The New Puppy?

March 28, 2019March 28, 2019 - robin

Meditation Experience-Day Four. To receive grace, you must be grateful and humble. Today I was asked what I could do to be more grateful. What could I do to be thankful. This is hard for me. I feel overwhelming thankfulness each day and it never seems enough. What am I doing wrong? Life keeps coming at me faster than my aging body can filter it and to be honest. I am a little tired.

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Last week, I wrote about it being time to give Libby’s pug bed away. So many of you commented, sent texts and mails sharing your thoughts. I loved each and every one of you for taking a moment to tell me what you were thinking.

Yesterday Lauren, my daughter had a hair appointment at a salon near The Cottage. She stopped by on the way to her appointment. The big orange Jeep arrived and she came in the front door holding a pug statue, sleeping in a bed. She handed it to me and said: now you can give Libby’s bed away.

I don’t know if this settles it, but how sweet was that? Besides….I LOVE the face of the sleeping pug.

I am eternally thankful for so many things in my life. Of course for the huge things, but also for the tiny, fleeting, seconds of joy that seem to hit us so fast that we almost do not notice them. Like when I am finished writing today’s post and I hit the “publish” button up in the corner…. ahhhh. I love that moment of completion.

So, as I prepare to hit the publish button, I sigh. Have a wonderful day.

Love you.

Meditations and Wishes

March 27, 2019March 27, 2019 - robin

Meditation Experience-Day Three. I am gladdening my heart. Today I was asked what was one of the most wonderful, grateful times that I had with a loved one…..here goes. …….Going into surgery for breast cancer. Larry asked, Rob, where do you see yourself in 5 years? I replied, having tea at Kensington Palace, celebrating being cancer free. Five years later almost to the day, he took me to London where we celebrated my life with tea at Kensington Palace….I am beyond thankful for my health and for the amazing man in my life.

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Yesterday was almost vanilla. I nursed a sore knee, worked on projects, had my car washed, walked 2 miles, made ravioli for dinner and watched the Netflix show, Someone Feed Phil and then a new series on Amazon. 800 Words.

I wish I had walked 4 miles, read for an hour, start a new painting, had something extraordinary for dinner and I wish that I had organized my painting area so I could be more productive.

One of my daughters went through a phase when she was a teen, saying almost daily: You can wish in one hand and crap in the other. See what hand fills faster. I refuse to tell which daughter.

Photo: Sweet surprise from our neighbors

Our sweet neighbors next door surprised is with a beautiful gift. It makes me smile just looking at it. There was a note with the plant….personal and kind. Some people inspire me to be better than I am. Debbie, Lew, you both are wonderful and your kindness means the world to Larry and I.

Love you.

Mon Nouveau Chapeau

March 26, 2019March 26, 2019 - robin

Meditation Experience~Day two. All Good Things Bring Gratitude. People and things that I am grateful for, reinforce the feelings of love and joy in my heart. It is good to focus on that and not the negative. The good outweighs the negative in our lives and why do we sometimes focus on the bad? I will focus on the good.

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I bought a hat this week. It is the best hat I have ever owned. It is pack-able, reinforced with SPF and is comfortable, I found MY perfect hat!

I have had between 4-6 surgeries on my forehead and scalp for skin cancer. I have had many hats and hated them all and then, I do not wear them. Most hats feel like bee=keepers hats to me.

I wore my new hat last night to Matilda’s softball game. {her team won ten to zero} We sat on the bleachers in the sun and my head was protected. The best thing of all, I did not feel stupid wearing it!

Please remember to wear your hats in the sun. Having scalp surgery-excuse my French- sucks.

I found some fun facts about skin!

The average person’s skin covers an area of 2 square meters.
Skin accounts for about 15% of your body weight.
The average adult has approximately 21 square feet of skin, which weighs 9 lbs and contains more than 11 miles of blood vessels.
The average person has about 300 million skin cells. A single square inch of skin has about 19 million cells and up to 300 sweat glands.
Your skin is its thickest on your feet (1.4mm) and thinnest on your eyelids (0.2mm).
The skin renews itself every 28 days.
Your skin constantly sheds dead cells, about 30,000 to 40,000 cells every minute! That’s nearly 9 lbs. per year!
Some sources estimate that more than half of the dust in your home is actually dead skin.
Dead skin comprises about a billion tons of dust in the earth’s atmosphere.
Your skin is home to more than 1,000 species of bacteria.
Skin that is severely damaged may try to heal itself by forming scar tissue, which is different from normal skin tissue because it lacks hair and sweat glands.
Skin can form additional thickness and toughness — a callus — if exposed to repeated friction or pressure.

Do you have a perfect hat? Do you wear it in the sun? Please take care of your skin…

Love you.

Her Name Was Grace

March 25, 2019March 25, 2019 - robin

DAY ONE~Journal for Meditation Experience- I am late in posting today. Being late makes me anxious and this reason should not make me anxious. You know that I have been struggling a bit and today I started a free 21 day meditation program online. (Why not? I take ART classes online) My good friend Anne-Marie is a friend of Deepak and I like Oprah, so here I go.

The web site will not let me post a link here but you can google: Oprah & Deepak 21 Day Meditation Experience to see what I am attempting. I have been looking for a meditation guide/class/experience and I found this. For the next 21 days, the beginning of my posts will be my thoughts. I hope to be candid and positive……

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I had a good weekend. On Friday, Larry and I spent an hour at the archery range before dinner. I must admit that wearing a dress to shoot is not condusive to accuracy, but I did not have to go home to change before going into Dallas for dinner and that is a good thing. Our favorite waitress was not at the restaurant because her father in law had broken his hip.(Sandy Prayers are still being whispered) and we missed her very much. Dinner was as good as ever.

Saturday was a gloomy mess of a day. We headed out early driving one hour to Collinsville, TX. Matilda was playing softball at a field there. When we arrived, we saw Josh, Matilda’s dad….and Lauren texted, saying we were at the wrong field and the game was delayed. Larry and I had not eaten so we left in search of the sweet dinner we passed a few miles earlier. We found it, ate and decided to head home, so Lauren Matilda and Josh could have “family time”………..

Saturday evening found us in Town (Dallas) at a concert. Copland’s Appalachian Spring. It had become a lovely evening and the stroll in downtown was perfection not to mention the amazing music and friends we visited with.

Sunday. Sunday School and Church. After church, we went to Sherman Texas for the Highland Games. (Go Clan Stevenson!) We came home for Sunday dinner and movie. Dinner Rotisserie chicken, Mandarin orange salad and rice. Dessert was a cheese cake I made Mother when she was ill.

Here I am at Monday morning. I have meditated, washed two loads of laundry and will work on a painting after I post this.

I AM thankful for the joys in my life. So very thankful, that I sometimes find it offensive when people tell me that I should be more thankful or more grateful. But…..perhaps if I were more thankful or more grateful, I would not be anxious or blue sometimes?

Have a happy day. If anyone joins me in my meditation journey, I would love to hear from you. Perhaps we could compare notes.

Love you.

St Patrick’s Day Weekend

March 18, 2019 - robin

Photo: We Dashed Down Greenville! A traditional 5K

It was a good weekend. Larry had a busy week last week and did not even mention WORK over the weekend. It was kind of awesome.

We dashed down Greenville on Saturday, we grocery shopped, we exercised. On Sunday we went to church. After church we went to McKinney Trade days and walked….a lot!

We found a fun tablecloth for Sunday Dinner and Movie….$17.00. But, to be honest,there were dog breeders there. English Bulldogs, 2 Boston Terriers and other breeds I was not interested in. I will never own another dog, but if I ever happened to, it would be a rescue.

Larry stayed far from the dogs. He would not get near the cages. I did. I wanted to be near a puppy heart beating. That is what I miss about My Libby Girl. Feeling her little heart beat under her pug skin…..the puppies made Larry a bit sad. So we went to the antiquing side of the “Trade Days”.

When came home where I made Sunday dinner. The movie we wanted to watch was not available, so we watched …are you ready?

Photo: I made sausage and mushroom pizza

It was a good weekend and a beautiful Monday. Larry hopes to conclude a big business deal today and if all goes well, we will see Matilda play softball at 6:00! Fingers crossed and spit into the wind……

Love you.

And The Book For May Is……….The Southerners

March 13, 2019March 13, 2019 - robin

My book group meets every other month. Our next meeting will be in May and it was my turn to choose May’s book. I love when it is my turn to pick out the book, is there anything better than sharing a good book with a good friend?

I have chosen one of my all time favorite books, ever.

About 1970, my Grandmother gave me her copy of The Southerners. {I have read it numerous times and adore it} I still have it, although rather torn up. It was published in 1953 and is 65 years old this year. On my To Read List, The Southerners is in the top ten books for this year, because I will be 65 in June too.

So dear readers, I am sharing my birthday book with you.

I bought a used copy on Amazon for $1.99 plus $3.00 shipping.

ABE Books also has a few copies or check you local library.

If you have trouble finding or buying The Southerners, I would be glad to help.

Do you have a list of favorite books? Please share one or two of them?

Love you.

Matilda, Sunday Dinner And Movie

March 11, 2019March 11, 2019 - robin

On Saturday, we picked Matilda up at her house and brought her to The Cottage for a sleep over. It was a wonderful day with her.

After a morning filled with breakfast, archery, and making a volcano, she put her bathing suit on and swam for an hour at the Rec Center in-door pool. She went down the indoor slide 36 times! {that means she went up the steps 36 times too.} We came home and dressed for dinner. Matilda requested P F Chang…….it was such a good day.

On Sunday Matilda and Larry played Ping Pong, tried to set off the volcano and the we had dinner and movie before we took her home….

Photo: Matilda drinks sprite in her special glass.

Photo: Sunday dinner and movie. Hot dogs, sprite and our movie was the new: Little Women.

I cannot tell you how wonderful having Matilda here was for me. For some reason, I have been struggling a lot. The flu did not help matters at all and I could not exercise last week. Matilda is so positive and happy. I adore my time with her. {did I tell you that we played Monopoly Cheaters in The Big Bed on Saturday night? We laughed so hard!!!}

I hope that you had a good weekend. I heard from so many of you and appreciate your kind words about my bad week last week. Thank you for sharing my moments….

Love you.

Moments At Barns and Noble

March 5, 2019March 5, 2019 - robin

The other day, I was coming down with the flu. I did not know it yet, but I felt crappy. Larry and I had to pick up a gift from Barnes and Noble, so we went out into the rainy day….and we went to the book store.

Larry said: I will drop you off at the door and go park.

I said: Thank you. I will be at the magazine department.

Larry said: Love you! See you in a minute.

I went inside. Feeling light headed, I went to the magazine department, looking for a particular ART magazine.

I looked around, not seeing anything that appealed….then I saw Larry outside headed for the door. As he came in, I expected him to come over to the magazine area, but no.

He headed straight for the 50%OFF NEW RELEASE books and a lady that was standing there looking at the books. Granted, he only saw her from the back. {And she was dumpy! Sorry lady but comb your hair} I watched as he went up behind her, kind of close and was talking to her.

I knew that he thought that she was me and I honestly hoped that he would not rub her back or anything like that and that she would not slap him.

After a moment, I walked closer.

I said: Hi Larry

He then realized that the other lady was not me. You should have seen his face. His red, blushing face.

{this same thing happened years ago at the library, but the lady was sitting with her back to him, he walked up and rubbed her shoulders}

Fast forward to today. I just told Larry that I was blogging about “The Other Woman.”

Larry said: I am glad that I could amuse you.

Oh don’t let him fool us, he is laughing too.

I love moments at the book store.

Love you.

The Flu, Sunday Dinner & Movie and Me

March 4, 2019March 4, 2019 - robin

It was a long weekend. I have the flu, my head was foggy and my body ached. Larry took good care of me. To be honest, I still feel really sick today.

We had Sunday dinner and movie. Larry pulled down spaghetti sauce from the freezer, bought raviolis at the market.

Photo: Larry loves Ravioli and meatballs in my homemade sauce.

I made garlic bread and salads.

Our movie was Dear Brigitte. A few weeks ago, Larry asked about this old favorite of ours. We watched it yesterday. It was awesome.

I am glad that the weekend is over but Sunday was really nice.

Have a happy, healthy day.

Love you.

The Oatmeal Cookie Recipe~ Chef Valentine

March 2, 2019March 3, 2019 - robin

Bobbie S. This recipe is for you!

*READ ENTIRE RECIPE AT LEAST THREE DAYS BEFORE BAKING

INGREDIENTS

1 cup raisins

Amaretto liqueur

1 small Ball jar

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1 stick butter, soft

3/4 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vinalla

1 1/2 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 cups oats

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Three days before making cookies. Place 1 cup raisins in ball jar. Cover with Amaretto Liqueur. Place in fridge till time to bake cookies.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Drain raisins. Put aside.

In large bowl, cream butter and sugars till creamy.

Add eggs and vanilla. Combine well.

In another bowl, add flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Mix well.

Add flour mixture to butter mixture. Mix well.

Add raisins and oats. Mix well.

Using a 1 1/2″cookie scoop, drop onto cookie sheet. {un-greased}

Bake about 10 min till light golden brown.

Cool a couple of min before removing from cookie sheet.

Cool completely on wire rack.

Photo: Raisins soaking up Amaretto Liqueur

Enjoy the goodness.

robintolbert.com

Ramblings of an Artsy Grandmother~Blogging since 2005

Robin Toujours

The New Puppy?

Meditations and Wishes

Mon Nouveau Chapeau

Her Name Was Grace

St Patrick’s Day Weekend

And The Book For May Is……….The Southerners

Matilda, Sunday Dinner And Movie

Moments At Barns and Noble

The Flu, Sunday Dinner & Movie and Me

The Oatmeal Cookie Recipe~ Chef Valentine