Monday, September 30, 2019

9-30-2019 Monday-11:30am

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

Monday, September 23, 2019

9-23-2019 Monday 1:15pm

Good afternoon!  I honestly almost forgot to post!  And I need to hurry as I might be going to get my blood pressure checked this afternoon.  (Been on the new BP pills over two weeks and no problems so far.)
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Leah came for Craft Nite on Thursday and the first thing we did was go out to the garage to re-pot my spider plant and plant some cat grass for Annie.  
 I thought I would try them on the end table by the patio door...
...but Annie started chewing on the spider plant so they went back up on the desk hutch.
Too bad.  The spider would have loved it by the patio door with all the natural light.  Oh well.
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Leah and I worked on the Birthday card sets.  Leah finished cutting out the orange ribbon tags.  Later I finished putting the fronts together and drew on the balloon strings in the insides on the one set.
Leah stamped the sentiment inside the other set, too. 
 
Yup!  Both sets are finished--tada!  :)
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We've had rain off and on.  The weather has cooled off now since yesterday.  Ahhh! 
I had Gramma Day on Saturday.  Ian's choice.  He was glued to the screen--sucking here on a gummy worm. 
We watched new season 3 episodes of PJMasks all afternoon!  LOL! 
He was a happy camper.
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And here it is Monday already!  Whoohoo!
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Short and sweet this time.
Hope everyone has a good week!
Till next time.  :) :)
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"When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around."
Willie Nelson

Monday, September 16, 2019

9-16-2019 Monday-11am

Good morning!
Why Annie has so many toys.  
This was 4 or 5 days ago.
This is today.
I forgot to have Ian search under the furniture yesterday.  The toys quickly disappear under the chairs, end tables, and TV cabinet.  I can't crawl on the floor to search them out--LOL!  Time to toss out a few more from her toy box.  :)
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I tried to do a hand comparison.  Good hand--kind of a side view.  (Not easy to do with one hand--either hand.)
Bad hand--side view.
Good hand--knuckle overview.
Bad hand--knuckle overview.
I know it looks bad, but with everything I've been doing and adjusting to...well, it's staying about the same and I have been able to do more.  Learning to work around it.  Able to get things done little by little.  :)  
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Messy table.  I even did a lot of prep work for the birthday cards before Leah came over last Thursday for Craft Nite. TaDa!!
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Meanwhile...I have been seeing a vole again.  Found evidence of the Annie torture--LOL!  It sits behind the hose planter which is only inches away from the patio door.  No wonder Annie parks herself in that corner of the patio door with her nose to the screen--LOL!  Isn't that the way cats tease dogs sometimes--sitting just out of reach?  ROFL!  This is one clever vole.  ;)
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Anyways, Leah came over on Thursday to work on birthday cards.  
This shows what the finished fronts look like with a ribbon strung through the happy birthday tag.   
Leah cut over half of the orange tags.  Then she took a break from that tedious job to stamp the blue balloon over the corner of the scrap paper I had been taping to the insides while she was using the die cut machine.  
She got all the blue balloons stamped.  Now I need to draw the trailing down string on each balloon.
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I have been having pretty good hand days so I have been puttering along since Craft Nite.  I finished putting all the ribbon tags on and the fronts on what was cut and ready.  Green ribbons and fronts on the tray are all we have left to do when the orange tag cutting is done.  
A surprise.  I discovered I accidentally had cut out over a hundred of the papers for the birthday card fronts.  (That is our Christmas card number and not my birthday card number--LOL!)  
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So, I am making a different version of a birthday card with the same paper.  Obviously will send those a few years later--LOL!  The nice thing is I had already put the double-sided tape on all the fronts and inside scrap pieces long ago so it was easy to attach them onto a card base, too.  Now all I need to do is stamp a sentiment on the inside and the second set will be done--whoohoo!!  So we might even finish both sets this week!!  :)
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You know what that means?  Next we can start fiddling with figuring out how to print me off bullet journal pages!  Well, Leah will be doing the figuring.  ;)  I can hardly wait!
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Ian had another birthday party to go to on Saturday so we had Gramma Day yesterday on Sunday.  Leah brought Ian over and stuck around to set me up on YouTube TV.  It took longer than planned, as these things do, so I started reading Ian about the Moomins and the Great Flood.  Was a long book for him but we made it through to the happy ending.  Leah hung around to listen to the whole story.  Then she showed me how to work YouTube TV and left for home.
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Ian and I watched some new episodes of PJMasks.  Cuddle time is the best!  Won't be long and he'll think he's too old for cuddling so I really, really appreciate it while it lasts.  :)
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When Liam woke up from his nap the rest of McFamily came over so Liam could open his birthday presents.
I ordered them from Liam's Amazon list.  Two wooden boxes of 4 puzzles each and this "remote control" game toy.  Obviously I was confused by Leah calling it a remote control--LOL!  I just remembered reading that it was a game that taught numbers, shapes, and colors.  It just LOOKS like a remote control shape--duh!  
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Anyways, here's our drooly Liam opening presents.
What a fun day!  I am soooo glad Liam is acting himself around me all of a sudden.  When he comes over he knows exactly where the big case of bristle blocks is and carries it into the living room right off the bat--LOL!  I even got a hug goodbye!!  Nice getting to know him now, too.  Makes for a happy Gramma!  ;)
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Was cool, rainy, and cloudy most of the week until yesterday.  I loved it!  Suddenly we have had sun and hot days...back to shut up with the AC on.  I think it was 86 (30 C) yesterday and today it says we could hit 90 (32 C).  Still mid 80s tomorrow but then it will drop the rest of the week back into the 70s to the 60s (21 to 15 C...if these are wrong you can blame it on Alexa--LOL!). 
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Today...a load of clothes is spinning in the dryer.  I think I will get back to working on some letters, for sure.  I'm always working on letters.  One of those perpetual joys in life.  So glad there are others who still enjoy writing and/or receiving real hand-written letters.  Don't want it to end up a lost art.  :)
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Oh, I ran across a YT website Reel Truth History Documentaries and am loving their series called Restoration Home.  In the UK there are these old buildings (which are sometimes hundreds of years old) that people are wanting to save and turn into family homes.  I am fascinated by shows like these.  Talk about transformations!  Buildings I would be scared to walk inside of (spiders or falling through floors or stones/bricks/beams falling on your head) turned into such amazing homes.  Reel Truth also has some great British history programs, of course.  Anyways, that's my latest online obsession.
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And now--the dryer is buzzing.  Annie knows I'll be getting up to deal with it so she just left her chair next to me at the table  to go lie in the sun.  Time to say goodbye until next week's newsletter--LOL!  Have a soothing week.  A nice, soul-soothing week sounds marvelous to me.  :) :)
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"Fulfilled life is possible in spite of unfulfilled wishes."
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Monday, September 09, 2019

9-8-2019 Monday-10:15am

Good morning!  
It looks much like this again right now, but a bit more solid gray with some drizzly rain.  More substantial downpour is on the way shortly according to my trusty phone radar.
I have been cloud watching this past week.  Some were colorful displays... 
...and some so dramatic I had to step outside...  
...to try to capture the contrasts... 
...and activity.  :) 
While I was out there I thought I'd show you the state of the flowers this fall. 
I have some blank spots where marigolds drowned.  But a couple of the eight plants survived. 
Everyone else is doing fine as the weather cools.  
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Our young bunny friend visits. 
Annie enjoys the morning sun... 
...but didn't want to be disturbed and covered her face. 
Me--I am about the same.  Thank goodness!  Between all the different topical creams and gels...CBD oil and Aleve...and all the various supplements Leah and I have researched... 
...all that has been keeping the KT (knuckle and toe) situation about the same.  It hasn't gotten any worse, at least.  So that's good!  I've just added KT to the rest of the issues I have to work around, have adjusted quite a bit to the new pain level, and adapted to more limitations.  Life goes on.
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I have something fun to share.  Something I have been fascinated by for quite a long time.  Have you ever heard of acrylic paint pouring art?  People have different techniques.  If you're interested, here's some examples.  But if you're not as mesmerized as myself--skip or just pick one and you'll get the idea.  ;)



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Anyways, I finally succumbed to the temptation of a future messy endeavor.  Or am in the midst of succumbing, I guess would be more accurate.  
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I made an order from Amazon of cheapest canvases I could find, pouring cups (8 oz still coming), and some stirring sticks. 
I have a Dick Blick order coming with pouring medium and silicone oil.  I still will need some larger bottles of black and white acrylic paint.  I already have disposable gloves, palette knives, straws, and a variety of acrylic paints.  Yes, I do believe a very messy adventure is in my future!!
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Meanwhile, Ian and I had that Gramma Day last Monday.  First we watched some PJMasks and then we decorated a sheet of packing paper so I could wrap Liam's birthday presents.  I forgot to take a picture of when it was all one sheet, but the two presents on the right were wrapped in the new sheet we did with markers and crayons.  The one on the left was the last piece I had from the marathon painting session Ian, Daddy, and I did quite a long time ago.  
Ian was in the mood for me to draw and for him to do the coloring...except for this tree with the mourning dove on top that Gramma couldn't bear to use for wrapping paper.  

I scribbled the grass but Ian drew the tree and then decided it needed a bird on top when he saw one of our porch visitors.
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Ian also asked me to draw a really big table with presents on that he could color.  
I know you can't tell but we outlined four of the presents with glow-in-the-dark glitter glue.  Since he wanted to show Liam how they glowed...well, I just managed to cut the packing paper and avoid this piece, too.  Now it will be easier for them to bring this up to their room at night.  (Yes, Liam has moved into Ian's room so it is now officially "the boy's room", Ian told me.)
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Anyways, Gramma is keeping the tree and dove drawing on the frig.  Not willing to part with it.  ;) 
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Leah was here Thursday night for Craft Nite.  She needed to make disposable gift tags for when Ian has presents for kid's parties from school.  Otherwise, we family members have reusable gift tags and packaging.  Hence the folded scarf-like present you see above on the presents table.  ;)
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Leah and I also discussed how we are going to put together my set of birthday cards.  I had pre-cut some birthday paper a long time ago but never figured out how I wanted to construct the cards.  Now we have a plan.  Nice that Leah offered to help me with my birthday cards, too.  
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This weekend McFamily was very busy so I suggested we skip Gramma Day rather than try to squeeze in a couple hours in a hectic weekend.  I've been taking it easy all week.  Watched the two seasons on Acorn TV of London Kills and the second season on Netflix DVDs of Shetland.  I've been enjoying so much shows where eventually the bad guys get caught and pay consequences.  
Very satisfying.  
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Oh, and even after calling, the lady locating my new blood pressure pills at the other pharmacy, saying she'd have that pharmacy mail them, and that she'd cancel my old prescription...the new pills never arrived again AND YET a new month's worth of my old prescription arrived!  Good grief!  So I had to call again.  This time she straightened it out, I hope.  I just told her I'd keep the old prescription since I don't know if I'll have any problems with this new one.  So, only been taking them since they (finally) came on Friday.
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Generally, I have to say that I am as happy as can be.  I can do what I need to do (mostly).  I'm blessed with the help I do need.  I embrace the cooler--even chilly--weather!  Absolutely love the fall...well, and the winter, too.  I will soon have a new art to experiment with.  (Hopefully by October I'll have all the supplies.)  I am adapting to the KT situation--LOL!  I have chosen not to let the new limitations get me down.  I choose gratitude and happiness.  It could always be worse, right?  May take me a while sometimes, but that is what I have always chosen and hope I always will.  Life is good.  :) 
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While I have been chatting with you it has poured and thundered for a while.  Annie disappeared instantly, of course.  Now it is down to a steady patter on the air conditioner.  Right now it's 57 degrees or almost 14 C.  I love it!  Definitely have northern blood--LOL!  :)
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So, have a wonderful week, everyone. 
Till next time.
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[I'm a sucker for Rumi quotes.  :)]
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"Your task is not to seek love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it."
Rumi