Happy Homemaker Monday

Mother's Day this year was a bit on the rough side, but my wonderful family got me thru it.

First, we talked about my husband booking an appointment with Daughter E for a much needed haircut.  She was booked solid, so I texted and asked if she could make a special house call, considering Sunday is his only (and only) day off.

Second, we needed to be home at noon.  A lady was coming with her Dad to look at the pie safe, and she was out the door with it in minutes.  She loved it.  One piece of furniture sold and two more to go now.

My husband cleaned up the front porch, Daughter K helped put furniture on it, and the burn pile was finally burned down.

My husband, myself, and Daughter K drove to the cemetery to visit Mom.  I wasn't surprised to see that my previous flowers were gone (that was a terrible wind storm in March).  I will need to buy more for Grandma and Grandpa's now.

I have to say, I think this year was the best Mother's Day I've had in a long, long time.

Today I am joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.

The weather . . .

We are finally getting a week of warmer weather.  I'll be putting the plants out to harden (although we expect more rain).  We are starting to pull last year's carpets and plastic and get the tilling rolling.

As I look outside my window. . .

My porch needs hanging baskets.  It's on the shopping list.

Right now I am . . .

Finally washing a bed quilt to hang on the clothesline.

Thinking and pondering . . . 

We are still looking to hire help for the front room, but until then, I need to go upstairs and make a space for the treadmill, so that can be moved out of the way next weekend.

Oddly, my kids did not get me any flowers for Mother's Day, so I plan to make a trip to town and buy myself flowers for my birthday.

How I am feeling . . .

Good.  It took a few weeks, but I am finally on my husband's 12 hour work schedule and was up to enjoy coffee with him.

On the breakfast plate . . .

Broccoli/bacon breakfast casserole, coffee

On my reading pile . . .

I finally finished my current book!  I got reading time on the porch, while my husband replaced both window motors for Daughter K.  Both of her windows were not working.

On my TV . . .

Last movie was All Together Now.

On the menu . . .

-Lasagna stuffed chicken, home grown asparagus and steamed broccoli

-breakfast for dinner

-something with stew beef, veggie

-flounder and a veggie

-try a new peanut butter pie recipe

-leftovers

Looking around the house . . .

It's getting there, but the kitchen is still not put back together.  I am doing my best, but this week will be garden work split up with kitchen work.  I need to paint more floor trim, so we can put it back in it's rightful place.

The to-do list . . .

-bake a breakfast

-check asparagus

-laundry

-pay a few bills

-buy chicken food

-paint in kitchen, paint floor trim

-shampoo living room (I'll have to do this for Mom's furniture until we start tearing out the carpet)

-put sticky paper down on my kitchen keyboard tray

-clean old bike trunk with leather cleaner and put it up for sale

-make more homemade taco mix

-vacuum carpets

-

From the camera . . .

So happy to have grandkids for the day yesterday.

Prayers . . .

Our biker friend Aaron, who had hernia surgery, and had complications and was back in the hospital. Last I heard, he was still in the hospital.

Birthday ~ Cactus and other ramblings

I decided to bake my husband's most favorite peanut butter cookies for his birthday.  There was just no way to get to my cake decorating tools or cupcake carrier.  

Mom's cactus I inherited is blooming a gorgeous bright pink.  Pink was her favorite color.  It's beautiful!  It's blooming right around Mother's Day too!

Daughter E surprised me with a visit yesterday.  She rode with me to another town to donate my truck full of boxes.  They went to an antique/re-sale store that is owned by my husband's friend (used to work with her many years ago). 

We saw that a pizza shop was open across the street, so we moseyed over there and picked up a pizza for dinner.

Back at the homestead, she wanted to help paint, but I had just washed all my paint brushes for the day prior to her stopping in.  I told her she is welcome to help any day she has off.  I'm working on the upper cabinets, and have 2 more windows to paint.

The drawer knobs have been ordered.  The price finally went to 1/2 off, and yes I paid shipping, but driving all the way to that big city would cost me a lot in gas too.  Gas is going back up over $4/gallon again.  Anyway, that is checked off the to-do list.

I broke one of the hardware pieces on my cupboard door while painting it on the saw horses.  I have ordered replacements for that too.  The ugly bee (stained glass from door) has been donated as well, and the owner actually thought it was beautiful, so hopefully she sells it and all the stuff we donated.

My younger brother told me I had one last "small" pile of stuff to retrieve at Mom's house.  I picked that up this week, but man that was a dirty trick.  It included photos in frames, a photo album and two huge folders.  One folder contained every article I ever wrote (bless her heart), the other was filled with stuff from her grandkids.

Daughter E took a photo and a flash light (she is going camping soon and needed one), and we read thru some of the stuff and got a few laughs.  I'll keep it to have Daughter K go thru it as well.  Now, however I need another box for that, ha ha!

 

Happy Homemaker Monday

 We had another fantastic weekend (birthdays/Mother's Day) getaway.  Why not.  We are doing much more travel this year.  We went to Amish country.  We really didn't have anything in mind, other than re-stock some organic/non-gmo items, pick up some cheeses, and maybe dine at the brewery.  You'd think they would have a big yarn store in that area, but they do not. They do have a fabric outlet.  Anyway, it was our first trip in 2 years.

The menu was changed at one of the restaurants we love to go to, and they took our favorite meal off of it.  

We came home to 37°F, snow and thunder.  What a messy day, but Mother's Day overall was nice.  We delivered flowers, 6 bottles of wine, chocolate, and a travel tote bag to my Mom's.

Came home to gifts and flowers from the girls.

Good thing I checked the rhubarb before we left.  I had to cut those blooms off.  I will however, need to cover it again for the next few days, as we dip into the low 30's (ugh).

Today I am joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.

I will link up when she posts this morning.

The weather outside is . . .

58°F/37°F, cold

How I am feeling this morning . . .

Rejuvenated.  Ready to take on the day, but will try and relax.

On the breakfast plate .  .  .

I have no idea yet.  I need to bake something for the next few days.

On my reading pile . . .

I bought this book at the flea market over the weekend.  I met the author too.  It's her life story growing up and leaving Vietnam.  I'll let you know if it's good or not.

On my TV . . .

Whatever we find on Netflix

On the menu this week . . .

-baked mac' n cheese, green beans

-walleye (locally caught and gifted to us)

-have no idea. . . .will check the freezer/pantry later today

From the camera  . . .

Something new in Berlin.  We got this for dinner one night and took it to the hotel.  A local guy was in line just to buy their BBQ sauces.  

Traffic is always crazy in Berlin.  They don't have a light here, and so often they have an officer there to stop traffic and let people in and out.

Looking around the house . . .

One daughter actually cleaned up the living room while we were gone, but she did not do the dishes (no surprise there).

To relax this week, I will . . . 

Read or crochet

Something I want to share . . .

Our hotel actually had a breakfast this time.  It was not a brown bag breakfast, but biscuits and gravy, waffles, boiled eggs, etc.  The only thing they didn't bring back yet, was the scrambled eggs and bacon/sausage.

Devotional, Inspirational, prayer list or Bible verse . . .

Birthday Lunch ~ Other Tidbits

As predicted it's a chilly (but sunny) 28°F out this morning.

One of our daughter's (who has the grand kids) surprised us with a combined birthday cake for lunch yesterday.  We were both gifted birthday gifts and I also received Mother's Day gifts (not all gifts shown).  It was a nice surprise.

We spent the evening covering up the garlic, rhubarb, asparagus, medicinal potted plants etc.  Just to be safe, I also drained my rain barrel and flipped it upside down.   There was ice out this morning, but we'll warm up to the high 40's, possibly low 50's.  I am sure we will have zero apples and peaches now.  The blossoms are gone sadly.

Happy Homemaker Monday

I'm joining Sandra today at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom for Happy Homemaker Monday. 

Now that we have gotten through Hubby's birthday and mine, and Mother's Day, it's back to the grind.  I was lucky to hear from 3 of my kids on Mother's Day, and a few on my birthday, but tickled that one actually came over to visit me yesterday. 

I just love the wind chime she brought me, along with all the other goodies.

I don't try to expect anything for my birthday nor Mother's Day.  My kids are not the best at calling or even texting, but sure know how to show up when it's their birthdays.  I'll be making changes to that this year.  

Hubby is still working a lot of hours.  He worked 2nd shift last night, getting home after midnight and has to return this morning for first.  But bless is heart for giving some cash to our youngest daughter, so she could go out and buy me a birthday card, cheesecake, flowers and a gift card.  She also wrote me a long Mother's day letter and left it at my "blog station" as she called it.  Bless her heart and for my very tired Hubby making sure I had a nice birthday and Mother's Day.  

And...and yes Hubby gets the award for making my weekend special.  He got home after midnight Saturday night, and got up and made that delicious breakfast (see below), he also took me to a local ice cream shop and brought me home some Amaretto Cherry ice cream.  The business is local, and voted the top ten ice cream stores in the US.  The ice cream was delicious.  He also bought me locally made potato chips and some chicago style popcorn (which is addicting).


On the breakfast plate . . .
Eggs and toast, but this is what Hubby got up and made me for Mother's Day breakfast:

It was so good - potatoes, green bell pepper, onions, bacon, and cheese.  Oh my do I miss his omelets.  It just made my morning.  And toast with wild violet jelly.  Oh my...

The weather . . .
Even though days have passed since I last updated on the rain, as of today, once again 15 days of predicted rain.  We have been hanging around in the lower 50's, cold and cloudy.  We may see a heat up, but the rain hasn't gone away just yet.  I have not even been able to till the garden to prep it for planting.  We should be planting this week.  It's raining this morning.


On my reading pile . . .
A book from the library.  If I get time to start reading it, I'll let you know.


On my TV . . .
Movies we borrowed from the library


On the menu . . .
Chicken spaghetti, asparagus
Tuna and noodle, beets
Pesto past of some sort
....have no idea as we get back to normal around here


New recipe I want to try . . .
Hot Taco Dip, Freezer meat sauce


On my to do list . . .
-master bath
-bedding, laundry
-dust
-tidy up computer area
-try and fix vacuum (urgh)
-make a meat sauce to freeze (may not happen this week)
-check asparagus
-deliver soap saver bags to the massage business to sell
-make granola bars



Looking around the house . . .
I have a vase with a rose in it, and a vase with mixed fresh flowers.  Just makes me smile and gave a good day.


From the camera . . .

A cardinal came to the window last Saturday and chirped until I came to the window.  Just so beautiful.


What I am creating . . .
Still finishing up a knitted dishcloth, and actually had some time alone to start on these new items:

Hand crocheted teabag travel totes.  I'll have them up for sale as soon as I get my house back in order.


One of my simple pleasures . . .
Lighting some candles and taking a long relaxing soak in the tub.


Prayers . . . 
A special request from a friend who said her husband is in the hospital, one friend who had surgery, and other personal requests.