Live Life in Color
I’m celebrating today because Pinterest finally was able to resolve my problem loading my favorite pictures to my boards there. I was going into withdrawal. I love being able to share things with you on my blog, and then I go to Pinterest to save them there, as well. It’s been about 2 weeks since I was able to do that.
Each day I went to the site, tried to upload a pic, and then went away, disappointed when it wouldn’t work. I contacted the support people at Pinterest. Since I didn’t complain daily, they marked my issue ‘solved,’ but emailed me to let me know. I immediately wrote again, giving them as much information about exactly what happened when I tried and failed.
Today I tried to upload THIS picture and voila! it worked!!!!! I tried to reply to the last issue ticket, thanking the support team for their good help, but they sent me an email saying that I would have to start a new ticket if the problem was still alive. Since I don’t want to bother a probably overworked support team, I’ll just tell YOU.
I love working on computers when things are working. I have NO patience and feel completely DUMB when they don’t. I’m very grateful that there are knowledgeable people behind the websites I frequent who can make things right again.
Filed under Attitude, Challenges, Changes
quotesgram.com
Life is about attitude – seeing weeds or seeing flowers and food. When we first married, my husband went along with my love of flowers. When I wanted to build a food garden, he went along. Now he points out the zinnias in the planter by the driveway. He puffs with pride when his clematis flowers are profusely blooming. He trains our Mandevilla vines, trying to get them to go up the trellises and across the deck up high. We go out to see how the garden is doing. His favorite food plants are the tomatoes because we LOVE sliced tomatoes, but he is pleased when I get the garden planted and bring in harvests.
The quote above can be taken at face value, the love of gardening, but I think it applies to every aspect of our lives. If you focus on the weeds, it colors your whole world, your relationships with friends and family, coworkers, bringing down your hopes for the future. We need to remember to focus on the flowers in our lives – for there are many. Nurture the people in your life. Take care of yourself as much as you are able. Focus on what is going RIGHT. Enjoy all the special moments we might otherwise miss or take for granted.
My garden is full-to-overflowing right now. I hope yours is, too.
Filed under Attitude
Ann Gilstrap posted this on Facebook recently. It’s a video by Steve Forsythe showing what too many children find at school, rather than the environment we HOPE they would. The only difference is attitude – and we can do it!
Here’s the URL to the video in case the link above doesn’t work –
Filed under Attitude
im-so-tired-i-dont-care-if-you-pet-me-or-not-by Jonathan Cruz
We didn’t sleep well last night. I was downstairs reading from about 1:00 to 2:30. My husband said he was up at 4:00 and then slept in his chair until about 6:30.
We went to Lunch Bunch and then had a whole list of errands. We did them and got home about 3:30. I then got the sleepies and took a cup of coffee in to the living room to sip while I sat to finish a favorite book by Robert B. Parker. (This one was when he was explaining some of his early life to the love of his life, Susan.) I just woke up with my book on my chest, the light on, and my coffee still on the warmer. It’s now after 5:00.
I’m supposed to be planting lettuce this evening, and then cutting down more weed trees across the back of the civilized part of our yard. I’m supposed to be making some important phone calls. I’m supposed to be planning dinner. I’m supposed to be exercising – walking 2 miles with annoying Leslie and then doing lower body strength exercises….
Here I sit, typing to you instead.
My cat, Smoke, is on my lap, purring happily. Abby, our other cat, took over my chair in the living room as soon as I got up, and is asleep. My husband is across the room, working at his computer on our genealogy records. Both of our dogs are asleep on the dog bed on the other side of my desk. My new angel fish, Angie, is in her humongous champagne glass on the divider between the kitchen and dining room.
All is quiet on a Friday afternoon. I think I’ll give myself permission to NOT be productive this evening. I can tackle my to-do list ‘tomorrow,’ like Scarlett O’Hara in ‘Gone with the Wind…’
Filed under Attitude
Unfundamentalist Christians via Bethany Kerr
One of my really good friends here surprised and delighted me with a kindness awhile back. I thanked her profusely, telling her how much it meant to me. Her answer surprised me, and – frankly – changed the way I look at things.
She told me she looks for kind things she can do for others every day. It doesn’t have to be a big thing – smiling at a stranger, opening a door for someone, carrying a package to the car for someone, picking up something dropped and returning it, thanking someone sincerely when they don’t expect it….
The big thing to me is the different way you look at life when you have the idea of kindness in your heart. It’s a much more proactive way of looking at everything, and everyone you meet. It’s a small – but vital – difference that takes little or no time, just awareness and a willingness to see and do.
I’m so glad my friend opened my eyes to the small kindnesses I can do each day!
Filed under Attitude, Bright Ideas, Changes
http://www.marcandangel.com via Peaceful Daily via Marianna Bellantoni
I’m half-finished with “DAY 5” of my new exercise regimen of
I’ve tried to do this and failed before. I’ve told myself that I’m busy enough working in the garden and the yard that I don’t need the formal exercises. I’ve proven to myself once again that the movements I do in the yard, no matter how strenuous DO NOT equal the DVD and the exercises with weights.
Once again I have worked up to two miles – rather than one – on the DVD, and I’m then doing the strength stuff later in the afternoon.
I’m counting the days, both in my head and on paper, because I know you have to do things over and over every day for a length of time before something becomes a habit. Right now I’m having to push myself hard enough to do this I can’t even FEATURE it becoming a habit or something I would miss, but stranger things have happened.
A year ago I really didn’t believe that I could lose 45 pounds and 22 inches and change to eating a low carb diet. I didn’t believe that I could actually make a difference on my quarterly blood tests, or not have to take cholesterol medication anymore. I didn’t believe that I might actually be able to completely avoid having knee or hip replacement. I didn’t believe that I could work in the yard for over half an hour a day.
It’s one year later and I’ve done some real good for myself. I’m about half way to my goal now. I’m hoping that I can make the above exercise my daily HABIT and that then I can build on that, getting stronger and healthier as I lose the lard.
I’ve printed this reminder and put it up on the side of my filing cabinet beside my computer. “No matter how many mistakes you make or how slow you progress, you are still way ahead of everyone who isn’t trying.”
taolife.com
Zen to Zany via Cathy Ruggiero
My husband and I are very, very lucky.
Several times a week one of us will look at the other, saying, “Our life is so good.” It doesn’t mean we don’t have our problems. It doesn’t mean that everything is perfect. It means we CHERISH the fact that our lives are as good as they are.
I’m always trying to win the Publisher’s Clearing House Sweepstakes or the MegaMillions Lottery, but I fully realize that I truly have everything I need – right now.
Our son is across the world from us, and I have no clue when we’ll see him next time or for how long, but we communicate via a chat program, being able to reach out across the miles (and oceans!) to find out how the other is, what’s going on, and share virtual hugs. We “talk” most every day, feeling closer than a lot of families feel when they’re in the same city. How very lucky we are!
My husband and I make each other laugh regularly, arguing over important stuff, such as what mailbox decoration we should try to cut out next on our CNC machine, or what colors to paint it, once it’s cut out… :0)
Our home is full of love. We share it with Bambi, our pit bull; Molly, our cocker spaniel/schnauzer cross; Abby, our tortoiseshell cat; Smoke, our relatively new kitten; and Freckles, our black goldfish. We’re finishing up our hot weather garden and getting ready to plant our fall garden on newly-constructed raised bed planters. Our lives are busy, full, and fun.
Someone said that being rich is not necessarily having a lot, but cherishing what you have. I couldn’t agree more.
Filed under Attitude
Lisa Bearnes Richey
I love this quote, and I simply melted into a puddle when I saw this sweet little girl in the bucket.
Filed under Attitude, Favorite Pictures, Favorite Quotes
Charter for Compassion via Cathy Ruggiero
This is a reminder I needed. I realize I’m getting older, and I fight the urge for comfort, particularly when it comes to trying to learn new things – but it’s HARD.
Last night was a case in point. My husband ordered a remote that was supposed to be an omniscient being that would take the place of our having to juggle remotes constantly. (Besides having to decide WHICH remote is appropriate for what we’re trying to do, we find ourselves trying to control the TV with our calculators or our phones….)
The idea was a nice one, but the jury is still out on whether I can deal with a remote that is smarter than I am.
First, we found that it really can’t control everything we would like it to.
The new remote WILL NOT deal with the Wii Fit Plus. We would need to buy an adaptor, and it just isn’t worth it. I’ll just get up (which I was going to do anyway), turn on the Wii, and get ready to listen to the insults.
The new remote WILL NOT control our Playstation3 (that we use as a DVD player) since it is radio controlled, not LED controlled.
___________
I got really upset trying to work with it. As my husband lost patience with me, I reacted to HIM, rather than being able to even TRY to think about what I was doing wrong on the remote. We ended up going bowling with our friends, and then doing a second lesson. I did better this time, and my husband regretted making my previous lesson so stressful.
All this shows that I’m really getting averse to not knowing how to control something, resisting change, being intimidated by things I don’t understand, rather than calmly trying to figure them out.
This reminder, which I will print and post beside my computer, will remind me that I NEED to keep an open, curious mind; NOT be intimidated when I don’t catch on right away, and – most of all – keep an attitude that I CAN master things if I keep on working at them.
Filed under Attitude
Zen to Zany via Cathy Ruggiero
Sometimes I feel so lucky it scares me. My husband reacts the same way – waiting for the other shoe to drop. I have a more optimistic outlook, but really have to stop and say, “WOW!” every once in awhile.
We worked all of our adult lives. Many times this resulted in having to live in two different places, meeting when we could. A lot of time was spent on the phone, trying to hold each other close. The years passed and finally we were both working from home. I was doing medical transcription and my husband was a computer analyst, working for different companies through a man we knew in Vermont. We thought that was the best that could ever be. My husband received less work, due to changes in the economy. He finally decided he would retire. I continued to work for a couple more years. Changes were made in the surgery department for which I worked, and I decided to retire, as well.
Since then, our lives continue to change for the better. We’re so busy now we honestly can’t figure out how we ever had time to work! Of course we have our have-to’s, and stuff we would rather not be saddled with, but – for the most part – we design our days around our errands.
Who knew that one of our favorite things would be to create metal yard critters and learn to make metal decorations for our mailbox together? Instead of having ‘heated discussions” about bills, problems, etc., WE have heated discussions when I don’t want to create something I consider in bad taste, or we can’t agree what colors to paint our newest creation. Right now, for example, we’re trying to come to a decision about how to paint our 1000 gallon propane tank…
I’ve spent almost 15 years now running Creative Artworks! When I started it, I displayed only my own art work. My son and I figured out that I could add the work of other artists at no higher cost to me, other than the time and labor of adding their work and handling the business details. This was life-changing for me. I’ve never enjoyed anything more. I’ve met some really talented people, some who have become real friends, through doing something I love.
About 7 years ago I started a blog. I loved the idea of being able to show people what we offered on Creative Artworks. I also found funny or touching pictures I wanted to share. Artwork outside my website made my mouth water. The world is full of such amazing people. I’m proud to be on the same planet. I changed from Blogspot to WordPress about 6 years ago and have expanded what I’m doing with it. Instead of trying to come up with things to say or show you, I have to remember that I might be aggravating people by writing too much! I hope that people read my stuff when they have the time and the inclination, feeling free to delete it if they’re not in the mood, too busy, etc.
I had a setback lately when I reached the limit on the free part of WordPress. Due to a lack of communication, I discovered that by deleting images as they required, I had killed the links in my posts! The images weren’t retrievable. I’m now paying for unlimited space after having to delete 6 years worth of ‘stuff,’ – starting over. When I considered just closing the blog down, it was really clear how much I love doing this. I discovered that it is a quality of life thing for me.
I also have a chance to try to grow some of our own food. I absolutely love having built a square foot garden with my husband. For several years now, I’ve been learning more about what NOT to do again, but I’m having a blast. Now we’re converting from the square foot garden to a RAISED BED square foot garden, and I’ll be trying it out for the first time this fall, depending on what plants I can find.
I have an art room that – even though it usually looks as if a bomb has exploded in there – is a haven. I can shut the door and immerse myself in wonderful art supplies and pictures that get my juices going. Right now I’m trying to make the time and energy to try to create some designs with buttons on tee shirts, and cut out a design on a gourd…
I’m one of the luckiest people on the planet. Although we’re fine, my husband would like for me to win the Powerball lottery or the Publishers Clearinghouse drawing. He has many plans to which he adds without limit if suddenly we had all the money in the world…
My health is better than it’s been in a long time. I have my husband, my son, two dogs, two cats, and a whole lot of happiness on my “permanent vacation.”
Filed under Attitude
coolprogeny.com
I’ve spent most of the day deleting blog posts.
I now have what is known as a “Business” account with unlimited space and unlimited pictures. I have to admit I feel split right down the middle emotionally right now. Half of my feels sad, disenfranchised, a bit angry at having lost over 6 years of posts and pictures due to lack of communication between me and my blog host, WordPress. The other half, though, feels a bit ‘lighter,’ purged of old baggage, old thoughts, obsolete things, etc.
I’m still going to be working on fixing things. My former blog posts are gone now, but the former categories remain. I’m assuming if you click on any of them, it will show you an empty category. I’m going to try to get rid of all the categories, too, having a new beginning there, as well.
Finally, I’m going to try to redo the pages at the top of the blog.
I would like to ask you a favor.
If you can make the time, I would love to know what you like about the blog, categories you enjoy, what you would like to see more of. I also would be very appreciative if you would let me know what you’d like to see less of. Don’t worry, I can handle it. This blog is for all of us. If I’m doing something you would rather I stop, please say so. This is a chance for me to get more in tune with the people who signed up for the blog.
I’m grateful for your readership. I love writing this blog. I hope to bring you more of what you’re enjoying.
Thanks very much!
Filed under Attitude, Challenges, Changes
creativeartworksblog 