Category: Weekends

A Crazy Week, A Lazy Sunday

Hello friends and happy Sunday. A big Happy Father’s Day to all the father’s and acting fathers out there. My daddy has been gone for many years but he still lives on in my heart every day. I still miss him every single day and imagine that I always will. I am very much like him in many ways. When I was younger I hated being told that but now I love it!!!

Well here we are with almost three weeks of June behind us. Summer slipped in quietly although we have been having summer temps for weeks. We’ve actually had a little bit of a break with the heat and the humidity this past week. The temperature has only been mid eighties F at the highest and very low humidity. I could live with this weather all summer long. But I know that hot hot hot and high, sticky hair curling, sweat running down your back humidity will return by next week. Oh well that is summer in the south.

My work has gotten so busy. It is always like this around this time of year and will be until around mid August. But it always seems to take me by surprise. I am never prepared for the way it quite literally kicks my butt. I usually come dragging home, tired and sleepy and grab something to eat, walk and cuddle the fur babies, catch up with my hubs, and scurry to the sanctuary of my little den upstairs and watch a little TV and knit or read until bed time. I just feel like I need this bit of quiet to restore my sanity, what little there was left of it. If you ever have worked with the general public then you know what I mean.

Ahhh but the glorious weekend came along just when I needed it most. I had a good day yesterday with some time spent with my little Ma-in-law. You may remember the last time we took a ride, out of the Assisted Living Village, and to get something to eat. It was a nightmare. It was hot and we had a lot of issues getting her in and out of the car. Well I decided we were going to do it a little different yesterday and It was much better. First of all I got the food and brought it with me so there would be no eating in the hot car. That worked out great. We ate in her room and it was nice and cool. Next, when it came time for the ride I pulled the car to the front of the building. She was able to walk through the building with much more ease than trying to maneuver her walker across the concrete sidewalk at her back door. We still had a little bit of a struggle getting her in the car but it all worked out so much better. We took a nice long ride and she seemed to enjoy it so much more than last time. I knew we just had to keep working at it and we would eventually get it right. After the ride we visited with a couple of the other residents and one of the ladies told me she was 92. She asked my Ma-in-law how old she was and when she said 87 she called her a little spring chicken. They are just adorable.

I stopped at the most awesome little vintage shop on my way home. I didn’t have a lot of time to spend but I will return. I also picked up groceries, picked up a week’s worth of mail at the Post Office and headed home. I made spaghetti for dinner and we had a quiet evening.

On Sunday morning I made pecan pancakes and bacon for breakfast.

Pecan pancakes for breakfast. I bought this real maple syrup to make some Bacon Jam. I will have a post on that soon. But I decided while we have it we should take advantage of some pecan pancakes in honor of Father’s Day. The fur babies didn’t even recognize Father’s Day much the same way they didn’t recognize Mother’s Day. LOL. Of course every day is their day.
I love using this cast iron skillet to fry bacon. I always rub it with a little oil after I clean it. It’s ready for next time.
We have a huge Mimosa tree that hangs over the lake bank. I went down this morning to take some pictures and I could smell that sweet Mimosa scent even before I reached the lake bank.
One sock finished and the next one started. I am loving this yarn it is so soft and squishy and I don’t have to worry about matching the stripes.
I have made quite a lot of progress on my afghan. I always fall in love with my afghans I am making and then I hate to give them away. This one is going to a friend for her Birthday.
Molly walks in the cool grass when the temps get really hot. She is getting old but she still likes to go on the walks with us.
Scruffy follows Molly through the woods. The ticks this year are terrible. We have to do a tick check on Scruffy and Molly several times a day.
Yummy fresh watermelon
Sour Dough Bread rising. I hope to have three loaves by morning. One for hubs, one for work and one for my nephew. It’s rising really slow today.

The rest of the day was just hanging at the house, reading, knitting and crocheting and cooking dinner. Meatloaf and green beans and baked sweet potatoes for dinner. Laundry and getting ready for the upcoming work week. How was your weekend? I am planning to take off a few days at the end of next week. My to do list is already a mile long. I think I will just throw it out and wing it and enjoy the time off. Yes!!! That is what I will do.

Have a wonderful week and always remember,

Love your day your way!!!!!

May Days

Happy Memorial Day to you!!! I had to work today so no lake time or cook-outs for me but that is fine. That is not the reason we recognize Memorial Day. It is to take time to honor our fallen soldiers.

We have been having Whip-poor-will winter here in the south. If you missed my post describing the times of the different “winters” that we experience here in the south you can check out my blog post about them here. Whip-poor-will winter is usually around the end of May. It is when you first start hearing the whip-poor-wills late in the evening or early mornings. True to form Whip-poor-will winter arrived Friday morning and it was only about 45 degrees F. All weekend we enjoyed the cooler temps.

It is so hard to believe that May is coming to an end and June is here. Almost half of the year is gone already. Christmas will be here before you know it!! O.K. I will reign it in. I mentioned Christmas at work today and got a couple of angry glares. It’s not that I am rushing the seasons or anything but this year is marching right on by at an alarming rate.

I had a bit of a crazy week last week. I took my little mother in law out for a ride for the first time in almost a year and a half. She lives in an assisted living center and they have pretty much been on lockdown since March of 2020. We have been able to visit lately but only last week did they tell us that we could take her out of the facility. She always loved going to get a hamburger and take a ride. So that is what we planned for our first outing.

We planned the trip for Tuesday evening. It was about 90 degrees and blistering hot. I arrived at the center at around 4:30 to pick her up. It was a bit of a nightmare. We had to use her back door which involves using her walker on concrete and that really slows it up and her down. It also made her quite frustrated and hot with the stifling temps. We got to the car and I had trouble getting her into the car. It was almost like she had forgotten how to maneuver herself into the car. And she probably had, like I said it had been well over a year since we did this. After much sweating and praying we got her into the car. She didn’t like her seat adjustment and I told her I couldn’t change it until we got to the drive-in where we were getting a hamburger. Once we were there it took 30 minutes to get the burger. She did not want the car running while we ate so I turned it off and we sat in the evening sun while sweat dripped into places it shouldn’t have. After the burgers we went for a short ride. She just didn’t seem to enjoy it like she used to. It was disappointing and scary to realize just how much frailer she had gotten during quarantine. But we will plug along and try it differently next time. I am not sure what we will do different but if she wants to go we will make it work. She is 87 years old and if she wants a hamburger and a ride we will find a way.

Wednesday night we took some pictures of the “Flower Moon”. It was beautiful. The night sky was clear and for just a brief time the moon turned a pinkish color. Luckily it happened for us about 9:30 PM and we caught it just before going to bed. We also sent the drone up but not very good pictures with it.

Later in the week we had major internet issues at work. Our online ticketing went down and as one of my co-managers said, we were dead in the water. We finally got it resolved and all was o.k. but a very stressful day.

So when Saturday rolled around I was ready for some down time. I picked up groceries on my way home on Friday. I watched some movies and crocheted on the afghan I am working on. I did some laundry and me and the babies took some walks. It was wonderful. I finished up the weekend making a Birthday cake for my niece and baking some bread for co-workers and my nephew. Mark had to work all weekend so it was just me and the babies.

I think our rain gauge has seen better days but it is one that Mark’s dad used for years and years and we just can’t part with it.
My co-workers have come to love my sour dough bread and now expect it regularly. Ha Ha!!!

Have a great week and always remember

Love your day your way!!!!

Do The Next Right Thing

Hello friends how are you? Happy Mother’s Day to everyone out there who is a mother or mother figure to loved ones or fur babies. I know I have been rather quiet over here the last couple of weeks. I always want to keep it real here on my blog without invading any of my loved ones privacy. Recently my husband has had to have his blood work repeated several times. It has been a bit scary. We are not sure what, if anything, is going on at this point. He has had some elevated levels that the doctors are being very careful with and keeping a watchful eye on. We are praying that his body works through this and all levels will return to normal very soon. We should know more in the next week or so.

I guess with any extra anxiety I have always been one to draw within myself and not want to do anything. I am trying to fight that by staying busy and optimistic but anxiety does seem to creep in when I least expect it and sometimes in the most unusual ways. I have missed being here and sharing with you my day to day which in many ways is probably the best outlet I could possibly hope to have. A good friend once gave me some wonderful advice. She said when you are worried or anxious and you feel that there is nothing you can do to control your situation, just do the next right thing. It could be anything from taking out the garbage to making a phone call, paying bills, taking a walk or just something that is “right” for you to do at that moment. So with all of that said I will dive in and tell you about my days. Writing this post is my next right thing to do.

It is Blackberry Winter here in East Tennessee. The blackberries are blooming like crazy. That is not to say we will have blackberries anytime soon. This is only the blooming process and the actual yummy blackberries will not be ready for a month or so. As soon as the blackberries start blooming the temperatures drop and reminds us that cooler temps will linger a little longer. This is usually around the second week of May and falls just in time for Mother’s Day. It was 46 degrees F at my house several mornings this past week.

Blackberries are blooming everywhere!!!!

The cool weather hasn’t stopped the yellow coating of pollen blanketing everything. I have never been one to suffer from allergies at this time of year although my poor husband does. But this year I have had a bit of allergy issues. It must be age or something I’m not sure. The lake at our house has had a permanent film of yellow on it for a couple of weeks now.

Last Sunday I finished knitting a pair of socks and immediately started another pair. I got my ball winder out and rolled four balls of yarn. I will probably use two of the balls for socks and one for a scarf and I’m not sure what I will use the other one for.

I visited the Mennonite Farm Market near my house yesterday. They had some beautiful vegetables. And of course they always have those fresh baked cinnamon rolls. I have to buy one every time I go. Yesterday was no exception. The drive to the market is almost as good as the things I find to buy. It is especially beautiful this time of year.

Lots of luscious vegetables and fruit at the market. I wanted everything.
I may have mentioned that the market also has these wonderful, delicious HUGE cinnamon rolls. I always get one when I am there.
A beautiful sunrise Friday morning.

So if you are ever overwhelmed, anxious, scared, nervous etc etc. and don’t know exactly how to manage the next moment just do the next right thing whatever that may be.

And always remember

Love your day your way!!!!

What A Week!!!!

It was back to work today after a long three day weekend. Last week was a bit of a crazy sixty eight day week, well that’s what it seemed like anyway, and I definitely needed the extra time off. I am writing this in a bit of a fog because for some reason this day just kicked my butt. I think a very early night is in order. But first I just wanted to share a bit of last week with you.

We had some really cool mornings. The temperature a couple of mornings was only about 33 degrees F. A light frost covered a lot of areas. I brought my little tomato plant if for a couple of nights.
The days were clear and bright and sunny and just beautiful.

I told you last week that we had some exciting things going on at work. I work at a tourist attraction that happens to be home of America’s Largest Underground Lake. The Lost Sea. Shameless advertising ahead, http://www.thelostsea.com. Check it out if you get a chance. The lake is located 140 below the ground level and covers 4.5 acres. A cavern tour and boat ride is included in the tour. We have four boats that are used throughout the day. Last Monday we got a new boat. The last time new boats were brought into the cave was about thirty years ago. It is not an easy thing to do. We will be getting two now and two at the end of the year. These are large flat bottomed boats that hold about twenty people each.

Each boat weighs approximately two thousand pounds. They are brought in half at a time. The cave is very narrow and steep going down hill to get to the lake. Each boat half had to be taken in on a huge dolly pulled by a motorized Gator utility vehicle and then a tractor pulling against the weight of the boat to help slow the process. It was scary and exciting to be a part of something that doesn’t happen but about every thirty years. Our crew did an amazing job as well as the company that built the boats.

It is rather hard to see but if you look closely you can see the Gator in the front pulling the boat and then the tractor in the back slowing the boat as it went down the steep trails.

With all of the preparations getting the boat delivered and set up and everything I had a couple of really long days.

My Birthday and wedding anniversary was on Wednesday. Mark and I both had to work so we decided to celebrate later in the week. I did have Birthday lunch with the sisters.

I also had lunch with a couple of friends.

I took off an extra day on Friday and got my hair cut. Saturday was rainy and we visited my mother in law at the village.

A fairly lazy weekend which is what I needed after the crazy work week. And just like that it was back to work today.

Did you know that daisies start out with this little pink bud and even the petals are pink? Daisies are my favorite flower.

I hope you have a wonderful week. I will end with just a bit of cuteness.

These two. They fight over the chair and this old afghan I made about twenty five years ago. It looks like they have come to an agreement to share.

Always remember,

Love your day your way!!!!