Trying something new

Yesterday, I had a 40% off coupon for Borders bookstore, plus a gift card…..I ended up buying this:

Dulcy and I have talked about yoga a lot lately.  I feel like I need to find some sort of mind/body exercise that I can enjoy for the rest of my life and that I can do anywhere.  Plus, I’ve noticed that the older I get, the less flexible I get……you know the saying….use it or lose it!

I was first exposed to Vinyasa yoga flow by Abby Vakay when I had her as a (hooking) teacher at Mt. Magazine, Arkansas a few years ago. 

This is Abby....will I be able to do that one day?!

I thought this was such a beautiful and feel good kind of yoga, but like a lot of other things in my life, it had been put on the back burner as one of those “someday” activities.
Well, someday is here.
I will start soon.

Every day

Every day we are surrounded with the ordinary.

How can we make the ordinary……extraordinary?

How can we appreciate the ordinary?

Stop

slow down

take a closer look

at your ordinary life

It may actually be extraordinary

and you just didn’t slow down to notice it.

Paintings from Jeanne Illenye.

Why am I so tired?

Oh, why am i so tired? I think I’m getting enough sleep….maybe it’s just that I still have a little bit of the cold lingering on, even though I don’t want to admit it to myself.

I have so many things in my mind that I want to do, but I just can’t seem to get motivated.

Okay, enough with the “poor pitiful me” stuff. Maybe if I just get out of my jammies and into some real clothes….that should help!

I did get a “wool fix” and ordered some wool on-line this morning…..I hate buying wool on-line from a business that I’ve not ordered from before. Wool is just one of those things that you want to touch before you buy…..oh well, here’s to keeping my fingers crossed that it’s not too flimsy and not too heavy…..I promise to use it, no matter what…..it is all beautiful and it shall all have a place. I’m excited because some of it is the nubby boucle wool and some has metallic in it!

Here are a few pics of the swatches:

In this wool I can see landscapes and gardens!

Sunflower middles or dog fur?

Dark leaves, night skies

I think this would make nice animals or would be great over-dyed with greens or reds or oranges….it’s just yummy!

I see this in night skies, Halloween cats…

This one was just too fun to resist!

I’ll let you know when they come and are washed up….were they worth it?!

A most excellent birthday

First off….happy birthday to my brother, Randal, who is turning 40 today!

Yesterday, was my birthday……a most excellent day if I do say so myself.

Lunch with Sheri of Shabby Sheep at Panera……what did I dine on?…..chocolate fudge brownie and a chocolate cafe mocha….hey, if there is a day to indulge, your birthday is that day!

Sheri got me a wonderful necklace from Kelly Rae Roberts…..I love it and I’m wearing it today and thinking of Sheri who is having surgery today….please keep her in your thoughts today!

I went out to dinner with my family and then we opened packages at my grandma’s house.

After that we came home and I got to open my packages from Kenny…….he said it was a “Project Runway” theme. Look at all of these lovely bags!!!

Colorful!

Okay, so “Project Runway” theme…..what does that mean?

Clothes?  You betcha!

I even scored a Michael Kors top…..hot pink….my favorite!

Of course, the dogs had to help me open packages….

Of course they were excited, because one of the packages had new harnesses for each of them…..sparkly black and sparkly red with matching collars!

Cleopatra was interested in ALL aspects of the birthday festivities, from the birthday cards

to the tissue paper!

Lonnie….well, I think he was just waiting for cake…..

Sorry Lonnie…..no cake….just clothes……and the most perfect margaritas!

Low Calorie Margarita Recipe

• 1 tub Crystal Light lemon-lime drink mix
• 2 cups water
• Juice of one lime
• 8 oz. tequila
• 6 oz. Grand Marnier
• 4 oz. Presidente Mexican Brandy

Put all ingredients into blender and blend. Garnish with a wedge of lime.

These may  be low calorie, but they are sneaky good!  By that I mean you’re drinking them and you go to stand up and can’t find your legs sneaky!

A different kind of tea

I’ve been a little under the weather the past few days, but I found this recipe on-line to help ease the congestion that I’ve had….I think it’s working!

I like spicy, so I use the “hot and spicy” V-8 with more hot sauce!

TOMATO TEA RECIPE
2 cups V8 Juice
2-3 cloves Garlic crushed (use more if you can)
2 T Lemon Juice
Hot Sauce (the more the better, so as much as you can handle)

Mix and heat in a pan or in the microwave. Sip slowly and re-warm as needed to get the full effects of the fumes. Let it sit in the back of your throat to bathe it. Suck the fumes through your sinuses and also down into your lungs. Its all natural and healthy, so drink as much of it as you want or need until you are SURE the infection is gone. This is past the time when you "feel better."

Monday, I was feeling C-

Today, B+

Tomorrow, I’m shooting for an A!

Covered

I saw this in the Anthropologie ad and thought this would make a cool cover up for my stash of wool….just a thought.

I woke up this morning to this….ice!  It’s completely covered the pansies I planted last week. On Friday, it was 70 degrees…now it’s 31 and icy!

Luckily, Kenny clipped some forsythia the other day and they are blooming in the kitchen.

Struggle

It’s been a struggle to blog this week.

Generally, I always have SOMETHING to talk about, but this week I’ve been at a loss.

I think it’s all the changes we’ve had and are still having at work.  My schedule was different this past week….working every day 6:30-2:30 instead of 4 days of 6:30-4:30.

Now, for the coming week I’ll be working everyday from 7:30-12:30….1/2 days, and then the week after that I might not be working at all. 

To be honest, I’m looking forward to the extra time off, (I’m hoping to paint our front living room a metallic silver….I’ll be sure to get BEFORE and AFTER shots of that project to share) but it’s all just a little bit unsettling.  Not just the fact that I’ll be off work for a week without pay….I’m a thrifty girl and my husband works, so that is not the true worry.  The true worry is that we (USA) rely on getting medical isotopes from other countries.  The reactors in Canada and the Netherlands are down for repairs and this has not only put “me” in a bind, but the entire medical community. (if you want to read more…click on the picture below)

I have been hooking on the garden rug just a little bit and I started reading “The Art of Racing in the Rain” for the Rug Hooking Daily book club.  I’m really enjoying the book so far.

When I watched “Hachiko” last week with my husband, I cried so much, I felt dehydrated…..it’s out on DVD, so check it out and have a good cry.  Richard Gere and a dog….who could ask for more?!

“Precious” was a really devastating movie, but I watched it…..the acting was fantastic and I had no idea that Mariah Carey played the part of the welfare worker…..talk about a transformation.

Why do I keep going on about these two movies? I think they are movies that “stick with you”.

Two movies, a book, and 3 words

Cried

Devastating

Enjoying

A Fine Day

What a fine day.
I had pleasant patients,  not too many,  not too few.
I hope this link works….people always wonder what I do…..Click here to see what I do at work. nuclear cardiology video  (the technologist with the short hair and big earrings is me :)  )
Went to a “March Birthdays” luncheon that was put on by our administrators….they actually take time to make home-made food for us…..it was sooo delicious.  There was lasagna, a pasta broccoli salad, a lettuce salad with a wonderful Vidalia onion dressing, French bread, cupcakes….YUM!
I also had my annual review at work….it was GOOD!
I’m working a new schedule this week, so I got off work at 2:30….extra time to go to the gym…..got to the gym and was on the treadmill and in walked my husband….he got on the treadmill next to me…..things like that make working out not so bad.
Yes, the picture below is our hospital gym….down below are the treadmills and basketball court….you can walk on the treadmills and watch people play basketball, and if you look up you can see people walking around the track or in the weight room….it really is a beautiful space…..one I need to get reacquainted with on a more regular basis :)

Took the dogs on a long walk…..they both actually WALKED and didn’t sniff and doddle TOO much….this can be a problem with hounds :)
Home again to make salmon burgers and chips, do a little laundry and make some cupcakes that will go to work with me in the morning for the “Chili Cook-off” fund raiser for the American Heart Association. 
$5 donation and you get to try at least 11 different kinds of chili as well as lots of sides and desserts.  If you are by the Wheeler Heart and Vascular Center on Tuesday, March 16th at lunch time, it’s held on the lobby level….just ask!


Yes, little things like this add up to make a great day!

State Champions!

Last night, my high school alma mater, Hillcrest High School, won the Missouri state championship in class 5A basketball.  The last time they won the state championship, in 1984, I was a sophomore in high school.  It was just as exciting to watch them win last night as it was back when I was in high school.  However, this time I was at home watching and cheering in front of the TV instead of being in the stands, but it was still exciting!

(charles ludeke / for the News-Leader)

(charles ludeke / for the News-Leader)

Nature walk

Last weekend, we took the dogs to the nature trail.  It was a glorious day, so of course the trail was full of bikers and walkers.  It’s good that so many people are enjoying the outdoors after being cooped up all winter long, but it makes it a little less enjoyable to be on the trail…always looking ahead of you and behind you for bicyclists who think they are riding in the “Tour de France”.

So we headed INTO nature and while we were there Kenny found a pair of shed deer antlers…..he was so excited….just like a little kid….this is the first shed antlers he’s ever found and he just happened upon them.  He actually found a pair, which many people later told us on the trail is quite rare to find the pair of them together.  Of course we couldn’t resist having a bit of fun with them.  I think Cleopatra looks like the dog from the “Grinch who Stole Christmas”!……she was not impressed :)

Here are more pictures from our walk.  Kenny is so good to point out things of interest for me to photograph.  I’ve found that I’m quite taken by all of the different fungi that grow on downed trees.

Aren’t THESE interesting?!  I don’t know if they are a type of spore or a fungus.

Sorry I have so many pictures of this….I was quite intrigued.

A closer look.

This picture gives you a better idea of the size of them compared to the downed tree they were on.

There are a lot of downed trees from the ice storm that we had a few years back….now they are coming to life in a different sort of way.

Tree stumps are another place for fungi to grow.

And then there is moss….what is it about moss that is so beautiful?  So soft and fragile looking.

This is the first thorn tree I’ve ever encountered…..glad I encountered it with my camera and not my body…..these thorns are huge and deadly looking!  I would say they are 3-6 inches long!   Actually, after googling for a while I found that this is actually a honey locust tree….supposedly the thorns keep deer and other fauna from stripping it’s bark…..those thorns would keep me away for sure!

Looking up into the tree….trying to get close without getting stabbed!