A visit

I don't know why an empty blog post published prematurely, but with the combination of the computer, Google, Blogger, and dumb luck, it messes with me constantly.  I think I caught it in time to delete it before anyone saw it and wondered what's wrong with me.

I got to visit with my son Steve and his kids Liam and Quinn for a couple of hours today.  Meg had her 6 wk checkup near where I live, so Steve brought the kids by and we had a wonderful visit.  I held Quinn off and on, until she started fussing too much, and then handed her over.  It's so nice to be able to do that.  Hold 'em when they are being calm and happy, and give them back to their parents when they need something!

Other than that I haven't done much today, nor do I plan to do anything except maybe finish my painting of the oranges.  I just need to do a background color, although I think it looks perfectly fine on a plain white background.  What is the reason for the background, anyway?  I might just not do it!

So what do you think?   I drew the big orange first, and as you can see my vision had me painting it way to the right side of the canvas.  I drew another partial oranges next to it on the left so it wouldn't look so lopsided, so it just sits there looking unnecessary!   Does it really need a background in the color opposite orange on the color wheel, which is what I've always been told?  This would mean a blue background, and if I do it I will make it a light blue.  But I sort of like it as it is.   Comments and criticism welcome!  Click on the picture to enlarge it.

I guess I do need some shadowing but I'm afraid I will mess it up, as I always do when trying to put a shadow into the picture.   It's important though, and I know I should do it.

I hope everyone has recuperated from the holiday by now, and ready to take on New Year's Eve.  It's been so long since I've gone out to celebrate New Year's that I've forgotten what it's like.  I don't know that I've stayed up until midnight the past few years!  Now that's called getting old.

The Day After

I had a wonderful Christmas and hope everyone out there did too.  Of course there was pandemonium, especially when it came to opening the gifts, but everyone enjoys it.

I think I mentioned receiving a couple of boxes from my son and dil in NY; one box contained flannel pajamas which I've been wearing for a week because it's so cold in my house.  The other was a beautiful heather colored 2-piece outfit that I saved to wear Christmas Day.  (Click to enlarge)

When I talked to my son on the phone he asked how I liked the pajamas, and I told him I'd been wearing them for the past week.  He said, "But how do you like the other pajamas?"   The other pajamas, I'm wearing them all day today!  I didn't realize they were pj's, but they were the warmest and most comfiest things I've had on in a long time.   Last night I even climbed in bed with them on (I felt fully dressed, somehow), but got too warm so I put on the other pjs.

From my Secret Santa, my dil Sarah, I got a beautiful huge art set that contains all different mediums, even oil paints and oil pastels.  She also included a number of canvasses of two different sizes, so I'm all set.  I am itching to start watching Rob Ross again and try working with oils, but need to wait for better weather so I can paint outdoors or at least open all the windows.  Ross uses odorless paint thinner to clean the brushes, but maybe something less toxic has come along, and if you know of such a thing please let me know.

Barney, you've mentioned using oil pastels, so I will probably have some questions for you when I start to use them. 

It's hard to believe that one year ago I received tickets for the trip to Alaska with Sarah and Joe, and Sarah's Aunt Pam took us to the painting class that jogged something in me to take up a truly fun and satisfying hobby.    I'm enjoying it more every day and hope it continues to be so rewarding.  

I was up early and got two loads of laundry washed, taken across the street and dried, and folded and put away by about 10 am!   I'm glad that's done although I still have sheets and towels to do one of these days.

It's kind of nice to have a blank slate today and just relax.  As usual though, I'm hungry and don't know if I'm up to making a full meal at 1pm or trying to find something to snack on.    

I hope everyone enjoys the rest of the holiday week, ending up on New Year's.  If you'd have asked me about 2017 twenty or thirty years ago I would have said I probably wouldn't last that long, but here I am!

 

It caught up with me!

All the extra energy I've been saddled with just caught up with me finally!  I went to bed about 2 hrs earlier last night, and then kept waking up every half hour or so this morning thinking I should be up.  I finally decided to get started with my day.

I drove to the restaurant which was crowded, being right next to a LaQuinta Inn and no doubt getting a lot of their patrons.  Got my gift card and was on my way to the gym.  I just didn't have anything left after 1-1/2 miles so I went home to do my gift wrapping.  I don't know why I thought it would be such a big ordeal - I left all the kids' presents for Ara to wrap, so I only had a few.  We do a secret Santa at christmas and what I bought had several components to it, so it seemed like I wrapped more than I did.

I then caved in and crawled back under my warm comforter for a nap, and now I'm hungry as I didn't eat much for breakfast this morning.  

We had been forecasted for rain today and tomorrow, but it now looks like mostly sunny the rest of the week, but in the 40's for the next few days.  I feel like I will never get warm again.

I hope you all have a wonderful day tomorrow (and always).  See you on the other side of Christmas!

Horrendous Traffic!

I have been out several times today and the traffic is worse each time.  I went to Costco early to fill up my tank and pick up a few items.  I dropped them off at home and went back out to the gym (walked 2 miles today).  I needed to make a few more stops but I just wanted to rest and relax after the treadmill.  I am getting tired of doing it but I feel so much more energetic that I just can't even think about quitting now.

I went to the grocery this afternoon thinking I could find most of what I needed, but didn't.  I did get some vitamins I take that I usually get in a different brand.  I'm reading labels like a hawk (a hawk with mac degeneration - the idea makes me laugh) and am sick to think of all the crap they add to a simple vitamin.  Dyes, titanium dioxide, and other unpronounceable ingredients.  I wonder why they must add dyes to their product, or titanium.  I paint with titanium white and yellow, and have been told to not let it stay on my skin if I accidentally touch it.  It isn't that touching it is dangerous, but repeatedly letting it stay on your skin and be absorbed can evidently be dangerous.  I'm determined to replace every vitamin in my cabinet with the brand I bought today (after a careful look at the ingredients of course).

Because I am a frugal person mostly, I will no doubt use up what I already have on hand and replace the products as I run out.   Some have so many bad additives, or have combined other vitamins & minerals to the product so that you have way more than you bargained for, and I will just get rid of them.

It has been raining off and on - mostly not heavy - but when I got into my car at the grocery the wind picked up and the skies looked ominous!   I decided to come home and maybe go back out later to wrap it all up, although the traffic is only going to get worse.   I think I only have to drive less than a mile to a local restaurant for a gift card, and will do it tomorrow morning before I go to the gym.  The traffic is just too heavy now to be driving in rain and wind.

I'm going to eat as soon as the pork tamales have steamed long enough.  My appetite is growing by the day!

The countdown!

I think I have all my shopping done except for one gift card I want to buy.  Now the job I dislike immensely is wrapping everything, and as soon as I got back from the store with wrapping paper & tags, I  realized I need some tissue paper for a couple of small items.  I guess I can pick that up anywhere, and may even have it in the back of a closet.

My walking regimen went well at the gym this morning and it seemed to go by more quickly.  I was back at one of my old machines overlooking the punching bags, raquetball courts, etc., and walked 2-1/2 miles in about 43 minutes.

Jeannie's chiropractor invited me to be present while she went over the problems and treatment she will use.  It is a little different than the one I go to, although their objectives and philosophy are very similar.  One thing Jeannie's chiro does is have them rest in a darkened room after treatment.  She told me I could rest there as well, but that is one thing that would drive me crazy.  I nap once in a while when I'm really tired - on the couch or in my bed - but my internal dialog and energy are raging when I'm awake.  Not that it always translates to action, such as housecleaning and such, but I have extreme nervous energy that seems to be mainly internalized.    It may be the only thing that keeps me moving!  We are going back this afternoon and I will pick her up from work at 1:30; I think today's appointment will be much shorter, and I hope I'm not driving in the dark coming home.  I have done a pretty good job of just dealing with it though, which shows what mental attitude can sometimes accomplish.  

I'm always complaining that I can't find crossword puzzle books that are difficult enough.  I found some online that looked like what I wanted and they arrived yesterday.  Dang, they are really hard and it's not going to be such a breeze working them, but it's what I need to keep my mental faculties humming along. 

It's hard to believe that there are just 2 days before Christmas Eve.    I wish everyone the best of the holiday season.   I didn't think I would write the blog over the next few days, but it is therapeutic to me so I will decide when the time comes.

A different view

I chose a treadmill today that looked out the long wall of windows, but think I'll go back to my usual spot overlooking the punching bags and other tortuous equipment.  I did manage to walk a little over 2 miles, which is what I'm going to aim for every day.  Three or four is fine, but my legs hurt!

The view from the window:  it looks out on the 6 lanes of Sunrise Blvd (plus one lane that leads to the freeway).  Below the windows is a walled in playground area, with nice colorful murals painted on the walls.  Across the Blvd are the rooftops of my mobile home park - nothing to look at - and in the distance I could see the foothills of the Sierra.  I remember when I lived here in the 1980's and drove home from work every day, I saw a view that changed with the seasons.   For a while, the foothills would be prominent and there was no sign of the mountains beyond, sort of like today.  At other times of the year the foothills were not visible but the mountains stood out in all their glory.  While I love and prefer the Smoky Mountains, I'll have to say that the Sierra is a magnificent mountain chain!

The gym has a lot of different models of treadmill, and I didn't care for the ones near the windows as much as I like the ones I'm used to.  Maybe that's it - I like what I'm used to.  No TV's on the window side though, and that is a real plus!

Jeannie and I got most of our shopping  finished last night.  It was a real experience driving in the dark with headlights shining everywhere.  Streets that I know as well as the one I live on were totally unrecognizable to me.  It's a weird feeling.  I finished up today with two gifts I bought at Costco, and now I need to get some wrapping paper and gift tags.  I made my own "card" for Autumn's birthday present, with a paper in which I had sketched and colored in some Christmas bells.  I don't think she minded at all.

I painted my oranges on the small canvas today and will have to say I don't think much of the job I did.  When I paint in the background color I will post a photo of it.  I think I do a much better job of drawing and filling in with  colored pencils than I do with actual acrylic paints.  Now I need one more small canvas for the wall I'm going to put them on, and then I need to find a new theme.   I've done everything worth doing from my refrigerator!

When I took Jeannie home last night I stopped in to visit for a while - poor Autie has been sick with a cold/fever since her birthday on Sunday.  I had dinner with them - eating Donald's meals is always a treat for me.  Ara was baking chocolate chip cookies to give to a friend for Christmas, and she offered me one to taste.  When she wasn't looking I swiped two more.  Yum - I haven't baked cookies in so long, and considering I don't want to eat so much sugar I won't go back to baking.    I'm so hungry from all the increased walking that I could eat at any time I'm awake.   I must be doing ok nutritionally because I seem to be healing from the dental surgery fairly quickly.   I keep talking about traveling and forget I will be paying for partial dentures in a few weeks!  

It will be nice to get past the shortest day of the year, coming up real soon, and start on the trend towards longer periods of daylight.  And when it warms up a bit, I have a bumper crop of weeds to work on!

Ready to Shop!

I'm picking Jeannie up when she gets off work, and we are going to do a little shopping.  I don't have much - mainly for the Secret Santa family adult gift exchange, and just one or two others.   

After a trip to the chiropractor this morning I stopped at the gym that I used to work out with Donald & Jeannie.   I really like it better than the one nearer to me, but the difference in the time and miles to get there keeps me from going except when I'm in the area to begin with.  I only walked 1.25 miles this morning - I needed a break after the 3+ mile walk yesterday.  After that workout I found I wasn't sleepy and felt really wired, up until close to midnight when I decided to just go to bed.  I slept really well.  I notice a few issues I've been having for a year and a half are starting to improve with the extended walking.

I wish I could translate my energy into doing a good cleaning job in my house.  I cleaned all the crumbs around and under my chair, washed the inside of my front car window, and that's about it.   I noticed while driving against the lights last week I couldn't see a thing through my dirty windshield.  It will probably still look smeared, but it's too cold to stay out there long.  I also cleaned the Tiffany lamp a bit.  It's going to sit where I left it until after New Years.  I need some more money, for one thing.

I think I'm going to look for a decent recliner for myself after Christmas when there will hopefully be some sales.  I can't spend a lot of money on one, and an upholstered chair rather than leather is fine with me.  I just want something I can lean back in (or sit straight up) and a footrest that I can pop up when I want to put my feet up.

Does anyone make New Year's resolutions any more?  It seems like a waste of time to me, although I am going to resolve to get back to sorting photographs.   Rather than buy a whole bunch of albums, I think I will sort them as best as I can and put them into the photo boxes I bought when I started this.  The trouble with those boxes is that they don't hold the photos in an upright position, and I still need to come up with a reasonable solution that I can use (and be able to find a photo I'm looking for).   

I've been thinking about one of my favorite things to do, and that is TRAVEL!   I'd love to go back to NY this coming spring, but I hate that plane ride.  Worse than being on the plane for so long is the transfer at O'Hare - I barely have 15 minutes to run between two or three terminals to catch my connecting flight, whereas upon return to CA I have a 5 hour layover!   I do have the alternative to fly into LaGuardia or JFK, but that  makes it so much more difficult for someone to pick me up.  My son doesn't live close to either one.   But driving involves sitting for days on end, with no doggie to keep me company.  I've been thinking about the many times we've driven along a deserted state highway in places like Montana, and stopped to stretch our legs.  Invariably a herd of cows comes over to investigate, and of course I talk to them.  Cows are more intelligent than people give them credit for, but I am beginning to think that about all animals.   Do I sound like I have the classic RVer's "hitch itch"?

So there you have my choices:  settle back in a recliner with my feet elevated, or find highways I've never traveled and drive across the country again!