{ Happy Homemaker Monday - 07/20/2026 }

 

Good morning everyone, and a happy Monday to you all. 

 

I am so tired today, I don't even know why but I'm just ready to go back to bed.  hahaha  There are days like these right?  You wake up and feel like you haven't slept even though you have.  Nothing some more coffee won't fix.  

 

Anyway, welcome back.

 

Let's see what is happening around our home this week.

 

Have a blessed week friends, and stay cool.  We are heading for the hottest week here in Texas and I'm not looking forward to it at all.

 

Sandra

xoxoxoxo 

 

 

*** The Weather *** 

I am not looking forward to this week at all.  Like AT.ALL. 

 

  

 

*** Right now I am *** 

Sitting at my desk and working on this post.  Curt just left for work, and I've seen him off and now retired back to the bedroom with the fur babies, who are fast asleep on the bed. 

 

 

*** Thinking and pondering *** 

Nothing particular in mind, just normal day to day thoughts and homemaking and bills etc. 

 

 

*** How I am feeling ***

Tired, just tired.  We had another busy weekend and I'm so tired, but today is my down day so I am hoping to get a bit of nap. 

 

 

*** On the breakfast plate *** 

Haven't had breakfast yet, but will have another cup of coffee soon and a bowl of oatmeal. 

 

 

*** On the lunch plate ***

Probably some tuna salad.     

 

 

*** On the dinner plate *** 

Islak Burgers, Rice, Salad 

 

 

*** On the menu *** 

 

Monday - Islak Burgers, Rice, Salad   

 

 

 

Tuesday -  Sausages in Tomato Sauce, Mashed Potatoes, Steamed Broccoli 

 

 

 

Wednesday - Greek Chicken Bake, Couscous, Chickpea Salad 

 

 

Thursday - Brother in Law's birthday, out to dinner at an Indian Restaurant 

 

 

Friday - Hot Sesame Pork, Sesame Noodles, Roast Veggies

 

 

 

Saturday - Fend for yourself

 

 

Sunday -  Ground Turkey Zucchini Casserole, Salad  

 

 

 

*** What I am wearing *** 

Still in my nightgown, will put on a dress later. 

 

 

*** On my reading pile *** 

Still reading through Judges in the Bible. 

Reading the second story in The New England Romance Collection. 

 

 

*** On my TV this week *** 

YouTube:

Homemaking 

Christian book vloggers 

Quiet and simple living 

Homemakers in Brazil, Portugal and Mexico  

 

Turkish series:

I'm a little bored at the moment because most series are on break during the summer.  Though I have these two currently going, I'm not enjoying them as much as I wish I did. 

Doganin Kanunu 

Muhtemel Ask

 

Netflix:

Crime Documentaries

 

 

*** Looking around the house *** 

Need to do carpet cleaning today so will be busy with that.   

 

 

*** To do list *** 

Water inside plants 

Water plants and veggies outside on the patio 

Daily bible reading and devotional/bible study 

Daily 15k steps

Homemaking chores  

 

 

*** What I am creating ***

The blanket is still going but my word, this part I'm working on has confused me so much.  I have had to rip out and redo multiple rows because they're so similar and I keep messing up.  Honestly can't wait to see this part behind me.  

 

 

*** From the camera *** 

Just love this bookmark my daughter got me.  She actually got me two like this, the other one is just as pretty but different fabric.  ♥   

 

 

*** Devotional, Prayers, Bible Verses *** 

Last week tested my faith and patience.  I need to constantly remind myself that when I give power or thought to things that worry me, I am actually taking God's love and practically throwing it back in His face and giving the enemy power.  It is so frustrating to me to keep doing this, but I am human and the flesh speaks louder at times.   

 

{ Mid Year Book Freakout Tag }

I have seen this tag going around and I decided to do it here on the blog, to mainly put in one place the books that I have read so far this year, or rather, not to list them all but just the ones that stood out to me for one reason or another.

 

As I have said many times before, this year has been one where I've reconnected with reading and am loving the time I spend between the pages of books.  I've loved reading since I was a child, but I do go through phases where I don't pick up a single book, sometimes a whole year will go by without me reading a line.  

 

So, which books have stood out the first half of the year?  Let's take a look. 

 

 

1. Best book you've read so far? 

Without a doubt, it has to be A Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers.  That is a book that marked me for life and I will never forget it.  It encouraged me to be a better Christian, to seek out God more and to never drift from my beliefs, no matter the circumstance. 

 

2. Best sequel you’ve read so far? 

An Echo in the Darkness, the second book after A Voice in the Wind.  The character growth, the spiritual journey and the change from a man who didn't believe in God, to being fully a believer, is like no other.

 

3. New release you haven’t read yet but want to? 

The Bachelor Spy by Pepper Basham.  

 

4. Most anticipated release for the second half of the year?

The Soul of the Revolution by Megan Soja.  I read the first three books in the series, the beginning of the year, and now can't wait for the fourth which is releasing in November of this year. 

 

5. Biggest disappointment? 

I picked up a trilogy from Paperbackswap, thinking I would enjoy it.  I believed it was a series set in the western frontier, but it turned out to be about Joseph Smith which is something I am not particularly interested in. 

 

6. Biggest surprise? 

All the biblical fiction from Connilynn Cossette.  She's become my favorite Christian fiction author this year. 

 

7. Favorite new author (new or debut)? 

There's a few that have surprised me but without a doubt Connilynn Cossette along with Rachel Fordham. 

 

8. Newest favorite character? 

Hadassah from A voice in the wind.  What a beautiful woman inside and out, her strength, her faith, her love for God shining through horrible situations, made me want to be a stronger Christian. 

 

9. Book that made you cry? 

A Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers.  I know I keep saying the same book, but it was that good and that moving for me. 

 

10. Book that made you happy? 

Land of Silence by Tessa Afshar.  The story is about the woman in the Bible who bled for twelve years.  It was such a good story, such a good fictional twist on the story that it made me smile. 

 

11. Most beautiful book you’ve bought this year or received? 

There have been a few, but I have loved the Carrie Cotten Medieval Christian fantasy books.  All the covers are simple but yet so stunning. 

 

12. What books do you want to read by the end of the year? 

I still have a stack that are possibilities.  I am a mood reader so I stopped making to be read piles because I never stuck with them.

 

But off the top of my head:

The Songbird by Carrie Cotten - the last in the series

The Soul of the Revolution by Megan Soja

The Anne of Avonlea series 

{ Spend the day with me }

Good morning sweet ladies.  

 

It is a beautiful rainy morning here in Texas.  It has been raining since 4 am, and it's been absolutely glorious, the temperatures have dropped the lower 70s and for that I am so grateful.  I know summer is practically just halfway through but the triple digits and high humidity are not fun at all.

 

 

♥ RAIN ♥

It started early morning and has remained constant, slowly coming down, the pitter patter a familiar comforting sound on the roof.  I love the feeling that rain brings up in me, this feeling of warmth and cozy.  I much prefer a dark, cloudy, rainy day, to a bright hot sunny day. (don't judge me haha) 

♥ GROCERY SHOPPING ♥

I don't mind the actual shopping, however, putting it all away makes me want to run for the hills.  It's one of the chores of homemaking that I really dislike, that and putting clean laundry away.  I guess I can't love every chore that comes with being a homemaker right?

 

 

 

♥ BREAD BAKING♥

I got my sandwich bread made for the week.  I decided to use my recipe for french bread baguettes and just make two loaves.  I've mentioned before how I will usually make about 8 baguettes or sub buns from this recipe, but didn't need those right now and do need some fresh bread.

 

 

 

♥ READING♥

I said earlier this week that I had read 30 books, but that is not true, I forgot to add some that were already on my bookshelf and while looking for another to read, I saw them and realized that I read them in the beginning of the year, so that brings my books read total to 36.

 

Good grief!  

 

I wanted to show you my cute bookmarks that my daughter Jasmine got me from the farmer's market this past weekend.  How sweet are these? 

 

 

 

♥ QUICK LUNCH AND STARTING DINNER ♥

When it's hot outside I find that I don't want to eat meals, like full meals or proper food, if that even makes sense.  I sometimes will just have a bowl of cereal or will actually skip that meal which I shouldn't do, but I just can't bring myself to eat a hot meal.

 

For lunch I didn't feel like having leftovers, so I had one of my favorite summer quick lunches.  A bowl of greek yogurt with honey and peanut butter and some granola.  It is so good and so refreshing.

 

 

♥ AFTERNOON COFFEE AND RELAX ♥ 

Every day, I try to take an afternoon break to enjoy a cup of coffee and a cookie, while sitting down and either crocheting or reading a book.  With the rain coming down, I decided to do this at my chair right by the big living room window.  Nothing like listening to the thunder and watching the rain coming down, while sipping on a hot cup of coffee and nibbling on a shortbread cookie.

 

 

♥ WINDING DOWN ♥

After my break, I sliced the two loaves up and placed them in ziploc bags in the fridge. I got 3 bags and one will go to Jasmine tomorrow.  Then I got dinner finished, I had already placed it in the crockpot earlier in the day and all I had to was make the sides, which were rice and a spicy cucumber salad which is a favorite around here.  

 

By the time dinner was done and dishes put in the washer and the kitchen tidied up, I was so tired and just ready for bed.  But the sense of a clean home and a productive well lived day, always makes it rewarding.

♥ MEALS ENJOYED THIS WEEK ♥ 

Just two of the meals that enjoyed this past week.

 

Fish fillets with tomato and onion in the oven, bean salad and quinoa 

 

 

Ground beef and eggplant with rice and spicy cucumber salad

 

I hope you enjoyed spending this day with me.  I know it's nothing extraordinary or super fun, but it is my life and it's basically what most of my days look like, except for the bread baking which happens once a week only.  Either way, you get the idea.

 

I hope you've all had a blessed week and I wish you all a very blessed weekend ahead.

xoxoxo 

{ Christmas in July - Hallmark Movies }

 

It is that time of year!

 

I don't know if many of you do this at all, but usually in July I start watching Christmas movies.  I mostly watch them in November and leading up to the holiday but I try to do it in n July every year, to coincide with Hallmark's Christmas in July schedule. 

 

With that in mind, for my own record and so that I have a place to come and see what is playing every day, I wanted to share it here, and who knows, maybe one or two of you might want to watch as well.

 

So here it is: 

I have watched some of these so I'll skip those but for the most part, there are plenty of wonderful movies to get us prepared for the cooler months and the wonderful Christmas holiday.

 

Let me know if you do this yourself and if you have any other activities you participate in for this Christmas in July ♥ 

{ Wordless Wednesday }

{ Rowdy Raccoons }

  

You know that saying "you give them a hand, they take a whole arm?"

 

Well we are currently living it, with some raccoons that decided to become quite rude, even though they have access to food every day.  We are those kinda people that feed the wildlife, whoever they are, whatever they need, they know where to come for a meal.  

 

Call us the local animal kitchen.

 

I've never had an issue with that and I love being able to feed the wildlife, and truthfully we've never had an sort of issue until the past two days.  A gaze of raccoons...by the way did you know that a group of raccoons is called a gaze?  I had no clue, but I looked it up just for interest, and there it was.  Weird description, but anyway.

 

For the past two days, I have walked out my front door, to find my plants and veggies all dug up, completely pulled from the pots and some even ripped across the yard.   I was so confused at first, then I noticed that a family of four raccoons was hanging out on my porch, just waiting for their morning meal and instead of being thankful, these rowdy pests have taken to messing with my pots.  

 

Needless to say, I have spent today moving all my plants, getting them back into the pots, and taking them to the back porch instead.  Hopefully this deters the little naughty ones from anymore antics.

Anyway, today is grocery day for me.  I am going to start shopping in store again, so this is my last Walmart delivery order.  It's been great, but like I said in a previously blog, it's frustrating as well, there's always some item missing, something substituted, or I've had glass bottles broken etc.  It's ridiculous!

 

Anyway, I changed the header and background on my blog, I felt it needed a little refresh, and then I thought, why not bring you along with me on this Tuesday?

 

It's not like I have anything glamorous going on, but it's real life, it's what I do around here and I think some of you may enjoy it, I know I enjoy reading other blogs or watching vlogs about every day ordinary life. 

 

 

I worked in the bedroom, at my desk, paying bills and just doing random administrative things, and as always while I do that, the babies get on the bed and take wonderful naps.

 

I know there are people who don't like pets, but I honestly don't know what I would do without mine, they are our babies and such a huge part of our family.  Even the outside strays are our babies, we've given them all names and funny enough they respond to each name.  

 

 

I have been on a reading mission this year, where some years I don't read a single book, this year I have been inhaling them.  I'm loving reconnecting with my books and sitting down at the end of the day or early morning, opening the book and just reading for about an hour.  I'm a fast reader as it is, so if I don't have much going on, my nose is in a book and I can go through them really quickly.

 

This is the pile of books I have read since May.  Altogether I have read 30 books this year.  What?!?!?!?!  

 

That is incredible for me, and I'm nowhere near done, and we still have 6 months until the end of the year, so if I manage to read another 30 at least, that's 60 books in one year.  Crazy!!!

 

Today I also opened up my blog to book file on my computer and am planning to get back to putting my blog posts in book form.  I already have quite a few but really want to finish my collection and catch up.  I don't think it will take too long because the past few years, mainly from 2020 to now, I haven't been blogging as much, sad as it is for me, it will make the process quicker.  But it really is sad because I've missed documenting so many things that have happened in our lives the past 6 years, and I wish I did but there's no going back now, so onwards and forwards.

 

And that is it my friends, at least for today.  I don't have much more to share.  I do plan on keeping my camera near me and taking pictures as I move about my day, and trying to get it here on the blog.  Fingers crossed!

 

I will be coming by to say hi to the Happy Homemaker Monday participants this week, I need to do that this morning.

 

Have a blessed Wednesday friends!

xoxoxox 

{ Happy Homemaker Monday - 07/13/2026 }

 

Good morning everyone, welcome back.  How was your weekend?  

 

I hope it was a good one.  I for one had a quiet weekend with not going out and not having tons to do.  It's been months since I have had a proper relaxing weekend so it felt wonderful to be able to do that.

 

I am going to quickly put this post up because I need to head out the door, in about 20 minutes, with my husband, for his VA dental appointment in Oklahoma.  

 

I wish you all a very blessed week ahead, and thank you again for always stopping by even if I don't always have the time to return the favor.  I need to remedy that, truly, I do.   

Sandra

xoxoxoxo 

 

 

*** The Weather *** 

  

Monday - Thunderstorms, 91 

Tuesday - Thunderstorms, 93  

Wednesday - Thunderstorms, 92

Thursday - Partly cloudy, 89 

Friday - Partly Sunny, 92 

Saturday - Sunny, 96 

Sunday - Sunny, 100

 

 

*** Right now I am *** 

I just made my breakfast quickly and brought it to my desk so that I can eat and post at the same time.  I'm already dressed and hair done, makeup done everything, just have to put on some sandals and head out the door.  

 

 

*** Thinking and pondering *** 

My stepmom will be visiting us in September and I can't wait for it.  So I'm already thinking and planning everything ahead.  

 

 

*** How I am feeling ***

A bit crampy this morning as it is the beginning of that week, you know.  But I keep telling myself, I'm turning 52 next month so this won't be for much longer, and I bet you by the time I'm through menopause, I will actually have days where I miss this.        

 

 

*** On the breakfast plate *** 

Two pieces of wholewheat toast and two scrambled eggs with a cup of coffee.  However, I've had just half of it, and I think I'm done.  With the eggs and toast that is, the coffee will never stay just half, that has to go completely.  Hahah

 

 

*** On the lunch plate ***

Not sure, I don't know how long Curt's appointment will be so we may just have lunch in Oklahoma.    

 

 

*** On the dinner plate *** 

Ajo Chicken, Basmati Rice, Brussel Sprouts. 

 

 

*** On the menu *** 

Will start working on the new meal plan today.

 

Monday - Ajo Chicken, Basmati Rice, Brussel Sprouts  

 

 

 

Tuesday -  Garlic Lemon Tilapia, Roasted Veggies 

 

 

 

Wednesday -Beef Burrito Casserole, Salad

 

 

 

Thursday -  

 

Friday - 

 

 

Saturday - Fend for yourself

 

Sunday -  Islak Burgers, Sweet Potato Fries (This one will stay as I didn't get around to making it last week)

 

 

 

 

*** What I am wearing *** 

Black midi dress, black sandals. 

 

 

*** On my reading pile *** 

Still reading through Judges in the Bible. 

Read and finished Heart of Stone ( Irish Angel series book 1) by Jill Marie Landis.  It was a quick and sweet read.  

 

I have now started a huge collection of Christian fiction stories that I got a while back.  The first one is The New England Romance Collection with five inspiring love stories set in the historic North East.

 

 

*** On my TV this week *** 

YouTube:

Homemaking 

Christian book vloggers 

Quiet and simple living 

Homemakers in Brazil, Portugal and Mexico  

 

World Cup:

We have only two games this week before the final on Sunday.  I can't believe it's already at the end, I don't know what to do with myself after this  Hahahah

 

Turkish series:

Doganin Kanunu 

Muhtemel Ask

Older series that I have not watched yet

 

Netflix:

Worst Roommate Ever

 

 

*** Looking around the house *** 

I need to give it the usual Monday clean but that will have to wait until later this afternoon, or tomorrow morning. 

 

 

*** To do list *** 

Water inside plants 

Water plants and veggies outside on the patio 

Daily bible reading and devotional/bible study 

Daily 15k steps

Homemaking chores  

 

This week: 

Curt decided to go ahead and just paint the paneled dining room, the same color as the green in the living room.  I did one wall and need to do the rest this week.

 

 

*** What I am creating ***

 Still working on the crochet blanket.  Will take another picture and show the progress soon. 

 

 

*** From the camera *** 

I love regrowing vegetables.  

 

 

*** Devotional, Prayers, Bible Verses *** 

At church we have started a new series, and yesterday's sermon was about The Pain of Betrayal.  Very good!