Saturday, March 15, 2014

Saturday-9:30am

Good Morning!
We had such warm weather since we last spoke.  It was in the 40s for three days and then 57 degrees I saw on Thursday!  Friday we were back to the 30s and today is supposed to be high of 20 degrees--then supposed to linger around 30s for the highs for a while.  Of course that could all change rapidly.  ;)
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But look at how those melty days took care of all the surface snow! 
Wasn't all those men and machinery last year supposed to do something about all the standing water?  Maybe not?  LOL!  We still had a pretty decent parking lot puddle--and the sidewalk was under water.  
It did drain away fairly fast, though.
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The TV tray by the window has become Karma's favorite place to snooze during the day.  Not sure if it's because her new favorite cat bed was moved over there or that she loves spying out the window--LOL! 
By yesterday, the standing water in the yard had diminished and even the field across the way is brown again. 
 Hard to believe, but we are down to the snowbanks and snowpiles!   
Not that we won't have snow again before spring.  It's only mid-March, after all.  But being able to open the windows in the afternoon for a few days---ahhhh!!!  This could have been a very late February Thaw, since we never got one this winter.  Who knows?  I hadn't been able to crack a window since October, so I loved it!  Fresh air!!  Whoohoo!!
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I did a couple more of the Journal52 challenges.
The found poetry one. 
Mine reads like this:
Yes
Shed light where no light is cast
Believe
Reach
Live 
Love 
Act 
Words have impact
Healing
Open new doors to wondrous things
Bright, happy joy
Embrace your path 
And then the next challenge was to use something as a color palette.  I wanted to try this technique with the distress paints where you dab the colors on the non-stick mat, mist with water, and then place the paper or page right onto the craft mat. 
Bright! 
Obviously, my junk journal has buckly pages--LOL!  Didn't even get any paint in the center in places, but I left it. 
I had more paint on the craft mat so I misted some more water on, grabbed my old moleskine WC journal, and slopped up some more paint.  Cool! 
On the other side I really swished it all around in what was left and noticed that, instead of the plain brown mud you'd normally get mixing all those colors, it was kind of a multicolored mud.  Cool! 
Oh, and here is what I used for my color palette--a spool of thick multicolored thread in blue, green, red, orange, and yellow.
So that was fun!  Not sure what else I will do with the pages, but I sure do love the richness of the distress paint colors!  
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Meanwhile, I watched All Is Lost with Robert Redford.  Was so impressed with his performance in this movie--had to google and find out how old he is--77!  Amazing!  Except for a voice-over reading of his final note in the beginning, he says one (swear) word in the whole movie.  It is just one man trying to survive in the middle of the ocean.  I watched the specials and Robert said he wanted to get back to just being an actor...so he never watched the dailies or got involved in the film making end or did anything but take direction and act.  He definitely had my riveted attention until the last second!  You never know who this taciturn, elderly everyman is or anything about his background.  You are like a fly on the wall...just suddenly there with him from the time of the freak accident to his boat.  I'd love to hear what other people thought about this movie if they watched it because it was definitely not your typical movie.  
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Dagan was over for a little while Wednesday night, but Leah was home sick with a sore throat.  She's feeling better now, but annoyed that she has been catching everything recently.  She just got over a cold and cough, poor thing.  Maybe this will be the end of it.  :)
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      I've been gradually getting back to being on day hours, but had a rough week.  Tuesday night I didn't sleep at all--napped a couple hours during the day on Wednesday and collapsed that night.  But starting Thursday night I have doubled up on the melatonin and finally been sleeping better.  I have to chuckle.  After two years on melatonin my body is probably not bothering to make any at all anymore--and, in all likelihood with my sleep track record, it never knew how to make much to begin with--ROFL!  
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Next month I am going to make an order from Swansons and get a variety of doses so I can experiment and find what works the best for me.  I am anything but normal, folks--LOL!  Most people can take melatonin 20-30 minutes before they want to go to sleep.  I was taking it 5-6 hours before I was able to sleep.  No lie!  I had to take it at 7pm in order to get to bed by 12-1am.  With the double dose now, though--so far, I am in bed within about 2-2 1/2 hours!  And I'm only up a couple of times and sleeping like 8-9 hours.  Whoohoo!  But that's 20 mg.  Maybe 13 or 15mg would work just fine, you know?  But it comes in a capsule form, so I am stuck with only a 10mg dose right now.  But--whatever works, right?  Like I said--anything but normal over here.  ;)
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But--I slept and played at the art table the last two days, so it's looking quite promising!  After another night or two of catching up on my sleep I'll probably try to drop back to one capsule and see how that goes.  Meanwhile, I am doing the usual--writing letters, playing in junk journals, tending to Miss Karma and all the usual daily chores.  The taste of spring was wonderful!  We're back to nippy normal--more drab brown than glistening white out there right now, though.  But I do so love the change of seasons.  Can't imagine life without these extreme shifts.  ;)  
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Have a great weekend.  
Be good to yourself.  
Laugh!  
Hug somebody!  :):) 
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"Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead."
Oscar Wilde            

20 comments:

TexWisGirl said...

i like your colorful pages. and hooray for good melting!

hope leah stays well.

GrandmaG said...

I often wonder if supplements work. Well, clearly, melatonin works for you!

Some months ago, I had a reawakening with glucosamine chondroitin. I was aching all over then realized I had been out of glucosamine chondroitin for a good month. As soon as I went back on, I was fine. Yippee!

Heading out for more yard work this afternoon with temps in the upper 60s. Then, tomorrow, 1-3 inches of snow is predicted. Crazy!

DJan said...

I loved All Is Lost and thought Redford should have gotten a nomination for his performance. What did you think of the ending? Did you know people have interpreted in many ways?

And I also hope that Leah stays healthy. I know how she feels, getting one thing after another. :-)

Deb J. in Utah said...

I do love all of your fun creative projects! So good that spring is finally coming your way. You and Karma have a good weekend!

Anonymous said...

Love the colors. Regarding Leah...I remember taking two cold tablets when I was pregnant but didn't know it. I was in a panic at my first doctor's appt. They just rolled their eyes at me.

Friko said...

I like the way you play even without much night time sleep.

Don’t overdo the remedies, sleep will come when you are tired enough.
Anyway, that’s what I tell myself.

Janie Junebug said...

The colors you use are so pretty. It's a beautiful day. Frankie and I went for a walk. Willy Dunne Wooters is sick with a cold.

Love,
Janie

andi filante said...

OMG it was sunny and almost 60 here today!!!!! I took some table pieces outside and ran my orbital sander and Philly had the garage doors open all day and got his shop lights installed in the garage. It was a very good day. Tomorrow is supposed to be crap again. :/ I feel for you with your sleeping issues. I only have trouble once in a while, and that's bad enough, so I can't imagine what you're going through. I haven't found my sword. I think it's disappeared forever. :( I'm so sad. I'm loving the loose teas though, so I may buy a "real" infuser (or whatever it's called). Or I'll just skewer the bags with a shish-ka-bob! =D But in reality I'm dying for a chemical-laden cappuccino. YUM! Happy Weekend!!

xoxo
-andi

Beth said...

Our snow has all melted here too except for the dirty piles.

I really like your colorful pages! Very creative!

Far Side of Fifty said...

Your snow is gone or almost! You have spring! Life in the big city is warmer than out here in the boonies! Fun projects you are working on! Karma looks good in her spot:)

ChicagoLady said...

I really like how it turned on in the junk journal. The one blank area looks kind of like S. America.

Queenie Jeannie said...

I finally got a good night's sleep last night too, and OH MY! what a difference it makes with everything!!! Glad to hear you are feeling better! Love your journal pages and seeing our lovely Karma too. I've seen that movie and really liked it too. I grew up on sailboats, so it wasn't an unknown world to me. Although sailing so far from a coast IS rather daunting!

Carol said...

We've had some wonder Spring like days here too :) Today is not so Springy though, winter just refuses to let go.
Glad you seem to be getting your sleep issues back under control. I take 10 mg every night and sometime 20mg. I take it right before I go to bed and make myself stay there. At first it would be a couple of hours before I really fell alseep...now it's usually under a half hour...if not then I get up and take the extra 10mg and go back to bed. If I stay up after taking it I'm up for hours. I know the same thing doesn't work for every person though...just thought I'd mention how it works for me :)
Have a great Sunday!

Jo-Anne's Ramblings said...

Yes I also like the colourful pages and the photos of the view from your place of the carpark are always nice you have a lot of talent my friend

Darla said...

I'm woefully behind in blogland. I really like your found poetry. Glad it has warmed up for you.

Darla

Dee said...

Dear Rita, not being able to sleep makes a zombie out of me. I go through the next day on auto pilot. But you seem to be able to do so much creative art work no matter whether or not you've slept.

Those colors together are like a fiesta! So brilliant and so gleeful. Peace.

Anonymous said...

I journeyed over to your blog because I wanted to say how much I find your comments to Wendy (Picnic with Ants)so kind, compassionate and wise. I benefit, too, from the things you write to her. She has a very special friend in you.
No response expected or needed. I just wanted to say how much I appreciate your comments to Wendy, and how I have taken away from them comfort, insight and wisdom.
You are a very wise woman.

Intense Guy said...

I really like how bright and colorful your "art" is!! That shade of orange really pops!!

Hmm... the mystery of the parking lot drain continues.... *cue ominous music*

Serena Lewis said...

Please pass on my get well wishes to Leah. xx

Love the journal page!

Have noted down the movie as it sounds like one I might like. :)

AliceKay said...

The snow has been melting around here, but we still have some piles laying around. Still have a pretty good sized pile from the driveway sitting in my front yard. The mountains around me still have snow on them, too. The creeks that were up rather high when we had the rain last week now have big chunks of ice up on the banks or stuck in flood trash and trees along the creeks. Gonna be awhile before those melt away. It's been chilly here. We had on and off snow showers all day today, and the wind was blowing it sideways.

I hope Leah is feeling much better by now. Sorry to hear she's been attracting germs.

I'm glad you're sleeping a bit better.