Saturday Tidbits

 Today has been half lazy, half work. I didn't have the girls today. Daddy is home from his duck hunting trip so they wanted to see him. 

I got up and had my coffee ☕ and read my devotions and got my mind right. 🙃 I ate brunch and just took my time getting going. 

I finally decided to tackle our oven. I did not get alot of before pics because I didn't want people to see how bad it was. Trust me, it was bad. I'm not really complaining about it, I'm just glad I was able to cook good meals and all my holiday baking and cooking for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  And baking all those sweet potatoes 🥔.  I will keep a better cleaning schedule for my oven cause it looks awesome now. 

I took that baby apart. 

I scrubbed and scrubbed til I wore myself out and was exhausted.  I had to take a break. I went and took a nap and tackled the rest when I got up. I am so sore I can't hardly move but afterwards, I ate supper and took a Epsom salt bath with some essential oils.  I just had to pamper myself. 

Dear hubby text and said his mother's kidneys were functioning a little again and they got here potassium back down. She drank a little and held it down.  His sister had to go home because she was running fever. So he is staying the night with her.  

I am being lazy again tonight after I had a soak and supper. Now I'm just catching up on some YouTube videos of my favorite people. 

Friday Tidbits

 I was up bright and early this morning so I could wait on our girls. They got here on time this morning to my surprise 😮. 

We had our coffee and milk and took time waking up. We ate breakfast and then we did our stretches. Atleigh loves to do kids yoga. I'm glad she does because she keeps me motivated. 

After that they helped me fold a load of clean towels and rags. They love helping fold laundry. They got a button for that. We put them away and I let them play for just a bit. 

It was time to get ready for the day so they took a bath and I showered. You know you love your grandchildren when you let them have all the hot water to take a bath and you get a cold 🥶shower. ❤❤❤ 

Then they helped me in the kitchen for a bit. I deep cleaned somemore in there. I got the rest of my cabinets and table and chairs. Next will be appliances and floors. I am so happy. While I was finishing in the kitchen, I fixed them a picnic lunch and spread a sheet on the floor and let then eat lunch and watch some preschool videos. 

The next room is get is our bedroom. I have purged some clothing and organized drawers. I just need to deep clean now in there. Just a little bite at a time is all I can do. 

We laid down for nap and they are still asleep. 

While I have it on my mind,  we would covet your prayers right now. My sweet mother in law has had some medical issues for some time now and she is getting worse. She has been admitted to the hospital and my dear hubby and his sister have been staying with her. Before they called an ambulance to get her, dear hubby was helping his sister get her cleaned one day and he lifted her up to help her stand and she passed out right in his arms. He was scared. I know it is hard for him seeing his mother get worse. She is 88 years old and nothing has ever been able to knock her down. Always had a huge garden and worked in it up until last year.  She hates not being able to do anything. She is the pillar of the family and a true servant of the Lord. 

I woke up from nap first and I'm having my  second cup of coffee ☕. 

I'm sometimes tired of coming up with meals on the whim because I am not really creative.  So I am going through my Pioneer Woman cookbooks and coming up with so many ideas. The girls woke up and came and joined me. 

I think we're gonna have an early supper then later dessert. Then we will play a while til the girls go home. 

I gave them their buttons for the day and let them put them into their lock boxes. 

The girls left and now it's just me. Waiting on dear hubby to get home from hospital.  He said his mom is not doing too good. I know he's worried. 

Thursday Tidbits

 We didn't have the girls today because their mommy was off. I got to sleep in this morning, well, til 7am anyway. I got up and had my coffee and read my devotions.  

Dear hubby went out and brought in the rest of the sweet potatoes for me to process. One sweet potatoe was bigger than my hand and almost as big as my cutting board. I cubed these up and put these in the freezer. 

Dear hubby also bought us something for our kitchen floor.

It helps our feet and legs. I can't last as long as I use to. With having RA and a blood clot, it gets me sometimes. This has helped him also with his back. 

While I was working inside, dear hubby was outside working. He got a new toy and was playing outside. He was trimming limbs especially in some trees over our driveway. 

After I got done with my potatoes, I cleaned a section of the kitchen and cleaned and organized one drawer that was just over running. 

I have gotten the motivation to start my deep cleaning after all the holidays. Maybe because it was sunny outside and in the 50s. I have to do a little at a time. When I say clean, I mean clean. Wipe walls, crown molding, baseboards, cabinets etc. Sometimes I will do a room at a time or I will do a chore at a time. I used to bash and criticize myself for not getting a full room done in one day, but the older and slower I get, I give myself some grace. Just little sections at a time makes me happy right now. I've learned something new and it's Progress Over Perfection.  It is making me happy to get some things crossed off my mental to do list. I get overwhelmed and anxious sometimes when I know I have alot to do and no motivation to do it.  Winter time is hard on me physically and mentally. 

I had to call it halftime and lie down. After I woke up, I had another cup of coffee on the front steps in the sunshine. It was good for my soul. 

Dear hubby had been working the whole time even while I was napping. As I was having my coffee, he comes in and calls it a day. He was so sore. 

I finished my coffee, came in and got busy again.  I cleaned another section of the kitchen. I didn't want to get in dear hubby way because he cooked supper for us. 

I used this time to prune some plants, ad repot my lettuce into a self watering planter.  Cleaned up my Aerogarden too. Now, I can plant something else. 

We ate supper and I cleaned the kitchen so he could sit down and get off his feet. 

Now, we are both sitting down and just relaxing the rest of the night. 

I have started writing things down in my planner alot more here lately and I get alot of satisfaction out of it. I am a list maker and I have to write things down.  I have gotten more anxiety as I get older. I have to write things down so I can visually see them. It helps me stay motivated. Then when I am able to cross it off I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders and a sense of accomplishment.  It helps me stay on track. I put down meal plans and also what I have done for the day. Not to mention a calendar for Dr appts and schedules and such. If you are the same way, I would like to encourage you to get a planner. 

Tidbits

 Yesterday was nothing special. I got up like normal and waited on our girls to get here. Well, when I saw it was past the time  for their mom to be here, I knew she was running late. 

They finally got here and we ate breakfast.  We played for a bit. Atleigh was in a mood to where she just wanted to play alone. I had to encourage Caroline to give sissy her space. It was getting nap time so we read a Bible story and laid down.  Caroline slept on her bed this time. I was so proud of her. 

We got up, had a snack and we just had to get outside. We bundled up and went out for a walk and then we brought in some sweet potatoes to process. I'm late doing that and the cold temps have gotten to them a bit. They are getting soft. So priority is finishing them this week. 

Today, I had a dr appt to get blood work done.  Dear hubby had to have an eye exam for his clearing on the next plant he goes to. So after that we just mozied on down the road a bit and ran some errands and visited with my momma and daddy. We got back to our town and grabbed a late lunch. We got home and passed out. We were so tired. 

Tonight I'm going to bake up a batch of sweet potatoes that I brought in yesterday and make puree and put them into bags into the freezer for baking.  Tomorrow I plan on canning the rest. 

I will have to be a better steward of my potatoes next year. This was only  my second time growing sweet potatoes.  I didn't really notice any difference in the taste of them after letting them cure for weeks. So next year I will dig a few plants up at a time and process them til eventually all are processed. 

We heard from Dakota on his hunting trip. They are having a good time and I am so glad. He hasn't got to go duck hunting in a few years. He has missed it. The guy lives to duck hunt. He was blowing a duck call when he was 7 months old. He traded me his pacifier for it. He hasn't looked back since. 

Well, I've had me a second round of coffee and now I need to get this bucket done. 

New Week, New Thoughts

 Yesterday was a day of Spiritual revamping for me. I needed it. I mean an old fashioned altar call, pouring your heart out to God revamping.  I got to church and was getting settled in my pew when I just had an urge from the Holy Spirit to just grab a prayer warrior friend and ask her to pray for me and my family. She obliged. She didn't ask anything,  I didn't tell anything, she just went with me to the altar to pray. I know God gave me encouraging words through her because God was speaking right through her. She prayed exactly what I needed to hear. She prayed for exactly what was wrenching my heart into and she didn't even know the circumstances.  That is how God works and that is what prayer warrior friends do. I also wanted our pastor and youth pastor to pray with me after church. Where two or three are gathered....there I am in the midst of them

I have always read my Bible but more and more everyday I'm seeing it needs to be read even more. I try to squeeze time in every morning for my devotions and prayer. 

I got home refreshed and gathered of my senses again. Sometimes we just have to cry and let it go. 

Me and dear hubby ate lunch and just had some quality time together. We took a nap. Around 5:30 pm I started supper and Dakota brought the girls over because he was leaving out for three days for a planned duck hunting trip. He is and has been an avid duck hunter since he was little. My husband and boys all. I even got to go once. It was awesome. So he dropped them off with kisses and hugs. We ate supper and we let them play and watch a movie and have popcorn. Then mommy came and picked them up. It is mommy's week this week which means it's going to be a hard schedule which in turn is hard on them. Her schedule is fixing to get harder because she resumes classes next week and she has to add some clinical hours into her week. This semester she has to have more clinical hours. 

This morning they got here this morning and they were both asleep and I fixed them on the couch under some blankets and they slept til 8:30. They have never done that before. It threw our whole day off and all Atleigh could say was, "I'm having a bad day." Bless her. She was. She was whiney all day and Caroline was just not her self either. All this going back and forth and such is also affecting their eating. 

We got some seed catalogs in the mail and me and the girls looked through them getting garden ideas. 

We just played until it was naptime and then Atleigh went to sleep on her bed beside me but Caroline was having trouble going to sleep on hers. She's always had sissy to sleep with or me and it is new for her to sleep by herself. So, I just reached down and told her to come up on the bed with me and within 2 minutes she was asleep. We woke up late from nap and we got milk and coffee. I hurriedly cooked supper and just threw supper together. I don't have a name for it but it was good. 

While I cooked supper, Poppie was letting Atleigh help him make us a fire. Even Princesses need to learn survival skills.

Today was our first snow of the season. I'm going to learn to embrace it.  The girls were excited. Maybe we need to just be like kids again and get excited over the little things again. 

January 9th

 Sorry I missed yesterday's post. It was just one of those kind of days. I just wanted to have a play day with the girls and not do a thing. And we did. We just played some games and had a good time. The girls beds and sleeping bags came in yesterday. Atleigh was so excited. Caroline was not so sure. They practiced and took a nap in them. I don't think Atleigh ever fell asleep. Caroline may have slept 45 minutes. It was something different and new for them so I knew they might have a little trouble adjusting. 

With them not getting a good nap, I knew they were going to get sleepy early. I just tried to keep them busy until it was time to go home. I made a sensory box a time ago and this kept them entertained for a while.  Check it out on Pinterest. 

I fed them supper and then we got started with a movie and popcorn. 

However,  it was late when Dakota was suppose to come get them. So, I asked the girls what they wanted to do, did they want to go home, or did they want to stay here. Well, they wanted to stay here. I got them ready for bed and Unkie Dallas came in and read them a bedtime story while I got ready for bed. Then a little wrestling. 

We got in bed and Atleigh was snug as a bug in her sleeping bag. She was content. Caroline on the other hand was not. She kept wanting to see sissy in her bed. She did not want to go to bed all by herself in hers. She wanted on the bed with me. That was fine. It only took two minutes for her to fall asleep. They were exhausted. After they were fast asleep, I got her up and took her to her bed. They slept there all night. 

Caroline woke up this morning and whimpered because she didn't know why she was in her bed. Lol. I got to the foot of the bed and reached down and grabbed her and put her in the bed with me. 

We got up and had milk and coffee. Then I cooked breakfast. . Dakota came to get them and they still didn't want to go home . 😊 I'm so glad they feel so secure and happy here that they never want to leave. Makes my heart ❤ happy. 

Today has just been a lazy day. I got a shower. And took a nap in the recliner and then just read, wrote in my planner, read my devotions and just enjoying being lazy and having some time to myself. I know without a shadow of a doubt that sometimes mommy's need some time for self care so they can be the wife and mother they need to be. That will be a whole new post for another page I'm working on for our blog. 

This year, I have got to start working on myself. Physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.  I am going to break down this verse and study it thoroughly.  I hope everyone else will too. 

I have spent 23 years pouring myself into my kids. I have got to come to the realization that I can't fix everything for everybody. All I can do is give wise counsel and pray. My kids are old enough(well, one) to make their own decisions. The youngest still lives at home. However,  it want be long until he will be joining the real adult world too. 🌎 

I still pour myself into my granddaughters  because that is my passion. Raising kids is all I know how to do. I know I have never failed my kids, but I've come short a few times of my own goals and expectations.  I have to give myself some grace. 

Someone has to stand in the gap and teach and reach these kids for Christ or the Devil will. 

January 7th

 Girls got here around 6:30am. They were tired. Caroline a little cranky. So far I've already had to handle three tantrums and it's only 8am. Guess I'm gonna have to up my game. 

We ate some breakfast and I think that calmed her down a bit. She is not herself when she's hungry. 😁🤪

We are eating breakfast and Atleigh notices our lettuce growing in our Aerogarden. She's says she wants a sald for lunch. I love my Aerogarden. 

This is our experimental cherry tomato 🍅 that we planted in our Aerogarden back in the late fall. It already has a bloom. 

I'm going to plant a pepper plant next so the girls can have a pepper to dip into ranch dressing.  They love them. 

Me and Atleigh did some stretches. She loves to do them with me. Caroline, not so much. She would just hang from the ceiling and swing like a monkey 🐒 if she could. LOL.

It was time to take shower and baths 🛁 and get ready for the day. 

I gave them a snack while I finished putting up some block cheese. 

We all started getting tired so I figured it was time for nap. We read a Bible story and then we were out. 

We got up and I gave them a late lunch. I made them their little salad like I promised.  

Me and Atleigh started supper. We made our own fettuccine noodles to make homemade shrimp Alfredo with spinach creme sauce. She loves helping me use my mixer and make noodles. Caroline is interested for a bit but then goes and plays. 

As we were cooking, Dakota came to pick up girls. He was going to cook supper for them and his acquaintance.  He wanted us to meet her. In all honesty, my heart just did flip flops. I was just not ready. I'm still processing what all has happened. I personally think he is just on the rebound but if this is his way of coping with everything, then so be it. I told him at first I was just not ready and he was moving a little too fast for me, but it hurt his feelings and the last thing I want is our kid to shut us out. So I told him to bring her in. She was sitting in the truck. We met her and of course asked questions cause that's just how I am. The girls seem to like her.  

We can't live our kids lives for them. Some things we just have to let God deal with. We have had to realize times aren't like they use to be and sometimes it doesn't matter what you teach your kids, they have to make decisions on their own. I can't answer for his decisions and he can't answer for ours. Yes, it breaks parents hearts. Things would be a whole lot simpler if they would. 

Me and dad ate supper and it was delicious. It took me an hour to clean up the kitchen but we had fun. Dear hubby cleaned up the toys in the living room. Now we are sitting down and enjoying a nice fire the rest of the night.  

Earlier today:

Sometimes you just have to teach a toddler to clean up their own mess since you have cleaned up after them 4 times already and asked them nicely,