Gatlinburg, Tennessee

Sunday September 5, 2010
     

 We left early Saturday morning and drove down to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. I took about four hours to get there and once we got off the freeway it took us another two hours to get down the highway thru Pigeon Forge to Gatlinburg because of all the holiday traffic. It was stop and go all the way thru, but it was nice once we got to our hotel. These are just a few random shots as we drove thru town and then went on a drive thru the nature preserve. The next morning we took a drive up thru the Smokey Mountain Nat'l Park and toured the Cades Cove valley that has 19th century buildings scattered through-out the area. A gristmill, churches, homes, barns, etc. Then on the way home we found this Museum of Appalacia that some guy just starting collecting from around this part of the country. It was pretty cool.

The Small Deck Project!

Wednesday September 1, 2010: We actually finished our first project, the deck off the kitchen! Yeah!!! Kevin has been grilling steaks in the oven since we have been here and I finally got tired of cleaning the broiler pan and the oven so I insisted we finish sealing the deck, get a shade tent up and buy a small barbeque so we can make use of the deck and start grilling outside. It took us a week to finally get the stain finished on the deck. Then we went to about four different stores looking for a shade tent. I originally wanted one that was 10' x 12' to cover the whole deck but couldn't find one that size. We finally found a nice 10' x 10' easy up in a brown color at Walmart and it was the last one there. After we were home and putting it up we decided it was a good thing it was only 10' x 10' then it left room on the one side for the grill smoke to go up. It fit perfectly on the deck and we tied it to the rails so it won't blow away. I went downstairs and found the cushions for the chairs and put those on. Now we're almost there, just need to find a small inexpensive grill. We went shopping for the grill on Friday after I got home from work. We were looking for one of those portable tailgating kind so we can take it camping also. We went to about four different stores again and couldn't find a small one. I told Kevin that Walmart probably had one so Saturday while I was at work he stopped in at Walmart and they did have two different small ones. The tailgating kind used the small green propane cannister and he didn't know now if he really wanted that one. The other small one used the standard propane tank. They were both the same price but he wanted my opinion before he bought it. On Tuesday after we dropped the car at the shop for a tune up we headed over to Walmart and picked up the small standard grill. As you can see it fits great out on the deck and now we have a nice place to watch the hummingbirds and the deer while we grill and eat out on cool evenings, rain or shine. One project done about twenty more to go.

Monday August 23, 2010:
It’s funny that after two good weeks and feeling like I finally have a place here in Kentucky, a home, a neighborhood, a job that I love, the ward and a calling, that this week one small incident stirred up my emotions and suddenly I’m feeling sad, lonely, homesick, and that life is not fair.
My first week at my new branch I was full of energy. I was getting up and walking every morning at 7:00.
I was getting yard work done, house cleaning done. I was bringing in boxes, going thru them, putting stuff away, I even moved everything over to one side in the garage so we could get the old washer and dryer out to give away to some one in need. One reason I was so ‘gung ho’ about getting thru all the boxes is because I was looking for the last of my pictures. I have found them all except the wedding portraits of my four daughters. Kevin helped me go thru every box last Saturday and we cannot find them anywhere. Of all things that could have been lost that one was too sentimental for me to not do anything about locating it.. I racked my brain for the last time I remember seeing them and I think I remember putting them in the drawer of the old empty dresser in J’s bedroom. But I had wrapped and boxed all of the other pictures throughout the rest of the house so I could have wrapped and boxed them too, but I don’t remember doing that. I carefully went over the packing list from the movers trying to locate a box that would have been labeled ‘pictures’ or ‘portraits’ or ‘wedding’ but there was nothing. However there was one boxed labeled ‘POB’ (packed by owner) that we did not have marked off on our delivery check off sheet. This was not the part that set me off emotionally although there was good reason for it. I was still motivated to find them and being rational I knew that I could replace the pictures somehow although the frames were unique especially Rachael’s’ which she had spent a lot of time personalizing the matt with pictures of herself growing up. The thing that set me off was the lack of customer care I received when I called to talk to the moving companies about the missing box. No one wanted to listen to my explanation of where it might be or that the box may not be a standard shipping box, all I got was ’If you need to file a claim call this person’ and I called that person and was told ‘You can file the claim on line‘. I couldn’t even find out if they have a ’place’ for lost boxes. The final moment came when one lady asked me ’why has it taken you from December till August to realize you were missing this box?’. At that point I was so frustrated I just broke down and started crying and she took the information she needed and said if they located it they would send it to me. I know for a company that moving is just their business and they probably deal with emotional people quite often, but customer service is customer care and these particular people didn’t care! I think they need to improve on their courtesy skills.
Anyway, now I’ve been down in the dumps this week and I’m blaming it on life not being fair and I’m back to ‘Why did this have to happen to us at this time in our lives?’. All I ever wanted to do was be a good mother and a fun Grandma. I loved being there for my girls and my happy little granddaughters. I loved my flower beds, my fish pond, the horses in the backyard, my Jacuzzi tub, my job, my neighbors and my friends. I certainly hope I wasn’t taking any of that for granted. I’m trying real hard to make things feel good here and be happy, but my heart is and always will be with my home and family in Utah. Can’t wait till December to be there with the ones I love.

Tuesday August 10, 2010:
Yeah! I got my new crowns put on today, finally! I also asked the dentist about the tooth that I broke off. He said there was enough of the tooth left that I won't have to have the surgery again but because it is such a small eye tooth he will put a post into the bone to secure it in good so it won't break off in the future. He also said we could wait until January when the new insurance kicks in, thank goodness!
Well, I put away the books and all the desk stuff in the lbrary/office today. That emptied about eight more boxes. I found the box of video tapes for the cabinet too and got those put away. Then I broke down the boxes and got them bundled up for the garbage pick up tomorrow.
I found a zumba class offered thru the community center on Tuesday and Thursday evenings 7-8 pm for $4.40 per class. They start Sept 21st and go to Nov 11th for now then hopefully they will continue. Also an aerobics class on Monday evenings 6;30-7:30 for $5.00 per class. They are also having a 'toothbrush rag rug' class that I'm going to take to learn how to make those rugs Grandma Park made for in front of our couches. So you can see I am no longer going to be sitting home doing nothing!

Sunday August 8, 2010: This was my 'can I make it?' or 'will I break?' it week at work. I was assigned my own window and my own drawer to work from all week. I counted my money in Monday morning and had to take on customers as I became available. The other tellers were all really cool about helping me out and my trainer was a sweet, funny gal named Sally. She was very encouraging and kept telling me I was doing fine. At the end of my first day my drawer was short by $15.50. I worried about it all night long. The next day Sally made sure I was itemizing and double counting the money every transaction and at the end of the day I balanced even. I got more comfortable all week and by Saturday I was helping customers and talking to them and doing the transactions faster and I balanced to the penny again. This job is going to work out great. Starting Monday I will be at my permanent location, MT. Zion branch. My schedule will be the first week; Mon-1:15 to 6:15, Weds-1:15 to 6:15, Fri-11:00 to 4:00, Sat 9:15 to 2:15. Then the next week it will be Mon-9:15 to 6:15, Tues-11:00 to 3:00, Thur-11:00 to 4:00, Fri-1:15 to 6:15 and it just rotates back and forth. That will give me enough time in the mornings to get a good hour walk in and weed the flower beds or empty some more boxes for now. I've got most of the rooms done except the libray/office which I went through all the papers that were laying around and got them filed away where they belong. Now I need to go thru the boxes in the closet and put books in the bookcases and finish organizing the colored papers and stuff in the desk. I am committing myself to carry two boxes from the garage to the basement every day until the garage is empty and also breaking down four boxes and bundling them for the garbage pick up on wednesdays. Kevin and I have planned a trip over Labor Day weekend. I work Fri till 4:00 then we'll leave early Saturday morning and get into Gatlinburg, TN about 11:00am. We are planning some hiking and sight-seeing excursions, seeing a show, a museum, going to Dollywood and Pigeon Forge one day. I have monday off for the holiday and not scheduled for tuesday so we'll head home sometime after lunch on Tuesday. It's still hot and humid here. We'll have a good thunderstorm roll through but then it gets miserable as it heats up.

Saturday July 31, 2010:
I went to the dentist on July 19th, the last day Jessica was here. I had a cleaning done and a prep impressions for the crowns to be made. No, I still am not finished with those crowns that started clear back in February! I said good-bye to Jessica and Kevin drove her to the airport while I went to my first day for work. It was an orientation class from 5:00 to 7:00pm up in Cincinnati. I had to drive up this way last week for a drug test and finger printing. My class is in Sycamore Township which is a forty-five minute drive up on the east side of Cincinnati. It was at 8:00am Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday last week and again Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday this week. I can't belive I am driving on the freeway this much and this far for a job! When for the last 20 years I wouldn't even drive in to SLC or Centerville for a job. Now I've driven all over and around Cincinnati and feel comfortable doing so. Like I've said before, "Do what you have to do, no whining, no complaining".
I took the CSR test on Thursday morning and I passed with a 95%, yeah! Then I worked at my training site the rest of Thursday and all day Friday. Monday they are going to set me up on my own drawer and have me start doing transactions on my own. I will train everyday next week and then I start at my Mt. Zion Branch on Monday August 9th. I was a little nervous at the thought of starting something new at my age but I now feel I can do this and I will be comfortable with it shortly.
By the way, I forgot to mention that Kevin was released as the Gospel Doctrine teacher on Sunday and is now the Ward Clerk. I think he likes that much better. Although now we have to drive two cars to church as he goes early for meetings and stays after to count tithing.

Jessica's Visit!

Wednesday July 28, 2010: We drove to Louisville Airport on Monday the 12th to pick up Jessica. When we went in and looked at the board for arrivals her plane was not on the list. I had a bit of panic attack until we talked to an agent who said not all flights are listed on that board and that her flight had just landed. Then Jessica texted us and told us her plane was just sitting there waitng for the other plane to leave the gate they were supposed to come in to. That plane had been delayed because the pilot had not showed up! We stopped on the way home to see the Louisville Temple. We almost drove right by it, It's so small. It is built next to the LDS Chapel in Crestwood and they actually share the same parking lot. It's really nice to think it is only 45 minutes away from where we live because when we lived here 20 years ago our area was assigned to The Altlanta Georgia Temple and was a once a year bus trip. Now we can go any Saturday morning we can.

So, it was really fun to have Jessica here with us. First thing she did was to help me go thru all of the Kitchen boxes and figure out what to keep, what to sell at a garage sale and where to put stuff away since the kitchen is so much smaller now. We decided to keep all the china packed for now and put all the stoneware in the china cabinet. All the food stuff is in the pantry except for spices and the baking stuff that is again in the corner round about cupboard. All of the rest of the upper cupboards have mixing bowls, measuring cups, casseroles and storage containers. And the two other bottom cupboards have the pots, pans and baking trays in them. It's a good thing we brought the TV stand from the front bedroom because that is now the microwave stand and the hot pads, dishcloth, and tablecloth cupboard. We hung pictures up in the livingroom and put the grandchildren's pictures along the piano. And that was enough cleaning and organizing for now. We finally got to go in to the county building and get our driver's licenses and get our vehicles registered. We went to the Aquarium one day and out to dinner. We went to the zoo one day. It was hot and muggy. Then we went out to dinner. Jessica and I went shopping a couple of days. I was looking for dress clothes and shoes for work and she was looking for whatever! We just had fun being together again and talking. She loved how green it is here and all the narrow winding roads (which she wanted to drive on). She loved the big old plantation type homes with the big yards. There are basically three ways out of our neighborhood: Cody Rd will take you over to Turkeyfoot Rd, which is the way we go to the Dentist office and to the Church. Independence Station Rd will take you out to State Rd 17 which is the way to Fidelity and Walmart and the freeway to go into Cincinnati. And then if you go thru the lower part of the neighborhood and come out onto Bristow Rd; if you turn left it will take you to our Towne Square where we fill up with gas and get fountain pepsi, get haircuts, have the dry cleaners, the grocery store, the hardware store, the nursery and go to dinner. If you turn right onto Bristow Rd it will turn into Mt Zion Rd where Lori's job is (at the Fifth Third Bank) and the freeway to go to Florence Mall (north) or to Louisville (south). Sounds complicated but you get used to it and it seems like a smaller area.