Monday, July 20, 2026

Linking up with Sarah and Holly for Hello Monday!

How was your weekend? If you are a teacher, I know you are not loving how quickly the weeks seem to fly by. It’s crazy how many teachers I know that are in their last couple of weeks. What happened to starting school at the end of August?

Eddie Otis is 2.5 years old and we still crate him when we leave for his safety, really. He goes right in his crate when we say, “let’s take a break” and sometimes we close the crate and sometimes we don’t. It’s funny because he knows my patterns pretty well and even though I leave the house at various times, he knew I was getting ready to leave Friday morning and he “crated himself”. I always walk him first so don’t let his sad eyes fool you. He was fine.

I met my dear former student Madeleine at a coffee shop! Madeleine just completed her second year of teaching in Spain and is back in the US for good. We talked and laughed for almost 2 hours. Gosh, it’s so rewarding to see these young people become such great humans! I first met her at 16 and now she is 25.

I also took a TJ Maxx trip on Friday and again, all the Halloween stuff is out just like at World Market!

I also went in Target for a few things and bought this new viral peanut butter. I’m a sucker – what can I say? It’s in a weird container. It’s really good but very runny and natural-type peanut butter. I think I will use it in some recipes.

I was a bad blogger this weekend and forgot to take photos. Friday night we met our friends at Martin’s BBQ and my meal was so good – forgot the photo! I had a baked potato with pulled pork in it.

Saturday morning I went to the library and got this stack:

I’m still reading this:

The cover is very cartoon-ish, but I’m really enjoying it. It’s set in Isle Royale in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan which is somewhere I would like to go. I will say that in 2026, a large percentage of my books have involved a recently deceased parent. Is this what I personally am gravitating toward? Coincidence? Is this helping me? I’m not sure.

Also, Saturday morning I hit up Trader Joe’s and it was empty! I guess everyone else had fun summer Saturday plans.

My niece Lena got her license! How is this possible?

Then, our family made a little road trip for a special celebration. Tom’s mom turned 80! I brought flowers for the table and individually wrapped German candy that I had bought at World Market. I was glad the tables didn’t already have decor because it worked out perfectly for my vision.

I thought it looked kind of German?

Tom’s mom:

I had sent her an outfit to wear as her gift and she wore it and it looked great on her. It was white linen drawstring pants and a blouse – both from Belk. We don’t have a Belk but I have discovered their website and they have some great things and great prices!

Beer cheese:

I ordered a chicken sandwich but just ate the chicken – I do this a lot to get the right size chicken – and mashed potatoes.

My niece Morgan brought the prettiest cake that was red velvet with cheesecake flavored buttercream inside. She had it made by a old school friend.

I think the celebration turned out really nice. We didn’t get home until about 10:30.

Sunday we took the boat out – just Captain, First Mate, and I – First Mate is Eddie Otis!

Tom got EO a new harness that looks like he is a working dog and if you look carefully Tom chose “Mama says I’m special”.

Someone asked Tom if he was an assistance dog and Tom said he is the dog’s assistance human. Oh man!

We ordered brunch on the boat. I got chicken and waffles and then the leftovers were Tom’s dinner.

We ran into a niece!

The bridge!

We made it home to watch the World Cup game. I wanted Spain!

I made some Spanish foods/tapas.

And, I’m pretty sure that’s why they won!

What did you do this weekend?

Join me for Fashion Files tomorrow if you’d like!

Amy