Weekly Ramble 8/24/24

I love fall and winter, but I’m not quite ready to say goodbye to summer. Apparently, the grocery store has different ideas.

I saw this display a couple weeks ago. Pumpkin Spice is still going strong after all these years. Wow!

Is it about the pumpkin? The spice? Or both combined? Because people have very different opinions on this.

To be honest, the PSL has never been my favorite. I’m a Salted Caramel girl.

When I heard Starbucks changed the original PSL formula (which I did not like), I gave it another shot. In fact, last fall, I tried all the different PS combinations. I tried that Apple Oat thing, too.

Still not a fan.

But, that doesn’t mean I don’t like pumpkin and spice. I do! I’m just waiting to make homemade pumpkin recipes, and I’m waiting for September to arrive to do it.

This weekend we are celebrating FishBaby’s 16th birthday. Remember when she was born? A lot has happened in the last 16 years.

Today she celebrated with friends with a homemade tea party. She made Lemon Scones, chocolate cupcakes, and homemade eclairs in addition to tea sandwiches of egg salad, ABJ, and Cranberry Chicken Salad. We made a pot of Yorkshire Gold and a double pitcher of Lemonade.

Fun fact: did you know when we were in England I got all kinds of funny looks when I’d ask for “a pitcher of water” to be brought to our table. Apparently, pitcher is an archaic word, probably a holdover from colonial days?

If you’re in the UK, ask for a jug of water. lol

Anyway, the party was lots of fun and the girls practically inhaled the food!

I guess we’re on a roll with this hospitality thing. I’m already making plans for an Advent Tea Party.

My plan is to serve high tea, but also do a type of “swap” where everyone brings 25 packets of tea so we can each create a Tea Advent Calendar for the season.

(Due to our girl’s nut allergies, I’m not into cookie swaps at all, so this sounds like a fun alternative!)

You know how I like to plan Christmas in advance! This year due to the way the calendar hits, this kind of thing has to be done in November so that you can give the Tea Advent Calendar away during Thanksgiving weekend… if you’re making it as a gift.

Currently, I’m figuring out how to set up the whole thing and reserve the date as I know the weekends fill up quickly. We have tons of birthdays in November, too. Plus Game Night, so it will be tight.

Want to host a tea party, too? Here are some of my favorite things!

I bought the tea tiers I have a few years ago from Target’s Dollar Spot. I think they were $5 each and we used them for FisherMan27’s informal wedding reception at our house.

I’ve more than gotten my $10-worth out of them. I use them to serve muffins at church each month and the girls have had lots of tea parties for their birthdays. And now I’ve got a Holiday Tea in the works. Cheers!

In other news, the weather has been all over the place. Some mornings we get a clear sunrise; other mornings we don’t.

Last week I had to forbid one child from setting an alarm. Who does that? I realized she was on a sleep deficit, getting up way too early for summer vacation, so for the last week of her summer break, she had to stay in bed until I told her she could get out.

Pretty funny, huh?

This coming week all the kids go back to school so we’ll be working out my theoretical plans over the coming days.

Two more back-to-school weeks and then my homeschool career is over. That went faster than I expected.

Anywho…. here are five things I’m enjoying these days.

Five Favorite Things

Worship for Workers Album

Bryan sent me this album a few weeks ago and I am loving it! “The Breastplate of Saint Patrick” has a funny line that we laugh over, but my favorite song by far is Your Work is Happening Here.

It is a mom song to have on repeat. Listen to it!

We’re listening to this album via our Spotify subscription, but you can find Worship for Workers on Amazon as well.

Heavy Duty Magnets

Have you ever wanted to hang heavier things up on hooks? These heavy duty magnet hooks are so awesome.

If your front door is a metal fire door, you can use the magnets to hold wreaths; they’re that strong! I currently have several on the fridge to hold drying mats and aprons.

Meal Prep Salads

Having a stack of Meal Prep Salads is saving my bacon these days. It’s just enough prep to get me going for an easy lunch.

Lately, I’m shaking on garbanzo beans, gorgonzola, hard cooked egg, and chicken. A drizzle of oil and vinegar and I’m good to go. I don’t ever get tired of this!

More Cheap Eggs

Egg prices have started to get sketchy again. Thankfully, I found another clearance deal. This time they were fancy pants eggs marked down to $2.49.

I have no idea if carbon neutral matters in the big scheme of things, but they are eggs.

ALDI was charging almost $4 for their cheapo eggs, so this was a deal. Seeing as my kids “go all Gaston” (eating four dozen eggs at a sitting), I’m thankful to keep this as a cheap protein.

Cheap Date Nights

Carrying on with the increased frugality I mentioned last week, Bryan and I are making efforts to keep costs low while still having a weekly date night.

This week we grabbed a couple burgers, water cups, and fries to split and headed to a beach. We ate with this gorgeous view and walked along the shore. Just as much fun as something else, but only $13.25. Booyah!

2 burgers and 1 fry for $13.25 still sounds like a lot. Ugh!

Don’t Miss the Back to School Sale

This sale ends Monday. Check it out here.

And I’d love it if you’d share it with friends, too. Thank you!