Even though it’s 44 degrees F. with a slight wind, it was really wonderful to wander around the yard this morning, seeing what is still healthy and blooming.
As you can see from the pics on the blog this morning, I delighted in the elephant ear plants, our Rio Samba roses, and our Twice-Blooming Purple Iris.
Filed under Gardening, Mother Nature
Soon we will have freezes forecast and we will have to turn off our irrigation system. I’m trying really hard not to be TOO greedy. I’m more than grateful to have found a place that the elephant ear plants my friend Laufrain gave me are happy and thriving.
Soon the leaves will freeze. I will cut them down and dig up the big bulbs to store them in a combination of peat moss and potting soil for the winter. Then I will plant them in the planter again in the spring and keep my fingers crossed they are again happy and healthy.
Meanwhile, what a gift!
Filed under Friendship, Gardening
Filed under Creativity
Filed under Coffee Art
I no longer feel ‘grim and determined’ when I think of my efforts to lose the rest of my lard.
My husband and I have become totally spoiled by two new companies that have come to Greenwood AR recently: REAL FOOD and STU’S CLEAN COOKIN’.
Both offer really TASTY, healthy individual frozen meals that can be ordered online and picked up.
We eat frozen meals for dinner 5 days out of the week. I cook carefully on the weekends. We eat a light lunch, with a break on Fridays when we join our good friends.
The convenience of the already prepared, portion-controlled meals that actually taste good being the main meal of the day allow us to enjoy eating again without overdoing, concentrating on the other things we’re doing each day and not spending a lot of time in the kitchen.
We are spending less than half of what we were spending for commercial diet programs. Ordering each week, if we happen to find something that we don’t care for, we aren’t stuck with a month’s worth of meals we have to grit our teeth to eat.
I actually can joke about my efforts to lose my lard again, with the determination still there. We can ‘lighten up’ on both our meals AND our attitudes!
Filed under DIET!, getting the lard off, taking care of yourself
You’ve probably heard the term, “Coffee table book.” Well, now we’re going to talk ‘coffee art,’ – art made from spilled coffee.
The artist is Giulia Bernadelli, and I found these on rebloggy.
Filed under Coffee Art, collections
Attitude not only colors everything – it swamps it. These days it’s easy to make a never-ending list of what
. is bothering, irritating, aggravating, agitating, angering you
. is making you sad, grieving, depressed, despairing, worried
What is more difficult – particularly this year – is looking for what
. makes you smile, fills you with joy, gives you hope, makes your heart melt.
I am trying to concentrate on seeing the good in our world – not as a Pollyanna-ish or head-in-the-sand type of attitude, but as a survival skill as we ALSO try to deal with and/or fix all the things that need our attention.
I’m thrilled by all the talented people in our world. When I find an example of this, it fills me up. It makes me proud to live on the same planet. I love it that I can share their talent with you.
We can help each other through difficult times by keeping hope for the future high, sharing what’s right with the world, sharing coping mechanisms that work for us, and simply listening and caring.
Filed under Attitude, Encouragement
This is my problem no matter WHAT I’m going through.
Right now I’m going through my bookshelves upstairs. I have my permanent collection of books by favorite authors, plus books on art. I really try to concentrate, because I really don’t NEED all these books, but it’s hard to part with any of them.
The latest hard decision was my collection of Janet Evanovich books. She has a really wonderful sense of humor and makes me laugh at the characters she has created plus the situations in which they find themselves. I’ve read them all several times, though, and it is time for them to find new homes.
I listed 47 books on Amazon yesterday and sold 5 of them so far. I picture other people either discovering her for the first time – delighted looks on their faces and laughing – adding to their collection, or plugging in gaps with books they don’t have in the series. It’s a win/win for all of us.
So far I have one empty shelf. I am about to head upstairs to continue my efforts.
I hope that you are surrounded by favorite books, authors who bring you joy.
Filed under Amazing Animals, Awe-Inspiring Photography
My husband and I really tried with the prepared meals weight loss folks – Nutrisystem, South Beach, and BistroMD – and we lost some weight, but it was grim. They either discontinued the food we really liked, we weren’t happy with the meals, or the food tasted so bad we just couldn’t hack it.
My husband was almost to his goal weight, so I was trying hard to make the keto diet work for us. We really like the recipes by Suzanne Ryan in her cookbook Simply Keto. The biggest problem with that was that we tended to eat more of whatever it was than a ‘portion.’ It was totally a self-discipline problem.
We lucked out when two new companies came to Greenwood AR recently – The Real Food Company, and Stu’s Clean Cookin’ – both offering frozen meals that are individual portions, heat up in the microwave, are good for you and TASTE GOOD!
We are happy as clams now, continuing to lose weight by declaring the frozen meals, individual portions, our main meal of the day, having tuna salad or the equivalent for lunch, and no breakfast. We are trying to limit our snacks, as well, eating healthy things – though my husband uses it as an excuse to splurge. Since HE is at his goal weight and his blood sugar numbers are now better than mine, I should look to HIM for advice…
I am continuing to drink as much water as I can without my eyeballs floating too badly, and I am trying to get in both my elliptical trainer and yoga stretches daily. My weight loss is slow and steady.
We are looking forward to our meals now, instead of gritting our teeth and making do while resenting the fact the food costs so much. Tonight, for example we are looking forward to trying “Teriyaki Chicken Lo Mein” from The Real Food Company.
Bon Appetit!
I am trying to look at things as ‘the-glass-is-half-full’ these days. (Sometimes the glass tips over, spills the contents, and then shatters on the floor, though.) I do believe that you can control your attitude about what is happening to and around you, putting the best face on it that you can, and then powering on.
Each person’s problems are different. The priority of dealing with them depends on how much they are affecting your life. Some vary in their intensity, allowing you to put some on the back burner to be dealt with some nebulous time in the future. Others are chronic, requiring that you either decide to essentially ignore them, or work steadily, day by day, on solutions. Still others require immediate action by you or help from others.
There are times problems are overwhelming. A quote by Brian Tracy is magnetically stuck to the side of a file cabinet by my computer. It says, “When you feel overwhelmed with too much to do and too little time, remind yourself that all you can do is all you can do.”
( I also include problems that are ‘overwhelming’ because they seem too large, too defeating for you to handle for some reason.) I am learning to handle these ‘one-bite-at-a-time,’ breaking the problem down into several steps or deciding to only handle one day at a time, dealing with things the best I can.
I am trying to learn to give myself a break, as well as give the same consideration to others who are ALSO dealing with problems. Certain words spring to mind – becoming more and more important the longer I live: listening; empathy; compassion; kindness. Some of my to-do lists are a compilation of ‘things-I-CAN-control’ offsetting all the things I CAN’T.
Filed under kindness, perspective, taking care of yourself
I’m enjoying re-rereading part of my collection of Nora Roberts books lately. Happily, I have a good number of them. Diving into them is a wonderful escape from the challenges of our world, personal problems, or just to revisit a wonderful experience, learn something new, relax.
I am going through my books once again, culling out those that I probably won’t read again. I will sell some of them and donate the rest to our public library which usually has fundraisers a couple of times each year.
Since I am definitely not Suzy Homemaker, I have gotten on some old clothes, have dust rags and damp cloths ready to clean up my shelves as I gather books to get rid of and attempt to reorganize my collection.
It seems I am ruthless each time I do this, but I have to admit there are books that will be someone else’s choice on ‘redistribution’ after I am gone.
I’m so lucky to be rich in books! :0)
And may we always honor the men and women who fought for that right for us.
Filed under holidays
Filed under Amazing Animals, Awe-Inspiring Photography
Filed under drawings
A cold front is due to come through around lunch time, bringing thunderstorms, gusty winds, and lots of rain with longer temperatures. I went out this morning to gather some roses before the plants get clobbered by the storms.
I talked to the wonderful men who are running fiber optic lines in the area yesterday as they road a cute little car in the back and side yards. We discussed the tree they cut branches from that were encroaching on their lines. I asked them if it were possible for them to ‘neaten up’ the tree – that we were too old to do it ourselves and it would be really expensive to hire someone. They said they would be here today and would see what they could do.
This is a group of three evergreen trees that have been there a long time – long enough to essentially grow together. Right now with big branches hanging down, it looks like they were hit by lightning or something and exploded. I told them that I would appreciate whatever they could do, whether it’s cutting more branches or chainsawing the whole thing down.
They are wonderful men. I’ll be grateful whatever they do.
Our bug spraying man will be here around 11:00 to protect us from critters large and small. I have only seen dead bugs – the best kind, as far as I’m concerned, plus a few wasps that have figured out how to get in the house. I always feel good when the quarterly treatment has been done. Since we live in ‘the country’ in our own ‘woods,’ we get a lot of critters I hadn’t ever seen before, including a rare snake, centipedes, tarantulas, and scorpions, as well as the usual stuff. I’m really serious about spraying for EVERYTHING – including elephants, around here. I will deal with stuff outside – but there is a no tolerance policy about INSIDE.
My sister-in-law and my massage therapist are both having surgery today, so they are both in my thoughts and prayers today – for smooth procedures and complete recoveries as soon as possible.
I hope you’re having a good day.
Filed under Gardening, Housekeeping - Maintenance, Thoughts on a ________
We usually change the decoration twice each month, putting up something special for each holiday. Since the pandemic began, we’ve just had the Tasmanian Devil up. (below)
Since the schools are open now, the bus comes by at the bottom of our driveway again. We finally decided it was worth the trouble to put something different up.
We probably will only put up things not tied to any particular holiday until things get back to what passes for normal, but it’s nice to change the look of things. The decoration we have up now was the first one with more than one image, plus the first one with 3-D ‘legs’ attached.
Filed under Lewis Art, Lewis Mailbox Decorations, metal art
Filed under Favorite Quotes, Favorite Things, Friendship, Gardening
Amber is a very boisterous 3-year-old, 95-pound yellow lab. Her hair is short, but just as we are about to go into cooler weather, she is driving me nuts shedding hair! She is happy, healthy, and seems to shed an entire dog on a regular basis.
Yesterday is a typical example. I vacuumed our first floor, appalled at the huge amount of hair accumulated in the vacuum. I cleaned out the vacuum canister and then showed my husband – who had to be reminded that this wasn’t an accumulation over several times of vacuuming – I got it all with ONE session of vacuuming.
I then went up to tackle the second floor, starting in our bathroom and bed room. I have a smaller vacuum up there, but FILLED IT UP with the vacuuming of the two rooms!
I will finish the job today, with the guest room, guest bath, my art room, the 2nd floor hallway, and the stairs.
I am definitely not Suzy Homemaker, and I’m a slob, but I vacuum an average of twice a week and this accumulation seems over the top.
I am thinking of giving Amber a buzz cut. She has a coat we bought her for cold weather. She hates it, but that may be the price she has to pay for shedding whole dogs of hair cavalierly…
Filed under Housekeeping - Maintenance, I'm a slob
Filed under Attitude, Encouragement, Favorite Quotes
Filed under drawings
When I was looking for images of artists who make wood come alive, I found the picture above. I was suddenly swamped with memories of my dad and the dogs HE carved. They are two of my most cherished possessions.
My dad is gone now, but he is alive in my heart and always will be. My dad was talented in a lot of different ways – but one was determination.
I say that as a ‘talent’ though it was a character trait, as well. My dad fell off a horse when he was 3 years old, shattering his left arm. Many surgeries were done, but back then they didn’t know what they do now. They saved his arm, but he lost the use of his left hand. His left arm was much shorter than his right, as well.
This could – and did – ruin other people’s lives. I remember us walking on a sidewalk somewhere – seeing a man sitting on the sidewalk, asking for money, holding up an arm remarkably like my dad’s. My dad stopped, held up his left arm, and said quietly, “Get a job!”
He carved the two sweet dogs above, holding the wood in his left hand and carving patiently with his right. I don’t remember him actually carving them, but it amazes me that he lived his life so that we actually FORGOT for much of the time that he might have an extra challenge with something.
I feel my dad looking at me from time to time. Sometimes he is challenging me to get off my duff and quit procrastinating – just because I am intimidated when trying something new. Sometimes he tells me to lighten up, see the humor in a situation, or look at it as another of life’s character-building exercises. Sometimes I’m just swamped with love, missing him, but feeling so lucky he was ‘mine’ for a while.
Filed under Family, memories, When Wood Comes Alive
I’ve spent part of two days in my art room, playing with a new idea that was entertaining me while I was sleeping. I’m having a lot of fun with it, and will try to finish up today.
The idea was ‘Friendship Frames,’ with paintings on 6″x8″ hard canvas boards with a different friendship quote on each. I’ve had fun with colors, texture, and more, thinking of my good friends as I play. I’ll post a pic of one of them when they are finished.
I have to tell you that I am newly encouraged about my efforts since I had my first sale on Amazon Handmade yesterday. This is a new venue for me, and I was afraid that it was SO large it would be a miracle if people found my listings, much less liked what I did enough to buy something. I feel WONDERFUL that I sold a package of my hand-painted note cards. :0)
Filed under Friendship, playing in my art room
Nutrisystem, South Beach, BistroMD – all helped, but we stopped, feeling the same as this wonderful quote by Dolly Parton above.
Now we are lucky because two new companies started businesses here in Greenwood – REAL FOOD and STU’S CLEAN COOKIN’, both offering healthy frozen individual portion meals at reasonable prices.
We plan around eating their meals 5 days a week. I then fix a keto-friendly meal that has enough for the weekend, and maybe even a lunch the following week. We eat a frozen meal at night, usually tuna fish salad for lunch, and as few careful snacks as possible the remainder of the day. It’s working for us, albeit slowly.
My husband is basically at his goal weight now. We are trying to be very careful of his sugar, since he is Type II diabetic. I still have about 30 lbs to lose to get to my goal weight. I’m losing more slowly, am the one who is actually exercising, and does all the orchestration of our eating. I would bite my husband in the leg, but basically like him too much to do that just because he seems to lose weight effortlessly. (If he gives me another reason, all bets are off.) :0)
I really like not having to figure out what to cook every day. I also like the fact that we are eating good, healthy food with portion control that actually TASTES GOOD. We can still go to Lunch Bunch to meet our friends each Friday without losing the ground we’ve gained during the week.
I am hopeful that if we ‘keep on keepin’ on,’ (‘holding our mouths right’ as we say in Oklahoma and Arkansas) maybe I will eventually meet MY lard-loss goal, too.
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