Saturday, August 22, 2015

Saturday-noon

A quick hello.  :)  
It's a dark morning.  73 degrees.  
Only supposed to get up to 77 today and rain expected all weekend.  Might even get a proper thunderstorm. (I love thunderstorms!)
Karma does appreciate the new rug.  Rubs her head on it a lot and manages a lot of snoozing.
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Karma's missed them, but for the past three days I've seen a family of grouse skitter past the patio...one direction or the other.  (One of the parents left a big ol' poop calling card on the patio--LOL!)  And last night there was a silent cricket wandering down the hallway.  More wildlife down on first floor, I guess--LOL!
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McFamily was here last Tuesday night.  Dagan removed all the boxes and bags...and the little dresser from the bathroom is now in the garage, too.  More space!  Ian and I watched a nature show on bears and started another one on wildlife in China...and played crawling baby chase games.  Much giggling and silliness was involved.  :)  When he was ready for bed Dagan took him home but Leah stayed around to finish up the wall baskets in the pantry.  And she even filled them up for me!!  Awesome!  
Caroline was here to clean for the first time on Thursday and she loved the new sprayer mop.  A new cleaning routine will emerge after a while.  Caroline said the same thing--it's more comfy and homey here.  Oh, and it was her hubby who knew what kind of birds those were skittering across the lawn.  Yes, Caroline saw them, too.
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I googled "grouse" and from the many pictures the whole family group looked like this female spruce grouse.  So, either they are a different kind or there's no daddy bird with them, I guess.  The babies are so cute, though!
Anyways, after a couple R&R days I started in on moving some stuff about.  Funny--Leah and I separately had the same idea for the bookcases in the hallway.  We both thought that might be the best place to put all the various art & craft satchels.  I'll have the cookbooks and the art & craft books up on top and then satchels below.  Less interesting for little hands and harder to get into.  ;)  Plus we have good light right overhead to be able to read the labels...well, once we get around to labeling them again--LOL!
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So, I gathered up all the satchels that had been shoved here and there in the studio and stacked them on the kitchen table.  (It is more a kitchen table than a dining room table, don't you think?)
And there's a lamp that hasn't found a home yet.
Then I removed all the odd craft supplies that were in the hallway bookcases and stuck them anywhere I could in the studio.
The next thing I have to do is get all the art & craft books upright and organized. 
Then I can sort through the satchels, group together similar ones, and find places for them in the bookcases.  Not sure if they will all fit--but it looks likely.  If there is any leftover room I'll find some other bigger, less interesting things to keep out there.  There's a lot of carrying and bending involved, so I can only do a little at a time...but you know how the baby steps method works so well.  ;)
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Update on the roses.
The leaves were all falling off, so I removed all of them that came off easily and then put all the roses in one vase a couple days ago. 
They are now just over two weeks old.  These pics were taken this morning. 
They definitely have lost their flaming color, are thinning & drying & gradually turning brown, and have just started losing a few petals...but they are still standing up, are still pretty, and still smell good when you stop to smell the roses.  ;)  Not a one has flopped over.  I do believe they might dry right where they stand.  I am still impressed.
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Been pretty quiet here on R&R till yesterday.
Karma knew I was taking pictures this morning and wondering why I was bothering her...
...but I hadn't even taken any pictures for days till this morning--LOL!  Unusual for me.  Doesn't she look tired? 
She went up into her chair and is dead to the world right now...which is how she missed the grouse family every day.  Too busy catching up on her sleep while there's no company--LOL!
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My mom just got out of rehab yesterday and is back home at her trailer!  My brother and his wife are flying down today and staying with her overnight for a visit before they head out on a cruise.  Mom will have a week before they come back after the cruise and then they are all flying up to Minnesota on the 30th.  Mom will stay with Blaine and Kathy for a while.  There will be a home worker coming three times this week and she has neighbors and friends checking on her every day.  She sounded so happy to be back home!  Says she can get around fine with her walker and was happy to be at home in her own chair.  :)  Soon she'll be up in Minnesota meeting grandkids and great grands--there's a new little baby girl she's never met.  I am so happy for her!
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On that note...
Have a really happy weekend!!  :):)
Hey!  We might even get a lively thunderstorm to clean away the grouse present off the patio.  ;)
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"May the sun bring you new energy by day; may the moon softly restore you by night; may the rain wash away your worries; may the breeze blow new strength into your being."
Apache Blessing

13 comments:

TexWisGirl said...

here's hoping your mom does great! karma looks happy on her new rug! glad things are continuing to 'settle' for you. :)

Anonymous said...

So happy your mom's doing so much better--how old is she?

Blogoratti said...

Things are indeed shaping up nicely, and Karma doesn't seem to want to be disturbed judging by those photos. Its nice to know that your Mom is back home from rehab, and settling in down nicely at her home. Greetings to you and best wishes!

DJan said...

You have certainly made great progress in the moving in process, Rita. And it's so lovely to have the McFamily to help you, but you've done an incredible amount yourself. I realized as I read your post today how happy I am for you, and as usual I love your parting quote. :-)

Halle said...

Glad to see that you are settling in! I was half way to your house last weekend...we were in Alex Sat-Tues...it was wonderful even if the weather was super fantastic. R&R time is good no matter what!!

GrandmaG said...

LOL I googled grouse as soon as I read it. Should have read a little further and I would have seen you already did!

Those satchels are great! I don't have nearly as many as you of course :) I use them to store my 12x12 paper. But I mostly like them for storing seasonal paper crafting supplies: fall in one; winter in another; and spring/summer in a third.

Have a great weekend and enjoy your thunderstorm. It's been rainy most of the day here. I don't mind because it means we're going to have a green August! :)

Anonymous said...

Sounds like your bro could use that cruise.
My mailbox is covered with bird poop until it rains. Don't know why they like it there.

Janie Junebug said...

Parking in my driveway leads to bird poop and lots of little branches and leaves that fall from the trees. That's why I park in my garage. I hope your wildlife isn't too invasive. I haven't had a palmetto bug or lizard in the house in weeks. Now that I wrote that, I'll be inundated. Having the grouse dash by sounds like fun. I hope they don't poop regularly.

Love,
Janie

Carol said...

Glad to hear your Mom is home and in good spirits... that a major deal ♥ Things are starting to get organized at our place :) It's looking more and more like home. We had really bad storms here yesterday morning. Lots of big booms and flashes and 4 inches of rain. Fun stuff :/

Deb J. in Utah said...

So glad to hear that your mom is getting better. Wow - you are getting all organized a bit at a time. You'll get there eventually, and everything will be just perfect! Have a great week, and as always, regards to Karma!

Feral Turtle said...

Those roses just keep giving!! Nice to hear the good news about your mom Rita and that you keep getting more accomplished in your new home!

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

Golly! I missed this. Talk about thunderstorms. We had one go through Saturday night and it knocked out my electricity, Didn't come back on till late Sunday. Glad the weather wasn't so hot I couldn't stand it. AC is a wonderful invention.

Wow, those plastic cases are amazing. Never seen any like them before, but I sure like how they hold so much.

I agree that the roses should dry quite nicely where they are. Well worth the money Leah and Dagan spent on them. Hope you and Karma get used to all those nature noises now that you're on the first floor!

Intense Guy said...

The hurrier I go.. the further behind I gits!

Those grouses (grice?) are really cool!