Tag: Brewery

Our Day out in Hendersonville, TN: Sam’s Club Run, First Watch Brunch, and Yazoo Brewery

On By BackporchwriterIn Brewery, Food, Nashville, Restaurants4 Comments

George and I had a meeting in Hendersonville with our financial advisor and as we do, we like to hit other things in the area – usually favorite shops, a brewery, a favorite liquor store for our wine and happy hour stash, and of course trying new or old favorite restaurants.

Yesterday, much to my surprise, George did NOT have a line up for us. And I got busy and also used to him planning things, so I didn’t really think much of it other than – “we’ll pick a place for lunch, hit a brewery, and Sam’s”. I think we both strongly desired to hit Sam’s Club. So we really ONLY had decided on Sam’s and the rest was up in the air. Totally not like us to not have a scripted plan of order – you know how we plan – and you know how we check off our lists. lol

So the meeting went well and we are thankful with all going on that we didn’t have to take off work or a vacation day for this meeting. As you know our life is a little crazy right now trying to fit it all in with the time we have. All the numbers are looking good for me to retire at 62 and George at 65. He’s three years older and we will retire at the same time. I can’t believe it is so close. In my side bar (or at the bottom, I think if you are on iPhone/iPad) I have a ticker saying how long it will be. Right now it’s 3.2 years away. 😉

After the meeting we went to this liquor/wine store in Hendersonville called Pour Vous and we got there just in time for the Saturday 1:00 wine tasting. We tasted 4 wines and bought one of them. The lady behind the counter was bubbly and talkative and very enthusiastic and also gave generous pours, lol.

Then we went to the restaurant pictured above “First Watch” also in Hendersonville, TN (laughing at the couple intently on their phones). That couple could be us except I’m probably just taking pictures of everything. lol

OH MY GOSH! I absolutely loved this restaurant! Loved the food and the vibe. We even had a mini brunch drink with our meal.

While there, I took pics of some of the wood for phone wallpapers. I’ve been looking for a good one for the fall backgrounds. You can snag them if you would like.

I’m using the 2nd one I posted right now. I love wood. I don’t know why but I love natural colors and textures and not so much a glass type of person like my Mom. She loves ritzy bling and glassware and shiny things. I like rustic but I do love the look of lace against wood. Anyway here is my first two “phone pages” of apps with this background. I’m pretty fond of decorating my phone since I’m on it so much!

Afterwards, George and I went to Sam’s Club. And do you know how entertaining this was? lol lol We had a blast. First of all, all the sample people were there! Yay! It was a VERY COSTLY entertainment though. I think this was a $497 excursion. However, George picked two pair of jeans, underwear, and socks for me to wrap up for Christmas. He also bought all kinds of vitamins, supplements, deodorant and soap. I bought a big huge thing of laundry detergent, a bunch of Dove hand soaps, multiple tomato basil spaghetti sauces, multiple cans of chopped tomatoes. We bought olive oil, bubble waters, mega amounts of crackers for the holidays, a bottle of Quilt Wine which was only $29.99 for the holidays (used to be about $44) and Katy and I have a story about our $80 purchase of Quilt in San Antonio. Friend Lauren had suggested this wine once when I was in Oregon – didn’t get to have it in Oregon but bought it when we got home and have loved the complexity of the flavors. (Good call Lauren). So the Quilt just brings back some memories and laughter and is a special occasion wine- for us anyway.

I texted Katy that we have Quilt Wine, so she must come for Christmas!

So back to Sam’s, we bought all kinds of meats, that were on the bottom there – chicken, pork of all kinds, and you know – I think we didn’t buy any beef. It was very expensive, but we did buy lamb. Lamb was cheaper than normal as was the chicken. We bought like 10 chicken thighs in a huge pack for $5 and then separated them into two packs when we got home.

We bought enchiladas for dinner that were already made and just ready to be cooked. I bought a big thing of pimento and cheese for $5 b/c it’s about that much in the store for a small one. And I bought “loaded potato salad” already made b/c I knew Mom would love eating off of it this week. I also bought a couple of salad kits.

George bought some sushi. And we bought Mom some of her Welches bubbly drinks that are popular this time of year. She’s asked for them for over a month but no one has had them. Well Sam’s did and we bought the red and white and apple cider so she has enough to last til summer of next year, lol.

Also we bought her some of those good frozen hamburgers which they had not had last time. You just microwave them but they taste like a burger out somewhere. They are Angus and so good. We are hoping this helps Mom with her burger cravings as she is not driving up here to leave and go get them. No burgers are not good for you, but when your 77 year old Mom asks for one, you provide. She has not been asking for much, so I try to think of things that will make her happy while she is here for these last few weeks. Their shelves were VERY WELL stocked, unlike our grocery stores. We also bought River a toy/book. So we may have to go to Sam’s sometimes and get her the chicken she likes from there as well as her burgers, lol. Anyway needless to say we stocked up!

We packed and loaded the car with all the Sam’s treasures and packed everything in two coolers with ice. Then went to Yazoo and had a beer and headed home. I got the flight. We enjoyed the outside at 65 degrees but as the sun went lower in the sky and the shade and hefty breeze took over, we retreated indoors. Happy that the tables were spread out.

It looks like a lot when you get these flights. I think it was equivalent to a couple of beers. But I like getting the variety of flavors. And I really find I enjoy a couple of IPA ones now – even the crazy and hazy ones. lol.

So we went home and unloaded into the various freezers and fridges, lol. Mom’s freezer is in the basement and while we have eaten well and eaten a lot out of her big freezer and our medium size one, and our normal freezer that is in the fridge and also we have another fridge downstairs that we keep overflow in that also has a freezer. We are well stocked for a long long time. We keep eating but we keep restocking with good deals when we see them because we keep hearing the prices will soar or that things won’t be available. So I feel good about our finds. It would not have been so expensive if we were not also Christmas shopping.

And then when we got home, I had this wonderful card from Terri, a blog buddy from across the years. This was so sweet and just warmed my heart. Thank you Terri for your kind words inside!

When you get something like this, just because, it just makes you have faith in human kind again. To know people genuinely care enough to address, stamp, and mail a card! It made my day and my day was special too already. So thank you again Terri! I will repay your kindness!

So today….after this blog, I’m showering, heading to the store, and making Chicken Rotel Spaghetti Casserole – I know we had the big Sam’s run but I need Rotel and Velveeta particularly for this recipe. George was fixing a roast for tonight and me the Rotel casserole tomorrow night. But we bought a rotisserie chicken at Sam’s for me to slice up for the chicken. We figured we should let me do that since the chicken was already cooked. Oh and Mom has a few things on the list too that she needs so need to go to the regular grocery store and I can’t seem to find little Dr. Peppers so I may have to get big ones for her.

I also have to finish laundry, change George’s sheets, iron, reset my vitamins for the week, and vacuum, clean bathrooms, and such. I hope to find a bit of time for doing things on my agenda but we’ll see. I’ve already done my devo for the day. I do that every morning with coffee – prayer journal and devo in my chair corner of course. I look forward to it every morning. I do admit that sometimes I wish I could dive into the blog but I’ve made myself put God first. And it’s been a good habit, and the best habit of the year I think.

So I will probably be back in the morning and post pics of anything today. I can’t believe how fast a weekend goes by. I’m going to leave you with Fancy girl, who has been a real sweetheart during her stay. She is very much my Mom’s girl. She doesn’t want to leave her side. A very loyal dog. But lately she has taken to 1) Getting more excited when we come home from work, which I take to mean she has accepted us as part of her “pack” 2) Going outside with me instead of having to have Mom there too 3) Coming to check on me and say hi at various times of the day. I’ve been giving her more food off my plate, saving her bites, and making sure her water bowl is filled at times. I think she has noticed and has started to appreciate me a little, lol. She is sweet so I’m leaving you with her pic today. Oh I just noticed you can see Mom’s reflection in the window there. Oh well.

Mom’s House, Upcoming Schedule, Ring Light, and an Evening Out

On By BackporchwriterIn Brewery, Home6 Comments

Mom’s house is coming along. The brick arrived and they are working on that. It’s dry walled and I guess they will be bricking and putting in the cabinets next. I haven’t heard if they called her yesterday. The usually call every Tuesday with progress.

Mom has not felt her best the last couple of days. She said she just has her off days either due to the meds or the meds not working right. I don’t know. But prayers please. She refuses to get the shot. We got the shot so we could live our lives and protect others. It’s an individual preference. That said I hope we don’t take anything back to her. She has had a choice as we have. So based on her having made that choice we have chosen to do what we want to do and not stay home. But we have kept her away from crowds – as much as she wants to be anyway. I worry about passing things to her, but again, she could protect herself if she wanted and she does not. So….we still go to work and will go out to eat, and to the shops and are not being recluses. We are also not wearing masks since we got the shot so we wouldn’t have to. She is wearing one though. I’m not saying that we won’t ever – we do when it’s required. I can’t breathe in them and it makes me cough, so I don’t prefer to wear one. Anyway, I hope she stays strong and doesn’t get anything until this thing can calm down and we can get her in her house with minimum exposure to the rest of the world. Because we are in an out all the time.

Only the right side of the house and porch is Mom’s. It’s a “villa” so someone else is on the left side you see here. I’m excited for her. I have mixed feelings about the next move though. I’m excited to help her get it in shape and in order. Excited for us to fix and have meals there from time to time. Excited to help her shop for what she needs. But it’s coming at a very busy time of year, which getting ready for Christmas on top of working, already physically wear me out by end of year, plus we are trying to get to go to River’s first birthday in January. That is next to impossible also which will make me have a very busy January. We pulled it off last year by the skin of our teeth. So perhaps we can fly out. I also wanted to think about flying out for a long weekend in October too but just not sure we’ll have enough PTO – but it’s in the back of my mind to try and sneak a visit in before Mom’s house is ready. I guess it’ll give George and I something to discuss on our Anniversary Saturday.

So yeah, I’m looking forward to helping her set up and decorate. That is something that I enjoy. But I’m also wondering how we will get everything done. George is calming and says “we’ll figure it out….it’ll be ok” and it will. We just have to change all plans, lol. Not everything will happen for anyone as fast as they want it to. Just like the rest of the year. All plans cancelled. That creates more time. And Mom’s house may not come together as quickly as she wants but we’ll do the best we can to keep everyone happy on all fronts. Just pull us in 40 directions and we’ll go! I don’t know. One day at a time and one elephant bite at a time. Last I heard we can’t cancel Christmas so…somehow we’ll have to get the shopping and wrapping done and decor. Lord help us!

It’s gonna get exciting but we ALL have to realize that things may not happen on ANYONE’s timeline!

George fixed us a surprise breakfast on Sunday morning and delivered it to our locations in the house. I was working on the blog I think. Mom was probably in the recliner on her tablet.

Sunday George and I taped a video of us going through our freezer to see what all was in it. There were a few surprises. I had ordered the ring light knowing we’d be doing this.

Only the phone fits into the ring, but you can take the ring off and use it as a camera tripod. I don’t need it for that though as I have several already. Had to have George help me a bit to understand how it all fit together. Picture instructions but they were “iffy”. I was pleased it came with a carrying case though.

After getting it put together I realized it didn’t plug in, but has to be charged up via USB, LOL! So we ended up not using it as it was not charged well enough.

One part of videoing is getting the light right. It’s an aspect I hope you can see improvement on in my videos although I’ve not done much videoing from home lately. Most of it has been out and about and that is kinda – “it is what it is”. Videoing on the go!

I had to set up the camera though to look down in the freezer and we shot from two angles. It will be interesting and difficult and a new thing – for me to do that. I know how to do it, but it will take a lot of work to infuse them together. I will have to mute the audio on one of them I guess. But this will not be out until MONTHS from now. I’m working on May right now where we are packing and getting ready to move Mom. I made some significant strides with it last weekend and should be able to have some time this weekend to continue working on it. Once I retire, I can set a schedule of having videos weekly I hope. They will be shorter, less content, less editing, and over a shorter period of time but will come more often. That’s the plan anyway.

Tennfold Brewing, Donelson

We met BIL and SIL, Kevin and Susan, at Tennfold Brewing in Donelson and then went to their new place after in a 55+ apartment complex, which was very roomy and I liked how you went inside to your room, like a hotel. It was VERY nice and luxurious. Then we went to eat dinner at a place in Lebanon on the square. I was tired at that point and didn’t even take any pics.

It was nice to be able to sit outside this past weekend. The weather has been a little kinder.

However, today the remnants of Hurricane Nicholas is coming through and we have flood warnings out.

Here’s how Fancy sleeps. It’s no wonder she is preferring to take to Roger’s old bed. She has no room in the chair. However, I have to wash the blanket of the dog bed often. She will refuse to sit on it til it’s washed and then she will go back. So I’ve made a mental note – the weekend I change my own sheets, I will also do her bed blanket. lol. Doesn’t this look uncomfortable?

I follow this group on Instagram. I really like their messages. It’s very helpful to the acceptance of oneself into your environment. I have noticed there are certain people that can pull me out of my quietness. Certain situations can as well. Some people I have been talkative too around before and have learned not to be. Life trains us. Some people I’m just not comfortable talking to anymore. It’s nothing that I even notice or think about. Like I said, I think life just trains us to subconsciously protect ourselves. But I have noticed that I do or don’t. I guess we just have to “feel safe” in our sharing, knowing we are not going to be laughed at, argued with, shot down, judged, or our ideas poo poo’d, or being told why our thoughts or ways are “no good”. I….just….can’t.

So if you are THE RIGHT PEOPLE and you can get me to talk! You are special! 😉

Prayer Requests

Please pray for River, as he has “the croup” the doc said. Doc said he was on the healing end of it and gave him steroids. So…..please pray for him. He has almost figured out crawling. He can get across the floor but hasn’t figured out to bend his knee yet – he just uses his feet to lunge forward from all fours. lol

Family Day: Nashville Zoo, Hot Chicken, and Yee Haw Brewery

On By BackporchwriterIn Uncategorized6 Comments

We had a fabulous time at the Zoo with Little Roo! George might have been teaching him the “pull my finger” trick. lol. You know it’ll happen! We loved getting to spend the day with him. And I was very surprised at how much I enjoyed the zoo. It has improved over the years.

It was going to be a late lunch and so I had been craving a soft serve ice cream cone for over a week. So it was mine to be had.

So I apologize for not having the official name of this particular type of gorilla monkey. And I’m too sleepy/lazy/busy to look it up right now. But walking into this zone has you thinking “what’s happening?”. The noise can be described as “exciting, a party atmosphere, inviting, intriguing and captivating”.

Here, I will post a video I took. Listen to this! It’s no sound like I’ve ever head before. It was intriguing and even a bit confusing. There were so many sounds at once. Can you imagine being in the wild and being around this? It’s only 16 seconds. There were short sounds and long sounds. lol

Why yes there IS a Roo with me! And he is cuter than your Roo! But we still enjoyed and loved your Roos.

I cannot believe that we got to walk among the Kangaroo’s. My heart leapt with excitement. They allowed us to pet them but only from behind on their back. Not on their heads. They can bite and scratch but apparently if you don’t bother them from the front, they are good as they let children go in and pet them. We could only stay on the path though.

This one was cleaning her pouch.

We met Molly (George’s cousin) and her two grandchildren at the zoo. They had zoo passes.

This one was being lazy.

Can you find the red bird? I didn’t have time to zoom in. I was afraid he would leave me. But a red bird flew in beside us. A few times yesterday. Usually there are two. This one lingered as I walked by.

Molly told us we had to go see the monkeys in the restroom. I just thought it was art or a statue or something. But no, there ARE REALLy Monkeys in the bathroom.

I love the bamboo forest. River Roo fell asleep during the bamboo forest as his Mom sang to him quietly. She is a good Mom.

I loved the flamingos too! And the landscaping at the zoo was so nice.

It was a great day to go to the zoo. The rain threatened and it sprinkled but never actually came a downpour. So it all worked.

Katy and George rode the zip line. This is only 9 seconds.

Then on to HattieB’s for Nashville Hot Chicken. Notice Little Roo has on his zoo shirt?

My sides were potato salad and grits with bacon. All carbs of course, lol.

It rained only a tad bit while we were driving to Yee Haw Brewery. The kids requested Hattie B’s and the Brewery where Susan and Kevin (George’s sister and husband) joined us.

Lighting was not good from my angle. But here I got to hold him for a long long time. And you know what he did? He flirted with a table of girls next to us. He caught their attention and grinned and smiled at them! They could not finish their conversation because they just had to stop and smile back and have a conversation with him. lol

When he got too sleepy but would not go to sleep, we gave him to his Mom. She tried but he wouldn’t go to sleep there. He cried all the way to dropping us off at the house (they have George’s car for the week). There is nothing you can do for them when you are driving. They have to be in the car seat. Bless his heart he was so tired. So I guess he went home and got a long nap.

And I went home and laid down and snoozed. I was tired myself.

And now it is Monday morning and I’m really wanting a day off in a big way. I’m laughing because I just had two days off and another one coming Thursday. But I’m really needing a quiet day at home where I’m not doing anything but cleaning, organizing, and just relaxing. I got a partial one Saturday morning. And I’m right back where I started though Thursday night. We have been home just long enough to mess up. The laundry built back up again, the kitchen needs attention, dishwasher needs rebooting, the floors are messed up again and need vacuuming. And we have many chores and to do lists left unchecked. It’s so aggravating to hardly ever be home. So much I need to do and want to do and all I can do is put it on a list and park it there and watch it sit there from day to day. So one day at a time. Maybe things will calm down soon. George said it won’t, but we’ll see.

So anyway, today I have to go back to the urgent care center. The place is healing now and has made good progress. It’s still “oozing” — sorry, TMI, but it is. But it is not as red and irritated and is closing up and healing. This has been nightmare timing. I’m so over it.

Ok, so I’m going to get off of here and get ready for work. We are having steaks tonight. I’m so excited. I’ll pop in whenever I can this week. I have to go into work early tomorrow and likely as well on Wednesday as I leave to go get Mom after work and it’s best if I go down there early because traffic is a nightmare getting there that time of day. So that means it will be probably Thursday morning IF I get the opportunity then. We’ll see. I’ll be back when life allows me to.