July 19, 2026 Sunday

Greetings!

We cleared the path from my front door to the storage room door last weekend.  Still need to remove the orange rug and tape down the round rug, but I plan to keep things clear so that the cart can be pulled out when we need to get to things in the storage room--which will eventually have shelves down the wall on the right side.

TaDa!!  New Breville on the new cart--which didn't fit in the laundry room.

As I had hoped, all my small appliances and Leah's big crock pot fit underneath.  Nice!

My toaster was currently in the kitchen but there's room for that, too.

Have I used it yet?  Nope.  Been reading the manual and I ordered three Breville cookbooks that also explain the various uses.  Two have arrived so far.  The instruction booklet that came with it has no recipes at all.  Reading is very slow for me right now.  Am I ever glad I bought that new magnifying glass!  LOL!

Also busy doing baby step sessions in the studio.  All surface areas come into play--lol!  Even Allie's litter box.

Nine more boxes were hauled in for me last weekend.  

I have only made it through five of the smaller ones so far.  Organizing is even more complicated than I expected.  Less room, haven't seen my supplies for up to four years, and purged while I packed so I don't know what I still have.  So I think I have all the supplies for say pastels or drawing mandalas and find a spot for them.  Later on I open a box and find more supplies that need to be with what has been put away and there's no room for them.  So I have to take things out and reorganize and move the supplies somewhere else...and may have to reorganize a couple of drawers or shelves.  Slow process--lol!  But it will all get organized and put away eventually.

All my brushes and painting tools got moved from the table by the window...

...to the hutch.  (Still having trouble adding photos this week.)

Then I decided to see how it would work to add some lazy susans I have available.  They take up much less room.  I am happy with that.  For now.  Feels like every move I make in there is temporary until I am fully unpacked--lol! (Apparently trouble with text format also now--oh well.) 

There are a few items that have found temporary homes.  

That orangish box has mandala making supplies now--lol!

This was mid-week.

Already using the recently vacated surface area.

This is currently what it looks like.  There actually is over three quarters new stuff on that table.  Hard to tell--lol!

This weekend I need more help getting shelves put up.  We are doing them as needed because I can't do them on my own (can't grip and push in those little metal shelf holders) and I need to know what I think is going in the shelf to have a general idea of how much room I need.  So far we haven't had to reposition any shelves and I am striving not to have to do that to add work for them to do.  That is how the unpacking is going.  Slowly but making progress...and fun to see my trusty supplies for various projects.

Wednesday I had my first virtual appointment with my rheumatologist.  I have been very tired.  Still sleeping crazy long hours and then not much sleep at all--back and forth.  Sleep or no sleep I am always feeling exhausted.  Last couple weeks throat has been sore.  Sinuses worse.  (Before the smoke arrived.)  Coughing more.  Nothing huge or anything I can't live with--but it makes me wonder if my body is working up to rejecting a medication again.  Let's just say I haven't felt that great.  She told me my inflammation markers had increased in the past month.  She had wanted to increase my dosage.  I wanted to wait.  At least she listened to me.  So--bloodwork again in two weeks and then four weeks with a virtual visit with her after that in a month.  If the inflammation markers continue to increase she wants to increase the dosage.  

If my body is gearing up I saw no point in increasing what it is reacting to, you know?  You know what problems I have had with medications.  You'd think I was an alien, for goodness sake!  And this stuff is toxic.  Also used with cancer treatments...which I didn't even want to know until last week when I finally felt crappy enough to research side effects.  (I didn't even subconsciously want to influence my body into a reaction--lol!)  I reacted quickly to chemo (little over a week), but with Keytruda everything was fine the first two or three months.  Once the side effects kicked in it got worse and worse until I had watery diarrhea for six weeks and refused to have any more infusions.  My bad reactions to meds can go fast or slowly.  I am having reactions to this right away.  The sleeping and fatigue were the first week.  I even slept 14 1/2 hours one night!  Good grief!  And have no energy when I wake up no matter if I have slept 12 hours or 4 hours.  Especially the past couple weeks...seems to be increasing.  All over body aches and I am unpacking a lot less than I was, too, because doing anything seems like such an effort. But that could be partially the fibro...who knows?  I can feel like that in a flare, but even in a flare I have not slept 10-12 hours with regularity.  My hand is not worse.  It is also not better.  Just about the same. ??

So, there you have it.  Is methotrexate helping or will I end up with a really bad reaction to it?  Time will tell.  I am sure I will know one way or the other in the coming month since I already have the sleep reaction that is definitely caused by it.  Maybe that will be the only obvious one.  (I could probably live with that...if I actually see some improvement with the inflammation.  Trouble is...this is the medication with the least side effects usually.  I am on a small dose.  In other words, the others may more likely have side effects for me, she said.  Never know till you try, right?  Right now, I am trying the methotrexate.  Time will tell.  Time will tell.

Meanwhile...I plan to try out the Breville this coming week.  Plan to try a recipe for chicken breasts, I think...but do I bake or air fry?  lol!  One more cookbook to go through when it arrives.  Need to read all the instructions again.  Man!  It is complicated!  It's a toaster, air fryer, oven, dehydrator, slow cooker...and I think I forgot something--lol!  Dagan told me this one is more complicated than theirs and has different dials, so he couldn't just tell me what they do.  That's okay.  I will figure it out.  I have my magnifying glass--ROFL!  ;)

Wild Card

Not many stories are told about any of us kids really.  I do remember my mom telling someone how when I was five she had a pattern all laid out on the kitchen table to cut out, got interrupted, left, and I had just learned how to cut with scissors (really well the teacher said) so I decided to help out and cut along all the lines.  She was furious!  Took her a couple days to tape all the little pattern pieces back together.  (I guess I must not have stuck to just the thicker lines?)

As an adult looking back...that's what you get when you leave your little kids alone for a long time--ROFL!  I would bet money she left Blaine and Renee with me, too.  Probably napping.  They were both born three years after me--one in January and one in December--so they would have been around two and one at the time.  I do remember she started leaving us alone with me in charge when I was five.  

I also remember mom showing different people this paper/letter I wrote when I was about eight or nine--because Renee was about four or five at the time.  Mom and Dad were gone bowling.  I was babysitting, of course.  Us three kids were playing about outside which we did until the street lights came on...each with our own friends.  A super windy thunderstorm came rolling in.  When Renee came home she was trying to hold on to the front screen door to close it but the wind was so strong it blew out of her hands, crashed against the house, and broke all the glass out.  I had gone out in the storm to sweep all the glass off the step and into the dirt beside the cement step.  Got the door closed.  Calmed Renee down.  (Mom could get really angry easily and dad could occasionally get angry, too--usually if we broke something or cost money in some way.)  So, I wrote out this story of what happened...was like "on a dark and stormy night type of story about Renee's struggle and the terrible wind--in third person narrative--lol!  Then told how I swept all the glass into the dirt by the step and that it wasn't really her fault.  Drew a picture of the front door and step and where I swept the glass...and said I didn't think she should be punished for just being too little.  Mom and Dad actually found the "note" impressive in some way and didn't punish her.  They kept the story for years.  But then Mom lost it.

I had an interesting childhood.  Leave It To Beaver days where kids ran all over the suburban neighborhood.  Always wished I had a mom and dad like Beaver did.  Loved that show!  Actually just found it on streaming so I can show the boys.

Well--that was the week that was--lol!  I really hope to tackle the Breville now this week.  I know for sure I will be unpacking, sorting, and resorting--lol!  Baby steps do add up.  I am beginning not to worry where things go because of how impossible it is to really know until I have everything unpacked anyways.  Nothing is permanent yet.  Basically want to get everything out of the boxes in some semblance of order.  There are things that will end up on shelves in the laundry room that haven't even been put up yet.  I had a closet full of supplies in the old studio room.  No closet in this room and less storage space.  So there will be boxes that will temporarily go back into the storage room actually.  I know--confusing, eh?  Will take some finagling, some time, and probably some more purging--LOL!  But I will get there.

Stay cool or warm wherever you may be.  Remember to spread some kindness this week somewhere.  The world needs it!  :)  Till next week, my friends.  Love and hugs from Fargo.  :) :)