October 26, 2020 Monday 1pm

Good afternoon! 

I swear Blogger changes from week to week and sometimes, from my experience today, from minute to minute.  I'm still here and haven't given up...yet. ;)

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We have had snow a few times this week.   

Most of it has stuck around because it is so cold.  

Right now it is 22 degrees (-5.5 C). 

The Critter Cafe has been busy all week.

The homemade soup has been delicious.  I added leftover rice to this bowl.  Having snowflakes in the air is the best time for hot soup.

I had video calls with Ian and Liam.  Mama and Daddy pop in. 

Had Leah and my video call night on Tuesday.

Lots of the usual stuff, of course.  

Laundry and cooking.

But the DVD quit working.  

So, I drug out the little portable player I bought for the studio and that still works fine.  Packed up the DVD player to see if Dagan or Leah could get it working or tell me if I need a new one.  Sent it over to their place when I saw her on Friday for my blood pressure check.  (Was better and I never heard anything so I think I am okay with the pills I am taking unless I hear differently.)  Leah and I stopped at Cashwise for a grocery pick up on the way back to my place.

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I accidentally got a couple of her things in with my Cashwise stuff...so later on I met her at my garage and we did another trade.  She wanted to borrow one of my old rectangular folding tables to use in her garage for sorting/quarantining.  I never make trips without thinking of what I can do at the same time so I brought out trash to the dumpster and brought out one of the fans at the same time.

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I had internet issues for days...until I realized that I had jiggled a wire loose when I unplugged the DVD player--LOL!

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Meanwhile I had been cleaning in the studio--finally!  Feel free to skip all the photos as they are mostly to let Leah know what I have been up to since we both work in there usually...but can't very often these days because of covid.  Then she'll have some idea where I shoved things--LOL!  ;)

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I emptied the cherrywood cabinet and drug it out of the room.

I am going to attempt to get it on my little cart to see if I can wheel it to the garage today.  The bottom is pretty solid, so I think it might balance...we'll see.

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Already was so much more room with that cabinet out of there.  Didn't get a before pic--but it was sitting beside the table to the right.

A lot of that cabinet went into the low, wide IKEA cabinet.  Here's the drawers from bottom to top.  Does anyone else remember sponge painting?

Foiling and embossing symbols.

Wires and chalks.

Then the top three drawers are painting supplies for Chinese brush painting and watercolors.  Ceramic palettes, ink stones, weights, and little water holders.

Chinesse watercolors on the left and watercolor pencils and crayons to the right.

Watercolor palettes and powdered crystals.

Every drawers is full in that cabinet except a part of the bottom one.

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Then the taller one under the die cutting machine.  In the bottom three drawers...

...(this time they popped in top to bottom)...stencils (I have a lot elsewhere that will be moved over here.

The cutting dies.  (That little box is where we were keeping them before.)

Embossing folders.  (Same with that little box.)

We'll be finding the others that are stored elsewhere and figure out the best method of storage for in these new deeper drawers.  :)

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The little red table is holding the trays for card sets in progress...but also a bunch of stuff that I need to find a place to shove store yet.  I got pretty well shot doing what I did get done--LOL!  But I am thrilled to have it useable again in there!

Can get to the die cutting machine again.

One table cleared off and ready to go.

True--there is stuff shoved everywhere...

....but I can find most of what I need now.

The tall IKEA cabinet by the door got stuff stuck into it, too.

From top to midway in the five smaller drawers--deeper ones are still empty.

Acrylic blocks.

Words/sentiments.

Background or edging stamps.

Botanical/plants.

Christmas/Birthday.

Things will be moved about.  Decisions have to be made as to how to actually store the clear stamps.  But for now--the studio is useable again.  I already have card projects for today. 

 I am making a sympathy card for my BFF from high school's mom...and found some dollar store Halloween stamps Leah had picked up so I'll make cards for the boys. 

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The exciting news I haven't shared...I have made myself wait until the studio was in some semblance of order...

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I totally splurged and signed up for Wanderlust 2021!  An entire year of weekly mixed media art journaling classes with 28 different teachers!  Whoohoo!  I really needed something to look forward to, you know?  Something to shake up the isolation, I guess.  ;)  

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 And there are some bonus classes you can jump into before January 1st.  I didn't allow myself to even peek at the intro videos or the bonus classes until I could actually move about in the studio and find my dang supplies--LOL!  So, I will be posting about this adventure soon.  :)

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Oh, and I know how things go with my health but--never fear--these classes are mine to keep and I can do them at my own pace.  Looking forward to sharing my journal play with you all.  

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But for now...I need to finish hauling stuff to the garage, make some cards...and then I can play.  :)  Come hell or high water 2021 is going to be a better year--LOL!  Or at least a more creative one with lots of play time.  ;)

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Till next week, my dear blog family...

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"We must always change; renew, rejuvenate ourselves; otherwise we harden."

Goethe

October 19, 2020 Monday-3:15pm

Good afternoon!

What a week and what a time I had trying to get photos on to the blog.  Suddenly this time I had to load one picture at a time because otherwise they popped up in reverse order...and occasionally, even when I was doing one at a time, they would pop up in random other spots like at the beginning or before the last one I posted!  How can it get even worse from week to week--LOL!  Good grief!

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Regardless I am here.  I bit later again.  I think I find myself procrastinating because of the new format, to be perfectly honest.  I have been busy making soup, sweeping the patio, puttering about...but it was time to tackle the new blogger again...and then I find out it's worse than last week--ROFL!

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Anyways, I think I told you we had some super windy days.  Blew all the red leaves off the tree to the right.

Also blew over both my coleus planters.

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Really been one of those weeks.  I had taken several pictures of the partridges but discovered only one worked.

The rest looked like this.

My camera on my cell phone is starting to have a mind of its own lie to me.  Even when you enlarge and the picture you can see on the screen IS enlarged--that means nothing to my cell phone.  Even when I manually make sure it says 7X and touch the screen to focus the enlarged picture...truth means nothing to my cell phone.  Lying has become a pastime as it loses it's circuit brains.  So now I don't know what I will end up with for pictures.  Wasting time is fine when I am taking pictures of a stationery object, but photos of critters and little boys are fleeting moments.  They just don't make things to last in the tech world.  Why would they?  They make more money this way.  *sigh*

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Tuesday I finished switching over to winter clothes and packing up the summer stuff.

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Wednesday I woke up with this mysterious rash on my left forearm.

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I did a video call with Ian.  Went through the personal plan from Dr. Kessler and the general plan she has for people with fibro/autoimmune diseases.  That night Leah and I had a long video call.  I hadn't had the chance to tell her about the appointment and the plan.  Made an order for the supplements and vitamins I'll need to try.

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Even though I ordered them all at once, I plan to introduce them slowly--one or two at a time--to see how I react to them.  I often do have reactions so I want to be able to track down any culprits.  ;)

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I am going to be shifting over to this new Kessler Plan over the next month or so.  Eliminating dairy is something I have never been able to do altogether.  That will be difficult, but I am going to gradually cut back until I am dairy free in the next few weeks.  There are other things, too, of course.  I go back in four months to see her and check in.

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Then I had hauled out all the leftover cards we've accumulated over the years.  Leah wanted a few birthday and Christmas cards so we went through the cards, too, on our video call.  :)

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Here's all the birthday cards.

I decided that I had enough leftover from several of the years that if I combined two sets I'd have enough for a year.  They wouldn't all be the same, but they would be handmade, anyways.

And Leah wanted just a few to have around because she doesn't regularly send out birthday cards.

Then--Christmas cards.  

I had decided that, even though they are Christmas cards, there are quite a few of them I could just use for just winter cards to send letters, you know?  

So, my snail mail pals, you may be getting letters tucked inside of past Christmas cards.

If ever there was a year to spread around some extra holiday cheer 2020 is the one, right?

Then I bagged up all the birthday and Christmas cards we didn't want to use, added envelopes, wrote "free" on the zip lock bags, and walked them down to the entryway of the building that night before I went to bed.

They were all gone the following day.  :)

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Meanwhile--the rash got worse and bumpier.

I wasn't sure if it was from the coleus bushes because that's the arm I stuck inside of them to right the planters...or it was something I picked up from when they drew blood at the clinic a few days before because that is where he held my arm...or if it was shingles...or some odd thing I was allergic to and only managed to touch on one arm?  But it was red, bumpy, swollen, and itchy.

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Thursday I did some laundry.  (Was washing towels, etc, a lot in case this could spread--but it hasn't.)

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We've had a bit of sun here and there but it has been cold.  We had snow on both Friday and Saturday morning, but it melted by the afternoon.  I wondered how it could melt when it was only in the 30s--LOL!  

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The rash got a bit worse.

I have been using aloe vera gel, anti-itch cream, diaper rash cream, and apple cider vinegar.  All of those have helped so that it hasn't itched so much.

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Leah came over Friday afternoon and trimmed the bushes next to my patio better on the back and sides next to my planters. (A man had come around but he didn't do a great job.)  Since she was coming over with gardening supplies she cut back my planters for me, too, because they were all dying due to it being in the 20s at night.  

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Leah carried my patio chair, I hauled the little tables and hose pot on my cart, and we walked them around the building and to my garage.  Then Leah left to go do a Cashwise grocery pickup.  I hauled the bins of summer clothes and the big watering can out to the garage and then pulled back a 45# bag of bird seed.  A little while later Leah was here with groceries and I met her in the parking lot with my trusty cart.  Leah and I had stayed away from each other all day because I am still in quarantine from going to the long doctor visit with Kessler.

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Looks pretty bare out on the patio now.

But the birds still come to the less lush Critter Cafe.  

They are all trying to fatten up for the winter.  Looks like it could be a long, cold one, too!

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Saturday got an email from my brother.  Mom is now officially in hospice...mainly because she has fallen a couple times and she is having trouble with the swollen legs.  If those issues come up their requirement is a trip to the hospital to see a doctor...unless a person is on hospice.  Then they have a nurse right there for emergencies and Mom wouldn't have to go to the hospital anymore...or to a doctor's office for appointments.  She hates to be rushed off in an ambulance and that has happened twice, I think.

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So she is happy about that.  And she should qualify to get a lift chair, rails for the toilet, and a hospital bed.  Mom is getting so frail and her balance isn't as good anymore, so she sounded like she really appreciates that she could get more help.  I think she'll get regular visits from a nurse and I know she already has an occupational therapist come to help with her strength and balance.  I'm just glad that she is glad to get the extra help.  :)

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Mom and I chatted about how hard the holidays are going to be for so many people.  She isn't used to being alone for Thanksgiving or Christmas.  She's used to being with friends when she was in Florida or family since she moved back to Minnesota.  I think it is going to be hard for her.  

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Myself, I have been used to being alone for the holidays for over 20 years.  BUT--McFamily and I have always had our own private little Christmas get together sometime after the holidays.  Hopefully we'll be able to do that in our bubble this year, but you never know.  Regardless, things won't be really any different for me.  But I do remember the first few years after I moved up here to Fargo/Moorhead and how different it felt to be alone.  I told Dagan to go visit his dad's side on the holidays since Dagan got to see me all the time and he didn't see them very often.  It was weird not to see him at first.  And then when Leah came into the picture they had his dad's side and her family's side.  I had spent years doing all that running and switching and driving...  

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I am so used to my peaceful, non-bustle, quiet, solitary holidays now that it would feel really strange to have a big Thanksgiving or Christmas on the actual day.  (We don't always do a Thanksgiving after, but we have always eventually had our own little laid back Christmas.)

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So there will be no change for me.  I feel so badly for people who have never spent Christmas alone if this pandemic year will be the first time for them.  Be sure to call them, write to them, zoom them or whatever.  It will be lonely for people who are not used to being without the big family gatherings.  Spread the love.  :)

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Can you tell that seeing snow has got me thinking winter--LOL!  ;)

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Well, another week flew by.  If the rash has not disappeared by Thursday I won't be over to catch a bubble visit with McFamily before my BP check on Friday and more quarantine time.  It has gotten better, but not sure it will disappear in just a few days.  In fact, I will take a picture right now to show you.  Might be hard to tell but it is less bumpy than it was.  Let's see...

Yah--hard to tell, but less bumpy.  Has anyone ever had anything like this before or seen it before?   I am really tired of mysterious stuff happening to my body, I tell you.  Enough already--LOL!  

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Well, the soup is smelling good.  The dishwasher is churning away.  Annie is hiding somewhere taking her afternoon siesta.  It's only 35 degrees (1.7C) and they say 100% chance of snow again tomorrow.   I don't think we will get that much, though.  Seems to be dumping more to the south of us and even to the west.  Critter Cafe has been busy...and probably will be till spring--LOL!

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Stay safe out there!

(What cop show was that from?  It's on the tip of my tongue!)

Till next week...

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"How we treat each other is the only thing that matters."

Samite Mulondo