March 10, 2025 Monday--5am

Good morning!

Busy week.  Making up foods over several days that I can nuke, doing laundry (even blankets), and Keanna came on Tuesday to clean.  Warm.  The false spring has continued.

Was surprised to see an Arctic hare out nibbling away next to my patio!

Don't see them during the daytime very often.

Still basically white.  The false spring hasn't convinced their bodies to turn brown again--lol!

I got a set of clear containers for all my various new cloth vs paper goods items.  In the kitchen I have the cloth paper towels on the right and lighter colored cloth napkins on the left.

Back behind my chair in the folding table area...

...a container for the cloth hankies.  Yes--now I do feel like my grandmothers who had flowered hankies in their bags--lol!

Lastly, in the studio...

...got a darker colored set of cloth paper towels to use when painting and such.  I don't think they will stay on the table, but they will be closeby.

On Thursday Dagan took me to the dermatologist appointment.  Skip the photo below if you don't want to see what he did, but the lump on my face...well, he said it looked like cancer to him so he didn't want to remove it until they knew what kind it was.  He took a biopsy.  Looks worse now, as you can see!  I'll find out the results within a week or two.  Regardless, they will cut it off...and he wanted this other guy to do it because he is the best at the more "sensitive cosmetic" removals and does them all the time.  So--another silver lining?  I will make sure I get the guy who does the better job with scars--lol!  He took quite a chunk!

Next time I will sit on my hands.  It hurt so sharply getting the Novocain shot that my hand jerked up automatically and bumped his hand and the needle right out of my face--lol!  I've never done anything like that before.  But at the dentist you have armrests to grip--lol!

Anyways, Keytruda has set off my system in weird ways.  The other two lumps (forearm and top of head) were benign, so this one could be, too.  But even if it is cancer they usually just remove it and that is that.  No treatment or anything they said.  With Keytruda your immune system can attack your good cells--as well as the cancer cells.  Let's just say mine has been doing a bit of that.  But--no cancer.  Can't complain.

[Oh--FYI...having some quite old bandaids, I discovered that Johnson & Johnson still stuck very well but the Curads did not.  Barely would stick at all.  Fell right off.  Tossed them all.]

Dagan told me that on Saturday they were having an IKEA Party with their friends, Chris and Robyn, and their two teenage boys, Payton and Isaac!

Before the IKEA Party Ian had a pottery class in the morning!

That is so cool!  I always wanted to learn pottery.  

Since I injured my wrist/arm I can't even knead bread anymore, so it will never happen.  Leah made a variety of beautiful bowls several years ago.  I use several of them in the studio.

I was impressed with what Ian made for his first time at the pottery wheel!  Nice!  For the kids the teachers will fire, glaze, and fire them again, I guess.  All they will have to do is pick them up when they're ready.  Be fun to see them finished!

After pottery class it was time for the IKEA Party.  My garage before they packed up what they could...

...and after.  Maybe close to half of it?

You can maybe imagine how excited I was to get these first three pictures texted from Leah!!  OMG!!  They had already put together one of the two hutches with the glass doors on top that go side-by-side in the living room! 

And they were working on the small skinny shelf unit that will go in the studio.

It is the same as this unit I have in the studio here inside the door.  

They will sit side-by-side even though my current IKEA pieces in my studio that are coming with me are actually a more bluish color.  The light is bad.

This is more the color.  These other two live under my die-cutting table.

Here's an old sketch I made for the furniture placement.  All of it was measured to make sure it would fit, but I didn't make the drawings of the actual furniture to size--lol!  Way off!  It will be a lot more crowded than this appears to be--lol!  All this was just for the placement of what goes where.  But it is finally happening!  

And so it begins!

Later on Saturday Leah texted a few more pics!

The two hutches with the glass doors are there and real!!  (Can you hear me squealing with delight?!)

The greyish skinny set of drawers is together and in the studio!  

I plan to use the blue one I already have for pens, inks, and pen stuff.  Whoohoo!  This grey one will be for stamps and other card making supplies.

And one of the hutches without the glass doors on top is already in the studio!  Will sit side-by-side with another one.  The shelves below in the hutches will hold the many satchels.

The satchels that will go below in the living room hutches will hold writing supplies...finished cards, bookcards, supplies for letters and journaling.  The satchels that will go in the studio hutches will be for card making, bookmaking, and other craft supplies.  

And one of the two wardrobes was put together, too!

Can you tell I am excited!!

They got all that done on Saturday!!  

Happy dancing in Fargo!  :)

So here's what is now put together or that I already own and am taking with me.  Whoohoo!  Progress!!

Ian and Liam were upstairs playing Sorry and doing things to keep busy and stay out of the way a bit, you know?  A little too young to be able to keep up with helping with the furniture.

They would have been more in the way...like Gramma--lol!

So, this coming week I have Dr. Kessler for my annual Medicare checkup on Wednesday.  Not so stressful--lol!  Leah is taking me to this one.  I might hear about whether the face lump is cancer or not--and get the slicing scheduled, if I am lucky.  We are supposed to continue with the false spring.  Allie is loving it!  Have a great week!  :)

March 3, 2025 Monday--5am

Good morning!

Well, I'm afraid it looks like the only emails that I was able to send to any of you were responses to your regular emails or emails I sent on my own--not the actual individual responses to your specific comments.  It didn't work.  So, I am back to my regular 5am posting. 

Well, we had a warmer week in the 30s and 40s!  

The sidewalk out there was flooded with water.  That blue you see is a sky reflection between the garage reflections.

Dog walkers had to wear waterproof boots or turn back for a while.

This pic was through the screen so it's not the best, but a couple of partridges were hanging out by the tree across the way to make their way over when dusk arrived. :)

Nothing left but snowbanks.  I was able to sweep the patio off in February!  How weird!  But the false spring was a nice change after the recent -50 to -60 wind chills.

Just put up one of my top favorite shower curtains.

Yes, I am still changing them about every two weeks.

I was too tired and sore to try any new techniques or lessons...but I did make it into the studio...

...to paint blobs of color.  On the left I did blobs on dry paper and then misted with water.  On the right I misted the paper first and let the colors run together.  (I prefer the wet first runny ones.)

All I plan to do is doodle on the blobs--lol!  No-brain art play.  I am not feeling up to much of anything else lately.

Which is why I ordered this mandala coloring book.

Something I can do in my chair all these days I am not feeling great.  Just using colored pencils or markers.  Not very creative, but it is much better than not doing anything creative at all, I guess--lol!

Miss Allie having a heat snooze in her Cat Spa.

Wednesday I made it to the new lady urologist.  I liked her a lot better.  So did Leah.  She took her time and explained things more and I even got to watch the screen as she checked the walls of my bladder.  Very strange, but interesting.  I even agreed to go back in six months.  They like to do that for at least five years, she said.  *sigh*

Got some pictures from Leah.

Not sure when McFamily went to Scheel's, but the boys always have to climb up into the giant Adirondack chair--lol!

Thursday Chuck (BIL--married to Leah's sister, Michal) had open heart surpery--valve replacement.  So Dagan and Leah have had their two boys, Julian and Elliot, quite a bit this past week.  Chuck is doing okay, but will be in the hospital probably about a week.

Saturday morning Julian and Elliot were with Ian and Liam to go to the kids' projects at Home Depot.  Leah said she'd never seen that many kids there.  (Spring fever?)  There were so many that all the boys had to put their projects together in an aisle on the floor--lol!  Not that they minded.

Looks like a basketball hoop and ball game of some kind.

Then they stopped for lunch at Burger King...

...before they headed over to the Plains Art Museum for Kid's Quest art.

Looks like they could make any kind of mixed media art they wanted to.

The cousins had fun together and Michal got to spend time at the hospital with Chuck.  (My heart goes out to them--I have many memories of sitting beside Dagan's hospital bed.)  Hope Chuck heals quickly and well.  

Dagan will be bringing me to the dermatologist appointment Thursday afternoon to have the lump cut off my face.  Be glad when that is over and done with, too.  I am used to blood draws, IVs, CT scans, and various doctor appointments...but when it comes to them poking stuff up you or cutting things off...well, I will be glad when I'll be done with this one, too.

Plenty enough going on at home base, I guess.  I'll leave it at that and see you next week!  Thank goodness for kids, cats. critters, and cloth instead of paper.  Keeps me out of trouble--lol!  Thank you for stopping by.  You always light up my days!  :)

February 24, 2025 Monday

Happy Monday!

Well, my making a comment to click the box to get all your comments sent to my inbox appeared to work.  I did respond to every one, but nobody let me know if they got them.  I didn't get any no-delivery notices or anything. ??  I'll try again.  Please let me know in a comment if you did get a response from me.  In the meantime, I will post before I go to bed on Sunday so it will be up for you early-birds on Monday. :)

The week seemed to fly by.  McFamily did grocery shopping on Monday since they all had the day off.  Dagan and Liam brought in my groceries from the car.  Liam likes to run into the bathroom to see which shower curtain I have up--lol!  He brings mints out to the car for Mama and Ian.  Was super cold with frostbite warnings that night--as it had been for days.

Tuesday morning at 8am I got the phone interview for that SNAP/food stamp review.  The lady was very nice and admitted that a lot of people assumed it was a scam, so she was glad I had googled it.  I still waited to see if she'd ask me for anything I wasn't willing to give her over the phone (like SS number, bank account) but she never did.  Basically just wanted me to verify my address and that I lived alone and that SS was my only income.  She needed to call someone else who could verify those things so I gave her Dagan's number.  She even asked me to please warn him that she'd be calling the next day because so many people won't answer because they avoid strange numbers and are afraid they are scams.  That she'd leave a message from Tiffany so he could answer whenever was convenient.  She sounded totally legit...exhausted and pleasant.

Funny--Dagan said he couldn't remember my address!  ROFL!

Anyways, I think it was okay.  Got my approval letter in the mail from all the paperwork I had just mailed to Bismark before this lady called.  So, for however long we still have that help available, I am approved unless I hear otherwise.

Keanna came to clean that afternoon.  Really cold day for her to bring out my trash to the dumpster.  But it has warmed up since then.  Finally got to above zero and then has even been above freezing for a couple of days.  Expected to get above freezing every day for the next 10 days, I guess.  We might even hit 40 degrees--so, the snow will be slowly melting away.  :(

Leah has been feeling better and better she says and made it to work this last week.  Me--same old fibro flare I seem to be stuck in.  Just (barely) managing to keep up with laundry, cooking, and cleaning...with a lot of procrastinating.  Kind of feeling like Allie.  Wasn't sleeping well or long, so was even forced into a couple of naps.  ;)

I promised I would show you the Swedish dishcloths I ordered.  They are really different!  Hard as a rock when they dry...soft and pliable when they are wet.  They will curl when they dry, as you can see with the one on the right.  I really do like them!  

They are so thin and so easy to wring out you could do it with one hand, yet they are very absorbent.  Can just toss them in the washer.  I air dry them because they dry so quickly, too.  Another of those little joys in my life. :)

I worked on letters and am getting just about caught up.  Re-watched Vera until I could remember the episodes so well that I thought I'd wait a good while to watch the rest--lol!  

Out of curiosity I googled how many people were actually receiving some of the assistance and help from federal programs.

Social Security 71 million

SSDI  8 million

Medicare 67.3 million

Medicaid 80 million

SNAP (food stamps) 41 million

Federal Housing Assistance 10 million

WIC 12.1 million mothers with children

National School Lunch Program 30.1 million kids

Head Start 39 million kids

Veteran's benefits 6 million

It says one out of three Americans get some form of assistance...100 million.

Fell down a rabbit hole...

Total U.S. budget for 2024 -- 6.5 trillion.

Military budget for 2024--842 billion.

Trump's golfing (1/3 of his time) first month of second term--10.7 million

Trump and family's trip to the Super Bowl--estimates between15-20 million

Trump's trip to the Daytona 500 to fly over the track, drive around the track, and leave after 11 laps--estimates between 5-10 million

Just thought you might be curious, too.

  

Anyways, snow is melting...Allie is purring...I am procrastinating...lol!  Till next week, my friends.  :)