Good morning! I’m watching Hurricane Ian as it closes in on landfall in Florida. I know several people in the path of the storm and I hope they all get through it as safely as possible. We are all in for a long week of watching and hoping.
Today is DAY 75 in my efforts to make doing yoga practice a habit/regimen. I have a sore spot in my back that is causing me to have to modify my practice some, but I’m able to work around it, just stretching the area as much as I can before any pain.
I’ve been feeling lazy about working in the yard this week. I’m trying to talk myself into doing something outside each day, but I haven’t convinced myself yet…
Yesterday I marked my Linda Howard book collection with year of publication. Today I’ll arrange them in the shelves so that I can go back one day and enjoy re-reading them from her earliest work I have to the latest.
My art room is starting to call to me.
I hope that you are somewhere safe and that your day is a happy one.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
Linda Howard writes wonderful books into which I can escape – a priceless thing. I can immediately immerse myself in a world she has created, shedding my concerns, relaxing, and restoring.
Between Thrift Books and Amazon, I can get good prices on used paperbacks. I just bought 6 books online for the price of ONE hardback book. When I buy 4 or more, I can get free shipping from Thrift Books, though they take longer to arrive than if I order from Amazon. I just plan ahead so I don’t run out before I receive my next treasure trove. :0)
I’m saving these books because I know I’ll enjoy reading them again. I have so many I have a list in a spreadsheet on my computer so I don’t mess up and buy a duplicate. I refined my list today by alphabetizing the list, instead of just listing them in the order I’ve purchased them. Upstairs I’m shelving them by publishing year, so I can enjoy her earlier work first when I re-read. I also have any series of books she’s written placed together on the shelves.
I almost lost my love of reading when I was in school. I was forced to read so MUCH, having to regurgitate it in what passes for ‘learning.’ By the time I had my Masters’ Degree as a reading specialist, I read everything as if I would be tested on it, give a synopsis of it, discuss the symbolism, or other such drivel. I taught reading in public schools in Tulsa, OK for eight years and then in my own private reading clinic for another three. My students got me excited about teaching THEM the joy of being ABLE to read, and read for pleasure, but it took ME several years to believe it again for my own reading.
One grateful lady here that I got it back!
My heart goes out to all the people in Hurricane Ian’s Path. May you come through the storm safely.
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If you rated married couple’s arguments on the basis of how important they are, ours wouldn’t even get on the rating chart. We almost never argue about anything important. This morning’s argument, before I even had my eyes fully open – trying to get a cup of coffee – was about trash. Yeah.
My husband was ADAMANT that I NOT put out the trash first thing. His argument is that they never pick it up before 2:30 in the afternoon and that putting it out before then invites the neighborhood critters to strew our trash all over the place before the trash people pick it up.
We tested this theory once before, when my husband insisted that we keep the trash in the back of the truck when we went to town and put it out when we came back. We quickly figured out, as we drove home, that the trash at the houses we passed had already been picked up. We ended up having to keep our bags of trash in the garage for another week.
This is a running argument. We are stupid because we KEEP arguing about it every week. Each of us has a point and neither will back down. This morning I told my husband that I would wait until we could get our mail (9:30). We did that, and we’ll see if the trash gets picked up as scheduled or if the critters strew it all over the place.
Earth-shaking reason to argue, isn’t it.
Filed under Challenges
“Don’t be afraid to try something different.”
“Accept everyone for who they are.”
“Give hugs.”
“Take naps whenever you can”
“Make sure the people you care about know it.”
“Get into mischief.”
I’ve of two minds on our change to a more Mediterranean style eating plan.
MIND ONE:
Part of me is VERY happy that I feel better. I’m not eating Mediterranean recipes much – since my husband gets hostile when I talk about veggies and the recipes I’m finding lean heavily toward veggies he doesn’t consider ‘food.’ I’m basically just trying to focus on adding more veggies and fruit to our diet.
When I make beef stew, for example, I’m consciously adding more veggies than I used to, loading it up with less beef and more veggies. The same with casseroles.
I’M consciously choosing frozen dinners which concentrate on veggies, such as Healthy Choice “Steamers” and “Power Bowls” while my husband loads up on Pineapple Chicken or Sweet and Sour Chicken dinners. When we have the frozen dinners, or leftovers from my cooking, I add a side veggie, plus a fruit.
MIND TWO:
The other part of me is frustrated at my slow weight loss. I’m trying to watch my portions and track my calories on My Fitness Pal, but the scale is still laughing at me. I want there to be less of me. I am eating healthy, doing my daily yoga practice (DAY 73) and trying to be more active in general. I keep telling myself, “One day at a time…”
Filed under DIET!, exercise, Mediterranean Eating Plan + Recipes
“Monday, Monday, so good to me
Monday mornin’, it was all I hoped it would be
Oh Monday mornin’, Monday mornin’ couldn’t guarantee
That Monday evenin’ you would still be here with me.” ~ The Mamas and the Papas
While you’re in school, teachers and parents make choices for you. If you marry, your choices are modified by your spouse and your children, plus working full time.
If you’re a woman, much of your life stays the same even after you retire – taking care of your spouse, running the house (hey, that rhymes!) etc, but you now have some free time to start doing what you’d LIKE to do – maybe for the first time in your life.
Even though I have enjoyed my work over the years, I always dreaded Mondays. They signaled moving in lock-step for another 5 days, where, when I finished at work, I would come home and continue working at fixing dinner, throwing another load of laundry in the washer, cleaning up after cooking, getting things ready for work, making lunches for everyone to take the next day, hurrying around, etc. Weekends were spent doing all the things I didn’t have the time or energy to do during the work week, plus running errands to the places that were closed when I went to work and closed again when I finished work. The guinea pig on the treadmill.
NOW Mondays are just another glorious day. I cherish quiet days where I can wake up slowly, enjoying my coffee, deciding what the priority for the day is, deciding what order I want to do things, the freedom to change my mind. and more.
I have so many things I like to do that I never have enough time or energy to devote to them. I have the luxury of writing my blog, looking for more proof of how creative and talented some people in the world are, watching a demonstration of a new art technique on YouTube, seeing someone do a pose new to me for my yoga practice, listening to music, reading a book, spending time in my art room, spending time outside in my garden or my yard, enjoying a beautiful morning on our deck or back porch, playing with our cat and dog, taking a walk, catching up on the news, and more.
I can intersperse what I NEED to do, what I SHOULD do, with what I WANT to do. It’s my choice now and I couldn’t love it more.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
At the risk of alienating you completely, I wanted to tell you I DID IT!!!! I used the new one-gallon sprayer and got ALL the garden boxes sprayed with KILLZALL to kill the weed roots. I finished the job in about 20 minutes from start to finish. I’m going to take the sprayer attachment out of the container this time and run water through it with the hose, hopefully keeping it from clogging up.
HOOORAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!
Just before lunch yesterday our power went off. No storms, no ‘reason’ that we could ascertain, just no juice. Thankfully, the high yesterday was ONLY 92 or so. Our generator came on just as it was supposed to (when it sensed we had no power), so we had most everything we needed. Thank goodness for ceiling fans! The power came on again about 4pm.
We went to Yeagers in the morning yesterday to buy more spray canisters, since the spray attachments we had wouldn’t work. Neither would the smaller spray bottles I had. Everything was on strike. (At least I got some good walking exercise going back and forth out to the garden and back to the house.) I searched for spray attachment replacements, but had no luck. I’m planning to try to use one of the new, lighter, one-gallon set- ups today to spray the weed killer on the garden boxes. Are you shrieking with boredom that I’m AGAIN telling you that? Sorry. REALLY.
My husband requested spaghetti and garlic bread for dinner tonight, so I’m getting set up to make that. We’ve been doing well, injecting lots of veggies into our meals, so we’re splurging a bit and eating an old favorite this evening.
I hope your Sunday is fun.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
Kevin Lee, Haohui Zhou, and Bin Liu combined their body painting and photography efforts to create an incredibly creative way to bring attention to homeless children and raise money for Unicef. They called their collaboration the “Invisibility of Poverty”, showing the problem was right in front of us, but faded into the background.
I found this in an article by Arnesia Young of MyModernMet.com
Filed under giving
Mother Nature may have gotten the ‘fall’ memo to start the day yesterday, but she seems to have mislaid it. We’re forecast to have possibly record-breaking heat today before a possible ‘cold front’ comes through tomorrow. I’m trying to get motivated to both fully wake up and then mix up a two-gallon container of weed killer and spray the garden boxes. Hopefully, I can actually get that done this morning. I’m ready to put the garden away for the season now.
I love to try to grow veggies. I’m particularly glad that we figured out a way for me to continue trying for several years to come by discovering square foot gardening – thereby bypassing our terrible rocky soil – and then the idea of building garden boxes that look like ‘tables’ at my chest level so I can simply walk up to them and plant, weed, and harvest without having to bend over double or get up and down nine million times trying to take care of things. We also figured out an irrigation system so that I don’t have to stand out with a hose.
This past season was a challenging one with unusual weather for us. I was happy to get anything to grow and was very happy to be able to share some of our lettuce and spinach. We had enough ripe tomatoes to feel thoroughly spoiled – although, being greedy – we would have enjoyed a longer season. I’ve recently harvested a good group of sweet red onions that are drying in the sun on a well-draining trailer bed beside our shop.
I’ve already sprayed the garden boxes with EIGHT, a wonderful chemical that kills bugs, but is safe for our animals. I have cheerfully murdered countless fire ants who had the audacity to set up their homes in my garden boxes, ready to swarm me when I tried to harvest the onions. I’m back to normal now, except for some ‘spots’ on my arms, but I have a long memory when things sting and bite me.
After I spray with the weed root killer, KILLZALL, my husband has said he’ll help me cut the weed barrier fabric cloth to the proper size and put it over the Mel’s Mix, but under the wires that delineate the ‘squares’ of each box. We’ll put bricks in to hold the cloth down, and hopefully, the boxes will be ready to plant in the spring.
Have a wonderful Saturday.
Filed under Gardening, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds
Woo HOOOO! Mother Nature finally got the memo and gave us a deliciously cool morning here in Arkansas! It’s 62 degrees F. right now, so I opened the doors to air the house out. It’s supposed to get to 92 this afternoon, though, so it’ll probably be tomorrow before I do any more work outside. Hooray for Fall!!!!
I’m HOPING my good friend, Linda, will feel well enough to come to Lunch Bunch today. I haven’t heard from my friend, Kay, but I have all appendages crossed that we’ll enjoy a wonderful surprise today.
I had a truly wonderful massage yesterday by my therapist and friend, Lynn. She zeroed in on my back where it is sore and made it feel better. It’s like I ‘bruised’ it, though, rather than hurting with movement. I’ll modify my yoga practice (DAY 70 today) so that I don’t irritate that area any more than necessary.
Make this a wonderful day.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
Filed under drawings, Selina Elena Illustrations
Filed under ceramics, Clay Art, Judith Rosenthal Ceramics
I’m feeling pampered and spoiled right now. I’m just home from a particularly wonderful massage. I told Lynn about the area of my back that was hurting since I added some new poses to my yoga practice. She really zeroed in on a big area, it turned out, and it feels much better now. I’ll drink lots of water this afternoon and then do my yoga practice for the day.
It’s almost time for lunch. We’ve been enjoying a wonderful bunch of grapes lately, plus we share an apple, called Cosmic Bulk, as a part of our healthy lunch.
My husband was doing some weed whacking in the front when I drove up. It’s too hot, so I got him to stop as soon as he had finished the section that was offending him the most. I reminded him that I’m planning to do the rest of the weed whacking on Saturday morning.
I wish today looked at least a bit like this here.
Filed under Seasons, Thoughts on a ________
Happy Fall! Mother Nature hasn’t gotten the memo yet, as far as weather in Arkansas is concerned, but we’re hopeful she’ll comply once she does. It’s only supposed to get to 92 today.
We’ve been trying to encourage it, putting our scarecrow on the mailbox, but the pleas have been falling on deaf ears so far.
I’ll leave in a minute to get my monthly massage. My body is already saying, “ahhhhhh!” :0)
Today is DAY 69 of my daily yoga practice. I have a sore spot in my back that MAY be due to the new poses I’m doing lately. I’m hopeful that Lynn, my miracle-worker/massage-therapist, will be able to ease the discomfort.
Have a wonderful first day of Fall!
Filed under Seasons, Thoughts on a ________
I’ve just come in from weed whacking. I got almost the whole back yard finished, but the weather was really getting to me. I came in, drank a whole bottle of water and tried to rest and cool off in preparation for going back out, but pooped out.
My husband mowed while I was weed whacking. The back yard now looks like someone cares. The front looks like someone cares a little bit. :0)
I told my husband I probably wouldn’t be able to get back outside to work until Saturday if I didn’t finish today (massage tomorrow morning and Lunch Bunch Friday) but he insisted I stop, going out with me to wind up the 100 foot heavy duty cord we use while I got the weed whacker. I have to admit he didn’t have to twist my arm much to get me to stop.
We talked about it and agreed that we would rather have each other in as good health as possible than a great looking lawn and flower beds. We’ll do things a bit at a time as the weather gets more encouraging of our efforts.
Filed under Gardening, Mother Nature
My SIL told me about “Remember When” – a book written half by “Nora Roberts” and the other half by “J.D. Robb.” I was unaware of this book and so searched, found, and ordered it. I’m reading the first part now.
The synopsis is – Remember When (2003) is a novel by Nora Roberts and J. D. Robb (the author, writing under two of her pseudonyms). The second half of the book is part of the In Death series, taking place between Imitation in Death and Divided in Death. The plot follows a diamond robbery, over a span of 56 years.
I’m not sure whether Nora was trying to introduce more of her readers to her pseudonym J.D. Robb with her In Death series, or was just intrigued by unsolved crimes. I’m finding it fascinating.
Filed under Favorite Authors & Books, Hobbies, Reading is FUNdamental
Hi.
I’m drinking some coffee before heading out to weed whack the front and the back yard. My husband is going to mow. So the yard will look like someone cares before it gets too hot to. The temperature for this last day of summer is forecast to be 101 with a heat index this afternoon. Oh, GOOD. I’m SO ready for some cool. My list of things to do outside is longer than my leg now…
Today is DAY 68 in my efforts to make daily yoga a habit. I’m starting to think that yoga is essential to my ability to move without pain, stay reasonably flexible, and avoid falling on my head as I age. I still have to consciously make myself do it, but I feel much looser after my practice.
I’m going to get outside now and work before it gets lethal out there.
Have a nice day.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
creativeartworksblog 