What's for dinner?

 

Happy Tuesday, friends! I keep finding myself in a dinner rut...so I'd love to hear what you're eating this week. I recommended this kind of post to Amy yesterday, because I think we all struggle in this area. 

I had a dental appointment yesterday morning, then I also needed to make a grocery store run, so last night was an easy dinner night. We had chicken Caesar salad from Costco and some shrimp salad on naan bread, both from the deli section of the store. Have I mentioned lately how much I love Costco? I had to go there for several bigger item things and rather than go to two different stores, I just made it my grocery trip for the week. It was a very expensive trip, though, which always stings. Speaking of going to the store and asking the people in our house about what they'd like for dinner, this is always their answer.

It's so hard to consistently come up with meals! I digress.

Tonight the plan is to have hamburgers. Todd and I will eat ours with lettuce, but I'll have buns and cheese slices for the boys. When we eat it without the buns, we use lettuce, tomato, onion (if I have some) and hamburger pickles. It's really good dipped in some kind of sauce, but I'll probably use a little bit of ketchup and mustard mixture. I will eat mine with baked Lays that I bought from Costco yesterday. 

Wednesday nights are tricky now, with it being church night, so if we don't go to the picnic they're having there tomorrow night, we'll most likely eat leftovers here. I love that our church has a picnic a couple of times a year. It's either free or very inexpensive, I can't remember because it's been a while. I know this is going to sound weird, but I can't eat anything heavy before choir rehearsal. It's hard to sing on a full stomach! Last week I snacked at four and had dinner afterward with Missy. I may have more shrimp salad and naan bread this night.

Thursday night's dinner is coming from a local catering spot in our town, right off the square. I ordered two chicken jalapeno popper bakes. It looked as delicious as it sounded to me when they shared this week's menu on social media, so I promptly ordered two.

My mouth just watered! We love jalapeno poppers, so hopefully this will be as wonderful as I think. It said "keto friendly" on their social media post. But look at their adorable storefront.

I borrowed both of these images from their Facebook page. Their full name is Simply Done Catering and Events and each week they post several menu items to be made and picked up the following week. They put the menu out on Thursdays and pickup is the following Wednesday. All you do is drive up, call them, pay with cash or Venmo and they bring it right out to your car. I'm pretty excited about dinner on this night. I'll update you on Friday with how it was. I ordered two bakes, because one only feeds 2 or 3 people. 

Hopefully I'll have lots of leftovers for my weekend, which is always my favorite thing...or for lunch on Thursday with Dad. We're hanging out on Thursday of this week, because I had made plans on Friday that conflicted with our day together. It's your turn! What are you having for dinner now that school is back in session, or almost back in session? I'd love to hear from each one of you and be inspired. I've gotten ideas from several of you who have shared! Thanks for your feedback and thank you for always reading my blog! I am so thankful for all of you. Love to all! 

weekending/Hello Monday

 

Happy Monday, friends! I'm linking up with Holly and Sarah for this weekly blog post. How was your weekend? Mine was really good. Today is the day that all the kids in our area go back to school—it's so hard to believe it's that time already! This day last year was such a strange day for me, the first year in ten years I didn't start school with one or two of my kids. Most of you know that we were a homeschooling family and it was surreal to be finished with that phase in our life. It seems like I wished for those days all too often, then once they started drawing to a close, I was trying to savor them. 

I started down the rabbit hole looking for first day of school pictures of them to share, but instead I'd like to re-share a post I wrote several years ago, when a "first day" didn't go quite as I'd planned. I feel strongly that I should share this today, in the season of it being back to school, in case any of you experience a first day that doesn't go quite like you'd planned. Here's a link for when your morning doesn't go as planned. I know a few of you here are teachers or substitutes and some of you still have school- aged kids at home. If that is you, know that I am praying for and thinking of you and your kids in the coming weeks as you get started in a new year. I am sure some of you are looking forward to a new year, as sure as I know some of you may be starting with a bit of trepidation. We prayed for all of you in our church services yesterday. 

On a lighter note, here's what I did this weekend. My dad was here on Friday and for once, we stayed here. It kept looking like it was about to rain, so I just made us a lunch and we enjoyed being here. I made us some mini tacos in the air fryer, along with black beans and rice. Sandy came to pick him up since she was here in town, then I changed into comfy clothes for the night. I had leftover spaghetti for dinner and watched Purple Hearts on Netflix, thanks to the suggestion of Amy. 

This was really good! Thanks for the recommendation, Amy! Todd worked that night and Graham left for Nashville for the weekend. Jonah was in and out, so it was just me and the pups here all night. I was actually up pretty late, because I wasn't tired early for once. I slept until 6:30 Saturday morning, which is kind of miraculous. I usually never sleep past the five o'clock hour in the mornings. I love to watch movies on Saturday mornings, so I grabbed some coffee and settled in to watch this on Netflix.

Have you read Love & Gelato? I haven't, but I wasn't at all impressed with the movie. I've been dragging my feet about taking the summer décor down—I plan on doing that this week, almost in time to put out the pumpkins. 🤣 I'm kidding...I don't put fall stuff out until September. 

I got dressed, then Mom and Trish came to pick me up. We had a few errands we wanted to run, so we all just did that together. We started at the farthest place, then worked our way back here. We had the best lunch, though! We went to the Olive Garden and had salad, breadsticks and toasted ravioli. My requested stop was my favorite boutique that we were just at last weekend, The Paisley Rooster. I'd seen a black cardigan-type thing and tank top that I couldn't stop thinking about all week, so I went to buy them both. Here's the cardigan-type thing...what are these called? I cannot think of a word for it.

I came home and took a shower so that I could wash my hair. I sat and watched Grey's Anatomy for the rest of the day. Todd went to a housewarming party for one of the deputies he often works with and stayed until about nine thirty. I had Buffalo chicken for dinner and enjoyed a quiet night at home. Graham got back home later that night and his baby girl was happy to see him.

I was at church bright and early Sunday morning because I was singing on praise team this week. Our service was so good yesterday! There was a lot going on in the service, which is something that is very encouraging. All the kids moving up to first grade this week got promoted out of the preschool ministry and into the children's ministry. It's so sweet seeing the stage full of kids, their parents and siblings as our church presents them with big kid Bibles. I love that about our church! We had four baptisms, then we sang a couple of songs. Our pastor preached on Psalm 34, which is one of my favorite chapters in that book. When I got home from church, I ate a sandwich, then watched our worship service on my phone. I almost always do that every week, because I love to hear how it sounds for the online people. That's the part that my husband is in charge of and he does a great job! 

That's always how I get these pictures. Can I be real for a second? I love being on praise team and I love to sing and to help lead in worship, but it's not easy for me. I love doing it, but just because that is so does not mean that it comes natural to me. Maybe that's why I always watch these back, because I like to see what I looked like on stage that day. Our worship pastor is so great at encouraging us not to be stiff and to just stand like a lump on a log, and he always smiles really big cheesy smiles at us to make us smile and laugh...so half the time I look like I'm about to laugh, which is kind of what I look like here. He jumps around and waves his arms and sometimes it just gets me tickled, especially when I stand in the middle of the stage next to him, which happens more often than not. Most people hate that spot, so I usually stand there since I don't mind it that much. But, standing there means I'm seen way more, which is full circle back to where I started. I said all that to say that I am so reserved and introverted—but doing things like this that makes me uncomfortable is so good for me. 

The other horribly awkward thing is that we have people taking our photos every week and sometimes the person doing that gets uncomfortably close to us to do this, which is also very weird. You want to look like you're singing to a crowd, but you're not, so you see my point. It's all strange and almost everyone I know hates seeing themselves on a video or in a photo. Including me! But yesterday I didn't mind how I looked, because I wore the right kind of outfit. I definitely need to stick to certain colors and types of outfits, because we also wear in-ear monitors while we sing and a jacket thing hides the battery pack I keep on the waistband of my pants.

That was probably way longer than it should have been, but I wanted to share a little of real life and why I always get those types of pictures of myself. Call me crazy! 

On a different note, I love seeing my boys love their vehicles. This first one underneath is Noah's and this was taken at the old service station on our town square, McGinnis. Isn't that a great picture? 

I don't know where Jonah was when he took this picture of his, but I think it's a great photo as well. I love seeing them content and enjoying life. For the rest of Sunday, I took a nap, then Jonah went and got us the best cheese pizza from a place on the square—Lost Pizza. Todd worked, Graham went to another nearby town to play disc golf and Jonah hung out with friends after he washed his truck and we had dinner.

This was SO. GOOD. I'll end this with one more picture that Graham's girlfriend sent to me of them this weekend at a fair in Nashville.

I laughed so hard at them after church yesterday. Apparently, Jessi talked Graham into riding a mechanical bull and took a video of it, and to hear him mumble under his breath about that little tidbit had me cracking up. He hates pictures and videos of himself, but I love that he tolerates both from her. It was her idea to get pictures of them at the fair this night and I'm glad she did! A girl after my own heart...it makes me smile just thinking about it. 

How was your weekend? Tell me something good about it, because I always love hearing from you. Thanks for reading my blog, friends! Love to all. 

Friday Favorites, 8.5.22.

 

Happy Friday, friends! I'm linking up with Erika and Andrea for today's blog post.

Reading has been my favorite thing to do recently. When summer started, I kicked it off by watching several different shows on Peacock or Prime tv, and though some of them were really good, one in particular took a wrong turn and I had to stop watching it. I get really convicted over certain things in shows and when it goes there, I can't keep watching in good conscience. In light of that, I turned the tv off and picked up my Kindle and had the best month of reading to date. I loved so many of the books I read, and wrote about them Sunday in a bonus post.  

You should read the post to hear my thoughts on each book! You can read it here. I'm still going strong and hope August is equally as good as July was. Do you still read summer-y books in August, or do you transition into different genres? I still read books that are beach reads, since it's still summer. I love to read books that are set in the same season I'm currently in, but that can be hard to do. In the fall, I read more suspenseful books. 

Journaling is my favorite. I am still in the process of cleaning out books/shelves in our house and this basket below are all the journals I've filled in for the last twenty years. What in the world does one do with these? I ask rhetorically, because I actually asked my sons and two of them told me to keep them. So, I'll buy a bin and fill it up. In light of not wanting to keep them, I'd thought about not using actual journals anymore and switching to notebook paper kept in a binder, so I bought a cute one I found on sale at Target on Tuesday. 

And as cute as it is, I've changed my mind and will go back to a journal. I've tried this before and made the same choice to go back to a journal, so I don't know why I even try to switch it up at this point. Target had some really cute journals, for the first time in a very long time! I'm a bit of a snob with them and I like them to have a certain "feel" to them, for the pages to be thick and for the lines to be college-ruled. Like I said, journaling has always been one of my favorite things, for as far back as I can remember. Here's the one I picked out:

This lawyer's cabinet is my favorite piece of furniture in our home. I've had it since I was a teenager! 

It's one of the areas I cleaned out this week, though it's hard to tell by looking at it. The only problem with using this for books is that the height of each shelf isn't very tall, so I have to lay some of the books flat instead of standing them up. On the top shelf are all my nostalgic books and Bibles. As strange as this may sound, there is also a brick on that shelf. The elementary school that I went to in first grade, that my sons attended for all of their younger years and the same school that I also worked at went through a major renovation in Graham's first grade year. This happened in 2004 or 2005—the old wings that extended from the building that were connected to the main part by breezeways were demolished and in their place, attached wings were added to the main building. We were there one weekend to look at the progress that had been made and ran into a friend working at the site. He gave us a brick from the old building, so that's the brick you see on the first shelf. I'd like to have it painted someday, with the school name and mascot. The second and third shelves are books that I can't part with, that I loved or that my sons loved. The bottom shelf is full of their favorite childhood books that I will never get rid of. These books will be perfect to read to my grandchildren someday, if the Lord has that in store for my sons. 

You won't find this hard to believe, but words and beautiful cards are one of my favorite things. These are all the cards I've received since I've been married and in cleaning out this week, I moved them to a different and more sturdy box and read through them all again. I cried, some of them were so sweet, like the one Dad gave me on our wedding day almost 26 years ago. 

My other favorites were the ones that Todd and the boys have picked out over the years. I love seeing their very distinct personalities in things like cards they pick for me. Drew's are always really funny and slightly inappropriate, for instance, while Graham's are always very thoughtful and sweet and make me cry. Jonah's cards are always full of words expressing his gratitude for me and Noah's are always very sweet with notes in his writing of how much I mean to him. This is one thing I would grab in case of fire. Words have always meant a lot to me.

On a lighter note, swim day was my favorite this week. 

It started off cloudy and cooler, but quickly grew hotter with intense sun. I was boasting to my mom on the way there that I'd gone all summer without one little sunburn and yesterday I came close to being burned. I'm not quite, but if I'd been out ten more minutes, it would be a different story. I am diligent about sunscreen and use 50 at least, but on my face I use some by Neutrogena that contains zinc and I wear a hat to shade my face. You know how your skin feels hot when you've had too much sun? That's what mine feels like, even on Thursday morning as I write this. 

This one's random, but this is my favorite picture of my Jonah.

I don't remember what he was doing, but all the things that make this my favorite are still true today—beautiful baby blue eyes, great curls in his hair and the biggest dimples of anyone I've seen in my family. I love coming across reminders of years gone by! All of the boys were adorable when they were little. They still are, as adults! 

Lastly, early morning reading has been my favorite this week.

I actually slept until six a.m. one day this week, which is so unusual, but most mornings find me awake and drinking my first cup of coffee for the day around five fifteen. I read blogs, check emails, browse Pinterest, then have time to kill until 7:30, when I feed the dogs and make lunches. This week I've been reading during that extra time. I finished this book today. So good! 

In case you missed any of the posts from this week, I'll link them below. 

Sunday's bonus post about my July reads

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday 

Thursday

Your turn! Tell me one favorite thing from your week. I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog, friends. Love to all! 

Thankful Thursday

 

Happy Thursday, friends! I hope this finds you well—it's Wednesday night as I sit and write this, and I completely forgot about it until about a half hour ago. I'm glad I remembered! I've been meaning to do it all day, but I chose to keep reading my book, because it got to a really good point. I was gone for most of the morning, then came home around one and I read for the remainder of the day.

I'm so thankful for a good week. I know that sounds mundane or redundant, but I don't say that lightly. I was going through a rough something a couple weeks ago, and I can't think of how to explain it other than how I did the day I wrote about it, but needless to say—after times like that I am always thankful the Lord turns them around and changes my perspective. Sometimes that's all it is, the fact that I need a change in my thinking and God is faithful to remind me of that.

I'm thankful for friends and church family. Last night we started back to choir and I have missed those friends so much. They're more like family, if you want to know the truth and it felt so good to be back. I was also thankful that I was able to catch up with my best friend before she snuck away and that we were able to go grab a quick bite to eat after church. We so rarely see each other these days! 

I'm thankful for the gift of communication! Todd and I were talking yesterday morning and I kept thinking of how well we were communicating in the moment. I'm not saying we've achieved the grand status of this as a married couple, but we've definitely gotten better at this over the years. That is always one thing I say a lot, that communication is the key to a good and strong marriage. 

I'm thankful for things like being productive, exercising my right to vote today, being in the mood to clean out and purge things and for the words that you see pictured above in this box. This is my "in case of fire grab this box" box. These are all the cards my husband, sons and parents have given me over the last twenty years. I sat and read through all of these cards on Monday and cried as I read the words written inside. 

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

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"currently"- August 2022

 

Happy Wednesday, friends! Well, normally I link up with Anne for this monthly blog post, but she put it on hold temporarily due to life and raising babies. I would say both of those are way more important, so I totally understand why she had to do that. That being said, I am temporarily taking over hosting each month's currently posts. I do not own the rights to the image above, so feel free to make your own graphic and link back to my blog, if you're interested in keeping up with this each month. I'm keeping the link party going all month long, so you've got oodles of time. Follow me on Instagram and tag me if you post regarding this blog post and I'll give you a shout out in my stories. Meanwhile, if you see Anne around on Instagram, feel free to drop an encouraging word to her. Bless! I remember those days of being in the throes of motherhood and being so busy at the same time that it felt like my head was spinning. 

I'll do my own thing this month and share what I'm currently loving, wearing, dreaming and hoping. 

Loving: I'm loving our neighborhood right now. I've always loved our neighborhood, but as I'm sitting down to write this on Tuesday night, I just walked back into our house after being outside with our neighbors for the last hour and a half. August is national neighborhood night out, in which neighborhoods in our area register with our local police department and we make it a drop in for them and a gathering for all of us neighbors. I have to confess that I'm not always neighborly. I am always kind and speak to everyone when I see them, or wave when we're passing each other, but I don't always make the effort to get out there. When our kids were little, we were always out there together, but as they got older, that happened less frequently, as it happens. We do always see each other on Halloween night, but other than that, we rarely see one another. It was so nice sitting outside together last night catching up. It makes me want to make more of an effort. 

I wrote about this very thing a couple years ago, that I'm going to include a link to, because it still resonates with me as much today as it did when I wrote it in 2020. Here's a link for you. We did laugh that it was all of us old-timers who were there last night. We're the youngest, both in age and number of years we've lived here, which is almost nineteen years. Everyone else who was out there last night has been in their house for over twenty years. Lots have come and gone since then and now we have renters in our neighborhood, which was never a thing. We don't have issues with them and they all take excellent care of the property their homes sit on, but that hasn't always been the case. One new family did come down, the wife and her kids. I think her husband was at work. Like I said, it made me want to make more of an effort in the future to more intentionally meet.

Wearing: On a lighter note, I'm wearing clothes I kind of forgot that I owned. I found a black shirt yesterday that I wore with some white shorts that is really old—more than five years, and I had a compliment on it while I was out. I do like the detail on the shirt, which makes it kind of unusual. 

There's a cute little necktie that my phone is hiding that makes the whole shirt. This is the third time I've found a shirt I forgot about. I'm also wearing my hair up and not caring so much what it looks like. I wear it up all the time at home, but yesterday I kept it up all day. It's too hot to wear it down right now! I actually did this at church on Sunday, as well, when I got wet setting up for a luncheon that was taking place. I wear it up in a messy bun when I go to bed and that's what I did with it at church that day. I will say, I saw someone I knew yesterday and when I spoke to him, he hadn't recognized me until I said hello. 

Dreaming: Do I really have to answer this? I'm dreaming of fall and cooler weather! If you want to be the same, you should go read this old blog post I wrote a couple years ago. It'll get you in the mood for fall as well! Here's the link. 

It's my very favorite time of year! 

Hoping: I am hoping my friend and I stay in touch as we promised after eating lunch together yesterday. I miss her when I don't see her! This is my friend I've traveled with several times, so I really do  think our bond will remain strong as long as we're intentional about meeting occasionally. We promised to do lunch together again in two or three weeks. We talk so much when we're together that we almost have to put a time limit on ourselves. 🤣

I adore her! We spend a good amount of our time together laughing/spewing inappropriately. I am confident we will keep up our promise to meet regularly. 

Your turn! Tell me one thing you're currently loving (or NOT loving), wearing, dreaming or hoping! I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog, friends! Love to all. 

P.s. Next month we'll be sharing what we're loving, scheduling, eating and wishing.

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Prime Purchases, July edition

 

Happy Tuesday, friends! This blogging day is one of my favorites of the month. I'm linking up with Tanya for Prime Purchases once again. Happy reading—happy shopping/browsing! Click on each picture to be taken directly to Amazon in a separate link.

First up in July was my new phone case.

I love it! My mom has a phone case that I love that's similar, which was my inspiration for buying this one. I was also replacing the old one I had that had a ring magnet on the back—the ring part broke and I could no longer prop it up once that happened. I love my Pop Socket as well, but it came from Target. Amazon does have some cute choices in these, and they're always about the same price, no matter where you shop. The color of the case is "coconut swirl". I love that it's grippy/rubbery. 

Second up is my new favorite wardrobe piece, this kimono.

It wasn't on sale or anything, but I needed something "summery" that could also be carried into the fall season that will last a long time. I actually had this for a month before I wore it, but now every time I wear it out in public, I'm complimented on it. I love it! 

Next up is this fan that I keep in my purse.

Several things I love about this—the color, the size (it folds up really small), the fact that it's powerful and that it's rechargeable. I just leave it in my purse now and I am always getting it out to use while I'm out, because welcome to my mid-forties.

I bought this lamp for Drew to use in his new house.

He loves that there's an outlet on the base for him to plug his phone charger into and he loves that it's a touch lamp to turn on and off. I love the look of it! He had no lighting in his room when he moved in, not even an overhead light, so this was a necessity. 

I'm sharing this picture again because I bought this cute crossbody bag during Prime days.

I love this thing! It took me a while to get used to a smaller purse, but it's my current favorite. The color is considered "nude", which I was wanting so that it would match everything. Have you noticed that this nude color has replaced black accessories, like shoes and handbags? It has. I've not worn a pair of black sandals all summer long! I don't have an issue with a black purse, but in the summer I prefer something lighter and not as harsh looking.

I bought a new brush for my very tangled hair.

Do you remember the old vent brushes? That is exactly what this reminds me of. Someone here mentioned one of these, it seems like, but this went on sale for like $5 during Prime days.

Lastly, I bought the right size pillow covers, finally!

They're the white and gray ones you see on the outsides of this little grouping. I like them! I don't love them, but I like them and if I don't keep them on the bed, I'll move them downstairs. 

Your turn! What's one thing you've bought and loved lately? It doesn't have to be exclusive to Amazon. I'd love to hear from you! I did kind of break my rule about not buying a lot from there this year...but I did get some great deals during Prime days, so I don't feel too bad. Also, this is only what I bought...it doesn't include what the rest of my family bought. 🤣 Thanks for reading my blog, friends! Love to all.

weekending/Hello Monday

 

Happy Monday, friends and Happy August! I'm linking up with Holly and Sarah for today's weekly blog post. 

How was your weekend? Mine was really good. I was up and dressed early and started the day with an early morning nail appointment on Friday. I never do that, because I'm always worried it'll make me late for Dad and it actually did that. My nails were WAY too long and I was really wanting them to be done. Thankfully, we have a device with an app on our phone that we can open and close our garage with remotely. It's so nice and it was great to be able to let him in while he waited on me. My stepmom usually has some place to be, so I am glad it didn't make her late. 

I went to a different nail place. I love where I usually go, but they're short one person and the last two times I've been, I've been there for like two and a half hours. Even though I do have time, that's not necessarily how I want to spend it. I love that this place is appointment only and timely. I love the color she recommended for me, which is close to what is on my toes. It's OPI's Movie Buff. 

I came home to pick up Dad, then we went to lunch on our town square. We ate at a place called Dyer's and had the best BLT sandwiches. We shared an order of onion rings, too!

Again, with our town square! I really love it all, including this old church building I walked by that's still being used today. The stained glass, floors and pews are original to the building. 

After lunch, Dad and I ran errands. My stepmom's birthday was yesterday, so he wanted to get her a gift and a card. We did that, then came back to my house to relax the rest of the afternoon. I took him home, then I left to go pick up Oakley for my son. She had a spa day Friday and was professionally groomed and trimmed up. She looks so beautiful!

This is the first dog we've had that requires grooming. I've mentioned before that my husband and sons' business is repairing medical equipment. Have I mentioned that? I can't remember. They repair tables and sterilizers for doctors, hospitals, dentists and veterinarians. On Monday of last week when Graham was at a customer's office, he asked if they were willing to barter for the job that day and they were! So Oakley had her spa day free of charge and they had their piece of equipment repaired for no charge. You'd be surprised to know how many doctors and dentists do this kind of thing. Win/win. Since I drove to pick her up, he got me a pizza for dinner and brought it home. I ate and watched a movie, then went to bed early. 

I went out with my mom and sister on Saturday, and it was so good to see them! It's been a couple of weeks. We went to buy birthday gifts for Sandy at my favorite little boutique, we had lunch at a Mexican restaurant and ate chips and dips. It was so good! We went to a store Mom wanted to go to then we ended the day eating ice cream. 

I really liked my outfit on this day and actually had several compliments on it. This is the Amazon kimono I almost returned. I'm so glad I kept it! Thanks to Amy, who also told me to try it over a dress...I did and it's so cute! I plan on taking it with me on a trip I have coming up in September. After I got home, I cleaned up in our bedroom, because we sold a book case that same day. I changed into comfy clothes, then settled in for the night to eat leftovers and to watch another movie. I rented one on Prime called Dog. Have you seen this? It was really good. 

I was up early with the dogs on Sunday, and as you can see, they all went back to sleep. I did go to church, but I didn't sit in the service, because I set up for a luncheon that was taking place right after. I took my laptop and journal, and ended up being able to watch the livestream service as I was working. 

After lunch, I came home for a bit, then left again to go see Sandy and to take her the birthday gift I picked out for her. I ended up staying and visiting for a couple of hours with her and Dad, which was really nice. I see him each week, as you know, but I never get to see her for long periods of time. While I was gone, my sons were riding this while it rained. 🤣

Todd was home for the night, so we watched the movie I watched Saturday, then I read my book some at the same time. It was a really good weekend. I hope yours was too! What's one thing you did and loved this weekend? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog, friends. Love to all! 

P.s. I made a bonus post yesterday on the books I read in July. I'd love for you to check it out! Click here to check it out. ❤