Feel Good Friday
Hey y'all! We're wrapping up our third week of quarantine over here at the Rice house. We hope you’ve all been doing well & staying safe + healthy. We wanted to keep y’all caught up with how we’re doing & we want to hear how you are too! In case you didn’t see, we decided to take a break from the blog due to COVID-19 & the impact it’s having on our family. To read that post, click here.
what we've been up to...
Last Friday, my sisters & I made the quick decision to take a morning road trip to Manhattan to gather some things from my apartment that I've been wanting / needing. We were able to stop by our brother's house & deliver a box full of goodies to his front porch & then get to chat from a safe distance. While it was so good for us as siblings to finally be reconnected, driving away sure wasn't easy. We miss you, Ethan!
PS - his box full of goodies consisted of a couple gift cards to local businesses that I had & know he'd use up & ... wait for it ... our family's ENTIRE COLLECTION of Scooby Doo movies. When I asked him if he needed anything from home & this was his response, I truly thought someone was pranking me.
If there wasn't already reason enough, send a kid word to or say a prayer for college students! They are NOT WELL lol.
On Tuesday we shared a book review post! We've been doing quite a bit of reading with all of our newfound free time. Even Avery read a book & she does not consider herself much of a reader at all. ;)
Click here to read that post!
I've seen tons of pictures & videos on Facebook of different schools participating in parades through their towns so that teachers & students can see each other's faces & feel connected again. Our teeny tiny Kansas town participated in one & it brought tons of emotions to the surface that I didn't even realize / expect! My eyes filled with tears as I watched one of our local police officers leading a trail of teachers in vehicles (& even a front loader lol) waving pompoms & signs, bells & even percussion cymbals (lol I'm talking about you, Mrs. Craig)! The young neighbor kids on my block drew in their driveways with chalk & created posters to let their teachers & other school staff know just how much they were missed. My sisters decorated our driveway & it looked great! I saw teachers with the biggest smiles on their faces that I can remember being greeted by every single morning back when I was in third grade (I'm talking about you, Mrs. Kaufman). I saw new teachers with tears in their eyes because they're missing their students deeply. But most of all, I saw joy & laughter. Because these teachers know that everything is going to be okay. We got this!
This week, our local rec center started a walking challenge & my family is participating! Getting some fresh air & sunshine has been incredibly helpful to us so that we don't feel so alone & isolated inside our house. We got quite a bit of rain last week & I can tell it's working it's magic because all of a sudden everything became very green & there are beautiful flowers popping up everywhere! Watching things bloom reminds me that there is hope that we'll get to go back to our regular daily lives eventually.
We made bread from scratch! This homemade bread was truly wonderful! We had it for Sunday brunch along with some bacon & hardboiled eggs using my dad's favorite kitchen gadget, the egg cooker. My mom toasted some of the bread in a skillet with a little bit of butter & we were all tempted to eat the entire loaf! Posting the recipe below:
Ingredients:
3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
1 1/2 cups room temperature water
Instructions:
Dough prep: In a large mixing bowl, whisk the flour, salt, & yeast together until mixed. Stir in the water until a chunky, thick dough forms. If it needs a little more water, add a few more tablespoons, just enough to get it barely wet throughout. It's gonna look scrappy & weird & you're going to question me on whether or not this will work, but it will. Cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap & let it rest for 12-18 hours at room temperature. Overnight is ideal here, kids.
Prep for baking: When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 450. Stick a 6 quart enamel coated cast iron Lodge Dutch Oven (or similar) in the oven for about 30 minutes to heat. At this point, the dough should be big & puffy & pretty loose, with little bubbles in it. Gently scrape the dough out onto a well-floured surface. (Remember: NO KNEAD). Gently shape it into a ball with flour on the outside, set on a piece of parchment, & cover with plastic while your pan heats up.
Bake: Remove the plastic from the dough. Lift the dough & parchment together into the pan so the parchment lines the bottom of the hot pan (be careful not to touch the pan since it's very hot). Bake, covered, for 30 minutes. Remove the cover & bake another 10-15 minutes to get the exterior nice & golden brown & crispy. Voila! Done. Miracle no-knead bread, you boss you.
Is there anything better than a backyard fire + s'mores on a chilly Thursday night? We thought not! I truly think my dad could win a "perfect s'mores" competition. He makes the BEST ones -- golden & toasted all around, not burnt, so gooey it's about to fall off the stick ... mmm.
We had a beautiful weekend weather-wise -- sunny skies & minimal wind. It was just what we all needed! We spent the majority of our weekend outside doing all kinds of yard work including pulling weeds & rototilling. We have this really large section of our yard towards the back of our property for a garden & we're excited to get things planted!
Do you plant a garden?
This year my mom started doing one of the cutest things... Muffin Monday! Every Monday morning she makes muffins before my sisters go to school. Since this week was the first Monday where things were *somewhat* back to normal since the girls started their online school work, she got back into the groove of making muffins. This week she made lemon poppyseed & y'all, they were good. Linking to the recipe here.
Bethany & Avery started their online school work on Monday! Below are their "first day of school" pictures lol.
friday favs...
We wanted to share a few favorites of some comfy things we’ve bought recently from taking advantage of the online sales. When our orders arrived, we left them in the garage for a couple weeks before trying them on. This might sound crazy, but we’re taking every precaution to keep Bethany safe & COVID-19 out!
Due to my excessive need to be outside & feel the sunshine + cool breeze, I've been burned twice. Literally. I got a nasty sunburn two weeks in a row. I have naturally tan skin & even when I don't use sunscreen, I rarely burn. The last two weeks were a special occasion apparently. This aloe vera lotion saved my life! I like the lotion product better than just the gel because it keeps my skin moisturized & hydrated & stopped the peeling process.
Loving this lightweight soft quarter zip! It comes in ten different colors, including the soft blush pink that Avery is wearing in the picture above (far right). It's less than $20 & Amazon prime eligible!
Since coming into quarantine I've struggled a bit with my makeup routine. I had a pretty good routine when I was working everyday, but now that I don't see hardly anyone besides my family (& on the rare occasion that I do see another human being, it's from very far away)! Because of this, it's very easy for me to not want to put any makeup on... but then comes a zoom meeting & I'm suddenly wishing I didn't look like a ghost that just rolled out of bed lol. To compromise, I've been using NYX Bare With Me Tinted Veil Foundation. It's very light coverage, but gives me enough that I don't feel like I'm wearing absolutely nothing. It's a great product for summer, too! Plus, it's $11 or less so I'm not complaining about that either! They have lots of different shades, so hopefully it would be easy to find the perfect match for your skin. Another bonus is that it's cruelty free!
We've all been going on long walks to get out of the house & get some fresh air. My sister & I have been getting a lot of use out of our mesh sneakers! If you’ve been following along with us for awhile now, you’ve probably seen me talk about these shoes before, but that’s because they’re so stinkin’ good! These sneakers are the perfect mix between tennis shoes & Steve Madden slip on shoes & they're super comfortable. They’re light & breezy & all around just a wonderful shoe to have as an option. These shoes are less than $30 from Amazon & come in 33 different color options. They do run a little bit snug so I would suggest going up one size. These shoes are “light grey”.
A great Aerie purchase is this lightweight soft oversized long sleeve. I got it in this light grey color & it is everything I never knew I needed! I never want to take it off! It's so soft & cozy, but extremely lightweight so it works great for the chilly nights or rainy days we've been having lately. It comes in three other colors & is currently less than $35! I'm considering getting it in another color because it's that good!
Click here to see last week's post where I shared some other great options from Aerie!
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So how are YOU doing? Are you in quarantine as well? How are you spending your time? Drop your thoughts & comments below, or feel free to message us on Facebook or Instagram! We’d love to hear how you’re doing & what you’re all up to. We hope you have a great safe + healthy weekend!
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