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December 30, 2025 – Happy, Merry All of the Things!!

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Hello, Everyone! Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

Time has slipped away from me the past few months, worse than usual. I haven’t made enough time for giggleFritz and Co. I picked up a job this year at DD’s school. I have been working as the hot lunch coordinator and it has taken up much of my time. School has been on Christmas vacation for the last week and it has been wonderful to have some time off! I have been spending time with family, watching movies, doing puzzles, resting, and looking ahead to the new year.

Cozy!

I was looking back on my blog from last Christmas. I had stated that I did not have a Christmas-y Christmas and I wondered what Christmas would be like in a year. We bought a real Christmas tree last year and put the lights on, but we didn’t put any of our old ornaments on it. This year, same. Getting ready for Christmas this year was overwhelming again. However, when Christmas was over I was really happy. I think this year was a little better than last. I am hopeful next Christmas will be even better.

Wiener Schnitzel from Memory Game (90’s era) with Wiener Schnitzel Ornament from DD1

I received some VERY nice gifts from family and friends this year. One of my favorite gifts is from DD1. She gave me an ornament that reminded her of the the Wiener Schnitzel card from the game Memory from the 1990’s. I LOVE it! It is hanging on the tree right now and I will make sure I get it out next Christmas and every year after.

We are sitting down to New Year’s dinner in a little while. Then, we will ring in the new year with tv, movies, and junk food. It will be exactly how I want to celebrate New Year’s Eve!

Happy New Year!! May our wonderful Lord bless you richly in 2026!

Missie S. (giggleFritz!) 😀

July 18, 2025 – God knew I NEEDED a Sunflower

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Unplanned Sunflower 😀

Hello All! My garden this summer is not great. I haven’t been keeping up with it so good. It’s weed-choked and it’s… whatever. Back in March when I started some winter sowing in milk jugs I planted a jug of old snapdragon seeds and hoped for the best. Nothing came up. I finally saw something growing by the handle of the jug. I couldn’t really see it too well, but I was super excited something was growing and thought it had to be a snapdragon. When spring finally sprung I took off the top and knew the plant was NOT a snapdragon. It looked like a weed. I snapped a picture on my phone and used Google Lens to identify it. It turns out I grew a sunflower for some weird reason. Where did a sunflower seed come from? How did that get in my soil? Anyway, I transplanted the sunflower to the outdoor garden at the beginning of June and it was in full bloom by July 1st. It was a short guy too, only about 4 feet tall.

I’m really thankful for that beautiful sunflower! I didn’t get what I wanted (snapdragons) and the timing for a sunflower is really off, but it is what it is. God knew I needed a sunflower. He knows I HATE summer and struggle until the kids go back to school. What a blessing!

DD left for camp two days ago. We pick her up tomorrow morning. I can’t wait to see her and hear about everything they did. Until then, I have lots I want to get done. I am off to work on STUFF!

Have a great Thursday!

Missie S.

June 27, 2025 – Happy Summertime, from giggleFritz and Company!

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Hello, All! There’s always so much going on. I am stopping by (quickly) to share some things going on.

I painted this giggleFritz rock and I’m PROUD of it! 😀

My garden has been planted and is doing fine. Our weather is really strange this year. It was cold and rained frequently. We just got through three days of 90 degree F weather and I tried my best not to leave the house. Now it has been disgustingly humid and cloudy and I still don’t want to leave my house. I think my garden loves this weather, except the three dead tomatoes that I’ve had to replace.

I decided to plant some more potatoes in containers. Stein’s had a bunch of leftover seed potatoes again this year, so I picked up a bag at 90% off. Seriously, they were originally $12.99 and I paid $1.37 with tax. I can afford to experiment some more with potatoes in containers. AND when they flower they have beautiful purple flowers. AND…mashed potatoes! Winning all over the place!!

Potatoes for container planting – Superior Early-Season White (If they don’t turn out, it’s my own fault)

I like spiders and I don’t like spiders. But when you see certain spiders, you can’t help but yell out, “Hey, you wanna see a neat spider!” and DD comes running! We have had this good-sized black fuzzy spider in our front entry way. He’s neat! He hangs around our camera and eats LOTS of bugs. Of course this picture is zoomed in a bunch, but he’s neat! Green fangs!?

Our neat resident spider who has green fangs – He’s neat!

There is a ton of stuff going on, but I don’t have pictures of everything. I need to make more time for blogging and scrapbooks and things. I love looking back at this blog and remembering all the things that went on. I will work on it!

Have a Fantastic Friday and enjoy the beginning of Summer 2025!

Missie S. (giggleFritz)

May 12, 2025 – Handmade Mother’s Day Card

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Happy Mother’s Day – 1 day late! I had a very nice, full Mother’s Day weekend. Saturday morning we were up bright and early to go to breakfast with my DD #1, her husband, DD #2, and DH at Copper Penny in West Bend. Afterward, just us girls wandered around one of the local thrift stores and found some interesting and questionable items. That’s why we go! Next stop was Hobby Lobby for craft supplies.

In the afternoon, I took DD #2 to help with her school’s plant sale fundraiser. It was a beautiful day, yet DD had a pretty bad attitude and wasn’t cooperating very well. We sorted out all of the plants, then I took her home. I came back to help with plant pick up. We ended the day with DH seasoning our new grill and making smash burgers. I also had a pretty nice sunburn on my neck and shoulders. 🙁

Sunday morning we headed off to church, Bible Study, and Sunday School. It was the last day of Sunday School and the kids sang in the late service. After church we headed to my mother-in-laws house to have lunch with her, our cousin, and her kids. We ate, drank some nice wine, played games, and talked. It was great! We came home, DD made steaks and mushrooms on the new grill, and I went and practiced pitching for our coed softball game this Tuesday at the ball diamond near our house.

Mother’s Day Gifts!

I love ALL of the gifts and everything my family did for Mother’s Day this year! Not pictured is a green beaded bracelet DD #2 gave me in the card she made at school. She has really gotten into working with pony beads lately and made me one in my favorite color. I also LOVE the flower cards they made for “Mum’s Day”. I think we will make a few of those together in summer!

Handmade “Mum’s Day” card from school. (We aren’t British!)

I hope you had a wonderful Mother’s Day this year! May is looking to be a beautiful month. I know many farmers in the area planned on planting during Mother’s Day and celebrated with a nice lunch during a break. Many people are outside working in their yards and gardens, and our garden is rototilled and waiting to be planted. I pray it’s a wonderful growing year!

Have a Fantastic Monday!

Missie S.

March 28, 2025 – Spring Break, but we could use a Break from Spring…

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Hello! Fancy meeting you here (on my blog that I have a difficult time keeping up with)! Things are moving! Not fast, not slow, but they are moving right along. I am working on sock monkeys, but mostly homemaking things. This month I tried my hand at making yogurt in my crock pot and it turned out pretty nicely! I will share more on that later, but I am really glad I started on that. The yogurt is so delicious, more healthy, and cheaper to make than buying it from the store. I have also been making all of our bread, sourdough and regular white bread. I have been making bread for years, here and there. I have committed more time to this, however, after learning more about all the garbage they add to our cheap bread. Enough of that. We are doing better.

At the beginning of the month I started my tomato and bell pepper seeds. I still need to start some marigolds and other things, but I am so excited for my garden! When I am feeling down during one of our gloomy Wisconsin spring days, I look at my plants and think about my garden. Not so much about all of the weeds I’m going to pull and bug bites I will get, but pretty flowers and yummy veggies. 😀

Tomato (round pots) and Bell Pepper (square pots) seeds started on March 4, 2025, and 24 days later.

I also tried something new this year: winter sowing. With winter sowing you start your seeds in a mini greenhouse, like a milk jug or other plastic container with a lid. You plant your seeds in some dirt, cover the container, and put the container (greenhouse) outside where it is a little sheltered, but gets some sun. As the days warm up and cool down the plants germinate and grow like they would outdoors. You do winter sowing with hardy or semi-hardy seeds. For my first year experiment I planted two containers of broccoli, two containers of radishes, and one container of snapdragons. We will see how that goes. I can’t wait!

Winter Sowing 1st Year – Broccoli, Radishes, and Snapdragons

We are wrapping up spring break at DD’s school. Earlier in the week we enjoyed two nights at a waterpark in Wisconsin Dells. We had a blast! DD is at a friend’s a house and will be coming home in a few hours, so I am off to get a few things done before then.

I hope you are having an excellent Friday and looking forward to a great weekend!

Missie S. 😀