Thursday-10:15am

Good Morning, All!

Another cloudy, chilly day--but look at the grass!

They actually came to mow and trim for the first time yesterday.

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While I was sitting in the small recliner to take these pictures Miss Karma started begging for a foot pet. 

She only lets me (and on rare occasions, Dagan) give her foot pets. 

I can even scratch her neck. 

Well, Leah and I were planning to go to the second Craft Night here in the community room on Monday.  That afternoon the new calendar was tucked into my door and come to find out there is not one craft night listed for May, but there are three afternoons.

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Long backstory:

The lady who does the calendar and is trying to start up these various activities has been trying evenings and afternoons for various activities.  There are now Movie Nights and Afternoon Movies, Game Nights and Afternoon Games, etc.  She wants to see if more people would come to an afternoon group or an evening group--which makes sense.  

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Two weeks before when Leah and I went to that first Craft Night (and the only craft group event before she made up the new calendar) I told you how we were the only people who actually showed up to craft.  Other people hung around and chatted and it sounded like some people were interested in bringing needlework.  The calendar lady sat at our table with us for most of the evening as others came and went--and the couple playing cribbage that set up at the next table chimed in now and then.  I mentioned how it takes time to get an activity going, but we'd try to be there.  (Assuming she was sticking to Monday nights because she only had the two Monday night craft groups in April, right?) 

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Because of people who came by to see what we were doing--and a couple of them sat down with us for a while--the calendar lady heard me 2-3 times introduce Leah and tell people how Monday nights were perfect because that was the night Leah and I usually got together for crafts anyways.  Calendar lady mentioned that she might throw in an afternoon, too...a couple of times.  (Afterwards I realized that it was every time I mentioned Monday nights being perfect for Leah and I to come.)  I responded every time with saying that Leah couldn't make it in the afternoons, but I probably could. 

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Leah was certainly not intrusive.  She's a soft-spoken, quiet lady who worked away all evening, but would take the time to explain and chat with anyone who asked her questions.  And she and I chatted a bit telling them about us making Christmas cards together, etc.  I'm the louder, more vocal one--LOL!  

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So, when I looked at the new May calendar and saw there was not one single craft night (nothing whatsoever on Monday nights for the first time, for that matter) but three afternoon craft groups...when we had only had the one single first ever craft group meeting that Leah and I were the only ones who came to craft and there seemed to be some interest and we indicated that we would be there...well, what would you think?  

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I took it as a passive aggressive way to say they didn't want Leah to come.  Age prejudice, if you ask me.  And here it was Leah who was the first one to bring up doing a make-and-take on our way back to the apartment that night.

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  Their loss. 

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So, I got ahold of Leah right away and told her about the new calendar.  I didn't want to go down there that night at all.  For one thing there apparently wasn't going to be a Monday Craft Night here, anyways...and I was much too annoyed to be around calendar lady.  So I told Leah she could take her time and not rush to come early--just come at the regular time and we'd stay here like usual.  So we had a good time creasing and folding cardstock.  Filled that black box and only have that small stack left to fold.  So we've got a lot of card bases for Christmas and birthday cards prepped. 

Will I go to the afternoon craft group get-togethers?  

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I'll have to play it by ear.  Right now, I have absolutely no desire whatsoever.  You don't mess with snub people I love.  I do not like passive aggressive baloney.  If they don't like non-residents coming to things--just say so.  Well, I guess they did.  Indirectly.

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Honestly, this is why my entire life I have had trouble getting along with a lot of women--LOL!  My girlfriends over the years were always open and direct.  Basically--"what you see is what you get" type of people--or they knew they could be with me, at least.  ;)  They had to be--to tolerate me and for me to trust them as a person, you know?  We didn't have to agree on everything or think exactly alike or have the same interests, but we just accepted each other and didn't judge.  I was never good at all that game-playing, nice-to-your-face-but-stab-you-in-the-back games.  Awk!  Can't stand any of it.  My tolerance level for such nonsense has lowered the older I get. 

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     Not that I won't remain distantly polite bumping into anyone and everyone in the hallways (even calendar lady), but it is possible I might not be socializing here at all or very, very little.  Even the movies (calendar lady is mostly in charge) are Disney, very GP (she's made it very clear that "they" don't want anyone bringing movies that have sex, bad language, or violence), or actual "Christian" movies.  Well, I know I do live in a very conservative part of the country...but come on!  Not that I didn't like The Apple Dumpling Gang, but I'd rather stay home and watch Netflix--LOL!  

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I don't have much in common with the people who have showed up for activities so far.  I have not run across anyone yet who I would ever think of inviting over for coffee.  If there are any open-minded, straightforward, tree-hugging hippies here...they are probably staying close to home, too--ROFL!!

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It's no skin off my nose, as they say.  I have been perfectly content totally by myself for over eleven years just seeing Dagan & Leah (and now Ian!) and Caroline when she comes to clean or bring groceries.  Socially--I have had all of you in blogland--several of which have become pen pals!  All my friends I write to who knew me for years before I moved up here to the FM area.  And these days any stress physically adds to my pain level.  Don't want it or need it.  

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Let's just say that I am not feeling as "social"--LOL!  I will not want to jump in with both feet again like I did with the craft group.  If anything, it will be toe in the water from now on.  Odds are, if I ever do go in the afternoon for crafts I won't even bring anything with me when I go check it out...just like the other people did that first night craft group.  Such is life in the senior apartments, eh?

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But Miss Karma and I are just fine.  Leah and Ian came by on Tuesday for a visit and I was so happy to see our little chatterbox that I never even got a picture!  He talks all the time now (even if half the time we don't know what he is saying--LOL!).  We did puzzles, read books, painted with water, and had a nature show about Antartica on while we visited.  (Gramma had been watching it before they came over.)  

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Just wanted to let you know why Leah and I didn't attend the second craft night here and why I might possibly even pass on going to the afternoon craft groups in May.  I shall be reminding myself not to judge.  They can do whatever they want.  They do not need me, either--LOL!  And they can't help but be who they are, as well. 

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Besides that little snag...I am feeling better and better.  Doing what I can to try to build up my immune system so I don't catch the next thing going around.  (Maybe another reason to not be social--ROFL!)  Had Leah pick me up some D3, B complex, and fish oil to take along with my multiple vitamins.  They're Costco brand so not top of the line, but better than nothing, I figure.  I also have a case of gatorade to build up my electrolytes--and bananas for potassium since I got so dehydrated.  I was still feeling weak and lightheaded.  Feeling stronger and a bit more grounded since Leah brought the bananas and gatorade.  She picked up some frozen fruit mix for me, too...so I can make smoothies.  Whoohoo!!

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Well, you knew you'd hear about my adventures at the old folks home.  Now you know the latest.  ;)  It's almost the weekend.  Now that I devoured Damages on Netflix streaming, I am watching something light--Property Brothers.  I just rented The H8ful Eight.  Just as expected from Quentin Tarantino--dark with dark-dark humor--and bloody--with twists.  Recently watched The Lady In The Van, too--based on a true story.   Maggie Smith blew me away!  Since we last spoke, I've seen the Canadian geese, the jackrabbits late in the day, and tons of small birds...but no grouse.  I still LOVE it here.  (The old lady shenanigans don't spoil anything for me.)  And Baby Phil loves it here, too!

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Do you remember Phil from the old place that I had to give away because he got so large and out of control--LOL!  Baby Phil has really started to take off since we moved here where he gets more light.   

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And since Karma has picked her favorite chair spot to sleep (she never would sit on the other recliner over here for some reason) she seems much more settled in here.

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So have a great weekend!!  We might hit the low 60s this weekend--whoohoo!!  I am off to make a smoothie.  :):)

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 "It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept and celebrate those differences."

Audre Lorde

Saturday-12:15pm

Good Afternoon!  :)

The Canadian geese have waddled past in the grass...

...and right down the sidewalk. 

They aren't frightened away by joggers or small dogs on leashes, which absolutely cracks me up.   

They kind of calmly dare anybody to come any closer.  Size is a factor in the wild...and temperament.  Geese can be nasty when pushed--LOL!  So they wander quite regally past depending on reputation of their species, I guess.  ;)

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I took this picture last week.  The grass on my side of the sidewalk was getting quite green (probably with the added assistance of rabbit and grouse fertilizer) but across the way was brown as can be. 

Oh!  Caught Karma drinking water--just to bug her.  Do you see that look?!  I have rarely taken pictures of her eating--LOL! 

The sweet little pair of grouse were by another day. 

Sorry for the glare on the glass.  

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We have had a few days where I could open the patio door wide... 

...and Miss Karma feels like she is outside. 

Well, almost. 

We've also had days where it was too chilly to even crack the door open for more than a few minutes for Karma to do her morning air sniffing. 

But this morning!  

(Notice how green the grass is!) 

Gorgeous, already 60 degrees, and windy.

Karma watches for twigs, leaves, dried grass... 

..anything to whip past across the cement...

...so she can race back and forth (believe it or not she doesn't always lay around--LOL!) along the patio door.  She must think they are small critters or bugs or toys--something exciting.  The real spooky thrill for her, though, is when an empty plastic bag, freed from a dumpster somewhere, gets caught up in the whirlwind vortex outside our door.  Can keep her busy for hours--LOL!

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Well, there were no thunderstorms.  We've had a lot of drizzly rain, though, that the grass has adored.  They say possible thunderstorms again later today, but I won't hold my breath.  They seem to pass around us for some reason.  I'm still waiting for my first good storm.  Do love them!  :)

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I was so sick that I didn't even take many pictures for weeks.  With birthday money I did buy a few things I didn't really need, as a person should, right?  See the white paint splattered paper tray?  It is lightweight and can hold a ream of paper, I guess--but I got it to hold all my letters in progress, current pens, and the clips I use to help keep various bookcards and tablets together (bum arm assistance).

Plus I got a set of Brusho crystalized watercolors and a set of Color Burst powdered watercolors.  After Leah and I finish up with our current projects the next thing is to play with these and a masking fluid resist. 

Leah wanted to switch from Monday to Thursday for Craft Night this week, but had forgotten her youngest sister, Ariel, was coming up for a visit.  So we will meet again on this coming Monday night--which by this time is another Craft Night here in the community room.  So Leah will come early and we will wheel down our stuff again.  :)  Wonder if anyone else will bring something to work on?

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There was an impromptu walk-through of every unit this past Monday morning.  When I woke up at 9am I saw a piece of paper under the door that said the walk-throughs of all the units would start at 9:30am!  I scrambled to shower and throw some clothes on.  Turned out--people had been complaining about residents smoking in their apartments and he did this whole thing without much warning so that he could literally walk through and smell for cigarette smoke--LOL!  

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Now I haven't smoked since 1989, but I have wondered ever since I moved here to this "Smoke Free" building why in the world they would allow smokers to move here in the first place??  They gathered last fall in lawn chairs out in somebody's garage--about half a dozen of them.  When it's cold out they stand right next to the door at the entrance--which is six months of the year up here.  I wouldn't doubt they might smoke on their balconies.  But why would you allow them to move in when they can be evicted for smoking in their apartments?  Makes no sense at all.

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When I was a smoker--and you know I am one to follow rules and could never lie about it if asked--I don't think there's any way I wouldn't have grabbed a smoke in my own apartment.  Especially when it's 20 below outside and windy as hell...or if I woke up at 2am and couldn't get back to sleep and felt too miserable to get dressed.  Man!  Am I ever glad I don't smoke anymore!!  For so many reasons.  Imagine how bad my health would be if I was a smoker now?  Well, I could very likely already be dead, for that matter.

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But that is why I would never have moved into a non-smoking building when I was a smoker.  I know myself too well.  I could never have followed the restrictions.  I think these people were just fooling themselves, you know?  So are the owners.  Maybe the owners were afraid of being sued or something, I don't know.  But why??  There are all kinds of other restrictions for living here--age, income, etc.  And they are even planning on making an outdoor smoking spot for them this summer?!

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I can totally empathize, having been a smoker...but why would you even consider moving into a no-smoking building?  That is one of the things after 10 1/2 years of the fire alarm going off when I lived on third floor in West Winds that I was happy about when I was moving here.  A no smoking building!  Well, not really.  Just baffles me.  I thought no smoking meant no smoking??

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Oh well.  Not up to me, eh?

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Okay--I promised to tell you about Give A Girl A Journal.  Maybe you remember the stack of blank journals I purged and had in a box in the garage to give away on freecycle this spring? 

 All the not fountain pen friendly journals I had collected over the years? 

Well, Dagan and Leah have a Canadian friend, Nick, who comes down to visit regularly and he was kind enough to haul them back home with him (and Leah added several she picked up at Target, too) so that they could be mailed to Jamie Ridler in Toronto for way less than it would have cost me from the US to Canada.  [In fact, I couldn't afford it and it broke my heart.  Leah came up with idea of asking Nick who was coming down over Easter!  Many thanks to Nick!!]

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Jamie started up this Give A Girl A Journal program (you can click on the sidebar) and I knew the minute I heard about it I wished I could send her all the journals from my garage.  I started writing when I was about nine in 5th grade.  Having a younger brother and sister I didn't feel I had a safe place to keep a "diary" or journal (really wrote just for myself, anyways) so I wrote pages and pages using school filler paper (college ruled, both sides) and then I would destroy it all.  Growing up--writing and reading were everything to me.

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When I was in high school I started to use spiral notebooks--that I actually kept.  Everybody knew by that time not to mess with any of my papers or pens--off limits or there would be hell to pay.  To this day nobody uses a pen (I have pen cups in several spots) without asking if it's an okay pen to use.  In fact, they usually just ask for a pen and I go get them one--well, often giving them a choice of several options--LOL!  But, I digress.

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Writing, for me, was a way to sort things out, see more clearly, and stay on a good path.  I always felt I wrote and wrote around and around something that was bothering me until I finally understood the deeper true reason I was upset and arrived at a more positive perspective.  Remember those cartoons where there would be an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other?  Well, that is kind of how I felt when I wrote.  It was a battle on paper--for many, many years.  I would write until the angel won.  (Needless to say, I filled up those notebooks pretty rapidly--lol!)  But writing was my personal salvation.

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In high school I started to write poetry sometimes.  I also took sending notes in class to a whole new level.  I wrote them at home half the time and tried to find new and interesting things to write on--like toilet paper and making little scrolls out of adding machine tape.  (No surprise I love making the bookcards today, eh?)  I always had small spiral notebooks in my purse and loved to go with my mom to the mall and people watch.  I would find a bench and write down character descriptions or just whatever I was thinking about.  

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I wrote through first boyfriend, first lover, being around my boyfriend and his friends who sniffed glue and smoked grass (and they accepted me even though I didn't), the events of the late 60s--Vietnam, assassinations, Kent State, 68 convention, Black Power, Women's Rights...we thought we were going to change the world...and it really felt like the world was falling apart.  I wrote about rape, trying drugs and alcohol for the first time, first job in a pet shop, running away to Canada to join a commune, lovers, feeding & caring for street kids, losing my job and ending up on the street myself for a summer...anything and everything. 

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Well, after a few years I had this whole suitcase filled with spiral notebooks, large and small.  Then, in a terrible turn of events, a nasty ex-roommate gave the suitcase to a schizophrenic (really was--found out later from his priest uncle) ex-boyfriend...and he only read enough to hit upon another lover and made a bonfire of them all in his folks' driveway.   

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It felt like a piece of myself had gone up in smoke.  I didn't write for years.  

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But it turned out to be a good thing in the long run because it freed me from being attached to my own words--to the past, too.  Over the years I have journaled...just for myself.  And every so often I destroy them all.  But I have to write!  I would be lost without that ability to sort things out on paper with my angel and devil sides--LOL!  I need to write!  Even if most of the time my "diary-journal" is very dull and of no interest to anyone but myself.  Just what I did or didn't do or want to do--the weather, the critters, Karma--sometimes what I am watching on Netflix--the place I allow myself to complain sometimes about how crummy I really feel or about whatever I wouldn't want to burden the rest of the world with that day...well, actually the day before.  I write when I wake up.  Quite similar to my blog, come to think of it--ROFL!   

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Anyways, if you would want to know more about the Give A Girl A Journal program just click the link in my sidebar.  I'd appreciate it.  They normally just take donations.  People don't send them journals--LOL!  And if you know of any young girl who might benefit from a journal--just enter her name!  :)

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Did any of you journal or keep a diary of sorts?  Do you still?  Or is your blog your journal?  Do you write letters?  Do you have pen pals?  Do you handwrite anything anymore?  I am curious.  (I know some of you write letters because we write to each other!)  

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Even when I am having terrible days if I am going to do anything at all--I will journal--I will write letters or make lists.  I have discovered this about myself since being chronically ill...the one thing my soul needs to do is write.  If I have one spoon--I will still journal in the morning, work on a letter if I'm able and just eat toast rather than use my spoon cooking.  ;)  Truth!  It comes before arts & crafts or some days even showering.  Pen to paper--something special about that.  It is so personal, more intimate, and to me it's calming and contemplative.  Very different than typing for some reason--even though I love blogs and blogging.  Hand writing keeps me grounded and positive.  I don't know why exactly, but ask me if I care--LOL!

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Anyways, I have to say that I am enjoying blogging even more right now when I am back to blogging when I am having a good day and I am moved to do some sharing!  Whoohoo!  I can't imagine my blogs will ever be short.  Sorry.

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  The sky has clouded over.  Maybe we will get some rain after all?  Karma gave up her patio post and is back to sleeping next to me at the table here in her chair.  That has become her favorite place to be in the new apartment.  She sleeps there at night, too.  But the chair has to be in just the right spot to my left and not tucked underneath the table.  In fact, I can take a picture of her right this minute.

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Gosh, I love my cell phone and dropbox!

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See how the chair is at this odd angle at the end of the table?  Testament to how much I love this cranky old cat that my OCD side puts up with the constant disarray!  It's like living with a picture hanging crooked two inches--LOL! 

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Well, that about it from here.  I hope you are having as beautiful a day as we are--and have a spectacular weekend!!  :) :)

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"We must not allow the clock and the calendar to blind us to the fact that each moment of life is a miracle and mystery." 

H.G. Wells

Friday-2:15pm

Good Afternoon!

All my plans...

...could you hear God laughing up here in Fargo?  :)

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After I posted (3 1/2 weeks ago now) three days later I was dreadfully sick with 102 degree temp.  Slept for 2 1/2 days and then pooped for the next two days.  (Spent my birthday in the bathroom--LOL!)  Fever finally broke.  I hadn't eaten and only sipped on water for over four days.  Much to my surprise, I discovered I was so dehydrated and weak that I could barely lift my hand high enough to comb my hair, was dizzy (or dizzier than normal), and could barely walk.  Gatorade to the rescue--LOL!  

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Caroline was getting groceries for me and picked up several big bottles of Gatorade for me.  She even unloaded my groceries for me, too.  A few days later Leah dropped off more bottles of Powerade, too.   That helped me get back enough spoons to be able to shower and cook.  :)  Not that anything tasted right for another week or so.

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As soon as I was off the porcelain throne, then the cough and head congestion started up.  I sounded like a frog for a couple weeks.  I'm still not totally well, but definitely on the tail end of it all.  

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When I was too sick to even get dressed Karma had to settle for peeking through the blinds all day.    

She put up with it... 

...but was thrilled when I was finally able to throw some clothes on and give her some real sunbathing time. 

The jackrabbits are pretty much brown again. 

I see them regularly. 

Erratic spring weather is here.  Warmer one day...a dash of snow the next.

Leah came over for Craft Nights on Mondays the past couple weeks.  A couple weeks ago she helped me put together Thank You cards and other cards from our watercolor/emboss resist play we had done before I got sick.  So I was able to send out my Thank You cards for the sweet and thoughtful birthday gifts.  

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Mr. Ian loves trucks.  Calls any piece of big machinery a truck, really.  So I got him "My Big Truck Book" this month.  But I was so sick I hadn't been able to see him for weeks. 

Last Friday Leah and Ian dropped by for a couple of hours.  Was a sunny day...

...and Ian didn't want to take off his new sunglasses! 

He loved his big truck book!! 

He's growing so fast! 

I also got him a paint with water book that you can let dry and reuse over and over...and he loved that, too.  They stayed for lunch.  (He really knows how to charm Gramma!) 

He was due for a nap...and was excited to go home to show Daddy his truck book.  (Dagan works half days on Fridays.) 

My Aunt MaryLou died.  She'd been in fragile health for some time and was my Mom's younger sister.  I like to think of her as finally reunited with the love of her life (she dearly missed)--her husband, Irving.  :)

I hadn't seen the Canadian Geese for a couple of weeks.  There's suddenly a pair wandering by on occasion again.  Not sure if it is the same pair or another pair, but they are quite magnificent.

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Small flocks of these tiny birds are around every day chittering up a storm.  They're even smaller than the little brown house sparrows we have around all winter and have white bellies.  They are so darn cute!!  Karma loves to watch them.  Can you see her down in the right bottom corner?

I hadn't seen any of the grouse for like a month or more.  Ever since all the chasing about began and the snow melted.  But a couple days ago I could hear them outside someplace and discovered two of them poking about in the grass outside my bedroom window near the young tree there.  Had to shoot through the screen, but I was so tickled to see a couple of them after such a long time.  Not sure if I'll see them much at all this summer.

When the North Sky calendar came out in April I saw that for the first time they had a couple of Monday nights (11th and 25th) listed as Craft Nights!  Well, you know that since I was the one bringing it up all the time I had to try to attend, right?  Luckily the first one wasn't till the 11th and I wasn't coughing as much by that time.  

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Mondays are normally Leah and my craft nights, so I told Leah right away when I got the calendar in case she wanted to meet another night or get together later than 7pm (the group here meets at 6:30pm).  But she said she'd like to come with!  Nice!  So, she came over early on Monday and we filled up my little cart and rolled it down there at 6:30pm.  

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Leah was working on her Christmas gift tags and I was cutting up a ream of white cardstock, so we had a variety of paraphernalia to haul down.  Embossing powders, heat gun, my Dahl cutter, the MISTI, and my Martha Stewart scoring board.  We were the only people who showed up to actually craft--LOL!  There were half a dozen other people there.  A couple were playing cribbage and we got asked a lot of questions by the ladies who hung about to chat and were quite curious about what we were making and how the devices worked.  We were down there for a couple of hours.  It was a good night, regardless.  Possibly a good start--maybe?  ;)

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   Out of all the activities they have here the one that interests me the most, of course, is a craft group.  So I will keep trying to show up.  (They might list it in the afternoons sometimes, too, I guess.)  And Leah is game, too, when it's in the evenings.  Sweet!  Leah and I were already talking about maybe having a night sometime where people could make a card or two to take with them.  It wouldn't cost me hardly anything to do that once in a while.  Leah and I will bounce around ideas this next Monday night when we're just here at home.  

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I know it will take a while to get any of these groups off the ground and going.  There hasn't been a big response yet for much of any of the activities, I guess, from what I've heard.  I'll be persistent about the Craft Group, though.  You can bet on it.  ;)

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Yesterday Caroline came to clean.  It was unbelievably gorgeous out!  Sunny and may have gotten up to 70!  Best of all--the ferocious winds died down for the day so that I could have the patio door wide open all day and into the evening!  Right now it is actually 71 degrees, but it has been viciously windy all day, clouded over, and feels much colder than 70 degrees.  Supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow, so the dampness probably makes it feel chillier, too.

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But when the sun shines...Miss Karma soaks up the rays.  [Karma wasn't happy with me when I was sick and she had to push her way behind the blinds to park herself in a sitting position to catch a bit of the morning sun.  Karma's a sprawler by nature, she'll have you know, and I was making life difficult for her.]

So anyways, all my plans to get more done...ha!  I've spent almost the entire time away from blogging and being online much at all--just being sick--ROFL!  Such is life, eh?  I just pray that now I will finally get well and stay well. 

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Thanks to everyone who remembered me on my birthday.  And to everyone who asked about how I was doing...means a lot to me.  I wasn't sure anyone would notice I was gone.  

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I am pretty much feeling human again.  Looking forward to hearing the predicted thunderstorms coming our way.  I do love thunderstorms and this would be the first one this year so I hope the weather-guessers are right this time.  

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I have to say--I was feeling rather sorry for myself that I wasn't able to do more and still had so few spoons after all these months had gone by since the move...and then I got so sick I couldn't even shower or get dressed or make toast.  Was an excellent wake-up call for me.  Do not complain.  Do not worry about what isn't.  Appreciate whatever you have...whatever you can do.  It could always be worse.  Yes.  It could always be worse.  

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I'll be back.  Not sure when, but I certainly hope it won't be nearly a month next time.  I'll leave you with this story.  I swear I thought I heard Buddy Hackett tell this one night on Johnny Carson and I tried to find a clip to no avail.  Oh well.  It came to mind as I was writing and I found a written version.  :) :)

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A little bird refused to join the flock which was flying south for the winter. It refused to listen to its parents and elders thinking it could tough it out.  Winter came and it was so cold that the bird froze and fell to the ground covered with snow. A cow came by and dropped some dung on the bird. The pile of cow dung warmed the bird and brought it back to life. It lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy.  A passing cat heard the bird singing, dug the bird out of the pile of cow dung, and ate it.

Morals of the story:

(1) Don't discount experienced advice of people who care for your success.

(2) Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy.

(3) Not everyone who helps you out of a pile of shit is your friend.

(4) And when you're in deep shit, it's best to keep your mouth shut!