THE POWER OF THE DOG, THE GLASS CASTLE and GOING ROUND IN CIRCLES

TODAY WENT VERY WELL.  I had a slow start to the day.  I managed to get paperwork done and a load of laundry.  I picked dead leaves off my geranium plants that sit on a metal rack in the utility room.  They will need nursed back to health over the next few months. Placing the plants in the cellar before a cold snap allowed them to survive the freezing cold, but the lack of sunshine was hard on them.  Now instead of having a garden window in the KITCHEN for wintering plants, I have a 4 shelved metal rack for plants and flowers.  It's crowded in the Utility room, but right now every room is crowded.    

I moved the heavy, large mixer from the pantry shelf to the Kitchen countertop.  I thought it would fit in a slender cabinet, but there is a small upper shelf in it preventing the mixer from sliding all the way back into the cabinet so I placed the mixer on the counter top for now until the shelf is removed.

Hubby believes he can get the small shelf taken out then I can position the mixer in the slender cabinet.  A switch-er-roo will take place AGAIN in my small KITCHEN.  Doing a shuffle.  

The large stainless steel pans do not fit in the bottom cabinet to the right of the stove so I will put these pans in the pantry using the cabinets to house bakeware.  It really is a slow process of morphing the KITCHEN to make room for all the items needed.

We drove over to the main house to pick up the urns off the front porch.  Placing the urns into the back of Cruiser took little time as my Husband muscled them.  I placed trash bags over the tops of them and pulled one up from the bottom to contain the dirt while placing in the car and transporting.  

I took the pretty Harvest Wreaths off the front doors.  We'll need to rent a truck to load up the patio furniture, ladders, left over wood in the carriage house and a few other things.  It would be best to get this done with the temps in the 50s before plunging back to bitter cold weather again. We need to completely clear off the property of what we do not want to leave behind.  From here we went to one of our storage units to get a Nativity Scene, a couple of Christmas wreaths and some PIPKA SANTAS.  The car was once again packed.

Drove to our COTTAGE and carried the Christmas wreaths to the porch.  I hung one wreath up and sat the other one on the church pew.  I will need to place a hook or nail on the screen door so the wreath can hang on it.  The rest of the car will need to be emptied in the daylight.  The urns still have live mums in them so these will come out.  Not sure if the urns will sit on the steps or in the flowerbed.  Shall see.     

I gathered the AUTUMN HOLIDAY DECOR and boxed the items in matching storage tubs stacking them in a neat pile in the LIVING ROOM.  We took the tubs to the cellar which has a muscle rack to store the tubs on it.  That's a good feeling to have the HARVEST DECOR out of the Living room.

Since our LIVING ROOM is tiny, I may sacrifice having two BEDROOMS and use one for a TV room.  I imagined what this might look like.  I want to keep the Living room formal with a loveseat, two wing chairs and ottoman.  Because of health issues we'd like to use our recliners and that would make the Living room less formal if they were in there.  Comfortable, but less formal.  With turning loose of so much, I cried that I don't want to give everything up and still WANT a pretty parlour.  This is the smallest Living room we have ever had in all the places we have resided.  With TINY comes challenges amongst the blessings of having a HOME.

With making the front BEDROOM a TV room, the LIVING ROOM will be kept formal.  Having a casual room will be very comfortable for watching TV, reading, computer research, praying, drawing, writing out bills, writing letters, etc.  Think we will do this.  

The Victorian Bedroom Suite will be set up in the SHE SHED which is an individual room attached to the storage side of the garage.  It will be a extra place to sleep when company comes as it has heat in it and we will place a window unit in it for cooling it off in the hot months when we're out there.  We've sketched up some drawings of making the shed a additional place to stay. I think before we purchased the COTTAGE in 2013 that someone had lived in there before.

We gutted the shed 2 years ago and remodeled it to where it doesn't look anything like it did. New beaded board on it walls and new ceiling, painted floor, new entrance door, windows fixed, new light fixture.  Turned out nice. 

SEEING RED.  Red foods for the day in the color wheel diet.  We had Salmon Steak with red potatoes, red onions and red peppers for Supper.  Breakfast was strawberries and raspberries with Lunch being a meatless chili made of red kidney beans.  A red apple was for a snack and we had cherry yogurt for dessert.  All was delicious and enjoyed.

We watched two movies tonight to relax.  The first one was a bit dry and lacked luster, but the cinematography of New Zealand was breath taking.  Supposedly the place in the movie is Montana.  The story line left me scratching my head when Ree Drummond said this flick was in the top ten best Westerns and has suggested watching it.  THE POWER OF THE DOG.  I must have been too tired to appreciate it like she did.  Perhaps I will watch it again earlier in a day and see if I get more out of it than I did.

The other film was THE GLASS CASTLE with Woody Harrelson as a man with a drinking problem when moving from place to place living in extremely run down habitats by being a squatter with his artist wife and four children.  Based off of a true story by Jeannette Walls, it truly shared the heartache of living the way they did.  At one point in the story, it was Christmas where the father had no money for gifts so he let the children pick out a star for their gift plus a planet.  He was what I'd call a free thinker that was very creative to get away with the life he lived.

As I watched the movie, I told myself I do not want to live the way they did.  It was heart breaking to me that there were days that the entire family had no food to eat.  I had wondered how on earth did they have the funds for buying gas for their car?  I'm sure they did not follow the rules of having auto insurance and up dated car tags.  How did they manage to live at all when he continually would lose his job and they'd move on?  The mother was engrossed in her artwork by painting which was the world to her.  The children were neglected. 

Of the two movies, I liked THE GLASS CASTLE better than THE POWER OF THE DOG.

Two movies in one night means we were sitting in the Living room watching the tele.  I believe I am a movie addict.  Seldom does the TV come on during the daylight hours and this is progress for me.

The phone rang.  Our Iowa family has the flu.  Gotta run.  Think we'll go get a moving truck to get the rest of our things off our property while the weather is nice and we don't have the flu. Best get on with this so we can close this chapter of our lives. 

UPDATE:  We did get a truck and loaded it with the last of our belongings from the main house. It is a relief that we finished before dark.  We'll unload tomorrow.  ANOTHER PHONE CALL CAME IN.  My dear 91 year old Mom has  C O V I D  with a nasty cough.  A nodule was found by x-ray on her left lung.  A CT scan has been ordered.  It may be cancer.

Sister and Brother.in.law are ill as well and will get tested tomorrow for you know what.  This is round two with  c o v i d  for my Mom who had her shots and boosters.  She was ill at the start of 2022 with this beast.  What a year she had.  Leading up to C O V I D, she had fallen which put her in a wheel chair.  She recovered and caught 
C O V I D.  Recovered.  Then two months later, she broke her hip.  Recovered.  Two months later she passed out causing her to fall which cracked her pelvis.  She recently moved to IOWA and this has happened.  Praying for her.  I'm concerned this round may destroy her.

BACK ON THE VITAMINS FOR ME AND MY HUNNY.  I encourage taking good quality vitamins to assist with keeping you healthy.  The last two mornings I woke with severe feet and leg cramps.  Drank some pickle juice each time and it does help stop the cramps.  Vitamin D deficiencies can be the cause of such cramps.  

Reading about are Vitamin D injections better than supplements.  I have a tendency to have low levels of Vitamin D.  I think this may be the culprit behind these leg cramps.  Injections get the Vitamin D into your system faster than supplements.  I believe I may visit with my Doc about a injection.       

After Supper, I tinkered in the KITCHEN grouping the stainless steel cookware.  I'm moving the pans from a lower cabinet to the pantry.  Freeing up a shelf made another mess to deal with. Shucks.  This seems to be the way it goes.  In order to make some order I have to make other messes to accommodate the new order.  This Kitchen does not have the drawer space for pans that the main house had.  Moving makes challenges.  Give a little take a little.

Later, we will remodel the KITCHEN and then perhaps the KITCHEN will have more bells and whistles to make the room more likable.  Anyhow, the KITCHEN will change a few more times before it is all said and done.    

Where the pans were, the bakeware will now be with the nesting mixing bowls.  Cookie sheets will probably go in the warming tray in the bottom of the oven.  This rearranging of the Kitchen is like a merry go round as I am going in circles getting dizzy.  Tis a slow process and this evening I am a tad bit flustered.  Making progress, but not very fast.  MOVING is a work out.  I have to remind myself that if I don't like the set up, I can always rearrange the Kitchen again, hang loose and chill out.

If I concentrate on individual rooms by taking a full week per room getting the room organized and cleaned up, I believe I will see great progress.

HOME LIFE is for me,

~d

 

THINGS TO DO

We bundled up and took a ride to the main house to check on it since the temps have been in the 20s.  Before we headed out, we loaded the car with a few boxes because I wanted to box up the AUTUMN DECORATIONS on the fireplace mantle and in the garden window.  Post Office stop and then onto a drive across the prairie in this cold weather.

Thankful we have heat in our little car, but as I was driving I noticed our windshield had a crack on the left side.  Sigh.  I think with the deer hitting our car in October that this caused stress on the car frame and the window would feel the brunt of the impact.  With the colder than usual temps, the windshield cracked.

We'd pick up our meds at the local pharmacy.  We'll have to get use to not being in the same town as our pharmacy.  We'll need to coordinate purchasing most of our meds at the same time. Can we do this?  Going to try.

Hubby shoveled the main house's long sidewalks since it snowed.  He said it's a lot of sidewalk to shovel.  After the sale of the house, we will have so little sidewalk to shovel it will seem like a synch when we do shovel snow off.  I went inside and checked the faucets and flushed the toilets.

Walking through the empty house, I said another round of good-byes to it.  Once again I will miss living in the 1883 structure.  The house looks so pretty to me and I thought about what we had done to it since 2017 when we bought her.

Boxing up the faux pumpkins and garland plus the Autumn wreath with globe, it will be my last time to decorate this house.  I need to remove the Fall Wreaths off the front doors and remove a few more things from the property.  Tomorrow, I will empty the front porch urns and remove them from this property.  

We have some patio furniture and a metal arch that's got to go as well.  Hubby has a couple of ladders to move away.  We'll probably rent a truck to move these larger items.  It will seem odd when we no longer have anything left to remove from the property.  ODD.  

After we sell the house, I have said that I do not want to drive by the property for at least a year. I don't think I could bare seeing it.    

On our way to Manhattan to get some storage boxes and groceries for my RED, PURPLE and BLUE FOOD DAYS, we stopped off at one of our storage units to check to see if CHRISTMAS GARLAND was stashed there.  It wasn't so we left with a couple of CHRISTMAS WREATHS. How quickly this past year has gone as it seems like I just created these wreaths instead of it being a year ago.  The red berries on the wreaths popped due to the bitter cold weather.  I'll need to trim the bad berries and call it good.  These wreaths will more than likely go on the COTTAGE's front doors.

Onto Starbucks for green tea for me and WENDY's for chili.  MENARDS is in the neighborhood for storage boxes.  They had very nice CHRISTMAS containers with greenery for sale.  I bought two of them to place in the urns I will bring HOME tomorrow.  The urns will be placed on both sides of the cement steps to hold these CHRISTMAS containers.  I had plans to buy 2 small Christmas trees to place in the urns to decorate the porch, but the greenery was a decent price so I went with the greenery.

If I cannot decorate the inside of the house with a large CHRISTMAS TREE then I will decorate the porch instead.  This will help lift my CHRISTMAS SPIRITS.   

From MENARDs we went to ALDI and HY-VEE to purchased some foods for my COLOR WHEEL DIET.  I left the grocery stores saying the price of food has gotten more expensive.

On our way out of town we did a GOODWILL drop and went by the FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS to see the Christmas display.  It does not seem like it's been an entire year since we did this.  No way, but it has been.  I'm in a twilight zone.  A time warp of sorts.  Where did the year go to?  

The drive across the prairie went fast and we unloaded the car after having sweet potato chips and some cheese.  This was ORANGE DAY so eating these orange foods was legal.  Watched some television and rested.  Went through the mail and paperwork.  Rearranged the fridge.  Put groceries away.  The joy of having a nice refrigerator to store food in.   

As the clock struck midnight making tomorrow today, I ate some pink yogurt made with cherries.  Cherries are red and this is legal with the new day being RED DAY.  grins.  Yogurt is less fattening than ice cream so I allowed myself a cold treat.  Drank water throughout the day.

As we figure out what we need to do, I wrote some notes down so I don't forget.  Hubby has got to visit with our Insurance Agent about our COTTAGE Insurance going from a rental to main residence.  He had already paid the insurance, but the Insurance Company has not acknowledged that it was paid so he had to go through emails to find evidence it was.  It can be frustrating when the info is not in the computer data.  When the Insurance company has messed up, they are forgiving on themselves, but when a customer messes up, the story is different. Seems to be the way businesses run these days including our government.  They excuse themselves when wrong.  As a citizen, it isn't this way.  My advice is to keep excellent records at all times and when they say to destroy documentation, DON'T.

I want to bring the urns home with me.  They are rather heavy so it will take two people to carry them to the car and lift them.  Again to unload them.  I'll place the CHRISTMAS containers in the urns and admire them.

I'm THANKFUL Thanksgiving has come and gone.  We continue going through our moving boxes.  I may be slow, but I'm steady.  To make this more fun, I have to rest and think about where I am going with the goods.  

1. Autumn Decorations moved to cellar.
2. Bought a turkey and it needs to go to the freezer in the cellar.
3. Some duct tubing needs to be pulled through the vent in the bathroom.
4. Trip to Insurance Company to speak with Agent.
5. Load up 2 urns from main house porch.
6. Take urns HOME placing Christmas containers in them and sitting in the flowerbeds.
7. Load of laundry.
8. Mail Mom a letter.
9. Box up Mom's china and take to the cellar.
10. Go looking in shed for faux garland and sprigs.
11. Place some sprigs above mirrors and pictures.
12. Continue unpacking.

Since it's RED DAY on the COLOR WHEEL DIET, I'll have strawberries and raspberries for breakfast.
Lunch will be meatless chili made of red kidney beans.
Supper will be salmon steak, red peppers, red onion, red potatoes, watermelon.
Snack will be a red delicious apple.
Water to drink throughout the day.

I am a broken record.  Getting unpacked is a priority.  I will need to take some time to pray and meditate on a scripture.  

A couple of my school mates have passed away.  SO many people I have known have died.  Time marches on and I need to continue on thinning things out.  I need to work fast and get this done.

Blessings to you,

d   

THE ANSWER IS YES

AS OF LATE, I AM AWAKE SITTING IN MY CHAIR BEFORE THE DINING ROOM LIGHT CLICKS ON AT 6:15.  It's on a timer.  6:15 comes and like clock work, the light clicks on and shines.  I haven't been sleeping the best since we moved.  It's been three weeks.  The little Victorian bed has a very firm mattress and our two grown bodies aren't use to sleeping so close together as older peeps.  It isn't our Queen size mattress.  

With having three bedroom suites, one had to go into storage.  I wanted to keep the Victorian Bedroom Suite and my Husband's Grandparents Bedroom set which meant I couldn't use the furniture with the Queen size mattress.  I'm not sure I made the right decision.  Truth is, I had been sleeping in a recliner at the main house since 2020 due to having a horrible cold at the start of  the  c o v i d  pandemic.  When I returned to my bed sleeping on the mattress hurt my shoulders and hips so badly that I returned to the recliner.

After a few months, my Husband started sleeping in his recliner so we were together in the same room.  It remained this way until about a month ago when we left the main house and started sleeping at the COTTAGE.  Hoping I adjust may be a pipe dream.  

I believe I will sleep better after the house sells and the responsibility of the main house is no more.  This process between living in the main house to living here in the COTTAGE is full of changes.  Downsizing and having a change of scenery is a huge adjustment.

With THANKSGIVING behind me and CHRISTMAS before me, I have much to think about and do.  The transition from what was to what is takes on a different feel about LIFE.  I am not only working at downsizing our earthly belongings, but I am working at downsizing my huge physical body as well.  I finished DAY ONE of the COLOR WHEEL DIET.  It was trying.  Old habits are hard to break at times.  What I eat is more than what is placed before me.  It's a habit to eat a certain way.  I want sweets and breads.  They call my name in the evenings.  I have got to focus on eating crunchy vegetables in the evening when my BAD HABITS start rearing their ugly heads.  Eat me.  Feed me.  You really want it, don't you?  Am I addicted to certain things?  Have I been programmed to eat unhealthy things?  Yes.  The answer is YES.  I have to retrain myself to say NO.  I don't need that JUNK FOOD.  I don't need to eat.  Drink water and say, NO to eating just because I can.  

Actually, with this COLOR WHEEL DIET I am eliminating certain foods from my daily intake of calories.  It's in restrictive eating that I eliminate the wrong kind of calories.  DAY TWO of the COLOR WHEEL DIET.  Tis YELLOW DAY where I get to eat scrambled eggs for breakfast and corn for lunch.  It seems like when I am restricting my food intact that I think about eating FOOD way too much.  I suppose it is the body's way of protecting itself from starving.  To get my focus off of so much food will help make the dieting easier.  How do I do this?  Controlled thinking. Discipline.  Retraining my thoughts.

MAKING HEALTHIER CHOICES has become easier for me and I do think about what I am eating before I pop it into my mouth.  What is this stuff made up of?  Calories?  Fat?  Carbs?  Is it healthy?  Portions and time of day when I eat is also taken into consideration.  In regards to that, I have made huge progress in the last few years.

With a very slow metabolism, my body is slower than the average bear to burning calories and losing weight.  With no thyroid, my thermometer is broken.  I understand that those with hypothyroidism have more difficulty losing weight and should avoid carbs.  Doesn't seem fair when I love carbs.  If I had to choose between a fresh out of the oven piece of bread to eating a salad, I would choose the bread every time.  If I had to choose between a piece of bread and drinking a soda, I'd pick the bread.  Keep in mind that the wheat of this era is not like in Biblical times.  Our wheat has been altered and is no longer the same as it were.  Man has done a number on wheat.  

By embracing healthy fruits and vegetables and looking at the bigger picture, I can select to not eat foods higher in carbs.  Encourage myself with veggies which has far less carbs than grains and highly processed foods full of carbs, sugars, chemical additives and fats. 

NOW, with having my ovaries removed, I understand that weight gain is common.  I kind of knew that. Taking certain medicines can cause weight gain.  Being Insulin and Lipid resistant can cause weight gain as can being Type 2 diabetic.  I'm not real happy about this.  Not only does OVER EATING and not burning the calories off cause weight gain, but so do a multitude of other factors.  Hormones and chemicals for weight gain are fed to the animals we eat for foods causing us to gain weight as well.     

Eating vegetables, drinking water and exercising is the tough pill I must swallow in life.  I have to overcome this obesity.  I don't want to be obese all the days of my LIFE especially as a older woman.  Over time being too heavy contributes to unwanted health issue.  I truly believe this.

Yes, I was one of those people that wanted to believe that being heavy was alright.  Couldn't be helped.  I made excuses as to why I could eat the way I wanted and could get away with drinking diet pop and not exercising.  I truly was.  Now I have embraced the truth that being obese is unhealthy and adds to health problems.  I truly believe this, but I also believe that being skinny can be unhealthy as well.  The quality of our food matters.  NO MATTER WHAT SIZE ONE IS, the quality of what we eat, when we eat and how much we eat, matters.   

I know I was not alone about believing that obesity is alright when I read article after article and heard that big is beautiful as a woman.  The untruth that being FAT is alright and that FAT is beautiful, rings in many a ear.  Accept me as I am an oversized lady.  PLUS SIZE ME. TRUTH IS it isn't alright to be obese and it takes special attention to deal with it.  I know that just because one is so called normal in their appearance does not mean they have their act altogether either, but the fact that they weigh less and fall into a range that is more acceptable on the medical charts is far better than being too heavy which causes additional problems.  My goal weight is a ways off, but I see light at the end of the tunnel and having a OH WELL ATTITUDE doesn't belong in my vocabulary.  

I have to know what added chemicals are in the food I eat.  Is it really even food?  If the food I'm eating has come from a lab and I eat it, I'm part of the lab experiment.  I AM NOW A LAB RAT and the so called experts like that.  I become a statistic.  A number in a report.  I am one of those that is manipulated and controlled in the scheme of things.  

When the truth comes out about chemical additives being in foods and it's GMO engineered, these foods are being pushed on you and red flags should go up.  If you are fooled into believing that this is alright, you'll encounter an unhealthy body where emotional disturbances take place. Mental health issues arise as well.  Poor choices become the norm and you may not know it is even taking place.  A sound mind and body are affected when eating FAKE FOOD that's been created to destroy your well being.  Your very existence is being challenged by a higher hierarchy in human society that believes you are expendable and they want to depopulate the world to make the planet more self sustaining with you out of the picture.  Sounds weird, YES?  Yes, but it is the way of the world and the reality of eating fake food is on the agenda to make room for the elite that believe they are gods and you are an unimportant carbon print taking up space and using resources they want for themselves.  You are a worker bee for them and they own you. They think they can do what ever they want to you and get what the results they want. Conspiracy theory?  No.  It's a reality when you read between the lines and figure out what two plus two is. 

Just because there is an abundance of food to eat does not mean it is the right kind of fuel to eat.  That's where MINDFUL EATING needs to kick in and help you process what you are eating.  Why are you eating that? Why?  Because you have to eat and it's what's before you?  It's what you can get your hands on.  It's cheaper to buy?  

A lot of times I thought what I was eating was considered being a part of a balanced meal. I believed I was doing the right thing to be healthy.  It was what I was taught and educated about. I had no idea I was being misled until recently.  Ignorance is not bliss.  It's ignorance.    

It wasn't simply that I overate and was a slob.  What I ate mattered a great deal.  Being active matters.  Resting matters.  Lower stress levels matter.  Being organized and staying tidy matters. How much I eat and what I eat, matters.  Time of day I eat, matters.  Why I eat MATTERS. What's in the food and if it's actually food, matters.  

If I eat what I think is healthy for me and it isn't then I have a problem, don't I?  Many have problems. It isn't just about how much you are eating, it's what you're eating.     

Eating vegetables has taken some training and rethinking what and when to eat.  I got use to intermittent fasting this last year and yet, it didn't seem to work well at losing weight.  Not for me.  I know I have to CUT THE CALORIES BIG TIME.   If I give the intermittent fasting more time it might eventually help.  I seem to take longer at everything to get the same results as others.  Slow metabolism.  Very slow.  If I eat more vegetables and pay attention to the time of day I eat, eating within an 8 hour window of time each day, it might assist me in reducing.  Shall see.  

When I diet and calories are burning up in my body, I can actually tell that something is happening in my body.  It's uncomfortable, but doable.  I can tell.  This should be good news, but I have a tendency to not like the sensation I am feeling.  It isn't a comforting feeling.  If it's what it takes to thin down, I best let this take place in my temple.

Be selective in what I buy to eat.  Keep in remembrance that not all food is created equal and it matters what I eat.  Eat a variety of different colored foods avoiding highly processed foods and make sure it was grown in healthy soil.  This is a new one to take in.

Nutrient rich soil.  Where do I find this kind of food if I don't grow it myself?  Must I completely change everything about eating?  The answer is YES.

MINDFUL EATING requires an education that may not get me a diploma made out of sheep's skin, but it will assist me in having a healthier physical LIFE.   The answer is YES, I will practice MINDFUL EATING.

~d 

  

THE SAPULPA CHRISTMAS CHUTE

THE EVENING OF THANKSGIVING WAS SPENT walking through the FAMILY FRIENDLY Christmas Chute in Historic Downtown Sapulpa, Oklahoma gazing at the illuminated, colorful, heavily decorated, themed displays. I believe there are ten of them and each one shows off an array of Christmas ornaments and objects. 

It was a delightful experience for lil ole me and one could spend a great deal of time looking at each area.  The town has added to the event with more vendors and pop-up stores.  The CHRISTMAS lights have increased.  I suppose each year they will add to the event making this place even more special.

Being able to walk the area at night and go into stores that stayed open late gave the town a STEP BACK IN TIME FEEL.  Family friendly. 

The weather was nice enough that I didn't wear a coat.  Some of the stores left their front doors open for shoppers.

ALL IN GOOD FUN,
~d

What is the Christmas Chute?

Two years in the making, the Route 66 Christmas Chute is the brainchild of a group of business owners and city officials to bring families to downtown Sapulpa to enjoy a unique, walkable Christmas experience. Walk historic Route 66 under 800-foot-long canopies filled with Christmas ornaments and decor in ten magical Christmas themes. With events every weekend, pop-up shops, restaurants, and downtown retailers, the Route 66 Christmas Chute is sure to become a holiday destination!

https://route66christmaschute.com

OR

https://www.facebook.com/route66christmaschute

Daughter.in.law Shell has a booth 

in one of the stores.