Ahhhh – Rain

Quora

It’s cloudy and drizzle-y here today. The rain started overnight and is due to continue through tomorrow. We sure can use the moisture. We’re under a burn ban and Arkansas suffered several wildfires yesterday.

I’m feeling good about my work in the yard yesterday. I was hurrying, trying to get at least SOME of my list done before the rain started. I finished spreading the potting soil in the planters, planted some iris in the niche planter by the house, and cut off the dead stuff from the elephant ear plants. Last night I had some complaints from my body about my activity, but I’m much better today. I’ll probably catch a nap later to try to make up for the bad night’s rest. :0)

The Chunky Chef

When I finish this post, I’m going in to get beef stew going in the crock pot for tonight. It’s cool, cloudy, drizzle-y and rainy, the perfect time for a comfort meal. We’ll have a bit of garlic bread with it.

shesaidbeauty.com – boredpanda.com

Yesterday I was doing my daily yoga practice. (DAY 105) My husband was in his recliner, eating some fritos and dip, reading on his Kindle. I was stretched out on my back, arms behind my head, eyes closed, breathing into my stretch and trying to relax when Amber, our 95-pound yellow lab, started nuzzling me, got on her back beside me, feet in the air, chewing on her front foot, trying to get me to play. I started to laugh and roll over toward her, and suddenly Abby, our cat, jumped up on my side! I laughed out loud at that point, and even my husband started laughing – before trying to help me.

Stay safe, warm, and dry today. I’ve got to go get the beef stew in the crockpot.

Thoughts on a Saturday 10-8-2022

Orangutan-Adorable Harvey-etsy.com

What a wonderful painting. I just love his expression.

I received a couple of photos and a video from my SIL yesterday that I’ll try to share in another post so that we can have a glorious vicarious vacation.

I’ll try to do some work in the garden today. Our weather is gorgeous, so I have no excuses. :0)

Rumi – Twitter.com

I have an idea rattling around in my head about something to try in my art room. It’s been awhile since I’ve been up there. Since I dreamed about it last night, it might be time to go up there and play.

Twitter

We don’t have any big plans for the weekend. I’m hoping we can simply relax and enjoy being together.

I wish YOU a happy weekend, too.

Happy October 2022

Lewis Mailbox Decoration

Good morning! Happy October!

It’s 57 degrees right now. Can you believe it? I’m drinking it in. Ahhhhhh! I actually wore a hoodie to Lunch Bunch yesterday morning. It’s still getting warm-to-too-warm in the afternoons, but it looks like the back of summer has finally been broken. (Knock on wood.)

Since I’ve been having to baby my back, gardening efforts have essentially stalled. Maybe I can do a bit today. I’ll try it and see how it goes.

Happy belated birthday to my dear cousin-in-law-and-dear-friend, Murray.

Have a wonderful day, everyone!

Happy 4th of July Weekend 2022

cleverclassroomblog.blogspot.com

I love long weekends with few plans. I feel FREE, looking at several days of time that I hope I can spend in lots of fun, satisfying ways – or simply doing a lot of nothing. Right now the only thing I have penciled in is to check Monday evening to see if our wonderful neighbors in the valley behind our house will set off fireworks this year.

One of the things I’ve learned in reading about the Mediterranean eating plan is that they suggest that you cut WAAAAAAAY back on red meat, eat a LOT more fish, and to also include chicken and turkey. (They also eat lamb, but I have trouble getting that here, so I’ll concentrate on the others.)

Elizabeth Rider

They suggest eating fish at least twice per week. That’s a LOT more fish that we are used to eating, but I started last night, marinating and baking two boneless salmon filets. I also steamed some fresh asparagus and broccoli. I’m pleased that both my husband and I really enjoyed the dinner. Because of the 4th of July weekend, we splurged with a wedge of watermelon for dessert. I’m going to start including fish twice a week to start and see how it goes. Shrimp will be next.

Raising Children Network

Last night I dreamed about the designs for Christmas presents for my friends – a sure sign I need to make time to get up to my art room and play. Things have been a bit challenging around here lately, so I’m looking forward to time up there for calmness and peace of mind, as well. Maybe I can make some time this afternoon. :0)

This is the harvest for today. Guess what we’ll be enjoying as part of our lunch and dinner tonight!

Our plumber called and then came by the house yesterday afternoon to get a look at what we would like for him to do. He’s covered up with a huge project, but will try to work our little project in as soon as he can.

I hope you can enjoy your Saturday!

Good Morning!

imgflip.com via thriftyniftymommy.com

thriftyniftymommy.com

I’m hoping that my coffee will wake me up. For some reason, I’m really groggy this morning. I’m never a ray of sunshine first thing in the morning, but I’m not usually so aware of my less-then-perkiness.

Senorgif.com – KnowYourMeme

Two hummingbirds put on quite a display for us this morning. :0) Things have been slow in the hummingbird world because of our cooler-than-normal, wetter-than-normal weather, but we had seen we had two of them before. Today it was almost like the Blue Angels, with them flitting together across our view, then splitting off in arcs, then dive-bombing each other as one or both would try to stop at the feeder. Truly joyful display.

No plans for the day yet. I hope yours is good.

Quick Note

Marina Molnar

Long story shorter – My husband got a new computer with Windows 11 on it. We share files and some programs across a private network. His computer can see ME, but I can’t see HIM, so my computer activities are really cramped right now.

We work on it a long time yesterday with no success, so will continue that today. I’ll get back here as soon as I can.

In the meantime, have a wonderful Saturday.

Saturday 3-26-2022

Gardeners’ World

Since our weather is supposed to be sunny and in the 60s this afternoon, I’m planning to spend a lot of time outdoors today. I’ll check on my new spring garden, plus mix and spray as many two-gallon containers of weed killer as I can handle today. (Good exercise, too!)

Mary Braatz_National Wildlife Federation

We caught a raccoon in our humane trap overnight (finally!) so we’ll go out in a bit, get our mail, relocate the raccoon, and hit the store for incidentals on the way home. Hopefully, we can fill up the bird feeders again, unless he’s part of a huge family of raccoons…

I hope you have a happy Saturday.

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.

Thoughts on a Saturday 3-12-2022

We had what I consider to be the perfect snow yesterday. It started about 10:30 in the morning, got heavier and heavier as the day wore on, reaching the pinnacle of heavy, fluffy, gorgeous flakes like we were in the middle of a snow globe before gradually easing off by around dinner time last night. My husband told me the driveway was clear, but I have to admit I had to check for myself. It is!! There are tracks for the tires to use all the way to the bottom (I walked down about half way so I could see.) Amazing. Since spring is here officially on the 20th, I’m hoping this is the last we’ll see of the white stuff until next year.

iStockphoto

I really wish that Daylight Savings Time would be done away with. I don’t care which way (spring forward or fall back) is chosen, just make a decision and I’ll live with it. I just HATE changing twice a year and then dealing with my reaction to it. End of rant. (I THINK)

Norman Machine Tool

We have a large air compressor in our shop, similar in appearance to this one, except ours is almost an antique and seems larger in circumference than this one. Anyway, it developed a problem after serving us for many years. My husband was able to isolate the problem and removed the piece that is causing the problem. He was able to find what he THINKS is a replacement part and ordered it. If it works, we’re back in business again. If not, we have to weigh other options. There is a huge difference in cost between replacing the part and having to buy another, smaller compressor, so our appendages are crossed that my husband can fix it. The main thing we need it for in the near future is changing from snow tires back to regular tires on our truck. If we can’t get the compressor working soon enough, we can throw the regular tires into the truck and I can take the truck in to have the tires changed and aired up commercially.

Zazzle

I’m amazed by how hard it is to find out the truth of what’s going on in the world today. I read a lot of different news sources each day, truly baffled by the differences in the information provided on the same subject depending on the source of the information. I read a bunch of different reports and then try to sort out ANY agreement on what happened, trying to ignore all the opinion and ‘slant’ of the sources. Sometimes it just makes me tired. It used to be easy. I could almost listen to the news with half an ear, my mind on the myriad of concerns in my life otherwise. Now, I have trouble making sense of things really concentrating.

Enjoy your Saturday.

Thoughts on a Saturday 3-5-2022

“Not Very Lady-Like” – I Can Has Cheezeburger?

I love the whole group of people who are creative enough to make these gifs. I admire the technical expertise, but even more the ideas of WHAT to create.

It’s a rainy weekend here – with sprinkles now, thunderstorms this afternoon, and 90% chance of what might be severe thunderstorms tomorrow. A good weekend to stay inside.

My husband has a very sweet side. Too many times this manifests itself in his bringing me things I’m trying to avoid – like a freshly popped bag of popcorn or pie and ice cream. Although he is well aware that I’m trying to lose the lard (even bragging about my doing yoga at Lunch Bunch yesterday) he doesn’t seem to connect that with his efforts to spoil me. While I love the fact that he’s trying to be good to me, we had another talk day before yesterday.

So far, the talk seems to have helped. Yesterday he brought me half an apple as a mid afternoon snack, and a very small scoop of no sugar added ice cream for dessert at dinner. This is MUCH better. I told him how much I appreciate his help and that what we had yesterday was perfect. I got a bit of something special, but not enough to thwart my efforts to lose the lard. This change, plus my daily yoga, will hopefully get the scales and measuring tape to stop outright laughing or smirking at me.

Stay safe, dry, and warm!

Ah, Sunshine!

BoredPanda.com

It’s chilly now, but it’s supposed to get into the 50s this afternoon. Ahhhhh. Nice weekend ahead for us and I’ll take it. I’m afraid I’ll have to reschedule my happily-anticipated massage on Thursday of next week – if the weather people are right – due to forecast ‘wintry mix,’ (especially ice), on Wednesday and maybe Thursday, as well. Did I tell you I’m ready for spring?

I’m feeling good today, having lost a bit more poundage – almost 4.5 lbs this week – and I did my yoga practice again yesterday. I’ve decided I will try to do my yoga each afternoon. I’m feeling less stiff and sore and hope to improve my practice each day.

I thanked my lucky stars when I discovered Cat Kabira a couple of years ago. I found her on a website called Sixty and Me. I bought the DVD they were selling to get seniors into yoga. I didn’t want to wind myself into a pretzel shape or fold myself into a paper airplane, but I did like the idea of getting and staying more flexible, alleviating pain, and improving my balance.

I now do my own thing on yoga stretches, but the thing that Cat stressed was that no one gives you awards for putting your hands flat on the floor after touching your toes, or bending forward while sitting and putting your face on the floor in front of you. (Good thing!) :0)

The thing that is important is that you stretch yourself in that DIRECTION and then breathe into it. You will improve as you learn to relax into the positions and you will get the same benefit as if you HAD touched the floor. THAT freed me from feeling defeated before I started.

As I’ve told you, I’m a champion hard-head, so I have to keep reminding myself that the benefits don’t continue if you don’t practice. So now I’m almost starting at square one, stretching TOWARD where I would like to go, trying to get my poor, sore and stiff body to relax into it once again. I AM starting to feel a difference, and my husband noticed I was doing better yesterday.

I’m on a roll with my determination to ‘shut my mouth and practice yoga daily.’ Hopefully, I can keep this going.

BoredPanda.com

Thoughts on a Saturday 1-22-2022

popularmechanics.com

My day has started really well.

My husband hugged me first thing this morning, thanking me again for figuring out how to navigate the website so we could transfer the money we needed to move in our investment account, and again for figuring out what we needed to do to make our new house phones work. Last night I did a final test, calling our house phone with my cell, confirming our call screening program was again working, then leaving a voice message. I’m relieved that we didn’t have to spend another tense day trying to figure things out, dealing with strain of dealing with each other when things don’t work, plus the support people who always want information I can’t supply, with me desperately trying to hear and understand them.

The sun is shining and it seems that we will have just a ‘typical’ winter week here in Arkansas – really welcome news. One of my less favorite feelings about winter is the difficulty of trying to make and keep appointments when you don’t know what Mother Nature will supply. We have been stuck up here on top of our ridge line for a couple of weeks at a time, not able to negotiate our steep driveway – the last place on the planet to thaw after snow and ice. We plan ahead as much as possible, trying to make sure we have all we need for whatever happens, but I hate inconveniencing others when I have to call and reschedule things I’ve promised to do.

My Lunch Bunch friend Kay has a new primary doctor now. She was raving about him when I talked with her last night. She is hopeful that the pain in her back due to her fall will finally be under some control. I’m SO happy for her!

Since I am definitely in ‘the land of the living’ again, I’m starting to have ideas rattling around my head of things I’d like to try in my art room. I haven’t been up there for over a month now, so it will be good to finally be in the mood to play a bit. I’m hoping to do some experimenting – probably making a mess – but definitely smiling. :0)

I hope you’re feeling healthy and happy this Saturday morning. Enjoy your day!

Despite the Weather –

weheartit.com

I’ve had a good morning.

Our weather experts are predicting scattered showers and a heat advisory this afternoon and evening of 100+, so I got out this morning and did another session of weed whacking in the waist-high area behind our shop and beside our garden. You can actually SEE the 250 gallon propane tank now! I also cleared the area around the trash cans where we keep the ingredients for Mel’s Mix for the square foot garden.

While I was out there, I went into the shop and worked on the Christmas presents for my friends some more.

We’ll eat lunch in about an hour, so I have time to cool off, drink a bottle of water, treat myself to another cup of coffee, and enjoy being at the computer before I need to get our meal together. :0)

I hope your Saturday is shaping up to be a good one.

Thoughts on a Saturday 7-3-2021

thefunnybeaver.com

Nice Saturday

creanavt.tumblr.com

I’m having a good day so far, though – as you can see above – obviously not a good hair day…. :0)

First of all, IT’S NOT RAINING! In fact, from the look of the weather forecast, our rainy season has finally come to an end. This means that we need to get out some time this weekend – preferably this evening – and test our irrigation system, fix any blowouts, and schedule and run the system. Some of our spoiled plants – used to the cooler temperatures and lots and lots of rain, are starting to look wilted.

One of the last tasks remaining on the dismantling of the greenhouse project was to tie some neon pink surveyor’s tape on the stake in the ground so that the people who come (on no particular schedule that I can tell) to mow the gas company’s easement on the side of our yard won’t hurt themselves or their equipment running into or over the stake. I also took a sledgehammer. I hit the stake several times in all directions and was able to pull the stake completely out! So I brought the stake, hammer, and tape back to the house. Mission accomplished!

I took some pictures of some of the prettier things in our yard while I was out walking around.

This picture and the next are really making me smile today. Last year I had truly great elephant ears. I over-wintered them in peat moss in the garage and replanted them at the beginning of the spring. Nothing happened. :0( They were gone. I ordered some bulbs online in desperation. I received and planted three bulbs. Nothing was happening, so I decided that I wasn’t going to have anything. This one popped up yesterday. You can see the second one in the next picture. The third one hasn’t done anything, but I won’t be greedy.

I am truly delighted and hope they will get large and lush.

Nice Day

Depositphotos

It is a wonderful day here so far. It’s overcast, but not raining. I have two main things to do:

THING ONE – get a haircut this afternoon

THING TWO – finish planting flowers.

Yesterday we went to the local nursery to get two flowers that my husband likes – impatiens and wave petunias. We’ve cut back on what we’re planting this year as kind of a leftover from the pandemic. We had already checked several places for flowers. This year I would have been content with planting any number of flowers we saw. Finally, it came down to the fact that my husband wanted wave petunias and impatiens, and was willing to drive to Ft. Smith to get them. Happily, we were able to find a bright orangy impatiens for the front porch and other shady areas in front of the house, plus wave petunias in a gloriously deep purple.

Pahl’s Market

This is the color of the impatiens I planted yesterday. It should spread nicely, filling a couple of shallow round faux terra cotta planters on the porch, plus I dotted them in the brick planters that line the front of the house.

Good Shepherd Holbrook, NY

This is the color of the wave petunias we found. I’m cleaning out 4 large terra cotta pots that live up high on the railing of the deck, plus some other planters on the floor of the deck.

I’ll take pictures when the flowers start to look nice.

Tonight the rains are supposed to start. (My mouth dropped open when I saw this. I may still look like a gaping fish. )

Partly cloudy early with increasing clouds overnight. A stray thunderstorm is possible. Low 63F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph.

Sun 16

79°/64°PM Thunderstorms50%SSE 11 mph

Mon 17

76°/65°Scattered Thunderstorms51%SSE 9 mph

Tue 18

77°/66°Scattered Thunderstorms51%SE 9 mph

Wed 19

74°/66°Scattered Thunderstorms57%SE 11 mph

Thu 20

79°/67°Scattered Thunderstorms45%SE 10 mph

Fri 21

78°/68°Scattered Thunderstorms44%SE 10 mph

Sat 22

83°/67°Scattered Thunderstorms37%SE 9 mph

Sun 23

82°/65°Scattered Thunderstorms38%SSE 8 mph

Mon 24

82°/65°Scattered Thunderstorms41%SSE 8 mph

Tue 25

82°/65°Scattered Thunderstorms36%S 9 mph

Wed 26

82°/64°Isolated Thunderstorms33%W 8 mph

Thu 27

83°/65°Isolated Thunderstorms31%SSW 7 mph

Looks like we’ll be dodging a lot of raindrops until further notice…

Hello, April! (A Couple of Days Late)

Australian Firefighters Fundraising Calendar

I have always enjoyed the month of April. “Ray and Sarah” make it an even better month. :0)

It is only the third of April and already it’s shaping up to be a much better month for us.

• My husband and I both received our second COVID vaccinations last Monday.
• My spring veggie garden is in and seems to be doing well so far. I have planted Butter Crunch Leaf Lettuce, head lettuce, spinach, crookneck yellow squash, zucchini, cabbage, and broccoli. I will be adding radishes and celery starts to the main garden in the next day or two. We also have two planters with tomato plants.
• We have a nice group of contractors replacing the back porch ceiling, installing some new shutters to replace some that fell off the front of the house two stories up, and sealing the place in the roof soffit squirrels had gotten inside and raised havoc. The combined project should be finished Monday by the end of the day. They are on Home Advisor and the name of the company is Safe Elite Transformations.
• Continuing our fight with the gremlins that have been plaguing us – my husband was able to fix the riding mower – twice, due to two different problems – and got the lawn mowed. He also was able to get the push around weed whacker running and did some of the heavier weed whacking.
• I weed whacked in the front and then used the leaf blower to clean things up. I’ll do the back today.
• I will use the opportunity of the fluorescent light fixtures and ceiling fan being down from the back porch ceiling and see if I can clean them up a bunch before it’s time to put them back up.
• Either the guys will paint the rest of the wood on the back porch or I will do it myself once this project is finished.
• Today would have been my parents’ 79th wedding anniversary. (My dad would have been 103 this year and my mom 100). I think of them often. I was very lucky in my choice of parents. I have so many wonderful memories. :0)

So things are definitely improving around here since April started. I hope that a new leaf has been turned over and that we can continue making progress on what seemed like an endless list of things that HAVE to be done ASAP.

Happy April!

Thoughts on a Saturday 8-29-2020

forwarded email

My heart goes out to the people suffering from Mother Nature’s fury. So many good people are hurting, with physical and emotional damage on top of the pandemic concerns.  We just need to concentrate on helping each other the best way we can.

We are getting to the bottom of our South Beach diet boxes. I am DIYing more and more as we run out of things, gradually making my way to the point where we will be on our own once again. The two month reboot for our keto efforts has been good in many ways

• a blunt reminder of what a ‘serving’ is – and is not
• a more subtle reminder that we don’t need to walk around hungry. There are good choices for snacks mid morning, mid afternoon, and before bed that remind us that each meal is NOT our last. I’m stocking cut up fresh veggies, cheese sticks, hard-boiled eggs, nuts, etc.
• a reminder that eating right is only part of the equation to being healthy. I’m am still trying to do a 35 minute session of my elliptical trainer in the mornings (though I just do it until my body complains too much and then I stop, regardless of the time – at LEAST doing 15 minutes. Lately, I have been substituting heavy yard work (cleaning up after the storm) and cleaning out our ruined greenhouse (hauling things out and taking them to the garage and/or the shop). I am then doing a good session (35 minutes +) of yoga daily. These stretches are gauged for Seniors, so are NOT trying to get you to fold yourself into a paper airplane. They are designed to help you gain flexibility, core strength, and relaxation.

Unsplash

(I have ALWAYS been somewhat stiff and inflexible. I was in an exercise class in college. We did an exercise where we were lying on our stomachs. We were then told to lift our arms and legs simultaneously up as far as we could get them, and then move them down again, over and over. I did the ‘up’ just fine. The ‘down,’ not so much. I went up, something ‘caught’ in my back, not allowing me to bring my parts down again. I was yelling in pain. They finally got two big guys to lift me up over their heads, like the prow on a ship, and carry me to the infirmary. When they finally got me fixed, I had a waiver for that exercise. Being long-in-the-tooth only exacerbates my normal stiffness, so it’s more important than ever)

• I am gearing up to cook all the time again. I will miss the stuff the South Beach Diet people sell in tiny bowls – ‘cheeseburger soup,’ and ‘a white beans something-or-other.’ Both were delicious. We ordered a few more packages of pancake mix, because my husband really likes those, to let us down gradually. In the meantime, I will look for ingredients so I can make low carb pancakes from time to time from scratch. We also like the shakes, but won’t order more.
• At this point, I have lost 40 pounds and 43+ inches. I will do everything I can NOT to regain any of this back, and will keep trying to lose more. I would like to lose another 30 lbs to get into a good, solid, healthy BMI range for my height. (I’ve tried getting taller, but that doesn’t seem to be in the cards.)

Otherwise, the ruined greenhouse is now empty.  My husband and I have agreed that we will let the shell sit until things get cooler. (Today’s forecast is 98 degrees F. with a heat index of 112) Today I will concentrate on getting my seed-starting area in the garage workable, with things either stored out of the way or taken out to the shop, and things I need easily accessible.  My husband fixed one of my lights over the counter. I found, and hooked up, my grow light, so I have a start.

I hope that you have a happy Saturday.

 

 

Thoughts on a Saturday – June 20, 2020

Citizens State Bank

“A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken.” — James Dent

The sun was out earlier here, but now it’s overcast. We have an 80% chance of storms today – the first day of summer. All people and animals are good today, and we’re hoping for a quiet weekend.

I pre-ordered the latest paperback “In Death” series book by J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts) awhile back. It comes out in July.  To celebrate this, I’m enjoying my dive into the world of Eve Dallas, Lieutenant in the NYPSD in the year 2058+.  I’m picking up details I missed the first time, as well as just enjoying inhabiting her world – so different from mine. I’m re-reading book # 23 right now (out of 50) and will be ready to add the newest book to my collection when it arrives. (I’ve also pre-ordered the paperback of #51 which will be out at the end of December.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are due for a rainy weekend. I’ve been working hard in the yard, trying to keep the weeds at bay. I see evidence that the ‘wild’ would simply take back the land we have enjoyed for over 30 years now if I lost my determination to win the war. The civilized part of our yard looks pretty good now. My next focus will be on weeding my veggie garden and my flower planters around the yard. I’ll enjoy it if I get a bit of a break from the work this weekend.

I heated up the leftover spaghetti with meat sauce I made this week for dinner last night. I used the spaghetti made from chickpeas (brand name Banza) that has half the carbs of regular pasta. It’s still a splurge, but I sure enjoyed it. I made garlic toast for my husband with hot dog buns, and used the keto bread I made for mine.)  My husband said, “This was delicious. Thank you!” :0)  We will have leftover pork chops tonight with a side salad.

Animal Wellness Magazine

I will continue the longer, slower sessions of gentle yoga I started yesterday. I’m concentrating on relaxing – harder to do these days – and S_T_R_E_T_C_H_I_N _G everything I have slowly and thoroughly. I’m feeling better because of it.

I hope your first day of summer is a nice one, too. ENJOY.

 

 

 

 

 

Feeling Lucky

My husband and I just came back from running some quick errands. I can’t get him to wear a mask, so we keep our errands to an absolute minimum and move in and out of the store very quickly to avoid exposure as much as possible. I’m feeling grateful that Arkansas is one of the states that did not require a complete lockdown.  Sometimes we can go through a drive-through or call and get curbside service at one of our favorite restaurants. We got a rotisserie chicken today, so I don’t even have to cook tonight. I’ll make a salad to go with it, using our head lettuce and spinach leaves from our own garden.

Several states are now in the process of trying to carefully reopen their economies. Arkansas is one. I’m interested to see how this works. I think that people will need to think for themselves about what is a safe situation. My husband and I are in the high risk group. so we will probably continue to do what we’re doing, avoiding exposure as much as we can until further notice. If we see something that we consider safe, or consider the risk worth it, we will expand to new things again.

I feel lucky that I can continue to plan my days here on top of our ridgeline, filling it with things I SHOULD do – like household chores and exercise – as well as FUN things, such as writing my blog and playing in my art room. It just doesn’t get much luckier than that.

So far friends and family have managed to avoid the virus, or have HAD it and don’t know it. I hope this continues.

I’m am hopeful that we can open our economy carefully, getting good people back to work, getting a start on putting our world back to normal.

natural life via 2 STAR art

 

Perspective

Back to Nature

In these days of worry over COVID 19, my perspective continues to change.

My priorities have changed, and continue to change. Things that used to bother me don’t even register now.

It’s raining again, so I’m thankful we have a warm, dry home.

I’m reaching out to friends and family to make sure they are safe, catch up with what is going on, and share the love.

One of the priorities for the day was finding something I can wear over my face in the few times we go out in public.

We’re not planning to go out until we need to, but we now have a group of painting masks to take with us and wear. I’m not sure my husband will use one. (He continues to be his stubborn self – crisis or no crisis.)

I am  hoping I can visit my veggies this afternoon. I would like to do another harvest. If I do, I’ll take some pics to share.

I watch our animals – seeing that nothing has changed for them. They continue to live their lives, not only enjoying one day at a time, but one moment at a time. I am trying to learn from this.

My biggest wish right now is that people will soon be able to go back to work soon.  I am hoping that this will devolve into a more ‘regular’ flu worry, where we can get a shot for the ‘season,’ and just be normally careful. Our country needs to get back to normal as soon as possible.

Be safe.

 

 

 

 

Good Morning!

Nature Heaven

It is NOT raining today!  It’s cool and gray outside, but I’ll take it! My husband is grumbling that, as soon as our yard dries out, he’ll have to mow – in MARCH!  We haven’t even taken our snow tires off the truck and he’ll have to mow!

Arkansas has officially joined the ranks of the states calling for closure of a lot of things. We called and picked up burgers from our Lunch-Bunch-Friday Pizza Barn. They were figuring out how to offer curbside service and doing a fine job.  A local Facebook group is providing a list of restaurants that are offering call-in and pick-up services now. We will try to support them, as well as small business people in our community, as we all try to get through this.

Meanwhile, since we are staying home, one would THINK my house would now be spotless. Hahahahaahahhhahaha!  No such luck. I still am a champion at finding things that have higher priority than cleaning.  I DID scrub the fish and the aquarium –

 

I am working on starting a new shop on Etsy for my hand-painted glassware. I would appreciate it if you would tell me if you like “Classy Glass,” “Sassy Glass” or “Something Else” (all suggestions welcome) as a name for the shop.

We got a notice from the census people a couple of days ago. My husband found that they directed him online to fill out a form. It was quick and easy. We saved the confirmation from them just in case it is needed in the future.

I hope that you are staying safe and happy.

 

 

 

Thoughts on a Saturday 2-29-2020

alamy

Happy Leap Year – February 29th, 2020!

We have had a busy day so far.

We figured out a way to move the big rock that we dug up when the water pipe in our front yard sprung a leak.

It doesn’t look very impressive here, but the rock is about 18 inches long and HEAVY. We managed to turn it sideways, working with a shovel and moving it about an inch at a time. Then we worked together to heave it over, and over, and over until we finally got to the edge of the yard. It went down the slope into the trees. We then got a bag of potting soil to work on filling the hole. We’ll see where we are after the next rain.

I went through my jewelry today. I LOVE jewelry, particularly earrings, but followed closely by necklaces. I have WAY too much for any one woman, so I decided to get fairly ruthless, putting anything I hadn’t worn in the past year into baggies for each jewelry type to donate to the Disabled Veterans Thrift Store. I STILL have too much jewelry for any one woman, but I made significant progress. I went through my closet quickly, too, finding some purses, scarves and belts to add to the donation. I have just finished listing everything and getting the bags ready to take for donation next Tuesday.

We’re going Tuesday because on Monday (between 9 and 5) we are supposed to be getting significantly faster Internet service provided by CenturyLink. We have them now, but the service they were advertising on a flyer recently really got our attention. We live in the sticks and have to be content with the best of whatever is available. Our son – who has one of the greatest senses of humor on the planet – goes into a whole ‘schtick’ mocking our service each time he comes home. I laugh until my stomach hurts. Fingers – and all other appendages – are crossed that the new service actually IS significantly faster than what we have now.

Also on Tuesday, thanks to YOU – I am getting a lobster tail lunch at Red Lobster after we make the donation – because my subscriber list hit 1400 officially today. I’m thrilled and I thank those of you who signed up. :0)

My to-do list is long today, but I am making progress. I hope that your day is happy and productive, too.

Thoughts on a Saturday 2-15-2020

The sun is ALMOST shining today and it’s warmer, so I’m a happy camper.

We just got back from running errands. We have two main things on our list today –

THING ONE – getting a replacement collar for the shock collar we use rarely with our 94+ pound yellow lab, Amber. The shock part is still working, but the collar is too short now. Once we get one we can use, we’ll start working with her again in the yard. We need to be able to take her to the vet, for example, without worrying about her pulling my husband or me down and making us face surf on the ground. Our biggest problem is that she minds well when we are by ourselves. She looks at us as if she has never seen us before and is totally deaf when we are out in public.

THING TWO – adjusting a door knob assembly so that the door to the guest room closes and stays closed, rather than opening with the nose of a dog or cat.

I told you that we don’t really celebrate any holidays like birthdays, Valentine’s Day, anniversaries, etc. My husband was raised without big celebrations and I don’t want him to feel obligated to get me something just because of the calendar.  When we find something we think the other will like, we get it and give it, regardless of the day.

I have also told you that I’m a very happy, spoiled lady who is treated better than I deserve 99% of the time. Two examples –

He bought me these earrings a couple of weeks ago. I just love them. They gave me some trouble trying to actually get them into my ears, though. The post is curved and didn’t want to go through the hole in my ear. I kept trying. I finally decided to wait until my earlobes were completely happy and THEN try them. I wore them yesterday!!!! My husband was a bit disappointed, saying they were ‘small,’ but they looked pretty. I tried to get a pic of them with me wearing them, but I wasn’t able to.

TODAY I opened a package in the mail to find these –

The picture doesn’t show how sparkly they are. They are called, “sidewinders” or something similar because you see the whole circle while they are in your ear, not just an outside edge. I will put them on and try to get a picture. Fingers crossed!

See what I mean about being happy and spoiled?

After several days of running like a nut, I’m fairly caught up today.

I am planning to –

• Bake a loaf of keto bread
• Get back into exercising – with my elliptical trainer in the garage plus a session of yoga later today.

I hope that YOUR Saturday is a fun one!

Crazy Days

Psychology Today

Yesterday and today have been super-busy days. Good -and productive – but long and tiring.

Yesterday started with regular morning chores. Then we enjoyed our friends at Lunch Bunch. We ran some errands, came home, and then back out again 45 minutes later for doctor appointments.  More errands, and then, as we started back home, the skies had suddenly cleared from our week-long dreary, rainy ones, so we packed up the back of the truck with our donations to the Disabled Veterans Thrift Store in Fort Smith, invited the dog to travel with us and headed out again.

It was still cloudy, and we have the windows in the back halfway down when Amber travels with us.  I also have to crack my window because the air buffets my ears, making them uncomfortable. The result was I felt thoroughly chilled by the time we got home. I got a cup of hot coffee, turned on my heat pad, and snuggled under my throw in my recliner in the living room until I felt warm again.

By this time it was 7 pm, time to feed animals and humans.  We finally packed it up for the day at midnight.

________________

Today, too, has been a whirlwind of activity.  So far today we have run errands, I’m running the third load of laundry, I fixed bacon-wrapped chicken – ready to put in the oven later, I baked two spaghetti squashes and then put them into individual servings in the freezer, cleaned out our aquarium, vacuumed the first floor tiles…. My list is long, but I’m making progress.  I’m having a cup of coffee and writing these posts, and then I’ll get back to work again.

I feel good when I’ve accomplished things on my list, but I’ll give myself permission to play in my art room again soon…

 

 

Thoughts on a Saturday 1-11-2020

Jeff Jett – LinkedIn

The severe weather came through last night, dropping our temperature from 70 degrees F. to 34 this morning. the storms and lightning were pretty impressive. (My husband was teed off because our weather guy broke into the programs he wanted to watch.) The day today is gray, raw, wet, cold. We MAY get sleet today, but so far, we are doing fine, have sustained no damage that I have found, and are warm, safe, and dry.  I hope the storms don’t cause a lot of damage as they now move to the east.

 

My daffodils are stupid. They have sprouted and will try to bloom, even though the prospect of sleet is imminent today with winter coming on its heels.

 

I baked recipe #6 for keto bread yesterday. I brought two slices in for my husband and I to try. My husband took one bite and didn’t say anything. In a few minutes he let our dog, Amber enjoy the remainder of the slice. (Tact is not his long suit.)  Happily, I found a group yesterday on Facebook – Amazing Daily Keto moderated by Angie Thomason that is all things keto. I was accepted into the group and already have a new bread recipe to try!  Hooray!

I’m getting my chores accomplished – mainly due to the yucky weather outside – and

source unknown

am hoping to spend at least part of the afternoon in my art room. I have some ideas rattling around that are becoming insistent that they be allowed to come out. I LOVE spending time up there! :0)

I hope that YOUR day is safe and enjoyable.

Thoughts on a Saturday 12-28-2019

We just changed the decoration on our mailbox from Santa to Happy New Year.

We love Calvin & Hobbes by Bill Watterson, so we have made two mailbox decorations to honor his great work and sense of humor.  This one appeals to us because we have never been the nostalgic “Auld Lang Syne’ types at New Years.  At our age, we just got used to writing ‘2019’ on our checks and now we have to think again before writing… :0)

I just finished adding my hand painted wooden earrings to my new Etsy shop – EyecatchingEarrings. I can’t decide if I need to work on a banner to go across the top of the page or not. If you have the time to take a look, I would appreciate your opinion.

As we came in from getting the mail and putting up the new mailbox decoration, I was appalled to see dog hair balls on the floor that were blowing in the breeze we made as we walked by. This tells me two things:

THING ONE – I need to get up off my duff and VACUUM, and

THING TWO – I need to defurminate Molly again.

I absolutely will do thing one and will TRY to do thing two.

I hope that your Saturday is a good one!

 

 

Thoughts on a Saturday 12-7-2019

Beautiful World

Today has been a ‘fruit-basket-upset’ so far.

My husband reminded me that it was past time for me to check for operating system updates on my computer. I had to close down everything and start a download. It took FOREVER. THEN – it had to APPLY the updates to my computer.

While it worked, I cut up strawberries for my husband, got chili into the crock pot, vacuumed the first floor tiles, defurminated (a tool that thins her hair) the dog, took down Thanksgiving decorations, cleaned the kitchen….

Now, it’s afternoon and I haven’t had my coffee or started working at the computer!

I have to share that I sold a couple of hand-painted glass Christmas ornaments and a package of friendship greeting cards at the local shop in Greenwood yesterday!

I don’t know which two sold, but it makes me happy that someone liked them. :0)

We got to talk briefly with our son in Thailand this morning.  We tried to use the conference call program, but my computer was using up all our band width, downloading the system updates, so we’ll have to try that another time. He was doing well, and that’s the main thing.

Now that it’s afternoon, and I have JUST finished my morning cup of coffee, I’ll go fix our lunch and then try to get going on the computer again.

I hope that YOUR day is going well.

 

Thoughts on a Saturday 11-2-2019

Amanda Alma-Feel Free

Today started out pretty cold – 33 degrees. I finally went out to the garage to do 35 minutes on my elliptical trainer when the temperature reached 50. Now it’s 58 and practically balmy!  The freeze killed all the flowers in the planters around the yard, so the next several days I’ll be trying to clear out my planters in preparation for topping them out with mulch for the winter.

My husband loves pulled pork. I found a recipe he really likes, so I put a pork loin in the crock pot this morning. When it is cooked, he helps me shred it, each of us using two forks, until it’s the right consistency. We’ll have that tonight for dinner and divide up the rest if it into meal portions for him and freeze them. Usually we get about 8 meals from one pork loin.

An online friend just made my day. He is serving in Afghanistan and we have been chatting. He told me today that he used the photo of my “Believe” plaque as wallpaper for his computer!

The rest of my day will be spent –

• cleaning out ONE planter outside
• doing my daily yoga stretches session
• working on the flat wooden Christmas ornaments in my art room

I hope you’re having a wonderful Saturday, too.

*If you are in one of the states that practices Daylight Savings Time, tonight before you go to bed, turn your clocks BACK one hour!

 

Thoughts on a Saturday 10-12-2019

Beautiful World

 

It’s 40 degrees F this morning and sunshine-y.

It’s too cool to have our doors open this morning, but I am REALLY enjoying the relief from our relentless summer here. It’s nice to NOT have a ‘heat index’. Somehow, knowing that makes me even hotter. I’m planning to work outside this afternoon, cleaning up around the tomato planters where I pulled out the plants a couple of days ago. I may have to throw on a sweatshirt!!!! Woo HOOOO!

It makes me a bit sad that in one week our son will be going back to Thailand. He came home at the end of July (27 hour trip with the flights and the layovers) to help us through the aftermath of my husband’s stroke.  There were lots of tests and decisions to be made. It was a super tense situation, but we finally got the information we needed and did what my husband would allow to avoid another stroke. The crisis is over. My husband is almost completely back to normal. It’s time for our son to get back to his life. I’m collecting lots of hugs (thank goodness he is super generous with them. We communicate almost daily when he’s halfway across the world. He set up a secure chat program we use, plus a conference call program we use from time to time so we can see each other. The only thing missing is his world class hugs. We are SO lucky.

 

I am still fighting with technology, but I’m happy to have two shops on Etsy now –

ArtworthyNoteCards –  hand-painted personalizable stationery, note cards, and greeting cards

TotablyYours  – hand-painted, one-of-a-kind tote bags

 

Amazon

 

I’ve admitted that I’m like a little kid when it comes to motivation to do things I would rather not. I’ve been giving myself gold stars on my desk calendar each day when I practice my yoga, do my elliptical trainer, or do a job in the yard that is drudgery, rather than fun. This week – if I stay on track today and tomorrow, will be a 15-star week!  It makes me happy to look at all the stars on the desk calendar, but I’m also FEELING better for the exercise – and that is really the point of it all.

If I can get my technical problems solved today, I’ll try to get up to my art room this afternoon. I have the BEST of all dilemmas – whether to experiment with my new crayon melting tools or experiment with my new Unicorn Spit stain/glaze kit my wonderful SIL sent me.  :0)

 

 

I hope that you are enjoying YOUR Saturday, whether it is with relaxation or fun.

 

Thoughts on a Saturday – 10-5-2019

Backyard Garden Lover via Yolanda Vanveen

I marvel at the way some people’s minds work. I LOVE the creativity that resulted in the cute ‘birds’ above! I just hope there is a way to preserve these.

Penn Fitness Warehouse

After almost two full weeks of using my elliptical trainer 3 times a week for 35 minutes each session, my body told me that was too much at one time. Thursday I went to two 15-minute sessions, and that seemed to be better, though 15 minutes seemed a bit short, plus it was difficult to work the 2nd session into the day. Today I started with a 20-minute session. That seemed good, so I’ll do it daily for the next week or so and see how it goes. The cooler days now are bringing up my energy level, so hopefully I can get in my elliptical early.

Y is for Yogini

My daily yoga practice is going well. (I’m on DAY 33 today.)  This poor old stiff, sore lady emerges from my yoga stretches feeling better, moving more freely. I’m FEELING a bit of progress. Our dog, Amber,

Amber

‘helps’ me do my positions by oozing off her ‘place’ (bed) closer and closer until she can nuzzle me. When I start to laugh, she dives right in for a good hug.

Today I’m cooking TWO recipes worth of “Sausage, Egg and Cheese Bake” by Suzanne Ryan of Simply Keto at my husband’s REQUEST.  I have one more pound to lose before I’m ‘into-new-territory’ on my efforts to lose the lard. Cronometer.com is a great site for showing you where you are on your macros (percentages of fat, protein and carbs for the day). I like to add what I’m planning to eat, and then be able to modify it, if needed, before I make a mistake. I have the site bookmarked on my computer, plus added the app on my phone.

The fish haven’t complained, but it’s time today to clean out the aquarium. I’ll scrub things out, vacuum the gravel, put in different decorations, and then fill it back up again. The four goldfish I have are at least triple the size they were when I got them. They still seem to be fine in the 5-gallon tank. I’ll try to show you pics of their new digs later.

I’m working on three designs for a banner to go across the new Etsy shop I’m going to open soon. I’ll also try to post pics later to see what you think.

The weather is SOOOO nice! We have doors open again today. It’s really nice to air out the house and not have to use the a/c.

I hope that your day is full of fun things to do.