“Mona – When She Was a Baby” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Amazing Animals, Paul Militaru Photography
Funny Junk
My husband has coined a new word – “Yoge.” It’s a verb for practicing yoga.
I haven’t been able to yoge since last Sunday. I did “something” that caused my back to hurt so badly that I was on the heat pad, pain pills, and finally a pain patch before I finally got things to loosen up. Happily, I’m at about 90% today – a HUGE improvement!
So today – when my husband asks, “Are you going to yoge today?” my answer will be an enthusiastic, “YES!” :0)
Filed under Awe-Inspiring Photography, exercise
123RF.com
One of my friends gave me the URL to a blog post she liked.
I read it and cried. I bookmarked the site and subscribed because the post was so well-written and down-to-earth about things and people in the south. (This is amazing because I’m a Northerner.) Every day I have one post in my inbox. And every day the post grabs me. I can’t help but react. I smile, relating to something he says. I tear up because he tells me about good things people do. I laugh out loud because he’s a real story-teller and I can SEE the funny situation and relate because it’s so true.
I suggest that you go to Sean of the South.
If you like what you read, sign up and you’ll receive a gift every morning from Sean Dietrich. :0)
Filed under Blog Repost - Wonderful Posts, Bright Ideas
Sark via Whispers of the Soul via Carol Auclair Daly
Filed under Encouragement, Friendship
HomesFeed
I’ve told you that I’m a slob and that housekeeping rates priority only above bookkeeping and tax prep.
Yesterday I finally vacuumed my first floor tiles. This is a big thing for me, because doing this involves
Then I mopped with a nice solution of white vinegar, baking soda, dishwashing liquid and lots of warm water. Today I’ve just finished applying Rejuvenate, a new-t0-me floor cleaner that is supposed to do a really good job on tile. When that dries, I’ll put on a super thin layer of shine. Then I can ignore the floor again for a time before I have to move everything out again and start over. (Two days if I’m lucky)
With two messy people, two slobbering dogs, and two cats who shed as they walk across the floor, trying to keep things reasonably clean around here is a definite challenge – particularly for a slob like me.
My husband insists that I am able to shoot an intruder, change a tire, clean outside lint traps, mow the lawn, etc., but insists he is unable to tell one end of the vacuum from the other. He ‘cannot see’ a giant hairball as it slides across the room when the door is opened. He doesn’t realize we have a mop. He’s wonderful in LOTS and LOTS of ways, but he considers cleaning and cooking to be MY things.
As soon as the floor dries, I’ll hit it with a bit of shine and then insist my husband ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ several times during the day and evening ( assuming we haven’t already spilled stuff and the dogs and cats stayed outside…)
Filed under Challenges, Housekeeping - Maintenance, I'm a slob
Crafthubs
I’m not feeling like a spring chicken today, but I’m MUCH, MUCH better. This is the first day since Sunday I haven’t headed for the Ibuprofen upon awakening, followed by a direct route to my recliner and heat pad, plus the use of a pain patch yesterday.
I’m still old, but I’m definitely kickin’. I’m planning to do some careful, slow yoga stretches on my own this afternoon to see if I can loosen myself up and take the last of the back pain away. (Thinking that the firmness of my mattress may be a factor (and being grateful we have a Sleep Number Bed competitor) I made the mattress more firm this morning and will try that for the next few nights.
I studied my All New Square Foot Gardening, 2nd Edition book, by Mel Bartholomew, for what I can plant when in my totally raised bed garden this year!
We live in Zone 7 and the average last frost date is April 10th. My books say I can plant onions, broccoli and spinach four weeks from the average frost date, or March 10th. My husband (who thinks the average frost date data is nuts) says HE thinks I should plant next week. (My husband and I don’t even use the same SALT, so we have some lively discussions around here.:0) )
We’ve decided to go ahead and plant the one bunch of Sweet Georgia Onion sets we got NEXT week and see what happens. If we get a killing frost, we’re out $2.00 plus my time in planting. If things continue to go well, I’ll get some broccoli plants and see what else I can find…
Meanwhile, I can’t find anything at all in the book about celery, so I’ll look for information elsewhere.
These photos were taken this morning. The above are on the divider between our kitchen and dining area. I’m changing the water daily and delighting in each vestige of green that emerges.
These two plants were moved from glasses to tsoil on the window sill about a week ago.
These two plants are the oldest. If they survive, I’ll plant them in the garden about mid-March, I think. (I may change that when I find information on the net.)
Nothing at all is happening with the spinach seeds yet. Not one teeny sprout yet. They’re on the dining table where they get sun most of the day. I’ll just wait and hope.
MrWallpaper.com
Today I got some pain patches to try on my back. Added to the Ibuprofen and heat pad, I hope it will do the trick.
I’m doing better, but I’m not my normal BUBBLY self by any means.
Since I’m not completely incapacitated, my husband and I will try to change out the ducting for our dryer later today. We read in Handy Man magazine that the one we’re using is not the best for preventing a lint fire. We have the best outside hookup for lint you can buy (having read about THAT last year.). I also hand wash the dryer filter once a month with lots of soap and hot water, as suggested elsewhere.
The last piece of the puzzle is the ducting stuff. We hadn’t even thought of that, so we picked up the semi-rigid aluminum system they recommended and will get it installed ASAP.
Before and after this installation, the heat pad and I will get cozy.
Hope your day is a good one.
Filed under Acting Like a Grownup
http://www.motherofahubbard.com via Two Women and a Hoe via Cathy Ruggiero
I was born in Chicago, Illinois several years ago. :0) We then moved to Long Island, New York. I have only vague memories of the house we lived in. When I was 5, we moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma. My family didn’t grow things. My earliest memory of a plant was the cactus my mother planted by the house. I became aware of it intimately when I was trying to get our cat to come to me. I was bending over in the foliage around the house, lost my balance and SAT on the cactus plant. My mom was upset with me for sitting on her plant…
The Lewises lived on the next street over. In second grade I was in love with one of their sons. My best friend was in love with him, too. We had a fight on the playground over him and ended up in the principal’s office. There was a contest for 2nd grade king and queen. He, of course, was king. My friend and I vied for ‘queen.’ The prize went to another friend, whose name was prophetically Linda QUEEN…
I met my husband-to-be, the oldest Lewis son, when I was 14. When we were dating, I visited his parents often. His mom had a vegetable garden. I recognized the tomato plants, which happily had nice red tomatoes growing, but I was totally ignorant, otherwise. I felt like a child at Christmas, looking in amazement at actual plants that became ‘food.’ I KNEW, of course, where vegetables came from (in general) but I had never seen any of them growing. My mother-in-law-to-be gave me a tour of the garden, showing me which group of plants was which. I’ll never forget my fascination. I just couldn’t get enough. I decided, while I was in the garden, that I really wanted one of my own someday.
Umpteen years later I finally am enjoying my chance. I’m still fascinated watching things grow. Right now I’m trying to grow celery on the window sill.
This shows you two stages of trying to grow celery indoors. The two glasses in the foreground are the newest. I cut them off the stalks I bought at the grocery store Sunday and put them in water. The one in the back has been growing a few days now. (I had to throw one away. Sometimes the bottom of the stalk just seems to ‘sog.’)
This is one of the two planters on the window sill. The little plant on the left side was just put into the soil last night.
These plants are about two weeks old. I LOVE watching them grow. I still have no clue if I’ll actually get celery or not, but it’s so much fun to watch!
Several days ago I started some spinach seeds in little peat pots and put them on the table in the sun. Nothing at ALL happened. I’m not sure if the seeds were too old, the peat pots too old, or I was “holding my mouth wrong,” but nothing was happening. I gave up on them and started some seeds this morning, using Mel’s Mix in three larger planters. I’m just hoping SOME of the seeds will sprout. I don’t care if I end up planting CLUMPS of spinach in the garden. I’ll want to harvest them individual leaves at a time, so it doesn’t really matter. Since I have a really hard time finding spinach plants to purchase in the spring or fall around here, I would be really happy if I can get some of these to grow. Maybe THIS time…
Filed under Gardening, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds
Right now there are two new categories of clearance items at Creative Artworks: Fun scarves and hand-painted soap bars.
“Softy” or “Splash” Fun Scarves by Linda Lewis
These are hand-crocheted super-long skinny scarves designed to wrap around your neck several times or around your waist as a fashion statement. They have long, fun fringe, too, to help you play.
The ones above are just two samples of the scarves on sale. Usually, they’re $30, but they’re on sale now at half price. PLUS, as always at Creative Artworks, shipping is free to the contiguous United States.
Also on sale are hand-painted bars of soap!
“Little Dove” Hand-Painted Soap Bar by Linda Lewis
Fun bars of soap to dress up your guest bath – to celebrate the coming spring, in the case above. Each bar is OOAK, using a Jergens Mild Soap bar. The top of each bar is hand-painted, then sealed with two coats of varnish. This allows the painting to remain for as long as possible while the bar is used as usual.
Usually the price if $5.50. Now $2.25 with free shipping.
See all scarves and soaps on clearance
Happy shopping!
Filed under Uncategorized
Blue Skies Chiropractic Health Center
For the past two days my back has been giving me fits.
I have no clue what happened. I’m pampering myself with Ibuprofen and time in my recliner with a pillow and a heat pad. It’s better, but I’m still walking funny.
When you have a part that hurts, you get a real appreciation for the muscles you use in everyday life. For example, I never realized how many BACK muscles you use when you sneeze…
Filed under Challenges
If you order quickly, you can still have the following in time for Valentine’s Day –
“Love is a Verb” Wall Art by Jane Loedding
“Valentine Candy” Hand-Painted Basket by Linda Lewis
“Memory Box” – Hand-Painted – “Heart” or “A Rose is a Rose” by Linda Lewis
“Be Mine” Hand-Painted Journal by Linda Lewis
“Love is All Around,” Hand-Painted Tote Bag by Linda Lewis
“Be Mine” Hand-Painted Tote by Linda Lewis
“Lovely Thoughts” Hand-Painted Journal by Linda Lewis
“Valentine’s Day” Hand-Painted Placemats by Linda Lewis
Order right away to be sure you have these items in time for gift giving.
Happy Valentine’s Day – Last Call!
Filed under Holiday Gift Ideas, holidays
Two one-of-a-kind pairs of toasting goblets for you and your love. The one above is called “Entwined Hearts”.
This one-of-a-kind pair is called, “Tied with a Bow.”
Each pair is frosted in a sand-blaster and then painted with metallic paint. The paint is cured in an oven so these are dishwasher safe.
HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!
Filed under Holiday Gift Ideas, holidays
AbsolutelyMadness.net
We’re having a really pretty day here today – sunny and 60s – a great day for anything one would care to do.
We just got back from grocery shopping. I plan to cook several things this afternoon in preparation for our week of low carb, no sugar eating, plus prep for our absolute SuperBowl splurge tonight of real spaghetti and Texas toast. :0)
I’m still feeling jubilant I finished our tax prep yesterday. It’s like the weight of the world has been lifted from my shoulders. I plan to spend part of the afternoon working on my website, Creative Artworks. (I’m changing some categories, updating some descriptions, adding and deleting products, and doing some rearranging so that visitors can find things more easily. I would love to have a search feature, but my son is in charge of major changes like that, and he’s across the world from us right now.
We’re hoping the SuperBowl game tonight is really close. I love nail-biting games, where you don’t know who will be the winner until the last play. I also tend to root for the underdog, so I’m going in rooting for the Falcons. That will change if the Patriots get behind. The best thing, in my mind, is when two closely matched, really good teams, have to really work. Fingers crossed!
I hope that you’re able to spend today doing something enjoyable.
Filed under Challenges, Changes, Childlike Fun
iStock by Getty Images via FreeImages.com
Hooraaaaaaay! I just finished my tax prep for 2016. All we need to do now is wait for our investment statement.
Every year I’m getting a bit better. I used to get completely stressed out, buried in paperwork, having trouble finding things, etc.
Now I have some folders right beside my computer where I keep most of the receipts I need. I also have a folder on my computer so I can keep track of online donations.
Our wonderful CPA sends us a workbook each year, showing what was listed for last year. By the time I’ve worked through that, all the receipts are gathered, totaled, and put into the envelope of ‘stuff’ to go.
I still procrastinate – still hate doing bookkeeping and tax prep – but I’m finally acting a LITTLE bit more like an adult about it now…
A huge weight has been lifted!!!!!!!
Filed under Acting Like a Grownup
artandcreativity.blogspot.com
The nice picture above is what I would LOVE to be doing today. I’ve only been able to make time ONCE to work on my Gingerbread Cookie themed wooden Christmas ornaments lately. Hopefully, that will change soon.
No rest for the wicked, though, so I’m stuck trying to get tax stuff together. I’m hoping to make really good progress on it today so that we can bag it up and dump it on our CPA soon.
It’s cold (37 degrees F.) gray and windy today, so I got a beef stew going in the slow cooker this morning. I’m also trying to get some spinach seeds going in an indoor planting system today. (I can’t easily find spinach plants in Greenwood or Fort Smith, so I’m again trying to get some started for the spring.) My sister-in-law correctly dubbed me the “Serial Seed Killer” several years ago, since I’ve tried and failed so many, many times. Hope springs eternal (to coin a phrase), though, so I’m trying again. Maybe I’ll be successful THIS time. Fingers crossed.
Yesterday we got a new Internet service. The company is called, WOW. Since we live on top of a ridge line on 8+ acres in the sticks outside Greenwood city limits, we feel lucky if we can get ANY Internet service. Things have improved over the years, though. We were on a satellite Internet system, which includes a latency factor. That means that you click on something, and there’s a discernible wait time. We also were using the best service possible in terms of how much data we could use per month. Most of the time, we had enough, but when we were trying to download a bunch of stuff (sometimes over and over to get something to work) or our son was visiting, we would run over out limit fast. Then we would have to send another $10, over and over again, until we got to the reset time of the month.
The WOW service includes NO contract and has NO cap on the amount of data. Hooray! It’s a radio frequency based system. We have good line-of-sight to the cell tower on one of the ridge lines behind the house, across the valley. So far, the only difference I’ve noticed is that it’s FASTER when I’m changing from one website to another (no latency!). I’m a happy camper today. We MIGHT even be able to watch a short video without the constant whirring symbol in the middle of the picture!
Must get back to tax prep now, but I hope you’re enjoying your weekend.
Filed under Acting Like a Grownup, Challenges, Changes
I told you recently that I decided to play during the winter, since I can’t start anything outside for a good while yet, trying to grow some celery. Someone on Facebook, I think, posted a video where you simply cut off the end of a bunch of celery you purchase at the store and put the bottom in a glass with some water. When it sprouts well, you then transfer it to soil.
The idea thing would be to transfer it to the garden. Since it’s February, I transferred it to a planter with Mel’s Mix in it and put it on my window sill. So far I have three plants in soil and three more in glasses of water on my divider.
The plant above was transferred two days ago.
These are the other two plants I’ve transferred to the window sill. They’ve been in the soil for over a week now, maybe closer to two weeks. They seem to be happy so far.
I have no clue whether these will continue to grow or not. It’s fun to watch them, though, and I’ll continue to try to grow them inside or outside, when spring comes. :0)
Filed under Gardening
Filed under Lewis Art, Lewis Mailbox Decorations
SusanWiggs.com – painting by Ebba Holm via Cathy Ruggiero
Filed under Reading is FUNdamental
Obvious Plant via Evie Zimmerman, trendingly.com
Filed under Amazing Animals, Grin for the Day
“Old age is not for sissies.” ~ Bette Davis
“Monkey Trouble” – Hollis J. Works
We set the alarm this morning so we could go to the bank and the court house before meeting our friends for Lunch Bunch.
We received a letter from our reverse mortgage people several weeks ago saying we were in arrears on our taxes for the year 2015, threatening us with all kinds of dire actions if we didn’t pay up. I dashed around looking for my receipt, but was unable to find anything. I called the assessors office and they confirmed they hadn’t received any payment from us. We leaped into the car, went to their office and paid our taxes – plus interest – plus penalty. :0( We copied everything and sent it certified mail to the reverse mortgage people. I apologized to my husband, saying I must be older and more doofus than I even knew, having forgotten to pay the taxes! My confidence was really shaken.
Yesterday I was doing more on our prep for taxes and FOUND the receipt for the tax payment from February, with a confirmation number from my online payment.
We went to the bank with the receipt and the other paperwork. The lady called somewhere, finally finding out that the electronic payment had been returned, due to a bad address on BillPay. She said they had sent me an email about it, and that it also should have shown online the next time I signed into BillPay.
The end result was that I had entered the address wrong into BillPay, picking up the physical address of the assessor’s office, rather than their post office box. DUH. I also didn’t see their email or notice anything on BillPay. I had found where the payment was listed on my bank statement, but hadn’t picked up that they had returned the money to my account when the check was returned on that same statement.
So – I feel better than I HAD paid the taxes when I was supposed to, but hadn’t been careful enough about the address I put in BillPay, missed the email, and hadn’t seen the detail on the bank statement. I haven’t completely lost it yet, but I’m playing with a less than full deck….
Bette Davis hit the nail on the head with her quote.
Filed under Acting Like a Grownup, Challenges, Changes
We had a glorious day yesterday – sunshine-y with temperatures in the mid 70s – unheard of for the first day of February. Abby went from lying upside down, lolling out of the cat bed ON TOP OF one of the dog bed, to making a nest in one of the pots I brought in from the deck to the back porch. We LOVE being able to open the back door and the front door, airing out the house.
Today we’re having more normal temperatures – mid 40s – but still really good. All the animals are opting for short runs outside followed by major naps inside. I just checked and have two dogs, two cats, and one husband all asleep in their various ‘nests’ of the moment. :0)
I planted one more celery plant in the dirt on a planter on the window sill. That makes three plants in the soil and 3 more in glasses of water. I’m having a great time, whether I end up with actual stalks of celery or not. I’m going to get ready to plant spinach plants very soon, hoping that my moniker of “Serial Seed Killer” no longer applies.
I’ve been a good girl today, finishing up our office deduction spreadsheet for taxes. Tomorrow I’ll tackle totaling up the rest of our deductions. Hopefully, we’ll be ready to dump everything on our wonderful CPA soon.
I’m going out to spend time on the elliptical now, and then will see about fixing us some lunch.
I hope YOU’RE having a happy, productive day, too!
Filed under Acting Like a Grownup, Amazing Animals
“Watchtower Guard” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
Obviously, I need to get some help for Abby. She just can’t handle the stress…..
Filed under Amazing Animals, Grin for the Day
Filed under Creativity, Oil Paintings I Love
“Race on the Lake” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
LA Zoo Signs via Evie Zimmerman, trendingly.com
Filed under Amazing Animals, Grin for the Day
creativeartworksblog 