39: Things Not To Do While I'm 39 Edition

My first list of 39 was goals for the upcoming year. So I figured, why not make a list of things I don't want to accomplish during the next year. Here we go!

39 Things I Do Not Want To Do

1. Eat green beans

2. Waste time

3. Care what others think

4. Cook the same things over and over

5. Be fake

6. Get another crack in my windshield (It's already happened twice)

7. Worry

8. Be sick

9. Gain weight (obviously)

10. Lose my patience

11. Miss opportunities

12. Compare myself to others

13. Stay up too late

14. Sleep in too late

15. Eat licorice (gag)

16. See a snake

17. Dream about a snake

18. Find a snake

19. Step on a snake

20. Watch a show/movie about a snake

21. Be bitten by a snake

22. Drink Diet Coke (Diet Pepsi is fine. Even Coke Zero. But not Diet Coke.)

23. Write with blue pens (It's ridiculous. I know.)

24. Get more wrinkles

25. Waste money

26. Eat at Quizno's (I had a very bad Quizno's experience one time)

27. Make excuses

28. Have my house infested with brown recluse spiders (or any spiders for that matter ~ did you see that news story???)

29. Be lazy

30. Be disorganized

31. Complain

32. Be discontent

33. Procrastinate

34. Run a marathon (no thank you)

35. Have chicken pox (I've never had it)

36. Be trapped (claustrophobic am I)

37. Clean the bathtubs (that's Brian's job) :)

38. Watch The Walking Dead (WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?!?! Gross!)

39. Ignore God's prompting

*** Edited to add: I SAW A SNAKE!!!!! It was right across the street from our neighborhood which is entirely too close for comfort. Prayers appreciated.

Visiting Gatlinburg & Ripley's Aquarium

Last weekend we hit the road to work in a couple of day trips. On Saturday, we went to Gatlinburg. It was a little early for the fall color on the trees to be at the peak, but we still enjoyed driving into Gatlinburg on the Foothills Parkway.

These mountain views are beautiful no matter what the season is!

We had fun visiting Ripley's Aquarium. Even though we've been several times before, we always love it.

We also spent some time walking around downtown Gatlinburg. The weather was really nice!

We ate dinner at The Peddler. It was fairly good, but it was pricey and not out of this world. I doubt we'll go back. Just keepin' it real!

Parker was thrilled to find that the headless horseman was back at Ripley's Haunted Adventure. We never go in there, but he likes looking at the headless horseman. A few years ago, they took it out. He was super excited to see that they finally brought it back. Here they are acting scared...

We love spending time together as a family making fun memories!

Appalachian Fair 2014

The fair was back in town!!! Our kids started talking about going to the fair weeks and weeks before it was actually fair time. We live and go to school really close to the fair, so there is no way to avoid it. Ha! We actually do enjoy going every year though. The kids always have fun, and I get to relive memories of all my fair-going when I was a little girl. We usually take the kids once, maybe twice. However, this year we went THREE times. We did our usual riding, funnel cake eating, and farm animal viewing. Also, Brian and Parker both had various shifts to work for Ruritan and Boy Scouts. Actually, Claire and I went four times because we also went with third grade on a fair field trip. 

The kids got to go in free on Monday. We also bought them the arm stamp for unlimited rides. Because we are fancy like that.

 We met up with Claire's friend, Sydney.

 Doesn't he look like he's having a ball? Ha!

 This duck had probably seen better days.

 Claire rode the mechanical bull and did really well. Her career options are unlimited.

 Parker and Brian at the Boy Scout Coke booth. Is it bad that I went next door and bought a Pepsi? #pepsigirl

 Claire helped Granddad in the Rotary booth. And by helping, I mean went in to talk and get free drinks.

 Claire persuaded me to ride the ferris wheel with her. This was our view from the top in the midst of my internal panic attack. I didn't want her to know I was scared, but it's pretty high, and I couldn't find any escape plan if it malfunctioned with me on top. Oh, and there's always the possibility of the seats coming undone from the very old hinges that the fair workers hook and unhook every week. We survived.

 Speaking of heights, Claire and Brian rode these new very high swings. I use the term new fast and loose just because they are new to our fair. They've probably been swinging for many years in other fairs far and wide.

 Let's just say I did a lot of praying while they were up there.

 Brian in the Ruritan building. From what I hear, he is the best deep frying, money taking Ruritan worker around.

 This ride was really popular. It went up and slung the rider around all while spraying water. It was a bundle of fun. I know because I rode it.

 No trip to the fair is complete without some treats!

 Yes, this happened.

We finally bid the fair farewell. 'Til next year of course!!!

Shraton Broadway Plantation Myrtle Beach

We've stayed lots of places in Myrtle Beach through the years. As much as we love being oceanfront, we've found that most of the nicer properties are not on the ocean. So it's always a trade-off, either oceanfront or nicer, newer, and bigger with more amenities. This year we went back to Sheraton Broadway Plantation even though it's not directly on the ocean. Now that the kids are bigger, it's a little easier for us to drive to the beach. I took a few pictures to post here in case anybody is considering staying there.

Here's Brian hanging out on the bed in the master bedroom. We really love that the units have two separate bedrooms and two bathrooms. It gives us lots of room to spread out. There are also one bedroom units on the property. 

Looking toward the living room and master bathroom from the bedroom.

Mather bathroom

Parker and Claire hanging out in the living room.

Screened in porch

In the living room, looking toward the dining area and kitchen

Kitchen and laundry area (I love have a washer and dryer to use on vacation)

Second bathroom

Second bedroom (Both kids are very happy to have their own big bed.)

I didn't get any great pictures of the pools, but you can see them better on the website under the features tab.  They have a nice lazy river, several pools, and a really fabulous children's area. There is a special gate just around the children's area. Inside there are some water slides of different sizes and a really cool pirate water ship.

There are lots of other things to do on the property like volleyball, mini golf, tennis, fitness room, movies, and scheduled games and activities throughout the week.

There are lots of buildings in this resort. They are arranged into groups of about four surrounding a pond.

There's also fire pits and grills available to use.

We found lots of little friends in the pond behind our building. There were always turtles, fish, and ducks to feed.

My favorite of all was this weird looking creature. I guess it was some kind of duck, but it sure was ugly. I worried about him all week because the other ducks were mean to him. I called him a durkey because he looked like he was a duck and turkey mixed. Anybody know what he really is???

The Ugly Duckling

These guys were very pretty, but they had bad attitudes toward the durkey

Even though Sheraton Broadway Plantation isn't oceanfront, it has a great location. It's right across the street from Broadway at the Beach (hence the name, Broadway Plantation). Since we spend a lot of time over there, it's really convenient for us. I also love that the property is gated, and they have great security monitoring all the time. I'm sure we will definitely return there sometime soon. 

Let me know if you have ever stayed there or plan to in the future. It's a great place!