What's Up Wednesday: February 2023

It's the last Wednesday of the month and that means it's time for What's Up Wednesday with Sheaffer and Shay.  

What We're Eating This Week:
 

Sunday: This Tuscan chicken pasta (plain pasta and sauce for the younger two boys) with salad. 


Monday: I made some breaded chicken in the air fryer and served it with homemade French "fries" baked in the oven and some mixed vegetables.

Tuesday: Our Favorite Pot roast with roasted potatoes, green beans, and salad.


Wednesday: Unsloppy joes with chips (butternut squash "fries" for me) and salad


Thursday: Shake and bake pork chops with couscous (cauliflower rice for me) and broccoli

Friday: Homemade pizzas with salad.



Saturday: No cream Shrimp carbonara (pesto pasta for the younger boys)




What I'm Reminiscing About: With Alec having won a cake contest this past month I'm thinking back to his first cake decorating projects.

in 2015: he made a Harry Potter cake. 



in 2017 he made a cake for our family's 4th of July party.



And this is the cake(s) he made this month for the contest-- the first is tasting cake that doesn't have to look nice at all just so the judges can taste his flavors without wrecking his decorated masterpiece. 

I still think he did a great job on this one even though he was disappointed in how "messy" it looked.





What I'm Loving: Our weather has been amazing! Even though it's February I've spent a couple of days hiking without a coat; we even had our sunroof open for a couple of days last week! 


 
What We've Been Up To: We had a busy month filled with hiking and beautiful weather (other than the one really cold snap where we lost power and our bathroom pipes froze!).   









we attended the Fire and Ice festival where Alec won said cake contest (which you can read all about here)








What I'm Dreading:  I have got to start working on our taxes; I always hate tax season.  

What I'm Working On: I spent my month working on all our Disney scrapbooking pages and now that they're complete I'm ready to start tackling our Universal Studios pages.  (I'll have a full post up on Monday with all the cards and pages I made this month but here's a peek at a few of my favorites).






What I'm Excited About: Next month brings the first official day of spring! That makes me very excited.  

What I'm Watching/Reading: I've been watching lots of great shows and movies!  I found Uncoupled (Netflix) and watched the whole season in just a few days. I've started Fleishman is in Trouble and I'm enjoying more than I thought I would.  I enjoyed Shotgun Wedding (Prime), Your Place or Mine (Netflix), Valentine's Day (Prime), Look Both Ways (Netflix), & Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (Prime).  They were all super cute movies. My husband and I finished up National Treasure Edge of History (Disney+).  We watched You (Netflix) season 3 and can't wait for the rest of them to come out.  We went to see Avatar: The Way of the Water. 




I read 10 really great books this month and they were all so good!




What I'm Listening to: I FINALLY downloaded the Libby app and have been listening to books through our library whenever I'm working in the craftroom or cutting up vegetables/ fruit for dinner, or even driving around in the car. 

What I'm Wearing: Lots of pinks and reds and hearts for Valentine's day (month!).


















What I'm Doing This Weekend: I don't think we have any plans for the weekend. 

What I'm Looking Forward to Next Month: Alec has his SkillsUSA competition where he'll be competing in the baking category again for the second year in a row. 

What Else is New: I tried out some fun new Valentine nail wraps this past month.  They were all so cute!






Linking up with:






Comments

  1. Okay, I had other things to say but now I'm just looking for a red striped sweater. That is soooo cute!

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    1. It came in one of my Stitch fix boxes and I love it!

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  2. Alec should be so proud- his cake looks amazing- so funny that he thinks it is messy! Spring next month is getting me very excited too :)

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    1. Thank you! I thought he was nuts too and told him so when he didn't want me to photograph is tasting cake.

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  3. Your nails are so pretty! And I love your pink and red outfits. So fun and Valentine festive. I enjoyed We Were Liars quite a bit! I use our library app to download books to my Kindle but I never listen to audiobooks. I should probably think about doing that ;).

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    1. Aw, thanks! I now want to read the sequel to We Were Liars just to hear more about the family dynamics.

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  4. I know what you mean about the taxes - I feel like we just did them!!

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  5. Love your nails and sweaters and that's great you started listening to audio books!

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    1. Thank you! I was missing the audiobooks I used to listen to in the car but I always used CD's through the library and my new car doesn't have a CD player.

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  6. As a reader of your blog, I've had a lot of fun watching Alec grow up in front of my eyes. Those cakes were all fabulous. ❤️

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  7. Joanne, I love the awesome cakes your son has made! You read a lot of books, I like your outfits, and I love your nails.

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  8. The cakes!! WOW!! And I loved your son's cake. I've never made a coffee cup to put on a cake. Extremely impressive. I've also never made a stacked cake.

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    1. I never have either; the most I ever made was a 3 layer cake-- but all the same size layers! LOL.

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  9. Still amazed at all those beautiful cakes and Alec's amazing entry!

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  10. So fun to see his early cakes! I likes Your Place or Mine!

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  11. I love the progression of the cakes your son has made. What a great way to show how he's grown.
    And you said you didn't have many prints in your closet. I saw 2 stripes and Valentines leggings, Yay you!!
    OXOX
    Jodie
    www.jtouchofstyle.com

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    1. Thank you! I do have some stripes and I think even one or two polka dots and that's all thanks to Stitch Fix! I wouldn't normally pick them myself but I do like them when they send them.

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  12. I envy your weather! I am so over winter; it's snowing here again today. Bleh.

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  13. I just love your nails, they all look so pretty. Alec has been making amazing cakes for so many years. I can see that the snow is melting away in the photos from your hikes. Spring is definitely on the way for you guys!
    Ruth@playworkeatrepeat

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    1. Thank you!! I'm sure we'll have a bit more snow here and there but usually by March things start settling down a little. I hesitate to say that though as it has been such a mild winter so far I keep waiting for "real" winter to hit.

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  14. Tax season usually doesn't bother me (I don't do them anyway). But, we have to pay a bunch this year which really bothers me! Oh, well, it is what it is! Your food always looks so yummy! You should make a cookbook!

    https://marshainthemiddle.com/

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    1. I just find taxes really nerve wracking trying to remember everything I need to gather for our accountant and we were slammed with a HUGE bill last year after selling the company (which we warned about)-- so I have no idea what to expect this year.

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  15. Wow Alec really aced that cake - he's very talented! Also love, love, love your nail wraps! I used to always do my nails with wraps, I must get back to it. I still have a stack of them!

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    1. Aw, thank you! I think h's pretty talented too.

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  16. I followed your link to read about the cake contest and I'm so happy that Alec won! His cakes are always amazing. Lucky you to have a baker in the family!!! Does he enjoy cooking, too? Or just baking?

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    1. Aw, thank you!! He really only enjoys baking-- pastries, breads, and desserts is definitely where he shines but he will help with the cooking too.

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  17. Those meals look delicious. The cakes are incredible. What talent he has. I love the Amish mystery series by Linda Castillo. I'm so excited to see someone else who reads those novels. I've read Beach Read and Love on The Brain and I have the Finley Donovan books on my TBR.

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  18. Loved your smiling selfies...and wow, to the pipes freezing. Hopefully winter is on its way out. Lots of food pics here to drool over! Thank you for joining in this week’s link up for Wednesday’s Words and Pics. Next week I will be in ‘moving house’ mode, so no link up. All being well, the link up will be back on 8 March. Denyse.

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    1. Thank you! I'm hopeful our winter weather is nearly done too. Wishing you the best with your move!!

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  19. What a lovely wrap up and those cakes look fantastic. I used to make cakes for my grandchildren and try to do a theme of their choice. Thanks for joining us at #WBOYC and looking forward to you joining us next month. x

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  20. Hi, Joanne - Alec's cakes are incredible. He is exceptionally talented!
    I recently watched Mrs. Harris Went to Paris (on the plane) and found it very entertaining.
    It looks like you have had a rich and varied February.
    Wishing you a wonderful March ahead!

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  21. Those cakes are seriously impressive though the first pasta pic had me salivating along with that roast that looked soooo juicy!

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  22. I love your Valentine's Day nails...so pretty! The 4th of July cake is so cute! What a fun memory.

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    1. Thanks! They were fun; I like to find festive nail wraps whenever I can. I think that was Alec's first year making dessert for our family 4th of July and since then he's done it every single year with various recipes and designs and the family always asks "what did you make this year?"

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  23. Without fail, your hiking pictures always make me want to get outside and hike-- every single time!! I cannot believe how incredible those cakes were. And congratulations to Alec for winning the competition!

    Lauren @ Don't Mind Our Mess

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  24. Your Valentine nail wraps are SO cute!! I especially love the ombre glitter! I am dreading tax season too, ugh. I've actually been working on my taxes this morning. *insert crying emoji here* It's so fun to see Alec's evolution as a baker over the years!

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    1. Thank you! I'm pulling all our forms and things together this morning-- we do pay someone to do ours but I still have a lot of forms and things I need to pull out and get ready. I just find it so nerve wracking and I'm always worried I've forgotten something...

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  25. I loved seeing some of Alec's old cakes! He is so very talented!

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  26. LOL! Thank you and... I don't think so!

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  27. So much going on with you as always Joanne! Your son is very clever with his cakes. Enjoy sprin g, we're just heading into autumn down here. Thanks for joining us for #WBOYC this month, enjoy March :)

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