Beautiful 3-D Embroidery
Filed under Embroidery/Sewing Art
“Unfortunate” Name – Great Chicken
I love slow cooker/crockpot recipes because I can get dinner “on” except for mostly last minute additions, before I’m tired from doing other things. I tried this shredded chicken recipe awhile back. We enjoyed it, saving leftovers in the freezer to enjoy a couple of times. My husband asked if I would make it again, so I’m doing that today.
Besides the deliciousness of the chicken, I love that a serving has only 4 carbs. It’s a bit higher in sodium than I would like, but the fact it only has 1 gram of sugar is great, since we’re watching that, too. You can eat it as is, or serve it on a bun (or I use Mission Zero Carb Tortillas). I’m also going to try adding some celery before serving it cold as a variation on tuna salad this time, with some of the leftovers. I already have chicken breasts thawed for this time, but I’m seriously considering doubling the recipe after this. :0)
Filed under Keto Eating Plan and Recipes We Like
Father’s Day 2024
Happy Father’s Day! Being a good dad is a hugely challenging, rewarding role. I hope you are swamped today (if not every day) with love and appreciation for your efforts.
____________
I suddenly had an idea for greeting/note cards and spent part of the afternoon and evening working on them. I’m making cartoony-looking ‘birds’ made from a feather, featuring a quote about birds. The inside of the cards will be blank so people can write what they want for any occasion. It’s been awhile since I wanted to do anything with my art, so it’s nice to be able to focus on something so much fun.
__________
I’m determined to finish spraying with KillzAll today, and I’ll get outside very soon, before the temperature-with-heat-index becomes lethal. It really doesn’t take long for me to get over-heated these days, so I have to be extra careful. I’ll dash outside in a minute and see what I can get accomplished.
________________
Enjoy your Sunday.
Filed under holidays
Books Are a Quality of Life Thing
I’ve slowed down on reading lately, only reading one book at a time now. I’m switching between re-reading some from my collection and reading a new one from my Kindle.
Happily, I’m finding several authors new to me whose work I will see out every time I get the chance.
I found this project idea that I will definitely try at some point when I have time to do some more yard art. I have the leftover bricks. I’d have to figure out a way to display them (maybe on the edge of a brick planter – with ‘bookends’), but I LOVE this idea. :0)
Filed under quality of life, Reading is FUNdamental
Pretty Stained Glass
Filed under Stained Glass Art
It Isn’t Even Summer Yet
Wow. I’ve just come in from working in the yard for about an hour and I’m deciding that maybe I’m getting a bit long-in-the-tooth for this. I went out EARLY (for ME – 8:30) and the temperature is 82 with a ‘feel’s like’ of 92, with heat index in the 100’s for the rest of the weekend. It isn’t even officially ‘summer’ yet! (Officially, summer starts June 20th).
I did harvest the tomatoes above. I also weeded both tomato planters and then mixed up fertilizer with water for both. I sprayed the plants with EIGHT to try to protect the tomatoes from whoever is eating them. I went around the rest of the yard with the EIGHT.
I then mixed up a container of KillzAll. I’ll need to do a combination of weed whacking and spraying with the plant killer in order to make it easier for my husband to mow. He is an extremely stubborn man. He will continue mowing until the job is finished or die trying. THAT’S the part I’m worried about with his age, his attitude, and this heat. I got most of the areas in the back yard done before I was simply too hot to continue. I’m now in, resting, have turned on the a/c, and am drinking some ice water.
I’m planning to do one more session out there today to at least finish spraying the KillzAll, if not more. This humidity really gets to me quickly.
Filed under Gardening, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds
Getting Outside Early
I’m going to head out almost immediately to take care of our tomato plants. The heat index for the foreseeable future will be in the 100’s or higher with little chance of rain, so it’s lethal to stay outside in the sun long.
Yesterday I finished weeding our trio of brick planters that run end-to-end between our front yard and our driveway. I’m making good progress on the weeding, but I’m having to be really careful not to get over-heated. I did convince my husband to wait to mow the back yard until around 5:00 yesterday afternoon, rather than when the sun was at its strongest.
Today I’m going to spray the tomato plants with EIGHT, since ‘someone’ is helping themselves to the tomatoes before I can bring them in. I’ll harvest any ripe tomatoes, weed, and water.
I’m not sure if I’ll get back out a second time to spray KILLZALL for the weeds and areas my husband can’t mow.
I’m going to scoot now. I hope you have a wonderful day, staying cool.
Filed under Gardening, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds
Cute Felted Wool Animals
Article on Felted Animals by Kevin Chai, Feltify.com
Filed under Embroidery/Sewing Art, Felted Wool Art
‘Puffy’ 3-D Embroidery
I love all embroidery, and was dazzled by the ribbon embroidery that I found awhile back. Now it seems embroidery is going to another level with what I call ‘puffy’ embroidery or 3-D embroidery, that REALLY jumps off the background fabric.
Filed under Embroidery/Sewing Art
Celebrating David Zinn
Filed under David Zinn - Street Artist, drawings
55 Years
In 1961 we fell in love. In 1969 we made it official. Today we celebrate 55 years of sharing our lives. I just got off of an online chat with our son, our greatest achievement. He is such an interesting man with a challenging, full life, doing what he wants to do. There are simply no words to describe how happy I am for him.
It’s hard enough to imagine that I could be ’55 years old,’ much less that we have been MARRIED for 55 years now.
As any real person knows, marriage is one of the hardest things there is. You make a commitment with stars in your eyes and then real life begins. I think one of the reasons that there are so many failed marriages is that people go into it thinking it will be all stars and moonbeams. It isn’t about the other person making you ‘happy.’ It’s about sharing lives. Sometimes your heart melts. Sometimes the guy with the bulldozer who will dig a hole in the backyard for your significant other can’t come fast enough. That’s real.
My personal commitment includes making it a point to keep falling in love over and over – if I don’t have the bulldozer guy on speed dial – realizing how much we’ve shared over the past 55 years. I was pregnant 5 times. We had two live children, a boy and a girl, and lost our girl to SIDS when she was 2 months old. We both bust our buttons with pride at the man our son has become, creative, confident, caring – carving out a wonderful, satisfying life. We share both sad and beautiful memories that will always be with us.
As we age, our life becomes looking to see the humor in situations, a day-to-day overcoming of obstacles, enjoying the beautiful things around us, spending time doing fun things together, enjoying the peace and quiet of being alone (even if it’s just in another room or out in the yard) – striving not to kill the other because of annoyance and frustration. Sharing lives is not for sissies. It means another person knows exactly what buttons to push to get you to react the most strongly. The ones you love can also hurt you the most, make you grind your teeth, cry, maybe even scream, and wonder why you stay – then say or do something to melt your heart again.
I love this quote on marriage by Nora Roberts in Blood Brothers – “Learn to laugh, otherwise, you’ll beat them to death with a hammer first chance.”
My husband said this morning, “We have a good start now.”
Filed under Cause for Celebration, love, marriage
Integrity
We have had our insurance coverage with Shelter Insurance for many years, absolutely loving its agent, Phil Hicks. Phil retired – I guess about a year ago now – and we were really upset.
We got invoices for our policies and paid them. I saw the picture of the new agent, Jason Hill, and signed up for an ‘account’ on the website, since it looked as if it would be an easier way to handle things. We hadn’t bothered to go to meet Jason.
My husband bought another gun and we needed to add the information to our gun policy. Jason was very nice, but was unable to read the CD my husband had made with the gun info on it. (We are definitely older than dirt :0) ) We emailed him the information, he processed it, sent me an email saying the invoice for the extra amount we owed was on the website, and I paid it.
My husband was still uneasy about how coverage was determined for our house, how they figured contents coverage, what the procedure was for handling a loss should we have one.
We called about going to see him yesterday, but he was on his way out the door to meet with another client. I talked to my husband today and he had decided we didn’t really need to talk to Jason.
When I went back in our office, the phone was ringing. It was Jason! He had made a note that we might be coming in today to talk with him and wanted to be sure he would be there when we came. We ended up talking on the phone, instead, about my husband’s concerns. Jason patiently answered all of my questions, acting as if he had all the time in the world. I now feel I am in control, and I know what to expect if we ever have to file a huge claim. I felt valued as a customer.
I relayed the information Jason gave me to my husband, so my husband’s concerns have been settled now, too. Our contents records are updated now, and we will take the records to the bank and put them into our safe deposit box, ready if we ever need them.
It’s wonderful to know that we have once again lucked out and have a man who takes his responsibilities seriously, values us as clients, and who will handle our needs with care.
Thursday 6-13-2024
I’ve read that the 2nd Sunday in June is officially Children’s Day, but I think every day should be. I just LOVE this by Greg Catarino.
Summer is truly coming to Arkansas now. The incredible rains seem to be past us and the high temperatures are pouring in with accompanying heat indices. Yesterday I think the heat index must have said, “Suitable for frying.”
The “Hot Man” mailbox decoration we made above could be up the rest of the summer.
I weeded three flower planters yesterday. I would have stayed out longer, but the sun was shining VERY hard and my skin just couldn’t handle it. I’m hoping to get back out today to continue getting the weeds under control. We’ll see how long I last.
I wish you a happy day.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
For the Love of a Cat
“You had me at meow.”
“Home is where the meow is.”
“Live, laugh, meow.”
“No meowing around.”
“You’ve cat to be kitten me.”
“More meow.”
“Just one cat short of crazy.”
“Puurfect just the way you are.”
Quotes by Kristen of Dream Dash Journal.
Filed under Amazing Animals
3-D Butterfly Tattoos!
I have come to really like some tattoos. I’ve seen some I really envy lately in our own small town. I stopped a young woman at Walmart the last time we were there because she had a tattoo that ran all the way down the outside of one of her legs that looked terrific. She seemed pleased that I told her how great I thought it looked.
The newest style I’m really impressed with is a 3-D butterfly. Some are so well done the butterfly seems to be ready to fly away. I think they are wonderful.
I like colorful tattoos the best, but I’m also impressed when men have a whole ‘sleeve’ of tattoos on one arm.
I wish I were younger with nice, tight skin so I could get one of these 3-D butterflies.
Amazing.
Filed under Tattoos!
Wednesday 6-12-2024
We got up early (for us) this morning, did not pass “GO,” and went directly to the local clinic for me to get a follow up blood test to see if my new thyroid hormone dosage is correct now. (I had my thyroid radiated/killed several years ago due to Grave’s Disease, so my thyroid dosage is important, and the level was too low.) I’m actually hoping that my doctor will decide to raise the dosage again, based on my energy level and some other things. I should know in a couple of days.
We always reward ourselves after we have blood work done by enjoying a delicious breakfast at our favorite local restaurant, The Dari. I felt very pampered (and full!) when we finished. :0)
We’re home for the rest of the day. I’m going to try to get the weeds in my flower plants under control today. I’ll also check to see if we have any ripe tomatoes to harvest. Yesterday my husband fixed a break in a hose connected to our irrigation system. I’ll test the system to see if it’s working or needs more soon, since the daily rains SEEM to have stopped.
We just had our quarterly pest spray on the 21st, but we had to catch a LIVE scorpion off the ceiling in our foyer last night. oooooh. I just called our company and asked what could be done. They are sending our guy out again for a respray at no charge on Friday afternoon. You can’t ask for better service than that.
I wish you a very enjoyable day.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
Poohism
Filed under Favorite Quotes, Poohisms
Wood Sculpture
Filed under When Wood Comes Alive
Thoughts on a Tuesday 6-11-2024
Things will hopefully be quiet around here today. We have some errands, but I’m hoping to spend a good amount of time in the yard weeding the flower planters today. We’re having a nice day, with sunshine, and the high temperature today only in the mid 80’s and kinder level of humidity. We have the doors open now, with a nice breeze coming through. :0)
___________
We had a demonstration yesterday of how we are, indeed, older than dirt. We went to meet our new insurance agent. We took a CD with information we needed added to one of our policies. Our agent was a nice man with a very appealing smile and good manner. When we gave him the CD, he looked flustered for a minute and then said he had no way to read what was on the CD. Technology has once again bypassed us. We have some thumb drives, but none large enough to handle all the data we have on a DVD of info and pics about house items in our safe deposit box. Thankfully, my SIL sent me a URL to data storage options, so we’ll research that and decide what we need to do.
Meanwhile, we came home, gathered the little bit of information we needed to give the new agent and emailed it to him. At least we were able to do that.
We realize that we’re no spring chickens, but it’s a bit demoralizing to be hit with how very OLD we’re getting when stuff like this hits us right in the nose…
Filed under aging, Challenges, Changes
Wonderful Watercolor
Filed under Watercolors I Love
Tomatoes and Elephant Ears
Since it’s not supposed to rain today (Yippeeeeee!) I’m planning to finish the weed whacking I started yesterday plus do some serious weeding. It’s only supposed to get into the high 80s today with lower humidity, so it should be MUCH better than it was yesterday where the heat index was 100+.
The tomato plants don’t look ‘neat,’ but they are full of green tomatoes. I fertilized them yesterday, so hopefully they will stay happy.
We have a break in our hose setup for the irrigation system, and I’m hoping my husband will try to fix the break we know about soon, now that the lawn is mowed.
This is bulb #1 of my new elephant ear plants. The bulbs were huge, so I planted the three of them in three different planters, hoping to get the elephant ears all around the yard. This is the largest one so far.
The second bulb is in a tall planter beside the front porch. As you can see, we have small leaves unfurling!
This is bulb # 3, in a planter to the east side of the civilized part of our yard. It’s the smallest, but it looks like it will make it.
Filed under Gardening, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds
Lucky, Lucky, Lucky
We were extremely lucky that this was merely scary, rather than resulting in real damage. I’m HOPING it got my husband’s attention and it results in him making SURE the water hose is working before he burns trash again.
You can’t see in this picture, but the flames were active all along the side of the shop and then down the hill. (This is also where the NEW working hose wouldn’t reach. We had to stomp the flames and I grabbed Amber’s water jugs from the shop to douse the flames before we could get the spray attachment on the new hose.
It’s on my list to weed whack the remaining greenery from around the trash barrel ASAP.
Filed under Challenges
Window of Opportunity
Yesterday it rained about 9am (after raining overnight) so our plans to mow and weed whack had to be delayed – hopefully to be done today before we’re due for more rain this afternoon into the evening. It’s still too wet to mow or weed whack, but there are other things that can be done.
I’ve just come in from checking on our tomato plants. I had to prop up some plants, wire some others, harvested some ripe tomatoes, watered with fertilizer, and then sprayed the plants with EIGHT, since there were tiny grasshoppers on some of them. Hopefully the spray will have a chance to work before the rain today.
Here is today’s harvest. I had to throw one tomato away because the grasshoppers had gotten to it, but I’m pleased I could bring these in.
Guess what will be part of our dinner tonight! :0)
Filed under Gardening, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds
Sweet Felted Wool Animals
Felted Animals – article by Kevin Chai, Feltify.com
Filed under Embroidery/Sewing Art, Felted Wool Art
Too Much Excitement
Yesterday my husband yelled at me. “Linda. I have a problem!” I went running all over the house, trying to FIND him, upstairs, all around the first floor, then down in the basement, then yelled out the front door, then out the back door. Finally I went outside onto the driveway pad and saw him kneeling down out by the shop. The grass was on fire!!!!
He was trying to get it out, but the hose we have out there wasn’t working. He was trying to hook up another one. Part of the fire was right beside the shop. He had been burning trash. One of the pieces of trash came out of the barrel, fell down onto the ground, and WOOOSH! He finally got the hose hooked up and I used my thumb to spray it everywhere there were flames as much as possible. The flow wouldn’t reach the farthest flames, so he went out and stomped them while I ran to the shop to get some water jugs we keep for Amber in the shop. We used those to dampen things down. I went and got the sprayer attachment off the hose that wasn’t working and we got it on the replacement hose and I sprayed everything down again.
We are both okay and, other than the burned out grass, no damage.
He is NOW agreeing to check to make sure the water hose and sprayer are working BEFORE he tries to burn trash again. He also agreed to try to let me know where he IS the next time he yells for help. He did NOT agree to let me know when he decides to burn trash. ARRRRGH! I can’t rest for 5 seconds without him deciding to DO something.
Filed under Challenges
creativeartworksblog 