And We Have Snow

The weatherman was right. I woke up to this.

 

I would say its about 3 inches. Enough to cover the roads, close some businesses and a lot of sledding. I keep watching up the road for the kids to come out and play. The snow is still coming down. Me and Nick may take a walk when it stops. Its 29 degrees here at 10:00 in the morning. 

One of the managers asked me to reschedule a couple appointments that were scheduled for today. He was unable to get his car out of the driveway and I have the means to login to the work computers from home. 

I also had this smiling at me this morning. 

 

The first flower of the season. Shes small, but every year when she sheds her flower, I will repot her in a larger pot. 

Meanwhile, I decided to make some egg muffins ( literally ).

 

I sprayed a muffin pan with cooking spray, and filled each cup with spinach, eggwhites, bacon and cheese. Then I baked them at 350 for 15 minutes. 

 

Delicious and only about 50 calories each. 

My plans today are to stay in. I have some laundry and house work to do, then Im heading to the kitchen to make some homemade Butternut Squash Apple Bisque soup using a recipe I found at Mountain Mama's blog. Go check it out. 

Ive never had butternut squash soup and only tasted butternut squash once, so this will be a surprise treat. The husband has his doubts about it so I hope its a win. If not, we will be eating bread and milk sandwiches. Haha. Just kidding, but cornbread and milk would not be out of the question.

I heard Myrtle Beach was even expecting some snow.

 

And the ones that have it can't use it.

 

Really? 

How is the weather where you are? 

Snow On The Way

Where I live snow is rarely seen. We can usually count on some kind of snow fall about once or twice between January and March. Very often will it be enough to lay on the roads.

When the weather mans says the S word, everyone goes crazy. The grocery stores are packed, the shelves are empty and bread turns into blocks of gold. 

According to the forecast, it suppose to snow all night and into the morning. 

They are calling for 6 or 7 inches and I cant find my gloves! Like everyone else, ill go digging around in the closets and drawers looking for some winter wear in case its deep enough to build a snowman. I don't think I even have a coat and rarely need a jacket. 

Driving home from work yesterday, I noticed the city has already treated the roads with a salt mixture.

I'm not a fan of snow. I'd rather be where there is warm sun and sand. I guess if I didn't have to worry about having to go to work in the snow, I might enjoy it better. 

However, Being a Saturday snow down, I think I can be a kid again for a day or two.
Im also gonna make some homemade soup.

Next weekend it will be back to feeling like spring. 

The Homeless Person

Part of my daily job is stopping by the post office in the mornings to pick up and drop off the business mail.

The post office is a large historic building that sits right in the middle of town. The streets are full of homeless people and panhandlers.  Though I am a compassionate person, I will admit, I cant stand a pan handler. It makes me mad that people walk up to you asking for money for bus tickets or to pay there moms doctor bill. I just don't buy into that. They are flat out lying to me. Its the same ones every day. These people are walking around all day doing this, they could make themselves presentable and work if they wanted too. But that's just what I think. 

A lot of times my husband will drive me to the post office on Sunday nights to get the mail so I don't have to on Monday. The post office seems to be a safe haven for the homeless after 6:00pm. Its always open, its warm and the there are recepticals to charge their phones. However, they ruin this luxury. It never fails, we walk into some nasty stuff after hours. There is pee in the floor and poop in the corners. I have even walked up on a man masturbating in the middle of the walkway. Its scary.
I loose compassion at this point. There is always a janitor cleaning the floors come Monday morning. The city ignores the problem and you are shunned and considered a hater if you complain about it. 

It was New Years day, We had just cleaned up the dishes from my new years dinner. I had lots of left overs and we delivered a plate to Nicks brother and headed to the post office. We walked in, and lying under the the mailbox I needed to get onto, was a person curled up in a blanket playing on a small flip phone.

I honestly could not tell if it was a male or a female as his hair was long and greasy and she/he was skinny as a rail and wearing mix matched clothes. She/He did not ask for money but spoke kindly to us as we walked by. "Yall have a nice evening" she/he said. Me and Nick both nodded and said you do the same as we tried not to make eye contact. I felt sorry for this person as they have scooped so low on life. Here I was, just finished a big meal surrounded by family and this person is making a bed with a rag blanket against a mailbox. My heart broke as I called back to him "stay warm!" She/ he said "I will. Thank you!"  

When we were safely back in the car, I told Nick I wish I knew that person would be there and I could have brought him a plate of left overs. I had so many.
Sometimes I think "what if that was Jesus?".
This particular homeless person has been on my mind ever since. I would have loved to hear her/his story. What makes a person like this? No family? Drugs? Just release from jail?" Who knows. Something keeps telling me I should have shared some scripture with him. But I ignored my chance. 

I now have an idea of making some care bags filled with protein bars, Tylenol (because they have to hurt), a water, some moist wipes and a tiny Bible. I will keep them in my car in case I run into another sweet homeless person. I usually don't pay them much attention as I feel they choose this way of life. But sometimes there is that one that hits my heart. 

The Last Day

FIRST LET ME ANNOUNCE! I get to talk to Marie Osmond on the QVC channel at 10:40PM on New Years Day. How cool is that?
I'll be calling in by phone so you will not see me but can hear me. ha.
So, if you want to tune in, go to the QVC channel at 10:40pm on January 1st and see what I say.
I don't even know yet. Ive only been told what NOT to say. I am so nervous. I'm not good at this sort of stuff and libel to say something stupid or sound stuttered. My stomach is in knots. I'm not a good speaker and its one of my biggest fears, but I have to tell myself  "I can do this" and gain some confidence. I may need some liquid courage before hand. Haha. Wish me luck.

🕜🕝🕞🕟🕠🕢🕡🕣🕤🕥🕦🕧

Well, It's the last day of the year and my last post of the year. I cant wait for the new year to begin and start making new plans for the future. I don't make resolutions but I do make a list of things to accomplish each year. Just for the fun of it I look back and see what I made possible.

So, lets see....
Here is my list from last years New Years Day post. I accomplished everything in red.

1.  Continue good health ✓
2.  Maintain my weight loss ✓
3.  Participate in a small marathon.
4.  Clean closets out (again).✓
5.  Blog more ✓
6.  Stay off Facebook
7.  Redo my Kitchen 
8.  Worry less and pray more
9.  Get to work on time
10.  Renew my Phlebotomy certificate ✓
11.  And better myself all together. ✓

I accomplished over half of them and tried at the other half. 
For this new year, I'm not gonna make a list. Ill just keep working on last years goals. I really want to do a 5k or 10k run.

2016 was pretty good for me. No tragedies or major sicknesses. I did loose a tooth though. 

I won a couple fun contest throughout the year. I even got to fly for the first time. In fact I did a lot of "First" this past year. 

Something I never mentioned.... I wrote my first commissioned article just last month. True! This was a big deal for me since I consider myself a poor writer with terrible spelling and lots of typos. I was asked to write a 3k word (6 page) article for a diet website. They sorta helped me out by giving me a few guidelines. It took me a week. I sent it in and they loved it. I was amazed at myself and had some extra cash that helped me complete Christmas. I think I'll go on a shopping trip for some new clothes soon too!

I just want to thank all of you that read and comment on my blog. You have no idea how much it means to me. I enjoy blogging. Its a way I get out my frustrations, show my talents, and let others know whats going on in my part of the world. I have made many blogger friends and hope to continue making more. 

Here is the 2016 year review of my blog post.

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NOTE: I have decided to do my New Years Dinner. The collards have been cooked (outside of course) shewwweeee. I have lots more to do for preparation.
Ill be busy today and tomorrow.

🎉HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!🎉

Gifts and Traditions

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. I did! I got to enjoy a lot of family time on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. I also ate entirely too many sweets! But hey, I've done good all year, so why not. Im glad to say, I have only gained 3 lbs from it. Im sure I'll have it back off by New Years Day. 

Every year, I get a feeling that Christmas cheer is going away. I want to hang on to traditions but it keeps getting harder to do so. The kids grow up, the wrapping paper is no longer flying through the room with excitement. Its gift cards and money. A smile, a thank you and everyone goes home. 

However, in my living room on Christmas morning, my 25 year old is back to a 9 year old as she tears into her gifts from Santa. She got alot! Me and Nick no longer buy gifts for each other because we have already have everything we need or want. We just get a joy out of haveing our daughter at the house, baking, cooking and dinner with family. 

However, our daughter will purchase a couple gifts for us. We let her enjoy the spirit of giving. I want to show off a few things she got me for Christmas.

This very soft blanket I can snuggle with as I watch TV while curled up in my recliner.

 

This cool ring!

 

A Mud Pie brand Coffee Scoop 

 

And last but not least, this small cake stand from Pioneer Woman. 

I've already put some cookies in it to show it off.

 

I love it all. And Nick likes his socks and shirts. Ha.

Now Christmas is over. My decorations are taken down the next day and its back to work. 

For years I always do an annual New Years Dinner but I may skip it this year. It gets harder to get family together. Most of them will not even answer my invite therefore leaving me to guess if they are coming and resulting in lots of leftovers and a lot of empty place settings. It gets under my skin! It stresses me out and I say evey year that Im not doing it again, but I still do. I love doing New Years dinner mainly for my Mom and Dad. 

Will I do it again? Well see. Its only four days away and collards are hard to find around here. I normally cook up 8lbs! Along with 10 lbs of meat, 10 lbs of potatos, black eye peas and cobblers. I could cut that in half and save a lot of money if some of them would just say they are not comming instead of leaving me wondering. I would hate not to have enough. 

Im still leaning toward having just a quiet day off with my husband.