What's Up Wednesday; December 2023 Edition
It's the last Wednesday of the month and that means it's time for What's Up Wednesday. I'm pretty sure that both Sheaffer and Shay are off for the Christmas break and there won't be a link up this week but I just love this monthly format for summing up our life so I'm going with it anyway.
I wrote most of this post on the 23rd of December which made it rather hard to write since my mother in law was in the hospital (she went back into the hospital on the 20th) and much of our holiday plans, meal plans, and future plans were up in the air. I kept coming back to update it as today approached!
Monday: Christmas dinner at my brother in law's house of ham, mashed potatoes, and vegetables.
Tuesday: Beef stew in the crock pot with biscuits.
Wednesday: Quiche and salad.
Thursday: Leftover pulled pork over baked potatoes with vegetables and salad
Friday: Baked fish with rice and vegetables and salad.
Saturday: 3 Meat sauce in the crock pot (I'm hoping to get this recipe up soon!) with spaghetti and garlic bread
Sunday: (Mom's 70th birthday party) I'm making smoked ham and chicken, a baked potato bar, steamed broccoli, and salad with lemon tiramisu and some cookies (for those that don't like lemon).
What I'm Reminiscing About: I really haven't been reminiscing much this month since I don't feel like I've had much downtime to reflect on anything.
What I'm Loving: Our weather has been unseasonably warm and I am loving that (all the rain and wind... especially when it knocked out our power for days; not so much). I even wore flip flops on Christmas!
What We've Been Up To:
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| watching holiday movies |
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| driving lessons |
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| we went to lunch at the restaurant the culinary students at Alec's school run |
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| Alec got his official acceptance letter in the mail (though we've known of his acceptance for awhile) |
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| we've been on a few hikes |
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| Evan and I toured another Newport mansion |
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| We lost power for a good 3 days |
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| Thank goodness we have a generator and wood stove (I was able to wash and dry select items of clothing for us all!) |
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| We took care of my mother in law's cat while we she was in the hospital both times |
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| Alec baked up a few different treats--- lemon/raspberry tarts, croissants, cookies, etc. |
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| Christmas (on the 23rd) at my father in law's |
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| Christmas eve at my mother's |
What I'm Dreading: If my mother in law hasn't made huge strides in her recovery we're going to have to decide what we are going to do about leaving for our cruise...
What I'm Excited About: My sister and her two sons are driving up to see us all this weekend and I can not wait! We're surprising my mother for her birthday.
What I'm Watching/Reading: ALL the holiday movies, we re-watched both National Treasure movies, we started watching Obliterated on Netflix, we watched Family Switch (Netflix), Like Father (Netflix), Julia season 2 (Max), Gilded Age season 2 (Max), holiday celebrity family feud (Hulu), Reacher season 2 (Prime), Percy Jackson (Disney+), we started re-watching House (Hulu), The Barbie Movie (Max)
I read 14 books this past month and will have my summary post up soon; here's a sneak peek at a few of them.
What I'm Listening to: Nothing; I'm just enjoying the silence.
What I'm Wearing:
What I'm Doing This Weekend: Visiting with my sister and her boys (that are vising from North Carolina) and throwing a 70th birthday party for my mom!
What I'm Looking Forward to Next Month: *finger's crossed* I'm looking forward to relaxing on the ship and by the beach in the Caribbean. I could really use with some de-stressing. Also Alec turns 18 next month!! AND Evan is supposed to test to get his license!
What Else is New: Nothing much..
Linking up with: Final Fridays for What It's Worth, Spread the Kindness,
Lots going on! So sorry to hear about your mother- in- law´s hospitalization and slow recovery. And not having power for three days. Oh my! Yes, a generator would be so handy. You guys have been through the ringer... yet, your celebrations look fun and festive. Congrats to Alec on more acceptances to college. It is anticlimactic to open a college acceptance letter when you already know that you´ve been selected. But... it´s still nice to see it on paper!!
ReplyDeleteThank you; it has been tough. I think it would be far less frustrating if they could figure out what was wrong but even after nearly 3 weeks they are pretty stumped. He did make a huge production of opening his acceptance letters which we all thought was a riot since we did already know!
DeleteI am so sorry to hear about your Mother In Law- will say a prayer. I hope you get to go on your cruise and relax. I must say PINK is an awesome color on you!
ReplyDeleteThank you! At this point we're just hoping and praying.
DeleteThat's a bummer about losing power. FOR 3 day?? Eeek. I'm not sure I would last that long.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas Joanne,
XOOX
Jodie
We've been without it for upwards of 2 weeks before so while 3 days felt stressful we were pleasantly surprised to get it back so soon.
DeleteSending prayers for your mother in law! Also, your kitchen is so dreamy...
ReplyDeleteThank you so much!
DeleteI cannot imagine not having power for 3 days and having kids in the house! Congrats to your son on his acceptances...has he decided? I do hope your mother-in-law recovers quickly.
ReplyDeletehttps://marshainthemiddle.com/
I'm pretty sure he's going to Johnson and Wales!
DeleteI am so sorry about your mother in law. I hope she gets better soon. ❤️
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Kari! We're hoping this latest round of testing will give us some answers today.
DeleteI hope your mother in law will have a speedy recovery. And have a lot of fun at your mother's birthday!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteHappy birthday to your mother and hope your mother in law is ok!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteWow -- eating well at your house! The idea of pulled pork over baked potato sounds exceedingly fabulous. Sending all good wishes for the new year and that it might be a little easier -- and of course, good thoughts for your mum-in-law. Take a big breath, keep breathing,, and hang in.
ReplyDeleteThank you! The deep breathing definitely helps.
DeleteSuch a great December! Congrats, Alec!!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteWow! 14 books is so impressive! Sorry to hear you lost power for so long. We have a generator too but that still had to be a pain! Looks like you had a wonderful Christmas! Happy NYE!
ReplyDeleteThank you! It was a pain but it could have been so much worse; especially so close to Christmas when both freezers were fully stocked and ready for parties.
DeleteOh, that's so exciting about your sisters coming to surprise your mom. And oh Joanne, I hope your mother-in-law improves enough that you can go on your cruise... Sending so many healing prayers her way.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! They seem to be narrowing in on the problem and we're hopeful she'll be sent home soon. I can't wait to see my sister and her family this weekend!
DeleteHi Joanne, what a busy time for you but I'm sure it is enjoyable. How lovely that you Mum will have a surprise visit for her 70th birthday. We hosted two family gatherings for Christmas so I am enjoying the silence as well. Happy New Year to you and thanks for sharing with us at #WBOYC?
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteHi, Joanne - I am so sorry to hear about your Mother-In-Law. Sending warm thoughts to you all.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much!
DeleteOh dear to read about your mother in law...and hope she is OK and you get to go away. So much loss of power in parts of coastal and rural Australia this past week because of unprecedented weather. Very unusual but a tornado came though places in Queensland. Congrats to your Mum for her birthday and to your son re College...and as for flip flops on Christmas Day...woo hoo! HNY Denyse x
ReplyDeleteThank you! She is insistent that we must not cancel our trip over her so we'll see... she is looking and sounding better though so I'm hopeful! We have had some odd (smallish) tornadoes in our area a time or two in the past few years and yet I don't ever remember hearing about a single one the whole time I was growing up. Weather patterns definitely are changing and getting weirder and stronger. We tend to lose power often which is why we have such a large generator but I cringe every time our power blinks off because we just never know how long we'll be without it.
DeleteI'm loving your bright pink top, and the colour combination in your kitchen! Fabulous!
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear about your mother in law. Hope she's ok and gets better.
Looks like some dramatic weather over there? We've had a storm after Christmas and now there are weather warnings here and there. Nothing too bad where we are.
Thank you!
DeleteI'm not sure that the weather was really all that dramatic but we do have lots and lots of dead trees around that they have been really lax about cutting down so when we have any sort of storm now those dead trees tend to take out a lot of healthy ones with them and it all makes a huge mess.
Fingers crossed your mother in law makes a good recovery - I'm looking forward to hearing about your cruise. Lots of lovely family time and I enjoyed seeing the pics of the newport mansion. Take care & happy new year.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much!
DeleteAll the best to your mother in law, hope her recovery is good and you make your cruise! Looks like a fun family Christmas! I love this format for a monthly review. All the best for 2024.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much!
DeleteSending positive thoughts to your mother-in-law. Happy New Year to you.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much!
DeleteI'm sorry about your Mother-in-law's illness and I hope she's improving now. And being without power for three days is a pretty big deal - good thing you do have that woodstove to help out. Hope your new year is a happy and healthy one!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteI'm sorry to hear your mother-in-law is ill. I hope she recovers soon.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like you had another amazing month (you put the rest of us to shame, you know :-) ). Happy New Year!
Thank you so much!
DeleteHi Joanne, I'm sorry to hear about your mother-in-law and hope she's on the mend now and you can enjoy your cruise. So much going on for you and your family! Happy 2024 to you and hope to see you link up with us for #WBOYC in the new year.
ReplyDeleteShe just came home today! We're hopeful she's fully on the mend now.
DeleteCongrats to Alec!! That's so great! Your mother-in-law has been in my prayers. I hope she's on the mend now... I'm so behind reading blogs. I'm hoping to finally get caught up this week!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteWithout power for days....man, that's a bummer! Hope your MIL is doing better. That can be so difficult during the holiday season. Happy New Year!!
ReplyDeleteThank you! We've had lots of power outage warnings already in the new year too; it seems like they should be trimming trees a bit more... My mother in law seems to be doing much, much better; thank you!
Delete