Friday, July 17, 2026

It’s Friday and time to link up with Andrea and Erika!

Well, I returned back from Michigan and our long weekend cousin reunion on Sunday and have enjoyed looking at my photos and the photos my cousins have sent and added to the shared folder all week so that is my first favorite.

My hope on the way there was that I reconnect with everyone and try to talk to everyone one on one. I think I accomplished that! I got to know the kids better this year and really enjoyed their energy. We had a 6-year-old girl, an 8-year-old boy, then I think lots of kids in the 11-13 range, and lots in the 16-20 range. We had a total of 16 kids!

We made lots of new memories and have lots of new inside jokes and buzz words! We have texted since we have been back home, too!

Not a favorite…

I had trouble commenting on lots of blogs this week; it’s saying “sign in with Google” and I am signed in and I try several things to no avail. I apologize if I couldn’t comment on yours, but I did read them!

Some other favorites…

I started and finished this:

It’s really well done in my opinion. Oh how I loved the original Little House! If you were obsessed with Little House like I was, give it at least two episodes of a chance.

I just barely have started this and I’m into it! This was my favorite of all the Elin books.

Tom’s Suburban was repaired while we were gone and I was without my car for a couple of days before we left and then on Monday, so I was happy to have my car all to myself again after we picked his up!

Mason stayed at our house to watch Eddie Otis while we were gone and I think Eddie Otis reverted back to some bad behaviors. It’s been a struggle with him this week. He has been stealing shoes, remotes, and just being a little jerk. Also, he has accumulated two new stuffed animals – a panda and a sloth. Did he order these off Amazon? Mason has “no idea” where they came from.

I have walked him and tried to get him back to our routine:

It’s so hot that he doesn’t want to walk for long. We are doing lots of short walks.

I got a couple of new books from the library this week:

I had a fun breakfast out with my friend Beth at Highland Morning:

I didn’t eat again until dinner when I had a meal of sweet potatoes, black beans, avocados, chicken, and some chips.

I haven’t shopped the Nordstrom sale in years! I would love a bag like this, but not exactly like this:

Let me know if you think of another brand that I should investigate!

I had a fun shopping trip to World Market. I couldn’t believe fall was out!

I liked this for a gift idea:

and this for fun cocktails!

While I didn’t buy either of those this time, I did buy myself a butter dish:

I went to Trader Joe’s after because they are in the same shopping center.

I really liked this for my lunch. The slimy factor was about a 2 on a scale of 1-10.

And I bought this blueberry muffin mix to make a blueberry bread.

The last of our giant shrooms from the rainfall a couple of weeks ago:

For our anniversary Wednesday night, I got out the professional album…

the honeymoon album…

and a scrapbook I made about our story – what a nerd!

We ate at Denny’s several times before Tom took me to a real restaurant due to circumstances. One time we ate after a football game (I was cheerleading coach and we played Tom’s high school team and he met me there), and a couple of other random times. It became a joke that he had to make sure I was worth a “real restaurant”.

I ordered Denny’s for our dinner Wednesday night! I was going for a laugh and I got one!

There’s a reason why you only go to Denny’s late at night when you’re drunk. It was not great.

Tom brought me home a blood orange candle with three wood wicks. Wood wicks are my favorite. We don’t usually do gifts but rather do a trip or a home improvement project, so I was suprised. He even picked out a sweet card for me, too.

I am so impressed with the Kur Londontown in the original. This is two coats. I had two coats last through all the water I was in while in Michigan and then did another two coats at home.

I went to the pool with Victoria this week, too. She belongs to a cool old pool that used to be a quarry.

I’m not sure what I think of this…

What were your favorites this week? I hope you had many!

Amy