Thursday, December 31, 2020

Friday Favorites Linky Party - January 1, 2021

 

Please support and follow our lovely blog party hostesses:

Jerri at Simply Sweet Home - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Lisa at Condo Blues - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

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You can show your love for this week's favorites by going over and commenting on the posts and by pinning or sharing!

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Wednesday, December 30, 2020

Thinking Out Loud Thursday - December 31, 2020

We've made it to the last day of 2020!  I'm so excited to start a new year with hopefully a little more normalcy.  

Today for Thinking Out Loud Thursday I'd like to share an email we received from our pastor, Reverend Shane Bishop.  A few years ago we were looking for a new church and found Christ Church in Fairview Heights, Illinois.  We got involved by joining a small group and were beginning to feel at home.  Then the pandemic came along and we are now watching our service online each week and staying in touch through a Facebook group.


Rev. Shane has done an excellent job communicating with the scattered congregation and his email yesterday was a message I asked his permission to share here.  If you're wanting to cut down on the drama in 2021, his words are meant for you too.  Here they are ~
The seven easiest ways to cut down on drama during 2021:

1) Offer people the benefit of the doubt. Chose not to be offended.

2) Be quick to apologize when you get cross-threaded with others. Go first.

3) Don’t put energy into things you can’t change. This is a pit with no bottom.

4) Focus on improving yourself; not improving others. You have little say over others. You have a significant say over you.

5) Don’t invite extra things and people into your life that stress you. Who needs extra stress?

6) Lean into healthy habits. No downside.

7) Breathe.

None of these things cost a cent or require you going to the gym.

You can even eat pizza...because, let’s face it, we are all going to eat pizza.
Great thoughts, don't you think.  I know I'm ready for less drama in 2021 and these tips are great reminders on how we can all cut down on the drama.

If you're looking for an online service to attend, please check out our church.  Christ Church can be found HERE or on YouTube by searching My Christ Church and looking for this emblem.


Happy New Year to you and your families!  Let's cut down on the drama and make 2021 a fantastic year!

Now it's your turn.  What are you thinking out loud about today?  Feel free to link up and share. 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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Tuesday, December 29, 2020

Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop - December 30, 2020

 

Welcome to the Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop!  Glad you are joining us for the last blog hop of 2020.  We appreciate you stopping by each week and participating in the blog hop.  Before we start our main event, let's take a look at our features from last week's party!

Top Viewed

Editor's Pick

And, now, let's get this party started! We would love it if you would invite your followers to join us. When you do, remember to use the hashtag #WWBlogHop! 

                                    

DUCKS ‘N A ROW [Sinea] – FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM PINTEREST | TWITTER

ECLECTIC RED BARN [Beverly] – FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM PINTEREST TWITTER

ENGINEER MOMMY [Jennifer] – FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM PINTEREST TWITTER

LeCULTIVATEUR [Emily] – FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM PINTEREST

MY LIFE ABUNDANT [Tammy] – FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM PINTEREST | TWITTER

PENNY’S PASSION [Penny] – FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | PINTEREST | TWITTER

SIMPLE STEPS FOR LIVING LIFE [Cindy] – FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM PINTEREST TWITTER

STILETTOS and SHIPLAP [Tara] – INSTAGRAM | PINTEREST

THE SNYDER FAMILY [Brittany] – INSTAGRAM | PINTEREST

THE SHORT ORDER COOK [Angela] – FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | PINTEREST | TWITTER

HAMMERS ‘N HUGS [Ahna] – FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | PINTEREST

Be sure to grab our Specially Featured button if your post was featured this week to show off on your blog or sidebar!  


  Please TWEET our party ♥
  • Add as many of your family-friendly posts as you would like to. No Etsy shops, adult sites, or blog parties, please.
  • Visit others. Let them know you stopped by!
  • If you are NEW to Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop, let us know in the comments so that we can follow you back. ♥ Help us find your posts – tell us the title.
  • NOTE: party entries appear in REVERSE. i.e. the most recent entry goes to the top! That way all of our guests will have a really good chance to be seen no matter when they arrive.
  • Thanks! ♥

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Monday, December 28, 2020

Weekending - December 25, 2020

Happy Monday!  I took a few days off from blogging to celebrating Christmas and glad to be back today.  Our Christmas definitely looked different this year, but we tried hard to make the best of it.  Here's a recap ~


Eric had to work on Christmas Eve which gave me time during the day to finish up a few things around the house.  Sparkey made his final appearance announcing that Santa would be here soon.  We had been hearing from a few people that we needed to try the Pabst Blue Ribbon Coffee Stout.  I was extremely skeptical, but it turns out they were right! Eric and I both loved it!  


The whole Sparkey the Elf thing this year really brought some fun to our season.  I enjoyed hiding him around the house and Eric had fun doing the finding.  This is definitely something I'm adding to our holiday traditions!  Even doing this as adults was fun.  And this year we needed all the fun we could get!

Christmas Eve we Zoomed with Eric's family.  It was great seeing all their faces and hearing their voices.  We have a new baby on that side and it was wonderful hearing him coo and look around.  Can't wait to meet him in person and squeeze his adorable little face!


That night we went to sleep with the tree in our bedroom illuminated and dreaming of a much more social 2021.


Christmas morning we talked to my parents on the phone.  I miss seeing them so much!  We are so looking forward to the day where we can see them and the rest of my family in person.  

Earlier in the week, I had dropped off a package at our friend's house and in it was a pattern for Santa Claus boot prints.  They did an excellent job carrying out my vision!  Santa left his prints on the fireplace as he was leaving from dropping off their presents.


I had every intention of getting up Christmas morning and making scones, but instead we went with a much different take on breakfast - cheeseburgers.  On paper plates.  With soda. As we watched a Hallmark movie.  


Ian and Kayla joined us later in the day and it was so wonderful having them with us.  We had prepared our traditional Christmas menu of Dijon Sirloin Tips and Cherry Coke Jello (recipes HERE and HERE).  Even with just the four of us, I busted out the Christmas china and my grandmother's silver.  


We sat around the fire and opened gifts.  Afterward, we played cards and had dessert.  We were so thankful that we were able to see them!  



Sunday we did something so fun - we watched the Chiefs game with our friend Linda on Zoom.  We worked out getting our TVs to synchronize and watched the whole game just like we were sitting in the same room!  Eric and I enjoyed Buffalo Wild Wings and Linda snacked on veggies and dip.  We shared a cocktail and talked about everything under the sun.  It was fabulous!  The Chiefs wins was the cherry on top.


In the evening, we had our neighborhood Secret Santa reveal.  For the last four weeks, nine of us had been secretly leaving gifts for the person whose name we had drawn.  Working around all the Ring cameras had been fun, but we did it!  Each week we would leave a small gift for our person with a clue to who we were.  On the Zoom, we took turns reading the clues we had been given and guessed who our Secret Santa was.  It was so fun!  Everyone expressed that it was fun both leaving the gifts and receiving them.  I hope this becomes a yearly event, but with us getting to be in person for the final party!  


This week I'm working from home and hoping to get a lot accomplished.  I'll be sharing a year in review and goals for the coming year later this week, so I hope you pop back in.  Enjoy the last week of 2020!

Tuesday, December 22, 2020

Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop - December 23, 2020

 

Welcome to the Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop!  Glad you are joining us.  Are you ready for Christmas?  We are getting so close now!  We appreciate you stopping by each week and participating in the blog hop.  Before we start our main event, let's take a look at our features from last week's party!

Top Viewed

Very Popular

The Peace of the Season

DIY Real Cedar & Orange Topiaries

And, now, let's get this party started! We would love it if you would invite your followers to join us. When you do, remember to use the hashtag #WWBlogHop! 


                                    

DUCKS ‘N A ROW [Sinea] – FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM PINTEREST | TWITTER

ECLECTIC RED BARN [Beverly] – FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM PINTEREST TWITTER

ENGINEER MOMMY [Jennifer] – FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM PINTEREST TWITTER

LeCULTIVATEUR [Emily] – FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM PINTEREST

MY LIFE ABUNDANT [Tammy] – FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM PINTEREST | TWITTER

PENNY’S PASSION [Penny] – FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | PINTEREST | TWITTER

SIMPLE STEPS FOR LIVING LIFE [Cindy] – FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM PINTEREST TWITTER

STILETTOS and SHIPLAP [Tara] – INSTAGRAM | PINTEREST

THE SNYDER FAMILY [Brittany] – INSTAGRAM | PINTEREST

THE SHORT ORDER COOK [Angela] – FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | PINTEREST | TWITTER

HAMMERS ‘N HUGS [Ahna] – FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | PINTEREST

Be sure to grab our Specially Featured button if your post was featured this week to show off on your blog or sidebar!  

Featured Button

  Please TWEET our party ♥
  • Add as many of your family-friendly posts as you would like to. No Etsy shops, adult sites, or blog parties, please.
  • Visit others. Let them know you stopped by!
  • If you are NEW to Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop, let us know in the comments so that we can follow you back. ♥ Help us find your posts – tell us the title.
  • NOTE: party entries appear in REVERSE. i.e. the most recent entry goes to the top! That way all of our guests will have a really good chance to be seen no matter when they arrive.
  • Thanks! ♥



You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

2020 Christmas Card

Getting Christmas cards in the mail is one of my very most favorite things.  Any kind of happy mail actually.  When I pull down the lid of the mailbox and see an envelope inside that isn't a bill or junk mail my mood immediately lifts.  I grab the contents and practically skip back to the house, excited to open the treasure and see what's inside.  My hope is others feel this same kind of joy when they peek in their mailbox and see a card from us!

This year I decided to forgo the photo cards we have been doing the last few years and went with a homemade version.  Years ago I made all our cards, but they were super time consuming and life just got a bit too much to continue that tradition.  This year, on the other hand, time was on my side.  With the calendar being mostly blank, there was plenty of time to pull out the craft supplies and create.  I opted for a super simple design and this is the final product.



Eric got into the action and helped with the embossing this year.  We used my handy dandy Cuttlebug.  This little gadget has been in my life for years and it makes embossing so easy.  All you have to do is sandwich the paper you want to emboss into an embossing folder, layer a few plates, and roll it through.  This year's card design was made with THIS embossing folder.


Here's wishing you and your family a joyous holiday season!  May it be filled with love, laughter, and goodwill.  Thank you for supporting my blog and I'm looking forward to sharing inspiring content with you in the coming year.  Merry Christmas!

Monday, December 21, 2020

Weekending - December 18, 2020

Ahhh, we just made it through the last weekend before Christmas!  I have to admit if this were a normal year I probably would have been running around trying to get a million last-minute things done.  But inside this year it was quite peaceful.  Here's a rewind ~

Even though this happened before the weekend, last week I got to Zoom with a few of my college sorority sisters and it was so fun!  We have been chatting on Zoom since the pandemic started.  This is definitely one positive thing that has come out of this rather dismal period in my life.  We each had a festive holiday cocktail and shared the recipes. 


My cocktail was The Grinch.  This concoction is made by combining 1-1/2 ounces of Midori liqueur, 1 ounce of clear rum, and 5 ounces of lemon-lime soda (I used diet 7-Up).  Mix together and pop a cherry on top.  


This year I decided to forgo our typical picture Christmas card and actually make the cards myself.  I settled on an extremely easy pattern and Eric even helped some.  The pieces of the card had been on the kitchen table for far too long!  This weekend the project finally was completed and the cards are officially in the mail.  


Sparkey continued to hide from Eric last week.  Here are some of his shenanigans ~






This time of year is filled with special surprises and I've gotten a few that have truly warmed my heart.  My friend Donna sent me a beautiful blessing bell.  It's now on my work bag and a daily reminder that someone is watching over me.  I love it!


While we were watching the football game on Sunday, I got a text from my friend Lauren saying she had left something on my porch.  It was a wonderful jar of stovetop potpourri!  Such an awesome surprise!


Our kitchen turned into a chocolate factory for a bit this weekend.  I whipped up a few batches of chocolate covered peanuts and packaged them for gift giving.  The super-easy recipe can be found HERE.


Saturday night we filled up our mugs with hot chocolate and drove to the Way of Lights display at Our Lady of the Snows.  Pictures just can't do it justice.    The trail of lights takes you through the journey to Bethlehem and the birth of Jesus.  It was the perfect reminder of the reason for the season.


Sunday was extremely relaxing.  We watched football and Eric enjoyed a new beer.  He loved it!  If you're looking for a new one to try, the Shiner Candied Pecan is one he would recommend.


I churned out a loaf of sourdough.  I think I've finally got the timing down so it can rise overnight and I can bake in the morning.  This has been a process to get the timing down!  Anyone else going through this struggle?  For me, it's such a sense of accomplishment when the loaf is finished and we cut into it.  


And that is a wrap on our weekend!  This week will be filled with wrapping presents and doing a bit of holiday baking.  Our neighborhood Secret Santa is in the final week so I'm putting together our Zoom call for the reveals.  Sparkey will be doing a couple special things this week for Eric.  Fun times ahead!  Hope you enjoy your week and pop back in here to see the posts I'll be sharing.