... When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds.
… The guy who fell onto an upholstery machine is now fully recovered.
… He had a photographic memory which was never developed.
… When she saw her first strands of grey hair she thought she’d dye.
… Acupuncture is a jab well done. That’s the point of it.
And finally:
… Those who get too big for their pants will be totally exposed in the end.
Filed under Funny Signs - Humor
123RF
After our last donation of ‘stuff’ from my art room, I came up with more – about half a 39-gallon trash bag full, and the bag sitting in our foyer, waiting.
Today I enlisted my husband’s help. We went through some really big bins in the basement that were filled with coats, jackets, rain gear, vests, etc. that weren’t worn all this fall or winter. We are going to donate a good half or more of what we went through, freeing up two large bins and one small bin downstairs. We’ll plan to make a trip to Fort Smith sometime in the coming week with a donation to the Veterans Thrift Store.
My next reorganization project will be my greenhouse. These are pics from BEFORE I started deciding what belonged out there. This will actually be an ‘organization,‘ – rather than ‘re,’ – because all I’ve done since my husband and I built the greenhouse is take stuff out there and stash it, waiting for spring. This will be my first time trying to make sense of the space I have out there. I want to set up a planting area, a supplies area, and then have kind of a staging area for when the seeds start to make actual plants and before they’re ready to go out in the garden.
I need to do something about the floor out there because the black weed barrier you see here has torn in several places. We have some leftover rolls of carpet that I’ll probably spread out in walkways as an interim measure. I’m planning to use some of the bricks we’ll have when we take down the two damaged planters we have now and replace them. I’ve never tried to make walkways with bricks before, but this seems like a good thing to try.
As I get rid of things I’m feeling better and better. I’m happy that I’m finding lots of things that others might like to use. I feel good that I’m throwing what isn’t good away. It feels good to have LESS. And it feels GREAT to have what I KEEP more organized. As I go around the house, I see more and more things that need to be gone through, more that needs to be given away or thrown away. Purging and reorganizing seems to be good for the soul.
This product image provided by velocityartanddesign.com shows Michael Iannone’s deer-printed mosaic sideboard. Iannone uses cork artistically in a collection of striking sideboards. Geometric and nature motifs are coaxed out of differently colored and textured cork. (AP Photo/velocityartanddesign.com) NO SALES. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY
WINEomous-David M Bowley-Lumiere Winery
Filed under Cork Art, Creativity
DHgate.com
F. Liu – start1stgo
Filed under Acrylic Paintings I Love, Creativity
t3.gstatic.com
We watched this movie from our collection last night. It had been awhile since we saw it the first time, then bought the DVD.
The main plot is that a black man (Omar Sy) needs to apply for one more job in order to start receiving money from the state. He applies as a caretaker for a paraplegic (Francois Cluzet). Cluzet is a man of some wealth. He has enjoyed the finer things of life, but a hang glider accident has taken away almost all of the joy of life. The black man is hired on probation.
This doesn’t sound like a feel good movie, does it. The friendship that develops between these two men is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. They each make the other’s life richer, more enjoyable. The movie had us laughing out loud.
We highly recommend it!!
Filed under Book - Movie - TV Reviews
This is a picture of two of my six 4’x4’x8″ raised bed square foot garden boxes. We had an absolutely perfect day to work outside (sunny with a high of 68) so I threw my plans for the day up in the air and decided to start topping off the Mel’s Mix in the garden boxes in preparation for planting our spring garden. (The mix settles during the winter. I can’t figure out where it ‘goes,’ but about half of the mix is gone.) My husband came along to give me moral support – and to insult me while I learned how to use our new-to-us cement mixer. Our 91 pound puppy, Amber, came with us just because she likes to be with us and loves being outside.
Last year we bought the mixer, thinking it would help me get the components of Mel’s Mix combined better. (The components of Mel’s Mix are peat moss, vermiculite, and as many different kinds of compost as you can find. I use cotton burr, mushroom, and barnyard, with a bit of homemade thrown in. ) I used to dip out the components into a wheelbarrow, then use a shovel to mix it up as well as I could and then fight to get the wheelbarrow through the door of the garden fencing, shoveling out the Mel’s Mix into one of the boxes, scoop by scoop. It was a huge job.
My husband made a nice handle for moving the cement mixer around, if necessary, and we put the mixer behind the shop, next to the square foot garden, in the row of trash cans I use for all the Mel’s Mix stuff. We put a tarp over the mixer and the long extension cord for it for the winter.
Today I put together one batch of Mel’s Mix, putting each measure into the cement mixer for the first time. I saw that it would hold a lot more, so I added the components for a second batch. We plugged the mixer in and mixed the stuff for about 3 or 4 minutes. It was mixed SO much better than I could do with the shovel! We poured some of the mix into a large plastic yard basket with handles (about half full so I could lift it) and then I took it over and dumped it into a garden box.( It took 2 cement mixer loads to top off one of the raised bed boxes.) We kept mixing and dumping until we ran out of some of the components of the Mel’s Mix. (We topped off 3 of the boxes.) Then, because my energy had run out before we used up the components, we went ahead and covered up the cement mixer again and put the tops on all the trash cans holding the compost, etc., before going to town.
The co-op apparently closes at noon on Saturday, so replenishing our supplies will have to wait until at least Monday. They usually don’t have the vermiculite I need and have to order it, but we’ll can get what we can and order the rest to pick up later in the week.
The mixer helps a LOT, but doesn’t make it so it isn’t really physical work for this old broad. It does a MUCH better job of mixing the components. I now know how to move the mixer bowl up and down, so I’ll be able to do that now any time I want to.
We finished enough garden boxes so that if we find good onion sets at the co-op Monday, I can go ahead and get them. We already have some string for marking the garden ‘squares’ that will weather being out in the sun better than the stretchy nylon string we used last year. (That was nice to use, but deteriorated quickly.)
The season is almost starting – at least for onions! I’m determined to get the beds ready for planting BEFORE I actually get the plants this year. Trying to do the prep AND the planting in one day is too much!
After eating some late lunch mid afternoon, this lady crashed in her recliner…
Filed under exercise, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds
My friend Debbye Hughes was fighting cancer when she got me into art. She was creating watercolors, actually giving me a couple, and got mad at me when I oohed and ahhed over her work, wishing I could do something like that. She glared at me, saying, “What’s keeping you from it, Linda? You have no excuse. YOU have the time. YOU can practice until you do as well as you can. Who cares if your paintings don’t go anywhere but your own refrigerator door? JUST DO IT!
When I went to her funeral several months later, there were two huge bins on either side of the chapel door. At the end of the service, we were told to take a handful of the daffodil bulbs from a bin and plant them. The idea was that we would think of Debbye (just in case we didn’t remember how special she was by herself) each spring when the daffodils bloomed. I had never heard of anyone asking this and loved the idea.
I planted mine all in a bunch in the front yard, hoping that when they came up, they would form a kind of daffodil bouquet. This picture shows you that the idea was pretty successful. Just an added reminder of the wonderful lady I had the opportunity to know, and a reminder not to give up on trying to create art.
When I was out walking Amber (she’s now clamoring for me to take her out again, putting her head under my arm and bumping my fingers off the keys over and over while ‘complaining’ in her dramatic whine) and saw the sun shining through the greenery and flowers in this group of daffodils in the back yard. I hope that Mother Nature doesn’t send crushing cold through here, freezing all the nice blooms that have come up all around the yard.
Filed under Encouragement, Mother Nature
“Shadows” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography, Uncategorized
My husband discovered the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child. He loved the books and suggested I try them. We’ve both read all of them and kept the books in our library. Recently, I started re-reading them. I just finished re-reading “Die Trying.”
Reader’s Digest
This is just how I’m feeling right now. I wanted to keep reading about the two main characters. I love meeting characters I admire. Both of the main characters here were highly trained and able to handle themselves in tough situations. They found themselves in a situation where they were unable to get the upper hand and I admired them even more for how they handled it. They lived by strong ideals, something you don’t find very often anymore.
I have book 3, “Tripwire” on the table beside my chair in the living room. I’m waiting to start it, though, still savoring the rich plot, great characters, and gifted writing from the last one a bit more before I dive into another adventure.
Filed under Book - Movie - TV Reviews, Favorite Authors & Books
saved by JuliaAnderson7-UnknownArtist
Some feather art is created by using actual feathers, like the butterfly above, and some is created by painting ON feathers, like the beauty below. I love it all.
DeMilked
Filed under Feather Art
We watched “Unlocked” starring Noomi Rapace, Orlando Bloom, John Malkovich, Michael Douglas and others last night. We were both exhausted by the end of it, having been grabbed by the throat from the beginning.
“In 2009, Rapace came to the attention of international audiences for her portrayal of Lisbeth Salander in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009). Her performance was widely praised, and she won the Best Actress prize at Sweden’s prestigious Guldbagge Awards. She went on to reprise the role in the sequels, The Girl Who Played with Fire (2009) and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (2009).”
We loved her performances in “The Girl Who” movies. We had read the books before we watched the movies and thought the casting of Rapace was perfect. We’ve watched for more movies with her ever since.
This has a LOT of action, with violence. There is an actual plot – with a REASON for the violence. If you like a really fast-moving, well-written story with top-notch acting, this is one for you. Rapace’s character is strong and relentless. I was surprised how good Orlando Bloom’s performance was. I had thought of him only as a love story actor, but he proved me wrong.
Our ultimate compliment for a movie – we came into the office and purchased a copy for our collection.
Filed under Book - Movie - TV Reviews
45 Beautiful Examples of Acrylic Painting – Sorry, can’t make out signature of artist
Apple-Leaf Studio – H. Tang (if I’m reading the signature correctly.)
DaporesBlog-WordPress.com
Filed under Acrylic Paintings I Love, Creativity
… A boiled egg is hard to beat.
… When you’ve seen one shopping center you’ve seen a mall.
… Police were summoned to a daycare center where a three-year-old was resisting a rest.
… Did you hear about the fellow whose entire left side was cut off? He’s all right now.
… A bicycle can’t stand alone; it’s just two tired.
Filed under Funny Signs - Humor
Medical Exams – Doug Powell via Marsha Koenig
“I was performing rounds at the hospital one morning and while checking up on a man I asked . . . ‘So how’s your breakfast this morning?’ “It’s very good except for the Kentucky Jelly I can’t seem to get used to the taste,” Bob replied. I then asked to see the jelly and Bob produced a foil packet labeled ‘KY Jelly.’ ” Submitted by Dr. Leonard Kransdorf, Detroit, MI
“A nurse was on duty in the Emergency Room when a young woman with purple hair styled into a punk rocker Mohawk, sporting a variety of tattoos, and wearing strange clothing, entered. . . It was quickly determined that the patient had acute appendicitis, so she was scheduled for immediate surgery. When she was completely disrobed on the operating table, the staff noticed that her pubic hair had been dyed green and above it there was a tattoo that read . . .’ Keep off the grass.’ Once the surgery was completed, the surgeon wrote a short note on the patient’s dressing, which said ‘Sorry . . . had to mow the lawn.'” Submitted by RN no name
Filed under Funny Signs - Humor
Nino Chakvetadze via Zen to Zany via Cathy Ruggiero
Hugs are one of my favorite things. They cure me of most ailments. They fill my heart. I guess one shouldn’t pick favorites, but I have to tell you that hugs from our son are the very best there are – anywhere. He draws me in, wraps his arms around me and squeezes – then squeezes harder if “I” don’t squeeze hard enough for HIM. Then he just holds me. It makes me cry. I try not to let him see. Whenever he comes to visit, he makes sure my hugs bucket is overflowing by the time he has to leave.
Filed under Family, Favorite Things
“Coots on Lake” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
ffffound.com
Even though I’ve been working hard the past two months cleaning out 30+ years of ‘stuff’ in my house, apparently I haven’t been moving my body well. It’s letting me know loudly and clearly. I’ve been particularly stiff and sore the past couple of weeks.
Today I did 30 minutes on my elliptical out in the garage. I came back into the office a few minutes ago after doing about 20 minutes or so of stretching poses in the living room. (Our two dogs think I’m playing, so I have to pen them up in the office with my husband before even thinking of getting down on the floor. :0) )
I had been doing pretty well with two DVDs I purchased called, “Gentle Yoga.” These are designed for people who are old like I am and have never done yoga before. The teacher is wonderful. She is very straight forward, gives you lots of choices, and mainly stresses that if you’re TRYING to stretch in the proper way, the poses will do you some good. She tells you how important it is that you get on the mat every day, even if only for a short time. I didn’t really believe her, so now I’m paying the price.
Today I had trouble even lying on my back without pain. I remembered to take things really slowly, breathing into the pain, trying to relax. FINALLY, my back eased. I did this with each of the changes in pose I made. I don’t think I’m as stiff as I was before I started the good DVDs, but I’ve lost a lost of flexibility I had gained. A lesson learned.
I feel pretty good now. I’m very happy that I stretched slowly and carefully, taking my time, easing into new positions and listening to my body. I could actually FEEL my body finally letting go!
So this is DAY ONE of my folding myself into a paper airplane practice. I’ll do several more days of just stretching on my own and then I’ll start the DVDs again. I can only get better from here!
Filed under exercise
Fritz the Cat is a comic strip created by Robert Crumb. Set in a “supercity” of anthropomorphic animals, the strip focuses on Fritz, a feline con artist who frequently goes on wild adventures that sometimes involve sexual escapades. Crumb began drawing this character in homemade comic books when he was a child. Fritz became one of his most famous characters, thanks largely to the motion picture adaptation by Ralph Bakshi. ~ Wikipedia.
Of course, this is one of my husband’s favorite comic book characters. This was a difficult piece to paint, since the picture from which we were working was all done in tiny dots. This is one of our larger pieces, and it is HEAVY.
The picture above is the back of the piece. I had quite a time trying to blend the vertical support into the design.
This is the front. It shows up pretty well down the road.
Filed under Lewis Art, Lewis Mailbox Decorations
Wondrlust
I’ve told you recently that I was “back in the saddle” on my dieting and exercise. I guess I lied.
Today marks the fact that I’m not giving up. I just came in from doing 30 minutes on my elliptical trainer in the garage. Right now I feel better, looser. I may pay for it tonight, when I need a crane to get me up out of my recliner; but right now I’m happy that I did that. Later today, after vacuuming the first floor carpet, I’ll do the first yoga-for-old-broads I’ve done in quite awhile, seeing if I can stretch out some muscles.
I just took our doggies out; and while I filled up the bird feeders on the deck, they ran off. I had a good walk around and around the house, pushing the warning button on the zapper that controls Amber’s shock collar. Our sweet cocker spaniel/schnauzer cross, Molly, is almost completely deaf, so I didn’t bother to try calling her. I walked around, holding the zapper in different directions in back of the house, and then in the front of the house, warning and calling Amber. I was starting to get concerned when Amber came running. Whew!
I also started MyFitnessPal.com up again, realizing that whatever I’ve been doing lately isn’t working for me. We’re eating low carb, but we’re also eating other stuff, and the pounds have been creeping up. I’ve lost ground on my inches lost, as well. To say I’m not a happy camper today is the biggest understatement ever.
But – I’m not a quitter. Even though I’m as old as dirt and the poundage and lard take forever to come off, I CAN do one day at a time and not beat myself up over losing ground. I won’t get points for losing a certain poundage in a certain amount of time. No one will give me an award for there being less of me than there was.
The important thing is that I don’t want to FEEL as old as dirt. I want to have enough energy to do what I’d like to do, rather than crashing in the afternoons. I’d like to move with less pain. I don’t want my life to revolve around what hurts the most today.
I have a lot of fun things I want to do. I want to get up to my newly cleaned out and organized art room and start playing! I want to spend some time each day getting my new greenhouse organized and ready to plant. I want to use my concrete mixer to mix up Mel’s Mix to fill up my raised bed gardens. I want to think about getting spring plants in.
“I” will be my own reward, doing the things I would like to do. Today is another opportunity to get it right.
taolife.com
Filed under Acting Like a Grownup, Attitude, Challenges, Changes, DIET!, exercise, getting the lard off
cdn.smosh.com
“Lexophiles describe those that have a love for words, such as “you can tune a piano, but you can’t tuna fish”, or “to write with a broken pencil is pointless.” A competition to see who can come up with the best lexophiles is held every year in an undisclosed location. This year’s winning submissions are listed below, so laugh, smile, or go hysterical….but have a good day…….Enjoy!! . … A thief who stole a calendar got twelve months.”
… When the smog lifts in Los Angeles U.C.L.A.
… The batteries were given out free of charge.
… A dentist and a manicurist married. They fought tooth and nail.
… A will is a dead giveaway.
… With her marriage, she got a new name and a dress.
Filed under Funny Signs - Humor
Greetings of Grace
http//viola.bz/oshibana-art-by-tatiana
Filed under Creativity, pressed flower art
Car Wreck Doctor
MEDICAL EXAMS Doug Powell via Marsha Koenig
One day I had to be the bearer of bad news when I told a wife that her husband had died of a massive myocardial infarct. Not more than five minutes later, I heard her reporting to the rest of the family that he had died of a ‘massive internal fart.’
Submitted by Dr. Susan Steinberg
During a patient’s two week follow-up appointment with his cardiologist, he informed me, his doctor, that he was having trouble with one of his medications. ‘Which one?’ I asked. ‘The patch… The Nurse told me to put on a new one every six hours and now I’m running out of places to put it!’ I had him quickly undress and discovered what I hoped I wouldn’t see. Yes, the man had over fifty patches on his body! Now, the instructions include: “Please remove the old patch before applying a new one.” Submitted by Dr. Rebecca St. Clair, Norfolk, VA
While acquainting myself with a new elderly patient, I asked, ‘How long have you been bedridden?’ After a look of complete confusion she answered .’ Why, not for about twenty years – when my husband was alive.’
Submitted by Dr. Steven Swanson – Corvallis, OR
Filed under Favorite Quotes, Funny Signs - Humor
“Surveillance on Lake” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Two Ladies” – Paul Militaru Photography
“White Seagulls” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
ShangralaFamilyFun.com
Yesterday was a much-needed day of sloth for me.
Our good plumber had a guy call us regarding putting a snake into our clean-out pipe in the front. He came about 3pm and was gone 15 minutes, our problem fixed. The last time we needed this was in 2015 (my husband checked his log). We had to pay a fortune because we – and the guy – had to FIND the clean-out pipe. It wasn’t where we thought it was, and was buried after many years of things moving, shifting, and settling around here. After finding it, we added to the pipe so it sticks up out of our gravel. Some people might call this ‘ugly,’ but ugly is certainly in the eye of the beholder. Since our bill was about 1/3 of what it was last time, we call it, ‘beautiful.’
The only other significant thing I did was gather books and take a donation to our local library.
We are hopefully having our last day of rain and drizzles – looking forward to two or THREE days of sunshine! (THANKS to those of you who were still doing a rain dance for STOPPING!)
Since I’m not planning on diving into another purge/clean-out project today, I’m going to concentrate on getting back to my regular exercising regimen – walking, the elliptical trainer, and stretching via yoga. With all the cleaning, I haven’t done this and my poor old body is feeling it. I’m hoping that getting into my usual rhythm will loosen me up and ease my old woman’s pains.
‘Have-to’s’ and’ need-to’s,’ as well as ‘should’s’ have accumulated while my attention was elsewhere, so I’ll use today to see how many of those I can check off my list.
I wish you a happy, productive day – or give yourself permission for a wonderful day of sloth.
Daisies Original Pressed Flower Art by Organic Art Wow-Etsy
Floral Collage-Etsy
Filed under Creativity, pressed flower art
White Background
MEDICAL EXAMS Doug Powell via Marsha Koenig
“Man comes into the ER and yells . . .’My wife’s going to have her baby in the cab.’ I grabbed my stuff, rushed out to the cab, lifted the lady’s dress and began to take off her underwear. Suddenly I noticed that there were several cabs – – – and I was in the wrong one.” ~ Submitted by Dr. Mark Mac Donald, San Francisco
“At the beginning of my shift I placed a stethoscope on an elderly and slightly deaf female patient’s anterior chest wall. ‘Big breaths,’. . I instructed. ‘Yes, they used to be,’. ..replied the patient. ” ~ Submitted by Dr. Richard Byrnes, Seattle, WA
Filed under Favorite Quotes, Funny Signs - Humor
CNN.com
“Fill your house with stacks of books, in all the crannies and all the nooks.” — Dr. Seuss
“I’m wondering what to read next.” — Matilda, Roald Dahl
“Reading should not be presented to children as a chore or duty. It should be offered to them as a precious gift.” — Kate DiCamillo
“Books make great gifts because they have whole worlds inside of them.” — Neil Gaiman
Filed under Encouragement, Favorite Quotes, Reading is FUNdamental
creativeartworksblog 