Pro Church Media
“Love wholeheartedly, be surprised, give thanks and praise… then you will discover the fullness of your life.” ~ Brother David Steindl-Rast
dreamies.de
“Thanksgiving was never meant to be shut up in a single day.” ~Robert Caspar Lintner
Tenor
“The thing I’m most thankful for right now is elastic waistbands.” ~Author Unknown
The Emily Post Institute
“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” ~William Arthur Ward
Filed under holidays
Live Life in Color
My husband and I are very lucky – and VERY aware of it.
We’re both retired, busier than we’ve EVER been, (even when raising a child, working full time, going to school nights, weekends, and summers, and all that that entails). We can plan most of our days to do what is most important to us at the time. We can be energetic, getting lots of stuff accomplished, or fat-ass in our recliners, reading a book or watching TV until we nod off for a nap. We live on top of a ridge line on about 8 acres, so we don’t have to worry about any of our activities bothering our neighbors. We can work in our shop in the middle of the night if a creative mood strikes, making a yard critter out of spare parts or a decoration for the mailbox.
We are both healthier than we’ve been in several years – other than getting older than dirt. We are actively trying to get the lard off and exercise. Since April, we have both lost about 30 pounds. Our blood tests are showing the difference and our primary doctor is patting us on our collective heads. My husband is almost where he needs to be weight-wise, but the NutriSystem programs we’re on help us watch our portions while avoiding sugar, salt, and fat without causing big problems and we’re eating more raw veggies at least twice a day.
Our luck runneth over because our son is trying to make arrangements to come home from Thailand for a good visit – the first in three years or so. We talk to him almost daily, either using a good chat program he arranged, or a face-to-face program called, “Appear.in”, or a combination of both, so we get everything but hugs on a regular basis. We’re lucky that he seems to enjoy us as people, rather than communicating out of some sense of ‘duty.’ We are closer as a family with him living across the planet from us than some families who live in the same city. Lucky, indeed.
We remark to each other that it doesn’t bet much better than this. We love our lives. Winning huge sums of money through PCH or the state lottery would be icing on an already delicious cake…
Filed under empowerment, Family, quality of life
wallpaper-gallery.net
I avoid exercise DVDs where the people are SO pert, SO excited, exuding the joys of moving – telling you how GOOD it all feels. They make me hostile. Likewise, I greet cloyingly sweet pictures and people with at least a silent snarl.
SO – you may react that way to ME this morning, because I woke up happy.
Though things are far from perfect, I have a pretty great life. I fell in love with my husband almost 60 years ago. We’ll celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary in June. AND we don’t just love, we’re addicted to each other. That doesn’t mean – by ANY means – that I don’t want to punch him in the face on a regular basis, but we chose to share our lives and it was definitely a good choice. We lost a daughter when she was 2 months old to SIDS – but we made a son who makes us proud of the generous, caring man he’s become, who loves us, reaches out on an almost daily basis from halfway across the world, just to check in and make sure we’re okay. And we might spend Christmas together this year!
We have two dogs, Molly (a sweet, elderly cocker spaniel/schnauzer cross) and Amber (a 95 pound yellow lab PUPPY) who drives us nuts and makes us laugh every day; two cats (Abby (a tortoiseshell fat cat) and Smoke (a sleek grey hunter); plus 4 goldfish who have tripled in size since we added them to our family.
We have a home we built over 30 years ago on top of a ridge line in Arkansas and we still love it. Since the initial building, we added a shop, then later doubled its size, plus built a greenhouse that so far hasn’t succumbed to wind and rain. We’re reasonably close to town, yet enjoy complete privacy up here, a really nice combination. We have a view of several ridge lines – and since we can see them, seeing the seasons change – we can pretend we own it all. :0)
Our health is improving as we get some of our lard off and are trying to exercise. I’m mainly doing my elliptical trainer and yoga stretching for old folks. My husband is doing better and better trying to do sit ups. We are consciously trying to move more.
We are retired, so many days we can do what we want – or don’t want to do. I can try to be productive or enjoy curling up in my chair with a good book. I can choose to check things off my to-do list or play in my art room. We have good friends who make our lives rich.
I woke up happy today. I hope you did, too.
Filed under Attitude, doing what you love, Encouragement, Family, Good Thoughts, quality of life
sayingimages.com
Yesterday was a very quiet day around here.
I’m starting a new round of cleaning out-cleaning up in my house, starting in our office, and made some good progress while my husband – whose computer is finally working again! – worked on a program to show prices on the stocks we hold. The only time we went out was when I went to get the mail – taking Amber, who will go anywhere, anytime in the car, with me.
I did fight with more fire ants who were ‘disturbed’ when the Fedex guy ran into the palette of bags of potting soil that lives at the far side of the driveway area. I really hosed down the whole pile of bags with EIGHT spray, then went back a couple of hours later and did it again. I also took some time to spray a few new ant areas that have popped up in the past few days. This is definitely ‘Year of the Fire Ants’ and I guess only a hard freeze will actually get rid of them significantly. (At least I HOPE)
We cooked out last night. The dogs and cats were with us on the deck. We had a nice breeze as the sun went down. We lit the LED rope lights that go around the deck just under the top, making everything quite festive. Soon the air was filled with the glorious smell of steak grilling on charcoal.
Quiet day. Full of love.
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family, quality of life
We put the turkey up on the mailbox yesterday. I’m starting to get into the swing of Thanksgiving, finally.
We have our good friend, Nora, coming for dinner, and are hoping that another friend, Carla, will also be free. I have the fixings for our dinner in the house, and will move the turkey from the freezer to the fridge to start thawing on Monday.
I’m thankful for so many things this year –
I hope that you’re looking forward to spending Thanksgiving with people you love in a warm, dry place, filling your bellies with good food, and your hearts with good cheer.
Filed under holidays, Lewis Art, Lewis Mailbox Decorations
creativeartworksblog 