11-18-2019 Monday-2:30pm

Good afternoon!

I seem to running on a later schedule quite a bit lately.  I wake up but am too sore or tired to move around so I get coffee and sit at the laptop for hours doing that part of my day first.  Oh well.  Annie has gotten used to it, anyways.  ;)  Her human heating pad remaining stationary is always a plus in her book.  

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Leah was over twice last week!  She fixed my phone to laptop photo issue so first of all I have a few from last time.  Not that it matters if you see our dusting of snow which has long ago melted away--LOL!

But here are the wild "mark-making" packing paper sheets Dagan, Ian and I made on that last Gramma Day. 

I had an old dried up cats eye ink pad that was a real hit. 

Some paint brushes were used, too. 

It's fun to have a do-whatever-you-want art day.  No rules apply except not to get paint on the table or your clothes...or try not to--LOL!

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I mentioned that my place had gotten out of control with things stacked, piled, or standing about on all surfaces.  I didn't get before pictures, but I was basically cleaning most all of last week...in my 15 minute increments.  :)

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I started in the kitchen--rearranging and making room.  All the stuff you see on the right hand side of the bottom cupboard shelf was on the counter below.   

All the stuff in the bottom two shelves in this cupboard were piled about on the counter in the corner spreading out so far that I barely had room to make coffee--LOL! 

Yes, I have always had appliances out, but this is cleared out for me. 

I had Dagan bring my huge breadmaker out to the garage that had taken up half this counter  and I cleared away all the clutter that went all the way to the sink.  That's my new George Foreman grill in the corner now.  Been making chaffles regularly.  :)  So nice to be able to put the pans/grates (whatever you call them) right into the dishwasher.  

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On Tuesday we had another apartment inspection.  Took them all of three minutes to check the smoke alarms worked and ask me if anything needed repairs.  I cleaned some more in the kitchen while I did laundry.  On Wednesday I started in the studio.

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  Leah came over Wednesday night and she put together the new table for the corner!!  Our new home for the Vagabond die cutting machine!!  

We are delighted!  Now we can stand while we work.  We both have bad backs and we're talking 100 of anything for Christmas cards and 50 for birthday cards, so it's a lot of die cutting.  Whoohoo!  This is going to be so nice.

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Those brown cabinets underneath the table are both coming out.  We did some double-check measuring and the two lower new IKEA cabinets should just fit under the table.  Can hardly wait!

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This is the first time my tables have been cleared off in the studio since I got sick in June.

Those are just craft and cutting mats on the tables.  

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Leah came over again on Thursday night.  She helped tweak the new-to-me laptop and we chatted a lot about diets and making cat food and other stuff.  This week we plan to get back to working on the bullet pages.  

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 On Saturday my brother (Blaine), sister-in-law (Kathy), and my mom (Jane) drove up from Minneapolis to visit.  I had such good intentions to take lots of pictures.  Right before dinner I grabbed my phone and got a picture of Mom and Ian watching the Gopher football game.

Liam was really hungry and at the table already waiting for food so I got a shot of him glubbing down some milk. 

Then Blaine made it to the table and Mom was just sitting down... 

...but everyone else was in the kitchen.  I sat my phone down right beside me to remember to take pictures of everybody...

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Nope.  

Totally forgot.  

So that is all I took.

:( :(

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Anyways, we had a really great visit.  Kathy brought a box of old family photos she, Blaine, and I looked through before dinner.  Lots of conversation and laughing...the sound of football, kids having fun, and all of us talking at once.   For dinner Leah made salmon with pesto sauce on top and fresh asparagus.  I read Ian the last chapter of The Enormous Egg book before he got his jammies on and Liam went to bed.  Ian was really good and got to stay up really late (9pm) at the table listening to the grownups gabbing away.  (I remember doing that when I was little and how fascinating it was.)  We visited until 11pm!  The Johnson family gave me a ride home on their way back to the hotel.  :)  Was just a wonderful time.

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But they are definitely coming when it is warm out next time--LOL!  Maybe a summer visit is in order.  :)

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Somewhere along the line I seem to have pulled a muscle in my back, right under my shoulder blade on the right side.  Always seems to be something lately.  I noticed it more on Sunday...and it's still sharp and annoying.  But I am doing one small load of clothes today...thinking maybe it will help to stretch it out a bit?  Whatever.

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Tomorrow Caroline comes to clean and Leah said she is going to try to come Tuesday and Thursday nights to work on the bullet pages this week.  

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Feels soooo good to have a better handle on my home.  I still have been going to work on my pantry and the bathroom shelves for quite a while, too.  Leah came up with a solution for me for the bathroom shelves, too!  We were measuring for that when she was here, too...IKEA baskets/covered boxes, not sure what they're called.  Whoohoo!!  I need to remember to take a before pictures this time--LOL!

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McFamily is going down to Minneapolis this coming weekend and going to IKEA on their way back home.  Will be picking up my cabinets, the baskets for the bathroom shelves, some art supplies for Ian, and a folding cat carrier for Annie that won't take up hardly any room over here.  Whoohoo!!  So exciting!!

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That's about it from here.  I think I am going to get down the heating pad to try that on my back after I finish laundry and settle in to write letters in my comfy chair.  Sounds like a plan.  I have eight letters to write.  Getting a backlog since I was using up my (fewer) spoons doing stuff like cleaning all week.  

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Meanwhile--am learning how to navigate this new-to-me laptop, been watching the last season of Vikings (on Prime) before the new one comes out...but right now the covey of eight is squawking while eating on the patio.  Time to get moving.  At least I didn't store the heating pad way up in the top shelf in the bathroom last time I used it--LOL!  Till next week...

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"We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled.  The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out."

Ray Bradbury