SWAK


SWAK – Sealed with a Kiss – tumblr.com (photographer unknown)

My heart is in a puddle under my chair as I type. I think this should be an award-winning photo, at least. and I will keep it for whenever I need a quick pick-me-up. :0)

It’s nice and sunny here, but only 15 degrees right now. We’re supposed to get to 37 by this afternoon, so I’m happy.

I will join a friend for Lunch Bunch. One of the group is recovering from a hospital procedure and another is out of town. My husband has the sniffles, and so will stay home, leaving the two of us at lunch today. I’ll take it. It’ll be nice catching up with her.

Have a happy Friday!

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Filed under Awe-Inspiring Photography, Favorite Pictures, Friendship, Thoughts on a ________

First Grade

AnimatedImages.org

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Filed under Childlike Fun, Funny Signs - Humor, Hilarious

Beautiful Cats

L. Roche – Artmajeur Gallery

“Cats seem to go on the principle that it never does any harm to ask for what you want.” ~ Joseph Wood Krutch

Katya Minkina-dailypaintworks.com

“My husband said it was him or the cat… I miss him sometimes.” ~ Anonymous

Kovac’s Anna Brigitta-fineartamerica.com

“As anyone who has ever been around a cat for any length of time well knows, cats have enormous patience with the limitations of the human kind.” ~ Cleveland Amory

Mayank Frehan-Saatchi Art.

“I have studied many philosophers and many cats. The wisdom of cats is infinitely superior.” ~ Hippolyte Taine

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Filed under Amazing Animals, Favorite Quotes, paintings I love

Foxy Photos

Chris Gilligan-flickr.com
Helena R
Pinterest

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Filed under Amazing Animals, Awe-Inspiring Photography

I Want These Planters!

Pinterest
vk.com
secondstreet.ru

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Filed under Creative Planters, Gardening

You Are Not Alone

SayingImages.com

When bad things happen, or scary things that MIGHT happen hang over my head, I tend to implode emotionally, spiraling down to use all the tools in my imagination box to picture the worst scenario. The stupidity on my part can be held at bay while I’m awake and functional, but tend to overwhelm me in the middle of the night.

I found out lately that I am not alone when I’m trying to be an adult, but failing. I’m feeling like the luckiest woman on the planet right now because 1) the scary thing I feared didn’t happen; and 2) several kind people showed me they are here for me if I need them to encourage me to be an adult, or help me handle the bad stuff emotionally. If I had even ONE person in my corner like that, it would be wonderful. To have SEVERAL people who care is miraculous.

Now that my scary scenario is gone, I will concentrate on trying to show these wonderful people that care goes both ways. THEY are not alone, either. I will do everything in my power to help THEM through any bad or scary stuff.

FriendshipQuotes.com

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Rethinking

Stylecraze

I am now researching good ways to increase the fiber in my diet going forward. It’s easy to find good lists of high fiber food on the net, thank goodness. A harder thing is to figure out how to add these while trying to lose the lard while trying not to alienate my husband.

So far, I’ve figured out that I can –

  • surreptitiously add some things to the stews we like that will increase the “healthy” and won’t change the flavor.
  • I can eat a pear, for example, as my mid afternoon snack
  • When I make main meal salads, I can add chick peas or beans to MY salad after serving my husband
  • I can eat raw veggies, including cauliflower and broccoli and carrots as my snacks on days when I’m not eating fruit

It looks like I will be trying to eat 25 grams of fiber per day. I’ll see if my cronometer.com site will help me track how many grams of fiber I’m eating.

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Filed under DIET!, taking care of yourself

Look at These!

Helena
Jitka Buresova
Madeliefie Pottery
Martina Jung

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The Wonder of Wood

SNK Designs
Sonja Berner
W. studio

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Filed under When Wood Comes Alive

Skeletons are People, Too

Tammy Taylor
Tetesa Hudson
The Bone Ranger – Tammy Taylor
Groundbreaker – Wayfair.com
Xenag Lg

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Filed under Halloween - How Do You Carve YOUR Pumpkin?, Skeleton Art

The Art of Understatement

email from a friend

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Filed under Funny Signs - Humor

Negative

The Canberra Times

There are some beautiful words in our language. One I’ve found today is “negative.”

I had a test last month that was ‘positive.’ Like a child, I immediately spun the worst scenarios and have been having real trouble keeping my act together, trying to figure out what I could do to make it easier for my husband to live alone.

The exam I had last Friday came back as “negative.” I received the results on the medical portal this afternoon. I had to look up a lot of words, and then look further into what they MEANT, but unless my doctor tells me something different, it looks like I’m out of the woods.

The news hasn’t really sunk in yet, but I told my husband it looks like he’ll have to put up with me for awhile longer. :0)

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Filed under Cause for Celebration, taking care of yourself

Mistakes

PictureQuotes.com

MISTAKE ONE: waiting, rather than living in the moment.

I spent much of my life waiting. I met my husband-to-be when I was 14 and he was 17. When he joined the Marines soon after, he took my heart with him. I waited for him to come home on leave. I waited for letters, checked days off the calendar, dated little because my heart was waiting for him to come home. Then we were in different colleges and I waited for breaks from school so we could be together. Then I waited to finish school so we could marry. I cried when we finished the ceremony and my life could finally begin.

Telling myself that I was missing out on a lot of life didn’t make it past the thought running through my head. My heart was set. I avoided complications, getting close to many people, always choosing the path that would get me where I wanted to go the quickest way possible. I wonder how things might have been different if I had made different choices.

Now I live in the moment, wringing every drop of joy I can out of seeing people I love, talking to those I can’t see as much as I would like, taking the time to soak up beautiful things, celebrating the talent surrounding me – LIVING – rather than waiting.

MISTAKE 2: worrying about things over which I have no control.

This is a gut level reaction. I TRY not to do this, realizing how stupid it is. I do pretty well during the day when I can choose my activities, stay busy, etc., but if I wake in the middle of the night, I get swamped pretty easily. I worry about worst case scenarios, causing myself a lot of pain for no good reason. My head tells me to prepare for things the best way I can, see what actually happens, and then deal with it. My inner child wants to live in ignorant bliss, avoiding the bad situations, seeking hugs and someone to solve the problem about which I’m worrying.

I’m doing pretty well on rectifying my first mistake. The 2nd remains a challenge. 99% of the time my “adult” handles things reasonably well, I think. Now I concentrate on the 1% of the time my inner child comes out.

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Filed under Acting Like a Grownup, aging, building good habits

Gourd Magic

Krys Archabald
Lynn Marino
Pinterest.com

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Filed under Gorgeous Gourd Art, Gorgeous Gourds

Art With Cutlery

etsy.com
etsy.com

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Filed under metal art, spoon - cutlery - art

hahahahahahahah

email from a friend

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Filed under Funny Signs - Humor

Todd Gladfelter Chainsaw Art

Todd Gladfelter Chainsaw Art

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Filed under Chainsaw Art, When Wood Comes Alive

New Week

quora.com

We had an almost perfect snow Saturday. It didn’t mess up our sidewalks, garage pad, or the streets. It’s pretty in our yard and when my husband went to get our mail yesterday, he said it wasn’t hard to get down our steep driveway, or – more important – get back up again. Since the sun is shining and it’s supposed to get to 50 today, I declare it an almost perfect snow. I’m just hopeful we won’t get more with the forecast cold front this coming Wednesday. I’m really looking forward to my massage scheduled for Thursday…

We enjoyed the beef stew I made last night, along with some garlic bread. We have enough left for three more meals for us when we want it. Our dog, Amber, declared it delicious when she licked the crock pot bowl before it went into the dishwasher. We’ll probably get out later today and replenish supplies, just in case we’re snowed in Wednesday.

The sloth bug took over yesterday, so I thoroughly enjoyed listening to music, reading, and napping yesterday, instead of doing the productive things on my list. They are still there looking at me today, so when we finish shopping and get things put away, so maybe I’ll do better today. :0)

It’s Martin Luther King Day today. I’m hopeful people will think today – and every day – about the good things he said.

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Filed under Mother Nature, Seasons, Thoughts on a ________

“You Only Had ONE Job…”

email from a friend

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Filed under You Can't Cure "Stupid", You Only Had ONE Job To Do

Driftwood Sculptures by Tony Fredricksson

Tony Fredricksson Driftwood Sculptures

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Filed under Driftwood Art, When Wood Comes Alive

Sweet Faces 2

Elegance Poster-redbubble.com
Harvest Lab Art Print-fineartamerica.com
Kaethe Bealer-dailypaintworks.com
Leticia Viegas
Titleist1-fineartcanvas.com
webmail1e.orange.fr

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Filed under Amazing Animals, paintings I love

Diet Wagon

Amazon.com

I lost several pounds getting ready for my exam Friday. Since then, I’ve been able to eat and drink more normally. That’s bad news because apparently I walk around ‘full of it,’ already gaining back the poundage I had shed. Oh, well.

Each day is a new day. Each day I try to watch WHAT I am eating, and HOW MUCH. I am trying to exercise, now doing yoga stretches MWF. If I’m successful with the yoga in the coming week, I’ll try to add back a session or two a week on my elliptical trainer the following week.

One day – one meal – at a time.

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Filed under DIET!, exercise

Cutlery Art

Corine Eising-TheHuntress
Damo Hart
etsy.com
etsy.com
etsy.com

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Filed under metal art, spoon - cutlery - art

World of White

Giphy

Isn’t this an amazing .gif? I don’t know how these are created, but I’m in awe of the talent and creativity of these smart people.

Our snow has stopped now. We only got about 3 inches, but when you have a 650+ foot STEEP driveway, it’s enough to keep us inside. (At least I HOPE. My husband sometimes considers the snow and danger for us a challenge to prove we CAN get down and up our driveway again.) I don’t know yet if the evergreens along the driveway are drooping down into it, cutting off passage. It’s 24 degrees F., but is supposed to get above freezing this afternoon. Maybe the driveway will start melting. Our driveway pad is clear, and the streets may be clear, but the world is white and pristine as far as we can see right now.

I was a good girl yesterday, balancing checkbooks, paying bills, finishing the bookkeeping for December, filing, and getting the makings of beef stew ready to go into the crock pot for today. I’m PLANNING to clean off my desk and then clean up the kitchen, unless I’m overtaken by the great sloth that flourishes inside me. :0)

I hope you are having a safe and happy Sunday.

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Filed under .gifs I Love, Mother Nature, Seasons

Time

Higher Perspective – email from a good friend

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Filed under Bright Ideas

Be

Tabby Cat-omegaste.com

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Filed under Attitude, empowerment, Encouragement

Sweet Sculpture I Love

allsculptures.com
BabkeMoelee
Chantal
les-arts-dici.fr

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Stunning String Art

Gather
Indonesia
Pinterest
Primitives by Kathy-Chewy.com
Vanguard College Preparatory School
Awesomebyte

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Dressed in White

Earth Porm

Our forecast for today was “rain changing to snow this afternoon.” They were right, except for the timing. It’s 25 degrees F. and snowing right now! It’s very light, but if you look, you can see the snow falling, dancing in the sudden gusts at times. The weather forecast has now changed from ‘a dusting of snow’ to 1-3 inches accumulation today. My husband and I are very happy we can stay home. :0)

Jon Kabat Zinn – Quotesmuse.com

My exam went well yesterday. We were on the road to the hospital by 6:30 am and I was home around noon. I slept a lot of the afternoon. I will know the results by mid next week, I think.

nytimes.com

I’ll make a beef stew this weekend. I’m grateful for a warm, dry home, good food, husband and animals close to love, surrounded by music, books, and maybe art to enjoy. I’m a very spoiled woman.

I hope you’re having a happy Saturday. Stay safe and warm!

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Filed under Mother Nature, Seasons, taking care of yourself, Thoughts on a ________

The Waiting Continues

mirpozitiva.ru

Only one post today. I’ve waited and worried for a month to get the exam. It was done today. The doctor and others at the hospital were more than kind to me. My husband drove 45 minutes to get me there before 7am. He sat and waited while they whisked me away. We got home just before noon.

I had soup for lunch – delicious!

I practically froze to death at the hospital, although they brought me a couple of heated blankets. I was like a human sandwich after lunch, wedged between my heating pad and my throw – kind of a human sandwich of warm. The chill is now gone and I’m mostly alert (I think. ) :0)

We will get the results from Pathology

by the middle of next week – so the waiting continues.

Hope you’re having a great day.

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Filed under taking care of yourself