“Silly Face” – Lucie Bilodeau
“Smile” – Sean O’Daniels
Filed under animal paintings, Creativity
pinterest.com
We’re having scattered showers today. I decided to go out to the garden and bring in some produce for the salad we’ll enjoy tomorrow. Of course, the rain started when I was just starting to snip…
PurifyouPremiumReusableMesh
Since Nutrisystem suggests that you NOT wash produce until just before you eat it, and also suggested that produce will last longer in these mesh bags, I took three of the bags out to the garden with me and harvested the produce right into the bags: one for spinach, one for iceberg lettuce, and one for romaine lettuce.
1st Harvest – Spinach
1st Harvest – Iceberg Lettuce
1st Harvest – Romaine Lettuce
Even though my efforts at growing a garden don’t save us money, the produce we get is so fresh, and it’s so much fun to go out and snip the ingredients for salad from your own garden!
quotesgram.com
Amber – April 2018 – 13 months
I grabbed my camera to take a picture of the entertainment center and the winterized deck for the previous post. Amber, of course, wanted to come with me.
We ended up walking all over yard, taking pics of flowers, veggies, etc. Amber would watch me, then run off and do doggly things for a while, and then come back on her on, or when I called. We did this over and over, walking out to the greenhouse, then all the way across our land to the square foot garden, then back around the house.
Amber is a really sweet, wonderful dog. I particularly enjoy her when it’s just the family here. She responds eagerly – probably in anticipation of a ‘cookie’ when we go back inside – but is truly fun, affectionate, curious and playful. (It’s when others come here, or we go out in public that she tends to go ‘maniac,’ requiring all our tools, skills, and dubious intelligence to handle things. We have agreed that we need to invite more people here, and put the no-pull collar and leash on her when she is allowed to get out of the car on our outings, giving her more occasions to meet people, LISTEN to us, and hopefully, do what we say.
As to what we saw on our walk this morning –
The deep purple iris is fading, but the yellow iris is all over the yard in clusters. My husband is less than impressed with the yellow ones, but the display is very impressive to ME. (Each pic displayed here is a different clump of iris, plus there is more going down the driveway!)
Filed under Amazing Animals, Arkansas, Favorite Quotes, Gardening, Greenwood
Title Wave with Sue Fitzmaurice via Cathy Ruggiero
Actually, it isn’t QUITE as bad as this, but it’s a close thing. :0)
Today’s plans involve three things, now that our errands for the day have been done:
THING ONE: put our produce in the new mesh bags I ordered YESTERDAY from Amazon. They came today! I have no clue how they do that, but I love it. The Nutrisystem plans have you eating 4 servings of veggies per day, along with the other stuff. We love salads (and I’m growing two kinds of lettuce in our raised bed, square foot garden – ready to start harvesting). I also have some broccoli I bought from the store. (Later, I hope we can harvest from our broccoli plants.) A “serving” of veggies is one cup raw veggies or 1/2 cup cooked veggies, as a general rule of thumb.
An article on the website suggests that we use mesh bags to store our produce – that they keep the produce fresher and they last longer. I thought it was worth a try. I’ll move our stuff into the new bags later this morning. I bought these
The set includes 3 sizes of bags with drawstring tops. They seem to be well made. They are machine washable.
THING TWO: Our deck is still in winter mode. It finally quit raining and the sun is out! I’m planning to start uncovering pots, emptying or filling pots, as necessary, to prepare for our buying mandevilla for the 4 large pots, and a combination of favorites for the rest of the pots on the deck. I’ll also start figuring out how to get our hummingbird birdbath going. This is a pretty large project, but I’ll take pics as things come together.
THING THREE: We have a wall of built-in shelves on one end of our living room. We use it as an entertainment center, housing speakers, DVDs, books, TV, etc. I’ve been ignoring the fact that this area needs some purging, as well as re-arranging and cleaning. I’m going to try to at least get a good start on that today.
I hope you have a fun and/or productive day planned. Our weather is so nice right now we just opened the front and back doors to air the house out. :0)
“Hidden Among Flowers” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
I received the emails today that the frozen part of our first order from Nutrisystem is supposed to be delivered by the end of the day on Wednesday!
Immediately, my husband said, then we should start the program the following Monday.
We were on the way to Fort Smith to take our donation to the Veterans Thrift Store, so I sat there, thinking. On the way back I finally asked him, “Why do you want to wait until Monday to start?” And he answered, “Because it’s more symmetrical than starting in the middle of the week.”
By the time we got home, I said, “I really want to start on Thursday, since we’ll get the rest of the food we ordered on Wednesday and I can get it organized and stored.” (Since it has taken so long to get the two parts of what we ordered, Order #2 is scheduled to be shipped on May 13th. Starting Thursday will give my husband a chance to try several of his choices and we can still make changes until 6 pm on the 12th.)
We agreed to start on Thursday morning (assuming we get the delivery as scheduled.)
Hooray!
Filed under Acting Like a Grownup, Challenges, Changes, DIET!, taking care of yourself
Yesterday I was really good.
I scrubbed our kitchen within an inch of its life, moving everything, wiping it all down, scrubbing the stove and running its parts through the dishwasher, scrubbing the dining table and its lazy susan, the go-out table, the buffet, etc. and finishing up by vacuuming the pantry, kitchen, dining area, hallway, utility room and two half baths.
Later on, I listed the office supplies we were donating to the Veterans Thrift Store and bagged them up to take to Fort Smith today. I also continued reading the articles on the Nutrisystem site in an effort to know all I can before we start.
I’ve made up for my efforts yesterday by basically being a slug today. I haven’t accomplished much at all and even took a nap after we ate a late lunch.
The sun is finally shining after several days of really dark days with some good rain, so I’m feeling my spirits raise, as well. I hope you’ve had a good day today.
i.pinimag-originals
“Crab” – Artist Unknown
webmail1k.orange.fr
Filed under Art From Found Things, Creativity, metal art
“Little Wolf” – Amy Hamilton
“Molly” – Pat Saunders-White
Filed under animal paintings, Creativity
XciteFun.net
The rain started just after we got into the car in the Walmart parking lot early yesterday afternoon, and we’ve had showers off and on ever since. It’s very overcast and looks like another one is coming any minute. No severe weather this time, and for that I am truly grateful. (I tend to get nervous when the weather alert is flashing red and the weather guys on TV are telling you to bend over and kiss your nether end bye-bye…)
THIS rain is one where you can almost hear all the trees, plants, and grass saying a collective “AHHHHHH!” A nice, soaky, healing rain.
It makes my husband cranky, though, because his only thought is that we’ll have to mow the lawn again soon, when we JUST finished doing that this past week.
I have mentally switched from my “OUTSIDE to-do list” to my “INSIDE to-do list,” both of which are longer than my arms right now. I know I’ll never actually get either list finished – that just never happens around here. I just keep plugging away, telling myself that it’s better now than it was before I started, and make myself content with that.
I’m looking forward to getting something accomplished today, enjoying the rain, taking a break and curling up with my current book, and maybe even catching a nap this afternoon.
GrowingBolder.com
Have a wonderful Sunday!
Filed under Mother Nature
Chris Kircher.de
“ShovelBug” – unknown artist
Filed under Art From Found Things, Creativity, metal art
“Georgia” – Sean O’Daniels
“Horse” – Arthur Braginsky
Filed under animal paintings, Creativity
“Barn Owl” – Watercolor – Olga Shvartsur
“Famingo” – Watercolor – Olga Shvartsur
Filed under animal paintings, Creativity
i.pinimg.com-originals
scontent-a-ati-xxfbcdn,net
Filed under Art From Found Things, Creativity, metal art
I let Amber out JUST as the mail lady came up the driveway. :0(
I tried to get Amber under control, but I didn’t have the zapper in hand and Amber was SOOOOO excited that someone came to see her! She was trying to jump up, her wagging tail whipping my leg. The lady was smart, throwing a dog biscuit out from her. Of course, Amber went right after it.
My husband came out then, complicating the issue. Amber started being exuberant again, acting as though we hadn’t spent hours and hours working with her. My husband got frustrated and grabbed Amber’s collar. All of a sudden, both of them went down on the grass in a pile. I put the package that the lady has just given me down and went to help my husband up. He wouldn’t let go of the collar – being a stubborn man – and Amber wouldn’t give an inch, either.
Finally, we both held Amber down while the mail lady started back down the driveway. When she had gone far enough, Amber quieted. I felt like a referee between my husband of very stubborn streak and Amber, a big dog with small brain….
No one was hurt, but nerves were frazzled on all parts. Amber has 11 more months to do some growing up and calming down while we try to teach her to be social without being ‘deaf’ to commands and over-exuberant. (We’re told that things will get better when she hits the 2-years-old mark. ) I’m afraid there is no cure for my husband’s stubborn streak.
Filed under Amazing Animals, Challenges, Family
Our NON-frozen food boxes for the first month were delivered this morning. My husband and I have agreed that we don’t want to start the program until we get all the stuff for the first month. I haven’t received emails that they’ve shipped the frozen portion of our order yet.
I have their pictured diagram of what we are supposed to do the first week on the fridge. I have the Turbo13 red box that starts the program for fat ladies, and my husband has a small box of shake powder packets and the rest of his non-frozen choices.
I eat ONLY from the magic red box the first week and he drinks a shake each day, plus has a hunger-curbing bar the first week, plus his regular choices for the diabetic program. He’ll want to try the frozen stuff first, so that’s the main reason we’ll wait to start until that arrives. I want us to be in sync and as happy as possible that we’re starting to get the lard off together.
Example: he looked at the schedule of his eating for a typical day and said, “Okay. 7am That’s it. I’m not getting up any earlier to eat.” THEN, I’m not going to eat 6 times a day.” I told him – gritting my teeth – that all this signified was that he was supposed to eat every 2-3 hours during the day, breakfast – a shake mid-morning – lunch – a snack mid-afternoon – dinner – a snack before bed, starting at 8am and stopping after the after dinner snack. He grumbled, and then said that sounded okay, but that he wasn’t sure he’d eat all the snacks. I told him that if he didn’t, it would actually hinder his weight loss and he wouldn’t get the nutrition he’s supposed to get. I also reminded him that we discussed all this and we agreed to it before I placed the order. Grumbling again….. (I think this is all for show. He wants to lose weight. He just likes to drag his feet.)
I cleared some plastic bins to hold our non-frozen choices. I’ll put our stuff away this morning, labeling his food AND the bins so we don’t get mixed up.
I’m starting to read through the material that came with our food, trying to find out if we need to get something special at the store. So far, I’ve found that we need to buy two shaker bottles for the shakes.
I will measure all my parts so that I can hopefully prepare to be very pleased – if I’m a good girl – with the results.
I’m still feeling pretty overwhelmed, but I’m improving. I’ll wait to start NUMI – their food and exercise tracker – until the first day we actually start the program. Hopefully, we’ll get the emails re the frozen choices very soon.
I’m getting antsy to start!
Filed under DIET!, getting the lard off, taking care of yourself
Filed under Beautiful Boxes, Creativity
tedlilyfanclub.blogspot.com
I just love this picture, so I had to put on MY serious face in order to tackle – and FINISH – going through the last 4-drawer file cabinet in our office this afternoon.
I’ve told you before that I’m a lousy housekeeper. I’m in the process on decluttering/purging/donating/throwing away over 30 years of ‘stuff’. I’ve finished PHASE I (with the exception of the basement, garage, and shop, because I foresee some REALLY serious discussions about what stays and what goes with my husband. These are on the ‘ignore’ list for now.
PHASE II started with going through our office again, this time concentrating on the drawers and shelves not done last time, plus the file cabinets (we have two 4-drawer file cabinets, one 2-drawer cabinet, and two file drawers in my desk.
The picture above shows you the obsolete files I removed from the file cabinet. It doesn’t show you the pile of hanging files, file folders, labels, etc. that also are out of there.
Other than the computer switch we’re suffering through right now, we’re pretty well fixed in the office now!
My husband is working on writing programs that will make backups of each of our computers, storing the backups for mine on his computer and vice versa. We still have the MAC to my left on the counter, waiting to be wiped and sold, the tower for my new system on the counter to my right, waiting to be moved under my counter and all the wiring rerouted and neatened up, and then another computer he’s working on in the corner that goes with his ham radio set up. When we get all this organized, the office clean-out project can be considered finished (except for HIS shelves, which are on the ‘ignore’ list. :0)
Progess is being made in the Lewis house!
Andrew A. Rooney via quotesbuddy.com
And this beautiful dog is the spitting image of our Amber!
Filed under Favorite Quotes
“Golden Hour on the Lake” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
PersonalizationMall.com
I finally got the hang of bookmarks on the new PC! Most of the stuff I’m doing on the new machine, including trying to write blog posts, I’m like an elephant trying to walk between two buildings high in the air on a tightrope – and I’m afraid of heights. I feel extremely awkward, brain-challenged and get frustrated really quickly.
BOOKMARKS – on the other hand – are now good. :0)
I now have all the ones we imported from the MAC, and the others imported that I had put on FireFox, on the new PC. I can now save a website to a bookmark I’ve created, change one to another section, change the name of one, create a new bookmark, etc. Yesterday I figured out how to create SUB-directories, so I was able to organize the many websites I’ve bookmarked for gardening. HOOOOORAAAAY!
One thing learned, a gazillion to go; but the empowerment has begun!
Filed under Challenges, Changes, empowerment, Encouragement
Our yellow Labrador Retriever ‘puppy,’ Amber, is 13 months old and weighs 94.2 lbs, according to the scales at the vet’s office yesterday. She thinks she is a lap dog, though, and regularly walks right up into my husband’s lap as he is sitting in his recliner.
This picture was taken back in November when Amber isn’t as large as she is now.
Amber’s eyes start to gleam while she sits on my husband’s lap. It’s easy to see that she’s planning to jump directly from his lap into mine! NO!!!!!!!!
I leap up and go sit on the couch. She leaps down, comes over, and waits impatiently for me to say, “Okay,” that she can come up onto the couch with me. We snuggle for several minutes and then she gets down, allowing me to go back to my recliner.
You wouldn’t describe Sweet Amber as spoiled, would you?
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family
Filed under Beautiful Boxes, Creativity
We talk to our animals. It’s a good thing none of our animals actually talk because I’m sure they would tell you how completely DUMB – although fairly nice – their people are.
One of the things we say to them from time to time is, “What does the dog say?” or “What does the kitty say?”
Today, while I was emptying and completely cleaning out the aquarium, I found myself asking, “What do the fishies say?” In truth, they’ve never said much. The best ‘trick’ they do is to crowd into the corner of the aquarium wriggling as fast as they can, while they wait for me to get a pinch of whatever is in the flakes of fish food I pinch and put into their aquarium twice a day. It shows they know who I am and anticipate the service I perform for them. Otherwise, they’re just nice to look at.
They are very active when I clean the aquarium, too. I change the filter twice a month, but every once in a while, the water looks cloudy even with a new one. That’s when I stop everything connected to the aquarium, put the fish into a bowl and cover it with a towel, and take everything out, siphon the water, add new, scrub all the stuff in there, hook everything back up, and add the fish.
I change the things in the aquarium from time to time. I have no clue if they enjoy me changing the furniture or decorations or hate it. Sometimes I wish they would hold up a sign saying, “We hate the neon thing with the holes in it,” or something similar.
So, even though they don’t say anything – not even blowing a bubble at me – I still ask, “What do the fishies say?” just in case they have something on their minds…
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family
The ads for men say, “Eat the food, lose the weight.” Simple, right?
I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed right now. My husband agreed to get on the “Diabetic Uniquely Yours for Men, Custom Menu.” As far as HE’S concerned now, it’s ‘Eat the food, lose the weight.” I ordered “Uniquely Yours for Women – Custom Menu” for me.
In order to get him to try this, I had to do a LOT of prep work. We’ve been on Nutrisystem before, several years ago. We quit because my husband was irate that they discontinued all the meals he liked, one at a time. The number of choices wasn’t as good back then, and they didn’t offer frozen stuff as they do now. He’s really gun-shy after our first experience, so I’m trying to run interference as much as possible.
I finally got things so he could sit down in his chair beside me at the computer and he could choose what looked good while I made notes. At one point when we started with his order I thought it was ‘game over,’ because his lunch choices weren’t coming up when we were on the lunch ordering page. I contacted the chat expert, and we finally figured out that do to some error on my part, we had somehow gotten on the dinner page. THAT was why the things he wanted didn’t show. The chat guy, Jeff, helped us figure things out.
I then fought through trying to order MY plan. At first they wouldn’t let me use my email address with another password. I got on chat again, explained my husband didn’t want to receive any emails from them, so I had used my email to order his plan. She figured out a way around the problem, guided me through the maze again, and I was really grateful.
Nutrisystem
Since we placed our orders, I’ve been reading everything on the website, trying to figure out what to expect. You can find answers, but there is a LOT to go through to get them. I’ve finally started a notebook, printed things and put them in the notebook for quicker reference.
I found out through the reading that they ship the non-frozen stuff separately from the frozen stuff. This makes sense because the frozen stuff comes in a truck rigged to carry frozen things. I got the emails that both of our non-frozen orders were shipping today. I can’t track them yet, so I don’t know when to expect them. They’ll send more emails when the frozen stuff ships.
I have cleaned out freezers to get ready to store our food when it arrives. The non-frozen food won’t be as hard to store. I’ve figured out a system for marking my husband’s food so we don’t get things mixed up. He’s sneering at me, but doesn’t have a better suggestion, so I’ll do what I planned and see if it works.
I’m still looking for the cut-off date for changing the items on our next order is. I’m sure that we’ll find things we really don’t care for (at least we did the first time.) I want to be sure I can change our order in time that we don’t get 6 more of something we hate the next month.
I have put up ‘what we eat the first week’ on the fridge in the kitchen. I’m sure my husband will balk at eating 6 times a day, but I will encourage it, just the same. Then, if he doesn’t, at least I tried.
So far, I’m ending up brain-dead by dinner time, after working on this a lot of the day for several days now, trying to figure out what to do when we start. I’ve decided our “4 servings of veggies each day” will be salad with lunch and dinner. Otherwise, if needed, I’ll have cherry tomatoes and celery ready to put on our plates.
I have some of our flex meals figured out. We have ice cream after bowling once a week with friends. That’s our on-our-own snack for the week. Our on-our-own lunch will be when we meet our friends for Friday’s “Lunch Bunch.” (I’ll switch to making a salad at the salad bar.) Not sure what we’ll do for our on-our-own dinner, but I have time yet. On-our-own breakfast won’t be a problem. I like that they are encouraging us to pay attention to what we’re eating from the beginning of the program, both what is prepared for us and what we choose for our flex meals.
Just “Eat the food, lose the weight.” Yeah.
Filed under Challenges, Changes, DIET!, exercise, getting the lard off
creativeartworksblog 