Thursday-10:45am

Good morning!  

Yes!  Leah got the bird feeder up!

Took longer than expected because she had to make a run to the hardware store for more do-dads.  They drove both cars because they had to bring a ladder with.  Dagan hooked up my new printer and later took Ian home for naptime.

We had to move the new printer to the middle of the dresser and slide the fish bowl over because the cord for this one was shorter than the old printer cord.  
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After they left Karma came out from under the bed and claimed the printer box.

Leah also brought me a shovel for clearing off the patio so I can feed the grouse.  It looks big and heavy but it is aluminum and very lightweight.

Now I just need a boot tray to set it in so I don't get the carpeting wet this winter.  :)
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It was nice and still the day after...

...and the feeder looks gorgeous hanging out there.

The cables are so thin but have a 400 lb weight limit.  Leah attached them with eye screws.

Trouble is--we left some slack on the cables and when it was windy...well, let's just say it was scary to watch!  It whips and sways and swings and twists!  The birds won't come near it unless it is a really calm day and we don't have many of those up here.  Leah has her thinking cap on and we will stabilize the bird feeder somehow...snug up the cables or something.  :)
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Leah sent me a pic of the frosty fog one morning at their place from a couple days back.  I slept in and missed it--LOL! 

This morning there was no sleeping in.  Loud pounding on my door at 8:30 am.  (I was sound asleep.)  Here it was Navarre and a maintenance man to look at the flooring.  Yes, believe it or not--they finally showed up--LOL!  Looked at it and left...to apparently search for leftover linoleum to make a patch repair?
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The maintenance man has apparently been working in the apartment across the hall as I saw boxes of tiles in the hallway and Karma was parked near the door listening to the racket.  If my floor has big tiles it is put together really well because I can't see any seams.  I always thought this flooring was from a roll of linoleum.  If it has tile squares that would be marvelous!  Easier repair, that's for sure.  I guess I'll find out whenever they finally return. 
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I've been on an energy yo-yo.  I putter my days away like crazy when I am feeling decent and then I have to rest up and regain some spoons...so I can putter away again--LOL!  So--feeling pretty decent and keeping busy.  
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Tomorrow is supposed to pop back up into the mid-60s!  But it's been 40s and 50s for highs lately--30s and 40s overnight.  Nippy, to be sure.
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Dagan had to go out of town this week for work, so Leah didn't come over for crafts.  Possibly tonight--otherwise next Tuesday.  Monday is Halloween and I am going over to hand out candy at McFamily's so that Mama and Daddy can take Ian around the neighborhood in his dragon costume.  :)  I'd better get pictures, right?
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Meanwhile, I'll leave you with a Gramma video that Leah said I could post.

This is such a fun age!
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Have a marvelous weekend!!  :) :)
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"We will be known forever by the tracks we leave."
Dakota Proverb

Saturday-1:30pm

Good Afternoon!

I've sure been having a harder time getting around to blogging lately.  The days have just been getting away from me so easily.  I was cutting and folding card stock for card bases for a couple of days.  (I sure love these IKEA carts!)

 Finished another Anne Tyler paperback I got from Pam last spring (library outreach lady) in time to send it off on Tuesday with the rest of the donations.  It bothered Karma that I wouldn't tip the box over for her so I picked her up and put her inside...where she took a nap with the book for an hour.  

Then she cried for me to lift her out after she woke up.  (Neither of us is what you would call athletically inclined--LOL!) 

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This is how I often see her next to me at the table. 

She wants to be close enough to touch my leg with her paw if I need reminding to give her a scratch or even just lay my hand on her for a while. 

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But most mornings she spends a good deal of time watching the Sparrow Channel.

They poof away--but she waits--and they return. 

The water platter has almost frozen a couple of mornings so I decided to take it inside and clean it up.  Thought maybe if I put the seed in there that they wouldn't scatter the shells all over the patio.  (I sweep almost every morning--unless it's windy enough to blow them all away.) 

Didn't exactly work--ROFL!! 

So I took the platter in and ran it through the dishwasher so it's ready to store in the garage for the winter.  (Karma thought it made a nice pillow.)

Went back to feeding the birds on the ground--well, cement. 

I made a whatever-was-in-the-freezer-that-would-go-with-potatoes soup.

Red onions, celery, corn, and matchstick carrots (was out of cut carrots) in some veggie broth with a can of tomato paste I found in the pantry.  Yummy!

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I do try to buy fresh as much as I can and then cut/chop to freeze for later.

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My old printer (that would never voluntarily work with McLap) has not worked right since the move.  At least I could get "black only" to work most of the time but now that isn't wanting to work, either.  [Yes, that's the very old, solitary tetra in the bowl next to it.  Can't believe that fish is still alive!  Must have been an antisocial schooling fish, eh?  Been living alone for about two years now, I think.)

Anyways, after several consultations with my tech support (Dagan and Leah) the consensus was that it is just old.  OLD?!  I've only had it maybe six years tops.  But that is, apparently, quite old in computer years.  So Leah picked me up a new printer at Costco on sale and tomorrow Dagan is going to hook it up for me.  I really do need a color printer that works on card stock for our crafty stuff!

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McFamily will all be here tomorrow.  Leah has gotten the cable (less noisy than chain we figure--certainly don't want complaints from neighbors here) and supplies to hang the new bird feeder!! 

We're also going to spray off the patio furniture (bird poop) and move the lighter stuff to the garage for the winter, too.  I think she found me a lighweight shovel, too.  I shall be winterized!!  :) :)

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I also have November ready in the bullet--with the monthly calendar and...

...the monthly tracker forms from Leah!  

   Love them!!

Now have the stickers for the days of the week, too. 

I can hardly wait to see how this works for me. 

I really am pretty darn sure I will love it.  So much so that I have already started making up December with the expanded weeks, too.  Crazy how excited I get over things like this. (Dagan and Leah can verify that I have been known to squeal with delight.)  

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We're still working on the Joann's paper we ordered...cutting it up for putting together simple cards.  But next Craft Night (Monday) I think we are going to stamp envelopes for mailing our Christmas cards this year and Leah hasn't finished her Christmas present tags yet, as they got put on hold a few months ago.  We have NEVER been this prepared this early, I can guarantee you that!  We are giddy with the freedom and lack of holiday pressure--LOL!  

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You don't even realize what a persistent pressing pushing urging weight getting those cards done actually has been all these many years...until it's gone.  But we never wanted to quit making our own cards!  No way!  :) :)  What we discovered, though, is how much it kept us from doing other things.  Because--well, we shouldn't be doing this or that when we have the annual cards to make, right?  I make birthday cards, too--and would be scrambling to get those done by New Years.  Now we are freed up to make any kind of cards we want to make...and to work on other projects, too.  

It is absolutely awesome!!!  

Yup!  Giddy, I tell you.  

Giddy!!   

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Today  I am just doing laundry (because I'll be too busy to do it tomorrow and probably too sore to do it Monday--saving my cranky bod for Craft Night).  I've written 15 letters so far this month and have two in progress right now.  I get to see McFamily tomorrow and I'll have new things to show you!  Life is Good!!  

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I ran across this quote and it really rang truth loudly for me.  My health issues have definitely been a sacred experience and expanded my soul.  Have a wonderful weekend!!  :) :)

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"A sacred illness is one that educates us and alters us from the inside out, provides experiences and therefore knowledge that we could not possibly achieve in any other way."

Deena Metzger

Friday-1:15pm

Good Afternoon!

Here I am posting over a week later when I thought I'd be back much sooner--LOL!

Well, this time it was because I was just plain busy.  Isn't that marvelous?!  It's always nice to feel better after you've been without many spoons for a while--LOL!

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Let's see...I think I will just go through the pictures as they were taken and here we go.  First of all these are the two pair of Crocs I bought this year.  I so loved the sandals that I thought I'd get a slip on black pair for winter.  

Well, these are the same size--in fact the ones on the left are also wide--but the toes were so scrunched that they hurt my feet.  Luckily Leah could wear them.  :)  I guess I need wide in the toes.  I like very comfortable shoes.  My scrunchy toe days are over--LOL!

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Once in a while I get a McFamily video chat on google hangout. 

Ian was showing us how his blue car could fly. 

He seems to like to chat with Gramma.  

She really likes to visit with him, too. 

The grouse come by once in a while, but I don't see them every day... 

... like I do the hungry flock of sparrows.  :)

Ian was also over for a visit... 

...and we all had fried rice. 

Delicious!! 

Leah was here for crafts Monday night and we did work on cutting, folding, and taping cards together.  We will continue this Monday, too.  :) 

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 I bought some printer paper for laser jet printers.  I heard it was supposed to be good for fountain pens.  (Our regular printer paper here in the US is usually terrible.)  Some people said 24# and some said 32# so I bought one ream of each.  Then I did the fountain pen testing.

The 24# on the left will bleed through if you put down enough ink, but the 32# didn't. 

I do normally use fine and extra fine nibs and so I shouldn't have a problem with the 24#.  I will try it out on some letters soon, of course.  ;)

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Speaking of paper...

I have wanted to try the Seven Seas Nanami journals made with Tomoe River paper.  The "standard" one comes unlined/blank.  I thought I'd try the very cheap plastic sleeve cover for now.  (Might want the faux-leather cover later if I love these for my daily journaling as much as I expect to.) 

They even come in a box sleeve to protect the fragile paper and with a pink blotter sheet, too. 

Sewn binding--so it lies flat. 

I took some scrapbook paper and cut a couple pieces to slide inside of the clear plastic cover.  There was enough left over to cut some simple bookmarks, too. 

A 12 X 12 inch sheet was not large enough to wrap around the journal but it basically covered the front and back.  If the pieces of card stock flop about too much I can add a strip of something to connect them later on.  I have a ways to go in my present daily journal, but I can hardly wait to start this one! 

Leah had printed me off some writing guide sheets so I trimmed one down to fit the Seven Seas journal. 

It doesn't look like it, but you can see the guide pretty easily. 

I also have been working on a new format in my Bullet Journal with the awesome forms Leah made for me on excel.  :)  This is just the beginning--but I now will have a monthly calendar spread... 

...and a new monthly tracker, too. 

In November I do plan to try out a larger weekly spread that will take up four pages per week--half a page for each day and for the weekly goal list.   

Obviously, I have a ways to go before November is filled in and ready to go--but that is the skeletal work I have finished so far.  I also painted (acrylics) some stickers that I plan to use to label the days of the week.

One of the other forms Leah made for me was a numbered lined small monthly sheet that I can use to write down birthdays and attach to these divider cards. 

I have kept handmade cards for quite a few years in a large, deep ArtBin satchel.  This is where I will keep the birthday cards (separated by the months now), too.

I love it!!  But it is getting so full I need another one--LOL! 

And actually--we decided that this is how we should store all the birthday and Christmas cards we have been making.  So, they had them for cheaper than usual on Amazon and two of them are supposed to arrive today Leah told me.  Whoohoo!  One for Christmas cards and one for birthday and thank you cards.

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I think I also just might need another slim satchel for washi tapes... 

...you think?  LOL! 

Oh, and here's the paper we ordered from Joann's at the sale price!  The fodder for more Christmas cards and birthday cards--tada!!  

 On Tuesday the library girl, Kirsten, was here.  Both the books I requested were ILLs (inter-library loans) so the only way I can get them is if Dagan and/or Leah picks them up and drops them off for me.  So when Leah dropped off the papers and excel forms on Wednesday we figured out how that will work.  The easiest way will be for Dagan and Leah to just get library cards for the West Fargo library since they live there.  

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Oh, and Leah also put me on the Google Project-Fi cell phone new family plan, too.  I'll save another $5.00!  

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Let's see--what else?

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Oh, I have a link HERE to the magnetic strip McFamily is selling on Amazon.  And no I don't get anything for posting a link--LOL!  But you can see my 6 inch cast iron skillet assisting in its online debut--ROFL!  

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I also do have New Life coming for a donation pick-up on Tuesday morning.  Nice!  All that stuff in the garage will be gone, I hope.  (They can reject items.)

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I have been having such fun with the bullet and the other new forms Leah made and the paper testing--whoohoo!  The new card satchels should be here this afternoon, too!  An entire day can zip by for me puttering with this kind of thing.  I take a body break and then I am right back at it...over and over.  I tell myself, this is the last session...take an even longer break...but then I find myself puttering just a little bit more--LOL!  Even got the shower curtain hemmed and that has been on my list for about three weeks--hehe!  Yes, all that fun is catching up with me so I know I won't get in as much fun-putter time today...but you know I will get in some, youbetcha!

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Have a fun, delightful weekend!!  :) :) 

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"Find ecstasy in life; the mere sense of living is joy enough."

Emily Dickinson