I Used To.......

I used to love to shop for clothes.  Eh, not so much.

I used to love to shop for shoes. Pointless with wide feet.

I used to love to shop for jewelry -- ok, I still shop for jewelry.

I used to love to eat sweets.  Well, broke that addiction -- bummer.

I used to love to buy makeup.  Well, two things happened.  I got sick and felt the need to detox my life and go a bit more natural and less chemical laden.  And...I got old and guess what, girls, what works at 20 or 40 just doesn't work at 60.  So,  I have systematically thrown out all the chemical laden makeup and explored the natural brands.  Some are good, some not so good but the general concensus is I do better without much of any of it.

That sent me on a journey to find natural, non toxic skincare because we all know what is UNDER the makeup is what matters.  The natural stuff is good but it is good and pricey too.  I happened upon a brand called First Aid Beauty and it has been really good for my skin.  It is moderately priced and I have been using it for a while and have been happy.

However today I was doing a bit of browsing waiting for the ice and aspirin to kick in for my painful hip joint so I decided to look at other non toxic lines.  With all the sites I saw, I never saw FAB listed so I googled toxicity and I was shocked.  It hadn't been on EWG before but it is now and I was shocked that some of the stuff I was using was in the #9 range.  Ok, so the general thought process is -- at 68 years old do I really need to worry about that?  Probably not but I do.

So, I decided to explore more DIY solutions.  I found a recipe for honey facial cleanser.  It was easy.  It was honey.  You could add a little milk or cream, mix it up and wash your face.  I thought, ok, I have the ingredients so let's give it a go.  It was great.  I didn't have on any mascara so I don't know about removal of that but my face felt wonderful.

I have normal skin that tends toward dry so I looked for a toner and what do you know -- I had it in my hand.  The website said "brew a cup of green tea and use a cotton ball to apply to face".  Well I had just had a cup of green tea and I had just enough left in the cup (it was cold by now anyway) to do this.  It was nice.

Then I applied some of my MyChelle Vitamin C serum and I itched.  I didn't put on any moisturizer and just put on my makeup  which is so minimal it almost doesn't exist.   I use Mineral Fusion powder foundation, thrivecausmetics mascara and a little blush from Pacifica.  I use tinted lip balms.  See what I mean about minimal.  But, the more I put on the older I look so there you go.

Yesterday after we were watching a documentary of Acorn about railway journey's through Britain with Julie Walters.  They were visiting a dairy farm in Scotland and Ms. Walters was shocked when her hostess said that she was 61 years old.  I promise you that she didn't look anywhere near 61.  She explained that the udder cream that they use on the cows works wonders on her too!

So, what did I do?  I let my fingers take me straight to Amazon where I promptly ordered some MooGoo Udder Cream.

It is on it's way.

So, I am thinking I might try the honey/cream facial cleanser, Thayers Rose Witch Hazel for toner if I need it and this udder stuff for a moisturizer.  Maybe skipping the Vit C serum as I am still sort of stinging.  I might keep the Burt's Bees Micellar water for the mascara if the honey/cream doesn't work on that.  

Right now I am doing so many things with so many products that I would like to pare it down but want to keep it natural.

So, what do you think?  Washing my face with stuff from the kitchen and using cow stuff on my face?

I will let you know!

The Nanny

The Nanny

Welcome to Saturday 9. What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love memes, however, and here is today's meme! 

 

 
Saturday 9: The Nanny (1993)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) This week's song is the theme from a sitcom that originally aired from 1993 to 1999. Were you a fan?  No.  I have watched it once in a while but would never seek it out.

2) The song tells us that Fran once worked in a bridal shop. Have you ever worked in a retail setting? No, but I think it would be fun.  My mom and aunt were retail ladies and they made it sound so exciting.

4) "The Nanny" is the colorful one, the one who wears red when everyone else wears tan. What color do you think you look best in? I look best in pale colors, pastels, and neutrals close to my face.  I don't look good in prints and I am trying to eliminate them from my wardrobe completely.  In slacks I prefer dark neutrals like navy and black.  I am not a beige, khaki or brown person.  When I was young and my hair was dark with a lot of auburn in it, brown worked but now since it is a lovely shade of mouse brown is a no-go.

 

 5) The TV show, The Nanny, was the brainchild of actress Fran Drescher. She got the idea while visiting her an old friend in London. Her friend's pre-teen daughter enjoyed having Fran as a confidante and shopping buddy. Do you enjoy shopping as a leisure activity? Or would you prefer to just dash into a store, grab what you need, and get out and go home?

 

Shopping is a necessary evil.  I used to love it, but  now, not so much.  I can never find what I am looking for when I go to stores so I generally shop online.  I always buy clothes online.  Recently I tried to go out and shop but it was so frustrating I swore never again.

 

6) The friend Fran was visiting in London was Twiggy, who was the world's most famous model in the 1960s. Name another famous model. 3) The kids in the Sheffield household appreciate their nanny's "joie de vivre," which is defined as "exuberant enjoyment of life." Are you feeling joie de vivre this morning?  Another model?  Cindy Crawford.  Joie de Vivre?  Uh, all I am feeling this morning is numb since I have been icing my knee for two hours.

 

 7) The Nanny: The Complete Series is available on DVD on Amazon. It consists of 19 discs and takes 55 hours to watch, start to finish. What TV show have you recently binge watched?  Ok, I will admit I have been binge watching "Hart of Dixie" on Netflix with Rachel Bilson and Tim Matheson.  I absolutely love it.  Four seasons with LOTS of episodes.  I am in the middle of season 2.  My husband can't wait for it to be done.

8) The Nanny theme was sung by Liz Callaway. Her father, the late John Callway, was a long-time Chicago newscaster. Have you, or has a loved one, ever been on TV?  My father was a long-time anchor for the CBS affiliate in San Antonio, Texas.  He did lots of other programming for that station as well as KLRN -- the PBS channel in San Antonio.  I was never on tv but I really wanted to dance on San Antonio's equivalent of Bandstand.  It was called Swingtime.  My mother wouldn't let me.
. 
9) Random question -- Which of these adjectives comes closest to describing you: sexy, sophisticated or down-to-earth?  Sexy was never an adjective that I would use to describe myself and I don't think anybody else would either.  I am not sophisticated at all although I would love to be.  Down to earth, however, fits me to a T.

 

 

Thanks so much for joining us again at Saturday: 9. As always, feel free to come back, see who has participated and comment on their posts. In fact sometimes, if you want to read & comment on everyone's responses, you might want to check back again tomorrow. But it is not a rule. We haven’t any rules here. Join us on next Saturday for another version of Saturday: 9, "Just A Silly Meme on a Saturday!" Enjoy your weekend!

Weight Loss -- It Is Such a Heavy Subject

I have weight issues.  I suspect I am not alone.

I have dietary issues.  Again, probably not alone.

I have cooking issues.  Ditto.

I have tried to solve the problem and on one hand, I did and on the other hand, not so much.

I have carried too much weight for a LONG time.  My knees, ankles and hips are paying the price.  I decided to follow my daughter down the Keto road.  The goal to lose about 150 million pounds and to break my sugar addiction.  I have lost 7.5 lbs and keep gaining and losing the same last two over and over again.  My clothes are loser though.  I don't get it.  So, I didn't exactly lose those millions of pounds but I did successfully break the sugar addiction.  My guilty pleasure is cookies -- not cake, candy or pies -- just cookies.  I haven't had one in over a month.  I don't crave them anymore.  I think that is a success that should be rewarded -- with jewelery not cookies!

I get easily confused about "eating plans" AKA diets.  I was raised to believe  you eat a balanced diet (no cookies aren't a food group), you eat a normal serving and you get on with life.  That is what I have always done until I wanted to lose weight a LONG time ago.  Then I went on a reduced calorie diet and I lost lots of weight but I think that deeply ingrained the "diet" mentality in me.  I have tried them all.  I have journaled my food, counted every grain of anything I put in my mouth and wrote it down.  When I reached 1200 calories I was done.  If that was at breakfast -- too bad so sad.  There was the grapefruit thing, the high protein-low carb thing, the egg and grapefruit thing -- there has always been a "thing".

I was the down the rabbit hole.  I gained weight easily, had two kids, had forgotten how to eat correctly.

I am trying to recover that knowledge.

I don't think the Keto diet is eating correctly but after a month I did break the cookie/sugar addiction and now the only thing I am looking at is how much "sugar" I am eating and by sugar I mean added sugars and starch.  I am not ready to give up fruit yet.

I am cognizant of portions and choosing not to eat starchy things -- green peas are safe in my presence.

I am choosing to use heavy cream in my tea rather than Lactaid but I fear that I am going to have to stop that because the cream is giving my tummy fits.  And I feel I need to add more fiber to my diet. 

I am trying to channel my teeny tiny mother from beyond and I feel she is speaking to me.  She never ate an early breakfast -- or hardly any breakfast at all and if she ate toast with her coffee she wouldn't eat a sandwich at lunch.  Most times she didn't eat lunch which probably wasn't good -- she was a smoker and I think that controlled her appetite.  She didnt bake much and she didn't buy lots of cookies or desserts at the store.  When she did, I don't remember having an uncontrolled desire for them.  All this sweet craving came after I was an adult.  Unfortunately, we did drink soda which I gave up years ago now. 

When Mom cooked dinner we had a meat, starch, two veg or a veg and a salad.  I asked her why she planned meals that way -- she said she learned it in school.  We went to the same schools and had a lot of the same teachers so when I took Home Ec. in the 7th grade, I learned that method of meal planning from the ancient Home Ec. teacher who was probably ancient when my mother had her.  Actually she was only about 45 when I had her but in the 60's I believe 45 was the new "old crone".  Anyway, I digress.  That is still how I plan meals but I am leaning more toward a meat/salad/veg.  My husband is diabetic and he doesn't need the starch.

I have also retrained myself to not eat between meals and not eat after dinner.  Growing up I never ate between meals (they didn't let us snack at school) and after dinner my mom cleaned up the kitchen and there weren't going to be any dirty dishes.  Period.

So, now that I have been on Keto for a month or so, I have completely wrecked my digestive tract although I have felt, generally, much better.  I have kicked the cookies to the curb, I have learned the joy of cream.  I have learned that I miss my morning cereal but am adding some plain oatmeal back in.  I know that my body isn't working as well without my dried fruit and pecans as a snack but I have given up snacks so those items will probably have to be part of a meal.

I am eating no more than 1200 calories a day and I feel that I am eating better quality food (cookies aren't good quality).  I feel better.  I look better and my neck looks thinner -- that is a big deal for me.  I feel like I am doing the right thing for myself. 

I feel that calorie control is a better option for me because I can generally eat any variety of food I want.  I think that, if given the freedom to do so, my calorie controlled diet will actually be more Keto anyway if I am choosing to spend my calories on less processed foods. 

I guess basically it just comes down to choice and I am trying to make better choices, more nutritionally intelligent choices.  I am journaling my food just to see the choices I am making.  I am paying attention to portions.  I am trying to be smart.

I guess if I just keep gaining/losing the same two pounds that is just natures way of telling me that life is funny and my body is a joke! 

But at least I don't want cookies anymore and that, folks, is what I did this summer.

Nothing to Say -- Hard to Believe

It has been a while since I have posted but I have found myself in a very strange position -- I have nothing to say.  Most of my friends/family would find that ridiculous since I usually have a lot to say about almost everything but not right now.  Life just seems to be on hold and I don't know why.  So, I will do bullet points to catch you up on what has been going on -- trust me -- not much.

 + still reading "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil"  -- seem to have hit a block with my reading

+  bought new twin beds for the house and thought about making new quilts but no -- I still don't have any interest in quilting

+  I have survived the heat wave of North Texas but I am beginning to be a little stir crazy staying in the house 24/7 but between the African dust and the heat outside isn't very interesting

+  I have sewed MANY Girl Scout patches on a certain little vest

+  I am still unpacking boxes

+  We are still trying to get all our stuff moved out of our old house.  It is getting very annoying

+  My husband has taken to sleep walking, or something equally as disturbing and I am not enjoying that.

+  I took facebook off my phone because I spend too much time on it.

+  I am now spending my time playing electronic solitaire

+  I have bit my lip several times in the same place and I think I have an infection but my dentist is out of town until Tuesday and by the time the girl in the dentist office told me to go to my GP, he was closed for the day.  So, I am doctoring it with apple cider vinegar.  It actually feels better.

+  I am not very happy right now, there are lot of not great things going on and I can't do anything about them.

+  School is starting really too soon.  It doesn't even feel like we have had summer -- just a lot of heat.

+  I have been binge watching "Hart of Dixie" on Netflix.  It is fun!

+  My crockpot died and I bought a new expensive model -- not sure it is worth is -- the roast turned out good, the pork chops not so much.

+  That is about it.  Hopefully I will have something to talk about soon or I will have to shut this blog down.

Survival of the Pantry

I have a reasonably large, albeit odd shaped, pantry.  My granddaughters love it.  They play Survival of the Pantry.  Right now all three of them are sitting in there with pillows and blankets and books reading.  I am sure they are hot.  But......







I
   have
     
           mopped

                          them


                                       in!


They can't come out until the floor dries.  Hee hee.  Nona is so much fun!

The End of June!

How in the world has it gotten to be the end of June?  This month is just flying by and I have to say I have accomplished nothing.

So, what have I been doing since I clearly haven't been here much?  Well, I have been taking care of my knees and hobbling around.  Taking care of my knees means exercising, massaging, stretching and NOT sitting.  Sitting seems to be my nemesis.

Yesterday was a reasonably functional day and today seems hopeful.  With any luck at all at all I can actually get a few things done.  Fingers crossed.

Also, my husband has decided to spice up our senior years by becoming a sleep walker.  This is not for the faint hearted.  After a few changes in our schedule things are going better but it has been a testy few weeks.  My sleep has been wrecked and I am feeling it so between sleep deprivation and painful knees I have not been my usual, sweet, laid back, perky self.  I have morphed into some sort of a she-demon -- no sleep will do that to me!

Hopefully things are getting back to normal.  I slept last night and feel a lot better.

Now off to get something accomplished!

June? Already?

I can't believe it is already June! What happened to May?  I guess I blinked.

We have had some really early really warm days here in Texas.  We don't usually have 100+ days in early June but yet, here we are.  A lot of people complain about the heat -- the same ones that complain about the cold -- but I am not one of them.  I don't do well in extreme heat because of medications that I take that make it worse but I am blessed that I have air conditioning and I have the freedom to stay indoors and enjoy it. 

How do I enjoy it, you might ask?  Well, I have several hobbies that I enjoy -- reading, needlework and drawing -- the drawing is new.  I also do my exercise indoors. And there is the ever-present housework to keep me busy.

The other thing that I really enjoy is watching the birds.  We have positioned the bird feeders close to the breakfast area windows and we are always entertained by them.  We have a large dove that likes to sit on the top of the hook from which the feeder hangs and when he takes off in flight the whole thing springs back and forth!  Lots of activity out there right now.

We have a cardinal family that has been around here since we moved in and they are so lovely.  A brown thrasher family has joined in the neighborhood and they must have babies because the male just paces the yard catching bugs for their meals.  He looks rather frantic as he paces -- maybe we have more birds than bugs?  It is a very active yard and so much fun to sit with a cuppa and just watch. 

While it is hot outside we have had a great time planting our little fairy gardens.  I am not sure if the fairies like them but we did our best.  I am planning out the next one that is going to be a beach scene in a galvanized bucket.  My husband thinks I am a little crazy but I think I am creative! And nothing like keeping Hobby Lobby in business!

So, we are expecting a cold front (haha!yes, the term the weather wizards used) later today but for now we are experiencing the hottest day of the year so far so I am watching PBS -- a lovely documentary on Italy -- looks lovely!

Summer -- the Beginning

Summer began for us, as a family, early this year and both my daughter and her daughter were out of school last Friday. This is the first time my daughter has been done with school before June. 

In addition to school being out, things at church have wound down as well.  The choir is on summer hiatus and Sunday School is done for the summer.  Our Sunday School program for the littles is The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd begun by Maria Montessori.  It is a wonderful program and the children just love it.

I am continuing to read toward my Goodreads goal.  Right now I am reading "Midnight In the Garden of Good and Evil".  I bought a copy while I was in Savannah but I am reading it on my Kindle after checking it out on Overdrive from my public library.  I am nearly done and will review.

The Hubs has had a couple of projects to deal with.  One involves shimming up my bookcase in the bedroom.  It is a large bookcase and I never had a problem with it leaning before but the carpet in my new bedroom is very thick and the bookcase just leans and honestly, it pretty much scares me to death because it is tall and heavy and the thought of it falling isn't pretty.

And, I had an idea for a knock-down play house for Hubs to build out of PVC pipe and cover with sheets.  This is it.

I found the plans on the internet and it works well.  It is rather huge though.

And then, the Fairy Gardens have been planted and here they are -- ta da!

this one isn't quite finished

this is the main one

We did this quite early this morning as it is really hot right now in North Texas.  The mosquitoes almost carried us off and the heat got us really quickly.  So, by 10 a.m. the gardens were planted and dressed, we were showered and ready for a quiet day indoors!

Tonight -- we will work on a puzzle! We haven't done that in a while and it seems like a nice thing to do after dinner!

Summer is getting off to a nice start.

New Old School -- AKA Old Dog Learning New Tricks -- for me anyway

I have a love/hate relationship with my crock pot.  It is a good crock pot.  I can brown meat in it on the stove.  It cooks a mean pot of beans.  The crock is removable so cleaning is relatively easy.  So what is my problem?

Everything coming out of it tastes the same.  I recently made a recipe of orange chicken.  It was dreadful -- and I couldn't tell the chicken from the roast I cooked last. 

I prefer the oven but......what if I leave the house.

My mother would have never left the oven on and left the house so, as a result, it never occurred to me.  I do remember one time that I programmed the oven to come on and heat a lasagne while I was at church but that was walking on the wild side for me.

So, I want to cook a roast.  I don't want to put it in the crock pot.  I want to slow cook it in the oven.  I am going to be brave and put in on low (300) and then go get the g-daughter from school.  I am going to leave the oven on. 

This is ridiculous -- I am sure it will be fine. 

I think I am too old a dog to learn new tricks!

Little Women

Did anybody watch the Masterpiece Theater (PBS) adaptation of "Little Women" last night?  I waited for weeks for it, I was so excited!  Seems my neighbor decided to talk on his ham radio last night which caused a good deal of interference with my antenna so it was a dicey viewing.  I was upset.

Aside from that, however, it was very enjoyable.  It was much different than either of the movie versions I have seen multiple times in my life.  The casting was was well done.  None of these girls looked like glamour queens (i.e. Elizabeth Taylor) -- they all looked quite representative of young women the ages they were playing.

I am always interested in settings when I watch anything.  I like to look at the backgrounds of photos as well.  It was filmed in Wicklow, Ireland which I find to be a bit strange.  To be such an "American" story, I would have thought it would have been filmed in Massachusetts where the book was set.  The setting is gorgeous, as you would expect, but the viewer (if watching such things) gets the feeling that the setting isn't quite right.  It is beautiful however, so no points lost there.

Angela Lansbury does a bang up job as Aunt March.  She defies her age.  It was a treat watching her in this role.  I still watch re-runs of "Murder She Wrote" so I am a big Lansbury fan.

I completely enjoyed this show -- despite the interference from the annoying neighbor --and am looking forward to the second part next week.  All of this and the Royal Wedding as well!  It will be a good weekend.

Homebody or Recluse?

I am noticing that, as I am aging, I am changing in ways I never imagined.  Oh yes, the obvious things like the hair, the waistline (or lack of ),  the newly acquired purple Hurrycane....

"

These aren't the things I am talking about.  I am talking about my change in interests and habits and such.

When I was young and when my children were young, I enjoyed all the things younger people enjoy.  I liked going shopping and chatting with the neighbors (sort of, I am an introvert after all) and I absolutely loved going to bookstores.

Well, now the kids are grown, I don't care for shopping anymore, don't really know my neighbors yet (that might be ok!) and the bookstores are all gone.

Online shopping has squelched any desire I had to shop -- I mean, why bother when you can just click a button and it arrives at your door.  Maybe.  Or is dropped by a drone.  Speaking of drones -- we saw one in the neighborhood across the street spying on the traffic at the intersection.  It was scary -- on the same level as those big white wind turbines. 

I digress.

So, have I become a homebody or a recluse?  Seems I don't really want to be anywhere but home.  I like my house to be clean, quiet and sort of dark and cool.  It isn't always that way because of the g-kids who come around but for the most part, I really like it to be serene. 

In our old house we had plantation shutters on the windows.  In this house we have venetian blinds that need to be replaced.  Hubs wants more shutters.  I like the blinds.  They let in more light and they remind me of my youth.  My mother was an ace at making our house seem peaceful and serene and a lot of it had to do with those
blinds.  I am afraid a lot of my reading about minimalism has stuck with me.  I like these minimalist blinds. But, I want new ones, I want my OWN blinds.

I have a routine these days.  It is rather slow and deliberate.  It is almost imperative because of my gimpy knees but it makes me feel like I am in control.  Not much gets set around on the tables and such.  I don't buy magazines anymore so I have eliminated the clutter of that.  The bookstores are all gone, for the most part, so I buy books or check them from the library on my Kindle.  I absolutely love that.

It just seems like I have settled into this odd existence.  So different that it used to be.  But, I like it.  I like the quiet.  I like the world being "out there" with the dreadful traffic and the horrible problems we see everyday in the news and on social media.  I like me being "in here" to keep things simple and serene. 

I wonder what is wrong with me.