10 on the tenth, let's look and a blog hop

 

Happy Wednesday, friends! These days I am all about blog link-ups and today is no exception. I'm linking up with Leslie from a blog I have recently found called Once Upon a Time & Happily Ever After. I've never participated in this link-up before, so I thought it'd be fun to do this month. Because of Sunday being Valentine's day, all the questions this month are about love. I'm also linking up with Erika from A Little Bit of Everything and Shay from Mix and Match Mama, as they discuss love languages today. I am also participating in a Wednesday blog hop that I found through Penny over at Penny's Passion. I'll jump right in!

How romantic am I? Based upon my love of a good rom-com or Hallmark movie, I'd say that I am more romantic than I originally thought. The problem is that I've changed over the years and though I used to not be this way, I am now. I swoon over undivided attention, compliments, an arm around me or my husband playing with my hair. Insert emoji with heart eyes here.

What's the best relationship advice? I have two things I tell people—the first and most important is for married couples to keep Jesus at the very center of your marriage. If you both have your eyes fixed on Him, everything else will always fall into place. If you don't do this, it will all slowly fall apart. I have proof of this and I know it to be true.

The second piece of advice I give is don't go to bed angry. But sometimes, acknowledge that you're tired and instead of keeping on at it, kiss and say goodnight and resume the talk the next day. Everything is always better in the morning light. 

One last one—kiss often as a greeting and when you're leaving.

At what age did I begin dating? I was sixteen when I had my first real date and it was a boy from school. (I don't remember how old I was when I had my first kiss and don't remember how I felt about it...maybe that says something?)

What makes a relationship healthy? COMMUNICATION, COMMUNICATION, communication. Did I mention communication? I will also say the physical side of a marriage is also VERY important and can either make your marriage stronger or the lack of it can destroy your marriage altogether. (The grass is NEVER greener on the other side.)

I asked Todd this same question and he said two things as well—intimacy in a marriage and also the knowledge that he can be comfortable being who he is and not having to worry about what I think of him.

What is my love language? What is Todd's? My love languages are tied with two—physical touch and quality time and Todd's are the EXACT same. I think it's good that we get each other. Here is an online quiz you can take to find yours! I encourage everyone to do this and get your kids to do it as well! I think this is good information to know. 

What is one couple I know that I admire in terms of love? Um....this is a hard one, because NOBODY is perfect. We're all flawed human beings and all of us can be dumb from time to time. One couple that does stick out in my mind is a couple that I didn't personally know, but saw and witnessed. It was an older couple who used to go to our town square every weekend in the summer when live music was playing, and they would just dance and dance and dance. I want to be like that. I think it's the sweetest thing I ever saw, but I do know that the husband passed away a couple of years ago. I think they went to our church. They just always seemed so in love and I want to be like that.

Who is your favorite celebrity or fictional couple? I don't know of a single celebrity couple alive that I admire, but I loved the relationship that George Bush and his beloved Barbara had. Favorite fictional couple would be Allie and Noah from The Notebook. 

Name a flavor of food I love. (And a scent and activity.) I love Mexican food! I could eat it almost every day of my life. I also love coconut. My favorite scent is anything really clean and fresh smelling or minty. An activity I enjoy is driving around with Todd and looking at houses. We've loved doing that since we were teenagers. 

Do I believe in love at first sight and do I believe that people are made for each other and soul mates? I don't really believe in love at first sight. I believe the more you know someone, the more you love them. I do believe that the Lord does have that person who is perfect for someone. I have always told my sons this and believe it years later. I say all the time that we are nowhere near being perfect, but we are perfect for each other.

In a covid free world, what would I like to do for Valentine's weekend? I don't really think highly of Valentine's day, but for fun I'd love to go to NYC again someday. We went there four years ago for our anniversary and birthdays, but we missed some things and I want to do it all over again. (I cannot believe I never once ate a bagel and cream cheese while I was there and that we missed out on going to Serendipity.)  

I'll leave you with this picture of my lobster and me on the night before our 24th wedding anniversary. 

Thanks for reading my blog! Love to all. 

What's for dinner?

Happy Tuesday, friends! In this week's version of I'm-in-a-rut-for-dinner-ideas, I thought it'd be fun to share what's for dinner all week for us and maybe hear from some of you. 

Last night I made a sheet pan supper with sweet potatoes, regular potatoes and smoked turkey sausage. I started with the regular potatoes and tossed them with cajun seasoning and olive oil and cooked them at 400 degrees for forty minutes, then added diced sweet potato and the sausage and cooked it all for another twenty minutes. I loved having just one pan to clean and it was good and there's enough for Drew's lunch tomorrow. Drew loves leftovers for lunch and ate the leftovers from my mom's house on Sunday night for his lunch on Monday. (Buffalo chicken dip with crackers.) 

Tonight we're having shrimp fried rice, and I'm using a variation of this recipe from Shay over at Mix and Match Mama. You could easily switch out the shrimp for chicken or beef and you can also change up the veggie that goes inside. I've made her fried rice once before and it was EXCELLENT.

I don't cook when there's Wednesday night church, but we always have plenty of leftovers for whoever is here and I actually plan it that way. I usually end up going out with a friend or three after church each week. 

On Thursday night, I'm using another recipe from Shay, for a variation of this meat and potato casserole. I'm sure my family will love this. I'll add broccoli and rolls as sides and hopefully it'll be devoured. 

I will make pinto beans and cornbread for Dad on Friday when he comes over and we'll have more leftovers from the week for dinner. I also have tons of staples in my pantry that can be thrown together for a quick and delicious meal, things like pasta and roasted peppers and artichoke hearts. We'll probably do pizza one night and I may scrape together something for us to have on Saturday night, if the mood strikes. 

One thing I've loved about staying home more is all the cooking it forces me to do...which can also be something I do NOT love, depending on the week and my mood. I prefer to eat here than anywhere else, though and I don't see that changing anytime soon. 

Your turn! What's for dinner at your house this week? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading, love to all. 

weekending

 

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

It was a very low-key weekend and I am okay with this little fact. I kicked it off with my Dad coming over for lunch on Friday, as our weekly tradition goes. Would you help me pray for him this week? He is getting his second dose of the Covid vaccine and I pray it doesn't affect him like so many people I know who have been affected by that second dose. Our day together was really good and it went by fast. I made us tomato soup and grilled cheese for lunch. 

Todd worked that night, so the boys and I had pizza for dinner. They were home for most of the night becuase Drew bought himself some new floor and headliner lights for his truck, and they spent the entire evening out there either wiring it all or upstairs threading the hundreds of fiber optics through holes they precut in his headliner. This is the second time they've done this, the first time it was in Jonah's truck and this time it was for Drew. I love how they all help each other with their projects. When they were little, I always prayed the Lord would help them to be friends in their later years and He has been so faithful to answer that request of mine so far.

On Saturday I was up early and at church by nine to meet our new worship pastor! It's been almost a year since we've had one, but we've had a really sweet friend and pastor at church filling in as interim in all these months. The prospective worship pastor came and had a special rehearsal for choir and orchestra and then he led us in worship on Sunday. He accepted the position, we found out yesterday, but won't be back for weeks, I'm sure. He'll have to go back to where they're from and give notice and then pack a house and move here, so they have some long and trying days ahead of them, but I am so excited and will be praying for them as they make this transition. 

The rest of the day consisted of me watching tv and Todd and Graham working. 

Church was yesterday and I was back by eight thirty, then we came home and I had lunch, then rode with Todd to Costco for a few things for last night. The boys all had friends over and we had lots of food for them all, but I went to Mom's so they could have the whole living room. Todd loves when they're all here to watch games together, even though he hates professionals sports and always prefers anything college level instead. 

He managed to keep this fire going all night long, which is his favorite pasttime once he's at home. Meanwhile, Mom, Trish and I watched a terrible Hallmark movie. (Beverly Hills Wedding—save yourself from wasting two hours of your time and skip it.)

That's about all we did this weekend, like I said, it was very chill and I am always okay with that. Thanks for reading my blog! Love to all. 

Friday Favorites 2.5.21

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

It's been a really good week, much of the same as the four weeks prior to today. These days I'm not getting out much, mainly just when I go to the grocery store and on Wednesdays when I go to Bible study. There's not a reason as to why I'm not getting out, I'm just not. I also go out (usually) with Mom and Trish on Saturdays and then church on Sundays. I don't mind this and staying home is never a hardship for me. I am an extroverted introvert, meaning that I am an introvert who can fake not being one.

Here's my list of favorites from this week, in no particular order.

Reading is my favorite hobby and I read eight books in January. I posted about them on Tuesday and gave the first book review I've given in a long time. I'll not stick with doing this, I can almost promise you—I have good intentions, but my follow through could use some improvement.

My favorite book of the month was Prodigal Son by Danielle Steel. I love most of her later books, but this one had a shocking turn of events close to the end and it was so good. 

Scripture writing is my favorite and I love these themed plans that Shannon from SwtBlessings.com puts out monthly. It's not too late to jump in, if you'd like to join me in this!

Timehop KILLS me. This popped up in my memories there yesterday of Jonah five years ago, holding our little neighbor Carson when he met him for the first time. Maybe he'd already met him, but I love this picture of him smiling down at Carson and his dimples are STILL my favorite.

I went to my favorite place on Tuesday and brought home some new library books. This book was SO GOOD and Ree Drummond has been a favorite of mine since before The Food Network even knew who she was. I've been reading her blog since she first started it back in 2006, when blogging wasn't really a thing. That's about how long I've been writing on my blog, but I think it was more like 2007 when I started writing in this little slice of the interwebs.

Organizing things is one of my favorite things to do, and this accidentally happened on Monday. It wasn't on my list of things to do, but I found myself here for about forty five minutes pulling everything out and refolding it and then putting it away in a spot that made more sense. This is our only linen closet in the house and considering that, it wasn't too bad. 

Our pets are my favorites. The cat sits in my lap the minute I sit down and the dogs just sleep the days away. 

This cup of homemade hot chocolate was my favorite earlier in the week. I was FREEZING on this day and it did help warm me up a little. 

I'll wrap this up with that last one, my dad will be here in a bit and I have a few things I need to get done before he arrives. Thanks for reading my blog! Love to all. 

"currently"

 

Happy Thursday, friends! I'm joining the link-up a day late, but better late than never, right? I'm linking up with Anne from in residence for this post.

Here are things related to what I'm currently loving, reading, remembering, sharing and wishlisting. 

I am currently loving being back in Bible study with ladies at my church. We're studying the book of Philippians, the one I helped write, and it is so very good. I'm a small group leader for both the morning and evening times on Wednesdays and though it sounds like a lot, I love the time it forces me to spend really digging in deep to what we're reading that week. 

As an introvert and non-teacher, small groups make me a tiny bit nervous, but the Lord is always so sweet to provide lots of moments for discussion over the homework each week. I love meeting new women and I love hearing what they learned through the week. I think it's so interesting to hear from theme they may have picked out for the week we're studying and for this question, there is no right or wrong answer—a room full of people may pick out different themes throughout the portion of Scripture we're studying. We study inductive style, which just means verse by verse.

I am currently reading my newest library book that I just picked up Tuesday. I came home and started it at lunch time and by nine thirty that same night, I was about three fourths of the way through it.

I have loved Ree Drummond since her early blogging days began back in 2006 and when my boys were young, our favorite show to watch was The Pioneer Woman. She inspires me like no other and we have lots in common.

I'm currently remembering all the fun times we had together when my sons were little.

I really try not to do this too often, because if I don't stop myself, I'll end in a puddle of tears. I just have a lot of change coming up in the next few months and on Tuesday it all hit me and I cried in my bathroom as I was attempting to put on makeup to leave my house. I'm fine most days, but then all of a sudden it just hits me like a ton of bricks. I really do love where they are right now, it's just that my days are so different now. It just takes some getting used to and I need to find ways to fill my time, which is why I'm considering a part time job outside of my house after Jonah and Noah graduate.

I'm currently sharing all the same things on social media that I usually do. I'm also sharing stories and being a listening ear to a few people right now who are younger than me and who just need someone to talk to and pray for them. 

I'm wishlisting books on Amazon! I keep finding books I want to read and I add them to my list there and go back and look there when I'm at the library. 

Well, I always love sharing things like this, so thanks for reading! Love to all. 

little things that are saving my sanity right now

Happy Wednesday, friends! I'm borrowing this idea from Anne Bogel, write and blogger also known as Modern Mrs. Darcy—if you've never read her blog, you should check it out sometime. She always has great book recommendations, if reading is your thing. Anyway, I started this list in my journal last week when she first mentioned the post she was planning for her blog, so I thought it would be fun to join in on my own adaptation of the same kind of list. If you're a blogger, you should participate in this, it's fun to think of things that you love and that are helping save your sanity in a weird time. 

Without further ado, here is my list for January, in no particular order.

I love Mondays. They're saving my sanity right now because every Monday morning I sit down with my breakfast protein drink, my journal and calendar and I plan both our meals and my blog out for the entire week. Don't be too impressed, because I don't usually cook on Wednesdays or Friday-Sunday (though I do sometimes cook on the weekend). I rely on leftovers, pantry ingredients and takeout. But knowing I'm not going to cook on Wednesday nights helps me to know I'm free that day and it lets my family members know so they can either make something themselves or plan otherwise. I love to do this and then to pray over my calendar for the week, because one of my favorite verses says this:

A person's heart plans his way, but the LORD determines his steps. Proverbs 16:9

After I'm done writing down all the things for my week, I pray over them and ask the Holy Spirit to lead me in every part of my week. I never want to walk outside of His will. I take that time to pray the same thing over everyone in our home and our extended family members.

Y'all. Hallmark movies are still helping save my sanity. I can't watch regular tv! The shows I used to love to watch are always about covid or politics and I have said before that I watch television to escape reality, not to see more of it! I am so glad I have something wholesome to watch each day.

Williams Sonoma lotion is saving me from dry skin this winter. You could just insert any lotion there, but I bought some roasted chestnut scented lotion from the Williams Sonoma outlet before Christmas and I love the way it smells. I have extremely dry everything (hair and skin, even on my face) so this is helping me. I have been using jojoba oil to wash my face with and it's helped my dry skin and at night I put Gold Bond intensive healing lotion on my hands. (My knuckles are almost to the point of being cracked, they are so dry and this has helped.)

I NEVER skip a day of reading in God's word and this new Bible is my favorite to help me do that. I read chronologically last year and this way feels so new and fresh. I honestly see myself doing this for the next several years, I love it so much. I must stay grounded and rooted in the Word of God every single day, if I want to stay somewhat likeable and sane.

Another thing I love is my 3 a.m. prayer time every Thursday morning. I do this along with my church family each week and they needed people to fill up those middle of the night half hour slots, so I signed up for that time and who in the world knew it'd become a vital part of my week? I pray for different things each week, but my main requests are always for our family, our church family and pastors and our nation and the leaders. I do this in a prayer chain of people, meaning I receive a text at three to wake up and send one at three thirty to "tag" the next person, but I always go over and it usually ends up being closer to an hour. 

On a MUCH lighter note, thinking of something frivolous like my nails helps save my sanity. I look forward to a standing appointment every three weeks to do this and it's one of my favorite things I do for myself.

I always then turn around and text pics to two peole: my mom and my friend Teresa. They both always appreciate my nail colors and I always love seeing theirs. I may or may not spend time on Pinterest looking for my next color before each visit.

Scheduled blog posts has also helped me blog more frequently and therefore, saving my sanity. I am writing this blog post on Monday morning when I have lots of spare time and I wrote the post for Tuesday earlier the same morning. It's the little things in life, friends.

I'll end with one last thing, and that is getting dressed even on the days when I stay at home. It helps me to feel put together, it makes me presentable for going to check the mail or picking up the package off the front porch and it just does something else a little indescribeable mentally. I may make an exception to this if it's a day that is freezing cold outside, like it was on Monday when I wrote this. My warmest clothes are a pair of fleece pajama pants that I have, along with a hooded sweatshirt, but I still moisurize my face, put on a bit of makeup and untangle the ends of my hair. Like I said, it helps me out mentally and makes me feel better about myself. 

What are some things you feel are helping you keep your cool right now? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog, friends. Love to all. 

January Prime Purchases

 

Happy Tuesday, friends. I'm linking up with Tanya from The Other Side of the Road once again for this Amazon Prime purchases link-up.

I'll jump right in with a purchase I make frequently—these black Papermate Flair felt tip pens. They're a much better price when I buy them on Amazon and are pretty much the only pens I use. 

I purchased three books last month—two for me and one for a gift. 

Loving Your Actual Neighbor is the first book I purchased and it is so, so good. I'm going really slowly through it, because there is so much that I don't want to rush. 

I purchased and read Winter Storms, by Elin Hilderbrand and loved the book.

The last book I purchased is this devotional by Sally Clarkson and I bought it for one of my best friends.

I bought Noah these pants that he needed because his old ones were too short and he seems to love these by the Amazon Basics brand. (I bought my dad two of the vests in the same brand for Christmas and he loves those too.)

Lastly, my subscription for the conditioner I use came in on Friday. It's a much better price on Amazon and it seems to work well with my curly hair. 

After Christmas, it was a pretty easy month and aside from those books that I bought, I'm trying to keep my purchases down, because it is all too easy to pick up my phone to place a really quick order. I'd love to hear what you recently bought from Amazon! Do share, please. 

Thanks for reading my blog! Love to all.