Monday, January 10, 2021

Today I’m linking up with both Hello Monday and Not Just a Mom link ups! This month, the topic for Not Just a Mom is favorite bloggers. I have done this blog topic before, but it was a long time ago and many have changed. I am also excited to do this topic because I got a blog comment recently asking me what blogs I read.

I.love.blogs!

I want my blog to be a blog I personally would want to read. My favorite topics to write and to read about are fashion, food, books, lifestyle, hacks and tips, and product recommendations.

I like a blog that posts on a regular schedule and that posts early. I read most of my regular blogs in the morning. I do sometimes come back to check out blogs in the evening but I mainly read in the morning, because it is my ME time before my day starts.

Moms of young kids, it took me a long time to get this ME time in the mornings, so don’t give up hope! I also decided when they were preschool age maybe that it made my day so much better if I got up before they did. I was just in a better mood and ready to be my best mom self. So, if your kids are your alarm clock and it’s making you feel like a frazzled mess, try to get up even 15 minutes before they do?

These are in no particular order…and I really hope I don’t leave any off my list!

Fashion:

Big Mama Blog – but only on Fridays. I also listen to her podcast with another lady called The Big Boo Cast. I am not interested in everything they talk about but I do like their fashion and product recommendations sometimes.

This Blonde’s Shopping Bag – Kellyann has become a big supporter and a friend. She is a sweetheart.

Susan After 60 – I do not know Susan, but I really admire her. She teaches women about dressing for their body type. She is truly a classy and elegant lady.

Home Decor, Recipes, Product Recs:

The House on Silverado – Nikki does not know who I am, but I really like her home decor, her product recommendations, and her recipes. Her blog is really pretty, too.

Everything:

Show Me and Sweet Tea – Jen is a fellow mom of twins. Twin moms unite! She writes mainly about her life as a mom but has great home style, great recommendations, recipes, and more. She is also a teacher.

My Glittery Heart – Heather provides our Hello Monday link-up and she has the most awesome bar carts!

Sunshine and Books – Sarah is so sweet and gives great book recommendations.

Carolina Charm – I think Christina’s post about blogging is what made me finally take the plunge. She has great style, great recipes, and I just enjoy the beautiful aesthetic of her blog.

Lindsay’s Sweet World – I only wish I could be as organized as Lindsay. She has great ideas!

Honey We’re Home – great recipes, great product and fashion recommendations, and more!

Bourbon, Lipstick, and Stillettos – a fellow Kentucky blogger. I really like her recommendations and her writing style is very professional.

Preppy Empter Nester – Katie is hilarious and is living a great empty nester life!

Designer Bags and Dirty Diapers – great style, great recipes, and some good product recommendations. She is on a champagne and caviar budget, though, and I am on a Boone’s Farm and pickle relish budget.

Momfessionals – Andrea has great recipes, style, and more. She provides the Friday Favorites link up.

Mix and Match Mama – recipes, trip information, and more.

Stuff, Things, Etc. – Kristin does not hold back and tells it like it is. She has given me some great recommendations on some products.

My Slices of LIfe – Joanne has great recipes, book reviews, and shows her nice life living on a lake and hiking in the woods.

I have left off the blogs that simply seem to be selling, selling, selling or that are so inconsistent that I just don’t even bother checking anymore. I follow some of them on Instagram, but I just don’t like Instastories as much as traditional blogs. There are some blogs that I used to love that I can barely read anymore. I am not saying this to be mean; it is just a fact. I know I’m not the only one that feels this way. Many think blogs have changed and many also think they are going to become obsolete. I understand that the money as an influencer might be too hard to pass up. I hate it when I feel duped and think a blog post is a true blog post but it becomes clear that it is an ad. Example: “My Tips for Organizing” is the title and then it starts with, “I know I’m not alone that keeping things organized is a constant struggle…I use this from Amazon, and this from Amazon, and this from Amazon. Click here!”

What blogs should I read? Leave them in the comments! I really do need some new ones!

My Weekend:

Let’s start with Thursday night! Will we have a snow day Friday? Yes! We found out around 7:30 p.m., which was really nice. While I waited I polished my nails with Essie Bahama Breeze which is very old.

It is so nice to know the night before. I stayed up about 30 minutes past my normal bedtime!

Look who else must have had a really tiring day!

Friday morning and no school! I lit up the living room to enjoy my morning quiet time!

I weigh on Friday mornings after coffee, but before eating any food. I really hope this is right. I weighed 4 times.

After not losing anything since before Thanksgiving, the scale showed a 6 pound loss! Now, I had gone up a bit temporarily and hadn’t weighed during the holidays so it wasn’t quite that dramatic! And, remember I lost 10 pounds before officially joining…So I have officially lost 50 pounds! Finally! I really wanted to lose 50 by 50, but it’s o.k.

I never really went off the rails during the holidays. I had the things I wanted on Eve, Day, and NYE, but I ate normally the rest of the time. I think the key for me was consistency and patience. I still can hardly believe that I have been able to do this. I’m also sad at myself that I let myself have 50 lbs. to lose, but that is not a productive way to think.

I feel like snow days call for soup, so I had been wanting to make this mushroom, onion, and kale soup with beef broth. I made chicken sausage to add to it the next day.

I had a Kroger pick up, but didn’t leave the house other than that. Our roads were really bad and it was soooo cold.

A better view of my snowman mantle:

For dinner, we had burrito bowls.

Saturday morning I made the chicken sausage and

my faux-tisserie chicken in the crockpot.

Ewww…apologies for this photo! I use chicken tenders, a bit of seasonings, and a bit of water, and a whole jug of chicken broth. It shreds beautifully for your recipes and tastes just as flavorful as a rotisserie chicken from the grocery; you don’t have to get all messy!

The snow remnants on Saturday morning:

I did a bit of reading in the morning. This is really good but it is serious…

So, I took a little break and started this…

It is so cute! It reminds me of Kim’s Convenience (the show). I highly recommend if you need a cute show that the whole family could watch.

I had a bit of cabin fever so I was ready to get out of the house late Saturday morning.

I went to the library because they had a hold ready for me.

I may not get to all of them, but I like to have back ups.

I stopped in at our little Walmart Neighborhood grocery. My Kroger order said there were no green peppers or zucchini available. Well, the produce shelves were bare there, too. Apparently the snow kept some trucks from delivery. Oh well.

These are 3 points each and really good. They are the French steak rolls from the bakery section.

I found a replacement for Thin Mints!

I went home and had a Boca chicken on one of the buns with some wedge fries I made and a little dipping sauce.

I was super lazy the rest of the day and read and watched tv. I needed to clean and organize but just wasn’t feeling it.

For dinner, I talked Tom into going out early.

I had a salad with roasted vegetables and a goat cheese fritter – yum! I also had some jerk chicken but didn’t get a photo. It was so nice to not cook after many, many consecutive nights of making dinner.

And, I am writing this on Sunday morning so I am going to leave it right here.

That was long!

What was the highlight of your weekend? Did you get snow?

Don’t forget to leave me blog recommendations in the comments!

Amy

Friday, January 7, 2021

It is Friday of our first week back so I am especially happy to see Friday today! I am linking up with Andrea, etc. to share things that were my faves this week.

I love my little calendar and I love to take the time Sunday mornings to look at my week ahead. Taking a portion of time on Sundays has been a game changer for me. I am able to streamline the weekdays so much better. Are you still a paper planner person? Like that alliteration? I also use alarms on my phone, but I love to write things down and cross them out! This smaller size has worked really well for me and I found it at Michael’s on a tip from Jen, I think?

I did a Target pick up on Sunday and it is amazing – more amazing than Kroger pick up. Just think of how much I save by not going in! Girl math! I use the app and it is so user friendly. I prefer Target for my toiletries and a couple of other hard to find things at Kroger. I did an order for Jack and Mason to take back to college along with a few things for me. Is this a great time to be alive or what?

I want to do something fun on Sundays after the work is done. Sunday Funday, right? Tom and I went to Drake’s to watch a little bit of football and eat some lunch. I don’t care about sports; I just go for the food.

I tried the Italian sparkler and it was delish! I have started taking photos of restaurant cocktail ingredients to try to make them myself for a fraction of the price.

Sushi and nachos!

Then, we watched a movie with a red neck fire. A red neck fire is simply a fire starter log. Jack and Mason were hanging out with a friend so we had the house to ourselves.

It was good to see my colleagues at work on Monday!

I tried a new recipe…A Big Mac salad using a Boca burger. Jack and Mason were bowling with friends and Tom had fish sticks and peas and Kraft mac and cheese so I made this.

The sauce makes it! The recipe is from the WW app so you see the points values.

I had a happy hour Tuesday after school with Erica at BJs. We had the place to ourselves and I have to get the sparkling sangria every time I go there. It is so good! Do you have a BJ’s?

We split some spinach queso and Erica got a salad because she had not had lunch yet. She had just gotten back from Ecuador with students so had to miss school and she had a lot to tell me. She said it was a nice way to ease back into school…starting with a happy hour before returning to work the next morning!

Santa brought me a new teaching tool – a Clear Touch panel. Ask me if I know how to use it! Ha!

Have I ever told you about the red “H” on my board? It is the “Scarlet H” because the “h” is never pronounced. One must don it if they pronounce this sound. I am not mean about it and I don’t force it. I just think it’s funny. Let me have my fun, okay?

It was great to see my students, but it was hard to get back in the saddle. I asked if they missed me and…crickets. Wednesday was much better and I felt much more in my element.

My own kids left the nest Wednesday night after dinner. They said they wanted one last dinner so I had some pressure to make it good. I made chicken alfredo and broccoli. I must say that I am ready to do a deep(er) cleaning this weekend. I was holding off until J and M and all of their stuff left the building.

This was the dinner for Tom, Jack, and Mason:

this was mine:

I really like these noodles. I got mine at Costco. I made my sauce from one laughing cow wedge and chicken broth and it was delish! I whisked them together and heated them on the stove top. I added some garlic powder and cajun seasoning. I also added mushrooms to Tom’s portion and mine.

I wanted to show you an example of how I do variations for myself. They had angel hair and heavy cream and butter. Did you read my meal plan post yesterday?

So, Jack and Mason left Wednesday after dinner and I was a bit sad, but not like last year. I took a long hot shower and then settled down for some trash tv.

We thought we might get school cancelled on Thursday, but no such luck. Ha! I went to school as usual at 6:45 and had my planning period and then started teaching my second period. About halfway through class the students got texts from friends at other schools saying we were getting out of school at 11:00. Don’t you love it how they are the first to know?

Oh, and it was Covid testing day. We have optional testing at our school and if a student is positive the office calls the teacher and they have to take all of their stuff and do the walk of shame out the classroom door. So, right after we found out we were dismissing early, one of my sweet students had to do the walk of shame. I guess I do not need to say that not much learning happened that day. We had to go to one and a half more classes and the students were just so excited they had a hard time focusing.

They also let the teachers go home after the kids left.

Ernie got a walk and he loves the snow so much!

I ate the lunch I was supposed to eat at school – the Big Mac salad again!

My new obsession while I ate…Peacock! I am paying $4.99 because my Real Housewives of Miami are now on Peacock instead of Bravo. I am also watching the Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip.

Anyone else loving Peacock? I give up on trying to keep my television subscription services to a minimum! I guess it is just not possible.

So, these are not all traditional favorites this week, but what I have shared keeps me on my toes and makes my life anything but boring.

In other news…there is talk that we may go to virtual learning with live classes for a short time of no more than two weeks until the Omicron dies down? But, will it?

Also, for a bit of Covid information from someone with boots on the ground (me, but only in a school)…

During the first semester, I hardly had anyone out with Covid or that had to be out because of being a close contact. Out of my 130 students, I had about 8 total for the whole semester. In the last 3 days, I have that same amount, if not more. I have some kids that have not returned from winter break that I have not even heard from, so I can’t be sure of my exact number.

I am conflicted…do we just let everyone get it and get it over with? Do we continue in person school for those that can come and use Google Classroom for anyone who cannot or prefers to stay home? Is this ever going away? Do we learn to live with it?

And, who just really wants to stop hearing about it? Me! But, I think it is super odd when a blogger just pretends it doesn’t exist. That is just my opinion, though. I think turning 50 made me more willing to just state my opinion, have you noticed?

Alright, I am babbling. I hope you all are happy and healthy this week!

Thanks for reading and happy Friday!

Amy

Thursday, January 6, 2021

Is one of your resolutions to eat better? I am considering sharing more of my weekly meal plans. I do repeat a lot, though, and you might be bored. I would love to find a healthy meal link up, too. Any bloggers out there want to start that? Ha! I get new ideas all the time from Instagram. Put “WW” in the search and you will find accounts that are eating the WW way.

I was originally going to post this on Tuesday, but then I remembered it was the Amazon link up!

If am doing the WW Personal Points plan and I am trying to eat very little artificial sweetener or processed foods. I am trying to eat several cups of non-starchy vegetables a day and maybe one beloved potato per day – he! I love potatoes! I am eating a lot of eggs/egg whites, chicken, ground turkey, and a bit of lean ground beef. I have fish maybe once a week. I have a piece or two of Keto bread or a Keto bun maybe 3 times a week. I have sadly drastically reduced my cheese intake – ha! I am trying to drink as much water as I can, but I really only drink water and coffee on the daily. I drink a cocktail a couple of times a week. I am trying to use more sparkling water when I want a “drink” at home. I do have a sweet treat if it is something I really want. I don’t eat much fruit – I love vegetables WAY more. I have lost 46 pounds since April of 2021. The scale has not gone down in quite a while…but, it hasn’t gone up, either. I enjoyed my holidays but I didn’t go off the rails. I probably need to change something up because my body is probably used to what I’m doing. I have a few ideas…

This week I have a four day week with students. Monday was a teacher day and on these days, we can go in a little bit later so I did not prep for Monday. I also get a full hour long lunch on teacher days and like to take advantage of that and go home for lunch. It just feels like a bit of a treat. I can eat leftovers or whip up something really fast. Lately, I have been enjoying my new Keto bread from Costco with a bit of reduced fat olive oil mayo and Costco turkey. Yum!

I do take the time to plate everything I eat for the most part. I don’t do all the standing up eating that I used to do. Cooking is a good time to chug water I have found. I used to eat so much while cooking and those calories add up. I also used to eat leftovers from my kids’ plates. Whoa Nelly! That is not even good!

Here are my breakfasts for the week:

I was happy to use up three 100 calorie English muffins and then I used one low carb La Banderita flour tortilla for a breakfast burrito. Being able to grab one of these in the morning is a game changer!

I will have my two cups of coffee at home and then prepare my Premier protein cold brew to take with me.

Erica is my co-worker and meal prep partner. She traveled over break and got back late Monday night so I said I would do our first two meals of the week – Tuesday and Wednesday – and she will do Thursday and Friday.

I am doing egg roll in a bowl for our first one. I browned ground turkey – 99% lean. This is zero points for me. I use a full bag of cole slaw mix – zero points – plus you get to add a point for a cup of non-starchy veg. I think add about 2 cups of water with about 4 tablespoons of soy sauce and 2 tablespoons of oyster sauce.

I purchased this cilantro lime cauliflower rice from my freezer section and it’s pretty good! It has never been easier to eat healthier – there is just so much out there to help!

I also found a deal on rotisserie chicken so our second meal will be a burrito bowl I think.

Or, I can use the chicken for the Greek bowl.

Yes, you are tired of seeing these meals, but I could seriously eat both of them several times a week! These both also give you an extra point for the cup of non-starchy veg.

Erica loves both of these meals, too.

Erica is working smarter than I am with her meal prep. She and her husband eat the meal one night and she makes two extra portions and brings it the next day. Her husband is a bit more amenable to these meals than mine is. I do variations for mine and give him real rice when I do cauli rice.

So, it’s a process and I’m still learning.

Tom, Jack and Mason will have fish sticks, mac and cheese, and peas one night and I will have either a Boca burger or chicken patty or my zero point veggie pasta.

They will have orange chicken, rice, and broccoli one night and I will have the broccoli but something different.

They will have tacos and rice one night and I will do a giant taco salad.

I know this sounds like a lot of work and I need to get better at my prep/plan, but I have always kinda done a variation for myself.

I am also really trying to work on reducing food waste and eating from my freezer.

For snacks this week I have celery I need to use so I will have it with laughing cow and everything seasoning. If I am super hungry I will have avocado toast.

For evening snacks, I will have popcorn and a dum dum sucker, but I am trying to cut down on my popcorn consumption. Love my popcorn!

Thoughts? Let’s help each other!

Amy

Wednesday, January 5, 2021

Here is an outfit that I wore to run a few errands that I would say is just meh… during my break I wore jeans basically every day for accountability on my healthy living goals. Jeans don’t lie, baby! I was also trying to wear my cardigans that I haven’t worn much…so anyway … nothing to write home about. Why do I show it? Because we all have those meh days.

I ordered a new sweater from an online boutique that I have shopped before. I love it! It has a chewed hem and it is super bright. I wore it immediately and then maybe 3 more times! That is really the true test for me; if I don’t wear something immediately, I need to return it. It is pretty lightweight and doesn’t make me super hot.

For Christmas, Tom gave me a candle and a scarf from a local boutique called Collections. I liked them but I just really don’t need another candle or scarf. I went to peruse their other offerings and chose this super soft fuzzy jacket. I had been wanting a cute fuzzy jacket. All of my other coats and jackets are black, I think.

For NYE, I wore my Target boots, my Loft pleather skirt, my Amazon top, and my new Prosecco earrings that I will show you at the end of the post.

One day I walked into Loft just for fun and I was wearing my Loft quilty blouse and my new jacket, and… my new purse I will tell you about in a minute.

So, I got some Christmas money and I had long been curious about the popular Neoprene purses. The local boutique Collections (where I got the fuzzy jacket) had this style and I fell in love.

I got these there, too!

And, you may remember me going to The Urban Market boutique last week? I got the prosecco earrings there. I guess that’s my thing now. I will wear my alcohol of choice in my ears.

What do you think? Fun purchases? They all make me smile! Maybe they will help me through the long days of January?

Amy

Tuesday, January 4, 2021

It is time for the popular Prime Purchases link up with Tanya right here!

Come back tomorrow for my fashion post that includes some new Christmas loot and Thursday for my Eating Lately post!

I’m gonna do this the fast and lazy way…

First of all, I bought Jack this Lauren Graham book for Christmas. Both of my kids have been bitten by the acting bug and both admire her acting, but I thought Jack would like this the most and then pass it along to Mason. I read it a long time ago, but it was a library book.

Then, I ordered myself a pack of shower caps. These do not compare to my Dry Bar brand cap. If you don’t have a shower cap, you need one! I take lots of just body showers and like to protect my hair style.

We love Ted Lasso and I got each of my kids a t-shirt for Christmas. Here is the Believe one and here is the black one.

This was after Christmas, but my sister re-pierced her second hole piercing and I sent her this set to say congrats on her 30 plus pound weight loss on WW.

Then, I wanted cocktail sugar to re-create the wintertini that my friend made at her holiday party.

I ordered these triangle barrettes for myself. They are super cute!

Still loving my hairspray!

And, I needed a smaller sized undergarment. Love these!

I got my nieces that are 20 and 22 these clear stadium bags for concerts and sporting events and I added some cashola to the bag.

I gave my sister and Victoria this headband. I need one, too!

I also got Victoria this letter pendant and chain. Beware that this chain is pretty long and thick. They also have more dainty chains and I know Target has one and I found one for myself at Von Maur in the juniors section.

And, finally this month I needed to replace my Diva wash. I use a capful in each load along with my laundry pod. Doing laundry has never been so wonderful.

What have you been priming lately? Did you use Amazon for a bunch of Christmas gifts? I really didn’t. This year I found a lot at Target, TJ Maxx, and local boutiques.

See ya tomorrow for some fashion and my WIWW post!

Amy

Monday, January 3, 2021

Well…the break couldn’t last forever! As you are reading this, I am either in a teacher work day or getting ready to leave for my teacher work day. I thought it was going to be great to let me get my ducks in a row for this week, but we are in meetings basically all day. So, the work I really need to do will be on my own time. Also, we are expecting lots of kids in quarantine, so that requires more online resources. Sorry to start on such a Debbie Downer note.

Jack and Mason are home until Wednesday, so I also want to have some time to spend with them. Their college is going back on time an in person, but they are mandating the booster.

I am linking up today with Heather, etc. right here!

Thursday afternoon, Tom and I took Ernie to swim in the river.

The river was high and it’s been quite grey here. We headed home and I made burrito bowls and we watched tv with Jack and Mason.

Friday morning I met Elizabeth at Gralehaus. New favorite place! It has rooms to rent upstairs and downstairs it is a brunch place – only open from 9-2, I think – with a German-ish vibe.

There are maybe 6 tables inside and a bar where you can sit, but it wasn’t very cold and we chose to be a little safe by sitting outside in the garden area.

I got the “ugly frittata”. It did not taste ugly!

Eliz got the sourdough with burrata and apple butter.

We both loved it and I can’t wait to go back.

As Friday progressed, it got super sunny and warm!

I did a fun NYE mani on my patio with my dark purple/black and an overlay of OPI confetti polish I had. I also read and I am super into this book!

Look at these temps!

That night, for NYE, we went out at 4:40. Yes, I said 4:40! We are old. We met our friends at Harry’s to watch the end of the Cincinnati game because they have a family member on the team.

I had prosecco because I was wearing my new prosecco earrings I will show you on Wednesday.

We got the spinach and artichoke dip with the pasta noodles!

I also got sushi and Tom got his favorite salmon salad. Mason ate the rest when we got home around 7:00! Crazy NYE! Mason went to a party and Jack hung out with us.

Saturday it was warm and rainy and I love to visit my covered patio and sit in the rain.

Mason finally was ready to tackle his closet with me. A couple of the bags were my stuff. It felt so good to get this out!

I took it to the drop off center immediately and then did a grocery pick up for the rest of the time J and M are home and for the week. I am going to try really hard to not go to the store until next weekend.

Tom went to the gym and brought home donuts; balance, right?

Mason and I watched Disney’s Encanto.

We stayed home the rest of the day because it literally rained all day and it was just a good day to stay home.

Sunday was clean, meal prep, and then relax and get ready for a long and busy January. I’m trying not to be too depressed and I do miss my students and I have some fun things to teach and some fun projects coming up.

I will leave you with a few things I really liked!

This is my jam! It’s just such a good song that you can’t help but to sing and dance even if in a public place.

Have you been seeing all the CDC memes? So funny! I really liked this one:

And, this one:

Jack and Mason like to make fun of signs like this!

And, of course, Betty…

What a life, right? I started this post on a negative note, but Betty will help me to end it on a positive note.

I know many of you are ready for routine again after not knowing what day it was and after having so many holidays so close together, right?

Thanks for reading,

Amy

Friday, December 31, 2021

Happy Friday and Happy NYE! I don’t think the Friday Favorites blog link up is happening today and by the way, the blog world has been mighty quiet this week. I have enjoyed some “Best Books of 2021” posts and some “Most Popular Posts of 2021”, though. I really hope that everyone isn’t heading to Instagram in lieu of blogging! I much prefer to read a blog post.

Also, did you know you can get my blog sent to your email inbox? Scroll to the bottom of the page and enter your email. Or, click follow in right hand corner and enter your email address.

If you are looking for a certain topic, you can search with the looking glass at the top right or at the bottom right. That’s as high tech as I get on this ol’ blog.

My number one favorite is having Jack and Mason here! And, my second favorite is having this break. I love my job and my students, but it is so nice to just have some time off.

Other favorites are:

As much as I love Christmas, I am always ready to put everything away when it’s over.

I like minimalism, twinkle lights, and plants after all the Christmas color. It always feels so fresh when I get everything put away. I know I’m not the only one that feels this way, right?

Monday, I went to the library and choose these three books:

I started with the first one and I am enjoying it so far. It is about a woman in Manhattan in the 40s-50s who gave up her job as a UN interpreter after getting married and starting a family. She is bored with her life as a young mom and is going to get an offer that pulls her back into her past… It’s also nice that I have gotten to read outside this week!

I went to Penzey’s Spices for the first time ever on Monday. Do you all have one where you live? I enjoyed looking at all the spices and blends.

These are what came home with me:

I have already used all of them!

Just because I’m on break doesn’t mean that the meal prep stops. I made a bunch of cauliflower rice and got things prepped for Greek Bowls for my lunches a couple of days this week.

I also cut up celery to have with laughing cow wedges and everything seasoning.

Monday afternoon, Tom and I saw The King’s Man at the theater and it was really good. Funny Tom story…he had vacation time to use and took off the week before Christmas. He went back to work Monday, only to find out that the office was closed for their Christmas holiday as Christmas fell on a Saturday. I laughed my head off because he had even been to the gym at 4:30 a.m. because he thought he had a work day. He went and got his tire repaired and then met a friend for lunch that he had been meaning to catch up with. I told him he should probably read his work email a little bit more carefully. So, he was free to meet me for the 1:20 movie.

I really like this “snowdrop” scent. I don’t love all of the Mrs. Meyer’s scents, but this is one that is really nice and reminds me of snow! Teachers love a snow day! Our district has announced that we will go back to the traditional snow day unless we have a freak weather event resulting in us needing to be out for multiple days at a time. That means no online/virtual work for our students and they can simply play in the snow! But, we do have to make them up so I don’t want too many. I may do a “make my own snow day” if you know what I mean – wink, wink. Look at me – on break – already planning for the next time I will be off.

I made an iced coffee with this syrup and vanilla Premier. It was pretty good! I miss my peppermint mocha, though. It is my best concoction.

I was “influenced”, but this is a pretty darn good cup. It fits in your car cup holder, too. I have a cup problem, but if it helps me drink more water…maybe it’s an okay problem to have?

They wasted no time…the Valentine’s Day stuff is out! I love Valentine’s Day, but it seems a long way off.

I went in a boutique that I always forget about. If you are local, all of their clothes and Christmas is 40% off. I love having the time to pop in places I don’t frequent when I’m working.

A really cool favorite this week…I got to see a girl who I taught with for only one year back in the school year 2000-2001. She taught German and so we were in the same department then moved to another city for a different job. We have only seen each other a couple of times in 20 years, but we have followed each others’ lives on social media.

She was in town with her son for a swim meet and we met for dinner. It was so fun and we had lots of laughs! We have the same sense of humor and it was as if no time had passed.

I had red wine, salmon, and broccoli.

I have my new January mantle:

Weird angle – I took it while sitting on the floor playing with Ernie. He will be 9 next month but is still so playful like a puppy. If you sit on the floor, he goes to his toy box to bring something to you.

I saw this on Instagram. Teen parenting is not for the weak and you may be in the throes of it or just entering it. I think this is some sound advice. Also, try to get them in the front seat with you one on one. Lots of good stuff comes out when there is no direct eye contact – lol!

I also saw this and love it…

This was pretty much what I tried to do from age 13 on.

I am trying to do this on break, too. I think you kinda need to treat them like cats. Let them come to you. Don’t make any sudden moves. And, please, do not agressively punctuate in your texts. They get really scared off by the… dreaded “!”.

I am going to ask mine to sit down with me to get on their college website to set up their payment plans for next semester, show me their classes, and talk about their progress thus far in college. We also are starting to talk about summer jobs and internships. This is a weird in between stage of parenting.

I got kinda deep for a Friday Favorites.

What were your favorites of the week?

Any Fun NYE or Day plans? Read my post from yesterday if you missed it!

Also, this week I posted a Hello Monday – Our Christmas, my 2021 recap, and a WIWW post.

Happy New Year!

Amy

Thursday, December 30, 2021

Do you have plans? I don’t have any yet at the time of this posting. I don’t like to be out on the roads and I don’t like my kids to be, either. I want everyone to stay put! If Jack and Mason don’t have plans, I might just suggest sushi and a movie at home. We do have some movies we want to watch together before they head back to campus. I think it’s probably too late to make a reservation anywhere at this point.

Just like last year, I am not gonna mess around. I am going to eat all of the good luck foods that I can. Here I come Kroger, I am ready to prepare myself gastronomically.

Please read my post from last year for the best luck possible.

Here are some ideas:

-Make any holiday foods that you didn’t get to make on Christmas Eve or Day.

-Have a game night with just a couple of friends.

-Do a potluck/pitch in and ask each person to bring something that showcases their word for 2022.

-Have everyone pick a word for 2022 – Maybe make a vision board. How funny would it be for adult men to sit around creating a vision board? Tom would so be into that – NOT!

-Do a progressive dinner with take out from a few different places or do a few different drive thrus. Kids would think this was hilarious.

-Eat your dinner out of order with dessert first. Kids would love this.

-Have everyone write a favorite memory from the year.

What ideas do you have? What plans do you have this year?

I will be back tomorrow for Friday Favorites!

Amy

Wednesday, December 29, 2021

I had plans to take lots of outfit pics, but it just didn’t happen. I have been wearing jeans most days, but with a nice top. I change out of them into shorts whenever I am done going out for the day. The jeans are my accountability touchstone for remembering how far I’ve come and for keeping me motivated to treat my body right. Y’all, I went several years without wearing jeans much at all. I repeat, leggings were not my friends. Jeans are that bitchy frenemy that will tell you the truth, ya know?

I love fashion and this is my day of the week to talk about it. It may seem that I am obsessed, but I don’t think I am; I just really enjoy it as a hobby. I ask people if I can see their new stuff and if I can help them put outfits together. Style is a personal thing and your style can evolve. It’s just so fun! And, it’s all about being and feeling your best. If you feel good you will life your best life.

We have had very, very warm weather here in Louisville, Kentucky. I hear that was the case in many other locales, too. If I can’t have a white Christmas, I will take a balmy one.

A couple of nights before Christmas, I wore my Loft velvet leggings (very old), a new Loft blouse, and my faux fur vest (very old – from the Liz Claiborne line at JC Penney! This line used to have some decent stuff for great prices and I wear this vest and my tan one quite a bit).

On Christmas Day, I just wore jeans, my Feliz Navidad t-shirt tucked in with a belt, and my red clogs. It was perfect for being on my patio all day at home!

For the day after Christmas, I wore my new Loft quilt-esque blouse, jeans and belt, and my cognac booties (Jack Rogers, old).

The day after the day after Christmas, I wore another new Loft blouse. I’m not gonna pay for shipping, so they got me – I had to order enough to qualify! This blouse has a tiny gold thread running through it. I love it. I was letting my hair air dry here and I had no makeup on.

For Christmas, my mom got me some Matilda Jane items. I think this is a tunic. I am not sure what I will put over it yet. I do have a cardigan in this color.

And this kimono..

And, this kimono…

She also got me some brown bell bottom layered pants like my red and black ones. I cut them off because they are long on me and have them in the wash now. They don’t require hemming and just kinda roll up and look like they came that way. They are perfect teacher pants. They are super comfortable but still look professional. By the way, teachers are getting so casual. I think high school has always been a bit more dressy than elementary, but I’m noticing that we are getting pretty casual. Maybe it is this year with the mask situation. Nothing really looks nice with a mask as an accessory for 8 freaking hours!

I really don’t want to buy any more winter clothes. I think the new things I received will work well for spring and fall so I really like that. I can’t wear anything too hot to school so it’s almost like I need a seasonless teacher wardrobe. I am really trying to minimize my closet and only have things I LOVE. Right now I am using Mason’s spare closet as I try to better organize my space. I feel like I work in my closet so much. I just don’t have it fully functional yet. I might ask Tom for advice on where things make the most sense.

I said I don’t WANT to buy winter clothes, but I might have some deals too good to pass up, so don’t judge, ok?

What have you been wearing lately?

What is your current vibe – type of clothing, stores, etc.?

Amy

Tuesday, December 28, 2021

Do you like to look back on the year as it comes to a close? Are you a reflective person? I feel like I am. I had a little fun looking back on the blog and just thinking about this year in general. Loyal readers, you have been along for the ride! I had fun putting this together, but I will warn you…it is long.

What a year! I feel like I pivoted so many times! But, I did it!

January – was hard on me when the boys when back to college. I felt pretty sad. Jack moved to Mason’s dorm and that made me (and Jack) happier because of the strict no visiting other dorms Covid policy. They could now go to each others’ rooms. Jack was super scared of the virus. Mason was cautious, but not super paranoid. I felt so bad that they didn’t have a “normal” first year of college, but I appreciated the chance for them to live on campus and the efforts their college made to make the best of it.

I was teaching virtually from home and I loved not having to get out in the cold. We got a lot of snow! I did make an effort to get out of the house every day after school even if just for a library pick up, grocery pick up, etc.

Looking back, I now know that I also had a harder time because I just didn’t feel great physically. I made an effort to meet a friend for a lunch or happy hour. I remember sitting outside for safety on a few patios in January and thinking how wonderful it was, because normally restaurants close their patios in September/October and re-open them in May. We had heaters, of course. I embraced home manis and pedis. I did my 30 Bags in 30 Days decluttering challenge and I tried to be frugal after the crazy December month of spending.

February – think this was the month we found out the “plan” for returning to in person school from virtual school. There was something nice about finally having a plan, but there were lots of fears about how it would work. February 3 – I got my first dose of the Moderna vaccine in the same car (masked) with my 28 year old buddy Elizabeth. Basically, the school district facilitated our vaccines to get us back to in person learning. It was a surreal experience moving up in a line of cars in the two hour total process. Luckily, we passed the time deciding who we would allow to message Elizabeth on her Hinge dating app. Fun! Afterwards we ate lunch and drank alcohol with our Tylenol.

March – meetings, meetings, meetings about going back to school (on Zoom!) and on March 3rd, I got my second dose at Walgreen’s because my school district lost my appointment for the mass vaccination clinic. The joke was on them because Walgreen’s was a very quick process. I took Tylenol again and was fine. Jack and Mason got their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine on campus! My sister visited for her spring break! My back was killing me and I remember going in to set up my room and having back spasms. I also wondered about what I would wear for pants and what I would wear in general after really not needing my teacher wear for so long! Mason was in a play that was live streamed, sadly; they didn’t allow anyone to come see it in person.

April – Spring Break where I worked and had meetings for too much of my time because we were headed back to school right after the break. April 8th is a big date for me because I decided to change my life through my diet – on my own, but by using a zero points WW list I found on Pinterest. (I didn’t tell my blog friends until July 13 because I was scared of failing.) I returned to in person teaching but it was super weird with some kids coming Monday and Tuesday and some on Thursday and Friday. I repeated lessons so much, because you taught each lesson twice for Group A and Group B. Classes were so small and the dynamic wasn’t there. It was good to see my colleagues again and be in the school. I also challenged myself to wear 32 different outfits for the 32 school days. Erica and I started walking a couple of days after school. Jack and Mason got their second dose of the vaccine before moving home and the change in Jack after the 2 week period was wonderful. He had been so scared of the virus. We talked a lot about how it had affected him.

May – May 1 – I officially joined WW and the purple plan. I was so happy the boys were back in the nest! I still had a month of school left. It was really fun at the end of the month when Jack got to act again in “Shakespeare in the Parking Lot”.

June – Summer Amy! I was nervous about being at home with all of the food after packing my breakfast and lunch everyday and having that structure, but I did well. I also started walking in the mornings on my own. Tom and I boated a lot and that was fun.

I had a staycation at the Omni and we used the rooftop pool. We ate dinner at Jeff Ruby’s and I rode in my first Uber!

July – We took a family trip to Nashville, continued to use our boat a lot, and to be social. Jack was in a Shakespeare training program that culminated in evening performances in the park.

We had several dinners out with friends. I think we were enjoying the new found freedom of the vaccine…until Delta came along!

We celebrated 21 years of marriage in July, too!

It has become a July tradition for my sister and brother-in-law to boat to us and we enjoyed a fun day again this year!

August – I thought I was going to have a normal school year, but Delta came on the scene. We found out we had to go back in masks and I am not going to lie – I cried. This was a hard month getting my stamina back to teach full speed. Jack and Mason moved back to campus basically on their own with no fanfare. I created a self-care syllabus for myself. It was also a good month getting to establish relationships with new students and connecting with ones from last year and/or the year before! Erica and I started doing our lunches together which was amazing.

We kept enjoying the nice weather on the weekends after school started like this outdoor concert below with our friends.

I think it really helped my students to go outside for class a few times!

September – We had our first fall break ever for teachers. It was so nice! We started up Spanish Club again and had great success and a lot of fun. I went to a few football games.

We celebrated Jack and Mason’s 19th birthday with sushi and cookie cake!

Tom and I boated to my hometown for an arts festival with a high school friend and his wife. It was a gorgeous day!

October – I threw myself a Day of the Dead themed 50th birthday party! Well, I made Tom do a lot of the work. It meant so much to have my best local friends all in one place! I kept the party small and totally outside.

I continued having a happy hour/friend meet up almost every week. I discovered a new favorite perfectly boujie place called The Champagnery.

Tom and I tailgated for the big rival UK and U of L game and then he stayed for the game.

November – I turned 50! I took the day off and for the first time ever – Tom joined me. It was really nice. We celebrated Thanksgiving with both sides of the family (with one family missing because they had Covid, sadly).

My mom treated me to a girls’ weekend a couple of weeks after my birthday, too. We had so much fun!

December – I limped across the semester finish line, did all of my Christmas shopping between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I got my Moderna booster shot. I was happy to have the kids home from college on December 10th for almost a month! I started cooking for four again!

A dinner and play out – the play was not great, but it was fun!

Shopping:

I used Amazon a lot, of course. I also used Target drive up quite a bit after learning how awesome it is. I continued to do consignment shopping and at the end of the year I started shopping at Loft again.

Foods/Drinks I talked about this year:

Healthier Eating recipes

Tik Tok pasta

Balsamic Bruschetta Chicken

Low Cal Margarita

Iced Coffee

Personal LIfe:

I really worked on saying Yes more! I said “yes” to my health and I said “yes” to pretty much anything social that I could do. I actually think I had a lot of fun this year. I loved my happy hours and lunches with just one friend at a time. I said no to things that didn’t fill my cup. I set boundaries for the most part that really helped me. Learning to work from home is hard and you need a quitting time. I stopped checking emails on the weekends when school started and really did follow my own rules as much as I could.

I talked about Non-Scale Victories – It can get frustrating when the scale doesn’t move much or at all! But, there are so many other ways to measure your progress.

This is MY blog and not Tom’s, Jack’s, or Mason’s. I really try not to get too much into their lives because that is not my story to tell, but…

Tom was my rock in 2021. I am so grateful to him. He is a good sport about most of the things I want to do and he is funny. You can’t tell from his non-smiling picture face, but Tom makes me laugh more than anyone else.

Jack and Mason bring me so much joy and laughter, too. I had a great year with them both together and doing things one on one. I am learning how to be a young adult parent and they make it so rewarding.

I owe so much to my friends Beth, Victoria, Elizabeth, and Erica for being available for fun and for listening to me vent! And, work would be so boring without Erica and Elizabeth!

I love my students and they added so much to my 2021, as well. They are smart, funny, and compassionate.

And, finally, my blog readers and now friends…thank you for being here in 2021. Your comments have been so supportive and encouraging.

Thank you for being part of my 2021,

Amy