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Wednesday, January 17, 2018

A Little Snowed In

We've had some snow, ice and bitter cold weather here in Tennessee over the past couple of weeks. Last night the temperature dropped to -2. That's crazy cold for our area. Right now we are "snowed in" I guess you could say! Some of you would probably get a good chuckle over the winter weather that brings the south to a standstill. We don't get this type of weather every year so our transportation departments aren't fully equipped to clear the roads and we certainly aren't used to driving on ice!

This weather makes me really stop and give thanks for a warm home, family and enough food to eat.


Early one morning after the first bit of snowfall. It was a pretty and peaceful scene to wake up to.


Our icy drive to church Sunday morning. Very slow going and slippery! After making it safely home from church, we decided we weren't getting out again until this clears up. Thankfully Darrell has the option of working from home.

Several people I know are getting cabin fever after only a few days at home. I've enjoyed our time here together and honestly, this week hasn't been much different for me. I don't go out every day anyway!


The running joke in the south before a snow storm is that everyone rushes to the store to buy bread and milk.  It's absolutely true. The bread aisles are completely cleared out right before the snow arrives. Thankfully that's one thing we don't have to worry about! Bread baking is the norm around here. We don't use a lot of milk so that hasn't been an issue either.


Everyone makes snow cream when it snows. Snow is a big deal around here. Is this just a southern thing??


We've had a little more time on our hands so Leah decided to try making some olive oil candles. They turned out really well and gave off a good amount of light. She's always experimenting with something new!

We're supposed to have much warmer temperatures by this weekend so our snow days are coming to an end. It has been nice to slow down and snuggle in for a few days!

Wednesday, January 10, 2018

A New Year

Happy New Year! (a little late) When I last posted, I had no intention of letting 3 months go by before another post. Honestly, I’ve been having some snowballing health issues over the last few months and  I’ve been focusing on that.

This has felt so strange because I’ve always been pretty healthy. I’m not sure how to rest or slow down. I feel a little guilty and frustrated by my lack of energy lately.

So here’s the story. Since early last year, I’ve been feeling progressively more tired and just not able to keep up with everyday things. My mind has also been very “foggy” and I can’t seem to focus. I thought the tiredness was just what happens at 40, so I just kept pushing through. I had an appointment scheduled with my doctor for just a routine physical and long story short, I found out I am severely anemic. I’m not talking just a little iron deficient. I mean my numbers were ridiculously low. I had no idea!

 It explains SO much about how I have been feeling the past several months. My hair was coming out by the handful each time I washed it and I was freezing all the time, no matter how many layers I piled on. Don’t ask me how I didn’t have a clue something was wrong. Hindsight is 20/20 I guess!!

I’m taking iron supplements which have started to help. My hair loss has decreased greatly and I’m not craving uncooked oatmeal and uncooked pasta anymore. (yep, you read that correctly) I still don’t have a lot of energy, but I’m going to have to be patient. My arms feel like they weigh a ton when I try to do things like scrub the bathtub and I get short of breath when I mop or vacuum.

We had a lot of out of town company staying with us off and on from Thanksgiving through New Year’s and while I completely enjoyed having them here, I think I let myself get even more run down.   I didn’t feel like a very good host, but I did make sure everyone was fed well and had a comfy place to sleep!

I know this isn’t a super serious issue and I’m so thankful for that, but I’ll be dealing with the effects for a little while until I get my iron level built back up. I have some other issues going on that are the actual cause of the iron deficiency and I need to address those too.

I don’t want this post to be a downer. I’m really looking forward to getting all of this straightened out so I can feel like myself again! I’m going to use this down time to make plans and organize my thoughts for the upcoming year. Concentration has been so difficult lately, but if I focus on a little at a time, it works much better.

Just thought I’d pop in and update. I’ve enjoyed blogging again, I just haven’t been able to string coherent thoughts together lately.

Hope your New Year is off to a great start!