Porch Goose

If you grew up in the 70’s and 80’s, you probably remember the popular Porch Goose. Homes would sit out these geese, usually made of cement, and dress them in different outfits depending on the season or holiday. This is right before people began hanging flags on there houses for the same reason. 

 

The Porch Goose is a fun welcoming decoration for neighbors and friends. History has that it was used as the idea of a “guard goose”. There is a legend where the geese once saved Rome. This inspired people to use them as a symbol of protection over their home. 

The trend is back. This trend used to be strongly associated with Midwestern suburban homes. Families are once again decorating their Porch Goose. Nowadays, if you want a porch goose, you will have to pay a pretty penny. This is why I decided to purchase a “Desk Goose”’. Works the same but only 7 inches tall and a lot cheaper. And yes, you can find all kinds of clothes and accessories for these too. I actually crocheted it a little summer dress. 

It sits pretty on my desk and since it’s beak is magnetic, It can hold paper clips, keys and other metal objects. You can purchase one HERE. 

It has been a fun conversation starter as people pass by my desk. 

Do you remember seeing on porches years ago?

Tuesday 4

 

Your Jobs ~ Tuesday 4

Hello!  It's time again for Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4.

This week's idea for questions came from Pamela Steiner and it's all about your occupation and work. (actually lasts weeks because I’m behind).

I think that's a great idea, so here are the questions.

1.What did/do you do for work and how long did you work in that position? 

I work full time as an administrative specialist for the department of social services in Child and Family Services. I work with CPS, Foster care and adoption. I assist social workers with the information they need for courts and decision making along with other office needs. I have been at this position for 5 years. 

2. Of the jobs you've had throughout life, which was your favorite? If no favorite, which was the worst? Tell us why you loved/hated your job.

The job I have now is my favorite. I love helping in the needs of children. I have learned new and interesting things, stay busy, made a lot of friends and love that I have my own little cubical works space with a large window view of the city. The pay is terrible but the benefits are good.

3. What did your job entail?  Did it require a special education?  

My job entails a lot of research and background checks which means a lot of sitting and screen time. I did not need any special education but it did require me to have certain skills and experience. Even with all my skills, I still had to learn a lot that I have never experienced before. I did have to get a notary license and attend educational meetings and continued online learning. 

4. List all the jobs/occupations you have had.

Oh wow, that will take to much space to list them all. I have worked since the day I turned 16 and I’m 57 now. My first job was cleaning tables at a fish camp. (We call them fish camps here. You may call them fish houses. 

Here are some of the other jobs I worked when I was younger but didn’t keep them long. I wanted to have fun. Haha.

Taco Bell.

Carrowinds Theme park.

Painted houses.

A small car lot.

A daycare.

and a foot doctor assistant. 

   Once I got older I kept my jobs a little longer.

Dye mill - 2 years.

Belks Dept store- 1 year.

Stanley Steemer office manager- 26 years.

I plan to stay where I am now until I retire, I have about 8 more years but hopefully only 5. Well see.

The way it looks now, I’ll be working til Jesus comes. 

Remember Me?

Gosh, I just noticed that I have not made a blog post since January. I don’t know, I guess life just got in the way and I put blogging on the back burner. 

A few other reasons I kind of just forgot about it is that I ran out of stuff to blog about. I felt like I was not gaining any new followers and this daggum iPad that I blog from has been acting up. It’s not easy to fix my errors and formats. I plan to get a small computer so I can specifically use it for blogging. If you know of a good little computer thats perfect for blogging, please let me know in comments. 

I think about blogging all the time but just never do. If I get a chance to be still and relax to blog, I end up falling asleep. My full time job exhaust me. Well, It’s not really the job itself, I love what I do, but it’s my difficult micro manager that I have to deal with daily and it makes it hard. I’m alway tired.

I do read your blog post often when I’m taking a break during the day but never comment as it would take up to much of my fifteen minutes time. I also read them from my ipad but it was not letting me comment. I get aggravated. I just realized though, that if I comment from Google it will only let me post as “anonymous” but I can comment from Google Chrome and it works fine. So I just need to remember to use the Chrome app. 

Ok, I’m leaving it here and plan to continue blogging. I remember how good it was for me to talk about things and express feelings. I have some new recipes and crafts I hope to share with you later. So, put me back on your reading list and hope you will stick around. 

Snowed In

Wow. We are getting hit here in North Carolina with some snow. We rarely see more than a flurry or too around here. It’s too cold for me to go out there but people are reporting up to 12 inches. I can see it up to the top of my bottom porch step. Snow is still coming down. It has not stopped. It is so pretty and the world around me just feels still and peaceful.  

Last weekend, we got a Winter storm that brought in an inch of sleet and ice. We were just recuperating from that and now we have this big snow. My brother in law lives in Myrtle beach and they are getting snow too. I would love to see snow on the beach. I ch ecked on my daughter in Charlotte and she said shes been bored stuck in her little uptown studio apartment. I wish she was with me so we could make a snowman, snow cream , hot chocolate and bake goodies like we used to do when she lived at home. 

We made sure we to go by the grocery store two nights ago so we would have snacks and food to eat. The shelves were getting bare. I got everything I need. We went out to eat last night instead of tonight which was a great plan. On the way home, we stopped by mom and dads for some fresh homemade vegetable soup to take home for lunch today.  I plan to make soup on Sunday. I have been experimenting on different soups each weekend lately. 

What did I do besides laundry and eat all day cooped up in the house? I made some hand warmers. I already had some granny squares made to use on a project and got the idea to put some together to create something cute and cozy. I used some scrap yarn to make the ribbing and trim. 

I took this photo in my dining room while drinking my coffee and then I asked AI (ChatGPT) to add a snowy background. Pretty cool huh. I tried to take some photos of them with real snow in the background but it was too bright outside and it made my focus too dark to see details. Plus, It was a freezing 22 degrees out there. 

Did you get snow where you are? If so, what did you do to keep busy or relax all day? 

New Year 2026

 Happy New Year !

I hope everyone had a great time bringing in the new year. We stayed close to home and just had a sweet date night at a little place up town. We always wait to long to make reservations anywhere on New Years Eve so we end up somewhere last minute. Dinners around here for special occasions can cost 100.00 a person. We do not want to do that. 

We saw an add on social media of a new place in town offering a four course New Years Dinner for 50.00 a person. That is still a lot to us but we thought “hey, it’s just once or twice a year that we splurge like this, let’s try it”. So I called in reservations. 

The place was called Savory Calle. We were skeptical about it because of it’s location and the way it looked. I mean, it did not look “bad” it just didn’t look like a place for a date. The front window is covered with a decal that looks like a lot of dancing going on. I was nervous. According to the internet, it was a small Latin Bar. We laughed. This could be a hit or miss, but we took a chance on it. Why not? Our favorite steakhouse was terrible last year so this place couldn’t be any worst. 

After work, we headed to our 6:30 reservation. Where was everyone? I kid you not, we were the only dinner reservation made for the 6:30 slot. The tables were set up fancy and soft Latin music videos playing on the wall. We were still skeptical. I laughed and told Nick I had rented the whole place out for just us. 

The wait staff was nice and our meal started coming out in courses.

First course was two empanadas with a savory sauce. - They were the best we had ever had and frankly would have been enough.

Second was our salad- It was a salad topped with chicken and some kind of drizzle with a side of two different dressings. I do not know what it was called or what was in it but the dressings were good. 

The third and final course was Steak- The steak was large and topped with some kind of pesto sauce. I personally do not like anything on my steak and feel like this is something they should have warned us about with an option to put it on the side. However, this steak was delicious and cooked to a perfect medium well. It was very tender and the topping was actually great on top. Now we are really full.

Then the final dessert course came- This was Churos with vanilla ice cream. We ended up taking those home for later. 

I think we made a good decision and do not regret the experience. We even plan to visit Savory Calle again for their regular menu which is a mix of Latin foods. 

Were were home by 8pm and just enjoyed each others company while watching the ball drop on TV.

I have not made any plans or set any goals for the new year. I will just go with the flow and let God lead the way.