Showing posts with label Fun. Show all posts

Great Day For A Bike Ride

I own an old vintage bike. It happened one morning when my late father in law was having a yard sale and I saw the little charm sitting in his yard. I simply said, “I want that bike!” Without a flinch, he replied “It’s yours now, take it”. With a big smile on my face, I jumped on and rode off into the sunrise. 

It has been in storage along with two other vintage bikes my husband refinished for him and my daughter. While he made two old rusted beach cruisers look brand new again, I decided that I did not want anything done to mine. I liked the original blue color and the patina look. However, I did add a new set of white wall tires and a basket. I also added some of my talent and crocheted a cute little granny square seat cover to hide the dingy white seat. 
I fell in love with it all over again. 


It has been almost ten years since I rode my bike. Nick just never felt like digging it out from the storage building and I never had a desire to ride it after my daughter moved out on her own. 
BUT, the other day I noticed my neighbor friend had an old vintage cruiser bike too and was riding it up and down the road. This made me want to dust the cob webs off of mine. Nick agreed to get my bike out and made sure the brakes were still good and oiled the chain. Then he put a little air in the tires and I rode up the road to meet her.


We had a good time riding around the neighborhood while we caught up on all our stories. We rode for about an hour talking and giggling. For a little while we were back to being seven year olds again without a worry in the world. We enjoyed it so much that we have made plans to meet once a week for a ride together. 



I had forgotten how fun riding a bike can be and also just how sore you can make your muscles afterwards. It has been a great workout for me as I try to ride a couple times a week now. There is nothing like putting music in your ears and letting the breeze blow your hair. 

Over 50

I can officially say “I am now over 50”. I had my 51st birthday yesterday. It does not matter how many stay in orders, epidemics, and virus scares the world has throws at us, It still happened. We are all guaranteed a birthday every year as long as we live.

(Excuse the hair. I had just finished up a 3 miles walk.)

We normally go to the beach for my birthday, but under other the circumstances, we decided to wait. 
My daughter came home with a handful of goodies. Gifts in one hand and a Cannoli cake in the other. She also wanted it to be fun and brought birthday banners, and balloons. Later my daughter’s boyfriend came over and brought flowers and gave me a Hobby Lobby gift card. Isn’t that sweet?


My state still has a stay in order. Our Governor refuses to let things open up right now even though we have very low numbers of Covid19. 
Well, we didn’t let that ruin anymore plans. We piled in the car and drove about 6 miles into South Carolina where they are now allowing restaurants to have indoor seating at 50% capacity. 

We headed down to a little BBQ place out in the country called Courtney's and enjoyed a meal at the table. I will admit, it was a little weird walking in while cars were wrapped around the building for pick up orders. Once we were inside, there were only a few families there. We had to order at the register then find a seat. We sprayed our table down with hand sanitizer for extra precaution (per the boyfriend) and waited on our food. 



Things were a little different such as ketchup was in individual containers and drinks were in styrofoam cups. I like it that way though. I have always been skeptical to eating condiments that set on the tables for everyone to use from.

Afterwards, we came back to the house and had cake and ice cream while sitting outside. It was a nice evening and we sat there until dark. It was a nice birthday and I felt loved. 

Sometime before this month ends, my mom will be doing a big birthday dinner for my sister, brother, daddy and me. 
We all have a birthday in May......Good bye Diet.

A Different Easter Sunday

This Easter Sunday was definitely different due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the meaning of this special day stayed the same.

We are still practicing social distancing and stay in orders, but my daughter wanted to come home for the weekend. Of course she can. I am a mother. She is my only child. I have Mom-ed through the flu, many strep throats, infections, viruses, scarlet fever, and chicken pops. I refuse to let covid-19 stop me now.

So she came home and we had a great time together as usual as we exercised, baked goodies and dyed eggs. 


My daughter woke up Easter morning to an Easter basket full of goodies, puzzles and little things she needed (shes 28 but when shes home, she 12 again). She also had us a little Easter basket full of snacks. 

After breakfast we got dressed and headed to church for Sunday service. 
It was not an ordinary service. It was a drive in service. Definitely different.


Everyone sat in their cars as the singers sang a few songs and the pastor preached a great service from the porch of a little house on the church grounds.


You could hear horns honk in place of the Amens you normally hear in the sanctuary on a normal Sunday. It was rather nice but sad that it has come to this alternative. I talked to my daddy and saw momma sitting in their vehicle.

This is me and my sister sitting beside each other. 


It looked like it was going to rain but the rain held off until the service ended. As soon as he dismissed everyone, the rain came down. . 

When we came home after church, we had a small Easter dinner complete with ham, potato salad and broccoli casserole.

Hope you all had a great Easter despite of the changes taken place and social distancing. 

Halloween at the Campground

We are spending some time at the beach. The weather has been nice. The sun has been shining bright each day with temperatures ranging from 75 to 85 degrees. I have done a lot of walking along with lots of relaxing. The crowd at the beach this time of year is at a minimum and that makes it nice when we go out.

The campground was pretty full this past weekend. People flocked in with their RVs and campers to enjoy the Halloween festivities here. On Friday night, the campground hosted a pet costume contest along with food and drinks by the new Tiki bar. We walked up to see the pet costumes and met a couple new friends. The funnel cake stand was a hit as well. 


Saturday was also a big night at the clubs around the area with costume contest and drink specials. We are not big fans of the club life so we opt to stay in the campground for the night. There was a kids costume contest, trick or treating, special music, and judging of the best decorated camp site. 
We did not decorate our campsite other than a little pumpkin on my picnic table. 

We walked around viewing all the campers decked out for Halloween and tricks for the kids. I’m gonna end the post with a few photos of some of my favorites from Halloween at the campground. Enjoy.







Hope everyone has a safe an happy Halloween!


Somewhere on the beach

"Somewhere on the beach" was my slogan last week while on vacation.

I think this was one of the best weeks we had at the beach in a long time. When we first arrived, we met up with some friends on the sand. It was suppose to be a couple we met last year and could hardly wait to see them again this year. Sadly there was only one. He and his wife split up, but we got to sit with him for a while and had some good laughs with him and his best friend. I really wanted to see my other new friend though. Maybe I will run into her some other time.

Nick has a brother that lives on a campground a mile from our campsite and we always take a walk down to see him when we are there. Nick has another brother that brought his family of five plus two friends down the same week. They were staying at a hotel between the two campgrounds. We all met up to play with the kids on the beach and had fun in the sun. Later that evening me and Nick walked up to the tikki bar to hear some music and relax under the sunset.

Toward the end of the week my daughter and her boyfriend came down to spend the day on the beach with us. They were staying near Wilmington and I was so excited to see them. After spending some time on the beach, we all cleaned up and met the rest of the family for dinner.

The arrows point out the brothers. They are all handsome but I think I ended up with the best looking one (yellow shirt). Dontcha think?


We tried a new spot about thirty minutes away in Little River called Crab Catchers. It was a small but mighty place that sits on the waterfront. I ate two pounds of crab legs. I hate I failed to get a photo but there was so much going on that I forgot. Me and Nick liked this place so much that we plan to go back again sometime.

It was a great week. It was nice getting to spend a day or so with family and friends. We never are all together like this except at Christmas. I’m thnking his parents were probably smiling down from heaven.

Beach Rules

Growing up, the only rules on the beach I remember were, no thong bikinis, and no glass bottles. 

Things have surely changed. I see a lot of glass bottles. I also see a lot of thong bikinis. Girls (and some guys) do not leave much to the imagination now days. Some girls look to be as young as twelve showing everything God gave them with no shame or modesty. Where are their parents anyway? 

Through the years there have been new rules for our beach here in South Carolina. 

No Pets can be on the beach between during the summer months except before 8 am and after 5 pm. I think this a good rule. No one wants to have to listen to dogs barking or dodging dog poop all day. This also protects children from getting bit by someones dog that “never bites”.

No drinking allowed on the beach. This is the most unbroken rule and never enforced unless someone gets out of hand. 

No bikes are allowed between 8 am and 5 pm. 

No tents or canopies are allowed.

This is what the beach looks like at 7:30 am,


Umbrellas can not be open until 8:00 am. All umbrellas have to be placed behind the lifeguard stand. Everyone gets up early and rushes out to reserve a spot on the beach as it gets crowded quick. The first blue umbrella with the striped chairs you see are ours. Nick makes sure he is in line with the others. This is also the high tide line. The day begins.

By noon, this is what the beach looks like. It’s has been crazy crowded this week.


No matter where you set up, there is always that one family that will put there chairs right slap dab on top of ya and either using fowl language or smoking. Never fails. We just bite out tongue and wait for them to go back in. 

All and all, its has been nice here so far. It’s bright and sunny each day and the water feels great. We ran into some friends and made new ones. 
I love playing in the waves and wish I had a surf board. Ha. I haven’t heard of any jelly fish stings or shark bites so far and hope it stays that way.


Beach With a Chance of Rain

We enjoyed another long weekend at the beach. The forecast called for rain and storms everyday.
When we arrived on our campsite it was cloudy skies and misty rain.

I started as usual of hanging the close line, putting out the mats and chairs while Nick levels out the camper. Then I get the thumbs up to let out the slide.

Oops, the slide did not come out. We just looked at each other and rolled our eyes. If you have a camper, you know there is always a chance of something going wrong. Nick pulls out the tool bag and crawls underneath to investigate.


He took the slide motor off for a closer look. It seemed to be ok, so he put the motor back in place and the slide finally came out. We think the motor could be weak or just some debris was keeping it from turning. We have a new motor on hand just in case. I love that he thinks ahead like that and is always ready for the unexpected.

We did have rain every day but only in the afternoons. Each morning we woke up to sunshine and blue skies. Nick would go ahead of me on his walks then I would meet up with him after I tidyed up.

Then.....I always make a run for the ocean.


I found some really cool shells. I put them back after I snapped a photo. A couple of them still had hermit crabs inside so I let them live.


I'm really excited to have found a piece of drift wood along the coast. Driftwood is a rare find on these beaches. 


This is pretty much the view each afternoon. It was almost perfect. We did not let the clouds dampen our beach vibes. I love the cool storm breezes. We would sit and watch the black skies move in as long as we could. 


"Life is always better at the beach".


The pineapple bag pictured can be purchased at RiceLovebags
Click the link and get 20% off any items. 
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Out For Ice Cream

Sunday, I wanted some ice cream. My husband suggested Sweet Frogs yogurt shop that we often visit. They had some specials going on if I had an account loaded on the phone app. After several attempts, I could not get the app to work. I was so frustrated. That's when my husband suggested we ride down to Cramerton to a little creamery we have only heard about. I was on board in a jiffy.

Cramerton is a small town where I attended middle school at the base of a small mountain. I have not been through there in years. 
We arrived at the small creamery and coffee house called Floyd and Blackies. Walking in was so inviting as there was no crowd and the atmosphere was set for comfort of a cozy coffee house. We made our ice cream choice as we stood in line. They carried my favorite brand, Hershey's Ice Cream, with several different flavors to choose from. 


I would have loved to try them all but choices are not something I'm good with so I went with my typical favorite of Salted Caramel Truffle. Nick had Raspberry Roadrunner. One scoop in a waffle cone hit the spot. 

We decided to go for a walk around the little town while we slurped the melting ice cream from the rim of our cones. The temperature was soaring in the upper 90’s.


Out back was a place to picnic by the muddy river. There was canoe rentals for the brave ones. 


Looking over the trees I saw a foot bridge and suggested we go a little further to see where it lead us. It was a nice little half mile walk to a park called Goat Island Park. A place I have always heard of but never knew where it was. 


Well, we just so happened to accidentally enter into it. There were sand boxes, a play ground and picnic areas for families. Throughout the park was a disk golf course. 


Our ice cream was gone by now and we headed back to the car then rode around more to find some new eating places to try in the future. It was a nice little afternoon outing. 

Summer Fashion Wants

Spring is here and this gives me the itch to want new clothes. It usually starts at Easter. I keep coming across styles online and in the stores that I like. I have a Pinterest board set for “Summer Fashion”. However,  I do more “wanting” than “Buying”.

I need a new bathing suit. They are already getting picked over and I think Target had the cutest ones so far. The full piece seem to be hot this year but I’m leaning more toward the highwaist two peice. I also like the sporty look. I love this one. I’m always drawn to stripes and I like the mixed patterns. 


Have you seen all the jumpsuits that are out this year? I started seeing a lot of them last year. While most are casual dressy, I like the comfy, and cute ones. I’m loving the look of this vintage style jumpsuit. It would look great with a bandeau or tank top.


I am actually trying to find a pair of tulle socks. I have not seen anyone wearing them but I think they are just adorable. I may have to order a pair to get what I want. I think they are fun and different. Do they remind you of a lady losing her stockings? I know that’s the reaction I will have with Nick. Haha.


Let’s talk purses. I’m always looking for a fun purse to carry and I am swooning over this Aztec print clutch.

 

I am not 100% on board with the Kimono tops but these long sheer Kimonos are growing on me. I think they will be great for cool summer nights with jeans, shorts or over a swim suit.

Source unknown

According to my daughter, snake skin print is a growing style in the city right now. I’m glad because I am actually trying to find some wedges like these snakes skin print with brown. They are on Ebay but unfortunately they are not my size. They are also from China and I would want them by Easter, not Christmas.


Ebay


Now if I could just find the closet space for the clothes and shoes I want. Ha. We have small closets and even with a small amount of clothes, it gets tight. I will just continue to window shop for now....Windows 10 that is. 


Old Games-Memories

When the husband and I take our afternoon walks we will often come across coins, broken jewelry, lost keys and more. But what I like to find is marbles. It's rare but I have found a few. When I pick a marble up, I will always say "Someone is loosing their marbles".  I have no clue why I find them because I'm pretty sure they are not needed in any of the video game kids play now days.


I still have a bag of old marbles. Some are mine and some are my husbands from when we were kids.

I remember playing marbles when I was younger. It's started by drawing a ring in the dirt with your finger or stick. Each player would throw in a few of their own marbles into the center of the ring. Each player also had a "Shooter" marble which was larger than the marbles in the center. We always had our lucky shooter. Each player took turns thumping there shooter into the ring and try to knock out the other player's marbles. They also got to keep the marbles they knocked out. This led to going home with either more marbles than you had or less. It was sort of a gamble. But it was fun.

As I was cleaning out some old games from the TV hutch the other day, I came across some old Jack Rocks. These were not the large plastic ones you see in the stores today. These are the tiny metal ones that would scar your foot for life if you ever stepped on one barefooted.


I used to play with these things all the time. I remember the back side of my pinkie finger would be raw and even bleed at times from sweeping my hand across the pavement. You would start with collecting one, then two and so forth until you were able to grab all ten jacks in on sweep before the ball bounced. You do not see that being played by kids anymore either.

Another game I came across while cleaning..... wait.....let me back up...It really has not been that long since I have cleaned. I was just going through some old small games I had stashed away.
I found a box of Old Maid cards and a can of "Pick up Sticks". These were all simple and fun games we enjoyed as a kid. I think I'll hang on to them for the next generation.

Do you remember old games you used to play? Do you still have them?

Virtual Assistant

I have dived into the world of virtual assistants. I rarely use Suri on my iPhone unless I'm too lazy to look something up and I will just ask her for the answer.

Now I have a new assistant in the house. She is adopted.


Two Christmases ago, I got my gadget loving daddy an Echo Dot virtual assistant named Alexa.
This past Christmas he wanted me to take it back. He lived with fear of this thing all year. He read a lot of nonsense news saying this gadget can spy on you in your home. He wasn't going for that no matter how much we convinced him that it's not how it works. He didn't care. He wanted it gone.
So, I adopted her back.

We have had a lot of fun with this thing. I have had it for two weeks now. I loaded the Alexa app on my phone and set up my account. It repeats a lot from my icloud account such as my music, calendar events and reminders. It also has it's own built in features such as games, news, and trivia.

So far,
  • When we ask...Alexa tells us the weather, temperature low and highs of the day and what to expect in precipitation. We do this every morning. It's more fun than looking at our phone and no more walking outside in our jammies.
  • Alexa  helped me in the kitchen this past New Years Day during my cooking. I would ask her to remind me when to put in the roast, start the crock pot and set timers. I normally jot this stuff down on a piece of paper but it was nice to have a voice command. 
  • We would also ask Alexa to turn on music and she would play any kind of music genre we asked. If it was a certain radio station we wanted to listen to, she would play that too. 
  • She has timed my workouts each day and will even make phone calls at my command. 
We are still learning new features with the Eco Dot. The latest feature I learned was enabling Q&A's in "Skills". This is also found in the app. You can add up to 40 of your own custom questions and how you want Alexa to answer. 

This feature was fun when Daddy was at the house for dinner the other day. I had set up a custom question and answer before he arrived and this is how it went...........

We were sitting around the living room and I simply asked Alexa if she would talk to us. She answered, "Tell Sidney I miss watching him" .
We all had a good laugh when daddy said "See!!!! I told you, it was watching me!!" 

I explained to him later how it did that. But I still don't think hes buying it.


As a kid I always wanted a robot.
I guess this is the closest thing I'm going to get to "Twiki". (Buck Rogers robot from the 70's).


Fine Dinning

Where I come from, fancy eating is dinner around the dinning room table instead of the kitchen table using cloth napkins instead of paper.

As a Christmas present from my daughters boyfriend. He insisted on taking us out of our comfort zone and into a fancy swanky restaurant in uptown.
We did not know where he was taking us but we trusted him and agreed to go. 

We met at his house and he drove us uptown where the buildings were tall and the town was full of lights and action.
This is the first time Nick had ever let anyone drive him. He never lets me drive him anywhere and if we go anywhere with a group, he will drive his own car. So this was a pretty big shock to me and my daughter. 

Upon arriving at the restaurant we were met with a valet driver at the front door of none other than Ruth Chris Steakhouse. I have always heard about this place, but knew I’d never go unless taken there by surprise. Ha.

Our table was waiting and we sat down to dinner. After the price shock from the menu, I ordered my meal. I chose the Salmon, while everyone else had steak or chicken. We snacked on calamari while we waited. I almost forgot where I was as I reached in using my fingers. Nick tapped my hand and pointed at one of the two forks. 


Sides were ordered separately so we ordered four to share. I also enjoyed a glass of wine and It was not the cheap stuff.
I leaned over to my daughter and asked “are you not concerned about where your car is or who has it?” She responded with “well yea, I’ve never used valet parking before”. 

The wait staff worked hard to make every ones dining a pleasurable one. They kept our glasses filled and clean silverware by the plates. If we put our fork down, they immediately would replace it with a clean one and wiped any crumbs off the table ( I was seriously waiting on a back rub). 


The food was delicious. I think that is the best fish I ever had and Nicks steak was so tender you could cut it with a fork. We finished the meal off with a couple desserts. They said they were sharable in size. (Maybe for an elf). 


After dinner the car was waiting for us at the door, unharmed. 
This was definitely a nice treat and something different for us. We are very thankful and blessed to have such a good boyfriend in the family. 
You may be laughing at my excitement of fine dinning but in my town, we usually will eat a meal for two under twenty bucks. 

Snow Candy

We woke up Sunday morning to about an inch of snow. The weatherman got it right. Snow is something we do not see but maybe once or twice a year here. People will get into a panic and rush to the stores and close businesses with the slightest threat of the white stuff. We rarely get just plain snow, It’s usually mixed with sleet or freezing rain. In fact, it has been sleeting here for hours, laying a blanket of ice to seal the snow. Basically, we get our Winters in bundles. It can be 70 degrees one week and 30 the next. But I will not complain. Nothing is prettier than a snow in December.

I really miss my daughter being home on snow days. We used to rush out and build a snow man followed by making snow cream, then settle down inside to a warm cup of cocoa. Now we snap photos back a forth. 

The kid in me still likes to go outside when it snows. While I was having my breakfast and coffee, I came across a recipe for Maple Snow candy.  I could not wait to go outside and try it. Holy Moly it worked! 


I am 49 years old and have seen every Little House on the Prairie episode and still never knew about “snow candy” until today. I bet my mom knew about this, but with four kids I can see why she kept it a secret. 


Supposedly, Snow taffy or Snow candy is a traditional favorite in Canada. When maple syrup is boiled to the right temperature, it is poured onto a blanket of snow creating a taffy or hard candy. I guess it depends on the heat of the syrup. There is an art to making candy just like making peanut brittle. But ill save that one for another post. 


I did not have any Maple syrup so I used the optional recipe of honey and brown sugar. 

SNOW CANDY
1/2 cup of honey
1/4 cup of brown sugar. 

Bring to a boil while constantly stirring. You want the temperature to reach about 235-240 degrees.
I did not have a thermometer so I let it boil for about 5 minutes. It will foam up but the foam will disappear as soon as you take it off the heat. 

When the syrup is ready, pour strips of the honey mixture into the snow. With straws (or wooden sticks) roll the candy to make pops. This has to be done rather fast because it quickly turns into a hard candy. If this happens its ok, the kids will have fun picking the pieces up to get a sugar fix. 

I’m sure the real Maple syrup would have tasted better than honey but a poor girl only has so much to work with. 


WARNING:  Use adult supervision at all times and be very careful. Boiling sugar can be the worst burn ever if it gets on you because it will stick while burning your skin off



Crochet Chapstick Cozy

I took a break from big crochet projects to do some small things. I have been busy Christmas shopping, wrapping gifts and tidying up the house for Christmas.

Speaking of wrapping gifts, every year I wrap up some little gifts for the girls.
“The girls” are my daughters friends. One is her roommate and one is her best friend from college. The three are inseparable. Every year they pick a night during Christmas to set out a little tree , pull out the Christmas movies and bake cookies. I make sure they have some little gifts under their tree to have fun opening. They are addressed "from Santa". 

This year I got each one of them a planner, some beauty accessories then added a chapstick to top it off. My daughter is always looking for her lost chapstick, so an idea hit me. I decide to crochet each of their chapsticks a little chapstick cozy (aka holder). 

I told Nick my plan and he gave me a funny look. “You just watch me” I said as I flipped open my iPad and searched for a pattern.

Bingo! I found several different patterns, so I had to decide which worked best for me.
After fiddling around with my yarn and crochet needle, three tiny chapstick cozies were born. 


I showed them to Nick and he was surprised. He thought they were rather cool.
I finished the cozies off by adding a key ring to the top and packed them neatly with each gift. 


My daughter texted me once they opened their gifts. They giggled and thought the crochet cozies were the best. 

It was just a little something fun to add to the mix. Now maybe my daughter can keep up with her chapstick and leave mine alone. 


Crochet Chapstick Cozy (free) pattern can be found HERE.

Crochet Holes

I enjoy wearing my holey distressed jeans. If you follow my blog, you may have read how I distressed my own jeans. I will go shopping for new jeans and can’t hardly find any that are not full of holes and look like they have been in a bull rink. I just refuse to pay high prices for ripped jeans. But then, again, they are my favorite. Go figure.

Last night as I was itching for something to crochet. I seen my jeans laying in the stack of clean clothes that my husband had just folded. Yes I have a wonderful husband that does the laundry a lot. He also washes dishes. We are good at sharing chores.

As I was looking at my worn out jeans, A thought crossed my mind of crocheting a patch on one of the bigger holes. When I get a thought, I have to attempt the process or it will drive me crazy. I found some instructions online then pulled out my yarn and hook and crocheted a hole. 
[Husband rolls eyes]. 


I like how they turned out and it gives them some unique character. Distressed and holey jeans are fun to wear when the weather is too warm for pants but too cool for shorts. 


I remember back in the day we would wear holes in the knees of our jeans and mom would sew patches on them. We did not go anywhere with holes in our pants. We also used to wear our jeans until they were too short, then mom cut them off to make shorts. The cut off part would go into the scrap barrel and used for more patches in the future. 
Clothes were not thrown out and wasted like they are today. 


Crochet pattern can be found HERE.