I’m not feeling as much of a slob today as I have been.
Yesterday I finally finished the vacuuming – including whisk-brooming the stairs, then sneezed repeatedly for about half an hour before I could then vacuum the foyer beside the stairs. :0)
Today I’m changing sheets and doing the laundry. One would AL-most miss the fact that I’m a slob.
I’m trying to get upstairs to my art room today to start playing with trying to etch wooden earrings. I have in my head designs I’ll make with the Dremel etching tool and then stain and varnish the wood on the earrings. I haven’t seen any earrings like this, but I don’t know if it’s because no one else likes the idea or…
I’m still smiling because Malou, a thoroughly appealing and very talented singer, won The Voice of Germany this season. Something about the way she sings draws me in, makes me hang on every word, and makes me FEEL. I’m really happy for her, and hope she enjoys a bright future. NOW, if I can just get Huntley as winner of The Voice in the U.S., I won’t be able to wipe the grin off my face all winter.
I had a text on my phone this morning that Linda’s son, Jeff, from Florida, is here and will be bringing her to Lunch Bunch. HOOOORAAAAAAY! It’ll be great to see both of them. I don’t know yet about Kay and Bud, but haven’t heard from them.
The big storm that was forecast for the weekend is breezing past us today. We’ll only have some spotty showers and some colder temperatures, rather than the wind, rain, possible snow, and flying hairballs previously predicted. I’m not complaining AT ALL! :0) I MAY be able to get outside and work in some planters this afternoon. Win/win.
Huntley
I’m newly in love. His name is Huntley and I’m hoping he will be the winner of The Voice soon. I think his voice and style are distinctive and I love to watch and listen. I hope you like him, too.
depositphotos
Yesterday I got my exercise for the day vacuuming. It usually isn’t that strenuous, but I noticed that the vacuum hadn’t been getting under the furniture in our bedroom the way I would like, and so took a whisk broom up there. I started using it and was APPALLED at all the ‘stuff’ that came from under the front edge of my husband’s armoire, my bureau, and close up to our bed and built-in bookshelves. I vacuumed after that and was thoroughly pooped when I finished.
My glassware etching project is finally finished. I’m beginning to get a feel for the Dremel and the new diamond bits now, and my brain is busy thinking of things I can try to make for my Etsy site.
The redo of my Etsy site is ongoing, but the main thrust is done for now. I’m reading articles on suggestions for more and will do the ones I can figure out ASAP.
Our weather is still good, with the high due to be 60 this afternoon, but ice and snow are a possibility this Saturday and Sunday! I’m not ready for this!
I’m eagerly awaiting delivery of the latest paperback, “Payback in Death” in the J.D. Robb series. It is released Dec 26th, so I’m hoping for delivery soon after that. I finished rereading my whole collection yesterday and started a Grisham book last night.
We’re leaving in about half an hour to do errands. I have a boring list of to-do’s that I really should get to today (:0)).
I hope that you are having a pleasant day wherever you are today, and can schedule some fun in.
It’s sunny and 39 here right now. Not really THAT cold, but it sure SEEMS like it. The fact that the weather folks are saying we might get ice or snow this coming weekend adds to the feeling.
Chef John’s Buttermilk Biscuits – AllRecipes.com
At my husband’s request, I’m going to make some more biscuits today. I’ve only done it once before, but they were edible, and my husband really enjoyed eating some with butter and jelly, so he asked last night.
MakeMyLake – Etsy.com
I’m coming to the end of my glass etching project. I’ve learned a ton and finally found the etching tool I can use the most comfortably. Last night I found a diamond bit that worked well for me. I’m starting to get a feel for it now and look forward to using the etcher/engraver on other things in the future. I think the sample above done by MakeMyLake on Etsy is really pretty.
There is 17 pounds less of me this morning. A good start. Here’s to making it to 20 off.
I hope that you’re enjoying a really nice Tuesday.
I just texted, called, and sent carrier pigeons to all those involved, and it LOOKS like the Lunch Bunch group will do our regular Christmas gift exchange on the 22nd! Trying to reach people has become a real challenge, so I was surprised and delighted to be able to contact everyone this morning.
Sadly, it looks like Lunch Bunch – a really special event for every Friday for over 25 years now – seems to be coming to an end. My husband and I go every Friday, but have been stood up so many times lately it’s starting to get on our nerves – mostly because if LB isn’t going to meet, we would really prefer to eat a late breakfast at The Dari, but the timing is wrong for that. Time will tell, but our Christmas celebration may be the end of it.
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Otherwise, we just finished driving our trash down to the bottom of the driveway for pickup tomorrow. Since we were driving down, we got our mail and changed our mailbox decoration. This is “Pepe Le Pew and Penelope.”
This afternoon I’ll start packing the elephant ear planter full of leaves. I’ll do this every day until I can get a good, thick blanket over the plants. I also plan to work on the glassware etching.
I’m feeling a bit smug because I FINALLY had a thoroughly productive day yesterday after several sloth days.
Gardener’s Path
I dug out all of the iris from a planter in the back and redistributed them to planters in the front. I need to finish weeding the back planter today in preparation for using it in the spring for tomatoes. I’m moving my raised bed, square foot garden activities to the side yard planters this spring, limiting the garden to lettuce, spinach, and tomatoes. Besides weeding, I’ll do clean up from yesterday, plus work on the planter in the front that has our elephant ear plants.
I tried my new Dremel last night. It’s a rechargeable cordless model, so I had to charge it for over two hours before using it. It came with only one bit, but I was able to use one of my other diamond bits, putting it in myself with no problem! The design of the Dremel allows me to use it pretty comfortably. It’s also much quieter, so I don’t grate my teeth while using it. I think this one will work beautifully, allowing me to finish the glassware. I’m already thinking of other projects for the Dremel. :0)
My husband has been grousing because the turkey is gone. I cooked another turkey breast yesterday, and told my husband dinner tonight will be turkey sandwiches. He’s been smiling ever since.
I also finished the first round of totally revamping my Etsy site. This includes creating a banner, new logo, lowering prices, then renaming the items so they will supposedly show up better when people are putting in search terms as they shop. This is a work in progress, and I’m just getting a good start on things I see others are doing.
Since we’re having stellar weather and our high is supposed to be in the 60s this afternoon, I’m hoping to have another productive day. I hope that YOU do, too; OR that you do something FUN. After all, it’s Sunday!
It’s gray and raw and 46 outside right now, so I’m using the morning to work on my Etsy shop and write blog posts. I’m HOPING that it will, in fact, get to the forecast 58 degrees this afternoon.
Gardener’s Path
I’d like to pull the iris out of one of our brick planters in the back and distribute them in two other planters in the front. This will free up the back planter for a downsized square foot planter garden in the spring. My plan at the moment is to use an 8 foot brick planter for lettuce and spinach and two other square brick planters for tomatoes. All already have Mel’s Mix in them and will be ready for planting.
My husband insisted that I buy a Dremel glass etcher at Walmart yesterday. If it doesn’t clearly show how to change the bits, I’ll try to call the company. The new one will allow me to continue my work on the glassware today. The one I got from our shop is too large for the work I’m doing. My hands are strained just trying to hold it, much less trying to do anything with it. Fingers are crossed that this one will work for me.
I Should Be Mopping the Floor…
My To-Do List is beyond daunting at this point. I TRIED to feel good about doing one thing from the list each day, but the list is growing exponentially and I just feel guilty about all the things I SHOULD be doing. I may just throw it out and start a new one, listing the things I NEED to do THIS WEEK…
I hope that you’re having a nice Saturday, doing something that brings you joy.
Just had to share this. This festive mouse made my heart melt.
The sun is shining. It’s supposed to get almost to 60 this afternoon. Nice.
Our wonderful plumber called and said he is planning to come Wednesday or Thursday to install our tankless heater replacement. It’ll be really good to not have to ‘wonder’ if we still have hot water or not, or if the unit will reset or not.
The tankless has been a good thing for us. We used to run out of hot water when we had a regular hot water tank. The tankless takes a bit of time to get hot, but then we have as much as we would like. Luxury!
The old system required that we install a stainless steel chimney. We paid more for that than we did the tankless system. The new unit requires PVC. My husband talked to technical support this morning, trying to get them to okay the stainless we already had, but they wouldn’t. They also didn’t give a reason. I told him that we just needed to suck it up and get it done. The new one is a Navien, which supposedly will last 20 years – probably a lot longer than WE do…
It’s sunny outside, but it’s 40 degrees F. and we’re due for ‘gusty winds’ soon. Oh, GOOD!
We’re going to go out soon to drive our trash down to the bottom of the driveway, get our mail, and replenish our groceries. That’s it for ‘out’ today.
I have never figured out whether having long weekend holidays makes it easier or more difficult to go back to work. In some of the jobs I’ve had, the work load exploded while I was gone, so it was really hard to face it and I thought it might have been better just to work through the holiday and keep my head above water. Other jobs I had made it so I could really relax and change my focus for several days in a row, a luxury I really loved.
Now that I’m retired, the point is moot. I have the luxury of working like a nut when the mood strikes or lazing like a sloth when it doesn’t. I don’t usually HAVE to be outside when the weather is lousy. I can snuggle between my heat pad and my throw in my recliner and make the world go away for a bit, if needed. How spoiled I am!
I hope that all of you were able to see family and friends during this holiday, get several good hugs, lots of smiles, and some delicious food you don’t normally allow yourself. :0)
It’s 36 and cloudy here this morning. A cold front is coming through and it’s a great day to stay inside, warm and dry. It rained lightly earlier, and I’m grateful we didn’t get ice. I’m not ready for this.
Signs By McDougall
I’m going to try to use this inside day to my advantage, working on my glassware etching. I’ve watched a few etching videos on YouTube that really get my juices flowing. They make it look really easy, but it isn’t. The jury is still out on whether what I’m doing will pass muster as Christmas gifts. I’m having a good time trying, though the process gets to my hands (particularly my thumbs for some unknown reason), so my sessions have to be short. Maybe I can get multiple sessions in today.
This is the ‘cup holder’ my husband made in our shop over the last two days. It’s stainless steel and heavy.
It fits the bottom of the glasses he likes to use perfectly. Now, when the TV tray is jostled, the liquid in the glass jostles, but the glass doesn’t fall over, spilling the drink everywhere. So far, so good!
I’ve been re-reading my collection of J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts) In Death books in preparation for receiving the latest paperback in the series, Payback in Death, which I’ll get around the end of December or the beginning of January. I’m on book # 50 now, Golden in Death, and am thoroughly enjoying being in Lieutenant Eve Dallas’ world in the future.
I hope you’ve enjoyed your holiday weekend and are home safe and sound now.
I’ve been playing on the computer this afternoon, seeing some beautiful and funny things. I’m planning to go up and spend some time etching the glasses I’m decorating when I finish here.
When I went to our local grocery store, they didn’t have the lunch bowls today. I talked to a lady at the deli, and she said she would make two of them for me while I waited. They have macaroni and cheese at the bottom, then chunks of chicken tenders, then some cheese on the top. We pop them into the microwave to melt the cheese on top. YUM!
My husband finished creating his stainless steel cup holder in the shop. I have to admit it’s quite impressive. It’s heavy and, of course, fits the bottom of the double-walled tall glass perfectly. He showed me by jostling the TV tray the glass usually falls off of. The liquid inside the glass sloshed a bit, but the glass stayed right where it was. There is hope that this is a solution to our problem.
It’s already starting to get dark outside, so no work in the yard today.
A quick “hi” before I leave for a much-needed haircut. After, I’m HOPING to get two macaroni-and-cheese-with-chicken-chunks bowls from the deli/bakery at our local Harps. This is my new favorite thing, so fingers, and all other appendages, are crossed that they have some today.
I’m hoping the stars will align so that I will get outside to do a bit of work this afternoon. A cold front is coming in, so the high will drop about 10 degrees tomorrow.
My husband is making a stainless steel cup holder to go on his TV tray in the living room. This is because he has become a MASTER at spilling whatever drink he has at the time. I warn him – he says he’s being careful – and then down the drink goes – all over the carpet – AGAIN. It’s not cute anymore. He worked most of the afternoon yesterday on it and thinks he can finish it today. I don’t know if the plan is to anchor something to the tray table or just put the glass in it. We’ll see and hope for the best.
I hope that today is a beautiful one for you, too.
Here I am, up almost 2 lbs since yesterday. UGH. The worst part is that it will take me a week or so to get the regained weight off again. (Sigh. Whine) :0(
That said, we had a really nice dinner and my husband was quite complimentary. He was serious about getting ‘his share’ of the deviled eggs before we were even technically ready to get the plates out. One would think he NEVER gets them. It’s reminiscent of our dog seriously telling everyone who will listen that there has been a HUGE mistake – that she hasn’t been fed in a month!
I was pleased that, when I got up and started to clear, he actually came and helped me put things away and clean up the kitchen – another thing for which I am truly thankful. :0)
I FINALLY got out and weed whacked around the house and under the deck yesterday – something I’ve been flapping my lips about for several days now. I followed that up with the leaf blower, so now we look pretty civilized, for the Lewises. I’ll watch to see if it gets warm enough for me to do some weed whacking in the area behind our shop and beside the garden this afternoon.
Otherwise, I’m planning to just do a bit of this and that today, moving from one thing to the other as the mood moves me. I LOVE days like this, where I don’t have any ‘have-to’s.’ It doesn’t happen often and I cherish them.
I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving and are enjoying a nice, long weekend off now.
I’m pleased that a lot of people are getting at least a long weekend, if not even more days off for Thanksgiving. THAT gives folks a good thing for which to be thankful, if nothing else. :0)
We’re having a quiet day today. We go for a routine doctor appointment today, but that’s it for errands. I’m going to work on my Etsy site some more, making what I hope are changes that bring more people, and that they like what they see when they get there.
I’m also still working on the glass etching project in my art room, doing a bit each day. I’m now zeroing in on the ones I need to finish first.
Since my husband and I prefer the leftovers AFTER the main Thanksgiving dinner, and we’re by ourselves this year, I went ahead and cooked our turkey yesterday and served it with corn and homemade macaroni and cheese. I have finally learned to trust the instructions on the turkey, plus using a meat thermometer, so I didn’t overcook it, making it come out too dry. My husband proclaimed it, “perfect.” :0) We have plenty left for the traditional dinner with the fixings tomorrow, plus turkey sandwiches, our favorite thing, for several days.
My husband and I have never ‘fought’ about traditional things that married people do. We ‘fight’ over what design to cut out as a mailbox decoration next, or what colors to use in painting it. Lately, we have been ‘discussing strongly’ whether to have the heat or the air conditioner on upstairs. Right now it’s 43 degrees F. and we have the heat on downstairs. We have had the air conditioning on upstairs since my husband sleeps better when the air temperature is cold. We finally compromised on the upstairs – turning on the heat, but setting the thermostat at 68. We’ll see how that goes.
We’re having a nice ‘day-after-quiet-birthday-celebration’ here today. The weather is nice. It’s supposed to rain late this afternoon into tomorrow, but right now it’s a beautiful fall Sunday. I plan to do some weed whacking before the rain starts.
I just had the NICEST phone talk with a good relative/but, more importantly, FRIEND. We haven’t talked in awhile, so I feel as if I’ve been verbally hugged.
We don’t have any big plans for Thanksgiving. If you’re traveling, I hope you have safe travels that go as smoothly as possible so that you can see/hug the people who mean the world to you.
Happy Birthday to my husband. I’m delighted with his attitude. Yesterday he was “old and 79.” Today he’s “80 with cache’!”
He checked with me this morning first thing, to confirm I’m cooking ‘chicken chunks with onions, mushrooms, and soup over rice’ for his birthday dinner. I was planning to bake a pineapple upside down cake, as well, but he decided that was ‘too much sugar.’ (This from the man who denies he has Type II Diabetes – he just has a ‘sugar problem’)
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I told you that I’m trying to give my Etsy site a face lift. This is proving to be a real character-building exercise. I’ve been working on a banner to go across the top, a new logo, and lots of other changes and – I hope – improvements, but I’ve been beating my head against a lot of obstacles so far.
I finally decided that I could at least do one thing reasonably quickly, and that was to lower my prices. People are at least thinking about buying presents for everyone on their list for Christmas, and I think prices are particularly important when the economy is so challenging. So all of my prices have been lowered – some really significantly – and I’m still offering free shipping to anyone living in the contiguous U.S.
I lowered my prices yesterday and woke up to a sale this morning. Maybe a coincidence, but it was really nice, nonetheless. I just got home from a trip to town to the post office to get it in the mail. :0)
The question of the day is whether our friends will be at Lunch Bunch in a little over an hour. Why don’t I call them, you ask? Both of them HAVE phones, but neither one answers. I leave a voice mail on one of them, but she says she doesn’t get it. The other doesn’t have any kind of messages set up on her phone, and doesn’t wear her hearing aids much of the time, anyway.
So – we’ll go and see if anyone is there, eat – or not eat – and then get some groceries on the way home. “The times – they are a’changin.'”
Dengarden
My challenge for the day is changing the wire holder on my weed whacker so I can continue neatening up around the house. I may have to break down and enlist my husband’s help, but I would RATHER prevail by myself.
Fox & Spice – Fall – Tumblr
My joy for the day is the truly beautiful fall weather we’ve been enjoying. Usually it’s in the 90s one day – then we have 3 days of fall – followed by snow, ice, and winter. It has been such a nice thing to almost take the beautiful afternoons for granted!
I’ve decided to overhaul my Etsy site and my brain is scrambled. Some of the changes I would like to make are cosmetic (considering new name, banner, logo, etc.) Some changes I would like to make the Etsy site doesn’t allow.
I’m reading articles on describing my items. I have followed the Etsy forms on listing my stuff. When I go to ‘Etsy.com’ and type in a search term that I HOPE will make my stuff pop up, it doesn’t. I have NOW read articles that say I should be putting my key words into my title spot, rather than down where Etsy says to put them. I’m seeing in my research that a lot of the people on Etsy are doing this. I’ve decided that today the only thing I’m doing is lowering my prices and letting my head rest. :0)
The stress continues because I couldn’t change the thingie that holds the weed whacking line yesterday. I’ll tackle that problem again later. I THINK I’m smarter than the weed whacker, but the jury is still out….
The pest spraying people called and are coming between 3 and 5 this afternoon for the last spray of the year. I’m trying to get ready for them, clearing the floor areas as much as possible. It amazes me how MANY things are on our floors! I’ll just do what I can.
Before I do anything else, I’m putting the makings of beef stew into the crock pot for our dinner tonight.
I hope that you are having a fine day so far and that many things bring a smile to your face.
We’re having a glorious fall day here in Arkansas. It’s 54 degrees F. now, and it’s supposed to get to 73 this afternoon. The sun is shining, our dog is smiling and trying to climb up into my lap as I type. (She forgets that she weighs 97 pounds and thinks she’s a lap dog.) Things are good and I have absolutely no complaints. :0) The weather folks are saying cooler weather is coming, so I’ll enjoy today with even more awareness and appreciation.
Better Homes & Gardens
I’ve been flapping my mouth about weed whacking, but haven’t actually DONE more than flap. Laziness and other priorities have been sucking up my time and energy, but I’m going to force myself to get outside and start neatening up around the house – the first session this morning. I’m feeling especially guilty because my husband got out yesterday, mowed the grass in front of the garden, and then ran the gas out of the mower to store it for the winter. He also changed another of the 8 foot fluorescent light fixtures in the shop to the new LED bulb configuration. I feel like a slug. :0( I’ll try to make up for that today.
Freepik
I told you that I’m thinking of changing the name and look of my Etsy shop. You would be surprised how difficult it is to (1) think of a name that is no more than 20 characters – no punctuation allowed – that hasn’t been used on Etsy before. And then, if you finally figure one out, ideas for banners to go across the top of the site and a logo that shows the idea of the shop, catches the eye, etc. I may die of old age before all of that comes together.
SO – I’ll share a few more things with you here on the blog and then get outside. :0)
Faster than the movement of a glacier, but I have a small grin on my face this morning, with the poundage loss at 15.6. Onward to 20!
My husband has a haircut this morning. As we leave, we are hoping to see that the trash can has been emptied. We’ll get our mail, get the haircut, shop for groceries, then drag the trash can back up where it lives when we get back.
Other excitement for the day is continuing the weedwhacking, glassware project, and reworking my Etsy site.
I’ve decided that my Etsy site needs a total makeover. I’m going to do it a bit at a time, trying to learn as much as I can about WHAT I can do, HOW to do it, and then, once that is done, making new things to add to it. This will be a long term project, but I’m feeling excited just thinking about it. I’m hoping my friends will help me, allowing me to bounce ideas off of them to get their opinions. My good friend Marsha already pointed me to a YouTube video on the subject. I’ll look at that first. :0)
The People’s Therapist
It looks like we have a whole week of good weather here! I KNOW! Hard to believe. I’m not sure if Mother Nature is feeling bad about her extreme behavior lately or if this is a test – where she dangles the good weather in front of us and then snatches it away, like Lucy and Charlie Brown…
This is probably the last of the flowers for us this season. This is a twice-blooming iris, which USUALLY blooms for the second time in October. It reinforces my opinion that Mother Nature is really enjoying messing with us this year. I’ll surely ‘accept’ it any time we get a pretty bloom, though.
UPDATE – It’s been about 45 minutes since I was working on this post. My husband came in, wanting to gather the trash and take it down to the bottom of our driveway. On the way down the driveway we saw 3 MORE purple iris!
TangledTulip on Etsy –
My husband is feeling of two minds about his birthday which we’ll be celebrating Saturday, Nov. 18th. He’ll be 80. On one hand, he has never wanted to do anything “public” concerning a birthday (he once almost decked a nice man who was playing “Happy Birthday” on his accordion right next to his chair in a restaurant). On the other hand, he privately thought he would never live to see 30 – so 80 is quite an achievement, plus he thinks it has a certain amount of cache’ – where being 79 is simply, ‘old.’ I just asked him if I could take him to dinner or celebrate in some way. This was quickly squashed. He finally said he wants me to fix his favorite meal – chicken chunks and soup over rice. I’ll do that, plus see if there is a way to make another favorite – pineapple upside down cake – with as little sugar as possible – that will still taste good. I’ll research that.
It’s supposed to get to 70 this afternoon. I’m hoping to get outside and neaten things up around the house with the weed whacker – sidewalk edges, planter edges, under the deck, etc. I find that if I make it a point to neaten things up for the winter, my disposition stays much nicer than my normal, “meaner than a snake” demeanor (according to my husband :0))
My glassware etching project is progressing. I’ve found that really short sessions work best for me. I’m enjoying the challenge of this. The jury is still out on whether the finished product will go to friends or into the trash. :0)
My good friend, Nora, bought an Advent Calendar from JacquieLawson.com for me. If you’ve never seen these, it’s an online calendar you enjoy day by day, personalizing as you go. They are truly wonderful and bring a lot of joy to the Christmas season.
I hope the weather is such where you are that you can enjoy some fresh air and sunshine, the beautiful fall season, some good exercise, and lots of fun.
I was noticing on the way home yesterday that our trip from town was ‘pretty,’ with a good amount of fall color along the curvy road. The turn onto our road was almost picturesque and our driveway even looked homey to me.
It’s 39 right now, so a bit cool for working outside yet. I’m hoping to get some good time to work on neatening things up outside later today.
Veterans Day -Remembrance – Guardians of the National Cemetery
Sharla Derry, Greenwood AR
This is a nice picture taken by our City Clerk/Treasurer. It shows the outer circle of the memorial stones placed by families in Greenwood. It doesn’t show that there are now ‘spokes’ in the wheel going to the center, honoring more veterans. Memorial Park is FILLED with flags right now remembering the price so many people have paid to keep us free.
Yesterday we put up the decoration we made, the caterpillar from Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland on our mailbox. I like the actual tubing we used for the hookah pipe making a nice 3-D aspect we hadn’t tried before.
We’re having a really nice day here. It’s supposed to get to 67 this afternoon with lots of sun. Soooo nice after all the rain we got yesterday.
We leave for Lunch Bunch in about 20 minutes. It would be good if some of our friends are there.
I’m planning to work outside some this afternoon, plus work on my glassware project some, plus cook breakfast for dinner tonight.
A whole weekend of really nice, fall weather is forecast – all stretching out before us to do with it what we will. I wish you a happy, productive time. :0)
We’re due for a LOT of rain today. (We’re beneath the yellow and orange blobs on the map above, just to the northeast of Poteau and to the southeast of Fort Smith.) My SIL in Charlotte and my good friend in The Villages have both asked me to send some rain their way, so I’m trying not to hog it all. We’ll take a bit and try to send the rest on.
When I was cooking the other day, I opened two cans of what I thought was cream of chicken/mushroom soup. It turned out it was cheddar cheese soup! I don’t even remember buying or having it, but now I have two opened cans. I searched and found a couple of recipes that sound good to try to use up the soup. I’ll try one of them tonight. I’m hoping to have some leftovers, and hoping I can get them in containers and in the freezer this time before Amber decides she should ‘clean up’ …
Depositphotos
I got lazy yesterday and didn’t start weed whacking in the garden. I get a reprieve on starting it today, since we’re having the rain (started about 2 minutes ago), so I’ll switch to inside projects for the day.
Women’s Health.org
Shout-out to Cathy! She went for a biopsy yesterday. They did a scan to pinpoint the area before doing the procedure, and the ‘spot’ had resolved itself. She didn’t need to have the biopsy. WOO HOOOOOOOO! This wonderful news couldn’t happen to a nicer person. :0)
I had a rough night of sleep last night. I’m not sure why. I certainly did my share of exercise yesterday.
I’m happy to tell you that I finished the ‘weeding-and-covering-the-4-garden-planters’ project in my square foot garden. (We’ve decided to wait on trying to take down and rebuild the remaining two planters that finally fell apart due to the stress and strain of being outside in the sun/wind/rain/temperature differences. The angle iron supports are fine, but the wooden ‘boxes’ will have to be completely rebuilt.)
To be honest, I’m not sure I’ll replant the 4 boxes in the spring that I just weeded. I did the work to protect the boxes from further stress over the winter. I’ll make the final decision in the spring. I have three brick planters on the far side of the house that I could use instead, since the main things I plant are lettuce, spinach, and tomatoes.
The next project I’ll start today is ‘weed-whacking-the-whole-garden-area‘ – (inside the garden, in front of the garden outside the fence, and then the area beside the garden/behind the shop and the perimeter of the garden around the outside of the fence.) This whole area is really badly overgrown with high, dense, hard-to-cut weeds – a big job needing multiple sessions. I will try to get that started today.
The weather people are saying a strong cold front is coming through tonight, bringing cooler temperatures and a good amount of rain starting about noon tomorrow and lasting the rest of the day and then overnight. Just in case they’re correct, we’ll do our grocery shopping today and I’ll plan to work on my glassware project tomorrow afternoon.
There is nothing to vote for or against in my county today, so I won’t be collecting and wearing a sticker such as the one above today. My SIL, who lives in Charlotte NC, is not only voting today, she is a poll worker for the first time! I applaud her motivation and energy to do this. I am always thankful to the volunteers who help with our elections here, and I always thank everyone who isn’t actively helping someone at the time I’m there. If you have an opportunity to vote today, I hope you take advantage of it.
Kelley Blue Book
Our 2006 Honda Ridgeline Truck looks mostly like this one, but we changed out the grill my husband didn’t like and ours is not nearly as shiny as this one after 17 years.
For the first time in that time, we put our mounted snow tires in the back of the truck and I drove it to the tire place in town to have THEM take the regular tires off, put the snow tires on, and air them up. It was two hours or so very well spent, in my opinion. We had trouble just heaving the tires into the back of the truck and rolling them from and to the place we store them in the shop. I’m really glad my husband honored his agreement to let the experts do the job this time.
I particularly noticed that the tire guy just picked up each tire and put it in the back of the truck like it was no big thing. I had to stop and tell him that I resented that a bit, but was grateful for his strength and expertise. We laughed together over it. The whole job was $32, so that was certainly a win/win as far as I’m concerned. Now we will be as able as possible to get down our driveway – and up again – if we have to – when it gets slippery this winter.
Navien Tankless Hot Water Heater
My husband stayed at the house while I went to get the tires changed, waiting in case the people who might deliver the tankless hot water heater our plumber ordered for us came. They called right before I left, so I was able to leave a check for the unit. The tankless is expensive, but we’ve learned the hard way that it’s no fun to run out of hot water when you’re in desperate need of a nice hot shower after working. We spent more on the installation of the current heater than we did on the unit itself, with a lot of expensive rules about venting and the use exclusively of stainless steel on the pipes. We’ve had the current unit, a Rheem, since July of 2014, so it has lasted almost 10 years with only one problem for which we had to call our plumber.
123RF.com
Since the new unit is about $1,000 more than the previous one, I’m HOPING that the installation will cost a lot less.
Ildar Abulkhanov-Getty Images-istockphoto
Today I’m hoping to weed the last 2 planter boxes in my square foot garden and cover them with tarps for the winter.
We’re leaving for Lunch Bunch in about half an hour. I haven’t heard from anyone. That USED to mean that everyone was planning to be there. These days it doesn’t mean much. We just leave, get our mail, show up and see if anyone else is there. If they aren’t, we enjoy talking with the restaurant owner and our wonderful waitress and eat our lunch and leave. If someone else shows up, we enjoy lots of catching up and laughter.
I’m working on my glassware etching presents. I can only so really short sessions because arthritis in my thumbs makes its presence known after a few minutes. I’m trying to do several sessions each day I can.
Since I don’t know what I’m doing, I watched this video. It’s motivating and intimidating at the same time. I’m fascinated by what Lesley Pyke is able to do, and she makes it look so easy. She has a lot of expensive equipment to go with her expertise. This video shows you to what I’d like to aspire when I grow up. :0)
Meanwhile, I’m using the smaller dremel that my husband had in the shop. The pencil type engraver I bought just isn’t doing the job. I’m hoping that I can limp along with this one, doing the free-form designs I’d like between the stenciled designs I did on each glass with the chemical etching stuff. I’ve bought a set of diamond bits that I might be able to use. They should be here soon.
I’m having a good time, certainly more than challenged. The jury is still out on whether I’ll give them to my friends or pitch them.
If the weather is cooperative, I plan to get outside this afternoon and do something in the clean-up-the-yard project.
In about an hour I leave for my rescheduled massage. My body is telling me, “Yes, please. THANKS.” We had to reschedule because my massage therapist was exposed to Covid and I didn’t want to risk bringing it back to my husband.
I had to change the diamond bit in my dremel for my glassware project. I had trouble, so I asked my husband to help. We thought we had it in, but I found when I tried it, it wasn’t in securely. I brought it back down and we tried everything we could figure out to do, but it just wasn’t happening.
I started to try to look for another one on the net and my husband remembered that he thought he had one in the shop. He DID, so I THINK I’m back in business. I’ll try it this afternoon. :0)
The freezes for 4 days this week have pretty well taken care of the rest of the blooming roses, irises, and elephant ears now. :0( It’s supposed to start warming up tomorrow, so I’ll try to get outside and start the clean-up/clean-out, trying NOT to grind my teeth that Mother Nature decided to take these from us at least a month early.
NBC News
My husband woke me up at 4:30 this morning, talking. After I woke up enough, he was telling me he was answering MY question, which he said was, “Who has the power?” I never did figure out what the answer to that was, or why he thought I had asked him that, but threatened him within an inch of his life if he didn’t quit talking and go back to sleep. It took me a LONG time to finally drop off again.
It was 26 this morning here. It’s a balmy 40 degrees now and sunshine. It FEELS really cold. We have this “unseasonably cold” weather through Thursday, and then it will probably be “unseasonably warm” after that until Mother Nature can make up her mind which season she would like us to have. (The high is supposed to be 74 on Saturday, after killing off all our remaining flowers, elephant ears, etc. :0( I shouldn’t be griping. I know that people got snow recently, and THAT is surely unseasonable in the fall).
I’m still smiling from yesterday, when I was parked at the bottom of our drive, trying to roll the big trash can down to the road without falling on my rear. The lady who delivers our mail drove by and we waved. She went down to the next house, then turned around and came back to give me our mail, saying, “Just wanted to save you another trip.” (Isn’t that NICE?)
She then asked, “Who makes all the art?” When I told her my husband and I made the stuff together, she said, “I just love it when I can drive up your driveway. I notice something different every time I come. I just love it.”
When I got back up to the house, I told my husband. We love it when someone takes the time to say something, particularly when it’s out of the blue and could easily NOT be said, that they enjoy what we’ve done.
Can you see me grinning and walking about 3 inches up off the ground?
creativeartworksblog 