These beautiful images were forwarded to me by a friend.
Monthly Archives: January 2021
Where There’s Love, There’s Hope 6
Filed under Amazing Animals, Awe-Inspiring Photography, Friendship
Holidays
The weather forecasters were right – it’s gray, rainy and cold, with another cold front coming through today, possibly bringing some snow. Not my favorite weather.
To add insult to injury, the motor that controls the rotation of the plate in our microwave died suddenly last night, right at dinner time. My husband is taking the microwave apart as I type, seeing if he can fix the motor. We are in ‘discussions’ about what to do if he can’t. I think the rotation aspect is important. He, of course, disagrees. We will see. :0/ Update: He has the microwave apart and the motor that controls the rotation of the plate in his hand, seeing if he can get the old motor to work. (He did – and is trying now to put it back into the microwave. I have just ordered a replacement motor from Amazon. (Isn’t THAT amazing – we bought the microwave in 2004.)
I’m having a truly wonderful time playing in my art room with my new bleeding tissue paper. I’m trying to do something different on each one, seeing how it works. My poor brain has ideas rattling around, pushing to come out and be tried. I LOVE it.
Tomorrow morning is DAY ONE of ‘stopping-the-splurging-and-indulgence-that-has-marked-our-holidays’ and starting ‘eating-like-an-adult and exercising’ – which will last until further notice.
I hope that YOUR Wednesday is a productive and enjoyable one.
Go With All Your Heart
Filed under bleeding tissue paper art, Lewis Art
Hands Up!
Mother Nature is laughing at us again. Today is a miracle for a day in January in Arkansas – bright and sun-shine-y and 58 degrees F. It is simply gorgeous.
Tomorrow a cold front with heavy rain, plunging temperature, possible sleet and snow, plus flying hairballs is forecast.
All we can do is hang on and try to enjoy the ride!
Filed under Mother Nature, Seasons
Where There’s Love, There’s Hope 5
Thanks to a friend for forwarded email with these wonderful photos.
Filed under Amazing Animals, Friendship, hope, love
Diet Perspective
My husband and I will be getting serious about our diet again on Thursday. Why Thursday, you ask? I have trouble eating right when my husband is not on board – at least with the main thrust of it. I can handle his sneaking ‘goodies’ into the shopping cart that only he will eat, but if he’s not on board with the main program, it’s a waste of time and only results in frustration and arguments. Life is too short for that. HE has decided that Thursday is the day, so I’m gearing up for that.
We’re enjoying a ‘last hurrah’ by eating some of the wonderful things we received at Christmas. We have bought other things, and have been enjoying sandwiches and other things in the bread family, plus a bit from the greasy/salty food group, plus some truly ‘awful’ things from the sugar ball food group. All this ends Thursday morning. We have agreed.
We have given away a huge bunch of stuff. We will put other things in the trash for pickup today. We will thoroughly enjoy eating our way through more today and tomorrow. We will buy good, healthy things needed for Thursday and beyond, and I will plan some healthy snacks.
OUR ‘New Year’ will begin Thursday morning, and hopefully, by the end of this month we will have made some good progress. I have re-started my yoga practice, and will do a session on my elliptical trainer in the garage on Thursday morning. I have my gold stars ready for my desk calendar – one for yoga, one for elliptical, and another for steps.
If YOU are also trying to get healthier in 2021, let’s encourage each other.
Filed under Attitude, DIET!, exercise, perspective, taking care of yourself
Wonderful Palette Knife Art
Filed under Palette Knife Art
More Fun in My Art Room
Latest bleeding tissue paper piece. I’m having SO much fun learning more about this every day!
Filed under bleeding tissue paper art, paper art
W-D 40
I’m pretty dense (aka ‘stupid’) when it comes to exercise. It’s one of the many things I would LIKE to do – wishing I felt the orgasmic high people on TV commercials get while they pump and sweat, looking great doing it. Sad to say, I have to talk myself into exercise. I know it’s GOOD for me, but it’s one of the many lessons I seem to need to relearn over and over.
During our holiday splurge time, I kept finding excuses for not doing my walking, my elliptical trainer, and my yoga. My exercise DVDs sit gathering dust on my shelf in the living room. I’m a slug.
The thing that has finally gotten me doing at LEAST my half hour or so of yoga stretches daily is the fact that my body is hurting. I’m creaky when I get up from my chair and start walking. My back is stiff. My right shoulder seems to be on strike, affecting my movements at odd times.
My reaction to the stiffness and pain has been to move LESS – because it hurts or is uncomfortable. My body’s reaction to THAT is to hurt more. And so the cycle goes.
My brain finally caught up with the pattern and I started doing my yoga stretches. Granted, the stretches are modified right now, but I’m doing them, breathing into the poses, moving slowly and steadily.
Once again, I am re-learning the getting older lesson – “Use it or lose it.”
I’m feeling better each day now. Starting Thursday, I’ll try to do my elliptical trainer every other day. My gold stars are ready to be put onto my desk calendar.
I may be dense, but there is hope.
Filed under Challenges, Changes, exercise, taking care of yourself
Where There’s Love, There’s Hope 4
Thanks to a friend’s forwarded email for these wonderful images.
Filed under Amazing Animals, hope, love
And the Crowd Goes Wild…
Actually, the ‘crowd’ was my husband, our dog, Amber, and our cat, Abby, and me, but HEY! – you have to take your joy where you can get it.
We have been eating the things we don’t eat at all – or rarely – in the last days before we get serious about getting the lard off again. Yesterday I made a crock pot full of beef stew. And we had rolls with it. Amber and Abby licked our bowls in the kitchen while we were cleaning up.
My husband said two or three times while eating it how good it was, and a couple of times afterward. Then, this morning, he asked if we had leftovers and if we could have more tonight. :0)
As I gathered trash this morning, I got rid of some more things that we shouldn’t be eating in preparation for our getting serious about trying to lose the lard. We should be starting formally, as well as upping my exercising on Thursday. Right now I’m doing yoga stretches, but that’s pretty much it.
We have had a nice long break from doing what we are supposed to do. Part of me is actually looking forward to being in control again. Isn’t THAT a kick in the head!
Filed under Attitude, DIET!, exercise, holidays, taking care of yourself
Can Fish Grin?
I don’t really know, but my fish SHOULD be. Their water is sparkling clean. They have nice decorations in the tank. New filter innards….
They have made it clear over the years that the only thing they really care about is getting fed twice a day. They see me coming, jam themselves into the corner of the tank, wriggle their bodies and blow bubbles at me until the flakes come raining down. Then I am forgotten.
Our aquarium is on the divider between our kitchen and our dining area. This is a high traffic area in our house, so it makes me happy when the aquarium is bright and shiny.
I have made lots of changes on how I take care of the tank and what I put into it, but the fish remain goldfish – and seem to take pride in their reputation as ‘messy fish and champion poopers.’ I used to have a 40 gallon tank with lots of fish. It stayed looking good with relatively little work. THOSE fish didn’t react to me at ALL, so I finally gave the fish and the equipment away. I’M not easy to live with, either, so this is a good match. :0)
Filed under Family, Housekeeping - Maintenance
Just Had to Share
“As A Single Dad, I Had To Put My Foot Down And Tell My Seven Year Old Daughter That There Was No Way She Was Getting A Dog For Chanukah, No Matter How Much She Asked. Anyway, Meet Waffle.”
Denis Tymulis and Rokas Laurinavičius – BoredPanda
Filed under Family
Listen
Filed under Attitude, Favorite Authors & Books, Favorite Quotes, Food for Thought, hope
Palette Knife Art 2
Filed under Palette Knife Art
Where There’s Love, There’s Hope 3
Thanks to a good friend who forwarded these wonderful photos to me.
Filed under Amazing Animals, Friendship, hope, love
Thoughts on a Sunday 1-3-2021
Actually, the past week was a mixed bag.
THING ONE: FOOD-DIET-EXERCISE – I raked myself over the coals about stuffing too much food into my face and not exercising enough. My sister-in-law kindly told me to give myself a break and make little changes on a regular basis to get back to my better habits. My husband is determined wait to go back on our diet on the 6th – or maybe 7th – we haven’t completely hashed that out yet. I don’t know why we’re waiting. I guess it’s because we still have some wonderfully delicious bad stuff to eat our way through, though I am determined not to buy any MORE of it for myself. I got the makings of beef stew in the slow cooker this morning. We’ll have a bowl of that with a roll this evening. I will do my yoga stretches this afternoon.
THING TWO: WEATHER – Arkansas ran the gamut on weather this past week. We had sunshine and spring-like weather, as we’re having today, with sunshine and low 50’s. We had sleet and rain and gusty wind. We had drizzles and gloomy gray days. We had a PERFECT snow – with HUGE fluffy flakes coming down while we fixed lunch, making us feel we were in the middle of our own, private snow globe. (This was perfect because that gorgeous snow, though heavy, melted as it hit the ground and caused no trouble. :0) )
THING THREE: PLAYING IN MY ART ROOM – I discovered an art form that is new to me – bleeding tissue paper art. The effect is watercolor. The sky is the limit on what you can do with it. I found it on YouTube and watched some demonstrations, drooling. I found some people who do mouth-watering art with it, giving me some really high goals to try to reach as I practice. My sister-in-law sent me a package of large sheets of the special tissue paper to get me started. I ordered some pre-cut shapes in different sizes today that will be delivered in the coming week so I can concentrate on playing, saving the sheets for larger, more complicated shapes. I’m having a BLAST experimenting. :0)
Another thing for which I am setting up is painting some wooden fridge magnets. I can play with my Unicorn Spit paint for these. I can also see what happens with my alcohol inks, my new bleeding tissue paper, and more. I have the magnets, and my wooden circles should be delivered sometime next week.
THING FOUR: SUNDAY CHORES – I don’t have a lot to do today (translated to mean that I CHOOSE to do), but I WILL spend some time cleaning my aquarium so my fish can start the new year with sparkling clean water and some different decorations, just for giggles. I wish I knew what they THOUGHT about the decorations they have. I really wouldn’t mind it if the two of them held their noses when I started to put something in the aquarium they really don’t care for. They don’t say anything one way or the other. The only thing they DO that shows me they are really interested is both of them get into the corner of the tank, wriggling their bodies and opening and closing their mouths to HINT that they would like to be fed yet again. (Seems like they, too, are on a SPLURGE eating push until the 6th or 7th…. )
Have a happy Sunday!
2nd Bleeding Tissue Paper Piece
Bleeding tissue paper on canvas. Then ribbon for the balloons.
Filed under bleeding tissue paper art, paper art
One Joy
I don’t think it’s Pollyanna-ish to choose to focus on what is good, rather than bad, in your life. A positive attitude not only affects how you feel and act, it’s contagious. (A very small example of this is when you choose to smile at people. I have found that most people smile at you in return.) People who answer phones as part of their work are taught to smile when they are talking to people on the phone because you can HEAR a smile over the phone lines or through the air waves.
Of course, you can’t be happy ALL the time. People have been squashed like bugs because someone wants their SHOES – and the same can happen with people who are TOO perky – TOO Smiley – TOO optimistic….
My point is that it is your decision – to a large extent – to be mainly happy with your life (growing, learning new things, embracing new ideas, finding fun ways to spend your time) or allowing your world to implode, (being interested in fewer and fewer things, being whiny, complaining, not trying to reach out and get help, etc.)
I have watched people I love folding into themselves, their worlds getting smaller and smaller, not bothering to try to keep up with what is happening in the world, giving up things that used to bring them joy, not taking care of themselves, becoming brittle in mind and body. It breaks my heart.
Each of us handles aging, changes, and outlook in our own way, and we should be free to do that.
I am choosing to embrace the good stuff – finding things that bring me joy and sharing them however I can. I love it when someone writes, telling me they love a picture I’ve posted, laughed at a joke, encouraged them to try something new. Each of us can try to take something positive and pass it on. Everyone is richer for it. Maybe ‘Pollyanna-ish-ness’ is a survival skill.
Filed under Attitude, Challenges, Encouragement, kindness
Diet Tip for 2021
I am almost finished eating my way through a lot of the ‘goodies’ (baddies?) I received for Christmas. I put a good amount of things in the freezer yesterday – WAY down deep – under a lot of things – in my chest type freezer in the garage, which is right beside my elliptical trainer. Hopefully, this will give me the perspective I need to stay away from them for the foreseeable future, maybe to enjoy a bit as I reach major weight loss goals in the future.
Most people seem to have trouble staying away from sweets and sugar. I like those things, but my biggest problems are bread, starches, and salty things. I found a recipe for some low carb bread that is pretty good and I’ll make that again. I have riced cauliflower and zoodles in the freezer in individual serving packets, since my husband won’t even CONSIDER eating those as a substitute for rice, macaroni, spaghetti, or potatoes. I am preparing myself to fix HIM some starch and I will eat my meat and sauces over the substitutes. We have a nice variety of good-for-you individual frozen meals from Real Food and from Stu’s Clean Cookin’ in the freezer. In fact, we have been eating several of those each week. I have gathered and cut up some raw veggies to enjoy as snacks. I also have hard boiled eggs and some cheese.
The main sticking point is getting our MINDS set to quit indulging and start practicing adult choices. For some unknown reason, my husband wants to wait until January 6th to start. I really have trouble not eating something when he brings yet another French Toast Fritter into the living room to enjoy between meals.
Heard enough lame excuses yet?
“Diet is coming…”
Filed under DIET!, taking care of yourself
Where There’s Love, There’s Hope 2
Photos forwarded by friend
Filed under Amazing Animals, Friendship, hope, love
Bleeding Tissue Paper Fun
This is my first piece with tissue paper and other mixed media. The possibilities are endless. There are people who are doing truly breathtaking things with this. It’s a lot of fun and the sky is the limit. :0)
Where There’s Love, There’s Hope
Thanks for a friend’s forwarded email.
Filed under Amazing Animals, hope, love
Palette Knife Art
Filed under Palette Knife Art
When Wood Comes Alive
Filed under When Wood Comes Alive
Encouragement
My sister-in-law and I communicate every day. (Some ‘glorious somehow’ occurred and we became FRIENDS, rather than just relatives.) She said something this morning that really resonated and I wanted to share it with you –
“It seems like you’ve been sort of beating yourself up about enjoying fun foods during the holidays. I would encourage you to remember all the pounds you’ve lost and kept off as you head into 2021. So you enjoyed yourself for a few weeks? Eating better is always going to be around so enjoy and start to get back on track slowly so you don’t feel deprived. The healthy eating part is important but so is getting some exercise which I know you do with your machines now that working outside is more limited. ……Just saying!!!”
I’ve printed this and put it on my fridge.
If I could bottle my sister-in-law’s kindness and sell it, I would be the richest person on the planet. :0)
Filed under DIET!, Encouragement, exercise
My Wish for You in 2021
My Wish for You in 2021
“May peace break into your house and may thieves come to steal your debts.
May the pockets of your jeans become a magnet of $100 bills.
May love stick to your face like Vaseline and may laughter assault your lips!
May your clothes smell of success like smoking tires.
May happiness slap you across the face and may your tears be that of joy.
May the problems you had forget your home address!
In simple words ………… May 2021 be the best year of your life!!!”
Author Unknown
Filed under .gifs I Love, Favorite Quotes, holidays
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