Monday, November 14, 2022

November 14, 2022 Monday--4:45am

Good morning!

For somebody whose energy & pain wall lasted until Friday I have quite a lot of photos...and there are photos from Leah, too.  Grab a cuppa and a snack and I'll fill you in on this past frigid week.

Leah had photos to share from back to Halloween.  First of all I had a favorite photo I took of Leah and the boys.  Leah cropped it for me!  This was from this past February.

There were pics of the boys out shopping.  Now that Liam is also fully vaccinated they can go to stores for the first time in over two years! 
The boys working on art projects.  Liam painting...
...and Ian making some project with beads.
They had made Halloween pumpkin shaped pizzas!
What a treat!
Liam now wears Ian's dragon costume.  (I love the dragons.)  Ian has a cool pirate costume now.
They went around the neighborhood.
With their hauls.
Out shopping at Costco.
Obviously delighted to be out and about again!
Happy boys.
Out at the playground.
Love when she catches them sleeping on the couch.
As I said, I wasn't in great shape all week.  I did manage to wash a small load of clothes and get the trash out and the bird dish in before the storm hit on Wednesday night.

Leah and I text and email about plans.  She brought up possible ceiling fans and sent me a link to this one.  Nice!
Also they have been to the place that made their cabinets in the rest of the house and sent me this pic of Dagan holding up a couple door samples.  I liked the one close to the color they have--the lighter brown one.
Pretty much kept up with emails, blog comments, and have been trying to train myself to check my Blogger Reading List more often.  But--truth--I had a hard time getting up to the table to do the journaling every day.  I ended up writing in my chair a few times.  Sadly, I have days just getting to the table and spending time there feels overwhelming.  But I made it up there more than half the week.  

The storm came through late Wednesday night.  We were on the edge of it and had rain at first.  By Thursday we started to get sleet and ice.  All that white you see was not snow.  It was fine sleet.
Of course, The Critter Cafe was very busy!
Allie spent a lot of time next to the patio door watching all the visitors.
I decided to cancel my Friday appointment for my infusion.  It was a good thing I did.  Both Interstate highways (94 to the west and 29 north to Grand Forks) were closed because of ice.  By Friday there was a thick ice here before it eventually snowed a little on top of it all.  Leah sent pictures from their place, too.  Their table on the deck.
This was Dagan's car.  Had to chip through to get to the door handle.
He took Leah's car to work because that one has four wheel drive, I think.  Bigger and heavier on the ice.  It was bad.  Looks about half an inch thick!
And when you chopped through that...
...there was still the first layer of ice on the windows.
Leah was having to deal with the ice on Dagan's car and driveway and sidewalk.  She even fell on the ice and almost did another time.  I'm glad I decided to reschedule.  There were people without power--ice on the wires--but we were okay in town here.  Anyways, a lot of people were cancelling so I ended up with a Thursday appointment at 11:45 am--Leah has a dentist appointment at 1pm that day.  I didn't have a lot of options, but this will work out.  She can drop me off and will pick me up after she's done at the dentist.  I will ask about a Pfizer booster after, too, as I had planned to.  

Oh, and Keanna comes on Tuesday afternoon to clean this week, too.

I was feeling more human by Friday and finally scrubbed down the dusty rolly carts...and just kept going.  You can get a lot done 15 minutes at a time--LOL!  I gradually filled up the carts.
For the first time I got letters set up using the rolly carts.  There will be more tweaking--but that's the only way I can figure out how to get this new system to be workable and practical--by using it.
Every time the table started to get cleared off...I emptied more from the desks. 
Grandpa's desk hutch...
...and first drawer are empty.  (The rest of the drawers have envelopes in them.)
Allie was always keeping an eye on me.
Oh, do you have a moment for some neck scratching?  I did.
The hutch in my desk has been slowly being emptied, too.
So the table would fill again.
Allie would hang around for quite a while but eventually she'd leave to find a quieter place to sleep.
My address/ Christmas card tracker, birthday card list binder has lived on the keyboard shelves on the past three desks I've had.  It was fine being open under there...
...but you can see this Franklin Covey binder is way too large for the rolly carts.  (Doesn't really want to close, either--lol!)
So, I ordered a smaller binder and will be rewriting and updating all the info.  Another project that will take quite a while, but is a fun one for me.  ;)

We only had little more than a dusting of snow on top of all that ice.
I am tossing out seed a couple times a day.
The wind and sleet basically striped the other two trees across the way.
Allie's hiding place for peaceful sleep while I puttered off and on for the entire weekend with very little sleep--just three naps.  *sigh*
She discovered the cat carrier in the corner of the studio.  It's warmer in there, too.  It's her latest new place to sleep.  :)
I got as far as I could until another order comes--with new binder and more containers.  But with the insomnia I just would be getting back up to do this or that.  
Tried to sleep.
Went through the OTC meds bin.  
Tried to sleep.  
Went through the makeup box.
Tried to sleep.  
Went through the hair clips and hair do-dads box.  
Tried to sleep.  
Cleaned one of the drawers in the bathroom.
Tried to sleep.  
Cleaned the other drawer in the bathroom.
Tried to sleep.
Thought I'd start the blog.
And here I am--waiting for the sun to come up so I can get a picture of the snow we've gotten since yesterday.  It is still lightly snowing right now, I think.  It's 21 degrees.  Has been in the 20s, so the ice is not going anywhere fast.  For the next ten days it says the highest temp expected is today at 27 degrees (-3C) with chances of additional snow every day through Wednesday...and that ice is the foundation hiding underneath.  I may not be taking my trash out any time soon--LOL!  Keanna can take it out for me on Tuesday this week, so that's good. 

I hope Blogger doesn't randomly mess with my font size again this week.  I'll find out when I post this.

Let's see--what else?  Oh I watched The Patient on Hulu with Steve Carell.  I thought it was really good.  Very strange--dark--intense--psychological.  Has anyone else seen it?  He is such a versatile actor!  Can play outright silly to deep drama.  Not many can do that.  Very talented guy!!

While I am purging and cleaning these other little projects keep popping up, of course...like redoing the address book binder.  Another side-track within a side-track...also came across this fancy fountain pen friendly paper sampler from Japan I bought from JetPens way back when the government sent us money at the beginning of the pandemic and I stocked up on letter writing papers.  This sampler was a complete splurge that is now considerably even more expensive and I wouldn't do today.  Anyways, the sheets were A4 size (8.3" X 11.7") and for like 2 1/2 years or whatever it is I have been meaning to cut them in half so I can actually use them to write letters.  Yup!  I finally did it!  When I get around to these fancy papers I will probably let the person know what the name of the paper is--just for the heck of it.  They aren't readily available here, obviously, but it is cool to know.  Some are so thin  you can see through them!  Will only be able to write on one side of those, for sure--LOL!  

Usually they are smaller side projects--but then I got sidetracked by the rolly carts--hehe!  That's a huge one for me that I'll be working on for a while yet.  But I am FINALLY almost done with the bathroom now!  I plan to curl my hair with rollers once at least...and I have the bin of vitamins and supplements to go through and that's it.  But I plan to go through that bin with Leah...so that may take a while.  Once I curl my hair and decide on whether to keep the rollers or not--I am basically done as far as I can go--tada!!  Whoohoo!!  That will be the first room cleaned and purged.  What did it take me?  4 weeks?  6 weeks?  ROFL!

When I was still healthy, over two decades ago, I would have whipped through the bathroom in a day...half a day!  Hard to remember when I was an energizer bunny who cleaned bathroom tiles with a toothbrush.  The only thing we can count on is change, I guess.  

Well, I slept from 9pm till 12:15am Saturday night and 6:30-7:45pm last night.  I am due to crash and sleep 10-12 hours in the next day or two,,,I hope!  At least I don't have a bad headache right now.  That's wonderful.  And I have actually finished the blog--so I can sleep peacefully at some point knowing that is done, too.  :)

Allie wandered in from her snoozing spot and had a little refreshment in the pantry.  Now she's waiting for the partridges.  
They are usually here at the crack of dawn.
In fact, it looks like they have already been here--LOL!
I tossed out some seed...
...and I am going to try again to sleep.  It's 7:30am and it really did feel like 21 degrees when I opened the stiff patio door!  Stay warm...or cool, as the case may be where you are.  The week started out where I was barely functional for several days--but then I ended up getting a lot done (because I couldn't sleep and was determined to use the time to do something worthwhile--lol!).  Was a good week.  I hope this will be a really sweet, peaceful week for us all.  Till next time.  Now I'll go find out what Blogger has done to my post--lol!  ;)

I checked the preview and it was fine...but it was last week, too.  Here we go, folks!  Happy Monday!!  :) 

12 comments:

DJan said...

Wow, Rita, that was a marathon post! I hardly had enough time in the my morning to read it all, but I managed. Glad to know you're feeling a little better, and that ice! No time to be leaving your cozy hearth for that stuff. :-)

Janie Junebug said...

I won't say Wow! You were up early, because I know it's a matter of not having been to sleep. That photo of Leah and her two fellas it adorable. Going to a store must have been exciting for Liam. He's not that old and two years of not being in a store is practically a lifetime for him. The Halloween costumes are cute. I haven't watched The Patient yet but it's on my HULU list. I remember getting down on my knees to clean baseboards with a toothbrush. Now getting on my knees leads to moans of pain and a lot of difficulty getting up again. I clean the baseboards with an extendable duster.

Love,
Janie

Far Side of Fifty said...

Happy Monday Rita! You have been busy! Nice to have some drawers cleaned out and stuff organized. It is chilly out there, we did not get that horrid ice like you. It looks awful. Allie looks like she is entertained! Hope you can sleep soon!

Deb J. in Utah said...

Hi Rita. It sure looks icy back there. That really reminds me of winter storms in Omaha when we lived there years ago. The critters around there sure appreciate your "critter cafe." You had a productive week. I love all the fun plans being made for your apartment at Leah and Dagan's. Have a great week. See you again soon!

David M. Gascoigne, said...

It's always great to see happy children. If there's one thing that cuts across all faiths and cultures that's it.

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

So glad to see you have pop up comments.

The boys ooked like they had some Hakkoween fun and gt lots of candy, too. Loved their pizzas.

You got a LOT done whie you couldn't sleep. I would have been on the couch watching a rerun (grin).

It rained then snowed last night. We didn't get the incredible ice storm you got.

That paper you bought sounds like a dream come true. I am sure you are so glad you splurged and got it.

Hope you get some sleep soon, dear Rita.

Anvilcloud said...

Sorry you had a tough week. Hopefully, this one will go better. You do seem to be keeping up with your interests, however, and Allie seems like she is being good company.

DVArtist said...

Leah is so pretty. Great photos of the kids and I do like all the hugs they give each other. You are so busy. Ohhh that ice. It is aweful and I am sorry she fell. Rollers, oh my. I haven't even seen rollers in quite a while. Hope they work for you. :) Have a great day.

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

Quite a long post, Rita, but it had lots of news and updates and cute family photos too😀 Sinter has really arrived in ND and it’s slowly and finally here in NH with temps in the 30s and 40s this week. No snow or ice in Nashua yet, but some parts if the state have had a dusting last night. That ice on Dagan’s car looked nasty and so glad we have the underground parking as not many apt homes offer that option. Sorry to read about the continuing non-sleep issues, but still you manage to get things done a bit at a time, so good for you. Allie is always such a good companion and her newest sleeping spot looks comfy. Hope there is some better weather ahead and cancelling that appointment was a good move because of the icy roads.

Almost forgot to mention that the fan and cabinets looked very nice.

Jeanie said...

It sounds like a rough one. A good time to take it easy. Probably smart to cancel the infusion, given those roads. We had our first snow but no real ice and not much. But the birds are chowing it down like there's no tomorrow! I have to get more see when I'm at the store today. I like the cabinet color you chose, too. Those look good. Oh, and your grands are darling! Just keep hanging in there. Allie is there for plenty of snugs!

Jo-Anne's Ramblings said...

What a post that I didn't read because reading is difficult this morning but great photos

Unknown said...

That's quite the ice storm! WOW! That is a good thing you canceled the appointment and avoided the roads. All the birds and wildlife are enjoying the seed you put out for them. On days when it is so cold and icy, it makes it all that much easier to get the food they need. Allie has so many comfortable places to rest and hide!