“Warm Colors of Autumn – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
Roald Dahl, The Minipins via Encurious.com via Melissa A. Eastman
Filed under Favorite Quotes, Reading is FUNdamental
Sew Mama Sew
This picture gives you an idea of what my good friend Kay is making for her sister, who has Alzheimer’s. She showed it to us yesterday at Lunch Bunch, and I’ve had tears in my eyes off an on every time I think of it.
Kay’s sister is always doing something with her hands when Kay visits – folding a piece of paper, then unfolding it, worrying a thread she found, etc. Kay got the idea that she might enjoy a quilt that had lots of interesting and fun things to do, as well as serving as a lap robe in her chair.
There’s a
I may be forgetting something, but you get the idea. I’ve never heard of a more thoughtful gift, or one that shows more love and compassion.
Filed under Family
One set of shelves
Second set of shelves
Main part of bathroom – vanities are on the right. Closet is to the right, as well. Shower to the left.
Vanities with now clean/organized drawers!
Shower room – shower is to the right.
My closet.
The project took several days, but we spent several YEARS stuffing things into drawers and shelves. We can find everything now. Nothing falls on us when we open a door, cabinet door, or drawer. We actually have lots of places we can put things! It will take us a bit of time to get things as out-of-control as they were. The trash man will be impressed with the amount of ‘stuff’ we’re getting rid of this week. :0)
Babble
1Dental.com – Oh, Montreal Blog
Time Management Ninja
I’m into the home stretch now. The shelves have been cleaned out and reorganized. The drawers were completely emptied, cleaned, and reorganized. The shower has been scrubbed.
The whole bathroom and closet have been vacuumed.
Deviant Art
Duffel Blog
I have now mopped the floors and am waiting for them to dry.
The last steps will be to finish a bit more scrubbing, put the rugs back in, and vacuum them.
It will be good to have things clean and organized, at least in one room…
“Mona, My Friend” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
Environmental Services Ltd
The drawers are cleaned out and organized. A BUNCH of ‘stuff’ has been thrown away.
Now we’re down to the cleaning –
Assuming I live to tell the tale later today, I’ll share pics. Then, I’m hoping to do more yoga – but if not, there’s tomorrow…
Filed under Creativity, Grin for the Day
Oprah.com
Our master bath area has a main part, with vanities and a whirlpool tub, my walk-in closet, and a combination toilet/medicine cabinet/shower area. It doesn’t look QUITE this bad, but you get the picture of what a mess things are upstairs. I’m trying to gather my motivation to attack the problem as I type.
Yesterday I took EVERYTHING out of three large drawers beneath my sink. I’ve been stuffing things in the drawers for years, only getting appalled recently. I procrastinated for another long while, thinking about the fact that it was long past time to go through things. This week I did the two sets of shelves and the medicine cabinet, throwing away LOTS of stuff and reorganizing the rest.
I pooped out yesterday, running out of time and energy, and warned my husband that things were quite a mess in there, but that I would tackle it again today. He was amazed at how much ‘stuff’ came out of the drawers!
This morning before we joined our friends for Lunch Bunch, I pulled up the three smaller rugs and one larger rug, the runners under them that keep them from ‘traveling,’ and then got everything else up off the floor. I brought in the vacuum cleaner and brought up the mop and mop bucket in preparation.
I’ve run out of time to procrastinate, so I’ll finish this post and get to it.
I’ll try to post pics later today, assuming I’m successful in making sense of everything up there.
I hope that your day is filled with fun stuff today.
AskIdeas.com
A few weeks ago I ordered a 2-DVD set called, “Gentle Yoga.” I received it in the mail yesterday and thought I would listen to part of the first one today to get an idea of what I would be trying to do ‘soon.’
An hour later, I had listened to the introduction, which stressed that this yoga exercise was for people 60 and older, who had ‘issues’ of various types or had had surgery, sedentary folks, and those who had never done this before. That was encouraging! I also TRIED one section of the 1st DVD called “Neck and Shoulders.”
I have to admit I’m amazed. Although I’m not as flexible as I would like to be by a long shot, I was able to do everything the teacher asked. I just ‘did what I could do’ as she suggested on each of the poses, concentrating on BREATHING while in the poses and trying to relax into each stretch. We did things for the neck, shoulders and jaw. We ended the session stretched out, completely relaxed, for as long as we wanted.
I also have to admit that I guess I don’t really relax much. During the ending relaxing session, I kept opening my eyes to see if the session were over, and there was a beautiful moving picture of a nice stream in the middle of a beautiful green landscape with lots of trees. I did this three times before the session was actually over. A lesson in itself!
My neck and shoulders don’t feel as relaxed as they would if I had had a massage, but they definitely feel more relaxed, looser, and BETTER than they did when I started. AND, as I learn to do what she’s asking better and better, my results are supposed to improve.
My goal will be to do the first DVD, concentrating on neck and shoulders, joint mobility, and lower back one day, and then the 2nd DVD, concentrating on spinal health, hips/legs/balance, and overall flow the next day.
I feel excited about this. I know I need it, and that it can do me a lot of good. The teacher is very good, emphasizing that you just try each thing, doing the best you can each time, and not worry about anything. Even learn to take yourself less seriously.
My mantra of ‘be better than you were yesterday’ fits right in here!
Filed under exercise
Laila Ali via Akiva Huber
I’m going to print this one and hang it up so I see it over and over. I’m impatient by nature and have to really talk to myself (I know – I’m nuts) to keep going, whether I’m trying to lose weight and build strength and flexibility, undo several years worth of ‘stuffing’ things into drawers or onto shelves in our master bath, or get our garden and yard under control.
I’m looking at this as a character-building exercise, something that will make me a better person in the long run. I AM making progress on learning my own limitations as I age and modifying my expectations of what I can now do in a day. I still tend to overdo, spending the next day trying to recover. I’m learning to do projects in ‘sessions,’ stopping when I’m feeling overwhelmed, then doing another session until the job is done.
With my weight and strength, there is no time limit. This isn’t a ‘diet.’ It’s a lifestyle change. Now things are complicated because we need to do low or no sugar for my husband. It’s a worthy goal to achieve because it’ll do both of us good. I want my husband to live as long as he is able, feeling as good as possible. Scrambling to learn what I can do to help is something I really want to do. An example, I’ve discovered that avoiding gluten for him is counter-productive, since the gluten is offset by alcohol sugars and other additives. We MUST do a good job of reading labels!
On the master bathroom going through/throwing out/reorganizing/cleaning project – right now it looks as if a bomb exploded in there again, since I’ve emptied out my three large drawers and put things on the step that goes around or bathtub. I’ve already thrown a bunch away and plan to do more of that before deciding what do to with what’s left. Assuming I can finish that today, I’ll plan on the last session tomorrow – pulling out the rugs and doing a deep cleaning of the whole area, including the tub, shower, vanities, floor, and rugs. If I falter, I’ll reread the reminder above…
Mandy Hale via HealthyPlace.com via Lisa Bearnes Richey
Filed under Favorite Pictures, Favorite Quotes
NYT Cooking
I found a nice recipe for crock pot roast chicken at Spark Recipes . This one was submitted by JESSYLOO. The picture above shows a regular roasted chicken. This recipe is more of a poached chicken, but it’s delicious. It called for a whole chicken, but my husband doesn’t care for the dark meat, so I simply used six chicken breasts. To have my husband asking if we have some leftovers is quite a compliment around here –
Crock Pot Roast Chicken, Spark Recipes, submitted by JESSYLOO
We’ve already had one meal of this and we both liked it a lot. Tonight we’re having leftovers so that we can enjoy the chicken with the new sugar free BBQ sauce we found. I’ll have enough that I can fix some chicken salad, or chicken alfredo, as well. I will be using this recipe often. Thank you, JESSYLOO!
Filed under DIET!
G Hughes Smokehouse Sugar Free BBQ Sauce Gluten Free Hickory Flavored
I wrote recently that, after looking all over Greenwood and Fort Smith AR for a sugar-free BBQ sauce, I found a recipe and made it. My husband was very grateful, since he loves BBQ sauce. He said it wasn’t the best he had ever eaten, but that it tasted ‘fine’ and that he was SO glad he could use it.
I later got on the net and found some I thought we should try. The name of it is G Hughes Smokehouse Sugar Free BBQ Sauce. It’s gluten free and hickory flavored.
We received it recently. I had made a crock pot chicken that was good – but that my husband thought needed something more. I brought out this sauce and we both tried it.
WE LOVED IT. I can’t say enough about the flavor.
I can’t believe the nutrition label:
Ingredients: Crushed tomatoes, water, apple cider vinegar, white vinegar, modified cornstarch, salt, Black pepper, ground cinnamon, natural hickory smoke, spices, natural hickory smoke flavor, natural caramel, color, xanthan gum, sucralose. No allergens.
We feel that we have won the lottery on BBQ sauce. My husband asked if we had more of the ‘good chicken’ so that we could have it with the BBQ sauce tonight…
Filed under Cooking/Recipes/Low Carb Lifestyle, DIET!
“The Cable Squirrel” by Bethany Kerr
I’m so pleased to show you four more clever drawings by Bethany Kerr on Creative Artworks. I wish I had a young child so I could fill his or her room with these! If I were still an elementary school teacher, I would love decorating our room. If I were lucky enough to have grandchildren, I would send some for each occasion until they had the whole collection. If I still had an office outside my home, I would feature a grouping – assuming I could choose a ‘few’ favorites – on a wall so that I could lighten my load a bit from time to time.
Click on any of these links to purchase. From there you can click on “All Posters – Prints by Bethany Kerr” to see the whole collection!
Filed under drawings
Shel Silverstein via Encurious.com via Melissa A. Eastman
Filed under Favorite Quotes, Reading is FUNdamental
The Law of Attraction Blog – Daily Dose of Inspiration
I just spent the nicest hour or so. We had the doors open, enjoying a nice breeze. I heard the pitter-pat of raindrops, so I got a cup of coffee, and the latest Robert B. Parker book I’m re-reading in the Jesse Stone series, and went out on the deck. It was quite a bit cooler, so I came back in for a hoodie. :0)
I put two chairs together so that I could really get comfortable. I had my book and my coffee, surrounded by the gentle rain. My cats, Abby and Smoke, came to keep me company, plus one of our dogs, Molly. (Bambi had been snoring happily when I went out.)
I lay back, over and over, just to absorb the wonderful smell of the rain, and the calming sound of the drops hitting the deck cover…
It lasted about an hour, I guess, and I felt wonderful when I came back in, all the animals coming in with me.
We need a lot more rain for our lawn and plants, but what a gift I was given today!
Filed under Arkansas, Mother Nature
Thanks to Marsha Koenig for her email.
Filed under Amazing Animals, Awe-Inspiring Photography, Family
Pinterest.com
I apparently did too much with the leaf mulching yesterday. I slept in, yet still feel I’ve been run over by a truck. Not ‘sick,’ just completely without energy. I’m going to take it easy today and see if I can find the old broad who usually lives here….
Filed under Attitude
“Beauties of Mother Nature 5”
“Chrysanthemums-11”
“Chrysanthemums-31”
Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
Thanks to Marsha Koenig for her email.
Filed under Amazing Animals, Awe-Inspiring Photography
Business Insider
This was the way I felt when I finished the afternoon of leaf mulching. When I took my watch off, it looked like I had quite a tan. It was all dirt! I had a thin layer of fine dust all over me and my clothes.
I made three large leaf bags of leaf mulch and stored them in the garage until I’m ready to distribute it. Depending on the weather tomorrow, I’ll try to do some more before it’s due to rain.
Our new system is about as good as it can get. It’s still a lot of work for an old broad. I was really exhausted – even after taking breaks and drinking lots of water – when I finally got everything put away for the day. I got a lot of leaves from the front lawn and the area between the triple flower bed and the driveway. I’ll do another area tomorrow if I get the chance.
I caught my breath and drank more water when I came in, then went up to throw my clothes into the hamper and take a nice, hot shower. I came down feeling alive again and ready to finish up dinner.
We had a really productive day today. We may get rained out tomorrow, but we have plenty of projects to tackle inside, as well.
I hope your day was a fun one.
Filed under Gardening
creativeartworksblog 