I Prevailed!

Pond 5

I think I told you yesterday that we tried to get our flower planters/tomato planters watering system going and failed. My husband was able to change the batteries in one of the timers, but he gave up on programming it. This is one of the many things he has always been good at doing – making me feel inept – but now “I” am the go-to technical person. YEAH.

I tried to do it yesterday, but it didn’t run. I decided to see if I could find the paperwork and try again today. This morning I went out and started from scratch, completely resetting both timers to run 15 minutes apart. I set my alarm so I wouldn’t forget to check to see if they actually ran this time.

I’ve just come back in and I prevailed! I had time to go around to all the planters – including the tomato planters – and make sure all were getting water. I tweaked the amounts, since we had shut things off tightly for the winter and there was still a lot of air in the lines. Once I finished that, I cam around the front and the 2nd system was working!

I think I have most going fine. We’ll check for any breaks in the lines and keep tweaking how much water each of the planters is getting, but the main system seems to be going fine. I’m really relieved. Can you see me grinning?

Romper

Shared Humanity

Simon & Schuster

I write this blog to share the beauty and talent I find all around me in an effort to combat all the bad stuff that can sit on your soul and make you forget.

Two things have shown me lately that we have a shared humanity that fills you up when you least expect it – when we react as one, regardless of our backgrounds, uniting us.

One was when Chris Stapleton sang the National Anthem at the Super Bowl. Usually, I’m not very impressed. Singers tend to use the opportunity as a place to show how impressive their voices are, rather than to share the message of the song. We tuned in late and missed it, but I’ve listened to it on YouTube and then have been watching reactions to it from all over the world. People are uniformly blown completely away by his performance and in many cases, moved to tears.

The second was when I listened to Iam Tongi singing “Monsters” by James Blunt as his audition on American Idol. He had Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie in tears at the audition. The reactions on YouTube have all been the same. I looked up James Blunt and the song, thinking I should hear the original by the person who wrote it – and was in tears, with a lump in my throat. And in every reaction, every man, young or old, has reacted the same.

A third was a performance of “Creep” written by Radiohead, sung by Brian Justin Crum on America’s Got Talent. He was bullied as a child for being overweight and then gay. He channels his emotions into this performance, making you almost shake with what he has suffered and yet inspired by his stunning, powerful voice. Reactions again – regardless of background – uniformly feeling empathy for the boy and jubilant for the man.

It seems that, even in the middle of division, harsh opinions, disgust, and fear, we can come together with our shared values, our shared humanity. It’s a beautiful thing when differences drop away and we react with our hearts.

Shay

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 father I also 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! May your day, be a Shay Day.

Sent to me by my friend, Marsha.

Whew 1, Whew 2

Life Coaching with Sonal

Whew 1 – We signed our tax returns and had overpaid, so we applied the overage to next year’s taxes, just in case.

Whew 2 – We made it to Ft. Smith and back with my husband driving the Vette safe and sound. I had to take an Alka-Seltzer when we got home, but it was actually better than the last time.

So, much relief here. :0)

And the Celebration Continued!

We’re just home from Lunch Bunch and errands. Lunch Bunch was just Kay, Bud, my husband, and me, but WOW – was it special!

Kay and Bud got me these gorgeous flowers. I took two pictures so you can get an idea of the variety of gorgeous blooms.

Kay and Bud also bought our lunch!

Our wonderful waitress/friend, Mikey, and the “Pizza Barn Gang” got me a card, this Vanilla Sugar candle, and the CUTE ladybug below.

I’m thrilled, but feel a bit guilty. I’m not this special, and this whole week or so of celebrations has been over the top.

I even got to chat with our son this morning before he headed to bed. He is 13 hours ahead of us, and so his day is over as ours begins.

You can see how lucky I am in relatives and friends who reached out with good wishes, cards, emails, texts, presents, and food, with lots of smiles and hugs. It just means the world to me.

Feeling Special

Tenor

And my birthday celebration continues!

Shout-outs to Sandi and Cathy for sending me actual birthday cards. I love all forms of reaching out, because people are making you feel special, but I have to say an actual card in the mail remains one of my favorites.

Another shout-out to my good friend, Marsha, who means the world to me. I received a box in the mail today containing several beautiful pairs of earrings she made. I keep changing which pair is my favorite – all different colors, stones, and styles – and can’t wait to show them off!

There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.~ Sophia Loren

Mixed Bag

Deagreez-Pexels-GettyImages-iStockphoto

IN THE WIN COLUMN – I FOUND my MP3 Player! :0) I wanted to use it while I was on the elliptical trainer on Tuesday and it wasn’t in its usual place. I looked all around, but came up with no clue. I exercised in silence in the garage, each minute seeming like 5 or 10.

Later, I looked at the table again where the player should have been. I realized the charger wasn’t there, either, and that made me think in another direction. I found the player on the charger behind my left-hand computer monitor in the office. I don’t remember why I moved it now, but I’m happy I found it, since today is elliptical trainer morning, with yoga this afternoon.

IN THE LOSE COLUMN – The third load of laundry yesterday was our comforter. I’ve washed it several times before, but this time when I checked on it, the washer had stopped and “15” (I think) was flashing. I tried to get it going again, to no avail. Then it showed ‘locked’ with a key, that would flash and then go off. The door WASN’T locked, though. I could open it. The washer had water, soap, and the comforter and I couldn’t get it to work. My husband found the circuit breaker for the utility room. We tried turning that off and back on again after waiting, hoping that would get the washer to reset. No change. The basket finally drained and we took the comforter out, putting it in a laundry basket, where it waits. I need to get it rinsed, somehow, and I’ll think about how best to do that.

I started trying to find someone to come look at it. Of COURSE our stuff breaks down during holiday week, when everyone is closed or can’t get someone here until much, much later. I have a text in now to another tech or may or may not call me back. ARRRRRGH!

Celebrate!

PBL Works

__________________

We are in celebration mode at the Lewis house.

My husband went out to the shop right before lunch and put the new part he ordered on the air compressor. It was the RIGHT part and WORKED!

He told me the compressor charged up to 120 pounds during the test he ran after he got the compressor back together.

We use the air compressor ALL the time, so this is huge for us. I use it to etch designs on glassware, plus clean yucky tools. We have several air tools, like the tool that helps us get the lug nuts off the truck tires and then put the snow tires on. We also use it to do powder coating of things we make.

It’s big – about 8 feet or so tall and about 2-1/2 feet wide. We have a really long cord that we wind up with a gravity-based (I think) wheel to draw the cord up and out of the way. There are small, compact units now that you can throw into the back of your car. This is NOT one of those, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

When the compressor failed, my husband took it apart, figured out which part had failed, took it off, brought it inside where he could try to find a replacement part on the computer. Got the part, put it on, and we’re back in business. Are you as impressed as I?

Reminder to Myself

Giphy

happy-birthday-gif-dog-download.gif

happy-birthday-golden-retriever

I’ve set my alarm to write to our son about 8pm this evening – since he is 12 or 13 hours ahead of us – to wish him a Happy Birthday. He is 44 years old this evening/tomorrow.

Hooray – TWICE!

HOORAY ONCE – My husband “came up with the idea yesterday” (idea suggested/rejected by this same man several times) that we might drive the trash can down to the bottom of the driveway and leave it overnight for the trash people to pick up today. We did that.

I had all appendages crossed as we drove down the driveway this morning. I wasn’t sure if we would find the trash can on its side with garbage strewn all over the place for us to regather before the trash people came, or the trash can as we left it, still full, proving my husband’s previous point that we could simply leave the can when we left to do our errands this morning.

HOORAY TWICE! – the trash can was upright and EMPTY when we got down there! This reinforced the idea that we SHOULD, in fact, leave the trash can for pick up the night before and that it wouldn’t necessarily be dumped by critters or stolen by weird-minded thieves.

HOORAY – HOOOOOORAAAAAAAAAAY!

Happy Day!!!!

Music.Musings.Meanderings-WordPress.com

We just got home from Lunch Bunch and errands.

Kay, Linda, and Patty were all there!!!!!!! That’s the first time in WEEKS!

I hugged Linda’s neck when I saw her, and then again, when we left. I told her how much I’ve missed her and encouraged her to come back. I hope it got through how important she is to the group and how much she is loved.

We saw that the local library was having a fund-raising sale next door, so we headed there, getting several books, as well as information about the new library to be built in the future. I asked a lady about the location of it, since we were all gritching about it at lunch. It’s going to be at the intersection of the main street in Greenwood and the larger highway that goes to Ft. Smith. I had forgotten that the library is a REGIONAL one, not just for Greenwood, but also for the whole South Sebastian County, plus Scott County, and the new location will be better access for the others. She also told me that the ideas for expanding the current library just weren’t workable, since the building was built in 1965, I think, and is considered ‘unworkable’ at this point. (I have to admit that I got a bit ‘huffy’ internally at that point, since MY date of origin is even older…. ) I got several biographies of people I admire, and I’m looking forward to reading them. I also found a couple of books about quilts that I’ll make sure get to Kay.

Strawberries will be served with no-sugar-added ice cream for tonight, plus fresh salad ingredients to go with our dinner rounded out our errands.

A happy morning to be sure. I hope that YOUR day is a happy one, too. :0)

Did it!!!!!!

Andrey Popov-Depositphotos

At the risk of alienating you completely, I wanted to tell you I DID IT!!!! I used the new one-gallon sprayer and got ALL the garden boxes sprayed with KILLZALL to kill the weed roots. I finished the job in about 20 minutes from start to finish. I’m going to take the sprayer attachment out of the container this time and run water through it with the hose, hopefully keeping it from clogging up.

HOOORAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!

Empowered

Traveller.com.au

We just returned from going to the phone place.

I brought the old phone, just in case. It turned out to be a good thing, because the kind lady transferred the SIM card from the old phone to the new one. I wanted a screen protector and carrier this time, since my previous phone had a hard life and had actually fallen out of the carrier I had been using for years. The nice lady put on the screen protector and then the carrier for us.

I’m still feeling very good that we managed to do the updates here at home, as well as transfer my information to the new phone.

I feel empowered now, with a phone that is not overheating, as my old one did, and doesn’t cut my fingers on the chips on the screen.

Little could happen the rest of the day that would dampen my spirits. :0)

Dilemma

Moral Paradigm

Okay. We came home from Lunch Bunch and, instead of messing around, I went upstairs and FINISHED going through the books on my shelves in our bedroom, cleaned the shelves and reorganized the books. So that mini-project is finished.

I also, while I was up there, put away the laundry I did yesterday.

I came down with a load of books from the project above, listed them on my donation sheet and put them in one of the bags going to the library soon.

SO –

my dilemma is –

do I dive into another project, since I’m finished with the other stuff early, or

do I reward myself and read my book for awhile, and maybe even take a short nap?

Ponder. Ponder.

Right. I’m going to go read now. :0)

Hope you’re enjoying your day.

Good News and Good News

Zero to Three

GOOD NEWS ONE –

One of my dearest friends liked the Christmas cards I just finished painting and asked me if I would paint some for her to send to her friends this year. That is the highest compliment, and I’m walking 3 inches off the ground with happiness. I’ll get started on them soon. :0)

GOOD NEWS TWO –

My husband just went to get our mail and check about the trash. THE TRASH IS GONE!!!!!!! We had two weeks worth of trash down there, having been re-gathered by us twice, three calls to Customer Service, one forthright email, and two work orders later – it’s GONE. HOOOOOORAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!

Happy Camper

Baby Center-iStock

I’m a happy camper today. Things are really looking up around here. :0)

I’ve told you that we were FINALLY able to arrange our freedom yesterday since Jeremy Young came with his equipment and smoothed out the crusher dust pile that made us captives up here for a week. Even with the really heavy rain most of the afternoon, the driveway stayed beautiful with very little damage. We’ll see how long this lasts and then get back with him on what he thinks we should do more long term.

We replenished some supplies after relocating raccoon # 6, getting home around 5:30 or so. I slept much better last night, knowing we could get out if we needed to, or someone could come up, again, if needed. Peace of mind is priceless.

Today we’ll get our mower gas cans filled, plus the truck. The only downside of all this freedom is that it is expensive! Grocery prices were up, of course, and gas prices will make us gasp today. At least we can GET most of what we would like to. We’ll also replace a flashlight that died suddenly. Not only did it need new batteries – the batteries had ‘frozen’ inside. Oops! That one lasted over 30 years, so I guess needing to get a replacement now is understandable…

Changing from the Keto eating plan to the Mediterranean one is helping me gradually. And I’m starting to see a difference on the scales, too, finally. My focus has been on getting my system working right again, pushing lots of veggies, cutting way back on meat and fat, eating fruit, etc. Now I’ll start paying attention to calories as well, comparing that to what I’m burning with my yard work and exercise. I’m hoping I can manage a good balance where I’ll feel good, sleep well, and have more energy as I get stronger.

We’ll set the humane trap on the deck again this evening. “Something” triggered it to shut overnight, but we didn’t catch anything. We’re having a record year, having trapped and relocated six raccoons so far in the past month or so.

Tomorrow we’re supposed to get more heavy rain. But TODAY the sun is shining brightly after being fogged in this morning. I’m looking forward to spending time in the garden and checking on my tomato plants.

Have a glorious Thursday!

‘Perfect!’

http://www.Alamy.com

Well, we took the snow tires off the truck and got the regular ones on. No injuries. No lives were lost. No flared tempers. It took us an hour and a half – two hours by the time we were back in the house.

We fixed lunch. The next thing I knew it was two hours later. I woke up in my chair. The TV had gone off (probably what woke me).

My husband told me – before he left the office to go take HIS nap – that I was, “Perfect” this morning in helping him with the tires. It’s a laborious project for us these days, fraught with chances for it to go badly, but this morning went well. I’m relieved it’s done now until late fall. I’m enjoying basking in the praise. :0)

I’m now trying to wake up with a cup of coffee. My PLAN is to watch the tomato pruning video and then to get out there and get started, VERY cautiously.

Tonight-into-tomorrow we’re supposed to get bad storms, so this afternoon is the time to get the tomatoes pruned. Both my husband and I are intimidated by the actuality of this. The worst that could happen is that we don’t get ANY tomatoes. But since we love them so much, that’s a daunting thing. I’ve told him I’m going to go REALLY slowly, mainly trimming off any limbs touching the dirt first and then moving really slowly after that, trying to make SURE I can identify what should come off. We’ll see.

Feeling Empowered

Michelle Gibbings

It may seem a small thing, but I’m feeling empowered.

The timer to the irrigation system for our veggie garden ‘went wonky’ the other day, probably after a storm. At any rate, it wasn’t working. My husband, who has, for years and years, been the technical expert and fix-it person around here, said, “Maybe we can find the old one.”

I stopped at the timer several times over the last week or so, trying to reprogram it on the fly. To say I was unsuccessful is an understatement.

I finally made it a priority to find the paperwork and see if I had directions on how to program the thing. A backup would be writing down the NAME of the timer and looking it up on the net to see if there was an online set of directions.

Luckily, I found the paperwork and it did include directions!

I read over them carefully, took them with me out to the outside standing faucet. I followed the directions as carefully as I could and it seemed to show I had done it.

I set the timer in the house for the time it was supposed to start watering, then went out to see if it did, in fact, start. It DID! It watered for 10 minutes as I had programmed and then shut off. HOORAAAAAY!!!!!

I – almost the least technical person I know – or have ever met – programmed the irrigation system.

Alamy.com

Celebration Mode!

Giphy

I’m in celebration mode this morning. I would love it if you would celebrate with me.

I have finally reached my first goal of losing the pandemic lard I gained. I’m back to my long-time basis of 30-pounds-down from my heaviest, plus an 28.7 inch decrease from my most voluminous. HOOORAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!

30 pounds down

This is a huge motivational boost. I was beginning to think that no matter what I did, I would never get control and would continue to yo-yo.

Now I’m breaking into ‘NEW TERRITORY!’

I now know that if I record everything I’m planning to eat for the day on MyFitnessPal.com (and then stick to it) I will stay within my eating parameters. (Tonight we’re having “bacon-wrapped cheesy chicken” – Suzanne Ryan, Simply Keto, plus salad and I will eat a low-carb biscuit and my husband will have a deli dinner roll.)

Though my measuring tape isn’t showing anything yet, I’m hoping it will soon. I’ve mapped out my exercise regimen for the week and am giving myself gold stars on my desk calendar as I do things each day. I am starting to FEEL a difference. My exercise for the day is a part of my ‘to-do’ list now, given 2nd highest priority, right under the ‘have-to’s.’ :0)

Today is –

• Warm-up video (10 minutes)
• Stretching Video (10 minutes)
• Weights video (10 minutes)
• Workout 2a (30 minutes)
• Yoga Stretches (30 minutes)
• Gardening (30 minutes)

taolife.com

ONWARD AND DOWNWARD!

Fabulous Friday

Envato – Pinterest

I feel as if I’ve finally won the lottery this morning.

After two-plus-days of being shuffled from one ‘service agent’ to the next, repeating my problem from the beginning, having to provide all my personal information, account numbers, etc. over and over, being cut off, etc., I FINALLY found from about the 20th person at AT&T that our phone lines were actually put in by CenturyLink. I contacted them via chat, talked to Sara in customer service, who transferred me to Dana, in repair scheduling, who actually scheduled a repair technician to come out to our house next Thursday. She gave me a ticket number. I offered to pay for the service call, since we’re not a current customer, but she said there would be NO CHARGE. I took care to fill out their rating thingie after the chat ended, praising both of the ladies involved by name, and the company in general.

(My husband got so angry over the past two days just listening to MY end of the previous conversations that he was determined to go out and fix the lines himself – JUST the thing I was trying to avoid! Only the fact that the two-story ladder wasn’t tall enough to get to where one of the lines needed to be attached stopped him from trying on one line. I came in to try again on connecting with someone who could help and found neither our home phone or my cell were working! I panicked because I knew my husband might get into a dangerous situation on the 2nd downed phone line, but I managed to find the emergency button pendant thingie I got when we had ADT put in our security system. I hung that around my neck and went out to see if I could help. He was cutting down branches from a tree where the 2nd line was tangled, so I came back in to find the phones working again, and so got back on to fight with our problem. He got the tree branches down with loppers and a chain saw, managing to scratch up his arm pretty badly. He said he got the 2nd line back up. I did what I could to clean his wounds, and told him about the tech coming Thursday. He was pleased because he conceded it was beyond him to fix the 1st line.)

We solved a couple of other things yesterday, too, so we’re feeling exhausted, but still standing. We have Lunch Bunch in about an hour, plus a couple of errands after, but otherwise are hoping for a very quiet, calm day – at least until the storms are supposed to start, sometime after sunset.

Happy Friday.

Battle Won

Pinterest

I just won a very important battle.

Forbes

I told you that my husband agreed to let a solar panel guy come to the house in answer to an email talking about a government program for free residential solar panels. I researched it, read to my husband that there WERE no ‘free’ solar panels, etc. He wanted to hear the guy out anyway.

The guy was here for about an hour and a half this morning. I had him send the offer to my email so I could print it, and give me his card, telling him that we “needed to discuss it.” After he left, I said, not only ‘No,’ but, “Hell, no!’ Of COURSE my husband wanted to do it.

He gave me all his reasons. Some of them I agreed with, others not so much. He asked me for MY reasons to NOT go with it.

1. the offer started off ‘free,’ then went to ‘none of their financial people would probably go with reverse mortgage situations’, then ended up being an ‘up-front one-time payment of $42,450 (give or take.)’
2. I told him that we needed any extra money we could pony up for unforseen events that might occur, and that, even with inflation, we could pay a LOT of electricity bills for over $42K.
3. I then threatened him with hiring our ‘man-of-all-good-works-with-large-equipment,’ who just HAPPENED to come up the driveway yesterday to see if we needed him to do anything, that he had a backhoe and could probably did a large enough hole in the back yard that would be perfect for my husband. And that could be done BEFORE my stress level erupted.

Surprisingly, my husband remembered years ago when we were at loggerheads about what to do with a stocks profit windfall. My husband wanted to buy more stock. I wanted to pay off the house and cars. I won that battle, and he has told me several times since then it was one of the best decisions we ever made. He told me if I really didn’t want to do this, that would be the end of the discussion.

THAT’S one of the many reasons he’s a keeper. The man I married is still in there, though sometimes he is buried a bit. I thanked him for listening to me, and caring what I thought.

The backhoe expert can wait awhile on the hole…

Now I’ve just used my ‘1a warm-up and workout,” and “weights video” to calm myself down. I’ll relax a bit and then do my yoga. I’m exhausted, but I am SOOOOOO relieved. :0)

Fun, Freezing Friday

The Humane Society of Greenwood

I just learned we’re supposed to have a freeze tonight. UGH. I’m hard-headed, so after Lunch Bunch, I’m going to check for head lettuce and zucchini plants to put in the garden, anyway. When we get home, if I’m successful finding them, I’ll plant them, weed the raised garden boxes, and then cover them with sheets tonight.

I’m getting to the end of WEEK 2 on my eating low-carb and ‘moving-more’ efforts. I’m gradually changing my eating habits, relying on MyFitnessPal.com to plan what I’ll eat for the day to make sure I’m under my calorie and carb limits.

downshiftology.com

Though I told my husband he can eat what he wants (within reason, since he’s Type II diabetic), he says, “I’ll eat what you eat.” So today at Lunch Bunch, instead of the breaded, fried chicken tenders with honey mustard we have been eating forever, we’ll have a hamburger patty, side salad with blue cheese dressing on the side. Tomorrow I’m making low carb spaghetti. I’ll fix macaroni for my husband and Zucchini ‘noodles’ for me (Zoodles). Please see pic above.

Pinterest

I’m also doing well on my ‘moving-more’ efforts. I’m doing my yoga stretches every afternoon after my other strenuous activities are finished. I’m doing weights exercises with a video for seniors I found online. (I also found several other videos he has done, and hope to incorporate them into my day soon.) Finally, I’m working outside every day the weather is cooperative. Today, for example, when we’re back from Lunch Bunch and errands today, I’ll use the wheelbarrow to move four or five 40-lb bags of potting soil out to the tomato planters I weeded yesterday, prepping them for the coming tomato plants. I’m going to try to find zucchini and head lettuce plants while we’re out today. I’ll plant what I can find, then weed the planters, then plan to cover them up tonight to protect them as much as possible from the freeze.

The Senior Alliance

I wish I could show you a pic of my friends at Lunch Bunch, but I’m respecting their wishes and their privacy. Today is a special Lunch Bunch. It’s our waitress’s birthday, so we’re bringing her gifts to celebrate. She’ll be surprised, and she’ll be reminded how special she is.

Enjoy your Friday.

Something Went Right!

U.S. EPA

Several years ago we had a geothermal heat and air system installed. We save money now, because the ‘system’ only has to either heat or cool the DIFFERENCE between an underground temperature of 58 degrees F. and whatever the air temperature is. This makes the system not have to work nearly as hard, resulting in less work, less money to pay for it (ignoring the cost of the system or its installation) :0)

Last spring our local caretakers of the system, Air Pro Heat & Air out of Ft. Smith, moved its offices. In the move, our spring check up got lost in the shuffle. They are SO good about calling and arranging times for the checkups that I don’t keep track. I did notice, though, in August that we hadn’t had a check. Our guy came out, made sure we were okay, and we agreed that that would be our ‘winter’ checkup. Since I pay ahead of time for the year, we were one checkup short last year.

I called the office. The nice lady made a note of it.

She called this morning, telling us our guy was in Greenwood, asking if it were okay if he did our spring service check this morning. He is here now.

I reminded him of the payment issue. He remembered, called the office, and confirmed that today’s check is no additional charge, and that we would now receive our yearly bill in the winter.

If you are in the Ft. Smith area, this company is a great one. The guy who does the check greets our dog as if she’s a member of the family. He is easy to get along with, answers and questions we have, fixes any problems. He is very good at working with the system, knows exactly what to look for and make sure all is good.

So – out of the myriad of issues we’ve been dealing with lately, this is ONE THING THAT WENT RIGHT!!!!

A Spoonful of Love

I have a favorite spoon. It isn’t valuable to anyone except me. It’s a great spoon for eating soup and such, kind of between a regular dining spoon and a soup spoon in size. It has a wooden handle, and that sealed the deal for me. I LOVE wood.

I’ve used it for YEARS. One day several years ago, the wooden handle split. I tried to be adult about it, but I was really sad. I’d never seen one like it and knew I couldn’t replace it. My husband managed to find a wooden shape that was perfect. He spent a long time carefully drilling a hole down the middle of the complicated shape and glued it on the metal end of the spoon. I was delighted, and have used THIS ONE for years.

Well, as you’ve probably figured out, the handle finally gave up the ghost again. I mentioned it to my husband, but figured he probably wouldn’t be able to get more wood the right shape. His hands also shake now, making precision work much more difficult. I put the spoon with the split handle in the cutlery drawer, just keeping it, even if it couldn’t be used anymore.

When I was getting my coffee this morning, my husband went outside. He came back with this –

It might be dumb to cry over a spoon, but I did. He explained that he got more than one piece of wood years ago so he could repair the spoon again if the handle failed.

The hole I’m digging in the back yard for him will definitely have to wait awhile. :0)

Secret

redbubble.com

Reveling Abounds at 75

redbubble

“To me old age is always fifteen years older than I am!” — Bernard Baruch

To be honest, I’m delighted to BE here, still able to annoy or entertain a bit without a lot of drama. My husband is sleeping in this morning. Our son is happy and doing well. Our animals are happy and healthy. Things are good in our own little world.

In the ‘I ain’t dead yet’ category, I’m enjoying ‘birthday greetings’ from my newest lust, Alan Ritchson, a luscious actor who plays the Reacher character on TV (Amazon Prime Video) from Lee Child’s (one of our favorite authors) books. We watched Season 1 the other day and are actively anticipating Season 2.

Besides his gorgeous-ness, this man is intelligent and can act and is quite believable as our beloved Reacher.

No huge festivities are planned for the day. My husband asked last night, “Hey. Do you want to go out or something?” (I swooned at the romance of it :0) ) A happy day is perfectly sufficient to my needs, so I’ll let him off the hook. Besides, he gets to all the birthdays first, so they don’t sting as much when I reach them – a thing I’ll always cherish.

sayingimages.com

It is lovely to meet an old person whose face is deeply lined, a face that has been deeply inhabited, to look in the eyes and find light there.”
— John O-Donohue

“As long as I am breathing, in my eyes, I am just beginning.”
— Criss Jami

Wisdom is the reward for surviving our own stupidity.”
— Brian Rathbone

“I’ve enjoyed every age I’ve been and each has had its own individual merit. Every laugh line, every scar, is a badge I wear to show I’ve been present, the inner rings of my personal tree trunk that I display proudly for all to see. Nowadays, I don’t want a “perfect” face and body; I want to wear the life I’ve lived.”
— Pat Benatar

“When I grow up I want to be an old woman.”
— Michelle Shocked

Mirka Lindfors-pin.it

Greeting Ideas

Pinterest

‘Happy as a clam’ birthday to me!

Thoughts on a Saturday 1-29-2022

elephantjournal.com

We can all use a hug. Here’s one from me to you.

I just talked to my friend who broke a bone in her back falling recently. After tests, procedures, and lots of flailing around with insurance, doctors, etc., they have told her that they have done all they can do and she will ‘have to learn to live with it.’ That may be true, but I still want to bite them in the leg. She is isn’t in as much pain now, and is figuring out things that ease the pain she has. Her husband has stepped up and is helping her a lot now. They are both older than I am (two of a small group of folks who still ARE :0) but it sounds like they are coming up with ways to get things done without hurting themselves. I’ve waved my magic wand ’til my arm is aching, but to no avail. We talked about being thankful that we can still ARRANGE things to help ourselves as we age. She sounded stronger, much more like herself.

This has been a day of catching up with people. I received a text from a long-time friend, letting me know what’s happening with her. It was wonderful to hear from her, know that she thought about me, and wanted to catch up.

I start each morning with emails from two of my favorite people, my friend in Florida and my sister-in-law. We write every day. We know we have each other’s backs, can vent, cry, and laugh together, helping each other live as sanely as one can these days.

I chatted with our son briefly this morning via our online chat program, so I feel very close to him right now.

Aren’t we lucky that we live in a world where we can stay in touch with people we care about with a wonderful choice of methods, sharing our feelings, our lives, and our love?

This Probably Sounds Funny…

talesoftheinvisiblefemale.tumblr.com

but I’m dancing today because my husband is a keeper.

We’re having our pest guy come Monday to spray for all, including stray elephants. He comes quarterly and I wouldn’t give him up for anything.

But, he does go in every room of the house, spraying along the baseboards and putting down sticky paper thingies to catch any strays, and I pictured him going into our master bathroom upstairs…

I died inside, but not quietly. We have a rug in the part where the toilet and shower are. And then a large one and two smaller ones in the part where the tub and lavatories are. And ALL of them looked AWFUL. I’ve been staring at them every day since I’ve been sick, but I just don’t have the strength yet to vacuum.

Yesterday I asked my husband if he would vacuum the bathroom for me. My request is unusual. In fact, I remember his vacuuming one time before (in almost 53 years), when he wanted to show me that there wasn’t anything wrong with the vacuum, but with the USER. Grrrrgh. That ended up with a trip to the vacuum repair place… :0)

When we went up to bed last night, I stopped at the door of the bathroom. The rugs looked GOOD. He had vacuumed while I napped yesterday afternoon. I am SO relieved that our bug guy won’t know – for at least another few months – what a lousy housekeeper I am. I’m saved. So I’m dancing – very gently, while I’m continuing to recover.

Don’t Count Me Out Yet!!!

Giphy

I had a lovely Lunch Bunch with my friend, Linda. We had a good time catching up, sharing lots of laughs, and a couple of hugs. Our waitress/friend, Mikey, was mentioning that she was glad to see both of us, checking on our friend, Kay, and bringing a take-home box for me to take chicken to my husband. We gave her our phone numbers so she has a way of checking on us now. Isn’t it wonderful that she cares?

My husband was watching a movie when I got home and looked happy about the chicken.

I went into the office to try to tackle the latest two problems we have: getting money transferred from two investments accounts to a checking account; and trying to get our new phone to work – something we finally gave up on after being on the phone with three different people at AT&T, all of whom were difficult to hear and understand – a really stressful situation that ended with our call being cut off.

THING ONE: Handling something when you’ve slept well and just had lunch helps. I decided to try the transfer one more time before I made the call for help. By fiddling around, I discovered that I could transfer money from ONE of our accounts to the checking, but not the other. So I did the first transfer, and then transferred the money in the other account to the one in which I was just successful. That worked, too, so it’s a case of waiting until it’s ‘recognized,’ and then transferring the money from the successful account to the checking tomorrow. Problem #1 solved.

THING TWO: I decided to get back on the AT&T website and THEN make the call, thinking they might be able to guide me through the activation process more easily. When I got there, though, I tried a different option on devices and got a different set of options. I followed the prompts and was able to activate our phone! I made a test call to ‘time and temperature’ that worked, and then called my friend, Linda, to test it with a number that we couldn’t reach yesterday. It worked! Woo HOOOO! Problem #2 sloved!

I’m not as dumb as I look!

Negative

The Canberra Times

There are some beautiful words in our language. One I’ve found today is “negative.”

I had a test last month that was ‘positive.’ Like a child, I immediately spun the worst scenarios and have been having real trouble keeping my act together, trying to figure out what I could do to make it easier for my husband to live alone.

The exam I had last Friday came back as “negative.” I received the results on the medical portal this afternoon. I had to look up a lot of words, and then look further into what they MEANT, but unless my doctor tells me something different, it looks like I’m out of the woods.

The news hasn’t really sunk in yet, but I told my husband it looks like he’ll have to put up with me for awhile longer. :0)

Hooray!

PBLWorks

I just called my friend, Kay. (She’s the friend who fell and broke a bone in her back recently.) I talked to her husband first, and then he gave the phone to Kay.

She finally was approved to have “vertebroplasty.” Vertebroplasty is a procedure in which a special cement is injected into a fractured vertebra — with the goal of relieving your spinal pain and restoring your mobility.

When I went to see her recently, she was in pretty bad shape. She had had the procedure and initially felt better, but was having a hard time. She was in pain, she was disoriented, had word retrieval problems, and her husband said she had been hallucinating. He fixed food for her, but she would only eat a bite or two. I was worried that she was suffering some kind of complication.

I just talked to Bud, and then Kay.

She is feeling a whole LOT better!  Her voice sounds normal – for the first time since she fell. She is COOKING dinner for them tonight! She isn’t hurting!  She feels HUNGRY!

WOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOO!

I’m so relieved. We are in celebration mode.