A Simple Cross

A Simple Cross

How can something so simple bring such joy? This wooden cross is one of the latest magnets I purchased at Dollywood back in August.

It was an unusual day at Dollywood. We pretty much had the entire park to ourselves. It was raining/misting in the morning. We had previously made our reservations for the park entrance. And I had a reservation for a little motor scooter because I have difficulty walking. Because of the rain, and even though it stopped by 11 a.m., many people apparently decided not come to the park. There were times throughout the day we would look around and not see a single person anywhere. We had heard that there were only about 400 guests who attended that day. And we honestly believe there were more employees in the park than guests.

Because of the limited number of people in the park that day, I actually felt comfortable going into the stores on the mobility scooter. One of the stores that I really enjoy is the wood crafters store with handmade wooden ornaments, wall hangings, and other carved items.  It is amazing to look at the talent of the craftsmen and their works of wonder.

As soon as we entered the store, I noticed a table straight in with various Christmas items. The nativity sets were all hand carved out of olive wood by artisans local to the Holy Land. I immediately fell in love and wished I were in financial position to buy it all—as well as have the room to showcase it at home. Due to those limitations, I only purchased a small nativity set, maybe about eight inches high. And when you turn the star on the top, it plays “Silent Night.” It was absolutely beautiful and I will probably keep it out all year long.

We ended up with a couple other items and made our way through the otherwise empty store to the cash register. Near the register was a roundabout magnet holder. I like to touch and look, and of course, I started turning it. This simple little cross caught my eye and I knew I had to have it. It somehow spoke to me – not just “buy me” but rather “ I need to be with you.”

This cross is now on my refrigerator. I see it every single time that I go to the bathroom. Which means several times a day. I look at it and it just brings me a moment of joy, of peace, of relaxation. Something that I never imagined would happen from just a simple little magnet.

I wonder what will speak to me next time I’m at Dollywood? 

Vacations in the Smokey Mountains

Vacations in the Smokey Mountains

It’s been a full week and I’ve been good. No more magnets on the refrigerator – YET!! They are all still in the box on the dining room table. I’m waiting for my hubby to bring up the file cabinet from the basement so I can put my favorites and the ones that mean the most to me on that where I can see them from my office chair. Then we’ll narrow them down for what will go on the kitchen refrigerator, the garage refrigerator, and the remaining ones on the duct work in the basement (thank you, Gina Glover, for that suggestion).

We have quite a few magnets from the Great Smokey Mountains (the national park and attractions around the area). In the Butter Y’all” blog, I mentioned that Gatlinburg, Tennessee is our happy place. We have been vacationing there at least once a year for at least five years now. We drive straight through, and with breaks and traffic, it takes us about 12 hours. This is also the one time that I willingly give all control of driving to Troy. This also makes it easier for him to drop me off and then park further away because he doesn’t mind the extra steps.

We rent a different cabin each time using Jackson Mountain Homes rental company and have never had an issue with them, although this last trip we tried Cabins For You rental company. We’ve gone a few times where it is just Troy and I. Went once with Troy’s parents, and another time with his parents and his brother and sister-in-law. The cabins are nice because you can pick and choose location, number of bedrooms/bathrooms, etc. And concerns for Troy’s mom and me are a limited number of steps into the cabin.

Every trip, we make it a point to go to Dollywood. Even though Troy is the only one that goes on the rides, I love the people watching! This is the cleanest amusement park and the layout and themes are wonderful. With the COVID situation last year (and precautions continuing this year), I felt safe. They did limit number of attendees inside the park. The buffets were replaced with family style dining. And they were extremely creative in using the outdoor space to bring in more musicians (all the indoor theaters were closed).

Each trip too, we go to the Log Cabin Pancake House. Bestest breakfast ever! I usually get the apple pancakes with sausage patties or the cherry crepes. Troy has to make a difficult decision between biscuits and gravy or French Toast Royale (topped with bananas and a secret sauce). Depending on how long we are in TN, then we may go there twice. They have a variety of college flags hanging from the ceiling (including our own Wisconsin Badgers flag) which is in contrast to the regular rustic cabin décor. Definitely worth the wait in line if you go. 

I hope you get the opportunity to visit the Smokey Mountains soon and enjoy it as much as I do. Watch out for the bears. Say "hey" to Norm when you see him walking around downtown Gatlinburg. 

Butter Y'All

 

After living in our house for 22 years, my husband and I had to purchase a new refrigerator. It should have been done a couple years ago because it was leaking inside, the icemaker broke about five years ago, and it was making “clunking” noises every couple of hours. My husband did the research and purchasing all on his own and even made the executive decision to get the three-year warranty. He done good!

Knowing the refrigerator would be delivered on a Tuesday, I spent the Sunday prior cleaning off the refrigerator – yes, cleaning off the outside of the refrigerator of the couple hundred magnets that decorated it. (And in hindsight, I should have taken a before and after picture of the old fridge). Found out the original color was ivory and it looked “naked” without all the magnets. As I was cleaning off each individual magnet and deciding to keep or purge it, I started thinking about the history behind the magnets. There is a story with the purchase or gift of each magnet. And because I’m a Toastmaster, I started thinking about how I could use this for a possible project.

Could I present a series of speeches about the different magnets? I knew that I would be starting a new Presentation Mastery path and I could focus each project in the path on a magnet. Then I remembered one of the elective projects in Level 4 in several paths was create a podcast or make a blog. After reviewing the requirements of each project, I decided on a making a blog. I can easily write a minimum of eight (8) blogs about the different magnets. I could probably write well over a hundred - but I promise I won't. 

The first magnet I would like to share with you is one we (my hubby and I) purchased from vacation in our happy place – Gatlinburg, Tennessee. And it’s the first one I put on the new refrigerator!

We had breakfast at Paula Deen's restaurnt at the Island in Pigeon Forge. All you can eat, family style breakfast. The fluffiest scrambled eggs ever! To get out of the restaurant, you have to walk through the store. And even though we probably don’t need anything more for our kitchen, we always look because you never know when something will just POP out at you.

Everywhere we go, we always check out the magnets. And if you know anything about Paula Deen, you know she’s all about the butter. You can never go wrong with butter. You can always use more butter! My hubby makes a peanut butter and jelly sandwich by first putting butter on the bread, then the peanut butter, then the jelly. I don’t go quite that far, but he likes what he likes, and that includes me, so that’s okay!

Anyway… as we were looking through the magnets, one practically jumped off the rack into my hands. A rectangle shaped piece of “butter” with “Butter Y’all” printed on it. It’s southern, it’s butter, and it’s a magnet. Which means that we had to purchase it and bring it home!

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