Flashback to 2016

As I wrote the answers to the Wednesday Hodgepodge one week, one of the questions was to post a picture from 10 years ago. This seems to be a trend on social media right now. When I looked back, I realized what a really good year that was, and I had trouble deciding on just one picture. (I actually snuck in 2, but only 1 was from 2016.) That gave me an idea for this post.

January

We started off the year quietly at home

February

We made a trip to Baton Rouge to visit MS for the Law School's First Year Parent Weekend

March

We spent Spring Break camping at Edisto State Park, SC

This is one of my favorite pictures of Laika. This was her first trip to the beach.

April

I met Father Leo Patalinghug during the Council of Catholic Women's Convention. He is also known as the "cooking priest"; he won a "throwdown with Bobby Flay".

June

Pepper was my best dog ever. She was a feisty little girl & was my shadow.

July

We took a camping trip to South Dakota & Colorado. YS joined us

Visiting Prairie Berry Winery was one of our favorite stops

August

Random selfie...apparently we had no idea where we should have been looking!

September

My daddy's last birthday...he turned 91

October

Sisters' Weekend. We had a sister & SIL who weren't able to be there

November

We took a road tour of Sevier County that I saw on a local channel. We saw some interesting things that are close to home.

December

We spent the last days of 2016 in Panama City Beach

It was a very good year, indeed! 

A Perfect Way to End the Year

 

Photo by Jude Beck on Unsplash

This Christmas was the least stressful holiday I've had while being a mom. With 3 grown boys, 1 with a household not far from here, 1 living out of state, and 1 living at home for a while, I knew things were going to be quiet. Especially with "the virus" (as my school kids call it) putting a damper on things, I was expecting a peaceful, quiet holiday. School was scheduled to end on the 18th, but we received a little gift from the school board: an extra day off. Numbers were spiking here, so we were in school 2 days, virtual 2 days, and off on Friday. I actually had everything done before I usually do, so I was able to work on something for my online teacher (SLP) store. I wanted to get some of it done so I could completely take the last week of the year off while we were on vacation.

The weather forecast for Christmas Eve into Christmas Day hinted at a white Christmas. Yeah, right. I only remember maybe 2 white Christmases in my life. When you live in the Tennessee Valley, you learn to take the forecast with a grain of salt and not believe it until you see it. WELL...when I left for the 5:00 Christmas Eve Mass, it was snowing and had just begun to stick. It snowed all during Mass and when I walked out the door, it was still snowing and everything was covered. The 6:00 bells were ringing, most of the people were already gone so it was quiet and most everything was still. It was absolutely gorgeous!

YS moved back into the house a few months ago, and (just in case you don't know) he's an excellent cook. I had everything ready to pop into the oven before I left, but he had everything heated up and cooked when I got home. He also did this:

It just filled my heart with the joy of the season to see that! This isn't something we see very often:

I wish I had asked YS or CH to turn off the lights in the dining room and living room...it would have made for a better picture of our tree. Before I went home I drove by the tree in the park, which is right next to where I live.

Our backyard looked just as enchanted; like something out of Narnia:

Around 8:30 pm, I happened to notice a vehicle pull into our driveway. I went to the side window, looked out, and saw MS getting out of a taxi! He flew in to surprise us for Christmas! (But can you believe I didn't take any pictures of the boys that weekend???) That was the icing on the Christmas Cake!

I take Gurl Dogg (remember her?) on a daily walk in the park. There was still plenty of snow to be found.

See what I mean? A beautiful Southern Christmas Snow...MAGICAL! By the time I walked GD, the kids had already sledded. The next day there were still signs of the laughter:

With all of the craziness of 2020 and the unsurety of 2021, it made me smile to think of the joy that the little ones were able to experience on Christmas Day!

{Friday Foto Friends} Definite Signs of Spring & Other Things

I’m joining Deb again this week for Friday Foto Friends!

Last Saturday, CH & I splurged and bought some new bicycles. There have been a lot of times when we've been on a camping trip & wished we had bicycles.

While on a bike ride, we ran across this mama and her babies...in the Parks & Rec swimming pool...which is being drained. When I drove by yesterday, I noticed they were still in there. I called the office and the lady assured me that they would get them out before they get hurt. She said they deal with this every year. 

This is a tree beside the gym at my mountain school. It's so pretty when it blooms...too bad the blooms don't stay very long.

Here's a view from my window at my mountain school. I happened to look outside Thursday morning & saw the sun coming up.

CH & I are in the planning stages of a new kitchen. I went by a place the other day to just look and see what's available. I thought this was very cool. Instead of having a lazy susan in the corner, this pulls out like a drawer, and when you keep pulling it, it turns and a some shelves just appear!!!  It's probably over our budget, but I really liked that idea.

This is actually OS' picture. Isn't my granddog handsome? Such a good boy!

My SIL gave me an essential oils necklace for my birthday. I decided to give it a try. It can't hurt, right? People who use it swear by it, so I'm going to see what happens.

My dad made this super-cool wine holder. I call it "magical"! It's been sitting down at the house and no one made a claim to it, so I took it (after writing it on the list-just in case any of my siblings are reading this!) 

If you read my Hodgepodge post from Wed., I included this picture:

and I mentioned how excited I was to see the UPS man pull in the driveway. Here's what was delivered:

CH & I talked off & on since our trip to SD last summer about getting a case of wine from Prairie Berry in Hill City, SD. But, I didn't feel like I could justify spending money on a case of wine when I could drive down the street and get some wine. Not Prairie Berry, though; it's not carried here. My sweet FIL & MIL included something special in my birthday card, so I decided to indulge! YS & I brought home several bottles in July. The Wild Bill bottle you see in the Magical Wine Holder is our last bottle from the trip. So, you can see why I was so excited about seeing the UPS man!

It was a busy, busy week. How was yours?

{Friday Foto Friends} Painting & Moving

Friday already? Why do breaks always go by so quickly! I need a break to get over my break! It's been a very busy week. I've had a dr.'s appointment, mammogram (don't forget to get yours annually!), vet appointment, and car appointment. And, there has been a Mass for my daddy every day except for Wednesday. 

My brother carried this jewel down from the attic at my parents' house. Apparently we had been told to "get off our high horse" a lot! 😀

This is how my Sunday started. Yeah, it usually helps to put the coffee grounds in the pot when making coffee!

I spent Sunday afternoon painting 1 of the spare bedrooms and then putting it back together. This is what it looked like before I painted:

 

Why I agreed to allow YS have an orange room when we moved in is beside me! Luckily, it only took 1 coat of Kilz and another coat of paint to cover it up.

Excuse the mess on the beds...I haven't completely finished this bedroom! But, I spend Monday painting this bedroom and putting it back together. Here's the before:

Not as much of a difference from the other room, but the walls went from gray to "mushroom".

I saw this sign on Tuesday when I ran into the restroom at church.

Wednesday was moving day. Apparently, several years ago, I told my daddy that I wanted the piano. So, I scheduled the piano movers for a day during break, and Wednesday was the day. 1 of the guys told my brother & me that they move around 1200 pianos a year. I was shocked! He said they send about 50 a year to the dump, which made me sad. Hopefully it was that they were dump-worthy & it wasn't that the owners just didn't want them anymore. Anyway, getting the piano down the front yard steps was a little hairy, but they did it without any damage.

When they got to my house, they assessed the back and front entrances, and decided the back was the path of least resistance. They had no trouble at all getting the piano in the house.

And there she is. Eloise has a new home! I plan on taking piano lessons (something I've always wanted to do) very soon. I don't want her to be just a piece of the furniture. My mom saved her cake-decorating money to buy her over 40 years ago. We're not sure exactly when she bought it. 
If you're in the Knoxville area & need a piano mover, let me know. I'd highly recommend them!

That's it for the pictures for the week. I was able to relax Thursday and watch Time after Time on Hulu. Excellent show! Thanks to my big sister for making aware of it! 😘

I'm linking up with Deb at Breathing in Grace for todays Friday Foto Friends. 

{Weekend Wrap-up} Underground, HEMA, Relaxation

I kicked off my weekend by going by the church and going through the outdoor Stations of the Cross. It was a little chilly; I was glad I had my jacket with me. One of our parishioners completed this as his Eagle Scout project. He did an excellent job with it. The pictures he used for each Station are very nice.

CH & I had a quiet Friday night. We went to our "new and improved" Captain D's for supper (it was a Friday during Lent!). They've remodeled it so it's now bright and cheerful. I did have a quick thought that I need to tell Daddy about it. 😔

Saturday, we were up early to drive a couple of hours to the town where we met. (Which had nothing to do with why we were there!) YS has been taking HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts) Fencing Lessons for the past 6 months. There were the "Highland Games" that were held. This was a very small event; we have a private college in town that puts on a good-sized game in the Spring. For YS' first outing, he did pretty well!

He's waiting for his gear to come in, so his shoulder has a pretty good bruise on it from getting hit. I thought we were going to be in a nice warm gym, but we were outside. And, it was cold! (Again, I was glad I had my jacket!)

There were women's events:

Non-fighting events:

Even the kids got in on some events:

This guy was my favorite (we dubbed him: Viking guy!):

It seemed like a very friendly competition; after the fighting, everyone talked, gave each other tips, and just socialized. I think YS had a good time.

CH & I couldn't be where we met without visiting some old haunts. The place where it all started:

The building in back of us used to be the fraternity house were I was a little sister for 3 years; CH was a brother during fall semester of my senior year. It's a family home, now. I was so very tempted to go up and stand on the porch! I spent many hours on that porch!

We went by Pals, grabbed some burgers, and sat at the amphitheater on campus while we ate. This is a popular place for students to picnic and/or study when the weather is warm. (I don't remember ever doing that, though; too many distractions for me!) The students are on Spring Break, so it was quiet. 

Saturday night, we started watching the series Underground. The show is about the Underground Railroad. Very good, and heartbreaking.

Sunday was the grocery store, a quick trip to our favorite watering hole, The Casual Pint, then just piddling around the house.

Nice end to the weekend!  Have a great week!!!