invite Mom, Bill, Trish, Devin, and Tyler (the last two are my nephews). One week we'll invite Chris' dad and his girlfriend; another night I might decide to invite some friends. Next week our plan is to grill hamburgers and we'll swim in my neighbor's pool since I'll be watching their dogs for the weekend. I made sure to tell them all this last night while they were here. 

Drew made and left this little thing while he was here Sunday night. I love that he still loves to make things by folding paper and napkins. I have a collection of such things of his.

I have to give a shout-out to my Chris; he's the one that encouraged me to start this back up each week. I'm so glad he did and that I took his advice! I've loved each week and how it has turned out. Do you have thoughts or questions about this? I'd love to hear some recs or answer any questions you might have. Thanks for reading my blog today, friends! Love to all.

Jen 

p.s. Please enjoy the picture from last summer when Graham had us all at his house for family dinner night; he made salmon, potatoes, and garlic bread on that night and we took this picture with the spectacular sunset. I later had this put onto a canvas, I loved it so much, and it hangs in my living room today.

hello, Monday

 

Happy Monday, friends! How was your weekend? Mine flew by! I'm linking up with Holly and Sarah for today's blog post. I'll back up to Thursday evening and will jump right in! 

Thursday was a very long day at work, since it was orientation day. My day started with me at work by 7:15; I worked until noon, then went back at three and stayed until six. I was exhausted when I got off work, so I met Chris for dinner at Lost Pizza. It was so good! I could hardly keep my eyes open when I got home from dinner and was in bed by eight thirty. I don't think it took me long at all to fall asleep! 

Fridays hit differently now! After work I came home; Chris met me here after work and we went to get Mexican food. It was so good! 

We came back to my house after dinner and watched A Man Called Otto. I've seen it before, but I'd forgotten what a great movie that is. 

Saturday found me up early and getting things cleaned up around my home; I started with cleaning out and reorganzing my refrigerator and then moved onto the pantry. This felt so good to be able to start the school year off right with things being clean! I placed a giant grocery order for family dinner and for my lunches this week, and then I moved onto dusting, laundry, then vacuuming. I got dressed that afternoon for a wedding that I'd been invited to (Chris was invited as well and my friend included his name on the invitation); this was a fun way to spend a Saturday night!

I thought this was funny! The disco light turned my dress green.

This is my friend Marcia's son Drew; he is now married with a son of his own! This was him with sweet little Beau.

Sweet Marcia and me.

This place was beautiful! It's called The Ravenshaw; they have domestic deer that were outside with us letting us pet them. I was in awe and decided that I'd love a pet deer someday.

I loved the detail they put into the wedding; there were drinks named after the bride (Hannah), the groom (Isaac), and their Golden Retriever (Daisy). I loved that during the ceremony, the two sets of parents went up to the couple and prayed over them as a new family; I loved that Brad (the father of the bride) gave a welcome of thanks with special instructions for us during the reception, and I loved watching the dances (father of the bride with Hannah and Isaac and his mom). There were times in the ceremony that both of us teared up. In the ceremony, my young friend Alayna sang the song The Blessing by Kari Jobe that I love; it's taken from the books of Numbers and Deuteronomy. 

I'm including the video from YouTube in case you would like to give it a listen; it's a beautiful song. 

The dinner was great, and it was fun to run into my old friends from the church I went to when the boys were young (Memphis First Assembly of God). Brad and Marcia were our very best couple friends; when we traveled on a mission trip to Iceland when the boys were little, we made them our "just in case" people and had a temporary will put into place for the time we were gone. I love this family dearly! Our kids all grew up together, and each weekend found us at one of our homes together for game night or eating Taco Bell after Sunday night church. We even camped with them the first time we ever camped together as a family! 

Did you ever think of your kids marrying someone specific when they were little? That was how it was with my Jonah and Noah with Hannah; I'd genuinely hoped one of them would marry her someday. This makes me laugh, because things like that don't usually go that way, right? Isaac and Hannah are the most adorable couple, and the whole evening from start to finish was beautiful. I was so glad to have Chris with me; he kept me laughing the whole night, and I love that he wanted to do the photo booth they had with me. 

I never got a picture of them at the wedding, but I snagged this off Marcia's Facebook; they're so precious. I love that his dad married them! 

Sunday morning found us at church; after that I went to Dollar Tree and Kroger for a few school supplies (it's tax free weekend) and something I forgot in my Walmart grocery order. After that I came home and unpacked it all, then got ready for the family to come over that night. I'll share more about that on Tuesday, so come back and check out that day's post! Here's a little sneak peak...

Tell me all about your weekend! I'd love to hear from you. Thanks for reading my blog today, friends. Love to all!

Jen