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 ________
Elina Birzkalne is a Latvian Artist. A group shares a website called DukeJacobArt on Etsy to show and sell their work. You can go to the site, type in Elina’s name and see all her work on the site.
Filed under paintings I love
You sent photos of your pet to Denise and agree on details, and she creates a portrait for you from paper. I think these are super creative and quite distinctive.
Filed under collage, Denise Fiedler Collage, paper art
We’re lucky to be having a gorgeous Tuesday here. It’s sunny and is forecast get to the low 70s today! But it’s FEBRUARY! Shhhh!
We didn’t sleep well. Amber decided something was trying to encroach in the middle of the night and started barking. I tried to ignore it, then got up to go down and talk to Amber and she stopped.
We did this FOUR. SEPARATE. TIMES. I’m still fantasizing about tearing her tongue out so she can’t bark. It’s amazing that a dog who looks so pretty and SWEET can drive you nuts. Anyway, we are all up now and halfway functional.
I have to tell you it was a pleasure to be able to fully use our master bathroom last night and this morning. Our plumber’s helper, Josh, was here right at 8:30 and put the new parts in my basin and draining system, then pulled the toilet, resealed it, and replaced the parts in the tank. We’re fully functional again. I have to put everything back under the sink and in the toilet part of the bathroom, but I’ll do that slowly so my back doesn’t yell too loudly.
I did my yoga practice like a good girl. I did a new abdomen exercise Sunday which made my stomach muscles sore – a very good sign. I did it again yesterday and will keep doing it until my muscles aren’t sore, at which point I’ll increase the reps. Did I tell you I love seeing sparkly stars on my desk calendar for my exercise? I will never outgrow that…
We had quite a nature-filled evening. There were deer in the driveway, setting off the driveway detector. When I went out to check, there were also several white-tailed rabbits playing in the grass between our house and our shop and a roadrunner standing on one of the woodpiles. We also heard a group of coyotes singing for a minute or two. It’s really a distinctive sound. Kind of eerie. I have no clue why they do it.
I’m researching modifying the way I eat. I’m trying to cut my carbs way back, but I’m not really strictly following the keto eating plan. My lack of gallbladder makes handling all that fat difficult at best. My plan is to just do about 2/3 of the plan, eating the fat naturally included, but not trying to eat more than necessary.
I have Simply Keto – a wonderful book by Suzanne Ryan – that explains what to do and provides recipes that we already know we like, such as Keto Chili and a breakfast quiche type meal that we eat for dinner. We’ll see what happens. Fingers crossed.
Have a great day!
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
Even though it’s Monday and maybe you didn’t start today in the best mood, I hope that these two photos from two people I follow on X will bring up your spirits. Our world can be so beautiful!
Our plumber was due at 8:30 and he’s up there now working. He has to install a new part that wore out in my sink, and install a new seal in the toilet in our master bath. Hopefully, we’ll be in good shape when he finishes.
I moved our truck out of the garage first thing so I wouldn’t get penned in by one or two trucks this morning. I swept out the empty half of the garage. We gathered our trash and put the bags in the back of the truck so I can drag the trash can where it needs to be and put the bags in for pickup tomorrow. I’ll get the mail I didn’t get Saturday.
I have a massage this morning and my poor body is crying, “YES!” I’ve missed two massages lately due to weather once and my husband’s fall the second time, so I’m really looking forward to Lynn’s help.
I’m going to try to earn 7 sparkly stars for my desk calendar for practicing yoga stretches this week. I earned one yesterday for a good session. I’m really hoping I can build a ‘habit’ that becomes automatic. I can’t afford to be too lazy or ‘too busy’ to do this for myself.
I’ve decided to make some changes in my eating, hoping to spur my system to lose the lard. I’m making the changes slowly but hope to see some starting results in a week or two.
And that’s it for me this President’s Day. I hope it’s a good one for you.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
I love this idea. It inspires me to try to ‘draw a line around my think.’ I thought of an idea for a Christmas present I’d like to try to make. I’ve printed an image to work from for a wood-burning project. We’ll see…
Filed under inspiration
Yesterday I was sharing some beautiful embroidery with you. A kind person commented to my post, confirming that it was, indeed, ribbon embroidery, and saying good things about Dicraft. I said I would check it out.
Dicraft.com is a beautiful website where Di offers freebies, books, supplies, designs, and kits for all kinds of beautiful embroidery. It’s amazing – truly. An example of this is that Di was frustrated because she couldn’t find ribbons she liked for her work. They just weren’t the color and FEEL she was looking for. So – she designed her own, using silk and organza ribbons, and painting the range of ribbons, and now selling them to the public.
If you’re interested, use the link above to explore the website. Warning: bring tissues because you might have a drooling problem…. :0)
Filed under Embroidery/Sewing Art
This painting lifts my spirits and makes me smile. I LOVE all the light, too.
I slept fine last night, but I keep finding myself staring into space instead of doing whatever it is I’m intending to do. Hopefully, my coffee will make me more alert.
We’re having a beautiful, cold morning here with lots of sunshine. The weekend brought us pretty cold mornings, but the weather forecasters are saying a nice warm-up for the next 10 days. YEA!!!
Today marks Week 4 since my husband’s fall. Last night reminded my husband that he has some healing left to do. He was in bed while I was finishing up. He said he would turn his bed light on, but couldn’t lift his arm to do it, having to roll over to reach the switch. We agreed that he’s healing well, but needs to be mindful that he’s not fully healed yet and needs to be careful.
I’m going to make spaghetti for dinner tonight, making enough for a couple more dinners that can go in the freezer. Yoga this afternoon, maybe art room, as well. I hope that your Sunday is an enjoyable one.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
I think this is ‘ribbon embroidery.’ I love the 3-dimensionality of it, the texture, the mixed-media work on some of it, and more. This is a really beautiful art form.
Filed under Embroidery/Sewing Art
‘”‘Why do birds sing in the morning? It’s the triumphant shout: “We got through another night!”‘ ~ Enid Bagnold
“Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue.”
~ Dilbert
“The bird of paradise alights only upon the hand that does not grasp.” ~ John Berry
“I don’t ask for the meaning of the song of a bird or the rising of the sun on a misty morning. There they are, and they are beautiful.” ~ Pete Hamill
“Hold fast to your dreams, for without them life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly.” ~ Langston Hughes
“I would rather learn from one bird how to sing than to teach 10,000 stars how not to dance.” ~ e. e. cummings
“A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.” ~ Chinese Proverb
“My heart is like a singing bird.” ~ Christina Rossetti
“Use the talents you possess – for the woods would be a very silent place if no birds sang except for the best.” ~ Henry Van Dyke
“How can I be in two places at once, unless I were a bird?” ~ Boyle Roche
Filed under Favorite Things
We’re having a nice, quiet morning so far today. It’s freezing right now, but the sun is shining brightly and the afternoon will be 44. I really am feeling lucky about the weather right now (knock on wood). It’s MUCH nicer than our usual Februaries and the daffodils are telling me spring will come here eventually.
Tomorrow marks Week 4 (of 10 to 12 weeks healing time) since my husband’s fall on the ice and resulting broken collarbone. We go Thursday for new x-rays and check by the orthopedic surgeon to make sure he’s healing all right. He doesn’t have any pain now and is getting around better and better.
I hope that you are having a fine weekend.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
Filed under jewelry
creativeartworksblog 