Stress-free Weekend

Hi everyone! Happy happy Monday! I hope everyone is as blessed as me on this holiday and was able to stay home and just watch the snowfall. If you had to go somewhere during Snowmageddon… I hope you made it there and arrived home safely. I personally stayed home for the whole day today… soaked in the tub… and did a little studying.

So let me share with you a little about my weekend! I go on a retreat three times a year. It has been canceled for the past two years due to Covid. They started it back up again this year. So I just attended the spring Jacksons Mill round up. It’s held at the Jacksons Mill 4H camp in West Virginia. The camp is now owned by West Virginia University.

It was an amazing weekend filled with speakers, fellowship, spirituality and love. 

When there’s downtime from speakers and activities we go on little shopping trips in the West Virginia area. We have different little local stores we got to and buy jams and jellies, canned beets and tonics, sometimes we even get knickknacks and homemade pickles.

We always go to this store below… They have all kinds of really fun country knickknacks and gifts for people. When we stopped this time we heard that the owner is closing the store for good. I guess they’ve lost a lot of money due to Covid. They have this giant Sasquatch out in front of the store. The store owner said he was purchased and he will be moved to his new location in March. So this will be our final visit to the store and no more pictures of Sasquatch… Here’s our final couple pictures …

These two people are my absolute heart and soul! They are the most amazing friends on the planet and I feel so blessed to have them in my life. We normally all see each other every time we go to the mill. In case you don’t know I’m the one in the Steelers jacket.


Another thing we do every time we’re at the mill is go to the Jane Lew truckstop. They have a restaurant there that has this painting on the wall. The painting is of the Civil War. You can see the blue side and the gray side. The meaning of signed by what we think is a local artist Charlotte Gerstack. We eat here every time we’re here and we get a picture in front of Jesus. As you can see in the picture below Laura is pointing to Jesus. Right in the middle of the fighting there is a man in all white with sandals. He’s holding a gun and fighting right along with both the blue and gray man. Has to be Jesus right? This is a bone of contention for everyone except me… I know it is Jesus. I just don’t know why he is holding a gun.


And here’s a close-up… Jesus, right?


I received a few check-in‘s from my cat sitter. She came twice a day to take care of the food and shots for Nermal. He did so great for her - here’s a screen capture of some of her texting… 

So she texted me each time she came and said he was great with the shots every time. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful cat sitter! She definitely loves my cats (and my home) like they’re her own.

They have lots and lots of photo albums from all the years gone by at the Mill. One of the committee members is always in charge of walking around and getting pictures of most of the people in attendance. We have been attending 3x a year for about 24 years now. I found these great old pictures. This one is from about 20 years ago. I am using these to inspire my diet… Lol! I was so thin and young!



I really love this old picture below… It was the three of us that I told you hang out together plus a gentleman named Vaughn. Vaughn passed away last year and he is so missed! The guy smiling in the back row is another guy we see all the time at the mill. Vaughn brought everyone so much laughter and joy. Love you Vaughn!


After that weekend of so much relaxation… I came home hearing about a snowstorm that was on the way to Pittsburgh. We made it home before any snow fell and I hunkered down to get ready to watch my Steelers beat the Chiefs. As you all know that did not happen… The Steelers are out of the playoffs. We lost to the Chiefs… Actually they killed us! But it seems like we might have a shot because of this guy… TJ Watt! He was amazing! The rest of the team just sucked- ha!


And here’s the snow when I woke up. I think we may be got 6 inches? Like I said I’m super blessed because I didn’t have to go anywhere and I hope everyone else stayed safe as well!


The absolute best decision we’ve made in this condo building is the assigned parking spaces. Soon as it finished snowing I went out and shoveled my space and shoveled the hump that the snow plow makes behind the cars. I have a nice, clean, reserved spot just for me! Yay! Every year before this I would shovel a spot, leave and someone would take my spot. Finally, last winter I ended up shoveling the whole freaking parking lot. But I’m happy to report… I only have to shovel my spot now.


I also made a big pot of homemade chili. It was wonderful to watch the snowfall and eat chili. I had it for dinner last night and lunch today. I’m now heating a bowl for dinner today. I think I’m going to freeze the rest of it because how many days in a row and how many meals in a row can you eat chili? Ha ha


And finally… I’m going to spend the rest of my evening prepping for my first class tomorrow. On Tuesdays I have Nur210 -Nursing Leadership and Management principles. We have some videos to watch and some reading to do. Then later in the week on Thursday I will have my first clinical for maternity. We will be working on Thursday from 2 PM to midnight at a hospital in the Pittsburgh area. I’m super excited for this first maternity clinical- I will let you know how it goes!!!


I hope everyone had A great weekend and has an even better week!

Update: thanks again for all your supportive and encouraging comments on my dosage calculation test. The retest is on Monday January 24th and I will let you know how it goes immediately after. Thanks again for all the love and support!!!

Do you get sick of food you cook and have to freeze it before you can finish it? How much snow did you get? We’re you off work or school today?

Hugs everyone -stay safe out there!!!!

My Five on Friday / Friday Five

Good morning blogging besties~~~

I hope everyone has been having a great week! 

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!!!

UPDATE: Abby is the Starbucks winner!!! Send me your email and I will send you your Starbucks!!!

These are the five things that are currently rattling around in my mind...

ONE:  If you follow me you will know that I I have been preparing and talking a lot about my companies upcoming Halloween Party for Variety Children's Charity!  It is such a blast every year: the kids and families that attend are amazing and precious and it is a bigger party every year!!!

This year the theme is Star Wars!!! Over the past few weeks, I have spent many an evening folding these little doozies to leave around and decorate the food tables! The are actually papers you print out in color and fold into the characters. They take forever!!!!

The gangs all here!!!!!!!

 

TWO:  After careful consideration; I have decided to go in a non-Star Wars costume. People go with the theme and some deviate. I usually go with the theme but this year I cannot relate to any of the characters that much so I am deviating A LOT! Here is my costume...

I think it will be hilarious and the kids will love it!!! HA HA~

THREE:  If you look at the top left hand side of the Star Wars picture above; you will see the plaque that I proudly display on my desk at work. Here is what it says...

It keeps everything in perspective!!! I cannot believe the party is next week already!!!

FOUR:  I will be heading to Jackson's Mill, WV this weekend to attend a conference with some special friends!!!  I am soooo excited!! I always come home totally rejuvenated!!!!! I promise to post all about it next week!!!

FIVE:  And, last but not least, I will be attending the Steelers game on Sunday with my parents, sister, brother in law and niece!!! Go Steelers!!! I hope this game ends better than the last one!!!!

Who do you cheer for? Are you dressing up this Halloween? What are you dressing up as this Halloween? Your kids?

Happy weekend everyone!!!!!!!

Long Time...No Update

I cannot believe how fast time has flow this year already! I just realized that I have not posted in over a month!

WOWSA!

I have been keeping up with all of your blogs just not my own - LOL!!! I am getting older and time is spinning ahead so fast!

Last month (September) was a whirlwind of activities and it was crazy both in my personal life and my business life! I am going to give you a high level overview of the past few weeks in pictures to very quickly catch you up.  I am also promising that I will not go MIA like that anytime soon.

It really just got crazy busy and I could not keep up! I am not complaining believe me...I enjoy being busy but September was just CRAZZZZZYYYYYY!

Here we go!!!.....

First part of September...I had to put one of my older cats to sleep and her brother was getting lonely being home alone so I got him some friends!  Meet Nermal and Trouble. As you can see, they are already great friends and Kidrock likes them too! I am head over heals in love with them both!

Sept 5th weekend was my adorable boyfriends birthday! It was his 60th so I planned a party with his sisters family, his brother and his kids at his favorite place...the bowling alley. We rented a few lanes and had cake and pizza! The owners at AMF Mt. Lebanon Lanes were terrific with helping me plan and I highly recommend them if you are looking to plan a bowling party for adults or kids in the South Hills of PA!  I think he had a great time?! This is him blowing out his candles...

And the obligatory picture of the cake...

Then after the party I spent the rest of the weekend and Monday (Labor Day) at my parents house at Lake Mohawk. We all enjoyed a final weekend of boating, skiing, tubing and relaxing before fall and winter set in here in PA! This is two of my nephews tubing together...

And two of my nieces...

My Mom's birthday is the September 8th and my sister-in-laws is the 7th so we also celebrated their birthdays over the holiday weekend! Mommy is on the left and Sara on the right below...

The next weekend, the boyfriend and I left for New Smyrna Beach, FL. It is his favorite vacation spot and he wanted to take me there to enjoy it so we planned about ten days together for a trip! We came close to killing each other a few times but we made it through (just kidding...well, kind of). It is a long time to spend with someone...LOL! This is a view from our patio in the condo we rented.

And a view down the beach...what a great place to run!! Flat flat flat flat flat!!! I am used to hills in PA so this was heavenly!!!

I had a girls night out planned for the week we got home and spent the evening with these lovely ladies at Painting with a Twist.  It also allowed me to add to my Fall artwork collection :-)  HA!

The next weekend in September was the Great Race in Pittsburgh. My sisters, mother and I run this together every year. We LOVE it! Here is the starting line...

Every year the Eat N Park cookie is at the top of the longest hill (about a mile before the end of the race) and I stop to get a picture every year!!! YEA! My sister on the right was also happy to oblige me when I requested stopping! Thanks Susie!

That same weekend every member of my direct family came into town. All my siblings, their spouses and kids and my parents. My parents celebrated 50 years of marriage on Sept 18th and we wanted to make sure we had pictures and a family party to mark the occasion. We had a family dinner at Benihana! Here they are with all of their grand kids!!

And the whole family!!!!!!!! I love this picture! No one is missing!! We also celebrated my Dad's birthday this weekend and I did not get a picture of the cake prior to consumption!

The final weekend of September I had Jackson's Mill weekend! I go three times a year and meet up with all my Friends of Bill and it is truly my refresh weekend!!! I love these two people below with all my heart!!! They are two of my very best buddies on the planet!

And the theme for the weekend...says it all!!

And finally, last weekend was the Halloween work charity party! We do this ever year for Variety Charity and it gets better each year!

Here is the pumpkin I carved...it was Lego themed and I got the idea from Pinterest!!!

Here is a shot of one section of the decorations...

Another area of the building we decorated...

And finally, our costumes! I made these from ideas from Pinterest and they turned out perfect! On the left was Gail the Construction Worker (Kathy from work) and on the right was me in my Swamp Thing lego costume.

What a great month!!! As you can see, I had JUST a little activity going on but I promise to keep you posted along the way from this point forward and not save it up a month at a time! LOL!

I hope you all had as much fun as me. Hopefully there will be much more to come with the whirlwind of the holidays around the corner! 

Happy Fall yinz all!!!

How was your September? Ever get too busy to blog, I would live to hear about what you did to budget you time?!

Jacksons Mill Spring 2014

I cannot believe that I forgot to post about my amazing conference weekend!!!! I recently went to the Jackson's Mill 4H Camping location for a conference! It was amazing as always!!! I roomed with Laura (AKA Nancy) and we had such a great time!!! We roomed in Jackson's Lodge. This is the view from our balcony looking out onto the camp!!

This is a painting at the Jane Lew truck stop! It is a local painter and I SWEAR that is Jesus in the middle of the war! See him, in the white clothes and sandals?!?!? No-one believes me! My favorite painting ever though!!

These are the lovely women I was blessed to spend the weekend with~~~ Laura in in the back and then Carm on the left and Donna on the right. These are three of the most amazing, strong, beautiful and loving women I have EVER KNOW!!!! I am so blessed that they are in my life!!!

Me and my roomie!!!!!!!

This is all of us waiting for one of the speakers to start!!!!! XOXO  I did not get any pictures of it but I had the honor this Spring to actually chair one of the meetings! It was great and such an honor!

This is an awesome stop we found just by driving around the town and killing time. They blow glass here and have everything you can think of for gifts...PLUS a stuffed bear to pose with! HA After the bear ate me - I made everyone get a photo!

 Here is Donna and Laura trying to be serious and look scared of the bear!!

Carm did not exactly get what I was talking about...as you can see below...

 She decided to scare the bear instead!!! HA HA Love that woman!!!

I am off for an early lunch at work to go an mail out my package for the Color Swap!!! I am so excited!!!! I was paired with Sherri and cannot wait to see how she likes all the PURPLE stuff I have chosen for her!!

I hope yinz all have an amazing weekend!!!!!!!

FMM - First Date Questions

Happy Monday ya'll!!!  What a weekend!!!!  

I walked away from a friendship of over 16 years this weekend and I feel really free! I am not getting into specifics but it feels good to stick up for myself and what I want for once in my life!  Go me!!!

I spent the weekend at a Conference with tons of friends this weekend...it was amazing!!! Such fun at Jackson's Mill in WVa.  I met lots of new friends especially Laura (my Haunted Asylum friend) and had an amazing time with old friends!!!   I have pics of roosters and the old time mill and also we went to a Haunted Insane Asylum for a little Halloween cheer and I have not slept since! I will not be posting the pics as they have been deleted to facilitate the return of sleep - HA HA  

Well, lets get right to this!!

If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section here at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

First Date Questions

1.  Share the details of your dream date.   Dream date would be whisked off in his plane to Paris for an amazing dinner and then a kiss on the hand goodnight and then he texts me later that night that it was the best dinner he had ever had! Real life would be a nice, quiet romantic dinner where we can talk and laugh and share experiences with a hand-holding walk after...that's all I want...is that too much to ask!?!?!? Apparently, see #4  HA HA!!

2. Do you tend to make the first move when you want to kiss someone, or do you prefer that someone else does it? I prefer he do it however, I cannot wait forever....I love kissing!!!! Especially when it is new!

3.  Sex on the first date:  Yes or no?  No way!!!!! Are you kidding - never!!!!

4.  Share the details of the worst date ever.  Piece of cake - I have had soooooooo many!!! A few are 1) he used a groupon to pay for our first date dinner   2) we got back to my house and we were going to sit down and watch TV for a while and I came out of the kitchen and he had his shirt off (I laughed it off and he said it made him more comfortable - ick!!!) and finally... 3) he came into my house to hang out and he started going through my refrigerator (does everyone else think this is inappropriate too?) SCARRRRY...I have MANY more!

5.  What is your biggest turn-off on a first date?  Overly adoring...seems insincere and makes me uncomfortable to hear over and over that I am the most beautiful woman in the world, etc. completely over the top compliments are not real! Also, if a guy cant come to my door I will no longer even go out to the car...no honking for me come to my door!

6.  Are you a dog person, a cat person or neither?  Cats all the way! I have two and they are my children!

7.  Do you like spontaneity or routine?  I can be very spontaneous, but I have a very structured day and actually welcome any kind of kink pout in it...

8.  What matters more to you – how much money your partner makes or how much they love their job?  Both!  A person that hates their job cannot be happy day to day and although money is not important to me; the past two guys I dated had NONE and it makes a difference when I end up paying for everything...does not make a man attractive to me when he cant pay his bills. Responsibility is an important trait to me today in a mate!

9.  Friends first?  Yes or no?  Does not matter to me - if it happens that way great; if not, then it is just a friendship that develops at the same time as the love.

10.  How do you know if someone is interested in you?  I never do -  I think I have no radar for this - HA HA!
Now it’s your turn to answer this week’s questions!  Don’t forget to go link up in the comments at www.alltheweight.com, and say hi to someone new!  

Exciting things to report this week:  I think I have a new first date on Wednesday...we shall see how that goes!! I am so excited for that and also I have gotten serious with logging my food everyday for that past week and even with going away I lost over five pounds last week!!! Yea me!!! Back on track!!  

 Happy Monday,ya'll !

Jackson's Mill

Here are a few pics from Jacksons Mill.

This time Sherry and I were in Room 311 at the Lodge....

I had to leave Saturday night to get home and packed for my work trip so it was a quick day or two of fun and friends and fellowship!

Here is the view on our patio...

And another...

A view of Fellowship hall across the field...

And this is my sad drive home...this conference went WAY too fast!!!!!!

PS - I miss everyone already - especially Sherry!!!!!!

Happy weekend all!!!!!!!!!!