Streaming in Lisa's Mind

Well, I have been thinking that if I could only figure out a way to do a real-time stream of what goes on in my mind, we could animate it and make my own "reality" show.  Lots of times I feel like I need someone to diagnose what condition it is that burdens me!   I guess it may have a lot to do with all the "free" time I have to let my mind wander.  Like the 55 mile trip to and from work.  Now, that's something really interesting when my brain drifts from one thing to the other!  This is an example of what goes through my mind:
I wonder how many towns I go through on the way to work?  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11... I lose count.
I wonder how many counties that is?  1, 2, 3, 4, 5...I lose count.
I know its 2 states, I've got that down.
Where the heck are all these people going?
Ohhhh...that's a pretty church.  I should send the preacher a Christmas card and tell him how pretty his church is. 
I need to take Ruby and Earnie to see McAdenville lights.
I want to go to the Mast General in Boone.  I wonder if I could tear Brandon away from his "chores" to go with us.
What would happen if one of my tires flew off at 80 miles an hour? 
Geez, these people around here love there Harris Teeters.  There must be 1 every 3/4 of a mile. 
I wonder if any of these CVS stores have a Minute Clinic?  Gosh, I hope I don't get sick and need one!
What will I listen to today on iheartradio?  My Elvis station or maybe my Alison Krause station.  Christmas music would be good too! 
I like Jim Carey as the Grinch.  I need to watch that movie again!
Man, I like that house... Would they shoot me if I stopped and took a picture?
COME ON, ARE YOU WAITING ON AN INVITATION!?  GET THE HECK OUT THERE!
Marvin is such a pretty town.  Homes from the 500s  HAHA!  We would need another income for that!
Man these jeans I am wearing are thread bare on the inner thighs, I hope they don't finally decide to bust through today!  Do I have clothes in he trunk I could wear?
Geez, there is an overweight old man in a Santa's hat getting in an old '67 Mustang!  Does he think he's Santa?  Isn't he charming.  Wonder where is he going?
Man, Hardee's in Fort Mill is hopping!
Fort Mill is such a pretty town, if I lived here my drive would only be 10 minutes each way.  Hmmm. Like Brandon would go for that.
Should I go to QT and get gas before work on my lunch break?
If my car ever breaks down while I am in South Carolina, I am just going to have someone drive me down to Dave Lyle Blvd Toyota dealership.  Would Brandon notice?  Would I care?
Will there be cupcakes today?  Will there be bubble tea made today?  Lucy is so nice. 
Will I here the fog horn or cow bell today?  It would be nice if we heard a screaming baby.  Screaming babies are good!  That's so crazy!  It's better than banging 2 speculums together though...
Did I turn the crock pot on before I left the house?  I hope or I'm gonna have a chunk of room temp meat waiting on me this evening.  Ewww.
Did I pack my bowl of turkey or am I going to have to eat a plain mayonnaise and Texas Pete sandwich today? 
Dang I forgot my water cup...AGAIN! 
I hope Emily remembers to get the clothes out of the washer and put them in dryer.
Welp, I made it in 1 hour 21 minutes this morning! 

On the way home the same things happen...
I can't believe get paid for doing what I did today...  Too bad I can't teleport.  What would that be like?  Would I get sick, Brandon said it would make you sick. 
What would Brandon do if I went and bought a Challenger, he hates a Toyota, but would he have a heart attack with a Dodge?  Could we drag race on Teeter's Bridge Road? Hmmm.  We wouldn't have a family car then...  That wouldn't be too smart.  Better stick with the Toyoya.
Ohh, Krispy Kreme's HOT NOW sign is on!   Not like I am gonna stop today...is there anyone in the drive thru?
HORN!  Wonder how that happened?
Ardrey Kell or Johnston Road road...decisions, decisions.  Johnston Road is the BOMB!  Ardrey Kell sucks!  I wonder what these stuck up people would do if I rolled down my window and blared "The Devil went Down to Georgia" at them?  Hahaha!  All these rich people in there $60,000 SUVs!  Haha, me and my old beat up Camry with almost 0.3 million miles on it!  They can kiss it!  Roll on baby, roll on! 
When's the last time I checked my oil?  Power steering wasn't whining when I left today.  I probably should check that too...
Why do some people have that Poor, Poor, Pitiful Me Attitude?  Why do some people want you to feel sorry for them?  Is it wrong of me to dislike these people?  Please God forgive me for thinking these thoughts, but really, it drives me up the wall. 
I'm going 80 miles per hour again.  What if I hit a deer?  Would what Brandon told me about happen?  Would it come through the window and kill me?  Geez!  Once you get out of the "city" it is pitch black out here!  I'm skeert. 
Wouldn't it be neat if people had a little black box?  Like it would record what happens right before you die.  If someone was murdered you could see what they saw right before, if someone just died, maybe you could know what they were thinking right before...
Could you please turn off your freakin turn signal?
What if I got a flat tire?  My trunk light doesn't work.  I need an emergency flashlight in my car. 
Will I ever need to know that there are approximately 425  1/4 inch rubber bands in a pound?  Will I ever get that question in Trivial Pursuit...probably not. Ha!  Brandon would be so impressed!
I want some lima beans.
Is it going to snow this year?  I want snow this year.  I wonder if we could get Brandon to snow tube this year? 
Am I losing my mind?  No I am on top of things! 
I need to "clean" my facebook page.  Sometimes I just don't want to hear people's crap.  I'm gonna do that tonight...
I need to make more soap,  need to take more soap to the Carousel Horse.  
My pumpkin spice cappuccino is all gone...I should have made a double batch before leaving work.  Man I love free Keurig! 
Woo wee!  I made it to Midland in a hour!

These thoughts race through my mind all the time AND it is always good to slide in the driveway and finally be home!  This doesn't make my mind rest though.  Brandon asked if I ever rest.  I guess the answer in not really.  He also tells me if my wheel flies off at 80 miles an hour to hold it straight and tight and ride it to the edge of road!  HA! How can I relax?  I am constantly trying to think ahead and plan.  I wish I could relax, but I only do that from the time my head hits the pillow until the alarm goes off the next morning. 
How long can my mind take this before it explodes?  Well, enough for now, I need to get back to my "TO DO
BEFORE CHRISTMAS" list.

This is the pretty church that I go by on the way to work

The Burnette's at Daniel Boone Inn

At least we got to see a light dusting of snow in Boone this year

 

Crazy hat kids.  Last year they had picture made here with 2 different crazy hats.


I actually got lucky and found 2012 picture!  Wow, how they have grown and changed!

 







Making monkey treats with my monkey!

Never a dull moment!!!

 

Earnie and her boyfriend.  I had to break these 2 lovebirds apart so I could get her to McAdenville on this day.
 

Ruby and Earnie loaded and ready for the Christmas lights in McAdenville

 

 

November Flew By!

November has brought about some changes in the Burnette household.  I went back to work on November 4 at a lab in Rock Hill (PCLS) where they are trying to start up a cytology department within their laboratory.  It already consists of a huge toxicology department and a genetics department.  We haven't received specimens yet, but I am in the process of learning new equipment which includes an imaging system and an HPV gene testing "machine".  Its an interesting company and so far it doesn't have any cons except its location!  Employees bring dogs on Fridays, there is free Keurig products, and Krispy Kreme is always in the break room!  That's just what I need!  AND...I was pleased to be able to take the Thursday and Friday at Thanksgiving off...WITH PAY!  YAY!!!  I am hanging in there and finding different short cuts every day to make my commute a little better.  It beats sitting at home wondering if I would ever go back to work again.

So later in the month we had Emily's 12th birthday party at Wayne's World Skating Rink.  She seems to pick this place every year and it always has a good turn out. 

Group skating picture.  One of Emily's friend had already left before I thought to do group picture.

 

We had a family pizza party at our house on her birthday.  Thanks to Paw Paw Jerry and Maw Maw Kaye she is now the proud holder of a Lifetime Hunting License.  She is in a Sportsman Club at school and seems to enjoy whatever it is that they do.  We just need to get her out and hunting so she can put some meat on the table!

 

Abigail, Mark, and Emily playing in leaf pile.  This is an timeless fall pastime!

 



My brother Chad, with his granddaughter on Thanksgiving

Deck the Dartboard!  I had Lab Corp garland to use and thought this would be a jolly place to put it!



This is my Lab Corp inherited Christmas tree.  I have decorated this tree for many, many years in our Cytology department at Christmas time.  I promised everyone that I would decorate it this year and send them a picture.   I decided to put it in basement where we spend a lot of time and we normally don't have any decorations down there.  So here it is!  (Right next to the hot water heater!)  Hahahaha!

 

So here we are gearing up to the Christmas and New Year Holidays and all the eating and shopping that go along with it.  Stay tuned for our next adventure!

 

 

Halloween 2013

This past Halloween was a sad day.  We lost our dear Paw Paw Terry to metastatic liver cancer.  He had not been doing well, but I never expected him to go so soon.  He found out he had colon cancer at Christmas and this year he went through surgery and then 2 rounds of chemo and neither touched the cancer.  He was only 59.  Please, please, please make all the men in your lives get there scheduled colonoscopy and checkups!  That goes for ALL recommended screening tests for anyone.  Catch this stuff early!!! 
OK, enough of the public service announcement...

The kids had wanted to dress up and go show him their costumes like they do every year, but we weren't able to this year.   He was such a fun loving kid at heart that the girls loved spending time with him and he is missed dearly.  

This is my favorite picture of Terry.  He was grilling BBQ ribs for me and Ann (and family) on Mother's Day several years ago

Here he is with his granddaughters and bunny.  He was very smart about animals and he loved sharing his insights with the girls.  I wish he were here to help Emily with her new interest of deer hunting. 

Nice catch!  He had a love for fishing and he asked Ann if she thought their was fishing in the "river of life"  on one of his last days.

He loved going to the beach and fishing off the pier. 

We had already been planning a Halloween party and had several families planning to come over that night.  We managed to get what we needed done here and Brandon was able to spread himself out between here and his moms' house. 

Abigail as Abby Bominable for Halloween.  I just love the fake eyelashes!  She said she looked like Miss Piggy!

Most of the kids at party...

Abigail and Emily (after a couple of hayrides where Abigail lost her fake eyelashes somewhere)

 

 

Curtis Mountain Trip 2013

We just got back from our 4th annual trip with the Austin family to Curtis Mountain.  We had an overcast day Saturday, but todays weather was amazing!  We rode around 36 miles of 4-wheeler trails during our 2 days of riding.  The 4 kids made their own bows and arrows and ran around like wild animals all weekend.  

The Burnette and Austin family 2013.  We have taken this picture at exact same spot for the past 3 years.

The poor guy didn't have a chance!!

Crazy Kids

I think I take a picture of this barn every time we go up to the cabin. 

Beautiful trail riding

The view off of front deck of the cabin. 

Ohio Amish Country

This summer our "big" vacation was to go to Ohio Amish country and take Brandon's dad.  He had never been up there where the Amish still use horses to plow the fields, cut and bale the hay, and for transportation.  So we rented an old Amish house in Millersburg and went up there for a week.  The house we rented was affiliated with a barn next door that had been converted into a beautiful bed and breakfast.  We were able to go over there every morning and eat a home cooked meal and mingle with the other guests.  The owners would talk about the area and give you advice on where to visit that would be off the normal tourist areas.  We were told about a family of 12 (10 kids under the age of 12)  WOW!! that were low order Amish, which means they haven't came away from the original hard core beliefs of the old Amish ways.  The mother and girls made baskets and sold them to supplement the household income.  Meeting this family was the highlight of my week.  They were very friendly and humble people.  We met them one day while Abigail was sleeping and I used that as an excuse to go back again when Abigail was awake!  All the little kids were working in there front garden while we were there.  I wish I could have pictures of there farm and family, but of course the Amish don't allow pictures of themselves to be taken so I knew better than to take them.  I did however sneak a few pictures throughout the week of some of the sights we saw.  These are some of the pictures from the old cheesemakers house (circa 1900) that we stayed in.  Of course it was decorated and furnished more modernly than it would have been back then!


Side view of house

Dining Room



Living Room (Notice big chunky floor model TV...but it did have cable!)

Kids Room

Me and Brandon's Room

 

John's Room

Water Lillies...MY FAVORITE!

John cutting up Dolly some fresh apples out of our yard!



View from deck.  I wish I had a deck with table at home but I seriously doubt I could enjoy it as much as I was able to enjoy this one!

Horses and plow





Mother and 3 children headed home after yard sale and animal auction in Mt. Hope.  Looks like little boy got him a baseball helmet.  Kids are big into baseball up there too!

Paw Paw John gets a close encounter with a giant elk.

Abigail hand feeding a gigantic Watusi!  This was right before she dropped her white sweater off the wagon and it got trampled by a huge group of reindeer!  We rescued it with the handle of a buggy whip.  That was crazy!!!  We made up a new verse to Grandma got ran over by a reindeer!

Chicken house.  I wish ours around the house could look this good!

Farm at Walnut Creek

Me and the girls on the wagon ride at Walnut Creek Farm



We were actually lucky to have been visiting when the ferrier was there shoeing the horses.  They have fancy set up to protect themselves and make it a lot easier on them.

This was a hilarious photo catch!

I just love the way the end of this shed looks! Again, I wish our stuff at home looked this good!

Quilting table

Farm

loading a wagon on a flatbed with horses

the good ole Burnette boys

Abigail and Emily fed Matilda and Dolly fresh apples from the yard every morning and night

Brandon and John enjoying the deck

 Bet you would never see this going down the road!

 

Beautiful dairy barn

 Us out front of the barn on the morning we were leaving

 The Burnette's Amish Trip 2013 coming to an end

I bought a new flag for the driveway...Isn't it quaint!