Sunday Morning Coffee Share

Happy Sunday. Come in and let’s share a nice hot cup of coffee or hot chocolate or tea. It is 10 degrees F and a northerly wind is blowing and it is soooo cold. The sun is shining brightly but is so deceiving because there is absolutely no warmth coming from it.

If we were having coffee I would share with you that I missed several days of work this week because of the weather. It was nice being home and warm working on some of my favorite things. But I hate the trapped feeling of not being able to get out and go when I want to. The ice around our house has been so bad we have been afraid to even step out on the driveway or onto our front porch.

This was my road when I finally made it out Thursday morning to go to work. It was scary in several places until I got down to the main road.

If we were having coffee I would share with you that I finished the book by Abigail Thomas, What Comes Next And How To Like It. Abigail Thomas is quite an author. I have also read, A Three Dog Life by Abigail. She writes her life. Good or bad she is bluntly honest. After reading one of her books you will feel different about going along day by day in your own life. That may seem like a bold statement but it is true. As I said she is quite an author. 

If we were having coffee I would tell you that I have been thinking a lot about retirement. It is still a few years away but from everything I have read you should start looking at all the details involved several years before you actually take the plunge. Scary and exciting at the same time.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that I was supposed to be on a trip this week to Greensboro North Carolina with the Attractions group that I am involved with through my work. I chose not to go. We have so much going on at work and have been out of work for several days. This has really put us behind.  Plus with the bad weather and cold temperatures it did not seem like a good time to make a long drive for the few days I would be gone. I felt that I needed to stay home and be at my job.  I am overjoyed that I stayed at home.

If we were having coffee I would share with you that it has been a bit of a sad week.  My nephew moved last weekend, just a couple of hours away. But I guess just knowing he is not as close as he was is sad. Plus the area he moved to had even more snow than we did. I always worry when loved ones have to be out in the snow trying to get to their jobs. My husband had to go out on Wednesday to get to his job and the roads were horrible. Because we live in a rural area there is not cell phone service along some of his route. I made him call as often as he could to make sure he hadn’t run off of the road. He made it fine. 

If we were having coffee I would share with you that I am fortunate to be here as I am and I will tell you some of the things I have loved about this week.

Ice fell on top of the snow and made it a beautiful shimmery blanket of white. So dazzling it almost hurt your eyes to look at it.

Icicles formed and dripped and were just beautiful.

Warmth. We never lost power. We had lots of heat and light.

Lots of books to read and puzzles to work and plenty of yarn to knit.

My husband and my kitties and I all snuggled together during our downtime.

Downtime to relax and regroup and recharge.

How was your week? What do you have to share over our coffee?

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!  

I am joining Natalie The Explorer over at Weekend Coffee Share you can check out some of the other posts here # Weekend Coffee Share

We Had A Snow Day or Three

Hi friends and happy Wednesday Let me clarify that title by saying we didn’t actually get much snow at our house we just got the dreaded ice. The city I work in actually got about seven inches of snow and that is a lot for us. Everything pretty much shuts down when we get a snow of this magnitude. Don’t laugh. We are southerners and just not used to that kind of snow.

We had been hearing all weekend that we were going to get a major winter storm in our area. At first it was supposed to be Tuesday but then it changed to Monday. I went in to work as usual Monday morning. It had only snowed a very small amount by the time I woke up on Monday. But I was keeping the amount of snow we were supposed to have in the back of my mind. By the time I got to work it was snowing like crazy and very cold. Within an hour it had covered the roads and driveway. I was at work with one other coworker. Her dad called and told her the roads were getting bad. We locked everything up and left.

I had driven our old Toyota four wheel drive to work so I made it home easily with only a few scary moments. The funny thing was when I got on my road the snow stopped and it was only rain. The only problem with that was that everything froze solid Monday night because the temps were so low. So needless to say me nor my husband left the house on Tuesday. The snow continued to fall in nearby areas and they accumulated about 7 inches.

This was at work just before I left.
This picture I got off of our work security cameras. This was after the snow stopped and added several inches.
I did not take this picture. Someone posted it on FB. It is downtown Knoxville, South Gay Street, at the Tennessee Theatre. What a mess the snow made Monday afternoon. I think it’s still kind of beautiful.

I would like to say that while I have been home bound, I have been keeping busy cleaning out closets and drawers and much needed inside things. But I haven’t. I binge watched Grey’s Anatomy and read, and worked a million crossword puzzles, worked on my heart cross stitch and finished it, and finished the rose colored scarf I had been working on. Oh and I have cooked a million meals. Well that might be a bit of an exaggeration. it has only been three days. HA!!! But it seems like it.

Sunday before the snow came I made a big chocolate cake. I had been wanting cake for a long time and I decided to make one. So we were able to eat that during our snowbound days.

Over the weekend we moved my nephew Tyler to Cookeville TN which is about two hours from us. He has taken a job there and rented a house. He rented a U-Haul and me and hubs, his parents, his brother and my sister went along to help with the move. I have been trying not to think of him living two hours away because it hurts my heart. I know that is not that far and he will come home often but it’s still not the same. I made him his favorite Butterfinger cake and put it in his new refrigerator for him.

On Friday morning we woke up to really strong winds. Luckily I had taken an extra day off. A good thing because we had a tree down across the driveway! We were also expecting some heavy rain so before the rain started Mark and I went out and cut the tree off of the driveway. Ahhh rural living.

With the bad rain and bad weather, and the day spent moving my nephew we didn’t get a lot of the tree cut up and moved. We just cut it up enough to get it off of the driveway. The cleanup will come later.

Taking a break during moving
This one decided to take a nap.
This is how we found Gus and Kitty Kitty when we got home Saturday evening. I think they were waiting for us to walk in the door.

Last year I bought two heated kitty houses for my outside kitties. We always bring them into the garage at night but even with the garage door down, when the temps drop down to 2 degrees F, as it was last night, it is still very cold. Last year they hated the kitty house and would not go in it. I left it in the garage for a while and then wound up throwing it away during the summer.

Last night I got the other kitty house out. I put it together and took the plastic flaps off of the two entrances. That is what they seemed to dislike about the other one. I also placed it next to their main bed where they love to snuggle together. Mama cat, Allie, was the first to venture in. Then Izzy and finally Sadie went in. They can all three fit inside. They love it!!! I am so glad and relieved. They refuse to come into our house because of Kitty Kitty and Gus plus they are still a bit feral. This will keep them warm on the really cold nights. It makes my kitty mama heart happy.

Isn’t it cute?

I finally ventured out this afternoon to take a walk around the house. I seriously needed some fresh air and vitamin D.

So a lot has been going on. A busy week and then a lot of down time at home. Much needed I think. I am hoping to get back to civilization tomorrow.

How has your week been? Any snow where you are?

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!

Lights, Camera, Action!! A New Year A New Word

Hello and Happy Wednesday. We are well into the new year. I have been thinking a lot about my word of the year. When I pick a word I visit it several times throughout the year to see if I am actually living up to my word. I didn’t know if I even wanted to do that this year. We know things will happen as they are going to happen. But I still think focusing on something that can be positive, can’t be a bad thing. So, I decided that my word of the year will be “action”.  Why this word? I have a lot of things in my life that I need to take action on. I have things that need to be dealt with and I feel that action is what I need to get me going. Action can actually lead to a lot of things. Action can stand for a lot of things. That is my hope for the new year. I will keep you posted on how it is going. 

Last week I had the chance to visit one of my favorite thrift stores. I wasn’t really looking for anything particular. I did find a couple of flower vases, pots whatever you want to call them. I thought I would put my orchid pots down in them. They were only a couple of dollars each. I also saw a large platter with spring flowers on it. I kept picking the platter up and putting it back down. This is always a sign that I should buy it. I didn’t get the platter. Now I regret that I didn’t and I haven’t had a chance to get back and see if it is still there.



Speaking of orchids. I mentioned in a previous post that I always thought my orchid Zsa Zsa might be two orchids in one large pot. I received Zsa Zsa when my sister Pat died, which has been almost two years ago. Zsa Zsa the orchid came from a flower shop and was given to me to keep after the funeral. My friends from work had sent her and requested that I be the one to keep her. As if anyone could tear her out of my hands.

She was beautiful and in full bloom at the time. As a matter of fact she has bloomed constantly on one stem or another since I got her. She is the prettiest shade of pink. She was one of my first orchids.

The reason I call her Zsa Zsa is because when my sister was in the hospital and getting ready to start chemo treatments. I would go in and comb her hair for her. I told her I was making her as beautiful as Zsa Zsa Gabor. So I started calling her Zsa Zsa and she started calling me Eva, Zsa Zsa’s sister. There actually was another famous Gabor sister, Magda. When I explained to my husband that I now have to have another orchid so that I could name it Magda, he didn’t quite get it. He thinks I have too many orchids now. Anyway I still have texts from my sister where we referred to each other as Zsa Zsa and Eva. They are precious to me and so is Zsa Zsa.

The orchid Zsa Zsa has thrived.  Mr sister did not. She passed away a short time after her stay in the hospital. It has now been almost two years.  I never repotted Zsa Zsa because she has always had such amazing growth. But I started to notice some changes and I thought I had better repot her. I was scared. I procrastinated. I ordered new clear pots. I finally did it!!!!  Sure enough there were two orchids in that pot. There was a lot of root rot and I am not sure if they will both survive. I repotted them in separate pots and had to trim a lot of the stems back. Of course I named the second one Eva and if I lose them it will break my heart.

This is after they have been separated and repotted. I am praying they will survive. Sorry for the bad lighting. It was night and I don’t have a lot of extra light in this room.

I had a lot of trimming to do on these roots. But there is still good green in some of the roots. I have a large utility sink in my laundry room and that is where I always water the orchids and trim away any dead roots.

Sunday I decided to make chocolate chip cookies. I had a bag of chocolate chips that needed to be used. I am trying to shop my pantry before buying things. I told my husband we could probably live out of our pantry for a couple of months without going to the grocery store. I think it would be fun to try.

They were delicious!!!

I took most of the cookies to work for my coworkers.

We have had some really cold weather and lots of rain. Some of the local schools were closed on Monday because of flash flooding. I was able to make it safely to work and back home.

This is a field beside a small creek. This is after the water had gone down several inches.

I have been knitting the most wonderful scarf. I say this because the yarn is so soft and squishy. I love the way the different pink colors fade and blend together. I am almost finished. I think I may be a little sad to see it finished. It has been so much fun to knit. But I also can’t wait to wear it.

I have also been working again on the heart cross stitch. I am getting really close to finishing. I still have to decide how to frame it. Any suggestions?

If I had this one to do over I think I might have made several different colors of hearts. Oh well. Maybe next time.

So that is what I have been up to. How about you?

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!