To Do or Not To Do…

Spreadshirt

I have a to-do list as long – or longer – than my arm today. I know I can handle the one above. :0)  The jury is still out on my own….

Have a wonderful day!

Maybe Not ‘Forever’

trendsandlife.com

On the way back from the grocery store this morning, I asked my husband, “Will you love me forever?”

He said, “Maybe not forever, but I’ll go for the next 1,000 years.”

I’ll take it. :0)

Adjusting our Body Clocks

pngkey.com

I told you recently that my husband and I signed up to be host parents for a 16-year-old boy from Italy this school year.

Alessandro will arrive August 6th. School starts August 13th.

We have been setting our alarm clock for 8am – feeling virtuous that we then get up to let our doggies out for their morning run. If we didn’t do this, we tend to stay up ’til all hours, sleep fitfully many nights, would sleep in to try to catch up, making our poor doggies wait.

Since our day will start at 6am for the school year, we are proactively trying to reset our body clocks so we won’t be complete zombies, unable to function.

Today we started getting up at 7am. The sun was up, so it was easier than I thought it would be. I didn’t say anything to my husband about what I was doing last night – resetting the alarm – and he either didn’t notice, or didn’t say anything. It’ll be interesting to see when he realizes. :0)

Starting the last day of July, I’ll set the alarm for 6am. I don’t even know if the sun will be up then. That will be harder if it is also still asleep. Hopefully, by the 6th, we’ll be more used to getting up. By the 13th, the first day of school, I hope the 3 of us will be handling it well.

So far, we got up and got the grocery shopping out of the way early. I have an hour more to try to get my to-do list done – unless I end up asleep in my chair…

Did I Tell You I LOVE Water?

Stephen McGuinness – “High Violet”

 

Mehmet Tayfun Dur – Linked In

 

“The Agitated Road of Water” – Paul Militaru Photography

 

Roy Gonzalez Tabora Via Elena (Livia) D. – Linkedin

How Does Your Garden Grow?

This is our garden, minus two tomato planters on the opposite end of the house. It’s a raised-bed, square foot garden.

“Raised bed” – because we built six 4’x4′ wooden boxes, put them on top of metal supports (like tables) at about my chest height, so I don’t have to get down on my hands and knees, or bend over double to garden.

“Square foot garden” – because the only ‘soil’ we have up here on top of our ridge line was trucked in so we could have grass around the house. We tried to have a regular garden, enriching the soil, etc. and it was a dismal failure. After several years I was delighted to find Mel Bartholomew and his book, Square Foot Gardening, where he explained that we could ‘create’ a growing medium much like soil ABOVE the ground and grow veggies!

We surrounded our garden with fencing, since we do have deer running around. Usually I have bright neon-colored tape running around the outside to warn the deer so they don’t run into the fencing. The rains and sun deteriorated the tape and I haven’t put more up yet. We have chicken wire around the bottom to deter rabbits and other cute critters from breaching the fencing, although I would think it would be difficult for them to climb up the metal legs to get to the veggies. Our garden door is looking a bit sad these days. We’ve had so much to deal with after losing so much of our electronic goodies in the recent storms that I haven’t bothered my husband with it. You might get a giggle out of the sign on the door. We did that when we first got the CNC set-up in the shop, where we can do computer-guided cutting of sheet metal. That was one of the first things we cut out. The poor thing is rusted now, but it’s one of my favorite things.

 

This sweet, oddly shaped thing is probably the world’s smallest cantaloupe. I have no clue whether we’ll actually get anything edible, but it’s fun to try.

 

I’ve never seen zucchini growing before and I’m fascinated. We may not get much of a crop, but I’m eager to check what we have each time I go out.

 

With all the rain and strong sun we’ve had, I can’t keep the weeds out of here, but I’m trying to keep them down as much as possible so the sweet red onions have room to grow.

 

This is the latest group of radishes. I’m hoping they do well. The last crop was better than I’m able to get at the store.

 

Here is today’s harvest. I was so pleased to see more ripe tomatoes. And these, except for one, all came from the plants in the long planter that had yellow leaves and were looking spindly recently. I added bone meal and some tomato food, and they have responded well, although they don’t look as healthy as the two plants in the planter beside the house. MAYBE it’s a good thing to have much less greenery – leading to better production of tomatoes….

And this is my first zucchini!  I have no clue why this one looks pregnant. The ones at the store don’t look like this. It’ll be interesting to see if it tastes good or not.

I was planning to spend more time outside this morning, but the wind picked up, the skies darkened, and I heard rumbling thunder. I hurried inside, closed the garage door, and prepared for the coming storm. My phone was even sending me messages about lightning and heavy rain right outside of Greenwood. We didn’t get the storm! NOW the sun is out again. Go figure.

Bethany Kerr Watercolors

BethanyKerrFineArt on Etsy

 

BethanyKerrFineArt on Etsy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BethanyKerrFineArt on Etsy

 

BethanyKerrFineArt on Etsy

More Niki Firmin Pet Portraits!

Niki Firmin – “Haka”

 

Niki Firmin – “Mocha”

 

Niki Firmin – “Rocky”

Can You Say, “P L A T E A U?”

Just Something Creative

We have been on the Keto eating plan for about two weeks or so now.  I’m trying to stay at 20 carbs or below daily, not worrying as much about calorie counts now (though I still do aim at below 1200 calories per day. Due to our lightning hit and the loss of so many of our things, I’ve been spending most of my time trying to call for repairs, help my husband repair things, or ordering replacements, rather than doing my exercise plan.  I still was hoping for a bit of lost weight.

I am again on the plateau from Hell. I have my former sedentary lifestyle (though I still wouldn’t describe myself as ‘active’), and my age – 72 – against me, so I’m not expecting miracles. I am also trying a LOT of new recipes – all delicious – and tracking my eating and drinking on MyFitnessPal.com.  The website thinks that I ‘may not be eating enough,’ but the Keto book – Simply Keto by Suzanne Ryan – says ‘if you’re not hungry, don’t eat.’  If I DO get hungry, I’m trying to grab something low carb, or I’m eating raw veggies and dip, a hard-boiled egg, or pecans.

To date – since I got serious about trying to lose the lard – I’ve lost 43 pounds and 48.2 inches. 

That’s a good start, but I’m trying to lose another 30 to 35 pounds. This is to get into the healthy range on the BMI charts. (I could also get taller by about 5 inches, but that doesn’t seem to be happening, either.)

My husband has essentially given up sugar. We’re trying hard to keep his Type II diabetes under good control and forestall any further damage.  We both have also given up added salt (other than that called for in recipes), white flour, potatoes, rice, and pasta. My husband still eats ice cream, but we get the no sugar added variety.

We are enjoying the new recipes from the Simply Keto book immensely. I’m actually taking an interest in cooking (though I’ll never really ENJOY cooking) because each of the 4 recipes I’ve tried so far have been winners. No weird ingredients. No half-the-day laborious directions. I’m also enjoying using my spiralizer to make spaghetti from yellow squash and zucchini and sauteing them in olive oil. My husband even says he won’t balk at my substitution of one of these for spaghetti the next time we want spaghetti with meatballs!  Woo HOO! (Cauli-rice is still not a go with him, though spaghetti squash might be.)

My goal is to get us – and keep us – as healthy as we can be for our ages. Toting around extra lard strains your whole system. We really don’t need that. My husband won’t exercise, but he is moving around trying to fix things, working in the yard, etc. If we can get our electronics repaired or replaced and things calm down around here – I’ll try to get back to my new three-days-per-week program of yoga one day, the elliptical trainer one day, and either walking or dance video the third. I also want to add some work with weights two other days.

I’m HOPING that if I ‘hold-my-mouth-right’, and ‘keep on keepin’ on.’ the scale will start to give me more pleasing numbers and the measuring tape will smile at me one day.

I’ll report again at the end of next month – OR if I start doing really well – whichever comes first.

 

 

Poor Amber

Amber was slow coming back from her morning outing this morning. When I went to look for her, she was at the door in the garage – HURT.

We bathed her VERY carefully and checked her over. Besides the deep scrape on her head, she has scrapes on all four legs. She is limping a bit, but is getting around okay. She wanted to eat and drink and has kept everything down. I put antibiotic ointment on all the scrapes and gave her a doggie pain pill to help her calm down and rest.

So far, she’s resting well. We are watching her like hawks in case we need to take her to the vet. I honestly think we have done most of what the vet would have done and that she’ll be okay.

We have no clue what happened. I wish dogs could TALK!  Poor Amber.

Independence Day Lewis Mailbox Decoration

 

We put up our Independence Day mailbox decoration last night. We love Snoopy and Woodstock, and this design really made us smile.

Last of the Baskets I Love – Right now…

Novica

“A glass pitcher, a wicker basket, a tunic of coarse cloth. Their beauty is inseparable from their function. Handicrafts belong to a world existing before the separation of the useful and the beautiful.” ~ Octavio Paz

 

Shades of Light

“What is there in a name? It is merely an empty basket, until you put something into it.” ~ Charles Babbage

 

Target

 

“If you keep missing, get closer to the basket.” ~ Cynthia Lewis

Our Dog Just Taught Us Something!

 

This is Amber, our 2-year-old, 94-pound yellow lab. I just let her in a few minutes ago. She was panting. She plopped down, legs splayed, chin on the floor. Suddenly, she lifted her head and panted a few seconds, then plopped her chin back down on the floor. She did this over and over.

LESSON:  You can’t pant with your chin on the floor.   :0)

Well-Earned Plug

I already told you that my husband and I are trying to lose the lard by eating with the Keto plan. I also told you I found the book above by Suzanne Ryan. I don’t think I’ve told you what a treasure trove I consider this book! She lost 120 pounds and has kept it off. She has a website, Keto Karma, this book, etc. and I hope if she isn’t a gazillionaire now, she soon will be.

I can’t say enough about her recipes. I’ve tried four so far. My husband’s reactions have been, “This is YUMMY!” to “What are we celebrating?” to “Are you SURE this is on our diet?”

I can sincerely say I have never gotten a recipe book where I found more than a few what we considered good recipes. I have bought many cookbooks, and resold many, and given away others over the years. This one I will keep and use as long as I am alive.  All of the recipes sound GOOD. She doesn’t ask you to find a bunch of ingredients that are hard to find. The recipes are straight-forward and not overly time-consuming or difficult.  And, so far, they are DELICIOUS.  I cook once and we get two meals from it, usually.

• The first recipe I tried was ‘Sausage, Egg and Cheese Breakfast Bake.” This was so good it will become a staple for us.
• The second was “Bacon-Wrapped Cheesy Chicken”
• The third was last night, when I made two recipes: “Keto Honey Mustard” and “Keto Breaded Chicken Tenders.”  – these looked different than I was expecting and I was a bit worried, but they were juicy and delicious. This was the recipe where my husband said, “Are you SURE this is on our diet?”

I am reminded of  the book and movie combo, “Julie and Julia.” (one of my favorites) where Julie decides she will cook every recipe in Julia Child’s cookbook. I’m very lucky because I would NEVER even THINK of doing what she did, with all the weird (to me) ingredients, un-pronounceable names, and LONG, complicated directions. I’m truly enjoying trying each of these recipes – and I don’t particularly enjoy cooking!

We’re having our leftover chicken tenders for lunch, and I’ll try a new recipe this evening! :0)

 

 

 

Good Advice

Jim Cody – LinkedIn

Things are slowly coming together as we try to repair or replace the things we lost since we were hit by lightning. We are actually discovering what is most important to us.

• We are very lucky we didn’t lose more and can recover from this, even though there is no help from insurance with high deductible.
• As far as electronics go, my phone is most important to me because I am now able to communicate with people on it in several ways, even when all else isn’t working.
• The clothes washer is next important. We are still trying to get someone out to repair it, or tell us the bad news we have to get a new one.
• Computers and Internet access are super important to us. I really missed writing my blog, and I didn’t have access to either of my online shops. I also enjoy being able to communicate with people with typing, rather than having to use one fat finger to laboriously type out messages to people.
• We can do without a TV, but it’s kind of a quality of life thing – we’re spoiled.  We’re supposed to be able to pick up a new one tomorrow or Saturday (we hope)

As far as I’m concerned, all the other little electronic gadgets my husband is trying to repair (or get new parts for) are just icing on an already nice cake.

So, We have done most everything we can at the moment, just waiting and looking at the stars….

 

Tomatoes!

 

Last week, before the awful storms hit and we lost so much stuff, I was telling you that I was worried about the tomato plants in our long brick planter at the side of the house. They were really sad-looking, with yellow leaves and dead branches. I put bone meal into the soil around each plant and then gave the whole planter tomato food and crossed my fingers.

With all that has been going on, today was the first time I went to look at the plants. This is the first of what I HOPE will be a really good harvest. The tomato cages were bent over, so I went back and got some rods and anchored them, hopefully making it so the plants will stay upright. I cut off more dead stuff, but the plants were looking much healthier. There are lots of green tomatoes on those plants, plus the two really lush looking plants in what I call the nook planter between the porch and the back of the house. I guess the difference in the amount of sun the two planters get is the difference on what the plants look like. It’ll be funny if the puny looking ones produce more tomatoes than the lush looking ones…

Guess what will be part of OUR dinner tonight!

Awe-Inspiring Trees

Amazon.com

 

GrownUps.com.nz

 

Moreton Bay Fig Tree – TripAdvisor

 

Ficus Macrophylia – Garden of Trials – Algiers-Iahsen Haddou – LinkedIn

 

Tree of Tule -Oaxaca -Mexico.- Linked In

 

Pinterest

Today

Kids Best Interest via Desiree Angelique Hackett

Paintings I Love

Bruno Augusto Gavino via Elena (Livia) D. – LinkedIn

 

Alina Ciuciu – LinkedIn

 

Antonietta Varallo via Elena (Livia) D. – LinkedIn

 

“Best Book” – Monika Luniak via Elena (Livia) D. – LinkedIn

 

My Husband is a Keeper

Life Buzz

I started to go into the kitchen a few minutes ago. I was kind of wandering around, trying to get my bearings on fixing dinner. My husband took one look at me, came over and hugged me, and said, “You’re on strike. This was a super stressful day and we’ll call in and go get fried rice.”

Ahhhhhh!

One Can NEVER Have Too Many Baskets

Ethan Allen

 

“Carry a big basket. In other words, be open to new ideas, different partners, and new practices, and have a willingness to dump out the old and irrelevant to make room for new approaches.” ~ Frances Hesselbein

 

Etsy – Lari Murik

“The quality of a man’s mind can generally be judged by the size of his wastepaper basket.” ~ Jose Bergamin

 

Home Depot

“Ideas come from life: what happens in mine, what I see happening in others’, mixed with a great deal of imagination. I might see a person in a grocery store and build a whole character and life out of what’s in her basket.” ~ Elizabeth Berg

Adaptation Run Amok

Sony Pictures Entertainment

“Adaptation” – a change or the process of change by which an organism or species becomes better suited to its environment.

I told you that we had a bad storm and lightning or the power going on and off repeatedly combined with a circuit breaker tripping resulted in LOTS of electronics being hurt or killed. Suddenly, we had no computers, no Internet, no TV, no way to play movies….. a real culture shock and character-building exercise.

When I finally realized there was nothing more to be done about the problem, I decided to go out and work in my garden. (My stupidity on setting up the irrigation system for it resulted in NO water being sent out there, other than Mother Nature’s largesse and the plants were suddenly suffering.) There was lots of dead stuff that needed to be pruned, weeds to be removed, etc. I took my gardening stuff out there and got started, pleased that I was adapting to our new situation.

Suddenly the wind came up and the skies turned dark. The tree branches were becoming more and more active. My hat blew off and I had to chase it. The rain came down in a WHOOSH! – Mother Nature laughed at me – soaking me before I could gather my stuff and head for the house.

By the time I got to the house, I was dripping. My husband took one look at me and laughed. I was really steamed. I had TRIED to adapt to our situation, opting to be productive in the  garden since we couldn’t get onto computers, watch TV, etc., and I was standing in the utility room, dripping for my efforts. :0(   (I have since cleaned up the garden. I’ll try to post pictures tomorrow.)

I have read four books in the past two days – one by Renae Christine listing 150 suppliers of stuff for handmade products; a book by an author new to me who writes kind of like JK Rowling in the Harry Potter series, the last book in the Traveling Pants series, and a much-loved re-read of a Nora Roberts book.

I have a new Keto recipe to try tonight from the Simply Keto book – actually TWO recipes – one for Keto Honey Mustard and the other for Keto breaded chicken tenders. We’ll try these tonight and I’ll report on this and one other recipe I tried recently that’s a winner.

Latest update on our really annoying electronics problems is that the new TV should be ready for pick up Friday or Saturday.  When we get it hooked up, we should be able to tell if any other things in the entertainment center were affected. Fingers crossed that all else is okay.

My husband has continued to work with his computer after getting the new network card in mine and getting the new modem and 24-port switch installed. He has decided that we do NOT have to drive to Tulsa tomorrow for an appointment with the Microsoft people. He’ll work with it some more, test it when we have the new TV up and running, and then decide if we need to do something further.

THAT leaves our clothes washer, which decided to throw a fit today at the end of the first load. It sounded like a jet was trying to land in our living room. I ran in and shut things down. My husband will download the PDF of the manual that goes with our washer and dryer and see if he can figure out why the spin cycle has lost its mind, whether we need parts, or WHAT.

All of this from ONE storm…..

We are doubly thankful that more wasn’t affected. We are also grateful that we can sit in a dry home reading good books while we repair or replace the things we lost.

We’re Back!

Depositphotos

We had a bad storm a few days ago. The power was going off – our generator came on – the regular power came on — over and over and over again in quick succession. After we went to bed this continued. I had to reset our alarm clock and restart the fan at least 6 or 7 times.

We got up to find no power in our office. All the on and off again had finally caused a circuit breaker to trip, so when we moved that back into position, we thought we were okay. NOT SO!

The short version of the story is that the network card in my computer gave up the ghost. Our modem was dead. Our 24-port switch that controls everything was gone. Our TV was gone.  I finally got a few things added to my phone – something I basically use for emergencies, so that I could communicate at least a little. No computers, no TV, no movies. I was able to order replacement stuff mostly.  We got a new modem on the way via our regular phone.

We kept finding ourselves trying to go look something up in the office and were reminded that we couldn’t do that anymore.  It’s a good thing we love to read.

This morning we received the new network card and the 24-port switch. We ran errands quickly because we wanted to be home to receive the modem. We got that before noon. My husband worked and worked, and then I worked and worked and we are finally back up on our computers have have Internet again!

Our TV should be ready for pick up Friday or Saturday.

We’re still not sure whether we were hit by lightning or the rapid on and off of the power did us in.

It’s a real culture shock to find out how dependent we are on computers and Internet. And devices. And how spoiled we are.

I couldn’t write on my blog, and that’s the thing I missed the most. I also couldn’t continue work on my new Etsy store. I was pleased that I could add email and Hangouts to my phone so I could let people know what happened.

I’m more than delighted to be able to write to you again!  Forgive my delayed replies to your comments, please.

This has been one of life’s character-building exercises, for sure.

NOW we concentrate on why the spin cycle is causing problems on the clothes washer, and find out if anything else related to the TV is gone, too….

 

A Storm is Coming

It’s as black as night outside right now, ready to storm. Before it got dark, I got out and took some pictures in the yard I wanted to share with you.  This is one of our Rio Samba rose bushes with Impatiens around the base.  We have two other Rio Sambas, but for some reason, their leaves are turning yellow. I’ve sprayed them with fungicide plus all purpose rose bug killer, hoping that will help them.

 

I love the red roses on this bush. It seems quite happy at the moment.

 

This is one group of phlox. I love these. They come in a lot of colors. We have  a lighter pink shade and this one. I’m afraid if it rains hard, these will be beaten down.

I have to tell you about my stupidity of the day –

I checked my veggie garden and noticed the plants weren’t getting enough water. My husband came out to help me trace the water from the outside rural faucet we have out to the garden. It turned out that I had forgotten about a “Y” connection of hoses we have and it was turned the wrong way. The water wasn’t going anywhere, much less to the garden! We fixed it and tested it. On the way back to the house, Mother Nature rained on us….

 

I Love Bethany Kerr’s Watercolors!

BethanyKerrFineArt on Etsy

 

BethanyKerrFineArt on Etsy

 

BethanyKerrFineArt on Etsy

 

BethanyKerrFineArt on Etsy

“Pigeon in the Nest”

“Pigeon in the Nest” – Paul Militaru Photography

Confessions of a Basket Addict

I confess that I’m a basket addict. I don’t feel any remorse, though – I just try to stay out of places that I will run across them. :0)

1stDibs

“Even the simplest wicker basket can become priceless when it is loved and cared for through the generations of a family.” ~  Sister Parish

AliExpress

“My mom used to keep all her Christmas cards in a basket bedecked with red ribbon, and I loved to look at them all and read all the letters.” ~ Elizabeth Berg

 

Ali Express

“Carry a big basket. In other words, be open to new ideas, different partners, and new practices, and have a willingness to dump out the old and irrelevant to make room for new approaches.” ~ Frances Hesselbein

 

Driven by Decor

“At restaurants, I try to tell them not to bring the bread basket, but what’s the point of going out to eat if I can’t enjoy it?” ~  Natalie Morales

Garage Project is Finished!

Just to officially document that on OCCASION my area in the garage looks pretty reasonable, here are pics of the finished project for the day –

 

I hate to admit it, but usually I have trouble walking around in this area.

 

 

See – there IS a counter under all the ‘stuff.’  It’s a NICE counter, too – when you can SEE it….

Enough for today. It’s really too hot outside. I hope that you are indoors and comfortable.

Today’s Project – Cleaning Out My Area in the Garage

Imgur

I just came in from Session # 1 out in the garage. I look a lot like the poor kitty above. Picture an old lady with paper towels, a red face, and a BIG glass of ice water….

The weather folks say the heat index today is between 103 and 106, and I believe them!  I’m going to rest and drink a LOT of water before doing another session.

My area in the garage is the catch-all for everything that doesn’t have a permanent home. This includes cases of bottled water, cases of sugar-free pop, gallons of Zero Peach Iced Tea, and then the tools we have ready when we finally run out of excuses not to start the rebuild on the second brick planter that collapsed, plus bird feeders, plant food, bug killers, weed killers, planting tools, stools, roll-around stools, plastic buckets, bags of quik-crete, a new seed and ‘stuff’ spreader, my elliptical trainer, etc. etc., etc. (Aside – are you old enough that what I just said reminds you of Yul Brynner from “The King and I?”)

The other day I moved a bunch of stuff out to the greenhouse, but if you didn’t watch me do it, you wouldn’t know by the amount of stuff still stashed here. It’ll probably take two or three more sessions to make some sense of the area.  If I don’t die off of heat stroke before finishing, I’ll take some pics of the ‘healed’ area so you’ll know it’s clean and organized SOMETIMES. :0)

Flourishing Fish

I don’t know when I bought these four gold fish. I had a large bowl I was using as a tank. It quickly became apparent that these fish were actually doing well and that they needed more room. We bought a 5 gallon aquarium, with filter, oxygenator, etc.

I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say they are now at least 3 times the size they were when I bought them.  I usually end up cleaning out the aquarium once a month, depending on how their water is looking. I scrub everything, vacuum the stones, put in new, treated water, change the decorations, hook everything back up and then carefully add the fish again.

The only ‘trick’ they do is that when they see me coming and hope I’m going to feed them, they all bunch into the same corner and wiggle their little bodies, looking right at me. For some unknown reason, this melts my heart.

They never say anything about the change in decor. I do see them checking things out each time I change things, so I hope this keeps them from getting bored.

Since I talk to my plants, I also talk to the fish. We don’t have any deep discussions about the state of the world or anything. I basically make noises, sounding like an idiot, while they wriggle and blow bubbles at me.

Works for us!

Sweet Way to Start the Day

email from Bill Lites

Dogs are the Best

ThoughtCo

“Never judge a dog’s pedigree by the kind of books he does not chew.” ~ Unknown

 

BoredPanda

“Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joy ride.” ~ Unknown

 

FundRazrviaCathyRuggiero

“There is only one smartest dog in the world, and every boy has it.” ~ Unknown

 

email from Bill Lites

“It is not an easy thing to inflate a dog.” ~  Edward Abbey

 

email from Bill Lites

“Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure ecstasy.” ~ Unknown

 

email from Bill Lites

“If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.”  – Will Rogers