Robert Mallet via GrowingBolder.com
There are two main areas in our house where things go IN, but never come OUT: file cabinets and freezers.
FILE CABINETS– Recently I finished cleaning out a four-drawer file cabinet and two file drawers in my desk. I’m trying to get motivated to go through the other 4-drawer file cabinet in the office, but it has been low priority. I’ll attack it soon.
FREEZERS- Since we’re on top of a ridge line outside the small town of Greenwood, Arkansas, we have always tried to prepare for bad weather, bad events, bad luck, etc. To this end we have backups on a lot of things, like a generator to start up when the power goes out, well water if the public water isn’t available, a fire place to warm us if we can’t use the heat (like when the generator is providing power) etc.
Since food is far too important for us, we have a fridge in the kitchen, another in the pantry, a third in the garage, plus a chest-type freezer in the garage. Since I’m also lazy, food has been put only in freezer bags and put in the various freezers, rather than using my vacuum sealer all the time, labeling and dating things that go in. The end result is a hodge podge of ‘stuff’ in the freezers, comforting in general, but pretty pathetic if actually used, since a lot of the items in there have freezer burn, are mystery items, or have been in there since 1492….
My efforts to purge/clean out/donate/throw away/clean/reorganize centered on the freezers the past week or so. I finally finished most of what I’m going to do in Phase I of the project this morning.
We have FIVE 39-gallon trash bags full of ‘stuff’ for the good trash people to pick up this week. We’ll put it down at the bottom of the driveway tonight on the way to pick up our good friends for an evening of fun, exercise, bowling and ice cream.
I have now promised myself that I won’t let this happen again. I have a nice vacuum sealer readily available in the pantry. From now on I WILL USE IT so I won’t have any more mystery items. I’ll be sure to label and date each thing and come up with a system for getting rid of things that have been in the freezers too long in the future.
*So promises the lady who religiously cleans every 30 years without fail!*
It DOES feel good to be able to open freezer doors and actually have space available……
I think this is my favorite of the many mailbox decorations we’ve made. It makes me feel good when I see it. This is the back of the piece. you can see where I’ve tried to incorporate the mounting bar into the design.
Calvin and Hobbes is a daily comic strip by American cartoonist Bill Watterson that was syndicated from November 18, 1985 to December 31, 1995.
This is the front. The piece is about 2-1/2 feet tall and about the same wide – 3 feet + with the mounting bar and tail. We grabbed the design from the net. My husband translated the picture into code that the computer-guided torch on our CNC table can understand and cut out. We used a transparency and overhead projector to mark the bare metal for painting. I then painted both sides and then sprayed a clear protective spray on it. I hope this decoration gives people a warm feeling as they drive by our home.
Calvin and Hobbes by Sarah, Quotesgram.com
Filed under Hobbies, Lewis Art, Lewis Mailbox Decorations, metal art
holyapostlescoupkitchen.wordpress.com
Henry David Thoreau via recitethis.com
Filed under Encouragement, Faces, Favorite Quotes
Deep purple iris are our favorites (although I like a lot of other colors). I’ve been working on trying to spread the purple iris all around the yard, since my husband loves them above all others. Right now we’re feeling rich in purple iris!
This is toward the top of our driveway, on the right as you drive up. We have an antique computer tower perched on one of our brick planters. My husband put it there as a conversation piece years ago, but the birds now build nests in it each year. You can see some parts of the ’emu’ planters just past the brick planter. We’ll place my husband’s favorite periwinkles in those as soon as the weather warms up.
This is one of the clumps of purple iris that are finally happy along the side of the driveway. They make us smile as we go down the driveway. My husband remarks about them each time he sees them, thanking me for transplanting some there.
Filed under Arkansas, Gardening, Greenwood, Mother Nature
“Exquisite White Beauty” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
It’s one thing to gather metal scraps of one kind or another, weld them together to make a yard critter, and paint them. Then you enter a whole new stage of trying to repair what sun, wind, rain, and changing temperatures does to them.
We have one “robot” on either side of our garage door. This one is the “Cleaning Robot.” He has a fireplace ‘dustpan’ in one hand and a fireplace ‘broom’ in the other. His paint was holding up all right, but his gloves were almost completely rotted off. His bow tie had turned pink and brittle, and he needed a good cleaning. I brought old gloves from our shop, stuffed them full of plastic bags and then we did a combination of putting screws through the gloves and then wires to hold the fingers. I ordered a new child’s bow tie. Now he’s spiffy for another spring and summer.
The “Farmer” robot is on the other side of the garage door. He also needed new gloves, and his bandana was almost completely gone. I couldn’t find another bandana in any color other than pink yet, so I used this piece of cloth in the interim. He loves it when people come to our house, enthusiastically waving, and saying, “Hi!”
Filed under Lewis yard art, project refurb
We had bad storms with a strong cold front Friday afternoon and evening – including tornadoes, damaging winds, rain, hail, and flying hair balls. I was worried that my fledgling square foot garden plants would get battered. Yesterday and today we’ve had cold temperatures for April in Arkansas – barely 40 and gusty north winds.
As you can see, the garden is doing fine. WHEW! Thank goodness these are all cool weather plants! I may lose some of my tomato plants, but the rest of the garden is good.
Broccoli
Iceberg Head Lettuce
Romaine Lettuce
Spinach
It’s almost time to start snipping! I can gather the outer, larger leaves of the lettuces and the spinach soon. As soon as it warms up a bit, I’ll get some radishes started.
Molly doesn’t enjoy having her picture taken, but my efforts to take pictures of the office woke her up. I finally finished Phase 2 of the office clean out/purge/declutter project late this afternoon. I went through all the drawers and shelves, reorganizing, putting things in the donation pile, throwing things away, cleaning. The above is the office supplies/dog toys/dog bed area.
The supply area is now clean and mostly organized. I gathered a 39 gallon leaf bag of trash.
These shelves are between my desk to the left and the file cabinets and my computer area to the right. I went through all the file cabinets, too, except for the one on the other side of the room. We have two four-drawer file cabinets, one 2-drawer, and then my desk has a file drawer on either side.
I went through all the drawers in my desk recently, so catching up on filing was all that was needed here.
This is my computer area. I cleaned out the drawers on the left of the chair and the shelves to the right of the chair. The only things left are to put the new PC tower under the counter and reroute the wiring, plus wipe the MAC to the left of the monitors and box it for sale.
Even my husband, who is pretty oblivious to disarray, noticed the difference!
Mother Nature was in a snit yesterday afternoon and evening, bringing us a cold front with accompanying 60 mph winds, hail, rain, tornadoes, and flying hair balls. The sky was black in mid afternoon and I watched the hard-working local weather guys try to warn people in our area and all around us about when to dive for shelter.
Happily, though we got wind and rain, all the bad stuff either went north or south of us. We came through her bad temper well. I checked this morning when I took the doggies out, that the greenhouse was still standing, we didn’t have any damage to the house, my roses were still intact, and the square foot garden was still looking good.
We planted 3 new rio samba rose bushes recently. I’m just thrilled that they seem to be happy.
Even though it’s too cool to be comfortable outside today, I’m thankful to see the sun and our thriving plants.
Filed under Arkansas, Greenwood, Mother Nature
Lucia Mejia saved to Canas
Marc Middleton via GrowingBolder.com
Filed under Encouragement, Faces, Favorite Quotes
Filed under Creativity, drawings
Golda Radner – SayingImages.com
Filed under Amazing Animals, Encouragement, Favorite Quotes
sayingimages.com
Amber is a yellow Labrador Retriever. She was a year old in March. We weighed her at the vet’s office last month and she weighed 93 lbs. We HOPE this is it for growth, but we’ve been told she won’t be fully grown – physically OR mentally – for another 11 months.
We’ve accomplished a lot since we first brought her home last May, at 16 lbs and 10 weeks old. To say that everything has changed in our lives is one of the biggest understatements ever. It’s a good thing we got started when we did. We’re definitely getting a bit long-in-the-tooth to tackle trying to train a ‘puppy’ this size.
Amber is still a dog of ‘very little brain,’ but she’s very smart in dog years. We’re in a contest as to who is training whom. She is infinitely creative, coming up with something else to try our patience each time we let our guards down. Two days ago she started playing in her water bowl again. It’s on the tile, but it’s aggravating to go for a refill on our coffee and have to stop and sop up the ‘lake’ before going further. We’ve tried changing water bowls, only putting a little bit of water in it, watching her like a hawk and trying to ‘warn’ her with the zapper that goes with her shock collar, etc., but nothing is working well yet.
She has taught us that unless we want everything outside to end up in the front yard completely destroyed, we must take her out, walking with her and monitoring her closely, and then bringing her in. She loves being outside, but has finally taught us that, for the foreseeable future, she can’t be trusted to simply be let out.
We have taught HER –
All of this is forgotten in a flash if anyone comes to the house, of course.
She has taught US –
She still thinks she’s a lap dog, insisting on getting up in my husband’s lap when he’s in his recliner for a good hug each night. She has taught me that if she looks at me with a gleam in her eye while in my husband’s lap, I’d better leap up immediately and prepare to be boarded on the couch and hugged. If I don’t react, she threatens to leap from my husband’s chair to mine.
Happily, she and Molly, our elderly cocker spaniel/schnauzer cross, get along fine now. We monitor things and give Molly a break when Amber gets TOO exuberant, but they play together and will lie on the same dog bed together now. Amber understands that Molly actually gets to eat twice a day, just as she does, and that bulling her way to Molly’s dish is not acceptable.
Much of our lives revolve around Amber’s needs. Acting like a bull in a china shop does get people to pay attention…..
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family
“Bouquet of Flowers” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Creativity, drawings
betel nut chewing Akha Woman-flickr.com
quotespicky.com
Filed under Faces, Favorite Quotes
Flickr
I have a massage once a month and today was the day!
My body looks forward to it, gathering up aches, pains, sore spots, strained areas, etc. so that Lynn Moody, my massage therapist, can do her magic and heal me once again.
Sometimes I have a particular area that would appreciate extra consideration. Today it was the back of my neck and across to my shoulders on either side. Sometimes I don’t complain (imagine that!) of anything in particular and Lynn finds spots I didn’t know I had!
We talk a bit, catch up on what’s happening in each other’s lives, and then I concentrate on really relaxing, something I find more difficult as I age. Between the massage once a month and my yoga stretches, I’m getting better at doing this – albeit slowly.
If you consider massage a ‘luxury,’ – okay – it is; but even more than that, it’s taking care of yourself, like trying to eat more healthy foods and exercise. If you’re getting a massage regularly – good for you! If you’re not, please consider starting this. Massage can be done in a chair if that works better for you. The point is to have a knowledgeable, skillful, caring person help you untie your muscles and release all kinds of healing vibrations in your body on a regular basis.
Filed under taking care of yourself
Matt Maldre via meetville.com via Quote Master
Filed under Encouragement, Favorite Quotes
A.A. Milne via Begin With Yes
Filed under Attitude, Encouragement, Favorite Quotes
SweatpantsandCoffee via Cindy Basnett Thurman
Filed under Encouragement, Favorite Quotes
creativeartworksblog 