The Secret to Having it All......

Tuesday, January 31, 2023

Menu Plan Monday: January

hello January: MENU PLAN MONDAY 🗓️

I love all the winter dishes like oysters and ducks, collard greens, soups and stews. Just give me all the comfort food!
I love cooking and having everyone gathered around the table. I also love little helpers!! ❤️ Kamry always likes to help me cook, Rowen loves to help with the dishes, and for now, Kole is just here for the FOOD! 😊

MENU • [DEC 29-JAN 31]

12/29 • duck dinner - this one is a family fave. We don’t have them as often as we used to, but Logan is the hunter in the family, so we still get to enjoy them! 🤍

12/30 • order out

12/31 • Peter cooked a huge pot of collard greens using a recipe he had seen online. 👏🏻 They were delicious and he is now the official greens cooker 😊 we had our first single fried oysters oysters of the season to go with them!

01/01 • Hoppin’ John, Collards, Rice, & Cornbread (I made enough to share with the whole family!) We were never huge fans of black eye peas until a few years ago when I discovered @thepioneerwomanrecipe for Hoppin John!! It’s now one of our favorite meals - (Peter said I need to make it more than just New Years!)

01/02 • TikTok Pasta w/shrimp, Salad, & Garlic Bread

01/03• pan grilled chicken breast with dipping sauces & salad

01/04 • Mushroom & Swiss Burgers, fries, and cucumbers in sauce

01/05 • Crabcakes, roasted asparagus, and applesauce

01/06 • order out

01/07 • Pork Roast w/Carrots & Potatoes, Rolls

01/08 • Tuna Melts + Fries

01/09 • breakfast for dinner

1/10 • Breaded Pork Chops (oven) + Roasted Brussels

1/11 • AWAY - lunch: Chick Fil A dinner: Harpoon Hanna’s

1/12 • AWAY - breakfast: at the hotel lunch: Arby’s dinner: chicken sandwiches (chick fil a = Aldi copycat❤️)

1/13 • soup & grilled cheese (Aldi tomato & sweet basil soup is the bomb! 🙌🏻)

1/14 • brunch: (Brie) charcuterie board dinner: steaks + pasta salad

1/15 • antipasto charcuterie board

1/16 • chicken salad (sr. fundraiser) and crab soup 🦀

1/17 • Butter Chicken over rice, spinach, and Naan bread

1/18 • boiled fish, hash browns, biscuits, fig preserves, cheese, & coffee

1/19 • Hungry Jack Casserole

1/20 • pizza & fries

1/21 • Meatloaf, Potato Salad, broccoli

1/22 • single fried oysters

1/23 • leftovers | meatloaf

1/24 • Chicken Alfredo & garlic bread

1/25 • sautéed crabmeat in butter

1/26 • Derek’s birthday dinner - Lasagna

1/27 • soup fundraiser

1/28 .• Beef Steak w/gravy, mashed potatoes, sautéed cabbage, & rolls (family)

1/29 • pigs-n-blanket l, mac & cheese, applesauce

1/30 • Neapolitan Casserole + Garlic Bread

1/31 • order out

Sunday, January 1, 2023

2023 WORD OF THE YEAR: FOCUS

H A P P Y N E W Y E A R ✨2023

• My word for the year is FOCUS…..

Focus more on what’s really important and stop sweating the small stuff.
Keep focused on my daily walk with the Lord. To really focus on what I’m reading and studying when doing my morning quiet time. Focus on a task and stay motivated. I’m such a procrastinator and I have great intentions of doing all the things but I can get so sidetracked. I want to work on staying focused on my goals and what I’m striving for and actually accomplish things. Focus on relationships- with my family and friends - 2022 was a rough year for our family - big things like cancer and heart surgery - lots of emotions and worry I’ve never dealt with. I got so wrapped up in all the feelings that I lost focus at times. I get ahead of myself and worry about what might happen when I know there isn’t anything I can do about it (except pray!). I need to focus on now, and enjoy each day that I’m given. 🤍 Focus on making time for my best friend @wandap4No excuses not to get together more than a few times a year 😞❤️ it’s therapy for me - I must make more time for this!! Focus on my marriage. We are coming up on our 40th anniversary this summer!! We are definitely in a different season with grown children, grands, aging parents, and an empty nest, but we really are at one of the best stages in our lives and I want to focus more on that - on us and enjoying all the things we can. I’ve seen first hand that life changes quickly, so I want to enjoy as much as we can while we can.❤️Lastly, I want to focus on taking better care of me - it’s classic [Mom] syndrome - to be always doing and thinking about everyone else - I don’t think I know any other way and that’s ok. But it’s also ok to focus on your own well-being, your health, your happiness, and time for yourself. Self-care isn’t selfish - it’s very important! I keep reading the statement “how can you do a good job caring for others if you aren’t taking care of yourself first.” This is a hard one for me but I’m hoping to stay focused on that and try to take my own advice.
#focus #wordoftheyear #stayfocused #newyearsgoals #goal #happynewyear #2023

Wednesday, June 1, 2022

{Memorial Day Weekend 2022}

I do believe this is my favorite time of year! Bring on SUMMER☀️

it’s been the best day!!! ☀️

(despite missing a gorgeous boat day (railway delay due to all the dreary weather😞)

Coffee and devotions on the patio for the second morning in a row • a wonderful message online @oakridgebc • a little visit with the family • TI’s Memorial Day Service 🇺🇸 • and dinner full of all our favorite SUMMER foods!☀️WE had bbq wings, pasta salad, Cole slaw, jello salad, and watermelon.

and always a favorite pic from 2020.....

Peter and Rowen putting up the flag at Pop Pop Junie's grave.

(This wasn't a staged picture, which makes it even more touching.)

Tuesday, May 31, 2022

S U M M E R BUCKET LIST 2022

There's no way it's JUNE tomorrow!!!!

My last post was in January and I swore I'd do better at reviving my blog, but here we are, 5 months later, and this makes post number 7! In any event, if the SUMMER Bucket List doesn't get me all excited, nothing will. Here's this year's list of FUN activities--->

🏖 beach day • 🌳 Vessey’s • 🍨 make pineapple ice• 🎣 go fishing • 🚗 day trip w/grands • 🎏 fly kites on the beach• 🎡 OCMD • 🍽 dinner on the patio • 🇺🇸 4th of July • 💥 fireworks • 🌅 sunset at the beach. • 🐴 day trip to Chincoteague • 🍕 grilled pizza • ⚓️ boat to Mallards • 🍓 make jam

and HAVE FUN! ❤️☀️

Tuesday, January 18, 2022

BUDGET - 2022

{budget life} 🗂 first budget update for 2022…..

Dave Ramsey's Baby Steps ✅ last year—>to now

• Save $1000 in a beginner Emergency Fund = 2021 COMPLETE

1/01/22 - COMPLETE

• Pay off all debt = *ZERO debt except for the SUV (2 yrs left) 1/01/21

1/01/22 - ZERO DEBT + SUV is PAID IN FULL

• Save 6 months (living expenses) emergency fund = 2021 COMPLETE

1/01/22 - COMPLETE

• Invest 15% of your income for retirement **

• Save for your kid's college fund = N/A

• Pay off your house early = PAID IN FULL

• Build wealth & Give freely **

@daveramsey

MONEY SAVINGS CHALLENGES: 2021—>2022

I worked on (2) $1000 money saving challenges in 2021. I completed one = $1000 and saved $400 on the second one. I used the $1000 as part of cash flowing Christmas expenses. I budgeted for Christmas and stuck to it!! It's a great feeling on December 26th knowing everything is paid for! The $400 is in a sinking fund for a few upcoming house updates, but we have started a new $1000 money saving challenge for 2022. 💰

SINKING FUNDS 2020

I have $400 in a Sinking Fund for a few small upgrades we want to do around the house. 🙌🏻

MONTHLY BUDGET

I'm still doing @thebudgetmom @budgetbypaycheck budgeting system. After 2 years of sticking to the tracking spending and finding a place for our money to go each month, I feel very accomplished and on top of our finances. I still have things to learn, but this system seems to work best for me and this is the most consistent I've been with budgeting in awhile.

We added broadband last year and its been a game changer - we have much better quality internet/tv/phone service and we SAVED a ton monthly by the switch. We dropped Viasat which literally sucked and was wayyyy overpriced —$119 month……we got Directv to knock our monthly pkg down $50 /mo from $135 to $85……and be CANCELLED VERIZON!!!!!! Best $95 savings yet!!! We had phone outages or crossed lines with neighbors every single week…..we opted for Magic Jack - $45 for the Magic Jack/$23 to keep our same number/ $125 for 5 years service!! We won’t have a phone bill for 5 years vs $95 /mo….that’s a win for us!

We paid off the SUV 2 years early so no more payments!!! We did go back to a garage vs a lot , but we decided it would probably help with the longevity of our SUV, so the $50 more per month seemed like a good option. Other than those 2 big monthly bill changes, our budget is pretty much the same.

Saturday, January 15, 2022

MEAL PLANNING JAN 2022

MENU PLANNING 🍽

We started off the New Year with a few family dinners.

Kole is always here for the food and is the first to the table everytime! ☺️💙

Here’s what’s on the menu:

We had Hoppin’ John, collard Greens w/ham, and corn bread on New Year’s Day,

our first duck dinner for the year on the 2nd, and a breakfast dinner of

homemade waffles & sausage ((and snow cream)) on our big snow day on 1/03!

We did a big Food Lion pick-up the first of the month and I planned our

meals for the first 3 weeks of January!

1/04 - ordered out

1/05 - lasagna (frozen) & salad

1/06 - burgers & homemade oven fries

1/07 - turkey/bacon/swiss paninis & tomato basil soup

1/08 - Steaks w/onions & mushrooms, baked potatoes, & roasted asparagus

1/09 - TACOS

1/10 - TikTok Pasta w/Shrimp

1/11 - Boiled Fish w/ biscuits/Fig Preserves/Cheddar Cheese + Coffee

1/12 - Pork Chop Scalloped Potato Casserole

1/13 - Spaghetti, Garlic Bread, & Pea Salad

1/14 - chicken tenders, baked sweet potato, & pea salad

1/15 - Pork Roast, carrots, & potatoes with gravy + sautéed cabbage

left on the menu:

*chicken *beans w/ham & rolls *Meatloaf *oysters *lasagna *unplanned

I try to do a meal plan and shop for all the ingredients to have on hand for the meals. I don't usually do a set day for each meal but decide what we are in the mood for each day or how much time I have to cook that day. I love having everything I need on hand, that is a HUGE part of sticking to a grocery budget.