9-17-2018 Monday-noon

Good afternoon!

Yesterday it was 93 degrees and right now it is 49 degrees.  Talk about a shift...from sweating to shivering--LOL!

More marigolds are turning brown so I think they are just feeling the fall weather and are ready to give up the ghost.  The coleus on the left side of the patio are still doing okay, but being blown over every few days. 

The wind is usually coming from the other side so these coleus are taking a beating.  Hard to tell but the front one has been having branches snap off.  About a quarter of the plant is gone now. 

Probably this week I am going to chop them all back.  Even the blossoms on the front coleus are dying now and when it gets this cold the bees aren't here as often.  That's a project for this week.  As well as switching out seasonal clothing from the bins in the garage.  Really feels like fall isn't fooling around anymore.

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I haven't gotten much done at all since I last posted.  I have either worse then usual allergies or a bad head cold and have been a bona fide, mouth-breathing, chair-sleeping old woman this past week--LOL!  Have been mostly taking it easy and even passed on Gramma Day.  Should be better now this coming week, I hope.

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 I forgot to show you the desk organizer I got.  Black mesh like the pen cups.  Takes up much less room on the table than the system I had before.  I'm loving being able to just roll over all my journaling routine stuff every morning.  

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Leah went to Tuesday Morning!  I didn't even know we had one of those stores up here.  She found some awesome deals!!  Biggest deal for us was the We Are Memory Keepers glass craft mat.  I've seen it between $20-25.00 and they had it for $9.99! 

Leah also found some Zing embossing powders for cheaper... 

...and a butterfly stencil, butterfly & bee stamp set, numbers etc stamp set, and a snowflake embossing folder.  

All for way less than normal.  There's not a lot to choose from and they switch up what they have so she plans to pop in there once in a while to see if she can snag any other good deals.  Nice!
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Also forgot to show you my new TWSBI GO fountain pen.

Just wild!  You fill it with that plunger that has a spring on it.  Never have seen anything like it. 

Yes, it only uses bottled ink like their TWSBI ECO, but that's the only drawback with those two.  (I like to use a syringe and love trying tons of different ink samples.)  Well, it's not like I don't have bottled inks--LOL!  ;)

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Lindsey over at The Postman's Knock had her baby boy and is running a special only till Wednesday to celebrate.  He was born at 4:07pm so she's got 47% off on everything!!  Code is: ITSONREMY.  I had already purchased her Kaitlin Style Calligraphy course and the video course to go along with it but hadn't started it yet because I really wanted to buy her beginner one--Modern Calligraphy Course--first. 

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 What's funny is, I usually never have any money left over after the first week of the month but this month I had some left over and felt like I shouldn't touch it.  Of course--I had just enough to order ALL the other workbooks I wanted to buy with a few dollars left over!!  OMG!  You don't know how amazing this was.

So I was busy printing off the core workbooks for each of the five this morning (and praying I wouldn't run out of black ink--LOL!).  She also has intensive alphabet sheets and word practice sheets you can print off, but I'm waiting to print those till I get to each class.  The Amy Style one also has video classes like the Kaitlin Style does.  Got that,too!  I got $80.00 worth of classes for less than $43.00!!  Whoohoo!  That just made my day...my winter, let's be honest.  ;)  Plus I am so happy, of course, for Lindsey with their first baby arriving safe and sound.    

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I guess I am going to have to plan out a calligraphy class day each week, eh?  Man!  I need to get that studio done.  I had kind of planned to work in there for the calligraphy classes.  Before the snow flies, you think?  :) :)

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In closing--I'll toss in a few pics from Leah.  Liam and Blink looking out the patio door.

Ian picking some cherry tomatoes.  

He loves to eat those right out of their garden. 

Lastly--a family shot from Liam's first birthday. 

What could be better than this!
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Hopefully I will be feeling back to my normal by the next time we chat.  I certainly have new motivation to work on the studio now, too.  (So excited!)    

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Until then...

 How many of you remember Roy & Trigger and Dale & Buttercup?
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Maybe our 50 year reunion has gotten me thinking a lot about being a kid and teenager...about all the events and separate "lifetimes" I have lived in just this one crazy life that has been whizzing by--LOL!  I woke up this morning thinking about how through decades of chaos and upheaval I prayed for one peaceful, calm, non-traumatic year...and how I thought it could not possibly get any worse than being housebound and living with constant pain and exhaustion.  Rock bottom I thought at the time (2004).  
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But I have been inadvertently blessed with this current boring life of mine that I eat up with such intense joy and gratitude.  I always was one to grab on to the small miracles and wee delights...the humor, irony, silliness of it all...so I quickly (well, after feeling very sorry for myself for a good while) learned to hold on tight to the blessing of these peaceful, calm days.  So I hurt, am tired, am weak...that is only my body.  Inside...I have never had such contentment, peace and joy.     
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Mysterious ways.  
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See you next week.  :) :)
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"Life does not accommodate you; it shatters you.  Every seed destroys its container, or else there would be no fruition."
Florida Scott-Maxwell

9-10-2018 Monday 1pm

Good afternoon!

Goodness!  This week seemed to fly by!

First of all before I forget, I think a lot of us on Blogger got a request form asking if we wanted notifications for comments.  Clicked YES for both my blogs...and they seem to be working again.  Hurray!  So I am going to try not making a comment myself this week and see if I get all of yours.  :)
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Was a busy week.  Tuesday Caroline came with my groceries, Wednesday morning before preschool I had Ian for a couple of hours while Mama and Liam had doctor visits.  I was working on cleaning in the studio, writing letters, reading ebooks, watching the new season of Shameless (Netflix streaming) and Lucifer (DVD rentals)...and way too much news.
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Friday we had another official meeting in the Community Room here to introduce our new Activity Coordinator and answer any questions we might have.  There's supposed to be a calendar coming around to us next month.  They are also supposed to be stricter with the non-smoking building about people being 20 feet from the building.  Glad to hear it.  I was a smoker for many years so I can empathize with them but they stand right outside the door and it often reeks in the entryway.  Of course the heavy perfumes also linger in the air, too--LOL!
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I ended up sitting with the two ladies I used to see regularly at the CCC group on Thursday afternoons and we stayed and gabbed long after everyone left.  We might try to get that group going again...just coffee and conversation once a week.  I'll probably be the only one who brings with something crafty to work on, but I had been for some time last year.  I haven't been down to anything since last November!   Maybe will have to try to venture forth again.  :)
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My Mom has been looking at senior apartments and assisted living places this summer.  I've kept telling her that I know she would LOVE all the activities they have.  Mom is quite the social butterfly--unlike her reclusive daughter--LOL!  She wants to look at places in Florida, too.  But we really, really want her up in Minnesota, of course.  Hard to tell an old Swede what to do.  (Dagan and Leah have scary visions of the future, I bet--hehe!)  
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The sparrow flocks are back.  Lots of bees every day.  I've had planters knocked over a couple more times.  The wind seems to be gusting from just the perfect direction lately--LOL!

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Opening boxes in the studio has been an adventure!  Remembering what I have--and ideas flowing for fun things to do.  I'll have to figure out a good way to label what's inside all of these big boxes so I can find things easier, that's for sure.

Anyways, these first two bookcases on this side of the room are pretty much done.  I'm sure there will be a little more tweaking and shifting things about, as is always the case.  But I shall continue around the room.  

I'll come back to the tall cherry shelf unit (above) that's filled with all kinds of rubber stamps because that one is going to take a long time to sort through.  Plus we need to figure out how we want to store the clear stamp sets that have been shoved in there "temporarily".  That's something Leah and I have been debating about for a couple years--LOL!  Guess it is going to be time to decide pretty soon.  ;)

Feels good to be making progress.  Slow is better than no.
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Then on Saturday afternoon...TaDa!  The bookcase got put together by Leah and her bother, Aaron!

Ian helped, too.  He screwed in (almost all the way) one of the screws and held a few nails to help Mama to start them.  With me--he pushed out the cart to the dumpster filled with cardboard and trash...and then he helped put away all his stuff on the shelves of the new bookcase while Leah and Aaron checked their phones.
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Done!!!

The cube bookcase, which has most of the Liam age things in it, was moved into the hallway under the coat hooks.

Lets hope I don't need a walker for a long time, eh?  I'd never fit it down the hallway--LOL!  Heaven forbid I have an empty wall, as Dagan and Leah would tease me.  I am plum out right now.
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After everything was done I took this video.  (Told you it is windy up here.)

Ian had just a little red spot--no bump or bruising, BTW.
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That night I went outside and tried to take pictures of the sides of the patio with the solar lights glowing next to the bushy plants.

It really does look super cool!  I'll be able to see them even better when winter comes and the leaves fall off the plants.  Imagine them shining off the white glittery snow--can hardly wait!

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Okay--Leah went through the pics and videos to move anything with other people in to the "Gramma Only" folder because we don't like to post anyone who might not want to be on this old lady's blog--LOL!  BUT--that still left 633 photos and 53 videos!  And, well...it was such a busy week that I never got near them--LOL!  Like everything else in my life, it will happen slowly, I guess.  I would bet money there has to be videos of Liam first walking.  I haven't even peeked at the videos yet.  *sigh*
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Anyways, I just picked out a few pics before I went to post today.  Enough to catch you up a bit on McFamily.
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I love this pic of Ian sitting on my lap and talking with his great grandma about puzzles.  She had just helped Ian put the pieces back in that hot pick bag under his hand.

Mom just went back to Florida for the winter, BTW.
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I loved this one of the boys riding in a cart together at Costco and sharing Cherrios.

Long before Liam could walk he climbed up everything and anything he possibly could.  Still does.  Makes Gramma very nervous--LOL!  

He's been walking for a while now.  

Turned one on the 3rd of September.

Hard to believe they are one and four already!!
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I love the pictures of the boys and mellow Blink.  
Here's Ian watching TV with Blink...

...and Liam giving Blink a pet.

That cat is so calm and relaxed that it blows my mind!  They couldn't have a more perfect cat to grow up with two little boys.  :)  She is so friendly.  Runs up to you when you come over so she can get picked up and get a cuddle.  Purrs all the time.  She's something else!  :)
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Well, that's it for this week.  We're supposed to have a few warm days again about 80 and then back to fall weather.  I am loving the cooler weather SOOOO much!  Am one of those people crazy about fall.  :) :)  Cooler wind=happy me.  See you next week!
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"Wherever you are is the entry point."
Kabir

9-3-2018 Monday 6:45am

Good Morning!

I have been up since 4:30am.  Me!  Yesterday it was 3:30am.  Needless to say my hours are off kilter--LOL!  Just because of Gramma Day and early collapsing--ROFL!  Nothing exciting or worrisome.  ;)  

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Yes, had a Gramma Day on Saturday.  Did fun things like take out trash, pay the rent, check the mail, water the plants...funny how much more fun ordinary things are to do with a four year old.  ;)  We watched Maru, several How It's Made videos, and then began watching a series of videos on a man building a log cabin by himself in Canada.  Ian wants me to wait to watch any more of the "builder man" until he is over here--like with the Maru videos.  Absolutely!  No problem.  Was in bed between 8:30-9pm the last two nights--hence the being up ridiculously early.  So strange for a night owl, but I'm sure I will get over my early-to-bed-affliction in no time.

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Since I started doing the lettering and doodling challenges in my journals every day there has been a gradual accumulation of pens and markers on the table.    

Yes, this lover of variety uses all these pens for the challenges.  Love using different ones every day. 

But they have become so jam packed that I could barely get them in and out of this acrylic holder anymore and it was hard to separate them by type. 

There are brush pens (black and colored sets), highlighters, Frixion pens & markers (erasable), and drawing pens.  Been thinking and searching for a solution for a couple of months.  Came up with one and they were delivered yesterday!  You will see below.

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Then we have Annie and her weird long hairs on the backside of her front legs.  I made it a mission this week to try to get pictures while she slept on my leg.  No wonder I couldn't remember if they were white or black!  Because one leg has white...

...and the other leg has light gray. 

Very weird, huh?

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I have been plugging away in the studio.  Pretty much have that first bookcase done.  There are a few blank spaces and an item or two might be shifted, but I have moved on to bookcase number two. 

Made some veggie soup. 

When Ian was here we also moved out all his stuff from that bottom shelf and stuck it in the cubed bookcase for now.  I shuffled things around to free up a top shelf. 

Looks so empty after Ian's piles of stuff is gone. 

Back to the studio...worse before better again--LOL!  

Pulling out boxes.   

But I pretty much have the top half of the second bookcase done--tada! 

The top half holds paint brushes, gouache paints, paint pens & various other art pens, colored pencils, markers, etc.

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Yes--I told you it was terribly dusty in there! 

Those bottom boxes are pulled out now, too, but I haven't gone through them all yet.  That's next.  

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Eventually everything we can't see into needs to be labeled.  Leah has a label maker or I can hand print on paper for the ones that have a label spot.  Just decided to come back to that part of the project later and get through all the cleaning and sorting first. 

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Okay--as promised--back to the mass of pens and markers...

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My idea was to buy up a dozen of these black mesh pen cups (love them!)...

 ...and I thought they'd fit inside of this black letter tray so I could lift them all at once if need be.

But they didn't fit three across.  I knew that was a possibility because measurements online aren't always that accurate.  No problem because where I wanted all the pen cups was in the top shelf of one of the IKEA carts.  I knew they would fit with room to spare.  TaDa!  

I plan to surprise Leah and ask her if she would like her own letter box for her new desk.  She either will or won't.  If she doesn't, there is never an issue about me finding a use for it--LOL!

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Of course, I realized that I needed to rearrange things on the carts again so that all the writing and lettering stuff was in the one cart and all the card-making and project stuff was in the other cart--DUH! 

You may recall that previously one wheel broke off that Leah reattached with some special adhesive for metal.  Now the real test begins because that writing cart will be rolled over to the table every day.  That wheel broke off when they were only moved once a month when Caroline cleaned--LOL!  So we'll see how well the IKEA cart wheels hold up with daily rolling about.  ;)

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Rolled the cart over for the first time this morning.  I absolutely love it!  Just thrilled that I can easily find what I'm looking for now--whoohoo!  Plenty of room.  Don't have to shift and jiggle pens around to try to squeeze a pen out or back into a tight spot every time I use one.  Oh the little pleasures in life, eh?  :) :)

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Yes, I am a pen addict.

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Well, today I am going over for a visit with McFamily to just hang out and have a lazy day with them on Liam's actual first birthday.  How time flies!  Leah was going to work on our One Drive picture sharing issues and also how to save pictures from texts or Google+...but she must have been up early and messing around with One Drive because I suddenly got 654 pictures and 61 videos this morning!!!  Either that or One Drive suddenly decided to send everything since June--LOL!  Waaay too much to sort through for the blog today.  But I will work on them this week.  :)

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 I watched the newest season of Orange Is The New Black and am halfway through the new season of Shameless on Netflix streaming.  Renting the third season of Lucifer from Netflix.  I really do enjoy watching series.  ;)

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Oh, and I got the bullet set up for September.

 And October is ready.  

Just have to fill a few things in when I get there.

That will be the end of this bullet journal.  Starting a new one in November.  Always such fun to start a brand new one.  I plan to keep adding in the doodle challenges every month.

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Speaking of...people asked to see my silly doodles...so you can giggle all you want.  Some mornings my hand isn't working that well (arthritis is setting in) and I have some days I don't color them...but here are a whole bunch of them.

I jot down the challenge on the side of the boxes so I don't have to go look them up on a list each day. 

I'm surprised how satisfying it is to do just a tiny something creative every day. 

Some days I don't put in much effort and other days I do more. 

Some make me laugh. 

But this daily drawing is why I have moved so many pens nearby. 

And all the brush pens...I do a couple lettering challenges in my writing journal every day, too.  Keeps me off the street, eh?  LOL!

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So--an earlier post today.  Shock!  

To all those in the US--have a nice Labor Day.  Even I am off visiting today, imagine that!  See you next week. :) :)

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"We’ve got the gift of love, but love is like a precious plant. You can’t just accept it and leave it in the cupboard, or just think it’s gonna get on with itself. You gotta keep watering it. You’ve got to really look after it...and nurture it." John Lennon