Friday, June 12, 2026

It’s Friday and that means it’s time to link up with Andrea and Erika for a fun post about all the things that made our week happy.

Look what I woke up to on Monday:

What a gorgeous sunrise. I’m glad I’m an early bird because missing that would be sad. I love to use Mondays as my admin day – laundry, calendar, phone calls, scheduling, etc. I made myself a pretty nice breakfast around 10:

It was diced potatoes, bacon bits, a little cheddar and some scrambled eggs.

It was gloomy and rainy but I had gotten lots of sun over the weekend so it was fine by me. Eddie Otis and I took a few little wandering walks. He likes to read his “p-mails”. Get it? Also, we have a neighborhood fox. He is pretty cute and has a den in the trees by the schoolyard. We see him sometimes on our walks. I get a little worried that EO will take off after him and if I see the fox I quickly leash EO up.

EO and I enjoy filling our bird feeders. Man, these birds are eating me out of house and birdfeeder. The squirrels also partake and I’m ok with that. I also saw a chipmunk. I see the birds and the squirrels eating together in harmony so it seems ok.

I talk to Eddie Otis all day long. I tell him it’s time to do certain things like fill the bird feeder. He seems like he understands. I guess I treat him like I treated my kids when they were toddlers. My sister Kate once commented that “I talk to my kids a lot” and she “didn’t know you were supposed to do that”. Kate always makes me laugh.

In addition to my home stuff this Monday, Mason invited me to meet him for ice cream after he got off work at 2:30. I did a Target return on my way (I returned the entirety of my impulse online Target shop – two sandals and a “set”) and met him at Retta’s which has been on my list.

If one of my kids asks me to do something I really try to say yes and if it’s nice outside, I really try to get outside. Those are two “Rules of Amy”.

They have house made ice cream, fancy desserts after 5 pm, and a chef’s tasting menu of food.

I picked caramel and it was probably the best ice cream I’ve ever had.

I can’t remember what Mason picked but he loved his, too.

I came home and made manicotti and a salad for dinner. This time, I used jumbo shells and they were much easier to stuff. I also added a bit of goat cheese to the ricotta, egg, parmesan mixture. Here is the recipe I used.

I really enjoyed this movie this week! Sadie Sandler is Adam Sandler’s daughter.

I also enjoyed this:

I love Brett Goldstein!

And, look at this news…

Louisville is getting a Jeni’s. We are a Graeter’s town, but I think we have room for Jeni’s, too.

My favorite part of every evening is when Eddie Otis climbs on his Dad’s lap with a stuffed animal.

96.6 pounds of chocolate labrador love!

Natural nails this week to let them heal. I really enjoy doing my nails in front of a show.

My friend Victoria and I tried a new place for brunch this week. Victoria and I have been friends since before she was pregnant with her 24-year-old and since before I was pregnant with my almost 24-year-olds. She was a French teacher at my school. This was a Mexican breakfast and lunch place, and it was pouring rain and storming when we were there.

After we ate, we walked through the Logan Street Market, which is a small food hall with some shops, too.

Our phones started blowing up with flood alerts, so we made our way home.

I made Tom Sloppy Joe’s this week. I use Pioneer Woman’s recipe because my mom didn’t write hers down. My mom made these all the time. The grandkids hated them! I sent a photo to my sisters and brother-in-law in honor of my mom.

Tom’s plate:

He never tells me what he wants for dinner and he eats whatever I make, but I can tell when he’s excited!

Sadly, I finished this book this week. I loved it so much! I might have loved it more than Nora Goes Off Script. So, my fave books of the year include this, Mad Mabel, and This Book Made me Think of You. Notice that I did not say Theo of Golden or The Correspondent. I liked them.

I started this and I’m loving it so far! Can I tell you just how much I love summer books?

I went for two weeks without seeing Mason but then I got to see him twice this week! We met for happy hour to celebrate his completion of recording an audio book. He auditioned and got the job and it took him about 100 hours to read the book and record himself reading it. This is why he has been so busy.

We got small plates off of the happy hour menu and this was my lunch.

Then, he came to see brother Eddie Otis and stayed for dinner. I made spinach salmon salad.

This might be a new thing. Eddie Otis decided to watch the neighborhood from the driveway gate.

I got a “mention” on Instagram this week that filled my cup…

This former student is a new mama, and she mentioned me in her Instagram story as she was reading a book with Spanish to her baby boy. I got to “tag” the mama’s siblings and say that I also taught them. I taught many sets of siblings during that 25 years and it’s something I really cherish. At one time, I could name all the families where I had taught all the kids and I did so in class sometimes “The Pulliams, The Burches, The Givens, The ___, etc.”

Both of the other siblings wrote me a message, too. See? That’s why I can’t hate social media. This connection is really important to me. I am now “coffeecocktailsamyscott” if you want to follow. I’m not looking for a 10K following but I like sharing things that make me happy.

I looked at Tom’s work website because I needed the address. He works for a large commercial construction company. While there, I clicked on their employees tab. I don’t think I had ever seen this photo and I told Tom he looks like a movie star. He looks super laser focused on the job at hand. That’s his “blue steel” gaze. Lol.

He comes from a long line of non-smiling Germans. Speaking of non-smiling Germans, Tom was born in Wiesbaden, Germany many moons ago tomorrow. That means his birthday is tomorrow! I am having trouble getting out of him what exactly he wants to do, so wish me luck today trying to prepare to celebrate him! I love birthdays!

What filled your cup this week – other than coffee? Ha!

Amy