More Amazing Paper Art
Filed under Calvin Nichols, paper art
Thoughts on a Saturday 1-29-2022
We can all use a hug. Here’s one from me to you.
I just talked to my friend who broke a bone in her back falling recently. After tests, procedures, and lots of flailing around with insurance, doctors, etc., they have told her that they have done all they can do and she will ‘have to learn to live with it.’ That may be true, but I still want to bite them in the leg. She is isn’t in as much pain now, and is figuring out things that ease the pain she has. Her husband has stepped up and is helping her a lot now. They are both older than I am (two of a small group of folks who still ARE :0) but it sounds like they are coming up with ways to get things done without hurting themselves. I’ve waved my magic wand ’til my arm is aching, but to no avail. We talked about being thankful that we can still ARRANGE things to help ourselves as we age. She sounded stronger, much more like herself.
This has been a day of catching up with people. I received a text from a long-time friend, letting me know what’s happening with her. It was wonderful to hear from her, know that she thought about me, and wanted to catch up.
I start each morning with emails from two of my favorite people, my friend in Florida and my sister-in-law. We write every day. We know we have each other’s backs, can vent, cry, and laugh together, helping each other live as sanely as one can these days.
I chatted with our son briefly this morning via our online chat program, so I feel very close to him right now.
Aren’t we lucky that we live in a world where we can stay in touch with people we care about with a wonderful choice of methods, sharing our feelings, our lives, and our love?
Filed under Cause for Celebration, Friendship
Amazing Paper Art
Be You
I get a lot of my news online from various sources. I get into ‘overload’ mode more quickly these days because of people whose mouths are much louder than their minds. They think nothing of expressing an opinion one day, then reversing it the next, as if no one is paying attention and each day is a new day with no consequences.
I believe strongly in freedom of expression. The overabundance of stupidity saddens me and many times makes me frustrated and angry, but everyone is free to say what he or she thinks – and take the consequences. Nothing is free.
Each person should BE who they are and THINK whatever they think, being TRUE to that. Ideally, one would ALSO be willing to rethink one’s opinion if further research proves you wrong, or if someone ELSE’S opinion makes you reconsider. Respectful debate is a really healthy thing.
If you choose to give your opinion, be ready to take whatever consequences come from expressing it. Pay no attention to people who say something, then walk it back over and over. They are simply taking up valuable space.
“Be YOU. The world will adjust.”
Filed under Attitude, Bright Ideas, Challenges
This Probably Sounds Funny…
but I’m dancing today because my husband is a keeper.
We’re having our pest guy come Monday to spray for all, including stray elephants. He comes quarterly and I wouldn’t give him up for anything.
But, he does go in every room of the house, spraying along the baseboards and putting down sticky paper thingies to catch any strays, and I pictured him going into our master bathroom upstairs…
I died inside, but not quietly. We have a rug in the part where the toilet and shower are. And then a large one and two smaller ones in the part where the tub and lavatories are. And ALL of them looked AWFUL. I’ve been staring at them every day since I’ve been sick, but I just don’t have the strength yet to vacuum.
Yesterday I asked my husband if he would vacuum the bathroom for me. My request is unusual. In fact, I remember his vacuuming one time before (in almost 53 years), when he wanted to show me that there wasn’t anything wrong with the vacuum, but with the USER. Grrrrgh. That ended up with a trip to the vacuum repair place… :0)
When we went up to bed last night, I stopped at the door of the bathroom. The rugs looked GOOD. He had vacuumed while I napped yesterday afternoon. I am SO relieved that our bug guy won’t know – for at least another few months – what a lousy housekeeper I am. I’m saved. So I’m dancing – very gently, while I’m continuing to recover.
Filed under Cause for Celebration
Seized?
Hahahahahahaah. I love this. I would love to hang this in my kitchen. :0)
Actually, I’m delighted that I can tell you I feel stronger and more myself each day. By the end of the day, even with a nap, I still feel I ran into a wall or something, but much of the day I’m greeting with happiness. Thankfully, I haven’t been sick much in my life. I don’t like spending time here.
I just enjoyed a chat with our son. We talk every couple of days, at least. Lately he’s been sharing pics of a new place he’s thinking of getting. I again tried to get him to send me samples of the music he’s making (he never thinks it’s good enough). We usually talk in the morning, right before he’s getting ready to head to bed. (He’s 13 hours ahead of us this time of year). He seems happy. That’s all that matters.
We’re not going to Lunch Bunch today. I don’t want to expose anyone to any lingering germs I might have.
Our weather has been truly glorious – especially for January in Arkansas. This is about to change, according to the weather people. but I guess it IS winter… Shhhhhhhhhh!
I hope you have something FUN on tap for today. You’ve earned it.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
I Want These Birdhouses!
You can find these at thebirdhousechick.com
She sells other types of birdhouses, so I’m not sure if she makes these or has found these. I couldn’t find the name of an artist. I absolutely LOVE these. I laughed out loud when I found them.
Update: I just discovered that the artists for these birdhouses is Douglas Fey, from Douglas Fey Pottery.
Filed under ceramics, Clay Art, Douglas Fey Pottery
Stained Glass Cats
Filed under Stained Glass Art
Here’s Lookin’ at YOU
I’m really starting to feel better today, thankfully. I’m thoroughly tired of feeling as if I’ve been run over by a truck. I’m hoping to be able to start tackling the mound of stuff awaiting my attention today. We’ll see how it goes.
I’ve been finding some wonderful stuff on the net that I want to share with you. It’s good to feel well enough to start actively planning to do that. :0)
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
More Beautiful Drawings
Filed under drawings
Temptation
As I’m feeling better, my appetite increases. I keep thinking of things that ‘sound good’ to eat – a SURE sign I shouldn’t have them.
I’ve always envied – though never understood – people who ‘forget’ to eat. They simply don’t seem to get hungry. If I were a violent person, these people should fear me. Or, at least they should be willing to GIVE me whatever genes they have that result in this attitude!
I can’t remember a time when I ‘forgot’ to eat. I fondly remember some of my mother’s cooking. She would serve our plates, heaping my dad’s HIGH with a mountain of spaghetti and sauce. He would eat it ALL, plus sometimes a second helping, plus garlic toast, plus dessert, and never gain an ounce. He was 6’2″ and weighed 165 at his heaviest.
I took after my mom, who had to watch her weight. She was quite sedentary, considering walking to the car and back at the store as exercise. She really hated the idea. She did have willpower, though. I wish first that I inherited my dad’s metabolism, or second, my mom’s willpower. Sadly, I’m on my own.
I’m still down the same 30 lbs that I lost awhile back. I’m still trying to exercise daily (thought I’ve taken time off getting ready for the health test recently and my fear of that, plus, now with the bad cold/Omicron/whatever I’m having now).
I’m trying to get to the place mentally and emotionally where I’m ready to redouble my efforts to lose the lard – getting to a new, healthier place. It’ll have to wait until I can bend over without having to leap for the kleenex box, but hopefully, that will be in another day or two…
I Must Be Feeling Better
My husband says I’m getting snarky, so I must be feeling better.
The fact that I CAN be snarky is a very good sign. I’m very quiet, docile, and SWEET when I’m sick. My husband has trouble handling that and is doing all he can to get his ‘real wife,’ (the one he describes as, “mean as a snake,”) back. :0)
We’ve had all the vaccines, including the booster, but we MAY have gotten the Omicron variant anyway. Our symptoms include sore throat, runny nose, headache, fatigue, and sneezing. At least with this illness you aren’t bored. You’re very busy sneezing, (and I start saying bad words after I’ve sneezed 75 times in a row) using up boxes of kleenex, taking Tylenol, sore throat lozenges, etc. At least neither my husband nor I had to go to the hospital. We could just stay home, gripe, and take care of each other.
AND we had this one at a time so the other could take care of the one afflicted. Pretty good, as illnesses go.
I’m more and more snarky each day. Sore throat mostly gone – just down to cold symptoms.
Since we’re in the high risk group for Covid, I’m thankful that we got the shots, and then waited until it was much safer for us to get it – IF, indeed – that is what we have.
Stay safe.
Filed under taking care of yourself
Thoughts on a Tuesday 1-25-2022
I’m a bit ticked off by January this year.
I spent the first half of it worrying that my time here was up. As soon as I got the news that I would be here to annoy people for hopefully a good while longer, my husband got sick, and then graciously gave it to me. I’m enough better to be ticked off now, so maybe I’ll feel fine again soon. Today my plans are to make myself into a human sandwich in my recliner – heat pad under me, throw over me, and me comfy and cozy in the middle. My husband will do the errands this morning. He leaves in about 10 minutes, actually. We’ll see how he does. :0)
Our weather has been gorgeous the past few days. I wish I could have gotten out and enjoyed it. Tomorrow evening cold weather is supposed to come back, but hopefully it will just tease us a bit, rather than dumping on us. (Susy, I hope you’re digging out now.)
I had a nice chat with our son this morning. He is buying an apartment and will hopefully get all the details handled by the end of next week. I’m excited for him. He sounds happy and excited – just the way we love for him to be. :0)
Happy Tuesday!
Filed under Family, Mother Nature, taking care of yourself, Thoughts on a ________
I Love Cutlery Art
Filed under metal art, spoon - cutlery - art
Less Than Stellar
My husband was sick last week. He started with a sore throat, then had sniffles and generally felt bad for several days. He is now feeling, “Fine as frog fur,” thankfully.
Trouble is, he apparently was generous enough to pass it to me. I got a sore throat a couple of days ago. Since I’m still feeling bad, I’m resting a LOT, basically asleep in my chair on and off most of the day, useless on getting anything done.
The saddest thing is that we’re having a truly beautiful day today. It’s supposed to get into the low 60’s today! In January! I may force myself to walk around the yard this afternoon to not completely waste it. (A cold front will bring the high down to the 40’s tomorrow.)
I wish you a great week.
Filed under taking care of yourself, Thoughts on a ________
Amazing Gourd Art
Filed under Gorgeous Gourd Art, Gorgeous Gourds
Diet Day 1
My husband and I have been in a kind of celebration mode ever since my test showed I won’t be croaking from cancer soon. It’s good because – no cancer – but bad because I gaining back lardage I’m determined to shed.
My husband dug out some packs of popcorn. Honestly, I have NO idea where he got it. I had THOUGHT I cleaned out the pantry really well. These packs must have been YEARS old. He went ahead and popped it. It smelled a bit over cooked. It tasted truly AWFUL. One piece of popcorn for each of us resulted in trashing both packs. I had him show me where he had found the popcorn – WAAAAAAAY back in the corner of the middle shelf. I almost had to climb into the shelves to reach them. I threw them all out, feeling a bit proud that I had avoided a bad thing and now the stash was gone.
Last night when I was fixing dinner, I found a NEW box of microwave packs of popcorn. My husband tried to give me his innocent look – one that hasn’t worked ONCE in 52 years of marriage – but he still tries.
You KNOW where this will end. The popcorn is calling to me now…
Filed under DIET!
Spooning
Filed under metal art, spoon - cutlery - art
Incredible Clay
Filed under Clay Art
World of the Acorn People
Filed under acorn art, Petr Vaclavek - Dubanci.cz
Thoughts on a Saturday 1-22-2022
My day has started really well.
My husband hugged me first thing this morning, thanking me again for figuring out how to navigate the website so we could transfer the money we needed to move in our investment account, and again for figuring out what we needed to do to make our new house phones work. Last night I did a final test, calling our house phone with my cell, confirming our call screening program was again working, then leaving a voice message. I’m relieved that we didn’t have to spend another tense day trying to figure things out, dealing with strain of dealing with each other when things don’t work, plus the support people who always want information I can’t supply, with me desperately trying to hear and understand them.
The sun is shining and it seems that we will have just a ‘typical’ winter week here in Arkansas – really welcome news. One of my less favorite feelings about winter is the difficulty of trying to make and keep appointments when you don’t know what Mother Nature will supply. We have been stuck up here on top of our ridge line for a couple of weeks at a time, not able to negotiate our steep driveway – the last place on the planet to thaw after snow and ice. We plan ahead as much as possible, trying to make sure we have all we need for whatever happens, but I hate inconveniencing others when I have to call and reschedule things I’ve promised to do.
My Lunch Bunch friend Kay has a new primary doctor now. She was raving about him when I talked with her last night. She is hopeful that the pain in her back due to her fall will finally be under some control. I’m SO happy for her!
Since I am definitely in ‘the land of the living’ again, I’m starting to have ideas rattling around my head of things I’d like to try in my art room. I haven’t been up there for over a month now, so it will be good to finally be in the mood to play a bit. I’m hoping to do some experimenting – probably making a mess – but definitely smiling. :0)
I hope you’re feeling healthy and happy this Saturday morning. Enjoy your day!
Filed under Challenges, playing in my art room, Seasons, Thoughts on a ________
Don’t Count Me Out Yet!!!
I had a lovely Lunch Bunch with my friend, Linda. We had a good time catching up, sharing lots of laughs, and a couple of hugs. Our waitress/friend, Mikey, was mentioning that she was glad to see both of us, checking on our friend, Kay, and bringing a take-home box for me to take chicken to my husband. We gave her our phone numbers so she has a way of checking on us now. Isn’t it wonderful that she cares?
My husband was watching a movie when I got home and looked happy about the chicken.
I went into the office to try to tackle the latest two problems we have: getting money transferred from two investments accounts to a checking account; and trying to get our new phone to work – something we finally gave up on after being on the phone with three different people at AT&T, all of whom were difficult to hear and understand – a really stressful situation that ended with our call being cut off.
THING ONE: Handling something when you’ve slept well and just had lunch helps. I decided to try the transfer one more time before I made the call for help. By fiddling around, I discovered that I could transfer money from ONE of our accounts to the checking, but not the other. So I did the first transfer, and then transferred the money in the other account to the one in which I was just successful. That worked, too, so it’s a case of waiting until it’s ‘recognized,’ and then transferring the money from the successful account to the checking tomorrow. Problem #1 solved.
THING TWO: I decided to get back on the AT&T website and THEN make the call, thinking they might be able to guide me through the activation process more easily. When I got there, though, I tried a different option on devices and got a different set of options. I followed the prompts and was able to activate our phone! I made a test call to ‘time and temperature’ that worked, and then called my friend, Linda, to test it with a number that we couldn’t reach yesterday. It worked! Woo HOOOO! Problem #2 sloved!
I’m not as dumb as I look!
Filed under Cause for Celebration
Planters and Mugs with Personality
I found these on Pinterest. The only credit I could find was “Sim.” I don’t care if they’re planters, mugs, or little sculptures, I want ALL of them! Update: the artist’s daughter wrote me on 4/1/2022 and told me that the artist who created these wonderful pieces is her MOM, and that her IG is simsim_pottery. I’m delighted to be able to give her credit. Thank you, Elly!
Filed under ceramics, Sim - Planters, Mugs, Sculpture
Letting Go
I have learned lately that facing your weaknesses is important. I also dealt with a deep fear and made it through. I had the help of wonderful, caring friends, but you are essentially alone when actually dealing with things.
I had a month of trying to face that my husband might have to live alone. I am now taking some positive steps to make things easier for him in case we face this again for whatever reason. The fact that I am making a list of steps I want to take, setting things up differently that I handle routinely, listing reminders for him, has largely calmed me down.
I have let a lot of the fear go.
I don’t think – if I have to face a similar situation again – it will be as bad.
Taking care of what I CAN will help both of us going forward.
Filed under Acting Like a Grownup, Attitude, Challenges, Changes, coping mechanisms
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