I am linking up with Jennifer today for Currently!
Loving…
Honestly, I am just loving/savoring these quiet unhurried mornings I have left before I get on the school train. I am loving being at home and available to my kids when they want to talk, watch a show, ask me to make a food for them.
Looking forward to…
I am looking forward to our German visitors, but I am also worried that I will be too tired from school to enjoy having company. I hope that I am able to get into a good routine by then.
I am also looking forward to celebrating my twins’ birthday next month. How is it possible that they will turn 21?
Starting…
Meal Prep – I have enjoyed having the summer off from prepping so hard core, but I am ready to start back. I plan to make 12 Amy McMuffins this week to put in the freezer. I use English muffins, Canadian bacon, egg, and either a half slice of Velveeta or a slice of Sargento very thin cheese.
Erica and I are doing lunches together again and I will try to have the same thing for dinner and make extra for our lunches.
Thinking…
About school – I am trying to stay in summer mode, but those back-to-school emails have started rolling in!
Wearing…
I’m going to be wearing my lounge clothes a bit longer – my favorite hot pink and blue shorts from Aerie! Then, it will be time to get dressed again. My plan is to cycle through all my dresses, skirts, and palazzo pants without repeating. I plan to wear tennis shoes and comfy sandals like Birkenstocks because those hard cement floors are brutal on the old feet and legs and they take some getting used to.
This month I spent money on Barbie tickets and a Barbie t-shirt!
Tuesday, August 1, 2023
Should I continue doing this? I don’t know! I can’t believe this is my 7th month of recordingall of my discretionary spending.
July 1 – Saturday – $20 movie tickets for No Hard Feelings, $8 popcorn, $227 Costco (mostly Tom’s protein shakes)
July 2 -$55 Captain’s Quarters lunch – tried to go by boat but it stormed so went by car, $14 Paul’s Fruit Market (just a couple of things for burgers)
July 3 -$113 Kroger, $29 Captain’s Quarters lunch with friends we had to reschedule with so we did get to boat there
July 4 -$35 pizza delivery (so tired from river all day) We spent day on the river with my sister and her hub and brought all of our own food
July 5 – $5 coffee in Madison, $85 Kroger a “few” things we needed to make dinner
July 6 – +$27 Sassy Fox consignment sales, $0 library, $0 J.Crew blouse with part of my earnings
July 7 – $11 coffee shop with M, $22 Trader Joe’s wine, $95 Trader Joe’s food
July 8 – $10 car wash, $40 Ulta, $14 Bath and Body, $7 Total Wine, $17 Barnes and Noble, $54 Alchemy, $10 Gelato Gilberto
July 9 – $133 Kroger, $22 Taco Bell
July 10 – $5 coffee shop with former student – wanted to buy hers as well, but she had already paid!
July 11 – $20 Mexican supermarket (Summer List item), $59 blouse that I could not live without from Tunie’s local boutique, $13 tickets to see Barbie on sneak preview night!
July 12 – $17 Liquor Barn – Tom’s beer cheese, one bottle of Apothic rose wine
July 13 – $10 breakfast with Beth at Biscuit Belly(supposed to go to pool but weather – ugh), $17 Lotsa Pasta, $22 Rainbow Blossom (cocktail mix and stevia drops), $22 Napa with Elizabeth (last minute happy hour invite on her way home from work) , $147 Kroger pick up
July 14 – Trader Joe’s $40, $40
July 15 – $0 anniversary dinner (gift card), $20 tip
July 16 – $90 Kroger run
July 17 – $22 CFA dinner for T and A – salads and a bag of ice for $1.59 – J and M had leftover alfredo because they were home later than we were
July 18 – $16 pool entrance fee (up from $10 last year), $60 Kroger for a French dinner Mason wanted to cook with me
July 19 – $25 Cafe Classico with Victoria, $50 Nordstrom Wit and Wisdom pants
Clothing – J.Crew blouse new with tags from consignment Sassy Fox ($13 but paid with money earned and still received +$27 in more earnings)
July 20 -$156 Kroger pick up, $30 in store at Kroger, $13 movie concessions for Tom – not me!, $13 movie ticket for Barbie for Tom (I already ordered mine)
July 21 – $44 Mexican, $125 Costco (Tom’s protein shakes)
July 22 – $28 food truck food at outdoor concert
July 23 – $126 Kroger pick up
Money well spent for 7 hours of pure relaxation and time to chat with a friend!
July 24 – Omni Day – You don’t even want to know! Ha! I think all said and done it was $120 for the resort pass, valet parking, lunch, and a couple of cocktails
July 25 – $60 Fresh Market – went in for the 2.99 chicken and came out with more
July 26 – $25 Lunch with Erica at the Goose
July 27- $20 coffee shop, $12 canes,
July 28 – $211 Kroger pick up – couldn’t make it until August, $51 dinner out – met Tom at The Goose on his way home from work. It used to be Goose Creek Diner and now it is more upscale and closer to our house. It makes a great meeting spot for us. We arrived at 5:30 and had no trouble getting a table on a Friday night.
July 29 – $50 met Tom for dinner at The Goose
July 30 – $0 boat lunch with a couple Tom has been trying to treat – he rarely does the inviting so this is big for him and they ended up picking up the tab because they were quicker than Tom!, $70 dinner out before Jack’s opera program
July 31 – $0 Spend Day – packed a picnic for the boat
$0 Spend Days – 1 – I have realized this is very hard to do in the summer. I am able to do it quite a bit when I am working!
Groceries – $1203 – if you read my Share 4 Somethings, I learned that a moderate family grocery budget in 2023 is $1300 so I feel better.
Meals out including happy hours – $516
Clothing – $193 – I started getting ready for back to school and addressed some needs like black pants and basics and teacher friendly shoes so I am ok with this amount. I did less shopping for recreation this summer, for sure. I am subtracting what I made from my consignment store and not counting the Shein purchases.
Clothing Summary –
J.Crew blouse new with tags from consignment Sassy Fox ($13 but paid with money earned and still received +$27 in more earnings)
$59 Tunie’s hot pink animal blouse
$44 Shein order:
two fun earrings in a rattan type material
crochet headband
orange blouse
pink red floral blouse
lighter pink patterned blouse
My sister Molly has recommended Shein and had really good luck. I have only worn one shirt and one pair of earrings and the headband. I don’t love the fabric.
$13 Barbie t shirt – of course one must have one to see the movie, right?
$50 Wit and Wisdom pants
$50 tanks and tees re-stock at Old Navy to wear under things
$5 Vintage 7 Eight shoes
$43 Crocs Brooklyn sandals
Thoughts:
I am really proud of myself for reducing the huge grocery spending I did in June. I am also happy with less food waste. I feel like going to the store more frequently might help me in the future. Maybe I should take a twice a week approach because I lose a handle on what food we have that needs to get eaten. I don’t know – that could also cause me to spend more.
The meals out/happy hour/take out is ok with me because that is for four people and I enjoyed those opportunities. There was very little fast food or take out and mostly meals eaten in places with people I care about.
I may take a break in August, but it might be interesting to see the difference when I am busier. Part of me thinks – heck – I might as well do the whole year now!
Well, folks…today is the last day of July. Can you believe it? I can’t and I am in denial. Ha! Today I am linking up with both Sarah and Holly for a weekend recap called Hello Monday.
Friday was hot! My car said 100 but then it went down to 99 for my photo!
I am tired of my legs sticking to chairs so I wore my gauzy long white skirt to meet Tom for dinner on his way home from work – 5:30, baby!
I love this fun stack that I have had for a long time:
We met at The Goose where I ate with Erica for lunch on Wednesday.
We had their version of a blooming onion called “goose feathers”:
I had soup and salad:
Mason has been eating our restaurant leftovers after work and is really excited about it!
I watched this E! movie:
The E! movies are probably a step up from Hallmark movies in terms of acting and cheesiness. I liked it ok.
Saturday morning was blog reading time – Hi Tanya!
Tom has been trying to take a work friend out to lunch for quite some time and we finally made it happen Saturday. Tom found a trampoline and messed around.
It was hot but pretty. We ate in the AC at Captain’s Quarters and I had a mahi melt sandwich:
We already had dinner reservations – We never eat out twice in one day!
We went to a tiny little Italian place called Difabio’s Casapela:
And, had gelato after!
Again, we had tons of leftovers that Mason was happy to eat.
We saw Jack’s opera group sing and didn’t understand a word. I think it was all in Italian and French.
Thanks to a couple of people for encouraging me – I am now really into this book!
And, Sunday we took some other friends out but this time we just ate on the boat. It was a relaxing day!
The clouds were so fluffy!
Ahh….I was busy this weekend, but it was all fun stuff. I don’t normally have this little downtime, so I’m not used to this pace! I knew I had today to rest. I have four more weekdays.
Happy Saturday and welcome to the once a month Saturday post from yours truly. I am linking up with Jennifer for Share 4 Somethings. Be sure to click on the red font to check out some other blogs!
We will be sharing what we have loved, learned, read, and ate or enjoyed recently.
Loved
I loved hearing about my friend’s new project! I have two Beths and an Elizabeth in my life, so this may be confusing. This Beth is my high school friend Beth. She is the one who hosted the gathering in her beautiful backyard oasis in June here:
Check out her new blog here! I am so excited for her. Her theme will be all things hosting. And I can tell you that she is a great hostess. She makes you feel welcome, and she is not formal or stuffy in her home. She graciously let me help use her Blackstone Grill, too. There were three kids attending and she even thought to have a table set up for coloring and a big box to be creative with and pulled out some old toys. She planned our 30th class reunion last summer, as well, so she is pretty darn good at this. I would love for you to follow her.
Read
Well, I started being able to relate to my more southern blog friends this week. We are having high 90s today and we had it several times this week with poor air quality and very high humidity, but look what I read on my weather app:
I will take it!
I do my best reading outside and it’s just been too hot. I just can’t get into this book:
I had heard it isn’t as good as Every Summer After, but should I leave it for a bit and try one of my others?
Learned
Tom suggested Mason watching a college show called Fresh Meat. It is set in the north of England. I learned new terms and I learned that subtitles are really helpful with difficult accents. Do you ever turn them on?
I also decided to do some light research. I was appalled that my grocery bill was $1600 in June, but then when I learned this I didn’t feel as badly.
I am happy to report that my July Spending report shows that I have greatly reduced that amount but have not sacrificed and have probably cooked more and eaten out/gotten take out less. I will post my July Spending next week!
Ate/Enjoyed
Mason and I are the only ones who drink coffee, and we started a thing where we try new coffee shops. We loved Haraz and I saw that they are actually a small chain, so click on it to see if there is one in your neck of the woods.
This was a Haraz latte which had some wonderful spices like cardamom.
This was an elephant ear:
Mason and I did another dinner of white wine chicken, arancini balls, and broccoli. His fancy Italian restaurant job had him wanting to try the arancini balls.
Yes, that’s a lot of broccoli. Mason plated it and loves broccoli. He wanted to bring broccoli to school instead of cupcakes in elementary.
Friday – why you gotta come so fast? I am linking up with Andrea and Erika to share some faves from the week, though!
Monday I was downright mad to see rain. The forecast said sunny skies! It was not in my plan! My kids have been playing basketball in the school yard behind our house this summer and the pink pool was for Ernie and he showed no interest!
Not having the rain face:
But, this smile means that the rain went away and the sun came out for my Omni Hotel pool day! This is through a website called Resort Pass and there is only one hotel who does this in Louisville. You might want to check for your city or a city near you. You pay a fee to use the pool from 9 a.m. – 10 p.m. This pool is considered “rooftop” but it really is only on the 3rd floor. On the ground floor, they have a Con Huevos, Heine Bros. Coffee, market, bar with pizza oven, hot dog stand, and more. We checked it out a bit.
Ahhhh the pool…
We lasted from about 10 until about 5 and had a lovely and very relaxing day. We had some hummus for a snack and then ordered lunch poolside. We might have had a couple of cocktails, too. I hardly took any photos. Beth was my partner in crime for the second year in a row. This was a much-anticipated day and definitely a favorite of the whole summer!
Even though I’m not quite ready for school to start, I really miss my students. I posted this on Instagram and got some sweet messages.
Tuesday was Burrito Bowl night and it was really good due to…
this magical sauce! You only need a little, but it’s Amy approved. This is one reason why it’s good to go in the store from time to time (rather than just do pick up) – there are always need products that help me get meal ideas. This time I specifically looked for this on the app because Costco does not have the avocado crema sauce anymore! I am so upset!
Tom had a real highlight of his week when he was asked to go “wake surfing”. This requires a special wake boat and he’s pretty good. I got this video sent to me, but I didn’t get to go.
Not bad for a person eligible to be a member of AARP?
Look at my little cuties from a Facebook memory:
This was on Assateague Island, I believe. They used to get so tan. They had dark hair for a bit, then really blonde hair, then sandy brown hair, and now it is dark brown again. I need to show more photos of them as little blondies. My sisters said it was the color I paid good money to have.
I don’t know if this is a favorite, but maybe this means I will be awake for more sunsets? Ha!
Ok, forgive this photo, but the Wit and Wisdom dress pants are really awesome. I ordered my normal jean size and they pull on but do have two hook and eye closures and a button. They do have pockets. I did not get the petite and I am 5’4. I feel like I can wear a flat or a heel with this length. Sheaffer has been singing their praises and I finally did it. The sizes are limited, but $50 for a good and comfortable pair of dress pants is really good. I realize this is a really bad photo, but I will try to style them soon!
I have actually been going through my fall and winter clothing for a couple of reasons. My favorite consignment store is starting to take fall and winter clothes next week and I have an appointment. I am being ruthless and going through each and every thing to see if it still fits my style, fits my body, and if I wore it last season. This is really helping me to not be emotional about it.
The second reason is that I am working on a blog post of my favorite clothing items for all the seasons. I plan to show pictures, talk about the most common retailers, break down the colors of my favorite pieces, etc.
My school bestie Erica has been a busy gal this summer. I had not seen her since the end of June. She had an opportunity to spend 12 days in Egypt after leading a trip to Greece and Italy for adults. She is a traveler and is able to do this more easily as she and her husband have decided not to have children.
We met at a new place called The Goose that used to be Goose Creek Diner and has changed locations.
I had a Rhine Guist Glow from draft. I love this so much! It’s even a pretty color! It is considered a fruited sour beer.
We shared mozzarella rounds and they were the best mozzarella “sticks” I have ever had.
I had fish and mashed potatoes and the tomato slices were perfection. They were perfectly ripe!
Isn’t this pretty? Erica brought me this bracelet from Egypt.
Mason and I had the opportunity to visit a coffee shop yesterday and we found a gem. Haraz is a Yemen style coffee shop with amazing European style pastries. I should have taken more pictures.
I also made Mason a naan pizza for lunch and we are loving this option around here.
This week held lots of good stuff! I don’t have a photo, but I donated 8 bags of stuff that we didn’t need. It feels so good to purge. Talk about a way to keep you from shopping for more stuff you don’t need – you look at this stuff and just think that enough is enough!
I thought I would recap my Summer List to see how I’ve done and maybe give myself a “grade”! My original goals will be in bold type and my comments will be in regular font.
Catch up on movies and tv – Yes, I would say I have watched a good deal, but I rarely have turned on the t.v. during the day. I usually don’t watch anything until after dinner. It’s funny because I keep a very similar routine in the summer as I do in the school year, just with times slightly later.
I have also gone to three movies at the theater! I saw Asteroid City, No Hard Feelings, and Barbie.
I got a trial of HBO for the Sex and the City reboot and I also enjoyed The Sex Lives of College Girls – not as bad as it sounds!
Go to the movies with the whole family – Saw Asteroid City
3 pm coffee or iced coffee – I have only done this a couple of times. It just hasn’t appealed to me and I am trying to get the rest of my water in, I think!
Start a stretching routine – I did not do this. I am still not flexible! Ha!
Move body each day/start a good exercise routine again – I have gone to the gym on average 2 -3 times a week, but I would not say that my heart is fully in it.
Try some new recipes – Yes! I especially enjoyed potatoes au gratin.
Celebrate Tom’s birthday – Yes! We had a nice family time!
Celebrate Father’s Day – We made a nice meal and gave Tom movie tickets!
Take a wine walk with wine in my Stanley Cup. This will also serve as a weighted walk since the Stanley is so heavy – Ha! – I did not do this. It’s just so heavy. I decided I don’t really like my Stanley. I am a Tervis Tumbler and a Yeti girl. Don’t fix what ain’t broken.
Buy a bag of Chick Fil A ice to keep in freezer – Yes, but not that impressed. I did it, though!
Shop at Asian Market and see if I can try something new to me – I did go, but left empty handed. It was very interesting, though!
Shop at Mexican market and see if I can try something new to me – I did and I left with a few things. I enjoyed buying some spices there.
Eat more fish/cook more fish/visit a local specialty fish market called Lori’s Fish Market – I ate fish a few times, but did not go to the market yet.
Go to farmers market – I went twice!
The Asian Market:
Go to adult pool – One of our pools has an 18 and over pool. It’s nothing inappropriate! – I went once with Beth.
Go to Omni rooftop pool – I just went this past Monday with Beth! Apparently Beth is my pool friend.
Enjoy the boat with just Tom – Yes! We have gone out several times with just the two of us.
Sunset on boat – we don’t often go out in the evening but everytime we do I wish we did it more – Once at the beginning of summer we were out until sunset, I think.
Invite different friends on the boat – Yes, we have gone out with friends more than with just the two of us.
Walk to breakfast with Tom – we have at least 3 breakfast places in walking distance – Tom is just so busy on weekend mornings! I can try to push this to the fall!
Make strawberry freezer jam – I did one batch.
Make pickles – Yes! I just plan to buy them now – they weren’t that good!
Use up gift cards from students – I used my Target and Taco Bell!
Declutter and prepare a nice area for houseguests at the end of August – I have started in the bedroom where they will be staying. I cleaned out an entire closet!
Go through my list of spaces and totally clean things out. I have already done my silverware holders. I need to do spices and things like that. – I have done spices, one closet, and silverware, and have plans to do more.
Try to play pickleball – No – the two friends who play are very busy. The one goes to play at 8:30 usually and that’s just too late for this gal.
Go to festivals and music events – I went to the Greek Festival and this outdoor concert.
Go hear live music – I only went to the concert in the above photo.
Have a picnic – maybe at the Sunday afternoon farmer’s market in the park nearby – I have not done this yet. Do you count a picnic on the boat?
Spend time in my hometown and hopefully match schedules up with all the busy teen nieces and nephews – I got to see all of them and look at their press on nails:
Go to my hometown by boat– We usually do this in September when it cools off a bit.
Celebrate our 23rd anniversary – Tom and I went to River House!
Take a short overnight trip with Tom – No – we talked about it, but had a lot of expenses come up and we are saving for something.
Try new restaurants with Tom, friends, and our kids – We have mostly been to old favorites.
A wonderful happy hour lemondrop martini with Elizabeth:
Hotel Genevieve with Heather:
Spend as much quality time as possible with my kids as this could be the last summer they live here – cue the tears – Yes! In fact, I have planned many of my days around when they would be home and waited until they were busy to do my things.
Go hiking – No I have not done this yet.
I had 38 things on my list and I did 29 of them according to my count. I guess I would give myself a B, maybe?
How about you? Did you have a list? How did you do?
Well, no offense to my dear readers, but I am not especially excited to be marking the last Wednesday in July!
I will set up my classroom one day next week (we can pick any day and get paid so I will probably pick a rainy day – ha!) Then, I am back full time Monday, August 7th. We have two days for teachers and then the kids come August 9th. So.darn.early. In fact, I can’t remember starting this early in August. So, for the rest of my “free days” I am going to try to summer the heck out of them along with checking off some of my to do list items. One of those is to stock up on easy meal ingredients from Costco!
I am linking up with Sheaffer and Shay to fill in most of their prompts!
What We’re Eating…
Well, I kind of lost my dinner making mojo. Here is what is on my list for the week, though, in case it gives you any ideas: BLTs, burrito bowls, bacon tomato pasta, and still going to Slender Kitchen for inspo. I feel like I’m in a rut and just making the same things over and over.
For breakfast, I love AmyLu chicken sausage, veggies, and egg for breakfast and this really keeps me filled up for a long time.
I’ve been playing with ham, cheese, and fig jam on Crescent Roll dough and puff pastry and in grilled cheese form.
And, such an easy recipe – from our French dinner – Take one thin chicken breast and spread Boursin cheese on it and roll it in bacon and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.
Anyway, I’m trying to use the things we have and make some decent meals for four most nights. I am doing really well with food waste (reducing it!) so that is great! My friend thinks food prices are going down, but I disagree. What do you all think where you live?
What I’m Loving…
Of course, I love having my kids home from college!
I love this purse strap and put it on my cream purse and like how it looks. I am trying to replace my cognac bag with possible gold but I want light gold.
I had my now annual Omni Hotel rooftop pool day Monday!
Outdoor concerts!
What I’ve been up to…
Summering! Relaxing! Reading!
I froze my Sun Tan City membership and this is me doing my own legs with a mousse self-tanner I had – not too bad!
What I’m Dreading…
This is me last year during the two teacher days where we have all.the.meetings, all the training videos, and all the things that we really need to do to get ready for kids. I found this in my camera roll – I think I sent it to Tom!
What I’m Working on…
Cleaning and purging!
What I’m Excited about…
We are not going to Germany, but Germany is coming to us! Tom’s German cousins are coming next month.
What I’m Watching/Reading…
I am reading this – I’ve just barely started. I am watching Bravo Real Housewives of NY and Below Deck the most!
What I’m listening to…
Right now, Mason’s clothes in the dryer. But, I absolutely love hearing my kids laugh together. They have the most special bond. They have never been apart for 3 months before. Mason will be in England and Jack will be on campus and I do worry. I hope they can regularly Facetime and stay connected with technology. I know my other twin moms out there get it.
What I’m Wearing…
I wore my fancy muumuu to the rooftop pool!
I wore my Old Navy dress to the art museum on Sunday!
My sister had on a cute top and I complimented it, to which she replied “Shein”. Of course, I have heard of the brand and I have seen their ads. My sister told me to look to the “Curvy” part of their website and order up at least one size.
The prices are scary cheap. I read about the company after the order came and honestly, I probably won’t order anything else because of what I read. But, it got me to thinking – how different is this from other fast fashion I have purchased in the past? Does the fact that I have so much stuff in my closet from consignment help to offset some of the downsides of purchasing fast fashion?
Here is what I picked:
The three shirts are polyester and honestly feel not too different from the blouses that are $60 and up in my local boutiques. I have not worn anything out yet just because it just came and I really haven’t gotten dressed much. The fabric feels lightweight and cool to the touch but it also feels kind of flimsy. I steamed everything because it arrived very wrinkly.
I also bought these earrings:
I have worn the ones on the left 3 times already!
I also bought this headband:
Have you ever shopped Shein? The order took a little over a week to arrive. It was slightly quicker than my sister said it would be.
I want to buy less and more quality stuff and this definitely does not fit with that goal, but now I have it and I hope that I wear it and then pass it along to consignment when I finish with it.
Hello to all and happy Monday! I am linking up with Sarah and Holly to recap the weekend. Did you have a good one? Boy, the weekends are ticking off on the ol’ calendar quite quickly.
I went to Barbie last Thursday night to start off the weekend and it was silly and cheesy which is what I thought it would be. I have a few more thoughts but don’t want to give anything away if you haven’t seen it yet.
Also, I wore my Barbie shirt a few times this weekend and got so many comments. I got it from Amazon for $13.
I used my new TJ Maxx OPI to do a Barbie mani to match my Barbi pedi. I really do love hot pink, so this was no sacrifice!
This book took me a sweet forever to finish, but I did. It could have probably had 100 pages cut out and still had the same ending. I really did like how it all wrapped up, but lawd.
Then, I started and finished this so quickly (in 24 hours basically) and it was just the type of summer chick lit I needed. It is rated R and there were things/details that bugged me, but I forgave it after Someone Else’s Shoes.
Don’t you love when your mani matches your book cover. Just me? Ha!
Friday dawned bright and sunny and I had a beautiful leisurely morning (after the gym) and then I took myself on a window-shopping spree. I didn’t buy a thing but I browsed in 5 stores and enjoyed just being out with myself.
This shop had just moved into a larger space and I hadn’t seen it yet.
My sister texted me that she had ordered a Barbie drink at a restaurant, so I tried my own version with what I had on hand and it turned out great!
I did rum, Crystal Light lemonade powder, pineapple juice, hibiscus syrup, and a coconut La Croix. Also, I used my Chick Fil A ice!
Friday night, Tom wanted to go to Costco so that was our date night – ha!
But, after a week of cooking a lot, he took me to one of our favorite Mexican restaurants near Costco.
I got a skinny margarita with a bit of strawberry puree that the waiter suggested and it was so good!
We split my favorite dish – the fajita bowl.
After we had been there about 15 minutes, they sat our friends next to us! We invited them to join us and it turned out quite nice!
It’s almost time for me to be “Señora” again so I used my mug Saturday morning.
I had another leisurely morning on the patio before it got too hot. There’s a theme here. Lots of outdoor time and reading is my self-care.
I finally used this mix I had gotten weeks ago. Can Krusteaz ever go wrong? Other than the 2 hours and 40 minute wait time at two different stages, this turned out so awesome and really sour if you like sourdough bread. It’s supposed to be one of the best breads for you, I think. It’s not “ready in about an hour” so they do lie on the box.
I have to show you something really cute. Tom goes on a 32 mile bike ride most Saturday mornings. I track him on my phone to make sure he is ok and to see how he is doing. It takes him about 2 hours and 15 minutes. So, at about the end of that time, I tell Ernie we are going to go wait for “Daddy” and we go out front. Doesn’t it look like he’s smiling? This dog is obsessed with Tom. It’s so funny, too, because Tom took the loss of our first dog so hard and didn’t want to adopt a new puppy. He really didn’t spend as much time with Ernie as I did during the first 6 months we had him, but then something happened and Tom fell hard and Ernie harder.
I try to remind Ernie that I’m the one who boils his chicken multiple times a week!
I didn’t leave the house Saturday until it was time to meet our friends at the outdoor concert. I don’t love this about myself, but it’s almost like I can only do one activity a day. If I have an evening activity, I stay home in preparation. Are you like this?
My friend had staked out a bit of shade and it felt so nice. We got food truck food and enjoyed some live music.
Sunday morning I started this:
Then, I ordered the groceries for the week and wrote down my meal plan and did lots of hardcore cleaning.
Here come the 90s! Maybe it won’t be so bad with clouds involved. Do you see something missing from my forecast? Rain! We shall see!
I really love where I live. It’s gorgeous in the fall and spring and our winters aren’t too bad. Summer is really quite pleasant for the most part, too. I feel so bad for some people who have the unbearable sticky heat for the majority of summer.
It’s Friday again (eek!) and that means time to link up with Andrea and Erika for our weekly favorites.
As usual, I have a random set of photos from the old camera roll – lol!
Also, if you missed my Wine Down Wednesday post and you are a wine drinker, go back and check the comments for some suggestions and thank you for helping a girl out with her wineducation!
I think we are into summer enough that we are taking some things for granted, so check out my things that are making me happy post and maybe consider doing a list of your own.
I plan to do a Summer List report card next week to let you know how I have done.
Ok, on to my favorites…
I love egg salad! I used 3 eggs but only one of the egg yolks to make a single serving for my boat lunch Sunday. Do you like egg salad? I kind of forget about it. Growing up, we only had it at Easter and the egg salad was colorful because of the egg dye getting to the whites a bit. Also, my mom didn’t make deviled eggs. We only had those at church potlucks! Gosh, that is some good food. We often stayed after church for those. Did you?
We had Slender Kitchen’s beef bulgogi one night this week – it has become a family fave. I cooked the carrot and cucumber this time and I will go back to quick pickling them next time. I didn’t like this as much.
I picked up two good books from the library and sadly, had to make some hard decisions with books I had. I returned the majority of my stack that I wasn’t as excited about. Lol! So many books and so little time.
I really have not been shopping at Target as much in the last few years. I was just dropping so much money on impulse purchases and kind of using Target as my stress reliever. I did have a mission – to buy some Lume deodorant and a new lunch bag that Jack can use for his lunches at his opera program and that I could use when school starts. I avoided this section but took a funny picture to put on IG for my students, mostly.
I finally tried the Chick Fil A cobb salad with the ranch and buffalo mixed and I can attest that it is “fire” as the kids say. I also like my lettuce very chopped so I did that and mixed it all really well in a big mixing bowl with tongs. I will be doing this again.
I got a bag of ice! Will I do it again? – probably not. But, it was on my Summer List. I realized that I don’t mind my standard icemaker ice. Lol! And, never would I buy a countertop maker. I don’t care THAT much about the shape. I do like my big blocky ice cube tray for bourbon, though.
I used it in my iced coffee along with my water. I found it melted super fast.
It seems like all bloggers talk about the weather at some point, right? We have had a weird summer. I can’t remember having this much rain. Remember that we had a really severe storm at the end of June and lost power for 36 hours. There was some major damage in my area. Anyway, we have had so many days that started out rainy and then turned ok and lots of incorrect forecasts, too. So, it’s been hard to make plans. My friend Beth and I tried to go to the pool last week and then again this week. We decided to just go even though the day was iffy. We lucked out and got two hours of mostly sun but then the skies looked like this and we had to get out due to thunder, so we just ended our pool time. Neither of us belong to a pool so we go to one where you can pay as you go but the price has gone up to $16! It does have the adult pool and you can use your floats in it.
We really enjoyed my two “saddle” floats from last year.
I came home from the pool and Mason was off work and wanted to cook dinner with me. Um, ok! We did the whole shebang of looking for recipes, shopping at Kroger together, and then cooking. Darn if it didn’t take us about 3 hours, but we did it. He settled on a French dinner!
We made:
Bacon wrapped Boursin chicken:
Potatoes au gratin:
Haricot verts (French green beans):
Baguette:
Chocolate souffle that fell but still tasted great:
It was so much fun and we even played French music while cooking. We have decided we will definitely make it again!
I had a happy hour with my friend Victoria at Caffe Classico – one of my faves.
We had some wine and some Belgian frites with dipping sauces and I had a side salad.
I made a dinner with crescent rolls, fig jam, ham, and Havarti cheese. I rolled out two cans of dough. On the bottom one, I spread fig jam, then added the ham and Havarti. I covered it with the second can of dough and then put a mix of butter, Worcestershire, and brown sugar, and then added everything but the bagel seasoning. I baked at 375 for about 15 minutes I think – until it was golden. This was delish and I got some compliments. I also have some puff pastry in the freezer and I bet that would be next level.
Coffee and Cocktails at the Casa 