Tuesday-10am

Okay--grab a cuppa!  Loads of pictures, but I doubt there will be that much chatting because I am still really shot...but oh so happily content.  As you know my family was arriving on Saturday and the new chair was arriving on Friday.  

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The transformation!  

New chair and little brown end table in place.  (Now you can see how small my "baby" recliner is next to a normal sized chair--LOL!) 

But before all that I was finishing up details...like hanging all the rulers in the studio under the light switches--perfect spot!

Handy dandy metal 3M hooks from Leah years ago. 

Another regular 3M hook to hold the hair dryer next to the art table. 

Found a perfect spot for our big craft turntable--on the taboret--tada!  Then it doesn't take up half of the new little black craft table. 

Dagan and Leah came over Friday night after the chair and end table were delivered.  The delivery guys had put the controls on the left hand side of the chair and the cord wasn't long enough to bring over to the right hand side--which made no sense because it was on the right hand side at the store?  Well, Leah checked and they had caught the cord when they installed the back of the chair.  

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So Dagan and Leah took it back off and we moved the cord to the right hand side and Leah took some pictures of the smushed cord.  [And I just realized when I found this picture that I haven't called Slumberland to inform them.  It works fine now but down the line it might effect my warranty, you know?  Told you I am spacey-tired--still lost in fibro fog.]

They rearranged the furniture for me so that now the red end tables are on the far ends of both chairs and the new brown end table is in-between them.

That needed to be hooked up, too.  Do you see the cords coming out of it there on top? 

Well, there's a flap so that all my charger cords can be plugged in under there (cell phone, tablet, Kindle).  So cool!!  (Not sure why the photo came out sideways--you'll have to tilt your head.)

Karma has taken over my little chair for the most part.  But I now have two comfortable chairs for the first time--whoohoo!

Karma loves that she has more room to lounge between my legs on the footrest of the new normal sized chair, too.  And there are no gaping holes in this footrest for her (or Ian) to fall through, either. 

Also on Friday the Amazon order came.  I have something new to show everybody over at Elizabeth's for the T-Stands For Tuesday group!  TaDa!!  A new little electric tea pot for water and a Bodum pour over pot--big enough that I can make a couple of my big mugs at a time.  (Which usually does me for the day and I just reheat in the microwave.)  I got to make Mom some pour over coffee when she was here on Saturday.  :)

The Bodum came with a metal filter, but I still have to use a paper one inside of that mesh one to keep out the sludge--LOL! 

I got a little shoe mat for the entryway... 

...and a very, very cheap humidifier--that Leah said they have and I had best put something under it because water will splatter everywhere and drip right off that table--and to only run it when I am keeping an eye on it because the automatic shut-off is a joke.   

I haven't used it yet.  Been still too tired and sore to deal with hunting around for water catching stuff--LOL!  But I will try it out soon because it is so dry I am already getting a tiny bit of bloody noses and I have not yet even turned on my heat once.

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Turned out Saturday afternoon before the Johnson Clan arrived Leah was putting up the last two pictures for me.  My first mixed media wall art (rainbow colors) was hung right outside the studio...

...and the poinsettia from the watercolor class I took at the Plains Art Museum a dozen or more years ago went in the hallway. 

Do you sense a love of color even then?  LOL!

Well, the family arrived and spacey me totally forgot to take pictures.  But so did everyone else!  Renee and Kathy brought me a few mementoes they saved from when they were emptying out Mom and Dad's Minnesota trailer (that my folks were selling before the accident).  A NordicWare cookie press!!  I had one just like this and when Dagan was little we made spritz cookie every year with it.  Sweet!  Now I can maybe make some with Ian, eh?

And there was this old yellow-taped box...

...of tartlet pans in six shapes.  I seem to remember Mom just pressing a plain dough into these and we ate them like cookies.  No filling or anything--but they were crusty, buttery good.

I forgot to ask what this actually was that Mom knitted.  I didn't take it out of the box till later on.  Had thought it was a throw, but it is long and narrow.  But not narrow enough to be a winter scarf--and it's heavy and thick.  ??  I'm sure they'll tell me.

For now, I just draped it over the curio cabinet in the bedroom. 

The other item was a book.

Shakespeare Complete. 

Believe it or not, Mom used to sit me on the tall stool in the kitchen when I was around 8 or 9 years old, read me Shakespeare, and then quiz me--LOL!  She'd read a passage and then ask me what I thought it meant...or ask me what I thought this or that word meant?  Then she'd explain.  Sometimes I had a pretty good gist of what was going on, I guess, because she'd be so pleased if I got it right (or close?). 

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Renee remembered me telling her that story and brought me the book.  Mom stood here in my kitchen and remembered reading Shakespeare to me...but didn't remember quizzing me on it--LOL!  I had to laugh because she was probably a natural teacher.  (I have noticed that I am with Ian--and I was with Dagan, too.)  She must have been because I passed all the tests to enter first grade at a parochial school when I was five (had to be six to be admitted to public school) and I had never been to kindergarten or gone to any schooling or kid's groups.  Funny how even when you are older you discover traits where you are like your mother.  ;)

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Anyways, we were here at my place for a couple hours and then caravanned over to McFamily's (road construction--had to go a back, round-about way).  Renee's boyfriend, Joe, is allergic to cats.  He did okay at my place, but I had shut Karma in the bedroom, the place is brand new, and Caroline was just here to vacuum.  Dagan and Leah have two cats--but they have a gorgeous deck and patio so we could all sit outside together on the deck.  And it was suddenly and inexplicably in the low 80s on Saturday and Sunday (40 degrees when I started this blog)--so it was a beautifully perfect day!  Hardly any wind, either, until evening (which progressed into the previous two days of severe wind warnings).

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We were all so busy visiting that nobody remembered to take pictures until it had gotten dark and Leah had built a fire in the fire pit and we had all moved down to the patio!  No lie!  In my more severe fibro fog and with enough back pain that I had to go inside for a while and rest in their recliner--well, I totally forgot both my camera and my cell phone at my place.  Duh!  But Leah took some pictures when we were settled in around the fire.  (Renee took a couple, too, that she put on facebook.)  

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These are Leah's.

Blaine & Kathy (brother and SIL) and Dagan holding Ian.

Dagan & Ian, Renee (sister) and her boyfriend, Joe. 

Renee, Joe, Mom, and Me. 

Then right before everybody left Leah got some pictures in their entryway.  Here's the posed one--LOL!  Mom, me, Blaine, Kathy, Dagan, Renee, and Joe. 

Mom and I chatting on the bench. 

(She told me earlier she knitted that sweater she's wearing, BTW.) 

Mom and I watching... 

...all four of them on their cell phones figuring out how to navigate all the road construction to get back to the motel--LOL! 

You know we only have two seasons up here, don't you?  Winter and Road Construction.

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Oh, and I got permission from Melissa (Ryan's wife) to swipe this off of her facebook.  Melissa posted a picture of Mom and Ryan dancing!  (Ryan is Blaine's youngest son.)

I saw it because she tagged me and some others for the photo so I got an email.  Truth--I'm really lost on facebook, but I always get emails if anyone comments when I post my blogs on there so I do know that, at least--LOL!  I had a couple people ask me to post my blog on there, so I figured out how to do that, anyways.  :)  Just so you know--I am on facebook, but I am not "on" facebook--LOL!

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Whew!  Was such a week!  Mom's having checkups with doctors, etc, now this week to make sure everything's okay for her to fly back to Florida on the 18th to be living on her own down there again.  She's still weaker than she was and can be a little shaky walking--especially when tired--and has to take stairs really slowly (so do I).  But she's doing really well under the circumstances and one can't blame her for wanting to go home and be independent.

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The wind picked up Saturday night...

...and we had wind advisory warnings out Sunday and Monday. 

Karma watched some bits of trash and tumbleweeds dancing around in circles in the green grass outside the window for two days.  We had some rain, too.  Pretty wild Cat TV.  But this morning we are back to light winds and sunshine.

The new craft gadget has not arrived yet.  USPS 2-day shipping that was supposed to be here Saturday--LOL!  In fact, I just checked online and it says it was delivered in the postal locker today...so I shall have to hobble down there when I am done chatting with you.  ;)

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But--YES, I am finally all moved in!  

DONE!  DONE!  DONE!

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I have been doing nothing else (except daily living stuff) for over five months (as you all well know) so I keep thinking I have forgotten something or there is something else yet to unpack.  There are a couple things Leah will still install--but nothing that needs to be done right away.  We are ALL on R&R, I tell you!  :):)

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The family visit was great.  I am breaking in my fabulous new chair.  I've been catching up with the new TV shows I can watch online (Chromecast is awesome!) and when I am done with those I have been saving the latest season of The Walking Dead for a gory Netflix marathon--ROFL!  I couldn't even focus to write a letter for days and am way behind on emails, too.  I will recover and catch up with everyone...and get into the new studio...eventually.  Zombie-women move slowly, you know.  ;)  But this zombie-woman smiles...and laughs!  :):)

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I am off to check the mail.

Have a fantastic week!

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Laughing is the shortest distance between two people.

Victor Borge