Ladies in Lavender...

For fans of Dame Maggie Smith and Dame Judith Dench, this is a sweet little movie, full of English cottagey-ness and atmosphere. I watched this some years back, and didn't remember much of it, so it was like watching it for the first time, lol.

Here's the link. Embedding was disabled so I can't post the video here.

Ladies in Lavender

I had to actually work this weekend. My muscles stood up and took notice. I'm looking forward to some drawing, painting and reading.

Now just for the sake of having a photo in this post, I'll show you a really bad painting of a wine bottle I made for one of my swap friends.

Everyone have a nice week! I'll be back when I have more to say. :)
And now for that ugly painting, lol.

Shalom!

Tweakin' the diet...

Or, should I say, discarding it for something else? Aw, that was just a fad, you guys (and y'all)! Actually, I did such a good job of throwing stuff out that I'm still kind of eating that way, but I did buy some milk, oatmeal, sugar and herbal tea at my little local grocery. I plan to use the milk and sugar sparingly. I thoroughly enjoyed a warm bowl of oatmeal with raspberries. I have missed creamy, warm foods on this diet.

I had some blood tests done this week and found out my cholesterol is at 240. My Seventh Day Adventist doctor (vegetarian) just calmly said, "Best thing is a plant-based diet." How did I know he'd say that? Dr. Erickson has been our family doctor for about 28 years. I'm not sure how up he is on the latest medical advances, but I prefer his country doctor ways to his more modern counterparts. So, I told him I'd work on that, though I'd probably get some meat in there somewhere. He was cool with that.

So, as I'm prone to do, I ran off to Amazon and ordered a couple of books! Now, I have to say, I didn't have a lot of faith in the paleo people. Most of them seemed to just be ordinary folks who had read a few books and decided to write one of their own. But I've read some books by DOCTOR Don Colbert, and I think he knows a thing or two. I ordered What Would Jesus Eat? and The Seven Pillars of Health. At least with Don you get to eat from all of the food groups! As MK reminded me in the comments, any improvement in our diets will help. I plan to glean some good stuff from these books, but not be too obsessive about it. And, now, I'll stop boring you with what I'm eating. :)

Instead, I'll tell you about my exercising, ha ha ha! Actually, I've exercised several times this week. I've done my 30 minute aerobic workout twice, and I did a 54 minute long "chair yoga for seniors" workout. I think I'll also spring for a membership at the Nevis Fitness Center. A few of the gals from the building work out there.

Otherwise, I've been doing a little babysitting and artwork. I work this weekend at the deli, but I'm cogitating about my options.

I made three more cards for the Insect swap...

 Thanks to Pom for sharing about Susan Branch's visit to the Holy Nativity Convent! This was so fascinating that I'm putting a link here. What a creative bunch of ladies, and the photos are gorgeous. Don't miss it!

I think I'm going to go read! My humble thanks to anyone who actually read this post. Not the most exciting. Hope you're all well!
God bless and lots of shalom to everyone!

30 Paintings in 30 Days...

A new challenge! Doing 30 paintings in 30 days sounded overwhelming at first. I had images of painting 30 canvases! But the main rule of the challenge is that "there are no rules"! So, an ATC counts as a painting. Hey, I'm doing that anyway. So, here are my paintings for day #1 and #2.

And other random swaps...

The Unicorn Inchies swap...

 and the God's Word Bible Verse swap.

 These two were individual swaps. One gal wanted a cow and another asked for a coyote.

Still sort of staying on the paleo diet. I'm adding in some bread just because I don't like the sloshy feeling in my stomach when just eating fruit, veggies and meat. :p I'm also going to look into finding some organic flour to make my own bread. I'm assuming organic flour isn't made from GMO seed? I have some learnin' to do! I would rather bake my own bread if it's healthier. A friend at the ATC site pointed out that modern seed is so hybridized that it has as much glucose as sugar. At least I think that's what she meant. You can find her comment on the previous post. I'm also allowing myself a dab of sugar and creamer so I can have the occasional cup of coffee. You need a hot drink in the winter, man! With tea I'll use honey. Anyway, I'm trying to do MOST of what the paleo diet says. I had a great omelette for breakfast with onion and spinach in it. Yum!
Oh! Almost forgot! Sully learned to roll over yesterday! :)

 Yup, this was the actual documentation of the first roll!

 The new Christmas pajamas...

You folks stay warm and dream big dreams for the new year! Shalom! :)

Two celebrations!

Happy New Year, anybody wandering by this evening!

Not only do we have a new year to usher in, but a new young couple has announced their engagement! My son Jordan popped the question to his girlfriend, Brooke tonight! I believe I got the first phone call, and they were on their way to spread the news at a new year gathering with their friends. (I'm sure her folks got a simultaneous phone call from her, lol.) I believe they're planning the wedding for the summer. Her family is in Oregon, so we'll all be traveling down south to be there. (It will be in Texas.) Just wanted to share! Prayers and blessings on the new couple would be appreciated!

Shalom and Happy New Year, everyone! :)

Paleo and exercise

Here I go with my all-or-nothing ways! I purged my pantry of non-paleo foods and began a new way of eating day before yesterday. Eek! If any of you know of any terrible drawbacks to this eating lifestyle, speak now. I've read a couple of short books with recipes, so I'm not an expert.

I wasn't crazy about this first book. The recipes were very complicated and required so many things I don't have around the house. I know I will have to acquire more herbs and spices and "unusual" ingredients as I go along, but I need a plan that doesn't depend on me buying them all at once!

 This book was much more user friendly. She actually gives you lists of foods that are okay to eat, and you can make copies and take them along to the store. Her recipes are also simpler, though still challenging for someone like me who really doesn't enjoy cooking. But, I may learn to! To start out I'm just eating the "plain" foods on her lists; not worrying about recipes. I did try her Egg Cup recipe this morning and it was good. The main emphasis is on leafy green vegetables, moderate amounts of meat, smaller amounts of fruit and some nuts and seeds. No calorie counting. I LOVE that you can have BACON!

 I've used this book many times over the years. I actually only use a few pages in the back which show the "maintenance" exercises. These are to counteract the aches and pains of muscles and joints from aging. It's really just a few yoga moves. I may move on to a yoga workout as I get more fit.

 My step-daughter gave me a bunch of videos by this lady MANY years ago. This is the only one I kept. It's 30 minutes long and is equivalent to a brisk 2-mile walk. You also use hand weights, so your upper body gets a workout as well. I think I'll alternate between the exercises in the book above and the cardio workout in the video for now. This 30 minute workout was challenging for me! Today was the first day I've exercised in ages, and I'm really out of shape!

And THAT is why I'm doing this. I'm getting tired of looking in the mirror and seeing myself getting flabbier and more tired. Now that I'm working only a few days a month I REALLY need to get out of my chair and move, and I need to eat better.

My dad and his brothers all had diabetes as they got older, so cutting out sugar seems like a no-brainer. The paleo diet also cuts out grains and dairy. I know I've always had a low-grade allergy to dairy, with the phlegm that produces. And with all the gluten intolerance we hear about, I suppose cutting out grain might not be so bad, though this is the one area I'm not so convinced about. The diet proponents talk about it being the "caveman diet". So, we're going back to the hunter-gatherer way of eating. Hmmm... Seems like we've been growing grains since the time of Cain and Abel, so why is it so bad? Anyway, this way of eating is far superior to my usual diet of coffee, cookies, chocolate and comfort foods. I had a headache for the first two days of the diet, but woke up headache free this morning. That's caused by withdrawal from sugar and carbs. I hope I can stick with this or at least some version of healthy eating. I want to be as strong and healthy as I can in my "golden years"! Wish me luck!!

And now for some Bible time! God bless you all and much shalom!

Christmas in Europe

As an ice storm pelts our town this Christmas, I sit in my snug apartment watching "Rick Steve's European Christmas". This video is almost an hour long, but well worth watching. I found it fascinating to see how folks all across Europe celebrate the season. I hope some of you will enjoy this!

That's my Audrey!

I don't know how many of you will remember this picture from about 3 years ago. My granddaughter, Audrey, had decided to climb out of her crib and had fallen. She broke both bones right above the wrist.

Well, this is Audrey today! She fell off the monkey bars at school. This time the fracture was right above her elbow.

I don't know about you folks, but I've made it through 60 years without breaking anything! I guess some just have a different skill set, lol. I was visiting with Micah at home when the school called, so I watched the two middle girls while Micah took baby Sullivan and Audrey to the clinic. Christmas break starts tomorrow, so she won't get to show off her new sparkly blue cast (which she'll get on Friday) until after the break. No more excitement, please, Audrey!

Micah and I spent the earlier part of the day doing errands together in town. I'm looking forward to just staying put at home tomorrow. ;)

Shalom and Merry Christmas, everyone!