It’s been rather hot this past week. Instead of dwelling on that (for too long, at least), I decided I would focus on my different happy places. That’s what came to mind when I saw the pictures that were taken this week, at least…so here goes!
Happy Place: helping this one give her first talk in Primary. 🙂Eh, Not-So-Happy Place: it got up to 110 degrees on our covered porch. Ew.Happy Place: walking into Abigail’s room and finding out she decided Buc-ee was going to be a doctor.Happy Place: getting to see her imagination just constantly on overdrive. She told me she wanted to be comfy but fancy, haha.Happy (Albeit-Sorta-Sweaty) Place: taking a three mile walk/jog every day and getting to do a mid-walk break at the park in our subdivision.Happy Place: The front porch right after an unexpected rain storm where I can see the beautiful post-storm sky.Happy Place: this cozy scene that I get to see every day.Happy Place: getting to see the new exterior lights that Paul put up today all lit up. They’re way better than the builder-grade ones that were up there before and they have an outlet on the side of them that will make it easier to plug in Christmas lights.Happy Place: I’m so grateful for our home!
Abigail drew pictures for a story and then told me what to write. 🙂
This past week we were able to do some fun things. Monday was the Fourth of July. We started out the morning by going to the zoo. After that, we went home and relaxed before dinner and fireworks. Much fun was had by all involved. I also took advantage of it being summer and made some yummy food and treats. Paul finished putting up the last two lamps in their respective places (under the bookshelves and in Joseph’s room). All-in-all a productive week!
Abigail checking out the black bear.A three-banded armadillo. Interesting fact: this is the type of armadillo that can roll completely up into a ball (the nine-banded armadillo can’t do that).Abigail really liked the armadillo.Pretending to be a deep sea explorer.Appeasing his parents. 😉She loves this boat.He was chilling in-between the sliding glass door and the screen. I love our “pet” anole.She asked me to help her set this all up and then she asked me to find some limbo music to play. She totally cheats, by the way. 😉Getting ready to watch fireworks.Yes, we are just chillin’ in our driveway.Some small fireworks.The kids really liked the fountains.They ended up being quite impressive.Fun food #1: baked gnocchi chicken alfredo. It’s basically a casserole with chicken and gnocchi in an alfredo sauce with melted cheese on top.It was pretty tasty. Abigail actually ate every bite of her dinner that night!I did a little decoration rearranging. There used to be a bowl on this cabinet. I decided I wanted to move it to a different spot……I like it in this spot much better. There was already some stuff in the spot where I wanted to put it, but since it’s a bowl, I just put the stuff inside the bowl. 😉 Well, some of it. My little bird cage didn’t fit in there, so I moved it……over here! I like this little section even more now.Playing Knights and Dragons. Abigail was a queen who was getting attacked by a dragon, so Joseph came to her rescue.Fun Food #2: Dragon fruit. The kids wanted to try it because it looks really neat.This is what it looks like inside. Everything in there is edible. It was slightly sweet but rather bland. Friends have told me that the dragon fruit that you get in China and other Asian countries is much sweeter.Fun Food #3: I used cocoa crispies to make rice crispy treats. They were pretty tasty!The light under the bookshelves.The kids put it right to use.I love sights like this!The new light for Joseph’s room. It will be a great reading light!I decided that since we’re swiftly coming up on a decade of being in Texas it would be fun to put up a picture of what the trees in the back looked like when we first moved here in comparison to……now!Here’s the front tree ten years ago (and look, no houses around us…crazy!!) in comparison to……now!I’m so grateful for the shade it gives me. I was able to stand in the shade the entire time while I was watering plants/grass in the front.
Our “finale” this year. 🙂
The neighbors down the street. It’s always a fun time.
This past week was a pretty typical summer week. We kind of just hung around the house and relaxed. On Tuesday, it was only supposed to rain a teeny bit but we ended up getting two rather sizable storms. It rained a lot, let up for a bit and then rained a ton more. I ended up hosting book club because my friend who was supposed to host ended up without power for several hours (luckily for her and her family, it ended up coming back on in time for them to be able to go to bed and not have to sleep in a hot house). We also dedicated some of our time to a few minor home and yard updates. Other than that, we’re looking forward to the holiday coming up on Monday. 4th of July is always a blast around here.
I thought we were just going to get a little bit of rain…Watching it come down even harder. Yes, she’s wearing pajamas in the middle of the day. I pick my battles, y’all.This was fifteen minutes after the rain started…our street was almost a river!Paul was trying to get gas when the gas station lost power momentarily. All the pumps restarted. I don’t think he had gotten very far in the process (at least, I didn’t see a charge on the card). After a bit of the pumps having issues, he just gave up and came home.Summer days are for bubble blowing.I’m so glad I happened to get this shot. That was probably the biggest bubble she’s ever blown.I wish I still had the “I don’t care how hot it is I just want to be outside” mentality that little kids seem to have. I walk outside, think about it for about three seconds, say “nope” and go back in, haha.I was wanting to update the lights in our powder bath to match a little more with the fixtures we have in the kitchen and dining room. The problem I was running into was that the metal finishes of those fixtures are black and we have chrome in the bathroom. We didn’t want mixed metals, but we really didn’t want to have to change out all of the other things (towel holder, faucet, etc.). Luckily……we discovered that we can just buy new shades. We found these ones that match the type of glass we have in the light fixtures in the kitchen and dining room. We also grabbed some Edison bulbs that match the other light fixtures as well. Since the new shades are clear instead of frosted, it’s quite a bit brighter in the powder room, which is nice.Paul also found these wall-mounted lamps for our bedroom. This way, we can have bedside lamps without them sitting on our nightstands, taking up space.They even have a couple of USB plugs as we as another regular plug. Paul just tacked the cords to the posts on our headboard so they are less noticeable.I noticed there were a lot of dead bugs in our kitchen light. First, I tried to use my Swiffer duster to get them out, but I had trouble getting the angle right and then when I did, it didn’t pick them up. I then tried to use the hose on my vacuum, but that proved to be really difficult, too. At that point, I realized that there was also a lot of greasy build-up on it and I decided it would be best if I just took the shade off and washed it. It looks a million times better!The geraniums I had in these pots had been doing well, but all of a sudden, they weren’t. It happened so quickly that I don’t really know what happened. I went to Lowe’s to see if I could find some replacements. They didn’t have any geraniums in, so I found some other plants and then checked with Google (it’s crazy that I can carry a computer in my hand) to make sure they would be hardy enough.I ended up with golden lantana (I got two of these)……and two different butterfly plants. This is the red one……and this is the pink one. 🙂
