2021 Week in Photos #9

Here's a look back at our week! 

Saturday - Sunday - We had a weekend away to celebrate Darryl!

One of Darryl's birthday gift was a night at a brand new hotel in downtown that we have watched be built over the last year or so.  We were on the 10th floor with an amazing view! 

We are treated to an amazing sunset! 

We ordered pizza and had it delivered - the pizza was amazing!  

This hotel is shaped like a piece of pie and sits on a super small lot - as we watched it go up we all wondered how in the world they would fit any rooms in it!  Every room has an amazing view because of the shape of the building. 

On Sunday morning we headed out and checked out a few art displays downtown.  This was one of them.  The alleyway was all set up for summer.  It was pretty cool and we love things that are outside! 

We then drove to Lake Michigan.  It's my happy place and seeing it in the winter is just as amazing as in the summer.  Above is the pier - encased in ice.  Don't worry, we did not walk on it . .. just took a photo! 

The fog was so thick!  And it was kind of drizzling.  But, it was still amazing! 

There were huge "ice burgs" breaking off and floating down the channel.  It sounded awesome. 

Monday - Friday . .. we did school :-)  Well, we finished school by Thursday and enjoyed Friday.  Josh spent the night at my mom's Thursday evening and Nate had TKD on Friday but otherwise it was a pretty quiet week. 

Weekly Menu

 Here's the plan for the coming week:

Friday - It's our weekly "order out/eat in" night :-) 

Saturday - Dinner at my mom's! 

Sunday - Pizza!  I actually won a gift card a few weeks ago to our favorite pizza place so this week and next week our dinner is free! 

Monday - Lasagna and Garlic Bread.  Lasagna is one of my favorite comfort foods but I have not made it from scratch in quite a while!  I decided that before it gets to hot for true comfort food, I'd better make it!  

Tuesday - Beef Drip sandwiches and French Fries.  This is another favorite winter meal because it simmers on the stove all afternoon and makes the kitchen feel warm and smell amazing! 

Wednesday - Zuppa Tuscana and French Bread.  So, apparently this weeks theme is: Recipes we love one more time before it gets too hot to cook HA!.  This is another one that we love! 

Thursday - Chicken Carbonara and Salad  I haven't made this pasta dish in a long, long time but it sounds just tasty so it's time to make it again! 

March Goals

Welcome to March!  February seemed really long, didn't it?  I'm not really sure why other than it was the coldest month and we had more snow in February than the whole winter combined!  I've decided to do this months goal post (get it - goal post) differently - I usually do a "bunch" instead of individually listed goals but this month it is one per number!  I feel like I have so much that I want to get done but there are a lot of random things! 

1. Complete 31 pages in Scrapbooking (toward my 365 total page goal)

2. Complete February 2020 photos

3. Complete February 2021 photos

4. Complete May-June 2016 photos

5. Complete February 2011 photos

6. Take part in the March Virtual Crop

7. Order the next set of photos on April 1st 

8. Order the next set of album spines

9. Read my books for March 

10. Complete my Decluttering tasks for April. 

11. Make my first batch of Macaroons

12. Now that the weather is turning a corner and isn't bitter cold - the basement is back on the radar!  We are planning to have some plumbing work done here soon and they need to be able to get to it HA!  So my goal for this month is to make sure that can happen. 

13. Read one chapter in my photography book and practice the skill. 

14. Pick camping dates for the summer and reserve the spots that I can

15. Go on one Date with Darryl

16. Practice my song for recording for Christmas - the goal is page 2! 

17. Plan out the first adventure to visit a least one of the great lakes.

18. Update my holiday journal through Easter. 

19. Visit Flour Child Bakery since it didn't happen last month! 

20. Take boxes and bags of donation items to a donation center. 

21. Set up Josh's punching bag.

22. Hang Josh's solar system

23. Set up my 52 envelopes savings plan

24. Clean out my filing cabinet

25. Organize my closet storage area/corner

26. Have Darryl hang my new flag pole

27. Put up the March flags

28. Plan our outside landscaping we want to do :-) 

29. Do all the "medical' visits - dentist appointments, check-ups, and even a vet appointment :-)  

30.  Take our trip to where we got engaged - we go almost every year to just remember. 

31. Plan some fun activities/crafts for spring break.  (our friends are usually here so I like to plan a few things for fun to do so everyone isn't playing video games all day HA!) 

32. Plan for Easter.  

33. Get back to my cookbooks - make one new recipe from each of my cookbooks this month.

34. Clean the oven - a friend shared some stuff that is suppose to make the oven door look like new - I'll see if it works HA! 

February Goal Recap

February slowed down . . .alot.  We really focused hard on school which meant I had less time to work on some of my goals.  I did get a lot of time to scrapbook though thanks to a few snow storms!  

1. Complete 28 pages in Scrapbooking (towards my 365 total page goal).  I actually have a list of more specific goals as well and this month the goal is to scrapbook Jan-Feb 2016, January 2020 and 2021.  I also set a plan each month of what photos to order from the other years I haven't completed yet.  (For the record, I'm hopeful to finish out this year with 2016, 2020, and 2021 completed.)  There is a virtual weekend crop in February that I'm specifically planning to use for January 2021 photos.  1) I completed Jan-April 2016 2) January 2020 is done 3) January 2021 is also done.  4) I participated in the February Virtual Crop 5) I also completed January 2011.  I feel good about what I got done! 

2. Read my FIVE books in my plan this month.  Record them in my Pinterest folder of what books I read this month.  Why 5?  Simple - I have one left from January, two pre-planned for February in the non-fiction section and then I picked up two newly released fiction books from my favorite book store (shipped for free!) that I would like to ready this month as well. Welp, there's a reason I got all the scrapbooking done - I didn't read much HA! 

3.  1000 hours outside - My goal this month is to introduce this concept to the family and actually track the time outside.  Playing in the snow, tossing a football, ect. - just track the time that is outside without over planning it.  Fail

4. Decluttering Calendar/List - The goal is to get through week 5-8 on my "52 Weeks" list.  Done! 

5. Order the Macaroon making kit on Amazon.Done! 

6. The basement - The end goal is to have a well organized, useful basement.  So, my goal this month is progress. I do have a "silent" goal of trying to do just one thing a day in the basement - it can be cleaning off a shelf, bringing up one box of things to donate, or cleaning out one bin but again, any progress is something so even if I only clean off one shelf or carry up  one box all month, that counts! February turned bitter cold which means my basement was super cold too!  So I did nothing in the basement except laundry HA! 

7. Read one chapter in my photography book and PRACTICE the skill.  Nope. 

8. Put all memorabilia in albums that are already done (I have a whole file drawer full of things that are sorted by date that need to get put in albums)  I completed 3 years worth so far and have 3 years left to do! 

9. Pick camping dates for this summer and reserve the spots I can. Not done yet

10. Go on one date with Darryl. Done

11. Practice the song I picked to record for Christmas - the goal is to learn page one. Done

12. Plan out the first adventure to visit at least one of the great lakes. Note done

13. Get some spines imprinted - I will usually be placing an order each month for pages so I'd like to order 2-3 spines depending on the year I'm ordering for at that point. Ordered 4 spines this month

14. Update my Holiday Journal with ideas from the Superbowl and Valentine's Day.  Look ahead at plans for St. Patrick's Day and Easter Done

15.  Plan something fun for Darryl's birthday as well as take the boys shopping. Done

16. Visit Flour Child Bakery - it's a bakery I follow on Facebook in a town not far from home.  I've wanted to go and buy treats but never have - this is the month to do it since it is Valentine's Month after all! Every time I planned a day to go, we got a snow storm.  HA!  Maybe in march! 

17. Take the boxes and bags of "donation" items that are currently in both vehicles and drop them off somewhere (we have a few local charities that accept donations vs. Good Will) Everything is still in the vehicles!  It was too cold to work outside! 

18. Clean out Darryl and my closet - get rid of clothes and shoes we haven't worn in years and turn all the hangers backwards (it's an organizational trick - at the end of the season, any hanger not turned around - that item needs to go!) Also organize our dresser and make a list of summer clothes we both need. Nope

19.This one is hard to measure - I need to start organizing/decluttering/setting up the "Toy/Lego Room" in the basement.  Yes, it is technically on the 52 Week list but I don't have it on there until fall.  This is kind of like the rest of the basement - I need to just start with the first bin (blocking the walkway HA!), sort it, and make a home for it.  Whether I get through one bin or 5 bins - it counts as something. Again, it's been too chilly in the basement to acomplish much 

20. Make a drive to the Lakeshore.  I love Lake Michigan.  Whether it is frozen or not - just to be near it is so peaceful and it grounds my soul and brings me peace.  Now that football is wrapping up, we will have some free time for some drives and this is one that is on my list.  (Another is to visit Michigan's Covered Bridges but we might need to start that one next month HA!) Done!  It was cold, drizzly and foggy but the lake is still my happy place! 

21.  Here are my misc. items that need to get done. A) Josh got a punching bag penguin for Christmas that we need to set up - get some sand to add as a weight and blow it up. I did get the sand but we seem to get snow storms on the weekends so hauling it outside to fill it up was not high on the list.  B) My mom made beautiful shadow boxes for each of the boys for Christmas that we need to get on the walls. Done C) Josh got a new solar system set to hang from his ceiling but he wants it measured out correctly so Darryl needs to help get that accomplished.  D) Clean the "piano corner".  I'm revamping how I store my scrapbooking stuff so that opens up that corner :-)  E) Set up my 52 envelopes of saving plan 

2021 Week in Photos #8

 Here's a look back at our week: 

Saturday - We went to Darryl's mom's house to celebrate his birthday.  

She surprised him with this Charlie McCarthy Ventriloquist Doll.  This actually belonged to his brother Adam who got it when he was about 7.  She found it stuck back on a shelf in their garage and she and her husband fixed it and replaced missing parts in order to give it to Darryl.  It means a lot to Darryl. 

Josh and Nate ventured onto the ice at their Grandparents house while we were there but they have a true respect (umm fear) of ice so they didn't stay on it long! 

Sunday - It was a quiet day at home followed by dinner at my moms. 

Monday - Darryl's birthday!! 

Tuesday - Friday - We had school.  It was a pretty normal week! 

Weekly Menu - It is March!!

 Wow, this year is flying!  It's March.  It's almost spring time and I feel like we did not get much winter!  February was a little brutal thanks to bitter cold but otherwise, it's been pretty mild!  Hopefully that doesn't mean we are in for a super hot summer because that is not my thing!  But I digress, here's our menu for the coming week. 

Friday - This is our favorite eat out night.  I think we are all done from the week and the last thing I want to do is cook.  Plus we are at TKD until close to 5:00 so I don't really want to come home to make dinner.  And . .. it is also just fun to eat out! 

Saturday - We are going to be in Grand Rapids today so we will eat in town. 

Sunday - We are going to be out for part of the day so I'm not 100% sure what we will do for dinner yet.  Maybe out or maybe at home.  Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup possibily! 

Monday - Baked Parmesan Crusted Pork Chops, Baked Beans, roasted zucchini, and crescents. 

Tuesday - Perfect Pot Roast, Noodles and Carrots.  I don't know why, but a good roast just sounded so good!  

Wednesday - Stromboli and Salad

Thursday - Chicken Pot Pie Crescent Braid and Salad. 

What I actually read in February

 Book #1 

Change of Heart is a book off my shelf that I actually had already read but didn't realize it!  It's a simple story of learning to trust again and rekindling old friendships that build into bigger relationships.  It's a pretty easy read but a charming story. 

Book #2

This is one of my February reading goals and one of the books I purchased in January.  I love books that take place in Michigan which is one of the reasons I picked this book as it takes place in the Upper Peninsula.  It is a story of redemption and rebuilding relationships between two sisters.  While the story itself was good and well written it had flashbacks, which I just totally skipped over (I really don't care for stories with long flashbacks that really don't pertain to the story).  It also ended abruptly and with lose ends.  It made me question what the last few sentences really meant and how could the author end a book without really ending it.  Unless there is second book to this one, I'm not sure I would pick up another book by this author. 

#3

This book came recommended either from a friend on Facebook or maybe just a general Facebook recommendation but either way it was a good story.  I will admit, after reading so many books by Julie Klasson who is an amazing story teller, this book started off a bit boring and choppy.  The author doesn't use precise and creative language (I mean the main characters names are Diane and Barry . .. )  but the over all story is a great one about reconciliation and learning the truth about why the characters respond to situations the way they do.  There is some language in this book but overall it is a good read.  Ironically this story has flashbacks but they are really part of the story; actually it is the story as it tells the story of the main character and what brought her to the place she is in currently.  I can handle those flashbacks :-) 

#4

I'm coming to the end of Julie Klassen's book list and this one did not disappoint.  The Silent Governess was one of my favorite books.  I loved the way that this one tied the story of several families together and, in the end, there was actually happiness in each of the families because truth was brought to light.  Julie Klassen is such a great writer and really just brings the reader into the story.  

#5

Well, I've run out of Julie Klassen books.  This was the last one that I had not read and, honestly, it is probably my least favorite.  I found it a little . . . .cringe worthy, as my kids would say.  It made me roll my eyes and I found it slightly comical.  I think it had to do with the dancing, the description of the dancing master, and the behavior of the main character.  It did end well but it just wasn't super exciting or nearly as deep as the previous one I read.  I guess they can't all be winners!