Hello friends! I hope you are all hangin’ in there out there!
What a crazy world we’re livin’ in right now, eh? 2020 has been such a surreal year for all of us. Sometimes I take a step back and look at it all and I really can’t believe all that has transpired this year!
It’s quite heavy and sobering, but I also see it as insightful and inspiring as well. I have learned so much and I know I am a better and stronger person today than I was last year. I’ve actually been very grateful for the experiences I’ve had and all that I have learned.
I will say that one of the biggest things I’ve learned this year is gratitude. I feel so grateful for so many things; many of those things I used to take for granted. I appreciate all of the “little things” so much more and life feels so much richer somehow. I’m so grateful for that.
I also have a very strong faith in God and I feel so much peace as I’m reminded that He is in charge and He is teaching all of us so much right now. I’m trying really hard to open my heart and my eyes to see it and to learn from it all.
I’m always trying to focus on acceptance, gratitude, peace, love and all of the good in everything!
Well, I wasn’t even planning on talking about all of that today! It just came to my mind and I thought I would share.
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I was actually just going to share our Halloween pictures, lol.
I’m so grateful I still have some little kids! I love holidays, I love Halloween and I love Trick-or-Treating! One of the many things I love about having kids is that I can relive my childhood once again through them. I love it! I plan to do it again and again with all of my grandkids one day too!
This year, I told the kids I wasn’t going to buy any new costumes. We just opened up our boxes of costumes that we already had and got creative! I LOVE that my 10 year old came up with a random afro, mustache, gold chain costume thang. If you knew his sweet, innocent, shy personality you would find even more humor in his costume choice!
My 12 year old’s friend came Trick-or-Treating with us as well and we all had a wonderful time! I was just so grateful that people were still doing Trick-or-Treating! I worried that it would be cancelled, but I was so happy when it wasn’t. Yay!
It was actually quite soothing and healing to my soul to be out Trick-or-Treating. There were so many people who were just sitting out in front of their houses passing out treats. Many came up with creative ways to pass candy to kids with minimal or no contact.
It just felt so good to see the efforts of people and the strength of the community and it just felt good to be AMONG people! I found myself talking to so many strangers (6 feet apart) because I so miss just communicating and connecting with people! The weather was also perfect and it was just wonderful to feel somewhat normal for a moment.
When the kids got home, they sorted all of their candy….
I think they got even more candy this year! One of my favorite memories as a kid was coming home after Trick-or-Treating and sorting my candy. I love seeing my kiddos doing that.
They also made a pile of candy that they donated to Kev and I; all of the things they didn’t like. There were a lot of Snickers, Almond Joys, peanut M&Ms and Baby Ruths. YUM!
We had a fun Halloween and I hope you all did as well!
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I thought I’d also share a yummy, healthy dinner that I made the other night that we all enjoyed! I made some Chicken Lo Mein from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe. It was very good and quite easy to make!
I put the chicken in the marinade before I went to the gym and then when I got home, I threw the rest of it together!
It tasted really good, was mostly healthy (you could find another alternative to spaghetti noodles if you wanted to!) and most of my kids liked it. Even my pickiest eater ate some of it.
Kev and I actually enjoyed it even more leftover the next day. I think it allowed the flavors to combine more and it was so yummy and flavorful!
There are so many good recipes on Mel’s Kitchen Cafe. I love her site!
Oh and here’s a pic I snapped after my workout at the gym that night….
I’m really grateful I can go to the gym right now! There really aren’t too many places I go right now! I pretty much go to Walmart, Costco, the gym, church and my mom’s house. That’s about it!
I felt sick for several weeks last month; I was just run down and had very little energy. I felt like I had a bad cold. FYI, I tested for COVID twice and had the antibody test done and I was always negative. You can read a little more about the COVID experience in our home in this post if you care too!
I didn’t go to the gym for about a month and I missed it! The gym has been a wonderful place for me to check out from the world, get the blood pumpin’, get the good endorphins flowing and to feel refreshed and uplifted.
I’m grateful for my instructors and I’m grateful for an able body that can exercise!
In fact, I have a new instructor that I love! I’ve only gone to her class two times and she is such an inspiring lady. She is recovering from breast cancer. I don’t think it’s been too long ago since she had it and I’m so inspired by her attitude and bright spirit. She still has very short hair and told us she had a hysterotomy about 6 weeks ago.
She is an amazing lady and is so inspiring to me! She has such an upbeat, kind spirit about her and I feel strengthened just being around her. I’m grateful for good, strong, kind-hearted people!
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I will also share a picture from our Sunday dinner this past week. That’s one thing we’ve been doing more of this year is having a big Sunday dinner. I’ve loved it.
We decided to make a big breakfast for dinner this week and it was wonderful!
Our son’s girlfriend joined us for dinner and it was fun to have her with us!
I didn’t take good pictures of the food, dang it, but Kev made the pancakes. BTW, they are the best pancakes ever! It’s Kev’s mom’s recipe and it really is gold! It’s one of the most popular recipes on my blog, ha ha!
Kev is a better pancake maker than me so he made them! He also smoked some bacon and sausage on the smoker. I made the eggs and cheered him on, lol. 🙂
It was a wonderful dinner with wonderful people!
Well that’s the latest and greatest around here. I hope you are all well and I hope you are all happy! There is so much to be grateful for!!!
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