Tag: Vlog

Where are the White Plates? And Watching a Girl’s Vlog from the North Pole

On By BackporchwriterIn Home, Uncategorized7 Comments

Just a quick weee word this morning as I am giving myself the gift of sipping a full cup – maybe two – of coffee before we set into the day. George had announced he is going “yard sailing” first this morning. So that buys me more time. I went to bed at 8 and woke up around 2:30 and was awake for an hour. Then back to sleep until 7. Seems to be a habit sometimes. I played with widgets on the iPhone checking to see if there were new ones and rearranged my apps so I could get to my “tasks” on the first Home Screen much easier and played around with my watch face and settings so it shows up there. Eventually my eyes got heavy and I laid down again. I was cold. The front moved through so I reached for the extra throws at the bottom of my bed and went into a warm cocoon and sleep found me again until almost 7.

Yesterday, when I woke up, I think I mentioned that Mom was on overdrive. She must have been up in the wee morning hours herself planning and thinking and released loads of her plans and ideas upon us before we could hardly even wake up. There’s no problem with having plans and ideas. I have a few of my own as does George. I had lists upon lists to try not to forget anything.

I put a few items we needed for the day in the car. I was told to get the vacuum. I did. I got the Swiffer mop so we could get the dust off Mom’s floors from last weekend when we moved things in and had construction dust from the road on our feet with no welcome mat to rub feet on. And a few other things I tossed in the car for the day at Mom’s.

So we went to Chic Filet first b/c it was bout 9:30 and I needed food. Mom was game. The line was long but went by pretty fast. We had to back track to Lowe’s. I knew it was going to take a while because 1) We had a return 2) We had to see the appliance department for a 4 prong plug. 3) Lowe’s is a huge place and we had a few items we needed 4) Mom can’t walk fast nor far so it would be a slow go with her using a buggy as a walker.

And a long time it took and we bought two outside welcome mats and 3 inside rugs by the doors. So that is two layers of mats before entrance. The “wipe your paws” is cute and she immediately found rugs that she liked for the inside ones so that was a success. We had to wave someone down for a price. Not one anywhere.

The appliance guy was always busy or gone whenever we came through each time. About out of patience I called Lowe’s on my phone and told them we needed help in appliances. lol. They guy came pretty quickly. Mom asked for the plug and then we checked into what seemed like a line at Walmart on a Black Friday, complete with idiots who come in from the front and sneak in front of others to pay. One cashier and a line forming down through the store.

We get in the car to go, storms threatening, and begin to head to Mom’s. We didn’t get very far when Mom announced she got the wrong plug. She said she had asked for three prong instead. So I turned around and waited at some red light that seemed to be about 8 minutes long. I’m sure it was more like 4 or 5. I got back to Lowe’s and Mom locked the car before I could open the back. lol. I had to dig my keys back out and unlock – I’m not even sure what all she was rattling off about locking the car back or something in the front but I ignored it til I could check the prongs. I checked and it was correct. She got the right thing. So that delayed us about 15 minutes but we got back in the car and then I had gooooooooo! You know. We were supposed to stop at the model house to pick up her mail box keys. But knowing that NOTHING is quick these days I told Mom we’d have to go back to the model house after I went potty! lol So we went to Mom’s and then went back to the model house to pick up the mail box keys and then to her mail box and YES the keys worked. We can get her mail now.

Then back to her house where Mom did the Swiffer Mop across the floors and I put down all her rugs we bought. I finished putting up the utensils and washed the silverware. Mom had decided she wanted the shelving spacing changed in the kitchen cabinets so everything I did the other day had to come back out. But it will help her to be able to reach another shelf – we think. So I redid all that. George arrived and helped with the corner cabinet as it was deep and even on the ladder, I could not reach the peg with enough force to be able to pull and push on it. Got that done and dishes back in.

So we cannot find Mom’s white every day dishes. There are still some boxes we have not been able to get to. So all we can find are boxes and boxes that say “china”, lol. Anyway. George set up her bedroom areas with furniture in them and it works. Mom was excited it would fit. But she has to do some fancy footwork figuring to get queen beds on reg frames, by extenders or something like that. I may work for a mattress company but that is not my forte. And I don’t want to be blamed if something goes wrong so I’m staying out of it. And George bless his heart, has just tried to follow her orders and ends up right in the middle of it. She told him to give away her good mattress not realizing it. Somehow things got switched or she couldn’t see. He reminded her that he had asked her every time and followed her directions when she tried to place blame on him. Soon this will all be over.

We have most of her dishes set for every day but the plates themselves. George devised a plan to put all the bubble wrapped pics in the guest room and we could move boxes against the wall for retrieval as we went through each one. We found the dessert plates and a few coffee cups but there should be another box in there somewhere of white plates.

Mid day I had stopped to eat the fruit that came with my chicken mini’s. It was lunch. We got there around 10 or so and pushed through lunch. The cooler air felt good. The rain had arrived just as we got in there. Mom said God was watching over us as it rained REALLY hard at times. I said “yeah I can hear the rain” and she said “no that’s the fan”, lol. You couldn’t hear the rain at all from the inside. The rain had gone by the time I ate the fruit.

You can see the beginnings of construction to the houses behind her. We met a couple named Mark and Lisa from Indiana I think or was it Illinois? Not sure. They are one of the houses or villas to the left. We’ve met several neighbors and have heard of some we haven’t met yet – like the two sisters that live one in one villa and one on the other villa next to each other. Everyone is really nice and most are around Mom’s age. I think the people next to Mom are younger. But not sure. So far so good.

Eventually I suggested that we go and eat an early Cracker Barrel. It was less crowded than usual but still pretty busy. We had to wait in line but not long for a table and it took a while for the food to come out, but it was so good. We must have looked like we’d not eaten in months. lol I ordered the “steak and 3”. I’ve never ordered steak at Cracker Barrel. But it sounded good and it was. I had pintos, potatoes, and fried okra for my veggie sides. It came with muffin and a biscuit. I was so hungry I ate every bite except I gave Mom a couple of bites of steak for Fancy dog.

Anyway, we came home and watched what I keep calling as the North Pole Girl. I’ve shared an embed before, but I’ve decided to watch her YouTube’s from start to current. So it was fun to grab a blanket and sit on the sofa all cozy and watch what life is like at the North Pole. A perfect end to a very busy move set up day.

Today George and I are dropping Mom off to work in the new house – she has clothes to work on. And he and I are going to get my new iPhone ordered (one of my Christmas gifts) and the police report (finally). And I told him we could have sushi for lunch if he wanted since Mom is taking her lunch today to the house. So his eyes got big at that. And then we will head over and help Mom some and then head home. At some point this weekend I’ll need to be here long enough to get some laundry done. But anyway we will see what we get done today.

I decided to blog instead of work on vlogging. The vlog sucks me in – the blogs do too but I think the blogging takes less time. My family may argue that point but wouldn’t dare, lol.

Ya’ll have a good day today. Hope your Friday is a good one.

New Video Uploaded and My Thoughts on Getting Rid of a Funky Mood

On By BackporchwriterIn Uncategorized7 Comments

Here it is! My Social Media Experiment and Sharing Clay Pot Cooking. This one is shorter, has some good music, pretty scenery, our fur babes and a few fun clips.

If you like it, give it a thumbs up on You Tube and if you want to see more, please subscribe. My first goal is to get to 100 subscribers. I think I’m at 17 right now. And that is better than 4! I am enjoying learning how to create these videos and have a series of goals in mind as it progresses. I’m looking forward to being able to share more as we get to do more and travel more. For now most of these are simply shot at home. And while I will often have office shots, I long to get out and see some things and have some new experiences once this COVID thing is over!

Feeling a Little Sad and Lost

And I’m sitting here staring at the computer not sure what to say next! When does that EVER happen? I have just been at complete relax mode. And the result is that I am wanting to write in bullet points instead of complete paragraphs.

I’ve noticed, quite surprisingly, this weekend, if I’m honest, that I have been a little sad, a little lost, a little unsure, a little disconnected. My normal “drive” to work on things is just not there. I am pleased as punch that we are going to be grandparents so complete happiness there! But I have been a little lost with my time this weekend. I am disappointed when I don’t make the most of the time I have to “get things done”. But when I look at the list, there is just not much of anything that I need to be in a hurry to GET DONE! However, I’ve enjoyed doing what I wanted to do, which was “not much”.

Impromptu Evening with Family

But we did have a fun impromptu evening yesterday when Susan, my SIL called and said they were at the airport flying in from a trip. I asked if they wanted to come over for a happy hour cocktail on the way home. Yes they did. And we enticed them to eat dinner, which was Pheasant, home fries (potato wedges), salad, green beans, and pistachio pudding for dessert. And look at this, not even a photo of the food to show for it. As you can see that is quite unlike me. I’ve just let everything go by the wayside this weekend I suppose. But we had a great time hearing about their trip and talking. It totally made my day!

I had asked Mom if she wanted to come up for the weekend. I asked too late really. I knew we’d be going down there to see her in a couple of weeks. But at the last minute, once I knew due to the rise in COVID that we would be staying home all weekend with no outings, on a whim I asked if she would like to come. Mom has to have more notice though as she already had her own vision of enjoying the 4th at her house! I think she is like me and likes to plan and have a mindset sometimes before just taking off to go somewhere for a couple of days. Who wouldn’t?

Although impromptu is great sometimes, and it was fun and much needed when Susan and Kevin came over last night. We had a lot of fun. We also talked about camping. And you know I want to do some RV camping (no tent camping) but….I just don’t know where to start honestly b/c I don’t think George will want to just dive into this with me. Renting is a big deal usually requiring 3 nights and no dogs – at least the ones around here have not been easy for us to do. I have my heart set on something like a Leisure Van one day. George doesn’t want to pull anything but I’m still kinda thinking about a little mini something or other we could pull with my SUV as it would be less expensive. It would have to be small though. I just don’t know. There is also the thought that I might be able to trade mine in for something that would pull more. My wheels are turning on this and have been for a while. It would really set my heart in motion to be able to camp some of these COVID weekends. Take a book, cook our meal, go for a hike, or a walk, take a drive in the area. Meet some other folks in the process. Maybe one day.

Neighborhood Fireworks

Last night, once the fireworks on TV started from neighboring firework displays, we began hearing fireworks being shot in our neighborhood and decided to look. Never ever have I heard so many fireworks going off at once in a neighborhood area. And they were beautiful. People had the good kind. We stood in the middle of the front yard and twirled from side to side in a circle in awe as we saw the lights or heard the crackling sounds across the sky. It was amazing to hear so many going off at once and seeing them all around us in every direction. I started to take pics but it’s just never the same. And we have trees so sometimes it was hard to see many of them clearly.

Random Thoughts

OK, so we head back to work tomorrow. There will be plenty there to deal with. I also have to call my dentist and get rebooked and call my Physician and see if I need to do a virtual visit to get renewed for my BP Rx or if I have to go in. I really don’t want to go in with COVID all blown up as it is. But I have to have my blood pressure meds, so go figure.

I spent time yesterday getting my LessHustleMoreCoffee accounts (Instagram and Twitter) like I want them. I think I plan to just use those from now on but won’t remove my other one. It makes sense to have this one as my main one since it is a Blog/Vlog of my life anyway.

I’m making Enchilada Casserole tonight for dinner. I figured George could use a break. I also hear it thundering outside. We have some pop up storms coming I think. I guess we should take the dogs out before it gets bad. But they are sleeping good.

Getting rid of the Funky Mood:

I seem to remember that July and January always seems to bring a funk with it. That is totally what is going on. I’m in a funk! Do you ever get in a funk? I wonder what the key is to getting out of a funk? I think the key for me is to:

  1. Take a step back and look at everything and refocus on what is important.
  2. Make sure I’m taking vitamins and supplements because sometimes you just need a more balanced diet to be your best self.
  3. Plan something fun.
  4. Just get up and start moving.
  5. Set specific goals of what you need/want to do and then go do it.
  6. Talk with another human about any subject, lol.
  7. Journal like I’m doing now.
  8. Ask God what He needs you to do and are you Realigned. I guess that should be #1 huh?
  9. Hug your pet or your human?
  10. Drink coffee/wine depending what day it is and play a game, watch a show, read or create a diversion for yourself!
  11. Go shopping if it is not in the middle of a COVID pandemic! That always lifts my mood, lol.
  12. Change up the day somehow or try something new.

And I will leave it at that!

Hope you all had a great 4th of July Weekend! I’d love to hear what you enjoyed best about your weekend. I hope you all are not in a funky mood like I am! Ha! But I’ll be fine!