I was a good girl yesterday, doing 4 of the ‘drumming’ videos with my 3-pound weights and then half an hour or so of yoga stretches. I’m really trying to work those in every day, but actual results vary…
These are the latest wood-burned and painted efforts from my art room, just listed on my Etsy site. I’m planning to play up there again today, with maybe starting a package of painted stationery.
We don’t have any other scheduled plans today, other than watching the KC Chiefs play tonight. They play right when we usually eat dinner, so I’ll fix something quick and easy.
Our weather is going to cool off starting overnight tonight. I’m happy to be finally embracing the look and feel of Fall.
I wish you a happy, productive, or restful day – one that brings a smile.
Alex Fleming Art – Alex says on his Etsy site, “A piece can take beyond 100 hours to complete, depending on the size, complexity and medium used.” I am totally in awe of his talent.
A lot of folks are quite critical of institutional food. I’ve been lucky because I really loved school lunches as I grew up.
I had two “favorite” lunches.
The Dinner Bite
One was fish sticks, corn, mashed potatoes with white gravy and a roll. I have never seen them since. The ones I ate at school were neat rectangles, about half an inch or thicker, and about 4 inches long. They were lightly fried (of course they were fried) and absolutely delicious. I loved the gravy (I would have eaten shoe leather happily with that gravy on it) and the roll with butter. YUM!
The second one was bean chowder and a cinnamon roll. I remember living for Fridays when we might have this. I researched this and actually FOUND recipes for the Tulsa Public Schools bean chowder and cinnamon rolls! If I didn’t need to be eating low carb, I would jump on these. :0)
Did you eat school lunches when you were growing up? Did you have favorites?
This is how she looks right now, sprawled out on the shelves beside my computer set up. She nods off now and then, looking extremely comfortable. I tried to pet her a few minutes ago and she bit me. She doesn’t bite HARD, but she did break my skin this time, so I’m continuing to try to break her of this.
Our paper towel roll is her newest handiwork. She found it in the pantry recently and apparently batted it all over the place after pulling it down from the shelf. My husband was going to throw it out, but I told him that although it LOOKS a bit odd, it should still work fine to wipe up spills. Maybe it also adds character to our kitchen?
I’m not having to try to catch her to put her into her bathroom anymore. I merely walk toward her bathroom. She either follows me right away, passes me in order to ‘herd’ me in there, or she come running when she hears a bit of her food hit the bowl. I can then step out and close the door without the cat latch. I have modified her food so I can do this each time I go in there and not overfeed her :0)
She is now joining me on my recliner several times a day. She jumps up, walks up my front and looks at me. I pet her, and then she turns around and plops down beside my feet.
She still either ignores my husband or is hostile. We don’t know what her background was before we adopted her, so we have no idea why. He is also relentless in his actions, refusing to adapt to what she does, so this may be a long slog.
Monster Cat and Amber (97 pound yellow lab) are getting along fine. I just make sure the cat isn’t out anywhere when Amber is eating. So, we’re making progress of a sort. Her weirdness fits right in with ours, so it’s an interesting mix.
Ours should be quiet – always a good thing around here. We have no errands, other than driving down to get the mail at some point. Our weather is nice, and is supposed to be getting nicer on Monday, with cooler temperatures and no rain.
I had an extremely pleasant chat with our son yesterday. We use a site called, “Slack.” It’s wonderful that I can pretend he’s close, even though he’s across the world from us. It’s such a luxury to be able to leave pics and messages and know that he’ll see and respond very quickly. Yesterday we ‘typed’ to each other in real time, so we got to catch up on several things.
Indian Hills Signs – Vince, the Sign Guy
Happily, I lost a bit more of my lard this morning. I’m now down 42.4 pounds from my heaviest. I’ve found a combination that is working for me, resulting in slow, steady loss. I’m getting used to not snacking (I was particularly bad after dinner) and am drinking a glass of water if my stomach thinks my throat has been cut. I still have to push myself to exercise, but I actually feel better if I do…
Play Street Museum
I’m playing almost daily in my art room and feeling much happier as a result. I can concentrate on my latest project, getting lost in trying to create something. That makes me sleep a bit better, so it’s a win/win.
Freepik
Getting old is the pits, but it helps when you stay busy, doing things that make you smile. I’m lucky to have lots of hobbies. Before I know it, another day has whizzed past my head. :0)
We are home now from blood tests, breakfast at The Dari, a quick stop at Harps for groceries, and a stop to pick up our mail.
We were impressed with the new Greenwood clinic – all bright and shiny, large, and spacious. There are TWO check-in places now, more doctors, more staff, more space. Of course, we parked the farthest from where we needed to go, but that’s just the way things go for us. :0)
I got the best blood test stick I’ve ever had. I praised the lady profusely, telling her AFTERWARD that I used to have nightmares before a blood test and that people had trouble taking my blood because of rolling veins, not being able to find a good vein, etc. The BAND she tied around my arm hurt more than the stick! Amazing. We were in and out quickly.
We had a delicious, though expensive, breakfast at The Dari afterward. I love being able to eat out AND stay on my low carb eating plan. My husband enjoys being able to have hashbrowns as a part of his breakfast, so both of us were sitting there and grinning throughout.
We’re home for the day now. The doors are open, letting in a nice breeze. It’s 75 now and we’re due for a high of 84. The humidity isn’t bad, so we MAY be able to get through the afternoon without a/c. NICE! My husband is taking a nap in his recliner and I’m catching up on computer stuff.
I’ve gathered some pics of earrings I like. They come from all over the net, and I’m using them to spur ideas of my own for future projects. Some of these I can give credit for. Most were found and saved at the spur of the moment, so I’m just showing them to you, showing what is being done at the moment.
I think this one is actually a pendant, but I like the painting.
We’re having “fall” in the mornings and evenings and “summer” in the afternoons here. We open our front and back doors to catch terrific breezes in the mornings, close up and turn on the a/c in the afternoons, and then open up again in the evenings. Keeps us a bit busy, but I’m enjoying it.
This is my newest wood-burned and painted piece. I’ll list it on Etsy today. I’m really enjoying spending time in my art room almost every day or evening lately. All problems fade away for a while as I concentrate on what designs to try, what size wood to use, what tips to use on the wood burning tool to use, what colors to use, and more. I feel my happiness simply bubbling up.
LaSante Health Center
I’ll be late writing tomorrow. We are going for blood work at our new clinic first thing in the morning. After we have blood work, we enjoy a really nice breakfast at The Dari in Greenwood before coming home.
Unsplash
I learned a new thing from trying a new recipe for a tuna casserole last night. The one I tried was good, but seemed like a lot of work and a lot of mess to clean up. I DID learn, though, a way to tackle making casseroles that makes the carb count good and results in something that tastes good. I can substitute mushrooms, celery and onions for the pasta, and cream cheese for the canned creamed soups I used to use. Now I feel that I can experiment, using that knowledge as a base, then adding whatever poultry, meat or fish to it, plus maybe broccoli as an added goodie. :0)
Poshmark
I found a really old MP3 player last night. I was looking for something ELSE and felt like I had discovered a treasure when I found it. Happily, it still played, even though I hadn’t charged it in forever. I sat in my recliner while my husband watched some wretched excuse for a movie, in my own little world enjoying songs and artists I hadn’t heard for a long, long time. This morning I’m trying to find a cord and charger for it so I can give it more life. :0)
Getting older is sometimes the pits. Right now my husband is finding more and more things he has trouble doing, and he’s getting down about it.
Yesterday we went grocery shopping. When we got everything put away, he suddenly decided he wanted to change out our mailbox decoration. We went to the shop, chose something (I can’t remember which one now) and drove back down to the mailbox at the bottom of the driveway. The one we had on there was large and heavy. We put it in the truck, attached the new one to the mailbox pole and came back up to store the one we had taken down. My husband had trouble lifting it up to hang on the hanger for it. He finally got it, but then said, as we walked back to the house, that we were going to have to quit displaying the larger decorations.
I again suggested that we construct another ‘holder’ for the decorations, one on the shop floor with slots for the decorations that we could slide in and out, rather than try to hang them from hooks overhead. He isn’t ready to consider that.
Canadiancor.com
I’m trying to talk to him when he seems amenable, discussing ways I’M having to adapt how I do things because I’m not as strong as I used to be, or as agile, have as much stamina, etc., trying to help him accept that we have new limitations. Sometimes he seems to be listening and considering. Other times, he’s just as ornery as ever.
I hope it’s beautiful where you are and that you have a wonderful day.
I hope that October will be a good month for all of us. I’m happy that the summer ‘intense heat warnings’ seem to finally be gone for the year. Since I’m “mature” (synonym for ‘older-than-dirt’) and carrying more than enough weight for my height (which is shrinking) I FEEL even what is considered normal for the summer. So the warnings we’ve had much of the summer kill most of the joy I have about trying to work in the yard. I did all I could about trying to work in the cooler parts of the day, but even that and a sweat band and keeping sessions short wasn’t much help. I’m glad to put that behind us for a while. :0)
I finished several things in my art room yesterday. I’m listing two custom Christmas cards I’m offering for 2024 plus 4 small signs I wood-burned and accented with pastel paint. I’ve started a new larger piece now and am having great fun with the challenge.
I’m going to try now to spend a bit of time each day cutting stuff down outside. Our lawn is staying under good control, both with the grass and the trimming around it. Our flower planters seem to be holding their own, not sprouting a bunch of weeds yet, so I can turn my attention to the fact that since we live in the woods, nature is always trying to ‘return to normal.’ That means the land trying to regrow, fill in, and grow over the top of us, returning the land to what it was before we ‘landed’ and built 37 years ago. I’ll take the big pruning shears out and just do what I can for a short time each day and see what good I can do.
I think I told you that the innards of one of our toilets gave up the ghost recently. We ordered a replacement kit, but my husband said he just wasn’t strong enough to install it in the Kohler toilet we have. (They have a really weird set of innards and require that one part be pressed into the side of the tank and then turned 45 degrees.) I called our plumber. His partner came yesterday. HE had trouble with it, too, and he’s young and strong and experienced. He got it installed, though, and so the toilet is good now. We agreed that the person who designed the innards should be shot. :0)
Yes, I’m definitely in celebration mode this morning, “tooting my own horn”, dancing around the room, grinning from ear to ear, dancing with the animals, dancing with my husband (who was very encouraging). I FINALLY REACHED THE 40-POUNDS OFF INTERIM GOAL!!!!!
Giphy.gif
WOO HOOOOOO! I’ve been trying to get to this goal for so long that I actually weighed myself several times before I really believed it. :0)
I hauled out my really old NutriSystem weight loss bears so that I could document the GREEN 40-pounds-off bear. (He has “40” embroidered on his chest.) I’ve lost track of how long ago it was that I earned him. The minute I quit eating the prepared NutriSystem meals, though, I began gaining it back. It just wasn’t sustainable for me.
Now I’m eating low carb, plus trying to cut down on salt, plus trying to drink more water, plus trying to exercise on a daily basis. This is something I can stick with and control, tweaking when necessary, reassessing goals as I go.
I’m a little past halfway now, I think to my ultimate goal- again assessing as I go. The overall plan now is to lose another 30 pounds or so and improving my blood work. I have now set my next 5-pound interim goal.
I will set my sights on the next NutriSystem Bear (50-pounds-off) when I reach the next goal.
At this, the last day of September, I’m 2/10ths of a pound away from my interim weight loss goal of 40-pounds-off.
This is a report from MyFitnessPal.com showing the last year of my ‘lose-the-lard’ efforts. Although I’m only about halfway to my ultimate goal at this point, the trend is encouraging.
My husband and I had a talk this morning, since he has Type 2 Diabetes (though he won’t admit that and says he just has a ‘sugar problem.’) We BOTH are having to accept that our bodies don’t respond to our efforts as they used to. It takes being more serious with more consistent effort to actually realize improvement.
He says he’s being ‘good,’ but looked kind of appalled when I calmly reminded him of what I noticed he ate that was not on his diet recently. I told him I wasn’t the food police and that he was responsible – as am I – for what we put in our mouths. We BOTH need to keep tweaking to make the changes happen.
What seems to be working for me right now – with the occasional plateau – is monitored by my daily use of MyFitnessPal.com. I put in my information on KetoKarma.com (Suzanne Ryan’s website) and came up with this as my daily eating goal –
My experience after doing this about a year is that I need to stay under 1000 calories, where fitness pal says, “You might not be eating enough.” I eat as few carbs as possible, staying as close to 13 or 14 as I can, and try not to eat too much protein – that may throw off my progress. I’m trying to drink more water, alternating between that and coffee until my eyeballs are floating. I’m not snacking – at all. I’m taking Fruits & Veggies vitamin supplements daily to make sure I’m getting all the nutrients I need, as well as taking Calcium for my bones. I’m hoping that eventually, when I meet my ultimate goal, I might be able to stop taking most of the prescription drugs I’m taking now. We’re monitoring blood tests at the times my doc deems appropriate. I’m trying to exercise daily – videos with weights and my half hour yoga stretching.
SO – as of today, September 30th, there are 39.8 pounds less of me than when I was at my heaviest. There are 41.2 inches less of me now.
“Keepin’ on keepin’ on. “ I’ll report again at the end of October.
Good morning! We’re into a ‘throw-the-doors-open-and-enjoy-the-breezes’ time each morning and closing up and turning on the a/c around lunch time. I’ll take it.
I had fun in the art room yesterday. I’m hoping to get up there again today, but house stuff is taking priority – exciting stuff like laundry, changing the sheets, gathering trash, cleaning, etc. Though, I vacuumed the first floor tiles yesterday and there were ALREADY three tufts of Amber hair wafting around this morning. Makes me wonder why I bother at ALL. That dog should be absolutely bald.
Update to the first paragraph – I was writing this blog post and my husband is across the office from me, working on a computer program. We both jumped about 3 feet straight up into the air when Amber started fierce barking at the front screen door. She obviously smelled something and her hair was standing straight up on her back. I made her go to her place on her bed in the living room, but it took both of us a while before our hearts beat normally again and we were able to concentrate.
All was good until BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK!!!! – giving our hearts another big jolt. I have now closed the front door after making Amber get back in her place. Hopefully, this will be the end of it… I’m wondering – do jolts like this count as cardio exercise?
creativeartworksblog 