“Flowers” – Paul Militaru Photography
“In Bloom” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Purple” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Mother Nature, Paul Militaru Photography
Brian Mock – http://www.thisiscolossal.com
Brian Mock – http://www.thisiscolossal.com
Brian Mock – http://www.thisiscolossal.com
Filed under Art From Found Things, Creativity
“Rebellious Seagulls Choir” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
Yvonne Dowlen via GrowingBolder
Today is Day 4 of trying to make SURE I make it to the 1 mile marker on the Annoying Leslie walking video each day and also do a half hour session of yoga, trying to really stretch every part of me and relax.
As I told you last week, I’m also trying to add at least one OTHER activity to this, starting today.
Today’s added activities:
Being a child at heart, I’ve ordered gold star stickers to add a really surface – but tangible – motivation to do this every day. I haven’t received the ones I ordered yet, so I’m using a highlighter to make the star and adding a bold black line around it each day on my desk calendar. So far I have 3-1/2 stars. (I got an extra half star on the day I did the Annoying Leslie video twice.) :0)
I’m feeling a difference since I’ve been doing the walking video. Even though I wish Leslie Sansone would just look good, lead us, and not talk my arm off, I AM feeling a bit looser in my hips – a big area of concern for me. When I walk in real life, instead of in my living room, my hips start yelling way before I’m tired otherwise. It’s aggravating. I stop, maybe sit for 20 seconds or so, and then am happy to continue. I’m not sure why my hips yell so much, but I would like to get this to stop.
To this end, I’m listening to my hips, but not trying to coddle them. I’m making the 1 mile marker in the video, but stop there. If I can do it again later in the day, I do. If not, that’s okay. I figure my body will gradually get used to this.
On my way outside to attack dying tomato plants!
I hope you have a fun day.
Filed under exercise, quality of life, taking care of yourself
I’ve been having a wonderful time with our pets today. Above is Amber, a playful, ready-for-anything, 17-month-old, 92 pound yellow lab ‘puppy.’ Whoever told us that labs were puppies until they were at least two years old couldn’t have hit the nail on the head better. She has gone through a period where we were lulled into thinking she was leaving puppy-hood behind.
We’re supposed to be getting a lot of rain this afternoon with possibly severe stuff this afternoon and evening, so I’ve been trying to get the dogs in and out several times today before it will be unpleasant for them to go outside.
I went to let Molly, our elderly fuzzy white cocker spaniel/schnauzer cross in and saw a blue and white ‘something’ on the stops leading down from the porch. When I went to investigate, I found it was the label of a water bottle. Looking further, I found FOUR bottles of water in various states of demolition in pieces all over the front yard.
Grumbling, I gathered it all up while Amber danced a jig around me, obviously saying, “Look what I did! I had SO much fun!!!!”
I took the bottle pieces around to the garage to dispose of them. I started to put Amber inside and found Smoke, our cat, demolishing a bird on the mat in front of the steps, looking incredibly proud of herself. I got a paper towel, took the bird away from the now-frustrated feline, saying, “YUCK!”
I got the remaining case of water off the floor under my counter and put it on top of the counter, along with the gallon jugs of Arizona Zero Peach Tea we keep for my husband – thinking they might be next in line as ‘new toys’ for Amber.
It took me about 15 minutes to sweep up all the feathers. Smoke left in a huff after staring at me awhile.
I can’t wait to find out what Molly and Abby have in mind to entertain me today – not to mention the fish!
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family
My husband has, once again, made something immortal, fixing the light by my chair that had gone wonky. I would turn it on and then it would go off by itself. Sometimes it would come ON again, making us feel as if the gremlins were in charge. We decided it had to be the lamp part that the light bulb goes in, and so went to Yeager’s this morning and bought a replacement part. After my husband did his thing, it’s working fine.
We built these two lamps in 1969 when we married. We couldn’t afford ones we liked, so we went to an aircraft junk yard and bought two parts of a helicopter. (Yeah, we were weird back then, too. )
We sandblasted each of these and wired them, installed lamp parts, and then a holder for the shade. They weigh about 50 lbs each, so I get a bit of exercise moving them back and forth on the tables to dust them – and under them.
We’ve loved them because they are unique. No one else in the world would probably HAVE them if they were offered, but WE like them and they aren’t like everybody else’s. We put a spark plug in each of them, just as an accent. :0)
We’ve laboriously moved them with us to each new place. So far, they’ve been with us for 49 years. With the fix my husband did on the one by my chair today, they’ll outlive us!
pixshark.com
Today I made it to the 1 mile mark on the Annoying Leslie Walking video – hips talking to me loudly – but not screaming.
My husband then watched a movie, so I delayed my yoga until the movie was over.
Who knew how stiff, tight, and sore an old broad could get? I feel okay, but my wonderful massage lady tells me how tight I am, finding multiple knots to get rid of with her magic hands. I get down on the floor and lie on my back. It takes me a minute or so to be able to lie there without my back cramping. Then another minute or so to put my hands over my head and actually get them to lie on the floor and then relax. I’m doing my own thing these days, mostly just concentrating on stretching out and RELAXING, if possible. I keep talking to myself, saying the things my DVD yoga instructor said, “Relaaaaaaaxing jaw. Relaaaaaaaaxing face…..”
Today I bent over and just simply hung my arms down, breathing into it. Eventually, my fingertips touched the floor! I also have trouble with the position where you’re sitting up, knees bent, soles of feet facing each other, and leaning forward. Today I leaned into it, taking my time, breathing, and I ALMOST touched my head to my feet! A third position that kills me is when I’m on my knees and then ‘sit down’ on my feet. I’ve been bending over and then pushing back, trying to get myself to loosen up, breathing, breathing. I’m feeling my hips finally starting to ‘give’ a bit. I may never be able to actually sit that way, like I did a hundred or so years ago when I was young, but it’s good to stretch in that direction. I had a good session of stretching and then put my stuff away….
Then put the walking DVD in again and did Mile 1 AGAIN. My hips still protested, but I made it through twice today – a definite improvement!!!!
Filed under exercise, taking care of yourself
Khaled Hosseini via SayingImages.com
Filed under Challenges, Family, Favorite Quotes
“Shane” – Niki Firmin – LinkedIn
Filed under animal paintings, Creativity, drawings
“Lights and Shadows” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
My husband and I agreed that I should get a Gold Star for effort today.
He watched me as I kept up with 1 mile of the “Walking with Annoying Leslie” video this afternoon. I was holding my hips a couple of times, but it’s almost like someone had hit a half-mute button. As annoying as she is, with her perkiness, non-stop talking and pretty awful laugh, she’s helping me slowly overcome the problems with my hips.
He then watched me as I went through a series of Yoga positions. At one point, when I bent over with my arms hanging down, he said, “You may have touched the floor recently, but it doesn’t look like you’ll do it today, as my fingers were at least 4 inches above the floor. I just held the position, trying to breathe and relax into it, and after a couple of minutes, I said, “Look at this!” He had to admit my fingertips were, indeed, just touching the floor.
theawesomedaily.com
These two things, combined with vacuuming the first floor carpet and tiles, plus doing two loads of wash, have qualified me – the old broad of the Lewis household – for a gold star. (I might actually see if I can FIND some. I need all the motivation I can get. There’s a calendar on the wall beside where I’m typing this now, that could be my ‘record’ of the days when my movement effort merits one…
Filed under exercise, taking care of yourself
leeneessweetesdelights.blogspot.com
We enjoyed going to Brunch Bunch today, catching up with our good friends, talking, and laughing a lot.
A delightful surprise was that Kay baked a SUGAR-FREE (mostly) Mt. Dew cake for my husband, who has Type II diabetes. He LOVED her regular cake, but couldn’t eat it anymore, so this was a doubly nice surprise. The only sugar is from the actual Mt. Dew in the cake, so he can eat it at any of our snack times on our Nutrisystem plan without guilt, as long as he doesn’t eat TOOOOO much in one day …
I loved watching his eyes light up when he saw the cake sitting at his place in the restaurant. He sat down, grinned at Kay and dove right in, eating a piece before he even ordered his lunch. He even said that if I were good, he would allow ME to have a piece…
Filed under Delightful Surprises, DIET!, Friendship
This is the front of our roadrunner mailbox decoration. He’s about two feet tall and 1-1/2 feet wide at the widest point.
This is the back of the piece. We had to put rods up vertically on his body and his tail to make the piece strong enough to handle gusty winds. I tried to blend in the rods into the painting as much as possible.
Filed under Lewis Art, Lewis Mailbox Decorations, metal art
Progress Report:
I made it through the 1st mile on the Annoying Leslie walking video today. My hips were talking to me, but not as badly as yesterday, and I didn’t have to walk in place a couple of times while the people on the video did the more challenging (kicks and knee lifts). I’m still having to force myself through it, holding my hips at times, but I’m getting there!
I won’t win any prizes for speed of weight loss, either, but I received my purple bear with “20” on it in the mailbox recently, and that’s 20 lbs gone so far, plus a happy, tangible reminder every day that I’m taking better care of myself.
My husband is 5 or 6 pounds from his weight goal now. If I weren’t addicted to him, I would slug him for making weight loss look so easy, while NOT drinking the water he’s supposed to be, NOT exercising, and just waiting for me to bring him his meals and snacks each day, along with making pulled pork for him, since Nutrisystem discontinued the item and teed him off.
We’re both still delighted that our blood test results were SO much better. There is a chance that my husband’s blood sugar number (A1C) will be NORMAL next time, and the doctor says he might be able to completely stop the blood sugar medicine in time. My lipid profile was the thing most improved this time, with each part dropping 60 to 90 points. My husband goes back in 3 months and I go back in 6 months. Here’s hoping our results will be even better!
Filed under DIET!, exercise, taking care of yourself
“Turtle” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Turtles at Sun” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
I was lucky to meet Ann in 1969. I started teaching a first grade class in the middle of the year at an all Black elementary school on the north side of Tulsa, Oklahoma. I had just received my degree and was in the right place at the right time to get a teaching job right away.
I was scared spitless. It was a ‘self-contained’ 1st grade class, which meant that I was responsible for teaching those sweet kids EVERYTHING during the day – reading, math, writing, spelling, gym, art, music, current events, holiday stuff, etc. I met Ann the first day and we bonded instantly. She took me under her wing, listening to my fears, funny stories, questions and gave me her best advice. She taught 4th grade. I’m not sure how long she had been teaching at that point, but I was delighted I had someone to go to for help and guidance.
We learned new things about each other as our friendship grew. I learned that she had a daughter and a son. She thought the world of both of them and would do anything for them. She was divorced and raising the kids alone, working full time, taking care of the house and yard and pets. I kiddingly asked if she could JUGGLE, as well!
As the years passed, things happened and we went our separate ways. My husband and I moved to Arkansas because of a job offer for him. Ann and I had one of those RARE friendships that didn’t fade away. It didn’t matter how long it was between letters, cards, or visits, we took up where we left off, happily chatting and continuing to share our lives.
Over this time, I also was lucky enough to get to know her daughter. We are friends, now, too. She’s a lovely, strong lady I’m proud to know.
Over the years Ann’s health became more and more of a challenge. Lately, things went downhill quite rapidly. Her daughter kindly kept me in the loop on how she and Ann were doing and what was happening. Ann went to hospice and died yesterday. Her daughter, who has done everything possible to make her deteriorating condition bearable, was at her side.
Ann’s and my friendship almost made it to 50 years. I’ve been richer for knowing her and sharing her love for her children. I hope that she is now “Dancing with the Stars” (one of her favorite programs), looking down and smiling at us, having found peace and the welcome absence of pain.
Thank you, Ann, for being my friend. Dance your heart out!
Filed under Friendship, Tribute
roflzoo.com
I started using the walking video the day before yesterday. I made it through about half of the first mile (of two) on the Annoying Leslie video before I had to quit, due to my hips screaming. Yesterday I made it (barely) through the 1st mile. I’m going to continue doing this daily – listening to my hips, but considering this a character-building effort in addition to good exercise.
I’m surprised that with all of the exercise I’ve been doing at different times – yoga stretches, upper body stuff, elliptical trainer, and 0-6 Packs Ab video, NONE of these seemed to work the same muscles as the walking video and the dance as exercise video I just received.
When I get to the point that I can just consider the walking video “good exercise,” rather than my character-building trial for the day, I’ll shake things up, adding one more thing each day. I wish Leslie would quit telling me how GOOD it feels….
Filed under exercise, taking care of yourself
Emma Trilles – LinkedIn
Every day we face obstacles to what we want to accomplish. Some of them may prove too difficult, and then we need to figure out another alternative.
But most obstacles are within us. Are you, like me, your own worst enemy on a lot of things? Do feelings of inadequacy bubble up to the surface, making you give up before really even giving it a good try? Our inner voices, past experiences, and uncertainty thwart our efforts to learn something new, stick our necks out to try something we’ve never done before, and more.
We need to separate obstacles we really do need to honor from ones we throw up as excuses to avoid going outside our comfort zone. Our world needs to get larger as we age, rather than allowing it to quietly get smaller and smaller, ‘safer and more certain’ until it implodes.
If you find that you can no longer do something you once enjoyed, take an active interest in finding something to replace it. Reach out to others, read voraciously, TRY things that are a bit scary.
Challenge yourself to acknowledge it when you discover you’re giving up on something and make it a point to meet it head on and widen your horizons.
Filed under Attitude, empowerment, Encouragement
I found what I think is a really good store. It’s called TheVeteransSite.com and I found them through an ad on Facebook. I ordered a couple of pairs of sandals I liked and received them this afternoon.
The deal is that part of your purchase goes to feed Veterans. You get neat shoes. Veterans who need them get some good meals. Win/win.
They’re having a sale right now where you buy one pair and the second pair is free. I’ve had on the shoes below all afternoon. Usually, I kick off my shoes first thing when I’m in my chair in the living room. I kick them off and put them back on several times a day. I don’t have the need to kick these off. They’re really comfortable. And I think they’re HAPPY looking shoes! They do have adjustments so you can tighten them a bit or adjust the strap that goes across the back, but I didn’t need to. My big thing is needing plenty of room for my toes, and these are wonderful. It may be that I’ll be happy to take them off by the end of the day, but signs are good so far.
My husband even noticed that I didn’t kick them off, and said he thought they were ‘good-looking shoes.’ We talked about the cost and the fact that part of the purchase goes to meals for Veterans (3 meals for this purchase) and he said, “Why don’t you get back on the site and order a couple more pairs?” Not being a stupid lady, I dived in and have two MORE pairs on order!
Check out this website when you have the time.
creativeartworksblog 