Friday Fun 12-2-2022

Final Fantasy XIV

I’m looking forward to Lunch Bunch today even more than usual. Due to Thanksgiving last week, our restaurant wasn’t open for our lunch last Friday, so it’s been two weeks since we met. I want to find out if Linda has moved to the retirement place and what else is going on with everyone.

It’s actually warmer this morning than it has been. It’s 51 degrees F. already and is supposed to get to 60 this afternoon! Woo HOOO! I’m hoping to be able to continue my yard work, though I haven’t decided what I’ll tackle yet, if the weather is cooperative. We’re supposed to have light rain off and on during the day and a strong cold front coming through overnight, so it’s still a roller coaster here.

It’s funny. I’m reading After Sundown by Linda Howard and Linda Jones. It’s about a CME (cornonal mass ejection) bringing their world to a standstill with no electricity until further notice and all the things that derive from that. This morning I checked the news and read about solar storms possibly affecting our power grid in a minor way. Eerie.

And with that, I’ll wish you a happy, stress-free day.

Thursday Thoughts 10-27-2022

NeoGAF

I managed NOT to come downstairs in the middle of the night and read while stuffing my face last night. I woke up like someone had nudged me about about 3am, but firmly laid there with my eyes shut, avoiding temptation. I’m NOT overeating at lunch and dinner, but I AM having to convince myself I’m not starving to death between meals and in the middle of the night. I know. I’m certainly old enough to know better.

I can’t believe how beautiful our weather has been since the two days of storms we had. It’s 57 degrees F. right now and the high is supposed to be 70 today. I’m planning to get outside after lunch and work in the yard. My onions still need to be stored, my elephant ears got pretty battered during the storm and I need to clean up what’s left as much as I can. I’m still working on replanting the iris I dug up when I converted the planter from an iris planter to a tomato planter for the spring. I’m not even THINKING of making a list of all I need to do outside because it’s overwhelming. I’ll just plod along and do what I can for now.

Facebook

DAY 104 for daily yoga practice. I wish I looked as nice as this lion when I practiced. I bet he’d be impressed with all the cracking and popping my body does as I move into the positions and stretches.

I hope that you’re enjoying a beautiful day, too. Make it a happy one. :0)

Good Morning

Jeremy Paul Wildlife Artist – “Mirror2”

Good morning! I’m up and mostly functional, though I’m feeling a bit blurry this morning.

Our doors are open again, taking advantage of another day of low humidity and ONLY hot temperatures by mid afternoon, rather than the breath-sucking, slap-you-in-the-face heat advisory and excessive heat warning weather we have been ‘enjoying’ lately. This is due to continue until Friday, when we have several days of rainy, humid weather again and rising temperatures. Good things can’t last forever. I’ll take it and grin while I can.

Our first ripe tomato of the season!

Our first ripe tomato of the season last night was cut up with great ceremony and enjoyed with our dinner. It was a pretty tomato with no blemishes or bad spots, and was delicious! :0)

We will leave for errands in about 45 minutes, but we have no big plans for the day. The most ‘exciting’ thing is that the water department folks will leave the sample bottle on the porch sometime today. I have a note beside my computer about it so I don’t forget. I get the sample tomorrow morning and they pick the bottle back up sometime tomorrow.

iStock

I plan to spend some time outside today, doing something constructive in the yard, if possible.

I hope your Tuesday is healthy and happy.

A Bit of Success

WiffleGif

I finally had a bit of success on losing the lard. I’m almost back to 30 pounds down since my heaviest now – hoping to hit that officially in the next day or so. I’m learning once again how much easier it is to put it ON, rather than taking it OFF.

Yesterday I was moving most of the day. I was in the shop working on the refurb of our Box Turtle Yard art piece. It was hot in there, but I had a fan. I was up and down, pulling and hauling. After resting a bit, I weed whacked, doing two sessions that I had to stop when the weed eater started to smoke! My husband will look at that today to see if it is salvageable. Anyhow, it was a lot of work out in the hot, so I guess that helped finally shed a bit more of the lard.

Today I’m going to put the refurbed box turtle back where he lives in the yard, take pics to show you, start work on another piece, use the leaf blower to clean up the two sidewalks and garage pad, and then cut up lots of veggies for the “kielbasa and veggies” cookout for tonight.

I hope you have a happy Sunday, too.

Yes!

Honest to Paws

I spent two hours in the yard, cleaning up today. I used the leaf blower to clear the concrete areas first, and then tackled the front yard. It took me quite a while, but I finished it. I did short sessions, resting and drinking a ton of water in-between. I will do more tomorrow, but that’s it for today.

 

I also cleaned out the aquarium. This is an experiment, really, because the filter system says to only change the charcoal filter part this time. I did this, but the water still turned cloudy. I’m hoping that with the fresh water and decorations today, we can go another month before having to clean out again. Next month the schedule says to change the charcoal part again, plus the foam part. We’ll see.

Meanwhile, the fish have sparkling clean water to swim around in. They didn’t say anything about the changes. They are just interested in feeding times, but “I” am happy that we seem to be making good progress on coming up with a better system to keep my fish healthy.

I have now taken a shower and feel MUCH better. I’m planning to veg out the rest of the afternoon, enjoying the air conditioning, my recliner, my book, and maybe a nap.

Hope you’re having a fine day.

Young at Heart

picturequotes.com

It’s going to be warm today, but the humidity will be low, so no complaints.

I’ve been PLANNING to get out in the yard for a couple of days now, but never got beyond the talking state.

I’m going out now to weed whack.

Wish me luck!!!!

Thoughts on a Wednesday 5-20-2020

source unknown

I have found this to be good advice – smiles are contagious, and they make you AND the recipient feel better.

That said, I just had words with my husband. He was in our home office, working at the computer, so I decided I would use the opportunity to vacuum the 1st floor carpeting. Suddenly, he and Amber, our 95-pound yellow lab,

were in the living room with me. They decided to go out on the back porch, but we had the door open, creating a nice breeze. I was vacuuming and suddenly was hit with 95 pounds of dog flying into me, trying to go after the ball my husband threw for her. I scowled at him, and he grinned sheepishly at me, after helping me up. The SECOND time the dog came flying past me, getting tangled in the cord, I put her out on the porch and shut the door. I finished vacuuming and put the dog bed back down in the living room. I opened the back door to allow husband and dog back into the house. The next thing I knew, the dog was flying for the ball into the front of the living room into her bed, sliding about three feet with the slobbery ball and bed. I then told my husband in no uncertain terms that I had vacuumed in the living room in order not to bother him in the office, and that consideration seemed to be only going one way this morning.  He agreed, grinned again, hugged me, and sat down to read in his chair. (It is now time to look at the picture and suggestion above again.) 

National Geographic

We trapped Raccoon # 3 of the season overnight and so took a trip to relocate him first thing this morning. I have a nice mental picture of him finding the two others we have relocated so far this season and having a happy reunion far enough away that they won’t return to our home. My husband cleaned out the humane trap, had to replace the plastic bowl we use to hold the bait because the raccoon trashed it, and refilled our bird feeders. We have no idea how large the current raccoon family is. We’ll see if we get all the bird seed cleaned out tonight.

We have had two absolutely perfect weather days,

Clipart Library

and I can’t sing high enough praises. I like rain, but it starts to be depressing when you get day after day of cool, gray, rainy weather. I am smiling at the sunshine, trying to encourage Mother Nature to provide more of this.  Since it’s supposed to be nice today, I’m planning to do some weed whacking in the area behind the shop and beside the veggie garden, where my husband can’t use the riding mower. When I get that all cut down, I’ll also spray some weed killer right around the big trash barrels that hold the ingredients of Mel’s Mix for the garden, plus around the propane tank that serves the shop. I’ll take some pics when things are presentable.

I hope that you are safe and well, having a happy day.

Thoughts on a Thursday 12/12/2019

Penny Yaffe Krakow-shoebill stork love-photographer unknown

A good, busy day so far.

We took my husband to get a blood test to be read at his doctor appointment next week. Any time either of us has to do this, we ‘celebrate’ by eating breakfast at our favorite place, The Dari, in Greenwood. We got our mail on the way home and I started laundry. We’re on the 3rd load now. We changed sheets on the bed, will fold the laundry later.

I went back to town to get a pair of earrings from the local shop and include them in an order from a good friend from Spain. We discovered that for some unknown reason, it is significantly more expensive to send something from the U.S. to Spain than it costs the other direction. The people at the post office couldn’t give me a reason why. It is still the cheapest way we can send something as small as a package of earrings.

Today I will make a batch of egg/sausage/cheese bake, a recipe from Suzanne Ryan of Simply Keto. This has become one of our favorite recipes.  Last time I added broccoli. My husband wasn’t as happy with that, but said mushrooms and spinach would be fine.)

I’m in the middle of a grand experiment, trying to make wooden earrings for people who do NOT have pierced ears. I got the small round disks painted on both sides, and today I’ll try to glue the clip-on findings to the backs of the earrings. Then I’ll wear a pair – though I HATE clip-ons – to see if they hold together. I’m also painting yet another tee I stained (sigh), plus working on a set of note cards.

I’m about halfway through my to-do list for the day now, so I’m taking a break to have a cup of coffee and write this blog post.

Our weather is super nice, so I MAY get out and neaten up the yard a bit this afternoon. Yoga and my elliptical trainer are on tap for this afternoon, too.

I hope that you are having a fun, satisfying day.

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.

 

Good Intentions

Word Porn via Meade Dennis Adams

This is me in a nutshell.

I have a boatload of good intentions, but get distracted easily. This results in guilty feelings. If I’m doing something INside, I feel guilty about the things that need doing OUTside, and vice versa.

Yesterday my husband mowed the lawn, so we look pretty good out there right now – particularly if you ignore the fact that we have a collapsed brick planter in the front yard with a tarp load of potting soil covered in front of it.  I figured that the LEAST I could do was use the leaf blower to clean up the sidewalks. THAT led to using the leaf blower to clean up our garage , and THAT led to blowing off the garage pad…

When I came INside, I remembered that I really needed to clean off our stove top. The dishwasher is happily cleaning the removable stuff, and I finally got the top cleaned up. When I get it put back together, I won’t want to USE it – messing it up again. :0)

I DID manage to change out the aquarium filter – hoping that that will put off my having to change the water and clean it out immediately. And THAT led to watering the poor window sill plants that were sitting there, hands around their parched throats – saying, “Linnnnnn-daaaaaaaa!” HOPING I would finally notice them.

I very carefully ignored the pollen-covered porch – again – while sitting down to rest. I really DO need to vacuum the first floor today. It’s to the point where the balls of dog and cat hair grab your leg as you walk by.

I realize I’ll never get completely caught up, with all the stuff done inside and out, particularly since my husband mentioned a few minutes ago that he wants to get started rebuilding the brick planter tomorrow…

Weekend of Playing in the Dirt

stayathomeeducator.com via sites.psu.edu

 

This weekend we’ll be in and out, trying to get as much accomplished in the yard as we can – while living to tell the tale.

The weather looks like typical July or August for us – lots of bright sun, 90’s – 100+ temperatures and little, if any, chance of rain. The problem is that it’s only May!  We have doors and windows open most of the morning and then have to close up to run a/c for the afternoon and early evening, opening up again when if/when possible.

• The bright sunshine after rain last week is causing our grass to grow as we watch, so mowing and weed-whacking will be one thing we need to do this weekend.
• I need to scrub out and refill Amber’s kiddie pool. She doesn’t ‘swim’ in it a whole lot, but she rarely goes out during the day without running through it, drinking a bit of it, and maybe lying down in it enough to cool herself off a bit. (She is 14 months old now and weighs 93 lbs. To say it’s a ‘challenge’ for us to keep up with her is a laughable understatement. :0)
• The rain and sunshine are causing the trees – and other ‘stuff’ on both sides of our long, steep driveway – to attempt to grow together, blocking anyone from coming up or going down. I’ll drive the truck slowly up and down the driveway – my husband with loppers and a ladder in the back – cutting things back. We’ll need to do this several times before it will be reasonable again. We also need to cut down things at the bottom of the driveway. Our robot is almost surrounded by greenery!
• My raised bed square foot garden needs a lot of work. Yesterday we got some lettucy-type plants, broccoli ‘stir-fry’ plants, and some cantaloupe plants at the co-op. I got them planted, but need to harvest, prune, pull-up, and otherwise get the garden under better control. My bolted lettuce plants need to be pulled, chopped up, and added to our compost barrel.

And the list goes on. We’ll do as much as we can – resting between sessions and drinking boatloads of water.  Assuming we can do most of this by the end of the weekend, we’ll go to our local nursery next week to find some flowers for the deck and yard.

Happy Memorial Day weekend!

 

Folding Myself into a Paper Airplane – Take 13

The Awesome Daily

I told you that I did something mysterious and hurt my back. I have no clue what I did, but I was in real agony for about a month, unable to do much except gripe, groan an try to sleep while my husband tried to keep things afloat and take care of me. I’m really not interested in repeating this experience, so I have CAUTIOUSLY begun my yoga for old ladies stretching again, plus CAREFULLY starting up my sessions on the elliptical trainer.

I have to put Amber on the porch because getting on the floor is an invitation for 65 pounds + of dog to sit on you, mouth open, with too many teeth available.  I’m doing stretching on my own on my mat, rather than trying to do a lesson from my “Gentle Yoga” DVD set. I’m up to 10 minutes again on the elliptical – pretty pathetic, except I don’t know what I did to trigger my problem. I’m treated myself kind of like a time bomb at this point, hoping to ease into more and more.

Since I’ve been walking and playing with Amber several times each day, plus working in the yard, I’m still getting a reasonable amount of exercise.

Now – If I can JUST be a good little girl and eat my low-carb stuff, my world will be complete.

taolife.com

The Sun is Shining!

http://www.sunshineandrainbow.ca

After several cool days and rain, the sun is shining! HOOOOORAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!!

We have what looks like a three-day opportunity to spend time outside before four more days of cool and rain this week.

It’s been SO cool and rainy, I haven’t checked on our garden in several days. I’ll do that today. I’m hoping there will be some good things to harvest. If so, I’ll post pictures later.

I have flower planters to clean out, weed whacking to do, and planters to get ready for new plants. We’re hoping to go to the local nursery tomorrow for a flat of periwinkles, several purslane plants, some geraniums, and maybe a flat of gerbera daisies – one of my very favorite flowers – if they still have flats for sale.

To celebrate having such a nice day today, my husband suggested that we get steaks to grill on the deck tonight. We always turn on the rope LED lights while we’re out there, and we can listen to our wind chimes on the porch and the new hummingbird bird bath waterfall while we sit, enjoying the evening and each other.

The errands are done for the day. I’ll finish my coffee and head outside to see how our garden is faring.

I hope you’re enjoying a fabulous Sunday, too!

Last of the Personalized Christmas Ornaments

“Butterfly”

 

“Lamb”

 

“Rocking Horse”

I finished the last of the 20 different hand-painted wooden personalized “Gingerbread Cookies” themed Christmas ornaments today.  I’ve had a lot of fun making them, along with the personalized Christmas Cards on the same theme.

If you’d like to see the whole collection, click HERE

I’m also working on a special group of ornaments as Christmas presents for good friends, so I’m having a blast in my art room lately. :0)

In the shop, I’ve started a new mosaic bowl. The design is free-form, meaning I’m just doing what I like. The sides of the bowl really slope, so I can only do a ‘ridge line’ each day, covering the glass only on the very top of the bowl, then turning it and adding more. Otherwise, the tiles slide down the bowl and dry wherever they end up. (Lesson on a previous sloping piece.)

I love days when I can do errands with my husband, get outside and enjoy the weather, spend time in my art room or the shop (or both), do a couple of “things-I-really-need-to-do-today” and THEN have time to start or continue a book….

I hope that YOU’RE having a fun day, too.