Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Tuesday-10:30am

Good Tuesday Morning!  
Lots of pictures today.  Same old stuff.  Still unpacking.  I haven't posted for a week so this is all I got done with my baby steps (15-20 minutes at a time), but it does add up.  Now that I see all these pictures I realize I accomplished more than I thought I did--LOL!
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Anyways, we had a few hotter days in the 80s but then it cooled off again. 
Last we chatted I had emptied out the taboret boxes on to the new little black craft table.  I got all that put away.
Then I emptied out the boxes of stamps.
And slowly put them all away in the tall stamp cabinet.
Glad to have such a beautiful view with all the R&R time I have needed.
Next I found the paper bookcase boxes.
This one with the 12" X 12" (clear plastic) and 8 1/2" X 11" (black metal) racks on the top half is the paper bookcase.
Discovered I was still missing a whole lot of card stock that I had yet to unearth from the stacks of boxes.
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 Karma does love when I start a new big black trash bag...
...with all the crumpled packing paper.
Especially before there's too much paper...
...for her to fit in easily...
...for a quiet snooze while I am on one of my many long breaks.  
The mystery box that the packing crew labeled on the top...well, it contained all the satchels from the art bookcase that had been next to the little art table at the old place!
I continued opening boxes to try to find the rest of my card stock because the two closest stacks here on the craft table are certainly not all of it.
I did finally find it...second to the last box I opened, of course.
Was kind of emptying as I searched...and started using the kitchen table.
The stack of satchels was driving me nuts.  Do I put them next to the art table again?  Or move a bunch of satchels around in the hallway so these could be with all the other satchels--but closest to the kitchen because I use them fairly often?  A lot of extra work moving satchels, right?
But I did.
Who knew we had so many of them!  
They were scattered in four or five different places at the old apartment and I have never seen them all together.  Turns out they fit quite nicely there...but they really do need to be labeled, that's for sure.  Leah bought a new labelmaker a while back.  Looks like we will be putting it to good use, eh?
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I got sidetracked by shelves, too, in my hunt for the card stock. 
Had been putting off removing all the extra shelves from the four bookcases.
Had told them on moving day not to put the shelves back in because they were going to have to be rearranged...but they didn't listen.
So I spent an afternoon taking out the shelves and all the little metal shelf pins/holders.
By the time I finally found the box of card stock...all available surfaces were (and still are) covered.
The desk...
...the new craft table (didn't take a picture but the little art table is full, too)...
...and the kitchen table...
...are all stacked with various box guts.
Even the hall closet...
...and the bench in the pantry are full of stuff.  More empty boxes to go to the garage and the bag of crumpled paper is pretty full now.  Only one more bigger box to go through.  
Haven't opened that one yet because we know exactly where everything goes because it's everything from the low cherry cabinet that matches the tall stamp cabinet (and they both need new labels on all those drawers).
That box will be the last one and an easy one to put away--but there will be more crumpled paper so I am saving the big black bag till we get through that last box.  I'm sure we can smash the last of the packing paper in there.  ;)
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Karma truly prefers less activity.  
Even if she does like to explore boxes and bags, I think she's about had her fill of this moving business, too.  ;)
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Oh, and I haven't forgotten the ladies at Elizabeth's for T Stands For Tuesday.  Hi All!  :)  Am really enjoying my pour over coffee every day.  
It's a little more work, but it does taste so good!  Actually, I decided to go for a bigger pour over pot and forget about a new electric pot.  For now anyways.
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Karma and I haven't gotten into a total new morning routine yet.  Really can't until the place is all finished and in some kind of basic order.  We are pretty patient...
...but we will both be glad to see the end of all these boxes!
Getting close!  Out of the last 41 boxes that Dagan brought in from the garage I am down to six left to unload...well, and there is all the box guts all over the place to clean up--LOL!  But getting so close!
Leah got some more picture shelves at IKEA this past weekend.  I'm hoping we might get those up soon, too.  
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And so it continues...but is nearing the end.  Good thing.  My body has entirely had enough and there has been espionage afoot!  How else do you explain a bruised or sprained pad of your thumb?  Come on!  Have you ever heard of such a ridiculous thing?  And my good arm has decided that it has been so overworked that it has joined forces with my back and they are just bitching and complaining constantly...and going on strike every other day.  Ingrates! 
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Meanwhile, Karma's enjoying the morning sun and cool breeze.
I will leave you with this very short video of Ian's first steps!  On the 26th Leah sent Dagan and I this video.  I can hardly wait to see this for myself!  
Have a rewarding week with lots of laughter!
All the best!!  :):)
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"In daily life we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy." 
David Steindl-Rast

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Tuesday-11:45am

Well, it is barely still morning, but a Good Tuesday Morning to you!  Was suddenly 92 degrees again yesterday.  Quite a sweltering break in the gorgeous fall weather.  But this morning it is back to 59, sunny, and cool--ahhh!
I can't remember if I showed you when I had unpacked all the ink pads and reinkers...
 ...but the new ink pad unit is filled up...behind the door.  Problem was some of the reinkers or refills were too big around to fit in the little reinker squares.  For example--see all those empty ones on the bottom half of the right side?  I knew all the ink pads weren't going to fit in there in the first place, regardless, but two of those I had wanted in there were also too fat to fit--LOL!
This is the assortment left over.  I let Leah know that the long plastic drawer organizer (on the right filled with reinkers) is too narrow for the ink pads to fit.  (Thought I could set that on top of the shelves.)  But they need to be able to lie down flat. 
Leave it to Leah!  She asked me to check the longer black shelf I use under my big paint shelves wall unit.  Nothing even on it yet because we are getting two more shorter black ones (when Dagan and Leah go down to Mpls this coming weekend)...
...to go on this empty wall by the window.  We plan to put up a couple of the shorter black shelves (they are actually picture shelves) and the metal rails (also from IKEA) that we were using for punches.  So this empty wall is going to be filled high!
Anyways, the picture shelf was the perfect size for the ink pads to lie flat.  So she's going to pick up a short white one, too, to hang over the ink pad shelves.  IKEA has so many cool things--and Leah thinks of great ways to use them!
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BTW, I did finish filling my paint shelves--tada!
This is how far I am at the moment.  I unpacked the two taboret boxes (that's the taboret down there in the upper left hand corner). 
These are all the small porcelain pallets and the Chinese brush painting supplies. 
These are the portable watercolor pallets and watercolor brushes (the plastic kind you fill with water). 
I sorted through boxes and moved them about (which is one of the two reasons I didn't get to anything yesterday--LOL!).  These two boxes are for the stamp cabinet.
These are mostly craft/card making supplies. 
The big box on the bottom on this side is for the low cherry cabinet (next to the taboret).
But the big one on this side is a mystery box because the packers packed it and they only write on the top...and I was too sore to move any more boxes to find out what was in that one. 
This stack next to Karma's chair is art supplies.
I have a small load of empty boxes and a bag of crumbled paper to go to the garage today.  (Yes, we are saving crumpled paper for Dagan and Leah's fire pit they use in the summers--never let anything go to waste if we can help it, right?)  I am so sore I might ask Caroline if she could do that for me when she comes this afternoon.   
This was me getting ready to blog--with my red cup by my side and letters and assorted bills and paperwork I need to go through piled about, too. 
The second reason I didn't get the taboret filled yesterday was that I went to make a pot of coffee and later discovered an entire lake of coffee all over my countertop!  Something broke.  It had not overflowed or anything--had come out of the bottom of the machine.  And my counter was full of stuff!  Luckily no paper, but it took a long time to clean everything up and wipe everything down...which started to set off my sciatica--LOL!  Always something, right?  
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The whole machine went into the trash.  I am now making pour over coffee, as you can see.  Using my porcelain pour over/drip cup and boiling water.
It really is delicious!  I might decide to just buy a bigger pour over pot and not get another electric coffee maker.  And maybe I'll replace my coffee grinder that died on me about two years ago so I can buy beans again so I can get back with the coffee program!  So, to the ladies at T-Stands For Tuesday--the red cup may be the same but the coffee tastes better--LOL!
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Meanwhile, Karma is catching a few morning rays...
...geese are honking by, and Caroline will be here to clean around boxes in a couple hours.  It's supposed to stay cooler for a while with possible rain.  Going to be nice, quiet fall days.  Out of the 41 boxes Dagan hauled in last Friday I have 24 left to unpack.  Nine of them didn't need any unpacking--just needed to be stuck in closets as is.  So I have only unpacked eight boxes--and four of them were quite small--but that is good for me.  :)  I'll continue on as soon as I am able.  Seems like I always go in spurts.  Cycling good and bad days is pretty normal really.  None of it is going anywhere.  The boxes will wait patiently for me.  ;)  I am back to making detailed baby steps lists.  Hey--whatever works, right?
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Enjoy your week...and your change of the seasons.  :):)
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"If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves." 
Thomas Edison