Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Tuesday-11:30am-blogging shift

Good Morning! 
Another week has flown by.
We've had some sun...
...some cloudy dark days... 
...our two weeks of faux-spring melted all the snow... 
...but we had a smidgen of snow a couple times after the weather returned to our normal seasonal 30s-low 40s again.  But it melted away again by afternoon. 
Since Friday a pair of Canadian geese have been waddling by once or twice a day.     
The mate was far enough ahead that by the time I was ready to take a picture... 
...there was just the one in my sights. 
Goodness they are huge close up!  And their webbed feet are so big they look like small plates--so they have to walk like a human with flippers on--LOL!
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Karma loves her new Cat TV, I tell ya!
The cloudy...
...and the sunny days kept alternating. 
In the evenings if the sun's rays are unimpeded we can be blasted with what looks like a small sun... 
...but is just glare off the neighboring building.  :)
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As you can probably tell, I am procrastinating.  
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Let's get the announcement out of the way...
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Okay...
I've been blogging since 2007 and have never taken a break.  I'm pretty sure I may have gone over a week between posts on rare occasions, but I don't think I have ever gone two weeks.  Those of you who have followed me for years know that even the only once a week blogging has been different for me...and that has been going on a lot...especially since the move.  Well, I pushed it and got unpacked and basically sorted all my stuff by October.  But...we're coming up on six months now and I am still not "recovered" to my normal.
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This has been the worst fibro flare since the last time I moved eleven years ago.  I know it took me a good year (or two?) to recover last time, but I thought to myself--I was in much worse physical shape to begin with back then so I should recover faster this time.  Right?  One would think--LOL!  But fibro is a fickle and ever-changing companion.  (And--I have to reluctantly face the fact that I'm a decade older and wasn't able to do as much, in general, as I was about 9-10 years ago.)
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 Pain focus can shift around--leave or not leave.  I remember when I was trying to finish college and attended an art class where we were supposed to sit in hard, tall, backless stools for a 3 1/2 hour class twice a week.  All it took was a couple of weeks and knife pain decided to settle right into my tail bone.  I didn't use the stools as much as possible...I stood next to the table (but that set off my plantar fasciitis and heel spurs--LOL!)...finally got permission from the instructor to do most of my work at home and leave after instructions & sharing.  Fibro can be as stubborn and persistent as Miss Karma when she gets something into her head.  That knife pain (that could bring tears to my eyes just getting out of a chair and the subsequent array of special pillows tried for parking my bottom on) lasted over two years.  It could have lasted for the rest of my life or a few days.  That particular knife pain chose to stay almost 2 1/2 years.  Then it just faded away...only an achy hint of it since if I sit too long on a hard chair.  (You can believe I pay attention and move--LOL!)
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It's the same with the exhaustion...the chronic fatigue.  I've been able to self-regulate my activity all the years I lived over at West Winds.  Until Ian came along I only left my apartment 3-4 times a year.  Other than Caroline coming for cleaning every two weeks I'd see Dagan and/or Leah 0-3 times a month.  It was easy to self regulate my limited spoons. 
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Note: For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about (or, like myself, can't always remember well--another side effect is fibro fog brain)...you can read the short essay on Spoon Theory here. :)
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 I never had a lot of spoons to begin with.  This past year or so my spoon average has dropped considerably.  You might recall me mentioning my "noodle" days where I feel so weak all over that my arms and legs feel like noodles.  Remember when I spilled the entire huge Britta water container trying to put it in the frig at my old place?  Well, I already put a chip in the glass plate on the bottom of my microwave here because I couldn't lift a measuring cup quite high enough to get it out of the micro.  True--I am quite short (and getting shorter) and everything is higher here--but, if I am honest with myself, it was that general CFS weakness--noddle arm--that did it.
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Now, don't get me wrong.  I am doing just fine.  I am not feeling sorry for myself...maybe a little too frustrated sometimes the past couple months...but I am in a good mood and very happy with my new place and Karma and I hang out and watch Netflix--LOL!  (Leah told me I am always in a good mood.)  But I had thought I'd be out of this flare by New Years...and then by my birthday.  Totally thought at New Year's that I was being ridiculously silly saying it could take till my birthday.  You know what an optimist I am.  Well, it's a week till my birthday and I am only a smidgen better than I was at New Year's.  
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So, I have to face the fact that I could feel like this for the rest of my life, a couple years, a few months, or start feeling better tomorrow.  But I can't count on tomorrow or any time soon, really.  I still have even less spoons than I normally used to have.  So--I need to make some changes.  If I am going to have as much of my extra-limited "good" time as possible for McFamily, art & crafts, attempting a social life here...I have to shift spoons about.  Maybe I'll have more spoons soon...or after while...??  But for now I only have my very few to work with.
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So, I decided not to hook up with the T-Stands For Tuesday group anymore.  I never was able to make it around to visit the group again last week.  It takes me a long time to visit and comment on 15-20 blogs (even when I don't have computer issues)...and it's a kind of time sensitive group, of course.  Even giving me a week to visit...well, I am just not going to connect with the T-Day group right now.  Not sure if I'll be back or when...but I would need more spoons.  ;)
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You might not see the red thermal cup again soon.         
And--I will not be around to visit and comment on blogs as much in general.  But I will still try to comment back as much as possible with my own loyal blog commenters.  (Love you guys!)  So if any of you happen to miss my chatter--please comment on the blog, okay?  [Or write a letter!  I have a set-up in my comfy chair with pillows and a lapdesk so that I can usually hand-write even on bad days.] 
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So this way I will just blog whenever I feel up to it.  I am not sure what that will look like.  I might take a long break or even end up blogging more often with shorter blog posts--who knows?  Kind of just blogging without obligation and chatting with people who are nice enough to come by to visit, I guess.  Till I have more spoons.  :) :)
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Okay--done with the blog shift announcement.  
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Oh--and thank you for being so patient with me, those of you who have waited for a month or more for a nice long chatty email.  :) 
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Well, Dagan was here Friday and discovered that I hadn't had an operating system update since 2011.  Was still using Snow Leopard (got that after Leopard, as I recall).  So he started the newest system upgrade--El Capitan.  (What a funny name.)  This system is new enough to get Chrome updates, too--tada!  By the time I got it downloaded and installed--and discovered I wasn't connected to the internet anymore--it was time for Movie Night.
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I did go down for the movie and did get one of the big stuffed chairs...but this time it took 40 minutes for six old ladies to get the movie started (we all hate Universal Remotes!)...so we had chatted a lot...a couple ladies had made popcorn...I had already seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding...was very tired (big surprise)...so I excused myself and went home to work on the laptop.
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   And--El Capitan is working!  I have not seen the crash boxes since!  McLap is even slower, of course, with the new updated system--but now we can maybe work on cleaning up files and such to get a little extra speed.  Or Dagan can--LOL!  We had to get her functional first.  (I know how she feels!)
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  Even when McLap is plugged in it only is running at 77%.  The battery is dying.  It only lasts 5-10 minutes if you unplug it.  A couple months ago it lasted more like half an hour.  But McLap is functional again--for now--whoohoo!!  Good thing because the old HP laptop from Dagan's work--the mouse won't work at all so it's kind of dead in the water as of a few days ago.  I'm hoping Dagan can come over after work on Friday again this week.  ;)
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Leah was here till late for Crafts last night.  We had a blast!  Were using emboss resist techniques and watercolors on 140 lb watercolor paper.
We laid them on some old craft/art towels to dry.  Miss Karma got in trouble for plopping down on them.  Luckily she picked the drier ones and didn't rainbow herself with bright colored paint--LOL! 
This week--I have social possibilities every single day.  Today I am going to drag myself down for a piece of cake for the March birthdays.  Caroline comes to clean tomorrow.  There are things I could go to on Thursday and Friday...and Dagan may come over for tech support on Friday again.  See?  You know I will never manage to be doing something every single day.  In my world, just having company takes spoons.  ;)
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So, I shall say goodbye for now.  Honestly, not sure when I'll be back.  I may only have enough spoons to write my own blog and write people back who leave blog comments or write emails--but I won't stop blogging altogether.  I don't think I could.  I'd miss you all too much.
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So, I am off to take my half a spoon down for some cake...come home...and collapse with Miss Karma...and wait to see if the geese sweethearts stroll by today.
Love and hugs!!!  :):)
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"As long as the candle burns, there is time to make repairs."
Rabbi Salanter

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Tuesday-11:30am

Good Morning!
Still morning yet.
Daylight Savings Time has my life all out of whack, as I expected.  Don't call on me before noon for the moment...until (or if) my hours shift back to "early(ish) to bed-early(ish) to rise"--LOL!
I shouldn't complain at all since I wasn't even a day-person until I started taking melatonin...what?...three years ago or so?  Now if I get up after 9am I think I've lost half the day--LOL!  I would have bet money I'd never even have "day-person" leanings.  It's like being a pod person--LOL!  (Anyone else remember Invasion of The Body Snatchers 1956?)
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Anyways, we've had record-breaking temperatures this past week up into the mid-60s even.  Still in the 50s for highs with rain in the forecast for the next couple of days--but then we're supposed to go back down to our normal highs of 30s to low 40s.  Unexpected nice change while it lasted.  :)   
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Miss Karma has been spending most of her days next to the patio door... 
...so I drug out the one of the big hunks of my old memory foam bed pad that I cut up and put an old towel over it for her.  Got a new one, you may recall--4 inches!  Made my bed so high that if my hips get any stiffer I will need a stool to get into it--LOL!  (Marvelous, though!)
Sewing covers for these hunks of memory foam is also on my endless to-do list for 2016.  
Karma and I had a rare glimpse of both jackrabbit and grouse at the same time. 

Sorry the pic is bad but it was a dark day and that was taken quickly through the screen.
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This Faux-Spring has been glorious!
Karma even buried herself under the towel when she got cold but didn't want to abandon her post...
 ...so I did drag out another old towel so she'd have one under her and one over her.  Spoiled much?
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Okay--on to the bad news.  
My old McLap has been having issues for...well, since before I moved, actually.  I've mentioned to you before how Shockwave Flash is constantly "not responding" or crashing and has slowed my computer way down to the point that some days it reminds me of my first computer and dial up where I kept a book and a deck of cards next to my desktop to have something to do while pages loaded.  Remember those days?
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When I searched online I found that Macs can have the type of issues I'm having with more than one Flash program being on the computer.  Dagan has tried to delete Shockwave Flash and Leah tried again last night.  Apple may just put it back on with its automatic updates--or possibly it's Chrome doing that--or it never actually is allowing them to delete it in the first place.  Not really sure what's going on...
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...but McLap has some really bad days, folks.  Worse than has been.  This was me trying to open up my gmail several days ago.  I had this screen for over two minutes...    
...and then this screen for a couple more minutes
And when McLap is having a bad day she won't scroll, type, switch pages...has a delayed reaction.  Do you remember the old computers where you could type a whole sentence and have to sit and wait for it to slowly reveal itself to you a few words at a time?  Yup--McLap has her back in the 90s days.  Haven't we become spoiled by super-fast technology with instant response?  I know I sure have.
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I had been getting this alert for a couple of months... 
...but those seem to have stopped the past week or so. 
Chrome is apparently not going to update my Mac anymore because it's too old.  Maybe that's a good thing?  If it is Chrome messing with McLap then maybe I can finally get rid of one of my Flash programs--LOL!  Leah tried again last night but I still had the box that says Shockwave Flash is not responding (to whatever I am trying to open)...do you want to wait or kill?  If I choose "kill" the computer freezes up altogether most of the time.  Believe me--I did try to kill it more than once--ROFL!
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Yes, Dagan's old tablet works and I can watch Netflix and "cast" it to my TV from the tablet (or even my cell phone).  And I do know I can probably get to emails and such from that tablet...but I am so lost on that tiny screen where everything is microsoft and alien looking.  But...the day may come where I will be forced to learn how to use MS again.
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  Dagan got an old laptop from work they didn't want anymore and he is deleting its brains for me...and it is microsoft.  I can't remember now how long I have had McLap...maybe 6-8 years?  (Shows you how bad my memory is!)  OMG!  Trying to learn how to navigate a Mac--I remember wanting to throw it out the window almost every day...for months!  Now it is all I know--Apple World.  But I am on the cliff edge of Apple World at the moment...so--just in case--so you won't be surprised--I could fall off the Mac cliff at any time.  And I will barely know how to communicate with you for a while...maybe quite a while.
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Right now it takes me 2-3 hours to post a blog--sometimes more.  Not that I'm not a very slow writer in the first place, but computer issues and my last patience-nerve are why you have mostly been hearing from me once a week on Tuesdays for a long time.  ;)  I may not be commenting as often on your blogs.  Going around to visit on T-Day takes me the whole rest of the day.  So, I am not sure if I will make it around today--or this week?  I am a captive of undependable technology.  
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Since yesterday McLap has been in a little better form (knock on wood) so I spent the day yesterday finally answering emails--some were almost a month old.  So sorry.  Like I said, I am not fast to begin with, but I am usually not THAT slow to respond.  ;)
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Enough computer talk.
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You are forewarned in case I disappear or you notice I am not around as much.  
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And now you know another reason for my long posts.  I am never sure if each one might be my last for a good long while--so I try to cover as much as I can--LOL!
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  It was a busy, busy week for me.  I did make the PotLuck last Tuesday!  Wasn't a good day and I was 15 minutes late and didn't dare eat anything (IBS, need I say more)--but I made it.  :)  Just being around strangers--people--is so alien to me after eleven years.  Nice enough, I guess.  
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Leah came over on Wednesday night (switched from Monday).  She got as far as she could go on her tags and then helped me with stamping card fronts for birthday cards.
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I was way too sore and tired by Thursday to make it to the Exercise Group, but I did make it down to Movie Night on Friday night.  People just bring a movie with they think people might like to watch, I guess.  I had the impression from PotLuck night that they aren't comfortable with swearing, sex, or violence...so Water For Elephants might have been too violent for some of the ladies?  We started out with seven and there were only three of us by the time the movie was over.  I'd already seen it, but it's a pretty good movie so I stayed to watch it to the end.  I know to go early to get one of the four stuffed chairs.  I doubt I would have lasted that long in one of the hardback chairs.  Especially since we were there from 6:30 to 8:45 because you had seven old ladies who didn't know how to work the remote to run the DVD/TV and it had to have taken us 20-30 minutes to get the movie going--ROFL!!  :):)
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I think I finally figured out why people who live here seem a little uncomfortable with me until I chat with them for a while.  (Have you had rooms go silent when you walk in?)  I was asked a couple times if I worked here...or had people assume I worked full time...sideways glances, etc.  I think it  might be because I don't have gray hair yet.  No lie!  I think they don't think I am old enough to live here...and I don't "look" disabled, you know?  Plus it might be that I act a little differently out of habit--because I used to work and live with seniors down in Minneapolis for a couple years before I moved up here to go to college (at 48).  But if I chat and make people laugh they get more comfortable with me.
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Therefore, I am really going to try to make it to the March Birthday cake & coffee next week so I can tell them all I will be 65 on the 28th!!  ROFL!!
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Last night Leah was here for Crafts.  We planned Christmas card ideas and talked about techniques and went through the stamps we have.  Next week--we are going to PLAY!!  We both love the watercolor techniques that are so popular with cardmakers right now.  I haven't been painting for so long and Leah hasn't much ever...so we plan to just play-play-play---maybe even for a couple of weeks--before we even get to making the actual cards, who knows?  We love the paint slopped backgrounds so that gives you a hint.  :)
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I am going to search online this week (on good McLap days) for some brush stroke word stamps and some clear and white embossing powder in bulk.  Another hint--LOL!  Going to be fun!  I have a stack of boxes of watercolor cards I bought on sale...well, I believe it was before I ever moved up here and that was in 1999.  I have enough for us to make a set of Christmas cards!  Really excited about this project!
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Thursday Caroline comes to clean and the only activity I plan to attend is Movie Night on Friday night again.  Much quieter week ahead.  :)
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I wanted to talk about Give A Girl A Journal--you may have noticed the new box on the side of my blog--but I am totally shot now and this is already long enough--LOL!  Next time, hopefully.  You can click on the box if you want to peek.  ;)
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This is how wiped I am.  My table still has things I never put away from last night.  (Yes, Karma got tired of chunky and is now eating pate again--so now am switching her back and forth, the diva!)  My trusty red cup for T-Stands For Tuesday (even if I am not sure I will make it around this week--I'll try--maybe McLap will be cooperative?).  
And as long as I got the camera out... 
...Leah brought these removable 3M clips!  We put two under the magnetic blackboard (above)--because Leah and I often have coupons for Caroline and (the reason I wanted something) now the monthly North Sky activity calendar has a home over by the door.
Aren't these just the cutest things?!  
Fat little white clothespins!! 
Leah was right.  I love them.
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So, whew!  
That's it for this week.
Karma's watching a loose plastic bag whirl about in the grass. 
The rabbits are slowly turning brown again.  Canadian geese have been flying and honking overhead on their northbound travels.  It stopped raining about an hour ago and the sun has been struggling to peek out from behind the clouds.  It is now 2:30pm and I haven't eaten anything.  So--later guys!  Say a prayer for McLap--LOL!  Have a glorious week, everybody!!  Love and hugs!!
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"There will be something, anguish or elation, that is peculiar to this day alone. I rise from sleep and say: Hail to the morning! Come down to me, my beautiful unknown."
Jessica Powers

Tuesday, March 08, 2016

Tuesday-12:30pm

We had a smattering of snow...
...with freezing temps. 
Almost impossible to catch pictures of the grouse or jackrabbits lately because they all seem to suffering from spring fever and race everywhere they go. 
One day something was perched in the bottom branches of this tree across the way.  Medium sized.  Would have had to be a big grouse...or a small hawk?  No clue.  My camera can't help me, either, because this was as close as I could get through the screen. 
Suddenly it was spring!  Poof! 64 degrees with little wind on Saturday and almost as warm on Sunday! 
Went to take a picture of the melting snowbanks across the way and caught a lone grouse running down the sidewalk--LOL! 
On sunny mornings Karma is no longer interested in sitting next to me in her chair. 
She's been catching sunshine!  I'd been able to crack the door open for a short while a couple times last week... 
...and then came the spring-like weekend! 
Patio door and windows opened wide all afternoon--whoohoo! 
Karma didn't want to leave the patio door. 
She snoozed right close so she would miss any grouse or rabbits as they raced past.
Unbelievable to have it this warm in the beginning of March! 
Miss Karma...rubbing her own head on the carpet in delight... 
...but not missing walkers and/or dogs going by, either. 
It's 39 right now and supposed to stay in the 40s and 50s for the next week or so.  Crazy!
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My sleep pattern has moved to a later shift the past couple weeks for some reason, so I am going to be in big trouble when nasty old daylight savings time takes effect next weekend.  I will either be up even later and sleeping even later or it will magically snap me backwards in time--LOL!  But that's why I am getting such a late start today.
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Leah and Ian came by for a visit last Wednesday afternoon.  Got to read Ian some of his new books here at Gramma's house.  :)  Thursday Leah came over for Craft Night (always fun!).  But I was so sore by Friday that I only got four hours of sleep, didn't go check out Movie Night here in the community room, and was in bed by 9pm.  But I slept 11 hours!  Whoohoo!
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I've been sleeping longer every night since and have gotten a lot done around here.  Just puttering about stuff.  Laundry, sweeping, trash out, cleaning both my humidifiers, cleaning and relabeling my coffee jars...stuff like that.  :)  Maybe I have a touch of spring fever, too--LOL!
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Today is dark and kind of misty rainy.  
Rain--yes, rain--not snow.
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Could be a busy week.  Tonight is the monthly pot luck.  (Missed the first one last month-sick--just have some bakery cookies again.)  Tomorrow Leah is planning to come over for Craft Night.  Thursday afternoon they have that exercising to a video group in the afternoon and Friday is Movie Night.  I'm going to try to make it to as many of the activities here this week as I am able...without pushing myself over the brink--LOL!  Sadly--doesn't take much.  But it looks hopeful that I might be able to make the PotLuck tonight.  :)
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And for the T-Stands For Tuesday group over at Elizabeth's--I don't even have my red cup sitting next to me yet because while I have been typing this I have been jumping up and down to slowly make some coffee--LOL!  Starbucks Verona. (Enough appliances in that corner?)
So if this post is a bit wonky...you can blame it on my lack of coffee--hehe!  I had best post this before it gets any later...and go pour myself some coffee!!  :) :)
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“As long as there was coffee in the world, how bad could things be?” 
Cassandra Clare

Tuesday, March 01, 2016

Tuesday-10am

Chilly morning (16 degrees), but sunny.
We were above freezing for quite a few days so all that is left outside are the snowbanks.  But they are about a third of the size they were.  
I ordered this wooden puzzle for Ian from Amazon.  Waited for it to drop back down from $29.88 to $12.99 and snatched it up.  (Man!  The prices on Amazon can jump all over the place!)
Caroline came to clean--got to see pictures of super smiley two month old Parker--and she told me about camelcamelcamel.com where you can track the Amazon prices on items.  I guess they will send you notification when what you are tracking goes back down to the price you are waiting for.  Leah looked at it and said they are partnered with Amazon and it looked legit--so I am tracking a couple things right now.  Pretty cool!  You can see what the price range has been in the past and when--cool!  Heck Amazon knows everything I look at online anyways, right?  LOL!
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I've never understood Karma's love of hard pillows.  
How can she sleep like this...
...with her head on the wooden chair arm?
Anyways, she kept me company, of course, when I decided that I'd slap some blobs of color on a piece of packing paper...
...so I could wrap up the puzzle for Ian.  
 Dagan picked me up after work on Friday (his half day).
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Okay.  
Dagan had on this T-shirt.  
He assured me I wasn't the only one who didn't get it.  
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Did you?
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Those are grandmothers or old gray-haired ladies with walkers...and a chubby little person in a Batman costume.
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You have to say it out loud.
Nana, Nana, Nana, Nana, Nana, Nana, Nana, Nana...Batman!
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Hysterical!
I guess you have to have seen the old Batman show from the 60s or maybe one of the Batman movies?  Anyways, once he told me the lady was Nana (not as common up here in the Midwest--or at least in my family)--I kept laughing and had to get a picture.  My son is a kid at heart...wonder where he got that from?  LOL!
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Leah's youngest sister, Ariel, was up visiting from Minneapolis over the weekend, too.  We had some delicious Chinese takeout for lunch.
Leah and Ariel had been out and about so Ian hadn't had a nap and was overtired, but he got to open his present before nap time because I didn't plan to stay long, we weren't sure how long he'd sleep, and Dagan was dropping me off back home on his way to gaming.  (Plus Gramma has been overtired, too, lately--lol!)  Ian made a beeline for the puzzle as soon as he woke up, so I guess he liked it.  :)
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Leah took a video till my cell phone cut her off.
20 months old already!
How did that happen?
Oh, and for the gang over at T Stands For Tuesday, my red coffee mug was on the table when I was painting...of course.  Forgot to mention that till now.  ;)
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At the moment, Miss Karma is snoozing in the sunshine while it lasts.
Leah switched Craft Night to this coming Thursday night and she and Ian are planning to come over for a visit tomorrow afternoon.  :)
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I might possibly be a bit busier in 2016.  Time will tell.  Remember that Potluck meeting I missed because I was sick?  Well, our first newsletter and calendar came out for March.  (No craft group or library outreach.)  They have an Open Game Night on Monday nights.  (I imagine it will be cards and board games--which I never know when I might have to scoot home, so I can't join anything where my leaving might mess up the works--but I might go peek and see what they are doing because they invited people to come and watch if nothing else--lol!)  There's Movie Night on Friday nights (definitely will check that out--curious about what they will choose).  Bingo every other week (doesn't interest me).  Chair/Easy exercise videos a couple mornings and a couple afternoons (takes me all morning to thaw out, but I might try the afternoon group--be good for me).  And then there's a monthly Potluck and a monthly Birthday gathering (it's is my birthday month so I should at least try and show up for the March birthdays).  They are making coffee every morning in the Community Room at 8am and would appreciate a quarter a cup reimbursement.
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And so...it has begun!
They are getting organized.
Looks like a resident volunteer is in charge.
The third and final building isn't even completed yet.
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I am so familiar with all of this--ROFL!  My new followers might not know that I both had a live-in emergency personnel position plus worked in the office of a senior complex before I moved up here to Fargo-Moorhead in 1999.  Dagan was teasing me about getting on the newsletter committee, activity committee, etc.  Been there--done that.  Now I am on the other end--LOL!  If any of you folks would like me to fill you in, just let me know.  :)  
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I will let you know what I attend and how it goes, for sure.  Would be nice to eventually find one like-minded person here--you know, an actual friend.  You think there might be any old tree-hugging hippies up here in Fargo?  ROFL!  
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 Well, that's it for now.  
Farewell from frigid Fargo.  :) :)
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"We have thousands of opportunities every day to be grateful: for having good weather, to have slept well last night, to be able to get up, to be healthy, to have enough to eat.... There's opportunity upon opportunity to be grateful; that's what life is."
David Steindl-Rast