Calgon Take Me Away!!!!!

Hello friends how are you? Things here have once again been a little crazy. If you are old like me you remember those commercials advertising bubble bath or bath salts or something like that called Calgon. The commercials showed a very stressed woman trying to do about ten different things at one time. She grabs her head and yells “Calgon take me away”. It then shows her in a luxurious bubble bath with all of her problems dissolving away with each pop of a bubble. The famous Calgon bubble bath could transform you into a new person. I used to say it at work every time things got stressful. “Calgon take me away!!!!! ” One of my very young co-workers once asked, Lisa, who is this Calgon and when is coming to take you away? so cute, I had to explain that no Calgon actually was not a person.

This was my typical Calgon morning yesterday: I was running a little late to start with. I was going to wear jeans to work and decided at the last minute to wear a pair of black pants. I changed the jeans but noticed I then had very obvious VPL showing through the black pants. I raced up the stairs to change underwear. Ran back downstairs and grabbed my car keys and purse and jumped in the car. As I was backing up the driveway I noticed everything looked a little blurry. I didn’t have my glasses on!!!! I Drove back down the hill, I have a very long driveway, ran back into the house and ran upstairs to get my glasses. By this time the dogs are going wild with all the excitement. After all they don’t usually see mommy running through the house. Was this some kind of crazy game mommy was playing? Scruffy is barking and my big outside dog Molly is trying to get in the back door. My husband is standing in the middle of the kitchen shaking his head. I put my glasses on and ran back to the car. I jump in the car, which I had left running, and started again to back up the driveway. My car alarm immediately started and a light on my dash started blinking letting me know my keys were not inside the vehicle. Dang!!! I left them in the kitchen when I went to get my glasses. Again I drive back down the driveway and run to the back door and beat on the door, remember I have no key to get in. Scruffy starts going wild inside the house, barking and barking. I am praying Mark hasn’t jumped in the shower and won’t hear me knocking. Luckily he hasn’t and he comes to the back door and let’s me in. I run in looking like a crazed woman yelling my keys my keys!!! By this time big girl Molly, our outside dog, has run into the house and is galloping back and forth like a pony. Scruffy is running in circles barking and Kitty Kitty is streaking back and forth through the kitchen. I grab the keys and run back out the door. My husband just stands there like, what was that? By this time my hair is frizzy from sweat and humidity and my makeup has partially melted off from all the exertion. Yes Calgon take me away!!!!!

Sunday was Mother’s Day as you well know. I am not a mother and my mother died sixteen years ago. I was never a big fan of Mother’s Day. I admire mothers, they have the hardest job in the world. I am glad there is a day to celebrate them. Although we know they should be celebrated every day. Mother’s Day is always uncomfortable for me. I quit going to church on Mother’s Day a long time ago because I didn’t feel like I deserved the little gift they gave to all the mothers. I am not a mother. Most people just assume when you reach a certain age that you are a mother. It is something that never happened for me and I don’t feel the need to explain that when I go to church and a fresh faced youngster hands me a rose or a pin or something like that. I would always take the gift and then feel like I was an imposter.

With that said I will tell you that my mother was the best mother in the world. I never called her mother a day in my life. I always called her mama or mom. I know you may think your mother was the best but mine really was. She loved to wear red lipstick. She wore dresses and skirts a lot and she loved sandals. She worked the really hard crossword puzzles with an ink pen. She could grow anything. She could also fix any appliance or plumbing problem. Her cooking was to die for. She was the best friend I ever had. I always felt like I could tell her anything. She always encouraged me to do things I was sometimes afraid to try. She always made me feel like I was the most beautiful girl in the world. I think I was about eleven before I realized that wasn’t true. It came as somewhat of a shock but made me love her all the more for making me think that.

This is a picture of me and my mama shortly before she died. The picture is not the best quality and you can tell she is not in the best of health here.

So Mother’s Day is a little sad for me mostly because I miss my mom. And maybe wondering how things might have been different for me as a mom. I am happy for and appreciate all mothers. My sisters, nieces, aunts and friends are some of the most wonderful mothers I know. I get a glimpse of motherhood when I dote on my nieces and nephews and now my great nieces and nephews. Getting the opportunity to do things with them has always been so much fun. I go to their ballgames and school events. Me and my husband are taking my seventeen year old nephew to Germany with us next month. Spending time with them sometimes makes me miss being a mom but for the most part I am ok with things the way they are. That may sound selfish but it is my life.

Anyway enough of that. The rest of the week has been o.k. I am reading a book for book club and am about halfway finished. I have also been house sitting for my sister a few days this week while she is on vacation.

Daisies are blooming in my yard.

I love daisies they may be plain and simple but they are my favorite flowers or weeds? I don’t care what they are I love them and they are beautiful. I remember me and my friends used to mutilate them playing, he loves me he loves me not. Remember that little game where you would pull off each daisy petal while saying, “he loves me he loves me not”. You would always get that special boy in your mind that you wanted to love you and hope against hope it ended on, he loves me!!!! Ahhh if it were only that easy.

This is the book we are reading for book club on Monday night. I can’t wait to hear what everyone has to say. I think it’s pretty good and makes you think about how you shouldn’t be so hard on yourself.

I will leave you with this picture. Last weekend I made cherry cobbler for breakfast just because I wanted cherry cobbler for breakfast. It was delicious!!!

Because remember you must always

Love your day your way

Those Three Little Words I Long To Hear.

There are a lot of words and phrases in the English language that are wonderful to hear. But there are three little words that make my heart sing. Can you guess what they are?

I love you. No it’s not that.

You’ve Lost weight. Great to hear, but no.

How are you? Nope

Way to go!!! No not even close.

Of course all of these things are wonderful to hear. The three little words that I long to hear, maybe not always but certainly more often than I do, are “I’ll handle that” Ahhhhh such sweet words. Yes Yes Yes!!!! take the pressure off of me, help me with what I’m doing, make my life easier. But whatever you do don’t make me have to ask for it.

The reason that I haven’t heard this more is actually my fault. I have been my own worst enemy. I never wanted to ask for help. I will do anything to keep from asking for help. I am always willing to help someone out even if it takes away from me. I get this from my dad. He was a very hard working man and he expected his children to work just as hard as he did. It was really hard to meet the standards that he sometimes set for us. Did you notice the word hard has appeared three times in this paragraph so far? But he was an amazing man who instilled wonderful values in me and all of my brothers and sisters. But he didn’t like to ask for help he looked at that as a weakness. So I grew up thinking I didn’t need to ask for help either. No matter what. If I did I was being weak.

I have always been a very independent person. I am even independent of my husband, choosing to make my own decisions and not consulting him in a lot of things. My husband doesn’t have a problem with this. He is the same way. The last car I bought I did it totally on my own. I went to different car lots and test drove the cars. My husband never seemed to have the time and I didn’t want to wait so I just did it myself. I also take care of all of the car related maintenance and most house maintenance issues. That is just the way it has always been.

My husband and I have no children and I think if we did it would have made things a little different as far as having to share the responsibilities with each other concerning children. Maybe not, who knows.

I am next to the youngest of seven children and for some reason my brothers and sisters have always looked to me to handle most family related issues. Not necessarily big issues but just family get togethers and things like that. An example of this: My family is large and when we have a get together we may have thirty plus people show up. We always plan our meals and who will bring what etc. etc. You know I am from the south and food is a big deal. Anyway, whenever we had these huge dinners everyone would automatically assume I would coordinate everything. I would get in touch with everyone, plan the meal and let everyone know what to bring. They would always await my call to let them know what to bring. One Thanksgiving I decided I had had enough. I would not tell anyone what to bring and they could coordinate everything on their own and bring whatever they wanted. Well that was the year we had seven bowls of corn and not much else. So that was the last time that happened. I may be exaggerating a little there was probably on five bowls of corn.

With all of this said you might think I wouldn’t want to hear anyone say “I’ll handle that” but as I said it is actually music to my ears especially if I don’t have to ask. Even more so as I have gotten older and more comfortable in my own skin. I am more comfortable standing back and letting someone else take over. Because hey!! My time is just as important as anyone’s. And I hate to use this phrase but sometimes it is best when I get out of my own way. And if I ask for help the world won’t open up and swallow me. So I am trying to NOT be in charge so often and to be honest I find that things work out just fine and many times even better. WHAT???? I do regret that it has taken me so many years to learn this lesson but better late than never right? So when I am with someone and they tell me “I’ll handle that” I say O.K.

The honeysuckle vines are blooming like crazy and smelling wonderful.

Love your day your way!!!!

Three Days In Asheville

On Monday I headed out for Asheville North Carolina. Asheville is about three hours from where I live. I had a meeting with a group of tourism people. We meet three times a year. Each meeting is themed around a particular topic and we also get to visit other tourism attractions.

I have been to Asheville many times throughout the years and I love it. This city has something for everyone.

My meeting didn’t start until noon on Monday so I didn’t have to leave until Monday morning. I made the trip easily traffic was not bad. I was really excited because I would be seeing my tourism buddies that I only get to see a few times a year.

The meeting and our lodging was at the Cambria Downtown Asheville. And it was downtown right in the middle of things. The service there was outstanding. Being in tourism myself it’s always something I am very conscious of. They have customer service down pat. This is a fairly new hotel. There is a restaurant and bar on the 4th floor and the food is amazing. More about that in just a minute.

I was on the 11th floor and the view was breathtaking. The hotel is very modern with all new amenities. The view was great both day and night.

Our meeting started at noon with a light lunch served in the meeting room. We had a brief bit of business and then a speaker who was great!!! He was one of those speakers who keeps you interested and made two hours seem like ten minutes.

We stayed at the hotel for dinner. The hotel has a bar and restaurant on the 4th floor, Hemmingway’s Cuba Rooftop Restaurant and Bar, and the food there was ahhhhhmazing. The rooftop bar was just perfect with a light breeze blowing and another spectacular view of the city. We had drinks there before dinner. For dinner I ordered the frita cubana, seasoned ground beef and pork sliders with onions and shoestring potatoes, and for a side, congri. I was a little taken aback by the color of the congri but it tasted fantastic.

After dinner we went on the Lazoom Party Bus. If you have been to Asheville you may have been on the Lazoom Bus. This is a comedy bus that takes you through different parts of the city. Your guide is hilarious. This particular ride had a haunted theme. We drove all over the city for an hour and our guide pointed out different parts of the city that were supposedly haunted. At several of the stops a ghost would get on the bus and make jokes and interact with the group. It turns out the same person played the role of all the ghosts. He was really talented. http://www.lazoomtours.com

The next day we did the touristy thing and visited several attractions. We started out at The Biltmore Estate. It is beautiful. I have been here so many times I like to pretend it is my second home. It is hard to believe that this used to be a private home to the Vanderbilts. Biltmore currently has a display of period costumes throughout the house. When you visit each room there is a mannequin with the costume from that time period. It was really interesting. http://www.biltmore.com

And of course the gardens were beautiful there were so many different things in bloom.

We also visited the Blue Ridge National Heritage Center where we saw a video about local artisans and then on to the Southern Highland Craft Guild and Folk Art Center where we were able to see some of the handmade items. All of the items on display were for sale. I probably could have stayed there all day. The talent displayed at the Folk Art Center just blows me away. http://www.Southernhighlandguild.org/folk-art-center

That night for dinner we went to the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. You just have to check this one out for yourself http://www.sierranevada.com  There is a brewery where you can do tours, an amazing restaurant and you can even play corn hole there. Again the food and beer was great!!!

On Wednesday we had meetings until noon and then everyone went our separate ways. Our meetings and the events we attend are always super casual. I always get chilly in the meeting rooms. I took a couple of photos of what I wore to the meetings. I usually wear the same thing into the evenings and maybe just add a different jacket or sweater.

This shirt is the one I bought when I was in Orlando at Macy’s on super clearance sale. I think it was $19.99. I love it. It is so comfy. The vest and shoes are from Kohl’s and the pants are from Cato’s.

This shirt is also from Kohl’s and the sweater is from Target. Same shoes and pants I try to pack light when I am traveling and if possible wear my pants or jeans a couple of times. And we do so much walking I have to have comfortable shoes.

But probably the best part of the trip was on my way home. I was able to stop and have lunch with a precious friend of mine. Laura, I don’t get to see her very often. She used to live in my area and through the years we have done a lot of fun things together. She moved to Asheville about three years ago and this was the first time I had seen her since she moved. The thing about a wonderful friend like Laura is that you can not see each other for a long long time but when you do its like no time has passed at all. Now Laura is moving out west and it will probably be a long time before I see her again but I know when we do we will pick up right where we left off.

So all in all a short but fun trip. Catching up with Laura was the best. It was good to get back home to the familiar and my own bed of course. Have a wonderful weekend.

Love your day your way!!!