Autumn Joy

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— gregorio catarino (@gregcatarino1) October 31, 2023

I think Gregorio Catarino is a wonderful artist. The fact that this one was also made into a .gif was an extra gift.

Sleepy Puppy

Tenor

I feel like this sweet puppy, though not nearly as cute. I couldn’t sleep last night, so was downstairs reading for several hours, then tossed and turned. I’m glad I don’t have this problem often. I predict an unproductive day today…

I wish I felt energetic because the weather is stellar – sunny, bright, happy-looking day with a high this afternoon of around 72 here in Arkansas. In January. Unbelievable. :0)

I hope your day is fun.

Wednesday 1-11-2023

Gifak.net – Giphy

In the middle of the afternoon I could give this sweet rodent a run for his money on eating. If I, like he, could stick to carrots, that would be good….

A storm with a cold front are coming through tonight to take away the happy springtime weather we’ve been enjoying and bringing back more normal temperatures for January in Arkansas – so a high of about 72 this afternoon and a high in the low 50s for tomorrow – still warm but noticeably cooler.

This poor old body is making a bid to be thrown on top of the heap in the salvage yard lately. I won’t give you a long list of woes, but the latest was this morning with the help of Amber, our dog. I was sitting here typing, and she came over to say, ‘hi.’ I stopped, to turn to pet her, and she flipped my arm up with her nose, making the top of my arm hit the bottom of the countertop my computer sits on. I took off my watch to rub my arm and there is already a small knot coming up, with probable colorful bruise to follow. Hahahaahahaha. My warranty is definitely expired, though I’m hoping to do some yoga this afternoon.

I wish you a very happy day.

DAY 170

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Today is DAY 170 of my trying to make doing a session of yoga daily a HABIT. Since it’s a definite part of my afternoon now, I’ll TRY not to bore you with how many days it has been anymore. We’ll just call it a ‘determined effort’ and leave it at that.

To this I’ve added warm-up and weights videos on one day and a session on the elliptical the next throughout the week. I’ll never be old enough that sparkly stars on my desk calendar aren’t motivating, so I’ll continue that. :0)

My meals are such that MyFitnessPal usually says, “It looks like you’re not eating enough.” when I tally what I’m eating. Right now that seems to be a mental ‘go-ahead-and-stuff-your-face’ light, resulting in my scales being even more snarky than usual.

What I need here is a transformation to “exercise nut” who has to REMIND herself to eat, and then prefers nutritious, low-calorie foods that only build muscle and encourage the fat to fade away, never to be seen again. If wishes were fishes….

The only New Year’s Resolution I’m going to make for 2023 is to take ONE DAY AT A TIME. That will be my meme, my mantra. To spend each day well, as fully in the moment as possible, enjoying all the good stuff around me, handling whatever happens as best I can. BREATHING a lot. Taking the time to look around and SMILE. And try to give that smile to others.

New Year’s Day Thoughts 2023

Best Animation Gifs

“An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.” ~ Bill Vaughan

“One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this: To rise above the little things.” ~ John Burroughs

“Resolve to make at least one person happy every day” ~ Sydney Smith

“My wishes for you, Great start for Jan, Love for Feb, Peace for March, No worries for April, Fun for May, Joy for June to Nov, Happiness for Dec, Have a lucky and wonderful 2023.” ~ Anonymous

Gfycat

DAY 149

Tenor

Today is DAY 149 on my trying to make daily yoga a habit. I may never get to the point where I consider my yoga practice ‘habit,’ but it’s a normal part of my afternoons now. I start thinking about when to do it starting mid-afternoon each day. I’m still putting a sparkly star on my desk calendar each time I finish and keeping track of the number of days. I’m so immature it makes me laugh. :0)

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I’m doing the plank daily, doing several short holds of the pose, rather than trying to hold one long one. Yesterday I did three times, counting to 25 each time.

Then I’m doing my ‘regular’ yoga practice. I’m doing some extra poses and exercises for my abdomen and core, trying to build strength.

I’m noticing that I’m using the yoga more and more to loosen up and stretch out after working in the yard or doing something else that makes me stiff and/or sore.

As we get closer to winter and I can’t work outside, I’ll switch to doing a session on my elliptical trainer in the garage.

As for losing the lard, my scale is still laughing and smirking at me. It doesn’t laugh out loud as I walk up to it, but it’s close. I really wish I were the type of person who had to be REMINDED to eat….

Immaturity

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I’ve been a really ‘good girl’ lately. I gave up added salt. I’ve been eating healthy meals. I have not been eating between meals. I’ve been drinking water. I’ve been working in the yard and doing daily yoga sessions. I’ve started doing the plank pose. And are my scales impressed? THEY ARE NOT!

It’s been two weeks now, and one would THINK that the scales would at least wave a little in encouragement, but NOOOOO. Bah. Humbug.

I’m TRYING to be an adult about this, telling myself that it will take awhile for the scales to show anything. It will probably be a month or so before the measuring tape gives me any encouragement. I tell myself that changes take time, to give myself a break, to concentrate on other things. Do I listen? NOOOOO. :0(

SayingImages.com

Fun Gif from Our Son

Our son sent this to us. Someone was remotely giving their dog a ride in this car in the park. Isn’t it GREAT?

It’s Wednesday 9-7-2022

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I’m not sure I’m ready to tackle the day yet.

We did take our trash down this morning – on our trash people’s holiday schedule. I’m HOPING the trash actually goes away, not strewn all over. I will be glad if I ever have confidence in this new trash company. So far, I feel jubilant when I don’t have to re-gather trash from the ditch and the road at the bottom of our driveway and call them…

Pinterest

I’m going to TRY to get outside and prune more rose bushes this morning. I got snafued by strong sun yesterday, making me feel as if I were on a griddle. Hopefully, getting out there earlier will help.

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Today is DAY 54 of my daily yoga practices. I’ve added three new-for-me poses to my original practice, and I’m feeling progress on some of my poses. I’m stretching a bit farther, holding the poses a bit longer, differences no one but me could tell, but satisfying, nonetheless. NOTE: See the way this young girl is sitting? THAT is something I’ve been trying to do for about a year now. I could sit TOWARD my feet, but my knees would hurt too badly to even think about actually sitting that way. YESTERDAY, my bottom touched my feet for the first time. I was only able to hold it for a couple of seconds, but… :0)

Happy Wednesday!

It’s Sunday 9-4-2022

Reader’s Digest-Getty Images

Our Sunday started off with a bang with Amber barking early this morning, waking us up. When I got downstairs, my husband was making coffee (thank goodness) and announced that ‘something’ had gotten into our garage overnight and gotten into the trash bag of stuff I had gathered Saturday.

Lowes

I got that gathered again and am considering whether we should close off the dog door we have in our garage door. Amber doesn’t use the door. When we’re awake and it’s not actively storming, our garage door is up. Amber sleeps on her bed in our utility room at night. I’m not exactly sure what we would need to do to close it off, but it looks like something we should at least consider. I really don’t want to regather trash in the GARAGE daily and THEN have to re-gather it AGAIN at the bottom of the driveway if the trash people don’t pick it up…

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On a nicer note, I got the makings of beef stew into our crock pot first thing this morning. I put extra veggies in it and I’ll fix some garlic toast to go with it tonight. We’ll have enough for a meal or two after tonight. :0)

InstaShot – BoredPanda.com

Today is DAY 51 of my daily yoga practice. Yesterday I added “The Boat” Pose. Today I’ll add “The Cobra” pose and “Supine Leg Switching”

The Boat

Cobra Pose

Supine Leg Switches

My basic practice is about 30 minutes. I think I’ll be fine with eventually spending 45 minutes to an hour.

I hope you’re enjoying your Sunday and that you have Labor Day off.

More Fun Friday 8-5-2022

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We are home now from our travels today.

Everyday Psych

Lunch Bunch was a joy. Everyone was there for the first time in several weeks. All were feeling fine. We enjoyed a fun conversation with lots of joking and laughing and just the happiness of sharing time together again. Bud and Kay both have birthdays in the coming week, so next Friday will be celebration day.

We did our errands without incident – the exception was that our trash has still not been picked up. The lady said with the heat, they are picking it up earlier and there was a note saying our trash wasn’t there in time. I told her that we put it out first thing and that usually it’s still there in the late afternoon. She put in a second work order and hopefully it will be gone tomorrow.

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I’m about to head upstairs to play in my art room. I’ll store the finished tote bags and work on the inside page of the Christmas cards. Things are starting to come together. :0)

http://www.pinterest.ph – Cat GIF Central

I’ll do my DAY 21 yoga practice late this afternoon.

I hope your Friday is a fun one.

Monday Love

Viral Hog

Concentrating on Eating Healthy

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I’m gradually deciding that I’m going to concentrate on ‘eating healthy’ rather than ‘losing weight.’

We’ve been feeling better – and our systems are working better – since I started adding more fruit and veggies to our diet – while watching my husband’s blood sugar readings carefully. As long as his numbers look good, and he’s feeling good, I’ve decided I’m not going to worry about anything else.

Technically, since he’s a Type II diabetic, he’s supposed to avoid all sugar, including fruit. I’ve just decided to change from ‘low carb’ to a more Mediterranean style of eating, although it’s my own form, since I’m having trouble finding recipes that he will eat. He looks at me in horror when I mention most veggies, and does things like stop me when I’m serving veggies at dinner. He DOES agree that he’s feeling better since I’m concentrating on serving him more veggies. As long as his numbers are good, I’m serving fruit, too.

As far as my dieting goes, I’m trying to either not eat at all between meals, or be very careful what I’m snacking on, watch my portions at meal times, and exercise.

I love having a ‘colorful’ plate of food. It lifts my spirits. Hopefully, all this will come together to give us the results we would like. :0)

ASMR – Pinterest

Day 12

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Today I will earn sparkly star # 12 in my efforts to build a habit/regimen/routine of doing a session of yoga every day. My husband noticed yesterday I’ve added straight leg and bent leg crunches and a thing I don’t have a name for, where you’re on your back with your knees bent, arms on the floor beside you. You lift up your torso, so only your shoulders and feet are on the floor, then come back down over and over. I’ve built up to 12 repetitions so far. I’m also doing a ‘bicycle’ (I think it’s called) exercise. I’m trying to build up my core doing both more regular exercises plus the yoga stretches.

The main thing so far is that I feel a lot ‘looser’ when I finish. I’m trying to drink a big glass of water after my practice as part of my exercise.

Gradually, Amber (our 90 lb yellow lab) and Abby (our cat) are accepting that I will be on the mat in the middle of the living room floor on (hopefully) a daily basis and that their ‘help’ is not required. Both of them thought I wanted to play when I first started and dive-bombed me. Then they wanted to nuzzle. Now both come over to check on me, seem to be happy with a quick pat and kiss, and then Amber gets on her bed (unless the cat takes up residence first) and Abby goes to sit on the arm of my husband’s recliner.

Doing my practice mid to late afternoon is good for me. If I’ve been working in the yard or doing heavy cleaning in the house, I get sore and stiff. The yoga is a good way to undo the tight, protesting muscles I’ve tied in knots during the day. Drinking water and then resting gets me ready for a nice evening.

Quiet Wednesday 7-20-2022

Snack Time-Christina Bass-betterphoto.com

IndiaMART

I’m starting to see some good differences on the scales finally. That has been lower on my list since we changed from low-carb to the Mediterranean eating plan recently after my system got out of whack and I had to focus on getting my health back and eating differently. All is good now and I can focus on only stuffing GOOD things in my face (using moderation), doing my yoga practice daily (4 sparkly stars in a row on my desk calendar now), drinking lots of water (trying to drink 3 bottles of water daily), and generally trying to stay out of trouble. :0)

BugGuide.net

Yesterday was ‘bug day’ around here. I’ve been annoyed by gnats flying around me lately. Yesterday I was working at the computer and a WASP landed on my leg! I leaped up, got the fly swatter, and the NEXT time he was in the area, I beat him to a pulp before disposing of his corpse. :0) I noticed something on the floor just under the buffet in the dining area. When I leaned down to see what it was, I found a scorpion! It was a DEAD scorpion, but one can’t be dead enough for me. I picked him up with the forceps we keep on hand (fearing he might be playing possum) and disposed of him, too. I then called Tri-Hill Pest Control in Fort Smith and our good tech will come out late this afternoon to spray inside and out.

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Today we actually have a CHANCE of rain! We MIGHT get an isolated shower or two! I have all appendages crossed, since it’s ALSO supposed to get to an all-too-hot temperature with a heat index of 111 this afternoon. If we get the rain, you can be sure I’ll take the time to go out and dance in it.

Tenor

We’re going to leave in a bit to get our mail and replenish our food supply at the local grocery. My husband tried a new Healthy Choice frozen dinner last night, “Pineapple Chicken,” and he wants to get more. He has also requested another ‘tuna casserole’ (with extra veggies) that I made recently. I’m also trying several different salmon recipes.

I hope that your Wednesday is a satisfying one.

Monday 7-18-2022

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I’m late getting to the blog today. I got a blood test first thing this morning (after having to wait a LONG time at the clinic) and then celebrated it being over with a fabulous breakfast at The Dari. We’re home now for the rest of the day, trying to catch up with our various activities.

I hope that you are having a good Monday. We are ‘in-the-frying-pan’ as usual here in summer, very thankful that we can live through it spoiled by good a/c. I’ll wait to check on tomatoes until this evening before the sun goes down or tomorrow morning.

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I ALMOST didn’t do yoga yesterday. Things got busy and I missed my normal time. I finally ended up doing my session at around 9pm last night, so I did get my sparkly star on my desk calendar. I’m hoping to get to my yoga in the late afternoon, as usual, today. My body is beginning to respond to my renewed efforts on yoga practice. It still takes me awhile, just lying on my back on the mat, for my back to calm down, but yesterday it was a bit quicker. Each day I’ll get a little looser.

Other things for the day are gathering trash for the week to ADD to the trash that didn’t go out LAST week – thanks to my husband trying to avoid it ‘going-out-too-early.’ I just hope the trash people take it all tomorrow. I’ll also play in my art room.

Dog’s Best Life

At the beginning of last week I vacuumed up an entire dog’s worth of hair from our tiled areas on the first floor. Yesterday I vacuumed the carpeted areas of the first floor, sucking up ANOTHER entire dog! And yet Amber still has a full, lush coat of healthy-looking hair….

Enjoy your Monday. Stay safe and cool.

1st Gold Star in Awhile

Clipart Library

I FINALLY got off my duff and did a good, long yoga session – including some of my new poses from Big Yoga by Meera Patricia Kerr yesterday afternoon. I put a nice, sparkly star on my desk calendar to commemorate ‘the occasion,’ hoping that will motivate me to do it again TODAY.

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This amazing lady is NOT me, but I love her ability plus the ‘family’ nature of her exercise. :0)

I felt a lot better when I finished my practice AND I noticed later on in the evening I wasn’t feeling so creaky when getting out of my recliner.

May the star yesterday be the start of a whole calendar FILLED with them!

Creative Process

Tenor – I can’t make out the information in the bottom left-hand corner. I think this gif is beautiful.

I love this quote. It makes me feel better about playing in my art room.

I got an idea about Christmas presents for this year and ordered some things. They are up in my art room now. I have ideas running around in my head for personalized presents for everyone in a similar theme. I’m trying to clear the deck a bit so I don’t feel guilt spending time up there.

Maybe this afternoon.

Another Rainy Monday

Pinterest

This is an excellent day to stay in. According to Finagle’s Law of Dynamic Negatives, though, we will head out in about half an hour to ‘relocate’ a raccoon we caught in our humane trap overnight. He/she had not only been eating each and every seed we left for the birds in the feeders, but trashed one feeder and dumped the suet blocks onto the ground below the deck. We had the trap set for the past two nights and were successful last night. This is the 2nd raccoon we’ve caught and relocated this season.

We will put the trap and raccoon in the back of the truck, get our mail as we go, then drive out behind our home about 5 miles or so to the creek that runs under the road and let him/her out, giving him/her a second chance to play and frolic and eat ELSEWHERE

THEN we’ll fill up the bird feeders once again and hope that he/she is not part of a huge raccoon family…

Happy May Day – 2022!

I’m delighted to welcome the month of May this year. I’m hoping that by mid month, our weather will have calmed down. Today our weather here in Arkansas is stellar. Sunshine-y with a high of 82 and lower humidity today. Wheeeeeeee! I have a lot I’d like to do outside. I’m not sure what I’ll tackle first. Maybe, since the Monday and Tuesday are supposed to be stormy, I’ll check the veggie garden first, weeding and harvesting, and then try to get started with my new “pruning-the-tomato-plants experiment.”

Thanks to my friend, Susy, we can all enjoy the beautiful artwork of Matt Dixon from the U.K. I just love his drawings. The fact that a robot can draw such strong emotions from me still amazes me. Thanks, Susy.

My official ‘monthly report’ on my efforts to lose the lard and get stronger and healthier is –

• Weight – Down 30.8 pounds since my heaviest.
• Measurements – there is 29.5 inches less of me than at my heaviest.
• Exercise – I’m into my regimen of various online videos for seniors in the mornings and yoga and yard work in the afternoons. Videos are from Mike at MoreLifeHealth.com/seniors. The ones I’m doing now are a “warm-up,” “stretches,” one of two exercises with weights videos (alternating)’ and “Workout 1B” every other day. The day I don’t do the ‘workout,’ I spend time on my elliptical trainer. I’ve increased from 10 minutes to 15 minutes per session so far. My daily yoga stretches session is 30 minutes.

Dennis, an aviation rescue fire fighter, also encourages us to embrace May. This is from the Australian Firefighters fund-raising calendar. This is a donation that keeps on giving. :0)

I hope that May will be a wonderful month for us all.

Enjoy!

Enough

Pinterest

We’re supposed to get another 1-3 inches today and this evening. Oh, good.

Yesterday, I started weeding one of our planters. The wind was blowing SO hard, it picked up the plastic bucket I was using for the dead stuff I was removing from the planter, threw all the dead stuff into the yard as it whipped the bucket around, and was trying to blow the bucket to the next state. I managed to jump up and catch it between gusts of wind. :0)

This is part of the planter before I started working on it. It was FULL of packed dead stuff. I spent about an hour cleaning it up. It’ll take another pass, plus the iris are so thick I want to thin them out so I can replant a bunch in a place in the back yard. Since it’s raining today, that’ll have to wait until another day.

These are the ‘after’ pics after the hour I spent. It looks a bit better now, I think, but I’ll spend probably another hour or so thinning out the iris in it when the weather cooperates.

This is the other side of that same planter. The poor iris is choking itself. It gave us a nice display of the deep-purple, twice-blooming iris we love, but they’re finished now for the spring. Hopefully, I can tackle the planter again tomorrow, at least getting out the iris I’ll replant another day.

Today is definitely an inside day. I’m happy that we have a warm, dry home on days like this. The temperature is nice, so we have the door open to the porch.

Enjoy your Sunday.

“Better-ness”

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If there ISN’T such a word, there SHOULD be. I am experiencing it, so I know. :0)

Progress report at the end of Month # 1 on my low-carb eating plan and end of WEEK 3 on my new exercise regimen. –

The numbers –

• Down 7.4 lbs since new push. Down 30.8 lbs since my heaviest.
• Lost an inch from my waist since new push. (With all my gain during the pandemic, inches loss has changed to about 26 and a half inches since my most voluminous. (Even though we have another week of April, I’ve recorded things for the month. I won’t measure again until the end of May. Hoping for some good changes then.)

The feelings –

• Feeling much more in control of myself now. I’m planning my eating with MyFitnessPal.com. I’m doing daily exercise videos with MoreLifeHealth.com/Seniors. I’m doing yoga stretches daily. Alternate days I’m also doing my elliptical trainer. (My new MP3 player is helping a LOT with this, since I can now listen to some music while I’m on it. I’ll change from 11 minutes to 15 minutes starting tomorrow.) I have a plan. I’m executing it and it is showing modest results.
• I’m not starving to death all the time or resenting the fact that my husband eats things that are off my list. He is still trying to avoid all sugar, and that’s the most important thing for him, being a Type II Diabetic (although he denies this. He says he has a ‘sugar problem.’)

New Goals –

• New short-term goal – lose another 5 lbs. (4.2 lbs to go.)
• New long-term goal – have improved numbers on the blood test I’ll have before our next primary doctor appt May 16. (blood test May 11th)

taolife.com

Rainy Wednesday

“Do not be angry with the rain; it simply does not know how to fall upwards.” ~ Vladimir Nabokov

Rover.com

Guess what?!? It’s raining again!! Oh, NOOOOOOO!

“And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain, there would be no rainbow.” ~ Gilbert K. Chesterton

5News

We are just southeast of Fort Smith, so the big green blob with severe yellow and orange blobs encroaching show our day today will be full of storms. A great day to stay inside where it’s safe and warm and dry.

PopSugar

“Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams.” ~ Ashley Smith

I ended up doing a good amount of exercise yesterday, but had listed more than I could do. I did the ‘workout for week 2″ online, and that took half an hour, following by videos for warm-up, stretches, and exercises with weights – another half hour together. I also did half an hour of yoga stretches. This was a good amount of exercise for this sedentary broad. I also had elliptical trainer on the list, but was too pooped to do it. I’m going to think again about what I’m doing, since I’m doing more and more online videos, balancing the exercise time and load a bit better. I’ll try my regular trio of videos, the elliptical, and yoga today and see how that goes.

“Never run in the rain with your socks on.” ~ Billie Joe Armstrong

Hello, Monday

Patrick L. Lee-on Twitter

It’s only 50 degrees F. here in Arkansas this morning, but the sun is shining brightly.

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If it warms up some more, I’m planning to go buy and then plant tomato plants today. I’m eager to get them in the ground because sliced ripe tomatoes are one of our very favorite things. I’m researching how to prune the plants because it would be nice if we had more tomatoes and less greenery. Usually they get to the point where they spill over the planters and I’m afraid to do anything except enjoy the tomatoes we get.

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Today I start WEEK 4 on my low-carb eating and exercise regimen. I’m making “Low-carb Keto Chili” by Suzanne Ryan of Simply Keto. Last week I tried a new recipe, “Tender and Fluffy Keto Almond Flour Biscuits” by heathyrecipesblogs.com. I made a double recipe, so I have plenty for the coming week. My husband is still eating one deli dinner roll per day until he finishes them before switching to low-carb on bread. I’m enjoying these biscuits.

Exercise for today: 1) exercise videos by Mike of MoreLifeHealthSeniors – ‘warm-up,’ ‘stretches,’ ‘weights,’ and exercise workout 2a. Then I’m doing half an hour of yoga and planting tomatoes.

Meanwhile –

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Happy Monday!

Happy Sunday 4-17-2022

Petr Vaclavek – Dubanci, cz

Happy Easter! Happy Passover! Happy Sunday!

I wish you a happy day, a happy celebration, a quiet, calm day.

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Yet another rainy day here in Arkansas. After today, we’re supposed to have something appear in the sky that lights everything up and warms the air. I’m interested to see what that is. Maybe we can find and plant some tomato plants either Monday or Tuesday!

Pinterest

I have Easter memories swirling.

Fuzzy SOFT pink angora sweater that made me feel very feminine for the first time a hundred years ago. Sweet rabbits my parents got for the family as pets – we named them “Welsh” and “Peter” Rabbit. Dyeing Easter eggs. Hunting for Easter eggs with a big basket. Eating Easter eggs. Then, many years later, Dyeing and Hiding Easter eggs for our son, plus for my students at school where I taught. Beautiful services. Soul-filling songs.

I am hoping for a quiet, calm day today. :0)

And the Rain Comes Down…

Tenor

I checked the weather website yesterday evening right before dark to find that, not only were we supposed to get rain after sunset, but HAIL. I went out and clothes-pinned sheets over my veggie planter boxes to protect my sweet, young veggies as much as I could.

It DID storm overnight and we’re still under a ‘thunderstorm and hail’ forecast this morning. It’s raining and very dark outside now, though the thunder and lightning are so noticeable. It looks like the sheets won’t come off until at least lunch time. I hope the plants don’t get squashed by the weight of the wet sheets!

Here was what 3 of the 6 garden boxes looked like last night –

Wet Wednesday

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The rain started early this morning. We avoided the possible severe weather, though, thank goodness. It’s still rainy, though we’re due for a break in the rain until ‘downpours’ this afternoon. An inside day, for sure.

Happily, I pushed myself yesterday, doing three sessions of weed whacking to clean up the edges from my husband’s good lawn mowing. We almost look like someone cares!

Since we have a cool front along with the cloudy, rainy weather, I’m cooking Keto Chili tonight from Suzanne Ryan’s Simply Keto recipe book. I feel I have a good start now on my renewed effort to lose the lard. My scales are noticing my efforts this week. :0) Today, since I can’t work in the yard, I’ll try to add some time on my elliptical trainer in the garage along with my afternoon yoga stretching session.

VectorStock

A good thing: my husband agreed to try using a cell phone again, mainly because he wants to be able to receive verification codes on HIS phone rather than mine. We went to AT&T yesterday, and the two nice people there got the new phone added. The guy showed my husband how to get rid of the stuff he doesn’t want on the phone, so now he’ll quit bothering me about the stuff on mine… PLUS, the lady helped me make it so I can again take pics with my phone and email them to my computer for use on the blog again. (I haven’t been able to make it work since I had to change my email address.) The final great thing was the guy suggested I call ‘611’ on my cell to ask them if they would waive the extra fees associated with adding another phone. I was to ask for the Loyalty Dept. I did and they DID give us a credit toward our next bill. Yea!

Another good thing: I spent a long time on the phone this morning, trying to get the status on some wire transfers we did lately. The nice lady was able to confirm one was ‘good,’ and is researching the other to find out what’s what. It’s good to find competent, polite help when you need it.

My husband is trying to make his new computer work. It’s together physically now, but he’s having trouble adding software. My contribution is to keep my mouth firmly shut. Some access to things we share aren’t working yet, so I’m modifying my activities until they do again.

Stay dry and warm wherever you are.

Thoughts on a Saturday 3-19-2022

Tenor

I’m reading Life Force by Tony Robbins. One of the suggestions is that you drink half your weight (in ounces) of water daily. My eyeballs are already swimming, but I’ll work on it. (He says that coffee actually dehydrates you. Since I’m a coffee-a-holic, this is a sad thing to hear.) So I’ll try to cut back on my coffee and TRY to drink even more water.

Another is to eat a more plant-based diet. My husband tends to dig in his heels, so I just talked to him, telling him I will include more veggies in our meals. Since he told me last night he LIKED the way I cooked the broccoli, I’m encouraged that I can do more of this type thing without riots. Small, gradual changes in a good direction.

I’ll go out later to visit our new early spring garden to see how our new plants made it through the latest rain. I’m hoping that the rain was greedily slurped up and that all are feeling happy. I’m reading about growing cauliflower better, since I’ve only been minimally successful, growing very small heads before having to harvest. Fingers crossed. I’ll take some pics.

Shutterstock

I’ve been neglectful regarding saving stuff on my computer lately. SO neglectful that I actually had to refer to my NOTES on how to make a new system disk and save my data to another. I’m embarrassed, but I got it done. I’ll put it on my calendar now so it doesn’t get lost in the shuffle.

Norman Machine Tool

I told you that our air compressor suddenly quit working. My husband took apart the top of it, finding the part that he thought was causing the problem. He ordered what he HOPED was a replacement part, and it arrived yesterday. So when we got back from Lunch Bunch, he took it out to the shop. He spent a couple of hours, and he FIXED it! He replaced the part, put everything back together and tested it. It worked perfectly. So now we’ll be able to change our snow tires on the truck for the regular tires once we really believe we are finished with snow and ice for awhile. :0) Another wonderful thing was that he fixed the compressor for around $80. If we had had to buy a new one, a much smaller one would have cost around $450 plus tax, plus shipping. He’s a miracle worker.

Giphy

I’m starting to feel a difference in my efforts to move more. I’m feeling less creaky in my afternoon old lady yoga practices, and the working in the garden is definitely getting me moving more. I’m going to see if I can increase this as the weather improves.

Wishing you a happy Saturday.

Sad

WiffleGif

I’m having trouble eating the right things lately. What I HOPE is the last gasp of winter has encouraged comfort food. I’m getting so ‘comforted,’ I’m almost comatose.

I titled this post, ‘Sad,’ because I saw a thing on aging –

and it made me HUNGRY…..

Old, hungry, and ticked off by pet peeves can be a lethal combination….. :0)

Sabotage Can Be Fun

Tenor

My husband is watching a rented movie right now. He has decided that we should be in full survival/comfort-food-mode since it’s snowing, and asked for chili mac with cheese and onions for dinner tonight.

Since I have absolutely no willpower, and wasn’t aware we HAD any chili left, that’s what we’ll have. I can now say – and no one can dispute my veracity :0) – my PLANS to eat right just went out the window for the day – ALL because of my husband. (That’s my story and I’m trying to keep a straight face as I type it.)

It WILL be much easier for me to be good when I can concentrate on planting my early spring garden, play in my planters around the yard and more. For now, I WILL be a good girl and do my yoga this afternoon, but it won’t begin to offset the chili….

What!?!?!

Giphy

My friend Kay called yesterday to ask if we wanted to do Lunch Bunch today, instead of tomorrow, because we’re due for a ‘wintry mix’ tomorrow – WHAT!?!?!? We were happy to do Lunch Bunch anytime the group wants to, but I’m bummed by the idea of more snow and ice. I’m embracing spring. Our daffodils and tulip tree are blooming! Hopefully the bad weather will be over very soon and we can start making active plans for our garden and working in the yard.

Masterfile

Under the category of ‘too many changes for old people’ – our son told me yesterday that the conference call program we use to communicate, actually being able to see each other and talk in real time is going to start charging for their services. When I told my husband, he got upset, wanting to keep the program we’re using, even though there are several other options available. I talked to our son briefly this morning, telling him that we wanted to continue the program and that we wanted to pay for all of us to use it. He’s going to check it out and will get back to me.

A long time good friend called me yesterday to wish me a happy birthday. I haven’t heard from her in AGES. Life just gets in the way, doesn’t it. It was wonderful to catch up and I felt really ‘smile-y’ and
‘glow-y’ inside when we finished. It was really nice of her to think of me.

I hope you have a wonderful day.