Happy Birthday to My Blog

Again I say this. Same sentence just a different year. It’s so hard to believe that four years have passed since I started writing this blog. A lot of things have happened in these four years. I will recap a few:

We lost my brother Allen. (2018) He passed away on February 13th. One year ago today actually. It was a blow to our family. He had just celebrated his Birthday on February 10th. And while he had been sick we thought he would recover and he didn’t. Writing about him was one of the very first blog posts I did you can read it here if you missed it. Saying Goodbye to my Brother Allen. He was the best big brother in the world. He was quite a bit older than me and was actually in the military when I was only five years old. But as we got older we became really good friends. He loved to travel and he liked hearing about all of my adventures. We talked a lot about places we wanted to visit. He loved looking a travel pictures. He had the biggest heart.

*My brother was a veteran in the* *Airforce and I always thought he looked so handsome in his uniform.*

We got Scruffy!!!! (2018) It’s really strange the way we got our Scruffy boy. My sister and her husband were coming back from my brother, Allen’s, funeral and it was storming and raining really hard. They noticed a small dog in their headlights as they turned into their garage. It was Scruffy. He followed them into their garage where he spent the night. He was in terrible shape. He had a bad skin infection and was almost totally blind from cataracts. I went over the next day and got him and took him to the vet. He was not chipped. No one came forward when we tried to find an owner. I took him home. It is one of the best things I have ever done in my life. He was only about six years old at the time. We have no idea what happened to his eyes. A couple of months later we got cataract surgery for his eyes and he can see!!!

***This is what poor Scruffy looked like when we first got him.***

A couple of months later that same year my little mother in law fell and broke her hip. She had a lot of issues and had to move into an assisted living center. She had just befriended a small gray cat at her house. Mark and I started going over and feeding the kitty and we fell in love with her. That is how we got our sweet Kitty Kitty. She also had some health issues. A polyp in her nose was preventing her from breathing without making a horrible noise. We took her to the U.T. Veterinary hospital, same place Scruffy had his cataract surgery, and they were able to remove the polyp and now she is just fine.

***Kitty Kitty looks like such a baby. She was only about six weeks old when we got he***r.

In July of this past year we added five more kitties to our family. We now have eight fur babies to take care of. We love them all and now can’t imagine life without them. You can read more about the kitties in this post. She came in on little cat feet.

And in the meantime lots of other things happened. My great nephews and nieces have grown up so much, they have graduated from high school, started college, gotten cars and jobs, started middle school and high school. And they don’t care much about spending time with aunt Lisa anymore. HA!!
We have taken trips, vacations, had anniversary and graduation parties, had doctor visits, some of them just plain terrifying, Mark had shingles which landed him in the hospital for three days. You can read about that here: Scary Times
We celebrated holidays, retirements, sickness and health. We had approximately 208 Sister Lunches.
And don’t let us forget COVID. This led to a whole other world of not seeing family and friends, not spending time together, job challenges and being quarantined.

Wow!!! As I said a lot has happened in the last four years. I know you can tell from reading this that my family means the world to me and I would do anything for any of them.

Through the last four years I have enjoyed having this blog so much!!! It is a place I come to and share things with you. I published 318 blog posts. And I am so grateful for each and every one of you who take the time to visit, read or comment or like my posts. It is a great way to get to know new friends from all over the world. I have made some amazing friends since I started my blog. I now have an online diary of pictures and happenings of my life. I know a lot of people think blogs are on the way out but I still think they have a great place in our world. If you are thinking of starting a blog I would highly encourage it.

So here is to many more years. Thank you so much for reading!!!!!

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!!!

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday. I don’t know about you but I am so ready for the weekend.

I wanted to share some of my favorite things with you this week. So here we go.

I purchased my first orchid. My friend Penelope has so many beautiful pictures of hers. She always talks about how cheerful they can be all winter long. I decided I wanted an orchid. I have had this one for over a week and it is still alive so that is a good thing. Of course I have had some helpful tips from Penelope. I am eager to add a few more in different colors.

I just have to tell you how much I love this foaming face wash. I use it every day when I take my makeup off. It makes my skin feel so soft and clean.

Check out these Valentine’s earrings from Made to Shine. This site has lots of different earrings you can check them out here. http://www.made to shine.com

My love picture I bought at Hobby Lobby. I bought it on the clearance rack for $5.00. I think it fits perfectly for Valentine’s Day.

I have pulled off of knitting for a minute to work on this temperature blanket. The colors of yarn coordinate with the daily temperatures. I have been recording the average temp every day since January 1st. I am on January 18th. The rows are really quick to crochet and by the end of the year you will have 365 rows. I am so excited about this I have wanted to do one for years. Those darkest blue colors were during the cold snap we had in January when the daily temps were only about 35 degrees F. I will keep you updated on the progress

My Pioneer Woman place mats. I am loving them. I think they even look a little Valentiney.

This series on Netflix, The Woman In The House Across The Street From The Girl In The Window. this is an interesting series. It has quite a bit of satire and is a little silly at times but I enjoyed it.

So what are some of your favorite things this week.

Always remember,

Love your day your way!!!!

Hello February

Hello and happy Sunday and first weekend in February. Wow I hear people saying they thought January lasted forever but I think it went by unbelievably fast.

A few of my favorite things from this past month include several books I read or listened to through the Libby app. If you have a local library card you can read books online through Libby. There are thousands of books available instantly for whatever device you choose to use. I love using this app. These are the books I read or listened to in January.

I am really picky about what I can listen to when it comes to a book and the readers. The first two books, The Secret to Southern Charm and The Southern Side of Paradise are a series. These are two and three. I have a hold for the first one. These are audible and the reader is trying to use a southern accent and it is pretty bad. But the story line is good and it kept me interested.

This past week has been much calmer than last week EXCEPT the babies. It’s Molly and Scruffy this time. Molly is our old girl and she came to us almost fifteen years ago. When we got her, her tail had been mostly cut off. I think she was a hunting dog hopeful for someone and she just didn’t fit the bill and they dumped her.

A few weeks ago we noticed when Molly was walking through the house she sometimes left spots of blood behind her. We finally figured out it was coming from her tail. For some reason she had been chewing on the middle of her tail, or what’s left of her tail. There’s lot of blood veins that run through a dog’s tail. The vet told us this is a very tough skin and it is very hard to chew through but she did it. No sign of fleas or allergies, she gets an allergy shot regularly. No tumor in that area so are really unsure why she started chewing on it the way she did. A couple of times she bled so much it looked like she was going to bleed out. This may be my mama overactive imagination running wild but it was freaking scary. And the tear was infected. We had to dress the cut twice a day and wrap it with tape or we had to have her wear the cone of shame while it got some air. It was a nightmare. I slept in the recliner one night because I was so scared she was going to rip it back open. So we have been dealing with this for about a month. It is not healing as quick as our vet would like so they have put her on a higher dose of antibiotics. So far she is doing much better.

Then there is Scruffy. Something is going on with him and it scares me really bad and I am not going to say a lot about it until we get some testing. He is having some episodes similar to seizures but not losing conscious. Anyway it scares the crap out of me and I can’t even think of him not being o.k.so that is all I can say right now. I will keep you posted.

Work has been fairly easy. We are still in the slow season. I did have a bit of catching up to do after being out for our trip to Cocoa Beach but fortunately I had a bit of time to work while I was down there because of all the rain we had. Take the good with the bad I say.

I finally finished all the little hearts I was working on. I sewed up two different sizes in different fabrics. My idea was to put them in a jar. But when I put them in the jar I just wasn’t pleased with how they looked. I finally put them in a big clear vase I bought at the thrift store for $3.00 and I was pretty pleased with it.

***After I sewed all the hearts I had a hard time deciding what to put them in. I found this vase at the thrift store for $3.00. I love the way it turned out.***

***I did this one for my niece for her Birthday. Don’t you just love the Pioneer Woman place mats. I love the colors.***

After a week of dreary cold cloudy days the weekend was filled with sunshine. The temps were still pretty cold but the sunshine made up for it. I just had to get out with the babies both days and get some much needed walks and vitamin C.

***Sunshine, beautiful sunshine!!! Where have you been???***

***The babies and I had some nice walks. This is Allie (Mama Kitty)***

So how was your weekend?

Always remember,

Love your day your way!!!!

Weekly Recap

Florida, Space and Reba, oh my!!!!

Hello friends I meant to post this yesterday but time just got away from me. I was so tired yesterday I only did laundry and read and worked on my Valentines Day hearts. I told my husband that the past week had kicked my butt. He said that I say that every week and I guess I do. Ha!!!

So it all started last week on Sunday. I flew to Cocoa Beach Florida with a couple of other people from work. I had to leave my house at 3:45 AM to drive to Knoxville and meet them. Our Attractions group, Southern Highlands Attractions was meeting with some of the marketing people at Kennedy Space Center. Our plane left at 5:35 AM. I had gotten up that morning at 2:30 AM to get everything ready to go. Mark had to work that day as well and had to leave out almost as early as I did. It was a bit of a scramble to get up, get all eight babies taken care of, and get out of the house on time but we did it. Then our plane was delayed in Knoxville to allow for de-icing and we almost missed out connection in Atlanta. Luckily we didn’t.

We were headed to Cocoa Beach FL and we flew into Melbourne. The Melbourne airport is only twenty miles from Cocoa Beach and is a much smaller airport than Orlando which is about sixty miles or so from Cocoa Beach. The Melbourne airport is fairly small, very easy to navigate and I loved it.

We landed, picked up our rental car and headed to Cocoa Beach. We had a little time to kill before checking into our hotel so we got coffee and went to the beach. It was unusually cold for Florida but the beach was beautiful. I got some great pictures that I posted on Wordless Wednesday you can check it out here if you missed it.

We stayed at the Courtyard by Marriott on Cocoa Beach and it was lovely. My room was a small suite with a separate bedroom and kitchen area and a balcony, it wasn’t beach front but we were getting an excellent rate for our attractions group plus it rained two of the days we were there. We met up with most of our group that afternoon and had dinner that night at Fishlips and it was so yummy.

On Monday morning we left by bus to go to Kennedy Space Center. A former attractions member and friend had recently retired from Kennedy and she arranged a special tour for us. It was great!!! The only downfall was that I reached down for my wallet as we were pulling into the parking area at Kennedy and realized it was not in my purse. I didn’t remember seeing it in the hotel room. I was pretty sure I had had it the night before when we stopped at Publix but I couldn’t be for sure. We were scheduled to be at Kennedy all day. I almost got Uber to go back to the hotel to see if my wallet was there but the hotel was about twenty five minutes each way. I kept constantly checking my accounts to make sure no one was using my card. Luckily when I got back to the hotel my wallet was there. I had put a shirt on top of it and that is why I didn’t see it. I hope I am not the only one who does things like this.

We had dinner that night at a great restaurant. Branos Italian Grill, was amazing. Not only the food but the entertainment. On Monday night a precious couple, who are both eighty four years old and have been married for sixty four years, plays music and serenades the diners. What a treat. They were amazing.

We were in meetings half the day on Tuesday and it rained all day. We were scheduled to take an airboat ride but it was canceled because of the rain and cold weather. We did get to visit the original Ron Jon surf shop and meet with their marketing people. That was really exciting. The store is huge almost overwhelmingly so. I got a couple of tee shirts. We went back to the hotel and chilled until dinner.

On Tuesday night we ate at Rising Tide Tap & Table. Another fabulous meal. I had the Mahi Dorado and it was to die for.

***The Mahi Dorado, As you can tell we always have great food at these meetings.***

We headed home on Wednesday and I was so glad to get back home. We had a late flight and I didn’t get in until after midnight. I took Thursday off and had lunch with the sisters and took supplies to my mother in law and did some house cleaning and extra snuggles for the babies.

Work on Friday and it was sooooo cold. The high temp was only 34 degrees F. I did grocery shopping early Saturday and then went to Knoxville with my niece to see Reba McEntire in concert. What a night, I love Reba and the concert was so good.