Good afternoon!
This Friday on the 10th I will have been blogging for 16 years! Amazes me. First blog was in 2006--goodness! How time flies! I actually surprised myself in that I have managed to post once a week this past year with the rollercoaster cancer ride. Yay, me!!
I am loving the clouds against the blue sky again. Never seems to be the same sky in the winter months.
Let's get on with the week.
Monday
We had rain and thunder but not much wind during the day. The wind and the storms picked up that evening. I worked on switching over to summer clothes most of the day.
Tuesday
The winds were crazy during the night and still hung in there most of the day. Nearly blew over a young tree at McFamily's!
Leah battled the wind to at least pull it back upright and stake it till she could do a proper bracing job when the wind died down.
The wind quite literally blew the leaves off the one new coleus...
...and knocked down the other three. Removed a few leaves off of those, too, but they all look like they are surviving since then.
Boy! My planters have really been taking a beating this year. Frost, wind, rabbits (and they might be eating the geranium buds, too), storms...a slow start but I hope they hang in there.
I finally finished the clothes switching Tuesday night. Five bins of winter clothes to go to the garage...
...and a big lawn bag full of donations.
Wednesday
Dagan came by to bring all the bins and the donation bag to the garage. I worked on letters all day and watched The Valhalla Murders on Netflix streaming...which totally interfered with my concentrating on letters because I kept chuckling to myself. Why? The Icelandic series was dubbed and it was just so funny to me because I have closed captions on all the time because my hearing is so bad...and I have never seen subtitles and dialogue so mismatched for no apparent reason.
The general meaning was usually the same but why not use the words spoken? I wondered if the subtitles were taken off the actual script or what was going on? Maybe the people writing the subtitles were just having a really fun time that day--LOL!
Some examples:
Actor--Really? Subtitle--Oh, come on!
Actor--No way! Subtitle--There. There.
Actor--What? How is that possible? Subtitle--That can't be right!
Anyways, it was a hoot! Distracted from the show and the plot, though. If you watch it don't turn the CC on--LOL!
Thursday
Had a bit worse headache than normally do. Took it easy, worked on letters and ended up binge-watching Cog Hill Farm videos on YouTube. I've been following their vlogs for a few months and find them so uplifting (and I love animals). Come to find out they also have a podcast video channel on YouTube. I have never gone back to watch prior videos of anyone I follow before (can hardly keep up as it is--lol!)--but I went back about a year and am slowly watching both the vlogs and the pod casts. I wanted to go back to before they bought the new, bigger farm they have been putting together from scratch. Just sweet positive people. Been through a lot I discovered through the podcasts.
Have any of you ever gone back to posts prior to when you came across someone online? I know a couple of you have gone back and read my blog posts from the beginning! That is just plain humbling, I tell you. Bless you!!
Anyways, late in the night I got an aural migraine. Haven't had them since after I had cataract surgery. I finally fell asleep for a couple of hours--woke up to a sharp, painful headache around my right eye, but the flashing lights were gone. (Was like a pixelated arc.) Slept again. Woke up to a regular old bad headache--and been just my regular daily headaches since then--whew!
Friday
Maintenance came to fix the washing machine. A bolt had come off and he got it back on again. He just pulled off the dangly foam thingie on the patio door. (I had almost done that myself, but I am glad he did it and not me--lol!)
Saturday
The new binder I ordered arrived. Now this is how I can spend most of an entire day...doing things like this that nobody understands why a person would bother--ROFL!
Well, you know I have the trays of inked up fountain pens that I rotate as I write in my journals and with letters. (I also use gel pens for letters--but my journals are strictly fountain pens.) To keep track of which pen has which ink in it...I keep a written record.
This is what I had been using.
A binder from JetPens. (The sticker on the first page is a gift I got in a Goulet Pens order.)
This type of binder is very thin (which I liked) but it doesn't hold enough pages for me.
So the pages stick and occasionally the rings just pop open--and it's a beast to get the pages back in and the rings closed again. This was about the third method I have tried to use to keep track of my inked fountain pens over the years. I had wanted something thin but this just wasn't working. (I'm very optimistic stubborn and keep trying long past when I should have given up.) I need to be able to move pens and their pages around, too, so I do need some kind of binder. Found that out the hard way right off the bat.
Well, I finally relented and got a small sized regular old-fashioned binder.
Supposed to hold 100 pages! (I have between 50-60 pens inked up usually.)
I also ordered some pretty dividers I could number for the trays...
...and some extra paper.
I know...such a weird and tedious way to spend an entire Saturday...
...but this should work well!
Much fatter than I had wanted, but I think it will work beautifully.
I really do think my search for the perfect way to keep my FP ink record is finally over. Only FP nuts will understand my delight--ROFL! But I am SOOOO happy! :) :)
Oh and I don't like to waste paper. Since I had just redone the old skinny binder a few months ago (*sigh*)...well, I cut down all the unused parts of the sheets so I can use them for scratch paper.
I keep track of where I am in rotation with little colored post-it flags--one for daily journaling and one for letter writing. I kind of bookmark my spots in the trays with old highlighter pens. Every time I start a new pen tray I go through all those pens in that tray to make sure they are working well, can fit the rest of the sample vial if there's any left, and clean & fill any pens that need it. I use scratch paper to test the pens out so these will last me a good long time. :)
I keep my in-use ink samples in alphabetical order in a drawer on my desk.
Yes, I am also an ink sample nut.
Once or twice a year I stock up on ink samples. I should show you how much of an ink fanatic I am! I have an entire small drawer full in the bedroom right now because I recently restocked a bunch for my birthday, as you may remember.
There are baskets for color ranges--blues, greens, blacks/greys, turquoises, reds/oranges, browns, etc. I really do go through a LOT of ink samples in a year. Probably 2/3 to 3/4 of these will be gone by next June.
Sunday
I finally caught up with the laundry and the washer didn't break or go crazy--or the dryer--tada! I even got everything put away, too. Now that would have been such a strange and funny thing to say pre-cancer. I had always put everything away when I did laundry--ever since I started doing my own laundry at somewhere around 9 or 10 years old. (Back when there was a whole lot of ironing involved--that might take another day or two.) Even with chronic fatigue with my fibro I managed to get it all done. (It's that optimistic stubborn, set-in-my-ways Swede, I think.) You just never know how your life will change.
Well, today I am blogging from my comfy chair. Annie keeping me company--wondering why I got up and down a couple of times. Humans!
I should be up at the table but was too tired. This is the organized chaos I have around me and where I write my letters 90% of the time.
Looks like a mess but I know where everything is and each type of pen and highlighter in those black mesh pen cups (mostly my gels).
My life has changed a lot in this past year...and yet, in some ways, not that much. Ha! Way to the right above is my forehead swiping thermometer peeking up. That's new this last year--LOL!
Anyways, time to get something to eat. Will probably finish watching the final season of Grace and Frankie...do some paper chatting...water the patio flowers...and pop in over at Cog Hill Farm. ;) It's a sunny day and 72 degrees. Beautiful! Till next week, my friends...
13 comments:
I sure enjoyed that last episode of Grace and Frankie. It was a good run! And you are so organized I can smile with amazement at all those inks, but I know they give you great pleasure, so it's all good. I always appreciate it when you mention Annie, my virtual cat. :-)
Rita i really think you need to get those patio planters raised like Leah mentioned... That may stop some of the animal nibbling if you make it high enough! Hugs! deb
Hi Rita, You are a perfectionist when it comes to the FP’s. I really like pencils and like the pen tel .09 lead. Very fussy about that!, The wind was horrible for a few days sure hope your flowers recover. Hope you have a great week!
Thanks again Rita for posting your week - a good week for you. I loved reading backwards over the years of your blogging. That was quite a big wind in your area !.
Hugs.
Joy
You are always so organized with all your pens, ink, and papers! It is wonderful that they bring you such joy. I love seeing Annie there on your chair. I know what you mean by how when you get up and down very much your cat can get frustrated with you! My cats follow me around so they usually prefer that I stay in one place. Enjoy your week Rita!
Since we watch mostly British program, I have gotten used to using captions. I pretty well use them all of the time now, I suppose even when I don’t need to. But yeah, I sometimes see them out of whack, and it is a little jarring.
A productive week you had and glad the washer was fixed. You reminded me need to take my winter clothes out to the shed. Will be nice to get some closet space back. Had to smile about Annie wanting you to stay still. Minnie is too old to follow so she just opens one eye to see where I went, then closes it again to sleep some more.
The clouds are really beautiful and inspiring, but that wind must have been scary! I'm glad the damage wasn't any worse.
Rita, I get aural migraines frequently (so did my mother). They are frightening and it seems like there are many things that can cause them - stress, eye strain, certain foods, even changes in the weather. I even got them after taking a hot shower or bath.
Anyway, take care and have a good week.
I swear, you do more with your cancer and chemo than I have with no earthly reason this week. Well done! I love seeing your organization menthods. I don't deal much with pens and inks and admire those who do.
Too bad about the wind -- I'm glad, though, they didn't lose the tree. Our weather hasn't been that great, but nothing like that down here.
Damn time flies by I started my first blog back in 2005 and thee one I have now in I thinnk 2007. I think I am organised butnot comparedto you.
Your sky is pretty. I started watching Grace & Frankie when it was new, but it didn't grab my attention, which is unusual since I love Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. How is Annie?
Love,
Janie
I've had my blog going on 15 years. I used to be more current with it. Still holding out some hope that I'll get more involved again.
I like your new red binder, and crafty anything is a wonderful way to spend a whole day! Oh, I do know about organized chaos. haha
We watched the final season of G&F, it was a good series.
Have a nice week!
~Mary
Congratulations on your blogging anniversary! That's a long time! You piqued my interest in knowing how long I had been blogging...it is 14 years this month. So, both of us have documented our lives for more than a decade now.
You had a lot of donations this week. Doesn't it feel good to let go of that much?
Have never watched Cog Hill Farm videos. I'll need to check them out.
Happy to hear that your washing machine and patio door are both fixed and in good working order now.
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