April 12, 2026 Sunday

Greetings!

I'll make it quicker this week.  

Monday.  JetPens order arrived of various pen refills I now needed that are packed away somewhere.  Thus began the reorganization of my fountain pens, also.  Even though almost every refill was for a gel pen--lol!  I knew it was time and would take me forever, so I even cheated and ordered a couple small boxes of cartridges for my pilot explorers.

Tuesday.  A robin flitted down inside to sit on the "step" in my window well.  Looked the window well, me, and sleeping cat over but flew away before I could get a picture.  Spring?  

Wednesday was my eye appointment.  Never made it there.  Remember I confessed that oral steroids give me diarrhea?  Well, they really kicked in by Wednesday--lol!  Cancelled online, but haven't heard anything yet about rescheduling.  Can't tell yet when I can or can't leave the house anyways--lol!

Meanwhile, I have the new rheumatologist appointment on Tuesday.  Hope I can make it there.  Time will tell.  I was ready to quit taking the steroids.  Just fed up and overwhelmed.  Leah reminded me that I can't get the eye surgery until my eye is better so I needed to keep taking them because they are helping my hand get better faster so probably the eye, also.  (Eye is the same to me.)  I knew she was right...but no one wants to put themselves through the throne routine.  *sigh*  Plan of action?  Mega doses of probiotics instead of just a couple capsules a day.  Fingers crossed I can leave the house this coming week.

Thursday.  Started working on the fountain pen cleaning and filling project.

Baby steps.  Just getting ready for the standing at the sink part--lol!

Windy off and on.  

Allie watching leaves blow about in the window well.

You may recall my fountain pen trays.  Last time I filled them all was maybe somewhere around a year and a half ago.  Eight trays I rotate through for letters and journaling.

Was down to one tray of FPs with any ink left in them.  Not much left in them and too many red and orange inks.  (Not my favorite colors to use.)  Decided to just clean the rest (except the few TWSBIs which still had a good bit of ink in them).

Buried under some paraphernalia in the black rollie cart I rediscovered the ink sample vials from that last time I went through all the FPs long ago!   

Whoohoo!  More colors to choose from!  Even if there are small amounts in those vials, I am happy to see them!

I also have the four small bottles I got myself for my birthday in March, so I am all set!

There are the four TWSBI ECOs that weren't empty yet.  (They are great for not drying out and writing every time.)

I picked out my favorite pens (TWSBI ECOs, Pilot Explorers, and Platinum Prefontes) and began to clean them out one or two at a time.  Whatever I could manage.  Then I leave them to dry overnight.

Been doing those baby steps when I can.  How many are cleaned and inked so far this past week?  Two.  LOL!  And these were cheaters using cartridges--LOL!  But there are two freshly clean and ready to go!  Exciting to nobody but me...but it is truly spirit lifting for me, I assure you!

Obviously being able to use my hand and an eye patch to write letters again fairly well has gotten me enthusiastically writing and trying to catch up on correspondence while I can.  Still quite behind but making progress.  (Who knows if my hand will flare up again when I go off the oral steroids, right?)  I have missed my paper-chats!  :)

Using my good-hand-time for all the usual (laundry, food, showers) plus working on letters, some emails, and cleaning pens...well, I have nothing left over for writing blog comments.  Sorry.  But I am reading you all.  Soon hand will improve more also, I hope.  Time will tell.

Meanwhile, TMI...the mega probiotics caused everything to halt.  So I am merely waiting to see if I am better, same, or worse?  Lord knows.  Don't care for personal suspense mysteries or unexpected bad surprises.  Oh well.  I have a few days.  Nothing seems like it is under my control anymore.  Nothing.  What can one do?  You just keep on going, try to be hopeful, and spend your time doing things you love if you can.

I managed to work on this early and finish (Saturday).  Don't try my hand or eye to hold out and some days are better than others.  Today was a better day--so early post!  Till next week...