Weekly Happenings

I think that there is nothing that makes you realize your own mortality then the death of a sibling. I have lost three other siblings before my sister Pat passed away last month. But something about her death has hit me harder and made me take a long hard look at my own life and health. I guess it’s because I am older now. I have really been trying to clean up a lot of unhealthy habits in my life. With my weight being the main issue, as far as I know anyway, I have been working really hard on eating better and moving my body more. I am down about seven pounds so far and hope by this time next month it will be even more. I am not doing anything radical or taking diet pills or drinking shakes or anything like that. Just better eating and exercise that is what will have to do it for me. I have always been one to eat my feelings instead of feeling them. By numbing myself it is easier to avoid feeling bad. Well that is until all your clothes don’t fit and you can’t walk a short distance without being out of breath. There is a lot of life to live and I want to be the healthiest I can be to do it. I want to be better physically. I just felt the need to share all of that.

A busy weekend over here. On Saturday my sister and my nephew helped me clean out some things in my mother in law’s house. We know that realistically she will never be able to live at home again and the house has needed a good cleaning for several years. We worked for several hours and then I went to visit my mother in law at the assisted living village. Her short term memory is getting so bad and she asks me the same questions over and over or tells me the same story over and over. I just pretend it’s the first time I have heard it. She loves for me to show her pictures of the babies. I try to take several throughout the week so I will have plenty to show her. She has so many stories of when she was a young woman, newly married, riding a greyhound bus to Knoxville every day to business school. The trip was over an hour each way. She studied on the bus and the bus driver always flirted with her. She can still tell these stories like it was yesterday and I love to hear them. Sometimes I start asking her questions so she will tell me one of those. She has such a look on her face when she tells them like she is still seeing every memory and I am sure she is.

***Look at this pollen. It’s been crazy!!!!***

After our visit I bought groceries. I am amazed every week when I see the price of groceries. Of course having seven babies to buy for isn’t cheap. Scruffy and Molly have to have canned dog food because their teeth, or lack of them, makes it hard to chew hard food. Also dog food and cat food have become really hard to get. I know you have heard the horror stories about baby formula.

Sunday my sister had a cook-out at her house for my nephew Tyler, he graduated from college last week. I was lucky enough to get a ticket to go. He only got four tickets and his mom and dad of course went. My brother in law, his grandfather, couldn’t go so I was able to get his ticket. My sister and I went and sat on the bleachers in the gym for three hours. It was more than worth it. We all went out to eat afterwards and had a really good time.

I have been doing a lot of walks with the babies. It has been really hot here so we don’t go far. I have also been working on the temperature blanket. I am still a little behind but working on it when I can. I can’t wait to show you what I have.

***I love daisies they are my favorite flower.***

Work continues to be busy but manageable. I am trying to get my house de-cluttered, I think that is an ongoing process and that is o.k.

***You knew I would have to sneak a kitty picture in somewhere.***

That is what has been going on in my neck of the woods, how are you doing?

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!!!

May Day May Day

Hello and happy May Day. Can you believe that May is here already? Well it is. And full summer will be here soon. April was not a great month. My sister got sick in late March and passed away April 8th. It has been such a hard time for everyone in my family. But my Birthday and Wedding Anniversary were both in April and that was great although bittersweet without my sister.

When my sister passed away her neighbor and friend made me and my sister a “Pat” angel. She gave it to us at the funeral and I put mine in my pocket and didn’t open it until after the funeral when me and hubs started home. I looked at it and and I couldn’t believe that she had so perfectly captured something about my sister in this little angel. My sister wore a purple sweater a lot of times when she was sitting outside at the apartment complex where she lived. The angel is made of clay and it is perfect. It has brought me such peace having it with me. This sweet lady makes lots of things from clay especially animals. She has made clay animals of all of my cats. She is so talented.

Work has been absolutely slammed. I have to leave tomorrow for a few days for a meeting in Johnson City. I will be meeting with our attractions group. It should be a lot of fun. I know they have some great adventures for us and a couple of really nice restaurants. I stayed late on Friday at work to get caught up to be gone for a couple of days. I’ll take lots of pictures of everything and share them soon.

We are still working on getting Gus, the new kitty, used to the rest of the family. The only one who is still not very friendly is Kitty Kitty. I know it will take time. We have been keeping Gus next door at my father in law’s house. We can run over and visit and feed him and love on him several times a day. Last week we started bringing him over slowly to help all the inside babies get familiar with him. So for the last few days we have left him here in the house for most of the day. He hasn’t spent a full night but I think when I get back from my trip we will just leave him here all the time. The visits have been a great help in getting Scruffy and Molly adjusted as well as Gus. As I said Kitty Kitty is still not a fan.

***Gus seems perfectly content and is making himself at home.*** ***His hair has started to grow a little from where it was shave***d.

Our weather here has been crazy. We have had some very chilly mornings and then warming quickly in the afternoon and evening. I think we may have been in Whippoorwill Winter last week because the Whippoorwills were calling like crazy at dusk and then first thing in the mornings. The changes in the weather have made some interesting changes on my temperature blanket. I am a little behind on it but I’m working hard to get caught up. When I have April finished I will show you what it looks like.

And in my own true fashion of getting ready for a trip I have saved everything for the last minute. I planned to pack earlier this afternoon but started doing some other things. I absolutely hate to pack and will probably wait until first thing in the morning. I spent most of the day binge watching Ozark. If you watch it then you know the last few episodes of the last season came out on Friday. It was so good. I also worked on my temperature blanket while I was watching.

So that is where I am on this beautiful first day of May. I had some great walks outside with the babies. A nice May Day. I am heading up to start packing or at least put a few things in my suitcase. It’s a short trip so I won’t need a lot of things, said no woman ever. HA!!!

***This is Izzy. Doesn’t her color blend in with the woods?***

Have a wonderful week. I wanted to share this poem I found online last week. It has brought me a lot of comfort and I don’t know exactly when it popped up but it was obviously just when I needed it.

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!!

Hello Monday (Weekly Happenings)

Hello friends, how was your week and your weekend? It was a bit on the crazy side over here It was a busy work week. I still feel like I am playing catch up from taking time off a few weeks ago. Thursday was my Birthday and my wedding Anniversary. I know!! I got married on my Birthday. I remember telling my husband that he would be the best Birthday present I could ever hope to have. I still feel that way thirty two years later. We had Birthday cake at work. And my hubs sent me the most beautiful bouquet of tulips. He said he wanted to do something a little different in the way of flowers and he did. They are beautiful. It was a nice day I had a lot of calls and messages and I felt really special.

We didn’t really do a lot for the Birthday and Anniversary because as usual a lot of day to day life happenings got in the way. But we are used to that around here. Gus was also having a big day Thursday. He had an appointment to be neutered. Remember Gus, he is the orange kitty that we recently took in when we were looking for our lost kitty Milo. When we got Gus his fur was so matted we knew we would probably have to have him shaved or have his hair cut very short. Gus was not chipped and had not been neutered and he had an upper respiratory infection so we had to have all that taken care of. We have been keeping him quarantined next door at my father in law’s house. This way we can go over several times a day to visit and feed and love on him.

So on Thursday Gus was neutered. They also shaved a lot of his fur. The poor baby looks pitiful but he has to feel better without all that matted fur hanging off of him.

On Friday my niece got married. The venue was on the Ocoee River about forty five minutes from my work. I took all of my things to work with me to change into for the wedding because I wasn’t going to have time to come home and then drive back to the venue. My sister and I went together and it was a beautiful wedding. We had so much fun and the food was great!!!

***And the cake after, it was so yummy!!!***

On Saturday my sister, niece and I went over to clean out my Sister Pat’s apartment. Her son was there to help and her sweet neighbor who had become her best friend was also there to help us. It has only been two weeks since she passed away and it was really hard to do. But her apartment had to be dealt with so we did it. That’s just how we roll in this family. We have very strong women in our family and we have been through a lot. We do what needs to be done. We looked at pictures and read old letters and cards we had written to my sister. She kept everything. We laughed and cried and I think it helped with the healing process.

On Sunday we decided to introduce Gus to the rest of the family. We have decided to keep him inside when he moves in with us. We brought him over in a carrier and the minute he stepped out of it Scruffy was all over him sniffing. Scruffy quickly lost interest in Gus except whenever I was around Gus, and then he was all about sniffing and licking Gus. Molly barely gave Gus a second glance and then settled back on her bed. But the real test, we knew, would be the Queen, Kitty Kitty. She was upstairs when Gus arrived. She didn’t come down right away. Gus wandered around downstairs and hid a couple of times. An hour or so later I heard Kitty Kitty coming down the stairs. Mark and I glanced at each other. I could see the fear in his eyes. I whispered “here she comes” we held our breath. As soon as Gus saw her he started doing this loud meowing sound. Kitty Kitty froze for a few seconds and then ran right back upstairs. I think the two will eventually be able to tolerate each other but we are taking it slow and doing short visits right now. We hope to move him in permanently very soon. Fingers crossed. I don’t want to stress either one of them uhhhhhh or us out.

I love irises and I have some that came from my mama’s house from when I was a kid. I noticed the blooms this year were nothing like they usually are. I did a little research and discovered that they need to be thinned out. I plan to do that and maybe take some to work and give some to my sister and nieces so they will have a part of mine and my mama’s flowers.

***See how they need to be divided. I guess I just hadn’t noticed how bad they were.***

***Only two or three of these blooms have appeared this year.***

I have been working on the temperature blanket that I am crocheting. I have gotten behind so I am trying to crochet several rows or days at a time to catch back up. I will show you a picture soon. If you have never heard of a temperature blanket you can read my post about mine here.

That’s about it for the last week. How is your week shaping up? Will it be busy or will you be chilling?

Always remember

Love Your Day Your Way!!!

Hello Monday!!!

How was your week and your weekend? It’s been spring break in a lot of areas near us so we have been slammed at work. Our kids here are not out for spring break until the end of the month but lots of places around us have been out all week. It was a busy week at work.

My sister Pat is in the hospital. She has been having some difficulties and on Friday after spending the day in the ER she was admitted. She has pneumonia and possibly some other issues we’re not sure on that just yet. She will be in the hospital for a few days. I went to see her Saturday. The hospital is about an hour from me. I first went up on Friday night after work with the intention of spending the night at the hospital with her. She was still in the ER with my other sister when I got there. I met her son, my nephew, in the waiting area. We went back to see her for just a few minutes and when they started to take her to her room they told us that visiting hours was over and we could not stay. They would not let me spend the night. I guess that is so that she could get good rest which is what it will take to get over the pneumonia. So I went back up on Saturday for a visit. I took some dry shampoo and did her hair for her. I think she is feeling a little better.

My niece had also come up to visit with my sister and she and I went to a nearby Chinese restaurant, that we love, and had a late lunch. I also went to the Dollar Tree near the hospital. I guess you know the Dollar Tree is now the Dollar and twenty five cent tree. I still think they have a lot to offer. I wanted to pick up a few decorations for an Easter basket I am making. This particular Dollar Tree has a lot more than our local one does. I found some really cute things. They had lots of Easter goodies. When I got back into town I went to visit my MIL in the assisted living village. It wasn’t much of a visit, I was so tired from being up most of the night before and on Saturday that I started falling asleep while we were visiting. I felt horrible but she understood and told me I should go home and take a nap. On my way home I went by the post office. I had ordered some new rugs for my bathroom and I wanted to pick those up. I got home and walked and fed all the babies and then I was pretty much useless. I tried watching the new Amy Shumer series on Hulu, Life & Beth, but I just couldn’t stay awake.

I am loving these new glasses. I only got two but they are heavy and won’t break easily. I am death on dishes and break so many glasses. I will go back and get at least two more. The little Terracotta pots I will use to get seedlings started for spring. I found some nice Easter grass and a blue pail that has Bunny Trail on it. I will put Mr. Bunny in there as well.

***These little hanging signs are very good quality for a dollar and twenty five cents. I bought several. I bought those wafers for a coworker who told me she loved them and couldn’t find any.***

Sunday was a beautiful day. We had temps in the sixties and it was sunny. Scruffy and I spent some time on the deck with the kitties. We still miss Buster and Milo so bad and pray every day that they might come back home. I had planned to go back to the hospital but I got busy with laundry and cleaning the house so I decided not to go. I called my sister and talked for a bit. She had had a few visitors already and I could tell she was tired. I did a grocery pick up at Walmart. It was Mark’s weekend to work so he was gone both weekend days. I also worked on some knitting and read a book I got through my Libby online library. The book is due tomorrow and I have already renewed it once. I need to finish it. I have two more to finish within the next week or two.

***Look at the difference from last week and this week.***

We have a Scooter’s in Sweetwater now. It’s right beside the bank we use for work. It’s been open for a couple of weeks and I finally stopped in and got a coffee. I got the Mocha Blend and it was yummy.

So what exciting things did you do last week or over the weekend? Work today was a little slower than last week and I am so thankful. Considering all that is going on in the world around us we are so fortunate, and most of the time we just don’t take the time to appreciate everything that we have, and don’t have.

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!