Coming Home

I find myself still a bit disoriented here at home. The DH is off until Monday even so I have managed a few things.

My shops are off vacation mode and I had a sale yesterday. A set of white cotton cloths are on the way to a new home.

The laundry is all caught up for now and my new Pennsylvania quilt is on the bed. I will show you more about that next week.

The scale actually says I did not do too bad in the last week despite all the goodies. Walking will commence again first thing Monday morning.

For today, after all the days in cars and strange places I would like a day at home. You know something peaceful with a stack of movies and my favorite home theater seating which happens to be a recliner so I can put my feet up and enjoy the show.

I don't know what DH has planned or needs to do today so we will see how it all goes.

Until later.

Have Fun Today!

This is a message from Grandma to a special guy who is turning 7 years old today-

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday to you, 

Happy birthday dear Hunter,

Happy birthday to you!

More to follow

We just got back from a week away from home. I met new people, got to know some that are all grown up now and others that I hadn't seen in years. We explored some places we had not visited before and Jim took some really awesome pictures that I will be sharing with you over the next few days. Some of them in my opinion deserve their own post because they are just so pretty.

We ate meals with family and in restaurants and hotels. There is just no appetite suppressant strong enough when you are confronted with homemade peanut butter fudge and chocolate cake. The conversations around the kitchen table that went with them were so enjoyable too.

Now to rebuild my usual routines of my cozy life again until the next adventure.

This Week Day Two

Feeling good today. How about you?
I walked this morning and picked up a few things we needed.

Over night I reconnected with an EtsyBloggers friend. She has a new blog and by the way makes the most beautiful jewelry.

I also found out that my DH sometimes actually reads this blog so don't ever tell him what I said about him in the past, okay? :) Just kidding dear.

Monday 4.19.10

I decided not to even try for a perky title today. I am feeling perky but really how many ways are there to title the first post of the week on a Monday?

What's new?

We spent part of the weekend on outside chores. I did the easy ones and Jim did the harder sweaty ones. He is better at wiring and digging holes that I am. I am competent at potting geraniums and bell peppers however.

I got a good nights sleep so there are no dark circles under the eyes. This is a good thing considering a lot of pleasant things are swirling in my head. DH and I are so opposite when it comes to sleep. He has trouble staying asleep and I have trouble getting to sleep. Somehow it all works out though.

I got a call on Sunday that we may have our first house guest in the new place the second half of May. I am looking forward to that.

One other thing. I kind of fell off the wagon when it came to my morning walks last week. So with new resolve I got up this morning and went on my longest walk yet.

Hope you all are looking forward to a rewarding week.

On Thursday

Yesterday we got the chance to attend the Country Thunder event in Florence Arizona. We were guests of a corporate sponsor and got to hang out in their hospitality tent. The food was great and the welcome was warm and friendly.

The lineup of artists was good for a Thursday. We got to see Collin Raye, Jodee Messina, Gary Allan and Miranda Lambert.

I know I am getting old but I don't mind loud music however the quality of sound seems to suffer at these big outdoor events. I will say that the gentlemen were easier to understand than the ladies, sorry ladies. And someone please tell me why the systems always seem to be set up so the instruments overpower the singers voice nearly all the time? Can't these things be adjusted or am I asking too much?

Overall fun event, great lineup of performers, just wish loud and clear went together better.

If you are in the area you might want to catch Keith Urban tonight or Kid Rock on Saturday.

Late Night Television

I was up the other night around midnight and was looking for some background noise on the television while I sat and did some knitting. Since all of the shows I like to watch that were scheduled were reruns that I had already seen I checked to see what was on my local PBS station. They were showing the Arizona state spelling bee and I decided to watch.

I learned some new words too. One of the words that s student misspelled was logomachy which my Fire Fox spell checker does not know either but it does now since I added it to the dictionary. It means a dispute over words. I am going to have to find a way to use that.

The second place finisher missed borealization(adaptation to life in northern climates). the winner spelled it correctly and then spelled regurgitant(I bet you can figure that one out.) to win. I like to think I spell well but type poorly sometimes when my fingers don't put on the screen what my brain says. These kind of silly mistakes always show up glaringly after I hit the publish post button. Does that happen to you too?

Stuck

I belong to the Blogfire guild associated with Artfire.com. Every couple weeks or so we all, well a few of us, post on a topic or theme. Those posts get gathered together in a list that is posted on the guild blog.

This week the topic is "Reflections". The blog carnival will be published tomorrow on the guild blog. I wanted to do a post about mirrors which was obvious or mandalas which I don't think are really reflections but instead are rotations around a center point but look cool or reflections captured in photography because my secret self wants to be a talented outdoor photographer. All of them seemed wonderful and there was lots to choose from. If you search them on Artfire you will quickly see what I mean.

The choices were overwhelming and as I searched I kept hearing this song in my head. Yeah that happens to me sometimes, what about you? Thanks to our leader AliciaMae it has been that way for about a week as I struggled to come up with a post. Finally I realized that I would share the song so it can stick with you too.

When you are done with Diana Ross then you can do your own shopping and maybe start right here.

Mirrors or Mandalas or Reflection
Have fun!

Don't Assume

I like to shop at the grocery store closest to my house. I have done that everywhere I have lived. I figure  that driving around for bargains costs you more in time and money.

In the new neighborhood I am not so sure. The closest store to us now is a Fry's. As you go in it looks great with a bakery, deli, Starbucks and even an olive bar. It kind of goes down hill from there. A good half of the store is overpriced housewares. I think because of this the food aisles are very close and in a busy store hard to navigate.

My main complaint is the attitude I have run into a couple times when shopping there. Last weekend was really a bit much. I had Jim with me which is fun because he does not shop for food with me often. As we finished up he went to get in a checkout line and I got distracted looking at plants. I got done and went to find him. He was in a line and had our cart about half unloaded onto the little belt.

Then came a voice "Ma'am, ma'am!". I looked up when I realized the cashier was talking to me. She said in a tone definitely not friendly, "For future reference this line is for 15 items or less."  I told her I was sorry I did not see a sign and actually my husband chose the line when I was in another part of the store. She said something about how it must be easier to blame the husband like I was lying to her.

By now Jim is a bit embarrassed and we just want to get our stuff and leave. As we went out the door I looked for the express sign and found it hidden and in the same color as much of its surroundings. It was easy to see why Jim missed it.

I may not go back. It is not that far to another store.

Oh yeah one other thing. Please think kindly of someone the next time you see them in the wrong line. It may be just a bit of confusion in a new store.

Also I got in a walk on Saturday morning and again this morning. It seems like such a nice way to start the day.

Another Day Another Walk

I did manage a morning walk every day this week. I don't know if I will do this over the weekend. I don't usually post here on the blog on weekends either. See you all on Monday.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Okay

Okay so I didn't get anything listed but I did get a lot of housework done. Some polishing of furniture, bathroom cleaning, laundry and some other odd chores. I will have a long day on my own tomorrow so I will get some things photographed then and get some new items in my shops. I have some scarves and some crocheted baby blankets ready to go. I am still wondering how to take a good picture of a baby blanket. I want to catch the eye of those looking for a special gift for new little ones.

It could be a bit easier to do this pondering about blankets if I had a serene patio to sit on. The rest of the house is basically done. The patio however is rather blah. It has a grill and some folding chairs. I would really like a pretty set of patio furniture or at least nice chairs with some soft but durable outdoor cushions. Maybe I can put a bug in someone's ear since Mother's Day is coming soon.

Walking on a Wednesday

I just got back from my morning walk. I want to build the habit of getting out kind of early since very soon it will be too hot to walk later in the day. I have explored 3 different routes through my neighborhood so far and each of them are about 1 mile. I figure as I get stronger I can add them together in different combinations to add distance and keep from getting bored.

I am also thinking about adding in some multivitamin supplements to this new healthy routine. Even trying your best I know that it is hard to get all the vitamins and minerals you need just from food.

Today's walk was 1.4 miles at about 3 mph and burned 123 calories according to my phone.

What's next for today? Some housework, yuck, but then someone has to scrub the bathrooms and that would be me, and then getting some pictures taken for more listings in my shops.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Day Two

If you follow along with me here you may know that this guy is my DH. We have gotten rather comfortable with each other over the years and I like that. Watching television after dinner one night while he was still awake, cause he works long days and is usually snoozing in his chair before going to bed, we saw a commercial about hair loss treatments. I asked if he ever considered checking them out since he is a bit thin on top. He said no and I am okay with that. I don't mind his gray either since it gives me something to tease him about since I am about half a year older than he is and not nearly so gray.

What I do mind is my weight because I want to set myself up to go into my 60's and beyond in good shape. This was day 2 of my measured morning walks. I did a different route for just over one mile and according to my phone burned 98 calories. Being a simple free app I think it does averages to come up with the numbers. It does not ask for your weight or any other special things like walking with weights, dogs or strollers. It does not take into account extra vigorous movements like Splendid Little Stars asked about in my previous post.

Typical Monday

I always seem to start the week full of grand plans and aspirations for getting arranged, cleaned, organized, healthy, fulfilling and on and on. This week started with a walk.

The push to do that walk came from my phone. You see I got a Droid for Christmas and you can put cool applications on it for just about everything. Well I found this little free one called Cardio Trainer. This app tracks you on GPS and measures your distance, speed and calories burned. You can save your history and get graphs and charts of what you are doing. Sounds good, right?

So to use this thing to help meet my fighting menopause, low thyroid, over 50, quit smoking and snacked too much weight loss goals I decided to try it out.

I went out the front door, turned it on and started at a brisk pace. Mind you I am basically a sitter and knitter in real life but want to change that. I walked about 1/2 mile away from my house and came back by a slightly different route that was about 1/2 mile. I figure a mile was a good start. I walked quickly and was feeling it in my legs and breathing. Not killer but I knew my body was working. The result? I walked one mile in about 20 minutes at an average speed of about 3 miles an hour (is that a good pace?). I burned a grand total of 88 calories!? I expected more. I guess I will have to increase distance to do more calorie burning.

So how is your week starting?

An Unplanned Day

Jim is home today which is unusual for a Friday. Since we have no urgent needs for car repair, landscaping project planning, moving chores or things to do on our rental house the day is free from appointments for him. Since those are the kind of chores he does around here when he has time off.

I think he is planning a small day trip for us. The lady on his Garmin keeps saying, "Please drive the highlighted route." in the other room. If I ask about it I get no answers. I now we won't get as far away as the picture but it is one of my favorites and I like looking at it. This was taken on the shores of Lake Louise in Canada.

Easter Eggs for Grownups

With the coming Easter weekend I wanted to show some of you the options you have that go beyond hard boiled or plastic encased candy. These items take the egg shape and turn it into art.

This first example is from the appropriately name studio The Egg Man. He does all types of images carved into several types of eggs. I encourage you to go take a look.

The next one to show you is made of wood. The inspiration behind the design is earth, water and sky and each of those are represented by a cutout that is part of the egg design. You can find this egg and much more beautiful scroll saw work in the shop ZZBobs Creative Woodworking.

What would Easter be without a bit of lovely color in your surroundings? Much like the earth waking up from the gray of winter, Easter and springtime mean a return of a world with colors in it. These decoupaged wood eggs in Japanese Yuzen papers would bring some color inside your home. The eggs as well as so much more can be found in Catnip Studios.

All of these items are from shops found on Artfire. This post is part of a blog carnival hosted by the BlogFire Guild. The guild's mission is to spread the word about the amazingly talented artists, artisans and crafters who have shops on Artfire. You will find the blog carnival hosted on the guild blog on Friday April 2nd. I encourage you to check it out.

May you find something wonderful.