Hello and welcome to another great weekend!
And what better way to enjoy it, in full, than with a visit to Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot! for July 17, 2026!
What makes this link-up special is that we encourage you to link up not only your current posts and good ideas, but also the great stuff in your archives! Yes, let's all show some love for those great posts resting in the archives, until you share them again.
Yes, that's right! We love all your new posts. But those older posts are not only encouraged, they are welcomed and very appreciated! So don't hold back, share, share and share some more! Because great ideas don't go out of style...they just rest quietly in the archives, until you share them again, right here!
Wait, did I hear that correctly? Yes you did!
Huh?, did you say, older posts are welcome too? Yep, we sure did. And UNLIMIED sharing as well. So let's give those older (and STILL really great, by he way!) posts some recognition and respect. Because let's be honest, last month's or even last year's creative work is still great work, simply buried in the archives...and why we encourage you bring them out and share them all right here!
At each Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot, we look forward to seeing all your great projects, ideas, recipes, crafts and any other family friendly blog posts you wish to share.
Bring them on, all of them, because, in our opinion, the more the merrier!
Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot is currently shared over three FIVE blogs: Let us introduce ourselves! We each offer a different perspective on life and hope you enjoy not only this link-up, but all that you may find, when you visit any of our personal blogs!
Marsha@ Marsha in the Middle - Marsha started blogging in 2021 as an exercise in increasing her neuroplasticity. Oh, who are we kidding? Marsha started blogging because she loves clothes, and she loves to talk or, in this case, write! You can find her on her blog, Marsha in the Middle.
Rena@ it's all fine What Ever tickles the fancy ~ Rena joins us from Southern California where she has lived forever!. She is a proud wife, mom and retired woman who now after years of left brain work in the workforce is itching to use that right brain side in her continued zest for life!
Cat@ Cat's Wire ~ Cat loves all things "cat" along with books, movies, crafting and more cats! Wait, did I mention cats? She joins us from Germany where she also works in communications and media, when she is not creating or crafting!
Melynda@ Scratch Made Food! & DIY Homemade Household - Our name says it all! Scratch cooking and baking while living on a three generation homestead in East Texas. In my spare time I garden, chase chickens, spend as much time as possible with my grandson, cook and bake bread, oh and knit. Life is good!
Lisa@ Boondock Ramblings - Lisa shares about the fiction she writes and reads, her faith, homeschooling, photography and much much more on her blog, Boondock Ramblings.
Cat@ Cat's Wire ~ Cat loves all things "cat" along with books, movies, crafting and more cats! Wait, did I mention cats? She joins us from Germany where she also works in communications and media, when she is not creating or crafting!
I invite you to follow our hosts on their individual blogs and on any of the social media pages you visit, making it easy to keep up to date with just about every little thing going on! And there are many...many little things! We tend to be a busy group.
It's our goal to honor all bloggers at Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot! And our new feature, that I am most excited about? As promised, we have rebooted the reboot! In honor of the bloggers who take the time each week to share their creative content with us. We will be featuring a different blogger each week! We invite you to stop by the featured blogger's blog, take a look around and say hello!
This week we are featuring...
It's our goal to honor all bloggers at Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot!
And our new feature, that I am most excited about? As promised, we have rebooted the reboot! In honor of the bloggers who take the time each week to share their creative content with us. We will be featuring a different blogger each week! We invite you to stop by the featured blogger's blog, take a look around and say hello!
From Sonata Home Design,
Hi, I’m Missy, and I believe decorating a home isn’t about following trends…it’s about composition and courage! Courage to embrace yourself!
After more than 35 years as a music teacher, I now teach a symphonic approach to home design. I help you compose rooms filled with color, harmony, and joy using the very same principles I spent decades teaching in the choir room.
That’s the heart of Sonata Home Design.
In music, a sonata is built with intention. There’s structure, contrast, emotion, and flow. Homes work the same way.
From me:
I love the way Missy approaches the task of creating the perfect room. Because our home should be the most comfortable place we spend our time in. While surrounded by beautiful accent pieces that reflect our interests and if we are lucky sharing space mementos from travel and gifts from friends. Home should soothe the soul....
Do stop by and say hello to Missy @sonatahomedesign.
We would love to have additional Co-Hosts to share in the creativity and the fun! If you think this would be a good fit for you and you like having fun (come on now, who doesn't?!) while still being creative, drop one of us an email and someone will get back with you!
From Sonata Home Design,
Hi, I’m Missy, and I believe decorating a home isn’t about following trends…it’s about composition and courage! Courage to embrace yourself!
After more than 35 years as a music teacher, I now teach a symphonic approach to home design. I help you compose rooms filled with color, harmony, and joy using the very same principles I spent decades teaching in the choir room.
That’s the heart of Sonata Home Design.
In music, a sonata is built with intention. There’s structure, contrast, emotion, and flow. Homes work the same way.
And now back to our regularly scheduled Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot!
What's happening at our house?
July and August are tough months in East Texas. The weather is too hot and/or humid for standard home garden crops without a shade cloth cover overhead. So I have made the decision to rebuild my beds with compost, make changes to how or where I am growing something and plan the fall garden crops. And with this years abundance of weeds, I will need July and August to get things cleaned up!
And I am still learning when to plant, these pumpkins are a few months early. It is a good thing I give one to the hens each week. We did replant pumpkin seeds so we have some at Halloween...
But we also have other things going on as well!
We are down one chicken, from our last hatched group. We have repositioned the trail cam to better see what is coming this way, for dinner. And if you look closely at the photo on the right, up there between the ceiling and the beam? That is a snake, who has been enjoying our eggs for dinner! They are usually Rat Snakes, and do not bite nor are they dangerous. But I do not take care of getting them gone and out of the coop. That falls to my son-in-law. Why? Because in the end, I am still a young girl at heart, and some things are simply too icky for me to do (if I am being perfectly honest, LOL!) even at my advanced age of seven decades plus one year.
This is real life, on a homestead.
Homesteading is not just cute goats romping around, pansies that don't need water or your time and never ending blueberries to pick! Predators live here. We have fox, coyotes, wild boar, and feral dogs that run in packs. Our weather can be unbearable and just when you think the day didn't end too badly, the water line into the house is dry from a break further up the line, that took place after the water office closed...
But in so many ways I love this life.
I test myself everyday for how much I can do, and get done. I have doubled my physical strength since moving here. I actually feel strong! And that is something I never felt working in an office. I can operate the working end of a shovel and a pitchfork, I haul heavy bags of feed, manure and compost from the car to the garden. And speaking about blueberries I have already picked and eaten my harvest this year! And I have to tell you, there is something so soothing about picking blueberries one by one while you listen to the birds sing. Thank you for reading this passage, the creative side is where my heart thrives!
Why did my husband and I put together a tiny house homestead here in East Texas?
Our Tiny Home!
Turns out, it is a bit of an interesting story, you can read about it here if you like...and now that we are settled in, we have also made a photo tour of our 5thwheel tiny home. You really must be organized to fit it all in, cooking, gardening, homesteading and also a bit of fun from time to time!
And from time to time when inspiration strikes, I write about it all. The good, the bad, and all the other stuff from years ago, if you have an interest in creative thoughts down on paper...you could take a gander here. And now From the Heart Vol II can be found here.
And...
I try each day to get out and take a moment for myself to observe and see the daily changes taking place on our property. These moments taken out wandering have helped me find small repairs needing done as well as a rose that might have just bloomed!
I decided to photograph these findings for enjoyment yes, but also to observe the land around me along with the changes (and hopefully improvements through the years.) You can find those photos at our Welcome to our Homestead page.
In case you missed them, here are two of our favorite recipes that we enjoy on regular rotation from Scratch Made Food & DIY Homemade Household.
And these, that caught my eye!: One from each page of shared posts!
Back Yard Cottage Garden UPDATE. @debbiedabbleblog
Apricot Bundles. @godsgrowinggarden
Affordable Card Making Tips and Tricks. @thriftingwonderland
Along with, this random pick!
Graduation and Summer Cocktails. @honeybearsandsydneybeans
And now on to the Link-up. A BIG Thank You to all that share and visit with us at WTJR. We appreciate it very much! Because any link-up is always made more fun by those who visit to share and visit with others. Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot wouldn't be the same, without you!
Just a note or two about linking up with Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot:
This link party is for blog posts only and all other links will be deleted.
Please link only blog posts you created yourself.
Please link directly to the URL of your post and not the main address of your blog.
Please do not add links to videos, sales ads, or social media links such as YouTube Shorts, Instagram, Facebook reels, TikTok videos or any other social media content.
But do take a moment to visit other blogs and give the gift of a comment.
Notice: By linking with Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot, you assert that the content and photos are your own property. And you give us permission to share said content if your post or blog is showcased.
We welcome unlimited, family friendly content. Including, opinion pieces, recipes, fashion ideas, crafts, thrifting, personal book reviews, and photography.
Thank you for joining us! And now, on to the link-up.
You do work hard! Me too, I don't bother exercising in the summer as gardening is my exercise. There have been so many snakes in my garden this year. I don't know what's going on. Thanks for the party.
ReplyDeleteAmy I do a walking routine the year round, I just get double steps on gardening days! Thanks so much for stopping by, I appreciate it. Have a wonderful week ahead!
DeleteThanks for hosting. I always find some interesting posts. Have a great week.
ReplyDeleteJudee, thank you kindly! I do enjoy taking a look through all the subjects presented by the various bloggers.
DeleteThanks so much for the party, Melynda! We always enjoy stopping by each Friday and we appreciate all you and your cohosts do to create this space for us to visit! You amaze me - life never slows down for you and your gardens and homestead keep you forever busy! Snakes! I'm a young girl at heart too and would leave that challenge to someone else, as well. It must feel wonderful to feel so strong! A wonderful benefit, for sure! One more thing - your tomatoes look so yummy! I don't think there's much better this time of year! Have a good weekend and I hope you find a moment or two to cool down a bit!
ReplyDeleteLaura and crew, thanks so much for taking a part of your day to come and add to WTJR, I know we all appreciate it. It took me this long to take care of myself, all those years on the job (47 of them) left me focused on doing more on the job. This is a nice change of pace. Is there anything better than an honest vine ripened tomato?
DeleteMelynda,
ReplyDeleteMy Entries for today's party are # 34, 35 and 36!!
Thanks for taking the time to visit and Thank you for the feature!! I will be giving you a Shout Out both on my Face Book page and in my next Blog post!! Also Thank You for hosting each week!! I truly appreciate all the work that you put into hosting a link party!!
Hugs,
Deb
Debbie-Dabble Blog
Debbie, thanks so much and thank you for always taking a moment to stop and share with us at WTJR!
DeleteGood morning, Melynda, As for the snakes, I agree I will delegate that to my SI, as I do not like them at all.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this party, and have a lovely weekend.
This week: #46+47+48
Esme, thanks so much for stopping by and sharing with us at WTJR, have a wonderful week ahead.
DeleteEek! I would not want to see that snake... even the harmless ones are just not something I want to see or deal with. We've had a watersnake or two through the years that like to hang out under our dock so I try not to go near the water until someone else has already made lots of noise... just in case.
ReplyDeleteJoanne, around here we are very careful of water snakes, often times they are not friendly, usually a cottonmouth or other poisonous type. We have a lot of Hawks and Owl in our area to take care of most snakes. And we are careful to feed the chickens food that does not call in mice and rats, because they call in the snakes. I have learned a lot since moving to Texas.
DeleteGood evening Melynda, from WA - where we are currently hunkered down. Yes, the homesteading life is challenging; but the benefits are so worth it. I do miss my homesteading. I hope you get the snake situation sorted, with ease of mind … any snakes in any of our quarters will be swiftly handed to my husband to deal with as he is a snake wrangler from his youthful days (rattlesnakes was his specialty) & snakes of any sort, give me the heebie-jeebies.
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting another link party, & for the sharing of your homestead life.
Have a funtastic week, ahead!
Hello, thanks so much for stopping by! I appreciate it. Have a wonderful week ahead, and drive safe as you explore Washington state.
DeleteOh my goodness - totally creepy chicken eater! I am glad that you found out what was eating your eggs & chicken.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for the feature! I am honored. (I placed the featured button on my sidebar, as well as at the bottom of the featured post).
Have a blessed day!
Angie
PS - my linkups this week are: 57, 58, 59 & 60
Angie, we have the snake issue each year along with the predators for the whole bird. We are actively training up this last group to "coop up" at night as the coop is secure. Thanks so much for stopping by, I appreciate it.
DeleteYou have had a fascinating life Meylinda! I read your post about how you ended up in Texas. I;m also in my 70s and we made a big move from BYC to CO to be closer to our childrena nd grandchildren thirteen years ago,which has also been a learning experinece as to living with wildlife here. I hope you don't lose any more chickens or eggs! It is hard to control snakes. Tha ks for hosting==have a wonderful week ahead!
ReplyDeletePat, thank you! It has been quite a journey, but that is where the joy is. The destination is important, but the journey is where joy is found. Thanks so much for stopping by I appreciate it.
Delete