April 26. 2021 Monday--4pm

Good afternoon!

Good thing Leah dropped off more bird seed.  Was a colder week.  At least one partridge couple showed up...

...endless grackles...

...mourning doves and tons of little birds.

I did make Annie's cat food on Monday but that wall I hit remained before me all week.  

Thursday at noon I had Tammy arrive for an annual review visit for getting my cleaning help.  Funny, as I haven't had any for a year...but I do plan to start having a new girl come in May and it is okayed.

I made soup so I'd have something to nuke.

Leah came over Thursday night for a Craft Nite.  She made her teacher thank you cards and we had a good visit.

Friday Leah dropped off Cashwise groceries and I managed to do laundry...but was too tired to hang and fold and put things away so I draped and piled things all over my bed (which I haven't been able to sleep in for two years anyways).  Sadly, they are still there today...waiting for me.  That is how spoonless I have been.  

The only things I did get done during the week was to cut some more paper (for letters) that arrived, watched a lot of New Tricks, Murdock Mysteries, Brokenwood, and a couple of British mini-series.

Yesterday the final splurge item arrived from the relief check.  Something I had never known existed till I stumbled upon it online.  

The old litter box has been a big storage tub where Leah cut an entrance hole in the end.  (Gross, you can see it in the front.)  The plastic bottoms get corroded after a few years.  I needed a new one before covid hit.

I had started using these for Karma because she was, shall we say, a most enthusiastic burier and, therefore, I needed something with tall sides.  Annie is more restrained with her coverings so I thought the taller 8 inch sides would suffice.

Anyways, it's a stainless steel litter pan!  I shall never have to buy another one!  (Good thing as it was expensive, but not as expensive as those self-cleaning ones.)  I know it doesn't look it in the above picture but it is almost the same size as the bottom of the plastic bin (24" X 16" X 8").  

Have you ever heard of a stainless steel litter pan?!

Well, I actually did get the new litter box in place yesterday after it arrived.  Didn't bring the old one out to the dumpster until this afternoon because it was sleeting and snowing yesterday.  Still haven't put away laundry or emptied the dishwasher...soon?

I have been falling asleep at random times--might sleep an hour or 10-12 hours--so my days and nights are all messed up, but I am getting my rest, anyways.  I didn't make it over to McFamily's for a visit yesterday because I was up half the night and slept most of the day.  Hope to make it over next Sunday.  Less pain and I'm getting closer to sleeping at night...maybe--LOL!  Patience.  I need to stay patient.  Annie reminds me that sleeping is a good thing any time of day or night--LOL!  We're doing just fine.

Been trying to catch Annie doing her tail thing for the past couple of weeks.  She's been so spunky and full of beans since I changed her diet to raw meat and canned no-grain food--not really interested in her dry food anymore.  She races around the apartment like a young thing and isn't acting her fifteen years at all--LOL!  Anyways, I'll end with this short video I hope makes you smile.

Again, I hope this works because it doesn't look like it is working before I publish.  Blogger is endlessly testing my loyalty.  Let me know...and have a great week.  :)

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"When we are brave enough to sit with our pain, it deepens our ability to sit with the pain of others. It shows us how to love them." Valarie Kaur

April 19, 2021 Monday--1:30pm

 Good afternoon!

Was a busy week for me while running on low spoons--LOL!  

Monday Leah dropped off Cashwise groceries. 

Tuesday Leah got her second shot.  She just had one crummy day and then was fine--like Dagan reacted.  Nice! 

Wednesday I went over to watch the boys while Dagan and Leah dropped off the Leaf because it wasn't holding a charge...and had just been serviced and gotten a new battery!

Thursday was the dentist.  He really is such a nice guy and it went better than I could have ever expected.  No cavities.  Teeth cleaner than he expected after 3 1/2 years.  He fixed the tooth without even using novocaine and all I needed to do was make an appointment for a cleaning--whew!  Happy dance!

Afterwards Leah brought me over to the walk-in clinic so I could get my ears cleaned.  I have never had that done in all my 70 years and thought it might be why I am having more trouble hearing.  Nope.  Both clean as can be.  Just losing my hearing...which runs in the family, so no surprise.  Now I know for sure.

Friday I went over to watch the boys again while they picked up the Leaf.  Turned out it was a bad brand new battery!  Under warranty, so that was cool!  Dagan is all vaccinated so he plans to start going back to the office this week.

I kind of hit a wall by Friday.  Got home and slept from 7:30-11pm.  Slept a lot all weekend.

Sunday I had planned to go over for my usual weekend visit but I was really dragging...so they all came over here for a short visit!!  

Liam probably doesn't remember being here at all, but he was very excited to see Gramma's place.  So nice that I am accepted into his family now and get enthusiastic hugs and all the trimmings.  ;)

Ian remembered the gate-fold table right away.  He remembered how it opened and immediately wanted to sit down and do an art project.  He didn't remember where his bookcase was, but he automatically equated being here with doing art stuff--LOL!  (That definitely pleased Gramma, of course.)  Ian did cut up some cardboard while he was here.

Been going on a year and a half since Ian's been here and probably longer for Liam.  Goodness!  That's a really long time for little ones to remember.

They found the 3M box with Mom's jewelry.  (My brother worked at 3M till he retired.)  They were fascinated by all those clunky necklaces.  Liam took one home and Ian took two (one made a good crown).  Ian is looking forward to Gramma Days again once school is out.  (Me, too!)

We have had snow off and on.

Early in the week we had sloppy snow that dripped down from the balcony above and splattered the seed all over the place.  Not that the birds mind.

My big project for the week was cutting the four reams of paper in half.

Most of it fit in these two IKEA boxes.  Some more went in another box I forgot to get a picture of...

...no--there's the flowered box in this next picture--duh!  Can you tell I am still spacy tired!  More went in there, too.  The stack there on the desk is some of each kind of the new reams...the rest of the old ones are on the top.  I keep that stack up on a desk shelf and refill from the boxes as needed.

I did remember to take a few pictures of the boys while I was watching them this week.  Mostly Ian... 

...as Liam was mostly a blur that day--LOL!

Ian wanted to show everybody his new bottom teeth.

I like the candid moments the best.

Here Ian was doing some kind of a sign...

...which he explained to me but Gramma has totally forgotten what it was--LOL!

Liam wanted to show me a sign, too.  :)

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Earlier in the day on Sunday it had snowed for a while.  I caught a video.  Beautiful!  I do so love big flaky snow.  :)

I hope the video works as it was added a new way I'm not used to.

So anyways, it was a busy week.  Tired, but got to spend extra time with McFamily, got the worst part of the dentist checked off my list, ears checked, managed to get laundry done over a few days, and I got the big project done with all that paper cutting.  Doing a little at a time works for me.  :)

The awful-for-me news this week was that Blogger is going to quit having the follow-by-email.  That is the only way I follow all of you!  I had so many issues with blogger deleting all or part of my "follow" blogs years ago that I switched over to the following-by-email.  Now they want to take that away from me, too.  

I suspected something was up because I have also not gotten my email notifications for your comments for months--the way I responded to each of your comments for years.  Now I won't even know if you have posted, either!  awk!  

So I have to find another way to follow your blogs.  I am thinking I will bookmark each one...and only have till July to do this.  (I'll have Leah show me how when she comes for Craft Nite on Thursday.)  But then I should be out of the reach of Google randomly deciding to quit servicing my needs, right?  You'd just be bookmarked on my laptop...until the laptop dies...or Google decides it is dumping Blogger altogether...

Technology!  

Love it and hate it. 

Today...37 degrees, sunny, and low of 22 tonight.  Wasn't it just 70 degrees?  LOL!  

My other big project for today (besides blogging) is to make cat food up for Annie.  I've been working up to it for three days...so no more procrastinating.  

After a little break, of course.  

I hope you have a wonderful week.  Till next time!  :)

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"We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations."

Charles R. Swindoll

April 12, 2021 Monday-3:30pm

Good afternoon!

Still dragging around.  Just waiting for the flare up to subside.  Lots of naps and resting, but I worked on letters all week!  Out of the 19 I had to answer I am down to 2 left to go!  Whoohoo!  

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I told you I brought in the big box of Mom's jewelry.  Blaine also brought me a sweater of Mom's that she made. 

He thought she once had a knitting machine and that may be so, but Mom was an excellent knitter and she could probably have knitted this evenly by hand, too.

Mom loved her costume jewelry.

She had lots of it.

And--no--I haven't sorted through all of this yet--LOL!

She loved large, bold, chunky accessories.

The granddaughters and great granddaughters probably don't have pierced ears, but she had a wide assortment of earrings.

Mom had a sense of humor as she had dangling skeletons, parrots, Christmas balls, maybe even alligators...who knows what all.  I will sort through the chaos and likely only pick a couple of things for memory's sake.  The rest will go to the grands for fun and play.

The grackles are back in full force.  

They are one of Annie's favorite birds to terrify.  They are noisy, nervous, scare easily and make a lot of loud flapping when Annie darts in to lunge at the patio door.  She is so proud of herself (or frustrated by not being able to sink her teeth into one) that she often races through the apartment after causing the bully cowards to flee in fright.  Interactional Cat TV--LOL!

Well, the appointment with Elliot Overton on Wednesday never happened.  There was a mix-up with the time.  Long story short...when they said 15:00 we thought 3pm...our time...not British time.  So we have had to reschedule to May 12th at 11:30am OUR time--LOL!

I got my relief check on Wednesday!  Last time I stock-piled on household, personal care, pantry, and super practical stuff.  This time I am stock-piling for letter writing, art, and card making!  More fun.

Well, some of this may not look very fun to anyone but me, but I bought up some reams of office paper.

I cut these in half and use them for letter writing sheets.  Last time I did this was many years ago now and I am almost out.  This will last me for years again!  :)

I did splurge and buy some actual writing paper that is supposed to look watercolored.

So pretty!  When Leah was here for Craft Night on Thursday night she cut the stack of 96 sheets in half for me so they are my favorite letter size above.  These were definitely worth the price and I'd buy them again.  Not sure if they will take fountain pen well or not but I have a ton of gel pens, too--so no problem--lol!

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I did get some actual stationery.  Each set of four sheets and two envelopes came individually wrapped--how odd.  The colorful Ombre sheets are lined--a bit wide for me but I will write larger.  ;)  Not something I would buy again but they will be fun.

I know this looks boring, too--but it is two boxes of 1000 envelopes each--A2 and A6 sizes.

Yes, I buy in bulk--LOL!  I wasn't out quite yet from the last time, but now I am set for a few more years again.

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My two biggest splurges...well, I had thought I might even finally get a really expensive fountain pen for once (like $150-$200.00)...but I decided I would rather get five nice pens instead.  Four of which I am very familiar with and know they are wonderful workhorses (the ones on the right)--TWSBI pens! A Go, Eco, Classic, and Diamond! Then the one on the far left is new to me--a Monteverde Ritma.

Got it with an omniflex nib.  Kind of cool looking and has a little bit of flex to it. 

 

The other splurge was a big order of stamps, one border die, and three stamp & die sets!  For birthday, Christmas, thank yous, and just for fun.

As far as for art supplies--I got a few odd things I have wanted to try.  Bleeding tissue paper...and a set of the mini gelli plates.  Can you see the circle, triangle, and square lying on top of the tissue paper bag?

Got crackle paste, enamel paint, black matte ink, and some liquid gold paint.

That's some of the fun stuff that is waiting for me when I have some energy back!  Whoohoo!

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It's a dark day and right now the snow has started.  Supposed to snow right through till tomorrow.  Annie is sleeping next to the humidifier.  

She waits for me to refill it so she can sneak in and drink water out of the bottom.  Silly girl.  Why do cats always think water from anywhere else tastes better than out of their water dish?  So funny.  She will stand beside the humidifier and stare at me and cry sometimes...but it is not time to fill it.  Life is full of disappointments, Little Girl--I tell her.  She just thinks I am unreasonable and cruel.

Oh, oh!  Exciting news!  Leah said she will make me new planter boxes for the patio!  The plastic ones I bought have been cracking and I've been taping them up with duct tape, as you know.  Having some nice wooden ones that are a bit larger will be just awesome!  And this year we can don our masks and go pick out plants at Baker Nursery!!

Also--I was talking about finding a book press I could use for both book binding and paper making...and she said she will make me a book press, too!  And I can have one large enough for the biggest art journal I would make (half sheet size--11" by 15" or 12" by 16" with the cover).  So, I am absolutely thrilled with both projects!

Leah says once she is fully vaccinated now the end of April she will make a trip for lumber and supplies.  She goes for her second shot tomorrow.  I hope she will not have any worse reaction than Dagan did--just achy for a day.

And I have had a filling fall out of a molar weeks ago but was waiting until I was fully vaccinated.  Heading to the dentist on Thursday.  Even when I have a good one, which I do now, I dread going to the dentist something fierce from a lifetime of bad dentistry and bad teeth.  (Both my mother and her sister had full dentures in their early 20s--just my luck, out of us three kids, I'm the one who took after Mom.)  I think I may need a few visits because I was overdue back before my leg swelled up in June 2019!  I know--my bad.  Just been a rough nearly two years now.  Bleh!

Now I can get back to the eye doctor, my osteopath, have a new cleaning girl start coming...being vaccinated does get things back to normal in some ways I hadn't given much thought to--LOL!  You get so used to the isolation and never leaving home, I guess.  

Well, the snow is coming down...which means even some partridges are back on the patio--LOL!  I need to put out some more seed...

...there. Happy birds.

 

Good thing I told Leah I will need a little bit more seed before summer.  ;)  We never know up here.  Can be 70 and then snow on grass trying to turn green--LOL!  Well, that's it for this Monday.  I hope it is a really good week for you.  :) :)

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"Life can survive in the constant shadow of illness, and even rise to moments of rampant joy, but the shadow remains, and one has to make space for it."

Diane Ackerman

April 5, 2021 Monday-1:45pm

Well, good afternoon!

A quiet week with me being super tired and still napping and sleeping a lot.  Took almost the whole month between shots for me to start to have more energy so no surprise I am still draggy and weak after the second one where I felt worse to begin with...only been 2 1/2 weeks.  So, still just peaceful, quiet days with Annie watching youtube videos and shows.  Second season of Homecoming was only 7 episodes instead of 10 so they might have gotten cut off due to covid, I would imagine.  Been watching Foyle's War again.   Rented some DVDs from Netflix--Grantchester latest season, The Undoing mini-series (wow!), and the last one I watched was News of The World with Tom Hanks--very good!  Tom in a western!  Has anyone else seen News of The World? Or The Undoing?

Still have a lone partridge that has been coming for weeks.  Poor thing.  No one to pair off with this year, I guess.

The only thing I accomplished all week (besides laundry) was to jazz up these striped cards I had put together a few years ago now.  I added a big die cut hello to the fronts of them.  Looked cheerier and a bit springy.

I did get out to take pictures of Grandpa's old desk.  Not very big.  When I was about ten years old I thought it was the perfect size for me--LOL!  Used to beg Grandpa to open it up so I could see the...

...cubby holes and little drawers...ahhh!  I still think it is marvelous!  Plan to turn this into my letter writing supplies spot.  :)

There is still newspaper lining the bottom drawer--Minneapolis paper from 1942!  Very fragile and crispy.

I also brought in the box of Mom's costume jewelry to look through.  I'll show you pictures when I go through that.

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Leah sent me some pics.  She and Liam are pretty far behind Daddy and Ian on this walk.  Love the long shadows and Liam's walking stick.

Liam sleeping on the couch.  You know how this can happen some days when they are of an age that they don't think they need to nap anymore--LOL!

On Saturday the boys colored Easter eggs.  Ian...

...and Liam.

Very colorful!

Leah made a cake in the shape of an egg.  Had multi-colored whipped cream/cream cheese frosting, I believe.  Forgot to ask.

Easter morning the boys headed out for their Easter egg hunt in the yard.

Photo bomb by Daddy--LOL!

They found all the eggs.  (Liam told me later that Ian gave him the last one that Ian found.)

The egg peeling is serious business for Liam.  He has always been very good at it.

Ian eating a hard boiled egg, too.

When I got there on Easter Sunday afternoon Ian was deep into a video game.  He has a new eye mask that he hates to take off--LOL!

Liam is happy to see Gramma nowadays.

Even got so close taking pictures...

...that he was too close--LOL!

I quick took pics of Dagan and Leah in the kitchen before I forgot to take any more (which I did).

Leah's brother, Aaron, was there, too.  He quarantined for two weeks so he could come!

Leah remembered to get a picture of us before dinner.

I was so tired I got a ride home from Leah while Dagan was putting Ian to bed.  (Ian goes to bed about an hour after Liam.)  Was a wonderful, wonderful Easter!  I was so glad I made it--no matter how tired I was--LOL!  

Dagan got his second shot on April 1st.  He was achy for one day and that was it.  I hope Leah does as well.  Hopefully soon Aaron will be able to get vaccinated, too.  Be so nice when all the immediate family members get vaccinated.  Once my brother and SIL get vaccinated they plan to come up for a nice long visit around the table at Dagan and Leah's like we used to have.  Leah has a sister and BIL with two boys in town--and a grandma and grandpa, too.  Being able to see and hug family--and talk without masks--priceless!

This week will be busier...but I should slowly be getting more energy, I hope.  On Wednesday afternoon I have my video appointment with Elliot.  Thursday Leah will come over for a craft night.  She needs to make some teacher thank you cards.  Hopefully I will be able to visit at McFamily's on the weekend.  After Leah is fully vaccinated--beginning of May--I will be able to have Gramma Days again with Ian!  And eventually start some Gramma Days with Liam, too!  Things will be getting more back to normal.

Been such a long time and things won't be quite the same, that's for sure, but they will be lots better because of the vaccinations.  The shots are our hope for some normalcy again.  So exciting!!  We must share them all over the world.  :)

Spring is trying to arrive as best it can.  We go from 70 to 30s and back again.  The spring roller coaster is very similar to the fall one--LOL!  I am planning on buying some new planter boxes for the patio since my cheap plastic ones have been cracking and are being held together with duct tape...well, I really do need new ones.  Leah and I are going to take measurements and search online Thursday night.  I am going to go with something sturdier this time.  That's a huge excitement in my life, I tell you!  

My relief check is pending at the bank for Wednesday.  But there are 30 million of us on SS and SSD who didn't get our checks.  I think they are just starting to get to us on Wednesday.  Regardless--should be soon!  Last time I was so very practical.  I stocked up on household goods, personal care goods, and cat food & kitty litter.  This time--well, still cat food & kitty litter--but I'm mostly stocking up on supplies for letter writing, art, cards, and my fun stuff this time.  Oh, yah--there will be the practical, too--like filters for the Britta and for my humidifier, for example, but a large percentage will be for those food-for-the-soul activities this time and not just toothpaste and laundry soap and window cleaner--LOL!  ;) 

I am hoping to be feeling better and able to do more the rest of this year.  Leah will be able to come back for Craft Nites again!  My mind is full of plans and ideas.  Now, if my body will just catch up--LOL!  ;)

 I guess that's it for this week.  I hope to at least get some letters written this coming week.  I'm glad you snail mail friends are such a patient lot.  ;)  I love the blog comments, too--even though I can't comment back like I used to since Blogger decided to cut off that route for me.  I read every single word! Some of you email me and I love that!  I appreciate every one of you.  Thanks so much for taking the time to chat with me...no matter how.  :)  Till next week...may you have sweet days that fill your heart.

Oh, and everything looks all nice and uniform.  I'm always amazed at what Blogger does to the post every week recently.  I wonder if it will play with font size again or mess with my paragraphs or if it has grown tired of being a prankster?  Let's see--she says as she is ready to click publish...

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"When you come out of the storm, you won't be the same person who walked in.  That's what this storm's all about."

Haruki Murakami