Friday Favorites

Happy Friday. I am so happy to see you Friday, it’s been a long week.

I actually took today off to take my sister to Knoxville for bloodwork, and possibly a shot to boost her white and or red blood cells. Her bloodwork looked so good she didn’t need either. So that is just about the best favorite thing that could happen. She has finished two chemo treatments and will have her third one next Friday. She will have a total of six.

I made a butterfly tree on Sunday. I saw this on TikTok or Pinterest. I thought it would make things look like spring and it does. I made a snowflake tree a few years ago. I will try to find a picture of that. I bought these butterfly cutouts at the Dollar Tree. There are quite a few in one pack. I had lots left over. I hot glued them to a branch that we had at work that we had used as a display for our jewelry tree. Some of my co-workers were throwing it out last week and ask if I wanted it. They had heard me mentioning a butterfly tree and that I was looking for some nice branches to use. I put it in one of my crocks. I love the way it turned out.

Another favorite this week is the weather. It has been unseasonably warm. Of course this has caused so many trees and things to bloom out and allergies and sinus issues are through the roof. The temps are supposed to stay warm most of next week. I always worry when things bloom out too early and then a cold snap happens and ruins them.

I posted a few pictures last week of some of the Easter decorations at T.J. Maxx but look at these I found at Walmart. Ok those different colored bunnies are all the rage on TikTok. I don’t quite understand it. They are cute and fairly large but my husband is sort of creeped out over anything without eyes. So I probably won’t get any of these. But as you can see Walmart has a decent selection of items if you are in need. I am not. I have plenty. I think I will do a little Easter decorating this weekend.

***These eggs were like $1.99. That is a fantastic price***.

***I love this bunny picture. I may have to add him to my Easter decorations.***

***These cute containers could be used anytime.***

A highlight of my week was getting to see a friend from Florida, Debbie, sadly I forgot to get a picture but we had a long lunch and spent time catching up and solving all the world’s problems. She is one of those special friends who, even if you haven’t seen each other in years you just pick up where you left off.

Have you tried these Hershey’s Drops? They are so yummy. You can also put them on cakes, cupcakes or just about anything. They seem to fit especially well in my mouth.

Remember my disaster with the piping bags when I was decorating the Birthday cake a couple of weeks ago? Well I decided to order these disposable bags. I watched a couple of cake decorating videos and one of the cake decorators used these bags. 56 bags for $11.99 and no worries about cleaning or storing them after each use. I just got them a couple of days ago and haven’t tried them. I will let you know how they work. They seem very durable.

So other than my sister’s great report on bloodwork this morning, the best favorite of this week is that it is Baby Kay Day. Twelve years ago today I donated a kidney to my husband. Because we sort of share the kidney we named it Baby Kay. If you haven’t read the full story here is a link I posted last year with a little more information. We are both doing great!!! I often forget I have only one kidney.

What are some of your favorites from this week?

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!

The Homer Simpson Chronicles

I think that with age comes wisdom, confidence, positivity, achievements. But I also think that with age comes feelings of insecurity, doubt, negativity and indecision.

Since I am getting ready to turn the big 6,0 this year I have noticed a lot of changes within myself. Yes the usual things that come with age like watching body changes hair changes, wrinkles etc etc but also some things that have been quite unexpected. For instance I don’t always feel confident in myself and it’s hard to be positive a lot because a lot of crap has happened in a short period of time. Life is freaking scary. And I hate to use the D word but often I feel just plain dumb. Sometimes I feel like I can’t do anything. I feel like Homer Simpson.

If you’ve ever watched TV you probably know who Homer Simpson is. He is a cartoon character, always screwing up and doing dumb things. Nothing ever seems to go right for Homer. Lately I have started to identify with Homer a bit more than I would like. For instance:

A couple of weeks ago. I had to make a cake. I have made hundreds of cakes through the years. I used to make wedding cakes. But through the years I stopped making as many as I used to. I don’t seem to have the time for it or the patience or quite frankly the skill.

The wedding cakes were the first cakes I stopped doing. I would be a nervous wreck putting the cakes together. This seemed to get worse as I got older. So for my sanity, and my poor husband’s, as he was the only one at home with me when I was in panic mode over a cake, I stopped doing the wedding cakes. I did continue to do cakes for special occasions and for all of my family’s Birthdays, anniversaries and things like that.

A couple of weeks ago, my nephew’s wife had a birthday and we were planning to get together and celebrate. At the last minute the plan to meet was changed to the following night, moving the celebration up a couple of days. So I had to make a cake that very night after work. I decided to do a layer cake. I would make two layers and then split them and it makes the cake have several layers. I have made these many times.

As soon as I got home from work I made the cake, it was in two round cake pans. Of course I had to let it cool and that does take a little while. I could have stuck it in the fridge or freezer for a bit but I felt like I had plenty of time to let it cool on the counter. It was only about 5:30 when I took it out of the oven. At 7:30 I checked on the cake. It was almost completely cool or so it seemed so I started making the icing. My cake icing recipe is simple but so good and fairly easy to make.

I use a cake slicer that has something like a nylon string that actually glides through the cake and makes two layers out of one. Because the cake was still so fresh, from having been taken out of the oven only a couple of hours before, it was a bit crumbly. When I started to put the icing on the cake a rather large chunk fell out of the cake. I have had this happen before. Not a big problem. I just stuck it back in place and slapped some extra icing in that area. The last time I used by piping bags I decided to store them in a larger plastic bag down in one of my cabinets. When I took the piping bags out of the plastic bag, I saw there was mold on the bags. I must have put the bags up when they were still a little damp!!!! I had to dump those in the trash. Now what could I use to decorate the cake? I tried cutting off the end of a sandwich bag and using that, no luck. I tried using a freezer bag, no luck. I was in a panic. I told my husband I might have to run to Walmart and get more piping bags. It was 8:30 PM and Walmart is over fifteen minutes away, it was not looking good. Suddenly I remembered I had bought new bags and stuck them in the hall closet. Of course getting to those involved digging half of everything in the closet out and putting it in the floor. I turned over some cleaner and had to stop and get that up immediately before Gus could get to it.

By the time I got all of this done the icing for the cake had gotten really soft. I also realized that I wasn’t going to have enough icing to do the rosettes all over the cake the way I had planned. And let me mention I had already started putting the rosettes on the cake. I would either have to stop, now it was almost 9:30, and make more icing or come up with plan B.

Suddenly I was overcome with hysterical laughter. My husband cautiously yelled from the other room and asked if everything was okay. I was laughing so hard I sputtered the words out. “On my goodness!!! I am Homer Simpson!!!! I can’t do anything right!!! The more I thought about it the funnier it was. I put the cake in the fridge along with the icing, this would help it thicken, and took a breather. I decided to take the icing off of the cake and not do the rosettes. It was late and I was tired so plan B it was. I redistributed the icing and made it smooth all the way around. I would buy a Happy Birthday sign from the Walmart next day to put on top of the cake. And you know what? The cake was fine and it was delicious.

But the thing is when I started making the cake I had self doubt and I just didn’t feel like I would do a good job. It was okay but it wasn’t the exact cake I had intended to make. I don’t like having negative feelings and I think it is just something I will have to put out of my mind. Easier said than done of course. I guess Homer isn’t so bad maybe I should think about what Homer would do and then do the opposite.

I also think that our bodies and minds are a work in progress until the day we leave this world. Things change and feelings come and go including feelings of insecurities and doubt and intellect. It’s okay.

So if you happened to see me at Walmart last weekend, and I was bent over my cart and couldn’t stand up because my clip to my small purse hanging around my neck had gotten clipped onto the cart and I couldn’t for the life of me get it undone, then you know I was having a Homer Simpson moment. DOH!!!!!

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!!

A Short Trip To Highlands North Carolina

Hello friends and happy Monday. I know I have been a little quiet over here but as I have said before sometimes life gets in the way and it makes it difficult to keep up even with a bit of writing.

Last week something very unusual happened my husband and I found ourselves having to go out of town at the same time. On different trips for our jobs. I tried to think of a time when this has happened in the past and it hasn’t. He had to be gone Monday through Thursday and I only had to be gone Monday through Wednesday. It threw me into a bit of a tailspin at first because I am so used to him being at home with the babies whenever I have a work trip. It did work out o.k. my niece came up and took care of the kitties. They are all inside kitties and they don’t require a lot of work even though there are five of them.

My trip was to Highlands North Carolina. . I was meeting with The Southern Highlands Attractions Group. We meet three times a year. This particular trip took us into the mountains of North Carolina. It was absolutely beautiful and if I hadn’t had to worry about the threat of snow on my way over it would have been perfect.

I had never been to the Highlands of North Carolina and let me tell you it is quite beautiful. I left out early on Monday morning. My meeting didn’t start until 11:00 AM. I had about a three hour drive and of course there was a slight chance of the dreaded snow. I left about 7:30 AM and went through several small towns and over a couple of mountains before I even reached the Highlands. I did see some snow but there was nothing on the road that threatened travel. I stopped a few times to take pictures but I was in a bit of a hurry to get to my meeting. I knew the name Highlands wasn’t just a coincidence and I would probably be traveling to a much higher elevation. I wasn’t expecting the last fifteen miles or so to be straight up with winding and narrow roads. Luckily there was no snow on these roads.

Our meeting was held at Old Edwards Inn & Spa. This place is spectacular. Old Edwards Inn was Highlands’ earliest boarding house, known as Central House built in July 1878. There is a lot of history throughout the years, owned by John Norton, he and his wife Mattie managed Central House. They were known and loved by everyone. In 2001 Art and Angela Williams of Palm Beach, Florida, bought the Inn and restaurant and begin building on the 132-year-old tradition. Old Edwards Inn & Spa is #2 and #5 + Leisure Top Hotel in the South. U.S. News & World Report #2 Hotel in North Carolina, Conde’ Nast #14 Top Hotel in The South. You can read more about the Inn and all of the properties surrounding the Inn here http://www.OldEdwardsinn.com There are now several houses, cottages, and a motel located on or near the property. We stayed in 200 Main. It was so nice.

Such a precious little town.
Photo credit Old Edwards Inn & Sp

Our meeting started with a panel discussion with the Old Edwards lead team members including, the President and managing director, their General Manager, and several of their top directors. The information they shared was so inspiring and informative. The meeting ended around 4:00 and we drove a short distance to 200 Main, the property we were staying in during our stay. Check out this room. I even had a balcony. The weather wasn’t great so I didn’t spend a lot of time there.

That evening we had a cocktail reception at The Barn and then dinner at Orchard House.

A couple of hours of meetings the following day followed by a tour of more of the property. We were taken by shuttle to Half Mile Farm. It was still early when we arrived and quite chilly. The sun was shining and there was frost on the grass making everything look just magical.

After a quick lunch we met in front of the Motel lobby and climbed aboard these vehicles and headed out for an off road trail ride higher into the mountains. Check out the website here: www.highland excursion.Com it was so exciting. We visited Bridal Veil Falls and Dry Falls and they were both beautiful. I can’t say these were the most Comfortable riding vehicles but it was quite an adventure. If you are ever in this area think about booking a tour with this adventure group. The tour guides are amazing. (Check it out here) http://www.highlandexcursion.com

We later visited the Bascom Arts Center. What a beautiful display of art. There was even an area to purchase art made by students. We didn’t have a lot of time to look and that is probably a good thing because I could have spent a freaking fortune there. http://www.thebascom.org.

After we returned to our rooms for a quick refresher we headed into town to Four 65 for pizza and other yummy things.

***Two charcuterie boards were delivered to every table. I can’t even tell you how yummy this was.***

The next morning we met for a few hours and then everyone headed back to their different areas. I always learn so much at these meetings. The information I gain from other attractions is priceless. But I was glad to get home and back to hubs and the kitties.

How are you? What is going on in your neck of the woods?

Always remember, Love your day your way!!!

A Long Weekend and Some Snow

Hello friends, it was a busy weekend for me. We actually woke up to snow on Saturday morning. Not much and nothing on the roads but it was a pretty little snow. I did an early grocery pickup on Saturday morning. I came back home and did a few chores. I cooked two meals to take to my sister’s house. She started chemo Monday and has been having absolutely no appetite. She said she had been wanting pinto beans and fried potatoes and cornbread. If you are from the south you were probably raised eating pinto beans and cornbread. I did the beans and fried potatoes and my niece made the cornbread. I also made spaghetti and took to her and her husband for the next day and some chess bars that my brother in law loves.

***Such a pretty and unexpected snow. Nothing on the roads and it was gone by noon. Just the kind of snow I love.***

***I made sure to save leftovers for me. My husband hates Pinto Beans and I don’t cook them a lot.***

I had planned for Sunday to be a quieter day but I looked at my Christmas decorations still up and I told my husband that we had to get all of that taken down. So that was what we mostly did on Sunday. I had planned to get everything put up the first week of January but my sister has been sick and I have been spending time with her. We are also building a new entrance building at work and a demolition crew has been at work most of the past week. Anyway that is why I hadn’t gotten around to the Christmas decorations. But you know we just plugged in the Christmas lights every night and enjoyed the heck out of them. It does feel good to have everything back in place. I had put chicken in the crockpot earlier in the day so dinner was easy and quick. I also repotted one of my orchids, Oliver. Oliver was looking really bad and his pot had become so small. I hope he will be o.k. I will keep you posted.

As I mentioned a lot of demo work has been going on at my workplace. We have been relocated to another building on the property because our office building was part of the main building coming down. The building officially came down last Wednesday morning at 7:00 AM. I was there at 6:30 AM. I have been working in that building for more than thirty years and I wanted to be there to see it go down. Several coworkers came out as well. It was both sad and exciting with lots of emotions.

Yesterday I left my house at 5:30 AM and picked my sister up for her first round of chemo. It was an all day event. The first treatment is administered very slowly in case there is an allergic reaction. We arrived at the hospital at 8:00 AM and she had blood work and a short visit with the doctor. We were then led to an area with several reclining chairs. We got her comfortable and she was given warm blankets. The first meds started at 9:00 AM. The entire infusion took until about 3:30 PM Most of the others will only take 1-2 hours. One down and five to go. I was able to go over into the main part of the hospital and grab lunch. And of course I took my knitting. So the time passed fairly quickly, for me anyway. She actually slept most of the time because she also got a large dose of Benadryl. She is doing really well so far. She has had very little nausea. As we waited for the chemo to be administered we watched people come and go for different treatments. I always wonder what their story is. I hate cancer it has hit my family really hard through the years. This type of chemo will make her lose her hair. I took her several scarves and hats to try for when that time comes. She is not worried about her hair she just wants rid of this cancer.

It was back to work for me today in my new work environment that we are all trying to adjust to. We had to move offices so quickly we are still constantly looking for things. I’m sure as soon as we get familiar with everything it will be time to move back to the old new office.

How was your weekend?

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!