mobilwallpapers.blogspot.com
sketch of Shahrukh Khan-www.desipainters.com
Playing in the Dirt
grilloservies.com
I’m trying to spend a bit of time each day in either my veggie garden or my flower planters. Yesterday I didn’t do anything heavy, recuperating from earlier endeavors, so today I’m redoubling my efforts to get outside.
We’re having way-too-soon hot weather here, so my romaine lettuce plants are bolting. :0( We’ve been able to harvest a couple of times, and I’ll try to save as much as I can in the few days we have left before the plants soar to the sky, getting several feet high – I guess in their efforts to live a bit longer and make seed.
My husband wanted to go today to get flowers for the deck, but I’m so behind in my garden and my flower planters I asked him to wait until tomorrow or Thursday. I usually jump at the chance to get more flowers, but I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed, particularly since I can’t work very long in this heat and don’t get as much accomplished as I would like.
I love spending time playing in the dirt. I’m concentrating my efforts in the morning and then in the evening, when the sun isn’t as strong. I work a bit, come in and rest and gulp water, then go out again, over and over. I love watching my plants thrive!
I’ll try to get some pictures to share with you later.
Marriage Box
16quotes.com
Animals, Birds and Water
“Cooling in a Pond” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Flight Over the Stars” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Gulls on the Lake” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
Good Question
Satchel Paige via YourDictionary
Complicated answer, depending on which part of you is answering –
Sometimes I feel like an old soul, my HEART feeling as if I’ve always been here soaking up emotions and feelings, personal memories and those of others I’ve known.
My MIND feels about 30 – young enough to want to experience new things, acquire new skills, read all I can, play in my art room, work in my garden or flower planters, play with our dogs, hug my husband fiercely – while having had enough experience to consider more wisely (I hope!)
At times my EMOTIONS feel as if I’m a young child – scared when I’m not sure I can handle something or I’m dealing with a worrisome thing totally out of my depth. Other times I feel very young when I’m captivated by a new thing that brings me joy, or I feel newly empowered by something I was unable to do yesterday. I get so excited it’s hard to ‘tame down’ my enthusiasm. I find it hard to sit still and have to contain my actions to grinning from ear to ear – and maybe cheering a bit. :0)
My BODY brings me back to the reality of how old I actually am. It feels pretty good right now, after a day of rest from what we consider ‘heavy labor’ around here. Other days it tells me I’m old and creaky, stiff and sore, telling me I need stretching, exercise, ice/heat, and a nap.
Any day you think about it, your answer is different, depending on which part of you is feeling the most dominant at that moment.
“How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are? – Satchel Paige
Filed under Attitude, Challenges, Favorite Quotes, Important Ideas to Consider
First Hummingbird of the Season!
Levi-Jones/Unsplash – photo credit in Birds and Blooms Magazine
Isn’t this a great photo?
We saw our first hummingbird of the season yesterday morning when we were eating breakfast. We have two feeders out, and he checked out both of them, sitting down at one and drinking his fill. He also checked out our hummingbird bird bath, but didn’t stop for it. Maybe tomorrow.
My sister-in-lay, Mary Lou, sent me a subscription for Birds and Blooms Magazine, and I’m enjoying it very much. Today I saw an article titled, “Beyond Feeders: 5 More Ways to Attract Hummingbirds”
The article suggested that you provide a place for them to take a bath, leave the bugs they like to eat alone, let spiderwebs remain, plant sap-rich trees, and provide places for them to sit and rest.
This is the hummingbird bird bath we made.
forums.anandtech.com
And one of the feeders we have is this kind.
I hope the one we saw yesterday comes back with all his friends and relatives!
Filed under Amazing Animals, Favorite Things
Flex Meals on NutriSystem
Nutrisystem
Learning to actually LIVE with a new way of eating is very different than simply grabbing a package and nuking it. My husband and I will finish Month # 1 on Nutrisystem on Thursday. Part of the program I like is the “Flex Meal” idea, where you learn to eat out plus learn to cook meals incorporating the new things you’re learning so that you can function in the real world. You have one flex breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack each week, preferably on different days.
“Flex breakfast” –
- My husband eats his regular cereal with some blackberries and milk.
- I eat my old low-carb breakfast of 2 thin slices packaged turkey, a hard boiled egg, some shredded cheese, and a bit of butter, nuked.
“Flex lunch” –
- This was easy. We use our “Lunch Bunch” on Fridays. My husband has chicken fingers and I have a nice salad built from the salad bar, including hard boiled egg, ham chunks, cucumbers, shredded lettuce, and a sprinkling of cheese shreds, plus one spoon of dressing.
“Flex dinner” –
- You can see from the chart above we’re supposed to have 1 smartcarb and 2 powerfuels.
- What we are doing is cook something we’re really missing – but a lot less of it than we used to eat. Last week we got two thin steaks. (This was a big change because we usually get thick ones to grill.) We love baked potatoes with steak. Instead of the two ‘boat-sized’ white baking potatoes we usually get, we got two little-bitty potatoes. My husband was upset, but I asked him to just try it. He asked in a deprived voice, “Can we eat corn?” while gazing longingly at a nice group of ears. I said, “yes,” not really knowing for sure, but knowing that if he feels TOO deprived, he won’t stay on the new eating plan. I convinced him that we would share one ear.
- I froze one of the steaks and cut the one I was cooking into two pieces. Lean beef is the ‘powerfuel.” I husked the ear of corn (smartcarb) and broke it into two pieces. We each had a little, bitty potato. (a starchy carb). After we ate last night, my husband came over and said, “You always do such a perfect job that I don’t think about saying anything, but the meal tonight was delicious.” :0)
“Flex Snack” –
- This is easy. We go bowling with good friends most Monday evenings. Afterwards, we either celebrate our good bowling or commiserate over lousy games by going to Braums in Fort Smith. We each have one scoop of ice cream and savor every bite. (Mine is chocolate.)
The Flex idea allows us to not feel deprived, keep fun social stuff with our friends even though we’re trying to get the lard off, and put the lessons we’re learning to the test while we’re dieting, so it isn’t just a mindless process, learning to eat this way the rest of our lives. My husband is trying to keep his sugar under control – a HUGE change for him. (He even calls ME ‘Sugar.’) When we started Nutrisystem almost a month ago now, I gave up all added salt. (I used it on everything – even things that were known to be salty.) I’m hoping this will help my blood pressure numbers.
My husband’s weight loss is 5 or 6 pounds, but the biggest thing to me is that his blood sugar numbers are the best they’ve been since we started monitoring them in 2016. I keep a record, and we started with numbers like 353 (which is future amputate your parts territory). Today it was 122. The goal is under 100, but for the first time since we discovered he has Type 2 Diabetes, we feel we might actually get to the goal.
Official end of week 4 report Thursday. Next quarterly monitoring at our primary doc’s – August 6th. (After about 3 months on the program)
Fingers crossed.
Pencil Sketches – Take 16
nocturnaldrawings.com
portrait of actress Aishwarya Rai-www.desipainters.com
pencilartphoto.blogspot.com
Filed under Creativity, drawings
Sweet Animals
“Well, Green Eyes.. ” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Profile in Black and White – Mona, My Love” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
Plumber of the Year Award – Finalists – Take 3
“This would be the “half bath” noted in the real estate listing?”
“Very Classy! And, only three steps to the throne when you’re in a hurry!”
“How does this even get past the planning phase?”
“And now drum roll please…
AND THE PLUMBER OF THE YEAR AWARD GOES TO:
Absolutely brilliant…
ALL OF THESE PLUMBERS ARE THANKFULLY NO LONGER IN THE BUSINESS.
THEY HAVE BEEN ELECTED TO PUBLIC OFFICE AND NOW SERVE IN VARIOUS POSITIONS IN THE GOVERNMENT.”
Thanks to my good friend, Marsha Koenig, for sending these to me.
Filed under Funny Signs - Humor, You Only Had ONE Job To Do
Joke on Us
gettyimages.ae
I started mowing the lawn yesterday, in a rush because we were going to have thunderstorms in the afternoon. My husband came out and took over when I had finished about half of the yard. I drank some water and then went out to run the leaf blower to clean up the front porch, sidewalks front and back and the garage pad of all the grass and dirt.
We both came in breathing pretty heavily and drank water again and rested.
Can you hear Mother Nature giggling? She has a cruel sense of humor sometimes. I think she loves seeing us rush around and then NOT send the rain…
Plumber of the Year Awards – Finalists – Take 2
“Apparently, you don’t want anyone seeing your face, but everything else is okay?”
“And the purpose for the door is?”
“This stall is for people that have arms like an orangutan.”
“The oak seat is a nice touch, though.”
Sent to me by my good friend, Marsha Koenig.
Filed under Funny Signs - Humor, You Only Had ONE Job To Do
Our Son’s Music Room
Our son’s music room in Thailand is coming together nicely. He says he’ll probably get a keyboard and guitar next. He has to keep buying, selling and changing his stuff because he needs to travel light in his lifestyle. I’m glad that he can play with his goodies now.
I have no idea what the stuff is in the ‘magic box,’ but he sent us a short video of him playing with things, learning some of the wonderful sounds, rhythms, and tunes he can create (if not distracted by all the blinking lights!) I loved watching his head bob in time with his music. :0)
Filed under Family, Favorite Things, music
Daisy
My friend Marsha Koenig sent me this piece about Daisy.
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I hope this plays for you.
Filed under Amazing Animals, Favorite Videos
Plumber of the Year Awards – Finalists – Take 1
“&%$@#”
“Hmmmmm…”
“Should have measured twice!”
These were sent to me by my good friend, Marsha Koenig. I’m still cringing and laughing.
Filed under Funny Signs - Humor, You Only Had ONE Job To Do
Pencil Sketches – Take 15
imgkid.com
m_luhan_takojojo15-pencilsketchartdesignsphotos.blogspot.com
mother and baby-drawingofpencil.com
Filed under Creativity, drawings
Sometimes
imperfectwomen.com via Desiree Angelique Hackett
Filed under empowerment, Encouragement, Favorite Quotes
Wonderful Wild Flowers
“Flowers of Wild Chesnut” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Wild Blue Flowers” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Wild Purple” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Wild Purple Flowers” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Wild Roses” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
Is This Sign for Mother Nature?
Filed under Funny Signs - Humor
Pencil Sketches – Take 14
drawingartistic.com
drawingofpencil.com
drawingofsketch.com
Filed under Creativity, drawings
Wonderful Water!
“Algae, Stones, and Sea” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Happy Water Dance” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Lake in Spring” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Sea and Sand” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Water Music” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
Embarrassed
My husband and I have sold used books and DVDs on Amazon for several years now. We make enough sometimes to make us feel we’re recouping some of what we’ve spent on books, allowing us to feel less guilty for buying more.
My husband opened the seller account, but I handle the packaging of the books sold, record keeping, confirming shipments online, etc. If we only sell one book, the process is very easy. Selling 7 books in less than a day’s time makes it difficult to keep orders straight.
I told you yesterday that I went through the books in the entertainment center in our living room, listing some for sale on Amazon and donating the others to our local library. I listed several, and bagged up 7 Walmart bags of donated books that we’ll take to the library today.
Last night we sold 3 books. I packaged them for mailing and put them on our go-out table. By this morning, we had sold 4 more! I went through things carefully, printing out the shipping labels and info and packaging one book at a time so I didn’t get confused.
I made a list of what had sold and where the books were being shipped so that I could get online later today and confirm each shipment with a USPS number. (The only ones not on the list yet were the ones ready for shipping on the go-out table.)
I ran into one sale for which I didn’t have the book! I looked through the ones for sale very carefully several times. I couldn’t find it. I finally admitted defeat, wrote to the buyer, apologized profusely, telling her I didn’t know how this happened since I list books by their ISBN number. I cancelled the order and issued a refund for her money. I was embarrassed, telling my husband I was old and doofus, but was being as careful as possible.
I took the newly packaged books in to the go-out table and added the ones already packaged to my list for confirmation. THERE WAS THE BOOK I COULDN’T FIND. You can’t UN-cancel an order. You can’t put spilt milk back into the bottle.
SO – I’m embarrassed TWICE now. I’ll wait a week and then list the ‘sold-and-order-canceled’ book again next week….
Filed under Are YOU also older than Dirt?, Challenges
Latest Decluttering Project
I’m going through the last group of books I brought into the office from the entertainment center in the living room. I’m listing some of them for sale on Amazon and bagging up the rest for a donation to our local library tomorrow to be sold at their next fundraiser.
It has taken most of 2 days to go through the shelves, bring the books in here, sort them, and then clean the living room.
I made my husband stop what he was doing and come in and look at the CLEAN and much better organized living room.
I’ve promised myself that I’m NOT going to take 30 years to declutter what it has taken us a bit over 30 years to accumulate!
As I finish each phase of this once-in-30-years declutter/give away, throw away/reorganize/cleaning long-term project I feel freer. We have been weighed down by too much ‘stuff’ for far too long. Since neither my husband nor I are great housekeepers or throw-awayers, things had gotten well out of hand when I started this in January.
Thus far we’ve made 7 trips with donations to the Disabled Veterans Thrift Store in Fort Smith, and tomorrow we should be able to make our 3rd trip to the local library to donate books. We definitely have a good start now, and I’ll continue tackling one area at a time, making pass after pass until it feels really good.
“I’m A-Warning You, Stranger!”
We just finished getting our mail and changing our mailbox decoration from “Catbert” from Dilbert to “Yosemite Sam.” He’s one of our favorite cartoon characters from growing up. I can hear his voice warning people off before he blasts them. :0)
This decoration is cut out of sheet metal with our computer-guided CNC set up. My husband converted a drawing we found on the net into the code needed to talk to the computer. The program then directs the torch to cut out the design. We clean up the metal edges, weld it onto the bar that attaches it to the mailbox, and then use the overhead projector and a transparency from our printer to mark the metal so that I can paint the design on both sides. We then spray the finished decoration with clear protective spray to make the paint last as long as possible.
“I’m a-warning you, Stranger!!!!”
Filed under Lewis Art, Lewis Mailbox Decorations
Getting the Lard Off Progress – End of Week 3
- After Week 3 on Nutrisystem: 7.6 lbs
- Total Weight Loss since my Lardiest: 20 lbs.
- After Week 3 of Nutrisystem: 9.8 inches
- Total since my worst wideness: 26.2 inches
My husband has lost weight and his blood sugar numbers are looking a LOT better! (I’m trying not to invade his privacy by printing numbers, but I’m really happy for him.)
Exercise:
- I’m trying to do 15+ minutes on the Elliptical Trainer each day.
- Yoga – 30 minutes of stretching daily
- Weight exercise for neck/shoulder problem
- Over-the-door shoulder pulley – 5 minutes daily of pulling
- Ice/heat daily, 15 minutes each for neck/shoulder problem
- Serious Intention to get up and move more, such as taking break from computer, walking out to shop or garden, then out to greenhouse, sweep garden, clean something, organization effort, etc. several times per day.
Practical Differences:
- I’m happy that I have ‘new, smaller shorts’ on this week’s list!
- I’m having fewer instances of having to take a serious nap in the afternoon. I haven’t gotten any younger, so it has to be I’m feeling more energy due to my new eating regimen. :0)
- I’m feeling more in control of our food now. I keep an eye on the clock so that we remember our mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks, but the rest is becoming more routine.
- We’re eating more veggies – celery, carrots, cherry tomatoes and radishes with a bit of salad dressing with our lunch, and a salad with spinach, romaine, and head lettuce from our own garden with our dinner.
- We don’t have the feeling hungry sensation. Though we’ll be happy to finish the first month’s supply of food (choices we’ve changed in the next order) we’re feeling generally happy with our food. We’ve found some favorites, such as their orange cream bar as a before bed snack!
- We’ve cooked one dinner, eaten lunch out, and fixed our own breakfast, and had a snack NOT on the program this week (Flex Meals), learning how to function in the real world, learning to judge portions, and more.
- I bagged up the food left from the first order in gallon freezer bags. We got my new group of frozen food yesterday and my husband’s this morning, and we were able to quickly put both away, keeping everything straight. :0) Now waiting for NON-frozen boxes.
Week 3 has been a success. I’m feeling motivated and happy to be getting less of me!
Filed under Attitude, Challenges, Changes, DIET!, empowerment, Encouragement, exercise, Healthy Eating, taking care of yourself
Folding Myself Into a Paper Airplane is Good
Animal-Space.net
My neck and shoulders have been hurting/burning off and on for about 3 weeks now. I had a wonderful massage where my therapist suggested that I
- use ice and heat alternately (I have to force myself to do this for 15 minutes, although I know ice is good for inflammation)
- do an exercise with a weight to stretch out the muscles between my neck and my shoulders
- do yoga stretching
- get an over-the-door shoulder pulley and use it to stretch out the muscles
- STOP doing whatever it was that was causing the problem!
I’m still having problem, but 1 through 4 above are definitely helping. Since I have no clue what I did/am doing that causes me to tighten up like this, it’s a bit hard to ‘stop it,’ but it’s great that I now have an arsenal of ways to make it stop for a bit.
I received a new neck pillow I ordered (Amber ATE the one I had while I was out working with the weed whacker), so I’m again doing all of my stretching and relaxation poses on my yoga mat.
Thanks to Sixty and Me and their “Gentle Yoga” DVDs (for old broads like me) with instructor Cat Kabira for teaching me ways to stretch myself out, try to relax, and strengthen my body to feel better.
Filed under Challenges, exercise
“Don’t Worry”
Charles Schultz – Peanuts via lovethispic.com
I was born worrying.
I really didn’t believe this quote for most of my life, thinking I could forestall all kinds of bad things by cautioning those I loved and then worrying until the perceived danger was over -as if I had control. It has taken me a long time to stop this – for the most part.
The newest worry was when my husband went to an auction in the next state over from us recently. I did help him prepare, making him take his phone and programming the GPS with the address, in case it was one of those places that was really hard to find.
He called me while I was in the kitchen cleaning the floor, I guess, because I didn’t hear the phone ring. (He calls ‘home’ rather than calling me on my cell.) I played the message on the answering machine, but the ONLY thing I got was that it was my husband. It was so garbled that, after playing the message over and over and not being able to understand any of it, I erased it. I then called him back, only to get the message he was unavailable and to leave a message. I told him I got his call, but the message was garbled and to call me back. Over the next hour or so I called and left more messages. He didn’t call.
I was to the point I was imagining that he had been arrested and his one phone call had been so garbled I couldn’t do what he needed me to do, like call a lawyer, come to the station where he was being held, etc. I also imagined was a car wreck and worse, since he hadn’t called me back.
I was a basket case by the time I heard the driveway detector. I ran out to find him pulling into the garage, safe and sound. I asked him – quite calmly, I thought – why he hadn’t returned my messages. He looked bewildered, then checked his phone, seeing the umpteen messages on it. We checked his settings and it was set essentially on “O” volume and no vibrator. :0(
The whole point of this is to admit I haven’t given up worrying altogether, although I notice our son responding on the chat program with, “Don’t worry” more than I would like. I realize I can’t stop bad things from happening, although I may be over-the-top on “preparation” now…
As I said, I was born worrying.
Filed under Attitude, Favorite Quotes
The Glorious Sea
“Stones and the Sea” – Paul Militaru Photography
“The Symphony of the Sea” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
creativeartworksblog 