Friday Favorites

Hello and happy Friday!!! How was your week? My week was really good but a bit hectic. I think I say that almost every week. I have a few favorites to share with you and some not so favorites that I will put a spin on and make them a good thing.

Last weekend my niece, Michelle, and I went to nearby Tellico Plains to a little gift shop, Timeless Treasures. They sell the Judy Blue Jeans that everyone is raving about. I will have to say they are very comfy. I tried on a couple of pairs but decided I didn’t need any. Michelle bought a pair. They do have some nice things in this shop. They have a great selection of the Simply Southern Sherpa lined shackets. I will definitely go back and do some Christmas shopping.

We also went next door to the Charles Hall Museum Marketplace. This is a shop with several booths of lots of different things. You may find a booth with antiques, local made crafts, photography, and lots of other things. There is a lady who brings in fresh flowers on Saturday. She has dried ones in the fall and winter. I bought a bunch of dried ones. I also bought these ceramic cats. I thought at first they were McCoy because there was an Mc marking on the bottom but I think it could have been someone’s initials. But that is ok I love them.

I forgot to show you this Santa that I bought a few weeks ago when I was in Dahlonega GA. We had some time to run into a few antique stores on the town square and I bought this cool guy. I am adding him to my Santa collection. I definitely don’t have one like him. The artist is Greg Guedel. This Santa is actually carved from wood. I think he will make a nice addition to my Santa family. Check out Greg Guedel if you get a chance he is a fantastic artist.

O.K. I don’t know how I am so late to the game. I saw someone on TikTok eating from a tub of Cheesecake No Bake Filling. I didn’t even know this was a thing. I went to Walmart and sure enough you can buy a whole tub of just the filling!!! How did I not know this? You can eat it with animal crackers, graham crackers, or just with a spoon. Or you can put it in a crust and make it into an actual cheesecake. I had to buy a tub. I haven’t opened mine yet. I will admit it is a little costly about $5.00 a tub. But I am sure it will last a long time HA!!!!

I think I may have mentioned these candles to you before. Someone gave me a large one as a gift last year and it is now the only candles we burn in our house. I love this scent. I always get mine at Walmart. The large size, 16 OZ. are about $15.00 but right now you can find the smaller ones like this 12 OZ for only $6.00. I am going to stock up on these.

The other night for dinner I made my own little Charcuterie board, or plate I should say, It made the perfect dinner snack. I haven’t done a large Charcuterie board but I may have to try my hand at that through the holidays.

So a few things this week that were not too pleasant. Our heat and air system finally bit the dust. It is twenty three years old and we have had it since we built the house so I guess it served us well. We noticed a few weeks ago when it got warmer that the air didn’t seem to be working correctly. Then the heat wouldn’t come on when it got cold. We called the man who has worked on it for years. He checked it out and declared the official time of death. It took a few days but today we finally got the new unit installed. A costly but necessary project. and the best part to me is we have wonderful heat. And the new thermostats are pretty.

I had to be in Knoxville on Monday morning at 8:00 AM. Knoxville is about an hour from me so I had to leave out very early. I had a follow up Doctor’s appointment. Good news there everything was fine. I had a high potassium level reading back in May but my doctor assured me that all of my other blood work was fine and he didn’t think it was anything to worry about. Too late for that. But I was glad to get the news when I did.

I had to have a yucky colonoscopy on Tuesday so another early morning appointment in Knoxville. The prep for these are much worse than the actual test. I had to do the prep on Monday so I was starving by Tuesday afternoon. My husband took excellent care of me and treated me like a big baby. All was good with my colon and I don’t have to follow up for another five years. So that is a bit of fantastic news. My sister had colon cancer at the very young age of 35 so me and my brothers and sisters have had to have colonoscopies on a regular basis for many years. I am happy to say that my sister is a 35 year cancer survivor. Catching this early and getting it taken care of is the key.

So some things that were not extra nice to have happen but turned out to be fine overall. I just have to leave you with this picture of two adorable Christmas presents that I found under the Christmas tree.

So how was your week? Anything new and exciting to share? Have a wonderful weekend.

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!!

Friday Favorites

Hello and happy Friday first let me say Happy Veterans Day to all the wonderful brave men and women who served our country or continue to serve. I thank you and appreciate you more than you will ever know.

How has your week been? Mine was a short work week because I had Monday and Tuesday off. So Friday came quickly and that is a good thing. I have quite a few favorites to share with you this week.

On Tuesday I had lunch with my sister and my niece and a good friend, in nearby Athens. We also went to the Dollar Tree there to check out their Christmas ornaments and decorations. The Dollar Tree in Athens, which is about 20 minutes from us, is the best one around. We found several things and had such a good time together.

Later that day I went in a totally different direction to Sevierville to eat dinner with a friend from Pennsylvania. She was in town for the annual souvenir gift buying show and we met and ate dinner. It was so good catching up with her. Before having dinner I had about an hour to kill so I ran by the TJ Maxx in Sevierville. I love this store it is one of my favorite TJ Maxx stores. We ate dinner at Harpoon Harry’s. I love their Crab Rangoon sushi. Sevierville is about an hour and a half drive for me so I got home really late but it was totally worth it.

I have been working on this scarf. It is a very easy knit. One I can grab and take with me and not worry about a pattern. It is just K2, YO, K2tog. I love the colors and I am going to be a little sad to finish it but I can’t wait to wear it. It’s one that you can wrap around you without it being bulky.

I finally broke down a few weeks ago and downloaded Beachbody On Demand. I had been thinking about it for awhile. Since May I have lost 30 pounds. I was really needing to add some exercise into my daily routine. I have been doing Beachbody for a couple of weeks and I love it. You can download it for a month, three months or a year. I did the year. My nieces have it and they love it. It is a little costly about $130.00 for an entire year, but there are 41 different workout programs and each one has a different set of workouts. I am doing a couple of the country line dance routines and 30 minutes passes by before I know it. They are so much fun. There is also a body sculpting one that works specific muscle groups. I ordered one of those small Pilates balls to use with this workout. I downloaded the app so I can take it anywhere with me. If I am traveling and want to do a workout in my hotel room I am able to without going to a hotel gym, which I am not always comfortable doing. There are also recipes and food plans, I haven’t tried any of those yet because I like my own plan.

This is the Pilates ball I ordered from Amazon. It is small but there are lots of uses for it with many of the workouts on Beachbody.

I ordered this Shacket from Walmart online. I have been wanting one of these with a plaid pattern. I was pleasantly surprised when I got this it is fairly heavy and can definitely be worn as a jacket. It is very toasty. I haven’t seen one like this in our local Walmart but you can find it online.

It seems like I am always on the lookout for face products. I saw this one on TikTok and the girl using it just loved it. Sometimes when I wash my face I wonder if I am getting all of the makeup off of it. This is a balm that you use first, and it sort of dissolves your makeup. You then follow with your regular face cleaning product. I am loving it and the good thing is you can find it at Walmart.

I wanted to give you an update on the press on nails that I used a few weeks ago. The blue ones I put on lasted for about two weeks with me only having to replace two of them. You get thirty in a pack so this was no big deal. They looked great and they are really easy to file down just like your natural nails. The only drawback is that when I took the press on nails off, my nails underneath looked TERRIBLE!!!!! they are pitted and weak and breaking like crazy. So I am not sure if everyone has this problem. But for my nails they are not a good thing. Maybe I shouldn’t have left them on as long as I did. I don’t think I will use them again unless it is just for a special occasion where I will only have them on for a day or two.

This is what they looked like after two weeks. They looked great but not worth the damage to my nails.

I hope you might find some of these useful. Have a wonderful weekend.

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!!

Hello Monday

Hello friends how was your weekend? I took a few extra days off. The end of the year is coming and I have some vacation days that I need to use before the year ends. It was also my husband’s birthday so we have had a few days of celebrating. Nothing fancy just a couple of dinners out. I made my hubs special pancakes and bacon for breakfast on his birthday and I made him a pumpkin pie. We actually spent most of the weekend settling my MIL back into the Assisted Living Village where she had been living until a few months ago. It has been a bit of a somber weekend. Life happens and you deal with it one day at a time. Sometimes one minute at a time.

Back in July my mother in law had an episode and had to be taken to our local hospital ER. She was unresponsive and after many tests the doctors told us she had had a mild heart attack. After spending several days in the hospital she was released but wasn’t ready to go back to the assisted living center where she had been living. The doctor recommended that she go to the nearby nursing facility where she could get care and therapy. After three months of being there she was finally set to be released about two weeks ago. She was so excited. I had planned to take a half day off from work to help her get settled back in.

As I was driving to the nursing home to help get her clothes and everything loaded, the administrator called and said she had just tested positive for Covid. WHAT??? So she would not be leaving for at least ten more days. Also she was in quarantine with about twenty other patients who had tested positive and we were not allowed to visit. We couldn’t call her because she can’t hear well enough to have a phone conversation and she gets very agitated trying to communicate. We were so disappointed and I know that she was. We had to rely on the staff to get messages to her and try to keep her spirits up. I am sure she felt like she had been forgotten.

I did visit with her after about a week and told her she would soon be moving back to the village. So on Saturday we finally got her moved.

It is amazing how much of a set back she has had. It’s sad and depressing and it just makes my heart break for her. When we got her to the assisted living village she looked around like she was seeing it for the first time. She kept saying “well I guess I will just have to get used to this”. She seemed almost disappointed to be there. And she had been so excited just two weeks before that. She was so confused. She is almost 89 years old. I know she has been through a lot but this last bout of Covid and being quarantined away from everyone has really taken a toll. After we left her, promising that we would return the next day to check on her, I felt like we were leaving a toddler alone to care for her self. I called to check on her later that day and the staff told us she was doing well and getting adjusted. By the next day it was a little better and more and more of her friends from the village were stopping by to see her. I think that made her feel more at home. She can’t wait to have her hair done in the shop inside the village.

So hubs and I returned the next day to check on her and because my work is only about ten minutes from her I can drop in daily until she gets readjusted.

We had a quiet day today. We decided to put our Christmas tree up. We have to do things like this when we have days off together and have no other obligations. I feel that waiting until Thanksgiving is over is just not enough time to decorate for Christmas. I say why not celebrate the entire last two months of the year. I don’t feel like it is taking anything away from Thanksgiving by enjoying some Christmas festivities as well. But that’s just my opinion.

I don’t have a tree topper or a tree skirt yet but the ornaments are on. This tree is 32 years old. We have had it since our first year of marriage. We haven’t put it up every year but we have many of the 32 years. That little red rug was crocheted by my grandmother Rose, she taught me to crochet, and I use it every year. I just noticed that bottom could use a few more ornaments.

I have done quite a bit of knitting and crocheting while I have been off the last few days and Kitty Kitty has been my constant companion. She loves being near yarn.

I have one more day off tomorrow and I have a few fun things planned I will catch you up on Friday Favorites. Have a wonderful week.

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!

Hello Monday

Happy Monday, Happy Halloween, Happy last day of October, if you can even believe that. Where did October go? It’s one of my favorite months and it just when whooshing by.

So do you celebrate Halloween. I think it is a little fun holiday. You don’t have to get too deep into all the hoopla. I dressed up as Raggedy Ann I’ve had this costume for several years. This is the first time I have worn this one in several years. We had a lot of school kids visiting at work today so it was really fun.

My weekend was fairly busy. My Saturday morning plans with my niece sort of fell through at the last minute so I had some extra time in Saturday morning. I had an extra cup of coffee and enjoyed the mild temperature outside. I did a little cleaning and a grocery pickup.

On Saturday afternoon I met my brother and sister to go to our elementary school reunion. Union Grove School. The reunion was being held in nearby Athens. The school that my older brothers and sisters attended was closed after I finished fourth grade. We had to then commute to another school. This small school held classes for first grade through eighth grade. And we found out Saturday night that in the very early days of the school being open it included ninth through twelfth grades. The school was open from 1919 to 1973. It was only about 5,000 square feet. As the community grew so did the number of students and with the age of the building it couldn’t be kept open.

I loved this old school. I think everyone was sad to see it be torn down. My younger brother and I then had to be bussed to a school about thirty minutes from us. But the bus ride was even longer.

I didn’t know if many of the people I had gone to school with would be there but there were a few and it was so good to see them. I even got phone numbers from a few. A girl who I had always thought was a mortal enemy, lol, was there and we talked and got reacquainted and exchanged numbers to keep in touch. She was just lovely and it just proves that many times what you think of people while growing up is not always the person they grow into. It seemed like there were many more people from my older brother and sister’s classes attending than mine but it was still a lot of fun and the food was great.

Lots of old pictures. None I could find of my class or my younger brothers’. I guess because we were the last class there.

Me my brother and sister. We had so much fun!!!

Sunday was a quieter day that I spent at home. Mark had to work so it was just me and the kitties. I decided to make lotion bars. Well it didn’t start out that way. I had planned to chill, maybe watch a movie, read my book, nap. You know the usual Sunday things. But Sunday after lunch I started cleaning out my food pantry. Ok let me just stop right here and say that it is terrible how much food is wasted at my house. I sometimes don’t even know what all I have in this closet. I threw a ton of stuff away with a pledge to myself, and all of mankind to stop wasting. But back to the lotion bars. They are all natural made with shea butter, coconut oil and beeswax. I also use the Essential Oils to scent them. I made about thirty, this one below is the largest it is 4oz. and the flower below that is only 2oz. I just enlarged it for detail. I put them in small tins and give them as gifts and sell them locally. I got a big order last night for Christmas. I love making them and my kitchen smells so good.

While cleaning the pantry I discovered a whole jar of coconut oil. I wanted to use it so that is where the lotion bars came in.

I then returned to the task of cleaning out the pantry and reorganizing all my food. And vowing my grocery bill would be half as much this week as it usually is. Guys it looks so good. I know where everything is and how much I have. If only I did this every couple of weeks. I will I will!!!!

I also made peanut butter balls to take to work for our little Halloween goody table. They were a big hit.

I have to leave you with this sweet picture of Gus and Kitty Kitty having a very serious conversation in the window and a last picture of a beautiful red bush. The color is still hanging on. It is always one of the last to leave for the season.