Sonia Lera Preston – @Sonia_L_Preston on X
Filed under paintings I love, Sonia Lera Preston
Yesterday I got the wood blanks I ordered recently as my birthday present to myself. I’m thrilled, though intimidated, about actually USING the blanks yet. I’ll continue to practice before actually jumping in, but I’m excited. Here they are –
Hopefully today will be a quiet, uneventful day. I’m planning for us to get our mail and grocery shop. We’re forecast for possibly severe weather tomorrow, so I’m waiting to get and plant veggies until next week.
I’ll make another pass through all the paperwork from Password Safe, but I think I’ll be finished. It will be nice to have everything secure and much easier to use than the notebook I’ve been using and entering everything manually.
Have a wonderful hump day.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
I’m down 21.6 pounds since my heaviest. One day at a time.
I’m going to get a spaghetti squash today to bake so that I can make the third in my trifecta of substitutes for the ‘white stuff’ I love to serve under sauces – “cauli-rice,” “zoodles,” and “spaghetti squash.” When I finish the prep today, I’ll have a supply of each frozen in individual portions so that I can follow my low carb eating plan while my husband eats whatever pasta and white rice. He has looked quite appalled at my idea that he join me in the change, so this way we can both eat “spaghetti,” for example, with smiles on our faces.
I’ve also discovered Mission Zero Carb Tortillas. They actually have 7 carbs per tortilla, but 7 grams of fiber, so “0” net carbs. I can enjoy one each evening in place of the dinner roll I’ve been eating. Tonight I’m making a large tuna fish salad for our dinner.
I’m happy with progress with my yoga practice. Today is Day 21 of every-afternoon practice. I’m up to 20 reps on my abdominal exercise (started at 5), and 7 reps on each side of my leg lifts (bird dog pose) (started with 3). I’m feeling looser. I won’t say I look forward to my exercise session, but I’m getting ‘used-to-it.’ :0)
I’m hoping I can keep my head on straight with my mouth shut regarding eating or drinking what I shouldn’t so I can continue losing the lard and getting stronger, more flexible, with better balance.
Filed under DIET!, exercise, taking care of yourself
Filed under Watercolors I Love
Wow. Just wow. If Amazon delivered and I could arrange food, I would never leave this place.
Shout-out to ML – who is in the ER with my BIL. Hope all goes smoothly. Love you.
Shout-out to Cathy – New doc. New info. New hope. Please let me know.
My husband was going to drive down to get our mail yesterday and we had a dead battery in the truck. He had decided, unbeknownst to me, to see how long the battery would actually last, rather than changing it out at the 3 year mark at the change of seasons as we usually do. We had trash to drive down, errands to run, and no truck. We could have taken the Vette, but my husband is still a bit challenged on driving and I really didn’t want to try to take the bags of trash down in the Vette.
We put the battery charger on the truck and did other things. After lunch we were able to start the truck, got the trash into the trash can and the can dragged down to the bottom of the driveway, got our mail, and drove into town to get a new battery. I don’t remember more than two batteries back, but the first I remember cost around $70. The one that just died was about $150 and my husband was really angry at the price. The one we bought yesterday was right at $240. The people at the head of our government may be saying that inflation is coming down, but when buying batteries, groceries, or gas, I can’t tell it.
My husband installed the battery in the parking lot at the store. We brought home an engine air filter and a cabin air filter. During the afternoon, he installed both of those. He was really tired after all the work. I monitored his progress, but very quietly. He took a nap before dinner.
My spirits are really being helped by the daffodils blooming and the red bud trees (and tulip tree) blooming now. Every time I go out, no matter what else is happening, I feel a lifting, a brightening, a filling. It’s really nice.
The one tree image above is the best display, but there are other, smaller trees around the yard that pick up the color. It’s nice to be able to let your eyes travel from one to the next.
I am making progress adding data to my Password Safe program. I’m having trouble adding ‘group names,’ such as ‘financial,’ but finally manage it or give up for the night, as I did last night. I WILL get my information in there, but I wish it weren’t such a fight…
I hope the day ahead is a good one for you.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
Sonia Lera Preston – @Sonia_L_Preston on X
Filed under paintings I love, Sonia Lera Preston
This glorious color with the addition of water drops really got my attention. Simply stunning.
I hope you’re feeling good this morning.
For several years, my husband and I have used the program Password Safe to securely store all the myriad user names and passwords we use on a day to day basis. Awhile back, my husband decided that MY use of this was somehow messing him up on his computer, so I stopped, writing down all of my most important ones in a notebook. I couldn’t find another program I liked, so have been limping along, having to check my notebook, type in my name and password, etc.
Long story shorter, he decided to change programs recently, agreeing that I would use Password Safe again. We got it installed on my computer again, but had trouble importing the data from his machine to mine. So now I am laboriously rebuilding all the groups and passwords manually. UGH. I’ll be happy when this is finished. I’m only working on it intermittently. The fact that my husband is having trouble getting his new choice installed on his computer makes me smile a bit, if I’m being honest…
Yesterday I weeded the brick planters east of the house that we converted to square foot planters last year. I’ll get lettuce and spinach plants for this one, plus anything else that grabs my attention.
I’ll put tomato plants in this one. You can see the tomato plant supports.
This is the planter we call the ‘niche’ planter, since it is protected from the wind by the back of the house and then the porch on another side. Tomato plants will go in this one, too.
As you can see, one of the next things will be using the weed whacker to clean up the area around the planters. We might look for plants today, after we get the mail and leave our trash at the bottom of the driveway.
Enjoy your day!
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
“Cats and humans have been partners for over ten thousand years. And what you realize when you’ve lived with a cat for a long time is that we may think we own them, but that’s not the way it is. They simply allow us the pleasure of their company.” ~ Genki Kawamura
“Let us be honest: most of us rather like our cats to have a streak of wickedness. I should not feel quite easy in the company of any cat that walked around the house with a saintly expression.” ~ Beverley Nichols
Gregorio Catarino – @gregcatarino1 on X
Filed under Amazing Animals, Favorite Quotes, Greg Catarino, paintings I love
I have seen the work of several skilled artists who have created beautiful pieces using felted wool, but Miru brings it to a whole new level. I find it hard to believe that these are not real animals. Just jaw-droppingly amazing.
Filed under Embroidery/Sewing Art, Felted Wool Art, Miru Wool Art
I hope you remembered to change your clocks this morning. I keep reminding my husband to change his watch. I don’t know if he’s done it now or not. We are both having trouble changing the clock that lives in our entertainment center in the living room. I looked at it last night, pushed the buttons on its side one at a time, but there was no change. Then started pushing 2 buttons at a time, then got scared I would screw it up so it wouldn’t tell time at all and stopped. My husband doesn’t seem to be much better. We’ll tackle it together later. I got the rest of the clocks changed with the exception of our vehicles. Did I tell you I hate DST?
I read that two people have again created bills in Congress to address the problem and either go to DST or Standard Time. I won’t hold my breath on them even making it out of committee.
UPDATE – My husband woke up from his nap. I watched as he tried to set the clock. He couldn’t remember how to do it, but managed to hit upon it, so that is fixed. HOORAY!
I got a bit more weight off. I’m now down 21.6 pounds from my heaviest. Every little bit counts! :0) If I can just keep moving and keep my mouth shut…
Whereby.com is a nice video conference site that is secure and works well even when people are across the world from each other. Our son and I used it this morning and had a wonderful time. I LOVE being able to see his face.
He laughed when we compared ‘projects’ – he is doing some really technical stuff on the Internet and also making music with gadgets. And we are trying to set our clocks…. Although I’m proud of myself that yesterday when I came downstairs I heard a ‘chirping’ sound. I traced it to one of our smoke detectors. I got a stool, got the detector off the wall, opened it, changed the 9 volt battery, and put it back up on the wall. HOORAY!
No big plans for today. Our weather is nice. It’s 45 and sunny, with a great warm up coming next week. Just wonderful. I’ll try to arrange some time to work outside. There is SO much to do out there! My husband announced that he refuses to mow in March. I can’t blame him at all. I just told him to do what he wanted, but to make sure he was able to use the ride-on mower on the high grass when he was ready.
One of the next things I’ll do is see what veggie plants are available in town for my spring garden. I’m cutting way down on what I’m planting this year. I have three brick planters we converted to square garden planters with Mel’s Mix on the east end of the yard close to the house that I’ll use instead of my larger garden. I’ll plant lettuce and spinach in the 8 foot long planter and tomatoes in the two square ones. I’ll take pics as I get started.
I hope that today is a good one for you.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
“If your dog is fat, you aren’t getting enough exercise.” – Unknown
“No home decor is complete without dog hair.” – Unknown
“The best therapist has fur and four legs.” – Unknown
“Whoever said you can’t buy happiness forgot about puppies.” – Unknown
“Without my dog my wallet would be full my house would be clean but my heart would be empty.” – Unknown
“Nothing in the world is friendlier than a wet dog.” – Unknown
“Every snack you make, every meal you bake, every bite you take…I’ll be watching you.” – Unknown
“What I like most about people is their dogs.” – Unknown
Filed under Amazing Animals, Favorite Quotes, sculpture
SPRING FORWARD – This is your watch bird watching you and reminding you that technically, tonight you stay up until 2 am and change all your clocks. Practically, you can wait until tomorrow morning, not forgetting that you’re losing an hour and you don’t want to be late for church services, if you go.
I’ve already whined about DST and our congress critters have apparently tried to change it several times. When I researched the subject, it said various people had introduced bills and then withdrawn them, but no reason given as to why. Makes for an interesting conspiracy theory, if you’re into that. :0)
We tried the cat diaper on Abby yesterday. Years ago when we were grilling on the deck, my husband would take the aluminum foil off the meat, and then from under the meat, tie it together in a long roll and then tie it around the waist of the cat we had at the time. The result was always the same – the cat would simply fall over. It was like the cat had become paralyzed. My husband would laugh like a loon.
Yesterday Abby reacted the same way with the diaper. She acted like her back legs were paralyzed and kept falling or rolling over. Since it’s important that she get used to this if we’re going to be able to allow her in the house with any kind of freedom, I left the diaper on while I did my yoga and then followed that with a cat-loving session. When she jumped down after some time, the diaper came off as she jumped. We’ll have to refine how we put it on her so it will stay on better, but she didn’t freak out. We’ll do it again today.
Last night I used almond flour instead of (SNB) (Shake-n-Bake for Pork) as I usually do when cooking pork chops, trying to lower the carbs. (The Shake-n-Bake is half my day’s worth of carbs.) The result was that the chops didn’t brown as they do with the SNB and they tasted dry. I researched and found a ‘recipe’ to approximate SNG online. I will make this, using the almond flour in place of the bread crumbs called for, and store it in a container for next time. I also found a nice recipe for pork chops at https://healthyrecipesblogs.com/ that I’ll try. (Only 1 gram carb)
Enjoy your Saturday!
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
Today I am 77. I told my husband this when we were heading up for bed last night just after midnight. He said, “Oh, is it March?” :0) I thanked him this morning for getting to all the birthdays first so that, by the time I hit them, it isn’t anything. :0)
I’m very thankful that I’m still making progress on some of my goals. I’m happy that I’m building my daily yoga practice into a habit (if I live long enough). I’m feeling more flexible and ‘looser,’ if that makes any sense. Yesterday I made it to 16 reps of the abdominal exercise and 7 reps on each side for my leg-straight-out stretch. (I wish I knew what that one was called. I’ll research it and see if I can find out.)
I’m happy I’m finally seeing some progress in my efforts to lose the lard. Between this and the yoga, and generally moving more, I’m hoping to feel better and better as I hopefully continue to age…
Since my husband and my son don’t make a big deal of birthdays, I have long since put away any resentment and used the opportunity to get myself something I really want. I just ordered two things for my wood burning fun –
I think these will both come next week. I WILL get up to my art room, regardless of the other things pulling at me, and PLAY. :0)
Happy Birthday tooo meeeee!!!!!!!
Filed under Cause for Celebration
Filed under paintings I love, Ruth McDonald
Erika is so talented. Her watercolors make you feel like you’re THERE. I WANT to be there in this one, especially. Just beautiful. :0)
This looks similar to my watch. I am NOT tech savvy. I can set my watch by myself, just barely, with a LOT of messing around. I breathe a sigh of relief when the time and day and date are correct. (Mine doesn’t show the month, though, just FR and 8).
Today was the first day since we had Leap Year that everything has been correct on my watch in the morning. “SOMETHING” is wrong and I have to stop and fix it. I think my problem stems from the fact that I use a 12-hour time frame, rather than going with military time, but it doesn’t SHOW a.m. or p.m. Hence, all the changing. I looked at it this morning and actually smiled. Small things make me happy sometimes. :0)
I have to whine one more time about the end of Lunch Bunch. I feel as though there has been a death in the family there is such a hole. We would have been leaving right now in order to join our friends for lunch, good food, good conversation, laughs and hugs. We have met every possible Friday for over 20 years, but time moves on and things change.
My friend Linda is in a retirement place. She has no car. She forgets to wear her hearing aid, so she doesn’t hear her phone ring. Sometimes her extremely busy daughter Patty is able to bring her to lunch, and we jump at the chance. Otherwise, I’ll now make a point of trying to visit with her after I go get my monthly massage, which has now been moved to Linda’s retirement place!
My friends Kay, and her husband Bud, are very busy doing various things around the house. Kay forgets what day it is, or forgets that today is the day for Lunch Bunch, or gets involved in other things. When I call and leave a message, she says she doesn’t get it. When I reach her, she says they have other stuff to do. Time has marched on. Needs change.
So, Lunch Bunch is a thing of the past. A wonderful memory. Some Fridays, if Patty can, we’ll meet her and Linda for lunch. Other Fridays, my husband and I will go for a brunch at The Dari. Most of the time, we’ll just enjoy our lunch at home. End of whine.
I’m hoping that the cat diapers I ordered for Abby will be delivered today. I ordered a package of 3 reusable diapers so that HOPEFULLY I can allow her in the house with the freedom she usually has. (I’ve told you previously that we just found out she has a terminal malignant kidney tumor that bleeds a lot.) She is 14, has other health problems, and is too old for MAYBE successful surgery. Fingers crossed that
I feel guilty only bringing her in when we can have a cat-loving session with her in my lap. I can only arrange this a couple of times a day, resulting in my closing the door in her face many times when she would like to come in.
Have a wonderful Friday. I hope you have a nice weekend planned.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
“You can say any foolish thing to a dog, and the dog will give you a look that says, ‘Wow, you’re right! I never would’ve thought of that!’” – Dave Barry
“A well trained dog will make no attempt to share your lunch. He will just make you feel so guilty that you cannot enjoy it.” – Helen Thomson
“You can trust your dog to guard your house but never trust your dog to guard your sandwich.” – Unknown
“The average dog is a nicer person than the average person.” — Andy Rooney
“My dog is worried about the economy because Alpo is up to $3.00 a can. That’s almost $21.00 in dog money.” — Joe Weinstein
Filed under Amazing Animals, Favorite Quotes
I was going to bake pork chops for our dinner tonight, served with a side salad. I got to thinking that maybe my Shake n Bake for Pork might not be keto-friendly. I was right. It’s delicious, and I’ve used it for years, but it’s half of my day’s allowance for carbs. No go. – 12g total carbs, 10.3g net carbs, 13g fat, 26g protein, and 274 calories.
I got on the net and looked for substitutes that WERE keto-friendly. I found 2 –
Coconut flour and Panko were also listed, but they have 8 net carbs and 21 carbs respectively.
So, a few minutes on the Internet and I found that I HAVE one of the best substitutes – almond flour – to use tonight. I’ll put the pork rinds on my grocery list for next time.
Making the switch to low carb eating takes a bit of work. The fact that my scales are finally noticing my efforts to lose the lard is reward enough.
Filed under Bright Ideas, Keto Eating Plan and Recipes We Like
“Handle every situation like a dog. If you can’t eat it or play with it, just pee on it and walk away.” – Unknown
“Ever consider what our dogs must think of us? I mean, here we come back from a grocery store with the most amazing haul, chicken, pork, half a cow. They must think we’re the greatest hunters on earth!” – Anne Tyler
“A dog desires affection more than its dinner. Well – almost.” -Charlotte Gray
“If you’re uncomfortable around my dog, I’m happy to lock you in the other room when you come over.” – Unknown
“A boy can learn a lot from a dog — obedience, loyalty, and the importance of turning around three times before lying down. ” – Robert Benchley
“Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.” – Groucho Marx
Filed under Amazing Animals, Favorite Quotes
It’s rainy here today and tomorrow, so I’ll concentrate on inside stuff. No errands to run, other than getting the mail at some point, so nice spans of time to get things done.
Yesterday I finished cleaning up after all the furor over ‘someone’ leaving bloody puddles on Amber’s dog bed in the utility room. This has been a long process of cleaning things over and over, but we finally got Amber’s bed aired out sufficiently and enough washings of the covers, to put things back together. I also hosed out the 4 pieces of Abby’s litter box, though being and inside/outside cat, she doesn’t use it much. I think we’re finished now with the cleanup.
I had a really nice chat with our son. He lives across the world from us, and is able to live how he wants to – no happier thing possible, as far as we’re concerned. He has a private language tutor, and he says he’s making really good progress now. His tutor and he have real conversations now, with his tutor then telling him phrases, or jargon, etc. to make his conversations more natural to the natives there. He’s meditating and has a site where he guides people into the practice. He has three languages on his phone and is on call to interpret or help others trying to communicate better. He is making music with his instruments or electronic gadgets. He is living in his condo, but plans on also having a house built out of the city at some point. A rich, full life. I’m SO glad to see it!
Sunday we marked 7 weeks since my husband broke his collarbone. I almost forget that he’s still healing, since he’s doing so well. I’m still watching him like a hawk, but we seem to be over the hump now.
I hit the 21-pounds off mark this morning, so I’m feeling I’m on the right track with my low-carb diet and my yoga practice. Tonight, for example, we’re having leftover spaghetti. My husband is actually having spaghetti with the sauce I made. I’m having the sauce over zoodles. The fact that I can have the sauces and things I make either over zucchini (zoodles) or cauliflower (cauli-rice) really helps me. I’m also eating a Mission Zero Tortilla in place of the dinner roll I used to eat from the deli. I’m making recipes from Suzanne Ryan’s Simply Keto cookbook. I haven’t found a recipe we don’t like yet. My husband is eating the frozen dinners I recently bought, thinking that, since they were high protein, they were on my diet. NOT! They are way too high in carbs for me. Next time I buy some frozen dinners, I WILL READ THE LABELS!
Hope you’re doing well today.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
These were both sent to me by my dear friend Cathy. I laughed out loud. :0)
Filed under Funny Signs - Humor, Pet Peeves
Filed under David Zinn - Street Artist, drawings
Isn’t this a fabulous photo? It makes me calm down inside when I look at it.
This is catch-up day for me. I’m trying to save Amber’s bed in the utility room after the cat has left bloody urine on it twice. It’s a process, and one I hope will be successful. I’ve been washing the covers and leaving the bed on the porch airing out a couple of times so far. The bed is large and expensive (and so are replacement covers) so I’m doing all I can to save them. She has another bed just like it in the living room, and another one – smaller, and different design – in the office.
Both animals seem to be doing well. I’ll try a modified version of Amber’s regular food tonight and see how she does. So far, so good.
Our cat, Abby, continues to eat well and doesn’t seem to be in pain. I’m bringing her in at least once a day for a concentrated loving-the-cat session. We sit in my recliner and she is the focus of my attention for a half hour or so. It’s good for both of us. I tell her what a wonderful girl she is, how much we love her, and how rich our lives have been for 14 years because she came to live with us. We both purr. This is all we can do, since she won’t recover from the probable kidney cancer, tumor, and bleeding.
I hate Daylight Savings Time. I wish they would decide in our legislature in Arkansas to adopt one time or the other and stick with it. People have tried, but it hasn’t passed yet. I don’t know what the problem is. The result – for an old person like me, is a real hassle on trying to get my watch changed. I finally got it changed to show all the correct information from having LEAP YEAR. I changed the date. The next day I had to change from a.m. to p.m. to get it to show the correct time because it was changing the date when it shouldn’t. This morning I had to change the DAY. I THINK all is good now. :0\ – And Saturday night and Sunday, I’ll have to do it AGAIN for Daylight Savings Time, plus all the other clocks in the house and vehicles. ARRRRGH! (I think I would win an award for whining and moaning hands down. :0) )
No errands today. I’ll get our mail and see if our trash can at the bottom of the driveway has been emptied. If so, I’ll drag it up to where it lives, trying very hard not to fall on my head in the process. :0) I don’t want it to blow around with rain coming tomorrow and Friday.
I broke through the 20-pounds-off mark yesterday for the first time and maintained it today. JUST BARELY got past it, but it counts. I’m hoping to continue this downward trend. The low-carb eating and logging my food on MyFitnessPal seems to be helping me to lose the lard, and the daily half hour or so of old lady yoga stretching is making me hurt less and feel more in control. The abdominal exercise I’m doing is making me feel stronger. I started only able to do 5 reps. I’m doing 15 now. I’m earning some nice sparkly stars to go on my desk calendar.
Last Sunday we hit the 6 week mark since my husband broke his collarbone. He isn’t in any pain (hooraaaaaaay!) and is able to do many more things. I don’t know yet what his range of motion will be when he heals completely. I’m trying to get him to gradually try to raise his arm and see how he does.
I hope your Hump Day is a good one, leading the way to a nice weekend.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
This morning we left do some errands. The two most important were getting a new, larger collar for our dog, Amber, and getting my driver’s license renewed – actually changed to the “Real ID” form that is required now.
We were successful in getting Amber’s collar at Ace Hardware.
Getting my license renewed almost made me despair. I had gotten online, made a list of what I needed, gathered that. What I brought didn’t please the people there. We had to go back home twice to get things that would meet with their approval, of COURSE having to take a number and wait – a total of three times. This and $40 plus another $2.50 for using my credit card for payment, finally got me my new driver’s license. It is good for 8 years – assuming I live that long. :0)
This is a sample image I found online. There are all kinds of changes from my old one. The thing that stands out for travel is the gold star in the upper right hand corner. Then in the bottom right hand corner, another pic of you saying ‘donor’ for organ donor. I don’t know if that pic is there if you’re NOT a donor. I didn’t notice this until I got home, but the ID picture on the left also has a ‘shadow image’ right beside it that you have to tilt the card just right to see.
The people at the place were kind of pushing me to get a voter registration card. I told them I already had one. I had to show it to them, and tell them I had voted early before they let it drop.
By the time I finally had the new driver’s license in my purse and we had gotten back to the truck, we were exhausted by all the jumping through hoops. We decided to stop at the Subway. My husband got a foot long BLT and I got a Subway Club Salad. YUM.
It was funny. Our local Subway has totally been renovated since we went there last time. They had moved the entire service line to the back instead of the side and it looked like they were able to accommodate a lot more in-store diners. When I got to the checkout, I had no clue how to use my Subway Rewards card in the reader. The guy there had to help me through it. Then there was a different way for the card reader to read my credit card. I felt old and inept by the time I checked out, but thanked him for helping me through it.
We are all calmed down now. I’m going to go do my yoga practice and then I’ll see if I can find Abby. It’s got to be almost time for a good cat hugging session.
Hope your day has been less stressful than mine.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
Sonia Lera Preston – @Sonia_L_Preston on X
Filed under paintings I love, Sonia Lera Preston
Peter Hogarth – @peterhogarth55 on X
Filed under animal paintings, drawings, Peter Hogarth - Artist
creativeartworksblog 