Wednesday, June 13th by Lisa

Good morning,  how is your week going? how about your summer?

I decided a few weeks ago that I would take a week off from work and just do some things that I wanted and needed to do. I decided on this week.  June 11-15.

Our summer at work is getting ready to kick in and I knew there was no way I could take time off then.

Even though the Hubs could only get a couple of those days off , I wanted to get some things done for me and around the house.  We could then spend a day or two doing some fun things together.

Now of course me being the Type A person that I am I immediately made a list of things I wanted to get done such as:

Clean my floors

Clean my yard and cut my shrubs and plant some flowers

Take items to goodwill

Get a mani-pedi

Buy a car

Post some things on Poshmark

Have some quality time with my sisters and friends

Go to a Smokies game

Work on several blog posts

Read a couple of books I haven’t had time to read

Clean out my garage

I looked back over this list and thought, woman you are crazy!!!!  just because I’m not going out of town doesn’t mean I have to stay home and kill myself.  But never fear life stepped in and kept me from doing damage to myself by trying to get all of these things done.

You know they say that life happens when you are busy making plans, and that is exactly what happened here.

I have mentioned that my mother in law fell and broke her hip a couple of months back.  She had a total hip replacement. She has had a lot of problems with this including a serious infection where the prosthesis almost had to be removed to clear up the infection.

Anyway she has been staying in a rehab facility about an hour from us.  The facility called a few days ago and told us she was being released yesterday.  We had talked to her about going to an assisted living facility to try to get her a little more prepared for going home.  So that was the plan but we had no idea we would get such short notice.

I had to go into overdrive to get her to the doctor and get a release from the doctor and have her IVs removed, and try to get a room at the facility which is closer to us.  this is still an ongoing process with a lot of steps involved so we will just take it a step and a day at a time.

I guess I am disappointed that a lot of the things I wanted to get done won’t.  But it is also a good thing that I have time to get these things taken care of for my mother in law.  She can’t do them on her own and it is just me and my husband to take care of everything.

I planted some Marigolds over the weekend they are my favorite summer flowers

I did get to spend the day with my sister yesterday. We always have such a wonderful time together.  We hang out and bounce ideas off of each other, bitch, moan and complain and laugh ourselves silly. We did some shopping, had Starbucks and went to see a movie.   That is what we both needed yesterday.  She also went car shopping with me. She has a really good eye and is a stickler for details.  She asks all the questions I don’t think of.  (More about our car buying adventures in a later post)

So it is Wednesday and I think I will go back through that list and choose some fun family and friends things to do.  Life is too short to worry about cleaning  when you can be having a good time right?   I have to remember to take my own advice and live in the moment and keep it real.  I am headed outside to enjoy my coffee in this cool morning air.  What are you doing this summer?

 

Love your day your way

Tuesday, June 5, by Lisa

Yes I know it is Tuesday and not Monday but I didn’t get around to this last night for obvious reasons. Refer back to the title.

Yesterday I started the day with an early morning appointment in Knoxville at the UT Veterinary Medical Center. My little Scruffy was going to get his cataracts checked out to see if anything  could be done to regain some of his sight.  You may remember that Scruffy came into our family back in February. He was homeless and dumped out or Lost, we’re not sure.  He found his way to my sister’s house.  She was not ready to have another dog so she called me and  I saw him and fell in love. The next day I took him to the vet and had him checked out. He had a bad yeast infection on his skin and was malnourished and had cataracts.   I decided to keep him.

We got all of his issues taken care of. We could not find an owner and he had not been chipped.  I knew that we would have to address the cataracts. The vet determined that he was only about 6 or 7 years old.  Since then Scruffy has become such a part of our family I don’t know what we would do without him.

The Veterinary Medical Center is about an hour drive. We got there and was taken right back. The Vet Tech, Leslie, ran several tests on Scruffy’s eyes.  Dr. Ward came in to discuss other tests that he would need to determine whether or not Scruffy was a candidate for cataract surgery.  The tests would take approximately three to four hours.  I had the option of leaving Scruffy and picking him up later in the day, or returning with him at another time.  Having to schedule the tests at a later date would mean delaying the surgery if he was able to have it.  I decided to leave and pick him up a little later.

Since I had a few hours to kill I decided to head over to the mall and grab something  to eat at the food court and do some work while I was there.  After a quick trip to the bathroom I placed my food order and took it to a table.  I reached for my phone and it was not in my bag.  I often do this and keep searching and finally come up with it. But not this time.  I realized I had left my phone in the bathroom, probably in the stall or on the sink.  I had just gotten my food so I didn’t want to throw it out.  I spotted an elderly couple at a nearby table and went over and said ” would you please watch my food while I go and search for my phone?”  they did.  they were adorable.  I ran back to the bathroom in a panic thinking about everything I couldn’t do without my phone.  I hate to be that dependent on it but I am.  I ran back to the bathroom stall and there it was on top of the tissue dispenser.   At this point I had to question my sanity.

After working for about an hour I decided to walk around the mall and check out the shops.  You know it is really sad but the malls are just not what they used to be.  Many many stores are closed and shops are moving to the strip malls.  This leaves a lot of vacant space.  It seems like such a waste.

I finally headed back to the Veterinary Medical Center.  It was almost 5:00 and I wanted to beat Knoxville rush hour traffic if possible.  I went in and Leslie came out to discuss Scruffy and the tests.  She said Scruffy had two mature cataracts that were ready to come off. This is called phacoemulsification. How do you like that word?   All of his other tests were good. The surgery will take place in two weeks.

We did hit rush hour traffic and it took us until after 7:00 pm to get home. Y’all Scruffy and I were wiped out.  We hit the couch and watched TV the rest of the night.

A manic but good day because my Scruffy will be able to see again.  I can’t wait until the surgery is behind him.  He is such a good boy and he stole everyone’s heart while he was at the Medical Center.

Soooo how was your Monday?

Love your day your way

 

Sunday, June 3, 2018 by Lisa

Hey Y’all,  can you believe it is June?  Where has this year gone

I have been MIA over here at SP.  This time of year is a little crazy with my regular job.  Since blogging is a hobby for me it sometimes has to be the first thing to put off when I get really busy with other things. But  I want you to know I have really missed sharing with you.

I don’t know about you and I honestly hope that your situation is not like mine.  I sometimes feel like clutter is taking over my life. Throw in the fact that my husband wants to keep EVERYTHING he has ever owned in his life and that makes it doubly hard. My sister Sandy  has a great mantra that she uses . There’s a  place for everything, and if it doesn’t have a place then get rid of it.  I love it. If you don’t have a place for it do you need it taking up space?  I think not.

Now don’t get me wrong I am fortunate and blessed to be able to have extra clothes, books, items, food. I clear out and donate things regularly but it has become overwhelming.  I hate that feeling. My closets are bursting at the seams. Most of the time my bedroom looks like my closet and dresser have just thrown up.

When I realized I was still wearing winter clothes, because I didn’t want to tackle digging out my spring clothes, I knew I had to do something.  After all this is June it is getting very warm here in the south haha.

I am going to Eat That Frog. If you still haven’t read this book I mentioned in an earlier post,  I highly suggest you do. It has helped me learn to break down all projects into manageable bites to get them completed.

So here goes with my Clutter project step one.  The first thing to organize will be my clothes.   I am going to try to tackle it in three steps.

Step 1.
I got out all of the winter clothes that needed to be sorted.  Luckily I have a room that I use as a small den and I can put stuff in here while I work on it.  You can see I have a little visitor there.  Can you find the Kitty in this picture?

Step 2:
I put the clothes into separate categories  One for storing away until winter. One for Goodwill and One for items to sell on Poshmark.  I will have the Poshmark items up in a few days. You can look for me on Poshmark at sheknowsclothes.

Step 3:
The clothes have been divided into separate tubs.   I did this on a Saturday so I had a lot of time but you could do this over a period of several days to get your project done.   This has been something I have been putting off.  I knew I needed to get rid of a lot of things but actually, 1. Getting them out in the open 2. Sorting them into the appropriate category and 3. Moving them out whether it be to donation, storage or selling has uncluttered by closets a little and my mind a lot. HA HA!!!!

So let me know how you deal with your clutter, do you “Eat That Frog”

Love Your Day your Way!!!!

 

 

Monday, May 21, 2018 by Lisa

last week was a very long and exhausting week. Our server went down at work and we were without computers for several days. Even now with the system back up and running there are still several issues to work out.  All I wanted to do last week was shove chocolate in my mouth and curl up in a fetal position in my closet as soon as I got home from work.

At times like this I try to back away from the situation and say to myself this will work itself out and all will be fine eventually.

Change and problems are going to happen. Things have to be dealt with and that is something I have to remind myself of everyday.

So I took the weekend off and started Saturday morning watching the Royal Wedding and it was beautiful and I almost felt like I was right there. I loved the entire ceremony.  I baked scones and drank from my London mug.

This picture turned out a little weird but I thought it added to the romantic atmosphere.

I also went  with my friend Lorie to an awesome estate sale where I purchased several crocks. I love them and when I find different ones I just can’t help myself.

We also went to see the new Melissa McCarthy movie, Life of the Party. It was pretty good. A little silly at times even for Melissa.

I took the entire day on Sunday and did nothing but regenerate for the upcoming week.

Tell me how do you handle stressful work situations such as computer issues, employee problems etc. are you able to leave the problems at work?

Love your day your way

Tuesday, May 15,  2018  by Lisa

 These irises are from my mother’s yard I transplanted then several years ago to my yard and have also shared them with my nieces so we all have something my mother loved.  

Mother’s Day as many of you know is not always a happy time.  It could be because you have no children and you have always wanted to be a mother. It could be because your mother is no longer living and you miss her terribly. It could be because you have lost a child.  It could be because your mother is living but for whatever reason you are estranged from her.

Whatever the reason Mother’s Day can be a sad day for many people. I do not have children of my own. I didn’t intentionally not have children and I didn’t intentionally try not to have them. It just didn’t happen for me and most of the time I am ok with that except for days like Mother’s Day. Years ago I stopped going to church on Mother’s Day because it became very painful when they gave out that rose or pin or whatever to all the moms.  When they came to me I usually just took the gift anyway feeling like I was a fraud.

I am also sad for the loss of my own mother who happened to be the BEST mother in the world. She had the patience of Job and though she never worked outside the home she was quite worldly because of all the reading she did. She always made sure our family and all of my brothers and sisters ( there was seven of us) were always taken care of.  This woman was a powerhouse and could fix just about any electrical appliance there was. She cooked like no one else and could grow anything and made up games to play with all of us.   I have learned so much from her. But more than that she was my best friend  I could tell her anything and she would always be there for me.  Shortly after we got married my husband heard me on the phone with my mother.  He said “how many times a day do you call your mom”? I replied “ as many times as I need to.

I also know a few people who, though they are not estranged and still see their mother regularly, just don’t get along with them.  Maybe they were mistreated by them, maybe they can’t live up to their standards but whatever they feel like they’re being dishonest by showering them with gifts on Mother’s Day.

I have known wonderful mothers in my life.  My sisters, nieces, cousins, aunts, good friends, co-workers, all wonderful mothers whom I admire so much.

Anway, I hope that all the mothers out there had a wonderful Mother’s Day. My day was awesome in spite of everything because of my fur babies. Scruffy, Kitty Kitty and Molly but then they make everyday awesome!!!!

Love your day your way.

Saturday May 12th, 2018       by Lisa McClung

Happy Saturday everyone. I can’t believe we are in the second week of  May. With work, a new kitty, keeping my sister’s fur kid while she is on vacation, and again work, work, work, life continues to be a bit crazy over here.

You know I constantly struggle with procrastination. A couple of weeks ago I was reading one of my favorite blogs Pearls and Twirls and Katie was also talking about procrastination and a book called  Eat That Frog.  You can get this on Amazon so I ordered it and I love it!!!!

The book is by Brian Tracy.  He believes if you get your most dreaded thing out of the way first then everything else will get easier.   He calls it eating a frog.  He believes if you start your day by eating a frog then the rest of it has to be better.  And if you have two frogs to eat then eat the biggest and ugliest one first.  When you do this everything else seems easier to do.   I tried this last week.  Lord knows when I dread doing something I put it off as much as I can.  Well last week I plunged right in and worked on my most dreaded things first.  It is true when I did this and felt this accomplishment I wanted to tackle other things.  Try it and let me know If it works for you.  Brian has many more helpful insights so check it out.  Also check out Katie’s blog Pearls and Twirls you will love it.

Its Saturday so I have a million things to do. I have a lot ( that’s an understatement) of laundry to to. I have had to be pretty creative with my clothing this week pulling things out of the closet I haven’t seen in awhile. Maybe that’s not such a bad thing. I am getting ready to purge a lot of clothes from my closets. I’m thinking of putting them on Poshmark it’s a great way to buy and sell clothes.  Check it out.

The temperatures here in the south have been a bit unpredictable. We had one of the coldest April’s in recorded history and yesterday it was 90 degrees.  We skipped straight from winter to summer.  What happened to the spring?  I just love the month of May especially in the mornings. The air seems so soft at that time of day.  Have a wonderful day.

Love your day your way

Thursday May 3, 2018  by  Lisa McClung

It is so wonderful to be home again.  I was actually only gone three days but man what an action packed three days it was.  So grab a coffee, diet coke, glass of wine or whatever because this is kind of a longy.

I spent the last three days in Charlotte North Carolina and let me tell you first thing that Charlotte is a beautiful city.  I met with several attraction owners and Managers from twenty different attractions throughout the south from Georgia up to Luray Virginia. This organization is called Southern Highlands Attractions. http://www.southernhighlands.org. It is always great to get together and share ideas and visit other attractions and hear how they do their daily operations.

I arrived Sunday evening and stayed at the Hyatt Place Charlotte Downtown.  This hotel is a great place to stay, and located close to everything and the service was outstanding.
This was the view from my room day and night. Sorry for the wonky pictures of the city I took them through the window of my room with my cell phone.

The first night I arrived I joined our group for a visit to Top Golf.  I have never been a golfer, unless you count putt putt, so I was a little intimidated especially since some of the people  in our group were avid golfers.

But no worries Top Golf is for everyone.  There are several different levels and several bays located on each level. Eight people can fit  in each bay, six people can play per game.  Points are calculated sort of like in bowling. It was sooooooo much fun  I loved it. http://www.topgolf.com/us/Charlotte/

The next morning after about 3 hours of meetings, and a quick lunch at the hotel, we went by shuttle to the US National Whitewater Center.  The Whitewater Center is a locally owned and operated non profit organization. Situated on 1300 acres of woodlands making this a wonderful place for people to come and have fun. They offer a variety of adventure activities including kayaking, zip lining, rock climbing walls and lots more.

https://usnwc.org

Later that night we attended a minor league baseball game The Charlotte Knights against the Gwinnett Stripers at the BB&T Ballpark. The stadium staff really treated us well they gave us a behind the scenes tour of the stadium and took us onto the field. They sat us in their executive lounge for dinner and drinks and gave us the option to watch the game from there.  Whenever our Attractions group visits Attractions in other cities they are always the perfect hosts.

The next morning we toured The Bank of America Stadium Home of the Carolina Panthers. Several of the players were in the weight room working out but they wouldn’t let us near that area. Dang it!!!  We did get to go onto the field and tour all the behind the scenes rooms where the reporters and commentators stay.  A beautiful stadium.   It was awesome!!!

 

http://www.panthers.com/stadium/index.html

Next on our tour we visited the Billy Graham Library.  This is such a wonderful and special place.  Billy and Ruth Graham had such an unshakable connection with each other. They were married 62 years.  I hadn’t thought too much about it before but while Billy was touring world wide preaching the gospel Ruth was at home raising their children.  Billy always gave her the credit when someone would tell them how wonderful their children were.  They were a very special couple. And so unique in their own ways.

 

The childhood home place of Billy Graham and the Library, the gravesite of both Billy and Ruth Graham,  one of the pulpits used by Billy,  and  Ruth’s wedding dress.

https://billygrahamlibrary.org

The day ended with a trip to the NASCAR HALL OF FAME MUSEUM. Even though I am not a huge NASCAR fan I found this to be extremely interesting.

 

http://www.nascarhall.com

I highly recommend a trip to Charlotte NC

Love your day your way