{ Happy Homemaker Monday - 05/20/2019 }

Good morning everyone, how was your weekend?

Welcome to another Happy Homemaker Monday.

When I came up with the idea for HHM many years ago, I had no idea that it would go on for this long, or that anyone would even want to join in with me.  It started as a way for me to put down my plans for the upcoming week and have it all in one place, but over the years it has turned into so much more than that.  I am truly thankful for each and every single one of you, who come by every Monday and participate.

We've been able to create a community of like minded women who care for, and support each other.  Thank you for that ladies, really :)

I appreciate you all and I appreciate the comments you leave down below as well.  If you participate, all I ask is that you don't change the categories or the little Happy Homemaker Monday image, because then it really isn't a part of my blog anymore.  I also ask that if you are joining in, please leave a comment below, even it it's just a quick hello I'm here and joining today.  I would love to see a lot more interaction between the ladies, and as the host of this feature, I too love knowing who is joining in and how they are doing.

Anyway, now that we have that out of the way, let's get right into our plans for this week, shall we??

{ Sunday - 05/19/2019 }

Hi everyone, welcome back to my blog :)

I know, it's been a whole week since I've posted, aside from my Happy Homemaker Monday.  I really have missed blogging, but as I explained previously, it hasn't been easy without a properly working camera.  Or rather, properly working lenses.  The camera body itself is old as well, and that's due to wear and tear over the past 8 years, but it works just fine.

With that said, you can't exactly have a functioning camera body if you don't have properly functioning lenses, and that is the issue I'm faced with.

It's honestly just not given me any motivation to blog or put anything up, because as you know, especially if you've followed me from the beginning, I absolutely LOVE taking photos and sharing them with you all.  It's an imperative part in my blog and without it I feel slightly discombobulated.

{ Happy Homemaker Monday - 05/13/2019 }

Good morning everyone, happy Monday :)

I feel like this weekend just flew right by, but it was a good weekend, I did some gardening, got the patio ready for the summer and started pulling weeds out front.  That is a never ending job, and after about an hour, I gave up.  I'll get back to it this week though.

We are done with school, so aside from driving Jasmine to and from work, I have a pretty easy week coming up.

Also, I wanted to quickly mention my sidebar.  If you noticed, last week I had a whole week's worth of workouts posted and I marked them done as I got through them.  When I redid my template yesterday, I added this week's all new workout routines.

I plan on doing that every week, for myself.  It helps me stay motivated and holds me accountable too.  But, if they motivate one of you to also start a home workout routine, then all the better, right? :)


Anyway, let's see what is going on in our households, shall we? 

{ Happy Mother's Day }

Twenty years ago, I joined the mother's club.

The Lord had seen fit to give me the responsibility of birthing and raising two human beings, two little lives that I would guide through life, love and nurture.

I am incredibly blessed with the two children that I have.  I often look at old photos like these and I miss the times when they were little and needed me more, or rather, needed me differently, because even though they are now 20 and 16, they still need me in different ways and I'm only too happy to be here for whatever that may be.

{ Last day of school - Summer is officially here }

It's been a whirlwind of activity around here.  I'm tired, I'm really tired, but so happy to be done for the next few months and to welcome summer with open arms.

As I type this, we have just handed in our last assignment.

The feeling of relieve was immediate, and I think it's that way for every school aged child, parent and teacher at this time of the year.  Everyone has had enough, everyone needs a break and so on.

Now that school is out of the way, I can focus and have more time for other things.

Like blogging.

I miss taking tons of photos during my day, and unfortunately at the moment, there is nothing I can really do about it.  I've been taking whatever photos my camera manages to snap, and when it's time to edit I am often left deleting more shots than saving any.  It's frustrating, to say the least, because as a blogger, photography goes hand in hand with what I do and have been doing for over a decade.

{ By Invitation Only by Dorothea Benton Frank - TLC Book Tour }

 

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks; Reprint edition (April 23, 2019)

The Lowcountry of South Carolina is where By Invitation Only begins at a barbecue engagement party thrown by Diane English Stiftel, her brother Floyd, and her parents to celebrate her son’s engagement. On this gorgeous, magical night, the bride’s father, Alejandro Cambria, a wealthy power broker whose unbelievably successful career in private equity made him one of Chicago’s celebrated elite, discovers the limits and possibilities of cell phone range. While the mother of the bride, Susan Kennedy Cambria, who dabbles in the world of public relations and believes herself deserving of every square inch of her multimillion-dollar penthouse and imaginary carrara marble pedestal, learns about moonshine and dangerous liaisons.

{ Happy Homemaker Monday - 05/06/2019 }

Good morning everyone, welcome to another Happy Homemaker Monday.

How was your weekend?  I sure hope you had a good, restful one.  Mine was quite nice.  Saturday afternoon we headed to the mall to get Jasmine's birthday gifts.  It's getting harder to figure out what to give the kids as they get older, and so the best way has been to let them pick their own and that is what she did.

After that we had a nice quiet dinner at Denny's and then headed back home to relax.

Sunday was spent around the house, Curt and I completely moved our bedroom around.  It looks huge now although I'm trying to get used to the way it is set up.

Anyway, enough blabbing, let's go on with our post today.

Wishing you all a blessed week ahead :)

{ Best International Period Dramas on Netflix }

Maybe you're trying to improve a second language, or learn a new one altogether, or maybe you're just like me and love period pieces so much that it doesn't matter what language they come in.

Last week I mentioned Morocco:  Love in Times of War.  It is a Spanish speaking period drama available on Netflix.  It is so good, but I mean SO good that I literally binge watched in one or two days and I'm hoping really really hard, that a second season is made available.

After I was done with that one I went on the hunt for other period drama series, and what I found was that most of the English ones I've already seen, and the others that I hadn't were all basically international series, Spain, Mexico, Turkey, Poland, Germany, Russia and so forth.

Week of power outtages, tornadoes and a camera ready to break

It's been a week, I tell you that.

We've had quite strong storms, tornadoes in the area, hubby's work was cut back a couple times to get everyone home safe before it got worse, and they even had to seek shelter at one point.

It's been THAT kind of a week.

With all the bad weather, I've lost power in the house multiple times, and have found myself not really able to post anything online.

Along with all this, my beautiful trusty Canon camera is finally on it's last let out the door.  It's been my trusty friend for 9 years.  Most people don't use their cameras that long, I have seen many who have upgraded constantly and don't even use the cameras as often as I do mine.

We've just never had it in our budget to upgrade my camera, though it's something I've dreamed of for many years, so I've had to be very careful with it, and I have taken great care of my trusty friend.  But it's old, it's feeling all the use I've gotten out of it, and some of the lenses don't even work anymore.

I haven't been able to get good photos and it's led to frustration.

{ Happy Homemaker Monday - 04/29/2019 }

Good morning everyone, welcome to another Happy Homemaker Monday.

I am rushing to get this post up pretty quick, as I need to get Jasmine off to work, then back home to get my day started, I have a lot I need to do.

I hope you've all had a restful, good weekend and a great week ahead.