Wednesday-9:45am

Good Morning!

Only the remnants of the biggest snow banks are left right now near me in town here.  We've had thunderstorms, ice, drizzly rain, snow, and wild winds.  Gone from the warmth of the 50s to single digits.  Never know from day to day what it's going to be like--winter or spring.

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I did get the small table and the bird feeder out on the patio.

Since the first faux-spring when the grouse went nutty I have only seen two nervous grouse come by.  There's a few rabbits, but no Chester.  Can always depend on the flocks of sparrows to appreciate the easy meals, though.  ;)

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Once I could see enough to DO something again (as long as it is not detail work), I started putting the double-sided tape on the backs of card parts we had previously cut out.  I got all these taped and ready to go!  Using little empty boxes to hold and separate them.  Went through six rolls of Scrappy Tape--almost seven!  :) 

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McFamily went down to Minneapolis for Dagan's heart and pacemaker check-ups.  Dagan will need a new battery in about a year for his pacemaker.  Was soooo pleased to hear that Dagan is doing the very best of all of their Fontan patients--tada!  He doesn't have any subsequent health issues.  Others have had liver and other problems cropping up, but Dagan's doing fine.  So, they want to start doing some tests and gathering information next year so that they have a baseline for him.  Plus, since it is a small select group of people, just to have more information for comparison...kind of like for a Fontan study, you know?  So, very good news!

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 They stopped at Ikea on the way home.  For me, they picked up a floor mat to cover the buckling, tearing linoleum (awesome!)...   

...a long, red shoe horn (my new black shoes crumple terribly in the heel).. 

...and two more boxes for storage that I haven't put together yet.  Sweet!

If you can see the boxes in the studio mess--LOL!

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Since this is my birthday month you won't be the least surprised to know I ordered myself some pens.  (It's almost always pens, inks, and/or paper.)

Yes, those are the reading glasses from Costco.  And below are the gaudy pick pair of reading glasses lent to me by the eye doctor.  (Explain in a minute.)  I got a TWSBI ECO (front one), an amber colored Pilot Cavalier, and two Lamy Al-Stars!! 

I had a TWSBI Mini I bought just a few years ago (you can see the comparison in size to the ECO on the left) and a Cavalier I bought maybe 20 years ago (the baby blue one on the right).  Love both of them!  You can see the new amber Cavalier is larger than they used to make them. 

I have my two old Lamy Safaris (around 35 years old) but I have never owned a Lamy Al-Star (aluminum version).  Since I replaced the old worn-wide nibs on my old Safaris I have been loving my Lamys again.  (The Safaris were the first nicer fountain pens I ever bought.)  Now I have the blue-green and the pacific Al-Stars!  Whoohoo!  Aren't they pretty colors?

The funny part is that I spent a lot of time trying to unscrew the TWSBI ECO and couldn't do it.  Had Leah try when she was here yesterday.  Turns out--it doesn't come apart--LOL!  Apparently, you have to fill the ECO with the plunger.  Can't fill it with the syringe like I am used to doing with all my pens.  

Between me not being able to see close up and Leah not knowing anything about fountain pens and taking my uninformed word for it--well, it was pretty darn funny that we spent all that time trying to take a pen apart that was (as far as we can tell now) in one solid piece.  Maybe you had to be there.  One of those ass-u-me situations--LOL!

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The wild pink glasses--LOL!  Since when I am in my chair I can no longer read the old McLap on the laptop table because it is out of the 8-12 inch range, Dr. Dye lent me this pink pair that will help me see a little farther out so that I can now see McLap.  (But of course, then I can't see the TV with the glasses on--ROFL!)  But these seem to be more of a 10-14 inch range or maybe a little farther.  

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I am still having trouble with some double-vision and eyes not focusing together quite right--but Dr. Dye said that there are special lenses to help with the double vision if it doesn't go away as my eyes heal up (and my old brain adjusts-LOL!).

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Will be nice when I get glasses where I can see everywhere at once just moving my eyes up and down my lenses (tri-focals).  I go back on the 29th--day after my birthday.  Oh, and I didn't make the appointment I had for the follow-up on Monday (wasn't feeling well-IBS) but made it there yesterday instead.  Ian woke up with a cough and cold yesterday so he stayed home with Aaron (Leah's brother)...and by last night Leah was sick, too.  Hope they are feeling better soon.

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Okay--I usually keep my blogs time sensitive from my previous posts and in chronological order...but I forgot I had taken a video of Ian one afternoon a couple weeks ago when he and Leah were here after an eye doctor visit.  Just some snacktime at the table at Gramma's house.  Oh, the lights he was watching are the colored twinkly lights around the patio door that I kept up since Christmas.  (And they will stay up all year round just because Gramma likes them--LOL!)

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And now for the big news!!

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Drum roll please!

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There is going to be an addition to McFamily come the end of August!!!  :) :) :)

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Leah gave me the okay yesterday to make it public.  Ian will have a baby brother or sister this year.  Now that is exciting!!

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And, that news kind of leads me to the second bit of news.

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We were thinking about Annie, their super-super-shy cat.  Since I was saying if I got another cat I wanted an older one...Dagan and Leah asked what I would think about taking Annie.  It would be on a trial basis--because we want Annie to be happy.  She's already scared of Ian...well, of everybody...and now with another little human on the horizon...

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  Annie had originally been rescued from the streets--was pregnant or had just had kittens.  A older lady Dagan worked with got Sammy and Annie and had them for a few years.  They needed to find a home for them and that's when Dagan and Leah took them.  Annie is somewhere around eight years old--already fixed and declawed (rules here).  It's just mainly if she would like it here.  I've checked with the vet about getting another cat and they said it was okay.  I will double-check online before we move her, though.  

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Dagan has to catch Annie and put her in the basement when they have company otherwise she won't eat or drink or go to the bathroom and just hides under their bed the entire time.  She still runs away from everybody, doesn't like to be picked up (doesn't hiss or fight--kind of goes limp in resignation if she can't push away, but escapes at the first opportunity).  She will voluntarily accept what Dagan calls "drive by petting" where if you are sitting in a chair she will walk under your hand for a pet.  Took a couple of years before she would let me do drive-bys.  :)

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With another baby coming they are just worried about how Annie will handle it and if they'll hardly ever see her, you know?  We all are hoping that she would really like a nice quiet home better...and she already knows me...but you never know with cats.  Annie has only known being a shadow in a busy house and she might be more freaked out being center of attention, you know?  The plan is for Annie to try it out and we'll see how she does.  Not until April or May.  I want to have my new glasses and be used to them--plus I want to have the new shelves Leah is going to install in the pantry and bathroom first (better organized cat stuff and not a lot of scary drill noise when Annie is here--LOL!). 

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   So, that's what's happening up here.  I can see better to write (but not close/detail work), still have headaches and can't spend a lot of time online, but will have new glasses by April.  New McFamily baby on the way, Dagan's top dog of the Fontan kids, and Annie coming over this spring to see if she likes living with this old lady.  It's a gorgeous, sunny, cold (17 degrees) day.  My frig/freezer is quiet and cold.  I have a clear mat over the bad spot on kitchen floor.  Even have some of my French Vanilla International Cafe cans in the cupboard.  Life is good!  Getting better as the year goes on.  ;)  

Till next time...

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"How we spend out days is, of course, how we spend our lives."

Annie Dillard