{ 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 

{ Spend a rainy Saturday with me }

The rain began last night. At first just a few heavy drops here and there, followed by loud thunder, bright lightning and the constant barrage of millions of raindrops pounding down on the roof.  

 

The temperatures dropped, meaning the blankets I had already folded and put in the basket near the couch, were pulled back out to warm my achy bones.  Arthritis, my arch nemesis.  I never in a million years would have thought that I would develop osteoarthritis, especially before I even turned 50, and when it appeared I was quite sad about it, but I have learned to live with it and to accept that things happen, we don't control all the ailments that come upon our bodies as we age, and some things, just become part of the aging process.  It's ok.  

 

It's a Saturday morning, the slowness of the weekend has arrived bringing with it a laziness that has become synonymous with naps, slowness, pottering around, snacking, drinking coffee and tea, reading or watching a show on the telly.  I'm all for it.

 

So I'm bringing you along on this rainy day, from morning to night.  You might want to grab a cuppa and settle in, there are quite a few photos in this post.

 

 

:::: MORNING ::::

Before the world starts stirring, I am up.  I am an early riser, I guess because I go to sleep every night, around 8 or 8:30, so by 4:30am, I am wide awake and ready to start the day.  Week days or weekends, it doesn't matter, I am up.  You may think it is too early, but I find that I get so much more out of my day when I am up this early.

 

I make my coffee, I sit on the couch under a blanket and I read a little and then watch some quiet slow vlogs.  This morning however, I had the added ambience of a thunderstorm, some lit candles, and just the coziness that comes with this kind of weather.  

After about an hour, I start waking the house up.  While everyone else sleeps, I open the front door, open the curtains, and head into the kitchen to make my breakfast.  I love eating my breakfast back on the couch, while watching something on the tv.  

It's the slowness of the day that I really enjoy.  Dark, quiet, just me and my kitty.

I start a load of laundry and fold the one that just came out of the dryer.

Tidy up the couches, fold blankets and put the dining table back to order, runner, flowers and lamp and put back in place after being removed the night before for dinner and family games.

 

Some nights I get to do this before retiring for the day, but other nights I am the first to head to my bedroom, and the boys stay up playing, so this kind of chore moves to the morning.

I also water the plants.  I have recently set up our little indoor greenhouse with some of the first veggies and flowers we have started. 

As the sun starts rising, and the day starts waking up, I open the back door, light the scentsy warmer and fluff up the pillows on these couches. There's a sense of accomplishment when the day starts with the house fresh and tidy for the day.  No matter what comes our way later, everything seems to just fall into place.

 

:::: AFTERNOON ::::

 

The rain continues, sometimes a slow and steady drizzle, other times bringing all it's force with loud thunder that comes out of nowhere, making you jump out of your skin.  Yes it happens to me a lot.  

 

I do like stepping outside during the storms, to just smell the wet earth, to listen to the rain and to take in nature in all it's glory.  I love being outside in the rain, well, not exactly out in the rain itself, but sitting on my porch, just listening and taking it all in.

We went to the gym in the morning, not even the rain would keep us away.  I find though that the days we go to the gym, I am always slower and tired and just want to sleep the afternoon away.  I don't do it, but it definitely tires your body out.

 

This afternoon, I chose to turn on the fairy lights on the bookshelf, and settle in bed with a warm blanket, and my Ellliott asleep nearby.  If you don't see him, he is right on the bottom of the picture, under a blanket.  He stayed in my bed all day long, under that blanket, only getting up once to use the litter box and eat some food, and then went right back to his spot.  He loves rainy days as much as I do.

 

:::: NIGHT ::::

 

As the evening rolled around, I start the preparations for dinner.  Since it's been raining all day, I had a craving for chili, so after the gym this morning, we went by the base commissary and picked up what we needed.  I came back home and popped it all in the slow cooker.

 

There's nothing quite like a rainy day, with the scent of a delicious chili bubbling away in your slow cooker.  I get to go about my day without worrying about dinner.

Every night before dinner, and while I actually get dinner finished, I have my apple cider vinegar shot.  I've mentioned it before, but basically, I do 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, 1 tablespoon of honey and a sprinkle of cinnamon, then I fill the rest of the little measuring cup with cold water.  I think it's about 8 ounces all together.  

It helps me a lot with my stomach.  I used to have horrible issues from perimenopause, constant stomach cramps, runny tummy, gurgling, indigestion and just unwell stomach most of the time.  This mixture has helped me a lot.  You can look up the benefits of taking apple cider vinegar every day, and remember that with everything, talk to your doctor first, don't take my word for it.  I am merely sharing what I do and what works for me.

I made some homemade pita chips for myself and anyone else that wanted, because I don't eat tortilla chips or chips of any kind.  These are a great way to make homemade chips that are much healthier than store bought, and they go great with a chili or soup.

 

We had our delicious chili, played a game of cards, and I retired to my bedroom.  Took my wonderful shower, and by 8:30am I was asleep.  

 

The rain continues pounding outside and will more than likely go all night.  

 

I sure do hope you enjoyed spending the day with me and having a peek at what I do on a weekend day.  

Rain, Books, Cows, Ducks and Baby Chicks...oh my!

 

It has just gone past 10am, and I've come in to sit for just a few minutes to chat a little.  

I used to keep up with my blog and made sure to have daily updates, a record for myself and for my children one day, to be able to look back at where I've been, what we've done and what was happening around us.  We live in such a high paced technologically filled life, that it's often hard to take some moments to record our lives.

It sounds strange to say that, I mean everyone has a phone stuck to them at all times, and we have no shortage of videos and photographic evidence anytime anything happens.  But have you noticed that it is not really used for family time?

We are so eager to capture anything news worthy, but not our lives, and I find that quite sad and disheartening.  

And trust me, I say all this knowing that I am part of the problem too.  I may not be out there doing tik toks (can't stand that app), or filming world news, but I also get caught up in daily life and forget to see what is around me.

It also doesn't help that my children are now grown and don't like being photographed, or talked about on my blog.  Hence no birthday pictures from Nick's birthday on the 11th and there will be none from Jasmine's either on the 25th.  It bums me out, but I have to respect their wishes.

 

But, I digress!

 

So let's rather talk about the things that I can talk about, or want to talk about, which is what I've been up to around here.

 

Tea.....lot's of cups of tea, some times milky tea, sometimes plain black tea.  The weather has been rainy and wet, which always puts me in the mood for a nice cuppa while I read a book.

 

 

I've been using my free credits on Paperbackswap, to pick up some new reads, like this one from Lucy Maud Montgomery.  It is actually a compilation of 2 of her books, The Story Girl and The Golden Road.

I've also received Georgette Heyer's Venetia which I'm quite excited to get into.  Georgette Heyer is fantastic and I don't think there is a single book of hers that I didn't like.

Last week we also had quite an interesting thing happen on our property.  Every evening, after dinner, our family plays games, whether a card game or a board game, even sometimes some tv games.  It's a way that we bond and spend time together.

It was during one of these evenings, that we looked out the big dining room window and noticed a huge cow, just casually walking across our yard.  It's nothing new, and it's certainly not the first and I'm sure the last time that a cow happens upon our property.  We live surrounded by land and there are about 5 or 6 homes in the area that own cows.

We put the game on hold and my husband headed outside, right as a truck pulled into our driveway.  The man was not the owner of the cow but he did know the owner.  

About 35 minutes went by, the cow just stayed behind my house, just hanging out doing nothing.

We had a neighbor from just up the street, come down to us, who also knew the owner of the cow, and said he would grab her and deliver her to the ranch.

Next thing we know, we have cowboys, cowboy hats, horses and a full on cow chase with lassos going on. 

 

It was quite fascinating to watch, especially since on the 2 horses, were a father and son.  The young boy looked to be about 8 or 9.

They went around the back and chased the cow towards the front where a huge trailer with other men were waiting.  It was over pretty quickly once they got the horse to our property.

I swear, never a dull moment in my life.  

 

Our duck friends have also returned, we get them every year.  There are about 8 or 9 them, they show up during the day for an hour or so, then they leave, and come back again.

One of these times, they decided to leave us an egg.  I chuckled so hard when my husband came inside with an egg in his hand and completely confused Hahahahah

We feed so many animals in our area, I wonder if this was their way of thanking us for food and water.

Whatever the case, I think it was sweet.

Last but not least, our little baby chick is doing amazing.  Puffy is such a good mama to this baby.  She brings the baby out every morning and then takes it back into the coop every night.  Until 2 days ago, we would have to go out every evening, and let puffy into the coop, then help the baby in because it was too small to climb the ramp.  Our ramp has a little space between it and the coop entrance, and the baby was just too small to make that jump.  Now it's big enough.  

I swear, we may have lost our other 3 chicks but it's been such a wonderful, fascinating and informative journey just watching all of this from start to finish.

How long have I been wanting chickens?  If you know me, you will surely know that it's been years if not a decade that I've been talking about this.  It seems surreal sometimes that we now have our own coop and flock and we've had the pleasure of seeing chicks hatch, from egg laying to brooding to hatching.  All of it.  So thankful to God for this blessing.

Anyway, you are now caught up on what has been happening around here.

I sure hope you all are doing well, and please friends remember to stay close to God, to stay in prayer and above all to cover yourselves and your families, homes, cars, finances and health, with the blood of Jesus.  It is so important to do that right now.

I love you all, stay blessed and until next time,

Sandra