4-29-2019 Monday-1pm

Good afternoon!

Monday again already and almost the end of April!  They just got snow to the west of us, but we mostly got rain here and missed another April blizzard.  ;)  Springs are unpredictable.

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I haven't slept in my bed for so long that Annie thinks it's... 

...her own personal giant-sized cat bed--LOL!

And--no--I haven't touched the clothes bins yet.  It got cold again.  We got rain and a little sleet during the night--or mini hail.  There was something pattering on the AC in the dark and I could see a little white on the grass.  Yup--been up most nights still.  But earlier in the week I was out every afternoon reading on the patio--even if I had to wear my hooded lined sweatshirt to do it--LOL!  ;)

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Leah came over Tuesday night to finish off making her invitations.  AND she came back Thursday night, too, since they are going to Minneapolis for Dagan's checkup Wednesday (heart/pacemaker) and she won't be over for a Craft Night this week.  She did cut my hair--tada!  We've been trying to arrange the hair cutting since at least Christmas, so that tells you what kind of winter we've had--LOL!  

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Meanwhile, I've been working on the Christmas cards!  Finally!  Well, one set.  We really want to get ahead of the game again.  I am using my last set of birthday cards this year, too.  Leah and I discussed plans for the alternate set of three-tree cards--which I'll start next after I finish these.  :)  Obviously we don't want to send them one year right after the other.  We have plans for more sets, of course.

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 With this set--first I am taking double-sided carpet tape to set the three white trees into the three tree hole in the plaid background.

This particular carpet tape is black. 

I saved all those little pieces between the trees, separated them, and now am popping them back into the holes.  The plaid isn't going to match, but it's good enough. 

So this is what my table has looked like off and on this past week. 

I am almost done with this part.  We're making about 90, but need to double check and do some counting.  Could be we need a few more.  :) 

Annie keeps me company, but she finds card making quite boring--LOL! 

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I got pictures from Leah!!

Easter family photo--with Blink (not really cooperating)...

...and without Blink.  :)

Liam is getting so big already!

He and Ian both have the straight hair in front and curls in the back--LOL!

Ian is still insisting he wants to grow his hair long.  Their fine hair gets all frizzy almost magically and sticks straight out from the back of their heads.  You can wet it down and an hour later--frizz. 

Leah found out she can put a little gel in and then the curls will stay! 

Well, mostly she does Ian's.  Liam's hair is shorter and he's not old enough to insist on growing it out--ROFL!  ;)  

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These pics were funny!

Ian helping Liam who wanted to get on the roller skates... 

...briefly!  LOL! 

Notice how big Phil is!

I haven't shown you Baby Phil for quite a while.

He's doing quite well, too.  

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And you might remember the little baby spider plant that Leah's sister sent up to me from Mpls?

When we plant flowers this spring Spidey needs to be re-potted, too.  ;)  The other plants in the blue planter under the light are catnip.  Annie LOVES me to snip off pieces for her.

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Last Thursday Leah was shocked when she heard this happen on the side of the house! 

The neighbors have this pile of big rocks for landscaping in their yard...and the company was there to mow and fuss about for spring... 

...when the mower must have hit a rock in the lawn and hurled it over to smash their window!  The workmen said to go ahead and have it repaired and then send the bill to the company.  Luckily it only broke the outside pane of the double-pane glass window--whew! 

But you think--what if the kids had been out playing in the yard or if anyone got hit by a big flying rock.  Goodness!  You don't think of lawn mowing as being that dangerous.  Seems kind of early for mowing in the first place, doesn't it?

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Man, it was such a fast week. 

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Since McFamily is going to Minneapolis and will stop at IKEA with their now larger vehicle...there just might be something new over here in the near future.  Just saying.  ;)  There have been measurements and discussions.  Always exciting!

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I'll leave you with a couple pictures of Liam examining their Dyson. 

He seems to be taking after his Mama.

Wants to know how everything works. 

And Leah told me that she was also a fearless mad climber, too!

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Well, the mourning doves are cooing.  Annie is sleeping in her chair next to me.  Clothes are rolling about in the dryer.  It's a dark, drizzly day--high of 45 degrees (7.2 C) and a low tonight of 31 degrees (-0.6 C).  I just asked Alexa--LOL!  But as soon as it is dry and halfways warm I shall be out reading on the patio some more.  And when it warms up I will be more motivated to use my spoons to "marikon" all my clothing instead of using them up working on Christmas cards--ROFL!  Every day I have to check spoon level and make priority decisions.  ;)  

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Have a wonderful, wonderful week, everybody!  Use your spoons wisely.  Till next time.  :) :)

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"In truth, the heart must crack open if the soul is to become free.  And you simply cannot think your way into that."

Terry Patten

4-22-2019 Monday--2pm

Good afternoon!

Busy week last week.

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Tuesday I had an apartment inspection.  Went fine.  Annie is just as scared of smoke alarms as Karma was.  ;)

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Wednesday Leah cancelled on our Craft Nite (forgot she'd double booked--LOL!).

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Thursday the stars aligned and we finally had my birthday over at McFamily's!  Worth the wait.  Had both Chinese and ice cream cake!!  (Ate leftovers for three days!) A wonderful time.  Liam is scared of me, though.  Need to get over more often.  Forgot to take any pictures...again--duh!  Got a gift card for Baker Nursery for flowers for my planters!!  A trip will be coming in May--whoohoo!!  Oh, and three cans of my french vanilla international coffee, too!  

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Friday there was a crane doing something behind the apartment building across the way.  Every time I'd see it pop its head up I'd think of a dinosaur with a long thin neck--LOL! 

 Most of the snow was already melted away.

Not long ago I couldn't see the garages or most of that apartment building.  

Spring has come on strong.  

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Saturday was Gramma Day and I had a surprise for Ian.  I found this box of puzzles on Amazon of his favorite show right now--PJMasks! 

 Twelve puzzles (5-24pcs, 5-48pcs, 2-100pcs) for under $13, so I knew they were going to be thin and he'd have to be extra careful with them so they won't bend--but I knew he would be. 

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Naturally, he was excited and want to do puzzles first thing.  Wanted me to get out the big piece of gator board.  We started with one of the easier puzzles that had 24 pieces.

Much to my surprise he finished four of those and still wanted to go on. 

He finished all five of the easy ones and also put together one of the medium hard ones with 48 pieces...which he did almost entirely by himself.  I just helped gather colors together for him.

By that time he'd been doing puzzles for a couple of hours and was ready to quit.  We had french toast bagels with butter for a snack and watched another two episodes of Our Planet on Netflix.  Since he'd arrived later because they'd gone out for lunch unexpectedly and Mama had already packed a lunch he had his packed lunch for dinner while Gramma had some of her soup.  Ended up watching a show on Curiosity Stream on the Deep Ocean with David Attenborough on my laptop at the table while we finished dinner.  (Grammas can do that--LOL!)  We took all the puzzles apart carefully and packed them in separate bags.  Lastly he wanted to do some punches for a while.  Was a good day!

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I was pretty tired and slept a long time.  Leah lent me a travel pillow that is really nice for sleeping in my chair.  I'm also trying a bottle of sinus spray for allergies that she uses before she goes to bed.  I thought I would absolutely hate spraying something up my nose but it's not too bad.  Not sure if it is making any difference yet.  Been about four nights and I still can only breathe out of one nostril at a time--LOL!  But I'll keep using it.  Seems like I might not be quite as clogged up.  ;)  Worth a try.

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Annie waiting for me to come to bed--LOL!  

Sunday Dagan, Leah, and Ian came over while Liam was taking a nap (Leah's brother Aaron was at home with him).  Yesterday was garage/patio day!!

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Before

After 

Can hardly wait till I have flowers out there.

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I'm not used to having spring fever.  

Kind of exhausting--LOL!

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They brought the tall ladder with them so they could take down the bird feeder.  Brought out the feeder, humidifiers, etc, to the garage.  Even rolled up the additional rug from the studio and Dagan carried that out, too.  

I wanted to see if the chair mats will stay put better and not buckle and slide all over the place on the flatter grey carpeting vs. having the plush rug on top.  We'll see how it goes.  Feels promising when you walk on them now.  :)

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We brought in the patio chairs and tables, the bird dish, the pot I keep the garden hose in (which broke end of last fall so I need a new hose), and my summer clothes bins.

Leah noticed the fans, too!  I had forgotten to put those on the list, but they are both inside already--whoohoo! 

Leah even cleaned them off for me.

 

I'm sure I probably missed something with two trips back and forth and all of us carrying or pushing the cart--LOL!  Having many hands make short work of a big project.  So thankful they help me out like that!!

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After they left to go home for dinner I took a bucket out and scrubbed down the chairs and the little tables...just so I could sit outside and read Marie Kondo's ebook on my tablet.  I told you spring fever is exhausting--LOL!  It was really windy, so I had to go get on a lined hooded jacket but I collapsed and read until my fingers were so cold I could hardly swipe the next page because the tablet didn't recognize me as a living creature--ROFL!   

So--busy week.  Oh, I also worked on the book and finished the next week/chapter in Julia Cameron's book--1989-1993.  Those were the pet shop assistant manager years, decision Mike would be the last boyfriend, and the arm injury at the printing factory.  (I thought I needed a job with better pay and benefits.)

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In the book she asks questions like what sound brings you back to that time period and what smell--for me the sound was of a pet shop--birds, puppies, and the door bell dinging and the cash register.  Smells--both dirty cages/aquarium gravel and hot glue/paper by the printing presses.  Funny when you think about the answers that come to mind first.  I think I have three more weeks to travel back through time and end up right here.  ;)

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Annie loves the patio door being opened when it is warm enough, but I think she misses the birds eating out there.  They do come for the water though already.  :)

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Any minute I should see people wandering by on the lawn.  It is almost 3pm.  I thought this was interesting on our weekly activity list.

They've never asked the residents (seniors) to come out and help clean up the yard before.  The mowers will be starting their weekly visits pretty soon.  My back is in no shape to do all that bending.  I'd need one of those grabber thingies--LOL!  Dealing with laundry day will do me in today for a good long rest.  Later tonight Leah should be coming over to finish her invitations (and I'm hoping be up to cutting my hair).  She won't be here until 8:30-8:45pm, so I have a few hours to put my feet up after I get done folding and hanging clothes...which will be soon.  

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So, folks!  That's it from Fargo for this past week.  I am so happy to have the patio ready for reading, fans at the ready for hot weather to come, and the clothes bins are in, too.  I finished reading Marie Kondo's book through the first step--clothing.  So this week I plan to start on that purge.  Be searching for joy in my t-shirts, I guess--LOL!  One odd silver lining to having the touchy back is that I can take my time going through a big pile of clothes on my bed because I am not sleeping in there anyways--ROFL!! 

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From Annie and I--have a memorable week and search for your joy!  Till next time...

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"Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow."

 Helen Keller

4-15-2019 Monday 12:45pm

Good afternoon!

The grackles are back...

..and I saw a mourning dove, too, before the... 

...blizzard we had on Thursday. 

No birthday visit to McFamily's again--LOL!  I was home feeding the birds and rabbits who braved the horizontal snow for meals.  They came all day--fur and feathers pushed backwards and getting splattered with heavy, wet snow.  Half the time I couldn't even see the apartments across the way.

Within a couple of hours I couldn't really see outside very well anymore with all the snow sticking to the patio doors and screen.

I forgot to show you all the birthday cards I added to the frig.  :) 

By Friday the snow had melted off the patio doors. 

The world was white again. 

Snow plows were busy. 

My patio was white again... 

...and covered with footprints.  

Everybody was hungry... 

...and the snow was melting fast. 

I had a Gramma Day with Ian on Saturday.  After lunch we watched another two episodes of Our Planet.  This time it was jungles and coastal waters.  After that he wanted to watch a few more episodes of his PJMasks show.  (I forgot to take pictures again--duh!)  I'm glad Ian doesn't mind quiet days with Gramma when she's not up to much more than that.  ;)

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I even got back to the Julia Cameron book this week!  TaDa!!  This memoir period was 1982-1989--the Roger years in Wisconsin.  Country music, band practices, beer, visiting his Red Owl produce departments, the studio, sang three songs with the band a couple times...working at a handicapped school, Melissa, day care teacher (with the problem kids), adult mentally ill rec person and transportation...stone house in the woods by a creek, mobile home, the farm... 

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Answering the memoir questions is always interesting.  Like going over another lifetime every week--LOL!

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It's been above freezing every day...   

...so this is what it looks like today.

No snow left on or around my patio at all...but a few raindrops. 

Not much evidence left of the blizzard. 

That's good.  I actually have spring fever this year. 

Probably because of being forced to be so inactive for so long this winter between being sick and back issues.  I have flowers on the brain and am thinking all the time about sitting on the patio reading.  I've even been looking on Amazon for a headset to use for audio books.  Leah is helping me.

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In fact, this morning I scrubbed down the humidifiers and left them to dry so they're ready to go to the garage until next winter.

The bird feeder needs to come down (McFamily has to bring over the tall ladder), chairs and small tables back out to the patio, garden hose and the water dish for the birds to drink and bathe.  But--I am not planning on feeding the critters this summer.  I know--shock.  They eat waaaay less, other people feed them here, and I really want a cleaner more inviting patio this summer.  I am determined to spend some actual time outdoors this spring and fall.  Summers are too hot and sticky for me to stand it out there, so the opportunities are brief and I want to take advantage this year.  

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Also need to haul in the bins with my summer clothes.  When I do, I am planning to do a Marie Kondo--LOL!  I'll be going through all my clothes to see what brings me joy.  ;)  Or, more likely, see what actually fits and I have actually worn in the last couple years--LOL!

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Spring fever, I tell you.

And I am one of those people who normally hates to see the end of winter. 

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We're supposed to be in the 40s and 50s this week and possibly hit 60 by next weekend.  The snow banks won't last much longer.  I need to get my patio in order soon!  :) :)

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Till next time.  :) :)

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"One can never consent to creep

when one feels an impulse to soar."

Helen Keller