Monthly Archives: February 2021

Calories

thatswhatthatmeans.tumblr.com – Shibley Smiles

The saga of small annoyances vs real problems continues in the Lewis household.

A month or so ago, the dish inside the microwave that turns when the food is cooking to ensure even heating quit working. I looked up our records and the microwave was purchased in 2005. We have certainly gotten our money’s worth.

My husband is really good at fixing things. He figured out a way to fix the microwave so the plate turned again. Things went fine until yesterday, when the plate stopped turning again. My husband immediately squashed ideas of getting a new one – assuming we will EVER be able to negotiate our steep driveway and the roads between our home and town again. (We are into our second week of being completely stuck up on top of our ridge line – the first week due to ice and this week due to snow. We still have about 8 inches on the ground, so we MAY be able to get out by NEXT week some time if the sun stays out and the temperatures warm up from the current 15 degrees F.)

My husband went to work on the microwave again and we tested it this morning. It ran – and the plastic ‘thingie’ in the center of the floor of the microwave turned – for about 3 seconds and then the whole microwave shut off. It is now clear that the microwave is completely dead this time, no matter how smart or inventive he is.

I explain all this because we have been thoroughly enjoying frozen dinners from two new places in town – Real Food, and Stu’s Clean Cookin.’ These are individual dinners, portion controlled, healthy, and delicious. We have quickly become spoiled.

“I” will need to get inventive now on defrosting these on the counter, then transferring them to oven dishes, then figuring out how long – and at what temperature – to heat them up. In the meantime, I’ll cook a roast for tonight in the crock pot.

As I began when I started this post, this is a small annoyance vs the very real and dangerous problems many good people in the United States are facing right now. I feel a bit guilty even mentioning something as small as this. The pandemic, cabin fever, and the trying to diet have all combined to make me a rather gripe-y lady.

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Possible

Dalai Lama – AveMateiu.com

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Robert B. Parker – Spenser Series

Robert B. Parker

“Parker began writing his Spenser novels in 1971 while teaching at Boston’s Northeastern University. Little did he suspect then that his witty, literate prose and psychological insights would make him keeper-of-the-flame of America’s rich tradition of detective fiction. Parker’s fictional Spenser inspired the ABC-TV series Spenser: For Hire.”

I’m enjoying re-reading my collection now. I think there are 40 Spenser books. Ace Atkins is continuing the series, but they seem a pale shadow to me.

It’s been awhile since I re-read the series. I’m snorting at his wonderful sense of humor, his beautiful sarcasm, his honesty and straightforward writing, his great description. Spenser is a complicated character. I find him fascinating.

If you have not discovered this amazing writer, you’re in for a priceless experience.

Frederick Douglass – Ebook Friendly

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Erasers

Scott Lasal – Linked In

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Stone Stories 2

“Live Stones” by Erzsebet Szilajka – Sea Pebbles – Livemaster.com

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More Snow – Ohhhhhh, NOOOOOOO!

In about 1977 we moved from Tulsa OK to Greenwood AR so my husband could take a job here. We like the idea of living in Arkansas because of the mild winters and unusual occurrence of snow and ice. HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! About 20 years ago we had a truly awful ice storm from which the whole area has never really recovered. We lost a BUNCH of wonderful trees, changing the landscape and causing people a lot of grief. My husband had mentioned that it was about time for another ice storm…

All of last wee we were iced in. We had some broken limbs and fallen trees, but they didn’t fall across the driveway, so we were very grateful. We had enough melting that last Saturday we were finally able to get out. We emptied our mailbox, filled up with gas, and got some food and supplies. By Saturday night, it was snowing.

Look at this sweet cardinal in our bottle bird feeder from this morning. Usually, only the smaller birds use this feeder. I checked a while ago, and the cardinal found his way out of the bottle. I will make my way out to the main feeder and fill it up soon. We have a double dose of suet hanging, so the birds will be taken care of as well as possible.

I’m not sure how much snow we have on the ground now. Maybe 6 to 8 inches, which is a LOT for Arkansas. By Friday, the temperatures MAY cause it to start melting.

I have stayed inside, mostly, because it is WAAAAAY too cold and slippery for an old broad to be sliding around.

It’s hard to see that we have STEPS down to a concrete pad in front of the porch! Did I happen to mention how ready I am for SPRING?

Stay safe and warm.

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Weight-a-tude

Grand View Health

ATTITUDE comes first. The DECISION to do all you can to get the lard off. Next comes the actual DOING.

I found a great thought for weight loss this morning – “BE STRONGER THAN YOUR EXCUSE.”

This really resonated, since I’ve been mentally and emotionally using the fact we’re snowed in as our excuse the past week or so. Last week we were iced in. Now we’re snowed in. (We got more overnight.) Both are great excuses to open mouth and insert foot – as well as other things that don’t belong.

It has also been too cold to do my elliptical trainer in the garage. I just can’t do it. This has led to only doing my yoga, even though I do have several good DVDs I could use.

I will try to heed the great weight loss thought above and squash the enticing ‘slug bug’ mentality.

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Bless My Heart

WiffleGif.com

“Seize the moment. Remember all those women on the Titanic who waved off the dessert cart.” ~ Erma Bombeck

I just looked at my watch, expecting it to be close to lunch time. It’s 10:43.

There is something about being snowed in that whets my appetite. To be completely honest, though – ANYTHING whets my appetite. In my next life I would like to come back as a great looking, willow slim, beautifully toned TALLER woman who ‘forgets’ to eat – who takes pleasure in food, but doesn’t give it much thought.

And while I’m fantasizing…. oops, maybe that should be private. :0)

Hope you’re having a great day.

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Please

Birthday Wishes Expert

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Stone Stories 1

“Live Stones” by Erzsebet Szilajka – Sea Pebbles – Livemaster.com

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Stunning Drawings

BoredArt
designstack.co
unknown – Pinterest

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Snow “From Heer to Thar…”

Gifer – Kizlikree

This cute video could be our dog, Amber, running across our front yard. I just let her in again. She is having a great time in our snow. We can’t tell we even HAVE sidewalks or a driveway. All demarcation lines have been thoroughly buried. The new snow we got (5″) actually helped me stay on my feet while I cautiously made my way across the deck to our bird feeder and filled it this morning. It is -6 degrees right now. The sun is shining, but we’ll be lucky if the temperature makes it to 20 today. We have ‘heavy snow’ predicted for this-evening-into-tomorrow. It’s all pretty, but I really don’t like being snowed in. We MAY start to thaw by Friday.

All this whining done, I’m VERY grateful we have power and water. Our home is warm and dry on the inside. Our animals are inside with us. Abby, our very independent cat, prefers to sleep outside in our garage in her ‘cat cube.’ We brought it in last night and kept her in the utility room bathroom, along with her litter box. I’m pleased that she did fine.

I’m also grateful to be thoroughly spoiled, drinking a cup of coffee while enjoying having Internet service and being able to type this note to you.

I hope you are safe, dry, and happy today. Eventually, February will be over for another year!

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Stone Critters

popscreen.com
target.com
source unknown – Pinterest

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Favorite Poohisms

A. A. Milne – E.H. Shepard – Winnie the Pooh – DreamsQuote.com

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Still Snowing

tutorialbunch.com

I found this beautiful .gif yesterday and wanted to share it.

It’s snowing harder again. It’s supposed to stop by 1pm, but I don’t think Mother Nature has received the memo yet, or maybe is ignoring it. We’re supposed to have another wave of snow Wednesday. It was -1 degree F. this morning, and now is a balmy 0 with big fat flakes of snow. I love the prettiness of it, but I would really like it to stop. Our heaters in the well house (electric and propane) were both working well this morning. We also have an automatic extra heater in our utility room bathroom cabinet that keeps our pipes in there from freezing. I’m glad we have a generator in case it’s needed.

We’ve been enjoying comfort food – soup and crackers for lunch yesterday and beef stew from the crock pot for dinner. It’s nice and warm and dry in our home, and for that I’m truly grateful. Even though it’s only needed psychologically and emotionally, I’ve been enjoying having the heating pad in my recliner on and then curling up under my throw – making a kind of ‘sandwich’ for a nap, a cup of coffee on my warmer on the table beside my chair. SPOILED LADY – and GLAD OF IT!!! :0)

I checked my seed starter tray this morning. I have the TEENIEST, TINIEST hard-to-see sprouts in a few places! I was ridiculously pleased to see them. I spritzed the tray with water and put the transparent top back on. We’re not getting much sun, so I don’t know what will happen. It’s wonderful to anticipate possibilities, though.

I’m not sure what the day will hold. I hope we can ALL stay safe, warm, and dry.

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Making Wood Live and Breathe

bpowoodcarving.com
Wood-e-Venise.com-The-ART-In-LIFE
livemaster.ru

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Snowing

A. A. Milne – Winnie the Pooh

We’re sharing this lovely weather with a lot of good folks in the United States today. We are at a balmy 6 degrees right now with the forecast snow falling. Thankfully, we were able to get out yesterday – after a week on top of our ridge line – empty our mailbox and replenish supplies.

My favorite kind of snow is huge, fat flakes that make you feel as if you’re inside your own personal snow globe. It covers everything prettily, making you smile. The sun comes out, warms everything up, the snow melts.

Sadly, most of the time in Arkansas we get an ice storm first and THEN snow on top of it. The combination causes the evergreen trees that line much of our driveway to bend down into the driveway, weighing a TON (more or less) and many time either breaking off into the driveway or just making it so we have to chainsaw our way down the driveway at some point – assuming we ever want to get out again…

About 20 years ago we had a really bad ice storm. We stood on our front porch and listened as the ice broke tree limbs. It sounded like gun shots. Thank goodness we had a generator, even though it took all our efforts to keep the one we had running. It cracked the head and so was trying its best to overheat. We rigged a water source to keep cooling it off. We also have a well as backup. We were without public power and public water for 14 days.

We saw that most of the ice was gone yesterday. Most of the remaining was on our deck. Poor Amber, our 95 pound yellow lab, rediscovered how slippery ice is. She landed in a heap while attempting to do her usual rush to get inside the house. She looked a bit disconcerted, then leaped up again and made it onto the back porch.

The forecast this time is for snow all day today, tonight, and tomorrow, and then again on Sunday. It’s cold outside, but not nearly as bad as the poor people in the north are experiencing. I hope that they have stocked up and have good generators to make it through.

I just got the makings of beef stew in our crock pot, so we’ll enjoy a nice comfort food dinner tonight.

Stay safe, warm, and dry!

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Filed under Favorite Quotes, Mother Nature, Poohisms

Happy Valentines Day 2021

A.A. Milne – Winne the Pooh

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Filed under holidays, love, marriage

Action – Reaction – Truth

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February 13, 2021 · 10:22 am

Oh, To Be a Seal!

Donna Nook. England. – Marcos G Meider-GettyImages-DiscoverWildlife
Norfolk-England-Newsweek
Nat’l Geographic
The Local Germany

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Favorite Oil Paintings

Nongkran_ch-GettyImages-iStockphoto
“Westie” – Mar ySparrow Fine Art – http://www.marysparrow.com – onceuponaface.blogspot.com

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Petition

“Crossing the Line” – oatawa – Getty Images – iStock photo

We have been stuck at home due to the weather the whole past week. It’s 9 degrees F. right now, with a biting wind, but nothing is falling from the sky at the moment. With the forecast of snow and more snow starting later today, we’re going to try to gather our mail from our mailbox at the bottom of our driveway (hopefully not ice-covered now, as it is 650+ feet down and STEEP.) We’re also going to try to get supplies before holing in again – probably until the end of NEXT week.

I am starting a petition to do away with February – completely. Just go straight from January to March. If you’re in, please let me know and I’ll add you to the list. (I’m not sure where I will send the petition, or how many we would need to make this change, but we have to start somewhere…

I continue to HOPE things get better regarding the pandemic, our country, and the people living in it. I HOPE that qualities such as love, understanding, compassion, kindness, and courtesy are not becoming things of the past, gathering dust due to disuse. Much like I tell myself on keeping moving and exercising, “If you don’t USE it, you LOSE it.” We never really know what’s happening to the people we care about. Let’s give everyone some extra slack.

I hope that you are able to stay safe and warm today. It’s a wonderful day to have a warm, dry home.

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As Good as it Gets

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Filed under Housekeeping - Maintenance, Organizing/DeCluttering, playing in my art room

Awe-Inspiring Oil Paintings

Panther Print
Pinterest.com.au

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Won Park Dollar Origami 4

Sorpion
Shark
Spider
Toilet Bowl

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Thoughts on a Friday in February

MAN v FAT

It’s harder to stick with a rational, mature eating plan when the weather is yelling for comfort food. It’s 17 degrees F here in Greenwood, Arkansas. February is always our coldest month, but I was beginning to believe we wouldn’t have much of a winter this year. Hahahahahahhaha! Our highs are in the 20s, we have ice everywhere, our deck is a skating rink unfit for old folks to fill the bird feeders, and our 650+ foot long, STEEP driveway and the road that runs in front of our place are not encouraging travel – even to retrieve our mail at the bottom of the driveway. The forecast is for ‘dangerous cold, and snow Sat – Monday, then again Wednesday of next week. Did I tell you I HATE February?

VectorStock

I’m trying to be the “mature adult woman” that I’m supposed to be, NOT stuffing my face while continuing to earn my gold stars on my desk calendar for exercise. I put on my sweatshirt, sweat pants, puffy vest, knit hat, and gloves to go out to the garage to put in my time on my elliptical trainer. The good thing is I feel very proud of myself if I manage to get my time in out there each day. The yoga in the afternoons is easier.

Yesterday I finally got the seeds planted for my spring garden. The seed starter tray is sitting on our dining area table where the seeds will get the best sun. I’m watching the tray like a mother hen, hoping my seeds will sprout and then do really well so that I’ll have healthy, good-looking plants to put into my raised bed square foot garden the first week of April.

I am planning to continue my efforts to clean and reorganize my art room today. So far, the only clean area is my drafting table. Today I’ll tackle this table.

I hope you’re having a good Friday. Maybe we can start a petition to do away with February…

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Filed under Challenges, DIET!, exercise, Gardening, Mother Nature, Organizing/DeCluttering, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds

Ah, Kindness

A.A. Malee – GoodTherapy.org

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Filed under Attitude, kindness

Seeds Started 2-11-2021

This afternoon I have finally planted seeds that I HOPE will make transplants for my spring garden.

It was more involved than I thought it would be. I simplified it as much as I could, but it still took me two days. The biggest problem was trying to get the seed starter medium wet. That sounds like a dumb problem, but the medium is VERY light. If I had sneezed into the bag, the medium would have covered the whole kitchen – I kid you not. I added water VERY carefully and slowly. The spray in the kitchen sink was MUCH too strong. I finally used a turkey baster to ease water into each of the peat planter pods, making sure each didn’t overflow. I also didn’t want the peat pots to fall apart, so I stopped several times in the process. I did it last thing last night, hoping that things might settle in overnight.

This afternoon I found a spray bottle in the garage and used it to add more water. Then I used a pencil to make two planting holes in most of the pots, but only one hole in the ones for the broccoli. I planted two rows of spinach, two of broccoli, two of lettuce, and one row of green pepper. I split the last two rows, planting some yellow squash, zucchini, and two kinds of tomatoes.

I pushed the holes closed and tamped down the medium a bit in each peat pot, and then sprinkled some fertilizer pellets. Finally I sprayed everything carefully one more time and added the clear plastic seed starter tray top. I had to hold it down with some pill bottles because it didn’t want to close tightly.

Supposedly, things will start sprouting in 8 to 14 days, depending on the seed. When that happens, I’ll take the plastic top off and turn the tray around each day, hoping the sprouts will grow up reasonably straight.

I have little clue what I’m doing. Everything I have read is like the recipes for bread that say, “Knead it until it feels right.” :0(

It’s exciting to be TRYING to grow plants that I can move to my spring garden around the 5th of April.

123RF.com

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Won Park Dollar Origami 3

Hammer Head Shark
Jacket
Jet
Penguin

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More Fabulous Oil Paintings

Folk Culture Gallery – etsy.com
Molly Poole – Fine Art America

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The Battle Continues

MAN v CAT

My scales gave me a thumbs up again this morning. I’m determined to take this one day at a time, though my goal is a long way off.

The MyFitnessPal.com website is helping me stay accountable for what I’m consuming. It’s so easy to tell yourself you’re not eating that much, but the ‘grazing’ adds up around here, and the website makes me acknowledge where the problems are and help me concentrate on solving them. Today I will cut up raw veggies to enjoy with dip for my mid afternoon snack.

Penn Fitness Warehouse

My efforts to do 35 minutes a day on my elliptical are having varied success. My excuse NOW is the weather. I’m wearing a vest and my gloves, but the elliptical trainer is out in the garage and it is REALLY cold out there, even though I’m moving. I’ve decided that if I get out there and do as much as I can before freezing to death, that’s all anyone should ask. I’m really earning my gold star there.

One Green Planet

My afternoon yoga is going much better. My body is starting to loosen up a bit. It’s amazing to me that I must spend much of the day trying to curl up into a ball. It’s hard for this old broad to stretch out. It actually takes me a minute or two for the act of lying down flat on my back on my mat to stop being really uncomfortable. I have to concentrate on relaxing (“relaxing jaw – relaaaaaaaxing face) with my head and neck propped up on a wonderful wedge I bought online after my massage therapist tried it one day a couple of years ago. When I stop hurting, I then put my head flat on the floor and relax some more.

I spend 30 -45 minutes most afternoons doing slow, careful, thorough stretching. My body feels a lot better afterwards.

This post reminded me of a sign I found recently –

dumpaday.com

I hope I’m not boring you to tears. If I am please just scroll through it rapidly, delete it, write me a note…..

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