Good morning! Here was my view yesterday. We had a few minutes of sun and periods where the sun would try to shine through. I guess it gives hope! I called it “Southern Lights” on Instagram lol.
I think this was one of my favorite moments of the day. Because we have not seen the sun in days it seems. It did not last long. It snowed or flurried small flakes off and on all day.
So I had the best banana and peanut butter toast yesterday and drizzled with honey. It was filling. I thought about Elvis. I started my work day with this.
I had a buddy joining me all day yesterday. Little Bit was at my feet by the vent or was on the bed.
Yes I know the vent is rusted. I need to unscrew the vent, get the rust off and spray paint it. I’ve just not been that enthusiastic about something one rarely sees. I mean usually I’m not standing on my head taking photos of the floor, lol.
And then Roger also joined me for a while. He sometimes lets his head sleep on the floor. I think he is sometimes too tired to fool with getting his whole body on the bed and he just goes with that. Roger was mainly in the room b/c his Daddy was in the room earlier on the office part of the bedroom that he uses. The poor guest bedroom is now also two offices including the guest bedroom. And my changing room. Poor bedroom has to be multifunctional.
I think I’ve mentioned before we NOW have 4 computer stations in the house. That is 4 office areas! Two in the guest bedroom, my home office room which used to be a bedroom and then George is using the dining room table as a desk for his work.
Yesterday’s calendar message. These messages always seem to be relevant for the day you see the message. I’ve been prettied concerned for my daughter and her hubby and little Roo. They are just in a situation among 3.3 million other Texans w/o power.
They are staying with friends and was told that someone at the ranch is paying for a hotel room so they could have hot showers. No one has water. The whole town is out except for a few places. This is concerning and I hope the situation improves in a hurry. I keep praying.
Here’s a couple of cute pics Katy posted yesterday.
I just want things to get back to normal for everyone. But I am counting our blessings for being warm and with power and with water when 4+ million people across the nation do not have power and many without water also. I wish I could wave a magic wand. I can do that in a way. There is prayer. And I have prayed.
But today we are to receive our next winter storm. It starts at 3 p.m. today. Well it looks like they moved it to 6:00 p.m. I can see the snow already to our west though and it is supposed to bring 2-4 inches of snow and a .10 of ice. We are already still iced in.
I think it is not supposed to get much above freezing until Saturday or Sunday. I will be working on site once I can get out of the house and safely get there. I just have things to do that I cannot do here. I’m happy to say that many days next week are in the 50’s. At least it looked that way yesterday.
I had to get rid of the Valentine stuff on my phone. So I made a couple of new phone backgrounds via Canva, if you would like to download. I was happy the way they turned out. I went ahead and did one for March too. This first one looks pretty cool behind all my apps.
I have Little Roo on my Lock Screen.
I ordered some pics of Little Roo from Shutterfly earlier in the week. I have had so many things on the to do list but not really a stretch of time to do them. I have a return from Amazon to do. I have to take the receipt Amazon mailed me to the local UPS store. I don’t even have to box it up. They will do it for me there for free. But we have to dig out of the ice first. I have until March something so it’s ok.
I am not sure when I will have time to work on iMovies again. It looks like I’ll be working this weekend again and then we have another work week. And I think the following weekend I’m going to Mom’s. So…..this year has just been one big DELAY. I miss doing them. But I’m at least making progress. At least the upgrade has happened, and I have both external drives, one for back up and one for the files. I haven’t even had time to move all the files over. I need a stretch of time for that when I’m not rushed. So much I want to do but my personal goals are on hold I guess while I deal with life itself and everyone else’s wishes.
Ok I’m going to get off now before I talk myself into being sad/mad about not having any spare time lately. But the chores and work responsibilities have to be met. I have relaxed some and watched some shows here and there. But I’m way behind on that too. It may seem like we have a lot of time at home but we are working FT and then some, and just haven’t had a lot of spare time beyond the chores and such.
I also have to stop and do some mending. My best blue pants, the new ones, the hem totally came out all around. I have to go see if I can find my sewing box first of all, LOL. So stuff just keeps coming up that has to be done before I can start playing again. But soon. I’m not worried about it but I miss working on my hobbies/goals. It does a body good!
And those are my thoughts for the day. How are you doing and how’s the weather where you are? Keep warm and keep hoping and praying for Spring, as well as all those folks without power/water.
Happy Valentine’s Weekend! I’m happy to say that today after 10 our advisory is lifted and so we are able to go out and enjoy the day and keep our dinner reservations. I doubt my world will be filled with flowers and gifts, but with quality time and lots of fun. It feels good to be able to get out and go on one of our excursions, much like we used to. Could things be starting to get back to normal? I’m seeing and hearing some things that lean toward “yes”. But we are NOT there yet. We are GETTING there.
Had a great day yesterday. Got a lot caught up at work. I brought a monitor home from work and appreciate IT for meeting that request so quickly. I asked to borrow one for a time, to keep a set up here with COVID, weather, or other emergencies so that really all I have to bring here are files and laptop. Much much easier to deal with.
Two Winter Ice and Snow Storms Coming
So the National Weather Service and also the Weather Channel have warned that we have not ONE but TWO major snow/ice makers coming to our area. Sadly, as mentioned yesterday, it falls right into payroll days. But as mentioned, I offered to go in early and get it done tomorrow (even on Valentine’s Day) but the request was declined.
I try not worry over things. I prefer to think of it as wise planning to get something done that needs to be done instead of worry. But I’m labeled as a worrier by most everyone. It’s true I let my responsibility get the best of me in trying to meet them when it’s important. So yes, call it worry if one must. I definitely stew over things that I see that need to be done, to make sure they are, so if “worry” is the label for trying to be responsible and be a planner, I will take it. I DO hate that word though. I think it’s an unfair label at times for those trying to just get things done. I think the label is more for those that I worry about it. LOL LOL LOL! I think that is what it really is. I worry others too much about things that are important to get done.
It’s just responsible to plan and prepare in my opinion instead of react later, which I guess is how my education and past experience has shaped me to be. But it’s out of my hands now and we will take each day as it comes next week and do the best we can. I don’t feel comfortable being on unsafe roads in snow/ice and don’t want to get stranded from home either. So at least I can do some things from home and set up the office here. But how to do payroll from here. I have no idea w/o print capability. Let’s hope the forecasts ARE WRONG! But…I’ve tried to circumvent to no avail! What can you do but sit tight and hope for the best. That’s all my little worrier self can do at this point. I. HAVE. TRIED. God has it now. Nothing else I can offer but dealing with the hands that are dealt and decided.
We had a pleasant little evening last night. Sleep was ok. I woke up about 3 times on my own but at least did not get woken up by Roger or George snores on TOP of that.
Roger hung out with me last night while George was fixing a taco dinner for us. I was so tickled he wanted to be with me. He knows who leaves him treats to eat all day. We have dog beds almost in every room. HA. I put little treat bites on every bed across the house before I leave for work in the mornings. He finds them throughout the day. I don’t know if he goes on his “Easter egg hunting” all at once or if he just discovers them throughout the day. lol.
So I’ve ordered the other three storage containers from Amazon for my pantry. I ordered the OXO brand to see if I like them. I’m glad I saw them on Amazon because the ones I was going to order were not as big. But these will hold a lot of sugar or flour. I think up to a 5 lb bag and that is what I need. It comes with a scoop too. Kind of expensive but considering they are airtight I’m ok with that. I will use them for a long long time.
So tomorrow I’m also looking forward to as I’ll get some time to work on the iMac files along with the Lacie storage device. Then I can finally work on the videos again. Have been pondering the new version of the Intro! And also soon will hopefully get to work on some vlogging training videos with the camera. Always a list of things to do.
Mom, Thinking about Moving this Way
I talked with Mom last night and she is open to moving up here into a place of her own where we can take care of her, spend more time with her, get her to doc appointments and such. It will be a process. She is not quite ready to take the leap but wants us to start looking for places for seniors that might be a possibility up here near us. So we’ll do that. I told her what was in her favor was that I loved to pack and unpack, and set up! I can’t lift much but we can hire that out. You know I love a good project like moving. Most people dread it. Sometimes I think I want an RV just so I can “set it up”, LOL. Not really, though, as I love the travel and the blog/vlogging report out of it, and creating the memories, and the excitement of the “next stop”. But yeah, setting up of an RV would be a fun part of it for me. You see how often I’ve worked on my office!
Oh wow, I need to go get a shower so we can leave when expected. The advisory has been extended til Noon but George thinks we will be ok as the main roads are probably good. Some of the bridges and overpasses (likely residential areas) are icy this morning. So I hope he is right.
Have a great Valentine weekend! What are you doing for Valentines?
So the chair corner is complete! The table is in, the pillow is in, the throw added, the lamp in place, the books in the holder, and a drink on top! George had to help with the table. I couldn’t get the first screw in as the grooves were not very good and bolt would not screw on it. George was able to force it and gave me tips on how to do these things, such as Lefty Loosy and Righty Tighty. LOL LOL
I debated back and forth about keeping the White Board on the wall but the look just defeated me. So it had to change! The White Board was moved.
The white board ended up in the corner there by the desk. It looks better there. I use it a lot to keep me focused on things that are not really on a to do list but I want to remember. So I’m taking these with my camera and I’m just not good at the indoor lighting yet. I probably needed a flash to tell you the truth. I haven’t taken many lessons yet. They were even hard to fix with lighting effects. But I’ll get there one day when I have time to resume the lessons.
I am happy with the office changes. I think it meets my purposes now much better. The chair was an excellent addition for meeting my needs. Its much more enticing to do a devo and prayer now than it is at the desk which pulls you into the computer instead of writing and studying.
As mentioned before, I still wanted that side table there for projects. I needed the horizontal surface! And of course you see that Roger is there. We were putting the table together and he fell asleep there. Yes he is wearing a diaper!
I pulled some little signs from my “beachy” spare bedroom and added the sign board over the chair.
And the Thankful pillow…..warms my heart and reminds me to be thankful for all of our blessings and I will see it every morning when I approach the chair. Thankfulness is a part of my written prayers to God in my Prayer journal.
Revelations, How the Earth Ends
I finished the book of Revelation this week. Wow! What an ending. If you want to see how it all ends, go check it out. It’s quite the show. It will top every block buster you have ever seen. I once thought it was hard to understand Revelations. I had always approached it with much trepidation. And in reading it I think it was not so much hard to understand as just hard to imagine. Most of us in our lives are just not used to seeing such graphic scenes. We are told in this book, that you are blessed if you read it. You know me, I’m always wondering how or why we are blessed for reading it. I can think of several reasons:
Gosh while all that was going on if you are present for it, at least you will know how it ends.
And you will know what is coming.
And you will know what things are represented and why – the 7 lampstands, for example, represent the 7 churches of Asia.
You see the reward in descriptive beautiful detail (of heaven, the New Jerusalem) and to hold on to your faith regardless.
You know not to accept “the mark of the beast” in which people accept it to worship the one who has 666 on his forehead.
I did a screenshot of this on the internet showing the jewels that are contained in heaven. Although two of these are different from what the Bible says (perhaps they have two names, but I’m not totally familiar with some of these gems).
However, for the most part we can expect these gems to be in heaven. I really had not “taken in” the description of heaven so much other than remembering that the streets were of gold, the gates were pearly, and there would be no night, no crying, no death, no pain. But I really “took in” the reading about heaven. If I understood correctly the actual gates are big huge pearls – not made of pearls but each gate made of one big pearl and have the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel inscribed. Wow. That’s big. There are twelve foundation stones in the wall surrounding heaven, representing the 12 apostles of the Lamb.
I did some research on how big heaven is based on the Biblical definitions of “stadia” and “cubits”, which you have no choice but to look up on the internet really and see how many feet are in them. And do the math. I had come up with at minimum 1379.54 miles and as big as 1431.81 miles. Somewhere I read on the internet where they calculated about 1500. I was not far off. My math is only as good as the definitions of stadia and cubits as found on the internet. I screenshot this giving us North Americans some perspective of the size of heaven. So approx 1500 in width, length, and height!
And this is what I wanted to do when I put this room together. A place to study, learn, grow, teach, share, be creative, and go from there. So I’ve put the new room to purpose!
Tagine Cooking
George cooked with the Tagine I bought him for Christmas. Tagines are a Moroccan style of cooking. You layer meats and veggies along with oils and herbs and spices. Part of it, is the steam that rises through it that helps it to cook. Our tagine is glazed which means that it doesn’t have to be seasoned before cooking.
You start with butter and then keep adding the ingredients. And BTW, I video’d this for a future YouTube Vlog so it’ll be there. Here were the ingredients he used. Candle not included, and neither is the dog food over in the corner, LOL.
Other than the chopping it didn’t seem to take too long to cook. About like anything else – 40 minutes or so. The sweet potatoes almost did not get done, but they were done just enough. He added frozen peas and also you cannot see that there is preserved lemon on the table as well as onion and garlic. He used the spice in the blue can which is Ras El Hanout a Moroccan Spice. Neither can you see the Yogurt and cilantro we added to each plate at the end. See final result down below and you can see it there.
To describe what Ras El Hanout is I’ve copied a blurb from Google.
“The mixture usually consists of over a dozen spices, in different proportions. Commonly used ingredients include cardamom, cumin, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, allspice, dry ginger, chili peppers, coriander seed, peppercorn, sweet and hot paprika, fenugreek, and dry turmeric.”
Since we plan to cook with this quite a bit (maybe some weight loss if didn’t add that french bread on the side which gathered the juices and was exquisite!) – anyway, since we plan to cook with this a bit, I decided it was a MUST for him to have this spice already blended as opposed to making our own.
What surprised me was:
How good the tomatoes were.
The preserved lemon added a lot of distinct flavor that did not taste like lemon juice.
How good that the yogurt was to spread around on top, that added a lot of flavor and reminded me of greek food and their yogurt cucumber dressing.
The couscous was really good underneath it all and
The french bread (baguette sliced) was sooooo good to soak up the juices. Normally I don’t like any bread soggy but this was perfection as you still had the crusty structure to the french baguette slice.
This was a basic beef recipe, which George wanted to start out with. Next he is going for lamb. But this recipe here is a keeper. I think I could eat out of the Tagine every night and be happy. I’m posting this pic below for a 2nd time so you can notice the diffuser here underneath the Tagine – that was recommended to keep the heat source from cracking the pot with changes in temps. While you can only see its handle, it is a metal plate of sorts that diffuses the heat gradually. The Tagine can also go into an oven as well and be transferred back and forth for certain dishes.
Enjoying the Weekend
Gosh we enjoyed our day yesterday, both getting to do things we love and enjoy as well as doing some work too. Got some laundry done and worked on the office as you saw. Studied and organized my world a bit. I videod a lot of things yesterday which took considerable time. I videod the office additions and George’s cooking and also him making our drinks. He made a Paloma for me which was recommended to go with the meal. He made a bloody mary for him.
I fixed a big bowl of popcorn and watched a YouTube show or two. And I got the back up drive and the external hard drive ordered! Yay! That means next weekend I can back up and download Big Sur as I’ve been talking about forever!
I opened up my Collagen Elixer and will start taking it today. I’ll let you know how it works. Here’s what is in it. I’m interested to see how it tastes. Hold on – I’m gonna go get it now while I’m doing this blog entry. LOL
Ok, surprisingly it tastes like COMMUNION at church. It’s like a grape drink. So it has a marine collagen blend, biotin, zinc, vitamin C and acerola berry extract among other things. Oh I love this taste. I may not be able to give this up. lol I also like the glass bottles. Although I’m not sure what you could do with them. I look forward to THAT everyday – Wow! I am taking a pic every day to see if I notice a difference.
A quick google of what studies say:
Some studies show that taking collagen supplements for several months can improve skin elasticity, (i.e., wrinkles and roughness) as well as signs of aging. Others have shown that consuming collagen can increase density in bones weakened with age and can improve joint, back and knee pain.
I also have figured out that Saturday is just a great filming day! I get up and after coffee and blog, go take a shower and fix myself up with hair and makeup! Then I can “vlog” til my hearts content, LOL. I did a few videos without a lot of make up and hair, and I was not happy with it!
I’ve also decided I’m enjoying the longer version of my hair and I probably need to keep doing it myself. It’s actually how I’ve wanted my hair all along – or close to it. I’m still learning how to style it while it’s longer. Like the bangs, mmmm I’m not sure about having them roll under so much, but I like the curls on the side coming into my face. I found a hairspray that holds pretty good w/o being sticky. Probably not to days end though. Here’s the back. I’m due for another trim though – just slightly – but this length is good. I always wanted my hair to do this, even back in highschool but I had to get a perm back then to do it. Now I just use my curling/blowdryer – it’s a blow dryer with brush attachments and works better than anything I’ve ever owned. And quickly too.
The Rest of the Weekend
Here’s George’s to do list pad on the Fridge! Seemed like a good place to insert that pic as I talk about my to do list today.
Things I have to do today:
Put my Vitamins in the little daily holders, along with the BP Meds
Finish laundry
Iron
Fix Beef Stew for tonight
Check the Weather for this week
Plan my outfits (it helps so much each morning to have this all mapped out already)
Do my nails
Things I Really SHOULD do today:
Clean house a bit more (vacuum/dust/pick up/put up)
Put our normal nic nacs back out from where I took them up to put out Christmas
Decide where we are going for Valentines Dinner in case we need reservations
Set up my next autoshop on THAT SYSTEM I DO.
Do the software update for my phone and Apple Watch.
Continue to clear of emails
Look up the next recipe (I’ve cooked twice this week, and want to continue to help out in the kitchen)
Look into Elder Care/Senior Care (Basically how to care for aging parent period – I know NOTHING!)
Things I WANT TO DO today:
Start a Spring Check List
Do a camera lesson
Watch YouTube Shows
Read
Work on a New Intro for the Videos
Start working on getting the videos/photos I’ve taken into their respective “video files”
Plan future videos, although they do a good job of just happening
So ok quite the blog entry today! I need to go DO SOMETHING, AnYtHinG from these lists! ha.
Every Day Lillie - Lifestyle, Early Retirement, Renovation, Travel, Fashion, Beauty, Health and the Occasional Rant about Important Issues like Climate Change
