“Whitewater” – Stephen McGuinness – LinkedIn
The Enchanted Portal – unknown artist
“The Ice Pond” – Paul Crimi -LinkedIn
Monthly Archives: November 2019
Thoughts on a Sunday 11-3-2019
Aussie Life-kookaburras
“Kookaburra sits on the old gum tree,
Merry merry king of the bush is he.
Laugh, Kookaburra, laugh, Kookaburra,
That’s not a monkey, that’s me. Ha. Ha.”
I love this photo. I’m not sure I’ve ever actually SEEN a kookaburra, much less a glorious whole ROW of them. I always think of the song we sang as children. (I’ve taken some liberties with the words in the lyrics above. WE sang it the way I’ve printed it, which skips two verses and moves the very last line to the first verse.)
I’m happy to report that my husband is doing fine now after his stroke in July. The sudden anger outbursts – apparently a common side effect of strokes – are MUCH fewer now. Though he glosses over the details of how to handle the fact he’s on blood thinners, I’M learning to pay closer attention and make sure things turn out the way they should. He has a dental appointment tomorrow. To give you an example of how he is ‘back,’ he took the Vette to the car wash this morning to clean it up so he can drive it to the dentist’s appointment tomorrow. (He and the dentist talk motorcycles, cars, guns, and such each time he goes.)
I’m also happy to tell you I broke new ground on my scales this morning! The scales actually SMIRKED at me, as we got into fresh, new, lower territory as I grinned back. I HOPE this continues, as I still have a lot of lard I’d like to shed. Though it is much harder to lose the lard the older you get, I’m proving to myself that it IS possible.
A man contacted me yesterday, discussing buying 5 of my new Unicorn Spit plaques. He’s talking to friends today and is supposed to get back to me tomorrow. He understands that these are one of a kind and that I cannot do exactly the same thing twice. Fingers – and all other appendages – are crossed. I’m working on flat wooden Christmas ornaments again today, seeing how they will turn out with this same wonderful paint.
The weather is beautiful, with a high in the low 60’s today! Gorgeous fall weather. I’ll try to get outside this afternoon and get a good amount of clean up of our planters done.
I hope that wherever you are, you are enjoying this gorgeous Sunday – AND that you remembered to set your clocks back last night.
Filed under DIET!, Family, getting the lard off, Seasons, Thoughts on a ________
Thoughts on a Saturday 11-2-2019
Amanda Alma-Feel Free
Today started out pretty cold – 33 degrees. I finally went out to the garage to do 35 minutes on my elliptical trainer when the temperature reached 50. Now it’s 58 and practically balmy! The freeze killed all the flowers in the planters around the yard, so the next several days I’ll be trying to clear out my planters in preparation for topping them out with mulch for the winter.
My husband loves pulled pork. I found a recipe he really likes, so I put a pork loin in the crock pot this morning. When it is cooked, he helps me shred it, each of us using two forks, until it’s the right consistency. We’ll have that tonight for dinner and divide up the rest if it into meal portions for him and freeze them. Usually we get about 8 meals from one pork loin.
An online friend just made my day. He is serving in Afghanistan and we have been chatting. He told me today that he used the photo of my “Believe” plaque as wallpaper for his computer!
The rest of my day will be spent –
- cleaning out ONE planter outside
- doing my daily yoga stretches session
- working on the flat wooden Christmas ornaments in my art room
I hope you’re having a wonderful Saturday, too.
*If you are in one of the states that practices Daylight Savings Time, tonight before you go to bed, turn your clocks BACK one hour!
More Fun With Unicorn Spit
This is my first try at using the Unicorn Spit Stain/Glaze on fabric. The technique is very different on fabric than on wood. It’s a lot of fun, though. As you can see from these two pictures. it is impossible to do the same design on each side of the tote, although I used the same colors. I really like the fact that each blending is different. To seal the stain/glaze, I used a waterproofing spray.
This is the second side of the tote.
If you are interested in more information, I just listed the tote in my Etsy shop.
Filed under Uncategorized
Slow but Steady Progress in Getting the Lard Off
Spoon University
I have been on the plateau from Hell for a long time now. I’m FINALLY in a regimen that is breaking through that. My eating plan is intermittent fasting and keto, paying particular attention to macros.
I was kidding myself, THINKING I was eating keto, but didn’t actually make any progress until I started making sure I was eating according to the percentages of fat, protein, and carbs I should have daily. I use a program called Cronometer which allows me to log what I plan to eat, modify if necessary, and add the exercise I’m doing. I’m still doing a bit of yo-yoing, since eating out is a bit of a challenge, or life gets in the way, but at this point I’ve lost a total of 43 lbs and am showing signs of a smirking set of scales in my future.
Rabbit Care Tips
My bigger news is my exercising efforts. I have gotten more serious about doing 35 minutes on my elliptical trainer and 35 or so minutes of yoga stretching daily, adding gold star stickers to my desk calendar when I have been a good girl. My efforts have yielded some definite smirks from my measuring tape this month. I have now lost a total of 47.2 inches.
Though my weight loss goals remain the same (I’m planning to lose another 30 or so pounds and whatever inches go with that), the exciting thing is that I FEEL BETTER. I have much less pain in my joints and back. I have more energy to do what I want to do (like play in my art room). I am feeling more confident now that I can continue losing the lard and one day meet my goal.
Thanks to Suzanne Ryan of Simply Keto, and Makinze of Delish.com, I’m finding lots of good recipes to try. My husband is VERY pleased with my cooking efforts and actually requests that I make many of the recipes again. The latest favorites are “Keto Chili” and “Sausage, Egg & Cheese Bake” – both from Suzanne. A close second is “Keto Fried Chicken” by Makinze of Delish.
Feeling in more control and that I CAN one day meet my goals is making me a much happier person. I want to stay as healthy as possible for as long as I can.
Filed under DIET!, exercise, getting the lard off
Fall Tee
This is one of the newest tees I have painted. I wore it for the first time this morning. We went from super hot, humid summer, to 3 days of fall, to winter, so long sleeves were needed.
I have admitted to you before that I’m a slob, often spilling things on my tees. If I cannot remove the spots, I then put the shirt in a pile in my art room to be painted. This way I can still enjoy the shirt for a long time to come.
I’m actually looking forward to having another tee to paint since I can experiment with my new Unicorn Spit Stain/Glass on it. :0)
Filed under I'm a slob, Lewis Art, playing in my art room
New Month – New Mailbox Decoration
“Mr. Natural is a comic book character created and drawn by 1960s counterculture and underground comix artist Robert Crumb. ” ~ Wikipedia
Since my husband and I started creating decorations for our mailbox, we take turns on favorite characters to make. Mr. Natural is one of my husband’s favorite comic book characters.
We found the image on the net. My husband does his magic, transforming the image into computer code that our CNC computer-guided torch can read. We save the code to a thumb drive and take it out to the shop. The computer-guided torch cuts out the image from a 4′ x 8′ sheet of metal. We then make a mounting attachment for the mailbox and weld it onto the cut out piece. We use an overhead projector to mark the salient features on the metal, front and back. I then paint both sides of the piece using outdoor paint, and then protecting it from the elements with polyurethane spray.
This piece is about 2-1/2 feet tall and a bit wider.
We’ll change the decoration again on November 15th or 16th, depending on the weather.
Filed under Lewis Art, Lewis Mailbox Decorations, metal art
creativeartworksblog 