Friday Thoughts

Friends! Hi.

It’s been a long while since I’ve checked in with a Friday Thoughts post, and I’ve really missed you! I’m determined to bring back Friday Thoughts with more regularity since they are some of my favorite posts to write (and to read your comments on!).

How are you? Like, really, HOW ARE YOU?

The last few months have been a whirlwind around here. I’m sure many of you feel the same way.

Here are five things that have been on my mind, and as always, I’d love to hear from you in the comments!

Life Lately

It has finally warmed up here, which means the pastures and grass are growing like crazy and we are spending a lot of time outside (weeding – SO.MANY.WEEDS).

Our fruit trees are blooming, and we just planted five more! (And by we, I mean Brian.) We already have two apple, two plum, three peach and a cherry. Now we also have two pear trees, another cherry, two apricot and one nectarine.

I have zero words of advice about growing fruit trees. Our soil is lousy. But we’re learning as we go, and hopefully this year our established fruit trees will reward us with some actual fruit (not eaten by wasps and earwigs!).

This spring has been crazier than I expected. Life certainly has a way of throwing curveballs when you least expect them. A few months ago, Brian’s position at work was unexpectedly eliminated. It definitely wasn’t something we were prepared for, but we have seen so many unique blessings come our way in the midst of it, including opportunities for Brian to start working for himself, which is something he has always wanted to do.

Within the first few days of Brian being home full-time and experiencing the to-do lists I was leaving for him as a way to “help” him keep busy during the interim of finding new employment, he politely but firmly declared he wanted a new boss. 😂

I’m grateful, more than ever, for this blogging space. I genuinely love being here because I get to interact with you, but this blog also helps provide financially for our family (which is a huge blessing right now). I’ve been intensely working on a few additional blog projects the last couple of months, and thanks to some deadlines, I don’t think I’ve ever been this sleep-deprived in my life! I think I’m seeing light at the end of the tunnel, which is good, because my kids need their mom back in non-zombie form.

As for the kids, they are busy as ever with spring sports, lining up summer jobs, working on the property (now that the weeds are growing faster than we can pull them), buying more cows at the cattle auction to raise, and all the other ups and downs and ins and outs of kid/teen life, including NEW TEENAGE DRIVERS. Pray for me.

We’ve also officially entered the phase of figuring out how to parent a young adult. Since I don’t even have the teenager chapters figured out yet, I feel like someone should probably come take my parenting license away?? 😉 I do NOT feel qualified to do this. My fake it ’til you make it motto is holding strong.

Hair Loss

Thanks to a combination of aging, thyroid issues, stress and who knows what else, my hair is STRUGGLING. I’ve never had overly thick, luscious hair, but it’s definitely thinner than ever, especially along my part line.

Just like anything health-related, google searches leave me overwhelmed (and kind of alarmed – wow, some of the proposed solutions are intense 😳).

My thyroid levels and blood work are all normal right now. I also tried Nutrafol after hearing so much about it, but I stopped taking it after a few weeks because it really upset my stomach (I think due to the biotin, which tends to make my stomach feel not so great).

Anyway. Just another fun side effect of my 40’s. Yay!

If you have any tips to share on helping thin, struggle-bus hair, I’d love to hear them!

Workout Love

Last year, I started following a weight lifting program, Sadie Active App, after seeing a friend post about it. I’ve always been *fairly* decent at moderate exercise, but I wanted to start implementing more weight training, which I’ve only done sporadically over the years. (This is completely unsponsored, I pay for my own monthly membership.)

I am hooked! This is by the far the best workout program I’ve ever done (here is Sadie’s Instagram account if you want to learn more). I’ve been doing the weight training workouts on the app since September, and I feel stronger than ever.

The thing I love most is that the app tells me exactly what to do, how many times to do it, and has videos to show the proper form. No guess work, which is exactly what I need. Also, the workouts are different every week, which is great for my personality that gets bored with repeated workouts really easily.

You can choose the “gym” setting or “home” setting. I’m mentally allergic to working out in public, so I always exercise at home. I don’t have an official home gym, just some random exercise equipment stuffed up in our bonus room.

I prefer to set the app to the “gym” setting and do the exercises at home, modifying the exercises to work with my minimal equipment.

A few key pieces of equipment I use for home workouts. The links below are affiliate links from Amazon; shop around locally or elsewhere online for the best prices.

• adjustable dumbbells
• thick booty bands (Sadie uses these a lot in the exercises)
• thinner loop exercise bands
• resistance bands
• exercise bench or step (I have an old one called the Fanny Lifter from The Firm days if anyone remembers those epic videos 😂)

Optional home equipment that can be added later or is a bonus if you already have it: kettlebells, exercise ball, pull-up bar, bar with heavier weights.

The workouts are 45-60 minutes, but can easily be shortened by cutting all the reps in half. I try to get in 3-4 weight workouts a week plus a few low-intensity cardio workouts if I have time (like walking on the treadmill, riding bikes with the fam, etc).

I can’t say enough about this workout app. I look forward to exercising (even though I know I’m going to be sore!), and it has helped me build muscle and get stronger (sorry, no flexing selfies). I love it!

K-dramas

Well, I’ve officially jumped on the K-drama train. Even though my entire extended family was waxing poetic about Crash Landing on You (as well as everyone else in the world, it seemed), I resisted. Mostly because I don’t watch TV very often, and when I do, I like to be able to multi-task. However, reading subtitles seriously restricts multi-tasking, so I resisted.

I got really sick in February and while laying in bed for over a week, I decided to finally dive in.

I watched Crash Landing on You and loved it so much, I’ve been rewatching it over the last month or so with Brian and Cam (it is extremely adorable how invested Camryn is in the characters). It also has seriously fueled my desire to travel to Switzerland. The two main characters are actually married in real life, so that’s fun for all of us at-heart romantics! You have to get through the first few quirky episodes and then it really gets good.

After a few minutes, you barely notice you’re reading subtitles. In fact, I swore I was fluent in Korean after I finished the series. 😂

For Cam’s birthday earlier this month, I gifted her this finger heart shirt {aff. link} (an endearing gesture in many K-dramas). She’s worn it almost every day since. 😍

I used to listen to a podcast or book when walking on the treadmill or riding the exercise bike. Now it’s all about K-dramas. I have zero regrets.

I’ve watched Business Proposal, Hometown Cha Cha Cha, and Crash Course in Romance. All of them fantastic for different reasons. I wasn’t a big fan of Forecasting Love and Weather or Her Private Life – didn’t finish either of those.

Cam and I just started watching Start-Up and are loving it. So far K-dramas have been clever, funny and clean, and I’m wondering if I’ll ever watch a non-subtitled show again. Oh, one word of advice: if the K-drama show has the ability to watch it dubbed over in English, don’t. I tried that with Business Proposal and it was ridiculously jarring.

Have you jumped on the K-drama train yet? If so, what are your favorites? Extraordinary Attorney Woo is next on my list to watch!

Things I’m Loving

Ok, I’ll end this with a few things I’ve been loving lately! {Affiliate links included for the things I’ve bought on Amazon – nothing is sponsored; I buy the stuff I love myself.}

• This is my favorite dress summer dress (especially after trying the famed Somerset dress that everyone raves about – it made me feel like a frumpy pioneer). This dress is flowy, light and much less expensive! I have it in green and floral pink.
• I use this foot cream every night before bed. It’s amazing.
• Do you hate melting butter and having it explode everywhere in the microwave? Yeah, me, too. I saw these microwave butter melters on Instagram, and so far, they are definitely saving my sanity.
• A while back I asked on Instagram stories about non-smearing mascara, and received hundreds of responses with recommendations of mascara to try. The top suggestions were tubing mascara, which I had never heard of before (living under a rock over here), so I decided to give it a go. First, I tried the L’Oreal Double Lash mascara that was recommended the most, but didn’t love it. I tried Thrive Causemetics liquid lash next, and I looooove it. I’ve been using it for several months now and am a super fan. It’s definitely more expensive than the every day waterproof mascara I used for years (and it’s not waterproof, but I’ve gotten used to that)…but it lasts a really long time. Yay!
• I bought this ceramic baking dish for a recent photo shoot, and it’s become one of my favorite baking pans! It would make a great Mother’s Day gift (for yourself or someone else!) 😉
• This is my favorite self-tanner. It’s very subtle, works gradually, and gives me just the hint of color I want on my lily white legs. The classic self-tanner smell is present but not overly strong. I use it a couple of times a week in the morning. Once it dries, I add a layer of the body lotion I use every day and don’t notice the smell much at all.
• My siblings and I bought this digital picture frame for my mom’s birthday earlier this year. She had an old one that she kept constantly on her kitchen counter, but we couldn’t add pictures to it remotely, so all the pictures were at least 10 years old. This new frame allows all of us kids to upload pictures via an app on her phone, which is awesome since three of us live several states away from my mom. She’s loving it!
• I bought this vacuum mop and after several months, I’m still really, really appreciating the value it adds to my life. Technically the appeal is that it vacuums and mops at the same time. I still give my floors a quick sweep before using it to minimize the amount of junk I have to clean out of it after. Because our downstairs is mostly LVP flooring and we live off a dusty long driveway and on 25 acres, my floors get n.a.s.t.y. This mop is as easy as vacuuming and I love it so much. It’s a bit of a pain to clean after but still very much worth it to me. I don’t use the cleaning solution sold with it; I just use water and it cleans spectacularly well.

Thanks for being here, friends.

Life has been a bit messy and heavy lately, particularly in respect to motherhood and all the ups and downs of that, but I also have so much to be grateful for, which means in the midst of feeling all the feelings, crying the tears and screaming in the pillows, I’m also trying to look for the blessings, too, and there are many.

Next week, I’ll be hitting the blog with a fun, free resource for kids graduating and leaving home, and there are also several phenomenal new recipes coming your way this month!

This is one of my happy places, and I’m really grateful for all of you! Love your guts! 💗