December Weekend

Happy Monday How was your weekend?

Last week here in East Tennessee started out really cold. We even had some snow on Monday night. At lunchtime on Monday I ran over to the Eye Doctor with my husband to help him pick out some new frames. I don’t know why he insists on having me there I have never told him I didn’t like anything he chose to wear, well except that one time he ran into our local bank wearing torn sweatpants. And they were not torn in a fashionable place like everyone wears now, if you get my drift. So his appointment was at noon and I went over to help pick out frames. And it snowed Monday night!!! It was a soft wet snow, the kind that is just perfect because it doesn’t stay on the roads. But the trees and bushes were beautiful it looked like a winter wonderland.

On Wednesday I had a day off. I have been trying to use some vacation days before the end of the year so I will be taking some random days here and there. I sort of like having these odd vacation days. Don’t get me wrong I would much rather be going on a vacation to somewhere warm or different. But with things the way they are now I will just stick close to home. I needed to have my car serviced it has been making a strange sound when I break or turn into a parking lot. Just a weird noise. So I called on Tuesday and was able to set up service for Wednesday morning at 8:00 AM. The dealership is about an hour from my house. When they asked if I would be dropping it off I said I had no one to pick me up. Mark had to work and I didn’t want anyone to drive that far to pick me up and then have to take me back. I told them I would be staying at the dealership. Remember the last time I went? I told you how I actually love being there doing nothing. I know this would drive some people crazy but it is not often that I just get to sit and not have anything to do. So I sat and I knitted and watched videos on my phone, and I addressed Christmas cards. A friend of mine shared some addresses of service men and women who would be unable to get home for Christmas. They found out at the last minute their ship would not be home for Christmas. My friend arranged a Christmas card send-out to all of those crewmen. I had eleven of the names so I spent some of my time at the dealership doing that. I tried to write a note in each one and let them know how much we all appreciate their service and tell them a little about what was going on in my hometown. My car was finally finished and I took off just in time to meet the sisters for our weekly Sister Lunch. After I got home I finished the day watching a movie with the fur babies. A good day off.

I ended the work week doing a pick- up at Walmart for groceries and taking things to my little mother in law at the Assisted Living Center.

Most of the weekend was pretty quiet. I did laundry and cleaned and I spent a little, actually more than I care to admit, time working on a jigsaw puzzle. This led me to the realization that life is also like a jigsaw puzzle. If you missed that last post you can check it out here. I also took a long walk and got some pictures. Why do weekends go by so fast???

***Backing up my driveway this is my view of the woods and my house.***

***Our canoe is out of commission for awhile***

***Scruffy loves taking walks. He never looks up lol.***

Have a wonderful week!!!!

Always remember,

Love your day your way!!!

Life is like a Jigsaw Puzzle

Forrest Gump says, or his mama says, that life is like a box of chocolates and you never know what you are going to get. I do agree with that. But I also believe that life is like a jigsaw puzzle.

I love working jigsaw puzzles. I have probably worked hundreds of them through the years. But the other night I was working one and I thought to myself, life is like a jigsaw puzzle and you have to put all the pieces together to see the full picture and it can take awhile. A lifetime to be honest.

You usually start working a puzzle by separating the outside pieces and then start working on the middle. You aren’t supposed to know what it will all look like until you get to the end. But as you place more and more pieces you will notice a picture taking shape. There will be missing pieces or pieces that don’t seem to fit anywhere until the very end. In the beginning it’s hard and it takes time to understand. As you progress the puzzle gets easier and easier to fit the pieces into place. You will see parts of the puzzle that didn’t seem to work and then they just do. ” Ahhhh I see now”.

If you could see the completed puzzle, without looking at the box, would it be as interesting, fun or as challenging as working through it and putting those pieces into place. No of course it wouldn’t.

I would also compare this to starting something new or breaking a bad habit. At first you are fumbling around, much like a new baby, and you aren’t sure what to do next. It’s hard it’s really hard. But as you progress and time goes by it gets easier to understand. It gets easier to do.

Just my thoughts on this Sunday morning when I have to remind myself that I am not supposed to know all the answers or know how to do something perfect in the beginning or even in the middle or ever.

Happy Sunday, Have a wonderful week!!!!

Always remember,

Love your day your way!!!!

Cyber Shopping and The Weekly Smile

Happy Sunday friends. I was having coffee this morning and enjoying a quiet Sunday morning. If you were here we would chat about all the things that happened this week, Thanksgiving and all the prep work that went into it how it was different from last year and any shopping you may have done afterwards. Just the day to day flow of life. I like that idea. I wish we could do that right now. A fellow blogger often starts his posts like this and I just find it so welcoming.

The weather here has been cold in the mornings so you have to turn on the heat. And then by afternoon the temps are quite warm and you have to turn on the air. However we may have a winter mix by Tuesday morning and I say BRING IT ON!!! I am so ready for some cold weather. Don’t ask me if I feel the same way in a month it will probably be different.

My weekend so far has been great!! My sister and I didn’t get to do our Black Friday shopping as we had done for so many years. I chose to work because we have been so short staffed. So I worked on Friday but on Saturday my sister and I decided to have a Cyber Saturday shopping day. I went to her house and took my lap top and we trolled the internet for any Black Friday left over sales we could find. I found a few things but after a couple of hours we decided to head out and visit a couple of shops and grab something to eat. We didn’t go far just to Athens which is about fifteen minutes from us. We stopped at Hobby Lobby because I wanted to buy some yarn for some earrings I want to make. I can’t wait to show you those as soon as I get them finished. Then we went to Belk. I am not often a fan of Belk but I found some cute booties and a work satchel I had been looking for. Both of these were $19.99 still on the Black Friday sales. Came home and snuggled my Scruffy and everything is right with the world.

***I can’t wait to wear these. I am the queen of wearing black so I think these will go with everything.***

I’ve been looking for a satchel to carry to work. I needed something large enough to carry my MacBook, lunch, and my big camera that I have started using much more lately. Even if I don’t have it inside work with me I will have it the car if I need it.

This week has been so nice. I got to spend time cooking some of my favorite dishes and sharing them with my family. I spent Saturday with my sister Sandy and we always have the most fun even if we are doing nothing at all. Wonderful times I have had this week and that definitely made me smile.
What made you smile this week? I know there was something.

Have a wonderful week!!!!

I am joining the Weekly Smile at Tren’t World check it out if you get a chance and see what others had to smile about this week.

http://www.trentsworldblog.wordpress.com

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!

Happy Thanksgiving 2020

***I was leaving the post office at sunset on Thanksgiving Eve when I spotted the church steeple through the trees.***

**I found these little fabric pumpkins a few years ago at an antique store.**

***It is so amazing that a couple of weeks can bring about such a change in the colors of leaves and trees. I love them all they each have a beauty.***

***These two love going on our walks and they are the best of friends.***

*This is our life size Santa that we have had for over 25 years. Every year he* *stand****s in our upstairs hallway in front of the window.*** I think we bought him at Target. We drag him out of the basement every year. There was a time I wanted to get rid of him because he took up so much room but man I am glad now that I didn’t. Kitty Kitty loves him too.

***Live size Santa in the window this is the first thing you see coming down our driveway.***

Thanksgiving morning and it was 3:00 A.M. I couldn’t sleep. I guess I was thinking about all the things to do before 2:00 PM when I would have my Thanksgiving lunch. It was different this year only four of us. My sister and her husband came to eat with us. Well five if you counted Scruffy who wouldn’t leave my side the entire time I was cooking dinner. I wasn’t sure if there would be four people or eight for dinner. It was a maybe for a few people. At the last minute my nephew was sick and his brother had been around their mom, who had just been tested for COVID and we didn’t feel comfortable with him being around Mark. However, they did call with their to-go orders. HA!!! Mark’s brother and his wife were a maybe and they didn’t get to come at the last minute.

I had to work every day leading up to Thanksgiving Day. That did not leave me with a lot of time to clean my house and shop for food. I did do some cleaning last weekend but you know how that goes after almost a week. It felt like I hadn’t done anything. Plus I put my Christmas tree up last weekend and did some decorating so that took up most of the weekend. I decided to concentrate on my downstairs because I knew no one would be going upstairs for anything.

I did a little cleaning on Monday night. I stopped and bought groceries on the way home on Tuesday night. As soon as I got home on Wednesday and I had a chance to grab some dinner and change clothes I gave Scruffy a much needed bath. After that I made cornbread for the dressing I would make on Thursday. I also made the two pies. Let me tell you making two pies at once is a little tricky. One pie I had to bake, the pecan, and the other I didn’t. I constantly found myself almost putting the ingredients in the wrong pie. Ha! Luckily they both turned out fine.

So there I was at 3:00 AM on Thanksgiving morning even though I hadn’t gotten to bed until 11:30 PM the night before. I finally got up around 5:00 and started the day which always involves coffee and sitting for a few minutes with whichever fur baby hops on my lap first. Kitty Kitty won out this time and she curled up on my lap and took a nap.

It was just the four of us for dinner and we had a wonderful time. Mark wanted to know why I was cooking sooooo much food. My thinking was, it’s still Thanksgiving and that means food. Mark did not want turkey this year, he is not a big fan of turkey, so we did a spiral ham. I still did dressing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, baked beans, rolls, cucumbers, cranberry sauce and two pies, chocolate and pecan.

After dinner my sister and I took a walk and enjoyed the warm temperature, which was about 65 degrees F, and the sunshine.

So yes Thanksgiving 2020 was different as so many things this year have been. But you know what? I know I am even more thankful than ever. My faith and the love I have for my friends and family are something that can never change. I am here and living in a time that will never be forgotten and I am just happy to say I am a part of this big wonderful life. So how was your Thanksgiving???

Always remember,

Love your day your way!!!