Monday, June 24, 2024

If it weren’t for my blog, I might not know the date or the day of the week, but sadly, I am all too aware that this is the last week of June. I am happy to link up with Sarah and Holly for some of my weekend highlights.

How was your weekend? I like to start with Thursday when recapping the weekend and this is how the sky greeted me when I got up! We’ve had some heat this week and weekend, but I’ve still been able to start my day outside.

Thursday was a pool day! Erica invited me to join her again.

It was super hot and I got to try out both of my new floats. We stayed in the water most of the day! Ahhhhh…. I only took one photo, too!

I’m watching Bridgerton and enjoying it now. I think turning on subtitles helped me focus! I just started season 3 and then I will watch Queen Charlotte.

I enjoyed being in my bathroom with my napping boy while I got ready for a girl’s dinner out. He was snoring really loudly!

I had a fun night at a steakhouse – Malone’s – with three girls.

I did my 4th press on mani of the summer:

Friday night I stayed up late and went outside to see the strawberry moon with my kids. It looked more orange to me!

Also, on Friday, Eddie Otis had his last puppy shots and he weighed in at 34 pounds!

Saturday I got up bright and early and went to the farmer’s market for the first time this season.

I wore this and ordered this summer tote from Amazon. It’s not super high quality, but it will serve my needs.

I bought bagels, zucchini, little potatoes, a tomato, a cucumber, and an onion. I can’t get as excited about the farmer’s market this summer, but I’m glad I tried it.

This weekend I replenished my brow gel and…

my deodorant from Ulta.

I decided to date it to see just how long it lasts. Nerd alert!

Next to Ulta is Total Wine so I got these cute little champagne cans to have on hand.

I’m still reading this but it’s dragging for me right now…

Saturday night we went to a greenhouse turned brewery with some friends and ate dinner there while listening to some music.

Tom being Tom:

It’s a really cool place!

Sunday morning the humidity lifted and there was a nice breeze.

It rained Sunday! We needed it so badly! I enjoyed the few bouts of rain under my covered patio and I was so happy.

I enjoyed my breakfast:

Tom and I were so lazy and literally sat on the patio all day Sunday. It was so nice to have Tom (and his many electronics join me – he had his phone, his laptop, his headset his chargers, but at least he was there!) Eddie Otis was with us most of the time, too.

I had a Greek bowl for lunch:

Here is what I did on the patio – I read this book start to finish from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 with only a few breaks. I couldn’t put it down. I can’t remember who recommended it. Has anyone read it?

I made blackened fish tacos with mango salsa for dinner:

It was a good one! We were going to go boating yesterday, but the rain changed our plans and that’s ok.

On Friday, I got paid for the last time until August 30th, so I have to be careful. We found out that we are getting a 2% raise for next year, though. That kind of feels like when I was a server and someone would leave a 50 cent tip, but I guess it’s better than no raise. Also, teachers in my district don’t get experience raises after year 25 and for me that was 6 years ago. Ho hum.

Tell me something good about your weekend!

Amy

35 thoughts on “Hello Monday”

  1. We had thunderstorms every night all weekend so we didn’t get to see the strawberry moon. Weirdly it hasn’t seemed to make a difference in our overall humidity but at least it has been breezy and that helps plus the temps dropped a good 10-15 degrees so it’s back to being our usual summer weather. We went to see Bad Boys 4 yesterday and had dinner at a Longhorn Steakhouse– just the 2 of us so that was nice.

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  2. I went to the library and grabbed It Starts With Us by Colleen Hoover, I spent way too much time reading this weekend!!! I haven’t heard of The Arrangement but I’m going to request it, if you couldn’t put it down it must be good!

    Our weekend was low key and kinda lazy but I enjoyed it all the same.

    The greenhouse place looks very cool – what a great idea!

    xo,

    Kellyann

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  3. Oh it looks like a peaceful and delicious weekend-that shot of the sky is just beautiful! Glad you got some more pool time in 🙂

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  4. meant to comment on your cooking post, but getting around to it now. Here’s an alternative to the TikTok pasta: cooked thin, spaghetti or angel hair for the amount of serving needed, one small container, grape tomatoes, cut in half, three to four large handfuls, fresh spinach, chopped, if desired, matchstick carrots from a bag or one to two large carrots, thinly sliced on the mandolin, 3 to 4 tablespoons butter, juice and zest of one lemon, two handfuls, shaved or shredded Parmesan cheese. Melt butter and add tomatoes to soften and make a sauce, add carrots to soften, add any seasonings like garlic pepper, or our preference, which is tons of red pepper flakes, add a cup of the cooked pasta water , the spinach and cooked pasta and stir and add the lemon juice and zest and Parmesan at the end. This is super simple and I vary the amount depending on what vegetables we have on hand. I often add precooked frozen shrimp or fresh shrimp right at the end but usually serve with a grilled chicken breast because my family doesn’t like it mixed together.

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    1. I love the spinach idea! One of my kids is dabbling with vegetarian -ism? and has been ordering tomato spinach pizza. Also, I am ordering sun dried tomatoes and thought that would be a great flavor. There are so many possible variations! Thank you!

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  5. It was hot as heck here over the weekend! We grocery shopped, cleaned the deck rug and spent the rest of our time indoors w/ our 3 dogs. Today will be 14 degrees cooler, thank goodness. We had much needed rain overnight. I love your friend’s pool! It’s so big and plenty of room for floats! For the first time, we planted a raised bed garden and a zucchini is ready to pick! I will make a zucchini alfredo to go along w/ salmon tonight. I know it is silly but I’m so excited to eat that zucchini! Have a great week–

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    1. Ugh! Our temps have dropped just by a few and it’s made a big difference so far this week. I’m spending more time on the patio again and I’m so happy! I roasted zucchini last night for my Greek bowls and it was fantastic, so I get it!

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  6. I love your pool days! I hope you had at least one summery drink! I love the sound at big pool places, everyone laughing and having a good time!

    We are finally getting accustomed to US and crazy Florida. It’s warm and absolutely fantastic. I must confess the first days are a bit blurry, but this is what I have noticed: X-finity has snapped up and gave really good service, Target has everything, Walmart is very cheap, Subway’s subs have become really good again. BTW: Walmart has a great deal on the hair mask K18! With free delivery it a steal.

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    1. Thank you! I had plenty – no worries!
      Yay! Sounds like you are living like a true American!
      Here are those bakeries again:

      https://www.edelweissbakeryfl.com/

      This one has German style so you might like that

      https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurants-g34227-zfg9901-Fort_Lauderdale_Broward_County_Florida.html

      Also, don’t overlook some grocery bakeries. Whole Foods has some really nice breads. Fresh Market is supposed to be European.

      Report back!

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      1. Thank you! That was really sweet of you! We will check it out!

        Yesterday we went for brunch at Lester’s, a classic diner from 1967. Feels like you’re in a movie from the 50s you know :D.

        Tonight we’re doing Asian fusion at a real favorite here in Fort Lauderdale. But we mostly eat at home, we’re here for five weeks so we can’t go dining every day!

        No shopping so far… Just a packet of mixed ball pens, always fun for the teacher calendar! I have my mind set on another pair of classic Stan Smith’s with the dark blue detail on the back. It goes with everything!

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  7. Love your bathroom rug.

    Looking up The Arrangement! I just finished The Next Mrs. Parrish.

    I just got paid three times in a row and that’s it til September :/

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    1. I’m so happy with my rug and all my rugs –
      Savieh brand on Amazon.
      It’s been a long time since I’ve had a book I couldn’t put down. It may not be your cup of tea or Scotch (you’ll get that if you read it!) so do read the summary!
      Oh wow – I got 5 checks at once on Friday. I always say it’s good that we have a two income fam because it is hard to budget for summer like this, no?

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      1. I don’t know how dual-teacher families do this. I said something to Scott about how he COULD HAVE THE SUMMERS “OFF” TOO since he thinks my life is so easy in that regard. He said “Yeah. And then we’d be poor so…” Very true.

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      2. My sister and her hub are both teachers! Ha – I have had conversations like that, too. A lot of people don’t understand that we really don’t get paid the whole year – it’s our money coming from escrow!

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  10. What a great weekend! Love all the patio time. Do you have a choice on getting paid in the summer? We do…& I know some choose one check but I don’t think I would survive 🤣

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  11. Great weekend! The steakhouse food looks amazing. I’ll have to check out The Arrangement. I did pretty much the same with The Underground Library, could not put it down!

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  12. The greenhouse setting looks so fun! I will look for that book as I haven’t heard of it until now. We’ve had many ‘threats’ of rain, but not a lot of actual rain. It has been so hot, and we’ve spent a lot of time in the lake. Enjoy your day!

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    1. It really is cool! It’s like a German beer garden. I didn’t take great photos this visit. Read the description because of the subject matter. Your lake is the place to be!

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  13. I put the Arrangement on my list…sounds wonderful! EO is getting big. I’m guessing Mollie weighs around 40 lbs now, and I’ll find out when she goes to the vet Thursday for a flu shot. I’m guessing she is 8 mths old now. She is filling out a lot. That is just crazy about the cap on salary at 25 years and only a 2% raise. Frustrating! Tom with the electronics sounds like Michael…ha, ha! Hope you have a great week!

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  14. I can’t believe you don’t have the option to have a summer pay. That requires some strict planning and saving! We automatically get paid 2x/month but have the option of getting a summer payout where you get all of the summer paychecks in one lump sum. You ate really well! All of your food pictures look delicious.The greenhouse/brewery looks like a cool venue. What floats did you and Erica get? I’m glad you got back out on the patio for some reading!

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    1. I have always done it list this to get interest – I had a 3% interest account and made money. That is no more. I feel bad for people that only have one income and have to be very careful. Many have a side gig and that’s also a sad state of teaching!
      Thank you!
      I got two floats from Walmart:
      https://www.walmart.com/ip/Aqua-Noodle-Pool-Chair-Inflatable-Luxury-Mesh-Float-for-Teens-Adults-Blue-200-Lbs-Max-Weight/244445050
      https://www.walmart.com/ip/Bluescape-Inflatable-Comfort-Chair-Lounge-Pool-Float-Teal-Age-14-up-Unisex/2520366327

      Me too! Thank you!

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  15. Congrats on making it to the farmers market. I’ve gone exactly once in nine years! It’s just too hot and no parking close! The greenhouse/restaurant looks like a wonderful place for a date night. When I first started teaching, we could choose 20 or 26 pays. Then, they eliminated the 20 pays. What always made me mad was when, due to the calendar, we would have gotten paid 27 times. Instead of adjusting our checks throughout the year, we would have to go a longer period between checks. That really hurt the hourly workers. I kept thinking there had to be a work around for that with technology!

    Have a wonderful week!

    https://marshainthemiddle.com/

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    1. Thanks! I probably won’t go again. They really overcharge! People don’t often understand the stupid stuff with teacher pay that involves escrow. I have always earned interest by getting all my pay at once, but it’s hard. Now everyone has to do it this way. My district is a mess I tell ya!

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