{ Well hello...... }

I am sitting here with the sound of the air conditioner in the background.  A constant hum that has become just as big a part of my daily summer life, as ice cold water, green grass and the bluest of skies you'll ever see.

So, how are you all doing?

Life has been so busy and so strange at the same time.  I have gone through my days, often feeling like I don't know where I'm going or what I'm doing.  Hours speed by, days become weeks and weeks become months.  For a while there, there was just so much happening at once, that I feel my body shut down and went into self preservation mode.

 

A constant feeling of exhaustion, no motivation, just dragging myself from day to day.  Surely not a way to live right?

 

But, I'm here, I'm good, I'm alive and I'm slowly emerging from this cocoon, I feel I was in.

I would love to come on and say that I finally have my veggie garden going full speed, and that it's thriving and yada yada.  Unfortunately, but for a few things planted in the ground, the veggie patch is just there, trying to live through the intense heat we've been dealing with.

The same heat that I am not able to bear, and makes me not want to go out there at all.  

We are hoping to get the pool up and going soon.  There's nothing better than a dip in a cold pool when the triple digits come around.  Thing is, it takes time, effort and we haven't had a chance, so it's on the to do list for this coming weekend.  *fingers crossed*

I don't really have many pictures to share with you, I usually like to come in and chat, show you what I've been doing and such, but to be honest, I haven't touched my camera much at all.  It's probably been weeks since I've snapped some photos.  

I have also received quite a few messages on Instagram telling me that they are missing my posts, my stories, and just my interaction in general.  I know, I've been quite withdrawn and in the background.  It's not that I don't have anything to share, or don't want to share, but just haven't had the time.

So, I'm slowly trying to ease back into my daily Instagram stories, showing my day, our dinner and little bits here and there.

At first, I thought I would come in a fill you in on everything that has been going on, but decided against it, it's boring, you don't need to hear all the boring details as I'm sure you all know what it's like.  Sometimes life is filled with fun and adventure, and sometimes it's filled with not so fun things, responsibilities, ups and downs and quite frankly, boring things.

 

I will be back to show you my plants, I'm becoming quite the plant obsessed lady.  Growing up, our house was always filled with beautiful plants and flowers, and I used to with that one day my own home would be the same.  It's been a slow process, but I'm finally able to keep plants alive and have been filling every nook and cranny with gorgeous greenery.

 

But that will be for the next post.  

 

Really just wanted to come in and say a hello, let you know that I'm still here, albeit more behind the scenes....and also just check into my sweet little corner of blogland. 

For now, I'll leave it at this.  Hope you're all doing well.  I'll be back!!!

Retracted eardrum???

Hey everyone :)

Goodness, it's been a few days since I've done an actual chatty post, I did put up two book reviews and I know some of you enjoy those, but I also know that not all do.

It's been a bit of a.....how can I say it?  Not too busy or insane, but just a bit off I guess.  This whole ear issue has been slow going and it's made me have some down days of not wanting or feeling like doing anything.

So what about that title???

Well, that's where we are at the moment.  So I went back to the doctor on Tuesday afternoon, my ear still didn't feel right, I still have some static/buzzing/ringing going on, feeling a bit dizzy at times and that feeling of the ear needing to pop but not being able to.

The doctor had a look in my ear, and good news is the fluid is all gone, it's pretty clear in there.....but....and there's always a but with me isn't there?  LOL

Because of the amount of fluid, the swelling, the pressure being off in the middle ear and all that nonsense, my eardrum is now slightly retracted.  That all explains the symptoms I'm still having and the onset of dizziness once in a while, almost like vertigo due to the retracted eardrum.

It's not serious, it will sort itself out with time, but the doctor has instructed me to use my allergy nasal spray in the morning, and then at night do the Flonase which is more of a steroid spray and that will reduce the swelling and get everything back to normal.

She did put in a referral to an ENT which she wants me to see in about a month just to focus on the sinus/ear issues which are exacerbated by the allergies.  She also recommended Allergy Therapy.   So we will see what happens.

For the moment, it's only been two days of the sprays and she said it will sometimes take a few weeks for the eardrum to fix itself.

This ear issue has consumed a lot of my time, due to different reasons, whether it be doctor appointments, or feeling unwell and needing to lay down etc.

But I've not let it interfere with my housework and have actually found homemaking a much needed reprieve.

So let me show you just a few shots of what my past week has consisted of.

As you can see above, my cactus is now flowering, isn't it beautiful?

My plants in general are doing amazing, and that may just be due to the fact that I've been a lot more attentive to their needs and providing them water and the amount of sunshine they need, so forth.

My clothesline has been getting a lot of use with the warmer temperatures, and with that being the case, I whipped up a super quick clothes peg bag to facilitate things.  There's nothing more annoying than trying to gather clothes from the line with a handful of pegs, dropping either clothes or pegs to the ground and so on.
This way my bag is full, I just pop it on the line and move it down with me as I go, reaching in to grab a few pegs as needed.

I've also used this past week to work on some crochet placemats.  I'm loving making these and I'm going to be selling them as well, to anyone that is interested.

The first set of 4 I made are in this gorgeous cotton aqua/mint green color.

I just love the way they look, and I'm imagining a whole table set with pretty placemats.

I've made a few for myself using leftover cotton scraps that I had laying around, but I will be purchasing more cotton yarn this weekend and working on a few more sets.  So if it's something you're interested in, keep an eye out because I'll be selling these very soon.

Along with our beautiful spring temperatures in the afternoons, we also have cooler mornings, which means a blanket of fog when we get up.

It usually dissipates by 8am, but it sure makes for some pretty photos doesn't?

Food has been a hot topic this week.  I've jumped right into cooking mode and have been whipping up some yummy meals along with some naughty sweet treats as well.

Last night I made a quick Blender Pie for dinner.  I had a pound of ground beef to use and not really sure what to make with it as I didn't feel like having what was on the menu.

I did leave the recipe for the batter on Instagram, you can check it out there, but I will be adding it to the food blog as well soon.  Again, I apologize, I just haven't felt up to editing and posting and compiling recipes for the blog, so it's fallen a bit to the backburner.

Anyway, I really just wanted to come in and say hi and give you an update on what is going on around here in my little corner of the world.  I need to make my bed real quick, curl my hair (it needs washing and I'll do it tonight, but curling makes it last a little longer....just keeping it real folks), and then I have to take Jasmine to work and go grocery shopping real quick, come home and pack it away and head back out to pick her up.

Her schedule today is a bit weird, she only works 4 hours, but then tomorrow she will be in for 10 and a half hours.  Crazy!!!

I think I might head to Aldis for groceries and then just pop by the commissary for meats or anything that I didn't find at Aldis.

I hope you all have a blessed Friday.  I'll be back tomorrow with my grocery haul and the new menu plan :)

Chit Chat, photos and updates

Good morning everyone :)

I'm sure you're quite shocked to see a post from me, well, I thought it was time to get my butt in here and say hi, have a little chat, tell you what I've been up to or what I have coming up etc.  I do hope you're ready for a post filled with pictures and lots of babbling.

It's cloudy and rainy here today, we have a huge storm headed our way which is supposed to bring hail, winds and even some tornadoes.  I'll be praying that it's not as bad and that the tornadoes stay nice and far from our area.

It's 7:24 am and I'm still in bed.  I need to be up soon and start my cleaning and normal daily chores, but for now, it's still kind of dark and with this rainy weather, one does not really want to get up and do much.  As I sat here, I figured that it was the perfect moment to come and have a little chat.

So grab a cup of coffee and sit down with me for a bit.

Now, what has been happening the past few weeks?  Nothing exciting, nothing that bears mentioning, just normal living and going about our business.

The kids are growing fast, Nick is about to turn 13 years old, can you believe that?  I feel as if just last week I was sharing photos on my blog of him as a little toddler running around in his diapers, and now here he is about to enter the teen years.  When this happens, I will no longer have little ones and I'm not quite sure how to feel about that.

Jasmine is about to turn 17, she just took her ACT test yesterday.  If you're not aware what it is, it is the National College Admissions test.  Fingers crossed!!!

She is about to finish her Junior year, and then next year it's Senior year, graduating and all that fun stuff.  I am definitely not ready for that.  We're looking at doing Concurrent Enrollment this coming year, so I've been trying to figure that all out, contact the local colleges etc.  Oh my word, I knew this day would come but now that it's staring me down I just want to run in the opposite direction.

Spring is in full force!!!!

My yards are covered in Grape Hyacinths, the birds are chirping away happily, the weather has warmed up considerably and the days are longer.

We've been working hard on the yards, we have the family reunion coming up in May and last year we didn't have a chance to really do anything with the house.  This year, we are trying to pretty the outside up, put in some plants, an area for a fire pit etc.

Above, I have Blackberries and Blueberries growing, and below, some of my favorite flowers, Hyacinths and Daffodils.

They boys have been hard at work too.  We've been laying down some edging leading towards the fire pit area.

Power tools and boys go hand in hand right?

We've been watching tons of movies, like I said in my Happy Homemaker Monday, mainly because our internet service went out last week Thursday and we were without until Monday night.

It's always quite funny watching all the kids with no wifi, they literally don't know what to do with themselves.  Makes me think of when I was their age and had no internet at all, I didn't need it, I didn't have cellphones or tablets or laptops or any of that junk, and I still managed to have a good childhood.

Kids seem to be so obsessed with all of this stuff that they can't seem to function without.

Anyway, we watched quite a few movies.  The one that stands out the most to me was The Green Inferno.  If you haven't watched it and like stories to do with the tribes of the Amazon, cannibalism etc, then you will enjoy it.  It was quite shocking in some parts but overall a very good movie.

Everest was another that needs to be watched, what a wonderful movie.

We also watched The Night Before (a comedy), it was pretty funny.  Robert The Doll was a waste of time, the girls picked it because it looked quite scary, but we ended up laughing through it because of how ridiculous it was.

Last night I watched Cleveland Abduction.  I picked up Michelle Knight's book on Saturday and read it in one day, it was such a wonderful book, hard to get through at some points because of the horrible things that monster did to the girls, but Michelle is such an inspiration.  I wanted to watch the movie, and though it was ok, it was nothing like the book, but then again they seldom are.  If you really want an insight perspective into what happened, do read the book, there is so much in there that was left out of the movie itself.

I've also started watching Orange is the New Black.  Now, as a Christian I will tell you that I held off watching it for a very long time and mainly because I thought it was going to be all just women with women and that kind of stuff.  It's not, I mean there are some scenes in there about it, but it's mainly about these women and how they have to adapt to prison life, what they do to survive and make it through their long sentences.  I'm enjoying it.

Book wise, like I said above, I read Finding Me by Michelle Knight.

I also picked up The All Girl's Filling Station Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg.  Love her, she's so funny.

And The King's Curse by Phillipa Gregory.  So excited to read this one, love the author and love anything Tudor and King Henry VIII.

Those 3 I got at Booksamillion, they were on the sale racks and were $6 and $5 each.  Cheap and I can't pass up a good book.

From the library, I have The Last Midwife by Sandra Dallas, I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella, The wind through the keyhole by Stephen King and Innocence by Dean Koontz.

So yes, lots of good reads.  I go through stages where I don't read anything for months and then suddenly the urge kicks in and I'm just soaking in as many books as I can.  I will let you know what I think of these as I get through them.

This weekend we are planning to head to a Renaissance Fair.  You know how much my family and I love it and we haven't been to one since Arizona, so we're itching to go.  My brother and his family have never been to one so it will be a nice thing for them to experience.  I'm quite looking forward to it, even though we'll have to drive about an hour and a half out.

I also need to start birthday shopping, Nick's birthday is on the 11th of April and Jasmine's is on the 25th.  The week of the 11th though, both kids will be doing their end of year testing, so it will be quite a few busy 3 days.

Nick doesn't want a birthday party, matter of fact if he could just get by with no fuss whatsoever, he would be ecstatic, but I'm thinking I may take him to laser tag which I know he loves.

We are throwing a little party, get together for Jasmine though, she's turning 17 and we haven't done anything for either of them in many years, now that we are closer to family we would love to do something special for them.

Anyway, that is basically what I've been up to the past few weeks, nothing exciting, but I do wish I had more time to come in and update, especially now that the kids are getting bigger and will be out of our house in the blink of an eye.

I hope you've all been doing well, thank you again for always coming in and saying hi and leaving comments, it really does mean a lot. 

It's now 8:30 and I really need to get out of this bed, dressed and my day started.  Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone, and I'll see you all back here soon.

Still here!!!

Hello Friends!!!

I am here, still here, still living, still around, just unfortunately been very busy the past two weeks.

I honestly haven't had a chance to blog much, actually, none at all, but I wanted to let you know that things have slowed down and I am going to be back at it tomorrow.

Grocery Haul and Menu Plan post is coming up in the morning, then on Monday along with our usual Happy Homemaker Monday, I will have a review on Pink Zebra Sprinkles, then Tuesday a review on some Matcha Green Tea.

Interspersed with those there will be Day in the Life posts, Christmas posts and cooking and all sorts of things going on.

I am quite chuffed to get back on track with the blogging, and I do so hope you're all still around and doing well.

So, just wanted to come in real quick to let you know what was going on, I'm sure you've also noticed the template changes, I wanted something Christmasy but don't have anything I like and it's something I am going to be working on this week, so for now, this will do.

Alright friends, have a great Saturday night, I'm going to try and catch up on my huge DVR list and maybe get some sleep.

Blessings,
Sandra