This photo makes me happy just looking at it. Just LOVE the happiness of this dog who loves his companion.
The sun came out and it’s supposed to be windy and 69 degrees F. this afternoon. I’ll take it! We have had a lot of rain the past two days. I’m not sure if I can walk in our yard without getting sucked down into the mire, but I’ll try it later to check on my veggie planters.
Pond5
I made it to a 5-pound increment on my efforts to lose the lard this morning! I have a long way to go, but setting and making it to interim goals helps me keep my focus. I now am down 25 pounds since my heaviest.
In another 5 pounds, I can show the whole blue bear.
I wish I could meet the person who came up with this.
Update: My husband is healing well from his sudden encounter with our brick planter brought about by our dog, Amber, getting excited while on the leash for her last outing of the night. We are now just letting her out now – no leash – and waiting for her to do her business and return. We do learn from our experiences. He reports no pain in either his ear (7 of 8 stitches removed by the nurse practitioner yesterday morning, and the last one ‘snipped’ so it will come out easily over time as the scab finishes healing and falls off.) When I asked him about his previously dislocated little finger, he held up the wrong hand to look at it. :0) Amber is looking quite innocent about all this, just enjoying life.
I just went out to check the veggie planters. All seem to be doing great. I’ll show you some pics in another post this morning. Since we’re supposed to get a lot more rain today, we’ll go down and get our mail and drag our trash can back up the driveway to its resting spot before lunch.
I hope that your Wednesday is a pleasant and happy one.
We got up at 0-dark-thirty this morning and were waiting in front of the clinic at 7am, since the lady I talked to yesterday told me it was first come, first served with a limited number of patients accepted, so it was best to get there as early as possible. They opened a bit early. We filled out paperwork and were called after only a few minutes.
The nurse practitioner removed 7 (of 8 (!) stitches) from my husband’s ear. She snipped the last one, saying she didn’t want to disturb it because it was embedded deeply in the rather thick scab there. She said it will now come out on its own as the scab heals and falls off. We are supposed to be careful not to bump it a lot, but it looks like it’s healing well.
We treated ourselves to breakfast at The Dari in town before coming home. As we checked for mail, the mailman drove by and handed our mail to my husband. We are in for the day now, and he’s taking a nap.
CNN
I’m still very happy that we got to see the eclipse yesterday. It was different than I expected, in that we didn’t see the whole sun blocked by the whole moon surrounded by a corona, but we saw the sun disappear bit by bit until it was ‘gone’ leaving us in a twilight state for several minutes before starting to appear again, bit by bit. It was the first one we’ve ever seen, and the last one since it won’t happen again for 20 years, so we’re happy that we actually got to see something this time.
Later on today, I’ll check my veggie plants to see if they made it through the night. The forecast said we might get hail. By the time they said that, it was already dark and I decided the heck with it. We’ll see.
I’m feeling pretty groggy since it seems we got up in the middle of the night in order to get to the clinic today. If I do my yoga and my elliptical trainer today, I will decided I have done well.
Here in Greenwood AR we are in the ‘path of the totality.’ We are supposed to see our peak at 1:45 this afternoon. It’s sunny and bright right now, but the forecasters say that clouds are coming in for tonight’s rain. :0( I’m hoping that they hold off until I get to see my first and only eclipse. It’s supposed to start here about 1:45pm. I’ll be out there before that with my glasses and my camera, just in case. All appendages, including my eyes, are crossed that as many people as possible will be able to stare, awestruck, at one of the world’s miracles.
We will stay completely clear from town today. We’ll go to the bottom of the driveway in a while to take our trash down and get our mail, then we’ll turn around and come back up. The news people are ASKING people not to stop their vehicles in the middle of the street, on a dam or bridge, or just sidle to the side of a road in the middle of this. We don’t need to be on the road at ALL, so we won’t be.
Saturday was was a zombie, not doing my exercises or much of anything else after a really poor night of sleep. Yesterday I was a ‘good girl,’ doing 11 minutes on my elliptical trainer in the garage and then my half hour or so of old lady stretching yoga. I put TWO stars on my desk calendar. :0) Today I’ll do my exercises for my arms with my dumbbells and then my yoga.
I bought a beautiful beef roast at the store yesterday and got it in the crock pot a while ago. We haven’t had one in a long time, so this will be a real treat. My husband immediately said he would make the mashed potatoes. I had to tell him that would be fine, but to just make enough for him, since I wouldn’t eat them with my keto eating plan. He looked at me and said, “___ the potatoes. I’ll eat whatever you’re eating.” (He’s definitely a keeper.) So we’ll have a nice tossed salad – with some lettuce included from OUR VEGGIE GARDEN and some steamed broccoli.
I wish you a Happy Eclipse Day. I hope we can all see at least a piece of it.
Things are starting out quietly here this morning. I actually got some good rest last night, so I’m feeling almost human this morning. My husband is sleeping in.
We plan to run errands today, getting the mail we didn’t yesterday, plus hitting a couple of places for supplies.
Britannica
We will only be going down to the bottom of the driveway tomorrow for mail and to leave our trash for pickup, since our small town expects viewers to arrive for viewing the eclipse. The schools will be closed, too. We have traffic jams twice a day (around schools opening and letting out – hence, the bypass that is being constructed) so – even with the schools closed – if three people come to see the eclipse, we’ll have a mess on our hands… :0)
Our skies are due to be ‘partly cloudy’ which probably means we won’t be able to see much at all here. I’ll be out there with my glasses to see whatever I can see. I have a pair for my husband, too, but he tends to scoff at things such as this, so I don’t know if he’ll join me or not.
Yesterday was a complete wash-out since I had gotten very little sleep. I did a bit in the veggie planters and some cooking, but did not exercise, except to get into and out of my recliner. :0) I’ll make up for that today, doing my yoga and the elliptical.
I THINK I’m functional this morning, but I’m sleep-deprived. Last night was awful. My husband was constantly moving – an unusual thing for him – intermittently snoring – NOT as unusual. He was actually cross-wise in the bed at one point and I had to wake him up to get him to move so I had a spot. Then I had a bad dream, so I went downstairs to read until about 2:30. I was just dozing off again upstairs when Amber started barking. I went downstairs to ask her firmly to stop. I caught about 45 minutes sleep, I think, and she started in again. AND, of course, I was up twice to pee…. So I’m feeling like a zombie, trying to get what I need to do done anyway.
I checked on my veggies and actually had my first lettuce harvest!
I harvested the largest lettuce leaves from two planters, cleaning up the plants a bit, snipping off dead leaves, weeding a bit, etc. Things are looking good right now.The spinach is doing well so far.Combination tomato plants, lettuce, and spinach.Just tomatoes (although I did strew some green bell pepper seeds around a week ago in all three planters.)1st lettuce harvest – 4-6-2024 – we’ll enjoy some of this tonight with some baked fish and spinach (one day some we’ve grown, I hope).azalea
mystery blue periennial
I hope that your Saturday is more ‘alert’ than mine and that you feel really good this morning.
I’m down 23.6 pounds – closer to my interim 5-pound goal. I’m doing my 30 minutes of old lady stretching yoga each day. I’m going to add exercise for my arms with 5 pound weights on M-W-F and a few minutes on the elliptical trainer T-Th-S. It would be nice to see a good difference by the end of April.
American Montessori Society
My sweet veggie plants are still doing well despite the wild changes in temperatures. I just watered everything, and I’ll take some pics tomorrow to share with you. I also plan to harvest some lettuce!
We had to re-install one of Amber’s gates last night. We’ve been keeping her on the tiles since her tummy hasn’t been completely reliable lately. It doesn’t happen often, but we try to at least make sure her food has settled after feeding her before we let her into the carpeted area. Now she has started routing around for more food in the kitchen. I’m careful about not leaving anything on the counters or island, having learned the hard way that she will eat anything she can find. Last night I heard something and found her with her front feet on the counter in the kitchen licking the counter! So we re-installed the gate between the dining area/kitchen and the utility room.
I learned this morning that with the new gate I have to plan ahead to get out into the garage without incident. I managed to have the utility room gate open while trying to also open the door to the garage. Amber wanted out and Abby wanted in at the same time. It was a mess. I ended up shutting the door to the garage, closing the gate, then starting over on going out. When I finished, I related my ‘lesson’ to my husband, hoping to save him from experiencing the same thing.
Freepik
I’m still having bad dreams about trying to help my husband after Amber pulled him down into the brick planter on the 30th. I was really freaked out that I couldn’t get the blood to stop, and then we spent all night in the ER getting him the help he needed. In my dreams I continue to rush around frantically trying to gather what I needed to help him. We HAVE 1st aid kits, but they tended toward snake bite kits, etc., and I was rushing around upstairs and down, trying to find things to help us.
I have now ordered several things online in order to create two bins of wound care supplies – one for upstairs and the other downstairs, gathering the things I would have liked to have, or have more of. I’ve received some of the things I ordered, and I think I’ll receive the rest of them today. We’re going to get two bins with lids that I can label, distributing the things I ordered into them. Having them organized, where I can grab them quickly and have more of might be needed to at least get us to the ER intact will help me sleep better. Hopefully, I won’t need them.
Things are quiet so far this morning. My husband slept in and is just now trying to rise and shine. :0)
Britannica
I’m starting to get excited about the eclipse Monday – since we’re supposed to be in the path where we can see the total eclipse – though the weather forecast said it will be partly cloudy with rain coming before and after the actual eclipse, and they don’t know if it will be too cloudy to see it or not. Frustrating! Whatever happens, I’ll be outside to see what there is to see. We have our special glasses and my camera ready to grab.
The forecast severe weather apparently mostly missed us last night and I’m really grateful. The gusty winds were enough not only to dislodge parts of the sheets I put over the three planters, but BREAK the clothespins!
The hail missed us, thank goodness. I don’t know how much rain we got. I’m washing the sheets this morning, since our local forecast is a cold front moving through and freezing temperatures Wednesday and Thursday mornings. UGH.
I was really happy to see that our sweet veggie plants seem to be okay. I’m going to start harvesting some lettuce leaves to add to our salads.
And finally, here is the azalea I couldn’t cover up. :0)
My stubborn husband insisted that he mow the yard yesterday, even though he’s only two days out from the all-night visit to the ER. He did it, with me nervously monitoring – even complimenting me when he came in, saying I did a good job of making his job easier with the weed whacker. Even though his picture is beside the words “Stubborn” and “Obstinate” in the dictionary, he’s definitely a keeper.
We’ll do our errands, but hopefully will enjoy a quiet day, otherwise. I hope that you are well and having a really nice day.
This is the aftermath of man vs dog, or trying to take our 97 pound yellow lab, Amber, out for her last outing of the day on the leash. We have now agreed to simply let her out, tell her to “hurry up” and hope if she finds something interesting, she’ll come back in a reasonable length of time.
My husband is pretty comfortable this morning, and actually was able to sleep in the bed without hurting himself. I don’t have to do any extra laundry this morning, either, a really nice thing.
We go to get the stitches out in 10 days time. We can do this at our local clinic. I’ll call tomorrow and see if I can make an appt for that.
Amber went out with my husband for her last outing of the night about 1:30 this morning. At about 2:00am my husband woke me, asking for my help.
To make the story shorter, Amber saw something, reacted, caught my husband not paying close enough attention, and pulled him down and into one of our brick planters.
He was bleeding in several places and didn’t know if he had broken or dislocated his finger. I tried to clean him up, but couldn’t get the bleeding under control behind his left ear. His finger was also hurting badly, so we ended up in the ER in Fort Smith.
We left about 5:30 after x-rays and CT scans, plus 6 stitches behind his left ear covered by bandages and vet wrap, a ‘re-located’ pinkie finger, with him seriously out of patience and wanting to get home.
We slept in our recliners from 6 to 9. I talked to our son via conference call this morning, catching him up and letting him know we are the worse for wear but will rest and heal.
I will spend the day washing all the bloody clothes, towels, washcloths, carpeted stair steps and other places, and trying to get our medical supplies back where they belong.
Scary, exhausting time. Amber has on her innocent face and can’t see what all the hubbub is about.
This is similar to the phone system that replaced our land line years ago. We have ‘stations’ all over the house, upstairs and down. Now it has died a sudden death and will probably act much as a doorstop.
A friend called us recently and said he couldn’t hear us, though we could hear HIM fine. Then, I got a call yesterday with the same problem. We took our system base and one phone to the local AT&T store, but they said no one had techs anymore and that we would have to call AT&T about the problem. I did, spending a lot of time, but getting no result, other than an offer to send me a link to the phones they sell.
After a lot of debate, we decided to just leave things as they are, using the phone to continue to use the program we added that screens calls, making people push # or something similar, if they’re a real person and not selling anything, before the phone rings to get our attention. That has saved us a lot of grief over the years. It will also still allow anyone making it through the answering machine part to leave a message. I can then call them back on my cell phone and let them know that number is no longer good.
I then spent most of the rest of the day going to important websites, including utilities and other services, looking at profiles, changing the phone listed there where applicable. I THINK I informed everyone, but will call folks who leave a message on the old phone to let them know as they happen.
luke’s right hand-boredpanda.com
Spending the afternoon like that means I did NOT get to do my yoga practice yesterday. I will do one session this morning, and another this afternoon, in an effort to make up for that.
We are enjoying a beautiful weekend, with warming temperatures, heading into the Easter weekend.
Each time the Mega Millions/Power Ball lottery gets to an astronomical amount, we buy $10 worth of tickets. That $10 buys hopes and dreams until the drawing, when they are again dashed. Until the next time. Someone in New Jersey won the 1.1 billion dollar prize – the one that could/should have been ours. :0(
Yesterday there was no hot water when I washed my hair in the kitchen sink as I do each morning. I waited and waited with the water running, then gave up and quickly washed it in the cold, cold water. I told my husband about the problem, but he basically blew me off, asking me if I had run the water. Pffffft! Later on I brought it up again, asking what I was supposed to look for in the basement where our instant hot water heater lives. He told me I should run the water longer. (Urge to kill.) Finally, mid afternoon I asked him again to look at the problem. He basically went down to the basement to make me quit bothering him, finding that there was, indeed, a problem. (Go figure)
It turned out that the battery backup thingie he had put between the main power and the hot water system had failed. When that happened. It turned off the hot water system. When we removed the backup and plugged the system into the main power, everything turned on.
We decided, after a discussion, that since our power almost never went off, and was already backed up by the generator, we didn’t need the backup thingie. We made a note of what humongous battery it needs and stored it.
Vine Pair – (this is similar to what I plan to ask our dirt work guy for for my husband)
My husband FINALLY had the good grace to apologize for blowing me off, suggesting I was ‘forgetting’ to run the water…
Ground was broken around the 1st of this month for the Greenwood Bypass. In the image above, the solid line is the current road and the dotted line is the bypass to be constructed. Two bridges are due to be totally reconstructed, as well as the road. It’s due to be finished – in two phases – by 2026, or so they estimate.
We use the solid road now. It looks like a war zone on both sides of the road now, with downed, broken, and piled up trees, what looks like a rerouting of a creek (yes!) and it’s not clear yet if they’ll finish the dotted part before they close access to the road we use to get to town. This is supposed to relieve congestion through town by people who would prefer to just bypass the square and go on to Ft. Smith or wherever else they would like to go. What worries me is that they’ll cut off access to the east side of Greenwood, where we are. Time will tell.
My veggie garden came through the freeze yesterday just fine and I didn’t have to cover things last night. I checked this morning and all looks good.
Things got busy yesterday due to the hot water issue and time got away from me. I had to hurry to get my yoga practice in before dinner and didn’t get up to my art room. I’m hoping to change that today.
Yesterday I made some keto chicken fingers, using canned chicken, from a recipe from In the Kitchen with Matt. It was quick, easy, and only 2 carbs per serving. My husband wasn’t thrilled, but I thought it would be great as a snack. We each ate 2. I made 12, so I have 8 left – enough to have 2 each day as my snack. YUM.
Jennifer Zhang – Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole – KetoDietYum.com
Tonight I’m going to make this casserole, except that I’ll be using leftover pork tenderloin instead of the chicken. I’m hopeful it will be good.
Gardenary
It froze here overnight. Thankfully, I had covered my new veggie plants with king-sized sheets to try to protect them. They seem to have come through okay, though it’s hard to tell when they are first uncovered. I had a jacket on and STILL froze to death taking the clothespins and sheets off. I’m washing the sheets now to either have them ready for the next time or fold them to store.
I keep meaning to get up to my art room, but the days are whizzing past my head faster than I can actually get up there. Maybe today. I have an idea I’d like to start.
Wow! It’s COLD here in Arkansas this morning! My computer says it’s 34 right now, and the sun is shining brightly, but we have some wind, and my computer says it FEELS like it’s 25. That is QUITE a big change from what we’ve enjoyed lately. I froze to death getting some pictures while checking my new veggie garden plants to see if they were still with us.
Spinach and LettuceSpinach, lettuce, and some very cold tomato plants.These tomato plants were protected a bit more by the back of the house and the porch.
I felt encouraged to see this azalea plant with one bloom and the buds in the middle of this cold snap. It’s supposed to get to 56 this afternoon. Somehow that just isn’t very encouraging right now. I would really like to continue my weed whacking, even if it’s just a little bit each day, but this is just too cold now.
Today is a quiet day for us. No errands. My husband may decide to get the mail later, and we’ll check to see if our trash can has been emptied, but that’s it. I like it.
I found a thing on Pinterest about making Keto ‘chicken fingers’ from canned chicken, an egg, and some cheddar cheese. I may try that this afternoon. We’re going to finish up the hot dogs this evening. (My husband gets regular hot dogs and some kind of chips. I’m having hot dogs with Mission 0 carbs Tortillas.) When we did this recently, he said mine looked, “Rude.” I just smiled – happy that I can enjoy almost-normal hot dogs without guilt. :0)
Lucia Verdejo-facebook.com
Will try to make it up to my art room today, to at least mess around, if not actively work on something rattling around in my brain.
This is me after my wonderful massage this morning. Lynn is a master at finding all the sore spots and getting rid of them. By the time she is finished, I am completely loose and would stay right there on the table and sleep, if she would let me.
My husband wanted me to stop and get him a “bowl” on the way home for lunch, since it was cold and rainy. (A “mashed potato bowl” is mashed potatoes, corn, and chunks of chicken tenders with cheese on top. The ultimate delicious comfort food from the deli in our local groceries. I used to get their ‘mac and cheese bowl’ but the carbs are too high. Now I get either 2 chicken tenders or two pieces of fish and I then have one for each of two lunches.)
I just finished getting Suzanne Ryan‘s “Keto Chili” – Simply Keto – into the crock pot so it will be ready for dinner tonight. I had a different dinner planned, but the cold rain got ME in a comfort food frame of mind, too.
While the hamburger meat and sausage was browning, I divided and bagged up chicken, hamburger meat, stew meat, and some pork chops for the freezer.
We gathered up our trash and will dash out between rain showers to get it down to the bottom our driveway and the trash can down where it should be for pickup tomorrow. I’ve already drowned 3 times today – once for the massage and then the grocery store/deli, and finally the mailbox this morning. Another drowning won’t bother me much. :0) I’m hoping that my veggie plants are soaking this up, saying, “Ahhhhhhh1” like I was this morning.
I did a good job weed whacking yesterday, plus changing the used-up cord thingie for a new one to use today, but I seem to have overdone. I was really stiff and sore when I finished, so I went ahead and did my yoga VERY slowly and carefully. That made me feel a bit better, except when I tried to get out of my chair…
sent to me by a good friend.
I’m hoping I loosen up more as the day progresses. I would LIKE to finish the main weed whacking today (although this is essentially a never-ending project once the season starts) – this afternoon is supposed to be 67 degrees and a bit overcast. We’re supposed to get gusty winds starting about 6pm and lasting overnight with rain forecast for all day tomorrow. So I’m going to TRY to finish the front yard today (plus the small spot I couldn’t do yesterday in the back when I ran out of cord.)
Another good thing besides the extra exercise and fresh air I’m getting with the yard work is that another pound bit the dust yesterday. :0) Since I have more than several to spare, I would love to donate to the cause of people needing to gain weight on a regular basis.
This is my recent chart from MyFitnessPal. It is motivating to ME and keeps my eye on the ball to weigh in and record my weight each morning, good or bad. I have seen a pattern on logging my food, water, and exercise each day – when it says ‘You’re not eating enough,’ I tend to lose a bit of weight. When it says, “If things were based on today, you would weigh ___ in 5 weeks” I don’t lose anything. So, what I’m doing that seems to be working lately is watching my carb count like a hawk, trying to keep it to 20 for the day. I’m going to keep doing this and see what happens. I lost pound #23 yesterday.
We’re going to fill up gas cans today to use with the mower. My husband has now declared that the “Official Mowing Season for 2024” begins on April Fool’s Day. I’m trying to weed whack – keeping the riding mower in mind – so he can mow as easily as possible.
I think the skill in this lovely watercolor is amazing. I like it as much for what is NOT there as what IS. This is done by a master, with soft edges, suggestions, beautiful color, and more. Love it!
It’s supposed to get to 68 this afternoon, so I’m putting weed whacking on my list. I’ll try to check the equipment BEFORE I get out there so that I don’t use up my limited energy uselessly, as I did a day or so ago.
Quotesgram
My scales said 22 pounds down as of this morning. My current goal is 25 pounds down (my goals are in 5-pound increments) so it’s within sight. I’m HOPING that my measuring tape will show some improvement at the end of the month, as well. One day at a time.
Kay Humphreys – boredpanda.com
My husband said it looked like I was making some progress in my yoga practice yesterday. When I asked him why he said that, he said I was moving ‘more smoothly’ and it looked like I was stretching farther. He asked what I was doing when I was kneeling on the mat –
LexiYoga
I put this image here to show you where I am TRYING to go in this position. When I started, I couldn’t even get on my knees with my feet out straight behind me without getting leg and feet cramps. Now I am ‘flirting’ with being upright and ‘feeling’ my butt very close to my feet…
I keep reminding myself that Cat Kabira, whose DVDs I use, says that stretching TOWARD your goal and breathing into it is doing as much for your body as actually being able to ‘sit’ on your feet with your body comfortable, for example. The stretching and breathing and relaxing are the whole point and they will help you be stronger and more flexible, with better balance.
I received a text last night from Patty, Linda’s daughter, saying that Linda’s other daughter, Kelly, was in town from Nashville. She wanted to know if we wanted to meet them, and Linda, for Lunch Bunch today! I’m really looking forward to seeing all of them, catching up, and giving/getting wonderful hugs. I don’t know if Kay and her husband, Bud, will be there or not. That would be truly wonderful.
After we go to lunch, we’ll stop at the local grocery to get more canned dog food for Amber. She seems to be doing well on the food made for dogs with sensitive stomachs, with more wet than dry food in each feeding, so we’re sticking with that for now.
I’m making it a point to bring Abby in every afternoon for a love-the-cat fest. We are both enjoying it. She is showing no signs that she is in pain. I can’t keep the diapers on her, so I can only let her in when I can make the time to sit and love her, then put her outside again. Since she has always been an inside/outside cat, this is working for us.
It’s grim, gray, 54 degrees and rainy-looking today, so unless it clears up, it looks like I’ll have to wait on weed-whacking around my veggie planters today. I’m hoping we’ll get some good, soaky rains, helping our veggies get a good start.
James Marvin Phelps – boredpanda.com
Today is DAY 34 on my practicing my yoga stretches every day. Yesterday I was feeling cranky/out-of-sorts/hostile/sore/tired and I have to admit I went ahead and put a star on my desk calendar because I tried really hard to work out in the yard and failed to make any progress. I talked myself into counting THAT as my exercise for the day. I sat in my recliner trying to relax and felt guiltier and guiltier. Finally, I got up, got my mat, and did my practice as I should have, feeling better physically and guilt-free. Does anyone else have to fight with themselves to do what’s right?
Since it looks like my weed whacking will need to be postponed for better weather, I may actually get up to my art room this afternoon.
It’s gray and rainy-looking outside. It’s 49 degrees F. and we’re supposed to have whatever ‘spotty showers’ are off and on all day. Sounds like a great day to cover up my head and enjoy being warm and dry. :0)
I’m hoping the weather will allow me to weed whack around my veggie planters today. I pooped out after fertilizing and watering yesterday, wanting to save enough energy for my yoga practice. I’m learning I need to space the work out even more this year than last. It’s a challenge to adapt, but I can do it.
Simply Keto – Blueberry MUG Muffin
I took a break in the middle of this post to try the above recipe. It always takes me longer than the prep time says, but this one was 5 minutes prep time, 1 minute cook time, so I couldn’t resist.
I thought it tasted good. My husband wasn’t as enthusiastic, eating his half of the muffin, but that’s okay. I can eat half of the muffin for a breakfast and the other half later in the day as a snack or part of lunch or dinner. I DID have to get out 10 ingredients – a bit much for my before-coffee brain, but I have to admit I didn’t use a bunch of utensils or containers, so clean up was very quick. I won’t eat this every morning, but it’s a nice start for a cool, rainy-looking day. Meanwhile, I found a nice recipe for a Lemon Garlic Pork Tenderloin I’ll do tomorrow.
Today we’ll gather trash and drive it down, setting up the can at the bottom of the drive as we start errands. We’ll get our mail, drive to Ft. Smith to our CPA’s to sign our tax returns and get the receipts, then back to Greenwood to hopefully find some veggie plants for my spring garden.
If we’re successful, I’ll get those in the ground today. We had a light freeze last night, but that’s the last one we’ll have as far as the forecasters are predicting now. I’ll keep a close eye on things, though.
Yesterday I found a gourd and sanded it and cleaned it up. I plan to do some wood working on it. I still have no clue what I’m doing, but I have ideas rattling around in my head that want to come out.
Apparently Amber heard ‘something’ in the garage last night or this morning and was barking. The next thing I heard was when she was barking at 5:30 this morning. I tried to ignore it, but couldn’t. I got up and shuffled downstairs, let her in, admonished her to keep her mouth firmly shut, and came back up. I managed to sleep a bit more, thank goodness. When I asked my husband how the dog got out, he said she was barking in the utility room and he let her out…
He took one of our guns out into the garage this morning, thinking there was a critter of some kind under his car. He came back in, saying he didn’t see anything.
I’m hoping the remainder of our Monday goes smoothly. I’m trying to gather grit and patience, in case he wants to drive the Vette to Ft. Smith. I’m HOPING the fact we need to take the trash down and bring plants back will convince him that the truck is the better choice today.
I LOVE the kind of mind that thinks to create this AND the creativity and expertise it takes to actually make it happen.
We’re having a beautiful, slightly chilly morning. I haven’t decided if I want to go get veggies to plant today or if I want to wait until Monday.
I have an idea rattling around in my head regarding something I would like to try in the art room – involving a gourd and my wood burning equipment. I have NO idea if it would work or not, but I’ve dreamed about it for 2 nights now…
Animals and people are all doing fine – holding their own – here. It’s a quiet start for the day.
It’s feeling strange to be awake around here right now. I just checked and both Abby and Amber are asleep. My husband is asleep in his chair in the living room. I’m the only one rattling around.
I hope this is a good Saturday for you – that your weather is nice and that you have something fun planned.
This is forecast for Oklahoma and Arkansas this afternoon into this evening. I got out and took some pics of our blooms this morning, just in case this is the last we’ll see of them –
tulip treetulip tree close-upwisteriared bud treeirisdaffodil
Walking around outside lately has really brought my spirits up. There is a LOT to do in the yard, but the first thing – assuming the storms this afternoon and evening leave us intact – is to look for veggie plants to start my spring garden tomorrow. If I do, I’ll take some pics to share.
If the weather allows, I’ll try to work in the yard a bit today. If not, I’m planning to spend some time in my art room. A nice day either way.
I hope the weather is good where you are, OR that you ‘weather it’ well. :0)
Yesterday I got the wood blanks I ordered recently as my birthday present to myself. I’m thrilled, though intimidated, about actually USING the blanks yet. I’ll continue to practice before actually jumping in, but I’m excited. Here they are –
Hopefully today will be a quiet, uneventful day. I’m planning for us to get our mail and grocery shop. We’re forecast for possibly severe weather tomorrow, so I’m waiting to get and plant veggies until next week.
I’ll make another pass through all the paperwork from Password Safe, but I think I’ll be finished. It will be nice to have everything secure and much easier to use than the notebook I’ve been using and entering everything manually.
Wow. Just wow. If Amazon delivered and I could arrange food, I would never leave this place.
Women’s Health
Shout-out to ML – who is in the ER with my BIL. Hope all goes smoothly. Love you.
Shout-out to Cathy – New doc. New info. New hope. Please let me know.
My husband was going to drive down to get our mail yesterday and we had a dead battery in the truck. He had decided, unbeknownst to me, to see how long the battery would actually last, rather than changing it out at the 3 year mark at the change of seasons as we usually do. We had trash to drive down, errands to run, and no truck. We could have taken the Vette, but my husband is still a bit challenged on driving and I really didn’t want to try to take the bags of trash down in the Vette.
We put the battery charger on the truck and did other things. After lunch we were able to start the truck, got the trash into the trash can and the can dragged down to the bottom of the driveway, got our mail, and drove into town to get a new battery. I don’t remember more than two batteries back, but the first I remember cost around $70. The one that just died was about $150 and my husband was really angry at the price. The one we bought yesterday was right at $240. The people at the head of our government may be saying that inflation is coming down, but when buying batteries, groceries, or gas, I can’t tell it.
My husband installed the battery in the parking lot at the store. We brought home an engine air filter and a cabin air filter. During the afternoon, he installed both of those. He was really tired after all the work. I monitored his progress, but very quietly. He took a nap before dinner.
My spirits are really being helped by the daffodils blooming and the red bud trees (and tulip tree) blooming now. Every time I go out, no matter what else is happening, I feel a lifting, a brightening, a filling. It’s really nice.
The one tree image above is the best display, but there are other, smaller trees around the yard that pick up the color. It’s nice to be able to let your eyes travel from one to the next.
I am making progress adding data to my Password Safe program. I’m having trouble adding ‘group names,’ such as ‘financial,’ but finally manage it or give up for the night, as I did last night. I WILL get my information in there, but I wish it weren’t such a fight…
This glorious color with the addition of water drops really got my attention. Simply stunning.
I hope you’re feeling good this morning.
Password Safe
For several years, my husband and I have used the program Password Safe to securely store all the myriad user names and passwords we use on a day to day basis. Awhile back, my husband decided that MY use of this was somehow messing him up on his computer, so I stopped, writing down all of my most important ones in a notebook. I couldn’t find another program I liked, so have been limping along, having to check my notebook, type in my name and password, etc.
Long story shorter, he decided to change programs recently, agreeing that I would use Password Safe again. We got it installed on my computer again, but had trouble importing the data from his machine to mine. So now I am laboriously rebuilding all the groups and passwords manually. UGH. I’ll be happy when this is finished. I’m only working on it intermittently. The fact that my husband is having trouble getting his new choice installed on his computer makes me smile a bit, if I’m being honest…
Yesterday I weeded the brick planters east of the house that we converted to square foot planters last year. I’ll get lettuce and spinach plants for this one, plus anything else that grabs my attention.
I’ll put tomato plants in this one. You can see the tomato plant supports.
This is the planter we call the ‘niche’ planter, since it is protected from the wind by the back of the house and then the porch on another side. Tomato plants will go in this one, too.
As you can see, one of the next things will be using the weed whacker to clean up the area around the planters. We might look for plants today, after we get the mail and leave our trash at the bottom of the driveway.
I hope you remembered to change your clocks this morning. I keep reminding my husband to change his watch. I don’t know if he’s done it now or not. We are both having trouble changing the clock that lives in our entertainment center in the living room. I looked at it last night, pushed the buttons on its side one at a time, but there was no change. Then started pushing 2 buttons at a time, then got scared I would screw it up so it wouldn’t tell time at all and stopped. My husband doesn’t seem to be much better. We’ll tackle it together later. I got the rest of the clocks changed with the exception of our vehicles. Did I tell you I hate DST?
I read that two people have again created bills in Congress to address the problem and either go to DST or Standard Time. I won’t hold my breath on them even making it out of committee.
UPDATE – My husband woke up from his nap. I watched as he tried to set the clock. He couldn’t remember how to do it, but managed to hit upon it, so that is fixed. HOORAY!
Pond5
I got a bit more weight off. I’m now down 21.6 pounds from my heaviest. Every little bit counts! :0) If I can just keep moving and keep my mouth shut…
Unsplash.com
Whereby.com is a nice video conference site that is secure and works well even when people are across the world from each other. Our son and I used it this morning and had a wonderful time. I LOVE being able to see his face.
He laughed when we compared ‘projects’ – he is doing some really technical stuff on the Internet and also making music with gadgets. And we are trying to set our clocks…. Although I’m proud of myself that yesterday when I came downstairs I heard a ‘chirping’ sound. I traced it to one of our smoke detectors. I got a stool, got the detector off the wall, opened it, changed the 9 volt battery, and put it back up on the wall. HOORAY!
No big plans for today. Our weather is nice. It’s 45 and sunny, with a great warm up coming next week. Just wonderful. I’ll try to arrange some time to work outside. There is SO much to do out there! My husband announced that he refuses to mow in March. I can’t blame him at all. I just told him to do what he wanted, but to make sure he was able to use the ride-on mower on the high grass when he was ready.
One of the next things I’ll do is see what veggie plants are available in town for my spring garden. I’m cutting way down on what I’m planting this year. I have three brick planters we converted to square garden planters with Mel’s Mix on the east end of the yard close to the house that I’ll use instead of my larger garden. I’ll plant lettuce and spinach in the 8 foot long planter and tomatoes in the two square ones. I’ll take pics as I get started.
SPRING FORWARD – This is your watch bird watching you and reminding you that technically, tonight you stay up until 2 am and change all your clocks. Practically, you can wait until tomorrow morning, not forgetting that you’re losing an hour and you don’t want to be late for church services, if you go.
I’ve already whined about DST and our congress critters have apparently tried to change it several times. When I researched the subject, it said various people had introduced bills and then withdrawn them, but no reason given as to why. Makes for an interesting conspiracy theory, if you’re into that. :0)
Grecle Cat Diapers – Amazon.com
We tried the cat diaper on Abby yesterday. Years ago when we were grilling on the deck, my husband would take the aluminum foil off the meat, and then from under the meat, tie it together in a long roll and then tie it around the waist of the cat we had at the time. The result was always the same – the cat would simply fall over. It was like the cat had become paralyzed. My husband would laugh like a loon.
Yesterday Abby reacted the same way with the diaper. She acted like her back legs were paralyzed and kept falling or rolling over. Since it’s important that she get used to this if we’re going to be able to allow her in the house with any kind of freedom, I left the diaper on while I did my yoga and then followed that with a cat-loving session. When she jumped down after some time, the diaper came off as she jumped. We’ll have to refine how we put it on her so it will stay on better, but she didn’t freak out. We’ll do it again today.
HealthyRecipesBlogs.com
Last night I used almond flour instead of (SNB) (Shake-n-Bake for Pork) as I usually do when cooking pork chops, trying to lower the carbs. (The Shake-n-Bake is half my day’s worth of carbs.) The result was that the chops didn’t brown as they do with the SNB and they tasted dry. I researched and found a ‘recipe’ to approximate SNG online. I will make this, using the almond flour in place of the bread crumbs called for, and store it in a container for next time. I also found a nice recipe for pork chops at https://healthyrecipesblogs.com/ that I’ll try. (Only 1 gram carb)
Erika Kocsi – @kocsi_erika on X – “When I Walked the Streets of Assisi”
Erika is so talented. Her watercolors make you feel like you’re THERE. I WANT to be there in this one, especially. Just beautiful. :0)
Walmart
This looks similar to my watch. I am NOT tech savvy. I can set my watch by myself, just barely, with a LOT of messing around. I breathe a sigh of relief when the time and day and date are correct. (Mine doesn’t show the month, though, just FR and 8).
Today was the first day since we had Leap Year that everything has been correct on my watch in the morning. “SOMETHING” is wrong and I have to stop and fix it. I think my problem stems from the fact that I use a 12-hour time frame, rather than going with military time, but it doesn’t SHOW a.m. or p.m. Hence, all the changing. I looked at it this morning and actually smiled. Small things make me happy sometimes. :0)
via Sam – @Britton65Sam on X
I have to whine one more time about the end of Lunch Bunch. I feel as though there has been a death in the family there is such a hole. We would have been leaving right now in order to join our friends for lunch, good food, good conversation, laughs and hugs. We have met every possible Friday for over 20 years, but time moves on and things change.
My friend Linda is in a retirement place. She has no car. She forgets to wear her hearing aid, so she doesn’t hear her phone ring. Sometimes her extremely busy daughter Patty is able to bring her to lunch, and we jump at the chance. Otherwise, I’ll now make a point of trying to visit with her after I go get my monthly massage, which has now been moved to Linda’s retirement place!
My friends Kay, and her husband Bud, are very busy doing various things around the house. Kay forgets what day it is, or forgets that today is the day for Lunch Bunch, or gets involved in other things. When I call and leave a message, she says she doesn’t get it. When I reach her, she says they have other stuff to do. Time has marched on. Needs change.
So, Lunch Bunch is a thing of the past. A wonderful memory. Some Fridays, if Patty can, we’ll meet her and Linda for lunch. Other Fridays, my husband and I will go for a brunch at The Dari. Most of the time, we’ll just enjoy our lunch at home. End of whine.
I’m hoping that the cat diapers I ordered for Abby will be delivered today. I ordered a package of 3 reusable diapers so that HOPEFULLY I can allow her in the house with the freedom she usually has. (I’ve told you previously that we just found out she has a terminal malignant kidney tumor that bleeds a lot.) She is 14, has other health problems, and is too old for MAYBE successful surgery. Fingers crossed that
I can get them on her
They fit and stay on
She doesn’t claw me to death while I’m trying to get them on
She gets used to wearing them in the house so we can increase her quality of life for the time she has left.
I feel guilty only bringing her in when we can have a cat-loving session with her in my lap. I can only arrange this a couple of times a day, resulting in my closing the door in her face many times when she would like to come in.
Have a wonderful Friday. I hope you have a nice weekend planned.
It’s rainy here today and tomorrow, so I’ll concentrate on inside stuff. No errands to run, other than getting the mail at some point, so nice spans of time to get things done.
Yesterday I finished cleaning up after all the furor over ‘someone’ leaving bloody puddles on Amber’s dog bed in the utility room. This has been a long process of cleaning things over and over, but we finally got Amber’s bed aired out sufficiently and enough washings of the covers, to put things back together. I also hosed out the 4 pieces of Abby’s litter box, though being and inside/outside cat, she doesn’t use it much. I think we’re finished now with the cleanup.
This is Amber and me in 2017. She’s bigger now. She is back on her normal food as of this morning. I fed her normal stuff last night, but half as much as usual, so she’s back to normal this morning. If she makes it through the day with no problems, I think we can say all is good with her. I ordered cat diapers for Abby which should be delivered tomorrow. These may allow her some freedom in the house, as I HATE having to shut the door in her face when she wants to come in. I’m still arranging for the ‘cat-loving’ sessions, but when I get busy, I can’t let her in and it kills me. Hopefully, these will allow her to be as normal as possible for the rest of the time she has. The vet said the bleeding will continue and probably get worse, so this is the best we can do. She doesn’t seem to be in pain, and she seems to enjoy the special cat-loving sessions.
I had a really nice chat with our son. He lives across the world from us, and is able to live how he wants to – no happier thing possible, as far as we’re concerned. He has a private language tutor, and he says he’s making really good progress now. His tutor and he have real conversations now, with his tutor then telling him phrases, or jargon, etc. to make his conversations more natural to the natives there. He’s meditating and has a site where he guides people into the practice. He has three languages on his phone and is on call to interpret or help others trying to communicate better. He is making music with his instruments or electronic gadgets. He is living in his condo, but plans on also having a house built out of the city at some point. A rich, full life. I’m SO glad to see it!
Sunday we marked 7 weeks since my husband broke his collarbone. I almost forget that he’s still healing, since he’s doing so well. I’m still watching him like a hawk, but we seem to be over the hump now.
I hit the 21-pounds off mark this morning, so I’m feeling I’m on the right track with my low-carb diet and my yoga practice. Tonight, for example, we’re having leftover spaghetti. My husband is actually having spaghetti with the sauce I made. I’m having the sauce over zoodles. The fact that I can have the sauces and things I make either over zucchini (zoodles) or cauliflower (cauli-rice) really helps me. I’m also eating a Mission Zero Tortilla in place of the dinner roll I used to eat from the deli. I’m making recipes from Suzanne Ryan’s Simply Keto cookbook. I haven’t found a recipe we don’t like yet. My husband is eating the frozen dinners I recently bought, thinking that, since they were high protein, they were on my diet. NOT! They are way too high in carbs for me. Next time I buy some frozen dinners, I WILL READ THE LABELS!
Isn’t this a fabulous photo? It makes me calm down inside when I look at it.
This is catch-up day for me. I’m trying to save Amber’s bed in the utility room after the cat has left bloody urine on it twice. It’s a process, and one I hope will be successful. I’ve been washing the covers and leaving the bed on the porch airing out a couple of times so far. The bed is large and expensive (and so are replacement covers) so I’m doing all I can to save them. She has another bed just like it in the living room, and another one – smaller, and different design – in the office.
This is an old picture, when Amber was half the size she is now, but it shows one of the two identical beds we have for her.
Both animals seem to be doing well. I’ll try a modified version of Amber’s regular food tonight and see how she does. So far, so good.
Abby
Our cat, Abby, continues to eat well and doesn’t seem to be in pain. I’m bringing her in at least once a day for a concentrated loving-the-cat session. We sit in my recliner and she is the focus of my attention for a half hour or so. It’s good for both of us. I tell her what a wonderful girl she is, how much we love her, and how rich our lives have been for 14 years because she came to live with us. We both purr. This is all we can do, since she won’t recover from the probable kidney cancer, tumor, and bleeding.
Walmart
I hate Daylight Savings Time. I wish they would decide in our legislature in Arkansas to adopt one time or the other and stick with it. People have tried, but it hasn’t passed yet. I don’t know what the problem is. The result – for an old person like me, is a real hassle on trying to get my watch changed. I finally got it changed to show all the correct information from having LEAP YEAR. I changed the date. The next day I had to change from a.m. to p.m. to get it to show the correct time because it was changing the date when it shouldn’t. This morning I had to change the DAY. I THINK all is good now. :0\ – And Saturday night and Sunday, I’ll have to do it AGAIN for Daylight Savings Time, plus all the other clocks in the house and vehicles. ARRRRGH! (I think I would win an award for whining and moaning hands down. :0) )
No errands today. I’ll get our mail and see if our trash can at the bottom of the driveway has been emptied. If so, I’ll drag it up to where it lives, trying very hard not to fall on my head in the process. :0) I don’t want it to blow around with rain coming tomorrow and Friday.
Jennie Smash
I broke through the 20-pounds-off mark yesterday for the first time and maintained it today. JUST BARELY got past it, but it counts. I’m hoping to continue this downward trend. The low-carb eating and logging my food on MyFitnessPal seems to be helping me to lose the lard, and the daily half hour or so of old lady yoga stretching is making me hurt less and feel more in control. The abdominal exercise I’m doing is making me feel stronger. I started only able to do 5 reps. I’m doing 15 now. I’m earning some nice sparkly stars to go on my desk calendar.
Last Sunday we hit the 6 week mark since my husband broke his collarbone. He isn’t in any pain (hooraaaaaaay!) and is able to do many more things. I don’t know yet what his range of motion will be when he heals completely. I’m trying to get him to gradually try to raise his arm and see how he does.
I hope your Hump Day is a good one, leading the way to a nice weekend.
creativeartworksblog 