“An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.” ~ Bill Vaughan
“One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this: To rise above the little things.” ~ John Burroughs
“Resolve to make at least one person happy every day” ~ Sydney Smith
“My wishes for you, Great start for Jan, Love for Feb, Peace for March, No worries for April, Fun for May, Joy for June to Nov, Happiness for Dec, Have a lucky and wonderful 2023.” ~ Anonymous
“May peace break into your house and may thieves come to steal your debts.
May the pockets of your jeans become a magnet of $100 bills.
May love stick to your face like Vaseline and may laughter assault your lips!
May your clothes smell of success like smoking tires.
May happiness slap you across the face and may your tears be that of joy.
May the problems you had forget your home address! In simple words …….
May 2023 be the best year of your life!!!”
Source Unknown
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“I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re Doing Something.” ~ Neil Gaiman, British author
“Probably the reason we all go so haywire at Christmas time with the endless unrestrained and often silly buying of gifts is that we don’t quite know how to put our love into words.” – Harlan Miller
“Christmas, children, is not a date. It is a state of mind.” – Mary Ellen Chase
“Christmas is not as much about opening our presents as opening our hearts.” ~Janice Maeditere
“Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall.” ~Larry Wilde
“I wish we could put up some of the Christmas spirit in jars and open a jar of it every month.” ~Harlan Miller
“One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day. Don’t clean it up too quickly.” ~Andy Rooney
I just had the BEST Christmas present – I got to talk to our son via the conference call program. We had a wonderful talk. I got to see him smile and laugh. I’m feeling HUGGED right now. :0)
I hope you’re having a nice Christmas at your house. It’s 20 degrees here, but it’s supposed to get to 38 this afternoon! Woo HOOO! Since my husband is taking a nap, I’m trying to be a responsible adult and get things a bit more organized in the office. I am behind on my online bookkeeping – with November’s information sitting beside me in a folder. I’ll try to get that taken care of today. I’m also officially changing calendars today.
2022
As you can see, I’m very messy. This, though, and my kitchen calendar, together, keep me straight on our obligations, accomplishments, etc. Each year I tell myself that I’ll actually USE the lines on the calendar, trying to be neater, and then I degenerate into my normal messy state…
2023
solagohome.com
We are eating normally today, even though it’s Christmas. With all the kind people who love us and don’t care about our lack of willpower, we have devoured pumpkin bread, Mt. Dew Cake with Pineapple, and a box of chocolates, among other things. We are full as ticks and are both ready to TRY to tone it down some.
Minions
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This is DAY 163 of daily yoga. Yesterday I held the plank pose three times at a count of 30 each. I hope that 2023 brings me more flexibility, more strength, more balance, less pain and stiffness, and less of me. :0)
The U.S. Sun
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Enjoy today with warmth, love, and lots and lots of hugs!
I hope that you have been good this year and can hope that Santa fills your stocking tonight with goodies that will delight you all year long.
Gift giving is over for us now, having given the presents I made and other gifts to family and friends. My husband and I get each other things all year ’round, whenever we find them, so have agreed not to exchange gifts at Christmas. Our son is across the world in Thailand, so it’s just the two of us this year. We’ll probably talk with him via the conference call program he has set up for us tonight or tomorrow. Happily, we’ve come through the unseasonably cold weather for Arkansas just fine. We’re still dripping water in two sinks, but I think we’re though the worst of it now. It’s 16 degrees now and a high of 29 is expected this afternoon. Break out the swim suits!
Last night we got an email that UPS had delivered the part for which my husband had been waiting to hopefully fix the air compressor in the shop. When I looked at the proof of delivery, it said, ‘left on the front porch.’ I looked, but no package was there. My husband drove down the driveway to look for the package and also check for mail. There was a plastic bag with a package in it tied to the arm of our robot. (Apparently, our ‘front door’ has moved from our house to the bottom of our driveway.)
He went out to the shop early this morning to turn the heat on in the shop. He went out awhile ago to start working on the air compressor. He came right back, saying, “I think it needs more time.” I encouraged him to wait until after lunch and reminded him that we aren’t under the gun for any reason on this and that he can take his time. We’ll see.
My good friend Kay called to see if we had ‘been blowed off our hill’ last night. We assured each other that we have gotten through this uncivilized weather with no problems thus far and hoped we were past the worst of it. She and her husband, Bud, suffered badly previously, having a pipe burst, flooding their kitchen and dining area. They had to have all that replaced and it cost a fortune, as well as being traumatic. This time we’re both lucky. :0)
Amber
Abby
Our animals have been very grateful for a warm, dry house and plenty of food and water, too. Our cat usually prefers to sleep in the garage, but she hasn’t balked that we kept her inside the past two nights. She took over one of Amber’s beds, turning over on her back, spreading out as much as possible, and daring Amber to come near. Amber wisely chose to sleep on one of her other beds.
I hope Christmas Eve finds you healthy and happy, surrounded by as many of those you love as possible.
It was -4 with a wind chill of -26 here when I woke up, according to thermometers and my computer. I’m sending a note of diplomatic protest to Mother Nature, as this is totally ‘uncivilized’ for Arkansas. Thankfully, no pipes burst overnight. Our garage door is frozen shut, however. I discovered that when I tried to let the dog out. I made sure it wasn’t still trying to open – burning out the motor – shut off the light and let the dog out the people door at the front of the house instead. We kept our cat in overnight, thinking that she would probably wake us up in the middle of the night meowing to get out. She didn’t! It is now a balmy 3 degrees F. with a wind chill of -14. It’s supposed to finally get above freezing Monday afternoon. I’m trying not to even think about our water bill, since we’re having to drip water in two sinks in order to try to keep our pipes from freezing. I hope that you are safe, dry, and well this bitterly cold morning on this ‘night-before’ the ‘night-before-Christmas.’
We’ll have a comfort food dinner of chicken, onions and mushrooms in cream of chicken and mushroom soup over rice tonight.
I’ve been a reasonably ‘good girl’ this year – well, mostly. Sometimes.
I know your priority is to try to fill the requests in the letters of all the good little girls and boys who are anxiously waiting for your visit Christmas Eve, and that’s as it should be.
If you find you have a bit of time and energy left, though, I would very much appreciate your consideration in fulfilling these requests –
Please help those I love to be healthy in the coming year. As you know, things have been stressful for them and they need a bit of extra help to be able to do all the things they would like to do.
Please do what you can to help those who are suffering. Maybe just seeing you fly over an extra time or two would give them hope and strength.
Please encourage us to tone down the rhetoric and remember that we are all in this world together. We need to listen more and talk less.
I really don’t need presents. I have everything I need, except maybe an extra hug or two. I realize I’m asking a lot, but we need help, especially now.
I really enjoyed yesterday. I reached out to two long-time friends, asking if I could come over for a bit. Nora got right back to me, saying, “YES!” so I jumped into the truck.
Our schedules just don’t mesh, so we hadn’t seen each other in a LONG time. It doesn’t diminish the love in any way – life is just more complicated these days. (She works full time and I’m with my husband full time.)
I was surprised to learn that she is now working from home full time. I don’t know the logistics of it, but I’m delighted that she doesn’t have to spend all that money for gas, or worry about getting to and from Ft. Smith if the roads are bad. She is also having a roof for her patio constructed so that she can enjoy having outside in the mornings. This is a real quality of life issue for her. She’s tried various other more temporary roofs, but with our gusty Arkansas winds, they have blown down or completely blown away. Now she’ll have something that will last. :0) She apparently liked the tote bag I painted for her and complimented the card I painted. Since she is a pastel artist, I’m really happy that she is pleased with my efforts.
We ate lunch and then I heard from another friend, Carla. She said she was out and about, and wanted to come to our place around 4pm. I went scurrying around, making sure she had a comfortable place to sit, a clear place to put down a drink, the bathroom was clean, etc. (That’s what I get for being a slob.)
She brought what is called a “Kaleidoscope Rose.” Isn’t it stunning? I’ve never seen one before. I THINK that this is done very carefully with dyes on each petal to create this. However it happens. I think it’s gorgeous. She also brought chocolates that I am trying my best to stay away from. :0)
She liked her personalized tote, too, laughing at one of the quotes about car racing. (She and her son have a stock car.)
So it was a beautiful day, catching up with two ladies who mean the world to me, getting hugs, bringing up my spirits. What a lucky lady I am!
One of my favorite things is Christmas lights. They get me into the spirit of the holidays like nothing else. I found some pics of towns in Arkansas that are celebrating in style that I’ll share with you over the coming days.
Part of the Christmas decorations on the square in Greenwood, Arkansas
I’m slow to get into the spirit this year, for some reason. This morning our son sent a picture to us of part of the decorations in Thailand –
Christmas in Chiang Mai, Thailand
Yesterday I started getting presents together for my friends. I’m mailing some and then giving others at various times, so I’ll get things together based on when and where they’re going. I’m also going to try to get started with Christmas cards. Maybe some Christmas music…
The Ft. Smith National Cemetery now honors over 16,000 veterans. Before Christmas, volunteers come to the Ft. Smith Convention Center to put red bows on wreaths to decorate the headstones as you see here.
I’ve done this twice with my good friend, Carla, whose husband is buried here.
There were lots and lots of tables set up in a huge room. Other volunteers came with long poles on which wreaths were hung. They would pile them on the tables for us. Then others would come by with piles and piles of bows ready to be tied onto the wreaths. As we worked, still more would come to take the finished wreaths to waiting trucks for transport to the cemetery.
Christmas music played in the background and volunteers sang along or talked to the others at the tables. It took several hours, as you might imagine, to get the bows on 16,000 wreaths, but the feeling of love and warmth in that room took my breath away. Carla and I laughed and talked, hugged from time to time, took some breaks, and met other really nice people.
There is a special time for people who have loved ones in the cemetery to put a wreath on those headstones in a more private setting. When that has been done, volunteers put a wreath on all the others until all are decorated. As you can see, the finished product of the efforts is impressive.
After the holidays, the wreaths are gathered by more volunteers. The bows are removed and stored in huge boxes and the wreaths stored on poles for next year. It’s a beautiful way to honor our vets for their service. A very special time for me to help Carla honor her husband.
My sister-in-law creates this gorgeous display each year – a beautiful way to show off her collection and get into the Christmas spirit at the same time. She sent me these pictures, and she said it was okay if I shared them with you.
This is a close-up picture showing me that she includes two figurines in her display that I have sent her at various times over the years. It makes me feel that I am with her, and that’s a really nice thing.
I’m trying to get into the spirit at my house, but I haven’t really caught the bug yet. I think the first thing I’ll do to start feeling the season is get two packages ready to send to two special people for the holidays. I’ll also prep to send Christmas cards.
Having a happy day already. I’ve chatted with several friends and relatives this morning, reaching out to share our love and wishes for a happy celebration today. I’m feeling very lucky to be in a warm, dry house, husband sleeping in his chair in the living room, getting ready to start cooking, and feeling surrounded by love. Absolutely priceless. :0)
The photo above is old, from 2013, but it gives you the flavor of the park that is in the center of our ‘square’ in the middle of Greenwood. There are MANY more sidewalks in the park now (kind of like the spokes on a wheel), MANY more commemorative stone plaques lining the sidewalks, and flags beside all. This is a very personal display on all days such as Veterans’ Day, because people are remembering their family members who served. I wanted to get one for our family, honoring my husband’s 4 years of service in the Marine Corps, but he wasn’t having any of it. He doesn’t consider himself a ‘veteran’ since he didn’t die during his service. (Sad that the Marine Corp service didn’t make him smarter, or give him the realization that it’s the fact that he was trained and ready to defend his country, on ships at many hot spots during his time, that is what is being honored. The schools will have assemblies today, and many veterans will attend.
Even though the world has essentially ruined Halloween for me, I still love seeing Ray Villaphane’s pumpkin carving, wonderfully creative handmade children’s costumes, and terrific displays with skeletons. I have wonderful memories of Halloweens as a child, and that will have to suffice.
We don’t have trick-or-treaters at our house because we live on the top of a ridge line up a steep gravelly driveway. The few kids that DO trick or treat nowadays are smart enough to go to the wonderful neighborhoods where the houses are closer together and most people have their porch lights on in welcome, enabling them to quickly gather goodies.
Dierk Schaefer photo-flickr.com
The ‘goody’ I wanted when I was a kid was a chocolate bar. When I got home from the gathering, I quickly went though everything to see if I had been lucky enough to get one.
historymaniacmegan.com
The only thing we were warned about was the possibility of a razor blade being imbedded in the middle of an apple. I didn’t worry, even if I DID get an apple, because to be honest, fruit was the furthest thing from my mind on Halloween.
I hope you’re enjoying your Labor Day today. I always think of my dad on this holiday because he was born on Labor Day, September 6th, 1918. He always took great pride, saying that it was ‘appropriate’ that he was born on “Labor Day.” :0)
All my life the holiday meant that I had at least a 3-day, sometimes a 4-day weekend, a luxury to be sure. We cooked out, and the smell of meat cooking on charcoal is one of the greatest aromas in the world.
We have our front and back doors open, enjoying a cool breeze this morning! Ahhhhhh! I don’t know how long it will last, but it’s a beautiful way to start the day.
I’ve enjoyed being a sloth lately, listening to very talented people singing on “The Voice,” and reading a series of books. It’s good to let down every once in a while and not feel I have to ‘accomplish’ something.
I hope you’re in contact with people you care about today.
Things are starting to come together on the Christmas cards I’m trying to paint. I’m trying to do stylized Christmas trees. I used bleeding tissue paper for the ‘leaves and branches’ part. Today I outlined the ‘tree’ with 3-D white paint, added a star on top and painted part of the ‘trunk’, for these are ‘live’ Christmas trees – the ones you can plant when the holiday is over.
I’m letting them dry now and will see what they look like tomorrow.
Once I finished vacuuming the first floor tiles and carpet, I made our lunch and then did the first of the month stuff. Then I headed up to my art room to see what I thought of my efforts yesterday on making Christmas cards for my friends to go with their presents.
So far, it looks like I have an interesting start to the cards that might work. (I used bleeding tissue paper on card stock yesterday and left them overnight to dry.) I took off the tissue paper this afternoon and am now trying to get the card stock to lie flat. (I put a gazillion sketch pads on top of the pile of them and will leave them until tomorrow, when I do the next step.)
I also took the tote bags I finished painting to spray the first side with some protective spray that will help avoid stains and increase the lasting power of the paint. I’ll spray the other side tomorrow.
I spent some time clearing off my drafting table so I have a good space to work tomorrow.
Now I’m going to do yoga practice # 17 and then dive back into my book.
I told you I would share the Christmas gifts I’ve been working on in my art room for the past month. I still need to make Christmas cards, bag them all up, and then store them until the proper time.
Carla – front (she and her son have built and run a race car.)Carla back
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Kay – front – (Lunch Bunch friend who loves word search puzzles)Kay – backLinda – front – (Lunch Bunch friend – loves jigsaw puzzles)Linda – backMikey – front – (our waitress at Lunch Bunch – is going to have a granddaughter soon)Mikey – backNora – front – long time friend – pastel artistNora – backPatty – front – (Lunch Bunch Friend – has pontoon boat, is very active)Patty – back
There are two other totes, but I’m not showing them here. They are for dear friends who read my blog. :0)
I had lots of fun getting started yesterday on my Christmas presents idea for my friends. I’m painting themed tote bags, personalized for each person.
These totes are large enough to use as grocery bags, shopping bags, hobby bags, beach bags, travel bags, etc. They can be washed by hand and dried flat. I’m doing painted drawings on each side, personalized to each person.
It’s really fun to gather ideas for each person, reference pictures, scheming and planning, and finally spending the time to create each one. At least these people will know I thought of them a LOT and love them. :0)
Yesterday I ironed them and started the drawings. I’ll continue to do the drawings as I can find blocks of time. I’m doing the drawings in our office, where I can stop and start as I need to. (I can also work in the ‘cool’ of the a/c. I can only manage short sessions, so I don’t want to turn on the a/c upstairs. This way I can have the best of both worlds.)
I’ll work upstairs when I start the painting.
Al Hirschfeld – dripdripsplattersplash.blogspot.com
One of the many reasons I fell in love with my husband was the 4th of July when he spent all evening setting off fireworks. My dad was almost blind, but he could see the night-time fireworks, and the 4th was his favorite holiday.
It was really hot that evening and my husband worked non-stop to make sure that it was the best 4th of July ever for my dad. My dad cried with joy, hugged him over over and over, thanking him profusely. And my heart dropped at his feet.
This year we’re hoping that our down-in-the-valley neighbors will set off some fireworks. I have my “Peppa Pig” Giant Bubble Wand ready to play with and hope to create some championship bubbles – though, really – even the regular ones make my heart sing.
Instead of a cookout, I’m going to fix us ‘shrimp cocktail meals’ with salad and a roll, and we’ll have ice cream for dessert in celebration of the day.
And we welcome July 2022 and Nathan from the Firefighters fundraising calendar from Australia. A great looking month it is, too. :0)July 2022 – Matt Dixon – mattdixon.co.uk – via my friend, Susy Slais
I find it hard to believe it’s already July. I can feel my hair blowing as the time flies over my head this year.
We will have Lunch Bunch with Kay and her family today. My friend (the birthday girl) Linda is on her way to Tennessee today. Kay’s son and a friend will be visiting today. I’m not sure who will be there, but it will be fun to see them. On the way there, we’ll put up our 4th of July mailbox decoration, get our mail, and take some mail to the drive-through post office. Afterwards, we’ll do a bit of shopping before coming home.
Snoopy and Woodstock in celebration
So far today I’ve changed sheets and started laundry. I’m baking some salmon and steaming asparagus for our dinner tonight. I’m doing bookkeeping for June in-between.
Nice Friday, and looking forward to a long, hopefully lazy weekend. :0) I’m hoping that our neighbors down in the valley will do their annual fireworks display. That would be ‘gravy’ on an already pretty nice week.
I carry my dad with me everywhere. He’s always with me.
He wasn’t one to say much. He was embarrassed by displays of emotion. He gave me the gift of humor. He used it himself to ward off the bullies at school who tried to make fun of him because one of his arms was shorter than the other and his hand was mangled and pretty much useless from a fall from a horse when he was three. People can’t laugh and bully at the same time.
He taught me to strive for your dreams, taking chances. He brought his wife and two kids from Long Island NY to Tulsa, Oklahoma in order to take a job in advertising in a small company. He not only did well in that job, but built his own independent advertising agency, eventually winning a lifetime achievement award from the American Advertising Federation for his unique contribution to Tulsa radio advertising. He went from barely scraping to never having to make a cold call to a client the rest of his life. His ads are still played on the radio from time to time in commemoration.
He taught me to think creatively as I watched him come up with new ideas to sell products, then cut his own ads on his tape recorder in our home, then sell them to the client. Even though he only had one hand that worked properly, I have 5 oil paintings from him – three landscapes of trees, and ‘personality’ portraits of my brother and me, where he captured us as children. I also have two small wooden ‘dogs’ he carved, plus an ‘engagement ring’ he carved for my mom.
He taught me a love of learning by sitting in his chair on the weekends, pouring over big books on geology and archeology. He would have loved to go on digs, unearthing bits of ancient history, and tried to explain to me what the different layers of rocks meant.
When he went with me to school when I was getting my Master’s Degree and asked him to be my “celebrity’ guest speaker on a lesson on listening intelligently to advertising, he made me cry when at the end of the presentation, he told the class how proud he was to be my dad.
I am so lucky to have countless memories of both of my parents, to know that they loved my brother and me, sacrificed for us, and wanted the best for us. I wish everyone had both parents – or failing that – people who loved them and taught them what was important in life.
A “yellow and red blob” is inching toward us on the weather map, bringing a brief cool-down and thunderstorms yet again tomorrow. It must be spring.
On this last day of May we have a morning full of errands. We’ll leave in about 45 minutes. I’m planning to try to get in another session of lopping things down this afternoon if it’s not too hot. My husband says he’ll spray me down with Deep Woods OFF! head to toe before I go out this time. Maybe it’ll help. My bites and welts from last time are getting smaller and aren’t itching.
The hacking down of things never ends around here. We really need to hire someone to attack the branches hanging down on both sides down into our driveway, but they are too expensive. We’ll hack at things a bit here and there as we can. We’re still waiting for the plumber to help us with a second line in the well house for irrigation in the front yard and the guy with the large truck load of chat to spread on the driveway. Money will be flying in all directions. :0(
nutandbolt-store.greatergood.com
I’m really getting itchy about getting up to my art room. I haven’t been up there in ages, but gradually, over the last few days, I have ideas rattling around in my head that I’d like to try. I even was painting a background with lots of texture and then adding some clay flowers to it in my dreams last night. :0)
I hope you were with the ones you love this past Memorial Day weekend. We are so lucky that we can remember those who paid the ultimate price to keep our country free while hugging those we love and treasuring what we have.
A somber day when we remember the men and women who have died fighting for our freedom. It’s a day to be with your family if you can, holding them close.
We will have a quiet day here in Arkansas. Our son is across the world from us. Hopefully we’ll chat a bit online. I spent time out in the yard yesterday, hacking things down. I made some progress, but was bitten and scratched. I reacted to the bites, so I have welts on my arms and legs. I’m feeling lazy today. I’ll take the day off from working outside today and let my poor old body try to calm down.
creativeartworksblog 