Friday, January 31, 2025

January Randoms

 


Happy bonus blog post day! I was reading another blog this morning and was inspired to write my own version of this monthly randoms post; if you want to read her blog, the name of it is Random-osity. Here are a few random things that I admired this month, in pictures. 



pictures of Drew while he's working


reminders like this that encourage me


Chloe being all up in my personal space


a milestone moment


a good haul from my happy place (a.k.a. the library)


a favorite podcast as of late


quality time reading the Bible


views from work


more views from work of products I ordered to sell


another day, another visit to the happy place


morning views from the kitchen table


a wintry lake view


a funny moment with my sister


a weekend project


a favorite Bible study that I helped write four years ago

something funny from social media


I hope you enjoyed this glimpse of my month in the unseen pictures from my phone. There may have been a couple of repeats, though; I'll be better at this looking ahead to February. Happy last day of January! This being a bonus blog post on Friday, here's a link for my regularly scheduled Friday Favorites post that I shared earlier this morning. Enjoy your weekend, friends. See you back here next week; love to all!


Jenn 🖤

Friday Favorites, 1.31.2025.

 



Happy Friday, friends! I hope your week has been less dramatic than mine. 🤣 I have always hated drama; can someone please remind my life of that? Thanks! In spite of all the drama, I have some favorites from this week, and I bet you do too! Stay tuned, I'll ask you about them at the end. 





I worked from 8-4:30 on Friday of last week and got bored when the afternoon wound down (not my favorite); I tend to doodle things like this when I'm bored. Do you do this? 




I don't think I've talked about this lotion here, but this is my current favorite body lotion. It came from Walmart and was about $7 for this giant bottle! 




I've had trouble staying asleep all week; my new routine is that I listen to a podcast until I fall back to sleep. This is one of my favorites! 




This freshly painted trim is my favorite! My stepdad had some extra trim paint at his house that he shared with me. 



Seeing one of my bonus kids this week was a favorite! This is Andrew; it was so great to see him and to catch up. We plan to keep doing this regularly! 




This dinner was my favorite of the week: chicken with cheese and salsa on top and an avocado on the side. Have I mentioned that I'm following the WW plan for eating? I'm already down about 4 lbs! 



I dropped my earbuds last week and broke them; because I use them all. the. time., I bought these to replace them. I love them even more than the ones I had before this brand! Here's a link.




These were my favorite outfits this week! I enjoyed the warmer temps; it was fun wearing just a thin top. 



Work/church is my favorite; I was going to take a walk around the building yesterday, and came across this very random, clear balloon just floating in the lobby. 🤣



Doodling is one of my favorite past times; so are Abbey's kiddos! I gave them cups to take home with them this week and had fun drawing for them.



P.T. (priority time) is my favorite! I had a moment reading about Jacob's son Judah this week. 




Sun rises are my favorite!




I love this image above; even knowing what I know about my life and how it would turn out, I wouldn't do one single thing differently. Being a mom has been the greatest thing I've ever done, aside from the day I met Jesus. He is the true Love of my life and is the only man I'll ever need again.



Lastly, this has been my favorite home away from home this week! Stay tuned! 


What was a favorite from your week? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog today, friends. Love to all!


Jenn 🖤



Thursday, January 30, 2025

Monthly Musings & Little Things Thursday

 


Happy Thursday, friends! I'll jump in with today's prompts.


1. What do you do to stay warm in winter? I love the winter; even if I didn't love it, I try to embrace all of the seasons. I have learned that if my feet are warm, then I am warm, so the main thing I do is to wear socks with shoes that are warmer than my everyday shoes. When it's really cold, I wear wool socks with my Sorel boots. I am not one to wear a coat because of its bulk,  so on particularly cold days when I know I'll be in and out I wear something warmer with another shirt underneath. Here's an example:



I know I already shared this picture, but on Friday of last week, the high was only about thirty. I wore this favorite cozy fleece from Old Navy, and I had on a thermal type shirt underneath. 


2. What's your favorite wintertime activity? I don't do anything different in the winter, honestly. I have noticed that I read a lot more in the winter months, though. I read about twelve books this January! Come back next week to see which books I loved this month. 


3. Do you have a winter beauty routine that's different? I moisturize my skin really, really well in the winter. I have dry skin all year long, and from head to toe I am like that. My favorite way to keep my face moisturized is by doing two things: I use coconut oil to wash my face with before bed each night, and I use Cerave  every night and each morning before I put on my makeup. Yes, I am that dry! Click on that link to view the one I use, but I don't recommend buying it from Amazon; it's less expensive in Walmart. 

4. Do you prefer skating, sledding, or skiing? Ummm...how about reading? Or maybe going to a ski lodge in the snow covered mountains, and reading in a room with a fireplace and a beautiful view? Does that count? 




I'd gladly take a trip to either of these places above. 


5. Do you have any favorite winter recipes? I don't have actual recipes, but I love soup in the winter. My favorite is taco soup; I love making a big pot of it and eating it all week. 


6. Do you have any favorite winter beverages? I am much more likely to drink coffee more throughout the day in the winter season. I also sometimes will have hot chocolate if I'm craving something sweet; I consider it a dessert! I decided last week to start following the Weight Watchers (WW) eating plan again. I've done this in the past and had great success; once you know what to eat, it's easy. That being said, I've had to adjust my coffee, because I don't like to drink calories. I think I have it perfected: I use one packet of Splenda, and 1 TB of creamer that is flavored. My current favorites are coconut cream, and Snickers. 



7. What are your best winter memories? I always loved when the boys were out of school for snow while in a brick and mortar school. I worked at their elementary school, so when they were out, I was off! Those were the best days: they'd play outside for hours and come inside to warm up with hot chocolate and/or something hot and homemade. The boys in the neighborhood would usually be at our house as well, and sometimes we would all go sledding together! Those were the days. 


8. What is the coldest day you remember? I remember it being really cold here in December two years ago; I think it even snowed a little. I remember it being the closest I'd ever get to seeing a white Christmas here! It was around five degrees and less during that week; a few of my plants in front of my house died in that weather and had to be replaced. 


9. How do you practice self care in the winter? I take the time every single day to put lots of lotion on my body, and as I already mentioned, I double moisturize my face everyday with that Cerave. 


10. Flannel sheets: yes or no? No way! I am way too hot natured for that. Give me my favorite microfiber sheets from Amazon and a satin pillow case any day, and I am one happy camper. 


Linking up with:




Thanks for reading my blog today, friends. Keep scrolling when you're finished reading this one, because there's a bonus post below. I'll see you back here tomorrow. Love to all!

Jenn 🖤

Thankful Thursday

 


Happy bonus blog post day! I have lots of things I'm thankful for this week and didn't want to skip writing about it here today. I'll jump in!


I'm thankful for:

  • the word of God and the promise of the verse you see above
  • my family and friends who pray
  • things to do that keep me distracted
  • my work family and friends
  • being able to help out in an area that was understaffed this week, due to sickness
  • dare I say staying healthy?
  • getting to have Graham's baby dogs this week
  • seeing and/or at least talking to all of my guys
  • encouraging books--I'm reading a really great one right now
  • the motivation to do home improvement projects around my house
  • an uneventful Tuesday and Wednesday with no dragons flying overhead
  • having something to look forward to

What are you thankful for this week? I'd love to hear from you! Love to all. 

Jenn 🖤

Wednesday, January 29, 2025

the Wednesday Hodgepodge

 


Happy Wednesday, friends! It's one of my favorite days of the week: hodgepodge day! I love the questions that Joyce always comes up with. I'll jump in!


1. What was your after school routine when you were a kid? I don't remember exactly, but I feel like I always had a snack pretty quickly after I'd get home. Mom would make dinner every single night, and while she was doing that I would sometimes help by making the cornbread; if that wasn't the case, I'd do my homework in my room while she cooked. Mom was (is still) so great at wanting to know about my day, and I have such great memories of sitting at the kitchen table with her talking about everything. 


2. January 26 is National Green Juice day. Do you juice (as in, do you make your own)? Do you do the green juices? What's your favorite kind of juice (home blended or store bought)? I don't juice my own, but I've had it before and enjoyed whatever brand it was that I had. It's one I bought from Walmart; I know it had spinach, kale, and some type of fruit in it. I don't drink juice often at all, because I have a weird thing about not drinking calories; that being said, if I do drink some, I like cranberry juice.


3. What's something trivial about which you have a strong opinion? There is no right or wrong to load the dishwasher. Any way it's done is the right way, especially if you're not doing it yourself!  


4. What do you need more of in your life? What do you need less of in your life? I need more kids in my life; I need more fun things to do, more laughter, more reasons to get out of my house. I need less dragons in my life, as in the ones that keep flying over me. 



As in this image that Marilyn posted last week. Stupid dragons! 



#nottodaySatan


5. Give us three adjectives to describe your January. The three that I'm choosing are daunting, wintry, and productive. It's been daunting because I had something hard this month that took place back on the 7th; I've been waiting on a new bomb to drop (or a new dragon to fly over my house) everyday since. It's been wintry, because we've had frigid temperatures, but I enjoyed all of this! I breathe easier in the winter months, so I love it when it's cold. I also love being able to wear sweaters and cozy things. 





I love to wear a hoodie sweatshirt! It's been a productive month, because I've accomplished a lot in my home. I feel very proud of myself for this! 


6. Insert your own random thought here. 


This first song is one of my favorite songs right now; it's The Jesus Way by Phil Wickham. 



And this one below is Livin' on a Prayer by Bon Jovi. I've been listening to Bon Jovi while I've been busy doing projects in my house! Anything it takes to get me motivated, right? 🤣



Thanks for reading my blog today, friends! I can't wait to read your answers to these prompts. I'll see you back here tomorrow for a double post day! Love to all! 


Jenn 🩷❤️


P.S. The Currently link party will happen on Wednesday, February 5th. The prompts for next month are things we're currently loving, anticipating, remembering, sharing, and wish-listing. I hope you make plans to join us next week! 




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