{ Happy Homemaker Monday - 08/13/2018 }

Good morning dear friends, I sure hope you had a wonderful weekend.

Mine was so good, mainly due to the fact that I turned 44 on Friday, and then Saturday picked up my stepmother from the airport.  She is visiting from South Africa and I hadn't seen her in 10 years :)

Then yesterday, hubby and I celebrated 20 years of marriage, which is truly amazing.  I am as happy today as I was on the day we said I do.  :)

So, quite an  eventful weekend.

We also dropped off Jasmine's boyfriend to return back home to Michigan.  I now have one week off with no visitors, and then my stepmom will be with us for two weeks before returning back home to South Africa.  It's honestly been a non stop go for me the past two months, I was in San Diego the first two weeks of July, came home and a few days later picked up Scott (Jasmine's boyfriend), he was with us 3 weeks, so yeah, I am feeling quite overwhelmed and looking forward to a little break before hosting again.

Anyway, let's get right into our Happy Homemaker Monday.

(New HHM button)

The weather in my neck of the woods:
Beautiful rain is pounding down as we speak.  I couldn't be happier.  We've had such hot temperatures around here and I'm very happy to have a reprieve from those.  Rain started around 4am and it's still coming down strong.  The rest of the week is looking like this:

Monday - High of 81 and thunderstorms
Tuesday - High of 92 and thunderstorms
Wednesday - High of 97 and cloudy
Thursday - High of 97 and cloudy
Friday - High of 96 and thunderstorms
Saturday - High of 94 and cloudy
Sunday - High of 93 and thunderstorms


Things that make me happy:
Opening my home to family and friends.  It is hard work and time consuming, but when someone visits, I try my best to make them comfortable and feel like they are home. 


Book I'm reading:
Mrs Mulligan and the Enchanted Ice Cream. 



What's on my TV today:
I am a Killer (Netflix series about death row inmates)
Frontier Season 1
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society



For dinner tonight:
Stuffed Green Peppers with Fried Cabbage 


On the menu this week:


Monday -  Stuffed Green peppers with Fried Cabbage 
Tuesday - Lemon chicken, rice, salad
Wednesday - Tacos
Thursday - Spaghetti Bolognese, salad
Friday - Homemade Pizza (Pepperoni and black olives, garlic cheesy pizza)
Saturday - Family Barbecue
Sunday - Lasagna, garlic bread


On my To Do List:
Last load of laundry - pull from dryer, fold and put away
Tidy and clean house
First day of school, so I need to take a quick look at the lessons and get the materials ready


New Recipe I tried or want to try soon:
Big Red Ice Cream

In the craft basket:

Still the Cosmic CAL.  I haven't yet made it to the store for more yarn. 


Looking forward to this week:
Just a week of not relaxing and taking it easy, I definitely need a break.


No words needed (favorite photo or picture, yours or others you want to share):

Lesson learned the past few days:
More like a lesson learned the past few weeks.  I need to take more time for myself, to do the things I love, to relax, to sit around for a little and not worry about what needs doing or cleaning, or cooking.  I can't serve my family and my house, if I am not 100%, and the truth is that all this constant running around the past two months, is starting to get to me in the form of Insomnia.  I'm starting to feel exhausted again because I'm not sleeping well at all.  Time to put me first this week, so that I can once again go back to doing what I love, which is taking care of my family. 


On my mind:
School and how it's going to go this year.  I'm choosing to believe that it will be better as my Nick is older.  He has never enjoyed schooling and at times it can be quite frustrating getting him to do what he needs to. 


Devotionals, Scripture Reading, Key Verses:
Isaiah 33:2
2 LORD, be gracious to us; we long for you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress.