What's Up Wednesday: August 2021

It's the last Wednesday of August which means it's time for What's Up Wednesday with Sheaffer & Shay.  We're down to our last few days of summer with school starting for all three of my boys on Monday.  I'm trying to whip us all into some semblance of routine.  
What We're Eating This Week: I'll be sharing my monthly menu next Tuesday but here's a peek at a few of my favorite meals from the month:

Shrimp, veggies, and cauliflower rice bowl


My daily granola, fruit, & yogurt breakfast 


I made a teriyaki steak, green bean, and mushroom stir- fry and served it over white rice; it was a huge hit! 




What I'm Reminiscing About: My own childhood.  My younger sister left this past weekend with her entire family to move to North Carolina (moving just a few miles away from my older sister!).  We had a small cookout here for her and we were all swapping stories of growing up.  

(pictures from the cookout)





What I'm Loving: All the sweet treats we've been making, buying, and enjoying.. though I MUST get back to tracking WW points.

Ice cream from Ben and Jerry's-- Myrtle beach

Ice cream from Boombalati's-- Wilmington, NC


Espresso cheesecake for my mother in law's birthday

Frozen Oreo dessert from Alec's party

S'mores bars from our family cookout



What We've Been Up To: It was such a busy month! We started August in North Carolina visiting my older sister, her family, and my aunt and uncle.  We went to Airlie Gardens, the carnivorous plant garden, WonderWorks, Fort Fisher, the beach, and stopped on our way home to hike Bushkill Falls in Pennsylvania. (I linked the post summarizing each place we went to).













Once home the boys and I started hiking nearly every week and spent some time cooling off in the lake. We fixed our beach and hosted two parties; the already mentioned cookout for my family and a party for all of Alec and his friends.  We went fishing and kayaking too.  
















What I'm Dreading: As I write this (on Sunday August 22nd) we're anticipating a hurricane to hit our state and I'm really dreading that we could be without power.  We're being told to expect our power to be out anywhere from 9-21 days and for some reason our part of the state is usually on the longer end (probably because we are so rural and they focus on more populated areas first). 



What I'm Working On: I'm trying really hard to finish up my last two books of the month! I'm currently reading The Last Collection and The Hot Flash Club.

What I'm Excited About: I'm starting to get just a bit excited about the approach of fall.  Jeans, sweaters, leaves turning colors. I love the change of seasons. 

What I'm Watching/Reading: The latest season of Outer Banks, The Movies That Made Us, My Cousin Vinny, Mickey Blue Eyes,  The Hangover part 3 (basically I'm having lots of fun re-watching old favorite movies!), The White Lotus, the latest season of Grace and Frankie, and began re-watching Schitt's Creek.

I'll have my monthly book post up on Monday and so far I've read (or nearly finished reading) 10 books.  I'd be hard pressed to pick a favorite but Come Away With Me made my cry-- in a good way, and The Seven Day Switch made me laugh. 



 
What I'm Listening to: All the boats and jet skis getting in one last ride on the lake for the weekend. 

What I'm Wearing: A whole mix of things as our weather has been all over the place. 






The new sandals I picked up in Myrtle Beach have been getting lots of use!






What I'm Doing This Weekend: We have zero plans.

What I'm Looking Forward to Next Month: My uncle is supposed to be coming to visit and Evan turns 14! 

What Else is New: We got some new curtains for the basement and looked at a lot of furniture options.  We haven't ordered anything yet but we do want a sectional.




Linking up with:



Comments

  1. Oh, it looks like you have been squeezing all the fun (and best food!) out of August. I'm sorry your sister is moving so far away :( That's always hard. I can't wait for a full basement tour once everything is done!!!

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    1. I will miss my sister but it also makes me happy to know that both my sisters are living so close to one another.

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  2. How'd you fair in the storm? We got 8 inches of rain!

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    1. We definitely got a lot of rain and we did lose power for about a day and half but we faired so much better than they had predicted.

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  3. What a fun month! So fun furniture shopping -the boys look like they are actually enjoying it! :)

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    1. They really did seem like they were enjoying shopping! They tried out so many sofa's.

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  4. Minus the hurricane, it looks like a great month! I love the outfits and all the sweet treats.

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  5. I saw that the hurricane was heading towards the northeast which is so uncommon. We're used to them down here, but I bet y'all aren't at all up there! I hope you guys kept your power! 9-21 days without power would just be pure insanity! I've never heard of anyone losing their power for that long unless something catastrophic happened.

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    1. Yeah they don't often make landfall up here. The last time one hit we were without power for over two weeks. This time they had so many extra trucks from all over in state before the storm and then since it didn't hit as hard as they had feared we were only without power for a day and a half.

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  6. I hope the return to school goes well. We're not back for a couple of weeks yet.
    All of your meals look so good especially your breakfast.
    It looks like you had a lovely time with your family. Everyone seemed to be having a lot of fun.
    What a great end to the summer x

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    1. I am finding that I am so anxious about the return to school this fall! I'm thinking it's more because Ian is starting college than Alec going back to school but I am all keyed up.

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  7. I love your blue/white shorts with the white shirt! And I’ll have to go back and read your Airlie gardens post— we love Airlie gardens!! Good luck with the hurricane— hoping you don’t end up losing power

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    1. Thanks! Those were a birthday gift from my husband that I picked out at Talbots. You'll definitely have to check that out; my sister painted one of the owls they have on display!

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  8. Reminiscing on childhood is so fun, especially with siblings! Hope the storm doesn't affect you all too much this weekend.

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    1. It is a lot of fun! The hurricane came through last Sunday/ Monday and our power is already back on. Luckily it was downgraded to a tropical storm before it made landfall.

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  9. I’m sorry your sister is moving so far away. Far away sisters are tough! I hope you guys got through Henri without any power loss or trouble! Have a great rest of the week!

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    1. At least my sisters are near each other so when I want to visit I can just go to the same place and see them both. Our power was out but only for a day and a half so I consider that a real win.

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  10. August looks like a good month. I want that espresso cheesecake. Cheesecake is my weakness when it is good. I need to take my selfies the way that you do. I never know how to get a good outfit of the day photo.

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    Replies
    1. I have a hard time with good selfies too and in a mirror is pretty much the only way I can seem to get them done. I LOVE cheesecake; it is definitely my weakness.

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  11. I like your casual summer outfit and all the tasty food and treats is making me hungry, haha!

    Fingers crossed you survive the storm without losing power for so long!

    Hope your week is going well! It's a cold one here for the last few days of winter!

    Away From The Blue

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    1. We are having a major heat wave here and trying to keep cool! LOL. Hope you stay nice and warm.

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  12. Joanne,
    I am not far from the Pocono's at all....
    Do you know that you were only about 45 minutes to an hour away from e when you were at Bushkill Falls???? I am not far from the Pocono's at all!! We went there several times when the boys were young and hiked the Falls...A beautiful place in the Fall!! Thanks so much for stopping by!! Stay safe, healthy and happy!!
    Hugs,
    Debbie

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    1. Oh wow! I had no idea you were that close to the Poconos! I love that area.

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  13. It looks like you’ve had a fun, busy and happy august, except for your sister moving! I hope the storm didn’t cause too much damage.

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    1. It didn't cause much damage at all; thankfully!

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  14. Wow! What a phenomenal month you had!
    I just finished watching the second season of Outer Banks the other day and it left me in awe! I haven't done much reading lately but I am finishing The Woman in Cabin 10 - the first impressions wilted down by the end.
    Hope you are all safe during the hurricane!!!

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    1. I remember reading The Woman in Cabin 10! It was a real puzzler at first.

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  15. Looks like a great month! I'm dying over the oreo dessert. Looks so good.

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  16. How did you guys fare with the rain and winds of Ida? Hope you are safe and sound.
    That owl is adorable and your flower photos are beautiful. I like the way the one bloom on the pink Jack-in-the-pulpit-looking seems to be peaking around from behind the other. It almost looks like a face with bug eyes. Or am I seeing things?
    Made a ice cream sandwich dessert the other day and thought of you. Pretty sure it would be a hit with your gang. Love the idea of the expresso cheesecake and the Oreo dessert. My BFF makes a delicious Oreo lasagna.
    Everyday I say I am going to start tracking and I might get breakfast tracked but then by dinner, I have fallen off the bandwagon. And my clothes are tight and my tummy is soft and chubby. Ugh!!

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    1. That's how I'm starting to feel-- I am no liking my tight clothes and feeling like my tummy is all soft and squishy!

      We have had SO MUCH rain here the last few weeks and then Ida dumped a good 4-8 inches more. Most of the areas in our state had some sort of flooding and our docks were once again under water BUT we personally made out OK with no real damage and the lake has already gone back down quite a bit.

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