Wednesday-6:30am

Good Morning from Fargo!

Already 45 degrees and supposed to hit low 60s today--cloudy. Light rain last night, I guess. Notice the "I guess"--ahhh! Been soooo nice to be sleeping better and at night the last few days!! Feeling more human every darn day--hehe! Happy, happy me!

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Yesterday we had sun and I saw online that it was 67 degrees in the afternoon. Might have gotten a little warmer. I didn't watch the news. It was a beautiful day to clean! TaDa!!

I'm sure things will get shifted around in the bookcases as we find the best places for things, but wow! It felt so good to see it all cleaned up after--what?--a month or so? Ahhhh!

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I got done before Caroline came at 3pm. And she did vacuum the flies off the porch for me. :)

Another reason to have the table cleared off--I could crack the living room windows open.

It's generally so windy up here that you don't want a table full of papers right there next to the window that can fly away all over the floor like confetti. Don't ask me how I know--hehe!

Karma was thrilled! Smell-O-Vision Cat TV...watching the Kid Channel yesterday. The yard is partially dry now, so the new "season" has begun. I think it is basically reruns, tho--ROFL!

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Speaking of the news...terrible flooding out east--especially Rhode Island. We can certainly sympathize over here. I pray for warm dry weather for them soon. It is so awful when the sewers fail, electricity fails, and houses/buildings/roads/bridges overflow with water. They are in my prayers. All this crazy, unusual weather all over the world--always sending prayers, it seems.

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Well, the bad news. I got a letter yesterday that I am being handed over to a collection agency for the $2,324.00 I owe from my oral surgery. (I'm not sure why the total keeps fluctuating. either?) Despite the fact that I have been faithfully paying a small amount every month and have talked to billing several times and they were okay with the arrangement. Suddenly--the deal is off, I guess. There are two numbers I can call, so that is on my list for today. *sigh* Our mail has started coming a lot later in the day after they switched up the mail carriers, so it was too late to call yesterday. :(

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The good news! Serena had a (match the feet) game on her blog and not one person got it right--hehe! So she put everyone in a drawing and I won! Scroll down on the following blog entry and you will see the contest, etc. :):)

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http://artbyserena.blogspot.com/2010/03/photo-monday-my-favourite-colour.html

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Serena is an amazing artist, as you can see when you snoop around on her blog. She's making a little surprise for the winner...ME!! :):) I know I will love anything she makes. Thanks, Serena!! I should probably thank Aaron for having big feet, eh? ROFL!!

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I absolutely, positively cannot say "I never win anything" ever again, can I? Wow!! Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket!? hehe! And win enough so I can pay off my oral surgery debt and my school loans! That would be the best! :) :)

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I can't imagine my life anymore without being hounded for large amounts of money. I know that contributes to my now or never mentality when it comes to money. Pretty much every spare penny has been going to craft and art supplies since I moved to Fargo--that's pretty obvious--hehe! But there are months I do need clothing, gasoline, something breaks, the printer needs ink...

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I'm not complaining. I've been poorer than this before. There were times when Dagan was little that we only had $10-12 a month left over after bills. And what did I do with it? Dagan and I walked over to the nearby ma-and-pa pizza place--once a month--our big treat. We ordered a small pizza. I let Dagan decide if he wanted a pop (also a big treat) or more quarters for PacMan. He usually picked having water with me so he could have his $2-3.00 in quarters. :)

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We were in such high spirits after waiting for a month--laughing and sometimes singing on the walk to the pizza place. We spent that little extra money on joy. Lifting the spirits...food for the soul joy. :):)

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So, it's my fault for instilling any bad habits Dagan may have with extra money--hehe! But he also learned to always pay his bills first and foremost. And I haven't changed much, have I? If things changed tomorrow, I will never regret buying my supplies and goodies. (A few items I have are from 40 years ago!) Food for my soul. Just like PacMan and pizza was food for Dagan's young soul. No regrets.

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Speaking of--Dagan and Leah are coming by after work tonight. I cleared off the table so that Leah and I can sit with our laptops and work on Etsy postings! I have some computer questions for Dagan. Leah is going to clean my VCRs, cut my hair, and look at the Holtkotter floor lamp before we get going on Etsy--so we might not get a lot done tonight, but Leah and I plan to use our Craft Wednesdays to work on our sadly neglected Etsy shop for a while.

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And this afternoon Angie comes over to talk about Caroline--my 6 month review. Another really nice lady. So--going to be a busy day. The sun is peeking out from behind the clouds. Keep smiling, right?!! Life is good! :):)

Tuesday-6:15am

The fresh and chilly outdoors the last couple of days really knocked Karma out--hehe!

I puttered with a few more cards yesterday. First time I have done the hole piercing around the scalloped edge, used dimensionals, a metal frame, and our new cardboard misting box. Fun! (The Shaklee box works great, Leah!)

Tried out the glue pad and foiling. Didn't work as I planned, but I liked the random shimmer.

Then a couple whimsical cards. Used the BowEasy--ha! I had to watch the YouTube tutorial and messed up on the first bow twice--till it was too destroyed to use--ROFL! I had it right, but wasn't pulling it up snugly quite right. Once I do this a few more times, maybe I'll remember without having to watch the video. We all have our goals, don't we? ROFL!

Grabbed the wrong eyelet setter with this one--ROFL! Got the big nubby one instead of the smaller nubby one. Had to pound down the backside more because of that and bent one. Oh well. I'll remember to look closer next time when I grab an eyelet setter--hopefully. I suppose I could throw the old two I had away...why have them in the mix? Hummm?

Anyways, talk about organized chaos!

My workspace surrounded by tools and goodies.

But I think it is about time to switch it up--and clean it up. Put the stacks of scrap card parts away for later and all the goodies back where they belong. Find appropriate spots for the new stuff and do the bit of rearranging (because the bookcase got moved into the living room).

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I can only take the mess for just so long. Plus I get restless to rotate to another project. I need more bookcards, for one thing. I think I will start cleaning up today.

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Caroline comes this afternoon. Supposed to be gorgeous out, too! I think we hit 60 yesterday and supposed to get close to 70 today! Wow! Perfect day to ask Caroline if she could vacuum up all the dead flies on the porch, eh? I'm glad I got it scrubbed down out there. Might be a perfect day to read on the porch inbetween my craft cleaning sessions. :)

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Flood cleanup has started. They've been instructing people to put their sandbags on the street by the curb for special pickups. The river is low enough in town to be below the dikes--just dealing with the soggy, smelly aftermath now. Glad all went well and it is over with. :)

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Have a super-duper day!! :):)

Monday-6:45am

Good Morning!

It was a bright sunny day yesterday. Karma and I tried to grab a few rays in the morning (we face east).

Wasn't warm enough for me till afternoon--still with a jacket even then. But I decided that, since Miss Karma thinks spring has sprung, I'd clean off the furniture and put her porch dishes out. She thinks her food and water tastes better out of doors, kind of like how we think food tastes so good when you barbecue or are camping, I guess--hehe!

I tried sprinkling some catnip on the cat bed and then putting it out on the porch. No luck--hehe!

I didn't last long at all reading on the porch. Too darn chilly. But Karma hung in there for hours.

It really did feel like spring, tho. Like the earth is slowly absorbing the heat and retaining some of it during the chilly nights. That lingering odor of dying snowbanks appears to be vanishing in the sunshine.

Thanks to all the people who sent birthday greetings--either by email, snailmail, or phone. Was a peaceful birthday on a beautiful day. :):)

Sunday-11am

Happy Birthday to me! :):)

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Sunny day, supposed to get into the 50s, wind died down, and it actually feels like spring!

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I got all the laundry done yesterday--tada! Was a quiet day and...slept much better last night--hurray!!! :):)

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Just another quiet day today. But one where I can have windows open!!

In the package I got from Sue (Alaska) she had a super-duper microfiber towel that I have kept near the computer for dusting. Karma loves it!

Karma says thanks, Sue! :)

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59 years old today. I am amazed at how time has flown.

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What a gift life is. :):)

Saturday-9:15am

Who can figure out cats?!

Karma lays on everything imaginable, right? But will she even go inside of an actual cat bed? Nope. She hides behind it, smells it, will drag toys out of it, kneads the side of it, sleeps next to it...but lay on it? Nope. I've moved it around to different spots. It is definitely interesting, but not to lay in, I guess.

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I actually made a few cards yesterday! :)

Took me a lot longer, but that's okay. Always feels good to accomplish something, right? :) Was fun to get the Cuttlebug out. And I tried out the new eyelet setter with my new gift eyelets. The new setter worked better than the old post ones I had--and the BigBite. Having that nubby on the end of the setter does apparently really help. Good! :)

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Which reminds me. You're probably not going to believe this, but I decided to keep the BigBite after all. Not for eyelets, but for punching holes. It came to me that I have had a hard time punching holes for the journals and this might work really well for that. If it works easily for the punching it will be worth it for me with my bum arm, even if it doesn't work well for eyelets. And I do think it will probably work okay for hole punching. Expensive hole puncher--hehe! Oh well.

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My project for today--laundry. When I am not feeling good--I just do one load from start to finish and then see how I feel. I can always do the other load tomorrow. And the whites are already done in the washer, I think. So--I am off to put them in the dryer on this dark, gray day. Looks like it might be a good day for napping, tho. That's a plus for me right now--hehe! :):)

Friday-4:30am

My gift package from Wenonah's blog drawing www.nonadesigns.com

arrived yesterday!! Absolutely made my day!! What a generous prize, too! Almost $26 worth of goodies that Wenonah picked out for me. Didn't she do a great job? We didn't have a single one of these items, either. A shining spirit lifter, for sure. :):)

I moved a few things that we don't use very often up onto the empty top shelf.

That was it for yesterday--done little by little while I was up doing stretching exercises.

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Since Sammy loves toys stuck on the end of a wiggly pole, while Dagan and Leah were here I dug out Karma's various pole toys that she has destroyed--hehe! (I just found another one yesterday.) Leah can use all her cat toy making paraphernalia to make some toys for Sammy!!

Karma really won't care. She prefers the ones on a string flying about and has two of those. Unless we find out Leah's are more interesting to Karma and her tastes have changed (which is possible with her)--she could always keep one of them, I suppose, as there are three poles. She seems to like this long black one, but that is maybe only because she can't resist rubbing her head on anything and everything--hehe!

BTW--caught her in a yawn--

--absolute proof that she can get that heart tag in her mouth--ROFL!!

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It's 27 degrees--but it warms up into the 40s during the day. We hit 51 degrees one day! The dikes are holding. The river is shrinking. Sun has been peeking between the clouds during the days. Me--I am trying to work my way out of this pain loop. Won't even be on the computer much. Peaceful music, meditation, reading, some TV, and lots of slow stretching. Sleep whenever I am able. Wait it out. :):)

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Hope you have a day of peace and calm, too. :)

Thursday-9:30am

I managed to sleep for about an hour so I wouldn't miss the excitement of the evening! Dagan got the books moved (in reinsertion order) before Leah arrived (bearing organic milk from Target).

Here's the before picture.

Here's the after pictures!

I freed up some extra storage space, too! :)

Dagan removed the brains from the desktop and installed Linux and Firefox. Then Leah set up my folders (that I have open automatically for me and I can travel from one to the other and not lose my place--Leah and I love that feature and Dagan can't stand it--hehe!).

Okay--now, admittedly, I have been having a bad month--I must preface with that. I had been trying to use the system we created for me to store my pictures outside of iPhoto the last couple days. Trying to find where to store my new pictures I've been putting into the McLap for the past few weeks, right?.....

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Well, if you are a person who drives by landmarks, like I am, I can equate it with losing all your landmarks. As if you got in your car and buildings have been torn down or moved to another neighborhood altogether--signs have been removed or parts of them are missing--trees have been chopped down--and the landscape doesn't even look familiar. There are still streets, but you don't know how to navigate them. *sigh*

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Last night I was fully prepared to start deleting photos from the McLap. Kind of starting fresh and learning how to use Apple's system of storage from the get-go, you know? Instead of trying to adapt 12,000 pictures that had been set up using the PC folder system to fit into the Apple system. After all--I DO have everything stored right here on the portable hard drive.

I can plug this in and get to any of the original brains if I need to. So I can get to any of the 12,000 photos without actually putting them on the McLap or back on the PC, for that matter.

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But--I am not sure if I am just extra frustrated because I have been feeling so physically crummy, you know? I want to sit back and think on it for a while longer. I can always do that. But I want to stay away from photos altogether until I am feeling more my normal, you know? Just let it lie for a while.

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I have a new system to learn on the desk computer now, too. So I think I am best sticking to just email, the blog, and my usual internet sites for now. Stay away from the inner workings--the grey matter of the computers--and not make any decisions. I've learned that I should never make choices when I am in a negative place. So, I reminded myself of that fact this morning.

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Pause.

Put myself on pause.

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Anyways, looks empty now. Look at all that room!

Karma keeps stopping in the hallway and looking up the wall--hehe!

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Me--R&R time. This may be about it for me today--the blog. But--I am very happy to be looking at the bookcase. Ahhh! Give yourself a break today! :):)

Wednesday-7:30am

I did get a short nap yesterday afternoon and took off for Dagan and Leah's. :)

Sammy is an energetic character--up and down off their cat house and tower. This is his favorite toy--whether stuck into the cat house, automated by human hand, tossed across the room, or lying innocently on the floor--hehe!

He's still a little skittish, but will decide to come up now and again for a pet--even came up to me twice. :) I may be winning him over by playing with him--hehe! :) He has started coming up to lay on the couch with them when Dagan and Leah are there watching TV.

Annie, on the other hand, is still very shy yet about being touched. She comes and goes with a whisper. But she is spending a fair amount of time in the vicinity of the humans--hehe! Enjoys watching them more and more, I think. If I even stood up, she was on a flight of stairs, tho. So I gave Dagan my camera to get this shot. He was sitting on the couch and Annie came up and was right under the coffee table next to him.

So--they are adjusting well and Annie doesn't even look nervous at all if you ignore her--hehe! Was nice to meet them!! :):)

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After dinner, Leah and I kept plugging away on the interview for www.examiner.com. We work slowly--and we know that. (Hence postponing Sacred Circle.) We chat and can get side tracked very easily in the Internet...well, any which way--hehe! I talk too much, I know. (Karma may indeed be a "talker", but humans are so much more interesting--sorry, Karma.) We finally finished and sent off the interview email. The reporter will probably only use a quarter of it, but we answered everything and liked what we sent. It was really a Leah and Rita team effort. :)

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I finally drug myself home at 12:20am--with a present for Miss Karma from Sammy and Annie! (They still have three beds--both have their favorites.)

She really gave it a good smell and seemed a little nervous about it. Other cat smells, you know. She's never had a cat bed and didn't have a clue what to do with it. To get her to step into it I decided to toss all her favorite toys in there--hehe! Not that she plays with her toys as often as she did when she was little, but she does lay all over them when she drags them out, anyways, right? I thought maybe she'd like to lay on a bunch of them at once--ROFL! But she laid outside of it and kneaded the side of the cat bed. She did take some toys out, tho. Even if she never actually lays in it, it would make a nicer toy box than the little cardboard box I was using. She didn't seem to want to pull much out of the cardboard box and couldn't see everything like she can in the cat bed. Thanks Sammy and Annie! :)

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I only slept a little over three hours (and was up twice) and then couldn't get back to sleep. I'll try to catch a few Zs later on again. Dagan and Leah are coming over after work--unless I can't handle it and tell them not to, of course. But I'd rather get things done and just collapse afterwards for a couple of days, you know? I'll survive, right? And be happier that things got done. So I hope Dagan can do the desk computer reformatting and we can move the bookcase tonight--tada! That would be awesome! :):)

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Meanwhile...we may actually finally hit 50 today! I don't think we have? I could have missed it on one of those upper 40s days. Anyways, only 24 degrees right now, but 50 would be nice! The river is on the receding side of the flood crest now--tada! The National Guard is still here to help with the breeches in the dikes. Just minor ones so far--thank goodness! Everyone will be so relieved when the river gets below the sandbag levels. Soon! Soon! :)

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The sun is shining! A beautiful day awaits! :):)

Tuesday-2am

Once again--slept all evening. Oh well. Will have to try to sleep again before tonight when I go to Dagan and Leah's. I'll be reeeeally upset if I can't make it because I can't catch some sleep and am too tired. I want to meet Sammy and Annie! And we have to work on the interview questions so we can get that back to the reporter. Think positive, right? :)

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I did get in touch with Qwest yesterday and got that straightened out. I'm going to get set up with automatic withdrawal direct from the bank and I'm not in any trouble. Good! :)

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Made a few cards yesterday. Picked out the few fabric paper scrap cards we had to work on. (Top halves are a fabric paper that reminds me of wallpaper). They seemed to call out for lace. These are my favorite type of cards--kind of Victorian looking.

Well, I shouldn't say "top half" because these are blank inside and can be shifted sideways for another look. :)

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I'm rapidly getting accustomed to using the scortape and am loving it! I am surprised to have found something I actually prefer over the carpet tape we've been using (and loving) for years. Hurray! In my opinion, works better going over the lace and ribbons that are folded around to the back of the card. Sticks better. Have to really watch out that it doesn't accidentally touch the paper before you are ready to put it down, but I am getting used to that wonderful extra sticky quality. :) Am still using scissors to cut it--probably out of habit and anal tendencies of precision--but I think I might eventually get used to tearing it with my fingers. I can hardly wait to see how Leah likes it! :)

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I have fallen in love with youtube!

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I used to be able to walk over to K&Krafts when I lived across the river and take card classes so that I could learn about the new products and techniques, but it's been over five years since I've been able to do that. Whenever I have been able to, I have gone to K&K's free demo days that they have a couple times a year. Leah and I have made it 2-3 times in the last five years, I think. They demo the new products and you can watch how to do the new techniques up close. Always a special occasion to be able to attend.

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Now--after discovering youtube--I can watch demos and discover the new products any time--day or night! Any time! :)

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And now that I have the McLap--I can actually spend more time watching than I could when I had to sit in the computer chair. Can you say Seventh Heaven? (At least for me--hehe!)

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I am still amazed and awed by the Internet.

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Even if it enabled someone to steal my tiny fiscal identity--twice--ROFL!! :):)

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Grateful that there are people who have found my little corner of the world here and have actually come back to visit with me!! I am honored. Time is precious. :):)

Monday-1:30am

No wonder Karma snores the way she twists her head around when she sleeps.

I guess it is technically Monday already. Things have been busy and I have been totally out of whack with the not sleeping. The menopause hormonal insomnia still plagues me once in a blue moon. Wide awake even tho your eyes burn from lack of sleep (was up 24 hours), throwing windows and doors open because I was hot, and then under the blanket with the heat on because I was cold. Man! Am I ever glad I don't put up with this that often anymore--hehe!

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Besides that...

what did I do over the weekend? I finally caught up on the youtube sites I follow (so I watched a ton of craft videos). I follow too many for me to watch every single one, but I watched a lot of them...probably too many--hehe!

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A reporter from www.examiner.com contacted Fargo Family Crafts (our Etsy shop). She's doing a series on Fargo Etsy sellers and asked us if we'd be interested. Sure! So, I spent yesterday working on answering her emailed interview questions. Leah will be working on the answers, too, and we have to pick out some product pictures and information. The Lady wants it by Wednesday. :)

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Luckily we are meeting twice this week--Tuesday and Wednesday--so Leah and I can confab on Tuesday and give everything the final touches. This is sure the year for new experiences, eh?

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I also won a drawing online!!! I made a recent purchase from a new online store (for me) and saw that it had a blog. Commenting on the blog entered me in the drawing. Wenonah from www.nonadesigns.com is going to be surprising me with a gift. She sounds like just the sweetest lady! I told her that I will consider this a birthday gift from her and the angels! :):)

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Tuesday evening I was planning on going over to Dagan and Leah's to meet my new "grandchildren"--ROFL! (Annie is spending more time upstairs, BTW.) And we were planning on having a Sacred Circle. We do need to have things done for the online interview, tho, so either we will have to postpone Sacred Circle or make it brief. ?? We'll talk it over and decide.

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Wednesday Dagan and Leah are coming over here after work. Dagan is planning to strip the brains out of the PC desk computer and reformat it with Linnex instead of Windows, I guess. I want them to help me move the bookcase, too. Then Leah and I can work on cards if we have time. Going to be a busy week. Not the best time to be sleepless in Fargo with hot and cold flashes--ROFL!

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I have to call Qwest tomorrow--well, today--because I got a letter from them. Totally forgot that they were actually set up for automatic payment with my debit card. My bill wasn't paid! So, I will have to have them either send bills again by mail or see if they can do automatic withdrawal direct from my checking account. I wonder if any of my other bills are not set up with the actual direct automatic withdrawal? They were set up years ago now...?? I'll find out, won't I? hehe!

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I figured there is no point in me even checking into purchasing a Visa card like I have heard they sell at Walmart--(the ones you can use like a gift card, I guess?)--until the desk computer is dealt with. And--when I get a new system to learn on that computer, too--don't be surprised if you don't hear from me at times. I may reach total brain freeze trying to learn so much new "computer" at once--ROFL!

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We've been seeing the sun lately--so nice! So, even if it is still freezing at night we are getting up into the 40s during the day with the sun beating down on the frozen land. Only the stubborn icy remnants of the many tall snowbanks remain. And the cold snap slowed down the runoff--tada! The river is supposed to crest a little lower than they predicted. I wonder if it has crested by now? Dike patrol goes on for some time after the crest as the river recedes, so I know many people are spending the same sleepless nights as I am--but they are out walking the dikes in the cold, poor things! They were predicting the crest by Sunday or Monday, but I haven't been watching the news all weekend. Slept from 4-10:30pm last night. I know, all messed up now. But I am lucky I can sleep without worrying about my apartment flooding. I am one of the lucky ones! ;)

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Happy Monday!! :):)