Monday, September 03, 2018

9-3-2018 Monday 6:45am

Good Morning!
I have been up since 4:30am.  Me!  Yesterday it was 3:30am.  Needless to say my hours are off kilter--LOL!  Just because of Gramma Day and early collapsing--ROFL!  Nothing exciting or worrisome.  ;)  
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Yes, had a Gramma Day on Saturday.  Did fun things like take out trash, pay the rent, check the mail, water the plants...funny how much more fun ordinary things are to do with a four year old.  ;)  We watched Maru, several How It's Made videos, and then began watching a series of videos on a man building a log cabin by himself in Canada.  Ian wants me to wait to watch any more of the "builder man" until he is over here--like with the Maru videos.  Absolutely!  No problem.  Was in bed between 8:30-9pm the last two nights--hence the being up ridiculously early.  So strange for a night owl, but I'm sure I will get over my early-to-bed-affliction in no time.
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Since I started doing the lettering and doodling challenges in my journals every day there has been a gradual accumulation of pens and markers on the table.    
Yes, this lover of variety uses all these pens for the challenges.  Love using different ones every day. 
But they have become so jam packed that I could barely get them in and out of this acrylic holder anymore and it was hard to separate them by type. 
There are brush pens (black and colored sets), highlighters, Frixion pens & markers (erasable), and drawing pens.  Been thinking and searching for a solution for a couple of months.  Came up with one and they were delivered yesterday!  You will see below.
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Then we have Annie and her weird long hairs on the backside of her front legs.  I made it a mission this week to try to get pictures while she slept on my leg.  No wonder I couldn't remember if they were white or black!  Because one leg has white...
...and the other leg has light gray. 
Very weird, huh?
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I have been plugging away in the studio.  Pretty much have that first bookcase done.  There are a few blank spaces and an item or two might be shifted, but I have moved on to bookcase number two. 
Made some veggie soup. 
When Ian was here we also moved out all his stuff from that bottom shelf and stuck it in the cubed bookcase for now.  I shuffled things around to free up a top shelf. 
Looks so empty after Ian's piles of stuff is gone. 
Back to the studio...worse before better again--LOL!  
Pulling out boxes.   
But I pretty much have the top half of the second bookcase done--tada! 
The top half holds paint brushes, gouache paints, paint pens & various other art pens, colored pencils, markers, etc.
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Yes--I told you it was terribly dusty in there! 
Those bottom boxes are pulled out now, too, but I haven't gone through them all yet.  That's next.  
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Eventually everything we can't see into needs to be labeled.  Leah has a label maker or I can hand print on paper for the ones that have a label spot.  Just decided to come back to that part of the project later and get through all the cleaning and sorting first. 
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Okay--as promised--back to the mass of pens and markers...
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My idea was to buy up a dozen of these black mesh pen cups (love them!)...
 ...and I thought they'd fit inside of this black letter tray so I could lift them all at once if need be.
But they didn't fit three across.  I knew that was a possibility because measurements online aren't always that accurate.  No problem because where I wanted all the pen cups was in the top shelf of one of the IKEA carts.  I knew they would fit with room to spare.  TaDa!  
I plan to surprise Leah and ask her if she would like her own letter box for her new desk.  She either will or won't.  If she doesn't, there is never an issue about me finding a use for it--LOL!
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Of course, I realized that I needed to rearrange things on the carts again so that all the writing and lettering stuff was in the one cart and all the card-making and project stuff was in the other cart--DUH! 
You may recall that previously one wheel broke off that Leah reattached with some special adhesive for metal.  Now the real test begins because that writing cart will be rolled over to the table every day.  That wheel broke off when they were only moved once a month when Caroline cleaned--LOL!  So we'll see how well the IKEA cart wheels hold up with daily rolling about.  ;)
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Rolled the cart over for the first time this morning.  I absolutely love it!  Just thrilled that I can easily find what I'm looking for now--whoohoo!  Plenty of room.  Don't have to shift and jiggle pens around to try to squeeze a pen out or back into a tight spot every time I use one.  Oh the little pleasures in life, eh?  :) :)
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Yes, I am a pen addict.
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Well, today I am going over for a visit with McFamily to just hang out and have a lazy day with them on Liam's actual first birthday.  How time flies!  Leah was going to work on our One Drive picture sharing issues and also how to save pictures from texts or Google+...but she must have been up early and messing around with One Drive because I suddenly got 654 pictures and 61 videos this morning!!!  Either that or One Drive suddenly decided to send everything since June--LOL!  Waaay too much to sort through for the blog today.  But I will work on them this week.  :)
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 I watched the newest season of Orange Is The New Black and am halfway through the new season of Shameless on Netflix streaming.  Renting the third season of Lucifer from Netflix.  I really do enjoy watching series.  ;)
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Oh, and I got the bullet set up for September.


 And October is ready.  
Just have to fill a few things in when I get there.
That will be the end of this bullet journal.  Starting a new one in November.  Always such fun to start a brand new one.  I plan to keep adding in the doodle challenges every month.
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Speaking of...people asked to see my silly doodles...so you can giggle all you want.  Some mornings my hand isn't working that well (arthritis is setting in) and I have some days I don't color them...but here are a whole bunch of them.
I jot down the challenge on the side of the boxes so I don't have to go look them up on a list each day. 

I'm surprised how satisfying it is to do just a tiny something creative every day. 
Some days I don't put in much effort and other days I do more. 
Some make me laugh. 

But this daily drawing is why I have moved so many pens nearby. 
And all the brush pens...I do a couple lettering challenges in my writing journal every day, too.  Keeps me off the street, eh?  LOL!
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So--an earlier post today.  Shock!  
To all those in the US--have a nice Labor Day.  Even I am off visiting today, imagine that!  See you next week. :) :)
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"We’ve got the gift of love, but love is like a precious plant. You can’t just accept it and leave it in the cupboard, or just think it’s gonna get on with itself. You gotta keep watering it. You’ve got to really look after it...and nurture it."
John Lennon

16 comments:

Rita said...

My comment to get your comments!
Happy Monday! :)

DJan said...

Love that John Lennon quote, Rita. And yes, you are definitely a pen addict, but it could be worse. You do make cute little drawings, I'm very impressed. Hope you have a great day and don't overdo it too much. :-)

Lady Fi said...

Veggie soup and Annie - what delights! And of course the grandkids.

Jon said...

As a fellow night owl, I'm usually just going to bed at 4:30 a.m. - but every once in awhile, my "schedule" goes way off and I get up at an insanely early hour.

Very often, the cats annoy me so much when I'm in bed that I get up simply to avoid being tortured. I know I could just lock them out of the bedroom - but they would be heartbroken.

I'm always envious of how incredibly neat and organized your place looks. I used to be organized, but lately I've given up trying.

As always, your homemade soup looks delicious!

Jo-Anne's Ramblings said...

Days spent with young grandchildren are such special days, my mum used to make her own soup all the time but not any more usually either Sandy or Sue will make some and take a container of it over to mum & dads for them. I am in bed earlier then you and up at 6am ready for when Leo gets here.

Serena Lewis said...

How cute that Ian wants you to wait for him before you watch the 'builder man' series.

You're a night owl; I'm an early bird. 4am is my usual time for getting up in the summer months. 5am rise in the winter months. It's usually lights out by 10:30pm most nights. I think it would feel strange to me also if suddenly those times were reversed on me.

I'm a pen addict too and I also tend to get a collection of pens on my art table. I'm trying to be neater though and have them stored in drawers on and under my art table. But then I worry that they will be out of sight, out of mind, and never get used. Your bookcases will be so neat when you're done. Don't ya just hate dust?! The IKEA carts look great and perfectly organised! I hope the repaired wheel holds out.

The veggie soup looks delicious!

Happy 1st Birthday to Liam! How the time has flown for sure! Enjoy your day with McFamily!

Hopefully OneDrive is all sorted now. I have found when OneDrive doesn't seem to be syncing with my computer, I just go to the main OneDrive site online and, once I do that, it seems to refresh the syncing again.

I've just started the fifth season of Bates Motel on Netflix.

Nice September and October set-ups in your bullet journal! OH yes, I adore starting a new journal too.

I LOVE your doodles, Rita! A whole lot more productive than what I've been of late. Well done indeed! Where do you get your prompts from?

Love the John Lennon quote — so true.

I hope you have a lovely week, my friend.

Love and hugs to you and Annie xo

Serena Lewis said...

By the way, I think Blogger may be sorting out the comment notification issues. I received an email from them asking me to Subscribe to getting notifications when comments are posted on my blog. I've already had a few notifications trickle through via my email address so that's a positive sign. Here's hoping...

Far Side of Fifty said...

Pen Addict! Yes you are! Like you said it keeps you off the streets! Sounds like you have had some busy good days! My sleep is all out of whack too...up at 4AM...so I am tired too...I wonder what is up with that! :(

Joy@aVintageGreen said...

You have had a very busy week of good things - Ian time with Granny, your shelves are filling up, you came up with a very good way to keep your pens and drawing tools grouped and very handy, good soup, sweet Annie and you shared your charming doodles and you sound happy and feeling better. Plus, family time.
Hugs
Joy

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

Happy belated Labor Day to you, too. You have really gone to town on those book cases and turned your IKEA cart into a rolling pen holder. Little pleasures indeed. Hope your time with McFamily was great yesterday. I was mostly grillin' and chillin' and stayed offline.

Sherry Ellis said...

Doing things with kids is a lot more more fun than doing them alone. They have a different perspective on things that's often very entertaining. Those are some odd cat hairs. Maybe she's going gray. :)

My name is Erika. said...

I'm running behind on visiting posts but wanted to mention I love how your organizing is going, and I really love your journal. Your drwings are amazing. Hope its a good week so far. Hugs-Erika

IntenseGuy said...

Wow a birthday already???? And you are soooo organized!!

Divers and Sundry said...

Kids add a dimension of fun to anything that just isn't there without them. I like how he has special things he wants to do just with you. That's so sweet. The veggie soup is making my mouth water. Yummmmm

You are _so_ organized! And the way you've managed to have your pens visible and readily available, that's so handy. I like your doodles and that you use daily prompts. I've tried to think of ways to bring a bit of art/creativity into my days, and that might work for me.

Harvest Moon by Hand said...

You are so organized! I like the carts and the way you organize all the pens you have. It's nice to be able to find what you want to use right away and not have to search for it.

The soup looked delicious. It's getting to be that time of the year when a hot bowl of soup is a welcome meal on a cold day.

I like all your drawings and that you do one each day. It keeps your creativity going and challenges you to do something new on a daily basis.

Your bullet journal looks great!

Feral Turtle said...

The grands are definitely the greatest of gifts. Glad your pen collection keeps you out of trouble...lol. that's me and my beads! Cheers Rita