From the minute my feet hit the ground, the whole pace of the day was slow.  There was no rushing, no need to be anywhere, or projects left dangling and waiting, no phone calls to make, no bills needing paid, and no feeling like there just aren't enough hours in the day.

A slow day.......

If you've ever had a slow day you will know that it moves at it's own beat, it's almost like the planet itself takes a break from the chaos of every day life.

I once read a quote that really struck me.  I must admit that I didn't quite understand its meaning at first, but when it sank in, it suddenly made all the sense in the world.  It's almost like a light bulb moment.


"You must go slow, in order to move fast."

Might seem a bit weird when you first read it, but it's quite simple and to the point.  If we go slow and calmly do things, then we do them right and therefore faster.  Quite eye opening isn't it?


So that was my day today, and I must admit it wasn't because I made it so, but my body did.  If you're a woman then you know that once a month we are forced to slow down a little.  I have never used my cycle as an excuse to get out of anything, but the first day it hits me like a ton of bricks, the cramps, the headache, the lower back ache, and even lightheaded.  Overall unwell feeling.


I'm lucky in that I don't work outside the home, because I can take that day off to just go with the flow, to slow down and to let my body do what it needs to.


I spent yesterday afternoon with my sister in law.  We had lunch together, we chatted and laughed and caught up, and then I taught her how to make the Bird Seed Wreaths.


They are so simple and in no time, we both had quite a few made and ready to dry overnight.


This morning I added some of my ribbons and tomorrow I'll go around and hang them from my front and back porch. I have quite a bit of chores that need done around the house tomorrow, and after having a bit of a slow day today, it will feel good to get back at it.

I do plan on meeting up with my sister in law, late morning, to run to the thrift store and have a quick look around, and then we're going for some ice cream.

Dinner tonight was a complete bust, I forgot to take out my chicken, and since my hubby knew that today I was feeling so run down, he picked up Charley's subs for dinner.  I LOVE Charley's and haven't had them in, oh.....a year or two?

Not to mention, no dishes or clean up to do and that's always a plus right?


I just finished some computer work, got two more book reviews lined up, which I'm excited for because I finally have my reading mojo back.  It had been gone for years, and I kid you not, it really had been years since I had enjoyed reading a book, but the Nancy E. Turner novel kick started that up for me again, thank goodness.

Monday, I have to go to base to pick up some prescriptions and I've decided to pop into the library and see what I can find.  I know it's totally ridiculous with the amount of books for review I still have on my shelf, but I haven't been to the library in a while, so it's a must.

Right now I have the TV on and I was trying to catch up on my crime shows in the DVR but I would rather read, so I'll turn it on to our usual Everybody Loves Raymond reruns and enjoy my story, which by the way, I am more than halfway through my book, all 600 pages of it.  Wow!!!!!

Tell me, when is the last time you had a slow day of your own, and how do you usually like to spend yours?

Do not color your hair until August 23rd.

Such simple words, and yet they hit me like a ton of bricks.  Oh friends, I'm in for a big fight with myself hahahaha


Alright let me back track a bit and tell you how this came about.  And then I'm going to give you photos of my hair and show you what's happening.

I had my hair appointment this morning.  My hair is super thick, and very unmanageable if it's not cut, layered and given some texture.  It has been 3 months since my last cut and I was struggling with the unruly mop of a mess on my head.


I went to my hairdresser (who is amazing by the way) and she gave me just what I needed.  She knows my hair so well and knows what to cut, where to cut and how to cut it.  After lots of texturizing, layering, point cutting and snips here and there, I was feeling great.


Then I said to her "Hey Tara, I have a lot of grays coming in and I just hate that I have to color every 3 weeks, it's a bit annoying, wish I could do something about it.".

So she tells me that we should try some lowlights.  Here's the thing, I have been coloring my own hair for years, mainly because I don't have the money to go and get it done professionally, it's too much money.  Curt keeps pushing me to go and do it, but I just don't.

But I was thinking, you know my birthday is coming up in August and maybe that would be a gift to myself.  So I made the appointment with her, and she is always booked up so her next available isn't until August 23rd.......mind you my birthday is the 10th, BUT it's fine, still my birthday month right?


She then challenges me NOT to color my hair until then, to just let it go natural, let the grays come out and then we'll do a nice color when I see her in a few weeks.

HELP ME!!!!  According to her I'm 75% gray already.  Again, HELP ME!!!  hahahah

So I told her I would do my best to not reach for the dye bottle and try very very hard to leave it as is.  I know it's best and it will be nice to do a proper color but I'm not sure how I'll feel through this challenge.   Think I can do it?


There is no denying that I'm getting older, my wrinkles around the eyes certainly don't try to hide that fact.

I think I need to just embrace the changes and remind myself on a daily basis, that some others are not as blessed or lucky to make it to my age.  It's all about being thankful for what we have and where we are.


Doesn't make it easy though does it?  But I am going to try super duper hard to make it through this challenge.  I will let you know how I'm getting on, and I may even keep sharing pictures of my hair as the weeks go.  It will be interesting to see how much gray I really do have and how it will look after the color is done.

I guess you could say today was a me day.  Usually I start my morning on the computer, but today I kept it shut off.  After Curt had left for work, I grabbed my cup of coffee and my cereal, sat on the couch, pulled the blanket over my legs and sat and read from 7am to 10am.


3 hours of quiet, uninterrupted reading time, and wow did that feel good.  I'm not halfway through the book and already wishing it never to end.

After my hair appointment, I met up with Curt for lunch at the pizza place a few doors down from the salon and then made my way home.

Did a bit of cleaning, some dishes, played with Marley, talked to Nick for about an hour, and then made a cup of coffee and once again sat on the couch with my book for another hour.

I would never do this, because I feel so guilty just sitting and reading, but it did me a world of good and put me in such a good mood to be able to indulge in something I thoroughly enjoy, without worrying, without interruptions, and without feeling like I was doing something wrong.

Sometimes that's all we need as moms and homemakers, to sit down and indulge ourselves.


Dinner tonight was a simple Alfredo pasta with broccoli and mushrooms.  I've decided that I'm going to do a meatless meal every week.  It will give us a break from meat heavy dishes and it will be a little cheaper too with the prices of meat having gone up so much lately.

I'll share the recipe on the blog tomorrow, as I made the pasta in my pressure cooker. 

Ok, Mister Marley is giving me the cute eyes beckoning for me to get into bed.  He is ready to go to sleep but likes to have someone to snuggle with.

I better oblige him.  Have a blessed night everyone :)

In that order.

Hi friends, how was your Monday?  I'll be honest, I kind of wish that it wasn't Monday yet, I feel like the weekend went a little fast for my liking, but hey ho, it is what it is.

I did a lot of puttering around today and I'm absolutely exhausted right now.

I wasn't going to share this first picture because I really don't like the way I look.  Since moving to Texas and going through all these ups and downs and craziness, I've had to stop exercising the way I used to, stopped eating healthy and put on 5 pounds.  It's not a lot and I can get it back off easily, but for now, I'm not happy with my body.


And so I thought about not sharing this photo, and then I thought.  You know, this is me, this is my online journal, and it's my journey through life, ups and downs, whether I'm skinny or a little overweight, feel good about myself or not.  It needs to be documented and I'm not going to omit anything from it.

So there I am, in all my glory.   I AM getting back on the bandwagon next week and I'm already made up all my meal plans, exercise plans and so forth.  I am super excited to get fit and healthy again.


So I started this morning by giving the green living room a really good clean, top to bottom, and then shifted some things around.  Moved some shelves from one wall to the other and exchanged a few decorations here and there.




This living room has always been one of my favorite places in the house, mainly because of all the natural light that it gets with the huge windows and big glass patio doors.


My Rosemary and Basil are doing amazingly well in this room too.


After I finished inside, I moved outside again.  Still working on the yard.

We have so many ideas and so many plans to do this and that, it's just a matter of time and money, really.  But I went ahead and started my planting today, probably a little later in the year than I usually do, but it's still summer, it's still warm and I don't have to worry about cold weather yet.



The whole time I was outside, Marley hung out with me.  He loves the outdoors and he's a really good dog, he doesn't run off, he just stays right by my feet.  He will venture up to the driveway but that's as far as he goes.


This is one of the projects we've been working on.  We've removed all the grass and weeds from this flower bed, and have laid down black mulch.  The plan is to add in some flowers, greenery, etc.    But so far it's looking really nice :)


He got a bit thirsty while being outside in the heat with me, and came right up to get some water from the watering can.  Hahah

He is so cute.



While working inside, I popped on The Keeping Room on Netflix.  It looks like something I will enjoy, but I wasn't able to get through it all, I actually only saw about 30 minutes of the movie before having to turn it off to get outside.  I will finish it tomorrow some time.

Dinner time was quickly coming around, isn't it always like that when you keep yourself busy during the day?

I set the dough for my bread bowls, in my bread machine and then to rise, I placed them outside on the patio table.  I always use the summer heat to help rise my bread and it does a very good job of it.


And here's the finished product.  My bunny chow for dinner.  A couple of you asked what it was, and I do explain it on my food blog, so click on over to the Bunny Chow recipe and read all about it.

I also posted my Pressure Cooker Spaghetti Bolognese recipe :)


I have another busy day tomorrow, am getting a haircut at 11am and then need to quickly pop to Walmart for a few things, then need a money order to pay a bill and a trip to the post office.

I do want to get a bit more stuff planted as well, but I'll see how I'm doing time wise tomorrow afternoon.

I'm off to go and read again.  I know by now some of you are probably sick of hearing me talk about my book but I can't help it, it's beautifully written.

Have a wonderful Monday night friends.
xoxoxo

Good morning everyone, hope you're having a good Monday morning so far.

Mine started with a bit of a wrench, when Mister Marley decided to knock my coffee cup off my hand and spill it all over the living room carpet.  Not exactly how I wanted to start my morning but, hey ho, right?


The weather:::
Hot, humid, YUCK!!!!  High 90's and low 100's for the rest of the week, so more sun and warmth coming our way.

Right now I am:::
Trying to get this post up but I've had numerous interruptions.

On my reading pile:::
My name is Resolute by Nancy E. Turner.  I am LOVINGGGGGG this book.  It is absolutely amazing, every single page has me hooked and wanting to find out what comes next.  It's such a beautiful story, I can't recommend it enough.  I think I'll do a book review on it when I'm finished.

Movies or Shows I watched this weekend:::
This weekend I watched The Long Shadow.  I mentioned it in yesterday's post, it is a documentary on Netflix about World War I and the influence it still has on today's events.  Very informative, very interesting.  I also watched American Monster on the ID Channel.

On my TV:::
General Hospital
Frontier - Decided to start this one on Netflix
ID Discovery Channel

On the menu for this week:::

Monday
Bunny Chow (using my leftover chicken curry and homemade bread bowls)    
Tuesday
Mushroom and Broccoli Garlic Alfredo, Garlic Bread      
Wednesday
Chicken and Mushroom Pie/Beef Pies with mash and gravy
Thursday
Fish Pie and Salad  
Friday 
Corned Beef Hash   
Saturday
Chicken Thighs in Red Sauce with Rice 
Sunday
Sloppy Joe Casserole

On my to do list:::
Kitchen......already have the dishwasher going.  Just need to sweep and mop the floors. Make the Bread Bowls for dinner tonight.
Laundry.....Wash my big comforter and also have Jasmine's laundry.
House......usual vacuum, dust and tidy up.
Crochet......start Part 9 of the Atlanticus.


What I am sewing, crocheting, knitting or creating:::
I'm hoping to start Part 9 of the Atlanticus.  Also did the first Part of the Sweet Caroline Cushion.


Looking around the house:::
It's clean, it just needs a bit of tidying in the living rooms as Marley throws all his toys around and loves shredding any kind of paper he gets hold of. 


From the camera:::



What I'm wearing today:::
Black shorts, Pink and white t-shirt and my pink slippers. 


One of my simple pleasures:::
Gardening.  Even though my allergies flare up and the heat makes it quite hard to enjoy it at times, I still love going out there and pottering around with the dirt and the flowers. 


Inspirational Quote, Bible verse, anything you want to share:::
This quote speaks to me, and I completely agree :)

Hot, sweaty, stung by two wasps, hard work, a huge blister on the palm of my hand.

That's pretty much how my weekend went.  We did a lot of yard work, some landscaping and are really working at getting the yard looking how we want.

We've been in this house for 2 years, and the extent of our yard work has been mowing the lawn and moving on.

All the previous houses we lived in, we made the yard look pretty, we added pieces here and there, water features and solar lights and flowers.  But here, absolutely nothing.

It's not because we don't want to, but more because since moving to Texas, life has moved at turbo speed and we've had everything and anything throw in our path.  It's been rough friends, it's been exhausting and fun at times, heartbreaking, scary, frustrating, a lot of soul searching and extremely rewarding.  Yard work was the last of the last on our list of cares.  Rightfully so.

But now it's crept up to the top.

Funny how when certain things get taken care of, your priorities shift yet again.  As we knock things off our list of to do's and must do's, we are now able to have a little more fun time devoted to our home.





Since went spent most weekend doing yard work, meals were kept to a minimum, or rather, the cooking was kept to a minimum.  I did a delicious Spaghetti Bolognese in my Pressure Cooker, and made quite a bit for everyone to eat whenever they were hungry.


I wanted to have the recipe up today but I really didn't a chance to.  It will be done tomorrow and I'll share that with you all.


I also started a new Pillow, here is my Sweet Caroline.  It is a mini CAL (crochet a long) by Helen Shrimpton who brought us the lovely Mandala Madness.  It's just 3 parts and basically a way to use up yarn in your stash.  This is Part 1.

Isn't that just a beautiful design?

Not my usual colors either, but they do complement each other quite nicely.

While crocheting this piece, I watched a very interesting documentary on Netflix, called The Long Shadow.  It is about World War I's long shadow of influence and how it still impacts current events today.  It is available on Netflix so if it's the kind of thing you enjoy, be sure to check it out.

Alright friends, I know I haven't posted much in this weekend review, but we really didn't do much other than yard work.  I will take photos of what we did as soon as it's all done.

I'm going to get some more reading done.  I finally have my reading mojo back and it's been quite frustrating not being able to have the time in the day to just sit and read.  Wouldn't that be amazing, if we could sit on the couch all day long and read without stopping?

I do long for a day like that.  A good book, a cup of tea or coffee, two or three homemade cookies and a comfy blanket.  Ahhhhh perfect!!!

There is a saying in Portuguese called Saudades.  There's no real translation to the English language, I guess the closest to it would be feeling of missing something or feeling homesick.

Then there's the saying "Matar Saudades", which if we translate it word for word would be to Kill that feeling of missing something.  Again, it's really hard to translate it to the English language but in the Portuguese language it's something we use a lot when speaking about someone we are missing or certain place or time.

It's not the same as what I was referring to in my previous post about Longing for England, because I've never been there.


4 years ago we had just arrived in Idaho, after Curt's retirement from the Air Force.  As great an accomplishment as that was for us, it left a very big void in our hearts.  All we had ever known was the military life, it's who we were it's still who are are, and there are days that I miss it so much that it makes my heart hurt.

But one of the good things about living out in the country now in Texas, but close enough to the Base (relatively speaking, that is), is that I get to still have that kind of military community around me and the jets above. 


So a lot of times, I get to *Matar Saudades*, or kill that yearn and that missing feeling of being military and having the jets above us constantly flying.



I'm blessed enough that I get to experience that even now.  It's almost like living on base again, seeing and hearing them thunder above us as they go about their training sessions. 


The sound of Freedom!!!!


I often sit outside in the afternoons, with Marley laying near by enjoying the sun. I always have my camera close by because I know they'll be flying right above.


I finished Part 8 of the Atlanticus, just in time for the next Part to be released on Monday morning.  It's almost finished, there are 12 Parts all together, so we're almost there.


And thank goodness for that because this big boy is getting huge and pretty heavy to carry around.


Got another book in the mail today for review. Looks so good, doesn't it? I don't know what it is but some book covers just draw me right in, and it doesn't always mean it's going to be a great book, I've been fooled before by pretty covers and not so good stories. But it's been very few times :)

And speaking of books, I'm moving right along with "I am Resolute" by Nancy E. Turner. Oh my goodness guys, this book is so good, I can't put it down and actually find myself counting down the minutes until I can grab it and get some good reading done without interruptions.

I also just finished Jamestown today and I'm bummed out that I have no more episodes to watch. It is such a good show, if you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend it. Speaking of which I need to add it to my Period Drama list of series to watch.

If you're new to my blog and love period dramas, be sure to check out my sidebar for quite a few lists of movies, series, documentaries and even books you may enjoy :)


It's been a bit of a busy day today, I got groceries this morning and I have to say it was really nice shopping without the craziness of payday.  It's one reason I so enjoy grocery shopping between paydays, and thankfully that's how hubby's pay has turned out.

Speaking of pay, I also sat down and completely reworked our budget according to the new pay schedule.  We'll be getting a bit less than we thought but that's because we've finally got the taxes figured out so we're not having to pay anything at the end of the year. 

But, we are dead set on paying off our debt as fast as we can and if we stick to our new budget, by next year we will be almost completely debt free.  Can not wait.

Well friends, we had a late lunch so I didn't have to make dinner tonight as no one is up for a big meal so everyone is just eating what they want.  I'm about to have a bowl of my favorite Great Grains Banana Nut Crunch Cereal, watch a little TV with Jasmine and then call it a night. 

Have a ton of yard work to do tomorrow, with all the rain we've had, it's time to mow yet again.

Hope you all have a fantastic Friday night :)