“Christmas Eve” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under holidays, Paul Militaru Photography
“Christmas Tree” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under holidays, Paul Militaru Photography
Such an innocent, sweet puppy.
This is what I saw first when I went out to call Amber in this morning –
I picked it up and headed for the front porch to find –
(Only one head involved. I simply added it to the pieces for the pic before I got out the broom.)
SO –
I almost feel like we’re in the 12 ‘Weird’ Days of Christmas Song
________________
“On the first day of Christmas, sweet Amber gave to me – a hedgehog with a missing nose, not to be repaired.
On the second day of Christmas, sweet Amber gave to me – a duck with a bitten-off beak, not to be repaired.
On the third day of Christmas, sweet Amber gave to me – a completely smashed duck, not to be repaired.
And a par tri – idge in a pear treeeeee.”
__________________
I THOUGHT I had the duck in a safe place.
One can only wonder what will bite the dust next.
Poor doggie – she only has 85 (more or less) wonderful chew toys, plus sticks, plus another dog who likes to play sometimes, plus people who like to play sometimes…
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family
“Hello- 3 Days Left” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under holidays, Paul Militaru Photography
Amber wasn’t feeling cooperative in our efforts to dress her up for Christmas, but I managed to get a few pics anyway. This will be her first Christmas, but she’s much more excited about playing out in the rain than she is about Christmas decorations – trying to EAT them instead of wearing them…
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family, holidays
“Santa Claus” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under holidays, Paul Militaru Photography
Peter H. Stranks via pinterest.com
The Lunch Bunch group isn’t quite as old as these sweet women, but the feeling is the same.
We’ve been meeting for lunch on Friday at ‘The Barn” for about 30 years now. Each week we share what we’ve been doing, our plans, our dreams, and sometimes our heartbreaks. My husband has been officially inducted in the group, occasionally referring to us, as he sits at the head of the table, as his ‘harem.” He’s allowed to speak if he doesn’t get obnoxious… :0)
Today we’re celebrating Christmas together, exchanging gifts. My husband and I will wear our Santa hats to give everyone a giggle.
The group has changed over the years, It grows and then decreases on the number, but the core group has remained the same. It’s hard to believe how much of our lives we’ve shared. We’ve helped each other over the hard things and helped celebrate the good. We’ve laughed and hugged a lot. Friendships like these are amazing to me. I’m very lucky.
I hope that you have a good day today, too.
Filed under Friendship, holidays
Jimmy Leach via Michael Remillard
My friend Michael sent me an image of this gorgeous painting by his friend, Jimmy Leach. Apparently, Mr. Leach hasn’t gotten the memo that it’s impossible to paint snow…. I think it’s stunningly beautiful.
It reminds me of our driveway when we’re about halfway up. Our house would be just beyond the top of this….
Filed under Creativity, Oil Paintings I Love
I’m ambivalent about this being the first day of winter.
I love some things about winter –
We live on top of a ridge line in Greenwood, Arkansas. It’s good because we don’t have to worry about flooding. It’s bad when we have ice. Arkansas doesn’t ‘do’ winter well. Instead of having snow, we have sleet and ice first and THEN snow. We have snow tires on our Honda Ridgeline Truck, but they’re useless on ice. Our driveway is 650 feet or so and steep. When there is snow, we have little problem getting down and back up again. When it’s an ice skating rink, we might end up across the street in the field across from our place, and it’s impossible to get back up. We just have to stay home until all melts. Since our driveway is on the north side of our property, that could be a week or more after the rest of the area has forgotten about the inconvenience.
Because we might have trouble getting out and back in again, we spend a lot of time and effort preparing to spend a bunch of time up here, away from the rest of the world. We try to have back up systems so we have water and electricity. One year (I think it was 2000) we had a BAD ice storm. There were trees broken and down all over our property, including in our driveway all the way down. We stood on the front porch and listened to the awful sound of branches snapping like gunshots as they broke. The generator we had at the time blew a gasket. My husband and son rigged a big barrel outside the well house and filled it with water to try to cool the generator. We had to check it every half hour 24 hours a day. We were up here, trapped, for 14 days. No electricity. No public water. No way to get down to the road. That makes you get really serious about preparing for whatever might happen.
I don’t like it when I have to worry about whether I can get to an appointment or not. Plans made during the winter make me nervous. I know that I can reschedule doctor appointments, and that friends and family will understand if we get trapped up here, but I don’t like worrying about whether we could get out or not if we really needed to.
I’m happy if I can stay home and just take some days off to enjoy the ice and snow up here and it doesn’t bother anyone else. I can just decide to stay up here ‘until further notice,’ make snow angels, snow people, have a snowball fight, see how our animals react to the white stuff, and make some hot chocolate and some beef stew with garlic bread…..
Filed under Mother Nature, security, taking care of yourself
diyntetwork
I wish that my greenhouse looked like this. Maybe one day…
Right now it looks like big piles of ‘stuff’ on the floor, on the tables, all over the place.
I’m starting to find some ideas, though.
I’ve got a couple of things that take priority right now, but very soon I’m going to start trying to move things so that I have a good place to plant my seeds in March.
I’ve already learned from the beginner’s book I got on greenhouses a whole different way to start my seeds. I may be able to lose my “Serial Seed Killer” moniker, after all!
Meanwhile, the elephant ear and purple passion roots are safe in the garage, packed in peat moss for the winter. I learned that the greenhouse will definitely get below freezing without a heater. That’s okay. One lesson learned of many to come.
What I CAN do is –
I’ll take pics as I go. If you have suggestions, I’d be delighted if you’d write and tell me.
Have a wonderful Thursday!
Love Style Video via Garry Campbell
This is very, very important, and yet difficult to do – at least for me. When someone talks to me, I relate to what they’re saying because of something that has happened to me. I feel the need to share it with them. In face, I’m SO eager to share it with them, I have sometimes interrupted them!
When I realized what I was doing, I was mortified. I was giving my friends and family the idea that I felt what “I” was saying was more important. The fact that I don’t feel this way at ALL, really makes no difference. It’s not your INTENT – it’s what you DO that counts.
I first realized this tendency when I listened to my mom visiting with friends, or when she would come home from visiting. She would tell me about her visit, but all she talked about was what SHE said – how SHE felt. I would ask her questions about what the person was doing and she glossed over it. She didn’t know. It’s EASY to see this in others. I was really upset when I saw it in MYSELF.
In an effort to be a better listener, I now go with the idea that I want to be able to tell myself or someone else what the person I’m visiting with has been doing. I concentrate on asking questions about what they are telling me, rather than telling them something about myself. I want to know how they’re feeling. If they’re not feeling well, I want to know why. I want to know what they’re doing about it, and if there is any way I can help them. It’s what I’ve always wanted to know, but I was so busy blabbing that it got glossed over. :0(
I want to SHOW my family and friends that I’m interested in THEM. I want to know much more about how and what they’re doing than I did before I visited with them. I already know what “I’M” doing. If they would like to know what’s happening with me, they’ll ASK. :0)
Family and friends are the richness of life. Make it a point to listen to UNDERSTAND.
Filed under Attitude, Family, Friendship
FunnyNeel
I had a good day yesterday.
I had my regular breakfast (low carb and protein-rich). We went to Subway for lunch. I got a double chicken bacon ranch salad. I ate half of it for lunch. I drank my Meta Appetite Control powder stuff mid afternoon. (The only bad thing is that it’s 11 carbs, and I get 40 for the day). I ate the rest of the salad for dinner. And then I had an orange dream bar. I was way under my 1200 calories for the day and was under my 40 carbs.
Since my husband is enjoying getting something for lunch out, rather than my fixing our lunch at home, my new plan is to decide what we’ll have for dinner based on what we had for lunch, rather than planning it all out and then having to regroup, feeling a loss of control. Example: if we eat heavier at the deli, we’ll eat a salad for dinner. I feel good knowing that the Meta drink will help me manage my raging appetite.
I felt good being in better control yesterday. When I eat right and exercise, I feel that I’m taking better care of myself. I hadn’t felt that in a while – or only sporadically – so the new start feels good.
Today will be Day 2.
Filed under Acting Like a Grownup, DIET!, exercise
“Christmas Ornaments” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under holidays, Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Creativity, snow people
revisorhelsingborg.se
I’m making it through lunch just fine on my low carb eating. THEN I fall apart. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I’m disgusted that making it through an entire day seems to be so much of an EVENT. :0( For some reason, my brain and body seem to think I’m starving to death. I’m a bottomless pit with appetite enough for 3 or 4 hungry folks.
I have some Meta Appetite Control Dietary Supplement Sugar-Free, Orange Zest powder that I’m going to start using today. You mix it into at least 8 oz of water. I’m planning to drink some mid afternoon or later to see if that, along with the willpower I thought I had been building, will help.
I’m also going to start doing my elliptical trainer and yoga later in the day, hoping the activity will get my mind off food.
I don’t know why I’m having such a hard time getting back on track, but the least little excuse causes me to derail – eat for 6 – then get even more disgusted before trying again. I WILL DO THIS!
coolfunnyquotes.com
Filed under Attitude, Challenges, Changes, DIET!, exercise
onelittleproject.com
Filed under Creativity, playing with your food?
forest waterfall-www.topalski.com
Filed under Creativity, water paintings
“Falling Rain” – quotesgram.com
We had a bit of drizzle, and sprinkling on the windshield as we went to town for errands yesterday. Then we had a more serious rain late yesterday afternoon. The intermittent rain is still going today. We really need it. We’re in a drought and under a burn ban. I’m not even complaining as I stand outside in the rain waiting for the doggies to take care of things. :0)
I’m especially grateful because we have an excellent chance of a cold front with rain that MAY change to flurries this weekend! A double gift from Mother Nature for sure if we get more good rain PLUS a pretty, white Christmas with snow that will look pretty, but not cause problems on the road. The very BEST kind of snow!
__________________
Yesterday I consolidated two notebooks of low carb recipes into one, plus punched holes into a whole stack of recipes I printed from the net and put them into the notebook. Now I have all the loose recipes in one place, organized so there is hope of finding the one I’m looking for again! I have the notebook on the kitchen desk along with the most used low carb recipe books.
Today’s project is moving my warm weather clothes OUT and my cool weather clothes INTO my closet.
balletpumpsandroses.com
If I finish that, my poor little duck and hedgehog yard ornaments are awaiting possible repair after our 81 pound lab puppy, Amber, bit off beak and nose respectively. I have some pieces I retrieved from the yard, along with the critters, but I’m not sure I have enough for a full repair. Fingers crossed.
I hope that your day is productive and fun.
“Ho Ho Ho – Six Days Left” – Paul Militaru Photography
There is nothing that can be compared to a young child counting off the days ’til Christmas, or the experience of celebrating Christmas with young ones. Admittedly, it all looks different now as I look back on it.
I remember as a child thinking that time moved in slow motion as Christmas approached. I was so excited I had trouble sleeping. I loved everything about that time of the year – hoping for a white Christmas, singing all my favorite songs in the choir at the church services, helping my dad choose the tree we brought home to decorate. I remember my mom carefully taking out the most treasured ornaments, telling us the story that went with each one as she hung them on the tree. We were allowed to hang the unbreakable ones. (Somehow as the days passed, the tree became more balanced looking in where the ornaments hung.) My dad was in advertising and had lots of clients. My parents were flooded with gorgeous Christmas cards from a gazillion people, plus ones from relatives we rarely saw. My mom kept the cards in a big basket on the coffee table and I spent a lot of time looking at them and reading the notes.
Our neighbors would all get together on Christmas Eve to walk around the neighborhood singing Christmas carols at each house and then trying to get the people inside to join us. By the end of the caroling, we were all happy and frozen. We walked back to our house where my mom made lots of hot chocolate while my dad made sure anyone preferring something stronger was served. We only saw these people once a year, having our separate, busy lives – but that one night a year our house danced with laughter.
We got to open one gift on Christmas Eve, and then it was off to bed, everyone pretending we would go to sleep quickly. And then it was morning and one of my dad’s stretchy socks was at the end of the bed, filled with goodies. I truly loved that part of Christmas. I couldn’t believe that Santa knew me so well, filling the sock with all kinds of little toys, chocolate bars, little tools I could use, and more.
I remember one Christmas when I got the most beautiful pullover sweater that was ever made. It was made from angora yarn and was the softest shade of pink you’ll ever see. It was softly, femininely fuzzy all over and I felt like a princess whenever I wore it.
Another Christmas my brother and I got ‘racing’ three-speed bicycles and we were never seen again….. At least until we got hungry.
And then we had the privilege of seeing Christmas through our son’s eyes – much the same, and yet all new. We so enjoyed decorating, finding presents, trying to get them wrapped and under the tree in secrecy – seeing the joy in his eyes as he opened the boxes, listening to him laugh.
Now Christmas is a bit bitter-sweet, with most of our family gone. It’ll just be my husband and me this year. I never quite caught the decorating bug this year, choosing instead to get my enjoyment from seeing my friends open the things I’ve made or bought for them, seeing the Christmas lights of others as we travel in the evenings, listening to Christmas carols on my earphones as my husband naps.
One thing won’t ever change. I still believe in Santa Claus.
Filed under holidays, Paul Militaru Photography
“Beyond Appearances” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Stones” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
ArturoSamaniego-www.agora-gallery.com
I’ve told you before that painting water or snow is impossible – yet, to my intense awe and delight – some talented people manage to do it.
Filed under water paintings
My favorite bird feeder was damaged – this time beyond repair – so we went on a hunt for a replacement today.
Thankfully, we found one almost just like the one that was damaged. We like this design because it has plexiglass sides that make the place where you put seeds, and it has two holders for suet, one on each end. It’s easy to fill because the whole top lifts up and moves to the side. There are lots of spaces for hungry birds to sit while they eat.
We got this filled and put up, only to have it crash to the ground immediately! Whoever made this thing didn’t install the cord efficiently, so it came apart the minute we tried to hang it. We retrieved it, took it back to the garage for another fill, and put it up. We’re due for some freezing temperatures later this week – starting on Friday, so I’ll put the suet in the holders just before then.
We usually put out sunflower seed, but some of our visitors like the smaller, round seed. We have this tall feeder on one end of the deck, plus the cute little bell made from seed we got today. The shovel bird to the right of this picture is the place a bunch of our birds like to eat, so my husband puts sunflower seeds in the shovel part for them.
Here’s another view of some of the feeders. We put up the snowman feeder this time of year. The birds really like it. I need to fill it every day or so.
Here’s a close up of the snowman feeder. I love it that it’s not only cute, it’s easy to fill and the birds like it.
To the right of the snowman feeder is another one that holds sunflower seeds. We fill the one on the post to the right of this picture for the squirrels.
Most of the time when it’s cold we have quite a feast for the eyes as we watch the sweet birds and squirrels enjoy the seeds at breakfast.
Filed under Amazing Animals, Mother Nature
The last big area that needed bailing out around here at the moment is my counter top in the garage. The area is difficult because I have bulbs in peat moss overwintering, a whole huge basket filled with iris rhizomes waiting for early spring to be planted somewhere, stuff brought in from the front porch, else. It’s also the area where my husband has decided is the extra storage for pop, tea, wine, beer, water, etc.
At least now there is a clean area of counter top between stuff that needs to be up off the ground so the doggies can’t get them and part of the drinks area. And the counter top is actually shiny!
To the left of this picture is my elliptical trainer, now being used for at least 15 minutes daily. There is a fan attached to the wall in front of the trainer that I can turn on when it’s too warm in the garage. Now I’m wearing a vest at least part of the time because we’ve had a cool spell lately. It’s funny that this is the only place we could put the trainer. It has to be on concrete or hard flooring without rugs or carpet. We didn’t want it in the kitchen, pantry, dining area or utility room, so this was the only space left. It’s only a bit difficult when we’re having weather extremes.
Filed under exercise, Housekeeping - Maintenance, I'm a slob
creativeartworksblog 