greg and i had planned to canoe on the hiwassee river thursday but rain prevented it.  not sure about weather on friday, we decided to stay closer to home and spent the day in tellico.  indian boundary lake was empty, except for two people who were crazy enought to get out there in 45 degree rainy weather.  it was cold and windy so we only stayed on the water for about an hour.
after getting the canoe back on the 4 runner, (which greg can do by himself with a creative gadget someone made for him) we drove to bald river falls by way of turkey creek.

after a peek at the falls it was lunch at "nut n' fancy" where we ran into some friends, the smeltzers.  they run camp livingstones which is a christian adventure camp in etowah. it's a great place that we are lucky to have in our area.

   

it was a good day

ok, let me explain...

if you are reading my blog and like what you are reading, then please become a f-o-l-l-o-w-e-r. otherwise, how will i know that anyone is out there reading. and if no one is out there reading than how will i know to continue. and if i don't continue, than what will i do with all this time. and if i don't know what to do with all my extra time, then i might...

beautiful saturday

what a beautiful saturday in east tennessee. here's just a one of the many things we did today.

first of all we put up my birdhouse that was a christmas present from jessie. it has a clear plastic back so you can see the birds building the nest and hopefully watch eggs hatch.


word of warning from my sister marna. she remembers my dad putting one of these up when she was a little girl. oh how sweet to watch the birds coming in and building their home day by day. then, at last, eggs! they are starting a family. the little birds hatched and soon afterward the sun became very, very, very warm. really, really warm against the sliding glass door that my dad had decided would be the perfect spot for the birdhouse. well, what happened next? yes, the baby birds baked in the sun. actually baked in just a few hours. mama bird and daddy bird never returned, not even to save their young. guess they thought the daddy maynard should have known better than to put a plastic birdhouse on a sliding glass door that would get so hot in the sun you couldn't even touch it.

so that is why you see our little home for the birds on a window that is in the front of our house, protected by some shade.
(good thing she told me that story cause i was about to make the same mistake!)

will keep you posted and let you know what our feathered friends think of the house.

favorite things

ok, tanner was looking at my blog tonight and said he wanted to add a "favorite thing."

mom: "tanner, tell me about your favorite things?"
tanner:
"my new cell phone"
"playing golf and working at springbrook"
"our new kitchen and living room"
"new patio and porch we might get"
"going out to eat with jamey"
"bella's video"
"my job at kmart"
"playing wii & xbox360 & ps2"
"watching holmes on homes"
"my last favorite thing is taking a nap"

i think this is a great list of favorite things.

got chicks?

farmer julie's post, got chicks, brought back memories of easter long ago.

when i was a little girl, we always bought our easter shoes at "taylor howard's". the shoes were kept in the basement of the store. the hardwood floors led us down a wide set of stairs that i remember to be squeaky and dark with wear. i couldn't wait to get down to the bottom to find that new pair of white patent leathers. after the shoes were purchased mr howard would have the children to pick out a special easter "chick' to take home.

choosing the little chick was more difficult than choosing the shoes! you see, the shoes were always white patent leather, but the chicks were the colors of easter eggs! yellow, pink, purple, blue, green - oh what a difficult decision. they were in a box, chirping and pooping all over the place. we just had to reach in and catch the one we wanted.

i'm sure they made a mess at our house. just something else for my parents to have to take care of. but my mom and dad never complained about the little chicks or refused to let us have one. one of my chicks lived quiet a long time. i was a little disappointed that he turned out to be a rooster, and just a plain white one at that. he was also kind of mean and chased us around the yard.

check out farmer julie's blog. she has some of the most beautiful photos of flowers i have ever seen! then go buy yourself a new pair of shoes for easter. preferably white patent leather, and be sure to let me know if you find any easter chicks out there!

goodwill shopping

i have always been a "goodwill" shopper. some of my favorite things have been purchased there. especially in the days when you could "fill a bag" for 10 dollars. shoppers would be allowed to stuff as many items as possible in the bag. wow, it was amazing at how much i could cram in those bags. that ended at most goodwill stores several years ago when they realized how many people would buy and resale on ebay. now, they have "tag" sales, but everything is priced high enough that i think twice before buying.

recently i began to "goodwill" shop again. i was walking around not finding anything interesting, until i walked by a coat. i noticed because the same wool pattern on the jacket was recently featured in country living magazine. the colors and indian design were beautiful. the coat was vintage, possible from the 70's or 80's. i purchased it for 8 dollars. (i actually thought it was going to be half price or i might have put it back!) i decided to list it on ebay, and if it did not sell i would give it to my sister (to make a pillow.) i am knew to ebay, but the coat did very well and ended up selling for 69 dollars! that was 8x the money invested and in only 5 days.

i have purchased two other items to resale and they both did well. i bought a skirt for a dollar and it sold for 4. a burberry item was purchased for 4 dollars and sold for 42! that was 10x my investment in only days! i don't go to goodwill often but i will stop by every now and then to scout out some "hot" items. try it sometime and happy hunting!

what greg is readng now

greg reads all the time. tonight he asked me to pick up this book for him. going to be interesting to see if he can finish it. he has been reading since i brought it home and is still on the introduction! anyone else read this book? will keep you posted.

gift's from jes

i love this present that i received from jes and jason at Christmas. it is an ecosphere that contains 4 bright red shrimp, algae and filtered sea water. a miniature aquarium that never needs to be fed or cleaned. a unique and fun gift that everyone loves!

a couple of days ago she surprised me with this little gift purchased at "bliss". don't i have a sweet daughter!

today

the first song you hear on my playlist is titled, "today" by john denver.
yep, my cousin sang it at our wedding. maybe not what most people would hear at a wedding in 77'...but i just kind of liked it.
i think most folks probably had a puzzled look on their faces during the song. especially when regina's voice cracked and was off key. oh well, it was fun and what i wanted! hope you enjoy it.

dam greed

i've just finished a book that should be required reading for monroe county residents. including those folks living in the communities of rarity bay, kahite, or tellico village. it is the heartwrenching story of what happened in this small farming community during the 1970's.

growing up in vonore during the 60's and 70's was a treat. i took for granted the fact that we could ride our bikes to fort loudon and had the tellico river flowing thought the corn field just beyond our back yard. the little tennessee river was down the road. so close and barely out of our sight. days were filled playing outside with cousins and friends, scouting, and having fun just being a kid.

the 70's were a little different around vonore. cars with bumper stickers that read, "save the litte t" and later "save the snail darter." i am not sure any of us realized the magnitude of what was about to happen. i know i didn't.

the last few years i have been thinking more and more about the flooding of the little tennessee river. maybe because i have grown to appreciate the outdoors more and am realizing just what was lost. i had been doing some searches on the internet and even tried to find a vintage "save the snail darter" t-shirt.

little did i know during this time there was a book being written and it would be a story that i needed to read. thank you fran dorwood for "dam greed." and thank you for being the voice of many. find the book and read it, you will not be disappointed.

newest favorite item: flip video camera!

i recently purchased a flip video camera and am loving it! perfect to have handy for a quick memory maker and takes snapshots as well. works great with imovie and more interesting to have short clips rather than one looonnnng video. so easy to use that my 8 year old neice taught herself in less than a minute. still have lots to learn about it, but i highly recommend it. you will flip for the "flip!"

adventure girl!

ok, let's try this again

ok, i am going to attempt this blog thing one more time. why? who knows. who cares what i am doing or thinking anyway...

on sunday mornings, i drag out of bed at 5:30 (or later) to get to church by 7:00 am. yes believe it or not i do this week after week. why? simply because i love being one of the "behind the scene" folks. it's takes a lot of work to get things running smoothly by 8 in the morning. and to make sure it will continue to run smoothly until 12:15. tanner is right there with me, ready to go out the door at 6:45. i am blessed with the opportunity to serve this way, i love it!

yesterday morning (sunday) we were just getting started at 8 am when my great-niece bella calls my cell phone. wondering what they would want at 8 on a sunday morning, i answered it. she just called to ask when could we go to dollywood again. bella called me 2 more times and it was decided that i would pick her and chelsea up after school and we would spend a few hours together. (since dollywood is closed, she decided my house would do.) looking forward to an afternoon with the watts girls and make some exciting plans for summer!