Hurricane Erin Made a Turn

Despite the threat of Hurricane Erin hitting the coast where we vacationed last week, the weather was great. We never got any stormy weather. The hurricane turned up away from us. 

The waves got pretty big while the tide was coming in but it did not bother us as we sat out on the beach every day. What did bother us was the dang flies. They were terrible on Wednesday and Thursday. They eventually ran us off the beach. They won. We gave them the beach and headed back into the RV park and did some walking around and got ice cream. 

At the first of the week they made us move our camper back few spots incase the surf got to high and flooded our campsite. Well, the surf did come in high and flooded the first one or two spots. This is actually pretty normal during Kings Tide. 

Looks empty as about 200 campers were moved 

We went out for breakfast on Friday morning. I wanted to go to Blueberry Grill. We ate there before and it was delicious. This time I got 2 eggs, bacon grits and coffee and Nick got a gravy biscuit, bacon and coffee. Our bill was $41.00! That’s a lot of money for a basic breakfast! I wanted to sit out side but the patio was full so we had to settle at a table next to the kitchen. The clanging dishes and the wait staff huddling around made the experience less comfortable. We will probably not go back. Cereal in the camper is just fine with me. 

We are back home now and the work day came too quick. It’s back to reality until October when we go back. 

Funny story: One time after spending a week at the beach, we were so tanned. 

How tanned were we?

We stopped at a Mexican restaurant on the way home. The waiter came up to us and started speaking in Spanish. We looked confused. He said “You speak Spanish?” We said no and he said “sorry” then walked off and sent over another waiter. We laughed and thought we were so tanned that we looked like Mexicans.

Hurricane and Camping

We are on our long vacation. We stay in our camper at the beach. Everyone back home is asking me about the weather here at the beach. They must be hearing some scary stuff on the news. There is a Hurricane brewing in the Atlantic ocean on my side of the map. People kept warning me before we left that it could be bad. We took our chances. I am not afraid. I have seen more hurricane damage in my home town 200 miles from the coast than I have seen at the actual coast. 

Sunday was 82 degrees. With the humidity, it felt like 102. We sat out on the beach all day. It was getting late so we decided to just eat a sandwich and continued sitting on the beach until the stars came out. It was so relaxing. We could have stayed out there longer but I was afraid we could not be seen by any motorized vehicles that scan the beach.

Monday was 84 degrees, clear and not a cloud in the sky. During the afternoon, the waves started getting wicked and the swells were about 6 feet high before crashing down. We kept having to move our chairs back as the tide came in. 

Tuesday, we got a notification that our camper will have to be moved back 4 spots due to expected flooding from the high tides and surge. We were disappointed because we loved the spot we were on. It was perfect. Our new spot, not so much. It is smaller and not as level. We spent half the day waiting and moving. On a positive note,  200 feet back is better than 200 miles home. We will make do. 

We spent the rest of the day on the beach. It was beautiful and sunny until out of nowhere came a hard rain that ran us back in. We went ahead and called it a day then settled in for dinner. We had salad and potatoes. 

I’ll update at the end of the week on how the rest of the week went. Will we get hit with Hurricane Erin? Probably not but they are expecting really high tides and large waves. We will definitely feel the effects. 

Toxic Management

Have you ever worked with a toxic manager or supervisor? Hence the title of my blog, I just feel the need to express this situation.

You work hard, complete deadlines, remain caught up and help others in the work place and yet your supervisor will find negativity and criticize your intentions almost daily.

A toxic manager is not the same as a toxic work place. You can love your job and the people you work with or around despite all the criticism from your supervisor. A toxic supervisor can ruin your vibe causing you to work harder and stress more while you are always trying to meet expectations. But you can never seem to reach those goals because the harder you try, the more negative drive they give you.

This can lead to low moral in the office. It also leads you to be unhealthy away from work. You get home at the end of the day tired and exhausted from trying to keep your supervisor happy. You begin to let yourself go. You never feel like working on yourself. The supervisor has already worn you down and made you feel worthless. All you have ever done is work to make a living and hope your making a difference but you question yourself. You begin to give up things that used to make you happy and relieve stress such as hobbies, healthy habits and family time. You are put in a mind set that you will never succeed. You want to move on and get out of the rut but you fail interview after interview. 

How do you pull yourself out? How can you escape a toxic supervisor when you need the job? How can you prove your worth? Do you just continue and hope for the best? That’s what I’m doing now. 

Upper management can be blind to a toxic supervisor as they can come across as a great supervisor. They claim they are just wanting to have all the employees on the same page. Complaints are addressed but little is done. 

Here are a few other samples of a toxic supervisor or manager.

-Micro managing: They are more concerned with numbers and spreadsheets. They knit-pick at every thing you do and critique every email you send. You have to account for every move you make and explain why you do everything you do. 

-They set you up for failure: They give you deadline task on the day or day before the deadline. They set unrealistic goals. 

-Poor communication: They often ignore you. They will walk past you without even speaking. Meetings are one on one instead of with a team. This can lead to confusion as there are different discussions about expectations while everyone has the same responsibilities. 

-Critical: They always point out all the mistakes and never praise for good works. Your ideas are never good enough. If it is not the supervisors idea, it’s not a good idea. 

-Poor evaluations: No matter how well you do in your position, you will never get the grade you deserve. In their eyes, they really do not think your worthy. This causes low self esteem and struggles when your searching for a new position or advancement. 

-Favoritism: There is often that one employee that gets away with everything and takes all the credit for the works completed by others, while they do the minimal. 

One more thing. A toxic manager or supervisor will not fire you. They make you so miserable in you job that you look for other positions or finally give up and quit. They do not want an employee that can out smart them. 

Toxic management is a real thing. Work bullying and gaslighting are real. It’s ok to ask around before accepting a position. Learn the culture of the position you will be in. Find out how the supervisor leads. Last but not least, pay attention to the turn over in employment. The job your excited about getting may be unhealthy in the long run. 

Negative Health Conditions

[warning: this is a negative post] 

I need to make some changes in my health. I have just lost all motivation.

Just a couple years ago I was running 5Ks, walking three miles a day, dancing, and full of energy. All of a sudden one day we went for a walk and I was literally out of breath before I got to the top of the road. After this happened a few times, I finally went to the doctor. He did not give me any answers other than “I think you may have asthma”. He gave me a steroid inhaler and one of those regular inhalers to carry around with me. I have used them both and they do seem to work. Maybe I do have Asthma? 

Being in this health condition, I have put on weight due to not feeling like exercising. I also hit the wonderful time in life called Perimenopause. I get out of breath just putting on my shoes. I’m not sleeping good, snoring, and gasping myself awake. I feel like I have aged 20 years all of a sudden.

Last year I went on the Zepbound weight loss shots hoping it would help me lose weight. I only lost 20 lbs in 6 months. I never went down a size in clothes. I feel like I only lost 20lbs in muscle as I was the weakest I have ever been. I was also sick all the time, so I stopped. This lead me to putting on another 30lbs since January. I am miserable. No matter how healthy or little I eat, It does not work anymore. I do not know what to do. 

I lost 50lbs very easily 10 years ago (It’s been that long?) with Nutrisystem. I even tried that rout again but this time, nothing. It did not work for me. 

I turned a small corner of a room into a little workout room. I have been trying to go in there each day and walk on the walking pad, hula hoop, and some other exercises. However, I lack motivation and again, I get out of breath easy. 

My little work out corner. The other part of the room is an office area.

I plan to visit another doctor next week to see if she can give me some advice. I think I have chronic inflammation. I feel like I’m drowning in it. This is not good for my Meniere’s disease which is also caused by inflammation in the inner ear. So, I’m just full of it and tired of feeling this way. I want to get back into the swing of things. 

My plans so far:

1. Get back to blogging more as it is good for my mental health.

2. Eat more fruits and veggies and eliminate breads.

3. Visit the doctor for advice. Also visit my Gynecologist to test and see if I need to up my Estrogen meds. 

4. Don’t stress on working out but instead focus on a healthier diet.

Any other advice would be greatly appreciated. 

Lights Camera Action

Yes, I got to be in front of the cameras again.

The first time was for a small low budget local movie called War at Home. I was an extra and spent the day under the lights. It was fun but I do not think the movie even made it past filming. It was a fluke. But still a fun experience.

The 2nd time was when I lost 50lbs on Nutrisystem. I was invited to be a success story and share my success on TV, Ads, Social Media, Coupons, etc. It was star treatment for a week. 

The 3rd time was a year later, again with Nutrisystem while I was still promoting them. You can read my success story HERE.

This time was for the county I work for. They chose a few volunteers to promote local breweries around town. I got off work early two days in a row and met up with the group. There were three of us. We had a great time. 

Durty Bull Brewing 

They drove us around in a nice county vehicle as we visited 8 breweries in 12 hours. We got to sip different beers and ales (is that the same thing?) and sampled several appetizers and main dishes. It was all for the promotions of what each one offered for fun and entertainment, so we got the best of show. 

Traust Brewing 

I do not drink beer, but for the filming I was able to toast to friends, laugh and get a taste of local brews. I learned a little bit of history and saw places I have never seen before. Little did they know, I have never been inside a brewery around here until now. I have been to a brewery at the beach and Charlotte but stayed outside in the open air. 

Southern Artisan

We are not finished yet. We have more to visit soon as we continue filming. This will be like an infomercial that will be shown on the counties websites and around local areas. Breweries are just a few of the things our county has to offer along with outdoor activities, new restaurants, entertainment and walking/hiking trails. 

Believe it or not, I am actually camera shy so this was also a therapeutic experience for me. I have a couple insecurities about myself and hopefully this will help me over come some of them. It will be exciting to see how it turns out.

Stay tuned.

Happy Easter

Before it gets to late, I want to tell all my readers “happy Easter”.

I finally decided to write another blog post and my keypad was dead. So it is now on the charger and I’m doing my best here to type using the screen key pad. I blog using my iPad so the key pad is is like typing on my iphone. 

I have had a fun but tiring Easter, 

My daughter came home Saturday so she could spend Easter with us and attend church services.

Saturday, we did not dye eggs as usual but we did do a little crafting. We made custom trucker hats.

I had been collecting iron on patches from Temu and Amazon. I got the hats from Hobby Lobby.

We talked and laughed as we created our hats. We had enough to make two apiece. I think they will be fun to wear at the beach. We will be headed there at the end if next week.

This morning, we got up early and headed to church for Sunrise service. I love how even on this cloudy day, the sun rose up over the church for a great display of warm light to remind us that Jesus is alive and the day is new. With in a few minutes, it disappeared back into the clouds. Afterwards, we headed inside for a full breakfast which my Mom and Dad always prepare.

After sunrise service and breakfast, we headed back home for a little rest and went back later for the 11:00 service. When we got back home, we enjoyed lunch with ham, potato salad and green beans. The rest of the day was spent relaxing. 

It was a good day but work will come early in he morning. 

Christ is Alive!

Exploring Uptown

My daughter came home to visit for the evening. We all had an appointment to get our taxes done with Mr. Pace. We were pleased with the ending results. My daughter is the one that had the bigger smile at the end. She likes being a working girl.

Afterwards, we took a ride down main street. As we were driving, we noticed a new little Argentina Cafe with the lights on and decided to stop in. The name was “Elena’s”.

They had lots of pastries to choose from, so we each picked one to try and headed out. 

Once back on the street, we noticed a new Ice Cream shop in one of the basement entrances. It was actually called “Down Stairs Ice Cream”. They make their own ice cream by using local ingredients. 

I had the Lavender Sherbet.

This place as been several different things in the past from a coffee shop to a bagel shop. I think the ice cream will be a hit with the locals. 

It was fun and I now have some places to visit on my work breaks. They are actually walking distance from my office.

Emotional Support Pop Tart

Boy if this is not a random post. 

Well, there is a reason for such a silly thing. I mean, who knew a pop tart could bring emotional relief? I love eating pop tarts. My favorite are the cherry ones with white icing. I like the chocolate ones too. Growing up, mom often cooked a breakfast for us or we had cereal, but pop tarts were also thrown in as quick breakfast. Now I will eat them for a snack sometimes. 

I work in a field that we could all use some emotional support almost every day. Everyone is always looking out for each other due to the nature of our everyday job task. It is not rare to see someone randomly put a sweet note, candy, or flowers on someones desk, just to let them know everything is ok. 

We need that extra reminder of friendships and support. That’s when I got this idea to make a few of these cute Emotional support pop tarts to pass out to some co-workers. 

I like to make others smile and these pop tarts were so random and cute I couldn’t resist. They were immediately loved and you can see them propped up around computer screens as people would work, just to remind them, “You’ve got this”. 

These pop tarts were crocheted by making two squares using single crochet. The back side is one stitch and one row larger than the front side then whip stitched around and adding a little stuffing before finishing off .

Don’t Be Anonymous

In the past few days, I have been having a fit with my blogger. I have not been able to comment on others post nor could I reply to comments on my own post without being anonymous. Even when I would choose “Google”, It would resort right back to anonymous. I was fed up. 

I checked all my settings on Blogger and Google. Everything was good. I could not figure out what was wrong. Then I just searched my question and hoped to find where someone else had the same problem and I could figure it out that way.

I learned that Blogger comments are through a third party and I must have third party cookies enabled to comment of blog post. “What does that even mean?” So I went back to my settings and tried to find out where I could turn this feature on which only led me in circles. No answers. 

I finally found a thread in Google with others having the same problem. I still could not get answers but one answer led me to IOS settings. IOS is an iPhone or iPad operating system.

I finally fixed it! I am a happy blogger again. It was not a problem with Blogger or Google. So, If your are anonymous and want to know how to fix it. Grab your iPhone or iPad and go to “settings”. From there, go to your “apps” and scroll down and click on  “Google or Chrome” and turn on “Allow Cross-Website Tracking”. I can not promise this will fix your problem but it fixed mine on both devices. 

I guess when I did a phone update, it turned off this feature by default. 

Snow on the East Coast

We rarely see snow here in foothills of North Carolina. I live 100 mile from the mountains and 200 miles from the ocean. We usually have our coldest weather in February and March. We rarely see temperatures below 30. So far we have been having some really cold temperatures here reaching down in the teens.

We had some snow flurries last week and we had a dusting of snow yesterday. But check out these photos taken by some friends and family from the Coast. Yes, our beaches had snow. This is very rare so they were really excited. They had up to 3 inches is some places. I would have loved to see the beach in the snow. I can’t get down there now so I enjoyed it from the photos.

               “Peaches Corner” near the boardwalk. Myrtle Beach SC.  (Photo by Scott Jenkins)

“Garden City and Pier”  South Myrtle Beach, SC.    (Photo by: WPDE SkyCam)

“Ocean Front Sky Wheel” Myrtle Beach, SC. (Photo by MB city Gov)

“Ocean Drive” North Myrtle Beach.  (Photo by Scott Jenkins)

“Myrtle Beach Travel Park”. (Photo by MBTP)

This will be a Winter they will remember for a long time. 

What is the weather like in your area? 

The Inauguration

I did not have to work Monday in reverence of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Day. This was also the day of the President Inauguration. It was cold outside so I stayed in all day glued to the TV.

I usually do not watch presidential stuff on tv as I get bored of it. But I was really into the Inauguration. I was impressed at how well dressed and professional everyone was. It was fun watching famous people along with friends and family of the President arrive for the occasion. It was also fun to watch all the former Presidents come in one by one and take a seat specially selected for them. 

It was room full of emotions. Most were excited and some were somber. I can imagine how the former President and former Vice President must have felt during all of this. But then again, it’s part of the job. 

I love the way the first lady Melania dressed. She was wearing “old money” style and was sleek from head to toe. She looked like she walked off the cover of Vogue magazine. 

And what about the Presidents son Barron Trump? He has gotten so tall. He is rarely in the spot light but he got plenty of it during the Inauguration. He looks just like his father did at that age. 

I stayed up late to watch the ball dance. I sat with anticipation waiting on Melania to come out so I could see what she was wearing. She came out with a white dress trimmed in black. It was elegant but I expected it to be more glamourous. It was her style, and again, she looked like she belonged on the cover of a fashion magazine. 

The bands were great but then Billy Ray Cyrus came out to perform. What in the world was wrong with him? He was off his rocker. I think he was drunk and had to be taken off the stage. If you get a chance, you should Google it and see for yourself. It was awful and a disgrace. Other than that, I think it all went well and I pray for the safety and wisdom for our president and his family.

I am excited to see what’s in store for the next 4 years. I feel like it’s going to be better but many do not. President Trump will keep God in this country and try his best to protect us from the criminal, perverted and unnatural filth in the world. That is enough for me. 

Two Ingredient Biscuits

Something I have never been able to make is biscuits. They normally turn out flat and flavorless. I usually just use Bisquick and make drop biscuits when we want them. I gave up on the old fashion way of making biscuits with Lard or Crisco.

My husband mentioned a video on FB he saw of how to make biscuits with just two ingredients. This caught my attention. I jumped up from my recliner and said, “I have these two things so I’m going to give it a try”. 

In no time, I had biscuits ready to pop in the oven. Fifteen minutes later, we were eating biscuits with butter and honey. “Move over Bisquick, these were the best biscuits I have ever made”. 

\

Two Ingredient Biscuits

• 2 Cups- Self Rising Flour.
• 1 1/2 Cups of heavy whipping cream. 

Mix with a fork or spoon until combined and place on a floured surface. Dust you hands with flour and knead and fold the dough. Patten out with your hands, not a rolling pin. Make the dough about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Use a biscuit cutter to cut the biscuits but do not twist or spin the cutter. Just press down and release. This keeps the sides from sealing and preventing them from rising correctly. (I’m 55 and just learned about this). 

Brush the tops with some of the whipping cream and Bake 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until desired browning

No need to wait on your oven to preheat all the way. Just turn the oven on and place the biscuits in the warm oven when they are ready to be cooked. This will keep your biscuits from burning on the bottom. (Just learned that too). 

They turned out light and fluffy on the inside and light and crispy on the outside. I think they were perfect. Still a little lopsided but who cares. They were delicious. 

Hat Hanger

I love hats. I have many of them but rarely wear any. I will occasionally wear a ball cap on a bad hair day or on the beach. You may catch me in a toboggan when it’s really cold and I have to be outside. 

When we were in Lincolnton a couple months ago, I visited a little boutique where they had hats for sale. I left with one. I have no idea where to wear it but I like it. I am actually wearing it in my blogger profile picture. It’s a hard hat with delicate embroidered mid Western designs.  

Any way, I needed a place to hang my hat. I had a nail in the closet but that’s where I hang my fedora. I could not find any room to hang another hat as my closest space is small. That’s when I turned to the internet for inspiration. I saw many hand made hat hangers but they were all made in Macramé. I gave it some thought and figured I could just crochet something similar. 

With no pattern, I grabbed some brown cotton yarn and began crocheting. I started with a wooden ring and  guessed at the rest. A few inches of the bobble stitch gave it some detailed character. Then I began the split using just half double crochet stitches until I got the size I needed to slide the hat through. I finished it off by joining the two sides and adding a tassel. 

I love how it turned out and impressed myself that I did this in one try. I could have added more decorations such as beads or other colored yarns but I like the simplicity of this one and now it hangs on my bedroom wall. If I never wear this hat again, at least it makes a cute decoration in my room. 

Saturdate

Yes I call it a “Saturdate” (Saturday date). My husband works in retail and rarely gets a Saturday off. It makes me sad sometimes but then sometimes I enjoy the day to myself to do whatever I want to do to keep busy. Most of the time I will just go to the nail salon and grocery store. Sometimes I will hit the thrift or craft stores.

Well, He was off on Saturday a few weeks ago. I told him we can do whatever he wanted to do this day. If he wanted to lay on the couch and watch tv, we would do it. If he wanted to go climb a mountain, we’d do it. 

We woke up early and he said “Would you like to go out to breakfast?” Heck yea. I love going out to breakfast. We decided to eat at Eggs Up Grill. It was delicious. He got grits, bacon and a gravy biscuit. I got the red, white and blue Waffle. 

After breakfast we headed down to South Carolina to check out Windy Hill Orchard and Cidery. We heard it was a cute little place to visit in the Fall while you sip some fresh cider. It was after the Fall when we visited so it was cold. 

We didn’t stay long, but we stayed long enough to watch them make fresh doughnuts and sampled some of their ciders while we stood around the campfire they had burning.

I enjoyed the ride through the country as much as liked the destination. We plan to revisit when it gets warmer. We left with some doughnuts and a bottle of cider

I’m not a big fan of cider but I will sip it warm sometimes. Great for colds and sore throats too.

Afterwards we still had time to lay around the house and watch some TV before dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant. Needless to say, we never climbed a mountain. 

Happy New Year 2025

 Happy New Year everyone!

We managed to stay up late last night to bring in the New Year.  We had our front door wide open. Why? This is an old Iris tradition. People would open the back door just before midnight to let the old year out and open the front door to let the new year in. So, that’s what we did. We could also hear all the fireworks going off around town in celebration. It was nice. 

Oh crap. Wait….I did it wrong. I just realized that I did not open my back door. Only the front. Oh well, maybe 2024 left the way it came in.

Me and Nick didn’t attend any New Years parties. We just went out for a steak dinner and hung around the  house. We went to our favorite steak house. The food was great but the service was terrible this time. I understand it was new years eve and the young workers did not want to work so they had a low work crew, so we tried to stay patient. 

We were third in line for a table and had to wait 45 minutes. Once at our table, a waitress with no personality took our order. We waited and waited. Finally our steaks arrived. We asked, “Where are our salads? The waitress then asked “Do you really want them? I can have the manager deduct them from your ticket”. We looked at each other in confusion then turned back to her and said “Yes, we would like our salads and the complementary bread. She returned with the salads and dropped them on the table without any expressions or words and walked away. We never saw her again until it was time to pay. I gritted my teeth as I kindly added a tip. 

I hope this new year will be great. We will have a new president and new promises. I hope and pray it all goes well. I plan to work on myself this year. I really let myself go last year. I was slack on exercise, ate unhealthy, started the menopause stuff and had a couple (minor) health issues. I need to make myself better and be the fighter I am. I also plan to get back to blogging regularly. I could actually make a little fun money by blogging since my blog is monetized. I just need to put in more effort. 

What are some of your plans for the new year?