Historic Home Tour

The house tour was fantastic. Beautiful historic houses with the most unique features and incredible artwork. I'm glad I squeezed this weekend into the calendar.

We were able to walk and walk we did -- hello, hills. Seven houses and the last was such a big climb we were a puddle of sweat by the time we got there. Took us over 4 hours to tour all the homes. 

My feet were tired. I've spent the summer in Hokas or Birkenstocks and my feet weren't happy about fashion trainers. No pictures allowed, but a bear walked up to one of the porches so we had to wait to leave the house (mama with 2 cubs).

Cubs ran under the bushes
by the time I got my phone.
They were LITTLE babies
so we gave the mama lots
of room before we left. 

Seven more houses today and I'm going solo. They gave a booklet with a summary of the houses. Three are significantly far (trolley or drive) and all new builds. I'm going to skip them (most likely) and just tour the walkable historic houses. If I hear they're interesting, I might take the trolley up if I'm in the mood. You know I'd rather leave time for the teahouse. 

Already saw a big bear at the house this morning. I opened the window and he was right there. I'll have to be on the lookout when I'm walking around today. They're more active with the cooler weather.

I need to figure out my workout schedule for the next stretch of days -- might take a run this morning instead of a mountain walk ... or might skip a workout altogether since I'm doing a lot of walking during the day. It was a lot of time on my feet yesterday and I'm sore in areas other than muscles. I have a hard hike on Wednesday and the possibility of another hard-ish hike on Tuesday and I need rested legs. Decisions, decisions. It all hinges on what I decide for Tuesday. 

UPDATE: I went for a run. Couldn't pass up cool mountain air -- I'll figure out the rest of the week tomorrow. 

It's really nice that I have all morning for ME. Tour begins at 1 o'clock and I can start it anytime. The mountain temps are so nice right now (getting warm in the afternoon though). I WILL have time for the teahouse (yes!!!) and somewhere (anywhere) for lunch. I'll need dinner plans too. 

On that note, I'm going to go plan my day. Hope you have a good Sunday. Later gators. 

Trip #2

Good morning.

I'm packed and up to leave for Asheville. Taking a couple of beats of my morning routine and I'm on the road.

Yesterday was nice. Hubby and I went to lunch and did the chair setup. Everything worked out well and my bitching was for (almost) nothing. I made stuffed peppers with a few garden veggies. There were 7 medium sized bell peppers I needed to use. It's what's for dinner while I'm in Asheville. 

The concert was good. It wasn't as good as last month, but the performer grew on me. Some of the tracks were spot on and excellent and some just okay. I think they were missing some of the instrumental specific sounds or the singing range. He was also a showman, and paused a lot to interact with the audience -- a little too much for my preference. That said, beautiful weather, friends, free music under the trees. It was worth staying home to attend.

I'll get into Asheville, unload my car, and meet my sister for an early lunch. Then a house tour of 6 homes. I have no idea how long it will take. All the houses should be relatively close to each other, and maybe walkable. There's a trolley, but I hope we can walk instead. I'm not sure that they list out addresses though since we only have an address of the registration and the first trolley stop. They may want arrivals to come in "trolley loads" instead of dribs and drabs. We'll see. A trolley would be fun, but it'll slow down the process. Of course, why rush.

This might be a non-teahouse Asheville visit -- eeek. That's only happened maybe one other time?!?! I'll be back on Thursday so it's not tragic haha.

That's all from here. I'll be leaving in the dark this morning. Haven't done that in a heartbeat. Have a good Saturday. Later gators.

Trip Recap

Hello! I'm back from Chattanooga and Lookout Mountain (GA side). I had a wonderful time and am completely driven out and talked out. So much driving, so much talking AND so much fun. 

The mountain drive to the house wasn't bad, not nearly as isolated as I thought. The house was beautiful and the view was incredible. 

Here's a quick look in pictures. 

Coffee at Rosie's Farm
with the alpaca

Morning view from house

Such a nice rental

First look on Lookout Mountain

Hand gliders over the house.
The start is just down the road.

We stopped in Cartersville, GA on the way home -- cute town. Lots of happy, inclusive signs and one asshole holding a nasty message. I told him what I thought about it when he tried to talk to me. But overall, a nice place, but a sense of hate lingering underneath the nice messaging. 

I got Christmas shopping started and a few goodies for me. 

Christmas picture in pink
so I put it out early.

Also Billy Joel vintage album

Christmas laundry detergent

Set of iron bookends.

I'm doing a fast turnaround for the trip to Asheville tomorrow. Need to be there by 11 o'clock so get up and go tomorrow. 

We have a Billy Joel cover band concert tonight. Lots of folks coming. Chair setup is all a fuss though. It'll workout, but I hate this kind of situation. We offered, picked up chairs -- all set and now 4 more people coming. It's something I need to be completely not stressed about, but annoyance is creeping in. Unorganized people depending on someone else to be organized so they get the good seats too. I'm glad we have the problem of more people rather than everyone canceling though. It's also sizing up for EVERYONE except us to be late to the concert (as per every other time). I guess this kind of thing will always annoy me. 

That's a quick hello this morning. I have a lot to do today. Still trying to remember to have fun because this is all fun. And I'm so lucky to be able to have nice, fun things right now.

I have so much sadness and worry over events this week. I found out a family member is a big fan of the man shot and that was massively disappointing to me that she supports hateful ideas. I don't support killings and I fear this will ignite more hate. And I hated everything this person stood for. The dumpster fire just spread some more. There is such a feeling of doom lingering over everything -- like this is the lead up to something we've never experienced in our lifetime. And we're doing it to ourselves. 

Well, I could go down a big rabbit hole. I'll leave it at that. Later gators.

Tuesday Rant

I had some crappy sleep last night. ONE MINUTE of deep sleep -- that crappy. I'm trying to rally for this week. For some reason I super duper need to NOT have to coordinate anything, arrange things, take care of things and this is the exact wrong week to feel this way. 

I expect I'll feel refreshed soon enough. Travel with my aunt is always excellent.

The drive today was suppose to be under 2 hours, but when I got the address and plugged in picking up (I'm driving), it's more like 3 hours. Not a big deal, I know, but still. And I'm driving the entire trip, including picking up my cousin once we get there which isn't an issue, but I need to return her before we head home so that'll be closer to 4 hours of driving. Apparently, crazy mountain driving too. Lord help me. 

BTW, my aunt offered to drive, but she has a 2 seater convertible, so that won't really work. 

We have another outdoor concert in our town and I'm the coordinator for that on Friday too. Then driving to Asheville where I'm coordinating and driving for a historical house tour with my sister. Spending the rest of the trip getting ready to host a houseful the following weekend.

All fun. But I crave a day where fun doesn't mean a lot of work too. Maybe once I get regular, good sleep I won't feel this way. 

Yesterday the dogs were so extra. One peeing on a washable rug -- so that had to be cleaned. One throwing up on the regular rug. All while I was trying to get through my list. 

And I'm up really early to get some quiet time before I leave and finish packing in peace. For some unknown reason, my husband is up too. WTH. This is what I'm talking about this week. Can't catch a break and time to regroup. I wish I was driving alone today and could relax. 

Okay, thanks for listening to my Tuesday rant. Best get going. Later gators.

Bit of a Manic Monday

The hike was a lot of fun yesterday. For some reason the mountain doesn't feel hard to climb -- all granite, but it gets super steep the last 1/3 and you feel like you could fall back so easily. I'm scared when I'm hiking it, but really love it. Here a couple pictures from the very top -- doesn't do it justice at all (kind of blah pics actually). Then we hiked the wooded trail around the mountain. 

Kids were here when I got home. We had a fun day together. They stayed ALL day and evening (which is great), BUT, I didn't get to anything I needed to do. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed today ahead of 2 trips this week and lots of chores before I leave. 

We also learned the kids are spending Christmas and that weekend with my DIL's family. My younger son is also doing in-laws this year (because we're all together for Thanksgiving). I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, we can plan a quiet, non-stressful Christmas, just us. Maybe Asheville. Doing something different. On the other hand, every time we've had Christmas (by her mom's choice because she wanted to do an early gathering), we've invited them over too. One year they came, one year they canceled last minute. Guess that's not going to be extended to us. 

We've also had a horrible run of hosting them at Christmas -- one year COVID, one year my son was sick, last year baby was really sick and got us all really sick too. 

I WILL be able to spin this to find the fun about it. Just a few prickly bits to work out. I think the only tough issue is the lack of reciprocal invitation and taking the ENTIRE 5 days around Christmas. We've always made sure to share. 

The dogs are headed to groomers this morning; I'm headed to hair appointment. The proximity means I'm taking care of the dogs and that's sucking so much of my time today. I might need to rethink and ask hubby to handle them (as originally planned). I can't stop at grocery store with dogs in the car. I have to leave early to get to the bank because I need cash tip for my hair (didn't get to go yesterday). I'll hit a bunch of schools too. It's all very tight timing.

Guess I'm a little grumpy this morning because I feel rushed and tired. I was counting on today to be downtime ahead of a week of social stuff and that's not going to happen. I'm taking point on all the things this week and it's a lot. I need to remember this is fun and remember to have fun. Telling myself it's hard is not helping. 

Hope you've started the week well. Later gators.

Football Sunday and a Hike

Hello. I feel like I have less than usual to say this morning. I'm up early to hydrate and such before the hike. There's an art festival so I'm leaving a little earlier than expected to make sure I get parking. 

Kids are coming over before the first football game start so they'll be here when I get home. Oh well -- I'm still hiking. They want our grandson to have some time to play before his nap because he'll be excited for the play area. No way he'll go straight down for a nap without a little fun first. 

I finished The Hostage -- it was just okay. Entertaining enough if you're bored and want a quick series. Still reading The Correspondence. It's good, not earth shattering good like I expected, but I'm only halfway. 

I have some mountain travel coming up -- all driving trips. Girls' trip to Chattanooga on Tuesday to stay in the mountains. Home for a day for an outdoor concert with friends. Quick 3 days in Asheville for historic home tours in my neighborhood. Home for 2 days and back up to Asheville for a family weekend. Lots of fun ahead. Fingers crossed for crisp, fall weather.

Let's go Steelers (or Jets -- my younger son's team) -- both teams will be on the struggle bus this season. I'm here for the grandson playtime. Later gators.

Granny Gushing

It's SO MUCH FUN being a GRANNY (!!) Just me at Grandparent tea and I got a big run and hug when he saw me. Crafts were "scary" so we hung out with stickers I brought in my granny bag. Then we started decorating the craft with the stickers until it was more fun to put them on shoes. 

No stickers left by the end.
All on his shoes lol!
He's a creative like that haha!

I took him home and we played some more. We all took a trip to see a house (kids are house hunting) and he still hung with me and we explored trees and cars and green porch chairs. I got the biggest smile when I got out of my car. Big, huge, full Granny heart. It's so nice that he knows me now and doesn't immediately reach for mom and dad. 

I was so sweaty and melted after an afternoon and evening holding and playing (and wearing jeans -- bad choice) so I came home and plopped on the sofa to start watching The Hostage on Netflix. Good-ish. It's a little bit unbelievable premise, but I'm going with it. 

Today is a prep day for football Sunday. Grocery stores and kitchen time. I'm hiking early in the morning tomorrow so no time to do much before they get here. 

Short and sweet this morning. Hope you're set for a fun weekend. Later gators.