Friday Favorites 1/17/19

It’s hard to believe that it’s already Friday again! I hope that you can find some helpful links and ideas in some of my favorites below!

Favorite Moment: I noticed a few months ago that my engagement and wedding rings were getting really loose. It’s been a combination of the dry winter weather and nursing Ezra that has caused me to lose some weight. I was starting to get really nervous that my expensive and super special rings were going to fly right off my finger one day and get lost. So I took them off. I hated having a naked ring finger, but I didn’t want to have my ring resized and although many people suggested I try these ring expanders, I just didn’t want to have one of those one for who knows how long. I asked Theo if he could buy me a cheap ring to wear until my body figures out what weight it wants to be. I also told him I wanted to be proposed to. HA! So on Wednesday night he made a little scavenger hunt for me and at the end he gave me a new ring. Don’t worry, it’s costume jewelry, not real stones! And I LOVE it, and the thought behind it. Hopefully soon my fingers will figure out what size they want to be and I can wear my normal engagement and wedding bands, but until then I’m happy with this new one.

Most played with toy: Tera is finally back to school this week after two weeks of Christmas break and one week of being sick! Kiah has been playing NONSTOP with his magnatiles. I’ve seen debate around the internet if the offbrand magnatiles are as good as the name brand, and in my opinion, they are fantastic. We have both the Picasso Tiles and the Shape Mags brand. We LOVE these!!! I have my eye on the car attachements for the next birthday coming up!

Favorite Kid Quote:

Me: ooooh! Let’s have this mango for dessert!
Tera: I’ve never had a mango
Kiah: I have!
Me: When have you had a mango?
Kiah: At the zoo! I’ve seen lots of mingo’s!
Me: Mingo’s? What do they look like?
Kiah: Like this! (Stands on chair on one foot and mimes having wings).
Me: A mingo? Like a flamingo?!?!
Kiah: YES! It’s PINK!
Me: Oooooooh. That’s a FLA-mingo. This is a mango!

Favorite Podcast Episode: I know that my favorite IG account from last week was a book account, but I just can’t quit books! For some reason, podcasts about books have really been interesting to me lately, and the Currently Reading podcast is a new favorite! I especially loved this episode on their 2019 favorite books. It ALWAYS interests me to see what is in someone else’s top 10 books of the year! Btw, you can read my blog post of my top 10 books of 2019 here.

Favorite Blog Post (that I read): I realize that this post is a few months old, and it’s actually about advent (but can also be used any time of the year!), but I really want to share this blog post with you. If you are a blog reader at all, please make sure that you are following Laura’s blog at Pitter Patter Art. Oh, my heart. You guys. Follow this family. It’s real. It’s raw. And somehow she takes us through the journey of a family that leaves me sobbing, laughing and feeling like I know them and want to sit in their living room.

Your Favorite Blog Post (that I wrote): No Media January

Favorite Instagram Account: I’ve actually been off Instagram for this entire month, and I don’t miss too many accounts. But one account that I really do miss watching their stories is @FiveMary’sFarms. If you aren’t already following her and her family, you need to be! She and her husband are entrepreneurs, running a ranch and at least five businesses with their four daughters involved in all of it. She shares it all on her stories – from a cow giving birth to her kids participating in the county rodeo sheep rides. I never know what I’m going to see when I open her stories, but I’m always so pleasantly surprised!

Favorite Book: Kindred.

Wow, this book….it’s so good. It’s filed under Fantasy because it involves some time travel, but I would call it historical fiction. And one of the best historical fiction books I’ve read. It literally takes me back with the characters. It’s about a young black woman in the 1970s who time travels back to the 1850s. Of course, as a young black woman she is automatically considered a slave and learns firsthand what it is like, taking us as the readers along with her. This is a POWERFUL book. It was actually published in the 70s but if I hadn’t checked the publication date, I would have thought it was published in 2018 or 2019. Eye-opening. Get this book on your TBR list!

Favorite Recipe: For the last few years, I have subscribed to Cooking Light magazine (it’s no longer in print). I loved the recipes in the magazine and we found several family favorites within the pages of that magazine! But our absolute favorite recipe from the magazine, and one of our favorites of all time (!!!! yes, seriously top 3 favorite meals !!!!) is this Enchilada Pie. We LOVE it. In fact, I now make TWO pies when I make the recipe because I know we need some leftovers!

Favorite Property found on Zillow: We have begun searching for rental properties in our area that are affordable and in a decent neighborhood. Honestly, I thought I wasn’t that complicated until I started looking at houses. Too close to a road. No fenced yard. Can’t deal with stairs. We’ve looked at some total dumps, some super nice/desirable homes and some right in between. Here are our favorites from this week (no, we aren’t staying at any of these):

Adorable Cottage

Redone Cottage

Favorite Family Game: Sleeping Queens. We got this game for Tera for Christmas, and I think our family has played it at least 10 times this past week! Tera (5) understands it and is able to play solo, Kiah (3) has no idea what is really going on, but understands holding his cards, which cards are good cards, and the main objective of the game. Theo and I actually ENJOY playing, so I call that a total win. Some kid games are torture for the parents, so it’s so fun to start to find games that our whole family enjoys!

*This post does contain affiliate links, which means that if you purchase something by clicking through a link, I will get paid a small percentage.

2 comments

  1. Christa Hailey says:

    I LOVE the storyb behind and about your new ring! It made me cry! What a sweet memory! And I really miss seeing your face on Instagram! I will be so excited when you pop up in my feed again!

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