Hello Monday

Hello friends and happy Monday. I am stalling. I need to be packing. I am going with my sisters tomorrow on our annual Sister Trip. We always have such a great time and I love going but I absolutely hate packing. It is a short three day trip. I really don’t have to put that much thought into it. So why am I stalling and not getting to it? I have no idea. Actually I do have a couple of ideas and they are, that I don’t like making decisions, and I don’t like summer clothes and we are still having summer weather. So I guess I will have to resurrect a few summer things to wear. And here I thought those hot days were behind us. I should have known better. Wasn’t yesterday the first official day of Fall?

Can we talk for a minute about September? How is the month almost over? What is going on? It seems like it was April last week. You know, that might be a sign of aging. I have heard of these things.

I actually had a fairly slow week. I had a lot of catching up to do at work last Monday. The rest of the week was pretty much the usual things. I have slowly been adding some fall decor to my house. I don’t decorate a lot but I do love the fall colors. I didn’t do a lot of work on my projects. I did work a little on the Witches’ hat cross stitch. I guess I have been a bit lazy. I did spend some of Saturday with a good friend and two of her sisters. We had pizza and talked for about two hours. I felt like I was at Ms. Truvy’s Beauty Parlor. Steel Magnolias, If you know you know. We shared stories and solved all the world’s problems.

I finished this book, First Lie Wins, I guess that is where some of my time was spent. It was so good. It kept me guessing until the very end of the book. I had gotten it through my Libby app so I had only a few days left to finish it. Turns out I didn’t even need all of the days. I finished it about five days before it was due.

***So good you won’t be able to out it down.***

A couple of weeks ago I was driving down my road and a deer, I am pretty certain it was a deer, ran across the road right in front of my car and I hit it. Well I grazed it or it grazed my car. I screamed and looked back and it was gone. I felt so bad that it was probably injured. I felt bad because my car was injured. It wasn’t too bad, the car, but enough that you noticed it. My left front bumper is slightly out of kilter. I made my husband go back and search the area for a deer or blood or whatever, and he could find nothing. The deer in our area are abundant. When you drive down our road, you have to creep down the road because the deer will run across the road right in front of you, and there’s usually several of them. I have been planning to get a new car and I know this will hurt my trade in value. Oh well some things you just can’t prevent.

I got a picture of this guy this morning on my way to work.

***Looking so innocent. I still love them and it breaks my heart to hit one of them.***

We have been doing a lot of decorating at work for the fall season. A farm center near us had the most beautiful mums. One of the ladies at work and I loaded 25 into my car. It was a tight squeeze but we managed to get them all in.

We also bought several pumpkins and placed them around the property. We had a lot of fun. It was however over 90 degrees F and we got a little warm. I think cooler temps are expected later in the week.

So I am off to start packing. I will leave you with a picture of one of my outside baby girls. This is Izzy. She is ditzy, unpredictable, and a bit lazy. She loves mama cat and barely leaves her side. But here is a rare picture of her alone enjoying the sunshine on Saturday.

My Izzy. Her coloring blends well with the concrete color.

Have a wonderful week!!!

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!

Hello Monday

Hello and happy Monday!! I was gone all last week on a work trip to North Carolina. Well most of the week anyway. I am so glad to be back to a regular routine. I was even glad to get back to work today. What???

I did take a couple of days off at the end of the week to sort of rest and rejuvenate. I did some work outside in my yard, and trimmed shrubs and some overgrown hedges. I still have a lot to do. I was just reading that and I was thinking, where was the rest? If you are like me working outside is restful. The temps have cooled a little and will be even cooler this week. I am loving it!!!

I stayed home most of the weekend. On Saturday, Mark and I drove to Knoxville with my niece and picked up her kayak from a friends’ house. It was in an area I had never been to before. I just love looking at homes and yards in places I haven’t been.

We also worked on the house a bit and it seems so clean and shiny. Too bad it won’t last long.

I thought I would show you some of my projects I am working on. You know it isn’t me if I don’t have several going at one time. Sorry for the wrinkled comforter. The color is a great background for my projects.

***This is the granny square afghan I am working on for my nephew. This is Tennessee Titans colors. One of his favorite teams.***

***My Hats off to Halloween cross stitch. I really need to get to work on this one. I want to get it finished, framed and out before Halloween.***

This is a shawl I started yesterday. It is sort of a trial and error. I am going with a pattern as I go along. I’m not sure if it will work out. I used an inexpensive yarn so if it doesn’t work out, it’s no loss. I just realized it looks sort of like candy corn. You see where my mind is. There’s several other colors as well.

***This scarf. I love the pattern and I love this green color.***

I am also reading a couple of good books.

***First Lie Wins. I just started this one on my Libby App. It is already full of secrets and suspense. I will let you know what I think of it.***

Isadora is a University researcher. On her 30th Birthday she reads an article about 31 ways to be happy. Being the researcher she is she tries to prove the article may not make everyone happy. A lot of things happen for Isadora along the way. I have heard a lot of good things about this book. I can’t wait to read it.

That is pretty much what I have been up to. A little boring I know but just the way I love it. I have a sister trip coming up in a couple of weeks and a work trip in October. So for now I am just going to hang out at the house and enjoy some quiet time with my husband and the kitties. Speaking of kitties, I will leave you with a picture of Kitty Kitty. She was very cool to me when I returned home. I think she was mad that I left her behind. She’s starting to come around. Silly kitties.

How is your week? Do you have lots of plans and fun things to do?

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!

Hello September

Happy Labor Day. If you work in tourism, as I do, there’s two very important days in the season. Memorial Day is very important because it is sort of the kick-off to the summer season. And then Labor Day is the last big hurrah for the season. Whew!!! I am happy to see you Labor Day and the start of a slower work pace.

I have to go back and give August its due, all thirty minutes of it. That’s how fast it seems like it flew by. August was a very busy month.

I started August in Las Vegas at the Star Trek Convention and then had a short visit to Utah and Zion National Park. It seems like as soon as I got back home work was busier than ever and I was trying to juggle everything again.

We are still dealing with a lot of final issues with my mother in law. She passed away in July. We are still settling things with the nursing facility and continuing to clean out her house, which is going to be quite the undertaking.

We had a quick day trip to Nashville for the Time Traveler’s Vintage Expo. That was a lot of fun. And then last week we, hubs and I, had a quick overnight to Nashville for a four month doctor visit for him. We always eat at a nice restaurant and spend the night in the same hotel near the hospital. That makes our trip over and back, about four hours each way, much easier.

Because of my job the summer months are really hard and stressful. Luckily, I have amazing and wonderful co-workers. We try to have as much fun as I can during these times. Life is way too short not to try and enjoy something about every season. But I’m always happy to see the fall season arrive. What is your favorite time of year?

Labor Day is almost over. I am home where I love to be. I just came in and fed the kitties and had some dinner and gave all eighteen orchids a water bath. Now I am off to work on a knitting stitch that I just learned from a YouTube video. Life is good, precious, wonderful!!!!

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!

Hello Monday

There is a change in the air. The temps are slightly cooler and you can just feel a difference. It makes me so happy. I love Fall and cooler weather. You never know in East Tennessee it could be a teaser and crazy hot weather will return at any time.

How was your weekend? Mine was really good. I had plans Friday night with a couple of friends, some grilled steaks and some catching up girl time. Work got in the way as it sometimes does. We had a huge storm at work just before I left to meet the girls and it knocked our power off for about an hour and a half. I was a bit delayed but I still made it for much needed friend time. We shared a steak and some snacks and solved all the world’s problems. I didn’t stay too late.

On Saturday my sister and I took my sister in law out for lunch for her Birthday. I then ran and got some groceries and got back home for the rest of the weekend. I spent some of Sunday dealing with my credit card. I had some suspicious activity and had to call the credit card company to dispute the charges, and get the account shut down. I am so frustrated with this. I am very careful with my card and my husband barely uses it. I think it may have happened after being used so much on our recent trip. This is the second time this year we have had this problem.

Just a quick random question because that’s how my brain usually works: When you return from a vacation do you unpack immediately? Or does it take a couple of days? I like to unpack immediately and at least sort laundry and get it ready to go.

Last week when we got home from our Vegas and Zion National Park trip, I unpacked everything and sorted the clothes and got them ready to wash the next day. I had an extra day off from work so I started in the next morning on all the laundry that needed to be done.

I also decided to tackle shampooing my carpet upstairs. The only place that we have carpet is our upstairs bedrooms. I want to get rid of it. With two cats inside the house all the time, it is hard to keep it clean. So I spent some time shampooing those carpets and they smell so fresh and clean. I love it!!!

I went back to work the Friday after vacation. I had a lot to catch up on.

Last Saturday, more than a week ago, I went with my sister and nephew and his wife to Nashville to the Time Traveler’s Vintage Expo. To be honest we thought there was going to be more furniture and stuff. But mostly it was clothes, purses, and jewelry and fortunately, I can work with that. I don’t buy a lot of vintage clothes because most of them are really small. I did buy a dress. I love the colors and the scalloped edging. I will wear it in the fall with a denim jacket and maybe some boots.

On the way to Nashville we stopped at Buc-ee’s in Crossville. If you haven’t been it’s sort of like a convenient store on steroids. It’s HUGE!!! It has about a million gas pumps. Also the bathrooms are immaculate. So if you need a bathroom break that is a great reason to stop. Not only do they have some yummy food they also have a great retail section. And wouldn’t you know they happened to have some Halloween cuteness going on.

***I know Halloween is over two months away but it’s never too early to look. Right????***

I’m such a sucker for Halloween decorations.

***I love her. I may have to go back and get her.***

Lots of yummy food and snacks.

Monday morning came too quickly. I am so far behind on my posts. I will post tomorrow about the Vintage Show. There were so many cool things there I just have to give it its own space.

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!