Indian Hills Signs – Vince, the Sign Guy
Filed under Funny Signs - Humor, Indian Hills Signs, punny
Filed under Jim Eppler Bronzes, metal art, sculpture
I love this. I think it’s breathtaking.
Yesterday we spent much of the afternoon with a chainsaw. My husband had gone down to get the mail, since I received an email saying that a package had been put in the mailbox on Saturday. He took a long time, so I went out to check on him. I found his truck, our dog, Amber, in the back, parked outside the shop. He was putting the chainsaw and a long extension cord in the back. I got our gloves and we went down the driveway again.
A big tree about 6 feet back from one side of the driveway had broken off and its big branches were across the driveway. Happily, the electrical outlet and cord we ran years ago and put in a protective box toward the bottom of the driveway was working, or else we wouldn’t have been able to take care of this ourselves. It took us an hour or so for my husband to chainsaw parts off, and I hauled the parts across the road and rolled them into the ditch. We’ll watch and see if we need to do more, but hopefully, that’s it for a while.
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LINDA’S CRAFTINESS – 11 x 14 original painting on hardboard canvas. Mixed media. Colorful 3-D painting you can FEEL that will brighten up a room or make a nice gift. $17.95 and Free Shipping. See this and other wall decor at this link HandmadeHavenbyLinda on Etsy.
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I’m hoping that today will be a quiet day for us. We’ll gather our trash and drive it to the bottom of the driveway soon. I put my gloves and my hand pruner in the truck yesterday so I can take a few minutes to cut down baby mimosa ‘trees’ and other big weeds right at the bottom of the driveway around our mailbox and on the other side, around where we put the trash can for emptying tomorrow. That’ll be it for errands today.
I’m hoping to get back to my ‘new normal’ 3-pound weight exercises several times during the day, after spending time at the computer, plus my yoga stretches. I also want to get up to my art room, since the tree squashed any other plans yesterday.
I wish you a nice, quiet, happy day.
“The holiday is meant to honor those who have died in the country’s service and thank those who have served. Originally known as Armistice Day, it was proclaimed in 1919 by President Woodrow Wilson and became a legal federal holiday in 1938.”
My husband served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1961-1965. He was on ships offshore in all the hot spots around the world during that time – most notably the Cuban Missile Crisis – but thankfully never had to face combat. He is funny about it, though. If he wears his vest that has Marine Corps patches on it, and people thank him for his service, he is embarrassed. He doesn’t think he deserves the thanks because he never actually ‘fought’ like ‘real veterans’ did. I heartily disagree, but he won’t hear me on this.
In the middle of the square in Greenwood, Arkansas is Memorial Park. It’s the center of many happy events during the year. One of the most impressive, however, is Veterans Day, where U.S. Flags are placed by the memorial ‘stones’ placed by families of veterans in our town. I wanted to get one for my husband, but again – he won’t hear of it. You can’t really see them in this photo, but there are half-size statues of service men from the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, and the Marines standing guard around the clock tower in the middle of the park.
There will be a parade today.
To people who have served or are serving now – THANK YOU for your service. THANK YOU for being willing to put everything on the line for our country and its people. THANK YOU for the sacrifice of your family. We honor you today – and every day.
Filed under holidays
Indian Hills Signs – Vince, the Sign Guy
Filed under Funny Signs - Humor, Indian Hills Signs, punny
Filed under 3-D art on Mugs, ceramics, Clay Art, Lightinthebox.com
Filed under bronze sculpture, Jim Eppler Bronzes, sculpture
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LINDA’S CRAFTINESS – Lightweight teardrop-shaped, hand-wood-burned dangle earrings are great when you want to go casual or more dressed up. 2″ long. One of a kind. $15.00 with free shipping. See this pair and other dangle earrings at HandmadeHavenbyLinda on Etsy HERE.
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I tried a new way of exercising yesterday that seemed good for me. I work on the computer for a few minutes – read email, write a blog post, or something similar, then do a group of exercises with my 3-pound weights. Then back to the computer, repeating over and over until I’ve done everything I usually do. Yesterday that made for about 6 short sessions with the weights, which my shoulders and arms told me was a good amount. Later in the afternoon I did my regular yoga stretches.
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Today will hopefully be a quiet day for us. My husband is still sleeping, meaning he’s having a good night of rest after several days of fitful rest followed by several naps in his chair during the day. I hope he feels good when he comes downstairs. I think the increase in my exercising is helping ME with mine.
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Have a wonderful Sunday.
We are living in very difficult times. The people in the United States are deeply divided about the path our country should take in the future. We’ve just been through a really tense election, as we were in 2020. AGAIN, half the country is feeling disenfranchised, angry, and scared.
It is really important that we try to tone down the rhetoric. Free speech is one of our basic rights and should be defended at all costs. Violence and destruction should not have any part in that. Restraint is needed on both sides.
Soul searching and trying to find common ground is more important than ever. We all want our country to be strong and its people able to prosper. We all want everyone treated with respect and dignity.
In the coming days we need to be mindful. We need to appreciate the fact that we all hold strong beliefs and that feelings are raw on both sides at the moment. Try to understand, try to give everyone the benefit of any doubt, try to come together in our efforts to make the world a better place.
Filed under Challenges
My hair is blowing as this month blows past. I can’t believe it’s already the 9th! It seems like November just started yesterday. Hold on to your hat!
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LINDA’S CRAFTINESS – I’m having a clearance sale on all totes on HandmadeHavenbyLinda with 40% off the original prices. The link takes you to the main totes section, but they are also in the “Christmas” section. Priced at $11.00 with free shipping. When they’re gone, they’re gone, so please take advantage now while they last.
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Spiralizer
This is the type of spiralizer I have. There are fancier ones, but this one works just fine for me. I got some zucchini yesterday and processed it to make ‘zoodles’ – an alternative for spaghetti and other pastas. My husband won’t eat zucchini, but this works wonderfully when I make spaghetti sauce for us. (I make regular spaghetti for him and I use the zoodles.) I bagged the zucchini in individual meal portions and froze them yesterday. Today I’ll process cauliflower, making ‘cauli-rice.’
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I have all kinds of fun ideas for wood-burned designs on key chain fobs and earrings. I’m trying to clear the decks so I can start spending time in my art room playing. I’m starting to dream about shapes, designs, and the actual wood-burning, so I would like to get up there soon.
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Now that the rain has stopped, I’m looking forward to putting on my jacket (it’s 58 degrees F. outside now) and walking around our yard. I will probably find many things that are calling for my attention when I do, so I’ll take a survey of them first, and then go back out again later. NICE!
Have a great Saturday!
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
As we get older, we are FINALLY learning how important it is to read the labels on the things we eat and drink. I’m trying to stay low-carb and watch my sodium. My husband is a Type II Diabetic and must watch his sugar (or, more accurately, I’M watching his sugar.)
To this end, I’m embracing products we find that make our lives easier. I’m trying to find substitutes that are healthier as we go.
“Sugar-Free” –
The G. Hughes Smokehouse Sugar-Free BBQ Sauce was a huge find for us. I got two more bottles while we were out today, and discovered that the company also makes sugar-free teriaki sauce, sugar-free stir-fry sauce, and sugar-free honey mustard. I bought all three today to add to our pantry. As we were checking out, the lady at the register told me they also offer Sugar-free Ketchup, so that’s on the list for next time. I also found their website and will go back and see if I’m missing other wonderful things.
Other products we’ve found are Sugar-Free Maple Syrup. My husband is using this in his morning coffee, instead of the two spoonfuls of sugar he has always used. ZERO soft drinks are so much better than the full sugar pop he has always insisted on.
“No Sugar Added” – This is another beautiful phrase, because it allows me to substitute more things my husband has been missing. They are not sugar-free, and you have to read the labels carefully, but there are more and more good products out there. A recent example for us is Marketside No Sugar Added Blueberry Streusel Muffins. These contain 2 grams of sugar per muffin. (The apple fritters my husband was insisting upon were 22 grams per fritter.) I breathed a sigh of relief on the way home from the store today when he told me he had thrown out the last of the fritters today. We bought two containers of the no sugar added muffins today, but I was really trying to keep my lips zipped as much as possible, encouraging, rather than condemning. HOOOORAAAAAAY!
“Low Carb” – this is very important to me. I’m almost to an interim weight loss goal and I’m checking everything I eat and drink, listing all I plan to eat on MyFitnessPal.com before I start the day. You have to be super careful here, though, too. “Low carb” seems to be a relative term. I’ve picked up several things labeled that way, and then read that they’re much too high in carbs for what I’m doing. I also have to really pay attention to the sodium content, as I have blood pressure and water retention considerations.
One place we are really happy with is Stu’s Clean Cookin’. They have a website that lists everything they offer, giving full information on the nutrition content of each frozen meal. They also divide their offerings into categories to make finding things easier, such as low carb. I can go online, read through the offerings, making a list for me, another for my husband before we go to their store. We have our order ready so shopping is quick and easy.
(We made a mistake the last time we were in there. We grabbed some BBQ’d ribs in a big foil package. They were easy to heat up and delicious, but the BBQ sauce obviously wasn’t for us, as our blood sugar numbers were up the next morning. OUR fault, not theirs.)
We’re learning as we go – even though being older than dirt, one would THINK we would have learned before now. We’re tweaking things, learning about new products and new ways to cook things that are healthier and healthier. It feels good that we’re not TOO old to learn how to be as healthy as we can be.
Filed under DIET!
Filed under 3-D art on Mugs, ceramics, Clay Art, drawings
This sculpture grabs my heart. Just exquisite.
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LINDA’S CRAFTINESS –
One of a kind handmade greeting/note card using real feathers. “Be a flamingo in a flock of pigeons.” Savannah Larsen. Blank inside. 5″ x 7″. “Birds of a Feather” Series by Linda Lewis. $3.50 with Free Shipping. Browse through unique cards and packages on HandmadeHavenbyLinda on Etsy using this LINK.
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I’m feeling a bit shell-shocked after receiving and paying our insurance bills this morning. All usually go up from year to year, but this aggregate of all the insurances I have to pay at once took my breath away. I’m grateful that we’re able to pay them, but WOW.
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I’m gathering ideas for making some earrings and key chains – some wood-burned, some wood-burned and painted, and some just painted. Ideas are starting to rattle around in my head. It’s fun. :0) We’re going to head to Walmart and our local grocery to replenish supplies today because we’re supposed to have another cold front and rain overnight-into-tomorrow, but I’m hoping to spend a good amount of time in my art room, playing.
Make this Friday a good one.
Filed under Funny Signs - Humor, Housekeeping - Maintenance, I'm a slob
Filed under Driftwood Art, Jeffro Uitto, When Wood Comes Alive
I’m back.
There weren’t many people at the tire shop when I got there, so my truck got almost immediate attention! I was really happy until they guys were obviously talking, then getting the owner/manager, then coming in to talk to me.
The owner told me that the lug nuts I brought for the snow tires didn’t fit. I went out and looked at the bag my husband had put in the truck and let out a huge sigh. The bag clearly said, “Jeep Lug nuts.” We don’t even HAVE the Jeep and haven’t had it for YEARS now. I don’t even know why we still HAD these.
The guys put things back together so that I could drive back home and get the bag of lug nuts we SHOULD have brought in the first place. My husband came out to the shop when I was still out there, and I showed him the bag he had put in the truck. He was embarrassed. He redeemed himself, however, because he turned the truck around for me, something that I have NEVER been good at, and have only gotten worse at over time.
I drove back to the tire store. This time things went well. Before I left, I made sure I had the bag of lug nuts and the special lug nut that is necessary to either put on or take off our regular Honda tires. (The snow tires don’t need that.) I found it, but not the shiny socket wrench part I was looking for.) I checked again in the store, but they confirmed all they had was in the bag.
I drove home again. I took the bag of lug nuts and showed my husband where they live, right above the tires. I asked him what he had done with the bag of Jeep lug nuts. He had squirreled it into the back part of a shelf. I got it out and found the shiny socket wrench part I was looking for. I told him we should throw the Jeep lug nuts away. He was adamant we keep them. (A fight for another day.)
We got the tires back into place in the shop, the bag of lug nuts where they belonged, and I put the special lug nut and the shiny socket wrench into the bag in the glove compartment.
My husband again turned the truck around and we went to the house. We won’t have to do this again until spring (about mid-March), and now we have a way we might be able to negotiate our driveway and the roads in bad winter weather in an emergency. We agreed (and I HOPE this is still in effect) that barring emergencies, when our driveway is ice or snow covered, we will simply stay home until it melts and things are safe. One broken collarbone falling on the ice and trip to the ER is enough. My husband was telling me that I was overreacting to the danger when he fell. 10 weeks of healing changed his mind, at least then…
Filed under Challenges, Changes
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LINDA’S CRAFTINESS –
One-of-a-kind hand wood-burned and painted wood slice Christmas ornament. 4″ in diameter, ready to hang. I will personalize it for you on the back with the year and a name on the back at no extra charge. Fun to add to your tree or give as a gift. $20.00 with Free Shipping. See it and other Christmas things HERE on HandmadeHavenbyLinda on Etsy.
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ERRANDS –
The snow tires on wheels and their lug nuts are in the back of the truck. I’m leaving as soon as I finish this to get them put on the truck.
I’ll write more when I’m home again.
Meanwhile, I hope you have a wonderful day.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
I discovered The Doodle Lab yesterday and I couldn’t be more impressed. Alexandra Lippert offers customized pet/dog caricatures and I think they’re brilliant.
So full of personality and fun. Her clients seem to be delighted with her work for them.
Creative and full of humor.
Alexandra Lippert – TheDoodleLab on Etsy
Our animals staged a definite protest last evening. They are both having real trouble adjusting to the end of Daylight Savings Time. They were ready for dinner a full hour ahead of time and kept trying to roust us. Every time we said anything, got up, or moved, BOTH of them were up, trying to lead us to their feeding places.
I knew that they seemed to be hungrier than usual lately, but I hadn’t connected it to the time change until yesterday. They must think my husband and I are really stubborn and lazy. They actually looked frustrated and disgusted, even when I TRIED to explain the time change and that they needed to wait an hour.
Finally, I caved about half way through the hour, with Monster Cat herding me toward her bathroom and Amber following us.
I thought my husband and I were having a tough time adjusting to the time change. I think our sweet family member pets are having a worse time than we are.
Filed under Challenges, Changes
VIEW –
My sister-in-law said it was a shame I didn’t get any photos of the morning view out of our back yard, where I was talking about it looking like someone had spread rolls of cotton between the ridge lines. It’s almost impossible to take pics of this, but I tried. This is for you, Sweet ML.
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LINDA’S CRAFTINESS –
Hand-painted one-of-a-kind 8.5″x4″x24″ memory box. Thoughtful gift to ‘purple lovers,’ people who love to save things that might get lost if not lovingly stored. $15.00 with Free Shipping. See this and other memory boxes HERE on HandmadeHavenbyLinda on Etsy.
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ELECTION –
We’re feeling kind of bleery-eyed after staying up to watch the election returns. I was up a full hour earlier than usual this morning, needing to get up and join my husband, who was already downstairs. I’m hoping the people in our country can now calm down and try to solve our many problems together.
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WINTER PREP –
Not sure what plans are for the day yet. Since it’s November, we need to start getting to things on our prepare-for-the-winter list. One of those things is to get the snow tires on our truck. My husband and I have always done this ourselves. The tires are already mounted on wheels, so it’s a case of just changing the tires and airing them up.
As we’ve aged, though, it’s gotten more and more difficult. Last year I finally convinced my husband that we should get the tires and lug nuts into the back of the truck and that I would drive to the local tire place and ask THEM to change the tires for us.
It’s enough for US to get each set of tires in and out of the truck. I just called and they can do it for us tomorrow, so one of today’s chores is to get the tires and lug nuts into the back of the truck so I can take it tomorrow.
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Enjoy your Wednesday.
Filed under Watercolors I Love
When I grow up, I would love to be able to do wood-burning like these two beautiful examples.
These are both done by masters. I’m awestruck.
Filed under When Wood Comes Alive, Wood-Burning Art
VOTING –
We will probably not know the results of our national election tonight. We may have to wait until the end of the week or longer. It’s hard when our country is so divided. Emotions are high. Tension is high. I hope that everyone votes and has their voice heard.
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LINDA’S CRAFTINESS – 8″ X 12″ hand wood-burned and painted sign that encourages you not to waste a minute of your precious time. $24.99 with Free Shipping. Use this link to see this and other wood-burned gifts on HandmadeHavenbyLinda on Etsy.
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WEATHER –
We had some pretty strong storms with LOTS of rain, thunder and lightning. (We’ve gotten 4.10 inches in the past 24 hours.) We don’t think we had any damage, and for that we are really grateful. Greenwood is under a flood warning until mid afternoon and it is cool and wet now. Nice day to stay inside (unless you need to get out to cast your vote).
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Filed under HandmadeHavenByLinda on Etsy, Thoughts on a ________
The jury is still out on what’s going to happen with our weather. So far, we got some impressive storms overnight with lots of lightning, more rain this morning, but nothing severe. The forecasters are still saying we’re in for some rough rides this afternoon and evening, but right now the sun is shining and we have the doors open to receive a nice breeze through the house. Go figure. If it continues like this I really have no complaints.
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I just got the makings of keto chili in the crock pot for our dinner tonight. Yesterday my stomach kept telling me my throat had been cut and I was super hungry all day and evening. I ended up eating some extra deli ham plus some almonds, the result of which is showing almost 2 pounds more on the scales this morning. The scale showed its true snarky side, laughing at me as I grimaced in guilt. I’m HOPING I am mainly retaining water and will shed the “gainage” in a day or two, but who knows.
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I just ordered a new blood glucose monitor kit which should arrive soon. We’ve had our current one since my husband was diagnosed as a Type II diabetic several years ago, and it seems like it has gotten wonky, reading higher on both of us, even though we’re being very careful about sugar. We’re hoping that the new kit will help us decide if we need to basically take a fresh look at EVERYTHING we’re eating and drinking, even though we’ve been reading labels. I’ve been logging everything on MyFitnessPal.com, as well, and I know my sugar has been kept way below ‘acceptable’ levels, but my confidence is shaken.
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We discovered that our entertainment center clock should have been placed in a window in order to receive the signal to change when Daylight Savings Time ended. The problem is, if it lives in the window, neither one of us can see the readout. I’ve ordered this one –
It’s colorful, with large bright numbers and the reviews said it would be easy to set. The possible problem is that I didn’t carefully check how large the clock itself is. It may be too small for our purposes. It’s always SOMETHING…
I hope your Monday is being good to you.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
creativeartworksblog 