Beautiful combination of clouds, silhouettes, and imagination.
Sky Art from Lan Nguyen
Filed under Creativity
Merry Christmas 2020
Merry Christmas! I hope you’re enjoying a safe and love-filled day.
My Christmas memories are filling me up and spilling out today.
Favorite childhood Christmases include the one where I received the most gorgeous, soft, pink, furry, FEMININE sweater I’ve ever had. Another was when my brother and I received 3-speed bicycles called English racers. One of the most cherished memories is the Christmas caroling that started at our house each year. We gathered neighbors at each house, singing and laughing, freezing our parts off, ending with hot chocolate and cookies at home when we were finished.
My husband’s and my first Christmas together was in 1969. Our very best Christmas present was our son, born in December of 1978. The next was December of 1980 when our daughter was born. Today we are celebrating our 51st Christmas together. It’s just the two of us this year, but we are very grateful to be together. We talked to our son in Thailand on our chat program this morning.
This has been a challenging year for us all. I hope that you are staying safe and well, surrounded by love however you can manage it.
Versatile Paper Art 2
Christmas Quotes I Love
“Probably the reason we all go so haywire at Christmas time with the endless unrestrained and often silly buying of gifts is that we don’t quite know how to put our love into words.” – Harlan Miller
“One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day. Don’t clean it up too quickly.” ~Andy Rooney
“Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall.” ~Larry Wilde
Filed under Favorite Quotes, holidays
It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Fatness
Cookies, candy, bread. Chocolate, apple fritters, peanut brittle. We’re surrounded, and we’re eating our way out. It’s delicious. I’m telling my husband that all this ends VERY SOON – as we stuff yet another wonderful thing into our mouths. It’s been a year or two since we have eaten some of this stuff. I’m blaming it all on our generous friends who GAVE this to us, but WE’RE the ones who are stuffing our faces.
I’ve decided that, since we’re adults, we are merely getting all this gorging out of the happy way, and that once it is over, we will EAT like adults again. We are talking about the fact that anything ELSE that finds its way into our house and is not a gift is on US – and should not happen. (I’m also reminding myself that “I” am responsible for what goes into MY mouth. So even if my husband continues this holiday splurge, “I” will not.
I will not.
I will NOT.
:0)
Filed under DIET!, getting the lard off, holidays
Art With Versatile Paper
Filed under paper art
Good Exercise
Yesterday afternoon my husband and I spent about an hour with a chainsaw, cutting down a huge branch that broke off recently. It was hanging down into the civilized part of our front yard (as opposed to the woods that slope all the way down to the street that runs in front of our property.) The branch would have made it difficult, if not impossible, for my husband to use the riding mower there.
Since the land slopes, I had quite a challenge of trying to get the ladder braced against the back of the tree so that my husband could get up high enough with the chain saw. I breathed a sigh of relief when we got the main part of the branch cut and I could quit worrying about that part of it.
The rest of the time was spent cutting smaller branches off the large one so that I could grab them, pull them away from the main one, and throw them down the hill farther so they would be out of the way.
We don’t like to think about it, but we are considered ‘elderly’ by the people deciding who should get the Covid-19 vaccine, so I guess that means we’re older than dirt, whether we want to accept that or not. I have to admit that after we finished the job and had rested in our chairs awhile, both of us were wincing a bit at sore muscles.
Today my husband would like to use our pole saw to cut down a few branches along the side of our driveway. They are about a third of the way down, which means we’ll need to put two 100-foot extension cords together to get power down that far. Hopefully we can get them cut down and thrown off to the side of the driveway without too much problem.
Please wish these ‘elderly’ people luck…
Filed under exercise, Gardening, Housekeeping - Maintenance
Stuffing Our Faces
Our psyches and stomachs are happy with our holiday splurge. We have been good for an entire year and will be again, but it feels GOOD to be BAD…
Filed under DIET!
Lists
LIST OF THINGS I’M HANDLING
WELL CURRENTLY:
1.
I have a beef roast in the crock pot, and I need to put the trash at the bottom of the driveway on the way to the post office to mail a book we sold, but that may be in for the day.
I am feeling at loose ends and incredibly lazy. I just wish I looked as cute as this kitty not getting anything done….
Filed under .gifs I Love, Attitude
Good Company
The latest paperback in the In Death series by J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts) comes out in about a week. I pre-ordered it months ago and am eagerly awaiting it.
I decided late last month to re-read the previous books in preparation for receiving and enjoying the newest one. There are now 51 books in the series. I’m reading # 20 now. I remember the situations, but not the details, so it’s almost as if I’m enjoying them for the first time – except for getting to spend time with the characters who have become old friends again.
I have read for pleasure for as long as I can remember. There was a brief period when I lost that ability. I was finishing my Master’s Degree as a reading specialist. I picked up a best seller and discovered that I had tensed up, reading it as if I would be tested on it when I finished. It took me a year or two to finally get over all the garbage I was forced to read and regurgitate that would supposedly help me be a better teacher. I’m glad I only lost a couple of years. :0)
Just as an aside – I realized that the best thing I could pass on to my students was the joy of reading, whether it was to spend some fun time with interesting stories and characters, to learn new skills, to vicariously travel to wonderful places, the satisfying of curiosity, and more. Reading is contagious. It grabs you body and soul – hopefully to hold you in its arms forever.
Filed under Reading is FUNdamental
George Wheelhouse Photos 2
Filed under Awe-Inspiring Photography, George Wheelhouse
Di-et-Attitude
My husband and I have decided that life is too short to feel guilty all the time. During the holidays, plus the change of weather, plus this awful pandemic, plus – we will finish out 2020 stuffing our faces. Well, not really, but not raking ourselves over the coals, either, when we overindulge.
We got lots of goodies from friends. We are going to enjoy some of them. We are freezing some for later, enjoying some now, and enjoying some comfort foods.
We are now – finally – into a lifestyle of eating good food, watching our portions, foregoing lots of things, such as sugar, bread, starches, excess carbs, etc. I am trying to exercise on a daily basis, and move more in general. We want to lose the lard, become more flexible, improve strength and balance, and improve the numbers on our quarterly or every-six-month routine monitoring blood tests.
BUT – for a little while – we are allowing the kid in us to come out and play, enjoying the ‘season’, smiling as we enjoy the lovely things that aren’t so great for our health, but make life much more worth living for a few days each year.
May we all be much healthier in 2021, eventually free from worry about the virus.
Stay safe and well.
Filed under DIET!, exercise, Healthy Eating, holidays
Happy 1st Day of Winter!
As it happens, we are having a lovely day today – sunny with highs in the 60’s today. :0) I’m planning to at LEAST walk around in our yard today, telling Mother Nature what a great day she produced, if not do some actual work out there.
USPS emailed me this morning that two packages I mailed recently are out for delivery. I really enjoy making things and sending them to people, no matter what time of the year. I love reminding people that they mean so much to me.
Amber thinks she is a lapdog. She weighs around 95 lbs. She comes up to my chair in our office with a gleam in her eye. She stuffs her wet nose under my arm as I type. I look at her, stop and pet her, speak to her, maybe kiss her on the head, and then go back to typing.
The next thing I know, as reliable as clockwork, the front half of Amber is up in my chair with me. I have the bruises on my legs to prove it! I have to stop everything and watch out, being very careful. She whips her head around, trying to be everywhere at once. If I don’t watch out, she clocks me in the face with her head. We love, with me laughing every morning before she will back off and climb down. We usually do this 5 or 6 times each morning.
I found the picture below on BoredPanda and wanted to share it with you. Amber isn’t THIS large, but you can certainly share the feeling.
Have a wonderful first day of winter!
Laborious Aquarium Clean-Out
What is usually a 30 minute job turned into at least a two-HOUR job this morning and afternoon. I was putting together the aquarium after cleaning and ran into a problem with the filter. The motor wasn’t running when I plugged it in. I played with it, my muttering becoming more and more colorful as nothing worked. I finally asked my husband to come look at it.
He looked at things, tested it, and decided it was dead. I found one of our old filters and installed it so that the sweet fish wouldn’t croak while we waited for a replacement. My husband continued to look at the one that wasn’t working, and decided it was working again. I changed things out, only to find out the motor died. We did this two more times. Finally, he took the filter apart as far as he could and found a part he thought had been jammed. I changed the filters out for the fourth time and it worked. I told my husband I would fix lunch and leave the new filter running and see if it quit again.
I came back after lunch and it was still working. I then proceeded to clean up the kitchen – which is always a mess after aquarium cleaning – PLUS now from the lunch fixing. I have just now finished cleaning up and leaving the dishwasher running.
All this for two goldfish who never say a word, show any affection, do tricks, or perform any service. They DID get into the far right corner of the tank and wriggle their little bodies, opening and closing their mouths as they looked at me. I broke down and put a bit more food in the tank.
Filed under Challenges, Family, Housekeeping - Maintenance
Thoughts on a Sunday 12-20-2020
I love this. It shows a great sense of humor. I’m still smiling. Thanks to the creator of it. :0)
When we started up our driveway yesterday, there were two white-tailed deer! We stopped and watched as they looked at us briefly and then crossed the driveway to disappear into the trees to the west of our property. Beautiful sight.
We had a really special Lunch Bunch on Friday with our friends. Since Christmas is next Friday, we exchanged gifts. We have been meeting at The Pizza Barn every Friday for over 17 years now, and this is more of a family gathering than simply really good friends. The two waitresses, Susan and Mikey, are a definite part of our family and we exchange gifts with them, too. My husband kept us all entertained by opening all of his food goodies, sampling each one (while waiting for his lunch order to be delivered) and then stashing them in a humongous gift bag, being quite territorial about his presents. The way the holidays fall this year, we won’t meet NEXT Friday or the NEXT – and will have to wait until Jan. 8th to meet again.
Otherwise, that is our Christmas this year. Our son is in Thailand, and I’m hoping that we can arrange a video chat either on Christmas day or that weekend sometime. There is 12 hours time difference, so it’s a bit of a challenge to find a time we’re all up and functional, but we’ll manage. I am grateful that we are all pretty healthy right now. I am thankful for a quiet holiday.
Today’s project is cleaning the aquarium. I will see if I can find something festive to put in their tank for the holidays.
Have a wonderful Sunday!
George Wheelhouse Photos
Filed under Awe-Inspiring Photography, George Wheelhouse
Weight Loss Motivation
Filed under DIET!, getting the lard off, taking care of yourself
Beautiful Rooms!
This article on BoredPanda.com took my breath away, so I’ll be sharing pictures of some of the beautiful rooms these two people gathered. I’m collecting things that bring up my spirits these days. I hope they help YOU, too. :0)
Filed under Dreams
Saturday in the Rain
Today is a wonderful day to stay inside, warm and dry.
First, we need to get our mail and then mail some things at the post office. THEN we’ll enjoy the rest of the day inside. :0)
I will try to find the time and energy to get up to my art room today. It’s been awhile, and ideas are starting to rattle around in my brain on things I would like to try. That idea fights with things I am passing that definitely need my attention today, so I’m not sure which will win out.
I hope that YOU are having a nice Saturday, doing something fun.
Hooooraaaaaaay!
I told you yesterday that I spent the morning installing the newest version of Windows, then Start 10, then made a new System Image to use in case of catastrophic failure, then backed up my data. I am one of the least technical people I know so this was stressful, but necessary.
The result of all that – other that I’m grateful it’s done – is that the folder in which I have gathered images for the blog and elsewhere only showed an ‘icon’ image, NOT the picture. It showed the name of the picture, but not the image. This is really frustrating, irritating, and down right unacceptable. I know better than to ask my husband about it, so I have been fighting with it off and on the rest of the day yesterday and then about an hour just now. I kept at it, and then FINALLY hit an option button that restored the images. Whew!
I’m feeling a bit triumphant, a bit empowered, but mostly grateful and relieved.
Filed under Challenges
Arrrrgh!
My whole day thus far has been spent trying to get my computer updated.
I updated to the newest version of Windows, and then made a system disk, just in case my computer crashes with no warning. That took from 9:00 this morning until about 20 minutes ago. I was beginning to think I would die of old age before it finally finished.
I am not a computer or technical person. It’s all magic to me. I love my computer when it’s working and am ready to toss it out the window when it isn’t. Happily, it seems to be working okay now, except for a folder of images I’ve gathered for my blogs. They have names under an icon for a picture, all looking the same. Arrrrgh!
SO. I will limp along, hoping that if I can’t figure out what to do to fix it, it will miraculously heal by itself. (One can HOPE…)
On a happier note, our weather is nice now, although it’s still a bit brisk outside. There is lots of glorious sunshine and the temperature is now 46! We will probably get rain Saturday, but no more forecasts of snow/sleet, and flying hairballs in the near future. I’ll take it. :0)
We will celebrate Christmas with the Lunch Bunch tomorrow, exchanging gifts, eating, laughing, and catching up. The next Friday is Christmas, and the following Friday is New Year’s Day, so we probably won’t meet again until January 8th. We’ll have to make it last.
I hope that your Thursday is an enjoyable one.
Filed under Challenges, Friendship, Seasons, Thoughts on a ________
Extraordinary Embroidery 3
Filed under Embroidery/Sewing Art
Exercise?
“Exercise” –
ekser,siz – verb
a verb, believed to be a myth
I love this picture. I’m still smiling. :0)
My elliptical trainer is in our garage. It’s the only place we could put it where it would not be on carpet and wouldn’t take up too much room. Therefore, the outside temperature affects my willingness to use it. Most of the year, this is not a problem. My husband mounted a nice box fan on the wall in front of the elliptical. I can turn it on all spring, summer, and fall to make it more comfortable to be out there. I have a problem when it gets too cold in the winter.
Right now it is 27 outside. Even with the effort on the elliptical, I freeze. I use that as an excuse not to do it. That works for today, and possibly tomorrow, but my excuse won’t be good when it warms into the 40s and 50s by the end of the week.
I AM doing my super gentle yoga for old broads daily, though, and that is truly helpful. Without it, I tend to fold up like a tent. I notice this in particular when I have monthly massages. My therapist spends a lot of time pulling on arms, legs, and head, trying to ‘pull my head out of my rear’ (if you’ll pardon the expression) because I tend to implode. Right now I’m not getting my massages because my therapist is recovering from surgery. I’m hopeful we will be able to resume in February or March, when she is feeling sassy again.
My yoga is not the ‘fold-yourself-into-a-pretzel-or-paper-airplane’ type. It’s good, quiet, long, gradual stretches that make my body say, ‘ahhhhhhhh!’ when I finally am able to relax into each pose. I move into it as far as I can, then just BREATHE. I can FEEL my body giving a bit at a time, stretching more and more. I started my practice a few years ago, when I was 71. I’ll be 74 in March, and I’m hopeful I can continue this the rest of my life. I want to get and stay as flexible as I can. It also helps with my back, plus my balance.
I am trying to do some walking, but again, the weather is a factor. I’m not desperate enough to get out my “Walking-with-annoying-Leslie’ DVD yet, but it may come to that as winter sneaks in.
I hope you’re trying to take care of yourself, too.
Filed under exercise, taking care of yourself
More ‘Impossible’ Embroidery
Filed under Embroidery/Sewing Art
creativeartworksblog 