Thursday-2:45pm

Good afternoon!

Good news and bad news up this way.

The bad news is that McFamily's cat, Sammy, died.  He'd lost some weight over the last year but seemed his usual self.  Dagan noticed Sammy was crying in a weird way one morning before work and told Leah to make an appointment for him at the vets.  Couldn't get him in until the next day.  Sammy was suddenly hiding in strange places like the guest room closet that day.  By the next day when it was time to go to the vets Leah found him lying flat on his side in the master bathroom.  He was listless and weak.  

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Brought him to the vets.  Sammy had UTIs twice before so they thought it might be that.  Leah left him for tests.  He was dehydrated and they put him on an IV.  During the day they called to request doing an ultrasound because they thought there might be more to it. After Dagan got home from work they all went to pick up Sammy, but were told that something was off on all his internal organs on Sammy's ultrasound--inflammation?  cancer?  He was no better.  They wanted to have him taken to the urgent care place to be kept overnight.  So Dagan and Ian were dropped off at home and said goodbye to Sammy...and by the time Leah got to urgent care with him...Sammy was already dead.  So fast!  In two days he went downhill like that.

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That's animals for you.  They never want to let on that they are sick until they can't manintain any longer.  And I don't even have a picture of Sammy on this new computer to show you, but he was the handsome grey one with the blue eyes.  Now Annie, the black cat, is alone for the first time in like 7-8 years.  She was the shy one who had lived on the streets and had a litter of kittens before she was rescued.  McFamily is going on a first ever McGregor clan vacation out east for a week so I will make sure I spend more time over there when I go take care of her.  I'll bring books and letter supplies and watch movies. 

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Miss Karma has no clue, of course.  She doesn't like anyone but me...and she only tolerates me sometimes.      

But Sammy was a few years younger...so it makes me think how much I would miss old cranky pants. 

Anyways, the new recipe adventures did not go so well, either.   

Attempting to substitute ingredients on my usual bread machine recipe... 

...was basically a fail. 

The birds love it, though--LOL! So it won't go to waste.

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The squash sauce for over spaghetti noodles was a total fail.  Didn't like it at all.  Down the disposal.

Maybe this coming week will be more successful.  

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I spent a few days sewing to get all the pads done for Leah so that she could add the snaps when she came on Monday night for crafts.  I finished!  TaDa!   

Spent a lot of days pinning and trimming fabric here at the little art table in the studio.  (Karma adjusted quite rapidly to not sitting up next to me because she doesn't like the sound of the sewing machine--lol!) 

It was nice to have a laptop I can actually unplug (no instant death) and watch netflix while I worked. 

I left the sewing machine up for now because we have other sewing projects we want to start after McFamily gets back from vacation.

But Leah did cut up the scrapbooking papers we got on sale at Joann's so that they are ready to tape on card fronts.  She made a few to take home with her, too. 

They all got cut up except for the Christmas and birthday papers.  Waiting on those because we don't even have all the paper yet.  There are more coming that we ordered.  (Still got at the sale price!)  I will start working on taping cards together while they are gone.   

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Remember I told Navarre at the meeting that my linoleum is buckling?  It's really difficult to get a picture of this, but the thin top layer has been pulling away and buckling up.  

It's slowly growing and there are more areas that are getting little white spots that seem to be rubbing away from the surface layer, too.  Since Navarre has never showed up and (now I know he doesn't always respond even when harrassed about issues) I am worried about it tearing, I tried to think of something I could do in the meantime.  It is on the one side of where my rolly chair wheels are and I sit here every day.  So I took a clear plastic 12 X 12 file folder and tried to attach it to the floor with some poster tack.  

You know who rushed right over... 

(Who me?  I'm not really interested.) 

...smelling and pawing at the poster tack dots--LOL! 

But it still moved around a lot.  I have since tried bigger globs of poster tack in just the four corners.  Still moves, but I keep repositioning it because,hopefully, it is protecting the flooring until they do something about it...which could be months.

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We were supposed to have the library volunteer return on Tuesday the 13th (second and fourth Tuesdays).  A few of us waited and waited but she never showed up.  Then on Friday I get a knock on the door (from one of the ladies who had waited on Tuesday and knows where I live) to tell me the library girl was there??  No warning or anything?

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Turns out Navarre knew she had to switch the days and never posted anything or told anyone.  His attitude is nobody comes to anything anyways.  Navarre is making enemies here, I can assure you.  That's the same reason he won't let us make copies of the calendar for all the residents, too.  (Can we say glass half full kind of guy?)

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Anyways, it was nice to see Kirsten again.  She even had a book for me!!  And she'll be back this coming Tuesday so I have a lot of reading to do before then--LOL!  Hey--I was busy sewing.  ;)

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Also felt practically accosted by the calendar lady (Lenore) while I was down there about the Christmas tree issue.  She wandered in (didn't even want a book) ended up with one hand on the back of my chair, the other on the table next to me, and almost shouting in my ear.  There had been only three of us there--Kirsten, the lady who came and knocked on my door (Bev) and me.  I refused to turn and look at Lenore as she went on and on about Navarre not giving "us" an answer about being able to have a Christmas tree and how it's because she's sure "those people" don't believe in Christmas and how we needed to have a petition...on and on it went.  

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(Didn't I tell you--Lenore was going on about this months ago--this is why I avoid going to anything here!)

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  I told her Christmas trees have nothing to do with Jesus and that I didn't care to get involved because I didn't really care if we had a tree or not in the community room because we can always put up a tree in our apartments if we want to.  She basically didn't acknowledge my comments, but at least she left a little while after that. 

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Even going down for library days can be exhausting--ROFL!

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Meanwhile, the good news!  

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Preface: a few days ago I decided to just see what the birds would do if I cleaned out the water platter and used it for seed.  We've still had so much rain and then I can pull the seed up under a chair or in the apartment if I need to.  I think they miss the water, though, and I plan to go back after I use my glue gun to attach some feet to the bottom that Leah picked up to keep so many bugs and worms from hiding under the water dish--LOL!  Anyways, that is why the platter has seed in the picture below.

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I was at the sink in the kitchen when I heard that familiar clucking sound...and there they were!!    

GROUSE!!!!

I hadn't seen any grouse for like two months!  I got this picture before they fled, but there were about eight of them altogether!!  I was delighted--absolutely delighted--to see them.  :)  :)  Was afraid maybe they were gone for good, too.

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And I forgot to tell you that after the big meeting when I was so depressed about the ground squirrels...I saw an actual gray squirrel cross the grass over by the garages!  So, eventually when the trees grow a bit more around here we could have actual squirrels.  They won't be able to kill those off.  Made me so happy to see that gray ball of fur!  I know a lot of people hate squirrels, but I love them.  Maybe the jackrabbits will be back this winter, too?  :)

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So that's what is happening up this way.  I haven't started watching the newest season of The Walking Dead yet and the new season of Longmire will be available on streaming, too, tomorrow.  But I need to read--LOL!  Wish me luck.  

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Have a great weekend.  Don't let anybdy yell in your ear...and take delight in those small wonders.  The geese are yacking their way across the sky.  Happy change of the season--whichever it may be.  :) :)

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OMG!  As I was proofreading this to hit publish--the flock of grouse is back.  They are clucking away and pecking at the seed out there.  I am grinning from ear to ear.  And I love this anonymous quote.

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"The really happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery when on a detour."

Unknown

Wednesday-5:30pm

Good evening!

I don't often write later in the day but I wanted to tell you about the big meeting last week here at North Sky and keep you abreast of the recipe experiments.  :) 

You may recall that Leah helped me out when my thumb/wrist was acting up by baking the squash I had here so it wouldn't go bad.  My hand was better after a couple of days so then I was cooking up some new-to-me recipes.  This was a vegan recipe because the butternut squash soup had a little bit of olive oil in it and I topped it with a vegan sour cream.  

The Tofutti sour cream was really good in this soup.

As you can tell I am kind of leaning toward vegan first, but this is an adventure for me, I tell you.  I have certainly not combined things like cumin, chili powder, cinnamon, apple cider vinegar, tamari sauce, lime juice, and apples in any soup--LOL!  I didn't even have any coriander, so it's now on my grocery list.  The verdict--I would make this again.

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Then I put together this corn, black bean, and peppers topping mixture that goes over spaghetti squash. 

The verdict--better than I ever expected and would definitely make this again.  This is quite an adventure...and I have lots of leftovers.

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Meanwhile, we have only had sparrows and mourning doves coming to eat for many weeks.  The grackles have moved on south, I believe, because I'm hearing geese every day now.  The grouse disappeared a good six weeks ago or more.  The ground squirrels...same thing.  I saw one once a couple weeks ago...briefly.  I haven't seen the jackrabbits, either.  I figured that the construction nearby has pretty much dug up all the wild land and they've maybe moved out of the area.

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Karma still loves to watch the birds that do come.  One of her favorite places to observe is behind the chairs where she doesn't scare them away. 

We still get quite a few of them... 

...and the sparrows love taking community baths, too. 

Karma can be really comfy up on her chair.

Is that a cat's eye view?  LOL! 

And way back by the apartment door is another favorite spot for bird watching. 

Well, let's see...

Mr. Rusty is still so hard for me to type on.  Finally today I covered up the keys I don't want to hit and the half of the finger-mouse pad area that I don't want to touch and that is helping some. 

Mr. Rusty has bigger arrows that are right up where I was used to hitting the shift key--plus those other weird keys off to the right there that I hit by accident, too. 

McLap has the arrow keys down below the shift key and they're smaller--and McLap doesn't have odd keys off to the right of the enter and shift keys, either.

It's been really rough trying to retrain automatic muscle memory.  I am hoping the tape will help.  Oh, and with McLap the entire finger pad area was usable, so that's what I am used to.  You had to do a right click using two fingers on the Mac (which took me a long time to learn).  But with Mr. Rusty anything on the entire right side is a right click and that is another constant wrong thing I am doing that drives me crazy--LOL!  I am making progress, though.  Very slowly--but I am seeing some progress.

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Since the grackles are gone (they are kind of the neighborhood bullies) the doves have been around a lot.  There's four or five of them, I think.  One loves to just hang around.  Often seems to take short naps in the rocks by the building or sitting right in the seed pile.  

There's only one in this photo but I often see two or three of them sitting up on the peak of the garage across the way watching to see when it is clear to come back and snack after walkers have scared them away.  

They are often waiting on the patio for me in the morning or waiting up on the garage peak.  Kinda sweet.

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Well, time to tell you about the big resident-management meeting here last week.  Our manager, Navarre, was there and a guy who was apparently a kind of go-between for the three sets of owners/investors who are building the complex.  I don't remember his name but the building guy ran most of the meeting.  (Good thing, as Navarre does not excel in people skills--LOL!)

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The residents had presented a letter of complaints, concerns, and requests to Navarre a few weeks ago and this was the response to said letter--an official meeting.  The place was packed!  There were really no big surprises and very little accomplished. 

~There will be only one big dumpster for all three buildings. 

~The third building is supposed to open in October.  (But you saw in the video of Ian's walk with Daddy and Gramma that they hadn't even finished the siding at that time, so I would be shocked if people start moving in that soon.) 

~They are not planning to put any benches outside anywhere, let alone the picnic table that had been suggested.

~You aren't supposed to have anything at all outside your apartment on the walls and I don't think doors (was such an uproar that I am not sure I hear the verdict on over-the-door hangers).  [I have had a small wreath up since I moved in and do not plan to take it down unless personally told to do so--and I said that right to Navarre, chuckling, after the meeting when we were discussing him coming to see my kitchen flooring that is buckling--he sighed and said he'd look at the wreath when he came down with the camera for pics of the flooring....which he hasn't done yet.]

~There will be no more automatic doors with the button for handicapped residents other than the ones that are already there right now.

~Navarre said there are not supposed to be any cars in the parking lot.  (Huh?!)  Only when you know you will be coming back out later that same day.  Or, briefly, vehicles of visitors.  (So when McFamily goes on vacation end of the month and I have their car parked out there every day because I need it to check on the cats and there's no room in my garage for it--I guess I have to go tell Navarre so they don't tow it away or something.)

~There was a big to-do over Navarre saying that we are not allowed to use the oven in the community room because having a fully-functional kitchen is in their advertisement.  He insisted that unless a single person has checked out the use of the community room for a function (say all your family is coming for your 90th birthday, for example) and someone is therefore held responsible for the cleaning of the oven--no dice.  

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People said--what if we want to just keep some food warm in the oven for the pot luck.  Navarre said no.  Even building guy whispered to him a couple of times as the protests got louder.  Navarre finally agreed to allow food warming but no food cooking.  (I brought down a bunch of aluminum foil oven liners to donate to the cause yesterday--really, you just have to laugh!)  People said that when they have movie night they sometimes make pizza.  No, said Navarre.  No pizza to be made in the community room oven. 

~There were a lot of people complaining about the cupboard doors having no handles and being hard to open when you have arthritic hands.  They got a "we'll look into doing that" on the knob issue--lol!  But I think they were just telling people what they wanted to hear to settle them down.

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There are a LOT of complainers, let me tell you.  Three times the subject of it being too hot in the hallways came up.  What the hell can they do about that!  Each unit has a wall AC unit.  There's no such thing as central air in an apartment complex.  But it was like talking to a brick wall.  (I think many of these seniors came from homes and have never lived in apartment buildings.)

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They also brought up three separate times about having to walk so far to get to their garages.  If they lived on third floor far from the elevator, say, they thought they should have had one of the first garages.  [Everybody can't have a garage next to the building, right?  There are people who have a terrible time walking or are in wheel chairs who live close to the elevator, too.  Wait till the people move into the third building and have to walk down almost to the first building to use the dumpster.  I bet we hear about that, eh?]

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A guy complained somebody was stealing his newspaper.  Several people complained the microwaves were too high.  People complained about stuff blowing off balconies and patios.  They complained again about the elevator breaking down last spring.  There were even people who complained that people weren't coming to the events.  

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Well, THAT brought up the not getting a calendar every month.  We were getting them but then in July and September we didn't.  Luckily--once the third building is opened Navarre said they were hiring an activity director--hurray!  

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Then something really interesting was brought up along that subject line.  There were several complaints (one guy angrily vehement, complete with swearing) about people who were trying to force other people to agree with their religious and/or political views.  [One of the reasons I quit going to anything at all was calendar lady always fishing for my religious and political affiliations.]  I had figured it would just get worse with the election coming--and apparently it really has--LOL!  People were quite upset when that Pandora's box was opened.  Good reason to steer clear until after the holidays.  Although maybe being indirectly called out in a public forum will keep a lid on it, but I doubt it will calm down till after this crazy election.  

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Well, but then we have people who have been bringing up wanting a Christmas tree for months.  We're supposed to be a non-denominational building, so Navarre has been stalling and saying probably not.  [I think because some residents are making it a Christian issue, but Christmas trees really have nothing to do with Jesus, in my opinion.  Honestly, I don't care one way or the other.  It's not the end of the world, people.  Put one up in your apartment.]

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I did find out that when the third and last building opens there is supposed to be a larger exercise room and a media room.  They had advertised in the brochures that there would be a computer or technology room and we had been told that wasn't going to happen.  One of the big complaints to management--if that was the case, they hadn't taken that off their website.  Maybe they were afraid of being sued because we were told at the meeting that there will be one computer in the media room.  And I guess they are moving the big screen TV and the comfortable stuffed chairs to the new media room in the third building, too.  Which means, I wouldn't doubt they will try to move all the board games and the ongoing jig saw puzzle over there, too.  Sounds like they want the community room to just have tables and chairs--and they are getting some more after they move the TV out.  (But that is what people come down there to that big room FOR--some community activities.  I know my back will miss the more comfortable big chairs.  Oh well.)  And then people will complain they have to walk to far to get to the third building for activities...and so it goes.  ;)

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They are actually funding the craft group, but they will not fund the pot luck and monthly birthday party by buying napkins and paper plates and paper cups.  ???  No logic.  No discussion.  (Maybe after we have an official activity director she will have a small budget?)

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All of us seniors ARE responsible for changing our own light bulbs.  Even the big fluorescent ones in the kitchen.  Nine foot ceilings.  If we need maintenance to do it we will be charged.  (I saw it says $50.00 in our lease!!!)

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There were many more complaints--about an outside door that hadn't been fixed for weeks--a lady whose patio screen door fell off mid-July and it hasn't been fixed--a couple other complaints like that.  So I piped up and said I had a structural complaint, too, but that I'd tell Navarre after the meeting.  He tells me that I should have told him before.  I said--"I did.  I told you I had something weird to show you in my apartment"...I only got that far and many people burst out laughing.  (I asked Leah later--is it just me?  Do I just make people laugh all the time?  I hadn't even meant to be funny, but I am chuckling now writing this.)

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Well, now I have come to the hardest thing for me to talk about.  I found out (but I didn't say anything at the meeting because I didn't want to bring any attention to the fact I am feeding critters back here) that there have been several people complaining all summer about the "gophers".  Their dangerous holes--people could fall down--they will ruin the yard--we want it to look nice here--someone could get hurt because of the dangerous holes...on and on it went.

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Navarre reassured them that the gophers were "being taken care of".

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That is why I haven't seen my little buddies.

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They've been trapping and killing them.

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Breaks my heart.

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They are not pocket gophers who really do ruin a lawn and dig it up with mounds all over the place.  They are were thirteen striped ground squirrels who dig small holes...and don't tear up a lawn.  But I knew there was no point in saying anything because I knew they were already dead.

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 So, there you go.  This was my first real taste of living in senior housing.  I'm on the other side of the fence now.  I am so glad I am not personally dealing with all the petty squabbles, unreasonable requests, and constant complaints.  To be sure, some of them are absolutely legitimate.  But I discovered during that meeting that I truly do feel like a resident now.  And I am grateful that the senior building I worked and lived in 17 years ago didn't have so many contentious seniors--LOL!  I guess I was lucky to have worked where I did in Minneapolis.  The worst person I had to deal with back then was my boss--ROFL!!  

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Well, That's about it.  Whew!  Took me three and a half hours to write all that--with body breaks.  Leah and Ian are planning to stop by for a visit tomorrow.  They had to bring Sammy in to the vets today.  He's still there--tests.  They think UTI again but want to make sure there's nothing else since he's lost weight the past year.  I hope he will be okay. 

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You are up to date.  

I'm still sad about the ground squirrels.

All I will be doing in the immediate future is sewing, loving the cooler weather, and hopefully getting in some Ian time tomorrow.  Nothing like that little smiley-faced, chatter-box to lift my spirits high, eh?  Write again when I can.  :) :)

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"Preconceived notions are the locks on the door to wisdom."

Merry Brown

Saturday--Fun stuff from McFamily

Three quick videos this afternoon.  :)

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Ian likes to watch the remote control car but doesn't like to be on the floor with it--LOL!

While Ian was napping upstairs Leah and her sister, Ariel, put together the new wooden train set to surprise him.  :)

I have never seen a praying mantis before!  Didn't even know we had them up here in the midwest, but apparently we do.  So glad they took a video!

Leah told me the praying mantis got moved over to the garden later.  :)

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They finished staining the deck this summer.

Looks great! 

You can see the new big church is being constructed across the field.  All behind their house there will end up being a big parking lot eventually.

Love the pic of Ian and his lawnmower.  Leah put this as my screen saver on Mr. Rusty.  

Speaking of which, I am cheating right now and typing on the McLap.  I have a very good reason.  All these videos and pics were over on McLap and not on Mr. Rusty, the new one.  I needed to post them before I totally forgot them and any more time has passed.  I think these could even be from a couple months ago.  

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What a relief to be able to type fast!!!  Ahhhhh!  Like coming home!!!

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I might have to cheat and use McLap to type about the big meeting, too....but I know I should keep at it on Mr. Rusty...hummm?

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Anyways, only four hours of sleep--so just a quick fun post!

Bye bye!!  :) :)

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"I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it." 

Pablo Picasso

Friday-1:15pm

Okay, I'm going to try this.  I've been getting some practice typing by making occasional comments on blogs and answering a few emails (until I get too frustrated and tired of correcting all the mistakes--like I just lost half this sentence twice--not a good sign).

I think this is going to be a long one...if I can tough it out.

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Caroline shopped for a lot of different groceries for me this month.  Odd little bags of flours here on the counter that I finally got into mason jars and labeled.  Plus some black beans and basmati rice--quite ordinary for me.  Cashwise didn't have sucanat, so I had Caroline pick up some organic cane sugar.  But--ordered some sucanat from Amazon since then and it looks very different from the cane sugar--oh well.  I won't waste food so will use both.  ;) 

 I am still having a terrible time trying to highlight anything except something very short.  So part of this post is centered and part isn't...and I can't change the color or font size...and I just lost most of this sentence...grrr!  Exactly why I am not typing much online and haven't been posting blogs.  If this takes me all day because I have to keep taking breaks for my body (and so that I don't throw the new laptop out the door) I am determined to post a blog today.  Even Leah said the keyboard is off on Dagan's old laptop and she has trouble with keys being in the wrong place, too--so it's not just me.  Hard enough to learn how to navigate windows--but then not being able to type normally, either--grrr!
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Anyways, I am going to try to make a new WFPB (or even a Vegan recipe) at least once a week or more.  I made this WFPB (no oil, butter, or eggs) banana crumb muffin recipe.

The oatmeal in the topping was optional.  Most of it fell off despite being pressed into the batter, so I don't know if that was a worthwhile addition.

 I guess they were passable.  Not good, but not bad.  I had Leah split one with me when she was here for crafts a Monday ago and she said they were okay--not terrible--LOL!  Got an edible/okay from both of us (but much more edible with some butter on).  We both have a sweet tooth and would probably add more sugar than it said...and that was the WFPB "illegal" cane sugar, by the way, too.

 I now have a few doves who kind of hang around my patio quite a bit.  They even just settle in and sit around in the grass or on the rock-bed.  I have some news about the ground squirrels, but I am not sure I have the stamina to talk about our big resident-management meeting we had Wednesday.  If not this time--next post.

 Also tried a new lentil soup recipe that was delicious!!  Will definitely make this again soon!  I knew I'd love most of the WFPB soup recipes.  :)

Leah remembered to bring over the matches-my-patio-chairs Ian chair.  So cute!  I wanted to keep it inside.  Ian used it to watch some "Africa" (that's what he kind of calls all the nature shows now) when they were here yesterday.  Miss Karma had to check it out first, of course.

I switched our craft night from Monday to Tuesday this week.  Just having one of those days.  And then I woke up on Tuesday and my right hand was messed up!?  I've had a lot of soreness at the base of my thumb on my dominant hand for quite a long time--since before I moved, I think.  It would ease up or get worse depending on how much I used it.  I figure it's arthritis since I have arthritis just about everywhere else--even in my jaw.  

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Well, woke up and couldn't lift anything without this new sharp shooting pain in my thumb/wrist!  Scary to me, I tell you.  I mostly write and do crafts & art!  Need my hand!!  Anyways, Leah really helped me out tremendously that night because she cut up the squash and cantaloupe I bought this month so they wouldn't go bad.  She even volunteered to bake the squash and scooped it all out for me before she left so that I have it all cooked and in the frig.  AND she cut out all the pattern pieces for the pads alone, too!  

What would I do without her?  She's an angel in my life, that's for sure.

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Wednesday we had the big meeting here in the morning (with all the resident complaints concerns I'll tell you about at some point but am currently on the verge of tears trying to type this so highly unlikely I will tell you today).  Wednesday afternoon Leah and Ian were going errand shopping and they were going to stop at that new Natural Grocers to look for a couple things for me and drop them off later.  Well, we had half a dozen storm alerts beeping on the cell phone and got hit by a violent thunderstorm that was just unreal!  Was raining so hard that I couldn't even see the garages across the way!  Was like a gray wall outside the patio door!  I kept in touch with Leah via our cell phones.  She and Ian were stuck over at Office Max.  And did it ever rain!!  Leah sent me this picture of the water that came in under the back door at Office Max!!

 Whoohoo!  I got that picture on the blog!!  At least there are accomplishments in this strange new laptop world, eh?  One step forward--ten steps back.  ;)
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Anyways, Leah and Ian went home before the next rain arrived that we could see coming on the weather radar on our cell phones. (Wasn't as bad, though, at all.)  They went out shopping again yesterday.  Leah texted me from Joann's.  They had 12 X 12 scrapbook papers on sale for 10 for $2.00!!  So there were lots of pictures texted and phone calls back and forth.  We got a bunch of paper on sale and ordered some at the sale price for mass producing more simple Christmas and birthday cards.  Whoohoo!!  :)  

 Also picked up a tree stamp, a sentiments stamp set, a snowflake punch, and a snowflake embossing folder.

Notice I have the sewing machine set up on the studio table.  Well, I've been spending time in there at the art table and chairs have been moved into that room...so Karma (our lover of change) barfed all over the desk chair and the floor in there.  When I sit in there she walks around my chair and cries.  OMG!  Can cats have OCD?
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Karma will have to get used to me spending time in there--sewing--plus I plan to spend more art table time actually working on art journals and even writing letters in there.  She will just have to adjust.  Karma's ever-changing horrible torturous life, eh?
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Anyways, Dagan also came over after work yesterday to get this new laptop to cooperate with my printer (which he did--oh, and he came over shortly after my last post and fixed the scrolling).  Leah and Ian showed up, too.  We all ate Quorn chicken nuggets for a quick something.  Ian discovered his new chair right away and watched a little Africa with Gramma.  Even if they couldn't stay long, it is always a treat to have them all over at the same time.  :)
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I can't remember which morning this was, but I actually got a dawn photo with sunshine.

 My hours have been a bit all over the place lately.  Karma loves it if I am up really early because now the sun comes all the way back inside to the apartment door.

 I try to tell her that her life is pretty darn good.

 But she has short term memory loss. 

Myself.  I've had random bouts of insomnia the past month or two.  Laid in bed from midnight till 2:30 last night--thinking if I just laid there long enough and didn't move I could fall asleep.  Nope.  Got up and read and watched nature shows.  Finally got to sleep around 6:30 this morning--and had a long nap.  Sucks!  I am really tired enough with chronic fatigue in the first place without the added gift of insomnia--LOL!  I haven't had to deal with the big "I" since menopause.  How annoying.

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Well, except for some more pics and videos from Leah (obviously procrastinating on dealing with youtube videos on this new computer if just typing and dealing with photos is tricky enough)...and the big meeting...you are caught up.  Caught up enough, anyways.  Oh, and it took two days before I could lift-push-pull-grip with my right hand without shooting pains, but it is much better!!  Whew!  That's my "good" hand.  

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I am not even opening the blinds or feeding the wild pets today--so you know how tired I am.  Hopefully I will get a long, good night's sleep tonight so I can get more done tomorrow.  But today--going to be a lazy day, for sure...she says as she yawns.  ;)  Well, at least Karma will be very happy that I am not off in the other room running that noisy machine and she can spend the day curled up quietly with me on my comfy chair.  Karma heaven day today, I guess.  Have your own kind of heaven day!!  :) :)

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"Take care of yourself--you never know when the world will need you."

Rabbi Hillel