May 1, 2023 Monday--3:45am

 Good Morning!

Well, turned out McFamily all got covid.  The boys were sick first on Friday but Dagan and Leah thought it was just a cold/cough.  But then Leah got it and then Dagan got it, too.  Leah was running a high temp in the evenings and was the worst off of the four of them--but none of them were really bad sick because they've all been vaccinated.  They picked up tests at the Target drive up delivery and all had positive results.  

They were recovering last week but are all doing well now.  I had seen Leah and the boys on the Tuesday before that and Leah had been over that Monday while we worked on satchels...but I didn't get it.  So I still haven't been bitten by the covid bug yet.  They say sooner or later everybody will get it so I am sure my time will come eventually.  I'm hoping it will wait to get me until I am more recovered from the cancer treatments...but who knows?

BTW--I did google it and it can take 6 months to a year for people to feel like themselves again after cancer treatment.  It's only been a little over 5 months for me so far, so I've just got to be more patient, I guess.  :)

I spent the week slowly working on pen trays.  Finished Tray #2.

I set the pens tip down for a while to get the nibs primed with ink.

Allie gets bored with the pen stuff.  Here I surprised her sleeping in her favorite spot in the hallway.

Started on Tray #3

We had rain!  Been a long time since we've seen rain and not snow.

Finished with Tray #3.

Started on Tray#4.

Oh, above the pens the ink samples that are upright are the same that were in them before and are already written in the binder.  The ones that are tipped on their sides are new colors I need to enter.  Yup--I am a bit OCD about keeping track of my ink trays.  ;)

  

Finished #4 and currently started on Tray #5!

I know, most of you are as bored with a week of pen cleaning as Allie...

...but it is exciting to me.  (You can see the satchels haven't been touched yet--lol!)

BUT...not as exciting as these pictures from Leah late Saturday night!!!

I was so happy and excited I couldn't sleep half the night!

Yes!  That's their friend, Trent.

He and Leah mostly were working on the framing!

Dagan was upstairs with the boys and would come downstairs to help, too.  He was up and down...up and down.

Ian did come down to see what was going on.  Marching through the invisible door.

I cannot tell you how excited I was to see this picture!!!  It was the one she sent me on my cell phone.  I didn't even know Trent was there!

The pocket door frames came in and they picked those up, too.  

The holes for the doors look so big because pocket doors are two doors wide really.  I don't understand about how they are installed and all of that--but I will sure love having them.

Leah said Trent is already excited to work on the electrical wiring.  He looks like he may be contemplating just that standing in my soon-to-be studio.

He said he was okay with being in pictures on my blog so Leah took several, as you can see.

Another really exciting thing for me is that Dagan and Leah decided that they don't need to have a closet in the studio (or would-be bedroom for anyone else).  I am thrilled!!  That gives me a whole lot more wall space!!  Left is what wall space I was going to have (red lines) and on the right is what I will now have!

You know how much I have utilized all my cheap bookcases for so very many years.  I had 10 of them in here.  So far only two have been ordered for my future living room.  We hadn't ordered any for the studio because I wanted exact measurements to see how many Ikea Billy bookcases we could possibly fit in that one corner I had.  Now I have three corners I could use--lol!  

Anyways, Leah and I will have to put our heads together and figure out how to work the floor plan in there.  The only things I know where they will go is my art table under the window and my current kitchen table will be in the middle of the room.  Have a lot of options now!  Whoohoo!!

And then...Trent was back Sunday to work some more on the framing!

Fastening the walls to the floor, too.

The wall between the living room and the studio is bolted down.

They got the wall between the studio and the bathroom together and up but it's not bolted into the floor yet.  Dagan walking through the bathroom.

Now you can see where the rooms will be!

This is soooo exciting!!

Liam could doze upstairs on the couch, though--LOL!

Since I was still awake I thought I'd post early.  It's not that I'm not sleeping this time.  It's that I am sleeping too well--LOL!  No lie!  This last week...well, since the Saturday before...I've had two nights where I slept 5 1/2 hours but otherwise I have slept 13/10/11/8/9.5/and almost 11 hours!!  I am working my way around the clock only because I am sleeping so very long.  I slept from 3:30am till 2:15pm yesterday, for example.  No complaints, I tell you!  For me to be able to get back to sleep once or twice (after I use the biffy)...and to wake up with no sharp pain anywhere...actually comfortable (if I don't move)...well, no wonder I am sleeping so long.  Making up for all the times I hurt too much or couldn't breathe through my nose to sleep well or get back to sleep.  Awesome!  I figure my body must need it.  Sure feels like it does.  Not that I feel like I have anything near a burst of energy when I wake up after 11 hours versus 5 1/2...but maybe I do end up with an extra couple of spoons by the end of the day.  ;)  

Anyways, the biggest news is that the framing has begun!!  Whoohoo!!!!

This week...Keanna comes to clean tomorrow.  Since my table is full of pen stuff I will have to finish the pen trays before I start on the satchels...but the satchels are next on my priority list.  I did finish another stack of forms for the office--(annual review for the building owners)--and did the monthly banking stuff Sunday.  So I have to get the forms and the rent check down to the office.  (Only tricky because there is so seldom anyone actually in the office and the forms are so fat they won't fit under the door.)  There's always a variety of things to use up your limited spoons--LOL!  I never have any problem using up my spoons I do have on my better days.  :)  No guarantee I'll get to the satchels but I am thinking positive.  ;)

I can hardly wait to share more pics of the apartment build!  Till next time, my friends--keep smiling and laugh every day!!  :)