I am happy to tell you that my husband and I are becoming completely spoiled, eating fresh tomatoes at lunch and dinner every day. Otherwise, we are eating our South Beach entrees, or I am fixing one of our DIY meals.
This is a quality of life thing for us. If I ever give up trying to have a garden, I will still put in tomato plants every spring for summer tomatoes.
“A world without tomatoes is like a string quartet without violins.” ~ Laurie Colwin, ‘Home Cooking’
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Oddetorium
We are truly into summer now, with heat indices in the 105-110 range, and hotter forecast. We are very grateful for good air conditioning and ceiling fans. One of the many perks of aging is that my personal comfort range on temperatures is becoming narrower.
I will get outside in a minute, mix up a container of KillzAll Weed Killer, and spray it around the garden area. That, and seeing if we have any ripe tomatoes will be it for being outside today.
My friends, Kay and Bud from Lunch Bunch have been making me feel like a slug lately. They are systematically going through a bunch of their stuff in their home and packing it up to get rid of it. I should be doing that, but the ‘lazies’ have me in their clutches right now, and it’s all I can do to do the bit of yard work I need to, plus exercise. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.
Next on my personal list of things ‘when I get motivated,’ is to use the power washer. If I can get started, it’s addictive. This year I will try to start with out outside chairs. I also need to do the deck, sidewalks, front porch, and driveway pad. I’m not sure if I can clean up our stained brick in our planters or not, but I’ll give that a try, as well. Hopefully, I will get the urge soon. :0)
I hope that you have a healthy, happy Sunday.
We are ‘regrouping’ on our weight loss and exercise efforts. I say ‘we’ – my husband and I are on two months of the South Beach Diet Plan now, trying to reboot our efforts to lose weight. Excuses abound, but the bottom line is that we have been regaining the weight we lost previously and are trying to get our heads back in the game and remotivated. “I” am exercising. He encourages me in my efforts, but won’t do any himself.
To date, I have now lost 33 pounds and 28 inches from my most ‘zaftig.’ I’m disappointed that I allowed myself to gain back pounds and inches, but that is in the past now. I am again losing weight and exercising. So far I am walking 10 minutes twice a day, morning and evening. It is too hot in the middle of the day. I AM working in the yard, and I think that should count toward my “30 minutes of exercise each day” goal. I am also doing another 30 minutes of Gentle Yoga stretches daily.
Our initial impressions of the South Beach food are mixed.
Anything in the small cups is good. That includes soups so far. The shakes are fine. I like a chocolate nut bar snack, and my husband likes a toffee bar. The dinners are okay. We are eating them with a lot of fresh tomatoes from our garden. We have changed our coming order to try to find something we like…
The big thing we are getting is a reality check.
I am personally learning (again!) that if my husband slips things we shouldn’t eat into the grocery cart, that doesn’t mean that “I” have to heed the voices calling me into the pantry. I am responsible for what I eat.
My initial feeling is that our decision to do a two-month reboot was a good one.
Filed under Attitude, Challenges, Changes, DIET!, exercise, Family, getting the lard off, Healthy Eating, taking care of yourself
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I laughed when I found this picture. :0)
My husband used our riding mower to mow the spots that needed it yesterday. We haven’t had any rain, so there were only a few spots.
Before dark yesterday, I mixed up Eight Bug Spray and sprayed our tomato plants which are suddenly being eaten up by hornworms. I sprayed them, plus the garden plants, again this morning, hoping to get rid of all the bad stuff.
I then mixed a container (2 gallons) of KillzAll Weed Killer. I started in the back yard, using it along our back sidewalk, then around under the deck, then under the porch, etc. I ran out of spray and energy about the same time.
I am now drinking a bottle of cold water and relaxing before going out to mix another container. I would like to get this done before it gets lethally hot outside. This afternoon we’re supposed to have a heat index of around 110 – much too hot for this old broad.
I hope you have a fun Saturday.
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Share the Outdoors
We have caught and relocated 5 raccoons this year – so far. Last night we caught a possum. This is the first one we have caught in our humane trap.
We discussed relocating it, as we do the raccoons. My husband went out on the deck and the possum immediately had a FIT inside the cage – hissing, spitting, flipping around, etc. This is not something we want to ‘relocate’, when it was exhibiting worrisome signs. We do not want ANY chance of releasing a possibly rabid critter anywhere. I’m sad when we have to kill a critter, but this one left us with no choice. Sad way to start the day, but now we don’t have to worry about him biting our animals (he is the same size as our elderly dog, Molly) or children who live in the valley behind us. This is something we have to deal with, living outside the town.
Filed under Sad Realities
We have been stuffing our faces with glorious ripe tomatoes from our garden for lunches and dinners lately. I solved the problem of the ‘cherry tomatoes” I was getting, reading that they were probably ‘stressed’ while waiting for us to solve our irrigation problems. Now that they are getting water on a set schedule every day, we’re getting really nice ones.
Two days ago, though, we found another problem – hornworms.
Univ. of Florida
These lovely caterpillars eat tomato greenery. They are really difficult to find. We found a couple and killed them a couple of days ago, but we know there are more. You can stare and stare, moving the greenery around, and they just fade into the branches.
We talked about it during Lunch Bunch today. Kay reminded me that I could spray the plants with EIGHT bug killer. This spray kills bugs, but is safe for our animals and safe for the plants and the tomatoes. Her husband, Bud, suggested that we do it at dusk tonight and it would be more effective.
I will plan to go outside right after we feed the animals this evening. I’ll gather whatever tomatoes are ready to come in and then hose down the plants in the two planters. Hopefully, we can kill the hornworms.
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Andy Seliverstoff via Jeff Jett – LinkedIn
If you’re like me, you look for things to bring your spirits up each day while we’re facing such an awful time worldwide. The photo above is one of those things for me, and I wanted to share it with you.
Another thing that will brighten our personal day is that we’re meeting our good friends for Lunch Bunch today. The restaurant has been able to open its doors, so we can enjoy the comfort of air conditioning while we eat and catch up.
The governor of our state of Arkansas has now issued the mandatory wearing of face masks in public, starting Monday. My husband is on notice that he either complies, has to sit in the car and wait for me, or stays home. His brother even cared enough to order and send him a Marine Corp-themed face mask. It will be interesting. If you look up “stubborn” in the dictionary, my husband’s picture and name should be there. :0/
We want to put something in our safe deposit box at the bank today. I also want to verify our master list of what is there for our records. In order to do this, we had to call and make an appointment. Life used to be so much simpler. As I sigh, I’m glad we can do this at all now.
I am still trying to get up to my art room to play with the idea of pulled string art. Life happens each afternoon, so I haven’t been able to try it yet. Maybe I will find the time (and energy) this afternoon.
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I’ve told you before that my two goldfish only do one trick-type thing – both getting in the corner of the aquarium and wriggling their bodies and blowing bubbles at me until I feed them. That’s cute and all, and – to my way of thinking – quite enough to keep them, but I have to admit I would enjoy a bit more.
Recently I did some research on goldfish, learning that they are CHAMPION poopers – the reason I have to completely empty the aquarium really often in order to keep their water sparkling. There were several suggestions on how to cut down on the problem, and I have done them all.
One was exchanging the gravel in the tank for glass beads. They stay much cleaner and don’t allow ‘stuff’ to pack into the bottom of the tank.
This – along with the other suggestions has made it so I can go almost two weeks between tank clean-outs, a very welcome thing.
I heard a ticking sound this morning as we were eating breakfast. I finally saw where the noise was coming from. The larger fish is now sucking glass beads up off the floor one at a time briefly while she checks to see if there is any food around! Each one makes a ‘tick’ sound as she drops it! Kind of bizarre, I guess, as fish tricks go, but I’ll take it! :0)
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family
Orange Flower
These are hand painted wooden earrings. They are 1/2″ in diameter and super light-weight. They are post or stud type earrings.
Pink Flower
Purple Flower
Red Flower
White Flower
Yellow Flower
They are listed on EyecatchingEarrings on Etsy.
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Our son lives and works in Thailand. He has recently rented a house out in the country there, wanting privacy to be able to play his music without bothering anyone or always having to have earphones on.
He sent me a pic of his new music room –
He has two guitars – they are still in the living room, he says. He also plays the drums and a bit of keyboard. (You can see it there if you look carefully.) His big thing now is recording every day sounds and incorporating them in various fashions, repetitions, etc., to music he composes. He can build the music to his heart’s content, adding track after track to enrich the sound. He says I probably won’t be a fan of his new stuff. :0)
Being old and traditional, I love to hear him play one or more of the instruments, playing something he composed, or singing a cover of a song he likes. I’m happy that he now is starting to feel free to experiment and play in his music room, creating something he likes. He is thinking about starting a YouTube channel.
I can’t wait.
Filed under Family, music, quality of life
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I’m thoroughly enjoying re-reading J.D. Robb’s (Nora Roberts’) “In Death” series with the main character Eve Dallas, a homicide lieutenant in New York City in the future. I’m currently re-reading #38 (out of 49), and am looking forward to the newest one in paperback – #50 – which is due to be delivered on July 28th, and #51, which will be delivered the end of December. I feel rich when I have stacks of wonderful books I can dive into!
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As part of my ‘get-my-act-together’ effort lately, I’ve started to do yoga again. I do “Gentle Yoga” stretches from the DVD “Gentle Yoga” with Cat Kabira through SixtyandMe. Due to stubbornness and stupidity, I don’t make time for it as I should, even though it makes me feel better. That said, I’ve gotten started again, realizing that over the time I HAVEN’T practiced, I’ve stiffened up again and am feeling sore. DUH!
The fact that the pounds I’ve gained during “COVID-19 stay-at-home-mostly ” are starting to come OFF with our South Beach Diet makes me feel more like exercising. It’s as hot as an oven outside now, so the walking for 10 minutes three times daily they suggest to start is actually twice a day – in the morning and before dark.
It was really hard to get started with the yoga again. It took me several minutes to relax enough to actually lie still and breathe into lying on my back on my yoga mat. Whatever the muscles are behind my shoulder blades were screaming and not wanting to let go. Once I got THAT done, the rest was just moving through the poses I know help me, SLOWLY stretching me out and breathing into each pose, doing what I can do now.
I felt better – plus fairly virtuous – afterwards, so I’ll go back to putting a gold star on my calendar each day I complete the yoga and see if that keeps me going.
Less lard, more flexibility, gold star, and a happy face from me. A good way to spend part of the day!
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I am planning to spend time in my art room again today.
I have more wooden small, round, rimmed post earrings started. When those are finished, I’ll clean off my drafting table. THEN I would like to get set up to try the pulled string art technique.
Jennifer Rizzo
I’m looking forward to a fun, messy time!
Filed under Favorite Quotes, playing in my art room, String Art
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We had a nice bunch of tomatoes ripe today. I now have a bowl of them, plus a container of much smaller, cherry type tomatoes that I will eat with other raw veggies as snacks. This is one of our favorite times of the year. We are rich in tomatoes!!!!
I finally got up to my art room yesterday. These are the newest shape of wooden earrings I have received and I had a great time painting them. I put the findings on them this morning. They are 2″ in diameter and super light-weight. I just finished listing them on EyecatchingEarrings on Etsy.
I’m hoping to get back upstairs this afternoon to try the pulled string art that is so intriguing. It’s so much fun to experiment!
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Susan Wiggs via sayingimages.com
I ordered the newest “In Death” series book by J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts) to come out in paperback a few months back. It is supposed to arrive sometime this month.
I am in the process of living in Eve Dallas’ world again, re-reading the 49 books that precede the newest one for me. I am on # 36.
The world that J.D. (Nora) has created is gritty. It’s New York City way into the future. The characters are real, vivid, and extremely appealing to me. I feel as if I am ‘home,’ among friends while I’m immersed in her world.
What a joy it is to read for pleasure, finding truly wonderful authors who create worlds that allow you to escape – among friends.
Filed under Favorite Authors & Books, Hobbies, Reading is FUNdamental
I told you that my husband and I are doing two months of the South Beach Diet in an effort to get back on track on our keto eating plan. Yesterday I finally figured out that we should be eating PHASE 1 foods for two weeks (until the end of next week.)
I went onto the website in order to ask a question about the snacks and the soups. Some of the snacks didn’t have any stripes and said nothing about what phase they were, plus the soups said nothing. They are short-handed there, I guess due to the coronavirus, so it took a long time to reach someone. After the chat, I am more confused than ever.
She said, “We aren’t doing the phases anymore.” All the stuff I read and printed the day before stressed staying on Phase 1 for two weeks, so I asked again – getting the same answer.
I am still going to mainly try to stick with stuff marked Phase 1 until all is gone, but won’t stress over eating a Phase 2 thing, when needed.
If you read what is provided on the website, there are a number of other discrepancies; one example being the use of salt. In one place it stresses you should look for “low salt” canned veggies. In another, it says ‘feel free to use salt liberally.’ I am watching my salt, so I will continue to use it the way I am now.
So far, I’m happy that we are trying to get back on track with our keto eating plan. We are getting a much-needed wake-up call regarding ‘portions.’ We are learning to plan ahead better so we have healthy snacks. (My husband was happy with his DIY celery and cream cheese snack yesterday afternoon.) I made a salad to go along with our ‘Texas Chili” entree last night.
I am hoping that by the end of the two months on the program, we’ll be better able to handle things on our own again, having received a boost from the good people at South Beach.
Filed under DIET!, exercise, getting the lard off, taking care of yourself
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My husband is out mowing now – even though it’s too wet – because the rain has been such that there is NEVER a good time to do the job. It will have to be enough. Since the heat index today will be in the area of 110 degrees F., I’m glad he is out there getting the job over with now. (The weather people says it will get REALLY hot this coming week!) Right now, though, it is still cool enough to have the doors open and the ceiling fans on.
My zucchini and yellow crookneck squash plants are still looking healthy, but no actual veggies growing yet. The celery I planted is still alive and I have two more celery bottoms in water in the house. The onions continue to look good. I’ll go out later to see if we have more ripe tomatoes.
I worked on painting a new design of wooden earrings yesterday in my art room. I’ll post pics later.
I am hoping for a quiet day today.
I hope that YOUR Sunday is a nice one, too.
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