Friday, April 3, 2026

Happy Friday! How was your week? Let’s link up with Andrea and Erika to share!

Your girl is a mess this week; let’s pretend it was an April Fool’s joke when I posted Currently a day early because I was all discombobulated! I think I just tried to post too much! You can see Hello Monday, March Books, March Spending Diary, Currently, and Hodgepodge by clicking on any of the titles. Whew!

The elementary school behind our house starts and ends school quite early. They start playing on the playground around 9 am and it goes on with different grade levels until almost 2:00. When do these kids learn? Ha! So, Eddie Otis and I have been getting out to do walk number 2 (Tom walks him in the dark at 6:15) around 8:30. We have the whole place to ourselves and say hi to our neighbor dog friends. Walking so early is really good for us. Then, we do another walk around 10:30 or 11 and this one is a leash walk in the neighborhood.

I like to take time to appreciate the beauty of spring…

We’ve also been going on more errands together and we have a field across from our neighborhood and have been going there at the end of an errand.

New gate! Tom finished our fence with new gate project and it’s so nice!

I picked up these carrot bags and got one for each of my kids’ roommates, too. They will contain mostly food stuffs.

I finished this sweet little book this week.

I started this book next.

I have had lots of patio reading time this week. It’s been super windy but it’s still so nice. I do not take this for granted!

Tom usually just does our taxes on Turbo Tax and this year we hired it out and did our whole family plus my mom’s final taxes. She was alive for 28 days of 2025.

Group text when I told Jack and Mason they were done:

I made schnitzel Sunday to lure them home and only Jack was able to come but it was nice. Mason came for dinner Tuesday.

I made Polish Haluski and Tom really liked it. It’s cabbage and onion with egg noodles. I added turkey sausage.

I had heard about the Whole Foods family meals. Many youths are using them as “meal prep” and dividing them up in portions. I got the rosemary chicken, green bean, and lemon potatoes. It was $26.99 and made 6 meals for us. I sent a portion home with Mason and Tom and I had it for dinner twice and I had it for lunch once. They also had a salmon, broccoli, and sweet potato version but it was a few more dollars. My friend is taking one to a person who had surgery.

I tried a glass of Sancerre Rosé this week. Elin Hildebrand always talks about Sancerre in her books. I will buy this again!

I pranked Tom on Wednesday by changing his beloved soft drink to diet.

And, some of these Hershey’s kisses are small green grapes.

It was a short sleeve blouse week!

I loved my new navy ruffle from Old Navy,

my checked from Target,

and a new Marshall’s embroidered blouse.

I got my 2026 mah jong card in the mail! Not everyone has one yet, so some will still use the 2025 for a bit.

I made a really good iced coffee. I put 1 T. sugar in a mason jar with 2 t. instant coffee granules and 1/4 cup cold water. Shake vigorously for about 1 minute. Pour over ice and then add 1/4 cup cold water and milk to the top. I used a bit of creamer with the milk. It was really good!

Have you put yourself on a social media diet? I unfollowed anyone who was trying to make me buy stuff I don’t need. I unfollowed anyone that made me “compare” or anything that I just didn’t think was healthy. I am inspired by most that I follow on Instagram now. I love getting to interact with a former student who just had a baby or a former student that also loves to read. For me, Instagram is a happy place. Now, Facebook is another story but there are some connections there that I still want to have.

Isn’t this a nice thought?

Happy Easter! I made my menu: ham, Sister Schubert’s rolls, bacon quiche, au gratin potatoes (I love using my mandolin!), asparagus orzo (new recipe), spring mix green salad, and deviled eggs. I am not inspired by any dessert ideas. Anyone have one?

Amy

27 thoughts on “Friday Favorites – Good Friday”

  1. That sounds like such a lovely week! We still haven’t heard anything from our tax accountant firm yet but I did get both boys’ taxes done and warned Ian he’ll need to save enough to hire someone next year as I am not tackling his business taxes.

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    1. It really was a nice week! I was getting scared and then the accountant texted me on Sunday! He said he works 7 days a week this time of year. We were worried about Jack being a private music lesson contractor in 2025 and he has to pay a bit. That makes sense for Ian. Too complicated!

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  2. Our taxes are not done :(. I do it myself on TurboTax but always run into a snag or two and then stop and panic and start right up near the deadline (we ALWAYS get money back so I don’t think it would be terrible to file them after the date in mid April but we always get them done in time). Your Easter meal sounds good. I struggled a bit with dessert inspo for an Easter meal we’re having on Saturday. My FIL suggest eclair cake so I plan to make that. Carrot cake sounded good to me but one of the kids vetoed it. I’m making a cookie cake to take to a meal on Sunday.

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    1. Tom has always done ours in January or Feb. but the documents seem to arrive later and later the last couple of years. It was nice to hand it over this year with my mom’s and my mom’s estate being part of that package. Eclair cake and cookie cake sound good. Not everyone loves carrot cake but it’s like the perfect Easter thing! Oh, I forgot that I have baby carrots and want to make a glazed carrot dish, too.

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  3. Lovely and springy week! Ok for Easter desserts, my mom makes a very tradition Easter one, Ricotta pie. It is a fave around here. Then together, on Holy Saturday, when we are coloring our eggs and making bunny breads, we also make birds next cookies which everyone loves too!

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  4. Our taxes are all done and I got my refund yesterday (for my business). My husband does them with Turbo Tax too – good for you for letting someone else do it. It’s a lot of work! “I hope it wasn’t too taxing” – hahahahahaha!!!!

    I am going to go to Whole Foods and get one of those dinner kits – that’s a great idea!

    Hope you have a great Easter!

    xo,

    Kellyann

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    1. Yay for getting yours done and a refund! Jack gave music lessons and was a “private contractor” and then we had my mom and my mom’s estate so I offered to my sisters to do those and it just made sense this year. Most years we have very uncomplicated taxes.
      I hope you like the Whole Foods meal. I wasn’t inspired this week to cook after Monday night so it was a real treat!

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  6. I like your outfits! Also, wanted to tell you I played my first game of Mahjong last night! I didn’t understand what I was trying to do, but it was a little introduction. Your menu sounds good! Happy Easter weekend!

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    1. Thank you! Ok – don’t judge it til you have played about 3-4 times. Also, you need to try to play again soon. I played last night and was rusty after two weeks. Argh!
      Thank you and Happy Good Friday and Easter to you!

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  7. We played with the new card this week for the first time which is always fun. My daughter is making a lemon blueberry cake with a lemon buttercream icing for dessert this year. I saw a recipe for lemon curd cupcakes I want to try, but I knew I wouldn’t get to it this week. I like a citrusy dessert for Easter. We’re having Easter lunch at our daughter’s house and our menu is ham, pineapple stuffing, Nigella’s pea, mint, and avocado salad, rolls, mac and cheese (the kids, plus my daughter’s sister-in-law love it), green beans, deviled eggs, and the cake. Sounds like a lot, but there are 11 of us, We are always at the tail end of tax return season, often we have an extension which is fine. I sent everything to our tax guy and know it was all received, but that’s it. He always manages to get them done and filed. Oh, and you’re never too old for an Easter basket! Or bag or little gift of some kind.

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  8. My kids asked for Cadbury mini egg brownies. Some of the crushed eggs go in the batter and some go on top while still warm. Yum!

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  9. Regardless of which holiday arrives, or what country I’m in, my go-to dessert is an old school no bake lemon sweetened condensed milk cheesecake. I use a cookie or Graham cracker crust, topped with cherry pie filling. No gelatin needed, the lemon juice sets it. There’s many recipes on the internet, and with warm weather no-bake is a blessing!

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  10. Your menu sounds so good! We always do ham, my aunt’s potato salad, green veggie, deviled eggs, and a few other sides. I’m thinking we need to make something other than ham for a change. We are creatures of habit though 😆 Happy Easter to you and your family! ✝️🐇🌸🐰

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    1. It’s nice to have traditional foods so you don’t have to overthink. I am adding chicken schnitzel tenders for my kid who doesn’t like ham. Lol. Happy Easter!

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  11. It sounds like you have some good walks with Eddie Otis. It is nice to see the signs of spring. Good job to Tom with the fence and gate! Those Whole Foods meal sound good and the April Fools pranks did make me chuckle. Bloomscrolling is a great word! Happy Easter! Have a great weekend.

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    1. It has gotten me out! Yes, it is! I am so happy with it. My friend took one of the meals last night and it was perfect for her friend.Isn’t that a nice word? Happy Easter!

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  13. All the walks are inspiring! I bet EO loves it. Homer is lucky to get walked four times a week. Your coffee sounds delish. The “taxing” test literally made me LOL! Your pranks were great! Haha
    I hope you all have a great weekend.

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  15. We do our taxes on TurboTax, too. Well, Mike usually does them, and then he makes me read all the numbers over and over again so they’re double/triple correct. This year, I did them once and was fine! I did let him read the numbers to me so he would feel better about it. I think he’s paranoid because he was audited once…in the 70s!!! We got our refunds sometime in February. I wondered if you were playing an April Fool’s joke on purpose or not. It was fine having it a day early, I think. You really do influence me…I need more information on that ON top, and now I really want to find a Mahjong group. I hope your Easter is wonderful. We are only doing desserts, and yes, I do still do Easter baskets (read Kroger bags) for my grown kids and separate ones for the grands!

    https://marshainthemiddle.com/

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    1. Tom always did Turbo Tax in the past but we had some complicated stuff (or thought we could) this year.
      The navy ON top? Did you click on it? It should take you to the sale price of $17.
      There might be a group in your church or the docents might play. My mom did, too. She went all out each and every holiday. I am including things she would include in her memory.

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