Monday, February 10, 2025

It is Saturday morning and I sit in my mom’s house typing. My family went home last night but I stayed and we have a house of my sisters, my brother-in-law, and four nieces, and three nephews. It’s a packed house.

I’ve been here since Wednesday morning. I’m ready to go home. But, I’m also not. Among the tears there has been so much joy and laughter. Seeing my mom’s legacy of family and friends, hearing stories, eating all the good food we have been showered with…I have felt so, so loved.

A funny photo we found….my mom and I getting our hair done on my wedding day. My whole bridal party was there and I have a feeling my dear cousin Kelly snapped this photo.

I love these girls. We all have the best parts of my mom in us.

A beautiful fruit tray for breakfast on the day of the funeral from my mom’s friends…

Hometown donuts that are the best from my mom’s friends…

Beautiful flowers from family and friends, my department at work, and Tom’s work family made us feel so loved…

We are all taking the ones home from our friends and then we are donating other arrangements to nursing homes with a program the funeral home has were they disassemble and make smaller vases for the residents of local nursing homes. My mom would like that. We found out there were a lot of acts of kindness that my mom did that she never told us about.

So, on Wednesday we met at my mom’s house and we spent the day doing tasks that needed to be done. I still can’t believe everything we were able to do – the business type stuff. I told my sisters we should go to a nice dinner that night before the families descended.

We drove downtown and our little hometown is all decorated for Valentine’s Day. The buildings are lined in white lights and they have these hearts on street lamps.

We had the nicest dinner at the new steak house on Main Street and split some dishes and a bottle of wine.

We talked about our mom, our memories, our goals, and all the things. I am so glad we took the time to do this. We went home and went to bed pretty early but none of us slept great.

We got up Thursday and I went and got us McDonald’s egg Mcmuffins. My mom always ordered hers without the egg so I guess she just got a Mcmuffin. We always thought that was so funny. We started doing all the things – cleaned the house, steamed clothes, and I made phone calls. There are a lot of phone calls to be made. My sisters said they would rather clean toilets than make phone calls and I said I would much rather make phone calls. We have talked a lot about what our skill sets are and tried to use those to our advantage throughout this time.

Our mom got things done. We know that she was with us in spirit because if I told you how many things we did from Wednesday to Thursday you would probably not believe me. We didn’t fight. I actually don’t remember us really fighting? What a testament to my parents that they raised us to not only be good humans (I hope!) but also good sisters. They didn’t compare us or pit us against each other and I don’t remember feeling like it was a competition. I think they saw us as individuals with different strengths and interests. They also were always very fair and equal.

Around noon, the masses started arriving…

First came Kate’s family – her three kids and her boyfriend. He brought the kids and he is wonderful. It was nice to hug some nieces and nephews. Then came Molly’s family and again it was nice to have all the nieces and nephews in the house. So, that was 7 kids. Then, we started getting ready and my family arrived. Now we had 9 kids in the house. We all left dogs at home with dog sitters. I was worried about how sad the kids would be arriving at the house for the first time without Grandma there.

Family friends had brought us lunch and we had chicken pot pie, pulled pork, slaw, chicken salad, chips, and more and everyone ate something.

We went to the funeral home for the visitation and saw the slide show they put together and the pastor led us in a prayer. The funeral home director gave us an hour in the room before the public was allowed to come in. We had displayed my mom’s artwork of several different types, a photo album of her window dressing at Marshall Fields in Chicago (a job she did for about a year in the late 1960s), photographs, and we also had a box of notecards she had made with her artwork on them. We asked people to take one. I got very emotional seeing all the flowers from the people in my life and from Tom’s work. It was hard to see my mom but for many it gives closure but you also have to think – do you want closure? You want to remember the person alive and vibrant.

We did a receiving line (is that the word for this situation?) in birth order – me, Kate, Molly – I was touched that the nieces came and stood by their moms for much of the time. Those girls are poised, mature, funny, and smart. That line did not stop for about two hours – a testament to my mom. My mom had current friends, former colleagues, former students, and family come through. We heard time and time again of kindnesses my mom had shown them or ways in which she influenced them. And, I had high school friends and current friends that drove hours to come. Tom had a work friend and wife who came. We were an hour from our current home, too. So, this is something I won’t forget. My high school boyfriend and his mom came! Ha – but they live in town. My favorite high school teacher came. For the third hour, we were able to get out of line and mingle a little more. But, so many people came. I don’t have the register back yet to know how many, but it was a lot.

And, then, get this – the funeral home people took all the young grandkids to Dairy Queen in a limo. They dropped them off at the house for us!

We were so beat after the visitation and our legs and feet hurt so bad. My sisters and I said so many people touched us and got in our faces. Yes, there were many close talkers. (Seinfeld reference) I found out my school went to online for Friday and Monday because of widespread illness – flu I guess! We had lots of food at the house but Jack and I thought pizza would be nice so we ordered pizza for everyone and it was a hit. We stood around the kitchen and talked and ate. I got a hotel room across the street for my family just so we could spread out more. So, we left and everyone crashed at the house, too.

I didn’t sleep well and got up early to get back to the house. My mom’s friends were providing breakfast so I wanted to be there. Also, we had to be at the church at 9:30. It ended up being a pretty hectic morning of getting everyone fed, dressed, hair and makeup – I had to do two heads of hair besides my own and we had four girls squeezed together in one bathroom. We made it on time and had another hour of visitation in the church sanctuary and so many more people came that hadn’t come the night before. The church was packed when the service began at 11:00. The service was emotional and my niece Mia spoke some eloquent words and my sister Kate wrote the eulogy. I was so proud of her for being able to stay composed. I could not have done that. Because her eulogy was so personal it made me cry and even more. She is giving us all a copy and I may share it hear for anyone interested. I wrote my mom a poem 30 years ago and she had told me it would be part of her funeral and it was printed in the visitation card. Maybe I should have read it, too, but I don’t think I could have.

We then had the processional to the veteran’s cemetery and the family was in two limos. We had a short service there and one of the funeral directors also went to church with my mom and dad and he shared some personal and special words and got choked up. He gave the three daughters roses from the casket spray. He then gave all the grandkids one type of rose and all the extended family another type.

The family was the last to leave and some of the grandkids wanted to say things to their Grandma. Kate, Molly, and I had done this the night before just the three of us too.

We were taken back to the church for fried chicken and all the casseroles you could ever want. My mom loved a casserole. “Casserole Carole” was one nickname! I tried to sit and eat but I felt like I also needed to make my way around. I tried to talk to the people who wouldn’t be coming back to the house.

We told anyone that wanted to come back to the house to come and it was really nice. Even though we were tired, it was great to put out some cheese and crackers, cookies, and drinks. Our neighbor at our house growing up brought wine and treats, my bestie Heather brought a charcuterie board, and we had some other stuff we had brought. We sat around from 2:00 to maybe 7:00 and even had a little music. Our friend’s son is a banjo prodigy and he played for us. Tom loved it! Our niece Mia played Amazing Grace on sax.

We shared stories and laughed a lot. We realized the banjo player had chosen my mom’s favorite spot on her couch and she would have loved this.

Around 7:00, my family – Tom and kids – went home to relieve the dog sitter. I stayed but everyone was really so tired at this point that we were all ready to shower and crash. I slept on a couch in the basement with the teen girls but I didn’t sleep much. I was up at 5 am and started this post!

I am now finishing it on Sunday morning at my house…

So, Molly got up around 6:30 and wanted to go get coffee. She and I left and sat inside Dunkin’ and talked for about an hour. We went back and started the job of cleaning up and getting ready to pack up. Everyone else started getting up and we sat around and talked and laughed for a bit. Then, we got everything cleaned and packed and all left for home around noon. My sisters and I felt the same – we desperately wanted to be in our homes, but we also didn’t want to leave.

Kate and Molly have to go back to teaching Monday. I have a day of online teaching from home and we also have some snow coming in on Tuesday. We have a house to manage in a town we no longer live in. There’s a lot to do. It’s pretty overwhelming.

I drove back alone and cried most of the way. I didn’t talk on the phone or listen to anything – no music and no podcasts – for most of the ride. I also thought I could fall asleep driving I was so tired. But, I made it. Tom met me at the door and helped me unload. I unpacked and napped and then we actually went to a 50th birthday party for a bit because I was reminded that you show up for the people you care about. We came home and I crashed hard and slept 8 hours with only one wake up.

I’m sad. I know different things will hit me at different times. Our houses are full of stuff from my mom. She was a gift giver. Everything on my walls is from my mom practically. She loved to frame things for us. Also, losing your second parent feels like too much. Parents are always there for us. They are a safety net. As the oldest, I feel responsible for my sisters and I always have, but now I really do.

If you are still here, I appreciate all your kind messages. I know many of you have been here in this same place in life. It sucks.

Thank you,

Amy

Monday, February 3, 2025

My mom and grandmother:

I am not quite sure where this post is going but I thought writing/typing might be therapeutic. It is Sunday morning and I’m at home and grateful for the gift of a good night’s sleep. Tom and the beast (chocolate lab puppy) are on a hopefully long walk, Mason is asleep, and Jack is at church singing.

First off, let me say thank you for your kind words. I was receiving them on my phone Wednesday through my blog app (and still am receiving them) and I felt loved and supported.

I was at school teaching last Tuesday and got a phone call around 1:30 that my mom had passed away at her home. Kate (the middle sister) had Molly on the phone at the same time and was able to tell both of us. It may sound crazy when your mother is 82, but it was unexpected. So, shock was my first reaction. I had kids leaving at the bell while I was on the phone and new kids coming in. I was unable to get off the phone or really say anything. I think one of the students went and got Bill (neighbor Spanish teacher) and Erica (work bestie) and they led me into Bill’s room because he had planning and they took over for my class and made arrangements for my last class of the day, told the office, and all that stuff. I got off the phone with my sisters and called Tom and he said he would have Mason pick me up and he would meet me at the house. I said I could drive home. I also found out later that another teacher from the art department offered to drive me home.

The rest of the day was phone calls. I told my sisters to let me handle it so they could go home and tell their kids and make work arrangements and all of that stuff. I was on the phone from probably 1:30-6:00 but SIL Jessica and bff Heather stopped by to hug me. Tom just stayed in the room with Eddie Otis or got EO out of my hair when I was on the phone. My kids happened to both be home – one was a little sick – and they came up and comforted me and asked what needed to be done. One of them took care of dinner ordering and Tom picked it up I think. At 6:00 I took a shower and ate dinner and then didn’t sleep much at all.

Wednesday I went in to school to leave sub plans for the rest of the week. At this point we had no idea when the arrangements would be, but I knew I needed the rest of the week. I had colleagues who offered but I knew myself and knew I would feel better. I wrote Google Classroom messages telling the kids what was going on and I received nice emails from them. We have a pretty big flu outbreak going on right now, too. I have had lots email me that they are sick, too.

My sisters and I had made plans to meet at my mom’s house around noon Wednesday and that no one should go in alone.

Kate is turning 50 soon and is an elementary art teacher in Columbus, OH. She has a 19, 17, and 11 year old. She has about a 3.5 hour drive.

Molly is 47 and is a first grade teacher in an Indianapolis suburb and has 18 year old twins, a 14 year old, and a 10 year old. She has about a 2 hour drive.

I am the oldest at 53 and live about an hour away.

This is where it’s really hard to be a teacher. It just is.

There was some debate about going immediately on Tuesday but after making phone calls we determined that it would be better to get our work and family ducks in a row and meet there the next day. Tom had offered to go with me to check everything out but we decided it was ok. Maybe we should have? I don’t know.

We also decided it would just be the three of us.

I’m not going to lie. My drive there was rough. Heather met me at Starbuck’s to give me muffins. It was nice to see her before I drove. I cried off and on and I’m sure some thought I was driving impaired. Well, I was!

My little hometown has utility boxes covered with art work. My mom was so proud to have her art work on one and it’s right when you cross into Indiana from the bridge over the Ohio. Wahhhh. It made me cry again. I felt I needed to be in my hometown and with my sisters and I also felt that I needed to shield my sisters from some of the pain. I went to the funeral home and picked up my mom’s purse and cell phone. They had me sit at a table while they retrieved it. On the table was a bowl of my Dad’s signature Lifesavers mints. He kept a huge bowl next to his spot on the couch. My kids would leave their house with pockets full. My Dad has always shown up to us through finding these mints and through leaving us pennies.

I pulled into my parents’ house driveway to wait for Molly. This was not my childhood home. They moved from my childhood home in the same town when my twins were 3 so I guess that would be 19 years ago. My Dad passed away 6 years ago and my mom wanted to stay there. She could live on all on level pretty well and she really loved her “new house”.

Molly arrived and she and I went ahead in. Kate was running late but was fine with us going in. I’m not going to lie. It was hard. I won’t get too detailed, but my mom had her clothes laid out for the day and her jewelry laid out. She had her lipstick stained straw in take out cup that she loved. Well – she had one in her car, one in the fridge, and one on the coffee table. And, she loved buying and returning things. She had a TJ Maxx return in her car. I’m sorry – I did get too detailed.

Anyway, the house was in perfect order just as she liked. Molly and I found two pennies next to each other and I can’t tell you the comfort that brought me. I hope my Dad picked my Mom up.

I love this photo of them. I think they were in Hawaii during the Vietnam War when my Dad had some R and R time. They were already married at this time. I was born two years later, I believe.

So, Wednesday Kate arrived and we went through some papers together and then went to a very late lunch. We were happy to be together. We did a late night Kohl’s and TJ Maxx shopping trip that Mom would have loved! When we got home, we started going through old letters and found a really funny one my Dad wrote my Mom. Wednesday night we found a travel video on DVD my Dad had shot from a trip in 2012 on a European riverboat cruise and it was fun to hear my Dad’s voice.

Kate didn’t sleep at all that night and Molly and I slept a little.

Thursday morning I got up at 6:00 and started going through all the photo albums. When Kate and Molly got up we had to pick out an outfit for my mom and finalize the photos we needed for the slide show. We went and got breakfast at a drive thru and did a Kohl’s and TJ Maxx return and then went to the funeral home for our appointment.

My mom basically had everything planned for us. It was paid for, too. We only had to fill in some blanks. She had the obituary mostly written. She had already given photos to them for the slide show. This is the ultimate act of love. We also started seeing signs that maybe she had a feeling it was close to her time.

The pastor came to the funeral home so we didn’t have to go to him. She even had her hymns picked out.

We set the visitation for a week away and the funeral for the day after. We thought Thursday and Friday would help some people from out of town, too.

My mom’s best friend took us to lunch and it was so nice. We shared stories and we think it helped her, too. They had been friends since 1977.

We did a few more tasks after lunch and then I left that evening to go home. My sisters stayed and left early the next morning.

So, we have all had the weekend to tend to the stuff at home, the clothes, getting dog sitters, and all the other details.

If anyone wants to read:

https://www.morgan-nay.com/obituary/carole-williams

I probably won’t see you here for a bit.

Thank you all,

Amy

Wednesday, January 29, 2025

I didn’t feel right keeping my regular post scheduled for today and since you all have been with me through a lot of life and I do consider you my friends…

My mom passed away unexpectedly yesterday.

If you are my IRL friend I apologize if I didn’t get to tell you before this post.

Amy

Tuesday, January 28, 2025

Sorry, Gretchen Rubin – I didn’t do very well with your January Happiness! We will get to that in a minute!

I am wrapping up January a little early. It’s been long enough, right?

However, I did pretty well with my own January list:

-wear my blues, burgundies, white, and other non-Christmas colored winter clothes and toward the end of the month start wearing my Valentine’s Day sweaters – Yes! Still doing this!

-read more and tv less/read more and scroll less/really try to stay off social media as much as possible – I read 3 books! My neck light is one of the reasons, but also I just had more time at home with snow days. I also scrolled less!

-plan something fun to do on MLK Day since I am off school – It was just too cold! I enjoyed my day mostly at home and made chili!

-at least one coffee shop date with Mason – this will have to be on a weekend or on MLK Day unless I get a snow day. We want to try a witch/Halloween coffee shop that is relatively new – We only did the Con Huevos breakfast but it was great!

-just found out one of my favorite restaurants is having a January special Tuesday through Thursday in the month of January so I plan to do that– I did this with a friend last week and it was lovely!

-bake/cook a new dish – Mexican beef in the crockpot. I finally bought crockpot liners so I am more motivated to crock. I only rock the crock on the weekends because it’s just too long during the week to be away from whatever I make.

-enjoy a snow day – if I get one – if not…might be making my own if you know what I mean (I swear I wrote that before Snowpocalypse and 4 snow days for teachers last week and 5 for students!) – this is hilarious!

-get excited about meal prep again – this is hard to do when I’m off my routine/still on winter break mode – yeah, not really. I’m not feeling too inspired.

-walk with Eddie Otis after school even when it’s really cold – no – it’s just been sooooo cold.

-listen to more music in the house – the Echo Show is already making this easier – I am not really doing great with this yet.

-go to a speakeasy – not yet. Did I mention it’s cold?

-plan some cozy happy hours at places that have fireplaces or a dark ambiance– went to Mojito for tropical ambiance!

-work smarter, not harder with home chores-create a routine and assignments for people inlcluding myself, of course – stick to it. – doing ok with this. My laundry and dish routine are going pretty well

-work on January happiness project – much will be the declutter part – not found the motivation yet

-read How to Winter when it comes in at the library for me – with my luck it will come in on the first day of spring!

-start a bath night ritual – I have a wonderful tub and never use it -too cold! I have been wanting to shower quickly!

-re-start my spray tan membership to fake Vitamin D toward the end of the month- it really helps! This time I will go clear and light or medium and no double leg. That’s too much. I just want that – ‘did she or didn’t she just come back from vacay?’ look – not yet but they are running a 5 spray deal for 7.99 if I can buy that by the end of January

-see friends that I haven’t seen– saw one and that was great!

-continue with “Soup Sunday” where I make a different soup and use that for one of my lunches during the week – some Sundays I have done this but not every one

-start planning my spring break whether I plan to go somewhere or stay home – not yet

I am sure I am forgetting things! As you can see these are very “low level goals” in the words of the Big Boo podcast. They just help me to be more intentional with my time and help me to enjoy life more, frankly.

What about you? January goals?

Some unexpected things that happened in January:

So many salads! Erica is doing the garden cup salad delivery thing and we are having that for lunch plus I have been bringing salads to go with some of my meal prep meals. I have been making my own simple dressings and craving salads at dinner, too. Crazy!

I read 3 books in January – that is about my summer number! I can’t believe I have read this much!

I have had an unintentional damp January where I haven’t had alcoholic drinks very much.

Official Happiness Project:

I was supposed to get more sleep and declutter. My sleep was really good after I was sick and felt better and then my sleep was very good when I had the one 5 day week of school. My problem was lack of consistency. When I knew I didn’t have school I stayed up about an hour too late which makes it harder to fall asleep right away – missed my sleep window? – and I still get up about the same time. The sweet spot for me is 9:30-5:30 or 6.

I just wasn’t in the mood to go through areas of the house. I did do the front hall closet but then it was mainly just a shuffling of junk to another area. I do plan to come back to this!

I really enjoyed January! It went by faster this year for some reason!

How did you do in January?

Amy

Monday, January 27, 2025

How was your weekend? I am happy to link up with Sarah and Holly to share a bit about mine!

Thursday at 5;00, to be precise, I had a reservation at Grassa Gramma with my friend Jessica. I don’t think we had seen each other in person since August? The restaurant was offering 50% off entrees to celebrate their anniversary. I got homemade pasta for $13!

The decor is so cool in the restaurant and we had a really nice dinner getting caught up on each others’ lives.

Friday at school was a day. We had a pep rally. Here are half of the Spanish teachers being “peppy” in the senior section.

After getting my pep on, I went home to get my “boots and bling” on. Tom’s company has moved their holiday party to January the last couple of years and it’s kind of nice since December is so busy. They were doing a casino game night and boots and bling theme and Tom picked me up at 5:30 without coming in the house. He wore his boots and bling to work.

I wore my old black suede Target boots that have a western vibe, my Old Navy sequin skirt – can you even believe how much I wore it this year?, my Chico’s black silk button up (turned out to be a great purchase), and my old TJ Maxx fringe sweater vest (another rock star piece in my closet that works as a great third piece). I wore my sparkly bourbon earrings, too.

I didn’t have to buy a thing!

The sky was just stunning! I don’t get out much this late!

Tom and his first work friend…

I only took three photos but it was a nice evening.

Saturday I got myself up and ready fairly early. I put on my new Old Navy graphic tee with French on it with my Paris hat – too much French stuff at once? It was going to warm up to 40 degrees. 40 degrees is still pretty cold I found out.

I went to the library because some requests came in:

And, I had to grocery shop in person!

I bought 4 boxes of the cookie mix! I thought I could give a couple to friends…”I don’t like you enough to actually bake them for you; bake them yourself”. Just kidding!

I was super lazy after the grocery. Both kids were off working and Tom had requested Velveeta Rotel dip so I made that for him and a salad and tuna for us to have for lunch. Then, he and I, and Eddie Otis lounged in the living room all afternoon with sports and stuff on the tv. I also read and napped.

We made a last minute dinner plan with friends and I kept the same outfit on but did my hair and changed from my Uggs to my clogs.

We went with our friends to a new to us pizza and beer place called Hop Atomica. My friend and I shared a flight of beers. Little baby beers.

Tom and I split this glorious salad!

I forgot to take a photo but we split a pepperoni pizza and a fig and pig pizza with bacon and fig jam.

After dinner we went to a dessert place called Baked AF. It was next to Breakfast AF and Pizza AF. Young people these days!

Yesterday I slept in until 7:00 am! Woohoo!

I was excited to try a new flavor! I ran into a former student and she said this one is good – agreed!

And we still have lingering ice and snow…

We are supposed to have 50s and sunny on Wednesday! Happy hour on my patio? I just hope it all goes away by the end of the day Wednesday!

And those are my highlights!

What about you?

Amy

P.S. – The Bachelor starts tonight if you are going to watch along with me!

Friday, January 24, 2025

What a weird week! But, it’s Friday so who cares? Hehe. I could use one of the above!

I am happy to link up with Andrea and Erika today to share some eclectic favorites that I collected on my camera roll.

I had off Monday for MLK day and then due to the cold we did online school from home on Wednesday. It was so nice not to have to get out. I actually had a nice day and got to respond to some emails from students and they did their work like good girls and boys.

We went back to school yesterday and today we have a pep rally at the end of the day. Send Advil.

Are you a fan of Nate Bargatze? Tom has been showing me and the kids clips of his stand up or skit comedy and we have watched a couple of his Netflix specials. We both hate that music and comedy happen so often on week nights rather than weekends and so late, but I said let’s live a little and we purchased tickets!

We have always enjoyed going to see comedy! So, I am proud of us for making plans.

I had chili envy during Snowpocalypse 2025. Everyone was making and posting their chili pics on social media. I had lentil soup and thought it would be enough. It wasn’t. But, I will tell you that lentils will clean out your system.

So, I made chili on Monday and it was good. Here you see the fat macaroni noodles from Trader Joe’s. and Frito’s Scoops. My chili is my preferred. It’s hard to go to someone’s house for chili when you don’t know their chili religion. I believe in noodles (only macaroni) on the side, cheese on the side, and the chips on the side. Let each do their own. You are gonna cook a pot of chili and throw in fat spaghetti strands? NO! My chili is also pretty tomato forward and has a dash of cinnamon and a dash of sugar to cut the acidity. My mom likes to say this is called “chili mac”. I grew up eating chili without noodles but when I met Tom I converted.

I made the most delish yogurt bowl that day, too. Frozen fruit, vanilla Greek yogurt, and granola.

I’m back to using Chobani creamer. Cookie Dough is my fave but they are all good. I like their stout cartons, too.

This stance cracked me up. EO was acting a little weird Monday like he was on high alert. Can you see his dog bite wound on the left? He looks like a doggie model. Blue steel.

Cute boy with lambie gigante:

I am ready to wear V Day sweaters! I like this green and white with pink trim because it’s kind of unexpected. I went into Old Navy out of cabin fever boredom Monday and I bought a long sleeve ribbed tee to wear under this for $4.99. I have never seen ON prices so low in store. It was literally like a garage sale. Jeans for $6.47, t-shirts for $8 or $5. I bought the aforementioned white ribbed long sleeve tee and two graphic tees. I guess they are getting ready for spring stuff. I get kinda giddy when I see the spring stuff come out in stores. Do you?

I feel like a CareBear in this one:

No truer words were spoken:

Nah, honestly, January has been a nice month of hunkering down.

I bought this mix on a whim while I was in person grocery shopping…

It was on closeout for $2.80. I’m impressed and I tagged Chrissy Tiegen on IG and she said thank you!

My kids are cc cookie snobs and they were super impressed as well.

How cool is that? Love you, Chrissy! Say hi to John!

I talked about my hair woes in my Tuesday post in regards to wanting the L’ange Le Duo Grande to work for me. This is my hair clean (washed the night before) and curled with my regular one inch barrel curling iron:

I am due for a highlight, by the way. I think my last one was the day before Thanksgiving?

This is my daily makeup:

I have no mascara on. I only have a little eye liner done with a tiny brush and eyeshadow.

You’ve got to go back and read the comments to the Tuesday post – my Buy or Bye Bye – Beauty Products post. There are some great recs!

Anywho, tell me one of your faves from the week!

Amy

Thursday, January 23, 2024

How you doin’? Have you had much fashion lately? I am happy to link up with the fashionable Kellyann and Jill today!

I warned you that all I wanted to style lately were my Halaras. I have denim flares and light black flares and I am waiting on my third (and hopefully final – lol) pair in a light denim. They are really taking a looooonnnnnggggg time to get to me. (Update: they came Tuesday after school!)

The denim ones had a very bad smell. I soaked them in a vinegar and water solution over night and then washed them. Now when I wear them I get potato salad cravings, but they are better. The black did not smell at all! I read that this smell is from denim dying techniques and it is common. The light denim that just arrived on Tuesday had a mild smell and I washed them right away.

So let’s see how I have been wearing them…

Friday I wore black on black. I love this slightly puffed sleeve Amazon Basics sweater. I coudln’t find it on Amazon but this is similar. I put my black puffer vest over for my outerwear and I was fine. I am wearing my Koolaburra Uggs and carrying my Clayton and Crume tote with a little scarf tied on it.

I changed after a few periods into my new polka dot stocking socks from World Market (bought over the break before Christmas) and my velvet Cayumas Mary Janes from Spain.

Wednesday I wore my hot pink savage blouse, the black Halaras again, and an old black cardi with the Uggs.

Thursday I wore the blue vinegar Halaras, a white button up, and a white/cream sweater with the Uggs.

Yes, I do recommend the Halaras. I ordered short and as you can see, they are still a bit long on me at 5’4″. But, you can pull them up a bit higher on the waist. They would also look cute cut and frayed, but I don’t think I will do that.

New reading glasses but I really don’t need them? I need to go to the eye doctor my vision is confusing. It’s improved? It’s different?

This short four day week is our Winter Homecoming and therefore spirit week. Tuesday after MLK day was Twins Day and Erica and I twinned. I ordered this sweater in a smaller size and then it was too small after I gained some weight back and then re-ordered it in a larger size since I loved it so much. So, Erica was the recipient of the smaller size.

Being silly for our photo…

I thought about making this a separate post, but I was too excited for this topic!

Spanish women are very stylish. They seem effortlessly so! I have been following “mamainmadrid” for a bit on IG and I have been seeing my former student Ali’s ‘fits. So, I got the idea to ask her to collab on a post!

Here she is with her classic camel coat, nice jeans, white bodysuit top, and quality shoes. You walk so much in Spain that you really need to wear quality shoes.

Classic trench:

I want one of these big scarves in a colorful motif.

Her friend in her classic blazer and cute scarf:

Jeans and sweaters:

I like the cream sweater vest over button up look with jeans and sneakers:

So, sometimes WordPress lets me edit photos in a blog post and other times it doesn’t. ugh.

So, here is what Ali said about favorite stores/brands of Spanish women:

Zara, Bershka, Mango, Mulaya, and Primark are their favorite stores. She has seen a lot of trench coats, fur coats, scarves, hats, matching cute sets that are fashionable, tall boots, long skirts, and Adidas shoes.

She said that she and her friends have commented that if you put on an outfit and it doesn’t seem quite right to your American brain that it is probably Spain stylish.

So, sorry for the messy photos! Do you have any comments on any of my fits, Ali fits, or Spanish style?

Amy

Wednesday, January 22, 2025

When I got tired of the above, I faked a tropical environment below! Is there anywhere in your area where you could also “fake it”?

It’s Wednesday and time for Hodgepodge with Joyce!

1. What’s a winter memory you treasure (can be from any winter in your lifetime)? 

I grew up on a lake and when the lake froze all the neighborhood kids would gather to skate, play ice hockey, sled down the hill onto the lake, and have all kinds of fun. I had a ton of neighborhood kids around my age – mostly boys. There were a couple of girls and we could hang. This was only an hour away from where I live now and the lake always froze over. This is how I know it’s not as cold as it used to be. We all owned our own skates, of course.

2. Tell us about the last time or a recent time you were caught up in red tape. Does it send your frustration level off the charts or is it something you’ve come to expect when dealing with any sort of bureaucracy?

I really can’t think of anything, but I think working for a large school district involves a lot of red tape. I feel like they can’t think outside the box and they continue doing things the way they’ve always done. Like our snow days – we don’t have any built in days. Do you know the last time we didn’t need to cancel school? It’s been like never. Each snow day gets tacked on at the end of the year. We don’t even know our graduation date until late March. It’s no way to plan or ask others to live their lives. Also, we are we not using the technology that we have? Did we learn nothing from the pandemic?

3. Do you eat/like fish? Do you cook fish at home? What’s your favorite fish dish? Ever been ice fishing? 

I do! I mainly just cook salmon at home. I would like to get more types of fresh fish at the local fish place I have never been to. I love a bourbon salmon dish at a restaurant but my kids are saying my salmon is as good or better than many restaurant versions they have had.

I always think of the movie Grumpy Old Men when I think of ice fishing. The men at my lake growing up would drill for ice fishing to make sure the ice was safe enough for the kids and then I got to watch them fish!

4. Did you watch any of the US President’s Inauguration coverage on Monday, Jan 20? On a scale of 1-10 (with 1 being not at all and 10 being very very) how interested are you in politics in general? Do you follow/keep up with/ get involved with local politics? 

I just watched a little bit. I got home from the grocery after it had started. I think politics are so messed up in our country. It’s all about power and money and self-gain. There are very few public servants anymore. With the said, I am a very patriotic person and I appreciate our country because of the travel I have done.

5. What’s the coziest thing you own and what makes it so? 

I would say my Ugg comforter that really should be replaced. Tom and I bought it a few years ago at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I even like it in the summer, but should use a summer weight quilt.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

We are going to think the temps in the 40s are practically spring like next week! It’s all about perspective, no?

This week we have lows of 2 degrees and highs of 14, 24, 32, and 28!

That’s all anyone can talk about right now it seems.

Amy

Tuesday, January 21, 2025

I was at a loss for a blog post idea – this rarely happens! I realized I hadn’t talked about beauty or beauty products for some time and an idea was born.. – buy this or bye bye to this product.

Now, you must know that I am no expert. I am willing to spend some pennies if a product really works and/or lasts a long time and I honestly don’t have that many products.

I am kind of embarrassed by this first one…

I succumbed to the many, many ads I was seeing for the L’ange Le Duo Grande. These women were achieving such nice curls. Um, mine fell flat. I tried a few times. My co-worker Erica has the regular Le Duo and she confirmed the same to me. She doesn’t think it gets hot enough.

I achieve a much better curl with a standard classic one inch barrel curling iron. I don’t have a flat iron but Erica says her flat iron does way better curls.

So, tell me…is there something I haven’t figured out?

I don’t want such curly curls. I was hoping for more of a flat iron curl look, I guess.

This is a bye bye for me. $60 down the tubes.

This is a great winter moisturizer for the whole body and a little goes a long way. It is so thick but in a good way.

This is a definite buy for me in the winter. I don’t need this intense of a lotion in the summer.

My hair loved the water in Madrid this past fall. It tasted great from the tap and several people told us it was great and my hair and skin also loved it. I think it was soft water. Tom says ours is in the middle. Medium hard? I don’t know. Why am I talking so much about water? I was able to curl my hair and achieve very soft bouncy curls. I took a travel size of this and that combo was chef’s kiss for my hair. I’m not able to achieve quite the same here but this is a really great holding spray.

This is a buy for me.

This was a Christmas gift from my mom per my request. It ain’t cheap. I didn’t realize it was a spray on wet hair and then dry with a hair dryer product. I just thought I could spray on dry hair for shiny locks. I don’t blow dry my hair very often.

This is a bye bye for me. Maybe I can put it on wet hair and go in the sun in the summer. I absolutely hate blow drying my hair. It takes too long, it’s noisy, and I get really, really hot.

I was told you could use this everyday and my personal theory is that our screen-tired eyes need all the lubrication they can get. Dry eyes are painful. If you have a Costco membership, that is the most economical way to add this to your repertoire.

Thiis is a buy for me.

I must admit I haven’t used this since late fall. But, it is so worth the money. This and Tan Luxe The Butter are the best I have used, but this gives you a quicker result and more bang for your buck, I think.

This is a buy for me.

These are great in my opinion but I must admit that I have only tried a few brands. I also found that they feel great when one has sinus pain and pressure. You can lower them a bit if you want. Nothing bad will happen. I keep them on until they dry out. Nothing bad happened.

These are a buy for me until someone tells me a better option!

This sucks! My favorite dry shampoo is Batiste. I bought this at TJ Maxx with a gift card so there is a chance that it’s expired or not as good as it’s supposed to be. TJ Maxx had not Batiste at the time. Bummer.

This is a bye bye bye for me.

I have been really lazy about mascara lately to be honest. As long as I line my lids I feel like I look ok-ish. My eyes seem to water more now and mascara really bugs me. My favorite for a long time was Thrive but I heard that tubing mascara can take off your lashes and I don’t have much to begin with.

This coupled with my primer looks really good. The price wasn’t bad either at Ulta.

It is a buy for me. I would get it again!

This is one of the Trader Joe’s dupes and I have to be careful not to use too much because I love it and it smells so good. If you use too much it does weigh your hair down.

This is a buy for me. My tangles are so much better using this, too. I don’t use a detangler anymore.

So, what have you used lately that is a buy or a bye bye? I get so many good recs from my readers and other blogs!

Amy

Monday, January 20, 2025

I am linking up with Holly and Sarah to share my weekend which is still going on.

I chose some quotes of MLK Jr. in Spanish so my students will translate and talk about how they feel about them and pick a favorite tomorrow.

I taught a five day week last week after what turned out to be three weeks at home! So, Friday definitely called for Starbuck’s. I had a gift card that I was anxious to use. I feel urgency at using gift cards. Do you? They burn a hole in my wallet. The line was so long at the drive thru but I waltzed in (saw it had been remodeled!) and I was out of there in a flash.

I ordered peppermint cold foam cold brew or however you say it because of Jen and I loved it!

Friday was a good day at school and I was in a really good mood.

After school it was happy hour! I have been going here a lot, I know. It’s close, it’s fast, and it’s always good. It’s Mojito. It was nice to sit in this tropical heated area!

I tried a special smoky mezcal margarita.

And, we had queso with chorizo.

I went home and found Tom and Mason bathing Eddie Otis in the mudroom. He had been bitten by a dog who has a yard that backs up to the school playground like ours does. EO was sniffing under said dog’s fence and the dog didn’t like it and he grabbed hold of him and bit him. They had to clean it up to see the extent of the damage and I, of course, was freaking out.

Saturday morning Tom took him to the vet (just to be sure) and he had to stay so they could work him in. I went and picked him up around 1:00 and he didn’t need stitches but came home with an antibiotic. Here is his wound:

Can you see the little patch of white above his orange collar on the left? It was so weird having him out of the house from 8-1 and I missed him so much. I stress cleaned and made a mushroom and caramelized onion quiche – as one does.

When I picked him up the sweetest old basset hound was brought in on his dog bed and I knew what was happening. I got teary-eyed and couldn’t focus on paying my vet bill. I’m getting teary-eyed typing this. Why am I telling you all? I guess I want you to share in my pain.

I also picked up some library requests. I have an awful lot piled up right now so we will see what I get to;

I’d rather have too many books than not enough. Anyone with me on that?

We had rain all day Saturday pretty much and the temps got up to the 40s. I still went to the car wash and felt better about getting all that salt off. My black SUV was grey!

Kinda cool photo? I’ve only been able to go through an automatic car wash for a handful of years now. I was scared about all the directions and getting it wrong. So proud of myself! I was also scared of the spray tan booth and had a bad experience ala Ross from Friends many years ago. As you know, I faced that fear again a couple of years ago. Bravery comes in many forms and don’t you forget that.

I sat outside a bit in the morning…

and with a hot chocolate later on…

The rain wasn’t able to melt everything away, but it’s definitely much better before this extreme cold hits us next! Are you expecting really cold temps, too?

I ordered a dog toy remote on Amazon and it came just in time for EO to enjoy after his vet adventure. He loves to steal our remote and I thought this was funny but maybe it was going to encourage that behavior.

He loved it and promptly had it in four pieces! oops!

Tom was in a bad mood because his team lost but he channeled it by making two trips to Home Depot and forgetting his wallet and coming back home to get his wallet and me telling him to use Apple pay on his phone and him finally adding cards to his phone. But, he finally changed a light bulb that had needed changing. Baby steps.

So, Tom could do with never going out to dinner. His idea of a good dinner is truly frozen fish sticks, canned peas, and Kraft mac and cheese. He goes to make me happy because I eat breakfast and lunch at school during the week and cook dinner most week nights. He goes out to lunch everyday like a normal person – just kidding. I hate that he does this but I don’t fight the battle.

So, Jack had asked me to dinner to have some one on one time and Tom was all too happy to stay home and eat leftovers with Eddie Otis. We tried a new to us Mediterranean place called Charcoal.

It was really good and we have tons of leftovers. I still love my Shiraz better, though. It’s also closer to home.

I was so tired Saturday that I had already fallen asleep multiple times when I sat down to watch something and I did that again in the evening so I finally gave up and went to bed.

I woke up Sunday to this:

I don’t like Tik Tok, but I had fun making Spanish lesson videos and I kind of don’t want to lose them. Jack told me Saturday night that people have already gone to “RedNote” which is another Chinese app. That was the first I had heard of that one? I had heard this was coming Sunday but I didn’t know how it would go down.

And, then it was back!

It snowed much of the morning and I felt like making bread. I am not part of the sourdough sorority so this is just no knead bread that rises for 2 hours. I failed at the sourdough starter. Maybe I will one day try again.

I gave EO all the attention. He likes to let you participate in his bone chewing. He lays it on your leg.

I didn’t go out until 4:00 and then I promptly regretted it. It had stopped snowing but it was so cold. I went to Fresh Market and Aerie.

Hardly anyone was out! We still have the ugly piles of dirty snow.

I picked up 3 Blaze pizzas for us to split and went home and made a salad to go with it.

And, that’s about it for my wild weekend. I’m grateful EO’s bite wasn’t that bad and I’m grateful for a warm house. Even though it’s so cold, I’m also grateful that the roads are clear now!

What about you?

Amy