fun times at vonore high

ok, so last night was part one my (kind of dreaded) 36 year high school reunion.  yes, 36, not 35 or 40 like most are. just plain old 36.  most of us have not seen each other in years.

well, it was......FUN. 

vonore high was a very small school in east tennessee that was located on the little tennessee river.  tva + rivers, you know what happens next.  now vonore high is located in madisonville and has become sequoyah high and vonore has a huge lake.  the early 70's were a time of turmoil in that area so being lakefront last night with all our old friends was kind of bittersweet.

 

all that aside, i know now just how lucky, blessed, fortunate, whatever words you would like to use, to grow up with a small group of friends in a time such as the 70's were.  wouldn't trade it for anything and yes i would gladly go back to do it again.....maybe.

8.9.10.

nothing important going on,  just had to use today's date somewhere!  i am checking out some cool blogs and wondering why i can't be creative enough to have one.  so today, right now, this very minute i am going to post some cool things i have around the house.  i least i think so, and there is nothing wrong about being "cool" these days.

me and my favorite keens in the hiwassee river, that's cool

a spot to keep that card or invite you love, even after the event, cool.

how cool is a favorite vase

  

how about these glass bottles?  i bought one around 1968 which looks almost idenical to the tall one on the left.  1968/2010, i still love the same items.  that's cool.   

                                           

 

sculpture greg and i made from small river rock. fun and cool

.  

nothing cool about these eggs not hatching, but it is cool that i kept them.  even cooler that they didn't rot and smell (even though greg said they would and i should not bring them in the house.)

 

and wooden birds, almost as cool as the real thing :)

stay cool!

what's for dinner?

taco salad last night,  grilled cheese and homemade fries tonight.  how is it that i walk out of ingles with a cart full of grocery items and still have nothing to cook for dinner?  surely there is a blogger who can help me! :(

when i have grandchildren hopefully they will want a grandmother who will take them to dollywood for a corn dog.

cooking...

so, i am doing an experiment. you know, i do not like to cook. at all.

but i am wondering that if i actually wrote about cooking and what i am planning or did cook, maybe it would motivate me.  (kind of like weight watchers and keeping a diary.)

breakfast today:  offered to make my yummy pancakes but no one took me up on the offer. 

tanner fixed himself a bowl of cold cereal.  that's ok, cold cereal is one of my favorite things to cook!

lunch:  homemade, yes homemade pimento cheese sandwiches and homemade french fries.

so far, so good.

sunshine makes me happy...

along with some other things...more later

1974

the vonore class of 1974 in florida- after graduation.

i attended 12 years of school in a very small town in tennessee.  what was that like?  well for several years i would have said it was not a good thing.  i would have said we were too protected, naive, secluded, small.  i would have said we were not encouraged to go out and "make it" in the world.  

what do i know now?  i know that we were secure, happy, confident and smart.  we were daydreamers.  we were creative.  we grew up together in the best of times.  i wouldn't change a thing. (well, not many things anyway)

summer

don't ya just love summer, i do. what do you love about it? well here are a few of my favorite things:

camping at indian boundary
trip to the beach, THE beach
bike rides
hikes
going to work without a sweater
wearing flip flops
riding with the window down
mowing (am i crazy!)
killing wasps with spray (i love doing this)
dollywood

best summers were in vonore as a kid, wow, those were fun summers:

playing with cousins
watching the garden grow
being outside all day
swinging
eating hot dogs
going to chilhowee lake
riding in our convertible
decoration
walking (we called it walking instead of hiking)
dusty roads
bike rides
daydreaming

yeah! tanner and i are joining jes, jason, jamey, jennifer (no we are not the duggars!) chelsea and bella at dollywood tomorrow! summer is going by WAY to fast!

have fun!

juy 4

happy 4th to friends and family!  another year rolls around!

july 3

ok, day 2 of the holiday weekend.  love, love, love the 4th!  always fun times growing up and always fun times since i'm grown up!  busy day with a "crossover" celebration and just take a look at the pic below to see how the day ended...

 

tanner and i are getting to be really good at killing snakes...

july 2

can you believe that it is already july 2 of 2010!  wow.  years do go by.  great day with my family. relaxing night- although the chocolate oatmeal cookies i made look as thought tanner will be eating them with a spoon.  have always loved the 4th of july!

get the sparklers ready! 

overgrown landscaping

our ranch style home was built around 1969.  i believe that most of our landscaping was planted at that time as well.  we have lots of flowering shrubs in our yard.  most of which, i am sorry to report have not been trimmed since 2006.  that year is easy to remember because jessie and jason's wedding was in june of that hot summer, at our house, in our back yard.

well the time has come, and the time is now, tonight actually, that i decided the clippers had to come out of storage.  i am NOT a good trimmer.  greg is much better at that.  when i start clipping i cannot stop!  in fact, most of what we have has been cut, cut to the ground.  it looks pretty sad. very sad.  if history repeats itself, in a summer, or two, there will be lots of beautiful spring blooms.  

trying to figure out how to apply this to my own life.  get rid of the old, overgrown so new life can spring up and bloom even more lovely than before.

(only about 1/4 finished with this project.  hope i see it to the end without any serious cuts, bruises, stabs, etc.  had some close calls tonight!)

high school reunion

so i and a couple of friends are planning our high school reunion. i  decided to do some google searching but most popular were these topics: 

 

should you attend your high school reunion? 

the disadvantages of attending your high school reunion.

how to emotionally prepare for your high school reunion.  

what to expect at your high school reunion. 

yikes!  was 1974 that bad!

beach

the outer banks.  always love it and feels like my home away from home.  

poison i-v-y

we have a large yard which requires (or should) a lot of upkeep.  i used to come home everyday and work in the yard and we would spend hours outside on the weekends.  well....like a said "used to". things do change as you get older and i just do not have the energy i once had.  today, like most days, i came home with no plans to work outside.  but i just could not walk by that poison ivy.

a few years ago i put down this little brick walkway which leads to our water hose.  i actually did most of it by myself.  it was getting lots of poison again and the ground cover was really doing a great job at "covering."  so i walked out bravely, put on some gloves and started pulling.

before and after

    

hopefully greg will get rid of this bucket of ivy and hopefully the special poison ivy "vaccine" that i swallowed in the spring from little's pharmacy will work!

mother's day weekend

i've had a great weekend and accomplished quite a lot around the house despite the fact that yesterday was a "say yes to the dress" marathon and today it's "the duggars."  greg cannot understand why i watch these shows, not sure i do either.  but they are my favorites.  other than "the office" of course!

pool is o-p-e-n

our pool is finally open and ready for swimmers and sun lovers! the area around the pool is still a mess but i'm counting on the glare from the sun to dim your view of "unkept" areas....happy smimming and see ya soon!

i cooked!-and it was good!

ok, some of you know that i do not like to cook...anything.  i do not like buying the food for a meal.  i do not like preparing the food for a meal.  i do not like cooking the meal and i don't even care about sitting down and eating the meal.  but, tonight my chicken was pretty good...simple, easy...i might even make it again.

ritz cracker chicken.  yeah, those sweet ritz can make anything taste better.  dip a boneless, skinless chicken breast (i cut mine in smaller strips) in egg, then  in crushed ritz crackers (lots). place in casserole with butter drizzled on top and bake for 45 min or so, til it's done of course.

greg had his with steamed veggies.  yes believe it or not, i did those too!  just cut up squash, cucumber, califlower.  add to one of those steam bags and 2 minutes later...greg's fav veggie.

yes, it was quite a night in the hutsell kitchen.

april

april-springtime, easter, warm sunshine, bees and butterflies.

april-month my sweet daddy died two years ago, month marna diagnosed with breast cancer, month bella has a broken arm.

that's life, always sweet things mixed in with the sour.

i am partial to sweets. 

a little something for you

thought i would post a little something that i made and a little something that greg made, (for me).  

first what greg made for me.

i mentioned that a tree we had in the woods would be perfect for a swing.  and that i would love to have one.  a few days later and guess what i have?  a swing in the woods!  (well the beginning of one anyway.) it's going to be alot of fun when bella comes to visit and hopefully that will be soon.  i'm thinking this will be a great chapter for "adventure girl".

    

 

love the birds singing in the background!

  a few days ago i made this H for our new bookcase.  i know there are plenty of alphabet items out there now, but hey, i made it and it was fun.  used mod podge and scrapbook paper so it would be exactly the color i wanted.  would you like one?  just "say something" at the bottom of this post and it's yours for the asking.  just let me know the letter you need and what colors you'd like.  would love to send one your way, and hey, it free!  doesn't get any better than that.  i can only do a few so...i'm waiting...just ask...

my easter weekend

*right ankle hurting for past week

*reba concert with tanner, laura and jessie

*right ankle still hurts, "fell" down a step at the concert and now my left foot is hurt

*concert from 7 - 12 and both feet are swollen

*busy saturday with "crossover" and work at the jr high to get ready for great day of worship

*both feet hurting

*wonderful easter sunday at the jr high, meaningful worship with friends and family

*drove to madisonville to see charlsie

*met jessie and drove to knoxville to my sister sharon's

*both feet swollen and hurting

*tired from busy, wonderful "third" day

*thankful for the resurrection.

*(both feet hurting)