Air quality

It felt eerie seeing the swings empty at the park today. Usually, this park is bustling with families playing at the splash pad and playground, but not today.

With the wildfires happening in Minnesota and Canada, our state’s air quality is unfortunately considered unhealthy right now.

We spent all day inside the house. I only went outside for about 15 minutes to water a few plants in the garden.

We still went to Thursday evening Mass, and we made sure to wear face masks when we were outside.

(After Mass, we stopped by the park real quick so I could snap a few photos of the smoky skies.)

My older daughter Mj was very kind and stopped by after she got off work to bring us these face masks.

Zaya and I decorated ours with fun stickers. 😊

Even the traffic in the evening wasn’t as busy as it usually is on the weekdays. It was almost like a ghost town.

Zaya (5) asked me if tomorrow we’ll be able to go back to the pool. I explained to her, unfortunately, we won’t be able to play outside just yet, but we’ll do our best and find something fun to do indoors.

Praying for everyone directly affected by the wildfires. πŸ™πŸ½

πŸ’œ XO


Happy Friday

Three things to reflect on in honor of September 11th.

Pool day β˜€οΈ

It was another hot day, so the kids and I spent some time at the pool today. The temps reached 94Β°F, but i think the weather app said it felt like 102Β°F! πŸ₯΅

I’ll be honestβ€”for most of the summer, I kept putting off going to the pool because I don’t particularly like wearing a bathing suit. 🫀

But once we got in the pool and started swimming around, I really started to enjoy myself! πŸ˜„πŸŠβ€β™€οΈ

It made me realize I need to just relax and take a break sometimes, stop being so hard on myself.

I mean, it is summer after all. Lol β˜€οΈπŸ˜Š

Mj (24), my oldest daughter stopped by to hangout with us at the pool after she got off from work.

She has her own apartment in our neighborhoodβ€”just three minutes walking distance from our house.

It’s nice having my daughter live in the same neighborhood as me. I really enjoy having her live so close by to us.

I’m so glad we went to the pool around 1 p.m. and hung out for a couple of hours because the weather unexpectedly got bad later in the day.

All of a sudden, around 6 p.m. the air quality became hazy and unhealthy because of the wildfires in Canada. 😲 (We live about 40 minutes from the Canadian border.)

The atmosphere became very smoky outside as if the entire neighborhood had finished shooting off fireworks. You could even smell the burning wood!

I’m keeping Canada and all U.S. states affected by these wildfires in my prayers! πŸ™πŸ½

πŸ’œ XO


Happy Friday!

Four fun things for Friday, including a new art exhibit I’m excited to see.

Productive Monday 😎

I deserve an ice cream treat because I got SO much accomplished today. Lol πŸ˜„

Daily walk, laundry (wash, dry, fold, AND put away πŸ˜²πŸ‘πŸΎ), cooked three homemade meals, cleaned both bathrooms, made my bed, helped kids tidy their room, AND we completed homeschool lessons.

After all that we accomplished on this busy Monday, we took the kids to the splash pad for an evening cool down. It’s supposed to be another super hot week this week. πŸ₯΅

While Travis stayed with the kids at the splash pad, I enjoyed a short walk to the public library. I wanted to check out a few DVDs and story books for the kids.

Beautiful cone flowers at city hall. 😍🌸

I never realized how nice it is to walk in our city’s main park/public library area. I definitely need to walk here more often!

πŸ’œ XO


One habit that has improved my life the most πŸ™πŸ½

Daily writing prompt
What’s one habit that has improved your life the most?

One habit that has improved my life the most is πŸ—£ DAILY PRAYER! πŸ™πŸ½

It has been one year since I returned to the Lord and returned to faithfully practicing my faith, and I am SO grateful for God’s great love and mercy.

I am lost without Jesus and my daily prayer! πŸ™πŸ½ Prayer helps me stay connected with God and keep Him center of my life.

Photo I took at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit.

I start each morning by first lighting my prayer candle, dipping my finger in Holy Water (we have a bottle of Holy Water gifted to us from our church), and signing the cross. Then, I begin to say my morning prayers in my kitchen.

Why my kitchen? πŸ˜…

Well, we live in a small house, and I am usually the first one to wake up before my husband and the children. So, I say my prayers in the kitchen first thing in the morning!

I always say the kitchen is the heart of our home. πŸ’œπŸ˜Š

Photo I took at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit.

I also keep a prayer card that lists specific topics to pray about each day of the week (i.e. Mondays praying for the week ahead, Tuesdays praying for the sick, etc.).

And I keep a prayer list to pray for any personal needs or the needs and requests of others.

So, when I tell people I will add them to my prayer list and pray for them, I truly mean it!

My pastor once told me prayer is the most powerful thing we can do. πŸ’―πŸ™πŸ½ It is one of the best pieces of advice he has given me.

I strongly believe in the power of prayer. No matter if I am feeling happy, frustrated, stressed, or sad I pray to the Lord. No matter where you are in your faith journey or if you are feeling unsure, prayer can help you connect to God.

“Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful.” β€” James 5:16

πŸ’œ XO

P.S.β€”if you would like me to pray for you, please let me know! Peace be with you. βœŒπŸΎπŸ’œπŸ™πŸ½

πŸ“Έ Feature image of St. Bonaventure Chapel in Detroit, Mich. when I visited the Blessed Solanus Casey Spiritual Center this past spring.


Tattoo collector

American traditional tattoosβ€”I love the classic, vintage imagery and bold colors and lines.

Flight of the bumblebee 🐝

I never thought I’d be so happy to see a bumblebee buzzing beside me, but I suppose that’s where I’m at now in my gardening journey! πŸπŸ˜†

About a week ago, it occurred to me I hadn’t seen any bees in the garden, even though I have plenty of pollinator flowers.

This morning, I was again thinking about the bees because I have a lot of flowers on the cucumbers now.

I started worrying what if the fruit and veggie plants don’t get pollinated (I know we can manually do this, but I’ve been waiting for nature to take its course πŸ˜‰).

And then later this evening, Zaya (5) came running through the front door into the kitchen.

She excitedly yelled, “Mommy! Mommy! I saw a bumblebee! There’s a bumblebee on a white flower in the garden!”

So, everyone rushed out to the garden, and the six of us (me, Travis + 4 children) huddled together to watch this little, fuzzy bumblebee wiggle its tiny behind from flower to flower. πŸπŸ˜„

πŸ’œ XO


Church hop β›ͺ️

We went to a different parish for the 11:30 a.m. Mass today. (That’s where I took these rainy Sunday pictures, by the wayβ€”in the peaceful parish garden. 😌🌧🌻)

It’s the third church we visited within these last seven days.

We like to do what Travis and I call “church hop.” That means visit different parishes throughout the week.

(Okay, this next part might sound a bit confusing. πŸ˜„)

During the work week (Mon. – Fri.), our family attends the 7 p.m. daily Mass two to three times a week, and each evening Mass we attend is at a different parish.

Then, on the weekend, we attend either the Saturday Vigil Mass or a Sunday morning/afternoon Mass at a nearby local parish.

For the daily evening Mass, it is generally offered only once a week at select parishes. Not every Catholic Church offers an evening Mass.

The evening Mass may be at 6 p.m. or 7 p.m., just depends on that particular parish’s Mass schedule.

Whereas, early morning daily Masses are offered pretty much at all parishes (there are a few exceptions, of course) four to five days out of the work week.

Morning daily Mass times range from 7 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.. Also, each daily Mass, mornkng or evwning, is about 30 minutes long.

We’re just not able to go to a daily Mass in the morning right now. Travis has to be at work by 6 a.m., and we only have one working vehicle at the moment.

But boy, are we thankful we found a few evening Mass options at several local parishes during the work week! πŸ˜ŠπŸ™πŸ½

After today’s morning Mass, we went to say hello to the priest, and he said, “Don’t I know you?!” πŸ€”πŸ˜†

We explained he probably remembered us from a different church we visited a couple of weeks ago when he was the celebrant at that Mass.

“Oh, yes!” he exclaimed remembering where he had last seen us. πŸ˜…

We do have a “home church” that we make the best effort to attend on the weekend a few times in the month.

However, Travis works a lot (six days a week), and life gets pretty busy with the kids, so having the flexibility to also attend a Saturday Vigil (at 4 p.m., 4:30 p.m. or 5 p.m.) or a Sunday Mass time (at 11 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 12 p.m., or even 5:30 p.m.!) that fits our schedule works best for us.

As you can see, living in a metropolitan means we have A LOT of options! πŸ˜‚ And that’s another great blessing for us. πŸ™πŸ½

This is just the stage of life we’re in right now, ya know. πŸ˜„ #busybigfamilylife

Honestly, I wish we would have thought to do this (church hop) when the kids were babies and toddlers instead of always being late to church. Haha πŸ˜‚πŸ«£

πŸ’œ XO


The old journal

A visit to an art thrift store leads to a journal discovery.

Happy 4th of July! πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ

Happy 4th of July! β€οΈπŸ€πŸ’™

It’s a chill Independence Day holiday for us. We are enjoying a family cookout πŸŒ­πŸ— , and later on, we will light a bunch of sparklers (the kids’ favorite!) and watch the fireworks in our neighborhood.

Photo of me from July 2019. πŸ˜…

Travis is grilling chicken and hot dogs, and I cooked homemade macaroni and cheese and corn on the cob.

I didn’t feel up to cooking a lot of food this holiday because it has been so hot this past week. πŸ₯΅

Hope you have a fun and safe holiday!

πŸ’œ XO

πŸ“Έ Feature image of Zhen when she was 4 years old. πŸ₯°β€οΈπŸ€πŸ’™


A morning at the farm store πŸ‘©πŸ½β€πŸŒΎ

Going to the local farm store has become one of our favorite things to do this summer.

We’ve been going biweekly to look at the flowers (and sometimes buy flowers πŸŒΈπŸ˜†), get fresh baked goods, and checkout any new products.

The kids love it because I always buy them lollipops. πŸ­πŸ˜…

In May, I bought some of our fruit and vegetable starts at the farm store.

I must say, I am very pleased with the plants we got because they have been growing so well in our little gardens. 😍🌱

On this particular day, we bought a dozen cinnamon sugar donuts 🍩 (for only $8!), deli meat and sub rolls for lunch πŸ₯ͺ, lollipops for the kids 🍭, a hanging flower basket for the front porch πŸ’, and fresh parsley for the swallowtail caterpillar we’re “raising” πŸ›.

Zaya (5) picking out lollipops at the farm store. πŸ₯°πŸ­

A few weeks ago, we found a butterfly egg on our garden parsley. Since then, we have been caring for the swallowtail caterpillar.

But I’ll share more on that story in a different post. πŸ˜‰πŸ›πŸ¦‹

Fresh parsley for Cali the caterpillar πŸŒΏπŸ›
Cali loves the parsley! πŸ₯°πŸ›πŸŒΏ

I was good, and I only bought three plants this time πŸ˜†πŸͺ΄: flowers for the porch, onion starts, and more parsley for the caterpillar (because I didn’t want it to eat all of the small parsley plants I had in my grow bag).

πŸ’œ XO


A little garden harvest πŸŒΆπŸ«›

Just a little garden harvest of banana peppers, green beans, and basil (to season tonight’s lasagna dinner).

The kids helped me water the front garden (because of this excessive heat πŸ₯΅), and they noticed a few beans and peppers looked ready to harvest.

A little garden harvest in the morning πŸŒΆπŸ«›
Harvesting green beans πŸ«›
Harvesting banana peppers 🌢

All week the temps have been in the high 90s. πŸ₯΅ We’ve had to deep water the gardensβ€”the front garden in the morning and the back garden in the evening.

I based the watering schedules on when each garden gets full sun. It’s been working pretty well for the plants, too!

More banana peppers growing! 😍

I noticed my energy has been low all week because of this excessive heat.

I focus on working in the garden early in the morning and later in the evening when it’s not too bad out.

I’m ready for it to rain so I can get a break from watering the garden and the temps will hopefully go down. πŸ˜†

πŸ’œ XO


6-7 chicken nuggets

The new addition to the “6-7” trendβ€”chicken nuggets! πŸ˜‚πŸ”

Tough day 😏, so let’s enjoy some flowers πŸ’

Daily writing prompt
What’s the best way to deal with negative thoughts?

This question of the day is very timely, as I am having a tough day on this Wednesday. 😏

Our minivan needs some costly repairs, and it’s our only vehicle. So, it immediately triggered my anxiety.

Negative thoughts and questions started swarming through my head, and I felt a little defeated, at first.

What about this…? What about that…? How will we…? How much will it cost…? Trying to hurriedly come up with solutions, and so on.

Beautiful Cosmos flower 🌸

Pause and just breathe

But instead of letting it get me down, I took a few slow deep breaths and quietly sat in the kitchen for a moment. 😌

The kitchen is the heart of our home, so it just made the most sense to pause here. πŸ’œ

I decided to stick with my morning routine: light the prayer candle, morning prayers, get the tea kettle on, tidy the kitchen, start breakfast for the kids.

And then I spent the rest of the morning in my garden. My happy place. 😊🌼

Potato flower in the garden! 😍πŸ₯”πŸŒΈ We will be harvesting potatoes very soon! This made me SO happy. 😊

It doesn’t make the problems go away. We will still have to get the minivan fixed. I know that.

But I also trust in God; He is my hope. πŸ™πŸ½

A timely message of encouragement

Yesterday, we went to the Tuesday evening Mass. Fr. Jim’s homily focused on having hope and trusting in Jesus even when life throws us some curve balls.

I’m thankful for his very timely message. It turned out I would need it this Wednesday morning. πŸ’œπŸ™πŸ½

Our spider flowes are doing their best in this heat. πŸ₯΅πŸŒΈ

And tending to the vegetable plants and admiring our flower blooms was the joy and peace I needed to help me take a break from the stress of auto repair issues. πŸ₯°πŸŒΈπŸ’œπŸ™πŸ½

πŸ’œ XO