5K On The Sand

I mentioned in my last post that I would be doing a virtual 5K for my home town’s  “Community Foundation Run”. This is a big event held each year. There is a lot of money raised for different charity/ organizations. I registered for the run a few weeks ago. It was to be held on April the 4th. Due to the Covid-19 scare, they chose to cancel the race and asked everyone to do it virtually on our own time between now and midnight April 4th.

I decided to do the 5k (3.10miles) while I was at the beach. I thought I would be at an advantage running on a flat beach one way and back. 

I was wrong. 

Have you ever tried to run on sand? It was not that easy. I ran on dry firm sand but I did not have that bounce in my run to help my stride.

Nick made sure to stay behind me as he did his regular morning walk. I stayed in his view. He can almost walk as fast as I run. He turned and headed the other way before I started coming back (now he was in my view and I never caught up with him). He did this so he could beat me to the end to take a photo of my finish. 

This was my 3rd 5K. The first one I did was a couple years ago. I was 10lbs lighter and finished at 38.34 minutes. This time I came in at 41.29.

I never prepare for these things. This time I had a big meal the night before and was still sore from a workout my daughter had me doing just a couple days ago. I walk every day, but never run, so when I do a 5k run, I will run a little and walk a little. Maybe one day I will train myself to beat my record instead of lose to myself. 

I logged into the site and entered my time and a photo for proof. I will be receiving a T-shirt in the mail soon. 

I doubt I will, but if I am the winner in my age group (female 50-55) I will receive a great amount to donate to a charity of my choice. My choice will be the Crisis Pregnancy Center. This is a Christian organization that help pregnant ladies make the right choices for their unwanted pregnancy through counseling and/or adoption. 

I am back home on higher ground now. I wish I could have stayed longer at the beach. It was so nice down there but It was suppose to rain the rest of the week and with nothing open we didn’t want to sit in the camper every day. It was fun while it lasted. 

It’s Different Here

We packed the Ford Escape (aka Betty) and headed to the beach. Before we got out of the drive way, a little bird was flapping around the hood of the car in a frantic. Nick said “I bet she has a nest under the hood”. Sure enough, she did.

We hated to do it, but we destroyed the eggless nest and went on our way.

We got wind that the county would be making everyone stay home, so we got out while we could. We wanted to stay at our “other home” since it had a better view. We still practiced our safe distancing. We carefully filled the tank with gas not to touch the grip bare handed. We have kept our hands washed and make sure to sanitize our hands constantly.

We were able to stop at our half way point near Darlington got take a pit stop. They have clean restrooms. We also grabbed some fresh veggies and some Angel food cake. 

The roads were clear with only minimal traffic. That was nice. Once we go to our camper and set everything up, we headed out for a walk. It was quite.

It felt odd and strange.

I get up every morning and have breakfast then walk out to the beach for some quiet time with Jesus and coffee. 

(This cute cup was a surprise gift from Jean at “bjsweetnothings” blog)

There are usually lots of people out, but not this time. It’s just so different here. Sort of a weird vibe. This is normally a busy time of the year. Everyone is behaving, minding there own business and keeping their distance. I’m not complaining though. I actually like it. Throwing up a hand wave and a smile with everyone is fine with me. 

We have been able to get curb side or carry out food from our favorite restaurants and have a stock of food in the camper to get us by for a while. The grocery stores are still open but we are trying to avoid going. We can smell the grills cooking all around the campground. We will be doing some grilling out too. 

We did a lot of walking and tomorrow morning I will be running a 5k...Alone. This is an event I registered and paid for in my home town, but it got cancelled due to this crazy pandemic. They ask that we all do it on our own and turn in our times. What a better place to do it than here at the beach. 

I’ll let you all know how I did in my next post. Wish me luck. I’m not really prepared for running and I’m still sore from a workout I did at home last week.

Handling Social Distancing

I never thought I would live in a world where we would have to keep a 6 foot distance from people. But actually, I’m ok with that. I’m not real fond of people walking on my heels or breathing down my neck anyway. If I can hear you breathe or smell your cologne, then it’s to close for comfort for me. However, I never usually turn down a hug, no matter who it is.

Businesses are closing, so I feel so sorry for the employees. 

I know the feeling of panic setting in when there is no income. 

I know what it’s like to all of a sudden not to get up and go to a job you did for many years.

At least most people out of work can enjoy some time off, because they know they still have a job waiting for them when this crises ends. I on the other hand have lost hope in finding a job while this pandemic is going on. 

Restaurants are closed and only allowing curbside service or takeouts. We ended up with takeout Saturday night. This is still safe to do! Covid-19 is not found in foods. It attacks the respiratory system through contact with an infected person through cough, sneezes or droplets then touched on your face or in the air. 

If you get take out, make sure to tip them. It’s not the waitresses or cooks decision to close and they are all in this with us. 

Schools are closed leaving it up to the parents to home school their children. Some children are not safe at home. Some schools are closed for the rest of the year which interferes with sports and graduations. Keep the kids in mind. They are struggling and stressed like everyone else. As far as I know, teachers will continue to get paid. 

Churches are closing. I had to listen to my pastor give his sermon through facebook live. 

It was nice, but not the same. If your church is closed, remember churches still need tithes to keep the bills paid. We have drop off times at our church for those that wish to give or mail it in. 

We went to the grocery store today for our weekly shopping. There was no one hardly shopping and the shelves were bare. No bread, eggs, or milk.

Toilet paper was still gone but luckily we have enough to get us by a few weeks or so. As I turned the corner and saw more bare and broken shelves, I almost lost it and my eye filled with tears. It was so sad how life can change so quickly. There was not even any dry beans left, and what is Lentils?

We got enough foods to get us through a week or so. Hopefully we can go down to the beach soon, so we do not need to stock up too much. 

It’s not really all that bad around here, It’s just different. 

The good thing about this social distancing thing is that families might now eat together around the table. Parents can teach their children new things around the house like cooking, creating, cleaning and yard work. Dads can show their kids how to change the oil in a car or change a tire. 

Makes me think of the olden days. We are just back to the simple life for now and that’s not such a bad thing.

Hope everyone reading this is doing ok and you all are in my prayers!

St. Patricks Day☘️

Hope everyone had a nice St. Patricks Day.

In the wake of the Corona virus pandemic, they announced for North Carolinians to stay in and not go any place where there are groups of more than 10 people. 

All resteraunts have closed their doors for dining. They are keeping drive thrus open and you can call in orders for pick up.

Stores are now closing their doors to shoppers and are asking everyone to shop online and pick up at the stores. This all seems so weird. 

The weather was cool and misty during Most of the day. I was feeling bored, so I decided to make the best of St. Patricks Day by baking some green sugar cookies. 

They were delicious and were prefect for an afternoon snack. 

My house was smelling great as the aroma of the Corned beef brisket was drifting from the crock pot. It had to slow cook for 8 hours. We sat down to enjoy our traditional St. Patricks Day meal with corned beef and cabbage. I made a side of horseradish sauce for dipping. 

My daughter will usually come and enjoy St. Patricks Day dinner with us but with everything going on, we didn’t decide to cook until the last minute and she had forgotten it was even St. Patricks Day. We also hated to call her home in the chaos. We will be seeing her on Thursday as we go help her get moved into her new apartment. We are taking her some cookies. 

Guess who else was in the St. Patricks Day mood and put on their green coat?

Loui!

Loui is a lizard that lives in my shutters. He comes out for a chat when the temperatures are above 50. He will even let me pet him. He has been dark skinned all month until today. He decided to turn into a leprechaun.

Funny story: I walked out the other day and said “hey Loui” and three more lizards popped out of the shutters. Now I do not know which one is the real Loui and neither do they. Haha. 

How I Feel About it

There are no statistics or proven fact in this post. It is simply my own opinion. 

This Corona Virus (COVID-19) is all I have heard about on the media and news lately. Should it be taken serious? Yes, but here is how I feel about it. 

I am not worried about getting this virus any more than I worry about getting the flu. However, I could as easily get it as anyone. 

People are going crazy and going into panic. Why? Because the media is playing this thing up. I personally think it’s just another political plot and something for media to thrive on. 

The flu is killing way more people than this new Corona virus. To my understanding, It’s contracted the same way. Through being in contact with someone who has a fever and/or coughs close around you.

I am a somewhat a germ phoebe anyway, so I am always taking precautions. I keep my hands washed, I do not touch door handles, rails or buggy handles with my bare hands. If I have to, then I always have sanitizer. This does not mean I will not catch a virus or cold but it helps. Knock on wood, I have not been sick with a virus or cold in three years. Not to say other things haven't ailed me. 

It has crossed my mind many times that this is some sort of warfare test from another country, just to see how we would react in a crisis. So far the world has gone into a panic. Here in the US, we have closed schools, events, towns, churches and even Disney World. How can you close Disney World? This is with only a tiny percentage of people that have tested positive. You would think the sky is fixing to fall. People need to chill out and stop being manipulated by the media and politicians.

I still can’t figure out why toilet paper has become the biggest need during this crisis? Toilet Paper!!! Fortunately, we always stay stocked up on it, but this is just a luxury. Seriously. We have running water and washcloths. We can survive without toilet paper if we have to.

This is what our Walmart toilet paper isle looked like this week.

(Photo taken by my sweet friend)

Why is no one making food as much of a necessity? It snows and people buy up all the bread and milk. We have a pandemic and everyone needs toilet paper!?! 

I really hope everyone stays safe. Keep away from sick people and refrain from hugging or shaking hands for a few weeks. If you are sick or feel like your coming down with something, please stay away from public places as much as you can. There are elderly and babies that may have low immune systems and have the hardest time fighting off any sickness. 

I pray that everyone that contracts this virus or any other sickness has a fast recovery. I also pray for those who or have family in quarantine. I also hope people will go about their normal activities without living in fear. This too will pass. 

DIY Wallflower Bud Vases

We are finally getting some Spring like weather here in North Carolina. The afternoons are now warm despite the chilly mornings. Getting myself to go out and walk in the mornings have been brutal for me. I’d rather do my walks in the afternoon when its warmer. Now I can as the days are beginning to stay daylight longer.

When I go outside now, I enjoy seeing all the new growth on the trees and the flowers blooming. I am already seeing bees looking for pollen and birds fighting for a mate. I love Spring time.

Speaking of flowers, I found a perfect idea for little bud vases. 

We are always buying air fresheners for our Wallflower plugins by Bath & Body works. I had a few of the empty glass fragrance bottles hanging around in the cabinet so I could remember the fragrances I liked best.

While cleaning out the old bottles the other day, I decided to turn a few of them into tiny bud vases. I am all about recycling things when I have a chance.

With a pair of needle nose pliers, I gently removed the plugged openings and gave them a good wash and rinse. Then I put in some fresh water and a cut flower. So far the flowers have stayed bloomed all week. These vases will give me something to put my little flowers in that I pick along my afternoon walks. Yes, I’m that person. 

These vases would be perfect used for a fine dinner or wedding reception. You can use them for place markers on the tables for guest.

They are also pretty simply sitting on a window seal. 

I plan to use mine in a decorative tray as I decorate for Spring.

What are some other ways you can use bud vases? 

Repurposed Home Keys

Do you have a drawer of keys? Or do you have key rings laying around full of keys that no longer belong anywhere? Well, I do.

Why is it that we keep keys? When we move away or our locks are changed, people tend to keep the keys. I even have old car keys from when I was a teenager. They are no longer any good. 

Or are they?

Nick and I got a little crafty last week when my daughter said she was looking for a small key hanger for her new little 400 sq ft studio apartment. She loves to throw her keys up on a hook when she comes in. She has always shared an apartment with her Kappa Delta sister but has now decided to try things on her own. Her apartment is adorable and we can’t wait to see how she decorates it. 

We looked around for some ideas to make her a key hanger. Hooks can be expensive, so we found a cool way to make some hooks using old keys. Nick carefully bent the keys into hooks. With a little cutting, sanding and painting, we created her the perfect key hanger. This key hanger will also have some sentimental value as each key is from a family home. 

There is a key from both her grandparents homes.

One key is from the first house she grew up in and our first home.

And one key is from our current home she continued to grow up in until she moved out on her own.

The wooden part of the key hanger is a piece of the molding from our house. 

Nick did the sanding and I did the painting and writing. 

We decided to give it a distressed look by sanding down and scuffing some areas. 

We had fun making this together and all it costed us was a dollar paint brush and a Sharpie. 

Now let’s hope the area where she wants to put it will be big enough in that tiny little uptown apartment. 

Do you have old keys laying around? I think one of these days people will no longer need keys as everything is touch or speech activated. 

Even cars nowadays are cranking up by themselves. 

Crochet Earrings

March is finally here. This is the month we get to turn our clocks up an hour, the flowers start to bloom and days stay daylight longer. Soon it will be Spring. It is also when we will head down to the coast and get our camper ready for Summer. 

I have done a lot of crocheting this Winter. I have made several hats and blankets for my Etsy shop. Now it’s time to slow down as Winter wear is not a big seller in the warmer months. I haven’t been able to do much crocheting the past few days anyway.

Sunday while we were out walking, I took a nice ungraceful fall. We were about a quarter mile from the house when I tripped on an uneven crack in the sidewalk. The fall was quick and hard resulting in both palms cut and scraped along with two bruised knees. I was sore the next two days but by day three I was back out walking again. I heal pretty fast.

Once I was feeling better and my scraped palms are healing, I decided to pick up the crochet needle again and use up some of my small stashes of yarn. 

I had an idea. Once I get an idea in my head of something to make, I have to get to it. My idea was to crochet some fun earrings. 

These earrings will be perfect for the office or a day on the beach. My boho vibes are showing with the big mandalas and long tassels. 

I have these for sale in my shop while they last. I have already sold a few pair and hope to sell more. I will make more depending on the demand. They were fun to make and pretty easy. If you crochet, I have the pattern below. I may have to whip myself up a pair, in fact, I know I will soon. 

Earring Pattern: 

H hook

Make a magic circle.

8 sc in the circle. sl to the beginning sc (8)

2 sc in each sc around. sl to the beginning sc (16)

Tie off.

Add tassels using embroidered thread.

**Feel free to visit my Etsy shop and take a look around.**

LiLiDi at Etsy.com

Old Things

I have been a bad blogger lately. I was putting out at least three post a week, now I’m lucky to get out one a week. I’m still here and still read other post each morning during my breakfast. I just can’t seem to come up with a post for some reason. I guess my life is just that boring right now. With all the time I have on my hands, you’d think I would be crafting, cooking and exploring more, but I’m not. Well, except crocheting. Been doing a lot of that.

I get up each morning, pour myself a cup of coffee and sit down to breakfast. While I have my breakfast and for about the next hour and five cups of coffee afterwards, I read from my Bible app, read blogs, and apply for jobs on Indeed. I also look at my facebook and instagram but that’s pretty much all day long.

Mid morning I will turn on the tv and do some hula hooping and other small exercises in the living room. I think I have seen every episode at least 10 times of Rosanne, Mom and Two and Half men. I think that’s more than all the Gilligan's Island and Andy Griffin shows I’ve watched. 

I look forward to going to the grocery store now as it’s an excuse to get out and buy something. Some days we will just ride around and visit Antique malls and thrift stores. Life is pretty boring to me right now. I do not like being without a job and no money coming in. I hope something gives soon. However, I love the time I get to spend with my sweet husband. 

Speaking of Antique malls, We visited one this past weekend and I snapped a couple photos of some old things that will tell you my age.

Metal Skates.

I had a pair just like these, you just tied them on your shoes. One size adjusted to fit all.  Honestly, I’m not sure if they were my moms and she let me play with them or if they were mine. But I also remember later having a pair of booted skates with metal wheels and could never understand why I couldn’t wear them in the skate rink. “They are sidewalk skates”, they said. 

School Desk.

I sat in many of these during middle school. By high school, we had larger wooden desk with arm rest made for all the right handed students. 

I’m a lefty but learned to manage. They were all so uncomfortable and as far as I know, they still use the wooden ones. 

Tennis Racket

Oh this brings back memories. Mom and Dad had a set of these old tennis rackets with the wooden frames. We played with them a lot.

In high school, I wanted to play tennis. We practiced with nice larger and short handled aluminum rackets, like you see today.

Well, I made the tennis team but in order to play, I had to have my own racket. I remember daddy taking me to the mall and after seeing the prices on new rackets, he decided I didn’t need a new racket like everyone else. I was often reminded that I “was not like everyone else”. 

He said I will just have to use the old rackets we already had. Needless to say, I never played tennis. They never believed I would stick to anything or succeed in much. They were pretty much right. I know they didn’t mean it in a negative way. I was just that kind of kid.  

It’s always fun to see old antiques and relive old memories. 

I bet the other girls rackets on the tennis team are not worth 48.00 now days.