Filed under animal paintings, Sue Hewson Artist
Our family had two pet rabbits. One was named, “Welsh,” and the other “Peter.” They were special, well-loved members of the family.
“If you chase two rabbits, you will not catch either one.” ~ Confucious
“Bunnies will always have a special place in my heart. They are often discredited as being good pets because they don’t ‘do anything.’ — ask any rabbit owner and watch how they laugh.” ~ Shenita Etwaroo
“If a rabbit defined intelligence the way man does, then the most intelligent animals would be a rabbit, followed by the animals most willing to obey the commands of a rabbit.” ~ Robert Brault
“If there are nine bunnies on the ground, if you want to catch one, just focus on one.” ~ Jack Ma
“A sly rabbit will have three openings to its den.” ~ Chinese Proverbs
“The older I get, the more I see a straight path where I want to go. If you’re going to hunt for elephants, don’t get off the trail for a bunny.” ~ T. Boone Pickens
” If the old dog hadn’t got distracted by the fire plug, he would have caught the bunny.” ~ Hayes McClerkin
“If things don’t come easy to you, you have to pull a bunny out of a hat.” ~ Steve Coogan
Filed under Amazing Animals
Do we wish each other ‘Happy Leap Year?’ I really don’t know. It seems odd for ME to be doing it, since I’M the one behind the petition to do away with the entire month of February… I really don’t want to be in the position of having something unusual happen, though, and not wishing everyone I care about well, so, I DO wish you one. :0)
I discovered that I need to renew my driver’s license in March. I plan to try to get this done Monday. I looked online to see what I needed. Since my Social Security card is in my maiden name, I’ll need to go to the bank safe deposit box today and get our marriage license.
When I think of all the people coming into our country who don’t need ANYTHING and then get free everything, and “I” need my marriage license (55 years old now) to explain why the name on my SS card is different from the one on my driver’s license in order to renew – it is another indication to me that our country is weird. It makes me a bit hostile.
I hope that the people born on February 29th have an extra-special celebration today. If I were born on this date, or knew someone who was, I would make a special effort to show them how much they are loved, whether the actual date occurs every year or not.
Have a wonderful February 29th.
Filed under holidays, Thoughts on a ________
I had just finished my first blog post here this morning and noticed the green dot on my calendar tab, indicating a reminder of something. I couldn’t remember anything, so I checked it.
Oops! My husband had a haircut scheduled for 10:00 today. It was 9:56, so I texted Michael, our miracle-worker hair stylist, to tell him we would be late, but we would be there. I woke up my husband, who was taking a nap in his recliner. He got up, washed his hair quickly, and we left. We were about 10 minutes late. I apologized to Michael, who was very gracious about it, and we got the haircut. On the way home we got gas, got our mail, and I dragged our now-empty trash can back up to where it lives higher up on our driveway.
My husband told me about a sale on propane and suggested that we take advantage of it, topping off our tanks. (We have one 1000 tank for the house and another 250 tank for the shop). I spent a LOOOOONG time on the phone. The lady who answered apparently works from home. I could hear kids screaming in the background. I think she was from India. Her accent was very thick. She spoke quickly and I only got maybe 15% of what she said. We labored our way through what I wanted. She put me on hold for 10 minutes, which seemed like forever, finally coming back. I THINK she said we would get both tanks topped off for the sale price and that the delivery would be this coming Friday. I told my husband that I wasn’t at all sure of this, but that I had done the best I could. It will be interesting to see what happens.
My other call was to Cards Trash service. I was trying to find out a ball park estimate of when our trash was picked up these days. I was on that call a LOOOOONG time, too, waiting on hold through the same 4 ‘announcements’ over and over before finally getting to the lady. She said she was unable to get that information, but did tell me that the truck drivers worked until 7 pm. So next time the trash hasn’t been picked up when we get back from errands. I’ll wait until 7pm before checking on Tuesday to see if the can is ready to be dragged back up.
So now we’ve had lunch and I have the sleepies. Maybe I can catch a nap and then hope to be productive, as well as doing my yoga for the day.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
Good morning! It’s sunny outside and 34 degrees F. right now. It was 80 yesterday afternoon. This afternoon’s high is forecast to be 51. What a difference a night makes. We avoided the severe weather threat, and for that I’m very thankful. The wind blew and ‘gusted,’ but that was it. HOORAAAAAY!
Our bug spray guy came just as we were getting things together for lunch. He sprayed inside and out, for everything including elephants, so we should be in good shape now. I really don’t like to have scary things crawling around or flying around inside the house, if possible.
Even though MyFitnessPal said “You are not likely eating enough” and I was careful, apparently I also ate lead or something that made me retain water. I was up almost a pound this morning. I realize that weight can fluctuate for many reasons and that I shouldn’t be upset – and probably shouldn’t be weighing myself every day – but this is working for me and keeping me on track and motivated. I just gnashed my teeth, stuck my tongue out at the scales as it laughed at me, and will do my best to stay on track today.
I HAVE to train myself to read labels at the grocery store before buying anything. That will drive my husband nuts – but I’ll just tell him it’s necessary, and that he can stay home if he wants to. I pulled out a frozen dinner to eat this evening, since I’ve been cooking a lot lately. It’s ‘high protein’ and I assumed low carb since it’s Lean Cuisine. NOOOOOO! It’s 38 carbs! I’m trying to stick to around 20 carbs per day, so this one meal is almost two days’ worth! ARRRRRRGH! Needless to say, I won’t be eating that tonight.
I will drive down to the bottom of our driveway soon to get our mail and check to see if our trash can is empty. I checked it at 4pm yesterday and it was still full. I’ll call the company either way. When we started with them, the paperwork said they might have someone picking it up at 4am the pickup day, so to have the trash out there and ready. We started putting it out mid day Monday for Tuesday pickup. The last few weeks, we’ve tried to stop, either going or coming back from errands, to put the can away, but it’s still full. I’ll see if I can find out what’s going on, or maybe they just missed us this week. Such a TERRIBLE problem, right? :0)
I’ll be earning my third sparkly star for the week today for yoga practice. I’m TRYING to make this a habit, but learned last year that I defy the odds on making something become a habit. The sparkly star on the calendar right now is enough to keep me going. Maybe I’ll become more of an adult later…
Have a wonderful Wednesday!
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
David M. Bird creates his cute little ‘Becorns’ from natural materials and then places them outside where they can ‘interact’ with birds, insects, animals, etc., snapping beautiful photos that will capture your heart.
Filed under acorn art, David M. Bird "Becorns"
It’s official. I FINALLY got to the 20 pounds down mark in my efforts to lose the lard. Apparently, my latest efforts – cutting the carbs WAAAAAY down – is getting my body’s attention. The MyFitnessPal website is really helpful in planning my eating for the day. I can list what I plan to eat and then see if I’m eating too many carbs and change out something until the numbers are better.
I will also earn my second sparkly star for my desk calendar today with my yoga practice. Yesterday I did 13 reps of the abdominal exercise, and 6 of the leg-out-behind-me exercise on each side. Improvement!
Our ‘excitement’ for the day is the bug spray guy is coming. I have no idea when. I’ve seen ladybugs and a spider lately, so I’m happy he’s coming. I have nothing in particular against ladybugs. I don’t like spiders much. The thing is, when you live in a rural area, scary bugs aren’t far behind when you begin to see other things, so LET THE SPRAYING BEGIN!
The forecast is for really gusty winds today (up to 45mph), super warm temperatures (82 degrees F. in February), followed by thunderstorms, a cold front, and possible severe weather this evening and overnight, followed by a 35 degree drop in temperatures for tomorrow. Think roller coaster! WHEEE!
My big chore is to hope the trash people empty the can at the bottom of the driveway so I can drag it back up where it ‘lives’ before the thunderstorms this evening. Fingers crossed.
We voted in the Arkansas primary yesterday. I LOVE early voting. We drove to town, thinking the voting would be at City Hall or the court house. Nope! We asked a policeman at the court house and he told us the voting was at the fairgrounds. We drove there and voted in about 5 minutes. I thanked the volunteers there profusely. I think early voting is so civilized. It really helps to be able to go when the weather is cooperative and at a good time for YOU.
Not sure yet what the plan is for today. Some of it will depend on when the bug spraying guy comes. I’ll just hang loose and see what happens.
I hope your day is a pleasant one.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
Filed under Curtis Wiklund Sketches for US, drawings
It’s a pretty Monday here – quite spring-like, with a high of 83 forecast for this afternoon. We have a cold front coming through tomorrow night, reminding us that we have some winter left, but I think we’re through the worst of it now. Every morning when I open the front door, the sight of the daffodils blooming their heads off all around the well house makes me smile.
Our big things for today are 1) gathering the trash and putting it out at the bottom of our driveway, 2) getting our mail, and 3) voting in the Arkansas primary.
Yesterday I vacuumed a LOT, getting the first floor carpeted areas (our office, the foyer, and the living room) plus the tiled areas (the hallway, two half baths, the dining area, kitchen, pantry, and utility room.) The result was that when I emptied the jammed-full vacuum canister, I was throwing away more than a full dog’s worth of hair. UGH. You would think Amber would be completely bald now, but she has a full complement of hair ready to be shed…
Yesterday afternoon I almost decided that all the vacuuming I did should count as my exercise for the day. Then I hauled my old, aching body out of the recliner and got down on the mat for my yoga practice. My husband happened to be reading in his recliner. I managed to do a good practice. I did 11 reps of my abdominal exercise and 5 reps on each side on my knee-to-nose-and-then-lifted-out-straight-to-the-back exercise, rather than 3. My husband nodded at me and said, “Good job.” I looked at him and said, “Tomorrow you’ll practice with me?” He looked at me, and then started reading again, not saying a word. :0)
For some reason, one of our investment outfits decided to ‘recertify’ us or ‘update our records’, requiring that we send in everything including our first grade report cards to prove who we are. They closed down access to our account until we produce all this stuff. One of the requirements was proof of residence – with something listing both of our names. I don’t know if Arkansas is different than the rest of the states, but all the utility accounts are in the man’s name only. (I’m chattel, I guess.) We sent in our electricity bill, but they wouldn’t accept that. I finally thought of our reverse mortgage statement. It DID list both of us. We scanned that and sent it in today. Hopefully, that will satisfy them and we can have access to our account again… ARRRRRRRGH!
I hope that your week is a good one.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
Curtis and Jordin are photographers by trade. Curtis is a sketch artist by hobby. He creates sketches that clearly show his love for his wife and children doing ordinary things. Sometimes the sketches make me cry – both from the actual sketch and what he SAYS about them.
I’ve done several posts about this couple. If you’re interested, please scroll down to Curtis Wiklund Sketches for US in the list of categories to the right of this post.
Filed under Curtis Wiklund Sketches for US, drawings
Peter Hogarth – @peterhogarth55 on X
Peter Hogarth creates these beautiful portraits using pastels. I’m in awe of his talent.
Filed under animal paintings, Pastels, Peter Hogarth - Artist
Isn’t this glorious?
I really wanted to sleep later this morning, but my bladder insisted I get up. I’m still feeling a bit bleery-eyed, drinking coffee to try to wake up my system.
I’m feeling hopeful this morning, bleery-eyed or not, that the emphasis on lowering my carbs is getting the attention of my scales. I’ve lost 3-1/2 pounds since I started my new regimen. (No handsprings or anything, since I have a gazillion more to go, but it’s NICE to have the scales laughing a bit less several mornings now. )
I’m going through my Simply Keto recipe book, finding new recipes I plan to try, adding to my grocery list. I really like the fact that Suzanne Ryan doesn’t glory in spending time in the kitchen. Her recipes are simple, using ingredients you can readily find in regular grocery stores, and they don’t take a lot of prep or time. Just perfect for me.
Recently I used my spiralizer to make ‘zoodles,’ or pasta noodle type stuff from zucchini. The one zucchini yielded enough for three 1-cup servings. I ate one with my spaghetti sauce and froze the other two.
Today I’m going to make ‘cauli-rice,’ a rice substitute from cauliflower. I’m hoping that my efforts will yield enough for several meals. I’m going to cook some stew meat in my slow cooker, starting at lunch time, then combine that with Paul Newman’s Alfredo Sauce (3 carbs per serving.) I’ll serve that over regular rice for my husband and over the cauli-rice for me.
I have also discovered a way to work with the MyFitnessPal program better for ME – when I’m eating the number of calories I CAN eat, it tells me that, if I keep eating the same way, I’ll weigh “X” in 5 weeks. (The actual results of this is that I don’t lose weight.) If I eat fewer calories, it tells me, “You’re not eating enough.” I used to go find some foods to add to get the calories up. Now I list what I’m comfortable eating for the day, plus my exercises. If it says I’m not eating enough, it means that there is a chance the scales will show a bit less the next morning. :0)
I will earn my 7th star on my calendar this afternoon for daily yoga stretches. That feels good. My calendar is sparkly with the stars, feeding my spirits emotionally, and the yoga practice is making my body stronger and more flexible. Win/win.
So, feeling positive – even though still a bit bleery-eyed – on a beautiful Sunday. Hope YOUR Sunday is a good one, too.
Filed under 3-D Paintings, paintings I love
I’m seeing a bit of progress in my efforts to get my act together. In my yoga yesterday, I was able to do 10 reps of my abdominal exercise (started with 5), and will earn star #6 on my week’s calendar on daily practice. (It felt really good just now to replace the words, “try for” with “EARN”.)
Second, I’m getting a good start on limiting my carbs. I’ve lost 2 lbs since I got serious, using MyFitnessPal.com to work out what I’ll eat for the day. I really like this website. I can type in the name of a frozen dinner, for example, such as Lean Cuisine Herb Roasted Chicken, and it has an extensive data base of foods, added to by their membership, so it’s easy to list and find out where it fits in my plan for the day. They have a place where you can list your own recipes and store them. I can ‘play’ with options for each meal, plus snacks, and see before I screw up how it will work, or if I need to choose something else. Really helpful website if you’re trying to lose weight or just make sure that you’re eating the right foods for a health condition, etc.
I made ‘zoodles’ yesterday. This is a staple for low carb foodies, zucchini taking the place of spaghetti and other pastas.
This is my spiralizer. You cut off one end of the zucchini, put it in the “thick” or “thin” end of the spiralizer, then twist the zucchini. Long ‘ribbons’ of zucchini are formed. The end you see to the right is used when the zucchini is too short to hold, but still has some good ribbons left to make.
I can make my own low carb spaghetti sauce, for example, make some spaghetti for my husband, and heat up a serving of zoodles for me, making both of us happy. One zucchini made three 1-cup servings for me. I froze two of them, eating one last night. Today I’ll make some cauli-rice, a substitute for regular rice. These two things are wonderful for me. They taste fine (although I do miss the real things), allowing my husband and me to eat basically the same dinner, making him happy and taking any guilt away from me, allowing me to stay on my low-carb regimen.
SO – feeling as if I’m making a bit of progress, I will continue ‘onward and downward’ hopefully, with more flexibility and a stronger, flatter abdomen. :0)
Filed under DIET!, exercise, Thoughts on a ________
Our daffodils are blooming strongly now. This is about a month early in comparison to other years. The temperature is 65 and is supposed to get to 69 today. I’m really enjoying this, but a bit worried about how hot our summer will be, if this is already the end of the winter.
It’s funny. I’ve ‘cleared out’ the daffodils around the well house several times over the years and we still have a good amount for a display here. I’ve finally given up, letting them do what they will. I’ve relocated bunches, and so have nice yellow all around the yard now.
Such a happy flower!
We’re back from Lunch Bunch now. Patty and Linda were there and it was wonderful. We were the first ones there, so enjoyed talking with David, the owner of the restaurant and Mikey, our waitress. They had wondered why the Lunch Bunch group had quit coming. I filled them in on everyone being seemingly “too busy,” about my husband’s fall and broken collarbone, etc.
Time passes. Things and people change. We all get older and either deal well with the changes or don’t. We left it that Patty will text me the next time she and Linda can come.
I told them that my massage therapist was moving her services to the retirement place where Linda lives. I discovered that when I finish my massage is a good time to visit with Linda, so we’ll both look forward to that next month. :0)
My heart filled up with good hugs with Linda and Patty. We had lots of laughs, good food, news, etc. Wonderful time.
I will try to do something constructive with the rest of my day. I’ll do my yoga practice, maybe do a bit outside, and see how things are going.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
Filed under Embroidery/Sewing Art
Filed under 3-D Paintings
I can’t believe the creativity and talent of this. I love it.
One of our Lunch Bunch people texted me yesterday, asking if my husband and I wanted to meet today! It will be wonderful to see them, hug their necks, and catch up. We haven’t seen them since we met before Christmas.
I was messing around in the house when something drew me to the back door. I opened it to find it was RAINING – fairly hard! I don’t know how long it lasted, and my husband didn’t even realize it happened. Our weather is wonderful today. I’m a little worried talking about it, because this is SOOO unusual. I’ll try to be quiet and just enjoy it. :0)
My yoga is going well. I will earn my 5th star for the week on my calendar, and I was able to add one more rep to my abdominal exercises yesterday, now totaling 7. Slow and steady.
I keep INTENDING to work outside or to get up to my art room. Somehow, the day gets away from me. I hope that you are finding fun things to do, too.
Filed under exercise, Friendship, Thoughts on a ________
Filed under 3-D Paintings, drawings
I have added an abdominal exercise to my yoga stretching practice.
It’s similar to this, but my arms are straight toward my feet. I hold it a second and then stretch out both arms and legs, making my body straight, feet NOT touching the floor. Then pull up and do it again. At first it was all I could do to do 5 repetitions, and my stomach muscles voiced their strenuous displeasure for about three days. I continued to do the 5 reps daily. On day 4 (yesterday) the soreness had eased quite a bit, so I did 6 reps. I’ll continue with this until I feel I can add another….
Filed under exercise
I love it that she is creative enough to CROCHET her own companion. :0) I think he’s beautiful.
I’m trying to cut waaaaaay back on my carbs in an effort to lose the lard. I’m finding MyFitnessPal essential. I have a similar lunch most days, but today we stopped at the local grocery store/deli. My husband got a mashed- potatoes-with-chicken-tenders bowl. I got two chicken tenders. I discovered that two was more than I needed. I should have
I just got on MyFitnessPal to record my lunch. We’re having the second half of the rotisserie chicken we got a couple of days ago for dinner. (my husband eats the breast and I eat the thigh and drumstick).
I was able to play around until I figured out what side I could have with the chicken and how much to stay within my new parameters.
Being able to play around BEFORE you make a mistake is a really good thing. It also reminds me that I’m trying to drink a bottle of water in-between each cup of coffee I have during the day.
We went to the orthopedic surgeon this morning for a follow-up x-ray and checkup for my husband’s broken collarbone. The surgeon was happy with his progress. He told him to gradually use his left arm more, but not to strain it with anything heavy. We’re to call back if we have any problems. No more appointments. HOORAAAY!
After that, we dropped off our tax stuff with our CPA. When I told the receptionist about the broken collarbone, she went into the back and our CPA came out, wanting to visit. We caught up a bit and it was really nice. I still hate taxes, but we won the lottery with our CPA.
I managed to drag our trash can back up the driveway some to where it lives without falling on my head, so we’re good!
I hope that you’re having a good Thursday with nice weather.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
Filed under 3-D Paintings
Daiga Dimza’s art is included on the Duke Jacob Art site on Etsy. These artists are all from Latvia.
Filed under paintings I love
I love this photo. Stunningly beautiful.
We are due for a truly amazing day today. Sunshine and a high of 80 – in February. If we are moving on to spring now, I really hope this doesn’t mean highs of 120+F this summer…
Our exciting day includes dragging the trash can back up the driveway to where it lives between times being emptied, getting our mail, and hitting the local grocery store to grab one of my husband’s staples he is out of, but didn’t put on the list or remember when we were at Walmart yesterday.
Tomorrow I’ll probably be later than usual on writing, since we’ll be going to Fort Smith for new x-rays on my husband’s collarbone and a follow-up with the orthopedic surgeon, plus a trip by our CPA’s office to leave our tax stuff.
I’m going to try to get out in the yard a bit this afternoon. I also have a pretty long to-do list to try to get accomplished.
One good thing – we’re having rotisserie chicken tonight, so I don’t have to cook. AHHHHH!
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
creativeartworksblog 