9-3-2018 Monday 6:45am

Good Morning!

I have been up since 4:30am.  Me!  Yesterday it was 3:30am.  Needless to say my hours are off kilter--LOL!  Just because of Gramma Day and early collapsing--ROFL!  Nothing exciting or worrisome.  ;)  

****

Yes, had a Gramma Day on Saturday.  Did fun things like take out trash, pay the rent, check the mail, water the plants...funny how much more fun ordinary things are to do with a four year old.  ;)  We watched Maru, several How It's Made videos, and then began watching a series of videos on a man building a log cabin by himself in Canada.  Ian wants me to wait to watch any more of the "builder man" until he is over here--like with the Maru videos.  Absolutely!  No problem.  Was in bed between 8:30-9pm the last two nights--hence the being up ridiculously early.  So strange for a night owl, but I'm sure I will get over my early-to-bed-affliction in no time.

****

Since I started doing the lettering and doodling challenges in my journals every day there has been a gradual accumulation of pens and markers on the table.    

Yes, this lover of variety uses all these pens for the challenges.  Love using different ones every day. 

But they have become so jam packed that I could barely get them in and out of this acrylic holder anymore and it was hard to separate them by type. 

There are brush pens (black and colored sets), highlighters, Frixion pens & markers (erasable), and drawing pens.  Been thinking and searching for a solution for a couple of months.  Came up with one and they were delivered yesterday!  You will see below.

****

Then we have Annie and her weird long hairs on the backside of her front legs.  I made it a mission this week to try to get pictures while she slept on my leg.  No wonder I couldn't remember if they were white or black!  Because one leg has white...

...and the other leg has light gray. 

Very weird, huh?

****

I have been plugging away in the studio.  Pretty much have that first bookcase done.  There are a few blank spaces and an item or two might be shifted, but I have moved on to bookcase number two. 

Made some veggie soup. 

When Ian was here we also moved out all his stuff from that bottom shelf and stuck it in the cubed bookcase for now.  I shuffled things around to free up a top shelf. 

Looks so empty after Ian's piles of stuff is gone. 

Back to the studio...worse before better again--LOL!  

Pulling out boxes.   

But I pretty much have the top half of the second bookcase done--tada! 

The top half holds paint brushes, gouache paints, paint pens & various other art pens, colored pencils, markers, etc.

****

Yes--I told you it was terribly dusty in there! 

Those bottom boxes are pulled out now, too, but I haven't gone through them all yet.  That's next.  

****

Eventually everything we can't see into needs to be labeled.  Leah has a label maker or I can hand print on paper for the ones that have a label spot.  Just decided to come back to that part of the project later and get through all the cleaning and sorting first. 

****

Okay--as promised--back to the mass of pens and markers...

****

My idea was to buy up a dozen of these black mesh pen cups (love them!)...

 ...and I thought they'd fit inside of this black letter tray so I could lift them all at once if need be.

But they didn't fit three across.  I knew that was a possibility because measurements online aren't always that accurate.  No problem because where I wanted all the pen cups was in the top shelf of one of the IKEA carts.  I knew they would fit with room to spare.  TaDa!  

I plan to surprise Leah and ask her if she would like her own letter box for her new desk.  She either will or won't.  If she doesn't, there is never an issue about me finding a use for it--LOL!

****

Of course, I realized that I needed to rearrange things on the carts again so that all the writing and lettering stuff was in the one cart and all the card-making and project stuff was in the other cart--DUH! 

You may recall that previously one wheel broke off that Leah reattached with some special adhesive for metal.  Now the real test begins because that writing cart will be rolled over to the table every day.  That wheel broke off when they were only moved once a month when Caroline cleaned--LOL!  So we'll see how well the IKEA cart wheels hold up with daily rolling about.  ;)

****

Rolled the cart over for the first time this morning.  I absolutely love it!  Just thrilled that I can easily find what I'm looking for now--whoohoo!  Plenty of room.  Don't have to shift and jiggle pens around to try to squeeze a pen out or back into a tight spot every time I use one.  Oh the little pleasures in life, eh?  :) :)

****

Yes, I am a pen addict.

**** 

Well, today I am going over for a visit with McFamily to just hang out and have a lazy day with them on Liam's actual first birthday.  How time flies!  Leah was going to work on our One Drive picture sharing issues and also how to save pictures from texts or Google+...but she must have been up early and messing around with One Drive because I suddenly got 654 pictures and 61 videos this morning!!!  Either that or One Drive suddenly decided to send everything since June--LOL!  Waaay too much to sort through for the blog today.  But I will work on them this week.  :)

****

 I watched the newest season of Orange Is The New Black and am halfway through the new season of Shameless on Netflix streaming.  Renting the third season of Lucifer from Netflix.  I really do enjoy watching series.  ;)

****

Oh, and I got the bullet set up for September.

 And October is ready.  

Just have to fill a few things in when I get there.

That will be the end of this bullet journal.  Starting a new one in November.  Always such fun to start a brand new one.  I plan to keep adding in the doodle challenges every month.

****

Speaking of...people asked to see my silly doodles...so you can giggle all you want.  Some mornings my hand isn't working that well (arthritis is setting in) and I have some days I don't color them...but here are a whole bunch of them.

I jot down the challenge on the side of the boxes so I don't have to go look them up on a list each day. 

I'm surprised how satisfying it is to do just a tiny something creative every day. 

Some days I don't put in much effort and other days I do more. 

Some make me laugh. 

But this daily drawing is why I have moved so many pens nearby. 

And all the brush pens...I do a couple lettering challenges in my writing journal every day, too.  Keeps me off the street, eh?  LOL!

****

So--an earlier post today.  Shock!  

To all those in the US--have a nice Labor Day.  Even I am off visiting today, imagine that!  See you next week. :) :)

****

"We’ve got the gift of love, but love is like a precious plant. You can’t just accept it and leave it in the cupboard, or just think it’s gonna get on with itself. You gotta keep watering it. You’ve got to really look after it...and nurture it." John Lennon

8-27-18 Monday 2:15pm

Okay--for the past hour I have tried six ways from Sunday to get the picture Leah sent me of Ian getting ready to leave for his first day of preschool today off my cell phone to some place usable for the blog and I am absolutely, positively useless when it comes to technology.  I give up.  If I can ever post it, I will.  But before I smash the phone or my laptop...I'll just tell you Ian started Montessori preschool today and is in his first class as I am writing this.  He'll be going from 12:30-3:30 every day of the week and I think he will love it.  Our Friday Gramma Days won't work anymore so we'll have to see if most Satudays will.

****

Good news on the critter front.  

The birds have slowly been returning this week!!  Flocks of sparrows have returned and lots of mourning doves for the past three days.  I've been feeding hungry birds again!!  

Even had a cottontail visitor on afternoon who pozed frozen like this behind my planter for about 20 minutes.

****

The new bookcase.

I did get before shots, but there are no after ones yet because the box is still leaning against the wall.  Leah was helping her chiropractor paint his office this weekend on Sat and Sun.  But--here are the before shots (because you know I will forget at the time--LOL!).  

****

The new bookcase is going to go in that back corner of the living room...

...where the little cube bookcase sits now. 

And the little cube bookcase will go in the hallway... 

...under the coat hooks rack. 

See all those satchels in the hallway.  After I get done in the studio those are next for cleaning and sorting.  That's all crafty stuff, too...and they all should be labeled.  I wouldn't take any bets on this all getting done before 2019--ROFL!  But you never know.  ;)

****

I have plans to reorganize this pen chaos I deal with every day.  Another before picture--LOL!  I'll show you that after it is reorganized, too--hopefully in September.  :)   

I guess I must be feeling better if I am at least mentally geared up for some changes.  ;)

****  

 Serena--I think you are right that I never posted a picture of my new pocket size cover for the field note size notebooks.  

Monthly budget, wish lists, what I owe Dagan and Leah...all the money stuff I keep track of in here.  I've had it for months and can't remember now where I ordered it.  Etsy?  I do love it, though.   

 ****

 Oh and here's a couple white hairs on Annie's back--LOL!  One big one and one small one. 

When I first saw these I thought they were loose and tried to pick them off--LOL!  She also has a really long hair near a paw--if it is still there.  I can't even remember if it was black or white now.  She's very touchy about her feet and legs.  If I ever get a chance to get a picture, I will.  ;)  

****

How embarrassed would shy Annie be if she knew I was posting pictures of her--LOL!

****

Speaking of Annie...she spent most of the day yesterday hiding in either the panty or the bathroom.  We had thunderstorms with violent wind gusts that kept marching through one after the other.  

****

Bad news on the flower front.  

****

During one break I went out to rescue this planter!

The entire planter got tipped over!  And it was not that light, let me tell you.

****

But the worst damage was done to the one on the other side where the wind was coming from. 

That coleus lost huge stalks!  Snapped right off!

****

So this morning I was out there cleaning up the damage. Amazingly, the tipped one barely even suffered any damage at all.  Kind of landed on top of the bush in the rocks behind it.

But the other side coleus has a huge gaping hole in the center of it now. 

Lost seven stalks--six little ones and the huge center one.

The front coleus that have been flowering for ages and the bees love so much... 

...survived just fine. 

There were three bumblebees there this morning while I was filling two little grocery sacks full of broken and dead plants. 

All the daisies bit the dust except for this one red one in the tipped over planter.   

What amazes me is that these delicate looking fuchsias...  

...handled those wind gusts without being stripped of all those tiny flowers. 

And look who was also back this morning--some grackles!  Now doesn't this look like normal again?  :) :) 

Probably only passing through if the grackles are heading south--but I never thought it would be such a delight to have the squawking seed fights and mass pooping on my patio again.  Yup--looks and sounds right and proper.  Annie is thrilled to have her CatTV working again--LOL!  Especially since it has been cool enough to have the patio door open at least part of the day.

****

Well, I had an extra long Gramma Day on Saturday since Leah was busy helping with that painting.  Ian and I basically just hung out.  Had lunch, went to the mailbox, watched some Maru the Cat, went to the garage to get bird seed, watched Cars3 (again--LOL!), and had dinner.  He found out there is a book to tell him words that mean similar things because he insisted he wasn't dawdling because it was called stalling...so we added a bunch of words he giggled at like procrastinate, lollygag, and dillydally.  He likes it when I look up things on the laptop, too.  He found out you can even hear how to pronounce words.  I just love the internet!

****

  Ian was here really late for him (we were just having such a good time).  Since bedtime is normally around 7pm and Dagan was coming over around 7:30 to pick Ian up--well, he surprised us with an idea to try something we hadn't done before.  Daddy brought over Ian's bedtime stuff (pajamas, toothbrush, and storybook) so that Ian could get all ready for bed at Gramma's before he went home.  What a great idea!  I got to read him his bedtime story and everything.  I got mighty hugs and he left blowing kisses.  

****

Ahhh!  The only thing as wonderful as being a parent is being a grandparent.  Everybody says it is better because it's only part-time and not full-time--LOL!  I suppose that is true.  But I loved being Dagan's mom...a lot.  Maybe because I paid such close attention--not knowing how long we had together.  The unexpected blessings have multiplied over the years.  Sometimes I still can't believe all of this is actually happening...as Daddy and Ian go down the hallway and I am catching kisses.  Who knew?  I confess--as I shut the door I wiped away a tear.  Joy can spill out your eyes.  

****

Have a joyous week!!!  :) :)

****

"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."

Dr. Seuss

Monday-2:45pm

Good afternoon!

It's difficult to take a photo of a black cat who's half in shadow--LOL!

I got closer at a new angle. 

Wanted to show you that Annie is getting stray long white hairs in her old age--LOL!  Maybe you can see it on her upper arm.  Can click to enbiggen--LOL!  (Isn't that a funny word somebody made up?!)

She has a couple more but she's not that easy to get pictures of.  Easier now that when she arrived a year ago, though--LOL!  I'll try to get pictures as I can.  These lone grey hairs crack me up.  Maybe because this old lady is also dealing with stray hairs showing up where they never used to be--ROFL!

****

 I am getting a few stray birds.  Twice there was a small group here that reminded me of old times.  Not 20-30 of them, but 5-8.  I'll take it.

But this is 1/2 cup of birdseed (vs the 2-4 cups I could put out and they wanted more) after TWO DAYS.  Very few birds still.  I have seen a lone bee twice.  Pretty quiet out there. 

The bookcase arrived!! 

This giant guy (I'm only 5' 1" and he almost could hit his head on the door frame) carried it in over his shoulder like it was nothing (over 70 lb.) on a 90 degree day.  Such a sweet man.  I had a place ready for it right inside the door and he brought it in for me, too.  (Some of them will not enter your apartment even a couple feet because it's against the rules, I believe.)  The bookcase is still there--until we can arrange for a bookcase assembly day.  ;)

****

I've been very slowly plugging away in the studio.  Been basically working on this one bookcase...but gathering in appropriate supplies from other spots that should go in this bookcase with all the extra skinny shelves.

Getting closer to done with this first one.  I picked the two hardest to organize bookcases on this side of the room to tackle first.  The rest will seem like a breeze.  Well, not quite a breeze, but easier by comparison--LOL! 

****

Still sorting through stuff...

...but once in a while the tables look more cleared off before I fill them up again.  ;) 

****

On Tuesday Caroline came to clean and Leah dropped off items from Costco and the Natural Food Store.  

****

On Friday it was Gramma Day!  Ian had his lunch at home this time so I could set up the table for gelli printing.  We only used the one small rectangular gelli plate.  I ended up getting out the Pebeo iridescent acrylics in the tubes because Ian fell in love with the shimmer of the gold and silver Dick Blick matte acrylics (in the bottles you see on the right side of the table).  I had picked out a bunch of mark-making trash--also on the right side of the table down front (straws, mesh that held cheeses, pill bottles, pen parts, bottle covers, parts of a syringe/ no needle, an old shower scrubber, PVC pipe samples, cardboard tape rolls, etc).  Had the old gelli prints (that Ian took pictures of last week) ready to use for rolling the brayers clean and a stack of white card stock cut down to fit.

We were soooo busy all afternoon!  I put the paints on, Ian brayered the paint out (until he finally got tired in the late afternoon and asked me to), we put our marks on the painted gelli plate (mostly Ian), I put the paper on top, I did most of the rubbing (Ian got tired of that after about an hour), and then Ian did most of the peeling up of the paper (the magical part!!). 

You can't see well from these pictures but 3/4 of these have shimmer paint. 

We had such fun!!  Even drug out a few stencils.

Leah brought these back over with her (how I got pics because I forgot) because she wants to make cards out of them since they were mostly Ian's handiwork with a little guidance!!  Awesome!

****

My back had a rough time standing over the table for so long, though.  Ian and I took a long snack break and watched Ian's favorite on youtube--Maru and Hanna.  Then we went back and played some more until we had used every color of the pebeos.  By that time we were both ready to quit.

****

  So I got the stool out for Ian so he could help scrub paint off himself, the brayers, and the supplies we didn't throw in the trash as a few were reusable.  Then Gramma rested her back while Ian played "don't step in the lava" using four pillows.  He moved pillows and jumped and jumped and jumped until he was exhausted and came to sit with me to watch a final couple of gelli plate videos.  Leaves looks like something we should try!

****

Let's just say Gramma was shot--LOL!  On Saturday I never even got dressed--but Leah came over for a couple of hours in the afternoon to make those invites to Liam's birthday party.  So that got done--tada!  And I was still hurtin' yesterday and had another pajama day.  

****

Back has calmed down quite a bit by today, so I have been doing laundry and bedding.  I am even able to sit here to blog without having to get up as often.  (Knock on wood.)  Annie is sleeping in the chair next to me at the table.  No birds.  I was out cleaning up the planters and watering earlier--put out a whole cup of seed--and I think I have seen one sparrow stop for a snack.  Oh well.  I'm sure hungry birds will be here this fall when it gets cold.  If they aren't coming around then--I'll be shocked. 

****

We've had troubles with sharing photos lately.  This is the only one that came through.  It's a little blurry--but I love it.  Daddy and Liam--eye to eye, nose to nose.

****

Maybe this week--or sometime soon--we'll get the bookcase together and move things around in here.  I will try to remember to get before and after pics.  During?  Always questionable with me but I hope so.  

****

Ian saw the box and right away said he wanted to help put the bookcase together.  I said I don't know what the plans will be.  Could be just Mama and me--don't know yet.  He loves to help, though. 

****

Some rain came through that helped clear some of the smoke out of the air and dropped the temperature from around 90 down to mid-70s.  Ahhhh!  Loving it.   Have had the patio door open yesterday and today.  Very, very quiet with no birds.  The flowers look a little better, though.  Maybe they are breathing a sigh of relief from the sweltering weather, too.  ;)

****

Till next week.  

May it be a good one.  :) :)

****

"Light is in both the broken bottle and the diamond."

Mark Nepo