Wednesday-11:30am: North Sky Apt

This is going to be picture heavy!  

Grab a cuppa and a cookie--LOL!  

I didn't get home from McFamily's until about 8pm and am totally spent today.  Therefore, I will have to save the tornado story for another time.  (Boy!  This possible move has just take over the priority list, hasn't it?  LOL!)

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The apartment I would get would be the bottom one farthest back from the road in this photo.  It's at the end of the building before that second building that is under construction--which will be the center/main one with the office and lobby, etc.  There will be three buildings total.

Dagan even rearranged his meeting so that he could meet us there and see it, too!  So I asked him to take a video.  

And Leah took pictures!  

I'll just show you a few of those.

Here's the entryway where the mailboxes are.

(We were all waiting for Sherry.)

Ian patiently waited for us to wander about this empty apartment.  Makes you wonder what he must think of the peculiar behavior of adults sometimes--LOL!

Bright enough for facing east on a sunny afternoon.  Very low air conditioner.  We thought maybe so that it would be wheelchair accessible?  The den is right off the living room as you saw in the video.  I am soooo excited about the possibility of having that as my art & craft room!!  

Thinking there might not actually be room for a loveseat.  Might have to go with a nice big recliner and have two recliners.  I'll find out later...if I am so lucky as to move in here.  :)

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Much bigger sink area in the bathroom with bigger drawers and more cabinet space.  And washer and dryer are included!!  Whoohoo!!

But what I really loved (besides the art & craft room, of course) was the patio... 

...and grass.  Even if it has drought-brown patches.  Something about looking out on grass for a span like this that makes it feel more homey and cozy for some reason. 

And the kitchen!  Leah snapped a picture of the normal sized drawers!!  (Everything is smaller and narrower here.) 

You know us women... 

...Leah got me all the pictures... 

...of all the cupboards... 

...and all the cabinets... 

...and appliances... 

...for some fantasy kitchen planning.  ;) ;) 

I have very few cupboards and cabinets here.  So few they had to have a pantry, really...or, I should say, I am glad they did.  And the North Sky apartment has that huge storage area across from the kitchen and you could use part of that as a pantry also--wow!  (That was the room Dagan wasn't sure what it was in the video.)

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Anyways, we all really liked it.  I felt--yes--this could be my forever home.  Now I just have to fill out tons of paperwork that will be coming in the mail, make copies of various "proofs", and then I have an appointment with Sherry to turn them all in on Monday.

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Then I wait for the verdict.

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Meanwhile, I need a doctor to fill out new forms for me to be allowed to keep Karma since the other ones are so old.  My rheumatologist is such a nice guy and I know he would probably do that for me, but it can take months to get in to see him.  My GP--well, he has an aversion to filling out any kind of extra forms for anybody and wouldn't fill them out for Karma ten years ago.  He also didn't want to fill out anything to help me get disability, either.  (Is it any wonder I hadn't seen him in nine years until my rheumatologist sent me to him because he put me on blood pressure medication?)  

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Anyways, I call the rheumatologist's office right away since I am overdue to see him, regardless.  No openings until August...BUT...lo and behold, there was a cancellation for tomorrow morning.  BUT because it's been over a year I need a new referral from the GP.  (We've got a whole new system going on up here the last year or two.)  So, I am crossing my fingers the GP is in a good mood and faxes the referral...and planning on being there in the morning unless they call and tell me otherwise.  (Which means because of the IBS I won't eat until after I get back home tomorrow--TMI, I know--LOL!)

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I am assuming that all doors are opening and everything is just falling into place, right?  :) :)  I mean, why else would there have just been a cancellation at Dr. Sleckman's?  (I cannot move without Miss Karma!!)  I have been overdue to see all medical personnel and planned to this summer/fall, anyways--GP, Sleckman, dentist, eyedoctor.  I do need to see them all...but they all cost money...so I have been procrastinating.  Suddenly...I hope to check one off my list tomorrow, anyways.

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Anyways, I hung around at McFamily's yesterday so Leah and I could be all excited and talk about the apartment, of course.  And so I could spend some time with Mr. Ian.  I stayed until Dagan got home so I could hear what he thought, too.  Thumbs up from everybody!  :)

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Then--surprise!  

Dagan and Leah bought me things in Japan!  I got to open presents last night!

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The big tea bag is to make a whole teapot full of some kind of tea.  The green bag is some kind of instant tea you can make by the spoonful in a cup of hot water.  Dagan and Leah had it served to them in restaurants.  

They went to this calligrapher's shop and got the bigger square stamp you see.  Was made from his personal calligraphy, but we have no idea what it says.  They just bought it because it looked cool--LOL!  The package with the little black tubes are ink refills for that stamp.  (Thank goodness there are pictures of how to refill it!)  The other one that is still in the package is a small calligraphy stamp.

Leah's friend, Yuki, can probably read these and tell us what they say.  Leah took pictures.  When I find out, I'll let you know.

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She found another one of these pen cases...

...like the one I love that I bought from JetPens.

She knew I would have really loved to have had the black and red one (they were out of at the time and you never know when something will be in stock again or never again) so that is what Leah was looking for, but couldn't find a red one.  Well, we had discussed, back when, that if I wanted to buy a black and red one when they had them again at JetPens that I could always save the orange and grey one for Ian for when he's older.  Yes!  Good idea!  (And good excuse for me to still get a red one--LOL!)  

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Well, she did find another orange and grey one...that I can use as an extra one in the meantime if I want to.  But, since they plan to have another baby, this way both the kids can have identical pen cases down the road when they are older.  I know!  I know!  We are just kind of optimistically sentimentally sappy.  But it makes perfect sense to us and was an awwww-moment.  ;) ;)

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The long thin delicate brush is also from the calligrapher's shop.  And the double sided brush pen...well, I already tried it out for writing that thin and thick way that I've seen people do that's kind of spencerian...and it worked!  Bounces right back!  I have wanted to learn how to do that and this brush pen worked great!  (If the brush doesn't have spring to it then it won't bounce back for the thin lines.)  So cool!!    

Those little rubbery bands with the flowers on them are to slip over your fingertip as page grabbers for turning pages or sorting through stacks of papers!  Never seen anything like them!  And the corner clips.  I had already bought some from JetPens and shared with Leah.  They come in a pack of the three colors.  She found these over there, too!

And this is a perfectly formed dried flower blossom that Leah managed to bring all the way back home uncrushed!

When Leah and Ian got their picture taken by this tree in the shogun garden...

...Leah said she saw one of the flowers, still perfectly formed, was lying on the ground and she picked it up.  Not sure what kind it is...but they are really beautiful.  

Does anybody know?  

Leah said she doesn't care if it gets thrown in the blender as an inclusion for handmade paper or what I do with it, but she wanted me to have it.  Sweet!  (And wouldn't that make some special paper!)

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And lastly--also from that calligrapher's shop...

...a glass paperweight!  No clue what it says--LOL!  But it looks cool!  Can use that to hold down the rice paper as you do your painting or calligraphy.  Awesome!

Well, that's it!  Whew!  :) :)

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If I get the all clear and am okayed to give notice here...things are going to get really, really, really busy for this snail/hermit, I tell you.  I'd have to be out of here by the end of July.  I'll let you know, for sure, as soon as I hear one way or the other!  

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Well, here's to things getting crazy, eh?  

Until next time...

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"O Great Spirit, I awake to another sun, grateful for gifts bestowed, granted one by one."

Twylah Nitsch

Seneca Medicine Woman