The fourth Thursday in November is my favorite Thursday

Thanksgiving our way.


We don't always have Dom Perignon, but when we do call it B*tch Champagne.
I'll explain in another post, because it's pretty funny.

 {My Linds}

 {Coach's Dad & Step-Mom}

 {My Aunt Trisha & Uncle Jim}

 We took our family Christmas card pics on Thanksgiving minus our Lolo.

{Linds posing while I set up the camera}

Nathan was finally able to fly up and spend some time with Lolo this week. On Thanksgiving they drove about 5 hours south to spend some time with Nathan's Mom and family. So, Lolo wasn't with us, but she was with them and that made me happy.

{Nathan, Mattis & Lolo}

I've taken down my Thanksgiving tree and hope to put up my Christmas tree soon.
We had a great day with awesome people and fabulous food.

I'm just pulling your leg hairs....I don't have a Thanksgiving tree. Yet.

I hope everyone had an equally blessed day!
XOXO

Smoking, singing, Thanksgiving-ing.

Happy Tuesday before Thanksgiving!
We're all a 'flutter around here and it's not just the butterflies.

As I type this, we have two guys removing & replacing (banging) some wood floors in the theater/party room, new countertops will be delivered soon and the plumber and electrician are on schedule for tomorrow morning.
All I asked for when we started talking about this project 6 months ago was that it was completed by Thanksgiving. So, if the workers depart 10 minutes before we eat, the Coach has come through. :)


The Coach is a busy smoking bee. On Friday he and some of our awesome employees smoked 700 lbs of turkey that will be delivered to the Bahamas, then he and my Uncle smoked 150 lbs of turkey on Sunday for the homeless that we delivered on Sunday evening.

{A freezer full of smoked turkey heading to Hope Town, Abacos Bahamas}

Need anything smoked? He's your guy. 

Saturday night we headed to a private party where some of our favorite songwriters were performing. 

Wyatt Durrette and the Coach. Wyatt won the Song of the Year at the Country Music Awards a few weeks ago for Luke Combs "Beautiful Crazy". (I think that makes 17 or 18 #1 songs he's written) He's a beautiful soul and we always enjoy our time with him. 

Our Friend Patrick Davis also performed at the party. (along with Levi Lowery) They're such sweet souls with lots of talent and we're proud to call them friends because they are also very charitable.

{Suz, Phyllis, Patrick, and Michelle}

It always pays to spend time with good friends. Suz got an unsolicited breast exam from Phyllis. Good news, I'm healthy!

My Aunt and Uncle arrived on Saturday and will spend the week with us, my Cuz Patrick arrives today. We only have 8 of us for Thanksgiving, so it will be small and intimate. Totally manageable and  I won't lose my remaining 3 marbles.

Wishing everyone a beautiful week and Thanksgiving day with those that you love to hang with and *cheers* to not losing your marbles!!

XOXO

The little things and the little nothings that keep Suz sane and happy.

Sometimes it's the littlest things that make me happy.
Like finding one of my favorite NZ wines at Total Wine this week.

I had a flashback to our trip to New Zealand and how much Kelly and I loved visiting this (unknown to us at the time) winery. 'Twas a great day and a great trip.

A majority of the big trips that I've had, I say, "I don't need to go again, let's see something new", but I don't feel that way about New Zealand.
NoSireeBobCatTail.

***

Sometimes it's the fact that I can put my head in the sand, and not know what is happening outside my little world that brings me happiness.

I know that a lot of people like to watch the news, read the papers, be in the "know" about what is happening all around the world.
Me? I honestly do better just tending to my home, garden, my people, my community, keep the dirty clothes hamper empty, etc....
I get overwhelmed with the worries of the world, the sadness, the despair of it all.
And guess what, sometimes it's pretty damn depressing. So, if something really important happens and I need to know, the Coach will inform me. He's very much 'up to date' with the world outside our area code.

Also, doing laundry pays around here.
I found $150 in the dryer this week.

Don't tell Uncle Sam.

We've been so very busy lately. Lots of house projects finishing up before Turkey day and the Coach is inundated with work-work. But that is something we never complain about; work-work brings in the laundry cash.

Have a great weekend!
XOXO

Weekend Smeekend.

We've had such a sweet weekend. The weather Gods finally gave us a break from the heat and we enjoyed every minute of it. Doors and windows were open, fresh air was coming through the house.

 I might have spied a dust bunny or two screaming by as the winds blew.
{That's Max, not a dust bunny}

On Saturday the Coach and I went to a boat show at our marina (wine, excellent food, oh and boats) and then we went to a fundraiser for the Shy Wolf Sanctuary and saw several friends and one of our favorite local bands performed. 

In other news, the Coach and I have taken full custody of Max until Lolo finishes school. Actually, she may never get him back. :) He was living with Nathan (Lolo's love) but he really likes to be surrounded by people and Nathan works 12+ hours shifts. G'ma Suz is home a good amount of the time and that makes Max very happy. 

Does he know how to make himself at home? Why yes, he does. I wish I didn't care about my bits and pieces hanging out.....

'Twas a good weekend even though I kept my bits to myself.

Happy Monday!
XOXO

That time I could have done some time for doing a good deed.

Last Friday I was passing through the Home Depot garden center on my way out of the store when I noticed a table full of milkweed plants being destroyed by spider mites. 

(did you hear my gasp-'cause this is a pitiful sight!) 

I quickly assessed the situation ('sitch' if you're 20) and realized that as soon as the HD garden peeps realized this, they would toss every plant in the garbage. I did a search and rescue and took as many monarch caterpillars as I could find, then RAN to my car. 

Ok, I didn't run because that would hurt. 

But I did feel a slight tinge of guilt, then I felt joy over being a life saver. 

Not the candy.

Once in my car, I only had my tervis to keep them contained in. 

Guess how many times I tried to drink my caterpillars on the way home? 
(3) 

That was my Friday adventure. 

Saving the butterfly world one misdemeanor at a time.

I've named her Luna(tic)~The neighbor from hell~part 2

The follow-up to my future neighbor from hell.

Several months ago on a Tuesday morning, I was working in my office and minding my own beeswax. My lawn guys were here cutting the grass, so our electric gate was wide open. We have a keypad at the gate for guests, deliveries, etc. My house phone rang from the gate and I answered it wondering who would call from the gate when it was clearly wide open.

{For reference pic of gate area from my office with the gate closed and now with new palm trees.}

The conversation went something like this:
Suz: Hello?
Lunatic: Hi, I own the property next door and I need your lawn guys to NOT park on my property.
Suz: Oh, Hi. (she caught me off guard) Ummm....Ok. No problem. I didn't realize someone bought the land. I'll make sure they don't park there anymore. No worries. 
Luna: Also, Please STOP throwing garbage on my land.
Suz: What? Ummmm...yes, I see that some people drop trash there from their car, but I assure you, it's not me. I've often walked over there and picked up the thrash myself because it's an eyesore. 
{While also remembering over the last 20 years, dropping the random fallen palm frond over the fence; surely it's composted.}
Luna: I'M TRYING TO BE NICE HERE!
Now, I catch a glimpse of her via my window and she's leaning down hollering into the keypad and bobbing her head back in forth with gusto.
Now, I'm thinking, wow. if you had to SAY you were being nice, then I'm gonna guess you aren't really. *giggle giggle*
Suz: Well, I assure you I'm not throwing garbage on....*gets cut off by Luna*
Luna: I've already called the police twice and.....*click*
Apparently, my keypad wasn't created to have long conversations and the phone line was dropped.
So, I'm sure she thinks I hung up on her.
Whatevs....we weren't making any progress.

She's out there spouting craziness and bobbing her head in anger at me and I'm over here raising butterflies, hugging trees, raising funds for Veterans and championing people with disabilities, while also, minding my own damn business and keeping my corner of the world extremely tidy.
What in the actual hell? 

A bit later I went out and spoke with my lawn guys and let them know that we have a lunatic on our hands and they should just park in our grass. They let me know that they were also victims of her wrath that morning and also, that her swale (and mine, and everyone's) is actually county property.
I agree it's county property, but I don't want her to come at me and park a jalopy or dump truck in my swale, so we'll not park in her area again.
Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

Fast forward a few weeks and again, it was a Tuesday morning; my lawn guys were here and the gate was wide open as I was working in my office. I see a sheriff's car pull up the driveway.
Me: Hmmmm...he's probably coming to tell me how nice my yard is and comment on my blue line flag supporting law enforcement. {I actually crack myself up}

I met him at the door and asked if there was something I could help him with.
He seemed a bit confused and said he was responding to some complaints about someone throwing garbage onto MY property, or that I was possibly throwing garbage onto my neighbor's property? 

I don't know if I could have possibly rolled my eyes any further into the back of my skull. 

I kindly explained to him what had happened a few weeks back with Luna and the gate/phone conversation; I explained that we aren't' littering on their property and that my lawn guys are now parking on my property as he could plainly see for himself.
He smiled politely and kind of giggled to himself. He reiterated to me that her swale is county property and that right now, there were a few vehicles parked there and it's not illegal.

He said there were several complaints filed and not just towards us; the people across from Luna too.
Suz: Goodness, she's gonna get all sorts of housewarming gifts when the day comes.
He laughed as he departed from my porch stoop and agreed that she's not trying to make a good first impression.

A few weeks after this, the Coach was out at our Swale near her property talking with our tree people about the huge project that was about to commence. Our tree people had some trucks in her swale. Lord have mercy on anyone who she comes in contact with.

The Coach said he saw her coming and knew exactly who she was. She parked her car in front of the work trucks and was making her way towards him with a bad attitude and anger written all over her demeanor.
He shut her down immediately when she was within speaking distance with: "we're working on a huge landscape project and YES, trucks will be occasionally parking on the county-owned portion of your land; no debris will be dumped on your land and it will look just like it does now when our project is done". 
BAM!
She nodded, turned and walked away without saying anything.

We've not seen or heard from her since. I'm sure she drives by looking for trouble, but she won't get any from me. I've actually told this story to my neighbors to the north, my bestie who lives about 8 houses down and my beloved Fed Ex guy (he's awesome) and everyone is shocked at her behavior towards us.

Did anyone else see the movie or read the book The Help?
Remember the chocolate pie Miss Minnie made for the evil Miss Hilly?...
the sh*t pie?

I'm conjuring up images of a housewarming gift.


HAHA.
It's funny. But you know I wouldn't dare!!

Our future neighbor from hell

We built our home in 1997; we're on 2 1/2 acres in a sub-rural area. Mostly rural, but with a lot of family homes on acre+ lots. You can have horse, cows, chickens, goats, etc....
We just have our cow dog. 
The peeps to the North of our property have been there before us and are very pleasant, friendly; never an issue. The people across the street from us are pleasant; we wave and say Hi. The man behind us built after us, and are fine. It's an older man and the past 5 or so years, his kids use the back of his property for storage of stuff; mostly dirt, and RV and some misc stuff.  We built a fence to block most of it.
There is a vacant lot to the south of us.

{picture of neighbors property to the south of us ON our street side, not the busy street side-you can see a bit of our white fence ahead.}

It's also 2 1/2 acres and it borders a fairly busy thoroughfare; a 2 lane road, 45 mph speed limit. We always knew that one day it would go for sale. And when it did, we tried to purchase it; not to build, but to preserve it and keep it wooded. We would have cleaned it up somewhat and fenced it in to match our property. It's a great buffer to noise traffic and the vision of traffic.
They were asking a crazy price-$170K more than we paid for our lot. I know some time has passed, but really? We made a reasonable offer a few years ago and it was refused. Whatevs.

We knew that we wanted to plant a buffer of trees on that side before someone built; for them to build, they would need to clear almost all the property since it was THICK with trees/shrubs. That was one of the main reasons why we started the big tree project back in August.

You can see from the pic above, that people use their swale as parking or turning around. County vehicles, work trucks, peeps waiting on school buses, etc....Why do people do that? Because the property looks vacant and not cared for.
Our lawn guys (same ones for at least 15 years) used to park their truck/trailer there while doing our lawn instead of pulling into our driveway because his truck leaked oil. Emphasis on USED TO. 

Here is a pic (from my car) of our property, just a few 100 feet from the pic of neighbors swail)

Do the two even resemble the same type of care? 
And just from looking at this kind of shoddy phone pic of our yard, would it lead you to believe that we were the kind of people who would throw garbage in someone else's yard? Even if you didn't know us, I don't think anyone would have thought that.


Another view from our yard; looking from our driveway across our front yard towards the over-grown property to the south of us.

Garbage throwers? 

To quote the beloved Pepe le pew: "Au contraire, mon frère".

To be continued.....

The one where we didn't fall in Charleston.

The Coach and I had a nice little getaway to Charleston, SC this past weekend. The trip was labeled "Coach's belated birthday" trip because I'm into labels.

This is one of our favorite places to visit. It's not terribly far for us; a little over an hour flight to Atlanta, then a 40-minute flight to Charleston. Once there, we don't need a vehicle because it's a great walking city and also, Uber/Lyft.

We had no plans.
How fun is that? Living by the seat of my pants. Whatever the heck that means.  But, I was thrilled to actually wear pants instead of shorts. The weather was just perfect! Sweater weather! I've been reading about that, and I finally knew what the people meant. Good hair days too; way less humidity.
I was in hair heaven.

We had some lovely meals. {shrimp and grits are my jam!}
Leisurely walks.
Window shopping.
And just sitting in the hotel when we felt like it and watching whatever on the boob tube.

When is the last time you walked through a cemetery? These are really old (1800's) and quite serene, weedy, flowery with gobs of butterflies.

But, it's all serene and pretty until you come across a crypt that is partially open.
*shiver* Do I see a bony hand coming up? 

The Coach and I were mesmerized by all the ginormous oaks. "Ours will look like this in 100 years."

{No sign of hair heaven in this pic}

Probably our least favorite thing about Charleston is the lumpy, bumpy, uneven sidewalks and roads. 

In our family, the family of weak ankles, this is treacherous.
I'm happy to confirm that neither of us fell the entire weekend.
Stumbled? Yes. But no actual 'I've fallen and I can't get up's.'

I take it back, I did have ONE place that I wanted to visit. Bitty & Beaus coffee shop.

I read about it a few years ago and I was in awe. It's a coffee shop that employs individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The Coach and I stopped in for an iced tea and some great conversation. It was such a sweet part of our day; nothing better than spending time with exceptional peeps. They have three locations in the South, and if you ever have the chance, you should visit.


It was a great time away and we enjoyed ourselves immensely.

"Hmmmm, where should we go next?"

That's my travel agent right there....he's already got a few plans for us in 2020; no moss growing under our feet.

I hope everyone had a sweet weekend as well.
XOXO

TGIF; lots of butters cooking & it's been a while since I've shanked anyone

Happy Friday!

A few weeks ago I was in the yard on a caterpillar hunt and I hit the jackpot. I slew of them had just hatched from the eggs and I rescued them before anyone ate them. (lizards, wasps, birds, etc)
They're so small at this stage that I use Q-tips to remove them. Acutally, I used cotton s(c)wabs, with an emphasis on schwab part. That's how I like to pronounce it.

Thank goodness for my laser vision surgery-they're tiny!

Well, those babies were eating me out of house and home milkweed for the last few weeks and now I have over 50 chrysalis cooking. (I have two coolers full)

Isn't that the most exciting thing you've heard today?
No?
Ok, maybe it's just me.




Something that's been peeving me lately. Getting my goat. Yanking on my nerve.
When you thank someone for something, anything really, and instead of saying "you're welcome", they respond with......wait for it.....
..........it's really annoying......
...............I can hardly stand to hear it.................

"No problem"


When did NO PROBLEM replace you're welcome?
When?
Did I miss the memo?
It makes me want to take my shank out of retirement and put it to good use.

OMG. I went back to link a 'shank' post to this and I put shank in my blog search....35 posts came up. I'm a shanking queen. I wanted to find the post where Lindsay made me my own personalized shank for Christmas one year, but I can't locate it, but trust me, my child made me a shank with glitter and bells.

I'm glad I got that off my chest. The 'no problem' part, not the shanking part.

Is it bad that I'd like to shank the weather too? This whole week has been hawwwwt. 

 I have much to be thankful for, so, I'm gonna clear the shanking mojo with the good:
healthy family, happy people, love, dogs, butterflies, green grass, fresh pineapple, clean water to drink and it's Friday.

What's going on this weekend? Starting your Thanksgiving turkey? Putting up the tree? 

We're looking forward to a slight change of scenery, but no holiday stuff just yet.




XOXO