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Hurricane Sally is making her way to the gulf coast, which almost always has some kind of impact here. I decided to check my weather app this morning just to see how much rain we are supposed to get. Low and behold, after the rain the next three days, the temperatures are going to be in the 70’s for the next week, with lows in the high 50s!!!! HELLO FALL!!!!!!!!!!! I am sure we will have another heat wave, because this is Alabama and fall doesn’t happen until November, but I will take it!

Besides our usually weekend car rides, we didn’t really have any excitement this weekend. My sister did drop by on Saturday for a few minutes, and it is always nice to see her! That morning before she came over, I cut the hedger out and went to town on the trees and bushes in the front flower bed of the house, and hit some of the side of the house ones. Even though it was overcast and the temperature wasn’t too bad, it was so humid, I eventually had to stop. It looks a lot better, and I should only have to do it one more time to get everything ready for “winter.” Well, with the exception of weeding, which I have to do like every two weeks. Damn weeds.

Zoe and I hung outside in the shade for awhile, and made our way onto the deck so she could play in her sand box and we set up her water stations.

That night I made a meatloaf for dinner. Haven’t made the classic kind in forever! I usually make the healthy/fancy keto friendly kind. I usually love to have mashed potatoes with this dish, but we don’t really keep potatoes on hand, so green beans it was! Zoe LOVES green beans by the way. The meatloaf, she was not a fan. I can’t blame her. I didn’t eat meatloaf until I was an adult.

Sunday, we went for another car ride and hung around the house the rest of the day. Zoe and I had a little picnic with snacks in the shade of the backyard.

I finished reading Rosie’s Traveling Tea Shop Sunday evening, and am starting His Only Wife. Trying to get through some Netgalley books. I keep requesting new ones, and have some that are super old sitting on the shelf. Rosie’s Tea Shop was from 2019, I think I have a few on there from even before that. Oops.

I have started setting out some fall decor. I never really decorated for fall before. I am not huge into Halloween things, and going for more of the pumpkins and fall to leave out through Thanksgiving. Though, we do have a few Snoopy Halloween things that I want to incorporate somewhere. I redid our fireplace mantel. I am not done yet, but this is where I am.

I need some more pumpkins, but am at the mercy of what I can find online. I don’t know why Hobby Lobby has to be out of all their cute stuff online. Get it together! Where is your favorite place to shop for fall decor? There are a few things I have my eye on at Kirkland’s. Do you decorate for fall or Halloween/Thanksgiving?

I happened to look down at the date in the corner of my screen this morning and saw that it was September 11th. Let’s be honest, I am good if I even know what day of the week it is, yet alone the actual date. Every year, I think about where I was, what was going through my mind, all of the lives lost, and how we are forever changed. Sometimes I think about how life is going to look after Covid. How long will it take before things feel “normal.” What will normal even look like. How much therapy we probably all need.

But that was all quite a bit deep for a favorites post, wasn’t it? I can’t let my mind go in that direction! I know it was a short week, but man, was it quick! We have been so busy at work that the days have just slipped right past me.

Favorite Activity: Zoe and I have had some really fun lessons this week. I ordered this Kinetic Sand set the other day because it came with a ton of different tools, a play mat and two bags of sand (red and blue.) Kinetic Sand has been a favorite of Zoe’s for quite awhile now. Usually we bury small zoo animals in it for her to dig around, but I wanted some more things to change it up. This kit is fantastic! Cutting and using the scoop and dome mold is so satisfying! I think I had just as much fun as she did.

I shared our science experiment on stories the other day, and I got a lot of questions about where I got the droppers from. Amazon, of course! They are a great size for little toddler hands, and honestly, quite comfortable for adults too. I loved that they came with a little stand to keep them in, it keeps the liquids from dripping all over the table! I took a muffin tin and put a few drops of food color on the bottom of each section, covered it with a spoonful of baking soda, then put vinegar in a bowl. Zoe used the droppers to drop the vinegar into the cups and thought it was the COOLEST thing ever seeing it foam up and become a color. She played with this for a good 30-40 minutes, and has asked every day to do something with the droppers since. I have been just letting her mix colored waters to see what happens.

Favorite Aldi Finds: I have so many photos on my phone for Aldi posts that I wanted to do and never got around to. But I got these signs this week, so they should still be in stores. Each one is double sided so you can use them for fall/Halloween/Thanksgiving. I absolutely love that about them. I am still trying to gather fall decor, but this was a great start. The large sign (I shared both sides of it) was $9.99 and the three smaller ones were $3.99.

Favorite Recipe: One of my favorite things to make for parties, company, or lunch for myself is to take salami and roll it around a little bit of cream cheese. So easy and always a crowd pleaser. I like that this is a fancier version of that, and low carb friendly.

Favorite Funnies:

Nothing like recapping a weekend on a Wednesday, right? Book day was yesterday though, and you gotta be there for that! If you missed it, I only read two books and they were both consumed in the last week. I enjoyed both of them, totally worth reading. Anyways, onto the weekend! The long weekend!

Friday evening, we ordered Mexican for dinner. We decided on somewhere other than our usual, and it was fabulous.

I had a little work to finish up Saturday morning. After that, we headed out for our car ride. When we got home, Zoe wanted to go play outside. I set up the sprinkler and her water table, and she had a lot of fun running around between the two. After, she came up on the deck and played in her sandbox for awhile.

Sunday morning, we ordered Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Never disappoints.

Zoe and I spent a lot of time outside again. The weather was a lot drier this weekend, so it was tolerable to sit out in the shade. We don’t get very many “dry, non-humid” weekends down here…so you have to take full advantage! We took lots of evening walks around the neighborhood too. We pass by this one house that has an owl statue near their mailbox. I am pretty sure it is to keep the birds away from crapping on it. I might end up doing the same, as ours is always getting covered by them. Zoe was terrified the first time she saw and it practically jumped in my arms screaming. I had to explain that it was a pretend owl, and then she became fascinated with them. We have to watch YouTube informative videos on owls now, and she has to go by and say hi when we take walks.

On Monday, we took yet another car ride. This time we stopped at BBQ Stop on the way home to pick up burgers, sides and cheese fries. Everything was really good and hit the spot! This was our second time doing a drive thru. Slowly getting ourselves back out there!

It is crazy how fast a Monday goes when you don’t have to work, right??? Even working from home, you definitely feel work days. This past weekend, I really tried to unwind some. I am over all the cooking, cleaning, laundry, work, homeschooling, not seeing people, etc. I tried to let some of that go for a few days. Of course, now I have 3498 loads of laundry to do, floors to clean, work to catch up on, and lessons to teach…but it was nice to unwind some!

Yesterday it was back to Zoom meetings, homeschooling, ordering groceries for the week, working, catching up with clients and tracking down data, and getting a start on the mountain of laundry that accumulated in just a few days. And dishes. Dear God, the dishes. Someone explain to me how there are always so many??? I hope you all had a great weekend! We are already half way through this week now!

Linking up with Steph and Jana. I debated about linking up today, because I only have two books to share with you. I hit a major reading rut this month. It was really nothing to do with either of these book, and everything to do with my mood. I just didn’t feel like reading. Work has been busy, not doing anything has been getting to me, I am just over everything. I spent way too much time getting angry about what I saw on social media, and I just wanted to chill out and not read. Very unlike me. I feel like I am coming back though, so here we go!

Layla by Colleen Hoover

I love a good Colleen Hoover book. She is usually a solid read for me. I don’t know what I was expecting when I picked up this book, but this was not it!!!! I don’t really know what I want to share about it, because I don’t want to ruin this book for anyone. I highly suggest you don’t read reviews, because you can barely talk about this book without giving spoilers.

Let me just say that this is very different than any Colleen Hoover book I have read. I was not expecting this. This book creeped me the hell out for awhile. I found the whole premise interesting, though, if I had known in advanced, I may not have reached for it. So I am glad I didn’t know. I loved the format of the book. You start out in an interview, and then the book goes back and forth between Leeds recollection over the past few weeks, and then back to present day in the interview. You get mad at Leeds for awhile, or at least I did. Basically your emotions are a roller coaster in this book. And when the end comes, it is the end, no epilogue. I sort of wish there was one, but it isn’t exactly unfinished either. I think have just gotten used to there being just a little more at the end, you know?

Bottom Line: Read it! Go in to it knowing nothing. It will make it so much better.

**I received a copy of Layla from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are of my own.**

Island Affair by Priscilla Oliveras

I finished this one in just a few sittings. It was just what I needed to get out of my rut! This was such a cute book, but also had some depth to it. The main character is a social media influencer and youngest from a family of doctors. You learn about her problems pretty early on, and things she is working on to overcome them. She also has a rift with a few family members. And I loved meeting the Navarro family as well! Luis has his own secret from the past, and trouble with his youngest brother. The way they met and he agreed to this charade in the beginning was a little quick, rushed and easy. But the rest of this book was so good! The chemistry, the banter, and the characters in this book were great. I really love that we got to see the two main characters grow, as well as the family dynamics change.

Bottom Line: Read it This is my first from this author, and wont be my last.

Currently Reading

Rosie’s Traveling Tea Shop by Rebecca Raisin

Time is weird. Parenting is weird. When kids are little, we are so focused on milestones that happen at different stages. When they can hold their head up, sit up, crawl, walk, etc. But I never really think about when these things become a distant memory, or when we stop doing certain things.

My sister dropped some baby items off to me last weekend that she had borrowed for my great nephew. I was putting them in the attic, and thinking about when Zoe used them. When did she stop needing the swing? That thing was an essential part of my sanity there for a few months.

Since March, Zoe basically dropped naps. The first day home, she didn’t want to take one and I was still trying to figure out how our days were going to look, so I let her skip it. We had been skipping naps most weekend days anyways, knowing she was still getting a good nap at school all week. But after that first day, she never took one again. And now we are 6 months of no naps, and I cant remember the last time she did nap for me? When did these stop? It’s like you don’t even know its happening when it does.

I try to remember that feeling, as she randomly asks me to pick her up throughout the day. She is around 37-38 pounds now, which starts to get pretty heavy when you are holding her for an extended period of time. But one day, she is going to stop reaching for me and asking me to pick her up.

Right now, I sit on her bedroom floor at night until she falls asleep. I have been doing this since we came home from Gatlinburg in January. Ever since we moved, she had a hard time going to bed at night. I guess being in a new room on a different floor seemed big and scary. I just found it easier to sit up there with her, than to fight with her about going to bed and listening to her cry. I take that time to scroll social media or read a few chapters of my book while I wait for her to sleep. I made a joke one day about how it’s not like I am going to have to go off to college with her to do this. It is just a phase. But that is the thing, it is just a phase. One night, she isn’t going to need me up there anymore. One day, she is going to stop grabbing my hand as we walk up the stairs to go to bed. That breaks my heart.

I know a lot of people have looked at 2020 as the year of complete chaos, but honestly, it has allowed me to slow down some and really enjoy spending time with the two people who matter most to me. I am not going to lie, working full time at home while trying to keep Zoe entertained, schooled, and coming up with new things to do is hard some days. And it came be so lonely and isolating as well. But we have created so many memories over the last several months.

I am sharing all of this to say, that if you are a parent in a certain season, it is just that. A season. Maybe a particularly hard one, where you are going through a sleep regression, trying to break the paci, potty training, witching hour, whatever it is. Just remember that one day, this will all be a distant memory to you. One day, they are going to sleep through the night again. One day, they will be going to the potty without any assistance from you. One day, they are going to move out on their own and break our hearts.

You’re gonna miss this
You’re gonna want this back
You’re gonna wish these days hadn’t gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you’re gonna miss this