Fully charged

Just saw this on Facebook!

XOXO

♥

Our Snowy Backyard

Our winter storm arrived with a beautiful dusting of snow.

We all knew it was coming,
so we stocked up at the grocery store, and “hunkered down”
for what they said would be a week of temps below freezing.

Daytime highs of 19 and single digits at night 

aren’t typical for December in Oklahoma.

Thank heavens for electricity and heaters.

And rice sock buddies.

Here's a link to my blog entry on them:

 (How to Make a Rice Sock Buddy) 

I especially love these because they stay so warm,
and you can snuggle up with them
or warm your nose or ears so easily. 

And unlike heating pads,
I don’t have to worry about electromagnetic radiation. 

Mine is worth its weight in gold to me.

I hope you’re staying toasty wherever you are!

XOXO,

Lucky Dog

♥

A Critical Revelation :)

Sometimes, despite my best efforts,
I seem to have the gift of criticizing.
LOL

I guess a lifetime of critiquing musical performances
and scrutinizing calligraphic letterforms didn’t help any. 

Fault-finding was truly an important part of the job.

And I don’t mean to be a critical person. 
I try not to be.
I sure don’t mean anything by it. 

Like that ugly car that we saw yesterday. 

Yikes!
What color was that???

Some people might call it judging,
but I think I just have really good taste!
hahaha

And I have no problem if it’s your favorite car color. 
Really, I don’t.

Variety is the spice of life and we’re all the “same, but different”,
and it’s okay if we like different things. 
No worries.

But after 50-plus years, I have finally had an insight.

A revelation.

And it’s very, very practical.

I realized that if I do end up saying something negative
about something -- anything,

it is very good for me
to immediately follow it by saying something positive.

(as opposed to saying something else negative!)

It breaks the cycle somehow.

I talked this over with Mr. Man,
and we both think this is a very healthy new habit for us.

So now if we’re talking,
and one of us says something critical or negative,
even it is true..

we try to follow it with something positive,
no matter how hard it is to come up with it.

Like that ugly car?
Well, I can say that it looked very, very clean.

Try it.
I think you’ll find this to be very powerful, too.

XOXO,

Lucky Dog

♥

Another Favorite E-Card

And even nicer on a snowy day like today.

♥ ♥ ♥

  

Luke 12:6-7

If I take care of the little sparrows,

I will certainly take care of you.

-- God

Computers and Sleep Hygiene

Years ago at the doctor’s office, my wonderful nurse practitioner, Vicki, asked me if I practiced good “sleep hygiene”.

I had already read some about sleep tips and hints, since we’re older now -- when a good night’s sleep is as valuable as gold!

Long ago I read about the basics, like:  limit caffeine, have a bedtime routine, try taking melatonin, sleep in a dark, cool room, use the bedroom only for sleeping, that sort of thing.

But she added one more:  turn off your computer a few hours before bedtime. 

That one surprised me.  Not only is it hard for me to do that, but I assumed that the reason was mental overstimulation.  (being too wound up and finding it difficult to un-wind)

Fast-forward a few years and I’m still on the computer at night (oops), reading a blog entry about someone trying to live by candlelight after sundown for 30 days.

It was a fascinating experiment for them, and they found themselves getting to sleep earlier and sleeping better.  And it turns out that one of the critical issues was blue light.

I learned that candlelight is redder, as were the campfires of our forefathers.  And guess what our modern lights and computers emit?  Yup, blue light.

And it turns out -- did all y’all know this already?  I didn’t -- that blue light inhibits the production of melatonin in our bodies.  Melatonin -- the sleep hormone.

Well!  I wasn’t quite ready to read books by candlelight…

So I kept surfing and reading, and found out that the easiest thing to try is a *free* app called F.lux.

Here’s the link:  http://justgetflux.com/

It automatically changes the colors on your computer screen after sundown and takes a lot of the blues out for you.

I asked Mr. Man, if I don’t like it, can you un-install it?, and he said yes.  So, I clicked on the button, got it installed, and went about my normal computer surfing.

And guess what?  I really did get to sleep easier, slept better, and woke up earlier the next day.  And even more so the next day.  It was wild.  And yes, it’s still working.

Who knew?? 

So, if you use your computer or iToy after sundown, and need a little help sleeping better, maybe it will help you, too!

I just pass these things along.

It’s what I do.

XOXO,

Lucky Dog

♥

Jumping for Joy

Here's the kitten
playing with his favorite toy.

XOXO

♥