January 21, 2019 Monday--1:15pm

Good afternoon!

Monday again already?!

Well, I got started on the Never Too Late book this week--and I managed to get through all the extra tasks--tada!  Well, except for the Morning Pages.  As I told you, I am passing on those because I already journal every morning--plus I'd never make it to the rest of the tasks if I did that every day--LOL!  One has to choose one's battles, right?

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Woke up to a winter storm.  Light snow, but the wind gusts are so strong that at times the sparrows can hardly get lift off from my patio.  The grouse are puffed out as far as they can be against the cold wind.  

If you click to enlarge you will notice all the little black dots on the edge of the patio in the snow.  The wind blew off the rabbit poops.  I rarely have actually seen either the cottontails or the jackrabbits, but the evidence remains behind.  Rabbits are still around.  Late last night when the arriving storm was almost shaking the walls, I peeked out behind the blinds and scared off a huge white jackrabbit.  First one I've seen since fall.  Remember how I used to see them racing about at dusk?  They seen to be much more secretive this year and don't come out until after dark.

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Anyways, for the next week we are expecting a high of 19 degrees one day and lows of 25-30 below possible by this coming weekend.  Supposed to get 3-6 inches of snow by tomorrow afternoon.    

Yes, I know.  I could put my air conditioner cover on in the winter, but this icy frost would be there regardless.  I don't mind it a little chilly.  (But definitely not see-your-breath-cold--right ,Jon!?)  I've always preferred the cold to the heat--but wouldn't want it cold-cold inside.  My last apartment was downright nippy in the winter.  Could watch the blinds sway on windy days and I did usually put on the AC cover in the winter over there--LOL!  Usually I would put on an extra pair of fuzzy socks and more layers of clothing and I'd be fine.  This place is much warmer than my last two apartments...and cooler in the summer, too.  Love it here!

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  My mom would be freezing!  She's so used to Florida weather that she told me she keeps her heat at 85!!  OMG!  I would be absolutely miserable!  Mine says 70 but, as Dagan remarked last time he was here, you can feel the cold air coming across the floor from the patio door.  To be honest, I'm sitting here typing in a short sleeve seersucker house dress and fuzzy socks--LOL!  The kitchen floor is a little chilly, I admit, but I am washing clothes today and will be folding and hanging hot clothes.  ;)  I'll be glad to return to the kitchen where it's cooler.  Minnesotan born and bred, I guess.  But wouldn't want to be outside in this storm for any length of time, that's for sure.

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Anyways, there was no Gramma Day this week.  Ian came home from preschool throwing up on Wednesday afternoon and was home the rest of the week.  He was on the mend by Saturday but had his first classmate birthday party on Sunday so we wanted him to rest up another day at home.

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Wednesday for my Artist's Date (from the book) I worked some more on my bullet.  All afternoon I was filling in check boxes and weekdays.  Used some washi tape dots for "check boxes" for a few different months.  (Not the straightest dots--LOL!)  Tried out stamping in the days of the week.    

That didn't work out so well because you're trying to stamp kind of around the hump near the spine of the journal.  But once I started I had to do a whole month.  Above was the best page for stamping.  Most of them had smears or little blank spots.

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Tried another set of days of the week stamps.  I think I had worse luck with these coming out clearly.  And you should be careful not to drop them (Saturday)--LOL! 

Then I tried just using a Tombow marker to make a gray line--but it turned out so splotchy and messy that I went back and drew in squares. 

Oh well.  I got a lot done.  I still have all the headers, but I am fine leaving those to be filled in with the rest from month to month.  I have the months and header dates penciled in if I need to look ahead to enter something.  

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Still have three months (Oct-Dec) left to add the days of the week.  I left those because I would love to order some stickers to try.  Anyways, I am just about finished with what I want done ahead of time for 2019!  Whoohoo!  Maybe that means I might actually start the calligraphy classes this week.  :)

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My two days of exercise (her 20 minute solo walks outside don't work up here)--I did some balance board work.  I have it on the floor in the doorway there so I can hang on to the door frame so I don't accidentally kill myself.  

I can only do a few minutes but I am getting better already and have been able to briefly let go of the door frame a few times--hands only an inch away, of course.  I can feel it all over, that I will tell you.  Using muscles I forgot I had--ROFL!  I got in my two sessions last week.

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Thursday is my "scheduled" day to do the memoir part of the weekly tasks but we had a resident meeting that afternoon.  I guess we are going to have quarterly meetings now.  

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I can't remember if I mentioned we got these activity punch cards for January.  Said when you get the ten punches you can pick a $15 gift certificate.  Never heard of a senior building doing anything like that before?  So I wanted to go down and hear how it worked, if nothing else.

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Well, they are only good for the one month!  Only good for activities highlighted in red on the calendar.  Only good for activities from 8am to 5pm--when they have an office person who can punch them.  Some activities are worth two punches but that will be randomly decided, apparently.

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The 8am coffee klatch was not happy.  The evening bingo people were not happy.  The library people were not happy.  The many people who still work part-time to make ends meet were not happy.  The people who don't like being treated like preschoolers were not happy.  (One lady kept scowling and patting her head and her friend's head as they were explaining the punch cards and saying--"now, if you're a good little girl...")

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They seemed distressed that of all the senior buildings they manage ours has the least attendance for activities.  Maybe we're just a feisty group of loners, who knows?  

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But--as you can see on the calendar--not counting the red "Office Closed" there are only 9 activities in red.  No wonder they have to give two punches for something--LOL!  You'd have to attend everything to get your "prize".

They had a raffle in the beginning--you just wrote your name on a little piece of paper.  That was for a $25 Barnes & Noble gift certificate.  At the end of the meeting they were doing a Word Search Race for a $25 Dominos Pizza gift card.  But I passed (along with quite a few others), came home, and threw out my punch card--LOL!   I never did get started on the memoir task that day.

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Friday Dagan came with more bird seed from Fleet Farm.  Filled the bin out in the garage and wheeled it in!  Was freezing out that day, too.  I am so glad to have the bird seed bin in now next to my kitty litter bin.

Dagan said he could wheel the bin out to fill it with seed from the 40# bags in the garage, too, so that I wouldn't have all that dust to deal with!!  Whoohoo!!  I am thrilled to have the bird seed inside for the first time.  Has seemed colder this year.  Remember when my glasses frosted over!  Winter is a lot more beautiful and enjoyable through a window from a warm apartment--LOL! 

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 I never got to my last task (memoir) until Saturday.  Hopefully I will be more on track this week, but I finished the first week and that is what counts.  :)

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The book is kind of set up for the people who are retiring and at loose ends with that huge shift from working every day.  But it will work okay for me or people who aren't quite retirement age yet.  For the weekly memoir portion you are supposed to divide your age by 12 and go through your life's memories in chunks like that.  Well, that doesn't work for me--would be every 5.5 years.  It worked okay for this first week because we moved from Minneapolis, Mn to Fridley (suburb) when I was five.  

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After I finished last week's session, I sat down and figured out the 12 time chunks that would work for me.  I have moved so many times, had so many jobs, been in different relationships...I needed to make it more memory friendly--LOL!  So now I more prepared for this week.  :)

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There are a bunch of questions to jog your memory and tasks for the week.  True--I have scheduled my memoir session in for Thursdays and obviously might not get it done on that day.  But you have a weekly check-in that I plan to do first from the week before--whenever I get to my next session.  I have learned well how to be adaptable.  ;)

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One of the prompts was you first memory.  

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ASIDE:

Now many of you might not even be aware that I have another blog where I kind of store the poems and short stories I wrote in college and the various cogitations that have spontaneously occurred in this blog (IF I remember to cut and paste them over there).  Everything on that blog has been posted at one time in this main one, I believe.  People kept asking me how to find a particular story again.  As you may have noticed, I don't label blog topics or make tags--so that is why I started the other blog.

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So, for memoir week one--ages 0-5 before started school--I have two pieces for those of you who have never read them.

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  This one was a "first memory" assignment for freshman English back in 1999.  

Mommy and That Baby 

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And this one was a memory of being about 4 or 5 I had while riding the bus to college.  (Did win first place and $2,000.00 for this one in a national online contest...and now I feel like a braggart.)

Baby Girl

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I hope the links work.  I haven't made a link for ages so let me know if they don't work and I'll try again.

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Anyways, you might get a little memoir material from me every week for the next 12 weeks (or however long it actually takes me to get through the book).  Good grief!  Be going through my entire 67 years!  You are forewarned--LOL!

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After I traveled back in time--I made some soup.

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Over the past week I watched all three Endeavour season 5 DVDs from Netflix.  And I started on a streaming series that Netflix is dropping come February called Crossing Lines and am enjoying that, too.  You know how I like European detective mysteries.  There are three seasons of Crossiing Lines and I binge watched season one yesterday.  Perfect for one of those low-on-spoons noodle days.  :)

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Today...I already put out twice the seed I usually do because it's pretty awful out there for the birds and they are devouring the seed like crazy.  Annie is zonked out in the chair next to me.  Not snoring.  The last load of clothes is in the dryer.  The first band of snow seems to have come through.  The next band with more snow will come through during the evening and morning hours tomorrow.  My phone says another 3-5 inches expected.  I'm one of those who welcomes snow.  Ice--I'll pass.  But snow--yes, please!

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Until next week...just curious.

Do you remember much of your first five years?  

Have you ever written memoir pieces?

Do you journal?

I realize not too many people even write letters anymore.

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If all goes well--see you next Monday.  :) :)

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"We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality.  And whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly."

Martin Luther King, Jr.