Thanksgiving 2015

Since my Mom wasn't able to come back to NC for my Grandmother's 90th birthday, she came for Thanksgiving. Chad and I were able to go to Wilmington for the whole week of Thanksgiving, but my brother was only able to come for a day and a half. We had Thanksgiving at my Grandmother's house and we were able to have an early Thanksgiving with my Dad the day before. Here are pictures from our week at the beach for Thanksgiving:


Early Thanksgiving with my Dad.



Thanksgiving at my Grandmother's house.



Other pictures from our week at the beach.



We went to the Ft. Fisher Aquarium the day after Thanksgiving. It was also the location for the Cape Fear Festival of Trees.



Pictures of the Christmas lights and decorations on Wrightsville Beach.



The Holiday Flotilla is the Saturday after Thanksgiving on the inland waterway. We didn't have a great spot to watch and take pictures, but we could see OK. I do wish we had been a little closer, but it was still fun and not as cold as in years past.



After our week at the beach I was ready to come home to these sweet girls!

November 2015 Events

So, November was a very busy month for us. We got to see one of our favorite bands in concert - Dead Sara, we celebrated our friends Mike and Leanda's daughter Clara Ann's first birthday and baptism, and I got LASIK surgery! Here are some pictures of our November events:




I have always wanted to have LASIK, but was really scared of having my eyes lasered! But, this year I just decided that I was going to do it. I was tired of dealing with contacts and glasses, so I made a consultation appointment with Providence Eye and was very pleasantly surprised at how easy it seemed to be. I had my surgery on Nov. 20 and 2 days later we left to go to Wilmington for the week of Thanksgiving. Other than having to do eye drops every hour the first week after surgery - the recovery was SO easy! Overall, the worst part was having to wear my glasses for 2 weeks before the consultation and surgery. I would HIGHLY recommend LASIK to anyone who's thinking about it. It was the easiest medical procedure I've ever had done! And it is SO awesome to be able to wake up every day and see without glasses or contacts! Here is a picture of me the day of my surgery with my eye shields on - I had to wear these after my surgery and to sleep in for the next few nights.

Other October Pictures

We finally started getting some fall color around October. Here are some pictures from a walk in our neighborhood:

And no month is complete without cat pictures. Once it gets cooler, the cats LOVE to snuggle more - with us and with each other. Here are some pictures of the cats snuggling with me on a cold night:

Mom-mom's 90th Birthday

My Grandmother turned 90 years old in October this year! Since that is such a huge milestone birthday earlier in the year I was trying to figure out what I could give her as a gift. My Grandmother loves anything homemade and isn't much for fancy or expensive gifts. I found an idea on Pintrest to create a Memory Jar. So, with my Mom's help we sent out requests to friends and family asking each person to write a few memories or wishes for my Grandmother's 90th birthday. About a week before her birthday we only had 80, but by the day before her birthday we had gotten 100 wishes and memories! I have NEVER been more excited to give someone a gift than this one. I knew my Grandmother would LOVE it! Unfortunately my Mom wasn't able to be there for my Grandmother's birthday this year, but we had me, Chad, my brother Fielding, my Uncle Tommy and Aunt Kim, my step-brother Mike and his girlfriend Amy. We all went out to eat where my brother surprised us all by paying the bill for our whole group, then we went back to my Grandmother's house for her to open gifts. She LOVED the memory jar and couldn't resist reading a few of the notes right away and had read them ALL by the next day! We really had a great time visiting with her and celebrating her 90th birthday. Here are some pictures from our visit for her birthday weekend:

Other September Pictures

This year my birthday fell on a Tuesday and if I can help it I always try to take my birthday off work, so this year I decided to take the day before and after my birthday too. It was great just sleeping in every and day and going for a walk or shopping. Then when I got back to work I am always surprised by how much my coworkers do for birthdays - I got tons of great, thoughtful gifts. Here are some pictures from my birthday:



At the end of September we were able to go hear the author Jan Karon speak at the ImaginOn library. While I've never read any of her books she is my grandmother's favorite author and since my grandmother's 90th birthday was the next month I knew I had to go and get an autographed copy of Jan Karon's newest book. I brought Chad along with me and I wasn't sure how much we would enjoy the talk since we haven't read her books, but we both really enjoyed it. She is a great speaker and we got a signed copy of her book for my grandmother too. Here are a few pictures from the author event with Jan Karon:


And no month is complete without some pictures of our cats!

Roxy chilling on some sheets we use in the basement.

Sandy and Roxy snuggling on the bed!

September 2015 Vacation

We decided to take our vacation this year at the end of August/beginning of September so that Chad would have earned more time off in his job. I thought it might end up being really hot, but we had fantastic weather and it only rained one day! Earlier in the summer was SO hot, but by August and September the weather was much better. We decided to buy a beach tent/shelter so that we could actually stay out on the beach longer without getting sunburned and it was the BEST purchase! We went out on the beach every day and were able to stay out longer and not get burned. Since our vacation was after school had started back there was hardly anyone out on the beach too, which was really nice. We were able to walk on the beach every day - even the day it rained we were able to take a walk between rain showers. Here are our pictures from our vacation this year:


On the day it rained we went to the Ft. Fisher Aquarium. Even though I've been the aquarium dozens of times I still love to go anytime we're at the beach.


One of the coolest things we did on this vacation was visit the Topsail Island Sea Turtle Hospital. My Dad lives near there so he came with us and it was really a cool place to visit. There are various stations with volunteers who talk about sea turtles and what they do at the hospital. Then you go into the room with all the tanks that are holding the sea turtles. Most of the turtles are only held there while they heal from an injury and then are released back into the wild. They were doing a release a few days after our visit, but unfortunately we were already home by then. Here are the pictures from the sea turtle hospital and hanging out with my Dad on the Surf City pier:



Here are the rest of the pictures from our vacation this year:

50th Wedding Anniversary for Chad's Parents

Chad parents, Brenda & Eddie, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary this year. They wanted to celebrate by having a party at the campground in Asheboro where they spend most of their time now that they are both retired. I know they had a great time at the party and lots of friends and family were there. 50 years is a HUGE accomplishment and I hope Chad & I make it that long together! Here are some pictures from their 50th anniversary party:

More Summer Pictures

Each year our garden does better and better. This year we REALLY had an abundant harvest. We sometimes got 20+ cucumbers a day! We also got tons of squash and zucchini and a lot more tomatoes than last year. Here are a few pictures of our garden bounty and how we preserved it:




Here are some more pictures of the cats from this summer:

July 2015

July was a busy month for us. The garden was in full swing, we celebrated the 4th of July with our friends at the Harrisburg parade, we went to a concert, and I surprised Chad with a trip to the mountains for his birthday. Here are all our pictures from July:

July garden pictures:




I love our 4th of July traditions in Harrisburg. We've been going to the parade with the same two families for the past 9 or 10 years. This year we had a cookout with our friends Becca & Jason and then walked down to the fireworks. I really love living in Harrisburg and the 4th of July is so much fun. Here are our pictures:



One of my favorite bands is Jimmy Eat World and Chad and I have seen them play probably 6 or 8 times. This year the lead singer Jim Adkins came out with some solo music and we were able to see him perform at Motorco in Durham, NC. Here are a few pictures:



For Chad's birthday this year I surprised him with a weekend trip to the mountains. We love going to the West Jefferson area and rented a cabin just outside West Jefferson. Here are the pictures from our mountain birthday trip:

May & June 2015

Here are some pictures of the cats and around the house from May:




Since we were able to plant almost a month earlier than last year we could really tell a big difference. We started getting our first harvest in early June which was really nice. Here are some pictures of our garden from June:



We were able to go to the beach for a weekend in June, which was really nice and the weather was great. But, it just made me even more ready for our week vacation in September! Here are some pictures from our weekend at Wrightsville Beach:

April 2015

So, April 2015 was an exciting month for us. We celebrated our 15 year wedding anniversary, went to our first Mother Earth News Fair in Asheville, NC, and planted our garden. We stayed at a really nice B&B in Asheville when we went to the Mother Earth News Fair as an early anniversary celebration. I'm a HUGE fan of Joel Salatin and I found out that he would be speaking at the Mother Earth News Fair - we had never heard of the fair, but I'll go anywhere I can to hear Joel Salatin, so we decided to make a weekend of the fair and celebrate our anniversary too. Turns out the Mother Earth News Fair is RIGHT up our alley! There were SO many workshops and talks that we were interested in that we had to narrow it down because we could only do so much each day. This will definitely be our first Fair of many more. And of course Joel Salatin was awesome - we actually got up super early so we could check out of the B&B and get to the Fair on Sunday for a live chicken processing demo with Joel Salatin. Yes, we got up early on a Sunday to watch chickens be killed and processed by Joel Salatin! That is how much I love this man! The Fair overall was so much fun and we really learned a lot and it definitely inspired us to get our own garden going when we got back home. Here are our pictures from a very busy and fun April:



Pictures from the B&B where we stayed in Asheville, NC.


Pictures from in and around Asheville, NC.


Pictures from Day 1 of the Mother Earth News Fair.


Pictures from Day 2 of the Mother Earth News Fair.


Planting our garden at home.

The beautiful roses Chad got me for our anniversary! One rose for every year.

Dead Sara Concert March 28, 2015

Dead Sara is one of my all-time favorite bands, so when I heard they had a new album coming out and were coming to Charlotte on the tour I was SO excited! I immediately pre-ordered the album, bought my concert tickets, and took the day off work! The first time I saw them I was blown away with how good they were live and they did not disappoint this time either. Chad really liked them when we saw them the first time, but unfortunately he was sick the weekend of the concert, so I got my brother to go with me instead. I knew he would like them and he really enjoyed the show, I just hate that Chad couldn't go since he does really like Dead Sara too. Here are some pictures from the concert:

March 2015 House and Cat Pictures

No month is complete without more cat pictures! This month's pictures are of the cats with a new toy I got them - a mouse with a movable tail. You press the mouse's nose and the tail wiggles for the cats to play with. They loved it at first, but don't really do anything with it now. 

We can always tell Spring is coming when the daffodils come up in our back yard. That was such a nice surprise the first year we were there! Chad also installed a nice shade on our deck so that we have a little more privacy from our neighbors. Here are our March house and cat pictures:

February House and Cat Pictures

In February I finally got around to putting up our new spice rack and spice jars.  The small cabinet where we kept our spices was too crowded and every time you needed to get one out others would fall out too.  Now the spices are easy to get to and we have some extra cabinet space.

And of course I have to post some cute cat pictures for February too! 

The one below might be my new favorite of the two of them!

This one is me & Sandy on one of the snow/ice days off work.  

I love that she is looking right at the camera too!

February Snow/Ice Days

Last year we had a record almost week-long snow storm, which I was hoping would get repeated this year too!  We have had a few ice and snow days where I got a few unexpected days off work, so I'm not complaining too much.  Here are some pictures from the ice and snow days in February:


We had an ice storm that I actually had more time off work than when it actually snowed. The full day I had off work there were SO many birds at our feeders ALL day - after I chipped all the ice off the feeders that is! Here are the ice storm pictures:



Our first actual snow was a surprise to me. I woke up to snow falling and sticking, but it didn't last long and mostly melted by the end of the day. But thanks to that unexpected snow I saw the reason my bird feeders were emptying so quickly - raccoon tracks on the deck! Now I bring the bird feeders in at night. I love the wildlife at our house, but raccoons on the deck is a little too much for me! Here are a few pictures from that unexpected snow:



We got more snow the same week as the unexpected snow. The weather was calling for 6-10" which would have been great, but we only got about 2-3" at our house and it was so warm that it was mostly slush by the afternoon. Here are some pictures from the actual snow day:

My Grandmother

My Grandmother Geraldine Smith, my Dad's Mom, passed away on January 15, 2015.  She was 80 years old and had been suffering from dementia for the past few years.  From 2014-15 she had really gone downhill quickly.  Thankfully we were able to see her the weekend before Christmas not knowing that in only a few weeks she would be gone.  I will miss her, but the grandmother I knew and loved was already mostly gone from the dementia.  That is such a terrible and hard disease.  I know it was really hard on my Dad seeing her like that.  Chad and I were able to stay in Wilmington for a few days around the funeral to be with my Dad.  Here is my grandmother's obituary and some picture from our trip to Wilmington for her funeral.

Geraldine (Gerry) Shipman Smith of Wilmington, NC passed away on Thursday, January 15, 2015, at Lower Cape Fear Hospice and Life Care Center. 
She was born on April 14, 1934, daughter of the late Henry Craven and Daisy Deaton Shipman. She was preceded in death by her husband, Harry Lee Smith, Jr. Surviving are two children; daughter, Lee Ann Smith Rutledge (Denny); son Breck Howard Smith; and four grandchildren Zachary Taylor Rutledge, Craig Smith Rutledge, Jessica Smith Brewer and Fielding Lee Smith.
Gerry graduated from New Hanover High School. She retired from the New Hanover County Schools (Blair Elementary), and was a member of the Winter Park Presbyterian Church. 
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to: Shriners Hospitals for Children 2900 N. Rocky Point Drive, Tampa, FL 33607, Winter Park Presbyterian Church, 4501 Wrightsville Avenue, Wilmington, NC 28401, or Lower Cape Fear Hospice Foundation, 1414 Physicians Drive, Wilmington, NC 28401. A private service will be held at a later date.

January Cat and Bird Pictures

We have to start off 2015 with cat and bird pictures right?!  Enjoy the cuteness!

Sandy

Sandy is one of our cats and at the end of 2014/early 2015 she started having some health issues.  To back track a little at the end of 2012/early 2013 I noticed that Sandy was over-grooming on her stomach.  It started as a small patch and I took her to the vet to make sure it wasn't anything to be concerned about.  The vet said that it was usually anxiety related, but there was nothing physically wrong with her and unless she over-groomed to the point of bleeding we could just ignore it.  Sandy never seemed anxious, so I didn't think much of it.  The pictures below I took when I first noticed the small over-groomed spot:

Since late 2012/early 2013 Sandy's over-grooming continued to spread.  It got to the point where it was most of her stomach and even the insides of her back legs.  But, she still didn't seem anxious to me and otherwise everything seemed normal with her.  Then in November 2014 she peed outside the litter box and there was blood in her urine.  I immediately took her to the vet where, of course, they couldn't get a urine sample.  They gave her pain and anti-inflammatory meds and she seemed OK in a few days.  Then the same thing happened exactly 2 weeks to the date of the first time.  That time they were able to get a urine sample, but there was no bacteria which meant no urinary-tract infection.  We did the same pain and anti-inflammatory meds and she seemed OK.  At that point they said she probably had urinary cystitis - basically an anxiety response where she feels like she has a UTI and has all the symptoms (small amounts of urine with blood in it), but she actually does not have an infection - it's basically all in her mind.  

This seemed completely crazy to me!  How could a cat who's whole life is eating and sleeping be that anxious?!  Well, in exactly another 2 weeks it happened again, so back to the vet.  This time I asked for some more tests to be run just to make absolutely sure there wasn't bladder stones or anything like that causing these issues.  When those tests came back clear we decided to try anti-anxiety medicine for her.  The catch - it takes 4-6 weeks to know if it's helping!  But, the more I thought about it the more it made sense that it was an anxiety issue.  I thought back to the over-grooming and how that had increasingly gotten worse over the last 2 years.  It made sense to me that the over-grooming could progress into idiopathic cystitis.  

So, we started her on the anti-anxiety medication at the beginning of December.  She continued to have flare ups every 2 weeks exactly  - which also made sense for it to be anxiety related not a physical problem.  This was a really rough time for me.  When the idiopathic cystitis flare up started happening Sandy was NOT herself.  Her personality changed and she basically stayed in our bedroom most of the time.  I was so worried that she wouldn't get better or this was a sign of a larger/worse issue that might end with her having to be put to sleep.  I love my cats very much and want them to be happy and healthy.  Because idiopathic cystitis is an anxiety issue there is no telling when the flare ups will stop on their own - they will eventually, but in the meantime my cat was suffering.  

After 2 more flare ups after starting the medicine we FINALLY started to see improvements!  After 6 weeks on the medicine she had a smaller flare up that we were able to deal with at home without taking her to the vet.  I was SO thrilled that the medicine was working and things were looking up for Sandy!  Her personality also started to come back and she seemed much more like herself again. I cannot say how HAPPY I am that this medicine is working and Sandy is back to herself again.  Even if we have to give her this medicine for the rest of her life I am fine with that!

Before Sandy's health issues I really thought that people who had their pets on anti-anxiety medicine were crazy.  That they either didn't know how to deal with their pets or their own neuroses were coming into play.  Now I know that these kinds of issues can crop up in the most laid-back of pets and seemingly out of nowhere.  I'm so thankful for my awesome vet's office who helped us through this issue with Sandy.  I'm also SO thankful that these medicines are available and are working for us I can also say that before Sandy's health issues I have never prayed so hard for one of my cats as I did for her during those 2 months.  I prayed for her EVERY day and I know that that helped her AND me get through those rough months.  I wouldn't wish this on anyone.  I really struggled during those months with Sandy's health issues and now that we've moved on to better days I just wanted to write about it in hopes that it might help someone else out there who's dealing with something similar.  I'm so thankful to have my Sandy back and healthy again!

2014 Year in Review

Each year I post my top 10 books that I read and my coupon savings for that year.  I also post our garden harvest totals.  So here is the year in review for 2014 at our house:

Top 10 Books of 2014

Fiction

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes
The Bees by Laline Paull
Stella Bain by Anita Shreve
The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker

Non-Fiction

The Mushroom Hunters by Langdon Cook
Burnt Toast Makes You Sing Good by Kathleen Flinn
A Wolf Called Romeo by Nick Jans
The Meat Racket by Christopher Leonard
Pandora's Lunchbox by Melanie Warner

I read 85 books and 32 cookbooks in 2014.


Coupon Savings

In 2014 I saved $2127.55 with coupons.  It was $143 less than 2013, but in my defense when we were in Hawaii for two weeks I didn't use any coupons and I didn't get any coupons.  That's my excuse for not saving more.  I did average over $40 per week in savings.


Garden Harvest 

This year because we took some trees down we had a LOT better garden production.  But, we were also gone for 2 weeks on vacation during peak garden time.  Chad's sister took care of our garden while we were gone, but I really missed being there during peak season.  Here are our harvest totals:

Zucchini - 32
Squash - 44
Cucumbers - 117 --> 18 pints of pickles made
Tomatoes - 123
Okra - 863 --> 40 bags of processed frozen okra
Pie Pumpkins - 9 --> 8 1/3 cups pumpkin puree

We also bought 2 boxes of tomatoes from the farmer's market to can.  From the 2 boxes we canned 14 quarts of tomatoes and 18 pints of tomato sauce.

This year with our garden I was most happy about the successful pumpkins and making homemade tomato sauce.  The sauce was so simple and easy to make, but tastes SO much better than any store bought sauce!  I can't wait to see what 2015 holds for our garden.

Christmas 2014

We had a very busy Christmas this year!  Here are pictures of all our Christmas activities this year:


Here are our Christmas decorations and the requisite pictures of the cats under the tree.


This was the 10th year the Behold the Lamb concert came to our church. We've been there every year to see it too! At the concert they said that due to the rising demand for tickets (it usually sells out the first day they go on sale!) next year they will have to find a larger venue. While I'm glad there's so much interest in the concert, I hate that it won't be at our church anymore. After the concert this year we got to meet Andrew Peterson and he signed a book for us too. This is my favorite Christmas tradition!


Another one of our favorite Christmas traditions is our friends Christmas party. It started when we were all in a small group together and has continued for probably 8 or more years now. We always do a potluck dinner and an ornament exchange. Here are pictures from the party this year:


This year we went to Wilmington the weekend before Christmas to see my Dad, his mother and my other Grandmother. My Dad's mom, Nana, has dementia and has really gone downhill. I'm glad we were able to see her before Christmas this year. We were also able to see my other grandmother and open gifts with her too. We also were able to go to the Ft. Fisher Aquarium and see all the Christmas decorations there. Here are the pictures from the aquarium and the other beach Christmas decorations:



Here are some pictures from our Christmas at home. Chad surprised me with a Le Creuset dutch oven! It was EXACTLY what I would have picked out for myself and he chose it completely on his own. I am very excited to cook with it soon! We also got the cats a remote controlled mouse which they LOVED, but it broke after the first time we played with it.


Here is a video we made of the cats playing with their remote controlled mouse. Unfortunately the mouse quit working after this one time playing with it, but it's still a good video of them having a great time!



Our final Christmas celebration was with Chad's family. Because Chad's grandmother hadn't been feeling great we celebrated at Chad's parent's house. Here are the pictures from Christmas with Chad's family: