Taz

“The Tasmanian Devil, commonly referred to as Taz, is an animated cartoon character featured in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunesand Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. Though the character appeared in only five shorts before Warner Bros. Cartoons closed down in 1964, marketing and television appearances later propelled the character to new popularity in the 1990s. His first name is revealed in the 1957 short Bedeviled Rabbit, when his wife addresses him as “Claude”.” – Wikipedia

Taz is one of our favorite cartoon characters, so when we decided to try to create metal decorations to attach to our mailbox, he was one of the first we came up with.  We hope he makes others smile, too, as they pass our driveway.

“Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign…”

We stopped at a garage sale several days ago. I found some signs I loved at a great price, so I bought three of them.  This is the “Believe” sign we hung up over the door on the back porch.

 

 

We hung up this “Laugh” sign on the other end of the back porch.

 

This is a wall of our garage, where we added the “Cherish” sign to complement the “This is Our Happily Ever After” sign already there.

 

I wanted to make this sign in our shop, but my husband was feeling lazy and bought this one.  I love it.

“Sign, sign, everywhere a sign
Blockin’ out the scenery, breakin’ my mind
Do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the sign?”

FIVE MAN ELECTRICAL BAND

“Signs”

Good Start

coolnsmart.com via David Michael McCune

 

I lost another pound yesterday, so I’m down 10.6 officially since we started Nutrisystem, and 32.6 lbs down since my lardiest.  I have a long way to go, but I’m feeling good that we have a good start now.

My husband doesn’t have much weight to lose, but he is diabetic and his blood sugar numbers have been a real challenge for about two years now. His sugar was off the chart. He had double vision and pain in his feet. He is now registering the lowest numbers we’ve seen since we’ve been monitoring AND he gets to eat fruit again! He really looks forward to his SMARTCARB snack of an orange or an apple, since it’s been two years since he could enjoy them. He also likes to have some blackberries on his cereal on FLEX BREAKFAST day. His attitude about Nutrisystem is good, and for that I’m truly grateful.

“I” am the one who really needs this program for weight loss. Several years back my thyroid was completely radiated away due to Grave’s Disease. A couple of years ago I said goodbye to my gallbladder, which then made the low-carb diet we were trying to follow a challenge, because my body had trouble handling the fat. My blood pressure is a problem, and triglycerides are high, so I’m hoping that getting the lard off and eating healthy will make my doctor realize I’m serious at our next regular appointment in August.

We both are calmer about portions since we know we’ll eat again in 3 hours. Neither of us has been hungry. My appetite has always been voracious – when we were dating my husband would say, “We need to get you something to eat!” his code for me being ‘snappy.’  My husband said last night, “I don’t see any reason we can’t stay on this plan as long as you want to.”

We quit several years ago because Nutrisystem kept doing away with the choices my husband liked. Finally, he was so upset we had to stop. Now they have SO many more choices – also adding frozen choices – that it will take us several months before we have tried everything. We like the fact they let you know when the deadline is for making changes for our programs, and that we can make changes any time we like up until then.

SO – a Good Start on getting healthier!

 

Nutrisystem Week 5 Progress Report

http://www.salterhousewares.co.uk

Slow, but steady progress in the ‘Getting the Lard Off’ project.

• Poundage lost through Nutrisystem to date – 9.6 lbs.  Since my heaviest – 22 lbs.

http://www.clipartpanda.com

• Inches lost through Nutrisystem to date – 13.3 inches. Since my lardiest – 29.7 inches.

I’m finding more energy gradually. This helps a lot in my exercise program. Each day I’m doing –

1. Elliptical trainer
2. weight exercise for shoulders
3. over-the-door shoulder pulley
4. yoga for stretching

FabulousTraveling

Yesterday in particular I felt better than I’ve felt in a long time. I’m having to take less pain medicine for my shoulder muscles. I’m having to do fewer ice and heat sessions. I’m feeling looser with the stretching I’m doing. I’m feeling more energy to do a significant amount of cleaning, gardening, pet care, yard work, etc.

Both my husband and I have lost about 10 lbs since we started Nutrisystem. We both have health issues we monitor quarterly with our primary doctor and blood tests. We’re hoping that the next checkup in August will be a good one – showing distinct improvement. In the meantime, we’re agreed that this is something we really need to do for our long-term health and we’re happy we’ve taken the first step.

 

 

Animal Pictures I Love – Take 10

Panoramic Images Collection-www.greatbigcanvas.com

Another Month Bites the Dust!

becstrordinary.wordpress.com

Do you realize that May is almost over? We just started 2018 and it’s almost half gone! What happened? Where did all the days go?

My husband has always told me – usually when I’m complaining about having too much on my to-do list – that “if you’re busy, you’re happy – and the days go flying by.” 

We have been retired for quite a while now, and we honestly don’t know how we managed to work full-time most of our lives. The day starts and it’s over. The year starts and it’s over. We move from one thing to the next, enjoying living our lives, and the time passing makes our hair blow.

I honestly have trouble understanding boredom. I’ve been so lucky to always have WAY more to do than I have the time or energy. And mostly, I love what I’m doing. How’s THAT for a nice life?

I never expected that my husband and I would create ‘critters’ out of metal. We have trouble now finding scrap metal, since the junk yards and metal places are saddled with liability issues in letting people wander around finding treasures in the piles, but occasionally we find old small propane tanks and old farm implements, etc., and a critter is born.

This is a sample of a critter made from scrap metal. He weighs a TON (or seemed to when we were trying to hang him on this tree at the top of our driveway.) All of our critters are one-of-a-kind, since we can’t ever find the same scraps, but we really enjoy seeing a ‘critter’ emerge from pieces we find. Some of our biggest disagreements now are about what to make, how to make it, and what colors to use to paint it. :0)

We also love making metal decorations for our mailbox at the bottom of the driveway.

This Calvin & Hobbes decorations is one of my favorites.

We make stained glass and mosaic pieces when we can make the time.

We have a raised bed square foot garden where I’m trying to raise a bunch of our own salad stuff, as well as tomatoes. We built a greenhouse last year and I’m experimenting, trying to lengthen our growing season. We built brick planters – 14 of them – all around our yard so that we can enjoy flowers as much of the year as possible.

My husband is trying now to record our DVD collection onto a special bunch of equipment. If he’s successful, he wants me to sell most of the physical collection. This is a big project, and will take some time.

I’m trying to go through our 30-year-old + home, purging/giving away/throwing away/cleaning/reorganizing. I do this every 30 years, so I’m hip deep or more in ‘stuff’ right now.

You get the picture. We’re happy as clams, busy as bees (and any other cliché’s you can think of) to describe two people loving life and loving living it together. The days, weeks, months and years whiz past our heads – going faster and faster as we get longer in the tooth….

Mother Nature is Confused

KFSM 5 News, Fort Smith AR

Mother Nature seems to think that this is July or August. I know that “I” get confused from time to time, but usually Mother Nature has her act together.

We had a nice storm early this morning that cooled everything down, but it’s already soaring again.  We gave up early, closing doors and windows and turning on the A/C. I hate to think what our electricity bill will be this month.

I told you that I was stung by a scorpion for the first time in my life a couple of nights ago – in our bed! – on the 2nd floor of the house! SHRIEK! I’m much better now. Antihistamine and ice got most of the pain and swelling to recede, though I had a couple of days of skin sensitivity, as if I had been burned. You can still see a small red place on my arm – the only remnant, other than my memories. I stripped the bed and washed everything, vacuumed the bedroom and sprayed all around, but I have to admit I’m still gun-shy.

Each year we have what we call, “Year of the ____”  This year it seems to be ticks. We’ve used our normal flea and tick stuff we get from our vet. We have now added flea collars to our two dogs and two cats. (So far, the fish don’t seem to need any help. :0) )  We do a tick check on the animals every day and on US each night.

I called our pest control folks, asking if we could be scheduled as soon as possible for spraying. When she asked what the problem was, and I told her about the scorpion, and that I wanted them to spray for everything, including elephants, inside and out. She said a man would call us back, and he did within 10 minutes, saying he was on his way to our house for us to sign a new quarterly contract. While he was here, he called the office and scheduled a tech to come spray everything tomorrow morning! You really can’t ask for better service than this. If YOU live in the Fort Smith, AR area, call Tri-Hill Pest Control Incorporated

(479) 782-2847.

Mother Nature may be confused, causing our weather to be wonky and causing bad bugs to be quite prolific already, but I feel we are in really good hands with our pest control people.

 

What would you do?

This story was sent to me by my good friend, Marsha Koenig. I still have tears in my eyes.

________________

Walmart

“What would you do?….you make the choice. Don’t look for a punch line, there isn’t one. Read it anyway. My question is: Would you have made the same choice?

At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves children with learning disabilities, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its Dedicated staff, he offered a question:

‘When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does, is done with perfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is the natural order of things in my son?’

The audience was stilled by the query.

The father continued. ‘I believe that when a child like Shay, who was mentally and physically disabled comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way other people treat that child.’

Then he told the following story:

Shay and I had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, ‘Do you think they’ll let me play?’ I knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but as a fatherIalso understood that if my son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.

I approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance and said, ‘We’re losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we’ll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning..’

Shay struggled over to the team’s bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt.. I watched with a small tear in my eye and warmth in my heart. The boys saw my joy at my son being accepted.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay’s team scored a few runs but was still behind by three.

In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as I waved to him from the stands.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay’s team scored again.

Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat. At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game?

Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn’t even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball. 

However, as Shay stepped up to the Plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay’s life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact.

The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed.

The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.

The game would now be over.

The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game. Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman’s head, out of reach of all team mates.

Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, ‘Shay, run to first! Run to first!’

Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled.

Everyone yelled, ‘Run to second, run to second!’

Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base.

By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball. The smallest guy on their team who now had his first chance to be the hero for his team.

He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher’s intentions so he, too, intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman’s head.

Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home. All were screaming, ‘Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay’

Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted, ‘Run to third!
Shay, run to third!’

As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators, were on their feet screaming, ‘Shay, run home! Run home!’

Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his team

‘That day’, said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, ‘the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world’.

Shay didn’t make it to another summer. He died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making me so happy, and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!

AND NOW A LITTLE FOOT NOTE TO THIS STORY:

We all send thousands of jokes through the e-mail without a second thought, but when it comes to sending messages about life choices, people hesitate.

The crude, vulgar, and often obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion about decency is too often suppressed in our schools and workplaces.

If you’re thinking about forwarding this message, chances are that you’re probably sorting out the people in your address book who aren’t the ‘appropriate’ ones to receive this type of message. Well, the person who sent you this believes that we all can make a difference.

We all have thousands of opportunities every single day to help realize the ‘natural order of things.’

So many seemingly trivial interactions between two people present us with a choice:

Do we pass along a little spark of love and humanity or do we pass up those opportunities and leave the world a little bit colder in the process?

A wise man once said every society is judged by how it treats it’s least fortunate amongst them.

You now have two choices:

1. Delete
2. Forward

May your day be a Shay Day.

MAY GOD BLESS EVERYONE WHO DECIDES TO PASS THIS ON IN MEMORY OF SHAY”

 

Hahahahahahahaha!

Minions Quotes via Doreen Adamson-Liber

Pink

“Beautiful Pink Rose” – Paul Militaru Photography

 

“Pink Beauty” – Paul Militaru Photography

 

“Pink Rose 1” – Paul Militaru Photography

 

“Wild Roses” – Paul Militaru Photography

Which Do YOU Do?

sayingimages

Moving More, Hopefully Getting Somewhere

yourellipticals.com

I wish I looked like this woman when I’m on the elliptical.  I just finished doing 30 minutes, so I’m feeling good about my efforts.

The bad part is that the elliptical trainer is in our garage – the only flat place in our home with a bare, hard floor where it isn’t in the way. The good part is that I’m not in the bright sunshine, and my husband rigged a big, square fan on the wall right in front of the machine. Otherwise, with the temperatures here in mid-summer mode already, I just couldn’t do it.

I can go out to the garage, start the machine and the fan, clip my mp3 player to my shirt, put in my earphones, hit ‘start’ and do mindless walking while listening to some of my favorite tunes. :0)

I chose the elliptical several years ago because it’s designed to be easy on your joints. This is really crucial for me. I want to strengthen everything while not causing knees, hips, and shoulders to hurt any more than they do now. If I keep at it, plus get enough lard off, I may actually be able to LESSEN the pain in my joints!

According to articles I’ve read on the net, “when you use the elliptical, you can work the upper and lower body at the same time. Elliptical machines work the legs, chest, shoulders, back and arms. With this machine, you can complete a full-body workout in as little as 20 minutes.”

As I gulp down another bottle of water, I feel good for having gotten a good start on my day. Later on, I’ll do the over-the-door-shoulder-pulley thingie (I’m doing 100 pulls a day now – sitting in a chair)

Walmart

plus an exercise with a 3 lb weight

Walmart

to ease the tightness of my shoulder muscles, and then I’ll do 30 minutes of yoga stretching

 

http://www.active.com

to try to loosen everything else! :0)

Animal Paintings/Pictures I Love – Take 9

National Geographic – Mark Ross – http://www.greatbigcanvas.com

Yet Another Good Book

Paul Sweeny via rd.com/Quotes via Readers Digest

I just finished “A Mother’s Love” by Nora Roberts. It’s actually a reprint of one of the few books by Nora I’ve missed – “Dual Image,” and “The Best Mistake.”

I really like Nora Robert’s characters. They’re real. Many times they’re really clever, funny, smart. I WANT them to be real because I enjoy their world so much. I would love it if we could be friends. I don’t think there is a higher compliment to a writer that you keep all of their work in your personal library so that they can be enjoyed again and again.

Even though I’m sad to have left the worlds of Ariel and Zoe, I’ve already dived into “Come Sundown,” filled with more gutsy, interesting people I am enjoying meeting so much.

I can’t say enough about Nora’s work. Her creations have given me many hours of pleasure.

“Storm Clouds”

“Storm Clouds” – Paul Militaru Photography

Animal Pictures I Love – Take 8

Milo Burcham-www.greatbigcanvas.com

NOT the Way I Wanted to Start My Day

We had a busy, productive day yesterday. We hit the hay about 11:30 and had just gotten into a good sleep when I suddenly felt sharp pain on the inside of my right forearm.

I jumped up, turning on lights. I looked at my arm and there was a blister type mark. My husband groggily pulled back the sheet on the bed to find a scorpion, who jumped onto his hand. I yelled at him because he didn’t seem to realize what was happening. He finally used his other hand to swat the scorpion off, thankfully NOT getting stung. We keep foreceps on a nail on the bookshelf. I grabbed those, got the scorpion, deposited him in the john and flushed him. He was very small. He didn’t curl his tail like this one. He just ran with his body straight, trying to get away.

http://www.domyownpestcontrol.com

We pulled the covers completely off the bed, checking to make sure there weren’t any others. My husband put some ointment on my arm and went back to bed.

I was still totally freaked out. My arm was red, swelling, and aching. I felt like I had been burned! I put on my robe and slippers (remembering to shake them out first this time of year) and went downstairs. There would be no sleep for me until I could get the pain under control and the images out of my still-panicked mind.

I got on the net to find out how to treat scorpion stings. Icing it down to reduce the swelling and antihistamine for possible allergic reaction were recommended. I took two Benedryl caplets, put Benedryl ointment on the area and got an ice pack from the freezer. It took until about 3 a.m. for my arm to quit hurting enough  – and for me to finally get calm enough – to try to sleep.

This morning I am still very aware of where I was stung, but YOU couldn’t see anything looking at my arm. It still feels tender and I have a bit of aching, but no redness or swelling remains.

I’m going to pull everything off the bed again and put all through the washing machine. I’ll put on fresh sheets – giving my mind the finality that no other critters remain. I’ll vacuum the bedroom again and spray around the perimeter – plus doors and windows – with whatever bug spray we have and then finally relax.

We have enough scorpions on top of our ridge line that we just step on them and spray the area for future control. They don’t attack you or jump, and usually they’re easy to see and kill. I can count on one hand, thank goodness, the times we’ve had one in the house in the over thirty years we’ve lived here.

This is definitely NOT the way I wanted to start the day…

Memorial Day 2018

staticflickr.com

And I’m proud to be an American,
where at least I know I’m free.
And I won’t forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.
~Lee Greenwood

 

Deanna Cagle

Animal Pictures I Love – Take 7

“A Mother’s Touch” – Victoria Wilson Schultz – http://www.greatbigcanvas.com

In the End…

HpLyrikz.com via Lisa Bearnes Richey

Interesting Experiment

Our son lives and works in Thailand. He enjoys discovering new food. (I’m basically discovery-averse when it comes to food. I’m usually much too hungry to ‘risk’ getting something I don’t like, but I’m trying to change my ways.)

A few days ago he mentioned he had walked to town and gotten several mangosteens. He talked about how delicious they were and that they really seemed to ‘agree with him.’

I had never heard of them. I Googled them and found that lots of supplement companies are making products from mangosteens. I found that the actual fruit wasn’t available ( or at least, not that I could find.)

Since they are supposed to be good for ‘whatever ails you,’ and “(1) Increase Energy, (2) Reduce & Diminish Pain, (3) Lose Weight, (4) Fight Heart Disease, (5)Fight Free Radicals, (6) Fight Crohn’s Disease, (7) Fight Hypertension, (8)  Improve Digestion, (9)  Improve Urinary Tract, (10) Improve Oral Hygiene, (11) Ease Asthma, (12) Diabetes, (13) Mental Awareness, (14) Allergies, (15) Fight Infections, (16) Depression, (17) Improve Skin Health, (18)Eye Health, (19) Lower Cholesterol, (20) Kidney Stones” 

AND probably claim to make you look like Julia Roberts – ALWAYS high on my own personal list, I ordered 90 capsules (a one month supply) to see if their claims had any merit in my case.

Our son wrote that he was trying to have some of the actual fruit delivered to us! He said he thought it was shipping out of Florida, so it’s already approved to be brought into the United States and won’t get hung up in customs or any other nasty speed bumps. I can’t wait to try the actual fruit, since my son rarely raves about a food.

If you are in an area where you can buy some, or you try the supplements, we can compare notes!

“Hidden Stairs”

“Hidden Stairs” – Paul Militaru Photography

Gorgeous Gourds – Take 32

fieldtripmom.com

 

Lamps by Joanna-www.pinterest.com

 

livedan330.com

Romaine Harvest and Yard Work

All of my romaine lettuce plants are bolting in the heat. That means that the plants which used to be fat and lush, suddenly shoot up into the air, looking like miniature trees. I tasted some of the leaves on the ‘trees’ and they tasted fine, so I cut off all the bolting parts of the plants, harvested the leaves and brought them in.

I couldn’t know less about what I’m doing, but the rest of each plant still looked pretty good, so I’m hoping there are good leaves to harvest later. Time will tell.

I brought in a big basket of the best leaves, dumped them into the sink so I could get them clean, and then stored them in gallon bags and put them in the fridge. We’ll have some in our salad with dinner this evening.

The sun is so hot I was really shot when I brought the leaves in. I let them soak in the sink while I rested and gulped water. I cooled off and then washed and stored the leaves, then rested again!

I just came in from scrubbing and refilling Amber’s pool. I use my husband’s car washing broom. It works just fine to clean without hurting the plastic of the pool. I loosen everything, drain about half the water out, then use the broom again, then dump the rest of the water out. Then I spray the pool out and leave the hose in the pool, held down by two bricks, to fill it.

When it was about half full, Amber came bounding around the house, looked at me, and then jumped right into the pool. She walked around, drank some of the water, then laid down full length in the water. I could almost hear her say, “Ahhhh!” as she gave me a very satisfied look. She got out, shook water all over me, then started barking at the hose. When I laughed, she jumped into the pool again and luxuriated some more. I finally finished filling the pool and put everything away. Amber is snoring on her bed in the living room now.

At dusk, my husband and I will do our first pass at cutting back the greenery on the sides of the driveway. I’ll put our battery-powered weed eater in the back and my sunglasses that wrap around, and my gloves, so that when we get to the bottom, we can do some weed whacking and pruning. Then we’ll go slowly up the other side of the driveway, cutting things back as we go, and we’ll be finished for the day. Our driveway is long and steep – about 650 feet, so this will take several passes to get it the way it should be.

I hope that you’ve had a wonderful day, too.

“Morning Mist on the Lake”

“Morning Mist on the Lake” – Paul Militaru Photography

Weekend of Playing in the Dirt

stayathomeeducator.com via sites.psu.edu

 

This weekend we’ll be in and out, trying to get as much accomplished in the yard as we can – while living to tell the tale.

The weather looks like typical July or August for us – lots of bright sun, 90’s – 100+ temperatures and little, if any, chance of rain. The problem is that it’s only May!  We have doors and windows open most of the morning and then have to close up to run a/c for the afternoon and early evening, opening up again when if/when possible.

• The bright sunshine after rain last week is causing our grass to grow as we watch, so mowing and weed-whacking will be one thing we need to do this weekend.
• I need to scrub out and refill Amber’s kiddie pool. She doesn’t ‘swim’ in it a whole lot, but she rarely goes out during the day without running through it, drinking a bit of it, and maybe lying down in it enough to cool herself off a bit. (She is 14 months old now and weighs 93 lbs. To say it’s a ‘challenge’ for us to keep up with her is a laughable understatement. :0)
• The rain and sunshine are causing the trees – and other ‘stuff’ on both sides of our long, steep driveway – to attempt to grow together, blocking anyone from coming up or going down. I’ll drive the truck slowly up and down the driveway – my husband with loppers and a ladder in the back – cutting things back. We’ll need to do this several times before it will be reasonable again. We also need to cut down things at the bottom of the driveway. Our robot is almost surrounded by greenery!
• My raised bed square foot garden needs a lot of work. Yesterday we got some lettucy-type plants, broccoli ‘stir-fry’ plants, and some cantaloupe plants at the co-op. I got them planted, but need to harvest, prune, pull-up, and otherwise get the garden under better control. My bolted lettuce plants need to be pulled, chopped up, and added to our compost barrel.

And the list goes on. We’ll do as much as we can – resting between sessions and drinking boatloads of water.  Assuming we can do most of this by the end of the weekend, we’ll go to our local nursery next week to find some flowers for the deck and yard.

Happy Memorial Day weekend!

 

Growing

lifehack.org-via-EmilyQuotes.com-via Evie Zimmerman

 

I tend to live in my comfort zone. I feel sure of myself and I like feeling that I’m in ‘control,’ even though I ‘realize’ that is delusion.

I feel good about myself when I step out of it, though – when I learn something new that is empowering.

Example: Since my husband is really good on computers and is finishing getting my new computer to work the way I want it to, I tend to be lazy and ask him how to do things, rather than figure it out for myself  ( a VERY time-consuming, frustrating thing for someone the complete opposite of a computer/electronics nerd.)  My husband tries to be patient when I ask him something, but it’s hard for both of us. He wants me to be specific, telling him exactly what I need in the proper terminology. (If I knew the proper terminology for my problem, I probably wouldn’t have the problem!)

I was trying to find some files on my computer. I tried to explain what I needed. The more I tried, the worse it got. Finally, we were totally frustrated with each other and gave up.

THAT’s when I stepped out of my comfort zone and actually started learning. After a LOT of flailing around, grinding of teeth, and more than a few bad words and tears, I managed to FIND the information I needed for my insurance detailing project – both the information that is on what I’m now calling the ‘old DVD’ and the spreadsheet on which I’ve started detailing what we own, what we paid, making sure we have a pic, etc. (including our first grade report card, thumb print, and….

When we talked about it later, I calmly told him I had found what I needed and had relocated them so I wouldn’t have trouble next time. He tried not to show it, but I THINK he was a bit disappointed that I didn’t need help on this anymore.

I stepped out of my comfort zone and now feel empowered – until the next time.

quotesgram.com

“Bouquet of Flowers”

“Bouquet of Flowers” – Paul Militaru Photography

A Bit of New Life for the Garden

Today after a nice time at Lunch Bunch, we stopped at the co-op on the off chance that they might have a few plants for our garden. I found a couple of lettucy type plants that I hope will fill in where my romaine is bolting and not long for this world. I also found a plant called, “broccoli stir-fry.” Since I’ve harvested the majority of the main part of the broccoli plants and I’m not sure if I’ll get more from any of these, I’m happy that I may have another chance for more broccoli this season.

The fact that we’ve gone directly from winter to summer this year is hard on the garden, particularly for the cool-weather plants like broccoli, spinach, and lettuce.

 

 

This is one of the lettucy plants and two cantaloupe plants at which my husband was looking longingly. Since it looks like a lot of the rest of my plants have a very short life span remaining, I’m happy to try these. (The last melon type plant I tried took over the whole 4’x4′ box, so I’m going to plan for this.)

It’s WAY too hot right now to be trying to work in the garden, so I’m doing other stuff while waiting for the sun to tone it down a bit. (We’re having a high of around 90 with humidity at 61% right now – way too hot for this old lady.) I’ll try to take some pics to share later.

 

Insurance Project

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I’m “slogging my way through deep snow,” trying to build the mother of spreadsheets, trying to list each thing we own (item name, when we bought it, what we paid, etc., plus trying to make sure that the pictures we have on the DVD we burn for our insurance agent is correct and complete.

So far, I’m in my art room. I discovered the pics of the actual room was really outdated, taken before I purged, cleaned, and reorganized. So I’ve taken new pics I’ll go through today, making sure that every I CAN list (there is really no way to list all the gazillion art supplies I have) and that the spreadsheet is as complete as I can make it.

This is really an awful project, so I try to do a bit each day, working in one room at a time.

My husband says we’ll never need this. Our agent says that if we DO need it, the first thing the company will ask for is a complete list (as I’m trying to do now) written in our handwriting (which I’m NOT doing).

I figure we

• won’t need it
• MAY need it, but it won’t be finished,
• I’ll die of old age before I can finish it

If I DO finish it, I’ll print it and put the spreadsheet (all million pages of it) in our safe deposit box.

Slogging through the snow, I go, “Hi, HO…..”

Only One

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