Tag: family time

Opening the door…

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It’s interesting how things play out sometimes, and how one simple act can start a domino effect to something bigger.

I took the kiddos to the indoor play place today because the weather was crap and we needed something to do. Afterwards they wanted to go to Panera, which I am always happy to oblige because y’all know I love to eat. Ha! We went in, and walking in I saw the cutest kids with their mom by the door, and I told them both I loved their hair, especially the colors in the girl’s hair.

We walked up to the counter, ordered our food – the clerk asked dine-in or take out and I said dine-in. He responded that the restaurant was currently full and that there would probably be a wait to find a table. Not a problem, we don’t have anywhere else to be.

The kids and I stood around for 5-10 minutes, me eagle eyeing for an open seat or two, when I finally spotted a group of teens getting up from a table in the back, so I ushered the kids over and we grabbed our spot to eat. On my way to fill my drink, I notice the same mom and kiddos (adorable baby not pictured) glancing around the still packed to the gills dining room so I mention to her that I have a 6 person table I snagged in the back, and she’s welcome to sit with us, that we weren’t creepy (that I know of, LOL) – she accepted and we all sat down to eat.

It took about 3 minutes for the little boy to turn to Wyatt and in the sweetest voice offered to share his tablet, and within seconds the little girl sitting next to Tatum offered the same with hers. I sat there making some small talk and watching the kids happily play together like life-long friends and thought to myself, wouldn’t it be nice if us adults could make friends so easily?? At which my next thought was, well, why the heck can’t we??? So I looked up at the mom and said, “You know, I’d be happy to share my phone number with you if you’d like to set up some play dates or something” at which she laughed and said she had just been thinking of saying the same thing.

Turns out they moved here mid-last year and haven’t had the chance to make many friends yet with everything going on and her kids were super excited to meet some other kids their ages (much like mine always are!!) that they could hang out with.

So, now we have a play date with new friends scheduled tomorrow, and the moral of the story is, I don’t really know what – but sometimes just a simple thing can open up the door to some great new friendships! So good to meet you and your adorable kids, Ashley! (I won’t tag you though until you decide if you actually like me or not with my no-filter random self. LOL!!)

Opening the door…

admin

It’s interesting how things play out sometimes, and how one simple act can start a domino effect to something bigger.

I took the kiddos to the indoor play place today because the weather was crap and we needed something to do. Afterwards they wanted to go to Panera, which I am always happy to oblige because y’all know I love to eat. Ha! We went in, and walking in I saw the cutest kids with their mom by the door, and I told them both I loved their hair, especially the colors in the girl’s hair.

We walked up to the counter, ordered our food – the clerk asked dine-in or take out and I said dine-in. He responded that the restaurant was currently full and that there would probably be a wait to find a table. Not a problem, we don’t have anywhere else to be.

The kids and I stood around for 5-10 minutes, me eagle eyeing for an open seat or two, when I finally spotted a group of teens getting up from a table in the back, so I ushered the kids over and we grabbed our spot to eat. On my way to fill my drink, I notice the same mom and kiddos (adorable baby not pictured) glancing around the still packed to the gills dining room so I mention to her that I have a 6 person table I snagged in the back, and she’s welcome to sit with us, that we weren’t creepy (that I know of, LOL) – she accepted and we all sat down to eat.

It took about 3 minutes for the little boy to turn to Wyatt and in the sweetest voice offered to share his tablet, and within seconds the little girl sitting next to Tatum offered the same with hers. I sat there making some small talk and watching the kids happily play together like life-long friends and thought to myself, wouldn’t it be nice if us adults could make friends so easily?? At which my next thought was, well, why the heck can’t we??? So I looked up at the mom and said, “You know, I’d be happy to share my phone number with you if you’d like to set up some play dates or something” at which she laughed and said she had just been thinking of saying the same thing.

Turns out they moved here mid-last year and haven’t had the chance to make many friends yet with everything going on and her kids were super excited to meet some other kids their ages (much like mine always are!!) that they could hang out with.

So, now we have a play date with new friends scheduled tomorrow, and the moral of the story is, I don’t really know what – but sometimes just a simple thing can open up the door to some great new friendships! So good to meet you and your adorable kids, Ashley! (I won’t tag you though until you decide if you actually like me or not with my no-filter random self. LOL!!)

Restoring Galveston

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One of the interesting things in particular about this trip… We arrived at our AirBnB to find the street in front almost completely clogged with parked cars and construction crews. There was a lady standing almost in front of the house we were staying in so I hopped out of the car to see if there was any issue with yup parking there.

I learned from talking with her throughout the weekend that they were actually filming a show at one of the houses across the street!! The show was originally called “Big Texas Fix” for the first season, and was showing on HGTV! Seasons 2 and 3 were rebranded “Restoring Galveston” and is airing on the DIY Network.

It’s a gutting!!

The little house across the street is one of EIGHT they’re working on throughout the island right now, and they were finishing up this one over the few days we were staying here! According to the owner of OUR house that we were staying in, before they started this house was considered “unsalvageable” – so the transformation has been amazing to say the least!!

Today they’re working on shooting the BIG REVEAL, and it’s been interesting to watch the stars of the show, Michael and Ashley, and their multiple takes from different angles. My dad in particular has been fascinated by the progress and the flurry of activity going on all day and night.

The Big Reveal!

The house is TINY, but it’s super cute! Looking at it now it’s hard to believe it was scheduled to be demolished! My crew member (remember the lady from the first day?) “insider” was telling me they specifically buy houses scheduled to be demolished and completely redo them. Can’t wait to see this air on the show, which of course we have to watch now!! She said this will be Season 3, probably episode 2-3, and it’ll air sometime in the fall, so that’ll give me plenty of time to catch up on the seasons I didn’t know existed! 😉

Restoring Galveston

admin

One of the interesting things in particular about this trip… We arrived at our AirBnB to find the street in front almost completely clogged with parked cars and construction crews. There was a lady standing almost in front of the house we were staying in so I hopped out of the car to see if there was any issue with yup parking there.

I learned from talking with her throughout the weekend that they were actually filming a show at one of the houses across the street!! The show was originally called “Big Texas Fix” for the first season, and was showing on HGTV! Seasons 2 and 3 were rebranded “Restoring Galveston” and is airing on the DIY Network.

It’s a gutting!!

The little house across the street is one of EIGHT they’re working on throughout the island right now, and they were finishing up this one over the few days we were staying here! According to the owner of OUR house that we were staying in, before they started this house was considered “unsalvageable” – so the transformation has been amazing to say the least!!

Today they’re working on shooting the BIG REVEAL, and it’s been interesting to watch the stars of the show, Michael and Ashley, and their multiple takes from different angles. My dad in particular has been fascinated by the progress and the flurry of activity going on all day and night.

The Big Reveal!

The house is TINY, but it’s super cute! Looking at it now it’s hard to believe it was scheduled to be demolished! My crew member (remember the lady from the first day?) “insider” was telling me they specifically buy houses scheduled to be demolished and completely redo them. Can’t wait to see this air on the show, which of course we have to watch now!! She said this will be Season 3, probably episode 2-3, and it’ll air sometime in the fall, so that’ll give me plenty of time to catch up on the seasons I didn’t know existed! 😉

Road Trippin’

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This is the year I officially hit middle age… the big 4-0. A couple months ago I decided there was no way I was turning 40 just sitting in my living room so I planned a trip to Galveston Island with hubs, the kids, and my parents. Fast forward to today and we’re in the car, road trippin’ for the next 4-5 hours with a 6 year old and a freshly potty trained, almost 4 year old, and I’m wondering WTAF was I thinking?

We’ve gone from this…
To this…

We had a few blissful moments of the youngest sleeping, but of course he knocked off about 10 minutes before we stopped for lunch so that was short-lived. After lunch we endured about 30 mins of arguing, an hour of ridiculousness, a stop at Bucees, 10 more minutes of cranky fussing, and now I have this mean-mug burning a hole in my from behind.

Pray for us, we are not ok…. 🤣🤷‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Road Trippin’

admin

This is the year I officially hit middle age… the big 4-0. A couple months ago I decided there was no way I was turning 40 just sitting in my living room so I planned a trip to Galveston Island with hubs, the kids, and my parents. Fast forward to today and we’re in the car, road trippin’ for the next 4-5 hours with a 6 year old and a freshly potty trained, almost 4 year old, and I’m wondering WTAF was I thinking?

We’ve gone from this…
To this…

We had a few blissful moments of the youngest sleeping, but of course he knocked off about 10 minutes before we stopped for lunch so that was short-lived. After lunch we endured about 30 mins of arguing, an hour of ridiculousness, a stop at Bucees, 10 more minutes of cranky fussing, and now I have this mean-mug burning a hole in my from behind.

Pray for us, we are not ok…. 🤣🤷‍♀️🤦‍♀️

SNOVID-21

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Well, it officially happened last week…. Hell froze over.

A small lake near my home in Texas, TEXAS y’all, that froze over so thick you could walk on it (not that I’d recommend that, of course.)

The snow started last Sunday evening and it all went to heck in a handbasket from there. SO MANY lost power and water, including my In-laws who finally gave up after three sleepless nights of below 40 degrees in their condo and braved the roads to make it here where we were lucky enough to have not lost power. The lakes froze over so thick people were actually ice skating on them. Stores, if they were open, quickly ran completely out of milk, eggs, water, bread, and meat. Maybe y’all think we’re a bunch of weenies if you live up north but the fact of the matter is Texas is, as a whole, completely unprepared for this kind of disaster. Tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, fires, we have the resources to deal with those. -2 degrees and a snowmaggedon? Nope. It just never happens down here, until now.

Wildly enough, the snow began to melt Friday after over a week of sub-freezing temperatures and by Saturday afternoon is was mostly gone… leaving behind a path of destruction in the form of previously frozen water pipes bursting like balloons. It’s not good…. so many homes and businesses are still without water, or have had to shut it off to minimize the destruction. It’s insane. Also insane? It hit 73 degrees here today.

Can’t go -2 degrees to 73 in one week, you say? Texas says: “Hold my beer.”

In the meantime I entertained myself by working a 60+ hour work week completely in panic mode alongside my team (also in panic mode), arguing with my kids who were batshit crazy from being cooped up, and taking pictures of the cats snuggled up together for warmth.

But today it was positively decent outside, and we started to assess my succulent gardens, which I’m super sad to say did not survive. I’m going to have to completely redo them this year. Honestly though, in the grand scheme of things we’re extremely lucky to have had heat and water the entire week, so there’s no way I’m going to complain.

And now I’m back to planning a normal week full of grocery runs and swim / art lessons and it’s weird, honestly, after the cluster that was last week but here we are, and it’s Texas, and like they always say….

“If you don’t like the weather here, wait 5 minutes…”

I came, I worked out, I might die.

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Yesterday Wade made fun of me when I invited him to do day 2 of 21 day fix with me. He laughed at my silly workout, but he did it. 1/3 of the way through he got real quiet, 1/2 of the way through he started grunting and moaning, and by the end he was toast. I’m pretty sure he went off to the living room to cry after that. #LegDay 😂

BUT.

He showed up today, and worked out with me again.

After leg day it was hard enough just squatting down enough to make it to the toilet seat without groaning, and now with Upper Fix and the “Bonus Abs” I feel like raw meat. 😂😂😂

Also, I went to Sprouts today and came home with a much better selection of healthier foods and produce, and rid our pantry of most of the items that would cause me to stray off-course.

I CAN do this.

Dinner tonight:

-Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs trimmed of fat, with a citrus poultry spice blend in the air fryer (I ADORE my air fryer!!)

-Brown and Wild Rice Blend

-Avocado

-Banana for a nighttime snack. ❤️❤️❤️

Hide and Seek!

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There is something “hidden” in this photo that proves that I’m a freaking awesome mom – and the first one to point it out gets….. nothing. Sorry, my kids take all my money. 😂😂😂 #badassmom #humbletoo #freakingawesome #bloggersofinstagram #sahmlife #sahm #momblogger #momblog #familyblog #familylife #motherhood #mommyblog #instamom #momsoninstagram #bloggerlife #dailyparenting #bestofmom #momlife #livethelittlethings #motherhoodunplugged #hotmessexpress #mommyproblems #momproblems #familymoments #parenting101 #nothingisordinary #motherhoodunhinged #motherswhoblog #lifewithlittles #mindyourbiscuitstx

Meet and Greet Series – Post 1

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Photo by the ever talented Mary Gibson Photography

I don’t show my crazy mug very often (and technically I’m not showing it here either) but a little series of “Meet and Greet” is in order so here goes.

I’m Jamie, married to the same wonderful dude for 12 years this fall, and we have two crazy and adorable kids, a 4.5 year old daughter and an almost 2 year old son (this photo was taken almost a year ago, I know he doesn’t look 2 here lol!) We have a 16 year old cat, Checkers, and a 16 month old border collie, Biscuit (the original Biscuit!)

Originally from the Blue Ridge Valley of Virginia, I’ve been in Texas since 1997. More in-depth (Part 2 of who knows) tomorrow!

#texasblogger #bloggerlife #meetandgreet