Sometimes you just need a little pampering....

Hello everyone. I hope you all have had a good start to your week.

Today, I needed some TLC. That TLC was for my feet. They just needed some little pampering for sandal season that has started. I am dealing with a tender sciatic issue so doing my feet and toes hasn't been easy right now. I do not get pedicures all the time, but when I do I enjoy them.

It was a nice treat. I am curious if you like pedicures or manicures. Or do you enjoy anything similar for a little pampering?? Maybe you look a special coffee, a face mask, or doing a craft or a massage. What is your top favorite way you like to get some TLC?

With Love,

Chrissy T

Joyful Things ~ Thankful for a Little Community~

Hello everyone. Gosh, it is Tuesday after Easter. It is already April 7th, 2026! Time is flying to me. 

I am always inspired by my blog friend, Wendi, at My Heart is Always Home blog. 

Wendi and I have been connected for years!!! One thing I love about her posts is that she will share moments of joy in the ordinary. I always love those posts. It reminds me to be more mindful as I go about my days too. 

So, here are a few things this past week that have brought me joy and a smile.

My tulips have really been blooming beautifully. 

After I left the church from decorating all Saturday for Easter, I headed to the grocery store that night to grab some flowers for our table for our lunch. As I grabbed the cart or as we call it in Mississippi a "buggy" and someone had placed this sticker on the handle. It was a beautiful reminder and so neat being Easter weekend to come across. It made me smile. 

April Storms! Yes, I know that may sound strange, but we have some wildfires in our state, and it is much needed. Still need more! 

These beautiful roses that I spotted out and about one day! I don't know.... but flowers ALWAYS bring me joy!

Speaking of flowers, I purchased some packets of seeds to plant for some cut flowers (on my spring bucket list) and to add some pops of color in our yard. Seeing the rows of seed packets brought me great joy! I love looking through all of the variety and browsing them all. 

*A saying I found of Pinterest that really spoke to me. *

I want to let you all know that I have been having a little hard time blogging lately. My post may seem more random and not necessarily themed as I prefer. To be honest, I am trying to feel better. I shared a post earlier last week about being GENTLER on myself. Check that here to explain my health issues if you aren't aware. In the past when I get to this spot with blogging I will usually give up. Take a long or VERY long break. BUT I have really enjoyed blogging, and I feel I have built me a little community of people I look forward to visiting daily and also reading your comments when you visit. Without getting too deep and personal, I need this right now in my life.... A little community that brings me joy. I appreciate you all. So, I am trying to stay dedicated to blogging even if it is a weird season for me right now. Hopefully, you will hang in there with me. :)  I mentioned a while back that my anxiety can be very high this time of year for me. I am working hard to pace myself better for this month. :) 

With Love, 

Chrissy T

 

Easter Weekend Recap 2026

Hello everyone. I hope you all had a good Easter Weekend. I wanted to share some memories on here. 

Our daughter and I at church in the youth area. 

We had a breakfast fellowship at church this morning. Each family brought a dish to share. 

I made little sausages wrapped in bacon and baked in brown sugar. 

After our church service we did a candy rain for the children. My hubby climbed up to throw candy. He is scared of heights, so this was extra brave of him. He is in the suit. 

After church we headed home and started our lunch. We had ham, roasted turkey breast, homemade mac and cheese, skillet green beans, dressing (my daughter's boyfriend made) and rolls. I made banana pudding for dessert. 

Here is my table setting for this year. The Hyacinth smells fantastic. I purchased a little pot for $10.00 of them and planted them in my crystal fruit bowl and added moss for a little more touch. 

I have two doors in my dining room and to make the wreaths on them springier because I really didn't want to buy new ones, I purchased some fabric to add a little touch.

Here is a little snapshot of the garland I made for church. 

I hope you all have a lovely day.

With Love, 

Chrissy T

A Little Bit of This and That~ Flowers, Easter Things, and a Date

 Hello everyone. I hope you all had a GOOD FRIDAY!

I had to do a little bit of a lot of this and that today to catch up on things. 😏 I paid bills, worked on church books, made deposits, spruced the inside of the abode and little of the outside, made our Easter menu, and shopping list. Yes, I am behind or maybe I am just on time. I don't know it is just how I am rolling this Easter season. I have a little bit more energy than I have been lately. Probably due to the huge dose of Vit D, Iron and rest. BUT I am still being gentle on myself!!!

Derrick was off today so after we he did some yard work (working on digging up all our Azaleas that died in a freeze) and I finished the inside things we made the church deposit, went to Home Depot and had a quick dinner at a new place that opened. It is a Tex Mex place, and it was alright. 😑

The inside of the place was beautiful and unique. The food was presented beautifully. It tasted "alright" and the service was decent. I will not rush to go back. It was very overpriced for tacos. Weird.... they had sushi. My husband loves it. That is a big NEGATIVE for me. 😉 

We headed home and finished up some projects. I want to share my potted plant arrangement I got. I love it. 

I still have a lot more to do to our porch to make it spring and summer ready. I wait to really decorate and make it look cozy & welcoming once the pollen slows down coating every single thing. It is starting to do that, thankfully. 

I have several things to plant in pots, power washing to be done, and a different wreath to add. For now, I just swept really good, wiped the table down and chair cushions and made it presentable. 

Do not worry.... my ferns will fill in those pots and look fuller over time. I do not start with really large ones because I can usually grow massive ferns. 

Oh, and I have a larger rug to go under the mat that is khaki and cream, but I am washing it currently.

All fresh and clean. Now.... let me show you my lovely tulips I am growing indoors.

I just love tulips. Aren't they lovely?!

I also played around with my table setting for Sunday dinner, tried on a dress I already have for Easter Service as I am trying to make do with things I have as far as clothes for now. 

I love this so much! I am so glad I picked up these plates. You can barely tell they are plastic. They are such good quality. 

This dress was a staple in my summer wardrobe capsule last year and I am bringing it back FOR NOW. 

For those of you that do not know.... I do a wardrobe capsule for Spring/Summer for my clothes and Fall/Winter.

I purchased this dress last year for Mother's Day and have worn it several times since. It is actually a little big on me, but I am going to make it work for at least this Sunday. I am not for sure if it will stay in my capsule due to the size. 

I will need a few items to be replaced this year for my wardrobe. If you do not know what a capsule is, I basically have a certain number of outfits, and I just wear them and switch things up to make the outfit look different at times. I started this when I began a little bit of a minimalist lifestyle years ago partly to get rid of clutter, overwhelm, and working on becoming a better steward. Also, we were being financially savvy. A nice way to say we were cutting expenses and trying to be more mindful to only bring in needs and special things as needed. 

Maybe I can do a more detail post another time if anyone is interested. 

Anyway.... I hope you have a lovely Saturday. 

With Love, 

Chrissy T

A Needed Storm and Just a Day of Running

Hello everyone! I hope you have been having a good week. I don't have much to share but I still want to pop in to chat with my dear blogger friends. 

One thing you may or may not know is that I help with a Pregnancy Center for ladies in need. Our church collected wipes throughout March. I dropped them off. 

I used to volunteer two times a week but due to the travel and other commitments I now serve on the board, volunteer at the yearly fundraiser and 5K, and help at events. Today, we had a working lunch and discussed our upcoming 5K. 

After that I HAD 😉 to head to (yes, HAD to 😏) Hobby Lobby. I am making a floral garland for Easter for the church, so I had to go get florals and etc. While I was in there, I found some plates for our Spring and Easter dinners. I normally do not splurge on these things BUT I needed (okay... wanted) some updated plates. 

If you saw my post a few days ago you will notice I shared a blue and white tablescape I pinned off Pinterest that I want to do for Easter and Mother's Day. These plates aren't identical, but I love them. I can use them for some of my summer gatherings too.

I also surprised my daughter and her work staff with mini bundt cakes from Nothing Bundt Cakes. She works at an orthodontist, and they needed a little cheering up. She was so excited. It was nice to pop in and hug her. I love my Hannah girl.💗

On my way home on the Natchez Trace Parkway, I was heading into a bad storm. I made it home safely. We need the rain soooo very much. We need a lot more to be honest than what this storm poured out. It came fast and left fast.  

After I got home, I was pretty tired. It was long day. The hubby picked up pizza which is a RARITY for us to do. It was nice. I haven't been having a lot of energy, so we tagged teamed on some chores. He did the cleanup of the kitchen which was minimal thankfully and I did laundry. 

We are now comfortable doing our evening CHILLAXING. I am blogging and he is relaxing. 

Tomorrow, I have some bookkeeping to do for the church, bills to pay for us and some cleaning. I need to do some last minute Easter preparations as well. 

Thanks for popping in!

With Love,

Chrissy T

Hodge Podge Time (Wednesday Hodge Podge)

 Hello friends. I am linking up with From This Side of the Pond for Wednesday Hodge Podge. Check out this awesome host and other link up participants here. 

1. March is rolling on out of here. Sum up your March in ten words or less. 

Different, Up & Down, Slow, Hard, Sickness, some nature moments, challenging

2. Are you afraid of heights? When was the last time you found yourself dealing with a height, and did it make you nervous?

Yes and No. I am uncomfortable of heights and depending on the situation can be afraid. BUT I do challenge myself in these areas that I am not comfortable with. Last year my goal was to Zipline. I was terrified. I did it though!!!

A quick clip of me climbing to the top for my first zipline experience. My husband was filming to send to our kids. LOL!

The last time I had to deal with a fright of heights was climbing up some rocks on a trail hiking. It was sketchy. Made me nervous.

3. What's a word you struggle to spell on a regular basis, and sometimes need to double check before writing it down? Use the word in a sentence that tells us something about your April calendar. 

I will tell you I definitely need to be more intentional about looking at my calendar and adding things to it right when I plan things. 

4. Love 'em or hate 'em, with Easter comes the sweet treat known as Peeps. So... do you love 'em or hate 'em? Speaking of peeps, what's your favorite way to have chicken? 

I do not like peeps at all. They are cute but I do not like to eat them. 

I love chicken in general so to really say I have a favorite way is hard. I do really enjoy sticky chicken! 

5. This week's Hodgepodge lands on the first day of April, which happens to be National Poetry Month. Do you like poetry?  Share a favorite line or two from one of your favorite poems. What makes this one a favorite? 

I am not really a poetry person. I don't dislike it but I really don't read it or anything. There are some great poems I have read over the years in books I was reading, but I simply do not recall a specific one to share. 

6. Insert your own random thought here.  

This always the hardest part for me about Hodge Podge. :) 

I guess I will add that April 1st marks the end of my 90-day YouTube and entertainment fast. I enjoyed it and learned a lot, but I will be honest I am looking forward to watching a few of my favorite homemaking, Bible Study and decorating YouTube channels again. 

Thanks for visiting!! I so appreciate the time you take to visit this little space. Thank you for those that encourage me along the way and leave comments. I appreciate you all.

With Love,

Chrissy T

The Need to Be Gentle with Myself ~ Books, Puzzles, Diamond Art, and Outdoor Time (March Recap)

Hello friends. I wanted to share the books I read in March! I log my books I read on Goodreads. You can follow along with me... look at my sidebar!!! 

Hang to the end and read about how I am shifting some things because I need to for my mind and body.

Here are my March 2026 reads and ratings....

Ratings for each book are 1-5

1- Terrible 

2-I could have spent my time better 

3- Survived the read. Not bad and not great. 

4- Good 

5- AWESOME

Hiking Through: Finding Peace and Freedom on the Appalachian Trail by Paul V. Stutzman ~ Rating 5

I like to read a few books on hiking or nature in the springtime during my hiking season. This was by far the best book I have read on a personal journey on hiking. I loved this book. I started reading it toward the end of February but finished it the first week of March. If you like memoirs, hiking, true and raw honesty of hiking thru stories, and you are a Christian and how that fit in one's life on the trail then you would appreciate this book.

I give more in depth review on Goodreads.

Prayer by Courtney Reissing ~ Rating ~ 5

This was reading for a ministry class I was taking. It was a simple short read with some new refreshing ideas. Great for a person learning how to pray or needing some fresh perspective. I will be using this book as a tool to teach new Christians about prayer. 

Force of Nature: Three Women Tackle The John Muir Trail ~ Rating 3 more like 2!

All I have to say is I gave a very in-depth review on Goodreads. Feel free to check my sidebar for my review or to follow me. THIS book. I just can't even get into all of it again. It is a memoir about a lady and her experience hiking The John Muir Trail with some "friends" and please notice the quotations. I will say that I am so very thankful the author was not my hiking partner. The author comes off snobbish, entitled, and rude to her hiking partners. I felt bad for them. She even wrote so negative in the book about them and in doing so I felt so bad for them because she was truly the issue. It was a hard book to read. I wanted to finish it in hopes she changed. She did a little toward the end of the trail but then became arrogant. It was a real mess. LOL! The book itself was written well just the memoir was sad in the fact it was all about her and not the experience of the trail. Maybe I need to change the rating to 2. LOL!

Murder at the Mousetrap (Bunburry #1) by Helena Marchmont ~ Rating 4

This is a cozy clean murder mystery in the Cotswolds'. If you want a simple, cheesy but cozy and interesting easy murder mystery that is clean and fun to figure out with little twists and surprises this is a good one. I like to read one or two books a month that are just fun, cozy, simple and quick reads. I read a lot of Bible study material and deep books and sometimes it is nice just to have a book to relax and giggle with. 

A Murderous Ride (Bunberry #2) by Helena Marchmont ~ Rating 4

I loved book one so much I read book 2 and now I am currently moving on to book 3. Read the above review for the previous book. This is a part of a series. This series of books build on each book about the main characters lives. 

Looks like I have been averaging to complete 5 books a month. Now, I actually do have more books going on that I am not done reading. 

So, I actually read more but I will not share those books until I am finished. I am currently doing a hefty study on the Book of Isaiah and a Bible Study on Contentment called, Is He Enough? and I am reading through a 90 Day book on Prodigal Prayers. 

In March I completed three puzzles. I enjoyed doing them. I find them helpful in dealing with some anxiety I have been dealing with. It is a nice calm way to close out the day. 

This last puzzle I finished Saturday night and unfortunately, I was cleaning the table off Sunday for lunch and decided to take it apart and forgot to snap the final picture. It was pretty. It was missing a piece. I got it from a free swap, so it happens. :) 

Next up... I did two simple diamond art projects in March

I am still working on my national park coasters. Got two done so far.

Did a diamond art rubber duck. I have a few of these. I am working on them all throughout the year to hide on our planned cruise in November. Yes, for those that do not know... hiding ducks and finding ducks is a big cruise thing. :) It is a lot of clean fun. 

I didn't do anything else really creative this month, but I did get 5 hikes in as you all know. I did take a lot of pretty (to me) nature photos on my hikes, and I did get one kayaking trip in the books. No waterfalls yet though. Sadly! Maybe this month I will. Oh, and I did a swamp boat tour. So, a lot of nature this month. 

Overall, not bad in the hobby department in March. I enjoyed it all. It is a little different. For some this may seem like nothing. Then to some it may seem like a lot. We are all in different seasons. Compared to last year my hiking and waterfall exploring is WAY down. By this point last year, I had hiked a lot more and seen 10 waterfalls. So, the outdoor department is not as much as normal. To be honest, I do not have the energy and THAT is okay. Hiking can be very tiring and elevation gain is not for the faint of heart even mild gain has been hard for me with my energy levels being so low. 

(Image from Pinterest)

I am deciding that this month I will get back to my normal slow paced daily walks to help keep me moving and build my endurance. I simply feel depleted. I still have to move though for my health needs that. I will be starting to share my daily walks occasionally here. I used to post on FB (I NO LONGER do FB) my daily steps and walks. It held me accountable. I walked 180 straight days. Never missed a day no matter rain, snow, ice, or heat. It was very rewarding. 

(Image from Pinterest)

I am not going to be doing anything like that because right now without going into too much personal detail.... I NEED GENTLE!!! I need to be gentle on my body and mind.

(Image from Pinterest)

I am going to embrace this need for GENTLE and go with it. So, I may or may not be climbing rocks and chasing waterfalls. I may or may not be doing hard or long trails this month. I may just walk some nature center paths and find slower easier trails or nice parks. I may sight see waterfalls besides using ropes to climb down to them. I am just going to embrace this season. It isn't easy. I may be reading more about nature and doing puzzles with waterfalls then exploring in person. It will be okay. With the Lord's guiding I will rebuild my strength. :) 

Thanks for stopping by!

Until Next, 

Chrissy T