I got up quietly this morning to let my husband sleep in a bit.
I was here at the computer reading the news of the day when Amber, our 85-pound-ish yellow lab decided she HAD to have some love and proceeded to flip my arm up with her nose and try to climb up in my office chair with me. We both started rolling around with me laughing my head off as she tried to kiss my ear and bring her back legs up into the chair with me at the same time.
We didn’t dump the chair, but it seemed close. I hugged and petted her until she finally got enough for the moment and started listening to my requests for her to ‘get down.’
An overflowing lapful of dog is a great cure for any worries you’re having.
About the only thing I don’t mind about being snowed and iced in again is that I have plenty of good books to enjoy.
I’m on book #50 Golden in Death from J.D. Robb’s (Nora Roberts’) In Death series. I’m re-reading the whole series in preparation for enjoying my newest paperback addition, #53 Forgotten in Death. I’ve pre-ordered the next one, #54 Abandoned in Death, which comes out in paperback in July.
The thing I’m particularly enjoying this time through is all the ‘extras’ that wind their way through the series, the poignant things people say and do that define their strength, humanity, vulnerability, love, and more. They make me tear up, adding so much richness to the series.
If we get all the rain/wind/sleet/freezing rain/snow forecast tomorrow, picture me, curled up in my recliner, heat pad on low under me, throw over me, coffee on my warmer beside me, cat in my lap, book in hand, appreciating the luxury of my life.
My friend Kay called yesterday to ask if we wanted to do Lunch Bunch today, instead of tomorrow, because we’re due for a ‘wintry mix’ tomorrow – WHAT!?!?!? We were happy to do Lunch Bunch anytime the group wants to, but I’m bummed by the idea of more snow and ice. I’m embracing spring. Our daffodils and tulip tree are blooming! Hopefully the bad weather will be over very soon and we can start making active plans for our garden and working in the yard.
Masterfile
Under the category of ‘too many changes for old people’ – our son told me yesterday that the conference call program we use to communicate, actually being able to see each other and talk in real time is going to start charging for their services. When I told my husband, he got upset, wanting to keep the program we’re using, even though there are several other options available. I talked to our son briefly this morning, telling him that we wanted to continue the program and that we wanted to pay for all of us to use it. He’s going to check it out and will get back to me.
A long time good friend called me yesterday to wish me a happy birthday. I haven’t heard from her in AGES. Life just gets in the way, doesn’t it. It was wonderful to catch up and I felt really ‘smile-y’ and ‘glow-y’ inside when we finished. It was really nice of her to think of me.
“To me old age is always fifteen years older than I am!” — Bernard Baruch
To be honest, I’m delighted to BE here, still able to annoy or entertain a bit without a lot of drama. My husband is sleeping in this morning. Our son is happy and doing well. Our animals are happy and healthy. Things are good in our own little world.
In the ‘I ain’t dead yet’ category, I’m enjoying ‘birthday greetings’ from my newest lust, Alan Ritchson, a luscious actor who plays the Reacher character on TV (Amazon Prime Video) from Lee Child’s (one of our favorite authors) books. We watched Season 1 the other day and are actively anticipating Season 2.
Besides his gorgeous-ness, this man is intelligent and can act and is quite believable as our beloved Reacher.
No huge festivities are planned for the day. My husband asked last night, “Hey. Do you want to go out or something?” (I swooned at the romance of it :0) ) A happy day is perfectly sufficient to my needs, so I’ll let him off the hook. Besides, he gets to all the birthdays first, so they don’t sting as much when I reach them – a thing I’ll always cherish.
sayingimages.com
It is lovely to meet an old person whose face is deeply lined, a face that has been deeply inhabited, to look in the eyes and find light there.” — John O-Donohue
“As long as I am breathing, in my eyes, I am just beginning.” — Criss Jami
Wisdom is the reward for surviving our own stupidity.” — Brian Rathbone
“I’ve enjoyed every age I’ve been and each has had its own individual merit. Every laugh line, every scar, is a badge I wear to show I’ve been present, the inner rings of my personal tree trunk that I display proudly for all to see. Nowadays, I don’t want a “perfect” face and body; I want to wear the life I’ve lived.” — Pat Benatar
“When I grow up I want to be an old woman.” — Michelle Shocked
It seems to me that our world is a mass of mixed signals and confusion. It’s hard to know what to think, what to feel, which way to jump.
I’m kind of like a deer frozen in the headlights, concentrating on one day at a time, trying to do what I can, when I can, one careful step at a time, with a lot of trying to escape thrown in, too, since there is so much happening that I can’t do anything about.
The only thing I can come up with is to try to personally stay as strong as I can, continuing to look for any ways to try to make things better wherever I can find.
I wish I were a fairy godmother, able to wave my wand, think good thoughts, and save the world.
We came through the night – with threatened severe storms – just fine. The cold front came through and now it’s 31 degrees F. We have another chance at a ‘wintry mix’ Friday, but I’m really hoping the back of winter has been broken and that we’re moving on to spring. I’m also hopeful that Mother Nature receives the memo and acknowledges the official beginning of spring on the 20th, if not unofficially, before.
My spring garden of veggies is still only a bright spark in my mind. I’ve decided to wait out this week and see what happens Friday. I want to uncover at least some of my raised bed square foot planters and fill them with early spring plants of spinach, lettuce, and broccoli, if not more. (Ours looks much like those in this photo, except we built them up at my chest level, on metal table-like supports, so I don’t have to bend over double or get up and down from my knees.
Meanwhile, our daffodils are determined to put on bold, happy faces no matter what our weather is doing. I’ll gather some more to bring in the house today. Free Arts
I’m definitely starting to have ideas rattling around about playing in my art room. I’ve been finding artwork all over the net that is getting my juices flowing, particularly involving mixed media stuff.
Have a safe, happy beginning to your brand, spanking-new week.
I was doing pretty well on my efforts to ONLY eat the right things until early this morning.
At 1:30 a.m. my husband woke me up. When I asked him what he wanted, he said that I had awakened HIM. I tried to talk to him again, but he was already snoring.
I was pretty angry, so I came downstairs to read my way back to being able to try to sleep again. THAT started a whole ‘eat-everything-possible’ binge for which I make no excuses, and it was two hours before I could go back upstairs.
So today I’m trying to wipe the slate clean and eat what I SHOULD the rest of the day. (My husband is taking a nap in his chair in the living room as I type this.) GRRRRRRR….
I’m itching to start working in the yard, cleaning up, and planting early spring veggie plants in our square foot garden. I just walked around the yard between sessions of rain and was so excited to see more daffodils blooming here and there.
Then, as I was getting ready to come in, I saw our tulip tree has a gazillion buds plus some that are showing color!
We’ll still get more freezes before we can officially say goodbye to winter, but it really brings up my spirits to see the plants bursting forth.
I’m keeping an eye on the 10-day forecasts to see when I can get serious about looking for early spring veggie plants. All I need to do is pull off the tarps and grab my trowel! (If you’ll pardon the expression…) :0)
I love the whole group of people who are creative enough to make these gifs. I admire the technical expertise, but even more the ideas of WHAT to create.
It’s a rainy weekend here – with sprinkles now, thunderstorms this afternoon, and 90% chance of what might be severe thunderstorms tomorrow. A good weekend to stay inside.
My husband has a very sweet side. Too many times this manifests itself in his bringing me things I’m trying to avoid – like a freshly popped bag of popcorn or pie and ice cream. Although he is well aware that I’m trying to lose the lard (even bragging about my doing yoga at Lunch Bunch yesterday) he doesn’t seem to connect that with his efforts to spoil me. While I love the fact that he’s trying to be good to me, we had another talk day before yesterday.
So far, the talk seems to have helped. Yesterday he brought me half an apple as a mid afternoon snack, and a very small scoop of no sugar added ice cream for dessert at dinner. This is MUCH better. I told him how much I appreciate his help and that what we had yesterday was perfect. I got a bit of something special, but not enough to thwart my efforts to lose the lard. This change, plus my daily yoga, will hopefully get the scales and measuring tape to stop outright laughing or smirking at me.
Lunch Bunch was Kay, her husband, Bud, Linda, my husband and me today. It was good to catch up after all of us having various challenges – plus being iced in – causing us to miss lunch together for three weeks to a month now. I’m getting to know Kay’s husband better. He is a long time expert on using heavy equipment. He and my husband compare notes on engines, but I like it best when we just have general conversation. I laughed myself silly – with tears coming down my face and having to hold my arms around my middle – when Kay was talking about a heat pad with a built-in vibrator that Bud got to help her manage her back pain since her fall. He started to laugh and got a roguish look in his eye. He suddenly said, with his eyes twinkling, that Kay was ‘too old for a vibrator.’ He then blushed as he continued to laugh and my heart melted at his feet. He’s definitely a keeper. SO cute.
On the way to Lunch Bunch, we changed out our mailbox decoration. We put up our Tazmanian Devil.
We took the Snow Goon decoration back out to the shop and hung him up on his hook.
creativeartworksblog 