Good Morning!
I know it's hard to see but the top of the tree to the right is turning brown.
I know it's silly but every year I have watched each tree turn color in order from right to left. Just cracks me up. Yes, I am easily entertained.
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When I was out and about on Monday with Leah and Liam to go to the clinic for my BP check I saw tree tops turning all over the place. These three are slower, I guess.
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The blood pressure check went uneventfully as I had thought it would. 136/80--same as on the other BP medication. :)
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Leah was over Thursday night and we started on figuring out how to print my bullet pages. Got the first two pages with the calendar spread.
Getting the spacing takes time because we need extra spacing on the side that needs to be punched...
...so they will fit into this TUL disc notebook.
Which means they have to be printed opposite as you might think, of course. Note that when printed the calendar starts on the Thursday side so they can be trimmed exactly in half, punched, and switched so that they end up on the correct sides. Sounds confusing, but it works.
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This week we'll be working on making the rest of the sheets and maybe get started on trying to see what page goes behind what other page--LOL! And then getting them to line up back to front. Whew! I am absolutely thrilled we are working on the bullet! :)
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Okay--I have to share at how totally impressed I am with how the Keto diet has been working for Leah! She's lost 50 pounds, her from-childhood asthma seems to be gone, and her knees still creak but don't hurt on the stairs anymore! She switched from the Keto over to the full Carnivore diet a month ago. I understand it's an elimination diet. You go Carnivore for six weeks and then add foods slowly to see what doesn't work for you. Her results are just amazing in only around 8 months. Blows me away!
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Me. I am still on a "dirty-Keto" diet where I do have probably a little more carbs than you're supposed to on Keto. I eat low carb tortillas, for example, and I don't count carbs at all. But I am consuming WAY less carbs than I ever thought even possible! All day I maybe consume as many or less carbs than in half a cup of pasta (42--and that's with no sauce)! Body shock! I am amazed that, with the fat bombs and tortillas, I am not craving my sweets, pasta, potatoes, rice, or bread. Hurray!
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I do think that the diet is helping to keep down the inflammation in the KT situation (knuckle-toe), too. In fact, it may be gradually helping more than I realize since, when I think about it, I am able to use my hand more than I could a few weeks ago without it getting as bad afterwards. So, I am sticking with my dirty-Keto for now. Wouldn't be able to afford to do Keto if it weren't for Dagan and Leah helping me out. And Leah makes me foods I would have a harder time trying to make with the KT situation still an issue. (For example, she just brought me Keto pizza again!) I am sooooo grateful!!
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On Saturday Ian came over for Gramma Day.
He decided that he wanted to do punches.
There ended up being even more punches and more paper on the floor as the afternoon went on--LOL!
We discovered that these three older punches that are so difficult to punch that we haven't been able to use them...
...punched very well when a five year old stands on them. Sometims he even had to bounce--LOL! Ian loves cats and made a lot of Annie cats in black paper. :)
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We set up Ian's very own crafter satchels! One for the things that are done and ready for crafting and card-making...
...and another one to hold all his paper scraps...just like Mama and Gramma have. He was pretty excited to be thought of as a "real" crafter.
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They went up on top of his bookcase.
He decorated one with washi tape and some punched out butterflies.
You can't see it but I wrote his name on the biggest butterfly. Next week we are planning on making some for-no-reason-at-all-just-because cards for Mama, Daddy, and Liam. ;) After we finished with punches and cleaned up it was already only an hour before Leah was coming to pick him up! The afternoon had flown by. So we watched a Mighty Machines episode on rescue vehicles and a few Marru The Cat videos. A perfect day!
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This morning when I woke up I had an email from Leah. They are getting ready to do the IKEA order!!!! Now that is all I can think of! Whoohoo!! I'm not sure if they are going to order all the furniture I want for the studio, but it's possible they might! Won't be too long--a week or two maybe--before they order. We'll do some re-measuring to be sure.
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So here's a quick scan of "before" pictures.
(Ignore the mess.)
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The right side wall...
...the window wall...
...and the left side wall.
Big changes will be here on the right side where we will have a new big table to hold the Vagabond die cutter. That cherry cabinet and the smaller taboret will be moving to the garage and three new Alex cabinets will be living underneath the new tall table. :)
I think they are going to also order the new Alex tall, skinny cabinet that will live right here next to the door where this tall cherry one is now. This beloved cherry one has been filled with rubber stamps for over 20 years and will have a new home...
...in the hallway next to the bathroom. It will become a member of the hallway bookcases filled with craft supplies and books.
Can't part with it! ;)
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If they also order the final item there will be a wooden gatefold table right here against this short wall in the living room.
We can always use temporary additional table space for many of our projects. And I could flip up an end to make an instant small work table for a creative little boy if he wanted his very own crafting or playing space when he visits Gramma. Or open both ends if I ever happen to have two little boys at once visiting. You never know. ;)
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This coming week I (finally!) have the rheumatologist on Wednesday. Whether Dr. Blom can give me any answers or a cure or possible alleviation assistance--who knows? Maybe. Maybe not. A diagnosis would be nice. Time will tell. I've heard such good things about her. Looking forward to meeting her.
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Caroline will be bringiing my groceries on Thursday. Leah and I will be working on bullet pages that evening. Fairly busy week. Keeps me out of trouble. ;)
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Today--dark and chilly--51 degrees with a low tonight of 41. Raining lightly off and on. Already finished and put away a load of clothes. I thought I had a cold but I think it is allergies since I am sneezing and scaring the daylights out of Annie with regularity. Am not, shall we say, a gentle feminine sneezer. My dad had these violent eruption sneezes and so does Dagan--LOL! Even when Annie is fast asleep between my legs on the footrest of my big comfy chair she bolts up and away in one fluid, gravity-defying, startled movement where she somehow ends up over near the hallway--frozen--looking back over her shoulder--waiting to see if another sneeze will force her to leave the room until it is safe again--LOL! Sadly, sneezes often come in clusters. Sorry, Annie Girl.
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Anyways, that's about it from here. Oh, Leah went wild at Tuesday Morning this week! Stamps and dies!! Great prices there. Leah sends me pictures in texts...next best thing to shopping together. And then I used my charge card (naughty me) to order stamps and dies, too, from Amazon. I'll try to remember to take pictures to show you our huge dual haul next week. But right now--time for a very late lunch and then do the banking for the month.
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Annie is snoozing in her chair next to me at the table. It's almost 3pm. I'm a bit slower with more frequent breaks but I've still been here on Mondays--LOL! See you next week, my friends!! :) :)
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"I have sometimees been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable...but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing."
Agatha Christie
