Fall Has Arrived

Fall weather just somehow renews my body. Maybe it is something in the air. I really do not know what it is. Just that I absolutely do love the Fall Season!

It is the time of year when everything starts to change. The leaves on the trees, the temperatures, and even the days seem to get shorter. That there are lots of Fairs, Festivals, Football games, and others things to do and see! For me it is time to get out your decorations for Halloween first. Then next would be the Thanksgiving ones. And after that …well we all know it would be my Christmas Decorations! Now mind you I wait till after each one is over with! Oh yes, how I do love decorating this time of the year. I just wish the stores, etc. would at least let me ENJOY each holiday before shoving the other one down my throat. You know wait before putting out the Christmas décor until at least the week before Thanksgiving and so on!

Still Fall is the time that I love sleeping with my windows wide opened at night. You know to let in that cool, crisp night air. Aww, how refreshing it is! Plus during the day we have such wonderful cool breezes blowing throughout our house. You should see our babies, Sadie Bella and Lucky. Lord they just love to stay outside all of the time now. That Lucky can be found on her backside with all four legs up in the air snoring away! And Sadie Bella not to far away looking at her like “Lord would you please hush!” :0)
These two surely do keep me laughing. Plus watching them chase each other in the yard is surely something to see. Oh my, how I love my babies!

Another thing that comes along during this time of year is cleaning! Yep, got to get them their cobwebs down. Believe me this is a chore that is not done in a day either. Nope, cause there are windows to be cleaned, siding and decks that needs to be pressured washed, on your hands and knees floor scrubbing, furniture moving and rearranging, and lots and lots of other cleaning! It is also when I go start moving my summer clothes to another closet in another room. Then take my fall and winter clothes and move them into my bedroom. Plus go through them all (summer, fall, and winter) and sort out the ones I no longer wear. Then take the ones I am keeping and wash them all. To which once done I either haul them down to the Goodwill store or donate them to a shelter or something. Do any of you do that?

Yes, Fall has arrived and I am so thankful that it has. Tell me is it your favorite time of the year too?

Come On Over

Let me tell you of a place that I now call home. I have lived here for going on almost 22 years. And really never realized the wonders that it held untill the last several years! All I can say is that I wished I had discovered all that it held sooner!

So where is it that I am talking about you ask? Oh my, it is North Carolina. That here is where I will begin my journey of letting you know what I have discovered so far!

In the "Western" part of the state, up close along the Tennessee/North Carolina state line is a town called Bryson City. Here you will find "The Great Smokey Mountains Railroad." It is one that will take you all on a 4 1/2 hour round trip to the Nantahala River Gorge. (http://www.gsmr.com/) Talk about a great ride! One that will allow you to experience first hand some of the most breath-taking views I have ever seen! You may purchase your tickets in advance (which I highly recommend) for either an open-air car or a closed car. For me it is the "Opened" one! Nothing like feeling mother-nature against your face and breathing it all in! Plus if you love to take pictures this is the way to go. Along on this ride I got to see some lovely mountainsides, barns, rivers, lakes, houseboats, and even an old steel bridge which we crossed over! And did I mention "Fontana Dam?" Yep, got to see it too. It is where the movie "The Fugitive" was filmed starring Harrison Ford! That this is one train ride that offers not only this kind of day trip, but several other kinds. Including ones just for the kids! Now as to when is the right time to go.... Personally for me it would be the Fall. Just because this is when the leaves are changing colors. Yet, the spring time is lovely too. You know when everything is blooming! But be careful if you have allergies!!!!

Now of course you have got to spend a few nights around here in order to enjoy everything that the "Western" part of North Carolina has to offer. Your choice of lodging can range from Hotels, Motels, Houses, Beds & Breakfasts, Inns, and Cabins that you can rent. You can find some really great deals by going to this website. It is http://www.vrbo.com/vacation-rentals/usa/north-carolina. Believe me after looking at the places offered here you will be ready to just drop everything and head to these here mountains! And if you own a motorcycle, try your best to ride it here! The roads here were made for them!

Which leads me to some of thoses places that motorcyclists just love to ride! Not only are all of the roads in the "Western" part of North Carolina great for riding your motorcycle. But there are some areas that have specific type roads that seem to have been made with nothing but motorcyle riders in mind. These are for example "The Tail of the Dragon," "The Cherohala Skyway," and "The Blue Ridge Parkway." That the first two are ones my husband and I still have on our "To Do List", left to do! The "Tail of the Dragon" is only 11 miles long, yet has 318 curves in it! WOW, can you just imagine riding on this? And the "Cherohala" is great for its scenic views. Now of course it is 60 miles long and according to it's web-site very remote. As for the "Blue Ridge Parkway" it is one that we ride frequently. There are a lot of gorgeous places where you can stop and have a look see over the side! Or even a picnic lunch. Yet you may even want to go for a hike! I mean you can just ride and ride, but still stop and enjoy all that it has to offer. For more abou these places here are the links to them. http://www.tailofthedragon.com/index.html, http://www.cherohala.com/index.html, http://www.blueridgeparkway.org/.
Hopefully, I may meet you up there one day and we can enjoy a ride together!

As for places to eat, there are a lot of them. But I do love this resturant called "Granny's Kitchen." It is located in Cherokee, right down from Harrah's Casino. Talk about some delicious food at very reasonable prices! You can either order off of the menu or go for the Buffet! We went for the Buffet. There was Fried Chicken, cole slaw, green beans, squash, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, biscuits, okra, macaroni, potato and pasta salad, tomatoes, all the fixings for a fresh salad, roast beef, rice, baked beans, pinto beans, corn bread, and rolls. Plus the various deserts of Cherry and Peach Cobbler, Apple Pie, Banana Pudding, and Ice Cream! There is one desert that everyone must try though.. It is the "Peanut Butter Pie!" Talk about melt in your mouth scrumptious...... Plus there was "Sweet Tea" galore. And before I forget, there is even another location of "Granny's Kitchen in Waynesville, North Carolina! Its' food is just as tasty too!

Well I will stop for now. Thus this will continue with me describing the middle part of my state next. It is known as "The Piedmont Area!" That I just did not want to make this too long to read. Hopefully, you have enjoyed it so far. Please let me know. And if you have questions, I will do my best to answer them.

Thanks for stopping by and do return. Here is wishing you all a fun-filled and enjoyable weekend!

Nana Net

ON NO----Tell Me I Did Not Do That...........

On Saturday it seems that the weather got the best of me. Or I should say I let my mood swings! That out and about I went with a friend of mine to lunch. And of course we decided why not go into a few stores afterwards. Ya know just to see what was "On Sale," and to pass the time away. So here we go a looking around amongst the crowds. Man there were alot of people in the stores today! I really do not blame them. Cause it was the first day we had seen the sun in like "FOREVER!" But I should have know that was not going to last long... Amongst the crowd my friend Pam did find her some bargains. As for me, no go. I just was not in the mood for it! Now mind you I do love to go shopping! But this afternoon was not my day for it.

So later on when we got back to my place my hubby was home. He decided we all needed to go out to eat! UGH--I just wanted to stay home for a change! But him and Pam kept after me to go. Saying things like, "Aw come on you can pick out the restaurant, anywhere your heart desires, whatever you want to do we will do, etc.!" Hmm, how could I resist? Well needless to say I gave in and out the door we took off. Now for me all I really wanted to eat was a salad. So off to 'Texas" we headed. By the time we arrived I changed my mind and got a Baked Potato and that was it! Of course Mike and Pam got the full course meals! LOL By the time they were finished with their meals, seems Mike wanted to do some shopping! YEP----that is correct-----Shopping again.......

Ok, here I am, full mood swing in motion inside Target! Slowly but surely walking along, pushing the buggy, talking to myself! Or I should say mumbling under my breath things that I will not repeat on here! Then all of a sudden here comes Mike looking all excited like a kid turned loose for the first time in a candy store! Seems he has found the "Christmas Decorations" inside the store! Lord help me!!!!!!!! See you have to know my Mike, to understand how he is about the holiday Christmas. More so about the decorations and all. :0) That he wants me to go check them out with him. Telling me all about his discovery of the new LED ones! So there I go, buggy and all to explore these new items! Little did I know when I finally made it over there how much my mood was going to change.

My oh my, talk about new and different items to look at this year for Christmas Decor! There it all was laid out in front of me! Disney, Charlie Brown, Nascar, Angels, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Dora-The Explorer, Blues Clues, Taz, Tweety Bird, and all other kinds of Themed ones! Plus you had your wreaths, ornaments, lights, gift boxes, garland, houses, and the LED"S! I must let you know though that 'Target" still had tons of more Christmas things to get out!!!!!! Anyway, here we were looking at all of this, aisle, after aisle, after aisle. The whole time Mike was saying, "Look at what this one does," or " Do you like this," and "Hey, listen to what this one says and does!" I bet you can just imagine by now where my little mind is a going! Yes sirree, you are right. It appears that I spotted something that I had to have. Right there on the bottom shelf. Like a bolt of lightning from out of a clear blue sky it hit me! WHAM!!!!!!!!! The most beautiful thing I had ever seen to go with my collection of "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" items!

Now remind you I kept telling myself that I would not buy any of this Christmas stuff before Halloween was over. But this I just had to get. There was only one of them. Plus I just knew if I did not get it now, there would not be anymore of them before Christmas. Or at least that is what I convinced myself of! So down on my knees I went and scooped that baby right up. But before I got back up, low and behold there was another totally different LED one to go with it! Being who I am and all, and collecting my Rudolph items for Christmas......Let's just say it went in the buggy too! After that this voice said to me, "Oh No, you did not do that!" To which I replied, "Yep, I sure did!"

ATTN: Fellow Bloggers....... The Devil Meets Jesus

Oh my, what a way to start the day! A catchy little phrase don't you think? One that has been stuck in my mind every since yesterday! Why you might ask? Well because of mine and Mike's going out and about yesterday!

You see we went to go check out some supplies I needed for my remodeling of our Master Bedroom and Bathroom. Needless to say, it was quite an adventurous trip! That we were gone almost all day. Seems like (as I posted before) I just could not make up my mind about the various paint colors I wanted to use again. Yes, I started out with the one set of colors picked out. But once I got there.... well I started to see some other colors I liked. And off my mind went to racing about different color schemes! UGH!!!

Anyway, at first I did not notice things in the various stores we went to until we walked into Lowes. Then "BAM" it hit me. Like a ton of bricks falling onto my head! There right above me was "CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS!" Yes your read it right.......CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS!!! Right here almost at the end of September! Not even 2 days into Fall yet! Plus "Halloween" has not even arrived, nor "Thanksgiving!" I mean "What is up with that?" So I turned to Mike as I spotted the blowups, and said, "Look the Devil meets Jesus!" He looked at me dumbfounded and said "Huh?" Then I pointed upwards where he looked up and started laughing. Cause there it all was right across from the "Halloween Decor!"

Now, you know I just had to go and see if there was any other decor set up for Christmas. Which there was. It was all set up in the indoor Garden Center. Seems they were just getting most of it out. While looking around a sales associate said 'Hi" and asked "If we needed any assistance? " We said "No, thanks, "But asked was it not too soon for the Christmas stuff to be out?" She informed us that they were suppose to have had it out already "TWO WEEKS AGO!" Can you just imagine the look on my face when I heard that?

Well, to us we got a chuckle for the rest of the day. Cause every store we went into after that we started noticing they too had various "Christmas Decor" out. Or were in the process of putting it out! And were they side by side with the 'Halloween Decorations?" Yep, either that way or right down from it!