Spring Has Sprung!

We had a super mild winter this year, but it still seemed to last forever! Even though we had very little snow, the cold and gray really got to me. The older I get, the more the dreary weather takes a toll. We are now into spring and even though it's been raining cats and dogs, the green leaves, warmer temperatures, and peaks of sunshine seem to calm my spirit.

We Catholics are celebrating the Easter season.  I had big plans for Lent.  Some of the things I wanted to do, I managed to accomplish.  Others, well, not so much. But I'm taking some good stuff from Lent and keeping it going throughout the year.  No one is perfect, right?

School will be done in a few weeks.  Next year we will have a high school senior, a high school sophomore, and a first grader.  I do believe the saying is true.  The days are long, but the years are short.  When I first started blogging (on my old blog) I had a preschooler and a two year old.  Where do the years go?

I hope to have a semi relaxing summer.  We will only have one boy in baseball this year as the oldest boy had shoulder surgery 7 weeks ago and will sit this season out.  I'm hoping that gives us more time to so some fun family stuff.  Not that living at the ball field isn't fun.  I love watching my boys play ball (because both of them truly love it), but that doesn't leave much time for anything else.

I haven't started yard work or gardening yet, but I have started spring cleaning. I have a check list and am hoping to knock most of it out in the next few weeks before school ends.  I've also done some freezer cooking so I have a number of meals ready to go on game nights.  And I will use my slow cooker as usual too.  I do love my slow cooker!!  I also have a pressure cooker (from Aldi).  I like using it too.  I use it mostly for shredded chicken or stews, but I'm sure I'll be able to put it to good use this summer too.

And With This, We Are Into The New Year

Oh yes, Christmas has past.  It was such a wonderful time.  Advent was absolutely the best.  And by the best, I mean I loved it.  But I didn't end up doing all of my Advent activities.  I tried.  I did.  But life....

Christmas was quiet but good.  It was just our little family.  My parents and mother in law came over Christmas day which was really nice.  We planned to get together with my brother and his sweet family on New Years.  But:  THE FLU.

Oh yes, I got hit with the flu.  It was BAD.  8 days in bed.  8 days with very little movement.  I probably should have gotten Tamiflu, but there was no moving me.  Not an inch.  It was the worst that I have been hit in years.  Did I get the flu shot? No.  I thought I had time.  I was wrong. Oh so wrong.

So no New Years family movie night with fondue.  We always do fondue.  Not this year.

On a bright side, I did get to catch up on all my Hallmark Christmas movies.  I rode that horse until the last minute.  Can I just say that I totally adore Hallmark Christmas movies?  I don't care if they seem hokie or that they seem all the same.  I LOVE THEM.

Hallmark Christmas movies are my jam.


So I'm better now and mostly caught up on life.

Yes, I have resolutions.  I do.  But I'm not going to talk about that now.  I have them.  So far, not so good .  Perimenopause is evil.  That's all I'm going to say about that.

A Thankful Month

 I can't believe we are moving into mid-November.  I feel like Christmas is right around the corner (and I am SO trying not to stress about it...  I will not be stressed this Christmas.  I will be a bucket of  peace and calmness...).

This is also the month for Catholics to remember the ones that we've lost (All Souls Day is in the beginning of the month, but we can carry this through all month long).  We currently have a bowl on the kitchen counter with any prayer cards of friends and family that we have lost and a list of names for those we have lost but don't have cards for.  It's a reminder to keep praying for them and to keep praying for the Holy Souls in Purgatory.

I sat down this morning and wrote out my Thanksgiving menu and my grocery list.  I usually start cooking the Tuesday before (making the cranberries and the gluten free bread for the stuffing).  Pie, sweet potato casserole, and green bean casserole are done on Wednesday.  And I save the Brussels sprouts, mashed potatoes, and turkey for Thursday.  I feel less stressed doing this in steps and with a plan.  All of this needs to be free of wheat, rye, barley, oat, egg, peanut, and tree nut.  I've been doing it for so many years that it's not a problem, but when I first started out, things came out not so well but everyone was kind enough to not complain.  My biggest issue is usually the gluten free, egg free pie crust.  There was one year where it took me 3 hours to get the pie to a point that it would be edible.  And then I accidentally dropped it on the floor while taking it out of the oven.  It was a sad, sad day.  So I had to start all over again at 9 pm making a whole new pie.  Thankfully the movie Gone With The Wind was on that night to help get me through.

Christmas music started on Sirius XM November 1st.  While I have been thankful for that, it has taken my kids a few weeks to come around.  But they are into it now too.  I'm considering putting up one of our Christmas trees this week too.  I know it's a tad early, but I am SO READY!!  I've been watching Hallmark Christmas movies since they started also.  Being the only female in the house, I can honestly say that I truly am the only one thankful for the Hallmark Christmas movies.  But we have enough TV's in the house that it all works out fine.

Last week, I started to buy a few things for Christmas.  Just for the boys.  I have a list, but they change their minds on things so frequently, that I don't want to do too much yet.

I also bought a few new Christmas-y smelling candles last week.  I LOVE scented candles and I usually buy my candles from Yankee Candle, but this year I thought I had a gift card to Bath and Body Works (turned out it was for Bed, Bath and Beyond... I should learn to read better) so I went there and am going to try their 3 wick candles which I have not tried before.  They were on sale, so I hope I like them and that they have good "throw".

I still have to do the family Christmas card.  I usually make it on one of those "online photo sharing sites".  But I'm not sure exactly what I want to do yet.  I was thinking that if I put up the small tree, maybe I could gather the boys around it and take a photo and use that.  I usually use ones that we took throughout the year, but I feel like it's gotten old and maybe we need to mix it up a bit.  Whatever I'm going to do, I better figure it out soon because I usually send out the cards the first week of December.

So that's the current happenings in a nut shell.  I'm just trying to remember to be thankful for everything this month.  I hope it becomes more of habit and I will remember all the things to be thankful for EVERY month.

Links:

My Pinterest Thanksgiving Recipe Board

Bath and Body Works 3 wick candle page

Hallmark Countdown to Christmas 2018

My favorite turkey roaster from Granite Ware (Walmart link)  I have a small version of this that I use for roasting chicken too.  They are great and they clean up very well.

More about November and the month of the Holy Souls in Purgatory from CatholicCulture.org

(these are NOT affiliate links and I get no compensation for sharing them. I'm just sharing some things that I like)

Happy October 1st

It's fall y'all!!  I love October.  I love the weather, the colors, the smells.  I love all of it.  I'm so excited for October and I hope that I can enjoy every minute of it.

I have the house decorated for Halloween.  Even the older boys love it.  I need some more decoration for outside, but it's fine for now.

The weather was cooler last week so I menu planned several soups and a beef stew.  But it looks like this week is actually going to be warmer (70's-80's) so I think I may have to revamp my menu.  Beef stew on an 80 degree day does not sound too appealing.

Due to the oldest boy getting a concussion at last weeks game, we had no football this Friday or Saturday.  I'm not going to lie, it was kind of nice to have some free time.  I was able to make it to the little guys soccer game, then we decided to head to Amish country on Saturday.  This gave the older boys some quiet time at home to get school work done and so that the boy with concussion could get some rest.

The plan for Saturday was to visit the antique stores in Amish country, but we found out that there was The Ohio Swiss Festival going on.  Being that the 6 year old wasn't going to be too thrilled with antiquing, we decided to change plans and spend the better part of the afternoon at the festival.  The little guy loved the rides and he had fun catching candy at the parade.  It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon and it was fun just spending it outside.  Hopefully the husband and I can go back soon, sans the 6 year old, and actually do some antiquing.

So Happy October!  Please keep the oldest in your prayers for a complete and quick healing from the concussion.  And I'm praying that everyone has a blessed and happy October.

Don't forget that October is the Month of The Most Holy Rosary.  You can find daily prayers, daily readings, and Saint of the day here.

Instruction for praying the rosary can be found here.

Why pray the rosary?

Month of the Holy Rosary

There's a Time to be Girly

I live in a house with all men, but I'm really a girly girl.  I always have been.  I love all things girly, but I really spend much of my time doing more things that interest the boys.  I will say, that they know how much I love the Nutcracker and the past two years they were kind enough to take me for my birthday.  But last year the 3 younger men let me know what a sacrifice it is for them to sit through it, so I asked that last year be the final year that all 5 of us go.  Not that the Nutcracker is particularly girly, but to my guys it most certainly is.

I don't mind attending sporting events with them.  I'm a Cleveland Indians fan, so I really enjoy going to the games.  I AM NOT A BROWNS FAN.  I'm a Pittsburgh Steelers fan so I do not need nor want to go to a Browns game.  But I have been to a Browns a game with my husband for business and lived to tell the tale.  I really like hockey and I hope we can take our little guy to a Monsters game this year.  And of course I like attending any sporting event where my children are involved.

But being in a house full of men doesn't give me much of a chance to do all the other things that I enjoy.

This past weekend was my mother in laws birthday and she was coming here to watch my oldest play football and then spend the afternoon with us celebrating her birthday.  My husband also had some tickets to a Cleveland Indians autograph session and lo and behold my husband, 2 of my boys, and my nephew decided to attend that.  That left me coming up with a way to celebrate my mother in laws birthday with my sister in law and niece.

Let's just say that I capitalized on that opportunity and made it a girls day.  There is a Victorian tea room not far from here and I thought that having an afternoon tea might be relaxing and something different from what we normally do.  And it turned out to be a lovely afternoon.

I love all things Victorian.  I love Victorian architecture and Victorian style of clothing.  I've read enough books about that time in history to realize that it wasn't all romance and beauty but I'm fine with blocking out the bad parts and romanticizing the rest of it.  The tea house itself was just beautiful.  And the tea and food was delicious.  It turned out to be such a nice afternoon.  And it reminded me that I need to do more girly things or more things that I'M interested in.  It doesn't always have to be about the boys.

Now there were couples at the tea house enjoying an afternoon.  But my guys would not be up for that, and that's ok. We don't have to spend every waking minute together.

I'm glad that the tea house crossed my mind and that we made it happen.  We all had a nice time relaxing that celebrating my mother in law.  It took me 5 years to get there.  It definitely won't take me 5 years to go back.

9/11

I remember this day like it was yesterday.  I still end up in tears and find it hard to breathe just thinking about it.  I hope I never forget, and I hope that America never forgets all the lives lost, all the sacrifices made that day, the bravery of the first responders, the pain of the families and the survivors, the fear, and the way we all came together and became one people that day regardless of color, ethnicity, religion or politics. 

Feeling Autumn

Leave it to Ohio to have a 40 degree temperature differential in one week.  Last week it was 95 degrees and we were at the Cleveland Indians game with family.  I took a seat in the sun so that the smaller children and those more advanced in age could be in the shade.  At one point I thought I might be getting heat stroke and had to spend the majority of the game in the clubhouse sitting in the air conditioning.  Forward to this weekend and it's 57 degrees and rainy.  Late summer is a roller coaster ride here in Ohio.  It's supposed to get back up into the 80's at the end of this week.  I don't mind this at all.  It gives me the best of both worlds.  I love summer but I love Autumn even a little more.  There's nothing like a cool, sunny day or sitting by the fire in the evening wearing a cozy sweater and sipping a hot cup of tea.

The cooler temperatures of the last few days have propelled me into the mood for a little autumn.  It's cooler, yet rainy, so doing anything outside does not sound appealing to me.  While I'm not completely ready to say good bye to summer, I am ready to start welcoming autumn. 

I've started transitioning the house from the red, white, and blue that I love in summer time to the beautiful yellow, orange, and red of fall. 

I've been lighting candles again!  I love candles and I'm really not home enough during the week to light them so on the weekends, I try to light them first thing in the morning and let them go until evening.  I had a big stash of my favorite candles, but I went through most of them last year.  I need to get some replacements, but I've been checking some new (to me) brands and trying so see what scents will take us through fall and winter.

I still have my red, white, and blue garland around my front door, but I did change out my wreath.

I also took down my patriotic door decorations and put up ones that are more for fall.

My foyer table vignette is starting to transition also.

Some of my mums came back this year, but not all.  When it's sunny and warmer later in the week, I'm hoping to have time to get to the local farm so I can start planting more.

I think the tree in the back feels a little like I do.  It's still very green but there are signs of red starting to show up.

Many of the trees in the woods behind our house have started to yellow.  They tend to lose their leaves early.

Thanks to the rain, I'm not sure that the steaks I had been planning on putting on the grill today will happen.  I'm now wishing I would have planned some chili.  But if not today, then tomorrow.  It's a good thing that I menu plan every week so that I have back up meals available.  But for now, I'm just going to enjoy my tea, the cozy day in doors, a little football, and catch up on my reading.

Happy Sunday!!