Hello Monday, It’s Vacation Time!!!

I was supposed to be waking up at the beach this morning for my first full day of vacation. But you know how plans are, sometimes they’re just not meant to be.

We decided to stay home and not do our beach vacation this year. With everything that is going on with Scruffy I just didn’t feel like going away and leaving him. He is on several different meds for the congestive heart failure and he is doing really well. But because he is still not feeling the best I just didn’t want to leave him. Taking him with us really wasn’t an option .He is having some diarrhea and a ten hour car ride for him, and us, would have been miserable. My sister in law usually keeps him for us but I just didn’t feel right asking her to handle all of that. The meds and cleaning up after him right now is a lot. I didn’t want to board him because it is just so stressful on him. Changing the dates was not a problem for me but Mark’s work has been so crazy this was the week he needed to take.

So here we are. I guess we are having a “staycation” I am not really upset about the vacation and to be honest I think Mark is sort of happy to spend a week at home doing nothing. I guess this is not the time to tell him my big plans for the week like cleaning out the garage, cleaning the driveway, painting our gate that never got painted and planting shrubs around the new gate. Yeah I will let him enjoy his coffee first. Realistically I know I won’t get those things done either but it is fun to dream.

But first I have to tell you about our great family day we had last Sunday. It was my Sister in Law’s Birthday. My niece and her daughter came in from California and we had lots of other family we hadn’t seen in years. It was a great time. I volunteered to bake the cake. I was a little nervous because I hadn’t made a really large cake in a long time. But it turned out great. Nothing fancy just colorful and it was yummy. The Birthday was held at The Fort Loudoun State Historic Area. There is lots of room to play and fish and hike and just have fun. We love this place.

***My sister-in-law, Pat and her daughter***

***Spending time with family is just the best. I love these guys!!!***

I actually started my vacation on Friday. I was scrolling through Facebook on Friday morning and saw that there was a Trade Fair at The Living Heritage Museum in nearby Athens. So I jumped up, got ready and got to the museum around noon.

There were several artist set up demonstrating their art. Such talent and great ideas. I enjoyed it so much. I think it was the perfect start of my vacation.

***The spinning and quilt making were my favorites.***

***I am fascinated by bee keeping. My dad had bees when I was growing up. I would love to have them now but Mark is allergic and is terrified of having them here.***

***This lady was demonstrating Calligraphy***

***Lots of people were trying to weave.***

I stopped in and saw my MIL at the nursing home. We had a great visit. She is still having therapy so that she can get stronger and move back to the Assisted Living Village where she was living.

Got groceries and went home and chilled. I don’t take Scruffy on long walks anymore. He is just not interested and the vet said to do what he feels like doing.

On Saturday I did some house cleaning so that I could enjoy the week off. I also read on one of my online books I have through the Libby App. I go to the app and I reserve books that I want and it seems like they all become Available at the same time. You do have the option of putting them off for a week and still stay in the rotation. I have had to do that a few times.

On Sunday I was very lazy. I worked on my Halloween cross stitch and took Scruffy for a couple of short walks. I decided to make meatloaf for dinner. I like having the leftovers for lunch during the week.

So it should be a very quiet vacation week. I did work in my flower beds today and got a lot of old and dead plants cleaned out. Mark’s grandmother had some large concrete planters on her front porch. No one has lived in the house for years. I wanted the planters and was afraid that someone would steal them before we had a chance to get the. Mark brought them home last week and I can’t wait to get them cleaned up and some flowers planted in them.

***I can’t wait to use these.*** ***They are very old.***

We finished up the day going into town and getting dinner and bringing it back home. I got a yummy chicken Cesar salad.

So how is your week going so far? I plan to have a lot of fun on my “staycation”. Sometimes those can be just what you need.

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!

And Life Goes On

I have to say I am so sick of being in hospitals. I guess I am very fortunate that I have been a visitor and not a patient. I am not going to say much more about that at this point. Maybe more later.

I took a few extra days off from work this past week. Some of it was a little mini vacation. I wanted to be off on Thursday so I could be with my sister in law and nieces while my brother had triple bypass surgery. The surgery was long but it seems like the more people you have with you to talk and laugh it takes your mind off of what is going on and moves things along more quickly. So my sister and I went up on Thursday and and stayed at the hospital most of the day. My brother did great!!!

On Friday I did nothing. I worked on the temperature blanket and started working on a Halloween cross stitch. I read and napped and it was just such a relaxing day.

***This is what my Halloween cross stitch will looked like when it is finished. Hopefully by Halloween. I love this pattern it is so easy to follow.***

***You can see I haven’t gotten very far yet. Cross stitch takes a lot of time***.

On Saturday I decided to go back to the hospital to visit my brother. My sister went with me. He was still in CCU so we could only visit for a few minutes and only one at a time. He was doing great and still is.

My sister had 30% off at Kohl’s so we made a stop there on the way home. The only time we shop at Kohl’s is when we have 30% off. I know a lot of prices are elevated at this time just so they can offer the discount. But just look at this treasure I found. A Sex And The City jigsaw puzzle!!!! The price on it was $7.47 so I calculated 30% off of that would be great!!! But guess what? The puzzle rang up only $2.78 and I got 30% off of that. What????? I can’t wait to put it together.

We stopped at a little Mexican restaurant in Lenoir City and had a late lunch. We have eaten there before and it was great. This time the food was just meh.

Monday morning I took Scruffy into Sweetwater to get a much needed hair cut. The lady, Tiffany, who did his hair was new to us. My sister just loves her. She cuts her babies’ hair and my sister is always happy with the results. She was able to get me in pretty fast. In the summer Scruffy needs a really short cut so his hair doesn’t brush the grass. Being in the grass causes him to have more ticks on him. I have been trimming his hair for awhile but I just can’t get it close enough. It especially makes me nervous cutting around his face. Tiffany did an amazing job and he was only there for a couple of hours. While he was there I went to buy a few groceries and take them to my mother in law in the assisted living village.

Scruffy and I came home and took a nap. Getting a haircut always wears him out. I read a book and it rained all afternoon it was so cozy. The book I am reading this week is by Danielle Steel. It is called High Stakes. It is so good. I love some of Danielle Steel’s books but some of them not so much. This one I am loving. This is another book through the Libby app. I have one waiting it is Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger. I don’t know how I have never read this book but I haven’t. I will keep you posted on it.

After the rain we took a long walk.

***Look at the steam coming up after the rain. It has been so hot here every day.***

***Allie cat, AKA mama cat, has some of the funniest expressions on her face.***

***Scruffy loves walking with his little kitty sisters.***

So it was back to work today with a lot of things to catch up on and a lot of things to deal with. That’s just the way it is and life goes on.

How has your week been so far?

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!!

Hello Monday

Well last week was another busy week over here. The temps were in the high nineties. WHAT???? Technically it is still spring here in East Tennessee but you just never know what kind of weather you are going to get. The last few days have been cooler and it was only about 56 degrees F here this morning. That felt wonderful.

Work has been its usual crazy self but that is just to be expected when you work in tourism in the summer time. I just take it a day at a time. I have had this job for many years and I have seen a lot of things and a lot of people. I think that is what makes life interesting. That’s how I try to look at things anyway. Well most of the time. HA!!

We realized last week that the outside kitties were going to have to have a cooler spot to come into at night. We bring the three outside kitties in at night and close the garage door. Now with this horrible heatwave the garage at night is just too hot for them. It’s probably really not but I’m not taking any chances. Since bringing all three indoors was not really an option we decided to buy a small upright air conditioner for the garage. I stopped at Home Depot last week and picked up a small unit.I am terrified to see just how much my monthly utility bill increases because of this. But The garage was so hot at night I just couldn’t leave the babies out there. Leaving the door open a little is not an option since that is how Milo and Buster got out and disappeared. We know there is still a coyote problem in this area.

So I got the little air conditioner and Mark and I got it set up. It doesn’t make the garage as cool as the house but it is so much better.

On Wednesday I had Sister Lunch with my sister and sister in law. We caught up with each other and solved some world problems.

On Saturday my friend Lorie invited me to a campsite that her and her husband have in the summer. The site is beside a beautiful creek it’s actually called Steer Creek. We floated and talked and ate wonderful food she had made. It was just the best therapy ever.

Sunday was quiet. We stayed home all day and ran into town for take out later in the day for a special Father’s Day Dinner. We may not have any human children but Mark is a perfect dad to our babies.

A few years ago I wrote a blog post about a favorite memory of my daddy. He was so stern and strict but he had a huge heart and would do anything for anyone. This special memory was when I was six years old and a first grader and I thought I was way too grown up to carry a book satchel like all the other first graders. You can read it here. It is a special memory of my daddy.

And look what happened one of my orchids bloomed. This one I named Saffron. I was so happy to see this precious bloom.

***You know I had to sneak in a kitty picture. Just look at those eyes.***

How was your week?

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!

Hello Monday

Wow June is passing by so quickly. It has been hot here in my neck of the woods. Last week we had rain for several days, even flooding and cooler Weather but the heat has truly returned. All the rain has caused the trees, bushes and flowers to grow like crazy as well as the grass. The heat index today was over 100 degrees F. The Mimosa trees are blooming right now. I love their strong sweet scent it takes me back to my childhood when we had several growing in our yard. Did you know these are also called Persian Silk Trees or Pink Silk Trees? I just know they smell wonderful.

How was your week and weekend? I had a really busy week. Work was very busy and then my brother had surgery on Friday so my sister and I spent the day in Knoxville with him and his family. All went well and he is back home and doing great.

On Saturday my sister and I had planned a return trip to see my brother in the hospital but he was doing so well he was getting released to go home. Yay!!!! Since we were ready to leave, when we got the news that he was going home, we decided to go to Knoxville for a little shopping. I had 30% off at Kohl’s and you never know what you might find. I did find a few things but since I have been losing weight I don’t want to buy a lot of clothes because I know they will soon be too large for me. But who am I kidding I probably have at least four different sizes in my closet right now. I did buy this little truck planter at Kohl’s, I thought it would be perfect to put a succulent in and put it on my deck.

I have to show you a picture of the quesadillas I have been eating. I bought a quesadilla maker a few months back. Since I have been cutting back on potassium I skip the pizza sauce or any kind of tomato sauce. I just put cheese and pepperoni on a quesadilla and then put the top on and put it in my little quesadilla maker until the cheese gets melty and good. This is a great dinner option for me. It is very filling. I use the Carb Balance Tortillas and I love them. These make a great meal for one or you could do several for appetizers. You can use anything on them that you want, I just use cheese and pepperoni to cut back on calories, carbs and potassium.

I am still working on eating low potassium and have lost more weight which is not due to eating low potassium, although I am sure cutting out French fries is helping a lot, as much as cutting back on calories and moving my body more. I am thinking of adding a weight loss post on my blogs I would love to hear any tips about how you have lost weight. I have currently lost about fifteen pounds. I still have a long way to go but I will get there. Losing weight is hard especially for someone my age. Man I remember the days when I could lose five or ten pounds in a week. Well it seemed like it anyway. HA!

***Look at this gummy pizza that a co-worker brought to work today. It was even packaged in a small pizza box. I think it Is so cute and would make an adorable gift for someone.***

All the fur babies are doing great although Mark says he feels like he is living in a kennel. They can really be a handful but they make our lives so wonderful. I don’t know what we would do without them.