Sometimes Joy is as Simple as...

...wearing an old pair of earrings. What? you may ask.

Sometime between retirement in 1986 and now, i stopped wearing earrings. It had become painful when i wanted to wear them, so i stopped entirely. The piercings closed up.

Occasionally i wanted to wear them, but couldn't. This spring, while visiting at Pam's home, i began thinking seriously about having my ears pierced again. Patti and Pam were willing to take me to Claire's at the mall, but i guess i wasn't quite ready.

Six plus weeks ago, Pam and i went shopping in Grand Rapids. First, i rediscovered the 'joy of shopping' and second, i had my ears pierced.

My first time Frank's mother pierced them with a sharp needle, some alcohol and an ice cube! This time was high tech! I enjoyed wearing the new pink earrings for six weeks but last night i pulled out my old ones... and decided to change.

Today i'm wearing some little gold starfish, a gift from Patti many years ago! I love them!

There's Luck..... and then There's Luck!

Did i mention the kittens under my back deck? No, i guess that was on my Facebook. Until today there were (in my mind) a mother cat and her two kittens. Today i know better. She has three of them. One is white and two orange like their mom. Mom is little more than a kitten herself. Want one?... or two?..... or more?

I cannot keep them. I have four cats already, three of whom were adopted because they showed up at my door. AmyLou and her mom have been here 7 years now... Pam has the other two kittens from that family. Goober was adopted the year before that and had a 'squirting' problem recently, but i've been working with him and he doesn't do that anymore. Bringing in more cats would start him up again. I will not do that to him, no matter how cute are the kittens... and their little mommy.

Now... how's this for GOOD luck!?!!?

James is my friends' grandson. He stays with them in summertime. He wanted to see the goats and sheep one more time before going back home for the school year.

While pulling up clover and feeding it to the goats he said, 'Look! a 4-leaf clover!' and so it is!!! See? No he didn't feed it to the goats. I have close-ups of his 4-leaf clover but wanted to share a pic of the boy who found it.

I promised a Sheep Pic...

and here it is:

Jaye Leaman, co-owner of Leaman Greenapple Barn, holds onto the next sheep ready to be sheared. Dave Owens, sheep shearer from Elwell, MI is ready to trade the first one he sheared for the next one.

What fun watching Jaye try to catch the little boogers! Her mom was video-taping the event and invited me over to watch... if i so desired.

I did.

Beanpole no more...

...but rather a well-stuffed scarecrow!

I couldn't resist. When Sharba and i visited the Dow Gardens last Tuesday, i asked her to take my pic among the scarecrows. We were there for a photo shoot... a perfect pair! We ended up spending about 4 hours wandering about.

We originally planned to hunt for the sculptures that will be auctioned off - well - today actually! Got 'caught up' in exploring the Children's Garden, where we found the scarecrows among other things, in search for Snake Creek, which i was unaware of until this week's visit. That, too, was a fantastic photo-op.

Did i mention the Rose Garden? Oh yes! I never get enough of the Dow Gardens.

Wednesday, after we had lunch with Windy, Shar dropped me off and left for home. Jacquie called me with an invite to watch a sheep shearing event! Hey! It was SO cool. I have loads of pix and will share them in another post.

Later, loves...

I Think I Really Like my Wii Fit.....

..but i'm not sure.

It keeps me moving - i like that.
I don't do anything that i know is unsafe for me to do... like standing on one leg, or sitting on the floor. Well, i really CAN sit on the floor; i just can't get up alone without standing on my knees (which the orthopedic surgeon said i should never do.)

The exercises are fun... i especially like the step routines, running in place and some of the balance routines. I love the Yoga but can only do some of them... because i don't want to ruin my new knees or fall on my rear! Strength routines are a great complement to the Yoga... yes i enjoy it and am pretty good at the ones my body and age allow me to do.

I don't like that i'm not losing weight - and some days it looks like i'm gaining! One day the little squeaky person tells me i'm overweight... and every once in awhile it says i'm obese! I don't believe the obese part. Yes, i'll admit i'm overweight... but to gain obesity overnight???

I don't understand why the Yoga and Strength routines tell me i have darned near perfect balance but the Balance routines call me a 'novice' or even less!!!

I'm finally getting the hang of some of the Aerobic routines, especially the more complicated version of the stepping - back & forth, sideways, etc. At first this was really difficult for me. Seemed like i could hardly ever change over to whatever the new step is in a timely fashion. Now i'm getting there.

Maybe some day i'll even be able to walk and chew gum at the same time!

Oh.. That photo in my last post...

It's me... in SanDiego along the waterfront..... flirting with the mannequin! I've seen these guys on tv but never in person before. Had to interact with him!

Trying to Update Backwards...

from 2005 when i first had to learn how to live alone. Tell you about it later. It's actually pretty easy!!! Right now i just want to share with you a pic i doctored up from the SanDiego '09 trip.

Now here's my word for today; it's a response i HAD to make after reading an article about WII Fit at SparkPeople:

Tomorrow is Day 14 for me and my little buddy... WII Fit!!! It has gotten me off my tubby rear & it makes me sweat too!!! I'm over 65 (hahahaha), have brand new knees (well, they're a few years old now) and doc will not allow me to do anything on my knees... BUT with some of the exercises i 'punt' and it's better than not at all.

I love the Yoga and Strength exercises but find that i can no longer stand on my toes... or on one leg without help... but i do the ones i'm able to do. I can feel the muscles. Am VERY GOOD at the half dozen in each of these 2 groups that i'm able to do.

The aerobics and the balance are both real challenges for me but i do them anyway. I'm not on the board all the time... you really can not run - even in place - on the board and are told not to.

i took a few days off from the thing and really missed it... just didn't make time for it. My muscles are finally beginning to stop complaining from all the twists, bends, lunges, toe-touching and assorted activities. I think the soreness is why i was not losing weight (actually gaining, according to the little WII kid)... and today actually saw a fractional downturn.

There are two things you can't take from me - my WII and my Paxil!