Monthly Archives: February 2020

February 4, 2020 · 3:19 pm

Kitchen Scrub Project Finished

I had a big project of cleaning out and reorganizing our cooking and storage areas now that we are eating keto. The project started with cleaning out our walk-in pantry. We still had a lot of stuff we weren’t eating anymore. I was using different tools and appliances to cook, and was having to wade through things a lot. I finally got the pantry cleaned out and we donated a lot of food and other things.

 

The second part of the project was going through my kitchen desk area and the shelves above it (a combination medicine cabinet and first aid area.)

 

Then I went through the cabinets and shelves in the kitchen, cleaning out, gathering a donation, and reorganizing things so I can find them easily.

 

Then I got distracted because my aquarium with three goldfish kept have really cloudy, yucky water, requiring me to clean out the whole tank every week. I now have a new filter and that seems to be doing a LOT better. I may end up running TWO Filters and TWO aerators,  but so far, things are looking a lot better.

Today I was finally to the point that I could concentrate on cleaning the counter surfaces, stoves, sinks, etc. I won’t show you how yucky the top of the stove was. First thing this morning, though, I put the gas jet covers and the stove grills into the dishwasher.

 

So, right at the moment, this whole area looks as if a miracle occurred.  Things are clean and organized!

 

I have a nice kitchen. I feel embarrassed that I’m such a slob, having to devote almost two weeks to getting things cleaned out, re-organized and clean all at once.

I will make my husband look at everything today – and do the appropriate ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ before it starts getting messed up again.

The end of a project feels good.

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February 4, 2020 · 2:09 pm
February 4, 2020 · 11:18 am

The Art of Gary Wing

Gary Wing – GaryWingIllustration.com

 

Gary Wing – GaryWingIllustration.com

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February 4, 2020 · 10:58 am

Thoughts on a Tuesday 2-4-2020

Listal

We’re having a cold, rainy day today, to be followed by a wintry mix tomorrow. We were spoiled by two days of absolutely gorgeous, sunny weather lately, so I guess this evens things out.

 

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Yesterday I finished taking my warm weather stuff out of my closet and putting it into our guest room closet. I had my cold weather stuff in a big tub that I stashed in my art room because we were trying to have a clear closet for the foreign student we hoped to host. My husband’s stroke changed our plans, the foreign student won the lottery on host families elsewhere – finding a perfect one for him. Yesterday I pulled the tub into our master bath where my closet is.

I was determined not to just pull things out and be done with it. I tried each thing on and then decided whether –

  • It was good and could be hung up
  • It was good, but needed to go into the dryer for a few minutes to get wrinkles out
  • It was now too large and should be donated (HOORAY!)
  • I really didn’t like the way it looked on me and should be donated
  • It was still too small and should be donated

I finally got to the bottom of the tub. I took the clothes that needed the dryer, along with hangers, downstairs and began running loads with a few things at a time. I took a pad of paper, pen, and large leaf bag back upstairs, listing what I was donating and filling the bag. I brought both downstairs. Then I brought the stuff that was now wrinkle-free and on hangers back upstairs and hung them in my closet. Today I will document the donation and the next time the weather is cooperative, we’ll drive to Ft. Smith to the Veterans Thrift Store.

Today’s project, thanks to Mother Nature giving us a cold, rainy day, is scrubbing my kitchen. Things have been cleaned out in both our walk-in pantry and the kitchen, and today I’ll do the deep cleaning it has been needing. So far, I have the top-of-the-stove parts in the dishwasher.

We went bowling with our good friends last night. We got to catch up on what each of us had been doing – with good conversation and laughs. My husband beat me the first game, but I beat HIM the second. We ALL enjoyed going to Braum’s after for ice cream. My husband wore the new tee he bought – giving both of our friends a good laugh.

I hope that you are having a good Tuesday. ENJOY!

 

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February 3, 2020 · 1:11 pm

Beautiful Artwork

Wendy Ng via Heather Louise Vasey-LinkedIn

 

Alina Ciuciu – “There is no music without her”

 

Verulanium Park-Stephen McGuinness

 

Vladimir Volegov viaAna Loreta Baicu-LinkedIn

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February 3, 2020 · 11:44 am

My Husband is a Keeper

Vector Stock

This is an image of how I look and feel right now – I have melted into a puddle. Here’s why –

We just got home from running errands. We opened the mail at the dining area table as we usually do. My husband opened one of the packages. He had ordered another tee shirt. Usually the tees are gun-related or cartoon characters. (He has toned down buying the political ones that might get us attacked, and also the slightly pornographic ones…. )

Anyway, I expected another gun-related tee. He turned it around –

I hugged him, then hugged him again, thanking him for the nice surprise. He said, “It’s the truth.”  That got him ANOTHER hug.

I then went to start gathering trash for the week. I came back into the dining area.  He had changed into the tee.

I said, “You changed your shirt.” 

And he replied,

“You changed my life.” 

NOW you understand why my husband is a keeper (even though he drives me NUTS at times) and why my self portrait for the day is a melted puddle.

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February 1, 2020 · 4:03 pm

“Prolific Poopers”

 

 

I cleaned out the aquarium again this morning. I think it’s averaging once a week for three fish. That seems excessive to me. I got a new filter yesterday and have installed that today. I’m hoping that this will do the trick. I kept the old one, though, because I’m thinking I may use BOTH of them. I may also get a second aerator…

Anyway, my fish seem happy and healthy. The smallest one is having some equilibrium problems, but seems to be doing well, otherwise. I read that this might be due to the fact that I was sprinkling their fish food onto the surface of the water. I have now started putting the food into a cup of their tank water, then pouring the water into the tank.

I have spoken to them about the article I read that said that goldfish were ‘particularly prolific poopers.’ They didn’t say much about my observations, though.

So I’ve decided to quit griping (are you smiling in relief now?) and just clean the tank,  trying to find ways to keep my ‘prolific poopers’ as happy and healthy as possible.

 

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February 1, 2020 · 3:24 pm

Crazy Days

Psychology Today

Yesterday and today have been super-busy days. Good -and productive – but long and tiring.

Yesterday started with regular morning chores. Then we enjoyed our friends at Lunch Bunch. We ran some errands, came home, and then back out again 45 minutes later for doctor appointments.  More errands, and then, as we started back home, the skies had suddenly cleared from our week-long dreary, rainy ones, so we packed up the back of the truck with our donations to the Disabled Veterans Thrift Store in Fort Smith, invited the dog to travel with us and headed out again.

It was still cloudy, and we have the windows in the back halfway down when Amber travels with us.  I also have to crack my window because the air buffets my ears, making them uncomfortable. The result was I felt thoroughly chilled by the time we got home. I got a cup of hot coffee, turned on my heat pad, and snuggled under my throw in my recliner in the living room until I felt warm again.

By this time it was 7 pm, time to feed animals and humans.  We finally packed it up for the day at midnight.

________________

Today, too, has been a whirlwind of activity.  So far today we have run errands, I’m running the third load of laundry, I fixed bacon-wrapped chicken – ready to put in the oven later, I baked two spaghetti squashes and then put them into individual servings in the freezer, cleaned out our aquarium, vacuumed the first floor tiles…. My list is long, but I’m making progress.  I’m having a cup of coffee and writing these posts, and then I’ll get back to work again.

I feel good when I’ve accomplished things on my list, but I’ll give myself permission to play in my art room again soon…

 

 

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February 1, 2020 · 2:38 pm

2020 Australian Firefighters Calendar

I ordered an Australian Firefighters Calendar for 2020 in a win/win celebration of the new year. It was a way to support the firefighters – although I had no idea that Mother Nature would deal such a terrible blow to the country. Apparently they create a calendar each year showing truly magnificent looking men and cute animals so that they can raise needed funds and so that people like me can enjoy welcoming each new month. :0)

To review our handsome year so far –

This is the cover of the calendar, with Nathan and George.  This alone would be worth the price of the calendar, as far as I’m concerned, but there is more!

 

All through January I have been enjoying looking at Ben and Nullah.  (I now have to admit that I missed the tip for handling burns here….)

 

And today we celebrate the month of February with Tuva and Milo.  (there is the URL for the place to go to order a calendar for yourself for this – and/or NEXT year….

The older I get, the more quickly time passes. We barely start a new year and the months start flying past me, making my hair blow.

Thankfully, I’m not dead yet, and these gorgeous men give me another wonderful reason to enjoy each day.

Happy February, everyone!

 

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February 1, 2020 · 1:59 pm

Valentine’s Day Mailbox Decoration

We put up our Valentine’s Day mailbox decoration yesterday on the way to do our other errands.

This cupid is about 2-1/2 feet tall by almost 3 feet wide. It is made of heavy sheet metal, cut out by my husband using our CNC set up. We found the design on the net. He uses a program to convert the picture we have found to what is called “G-Code” a language the computer can understand. We save this on a thumb drive and take it out to the shop. We put the thumb drive into the computer and decide speed of cutting and a few other things. After set up, we start the program which guides the torch to cut the design out of an 8 foot x 4 foot sheet of metal.

Once the design is cut out, we add the piece that will attach the design to the mailbox, welding it on. We use an overhead projector and a transparency we have made to mark the salient points of the design onto the metal – both sides.

I then paint both side of the metal and the attachment piece with paint made for outside. When the painting is finished, I spray the piece with polyurethane spray to protect the piece as much as possible from sun, wind, and rain.

We change our decoration twice a month.

If you look carefully in the background of this picture, you can see our 100 pound robot made from scrap metal who welcomes people who want to come up our driveway. You can also see two metals owls – each about 2-1/2 feet tall, perched on top of poles that hold a gate we can close.

We really enjoy making decorations and yard ‘critters’ together.

My husband is trying to find a good design now for “Wonder Warthog.”

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