Thursday-9am

This is the empty box from the new DVD/VCR player. I taped the corners of the flaps together for height and cut a hole so Miss Karma now has another plaything for a while. Just like a curious toddler, she is easy to please and gets more entertainment out of trash than the toys I buy her--hehe! Notice she has drug her two fishing pole toys into the box for safekeeping.

Yesterday I got out the little green cart and made a trip to the garage with the bedroom VCR, a couple of boxes, and the plant pots. Man!! Was I ever glad I had my new green coat! Really cold out there! I wheeled in an old cassette player--for my dancing--but the cord is missing. Called Dagan, but he doesn't have it. (I sent a box of assorted electronic cords over to him when I downsized here.) That means another trip to double-check in the freezing garage--eventually--hehe! Have to work up to that.

Then I wheeled down the Christmas decorations box and a couple more things to my storage area--and hauled back all the rest of the massage table stuff and the small round table for the humidifier. I left the massage table paraphernalia on the cart so that, later on, I could wheel it down for Leah to her car when she left after card night. Thank goodness for the green coat--again! Boy! I am glad I don't have to be out in this if I don't want to 95% of the time!! :)
When Leah made it over after yoga last night we never did get to working on the cards. She was here a little over an hour. First she went online and switched me over to a different presecription drug choice for next year where I won't have to pay any co-payments on what I am taking right now. (That is what Leah does at the office job--take calls for the FoxRX prescription drug plan--so she knows all about this stuff! Leah is keeping her eyes open for another job. FoxRX is outsourcing to India and she'll be without a job here pretty soon!) So, I wanted to switch to somebody else as long as, eventually, Leah won't be there anymore.
Then we took everything out of the shelves above the washer and dryer. When I put these together--duh!--I didn't realize you needed to have a back on them, too. Wondered why I had so many parts left over--hehe! Well, one day here an entire section collapsed and little knobbies went flying! I had sent the leftover wire and knobbies over to Leah because she uses them in a closet--she made a pantry out of hers!
Leah handed everything to me and I piled stuff on my bed (Karma enetertainment, of course). We got everything out and Leah put the backs on properly--as they should have been in the first place. You can see why Dagan and Leah just shake their heads at me sometimes. Women are supposed to be better at reading the instructions and I usually am/was. Fibro has cost me my mind! A part of it, at least. If you can remember times in your life when you were just so damn tired that you couldn't even think straight anymore--that's how I feel--a lot of the time. That causes me to make mistakes and forget things that I never would have before the fibro.

Anyways, then we maneuvered that long thing back up there. I handed everything back up to her and we got it all organized--better than it was before. Looking good! Most of the top shelf is all materials for making handmade paper. That is what the "Dead Plants" box is for too--chuckle! I save the dead parts of my plants and we use them in papermaking. The asparagus ferns will be recycled. So, don't be surprised if some of you get a card one day with the tiny little spikey leaves in the paper/cardstock--hehe!

This is another day I am up early! Wonder how long this will last? Went to bed at 10:30pm and woke up at 7am. Now, how much more "normal" can one get? hehe! I am enjoying it while it lasts. Altho--today, from all the hauling and lifting yesterday, I am really hurtin' and tired--no surprise. It was a pain pills morning--hehe! And I have been writing this blog one short section at a time. It's after 11am now.

Leah said she will try to make it over Friday night to work on cards for a couple of hours if she can. She's wanting to get them done, too, I guess.

I got my first Christmas card yesterday! From Emily--used to work with her at Concordia Language Villages offices. She's a brilliant young woman--going for her PhD in all that stuff I am no good at--science, biology, chemistry, lab work, research, etc. Can't remember exactly what her degree will be in--but she's sooo smart! And she has lost all this weight!! I always thought she was a very pretty girl, but she sent a photo in her Christmas letter--she's just beautiful!!! I am so happy for her! Oh, to be young with your future lying fresh before you...full of plans and dreams! Wouldn't want to go thru it again, personally. I never had any great luck with planning my future--LOLOL--but it sure is an exciting time.

I managed to finish (skimming mostly) the "Dark Side of The Light Chasers" book by Debbie Ford for the online postings. This was the last week. Had to rush thru it, tho--two chapters a week is way too fast for this kind of a book. I made a promise to myself--I will start the book from the beginning and crawl thru it--seriously, intently, honestly, and deeply--as a New Year's resolution for 2007. You can expect upcoming pondering posts--hehe! Deep Thoughts by Soul Comfort--LOLOL!

Such a beautiful, sunny day. Was zero degrees at 7am. We are supposed to have snow in a couple of days. Seems to have been missing us here in Fargo. I can't imagine a Christmas without snow!

That's it from freezing Fargo for today! :) Have a great day!

Wednesday-7:30am

Karma was pretty tired, too, after company coming and going all day. This was her--crashed--last night before I went to bed at 9:30pm--yup! 9:30pm! Three nights in a row of being to bed early and up before the worms! Sleep is a wonderous thing!!! :)

I was up at 5am! While Leah has my laptop, I am hand-writing my morning pages in a notebook. Then I headed into the living room to check email in the dark. Karma kept me company, of course.
Was a busy day yesterday! Dagan and Leah came and hooked up the new DVD/VCR and moved the other one into the bedroom (VCR still works). I was trying to pick up cat toys before Caroline came to clean and vacuum--Leah noticed a red paper crane on the floor and wondered where I got it. I told her it was hers! Leah had demonstrated to me a few years back how she could make cranes of different sizes--and had made three of them. She had no idea that I had saved them--hehe! I have been just setting them in my little Christmas tree. Well, this year when I took the tree out of the bag they fell onto the floor and Karma went nuts over them, naturally. So, I decided to let her play with them.

I couldn't find the smallest one, tho, yesterday and was searching all over--afraid it would end up in the vacuum cleaner. I discovered it over by Karma's favorite chair by the window. When Leah saw it, she said--that's not small! And she proceeded to work away at the table for a while.

Now, Leah hates to be photographed in the first place--a trait I, myself, totally understand. (But it doesn't stop me from torturing her!) I have to snap a picture when she is unaware I have the camera (in case you haven't noticed, her pictures are often side views and I can't get her face--chuckle!). She is especially camera shy since she knows she just might end up plastered on my blog!! I did snap a picture, tho--hehe! I have asked Dagan to send me pictures of them that they have from their trip to New York for Nathan's wedding (Dagan's stepbrother) and any others they have. I don't have hardly any photos of them!! So, he is goin to do that for me. :)

Here's the itty-bitty crane that Leah made yesterday. My camera doesn't take close-ups very well, so it was difficult to get a picture that you could see. But this gives you the relative size next to the dime. Amazed me!!!!
The time went by quickly and next thing they were leaving to go back to work. Here's Dagan putting his boots on by the door. I should have a chair to sit on by the front door, but where in the world would I find a spot for it!!?? My place is jam packed--like living in a large, crowded closet--hehe! I love it, tho, and nobody else has to live here but me--and the critters. :):)

After Dagan and Leah left, Caroline showed up early and cheery. She had to work on finding as much of the white stuff as she could, using a damp rag (seems to keep it from coming back as quickly and heavily). She also got all the grey stuff off the toilet that I so kindly left for her--hehe! She's sure a nice girl.

Then we were alone for a while. Karma and Gracie snoozed. I worked on the secret project for Dagan and Leah. Learned how to program the new DVD player and reprogrammed the one in the bedroom. (Too tired to dance yesterday--hehe!) Read the last two chapters of "Dark Side of The Light Chasers" and took some notes. Dozed in my lounger for a few minutes before Maria arrived for out short visit (she has about an hour).

Maria said she wanted to do the angel cards, so we settled in for a quick reading. Wow! Was one of those amazing nights when everything is just soooo appropriate and feels so wonderful! Maria got some answers to her questions and said she felt positively etheric by the time she was leaving! Makes me smile right now just remembering!

An hour later I had faded away and was curled up in bed with my sound machine lulling me off to sleep to the music of a hushed distant thunderstorm....

Monday-9:30am

Caught Karma bathing!

And Miss Gracie chatting with her boyfriend who lives in the mirrors.

Dagan is coming over today to help me with the computer. What would I do without him?

I emailed Dagan and Leah this morning. (Yes, I have been up since 4:15am! I actually went to bed at 8:30pm--such crazy hours! That was the most sleep I've had in a week.) Leah could do the 30 videos for Shaklee for this special deal, too, but she hates to sit at the computer. She has always preferred her laptop--but it died a while back. So, I emailed them and offered to lend her my laptop till New Year's Eve. I'd like to have it back so I can start my Morning Pages up again with the new year. If she does, then Dagan can take it home with him today after lunch. ?? They do so much for me! It's the least I can do.

Dagan and Leah are going to get me a new DVD/VCR player from Best Buy and then I will pay them back in December and January payments. This means I cannot get the cleaning starter kit from Shaklee, so I had to revise my order and make it smaller. Life is in constant flux, is it not? hehe! In that case, I decided to try their mascara. I developed an allergy to mascara years ago and it makes my eyes water and sting--even the hypoallergenic mascara does after a while. This Shaklee mascara may, too--but I have wanted to try it and find out. And I am ordering a pedometer. I know! What a waste of money, you say! hehe! I will find out what I actually do and maybe it will motivate me to do more? I seem to really like the food tracking on Sparks and am learning a lot about how I actually eat, so I thought I'd give this a try, too, since Shaklee sells one.

I'm going to move the DVD/VCR player from the living room to the bedroom, since the VCR still works. The VCR I am using in the bedroom is awful to program and anything you tape on it has to be watched on it. I don't know what it does to the tapes--stretches them? But you can't play them back in the living room--can hardly see them for the tracking problems. Hopefully I won't have that problem anymore. Or, the way my electronic equipment goes around here, for a while at least. :)

Dark, overcast day today. Was 11 degrees at 5:00am. They are predicting possible sleet conditions tonight. That inbetween rain and snow stuff that makes the roads so dangerous. I hope they are wrong and we either get rain or snow--period. One can hope!

Oh, Renae said she was sending in my free Shaklee order today. I have just a few extras--so I am starting the twice a day, full dose with the menopause complex today! Say a little prayer for

me. I'd sure be grateful to feel less foggy brained and tired all the time. :)

I am having troubles with paragraph breaks not showing up when I publish. I will try this one more time since I got the top half to work last time. Sorry if it doesn't work. Seems like they have problems with this occasionally.

Sunday-8:45am

Okay--the "grey stuff". I discovered it isn't easy to get pictures and I had to take quite a few to get ones that you could see. Can enlarge them by clicking on them, too. The easiest one to see is where Miss Gracie's cage almost touches the wall. All I had to do was pull the cage forward and tada!
I keep some art paper, cardboard, and canvases in the corner by the living room window. There's a supply of watercolor paper inside of that folded cardboard. When I pull it forward, you can see all the streaky grey stuff behind there on the wall.
This really peculiar grey stuff shows up overnight when it feels like it. Just once in a while. Happened that I hadn't scrubbed it off yet (it showed up Friday) so I got a shot of that, too.
It loves plastic and my wastebaskets are a prime target. The one next to my bed is very darkly covered with it. I used to have white ones--what a disaster. I thought buying grey ones to begin with might help--but you can still see the grey stuff is darker than the light grey wastebasket (or used to be light grey).
This was more difficult to get a photo of--there's a shadow on the wall behind the wastebasket.
Here's a close-up of the grey stuff on the bedroom wastebasket. It will usually scrub off of plastic. It depends on the type of plastic. Some plastic--it kind of embeds itself into the plastic and even Comet or 409 wouldn't take it off. But, you can't wipe it off the walls! Not with the cheap paints they use in apartments! It smears! And you have a really disgusting mess that you cannot remove. It is better to just leave it alone.
I don't have all that much grey stuff here yet. I haven't been doing energy work in this apartment. That seems to magnify the process. My apartment in Moorhead--on every outside wall the grey stuff surrounded every nail in the wall for some reason by the time I left. And it has a tendency to show where the beams on the ceilings are if I am around for a few years. But the nails and the beams are the whiter part?? The grey stuff kind of surrounds them?

The very first time I noticed it was when I lived in Rogers, Minnesota. I had a cream colored phone and when I'd hold the phone I had my index finger pointing up the back of the phone. I put the phone in the cradle and saw grey rays surrounding where my finger tip would have been. I have had the same thing happen with certain computer mice I used (depending on the type of, I think?)--you could see right where I held my finger--it would be surrounded by grey.

The grey stuff really freaked me out at first. I moved away from Rogers to Osseo--thought I was free of it! In celebration I bought new white garbages, a white coffee pot, a new white toaster, and scrubbed down the cream colored phones (didn't own a computer back then)---bad idea! hehe!

You should have seen my first cream colored computer monitor! You could see grey fingerprints where I had touched it and it was all streaked with that smudgey stuff. Couldn't clean it off of that particular plastic either. That was the first aprtment where I could see the ceiling beams. And for some reason I had sprays of grey stuff up the walls that looked like they were coming from the heat registers--up to a foot long!

Okay--sorry to totally freak you out. I am so used to it, now, after 13 years that I forget about it. The dark accumulation in corners--how sometimes it takes months or years for something to show up and yet something else can be covered overnight! Even had a I Can't Believe It's Not Butter container be covered overnight--in the refrigerator? Just one time--in Moorhead. Oh--and a brand new set of plastic spatulas stuck in my big ceramic pot on the kitchen counter--covered overnight in Moorhead. Occasionally will happen to different plastic containers in my kitchen cupboards, too.

I have had pyschics and healers tell me that it is because of my "energy"? That somehow I effect my surroundings electrically? That is as close to an explanation as I have ever gotten--hehe! And maybe that is the case? Frankly, I haven't worried about it for many years. It is nothing negative, that's for sure. I sure don't feel any negativity from it. It makes me laugh when I find it in some new spot--like the toilet seat! What's up with that? hehe! I just started to think about it again when the white powdery stuff showed up when I got the humidifier. "Ultrasonic" sounds very electrical to me--maybe it is my "energy" emissions and the ultrasonic emissions from the humidifier butting up against one another? LOLOL!!!

I was just thinking! I should have posted this for Halloween!!! LOLOLOL!!!

I wonder if we start practicing energy work over at Dagan and Leah's if they will get grey stuff all over the place? Will I get more over here just because I am "charging up"?? I promise I'll fill you in--hehe!

That's it from my "boring" life in Fargo for today--hehe!

Saturday-1:30pm

Okay---this is what has been happening since I got the new humidifier! This white dust settles all over the apartment. Especially clinging to the televisions and the fish tank, but it is all over the surface of all the furniture--just everywhere! This never happened with my old humidifier, but this one is a digital ultrasonic?? Has anyone ever seen this before? I have to wipe things down every day! These pictures show you how much has accumulated just since yesterday!!


I realize that strange things go on in my apartments--hehe! I have had this greyish reside that accumulates randomly on plastic and behind pictures on the walls, anywhere where items touch the walls, etc, ever since I started practicing energy work back in 1993. Those of you who know me have seen the mysterious "grey stuff" before. I have moved four times and it follows me wherever I go--so it wasn't the apartment, like I first thought. Even caretakers I asked hadn't seen it before. I'll try to remember to get pictures of some of the grey stuff for you.

Well, now I have this white powdery dust all over the place and wonder if this is a common thing from humidifiers or not? Does anyone have knowledge about this?

Anyways, on a lighter or more normal note--here's the Santa head that drives Karma crazy! She wants to bite his beard so badly!

As long as I was taking pictures of things on the walls--this is one of my favorite plaques. I have it hanging next to my front door. I have angels all over my apartment--in every room. Many of them have been gifts. :)
This is my cloth that I bought from the Tibetan monks when they visited Concordia a few years back. Supposed to be made by the monks in exile at the monastery in India and they use them for sacred ceremonies. I have it hanging in my bedroom. Maybe I should bring it to Sacred Circle on Dec 3rd? Duh! Why didn't I ever think of using it for Sacred Circle before? In case anyone was wondering why my blinds are not lowered all the way down at night (in the picture yesterday), Karma gets really undone if she can't see out the windows. She howls and cries and bites the shades--left teethmarks in them when she was a kitten. Apparently she is as addicted to her kitty TV as I am to my people TV. Even if the only thing to watch at 4am are the headlights off in the distance on Highway 29, she wants to be able to watch if the mood strikes her--whenever the mood strikes her. Life is a series of compromises, right?

It was so nice for a stretch there--highs of 40's and 50's. Was 20 degrees this morning at 10am. The warm spell must be over. Which means--Karma begged to go out, discovered it was really cold out there, and she's been bitchy & wild ever since she came in. chuckle!

Meanwhile--my DVD player doesn't work--at all. After emails to Leah and Dagan--I found out that the laptop does work to watch DVDs. TaDa! Thank Goodness! And I found out that I can watch movies on my desk computer, too. I had no clue. Duh! (Dagan and Leah find me constantly amusing!) But, now I do need a DVD player, eventually, in order to watch a movie on the bigger screen in a comfortable chair. Dagan said he was going to Best Buy yesterday and would look to see what they had for cheap DVD players. I told him I only see one place to attach one cord (Cable) to the TV and I need the VCR to work, too. He said he could hook it in thru the old one (VCR still works on that one). I only hope I can tape and still watch something else at the same time?

Well, anyways, that's the Fargo report. If anybody has seen this white dust before--or the grey stuff, for that matter--let me know! :)

Friday-8am

I tried to get night pictures that showed the lights better on the tree...

... and the ones on the living room window--which turned out to be easier to see.Here's the empty hanging pot where the asparagus fern got chopped off. Looks pretty silly hanging there. I have to decide if I'll give it a chance to regrow or just store the pot in the garage. I'm thinking the garage because I don't get as much light in the bedroom during the winter months. It would come back all scrawny and spindly, anyways. It is always so sad to give up on a living thing. :(
Been up all night again. Probably going to nap again here pretty soon. Seems like I have lost all control over my sleep for now. If I try to "make" myself sleep--I have laid down and just been awake for an hour or two and never fallen asleep. My friend, Bonnie, suggested that I could quit taking anything for menopause and just see if I am better or worse. ?? That's an idea. But I think, first, I am going to try the correct amount--since I have some coming pretty soon. I'll see if I am better or worse taking the full dose. Enough menopause moaning! :)

Dagan and Leah changed our own little Thanksgiving dinner to Sunday, December 3rd. We are meeting that day for Sacred Circle and some Healing Touch lessons, anyways, that day. Turned out Leah's sister and her husband are staying all weekend with them. I thought it was nice that they wanted our dinner to just be the three of us. No problem--I can certainly wait. :)

Leah suggested I unplug the errant DVD player and see if that would re-set it so it would work. Didn't. I have left it alone for a few days. Am going to try putting in a DVD again right now to see if it can "read" it....

I have the worst luck with computers and electronic equipment. No go on the DVD player. So, I tried my laptop and now that won't work either! Guess I'd better email Dagan, my techie, and ask him what to do or try. Maybe I do need a nap--hehe!

Thanksgiving-1:30pm

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I decided to see about the Christmas decorations since I made the decision to go for it this year. I moved all the knick knacks from off the bookcase by Gracie into the bedroom on the tall dresser. I decided that the asparagus ferns were driving me completely crazy! I cut them back and if they grow back, okay. But they were half dying with the change in the weather and the position of the sun shifting so they get less light--dropping those tiny, spikey leaves all over my bedroom. I have always liked the looks of asparagus ferns, but have always had this same problem with them, too. I will not mourn them if they don't survive the drastic crew cut. Mean, I know--but they do drive me crazy when parts of them keep dying and shedding.
I draped the blinking lights across my rose garlands in the living room. These lights have a tinny musical accompaniment I can turn up if I want. I removed the red bells a couple years ago.
The tree fit just fine up on top of the bookcase. I did discover another thing that got broken in the move to Fargo. The little tree was in a black trash bag. There's a tripod base for the tree. Two of the three legs--well, it has been cracked at the base where the legs connect. You would have had to be pretty rough with this little tree to smash it down that hard. So, the tree is balancing up there on top of the bookcase. I will have to see if I can use super glue or something to prevent it from falling over or getting any worse. The move here--was definitely the worst move of my life. Had to hire a moving company and they damaged so many things in the move. Apartment Movers for anyone is this area--don't ever hire them. They gouged & scratched furniture, broke glass, demolished a bookcase into pieces, smashed, dented, & dropped boxes, and took almost 12 hours to move a two-bedroom apartment when they estimated 3-4 hours (even disappeared for two of those 12 hours). I'm sure I'll still find more things in the garage that have been broken or damaged. I haven't been thru all the boxes out there, yet.
Anyways, the tree is up--really "up"! hehe! Those are three singing angels set up next to the Victorian tree. I forgot to take a picture of the Santa head in the hallway--hehe! Karma was begging for him--he has a yarn beard that somehow entices her to attack? She cannot reach him, either. So, I think I am cat-safe with my decorations--knock on wood!

I am washing a load of clothes. That will do me in for the day, that's for sure. All the climbing and hauling things about--and then doing wash, too. Big day in Fargo--LOLOL!! Hope everybody is having a great Thanksgiving!

Wednesday- 7 pm

Caught Karma leaving her bathroom. I'm sure she's glad I finally scrubbed out the plastic cat box yesterday. Even when you have "scoopable" litter and scoop every day, it only lasts so long. There are too many small pieces that manage to get thru the strainer scoop and after while they accumulate. Tidy Cat is terrible stuff, as far as I'm concerned--smells! But I use Scoop Away or Fresh Step and I only have to completely empty and scrub about once every 4-6 months. I scoop every day, tho.

Thanks to Leah, nobody knows where the cat box is over at my place. We got a toy box/storage box from Target. Leah put it together for me--but before she did...
...she cut a hole in the end for an entrance for Miss Karma. But it just looks like a storage bench from the hallway.
We couldn't find a real cat box to fit inside, so we went searching. Found a plastic tub with a lid that would fit inside and Leah cut it down. Works like a charm! I laid a scrap of the outdoor carpeting I used on the porch on the bottom to catch the kitty litter off her feet. It looks like it works really well, but she still manages to drag little pieces all over the house from inbetween her toes! That's cats for you! Caroline vacuums the carpeting in there for me when she comes.

I brought in the Christmas stuff from the garage yesterday, too! Yup! Going to try to put the little tree up on the bookcase next to Miss Gracie. Might look funny--but it will be out of the reach of curious paws!

The guy was supposed to come and fix the bedroom window--again--today, but he never showed up. Dagan and Leah's extra smaller order came from Shaklee and she dropped by quickly to pick it up after work. I napped again--for like five hours. Haven't slept but 7 hours in two days. Hope to be able to sleep now tonight?? One never knows...but one can hope. :)

Tuesday-2:45am

Made it to the chiropractor today with Leah. This Dr. Hager is completely different from the other place we were going to. He only wants to see you if you are in pain. No regular scheduled appointments for him--no 2-3 times a week like at Dr. John's. I am so glad!! I am still paying for the other place and will be until January! And I thought that the most progress I made with my back/spine over there was in the first two weeks or so, anyways. I had told Leah that I didn't feel I needed to go that often--but they made you feel like you weren't really wanting to take care of yourself if you didn't come as often as he thought you should. Hummm? And Dr. John mostly used his little hammer on me. Dr. Hager--wow! It uses a lot of twisting and cracking and pressure! He does really deep pushing of muscles along and away from your spine! Hurts like hell at the time, but you feel better afterwards. So, unless I am in pain--no chiropractor!!! TaDa!!

This visit Dr. Hager got rid of the residual pain and twinges from that same spot that was so painful from young Dr. Mike. It has continued to be an annoyance since I went to Dr. Hager last time, but nothing painful enough over and above the rest of the regular pain to force me into action--hehe! I didn't realize, tho, how badly it still hurt till he started pressing and pushing around! I mean, I knew I still had residual pain there, but after dealing with the last place--I was hesitant about going back--not sure if Dr. Hager could actually fix the problem, you know? He did!!

I can see why Dr. Hager looked askance and frowned when I was telling him about the three times a week at Dr. John's. Dr. Hager would feel like he wasn't accomplishing anything to actually help you if he had to see you that often for months! You can tell that Dr. Hager knows what he is doing. He gets right to the problem and works on you till you have relief. He tells you to wait a few days and see if you think you need to come back or not for a little fine tuning. "If you still have pain after a few days--come back. If not--I really hope not to see you" he said with a glowing smile. Then he has done his job well.

Going to Dr. John had its positives, tho. I got rid of the terrible, shooting tail bone pain. He got Leah and I both thinking about our health holistically. We had to decide that we were worth the money--that our health was worth the money--and we made that committment. Dr. John was a very positive person. We went thru the testing and learned what areas we needed to work on--and what areas we were good in (much to my surprise!!). Everything happens for a reason. So, I think Dr. Mike and those horrible supplements happened to get us out of there and on to the next step on our pathways to better health. :)

All this has gotten Dagan thinking about his health, too. He's going to start taking more than just the VitaLea (multiple vitamins) and NutriFeron. In fact, there should be an extra order for them arriving here tomorrow. Dagan's going to start taking the Energizing Protein Powder in the mornings--he tried it and liked it (tastes pretty good, actually). Not sure what else he's going to take? But I am so glad!! I want him around for as long as possible, too!!!

Anyways, back to Dr. Hager--Leah gets sharp neck pains that the massage therapist (she has been going to occasionally since we quit at Chiro Life) can't quite take care of. She loves the massages, but needs things cracked, I guess. So, she might go in more often to Dr. hager than I will. But we both like him. And he uses this cream that must be a mentholated cream of some kind--it is cool, but tingly. Feels good and lasts for quite a while after the appointment. It is nice to know he is there if we need him. :)

After the chiro appointment Leah and I ran over to Target. I picked up a roll of the very cheap little 4 gallon bags that I use for my bathroom garabge and for Karma's cat box cleaning every day. I was down to the extremely crinkled ones on the very inside of the roll--hehe!

Then Leah came up to my place and we got the massage table out of the storage room so she could take that home with her. Yay!! :):)

I have only had two hours of sleep--a little nap this morning. I have no idea why I am still awake--again. I definitely decided to start taking the full dose of the Shaklee Menopause Complex on December. I have only been taking half a dose and my sleeping is getting worse. Or not sleeping, I should say--until I finally crash out for a sleepathon! And I am getting warm off and on more often. Not like the sweating I have read about, but warm enough, thank you very much!! I guess I could call them hot flashes. They can wake me up and/or keep me from sleeping. Hormones!! *sigh*

As long as I was up all night last night, I finally finished these 30 Shaklee product videos I watched online and answered questions about each one. This was a deal Renae offered us (Pam, Leah, and I). You get them all done and mail the 30 forms to her with your list of $100 worth of product at retail price--and she will order them for you!! Her gift--she does this out of her own pocket! I felt like I was back at school. I actually ended up taking notes on them--not just finding out three things that interested me. Writing in the margins--making notations. So, I actaully kept the originals and sent her copies (so I could read all the stuff around the edges of the forms--hehe!). I wanted them for future reference. Anyways, sent them off today!!

Then, because Renae will be paying for most of the things I buy every month, I can finally get the cleaning starter kit in December! So excited!! I am almost out of dishwasher soap, for one. Soon will be using plain hot water. (Altho, Dagan and Leah tease me all the time about how I clean all the dishes before I put them in the dishwasher, anyways-hehe! They'll be pretty darn clean even without dishwasher soap--I'll be sure to scrub them extra well with dishsoap before I run them thru--ha!)

What I am excited about is that in one small way I can make a difference for the earth. I will gradually be switched over to entirely non-toxic cleaning products. When Karma walks on the wet floor after Caroline cleans it--no toxins/poisons will get up thru her little feet! :) When I clean Gracie and Karma's dishes I won't have to worry about getting every last bit of soap off of them and rinse and rinse them--and that will save some water, too--hehe! Leah and Dagan will be doing this later, too--buying the big starter kit. Leah is so excited to see everything that is in it, she wants to be here when I open the box next month!! chuckle! If I am just an old hippie--Leah is a young one! :):)

I may not be sleeping well, but I have been in just the best, best mood lately! Just feeling happy and grateful and lucky. Smiling a lot. Oh--and at a suggestion from a lady on Sparks, I think I have found something I can actually do for exercise that will lift my spirits at the same time!! Dancing around the apartment! I've been dragging out old cassette tapes--Moody Blues, Jimi Hendrix, Ben Harper, Enya, Madonna, Willie Nelson, whatever I can find with an actual singer (my tastes have gone thru changes over the years, eh?). Most of my tapes and CDs have no vocals--instrumentals, new agey stuff, environmental music with frogs, crickets, and whales. Not stuff to dance to. I am even ordering some DVDs from Netflix with Sting, The Doors, Simon and Garfunkle, The Moody Blues (I loved them!!), The Beatles, etc. Going to have music about the place. Might be a shock for the neighbors who are used to quiet and the occasional chirping from this far end of the hallway--because if I am going to play music to dance to, I will play it a little louder than I play the television!! hehe!

So, you can think of me dancing around my apartment--freaking out Karma and Gracie--and having hot flashes in Fargo!! LOLOL!!

Monday-11:45pm

Well, I was up for 24 hours!! I don't believe it! Puttering about. Finished the embossing on this section of the Christmas cards, writing letters, working on the secret project, reading, cleaned the betta bowl, caught up on all my emails (seldom is my inbox totally empty), and watched TV. Went to bed at 1:00am and woke up at 5:30pm tonight! Boy, did I sleep well, tho! What a off-kilter life I lead. :)

Tomorrow afternoon Leah and I go to the chiropractor. But, because of Thanksgiving on Thursday, Leah has to work at her second job on Wednesday night instead of Thursday--so we won't meet to work on cards on Wednesday and will wait till the following week.

Leah invited me over for our own little Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday! How nice! I am so used to spending the holidays alone--and I don't mind at all. Dagan and Leah rotate between her mom's (Leah's dad died years ago) and Dagan's dad and stepmom's. I get to see them regularly, so I don't feel at all deprived. But it will be nice to actually have a Thanksgiving with them this year!! She said she's making a ham dinner!

With my health being what it is, it's nice to just be curled up in front of the TV watching holiday specials and movies with Karma and Gracie. Dagan and Leah are the only family I have up here in the North country. Over the years since I moved here in 1999 I have been invited to Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations by various people I met at school--believe it or not, even bright-eyed 20-some year old girls worried about me being alone on the holidays--hehe! But I always turned them down. They didn't understand how I could prefer to spend quiet, peaceful holidays alone rather than be with people, you know? I have no desire to be "with people" just for the sake of not being alone. If I can't be with my own friends and/or family--that's fine. I have no trouble being with me--hehe! Darn good thing, eh? As I do spend almost all my time alone. And now--no offense to Miss Gracie--Karma is much more company than I've had for years! :):)

I'm debating about bringing in the little, table-top tree this year. I know it would be just too much temptation for Miss Karma--no idea where to put it? Maybe some blinking lights around the window. That's what I did last year with a young cat in the place--hehe! Karma's no old, lay-about cat yet, that's for sure. And she can't leave a single thing alone that is brought into this apartment if she can reach it. I doubt she'll change in that regard. I'd have to find some spot where she couldn't reach the little tree--and with my crowded apartment--that is a real challenge! Might have to be twinkling lights again this year--or nothing. I do so love twinkling/blinking lights, tho! They got the better of me last year when I was going to do nothing at all--hehe! We'll see.

I could maybe take everything off the bookcase next to Gracie and I think the little tree might just fit up there....hummmm??? :):)

Sunday 8:00am

I have been sleeping erratic hours. Been up since 1:00am.

I've just been writing letters, reading, and watching TV mostly the past few days. Have been working on embossing the first piece of the Christmas cards little by little (we're making 50 of them). There will be another piece to emboss around the edges later and we are probably going to emboss the inside saying, too. I so love having Leah come over to get crafty with me--hehe!

I more often have pain flares, I guess, but lately I've been smack dab in the middle of an exhaustion flare. You feel tired and kind of weak all over--kind of like when you have the flu. Hard to explain to people. I'm fine, tho. Just moving even slower than my normal snail pace--hehe! This too shall pass.

Leah and I have appointments to go to Dr. Hager on Tuesday afternoon, so I changed my appointment with Caroline for cleaning to the following week. The bedroom window that the man fixed--broke again already. It was really hard to shut it since he fixed it and something snapped and twanged the last time! Only this time, instead of not staying open and sliding down, it doesn't want to open at all. This is only a tragedy to a woman in menopause--chuckle! I'll have to call the office Monday.

I watched The DiVinci Code--last DVD that has worked on the player connected to my bigger TV in the living room. The DVD/VHS player has been going for some time--the DVD part of it--taking longer and longer to load the movies. Then it wouldn't be able to read them, it said--but I had already watched half the movie it said it couldn't read--so I knew it was lying. So that started a contest of wills and an open and close routine until it would finally decide it could actually read the movie. The DiVinci Code took ten minutes to load--but it was the last battle I won. Since then--even a 20 minute battle hasn't convinced the DVD that it still possesses the skills to read--so I gave up. Sigh! They sure don't make things to work like they used to! I think Dagan and Leah got the DVD player for me last Christmas! I emailed them to see if they had the receipt. Maybe it is still returnable? In the meantime, I can watch movies on my little laptop screen.

Anyways, it was a good movie. I haven't read the book yet (unusual--I usually try to read the book first and I even own it), but I'll have to try to get to it now.

Based on Dan Brown's best-seller of the same name, Ron Howard's gripping film stars Tom Hanks as Harvard professor Robert Langdon and Audrey Tatou as cryptographer Sophie Neve, who must untangle a web of deceit when the curator of the Louvre, a member of a secret society and a relative of Neve's, is found murdered in the famed museum's hallowed halls. To crack the case and arrive at the truth, they must look to the works of Leonardo da Vinci.

Also watched A Prairie Home Companion, but a different DVD. This was a filming of the 30th anniversary program with all the music and commercials and his little talk--all there! I enjoyed it! I watched the extras, too--some little bits that didn't make it into the movie for some reason--also good!

For years, storyteller Garrison Keillor has ruled the public radio airwaves with his broadcasts from a fictional Minnesota town called Lake Wobegon. And woes do disappear for viewers thanks to this show, which documents a live performance of the series at the Fitzgerald Theater. With its mix of delightful vignettes, compelling tales, entertaining musical performances and Keillor's sonorous voice, A Prairie Home Companion never fails to charm.

I'm reading Jennifer's book "And Their Eyes Were Watching God"--am almost done with that one. Then I can read "The DiVinci Code" if I want to. If I feel up to all that heavy thinking--hehe! I'd need more energy than I have at the moment.

All is quiet up here in the North country. Reporting from Fargo....

Thursday-5pm

Leah was over last night and we worked on the Christmas cards.

If it wasn't for Leah, I might have had store bought cards this year. She did a lot of cutting and punching last night. Good thing we are going to the new chirpractor next Tuesday-Dr. Hager.

I have been up and down. Was confused as to what day it was! Slept last night from 10:30pm till 3:00am and then was up and couldn't get back to sleep. Then slept again from 10:30am until 4:00pm. Feels like a couple of days went by! This is the way my life is sometimes.

Going to go work on the Christmas cards while I watch TV...

Tuesday-5:00pm

Funny, now I can't remember if this was JoAnn's or Michael's? I discovered I had my camera with and was going to take pictures of our craft shopping journey...

...but after entering Hobby Lobby I forgot about the camera. I was getting progressively more sore, but it was such a fun night!! Leah and I went first to Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Then we hit every craft store in Fargo--went to JoAnn's, Michael's, and Hobby Lobby. Then we drove to Moorhead to K&Krafts in the Moorhead Center Mall (our favorite craft store!).

We found a little here and a little there, but it was at K&K's that we finally decided on what to make this year for Christmas cards! They're going to be monochromatic green, but that is all I will say. :) This year Leah and I are both doing the same cards and will work together in assembly-line construction on Wednesdays. We are really excited about the cards---and our new items to play with. We have ribbons, yarns, a circle cutter, a couple of mat stacks (one is sticky back paper!), and some new punches--besides the supplies for the Christmas cards. Was such fun to be back in the craft stores! Been a while. We used up the money from the craft account, that's for sure. (Leah still had money left from when she was doing the mall craft sales.) This winter, after the holidays, we want to meet regularly and experiment with some of the fun things we have either not gotten to yet or have had little time to play with.

I am very sore--pain pills day--taking it easy so I will be in shape for making cards tomorrow night. Am feeling inspired and excited to be making cards again--and my body will catch up with my mind--hehe! :)

Sunday-7am

Heading for bed. Yup! Back on nights, that's for sure.

Been working on the secret Christmas presents for Dagan and Leah. Just didn't want you to think I had forgotten my blog! It is easy for me to use up my spoons--hehe! My good hours disappear especially quickly when I am working on projects. For the next month or so I will be heavily into Christmas cards and the secret presents. :) But I won't forget to say hello and let you know what is happening up here.

The wind had been really rattling the windows since yesterday! Made it really cool in here, but it seems to have finally died down a little. Usually I only have to turn the heat on once in a while because it stays so warm up here on third floor, but the wind usually doesn't howl and rattle my windows, either. I face east. I've had the heat on most of the time the past couple days. Might have snow or sleet today. Right now, I am headed to bed to sleep thru part of the day. :)

Friday-9:30am

Karma is loving the humidifer! I move it back and forth from the bedroom to the living room and she follows it faithfully. She loves the mist to fall on her in this spot in the living room. Poor Karma must have been parched, too--hehe! (I had bloody noses!) In the living room I have it aiming at Miss Gracie so she can reap the benefits, too.

Dagan forgot all about coming over for lunch yesterday and went home for lunch. I was really dragging and actually took a nap in the afternoon. Leah came over around 7pm after she got done with her second job. I had dinner ready for her and then we took off for Hobby Lobby--they close early at 8pm. Didn't find much and were having to hurry because we didn't leave my place until 7:30pm. Leah was looking for silver paper and didn't see any. It was one of those nights that weren't good for shopping, I think. We headed over to Sam's club for some cheap white cardstock, which we did find, and then called it a night.

We're going to go shopping on Monday night when she will be off at 4pm. We'll be able to hit JoAnn's, Michael's, and K & Krafts (we love K&K's!!) and get the shopping for supplies part over and done with. Leah said she might be able to come on Wednesday nights instead to work on cards when she'd have more time? She'll let me know--but it will either be Wednesdays or Thursdays.

I still haven't decided exactly what I want to make this year. Leah has her idea involving silver paper (don't want to give it away), but I need to figure out what I am going to make. I have the weekend to decide, I guess, so I hopefully will have a better idea when we go shopping on Monday. Otherwise--it will be a matter of what I happen to run across that strikes my fancy--hehe! There's plenty to choose from, so I am not worried. :)

I was in bed really early for me--11pm--but woke up at 4:45am and couldn't get back to sleep again to save my life. I was cold, so I turned the heat on--but then was hot. Might be naptime again this afternoon--how strange. I am absolutely not a napper by nature. Not even with fibro, believe it or not. I was never one who could sleep in a car, in school, in a chair watching TV (but that has happened to me a few times since I got fibro), and it has always taken me 20-30 minutes to fall asleep in bed usually (unless I am really totally exhausted--which has happened a lot since getting fibro--hehe!). Menopause is messing with me, tho! And often getting the better of me with these irratic sleeping patterns. I will take the rare nap now. So not me! Oh well--such is life, eh? Goes right along with the heat on--heat off--windows cracked open--windows closed thing--hehe! *sigh* This, too, shall pass.

We went from 72 degrees down to low 30s for a highs in one day, I think. (See! Naps throw me off!) Well, I am off to watch Mission Impossible III...see if that can keep me awake--hehe!

Wednesday- 3:00 pm

Wow! The flash really works on this camera! The following pictures were all taken in the dark!

I forgot to mention that Leah dropped off my very early Christmas present on Monday night. (I am going to contribute in December.) I was too tired to set it up that night, so I set it up yesterday late afternoon when Dagan was here. It has been so dry in here since I had to shut it up and put the heat on that I've even had blood noses! Anyways, I noticed that I hadn't seen Karma for quite a while last night, so I went looking for her. It is such a rarity for her not to be glued to my hip, so to speak. I found her snoozing on my bed...

...where I had the mister aimed.
Karma came out for a while last night and then she disappeared again. I found her sitting in the dark inside the bedroom door near the humidifier.
Obviously she was appreciating the humidity, too! Thanks Dagan and Leah--from all of us!!

I moved the humidifier into the living room today so that Miss Gracie could glean some of the benefits, also. I will be doing that--back and forth--all winter. Ahhh! Nice! Nice!

The office told me the window guy said he'd come to fix the bedroom window today, but he hasn't shown up so far. I called the office yesterday about the florescent light in the kitchen that has been flickering and going out. The maintenance man came already today to replace it. It was driving Leah so crazy she'd shut off the kitchen light--hehe! I would have left it to flicker till it died (there are two bulbs in the fixture) like I did the last one--chuckle! All fixed now, Leah. :)

Dagan was going to come over for lunch today, but forgot that he was dropping his car off for the day for its annual winterizing. So, he's coming tomorrow. And tomorrow night Leah is coming to work on Christmas cards! So, another busy day for me! :)

I've been working a lot on letters lately. I simply have to hand write letters. I can't imagine a world where I couldn't take pen in hand and chat with friends and family. I miss it when I go too long using email--hehe! Hand writing is a more intimate or relaxed conversation than email, you know?

Been reading the Debbie Ford book and working on the exercises--really thought provoking!

Questions like: What am I most afraid of? What's the biggest lie I have ever told myself? What's the biggest lie I have ever told someone else? What aspects of my life need transforming? What am I most afraid of finding out about myself?

Not exactly light reading. But all good! So...doing a lot of that inner work lately. I need a lot on inner work!!

I decided to mostly write about how the healthy eating and all of that lifestyle changing is going on my Sparks blog. But I will have general updates in here, too. Don't worry, nothing will be happening quickly--hehe! :)

Cloudy, but beautiful day today! 64 degrees! Very late Indian summer? Had the windows open this afternoon--able to turn off the heat and humidifier. Karma was thrilled I had the porch door propped open again for her--like the good old days--the fleeting days of summer--hehe! Hope it is nice wherever you are!

Tuesday-5:00pm

Yesterday I had been up all night long and never slept. Since the window man was scheduled to be coming to work on the inside of the third floor apartments, I was hoping he might start with #301. I showered, dressed, and started washing clothes & sheets just to keep myself awake.

I was right! He came knocking on my door about 10am. Since he had to remove the windows to put in new screens, I talked him into letting me clean them before he put them in again (slowing him down some, but he didn't seem to mind and didn't offer to help-chuckle!). I had to do them as quickly as I could so I couldn't do the extra nice job I would have if I had the time, but they are much cleaner. I used up half a roll of paper towels and they were just black from the side facing the out of doors! I always ask questions, I guess. Found out he was putting some clips in so that the upper halves of the windows cannot be removed and won't droop. So, now the outside of the top halves need to be cleaned by the owners. Humm? I doubted I'd ever see another chance to have cleaner windows--so I grabbed it! hehe! And I had him show me how to flip out the lower half of the windows so that I can clean the backsides myself in the future, too! TaDa!

He said he'd have to come back to fix the bedroom window. Didn't have the part. The bedroom window has slid down and refused to stay open ever since I moved in. I have been using a wooden dowel cut to fit--by Leah, of course--to prop it open. My old apartment in Moorhead, built in 1969, had old wooden windows that could crash down suddenly and about give you a heart attack--so I had been using dowels on all those windows over there for the five years I lived there. Anyways, the window man is supposed to come by tomorrow about 10am to fix the bedroom window for me. I will be able to open the window however wide I want it! Oh, the little joys in life, eh?

I finished clothes, watched some shows I had taped, and was in bed and asleep by 7pm. Woke up at 8am this morning! Yes--me--8am--chuckle! Extra sore from cleaning the windows and doing wash--it was immediately a pain pill day this morning--less spoons. But the windows look sooo nice! I didn't realize how dirty they had become!!

Caroline, the cleaning girl came this afternoon. The Shaklee order was delivered by UPS. I split up our order and did the invoice check. Dagan was here for his 4:30pm pacemaker check (over the telephone--they don't own a land line, so he comes here to step into the technological past). He took the Shaklee box home. I invited him to visit for lunch tomorrow. :)

Inbetween times I have been on www.sparkpeople.com a lot. Also, I've been reading Dark Side of the Light Chasers and remembering how much I love this book--even if it is a daunting book in a lot of ways. I think this is a book I could read every year or two for the rest of my life, actually. It is all about dealing with your dark side or shadow side--the parts of ourselves that we don't like or don't want to admit about ourselves. About learning to forgive, accept, and love our dark side. If we can discover where the postive lessons are about those sides of yourself we can, therefore, also learn to be truly forgiving of others. And it is the only way you can transform negatives into positves, too!! So exciting! I read it several years ago and I am enjoying reading it again. Tough love! That's what it is--tough love. :) I have so much to work on--will take me the rest of my life!

Leah will be coming over after work Thursday night. We are going to start working on Christmas cards every Thursday night until we get done. (Hope I didn't already talk about this? Fibro fog can be a curse--hehe!) I'm excited about that and have to start thinking about what I am going to make this year??? :)

Obviously, I will be tired before 6-8am--and I'll be up in the morning again tomorrow!! TaDa!! As much as I love the night, sometimes I wish I could stay on days when these brief "socially acceptable" hours arrive unexpectedly for a few days. Oh well, as Popeye said--I am what I am! :)

Saturday-5:30pm

When Karma decides she wants some "lovin'up"--this is how she learned to be right up in my face and across my chest.

Because of my bad arm, I can't grip or hold anything with my left hand, so I write and read with a small throw pillow on my lap and then this writer's desk pillow on top of that. I use a book weight to hold the books open a lot of the time, too. The corner strap holds my small legal pad in place. Just one of the ways I have made adaptations so that I can still enjoy my favorite activities.

[Note: the Halloween card is from my friend Bonnie from Hibbing. "Holy Sheet! It's Halloween!" was inside. Cracked me up, Bonnie!]

When Karma was smaller, she wasn't quite so overwhelming, but she still effectively put a stop to all lap desk activity. She climbs up and positions herself -- and then repostions -- and repostions. I was trying to take a picture since the camera was right on the table next to me, which bothers Karma because I am not surrounding her with both arms--which she takes as maybe she isn't being fully appreciated...
...which makes her keep shifting. I kept laughing and laughing--Karma kept shifting--all of which interested Miss Gracie, of course, so she had to come to the side of the cage to eye us and put in her two-cents worth.
Karma finally got herself in the perfect position and we watched the sad ending of Anne Frank: The Whole Story.
CashWise came yesterday. Never had this much trouble with an order before. Turns out they were training in four new people at once yesterday. I had three wrong items and they had forgotten to deduct my EBT card amount (food stamps--without which I don't know what I'd do living on $696.00 a month! Was a momentary fright for moi, I tell you!). They made a trip back to trade me for the right products last night and still had an item wrong the second time! By that time it was 9:30pm, so they are supposed to drop it off tonight between 6-8pm.

And what could it be that they screwed up twice? My very favorite treat and comfort food-- that I have not ordered for months--not since I started buying supplements! International Coffees French Vanilla Cafe!! They brought sugar-free (which doesn't dissolve and doesn't taste right) and then brought sugar-free decaf! So, we'll see if they can bring the original, plain old fattening french vanilla this time? They are usually so good--I really can't complain. By next month they'll have their new people trained in, hopefully. :)

The Anne Frank movie was a made for TV miniseries from 2001:

Anne Frank's acclaimed diary, kept while in hiding in Amsterdam during World War II, enjoys the highest readership of any book ever printed (except the Bible). This filmed version fills in gaps omitted when her father (the only family member to survive the Nazi holocaust) submitted the work for publication. The story follows Anne to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where she died just days before liberation.

It had Ben Kingsley (awesome, as usual) as Otto Frank (her father), Hannah Taylor-Gordon played Anne, and I ordered it because Brenda Blethyn was in it and I didn't remember who she played (now that I have watched some of her movies on Netflix). I had seen it on TV back then and knew it was a good version--and it was just as good the second time, too!

This time Brenda Blethyn played the lady you didn't like who was staying with them in the attic--the lady who came from more money and started out pretty uppity. She can play the villian, flaky-ditz, or so sweetly innocent and likable that she could break your heart! (I've heard her play with an American accent, also.) Now that I know who she is--I will watch for her.

Anyways, since CashWise came--I was over my calories yesterday and might be again today--hehe! Too exciting to have new foods to pick from--and fresh stuff! Not quite as much as usual this time. I cut back on food and supplements this month so I could make a purchase.

I have had this huge, to my ankles, burgundy coat that I bought for college and then a cheap, unlined, sweatshirt material jacket--nothing inbetween--for many years. The long coat was great for all the endless waits at the bus stops and walking to night classes when it was windy and 20-30 below wind chills--even colder on occasion. I went to class and threw the coat over an empty chair or in a corner someplace out of the way. But to climb into a car with that coat on is a hassel and it is too warm to wear walking around shopping and such. It is so big that if I take it off and put it in a cart--it pretty much takes up the whole cart--hehe! (I have always had trouble climbing the steps onto the bus and not stepping on the hem and tripping my sorry self! When you are quite short--a full length coat is really almost to the ground--hehe!) So, I never did wear it until I was really freezing in the thin jacket.

That long coat is just the best coat for walking around outside in the cold, cold winter--which I still did regularly when I lived in Moorhead (bank, post office, library, coffee shop, mall). But there's no place to walk to where I live now. The bus stop is right in front of our building, so I don't have to walk far or wait long. These days I am usually going shopping with Dagan and/or Leah in a car when I am out. My very favorite, big burgundy coat has been losing it's usefulness since I moved here. :(

So, I have ordered a knee length, lighter weight, fir green berber coat! 35% off on sale--very plain one, so that I could actually squeak out the money for it! Exciting! I know, you might be thinking--"well, you rarely leave the apartment, anyways--why do you need a new coat?" Because this is Fargo! Even if I am just walking from car to apartment or car to store and back--I can't walk fast anymore. With my present coat choices--it was freeze and be comfortable later inside or not freeze and sweat/be uncomfortable the whole time I was shopping, etc. I wanted a more reasonable choice--hehe!

I know, not a big deal to most people, I suppose. But it is a big deal in my little world--hehe! Another little incentive to make it easier for me to get out a bit more. Well, that's the news from Fargo today! :)

Friday-6:30am

What do Karma and I do at 4:30 in the morning?

My timer went off, so I had to leave the computer for a while.

I went to sit in my chair and continue writing a letter to my friend, Ruby, in Wisconsin.

(Hi, Ruby!)

So, Karma decided to grab a few winks on the other chair.

After a brief "cat nap" she started sprawling and stretching about.

She thought I wasn't watching and started pushing my water bottle off the table.

I laughed and put it back.

So, she decided to capture the pages from the letter and pull them off the table.

I told her to leave them alone, silly girl.

She hid so I couldn't see her.

I informed her that I could still see her and, giggling, to stop the shenanigans.

She feigned disinterest until I was busily writing away again.

I grabbed the pages and put them back.

So then she casually went for her comb.

This is how we spend our time.

Not neccessarily doing this particular silly interaction, but Karma and I are always talking and she's always thinking of something else to do that will make me laugh or to try to scare me. (I think she knows I fake the surprise half the time for her benefit, but she really enjoys it when she truly does startle me.)

Came time to move again at 5:30am.

I went back to the computer.

Karma moseyed over to keep me company. Tired as she was.

She's up on the desk now a lot. I gave her that inch--and you can't take it back with a cat--chuckle!

She did leave the desk, after 15-20 minutes. She's lying on her back nearby the computer chair in her prayer position on the more comfortable to sprawl upon carpeting.

The timer has gone off.

6:30am and I am heading someplace else...

and Karma will follow me...in her own sweet time.