Jet spent almost an hour behind my husband’s computer monitors yesterday afternoon, just as comfortable as could be while my husband worked. I came in, deciding it was Amber’s turn for more active people time, so put Jet in her bathroom/safe place and brought sweet Amber into the living room/office area.
Amber – 95 pound yellow lab
We may die of old age waiting for armistice between Jet and Amber. Jet is one year and two months old. We know she had one litter of kittens. That’s about all we know of her background, other than the medical history the shelter gave us. She is very curious and affectionate. She is VERY wary of the dog and went on instant alert, my husband said, when I found her and made sure she was on our side of the dog gate before letting Amber into the kitchen and dining area, between the two gates. The cat tower is due to be delivered tomorrow afternoon. We’re hoping she will consider that another escape area as well as a fun place, once we get it up and anchored. ONE. DAY. AT. A. TIME.
We may also die of old age waiting for our driveway repair – due to Mother Nature, not the two good men with whom we’ve contracted for the job. They are experts and know what kind of time they need to do it. The younger man of the father and son team said he would text me the night before they plan to be here. Looking at the weather forecast is what has me NOT holding my breath – fingers crossed for tomorrow…
I hope that your Sunday is beautiful and that you make this a nice day.
Even though our new cat looks miffed in this picture (she really didn’t like the flash I had to use) she has designated this shelf in our entertainment center in the living room as “her spot” thus far.
Amber is now behind the gate in the tiled areas of the house while the cat is free to roam. We’re letting her outside from time to time, and will CAREFULLY be trying to introduce these two several times today so they can learn to co-exist peacefully.
At lunch we’ll put the cat into the back bathroom where all her stuff is right now and let Amber be free in the house. We’re kind of walking on eggshells, trying to make sure we pay attention to details and make this day as calm as we can.
I’m leaning toward “Jet” as the cat’s name.
Mother Nature is not cooperating, so the work has not begun on repairing our driveway. The man said he would text me the night before they would be here. Since we’re still having possible severe storms this afternoon, the soonest now would be Monday.
I sold a package of hand-painted all occasion note cards on my Etsy site a couple of days ago. They were delivered yesterday. When I checked to make sure they arrived safely and the lady was pleased, she responded with a really nice note. I’ll be feeling ‘smile-y’ for several days now. :0)
Good morning! It’s quite overcast here this morning with a chance of rain. The bigger chance of ‘heavy rain’ is tomorrow – when we were supposed to be getting our long-awaited driveway repair. Oh, well.
My lettuce bolted and I had to pull it out yesterday. I’m going to try to get out and harvest my spinach before it goes, too. Both are cool weather plants and it’s been getting up in the mid 80s in the afternoons lately. Our tomato plants are doing well, though, and I’ll try to share some pics with you in another post later.
Our yard is looking pretty good right now (for us.) My husband mowed again yesterday and he thanked me again for my weed whacking and KillzAll efforts, which have resulted in a quicker, easier job for him. It definitely looks like someone lives here now :0).
I would like to get out and buy some flowers to plant today. We’ll see if the weather cooperates and the stars align…
We have a quiet day on tap here. I’m planning to work some in our garden, continue painting the flying pig in the shop, balance checkbooks, and other exciting stuff.
I hope you enjoy your day, getting some nice hugs, belly laughs, and huge satisfaction.
It’s quite overcast this morning, but it’s not raining. We have a bunch of errands to do today, so I’m hoping the weather holds.
I just looked at the weather forecast for the rest of the week. Friday, the day we’re supposed to get our long-anticipated driveway repair, looks like rain all day long. :0( I HOPE they’re wrong. The driveway guys have already given me Monday as an alternate date, so help is still on the way whenever Mother Nature will cooperate.
We celebrated the cooking of the turkey breast and the new meat slicer with turkey sandwiches last night for dinner. I made my husband’s with bread and mine with zero net carb Mission tortillas. I ALSO used some lettuce from our home-grown head lettuce! The sandwiches tasted really nice.
The refurbishment of the flying pig project (one of our metal critters we made long ago) is ongoing. My husband has agreed (thank goodness) that we can put him on a boulder at the side of the driveway at almost the top and he’ll look as if he’s about to fly off, rather than trying to stand on ladders and hang him from a tree branch again. I’m planning to wheelbarrow him out to the boulder so we can see if he’ll just stand there (he’s really heavy) or if we need to weld pads on the bottom of two of his feet to attach him to the boulder.
He’s been hanging from a really strong line from a tree branch over the driveway for several years. He finally came down in one of the severe storms we had and was lying in the driveway one morning. I’ve had to straighten some of the feathers of his ‘wings,’ pry off one discolored eye (the other one disappeared), wash all the dirt off of him, and am in the process of starting to repaint him. When that is finished, I’ll put new eyes on him.
Even if you’re not lucky enough to share your day with a flying pig, I hope you enjoy it.
We just finished driving our trash down and getting our mail. It’s supposed to be quite rainy today, something that will probably put our driveway people behind one day in their work, meaning they will probably come next Monday, instead of this Friday. Maybe I’m wrong, and they can get their work done before the rain starts in earnest. Fingers crossed.
Scholastic Watch and Learn Library
I’m starting to make significant changes in my eating, trying to make substitutions that result in my eating MUCH less sodium every day. I’m hoping that these changes will improve my general health, decrease my tendency to retain water, show improvement in my blood tests in October, and help me lose the lard. Today I’m down 27 pounds.
I’m cooking some crock pot chicken for our dinner tonight, and just finished cooking a small turkey breast. I’m going to read the manual that came with my new electric slicer (which now has a nice cover and is sitting, ready to be used, on my counter in the kitchen) so that when the turkey breast is fully cool, I can slice some for lunches and snacks!
I hope the weather is good where you are and that you can get out and enjoy the day.
I’m feeling really good this morning. It took me a while to wake up, but I’m feeling better and better as I do.
buzzfeed.com
I again hit the ’25-pounds-off-my-heaviest’ mark this morning, so that makes me feel as if the changes I’m making gradually are helping me get on a steady pathway now. I’m still eating from a package of deli turkey (the worst culprit on my ‘too-much-salt-included-in-my-food list’), and some salami, but I won’t buy more once I finish those. The low-carb Mexican chicken and veggies frozen dinner from Stu’s Clean Cookin’ was too ‘hot’ for me (I’m a wuss gastronomically) so I will choose something else next time. The young man who helped us with our purchases there is really nice. It’s so pleasant to find a person who takes pride in his job and makes shopping such a pleasure.
Good Parenting Brighter Children
SPRING YARD PROJECT – I think I finished the spring project of the main pruning and weeding of our brick planters around the yard – plus the pots on our deck – yesterday. I plan to concentrate on the veggie planters today, taking care of tomato plants, harvesting a bit more (my lettuce is starting to bolt with the high afternoon temperatures now). I sprinkled some zinnia seeds in a couple of planters yesterday. I’ll start buying some flowers next week. It looks like someone cares in our yard now. My husband was complimentary about my weed whacking efforts a couple of days ago, saying I had made it easier for him to mow, and, due to his good efforts, the yard is freshly mowed. :0)
PROJECT REFURB – Every couple of years I try to do some refurbishment of some of the yard critters we’ve made. Being outside is really tough on them. Cloth disintegrates, googly eyes fall off, the critters get dirty, sometimes moldy, paint fades or peels, etc. I either try to repaint them where they are in the yard or bring them one at a time into the shop, give them a makeover, and then put them back out.
This is a critter we made years ago. It seems especially apt these days, as pigs are flying all around, with things we never thought would happen in the world. We spent a long time suspending the flying pig from a big branch over the driveway several years ago. It did really well up there, but finally was down in the driveway one day as we were trying to leave for errands.
He needs a full makeover. I have him in the shop now, where he has been sitting on my work table for several months. I need to clean him up, unbend parts that were damaged when he fell, give him a total repaint, replace his eyes, etc. I’m planning to ask my husband to drill holes in a boulder beside the driveway toward the top where we can attach him to the boulder. He’ll look like he’s ready to take off, and we won’t have to stand on ladders trying to find a good strong branch and try to hang him from a line again. I’ll post pictures as I work on him.
Our weather here is beautiful now, with lots of sun and a bit less humidity. It’s a great day to be outside working in the yard or in the shop, working on the flying pig. Enjoy your day!
It’s almost like a ‘wonder-of-the-world’ thing to see the SUN shining this morning. It’s BEAUTIFUL. We came through some really pervasive yellow and red blobs on the TV screen weather warnings of ‘severe thunderstorm warning’ and ‘tornado watch’ with some heavy rain and LOTS of lightning last night, but no damage we’ve found yet. We’re very lucky and very thankful.
Since my energy level has been really low lately, I was happy when our doc saw that my blood test showed that my thyroid replacement hormone dosage was too low. She increased it, so I’ll get another blood test in 6 weeks and we’ll decide if any further increases are needed.
I was expecting my electric meat slicer to be delivered tomorrow. It was just delivered by our wonderful mailwoman today! She is a really nice lady and drives up our driveway as if it isn’t a mess. AND she brought the slicer! I’m going to rearrange things on my counter so it can live and be well-used on a regular basis there. I’m thinking I’ll see if I can order a cover for it, as well.
I MAY have a line on a father/son team who can repair our driveway. I got their name from a friend, plus the name of the chat that is used on streets that my friend said we should put on the driveway.
Today we’ll go to Stu’s Clean Cookin’ in Greenwood to get some frozen dinners. My husband has always liked their dinners, but they didn’t meet our needs a while back, so we stopped going. I discovered last night that they have new low carb offerings that are also quite reasonable on sodium. HOORAY! Soon I’ll be able to cut my intake of salt in my food by at least half, if not more.
I plan to harvest lettuce and spinach from the garden and finish cleaning up in two brick planters today. Then I THINK I’ll be ready to go buy some flowers to plant. :0)
I hope you’re doing well and can make this a very enjoyable day.
My weather sources are not in agreement today. One says we’ll get some light rain this afternoon. Another says we’ll be under a severe weather watch from 2 till 10 with hail 2-3 inches in diameter and 60-80 mph winds. I would LIKE to be able to choose…. if we’ll have wind and hail of this degree, there is no point trying to spread SHEETS over my garden plants. They just won’t do the job.
We have a routine doctor appointment today at 1, and then we’d LIKE to shop afterwards, weather permitting. We’ll see what Mother Nature has to say.
Yesterday I weeded the pots on the deck.
Soon I need to find some flowers to plant here, and in various pots around the yard.
I also need to refurbish some of the critters we’ve made that are dotted around the yard and on the deck. These need to be cleaned and then a freshening of the paint.
Here’s another that needs to be refurbished. (I still have the flying pig in the shop, though, and that will be the first redo.)
I hope this will be a fun day for you, no matter what the weather.
We got a lot of rain yesterday. It finally stopped enough for me to tackle the huge bush (“Japanese Yew” – thanks for the app, ML) that lives in a planter on one side of our front porch. I decided to try to basically cut it down by half. It had gotten totally out of hand and cut off the view down the sidewalk when we stood on the front porch.
I got most of the upper half cut off yesterday. I’ll work on it more today to try to make it look better – not just LOPPED OFF, as it looks now.
I have most of the planters in reasonable shape now. I have one to tweak, and then I’ll tackle the pots on the deck next.
I have some zinnia seeds to sprinkle here and there in various planters. I always do this, forget about it, and then have some nice surprises later in the season. :0)
As the rain comes down, the lightning flashes, and the thunder bangs and rolls outside, I feel good that I did the weed whacking yesterday. My body is telling me I overdid it, and that a more serious session of yoga stretches should be in my future this afternoon.
It’s quite impressive-looking outside right now. It looks like it is late in the evening. We’re supposed to have ‘heavy rain’ until around 9pm tonight. Since we live on top of a ridge line, we don’t have to worry about flooding (we’re under a flood watch) but we ARE vulnerable to lightning, hail, gusty winds, etc.
Now, since I was too tired to use the leaf blower on the front and back sidewalks after weed whacking yesterday, I’m hoping that it rains hard enough – at least for several minutes – to wash the debris off. :0) The forecasters are saying we could get 2 inches of rain today! I wish, on the other hand, the rain would be soft and soaky, since we’ve been under a burn ban for what seems like forever.
I have two ‘should’s’ on my list today –
office stuff (pay bills, April online bookkeeping, filing, general clean up)
vacuuming the tiled portions of the first floor (pantry, kitchen, dining area, utility room, two half baths) since Amber hair is floating around.
Yesterday I got lazy, but I’ve been trying to do something in our yard each day. Things are starting to shape up now, but I’m having more and more trouble finding time between rain showers to do much.
I SHOULD have weed whacked yesterday. My husband mowed the yard a couple of days ago, so he’s done his part, but I just couldn’t get motivated. I’ll try to get it done today, though scattered showers are forecast and we are under a flood watch. Adding insult to injury, the forecast is for scattered showers and thunderstorms for the NEXT SIX DAYS!
I’m in the frustrating position of feeling guilty no matter what I’m doing. If I’m outside working in the yard, I feel guilty that I haven’t vacuumed the tiled areas on our first floor. I actually saw a clump of Amber hair floating around yesterday… If I’m inside cleaning or paying bills, I feel guilty because if it’s not raining, I should be outside weeding, pruning, planting things…. THE RESULT – yesterday I read the rest of a book. (I know. I’m a slob.) :0)
SO – when I finish my blog posts for today, I’ll get outside and at least get STARTED weed whacking. I’ll try for two sessions today, plus my yoga stretching this afternoon. I’m also planning to finish off enjoyment of a rotisserie chicken by making chicken salad as part of our dinner tonight.
I hope that your Saturday has both productivity and fun.
I felt this way earlier. We had to get up early to go get lab work done first thing this morning at our doctor’s office for a routine appointment next week. I had to get up twice during the night to talk sternly to Amber, who was barking at ghost gophers. She was finally quiet. My husband gets up before I do much of the time, but he was sleeping soundly when I awoke. Murphy’s Law that since we were both finally sleeping well, we had to get up.
After our tests we rewarded ourselves with a nice breakfast at The Dari, our favorite restaurant in Greenwood. My husband is pretty picky about how he wants his eggs, and he’s gotten spoiled here because they ALWAYS get it right.
We are now home, I’ve just made a pot of coffee and MAY be able to function rather than essentially sleep-walking through the morning. (My husband is taking a nap.)
The weather people are trying their darnedest to look like they know what they’re doing, but I think they’ve thrown their arms up in the air about whether it will rain or not. I’m still reading forecasts, but then just look out the door and decide.
I did some work outside yesterday that I’ll show you in another post. I plan to spend more time out there today (weather permitting) and weed whack if it dries enough or weed and prune more planters if it doesn’t.
We are home again, NOT having drowned getting groceries and other supplies, plus our mail. It started sprinkling as we started home, but we could unload the truck in the dry garage, so it was all good. Now it’s quite overcast and sprinkling more heavily, with harder rain starting about 3 this afternoon, according to the latest forecasts.
Does anyone know why the humidity is listed only as 78% when it’s raining?
Since it IS raining, the iris will have to wait until the weather is cooperating to be relocated.
Bankrate
One thing on my wish list these days is that grocery prices will come down reasonably soon. I realize that no one can simply wave a magic wand and bring prices down, but we didn’t even buy much today and had the highest bill in my memory. Depressing and scary.
May you stay safe from the weather and the grocery store. :0)
We’re supposed to have storms starting later today. We’re going to go shopping in a few minutes to get our mail and get some groceries in for what looks to be a rainy few days ahead.
I planted my elephant ear bulbs in three different brick planters around the front yard yesterday. Clearing out one of the planters was quite laborious, with having to lop off a LOT of heavy branches from two trees behind and around the planter. I may have to do more down the line, but it’s enough for now.
The bulbs are huge and look like small bowling balls without finger holes. I couldn’t tell from looking at them which was ‘up’ and ‘down.’ I researched, and it said the end that is more rough, with what might look like gouges or holes is the end where the roots will come out and should go DOWN in the hole. I’m now anxiously awaiting a spurt of greenery to show.
If the rain holds off for a while after we return this morning, I’ll see if I can get the iris I dug out of one of the planters bracketing the front porch relocated in planters around the yard.
My only plans other than the above are to clean up my area around my computer, pay bills, file, bookkeeping, cooking, etc. Exciting, huh! :0)
Happy May Day! I just dated myself because I had a bad time trying to find the image above. To ME, May Day means children around a May pole winding long, colorful ribbons around it. I never actually DID that, or even WATCHED others do it. I guess it was just conveyed in pictures, coloring books, and more. Anyhow, it’s an image that is fading away.
depositphotos.com
So we’ll just wish each other well and hope it’s a nice day. It was rainy here when I first got up, but the sun seems to be coming out. I was planning to work in the yard, weed whacking to neaten up after my husband mowed the yard a couple of days ago. Hopefully, things will continue to improve so I can get outside.
The cheerful mail lady just drove up to deliver the three elephant ear bulbs I ordered recently. They’re HUGE and beautiful balls of promise. I’ll get them planted as soon as the weather permits.
Quotesgram
Since it’s the first of another month, it’s time for accountability check on my efforts to lose the lard.
WEIGHT: down 23 pounds since my heaviest. (I gained 2 from eating at the Mexican restaurant locally, enjoying every bite as I gained the weight. I’ll get it off again ASAP and then go for more.)
GIRTH: I’m down a total of 3 inches overall this month, with bits down a bit here and there. The biggest good difference was on my abdomen – down an inch from a month ago.
San Diego Zoo Wildlife Explorers
I’m hoping that ‘slow and steady’ ultimately wins the race.
I was doing okay until I caught myself this morning, starting to open the door to the garage to go out and feed Abby. I guess different things will cause me to lose it over the next period of time. I’m happy we got to share 13 years. When I left a message for our son, he answered, “I’m sorry. She was an exceptionally good cat.” And that sums it up.
Since we’re having a nice morning, I’m planning on harvesting some lettuce and spinach this morning, plus seeing what is needed, otherwise, in our small garden. I probably need to prune tomato plants, do some weeding, some added supports for the tomatoes, etc. It’s nice to have a quiet day where I can do several sessions in the yard, resting in-between.
Daisy BrandDean Ricciardi – Unsplash.com
My husband asked me to go out to dinner last night, to one of the local Mexican restaurants. I was excited about going, but started worrying about what I could eat, being on my low-carb eating plan. I researched, finally deciding that I could order fajitas, take my own zero-net-carb tortillas, and ask them to leave off the rice, beans, and tortillas, and not bring chips and salsa to the table.
As the day wore on, I kept fighting with myself. I had actually put two small tortillas in a sandwich bag in my purse, and then decided, NO. Last night we had a wonderful time at the restaurant. It had been over a year since we had gone out to dinner. I had chips and salsa. I ate a beef taco salad. It was all delicious. I enjoyed every. single. bite. I gained 2 lbs. I don’t care. It may be another year before we do it again, and life is short. When you’re invited out to eat, or eat at someone else’s home, all bets are off as far as a ‘diet’ is concerned, in my HUMBLE opinion. Eat everything. Enjoy the experience. The next day is soon enough to get back on the more healthful eating plan.
My husband fell on the ice at the bottom of the driveway in January, breaking his collarbone. The recovery period was 10-12 weeks. He was functional well before that, but changing the mailbox decoration, where he has to get up on a ladder to get a decoration from off a hook in the shop, maneuver the heavy metal decoration down, carry it out to the truck, then get the current one off the mailbox and the new one on, and then store the now unused decoration was more than I wanted to THINK about, much less DO.
The decision was reinforced when our dog, Amber, pulled him down while she was on the leash, making him fall headlong into one of our brick planters, slashing the back of his ear and dislocating his little finger almost exactly one month ago. His ear is still healing from the injury and the 8 stitches needed to stop the bleeding.
Yesterday he brought up the subject of changing the mailbox decoration.
He chose this one to put up – Wile E. Coyote, Sonic the Hedgehog, and the Roadrunner, with Sonic accepting money from Wile E. for catching the Roadrunner and giving him to the coyote.
This decoration was fun and challenging for us. It was the first time we tried to do a more 3-D decoration, with the legs of the Roadrunner made from rebar. You can see on the back of this piece where I tried to blend the support piece into the painting of the figures.
My husband spent some time out in the shop after we put up the decoration yesterday. When he came in, he said he had a really bad time trying to put the Happy New Year decoration back up on its hook in the shop, and decided it was really too big and heavy and unwieldy to use again.
As we age, we’re trying to make some decisions as to what is important and what isn’t in the grand scheme of things. We like putting up the decorations on our mailbox, but will now stop putting up ones that are too difficult and might result in one or both of us getting hurt. The Happy New Year one is the first on the list not to use again. We do have another decoration of Calvin and Hobbes where they are hugging each other, that we can use in place of the Happy New Year one.
I love this photo. There is a whole section loosely under ‘kids and animals’ on Pinterest that really makes me smile. I hope you’re enjoying these, too.
We keep our bedroom cool, and really dark, with a fan and a white noise machine running so we have a CHANCE to sleep well. Usually it works pretty well.
Since my husband’s latest fall, my inability to stop his bleeding and trip to the ER in Fort Smith in the middle of the night, I’ve been having some bad dreams. This happened last night. My husband woke me at 6am by reaching out to ‘see if I was still in the bed’. I was, and none too cheerful to be awakened after about 3 hours of sleep. I woke up again a bit later to find he had dressed and gone downstairs. (He is taking a nap now as I type.)
Grassington – @Visitnorthyork on X
I love the whole feel of this place. I want to walk here, meet the people.
Jalal Merzoug Digital Art – facebook.com – PinterestJuliette Meyer – PinterestKirigami- Paper Art – via Boo – @333too3 on X
I’m in awe of the patience and skill required to do this.
@MontanaRoots On X –
I think this is simply stunning.
Nino Chakvetzdze Art – PinterestPaintings by Anna – @ann00275 on X
Isn’t this glorious?
I love living in a world populated by so many talented people.
Steven Doss – Flickr – image from 2022 car show in Greenwood, Arkansas
I didn’t have a chance to take pictures at the car show this year, so I found this one that is quite representative of the diversity of vehicles people have worked hard to restore.
My husband had his first haircut since Amber, our dog, pulled him down into a brick planter, causing him to need 8 stitches behind his left ear. Michael – Tangles Hair Salon – (479) 996-6366 did his usual ‘miracle’ for the Lewises, plus taking care of the whole wound area. My husband was relieved to look well-groomed in hair, mustache and beard again.
We enjoyed walking around the square for a bit after, with my husband interested in the engine of each vehicle, me interested in the LOOK of the vehicles, both remembering working on our own cars – even changing some engines ourselves – years ago, when you could actually GET to parts and replace them.
My personal favorite every time I see one is the 1932 Ford Coupe –
Classic Auto Mall
There was a deep purple vehicle I saw in the distance as we passed, grabbing me by the throat, but we were already tired and it was raining lightly, so we didn’t see it close up.
We were able to get the “prescription override” on my husband’s medicine after the car show. Because I went through Humana, made sure I ordered a new supply that would be sent ASAP and explained he had NONE, they told me to go through our primary physician for the override. I contacted them through the ‘portal’ and they called it in to our local pharmacy. It cost us nothing and was ready when we got there. Whew!
We’re in the very active area for storms this weekend. Thankfully, we only got rain last night. We may have severe storms this afternoon and evening if the rain stops and it heats up during the day. Right now it’s raining lightly and quite overcast. I hope it stays that way.
I hope that your weather is quiet where you are today and that you have a pleasant Sunday.
We’re going to get a haircut for my husband for the first time since Amber pulled him down and he had to have stitches behind his left ear. After that, we’re hoping to see some of the car show in the Greenwood Square. We’ll pick up a medicine for my husband and then head home.
It’s quite overcast, with the wind whipping the tree branches around. I don’t know if we’ll drown while we’re out or not. The weather folks are saying it’s not supposed to rain until this evening and overnight, but they’ve been wrong before…
We’re under a ‘flood advisory’ on one of my weather sources, and 91% chance of “heavy rain” from now until midnight with maybe a couple of short breaks in-between storms. The sky is quite dark. The branches were whipping around earlier, but now it’s ominously still…
I’ll aim for a combination laundry/office cleanup/and art room day.
A lot of activity started our day. My husband took the last of his diabetes medicine. He didn’t have more in the drawer like he should have had, and didn’t seem to care. I went upstairs to see if it had been inadvertently put up there, but nothing.
I ended up posing as him, calling Humana to find out it had been removed, somehow, from the auto-renew list, getting a refill in the works to be sent ASAP, and an okay for a ‘prescription override’ where we can get a short supply from a local pharmacy to tide him over until the prescription arrives. I posed as him again on our portal to our doc, asking for them to call that in to the local pharmacy we use. I’ll check later to see the status on that, and see if we can go get the tide-over meds. WHEW. He did have the good grace to thank me for my efforts.
Now I’m finally having my first cup of coffee. I feel lucky to have a strong, warm house in which we can weather the storms. If we can zip out and get his meds later today, it will be perfect.
“The name pink moon comes from the April full moon’s seasonal association, appearing in spring around the blossom time for flowers, according to the Farmers’ Almanac. The full moon aligns with the blooming of Phlox subulata, a pink wildflower native to eastern North America.” ~ Google. (And I missed the whole thing – although I’ll check to see remnants this evening, if it’s not raining yet.)
Community Playthings
I weeded another planter yesterday.
beforeI had some beautiful elephant ears in here for the past several years. I’ve been cutting them off at ground level and then mulching them heavily for the winter, rather than digging them up. This past winter saw way TOO many super hard freezes, where we were dripping water to keep our water pipes from freezing. I’m not surprised that the elephant ears didn’t make it. I’ve just ordered more bulbs to plant. I’ll get them in a week or so.
TODAY’S PROJECT –
My weather people are now saying it may start raining today around 6pm today, so I may get more time in the yard than I thought. :0) We built 14 planters around the yard over several years. I’m now using 3 for square foot garden veggies, and I still have 6 to go on weeding and pruning.
I made this yesterday. My husband said it smelled good as it was cooking in the crock pot during the day, and said it was “yummy,” not realizing it was different from the regular full-of-starchy-high-carb stew I’ve made for years. It was satisfying, good, comfort-food beef stew without guilt. I sprinkled Xanthan Gum in at the beginning so the liquid would thicken a bit and that turned out well, too. I’ll get more recipes from this source.
The weather report is telling me that I’ll drown getting to my massage tomorrow morning. We’re in a new place, having had to move because the place my massage therapist was using is being torn down for the Greenwood Bypass. The good thing is that she is now using a room in the retirement place where my good friend, Linda, lives, and hopefully I can see Linda after my massage. :0)
Karin de Haas – Funda Altincekic Aysel6m assets – Freepik
It’s a really pretty morning here in Arkansas. It’s supposed to get to 80 today. I’ll spend as much time as my body will allow outside, trying to get at least one more planter weeded. As I said in my previous post, the rains are due to start overnight. One of my weather sources is showing the rain tomorrow not beginning until about 5 in the afternoon, so maybe I have a bit more time than I thought. :0)
Peace, Love and Low Carb.com
I have been making beef stew in my crock pot for a hundred years or so – using mostly the same ingredients. Today I’m trying a KETO beef stew recipe for the first time. It’s from Peace, Love and Low Carb and it has 4 net carbs per serving. The only starchy veggie included is one carrot, mainly for color, I think. The picture here is showing some green onion tops, so I’ll include those as part of the onion included. I hope that it’s a good substitute for the beef stew we’ve always loved. I’ll let you know.
Lowe’s
I’m working on two wood burning projects in my art room (when I can make the time to be up there) – that hopefully will be presents for two of my favorite people. Shhhhhhhh! I should be able to make some time with the coming rains.
Boo – @333too3 on X
If I’m suddenly ‘gone,’ I hope I’ve escaped to this dream! I absolutely LOVE this place. I’m going to keep this photo so I can continue to dream….
Hahahahahaha! I don’t really feel like this, but I LOVE the artwork and the sentiment. :0)
Times of India
It’s dark and rainy here in my part of Arkansas this morning, so I’m switching to inside activities. I was planning to weed at least one flower planter, but Mother Nature has decided that we need rain. And the week ahead looks particularly rainy, with chances for rain starting Wednesday and continuing through the following Monday, the 29th. We may need a boat!
Lowes
I may spend today with a combination of laundry and wood burning, a nice combination of ‘should’ and ‘want to’ for the day. I have ideas for a couple of plaques I would like to make for some good friends. I’m still experimenting with what tip does what with the wood burning tool, so progress is very slow, but it’s fun to be trying to do something completely out of my comfort zone.
The cold front came through last night. It’s 58 outside and quite overcast right now. I can’t see that we got any rain, though, and the dreaded ‘large hail’ did not materialize, for which I’m very grateful. I’ll be washing sheets today so they’ll be ready if they’re needed again.
I woke this morning to find my husband was up and dressed, but sleeping in his recliner. That means he didn’t sleep well last night, so I’m trying to be as quiet as I can to let him rest as much as he can.
Getting older is the pits – although the alternative is pretty grim. I have two small ouchies from yesterday: one, where I nipped my finger when I was trying to close and over-center glass container, giving me an impressive blood blister and bruise, and two, when a rose bush bit me while I was weeding the planter. We get to the point around here where we have so many ouchies we can have a contest as to who has the “largest,” “most impressive,” or “most numerous,” kind of like the awards given for floats in a parade.
The ‘getting-bitten-by-the-rose-bush’ was in a good cause. I got the weeds out of two of our rose bush planters yesterday, plus pruned the dead stuff off the bushes.
I have several brick planters in serious need of attention around the yard. I’ll try to get at least one under better control today.
Quotesgram
I told you I gained two pounds when I ate some potato chips recently. You would have thought I swallowed bricks. I didn’t even eat a LOT of chips, but the damage was done. I got one of the pounds off this morning, and hope to get rid of the 2nd one tomorrow.
I wish you a wonderful day and a great weekend to come.
I saw this this morning, loving it. I couldn’t find an artist’s name or other credit – not at all unusual on Pinterest – but there WAS a discussion going on as to whether this was actually created by a person or if it were AI.
I’m kind of ambivalent about the whole question of artificial intelligence. I don’t like that it is being used evil-ly to gain money by duping the ‘audience,’ stealing credit for an artist’s work, being used to manipulate public opinion for nefarious reasons, versus something like this, where I equate it – if it IS, indeed, AI – with the same creativity I give people credit for when they create something on the computer, rather than actually painting on canvas. It’s still very creative, and I still love it for the creativity and skill.
It will be a challenge, increasingly, to determine what is real and what is not – and checking sources will become paramount before we take any action.
I told you a while back that we discovered, after taking our sweet Abby to the vet, that she has a large, inoperable tumor on one kidney, plus numerous other problems due to being 13. Some people have asked how she is.
I’m happy to say she is holding her own. The tumor and the problems resulting from that will only get worse, but so far, she seems to be doing amazingly well. I bring her in daily when I can make time to sit and hold her. This is our ‘cat-loving-time’ and we both enjoy every minute.
It’s amazing that, as much time and love we have shared over the years, Abby has never been a cat who PURRED. She looks very happy when she is petted, but she is silent. Since our new-normal, she has suddenly decided to be a more normal cat. I can FEEL her purring, and sometimes I can even HEAR her. It’s wonderful for both of us. She is still eating fine and doesn’t seem to be in any pain.
“Lone Sandpiper” – MaryLou Lewis
My SIL is driving home today from a few well-deserved days at the beach. She’s been kind enough to share some pics of sandpipers and gorgeous sunrises so we can share in her vacation vicariously. I’ll have more to share tomorrow. Safe trip, ML.
I hope that you, also, cannot be down after looking at another of Karin de Haas’ pieces. I love the absolute surrender to laughter and love of life shown in her work. I would love to BE the lady here.
Ta Focando – Unsplash.com
I’m leaving soon to meet my miracle-worker-hair-dresser, Michael Remillard, Tangles, Greenwood AR, who will hopefully, once again, be able to bring order out of chaos. :0) I’m taking him a gallon bag of lettuce from our garden, since he’s a salad lover, like me.
Women’s Health
I was a good girl yesterday, doing half an hour or so of yoga stretching plus a 10-minute video on general movement, plus another 10-minute video on exercises with weights. That’s pretty good for an old broad like me. I’ll try to do that again today.
When I get home from my haircut, I’ll stop and get the mail and then go up and gather trash to take back down to the bottom of the driveway to put in the trash can I’ll drag down. I’m trying to be proactive about this because I don’t want to even THINK about my husband skidding and falling on the gravel in the driveway.
Better Homes & Gardens
Not sure what the rest of the day will hold. We’re forecast to get rain late tonight into tomorrow morning. I’m hoping my veggie plants will get a nice soaking rain from it. There is always the possibility of hail, but they are not emphasizing it now, so I’m not planning to cover my planters.
I’m still angry at myself. My husband and I had finished eating dinner in front of the TV and we were still watching a program with Amber on her bed in front of the TV. All of a sudden I heard noise in the kitchen. Amber had oozed her way off her bed and sneaked into the kitchen while I was distracted. She ate half of the roast beef and sauce from the skillet on the stove. She has done this a couple of times before. I KNOW better than to leave the gate to the kitchen open. It’s really hard to take when your dog is smarter and more sneaky than you.
I’ll go out in a bit and harvest some lettuce for my good friend and miracle-worker-hair-stylist, Michael Remillard, Tangles Hair Salon, Greenwood AR (479) 996-6366 to take to him tomorrow when he once again transforms me from looking like a ‘dandelion-gone-to-seed-in-a-storm’ to ‘someone-has-a-plan’ – a difficult feat to be sure.
We’re supposed to have highs in the 80’s here through Thursday and several chances for rain in the coming week, starting today, so that’s good news and bad news for my veggies. The good news is that I should see some good growth in my tomato plants, and I won’t have to water. I’ll need to make sure the tomato supports are adequate or add more, plus prune the plants for the best tomato production I can. The bad news is that these unseasonably warm temperatures in the early spring may cause my lettuce and spinach some grief. I sure don’t want to be faced with them ‘bolting’ at this point!
We’ve enjoyed the first harvest of leaf lettuce in a big chef salad for dinner one night, several other salads, plus some roast beef sandwiches last night. Such a nice luxury. I’m glad to be able to share some with Michael tomorrow.
Amazon
I’ve done my 10-minute video with weights from Mike, my Australian senior exercise expert, MoreLifeHealth.com, for 2 days now. I can tell you that my arms are ‘feeling’ the exercise, but not so much I can’t do the next day easily. I’m only using 3-pound weights and will do this for the foreseeable future. Then I’ll switch to 5-pound weights. It feels good to be trying to gain strength in my arms. This should help me in getting up off the floor after my yoga stretches, too! :0)
Karin’s work makes a smile start down at my toes and work all the way up until it simply spews out the top of my head. I can’t look at these without smiling and feeling happy. She truly has a gift.
Yesterday I made “Broccoli, Bacon, and Cheese Egg Muffins” from my Simply Keto recipe book by Suzanne Ryan. I ate one this morning. It was really good and is only 2.6 net carbs. :0)
Tonight I’ll fix a roast beef sandwich for my husband and I’ll eat what I call ‘roll-ups’ – with roast beef and cheese rolled up inside Mission Zero Net Carbs Tortillas for me. I’ll finish my ‘splurge’ at lunch with the remaining chicken tender from the deli in town.
We’re due for a really nice weekend weather-wise. I’ll try to spend some time in the yard to celebrate.
Yoga, two 10-minute exercise videos (one with weights and the other stretching) and combo work-in-the-yard and walking around outside will complete my exercise plans for the day.
I’m not sure what else is in store. My husband is trying to write a complicated program on his computer. He finally asked for help from our son via the chat program and then the video conference program. I don’t know whether it helped or not, but he’s busily frowning at his screen. I told him that it was good he reached out because our son really likes to visit with him regardless of the the subject. I was proven right when I read the last line of our son’s reply on chat this morning. “I was happy to see you earlier!”
I’m having to shift my exercises once again. My elliptical trainer is flashing a ‘motor error’ message and won’t run, so it’ll have to wait until further notice for me to mention it to my husband. I don’t want him anywhere near heavy, complicated stuff until he’s fully healed. Meanwhile I’m finding some information online that may help when that time comes.
I decided that I would benefit from some guided, timed practice with the weights, so I went back to Mike, a ‘seniors’ exercise specialist online (https://morelifehealth.com/) and found a 10-minute video he leads with exercises with weights and just finished that. I changed from the 5-lb weights I was using to 3-lb for this, since it looked like that was what he was using and I didn’t want to not be able to do it next time due to my arms being too sore. :0)
With that, my 30-minute yoga practice, and either working in the yard or simply walking out to the shop, then back and around the house several times, that will be my exercise for the day.
I’m re-reading Suzanne Ryan’s Simply Keto Recipe Book. I find new information each time I read it, plus renewed motivation to lose the lard. I’m going to fix a chef salad for our dinner tonight with leftover roast beef.
I have also decided that Mission Zero Tortillas may save my life. (Each has 7 carbs. Each also has 7 grams fiber. You start with listed carbs and subtract the fiber count plus alcohol sugars to determine the net carbs. In this case, it’s zero, and there are only 25 calories in each tortilla. I’m using one in place of the dinner roll I used to have with dinner. I use one rolled up to eat a hot dog. I use two for a ‘sandwich.’ Since bread has always been one of my favorite things, I really missed it – so these are a miracle for me.
creativeartworksblog 