Author: bkbailey2016

Oh happy day! It’s Friday! For myself and so many others that means it’s the weekend and we get a couple of days off. Whooopeee. Do you have big weekend plans? If I lived in Florida where it is warm I am sure I would have great plans every weekend. Here it is cold and people I loathe the cold. Hence my blog title. Do you get the winter blues? I’m typically not the type of person to have the blues but, I guess I would have to admit that I do a little from January through about mid March. It’s just so gloomy and cold and gray. This girls needs some sunshine and heat. That good ole vitamin d that comes in natural form. You know that feeling you get when you are sitting out on the beach with the heat of the sun just hitting your body. Sigh. Yea, I don’t get that wonderful feeling in the yucky winter time. That must be why they call it “the dead of winter”. It’s sure a fitting phrase around my parts.

I read that hospitalizations due to mental illness and suicide rate are at their peak at Christmas and during the winter months. Isn’t that so sad? For me Christmas is the day that I look forward to all year long. I just love it. I can’t imagine dreading that time of year but, for some people it is lonely and not easy. Like I said I love it but, come January 1st, this gal is done. The winter blues set in. I’m ready for sun and blooms, and for everything to grow. Snow is beautiful but, not after Christmas. I sort of understand the gloom as my daddy passed away right after Christmas 7 years ago. It is very tough to lose someone you love during what should be a season to celebrate. My family and I can’t not think about it. It just happens. We do however realize that if daddy were here he would be so upset with us if he thought we allowed his death to cause our Christmas to be sad. We try to lighten the mood by playing games (um if you want to laugh and aren’t easily offended, grab cards against humanity and play with your family lol). We also do a “white elephant” gift exchange. Funny gag gifts. It is so funny to see your 73 year old momma unwrap a package of beer goggles when the woman doesn’t drink. What I am saying is even though times can be tough find something to smile and laugh about. If you don’t have family find your tribe and get to enjoying this beautiful life.

Another way that I have learned to cope with my winter blues is to stay busy. As I’ve said so many times before I don’t do idle time. The busier you keep your body, the less your mind will wander. Take a walk outside. Go for a drive in the county. Go to an antique store and reminisce. Grab a book. Watch a movie. Anything. Anything at all to keep yourself from having negative thoughts. My go to is baking and exercising. Never thought about it but that kind of contradicts itself lol. Bet some of you had no idea but my 2nd part time job is making cakes, cupcakes and cookies. I have people order them every month so they must be pretty good. I truly don’t do it for the money. I’ve been told to increase my prices actually. But, I LOVE being in my kitchen and cooking. I love the decorating part. It’s art and something that I’ve found that I’m pretty good at. Sad thing is that I can’t eat them because of my devil tummy lol. If you love to cook then get yourself in to that kitchen and get to cooking something yummy. Let that be your therapy. Your family or coworkers will love you for it when you bring them little treats.

Now to the exercise. It is a proven fact that getting your heart rate up and sweating releases endorphins that make you feel good. At the first sign of gloom get up and hit the pavement. Push yourself. Sweat and push hard. Get your blood pumping and strive to be sore tomorrow. If you can’t run or lift weights no worries. Walk. But walk with purpose. Swing those arms. You know, swing them so hard that people make fun of you lol. If you can’t laugh then make others laugh at you. Find a hill and climb it. You will be so surprised and what all your little body can endure. After you finish I dare you to come back on here and tell me that it made you feel worse. You wont because it will make you feel like you can conquer the world. You will sleep better and you will have satisfaction in knowing that you accomplished something.

So on a serious note. Please know that if you are having winter blues and you feel like you can’t pull yourself up, there is help. Nothing is ever worth getting to a point that you feel that you can’t dig out. Again find your tribe. There are so so many people that love you and you are more important than you will ever know. Call a friend and talk or make them meet you for a walk. You are a child of God and YOU are worth something big. Please feel free to comment below how you cope with the winter blues. As always we are here to help and life each other up. Your tips may help someone more than you know. I hope you all have a happy, productive night. Smile, it’s contagious. ❤️Always

Good Thursday evening everyone. Hoping your day was just lovely. I realized that I haven’t done a product review in a bit so I thought I would. With as much hand sanitizer as we are all using right now I’m sure if your hands are anything like mine, they are beginning to favor alligator skin. Between the cold weather here and the constant exposure to the alcohol in the sanitizer my hands look not very feminine. Believe me I’m not afraid of hard work but, I am a girl and I like for my hands to resemble ones of female gender. Has it been difficult to find some hand lotion that isn’t so thick that you feel like you have plastic on your hands? Or is it so expensive that you just can’t bear to pay that price? Let’s not talk about the smell. Some of them are horrible gag. Well below are what I have found to work for me. Maybe it will for you as well.

Here in the area that I live we have a store called Sally’s Beauty Supply. It is typically a store used by hairdressers (cosmetologist for those of you that ain’t southern). I love to shop there because they have better hair products than “the Walmart” and the prices aren’t horribly high. Several months ago I stumbled across this body lotion. It is by Body Drench. I remember using these products when I was in high school and frequented a local tanning salon. You know I had to be brown for the prom lol. They sold them for after tanning hydration and they smelled so good. This one is only $10.00 and it takes so little. It smells like a dream come true and the moisture is amazing. It’s Tahitian Manoi Oil. On top of it being fabulous the bottle is beautiful. Did I ever tell you how much I love trees and turquoise color? That’s for another blog lol. I suggest this lotion. Give it a try. Grab a bottle at your local Sally’s Supply. If you don’t have one near you, you can get it online at bodydrench.com.

So how much do you love Bath and Body Works? Me, me I love it so much. It’s one of my favorite stores to frequent. Of course I love all of their products. Who wouldn’t. When you walk in the door you are just engulfed with so many wonderful smells. It just feels so clean to me. Now I know to some people strong scented lotion and body sprays are a no no. I stumbled upon this product about year ago and let me tell ya, I feel in love with it. The scent is so faint that even those with sensitive noses could use it. It’s called the moisture lock body balm. I use it on my hands whenever I need to feel that little boost. It’s like putting my hands in water without getting them wet. It isn’t greasy and it stays on for a long time. The coolest part is that it is dispensed in a roll on deodorant type bottle. I can’t explain to you how good it smells. I don’t believe that it comes in different fragrances but you won’t need it to. This one is just perfect. It just smells so clean. If I had to explain the fragrance I think it most smells like sheets that have been hung out on a clothesline to dry. Oh my goodness if you’ve never experienced that smell then I’m so sorry and you ain’t from the south lol. Go grab you a bottle of this jewel and you can see what us southerners mean when we talk about that smell. It’s a little more pricy at $16 .50 a bottle but, it will last you forever and most of the time Bath and Body has some type of special going on. Check it out. You won’t regret it!

I have included photos of these two yummies just in case you need to know what they look like. Are there any hand creams or moisturizers that you just couldn’t live without? Please share with us because, at this point we’ve all got some pretty dry skin. After all we are all just here to help each other out right? I hope this helps someone. Have a lovely evening and a blessed rest of the week. Keep smiling and every day find some way to make others do the same. ❤️ Always.

Love love it

Well hello lovelies. Happy Wednesday. We’ve made it to hump day. I hate that saying. I don’t know why it just sounds vulgar lol. That aside this work week is almost finished. Woohoo. A lot of people will be fixed in front of the television this weekend for The Super Bowl. I know my sports loving hubby will be. He’s already ordered up what he would like to eat for the day lol. I truly don’t mind. In fact, I’m one of those strange wives that loves football as much as he does. I have to admit that one of the things that attracted me to him was his over excitement of sports. I get tickled at how he jumps up and down and gets all loud when the games are on. Actually that is what my blog is about tonight. Do you remember the first time that you felt an attraction towards your significant other? Did he/she just sweep you off of your feet? Was it their smile or their laugh. Was it their looks or their demeanor? I’m going to tell you a little story about us because I think it’s just precious and in honor of our “first date anniversary” which was 6 years ago yesterday.

Yes, my sweet husband and I have only been married for 5 years and together for 6. I am unfortunately in the category of 3rd marriage. Now don’t get me wrong I am so thankful of each step and phase of my life. I truly feel that things happen for a reason and I know that God certainly saved the best for last for me. I was married to my son’s dad for 15 years. He was and is a great father but we were young and silly and just couldn’t make that marriage work. We are happier apart and we are certainly better parents away from each other. He is remarried and has another son. I love his son and his wife which I know sounds so strange. We co-parent very well. Then there was the next phase. I was unfortunately married for a very short period of time to a very horrible man. One who caused me so much anxiety and fear. To me he was the devil and I regret it every single day. Please don’t ever think that if you are in a bad situation that you have to stay. You DO NOT. The ptsd is real and it is not worth it. In the end it was all paving the way for me to be happy.

I love the lyrics “God blessed the broken road that led me straight to you”. I think for many of us it is such true words. Now I didn’t tell you the above information to gain sympathy. Don’t feel sorry for me. I made my own bed. I did tell you about it because I want you to see two things. One, there is always a reason for your chapter. But, if it takes your peace it’s not your path. Repeat it a zillion times. And two; there IS someone out there that would be truly honored to spend the rest of their life with you. Love is real. True love exists and when you find it just sit back and watch. It will knock you flat in your tail. It’s the best feeling in the world and I can not explain the peace. If you are lucky enough to have already found it congratulations! Isn’t it amazing. Okay, okay enough with that. Back to the topic. I met my husband when I worked in a dental practice. I worked in the dental field for 23 years. I still do part time. Remember I told you a few blogs ago that my sweet feller is your local delivery guy? Well he delivered to the practice where I worked. He was so sweet and kind and I will never forget when he walked in to the office on a slow Friday and asked for my phone number. I won’t say I wasn’t very scared. If you’ve been burned it’s hard to open back up. Oh how I am so glad I did. Even though all I could worry about was dropping my dinner in my lap, after several hours of phone conversations and dinner we literally never spent another day apart. We had so much in common that it was almost scary. I can honestly say that no one, absolutely no one, ever gave me peace when I was around them. The evenings that we spent together were completely stress free and I was full of peace. To this day, 6 years later, I still get butterflies when he walks into my office to deliver a package. I still watch him leave and feel that peace.

Do you remember the first glance at the person that you love? Did you have butterflies and feel all giddy? If he/she were truly the love of your life then you never really lost that feeling. I want to challenge you to think about those first few days or weeks of your amazing relationship. Maybe relive your first date. Try to go back to the same place that you went. Bring back a little romance. Talk to your loved one about it. Rekindle. Relive your engagement. Isn’t he/she worth it? Aren’t you worth it? For those who haven’t gotten there or found your forever happy, don’t give up. That person is out there. I pray they walk right in to your life and soon. Have a wonderful night. Happy dreams. ❤️Always

Well good evening beautiful people. I hope your Tuesday has been filled with happy moments and positive notes. How long have you worked? Shew Lordy I think about that question and realize I have worked for over 28 years. From the time I was 14 years old I have held a job. And since the age of 18 I have always had more than one. It’s just who I am and what I do. Honestly, I don’t regret it. And I came by it honest. Work Ethhic ! What a phrase. I grew up around a family of workers. My daddy was on of the hardest working people I ever knew. He was just geared to work. My momma was the same way. From morning to night she worked. She worked hard. Every day , even though sometimes I am tired, I am so thankful that I was raised by parents that taught me a good work ethic. I feel that I am teaching my son the same.

Last week I was asked a question and I’m not sure if it was posed as a true question, sympathy, a jab at me, sarcasm, or just because they wanted to simply understand. The question was simply “how do you continue to work multiple jobs and not get burnt out or tired?” The truth is, I do get burnt out. I do get tired. But, my reason, work ethic. I remember one thing that my daddy said to me when I was maybe 20 years old. I remember I was completely frustrated with the job I was working and the demands. The words he said to me I still hear every single day. “I don’t care if you make $2.00 per hour or $200.00 per hour you work the same. You work hard. You keep your ears open and your mouth shut and you will learn. You just work hard.” It is the truth. I have lived those words and tried to pride myself in my work ethic. One thing that I think anyone can say about me is that I am a hard worker and I can never be put in a category of lazy.

I have a question for you. Do you ever find yourself working next to someone with no work ethic? Someone who seems to find every excuse not to do the task at hard? I certainly have and it infuriates me. I truly loathe laziness. Someone with their hand out but not wanting to put in the work to get the prize. Y’all I gotta work on my attitude about this. I mean seriously. The way I feel about it is something that I have to be in prayer about. In my opinion seeing that type of laziness makes you (the hard worker, the go getter) just want to give up. Well I want to encourage you to do something. I am saying this to myself too okay. First, step back and look at the person. Even though the lack of work ethic is driving you nuts, there is something of value to this person. It may not be much but, they do have something to give. Figure out their talent and try to work from that. Use what they can do to try to help them become a better worker. Who knows maybe no one has ever taught them. Maybe there is some type of depression or fear that they are dealing with that causes the laziness. In fact it may not be laziness at all and could be social anxiety. I guess what I’m trying to say is that we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. I’m not saying this for us to be enablers but I am saying it so that we can become encouragers. It could make a huge difference in the persons life. And, if you are like me and have such low tolerance for this type of work ethic, you just gotta pray lol. Not just for them but for yourself. As I say dear sweet baby Jesus please be with me today so that there will be no throat punching lol. Just kidding.

For the rest of the week, when you encounter someone with little to no work ethic, vow to be the better person. Continue to bust your tail. Ignore the negative comments (because it’s just jealousy). Take a deep breath. Say a little prayer. And try to find the good in that situation. I hope you all have an amazing Tuesday evening and rest of your week. ❤️Always.

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Good evening everyone and happy Monday evening. It’s a new week and a fresh start. Let’s begin it with positive thoughts and the courage to tackle any obstacle ahead of you. You know, one thing that I have missed so much during this year long pandemic has been going out to dinner. Can you believe that we have been in this craziness for an entire year. Wow. I mean in my heart I felt like this would have been over much sooner than this. Anyway back to my story. My husband and I just love going out to eat. We were regulars at several restaurants in out area. We really have tried to be patrons at locally owned restaurants rather than the chains. Do you do that in your area? Are there a lot of family owned restaurants where you live? There are several here. We live in what we call the Tri-cities. We are within 10 to 15 minutes of 3 cities and each city has its own unique set of locally owned food joints. These owners work so hard to make your dining experience as perfect as possible. I just cant imagine being consumed with those worries and having little to no time off.

Over the last couple of months most restaurants in our area have opened back to at least half capacity. We have begun to get back out some and it’s sad to say that a few of the local restaurants were not able to survive the closure. The ones that did survive informed us that they wouldn’t have made it if not for carry out. We did order from several places for curbside and I am so thankful that we did. There is a true family owned Italian restaurant in our area where we frequent. I know the owner and he and I spoke that last time that we were there. He said that his typical Christmas season was full of parties and in years past were booked so full that they literally had to turn parties away. This year he had none. NONE. Due to the restrictions of large gatherings, the companies that typically used their restaurant for parties did not book this year. How sad is that. I know that we have all complained about how hard Covid has been on us personally but, think about how very difficult it has been on these restaurant owners. His words to me were “if things don’t pick up, I’m not sure how much longer we can do it”. I cant imagine not being able to go there for dinner. I was just so sad and I wished there were something more that I could do.

This isn’t the only restaurant that this is happening to. Another place in our downtown area where we were frequent fliers has not been able to get the “normal” staff back to work. Because of this the service is completely different. The last time that we visited and were able to get a table, the service was not very good as we waited more than an hour for our food. The usual bartender is there no longer and the replacement needs a few more lessons. The menu was cut in half which was due to being able only to seat at half capacity. It’s just not a winning situation. Because I really love their food and atmosphere, we will go back but, I know many others who will not. This in return could cause them to close their doors. You see it’s not just the lack of patrons that can cause the closings. It’s the lack of good workers that can cause patrons not to come. If the pandemic hadn’t happened, the wonderful employees would have been able to stay and it would have been great business as usually. Folks working in the food industry typically can not go months without a paycheck, They have to move on to something else.

Wouldn’t it be great if we all as a country came together and really just whole heartedly supported local restaurants? Can you imagine how wonderful it would be if we poured as much time and energy in to our businesses as we have with all of the political garbage and pandemic fear. They would just thrive. Now please don’t get me wrong I am not a person who believes that the virus isn’t real or isn’t terrible. I’ve know too many people that have had it or even lost loved ones due to it. I’m not at all saying it should be ignored but I am saying it is time to start helping our brothers and sisters in the food industry. Maybe I am strange but, I actually love to see people succeed. Think about this, as I have said before, pretty much everything that we do revolves around food. It does. Family get togethers, food. Date night, food. Birthdays, anniversaries, celebrations, food. Staying in for movie night, food. Everything that we do at some point there is food. So instead of running out to a chain and grabbing a taco or a burger why not try to order from a locally owned restaurant. Most all have curbside and take out if you don’t want to dine in. I just feel like it would make a difference if we all gave it a try. Before you say it, I understand that some of the local restaurants are more expensive than your typical drive through but most of them are running take out specials and I promise that 99 percent of the time the food quality is so much better. Besides if you are eating your lunch out every day at a chain drive through by the end of the week you’ve paid out enough to have one good meal at a locally owned restaurant. Grab some cans of soup or a loaf of bread and some deli meat to take for lunch. The reward of the “good” meal is definitely worth it.

I hope that this has given us all something to think about. Is there a local family waned restaurant in your area that you would just hate to see close? Do yourself and them a favor, call in some take out or if you feel safe visit them for your dinner this week. Tip the staff. Remember they may have not been able to bring home a paycheck during all of this. Grab a gift card or two to have to give to someone from these places. Support your local folks. You will be so glad you did. We live in the greatest country in the world. It’s a country where we can do anything t all if we believe we can. It’s time we start smiling on and supporting our brothers and sister in the restaurant business. I hope that you will this week. Have a wonderful evening and a blessed rest of the week. ❤️Always

Hello and Happy Saturday. Hope your day has been fabulous. I just loved thinking about everything that I wanted to post in this blog. Lordy Lou the memories. If you all are like me you were partially raised by your grandparents, or in my case papaw and mamaw. My little sister and I spent almost every weekend at their house. I think my momma was more than happy to get rid of us when we would ask if we could go. Because we stayed with them so much, we were around a ton of “old people”. The sayings that they would come out with were so funny. Do you have or remember some “old sayin’s” from years gone by? I hope that tonight’s blog makes you think about those old words but moreover makes you think about some people who are no longer with you.

My papaw was as old school as they come. I mean country. He grew up in a little town in North Carolina and his daddy worked for a logging company. In other words college educations were not necessary and in some cases neither were middle or high school completions. Although he wasn’t a college graduate he was smarter that most folks I know with a PhD. Street smart and common sense are sometimes more priceless than anything you can learn from a lecture or a book. He was full of old sayings. He use to scratch his ears with a car key lol. How he didn’t bust his ear drum I will never know. His phrase was “ My year is a eachin”. Lol. To this day my sister and I say it. And it was so funny hearing it come from his little gruff voice. He was 5’5 and barely weighs 95 pounds. You would get tickled just looking at him. He also called soda “dope”. He would say “I’ve got to go down here to the Food Lion we’re out of dopes”. He meant his Dr. Pepper. That little saying could be embarrassing sometimes because people who didn’t know him were not quite sure what he was talking about. There are so many I remember but, one I will never forget is when my little sister or I would say a “bad” word papaw saying “now that’s not nice of a little girl” lol. He never got mad. He would just say that in almost a whisper.

My grandmothers name was Martha. It was a beautiful elegant name for someone of her age. It suited her as she was always dressed to the nines and her hair and make up were always perfect. However; those that really knew our family called her “Marthie”. That is what our papaw called her. Even their neighbors called her that because of him. She also had her own little sayings. When we answer the phone we all typically say “hello” or “this is ……” but, not her. I so miss wringing her home phone and hearing “meyello” when she picked up. She would also say “I’ll swear” when you were telling her a big dramatic story.

My husband and I were talking about all of these sayings and he told me a few of the ones he remembers. By the way, you should talk about this with your spouse. You will have a really good laugh and you will learn so much about their family. I never met my husbands dad as he passed away before we were together. I do however feel like I know him because my husband talks about him so much. He said on thing that his dad always said when he was leaving to go somewhere was “I’ll be back dreckly”. It’s suppose to mean “directly”. See y’all. I told you we are from the country. He would also say “I’m as nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs” lol. I got so tickled when my husband told me that one.

Even our aunts and uncles had some sayings. When my husband would ask his uncle Victor how he was he was he would say “fair to midlin”. What does that even mean? My aunt Ellen was a great, quaint person. She never had any children but she loved us very much. She was so artsy and she really “lived”. She did arts and crafts at the senior center and lived to be 94 years old. She was amazing. Her husband passed away many years before she did so she would often go on trips with us. My daddy was her baby brother and they had a great relationship. The one saying I remember from her had a bad word in it lol. We would get in the car to travel. She would always sit in the back seat with us. As soon as we would pull out and get on the road she would say “We’re off in cloud of horse shit”. Blahaha I have no clue where it came from or what it meant but it was so funny.

There are so so many more. “Get you a hone of that” i.e. “get a drink of that”. “Finer than a frogs hair” i.e. “I’m doing just fine”. We could go on and on. Are there “old sayin’s” that you remember from your childhood? Do you still say them? Tonight is the perfect time to have this discussion with your family. It will give you all a good laugh. If there are any that you would like to share please do so in the comments. We all need a good laugh. I hope tonight’s blog brought some happiness and food memories to your evening. ❤️Always.

Good Friday evening sweet people. I hope that your week has been fabulous. We Did It! It’s the weekend and I couldn’t be more excited. Mostly not to set that alarm clock in the morning. I want to ask a question. When is the last time you received a letter in the mail? I mean a true, handwritten note from a friend or an acquaintance. It’s been a while hasn’t it. It’s so much easier to pull up and email address and type a few things and hit send. Grab your phone and send out a quick text. Can I just say how “personal” it is to receive a letter or card that someone has hand written. In my heart I believe, and I have said this before, everything that you do should begin by being personal. Nothing is anything if it’s not personal.

I remember when I was in middle and high school (it was a pretty long time ago) the big thing to do was write letters to each other. We use to literally get into trouble for writing letters while we were suppose to be paying attention in class. I had the same little boyfriend for 4 years in high school and I believe he gave me a handwritten note every day. I looked forward to them. One thing I remember is that he had beautiful handwriting and he was a lefty. He also folded them strange. Don’t ask me how it just sort of was folded into a square and it had a flap to pull to open it. Isn’t it funny how we remember things like that. I believe I still have them somewhere in my mommas attic. I should pull them out some day and have a good laugh.

Do you remember receiving birthday or Christmas cards from a loved one? My grandmother comes to mind. She always wrote in the cards. Not just “love, mamaw”. (Yes we called her mamaw. I’m from the south remember.) She wrote sentences. I have literally been with her when she went to the Halmark store to pick out a card for someone. It was a long drawn out process people. I believe she read every card in the section. She had to pick out the right card for the right person and the right occasion. It use to get on my nerves so bad. Here I was a 7 year old wanting to get over to the toy store but instead I was waiting for my mamaw to read every flippin card in the store. I remember once I took over a box of “all occasion” cards trying to convince her that if she bought the variety box that she wouldn’t have to worry about coming to pick one out so often. If looks could have killed y’all then you wouldn’t have been reading this blog. To her there was nothing more personal or important than a hand picked card. Oh how I wish she were still here so that I could receive a card from her. They just don’t make sweet little women like that anymore.

This past year, when the Covid garbage started, I bought some blank cards from Amazon and I just started sending them to people randomly. I didn’t write a ton in them and I tried to make sure they were just positive. Can I just say that I got more joy out of it then the folks receiving them probably did. Yes, I bought the variety pack of cards (sorry mamaw), but they were neat and unique. I had several people message me once they received the cards and they were so thankful. I plan to begin sending them again this week. You should give it a try. It is so much fun to find the different types of cards to purchase. There are so many varieties of the ones that are blank inside. Pick ones that will remind the person of you. If you have a Tuesday Morning store near you they have tons of boxed variety cards for about 6 dollars. Stamps are pretty cheap as well. I promise you will get as much joy out of it as I do. Sometimes the recipient even sends one back to you. It’s so exciting to go to the mailbox and get something besides bills and junk. I challenge you to try to send one card or note a week. Brighten and lift others up. Your card may be exactly what that person needs to get them through a tough day or stretch in their life. It means so much. I hope that you all have a wonderful evening and an amazing weekend. ❤️Always

Happy Wednesday night everyone. Sorry for such a late blog post but today was super busy for me. I hope your week has been marvelous. Have you ever started something and simply not finished it? I think we can all raise our hand right here. You know that feeling when get ready to begin something new, all the excitement, the brainstorming, the planning, the sheer joy of how it’s going to turn out. Then you go to sleep and you wake and you sleep and you wake until finally that “thing” that seemed so important doesn’t matter that much any more. Was it really that that important to begin with? Or was it just hope? One of my favorite words, hope, because its meaning is so deep. I feel like, no matter what we start, we should finish the race. No matter what. It may be as simple as getting the house cleaned in one day or vowing to make 2 days a week a healthy meal day, or walking one mile when we really don’t feel like it, or in my case working towards a 42 mile ultramarathon in September. We should “finish the race”. I don’t even want to be known as the person that never completes anything. I’m sure no one does.

As a young adult I knew a man that was one of those folks that would start a project and never complete it. He started to pull up carpet to refinish floors and only half of the carpet got removed. He decided to repaint a bathroom and ended up with an accent wall lol. He started to immaculately landscape his yard and he ended up with some shrubs and a few little pansies in front of one window. Nothing that he ever did, did he ever complete. I use to think that he was just terrible. But, as I got older, I begin to wonder why he started all of these wonderful things that he never completed. It dawned on me that maybe he “needed” the feeling of excitement and anticipation. He needed something to look forward to. He needed “hope”. It’s sad really. Later on I learned that he had struggled with a little bit of depression and I just started to encourage all of his inspirations as much as possible. I think everyone needs encouragement and hope. Everyone needs to “finish the race”.

When I stop and think about how many things I want to do and how many projects I want to tackle I get so giddy. My mind goes a hundred miles a minute and I want to just jump in head first. I have learned to take a day or two to think about the project before I begin. I’ve learned to be more organized and to plan correctly. I make certain that I have the time needed allotted because, lets face it, we are all extremely busy. I check to make sure I have the supplies that I need to do the project. I also make sure I have my team of encouragers or helpers in place to make sure I can complete what I am beginning. Weather you want to admit it or not, having a tribe to encourage you and have your back makes a huge difference. Accountability is huge and will keep us on track.

Do you have a goal? Is there something that you just really want to do?Is it to become healthier or to run a 5k or marathon? Is it to read a certain book or paint your kitchen? Are you working towards being a better spouse, parent, Christian or friend? Do you want to open a boutique or just get a job that you will love every day? Whatever it is plan and strive to “finish the race”. I say this all the time but, this little tiny amazingly wonderful life that we live goes by so quickly. It is meant to LIVE not to just sit and be a miserable cow lol. I am a firm believer that there is not anything that a person can not accomplish if they set their mind to it. Our bodies can endure so much more than we give it credit for. Our minds are so much deeper than any thought we ever dreamed we could have. You CAN do it if you set your mind to it.

Do you have some encouragement to share with our friends? Do you have a success story? Anything that we can share with each other to encourage someone to “finish their race” is so helpful. Let those around you know that you are on their team. Be a part of a tribe that lifts each other and helps each other reach their goals. Whatever it is that you are wanting to do or beginning, I am so proud of you and have complete faith that you can “finish your race”. ❤️Always

Integrity. You know I was almost 8 years old when I found out what this word meant. I will never forget how I learned. My little sister and I had a record player in our bedroom. I believe it was my momma’s and it only played 45’s. We had gotten a little record from a church class that we attended on Wednesday nights from time to time with our babysitter Helen. We just loved going with her. She went to The Salvation Army Church at the end of her street and my sister and I went to the children’s class. We were “Sunbeam’s”. Gosh what memories that just brought back but, that’s a story for another time. Look at me being all like Rose from the Golden Girls starting one story and getting lost in another one lol. Anyways……the little record that we got was a sing along story record. Now I can’t remember the entire story but, I remember that it was about integrity. I remember the lady telling the story had a beautiful voice and she sang a song that said “integrity means being honest in all that you do”. I still have the tune to that little song in my old brain. After listening to the record I thought to myself “how many fibs have I told today”? When we were little we fibbed to keep from getting in trouble. We thought we were so good. We thought we were getting away with everything. You know something, my momma was some kind of private investigator or had camera’s in our room or something. That woman knew everything. Then she would ask us knowing we were gonna lie so she could catch us in it. She was like the warden. Lol

Isn’t it funny how you think about the little white lies you told when you were a kid. They may have been funny and cute back then but as you get older you better nip that stuff in the bud. How difficult is it to regain someone’s trust after being dishonest? I bet if we took a poll on that a lot of folks would say they were never able to trust that person again. On top of that, even as a grown person, the truth will always come forward. It isn’t just my momma that is a private investigator. We all are. We are geared this way. We’ve all had someone show no integrity around us and for that reason we’ve all become untrusting. It’s sad really but, that’s just how it is. Let’s not get started about the snowball effect that happens when you start out with a tiny fib. By the time it’s over with you are beginning to believe yourself lol.

I want to tell on myself for a second because this story sort of hits it on the head as to what having no integrity can do to ya. When I was in middle school I absolutely hated math. To be honest I still don’t care for it and unfortunately that little trait has rubbed off on my son. I had the worst, most hateful math teacher when I was in 6th grade. I dreaded going to that class every day. About the second six weeks in, I pretty much gave up. Now, I’m from a time period and town where they mailed your report card home to your parents. Our daddy was a pretty fair man and he was okay with A’s, B’s and C’s but, bring home a D or and F and your tail was in trouble. Our mailman ran between 3:30 and 4 every day. For an entire week I camped out at the front door waiting on the mailman to come. I knew I HAD to get that report card before my daddy did. I knew without a doubt I had a D in that math class and I had no explanation for my poor grade. Well I got that report card and I went to my room and took a pencil and changed that D to a B. Y’all it worked. Sort of. I got by with it. Well, for 6 weeks I got by with it. My dumb ass (sorry for the bad word) forgot that the next report card showed all of the previous grades from the 6 weeks prior. Shew doggies I got my tail busted and he was pissed off every 6 weeks for the rest of that year. But the one thing he said I will never forget, was that he was more mad that I tried to lie about it. I had no integrity. For years I truly believe that my daddy took an eraser and went over my report cards making sure I wasn’t trying to pull one over on him again. You see, the truth came to light and so did my dishonesty.

No I know we are all guilty of not giving all of the information about situations. We all tell a little white lie every once in a while. We all sinners lol. But, do you know how important it is to be a person of integrity? Do you realize how important it is to be truthful and honest? How many people do you know that have ruined their chance in a job or a relationship because of not telling the truth? Think about it. I mean for real “The Truth Will Set you Free”. Whatever you do this week, do it with integrity. I hope that you all have a wonderful evening and a great week ahead. ❤️Always

Good evening everyone and happy Thursday! For a lot of us it’s almost over. One more day to the work week. I debated on this post for a bit and then I thought you know what I’m gonna lol. So, I want to apologize from the start for my vegan friends. You probably want to stop right here and just wait for tomorrows post. I don’t want to offend anyone so if you keep on reading then it is your decision lol. Can we just all stop for a moment and admit how much we LOVE bacon? I mean why is it so freakin good? Probably because it is so bad for you. But, I really think bacon, and pork for that matter, gets such a bad wrap. I mean it’s a little fat pig and if we think for one second that a big cow is any better for us then I think we are probably wrong. I don’t know, maybe I’m just trying to justify my love for the stuff.

I grew up with a daddy who was an avid hunter and what he killed, we ate. For that matter he also had a farm and what he harvested we ate. We were introduced to deer meat and fresh sausage probably before we were introduced to baby food. Our dad was a member of a local Rod and Gun Club as well as the Outdoorsmen Club. Hunting, Fishing, and farming were just part of his life and in return was a part of ours. You can rest assured that the foods that we ate were not full of growth hormones, preservatives, or were processed. Now I will admit that I was never able to go “hunting” per say. In fact I will go with my son and take my book just to have a little time with him. But, venison is one of the healthiest most lean meats that you can consume. And if you cook it correctly it doesn’t taste like wild game at all. It’s all in the marinade baby. I remember Dad saying to me when I started having so much trouble with my belly (it’s the devil remember) “if you cant grow it or hunt it you shouldn’t eat it”. Hmmm kinda makes sense. Never mind that he was telling me this all while eating his Treet meat sandwich lol. Y’all I don’t know what’s in that stuff but, I’m betting it wasn’t harvested lol.

Back to the pork dilemma. My question is, why does it get such a bad wrap? I mean its all so delicious. I absolutely LOVE breakfast. I typically don’t eat until 2 pm or after but more often than not breakfast is my go to for dinner. I love eggs and bacon. But sausage and ham, well they all scream breakfast to me. I know that some religions don’t allow you to eat pork (shew glad I didn’t choose that religion) and some people prefer to be vegan but, y’all I can’t. I just seriously can’t. I currently have a coworker who is allergic to pork. He seriously will break out if he eats it. I mean think about that. Think about all of the things that contain pork. I mean that is life without pork bbq, pork ribs, sausage, pork rinds, and of course bacon. How does he survive? Bless his heart.

With all that being said I truly feel like it is okay to have an 80/20 diet. I eat low carb so I can have all the pork I want. But, if you are a person who watches your fat intake or calories, I really think its okay to have something yummy every once in a while. How do you all feel about “the other white meat” lol? Do you have a favorite pork dish? If you do please do me a favor and share it. Just share it in the comments so that we can call benefit. I’m always looking for ways to use my favorite meat. And in the photo below I have shared a very very good way to use bacon. Have a great night and I hope that your morning tomorrow is filled with plenty of bacon ❤️Always