12-30-2019 Monday--1:30pm

Good afternoon!

First of all, before I forget...the pills did arrive after a few days and only had my address on them and nothing about being forwarded.  ??  These are the ones that were supposed to be helping with inflammation that I've been taking for two months.  I decided to not take them for now because I don't think they are doing much of anything.  I took pictures so I can compare later.  But I don't see much difference over the past several months.  See--looks about the same as it did 2-3 months ago to me.

 Still a big old hard lumpy knuckle on my right hand...

 ...vs. my left hand.

So, we'll see if it gets any worse over the next few weeks.  I don't go back to see her until late in February so that gives me time to check it out.  If it gets worse I have the prescription I can start taking again.

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[I did take toe pictures, too, but I won't subject you to that--ROFL!!]

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McFamily made it to the AirBNB near Henning for Christmas.  Ian got better right away.  Liam and Leah were still sick for a few days, but they still made it outside to play in the snow, Leah said.  (Flu?)  They got home before the winter storm up here started.  Perfect timing!

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Whenever we get together for our little Christmas I have the presents wrapped in the paper that mostly Dagan and Ian made.  :)

We usually have our Christmas the beginning of January some time.  No rush.  Need everybody well and the streets drivable--LOL!  :)

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Meanwhile...my dear friend, Serena, told me about cat videos.  I can't believe that I had never known about free cat videos on YouTube before this?!  So Annie Girl got her best Christmas present ever!  Calm or relax your cat videos or just plain videos for cats...have found a few channels.

She's never shown any interest in the TV and has never jumped up on the TV cabinet before!  At first she vigorously tried to catch them, but quickly found out that was a futile effort.  I took this video after about an hour of her intoxication.

Annie LOVES her genuine CatTV--LOL!

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Annie was not the least bit interested in It's A Wonderful Life and A Christmas Story when I watched those over Christmas.  She slept through them.  ;)

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It was a quiet week.  I caught up online and almost caught up on letters and thank yous.  I watched a few movies that Netflix was going to discontinue soon, season three of The Crown, and a bunch of stuff on YouTube(that wasn't cat videos--LOL!). 

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On Friday I believed the weathermen who said a storm was coming in that night (McFamily drove home that day) because, once again, I saw the jackrabbit twice in the daytime...and the birds were here off and on all day filling up before the bad weather.  They're always suddenly starving before the weather turns.  :)

Annie no longer cared about the old real critters--LOL!

Saturday it snowed all day but it was a beautiful, fluffy, sticky snow without much wind.  Enough to show you which side the wind was coming on the evergreen across the way, though.

The covey always gets scared when I open the door to throw seed so they stayed nearby...

...where they could watch from a safe distance.

Then they'd come running over to fill up--LOL!

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Annie was more interested in the new birds, squirrels, chipmunks, and voles on TV.

She would sit like this for an hour or two at a time.

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By Sunday we woke up to a blizzard.  The sticky snow had plastered my patio door and screen so I could barely see out.  But who was there digging for seed?

The jackrabbit.

I no sooner got the door cracked open (not an easy task) to toss out some more seed than the covey was right there.  They had been somewhere close by waiting.  I barely got the door closed--LOL!

The partridges know to dig down into the snow for more seed, too.  I get such a kick out of watching them dig deep holes because they know there are buried seeds down there...and the sparrows quickly gather to catch a few of the unearthed treasures they can't reach.  Thought I'd share a video.

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Meanwhile...I now have an Annie problem.  She sits like this in front of the TV and cries until I turn on her CatTV for her!  She complains a bit when I want to turn on the TV but, to Annie's dismay, it is for something I want to watch--LOL!  

At this rate she is going to need her own TV--ROFL!
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This morning...the storm has passed and the human digging out begins.

The plows are out building high snowbanks.

They're above the tops of the garage doors.

Really quite pretty...

...but there is ice underneath it all.  
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The wind funnel in the yard by me kept me from getting a huge drift this time...

...even though my planters are buried.  

We got about a foot of snow, I guess.  I don't know if that was altogether or just during the blizzard.  Doesn't matter.  It is very white out there.  And the covey is delighted to visit Rita's Bird Cafe...

 ...several times a day.

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The dryer is going.  Annie is watching her CatTV, of course.  2020 is almost upon us.  I do plan to get out my angel cards and burning bowl for New Year's Eve this year to welcome in the new year properly.  (Knock on wood--last year I got sick or felt awful or something as I recall.)  Wednesday I plan to start on the weekly calligraphy classes.  Friday I plan to start a Questions Day blog.  Wish me luck.  I hope this is a better year and I can pull this off as something I can stick with.  I'll give it my best effort.  :)
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To all of you--you have added so much to my life and helped me get through 2019.  Life is good.  Think positive.  Laugh often.  Try something new.  Keep smiling.  Hug often.  May 2020 be a special year filled with good things and much love.  :) :)
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"There are far better things ahead than any we leave behind."
CS Lewis

12-23-2019 Monday-12:30pm

Good afternoon!

Had a roller coaster sleeping pattern for a short while last week.  No clue why.  Tuesday night I slept 2 1/2 hours, Wednesday 11 1/2, Thursday 2, and then Friday 9 1/2??  Seem to be back to my usual 7-8 hours again now, but that was weird.  Reminded me of menopause--LOL!  Anyways, hopefully I'll remain back on track now.

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On Tuesday I did have a burst of energy from out of the blue.  I did laundry, worked on the bullet (February headers)... 

 ...and addressed all the birthday card envelopes for 2020. 

 Caroline came to clean in the afternoon and she told me it was the federal government that changed the leases.  I have never heard of any rental place changing a lease date so I suppose that makes sense.  They have their mysterious reasons.

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I also made up some meat soup for Annie.  

She prefers the all liver variety where I use beef and chicken livers. 

I also made some that was chicken livers and boneless chicken thighs but she's not as crazy about that one.  Might be because it was quite a bit thicker. 

I also got her some grain-free canned cat foods that she seems to like.  The things we do for love, eh?  LOL! 

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Leah came over Tuesday night for a craft night.  We worked on some simple cards.  I needed some easy ones for Christmas thank yous,,,

...and Leah made a few teacher cards.  We have such a good time!!  Won't have a craft night until January.  Will likely start putting the studio cabinets together.  Whoohoo!!  :)

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The rest of the week...

I worked some more on the new bullet journal.  

Wrote in 365 days of doodle prompts! 

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Yesterday Dagan and Liam stopped by to pick up a bag full of stuff I had for Leah.  Dagan shoveled off the patio for me while it was still just above freezing so he could get down to the cement.

  Although you'd hardly know it because it did snow some last night and there have been rabbit and partridge parties night and day.  (Poop is always the evidentiary, telltale, dark evidence--LOL!) 

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Today...I had to deal with missing prescriptions.  I called last Wednesday just to make sure they were sent since I was going to be out on Sunday.  Nothing by Saturday, so I tried to call twice and no answer.  This pharmacy is connected to the hospital, so maybe they aren't open on the weekend.  So, called this morning.  Turns out they had only filled the anti-inflammatory one...and the post office had "forwarded" it to another address because I had moved.  ??  So that one is still wandering around the postal system somewhere.  (Not too concerned as I haven't noticed that it has done much of anything and already was considering stopping it to see if my KT situation got any worse.)

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The lady at the pharmacy said that our postal service has been just awful this year.  They've probably hired some extra help that doesn't know what they are doing or something.  She said they had some prescriptions sent to other states!!  Just crazy!

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And in the meantime--my new doctor (GP that I liked) has left.  No one at the clinic responded to the pharmacy about the refill.  They didn't contact me or the pharmacy about the refill or that I needed to pick a new GP.  So they hadn't filled my BP medication at all.  At least it wasn't floating about the country...wherever they think I moved to.  (Makes me wonder if I have gotten all my mail??!!)  

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Since it's the holidays and all, I don't have a car, McFamily is leaving town for the holidays, and I will probably need to meet whichever new doctor I pick before they will prescribe BP pills--she said she'd have enough to get me through the holidays and Dagan could pick them up for me today.  Awesome...

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...except when I contacted McFamily...Leah and the boys were all sick last night and this morning.  Throwing up and nauseous like a food poisoning or something, but Dagan didn't get it.  So, since I started writing this...Dagan came by to get my pharmacy card, took out my trash for me, came back with my pills and he picked us up some lunch!!  We ate and he stayed for a short visit.  :)

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Oh, and the nice pharmacy lady gave me 30 pills instead of just a few to get me through to beginning of January!  Awesome.  Now I have some time to decide on a doctor and get in for an appointment--whew!  She was really nice and we were laughing about our crazy post office.  I'm glad she did me a solid.  ;)

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Sick or not, Leah's going to be making cookies today because she had chilled dough.  She and her sister, Michal, usually get together for a cookie baking day.  Instead they will each make cookies at home and they'll do a swap afterwards.  At least she can go at her own pace and nap, etc.  She sent me a picture of Ian...

   ...who couldn't even stay awake to watch Wall-E with Liam.  (He loves that movie.)  They'd all been up since 4am...vomiting was involved.  And they are due to set off tomorrow morning/early afternoon.  I hope they all feel lots better tomorrow.

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Annie and I will definitely cuddle up on my chair and watch It's A Wonderful Life and A Christmas Story.  I don't buy movies but I do have those two and try to watch them every year.  Merry Christmas, everybody!  Happy Holidays!  Next time we chat it will be almost New Year's Eve!  Wow!  Very, very best wishes to you.  :) :)

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"Life is not about "or"--it is about "and".  It is magical and messy.  It is heartwarming and heartbreaking.  It is delight and disappointment.  Grace and grief.  Exquisite and excruciating, often at the same exact time."

Kristi Nelson

12-16-2019 Monday-11:30am

Good morning!

First of all I spelled oxalates incorrectly.  So I went back and changed all my misspellings last time (oxylate is wrong).  Sorry about that.  But I'm sure those of you who googled it got to the right spelling automatically.  I hope.  ;)  She says as she wipes her grainy watery eyes--LOL!

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  Okay--I did remember to take a "before" picture of the bathroom shelves.

I started on the new plastic tubs for the far left corner. 

The tubs are in the kitchen department at IKEA.  Actually are dish pans but they were the perfect size and have built in handles.  I love repurposing!  ;)

I puttered away and got the three new plastic tubs done before Leah came over Tuesday night.

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In less than two hours my bathroom shelves were transformed! 

I will have permanent labels later for the top five new covered bins but for now I have yellow post-it notes taped down with Christmas washi tape--LOL!  Used IKEA's dimensions and--man!--the five of them just fit snugly up there.  But they did fit.  I can see why Leah likes those top bins with the zipper covers.  It is so nice and clean and organised!  Loving it!

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It has been cold.  Was -20F Tuesday night.  The birds are here off and on all day long when it is below zero.  I often keep my blinds like this so that I don't scare them off as easily because they can't see me quite as readily. 

I always feel badly when I frighten them off when it's so cold and they really need that extra fuel to stay warm.   

Annie will occasionally lunge at the window just to watch them all fly off in a panic.  She can be such a stinker!

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Wednesday I went down to sign a new lease for January.  Found out they arbitrarily decided to change the lease dates of everyone in the complex on my particular type of rental assistance to January 1st.  Easier for the owners or the management (whoever made the decision--I fully suspect the new management), but there is no worse time for a renter to move up here than in the dead of winter.  I brought that up and she said that if you knew you were planning to move and wanted to move in the summer you could just not sign a lease and go month to month in the meantime till summer.  (And hope they don't raise the rent randomly in the meantime.)  

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They still want a 60 day notice, of course.  Well, at least it's not just me that got a bad deal...but really?  I've never heard of a rental place just changing your yearly lease date.  They get by with a lot when you're poor.  I'm still really, really glad to be here, though.

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On Thursday Leah came over and worked on the gatefold table!    

She got the main part together but only one drawer.  Putting each drawer together involved a lot of hammering and that's not a good idea in an apartment complex late at night--LOL!

But isn't it awesome! 

I had been telling Ian about how he could use it like a desk when he's here... 

...and then we had a Gramma Day on Saturday!  Ian got to use the gatetable to work on a sticker workbook.  I caught him contemplating the partridges... 

...a shot of his ponytail (like his uncle Chuck)... 

...and just having a good time.  :) 

When Mama came to pick him up she came in for a while to put together the other five drawers for the gatetable.  She and Ian were a team. 

Was a lot of noisy work to be done.  :)

Ian did get tuckered out hammering after while and chose to either hold pieces together or hold the (plastic) nails so Mama could do the hammering.  Because he was such a good helper he got to do the really fun part at the end...put all the drawers into the gatefold table.  

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I still can't get over how great Leah looks! 

She has lost so much weight and is feeling lots better.  I am just so very, very happy for her! 

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Anyways, here's the gatefold table all together... 

...with the six drawers. 

They are nice deep drawers. 

Not sure what we will keep in them yet.  We'll decide that when we get to reorganizing the studio this winter.

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Meanwhile, I've been working on both setting up my new bullet journal and addressing birthday card envelopes for 2020 so my table is a bit full.  It's a constructive mess.  ;) 

I did finish getting January ready to go!  The monthly calendar spread... 

...the monthly tracker page/monthly goals & correspondence page... 

...and the weekly goals & doodles page/days of the week page.

The last two repeat until the following month.  I guess the bullet folk call those last two roll-over weekly spreads.  I saw somebody on youtube using something similar and that is what she called it like it's a thing now--LOL!  Cool!  You use the left hand side as a kind of to-do list for the week and the right hand side for anything that is specific to a certain day of the week.  (They switch the sides, but this is how I've been doing it for so long I didn't want to change that.)

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I can't tell you how awesome it is to have my very own printed version of the bullet layout I have been using for the past few years.  I'll find out how it is to be using a binder system with that lumpy middle section.  I'll sure know how much it annoys me by the end of the year.  The nice thing is that if it is annoying I can take the pages out to write on if I really wanted to--like I'm doing all the prep stuff right now before I put the pages into the journal.  If the disc type binder doesn't hold up well taking sheets in and out I can always use a regular binder next time.  I do have those kind of hole punches, also.  Anyways, I already loved filling it out!

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You probably didn't notice but I have a "blogger" icon on both Mondays and Fridays starting in January.  I have tried this idea before then got sick and it went by the wayside.  I plan to do the usual Monday Newsletter blogpost but then on Fridays I want to try doing a Question Day.  I have found several lists of questions that you can answer about yourself, your history, your family...your life, really.  I plan to start that in January.  I hope you might find it interesting.  :)

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The other additional sticker on my January calendar is a pen nib on Wednesdays.  I have been wanting to work on my calligraphy classes...well, seems like forever--LOL!  So, I decided to just pick a day and try to devote at least half an hour to working on those online classes from TPK (The Postman's Knock),

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I may have bitten off more than I can chew, but wish me luck.  As Leah pointed out, not having to draw out all of those bullet pages every month will save me some spoons--LOL!  A new year is right around the corner.  I am definitely thinking positive.  (Although I tend to do that against any and all odds--ROFL!)  Maybe this will be the year that things will actually change for the better, right?  Yes!  Yes!

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Have a wonderful holiday week, my friends!  Do you have any plans for changes or something new in this coming year?  :)

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"One can't believe impossible things," Alice said.

"I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen.  "When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day.  Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

Lewis Carroll