Good afternoon!
With the bad back the past few weeks my days and nights got switched around--well, when I could sleep. That's gotten a lot better, too. Am sleeping longer, but from dawn till afternoon--LOL! I'll gladly take it, though! ;) On the mend!
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Annie misses sleeping in the bed as much as I do. I finally tried it last night (learned not to sleep on the sore right side) and Annie was stuck to me like glue. She's not as fond of me sleeping in my chair but I might be doing that off and on yet for a bit.
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I got a sparkly birthday scrubby from Connie over on Far Side of Fifty. I had never had one before I got one from Connie. Ian and I use that one for scrubbing paint off things when we do art projects. Now I have one to actually use for dishes--tada!! Thanks, Connie! :)
And thanks to everyone who remembered me this year. I didn't make it over to McFamily's for Chinese because Dagan came down with influenza (clinic tested him and gave him something to try to shorten it)...and then Liam got it...and then Ian. Leah never did--as of yesterday, anyways.
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I wasn't feeling that great anyways. Even though my back has been improving--the lack of sleep, napping and crazy, random hours has me all thrown off kilter. I told Leah we could just pass, but she wanted to postpone. So--eventually--when we are all finally well and feeling decent--I told her I wanted ice cream cake--LOL! Forget the Chinese. I don't know why I was thinking of it (other than maybe comfort food) but I was remembering having some from Dairy Queen like 30-40 years ago. We were group texting (Dagan, Leah, and I) and Dagan thought that sounded really good, too! So, that's the plan--eventually--ice cream cake. At the rate we've been going this winter it could be summer before we're all well at the same time--ROFL!
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Meanwhile, back at the ranch...
I have wanted to do a jigsaw puzzle ever since Ian and I worked on his little ones. I ordered one from Amazon a while back and finally decided break it out this past weekend.
I used a piece of gator board to hold it and so I can move it around.
I bought one of the huge pieces of gator board many years ago at the art store in town and then they would cut it down for you into several boards to use for painting watercolors. This half size piece (24" X 32") will hold a full size sheet of watercolor paper--but I have never been brave enough to paint anything that huge so it is still pristine and perfect for holding a puzzle.
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I had them cut the other half of the gator board into four 12"X18" pieces. More my favored size to work with.
I had never heard of gator board until I was in art classes in college up here. It is awesome! Very lightweight. Like a crusty foam sandwich. The outside layers are kind of hard with a dense foam in between. I don't know if you can tell from the photo above but you can staple the watercolor paper right on to the gator board and use it over and over again. Plus you can use both sides of the board.
Anyways, definitely not using it for the purpose for which it was intended--LOL!
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Because of my back issues I did sorting in my chair with the box and cover and a couple of zip lock bags. Then I would sit and join pieces at the table until I had a good size chunk to insert.
Worked well up until the end when I had to do a lot more standing. Then my back complained...
...but I had SO MUCH FUN!!!
I finished at about 3:30am last night...or should I say this morning. Got to bed about 5:15am. Yup--hours are flipped. I need to get back on days!
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But--my back keeps getting better. Everyone is on the mend again at McFamily's. The snow keeps melting (we are now on flood watch). I saw my first grackle on my birthday. You can hear geese passing through. The rabbits are turning brown again. Sure signs of spring.
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Hard to believe it's already April! Time to do all my banking stuff today and tweak my monthly grocery list for Caroline. I caught up a lot on my letter writing last week--tada! A little less brain fog as my sleep is improving. Maybe this week I can finally get back to Julia Cameron's book? We'll see how the week goes.
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Lastly, I'll leave you with a video Leah sent me of Liam and the jiggly train track.
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Gramma loves getting videos!
Till next week! :) :)
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"Gratitude is the capacity to stare doubt, loss, chaos and despair right in the eye and say, 'I am still here'."
Diana Butler Bass
13 comments:
Comment to get comments. Have a wonderful week. :)
So glad to hear you're getting better! Back trouble makes it so hard to get anything done. Flu is no joke, either, and I hope everybody's recovered. I have only had ice cream cake twice, and it was delicious! I like Chinese food, too, so it sounds to me like a good choice either way lol I have never heard of gator board, and it sounds like a good surface for crafts or puzzles. I don't have a good place to set up like that. You're ambitious to work such a big puzzle. It looks hard to me. We've had a freeze warning and lows in the 30s, but it looks like that's over after tonight and warmer weather will be here to stay. My plants are already out, and I know you'll be glad to get your patio all fixed up :)
Annie looks so sweet in that picture. I love your puzzle! As I told you I have one just like it and that series of cat puzzles are my favorite! I'm glad you had fun working it. The gator board works great as a puzzle board - perfect size and not too heavy. I think you should have ice cream cake and Chinese food both for your birthday! I hope you get to celebrate with family soon and I sure hope they all get well. Love the video of Liam - he is really growing up fast!
Take care and good luck with getting your sleep schedule back!
Hope you get the cake eventually! You are so welcome for the scrubby...glad to hear you got other cards!
Headed your way tomorrow to the clinic and K and K Krafts. I will take photos of the rivers:)
Oh, I just LOVE that beautiful puzzle. You did a great job and had fun at the same time. So glad to hear your back is getting better. And happy belated birthday to a great friend. :-)
My comment disappeared when I tried to post it!!! I don't know what I did wrong, but it's not the first time this happened.
Sorry I missed your birthday. I was so plagued with problems these past few weeks that I haven't been reading blogs.
Belated Happy Birthday!!! And that ice cream cake sound good.
I'm glad to hear your back is on the mend. It's no fun sleeping in a chair (I know from experience). When I'm in bed I can only sleep in one position due to my back back.
My kitty Bosco always sleeps with me, which can make things uncomfortable at times - but he's entertaining.
Take care and have a great week!
Liam knows what he wants! Thank you Rita for sharing your week - mixed around hours but you are getting better. Staying home on your birthday was a good thing and you still have an ice cream cake in the future when everyone is feeling well at the same time. Annie is such a love. Great puzzle project too.
Hugs.
Joy
happy happy belated birthday - good to hear your back is getting better - and how about Annie - miss don't touch me - now wants to snuggle. Speaks to your care! Here the goldfinches are doning their gold - a sure sign of spring here no matter what the weather wants us to believe. I think time change makes it easy to mess up hours. You'd think not with just an hour change but it messes me up half way to the next change. Hope Mcfamily is all better now and the flu gone away away. Enjoy your icecream cake. I have to say you made my mouth water with that idea!
Good to hear you are improving even if it is slow going but you will get there in the end, I liked the clip of Liam always nice t o see these clips. I also love ice cream cake
That track looks mighty frustrating! He will be so glad when he gets the chance of a rigid track, won't he? I am very glad you're improving, and I think the goal of icecream cake is a very good one! Hope you're eating it before the month is out!
Neat puzzle; glad you enjoyed doing it! You know how many I've done this winter! Don't have one going at present. Still waiting to do the 2000 piece one the kids brought me. I did get stuff to "glue" one - it's adhesive paper and I think it will depend on how well the puzzle stays together in the first place whether it will work or not. BTW I have a coffee mug with that picture of the books and cat.
Glad you're feeling better.
Great to hear you are finally on the mend! Annie looks so sweet.
Sorry about McFamily, apart from Leah, coming down with Influenza though. Hope they are doing much better now.
Your birthday scrubby makes me think of a sea creature. Nice colour.
I remember there were a few years of birthday ice-cream cakes when the kids were young. Of course, the warm weather birthdays meant decorating, cutting, and eating the ice-cream cake as fast as we could before it melted. lol
What a lovely jigsaw puzzle! Congrats on completing it! I love jigsaw puzzles too.
Gator-board is called Core foam-board here. I also use another type of board called Corflute. It's design looks similar to corrugated cardboard but it's made from some sort of plastic — very light-weight but sturdy — 1/4" thick. Either type comes in very handy.
Liam was too cute getting frustrated with the train track moving about on him. lol I think his plan was to straighten it out but there were too many twists for him to work out. Clever boy! And wow, LOVE the plant in the video! Looks so healthy! Is that a relation to your Phil plant?
A very apt quote at the end.
Love and hugs xo
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