What's Up Wednesday

Happy Wednesday, friends.  I'm linking up with Shay from Mix and Match Mama and her friend Sheaffer for this blog post.

What we're eating this week:

Monday night we had leftovers, Tuesday night we had Mexican chicken with rice and refried beans, and I've got the stuff to have hamburgers one night, cabbage and sausage, baked potatoes, and chicken fajitas.  It's a good food week around here.  Mexican is what I'm craving right now the most, and I hope my family doesn't care.  Since they didn't give me ideas, we're going with what my idea.

What I'm reminiscing about:

Shopping.  Eating in Mexican food restaurants.  Chips and salsa.  Marshall's.  Basically, all the days before the stupid Corona virus.

What I'm loving:

Cooler nights and outside lights.  We're still loving our new deck.

What we've been up to:

Pretty much that.  Yup.  And house things.

What I'm dreading:

Not knowing when we can get out again in the public and with the general population.  Our state is opening back up on May 1, except for nine counties, and I live in one of them.  Our mayor can't even give us a date as to when he thinks we'll open back up.  I love a meme that my husband posted, with which I agree: let the concerned people stay home, and let everyone else go back to work and back to life as usual.

What I'm working on:

I'm on the writing team with five other women from my church, and we are in the throes of writing our first Bible study together.  We're in the editing process and it will published and printed in the fall for the ladies in our church to take.  I can't wait to see it all when it's finished, but it is going to be SO GOOD!  I am not at liberty to tell you what the study is on yet, but it's on a book in the Bible.  ;)

What I'm excited about:

Going to HomeGoods.  Eating at my favorite Mexican restaurant.  Seeing one of my best friends that I haven't seen since January.  Thursday night with two other of my best friends, when we meet and sit apart and have dinner together in a parking lot.

What I'm watching/reading:

I'm reading a book right this moment, but when I'm finished with it, I'm going to start on one of these.  My friend Amy brought them by to me on Monday, and I'm so thankful!  I promised her I would pass them on when I'm finished.

My current book is Sisterchicks in Gondolas by Robin Jones Gunn.  I'm still watching Friday Night Lights on Hulu and am on season three.  Just last night I started the movie Forget Paris on Hulu, the one with Billy Crystal and Debra Winger...it was so good!  I loved that movie when I was a senior in high school.  I checked the date it came out, and the year was 1995!

I love watching all the shows and movies I loved as a teenager.  

What I'm listening to:

The Revive Our Hearts podcasts and worship music.  I have a playlist on Spotify called Worship 2020 with all my current favorites.  

What I'm wearing:

Nothing but comfy and cozy everything.  And my lifesaving slippers that were a gift from my in-love's back from Christmas: Ugg slippers that are leopard print.

They may not look like much, but let me tell you something.  My feet can be killing me, and I'll come home and put these on and it's like they sigh in relief.  I have serious foot problems/ankle problems/tendonitis/plantar fascitis and these are the BEST THING EVER.  They were stupid expensive, but it was a combined birthday and Christmas present to me.

What I'm doing this weekend:

More of the same, but using our new grill that we just bought, eating outside on the deck, maybe seeing some people who don't live inside our house.  

What I'm looking forward to next month:

Life getting back to normal.  Prayerfully.  

What else is new:

Todd and Bill (my stepdad) are in the process of putting up the new porch railing.  They're almost done!  It's been a bear of a project, and then yesterday it started raining, so it's been a slow process.  I know they'll be glad to have it done.

Thanks for reading!  Love to all.  

simply Tuesday/being neighborly

I love the idea of simply Tuesday, even years later.  For anyone who doesn't know, Emily P. Freeman wrote a book years ago with this title, and the thought behind the whole book is small living moments among a very fast paced world.  This resonates with me because I am a people person.  I am an introvert, but I'm also sort of an extroverted introvert.  I love people.  I love making connections with them.  I love getting to know someone, and I love hearing their stories.

Over the weekend, I mentioned that an old neighbor had stopped by to talk while he was in town checking on his house that he owns as a rental property.  Truth be told, we didn't know him or any of his family well at all while they lived here for the two short years we were neighbors.  As our kids grew older, I stopped going outside so much.  When they were young, I was needed to monitor them as they played in the front yard with all the kids in the neighborhood.  All that started to change, though, and the owners who had lived in the house next door to us before he and his family were some of our very best friends in all of the world.  I had a terribly difficult time saying goodbye to them, in fact, I didn't.  Katie and I just looked at each other and kind of walked away, because we hate goodbyes.

When Katie and Travis lived next door, I kid you not: we were back and forth so much that there was a path between our houses.  We swam in their pool all the time, we knew the ways into each other's houses, we camped with them, we were the very best of friends.  Daniel and his wife Yvonne moved in, along with their three daughters, and though we talked some, it wasn't the same.  I could hardly look at that house without crying after Katie and Travis moved.  The "new" neighbors (at that time) were nice, we just never clicked.

On Saturday, Daniel was back in town to check on the house.  Though they moved within a couple of years, they kept the house as a rental property, and when he saw our sons out Saturday, he asked if we were home.  He said he would stop by later to chat, so we kind of carried on with our day.  He finally came over, and stayed a whopping three hours!  It was so good to talk to him and, sadly, to get to know him.  I expressed my sorrow at not having known them while they were here, but he was quick to remind us that it wasn't just us, that as dual citizens of the US and Germany (where they're all from), he wasn't used to being friendly yet at that time that they lived here.  They moved here in 2012, and he told us that in Germany people don't speak to one another, and especially not kindly.  They were very introverted when they came here, and though we did get to know them a little, it was almost too late at that point.

The afternoon was really nice, and we talked about everything under the sun.

I guess all of this has a moral to the story, and that is to not let time go by before you get to know your neighbors.  We need to take every opportunity to get to know those who live around us, because we never know when it'll be the last time we see them.  Over the years, we've had a lot of neighbors.  In our sixteen years of living here, the house next door that I'm talking about has had four families live there.  Across the street, we've had three families live there.  We've lost neighbors all around.  On the street right here around us, we are one in four who have stayed put, and we've had several deaths around us.  Our beloved friend Mr. Paul died years and years ago, and more recently Mr. Jim down the street lost his wife to cancer.  We talk to these neighbors still, when we see them. 

It's good to be friendly.  Jesus was friendly with people, and the Bible talks about how He was always moved to compassion.  For those of us who are believers and followers of Him, we need to be that same way.  I hope this was a little food for thought.  I know Saturday was for me. 

Thanks for reading, friends.  Love to all. 

weekending/Hello Monday

Happy Monday, friends!  I'm linking up with Tanya at The Other Side of the Road for this blog post.

It was such a good weekend.  The weather was beautiful, we were around people who are not part of our family, we ate good food, I watched some good television, and I was able to comfortably wear a hoodie without getting hot.  It was lovely. 

On Friday, I told my hubby to see if his friend Chris wanted to come over to give his wife a break from him.  (I'm laughing as I write that.)  Throughout this quarantine, Todd has seen his friend and partner on the sheriff's department several times, so there was no hesitation about him coming over.  He lives a good bit away, but when he had a delivery out close to us, he took Todd up on his offer and came over around four thirty.  Once he got here, they sat outside for a while and we ended up ordering Chinese takeout for dinner.  After dinner, the boys asked them to go to a local school to play wiffle ball with them.  They were gone for a couple of hours, then all came back here and sat outside on the deck.  I was thrilled to have some quality time with my newest favorite show, Friday Night Lights. 

 It was a blessed night.

We didn't do anything most of Saturday.  Well, I didn't.  The boys left to play tennis several times and were out and about getting food and bringing it home.  Graham, Jonah and one of Graham's friends drove downtown to take pictures of their trucks. 

I saw this Saturday and cracked up.  True story.  My best friend and I have this thing in our texts, where we send bitmojis of ourselves and funny Corona memes to each other everyday.  This was one that was new to me.

Also on Saturday, an old neighbor came by to check on the house he still owns but has as a rental property, and we got to catch up with him.  I'm so sad that we weren't closer to he and his wife and family while they lived next door, but it's a great reminder to be friendly to our neighbors, and to our best ability, to get to know them.  I'll write a little more about this on Tuesday, though...

We sat outside for a while Saturday night, just my husband, me, and our pups.

I eventually got really cold and then came in.  We would have had a fire in the firepit, but we are currently out of wood.  Todd stayed out there, and I came in and watched an episode or two of FNL, and then I went upstairs to shower and go to bed.

Church was so good yesterday!  I miss my church family I almost can't see straight.  I'm so ready to be back in person and to worship collectively with the body of believers of where we attend.  I think we're in the process of maybe thinking about starting to open the doors back up soon, because we were all sent a survey to fill out last week.  Needless to say, I marked that I would be there lining up outside the doors on the Saturday night before.  

That's about all we did all weekend!  Noah worked a shift last night, we sold some things on Facebook Market, Todd made a trip to Lowe's, I read my book, and enjoyed multiple phone conversations.  It was a great weekend and the weather was mostly perfect.  How was yours?  I'd love to hear about what you did with your time over the weekend.  

Thanks for reading!  Love to all.  

Friday Favorites {edition fifteen}

Happy Friday, friends!  I'm linking up with Andrea from Momfessionals and her friend Erika for this blog post. 

Isnt' it funny how even though it's Friday, it doesn't feel like Friday?  At this point, all the days keep running together, and we all struggle from knowing what day it is.  Just yesterday, Jonah told me he didn't bother to ask me if I minded that he ate out for dinner because I never cook on Friday nights.  I looked at him and told him it was Thursday, and he died laughing. 

And for the record, I made a delicious dinner last night and he missed out. 

I wrote a blog post yesterday on a house update, and I think it was one of everyone's favorites, thanks to all the comments on social media.  It was another post I wrote for me, honestly, so that I can have it to look back on. 

This is my new favorite view.  Our deck area has come along so nicely, and I love that it's (mostly) done.  Todd has a few things to do it, but nothing that will affect the way it looks or us sitting out there.

I wrote a blog post with this title earlier in the week and held my first ever link-up "party".  Three people linked up with me!  I'm laughing, but hey...you've got to start somewhere, right?  This post was about all the things I don't want to forget during this time we were all stuck at home together.  I plan to do this every week or so, so if you're reading this and are a blogger, make sure you come back and check on it next week!  I'd love for you to add me to your blog roll, if you have one, because I update pretty regularly and that way you can see when I post.  (For the two of you who read this.)

I loved writing this post, and I laughed several times while I was writing it all.  We've definitely made some memories during this time, and some of them we'd probably like to forget. 

I have made a couple of really good dinners this week, and I thought I'd share them with you in case you're like me and are on the lookout for some dinner inspiration.

One is this recipe for chicken fajitas.  I made this last night, and it was delicious.  I used this as a loose guide for my fajitas, and because I didn't have fajita seasoning, I used taco seasoning and added in extra ground cumin.  I used white cooking wine and worcestershire in the chicken while I was cooking it, to deglaze the pan and to add flavor.  I cut the chicken into strips and kind of halved them once they were all done so that I could make sure they were fully cooked.  Because people are picky in my house, I did mushrooms and onions next, using olive oil, butter, and worcestershire sauce.  I did bell peppers last, using the same ingredients and I had that all seperate for people who wanted to pick and choose.  For mine, I put it all in a bowl with smoked provolone on top it all to smother it, then used rolled up tortillas to help me scoop up each bite.  Like I said, it was delicious.

And one night, I made this recipe for a homemade version of hamburger helper.  For us, I doubled this recipe and if you don't have beef broth on hand, you could definitely use chicken broth.  I had to use a mixture of the two because I didn't have enough of the beef.  I omitted the ketchup, because that would make it sweeter, and I hate ketchup.  This was delicious and will definitely be on repeat around here.  It was gone the night after I made it and my husband was the one who finished it off, which is rare for someone who usually doesn't eat a lot of leftovers.

Please excuse this horrible picture of me, but last night was my favorite night of the week.  For the past couple of weeks, we've been meeting (while being six feet or more apart) on a Thursday night and taking our own dinner to eat together.  We were forced to meet under the roof last night because it was raining when we first got there.  We sat there for over two and a half hours and thoroughly enjoyed catching up and laughing our heads off.  And also, we miss going to church!  This was like us being in line for when the doors open back up. 

It's been a pretty great week, one that felt almost normal.  Todd went on a call out this week to do a search and rescue on someone who was missing (they were found), he and Graham both worked some, and it just seemed like a normal week.  I saw my mom and stepdad, my sister, my dad and stepmom and two of my best friends.  I can't ask for more than that! 

How's your week been?  I'd love to hear!  Thanks for reading.  Love to all. 

an updated house post

Please keep scrolling if you don't want to read this boring post, it's mostly for me so that I can have it as a memory on what we've done to the old house in the last seven months.

We're getting so close to finishing off the giant list of things we had planned on doing to our house, and it's so exciting.  We'll never be fully finished, because our hope is to continue on with home improvements as time goes on.  We would still love to replace our kitchen countertops, I'd love a tile backsplash in here, I need to paint more and freshen up several rooms, we need new carpet upstairs, and we need to replace some of the wooden banisters on our staircase.  We'll get to all of that eventually.

We've come a very long way, though.  The huge things are done: new pipes, new siding, new windows.  We're enjoying every bit of all of it, too, and love utilizing all the windows when the weather is nice.  My favorite thing to do is to open them all up on a cool day and get a breeze blowing through the house.  I love the new flag pole that Todd put up a couple of weeks ago, and I didn't think I'd love it that much.  I think it's the perfect addition to the front yard.  Hopefully today or tomorrow we will add porch railing back to the front porch, he's been letting himself recover for a day, and he's having to dodge the rain.

We also have landscape stones (?) to place around the flower beds eventually, and we hope to do that in a couple of weeks or so.  I don't know if either one of us is sure when it's the best time to plant things.  His thumb is more green than mine, honestly, and I know little to nothing about that kind of thing.

Our newest favorite thing is the deck, though.

I have never loved our backyard because of the old deck.  It was gross and rickety, and though I was glad to see it be torn down before they started with the new siding, I missed having something out there.  I jokingly said to Todd that we should just pour a concrete pad instead of the deck, but that got us to thinking about something lower and closer to the ground.  Our old deck was equal to the backdoor of the house and the stairs were right against the house.  So, last Tuesday, Bill (my awesomely talented stepdad), Todd, Graham, Drew, Jonah and Noah all started on this deck and it's mostly finished six work days later.

Where the lattice railing is on that one side, there is now a ledge that goes all the way across it, where people can put their drinks when we're outside.  Todd trimmed up a couple more posts, and I think he has a tiny bit more there to do, and then he wants to put lattice around the bottom to skirt the whole thing to keep leaves and critters out from underneath.

The gray you see in the flooring are concrete pavers with concrete board underneath them so that the firepit can sit safely on the deck.  We added these new chairs last weekend, and the string lights were 100% Jonah's idea.  He asked for tall posts just for the purpose of hanging lights from them.  I wholeheartedly agreed with his wish and so did Todd.

This bench that they built is so comfy!  I never thought a wood bench could be that comfy, in fact.  We're going go buy some pillows to put out when we're outside enjoying the deck, and we're going to buy some more of those Adirondack style chairs.  We were going to put our picnic table and chairs on the deck, but I didn't love the way it looked, and even when we eat out here, we'll never keep the food out here because of flies, so we decided we really didn't need a table.  We can make our plates and just carry them outside, and we can use the rail that goes around that lattice work railing to place our drinks on, if we need a place to do that.

Todd ordered a new grill that should arrive soon, and we'll buy an outdoor storage bench to store pillows and such when we're not out there using them.   

I look forward to spending a lot of nights out here.  We've already sat out there, and when we haven't one or two of the boys have.  We couldn't be happier with how it all turned out, and it's not too shabby of a job they managed to pull off in just six work days.  ;)  Bill may never come back over again, but we're so grateful to him and his expertise as he was the mastermind behind it all.  He's been wanting to do this for YEARS.  He also built that roof structure you see over the front porch, along with Jonah and Noah.  

I'm so glad we're just about done!  It's been a long process, but it was worth every second.  Todd doesn't agree with me on this, but this is our forever home.  By the time we're done with it, it'll be our dream home.  I'm good with that!  It's the best location ever, in my my opinion, because we're thirty seconds away from our church and Byhalia Road, which is the road you need to be on to access most places in The Ville.  

If you're still here, thanks for reading.  Love to all.  

These Are the Days

Thank you, Google, for your image.

I never want to forget these days and times~the days of squeezing around our dinner table, of hearing the laughter upstairs, of the endless meals here together, of all the things we got accomplished.  Well, them, not me so much.

Before we blink, it'll be life back to normal.  I want to remember Jonah not being able to sleep one night and staying up until four a.m. watching YouTube videos on how to build garage shelving.  I want to remember how much Todd and I laughed our heads off at the dumbest of things, and how we marveled at how weird and hilarious our dogs are.

I want to remember Zoom meetings and the day I hid in my car so nobody would find me and I could have peace and quiet.  And then, when Drew found me and asked me what in the world I was doing, I couldn't contain my laughter.  I want to remember how I got "better" at Zoom and had to set up in my bedroom and close the door so nobody would interrupt, but how they still would pop their heads in and ask me what I was doing.

I want to remember how we dreamed up plans and then watched them come to life in the form of our new deck and the boys learning how to operate power tools, and me watching with bated breath, praying they didn't saw their own fingers off.  I want to remember that one week when they did the majority of the deck when we went from four loaves of bread down to just one half by the end of the fifth day of work.

I want to remember how it felt to check on people and picking up the phone to call instead of to just text.  And the hours I spent on the phone with my mom, my best friend, my dad, my sisters.

I want to remember what I looked like, which is why I'm about to post this next picture~to document that day I remembered how to fully dress with makeup, cute clothes, and jewelry, and then how my earlobes turned all red and started throbbing because I hadn't worn earrings in so long.

I want to remember what my hair looked like, and how I considered growing out the blonde highlights and letting the new "natural" ones take over.  (They're gray.)

I want to remember the day we allowed our friend to come in and cut the boys hair, because she hadn't done that since they were little bitty and when Andy the Wonder Dog was still wandering about the house.

I want to remember all the great shows I watched.

I want to remember how anxious I felt when this first started, and how even though I was just about overcome with anxiety, I'd never felt so close to Jesus.  It's funny how that happens, when things are stripped away from you, and He is the only One who understood what I felt.  Other people think anxiety is nervousness, but it's way deeper than that.  I wasn't scared, and I'm still not, of getting this virus because I'm not scared to die.  I know that the moment I breathe my last breath here on earth, I will enter into my Forever Home in Heaven and will worship Jesus for all of infinity.

I want to remember all the church gatherings and teachings I watched online, and how all those godly women so inspired me in my own walk with the Lord.  I don't want that to end!

I want to remember to not ever buy things to hoard them, but to buy just enough for what we need and no more or less.  God is our Provider, and I literally would sit in my car and praise Him after I'd made a trip through the grocery store to replenish the meat we'd used up.  I never want to forget these days of extreme generosity that is so evident within my family and friendships.

I want to remember this feeling of closeness I have with my husband, and remembering that we're always on the same team, no matter what.  Even when we don't like each other too much because of all the togetherness, we love each other and our relationship has never been stronger.

This idea is not original with me.  Emily P. Freeman, founder of Hope Writers, came up with this writing prompt.  If ever there were a time to remember all of the present day things, it is now.  What do you want to remember about this time?  I'd love to hear.  Consider linking your blog up with mine to share about the things you want to remember in this time, and feel free to grab that image at the top of this post for your own blog.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Thanks for reading, friends.  Love to all.  

Tuesday, April 67th~the weekend and some other random things

I jest.  It has been a long, long, long twenty-one days of April.  And quarantine.  I'm in my sixth or seventh week of staying at home mostly, and when I saw yesterday that our governor has decided to start opening things back up in the next week or two, I was delighted.  I'm ready for things to be normal again. 

We didn't do much over the weekend, but we enjoyed our new deck!  Todd and a couple of the boys finished off the last deck board on Saturday, trimmed the posts, and strung some brand new lights. 

It was wonderfully cool Saturday night, so this was us out there enjoying it and being quiet. 

Church was so, so good on Sunday.  It always is, but this week was even more so than usual, I felt.  I'm ready to be back for live worship, but I am so appreciative of my pastor and the tech team who have done a great job of keeping us plugged in each week. 

I had a Zoom meeting yesterday for a couple of hours, and it was good "seeing" my friends who are on the writing team with me at our church.  I cannot wait for the day when we can all be together again in person! 

(An inside view of part of our deck and firepit.)

I'm going grocery shopping today, and I'm kinda excited.  Isn't that dumb?  We need some things we're almost out of, and I need some things to make for dinner. 

I'm also going to see my dad today since it's nice outside, and we'll sit in his driveway at a safe distance apart and catch up.  It's been weeks since I last saw him.

I also have plans tonight to go and record our worship music for this coming Sunday.  I have no idea what dinner will be tonight because I have to be there at five thirty, so it'll be quick and easy for everyone to do on their own, whatever it is I decide to go with.

I finished my first book of the month on Sunday night, which may seem strange, but it's because I've been watching shows on Hulu.  That consumed all my time this month when normally I would have picked a book up to read.  I'm okay with it, though, because it was a good show.  I'm onto a new one now, and it's proving to be just as good.  Also, Todd and I started and finished a fascinating show on Hulu yesterday, McMillions.  It's about the Monopoly game scam that took place at McDonald's in the nineties.  I am shocked that I don't remember this, and Todd said the same thing last night, but it ws rivoting.

That's about all we've been up to.  How are you all holding up?  I'd love to hear from you!

Thanks for reading, love to all.