SPRING

 Lovely Spring is on the way and so is Spring cleaning and decorating.

Blessings.

HOME LIFE is for me,

🏡d

BACK TO BASICS and MIDDLE OF THE WEEK SAINT PATTY's DAY

I FORGOT TO WEAR GREEN TODAY.  

Please don't pinch me.  I bite.

I can hear the wind howling this fine day 

in the middle of the week.  

This gloomy day wasn't so gloomy even though it's rainy, chilly sweater weather with very grey skies.  I got out of the house and took a long drive through a large park on my way to the grocery store.  Need to get some more organic fruits and veggies.  Hubby picked out some steaks and I glanced through the fruits and vegetables.  My back was hurting so I rode a handy dandy electric cart and scooted about the grocery store.  

Organic rainbow colored carrots.  I've only ate orange carrots.  Grew up on them.  Now it's time to try purple and white plus orange carrots.  This will be interesting.  I'm being adventurous and going to actually eat purple carrots.  A kosher, gluten-free pizza crust for Friday Night Pizza and a movie into the basket.  Organic onions and miniature cucumbers for salad there you go. Looked over what organic products they do have in this store and was surprised at their selection.  All kinds of organic canned beans.  

Afterwards we milked a cow...went to ALDIs for organic milk.

Beautiful scenery on the way HOME.  Drove a back road and felt like I was in a fairy tale. So pretty and no traffic.  Trees are starting to get some green buds on them.  Daffodils are up and smiling yellow sunshine.  Beautiful nature.  

HOME now and resting.  Will go here in a bit to RETIREMENT COTTAGE to walk and HUBBY will work some on demolishing the bathroom.  There's formica on the walls that needs to come off.  He's thinking about pulling the old icky vanity out for the trash to haul off tomorrow.  I'll go through a few boxes and see if there is anything that needs pitched with trash day being Thursday.  Treating HUBBY to tacos and enchiladas.  I think I'll have soft tacos and iced tea for lunch.  

Then HOME to rest, do some laundry and paperwork.  I started taking inventory of extra bedding and think I will have to relocate it elsewhere in the house as I miss the cabinets they're in for storing the grooming supplies.  More tweaking to do. My mind is still trying to figure out how to fit in this house the best we can.

Decided to round up all the loose snapshots and placed them in the drawers of my victorian secretary.  That means the main floor closet will be freed up to store coats like it was designed for.  Back to basics.

We had our first SMOOTHIE from the NINJA.  It actually tasted pretty good.  Handful of kale, 2 stalks of celery, cup of yogurt, 2 tablespoons honey, 6 strawberries, 4 very small apples, 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar, and some organic milk.  HUBBY raved about how good it tasted which was a surprise to me.  He was surprised that it was so good.  I'm proud of the changes we're making toward health and food.  Great afternoon snack or maybe next time it will be my breakfast. 

We had great news about HUBBY's CT Scan and blood work.  Great news.  Was so happy about the results!  The doctor called and said he'd like to do more labs in 3 months.  CT Scan looked good.  Hubs has a kidney stone and arthritis in the neck.  This is where I believe his discomfort in the neck is coming from.  No enlarged lymph nodes elsewhere in his body.  No enlarged spleen.  His blood work looked very good!  We were so happy.  

Our regular physicals will be in April.  A great time to get checked over.  Praying about losing weight and I will be curious how much has come off after eating differently when I weigh in at the doctors in two weeks.  No fooling.  April Fool's Day will not be a joke stepping on the scales and having blood work done.  Please don't make me cry.

I am huge.  This I know and am willing to own it.  I am what I am.  

I have a ways to go, but I will be working at it from here on out.  A different way of eating and I pat myself on the back that this is possible.  

Some times we have to pause and give thanks.  This is one of those times.  BACK TO BASICS.  Living simply will take a plan to create.  Praying for strength and blessings.  Most Gracious Heavenly Father, I ask that you protect us, guide and direct us.  Strengthen us and help us to eat and drink the proper foods and beverages.  Health to our bones.  Make us healthy, wealthy and wise.  In Jesus Name I pray, AMEN.  

I dug out of SPRING GREEN storage tubs Bunnies and plastic eggs.  A few Nic-nacs to sit out about the house.  I really do like some decorations around the house.  To me they add cheer.  Easter is about new beginnings and CHRIST rising from the dead.  Hallelujah.  HE is risen indeed.  Not a myth or fairy tale, HE is real and has risen from the dead.  What a beginning this is.

Bunnies, decorating eggs, little lambs, crosses.  A LORD that is the lover of our souls risen from the dead and sits at the right hand of the Father.  Abundant LIFE for us is possible.  Abundantly.  

Blessings to you.

HOME LIFE is for me,

🏡d      

 

SAINT PAT

I DON'T KNOW IF MY FRIEND PAT WAS IRISH, BUT HER NAME IS PATRICIA and I think about her often.  She went by Pat for short.  One of my favorite people on all the planet.  When I lived in the same town as her, we'd visit in person for hours on end.  

After I relocated to Oklahoma and then Kansas again, we'd talk on the telephone.  When I was in her neighborhood, I'd stop by and say HEY.  I deeply loved her.  Such a special and dear friend to me.  

LOVE LIFTED ME was the song that I heard being sung in the Nursing Home Chapel where other Saints were singing in the afternoon on the day that was my last time to see her in person.  She'd been placed in a Nursing Home and she did not know who I was.  She remembered my husband, but not me.  It was a tough thing for me so when the people were singing LOVE LIFTED ME, I stood outside the chapel door and cried a few tears.  She looked the best I'd ever seen her as the home she was in saw to it that her hair was styled and her fingernails polished.  She was clean and sitting in a wheel chair.  Her room was small, but clean and orderly.

When I would visit her while she was living in her own home, her house was a two story victorian that she had decorated early on.  It was such fun to visit her and see her lovely home.  She and her husband lived there long before I met her.  Her home was filled with finds she had come across for years.      

Our GIRL TALKS were priceless.  No amount of money would I have taken for not visiting her.  We visited about what was going on in our lives.  She'd share her past with me and how she was married before to missionaries son.  They had two sons together and would say that her sons were never a problem.  I don't know why she divorced.  She never disclosed this.  I didn't pry.  She'd freely talk about what she wanted.  Her prayers were solid gold rich with wisdom.

She told me about jobs she had in the past.  Once she was a secretary where Billy Graham's father-in-law had an office to where he'd visit her and wanted her to come to work for him.  She didn't.  She said she ran away instead.    

She shared about how she met her second husband Neal.  She was standing outside waiting for a bus.  She decided which way she'd go depending on the direction the bus was going to attend church.  This particular day, she went to a church where Neal was the director of music.  It was love at first sight for Neal.  They's go on a date and he'd ask her to marry him.  A short courtship.  Later she'd accept his proposal.

This wasn't the best thing to do because they hardly knew each other.  She'd learn after they married that Neal didn't pay his bills.  He had grocery bags full of unpaid bills.  She'd have to visit an attorney to seek counsel in which she was told the bills needed to be paid.  She'd find a way to pay the bills off which caused heartache and exhaustion.  At one point in her life she said she screamed at Neal to where she heard something pop in her body.  She'd break out in shingles later which nearly caused her to go blind in one eye.

They'd move from a very nice apartment into a run down country house that they agreed with the landlord to fix up for free rent.  They'd do this.  She shared with me things they did to cut cost to survive.  Determined to make it.

Years later she'd go to a county nurse to talk about what she was going through.  The nurse told her that there had been so many women sit in that exact chair crying about their situation which was the same.  She became an overcomer.   

She'd share with me her Christian walk and I loved hearing about her journey.    

When one becomes a born again Christian, one becomes a SAINT.  So I shall think of her as SAINT PAT.  Patty Cakes was such a dear friend to me.     

I met Pat when she was in her 70s.  Lord willing, I will live into my 70s.  I'm the older woman now.

She is one that I am so thankful for that I met and was blessed to get to know.  A GOD KIN.  True friends are treasures.

Off to shave my legs, take a shower and shampoo my hair.  Thankful I can still do this.

Blessings to you.

HOME LIFE is for me!

🏡d

A START FOR ME

I am blessed to be HOME with a full tummy, resting in my recliner on a very cloudy Kansas day.  Instead of having Friday night PIZZA we had a large vegetable salad with croutons and dressing while sipping iced tea.  I was eager to have more vegetables as we ate spaghetti for lunch and I had a V8 for breakfast.

I'm on a roll for some reason and soda pop doesn't appeal to me.  Not drinking it.  Once again I will avoid it.  I'd rather have water or iced tea.  This is answered prayer and so is eating salad for the main meal.   I pray it continues.  I desire to lose weight and this is one way I am working toward that goal.  Enthusiasm helps.  

There was kale in this salad and this time it tasted alright.  Must have been fresher than what I had before when I said not fond of it.  Planning to make my first smoothie in my new NINJA today.  Considering what to put in it.  A start for me.  Here I come.  Power up.

Apples, strawberries, celery, avocado, kale, apple cider vinegar, water, yogurt, a little honey.  Will it turn out?  I hope so.  If it taste awful, I'll try adding something else to it.  It's a start for me. 

Rainy weather is suppose to visit today.  I think I will make some flash cards that have scripture on them.  Once again I will spend some time memorizing a verse or two.  These days my recall isn't great, but if I concentrate on a verse during the day it just might sink in and stay awhile after all God's word does not return void.

I opened a utility bill from the other community where RETIREMENT COTTAGE is.  Turning white in the face going numb.  The cost raised 800% during the cold snap we had in February. Sticker shock.  

There was a note with the bill saying we'd have 4 years to pay this high gas bill off.  They'll be having a town meeting this week.  I suspect the citizens will not be happy campers at this gathering.  I'm in a daze.  We hardly use natural gas at this cottage and to have a bill like this one was numbing.  We're already on level payment plan and it's a good thing we are as if we had to pay this bill all at once it would be a nightmare.  Thankful this was a fluke during the arctic blast. We'll get through this.  

MEDICAL NEWS:  I worked up the questions to discuss with my physician in April.  I have a few weeks to add to the list in case more questions arise.  Shaking my head.  So much to ask.  

HUBBY had additional blood work done and a CT Scan.  Waiting to hear from the doctor about this.  The wait is made easier when staying busy doing other things.  Praying.

FOOD DIARY:  Keeping track on myfitnesspal of what I am eating.  I can print out the pages to keep a journal.  Neat site as it tells you how many calories, carbs, sugars and fats are in these foods.

EXERCISE:  Starting Jack Lalanne DVDs today!  Ha.  I think it will be a bonus to watch him and exercise along with him.  Tadah.  A start for me.  Let you know how it goes.

MOVIE TIME:  Comedy Rated PG War With Grandpa.  Had a few chuckles.  Not for everybody, but I laughed.  The Grandson being disrespectful toward his Grandpa wasn't a laughing matter, but what transpired makes for a good ending.   

Peter is a 6th Grader that tells his friends about his grandfather moving in with his family and living in his room.  After a miserable first night in his new room in the attic, Peter decides to declare war.  Grandpa Ed agrees to war, as long as they follow the agreed upon rules of engagement: they cannot damage other people's belongings and cannot tell the family about this. Peter pulls a series of pranks. Ed gets back at Peter with pranks.  

 

WEEKLY OUTLOOK:

Survived the TIME 🕛 CHANGE.  St. Patrick's Day ☘️ is midweek and SPRING 🌺 arrives this coming Saturday.  I'll start exercising 🏃with JACK this week and will make some NINJA smoothies.  As for decorating, the Bunnies 🐰 are showing up to welcome SPRING.  Going to spend some time outdoors.  Eating more veggies.  Thin out papers, usual chores and run errands. Taking inventory of bedding.  Making HOME a happier place wearing a smile.   

Blessings.

HOME LIFE is for me,

🏡d 

Check out party: https://familycorner.blogspot.com/2021/03/happy-homemaker-monday-03152021.html

SUNDAY PRAYERS

 

Prayers,

💜d

SPRING FORWARD

WELCOMING SPRING with a TIME CHANGE and rain.  Rain is falling today and is expected to rain for several days.  If the temps don't get too chilly, it will be a pleasant few days to have even with all the wetness.  FALL back...SPRING FORWARD.

Changing the clocks this evening.  We'll watch a movie and have popcorn.  No soda and I'll be fine with iced tea.  Spring is on her way and I am so glad about this.  The flowers are starting to pop through the ground.  More will come forth this APRIL.  Then the Irises will follow.  My favorite time for gardens.  Hopefully the Lilac bushes will bloom this year.  They didn't last year. I love the fragrance of lilacs so it was a disappointment to say the least. ⚘ 

I want to check into how to take from one lilac bush and what to do to make a starter for another. If it's doable, I will attempt to start some lilac bushes here.  Also transplant a peony plant and daylilies.  I know the time to plant Irises is in July.  In my garden window I have coleuses that I saved from our urns last Fall.  What was planted in a crock bowl for indoors last Autumn took and have grown.  I snipped some back and placed them in a cup of water in hopes they will root. In the month of May, if all goes well, I'll transplant these babies and maybe have coleus in the urns for another year.  I love geraniums as well.  I'll need to get some nutrient rich potting soil for the urns.  Best do this in April to have ready for May.

I would LOVE to take a vacation this year in the Spring and/or Autumn.  I will have to wait and see how this goes.         

A goal this month is to walk around my neighborhood.  Walk downtown and to the park.  Stay in motion and move.  I won't be speed walking anytime soon, but I will be walking, swinging my arms.  March, April, May and June.  These months will be lower temps than the hot Kansas ones although it isn't unheard of having temps in the hundreds in April, May and June before July hits hard.  This is when I should return to walking on the treadmill that has a fan on it to help keep me cooler as I exercise.

After our basement boxes and shelves are rearranged and/or cleared out, we will place the treadmill in the basement.  If that doesn't pan out it may have to go to the carriage house.  Either way, it will be moved in the future closer to our HOME instead of over at RETIREMENT COTTAGE.  Seems like we are constantly morphing along where furniture and items go.  Keeps it interesting around here.   

Yesterday, I rested quite a bit after a full day of shopping the day before.  Needed. This morning I slept in.  Sipping V8 right now for mid morning snack.  I know V8 has natural flavors in it which doesn't excite me very much after finding out what natural flavors really are.  I will need to veer away from this if I can. 

Trick of the trade is the verbiage used on the listed ingredients on the label of the packaging. When it says NATURAL it seems to be well received by the uninformed public as something really good for you because it's natural.  The companies fail to tell you that if they use wood bark in their product it can be called NATURAL because, well, it is actually natural from nature. Organic in the sense of being from nature and not synthetic.  It doesn't expound on where that flavor came from that's been bombarded with chemicals.

As long as it isn't for nutritional reasons and used for flavor it doesn't have to be listed on the ingredients as to where it came from.  Could be from a beaver or from bark root so it can be listed as natural.

Mister Beaver himself.  Hello natural flavors.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/beaver-butt-goo-vanilla-flavoring 

Castoreum is also used in some perfumes and cigarettes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castoreum 

So What’s The Big Deal?

Whether or not V8 is truly vegan or not, it’s important to be aware of the label “Natural Flavorings” on your food products. Since companies are not required to list the source of these flavorings, they can refer to anything that’s made in nature — from plants to any variety of meat. According to the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, natural flavor or flavoring is “the essential oil, oleoresin, essence or extractive, protein hydrolysate, distillate, or any product of roasting, heating or enzymolysis, which contains the flavoring constituents derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof, whose significant function in food is flavoring rather than nutritional.”

As opposed to artificial flavoring, natural

 just means that before it went through chemical processes, the origin of the flavoring was found in nature as opposed to being synthetic. It’s very possible that companies might list “natural flavorings” as a way to hide animal products from consumers.

“I’ve seen “natural flavorings” listed on everything from Monster Energy to Quaker Oat Bran Cereal to Earth Balance butter spread and everything in between,” one vegan food blogger writes on Happy Cow Veggie Blog. “I say this because you could honestly make yourself nuts over what’s lurking around in your packaged food and drink.  Rather than getting overly obsessed about it, avoid purchasing a lot of pre-packaged, processed foods and for the ones you really love, call the company.” Before jumping to conclusions on V8, however, if you’re a vegan, you might want to come up with your own recipes for vegetable juice if you haven’t already. Food Babe provides one on her post for those of you who are feeling experimental.

https://www.medicaldaily.com/v8-might-not-really-be-vegan-may-contain-animal-products-what-you-need-know-about-natural-296720

Okay.  Enough on NATURAL FLAVORS FOR NOW.  As I was putting some candles away, I came across my Spring Sign.  Sat it out beside the television.  Cheery Spring.

In the mail today.  It took a week, but our JACK LALANNE exercise collection DVDs arrived in a large, white, plastic envelope.  Like a child on Christmas morning excited.  Will start on Monday.  grins.

Not sure what I will work on today.  

There's much to do.  So I should do it.  

Blessings,

HOME LIFE is for me,

🏠d

DINING ON THE PRAIRIE: Stew

A few days after having Pot Roast and the fixings, 

I cut up the left over meat into edible chunks, adding corn, green beans, stewed tomatoes, ketch-up and more water to the remaining onions, potatoes and carrots that were cooked with the pot roast.   Dining On The Prairie Pot Roast morphed into Stew.  Warmed it for a couple of hours then served up.

It turned out just fine and we had stew for a couple of meals.

Blessings to you.

HOME LIFE is for me,

🏠d

TIME TO GET THE BUNNIES OUT

My snowmen are going into hiding, but that didn't stop me from picking one up for $2.50 from the THRIFT STORE today where everything was 50% off.  The one I got today holds candles.  I will clip the candle disk off so the snowman just stands there looking handsome.  He looks very similar to the ones I already have that were out during the cold season.

Tonight it seems like this trip to the THRIFT SHOP happened a month ago as I had a really busy day out and about.  This morning HUBBY had a CT Scan.  Staying in the car while he had a scan, the time went so fast I couldn't believe it.  After I dropped him off I went for a bite to eat.  Drive through and went back to the medical facility parking lot to eat.  I finished my breakfast and fiddled a bit with some paperwork and there he appeared at the hood of the car ready to leave.  

I took him for some breakfast and coffee then drove to our small town popping into the THRIFT SHOP.  He stayed in the car and this is where I found an acrylic snowman.  A few other small items as well 50% off.

Went HOME to rest.  Then I did something I haven't done for a year.  I went to pick up a GRANDCHILD so we could spend some girl time together.  It's been a year.  Both wearing face mask with the car windows down, she rode along in the back seat of the car.  First we went to the same thrift shop I had been to earlier in the day.  For 75 cents, I bought her a thrift blouse.  Put some fuel in the car and it's been so long since I drove this car I just about forgot how to put fuel in it.

Drove over to a different community to stop off at SUGAR CREEK and ate a tuna fish sandwich. Nobody else but us were around at 2:30 in the afternoon so I didn't feel threatened.  The sandwich was cold and pretty good.  Drank water! 

Each time when we returned to the car, we'd sanitize our hands.  Went to FLORENCE ADAMS clothing store.  I had to sit as my back wasn't the best.  Still had fun.  Lil Miss did some shopping. After we left here we drove over to Manhattan to go to the FIVE BELOW store.  Decided to see what ROSS had then went to 5 Below.  Old Navy was on the list of places to go.  By this time my back was aching and I needed the support of the car seat.  Didn't make it to Goodwill or Target. Another day.

I had a really nice time being Grandma this afternoon.  I miss all of my GRANDS.  I really do.  It seems so much longer than a year since this pandemic started.  I miss my children and their children.  I need to go visit my brother that's in a home.  I wouldn't be able to hug him, but I could see him through the glass door.  I need to go see my Mom as well.  A son and grandson in St. Louis.  A son and family in the Tulsa area.  Maybe this Spring.  Trying to figure out how we can do this.  I miss my family.  Phone calls help.

I took Lil Miss HOME and we said our good-byes.  Drove HOME in the dark.  Daylight Savings Time will happen this week-end.  Won't that be nice?  I'm ready for a nice Spring.  So so ready.  

Spring will be here in about 9 days.  The weather the last few days has been a welcomed thing.  Such pleasant weather with sunshine and a breeze.  Time to bring the bunnies out and prepare some Easter Baskets for my Grands and children.  I want to fix my Mom one as well.  

I know bunnies don't lay eggs, but I don't care.  I like them anyhow.  Soft pastel colors and bunnies.  I need some cheer in my HOME.  Uplifting decorating.  The bunnies are just the ticket to help lift my spirits.  I'm telling you, I need some bunnies throughout the house.  

Blessings.

HOME LIFE is for me,

🏠d  

       

WEDNESDAY

THE WIND IS BLOWING.  This is my idea day in Kansas to where I can open the French doors that lead to the screened-in porch.  Freely the wind blows and I gladly embrace the sounds of nature.  Feeling the breeze is perfect weather conditions.  It's 75 degrees right now. Takes my breath away after being so cold a few weeks ago.  I can actually hear dried leaves breezing by, the wind and someone raking the yard.

I'm air drying my hair as I sit in my chair.  Early shower for me this morning.  My hair needed a good shampooing.  When I wash my hair these days, so much hair comes out.  I sigh. Just one of those things happening.  Having a few minutes to myself as Hubby went to the Bank and milked a cow.  This is what I call getting milk or moo juice.  

I will be starting another list for what I need to visit with my physician about in April for a physical.  A super long list.  When I think about what to talk about, it frightens me that there are so many questions.  It'll help if when I think of something that I jot it down on an ongoing list.

From the crown of my head to the soles of my feet back to the crown.  Questions indeed.  

It will be helpful to me to take a list with me when it's my turn to see him.  I usually have a list with me, so I don't forget things.  I have not been to the doctor for over a year.  Makes me smile. Between now and then, I hope to drop the weight I put on during 2020.  I will admit, I did not walk very much in 2020 as my foot were a nuisance.  The pain was awful.  Today, I am better, but occasionally my feet hurt.  If I can remember to ice them.  Now it's my back.  sigh.

Exercises for strengthening the back:

I watched a video on exercises that strengthen the back muscles.  I'll give it a whirl.  The discomfort seems to be moving around my body.  My back, my knee, my back, my feet, my back, my back, my back.  Losing weight would help all my joints.  This I know.  

Getting the weight off is another thing altogether.  I have to exercise.  That's all there is to it.  The Jack Lalanne videos are in the mail.  I told my son and he laughed.  All kidding aside, here is my son who is a marathon runner.  100 miler under his belt and he laughs.  

Another son, use to run, but has changed to disc golf.  A daughter that bicycles and runs.  All very active.  Their children the same.  As a child I was extremely active until age 6 when rheumatic fever caused me to have a heart murmur.  I slowed down.  I sometimes wonder where I'd be today if I hadn't gotten the fever.  It's better to not spend too many brain cells wondering, but dealing realistically with what I have to work with.

Part of my joint discomfort today is probably due to having rheumatic fever as a 6 year old child.  I was really very fortunate not to have issues with my joints until in my 60s.  I'll keep researching and reading about health issues because that is what I seem to like to do. Somewhere in my resume, I could slide in that I have experience in researching.  That's a stretch and a half.

A GRAND came over today to rake out the flowerbeds.  This is a huge help.  Was so good to see her.  We still social distance.  

Welp, I'm off to do something and 

won't that be a treat.

d  

  

THOUGHTS ON GETTING HEALTHIER

NEEDING A FEW ITEMS, I decided to go to Topeka 

on this very windy day.  

The car rocked a little more while driving across the prairie.  No need to style my hair because after the wind had her way with me I looked like I crawled out from under a rock.  

VERY PRODUCTIVE DAY.  Full day of in motion shopping.  Very satisfied with what we were able to accomplish today.  Drove across the bridge to head out of town.  First stop was the dollar store then stopped by RETIREMENT COTTAGE to dry some laundry.  Had some boxes to unload from the car.  Off to Topeka we went to Starbucks to get a bite to eat.  Then we went to Menards, Aldi's and SAMs.  

We sat in some lawn furniture while at Menards and Hubby lost his phone while sitting in a lawn chair discovering later that he misplaced his phone and it was left behind.  When we discovered his phone was missing, we returned to Menards retracing where he might have lost his phone and there it was lying on the chair.  Very fortunate that nobody picked it up.  grins.  Returned to RETIREMENT COTTAGE to pick up the laundry and unload a few things.  

I wanted to check SAMs first to see what they sell before putting too much time and muscle into a shopping trip.

Wanting an appliance that can handle churning up vegetables and fruits to make nutritious smoothies, SAMs had 4 styles available.  I was pleased to buy a NINJA Professional Duo Auto IQ for under a hundred dollars.  Hope we are really satisfied with this.

SINCE IT WAS TUESDAY I knew I wanted to go to the thrift shop just to look around because it's SENIOR DISCOUNT DAY receiving 20% off purchases.  They had a decent stationary bicycle for $35 with 20% off making the exercise bike $7 less than what they were asking for it.  $28 is a great price for this item.  Tried it out and then my hunny did as well, we agreed we should get it. This one is far better than the stationary bike I bought last year.  I'll turn loose of last years and keep the better one.

Also picked out some thrift Spring time blouses for me.  Since the blouses were discounted, it helped stretch the money for Spring clothing.    

Supper was a tuna fish salad on a bed of organic Spring Greens, walnuts and apple.  It was a delicious cold meal for a tired 'ole woman.  The rest of the evening will be time for resting.  

Today I got some walking in as well as time riding the bike.  Tomorrow I will work on paperwork and more laundry.  Styling my hair.  I'd love to go into a salon and have my hair washed, dried and blown straight.  Maybe I can muster up the nerve and get this done this week.  

Maybe.  Maybe.  It's been over a year since I went to a stylist.  Covid got in the way.  I think I have trimmed my hair three times since then.  I'm alright with the grey coming in.  I don't color my hair yet, but I do like having it styled by someone who knows how to do this.  

Another friend of mine passed away.  She was 93.  I drove past her house and family members were cleaning it out.  I suppose the house will go on the market after they are ready. Sigh.  It has to be done.  In my own little world, I need to thin out much.  I cannot take it with me when my time comes to leave this place.  Lately, I have relaxed about turning loose of so much.  I can do this.  I must.

On the HOME front, I got the upstairs cabinets cleared out and rearranged.  I finished KONMARI-ing our t-shirts and sweat shirts plus blue jeans.  Next I will work at refolding all the extra bedding and locating it in the hallway linen cabinets.  When this is completed, I'll go onto the next thing like cleaning out my old cedar chest and putting my wedding dress memorabilia back in it.  I have talked about doing this and I think this week will be the week to work on it. sigh.  I'm not on any schedule.  I will have to give myself a pep talk to get all excited about doing this simple task.   

Here's to getting stuff done,

d

RADIOACTIVE CALCIUM AND IRON IN MY OATMEAL

MORNING TIME ON A MONDAY.  Leisurely I rabbit trailed all over the place while surfing on the net.  A sign of having attention deficit?  I started out searching for info about what causes cracked heels to treating them leading to detoxing the liver onto who makes Armour Desiccated Thyroid Extract, to where do API active pharmaceutical ingredients come from, Vitamin B12 deficiency, who owns Pfizer, vaccines API comes from where, Muscle Beach to cleanest foods...see what I mean about rabbit trailing?  All over the place.  Never a boring moment.

In a nutshell, I drew a conclusion that the medicines we buy in America have active pharmaceutical ingredients that come from around the world or may be saturated with pesticides, herbicides and other icides.  Where do your meds come from?  An American Pharmaceutical company that incorporated active pharmaceutical ingredients from countries and resources that are not healthy to use causing harm to human health?  That medicine that you thought was helping you may be hurting you in the long run.  Same with so called healthy foods that you eat in general.  Are they as healthy as you thought?

You might be juicing fruits and vegetables thinking juicing is a healthy thing to do contributing to a healthier self when in reality the products used are actually loaded with pesticides, etc.  The genetically altered/engineered products aren't the best you can get either.  

I've previously thought oatmeal is so good for people.  If the oatmeal comes from places that use pesticide loaded oats then what?  How about radioactive calcium?  Thinking all this good stuff is good but in reality it's harmful to eat, then what?  Also in thinking that you are eating healthy by eating Quaker Oats may be hindering your health due to the quality of the product.  

Quaker Oats has a rather controversial history.  Radioactive calcium and iron were tested on a group of boys to find out what it would do to the human body.  The boys didn't have a clue.  

In 1949, boys living at the Fernald State School — a state-run school for abandoned boys — were invited to join the Science Club. According to the Smithsonian, they were given all kinds of incentives to join, like hearty breakfasts (starvation was a frequent punishment), and trips to baseball games. But there was a catch.

Quaker Oats had teamed up with researchers from MIT for three experiments involving 74 boys between the ages of 10 and 17. For one, the boys were given breakfasts of Quaker Oats that contained radioactive calcium and iron.

The reasoning was twofold. Researchers wanted to know what kind of effects radioactivity had on the human body, as more people were being exposed to it than ever before. Quaker Oats wanted in on the study because they saw it as a way to prove their oatmeal was just as healthy as their Cream of Wheat competitors. They got their medical testing done, MIT got their results... it was a win-win. Sort of. A 1995 lawsuit found that while the radioactivity hadn't been enough to cause lasting damage, the boys involved were entitled to a settlement and apology.

https://www.mashed.com/82281/untold-truth-quaker-oats/

That wonderful bread you love may have wood in it.  That cheese you crave may have wood in it.  Because I'm human I don't eat like a beaver.  What are we really eating thinking it's healthier for us? 

I have lots more research to do.  Spreading the time out will be useful.  

Should we use a gieger counter and wave it over our pantries?  hummmmm.  

🏠d

     

SUNDAY PRAYERS

 

Prayers,

💜d