12-9-2019 Monday-noon

Good afternoon!

What a week!  After I quit the steroids I was finally able to sleep and crashed for 11 hours.  Gradually been feeling more human since I have been able to sleep better.  :)  

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This was the bird cafe the beginning of the week with a little frost on the glass.

Funny how well the partridges blend in when they're  just sitting around in that brown grass.

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Leah came over on Tuesday night.  We discussed oxylates and oxylate dumping.  When I added back in some oxylate rich foods to slow down the dumping (almonds and chocolate) my pain level subsided noticeably within a day.  All new information to us and we've been doing a lot of online research.  

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I know--we had never had heard of it, either.  Can search online if you're interested.  The weirdest thing is that oxylate buildup could possibly be another cause of my health issues the past 20+ years...along with the carb overload.  Time will tell.  Anyways, since I have been having dumping issues, I will slow down and stay with Keto for now.  I don't have a scale but I am losing belly fat and a bit of my double chin--LOL!  Oh, and same thing with Dagan--belly fat and chin--and we both have had excessive watery eyes (apparently another of the many ways to oxylate dump).  I have even had the hard crystals in the corner of my eye stuck in my tear duct, but Dagan hasn't had that.  Well, it's a slow process and I feel I have nothing to lose.  :)

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Anyways, Leah finished another page (both sides) for the bullet journal on Tuesday night.  Friday Dagan stopped by after work to dump a 40# bag of kitty litter in the bin for me.  Saturday afternoon Leah popped in to help me go through my supplements for setting up my pills for another two weeks.  (She has done a lot more research than I have.)

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Then yesterday I finally had a Gramma Day.  Was a very quiet TV day.  Caroline (cleans and groceries) had told me about a cartoon show her little boy loves on Prime called The Stinky and Dirty Show so I had checked it out and figured Ian would love it.  He did!!  I love that it has all kinds of vehicles, they are all friendly, no villains (like DinoTrucks), problems arise and they keep trying ideas until they figure out some way to solve the problem.  It's a happy show with learning to think things through and work together.  Was a great day!

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Dagan picked Ian up and shoveled off my patio before they left.  But then we had snow again--LOL!  And it's been really frigid out there! 

I love seeing the tracks. 

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Last night Leah came over and the bullet pages were finished!!  Leah printed off a year-plus worth of pages, cut them in half, and punched them for me!!  I am so excited!

I have my monthly calendar spread pages... 

...the monthly tracker page and the monthly goals & correspondence page... 

...the weekly goals with doodle boxes & extra space at bottom page and the weekly Monday-Sunday page.  

Now I can work on figuring out what lettering I want to use for each month to fill in the headers.  Then I'll fill in all the dating, birthdays, reminders for repetitive tasks, etc, for the year and then finally fill in monthly goals and the monthly habit tracker for January 2020!  Whoohoo!  Once I get some done I'll show you how it looks.  I do so love my minimalist bullet journal.  (And, as Leah reminded me last night, now it will take less spoons!)

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This morning Caroline brought my groceries and filled me in on her trip to Mexico (cousin's wedding)--what fun!  

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Yes, Dagan did shovel the patio off last night--LOL! 

But more snow.

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I sprinkled catnip all over a toy for Annie and she's kind of in a catnip coma right now.

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Worked on Christmas cards most of the week.  Hope to be done soon.  Leah plans to come over tomorrow night.  She said she'd help me reorganize my bathroom shelves!!  Awesome!  (It is sure nice one of us has more energy--LOL!)  After that she said she wants to work on putting the gatefold table together--probably start that on Thursday night.  Nice!!  I will help as much as I am able.  :)

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I can hear the soft sounds of the partridges through the patio door glass as they dig with their feet and beaks for seed.  The dryer is tumbling softly.  The dishwasher is humming and rumbling.  The sun is shining on this cold-cold day (-2 F or -19 C) so it looks just gorgeous out there with the fresh snow.  Have a grateful week, everybody!  Life is good.  :)

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Notice how the word "temper" has changed over the years...

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"Have a heart that never hardens, a temper that never tires, a touch that never hurts."

Charles Dickens

12-2-2019 Monday-noon

Good afternoon!

I spent the vast majority of this past week tucked away under a blanket in my big comfy chair with Annie Girl, meds, Puffs, and nasal spray--LOL!   (Yes--clinic Tuesday--raging sinus infection.)  But the big news this week was the snowstorm that lasted from Friday night through Sunday morning.  

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I LOVE the snow!  I know...I know...I don't have to shovel it anymore...but I have always loved it.  Been playing Christmas music and got too lovey, cuddly with my autistic Annie Cat so that she went and slept under the bed all afternoon--LOL

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Anyways, Leah and the boys came over with her brother, Aaron, on Tuesday after they picked up Ian from Preschool.  I stayed in the car with the boys while Leah and Aaron hauled in the IKEA furniture boxes--tada!  Stacked them inside the bedroom by the door there.  Leah brought those bathroom shelf organizers later that night, too, when she came over for craft nite.

 

Leah then dropped Aaron off at McFamily's to finish off the cleaning of his old room while she came back to pick me up and bring me to the walk-in clinic.  The nice lady doctor said I was totally inflamed and put me on antibiotics and Prednisone to try to "knock this back".  After that I am to continue with over-the-counter nasal spray and cold medications.  They don't like to give out antibiotics anymore.  

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Leah is still suffering with her sinus infection plugged head and they said the same thing to her.  Basically, they tell you if you are still sick to just go to the drugstore--LOL!  Since they told me ahead of time before I even got any medication that sounded to me like they expect this to hang on and on, so it must be going around.  I googled it and a viral sinus infection is contagious but a bacterial one isn't.  Must be a viral one going around.  And aren't the viral ones resistant to antibiotics, anyways?  What do I know.

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Regardless, Prednisone and I have spent a week of sleepless nights together.  I could never stay on Prednisone for any length of time--good grief!  I'm totally body tired and brain awake on this stuff.  This is a different steroid than I took for my leg and KT situation...and I thought that one kept me up quite a bit.  Ha!  Try being awake till 4-7am and dozing for 3-4 hours and unable to nap all day.  So glad I took the last of it yesterday morning.  Maybe can get back to sleeping soon.

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  Leah got over here really late on Tuesday night (getting Aaron finally and completely moved out), so we didn't work on the bullet pages or anything.  Gabbed and discussed diet stuff and what the doctor said--health stuff.  And realized that Annie must be around 13 years old!  Leah is planning to try to make it over on Tuesday and Thursday nights for a while so we can get the bullet pages done.  :)  

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  On Wednesday Dagan stopped by after work to fill my bird seed bin in the pantry.  Good thing he decided to do that before Thanksgiving because the critters could sense the storm coming and were chowing down like crazy!

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During the storm even a jackrabbit showed up!!  Several times!

The Bird Cafe was very busy... 

...even if Annie and I weren't--LOL! 

Well, I did get some things done.  Spent a lot of time catching up on letters, watching videos about the new COPPA YouTube rules, learning about oxylates, did my banking/bills/budgeting, washed clothes, watched The Irishman on Netflix and some other shows...and used up a half a box of Puffs tissues.  Not because of the shows--LOL! 

I made a couple of short, silent videos but since I said my videos are for kids (because if I say they are for adults their bot can decide that kids might like cats or partridges or birthday parties and fine me over $42,500 per video) YT apparently won't let me embed the videos like I used to.  So we'll try a link and see if that works.  Let me know, okay?

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Partridges as the storm was dying down Sunday morning.

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 Was really windy--might have reached blizzard speeds. The usual whirlwind outside my patio made some deep 2-3 foot drifts...  

...yet left that big patch of grass tufts to be seen. 

That is another reason my patio area can be popular in the winter.  The rabbits and birds can still get to the grass...the ground.

Even when there are drifts several feet high they can eat a little brown grass. 

Of course, stopping by the Bird Cafe is a preferred option when it is below freezing.   

Jackrabbits are always welcome, too. 

When the wind got especially fierce on Saturday was the only time the cafe was empty.  They were all willing to dig through the snow for a meal during the storm until the wind threatened to blow them over. 

Sunday morning--ahh!  I love the evidence of the wind sculpted across the banks.

Everybody was starving! 

That round furry ball is our friend the lone jackrabbit. 

They were all so hungry that they paid no attention to Annie trying to scare them off the patio.  She raced about the apartment in frustration and then zeroed in on her spinner toy...beating it violently until... 

...she collapsed in exhaustion. 

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We'll try another link to a short, quiet video.

Annie and her spinner toy

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Plows came through a second time on the parking lot across the way and the snow bank is already almost as high as the top of the garage doors. 

I had to leave the screen door cracked open because it almost froze shut. 

Hard enough time just getting the patio door open--LOL!

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I have missed the jackrabbits.

Anyways, that's it from here.  Just planning on trying to get well, keep handing out bird seed, answering more letters, and working on the bullet pages with Leah.  I hope it is a fantastic week for everybody!  Till next time...

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"We don't have to wait for some grand utopian future.  The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory."

Howard Zinn

11-25-2019 Monday-12:15pm

Good afternoon!

This will be short.  Been kind of half to three quarters miserable this week with the plugged up head and headache.  Didn't even take many pictures.  (In fact I just quick took the bullet pages pictures right now--LOL!)  

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Yes, Leah and I worked on my bullet Tuesday night till late.  Got two pages done--the monthly calendar...

 ...and what needs to be on the back side of that calendar spread--which is the current week's page and the monthly tracker.

We have two more pages to make--with their appropriate back sides.  She's making some optional variations, too.  Like 28, 29, 30 and 31 day monthly tracker pages and there will be an option to include or not include the doodle boxes on my weekly goals list page.  (With the unpredictable manner of my life I prefer "goals" rather than "tasks" so I don't feel as badly when I am unable to get to them--LOL!)

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Anyways, Leah is planning on coming back tomorrow night (Tuesday) to work on them some more.  Last week she also changed my smoke alarm batteries and got my photos to work again from my phone to laptop.  

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And yet I took very few pictures.  I went to take a picture of the big covey of 20 here to eat, but by the time I got there with my cell phone half of them were gone. 

Can you see them above?  They were chasing the other covey of partridges away...

...while the less aggressive/hungrier half watched the ruckus! 

Yes, I was right.  There is more than one covey that visits Rita's Bird Cafe.

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While I have been cuddled under a blanket in my chair with my Puffs tissues, McFamily went with friends to Minneapolis this last weekend.  Leah texted me that they got all my IKEA stuff!!  All three cabinets for the studio, the storage containers for my bathroom shelves, and a collapsible cat carrier for Annie.  Not all the art supplies for Ian were in stock, but the most important one was--their kid's paints.  :)

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Since I seem to be more miserable the past 4-5 days I think I might need to go to the walk-in clinic to see if this is a sinus infection or if it is just a bad, clinging cold wearing me down and getting the better of me--LOL!  I could need antibiotics to get rid of this since it has been going on for a couple of weeks or more.  (I hate when they ask me about timelines--I am quite skilled at ignoring body pain or physical annoyance of any kind because I very deliberately do not pay close attention to something I have to live with every day that would most definitely not be positive to focus on.)  I'll check with Leah.  I know she offered last week.  

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Well, that's it.  Hope I am chattier next week.  Happy Thanksgiving to those in the US, but everybody have a thankful week.  ;)  Till next time.  Love and hugs from Fargo! 

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"When you plant a seed of love,

it is you that blossoms."

Ma Jaya Sati

11-18-2019 Monday-2:30pm

Good afternoon!

I seem to running on a later schedule quite a bit lately.  I wake up but am too sore or tired to move around so I get coffee and sit at the laptop for hours doing that part of my day first.  Oh well.  Annie has gotten used to it, anyways.  ;)  Her human heating pad remaining stationary is always a plus in her book.  

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Leah was over twice last week!  She fixed my phone to laptop photo issue so first of all I have a few from last time.  Not that it matters if you see our dusting of snow which has long ago melted away--LOL!

But here are the wild "mark-making" packing paper sheets Dagan, Ian and I made on that last Gramma Day. 

I had an old dried up cats eye ink pad that was a real hit. 

Some paint brushes were used, too. 

It's fun to have a do-whatever-you-want art day.  No rules apply except not to get paint on the table or your clothes...or try not to--LOL!

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I mentioned that my place had gotten out of control with things stacked, piled, or standing about on all surfaces.  I didn't get before pictures, but I was basically cleaning most all of last week...in my 15 minute increments.  :)

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I started in the kitchen--rearranging and making room.  All the stuff you see on the right hand side of the bottom cupboard shelf was on the counter below.   

All the stuff in the bottom two shelves in this cupboard were piled about on the counter in the corner spreading out so far that I barely had room to make coffee--LOL! 

Yes, I have always had appliances out, but this is cleared out for me. 

I had Dagan bring my huge breadmaker out to the garage that had taken up half this counter  and I cleared away all the clutter that went all the way to the sink.  That's my new George Foreman grill in the corner now.  Been making chaffles regularly.  :)  So nice to be able to put the pans/grates (whatever you call them) right into the dishwasher.  

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On Tuesday we had another apartment inspection.  Took them all of three minutes to check the smoke alarms worked and ask me if anything needed repairs.  I cleaned some more in the kitchen while I did laundry.  On Wednesday I started in the studio.

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  Leah came over Wednesday night and she put together the new table for the corner!!  Our new home for the Vagabond die cutting machine!!  

We are delighted!  Now we can stand while we work.  We both have bad backs and we're talking 100 of anything for Christmas cards and 50 for birthday cards, so it's a lot of die cutting.  Whoohoo!  This is going to be so nice.

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Those brown cabinets underneath the table are both coming out.  We did some double-check measuring and the two lower new IKEA cabinets should just fit under the table.  Can hardly wait!

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This is the first time my tables have been cleared off in the studio since I got sick in June.

Those are just craft and cutting mats on the tables.  

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Leah came over again on Thursday night.  She helped tweak the new-to-me laptop and we chatted a lot about diets and making cat food and other stuff.  This week we plan to get back to working on the bullet pages.  

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 On Saturday my brother (Blaine), sister-in-law (Kathy), and my mom (Jane) drove up from Minneapolis to visit.  I had such good intentions to take lots of pictures.  Right before dinner I grabbed my phone and got a picture of Mom and Ian watching the Gopher football game.

Liam was really hungry and at the table already waiting for food so I got a shot of him glubbing down some milk. 

Then Blaine made it to the table and Mom was just sitting down... 

...but everyone else was in the kitchen.  I sat my phone down right beside me to remember to take pictures of everybody...

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Nope.  

Totally forgot.  

So that is all I took.

:( :(

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Anyways, we had a really great visit.  Kathy brought a box of old family photos she, Blaine, and I looked through before dinner.  Lots of conversation and laughing...the sound of football, kids having fun, and all of us talking at once.   For dinner Leah made salmon with pesto sauce on top and fresh asparagus.  I read Ian the last chapter of The Enormous Egg book before he got his jammies on and Liam went to bed.  Ian was really good and got to stay up really late (9pm) at the table listening to the grownups gabbing away.  (I remember doing that when I was little and how fascinating it was.)  We visited until 11pm!  The Johnson family gave me a ride home on their way back to the hotel.  :)  Was just a wonderful time.

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But they are definitely coming when it is warm out next time--LOL!  Maybe a summer visit is in order.  :)

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Somewhere along the line I seem to have pulled a muscle in my back, right under my shoulder blade on the right side.  Always seems to be something lately.  I noticed it more on Sunday...and it's still sharp and annoying.  But I am doing one small load of clothes today...thinking maybe it will help to stretch it out a bit?  Whatever.

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Tomorrow Caroline comes to clean and Leah said she is going to try to come Tuesday and Thursday nights to work on the bullet pages this week.  

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Feels soooo good to have a better handle on my home.  I still have been going to work on my pantry and the bathroom shelves for quite a while, too.  Leah came up with a solution for me for the bathroom shelves, too!  We were measuring for that when she was here, too...IKEA baskets/covered boxes, not sure what they're called.  Whoohoo!!  I need to remember to take a before pictures this time--LOL!

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McFamily is going down to Minneapolis this coming weekend and going to IKEA on their way back home.  Will be picking up my cabinets, the baskets for the bathroom shelves, some art supplies for Ian, and a folding cat carrier for Annie that won't take up hardly any room over here.  Whoohoo!!  So exciting!!

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That's about it from here.  I think I am going to get down the heating pad to try that on my back after I finish laundry and settle in to write letters in my comfy chair.  Sounds like a plan.  I have eight letters to write.  Getting a backlog since I was using up my (fewer) spoons doing stuff like cleaning all week.  

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Meanwhile--am learning how to navigate this new-to-me laptop, been watching the last season of Vikings (on Prime) before the new one comes out...but right now the covey of eight is squawking while eating on the patio.  Time to get moving.  At least I didn't store the heating pad way up in the top shelf in the bathroom last time I used it--LOL!  Till next week...

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"We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled.  The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out."

Ray Bradbury