Thanks to The Riflebird via The Kakapo via Ann Gilstrap
Filed under Awe-Inspiring Photography, holidays
thanks to The Riflebird via The Kakapo via Ann Gilstrap
Filed under holidays
Fort Smith AR Nat’l Cemetery
My friend, Carla, and I went this morning to lay a wreath at her husband’s grave in the Fort Smith, Arkansas National Cemetery. Volunteers spent hours yesterday tying bows to the wreaths and more volunteers trucked them around the cemetery. Family members came this morning to put a wreath on their loved one’s grave. The wreaths will be up until January 2nd, I think, and then more volunteers will gather them, take the bows off, and store things away until next time. Burials are free for veterans and their spouses. A wonderful tribute to our brave men and women in uniform and their families.
We went to a local Fort Smith restaurant for brunch and good conversation after that. Also – to warm up a bit! The temperature was in the low 50s when we left this morning. By the time I got home, it was in the low 40s with a raw, cold wind. It’s supposed to go down to 16 tonight with a chance of light snow…
After brunch we went to one of our favorite places – Hobby Lobby. Neither of us needed anything, but that was beside the point. We both bought things that made us smile.
I got this metal sign for my husband. I hung it on the wall above our kitchen calendar so we’ll see it every day.
I guess these are made of some sort of treated paper, but I’ve never seen any Christmas ornaments like this before. I got two beige ones, like the one above, and two pale green ones, like the one below. Each of them has pearls and lots of sparkly glitter.
This sweet seahorse painting was on sale, and I couldn’t resist it. :0)
This picture doesn’t do this ornament justice. It’s super sparkly silver and simple glistens when light hits it. I just love it.
Finally, the next two pictures are of Carla’s present to my husband and me.
This is an electric cool mist diffuser. You can change the color! It has red, green, purple, blue, white, and more, I think. You fill it with water, drop in a few drops of essential oil in whatever aroma you like and turn it on. The mist goes up in a small column straight up from the center of the top. It turns itself off automatically when the water has been used up. So it’s very festive, plus adds needed moisture to the air. What a wonderful gift!
Yesterday I turned it to the purple setting, and today I changed it to red. I LOVE IT!
When we were on the way home, Carla stopped at her house so I could see her new rabbit. It’s about 12″ from nose to tail and she says it’s calico colored. I would describe it as a really soft between a mauve and caramel color. He likes to be petted! So far, Carla hasn’t been able to hold him, but hopefully, that will come soon. She’s added this new member of the family to her dog and two cats. :0)
I called my husband, who met us at Carla’s. We and her close neighbor were able to help her get a huge outdoor hutch out of the back of her truck and set it beside her shop. She’s planning to start raising rabbits in the future. For the winter, the rabbit is living in an indoor hutch inside the house. All the animals seem to be co-existing without problems, though the dog tends to sit right beside the hutch with her nose as close to the rabbit as she can get. The rabbit seems oblivious…
I got home and put all my new goodies away. Now I’m happy to hole up in my warm house while the weather outside deteriorates.
Filed under Friendship, holidays
Wikipedia
My husband’s firm opinion is that Campbell’s Soup is the best and that no one should even try to compete. He ate his words – as well as the soup – last night! :0)
The recipe is for “Minestrone” and the source is Low Carb Recipes for Diabetics by Don Orwell.
He looks as food as medicine. He promotes what he calls Super Foods that boost immunity, promote weight loss, and slow aging. This is the first of his recipes we’ve tried, and we’re really impressed.
The Minestrone Recipe serves 8 to 10. It’s sugar fee, gluten free, dairy free, egg free, and nut free. So what’s left? Really good soup!
Ingredients:
Instructions:
Put all ingredients in the slow cooker and cook on low for 6 hours
NOTES: (MINE)
I really liked this soup, but I’m much easier to please than my husband. HE liked it, too. He requested we eat some of the leftovers tonight, along with garlic bread made with our new low carb bread. He sounded surprised when he told me it was “good – really good,” and then mentioned it again when we were cleaning up. I have two large glass bowls of soup left. I’m thinking that I’ll serve one of them for us tonight and freeze the other to enjoy later.
Filed under Cooking/Recipes/Low Carb Lifestyle, DIET!
Thanks to The Riflebird via The Kakapo via Ann Gilstrap
Filed under holidays
Police office put handcuffs on, linking himself to the would-be jumper
New Tires for Truck
Filed under kindness, making a difference
Talia Magazine Basket
West Elm
Zulu Liala Palm African Basket – FairTradeGifts
Filed under Beautiful Baskets, Creativity
“Joy on the Lake” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
Seth Godin via Higher Perspective via Bill Lites
Thanks to Higher Perspective via Bill Lites
Filed under Think Life Differently
AnimalWallpapers – DesktopNexus
I’m finally getting my eating after dinner until better control, though I have to admit it’s a fight, one night after the next.
I’m doing a combination of
My scale is beginning to show a downward movement again, although I’m still re-losing the weight I thought was gone.
I’m feeling good about my yoga practice.
Bajiroo.com
Most every day I’m doing two 1/2 hour sections of the DVD set “Gentle Yoga.” Today I just finished “Legs,” and “Overall Flow.” I’m beginning to feel looser. I’m beginning to be able to sit with my knees bent, feet under me, without my feet cramping so much, and without the tops of my thighs screaming. I may never be able to bend over and touch my fingers to the floor, but I’m stretching the right muscles to do so. When my back is hurting, I now know that doing yoga will make it feel better. I’m also learning to relax at the end of the sections for 5 minutes, something I feel REALLY hard to do at the beginning. AND, I can now lie on my back on the floor and put my hands over my head and touch the floor behind me – something that was impossible in the beginning.
I’m pairing the yoga practice with some exercises for my abdomen. I’m hoping all this will come together gradually to impress my tape measure, too.
Today I made a new recipe for dinner – Low Carb Minestrone. My husband came in while I was avidly chopping up veggies and said he thought it was good I was making Beef Stew. I told him it was Minestrone. He said, “But it has beef in it, doesn’t it?” I told him it didn’t have ANY meat in it. He looked disappointed, and asked, “But COULD it have some beef in it?” At that point I relented and added some leftover roast beef to the mix. I’ll let you know what we think tomorrow.
I hope your day has been fun.
Filed under Acting Like a Grownup, Attitude, Challenges, Changes, DIET!, exercise
“HO, HO, HO! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
Filed under holidays, Lewis Art, Lewis Mailbox Decorations
I had a fun afternoon painting.
I did some hand-painted note cards for 8 of my friends. (Those are drying overnight.). Then I went out to the shop to work on the Taylor’s shovel bird again. (I can’t remember WHAT, but something fell on him and broke his head off. We put him – and his head – in the car after we took the Taylors home from bowling Monday night.
Yesterday my husband was able to weld his head back on. Today I touched up the paint and replaced one eye that had fallen off in transport. (It’s drying overnight.) We’ll hope to return him to his new home NEXT Monday evening.
I got a huge surprise in the mail today. My husband took one look at the box and began to grin.
I opened the box to find a HUGE, glorious drawing set!
The set comes in a nice box.
I’m beyond thrilled. There are regular colored pencils, pastel pencils, watercolor pencils, then pastel chalks, charcoal, erasers, a sharpener, and more. When things finally tame down around here, I’m really looking forward to trying things out! YIPPEEEEEE!
Filed under Delightful Surprises
This is the really crazy time of the year when I meet myself coming and going, feel guilty when I’m doing one thing when I should be doing another…
Last night I couldn’t sleep. I really tried, and then came downstairs. Usually I read awhile, but last night – since I couldn’t sleep because I couldn’t turn my brain off – running through what I needed to be doing, I got our Christmas cards ready to mail. I finished about 3a.m.
Yesterday I spent all afternoon cleaning off the deck and front porch and putting trash bags over the planters in preparation for winter. I’m happy that that chore is now done, but it put me behind on all the rest of the stuff I NEED to do!
Now I can put a check mark beside –
I’m ALMOST to the point after working this morning where I can check off getting Christmas presents ready for my good friends. (I’m going to paint 24 note cards today and tomorrow to finish up the group.)
I’m also continuing to work on clearing off my desk and reorganizing the office shelves.
I’m heading up to my art room to get started on the note cards.
Are YOU having a good day?
Filed under Acting Like a Grownup, holidays, Housekeeping - Maintenance
Viral Spell
I feel as if I’m 108 years old right now!
I’ve just come in from getting the front porch and deck ready for winter.
The last freeze we had killed the impatiens on the front porch and all the remaining plants on the deck. We’re supposed to have rain tomorrow (much needed) along with a cold front and much cooler weather, then a couple of days in the 40s followed by another, stronger cold front. I decided to use this last remaining day of temperatures in the 50s to get the last things taken care of.
I moved the deck furniture onto our screened back porch where they’ll avoid the worst of the weather. I emptied all the planters. I moved the smaller ones onto the porch and covered the rest with trash bags and duct tape. It now looks kind of forlorn on the porches and the deck, but I’m hoping that I’ve protected things enough they’ll come through the winter without harm.
I’m going to go put my feet up after starting another pot of coffee. When I get rested, I’ll put a meatloaf and salad together and call it a day.
I hope YOUR day was productive and fun.
GifAbyss-AlphaCoders
I’ve always wanted to make a gingerbread house. I tried to get my mom to make one with me when I was a child. She had no interest in it.
When I got married, I thought I would make one just for myself and our visitors at Christmas, but somehow, it never happened.
When I was a teacher in Tulsa, Oklahoma, I thought about making a gingerbread house with my 1st grade students. It never happened because (1) it was logistically difficult since essentially everything had to be baked my me at my home and then the gingerbread and all the supplies for making the house would have had to be transported to the school. I was already getting in trouble for playing my guitar at school to teach my kids phonics (I was told, “Ms. Lewis, this is NOT a music class!) plus other reasons…
When our son was old enough to be counting the days ’til Christmas, I thought he and I might make one together. I discovered that HE had no interest in the project…
THIS YEAR –
Zen to Zany via Cathy Ruggiero
Being a friend means a lot more than sharing fun times.
Sometimes it means saying, “No,” when you think the favor asked is a big mistake, even when it might end the friendship.
Sometimes it means being determined to celebrate a birthday even when they’ve told you they don’t want you to remember it.
Sometimes it means dropping everything and being there.
Being a friend is a 24/7 thing, complete with big hugs, laughs and tears.
If you’re lucky enough to have special friends, do everything in your power to cherish them.
Filed under Friendship
AuntyAcid via Ged Backland 2016 via Stephanie Youmans Wilson
Filed under Attitude, Encouragement
“Puppy at Play – 7” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
Halton Basket – Crate & Barrel
Moses Basket – Overstock.com
Filed under Beautiful Baskets, Creativity
AwakeningPeople.com via Josh Mortensen via Laufrain Taylor
Filed under Attitude, Encouragement
Mirror
If you want to order a product for Christmas giving, please email me at linda@creativeartworks.cc before ordering so I can be sure that the products can be created and delivered before Christmas. A lot of my artists have hit their deadlines for Christmas – particularly if the product is made after it is ordered.
Things that have already been created may still be able to reach their destination by Christmas, so a quick email to me will result in happy results for everyone.
We wish you a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Filed under holidays
Wallpaper Safari
I’m a bit disappointed that I’m not going to try to make sugar cookies for the first time this year. I have what a I think is a really good recipe from a friend, plus cookie cutters I had ordered online, plus some icing in different colors. THEN we learned my husband has diabetes…
Neither of us NEEDS sugar cookies, so I’ll wait and try the cookies at another time when we can split ONE and then give the rest away.
Meanwhile, I found some pictures of some online that I absolutely love and wanted to share them with you.
I know a company who makes flat wooden designs. I’m thinking I’ll try to order some of their Christmas designs and then try to paint them to look like cookies for next year. I’m also thinking it would be fun to create some Christmas cards and other things using these ideas!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Filed under Creativity
This man gave the shoes off his feet to a homeless girl
Man missed his train helping a lady with her bags.
Motorcyclist helped man cross the street.
Filed under Uncategorized
creativeartworksblog 