Monthly Archives: August 2020

Thoughts on a Tuesday 8-11-2020

Soul Alchemy

We were very lucky not to be affected by the derecho storm that hit yesterday. So many good people are dealing with damage from the hurricane and now the derecho. I hope that you came through both well, too. We have the possibility of strong, gusty winds and hail with storms this afternoon and evening. Hopefully, they will just be the ‘normal’ summer variety. Mother Nature seems to be in a snit – and on top of the pandemic problems and troubles in some of our big cities. It seems we are having more than our share of character-building exercises lately. May we give each other strength.

Today is one of our DIY dinners for the week on the South Beach eating plan. I got some stew beef in the crock pot this morning. I will serve this with a bit of rice for my husband and spiralized squash for me.

We have several errands, plus appointments this afternoon. By the time we finish those and my exercises (elliptical and yoga), the day is almost gone before it starts. I will check for ripe tomatoes (fingers crossed) this morning and will try to get up to my art room this afternoon to at least start my newest earring blanks with my new design ideas. (Fingers crossed on THAT, too.)

I hope that you are feeling strong, healthy, and full of enthusiasm for this day.

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Filed under DIET!, exercise, Mother Nature, quality of life, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds, Thoughts on a ________

Today’s Harvest

 

This is what I found in the garden today. I had about given up on getting anything but green plants and blossoms, and the plants are looking stressed right now, but I had two zucchini and a mystery thing I GUESS is another type of zucchini. I planted zucchini and yellow crookneck squash, but this doesn’t seem to be either of those. It will be interesting to cut it open and see.

I went out to the garden at the end of my elliptical trainer practice, so I was already hot. I was all in by the time I walked out and back from the garden in the heat, so I didn’t check for tomatoes today. I do that tomorrow morning. Fingers crossed.

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More Incredible Paper Art

hanging kitten-MyModernMet.

 

 

 

Margaret Scrinkl

 

 

 

Shilp_the_craft – Fiverr

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Rise

Suzanne Weyn-keepinspiring.me

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Normal Summer Has Finally Arrived

Twitter

High in the upper 90’s, heat index of 105+, relentless sunshine – finally here today. They say, on the weather website, that we COULD get pop-up showers in the afternoon and pigs may fly –

Although we MADE a flying pig and she flies in our driveway –

We have doors open and ceiling fans on for awhile more this morning, but will have to close up and turn the a/c on soon.

I will check our garden, though it is mostly played out now, and will check to see if we have any ripe tomatoes. We haven’t had any in several days and the plants are stressed – part of the perks of living in Arkansas. I feel lucky that we got anything to grow this year.

My hat is, as always, off to people who not only can grow enough food for their families, but also enough to give away to neighbors or sell. It requires a lot of expertise, knowledge of how to make it through weird weather, determination and stamina.

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Filed under Gardening, Lewis yard art, Mother Nature, Seasons, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds

Sunday’s Project – My Art Room

The combination of zipping into my art room, doing a project, and zipping out again, plus having other projects take priority, resulted in a mess in my art room.

I just got some new wooden earring blanks that I have ideas for, but decided that my art room deserved a good straightening up and cleaning before I started something new. As you can see, things are in a mess.

 

 

I spent quite a bit of time there this afternoon, and think I did enough good that I can begin the new earrings tomorrow with a clean conscious. –

Here are the AFTER pics –

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Poofy

memesbams.com

This poofy lady has lost pound # 8 via South Beach – (37 pounds via various methods since my heaviest). I still have more to lose before I hit ‘new territory’ on my weight loss efforts, but I feel that I am on a roll now. I don’t care how long it takes for me to lose it. I feel good that my scale numbers are going in the right direction now.

My measuring tape is showing positive signs, too, as there is less of me now – 40 inches less – than when I was at my lardiest.

 

 

 

 

 

I am going for gold stars # 13 and 14 today for the week – for my elliptical exercising and my yoga practice. I am feeling less like a fool that I ‘exercise for stars’ as if I were a little kid. There are lots of ways I haven’t really grown up, and if this works – RUN IT! :0)

-ClipartLibrary

We are on Month #2 of South Beach. I will figure out on which days I will fix DIY dinners, lunches, breakfasts, and snacks (morning and afternoon) – 2 of each during the week.

Fingers crossed the progress continues.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Beautiful Paper Art

Butterfly-Hina-Aoyama-japanobjects.com

 

 

ColorsPaper – blogger

 

 

Discount School Supply

 

 

Fish-Masayo-Fukuda-japanobjects.com

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Raccoon # 11

Wired

I find this hard to believe, but we just returned from relocating raccoon # 11.

I think the previous record for a season was 5, so this is really incredible.

I hope we never meet the people who live close to the little creek off the side of the road where we ‘rehome’ the raccoons. It’s about 5 miles out farther into the country. We can’t SEE any houses around there, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any.

I concentrate on thinking happy thoughts of all of the raccoons high-fiving each other when they meet along the creek, re-establishing their relationships and having a happy raccoon life…

Meanwhile, we continue to hope that this is the last one for the season. We’ve just filled up the bird feeder again. We’ll check it before bed. If it’s empty in the morning, the humane trap will again be set.

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Pawprints

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Earning Gold Stars

Penn Fitness Warehouse

My first gold star for the day was my practice on my elliptical trainer.  I made it to 35 minutes today! This is the first time in MONTHS that I have made it this long, so I’m feeling good about it. I have a box fan attached to the wall in front of the trainer, so I don’t melt into a puddle out in the garage. I also have my MP3 player, with some of my all-time favorite music on it, to listen to. Pretty nice set up, except for when it’s really hot or really cold.

 

 

Bored Panda

I am about to go do my yoga practice for my second star of the day.

I do about 30 minutes or so, mostly of old lady stretches, but also abdominal exercises of various types. I am beginning to feel a difference in how my body is reacting to my practice, after about a month of practicing daily.  I am still fighting general stiffness everywhere (I AM old, you know) but I feel looser, and I have less discomfort. I definitely feel more relaxed after I finish.

I am happy about my daily exercising now. I’m trying to stay motivated, listing elliptical and yoga on my to-do list each day now.

Time for my yoga practice!

 

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Two Projects for the Day

PROJECT # 1

Amber’s feeding station is a pretty well-designed heavy rubber/plastic? thing that is in two parts – the upper part that holds the water and food bowls, and the lower tray part.  Amber is creative, though, and immediately decided that she would take the upper part (the whole thing – full of water and food) away to ‘somewhere else.’  This led to my husband screwing it into the wall.

 

This was really gross, with dog hair, white water dental hygiene additive residue, dog slobber, etc. I was able to get the tray out from under the screwed-in top part and scrubbed it in the kitchen sink. I tried to unscrew the top part, but the screw wasn’t in straight and I was afraid I would mess up the whole thing trying to get it out. I just brought all the cleaning stuff to the station and did the best I could.

It isn’t perfect, but at least I’m not cringing when I walk past – several times a day – now.

 

PROJECT # 2

My kitchen is a busy place in our house. I try to clean as I go, but it gets to the point where I need to scrub the stove, scrub the sink, move everything off the counters, etc. Today was the day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The only problem with all this is that now I don’t want to mess it up!  :0)

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I Love Paper Art

Behance

 

 

“Between the Willow” -Pippa Dyrlaga-Superstition Review-Arizona State Univ

 

 

“Blue Whale” – Nahoko-Kojima-japanobjects.com

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DS Photography

“Path to the Shire” -DS Photography

I would love to be on this path right now. I might never come out. It looks so inviting. Calming. Care to join me?

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Emotional Support Dog

forwarded by a friend

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Wise Advice

EmbroidDesigns

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Doing Nothing

cataddicctsanony-mouse – http://www.facebook.com/cat.addicts via Cindy Basnett Thurman

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Guardian Angel

PictureQuotes.com

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More Gorgeous Glass

Kela’s Glass Gallery-Tom and Julie Bloyd

 

 

Peggy Collins Photo Art-Etsy

 

 

Pinterest

 

 

“Roots” – Catherine Van Der Woerd

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Whatever You Do

Yogi Berra – KeepInspiring.me

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Rainy Morning

Orangutan_Eng Siong Yeo-www.nwf.org/PhotoContest – The Nat’l Wildlife Federation Blog

We are due for ‘intermittent downpours’ this morning, making it a wet trip to and from Lunch Bunch today. (We leave in about an hour). I’m HOPING that we will get enough rain to give my poor tomato plants some stress relief and MAYBE encourage the plants to make more tomatoes. We have had a wonderful harvest this year, enjoying ripe tomatoes as part of our lunches and dinners for several weeks now, but around here, greediness abounds. We always want MORE. :0)  Even though the weather website said today’s downpours were not supposed to be severe, we just jumped in our chairs at a huge bang of thunder. We checked things out, and all seems to be fine. (Amber was happy to be let in.)

Amber – our 3-year-old, 95-pound yellow lab

 

I have found a new author. She was recommended by my husband, an even more avid reader than I. We both like strong female lead characters. The author is Auryn Hadley. I have started Book 1 in the Rise of the Iliri Series, Blood Lust.

Bloodlust, and the Rise of the Iliri series as a whole, will blow you mind, break your heart, and build you back up, new and changed. It’s one of my favorite reads of all time, and Auryn has a place as one of my all time favorite authors.” -Kristen Banet, author of the Amazon bestselling Redemption Saga series.

“Auryn Hadley’s groundbreaking Rise of the Iliri is the most riveting fantasy series ever! Up all night for 3 nights.” -Zoe Parker, Amazon bestselling author of the Facets of Feyrie series.

I was finding it difficult to bring myself out of the “In Death” series by J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts), having just finished book #50 in the wonderful series. Since the next paperback in the series isn’t out until the end of December, I downloaded the book onto my Kindle.

I’m having trouble putting the book down now. I’m already planning to get the next one when I finish. Auryn is describing a complicated Science Fiction fantasy scene well. My husband thought I would like this series because the emphasis is not on action as in most, but on the characters and feelings. I love it.

I hope that your day – whatever the weather – is filled with good people and good fun.

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Gorgeous Glass

Agape Pet Services

 

 

 

artfulhome.com

 

 

 

FusedGlassCornwall-Etsy

 

 

Garden Centerpiece-Scott Johnson and Shawn Johnson-artfulhome.com

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Dog Heaven

from my sister-in-law

Molly

Molly will be right with the pack, chasing the truck, licking her lips in anticipation.

We got Molly over 15 years ago. I wanted a ‘lap dog,’ – a sweet, dainty loving dog.

I got the sweet and loving, as well as fun-loving, but NOT the dainty. She LOVED to stick her whole snout into the most awful stuff, coming home really disgusting.

There was nothing to do but pick her up, put her in the kitchen sink, and scrub her down.

She was a companion dog for our other dogs over the years. Two pit bulls and then Amber, our current yellow lab.

She got along with our cats, too.

She was fierce (for her size – or THOUGHT she was), happy, and curious.

 

Here she is trying to see the squirrel in the feeder at the window.

Sometimes she was sleek (spring, summer, and part of the fall) and then we let her go natural for the winter. (Fuzzy Molly)

She was such a HAPPY soul. She loved her people and her fellow animals.

 

She loved to sit on the stairs and look down at everyone.

She was adventurous.

She could be stylish.

But this was Molly at her happiest, looking like a very small sheep dog.

We were lucky to share her life for over 15 years. She will always be remembered with joy.

Catch that ham truck, Molly!

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Month 2

unknown

Hahahahahahahaah! I love this picture. :0)

Our South Beach orders for Month #2 arrived yesterday. I have been DIYing most of our meals, since we were out of most everything, using up the dregs of what was left in our boxes from Month #1 when possible. So we started in with lunch yesterday on our renewed supplies.

I called in and cancelled our subscriptions/memberships/auto-delivery orders yesterday, once our delivery came.  She tried to change my mind. Asked me how much weight we had lost. Why we were quitting. I didn’t want to list the reasons, so just told her we needed a reboot, and were pleased that they provided it for us.  I got confirmation emails that our subscriptions had been cancelled, and there was a chance to do a survey. I tried, but it wasn’t working.

I know the coronavirus has caused big problems for everyone, and that this will continue. I’m assuming the problems we experienced were due to that:

CONS –  

  • The variety of foods from which we could choose was small.
  • I kept up with trying to change our next order for month # 2 to not get certain things we didn’t care for again. Each time I went online, (and I did this several times before the cutoff date) they had discontinued something else we liked, or had marked it with an asterisk that indicated we needed to choose something else because supplies were low and they would substitute something else when they filled our order. We ended up choosing nothing from the frozen selections for Month # 2. The things we liked weren’t available.
  • The website was annoying. Each time you change from one page to another, you had to sign in again. Some pages got 404 messages. The page where you input what you ate was great when South Beach foods were eaten, but the DIY section was next to impossible. Since you fix 2 dinners, 2 lunches, 2 breakfasts, 2 afternoon snacks and 2 morning snacks DIY each week, this is really annoying. I gave up and just logged my weight changes.

PROS –

  • We like their shakes a lot. We like a lot of the snacks. We like their cheeseburger soup and the white bean chili in a bowl. We like their pancake mix.
  • We like the convenience of just standing in front of our boxes and choosing what we would like to eat for many meals each week.
  • We got what we wanted from the two-month membership: a reboot on our efforts at keto; a reminder of what a ‘portion’ is; a chance to get our heads on straight about how long it takes to lose the weight versus how easy it is to put it back on; a redoubling of efforts to exercise as we eat right; motivation to continue our good habits when the 2nd month is finished.

I am happy that my husband will have probably met his weight goal by the time we finish this second month. (He only has about 10 lbs to go.) I wish he would exercise, but at least he is encouraging about MY efforts.

My goal is another 30 or so. I’m also using this ‘reboot’ to remind myself that just because something is in the pantry does NOT mean I have to listen to it call to me or eat it. I’m HOPING that my husband won’t go back to putting a lot of frowned-on foods into the cart, but if he insists on it, I don’t have to give in and feed my face. I will make it a priority to keep DIYing what I SHOULD be eating – including some good snacks – and hopefully that, plus my exercises will make ME healthier, too as I pursue my goal.

I love the recipe book Simply Keto by Suzanne Ryan. She doesn’t use a lot of ingredients you need to scrounge to find. The recipes are simple – and to me, the less time spent in the kitchen, the better. They taste really good. My husband’s reaction when he learns I’m cooking one of our favorites, or trying a new one for us, is “GREAT!”

Here’s to Month #2!

 

 

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Filed under DIET!, exercise, getting the lard off, Healthy Eating, motivators, taking care of yourself

Young at Heart

PictureQuotes.com

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Raccoon # 10

Nat’l Wildlife Federation

We returned awhile ago after relocating Raccoon # 10.  Saying this is a record-breaking year for raccoons is a vast understatement.  We are hoping they meet up at the creek and continue to live happy lives elsewhere. We also sincerely hope this is the last of the bunch.

Our tomatoes have slowed way down. I only got cherry sized tomatoes yesterday when I harvested. We can’t be greedy, though. We have been enjoying wonderful ripe tomatoes with lunches and dinners for weeks now.

We are at the time of year here where, no matter how much you water, the sun is so strong it just boils the plants. I checked on my garden yesterday. There are still a lot of plants, and my onions are continuing to grow, but there was just ONE, lone ROUND zucchini. I’m not even sure this will be edible. I’m about to give up and pull the plants for the season. I’ve had a fun year in the garden, growing lettuce and spinach, tomatoes, and some celery (though I’m not sure if we’ll get actual stalks or not – or just leafy plants.

 

While I was out, though, I gathered some Rio Samba Roses to enjoy in the house.

 

Today is a sad day for us. We are having to say goodbye to Molly, a canine member of our family for over 15 years.

She was diagnosed with malignant cancer of the jaw several weeks ago. We have had her on antibiotics and pain/inflammation meds since then to try to give her as many happy dog days as we could. She has milked all the extra attention for everything she’s worth – demanding to go outside, then demanding to come in again – with a treat, of course. I have made sure we had enough treats that she could have all she demanded, and even a few more. Up until a few days ago, she was still having fun, even trying to play with us in the yard. She has given us over 15 wonderful years of her happy personality, cheering up her people and fellow dogs and cats alike. For that, we will be eternally grateful.

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Golden

 

I am enjoying reading book #50 “Golden in Death” by J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts). I finished re-reading the 49 previous books in the series yesterday and am delighted to add another one to my collection.

Finding authors that not only entertain me, but introduce me to characters I would love to actually know – enjoying their world again and again – is truly priceless.

I particularly love reading about strong, resilient, intelligent women. Nora has created many, many of them over the years.

I hope that you, also, have found authors that can provide stimulation, entertain, and escape.

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More String Art

Horsehead-Kristiestringart-Etsy

 

 

 

Sunlit Tree-Reddit.

 

 

 

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Getting the Lard off Progress Report

Early Morning Showers

I’m feeling good that I am “back in the saddle again” on my efforts to get the lard off and get stronger. I fell off, using everything excuse from the pandemic,  to my husband going to the store with me, and back again, but the fact was I had stopped exercising and I had gained some of my lost weight back again.

We signed up for the South Beach Diet Plan, deciding we would try that for two months to get back on track. It was the closest to our keto eating plan and would remind us how we are supposed to be eating, hopefully giving us a boost. The second month’s order should arrive any day now.  It’s a good thing. We are down to meat sticks and some shakes, so I am DIYing a lot now.

 

To date – since my lardiest – I have lost 36.6 pounds and 40.45 inches. I’m working my way back down to where I was before, and I feel really happy about that.

My exercise regimen – motivated by gold stars on my desk calendar – is helping me feel stronger, a bit more energetic, and definitely looser and more flexible.

Penn Fitness Warehouse

I’m trying to do my elliptical in the mornings, since my trainer is in the garage. I won’t get it done in the morning today, but I can do it when I get back from errands. I started a couple of weeks ago, at 10 minutes. I’m doing 20 each day now.

 

You Tube

I am doing about half an hour of yoga stretches plus abdominal exercises each afternoon. I have no clue why I tend to ‘hunch up’ during the day, but I’m almost looking forward to my yoga sessions now, where the first thing is to lie flat on my back, trying to get my back muscles to relax. Thankfully, this is accomplished more quickly now and I am seeing progress in my ability to push a bit farther into the positions, breathing into them. I feel relaxed when I finish, and pleased with my efforts.

By the end of this next month on South Beach, my husband will have probably met his weight goal. I would like to lose another 30 pounds. I am seeing progress on both the scales and the tape measure, plus I feel more in control.

taolife.com

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Choose-Day

Unique Teaching Resources

The weather is beautiful here today. Right now it’s sunny and 66 degrees F. Just couldn’t be more perfect. We’re enjoying low humidity today, as well. I will make sure I spend some good time outside. We have doors open and ceiling fans on. It’s SMILING weather!

I will leave in about an hour to take the trash down to the bottom of the driveway, get our mail, and go to Rags & Roses Collective, the wonderful local Greenwood shop where I share a booth, Blasing Bright, with my friend Carla. I will change out some stuff, pay our rent, and visit a minute with the owner, Joanna Brandt.

We are having a quiet day so far, for which I am thankful. Yesterday brought a couple of ‘episodes’ where my husband was unable to speak, but he seems to be fine today. He is calm and seems to be upbeat. We will do the best we can each day, thankful to HAVE another one.

My exercise efforts are going well. I am feeling better – a bit more energetic – and looser. I am earning two stars on my desk calendar daily, one for my elliptical trainer in the garage and the other for yoga stretches and abdominal exercises.

I will see how our garden is doing later and check if we have ripe tomatoes to gather.

I’m not sure what my project for the day will be yet.

I hope that YOUR Tuesday is a nice CHOOSE-DAY. :0)

 

 

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Filed under exercise, Mother Nature, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds, Thoughts on a ________

Fabulous String Art

African String Art-Etsy

 

 

ArtStudioLEVITANA-Etsy

 

 

Baby Elephant-Blocks and Knots-Storenvy

 

 

StringKits

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