A New Path ~ First Date Night Outing ~ Menu for Next Week ~ Far Away Photo for Photo Challenge

Hello everyone! Happy Saturday~ or whatever day this finds you! Let's start with last night! I got to go out and have dinner with my husband for the first time in 5 weeks. Woohooo!!! We went to a pizza place which we usually order from and pick up and take home but we decided to go inside. We had a children spaghetti each and these cheesy bread sticks. It was nice to get out. We laughed and enjoyed ourselves. It has been some stressful months for us both. It was a nice time. We then went driving around in some neighborhoods we are interested in looking into for possible future relocation. We aren't in any rush! Like years if it is the Lord's will or not at all if that His will as well. We do like our house but we have some personal safety concerns as our neighborhood has been changing after Covid and we have seen some saddening things. This is a topic for another time. Back to the date night.

We did not realize that our kid spaghettis came with a large piece of garlic bread so we only ate about one of these and took the rest home for lunch today. It was good and I will have yummy lunch later. 

On our drive we saw this beautiful shady small walking path and while I would not go to this regularly, I decided to go visit it today for a short walk and to take my daily photo for the photo challenge.

It was ABSOLUTELY refreshing to walk a different easy shaded path and listen to this incredible fountain going. 

My photo for the day... The Theme today is FAR AWAY! 

Oh, how nice this little path is!!!! It was everything this nature lover needed today! It was a Mood Boost for sure!!!

Here are some more photos of my walk. I "strolled" about 15 minutes.

I love birdhouses!!! I have some put haven't gotten around to put them up! Must do when I am better. 

 I love cypress trees! They are just so wonderful to me. I enjoy going on boardwalks down in our area because they are surrounded by cypress trees and they never cease to amaze me. 

In other news.... I am back to cooking more. Last week's menu went as planned and it was so nice to have simple and good homecooked meals again. We were tired of sandwiches, take out and frozen meals as I have been recovering. I am super grateful for it all, but I am glad there is a little more normalcy with our meals. 

Derrick (the hubby) still has to shop, unload and put things up all by himself or if one of the guys is home they help. I am still not able to lift over 10 pounds. I do help put away simple things. In the normal routine of my life, I do this all by myself always and usually Mondays, but that doesn't work for my husband with his schedule. He has to shop on Saturdays, and it is so busy and he also does elderly visits and outreach on Saturdays. So, I decided to utilize delivery or pick up the last two weeks. Delivery has been a terrible experience. We never get all of our items and they don't take time to find substitutions so if I need an ingredient for a meal and they don't bring then it is a hot mess. 

So, today we are trying grocery pick up. We do not do this ever because to be honest I like picking my own food out and I like interacting with people. I just know this route will be easier on my husband. He has been doing all the shopping but now that I am cooking actual meals it gets a little more complicated then just picking up basics. 

So, I have been planning my menu for the following week on Fridays and then place the order to be delivered (now we are trying pick up) and ready on Saturdays. Here is this coming week menu...

I am going to wrap this post up... but before I go, I finished my nostalgic Strawberry Shortcake and Friends puzzle!

It turned out so cute! So, far I have done four puzzles since May. I have one more summer puzzle that I will start today. After that I will be putting the puzzle board up until the Fall. I don't like to overdo it because I get bored with them and stop for long periods. So, when I sense I am heading that way I take a break. 

I hope you all have a great weekend!

With Love, 

Chrissy

Close Up ~ Daily Photo Challenge

 Hello everyone! Today's daily photo theme is Close Up. I popped outside this afternoon to capture a close up photo of these blooms in our yard. 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!  No plans here really but staying cool. I will be doing the usual "piddling" such as working on my puzzle, reading and recovering. I go to the doctor Tuesday for my post-op check.  I am dreading the "checkup" part but I am also excited to hopefully have good news and feel a little more comfortable doing certain activities and getting out more. We will see what she says. 

I do plan to go pick up my $5 pantry items for the pantry challenge hosted by Patsi at A Working Pantry to share this coming Monday. 

Blessings, 

Chrissy T

Mississippi Pot Roast ~ An Ordinary Not So Ordinary Moment Photo Challenge~ Christmas in July

Hello my friends. Today's daily photo challenge theme is AN ORDINARY MOMENT. 

I am sharing an ordinary moment of me getting our dinner (supper) going early this morning. I have been using my crockpot this week a lot!! It has been super helpful during recovery and due to the HEAT advisory we have going on. 

Mississippi Pot Roast, rice, green beans and cornbread is on the menu tonight. I love Mississippi Pot Roast not just because I live in Mississippi but because it is MELT IN YOUR MOUTH amazing. I have been cooking this for years. Here is a recipe link if you would like to try it. 

It was just an ORDINARY MOMENT in my kitchen preparing a meal for our family. What made it not so ordinary is the fact that I decided to help future self and go ahead and cook two roasts at once and freeze the other cooked and ready for a future meal. I buy our roast in bulk at Costco because they are the best cut of roast in our area for the price. I can get two nice roasts (one is a tad smaller) for the price of ONE roast at Walmart or Kroger. I made the bigger one for tonight and then fixed up the smaller one in a different crockpot to shred after cooking. I will make roast beef dip sandwiches next week. 

So, one crock pot has Mississippi Pot Roast going and the other has similar ingredients, but I omitted the ranch packet, added a Lipton onion pack and used sliced banana peppers besides pepperoncini which is what the other roast has.

Future Chrissy will be so happy for this prepared roast next week!!!

Speaking of July.... I went and visited the library yesterday!!! Second outing this week!!! Woohoo!! I am getting out and about a little folks. HAH! I parked really close to the door, but I promise the closer I got to the door the further it seemed to be. I also forgot how heavy the library doors are and it actually hurt one of my incisions when I pulled on it. ALL IS WELL though! It was just a good eye opener to take things slow and be more mindful.

I decided to do something I have never done! I normally don't participate or think about anything related to Christmas in July! But I have been hearing and reading a lot of people doing things related to it. Yes, I know the true meaning is all about Jesus! Praise the Lord! I am thankful for Him. I also think it is a little fun to maybe it is a fun way to not think so much about this HOT SCORCHING month. So, I decided to get a short Christmas read from one of my favorite authors. If I like it, who knows, I may start a tradition of reading a Christmas book in July. 

This week I made some more thank you cards to those that have brought me some goodies recently. I have really enjoyed hand coloring them and making the wax seals for the envelopes. 

Speaking of Christmas my Merry Christmas wax seal stamp came this week. YAY! I order mine in July because the company I use always does a Wax Seal Christmas workshop and sales in July. If you are interested in the company I use and classes I take on occasion, check out B Goods Lettering. I am not an affiliate or anything like that. I just like her products and workshops. Some are free on YouTube if you check out her channel. She also does hand lettering workshops as well as sells items for that.

The yellow wax sticks are for my summer sunflower stamp that I use this time of year. These are for the glue gun method. 

I have been still walking and getting my steps in slowly but surely. I may end up resorting to the gym's indoor walking track once I am released completely to keep cooler soon. Next week our highs are predicted to be 105, 113, 102 for three days. So, I do not think I will be able to walk in that or at least not the noon time walk.

I aim for 8,000 to 10,000 when my health is prime but right now my goal is 4,000 a day. I kind of went over one day! I felt it the next day!

I made these delicious oven baked taco's this past Tuesday. This picture was before I put them in the oven to bake. My family loves the hard shells baked like this or soft tacos. Next Tuesday, I am trying a new recipe I saw on She's in Her Apron YouTube channel. It is a Queso Chicken Rice Bake. It looks frugal, cheap and easy. The video is below and the recipe is at some point in the video. The video shared a lot of good storage tips for produce as well.

I hope you all have a good rest of your day! I am off to read while I am smelling that delicious roast cook away!!

With Love, 

Chrissy T

To Scrapbook or Not?! ~ Photo of the Day Challenge~ Tree

Hello everyone. The July Photo of the Day Challenge theme is TREE. I took this photo of my neighbor's tree today on my walk because it is just so beautiful. I love her crepe myrtles.  It was HOT!!! My walks are getting a little harder to do in the heat, but I am forging on! 

We have a few different varieties of Crepes in our yard as well. Normally, the one below (our tree) is so beautiful, but the heat has really hit it. My neighbor's tree is a different variety and its 25 years old. Mine is three years old. 

I got this tree for free from our city that did a plant a tree campaign. It was a little offshoot on a stick. I was like how will this grow into anything, but it did!!!

Of course, I am going to share a throwback of this mighty tree in Arkansas that my mom and I went to see during our camping and hiking trip last year (May 2025)

This is an Arkansas Champion Winner. Each year trees are nominated. 

Southern Catalpa

It is located in Hempstead County by the Historic Washington State Park in Arkansas. It is so massive. I wish I could have captured the massiveness of this tree on my phone camera. 

As always here are some my favorite quotes I have recently saved tree or nature related! As you know I am a lover of Forest, Trees, and all things Nature. All from Pinterest. 

SO.... as the title stated.... I finally got all my pictures cleaned off my phone and all of them organized in my digital storage so I can easily access them by month and year. 

I did a huge overhaul of my photos in 2023. I have kept up with weeding out my phone and uploading them to my digital storage yearly since. I decided to c

lean up the digital storage and organize it better. This was a good project to work on while I have been recovering and sitting a lot. 

NOW....I am in the process of trying to decide if I want to go back to scrapbooking. 

I stopped scrapbooking in 2017 and started photo books from my digital storage I use (Amazon Photos)  and just printed photo books off. I did this until 2023. It was easier and more simple for me at the time as a homeschool mama and pastor's wife. Now, I have a little more time AND while the photo books are nice the quality isn't always the best. I could just print the pictures I suppose and store them, but I really want to have pictures and our memories a little more enjoyed and accessible. If not, why take pictures, right?

The thing is it feels overwhelming as to where to start. Do I want to go back to 2024 and start and pick some of our favorites and scrapbook? Do I want to just do special holidays and occasions? Trips? Do I want to just start with this current year? Hmmm!

Also, as an avid hiker and explorer as well as we take a cruise or vacation once a year, we have soooo many awesome pictures that I want to showcase. I visit state and national parks a lot, so I am thinking of maybe just doing an explorer scrapbook of the trips. 

Do you scrapbook, or print and put in albums,  or just store them on digitally or just simply do not care? LOL!

I guess I wonder if something happens to me will my kids be able to access any of my storage stuff online to see all these great memories and pictures? So, I am thinking of ways to go about making them available and more accessible. 

I also do not want overcomplicated or expensive. I did look into digital scrapbooking, and I am just to hands on for that. I also do not like clutter and tons of supplies. Sigh.... I am still debating. 

Anyhoo.... until next time....

Chrissy T

A Little Check In ~ Daily Photo Challenge ~ Red

 Hello everyone! Today's Daily Photo Challenge theme is RED. So, I thought I would snap a selfie of myself on my walk this morning with my "RED" hair or not as much as it used to be RED hair. It has lightened up tremendously once I hit mid 40's. Oh, well it is still RED. When I was younger it was a deep dark auburn. I do not color my hair so it is natural. Some may say it is orange but I detest that. 😆 

It was VERY HOT where we are and I think it is that way all over! We have a heat advisory. Nonetheless, I have gotten THREE 10-15 minute walks a day for the past week. I usually do 10 right after breakfast, 10 after lunch and 10-15 after I eat dinner (supper) Here is my selfie sporting my RED hair!

Here is one without the sunglasses. I have people say all the time they do not hardly ever see me without sunglass. Sunglasses are staple for me like a toe is to a foot. 😏

This was taken early this morning after breakfast. I have really enjoyed this flow of walking and it helps me break it up in this heat as well as not push too much during my recovery. It gives me something to look forward to and has structured my LONG days.

Not sure this is completely true as I have some white gray hairs! HAHA! But my grandmothers (both of them had red hair) didn't not turn completely gray. It was more like strawberry blondish orange like. 

That is all I have for today! I am making Tacos for dinner. Simple and easy! I have been reading a lot. I have read almost all the books on my Summer to be Read List I shared. You can check that out here.  I have about three books left and I am currently reading 2 of those. I have also read several in between that that are not on the list. I either came across them and felt led to read those or was given some as a gift this summer. I have been having fun reading a lot of animal character books. It is very different from my normal readings, but it has brought some whimsy and fun! 

I will leave you with this! Of course, it was found on Pinterest. 

With Love,

Chrissy T

Breaking Free ~ Colorful Photo Challenge ~ Slow Cooker Angel Chicken

Hello everyone. Today I was able to venture out for a short HOT minute. This was the first time I have driven in 28 days, I was a tad nervous but I did it! I took my special pillow to wear under my seat belt so it didn't aggravate my incision but I was able to actually remove it and all was fine! I felt like Mrs. Claus driving with that pillow and it was quite silly and uncomfortable. I didn't plan to drive but I was making a recipe and had everything out and preparing it only to discover that my main ingredient was actually not delivered. I didn't realize that because my hubby put the groceries away. 

Anyway, I made it and it felt nice to get out. I drove about 5 minutes away through a neighborhood to a Dollar General where it was easy to get in and out. I was glad they had my ingredient. 

Speaking of the recipe this is the first time trying this recipe. I chose three simple meals to make this week to get back into the swing of cooking. 

Tonight is Slow-Cooker Angel Chicken. Here is the recipe. 

I will serve this with green beans and garlic bread. I am making Tacos tomorrow and Roast & Scalloped Potatoes Thursday. In between those meals we will do leftovers or sandwiches which we enjoy in the HOT summer months. 

Speaking of HOT it is HOT!!!!! It is currently 94 degrees. No clouds and no wind. JUST HOT! 🌞

The daily photo challenge is COLORFUL, and I am excited to share my summer puzzle I completed yesterday! I rushed it because I want to do my new puzzle. Check out yesterday's post to see what FUN NOSTALIGIC puzzle I am excited about.

Since my puzzle is COLORFUL I thought it would be great to share today for the theme.

It was a simple puzzle truly. I did it in two days. I needed something simple and easy. It is super cute. I enjoyed putting this one together!!!

Just in case you missed yesterday's post I shared this..... I am excited to announce that I have created a September Photo Challenge. I have it all planned out and designed. I will be sharing that it in Mid-August if you would like to participate. 

I hope you all have a super rest of your day!!

With Love, 

Chrissy T

Double Surprises ~ Nostalgic Fun ~ Black & White Photo Challenge

Happy Sunday! I hope everyone has had a good weekend. Well, I was BLESSED yesterday (Saturday)! Not ONCE but TWICE I had two friends pop by at different times to deliver me treats! I had no expectations of either. 

First, I had a friend text me a picture of her homemade rolls that she made for the first time and said some were heading my way!! Within a few minutes she was at my door with warm rolls and honey cinnamon butter. Oh, and DELICIOUS THEY WERE!!!  

Then hours later around 7:30 p.m. I had a friend text me and said she was sorry it was late, but she made me a Pineapple Side Down Cake and wanted to drop it by! I was like... ABSOLUTELY. It was so good. 

Neither of these friends are connected. I knew this was a truly a blessing from above. A little hug sent by the Lord using two wonderful ladies to shower love on me. I haven't seen anyone other than my family since the first week of surgery. In other words, in almost 22 days, I have seen no other person than my hubby and kids.  I am thankful for both of them thinking of me and for a hug from both. Now, my waistline may not be feel so blessed! :) Kidding!

Welllll.... I did a thing! HAHA! I came across this puzzle on Pinterest, and I literally knew that I had to have this puzzle. I grew up in the era of Strawberry Shortcake. My entire room was decorated, had clothes with her on it, books, toys, dolls and owned every single VHS tape known to man that was related to her. I have this huge love for this era. Call it Nostalgic Fun but nothing can beat this puzzle! I knew I had to do it. Childish as it may seem...... I like to stay young at heart!! I am currently working on a puzzle but as soon as it is done (which will be soon because I am excited to do this puzzle) I will be working on this!

On to the Daily Photo Challenge! Today's theme is BLACK & WHITE. I chose to share a beautiful special piece of wall art and a little decor piece I have. 

First, I want to share this wall art that was given to me by our oldest son on Mother's Day 2018 and also it was the day before he was also going to graduate. This was one of the sweetest gifts he had ever given me. He isn't really a sentimental person nor a big gift giver so when he wrapped it and gave it to me it was such a sweet moment and touched my heart so much!

It hangs in my bedroom and I see it daily! I will be honest I often need to look at this as a reminder how they truly feel about me. I am thankful for this gift!!

Then this past spring our daughter surprised me with this cute home decor. I used to sing this song to her for bedtime all the way until she was a teen. I often send her the saying by text at times. 

There ya go! There are my Black & White photos for the day! I am excited to announce that I have created a September Photo Challenge. I have it all planned out and designed. I will be sharing that it in Mid-August if you would like to participate. 

Until next time,

Chrissy T