Monthly Archives: June 2021
Striving
This was a classic book when I was a child. It’s all about striving – trying to reach a goal. The little engine kept striving, all the while saying, “I THINK I can, I THINK I can…” finally reaching the top of the hill due to never giving up and his fierce determination.
I’m ‘thinking I can’ now, on DAY 5 of my new regimen of eating right, raw veggies and a bit of dip for an afternoon snack, a bottle of water, and yoga each afternoon in an effort to lose my lard. I lost a bit yesterday, so that’s encouraging.
I also FEEL a bit better due to the yoga. Some of the positions are getting a bit easier. I’m able to slowly stretch a bit more. Some things will take some time. WHEN I make it to Monday of next week – with my daily yoga practice – I’m planning to add some work with dumbbells to my yoga practice Mon, Wed, and Fri.
Filed under Attitude, Challenges, Changes, DIET!, empowerment, Encouragement, exercise
Nailia Schwarz – Peanuts and Photography 3
Stone Art
Filed under Rock Art, Stone/Pebble Art
Funny Guard Dog
Amber is a 95-pound yellow lab. She thinks she is a ferocious guard dog. I don’t really think she gets the idea, though.
Instead of barking, she greets everyone who comes to the house with tail wagging, wanting to get up on them and give them a kiss or two. (She might bowl them over while doing that, but her intentions are to LOVE, not DEFEND.
She will run like a nut after a rabbit or other critter in the yard, but she’s never come close to catching anything – leaving that job to Abby, our cat.
She routinely sits on her bed in the living room late in the evening, when we’re watching TV or reading, suddenly growling or barking – scaring us to death. There is never anything that she is growling or barking AT – and we have to encourage her NOT to do it.
Last night she was in the office with me. Suddenly she was growling and barking – looking at the stairs to the second floor. When I got up to go with her and check out what the problem was, I had to laugh. I had ‘walked’ a big ‘package’ of bottled water up the stairs and left it at the top, to be taken into our bedroom when we went up for the night. Amber saw that at the top of the stairs, recognized that she didn’t normally see that there, and freaked out.
SO – our guard dog was great at defending us from the bottled water. We can rest easy.
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family
Shall We Dance?
Music and dancing make you feel ageless.
I know that when I hear music I first heard when I was a teenager, it takes me back. The years fall off. I feel GREAT. My heart fills, I jump up, and my body moves. Listening and reacting to music can be therapy. Making music is an art.
I hope you listen, sing, dance, and play!
I Melt for Dogs
Filed under Amazing Animals, animal paintings
Attitude
Today is DAY 4 of my new motivation to lose my lard and increase my flexibility and stamina.
I’m feeling good about things, even though I didn’t shed any weight yesterday. I will ‘keep on keepin’ on,’ one day at a time, looking at each one as a day to maybe lose a bit and work on getting stronger.
I’m doing my yoga-snack-water thing each afternoon. I have some sore stomach muscles in particular, a sign that my body recognizes a change. That’s GOOD. I’m finding it easier to get out of my chair, get my yoga mat and get started. Once I finish, I get my husband his bagel with cream cheese, chives, and onion, and I get MY snack of some raw veggies and a bit of dip, plus a bottle of water.
My husband, of course, isn’t even trying to lose weight at this point, or exercise, but is ahead of me on weight loss. I’m trying to be adult enough to realize that each person is different, that men seem to lose weight more easily than woman, and hitting him in the mouth won’t solve my problems. :0)
I have my desk calendar set up to get my stars for doing what I should today, and it makes me smile when I earn them.
I am feeling more in control of my habits and I’m pleased I’m doing some good things for my health.
Filed under Attitude, DIET!, exercise, getting the lard off, taking care of yourself
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Filed under HandmadeHavenByLinda on Etsy
Sculptures of Children
Filed under sculpture
Refurbishing Progress
Our “cleaning robot” is finished and ready to be put back in place. We will do that later and I’ll take pics for share with you.
Meanwhile, I’m now working on TWO pieces simultaneously.
We call this the “Belly Vested Whapadoo”
As you can see, he needs a lot of work. My husband came out to give me moral support. He steadied the ‘bird’ as I started the cleaning. All of a sudden, his HEAD fell off!
While my husband reattached the head, I switched to another piece. It was a smaller “shovel bird” that we use as a bird feeder in the front flower planters. We also drilled some holes in the shovel for better drainage.
I got about half of the shovel bird piece painted yesterday. I’ll finish that today, and then get started again on cleaning the Whapadoo.
Pics of the “Cleaning Robot” to follow.
Filed under Lewis Art, Lewis projects, Lewis yard art
Baby Steps – In the Right Direction
I accomplished my goal of losing 2 lbs. last week. I am almost to my goal of reaching the 30-pounds-off-from-my-heaviest weight landmark. I am happy that I’m making some progress toward my goal of losing my lard and getting as strong and flexible as I can.
I did my second yoga practice yesterday. My husband was encouraging, though he has no appreciation for how stiff, sore, and inflexible this old lady can get. He asked me if I were having an easier time of it. I had to tell him that SOME of the positions were a bit better, but some were more difficult, because I hadn’t been practicing as I should – that it would probably be at least Sunday of THIS week before I felt much difference. He is encouraging me – as HE stretches out for a nap in his chair – :0) – and that is good motivation, too.
I feel calm, happy that I am now on the way to being healthier, am practicing good eating habits and exercising. One day at a time. Baby steps – in the right direction.
Filed under DIET!, exercise, taking care of yourself
My Escapes
“When the world is too much with us…” (William Wordsworth) – it’s essential to have an escape or two.
With some people, it’s exercise (I wish I felt this way :0) ). Others have photography, or talking long walks, or listening to music. Escaping with TV programs or a DVD can take you away. With the world the way it is today and the way people are reacting to it, we NEED to find things that help us cope.
I’m lucky to have many things that help me –
- I can spend time in my art room, playing with a new technique, or work on refurbishing our yard art in the shop.
- I can work in my veggie garden or my flowers.
- I listen to my favorite music via YouTube or my MP3 player.
- Escaping into a favorite book series is a wonderful way for me to ‘get away’
Lately I’m spreading my time between the refurbishing project and reading.
I’m working on a yard art piece in the shop we call our ‘cleaning robot.’ I may be able to finish him up this morning, but will probably wait to bring him out because we have a 70% chance of rain today. I will take pics to share with you when he’s finished, though.
I pre-ordered the latest two ‘In Death’ Series book by J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts) to come out in paperback. The first should arrive the last of July. I’m enjoying re-reading the series in preparation for the new additions. I’m on “Festive in Death” – #39 in the series of what WILL be 54, when the hardback comes out in February of 2022. I can immerse myself in Eve Dallas’ world, so different from my own – a very welcome respite.
I hope that you also have escapes when the world is too much with you –
Filed under coping mechanisms
Watercolor
“Painting in watercolor is like walking a tight-rope; one must find perfect balance between what the paint wants to do and what the artist wants to do, or all is lost.” (Mary C. Taylor)
Filed under Watercolors I Love
Good Advice
Thanks to a post by Maria of FlowingWatersArtBlog I’m feeling some new motivation on my weight loss goal. (Her good advice applies to any difficult goal, but I took it to heart since I’ve been having such mixed results.
I’ve set a goal for myself as to how much I would like to lose. I have an appointment with our primary doctor for a checkup in November, and I would like to be seeing some significant results by then. I have broken the goal up now into weeks, and it looks doable, even if I run into a plateau or two. I have used my desk calendar to remind myself what I’m trying to do and to hold myself accountable.
In the past, I had the amount of lard I wanted to shed, but no specific time frame, and no real plan for accountability. It was too easy to slide – one of my greatest skills. Breaking the goal up, I can SEE my plan is actually DOABLE, so I’ve planned things out on a weekly basis.
To this end, I made some changes that I initiated yesterday –
- I’m drinking a bottle of water every afternoon to make sure I’m staying hydrated.
- I’ve changed my afternoon snack to some raw veggies with a bit of dip. (If I start curling my lip at that, I’m not ‘hungry’, just looking for trouble)
- I did a session of yoga yesterday afternoon. I was stiff, but I went though my routine slowly, doing the best I could. This will improve as I practice, and then I have some other poses I would like to add.
- After doing yoga each day for the next week, I will add some other exercises, such as ones with some weights, aiming for twice a week to start.
- Since I have never grown up, I’m still motivated by gold stars. Each day I will record my weight on my desk calendar, then give myself a star for a) doing my yoga, b) drinking my bottle of water, and c) eating my healthy snack.
Now that I’ve started and have a doable plan with guideposts and a deadline, I’m newly motivated. Thanks, Maria.
Appreciation
At the beginning of this week, I sold a mini purse from my HandmadeHavenByLinda site on Etsy. It looked similar to this one, but was painted with ladybugs, front and back. It was delivered today.
My customer wrote,
“Just received the bag – it is adorable! Am planning on using to carry my cell phone when I am walking my toy poodle. thanks,”
Appreciation is a two-way, win/win thing. My customer liked the bag enough to buy it. She likes it. And she was nice enough to write and tell me that – plus give me a mental picture of her and her toy poodle using it. (I suggested that she might think about including a dog biscuit in the bag sometimes… :0) )
I’m now walking several inches off the ground.
Filed under HandmadeHavenByLinda on Etsy, kindness
“Cleaning Robot” Refurb Project
We call this yard critter our “Cleaning Robot.” He is ready to clean up any spill with his fireplace broom and shovel dust pan.
He has the usual fading or peeling paint, but he was also injured this past year, falling over and having his head break off. My husband did a quick repair, welding his head back on, but we didn’t take the time or effort to do anything cosmetic.
This morning I thoroughly cleaned him, threw away the completely faded and now brittle “red” bowtie, pulled off his discolored eyes, etc.
I painted the first coat, but am considering some color changes that might mask some f the weathering damage better.
Our humidity is still really high, making our rather moderate temperature of 88 right now feel like you’re swimming through pea soup as you walk around, so unless it rains, the robot will have to wait until tomorrow morning for more work.
Filed under Lewis Art, Lewis projects, Lewis yard art
Incredible Metalwork
Filed under metal art, spoon - cutlery - art
creativeartworksblog 