Husky life

More Gardening and Five Things I’m Loving

Happy Friday! Do you have any fun plans for the weekend? We’re going to my mother-in-law’s to celebrate my sister-in-law’s birthday. I’m baking strawberry cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting for the occasion and I’m pretty pumped 🙂

Sadie and I did more gardening yesterday. The squash are really coming in–a few each day–and we also picked a cucumber. The cucumbers don’t seem to like the heat this year, but they’re still growing! 

Yellow squash, zucchini, and cucumber from vegetable garden

I also cooked a batch of baby potatoes with Niva keeping a very watchful eye on the whole process.

The potatoes are really simple to make: coat baby potatoes in olive oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and your choice of spices and bake on a cookie sheet at 400 degrees until fork-tender. 

Baked baby potatoes with a husky watching

In the evening, Jimmy had to run an errand for work, and Sadie and I needed to get cupcake liners, so we parted ways and each got our stuff done. 

Sadie and I got drenched in a thunderstorm on our way out of Walmart and it was kind of fun 🙂

Toddler soaked from rain in a thunderstorm

She was well behaved in Walmart and I was tempted to buy her a little toy or a balloon (her fave!), but I’ve been trying to give her my attention more than anything. 

Instead of giving her a toy, a snack, or turning on the TV when she’s whining or pulling on my leg, I try to give her me instead. Because what’s more important–what I think I “need” to get done now, or being present with the child God has blessed me with? I think I know the answer to that. It’s much easier said than done, though. 

Alright, onto five things I’m loving at the moment:

  1. Butterscotch candies. For some reason, I had been dreaming of having butterscotch candies all week and I finally picked some up last night while Sadie and I were out and they totally hit the spot. 
  2. Sermon Notes Journal. Now that we’re back to church, I’m back to taking notes in my sermon notes journal and loving it. It’s a great tool for reviewing sermons, lessons, notes, scriptures, etc.
  3. Scrapbooking. I finished up the scrapbook pages I made from our camping trip, and now I’m moving on to photos from the Fourth of July.
  4. Honey cinnamon peanut butter. Enough said, right? I’ve seriously considered making a blog solely dedicated to peanut butter reviews. I feel like I would be the only reader, haha.
  5. Passing down clothes. Whenever Sadie grows out of clothing, I pass it down to my sister’s daughter, Caroline, and I love seeing her wear the outfits I have so many memories of Sadie wearing. So special ❤

Do you like butterscotch-flavored things?

What are you up to this weekend?

Cleaning Mode and Almost X-Rays

After Niva’s brownie mix eating antics, I went into cleaning mode. The couch cushions were deep cleaned with this amazing machine, the floors were scrubbed, bedding was washed, windows wiped, and laundry done. 

Siberian Husky in living room

During my cleaning spree, Niva jumped off our bed and pretty much ran Sadie over at full speed. I heard a loud thud and then a cry. Poor Sadie was bleeding from her nose and mouth and pretty upset at being knocked down. 

She took a nap soon after and woke up looking swollen, black and blue, and downright puffy. I called our pediatrician’s office, and the nurse said the doctor might want to have x-rays taken of Sadie’s nose but would call me back with a sure answer after she talked with the doctor. 

I was supposed to head out for a work meeting, but wasn’t sure if we were going to need to take Sadie to the doctor’s office or somewhere for x-rays, so I stayed home. After about an hour, the nurse called and told me to keep an eye on her to see if the swelling increased or if she was having trouble breathing through her nose. If anything gets worse, they will want to have x-rays performed, but for now we’re just going to monitor her. 

Whew. It was just one of those days with one thing after another. After the cleanup and nose incident, Jimmy realized I washed his AirPods that were in his shorts pockets. Then Malcolm puked on the table while we were eating dinner. Then Niva knocked Sadie over again.

When hard days happen, I do a few things to try and get through them:

  • Pray. For patience, a better attitude, contentment, thankfulness etc. 
  • Talk to someone. For me, this is usually my sister, mom, Jimmy, or someone from our church.
  • Get outside. Something about fresh air always helps my attitude.
  • Reflect on what I’m thankful for. Shifting my focus from what’s hard to what is good is a game changer. 
  • Spend time in God’s Word. Often, I can look back on hard days and realize I hadn’t spent enough time in my Bible that day.
  • Laugh. Sometimes you just have to laugh at the craziness and remember it’s not forever. 

Something that made my day yesterday was a surprise package from my mom! She sent me this shirt and it came at just the right time. Thanks mom! You are the very best 🙂

Faith racerback tank top from Amazon

It’s a new day and Sadie woke up looking less swollen. Niva only ate a box of tissues in the night instead of a box of brownie mix, and I haven’t washed any electronics. I think it’s going to be a good day 🙂

What helps you on hard days?