My New Fridge (Finally!)

We finally got our new fridge on Saturday!  You don't realize what a blessing a fridge is until you don't have one for like 5 weeks.  Living out of coolers got old but we were very thankful that we had them to get us threw! 

 My old fridge.  We've had this fridge for over 10 years.  My dad helped us buy it so it was kind of sad to see it go.  It has served us well through the years.  I was sad to see the "Every Child is an Artist" sign go on the side of it (that Josh and Nate altered to read "Every Child Farts" HA!)

 Two of the 4 coolers.  I did look forward to getting my kitchen back - it's so much bigger without coolers sitting every where! 

 The truck!  To get the old fridge out, they had to take it apart to get it out the door . . .the new fridge is even bigger HA!  They had to disassemble it in the driveway and carry it in in pieces.  Good thing they know what they are doing! 

 My new fridge!  It's actually the same fridge as the old one, just a newer model AND I finally got the french doors I wanted!  I just love it! 

The inside is huge - just what we need with growing kids! 

I worked for hours on Saturday emptying and cleaning out coolers, stocking the fridge, cleaning up the kitchen from having extra stuff on the counters and making a run to the store to pick some groceries we needed.  It is such a blessing to be able to walk into the kitchen and open the fridge instead of dig through a cooler!!! 

(Ironically, we are going camping in a week and will live out of coolers again HA!) 

September Goals

September.  I always feel like September starts a new year.  I used to plan my "yearly" goals from September-August truth be told.  I'm sure it comes from the years of teaching where September WAS the start of a new year - a school year - but still a year.  I also feel like that September breaths new life into what I want to get done after dealing with the heat of the summer.  And yes, both July and August brought some super hot "heat wave" style days that made me remember why I used to tell Darryl that "the house will be clean in again in September" HA!  This September is different because school hasn't started yet for our "extra" friends so they are still hanging with us all day; we are missing the first official week of school to go camping, and Nate is scheduled for his tonsil surgery which will keep us laying pretty low for a few weeks.  I'm hopeful that while Nate is resting that I might actually accomplish some things but I also know that I might just be tired HA!  So, with all of that said, here's what my goals are for the month of September.

1. Scrapbooking - 1) This month I have a weekend scrapbook "retreat" planned.  It is a Creative Memories Virtual Crop and I have marked it off to participate as much as possible.  I even purchased the "secret bundle" to open "live" together online.  2) Finish my nieces graduation book - still trying to get those last letters.  3) Order all March photos for 2011, 2017, 2018, and 2020.  I'm just really working towards getting them all printed so I have them.  Still want to finish 2019 before I pick my next "year" to work on.

2. Reading - 1) Read for fun every single day.  2) Read  A Longing for Paris.  I decided to try and focus on one book this month my goal word - Peace.  And this is the book!

3) Cleaning - Besides doing my weekly home blessing hour (Flylady!) I'm focused this month on the living room.  As we pick up with school I feel like I need to focus on the room we spend the most time in and deep clean it (Also Flylady - deep cleaning!)  Who knows, I might even steam clean my carpet :-)

4)  Family - Get Josh running shoes.  Go camping.

5)  Homeschool - We are ready to go and will have our first day on Friday, September 11th right after returning from camping.  My main goal in September is to have Josh finish on schedule for September; Nate - it will depend on how many days (up to two weeks) he is down after surgery.

6) Holiday Journal - It's time to get that thing out and remind myself of everything I've forgotten about our holidays!

7) The Basement - 20 minutes a day.  That's my goal.  Going through boxes and bins and reorganizing things, cleaning things out and setting things up on the shelves so that all is organized.

8) Piano - 1) Get the piano tuned 2) Start our at home lessons once again.

9) Photography - I got my new book and my goal is to just start on page one, read it and do it.

10) Spiritual - 1) Read my daily devotional.

11) Misc Goals:  Gather cameras/video cameras and make sure they all work/are charged etc.  2) Continue work on cleaning up the yard 3) Clean the garage now that the door is fixed!!  4) Fill the holes in the yard 5) Clean out both vehicles 6) Get a new flag pole for the front of the house and keep my flags up to date 7) Decorate for fall (I usually do this right at the end of September so I'm adding it to this months goals)  8) Put up outside Halloween Decor (also right at the end of September)  

Weekly Worship - Phil Wickham ~ Song In My Soul (Lyrics) ft. Hollyn

Enjoy!  :-)

2020 Weekly Photos #33

This has been a long week.  It has been super hot and humid.  Our cranky AC unit doesn't work when it gets hot so we had to hang a blanket to keep the living room end of the house cool and that is where we hung out all. week. long.  The dining room and kitchen were HOT HOT HOT!  Uuugg.  I read, played on my ipad, and worked on the computer. 

Here's a look back at our long week:

Saturday - a total do nothing day.  We had dinner at my mom's otherwise we hung out and did nothing HA!

Sunday - After lunch Darryl and I looked at each other and said, "Lets go to the lake" so we did.  We enjoyed an amazing 3 hours at our favorite beach - the place that is truly my home - Lake Michigan in Muskegon.  We both said, "Why don't we do this more!"

Monday - This is the day that by noon I hung the blanket.  The house was almost suffocating by that point.

Tuesday - My mom came over for dinner - good thing it was a crock pot meal because I wasn't cooking!

Wednesday - At 7:15 the contractor called and said, "I"m on my way!" and by 11:00 we had a new, working garage door :-)

Thursday - On Wednesday night, a friend from the campground sent me a message and said, "Do you all want to swim at the pool on Thursday?" YES!  It was amazing!!

Friday - We were going to go to a meet and greet with our co-op group but it was pouring rain and then my fridge was supposed to get delivered but . . .it was pouring rain.  So we ended up with a day of nothing!

Weekly Menu

Are you ready?  My fridge is . .. .. . .here!!! Well - almost. . .. it will hopefully be delivered this afternoon!

After 5 long weeks I can finally plan.  PLUS it's only supposed to be in the 70's this week so I can cook!!!!!

I think I'm most excited about planning better lunches.  Oh, and having a freezer upstairs again :-)  I normally move food for the week from the deep freezer downstairs to the freezer upstairs at the beginning of the week so it is all handy but now I have to remember to go downstairs every morning and get out what is needed for dinner.  Needless to say, some nights we have spaghetti or mac and cheese because I forget HA!  It will also be nice to have easy access to drinks - digging in  a cooler full of ice (which I'm very thankful for) is not fun!

So, what's the plan for the coming week.  Drum roll please.  . . . .

Friday - We will do our weekly eat out tonight.  It's hard to break tradition :-)

Saturday - Dinner at my moms.

Sunday - It is Darryl's dad's 80th birthday (on Monday) so the family is getting together for dinner.

Monday - Marinated chicken, amish noodles and a veggie

Tuesday - Stuffed Shells, Green beans and garlic knots

Wednesday - Chicken Legs, Mac and Cheese, and a veggie

Thursday - Simple Chicken and Snow Pea Stir fry, Rice, and Garlic Knots

So, truth be told - I kept it easy . .. because of a few hot weeks my cupboards and freezer were pretty full so I'm trying to use some things up :- )

August Goal Recap

Here's a look back at what I accomplished in the month of August.  As a side note, I think I need to start tracking the things that get done that AREN'T on the list!  There are things that come up along the way that need to be done and sometimes impact the rest of my plan.  Maybe I'll try to track that in September . .. maybe :-)

1. Scrapbooking - I've refocused on my scrapbooking goals after being all over the place for a few months.  1) Order the rest of 2019 photos.  That's the only year I'm focused on when it comes to ordering photos.  2) Scrapbook 2019.  My desk is currently clean and I am organized and ready to go.  I'd like to get all of April and May 2019 scrapbooked this month.  3) Finish up my niece's graduation book and get it mailed to her.  1) I ordered the rest of 2019 photos 2) I did NOT get much scrapbooking time in - just enough for a page or two 3) My nieces book is still not done - still waiting on some letters. 

2. Reading - I wish my kids loved to read as much as I do.  I tried.  I really did.  They only read at this point because they are required too :-)  BUT I love to read so read is what I will do.  I have a two fold goal this month 1) Read for fun.  Every day.  Preferably outside if the weather allows. 2) Read my "self-help" books on my list.  I don't like the word "self-help" but I'm not sure what else to call them :-)  I have a goal of reading 4 of those in August. 1) I read for fun.  Alot.  2) "Self help" books aren't as fun to read HA!  I didn't get a single one read! 

3. Cleaning - It's time to get back on track.  My original plan was a 20 day a month cleaning plan.  I'm back to this concept - a room at a time.  I'm also really working toward simplicity.  We live in a small house and each room works for multiple purposes often so keeping a simplicity through the house is key as is organization. My goal is August is to revisit some rooms I worked on the first half the year and just do a quick redo of those rooms.  That would include the master, the dining room, and the living room.  Once those are done, the fourth room (one a week!) is the kitchen.  This one needs little more work to just go through all the cupboards again and clean some things out. My mom gave me an anniversary gift and dusted and vacuumed for me HA!  I was so not motivated this month so not much got done.  

4. Family - Josh needs some running shoes.  I've "heard" there is a running club he can join through out on-line group so I want him prepared for that adventure.  We have a day trip planned to New Buffalo to visit the beach.  We always camp in South Haven in August but we aren't camping this year due to COVID - I'd like to take a day trip to South Haven and do the things we normally do  such as go Blueberry picking (for like 20 minutes because I actually hate it HA), go to the beach and order our favorite Italian Food. We had a great time at New Buffalo but did not make it to South Haven.  

5.  Homeschool - I wrote my goals HERE.  The August goal is to just make sure we are ready for school to start.  This includes cleaning out the boys desks, making sure they have any needed supplies, and making sure we have the items for their goals. I got both boys desks cleaned out and picked up the supplies that were needed. 

6. Holiday Journal - I've kinda let this slide this year because, well, it's been different.  I do need to focus on Halloween, Birthdays, Thanksgiving and Christmas now though and start working on my plans.

7. The Basement - I really do see light at the end of this tunnel.  To think, when we bought the house we didn't need the basement HA!  I'm cutting this into more manageable pieces, though.  For August my one main goal is to reorganize the toy room in the basement.  I have new shelf that fits the space better.  I need to hang Nate's race track, clean out some of the toys, move the big shelf to the other side of the basement and maybe add some more of the floor panels so it's more comfortable for the kids.  Secondary to that is to clean out the area at the base of the stairs. Darryl and I worked together!  I switched the shelves out and cleaned up the playroom side.  I cleaned up the stuff at the bottom of the stairs and we did some cleaning in the main portion of the basement.  Still a lot of work to do to get it where I want it but I feel like we made a lot of progress

8. Piano - 1) Get the piano tuned.  I have the name of the tuner, I just have to schedule it.  2) The boys need to get back into practice.  I'm hopeful their teacher will teach this fall so that they can pick up their lessons again. 3) I need to work on a song. 1) Did not get it tuned - it's on the plan for September since I won't be paying for piano lessons this fall (their teacher is waiting until January) 2) We will pick up "at home lessons" in September 3) Didn't even touch the piano this month

9. Photography - I still have a goal of figuring out my new lens more. I ordered a photography book that I am waiting for that I hope will help me out! 

10. Spiritual - Two things - 1) Read my daily devotional.  2) Do my weekly Bible Study that ladies from church are doing together via Facebook.  1) Nope 2) I have done some of the Bible study but am not keeping up! 

11. Misc Goals - 1) Gather our cameras/video cameras and make sure they are all charged, work, etc.  2) Continue to work in the yard depending on the weather.  I've even thought about planting my Sunflower seeds now - then they will be in full bloom by the end of September!!  3) Organize our beach bags 4) Set up the new shelves in the garage and start organizing things better 5) Hang my new flag; get a new flag pole for the front of the house and have Darryl hang it 6) Fill the holes in the yard 7) Clean out both vehicles 1) Still working on this 2) It's been way to hot to do much in the yard! 3) The beach bags are organized!  4) We are waiting for our garage door to get fixed which will hopfully be soon - as soon as our contractor can fit it in!  5) The Flag is hung! 6) The holes are not filled HA!  7) Both vehicles are not cleaned!  (again - way too hot outside!) 

What We are Eating Wednesday - The Recipe for a perfect picnic!

First up is my broken record. 

 My refrigerator is still not here (holding out hope for Friday!) AND we are in the middle of another heat wave so I am not doing much cooking especially of anything new!  

So, instead I thought I would share how I created a perfect picnic when we went to New Buffalo!  

My original picnic plan included lots of things to make in advance and put in a fridge that didn't arrive HA!  So, instead I went to the store and started looking around at what would pack well and take little prep time.  Too often. I am a self proclaimed over planner.  I put a lot of work into things because I want too but I also know that sometimes I create a lot of work!  Well, this most recent picnic was the easiest one to put together and it was the most tasty!  

So what did we have?  Well, let me tell you! 

Wraps:  Simple tortilla shells, lunch meat, cheese, cream cheese, lettuce, and green onions. 

I personally do not like sandwiches.  The simple lunch box, two slices of bread sandwiches are enough to make me gag HA!  What I do love are those ham/onion wraps so I made it into a roll-up using a tortilla, cream cheese, and a green onion (yum!).  Now, I know not everyone likes what I do so that's why I added lettuce and cheese.  Oh, and mustard.  I did not pre-make the sandwiches  - just took all the fixin's and everyone got to create what they wanted. 

Fruit:  I bought a fruit tray at the store with strawberries, pineapple, and watermelon along with our favorite cream cheese fruit dip.  I also threw in some apples to slice up IF we needed more fruit (which we didn't).  To help save on mess, I spent a little extra and bought the individual pack of the fruit dip so each person had their own.  

Chips:  This time I bought tortilla chips and salsa.  I also found an amazing Mexican dip that I haven't found since!  It was the perfect combination with the wraps. 

Crackers:  I bought crackers, cheese, and salami.  I knew this was "extra" but wanted to make sure that no one went hungry and knew that this would fill people up if needed.  Josh and Darryl actually used the little salami pieces on their wraps.  

Cookies:  Just store bought cookies.  Nothing fancy :-) 

As you can read, everything was pre-made and easy to pack.  This is a picnic combination that  I want to remember!