Fall and Halloween ideas

Just some things I have seen that I like for fall and Halloween decor.

The Good and the Bad

I guess we can all agree on one thing in this world. And that is that 2020 has been one heck of a roller coaster ride. But I'm not here to rehash any of the political, moral, ethical, medical or anything else that has been going on. I'm just going to focus on my own little part of the universe and what been happening there.

The Good

For the first time since I have worked in the tourist industry here, I volunteered to take the layoff for two months in January and February. Why was that good? Because I had been sick on and off in November and December, but continued to work every day. Because it was our busiest season, I ended up working 5 days a week from 8:30 a.m. until 10:30 p.m. Yes, that is 14 hours per day. By the end of December I was was physically, mentally and emotionally drained. So getting two months off was fantastic. I rested. I baked. I cooked. I cleaned. I organized. I shopped. I visited friends. Basically, I did what ever I wanted when I wanted. It was really good. And I needed that time to clear my head to get ready to get back to work in March. 

The Bad

On March the 3rd, I returned to work. During my time off I had developed sciatica and it made itself known in my back, down my hip and thigh and all the way into my calf muscle. The pain was so unbearable on some days that I just layed around the house. So when they called me back to work, I gave them full disclosure that I wasn't sure I was going to be able to work since my job had changed with all the new Covid social distancing. I used to be able to have down time in between shows. The new procedures meant I would be off my feet for maybe 15 minutes between shows and some days would be 4 show days where I would stand on my feet for 8-10 hours a day. 

The Unknown

I was afraid. Afraid of what I was doing to my body. Afraid of how I would go to bed each night crying with pain. Even prescription pain relievers will not ease a pain that is caused by constant abuse to your body by put your weight daily on parts of our body that hurt in the best of times. I knew I needed to start seriously considering a new job. One that would not require a lot of standing. One that would still making me happy with what I did and not leve me feeling like I had wasted the past four years in the tourist industy. But I knew I had to do something so I ventured out on a limb and started looking for job options.

The Unexpected

After my third day back at work, I knew I had to find something and fast. I had applied for one job that looked interesting but I wasn't sure if it would be a good fit. I followed up on my application that night and the HR lady sent me right back a reply asking me to interview the next morning. I got the job. I left the old job and I started training for the new. It is amazing. I am still working in the tourist industry. Still booking reservations. Only now I do it for a bunch of different activities and shows and for a bunch of different cities and states. 

 The Results

Bottom line is that I couldn't be any happier with the twists and turns my life has made these past 6 months. I was at my wits end at times. I worried needlessly. I would have moments of happiness and moments of self-doubt and fear. I stepped out on that limb and took a leap of faith, thanks to the encouragement of friends who believed in me more than I believed in myself. I have had an amazing year.

Week in review

So it has been an action packed interest week. First off, my crepe myrtle plant got hit hard with the cold snap in April and had nothing but dried brown buds on it. I was so upset. I love that bush. Fast forward to the 20th of July and I saw a few buds looking like they were going to bloom. By last Sunday this is what I had. I am one happy camper now.

I went to a friends house and he grilled pork tenderloin with peppercorn seasoning. I have never eaten pork tenderloin. But I must say it was delicious. And super tender. There is just something special about a man that cooks you dinner and then serves the meat on a Pyrex platter. We also had some delicious scallop potatoes with cheese and bacon. The whole meal was yummy. He's a really great cook.

Of course he knows the way to my heart is in the dessert. Especially if the dessert involves ice cream. This is vanilla salted caramel cheesecake ice cream. I had made 96 chocolate chip cookies that day and we had the cookies with the ice cream. Talk about delicious.

On Monday I wanted cake. But I am tired of chocolate cake so I changed it up and made a white cake but I still did my homemade icing though. I changed it up a little and I liked it better. Added a little more cocoa.

My husband was an amazing cook and one of his specialties was a homemade tangy (not vinegar-y) barbecue sauce. We had it with pork and with beef many times over the years. I haven't made it since he passed away. I don't like the idea of fixing a whole roast all day just to make barbecue. So my niece told me to use chicken; that it was delicious.  So I boiled chicken by a technique a friend showed me and it just shredded real easy. 

And after making and eating barbecue chicken with Hubby's home made sauce, I decided that it is chicken barbecue for me from now on. Oh, and check out the pickles. Freshly canned pickes by my son-in-law. First time he's had a garden and first time he has tried to can. The pickles were out of this world. 

One day I was in town and decided to stop at the library to look at some How to books on starting a business. I just think it is hilarious that tucked away in a wing on the 3rd floor where business books are was a Mickey and Minnie table and chairs. Of course I had to set in Mickey's chair.

Somebody had a birthday last week. This was 10 years ago.

And the one on the left is her now. Shelby Rayne, my youngest granddaughter, turned 12 last year. She told me one day that she was going to squeeze every moment of every day out of her last year before becoming a teenager. Heaven help us all. 

Speaking of birthdays, the day after Shelby's was my Daddy's birthday. He's been gone 21 years but his memory will never fade. If he was still with us, he would have be 97 years old last week.

(L-R: My sis Rachel, Daddy and me)

I was somewhere the other day and I don't even remember where. But this cute tablecloth caught my eye. Since I recently purchased a yellow t-cup and a gray rooster, I thought these would be perfect.

I ended the week making brownie cookies. This picture is from one time I made 2 dozen of the. But this time I made 14 dozen. That's right 168 cookies. It was exhausting but fun. A friend called me and said her work would like to order them and pay me for making them. So I did.  I felt so happy and blessed after this past week. Can't wait to see what this week is going to bring. 

Just wanted to share....

This was my tomato plant I posted on July 20th. A friend had it left over and gave it to me. My hubby was the gardener so I wasn't sure if I could keep it alive. 

Here we are just 12 days later and I am amazed at the growth. I have a bigger pot and need to transplant it today.

I saw these on Pinterest and thought they were adorable. 

Decided to try to make some. Don't like tying the bow. Way too stressfull to tie a tiny bow in that little spot. So I chain stitched a "scarf". Still not happy with it. I think I need a smaller hook, which I have. Trying it again today. Also, I am still experimenting with which kind of marker will make the nose better.

I was on Amazon just window shopping and came across these. Two things I love in the winter time: warm socks and anything with a Fair Isle pattern. Saw these for $4.99, free shipping with prime, free next day delivery. I thought it would be worth a try. Oh my goodness they are amazing. The fit is absolutely perfect. They are super soft and thick enough with out being too thick. I am very happy with them. 

We had horrible rains on Friday and when they were done, this was my evening sky. No photo shopping or cropping or lighting changes. Just a picture of God's natural beauty.

And to leave you with a little humor to make you smile on this blessed Sunday.

I'm going to try something new.....

All my life people have told me I am a wonderful baker. I get compliments on every dessert I take to any gathering. People will ask me to make a certain item for them and I do. Recently, a friend of mine wanted 2 dozen of my brownie cookies. She took them to her work and when word got out about how good they were, even the plant personnel were sneaking into the office to see if there were any more cookies. 

Her co-workers wanted to know how much I charged and I gave them a price and now they are getting ready to order a bunch of cookies. Got me to thinking, I should start selling my desserts. Obviously, I will have to determine the price based on where I have to drive to meet them or if they come pick them up. Here's are some pictures of the ones I think people would buy. Would love to hear your thoughts?

Brownie cookies

Reese's peanut butter brownie trifle

Orange cream cookies with orange icing

No-bake chocolate oatmeal cookies

Cinnamon sugar donuts

Monster Cookies

Cinnamon swiss chocolate frosted cookies

Molasses cookies

Peanut Butter cookies

My famous chocolate cake with a family recipe for the frosting.

Lemon Sprite pound cake

Reese's peanut butter fudge

Brookie (brownie and chocolate chip cookie mixed together)

Would love to hear your thoughts.

Sunday's in the South

A lot of people do not view West Virginia as "the south". But I am here to tell you my hometown was small town with southern manners and traditions. We were located in the southwest portion of the state and bordered with lower Ohio and Eastern Kentucky. So despite what some people say, we were Southern to the core. Offer somebody a glass of unsweet tea from my hometown and you will get my drift. Today I want to share with you a typical Sunday as I was growing up.

(Daddy and my cousin Nancy)

As she was every day of her life, Mom was up before everybody else and fixing breakfast. Mostly homemade biscuits, bacon, and fried eggs. I remember her making bacon gravy but not every morning. Sometimes on Sundays, it was homemade pancakes from scratch fixed in the same iron skillet she had just fried bacon in. 

There were four of us kids and Mom and Dad. So there was a lot of hectic craziness on Sunday mornings because it was a hard and fast rule that we get up, eat, and get ready for Sunday School and church. Mom & Dad didn't drive so we didn't have a car. We walked a little over a mile to the church every Sunday...rain, shine or even snow. 

In spring and summer, after church we would walk back home and my Aunt Frances and her seven children, my Aunt Dee Dee, my Mamaw Eden and most weeks my Uncle Charlie and Aunt Louise with their twins Mary & Carey would come home with us after church. 

The women would gather in the kitchen and make fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, peas, and/or corn. Usually there was gravy and sometimes Mom would open a can of Franco American Meatballs in Brown gravy for me because back then, I didn't like chicken. (SHOCK)

Dessert was always something Mom had made on Saturday. It varied but we had such things as chocolate cake with chocolate icing (like the one I always make), spice cake with caramel icing, cherry pie, apple pie, graham cracker pie or banana pudding. 

And there was always sweet tea or Kool-Aid.

The afernoon was spent either playing baseball or badmitton in the yard or taking a long walk in the woods behind the house. 

We loved Sundays. 

Mothman, Chief Cornstalk and the Silver Bridge

Like many other older towns across the United States, Point Pleasant in West Virginia has its fair share of historical tales. A mixture of legend and truth. Some I believe, some I'm not sure of and some I'd rather not know. One story that has stood the test of time and believed by many, young and old, is the story of Mothman.




But first, we must travel back in time to Chief Cornstalk, reported to be one of the most powerful indian chiefs in his time. After the American Revolution he was trying to create a treaty of a sort to keep his Shawnee tribe on their Ohio side of the river. But due to several problems as he tried to create diplomatic negotiations, Chief Cornstalk was arrested and held at Fort Randolph in Point Pleasant, WV. His son arrived to visit. Meanwhile 2 members of the fort were out hunting and ambushed and killed by a Native tribe. The people of the fort were enraged so Cornstalk and his son were shot as retribution for the attack. Legend says as he laid dying, Cornstalk placed a curse upon the land.

“I was the border man’s friend. Many times I have saved him and his people from harm. I never warred with you, but only to protect our wigwams and lands. I refused to join your paleface enemies with the red coats. I came to the fort as your friend and you murdered me. You have murdered by my side, my young son…. For this, may the curse of the Great Spirit rest upon this land. May it be blighted by nature. May it even be blighted in its hopes. May the strength of its people’s be paralyzed by the stain of our blood.”

Fast forward to 1966 when the first "sightings" were reported of a great winged creature with large glowing eyes. On November 12, 1966, five men who were digging a grave at a cemetery near Clendenin, West Virginia, claimed to have seen a man-like figure fly low from the trees over their heads. This is often identified as the first known sighting of what became known as the Mothman.

Shortly thereafter, on November 15, 1966, two young couples from Point Pleasant, Roger and Linda Scarberry and Steve and Mary Mallette, told police they saw a large grey creature whose eyes "glowed red" when the car's headlights picked it up. They described it as a "large flying man with ten-foot wings". 

These sightings continued for a year until December 1967. On December 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge collapsed under the weight of rush-hour traffic, resulting in the deaths of 46 people. 

Two of the victims were never found. Investigation of the wreckage pointed to the cause of the collapse being the failure of a single eyebar in a suspension chain, due to a small defect 0.1 inches (2.5 mm) deep. Analysis showed that the bridge was carrying much heavier loads than it had originally been designed for and had been poorly maintained. 

Pictures soon circulated of a strange bird like creature or spirit perch on top of the bridge. Was it a coincidence or was Mothman there to warn of impending doom?

Was the collapse of the Silver Bridge due to Cornstalks curse? Did the Mothman ultimately have something to do with it or was this unexplained phenomena sent as a warning? According to reports,  Mothman sightings precede several catastrophic events over the next several decades. 

I remember the Silver Bridge collapse. I had just turned 11 two days before it happened. I was sitting in the floor with my cousin playing bingo when they interruped local programming the the news. I remember it was cold and I was thinking how freezing the water must be and feeling so sad about the whole thing. It was a long time after that before I ever felt safe crossing a bridge.

That is why the story of Mothman and Chief Cornstalk has always been of interest to me. You can google it and there are many, many stories about the connection between the two and the disasters that plaqued that area for over 200 years.