Monthly Archives: August 2022
Dog Days of Summer
Filed under Awe-Inspiring Photography, collage
Wonderful Wednesday
I say, “Wonderful Wednesday” because I’m leaving in less than an hour to get a haircut. I look like a dandelion gone to seed right now and saying that I can’t wait to be ‘healed’ is a vast understatement.
It’s going to be hot today (102 degrees F.) with unknown heat index – SURPRISE! – but we might get RAIN tomorrow, so I have hope.
I’m looking forward to playing in my art room this afternoon. The jury is still out on whether the cards I’m trying to paint will be ‘keepers’ or not, but I’m having a great time experimenting with different ideas and techniques. One of the reasons I start making presents and cards for Christmas so early is that what I’m ABLE to do doesn’t match what I would LIKE to do, and so several false starts are inevitably involved.
Our tomatoes are mostly gone now. I have a few that may ripen, so I check the plants every few days for treasure. I will soon pull up the sweet red onions from the garden to start them drying.
I’m on DAY 19 of my yoga. I’m determined to keep on keepin’ on until this practice becomes as ingrained as brushing my teeth in the morning. This practice, I think, is one of the keys to my health, my ability to do what I want without a lot of pain. I want to live a long time so I can continue to annoy my husband. (53 years and counting…)
I hope you have something fun planned for today, or if not – you have a pleasant, happy Wednesday.
Starting to Take Shape
Things are starting to come together on the Christmas cards I’m trying to paint. I’m trying to do stylized Christmas trees. I used bleeding tissue paper for the ‘leaves and branches’ part. Today I outlined the ‘tree’ with 3-D white paint, added a star on top and painted part of the ‘trunk’, for these are ‘live’ Christmas trees – the ones you can plant when the holiday is over.
I’m letting them dry now and will see what they look like tomorrow.
Filed under holidays, playing in my art room
Janet Pulcho 2
Janet Pulcho Watercolors via Margherita Cole, MyModernMet.com
Filed under Janet Pulcho, paintings I love, Watercolors I Love
Renewed Focus
I’m getting into the practice of adding more veggies and fruits to our diet, eating in a more Mediterranean fashion, and my husband and I are feeling better for it.
I’m on DAY 18 of my daily yoga practice, having increased the length of my practice from 30 minutes to 45 minutes, adding a few more poses and some abdominal exercises. I’m trying to build a HABIT/ROUTINE/REGIMEN where I just DO it, rather than having to talk myself into it, shame myself into it, etc. I AM noticing some differences, so that’s encouraging.
I’m ready to focus on losing the lard again, after putting some health issues behind me.
My starting point is
- 26.8 pounds down from my heaviest
- 24.15 inches down from my largest
I’m going to focus on 5 pound increments on the weight loss, and plan to measure again at the beginning of September.
I will give it my best shot.
Quiet Tuesday 8-2-2022
I’ve been busy this morning, just now taking the time to write. My font got smaller, and I’m working on how to fix it.
In my next life, I’m going to be very tall, so I can reach things instead of having to get up on a box, ladder, etc. I’m going to be VERY strong so I can do my share on lifting and moving things. I’m going to be tech savvy, so I can understand and use all technology without snatching my hair out. I’m going to be able to look at something, figure out how it should work, and fix it. Of course, I’ll also be slim and beautiful, be and exercise fanatic, and will have to REMIND myself to eat… :0)
I just looked at ‘preview’ on this post and see that YOU will see the normal size font, so that’s good. I’m still working on how ‘I’ can also see it, rather than having to strain to read the small type…
I just came back in from taking our trash down for pick up at the bottom of our driveway. I also got our mail, and actually LOOKED at the arm of the robot to see if there were any UPS packages there. There WAS, so I got that, too. I guess I’ll have to train myself to check that daily.
Our wonderful driveway guy came back from vacation and came to the house yesterday afternoon. He has an idea of a better crusher stuff to put on the driveway and recommends three truckloads to be spread by his partner, whom we met yesterday. He also thinks we should have kind of a ‘ridge’ down the middle of the driveway that will encourage the water to run to both sides, plus channels for the water every so often, getting any water off the driveway as soon as possible, delaying erosion and damage. We have agreed to the upgrade and they will do it when they can get everything together. Mark, the man who has the tractor who will spread the material, will arrange to be here before the first truck arrives, ready to spread the stuff while the truck goes back for more, so we don’t get stuck in our driveway this time. Hopefully, this upgrade will last for quite awhile. Help is on the way!
We got sprayed for everything including elephants recently. We received an invoice and I paid it electronically. Yesterday we received another invoice with the same charge plus another charge added from last year! The company has changed ownership, so I called this morning to see if we could make sense of things. The lady was very nice and agreed to take off the extra charge.
I did July bookkeeping on my computer this morning and got things filed! I patted myself on the head because I’m keeping up with things rather than putting the bookkeeping off over and over and getting buried.
I hope your Tuesday is calm, safe, and productive.
Fun Afternoon
I’ve been having a fun afternoon.
Once I finished vacuuming the first floor tiles and carpet, I made our lunch and then did the first of the month stuff. Then I headed up to my art room to see what I thought of my efforts yesterday on making Christmas cards for my friends to go with their presents.
So far, it looks like I have an interesting start to the cards that might work. (I used bleeding tissue paper on card stock yesterday and left them overnight to dry.) I took off the tissue paper this afternoon and am now trying to get the card stock to lie flat. (I put a gazillion sketch pads on top of the pile of them and will leave them until tomorrow, when I do the next step.)
I also took the tote bags I finished painting to spray the first side with some protective spray that will help avoid stains and increase the lasting power of the paint. I’ll spray the other side tomorrow.
I spent some time clearing off my drafting table so I have a good space to work tomorrow.
Now I’m going to do yoga practice # 17 and then dive back into my book.
Lovely afternoon!
Acrylics by Michelle Courier
Filed under water paintings
Update on UPS
Last week I griped that our UPS driver left two packages on our robot at the bottom of the driveway instead of delivering them to us. He then reported that he left the packages “at the front door.” Since we didn’t know they were there, they stayed on the robot overnight. I finally went to check, since I was expecting the deliveries and there wasn’t anything at the door or the end of the garage, and found them.
I finally found an address I could use to email them. I provided the tracking numbers for both packages. I had done this before, but hadn’t received a reply, but I thought I would try again.
We got an email reply (!) that they had received our email and that someone would be getting with us. I thought, “yeah, right” Later on that day, I got a phone call from UPS!
The lady was nice. She commiserated with my problem. She said the drivers were personally responsible for their trucks, any maintenance, damage, etc., came out of their pockets. We agreed that since our driveway is long and steep, he probably decided it was too risky to try to drive up, though we’ve lived her for over 30 years and they have always delivered in the past. Fedex still does.
I did ask if there was anything else that could be done. If he would let us know we had a package, we could come down and get it. She suggested a lock box with a code might help. She said that usually an email is sent that a package has been delivered.
Though our problem remains, the fact that UPS emailed and then called is wonderful. Kind of restores my faith.
Filed under Challenges
Oops
I’m sitting here at the computer, getting ready to write to you, and just now figured out today is NOT Saturday, as I thought it was. I have no idea why I ‘felt’ it was Saturday. I’m trying now to adjust now to a new new day, new month, new to-do list, new set of goals as I drink my much-needed coffee.
Thanks to Susy, we have a Matt Dixon image for August.
1st of a new month means several first-of-the-month chores, plus end-of-the-month bookkeeping. Today is DAY 17 on my daily yoga efforts, and I’ll make a decision later today on whether to go forward with my Christmas card efforts from yesterday or pitch them and start over. Vacuuming of the first floor will suck up the ‘whole dog’ Amber has left on the carpet and tiles. Since hope springs eternal, I’ll check to see if we have any ripe tomatoes.
Enjoy your MONDAY, the first day of AUGUST!
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
creativeartworksblog 