Howdy

I’m sitting outside typing this. I woke up freezing and put on my BUTTER sweatshirt. Now, it’s the afternoon, and it’s 72F (which is 22C), and I’m sweatin’ out here in the sun. Anyway, I’ve got a lot of goodies to share this week, so let’s get into it!

Now that our add-on is DONE (more on that in a minute), we’re moving on to our next project: THE PATIO. Or maybe it’s a porch. There’s a difference between a porch and a patio - A patio is usually separate from the house; a porch is attached. A patio is usually uncovered; a porch is covered. Ours is attached AND uncovered.

Anyway, our deck area was probably built in 1999 (Cam used to live here, and that’s his best guess) - the wood is warped and dirty. If you walk around barefoot, your feet turn black! 🥴And a lot of the pieces are just bent and wonky. So, we’re going to rip up the current deck pieces and build a new deck with a slightly different design. I’ll keep ya posted!

The Add-on

I really wish I were great at taking real estate photos so I could take some pretty photos of all the finished spaces. You know what I’ll do? We need to set up the new bathroom - the shower curtain we got is too short. And we need to add some goodies to the shelves. Once those things are done, I’ll pretty up the rooms and take some pretty pictures to share in the next newsletter!

But yea, they fixed the toilet and the exposed wire outside and all the little mistakes. There are a few things they didn’t fix, but we can do them ourselves, and honestly, I’m just mentally DONE. The little spot of white on Annabelle’s wall that needs to be painted pink? I can do that myself. I just want these fellas out of my house forever, you know what I mean?

A few things I need help with! We now have a laundry room. It’s more like a closet. We stacked the washer and dryer, and there are some shelves for towels and things. The only problem is that it’s on the opposite side of the house from the kitchen area (where the laundry used to be). I want to put a tiny little shelf or trash can FOR LINT. Any ideas on how to make that not look dumb? I also want to put in some tiny little baby shelves next to the machines so we can put laundry detergent and … other stuff there. Here’s a picture of what I want that to look like:

Now that the laundry is moved, our entry needs fixin’ up! I need to put a little laundry basket in there for kitchen towels, mostly. And that room basically serves as a mud room, garage, attic, etc. It has swimming pool toys, bug spray, recycling, bought items to be returned, items to be donated, the mop and broom, and many of our shoes (we’re a no-shoes house). Sooo yea, we’re trying to make this space look nice and also be functional!

I saw a TikTok video recently about making your space work for you. For those who don’t have TikTok, here’s the rundown: If you find that trash accumulates in one little spot, put a tiny trash can right there. If you find that laundry piles up in one spot, put a laundry basket right there. If books pile up next to your book, put a little book basket right there. So, make your space work for you! It literally blew my mind. So I’m trying to make our space work for us, but I want to make it pretty at the same time. 🙂 

Some shows and movies

I’ve watched a few shows and movies lately that I’ve really liked! I wanna share that with you real quick:

• This is the Zodiac Speaking - This one’s on Netflix. I’m very familiar with the case. But this has real audio and video, and it was very interesting!!

• Woman of the Hour - This is a dramatization of the dating game killer, Rodney Alcala. It’s GREAT. I love Anna Kendrick, and she doesn’t miss here. The story is so upsetting, but it’s worth watching if you’re into true crime.

• Teacup - Peacock. We’re only on episode 4, but it’s really captivating. I’m very curious how things will end up! Aliens? [shrug]

Crossword maker

I enjoy the NYT crossword puzzle just about every day. It’s one of the very few apps that I PAY for: I like being able to play the big crossword and also play the archived puzzles.

HEY DAD IF YOU’RE READING, SKIP THIS PARAGRAPH! (My dad reads these emails sometimes and this part is about him!) He likes playing word games a lot. I know for sure he likes Wordle and Quordle and, I think, Hurdle. And he likes Spider Solitaire. And he likes this other crossword puzzle type of game. So I decided to make a puzzle book for him for Christmas. So far, I’ve made a few crossword puzzles, and I’ll make some other puzzles as well!

It took me a while of digging around online, but I found this website (Amuse Labs) where you can create lots of puzzles. After a while of making some puzzles, I got an email from Sonia who is a developer for the website. (I’m sure she sends this email to everyone who makes puzzles on their site.) She asked if I could give her some feedback by email or even a Zoom call. I said yes, sure. I had feedback*. (*I have this… problem… where I instantly look for the flaws in basically everything.)

We hopped on a Zoom call yesterday, and while I did provide some feedback of my own about the functionality of the site, she actually gave me some valuable feedback herself. I did a screen share, and she saw how I used the site. During that time, she gave me ideas on how to better use the website - very interesting and helpful!

ICYMI here’s the link for the website!! The “magic fill” option is what she showed me. If you stick to 11×11 or smaller, the site can make a full crossword puzzle for you, in minutes, and then you can easily fill in the clues within seconds! And if you need help figuring that out, let me know.

Kid updates

Super quick updates on the kiddos!

Alexander: He’s a tween now. I’ve mentioned that. And he is also VERY helpful with Beatrix. He’s started washing all the sheets and making all the beds, and he takes it seriously. It’s awesome. He’s the most like me! He’s 11.5.

Annabelle: She really wants to get her ears pierced. The place in town I want to use (a tattoo shop) requires her birth certificate. We can’t find it. Soo we’re waiting for a copy to arrive! Another thing is that she’s got a role in our church’s Christmas play this year. Woo! And she’s still taking dance classes (tap, ballet, and jazz). She’s almost 9!

Charlie: He’s still into dinos. And now he loves building things with Legos and these straw building pieces. Another random thing? He says, “You member” allll the time. If you say, “Hey Charlie what did you have for breakfast?,” he says “You member.” In other words, “I don’t remember. You tell me.” He has a lot of cute little words that I just love. He’s 3.5.

Beatrix: She just had her latest well checkup. She’s doing great! She has started bringing her hands and objects to her mouth. And she rolls over the second you put her on the ground. She is 4.5 months.

Other updates

Cam has his marathon next Sunday!! My mama is coming to town to help me out with the kids. I want to get us up and ready to go watch him cross the finish line. But it’s a lot to get everyone ready and out the door. And I’m a teensy bit nervous to watch all 4 kids in public AND keep an eye on the finish line. So my mom is coming to just help me keep eyes on everyone!

As for me? My back is OUT. I swear, I’ve been hurting myself so much since I turned 40 haha. Last weekend, Cam and I were trying to lift the dryer onto the washer, and I threw out my back in the process. It’s finally feeling a little better, day by day. This afternoon, though, I felt my shoulder give out a little bit!! Omg. You may remember, last December, we went to Disney, and I had to wear an arm sling for my shoulder. Same shoulder, ugh! AND, my left ear feels like it constantly needs to POP. I’m seeing an ENT next week about it. I swear, it’s been one thing after another in 2024!

Meal plan

Here’s our plan for this week!!

DINNERS

• Garlic spinach salmon

• Quiche!

  • Cook and crumble some bacon.

  • In the same pan, cook some chopped broccoli (or onion, mushroom, whatever).

  • In a mixing bowl, whisk together 6 eggs, about 1 cup of milk and/or cream, salt and pepper, your meat and vegetables, plus a handful of cheese.

  • Pour this into a prepared crust - I’ve used a pie crust, phyllo dough, and even puff pastry (my fav is the phyllo!!). If you’re using a regular pie crust, I like to partially bake the crust about 5 minutes first.

  • Bake at 400F for 20-25 minutes.

• Chicken broccoli alfredo

  • Chop your chicken into bite sizes and cook that in a skillet, just until it’s no longer pink on the outside. Remove it.

  • In the same pan, add a little butter and cook some chopped broccoli until tender. You can also just steam the broccoli! It works nicely in this meal.

  • Remove the broccoli. In that same pan, add about 4 tbsp of butter, plus about ¼ cup of flour. Whisk and cook for about 3 minutes. Then add in some garlic (minced or powder) and let that cook another minute. Add in some salt, pepper, and about ½ cup of heavy cream. Whisk. Then add another ½ cup of heavy cream OR milk. Whisk. And basically just add a little at a time until you reach the quantity you want. Simmer until a thick sauce forms.

  • Once your sauce is ready, add in some shredded parmesan, then toss your chicken and broccoli into the sauce.

    

• Quesabirria tacos

• Chicken chili

• Meatballs and rice

• Turkey burgers and fries

  • To a mixing bowl, add 1 lb of ground turkey or chicken, 1 egg, ½ cup of breadcrumbs, and 1 grated apple (or about ½ cup of unsweetened applesauce). Also add some seasonings of your choice.

  • Let that sit for 10 minutes or so, to let the breadcrumbs soak up the liquids.

  • In a frying pan, add a touch of olive oil. Then use a ¼ cup measuring cup to scoop the mixture into the pan. Flatten them out slightly and flip after 2-3 minutes. Because this is poultry, make sure it’s cooked through!

BAKING

• Strawberry trifle - this is from TikTok! I tried finding this recipe on her IG page but it wasn’t there. If I end up making it and it’s great, I’ll post the video itself or the recipe in the next newsletter.

• Cheese bread - also TikTok - can’t find this on IG either. Dang! If you can’t access TikTok where you live, then just email me back and I can help ya out.

Christmas!

Maybe it’s just me, but Christmas isn’t nearly as exciting as it was when I was a kid. It starts out fun… decorating, buying presents… but then it just feels stressful. I like getting together with everyone. I LOVE wrapping presents. I actually like buying them as well (gift giving is one of my love languages). But the whole season feels stressful now. Right now, I feel just fine about it, so I’m going to ride that wave and hope that I don’t feel stressed this year!

The kids decided to put up our tree last week. My back was shot, so they just did it themselves. They dragged our tree from the shop, down the stairs, into the house. They figured out how to put it together. They got all the lights and ornaments down and onto the tree! It looks like kids put it together, but it looks nice!

I have gotten 90% of our shopping done (woohoo). Here are some shopping ideas for you!!

Littles:

• Cookies! This is an interactive recipe book. I actually got 4 of these - I got cookies, spaghetti, and 2 tacos. They are sooo cool, and each book is an actual recipe.

• Custom puzzle - Charlie loves puzzles. I got him a puzzle that’s a photo of our family!

• Egg shape sorting toy - I actually paid half this price on TikTok shop, FYI!

Bigger kids:

• Skateboards - both my big kids asked for a skateboard this year 😄 

• Karaoke machine - I know this is not for everyone, but I’m okay with it! Annabelle requested this one.

• IQ games! As you may know, we have just about all of the IQ games that exist. There are 2, I think, that Alexander doesn’t own, so he’ll get one of those for Christmas (IQ Waves). These are nice because they are compact and only about $10. Each game has 120 levels, going from easy to very challenging. A lot of people ask which ones he likes the most, and I’d say Puzzler Pro, Love, and Digits (Digits is for older kids because there is some math involved).

Adults:

• Hummingbird feeder

• Gift card to a nice restaurant

• Any sort of fancy version of something they already love

• A custom something (ornament with kids/grandkids names, mug with their initial, cutting board in the shape of their state, etc)

A few random things

There’s this shop up the street that is 7 minutes from us. Where we live, the closest gas station is about 12 minutes driving. There’s a dollar store right there as well, where we can get a few pantry items. The closest grocery is 25 minutes from us. Anyway, this 7 minute place used to be a great BBQ spot, but they shut down last year. The sign out front says “new owners, opening soon” so I’m anxious to see what it is!

I recently saw a TikTok video where this lady opened a coffee shop from her house. I’ve got a nice coffee machine and kind of want to start selling coffees from my house. But that’s ambitious, and I don’t like the idea of people knowing where I live. So I don’t imagine I’ll do it.

The other thing is that I’ve got a new favorite app. I have enjoyed Covet Fashion since January 2019. I still like that one, but I now really enjoy this one called Hexa Sort (Google play version). I see game ads all the time, and most of them aren’t great. But occasionally I come across a fun new game. This hexagon one is really satisfying and just the right amount of challenging!

Final things

I use Beehiiv to send out my newsletters. If you want to send newsletters as well, you can use my link by clicking here. This is a new thing they’ve just started up, so I may as well mention it! I use the free version. If you were to get one of the paid versions, I’d get a commission on it.

DISCLAIMER: That Beehiiv link is an affiliate link, and also any of the AMAZON links in the newsletter are affiliate links as well! It doesn’t cost you any extra; I just get a commission if you buy something from one of my links.

You’re the best. Much much love to you!! I appreciate your views and subscriptions and messages and all of that!

If you’d like to support me and my content, then here are three ways:

• Send along an encouraging note, here or on IG or even snail mail!

• You can “Buy Me a Coffee” - it’s a virtual tip jar!

• And finally, here is a link to my Amazon wish list! 🙂 Also, my PO Box is still open, through the end of November! I don’t get enough mail to justify the cost of the box anymore, so I’ll close it out after that.🥰 

  • Bethany King

  • PO Box 8152

  • Shreveport LA 71148

Much love,
Bethany

PS If you want to see old emails, here’s a link to all of them!