A couple of weeks ago, a lady I follow on Instagram shared a photo of one of her sons being dropped off at college. Her caption started like this:

"Just said goodbye (for now) to my boy as we dropped him off at college.
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And I looked into his eyes and said the same thing that I’ve spoken over him and his brothers consistently for the past eighteen years:
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• You are a man of integrity, character and honesty....​
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• You are a leader. You are not a follower.
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• You have the mind of Christ because the Spirit of God lives within you.
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• You are not made to fit in with the crowd - never have been, never will be. You are different & set apart...."

​Here is the full post so you can see the other things she said. (Priscilla Shirer is a Christian author and speaker, so her list is focused on God!)

I love the idea of speaking things over my children like this. I started to think of things I say a lot, but they aren't really things like hers. That doesn't mean they're bad or wrong, just different.

I'd love to have some family mantras, you know? Some things I say so much that, by the time my kids are grown, those things will pop up in their brains even as adults.

Do you have any that you'd like to share with me? If I get enough responses, I'll share some next week!

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Mushroom bacon

Oooo this is a good one.

I love bacon, don't get me wrong. But this little switch-up is fun and delicious! This past week, I used mushroom bacon to top our twice-baked potatoes.

In case the image doesn't work for you, here's a simple text version of the recipe!

• Wipe your mushrooms clean with a dry rag.
• Slice them thinly.
• Arrange them in a single layer on a baking sheet.
• Brush them with melted butter (or oil). Sprinkle them with salt.
• Bake for 50 minutes at 300F until crispy! (They will not get crispier as they cool.)

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"So that..."

I saw this recently and really liked it. I'd heard something similar before, but it's always good to be reminded of your why!

Do you have a goal? Of course you do; we all do. Some are small, some are big. Some of us have a lot, others just have a few main ones. But we are always headed somewhere, on a path to something.

Here are a few of my goals right now:

• I want to get more physically fit.
• I need to do a daily Bible study.
• I have got to stop micromanaging everyone and everything all the time.
• I would like to plan a nice family vacation.

Now what I need to do is go back to that list and add "so that..." to the end of them. Then finish the sentence.

• I want to get more physically fit so that I can sleep better, feel more confident, and not have a backache from holding the baby!
• I need to do a daily Bible study so that I can maintain my relationship with God so that I will feel less anxious.
• I have got to stop micromanaging everyone and everything all the time so that I can focus on my own decisions more and so that I can focus on the positives around me.
• I would like to plan a nice family vacation so that we can connect and fill our cups so that we will all have more patience and love with each other!

Give it a try! I hope that helps you like it helped me!

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Recipe cards?

I'm going to create a big bundle of recipe cards for my favorite recipes. They will each fit on to a 3x5 note card (maybe a little larger, I don't know yet).

If you have any specific recipes you would want me to include, please let me know!

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Let me tell you about Canva

First, let me just say, this isn't a sponsored plug. I don't really do sponsored stuff. I just really like Canva and want to share how I use it!

Second, it's been one of my favorite blogging, social media, and homeschooling tools for YEARS. I have had the free version the whole time, and it's just fantastic.

​Canva is a website (and app, although the app isn't as great) where you can create beautiful graphics in just about any size, for any purpose.

You know those binder pages I made and sold a few years ago? All done in Canva.

They've got a new (to me, anyway) option where you can create a series of posts that are all cohesive. There might be 4-5 templates that have the same color scheme and fonts, and you just put in your own photos and text. You can almost always change any color, font, size, layout, so it's easily customizable.

Anyway, just wanted to share that fun resource that I really love and use all the time!

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Adsumudi

My dear friend Barbara sent Alexander this game for his 8th birthday.

As a math obsessed person, I love it. At first, Alexander thought it was too hard (because we didn't actually read the directions). Once we realized how it works, he is just as obsessed as I am. He's played it every day since we got it!

​Adsumudi (stands for Add, Subtract, Multiply, and Divide) is a mental math game. Each card has 1-3 stars depending on overall difficulty. Each card also has 6 numbers on it: there are the 5 numbers you use in your calculation, and then the 6th number (in the middle) is your goal number.

A beginner would use 2 or more numbers to reach the goal number.
Intermediate would use 3 or more numbers to reach the goal.
Hard is 4 or more, and the extra hard level player must use all 5 numbers. THAT is tricky!

Here's an example. Can you use 21, 7, 2, 18, and 9 to reach an answer of 12?:

• Beginner: 21 - 9
• Intermediate: 21 - 7 - 2
• Hard: 21 - 7 - (18/9)
• Very hard: 9/(21-18) + 7 + 2

When Alexander and I play, he plays intermediate, and I play hard!

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My fav recent TikTok videos

I haven't shared my favorites in a while, so it was so hard to pare this down. Enjoy!

1. For my fellow Math geeks, here's a video about fractals! It's 3 minutes, just a heads up.
2. Have you ever seen drip sandcastles? They are lovely and apparently pretty hard to accomplish!
3. ​Vocab quiz! How many did you get right?
4. This lady paints the edges of books, and it's gorgeous!

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Just a note

I've been active on social media for about 7 years. The first year, I didn't have a following of any kind, so I just posted what I felt like and didn't worry what anyone thought.

Then one day, a lady commented that she followed my recipe exactly and it didn't work out right at all. I looked back, and I had just guessed at the measurements!! I was WAY OFF. I just did not think anyone would even try it. Face palm.

Fast forward to a few years later, and I have 10,000+ followers and growing. I started trying to curate my feed, make sure everything looked perfect. I spent hours learning how to take better photos, I bought food props, I even started a cookbook with a company, but it wasn't bringing me any sort of joy anymore.

That's when I decided to switch my username to just my name.

Over the last year or so, I've gotten less and less concerned with who follows me, how many likes or comments I get, and I'm just trying to share what I enjoy, regardless of how others receive it.

I'm so grateful for those of you who have stuck around all these years, those of you who are new, those who comment and reply, those of you who just quietly listen or read or watch. I appreciate you guys so so much, and I just wanted to make sure you knew that.

Have a great week!

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