My Weblog

Stinkin' rotten lousy.......

night's sleep. All the classic signs of an undermedicated thyroid--night sweats, inability to get to sleep, shortened REM sleep periods, and muscle cramps. I guess that's what happens when you have twin dimwits for doctors who drop your thyroid meds by 3 X the safe amount. Yeah, it takes about 3 weeks for changes in thyroid meds to level out in the blood stream, so it's just about time for the symptoms to show up. Anyway, I got about 6 hours of lousy sleep after lying in bed for 2.5 hours waiting to go to sleep.

Yesterday was a very good day but I did have a couple of adventures, right here in my own home, LOL. First, I had that delicious, nutritious sweet potato for lunch. Now, I don't put any food trash in any trash can except the kitchen. There is a reason for that--the kitchen has a door on it and the dogs ferret in the trash looking for whatever they smell that smells like food if they can get to it. So, I had really bad manners and scooped everything I could out of the shell of that potato--with a spoon! Then I set it aside on my desk, about a foot and a half from me, to take to the kitchen the next time I got up from the desk. A few minutes later, it was time for me to head to some other part of the house and I stopped to grab the plate with the potato skin on it. Guess what? Nothing there but an empty plate. Some dog (I'm nominating Parker) had slipped up behind me and stolen the sweet potato peel off the plate and gobbled it down!

My clients last night brought dinner. Since I have been on a salad binge, she brought salads for herself and for me. Her husband went off in search of fast food. These salads were huge! At least 3 meals for me. Anyway, we ate and talked and had a great time. Then we closed up our salads for later and got to work. It was a couple of hours later we finished up and I walked them to their car. We chatted for 5 minutes or so there by the car and I remembered I'd left my salad on the desk. I said a quick goodbye and took off at a run to try to save my salad. Well, my salad was just fine. BUT, they had found the remains of her salad (apparently she'd forgotten it). They'd popped the plastic lid off in the process and chewed up the foil container bottom. There was not a sign of a single shred of lettuce or any evidence there had ever been a salad except the torn up container and an empty container that had once contained ranch dressing! So, I can safely say the dogs have had their share of veggies for the week, LOL.

I did get the rinsing of the carpet finished in the living room and made it about 6 feet into the office. Still lots more work to go on the office though. I also got one freebie for iNSD previewed, another halfway there, and all the stuff pulled out to preview the third. And I got a few more elements designed for the current kit.

My visiting "brother" and "sister" gave me a "love gift" last night. Oh, my goodness. It was sizeable too! I was speechless..... That certainly won't hurt! I have been wanting to get a bigger/newer hard drive for my computer. The computer is about 6 years old now and I literally pray over it every day. And I am very faithful about backups because........ well, you know. Anyway, this "love gift" will buy me a new hard drive. And more. Maybe I can get me a new pair of white shorts........ or, the standing joke, some undies.

Well, today, I need to get my previews for iNSD finished and get that stuff uploaded. And, I need to get some more design work done on the newest kit.

I hope to be done with the "rinsing" of the carpet today. If it weren't for the holes in the carpet, it would actually look pretty good, despite its age.

I also need to do some cooking--some chicken thighs so I can make a big batch of chicken salad. I didn't make it to Trader Joe's yesterday, and I think that must be because I have so much salad left from last night's dinner to add to the "perpetual salad bowl". But something besides green salads seems to be in order and a high protein chicken salad sounds good with temperatures in the high 80's and more (today is supposed to top out at 96!)

So, anyway, I have so much to do and I want to get on with it. Let me show you some more pretty eye candy with Country Morning.

Here is Laurie's "round up" for week 16 of 2013. It is her version of Project Life and I'm so flattered she is using my kits for this project! Laurie created her own frames with the butterfly paper from the kit. I love how she mounted the title ("week") on the vine and layered "16" on top of the sunflowers.

Deanna did this layout and I think it is SO darned cute. I thought it was really creative of Deanna to use the "bird on a wire" element ("gold" bird on a "gold" chain) to continue her theme with the circular paper cuts in the background! She has also made good use of those burlap photo mattes too, using them behind her beautiful clusters. Great job, Deanna!

So, that's it for me for now. Gonna open the back doors for some fresh air and get on with my many chores for the day. YOU be BLESSED today!

 

 

Delicious, nutritious.....

sweet potato. I just poked holes in it, nuked it in the microwave, put butter on it, and ate it.

Ah, you say--I thought you were avoiding carbs? Yes, I am. However, the sweet potato thing has to do with the Glycemic Index. The Glycemic Index measures the degree to which a food tweaks insulin in our bodies. And the nickname for insulin is "the hunger hormone". If we eat something that sends our blood sugar skyrocketing (like cake, pie, cookies, bread, or, one of the worst offenders, a white potato), insulin rushes in to try to bring the blood sugar under control. In the process, it also facilitates the storage of fat! And, once the blood sugar is under control, guess what? We're hungry again--hence "the hunger hormone". The sweet potato does not tweak the Glycemic Index like a regular white potato or the other sources of refined carbs named above. So, we get to enjoy it, even when we're avoiding most carbs, and receive its nutritional benefits.

While the sweet potato was in the microwave, I hard boiled some more eggs. I did NOT do them in the oven. I placed room temperature eggs in cold water to cover them. Then I brought the pot to a boil over high heat. Then I turned the heat off and covered them and left them sit for 20 minutes. When the timer went off, I grabbed a big bowl, filled it with ice and cold water and dropped my eggs into an icewater bath. They peeled SO slick. In several cases, they peeled in basically two pieces. Meaning, half the shell came off then the other half, and the egg was clean and ready to eat. You can't ask for much slicker than that. AND, it was so much easier than trying to peel those eggs I baked. Sometimes, the internet teaches you something new and innovative. THIS time, I'll stick with the old fashioned way!

There is one spot on my carpet that is making me a little crazy. I blamed Max for this, but I've decided it is Parker who is the culprit. SOMEONE has been lifting his leg in my hallway. And, for quite a while, all I've had to use to clean it up was the Little Bissell. Yeah, well, it just was NOT capable of handling the problem. And every time I would clean that area, it would look clean til it dried and then it would be literally black......... YUCK! I am guessing that in the process of drying, it was wicking more yucky stuff to the surface of the carpet. So, yesterday I went over that spot for the 4th time with the big carpet shampooer. And that area is now dry and it is just the least bit discolored. VICTORY! I can smell victory. I am going to give it one more go  before I put this carpet shampooer away and I think that part of the carpet will end up looking "normal". Wow! I didn't think I could make it happen.

I blamed Max originally because a) I know German Shepherds and there is a sneakiness in their nature; and 2) We do not know how old Max was when he was neutered. Parker, on the other hand, was neutered young, just weeks after he came to live with us. He still wasn't consistently lifting his leg to pee. The theory is that if you neuter them early enough, before the hormones hit, you won't have to deal with all the territorial marking stuff. Yeah, well......... I have watched Max the last few weeks. He is the tallest of the dogs and has to work at getting out through the pet door. More than that, he has had to do it with two sore paws and several rounds of severe diarrhea. And, yet, though it was quite a struggle, he has consistently gone outside. I have changed my mind and decided it is Parker (who SO wants to be the head dog in charge) who is doing this stuff. I just wish I could catch him at it! I would never have believed he was smart enough to pull this off, but I was wrong.

Anyway, you've heard me say I will never again have two male dogs in my house at the same time, and NOW you know why......... BUT, my carpet is close to "normal". Saints be praised.

Psalm 68:19 says that the Lord "daily loadeth me with benefits". I'm figuring the looks of that spot on the carpet--well that's one of my benefits for today! Thanks, Dad!

I am ready for lunch!

I've done some work this morning! I have one more little bit of the living room to do and I have rinsed ALL the previously shampooed carpet in there. Yay me! This has involved multiple dump outs and refills of the take up and supply tanks on the machine. My right arm is feeling like it has had a workout. I sure wish I could do some of this with my left arm! I am afraid that by the time I finish this, my right arm will be all muscular like some female weight lifter's and my left arm will be the flabby "before" picture, LOL.

I have done some deleting of e-mail, unzipped, organized and tagged a bunch of stuff in ACDsee. I even did some advertising. It's about time with the advertising. I honestly don't know why I avoid doing that unless it is just that I am uncomfortable with the whole "look at this marvelous thing I did" concept. Anyway, I think I posted about 8 ads in 13 minutes, complete with photos--all on various advertising sites on Facebook.

Anyway, time for me to stop all these extra jobs, like deleting e-mail, unzipping files, moving files, tagging files, etc., and get down to making those previews of freebies. Not my favorite part of design, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do!

But first, LUNCH. I must have burnt off a few calories this morning because I am unusually hungry for this time of day. Remember, I'm the woman who forgets to eat lunch til 3 or 4 PM some days! Gotta go see what wonders I can discover in the kitchen!

Carpet cleaning.........

Yes, would you believe I'm still cleaning carpet. Well, actually, I'm supposed to be rinsing the carpet. But, the only real difference is how much cleaning solution is mixed in automatically by the machine as I do the push/pull thing back and forth over the carpet.

I am paranoid about soapy stuff left in the carpet. This carpet, with three dogs, can get dirty enough, really fast, without soap being left in the carpet by the shampooer to attract and hold the dirt from dusty paws. So, I am going back over all I've cleaned to rinse out any remaining shampoo. I AM seeing the remains of carpet shampoo in the uptake bucket so I guess I'm glad I'm doing this. I am also seeing more dirt being extracted. Looks like half the desert is buried down in the backing of the carpet! Not that that surprises me......... Maybe there will be less dust in the house because I did this???? What do you think? So, it's a worthwhile thing I am doing.

However, it's not a fun thing. Of that I can assure you! One big benefit though is that after you push/pull this machine back and forth for a few minutes, you're doing aerobic exercise. It's like doing a very long set or four of bicep curls, LOL. You are dealing with the weight of the machine (and it's NOT light) as well as a gallon of water. My right arm has probably never looked so good! The thing that surprises me is that it's really not sore. I would have thought it would be. This isn't the easiest thing I've ever done.......

So, I've now rinsed the entire length of the hall and about half of the living room/dining room. Still have half of the living room/dining room to go and the office as well.

I am continuing on the treadmill, faithful as an old dog. Still not doing much, but I think whatever I do helps. And, I've lived through it all, LOL, without the expensive professional supervision for which I haven't budgeted. Today is day 12 in a row. At the moment, I am only concerned with how long I spend on the treadmill. When I finally get to my goal as to time, I'll start to think about increasing the speed a bit. It is not that I can't go longer or can't go faster. It is that I have pledged to myself and to you, blog readers, that I am going to do this very slowly. And I'm keeping my pledge.

I'm still experiencing some pain in the tush and thighs. It's not awful, but it does make the thought of getting on the treadmill less exciting! I have just tried to ignore it and keep going, figuring one way or the other, it WILL get better. The muscles will get stronger and the challenge to them will lessen as we go along. I keep telling myself that when I increase from 1 to 2 minutes, I've increased my time by 50%. That's a big increase. But when I increase from 12 minutes to 13 minutes, that's only an increase of 12.5%--a much smaller increase in the demand on my muscles. But, for now, you might see why I value the "exercise" associated with this carpet cleaning stuff. Between the push/pull and the emptying and filling of buckets of water, I figure it MUST be adding to my calorie burn as well as strengthening my right arm.

I am turning into a salad freak. It may wear off, but for now, I am REALLY enjoying them. I think the nutrition found in all those veggies is just what my body needs. Anyway, I can hardly wait to sink my fork into at least one salad meal a day.

I spent some time yesterday, searching online for recipes for homemade salad dressings. I really don't like the idea of bottled dressings though they ARE a convenience. But, if you want an education, try reading the ingredients on the side of the bottles. Then think about the fact that you are putting stuff into your body (and the bodies of your family) that you can't pronounce. I do own some bottles of salad dressing, and, you know, I've sworn to use up what I own. BUT, I just don't like the idea of eating "Potassium Sorbate,.......Propylene Glycol Alginate,.......Calcium Disodium EDTA,....." and "Yellow6". Those are the ingredients on the side of a bottle of poppy seed dressing I'm working on right now. I can't help but wonder what they use those compounds for when they're NOT putting them in my food. And, I surely do not trust some government agency to have screened out harmful ingredients!

I figure given how long it takes me to make a salad, the additional time to make a fresh dressing (from real food products) is a drop in the bucket. I developed a concept yesterday that I think will work. I'm calling it the "perpetual salad bowl". Last week, I threw together a salad consisting of organic greens and arugula, chopped bits of cauliflower and broccoli, red onion, tomatoes, zucchini, and whatever else I ran across in the produce department that tweaked my fancy. I put all that in a resealable container and I've eaten from it all week. Along the way, I added in some hard boiled egg. Yesterday, I added some chopped Provolone and some chopped smoked turkey. Today I'm going to make a quick trip to Trader Joe's to get some more green stuff to add in (maybe some baby spinach), and I'm just going to keep adding something fresh day by day. There are so many possibilities.........

I think my next addition will be some beets. And I own some garbanzos so I might throw some of those in. And there's still a lot of cauliflower and broccoli in my fridge and I still own tomatoes and zucchini. And green onions. And carrots. See, I can throw something new and different into the mix every day or to augment what I've eaten (like the bits of cauliflower and broccoli and tomato and zucchini I've eaten). And I can keep this up for a long time to come. Oh, and I own some avocado too! That would be good, chopped, dressed with some lemon juice to prevent browning and added to the mix, right? So, I am eating rabbit food and enjoying it very much!

So, for today, I will continue on with my carpet rinsing. And, I will alternate that with some laundry, some kitchen clean up, and some dusting. I am finding the very worst thing about housekeeping is that no matter what you do today, there is still more (and sometimes more of the same) to do tomorrow! At least, that kind of takes the stress out of it. I don't have to worry about being "done". I'll never be done til I go to Heaven. I just know there is no dusting or vacuuming there!

I'm also working on a new kit. It's coming along nicely. All the papers are done and I have around 35 elements completed. I am going to have to break from this for a few days and preview some goodies I have to give away for iNSD. And, I'm gonna have to do that soon!

I also have a tax appointment today. I love these folks. They are "family", that big family which all has the same daddy and big brother. They're bringing dinner! Yes, a salad for me, LOL. Their return is complex and we'll be at it for hours, so whatever doesn't get done by 4PM isn't going to be done. Of course, I was doing my last round of "rinsing" last night at midnight, so I might get a few more licks in after they leave.

I have some eye candy to show you with Country Morning, though not as much as I'd like. So, I am limiting you to just one layout today. Hey! It's not polite to boo and hiss at a person on her own blog!

Jen, aka Sarah Whithers, did this layout. I don't usually comment on the backgrounds of pages created with templates. However, this one is so unique, I just have to say it captured me the moment I saw it. I really like Jen's title work here too. I love the contrast of that shiny satiny ribbon against the burlap photo mattes. Isn't that fun? Great job, Jen!

Now, I'm off to get started on my "rinsing", designing, dusting, laundry, and so on. YOU be BLESSED today.

New Stuffs, week of 4/27

There was a time in my life when I was all about country decor. (These days I'm more about clean!) If you love driving through the country on a warm spring day, or you love country decor, or you just like the colors of "country", this is the kit for you.

This kit, Country Morning is on sale and available only at my A Cherry on Top Store. I also have placed the "separates" (the elements, the papers, and the alphas) on sale. Let me give you a good look at those:

So, come by the store and look around. You'll find lots of beautiful kits to your liking!

I am having a sale in my store for iNSD. Everything is 50% off. Don't miss it. I've never done a sale like this before and who knows when I'll do it again???

Champion of the underdog.......

or something of that sort.

So, last night I went to Target. Last time I was there, I grabbed some milk and noticed their price was really good--about $1 less than the prevailing retail cost. So, I was down to just a drizzle yesterday and headed out to Target for milk. Well, it was a little pricier last night, but still about $.70 less per gallon than "normal". I managed to get out of there for just the price of the milk and 3 Chobani Greek yogurts.

Seems they had a zillion flavors of Greek yogurt I've never seen before, and all marked 25% off. I found pineapple, mango, and pomegranate. Haven't tasted the mango and pomegranate yet, but if they're as tasty as the pineapple, they should be quite a treat, all for $1 each.

Anyway, last time I was there, I noticed that you can get 5% off your total if you have "the red card". Well last time I found such a good deal on coffee, I bought two jars of Folgers instant and I also bought some NesQuik. I figured that for just carrying the one extra card, I could have saved almost a buck. The trip before that, I bought two bottles of carpet shampoo that set me back almost $40. I would have saved $2 on that. All in all, it seemed worth it to go ahead and get the card.

The store wasn't busy. I got a primo parking place. I figured everyone was either eating dinner or out somewhere having fun on a Saturday night. I rolled my cart with my 5 little items up to the front and found that the checker closest to the exit I wanted to use was standing there waiting. Good! As she scanned my stuff, I asked her about applying for "the red card". She said she could help me with that. I paid for my goodies and we started the application "process". It was no big deal. Maybe I can get you to see how simple and quick it was if I tell you that I answered all the questions using the keypad on the thingy that scans your debit/credit card. I know there weren't more than 5 questions, toughies like "enter your birthdate"-6 numbers, "enter your social security number"--9 numbers, and "Show your photo ID to the cashier".

In the meantime, two ladies with just a few items had pulled their carts in behind me. One of them was NOT a nice person. I figure she is one of those people who is "special". You know, the one person in the whole store who shouldn't have to stand in line ever.......... Yeah, well.........

She began complaining about "how long is this going to take?" "How long am I going to have to wait?" and worse. Finally she jumped all over the little girl at the checkstand because, according to Ms. Special, the girl should have turned off the light (you know,the light that shows the checkstand is open). And she began to complain about how she was "stuck" now and could have gone to a different checkstand where she could have gotten "proper service". She didn't curse or anything but she was so nasty and the poor cashier, who had done nothing other than try to provide service to me, which is her job, after all, looked like she was going to burst into tears.

Finally Ms. Special shoved her way past me, cart and all. No doubt I'll have a bruise where she hit me with her cart. And went off to complain to the manager. Finally, I'd had enough. I just looked at her and said "bitch, bitch, bitch". Now, I wasn't calling her a bitch; I was describing her behavior. I suppose I could have said "complain, complain, complain". Maybe I SHOULD have said "complain, complain, complain". I didn't think of it at the time because the manager was bearing down on us and the checker was on the verge of tears.

Long story short, when the manager got to us, I explained that the checker had done nothing wrong, had been polite, and helpful to me. I also explained that the checker's customer, me, had said "bitch, bitch, bitch". She almost giggled.

As I left the store with my purchases paid for and my application for a "red card" complete, Ms. Special was still wandering around the front of the store, looking for an empty checkstand where she could get "proper service". I couldn't help but hope there would be at least 14 people waiting to check out at every checkstand. The end.

Well, really, I could have handled it better. It never fails--I always think of the "right" thing, or at least a "better" thing, to say, later......... Afterwards, I really wished I would have looked at the lady behind Ms. Special and said "Ma'am, this is only going to take a few minutes but the lady in front of you is in SUCH a hurry. Would you mind backing up for a moment to allow her to go find a faster checkstand?"

Yeah, that would have been better. And, it came to me as I was driving away.......... Darn!

 

Upload Day..........

Upload Day is never my favorite. It is the day I upload new product to my store at A Cherry on Top. Later today, I will also upload new product to my Scrapbook-Elements store as well. When this schedule first started, I thought I would just hate it, but, guess what? I don't. It is going to allow me to do something I've wanted to do for a long time--I will finally get to go to the Farmer's Market that happens on Saturday mornings, just a couple of miles from my home! Of course, I can only do this on every other Saturday, but, before I couldn't get there at all unless I wanted to go in the hotter temperatures of the late morning or early afternoon.

Upload Day is not going too well so far. I just sat here while my computer clicked away at uploading about 215MB of goodies in 5 files. And, when it was all over, I discovered I'd been dumped after just two files uploaded. So, right now, I'm uploading 3 files for the second time. However, during the upload time, I watched a tutorial so, at least, I redeemed the time. But, this obviously means my uploads will take longer than they should this morning!

I decided that there are a number of things I can accomplish while these uploads are going on in the background. I can blog--and that's just what I'm doing. I can dust in this room. I can work on pulling together the files for the uploads I need to do later in the day. Any of these things keeps me right here, close to the computer where I need to be. So, perhaps I can accomplish some much needed tasks while my computer does its thing in the background.

I finally have clean carpet throughout the house. Wow! It was just great to come out of my bedroom this morning and realize there were no spots I needed to avoid stepping on whilst making my "big" commute from one end of the house to the other. It is also wonderful to notice how much better the house smells!

Yes! The carpet shampooer worked and I got that last expanse of the hallway cleaned! THAT makes me happy. I have not yet done the hard floor in the kitchen. I'm in a bit of a quandry about exactly how to get that done. The shampoer still contains carpet cleaning solution and you just know that's not the right cleaning solution for the hard floor, right? I'm not exactly sure how to get that out of there as the container it's housed in is a bit unwieldy. I am thinking that before I do that, I may go back over the parts I've cleaned with an extra rinse. I am more than a little paranoid about leaving soapy stuff in the carpet for fear it will just begin attracting dirt......

So, that's a big job for today--rinsing any remaining soap out of the carpet. On the design side, I've got a quandry and lots of work to deal with. I pull my previews together and then send them to my design assistant to "wrap". "Wrapping" consists of dropping the previews into the pretty "frame", resizing, etc. Since the end of tax season, or really a little before the end, I've completed a bunch of kits. Normally, I just send her a couple of e-mails per kit with the stuff she needs to do the job. But, she's been having medical problems and I am still recovering, and I have backed off of doing that. Now I find myself with quite a pile of "stuff" I need to send her and I'm in a life-or-death struggle with her ISP. They keep rejecting my e-mails! It appears, from the error messages I am getting, that they think I'm a spammer and sending her too many e-mails in too short a time frame. Oy! I have been trying to get her stuff to do previews for 4 or 5 kits and I've only managed to get both parts of one package through to her, as best I can tell. Yesterday, I sent one e-mail and IT bounced! Geez! Technology is great when it works, n'cest pas?

So, I am going to try to put a patch on that whole thing. I am going to upload a package containing EVERYTHING to my upload service and send her just one e-mail with links to everything. That means she'll be able to download it all, but will only receive one e-mail today. Yeah. I hope that works because it's my one and only idea for today on how to deal with the problem!

The other mandatory design thing is getting next week's kit ready for the SBE store. That's a whole different process from what I'm used to and since this is only my 3rd time doing it, still a bit of a challenge. Last night, I redid all the previews (8 of them). This morning I will quality check everything one more time and change a bunch of file names. Then, sometime later in the day, I can actually do the uploads.

So, I thought I'd give you a little report on my "rehab" efforts. Yesterday, I waited til almost 4PM to figure out that I hadn't eaten lunch! Yeah, I was workin' hard and lunch slipped my mind. However, by the time I figured out I should eat, I needed to eat immediately. I ended up grabbing something (with carbs) out of the freezer. You know, prepared foods contain carbs. That's just the way it is. However, I didn't eat anything else except some nuts (which are very low in carbs and high in other good stuff my body needs) so I think I can say my carb consumption was within reasonable limits, even if it was not done the way it should have been.

I was concerned about the carbs in my frappuccinos. I have managed to find an acceptable blend that cuts 14 g of carbs from the mix. I wish I could cut more, but I have my doubts about that. It has taken a couple of tries to get this formulation figured out, but it works. There are basically only a few ingredients in these things: milk, instant coffee, NesQuik, sweetener, and ice. Although I am not a fan of chemicals these days, I still sweeten this with artificial sweetener, basically of the saccharin variety, so no carbs in there. (I won't go near aspartame!) Instant coffee and ice have no carbs so there is no concern there. The sources of carbs in this drink are the milk and the NesQuik. I can't cut the amount of milk without cutting out part of my precious drink. So, I've cut the NesQuik. I was using 1TBSP of instant coffee and 5 TBSP of NesQuik. I originally tried substituting a TBSP of instant coffee for a TBSP of NesQuik. Man, was that ever nasty! My second experiment was using 1TBSP plus 1tsp of instant coffee and 4 TBSP of NesQuik. That tastes just fine and saves me the 14g of carbs. I may see if I can take this further later on. But, for now, I've made an improvement and the taste is comparable. I'm happy.

I have been on the treadmill every day for the past 9 days. Again I emphasize that I am taking it VERY slowly and not on there for long. A real sports nut or advocate of aerobic exercise would laugh at my efforts. However, I am increasing my time on the treadmill daily. Am I burning a lot of calories? Absolutely not. I am not even sure if I am giving myself any kind of aerobic exercise yet. But, I AM building up my leg muscles and my glutes. Eventually those stronger muscles will burn more calories without any encouragement from me, LOL. And the rest will come. It just takes time and I have a lifetime to get to perfection, LOL. I will be on the treadmill again today. I know a lady who says "In consistency lies the power". She uses that phrase when she speaks of daily prayer time and Bible reading, but I think it applies here. Yes, I am consistant and I intend to continue to be consistant. I have walked through back pain and whatever else has come my way the last 9 days and I intend to just keep on doing it.

Well, that's it from me for now. Lots to do........... YOU be BLESSED today!

 

 

 

Here it is..........

after 1PM and I haven't posted for today. What is wrong with me????

Nothing wrong with me, just otherwise busy......

Did my CT update this morning. Lots to show them. I hope they liked what they saw! I'll be finishing up the latest kit today, I think.

Had to run some errands. Went to pick up Max's newest batch of meds at Walgreens. Wandered around inside a bit and found cheese slices on sale (yes, that's what I use to get his meds into him and I was down to one slice), along with lightly salted cashews. I am looking for low carb snacks and cashews fit the bill. They were almost down to half price by the time I took into account my rewards points. I also grabbed some headbands. Still trying to solve the hair-in-my-face dilemma. Got 7 headbands in various colors for $2.19. Yup, you guessed it--I AM the last of the big spenders! Then I went to a bank and cashed a check. Then I went and picked up the not-broken/broken carpet shampooer. I am aggravated no end that the darned thing wouldn't misbehave for him when it gave me such a hard time and resulted in it being in the shop for a week to no avail.

In the process of all that, I actually passed up a Jack in the Box, a Starbucks, a Wendy's, and a Subway, as well as a Chinese restaurant pretty much next door to the vacuum cleaner repair place that was sending out the most incredibly wonderful smells. I actually almost did a u-turn to go back to that Chinese restaurant, but came to my senses, considered my budget, and kept driving......... Actually, they were ALL tempting. I could almost taste a Subway BMT........

So, my aim for today on the design side is to finish up the sunshine kit I've been working on. I did make a request for the team to chip in some ideas for elements. If they do, it might not be finished til tomorrow. Otherwise, I'll be working on solids and alphas today.

Around here, priority #1 will be cleaning the rest of the carpet that has spots on it. I can't believe I've been living with those for almost two weeks now. Ewwwwwww! But, after the 2-day-old carpet shampooer refused to turn on, what choice did I have?

And, on the tax side, I've pulled all the data to do a tax return so I guess I will work on that.

I pulled a real cute stunt when I got home....... I locked my keys in the van. I have spare van keys in the house but had to come in through a window to get into the house. What a dufus! I don't do things like this often, but I sure did today! Oh, well, in that process I discovered some curtains that badly need washed so I guess I better get those onto my to do list.

Okay, as you can see, I'm off to a late start. I'm gonna scoot and get started on the tasks of the day. YOU be BLESSED today!

 

The end of the egg salad........

Sorry to say, I just finished it off. It was very tasty and well worth the time I invested in making it. And, since I got the eggs on sale, it didn't cost much for 3 good sized meals of high protein food.

I just also fed Max the last of the chicken and rice. I sure do hope it stays down! He is still guarding his food dish so his brother, Parker, doesn't eat his food (he willingly shares with Punkin). But, he is not eating any of the guarded dog food to speak of. He wolfed down the chicken and rice as though he was starving....... Guess I'd better make some more. I can also be thankful that the chicken was on sale!

Well, we've made good progress on the too-cute-to-talk-about new kit this morning. I still have only 14 papers and am momentarily devoid of ideas as to what I should add. BUT, I have 26 elements. And, that includes none of the usual stuff like flowers and ribbons and bows, etc. It DOES include frames. I will have a good bit of stuff to show off to the CT tomorrow. I think they'll like what I've been up to!

That's it for now. Got to get these doors closed and then I'm going to lie down for a bit. The symptoms in my back are much better today; however, I have digestive problems. I am hypothesizing they result from some of the meds I am taking as no wheat has passed my lips.........

Later!

13 is............

My blessed number so far today. I started on a new kit last evening and it currently has 13 papers and 13 elements. Sheer coincidence, of course. It is so darn cute I can barely stand myself, LOL.

Well, day before yesterday was a quickie trip to Costco to fill up with gas. Phew! $56 later I left the premises. I did NOT go in, just got gas and ran back home before the temptation to go inside overcame me. 2 trips to the far side of town with a sick dog and a couple of tax return deliveries really ate into my month's gas allotment and then some!

Yesterday, the errand of the day took me to Walgreens to drop off two new prescriptions for Max. One I still don't need, but the DR is hypothesizing he may be on it for life, so......... may as well stock up. The other is a different antibiotic. I probably should have started him on these a couple of days ago, but to add to his lower digestive system upset, he was upchucking. I just laid off the antibiotics altogether for a couple of days in hopes his system would settle down. Oddly enough, he was upchucking boiled chicken and rice which should be about the mildest thing you can feed a dog.......

While I was at Walgreens, I picked up some barettes and clips for my hair, all either on clearance or on sale half price. My hair is now long enough to be sitting on my shoulders. However, the part where my hair is parted just will not stay out of my eyes. I lasted through months of it growing, thinking all along that when it got long enough to tuck behind my ear, the problem would be solved. Well, it is long enough, but consistently slips back out and hangs in my eyes. I hate that! So, I got some "non-slip" barettes and some clips so I could just wind it all up and get it off my neck. I also got some regular barettes which are very pretty, but I don't think my hair is thick enough to hold 'em yet.

Today the errand of the day will be to go back to Walgreens and pick up those prescriptions. They were supposed to be ready by 5PM and I wasn't notified to come pick them up til after 8. At least I don't have to go inside for the pickup.

Well, it's 74 degrees outside already. I guess I'd better get the back doors open for some fresh air because, before long, it will be warmer outside than it is inside and having the doors open will cause the a/c to kick on. We are headed progressively UP for the next 4 days, culminating on the 4th day at 97 degrees. It seems far too early for that!

So, I did okay in the house yesterday. Laundry was folded and put away and more was washed. I think I am ready to tackle a load of bathroom rugs and towels today. I did clean the kitchen floor, but I am really wanting that scrubber back from the repair shop. I don't think my knees would stand for scrubbing the "dimples" in the linoleum on my hands and knees with a scrub brush, but that is what it looks like it needs. I'm so hoping the hard floor scrubber attachment on the carpet shampooer will substitute for the hands and knees thing. I DO like my kitchen floor to look clean and though I scrubbed it yesterday, it doesn't. Also worked on the desk, shredded, and so on.

I have been very faithful on the treadmill. I am slowly building up to something respectable. I am still so far from "respectable" that I'm not even going to share with you what I'm doing. But, I am being consistent and I am increasing my efforts daily. For the past couple of years, every time I tried to get back on the treadmill, I was hampered by heavy duty pain in my left buttock and left thigh. That has gone away. Makes me think it might have been related to circulation........ Anyway, I'm making slow progress which is just the kind of progress I need to make. I am still really feeling the lactic acid build up. As I continue to do this consistently, that should be much reduced.

So, my design time for the day is drawing to an end. I have a tax return I want to get done today.

I also want to get started on trying to fix that darn drawer in my kitchen. I'm formulating a plan...... I think I will drag a box into the kitchen and empty that cupboard down below the drawer into the box. This will make it easier to get that stuff out of the way as I'm likely to have to wedge myself into the cupboard in some manner to get to where the screw attaches. I am also hoping, really hoping, I find the darn screw amongst the stuff down below in the cupboard. That would surely make my life easier.

And, today is drag-the-trash-to-the-curb day. I missed it on Monday, so I'd better be on my game today! Receptacles are full all around the house!

I started going through files carefully, pulling out whatever I can shred. I did a great job of making more work for myself, LOL. And, I'm not to the letter "d" yet! And, these are just the active files. I know I have stuff in the inactive files that is shreddable too. I sure wish I knew someone who uses shredded paper in their cat litter box........I could keep 'em supplied for months!

Well, that is a rough outline of my day. I guess we should do eye candy.......

Here is a great layout by Deanna. I am loving her selections here--the dotted leaves atop the matching dotted paper. The lined paper cut into the arrow shapes. Very, very cute! Great job, Deanna.

This is a layout Karen (EyesforBeauty) did with the Joy in the Morning kit. I don't think it's the prettiest layout Karen has ever done, but it holds a special place in my heart. Her journaling talks about Enterprise, FL, which is where I attended grade school. It also talks about DeBary, FL, which was a small retirement village where I lived growing up. Karen made her own alpha and the gradient frame on this layout.

Well, folks, that's it for now. I need to get it in gear and accomplish something around here. YOU be BLESSED today!