Filed under Funny Signs - Humor
drawingartistic.com
drawingofpencil.com
drawingofsketch.com
Filed under Creativity, drawings
“Algae, Stones, and Sea” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Happy Water Dance” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Lake in Spring” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Sea and Sand” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Water Music” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
My husband and I have sold used books and DVDs on Amazon for several years now. We make enough sometimes to make us feel we’re recouping some of what we’ve spent on books, allowing us to feel less guilty for buying more.
My husband opened the seller account, but I handle the packaging of the books sold, record keeping, confirming shipments online, etc. If we only sell one book, the process is very easy. Selling 7 books in less than a day’s time makes it difficult to keep orders straight.
I told you yesterday that I went through the books in the entertainment center in our living room, listing some for sale on Amazon and donating the others to our local library. I listed several, and bagged up 7 Walmart bags of donated books that we’ll take to the library today.
Last night we sold 3 books. I packaged them for mailing and put them on our go-out table. By this morning, we had sold 4 more! I went through things carefully, printing out the shipping labels and info and packaging one book at a time so I didn’t get confused.
I made a list of what had sold and where the books were being shipped so that I could get online later today and confirm each shipment with a USPS number. (The only ones not on the list yet were the ones ready for shipping on the go-out table.)
I ran into one sale for which I didn’t have the book! I looked through the ones for sale very carefully several times. I couldn’t find it. I finally admitted defeat, wrote to the buyer, apologized profusely, telling her I didn’t know how this happened since I list books by their ISBN number. I cancelled the order and issued a refund for her money. I was embarrassed, telling my husband I was old and doofus, but was being as careful as possible.
I took the newly packaged books in to the go-out table and added the ones already packaged to my list for confirmation. THERE WAS THE BOOK I COULDN’T FIND. You can’t UN-cancel an order. You can’t put spilt milk back into the bottle.
SO – I’m embarrassed TWICE now. I’ll wait a week and then list the ‘sold-and-order-canceled’ book again next week….
Filed under Are YOU also older than Dirt?, Challenges
I’m going through the last group of books I brought into the office from the entertainment center in the living room. I’m listing some of them for sale on Amazon and bagging up the rest for a donation to our local library tomorrow to be sold at their next fundraiser.
It has taken most of 2 days to go through the shelves, bring the books in here, sort them, and then clean the living room.
I made my husband stop what he was doing and come in and look at the CLEAN and much better organized living room.
I’ve promised myself that I’m NOT going to take 30 years to declutter what it has taken us a bit over 30 years to accumulate!
As I finish each phase of this once-in-30-years declutter/give away, throw away/reorganize/cleaning long-term project I feel freer. We have been weighed down by too much ‘stuff’ for far too long. Since neither my husband nor I are great housekeepers or throw-awayers, things had gotten well out of hand when I started this in January.
Thus far we’ve made 7 trips with donations to the Disabled Veterans Thrift Store in Fort Smith, and tomorrow we should be able to make our 3rd trip to the local library to donate books. We definitely have a good start now, and I’ll continue tackling one area at a time, making pass after pass until it feels really good.
We just finished getting our mail and changing our mailbox decoration from “Catbert” from Dilbert to “Yosemite Sam.” He’s one of our favorite cartoon characters from growing up. I can hear his voice warning people off before he blasts them. :0)
This decoration is cut out of sheet metal with our computer-guided CNC set up. My husband converted a drawing we found on the net into the code needed to talk to the computer. The program then directs the torch to cut out the design. We clean up the metal edges, weld it onto the bar that attaches it to the mailbox, and then use the overhead projector and a transparency from our printer to mark the metal so that I can paint the design on both sides. We then spray the finished decoration with clear protective spray to make the paint last as long as possible.
“I’m a-warning you, Stranger!!!!”
Filed under Lewis Art, Lewis Mailbox Decorations
My husband has lost weight and his blood sugar numbers are looking a LOT better! (I’m trying not to invade his privacy by printing numbers, but I’m really happy for him.)
Exercise:
Practical Differences:
Week 3 has been a success. I’m feeling motivated and happy to be getting less of me!
Filed under Attitude, Challenges, Changes, DIET!, empowerment, Encouragement, exercise, Healthy Eating, taking care of yourself
Animal-Space.net
My neck and shoulders have been hurting/burning off and on for about 3 weeks now. I had a wonderful massage where my therapist suggested that I
I’m still having problem, but 1 through 4 above are definitely helping. Since I have no clue what I did/am doing that causes me to tighten up like this, it’s a bit hard to ‘stop it,’ but it’s great that I now have an arsenal of ways to make it stop for a bit.
I received a new neck pillow I ordered (Amber ATE the one I had while I was out working with the weed whacker), so I’m again doing all of my stretching and relaxation poses on my yoga mat.
Thanks to Sixty and Me and their “Gentle Yoga” DVDs (for old broads like me) with instructor Cat Kabira for teaching me ways to stretch myself out, try to relax, and strengthen my body to feel better.
Filed under Challenges, exercise
Charles Schultz – Peanuts via lovethispic.com
I was born worrying.
I really didn’t believe this quote for most of my life, thinking I could forestall all kinds of bad things by cautioning those I loved and then worrying until the perceived danger was over -as if I had control. It has taken me a long time to stop this – for the most part.
The newest worry was when my husband went to an auction in the next state over from us recently. I did help him prepare, making him take his phone and programming the GPS with the address, in case it was one of those places that was really hard to find.
He called me while I was in the kitchen cleaning the floor, I guess, because I didn’t hear the phone ring. (He calls ‘home’ rather than calling me on my cell.) I played the message on the answering machine, but the ONLY thing I got was that it was my husband. It was so garbled that, after playing the message over and over and not being able to understand any of it, I erased it. I then called him back, only to get the message he was unavailable and to leave a message. I told him I got his call, but the message was garbled and to call me back. Over the next hour or so I called and left more messages. He didn’t call.
I was to the point I was imagining that he had been arrested and his one phone call had been so garbled I couldn’t do what he needed me to do, like call a lawyer, come to the station where he was being held, etc. I also imagined was a car wreck and worse, since he hadn’t called me back.
I was a basket case by the time I heard the driveway detector. I ran out to find him pulling into the garage, safe and sound. I asked him – quite calmly, I thought – why he hadn’t returned my messages. He looked bewildered, then checked his phone, seeing the umpteen messages on it. We checked his settings and it was set essentially on “O” volume and no vibrator. :0(
The whole point of this is to admit I haven’t given up worrying altogether, although I notice our son responding on the chat program with, “Don’t worry” more than I would like. I realize I can’t stop bad things from happening, although I may be over-the-top on “preparation” now…
As I said, I was born worrying.
Filed under Attitude, Favorite Quotes
“Stones and the Sea” – Paul Militaru Photography
“The Symphony of the Sea” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
broccoli
I harvested this yesterday when it was super hot. I didn’t harvest any romaine because I just got too hot out there. I’ll do that later today.
head lettuce
Spinach
I also wanted to show you our tomato plants in the two planters we converted to square foot gardening on the east side of the house.
The first tomato blossom of the season!
My husband has been trying to get clematis to grow happily at our place for several years now. The past couple of years it has given us a nice display.
We used 4 half-barrels and arranged for something for it to climb on. When you look at the flowers from the house, there isn’t a lot to see.
But when you look at the flowers from the BACK, this is what you see. We’ll take it.
Filed under Gardening
The cutoff date on making changes for our 2nd Nutrisystem order was the 13th. I got my frozen stuff today! We’ll get another delivery for my husband’s frozen stuff, and two more for our UN-frozen stuff, but I was amazed – and I admit, unprepared – to get my new frozen order so quickly.
We quickly decided that we want to be sure we eat everything – liked or not-liked – from the first order before we dive into the new one. We made a bunch of changes on the new order, so we know we’ll like MANY more of our meal choices, but that’s the point. It’s too easy to just keep trying to stash the things we don’t care for back farther and farther into the shelf or freezer.
I just finished putting all the remaining breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks from our original order into freezer bags clearly labeled as to ‘eater’ and which meal is in the bag. As soon as I have a chance to catch my breath, I’ll put away my new frozen things, trying not to get TOO anticipatory that my resolve to eat the other stuff first goes away.
The end of Week 3 is tomorrow. I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to report more lardage and more inches gone.
One good sign – I bought some shorts to hold me through the summer a week or so ago. They are already loose – to the point that I’ve put “new, SMALLER shorts on our list! My husband entered a new, lower ‘decade’ on the scales this morning. He was really encouraged. We also monitor his blood sugar number tomorrow, so fingers (and all other appendages, including our eyes) are crossed for a good number.
Here’s to keep on keepin’ on!
Filed under DIET!
thedailyblog.co.nz
We had storms really early yesterday morning. Lightning apparently hit the radio tower on a ridge line across the valley from us that brings our Internet, email, and TV, knocking it out completely for much of the day. We felt disenfranchised, but soldiered on. :0) I hated not being able to write blog posts, check email, look up the phone number of our Internet provider on the net in order to report the outage ( :0) ), or do things like read what was happening on the news – or watch it on TV – since much of our TV service is tied to Internet service.
My husband went to an auction that was nearby. While he was gone, I used the time to get caught up on filing and cleaned up the office. I also started a spreadsheet that will list our ‘stuff’ in case of a catastrophic loss, such as a tornado blowing our home to smithereens or a wildfire burning everything to a crisp.
I told you that we arranged a meeting with our insurance agent recently to learn in PLAIN ENGLISH what our coverages included, what needed to be increased, what was excluded, and if the DVD with pics and information was enough should the worst happen. The end result was that we feel much more confident about our policies. We added an endorsement that would better cover the stuff in our basement. We discovered that the first thing we would have to do in case of a gigantic loss would be to fill out forms that listed, in our own handwriting, each thing we had lost, including brand name, serial and model numbers, when and from whom we bought it, what we paid, etc. Our DVD covers a lot, but not like this.
I got a copy of the spreadsheet form we would need to fill out and I’m building a spreadsheet to mirror theirs, working on it as I get the time, working from our DVD, taking new pics when needed, listing things room by room, adding things if needed, subtracting things, etc. I would much rather have this if we need it, in the safe deposit box at the bank, than try to do this after we’ve lost everything. I started on this yesterday. This will be a long project, but I’ll work on it a bit at a time.
We ran errands for much of the afternoon. We did what was needed at home and then discovered our Internet service had been repaired. Hooraaay! Sad to say, I was too pooped by that time to even think about getting on the computer…
Filed under Challenges
“Alone” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Blackbird and Forget-Me-Not Flowers” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Careful Supervision” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Lady in Black” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Lady of the Lake” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Gull” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
Our raised bed square foot garden is doing well so far this year. We have six 4’x4′ boxes on metal ‘tables’ at about my chest level. I can just walk up to them, planting, weeding, or harvesting without having to get up and down from my knees or bend over double – a thing I can’t tell you how very MUCH I appreciate!
We are growing iceberg head lettuce, romaine lettuce, sweet onions, radishes, spinach and broccoli. We have two converted planters on the east side of the house with tomato plants.
I’m going to go out and harvest some things today, but I wanted to show you how nice the plants look before I do.
I have some celery started in the kitchen that I’m hoping I can transplant to these empty squares soon.
On the lower right, you can see the start of radishes in the square.
I pruned the three bushes we got for the first time recently. Essentially, I had to prune ALL of the blooms, so I was a bit worried.
I had to wait for a couple of weeks, but they’re in bloom again now and seem to be happy in their new digs.
Filed under Gardening
Filed under Beans & Seeds Art, Creativity
Amber’s had a really fun, doggy type day and we haven’t even gotten to lunch yet!
It started with a romp in her kiddie pool. Instead of just getting her feet wet, she got down and really cooled off. (That brought a distinct reminder that one of the things we need to do today is scrub out her pool and fill it up again.)
We dried her off as much as possible and let her in. (We can’t leave her out very long because she gets bored, goes onto the front porch or into the garage and finds something wonderful to play with (destroy)).
She then decided to play in her water dish, leaving a pool of water. (I used one of our hair-washing towels to sop it up.)
We’re supposed to have a rainy week, so we decided to get out and do our yard work today before it got super hot. My husband used the riding mower and got the lawn taken care of. While he was doing that, I was going around the yard with the weed eater. I needed to do several sessions, having to drink water and rest in between.
One of the times I came in to rest, I found blobs of fuzz everywhere. Amber had found my neck pillow that I use every day in my yoga practice and had shredded it. (It’s now on the Walmart list for replacement.)
One of the times I was out, my husband let Amber out. She found a mud puddle beside one of the planters because he arranged for the irrigation system to work in the back and side of our yard so that our two tomato planters could be watered on a regular basis. Amber had a WONDERFUL time, coming to greet me in a few minutes with mud all over her – especially on her feet, legs, face and nose. I yelled into the house, asking my husband to hose Amber off and put her on the back porch with the door shut to dry off.
I came in for the last time, having finished the weed whacking and having used the leaf blower to clean off the sidewalks and driveway pad, and there was another pool of water around the water dish. (We are now starting the clothes washer to deal with all the wet towels.)
That’s it for the morning entertainment for Amber. I will be really happy in another 11 months when there is some chance that this 93 lb yellow labrador retriever ‘puppy’ will have calmed down a bit…
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family
“It is not until you become a mother that your judgment slowly turns to compassion and understanding.” – Erma Bombeck
“Motherhood has a very humanizing effect. Everything gets reduced to essentials.” Meryl Streep
When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child. Sophia Loren
The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new. ~Rajneesh
Grown don’t mean nothing to a mother. A child is a child. They get bigger, older, but grown? What’s that suppose to mean? In my heart it don’t mean a thing. ~Toni Morrison
Being a mother is learning about strengths you didn’t know you had, and dealing with fears you didn’t know existed. ~Linda Wooten
Biology is the least of what makes someone a mother. ~Oprah Winfrey
HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!
Filed under Favorite Quotes, holidays
I was really tied in a knot when I got my last massage therapy session Thursday. To say I needed help was an understatement. Somehow I made the muscles that run from my neck to my shoulders and across my back hurt so badly they burn. Hot showers and pain medicine didn’t help. My wonderful massage therapist, Lynn Moody, expertly got to all the sore muscles, kneading them into relaxation.
We were agreed that I should stop doing whatever it was that caused the problem in the first place, should I ever discover what that is.
She also suggested –
Inestlive
I’ve been doing all but the over the door thingie since I had my massage Thursday morning. The combination is helping. I actually had almost an hour where I didn’t feel any pain across my back last night!
Filed under Challenges, exercise, taking care of yourself
Chiang Mai, Thailand
This is the view as our son walks from the house he’s renting to downtown Chiang Mai every day.
Filed under Awe-Inspiring Photography, quality of life
Filed under Beans & Seeds Art, Creativity
NikhiRoy-nikhilroynilz.wordpress.com
Signed, but I can’t read the signature – http://www.pinterest.com
Filed under Creativity, drawings
I think I’ve told you that I hate computers when they don’t work and make me feel stupid. This happens a LOT. Recently, my husband really insisted that I change to a PC with Windows 10 from the iMac my son set up for me. My husband wants to be able to fix things when I have problems. Our son is across the world from us, and so many times isn’t available to help.
My husband ordered the same hardware he’s using for me, but for some unknown reason, it wouldn’t work. He fought and fought with things, returning and changing out parts, and finally got things going. Then there was a fight with Windows 10 and getting other software on to emulate what I was using on the iMac. He’s still trying to get our computers to see each other so we can share files. Usually, this is a simple process (for a computer person) but even the Microsoft tech support people, taking over both of our computers, haven’t been able to get it so we can see each other. It’s a mystery.
Meanwhile, my biggest aggravation on a daily basis is that I couldn’t see the pictures I use every day in writing the blog. I have a lot of pics collected and can’t remember all their names, so I was having to get on each one, open it to see if that was the one I wanted, over and over. My normally fairly nice demeanor has been eroded over several weeks now of fighting with this.
My husband is at an auction in Oklahoma today so I have the house to myself and relative peace – except for the animals wanting to go in and out constantly. I was determined to get my pics to show this morning AND I DID IT! I was prowling around and saw ‘options’ under the viewing menu. I clicked on view below that and found a box in which my husband had placed a check mark: “always show icons, never thumbnails.” That was the OPPOSITE of what I like and I UN-clicked the box. VOILA! I can see my pictures!!!!!!
There is no telling WHAT this newly empowered, puffed-up lady can do next!
aprilbushnell.blogspot.com
Filed under empowerment
creativeartworksblog 