Brian just texted me that the glass team will start working on my windows TODAY at 10:00!!!!! Hooray!!!!
I’ve been moving a few things. In a small place like mine, it’s a bit difficult to find a place to move things where they’ll be safe and not in the way. Brian is coming soon to help me monitor the taking out of the old windows and frames and the installation of ALL. NEW. FRAMES. AND. WINDOWS!!!!!!
Brian will probably want to move a few more things or cover them up or something, and Khun Arm, the man who arranges and supervises all the repairs and renovations in the building, may have further suggestions.
I’m beyond thrilled. The ‘bucket and towels brigade’ may no longer be needed. I won’t really be able to tell until it rains hard, or the rainy season comes around again.
In the meantime, I’ll take some pics to share with you when I have them, and will enjoy opening the sliding glass to let some fresh air in!!!!
Years ago I thought tattoos were only for a small slice of the population, like bikers, biker chicks, former prison residents – I know, really narrow thinking on my part – stupid, even. Opinions are many times formed on the basis of snap reaction, rather than knowledge, and many times are wrong.
Vivid Ink Tatoos
DarrenGowand74 on X
I have totally changed my opinion. One of my favorite forms of eye candy these days is men with muscular arms and sleeve tattoos. I really think they are sexy and I’m fascinated with them. If I see one in reality, I have to force myself not to stare and blush!
Magic Art World
I think women look great with tattoos, also. My SIL got one, and I’m still impressed and envious. (I used to have a photo of hers, but I don’t have it now.)
POPxo- Flami Art
popxo.com
It’s almost getting to the point where you’re in the minority if you DON’T have a tattoo.
Tatto by Rghav
NA Tattoo Studio
Tattoo artists are really talented these days, too. This art form has evolved over the years, and I think some of the designs are truly amazing.
Cathy Artwork
The ship has sailed for me to get a tattoo, but “I ain’t dead yet,” and thankfully, there is no age limit on appreciation!
I’m still feeling pleased that I FINALLY reached my 50-pounds-down goal this past week. I am now into my 5-more-off-goal and have managed to get one more pound off. A large part of the credit goes to our son, who is doing all the cooking for us while my husband and I continue to try to recover from his flu and pneumonia, and my flu, bronchitis and follow up ER stay and pacemaker installation.
I have some big news in regard to our future. We are going to move to Thailand to be close to our son and to make the rest of our lives as comfortable as possible. I look forward to sharing our new lives with you here on the blog.
We have applied for expedited passports, and will basically leave as soon as we have those in hand and our tickets. There will be a block of time between our arrival there and the setup of a laptop where I can write to you again, but I hope that time will be short. I hope you will bear with me during the change.
I am looking forward to a new life as we handle many, many details of leaving here. I hope that you are celebrating changes that bring YOU joy in your lives, too.
I have told you that our son lives across the world from us. We communicate daily via a chat program he set up for us, plus a conference call program. This allows me the illusion that he is NOT across the world from us, but only a message away. We chat daily – sometimes several times a day.
We’re setting up my new computer and I wanted to get the chat program on it. I had a real problem, though, in that my current computer gave me a message that the chat program wanted to “verify it’s you.” To do that, I was supposed to give it my username and password. I did, and it tried to send a confirmation email to the address – but that address is no longer active. I tried to change it, but it wouldn’t let me. AAAAAAACK!
I left a message for our son about the problem. Thankfully, he sent an email inviting me to sign up using the new computer. I used the new computer to follow the directions and finally got it working.
Our son helped me change the user name and password. He wanted me to display a picture with my account. We haven’t been able to move my pictures to the new computer yet, so I looked at what was available so far. In an old picture group, there was a picture of my husband and me, sharing a chair in my parent’s home back in the 60s when we were dating. I used that. Our son LOVED the pic. Apparently, he hadn’t seen that one before. He sent a smiling emoji and said he thought “we ought to go steady.” I replied, “we did, and over 55 years later….” It was a fun memory.
I then was able to move the program to the browser I use for that, so we’re all set. (We will tackle what we need to do to enable the conference calls later. We need to enable camera and microphone, and who knows how we do that.)
I am feeling triumphant that we were able to get this done this morning. Things are looking up.
I got a call a while ago from the tech, saying he was on his way… Fingers crossed about the ice maker.
Feeling a bit overwhelmed, a bit exhausted, but hopeful that things will be getting better reasonably soon.
We’ve had an avalanche of ‘things’ to deal with – trying to get my new computer set up, having to buy a new bed due to the failure of my side of our air bed, and worry about the possibility of having to buy a new fridge. Money has been flying in all directions and things are a bit stressful.
BUT –
The set up of my computer is progressing, inch by painful inch, thanks to the relentless work of my husband who keeps at things and finally figures something out, rather than tossing the whole computer out the window – at least figuratively – if I were dealing with this by myself. I stay and work with my husband as long as my nerves can take it, and then I excuse myself to go do something else for awhile, over and over during the day.
We drove to Fort Smith yesterday morning so we were at the Sleep Number Bed place when they first opened. 45 minutes later we had ordered a bed. That’s the good part. The poorer part is that the soonest they can deliver it, set it up, and take the old one away is February 26th. So I slept in my recliner part of the night and on the sofa the rest of the night last night. I feel lucky that I have a choice of doing that or sleeping in the guest room until we get the new bed.
Tomorrow the appliance tech comes to see if our ice maker in our fridge can be fixed. Since my husband is very opinionated on the subject, I have asked HIM to handle the service call. I will simply write the service call check and we’ll decide what we need to do. I really hope we don’t have to buy another fridge.
SO – computer/bed/fridge and the money flies. We are having to scramble a bit to handle all this, but thankfully, we will be able to.
Creating Art at the Children’s Museum
I used one of my ‘step-aways’ from work on the computer yesterday to listen to some music and work on the raccoon in my art room. He may be almost finished. I’ll decide today. It’s been fun to concentrate on trying-to- make-him-look-like-a-raccoon instead of all the REAL WORLD stuff around here. :0)
I need to get some exercise in, too. I haven’t done any since we started trying to set up the computer. My regular routine has gotten lost in the demands of everything else.
I hope that your days have been filled with fun and interesting things.
Here is a quote I live by – “Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.” ~ Marcus Aurelius.
I really think, in spite of much of what happens in life, you can choose to see the good, can choose to see the humor in situation, can choose to see things in the most positive light.
You can also choose to surround yourself with people who bring you joy. Choosing to find common ground, cherishing what you love about each person, rather than focusing on disagreement areas can calm your mind and spirit.
Choosing to spend time each day doing things you love brings an automatic smile to your face and happiness to your heart. We need to make the time, even if it’s just a little bit each day, to find joy.
I’ve told you that I’m trying to lose the lard and get as healthy as possible as I age.
On the eating front, I’m fasting from dinner the night before until lunch the following day, eating a low-carb diet using MyFitnessPal.com to log what I’m eating and drinking each day. My scales, though, better, are still laughing at me and GRUDGINGLY giving me good news from time to time.
On the exercise front, I do exercises with 3-pound weights in-between writing blog posts, several repetitions of many different moves before writing another post, then doing some chair exercises that are supposed to strengthen my abdomen (core.) In the afternoon, I’m doing half an hour to 45 minutes of yoga stretches. I’m consciously trying to move more, taking on projects like standing on my head (figuratively) in my closet upstairs, cleaning it out, trying on clothes, and bagging up stuff to donate to the Veterans Thrift Store in Fort Smith the next time we go. I’m trying to choose things – or they choose me – that involve a lot of pulling and hauling, going up and down stairs, in and out to the garage, or something similar. I measure at the end of every month to see if I’ve made any progress.
In cleaning out my closet, I’ve found another standard of measurement in my efforts – jeans.
When I started trying to lose the lard, and until I started going through my closet this past week, I was delighted to discover that I could do away with my fattest jeans. (The ones that had elastic at the waist, rather than a zipper.) As I tried on more things, I discovered that the next jeans size down was ALSO too big! HOOORAAAAAY! I’m now wearing jeans that are 3 sizes down from my worst. Now THAT is motivation to try to keep my mouth shut and continue my efforts. They AREN’T in vain. I AM making progress!
There is one jean and shorts size smaller than I now have stacked on the top shelf in my closet. It will probably be some time before I can wear those, but again, they are motivation. Fingers crossed.
I will weigh and measure at the end of the month, as usual, and report to you as I have promised, but I was grinning as I showed my husband. :0)
I used to make all the ‘normal’ resolutions – losing weight, exercising, being a better person, keeping my house clean, etc. etc. ad nauseum.
Since I’m older than dirt, I have changed the idea of resolutions for myself. I don’t know if it’s an ‘improvement’ or not, but it works for me.
My new resolutions –
I will live in the moment, trying to make every day as joyful as I can.
I will try to tell and show people how much I love them, how much they mean to me in every way I possible.
I will take more time to do things that give me joy – hopefully at least once a day.
I will be more forgiving of myself, because even though I fall short, I AM trying
AND I’ll be more forgiving of others, trying to be less judgmental. I’ve been noticing ‘judgmental’ in my husband more and more as we age. I’ve got to realize it’s probably inside ME, too, and I’d like to work on getting rid of it.
I resolve to laugh more -not just a smirk, smile, or grin – but full belly laughs.
I also resolve to cry when I need to, trying to let go of the reasons behind them – but to get it out, not shove it down inside.
My mom used to say, “It’s better to do any reasonable quickly than to reach hesitantly for the ideal.” This was a more lofty manner of trying to get me off my duff and moving, instead of telling me to do just that.
I’ve finally learned that jumping into something I’m interested in is a good thing for me, whether it’s trying to change – or build – a habit, trying to improve myself, trying to learn a new style of art, or whatever. Whatever the subject is, the biggest hurdle is getting started. I can always adjust later.
I display awards in my home for my procrastination skills. Well, not really, but I SHOULD have them. I am a master-class procrastinator and have honed my skills to a fine art.
I’m am trying to improve this, though, by tackling things that are difficult or downright intimidating at times. I think of this as a character-building exercise, and I can always use more of that.
I love the plaque above. (This Etsy site has all kinds of good signs you might like.) This one particular sign resonates with me, as I always have an excuse (or a whole list!) as to WHY I haven’t started things I would like to do or SHOULD do. The “Begin Anywhere” message says to me, start wherever you are and DO something toward the goal. No excuses. Just BEGIN. Today.
One of the things I ‘began’ on is trying to lose my lard and exercise to get healthier. I don’t remember now exactly when I started, but I’m finally making steady (though excruciatingly slow) progress toward my goal. I’ll be posting an accountability report for December on the 31st).
Another thing was to quit putting myself last. I would work like a nut daily trying to accomplish my hugely long and never-ending to-do list before I would give myself ‘permission’ to go upstairs and play in my art room. I would try to accomplish a certain amount before I allowed myself to write a blog post, something I truly love. I decided I didn’t need my ‘permission,’ and didn’t need to have accomplished a certain amount before allowing myself joy. Now I do the joyful FIRST, working in as many of the have-to’s and should-do’s from my list as I have time and energy for each day. Works for me…
I hope that you will embrace the idea of ‘beginning anywhere’ and make your own list. I think you will feel better as a person, be happier, and feel more in control of your life. :0)
One of the things I’m learning, since I’m older than dirt, is to try to live each day to the fullest, wringing every drop of joy out of it.
I’m learning that as important as my ‘to-do’ list is – and sometimes it doesn’t just ‘call,’ it YELLS at me – that doing good things for myself is just as important, if not more.
I now take time to go play in my art room whenever I can make the time. I read every day. I listen to music every day. I TRY to take the time to exercise every day.
The housework overload may be embarrassing at times, but it pales in comparison to my husband’s and my health.
I do what is absolutely mandatory each day and then make sure I take the time to write my blog posts and look for other things I find wonderful to share with you. I take time to relax – if it’s just a change in the room I’m in, or a change of activity, or something fun.
I feel I’m just getting started on so many things I want to learn. I want to continue meeting and talking with new people, dive into a new activity, enjoy new places vicariously, and more.
I did medical transcription and bookkeeping for 8 years at a clinic with 8 busy general surgeons. I had my hands full, not knowing medical terminology and never having done online bookkeeping, but I did it. After about 9 months, I was working 12 to 14 hours daily trying to keep up with the workload.
I asked for a raise and for them to hire a person to help ease my workload. My supervisor said they would discuss it. I was returning charts to the nurses’ area and overheard them saying, “Well, all she has to do is type what we say.”
I grinned and did just that for the rest of that day and the following. Here are some samples –
“She certainly is not just a typical internal hemorrhoid.”
“This gentleman recently was remarried and has no significant complaints to his rectum.”
“She will return in a week, next Tuesday, and she won’t be a week until this Friday, which is the day after tomorrow, no, three days from now, before the lesions on her chest could be, sutures on her chest could be removed.
“I don’t have any trouble with that, but I really believe that this, perhaps, doesn’t state something that I think is an undercurrent that we need to understand.”
At the end of this, my docs called me in, begging me to PLEASE stop typing what they said; wanting me to type what they SHOULD have said, or MEANT to say as I had been doing.
I got my raise, and I got an assistant to ease the workload.
When I resigned after 8 years, I gave each doc a copy of the ‘bloopers’ I had gathered – with what was dictated and who said each. My last day was spent joyfully listening to the laughing up and down the halls from the docs’ offices as they read. :0)
Sure, there are challenges – I have to remind my husband that I have the tractor guy on ‘speed dial,’ ready to dig a hole for me to throw him in when he is being particularly ornery, for example, but mostly all is good.
I usually spend the morning writing posts for this blog and doing exercises with weights in-between posts. This way I don’t have to have a particular time designated for working out with the weights, and it doesn’t seem so bad when I can then enjoy writing another post.
I truly love spending time finding things I find wonderful to share with you. I’ve become friends with some of the readers of this blog – a thing I wouldn’t have had the opportunity for, otherwise. What a gift that is!
I escape from my ‘challenges’ by –
writing the posts or finding wonderful things to include later
listening to music – either upstairs in my art room, or finding new wonderful talent on YouTube
reading – I just can’t get enough of diving into an ‘old friend’ or discovering a new author, learning something new, and more.
playing in my art room – playing at being an ‘artist,’ trying new techniques, using new tools, or old tools in a new way, being inspired by things I see on Pinterest, Etsy, or other places that get my juices flowing.
gardening – spring is my favorite season, with perennials blooming from my efforts in the past, new things to plant, veggie gardens to plan, hacking down all the stuff that tries to recapture the wildness that was here before we came, and more. There are good things to do in ALL the seasons, though, and I love to spend time outside, pruners in my gloved hands, walking around.
My husband and I are reasonably healthy at this point, even though we’re older than dirt. He is still grumbling about turning 81 last month. “80 had panache” he said, but 81 is ‘just old.’ I’m trying to watch what he’s eating, though he thwarts my efforts when he can. He refuses to exercise, but that’s just him being ornery. He’s excited about his new welding table, but doesn’t have a new project yet.
He did say he was proud of me recently about my efforts to lose the lard and make what is left stronger. I’m still happy about his compliment.
So, I’m a happy, spoiled lady, and I love my life now. I’m hoping that Dr. Seuss’ words are true for a good, long time.
When you’re trying to build a habit, change your lifestyle, I think it’s really important to splurge every once in a while. Others will call it ‘cheating,’ or think you ought to feel guilty. I disagree. I think it’s not only understandable, I think it is necessary.
Mindset – you’ve done your research, your mind is filled with ‘shoulds’ and you’re trying your best to stay the course. Then, life gets in the way, you’re offered a chance to do something that day that causes you to detour from what you’re trying to build into a routine. You feel guilty. You’ve failed.
I’m saying that you should BUILD IN detours. You should take the detour as a chance to REALIZE that you’re making a choice, that’s it’s OKAY not to follow your perfect plans every day. That you actually NEED to see that you can detour and then go back to the routine the next meal, the next day – the NEXT. It doesn’t have to kill you. It doesn’t have to derail your efforts. You splurge – you enjoy every minute of it – and then you go back to the lifestyle you’ve carefully chosen.
It’s what you do 99% of the time that counts. Your mindset is strong. You’re changing your LIFESTYLE. You’re stronger because of the detours because you CHOOSE to resume the good habits you’re building.
Detour – example – yesterday I was really happy to find some KETO bread at the store. This enabled my husband and I to have hot dogs for dinner last night. I didn’t have to eat what amounts to a ‘wrap,’ using a 0-net-carb tortilla as my bun. I actually got to use a hot dog bun! First time in a year! Whoopee! It was wonderful. I enjoyed every bite, loading mine with mustard and onion.
Instead of just throwing my hands in the air and hoping I was finally going to meet my interim weight loss goal this morning, we splurged, eating some no-added-sugar vanilla ice cream and some fresh blueberries. I KNEW it was a no-no. I didn’t realize until AFTER I had eaten it that the dish of ice cream used up ALL of my carb limit for the day and then some – not counting what I ate the rest of the day. The whole day was blown.
In the past, I would have then gotten out some potato chips or something, thinking, the day is blown, I might as well enjoy it, wallowing in guilt as I stuffed my face. This time I enjoyed every bite, REALIZING I was splurging, and redoubling my mindset that I wouldn’t feel guilty, and that my new LIFESTYLE would resume without pause in the morning.
Splurging – cheating – falling off the wagon – whatever you want to call it is an important part of building a new habit or lifestyle. You are only accountable to yourself. You choose to renew your commitment, now even stronger because you allowed yourself to be a real person, and your lifestyle change becomes a bigger and bigger part of you.
For ME the changes are losing the lard and getting stronger with more regular exercise. I don’t have to be perfect. I CAN splurge from time to time. It’s wonderful to know that. It increases my motivation to try to do good things for myself.
There weren’t many people at the tire shop when I got there, so my truck got almost immediate attention! I was really happy until they guys were obviously talking, then getting the owner/manager, then coming in to talk to me.
The owner told me that the lug nuts I brought for the snow tires didn’t fit. I went out and looked at the bag my husband had put in the truck and let out a huge sigh. The bag clearly said, “Jeep Lug nuts.” We don’t even HAVE the Jeep and haven’t had it for YEARS now. I don’t even know why we still HAD these.
The guys put things back together so that I could drive back home and get the bag of lug nuts we SHOULD have brought in the first place. My husband came out to the shop when I was still out there, and I showed him the bag he had put in the truck. He was embarrassed. He redeemed himself, however, because he turned the truck around for me, something that I have NEVER been good at, and have only gotten worse at over time.
I drove back to the tire store. This time things went well. Before I left, I made sure I had the bag of lug nuts and the special lug nut that is necessary to either put on or take off our regular Honda tires. (The snow tires don’t need that.) I found it, but not the shiny socket wrench part I was looking for.) I checked again in the store, but they confirmed all they had was in the bag.
I drove home again. I took the bag of lug nuts and showed my husband where they live, right above the tires. I asked him what he had done with the bag of Jeep lug nuts. He had squirreled it into the back part of a shelf. I got it out and found the shiny socket wrench part I was looking for. I told him we should throw the Jeep lug nuts away. He was adamant we keep them. (A fight for another day.)
We got the tires back into place in the shop, the bag of lug nuts where they belonged, and I put the special lug nut and the shiny socket wrench into the bag in the glove compartment.
My husband again turned the truck around and we went to the house. We won’t have to do this again until spring (about mid-March), and now we have a way we might be able to negotiate our driveway and the roads in bad winter weather in an emergency. We agreed (and I HOPE this is still in effect) that barring emergencies, when our driveway is ice or snow covered, we will simply stay home until it melts and things are safe. One broken collarbone falling on the ice and trip to the ER is enough. My husband was telling me that I was overreacting to the danger when he fell. 10 weeks of healing changed his mind, at least then…
Our animals staged a definite protest last evening. They are both having real trouble adjusting to the end of Daylight Savings Time. They were ready for dinner a full hour ahead of time and kept trying to roust us. Every time we said anything, got up, or moved, BOTH of them were up, trying to lead us to their feeding places.
I knew that they seemed to be hungrier than usual lately, but I hadn’t connected it to the time change until yesterday. They must think my husband and I are really stubborn and lazy. They actually looked frustrated and disgusted, even when I TRIED to explain the time change and that they needed to wait an hour.
Finally, I caved about half way through the hour, with Monster Cat herding me toward her bathroom and Amber following us.
I thought my husband and I were having a tough time adjusting to the time change. I think our sweet family member pets are having a worse time than we are.
I’m of several minds about getting older. It may be ‘multiple personalities,’ or dementia, or a combination of both, but I’m split mentally and emotionally so many ways I feel I’m in a ‘sliced-and-diced’ commercial for fancy knives.
One big part of me – the part I’m encouraging – is embracing life, living life to the fullest, finding joy, taking my time to enjoy things, choosing to do things that bring me happiness and peace, learning new things, trying to develop new skills, trying to be as healthy as possible so that my life is the best quality possible.
Another part of me – one I’m kind of hiding from – is having to step up in areas where I feel totally inept, such as figuring out what is wrong with something and trying to fix it, programming new technical things, handling things my husband has always done, but needs help with or total takeover from now. I’m having to really PUSH myself since this is becoming the new normal – that I am an adult and supposedly able to handle much more than I ever have. My main goal at this point is to try to remain calm in each situation that comes up, figure out what I need to do, how to try to work with my husband, how to keep priorities straight, figure out who to call if things go south, etc. I want to cover up my head, escape, ignore – but that’s not possible.
SO – how to deal with my getting older, having changing needs, and helping my husband deal with HIS changing body, abilities, personality, and ego – how to go forward?
My dad told me something that he lived by and has helped me a lot – to try to stand back and see the humor in a given situation. Many times you have to work really hard to see it, but usually, it’s there. That helps in keeping your cool, keeping priorities straight, and taking things one step at a time.
Take a deep breath. And another one. Maybe take a walk around the yard, do a session of yoga stretches, use weights to bop around with some nice music and exercise videos.
Stay busy. Don’t let things overwhelm you. Have projects that will change your focus for a while, using your energies on something you can look at afterwards that makes you feel more in control.
Do things that bring you joy. For me, that’s spending time in my art room, listening to music, reading, writing this blog, searching for good things that make you smile, walking outside, getting a massage, visiting with a friend.
Try to be a good communicator. Letting others who care about you know how you feel and really listening to what they are saying, as well as to the person/people who may be a challenge.
We will all face this kind of thing at some point. What do YOU do to handle it?
The driveway detector sounded off again. We found some guys asking if they could look around to see where they could drive the chipper truck later.
They left, and another truck came up, this one with 4 guys who are now chainsawing, finishing up what the man with the spinning blade machine started earlier. They said they would be working on the other end of the line, the one that goes across to the shop, as well.
I guess when they finish, the chipper guy will come. I’ve asked each group if they do outside jobs, but no one does. Sigh.
I’ll just be happy with whatever they do. It’s a constant battle around here to keep Mother Nature from growing up around us, trying to push us off the land and go back to the way it was in 1987.
All the activity around here sure keeps your interest, though. What a NICE bunch of hardworking guys. I’ll offer them bottles of cold water in a bit.
We’ve had several ‘wins’ lately, and I AM ‘smiling on the inside.’
The most important is that we are finishing up on the generator project. We had put a new car battery in it and a new starter solenoid. We changed the oil and the oil filter. The generator tech/electrician did his magic, getting all the red lights to go off and pronounce it ‘good to go’ again. Yesterday my husband removed what he called a ‘tach (and something else) combo and has a new one ordered. We looked on the general log we keep to find out when we bought the generator and found it was 2008, so it’s old. In fact, the tech said he had never seen on as old as ours. Of course, WE are also older than dirt, so it fits right in. We’re HOPING that the generator will last as long as we do. The generator did its weekly automatic test yesterday – the first time this has happened in about a month. HOOORAAAAAAY!!!!!
Second, for the first time in a couple of years, it’s a pleasure to go down and up our driveway. We had to plan to be able to afford someone to do the project because the driveway is 650 feet + and STEEP. It really needed some reshaping and scraping, as well as a couple of huge truckloads of a special gravel that the city uses when it does roads, plus the work of spreading it. THEN nature was trying to go back to what it was 37 years ago when we first cleared it for our house, our shop, and the driveway. We had done what we could each year, but it just wasn’t enough. We hired a guy who calls himself “The Tree Man” to cut away the branches and brush and even trees that were trying to close off our access to the road. Happily, he said he would make himself available if during the winter we had any problems with trees coming down into the driveway.
Third, my husband mowed the grass last night, so we look as civilized as we ever do around here. Plus, he waited until 6:30 to do it, not risking heat stroke. The weed whacking and weed killing I’ve done in the past is holding up so far. My husband had an easy time of using the riding mower.
Fourth, I’m still alive and mostly sane after riding in the Vette with my husband to our teeth cleaning Wednesday. The hygienist is now used to my blood pressure being sky-high when I first get there, and down to the only-mildly-elevated-about-going-to-the-dentist reading by the time she finishes with me. We don’t have to go back until January 27th of 2025. Ahhhhh!
Fifth, our foyer corner is empty and clean for the first time in about a year, since it holds waiting-for-donations stuff. I’m letting it bask in all its glory for a few days before starting to gather more donations.
Finally, I hit the 33-pounds-down mark this morning, so I’m re-motivated in my efforts. I’m exercising, eating right, and making slow, steady progress, PLUS I’m having a blast experimenting with the concept of wood burning. I have two more pieces in the works and the ideas are keeping me up at night. I have a pad of paper and pen beside my side of the bed so I can write down some of the ideas that are swirling around. :0)
We still have many challenges to work through, but the progress we’re making is encouraging.
I just went out to the well house to see when our two irrigation system water timers are set to begin today so I can monitor the watering.
We have two different models of the same brand, so the directions on creating the settings are different. I couldn’t tell when they were set to start, so I came back in, got the the directions for each, plus my glasses, and went out again.
I saw that the two units had two different ‘current times’ on them, so I tackled that first. I looked at the new system, trying to scroll through the different settings, and that was confusing. I then noticed that by scrolling through, some of the settings had changed, so I started over.
I now THINK I have the new system for the back set to start at 3pm. I THINK I have the system in the front set to start at 3:20pm, each of them running for 10 minutes automatically, every day.
I now have an alarm set so I’ll go out to check the watering starting at 3pm. WHEW!
I feel lazy because I have always depended on my husband to install and program stuff around here. Our situation has changed now. He installed the new system yesterday for the back, but didn’t think to check the batteries in the old system. It turns out that the old system was fine and just needed new batteries. So that’s the first lesson for me – check to see if there ARE batteries and see if changing them causes the system to work again.
We put the old unit in the well house on the shelf as a back up if we need it.
If I haven’t programmed the systems right, I’ll find out at 3pm and I can try again. If they DO work, I’ll monitor to make sure the water is going to the right places with no kinks in the hoses, breaks in the system, etc.
I’m feeling humble and stupid because what should probably be intuitive – (our son can look at something and start ‘messing’ with it, figuring how to program it faster than I can find the directions in the file cabinet) – ISN’T intuitive for ME. I have to read the directions carefully, taking them out there with me (remembering my glasses) and then painfully work my way through the settings.
I’m getting quite a few character-building exercises on how to be a functioning adult these past few days. I’m working on my attitude about it, trying to find a ‘can-do’ person in there somewhere, and the determination to make this work as it should. Fingers crossed!
Things will hopefully be quiet around here today. We have some errands, but I’m hoping to spend a good amount of time in the yard weeding the flower planters today. We’re having a nice day, with sunshine, and the high temperature today only in the mid 80’s and kinder level of humidity. We have the doors open now, with a nice breeze coming through. :0)
___________
We had a demonstration yesterday of how we are, indeed, older than dirt. We went to meet our new insurance agent. We took a CD with information we needed added to one of our policies. Our agent was a nice man with a very appealing smile and good manner. When we gave him the CD, he looked flustered for a minute and then said he had no way to read what was on the CD. Technology has once again bypassed us. We have some thumb drives, but none large enough to handle all the data we have on a DVD of info and pics about house items in our safe deposit box. Thankfully, my SIL sent me a URL to data storage options, so we’ll research that and decide what we need to do.
Meanwhile, we came home, gathered the little bit of information we needed to give the new agent and emailed it to him. At least we were able to do that.
We realize that we’re no spring chickens, but it’s a bit demoralizing to be hit with how very OLD we’re getting when stuff like this hits us right in the nose…
This is our utility room. The big bed on the left is our dog, Amber’s. There is a dog gate between the utility room and the dining area/kitchen/pantry area.
Jet, the new cat, and Amber, our 95 pound dog, have finally reached detente, we think, though we still keep a close eye out for any problems. The remaining areas of concern at this point are protecting the cat if there is any kind of food involved – for her, for Amber, for us. Amber has NO sense of humor or compassion where food is concerned. She wants HERS, OURS, and the CAT’s. ALL. OF. IT.
My wonderful SIL sent me some pics of a cat door latch. I had never heard of one before. I researched it, then sent a link to several options to my husband, asking him to choose the one he thought would be the easiest to install and use. He ordered one and it came yesterday.
We didn’t even need tools to install it. It’s heavy plastic. One end fits over the door knob. The other end has several holes into which you can screw a metal thingie whose other end sits in the hardware of the door. It is easily ‘used’ or ‘not used’, so I can shut the cat inside, if needed (as when we’re eating), or at night, when we don’t want her wandering around. Otherwise, it keeps the door propped open enough for Jet to come and go easily, but strong enough that Amber cannot ‘nose’ it open to get in and eat Jet’s food (or used kitty litter.) With its use, this is also another ‘safe space’ for Jet.
I shoved her in and out several times yesterday, but wasn’t really sure she would use it on her own. This morning I was cleaning the bathroom and used the latch. Jet came in, wandered around while I cleaned the area. I put more food in her bowl and she went out with me. I set the latch. She started to follow me (as she does a lot), but then went back, walked through the opening, and started to eat. HOORAY!
I left her ‘in’ there with the latch set. I came into the office. Suddenly, Jet jumped up into my lap. :0) HOORAY!
Now Jet and I have much more freedom. I don’t need to figure out when she needs to be put in the bathroom in order to do her business, or be let out again afterwards. She is going in and out at will, except when it’s dangerous. Win/Win. THANKS, ML!
My SIL wrote this morning, telling me about a ‘cat door latch’ that can help solve some of our problems trying to get Amber and Jet to co-exist. We’re researching the various options (I didn’t even know these existed) and we’re excited about Jet being able to go in and out from the back bathroom (and her food, water, and kitty litter) whenever she would like without Amber being able to go in and wreak havoc.
My husband immediately wanted to cut a cat door in the bottom of the door, but I would really rather not. We don’t have anything to go over the door and the optics would be less than great. I’m hoping that my husband can look at the options, decide which one would be sturdy and easy to install, so we can get one ordered. I would still need to shut her in there – without egress – when Amber (or we) are eating, but that’s a minor detail.
IT’S NOT RAINING! I’m thinking about spending some time in the yard this afternoon, weed whacking, spraying, pruning, etc. I’m hoping that the man who specializes in greenery removal will call sometime soon and come to give us an estimate we can afford for clearing up the driveway. The trees on both sides are attempting to merge…
UPDATE – My husband has chosen a cat door latch that will be easy to install and use, plus still gives me the option to actually prevent Jet from coming out when it might be dangerous for her. He is ordering it now. HOORAY!
FIRST – We’re now under a severe thunderstorm WATCH until 5pm. We just got home from running our errands, so we can batten down the hatches and hope things go well. I don’t mind storms – I just don’t like worrying that ‘heavy heavy hangs over your head’ for long periods of time.
SECOND – We put our groceries away and I was trying to get a roast in the crock pot for dinner. Amber was barking that she wanted to come in. Jet was meowing that she wanted out of her bathroom area. I asked my husband to please leave things alone while I got the roast into the crock pot.
I did that, then cleaned up the cat’s bathroom where all her stuff is, handled the kitty litter situation outside and all is now good. She was adamant she wanted to come out, so I carried the cat to my husband, and started to let Amber in -only to find the CAT in the area I was going to let the dog into! Shriek! I took the cat back to my husband, asking him to HOLD the cat until I could get the dog in and behind the gate.
Yesterday the cat sat on one side of the dog gate while the dog was lying down on the other. No hissing or spitting from the cat. No barking, lunging and snapping from the dog. So that’s progress.
It looks like we’re in for a lot of that today, as well. I’m HOPING that enough of this and they will both calm down and decide that living together is not so bad after all… We’ll have to be extra careful going in or out of the kitchen, making sure we know where all parties are before opening the gate until we’re sure they have finally accepted each other. Fingers crossed. WHEW!
*Aside – I read an article about things that can stall weight loss. One of the main things listed was tension. Imagine that. I may be a round shape until they throw dirt over me….
I cooked a turkey breast this morning, then put it in the fridge to cool. I just finished cleaning up after using my new electric meat slicer for the first time.
I have to admit I was intimidated after reading the manual, which was mostly safety stuff warning me about cutting my arm off or electrocuting myself. It’s kind of amazing that anyone would try to USE this thing after all the warnings. (Kind of like the medicine advertisements that list all the side effects, including death).
Anyway, I was determined to use it, and do it safely. Here I am, typing away at my computer after using the new equipment, with arms and legs intact and not having been electrocuted, with the whole turkey breast neatly sliced and in a big bowl with a lid in the fridge.
Clean up was easy, as well. Mostly making sure I got all the little snibbles of turkey wiped off, then wiping it down with a soft, warm cloth. I took the blade off, too, to make sure there wasn’t anything caught behind it, and put it back on securely. (That’s done very well with the locking piece in the center. You turn it to unlock it with your fingers, hold onto the locking thing to move the blade, clean it, or whatever, and then use the holding thing to put it back on and turn the locking piece to secure it again. No touching the sharp part of the blade unless you want to.)
They warned not to use the slicer for over 10 minutes. I think I used it for 5 or less. It made quick work of the two halves of the turkey breast. There is a dial thingie to indicate how thick or thin you want the slices.
It’s all cleaned up and covered again. The sliced turkey is in the fridge. Instead of eating approximately 764 mgs of sodium with the deli turkey as a part of my lunch, I’ll be eating around 71 mgs. :0)
My new electric meat slicer was delivered yesterday. I reorganized part of my kitchen counter so the slicer is now on an easily moveable place mat so I can slide the slicer out a bit for use, with a NON-slide place mat on top of THAT so the slicer won’t slide when I’m using it. :0) I just ordered a cover that’s made for this particular slicer, rather than the towel I’m using now. I’ll read the manual for this later today.
Here’s the cover.
I’m set up now so I can cook and slice most any meat to eat for my lunches, taking the place of the deli turkey I THOUGHT was healthy, but turned out to be sky high in sodium. (Same with salami. )
I did find some lunch meat that’s half the sodium or less than what I’m finishing up now while I’m gearing up to do all my own.
I also found some low carb, much-lower-sodium frozen dinners at Stu’s Clean Cookin’ in Greenwood. I will try all of these, but some are higher sodium than I would like for the long run. It will depend on how the food changes come together (shown clearly on MyFitnessPal.com) before I make long term decisions.
Meanwhile, my doc has increased my thyroid hormone dosage, so that should help, as well, though it will probably take several 6-week trials before we zero in on my new good dosage.
I’m finally getting my act together on eating healthier, plus I’m working in the yard most every day and doing a session of yoga stretching in the afternoons at least 3 times a week if not every day. Hopefully, the lard will start coming off in a more steady manner and my next routine blood tests in October will show significant improvement. :0)
We have always changed from snow tires to regular tires and back again ourselves in our shop. We had snow tires mounted on wheels so that it’s just a case of taking the current wheels with tires off and putting on the other set, already on wheels. It has always been laborious, but quite doable.
Now we have had to admit (my husband more grudgingly than I) that now that we are older than dirt, it’s better to let the people set up to do this do it for us, rather than struggle to do it ourselves.
To be completely honest, it took the TWO of us to get each tire into the back of our truck this morning. By the time we got the four regular tires into the bed of the truck and found the lug nuts and special one lug nut and wrench addition needed to put it on each tire, we were both a bit short of breath.
I took my Kindle so that I could read while I waited, but didn’t actually use it for more than a few minutes. There was a constant ‘show’ going on with people coming in and out and things happening all around, so I put my Kindle away and just watched what was going on.
I only had to wait about half an hour for them to get to our truck. The changeover went quickly and they only charged us $32.50 for the job.
When I got back home, I got our mail and dragged the empty trash can back up to where it lives without falling on my head. (I’m trying to train myself to put my phone in my pocket so that if I fall, I can call for help.)
We managed to get the snow tires OUT of the truck and stored – with their lug nuts – in the shop until probably November.
As we drove from the shop to the house, my husband asked, “Do you really think it’s a good idea to have this job done for us, when we could do it ourselves?” My answer – an enthusiastic, “YES!!!!”
I want you to know that I’m not as dumb as I look! I figured out TWO things recently that I’ve been TRYING to do it seems like forever –
THING ONE – I used to add captions and credits to pictures on my blog with no problem. Then – the people who get paid to keep the website up to date, make it easy to navigate, and on the cutting edge, came in and ‘improved’ WordPress (this host) and disappeared my ability to caption or credit the way I used to. I tried and tried, and finally gave up, just putting the credit on the next line as close to the picture as I could. Suddenly, in the middle of nothing, I right-clicked ON a picture instead of elsewhere, and a box for caption and credit popped up! Yureka!!!!! I am newly ‘en-franchised’ now. :0)
THING TWO – I told you that I have been working to improve my Etsy site. I have fought with making and installing a banner across the top, have made and installed a new logo, and have mostly finished describing my products in a different way that SEEMS to be slowly increasing my “traffic” (visits to the site).
I’ve been unhappy with the names of my product sections for a long time. I have also been upset that I couldn’t reorganize the categories in a different order on the page. I fought and fought this morning, after having added two of my new wood-burned earrings to the site, trying to change the name of the earring section and also to figure out a way to have the three types of earrings I offer to be listed as sections one after the other to the left of the page, instead of having people have to scroll down to SEE I make stud and clip earrings, as well as dangles. I FINALLY found a place that allowed me to change the names of the sections and reorder them! HOORAAAAAAY! :0)
I’m not as dumb as I look, nor am I dead yet!!!!!!!! There is still life in the old girl!
Now that I’ve done that, I need to take a gazillion pics after putting the hardware on the rest of the earrings I wood-burned and add them to the site. I hope to be able to finish that today.
It feels so GOOOOOD to have finally made some progress.
I’ve finished reorganizing and labeling everything on my “Etsy shelves” in my office now. I found a couple of things I THOUGHT were listed, but weren’t, so I took care of that.
Now I’m going up to my art room to gather a few more things I want to add to the site.
When I’ve gathered them, I’m going to allow myself the time and space to start experimenting with my new wood burning tool. REALLY. I AM. :0)
We went to Lunch Bunch and Kay and Bud were there. We had a good time catching up.
About an hour ago, FEDEX came and delivered the MIG wire welder my husband ordered. He took it out to our shop and brought back the manual to read. He says it looks good.
I hope you’re having at least HALF a good a day as we are enjoying.
Imagine my shock that I’m NOT aging gracefully. I’m doing it with some resentment, dragging my feet, gritching, and gnashing my teeth. Changes bother me more and more. I’m tired of ‘rolling with it,’ ‘adapting,’ etc. My latest gripe is companies that are changing the way they are paid.
One example is our water bill. It used to be that I wrote and mailed a check. I did this with everything else, so that was fine. Then I was paying everything online through my bank EXCEPT the water bill, for which I wrote almost the ONLY check I wrote each month. They are finally allowing online payments, but they must be done through their payment thingie, which charges you an extra $2.25 to use the service and you have to enter all your information each time, like you never used it before. UGH.
I was cleaning out my gmail this morning and ‘newly’ discovered some emails saying my insurance bills are due. (They sent these in November and the bills aren’t due until the middle of December.) We always get a slew of bills from our company in December, putting me off my Christmas spirit a bit, but I’ve gotten used to it. When I saw them, though, and we haven’t received the paper bills yet, it got my attention.
Maybe they won’t send the paper bills this time. They’re due the 12th, and I haven’t gotten anything in the mail. I went online to check, but then had trouble (imagine that) getting logged on. I went through my notes and was reminded that I had to sign up for a ‘new’ account with new agent in our regular company, and so had a different user name and password now. I logged in and discovered that they were now doing everything online.
To make a long rant a bit shorter, I went ahead and paid the premiums, and then had to go looking for the paperwork that should accompany the bills for our records. I found and printed them. I’ve never met the new agent and now the company seems to have gone all digital, so I may NEVER meet him.
Now that I’ve overcome yet another change, I’ll probably get the paper bills in the coming week…
As I get “more mature” (read ‘older than dirt’), memory becomes more of an issue.
I used to think it was ‘aggravating’ to go into a room, then realize I couldn’t remember why I had gone there. I had to go back to what I was doing, get into it, and THEN I remembered why – getting up again to go DO it this time. NOW I write a sticky note before I get up, KNOWING I won’t remember. I’m not sure I can call this an ‘improvement.’
Paul Harizan-Getty Images
My husband has kept a spreadsheet on his computer for years that lists what he considers important things for us to remember. This has helped us many times. We’ll list the date of installation of our new tankless water heater on there, for example.
I’ve devoted a whole big notebook to keeping stickies with artist information on them so that I don’t have to start from scratch when I feature an artist’s work on the blog. Right now I have 6 pages of these.
I have stickies everywhere – on my desk, on my computer, in my hand, on the fridge, on the ‘go-out’ table, etc. You get the idea.
I notice I have a word retrieval challenge more and more often these days. I’ll start to say something or write something and the word I’m trying for just won’t come. I’ve given up on being embarrassed with names, even with people I’ve known for a hundred years or so. The words simply ‘disappear’ until they’re ready to come – usually in the middle of the night. I’ll sit up in bed and say, “THAT’S what I was trying to think of!” (Unless I write it down on the notepad on the table beside my bed, I’ll forget it again by the time I get up in the morning.)
I write notes to myself, leaving them on the dresser I pass on my way out of our bedroom, reminding me of something I need to put on the grocery list, or something I need to do during the day.
Even though I’m coming up with ways to get around the problem, I’m aware that the problem seems to be growing faster than the solutions I can come up with. I comfort myself with the following –
creativeartworksblog 