Monthly Archives: September 2016

Fall Garden 2016

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Here is one of our fall raised bed planters. I’ve planted radishes, celery, salad blend lettuce, and head lettuce in this one.

 

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The second planter has some head lettuce, cauliflower, and broccoli.

 

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And the third planter has broccoli and cauliflower.

I can’t tell you how wonderful it is that this old broad can walk out to the garden and plant, weed, and harvest while standing up comfortably!  I have no clue whether the plants will be successful or not, but I have some good, healthy plants at this point and lots of enthusiasm.

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Filed under Gardening, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds

Tea Bag Art – Take 6

Artist Ruby Silvious doesn’t just paint the odd teabag. Last year she embarked on a project entitled ‘363 Days of Tea’. Other than a two-day vacation, this talented lady painted one teabag a day, with the result being a diverse array of styles, techniques, and of course, teabags…

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Teabag Art
Ruby Silvious
via Kate Woodberry, Trendingly.com

 

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When Wood Comes Alive – Take 9

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Thanks to Marsha Koenig for her email.

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“Ball of Flowers – Hydrangea”

"Ball of Flowers - Hydrangea" - Paul Militaru Photography

“Ball of Flowers – Hydrangea” – Paul Militaru Photography

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Reflections – Take 2

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diamondhomesupport-com

 

“I decided to change calling the bathroom the John and renamed it the Jim. I feel so much better saying I went to the Jim this morning.
 
Last year I joined a support group for procrastinators. We haven’t met yet…
 
I don’t need anger management. I need people to stop irritating me!
 
Old age is coming at a really bad time!
 
When I was a child I thought Nap Time was a punishment… now, as a grown up, it just feels like a small vacation!
 
The biggest lie I tell myself  is… “I don’t need to write that down, I’ll remember it.”‘

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Filed under Attitude, Grin for the Day

Chuckles – Take 15

Email from Bill Lites

Email from Bill Lites

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Filed under Amazing Animals, Grin for the Day

Cleaning the Utility Room

I’m trying to tackle one area of my house at a time, taking everything out/down, throwing stuff out, cleaning everything, and then reorganizing. This will take the rest of my natural life, but it makes me feel good to get SOMETHING done…

Today’s project was my utility room; in particular, the washer/dryer area.

 

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Not only had this become a catch-all area, it had gotten to the point I couldn’t reach what I needed, and I knew the area needed a good cleaning.

This is the ‘before’ picture. I threw out or moved a LOT of stuff that I hadn’t been using or belonged somewhere else. I took everything off the shelves, plus everything off the washer and dryer.  I spared you a picture of all the YUCK that was under the stuff, but suffice to say that after vacuuming, brush and dust panning, then spraying with kitchen cleaner and thoroughly wiping everything down, things were a LOT better.

 

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Here is the ‘after’ picture. (I HOPE you can see a difference! Now I can reach what I use the most often. Things won’t fall over, or try to fall on me when I do the next load of laundry. I washed the outside and insides of both the washer and the dryer. It amazes me how dirty these can get on the INSIDE!

One area down, 87,000 to go….

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Filed under Housekeeping - Maintenance, I'm a slob

First Fall Lettuce Harvest!

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I went out to the shop to finish repainting the Catbert mailbox message, plus put another coat of polyurethane on the ceiling fan blades, and went on around to check our garden plants. I discovered that the lettuce plants were twice as large as when I planted them!

 

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I was able to find two different kinds of lettuce to plant this fall: “Salad Blend,” and “Head Lettuce.”

 

 

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I washed it and filled a gallon sized ziplock bag with the first fall harvest. We’ll enjoy a bunch of it with our baked chicken this evening. YUM!

The very best part of the harvest was that I did it standing up! I simply moved from one square to the next, happily snipping off the longest leaves of each plant, not having to bend over double, strain to reach things, or get down on my hands and knees. WHOOPEEEEEEE!

(We’re waiting for a pipe puller tool to arrive in the mail. As soon as that arrives, we’ll tackle getting out the three (I think) lengths of pipe in the ground, clearing the way for us to install the first raised bed square foot planter on the north side of the garden!)

 

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Filed under Gardening, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds

Magical

Title Wave via Cathy Ruggiero

Title Wave via Cathy Ruggiero

My husband and I are big fans of John Grisham. He always manages to grab our attention and keep it, no matter what the story. Right now I’m enjoying “Rogue Lawyer.”

As usual, I’m finding it hard to stop reading in order to do ANYTHING else. If you haven’t read Grisham, dive in to any of his books and you’ll be hooked.

roguelawyer

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Attention

Zen to Zany via Cathy Ruggiero

Zen to Zany via Cathy Ruggiero

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Filed under Family, Favorite Quotes, Friendship

“Yellow Rose”

"Yellow Rose" - Paul Militaru Photography

“Yellow Rose” – Paul Militaru Photography

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Well, Hi!

Smoky Mountain Trip - Sergio Dardon

Smoky Mountain Trip – Sergio Dardon

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Filed under Awe-Inspiring Photography, Mother Nature

Wood Comes Alive – Take 8

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Thanks to Marsha Koenig for her email.

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Loss

I Love Reading Books via Cathy Ruggiero

I Love Reading Books via Cathy Ruggiero

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Chuckles – Take 14

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Thanks to Bill Lites’ email.

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Live Your Life

Sun Gazing via Cathy Ruggiero

Sun Gazing via Cathy Ruggiero

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“The Lake”

"The Lake" - Paul Militaru Photography

“The Lake” – Paul Militaru Photography

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Tea Bag Art – Take 5

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“Artist Ruby Silvious doesn’t just paint the odd teabag. Last year she embarked on a project entitled ‘363 Days of Tea’. Other than a two-day vacation, this talented lady painted one teabag a day, with the result being a diverse array of styles, techniques, and of course, teabags…”

 

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Teabag Art
Ruby Silvious
via Kate Woodberry, Trendingly.com

 

 

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I’m in awe of this woman’s creativity. Her ideas just bubble up seemingly endlessly. Her talent matches her creativity, creating this beautiful pieces.

 

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Thanks to Kate Woodberry, trendingly.com, for sharing Ruby’s work with us.

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Photo That Makes Your Heart Soar

Working with Oneness via Cathy Ruggiero

Working with Oneness via Cathy Ruggiero

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Reading as Conversation

Zen to Zany via Cathy Ruggiero

Zen to Zany via Cathy Ruggiero

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“Ornamental Flower”

"Ornamental Flower 1" - Paul Militaru Photography

“Ornamental Flower 1” – Paul Militaru Photography

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Nat’l Geographic Photos – Take 4

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I’m happy to show you some of the many classic photos taken by the National Geographic photographers. I’m amazed – and grateful – at the lengths to which they will go to get a once in a lifetime photo.

 

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This whole series of animals with the camera are priceless, aren’t they?

My thanks, again, to Marsha Koenig for sending me the email with these pictures.

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Filed under Amazing Animals, Awe-Inspiring Photography

BUY 5 CARDS & SAVE 50% SALE

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Choose any 5 cards by Linda Lewis anywhere on Creative Artworks and save!

 

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This includes cards for the holidays (you’ll find the cards for Christmas under “CHRISTMAS – WINTER”, for example.)

 

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The regular price for the 5 cards would be $4.00 each, or $20.00. For a limited time, you can choose any five cards by Linda Lewis and pay $10.00 and enjoy FREE SHIPPING in the contiguous United States.

 

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Choose the special sale item in red,

then put the names of the 5 cards you would like in the special comments section of the checkout (the page AFTER you input your billing and shipping addresses.) There is only one of each card, so act quickly for the best selection.

 

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You can take advantage of this special sale as many times as you would like. This is a great chance to stock up on cards to use as note cards, plus have cards for every occasion. HAVE FUN!

 

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Fun Friday

Hollis J. Works

Hollis J. Works

We just returned from Lunch Bunch, where we had a nice catch-up with our good friends, plus errands. Now I’m heading out to the shop where I have two projects –

  • repainting the words on the Catbert mailbox decoration so they’ll be better seen from farther away
  • painting some ceiling fan blades with polyurethane. (We have a ceiling fan on the deck where the blades were drooping, curling down. I straightened them by hosing them down on the sidewalk and putting bricks on top, then turning them over to do the same. They now look pretty flat. We’re hoping that several thick coats of polyurethane will help them live through getting wet from blowing rain.)

Rain clouds are moving in as I type, and we’re due for some heavy rain this afternoon and evening.

I hope that things are good where you are, and that you have a fun Friday, too. :0)

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Filed under Housekeeping - Maintenance, Lewis Art, Lewis Mailbox Decorations

Educating the Mind…

Lisa Bearnes Richey

Lisa Bearnes Richey

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Tea Bag Art – Take 4

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Teabag Art
Ruby Silvious
via Kate Woodberry, Trendingly.com

 

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“Artist Ruby Silvious doesn’t just paint the odd teabag. Last year she embarked on a project entitled ‘363 Days of Tea’. Other than a two-day vacation, this talented lady painted one teabag a day, with the result being a diverse array of styles, techniques, and of course, teabags…”

 

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“Splash of Yellow over Deep Green”

"Splash of Yellow Over Deep Green" - Paul Militaru Photography

“Splash of Yellow Over Deep Green” – Paul Militaru Photography

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Getting the Lard Off – Progress Report 9/15/2016

Today I’m feeling more upbeat about my progress. My weight loss is still at 46 lbs, but the exercising I’ve been doing is finally paying off again with a loss now of 25-1/2 inches!

I’ve been either walking with annoying Leslie (DVD) for two miles OR doing half an hour on the elliptical trainer, and then either upper or lower body exercises with weights. Besides the progress in inches, I’m FEELING a difference.

I’ve had to miss a few days lately due to overdoing on working in my garden and having to baby my poor fat body when I strained muscles around my hip on the left side. I have no clue why only my left side was strained, but thanks to a combination of heat pad, Ibuprofen, and massages by my husband, I’m now fully recovered and dangerous again. :0)

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*My garden, by the way, is under good control now. The fall garden is now planted in the new raised planters. The old stuff is out of the three square foot planters that remain on the ground on the north side of the garden. The fence I was using for climbing plants has been removed. I have dug the Mel’s Mix out of one of the ground planters and it’s waiting in trash cans until we get the first raised bed planter installed on that side of the garden. We need to remove some big metal pipes we used to hold up the fence before we can go any farther.

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My husband is newly motivated to eat low carb with me. He’s trying to watch his sugar – a thing our low carb diet does well. I’m studying the extra stuff he’s been eating, reading labels and doing lots of research on the net to find out what things are good now and what he should avoid, what his sugar limit should be each day, etc.  We can be cheerleaders for each other – encouraging the other to ‘be good,’ ‘be strong,’ and take each meal at a time.

Hopefully, by next week I’ll be able to report a larger weight loss, but at least I’m seeing some actual measurable progress to spur me on.

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Filed under Cooking/Recipes/Low Carb Lifestyle, getting the lard off

Lewis Mailbox Decoration f9/15/2016

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We put up another of our mailbox decorations this morning. This is Wile E Coyote paying Sonic the Hedgehog for capturing The Roadrunner for him. I wish we could take credit for the cute design, but we found it on the net, loved it, and made it out of metal using our CNC setup plus my husband’s good welding.

 

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This is the front as it looks on the mailbox.

 

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And this is the back of the piece, if you’re passing our driveway from the other direction. We love the rebar legs on the Roadrunner, giving the piece a good 3-D appearance.

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Filed under Lewis Art, Lewis Mailbox Decorations

Turning Canning into More than an Art Form

Heather Jo Flores via Morgen Marshall

Heather Jo Flores via Morgen Marshall

This was posted by Morgen Marshall on Facebook recently and it simply blew me away.

I already think that canning is an art. I had the privilege of watching my friend, Kay Nelson, can green beans and then tomatoes, using the pressure cooker method and the boiling water method respectively, recently. I was busy listening, watching, and taking notes as she seemingly effortlessly processed the fresh food. I have the equipment now, but I haven’t actually canned anything yet.

The picture above is simply wonderful. These are almost too pretty to even think about eating, though it would be a waste not to. There are so many creative people in this world. My mind boggles.

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Teabag Art – Take 3

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Teabag Artist – Ruby Silvious

Pictures provided by Kate Woodberry, trendingly.com

 

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Artist Ruby Silvious doesn’t just paint the odd teabag. Last year she embarked on a project entitled ‘363 Days of Tea’. Other than a two-day vacation, this talented lady painted one teabag a day, with the result being a diverse array of styles, techniques, and of course, teabags…

 

 

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