Elephant News
I’ve lost almost 3-1/2 pounds this week. I have found that the ‘big test’ on whether I’m actually hungry or not is when I will eat raw carrots. I like carrots just fine, but I NEVER crave them. The fact that the scales are noticing my efforts is encouraging. So far this week each morning I weigh a bit less. I know this won’t happen every morning, but it’s nice to know it MIGHT. ONE DAY AT A TIME…
I don’t know how long my husband was on Microsoft Chat, but he was still going when I went to bed at 1am this morning. I’m trying to keep Amber quiet so he can get some good rest. The computer rebuild is ongoing. I’m not sure what the status is at this point.
We’re supposed to get to 56 degrees this afternoon. The sun is up there, shining its heart out. A happy-looking day.
My other half requested I make spaghetti today, so I have things together to make that happen later.
A calm, quiet day, I’m hoping.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
Filed under paper art
email from my friend Marsha
Filed under Awe-Inspiring Photography, love, your 'awwww' for the day
Imgflip
Today is Lunch Bunch. I haven’t heard from anyone that they AREN’T coming, so I’m going, hoping to catch up with everyone. These days it’s almost like throwing a bottle in the ocean trying to reach my friends. I can leave a message on Kay’s phone, but Kay says it doesn’t show up. She also says it doesn’t ring, but hasn’t gotten a replacement phone yet. So, unless she answers, I’m not at all confident I can reach her. Linda’s phone message system hasn’t been set up. If she doesn’t answer, I can’t leave a message. Her daughter Patty says she often doesn’t hear the phone because she isn’t wearing her hearing aids. Getting older is SUCH a reminder to keep your sense of humor.
One good thing, my friend Nora has quit her full time job and is writing a children’s book with the idea of self-publishing via the Kindle app. She is a talented artist (pastels), so I don’t wonder that she’ll write well, too. I’m hoping to be able to recommend her book to you one day. In the meantime, I’m hoping she’ll start joining us at Lunch Bunch. She can’t come today, but I’ll text and remind her that this is a standing invitation. :0)
I had a really nice thing happen yesterday. I was getting the mail and a truck went by. We waved, then he stopped and backed up. He told me he loved the mailbox decorations and made it a point to drive by and see what we had up, even though he lives down the road in the other direction. He asked if we used a CNC setup to make them, so he knows his tools. I confirmed that and told him he made my day and that I would tell my husband. He said he’s a handyman! I asked if he had a card and he gave me one. I will keep this with the idea of getting his help in the future. I’ll let you know how he does.
We’re due for nicer and nicer weather the rest of the week. It’s really terrific to see the sunshine and have afternoon temperatures at 50 today and even warmer the rest of the week.
Have a fabulous Friday.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
LoveThisPic
I’m about to leave to get a haircut. I look like a dandelion gone to seed. Tuesday Michael, our wonderful hair stylist, got my husband looking all spiffy, with hair, mustache, and beard all trimmed with expertise. I’m hoping he can work a miracle and get me to look as if someone-has-a-plan. :0) My hair is thin, fine, and does absolutely nothing good on its own. Michael has a way of cutting it so that all I have to do is wash it and blow it dry.
I’ll hit the grocery store before coming home, get our mail, and then we can stay inside our warm, dry house the rest of the day. We had quite a storm overnight, but I haven’t seen any damage yet. The biggest thing is that Mother Nature can’t figure out which season we’re having. One day is like spring. Yesterday the high was in the 60s. The cold front came in overnight with the storm and the high will be 41 today. It’s gloomy looking now, with enough wind that the cold blows right through you. I really hurried to feed the cat in the garage this morning.
My husband has now decided to merge the parts of two computers, get a new motherboard, and hope that the rebuild will work so he has a computer in the shop again. Working with him in the office when he’s working on a computer is more challenging that I would like, so I’ll give him the space we will both need.
An example – I’m trying to finish this post before leaving, concentrating on it. Suddenly, there is something in front of my face. It’s my husband, waving a package of AAA batteries, saying, get some of these while you’re out. We discussed the interruption. He said “I could have yelled, “Hey, YOU! Get some batteries!” I told him quietly that if he did that, he wouldn’t be around to NEED the batteries… I’ll be really happy when the computer rebuild is over.
I wish you a warm, dry day wherever you are today. I’m looking forward to cuddling with my cat under my throw after lunch. Amber might join us, too, but it’s a bit difficult to make enough room for me, Abby, and a 95 pound yellow lab…
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Filed under paper art, paper mache
BoredPanda.com
I’m finally making some progress in my efforts not to stuff my face.
I’m making it fine with lunch and dinner, and am working on snacks between the two meals, determined to eat either cottage cheese or some raw veggies with dip, if I’m really hungry. I’m also trying to drink more water. We eat dinner at 7 and go to bed around midnight. During that 5 hours or so, I’m fighting with myself NOT to eat anything. If I’m up – unable to sleep later in the middle of the night – is the worst time.
This week I’ve done a better job of taking it one day at a time.
taolife.com
Filed under DIET!
Unsplash
I’m still happy that we aren’t snowed or iced in, but we’re facing possible severe weather this afternoon, evening, and overnight, with possible snow flurries tomorrow morning. It’s supposed to be really windy today, too. I would love to have a talk with Mother Nature and see what has her nose out of joint. Maybe I could calm her down.
We’ll need to re-tether our humongous trash can to the pole toward the bottom of the driveway today before gusty winds carry it somewhere else.
I hope that you and your Valentine had a happy day yesterday. Our day was calm and good. My husband and I drove the front half of the truck into our shop and took off the front tires to look at our brakes again. We couldn’t find any problem. My husband shocked me by saying first that we could change the brake pads all around ourselves OR take it to someone to have that done. I jumped on the latter. Once we came back inside I jumped to find someone in Greenwood who could do it for us. We have an appointment for next Monday morning. Hoooraaaaaay! I think yesterday’s session finally got through to him that both of us are a bit long in the tooth to be trying to do the heavy lifting required on some of our projects.
I talked to a really good friend yesterday via email, asking what was going on in her life now. She is now working in Greenwood, rather than Ft. Smith and sounded really happy, with lots of plans for the future. I couldn’t be happier for her and am waiting to hear details in another email. :0)
Enjoy your Wednesday!
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Healthline
I received a Jacquie Lawson Valentine’s Day card from one of my long-time close friends this morning. It was a really nice way to start the day. My husband showed his romantic self yesterday while we were at the local grocery, asking, ‘You want flowers or something?” I swoon. :0)
I’ve always thought that Valentine’s Day, at least the way it’s celebrated, is awful. People all over the world, I guess, are pressured into getting ‘something’ for their significant other on a particular day of the year. I think that if you love someone, EVERY day is the time to show how you feel, with a smile, a kiss, a hug, or maybe even a nice gift if you find something you think they will like. When it’s NOT the ‘official’ time to show it, it’s REAL. Happily, my husband and I share this belief and we show each other often – when we’re not contemplating digging a hole in the back yard to stash the body….
It’s raining today, so I’m not looking forward to having to go out in it this morning. My husband has a haircut. I sold some earrings last night on my Etsy site, and so will mail them to my customer today. When we get back, hopefully, our huge trash can will have been emptied and we can pull it partially up the driveway to re-tether it to the pole.
We’ll spend time today with our truck in our shop. It’s making a grinding noise when we put on the brake. When we put the snow tires on, we checked the brake pads as we always do, and all was good. When the grinding noise started, we put the truck in the shop and took the back tires off again to see what problems we could find. We didn’t find anything. Today we’ll check the front again.
I hope that you have a happy Valentine’s Day with the one you love.
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What is love? (From the mouth of babes)
Parade
‘When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore.. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love.’
Rebecca- age 8
'When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different.
You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.'
Billy - age 4
'Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.'
Karl - age 5
'Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.'
Chrissy - age 6
'Love is what makes you smile when you're tired.'
Terri - age 4
'Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.'
Danny - age 7
'Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that.
They look gross when they kiss'
Emily - age 8
'Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents
And listen.'
Bobby - age 7
'If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate, '
Nikka - age 6
'Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it every day..'
Noelle - age 7
'Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.'
Tommy - age 6
'During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling.
He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore.'
Cindy - age 8
'My mommy loves me more than anybody
You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.'
Clare - age 6
'Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.'
Elaine-age 5
'Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford .'
Chris - age 7
'Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.'
Mary Ann - age 4
'I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.'
Lauren - age 4
'When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.'
Karen - age 7
'You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.'
Jessica - age 8
And the final one
The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.
Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there..
When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said,
'Nothing, I just helped him cry'
Clear Lake, Iowa
I’m cherishing every minute of our bright sunshiny day today, as the rest of the week is forecast to be quite rainy.
The Super Bowl game last night was one of the best I’ve ever seen. Two great teams, no bad sportsmanship, brothers on each team, some truly wonderful plays, strong, tight game until the last minute. Someone had to win. And lose. But I really think both of these teams were winners.
We’ll go out after lunch to take our trash down and do some errands. Just a quiet Monday.
My husband gave up on the shop computer and is now transferring parts that are still good from it into the shell of another one that was extra, hoping that he can build one to go out to the shop. Fingers crossed. He’s not stressed over it, so that’s really, really good.
I’m having fun in my art room the last few days. I’m doing a project where each part needs to dry before I do more, so I spend a small bit of time up there, then come down and read or do something else on my list, then maybe go back up, depending on what stage I’m in. FUN!
I’m on book #40 in re-reading the In Death Series by J.D. Robb. One of the perks of being older than dirt is that I remember many parts of each book that I can enjoy again, but don’t remember many of the details of how the person was caught. Sometimes, I even find things I swear I didn’t read before….hahahahaha
On my ongoing “wish list” I’m including ‘developing an aversion to most food.’ It would be SO much easier to lose the lard if I could ‘forget’ to eat, or just ‘not be hungry,’ so I could eat what was absolutely necessary for nourishment, do my exercise for the day, and concentrate on other things. It’s a thought.
Happy Monday to you.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
Sporting News
Will you watch the Super Bowl today? We always do, even though we’re not big football fans. My husband doesn’t care who wins, and I just want a really competitive game where we won’t know who will win until the final nail-biting minutes.
I could never actually ATTEND a game because 1) I change who I’m routing for – switching to root for the one behind, and 2) I’m vocal about it. So fans of either team – or both – would probably want to pummel me. I appreciate expertise in most any form. Playing football well is an art and I love being able to watch the two teams with the best records this season duke it out.
I also love the commercials. My dad had his own one-man advertising agency in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He specialized in radio advertising and billed himself as ‘the 2nd worst radio voice in Tulsa.’ (The 1st was a woman florist who had a really raspy, grating voice.) I grew up admiring his creativity, his ability to make people smirk or laugh while buying his client’s products. He received an award from the Tulsa Chapter American Advertising Federation in 1984, that said, to Jim Wheaton “With admiration and Respect for His Unique Contributions in Advertising to Tulsa and All Other Markets.”
So I appreciate the creative minds that come up with unique commercials that make you laugh or cry while you consider buying the products. Standouts in my mind are the Budweiser Beer Commercials, where I hope the creators have won numerous awards – and I don’t even drink beer…
Here’s hoping we see a lot of skill and heart, a good, competitive game, a good halftime show, and lots of creative commercials.
Enjoy!
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
“Deep Purple”
“Little Cave”
“Spring Garden Flowers”
“The Rough Sea Seen Among the Stabilopods”
Unsplash
Isn’t this a beautiful photo?
The rain has FINALLY stopped, though we’ll have a rainy week ahead – Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and the following Monday if the forecasters are correct. If it’s ONLY rain, I’ll try not to gripe too much. :0)
Unknown
My husband is still trying to fix computer problems. Yesterday he finally got our two office computers to see each other, so now we’re able to share files, access what we need, send things to each other, etc. NICE. He was able to upgrade the operating system on the shop computer, but he is beating his head against the wall trying to get the updates downloaded to it. So that’s the focus today. I’ll do what I need to on mine asap and turn mine off, and we’ll also turn the DirecTV off so that all our rural Internet power can focus on that. Fingers crossed.
While he’s doing that, I’m enjoying time in my art room. I’m trying some new techniques and just generally smiling up there while listening to some music. I’m also on #38, Concealed in Death, on my re-reading of my J.D.Robb/Nora Roberts In Death series collection before diving into the newest paperback, #55, Desperation in Death. The newest book in the series, #56, Encore in Death will be out in hardback at the end of this month, but it’ll be awhile before I can order it in paperback.
Since the sun is shining today, I’ll try to do some walking in the yard this afternoon when it warms up. It’s 35 right now, but it’s supposed to get to 54 this afternoon, I think. It’s been so gloomy lately that it almost hurts to look out the window at the effect of the bright, happy sunshine!
Along with several gazillion others, we will plan to watch the Super Bowl tomorrow. I’m hoping for a really competitive game – a nail-biter to the last minute.
Enjoy your Saturday.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
Weather Station Advisor
Today rain and a possible ‘wintry mix’ is forecast. We’re going to try to go to Lunch Bunch anyway. We want to splurge on a burger. We’ll also get our mail, stop for gas and groceries before coming home. I’m really keeping all appendages crossed that we JUST get a cold rain, rather than being snowed in yet again. It’s really getting old.
On the home front, my husband is still fighting to get the updates on the shop computer. It continues to fail. He’s on chat with Microsoft, but so far, they aren’t able to help. So I do what I need to do first thing in the morning on the computer, then shut it down, plus the TV, so that he has as much download speed as we can gather to try again.
I’m reading, spending time in my art room, cooking, cleaning, etc., all really exciting stuff while the computer fight continues.
I hope that you are doing well and that the weather is treating you right where you are.
Take care.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
“Untamed” – Kimberly Kelly Santini -paintingadogaday.blogspot.com
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“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” – Scott Adams
Vic Bearcroft-setterstuff.com
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“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” ― Pablo Picasso
mungfali.com
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“Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.” – Andy Warhol
finewoodworking.com
Filed under Art Around the World
Minions
Day 3 in my husband’s fight to get the shop computer up and running again. He’s trying to get the operating system updates onto the computer. This takes a long time and THEN announces the failure of the attempt. More than frustrating. We’re compromising now, with some time for me on my computer first thing, then my computer and the TV are unusable until late after dinner. Since I’m totally spoiled, I’m having withdrawal symptoms.
I’m reading, doing some cleaning, some cooking, and I spent time in my art room yesterday for the first time in a long time. I’ve started work on an idea up there with some cleaning up and putting away in there, too.
It FINALLY stopped raining! The sun is out today – a hugely welcome sight. I’m planning to take at least one walk in the yard today. We’re supposed to get more rain/wintry mix tomorrow, but we’ll deal with that THEN. It might mess up Lunch Bunch. :0(
Filed under Attitude, Challenges
creativeartworksblog 