Woolly Bear

This is the time of year you can find Woolly Bears, AKA Woolly Worms. They have also be called a Hedgehog Caterpillar because of how they will curl into a ball and play dead when disturbed. Despite the name, they are not worms at all. Woolly worms are actually caterpillars that turn into an “Isabella Tiger Moth”.

While we were taking a walk the other day I looked down and saw this little fella.

According folklore, the woolly worm can predict the severity of the Winter coming. But wait, there are actually two versions to this story. 

The first one says that the woolly indicates how severe the Winter will be by looking at the color bands on its coat. The longer the black bands are the more cold and snowy the Winter will be.  On the other hand the wider the brown band in the center means a mild Winter. 

The other version of the Folklore is to depend on the direction it is crawling. If it is crawling Southerly, It is escaping a cold wintery conditions from the North. So if the caterpillar is crawling a Northern path, it is expected to have a mild winter. 

If you see one that is all black, do not think we will have a Winter apocalypse. This type of worm is not even related to the woolly worm.

The popularity of the woolly bear caterpillar has resulted in several festivals honoring them. Not far from me, in Banner Elk North Carolina, they have a woolly worm festival every year 3rd weekend in October. They have worm races all day until they crown a champion at the end of the day and declare the official winter forecast. 

According to the little woolly booger I found, It looks like we will have a mild Winter because of the smaller black bands. 

He was crawling West, but I think he was just lost.  

Giving Thanks

Can you believe that Thanksgiving is here again already? I love Thanksgiving. I love the smell of food on the stove and in the oven. Me and Nick both have managed to get the day off after thinking we were going to have to work. Now I get to spend all day with my husband, daughter and family.

Thanksgiving is busy for us. I have my side of the family that cooks a meal, and then I have my husbands side of the family that cooks. Me and my husband cook a dish or two to share at each place. We always have to work around our schedule to enjoy the company of both sides. It can be stressful and filling! I get stuffed! Everyone has such wonderful food its hard to turn it away. 

I  hope everyone has a place to enjoy time with the people they love, to share stories with, to laugh with and just be thankful for what the Lord has given you and not worry about the things you do not have.

I hope every family can find a place around the table instead of scattered throughout the house watching TV.  I hope talks are full of laughter and not talks of politics, work, or of hard times.

Time with family is precious and does not need to be taken for granted. If you do not have a family, I hope you realize that you ARE the family and there are friends, churches and shelters that are full of people that will be thankful you come around to share time with.

I'm Thankful for..........

The stress of deciding where to have dinner first.

Because, this means I have family that wants to be together.

The cleaning and dusting, the lawn that needs mowed, and the things that need fixing.

Because, this means I have a home.

The clothes that are too tight.

Because, this means I have enough to eat.

All the complaining I hear about the government.

Because, this means we have freedom of speech.

The huge heating bill.
Because, this means I am warm.

The piles of laundry
Because, this means I have clothes to wear.

The birds outside singing.

Because, this means I can hear.

For the parking space I have to take at the far end of the parking lot.

Because, this means I am capable of walking.

For the alarm that goes off in the morning.

Because this means I have a job or church to go to.

For the sunshine.

Because this means God has given me another day.

WISHING EVERYONE A HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!

Customized iPhone Home Screen

Just about everyone has a smart phone of some sort now days. It has become an important necessity in life. This is were we keep our grocery list, calendars, store our photos, do our work, and let’s face it, all of our friends are inside there. 

We like to have our own style of phone cases and personalized settings. But did you know you can personalize your home screen with custom app icons? As I was playing around the other day, I discovered some new tricks on my iPhone. I learned that with the IOS14 update, I can created cute and fancy icons by using the shortcut app that is already on there by default. It was a little time consuming so I just chose my favorite apps to customize as the first page when I turn on my phone, AKA home screen.

I went from the normal bright colorful icons like this...

To soft beiges like this....

I also chose a Christmas or Winter background. Cute huh?

It is now more fun to look at my screen as it is easier and more relaxing on my eyes. 

First you have you have to search and download “ iPhone aesthetic app icons”.  There are a lot of free ones or for a just a couple of dollars, you can head over to Etsy and find whole sets made and ready to download and use. I found mine at  Cove Design.

Then save the photos of icon you want to your photo storage.

-Click your “shortcut app” then click on the “+”.

Add action and search “open app”.

-Now choose an app (for example Facebook”).

-Click on the three little dots at the top right.

-Name your shortcut and click “add to home screen”.

-Name it again and click the icon to the right of the name.

-Choose photo. Then click “Add” at the top right. 

Boom! There you have it. 

Don’t worry, your original icon and app is still there. What you just created is actually a “shortcut” to the app and can be removed anytime without messing up the original. 

Once you have shortcuts to the ones you use the most, all you have to do now is move the icons around to the home screen (this is the first screen you see when you turn on your phone).

To add a back ground:

Just find a photo you already have or from another site and save it as your background. 

I understand that most of you have no idea what I just said or what in the world I’m even talking about but there are several step by step videos online that can also help you customize your iPhone. Have fun!  

Be Thankful

Though we are thankful all the days of the year, Thanksgiving is when most families get together, lots of food is prepared and many thanks are given. 

What I am most thankful for is Jesus Christ. I am also thankful that I was raised in a Christian home. In a world like today, I can have the peace and understanding that I do not think I would have without knowing who is in control. Next, I am thankful for answered prayers. My daughter and my husband both are just that. They both have given me a personal testimony. 

“Be Thankful”

Me and my sister attended a girls night out at our church. We listened to a couple ladies speak about their personal experiences with faith and thankfulness. There was lots of food. 

Let me just say, “when you get a forty Baptist women together, there is going to be a lot of food”. 

We had homemade soups, salads, and all the snacks you need as each lady brought at dish. I brought a tray of mini doughnuts since my choice to go was last minute due to my schedule. 

After we ate we did a pallet painting. We had a model to copy. I went with the instructed painting while some of the others changed theirs up a bit with different colors and styles.

Now I have another piece of Fall decor and it sits on my mantel. Every time I look at it, I can think about the fun and fellowship I had with 38 friends and 1 sister in which I am very thankful for. She is the only Sister I have.

Worked Seven Slept Eleven

Yes you read the title right. “Worked”. 

I have not found a full time office job YET. But I have not given up looking. I still apply every day to something new that pops up that I think I qualify for, but still no luck. I have gotten some interviews but that’s all I have gotten so far.

SO, me and my husband was offered a part time seasonal job a Belks. We are working in fulfillment. Our first day was Yesterday. This is only temporary and will give us something to do besides watching reruns of “Rosanne” all day. 

I worked seven hours. It was actually fun. I had to go around and find items sold from online orders, then take them to packing and shipping. I felt like one of Santas elves. 

As the holidays get closer, we will be working more hours. We are only going to get in 15 hours this week. 

When I came in from working, I ate supper, took a shower, caught up on my emails and checked to see if any new jobs openings came available. Then once I leaned back into the recliner, I was out like a fat kid in dodgeball. Nick woke me up around 11:30 to go to bed and I slept a total of 11 hours. 

During breakfast, he started snickering and said “looks like your gonna need a day off between every days work”.  I had to remind him that I have not worked on my feet in over 28 years. All I have ever done was sit behind a desk. Also I had taken a dizzy pill during my work day because I was light headed and was afraid I would have a vertigo attack, and that would be embarrassing. I did fine. However, those pills make me drowsy. I have to remember that next time. 

I’m pretty excited to go back and do some more laboring...haha. I like fast pace and keeping busy. I can get my exercise in and since it’s practically like shopping for other people, I get some retail therapy. I will be working mostly weekends and on Thanksgiving day. This makes me really sad. I have never spent a holiday away from my daughter. I have moments were I feel down on myself. I want to better myself. I do not want to work for a department store. I worked at the same store when I was right out of high school, at almost the same pay! But again, it’s something to keep me going until I find a real job. 

Please keep me in your prayers that I will find a full time office position soon. 

Until then.....I will be helping Santa get those gifts out in time for Christmas! 

Fried Chicken

When I hear the words “fried chicken”, my mind goes back to Grandma. I remember family dinners at grandmas house every Sunday. The main meat was fried chicken. It was real chicken too. I’m talking about the kind of chicken where she would actually ring their necks, drain their blood and pluck their feathers. Then she would skin them and fry them up crispy and place them beside a bowl of mashed potatoes. The smell of fried chicken was set in the walls of grandmas house. 

Later in the years, she would buy chicken to fry. Until the day she passed away, you could visit her house any time and she would have cold fried chicken sitting in paper towels on the stove next to a pan of cornbread. I never knew how much I would miss the little things like this until she was gone. 

My mom and Uncles carry on the tradition by bringing fried chicken to our annual family dinners. 

Now days, I do not eat a lot of fried foods, but since I have an air fryer, I can make foods look and taste fried without actually frying them. I love it. 

The other day I found some chicken legs on sale and decided to make air fried chicken for supper. 

I love how it turned out and tasted almost as good and grandmas. Almost. 

I skinned and washed each leg then rolled them in seasoned bread crumbs and place in the air fryer at 390 degrees for 23 minutes. 

I think if grandma was still here today, she would love how the air fryer cooked up delicious chicken this quick and I didn’t even have to turn em. 

It is What it is

I have not written a new post in a few days because when things are going on in the world that are disturbing to me, that’s all I can think about and I just can’t come up with words to express how I feel. I try to keep my post away from my political views so sometimes it’s best for me keep quiet because I do not want to detour my readers on my bias. 

What happens, Happens. “ It is what it is”

So today I am going to just list a few things on my mind. Things I have been thinking about.

Yes, this is a political post with my own opinion and views and I understand we all do not think alike and that’s ok. Don’t bash me.

• Trump is still my President until it is all said and done.
• Yes I voted for Donald Trump in both elections.
• Why? Because he seems to care about the people in the Untied States. He really really did want to make America great again but his hands were tied.
• He never gives up a fight.
• He believes in God and was not ashamed to say it. He believes in what the Bible teaches us for leadership.
• I am not happy about what going on.
• If one man wins fair and square, then ok, but it’s not fair and square and you know it. There is some dirty stuff going on. 
• I knew the push for mail in ballots was not a good idea. Though I understand some people have to vote this way.
• I knew the Dems would pull another nasty stunt to keep our President from succeeding.
• I am not as worried about who becomes President as much as I am worried about what kind of country we are becoming. 
• I will not loose a friendship over two men that do not even know my name. We all have the right to our own political views.
• Everything we have and will work for will become worthless.
• I don’t want to rely on free stuff. I believe in working for things I have.
• I do not want a President that has no morals. 
• I do not want to have a President that was voted in because of his handling of a new virus. 
• I may never understand why people vote for certain candidates and just hope whoever is elected will do whats right for our country. 
• I hope who ever becomes president, we can be a peaceful nation. The Dems have been awful the past four years fighting and rioting against everything from the beginning.

There is so much more, but like I said, it’s hard for me to explain how I feel. 

All we can do now is pray for our leaders. Pray for our nation. And live one day at a time.

We can’t control what’s going to happen. 

It is what it is. 

Meal Time Names

Sometimes we will get into this little disagreement on what we call our meal times. 

Some people call lunch, “dinner”.

My husband calls supper “dinner”. 

But I think he’s wrong and we will go round and round about it. 

Seriously yall, if this is all we have to argue about then I think we will be ok.

I call the meals of the day as “breakfast, lunch and supper“.

Dinner to me is more formal and has a title in front of it as in “Sunday dinner, Thanksgiving dinner or Family Dinner“ and they can be held at any time of the day. 

I would like to know what everyone else calls their meal times.