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
16 comments:
That was some craft haul! So glad you got stuff that you will uses all the time! It was snowing here, but quit I suppose it will be white by morning:(
I enjoyed reading about all your new craft supplies. Isn't it fun to be able to splurge on things you enjoy once in a while! The sweater your Mom made is beautiful. Her jewelry box looks like my Mom's jewelry box which I have along with her jewelry. Good luck with your dental appointment. I hate going to the dentist too. Take care Rita!
I think that 3M needs to send you a cheque for advertising them so well! Kudos to you for writing real letters by hand - and with a fountain pen too. You are a practitioner of two almost lost skills right there. I haven't used a fountain pen in years, but I always enjiyed one with a broad nib, where you could craft the letters almost like calligraphy. I actually won a handwriting prize at school. Hard to believe when I look at my scrawl now!
I think you are doing exactly what you should be doing by circulating your check back into the economy. And it is good to see life creeping back to some sense of normality.
What a fun post, Rita. You certainly have lots to sort through, with all that jewelry. And all those writing supplies! Hope you can find someplace in your packed apartment for them. Nice pens, and I'm so glad you got your relief check, finally. :-)
Snow? Did I hear you mention snow?? Good heavens, I hope it melts quickly (those grackles will freeze!). The weather seems to be erratic everywhere. Here in the wilds of TN it's 70 degrees one day and 40 the next.
The sweater your mother made is really beautiful. Such detail!
I can identify with a lifetime of bad dentistry. I have ancient fillings that are falling out and teeth that are crumbling....
Take care...stay warm.
Wow, you got a lot of supplies with your check. I haven't gotten mine yet, but I apparently don't have direct deposit. I have to wait on a paper check like I did when Thump signed my last one.
I paid a fortune last year for 200 large envelopes. In fact, I paid over $50.00 (USD) for them. I got mine at a big box store here in Wichita. Sounds like you got a better deal.
You also got a lot of great dies and nice stamps, too. So glad to see how you spent your stimulus check, dear Rita.
Hi Rita - what fun letter writing supplies you bought with your Covid relief check! I love a good, high, quality pen to write with, so I am glad you got some good ones. So glad that Leah is going to make some new planter boxes for your patio garden. That sweater your mom knit is beautiful. It brings back such good memories of a person to go through the little things they treasured like their jewelry. Hope you are feeling well and that your week is going well.
You were able to stock up on a lot of nice things with your check. The sweater is beautiful. I remember having a jewelry box similar to your mom's when I was much younger. Snow? Snow!!! We have temps in the eighties most days now that it's April. I'm enjoying the pleasant weather while it lasts.
Love,
Janie
Reading this made me think of all the hand knited jumpers aand vests my mum knitted in her life
I'll bet it's fun going through all that jewelry :) It looks like you made good use of the funds, and those pens look wonderful. Wooden planters will look great on the patio. How thoughtful of her :)
My late mother also had quite a bit of costume jewelry, but your mother certainly had quite a collection. I gave away some of my mother's to friends and donated the rest as her 2 granddaughters would not have been interested in any. Nice that you treated yourself to all those art supplies which as you said will last a long time! Too bad about missing the appt, but wonder why there was no notification about it being UK time and now you have to wait quite awhile longer, drat. We had snow here today too!
When my Mum moved 8 years ago she had a whole bunch of business stationary envelopes, the good self sealing kind, with the business return address on them. Seeing she was going to pitch them I grabbed the two boxes and slowly as I got the free address labels from non profits in the mail, I would cover the old address with them.
It's been 8 years, but I think we're finally down to the last 25. :)
That sweater is gorgeous!
Lots of jewelry to go through. so many art supplies to have fun and create with.
Oh my! Your Mum did have a lot of jewellery - good luck sorting that out!
Great to see you got your money and now have supplies to last a while...and new stamps, pens and gels plates - the bleeding tissue will come in handy for one of the Wanderlust classes (can't remember which one!!!
I have been looking at some of the WL pages made by others and some have only used one element of the class which will certainly help you with moving on! I have missed out one class and will back to it when I 'feel' it. I am leaving the bonus classes for now!
We are still being told to cautious even if we have had both jabs. Keeping a distance, meeting outdoors and wearing masks in most places. My oldest grandson went out with his Dad and sister for a meal -it had to be outdoors and they all said how cold it was at 6pm the other day! Restaurants open (if figures don't go up) on May 17th and I hope that folk are sensible so that the rest of us can go out in future too! Hugs, Chrisx
What fun to get all those new art supplies! Your mom had a lot of jewelry. It's always interesting to go through jewelry collections and see what someone enjoyed wearing.
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