Wood Sculpture to Make You Smile
Filed under Driftwood Art, When Wood Comes Alive
Incredible Paper Art
Filed under paper art, paper mache
Happy Sunday 4-17-2022
Happy Easter! Happy Passover! Happy Sunday!
I wish you a happy day, a happy celebration, a quiet, calm day.
Yet another rainy day here in Arkansas. After today, we’re supposed to have something appear in the sky that lights everything up and warms the air. I’m interested to see what that is. Maybe we can find and plant some tomato plants either Monday or Tuesday!
I have Easter memories swirling.
Fuzzy SOFT pink angora sweater that made me feel very feminine for the first time a hundred years ago. Sweet rabbits my parents got for the family as pets – we named them “Welsh” and “Peter” Rabbit. Dyeing Easter eggs. Hunting for Easter eggs with a big basket. Eating Easter eggs. Then, many years later, Dyeing and Hiding Easter eggs for our son, plus for my students at school where I taught. Beautiful services. Soul-filling songs.
I am hoping for a quiet, calm day today. :0)
Filed under .gifs I Love, acorn art, holidays, memories, Petr Vaclavek - Dubanci.cz
Thoughts on a Saturday 4-16-2022
I’m having a busy day and about half of it is already gone!
The sun came out about 10:30 this morning and the rain stopped (for awhile) so I went out and uncovered my veggie plants. They seem to have come through the trauma of the storms, hail, and heavy, wet sheets fine. I wheel-barrowed the wet sheets back to the house and am washing and drying them, 2 at a time. One more load to go in the washer. Then I’ll fold and put them in the trash bag and take them out to the shop for next time.
I just took a new (double) recipe for “Tender and Fluffy Keto Almond Flour Biscuits” out of the oven to serve with dinner later. The recipe is from Healthy Recipes Blog. The author is Vered DeLeeuw. They are gluten free. The serving size is 2 biscuits, but I’m going to try to be happy with one. My husband will weigh in, also. I’ll check out more of the recipes there. Next up will be a recipe for low carb bagels from my friend, Susy.
I’m about to start my exercising for the day – 3 short exercise videos and yoga.
Hope you’re having a nice Saturday.
Care in Communication 5
Astronaut Takes Blame for Gas in Spacecraft
That’s what he gets for eating those beans!
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Kids Make Nutritious Snacks
Do they taste like chicken?
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Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half
Chainsaw Massacre all over again!
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Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors
Boy, are they tall!
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And the winner is….
Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead
Did I read that right?
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Filed under communication, Word Play
J. K. Brown – Scrap Metal Artist
J.K. Brown – Scrap Metal Artist – Etsy – via boredpanda.com
Filed under metal art, scrap metal art
MP3 Player
I use this to play some of my favorite songs when I’m on my elliptical trainer. I have earphones attached and can ‘zone out,’ lost in the wonderful world of music, transported, singing along while I try to do good things for my body.
This is a very old player. Almost everything we own nowadays is ancient when we try to get parts, get things fixed, try to find another one like it to replace what we love – when we’re forced to.
I’ve done two 10-minute sessions on the elliptical trainer recently. I got out my mp3 player and started on the elliptical, only to find my player wasn’t working. After the first session, I came in, plugged it in to recharge it (it had been a LOOOOOONG time since I used it). A day or so later, I did the 2nd session on the elliptical, but the player wasn’t working. I plugged it in AGAIN, this time leaving it ‘on’ while recharging.
This morning my husband told me to order another one. I went to check it to make sure it was, indeed, unchargeable, and found IT WAS PLAYING!
So, like ME, it seems to have some life in it yet. I’ll be using it later today when I have another session on the elliptical scheduled. Fingers crossed both it – and I – are working.
Filed under Favorite Things
Accuracy
A couple of weeks ago at Lunch Bunch, we were having a discussion about habits. I was saying I wanted to build a habit of exercising every day. Bud, Kay’s husband, said he thought that I should be saying “regimen” instead of ‘habit’ because habit could be good or bad and could be broken, while regimen suggested concentration and motivation.
I went home and looked up the words and have to agree. I want to build a REGIMEN on exercising that becomes so ingrained that it’s automatic in my day. I told him yesterday that he was right, and he was pleased. :0)
My REGIMEN is now made up of –
- A monthly exercise planner provided by Mike of MoreLifeHealth.com consisting of 4 different ‘workouts’ during the month (1a, 1b, 2a, and 2b) warm-ups, stretches, physical activity (I’m doing 10 minutes on my elliptical trainer) etc. in a pattern.
- Added to this, I’m doing two different videos of his with weights.
- And then I’m doing half an hour of ‘senior’ (I hate that word) yoga stretches.
- When the weather is cooperative, I’m doing some work in the yard and in my garden.
I’m eating low-carb, mainly using recipes from Suzanne Ryan’s Simply Keto. These are delicious recipes not requiring weird or hard-to-find ingredients, and don’t take a lot of preparation. I can make double recipes, freezing the leftovers into individual portions. I’m also experimenting with trying to find some recipes for low carb dinner rolls. (I’m trying a new one today.)
My goals are –
- to make the REGIMEN and low-carb eating NOT diet and exercise programs, since that sounds temporary, but a lifestyle change. I want it to become my way of life to try to stick to 20 carbs or less daily, watch my macros and calories using MyFitnessPal.com
- I want to get as healthy as possible for my age (advanced, but not in the ground yet :0) ) . I know that getting the lard off and exercising may help me avoid lots of pitfalls, diseases, and more. I want to increase my strength, flexibility, and balance.
I will finish Week 3 tomorrow. Onward and downward!
Filed under Challenges, Changes, DIET!, exercise
Sharing the Purple
Deep purple is my favorite color. Whenever I see it, my soul reacts, with happiness welling up inside and spilling over. Spring is one time of the year where our yard reflects my love of the color.
They are blooming almost all the way down one side of the driveway now. When they are finished, yellow ones take over.
You can see my heart is really full this time of year. There is much to do in the yard, and little time right now to do it between severe weather. Soon things will tame down (hopefully) and I can get our planters weeded and cleared out, tomato plants in, and buy some purple petunias for the deck. :0)
Stay warm and dry!
Filed under Favorite Things, Gardening, Mother Nature, Seasons
And the Rain Comes Down…
I checked the weather website yesterday evening right before dark to find that, not only were we supposed to get rain after sunset, but HAIL. I went out and clothes-pinned sheets over my veggie planter boxes to protect my sweet, young veggies as much as I could.
It DID storm overnight and we’re still under a ‘thunderstorm and hail’ forecast this morning. It’s raining and very dark outside now, though the thunder and lightning are so noticeable. It looks like the sheets won’t come off until at least lunch time. I hope the plants don’t get squashed by the weight of the wet sheets!
Here was what 3 of the 6 garden boxes looked like last night –
More Advice from Dogs
“Read books. Lots of books.”
“Find contentment in creating chaos.”
“Take time to indulge yourself every once in awhile. You deserve it!”
“Don’t be afraid to try something different.”
“Make sure the people you care about know it.”
“Give hugs.”
“Accept everyone for who they are.”
“Be yourself. It doesn’t matter if you don’t fit in!”
“Get into mischief.”
Filed under Amazing Animals, Favorite Quotes
Care in Communication 4
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Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant
See if that works any better than a fair trial!
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War Dims Hope for Peace
I can see where it might have that effect!
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If Strike Isn’t Settled Quickly, It May Last Awhile
Ya think?!
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Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures
Who would have thought!
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Enfield ( London ) Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide
They may be on to something!
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Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges
You mean there’s something stronger than duct tape?
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Man Struck By Lightning: Faces Battery Charge
He probably IS the battery charge!
(Sent to me by a dear friend)
Filed under communication, Funny Signs - Humor, Word Play
Fabulous Friday
I feel as if I’ve finally won the lottery this morning.
After two-plus-days of being shuffled from one ‘service agent’ to the next, repeating my problem from the beginning, having to provide all my personal information, account numbers, etc. over and over, being cut off, etc., I FINALLY found from about the 20th person at AT&T that our phone lines were actually put in by CenturyLink. I contacted them via chat, talked to Sara in customer service, who transferred me to Dana, in repair scheduling, who actually scheduled a repair technician to come out to our house next Thursday. She gave me a ticket number. I offered to pay for the service call, since we’re not a current customer, but she said there would be NO CHARGE. I took care to fill out their rating thingie after the chat ended, praising both of the ladies involved by name, and the company in general.
(My husband got so angry over the past two days just listening to MY end of the previous conversations that he was determined to go out and fix the lines himself – JUST the thing I was trying to avoid! Only the fact that the two-story ladder wasn’t tall enough to get to where one of the lines needed to be attached stopped him from trying on one line. I came in to try again on connecting with someone who could help and found neither our home phone or my cell were working! I panicked because I knew my husband might get into a dangerous situation on the 2nd downed phone line, but I managed to find the emergency button pendant thingie I got when we had ADT put in our security system. I hung that around my neck and went out to see if I could help. He was cutting down branches from a tree where the 2nd line was tangled, so I came back in to find the phones working again, and so got back on to fight with our problem. He got the tree branches down with loppers and a chain saw, managing to scratch up his arm pretty badly. He said he got the 2nd line back up. I did what I could to clean his wounds, and told him about the tech coming Thursday. He was pleased because he conceded it was beyond him to fix the 1st line.)
We solved a couple of other things yesterday, too, so we’re feeling exhausted, but still standing. We have Lunch Bunch in about an hour, plus a couple of errands after, but otherwise are hoping for a very quiet, calm day – at least until the storms are supposed to start, sometime after sunset.
Happy Friday.
ALMOST to Pre-Pandemic…
I have .8 lbs to lose before I reach my pre-pandemic weight! I’m eager to crash through that, and break ‘new territory’ in my efforts to lose the lard.
My low-carb eating plan seems to be getting the attention of the scales. This is WEEK 3 of my serious efforts to eat right and exercise more. I’ve lost almost 6 lbs. (5.8) since I began the latest push, so I’m really pleased that I am making progress finally. I’m planning what I’m going to eat, logging everything on MyFitnessPal.com in the morning, making SURE I’m meeting my carbs, macros, and calories goals for the day. There is also a place to log in how much water I’m drinking, make notes on food, plus add my exercise for the day. If what I’m planning has problems, I can tweak it BEFORE I mess up – a really nice thing, building confidence.
I’m working on WEEK 1 on a month-long online video exercise program by MoreLifeHealthSeniors.com. The instructor is Mike from Australia. He’s very encouraging. The videos are short so I can work them in throughout the day, if I can’t do them all at once. Today’s schedule is a warm-up video and a stretching video, plus 10 minutes of my choice of activity. (Mine will be 10 minutes on my elliptical trainer.) I will also add one of the weights videos, plus a half hour of yoga stretching to the schedule.
I was beginning to despair on ever getting back to my pre-pandemic weight, OR actually breaking through that and moving to my SECOND weight goal, OR getting into a routine I can keep up on exercises, since I truly don’t enjoy exercising. The fact that I’m almost there on two of the three already is really encouraging. My husband is also cooperating. He eats his no-no’s when I’m in the other room, doesn’t bring me ice cream before bed now, or popcorn, or encourage me to eat other things or COOK other things I shouldn’t. That helps a LOT. :0)
More Lorraine Corrigan Paper Mache’
Filed under paper art, paper mache
Win a Little, Lose a Little
WIN: Today we WON a little because my husband was able to fix the window that is part of a 3-window set in our dining area. Yesterday, after the storm, we noticed that there was a GAP between the central window, and the window on the left. It was actually blowing the cafe curtains above the trio! We were too tired to deal with it yesterday, but we tackled it today. I took down the cafe curtains and rod because you can’t open the windows, otherwise. My husband saw that it was in the track on the bottom, but not on the top. He opened the window on the left, then used his hand to slap the top of the window back into the track on the top. Problem solved. It’s still a mystery why the window got OUT of the track, but we’re declaring victory and moving on.
LOSE: (so far): Yesterday we found two lines down in the side and back yard. We weren’t sure whether they were power lines of some kind or phone lines. We had power and we had phone service, so this was an aggravation, rather than a huge problem. I called our electric company, Arkansas Valley Electric Co-Operative, described the problem. They sent a man right out. The problem was, the lines were phone lines, so he wouldn’t touch them.
Yesterday afternoon I chatted with a lady from AT&T online. She said a person would call within 15 to 30 minutes to set up an appt for a technician to come out and fix the problem. No one called. I got on chat again this morning. She said a supervisor would call me. He did, but after having to explain my problem for a third time and giving them information, including my first grade report card and thumbprint, he kept trying to reach the people who could help me, a 2-minute-hold each time for 6 times. He then tried to get me to get another cell phone to add to my account “while we were waiting for him to get through to the people.” THEN we got cut off.
I dropped it and my husband and I fixed the window. The phone rang and it was the guy from AT&T again, saying he was unable to get to the people and that he had left an URGENT message and that they would call me back. I’m still waiting.
MEANWHILE, my 79-year-old husband is fighting me, saying HE can get out our two-story ladder, prop it against the telephone poles, and re-hang the lines. So far, I’m threatening him with death….
Filed under Challenges, Housekeeping - Maintenance
Paul Jenkins Sculpture
Filed under Paul Jenkins Raku Sculpture, sculpture
Battle Won
I just won a very important battle.
I told you that my husband agreed to let a solar panel guy come to the house in answer to an email talking about a government program for free residential solar panels. I researched it, read to my husband that there WERE no ‘free’ solar panels, etc. He wanted to hear the guy out anyway.
The guy was here for about an hour and a half this morning. I had him send the offer to my email so I could print it, and give me his card, telling him that we “needed to discuss it.” After he left, I said, not only ‘No,’ but, “Hell, no!’ Of COURSE my husband wanted to do it.
He gave me all his reasons. Some of them I agreed with, others not so much. He asked me for MY reasons to NOT go with it.
- the offer started off ‘free,’ then went to ‘none of their financial people would probably go with reverse mortgage situations’, then ended up being an ‘up-front one-time payment of $42,450 (give or take.)’
- I told him that we needed any extra money we could pony up for unforseen events that might occur, and that, even with inflation, we could pay a LOT of electricity bills for over $42K.
- I then threatened him with hiring our ‘man-of-all-good-works-with-large-equipment,’ who just HAPPENED to come up the driveway yesterday to see if we needed him to do anything, that he had a backhoe and could probably did a large enough hole in the back yard that would be perfect for my husband. And that could be done BEFORE my stress level erupted.
Surprisingly, my husband remembered years ago when we were at loggerheads about what to do with a stocks profit windfall. My husband wanted to buy more stock. I wanted to pay off the house and cars. I won that battle, and he has told me several times since then it was one of the best decisions we ever made. He told me if I really didn’t want to do this, that would be the end of the discussion.
THAT’S one of the many reasons he’s a keeper. The man I married is still in there, though sometimes he is buried a bit. I thanked him for listening to me, and caring what I thought.
The backhoe expert can wait awhile on the hole…
Now I’ve just used my ‘1a warm-up and workout,” and “weights video” to calm myself down. I’ll relax a bit and then do my yoga. I’m exhausted, but I am SOOOOOO relieved. :0)
Filed under Cause for Celebration, Challenges
Wood Carving – Peter Ryan
Filed under Chainsaw Art, When Wood Comes Alive
Intriguing Yard Ideas
I love both of these ideas. Keeping the weeds out would be the hardest thing, but I think these are wonderful.
Filed under Gardening
Thoughts on a Wednesday 4-13-2022
Any minute a guy, or guys, from a solar panel company will be here to talk with us about a ‘government solar panel program’ for our home. My husband signed us up for this. I researched it, and though it isn’t really a ‘scam,’ it’s quite misleading.
The solar panels are installed at no cost to the homeowner, but the homeowner doesn’t OWN the panels. You LEASE the panels. If you sell your house, the new owner has to agree to continue the lease. If they don’t, you have to pay to remove the panels and try to get someone else to take the lease, or you break the lease, costing you up to $20,000. You get no tax incentive break for installing the panels – that goes to the solar panel company. To maintain the warranty on the panels, you must have them inspected each year and cleaned twice a year – a cost of $450 a year. For many reasons, this is not a good thing for us.
I read this to my husband. He agrees it’s not for us, but still wants to talk to them. I will sit in just to make sure he doesn’t sign up for anything…
It’s quite rainy today. Really gusty winds went all night and into this morning. Now the sky is getting quite dark. We have possibly severe weather. Fingers crossed we get through this day with no damage.
I hope that your Wednesday is safe, calm, and dry.
Filed under Challenges, Mother Nature, Seasons, Thoughts on a ________
More Amazing Pebble Art
Filed under Rock Art, Stone/Pebble Art
Odani Motohiko Paper Art
Odani Motohiko Paper Art
Filed under Odani Motohiko Paper Art, paper art
Trip Around the Yard Before the Storm
The wisteria has done well this year. It is fuller and more lush every day. I don’t know how it will fare in the storm, but we’re lucky to have had this beauty for as long as we have this year.
The twice-blooming iris is really doing its thing now. All up and down one side of the driveway, too, and in several places in the yard. They will bloom again in October.
These are the two tomato planters I’ve been weeding, then adding potting soil to in order to get them ready for tomato plants. I’m hoping to be able to plant Thursday, or into the weekend, assuming the storms have abated.
Finally, this is Amber, who never misses a chance to ‘go’ anywhere, whether it’s on foot or in the car. She was a bit disappointed that it was a walking trip this time, but was quite companionable, nonethelesss.
Filed under Gardening, Mother Nature
Care in Communication Matters 3
(Proofreading is a dying art, wouldn’t you say?)
Man Kills Self Before Shooting Wife and Daughter
This one I caught in the SGV Tribune the other day and called the Editorial Room and asked who wrote this. It took two or three readings before the editor realized that what he was reading was impossible!!! They put in a correction the next day.
Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says
Really? Ya think?
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Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers
Now that’s taking things a bit far!
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Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over
What a guy!
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Miners Refuse to Work after Death
No-good-for-nothing’ lazy so-and-so’s!
Filed under communication
The Price of “No Snow”
The price we’re paying for ‘no snow or ice’ is severe weather. Yesterday, thankfully, we missed tornadoes and really large hail along with heavy rain. We got some rain, but the bad stuff was JUST north of us.
Today we have a ‘few isolated thunderstorms this afternoon and evening with HEAVY rain coming tomorrow. Ironically, we have some guys scheduled to come to the house to talk about installation of solar panels tomorrow morning…
My husband got an email saying there was a government program for installing free solar panels on our home. I started researching a few minutes ago and found “Simply put, you cannot get free solar panels from the government. These payment plans are actually solar leases or power purchase agreements (PPAs), and they’re a no-cost upfront option that gives ownership to the solar company or installer.” So, it looks like their visit here will be very short.
I just got home from my massage. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I’m a very happy camper right now. I’m going to fix us some lunch and then do some of my exercises: stretching video, 10 minutes on the elliptical trainer, weights video, yoga – stretched out during the rest of the day.
It can’t decide whether it wants to rain yet or not. When I was driving home, it was dark and looked like rain was imminent. Now it seems to be clearing up.
Lunchtime!
Filed under Mother Nature
Thoughts on a Tuesday 4-12-2022
It’s due to be rainy again today. I’m still breathing a sigh of relief that the warning, with tornadoes imminent and on the ground went JUST to the north of Greenwood. I was watching the experts on our local weather station monitor the tornado warning and the line of the bad stuff was JUST above our town on their map. Hopefully, we’ll have the same luck today.
Lynn, my massage miracle worker, contacted me to change my massage from Thursday this week to today. I’m delighted that I didn’t have to just miss my massage this month, so my body is already singing in anticipation of her good work. I’ll put the trash out and get our mail when I go.
Other than that, I’m planning for DAY 2 of the month-long program by my ‘weights for seniors’ video guy. He has a stretching video, and then ‘physical activity’ (of my choice) for 10 minutes. I’m going to do my elliptical trainer in the garage. In addition, I’ll do one of the weights videos, and then my normal half hour of yoga stretches. These will be spread out throughout the day.
My husband is still trying to get his computer working as he would like. I’m helping only when he asks – with this exception. He and our son were trying to use the conference call program so they could actually SEE each other and talk real time. Lately my husband hasn’t shown any interest in wanting to do that, so I was delighted that he was trying to talk. They were having trouble getting things set up right on our end so that our son could hear my husband. I went over, looked at things, and saw that his microphone button was off. I pushed it, waiting to hear him yell at me for interfering, but was pleased to see it worked! Instead of yelling, my husband told our son, “She fixes stuff for me all the time now.” I was relieved and melted into my computer chair on the other side of the room.
When they were finished, our son wrote ME, asking if I wanted to talk, so we each had a wonderful catch up time with him. Absolutely beyond price. :0)
I hope your Tuesday is a good one.
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