The weekend...or Sweet's Last Hurrah

Saturday, Andy (my husband) took me on a short little road trip an hour or two away from the house to Greenville/Morristown, Tennessee  (I'm not sure where we actually ended up...but somewhere around there).  Part of his job includes making deliveries of construction supplies, so he gets to see a lot of the local area that he's missed, despite living in Tennessee for the majority of his life.  I get to reap the benefits of this because he comes home and says 'hey, I found something cool, let's go look at it sometime' and so I get to see the highlight reel of all the cool things in the area without too much personal effort...hooray!

At any rate, this weekend, we went to see this dam/waterfall:

Please overlook the overpass...I was trying to give the waterfall/dam thing a little perspective so you could see how big it is, but it didn't quite work out that way I don't think...  But it does show that you can see the waterfall/dam thing from the highway as you drive past...which is how Andy found it in the first place...

These pictures just don't show how big and LOUD this thing is!  It was really awesome to get to see...

On the other side of the waterfall/dam thing there is a building, which Andy got some good pictures of (he's taller, he always gets better shots than I do...)  ...I just totally forgot to have him send them to me.  I will make him do that and then post the pictures of the building, because it was really cool looking!

Does anyone know what kind of tree this is from?  I swear to goodness, my early onset Alzheimer's is kicking in...I know what this is, the name is on the tip of my tongue, swirling around in my brain,  and I just can not spit it out!  It's driving me crazy!

If you'll forgive the fact that I'm in the car barreling down the road at about 70 mph, you can see the beautiful countryside that exists in East Tennessee.  ( I really do need to make a concerted effort to stop and get out of the car and take some pictures for you guys!)  I love where I live and the surrounding area.  It's so green and lush from all the rain, and it's just got amazing views in unexpected places thanks to the mountains and valleys...  It's so beautiful!

When Andy and I first got married, we used to have little day trips like this all the time.  We'd hop in the car and go for a drive, just for the sake of driving...or for the sake of doing something.  After a couple years, though, we kind of fell out of the habit.  Sometimes our work schedules were conflicting and it made it hard...a lot of times it was simply because there were 'better' things to do.  But lately, we've taken up our little outings again and I'm so happy we have.  It reminds me of all the things I like about him.

I think it's easy to forget at times...especially for me...the good things about our spouses.  I am the most guilty person in the world for this.  I am one who loves change and being spontaneous...my husband is the most resistant to change person I have ever met in my life.  It makes for some stress...Additionally, I have a hard time accepting that people love me...especially men people...  It's all too easy for me to forget that my husband loves me.  And honestly, on an emotional level, I have a hard time returning that love too...or at the very least, admitting or discussing the fact that I return the love.  My hospital stay was kind of a blessing in disguise.  (It was deep under cover, trust me...)  It did make me realize that my husband cares about me.  I know it sounds a little silly to say that, I mean, he married me and all that, but like I said, I forget that he cares.  He's not really a 'show he loves you' kind of guy.  But, when push comes to shove, when my back is against the wall and I really need someone, Andy has really been there for me.

What put me in mind of all that, is the fact that this weekend was kind of a 'last hurrah' of sorts.  I talked before about having to make some changes in my life...the physical type, I mean.  I have to start eating right, exercising, finish my 'quit smoking' goal...all that stuff is not easy for me.  It's big changes that have to happen RIGHT NOW.  It's all a little overwhelming...these habits are ones that I've had for the majority of my adult life...  They're things that I know have needed to change, that I've talked about fixing for a good long while, but could never seem to make them happen.  Now, they have to happen.

So this weekend, Andy suggested we go for a drive and on the way back we stop at the grocery store and buy the healthy food I should be eating.  He's also begun to monitor my cigarette intake with the strictness of an old-timey school teacher...ruler in hand, prepared to slap knuckles if I get out of control. (haha)  And he's even thinking of ways to get me up and moving...He especially likes the one where I cook dinner every night...instead of sitting down at the computer or at my studio desk as soon as I get home from work.  It's killing two birds with one stone, a tiny amount of exercise happens and healthy food gets made and eaten.

All this change is happening, and for a man that resists change so strongly, he's really pushing for it...and, after being married to the man for almost 10 years, I can tell you it's got a little bit of an invasion-of-the-body-snatchers feeling to it!  To me, it's showing that he cares about me more than he hates change...and the man REALLY hates change...so he must care about me a lot.  I think I have been oblivious to just how much he does care...or, at the very least, forgotten the fact for a long time.

Now it's making me want to do things I haven't done since we first got married and I was trying to impress him with my wife skills...like keep the house clean.  It's kind of weirding me out!  Right now, I have the strongest urge to go clean out the cabinets in our kitchen...I mean pull everything out and scrub.  To give you an example of exactly how much this goes against my nature, the other day I pulled a pack of muffin mix out of the cabinet and the expiration date on it was April...of 2009.  (Not even joking...I wish I would have taken a picture as proof...) Yeah, I told you I was resistant to cleaning.  ...but now I want to go rip everything out of the cabinets and throw away all the old muffin mix (the 2009 one is in the trash already...I did not just put it back in the cabinet...I'm not THAT bad...) and bags of chips with crumbs in them (that one's on Andy, I don't eat chips) that have been in there for a million years and scrub the shelves and organize all the things that are left...and then do the same thing with all the other cabinets.  And then go find other things to scrub and organize...

Wanting to clean so badly is unusual for me.  Normally the only time I clean is when I am upset about something...SUPER upset.  Me cleaning things is how the people around me know I'm mad or on the verge of breaking down.  And now I'm wanting to do it so strongly that I can barely resist the urge to call in to work and start immediately...and I'm not having a nervous breakdown or anything!  So tonight, instead of doing art...or at least before I start doing any, I'm going to have to clean something.

I guess Andy will get to know first hand what that whole invasion-of-the-body-snatchers thing feels like...

Countdown, Day 4: The Outing

I didn't get to do very much today for my creative time, just a little pencil drawing that I'm not done with...but I missed out for a good reason!

When I got home from work today, my husband asked me if I wanted to drive up to the lake.  Even though it's only about 20 minutes away from our house, we haven't driven up to the lake in a couple years.  I don't know how time runs away like that!  It was a big surprise for me, because my husband does not tend to be the most spontaneous person.  Usually there's a couple weeks worth of time between him mentioning doing something and us actually doing it.  It's one of the things that drive me crazy about him!  If I think of something to do, I just go do it; there doesn't need to be a plan.  It's one of the things about me that drives him crazy!

So here are a couple pictures so that you can see what will hopefully be inspiring some art in the next couple days:

Isn't it beautiful?  This is the lake, Lake Watauga.  It's a man-made lake, with two dams, Wilber Dam and Watauga Dam.  I'm so silly, I didn't take any pictures of the dams for you all, but they're there, I promise!

Another lake view.  Something that's kind of neat about the lake is that to make it, they flooded a town (Butler, Tennessee).  Apparently, you can go scuba diving in the lake and the houses and other buildings are still standing under the water!  The funny thing is that there is another nearby town named Butler...I guess those original Butler people weren't ready to give up on that town name! 

We were lucky (lucky ducks, if you will...ha ha ha) enough to see this little family...the dad was nearby, but wouldn't get close enough for me to get a good shot of the whole group.  They were all just quacking away...it was so cute!  It's funny to see the little ducklings going into the water; it was so sweet!  The mother let the babies get very close to us, just a few feet away!  

And then we saw THIS family of Canada Geese.  There were only 3 adult geese and 13 babies!  That doesn't seem normal to me...usually I see a bunch of adults and a couple babies in the group.  They were cute ...they would run and stick their little wings up in the air...I love to see them do that!  The geese were NOT as trusting as the ducks...I was trying to get a better picture of them, but no matter how slowly I walked, they would walk away just as slowly.  I've seen geese go after people (a lot faster than ducks will), so I wasn't going to push my luck!  I just zoomed in as much as I could and had to be satisfied with that!

Then we saw this log in the water.  I tried to convince my husband to go in and get it for me, but he wasn't very willing.  The water is still very cold...and he can't swim.  I told him I'd hold his legs and just kind of swing the rest of him toward it, but he didn't think that was a good idea either...for some reason...  I was very sad, because I think it would have made a cool table or seat for our porch.  I bet it would have weighed a ton anyway and I would have had to drag it up a steep hill to the parking area.  I'm still a little sad about it though, I'm not gonna lie!  On the positive side, I did find a much smaller piece of drift wood, so I brought it home and will be doing something creative with it...I have a couple ideas, but I'm not quite set on which thing I'll do just yet...  It will be a mystery till then, I guess!

I wanted to take a picture of these stairs, just because I think they're neat.  I've liked them since the first time I ever went to Watauga Lake about 10 years ago.  I don't know what it is, but I just love them and had to share!

This is another view of the lake.  That blurry thing in the water was a guy on a jet ski.  I wish we had still been down by the water when he came though...I would have asked him to drag that log over to the shore!  If you look to the right of the picture, you can see a little piece of Wilber Dam.  Watauga Dam looks more like a normal Dam...Wilber looks like a big pile of gravel.

As you can see in this picture, the lake is not usually this high.  We've gotten quite a bit of rain so far this year, and this is the highest I've ever seen the lake!  You can see the trees coming out of the water.  There is about 15-20 feet of rocks from where those trees are to the edge of the water.  Like I said, it's REALLY high!  My husband tried to teach me how to skip rocks across the water, but I am an epic failure at it!  No matter how hard I try, I can just get them to skip once...maybe I just need more practice.

As we were leaving, this little guy came out of the forest and was wondering around.  The picture is dark and blurry because my husband rolled up the window while I was trying to get the picture.  He was convinced that the raccoon was going to jump in the car and give us both rabies or something...so he rolled up the window and sped away.  I don't know why he had to speed away, it's not like the raccoon was going to open the car door or anything!  I guess he just likes to play it safe.  I'm the opposite.  I was trying to open the car door and get out so I could take a better picture.  I think that means that if one of us does get rabies in the end, it will probably be me!

Getting to go to the lake was a nice surprise for me!  It was definitely a fun way to end a work day.  I don't know why we don't do things like this more often.  I guess life gets in the way of fun stuff sometimes.  But today proved to me that it doesn't have to be that way!  I will work on getting out in the world a little more, and not be such a hermit, huddled over my desk doing arts and crafts.  It's nice to get out and and breath fresh air into the lungs and fresh inspiration into the brain...and trust me, my poor little brain needs all the help it can get!