Accountability

quotesgram

I’ve been logging in at MyFitnessPal.com daily for 40 days, trying to be more mindful of what I’m eating, my exercise, my water drinking, etc. I’ve been following the keto eating plan for approximately half that time.

I’ve decided to make myself accountable once a month to keep my head on straight and stay on my way to many goals. I don’t have any particular goals on weight and measurements. I need to lose my lard – a lot of it – but I’m making mini-goals in 5-pound-increments to keep it doable in my mind. I’m trying to practice my yoga daily for half an hour, adding working in the yard outside, or heavy days of cleaning inside, lately, or future plans of using my elliptical machine in the garage when I can, or adding exercises with dumbbells to add strength, all in an effort to be stronger, more flexible, with better balance, less apt to fall.

Toward these goals, I am down 23 pounds since my heaviest. I have two pounds to go to meet my latest 5-pounds-lard-off goal.

February yoga practice

March yoga practice

Today I measured, since I have finished a full month of daily yoga in March plus another several days starting in February. (Can you tell that the sparkly stars on my calendar are a big motivator for me?)

Measuring shows a loss of .3 inches from my hips and a loss 1.5 inches from my waist.

So, bit by bit I’m making some slow progress. (I have to tell you that last night my husband and I were so grateful that we were still alive, relatively in one piece, and relatively healthy that we ‘celebrated’ with a dish of no- sugar-added vanilla ice cream. My husband added some fruit to his and I added some chocolate syrup to mine. This will be the last celebration for the foreseeable future. :0) )

I am now promising myself (and you) that I will report progress – I hope – again at the end of April.

Figuring It Out!

Red Bubble

I want you to know that I’m not as dumb as I look! I figured out TWO things recently that I’ve been TRYING to do it seems like forever –

THING ONE – I used to add captions and credits to pictures on my blog with no problem. Then – the people who get paid to keep the website up to date, make it easy to navigate, and on the cutting edge, came in and ‘improved’ WordPress (this host) and disappeared my ability to caption or credit the way I used to. I tried and tried, and finally gave up, just putting the credit on the next line as close to the picture as I could. Suddenly, in the middle of nothing, I right-clicked ON a picture instead of elsewhere, and a box for caption and credit popped up! Yureka!!!!! I am newly ‘en-franchised’ now. :0)

THING TWO – I told you that I have been working to improve my Etsy site. I have fought with making and installing a banner across the top, have made and installed a new logo, and have mostly finished describing my products in a different way that SEEMS to be slowly increasing my “traffic” (visits to the site).

I’ve been unhappy with the names of my product sections for a long time. I have also been upset that I couldn’t reorganize the categories in a different order on the page. I fought and fought this morning, after having added two of my new wood-burned earrings to the site, trying to change the name of the earring section and also to figure out a way to have the three types of earrings I offer to be listed as sections one after the other to the left of the page, instead of having people have to scroll down to SEE I make stud and clip earrings, as well as dangles. I FINALLY found a place that allowed me to change the names of the sections and reorder them! HOORAAAAAAY! :0)

I’m not as dumb as I look, nor am I dead yet!!!!!!!! There is still life in the old girl!

Now that I’ve done that, I need to take a gazillion pics after putting the hardware on the rest of the earrings I wood-burned and add them to the site. I hope to be able to finish that today.

It feels so GOOOOOD to have finally made some progress.

Pixabay

Changing Non-Gracefully

Pinterest

Imagine my shock that I’m NOT aging gracefully. I’m doing it with some resentment, dragging my feet, gritching, and gnashing my teeth. Changes bother me more and more. I’m tired of ‘rolling with it,’ ‘adapting,’ etc. My latest gripe is companies that are changing the way they are paid.

One example is our water bill. It used to be that I wrote and mailed a check. I did this with everything else, so that was fine. Then I was paying everything online through my bank EXCEPT the water bill, for which I wrote almost the ONLY check I wrote each month. They are finally allowing online payments, but they must be done through their payment thingie, which charges you an extra $2.25 to use the service and you have to enter all your information each time, like you never used it before. UGH.

I was cleaning out my gmail this morning and ‘newly’ discovered some emails saying my insurance bills are due. (They sent these in November and the bills aren’t due until the middle of December.) We always get a slew of bills from our company in December, putting me off my Christmas spirit a bit, but I’ve gotten used to it. When I saw them, though, and we haven’t received the paper bills yet, it got my attention.

Maybe they won’t send the paper bills this time. They’re due the 12th, and I haven’t gotten anything in the mail. I went online to check, but then had trouble (imagine that) getting logged on. I went through my notes and was reminded that I had to sign up for a ‘new’ account with new agent in our regular company, and so had a different user name and password now. I logged in and discovered that they were now doing everything online.

To make a long rant a bit shorter, I went ahead and paid the premiums, and then had to go looking for the paperwork that should accompany the bills for our records. I found and printed them. I’ve never met the new agent and now the company seems to have gone all digital, so I may NEVER meet him.

Now that I’ve overcome yet another change, I’ll probably get the paper bills in the coming week…

Bah! Humbug!

GRRRRRR!

istockphoto-SIphotography-Getty Images

Did you hear me yelling yesterday? I’m still gritting my teeth though my husband heard me loud and clear.

He let Amber out yesterday. I was working in the house and all of a sudden I heard Amber bark – to get IN. I found my husband in the office at his computer with his headphones on.

Amber had pulled out another stitch while she was out unsupervised. She hadn’t lost the cone. We had discussed the fact that I thought we should take her out on the leash until she was healed and the cone was gone. My husband scoffed, and I pressed the point that she could run through the tall stuff on our property and irritate her wounds, if not pull out stitches.

When I confronted him yesterday, he said that he hadn’t agreed with me and thought the supervision was unnecessary. THAT’s when the yelling started.

The end result is that my husband was unimpressed, I was livid, and Amber is all right. She isn’t bleeding and the wound seems to be un-irritated and still healing. I tried to bandage and wrap it again yesterday, but the wound is right at her ‘elbow’ and it wouldn’t hold. (The wrap the VET put on it didn’t hold, either.) So I guess we’ll just hope for the best.

This morning my husband had taken Amber out – on the leash – and she had taken care of her business without incident.

Sometimes the idea of a hole dug for my husband in the back yard sounds awfully good…

Lots of New Things –

123RF

We have a paper that comes out every two weeks, I think. It’s free and I get it when we go to Lunch Bunch. I was FLOORED when I read one article on the front page, listing a bunch of stuff about which I was not aware that is or will happen in our little town of Greenwood.

THING ONE – I’ve told you about the bridge between us and town being completely taken out and replaced. It is finished for all practical purposes, but the barricades are still up and it isn’t open for traffic, so we are still having to go to town a back way that is much longer and aggravating.

THING TWO – Now it looks like just as this bridge is opening and we can enjoy getting back to our normal route to town, the main road to town is going to be barricaded by another thing.

The powers that be have long discussed a bypass that would go past the ‘square’ in town, easing the bad traffic that happens twice a day due to people trying to drive through Greenwood from towns to the east – with people trying to get to work in Fort Smith – plus the traffic caused by kids trying to get to, or leave, school by buses and what my husband calls, “Mommy traffic.” This has been a pie-in-the-sky thing for years. Apparently, Phase I of the bypass will START before the end of THIS YEAR! This will obliterate the intersection of Hwy 10 and Hwy 96 – an intersection we have to go through to get to town. Oh, GOOD!

I read a lot about it online yesterday, studying maps provided. They said it is due to start in November – no estimated end date. This would mean that the back way we’re having to take NOW wouldn’t be possible, NOR our normal route to town. We’ll have to take a rural road that goes into pasture-type land behind our house and WAAAAAAAY out to HWY 71 South and then BACK to GREENWOOD…. to tell you I’m not looking forward to this is a vast understatement.

THING THREE –apparently, they’re going to build a new medical center to replace the one where our primary doctor is, from just off the square in town to out on HWY 71.

THING FOUR – likewise, they’re going to build a new library to replace the easy-to-get-to one in town out to HWY 71.

THING FIVE –They are going to build a new Senior Center – you guessed it – out on HWY 71.

They say this will be more ‘convenient’ for people living in South Sebastian County. I have to admit feeling a bit selfish. I like things they way they are. The only one of these last three that won’t affect us yet is the Senior Center. I may be as old as dirt, but I’m not old enough to go there to do anything yet, and may never be. :0)

I guess that’s the list. I’m still feeling pretty shell-shocked. Too many changes in too little time.

I have to tell you that I’m pleased with myself for handling the problem of our pharmacist retiring and sending my husband’s prescription to Walgreens – something that meant we would have to drive to Ft. Smith once a month. I asked our doctor to call the prescription in to Humana. They did that, and I got confirmation today that the med is on its way. HOORAY.

I hope that you are able to handle the changes happening in your life – whether they are simply small and irritating, intimidating, or even scary or life-changing. Try to handle one thing at a time and try not to feel stressed. We can do this.

Roller Coaster

Sea World

I think I MAY have solved the problem of continuing to receive a medication for my husband at a price we can afford.

We reached the ‘donut hole’ for the first time in our medical coverage. We would need to spend another $7500 this year in order to make our way out. If we DO spend that much, paying for prescriptions won’t be the largest problem! The prescription price for this med had quadrupled!

I reached out to our supplemental coverage and they agreed they could provide one month of the medicine before we actually reach the donut hole. I reached out to AstraZenega, filled out the form for financial help, only to be told on the insurance page – almost the last page on the form – that we didn’t qualify because we had supplemental coverage.

Since our doctor says this is the only medicine that will do what my husband needs, it’s important that we get it. I was told they no longer provide written paper prescriptions. I wrote again, explained that I can found a possible source we could afford, but we needed the paper prescription. Otherwise, my husband would have to do without the medication. She answered today, saying it would be waiting for us at the front desk. She also warned us that many places will not accept paper prescriptions anymore.

I thanked her profusely. We will pick it up tomorrow and start the procedure to see if the source will accept the prescription or not. It’s always something, but at least in this case, there is hope.

I’m a Wuss

Adobe

We go for our 6-month teeth cleaning this morning. I’ve always been afraid to go to the dentist. This fear intensified when my my mom was diagnosed with oral cancer and died of it.

Each time before we go I have a recurring nightmare about our driving in the Vette, going to the dentist. (My husband puts on the gas when I would put on the brake in any given situation. The Vette makes this tendency worse.)

In the nightmare, my husband has another stroke while driving. I’m trying to steer the car to the side of the busy traffic and get it stopped while he is fighting me, but steering the wrong way and putting his foot on the gas harder and harder. Then I’m trying to get us help – and having to drive the Vette to follow the ambulance.

The fact that I’m an adult seems to have no bearing on my fear of the dentist. I tell myself I’m a wuss and should be able to get over this doesn’t stop the nightmare the night before or the tension of having to ride in the Vette to Ft. Smith. Should I enter a contest for Drama Queen?

Friday 6-16-2023

Unsplash

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Yesterday my sister-in-law (and more importantly, friend) told me about an incident where she exercises. A lady in the class was really ugly to another lady my SIL likes. The really sad thing is that it wasn’t necessary. My SIL was able to defuse the situation, but you can’t ‘unhear’ ugly, hurtful things.

When a person is being ugly for religious or political reasons, I just don’t understand the motivation. Being ugly will certainly never change anyone else’s mind on a subject. Being ugly to someone else can only be done to hurt the other person, and I don’t see a good reason for that, either.

Maybe I’m missing something, but life is too short for this. Keeping your mouth shut, unless it’s in the defense of someone else, is a good skill to practice – I think of it as a character-building exercise.

Chatelaine

New Confidence!

BoredPanda.com

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We’re home from my haircut and now I’m feeling newly confident about not ending up in Lower Slabovia while trying to get home from town. We’re having to go the back way because the bridge between us and town is completely gone now, with only a huge hole and a backhoe in the bottom of it. It’s been years since we had to go the back way. The last time there wasn’t even a street sign at the turn off and I just drove right on past it.

I asked my husband to drive me to the hairdresser so that we would be lost together if we didn’t get back. It is amazing what has happened to that part of Hwy 10 since we were last there. There is a whole housing addition going up with either duplexes or triplexes. There is another sign further out about ANOTHER new housing addition. On the other side of the road, the place that used to be a gymnastics place is now a Crossfit place. There is now a new auto sales place right before our turn-off to come home, so it’s now easy to see where we are.

Now I’m not worried about getting lost or having to go even more miles out of our way in order to get back home the next time I’m out. Confidence is very important to me, particularly on how to get where I’m going since my sense of direction skill was given to someone else when I was born. :0)

MORE Celebration!

Yesterday we got two problems solved.

THING ONE:

This is one of the two receivers that go with our new driveway detector that my husband installed yesterday. The system is solar-powered. The detector is along the driveway and both of the receivers go off when someone drives up. They make a very pleasant noise, but one that gets your attention. (I heard the one in the office even though I had headphones on, listening to YouTube when our plumber drove up.) We really like to be warned when someone is coming up, rather than just having someone ringing the doorbell or knocking on the garage people door, so this is a really nice problem my husband solved.

Rheem Tankless Water Heater

THING TWO:

Our plumber’s assistant came about a week ago and tried to light the pilot light on our regular backup hot water tank when our tankless system was showing ’13’. He was able to light it, but it wouldn’t STAY lit. He turned it off, so we were safe, but we were without hot water.

A person our plumber knows and trusts who works on tankless water heater systems came to look at ours. He cleaned contact points, and tested, and then was able to start the system. It worked for a minute or so and then the dreaded “13” displayed again. He said that the system needed to be flushed out. He called our plumber and told him what he had found.

Our plumber came yesterday and flushed out the system. He got the system to work, but told us it looked like things were on their last legs. He puts in a system that he trusts and says it’s the best one he’s ever found. So now we are contracted for him to order and install a new system for us in two weeks or so. Meanwhile, WE HAVE HOT WATER for the first time in a week! No more cold washcloth ‘baths.’ No more cold hair washes in the kitchen sink. I smiled and sank all the way through my gloriously hot shower and hair wash this morning. :0)

When I got to my computer and phone this morning, the first thing I did was text our plumber, thanking him for providing us with hot water and wishing him the best day ever.

The NEXT problem is the failing air pump on our mattress. My husband is handling that one, so I’m trying to be patient and keep my mouth shut….

Dominos

YouTube – MarDominoes

Right now it feels as if my husband and I are in the middle of this with dominoes falling in front of us, ready to knock us over, and the speed is increasing.

It started with our Sleep-Number-bed-competitor air pump beginning to fail. We have now submitted our paperwork to see if we’re still under warranty for help. Of COURSE, they are not making the bed we bought anymore, and we’re not sure if replacement parts are available.

Following this closely, my cordless vacuum is no longer charging. I keep it on the charging station, but it only works a minute or so and then quits. We THINK we found a compatible replacement battery, and we’re supposed to get that tomorrow.

Various fluorescent lights aren’t coming on when we flip the switch. Sometimes they’ll come on if we flip the switch several times. Sometimes the lights will come on LATER. We’ll be sitting there and the light just comes on after not working for half an hour or more.

We had no hot water this morning. We have a tankless water system. My husband checked the read-out downstairs and it said ’13.’ We have no clue what that means. He reset the system and we’re hoping that solves the problem.

Two of the six veggie planter boxes we built several years ago are failing. The bottom actually fell out of one of them, dumping the soil alternative on the ground. The other one is sagging visibly, ready to fall in at a moment’s notice. I’ve removed the Mel’s Mix from one of the planters, and will tackle the 2nd one probably tomorrow.

These are just the things that come to mind as I type. I’m sure others will occur to me after I finish this. I wish I could just hit the ‘off’ button as I do when I’ve chosen a movie on TV that turns out to be a real loser, or the ‘delete’ button when a Kindle book is appallingly bad. Sadly, real life is a series of character-building exercises, and I feel I should have had at least a class or two in how to handle it better.

Said – Didn’t Say

A Small Pat on the Head

Giphy

I made it through the day yesterday without stuffing my face the way I have been. I’ll try to do it again today.

Another arrow in my quiver – I’m NOT going to loosen the fastening on my jeans to make myself more comfortable during the day. I’m going to keep them fastened, reminding myself that my overeating has CAUSED this discomfort, and that acting ‘maturely’ might relieve that if I keep it up.

I’m in this fight by myself, since my husband insisted we stock up on a bunch of assorted chips. Maybe a bit of frustration and anger will help me in my goal…

Each person makes a decision – or a series of them – when he or she wants to change, in the effort to STOP a bad habit or START a good one. I’m trying to look at all the excuses for what they are – smoke.

TODAY I will eat healthy meals and try not to eat anything in-between. I will drink a bottle of water if I get hungry, and I will do a good session of yoga this afternoon. Maybe I can earn another small pat. :0)

Tenor

Nice Thursday

My husband is working on all of our computers, trying to get them to “see” each other, share files, etc. This is causing daily changes to my computer and is quite a challenge for me, since I’m am almost a technophobe.

Today the type on this page is humongous, rather than the almost-too-small-to-work-with type I’ve been working with. I have no clue how to change it. Also, the way I find and save and use images here is completely different. When I ask my husband about it, he says he hasn’t done anything to change those.

So the sweet gif I found of a cat massaging a dog’s head that I wanted to use for this post to talk about the massage I’m getting this morning is saved somewhere not to be found. I thought maybe it was because it was a gif rather than a jpg extension, so tried to save a jpg. That didn’t work, either. My images aren’t all showing in the list and aren’t in alphabetical order, so trying to use anything is a real challenge.

He will be working on my computer again today, so I’m hoping things will eventually straighten out. I may also end up bald from tearing my hair out…

Frustration on a Rainy Wednesday

Rice on Your Head

My husband is still in a death struggle with the shop computer. I thought there was a TV problem, and then an Internet problem, yesterday. I finally found out after dinner that it was a HUSBAND problem. HE had made it so the TV didn’t work and my computer didn’t work so that he could hopefully increase the download speed for stuff he was trying to get on the shop computer. Communication is one of the things that has suffered since his strokes.

ANYWAY, we talked about it and agreed that I would have at least a short time at the computer today before he turned everything else off again for the day. Hopefully he will get all the stuff he needs on the shop computer today and he can continue to tweak it however he wants and I can get back to normal.

It’s rainy again today, so I won’t be spending much time outside. Amber came up to greet me this morning while I was making the bed. I pet her and she was SOAKED. I got a towel and dried her off the best I could before coming downstairs. She really doesn’t seem to mind. Her hair is thick enough she might not even realize how wet she is! She greeted me with a huge smile, so I guess HER morning is off to a fun start.

I hope that your day is a good one. Once I do a couple more posts, I’ll watch for you again tomorrow.

“Music” of the Chain-Saw

Kooy Brothers

My husband went outside around 3pm yesterday, immediately went to get the chainsaw and 100 foot cord. I talked to him about calling tree people to clear the driveway, but he wasn’t having any. I told him I thought this might be too much for us. He said, “Go on inside. I can handle this.” Yeah. Right.

We ended up doing three sessions – a total of 2 hours – stopping when it started to get dark. He chainsawed and I tugged, hauled, rolled, or picked up and tossed what he cut. We cleared about 1/4 of the driveway, more or less. We’ll do more today – and tomorrow – and – until we finally make it to the bottom of the driveway. It’s still pretty snow-packed, being long, steep, and on the north side of our property. It will be the last snow to melt.

Amber, our 95-pound yellow lab, had a GREAT time while we were outside. She thought it was the BEST game. She ran around, leaping and laughing, cavorting around like a crazed thing, making circles around the whole area. When we came in, she hit her bed, only rousing when it was time for dinner.

Thankfully, the most important reason to get to the bottom of the driveway – other than the fact that if we had an emergency, we couldn’t get OUT and no one else could get UP the driveway – is that we have 4 days of mail in the mailbox. We also have some good chances for ice and snow again in the coming week, so it would be NICE if we could get out and get some supplies before Mother Nature socks us in again.

Here’s hoping we can get some good sessions today.

Making a Bit of Headway

1. My husband suggested that we might leave our 96-gallon trash can toward the bottom of the driveway, putting our bags of trash in the back of the truck as we have always done and putting them into the can and wheeling the can down to the street before pickup each week. Right before lunch we drove down to get the can. We wheeled it up to ‘behind the robot’ and I used a LONG bungie cord to secure it to the welded edge of a pole so it shouldn’t blow away in the gusty winds we sometimes have.
2. Since we’ve had some washing rains lately, my husband put a flat-bottomed shovel in the back of the truck so we could move some of the gravel ‘chat’ off the street and back onto the driveway. We discovered that a little of THAT activity goes a long, long way. We took turns, and it was really hard going, using the shovel to break up the chat and then move it onto the driveway. We lasted about half an hour before pooping out. This will take SEVERAL sessions when the weather is cooperative to complete.
3. We inadvertently paid Hot Rod Magazine twice answering renewal notices. Last month we got TWO copies of the same magazine. I asked my husband to see what he could do. I discovered today, when we got yet another notice that our subscription was about to end, that he had done nothing. Thankfully, he still had the two magazines. I got online and contacted their customer service people via the ‘leave a message’ thingie on their website. I gave all the info on the two subscriptions, as them to merge the two into one so he got only one copy each month, email him with a new subscription expiration date, and STOP sending us more notices to pay our bill. I thought it might be like throwing a bottle in the ocean, but he just told me he got an email from them saying they are ‘looking into it!’ Hooray!

“Habit”

Practical Psychology

I think I’ve finally done it. Oddly enough, I’m convinced I’ve done it because I HAVEN’T been able to exercise lately and I am thinking about it and MISSING it. YES! You read that right. I AM!

In my former life, The fact that I’ve not been able to continue my ‘however-many-days-in-a-row’ streak and continue putting starts on my calendar would have caused me to give it up. My current feelings are more mature (yeah, I know – hard to believe), but I’m simply looking forward to feeling good enough to be able to do a session of yoga. Each day I’ve been closer, and this afternoon might be the time I can do it again. And also, hopefully, when I’m able to do that, I’d like to start with my alternating warm-up and weights videos one day and elliptical trainer the next again.

I’m writing this day down on my calendar because it’s hard to believe that I’m not having an out-of-body experience or something. It doesn’t MATTER that I haven’t been able to keep up my ‘streak.’ I won’t even keep track of it anymore. The IMPORTANT thing is that I’m doing ONE DAY AT A TIME.

ANOTHER EXAMPLE – I just received a text from Patty, Linda’s daughter. She said that Kay had called her and said she was sick and wouldn’t be at Lunch Bunch today. Patty is out of town and said that Linda wouldn’t be there, either. I told my husband that Lunch Bunch was called off for the week. He said, “We could still go to the Waffle House.” I thanked him for the offer, but told him (again) that I was really trying to eat right and that when we had a chance to do that, we should, and that I would rather just stay home today and eat our normal lunch. I managed to NOT eat anything in-between meals yesterday, had bought some dried fruit to eat if I DID eat between meals, and that I was trying to take one day at a time, eating right and doing my exercises.

It’s funny. I’m older than dirt, but am just NOW starting to act a bit more like an adult. :0) The question of how long does it take to build a habit varies a lot from person to person. The answer for ME is around 172 days – at least on exercising. The ‘habit’ of eating right is just in its infancy for me, but I won’t count.

Kris Carr On Twitter

Sunshine

It’s easy these days to be down. Things become more and more challenging, frustrating and downright scary in our world. It’s hard to listen to or read the news because of all the bad stuff.

It’s important to stay informed, but I’m determined to focus on the beauty around me – not to be a Pollyanna or put my head in the sand like an ostrich, but not to let it all stomp me into the dirt psychologically.

Every day I look at what talented people have created. I search for it because I find people creating music, books, paintings, photographs and sculpture so beautiful it makes me forget for a bit what a mess we are making of things. It doesn’t matter what the medium is. Someone can look at it and see it in a different way, seeing its potential and bringing forth beauty that makes you cry. What a gift!

People focus on making plants grow or practicing a skill until it’s an art form. Teachers light a spark that causes a fire in a child’s heart that cannot be extinguished. Someone’s speech makes you want to help or turn your life in a different direction.

The fact that we live on the same planet as these talented people is almost unbelievable, and yet it’s true if we only look for it.

We can realize that not everyone is rushing headlong into the scary. We can keep our eyes open, protect ourselves and our loved ones as much as possible, try to help in any way we can, and keep the faith.

As Anthony J. Dangelo said, “Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine.”

Disappointed-Disgusted

Freepik

Pollster: a person who conducts or analyzes opinion polls.

Talking heads: people who appear in television discussion programs and interviews to give their opinions about a topic.

I’m feeling quite hostile toward pollsters and talking heads right now. The polls I heard about, and the ‘experts’ to whom I listened, led me to believe/hope/expect what DIDN’T come to be. Not only were they wrong. They were dead wrong. They should be hanging their heads in shame.

I don’t know what their methods are, but they definitely need to go back to the drawing board and remain silent until further notice.

Trashed Tuesday

India Today

MOST people fight over money, kids – important things. My husband and I have discussions over ‘trash’ and when to put it out – laughable to most sane folks, but an ongoing issue for us.

“I” want to put it out either the night before or first thing in the morning of trash day. My husband says, “They won’t pick it up until mid afternoon or later, so we can wait until we’re leaving to run errands.”

Last week he was right. We left it when we went for errands about 9:30 or so, and the can was still there, full, when we came back after 2pm. THIS week when we had left it and started to town, I noticed that the other trashcans on the way were empty, with the lids open. We missed them.

When we finished our errands, we stopped at the bottom of the driveway and put the full can back into the bed of the truck to put back in the garage until NEXT week.

The reason that this is a larger deal now than it used to be is that the trash company gave us a can they want us to use. Their truck guy can pick it up and empty it into his truck without leaving the truck. This saves the company having to pay two men to ride on the back of a trash truck, picking up bags of trash or emptying non-regulation cans by hand while a third man drives the truck.

I would just handle this myself, but I cannot get the empty, much less full, trash can into or out of the truck alone without hurting myself. I found that out the hard way the first time we tried to use the can, two weeks ago. We got it into the truck together, but my husband waited while I got it out at the bottom of the drive. I strained my back somehow and am still working on getting it straightened out. We agreed that this will be a two-person job from now on, and he actually got out and put the can in place this morning.

NOW, since we’re living with our trash another week, he has agreed that we’ll put it out when we first wake up next week. HOPEFULLY that will be early enough.

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.

Character-Building Exercise

I pre-ordered this paperback in February, (#54 of the J.D. Robb/Nora Roberts In Death series) knowing I would have to wait until the end of July before it was delivered. Since I wanted it for my permanent collection, it would be worth the wait.

Yesterday I got an email from Amazon – “We’re encountering a delay in shipping your order. We’ll send a confirmation as soon as it ships and communicate the expected delivery date. We apologize for the inconvenience.“

Bah. Humbug.

Good Morning!

Brenda Metheny

Happy Wednesday!

We started our day off at around 1:30 a.m. this morning when Amber started barking. She did this two or three times before she finally settled down for the rest of the night. The next thing we knew, our driveway pad alarm went off several times in succession early this morning, usually indicating a vehicle. We got up and dressed, but when we checked outside on the garage pad and then at the front door, there was nothing.

CuriOdyssey

We tried, but failed, to catch raccoon #8 overnight. That was probably what had Amber barking. The trap had been triggered. The seed was all gone, but no one was inside the humane trap. So we’ll set it again tonight and hope for the best.

There was a wildfire between Fort Chaffee and one of Greenwood’s neighborhoods north of us yesterday. Fire departments from several surrounding towns helped to try to contain the blaze. About 35 homes were evacuated. The fire is about 80%+ contained this morning. No damage to houses. No people hurt that we know about. Scary.

The Christian Index

I’ve had TWO character-building exercises over which I have been victorious so far this morning –

• I was trying to call in a refill for one of my husband’s medicines, but the pharmacy was having some kind of a phone problem, then I got a recording, and FINALLY reached a real person and was able to request our refill. Only took about 5 calls over 90 minutes, but I prevailed. :0)
• I was attempting to pay some bills online yesterday. When I tried to log in, I was told my username or password was “incorrect.” I fought with it several times, finally deciding to give it up until today. Sometimes these things heal miraculously, and so I had hope. No such luck. They still didn’t like me this morning. I finally went through the process of saying I ‘forgot’ my password, jumped through several hoops on proving I was who I was, including a text sent to my phone, and was finally put onto a page where I could change my password. THEN I fought with all the requirements they had on a new password. I finally passed muster, was let into my account, and was able to pay the bills. WHEW!

We’ll do errands in awhile, but nothing exciting going on today – I HOPE. I’ll be very happy if I can do what I’d like to do with no drama. I would LIKE to continue painting my Christmas presents for friends, do some vacuuming, and read my current book….

Happy Wednesday!

Character

FB/MyDayMyWay – via Penny Yaffe Krakow

Finagle’s Law

Finagle’s law of dynamic negatives (also known as Melody’s law, Sod’s Law or Finagle’s corollary to Murphy’s law) is usually rendered as “Anything that can go wrong, will—at the worst possible moment.”

123RF.com

Since I’m finally losing some weight – and losing inches in conjunction with that, I hope – I put in an order for a size smaller jeans.

I ordered one pair. (They are too long and I’m having to roll them up, but they are a much better fit otherwise.) I put in a follow-up order for the same size, but in ‘petite’ (a tactful word for SHORT.) I received one pair (I’m wearing them now) , but the other pair is on back-order.

My husband suggested I order a couple more pairs in the same size, so I would be in good shape once they arrive. I did that, and also ordered a size smaller, since I’m hoping I’ll be ready for that in the future. I also ordered some shorts, since our weather changes from spring to summer temperatures sometimes in the space of a couple of days.

Yesterday I had a delivery! The package was on our front porch waiting, since we had gone to look for my husband’s sugar-free drinks.

Finagle’s Law of Dynamic Negatives definitely applies –

• Did I receive the back-ordered pair of jeans from the original order? NO.
• Was it the additional order of the current sized jeans? NO.
• The shorts? NO.

The delivery was the two pairs of SMALLER jeans I’m hoping to be able to wear in the future, once I shed more of my lard. :0)

Hahahahahahaahahahah. I guess they will be further motivation on my efforts…

The Saga of the Phone Line Continues

123RF

We are cornering the market on character-building lately. This time it’s trying to get a phone line rehung that fell down into the yard during the last storm.

After the storm we initially called our electric company, Arkansas Valley Electric Co-Operative, because we weren’t absolutely sure whether we needed help with electrical lines or phone lines. The company sent a service man right over. We couldn’t have asked for better response time. He confirmed that the lines were phone lines, and told us the phone company would need to come out and fix them.

It took us forever (3 or 4 days) of talking to person after person at our current phone company, AT&T, before someone mentioned that the two phone lines we have now were actually installed years ago by CenturyLink.

My husband got mad at this point and was up on a two-story ladder propped up against a telephone pole, trying to rehang the line. He finally gave up on one of the lines because even with that ladder, he couldn’t get up high enough. That didn’t stop him from trying to rehang the 2ND phone line. He had to cut down the branches of a tree in order to get access to the line and managed, after getting bitten by the tree several times, scratching up his arm badly, to get the line hung.

I spent another day trying to contact CenturyLink. This was iffy, since we are no longer their customer. They finally gave me a repair ticket number. Nothing happened, so I contacted them again and they said they had no record of the ticket number. They finally found it, and told us the technician would be out to the house yesterday between 8 and 5. We had to stay home to be sure we were here to receive him.

A little before 5, I contacted them again. The lady said to give the tech until 7pm. We did, but no action.

My husband stayed home from Lunch Bunch and errands this morning so he would be here if the tech showed up. He didn’t.

I contacted CenturyLink again. She told me the ticket was marked, “completed.” My husband went outside to double check, and the line was still down. I told the lady that and she has now generated ANOTHER repair ticket with a “commitment date of 4/23.”

And so we wait again…. I wonder if ‘character’ SHOWS, like building muscles….

Week 3 Report

Hannah More Primary School

Today is the end of Week 3 of my new push to get the lard off and exercise more to get and stay healthier, whatever my age.

IndiaMART

• I lost 1.6 pounds this week.
• I’ve lost 6 pounds since I started the new push 3 weeks ago.
• I’m 29.4 pounds down since my heaviest.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Flipkart

I will measure at the end of April, but to date there is 28.7 inches less of me than at my heaviest.

_______________________________________________________________________

Clipart Library

Feelings:

• I’m pleased that I am taking control of myself. I consciously think and plan what I’ll eat for the day BEFORE I eat or drink something that will sabotage my efforts. A HUGE HELP in this is MyFitness Pal.com. Yesterday I made some low-carb biscuits that had nice texture and tasted good. Today I’ll make bacon-wrapped cheesy chicken from Simply Keto and we’ll have a side salad and biscuit. I’m able to smell the popcorn my husband makes and watch him eat it without kicking the wall. :0)
• I’m consciously planning what my exercise for the day will be. I’m using a monthly exercise planner by Mike, an Australian who has created MoreLifeHealth.com – a whole series of videos to help seniors get and stay in better health. In addition to his programs, I’m doing yoga stretches daily and my elliptical trainer 3 times a week. Yard work and house work count, too, on moving more on a daily basis.
• I’m happy to see the scales acknowledging my efforts. The weight is coming off slowly, but steadily. As long as I’m showing some progress each week, it keeps me motivated. I’m researching how to break through any plateaus that will inevitably occur.
• I’m FEELING a bit more energetic. Even though I still have aches and pains, I now have more arrows in my quiver on how to deal with them. I’m doing the warm-up and stretching videos by Mike daily, plus my yoga helps. A heat pad usually takes care of any residual. If not, some Tylenol.
• I’m feeling happier. The world is too much with us these days, and I find myself feeling pretty down unless I consciously look for the good things – and there are a lot of them – in the world around us. I’m finding more and more coping mechanisms, and getting healthier, stronger, and more flexible is one of those things. My mantra remains –

taolife.com

Onward to WEEK 4!

Not Just “No,” – HELL NO!

PC Magazine

My husband decided he HAD to have a new computer – to upgrade a bit, to switch to Windows 11. I told him to go ahead, as long as he opted for the offer to pay a bit more and have nerds put the computer together for him with Windows 11 already installed, compatible parts already installed so that he would just have to change out the hard drives, etc.

Since then we’ve been in ‘computer Hell.’ There is no nicer way to say it.

It started with UPS ‘delivering’ the humongous, HEAVY (75 pounds +) box by simply leaving it at the bottom of our STEEP, graveled, 650+ foot driveway. We practically killed ourselves getting the box INTO the back of the truck, THEN unpacking as much as possible, having to remove two dog gates in order to get it into the house and into the office. (We asked for, and received a refund for the extra we paid for expedited delivery.)

The computer was as my husband ordered, so mostly he has been fighting with software. Right now, the fight is to get an email program that will work the way he wants it to.

Since my husband and I are both older-than-dirt, changes and technical stuff are becoming much more difficult. An added problem is that my husband had a couple of strokes in the past two years, and he has more trouble, though he has mostly bounced back. He has been reduced to asking ME – the woefully incompetent tech person of our duo – for help. This is a lose/lose situation for me. If I can’t help, he gets more frustrated and angry – a really uncomfortable situation. If I CAN help, then he’s upset because I could do it, and he couldn’t, making him depressed.

A real character-building exercise for both of us.

So, the NEXT time he wants to get a new computer, I’ve told you my answer at the top.

PNGkey

Happy Wednesday

Our wisteria is starting to bloom!

We have vines stretching all the way to the driveway to the left of this picture. My husband has been trying for years to have BLOOMS all the way across. We’re making progress on it each year.

Yesterday I ate right, stayed under my calorie total for the day, stayed under my carb total for the day, exercised with weights, did my yoga, cooked for an hour, cleaned, etc., and guess what – I GAINED .2 lbs. Bummer. This is a character-building exercise for sure. I’ll simply keep on keepin’ on and hope for the best.

aramananatural.es

I’ve been making phone calls most of the morning, following up on things, confirming others, asking questions, etc. The thing I’m coming away with is that you MUST be your own advocate. Everyone is in their own personal world, worried about their own problems, understandably. These DON’T include whatever they told you would happen, wouldn’t happen, shouldn’t happen, etc. Unless you make notes and follow up, it simply DOESN’T happen/or DOES – whichever is worse. You can’t depend on other people. You MUST do it yourself, and KEEP after it until whatever it is is done. Sometimes I would definitely trade my ‘adult’ hat for a happy, carefree ‘child’ hat from my past.

I’ll make sure to get outside for part of the afternoon. It’s going to be in the 60s and there is lots of sunshine to play in. Will you get outside, too?

Confusion

theguardian.com – signspotting.com

It seems to me that our world is a mass of mixed signals and confusion. It’s hard to know what to think, what to feel, which way to jump.

I’m kind of like a deer frozen in the headlights, concentrating on one day at a time, trying to do what I can, when I can, one careful step at a time, with a lot of trying to escape thrown in, too, since there is so much happening that I can’t do anything about.

The only thing I can come up with is to try to personally stay as strong as I can, continuing to look for any ways to try to make things better wherever I can find.

I wish I were a fairy godmother, able to wave my wand, think good thoughts, and save the world.