9-16-2019 Monday-11am

Good morning!

Why Annie has so many toys.  

This was 4 or 5 days ago.

This is today.

I forgot to have Ian search under the furniture yesterday.  The toys quickly disappear under the chairs, end tables, and TV cabinet.  I can't crawl on the floor to search them out--LOL!  Time to toss out a few more from her toy box.  :)

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I tried to do a hand comparison.  Good hand--kind of a side view.  (Not easy to do with one hand--either hand.)

Bad hand--side view.

Good hand--knuckle overview.

Bad hand--knuckle overview.

I know it looks bad, but with everything I've been doing and adjusting to...well, it's staying about the same and I have been able to do more.  Learning to work around it.  Able to get things done little by little.  :)  

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Messy table.  I even did a lot of prep work for the birthday cards before Leah came over last Thursday for Craft Nite. TaDa!!

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Meanwhile...I have been seeing a vole again.  Found evidence of the Annie torture--LOL!  It sits behind the hose planter which is only inches away from the patio door.  No wonder Annie parks herself in that corner of the patio door with her nose to the screen--LOL!  Isn't that the way cats tease dogs sometimes--sitting just out of reach?  ROFL!  This is one clever vole.  ;)

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Anyways, Leah came over on Thursday to work on birthday cards.  

This shows what the finished fronts look like with a ribbon strung through the happy birthday tag.   

Leah cut over half of the orange tags.  Then she took a break from that tedious job to stamp the blue balloon over the corner of the scrap paper I had been taping to the insides while she was using the die cut machine.  

She got all the blue balloons stamped.  Now I need to draw the trailing down string on each balloon.
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I have been having pretty good hand days so I have been puttering along since Craft Nite.  I finished putting all the ribbon tags on and the fronts on what was cut and ready.  Green ribbons and fronts on the tray are all we have left to do when the orange tag cutting is done.  

A surprise.  I discovered I accidentally had cut out over a hundred of the papers for the birthday card fronts.  (That is our Christmas card number and not my birthday card number--LOL!)  
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So, I am making a different version of a birthday card with the same paper.  Obviously will send those a few years later--LOL!  The nice thing is I had already put the double-sided tape on all the fronts and inside scrap pieces long ago so it was easy to attach them onto a card base, too.  Now all I need to do is stamp a sentiment on the inside and the second set will be done--whoohoo!!  So we might even finish both sets this week!!  :)
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You know what that means?  Next we can start fiddling with figuring out how to print me off bullet journal pages!  Well, Leah will be doing the figuring.  ;)  I can hardly wait!
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Ian had another birthday party to go to on Saturday so we had Gramma Day yesterday on Sunday.  Leah brought Ian over and stuck around to set me up on YouTube TV.  It took longer than planned, as these things do, so I started reading Ian about the Moomins and the Great Flood.  Was a long book for him but we made it through to the happy ending.  Leah hung around to listen to the whole story.  Then she showed me how to work YouTube TV and left for home.
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Ian and I watched some new episodes of PJMasks.  Cuddle time is the best!  Won't be long and he'll think he's too old for cuddling so I really, really appreciate it while it lasts.  :)
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When Liam woke up from his nap the rest of McFamily came over so Liam could open his birthday presents.

I ordered them from Liam's Amazon list.  Two wooden boxes of 4 puzzles each and this "remote control" game toy.  Obviously I was confused by Leah calling it a remote control--LOL!  I just remembered reading that it was a game that taught numbers, shapes, and colors.  It just LOOKS like a remote control shape--duh!  
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Anyways, here's our drooly Liam opening presents.

What a fun day!  I am soooo glad Liam is acting himself around me all of a sudden.  When he comes over he knows exactly where the big case of bristle blocks is and carries it into the living room right off the bat--LOL!  I even got a hug goodbye!!  Nice getting to know him now, too.  Makes for a happy Gramma!  ;)
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Was cool, rainy, and cloudy most of the week until yesterday.  I loved it!  Suddenly we have had sun and hot days...back to shut up with the AC on.  I think it was 86 (30 C) yesterday and today it says we could hit 90 (32 C).  Still mid 80s tomorrow but then it will drop the rest of the week back into the 70s to the 60s (21 to 15 C...if these are wrong you can blame it on Alexa--LOL!). 
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Today...a load of clothes is spinning in the dryer.  I think I will get back to working on some letters, for sure.  I'm always working on letters.  One of those perpetual joys in life.  So glad there are others who still enjoy writing and/or receiving real hand-written letters.  Don't want it to end up a lost art.  :)
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Oh, I ran across a YT website Reel Truth History Documentaries and am loving their series called Restoration Home.  In the UK there are these old buildings (which are sometimes hundreds of years old) that people are wanting to save and turn into family homes.  I am fascinated by shows like these.  Talk about transformations!  Buildings I would be scared to walk inside of (spiders or falling through floors or stones/bricks/beams falling on your head) turned into such amazing homes.  Reel Truth also has some great British history programs, of course.  Anyways, that's my latest online obsession.
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And now--the dryer is buzzing.  Annie knows I'll be getting up to deal with it so she just left her chair next to me at the table  to go lie in the sun.  Time to say goodbye until next week's newsletter--LOL!  Have a soothing week.  A nice, soul-soothing week sounds marvelous to me.  :) :)
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"Fulfilled life is possible in spite of unfulfilled wishes."
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

9-8-2019 Monday-10:15am

Good morning!  

It looks much like this again right now, but a bit more solid gray with some drizzly rain.  More substantial downpour is on the way shortly according to my trusty phone radar.

I have been cloud watching this past week.  Some were colorful displays... 

...and some so dramatic I had to step outside...  

...to try to capture the contrasts... 

...and activity.  :) 

While I was out there I thought I'd show you the state of the flowers this fall. 

I have some blank spots where marigolds drowned.  But a couple of the eight plants survived. 

Everyone else is doing fine as the weather cools.  

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Our young bunny friend visits. 

Annie enjoys the morning sun... 

...but didn't want to be disturbed and covered her face. 

Me--I am about the same.  Thank goodness!  Between all the different topical creams and gels...CBD oil and Aleve...and all the various supplements Leah and I have researched... 

...all that has been keeping the KT (knuckle and toe) situation about the same.  It hasn't gotten any worse, at least.  So that's good!  I've just added KT to the rest of the issues I have to work around, have adjusted quite a bit to the new pain level, and adapted to more limitations.  Life goes on.

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I have something fun to share.  Something I have been fascinated by for quite a long time.  Have you ever heard of acrylic paint pouring art?  People have different techniques.  If you're interested, here's some examples.  But if you're not as mesmerized as myself--skip or just pick one and you'll get the idea.  ;)

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Anyways, I finally succumbed to the temptation of a future messy endeavor.  Or am in the midst of succumbing, I guess would be more accurate.  
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I made an order from Amazon of cheapest canvases I could find, pouring cups (8 oz still coming), and some stirring sticks. 

I have a Dick Blick order coming with pouring medium and silicone oil.  I still will need some larger bottles of black and white acrylic paint.  I already have disposable gloves, palette knives, straws, and a variety of acrylic paints.  Yes, I do believe a very messy adventure is in my future!!
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Meanwhile, Ian and I had that Gramma Day last Monday.  First we watched some PJMasks and then we decorated a sheet of packing paper so I could wrap Liam's birthday presents.  I forgot to take a picture of when it was all one sheet, but the two presents on the right were wrapped in the new sheet we did with markers and crayons.  The one on the left was the last piece I had from the marathon painting session Ian, Daddy, and I did quite a long time ago.  

Ian was in the mood for me to draw and for him to do the coloring...except for this tree with the mourning dove on top that Gramma couldn't bear to use for wrapping paper.  

I scribbled the grass but Ian drew the tree and then decided it needed a bird on top when he saw one of our porch visitors.
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Ian also asked me to draw a really big table with presents on that he could color.  

I know you can't tell but we outlined four of the presents with glow-in-the-dark glitter glue.  Since he wanted to show Liam how they glowed...well, I just managed to cut the packing paper and avoid this piece, too.  Now it will be easier for them to bring this up to their room at night.  (Yes, Liam has moved into Ian's room so it is now officially "the boy's room", Ian told me.)
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Anyways, Gramma is keeping the tree and dove drawing on the frig.  Not willing to part with it.  ;) 
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Leah was here Thursday night for Craft Nite.  She needed to make disposable gift tags for when Ian has presents for kid's parties from school.  Otherwise, we family members have reusable gift tags and packaging.  Hence the folded scarf-like present you see above on the presents table.  ;)
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Leah and I also discussed how we are going to put together my set of birthday cards.  I had pre-cut some birthday paper a long time ago but never figured out how I wanted to construct the cards.  Now we have a plan.  Nice that Leah offered to help me with my birthday cards, too.  
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This weekend McFamily was very busy so I suggested we skip Gramma Day rather than try to squeeze in a couple hours in a hectic weekend.  I've been taking it easy all week.  Watched the two seasons on Acorn TV of London Kills and the second season on Netflix DVDs of Shetland.  I've been enjoying so much shows where eventually the bad guys get caught and pay consequences.  
Very satisfying.  
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Oh, and even after calling, the lady locating my new blood pressure pills at the other pharmacy, saying she'd have that pharmacy mail them, and that she'd cancel my old prescription...the new pills never arrived again AND YET a new month's worth of my old prescription arrived!  Good grief!  So I had to call again.  This time she straightened it out, I hope.  I just told her I'd keep the old prescription since I don't know if I'll have any problems with this new one.  So, only been taking them since they (finally) came on Friday.
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Generally, I have to say that I am as happy as can be.  I can do what I need to do (mostly).  I'm blessed with the help I do need.  I embrace the cooler--even chilly--weather!  Absolutely love the fall...well, and the winter, too.  I will soon have a new art to experiment with.  (Hopefully by October I'll have all the supplies.)  I am adapting to the KT situation--LOL!  I have chosen not to let the new limitations get me down.  I choose gratitude and happiness.  It could always be worse, right?  May take me a while sometimes, but that is what I have always chosen and hope I always will.  Life is good.  :) 
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While I have been chatting with you it has poured and thundered for a while.  Annie disappeared instantly, of course.  Now it is down to a steady patter on the air conditioner.  Right now it's 57 degrees or almost 14 C.  I love it!  Definitely have northern blood--LOL!  :)
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So, have a wonderful week, everyone. 
Till next time.
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[I'm a sucker for Rumi quotes.  :)]
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"Your task is not to seek love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it."
Rumi

9-2-2019 Monday-11am

Good Morning!

It's a beautiful day at the moment but 80% chance of rain they say.

I was really glad the long single file parade of 17 Canadian Geese marching down the sidewalk on Tuesday paid my patio no mind.  Sorry, no pictures.  I was mesmerized and counting--LOL!

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Annie missed the Goose parade because she was napping on my bed that afternoon.  She often has to leave the room to get in her 20 hours of sleep these days with the patio door open and our little visitors returning.  She spends much of her time eyes glued to the outside world.

Our teenage cottontail is a regular visitor.  

And ever since this covey of five young partridges... 

...discovered my patio bonanza... 

...they have been here every day!  

Sometimes 3 or 4 times!  :)  

I am thrilled.  I didn't realize how much I have missed the clucking of these sweet birds as they peck away out there.  Note this spot, little covey.  Annie and I will be here all winter with food. 

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Well, let's see.  What else?  The new GP, Dr. Lien, called in the new BP medication to the wrong Dakota Pharmacy.  I expected them to come in the mail and forgot about it.  Realized on Friday they hadn't come so I called.  The nice lady at my usual pharmacy located them and said she'd call and have them mail the prescription to me.  Since we have a holiday weekend I have to wait until tomorrow or Wednesday to begin to find out if I develop a dry cough or get dizzier--LOL!

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I had a 40# bag of kitty litter arrive this week for Annie Girl.  Dagan stopped by after work on Wednesday to dump it into the bin in the pantry for me.  Then he surprised me later that night after the boys went to bed and popped in to share some Keto pizza Leah had made!  Tasty!

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Thursday Leah and I had a Craft Night...and we finished putting together the second set of three-tree Christmas cards!!

Some have a red card stock base and and more of them have burgundy. 

I taped in a lot of the insides.  When Leah was done taping the finished fronts on she took over and finished getting the inside piece attached. 

So exciting to have a couple sets done now.  

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Oh, and I ordered a set of three more satchels on sale on Amazon, so we can make lots and lots of cards!  They're patiently waiting up high in the hallway.  ;)

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Then it was the end of the month so I had all the usual tasks to do: the banking, bills, work on the grocery list for Caroline, and set up the bullet journal for September.  

I have the core of the bullet journal set up through the end of the year.  Just have to fill in the headers, tracker, monthly goals, etc.  I decided to do October while I was at it...since my creative side has been feeling a bit abandoned.  ;)

I've had this same set up for a couple of years, as you know.  I'm a minimalist with my bullet.  Leah made up the blank monthly calendars for me to tape into the journal...

...and the monthly tracker, too, on the left side.  I have monthly goals and keep track of correspondence on the right side.

And each week gets a two page spread.  I write up weekly goals, have room for any lists I might want for the week, and have those squares to doodle in each day on the left hand side (which I haven't been drawing for three months and just started again).  On the right hand side are the days of the week to write down specific tasks for that day or appointments, etc.  I tried those blue days of the week stickers in October.

Once I got going I decided to continue and do the November headers... 

...and December's, too! 

So basics are set up till 2020!

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Leah is going to help me with a set of birthday cards for 2020...but then I am hoping she can figure out how to make all these blank skeletal pages of my bullet into ones I can print off and use in a binder so I don't have to spend so long drawing everything up and can just do the filling in of the headers, dates, and lists each month.  Hoping to have that for my new bullet journal in 2020.  :)

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 My routine has been so off the last three months that when I went to the table in the morning a few days ago (like I used to do every single morning) Annie paced around the kitchen crying.  She wouldn't jump up in "her" chair and left when I tried to lift her up into it.  Obviously, Annie doesn't like changes in her routine.  She had been very stressed out when I started to live in my chair in the living room, too--LOL!

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Took two days before she suddenly decided it was okay to sit next to me in her chair again.  Silly girl! 

Yes, this is where I have been living--day and night--for three months.  Kind of a mess, but functional.  My laptop isn't on the laptop table or my cell phone it the holder--otherwise, that's what it looks like.

I had to add a folding table to hold all the letters in progress...and food, too, at times. 

This red end table has pens (of course) and all the paraphernalia this old lady needs to keep her going: Puffs, thermometer, CBD oil, Aleve, arnica for pain in several forms (gel, cream, roll on, tablets), nasal spray, fan remote, and some almonds to snack on.

Obviously by day three Annie has adjusted to the old routine returning. 

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Anyways, I was not up to par and McFamily was gone Saturday for Labor Day so Gramma Day got delayed until today.  Ian should be here any time, so I need to wrap this up.  :)

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Let everyone know how much you care.  

Spread the love!  

Have a marvelous week.  :) :)

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"This is the world.  Beautiful and terrible things happen.  Do't be afraid."

Frederick Buechner