What A Weekend!! (Two Wonderful Things)

Hello friends how are you? How was your weekend? Another long weekend for me. I took Friday off to take my sister Sandy to the doctor and to get her sixth and final Chemo treatment. Her appointment was at 8:00. We left out early around 7:00 AM. Her doctor is in Knoxville and that is about forty five minutes from us. You never know what the traffic is going to be like.

We got to the hospital right at 8:00. She had to check in and get blood work and then see the doctor and then start her chemotherapy. All of the testing and seeing the doctor often takes over two hours. Then it can take a little while for the pharmacy to get the chemo cocktail to the infusion room. She didn’t start the chemo on Friday until almost 11:00 AM. It takes about an hour and a half to two hours for the treatment. Because this was her last one and she “graduated” she got to ring the bell signaling that her treatments are over. We were so happy. We even decided to stop and have lunch and then do a little shopping. I remember when she started the treatments back in January if felt like this day would never come. Here she is doing great!! So this was the best thing that happened this weekend or all year I guess I should say.

As we were leaving the stores we had a little issue with my sister’s car. I was driving and as soon as I pulled onto the road the dash lit up like crazy with several warning lights. We pulled over and she called someone she knew from the dealership. Luckily we were very close to the dealership and we took it in. One of the service techs looked at the lights and said it was a faulty sensor. He said it was completely safe to drive and for her to bring it back Monday and they would replace it. Wow, that was a little scary.

Saturday I pretty much chilled. I picked up groceries, Mark and I went to visit with his mom. She was very confused as she sometimes is now. We picked up dinner on the way home. I went back to Granny’s flower market in town and bought a few more small flowers for some flower pots I have. I love this little market. Every year she has the most beautiful flowers.

The second great thing that happened: On Sunday I finished the temperature blanket!!!!! I have been working on this for so long. I actually started the blanket last year. You can read about it here I recorded the temperature every day. Usually I did the average temp for the day. Each crocheted row indicates a color pertaining to the temperature. I have never been so glad to finish something in my life. I got really behind last fall. I still recorded the temperature every day, keeping the figures in my phone’s calendar. I will have to be honest with you I got really sick of this blanket it grew and grew and grew. It was so heavy I couldn’t really take it from room to room to work on I just left it in one spot. I guess I just didn’t take into account just how long that many rows would be. I only did a single crochet for each row but man it is massive. It will be great when winter comes and I can snuggle under it. But for now It is finished and I am so happy about that. I felt like I couldn’t get into any projects until this one was finished. Well nothing big anyway. I have done a few small things. But now I can’t wait to get to some of my other projects. You know how it is when you finally finish something that has been hanging over you. This is how it felt with this blanket. I’m glad I did it but I am so glad it is finished.

Here are the different colors for the daily temperatures. It started at the top with the darker blues and then the orange and reds as we got into summer temps.

Here are the different colors of yarn I used for the blanket. I did have to have two colors of each skein of yarn for most of the colors.

That is what I have been up to. I have a full week coming up. Five days in a row. I love having the three day weekends. I think all work weeks should only be four days. I am sure people are more productive that way.

May Day May Day

Hello friends and happy May. How can I even being saying that? A third of this year is over!!! April was an especially busy month for me and that is why I didn’t post anything last week. Work and life took over, just the way it does, and it was a little crazy.

Going back to a week ago, I went to an estate sale and although it had been going on for a couple of days there were still lots of good items. The drive through this neighborhood on the lake was beautiful. The houses were just unbelievable. The yards immaculate. I am sorry to say it made me a little judgey about my own house. When I went home and started to complain about my house and how the yard looked my husband quickly reminded me that most of those people have gardeners who tend to their yards and decorators who decorate their homes. I guess he’s right.

Everything at the sale was 75% off and I did find this platter that looks really old. I just liked the design and different colors.

I also found these two metal spoons. They are heavy and very well made.

Last week was my Birthday and my thirty third wedding Anniversary. I got married on my Birthday. I know, I know, why you may be asking did you do that? I thought it was really different and yes it has proved to be. My husband and I sort of share the Birthday as well as the Anniversary and we have a double celebration that way. We had Birthday cake at work and then my family had a small birthday party for me at our local favorite Mexican restaurant.

Me and hubs. Sadly I didn’t get to keep this hat HA!

***This is me and my niece Michelle. I am wearing the Tiara my sister got me. We have a joke about me thinking I’m a queen. So she got me the Tiara. I love it!!!***

I made my husband one of his favorites, Peanut Butter Pie, it is full of Reese’s peanut butter cups and lots of other good things.

So lots, too much actually, of great food and treats but I guess that is to be expected at Birthdays and Anniversaries. I have been over indulging lately. Too many late night work hours and having to grab whatever is handy to eat. That is a bad pattern for me and I know it.

I also had a dental appointment last week and I saw this adorable basket in the reception area. My dentist had gotten it at a craft sale. I love it!! I think I will try to make one. I love all buttons and have a couple of jars full. I think this is such a cute idea.

Work continues to be so busy. Almost never a minute of down time. It is always like that this time of year. It’s hard to come home late and try to be creative. I just haven’t even had the energy to put a blog post together.

Over the weekend I did a lot of yard work. I bought some flowers and a couple of rose bushes. I got all of them planted and cleaned up some of my flower beds that were looking really bad. Of course then we have really cold temps, this morning was only 40 degrees F here. I guess this could be Dogwood Winter but I heard someone else mention Locust Winter so who knows. I do know I am ready for some warm weather. Consistently.

So what have you been up to lately?

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!

Friday Favorites

Oh Friday I am so glad to see you. It has been a really long week. Here are a few of my favorites from the week:

I listened to two audio books this past week: The Whittiers by Danielle Steel. A sweet story about a large family who came together after the death of their parents. And though they are all a bit dysfunctional they make living together work out. I know Danielle Steel can be a bit predictable but sometimes that’s just what you need.

The next book was Moon Shell Beach by Nancy Thayer. It was pretty good. Again a bit predictable. When I am driving I don’t like to have anything too heavy to listen to unless it is a long drive.

I needed a new pair of sneakers for work. I like black because they go with everything I wear, imagine that. I love New Balance so I ordered these “fresh foam”, that sounded intriguing and comfy. And they are!!!! They are so light weight and just what I need when I am running all over the property at work. These were on sale for $52.92 marked down from $84.99. I just checked and they are still on sale. I love them.

I wear reading glasses and I have a pair in every room of my house as well as in my car and a pair or two at work. If you’ve ever had reading glasses most pairs are not very attractive. I found these through an ad on Facebook. I ordered them through Amazon. I love them. Only $16.99 for the set. And each one comes with its own little case.

I actually got this new orchid from my friend Lorie last week but I just had to share it with you this week. Isn’t she a beauty. I named her Kalliope. She is doing great and adjusting to all the other orchids and her environment.

My husband and I love to see the musical CATS. We’ve seen it several times in different places. Maybe it is because we love our cats so much. But even before we had cats we loved seeing this. When we heard that Cats was coming to Knoxville to The Tennessee Theatre we knew we had to go. And Wednesday night we went. It was awesome!!! Just like always. Check out the Tennessee Theatre here for more information.

What fun things did you enjoy this week???

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!

Feel Your Feels

A few weeks ago I was at a meeting that I attend a few times a year. I spent some time with a friend that I don’t get to see very often. When we do get together for a few days we have a lot of talking and catching up to do.

This woman is one of the strongest women I know. She has been through so much in her short life. Her husband is currently sick and facing cancer for the second time. They are in their thirties. She is always very positive and upbeat and smiling and never hesitates to ask what is going on in your life and then she listens to every word and remembers it months later. She is a very special person. But she told me something the last time I saw her that has really stuck with me even more than usual. I asked her how she could stay so positive and happy all the time. She said you just have to feel your feels. You can’t push them aside and pretend they don’t exist. If you do then your feelings will become overwhelming You have to feel what you are feeling when you feel it. Don’t bury it. Wow!!! I had to let that sink it.

Webster’s dictionary has several definitions for the word feel(ing) a few that stuck with me : A consciousness or vague awareness, The general state of consciousness considered independently of particular sensations, thoughts etc, a physical sensation not connected with sight, hearing, taste or smell. After reading that, you can see consciousness and sensations are of course a large part of feeling what you feel. That’s scary.

I have always been the type of person that never wanted to feel my feels. When I was growing up we were never supposed to show our feelings. My dad didn’t want us to cry or be upset about anything. I am not sure why. Maybe because there were seven of us kids and if we were all showing exactly what we felt at the exact same time it could have been a little crazy. I do tend to be a bit dramatic but when it comes to feeling hard core emotional feelings it is something I try to avoid. Ways to avoid feelings are not always good for you: overeating, indulging in things you don’t need, too much screen time, zoning out on Netflix, scrolling TikTok and Instagram for hours are all ways that you can block having to feel anything. All of this can also lead to hypertension, anxiety, depression, and the list goes on and on.

So what is so scary about feeling what you truly feel. Will you cry? scream? be bitchy? hard to deal with? be sad? SO WHAT!!! Isn’t that what life is about anyway. Some of those things I can easily give in to but some I can’t. It’s hard for me to say that I am sad or disappointed or scared. I guess I think I will appear weak or unlikeable but at my age I care a lot less about that than I used to.

So to wrap all of this up and put a bow on it I guess what I am trying to say is this: If feeling what you feel when you feel it, or as my friend so eloquently put it, feel your feels, can help you to deal with reality and just life in general then why don’t we do it? Maybe you do. I hope you do. I will too.

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!!