Saturday, July 29. 2023

Happy Saturday and welcome to the once a month Saturday post from yours truly. I am linking up with Jennifer for Share 4 Somethings. Be sure to click on the red font to check out some other blogs!

We will be sharing what we have loved, learned, read, and ate or enjoyed recently.

Loved

I loved hearing about my friend’s new project! I have two Beths and an Elizabeth in my life, so this may be confusing. This Beth is my high school friend Beth. She is the one who hosted the gathering in her beautiful backyard oasis in June here:

Check out her new blog here! I am so excited for her. Her theme will be all things hosting. And I can tell you that she is a great hostess. She makes you feel welcome, and she is not formal or stuffy in her home. She graciously let me help use her Blackstone Grill, too. There were three kids attending and she even thought to have a table set up for coloring and a big box to be creative with and pulled out some old toys. She planned our 30th class reunion last summer, as well, so she is pretty darn good at this. I would love for you to follow her.

Read

Well, I started being able to relate to my more southern blog friends this week. We are having high 90s today and we had it several times this week with poor air quality and very high humidity, but look what I read on my weather app:

I will take it!

I do my best reading outside and it’s just been too hot. I just can’t get into this book:

I had heard it isn’t as good as Every Summer After, but should I leave it for a bit and try one of my others?

Learned

Tom suggested Mason watching a college show called Fresh Meat. It is set in the north of England. I learned new terms and I learned that subtitles are really helpful with difficult accents. Do you ever turn them on?

I also decided to do some light research. I was appalled that my grocery bill was $1600 in June, but then when I learned this I didn’t feel as badly.

I am happy to report that my July Spending report shows that I have greatly reduced that amount but have not sacrificed and have probably cooked more and eaten out/gotten take out less. I will post my July Spending next week!

Ate/Enjoyed

Mason and I are the only ones who drink coffee, and we started a thing where we try new coffee shops. We loved Haraz and I saw that they are actually a small chain, so click on it to see if there is one in your neck of the woods.

This was a Haraz latte which had some wonderful spices like cardamom.

This was an elephant ear:

Mason and I did another dinner of white wine chicken, arancini balls, and broccoli. His fancy Italian restaurant job had him wanting to try the arancini balls.

Yes, that’s a lot of broccoli. Mason plated it and loves broccoli. He wanted to bring broccoli to school instead of cupcakes in elementary.

What would you like to share today?

Amy

15 thoughts on “Share 4 Somethings”

  1. I am a little stunned at the average grocery cost; add that in with gas, a mortgage, etc. and I’m kind of amazed that families can keep up! I haven’t read Meet Me at the Lake yet but I vaguely remember liking Confess and The Boy with the Bookstore was cute.

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    1. Me too! Also, I don’t think salaries have kept up with inflation. I am finally getting a 5% cost of living raise starting in September and my husband recently got one.
      I guess I will try getting into this more today and then if I can’t I will move on.

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  3. I feel like I’m spending more and more at the grocery too. My kids stay hungry lol
    My kids love broccoli too- but never asked for it in their lunchbox haha
    I’m sharing my books on Monday and I loved Meet me at the lake. Double Decker Dreams was good too. Cute.
    I will go check out your friend’s blog. So fun!

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  4. That is so funny about the brocoli! I am not tracking my spending, but know that it is a lot. If I just stop in for a few things at the grocery store, it is usually $75. Crazy! I am kind of over all the news stories on the high temperatures this summer. Here in Houston, we had a hotter than usual month. But we have had many years like this in the past. Then the next year will be milder than usual. To be honest, the difference between highs of 97 and 101 is not much…with either one you are staying in the pool or the A/C! Hope you have a great weekend! 🙂

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  5. Your friends entertaining space looks like a dream! I know she appreciates you sharing! The grocery stores gets all of my money, and its been about that hot here as well! I would be lying if I said I wasn’t looking forward to fall lol! I hope you have a wonderful August! Looks like July was fantastic!

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  7. Our grocery bill is pretty high considering there are only two of us and I don’t even buy that much protein. The other night, we fixed shrimp and vegetables on the Blackstone and probably spent as much as if we’d gone out. But, it was delicious! I am not a coffee drinker. I really tried to be because I love the smell of it. I need to lay off the Diet Coke!

    https://marshainthemiddle.com/

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  9. What a great month. I love coffee a lot! I would love to try different coffee shops, I live in a rural area and there are a frw others ive tried outside of the fast food, or quick stop ones. I like the sit down coffee shops. The white wine chicken, arancini balls, and broccoli looks fantastic. Hey, you can never have too much broccoli. Lol.
    Visiting today from Share 4 Somethings.

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  10. How fun that your friend is starting a blog! You’ll have a new thing to share with one another now. I’ll have to check it out.
    I love that Mason wanted to bring broccoli to school instead of cupcakes – that sounds like something my Nolan would have done!
    xo,
    Kellyann

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  11. My kids taught me the trick of watching tv with the subtitles on. It really helps when people are being loud in the background while I’m trying to watch something as well. Wonder if the broccoli would’ve been a hit at the school? You really never know with kids.

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