Monthly Archives: October 2024

Snap, Crackle, Pop!

Nourish, Move, Love

I sound like the older-than-dirt Rice Krispies commercial when I exercise. I’m drowning that out with earphones plugged into my computer where I listen to “Ladies Drumming” exercise videos where they use drumsticks to beat on exercise balls on platforms just below chest level to some fun music. Instead of their equipment, I’m holding 3-pound dumbbells and doing exercise moves I’ve learned elsewhere, keeping up with the beat. It makes the movement ALMOST fun. I just finished doing two of the videos before I was feeling it in my neck and shoulders.

I did quite a bit of walking (for me) when my husband and I went to do errands this morning. I’ll walk more before dinner.

Now I’ll go do a session of old-lady stretching yoga that will nicely fill out my exercise for the day.

I’ve tweaked my eating by adding the protein shake my doctor recommended daily, plus eating Zero Net-Carb Mission Tortillas, one for lunch and another for dinner, adding 14 grams of fiber daily. I’m drinking more water in-between.

I’m almost to another milestone for me – one of my interim goal marks, and I hope to be able to claim that by the end of this week.

I splurged, though, today, because my husband wanted to stop at our local grocery so he could get a chicken/mashed-potato-bowl for lunch. I caved and got two chicken tenders. I ate one with lunch today and will have the other tomorrow. This allows me to realize that this is a lifestyle change for the rest of my life, not just a ‘diet’ that will end at some point, and that small splurges from time to time add motivation while keeping me from feeling deprived.

We enjoyed delicious BBQ ribs from Stu’s Clean Cookin’ last night. I divided the rack we bought into two pieces. I put one in the fridge to eat last night and the other piece in the freezer for another time. When it was cooked, I divided it again so we both enjoyed 4 ribs with a side salad. My husband had a roll and I had a tortilla. Tonight we’re eating some leftover “Simply Keto Chicken” by Suzanne Ryan.

If you need a laugh, you can picture me on the floor, snap, crackling and popping my way through my yoga stretches while Monster Cat either tries to bite my toes, sit on my stomach, or walk under me as I stretch up on my hands and knees…

2 Comments

Filed under DIET!, exercise, Keto Eating Plan and Recipes We Like

Native Earth Gallery

Native Earth Gallery – Custom Painted Wood Ornaments – Etsy

Leave a comment

Filed under painted wood, When Wood Comes Alive

Boo! 10-31-2024

RM-Pinterest

MEMORIES – I absolutely love this. I’m going to save it so I can enjoy it again and again. I have wonderful memories of trick-or-treating back in the dark ages when I was young and the world wasn’t as wonky. I would go with a group of my friends. By ourselves. No supervision. Complete freedom. Ahhhh! The good ole’ days. :0)

_____________

LINDA’S CRAFTINESS –

This birdhouse is ready for some birds to move right in and start a family. 3-3/4″ x 5-3/4″ x 3/8″ hand-painted mini notebook with 100 blank pages inside for notes, thoughts, lists. Throw it in your purse, car, gym bag, school bag. Fun Gift. $12.99 – FREE SHIPPING. Lots of different designs – see HEREHandmadeHavenbyLinda on Etsy.

_________________

We had quite the storm overnight. The thunder woke us up sometime this morning. I was able to go back to sleep. My husband wasn’t, and so got up. He was asleep in his recliner when I came down. The cold front has gone through now, we think the rain has stopped for now, and the high is only supposed to be 68 today.

_______________

I had a good day of exercise yesterday – videos with weights, yoga stretches, and walking. I’m hoping to get it more this afternoon. I’m also scheming about ideas for wood-burned key chain designs. Do you have any ideas for me?

6 Comments

Filed under Thoughts on a ________

Mary Adam Art Studio

Mary Adam Art Studio – Etsy

Leave a comment

Filed under drawings, Mary Adam Art Studio - Children and Pets Portraits

Message

Indian Hills Signs – Vince, the Sign Guy

I gripe a lot. You reply, “Oh, Yeah?” with a snarky tone and feigned shock on your face. I KNOW. And I’m afraid I’m too old to change that, even though I would LIKE to.

Today, however, I read something on the local news that stopped me in my tracks and made me do some serious re-assessing.

There was a house fire overnight, around midnight. The house is apparently south and east of us. They didn’t give the address, just that it was on East Hickory Street in Greenwood.

Three people in a family died and a fourth was hospitalized. Two of the three dead were Greenwood students. They didn’t give the names, and this is all the information I have.

It’s enough for me to ask myself, “What in the WORLD are YOU griping about, when your family is safe, your home intact?” My gripes are merely annoyances. And yet I build them up in my mind to be so much bigger and more important than they are.

Our son is safe – as safe as anyone can be nowadays. So he hasn’t been home so I can hug him for several years. HE’S. SAFE. And we can talk to each other every day.

My husband is safe. Half the time I’m ready to toss him into the hole in the back yard. There is no one that makes me angry or hurts my feelings as much or as easily as he does, and yet HE’S. HERE. HE’S SAFE. HE. IS. MY. OTHER. HALF.

Only two examples, but you get my meaning. Priorities can get so skewed. We really need to seriously take stock and realize that, however annoying things may be at a given moment, things could be so much worse. REALLY.

TerriAnn van Gosliga – Cookies & Clogs

2 Comments

Filed under Challenges

Annasculptures

Anna Tolgyesi Poo’s – Annasculptures on Etsy

Leave a comment

Filed under Anna's Sculptures, sculpture

Wednesday 10-30-2024

LINDA’S CRAFTINESS –

One-of-a-kind, hand-painted “Stained Glass Look” Container. 7.5″ tall. Circumference 13″. Lid has rigid vinyl piece making lid fit snugly into the bottom. Signed & dated. $35.99 – Free Shipping. Click on link above for more.

_____________

PROJECT – Unearthing the Back Porch

Mother Nature tried, but didn’t win, blowing the dirt and dog hair around as I swept, but I prevailed.

I then had to mop the floor three separate times, since the dirt, dog hair and pollen had fallen, been rained on, dried, then again, over and over. I followed this with a coat of wax to hopefully encourage the dirt to blow off better, or be washed away.

I threw away some things, put other things in other places, and cleaned the table and chairs.

You saw Monster Cat on the table. In this pic, you can see Amber deciding suddenly, mid-click, to leave the porch. :0) We have a good chance of gusty winds, rain, and flying hairballs this evening and overnight, but at least the porch will be getting NEW dirt…

_________________

PROGRESS ON LOSING THE LARD –

Freepik

43.2 pounds down since my heaviest. 41.7 inches down. About 2 pounds to go until I accomplish my current interim goal. Since I don’t have a big cleaning project today, I’ll do my weights with the drumming exercise videos, walk, and do my yoga stretches. Still logging my steps – 4274 yesterday, just the product of cleaning up the porch.

Have a nice Wednesday!

Leave a comment

Filed under Thoughts on a ________

More of The Woolen Wagon

Megan – The Woolen Wagon on Etsy

I’m simply awe-struck by Megan’s ability to take some wool and fashion it into not only something that resembles a dog, but captures the whole essence and flavor of the dog – different positions, different breeds, all life-like. Simply amazing.

Leave a comment

Filed under Embroidery/Sewing Art, Felted Wool Art, Megan - The Woolen Wagon - Etsy

Question –

My_Careee – Pinterest

I love phrases for which there are no opposites, like this one. “Losing my mind,” is another one that comes to mind. Word games, plays on words, puns, sarcasm – they all make our language a delightful surprise, bring a smile to our faces and lighten our moods. :0)

I really feel lucky to have grown up speaking English. I tried to learn Spanish when I was in school. I even was lucky enough to stay in Mexico City with a family who was a part of my dad’s community club in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The girl had spent a month or so in our home, and this particular family wanted to return the favor – so I was the beneficiary. I got so I could understand if people spoke very slowly, and I could reply, if haltingly, kind of like a young child, but that was the best I could do.

I don’t know how someone learns English. There are so many quirky things about it. Very few rules that aren’t broken randomly. A whole different language when you throw in phrases and slang, puns, jokes, homonyms, etc.

I threw the ball through the window. Are you through? is just one example of why it’s probably impossible to really learn English well unless you grown up with it as your first, if only, language.

2 Comments

Filed under Funny Signs - Humor

Tuesday 10-29-2024

LINDA’S CRAFTINESS –

Child’s Painted Apron – $14.99 and FREE SHIPPING – A ghost, jack-o-lantern, bats and black cat are flying all over this fun apron. See this one, plus others HERE, on HandmadeHavenbyLinda on Etsy.

__________

Freepik

PROJECT – Yesterday I started trying to clean up our back porch. I threw things away, cleaned the table and chairs, rehung a set of wind chimes, washed off the wooden ledge, and then started to sweep the floor in preparation for mopping, only to be snafued by Mother Nature, who was clearly laughing at me. I gave up after I only managed to have all the hair balls, flying dirt and pollen swirling around my head. I’m hoping I’ll have a better chance today, though the forecast is for gusty winds today ahead of possible severe storms tomorrow…

__________

EATING HEALTHY –

I’m delighted that one of the frozen food places in Greenwood is offering just what my husband and I want for easy, healthy meals. My husband is trying to avoid sugar (being a Type II diabetic), and I am trying to eat low carb (trying to lose weight). Not only is the nutrition value clear on Stu’s Clean Cookin’ meals, they have divided up their meals into categories to make it easy to find what you’re looking for. Dairy-free? Gluten-Free? They have it. There are 5 locations in Arkansas, including TWO in Fayetteville (East and West.) You can order online and then pick up if you like.

We now have a list of meals we love that meet our individual needs so shopping is fast and easy. They even give you a price break if you buy 12 meals at a time. Win/win!

_________

Enjoy your Tuesday.

Leave a comment

Filed under Thoughts on a ________

Reassurance

The Vintage Hammer

Leave a comment

Filed under Funny Signs - Humor

More Carvings by ‘Saving Bird’

Srimal Gamage – ‘Saving Bird’ Wood Carvings – Etsy

Leave a comment

Filed under Srimal Gamage - Saving Bird on Etsy, When Wood Comes Alive

Beautiful Little Fairies

Charlene McNally – Robot Dreams of Beauty – Etsy

Leave a comment

Filed under fairies, fantasy

Reorganization of Art Room

I spent several days going through everything in my art room. This was brought on by necessity, not any ‘cleanliness’ or high organization motivation on my part. I’m a slob and I tend to stash things. The shelf just above the counter top in the above picture ‘gave up.’ The supporting brackets failed, and I found the shelf hanging at half mast, having dumped its too-heavy load on the counter below and all over the floor.

I ordered new brackets and I moved everything to other areas so we could put the shelf back up. Then the first priority was to get heavy things down from the remaining shelves all over the room and make sure they were relocated to bottom shelves or in low cabinets, with the rest of any weight distributed as evenly as possible.

The second priority was to throw away as much as I could. I’m a pack rat and I agonize when I think of something that would be perfect for something I’m trying to make and realize I have thrown it away. I forced myself to get rid of a bunch of stuff which will go out in the trash today. I actually ended up with some empty parts of shelves!

There is a certain point, though, where organization can go too far. The only time my art room is truly ‘neat’ is when there isn’t anything going on in there. I guess I have to have some ‘mess’ to be able to function. :0)

So, the ‘reorganize-the-art-room’ project is now officially finished for now. It will always be a work in progress. I’m trying to continue to go through things as I play in there to see what else should go.

I’ve started work on another wood burned sign, and I have received some key chain blanks, and they will get some attention very soon.

6 Comments

Filed under Housekeeping - Maintenance, I'm a slob, Organizing/DeCluttering

Monday 10-28-2024

Sent by my friend, Marsha

I spent a total of 4 hours in the art room yesterday and finally finished the reorganization. I’ll show you pics in another post this morning.

Today’s project is the back porch, which has been studiously ignored since our too-rainy-too-cool spring followed by HOT. Now that we have our doors open, it’s getting on my nerves, so I’ll see what I can do about that today.

r/midjourney – Reddit

I have finally figured out how to incorporate the protein shake my doc wants me to drink daily into my keto lifestyle AND continue trying to lose the lard. The past two days have almost undone the damage I did with the change. To describe my scale results as ‘yo-yo’ just isn’t sufficient to the concern I’ve had that my efforts were being sabotaged. I’m beginning to regain the confidence that I CAN do both of these things with a sustainable eating plan. :O)

LINDA’S CRAFTINESS – I’m providing a link to one of my newest listings on my Etsy site HandmadeHavenbyLinda. It’s a set of 5 different watercolor paintings on stationery sheets and coordinating painted envelopes, plus 5 blank sheets for longer letters. It’s fun to have the person you’ve written call you and ask where you got the stationery. You can decide to tell them or keep it as your secret… The set will come in a nice gold box with transparent lid and a tie. Fun for you, or thoughtful as a gift.

I hope your day is a fun one.

Leave a comment

Filed under Thoughts on a ________

Murder in the First

TheFrugalDoodler-Etsy

Leave a comment

Filed under Funny Signs - Humor, Housekeeping - Maintenance, I'm a slob

The Woolen Wagon

The Woolen Wagon Needle Felted Animals – Etsy

Leave a comment

Filed under Embroidery/Sewing Art, Felted Wool Art, Megan - The Woolen Wagon - Etsy

Woodwork by Todd Gladfelter

Todd Gladfelter Chainsaw Art

2 Comments

Filed under Chainsaw Art, Todd Gladfelter Chainsaw Art, When Wood Comes Alive

Good Morning! 10-27-2024

“Pelican chillin with a friend in England” – Smile – BoredPanda.com – Nikita Manot and Dominyka

Our weather here in Arkansas is really beautiful. Cold fronts are coming through, but no rain yet. Maybe we’ll get some Wednesday.

PROJECT – My husband and I got the shelf back up in my art room. We chose different holes in the wall strips and the new brackets I ordered were correct. The shelf was heavy, but we managed it. I gathered two leaf bags of trash that I brought down yesterday. I’m hoping to wrap up the reorganization of the art room in the next day or two. Pictures later.

LINDA’S CRAFTINESS – I am having a sale on my tote bags on HandmadeHavenbyLinda on Etsy. Storewide, whether the totes are in the “Tote Bags – Painted” category or in the “Christmas” section, I have marked the price down 25%to $13.49 – and, as always, I will handle the shipping. The links here will take you directly to the site as a whole, or the categories. Take advantage of this sale to get unique and useful “Christmas wrapping totes” or totes to take to school, work, or the beach. Great gifts! Have fun. Here’s a sample –

Make this Sunday a fun one.

2 Comments

Filed under HandmadeHavenByLinda on Etsy, Thoughts on a ________

More Todd Gladfetter Art

Todd Gladfetter Chainsaw Art

Leave a comment

Filed under Todd Gladfelter Chainsaw Art, When Wood Comes Alive

My Personal Way of Life

sarcasticme.com

I am finally accepting that the time when ‘all my stuff is done’ is NEVER. I have a super power of building to-do lists from Hell. They are all-inclusive, never-ending, generating even more as I mark something off.

I used to think if I just worked harder, used my time better, I would be able to cross the LAST thing off the list for once. Over the years, though, I am able to do less in a day. I get tired a lot faster, hurt for a day or so after I overdo, and just think of things I really need to tackle next. :0)

One of the changes I’m making as intelligence wins over stamina and enthusiasm, is changing the NAME of my list from ‘To-Do’ to ‘INTENTIONS’ list. That’s more honest.

I can even add boxes before each list item for marking the priority of getting it accomplished so that I do all the ‘1’s’ first. (A ‘1’ would mean I would be embarrassed for some reason if someone else saw it UNdone – such as cleaning the center shelves in our entertainment center when the DirecTV installer was due to install our new system, so he wouldn’t see all the dog hair and dust behind everything. (As it turned out, this one was actually a much lower priority, since no one but my husband and I actually saw all the mess behind all our stuff. We were sent a palm-sized device we plugged in to the back of the TV and then got the system to work ourselves.)

Another reason for a ‘1’ priority designation would be if we were going to run out of something that I really needed for something specific – like an ingredient in a recipe I was making that evening, or food for our animals. If I finished the number ‘1’ designated things on the list, the most important stuff would be accomplished.

The problem with this is that some things with the least priority would probably NEVER get done. AND, if they have such a low priority, why are they on the list in the first place? Maybe I should ONLY list “priority 1” items and forget the rest?

You may be seeing one big reason why I’m always so behind on my whatever-we’re-going-to-call-it list —- I get hung up on the actual CREATING of the list and get to what’s ON the list too rarely to make a dent in it.

Maybe I should just order the mug above for myself and forget about the list until tomorrow…

4 Comments

Filed under Challenges, Priorities - Life Lessons

“Saving Bird” Wood Carving

Srimal Gamage – “Saving Bird” – Wood Carvings – Etsy

Leave a comment

Filed under Srimal Gamage - Saving Bird on Etsy, When Wood Comes Alive

Saturday 10-26-2024

Freepik

I’m spending a couple of hours each day trying to completely reorganize my art room so that the heavy stuff is on the bottom shelves, or in low cabinets, and then go through what I’m putting back ON the shelves to distribute weight better while I create areas of art activity, such as “stationery & notecard supplies.”

Today the first thing I’ll do is take a couple of leaf bags up to the art room to gather up what I’m throwing away so far. I don’t want to overload the trash bags, either, because we need to be able to lift THEM to put them in the trash can Monday.

I MAY get the new brackets I ordered today. If so – and they’ll work – my husband and I will put up the shelf that fell down, being careful to use different holes for the brackets in the wall strips.

I removed EVERYTHING from the wall shelves and am totally rethinking how I’ll use those shelves.

It may take a couple of weeks or more of holding leaf bags full of throwaway stuff from the art room in the garage, since we can usually only fit three bags into our humongous trash can for pickup. That’s okay. Whatever it takes.

_______________

Freepik

Even though I’m getting a BUNCH of exercise bending over, pulling, hauling, relocating – and I’m eating supposedly right, incorporating the extra protein shake my doc wanted me to daily – I’m actually GAINING a bit of weight. ARRRRRRRRGH! I’ve read that eating too MUCH protein can throw me out of ketosis, so ugh. I’ll need to study more to figure out the best way to tackle this.

I wish you a wonderful Saturday with lots of smiles.

Leave a comment

Filed under Thoughts on a ________

More Fabulous Iris Scott

Iris Scott – Finger-painting Art – Adelman Fine Art

Leave a comment

Filed under Fun with Fingerpaint, Iris Scott

Lighten Up

Indian Hills Humor – Vince, the Sign Guy

Leave a comment

Filed under Funny Signs - Humor, Indian Hills Signs, punny

Sweet Fairies

Myai Korf-Pinterest
Omgeras-Digital Art-Pinterest
RobotDreamsofBeauty-Etsy
Myai Korf – Sandy LaBrie-Pinterest

These beautiful images make me want to escape so I can live in their world. So fragile. Exquisite.

Leave a comment

Filed under fairies, fantasy

Friday 10-25-2024

Jennifer Warfield-Pinterest

It’s a beautiful day here. We are supposedly at the end of our unseasonably warm weather here in Arkansas, with cooler weather to come and possibly some rain to break our drought a bit. I have absolutely no complaints.

Yesterday I spent about 3 hours in my art room, trying to get started on reorganizing everything in there due to shelf supports failing suddenly and dumping a ton of ‘stuff’ onto the floor. These are really strong shelves, but I had gotten really careless on realizing how much I was asking from the brackets. I’ve ordered replacement brackets (plus some extras) that should be delivered sometime tomorrow. Until then, there is lot of rethinking and reorganizing I can do.

Yesterday I concentrated on moving heavy stuff to lower shelves and low cabinets. I have the wall shelves empty now of almost everything. I’m going to use the lower shelf that avalanched as storage for some of groups of different types of paint when we put it back up. I’m concentrating on distributing anything with weight.

I’m certainly getting my exercise with this while paying for my carelessness. I’m bending over, moving things off lower shelves and out of lower cabinets, hauling things around and relocating them. I’m throwing away a bunch of stuff, as well, trying to create ‘areas,’ such as one set of shelves for stationery and note card supplies (with the heavier stuff at the bottom now, of course. ) :0)

It looks like a bomb hit in there, and will until most everything has found its new home and is straightened up. I’ll spend a bunch of time up there today and see what sense I can make of things.

I wish you a happy Friday.

Leave a comment

Filed under Thoughts on a ________

Sweet Doggos

ardith gray-pinterest
AS-Sandicast-Sitting-Fawn-Pug-Dog-Statue
cache0.bigcartel.com

Leave a comment

Filed under Amazing Animals, sculpture

Indian Hills Smiles and Groans

Indian Hills Signs – Vince, the Sign Guy

Leave a comment

Filed under Funny Signs - Humor, Indian Hills Signs, punny

The World of Gnomes

Artivision.design
Laura Lockhart-Pinterest
Myai Korf-Pinterest

Leave a comment

Filed under fantasy, gnomes

Mini-Avalanche

Freepik

My husband heard a loud noise yesterday afternoon. He went outside to check it out, but couldn’t find anything. I went in my art room to put the new key chain blanks away later and found the source of the loud noise.

One of the shelves that goes along the back wall was hanging half-mast, having dumped most of its contents on the counter below and the floor. It was a real mess. I asked my husband to come up and help me pile the fallen and soon-to-fall stuff elsewhere and we moved the wood for the shelf onto the floor. We will have to replace the shelf supports and I’ll rearrange. Obviously, I put too much heavy stuff on the shelf!

I’ll have to rearrange almost EVERYTHING in order to have the heavier stuff only on bottom shelves, and spaced around. I’ll also put some stuff in the shelves in the guest room and the closet. This will be a huge project with lots of bending, lifting and hauling and re-arrangement to make sure this doesn’t happen again. We’ll go out later this afternoon or tomorrow to get new shelf support thingies from the hardware store to get the shelf back up.

Animal Emergency & Referral Center of Minnesota

Meanwhile, my miracle-worker Lynn Moody, 479-629-7601, my massage therapist and friend, will try to undo the knots I have accumulated, so I can start making new ones, re-arranging the stuff in my art room. :0( / :0)

I hope you have a terrific Thursday.

Leave a comment

Filed under Thoughts on a ________