Eyes Front, Mouth Shut

QuickMeme.com

My scales are outright snorking at me lately. I’ve been eating ‘rocks,’ it seems, and I’ve changed from trying to go day-by-day to hour-by-hour now. The stress level around here has been a bit high, but that is becoming the norm now, so I need to quit using that as an excuse to stuff my face.

I’m going to try to shed 2 pounds a week, cutting back my portions again and trying to drink more water. I had stopped using MyFitnessPal.com, but I’m starting up again. Maybe that will direct my efforts more effectively and see where I’m messing up.

Gfycat

We’re going to Lunch Bunch this morning, although my friend Kay called and said she and Bud won’t be there. I don’t know if the others will be, so we’ll go ahead, grab a bite to eat, and then hit the grocery store before coming home.

Bill Miller Associates

We’re starting our “cut-something-down-each-time-we-go-down-or-up-the-driveway” project today. I have the loppers in the truck and the weather is supposed to be cooperative today. If we do this each time we can, we should be able to make a difference in a reasonable amount of time.

(The picture above shows a ‘pretty’ version of what we’re dealing with. We have trees on both sides of our 650+ foot driveway. During the last winter ice storms, the trees’ branches were weighed down. Some broke off, some just hung down. Now we have almost a low-hanging tunnel across parts of the driveway to the point we’re ‘ducking’ inside the truck when we go through one. :0) My husband hurt his back, so we’ve been waiting until he felt better to tackle this. It’s a two-person job, with me pulling down each branch as far as I can and him lopping it off so I can then haul it to the low side of the driveway and throw it down as far as I can.)

Other than helping to clear the driveway a bit today, I’m planning to start moving the Mel’s Mix (soil alternative) from the other raised bed planter box whose bottom is ready to fall out. I want to get both of these boxes completely cleared out before I talk to my husband about making new plywood bottoms for them.

I’ll round out my exercise today with a session of yoga this afternoon. (After clearing tree branches and digging Mel’s Mix, I’ll need a good stretching session to try not to stiffen up.

I hope that if you’re traveling this long holiday weekend, you do it safely and smoothly. Whatever your plans, I wish you a happy day and fun weekend.

Just Once

Sent by my friend, Marsha.

I AM making slow, steady progress in my efforts to not eat in-between meals and to practice my yoga daily. I’m down 5.4 lbs so far and my yoga stretches are getting a BIT easier. I’m still getting cramps on some of them, so I’m moving slowly and carefully, breathing into each move, trying to listen carefully to this old body.

Earth.com

We’re due for rain off and on most of the day and overnight. I’ll try to get out and check my tomatoes on one side of the house and my veggie garden on the other side. I’m really pleased that my husband got out and mowed before all this rain started. The forecast is for a rainy week next week, so we probably won’t be able to mow again until the week AFTER next.

So far this morning I’m fighting the ‘lazies’ and losing.

Hope you have a wonderful Thursday.

Creeeeeeeak!

Minions

Animal Comedy – Cheezburger

You can almost HEAR all the cracks and pops as I move slowly and carefully through my yoga poses. I have to move carefully because AGAIN I’ve been lazy and using excuses, rather than practicing, so I’m stiff and sore.

I’ve been doing the practice daily again for about 4 days now. I’m feeling a bit better, but I still have to MINDFULLY get myself into the living room and get my mat each afternoon.

Yesterday my dog, Amber (yellow lab) and cat, Abby, BOTH joined me when I got down on the floor. My husband finally started to laugh and then encouraged the animals to give me a break, rather than keep trying to lie down beside or ON me.

I’ve lost a lot of ground with all the excuses, so I’m trying to be patient with myself and just keep breathing into the stretches, waiting for my body to finally ‘give’ a bit in the right direction.

taolife.com

Tuesday Thoughts 5-2-2023

“Dorky Dogs” – BoredPanda.com – Liucija Adomaite and Justinas Keturka

This picture made me laugh out loud. I have no clue what’s on the other side of the fence, but they’re sure interested. :0)

I have a new lease on life this morning. A package arrived from Amazon with new jeans and a top. This is usually not a cause for “celebration,” but I’ve gained some weight recently and my jeans have become too tight for any comfort at all. I now have some with elastic at the top, rather than a zipper and button, so I’m sitting here comfortably for the first time in quite awhile.

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I told you, though, that I’m trying really hard not to eat anything in-between meals. I’ve lost 4 of the pounds I gained so far. I’m determined to keep doing this. We were up in the middle of the night (Imagine that!) last night, and my husband asked if I wanted him to make us hot chocolate. Oh, wow. I said, “Yes, but no thank you.” I’m patting myself on the head just a bit. :0)

Giphy.gif

I’m also doing my yoga sessions daily, albeit more slowly and carefully than I was previously, in an effort to try to relax, stretch out, alleviate some pain and stiffness, etc. I’m putting silver sparkly stars on my desk calendar, earning two stars per day the last few days. If I can keep this up, I’ll be delighted.

I’m heading out to my tomato planters now to see what they need. I hope you have a wonderful Tuesday.

It’s In the Stars

Clipart Library

I’m going back to an ‘old faithful’ for me – rewarding myself with a sparkly star on my desk calendar when I achieve one of my goals.

• I’ve been stress eating and I’m really trying to stop that.
• I’ve been liberally sprinkling salt on everything, plus eating salty snacks
• I’ve been making excuses for not doing my daily yoga session

Otherwise, I’m a reasonably nice person… :0)

SO

I started yesterday (DAY 1) in a serious effort to mend my ways. I got one star for not eating in-between meals and not putting any extra salt on anything. I made an excuse for not doing my yoga, so I only got one star yesterday, but put that silver sparkly star on my calendar a couple of minutes ago.

Today I’m trying for 2.

Feeling Creaky

Herdaroff’s World

Yesterday we loaded the back of the truck with metal trash plus regular trash. We left the regular trash in the can and left it ready for emptying today, then drove to the recyling place and left the metal trash. We got a flat of spinach plants and a flat of head lettuce plants on the way home. I planted those before lunch. After lunch we changed our snow tires for regular tires on the truck.

I was stiff and sore by the middle of the evening. I SHOULD have done yoga to try to stretch things out, but I was exhausted and just didn’t. I’m paying the price this morning, feeling as if I were run over by a truck.

Thankfully, we don’t have any big errands today. We’ll get our mail, maybe hit the local grocery, and tether the emptied trash can to the pole toward the bottom of the driveway on the way home.

123RF

We’re due for severe weather this afternoon, tonight, and tomorrow morning. I have all my appendages crossed, in spite of the creakiness, hoping we come through the storms intact.

Meanwhile, I’m glugging coffee, trying to wake up.

Happy Tuesday?

Sunny, Bright Sunday 1-15-2023

I found this and walked with them yesterday. I was reminded how much I need this by my hips talking to me a couple of times, but I think this will do me a lot of good. It’s short, gets me moving, and I like this mother and daughter.

I also did a careful, abbreviated version of my yoga practice yesterday for the first time in a couple of weeks. I have no clue why my right upper arm is hurting, but I’ve decided to try to work through it very carefully and see how it goes. ONE DAY AT A TIME.

I’m also being more successful in NOT eating in-between meals. This week has been a good start. If I think I’m hungry, I’m trying to drink some water and see how I feel later. If I’m STILL hungry, I have some dried fruit to eat. 2-1/2 pounds down for the week.

Our weather is nice today, so I’m planning to at least walk around outside this afternoon. It’s hard to believe it’s January. The high will be around 62!

I’m thinking about at least spending some time in my art room today. I have ideas rattling around in my brain during the day, and am dreaming about them at night, so it’s time. :0)

I hope you’re enjoying your Sunday, too.

1st Star of the Day 12-31-2022

vgajic- Getty Images -Fit & Well

I’m patting myself – and my husband – on our heads right now. THAT -while typing this – is quite a feat! :0)

Because my husband found a new MP3 player and loaded some of my favorite music on it for me last night, allowing me to charge it overnight and have it ready for my elliptical trainer session today, I just finished 30 minutes of good exercise.

It had been quite awhile since I had been on the elliptical regularly, and the last two sessions I had to do it in complete silence, except for a squeak on my machine, making it just awful time. It seemed as if I had been on there forever, and it had only been a few minutes when I gave up each time. Just too boring and tedious. This old broad doesn’t need many excuses not to exercise…

So today, listening to songs I hadn’t heard for quite awhile playing on my MP3 player I had clipped to my shirt, was truly a pleasure. Doing my elliptical practice with my eyes shut, keeping time to the music, felt good almost all the way to the end. (Remember, I’m NOT an exercise nut and it had been quite awhile since I had done any real time on the machine.) I started peaking at the timer between the last three songs and then breathed a sigh of relief when I finished.

I thanked my husband again and put a sparkly gold star on my desk calendar. I giving myself one for the ellliptical trainer session or the warm-up and weights videos I’m doing in the mornings on alternate days, and a second star, this one silver sparkly, for my yoga session in the afternoons. Any other exercise I manage will be gravy.

Friends on Friday 12-30-2022

Lunch Bunch – I think I’m the one in the middle. (Final Fantasy XIV)

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On the way to Lunch Bunch this morning, we’ll change the decoration on our mailbox.

Here’s hoping that 2023 will be a better year than this one has been.

I MAY be able to get outside this afternoon and lop or saw down a few weed trees. Fingers crossed.

On the two other challenges that we’ve faced lately – the fact that the clothes washer died mid load and wouldn’t restart and that my MP3 player had been misplaced have shown some progress!

After finally arranging for a tech to come about the clothes washer on Tuesday of next week, we tried a bunch of things to get the machine to reset. I found a blurb online about a ‘child lock’ and the icon looked like what we were seeing. We tried the two solutions given and one of them WORKED! Everything is working again! I rewashed the half-washed comforter and it worked perfectly. HOOORAAAAAY! We saved the at least $150 we would have paid for the guy to come out and look at it.

Speaking of that, the company we dealt with was Pro-Tech. The tech’s name was Jonathan. The lady I texted back and forth with at the company was truly wonderful, though I didn’t get her name. After we got the washer running again, I texted her, asking her to cancel the Tuesday appointment. She got right back to me, confirming that she had cancelled it. I highly recommend Pro-Tech because of the good communication we had when I had no luck with the many others I called or contacted trying to fix this problem. Their phone number is 479-462-7787. I think they serve the Ft. Smith AR and surrounding areas, like us in Greenwood.

I FOUND the MP3 player. I went out to the elliptical yesterday and turned it on. It said it had NO music recorded on it! None. Nada. I finally found an FM radio and listened to a rock station that played 3/4 commercials and 1/4 music, but it was better than nothing. Talk about desperation! My husband is trying now to record some of HIS favorite songs on it. I told him I would be very grateful to have SOMEONE’S favorite songs on it when I do the elliptical again tomorrow.

Today is “warm-up” and “weights” videos online and then yoga. (DAY 168).

Have a wonderful Friday.

“Slow Progress is Better Than NO Progress”

lifestyle.livemint.com

So says Lynn, my wonderful massage therapist who saves my life once a month. I’m kind of in “assessment” mode this morning, looking back to gauge lifestyle changes.

• This is DAY 162 of my effort to make daily yoga practice a habit. I’m definitely one of the hard-heads on how long it takes to make something a habit. I looked it up and found, according to some estimates, that it takes from 18-245 days to make something a habit. Day 162 finds me consciously making myself practice each afternoon – still finding myself quietly trying to make excuses for ‘missing-a-day’ and then just slogging around getting my mat, pillows and just doing it. It HAS become a normal part of my day, and I AM seeing some differences.
• I’ve added some new poses to my practice: Cobra, Downward Dog, ‘Basket,’ Boat, the Plank, and some abdominal exercises thrown in. My practice is about 45 minutes now, but it varies. Sometimes I concentrate on exercise numbers – other times the relaxation and stretching.
• I am listening to my body more since I started doing the daily practice. I’m aware when my shoulders and neck are ‘hunched,’ and I’m able to concentrate and relax more. I tell myself, “relaxing jaw, relaxing face,” and I can FEEL my shoulders GIVE, when I wasn’t aware how tightly I was holding myself. I’m able to stretch a bit farther now, breathing into the poses, holding them longer or doing a few more repetitions.
• I’m still putting the gold or silver glittery stick-on stars on my desk calendar. I guess I’ll never outgrow that being a motivator for me, but the emphasis is changing in my actual practice. I’m doing it for ME.
• I started trying to do the plank pose at the end of October. The first time I tried it, I held it for a quick count of 10. I worked up to holding it for a quick count of 45, but many times I couldn’t do much the next day, having strained myself. I found an article that said for for a woman of my ‘mature years,’ it’s actually more effective if I do the pose multiple times, holding it for a short while each time. Yesterday I held it for a count of 20 seven times.
• Since it’s too cold to work outside most days now, I’m going to try to add two things: (THING ONE – a short time on my elliptical trainer in the garage. It’s cold, but I think I can do several minutes out there every other day. THING TWO – I’m going to start doing the seated exercises with weights from Mike at MoreLifeHealthSeniors.com again. I’ll alternate these with the elliptical.

Know Your Meme

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I’m definitely making some kind of progress. It’s definitely slow, but it’s steady, and I’ll drink to that. :0)

More Tuesday Thoughts 12-20-2022

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We have had a happy day today.

We did our errands – checking the mailbox, going to Walmart and Harps to stock up on supplies in case we’re snowed or iced in, then stopping at the restaurant to see if our waitress, Mikey, was there. (She isn’t going to be there for our Lunch Bunch celebration tomorrow and I wanted to give her the present I made for her.) She was there, but said she was planning to stop at the restaurant tomorrow, even though she wasn’t working, to bring presents. I made her PROMISE she would do that, and then gave her a hug and left. We put our humongous, empty trash can in the back of the truck when we got back home and brought it back up to the garage.

We indulged in fish dinners from the grocery deli. They were delicious, as usual, and then we both took naps. We checked around outside when we woke up, making sure all was ready for the bad weather. We’ll also watch the low temperatures and drip water overnight from two faucets inside that have given us problems in the past. All is good for tomorrow, but the bad stuff is supposed to come Thursday and beyond.

It’s 51 and sunny right now -starting to get dark. It’s hard to believe we’ll have such a change in weather.

lifestyle.livemint.com

Today is DAY 158 on my daily yoga practice. I held the plank for a count of 20 four times today. I probably could have done one more, but I’ve learned the hard way that ‘one more time’ sometimes does me in for a day or two afterwards. Better to be able to practice EVERY day.

Hoping for a quiet evening.

Cuddle Weather

The Random Vibez

Cold, gray rainy Sunday here – 39 with a high of 42. Ugh. We’ll have ‘breakfast’ for dinner tonight and spaghetti tomorrow.

Suave Yards

Yesterday I did Pass #2 on blowing leaves from the front yard. I got almost finished and the leaf blower started making bad noises. I looked, but didn’t see anything caught anywhere, anything loose, etc. My husband came out and looked at it, saying it sounded like “bearings were giving up” and that we would probably need to buy another one. This one has lasted a long time. We’ll probably take a look tomorrow and see what we can find.

Yesterday was DAY 142 on my daily yoga practice. I have changed to multiple short plank poses, rather than trying to hold one longer pose. I did six 10-second holds yesterday. I can increase either the time, the repetitions, or both, trying to get the most benefit from the pose on trying to get stronger. My husband and I share the same exchange each day – When he says, “Are you going to ‘yoge’?, and I answer, “Yes,” – he says, “Good on ya.” (Still not a ‘habit,’ or something I feel I NEED to do, or an activity I would MISS if I didn’t do it, but it has definitely become a ‘determined effort’ each day.)

Scottsdale Pet Hotel

Other than cuddling, playing on the computer, listening to music on YouTube, reading, cooking, etc., my plan is to vacuum the first floor tiles and carpet. My husband did this in our truck the other day, replacing the seat cover with a new one, and says he vacuumed up the equivalent of two dogs. :0) I’ll probably do the same today. If there were an award for shedding, I think Amber would definitely be in the running.

Stay warm, safe, and dry today with someone you love.

Movin’ It

Honda UK

I just came in from 1-1/2 hours in the front yard leaf blowing. And that, apparently, is just the first pass. (The lady is this picture is PLAYING compared to what I’ve been doing.) Since the wind was blowing and I’m not stupid, I blew in the same direction as the wind. I was still getting blow-back and swirling, so I just decided to try to get rid of the big PILES of leaves, particularly on the steps around our front porch.

By the time I got to a reasonable stopping point, I was thoroughly pooped. Unless my husband ASKS, I’m not going to bother telling him what I’ve been doing. To an untrained eye, he might not be able to TELL how many billions of leaves I blew off the civilized part of our front yard. The wind is such that it now looks like we have a “lot of leaves in the front yard,” and I would get angry if my slaving away couldn’t be noticed with at LEAST a WOW!”

This morning we got two days of mail from the mailbox at the bottom of our driveway. On the way down, I told my husband about my idea of lopping off some encroaching branches each time we came up. We found an area pretty close to the bottom of the driveway that needed work, so started there. It will also make it easier for us to see if traffic is coming down the road now. We attacked one more area on the way up and then called it a day. I think, if we do that each time we drive up, we’ll have the driveway under reasonable control by the time we’re facing ice and snow. (The evergreens are awful about grabbing every snowflake or ice pellet that falls, and then drooping down into the driveway and finally making it impassable unless we’re proactive.)

So, with the lopping and hauling of branches this morning and then the leaf blowing I just finished, this old lady has been ‘movin’ it’ today. AND, as soon as I rest a bit more, I’ll try to do a good session of yoga.

Fog and Sun on a Monday 11-28-2022

“Foggy Morning Sun Rise” – photo by Warren Birge – FineArtAmerica.com

Fog lay like ribbons between the ridge lines when I looked out the window while dressing this morning. Surreal. Magical. It’s supposed to get WARM this afternoon – 65 degrees F. – and I should be able to get some things done outside. :0)

Yesterday was a lazy day for me, since the weather was yucky. About the only thing I did of any note was my yoga session and holding the plank pose for a quick count of 45. Today we have several errands, plus laundry, gathering and putting out the trash – all kinds of exciting stuff. As I rest between chores, I’ll enjoy more of my book.

Nice way to spend a Monday. I hope yours is good, too.

YO, HO, HO!

Plank Position

Can you spell “p-a-t-h-e-t-i-c?”

So far, I’m more able to WALK a plank rather than hold this position.

“The plank strengthens your spine, your rhomboids and trapezius, and your abdominal muscles, which naturally result in a strong posture as they grow in strength. Developing your posture can improve on a number of ailments, and prevent the onset of other ones. Good posture means you’re keeping your bones aligned.”

“Planks are perfect for burning belly fat because they engage multiple muscles at once, boosting the metabolic rate and benefiting core strength. All in all, a plank is an excellent choice to stimulate the whole body.“

What I’m HOPING at this point is that holding the position for ANY amount of time works to strengthen my core. The second I get into this position, my whole body starts to tremble, moving to shaking before I have to stop. (AND, the most embarrassing part is that all this happens within 15 seconds.)

The only good thing I can say about my efforts is that the 15 seconds is up from the 10 seconds I started with. I will continue trying this every day, HOPING that my poor pathetic muscles will get stronger in time. I’ll compare it in my head with the fact that when I started yoga, the hardest part of everything was getting down on the floor and back up again! It also took several months for me to be able to bend over and touch my toes. This is a strength issue – rather than a flexibility issue – though, so I’m not sure what to expect. I’m not getting any younger, though, so the time to be doing this is NOW.

Keepin’ Movin’

melsanie.tumblr.com – boredpanda.com

DAY 107 on daily yoga practice today.

Now that my practice is becoming a routine part of my afternoons, I’m trying to add to it a bit. Recently I added the cobra pose (above), and another that I call, “The Basket” where I’m on my back with my feet up in the air. I hold onto my legs with my knees bent, then hold my ankles and try to hold it. I’m doing a pose called, “Downward Dog,” where I’m on my stomach, then push up to an inverted “V” and hold it, trying to push my heels down toward the floor.

I’ve added some abdomen exercises – one where I’m on my back. my arms are on the floor stretched out behind my head while I do a modified bicycle motion with my legs for as long as my back doesn’t hurt. The other is where I’m again on my back, arms beside me, legs bent. I push the middle of my body up using my legs and abdomen, kind of like a push up, pushing my abdomen up as high as possible and then letting it back down again as many times as I can.

When I was at Lunch Bunch recently, my friend Patty (Linda’s daughter) was talking about her exercise. She looks GREAT, so I was eagerly listening. She said the biggest thing she did three times a week was THE PLANK. She said she held the position for 4 MINUTES! My mouth dropped open. That’s impossible.

lifestyle.livemint.com

I’m now doing two versions of this – one with my arms like those above, but knees down (that’s the easiest form of it you can do), and then a second version, as you see above. Remember, I’m old, so I hold the positions as long as I can, but it’s laughable. I can hold the version with the knees down for about 1 minute. The position above I can hold 12 SECONDS. I KNOW, but at least I’m TRYING – every day. Also remember, I’M the lady who used to congratulate myself for getting down on the floor, AND back up again!

Soothing Thursday 10-20-2022

Mountain View Animal Hospital & Holistic Pet Care

Ahhhhhhh! This woman is READY for a massage this morning. My yoga sessions are keeping me functional, (today is DAY 97) but my monthly massage is golden. Lynn Moody, my miraculous massage therapist, 479-629-7601 finds and fixes all the places I didn’t even know I had places. :0)

Today I’ll try to get a bunch of iris planted in the niche planter, as soon as I add the soil we have left on a pallet we ordered a couple of years ago. We’ll need to put in an order for another delivery before the winter.

We enjoyed a comfort food dinner last night of chili mac with onions and cheese, one of my husband’s favorites. It’s been really chilly in the mornings and the late evenings, so it was a welcome change from what we usually eat. I had enough left that we can enjoy a couple more dinners sometime. (He wanted to have frito chili pie, but our local grocery is having a problem getting regular fritos. Like other companies, they’ve gone on a tangent with honey barbeque fritos, hot style fritos, and bubble gum fritos (not yet, but probably soon), but no regular fritos. I’ll try to get them today after my massage.

We’ve been having some calm days, so things are good here. I hope you’re smiling, too.

It’s Monday 10-17-2022

Nicky Litchfield-collierdobson.com

It’s Monday, the beginning of another week in the middle of the fall, the night before a freeze warning here. It’s clear, sunny and 52 degrees F. here now.

before

mid-clean-out project

IRIS PLANTER CLEAN OUT – Yesterday I spent about 2-1/2 hours trying to clean out our iris planter. I made good progress. I got out almost a full big trash can full of iris and rhizomes, and pulled out a BUNCH of Bermuda grass. Today I’ll get a larger shovel and get more serious about digging as deeply as possible, dealing with whatever I find. I’ll also weed whack around the outside.

I would LIKE to finish the clean-out today. I’ll bring the trash can full of iris into the garage due to the freeze warning. I’m planning to add some soil to the niche (old tomato) planter before I plant a lot of the iris there. I’m planning to distribute the rest of the iris to planters all around the yard. Before the project is finished, I’ll put tomato plant supports in and see how securely I can anchor them both to the center pole, and each other.

Unsplash

TRASH- The seed I planted finally germinated on the subject of trash. My husband and I have had a running ‘discussion’ on how to handle the trash since our trash service changed and the new people brought us a really large trash can to use. Since the paperwork that came with the can said to have the receptacle out for pickup by 5am, I told my husband I thought we should put the trash out the night before. He nixed this immediately, listing several reasons for being adamant. This resulted in our trash being missed and our having to bring it back up into the garage to hold and add to the next week – TWICE now. We gathered the trash this morning, and as we squashed the bags to add them to the already fairly full can, my husband asked, “What do you think about taking the trash down tonight?” I looked at him and said, “I think that’s a GREAT idea!” (Hooray – shhhhhhh!)

BoredPanda.com

DAY 94 of my daily yoga practice – yesterday I was really tired and stiffening up after working on the iris planter. I thought about just considering the work in the yard my exercise for the day – just sitting down and resting instead of doing my yoga practice. I thought about it as I drank a bottle of water, and finally thought, OK. I’ll just do a few basic stretches and that will be it. Once I got down on my mat, I just started doing my regular session. Even though I was stiff and sore, some of the stretches ultimately felt good, once I was able to relax and breathe into them. I ended up doing the whole practice as usual and felt good afterwards because I actually felt better, and also because I tricked myself into doing what I want to become a habit. :0)

Enjoy your Monday.

Happy Sunny Saturday

Halloween remains one of my favorite Holidays, even though celebrating it these days bears little relation to when I actively participated as a child (in 1492) or even when I struggled to carve jack-o-lanterns with our son. Ray Villafane has brought carving pumpkins to an art form. He seems to have endless ideas for new faces and has the talent to do a spectacular job of carving. I’m awestruck when I see his work, having worked to NOT slice my arm off while trying to carve a ‘basic’ jack-o-lantern.

Iris Planter

Today it’s supposed to get to 92 in the afternoon, but a cold front is coming through this evening, hopefully bringing us our first rain in over a month now. We are under threat for wildfires, so a good rain would be more than welcome. I plan to work on cleaning out my iris planter – currently a complete disaster – overgrown with stubborn Bermuda grass. The grass is delighted to be there – and thriving – because it gets water from our irrigation system, where the poor grass on the ground is brown and crunchy. It amazes me that it finds its way into the planter through the bricks. You can see the mallard duck we made from a used propane tank “flying” atop the pole.

Between yard work and my daily yoga practice (DAY 92) I should get a good bit of exercise. :0)

My husband has gone to an auction here in Greenwood this morning. He wants to look at the guns, plus ‘garage stuff’ for sale. I absolutely hate auctions, so he’s going alone. I would rather go to garage sales, where you can see the prices and buy things or not quickly, rather than standing around waiting – sometimes for hours – for what you want to be auctioned, only to be outbid.

Happy Saturday to you!

Monday 10-10-2022

Pinterest

Today is pretty nice for a Monday.

Sheila Kuehl

It’s overcast and a bit cool this morning – perfect for a session of weed whacking or two. I’ll try to concentrate my efforts on the garden and surrounding area.

Other things on the list are bookkeeping and filing catch-up and gathering trash. If I can either do – or make headway on – these three things, I’ll be happy.

shewearsmanyhats.com

My husband requested one of his favorite dinners for tonight: chicken chunks with onions and mushrooms in chicken/mushroom soup served over rice. We’ll have a side salad with this and I’ll freeze the leftovers in individual containers for other meals.

I’m still trying to get up to my art room, but keep running out of time and energy. Maybe one day this week.

India Today

DAY 87 of my attempt to make daily yoga sessions a habit. Yesterday I felt a bit of progress in a couple of things I do to strengthen my core – 1) kind of a horizontal bicycle move and 2) a lifting of my torso with my legs while lying on my back.

MAKE this a good day!

DAY 82

One Green Planet

Today is DAY 82 of my efforts to make a habit of doing a daily session of yoga.

I will need to be particularly mindful in my practice today because I have pain on the right side of my back in particular today. I think I hurt myself yesterday evening trying to get the empty new trashcan in the bed of the truck by myself at the bottom of the driveway. My husband and I had a ‘discussion’ about it on the way back up the driveway. He agreed – since he doesn’t want to leave the new can at the bottom of the driveway – that he will get out and help me get the can in and out of the truck.

I discovered that the addition of another small pillow allows me to stretch the stiff part of my back safely. I actually felt better – much looser – after my practice yesterday.

My practice lasts from 30 to 45 minutes these days, depending on how I feel. Each stretch is still uncomfortable at first, but my body is beginning to actually look forward to the stretches, relaxing into the poses more quickly, as I feel so much better afterwards. :0)

The time to fully relax, taking as much time as I want, is a good time for me. I’m calm and happy when I finish.

Not a ‘habit’ yet – but therapeutic.

Sunny Sunday 10-2-2022

boredpanda.com

This is such a cute picture. I wish that the raccoons around HERE had a better idea of what “sharing” means, and “respect for property.” Thankfully, we haven’t had any more raccoons eating us out of house and home lately, or tearing up the bird feeders. My husband actually filled the feeder the other day, and the birds came in celebration, flitting around all over the place. If the raccoons would learn to be better neighbors, we could all enjoy the seeds together.

depositphotos

Today is DAY 79 of my daily yoga practice. I’ve decided that I may NEVER build an actual “HABIT.” I’m definitely on the slow end of the spectrum on how long it takes to actually build one. Maybe I’ll just have to be satisfied that I consciously make time for my practice these days. I noticed the other day that our yellow lab, Amber, definitely does the ‘downward dog’ pose and stretch several times a day. SHE’S in good shape, so I’m glad I’m taking a page from her playbook and doing this one, too. :0)

I’m feeling energetic enough this morning that I’m planning to go out and do more work on my square foot garden boxes today. I’ll take containers of both KILLZALL and EIGHT when I go. I want to use the little rake tool to get as many weeds out as I can and smooth the Mel’s Mix out as much as possible. I’ll spray things to encourage any remaining fire ants to die a cruel death (I’m becoming quite vicious in my hate for these little guys) plus spray to kill remaining weed roots. Then I’m planning to take the wheelbarrow and gather 24 bricks to take out there. I’m going to use those to hold down the weed barrier cloth we’re planning to put down in the boxes. My husband said he’ll help me cut the cloth and get those down. Not sure how much I can get accomplished on this, but it seems the weather is perfect today for my efforts.

I hope your Sunday is a nice one.

Thoughts on a Friday 9-23-2022

Best Animations Gifs

Woo HOOOO! Mother Nature finally got the memo and gave us a deliciously cool morning here in Arkansas! It’s 62 degrees F. right now, so I opened the doors to air the house out. It’s supposed to get to 92 this afternoon, though, so it’ll probably be tomorrow before I do any more work outside. Hooray for Fall!!!!

I’m HOPING my good friend, Linda, will feel well enough to come to Lunch Bunch today. I haven’t heard from my friend, Kay, but I have all appendages crossed that we’ll enjoy a wonderful surprise today.

I had a truly wonderful massage yesterday by my therapist and friend, Lynn. She zeroed in on my back where it is sore and made it feel better. It’s like I ‘bruised’ it, though, rather than hurting with movement. I’ll modify my yoga practice (DAY 70 today) so that I don’t irritate that area any more than necessary.

Make this a wonderful day.

Weed Whacking Wednesday 9-21-2022

BBC

Hi.

I’m drinking some coffee before heading out to weed whack the front and the back yard. My husband is going to mow. So the yard will look like someone cares before it gets too hot to. The temperature for this last day of summer is forecast to be 101 with a heat index this afternoon. Oh, GOOD. I’m SO ready for some cool. My list of things to do outside is longer than my leg now…

DoYou

Today is DAY 68 in my efforts to make daily yoga a habit. I’m starting to think that yoga is essential to my ability to move without pain, stay reasonably flexible, and avoid falling on my head as I age. I still have to consciously make myself do it, but I feel much looser after my practice.

I’m going to get outside now and work before it gets lethal out there.

Have a nice day.

It’s Saturday! 9-17-2022

Petr Vaclavek – Dubanci.cz

I’m having a bit of success with drinking more water and trying not to eat anything in-between meals – except for cottage cheese after my yoga practice daily. A couple of pounds have bitten the dust, hopefully to never return. I’m hoping that their ‘friends’ will follow soon. :0)

The Guardian

This looks very much like my cat, Abby, when I do my yoga practice. (Today is DAY 64) She either tries to curl up at my head, upset with me when I put my arms over my head, or sleeps on my feet, making it almost impossible to move them. Yesterday, she curled up beside me and kept batting at me with her paw.

Medical News Today

My husband is sleeping in this morning. I’m waiting for the coffee to be ready. The morning chores have been done.

This weekend I want to spray my garden boxes with SEVEN to kill the fire ants and then KILLZALL to kill remaining weed roots. Then we’ll cover the boxes with weed barrier cloth, holding it down with bricks, and see how it does over the winter.

I hope you have a great weekend.

Happy Monday 9-12-2022

Inkognito-17822-PhotobyTweeling17-Flickr-SuzanVisser – Morgentoilett-17822

Are you brimming with energy, eager to start a brand new week? Neither am I. :0)

I’m still licking my wounds received from my “weeding-the-garden/harvesting-the-sweet-red-onions” project. Even though I was careful, hosing down the remaining garden boxes with Seven, I got bitten/stung by several ants on my right arm. So now I’m sporting BOTH arms swollen and pink with raised welts and stings. I’ve tried popping the little bumps to get the stuff out, but it seems to make it take longer to heal, plus I read that spreads bacteria and might lead to infection, so now I just take my allergy medicine, wash the area well, take Tylenol, and put anti-itch ointment all over the area. My husband winces in sympathy every time he looks at me. I did get the project finished, though, and will rest today.

123RF.com

My long-time Lunch Bunch friend, Linda, is not doing well. Her daughter is trying to get her to a doctor today. If she can’t, she’s taking Linda to the hospital. I’m hoping someone can figure out what the problem is and do something to make her feel better.

I wanted to share this with you. The contestant is from Ukraine. Rea Garvey (coach) and his wife found a family in Ukraine and have opened their home to them. He wrote and sang a song to try to convince Yasya to choose him as her coach. There is still good in the world.

Yoga Journal

Today is DAY 59 of my daily yoga practice. I really wanted to skip it yesterday after two sessions weeding the garden and the ant bites/stings, but I did it anyway. Today should be easier, since I’m taking it easy today.

Make this the best day possible.

Sunny Saturday 8-27-2022

horseandman.com

I think this photo is stunning. I almost expect the birds to move their heads! Incredible. Speaking of nature, we’ve seen deer on the way to town three days in a row. I’ve already told you about the doe and fawn we saw. Then, when I was on my way to my massage Thursday morning, there was a doe standing beside the road. She was by herself, or at least I didn’t see any other dear or fawns. I drove really slowly past her. She just looked at me. She was beautiful. Yesterday, on the way to Lunch Bunch, we saw a deer who gracefully jumped in a big arc over the road to the other side.

Pinterest

Today is DAY 43 of my daily yoga practice, trying to make it a HABIT. So far, I can say that my yoga practice takes priority over other activities each afternoon. I feel happy that I’m doing something good for myself.

Produce Market Guide

I only found one ripe tomato on one of the plants in the niche planter beside the house yesterday, and it wasn’t in good shape. I’ll look again to see if there are any green ones that might ripen, but it looks like I’ll need to schedule pulling out of the tomato plants for the year. I will also schedule harvesting the sweet red onions – the last thing in our raised-bed square foot garden – soon. I might have to wait until next week to get these two things done, but they’re on my list.

Alamy

My books don’t look this bad, but I haven’t really been careful about storing new books – and I have a bunch – plus we haven’t been donating books as we usually do, since our local library suspended their book sale fundraisers for about a year now. They just started accepting donations again, so I’m getting serious about going through my books, starting in my bedroom and working my way down, going through everything, gathering books for donations, reorganizing the rest. This is a big project, but I’ll just do what I can each day until it’s done. I’m lucky to have the ‘problem’ of more books than I can handle right now, and I need to share the wealth. :0)

Freepik

We slept later this morning than usual. The conditions were perfect for great rest, but I was shocked at the clock when I woke up enough to care what time it was. I leaped up, threw on clothes and went down to let Amber out. She was patiently waiting, and I feel guilty we made her wait so long. I did our normal morning stuff, and then cut up stuff for a chef salad with chicken tonight, plus a peach for our dessert.

Amber and I tried to be quiet in the office to give my husband a chance to sleep longer. I was working at the computer when Amber started huffing and puffing and running around the way she does when she’s excited. My husband came down the stairs then.

We’re having a nice, sunny Saturday here. I hope you are enjoying yours, as well.

Thursday 8-18-2022

PH-Hay-whats-up-Reddit-user-ThraShErDDoS-via-Imgur

Hi! We’re having another ‘cool’ day, at 86, for the high this afternoon. We tried to just have open doors and ceiling fans yesterday, but it was too humid. It’s humid again this morning, so we’re going to keep the a/c on, but I’ll take it. Such a nice relief.

Active Babies – Smart Kids

I had a good time in the art room yesterday and finished the cards that I hope my friend will like. I sent her pics to see what she says.

Facebook

Today is DAY 34 of my daily yoga practice. I’m having to push myself again, because my hips and knees have been talking to me for the past several days, but I’m concentrating on slow and steady, with fewer reps to get me through it.

Times of India

I’m now muttering to my scales that I don’t appreciate “sarcastic scale humor” whatsoever, but mine is delighting in its newfound ability to smirk and laugh at me. One of these days, I’ll wipe the smile off its face.

Nizar Fahmi

Just as I’m finishing my ‘last’ Linda Thomas paperback, I received part of my new order of her books yesterday. It’s getting harder to find used paperbacks by Linda Thomas, but I’ll redouble my efforts when I start getting low again. Right now I feel rich in books. :0)

One of the things on my to-do list today is to work on reorganizing some of my books. Hopefully, by the end of the day, I’ll have a better handle on things.

Have a wonderful day.

Sunday Thoughts 8-14-2022

Redbook

Good morning! I wish I were with this seal, enjoying the ocean. Did you wave back?

YARD – I’m about to go outside and finish the weed whacking I started yesterday. My husband mowed yesterday, so when I finish, it will look like someone cares around here again. It’s actually cool right now, at 76 degrees F., so it shouldn’t be bad to work.

Blue Bird Corporation

SCHOOL – School starts here in Greenwood tomorrow morning. There is one main road between our home and the larger road that goes to town, and having two schools on this road has been a real problem. It’s not so much the school buses, but what my husband calls, “the mommy traffic.” The moms come to pick up their kids from school and they quickly clog up the school driveway in front of the schools. Then they think nothing of spilling out onto the road and blocking through traffic.

The biggest problem, other than being really annoying, is that emergency vehicles are unable to get through, so if you have a fire, need the police, an ambulance, etc. you’re out of luck. I wrote a very careful email to the administration last year, pointing this out, and asking if more parking could be set up for the moms off the road so that the stalled cars didn’t put the community at risk.

A kind lady wrote me, saying they were discussing staggering the start and stop times at the schools, hopefully improving the problem. We still avoid leaving the house either before school starts or when it is due to let out, but we haven’t been caught in the traffic since.

Robert Henri-art by Dori Patrick

ART ROOM – Once or twice a day I go up to my art room to add another layer to the Christmas cards I’m painting for my friend to send out this year. They’re starting to come together, and I do a lot of grinning because each part is so much FUN. For awhile I can put everything that is bothering me aside, concentrating on colors, design, sparkles, and more. Such a beautiful break from ‘the world that is too much with us.’ (I guess my middle name should be ‘Ostrich,’ I spend so much time escaping.)

BoredPanda.com

DAY 30 – Today is day 30 of my daily yoga practice – an effort to make my yoga sessions ‘habit.’ Lately I’ve had to make choices as to whether to do my practice or not because inadvertently, I run out of afternoon time. I’ve made the choice to ‘YOG’ as my husband calls it, so I’m keeping my priorities straight.

Weed Whacking Awaits….

Thursday Thoughts 8-11-2022

inkspiredmusings.blogspot.com-photograph not credited

Good morning! A more ‘regular’ summer day here. A definite relief from the record-breaking intense heat warnings or flooding downpours. Downright boring!!!!! :0)

Kidadl

Since I felt good yesterday afternoon, I started making the Christmas cards my dear friend asked me to make so she could send them to her friends. She liked the ones that I just finished, but she understands that I can’t make the same thing twice, so I’ll try to come up with something similar.

Lawford Mead Primary School

I’m still jubilant that our trash is GONE. I HOPE that one day I can almost take the trash being picked up on trash day for granted, but that certainly is not yet. I’m hoping that this was an awful glitch in the system and that it won’t be repeated anytime soon. Meanwhile, I don’t have to drive down, armed with another leaf bag, prepared to spend half an hour gathering the trash that has been strewn all over the place by animals overnight. Hooray!

40 Aprons

I told my husband that my plan was to make a huge tuna casserole for tonight – enough we can enjoy it tonight and have several individual serving meals for other nights. He liked the idea. :0)

House Beautiful

I checked to see if we had any ripe tomatoes. I told you earlier that the large planter of tomato plants was done. We still have a couple of plants in the ‘niche’ planter tucked in beside the house and porch. There are green tomatoes, but nothing ripe now.

Tenor

Today is DAY 27 of my daily yoga practice.

The Spruce Eats

A shout-out to Susy and Bobby. I hope they enjoyed every bite of their steak breakfast this morning. You’re both in my thoughts.

Lazy Sunday 8-7-2022

dogtime.com

Slow start to the day today. I got up before my husband, did our morning stuff, and he came walking blearily into the office to say “Hi” a few minutes ago. I slept well, but I’m not feeling like chasing any tigers this morning.

Awesomelycute

I’m happy all the way down to my toes because my husband again told me last night that he is proud of my yoga efforts. (Today is DAY 23. )

“What’s the 21 90 rule?“ (On forming a new habit)

“The rule is simple enough. Commit to a personal or professional goal for 21 straight days. After three weeks, the pursuit of that goal should have become a habit. Once you’ve established that habit, you continue to do it for another ninety days.” – if this is true, my yoga should be a ‘habit’ by now and I’m into ‘doing it for another 90 days.’ :0)

Austin Children’s Academy

I dreamed about a couple of tweaks to the Christmas cards last night. Otherwise, I left them flattening yesterday. I should be able to finish them today. Then I’ll work on cleaning up the art room to clear the decks for whatever comes next.

I wish you a happy Sunday.