Sister Trip to Gatlinburg TN, 2021

Happy Monday. Another Sister Trip in the books. We had a really good time. It rained quite a bit but it was not a total washout.

Gatlinburg Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains in the fall is such a beautiful place. But let me tell you the traffic there is terrible. Add in Fall Break for a lot of schools around the area and it was crazy. We didn’t spend a lot of time on the roads. We stayed at the condo a lot of the time. We did venture into nearby Pigeon Forge a couple of days.

There’s four of us that goes every year. We left on Wednesday this year. And came back on Saturday. The sisters picked me up last. It took a few extra minutes to get out of the house because all of the babies got excited over different people being in the house. Molly and Scruffy kept running in and out of the doors. It is about an hour and a half drive for us but we always stop for lunch and to do a little shopping.

We stopped in Pigeon Forge for groceries on the way to the condo. We always swear we can’t get another thing in the car and there will not be a spot of room left for the groceries but there always is.

As soon as we get to the condo we unload. Usually we have already done a little shopping on the way up so it is late afternoon and we just get everything into the condo and chill out. The next few days are fun fun fun. We just like to be together and watch movies. I took the production of CATS for the sisters to watch. They were not too crazy about it. My sister Sandy and I always work a jigsaw puzzle. This one with the Christmas cookies was really hard. We eat out a lot at our favorite restaurants. I of course did have an opportunity to buy a little yarn. I also took a bunch of knitting but I didn’t really knit a lot on this trip.

Baskins Creek Condominiums. We stay here every year and we love it.
Our balcony where we spent most of our time talking and solving all the worlds’ problems. lol.
Our view at night.
Lots of people everywhere.
I may never want to eat another Christmas cookie. Well at least not until Christmas.
The Daiquiri Shack is one of our favorite places. It over looks the strip and is a wonderful place to people watch.
My sister Sandy is a stickler for security. She’s also our go to for bringing extra supplies. She always thinks of everything.
Lots of space to chill out and enjoy just being together.
I just loved this little sign over the door. We didn’t see any bears this year.

A lot of fun every year. It seems like we have more fun each year. AHHH until next year sisters.

How is your week going?

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!

A Fun Week Ahead, Sister Trip

Happy Tuesday friends. Another short work week for me. The sisters and I are taking our annual Sister Trip to Gatlinburg tomorrow. So I basically crammed a week worth of work into two days and left it behind. We will be gone for a few days. Luckily leaving is not quite as stressful as last time because Mark will be at home with all the babies. Last year we had to postpone Sister Trip for a month because Mark was in the hospital with the dreaded shingles virus. The wonderful people at the condo not only let us move our reservation but they gave us a credit to use this time because the rate was cheaper than the original date. So we started out this year saving money with the credit from last year. That is amazing hospitality.

Today was my last day of work until next Monday whoo hoo. We go to Gatlinburg every year and there isn’t much there we haven’t done. We just love to hang out with each other. We have an awesome place we stay and we stop at a grocery store on the way in and buy supplies. I am also bringing a couple of loaves of my homemade bread and some yummy apple butter to go with it. We bring books and watch movies and I bring knitting and we usually do a jigsaw puzzle and of course solve all the world’s problems. Just a good bit of down time. I think this will be just what I need to pull me out of that yucky funk I’ve been in. But more about the trip next week.

Our kittens are getting so big. We are having mama cat spayed next week. We are praying she doesn’t get “with kitten” before we can get her spayed. I want to give two of the kittens away but every time I think of it I start to get teary eyed. Each one holds a special place in my heart. And they are such good buddies with each other. We will eventually have to have all of them spayed and neutered.

Fall weather is upon us and the colors are changing fast. It’s almost like you can see the leaves turning day by day. We have had a lot of rain and it makes the colors really pretty. The yellow fall colors are my favorite and you will see that on tomorrow’s Wordless Wednesday post. Well actually not just the fall colors. I am loving yellow right now. I don’t know why but it is my favorite color, right now. I don’t wear it a lot because it is not a good color for me to wear but I love everything else yellow.

I just have to share this book with you. If you are a cat lover or even if you are not, I hope you have seen the Broadway production of CATS. It is one of my favorites. Mark and I have seen it several times. I have the DVD of the production and I am taking it with me on Sister Trip so that the sisters can watch it. I ordered this book from AMAZON and I love it. Old Possum’s Book of Practical CATS by T.S. Eliot. Wow T.S. Eliot really understood CATS. The man was actually a genius when it came to poetry and he received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1948. I read this in one evening. Now I know all the words to the CATS CDs. And I sing them in a very loud voice. Much to the dismay of my family. HA HA!!!!

O.K. I am off to pack and take care of a few things for our trip tomorrow. I also have to give extra snuggle time to all the babies. Mommy snuggles are the best and they miss them when I am gone.

How is your week going so far?

Always remember,

Love your day your way!!!!!

October Funk??

Hello October, I know I say this at the beginning of every month but how can it be October already?

All of a sudden the leaves have started to turn so many different and beautiful colors. The temperatures have cooled considerably, my work has slowed down a lot, my favorite holidays are just around the corner. It is my absolute favorite time of year!!! Maybe you can explain to me then why I am in such a funk, Because I surely do not know. There is no specific reason that I can pinpoint. I feel like Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh. AND I DON’T KNOW WHY!!!!

I went to work the other day and mentioned to a couple of my co-workers that I was in a major funk. They too said they had been in a funk. Wait…. What is going on? So it’s not just me. Strangely knowing that others were feeling the same way didn’t make my funk any better. I just feel bad for them.

So let me see:
It could be because summer is over, nope I am not a big fan of summer and I’m tired of sweating.
It could be because Mercury is in Retrograde, Possible, I will have to think about that.
It could be because my underwear is too tight. That’s all I’m going to say about that.
It could be SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder, It’s hard to believe because I love fall so much.
It could be COVID, I do truly believe that is a big part of the way I feel. I am so tired of hearing
about sickness and death. So many of my friends are sick right now from Covid. It’s so scary.
It could be because I secretly want to be in a rock band and travel the world and perform in a different city every night. I think that would be too tiring, I am a little lazier in my older age.

Or it could be that I am just in a big old temporary funk and I will soon work my way out of it. I think people go through periods in their lives when they think about lost loved ones and times gone by and it makes us a little sad. Maybe the changing of the seasons or a pandemic or having tight underwear makes us realize what we no longer have. Maybe this is a time to focus on what we do have in our lives right now this very minute: Fall leaves falling from the trees, beautiful colors, cooler weather, sweatah weatha, Halloween and Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming!!!, I am alive healthy and blessed. I will focus on this.

Putting this into words actually makes me feel better already. So thanks for listening and thanks for reading.

And always remember

Love your day your way!!!!