Saturday-5:30pm

When Karma decides she wants some "lovin'up"--this is how she learned to be right up in my face and across my chest.

Because of my bad arm, I can't grip or hold anything with my left hand, so I write and read with a small throw pillow on my lap and then this writer's desk pillow on top of that. I use a book weight to hold the books open a lot of the time, too. The corner strap holds my small legal pad in place. Just one of the ways I have made adaptations so that I can still enjoy my favorite activities.

[Note: the Halloween card is from my friend Bonnie from Hibbing. "Holy Sheet! It's Halloween!" was inside. Cracked me up, Bonnie!]

When Karma was smaller, she wasn't quite so overwhelming, but she still effectively put a stop to all lap desk activity. She climbs up and positions herself -- and then repostions -- and repostions. I was trying to take a picture since the camera was right on the table next to me, which bothers Karma because I am not surrounding her with both arms--which she takes as maybe she isn't being fully appreciated...
...which makes her keep shifting. I kept laughing and laughing--Karma kept shifting--all of which interested Miss Gracie, of course, so she had to come to the side of the cage to eye us and put in her two-cents worth.
Karma finally got herself in the perfect position and we watched the sad ending of Anne Frank: The Whole Story.
CashWise came yesterday. Never had this much trouble with an order before. Turns out they were training in four new people at once yesterday. I had three wrong items and they had forgotten to deduct my EBT card amount (food stamps--without which I don't know what I'd do living on $696.00 a month! Was a momentary fright for moi, I tell you!). They made a trip back to trade me for the right products last night and still had an item wrong the second time! By that time it was 9:30pm, so they are supposed to drop it off tonight between 6-8pm.

And what could it be that they screwed up twice? My very favorite treat and comfort food-- that I have not ordered for months--not since I started buying supplements! International Coffees French Vanilla Cafe!! They brought sugar-free (which doesn't dissolve and doesn't taste right) and then brought sugar-free decaf! So, we'll see if they can bring the original, plain old fattening french vanilla this time? They are usually so good--I really can't complain. By next month they'll have their new people trained in, hopefully. :)

The Anne Frank movie was a made for TV miniseries from 2001:

Anne Frank's acclaimed diary, kept while in hiding in Amsterdam during World War II, enjoys the highest readership of any book ever printed (except the Bible). This filmed version fills in gaps omitted when her father (the only family member to survive the Nazi holocaust) submitted the work for publication. The story follows Anne to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where she died just days before liberation.

It had Ben Kingsley (awesome, as usual) as Otto Frank (her father), Hannah Taylor-Gordon played Anne, and I ordered it because Brenda Blethyn was in it and I didn't remember who she played (now that I have watched some of her movies on Netflix). I had seen it on TV back then and knew it was a good version--and it was just as good the second time, too!

This time Brenda Blethyn played the lady you didn't like who was staying with them in the attic--the lady who came from more money and started out pretty uppity. She can play the villian, flaky-ditz, or so sweetly innocent and likable that she could break your heart! (I've heard her play with an American accent, also.) Now that I know who she is--I will watch for her.

Anyways, since CashWise came--I was over my calories yesterday and might be again today--hehe! Too exciting to have new foods to pick from--and fresh stuff! Not quite as much as usual this time. I cut back on food and supplements this month so I could make a purchase.

I have had this huge, to my ankles, burgundy coat that I bought for college and then a cheap, unlined, sweatshirt material jacket--nothing inbetween--for many years. The long coat was great for all the endless waits at the bus stops and walking to night classes when it was windy and 20-30 below wind chills--even colder on occasion. I went to class and threw the coat over an empty chair or in a corner someplace out of the way. But to climb into a car with that coat on is a hassel and it is too warm to wear walking around shopping and such. It is so big that if I take it off and put it in a cart--it pretty much takes up the whole cart--hehe! (I have always had trouble climbing the steps onto the bus and not stepping on the hem and tripping my sorry self! When you are quite short--a full length coat is really almost to the ground--hehe!) So, I never did wear it until I was really freezing in the thin jacket.

That long coat is just the best coat for walking around outside in the cold, cold winter--which I still did regularly when I lived in Moorhead (bank, post office, library, coffee shop, mall). But there's no place to walk to where I live now. The bus stop is right in front of our building, so I don't have to walk far or wait long. These days I am usually going shopping with Dagan and/or Leah in a car when I am out. My very favorite, big burgundy coat has been losing it's usefulness since I moved here. :(

So, I have ordered a knee length, lighter weight, fir green berber coat! 35% off on sale--very plain one, so that I could actually squeak out the money for it! Exciting! I know, you might be thinking--"well, you rarely leave the apartment, anyways--why do you need a new coat?" Because this is Fargo! Even if I am just walking from car to apartment or car to store and back--I can't walk fast anymore. With my present coat choices--it was freeze and be comfortable later inside or not freeze and sweat/be uncomfortable the whole time I was shopping, etc. I wanted a more reasonable choice--hehe!

I know, not a big deal to most people, I suppose. But it is a big deal in my little world--hehe! Another little incentive to make it easier for me to get out a bit more. Well, that's the news from Fargo today! :)