Monday Pantry Challenge ~ Clouds

 Hello everyone. Today I am sharing my items for Mrs. Patsi's $5 dollar pantry challenge on Mondays. Please check out the information here if you are interested and how this challenge works.

We are to spend $5 on items that we ACTUALLY use and would like to stock up on.  The cost should be no more than $5 (not including tax) AND it should be separate purchases from our main grocery hauls. These purchases are to be intentional in stocking your pantry and separate from your weekly meal plan. Also, they cannot be items from your personal garden. It has to be things you actually purchase. 

I am looking ahead to fall for my stock up purchases. So, I am looking for items we use a lot in the fall/winter months. 

I chose to grab cream soups because in the fall I make a lot of recipes and dishes that call for cream of soups. I like to keep them on hand for the fall and upcoming holidays. I understand a lot may not like using them, but it works for our family. I got them for 1.00 each. I could have gotten them for .89 each for the regular cream of soups, but I like to use lower sodium or less fat ones which cost a little more. These are still less than the name brands and taste similar. 

Today's theme for the photo challenge is CLOUDS. To be honest, we had very little clouds in our sky today. We have all blue skies mainly and 100 weather and a SEVERE HEAT ADVISORY WARNING. I did capture these though on my morning walk.

We are almost complete with photo challenge! Thank you for those that have joined in so far. I have been having a hard time blogging and reading all the blogs I follow but I am trying to keep up. I just may not make it daily as I usually do. BUT please know I will stop by your blogs!!! :) 

I am still having major updating issues with blogs. Most of the blogs I read are not updating still in my reading list. So, I have to be so intentional to check. I can name about 10 blogs that do not update. It is a tad frustrating. I hate missing posts and I am sorry if I haven't popped by in a bit. I am going to try to better about checking blogs even if I do not see updates of new posts. 

Blessings, 

Chrissy T

It's Just a Southern Thing ~ No Photo for Photo Challenge

Hello friends! I thought I would do something fun & different today. As many of you know I am from the south (Mississippi, USA) I was born in Alabama and I have lived in various southern states in my childhood from Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and spent many summers from May to September in Texas and north Floridia/Georgia area. As most know we have our own language a lot of times. I do know when to be elegant and speak proper (y'all my mama and granny taught me right) and I do not use much of my "southern slang" on my blog. BUT.... you can bet your bottom dollar I do use slang and sound every bit as southern strong accented as expected. In person I will say very strange sayings, most words that end in "G" I leave that letter off and I end at the "N"... Y'all, it is just the way! 😆 And yes..... I say Y'all all the time.... daily, weekly, and I catch myself a lot of times trying not to greet you all on my blog with it. 

This is a TRUE FACT! We do not just say goodbye to people. Saying goodbye is a process in my family. We will stand in the yard and wave and talk more and shout goodbyes and then when the car windows roll down, we still wave and yell bye until they are almost down the road AND then we will call them a few minutes later to check in. SERIOUSLY! This is the way! You should see my family at any holiday gathering. It is hilarious. We have seen others doing the same thing in the neighborhood. I will say it is not as common as it was growing up though nowadays. FOR US IT STILL IS!

While I do not treat football as a religion nor do I super care for it this list above is hands down accurate. 

My granny said these things, my mama says these things and sure enough I do still to this day. When I lived in Illinois for 15 years people would say to me all the time, "you sure have your own language." I giggle now thinking about it. They probably did think I was strange. HAHA! Oh, well. My kids thought it was weird growing up because nobody else in Illinois sounded or said these sayings but then when we moved back to the south and they were around family they realized how deeply ingrained it is and now some things they say. EXCEPT for our oldest. HE IS TRULY midwestern sounding and lived the longest there and he still looks at me strange when I say things. LOL!

AND yes..... I have heard almost all of these sayings and say some myself. All except the last two! LOL!

I am not doing the photo challenge theme today because it did not interest me to be honest it was 9 o'clock. Yeah, skip! Tomorrow is cloud so I will jump back in tomorrow. AGAIN, I did not create that list. Although, the one that I will put out for September I did create. 

Before we wrap up this different and strange post 😆 I want to do this fun thing below!! 

First row- I got a 10 (Yes, I have had frog legs)

Second row- I got a 9

Third row- I got 8

Total- 27 so I am Sho'nuff Southern! 😆

Have a super day!!

Chrissy T

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