CoolFunnyQuotes.com
Snarky, sarcastic, snide – I love all of these. They make me smile, smirk, snort, or laugh out loud. I would never actually SAY these to anyone, but sometimes I would like to…
thegirlcreative-pinterest.com
CoolFunnyQuotes.com
IAmBored.com via Desiree Angelique Hackett
Filed under Attitude, Funny Signs - Humor
fivethingsblog.wordpress.com
What should have been a simple thing turned into a 45-minute, really annoying chore.
We received our new Humana ID cards in the mail today. As I got ready to put them in my purse, I noticed that the doctor’s name was incorrect on the back of both cards. I thought it probably didn’t matter, but then I decided to call and make sure.
It DID matter.
First, I had called on my cell phone and they didn’t have a record of that. I got so teed off I hung up and called on the phone beside my computer, also a cell phone, but on a base with a different phone number. I had to go through the phone tree again – ONE OF MY FAVORITE THINGS! – and this time, they accepted the phone number from which I was calling with no problem.
I talked to a very nice man, but it was a long, drawn-out process to finally change the doctor’s name on the back of my card. Then I said, “I need to do the same change on my husband’s card.” Even though we have gone so far as to write a LETTER to put in my husband’s file saying that I have the power to handle any and all things for him, since he HATES bureaucracy of any kind and has the patience of a fruit fly, the man insisted that my husband get on the phone and tell him that it was okay that I handle this change for him. By the time I got back on the phone, the man had at least one fewer layers of skin.
THEN, at the end of what should have been a quick change on our computer records, he tried to get me to schedule my wellness check, my mammogram, and my colonoscopy. Do I need to tell you that his efforts in this regard were totally unappreciated? I gritted my teeth when I told him that those things were between me and my physician, whose name would finally be on my card, if he handled my request.
The end result was that they are sending us new cards, but we had three teed-off people by the end of the conversation.
Filed under Attitude, Pet Peeves
smugimals.blogspot.com
We’ve had a really nice day today.
The weather is a bit warm, but I really can’t complain. We used our attic fan last night. I woke up at 5 freezing to death, reached up and turned on my electric blanket and was immediately flooded with warmth. Just before I fell asleep again, I turned it off. Perfect.
We enjoyed our good friends Kay, Linda, and Dee at Lunch Bunch. All of us were well and happy – a really good thing.
When we came home I started some eggs to hard boiling on the stove since we were almost out. When I had them going, I started some low-carb bread in my bread machine. I then cut up stuff for a beef stew and put that in the crock pot. I have many devices to make my life easier, and I love it when I can do a lot in a short period of time.
Since our bellies were full from Lunch Bunch, my husband and I surrendered to the sleepies and each took a nap. When I awoke, Amber and Molly were on the carpet, taking naps with us. Smoke, one of our cats, was sleeping beside my husband in his chair. I sat comfortably, glad we were able to catch up a bit of some missed sleep, thinking how very lucky we are.
We’re all up now. I’m about to take Amber out and figure out where I want to plant some hyacinth and snapdragon bulbs we got recently. In another few days, we’ll finally be finished with summer and I can look forward to getting my greenhouse set up for the first time. I have no clue what I’m doing, but I’m having such a wonderful time dreaming!
I have some ideas about gifts for friends for Christmas, and soon it will be cool enough to work in our shop without the air conditioning.
We’re almost to the point where we think we can mow the lawn for the last time of the season. I particularly enjoy the last time, taking more care with the edging and weed whacking so it’ll look like someone cares about our yard over the winter months. I’m getting ready to do another round of weed killing with the new spray I got. (Thanks, Cathy). It works quietly and well. You THINK it’s not doing anything, and then the weeds turn brown. :0)
This is rambling, I know, but I wanted to share how how happy I feel today, full of gratitude for being spoiled, enjoying all that we have, being thankful I have someone to share my life with, looking forward to a possible visit from our son in February or March.
Could life be better?
Filed under Attitude, Encouragement
Confucius via funnyquotesforfacebookfree.blogspot.com
I tend to do all or nothing. I get psyched up and then go for it. Something bars my progress, and I stop. Then I beat myself up over ‘failing,’ and then try to get motivated again.
I don’t like this about myself, but I find it hard to break a habit built over a lifetime. I tell myself just to do the best I can, but my gut reacts differently than my head or heart.
“It does not matter how slowly you go, as long as you do not stop.” ~ Confucius
I need to realize deep down inside that I perfection is not the goal. That no one is going to give me ‘points’ and there is no end to trying to improve. That it’s what I do day after day that’s important. And that any progress I’ve made should be celebrated and used as motivation to continue.
taolife.com
Filed under Attitude, Encouragement, Favorite Quotes
quotesgram.com
I’m learning to embrace imperfection, aware that although things aren’t perfect, I have a lot for which I am thankful.
Filed under Attitude, Encouragement
I have found that trying to combine eating low-carb and feeding my diabetic husband to be a bit of a challenge. I fell into a trap of my own making several months ago, opting to eat what HE ate. NOT GOOD! Mostly now, I can fix low carb meals and then add extra things he can also eat into the mix.
I have found that getting a husband to try new foods, substitutions, and new recipes is a character-building exercise. For example, the substitutions of spaghetti squash for pasta and riced cauliflower for rice just won’t work for him. He’s like a little kid, making faces and being quite dramatic. Happily, though, he is very supportive of my trying new recipes.
I tried one for chicken thighs in the crock pot last night. You’re supposed to thicken the juices with xanthan for use as a gravy. I made rice for him and I ate spaghetti squash. I like anything with a gravy-like sauce, so I thought it was pretty good. He praised the tenderness of the chicken, and he liked the rice, but the sauce, not so much.
I’ll cut up the leftover chicken tonight, combining it with cream of chicken/mushroom soup that he particularly likes, and serve it over rice for him and cauli-rice for me. It’s not quite as low-carb with the soup, but I can work around it to make my day come out under my limits.
Meanwhile, I’m glad we’ve found some substitutes for things he loves so he doesn’t feel deprived and walk around looking hangdog:
Now I just have to practice NOT feeling deprived MYSELF when he eats without having to worry about carbs…. (I’ll try to make a list of good things I have found that make eating low-carb much easier and post them for those who might be interested.)
Your Daily Encouragement via Lisa Bearnes Richey
Filed under Attitude, Encouragement, kindness
Filed under Attitude, Encouragement, Funny Signs - Humor
Translating intention to action to results is difficult. If I could bottle it, I would be a gazillionaire and could stop entering PCH and MegaMillions.
Trying to get myself to actually DO the things day after day that will get the results I want seems like a pipe dream at times. When I’m eating right, doing yoga and my elliptical trainer, and concentrating on moving more, I feel better – physically, mentally, and emotionally. So why am I still having to MAKE myself do these things, lapsing for a day or two, losing my motivation, failing to take each day at a time?
I am again talking to myself – pretty harshly – since I think I may be like our lab puppy, Amber, and need a shock collar to take things seriously, rather than blowing things off.
THIS TIME – I have my ducks more in a row (if you’ll pardon the pun on the pic above.)
Tonight we’re having spaghetti and salad, with a bit of bread. (Newman’s Own Marina sauce is low-carb. My husband prefers small elbow macaroni to spaghetti, so I’ll fix that for him. I’ll have spaghetti squash as an alternative to spaghetti, and a piece of my low-carb bread I made.)
SO – desire to be healthier, get the lard off, increase my flexibility and overall health merge with good intention, motivation, means, and attitude to give me a good start. One day at a time.
TaoLife.com
Purple Clover via Rebecca Kanner Kelman
This made me laugh out loud.
While I don’t think the answer to everything is money, having a surplus is always welcome.
My son, even though he doesn’t have much surplus at all, is giving all he can to help kids get surgeries they need. I would love to be able to help truly good, honest organizations help others. I would love to give friends and family a boost so they never have to worry. I would love to be able to give encouragement to more people daring to start businesses on their own. I would love to give locally to our community so it can continue doing good things and expand.
I have the important things.
So, money isn’t the answer – but I love the suggestion.
Filed under Attitude, Favorite Quotes
Zen to Zany
I told you recently that my husband and I ‘cut the cord’ and cancelled our association with Dish TV. (We had previously cut our Internet service with Dish because we discovered that WOW (World of Wireless in Fort Smith) could give us better service via a tower on the ridge line behind us.)
With this newest change, many of our TV viewing habits had to change. We used to keep the TV on Fox News most of the day. We also recorded a bunch of TV shows we liked via our DVR and would watch in the evenings. We didn’t even know what night or network provided the shows we watched. They were just there when we wanted.
Although these two things were nice, we were paying almost $100/month for mostly channels we never watched. We even researched a new ‘skinny bundle,’ but by the time we got HD, DVR, Fox News, and HBO (Game of Thrones), we were back up where we started. Our bill now for everything is $36.00. We can get many networks over the air with an antenna. We also have Roku, Hulu, and some others. We have to strain our brains a bit to figure out how to get what we would like, but it’s good for us.
One thing I really didn’t expect was a lifting of a weight from my shoulders. I really hadn’t realized how listening to the same news stories over and over all day, with a bit of a different spin depending on who the talking heads were, was wearing me down, making me depressed. I want to know what’s going on; but, since I can’t DO anything about most of it – other than send donations right now – I just want to be told what is happening without any obvious spin, left or right.
Now we watch Reuters each evening. They ask you how much time you have. You select up to 30 minutes, and then they show you however much they can get into the time frame you’ve chosen. No commercials. No bias that we can detect yet. The news still isn’t ‘happy,’ but I don’t feel weighted down, wanting to crawl into a hole and escape.
We’re making a list of the TV shows we used to DVR and trying to make sure we can get that network. We’ve discovered networks and programs we didn’t know about before and are loving it. It’s a work in progress, and a wonderfully fresh outlook on things. :0)
Filed under Attitude, Challenges, Changes, Encouragement
Bored Panda
I’m doing some really C A R E F U L stretching today, in addition to just the bending over and letting my arms hang down. This is Day Four of my back not hurting! I’m also being careful to ‘hold my mouth right’ and doing whatever else I can think of to not jinx myself, ending up back at square one.
I really wish I knew what I did to get myself into such a pickle. I can promise I wouldn’t do whatever it was again – EVER. Since I don’t know, I’m treating myself as if I’m a time bomb, easing into each thing and seeing how it goes. This tees me off. I’m used to being able to do almost whatever I wanted to do without giving it a thought, unless I thought it was dangerous. The only limits have been my imagination. I’m ready to throw this caution to the winds as soon as possible.
I’ve decided to let the weed whacking go until we get over this last impressive heat spell.( That would be the middle of next week they say.) If the present humidity of 67% holds until this afternoon, it will FEEL LIKE 114 degrees F. here. This is unacceptable, particularly if you’re entertaining the idea of yard work. So that kind of thing will be put on hold until the actual weather starts paying attention to the calendar and we get a break for the start of fall.
Meanwhile, I’m continuing my efforts INSIDE to throw away/give away/put away things that need help all over the house.
My latest project is reorganizing my books upstairs. Yesterday I moved the 44 Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb “In Death” series books to the guest room shelves. I’ll continue moving and reorganizing until I no longer have books falling on my head when I try to pull one out…
Wish me luck?
Filed under Attitude, exercise, Housekeeping - Maintenance
Nino Chakvetadze via Zen to Zany via Cathy Ruggiero
Filed under Attitude, Favorite Pictures, Favorite Quotes
BuzzFeed
Since my back has been in protest mode lately, I’ve leaned toward comfort food, rather than eating my low carb food. The low carb foods can be really good, and I don’t feel deprived, but they aren’t comfort food.
Today I’m taking my last day off. To that end, I asked my husband what he has been missing most. He immediately said, “chicken chunks and soup over rice.” And so it shall be. I also got some double stuff oreo cookies as my official send off back to being a grown up.
I’ve decided it doesn’t matter anymore whether my back hurts. I’m going to get back to doing what I know I should – gentle stretching and eating right.
If someone could come up with low carb, low sugar comfort food, he or she would be a gazillionaire.
Filed under Acting Like a Grownup, Attitude, Challenges, Changes, DIET!, exercise
its always about love-inspiration corner
My husband suggested we go to town to get KFC last night because I was hurting. On the way home, I told him I knew I was really spoiled and that I loved it. He said, “It’s because I’m spoiled and I love it, too. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me.” Definitely a keeper.
Filed under Attitude, Good Thoughts
I really thought I knew about my numerous pet peeves, but my husband found a new one yesterday.
PSSSSSSST!
Instead of saying my name, or coming over to get my attention, he said, “PSSSSSSSST!” from across the room. I turned, ready to kill.
I can’t really say why it instantly caused such a negative reaction. He’s never done it before, and I’m HOPING that after I ‘explained’ to him that his life was in danger if he did it again – that he won’t.
I like him a LOT, but not enough to put up with THAT, apparently….
Filed under Attitude, Pet Peeves
source unknown
Change is difficult. It’s SO much easier to simply ‘keep on keepin’ on.’
Change means leaving your comfort zone, getting up off your duff, doing things might be scary, challenging, even unpleasant sometimes. But if you stop making the choice to take the chance to make a change, you stop living. You gradually quietly implode, your world becoming smaller and smaller until it’s gone.
Sometimes I think my husband is on a mission to make us UNcomfortable – with WAAAAY too many changes at one time.
One example of this is our CHOICE to cancel our subscription to DISH TV. Living in the sticks outside a small town in Arkansas, we’re very lucky to have two satellite TV choices: Dish and DirecTV. Now we’ve tried both. Both offered a lot of stations in the package we chose, but we couldn’t JUST get the channels we wanted, and we had to pay extra for the channels that weren’t included, plus the rental of the DVR, plus a charge for HD, plus……over $98/month.
So now we’re free of that, and that’s a good thing. BUT now we have to learn how to use Roku, Hulu, AmazonPrimeTV, and about 4 other choices right off the bat that all sound the same to me. Nothing is relaxing, mindless anymore. That’s a good thing for us, too, but it isn’t enjoyable at the moment. We had to order another Roku remote, because I can’t take the idea of my husband being in charge of what we’re watching, how loud the sound is, etc. Now, instead of leaving a news channel on, buffering it for about an hour so we can skip through commercials, plus being able to hit “DVR” and see a list of stuff taped, ready to be watched, we have to figure out how to get the Roku service on (particularly if we watched a DVD the night before), then go to the service that provides the channel or program we want to see, then figure out (again) how to get the sound on.
We’re having to adjust to the fact that you can’t pause a show. You can mute the sound, but you can’t pause. So, if you get a phone call, need to get up to do something, get a call of nature, etc., you either miss whatever happened while you were gone or watch it again. We have to mute for commercials, although we’re paying a bit extra for services that offer no commercials.
Instead of $98/month, we’re paying $36. We have almost all of the channels and programs we wanted. I’m finding that watching 24 hour news programs was stressful. Since they all hashed the same news with their unique spin or opinions, we aren’t missing much. Between my online news and the ones we watch now, we know pretty much what’s going on.
We’re still researching to find out what’s being offered or updated. We’re still working together to figure out how to make things work. We’re having to strain our brains, rather than mindlessly staring at the tube.
We’re reading and talking and playing with our animals more.
So we made the CHOICE to take a CHANCE so our lives have CHANGED – for the better.
Filed under Acting Like a Grownup, Attitude, Bright Ideas, Challenges, Changes, Encouragement
graphics
Yesterday we had our quarterly primary doctor appointment.
Our doctor was really happy with our blood test results. I’m doing well on my current dosage for thyroid and my numbers otherwise continue to improve – all in the normal range now, when I used to have high cholesterol, triglycerides, etc. My blood pressure was the best ever. – 124 over 68. My husband’s A1C showed the best results since we had the scare about a year ago. His number then was 16.1 (this is a ‘call-the-medics’ SCARY number on diabetes). It is now down to 7.3. We’re shooting for under 7, and our doc says this is doable, and he was REALLY happy with my husband’s efforts to cut out sugar. :0)
Now, all ‘I’ have to do is get the lard off.
To date I’m down 25+ pounds and 18-1/2 inches.
We’re following a low carb diet with as low numbers on sugar as possible. I’m trying to stay under 1200 calories and 40 carbs per day.
Yesterday I had my best day ever on steps – almost 8,000. I’m seriously trying to move more – a bit of a challenge lately since my back keeps having spasms. My doc checked it out, confirmed it was in the muscles rather than the spine, and put me on muscle relaxant meds for about a week. He wants me to take them for two days and then I can EASE back into my yoga. Then I’ll try for a yoga session and a half hour on my elliptical daily.
I’m tracking what I’m eating and my exercise on MyFitnessPal.com. The fixing of problems on their website isn’t great. The main page where you can see how many days in a row you’ve checked in, see how much weight you’ve lost, etc., is STILL not working (over 3 weeks now), but their foods data is the best I’ve seen, so I’m staying with them.
My husband and I are finally on the same page on motivation to eat right. This is really helpful. My willpower isn’t that great, and it doesn’t take much at all for me to throw in the towel and go get a pizza. Last night, though, when we were exhausted from our efforts all day long, my husband suggested we go to Subway. I can get a double chicken, bacon, and ranch salad that is really good and on my diet, and my husband can indulge in a foot long sandwich. He was good last night, except for getting 2 oatmeal raisin cookies… :0)
SO – WE CAN DO IT!
I’m hopeful that by the end of September, I can report a reasonable weight and inches loss. I’ll keep on keepin’ on, and concentrate on
TaoLife.com
Filed under Attitude, Challenges, Changes, DIET!, exercise, getting the lard off
Funny Quotes about Life Lessons
Filed under Attitude, Funny Signs - Humor
We’re always working on something, but lately we just have TOO MANY PROJECTS going on at the same time –
I hope YOUR life is full and fun – but not as crazy as ours.
Filed under Attitude, Lewis projects
Quora
The Powerball drawing came and went last night at one minute before midnight for a prize of over $748 million. Surprisingly, I didn’t buy the winning ticket. There was one grand prize winner – in Massachusetts. Darn.
Now I eagerly await the PCH (Publisher’s Clearing House) drawing August 31st…..
Filed under Acting Like a Grownup, Attitude, Dreams
Zen to Zany
“We have SUCH a good life.”
My husband and I say this to each other several times a week. Things will never be perfect, and we irritate each other greatly from time to time, but mostly, things are GOOD.
_____________________
I spent a wonderful time typing to our son via a chat program. He’s across the world from us, doing his own thing, with a good friend and his wife, living and working in a way I really have difficulty getting my head around.
He used to be like me, nervous about traveling and all the details associated with it. Now he travels at the drop of a hat, arranges for Uber to take him where he needs to go otherwise, staying in AirBnB’s for one night, two weeks, a month, then picking up and moving elsewhere. He has computer clients in the U.S. and he and his partners work freelance.
He takes both Mandarin and Thai lessons, wanting to be able to speak to people where he is. He’s making good progress, though he always feels he still speaks ‘baby language,’ he can understand and many times respond now in their language. He can also write in the languages. He doesn’t do this for job opportunities. He does this out of respect for the country and its people.
I talked with him this morning about dreaming of winning the lottery. He said, “
Filed under Attitude, Encouragement, Favorite Pictures, Favorite Quotes
The Bad News is that we didn’t win the Powerball Lottery last night. It’s the first one we’ve both tickets for in a long time. It was up to $437 million, so we bought 5 tickets.
The Good News is that no one ELSE won the lottery last night, either. It’s gone up to $650 million now, and the drawing will be Wednesday night. Guess who will buy 5 more tickets!
The odds of me winning are something like 1 in 292 million, but one can hope…
Filed under Attitude, Dreams, Good Thoughts
creativeartworksblog 