Category Archives: Changes

Thoughts on a Tuesday 1-4-2022

Saporta Report

This photo above is very similar to what we saw going to town and then returning from errands this morning. It felt almost as if they were running along side us, like a dog tries to chase cars. Happily, they didn’t try to cross the road or crash into our truck. Beautiful animals.

Postal Store – USPS

Did I tell you that I hate to do anything involved with the IRS? Our son lives in Thailand, but still has to file income tax stuff for the states. I try to handle the stuff for him. I mailed a self-employment deferred Social Security ‘whateverwhois’ certified with return receipt for him this morning. I’m hoping this is the end of things for him for awhile. My eyes glaze over whenever I try to read letters from the IRS. I send images of whatever it is to our CPA, who ‘translates’ it for me and tells me what I need to do. I do it, send him copies, and breathe a sigh of relief until next time. You would think I was an embezzler or something with the huge negative gut reaction I have to things like this. :0)

The NY Times

We have a cell phone with base that acts like our house phone. We have extensions all over the house. I thought about changing carriers recently, thinking maybe we could save some money. Though I could get less expensive coverage for my personal cell phone, I gave up because we would have to buy another cell phone system and couldn’t get the extensions we have. The system also has an answering program that we love that requires callers to push # or something to indicate they are a real person and aren’t selling anything before we hear a ringing phone. It really cuts down on calls we don’t want. I’ve actually had people laughing when I answer, then wanting to know where we got the answering thingie.

Recently we got a letter from AT&T saying they wouldn’t cover our house phone cell system anymore because it was only a 3G. They said they would send us a replacement phone that they WOULD cover. We have no idea whether the new phone is anything like our present one, our answering program, if it will have extensions, or we can use the ones we have, etc. The only thing that MAY stay the same is our phone number. UGH. We really don’t like change.

Cards Recycling Service

Under that same heading of not liking change is that we got a letter saying our trash contract was bought up by another company. The new service started 1-3-2022, according to the letter. We have no other details as yet. We put out our trash as usual this morning, hoping for the best….

Amazon.com

While trying to put in new fluorescent tubes in a fixture in the kitchen recently, we dropped the cover, breaking it. We tried to find a replacement cover for it, but couldn’t find one wide enough, either locally or online. Yesterday we decided to buy a 2-tube fixture, using it to replace a 4-tube fixture in our office, and using the cover for the kitchen fixture.

Hours later, we finally had the new fixture installed and working and the cover transferred to the fixture in the kitchen. No lives were lost. If we need to consider this again, I’ll opt for candle light.

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Filed under Amazing Animals, Challenges, Changes, Housekeeping - Maintenance, Thoughts on a ________

Sudden Thought

Americasbestpics.com

“The older I get, the more I see there are these crevices in life where things fall in and you just can’t reach them to pull them back out. So you can sit next to them and weep or you can get up and move forward. You have to stop worrying about who’s not here and start worrying about who is.”
— Alex Witchel

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“Because I’m Happy…”

quotespedia.org via Rebecca Kanner Kelman

“Here come bad news talking this and that (Yeah)
Well give me all you got, don’t hold back (Yeah)
Well I should probably warn you I’ll be just fine (Yeah)
No offence to you don’t waste your time” ~ “Happy” ~ Pharrell Williams

I received some scary news through the medical portal on a test I took recently. I’m a wimp, so I essentially decided my life was over, started worrying about my husband (he doesn’t know what day it is half the time, what our schedule is, etc. – he has a wife to worry about the details.) I cried, couldn’t sleep, stayed up half the night…

I finally decided to tell my two best friends via email. I’m very lucky to have two such great people who care about me. Both got back to me right away with care and support, plus some much-needed guidance.

My doctor’s office will probably contact me this coming week with what the next step is. I’m much calmer than I was. Although I’m a wimp and would rather just stick my head in the sand and go on in ignorance, acting as if I were immortal, I need to be an adult. I want to be here to help my husband – even wanting to be here to fuss at him when it’s needed.

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Filed under Attitude, Challenges, Changes, character-building exercises

Learning to Eat Right

avant-garde-impressions

I’m in a state of flux lately on my eating.

My husband and I are trying to incorporate trying to lose the lard (me more than him), trying to avoid as much sugar as possible for his diabetes II, and trying to incorporate food and drink that may improve my plaque-in-my-carotid-arteries situation.

Part of MY retirement is NOT having to come up with home-cooked meals every night for the rest of my life. I still cook pretty regularly, but I try to cook in a more healthy fashion, and then put the leftovers to the original meal into individual serving containers that we can simply put in the microwave.

After actually reading the labels of the two meals we like the best from Stu’s Clean Cookin’, we discovered that our choices are higher in sugar than we would like. We are now splitting ONE individual dinner and eating a veggie on the side.

Eating continues to be a work in progress, but I am making some good lifestyle changes. Hopefully, this will also include losing more of the lard my body seems to prize. :0)

Pinterest

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Balanced Eating?

Wikipedia

On the one hand, I’m trying to limit the amount of food I eat. I don’t eat anything after dinner until lunch the following day – unless I’m up in the middle of the night and have no willpower. (I tend to think I’m starving to death then. :0) )

My husband and I have been eating individual frozen meals from REAL FOOD or STU’S CLEAN COOKIN’, both in Greenwood, for dinner. I noticed that our choices from Stu’s are too high in sugar for us, so now we’re splitting ONE individual meal and I’m fixing a veggie side. We also have a roll with that.

Lunches are 1/2 slice of ham, sugar-free jello, a hard-boiled egg, two green olives, and sometimes I have a slice of cheese or a cheese stick.

Snack in the afternoon has been raw veggies and a spoonful of ranch dressing with less than 1 gram of sugar.

Since a doppler ultrasound showed 50-70% occlusion in my right carotid artery (not enough to have a procedure) I have found a list of food and drink that is supposed to dissolve the plaque, and hopefully prevent me from getting more.

List for cleaning arteries –  SALMON, FLAX SEEDS, BLUEBERRIES, STRAWBERRIES, GRAPEFRUIT, SQUEEZE OF LEMON/LIME, EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL, AVOCADOS, BEANS, PEAS, CHICKPEAS, LENTILS,  TOMATOES – EXP COOKED OR SAUCE, GARLIC, CINNAMON, ONIONS, GINGER, TURMERIC, BROCCOLI, CAULIFLOWER, WALNUTS, BEETS, SPINACH, DARK CHOCOLATE. GREEN TEA.

I’m now eating grapefruit in place of the raw veggies some days. I’m drinking a glass of green tea daily. When I eat raw veggies, I’m including broccoli and cauliflower, and I’m fixing spinach as a side for dinner, using walnuts and flax seed in my salads, etc.

My dilemma is that including so much ‘good stuff’ in my daily diet is resulting in my eating more. And GUESS WHAT HAPPENS THEN – my scales scoff at me, laughing and sneering at the poundage creeping up. ARRRRGH!

So now I’m vacillating between throwing my hands up in the air and eating a cheeseburger and fries, eating the good stuff and skipping yet another meal, or……

I will work it out, but right now I’m feeling that getting old sucks.

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Challenges – Changes

picquotes.com

Trying to eat right and take care of yourself becomes more and more complicated as you age. If you are married, the complication explodes because you are dealing with not only different health needs, but also different ideas of what ‘good food’ is, how seriously needed changes should be taken, etc. My husband and I are in the process of yet another adaptation since I had an ultrasound of my carotid arteries.

I’m lucky, in that the problem in my carotid arteries is not to the point where any procedures are necessary, but I am trying to adapt my eating to include food and drink that dissolves, lessens, or prevents plaque. I’m ornery enough now without having strokes! Happily, I found an article on the net that lists 16 things I can include in my diet. I have several of them already and eat them. Yesterday I started drinking one glass a day of green tea (I found sugar-free). Since beets are on the list and I can’t face eating them, I’ve ordered supplements for that. I’m making a grocery list to get other things. I’m feeling very lucky that there are things I can do about this situation that may improve my chances to continue being ornery… :0)

A downside that complicates things a bit, is that I gained a couple of pounds yesterday. I refuse to worry about that yet, though. I will try to include the new food and drink, continue to exercise at least three times a week if not more (elliptical trainer and yoga stretches), and will give the changes some time before I worry again about lardage.

Here’s to doing what you can to get and stay as healthy as you can for as long as you can.

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Restrictions

whipperberry.com

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Trying to Keep My Mouth Shut

woodlandmanufacturing.com

Oh, please. This is cute – and depressing at the same time.

I will tell you, though, that I’m making a bit of progress on getting the lard off. I lost another pound, so my total off now is 31, with almost 29 inches gone. It’s especially hard during the holidays to try to keep my mouth shut. My goal is to TASTE it all, enjoying every bite, but TRYING to maintain my dignity…. :0)

I did discover – to my horror – that some of the meals we have been getting from Stu’s Clean Cookin’ have too much sugar for us. Last night we decided to SHARE one individual meal and eat an extra veggie on the side. That worked out well, and gave us half the amount of sugar we would have ingested otherwise. We need to be more vigilant. The food is high quality and excellent, as is that of Real Food. They are not made for diabetics and weight-challenged, though, and we need to keep tweaking what we are eating more intelligently. Stu’s lists sugar, salt, calories, etc. Real Food doesn’t, but lists ingredients. Both help us keep our portions good. So we will try to do better homework, plus do more sharing.

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Wishy-Washy?

University of Manchester Careers Blog

When I’m standing in the middle of a decision, not sure of which direction to take, a picture of my mom comes into my head. She always used to say, “Do any reasonable thing quickly, rather than reaching hesitantly for the ideal.”

Decisions are difficult. It doesn’t seem to always matter the importance of it or its outcome. When my dear friend and former colleague and I ran our own reading clinic years ago, we used to spend countless silly minutes trying to figure out where to go for lunch. We would go through the same questions – “What are you hungry for?” “What sounds good?” Finally, we would say, “Where do you NOT want to go?” and see if we could come to a decision that way.

I got really tired of trying to figure out what to cook for dinner. I didn’t mind COOKING it so much as the constant pressure to try to figure out something that would please, wouldn’t take a lot of time or effort – as I had always worked a full day before having to do it – provide a reasonable variety, etc. I used to ask my husband what he was hungry for while trying to make a grocery list. He would always say, “Whatever you cook is good.” And while that was nice in its way, it wasn’t helpful.

Decisions that involve things where consequences matter are much more difficult, of course. Sometimes even agonizing, when all of the avenues are distasteful, painful, or scary. Whenever I’m faced with one of these, I consider each avenue, then ask myself, “If I do this, what’s the worst that could happen?” If I find one in which I can handle the answer to that, I have my avenue.

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Split Down the Middle

BlazePress

Today was the first Lunch Bunch since our waitress, Susan, retired. We are all happy for Susan, giving her a good send-off last Friday, her last day, before she started taking care of her grandchildren. She has spent many years working hard, getting up early to go to work, do the prep necessary before opening the restaurant, making pizza dough, cutting up veggies, all the things that need to be done to have the place run smoothly. She’s still getting up early every day, but now will fill her days with life flowing from the plans of the grandkids. She grinned from ear to ear last Friday, clearly relishing the change of focus for her life.

So today we gathered once again. Mikey, our other treasured waitress, took our orders. We talked about the fact that SHE kept feeling that Susan was “just on vacation,” and would be back at work soon. WE kept thinking she would come out from the back, drying hands on her apron, smiling and joking with us.

One Green Planet

Things change and we must change with them. Susan has our permanent invitation to join us at the table for Lunch Bunch. We HOPE she’ll take us up on that some Friday very soon. Happy for her, sad for us, resistant to change…

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Sunday 8-29-2021

Cathy Stolz Photography-500px.com

I’m afraid for all the good people trying to get out of Afghanistan. My heart breaks for those left behind. This is an unending nightmare from which we will probably never recover. We have all lost so much already. People in pain over the situation, the incredible lack of planning, bad decisions, broken promises, loss of life, the desperate prospects on trying to get out, what we’re leaving for the people behind. Incredible bravery in the face of all this.

The people in Tennessee are trying to pick up the pieces after the devastating flooding. Relentless wildfires in California continue to wreak havoc. Ida is bearing down on the Gulf Coast today.

Each of us reacts on a personal level to all happening around us. Things boil down to each of us handling things in our own little world the best we can, plus reaching out to try to help others. The cliche’ is that ‘we’re all in this together.’ Our world is small enough that things happening across the world affect us. As we have painfully seen, a virus starting far away is lethal to people all over the globe.

We need to concentrate on being aware of what is going on, protecting ourselves and those we love the best way we can, and reaching out to others – if not able to help – to at least show we CARE. We can’t put our heads in the sand. We can’t just simply close off. We have to be as strong as we can and be there to do what we can when we see a way we can help.

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Onward and Downward

Ranker

New Territory!

I finally re-lost some weight and this morning entered new territory – okay, only .2 of a single pound, but we have to take our wins where we find them, right?

I am trying to take one day at a time, rather than looking at the whole of my goal at once. One day at a time, one pound (or less :0) ) at a time.

I’ve done well this week on my exercising, as well. Monday I did 3 short sessions with my weights and then my regular yoga stretching session. Yesterday I did 25 minutes on my elliptical trainer and then my yoga. Today is weights and yoga again.

I’m having trouble drinking all the water I’m supposed to. I am TRYING to drink 4 bottles a day. I’m a coffee-holic, so I’m trying to make myself wait to have another cup until I’ve downed another bottle of water. Sometimes that is successful. (I just got up and got a bottle of water from beside the chair in the living room and will try to sip while I’m typing.) I’m hoping that my body gets used to all this water, rather than feeling as if my eyeballs are floating as I run to the bathroom. (can THAT count as exercise, too?) :0)

I’m feeling more motivated as I move onward and downward on my efforts to lose the lard.

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The Internet is a Wonderful Thing

PaintRef.com

Several years ago my husband bought our 2003 Corvette on eBay. Yeah, that’s right. Nuts, huh?

He flew to Kansas City with a cashier’s check, a letter from the lady at the bank, and her phone number, in case it was needed. He drove it home.

He has smiled ever since.

He LOVES this car.

Recently, we started having messages pop up on the dash, indicating all kinds of problems, including “check engine,” for which we called, made an appointment for the Chevrolet Service Department in Fort Smith to look at it. Two weeks later, they finally called, said we needed a new ‘whatever module,’ and it would be $450 plus labor, but they couldn’t get one. The part had been discontinued.

We brought the Vette back home yesterday. My husband got on the net and was able to FIND the part we needed – $148.00 – but even BETTER – found a video by a guy who showed how to FIX the module we had! My husband had the tools needed, and he decided he would try to follow the video. There were about 100 comments from people thanking the man for making such a good video and helping them fix the problem.

So the Vette is in our shop now. This is a fix that does NOT require the whole front end be taken off, but my husband said it may take some time. I made him PROMISE to take lots of breaks, drink water, plus come in and rest from time to time.

Even with that promise, having lived with the man for 52 years now (and loving him longer than that) I know he’ll decide to act like he’s still in his 20’s working himself into exhaustion unless I play bad guy.

I will go out and keep checking on him. I’ve taken him a bottle of water this morning and watched as he turned on the a/c in the shop. I will check on him again in about an hour before I leave to get a haircut, and then I’ll insist he come in for lunch and a rest. Then I’ll go out there with him and start cleaning another yard critter.

I’ve told him that he gets no rewards for how quickly he finishes the job. HOPEFULLY, he will do this fix as if it were a hobby, rather than a matter of life and death…

He bought several Chevrolet manuals when he bought the car, but they weren’t much help this time. We’re grateful that he found the part, if needed, and hopefully a way to fix the problem – thanks to the wonderful man on the Internet.

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Small Victory

I FINALLY got back to the 30-pounds-off-since-my-heaviest mark this morning! HOORAY!! Thanks again to Maria, who suggested in her blog – FlowingWatersArt.wordpress.com that big goals should be broken down into more doable chunks. I haven’t met my “doable chunk” goals for the three weeks I’ve been trying, but my motivation is high, and that’s the more important thing right now.

I’m building good habits – watching my portions, eating healthy snacks, drinking THREE to FOUR 17.9 oz bottles of water each day (my eyeballs are floating as I run to the bathroom), exercising, etc.

I’m doing yoga stretches and abdominal exercises every day.

This week I started exercising with 5-pound weights- Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I do a pretty short session – enough so my arms are definitely feeling it, but I’m not incapacitated on doing my normal activities. Monday and Wednesday I did two short sessions with the weights during the day plus my yoga.

Yesterday I found a 3-minute video on the net. The lady was using 3-pound weights, so I switched to those and exercised along with her. She was doing different things than I was doing with the 5-pound weights. My arms felt pretty ‘used’ when I finished, but this is a good addition to what I’ve started to do. I plan to do a session with the 5-pound weights and another with the 3-pound weights with the nice lady MWF next week.

I feel good that I’m taking one day at a time, making short-term goals that seem more achievable, am moving and exercising more.

Short term goals are –

  • Work to try to lose 2 lbs in the coming week
  • Check off my exercises each day (giving myself gold stars :o) )
  • Drink 3 to 4 bottles of water daily
  • Work toward the idea of earning “Bear with ’40’ on his chest” in the near future.
  • Realize that I’m working to lose the lard and get stronger – that ANY progress toward that goal is a victory and should be celebrated.
Made with Love by recitethis.com

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Filed under Attitude, Cause for Celebration, Challenges, Changes, DIET!, exercise

Red Letter Day – 7-7-2021

Words Matter Or Word Smatter?
  • FIRST – My husband said I should write this blog post!
  • SECOND – I was right TWICE yesterday and he acknowledged it!

We took one of our vehicles for diagnosis and service first thing yesterday morning. I told my husband I would follow him, since when senses of direction were passed out, I was AWOL. I can get lost in a paper bag. He said I KNEW where the place was – at the curve of two streets in Ft. Smith. I told him that the company had been sold and they had relocated to the autopark, wherever that was. He got angry, so I let it go and told him I would follow him.

We got to the place he said. There was a big sign that has been there at least a year that says, “We moved!” and gave the address at the autopark. We wound around and around, finally making it to the autopark. We made it in time for our appointment, and he said. “You were right.” as we drove home together.

We changed our TV provider recently. That meant a lot of changes, and as we age, we seem to learn the new procedures with less and less grace. The biggest remaining problem for us with the new system was that our whole DVD collection, taped on a system called, “Synology” was gone. Since my husband got rid of the DVDs as we taped them on this, it was really upsetting.

My husband has been working with Microsoft – who did an update recently that disappeared our access to the program, and the tech support from Synology, trying to solve the problem.

Since I am amazed that my computer works at ALL, my function at these times is to keep my mouth firmly shut rather than voice what are probably inane suggestions.

This once, though, I told him that I THOUGHT I remembered that we accessed the movies through our Playstation. He blew this suggestion off right away, irritated that I interrupted his train of thought. This was two or three weeks ago.

Finally, we were able to access the collection through the Media Player on Roku. This was a really good thing, but he is still not satisfied, since it’s not coming through our main system, but an add-on. I finally suggested that we get on the Playstation and see what it showed. My husband did that, a pained expression on his face. There – right in front of us – was “DS218” – our movie collection! We immediately accessed a move and watched it.

When the movie was over, my husband looked at me and said, “You were right.”

Last night, he said, “You need to write a blog post about this.” I told him I was marking my calendar – that first – he said I was right twice, and second, that he wanted me to tell others about it. We agreed that since we are now considered, “Elderly” by many (though not close enough that we can punch them in the face for saying that) that we need to work together when we have problems – listen to each other more and consider that the other might have a point.

Words to live by. MAYBE I’ll be right again sometime… :0)

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Customer Service

amzn.to

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Striving

The Little Engine That Could

This was a classic book when I was a child. It’s all about striving – trying to reach a goal. The little engine kept striving, all the while saying, “I THINK I can, I THINK I can…” finally reaching the top of the hill due to never giving up and his fierce determination.

I’m ‘thinking I can’ now, on DAY 5 of my new regimen of eating right, raw veggies and a bit of dip for an afternoon snack, a bottle of water, and yoga each afternoon in an effort to lose my lard. I lost a bit yesterday, so that’s encouraging.

I also FEEL a bit better due to the yoga. Some of the positions are getting a bit easier. I’m able to slowly stretch a bit more. Some things will take some time. WHEN I make it to Monday of next week – with my daily yoga practice – I’m planning to add some work with dumbbells to my yoga practice Mon, Wed, and Fri.

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Beware

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We’re all still going through a very stressful time. It’s hard to try to get to whatever the ‘new normal’ is without at least a twinge or two about risk.

I’ve chosen to read as much as I can about what is going on in the world around me – reading as many different sources as I can find – decide what I want to do, and just do it.

Life is too short to live in fear of everything. I’m going to die of ‘something’ at whatever time I do. I can only take whatever precautions I think are reasonable and get on with it. I don’t want to miss the rest of my life because of fear.

Mindfully Glam

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No Good Reason

Etsy.com

We did our errands and I went out to the shop to work on the Farmer Robot.

I replaced his ‘hands,’ having found an old pair of work gloves. I stuffed the fingers with plastic peanuts and the palm of the hands with plastic bags. I drilled a hole in one side of the gloves so I could screw them onto the arms – having learned the hard way that if you don’t do that, the hands ‘disappear.’ I then wrapped some duct tape around the bottom of the gloves – also having learned the hard way – that if you don’t, wasps make nests in the gloves.

I laid him on his back in order to be able to glue new eyes in and have them stay on, instead of falling off before they are dry. When I eased him down onto his back, water came streaming out! Apparently he filled with water during all the heavy rains we’ve been having. I left him on his back and finished painting the lower part of his overalls and legs.

Later today I’ll turn him over, seeing if more water comes out, and also so I can paint the lower part of his back and legs. When I stand him up again, I’ll use duct tape around his neck to keep as much water out as possible, then tie the bandana back on.

My husband will use our truck dolly to give him a ride from the shop to his spot on the right side of our driveway pad against the house. When he is back where he lives, we’ll take pics to show you.

I’ve almost finished the 2nd piece in our metal critters refurbishing project. There are 8 more in the shop, with more to come.

_______________

,I think I told you that we got fiber optic Internet and TV when we finally got the opportunity recently. We’re very happy with the Internet. There is much less lag time than there used to be. The TV, however, is VERY upset when the system goes off, in a sudden power outage, for example. It takes forever (seemingly) to get to the point where it is up enough that our remotes again work. We decided to get a UPS that will live in the entertainment center with the TV plugged into it. Our power outages are of very short duration. We have a generator that comes on when the public power is out. It switches on by itself when it detects the public power is off for a certain amount of time. It switches off again when it senses we have public power back. A couple of mornings ago, our power went off and on several times in succession. I thought we would never get the TV back again.

The UPS we ordered came this afternoon and my husband hooked it up awhile ago. Now we’re waiting for the TV to resurrect itself and be able to watch TV again. Fingers are crossed that we have this small irritation solved now.

________________

I find it almost impossible to believe what a gorgeous day we’re having. It is normally in the mid to high 90s with a heat index in the triple digits. Right now it’s sunny and 78 degrees F. with a light breeze. Stunningly beautiful!

I hope you’re enjoying your day, too. :0)

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Filed under Challenges, Changes, Lewis Art, Lewis projects, Lewis yard art, Mother Nature, Thoughts on a ________

New Descriptive Noun

Reader’s Digest

I am thinking we should have a word that describes my husband and me trying to deal with new technology “DOOFAD.” (A person who is the personification of being DOOFUS.)

Yesterday we were lucky enough to finally get fiber optic Internet and TV service installed. The Internet is great – much faster with nothing new for Doofads to learn. The TV service is a ‘whole nother ball of wax.’

We listened carefully to the tech explaining the new system. He was bored because he has to say the same stuff over and over, so he went fast. My husband asked how we could get a 2nd remote, and we lucked out that he just went to the truck, got a 2nd remote, brought it back and programed it for us. He left and the fun began.

Long story much shorter, we managed to choose a group of favorite channels and set some programs up on the DVR. We figured out how to get back and forth between the regular TV and Hulu. Somehow my husband got closed captions turned on and gave up on getting it off again. I fumbled around and finally found the place and turned it off.

We THINK we’re reasonably set up at this point, but still have a lot to go over in the book and learning to use the remotes better.

After another hour or so, We have our old services cancelled and we will send their equipment back today.

Today a tech from ADT Security Systems came because our system was chirping, was signaling low batteries, etc. I got online and discovered that ours was a model that required a tech to change the batteries. He came first thing this morning. I had to admit to him that when I couldn’t get the chirping to stop, I unplugged the system for awhile. He figured out that the ‘low battery’ was on the emergency pendant I can wear to get help that comes with the system. I had forgotten about the pendant, plus the fact that it was connected to the security system. DUH. He changed the batteries in the pendant, then in the main system for good measure. He checked everything out, went over security codes with me, etc. I feel stupid, but I’m glad I got the refresher course.

*A good idea for patient teenagers – be entrepreneurs in offering to help DOOFADS deal with new equipment, trouble shoot problems, and explain over and over again how to set things up and use them. :0)

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Finally!

reddit.com

Today is the day!

After waiting and watching for what seems like forever, wonderful people are coming this afternoon to install fiber optic Internet and TV!

We came to Arkansas in 1986 so that my husband could take a job in Fort Smith. We built our home here on top of a ridge line in 1987, happy to have a place to ourselves, some privacy, room to breathe, and more. We’re about 4 miles from the town of Greenwood. The fact that we’re here provides some character-building aspects, too.

One of those is Internet service that has been pretty awful. We’ve changed to whatever is the best we can do the whole time we’ve been here, but you can only imagine how happy we are to finally get into this century. :0)

This afternoon we are supposed to have real Internet where we could actually stream something, were we so inclined. We might see fewer circles revolving while a picture struggles to emerge. I might not have to wait to see the half-sentence I’ve typed, or may not have to wait after I’ve pressed a button for something to happen.

I can’t wait to see the differences.

I’ve heard that others who have also gotten this service recently are very pleased with the Internet, and that the TV portion of things still has a few bugs. I’ve reminded my husband, since he has even less patience than I, that we may have to be patient when working the bugs out.

Whatever happens, I’m delighted that we’ll have NEW and DIFFERENT experiences and possible issues!

Hooray!

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Thoughts on a Tuesday 5-25-2021

Unknown

WEATHER – It’s a good thing I’m not water-soluble, or I would have sogged down into a puddle by now with all the rain we have had. We just returned from putting our trash out for pickup and running errands. I wore a hoodie, since my husband has no patience for me trying to use an umbrella. I just throw my hood up to stay as dry as possible.

YARD WORK – I pruned our rose bushes and weeded a bit yesterday. Some unfriendly bug bit me on the back of my hand. It swelled up and itched like crazy. I finally got the itching to stop and the swelling should be down by tomorrow.

I was watching for ants, since I react badly to their stings/bites, but whatever bit me snuck up and did it before I was aware. I am going to try to harvest more lettuce, since my plants are starting to bolt, but it will have to wait until the rain stops.

EMAIL HACK – I seem to be over the worst of the repercussions from my email being hacked. I spent the entire day yesterday, except for the time pruning the roses, contacting as many friends and family as possible, giving them my new address, plus getting on our important websites and changing email, user name and password. What a hassle! I did get to talk to people I would LIKE to talk to more often, so that was a really good thing. If I finally reach a real person at Google, I will try to enlist their help in finding out who is responsible for the hack.

GENERATOR – Just as your car will never act up or make the noise you’ve been hearing when you take it to the shop, our generator came on just fine when the tech came out to help us figure out why it didn’t do its weekly test and or continue to run when we started it manually. He looked it over carefully. It started right up and continued until he turned it off. We told him the ‘overcrank’ light was on when we went out to look. My husband suspected the carburetor, but the tech was looking more at the fuel regulator, whatever that is. He said he would check his manual for ‘old’ generators to see if he could be of more help if we need to call him again. Meanwhile, $131.50 later, the generator IS working…

WEIGHT LOSS – My newest motivation to lose the lard seems to be working – at least, so far. Last Monday we had our routine doctor appointment with blood tests. We were doing fine (for old people) and the doc said we didn’t have to come back for 6 months, rather than the 3 months we have been doing. I decided that I wanted to try to finally lose a significant amount of my poundage by the time we go back in November. Since Monday I have lost 4.6 pounds. I’m trying to keep my focus on trying to really watch my portions, try not to eat in-between meals, or if I do, eat a really careful snack. I’m trying to move more, and pick up my afternoon yoga stretches again.

So far, my yoga efforts have been a dismal failure. Usually, I’m out in the yard when I WAS doing yoga. I’m telling myself that if I’m up and moving, that’s good, but I know it’s not a substitute for the good stretching I do with my practice. I’m going to rethink WHEN I’m trying to do my practice so that I can work in the yard AND do my yoga stretches on a daily basis.

ART ROOM – I’m still trying to overcome my stupid fear of failure regarding trying a new art technique. I’m really fascinated watching people demonstrate ‘acrylic pours’ and then ‘pours with crackle gel.’ They are getting wonderful abstract colorful work with gorgeous texture and cracks highlighted with gold. I’m going to keep making careful notes as I watch (and drool) and see if I can get started on it in my art room this week.

I hope that you are having a fabulous day, enjoying the weather where you are, if possible, or if cooped up inside like me, changing over to something fun INSIDE.

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Filed under Challenges, Changes, character-building exercises, DIET!, Gardening, Housekeeping - Maintenance, Mother Nature, playing in my art room, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds, Thoughts on a ________

Bogging Down…

victoriacolemanartist.com

I’ve been working steadily all day trying to reach my friends to give them the new email address. Then I started on all the websites that have the old address. What a headache!

One good thing – I’ve talked to people who mean a lot to me today – via the new email and my phone. That’s a good thing despite the frustrating reason for it.

I’m going to take a break, get outside and prune my rose bushes. Then I’ll do another session.

I just LOVE the painting by Victoria Coleman above. It really captures exhaustion well, doesn’t it.

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Character-Building Exercise

iStock

I wrote a quick note to you yesterday telling you my email was hacked. THEN I found out, from phone calls from loved ones, that emails were being sent out saying I needed help and to send $500 asap. (As if I would DO that…)

So, with hostility and frustration, with visions of boiling whoever is behind this in oil, I have closed my email account, opened a new one, and am writing or calling everyone I can think of to let them know my new address.

Truly a character-building exercise, and NOT how I wanted to spend the day. Sigh.

End of Rant. :0/

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A Week’s Progress

Spoon University

I have finished Week 1 of again trying to stay motivated and lose the lard. I concentrated on controlled portions for lunch and dinner, and very few, if any, snacks. At Lunch Bunch I asked for a to-go bag when I ordered, ate half, and brought the other half home. I cut up the leftover chicken fingers in our dinner chef salad last night, with lettuce and spinach from our garden.

I’m happy to report there are 3.8 lbs less of me than there were last Monday. My goal is to lose 2.5 lbs per week. I may not reach my goal each week, but if I’m down at ALL I’ll consider it a success.

And so starts Week 2. Concentration will be on doing my yoga stretches each day.

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Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes…

Harvard Business Review – Getty Images

We are now in what promises to be a flurry of activity here. All of it exciting, but a bit overwhelming, as well.

THING ONE – We received a quote from a really nice man who came to our home yesterday via Home Advisor to see the work we needed to have done. We need our porch ceiling torn out and redone so that it doesn’t end up falling on us while we’re eating lunch out there. Our home is over 30 years old. We had it built in 1987. We are learning that 30 years is the limit on several things, the porch ceiling being only ONE of those things, particularly when a squirrel family has gotten into the attic.

This man and his brother will replace the porch ceiling for us. They will also seal the place in the roof soffit where the squirrels are getting in. A third part of the job will be installing the pair of new shutters we got to replace the one that simply fell off the front of our house and shattered over the winter. I did not have ANY interest in my husband trying to install the shutters on top of a two-story ladder, so this is a really important part of the work we wanted done.

He said the contract for another job starts Monday, so he will work our stuff in before he starts that! He will be here at noon with the paperwork:0)

THING TWO – we have been watching with great interest the activity surrounding fiber optic cable going in. We have had people all over the place working on poles, asking for access to places around us, etc. We received an email this morning allowing us to order the new fiber optic Internet service, plus a TV service, plus a phone service. We filled out a form and someone will call us to answer questions and do some scheduling. If we sign up for this, it will mean a LOT of changes. That’s good, but it strains our brains a bit to make sense of what needs to change, how to affect that change, and the time frame. A welcome character-building exercise for sure. (This from two old fogies who FINALLY gained access to a new TV prescription channel, after having to buy and install a Roku stick, get passwords to work, etc.)

OTHER STUFF – meanwhile, the valve we ordered for the propane heater in the shop is supposed to be delivered today. Hopefully, installation of that will solve the problem of not being able to light the pilot light out there. My husband made up a new PVC pipe with valve to replace the one we found broken into three pieces over the winter. It is now attached to the brick planter. All that is needed is holes drilled. And then we’ll test the irrigation system for the yard to check for blowouts and leaks. Things are finally coming together after the ‘revenge of the gremlins’ or whatever we’ve been experiencing lately. The list is getting shorter!

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Seasonal Help with Eating

BoredPanda.com

I’m grateful for spring also because this season of the year helps me in my efforts to lose the lard.

I’m growing leaf lettuce, head lettuce, radishes, yellow squash, zucchini, red onions, spinach, broccoli, tomatoes, and celery. Being able to look forward to harvesting some of this straight from the garden to our table at night makes a big difference in my eating. I can throw off the comfort food of the winter and embrace being outside longer each day and eating big, healthy salads for our dinners.

All of my outside activities encourage me to drink more water, as well. My pedometer takes notice of my increased mobility and that encourages me to do even more.

Fingers crossed that this all comes together and I can make some good progress on my efforts to get healthier, stronger, and more flexible.

123RF.com

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Journey

Kerri Walsh Jennings – DevelopGoodHabits.com

In my efforts to move more, I’ve decided to change things up a bit today.

You might be able to hear me breathing a bit hard as I type. I just came in from taking our trash out and getting our mail. That doesn’t sound like much, but our driveway is gravel, STEEP, and more than 650 feet long. I carried the trash bag and box about half of the way, changing from one hand to the other, walking carefully so I didn’t skid and fall on my head. I also brought my phone in my pocket, to be able to call for help, if needed. I dragged the trash bag part of the way.

Going down, I was mainly worried about losing my footing. I really need cleats. Once I got down to the bottom of the driveway, I put the trash where it is picked up and got our mail. THEN there was the process of walking UP the steep driveway.

By the time I had made it about a third of the way, I was breathing hard. I stopped and breathed for a minute or two, and then started in again. By the time I got about half way up, I started thinking about the children’s book, “The Little Engine that Could,” and started thinking, “I think I can. I THINK I can…”

I had to stand and rest a couple more times before I reached the top, humming the theme from “Rocky.” :0)

My breathing has returned to normal. My husband was taking a nap when I decided to do this. He roused enough to ask, “Do you want to drive the trash down now?” I calmly smiled and said, “I just did.”

joemarino.org

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Calories

thatswhatthatmeans.tumblr.com – Shibley Smiles

The saga of small annoyances vs real problems continues in the Lewis household.

A month or so ago, the dish inside the microwave that turns when the food is cooking to ensure even heating quit working. I looked up our records and the microwave was purchased in 2005. We have certainly gotten our money’s worth.

My husband is really good at fixing things. He figured out a way to fix the microwave so the plate turned again. Things went fine until yesterday, when the plate stopped turning again. My husband immediately squashed ideas of getting a new one – assuming we will EVER be able to negotiate our steep driveway and the roads between our home and town again. (We are into our second week of being completely stuck up on top of our ridge line – the first week due to ice and this week due to snow. We still have about 8 inches on the ground, so we MAY be able to get out by NEXT week some time if the sun stays out and the temperatures warm up from the current 15 degrees F.)

My husband went to work on the microwave again and we tested it this morning. It ran – and the plastic ‘thingie’ in the center of the floor of the microwave turned – for about 3 seconds and then the whole microwave shut off. It is now clear that the microwave is completely dead this time, no matter how smart or inventive he is.

I explain all this because we have been thoroughly enjoying frozen dinners from two new places in town – Real Food, and Stu’s Clean Cookin.’ These are individual dinners, portion controlled, healthy, and delicious. We have quickly become spoiled.

“I” will need to get inventive now on defrosting these on the counter, then transferring them to oven dishes, then figuring out how long – and at what temperature – to heat them up. In the meantime, I’ll cook a roast for tonight in the crock pot.

As I began when I started this post, this is a small annoyance vs the very real and dangerous problems many good people in the United States are facing right now. I feel a bit guilty even mentioning something as small as this. The pandemic, cabin fever, and the trying to diet have all combined to make me a rather gripe-y lady.

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Diet and Exercise Run Amok

dumpaday.com

It’s run amok because I am a stress eater. My appetite would choke a horse on regular days. Under stress, I could win awards at the hot dog eating contests at the fair.

When we were dating, my husband would suddenly decide we should stop and get something to eat – a thing I later realized was a reaction to my getting terse, sarcastic, and maybe even downright ‘snipe-y’ when I got too hungry.

My appetite is endless and I end up stuffing my face with all sorts of things I shouldn’t eat. Afterwards, my more mature side comes out and takes the lead. Happily, MOST of my days are more controlled. I’m having a bit more trouble lately.

The good thing, as far as I’m concerned, is that each day is a new one. I’m coming up with more and more things to do that are fun and distracting – or productive – to do, resulting in fewer ‘stuff-my-face’ binges. I’m trying to plan our meals and any snacks. When my husband brings home things we shouldn’t eat, I put them somewhere I don’t see them – or, better yet, have HIM put them somewhere HE can access them if he wants, but that I don’t run across them continually.

I’m writing down my elliptical practice and my yoga stretches on my to-do list, scheduling them in my day as priorities. As a part of the to-do stuff is one project each day that will make me feel productive. (Today’s project is working on a clean-up of my art room.)

SO – as I type, my mouth is firmly closed. :0) I’m going to heed this suggestion –

Elizabeth Gilbert via 2STARart.com

One day at a time.

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What Will You Do With Your Now?

Forwarded by a friend

I laughed when I saw this. I have to admit that I do identify with it.

In our world today, tensions remain high. Emotions live at the surface. It’s hard to know whether to keep up with the news of the day or avoid it and cover up your head. Communication can be strained. Attitudes are like yo-yos or roller coasters. You’re not sure whether to smile and put your hands in the air or crawl down into the bottom of the ride car and hope the ride will end soon. It’s hard to plan when we don’t have the first clue what’s happening or what may be in the future.

I have found that I like to feel in control. I like to plan my day – know what’s going to happen – get things ready. Very little of that is possible now, so I’m a bit at loose ends.

But then – as I’ve had some time to think about it – I have never really had control over much of anything. That’s all just been an illusion. I DO have control over how I REACT to whatever is happening, though, so THAT’S where I will put my concentration and efforts.

All we really have is NOW. The PRESENT. I will try to remember that and make each NOW count. Make each NOW the best I can make it. Make each NOW productive, enjoyable, or at least as pleasant as possible. And make the people sharing my NOW know how very much they mean to me.

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