“The Way to a Better Life” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
Cosmopolitan
I told you recently that I’ve started on Phase II of decluttering my home. It’s been awhile since I’ve made any progress because I’ve been working out in the yard. Now that we’re having a rainy weekend and first of the week, I started on the master bedroom and bath.
With the sudden coolness, yesterday we got the upstairs vacuum working well enough to clean both rooms. I found myself grabbing a hoodie to keep warm, so today I started on my closet in earnest. I moved the hot weather clothes into the guest room closet and the cold weather clothes into my closet. Now I’m doing sessions, trying on everything and deciding whether it’s wearable and I like it, or if it’s in good enough shape to donate to the Thrift shop, or…
A truly wonderful thing is that I’ve been moving a sweater with a leather front, leather flowers and a front zipper back and forth for at least 5 years now because I loved it, even though it was WAAAAAY too small. Today I tried it on and it FIT!!!!! I got my husband to come upstairs, put it on, and even HE thought it looked really good. He said, “Not only can you get into it, it fits WELL and looks GOOD.” :0)
I like loose tops. I’ve found several, however, that are SO loose they’re either falling off my shoulders or come down so low in front I might as well not bother wearing anything. Woo HOOOO! I have a pad and pen and some trash bags up there to receive the donations now.
I get tired and out of patience quickly trying things on and taking them off again, so I’m spacing out the sessions. I’ll try to finish things by this evening.
It really feels good to be celebrating getting rid of clothes that are TOO LARGE, as well as purging my closet in general.
Alamy
My son gave us a small Dyson ball vacuum when he decided he wanted to live and work in China. Now he’s in Thailand and I still use his vacuum upstairs.
Lately I’ve been having trouble with it. It was REALLY hard to push forward – acting like it was on strike – taking all of my strength to try to vacuum the rugs in our master bath. I brought it down to have my husband – Mr. Fix it – do his magic on it. Like taking your car to the shop, he pushed it around and found no problem, so I took it back up.
Today I started trying to vacuum our bedroom and the master bath. Same problem. I left it where it was and came down and got Mr. Fix It again. This time it showed its true colors. Even my husband couldn’t get it to go forward. PLUS, it wasn’t sucking. The combination made it pretty useless.
He took it apart, frowned at it, and put it back together again. Somehow that made it suck again, although it was still really hard to push forward. It was bad in the master bath, but wasn’t bad at all on the bedroom carpet…
So, I finished vacuuming up there, and now I have sore stomach muscles from trying to push the thing in the bathroom – so I’m officially using my cleaning efforts as my exercise for the day.
We took it apart again, and I brought down the filter and the canister that holds the dirt to wash them out. He found another filter inside the ball and brought it down and we washed that, too. Hopefully, when we put the dry, clean parts back together, it will be happier. Otherwise, I’ll drag my larger one from downstairs up the next time.
Filed under exercise, Housekeeping - Maintenance, I'm a slob
Elephant – Cruise.co
Hippo – Carnival Cruise Line
Filed under Creativity, Towel Critter Art
“Grace” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Lonely Gull” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
I found these suckers on a tomato plant and replanted them in the greenhouse. I’ll be trying to get lots of others started, as it’s too cool outside now for the tomato plants to create ripe tomatoes. I’m HOPING that I can either have tomato plants ready to replant in the planters in the spring, or even have a ripe tomato or two to enjoy! So far, these seem to be doing well.
Yesterday I turned off the second fan and closed the greenhouse door. The exhaust fan is still hooked up and will turn on if the temp gets over 80 degrees in there.
These are the really small lettuce plants I planted about a week ago. They’re still alive, but aren’t having an explosive growth.
I took TWO shots of the ‘leggy lettuce’ I planted several days after the small ones. Here you can see how large they are compared to the smaller one on the right.
If they continue to do this well, I’ll start carefully cutting larger leaves to include in our dinner salads!
I also have several celery plants I’ll bring out to see how they do. :0)
“Feminine Curiosity” – Paul Militaru Photography
“He” – Paul Militaru Photography
“He and She” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Me and My Shadow” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
You Tube
This picture shows you a clean, non-scratched, non-cat-print-pawed version of my husband’s 2003 Vette. He bought it online, flying to Kansas City, I think, with a cashier’s check and letter and phone number from the head of the bank in his pocket, prepared to drive it home or get on a flight home. Happily, he was delighted with it and drove it home and has been grinning ever since. This is truly who he is, and our life has been full of ‘six-months-without-another-speeding-ticket-and-it-won’t-go-on-your-record’ to prove it. The last such ended in mid August of this year, and he’ll be 75 in November….
I’m telling you this because he took our truck and is now in downtown Ft. Smith at an auction, hoping to find good-priced tools to bring home. This leaves ME with the Vette, and I’m going to Lunch Bunch in 25 minutes.
I really don’t feel comfortable driving this car. MY favorite vehicle was a Jeep Cherokee Sport. I don’t go off-road, but I loved that vehicle. Now I’m comfortable in the truck. I find, when I’m driving the vette, I sneeze and am suddenly going 90 mph. I have to admit I spend lots of time in the Vette while HE’S driving bracing myself as we fly through traffic. (I’m uncomfortable because he puts on the gas when I would put on the brake in any given situation.)
So, this morning will be a character-building exercise. My first inclination was to call my friends and tell them I wouldn’t be there this morning. And then I was disgusted with myself for being a wuss. I KNOW I can drive the Vette. The fact that I’m uncomfortable driving it, particularly going down our 650+ bumpy driveway and back up again, as well as trying to figure out how far the nose of the car is from anything, are annoying details, rather than a reason for not doing this. I know lots of people who would ENJOY getting to drive the Vette.
So. I’m HOPING that the rain that is coming down now will stop in the next 15 minutes, the sky will lighten, and I can go and come back without incident. I’m too old to be such a wuss.
Filed under Challenges, character-building exercises
Philly Voice
The above picture is a gross exaggeration of our situation in Arkansas this morning, but I found it, loved it, and wanted to share it. :0)
We’ve gone from having to wear a sweat band while working outside to having to wear a light jacket or sweatshirt outside in the space of a day or two. I have to tell you, I’ve been more than ready and am embracing the change. It DOES take a bit of switching of gears, though, and I’ll start that today.
I’ve been running the exhaust fan and a second fan in my greenhouse, plus propping the door open to keep the plants I’ve started from boiling in their pots. I haven’t been out there to check on things this morning, but, depending on what the thermometer in there says, I’ll probably shut off the second fan and shut the door. I’ll also accelerate trying to find tomato suckers to plant – if it’ll stop raining long enough. I want to start a BUNCH, since I’m new to this and tend to make lots of mistakes.
We haven’t started our get-ready-for-winter list around here, since we were sweating and using the a/c only a couple of days ago, so I’ll watch for forecasts and decide if we need to accelerate THAT, as well.
My spirits are soaring. I get a lot more energetic when the weather is cool. I’m raring to go!
Filed under Arkansas, Greenwood, Mother Nature
Linn Acres Farm
Since our weather is cooling off – finally – here in Greenwood, Arkansas – I’m getting more serious about starting things in the greenhouse.
I told you recently I started some iceberg head lettuce plants. My plants are doing well so far. I just went out and watered the saucers under the plants this afternoon, and the plants seem happy with this procedure. The exhaust fan was on – signaling that cooling was needed in the greenhouse. I still have the secondary fan on and the door on the opposite end of the greenhouse open to encourage as much air flow as possible.
Today while watering, I noticed that fire ants were swarming again on the floor of the greenhouse, so I went back to the garage and mixed up more EIGHT bug spray. I really love this stuff! It kills the bugs while being safe for plants and animals, so I don’t have to worry that our pets will come sniff or come in contact with the wet spray. I also can spray the plants in our raised bed planters in the square foot garden when needed without worrying about the residue on the edible plants.
I sprayed ants, which had shown new ‘homes’ in several places, and then found and planted one six-pack of tomato suckers. The picture above shows what a sucker is. You can plant these and a whole new tomato plant is possible. I’m going to plant a whole bunch of these because I have no clue what I’m doing and expect to lose a lot of the plants. If I can get SOME to survive, though, I may actually get some ripe tomatoes before we have a hard freeze!
I’ll try to accomplish something outside daily now that the weather is ‘my kind of weather.’ Maybe it’ll last long enough I can get things under good control for the winter! :0)
You Tube
The short report is 27.6 pounds and 23 inches down.
The longer and more significant answer is that we are S L O W L Y learning to modify our eating habits as we lose the lard.
We are making a point of going out to eat, rather than it being a special splurge for the week, using the meals as our ‘flex’ meals, learning to rein in our silly and destructive former habits. It’s easy to just ‘go out to eat’ and blow things for the next few days, if not a week. It’s harder, but more productive, to choose carefully from the menu, or – throwing caution to the winds – actually ordering what we want (within reason) AND ordering a doggie bag right then, cutting our meal into halves, and THEN plowing in to enjoy every bite. Not only does it help with the poundage, but also the pocketbook!
We figure our ultimate success depends on NOT feeling deprived. We really like going out to eat. We really like eating things not a normal part of our diets. If we can modify our intake to make up for this, we can make it for the long run.
This doesn’t mean that every day is ‘national-whatever-week’ – the celebration of which causes throwing our diet out the window. But if we NORMALLY eat super-healthy, and then eat half a cheeseburger and some tater tots occasionally, it’s much easier to go back to normal for the next meal, if that makes sense.
So far, it’s working for us. I’m HOPING that the NEXT time I order our Nutrisystem for the month, I can apply for a 30-pounds-off-bear to be included. Each mini-goal makes me feel I’m making progress. My massage therapist saying I looked, “skinny” today, helps, too! :0) Even though I know she’s just being kind and I have a long way to go to my goal, it’s NICE when people encourage you by NOTICING there is a bit less of you. My husband got a boost this past Monday night when we went bowling with our good friends. They BOTH noticed how much weight he had lost. He was already feeling good, wearing some new smaller-in-the-waist pants and a new, smaller shirt, and the compliments topped things off nicely.
So, we have a good start now. I need to lose a LOT more lard, and my husband needs to start exercising, and together we’ll be healthier every day.
taolife.com
Institute-for-Therapeutic-Massage-massageprogram.com
I’ve gone back and forth over the years on whether massage is a total luxury or absolute necessity. For the past several years I’m definitely leaning toward necessity.
My massage therapist, Lynn Moody, is a miracle worker. I always threaten to just stay on the table, refusing to leave after she kneads me into a relaxed puddle.
We talked today about why it’s so hard to relax. It doesn’t matter whether you really have problems that would tie anyone in a knot or not. The fact remains that we have trouble letting go. I consciously have to talk to myself (hopefully not aloud) saying, “relaxing jaw,” “relaxing face” as my DVD yoga instructor tells me. I don’t realize that I’m clenching my teeth and jaw, or that I’m not allowing myself to actually relax until I DO. It feels so GOOD!!!!
After Lynn tunes me up, I have more energy. My mood is much, much better, and I plan what good things I can accomplish when I get home.
If you’re considering massage a luxury you have trouble justifying in your budget, please stop it. If you don’t take care of yourself, you get sick. You hurt. You might bite the members of your family, lashing out basically because you’re uptight and can’t let go of all the things every day that tie us up.
If finances are tight, you might budget for this – acting as if it’s a trip to the doctor. You’ll thank yourself for it.
Filed under Encouragement, quality of life, taking care of yourself
“Sadness Flies Away on the Wings of Time” – Esther A. – student-intermulticultural-counselor-member-international-wolf-center-via-Wim Beunderman – LinkedIn
Filed under Awe-Inspiring Photography, Creativity
The Dari, Greenwood AR
This restaurant opened recently. My husband and I met one of our best friends to try lunch today. We met there at 1:30, but it was still quite crowded. They’re open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. (Breakfast served from 6-10, Lunch and dinner ’til 9.)
We ordered and paid at the front counter, got our drinks and found a table. My husband and I ordered a hamburger steak combo, which included mashed potatoes, your choice of sides (we had green beans), and your choice of Texas Toast or a roll. (We got Texas toast.) Our friend chose a grilled chicken salad without eggs.
We got our orders quickly, much to our surprise. And both things were GOOD! The chef/cook cooked our hamburger steak to perfection. It had a brown gravy with onions in it. Beside that was mashed potatoes, also with onions, that made a nice combination. The green beans were like home grown and home cooked, with the beans flat and cooked with bacon. Our friend enjoyed her salad, saying it was delicious.
We don’t usually go to breakfast, but do when we have to go for blood tests – so we’ll try it for breakfast in November. Our ‘lunch’ was a heavy meal for us, so we’ll modify our eating the rest of the day to work it into our Nutrisystem eating plan, but we were very happy with our experience and plan to go back.
Carnival Paradise
Conde’ Nast Traveler
Filed under Creativity, Towel Critter Art
“Little Waterfall” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
I’ve been going through our home this year, trying to look at everything with a fresh eye with the idea of keeping what is useful or brings us joy, and giving away what we hope others can use, and getting rid of ‘stuff’ that just weighs us down. Since we’ve been in the house for over 30 years now and are both pack rats, this is a big job. We aren’t ‘hoarders’ as on TV, but we have gone far beyond reasonable in ‘stuff.’
I’ve made good progress, going through each of the rooms of the house (with only cursory attention to basement, garage, and shop due to ‘intense discussions’ on what constitutes ‘junk’) and am now starting PHASE II, going through everything again.
I started with our office, because we both spend a lot of time in here. My husband was finally able to get both of our computers going again (INTENSE GRATEFULNESS and RELIEF) so I’m officially moving the laptop back out to our shop. There is one remaining open computer on the counter. This is a project of my husband’s, so I’m keeping hands off and mouth firmly shut. :0)
Otherwise, I have been working on this room part of each day for approximately two weeks. Trips and other priorities made this a bit hit and miss, but today I feel as if I’ve made definite progress.
I have one small pile of things left to file or pitch. Otherwise, I’ve cleaned out my drawers and shelves here. It’s nice to not have to wade through a whole pile of ‘stuff’ to get to my calendar, or discover that I actually have two wall calendars for 2019 already! I’m comfortable at my computer now.
This was a real mess. I threw away a BUNCH of things. Again, I can find things easily now and have removed more dust than I care to detail. :0( Our shredder is sitting on a box containing a new laser printer. Our old printer that was beyond used up suddenly gasped and is functioning. We’ll finish out what it can do and THEN get the new one set up.
And this is my impractical, but well-loved desk, finally clear of many piles of things that couldn’t be moved before today for various reasons. It’s nice to be able to have a spot to actually work without having to move stacks and stacks of ‘stuff.’
Motivation is picturing our son, who lives and works in Thailand – and who loves his minimalist lifestyle, having to go through things and decide what to do with all of it. I’m not sure which room I’ll tackle next. I have to admit that everywhere I look, attention is needed. I feel good that I have one room “Phase Two Finished.”
Science ABC
A good friend of mine, Carla, and I went for a free dinner and spiel by Healthy Home 365 yesterday afternoon. We’ve been to other spiel/dinners, but this one was at Beef ‘O’ Brady’s in Fort Smith, a restaurant we both like, and we wanted the time together to catch up, so off we went.
This company has lots of good ideas for energy savings in your home. The spiel was well done and the food was good. I’m glad that technology is now providing good ways to minimize the affects of attics on homes. They have a solar-powered attic fan, a stuff called MLI, a multi-layered 99.9% aluminum ‘sandwich’ that comes in rolls to go over your existing attic insulation, an additive to put in your air conditioner to get rid of fouled oil that is supposed to prolong the life of your a/c, an EcoProbiotic System you attach to your air ducts to remove bacteria, etc., etc., etc.
My main reaction is that my husband and I have done what we’re able to afford already with a geothermal air conditioning and heat system, a tankless water heater, new windows, a check by our electric company for places we were losing heat, etc. These companies know what demographic they’re targeting, but it seems to ME that they should be targeting affluent middle or upper class families, rather than ‘mature’ people like us. The technology was impressive, and of COURSE I’d like to do ALL of it, but the cost was astronomical, even with a 30% price savings due to a Federal credit on your taxes. My friend signed up for an estimate, and I’m interested to hear what they told her. The estimates are supposed to be good for one year.
Big selling points were the tax credit, discount for quick sign-up, a higher selling price on your home, a payment plan, amortizing the cost over your lifetime, etc., etc. We have a reverse mortgage, so we aren’t concerned with selling our home. We are still trying to amortize the cost of the geothermal system, even though we received tax savings on that, ‘lifetime’ warranties mean a bit less now.
If this were about 15 years ago, we might have jumped at this. Their really good products and we would love to have them, but priorities are different now. Sorry. I had to prick their balloon.
I’m a newbie at growing things in my greenhouse. My husband and I built this last spring. By the time we finished, it was already time to plant things in our raised bed square foot garden, so I didn’t do anything but try to get things into the greenhouse in preparation for planting later. As the spring went into summer, I found that the temperature inside the greenhouse was WAAAAAY too hot – no matter how many fans I ran – to grow anything then.
Now that our temperatures are finally cooling down some, I got the last of the available lettuce plants for sale in town in order to TRY to get them to grow in the greenhouse. I’m hoping that I can keep them alive and we can enjoy fresh iceberg head lettuce and maybe a tomato or two before we get hard freezes. (Today it’s raining, but I’m trying to gather some suckers from our remaining tomato plants to start out there.
The main purpose of the greenhouse is to extend the growing season as much as I can, mainly by starting seeds in there at the first of March, plus maybe getting some plants from the local stores before it’s technically warm enough to start them in the garden. If I can do that, I’ll be a very happy camper, indeed.
I’m trying to give the plants all the water they need by filling the terra cotta and/or faux terra cotta saucers under the pots, rather than watering the pots directly, hoping that the plants will draw up what they need and be happy. So far, so good.
As soon as I can find and get the tomato suckers planted, I’ll give you a progress report.
carnival-cruisecritic-com
carnival-Conde’ Nast Traveler
Filed under Creativity, Towel Critter Art
It’s a really good thing that she is so friendly and affectionate, melting me into a puddle several times a day with her antics….
Filed under Amazing Animals, Challenges, Family
“Ornamental Flowers” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
creativeartworksblog 