Shout-out to Cathy, who is having a scan today that hopefully will point the way to feeling good again.
Women’s Health
Shout-out to Carla, who is trying, with her son, to get a car ready for a race this month!
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Today is the first day of the 3-day special sale at Etsy, where you get $10 off your purchase of $40 or more anywhere on Etsy. You can use the code provided as many times as you want today through Wednesday. Great opportunity to buy things for the holidays.
Notecard package – 5 different hand painted designs on note cards and envelopes – “Thumbelina” – $19.95 with FREE SHIPPING to the contiguous U.S. HandmadeHavenByLinda on Etsy
I just LOVE this guy. He’s so ugly he’s beautiful. :0)
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Plaque – Heart-Shaped Solid Wood – “Love” – $41.99 – ready to hang – 10″ wide x 9″ tall. FREE SHIPPING to the contiguous U.S. HandmadeHavenbyLinda on Etsy – Etsy is having a special sale starting tomorrow, October 9th and running through Wednesday, October 11th, where you’ll save $10 when your purchase is $40 or more – automatically. And you can do this over and over for the 3 days. GREAT time to get things for the holidays. Sale is website-wide.
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pexels
I’m about to go do a session of slow, stretching, relaxing yoga to see if I can get my poor body to stop complaining. I’ll plan to do one session now, and another right before dinner. It would be fun if Amber wanted to practice with me, but if she notices I’m down on the floor, she usually wants to come snuffle me, and then try to SIT on me…
Yesterday I went out and did about 20 minutes of pulling up small “weed trees” beside the shop. I’m trying to get these pulled by hand because they are too much for the wire in the weed whacker. Even though I only did that one session, my back hurt so badly when I was cooking dinner I had to ask my husband to come stir the chicken I was browning.
I’m going to redouble my efforts today on my yoga. It’s taken a back seat to my yard work, and my body is apparently telling me that is a mistake. I need to make time for both. I have to learn this lesson over and over – being a bit slow-witted – learning that the stretching and relaxation is essential to my well-being. :0(
I’ve come across several recipes for getting the lard off recently and thought I would share –
I’m incorporating portion control, eating more fruit and veggies, eating more fiber, intermittent fasting, drinking more water, and trying to get more exercise. 11 pounds down so far. Trying to make it to 12…
I won’t look this cute, but I plan to use this wonderfully cooler day today to get some things done in the yard. It’s 49 degrees F. right now, so I’m actually waiting a bit until it WARMS UP (imagine that!) before I go out. :0)
I’ll probably do several sessions, with some resting in-between, and see how much I can accomplish.
I know ‘autumn’ began on the 23rd of September, but since Arkansas has been experiencing record-breaking heat for the month, it really didn’t SEEM like it. Just an abstract ‘wished-for’ concept.
Recently we got rain and a cool front that appreciably lessened the high temperatures. This afternoon we’re due for another cool front (without the rain this time) that will take the temperatures down even farther. HOORAY! The high will be in the low 80s today and I think in the high 60s tomorrow. Woo HOOOO! It’ll be NICE when I’m trying to work outside. I can’t wait!!
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SeniorGif.com
We have Lunch Bunch today. No one has contacted me yet, so I’m hopeful that SOMEONE will be there to eat with us. If not, we’ll just enjoy some lunch and do our errands.
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Makoto Shinkai Potato – Tenor
I’m planning to do a couple of weeding sessions on the area to the side of our shop and in front of our garden this afternoon. I’m making progress, but it’s slow.
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Delish
I’ll also get the makings of chili in the crock pot when we get back from Lunch Bunch. Not sure what else is in store, but I hope the weather where you are is nice and that you have a wonderful Friday.
This little girl and her costume simply melted me into a puddle.
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TIME for Kids
It rained here, but not until last night. The forecasts, depending on which ones you chose, said the rain would begin at 8am yesterday morning, or noon, or after sunset. The after-sunset group won the forecast battle, but the thunderstorms they were talking about didn’t materialize here. The temperature decreased and we got some civilized rain with a few rumblings. NICE. It’s 69 here now, and is due to get to 81 this afternoon. This is a nice relief after all the super-hot-for-September-and-October weather we’ve been having. We’ve been breaking records daily and I’m glad to stop.
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@Britton65Sam on X – hahahahahahahaahah
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iStock-TanglewoodMoms
I’m going to try to get up to my art room today to see what havoc I can wreak. I finally have a day where it’s too wet to work outside and I just finished vacuuming the first floor tiles, so maybe I can play a bit. :0)
We just got our mail and put up this mailbox decoration of Catbert, the evil HR director in the Dilbert cartoon series. I was planning to put up our Jack-0-Lantern, but my husband wanted this one. I forgot to take my phone, so I’ll have to get a pic of the front the next time we go out.
Unsplash
We’re due for some heavy thunderstorms today and tomorrow along with cool fronts that will take the highs into the 70s and 80s. The rain is supposed to start around noon. I’M READY! Woo HOOOO!
Amber is acting much more like herself now, although she is still over-exuberant at times. I went out with her this morning, just planning to walk around with her a bit. I didn’t put her on her leash. She immediately went to a spot in the yard, put her nose down, held the pose a few seconds, then started digging furiously, having probably found a mole, vole, or other ‘ole.’ I stopped her quickly and brought her back in. She seems to be healing well now. She is still on antibiotics and eye cream and I’m washing her wounds carefully with soap and water daily.
“No Rain, no flowers” 8×10 Hand-Painted Inspirational Sign on hard board – $16.95 with FREE SHIPPING to the contiguous U.S. – HandmadeHavenByLinda on Etsy
I had to share this one with you. I was so surprised and pleased. Wonderful ‘story,’ and great surprise for the ones kind enough to stop and try to help.
I downloaded this book on my Kindle a month or so ago and loved it, racing through the 526 pages of it to find out what happened. I then did something I almost never do – I started it again, reading it much more slowly so that I could savor the clever and unique turns of phrases employed throughout the book.
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A few examples –
“Swing straining a little under the weight of kids trying to kick the blue off the sky.”
“her face painted ten shades of astonished.”
“I can’t find words big enough to fit how I feel.”
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Next, I did something I’ve NEVER done – I contacted the author, telling him how much I loved the book, writing a review on Amazon (my first) and telling YOU about it on my blog.
THEN I did something I REALLY don’t do much anymore. I have more books than I have shelves, even though I regularly donate books to our local library for book sales. Book are expensive, so I’m trying to only keep books I NEED to have with me. Also, since money flies out the windows these days, more and more with inflation, I’m trying to read my Kindle more and more, limiting myself mainly to what I can find through my free Kindle subscription – even though even Kindle is starting to charge me monthly. I bought this one, though, even saying all the above. Even having had read it twice already.
This is Simon Panneton’s first book. It’s already one of my favorites and “have-to-haves-for-my-own.”
It came yesterday. My husband opened the package, leaving the book on the dining area table for me. This morning he asked me about it. Then asked if he could borrow it and read it. Since I know where he lives (:0) and am sure he’ll return it, I’m letting him read it.
I highly recommend this book and am eagerly awaiting his next one.
We’ll get our Jack-o-Lantern mailbox decoration up this week. We have my husband’s haircut and a couple of errands, but otherwise, a quiet day.
We took Amber back to the vet yesterday. If the cone was OFF, she messed with the stitches on her arm. If it was ON, it aggravated the mass in her neck. Her neck started to bleed pretty heavily yesterday and the stitches on her arm were in shreds. The vet looked her over, decided she was healing well. The blood was draining from the abscess in her neck. End result – the cone is OFF. She is free to kick and chew whatever parts she wants. The draining has stopped for now. We are still giving her antibiotics, applying eye cream, and cleaning the wounds daily.
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I’m doing several weeding sessions each day, trying to clear the area to the side of the shop that is between our house and the garden. There are a gazillion or so ‘weed trees’ that are too much for the weed whacker. I’m pulling them out, 15 minutes or so at a time, until I get to the place I can cut the rest down with the weed eater. When I finish THAT, my plan is to spray the whole area with KillzAll. There is no reason for grass or weeds there. There is some gravel underneath. So this is a multi-layer project I’ll do a bit at a time.
We’re supposed to get a cool front and rain tomorrow and Thursday, so I’ll redouble my efforts on the weed trees today.
I just LOVE these birds. There is something endearing about them. My absolute favorite is the Shoebill Stork, but a close second is the Pink-backed Pelican.
I love Halloween – the feeling, the creativity people show regarding costumes and decorations, trick-or-treating, Halloween parties, and more.
I have fond memories of trick-or-treating with my friends when I was in grade school – a hundred or so years ago. Back in the dark ages, it was safe to actually go trick-or-treating. A group of us would head out to the neighborhood behind us where the houses were closer together and the Halloween spirit was high. People would turn on their porch lights or keep their house doors open to show kids they were welcome.
We wouldn’t stop until our containers were full and we hardly had the strength to walk all the way home again. It was glorious.
The only warning back then was to be careful of apples because some bad people might put a razor blade in them. Since an apple was the least favorite thing I might gather that night, I could readily ‘watch out’ for that! :0)
I loved the freedom of that night. Being with friends so late at night, sharing the one night a year it was okay to gather and then eat candy, the day we donned our costumes and enjoyed the houses decorated for the occasion.
creativeartworksblog 