March 29, 2021 Monday--10:30am

Good morning!

Well, comparitively speaking, it is quite good today.   Been a long, sleepy week.  Many pajama days.  I was visiting blogs but didn't always drop in to comment.  Just too tired and achy.  Still am, but less so every day.  You know I was exhausted when I was too tired to have a video call with McFamily on my birthday yesterday.  They sent a video of them singing Happy Birthday, though.  Liam couldn't figure out why he couldn't see me--LOL!  What a different world they are growing up in, eh?  LOL!

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I don't normally take pictures of the cards I get...and I hope this was all of them.  I may have missed one or two because I just dug these out of the stacks on my desk.  If I missed yours--sorry--it is there somewhere--LOL!  I am not as organized as you think.  ;) 

Obviously it is time to go through my mail desk thoroughly and set up reply letters in the padfolios.  Those of you who have been around a while know how I use those.  ;)

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I even got a St. Patrick's Day card and recently a Happy Easter card!  And I got a couple of Amazon e-gift cards, too, from international friends!  (And I optimistically ordered a new five-year diary--LOL!)

I absolutely love getting snail mail!  I guess technically I am an old lady shut-in, you know--LOL!

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But the crummy news this past week is that people on SS and disability who don't or can't work and are living solely on SS so they don't file taxes on that meager income...haven't gotten their relief checks...even if they have automatic deposit and did get the checks no problem the last two times.  Someone over at SS messed up this time, apparently.  At least that's all I can find out online.

So, I am still waiting...despite having automatic deposit...and some places say the auto checks have already gone out.  Have to wait and see if I get it this week.  Anyone else not get theirs who has the banking set up?

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Tuesday I saw my first grackle on the patio.  Spring is here.

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I thought I would have made a trip to the garage to bring in the jewlery to go through and take pictures of Grandpa's desk...well, you know how my week went--LOL!  But I had brought Mom's wall art in that day so I can show you that.  Does anyone know for sure what this is called?

Such tiny detailed work! The super thin pink ribbon and minascule pearl beads sewn in, too.

I remember she took a tatting class down in Florida so I was thinking this might be tatting.  But it looks like lace.

Tiny, tiny stitches.  She made all these ribbons, too, I believe.  At least the two with the thin pink ribbons woven through, for sure.  Mom did all kinds of needlework so she could have likely made the red and green ones, too, because she had learned needlepoint.  She was always very talented with anything she tried.  She'd tackle something new, do it excellently, and then get bored with it...never to return...on to the next thing.  Drove my dad crazy--LOL!  Maily because she bought up all the best supplies each time and then they sat to become "covered in dust", dad would grumble.  She'd give a lot of stuff away.  The only thing she held on to was her sewing machine (after she learned tailoring) because it could be used for repairs forever...which were reluctantly seen to.  I learned to sew on her fancy Singer later for HomeEc in high school.  

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Actually she gave me her fancy serger sewing machine when she moved back to Minnesota.  Blaine brought up the instruction book when he brought the desk! (Thank goodness--man, that thing looks complicated!)  Another thing she learned and used for a short time, I believe, while they were living down in Florida.

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I am just like my mother in that I have a variety of interests and love learning new things.  I have been the most consistent with letter writing since I was nine (why I bought my first rubber stamps); calligraphy (dabbled here and there since my teens);   cardmaking since I was in my late 30s; and watercolors since my early 40s.  I have had more practical interests that have come and gone--like because of being plant happy for years--ceramics (cost was to go to the shop nearby--mostly made pots for all my plants) and macrame (when I had room for tons of hanging plants--even made trellises for morning glories once)...but those didn't need much for supplies.  I built Dagan's stackable cube and rectangle shelves for his toys when he was a little guy.  But I had my brother saw the pieces for me because he had the tools.  I owned a hammer and nails...and bought small tins of bright colored paints and a cheap brush.  

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When I think about it, I have tried quite a few things over the years.  In the last 21 years (since I moved up here to Fargo/Moorhead) I have tried some new things and spent more money on supplies--handmade paper, bookbinding, polymer clay, beading...I know there are more I can't think of right now.  I am really a paper crafts girl.  I will always go back to making paper and journals...even if it is years apart due to my health issues.  Polymer clay will definitely come back into play with the two little boys in the family.  Leah and I were just talking about the beading supplies--which are at her place.  Even though that one was more Leah's interest at first than mine (and she is more talented at it) and we don't wear jewelry anymore because we rarely leave home--LOL!--I liked making bookmarks and sometimes adding things to cards with them...just hate to get rid of the beading supplies...

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This is why it is so hard for me to downsize.  But if I had to choose -- I suppose the beading is lowest on the list for me.  Polymer clay isn't that much of an interest but I know it is something we will do with the boys.  But for sure--never parting with--all the papermaking and bookbinding supplies--whoohoo!!  And I am hoping to be feeling better now the rest of this year (once I get past the residual shot flare) so I can play with those supplies again!  I was starting to have more energy before I got the shots...so I am hoping I will get back there again, right?  Thinking positive!

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Talk about rambling.  How did that start...oh yes...I am like my mother in a lot of ways.  I do buy up a lot of the supplies (like some additional ones for the mixed media recently) just like my mom--LOL!  But I do tend to go back to projects/hobbies over the years.  I do tend to be quite practical about my interests.  Tend to want to be able to use what I make.  Even the mixed media journaling--if I happen to end up with something I really like--I make copies and they end up on the front of cards--LOL!  I learned bookbinding so I could make my own art journals.  Papermaking to use the handmade paper in cardmaking.  Even the watercoloring was something I planned to use on cards.  Can you tell my main love is writing--since I was nine?  My favorite hobbies have to do with things I can use for cards or letters--LOL! 

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Anyways, let's climb out of that rabbit hole...

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 Maintenance came around to check all our intercoms because couldn't open the door for people and buzzing when you tried to listen or talk (but I've had the buzzing/static the whole five years I've lived here--LOL!).  I happened to be washing clothes and saw this...right before they showed up.

So, he came by on Thursday to check out my washing machine.  I didn't realize washers have an overflow tube.  He ran the washer with the front off and no leaking.  Asked me if I had clothes I could wash--yes--and he'd stop back before he left work to find out if it leaked for me.  Didn't leak.  But he said he couldn't find anything wrong with the washer otherwise so if it leaked that little bit right into the drain again there shouldn't be anything to worry about...but he was still going to research why that would start up after five years of use.  He's really a nice guy.  Even if his mask falls down 90% of the time under his nose--LOL!

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Had a video call with Leah Thursday night.  Friday she delivered Costco groceries in the parking lot.  Saturday I pushed myself to do some cooking.  Also pushed myself to do something in the studio last week.  Been watching all these art videos and getting inspired...but I should know better than to try to do stuff when I am feeling weak and can't think straight because of brain fog--ROFL!

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The next tiny page in the AP journal had the prompt of tea time.  Sadly, this took me three days to do.  First I packed a small jar with hibiscus tea leaves, added a little water, and left them to soak overnight.

Removed the leaves, used a big brush and covered the page with the tea water.

A couple of things happened.  A huge splotch of tea water seeped around on to the all-white page I had done previously.  So, I just decided to cover that whole page with the tea water...and I like it even better this way!  Funny how different the color looks on top of the medium on this page.

The waxed paper I had sandwiched between the pages while they dried left ripply marks all over the page.  Oh well--gave it texture.

Brain pretty blank--just took a glass dip pen and used the tea water to draw a teapot and tea cup.

That was it for me.  Just that was exhausting--LOL!

I could do something else to it, I suppose...but it is just a for fun journal and this entire page is done with hibicus tea only.  So I think I am fine with leaving it and going on to the next prompt.  I need to get back to the Wanderlust classes.  They are more invloved in a larger journal and I haven't felt up to them yet.  Ha!  I could barely pull off this little prompt journal page where we're supposed to do them fast and not care how they look.  Well, I worked slow and don't care how it looks--ROFL!  Close enough.

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Suddenly today we are supposed to get up to 71 degrees!  I have the patio door half open again (which caused Annie to race around the apartment like a wild kitten--never know she was 15).  Soon I'll be able to open it completely, I think, if it's not too windy in my direction.  There's both a wind advisory and fire watch today.  Anywho--Annie was parked to the right of the table here in the kitchen doing her from afar bird spying.  When I got up to get a picture she just kept looking at my legs to see which way I was going to walk--LOL!  Annie lives in fear of being stepped on (or possibly kicked in her former young life).  Since I upset her with my standing mysteriously by the table...

...she moved to a safer spy spot with some sunshine.

She always pays attention to where I am at any given moment.  That's why she usually loves me--I am slow moving and quite stationary--ROFL!

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Annie was happy with my week of dozing off for multiple naps and still sleeping 10-11 hours (we're talking crazy tired).  I am able to stay awake longer--take less naps--well, the past couple days, anyways.  That's all okay with me.  Weird reactions because of the combo of the shot plus my fibro/CF--I can wait it out with Annie purring next to me and good shows to watch.  I binge watched season one of Homecoming on Prime.  Started season two--didn't realize Julia Roberts isn't in the second season.  One of those shows that changes characters quite a bit from season to season, I guess.  (Which reminds me--wonder if they will have another season of Fargo?)

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I'm just so grateful to have both the shots behind me now.  Can you imagine if I had such reactions to the shots how bad off I would have been if I had gotten covid without them?!  Leah says it proves why she has always thought I was the highest risk person in the family.  I suppose so.  Dagan had no reaction to the first shot--not even a sore arm.  Leah had a little bit of a sore arm.  That's it.  Makes me so happy!  Dagan goes back on April 1st and Leah on the 13th.  So by the 27th we will all three be fully vaccinated!!!

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It is less stress, that's for sure.  Yesterday the guy across the hall wanted me to check my mailbox because it said online he had a package delivered but he hadn't gotten it--and once he had gotten a package of mine.  So I went down to look...there were two packages on one of the carts in the corner.  He hadn't looked around, I guess--duh!  LOL!  Anyways, a lady was waiting for a ride (she's one who got hospitalized for covid last fall and is still dragging herself around and looks so tired), and another lady came through and went right out the door.  Out of the four of us I was the only one wearing a mask.  I have noticed that recently masks have become a rare sight again here...like they were for the majority of 2020.  Despite management putting up signs in multiple places that we are supposed to wear masks.  Someone keeps tearing them down.

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Yah--I feel safer knowing I am vaccinated (fully vaccinated on the first!) when the maintenance man has his mask falling down below his nose and the people here don't wear masks at all.  It's a relief somewhere down deep inside...hard to put into words.  Best birthday present ever!!!!

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So, that's it for this week.  A sunny, warm day today.  Tuesday and Wednesday we are supposed to be right back down in the mid-30s for highs--just above freezing.  Spring is usually quite the fickle tease--LOL!  Today I see people outside without jackets and have seen people in shorts.  People get quite excited about warmer weather up here.  And tomorrow they'll need a parka--LOL!

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Take care!  Be safe!

Enjoy the heck out of your day.  :)

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"I look up at the blue sky and the bare chestnut tree, on whose branches little raindrops shine, appearing like silver, and at the seagulls and other birds as they glide on the wind.  As long as this exists...and I may live to see it, this sunshine, these cloudless skies, while this lasts I canot be unhappy."

Anne Frank